A/N: This is a fic requested by my friend @milquetoast-on-acid who was in their Shandy feels and wanted a fic about Jack reacting to the Shandy wedding. Although, this features no Shandy (they’re on their Irish honeymoon), I think it feels very on brand for Jack and even features Ricky and Emily. Enjoy!
After their mom and Andy were married and safely on their way to their honeymoon in Ireland, Ricky and Emily decided to begrudgingly spend a couple of days with their father at his apartment before they left town to return to their respective homes.
They knocked on the door and waited for Jack to answer.
“Hey kids! What a surprise! What brings you to So Cal?” asked Jack.
“Oh, we were just in town for-” began Ricky before Emily elbowed him in the ribs to get his attention.
“In town for what, Ricky?” asked Jack curiously, sensing his children were hiding something from him.
“We were just in town for mom and Andy’s wedding,” Ricky told him honestly.
“Ricky! You weren’t supposed to tell him about that,” grumbled Emily.
“Why the hell not, Emily? It’s true,” said Ricky.
Emily rolled her eyes at her brother before they both turned their attention back to their father to gauge his reaction to the news.
“Well, that’s just great,” grumbled Jack.
“Your mom off and marries another drunk. Great life choices that woman makes,” said Jack, seething.
That’s enough, dad. We know you don’t care for Andy, but at least make an effort not to disparage him in front of us. After all, he’s been nothing but nice to us,” Emily told him, knowing her father would react badly to the otherwise joyous news.
“I can't believe she actually married that asshole,” said Jack, still seething.
“See, this is why I didn’t wanna tell him about the wedding,” Emily pointed out to Ricky.
“If he’s gonna act like a child about it, that’s his problem,” Ricky told her.
“Dad, if you’re gonna act like this, we’ll go stay at mom and Andy’s with Rusty,” warned Emily.
“Fine,” said Jack petulantly.
“Fine asshole,” Ricky told him back before opening the door and rolling his and Emily’s suitcases out the door, as Emily followed Ricky out into the hallway and shut the door.
Jack immediately poured himself a drink while Emily called her and Ricky an Uber to take them back to their mom and Andy’s house.
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Once they got back to the house, Rusty answered the door immediately.
“Hey guys. I thought you were staying with Jack,” said Rusty.
“It’s a long story,” Emily told him as she entered the house, rolling her suitcase inside.
“What? Did he self-destruct when you told him about the wedding?” asked Rusty.
“Pretty much,” replied Ricky as he too entered the house.
“Oh man! This would be so funny if he weren’t your dad,” mentioned Rusty.
“Yeah. Hilarious,” said Emily, still feeling a little down about the whole situation.
“Why does he always have to be a prick about everything?” asked Rusty, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
“Because that’s just his nature,” said Ricky.
“Yeah. He’s probably sitting around getting drunk right about now,” piped up Emily, stating the obvious.
“Agreed,” said Ricky as he switched on the TV in the living room to find a movie or show for them all to watch.
