Modern Family

Number One

Despite Jace's pleading that Kara stay to break the assumed tension the first time Savannah brought Casey home, Kara had been completely ready to make herself scarce for the night, thinking it was a crucial night for Savannah and her father and uncles. But Savannah had showed up in her classroom the night of the dinner in question and insisted Kara be there because she was part of the family now as well and she valued Kara's opinion and although Kara had never gotten the sense that Savannah thought she was trying to steal Jace's attention from his precious daughter, it was nice to know that Savannah considered Kara to be such an asset to her life.

All of them had liked Casey right off the bat and although he and Savannah had their ups and downs over the past three years, they loved each other heaps and they were solid as a rock and Jace had grown to accept that his baby girl wasn't a baby anymore.

"Yeah, what did Casey want?" Austin repeated the guitarist's question, leaning forward off the couch and lacing his fingers together between his parted knees.

Jace shrugged, reaching out to pick up the acoustic guitar leaning against the couch to his right. "I'm not sure. He says he wants to talk to us. All of us."

"What does that mean?" Liam asked, having caught the tail end of conversation upon exiting the recording booth and obtained enough information to piece together that they were speaking about Savannah's boyfriend.

Jace shrugged again, plucking at the strings on his guitar, though his mind was racing with possibilities. The last time all of them had been gathered together because someone wanted to talk, Savannah had told them that she and Casey were moving in together. At the time, Jace had just recently gotten used to Savannah no longer being around the house because she was living on campus, so the thought of her living with her boyfriend was hard to wrap his head around. Eventually, he learned to accept it because it wasn't as though it was really up for discussion. Seeing his daughter grow into this amazing woman was bittersweet and his heart ached at the thought of the day when he would have to let her go entirely.

He could tell his bandmates were having similar thoughts by the sudden tense silence in the room, which dissipated quickly when the door to the studio opened and Kara walked in.

Always glad to see her, Jace's lips immediately stretched into a smile as he set down his guitar and pushed himself from the couch, though he was still slightly confused by her presence. It was the middle of the day, which meant she should have been at school, teaching.

"Hey, babe," he greeted, leaning in to kiss her quickly on the lips as she shot a friendly smile at the rest of the boys, his hand automatically coming to rest at her waist. "What are you doing here?"

It was Kara's turn to be confused because she had assumed Jace knew she was coming. "Casey called me this morning on my way to work and told me to come here during my lunch break."

Kara figured Jace had gotten Casey to call on his behalf and had some sort of surprise for her, which was why, when it turned out Jace had no idea why she was there, things became particularly intriguing.

"Huh," Jace said, dropping his hand to grab hers and pull her down onto the couch next to him. "He just called me and said he wanted to stop by and made sure all of us were here. I wonder what's going on."

If Kara was being completely honest, she had an inkling of what was about to occur and she wondered if she should tell Jace so he could mentally and emotionally prepare, but before she could part her lips and speak, the studio door opened once more and this time, Casey entered.

"Hey, man," Liam greeted, the first to step forward and shake Casey's hand because he was the only one currently standing. He shoved his drumsticks into the back pockets of his jeans and squeezed Casey's palm firmly before pulling him in for a quick hug. "Good to see you."