ZED quite enjoyed turning the tables on Mac whenever he had the chance. Today was no different when he requested that Mac come to his office via text. Mac knocked on the door frame just a few minutes later, employing the same pattern that Zed was so famous for, making the man so named smile. 'Mr Higgins. How can I help you, Sir?' His tone was teasing yet still good-natured.

'Hello.' Zed smiled, very much amused by the show that Mac was putting on. 'Please, take a seat, Mr MacIntire.' He motioned to the chair across from his own.

Mac sat down on the arm of the chair, his eyebrows furrowed. 'So, what is this? Am I in trouble? Have I acted wrongly or unjustly?' Zed simply laughed, shaking his head. 'Come on, now,’ Mac continued. ‘I'm a big boy; I can take it.' He extended his arms out to his sides in a gesture of “bring-it-on”.

Zed's laughter faded, but his grin remained. 'You're quite all right. I didn't call you in here to chastise you. Besides, even if I wanted to, I know you'd never stand for it. Regardless of what you say.'

'Ha! All right. Maybe I wouldn't. But if that's not why you requested my presence, then why, pray tell, did you?' He quirked a brow, curiously.

'To introduce you to my mother.'

Mac's eyes widened tremendously, his mouth opening and closing like a broken lift door. 'What?' he finally managed, the word just the slightest bit desperate and breathless.

Zed suddenly burst into laughter, relishing in Mac’s growing confusion. 'I’m sorry! I knew it would get you all riled up if I phrased it that way. Sorry.'

He narrowed his eyes at his friend. 'I hope you haven't forgotten that I have the power to fire you,' he said dryly.

'Again?' He replied with a challenging tone.

'You're walking a dangerous line, Higgins,' Mac said, wagging his finger for emphasis. 'Now, why are we really here?'

'I wasn't kidding, actually. Though, it's not exactly to meet just my mother. And, there would be dinner, too.'

The lines of Mac's face creased into a frown, his patience clearly wearing thin. 'Well, I guess that would be fine. But, who all will be there? And please, stop beating around the bush.'

'Well... my entire family, actually.' He put his hands up to halt Mac‘s open mouth. 'Now, let me speak. I'll explain if you just give me a moment.' Thankfully, Mac stayed silent. 'Right. My Mam finally finished paying off our house after twenty-five years— earlier than expected, actually. She's having a roast on Sunday to celebrate and well... she asked if I would invite you.'

Mac blinked slowly. 'I'm sorry... I just want to get this straight. Your mother wants me, someone she's never met before, to come to your family’s celebratory dinner?'

Zed nodded. 'Of course. She wants to thank you.'

'I— Thank me?' He looked bewildered; incredulous, even. 'What on earth for? I had nothing to do with paying off her mortgage.'

Zed smiled and shook his head. 'You really don't get it, do you? Without the raises you've given me this year, we wouldn't have had a prayer of paying off the house at all. Hell, around the time that I was thinking of leaving, the banks were already swarming. But, thanks to you, she doesn't have to worry anymore. So, actually, you have quite a lot to do with the mortgage.'

'I... I had no idea things were that dire. If you would have told me earlier, certainly—'

'No,' he said definitively, though the smile he wore was flimsy. 'Maybe you would have offered to help if I'd told you earlier, but I would never have accepted it. And neither would she, for that matter. We Higginses are dangerously proud when it comes to money. We won't take anything that we don't earn. Mam only accepted the money I gave her as “rent” for storing my things, for heaven's sake.'

'I can respect that,' his boss said, tentatively. 'Though, I still would have offered.'

'And we would have politely declined. Though, that hardly matters now. What's past is past, and it's all taken care of! Now, what do you say to that Sunday roast?' He extended the offer again, hopefully.

Mac, who seemed to have forgotten about the offer, began to flounder quite adorably. 'I— wouldn't want to intrude...'

'I just told you that she invited you!' He exclaimed with a laugh. 'Besides, I still owe you a meal from the Investors' Gala. I'm sure a home-cooked meal will more than suffice, even if it's not four hundred quid a plate.'

With a deep sigh, Mac replied, 'Very well.'

'Excellent!' Zed clapped his hands together, excitedly. 'I'll text you the details. Now, get back to work.' He showed him the way out by mimicking the sweeping motion that Mac himself often employed. Mac stood and saluted mockingly before making his way back to his office with a wide grin.

AS they made their way to Zed's childhood home, he couldn't help but smile as Mac adjusted and re-adjusted his grip on the bottle of extremely expensive champagne. It was like watching a teenager preparing for a first date, though that thought sent sparks up Zed’s spine.

