Meaghan Parker sat in her living room, blankly staring at her TV. The news was on, but she couldn't care less. She was having one of those "I miss my brothers" nights. Now that she was in college, Drake was on tour with his band, and Josh was in med school, she hardly ever got to see them anymore. Even her parents had moved away to New York. So Meaghan was 19, and living in their old house alone.
She was still staring into space when a news flash caught her eye.
"This just in," the reporter was saying. "One of the residents at the San Diego Mental Hospital has escaped. If you see this person, please call this number immediately." A phone number appeared on the screen, followed by a picture.
"Oh my God. It's Crazy Steve."
The picture soon disappeared. But it had stayed in her head. Who had finally put Crazy Steve in the mental hospital? And how had he escaped?
Meaghan giggled as she thought back to the year that he had made everyone's Christmas the best Christmas ever with his wood chipper, and 500 pounds of cheese.
And the time he beat Josh up with a baseball bat because Josh had eaten his enchilada.
Meaghan laughed out loud. She left the couch, and went to the kitchen. She stared out the window as she sipped her orange juice, hatching a plan...
The next day, there was nothing to be seen on the news about Crazy Steve. She wondered if they had caught him or what. She picked up her phone, and without even thinking about it, hit the speed dial for Josh. After a few rings, he answered.
"Hey, Megs!"
"Hi, Josh. How's med school?"
"Good. How's CSI school?"
"OK. Um...I was just wondering if you'd watched the news lately..."
"..."
"Josh?"
"You saw it too, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Should we do something?"
"Well, if we see him, we'd have to call the police."
"Josh! He was one of your closest friends!"
"Yes, I know that, Meaghan. But we don't know what happened after Drake and I moved away. He could've gotten crazier...if that's possible."
"I'm pretty sure it's not possible."
"Well, either way, you still have to turn him in if you see him. Don't go looking for him, though! You don't want trouble for no reason."
"Alright, Josh. Love you."
"Love you too, Megs."
Meaghan threw her phone down on the floor beside her. She couldn't turn him in, even if she did she him. She wouldn't.
She stood up when she heard the doorbell ring. "What are the odds of Crazy Steve being around here, anyway. And what are the odds I'd see him?"
She finally got downstairs, and opened the door. She was shocked when she saw who was standing there.
It was Crazy Steve.
"MEAGHAN! YOU'VE GOT TO HELP ME! THEY'RE AFTER ME!"
"Whoa, Crazy Steve..." Her mind was whirling? What was she going to to?
Crazy Steve pushed past her and ran into the house. He was out of the living room, and running up the stairs before Meaghan even had time to close the front door.
She sighed. "Well. I guess I'm helping Crazy Steve, then."
It took Meaghan a good 15 minutes to track Crazy Steve down. She finally found him upstairs in Drake and Josh's room, under Josh's bed.
"Crazy Steve! Get out from there!"
"NO! THEY'RE AFTER ME! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO TURN ME IN!"
Meaghan laid down on the floor so she would be able to see under the bed. Crazy Steve was no longer under it.
Confused, she raised up, startled to see that Crazy Steve was now sitting on the bed, rocking back and forth.
"Crazy Steve...now...I'm not going to-"
"THE COW GOES MOO!"
"I'm not going to take you back there, OK? I'm going to help you. Would you like that?"
"Yes." Meaghan was surprised when he said 'yes' in a normal volume. Just then her phone rang.
"I'M TALKING TO HER!" Meaghan sighed. This was going to be difficult.
Later that night, Meaghan was finally able to get Crazy Steve to talk normally for a few minutes. She told him that he could stay at her house, as long as he was willing to do what she said.
He said he would stay, as long as she let him watch whatever he wanted on TV.
So it was agreed. Meaghan was going to help Crazy Steve become less...crazy.
The next morning, Meaghan woke up to the sound of Crazy Steve's voice.
"C'MON, DORA! YOUR THE ONE WITH THE MAP! DON'T ASK ME!"
Meaghan sighed to herself. "Why couldn't it be a school day?"
Resolving to the fact that she didn't have to go to school, she went downstairs. Crazy Steve was sitting on the couch, still dressed in Josh's pajamas, yelling at Dora The Explorer.
"Morning, Crazy Steve."
"Oh, good morning, Meaghan." Meaghan was impressed.
"I'm making breakfast. You want some?"
"PANCAKES!" Meaghan sighed again.
While she was cooking their breakfast, she kept thinking about how she was going to help him. Crazy Steve had been crazy for as long as anyone had known him. How do you make someone un-crazy?