They had met at the Jubilee Underground Station per Zed's request. While Poplar was far from the most disadvantaged area that the Higgins family had lived in, he still could not promise Mac that his shiny new Porsche would not be stolen or, at the very least, scratched. So, the two men made their way down the Underground steps, Zed thoroughly enjoying the look on his employer's face.

Mac had confided in Zed that he could not remember the last time that he had taken the Underground. In fact, he had admitted that he was quite sure he'd only ever driven or been driven around London the whole of his life. As they took in the sensory bouquet that was the carriage, Mac’s nose seemed to shrink into a mass of wrinkles. The crying baby that would not quiet no matter how much its mother rocked it; the stench of sour tartar sauce from a discarded basket of fish and chips that were so much like the air had been in Poppies, yet somehow twisted; the numerous sets of eyes that raked over his body looking for the tell-tale bulge of a wallet that so often accompanied a suit as nice as his. They all made the normally proud looking man visibly nervous and, honestly, it was just the smallest bit adorable. 

After a long silence, Mac turned to Zed, speaking quietly. 'I thought you were Welsh. Why are we heading to Poplar?'

'Well, I was born in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, but that’s not where I grew up.’

His co-traveler chuckled, adding sarcastically, ‘Say that three times fast.’

‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.’ He smiled, broadly. ‘But Mam and Tad moved here when we were five. Since everyone else in the family still had the accent, it just sort of… stuck.'

'Right, right,' but Mac seemed only to be half listening as he bounced his knee to an almost ridiculous height.

'You do know there's no reason for you to be so wound up about this, right?' Zed finally cut in once he realised that his friend's nerves had reached a peak.

Mac's eyes shot up from his hands for the first time in twenty minutes to meet Zed's with manic ferocity. '”Wound up”? What are you talking about? I'm fine.'

He resisted the urge to sigh and merely smiled as he shook his head. 'All right. I believe you. Just... remember that this is my family. They're all like me, so the chances of them not liking you are pretty slim.'

Mac was visibly trying very hard to maintain his put-together façade, keeping his tone cool and teasing. 'Good. I was worried for a second.'

Zed hummed in agreement. 'I'm sure. Now, this is just a tip, so take it or leave it: unless you want people thinking you're recently homeless, stop playing with that bottle.'

The blush that rose in Mac’s cheeks as he attempted to do just that was probably the cutest thing he had seen all day.

ONCE they finally arrived on the front steps of 9 Daniel Bolt CI, Zed stopped briefly to take a long look at the modest house. It was small; three bedrooms with a cramped parlour, a small back garden, and only two stories. The siding and roof were in need of some repair, but the plants and window boxes were bright and well tended. Even in this somewhat chilly winter air, the house was cheery, with tasteful Christmas decorations and lights. The surge of pride that his mother would no longer need to worry about keeping it was almost overwhelming.

As he began to walk the rest of the way to the door, Mac spoke, halting his path. The man’s eyes were fixed firmly on the clean brick of the home’s walls. 'Higgins, correct me if I'm wrong, but… Those crappy suits you used to wear, your horrifyingly small flat, those brown bag lunches…'

Zed’s mood shifted quickly from pride to irritation. 'Yes? What of them?'

'It's because every extra penny you earn goes here. Isn't it?'

'Yes, always has. So?’

Mac’s eyes never left the house. 'All this time. You've been helping to support your mother, your family— with no thought to yourself.' Zed didn’t respond, trying to discern where he was going with this. 'You are an extremely good man, Zachary Higgins.’ The words were soft. Softer than Zed had ever heard Mac speak. ‘Much more so than I have ever been. Or ever could be.'

The lump that suddenly formed in Zed’s throat threatened to stop his next words entirely. 'Mac, that's simply not true—'

But he was cut short by a small girl of about four, who swung the door wide with a brilliant smile. 'Uncle Ree!' She cried as she wrapped all of her limbs around Zed’s leg in a tight koala hug. 'Uncle Ree is here, everybody,' she announced just as loudly as she tightened her grip.

Zed laughed and ruffled her hair as he stepped inside, taking care not to let her fall. Once he was far enough inside for Mac to enter, he bent down to pick her up and settled her on his waist. 'Hello, Dwtty,' he said before he pressed a kiss to her nose and beamed.

She wrinkles her nose. “I’m not dwtty, I’m four!” Before Zed can reply, three more small children tore out of the kitchen and into the front hall at top speed, just as their younger cousin had only moments before. 'Uncle Ree!'

'Hello, gang!' He opened his arms as wide as his smile and bent down to greet them all without hesitation. His nieces and nephews were the greatest gift his siblings had ever graced him with. As he kissed each one of their heads in turn, he cursed himself for not making more time for them.

As Zed stood, he caught Mac's eye as he mouthed, 'Uncle Ree?'

Zed mouthed back, 'Zac-a-REE.'

The CFO grinned in reply as he continued to watch the excited children. That grin. It really was more than a little distracting. They locked eyes for just long enough that neither man saw a female figure sweep up beside Mac.

'There he is: the guest of honour!' Mac gave a small jolt as he whipped around to face his attacker; Zed’s twin. Zelda smiled sheepishly. 'Sorry. Did I scare you? I tend not to think before I do that to people.'

'No, no. It's... fine,' he assured her, though he still looked shaken.

'All right, good. Because I don't like to give strokes to people that I've never met before.'

Mac let a chuckle slip. 'That is a fairly good rule of thumb.'

'Thank you, thank you.' She bowed cartoonishly as Zed decided to finally come to the rescue.

‘Mac, please let me introduce my twin, Zelda.' She extended a hand which Mac gratefully took.

'Hello, Zelda. I'm Mac. Though, from the sound of it, you likely already knew that. In any event, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard good things.'

She tilted her head slightly to the side. 'Yeah? Dare I ask, what?'

'Well, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had the faintest idea where to take your brother for his anniversary lunch.'

'Oh, I have to hear this one. I’ve heard loads about you, trust me. Though I must say, I think “built like a tree” is a bit generous.’ 

Zed went scarlet. ‘Zel! Dim siarad!’

 Mac looked as though he’d swallowed a frog as Zelda stage whispered, ‘We can talk about that later. First, let's get this…' she plucked the bottle of champagne from his grasp. '... on ice. There's no sense in ruining the good stuff, eh? Oh, yes, this’ll be tidy!' Looping her arm through one of Mac's, she led him to the kitchen as Zed contemplated sororicide. 

Zed’s mother was at the stove when they entered, and he had barely uttered, ‘Mam, this is–’ before she had turned, broken into a wide smile, and was striding towards them.

‘Oh, I know who this is! Hello, Mac, dear! Come here and give us a cwtch!’

She drew him into a hug that was so tight Zed thought Mac’s poor little perfect head may pop from his shoulders. He only barely kept back a laugh at the image.

Not long after, Mac had been introduced to the entire Higgins clan and they were sat down to dinner. Zed volunteered to help manage the children so that he could simultaneously spend time with them and make sure they didn’t choke on their meals. Mac, on the other hand, was wedged tightly between Zelda and their Mam. 

The Higgins' home was truly a small space compared to the family that had lived within it. If the extra folding chairs weren’t enough of an indicator, the diagonal placement of the long table in the already cramped room certainly was. The low ceiling did nothing for the noise as everyone chatted as the table received its final touches. But the moment the Higgins’ matriarch finally took her seat, the room fell completely silent. As if on cue, every member of the Higgins family bowed their heads and closed their eyes, even Mac. Only a moment later, Mrs Higgins' voice cut through the silence. 'Dear God in heaven, or whoever might be out there listening, bless this meal, this family, this house, and, last but absolutely not least, new friends,' she said with a smile at Mac. 'Amen.'

Zed raised his glass with a wide grin. ‘To Mac! Lechyd da!’

The group echoed and clinked glasses before digging in. Mac’s entire face was pink, plastered with a sheepish grin, and heaven help Zed if he didn’t wish it looked like that all the time.

Though the conversation had started rather hesitantly, Mac quickly found a rhythm that made Zed just the slightest bit proud. In fact, by the end of the meal the group carried on as though they had known Mac all their lives. Zed felt the slightest flush in his cheeks as he thought how nice it would be to have him at all their meals.

The two men reunited when it was finally time for pudding. On their way to the parlour, Zed grabbed his friend's shoulder to still him and speak quietly. 'Sorry I left you to the wolves during dinner.'

Mac smiled and plucked a piece of bread from Zed’s shirt. 'I could say the same to you.'

Zed chuckled. ‘Best part of my visit, hanging out with them.’ He looked at his niece and nephews who were now clambering after the pudding tray and his face broke into a wide grin. He truly did love the little buggers. When he looked back at Mac, he could have sworn that his boss had been staring at him with a bemused look on his face, but the moment Zed turned, Mac dropped his gaze, and locked eyes with the pudding Zel handed him, instead.