They got through breakfast surprisingly quiet. Only the occasion outburst from Crazy Steve at Dora.
After breakfast, Meaghan somehow managed to get Crazy Steve to sit on the couch so she could talk to him.
"Now...um...Crazy Steve. You know how you always talk really loudly?"
"NO? I DON'T DO THAT! YOU'RE CRAZY!"
Meaghan casually leaned over and ate a leftover piece of bacon off her plate.
"THAT WAS MY BACON! YOU ATE MY BACON!"
"I did not! That was my plate! If you're not gonna co-operate with me, then I'm not even going to bother with you." She picked up her cell phone. "I'm gonna call the hospital and have them come get you right now."
"NO!" He slapped the phone out of her hand. It hit the floor, and broke in two.
"Crazy Steve! If you're going to act like that, then you need to leave right now. I have to go out for a few minutes. DO NOT break anything else while I'm gone." And with that, Meaghan left the house.
A half hour later when she got back, Crazy Steve was nowhere to be found. The house still looked normal, though. That was a good sign. She went upstairs. He wasn't under the bed.
She suddenly thought about her hamster. What if Crazy Steve had found it? She quickly ran to her room. Crazy Steve was sitting in her chair, gently holding her hamster, Lily, in his hands. He was smiling.
"Crazy Steve? Do you like hamsters?" He nodded. "I didn't know that." Meaghan suddenly had a thought.
"Do you like the fact that people call you 'Crazy Steve?'" He shook his head no. "Then why have you never told anyone?"
Crazy Steve just shrugged. "No one...ever listens to me."
Meaghan smiled. "You do realize, Steve, that we just had a whole conversation without you yelling?" She put extra emphasis on the fact that she called him "Steve."
Steve carefully put Lily back in her cage. Meaghan stood up and grabbed his hand. "Come on, Steve. I brought lunch back with me."
*ONE WEEK LATER*
"STEVE! It's time for breakfast!"
"I'M COMING! GIMME A MINUTE!"
Steve ran downstairs as fast as he could. Meaghan was standing at the bottom of the stairs, hands on her hips.
"WHAT'D I DO?" She raised an eyebrow.
Steve caught on. "Oh. Right. Inside voice. Sorry."
In the past week, Steve had gone from crazy to (somewhat) normal. He hardly ever yelled, he had normal conversations, and didn't even talk to Dora anymore. Things were going great; other than the fact that the mental hospital was still looking for him.
Meaghan had told Steve that when he was ready, they would go to the hospital, they would see that he was not crazy, and they wouldn't put him back in. And although he didn't like the idea of going back for any reason, he was willing if it meant being free again.
They were eating lunch one day when Drake called. Meaghan motioned for Steve not to say anything. He smiled and nodded.
"Hey, Drake!"
"Meaghan! How's it going?"
"Going good, big bro."
"What'cha doin?"
"Just finishing lunch. Did you need something?"
"Nah. I was just calling to see if you had heard about Crazy Steve. "
"Yeah, I heard. What about it?"
"I just thought it was hilarious that that nutcase managed to escape from that place. I mean, seriously. Didn't they have him in a straightjacket?"
Meaghan realized then that Steve was able to hear everything Drake was saying. He got up and ran from the room.
"Drake. I gotta go. I'll call you later, OK?"
Meaghan got up and chased after Steve. He got upstairs before she did, and hid. Meaghan finally found him in one of the supply closets. He was sitting against the wall, hugging his knees. She looked a little closer and realized he was crying. She sat down beside him.
"Steve. Don't cry. Drake didn't mean any of that. He hasn't seen you in a long time, remember? He doesn't know you've changed."
"That's...the...problem. No one knows I've changed. They'll all avoid me."
"No they won't, Steve. I'm not, am I? Did I avoid you that day when you showed up at my front door?"
He seemed to stop crying a bit. "No...I guess not."
"And we all loved you even when you were a looney toon!"
Steve laughed at that. "I'm sorry Meaghan."
"Don't be. Come on. Let's go finish our lunch."
The next morning, Meaghan woke up to find Steve sitting on the couch, watching Dora the Explorer. Her eyes widened. She hoped he hadn't gone back to his crazy ways; it was a very important day. She was taking him back the the mental hospital.
"Morning, Steve."
Steve never turned his eyes away from the TV. "Morning Meaghan!"
Meaghan sighed a sigh of relief. "You know what today is, right Steve?"
"Yeah..."
"Aw, come on Steve. Don't be nervous."
"What if they still think I'm still- NO DORA! IT'S- Ahem. I mean, it's right behind you, Dora."
Meaghan smiled. Some things couldn't be changed.
A few hours later, after finally succeeding in getting Steve in her car, Meaghan pulled up to the mental hospital. She turned to look at Steve. He had his eyes closed.
"Steve? We're here."
He opened one eye. "So we are. Well, that's close enough. Let's go home."
Meaghan got out of her car. She went around to the passenger side and opened the door. "I don't think so. We've come this far. We're going in."
"Excuse me. We're here to see Ms. Hodgins." Meaghan said once the two of them had reached the front desk.
The receptionist casually looked up. She smiled kindly at Meaghan before turning to look at Steve. She instantly recognized him.
"SECURITY!" Meaghan panicked, thinking that the receptionist's outburst might cause Steve to do something wild.
He just stood there calmly. The receptionist noticed this.
When the security came over, she waved them away. "False alarm, boys." The guards walked off.
Steve was still standing there calmly. "If you don't mind, we'd like to see Ms. Hodgins, now."
The receptionist pushed a button, and a worker came to get them. The worker took them to a waiting room outside of Ms. Hodgins' office. "The wait won't be long."
There were two other people in the waiting room. Steve sat down and picked up a magazine. He casually opened it, and began reading.
The people in the room started giggling. Meaghan leaned forward in her seat and glanced at the front of the magazing Steve was reading. It was upside down.
"Steve..." She took it out of his hands and turned it the right way. He continued reading as if nothing had happened.
The people in the room giggled again.
Soon after that, Ms. Hodgins came out. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Steve standing there.
"Crazy Steve?"
"Actually it's just Steve now, Ms. Hodgins." Steve replied, holding out his hand.
"Well, what are you doing? Did some of the men catch you and bring you back?"
"Actually no. Once I escaped from here, (which was very bad behavior on my part, by the way) I went to my old friend's house, and found his little sister still living there. She's been helping me get rid of my..."crazy" ways."
"Well...um...I don't know what to say." Ms. Hodgins looked at Meaghan. "May I speak to you alone for a minute?"
Meaghan followed the doctor into her office.
"Has he really changed..."
"Meaghan. Yes. He's totally different. He has made the most amazing change. He just so...normal...now. I've known him since I was 13, and this is the first time I've ever been able to spend actual time with him."
"Hmmm. So what was the intention of coming back here?"
"I thought that since he was still wanted, once I got him back to normal, if we came back here, you'd see how different he is, and just let him go."
"And that's exactly what I'm going to do." Ms. Hodgins took out a release form out of her desk. she filled it out, signed it, and handed it to Meaghan to sign.
Ms. Hodgins gave Meaghan a copy of that very important piece of paper.
A few minutes later, when Meaghan and Steve were in the car, Meaghan turned in her seat to look at him. She handed him the paper.
"Congrats, Steve. You're a free man."
Steve's smile covered his whole face. "Thanks a bunch Meaghan." His smile faded a little bit. "What am I going to do now? I don't have anywhere to stay."
"What do you mean, 'nowhere to stay?' You've been at my house for almost 3 weeks. You are going to stay there."
His smile came back.
After one quick drive through In-N-Out Burger, they were back at the house.
Steve walked through the house like he'd never been in there before. He turned around to smile at Meaghan.
Meaghan looked at him really well for the first time. She had never noticed how tall he was. Much taller than her. He was actually kind of cute.
The next thing Meaghan knew, Steve had his arms around her, hugging her. "I don't know how to thank you, Meaghan."
"No thanks neccessary, Steve. I was glad to do it."
Meaghan looked up at him. He still had his arms around her. Steve moved his face closer to hers. Meaghan tilted her face up to look at him better. Steve ran his hand through her hair, and finally pressed his lips against hers.
"Merry Christmas, Meag!" It was one week later, on Christmas morning.
"Merry Christmas, Steve!" Meaghan had walked down the stairs on Christmas morning to see Steve wearing a horrible Christmas sweater. She laughed.
Steve started jumping up and down. "Open presents! Open presents!"
Meaghan walked over to the tree and grabbed a present. She tossed it at him. He ripped it open in no time flat.
"The new Pearpod? Thank you Meaghan!" He exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.
Then Steve went to the tree and got a small box for Meaghan. He handed it to her.
When she opened it, she revealed a necklace. It was a small silver necklace, with a heart on the end of it.
"Steve. It's beautiful! Thank you so much." She kissed him.