Hola everyone! Here's the new project that I alluded to earlier. It's being co-written by Red Foxy (author of one of my personal favorite Punklee stories and one of the best Punklee stories out there, period, Take Me With You) and myself. It's a radical new take on our conquering hero and champion and our favorite crazy chick in charge. We both hope that you all enjoy this new journey into their lives and come along for the ride. Once more, enjoy! =)

"I'm going to the show! I'll be back later!"

It was Friday night on the north side of Chicago, as good a time as any to go out and enjoy yourself, no matter what thrill you were seeking. Chicago was one of the few places in the states where there was always something to do at all hours of the day and night. For Phillip Jack Brooks, or Punk, as he preferred to be called by his friends and family, that fact was one of the many reasons why he loved his hometown. Throwing his Misfits hoodie on and grabbing his house keys, he already had one foot out the door when the sound of his sister calling out to him stopped him dead in his tracks. Groaning, he turned around to face her, looking down at her as she folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.

"Where are you going?", she questioned, watching him roll his eyes and throw his hands up into the air, as if the question was the stupidest one he had ever heard. "Phil, don't start with me", she stated a bit sternly. "Where are you going?"

"I told you that I was going with some of the guys to a show run by some dorks who think they're better than us", he stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Does this conversation have a point, Chaleen? Because I was supposed to meet up with them...", he said, drifting off to look at the clock on the wall, "almost five minutes ago", he finished with, his turn to now tap his foot impatiently on the floor.

"Well, that's cool and all, but I hate to inform you that you're not going to that show tonight, Phil", she stated, watching her brother's eyes widen, nostrils flare, a look of anger quickly appearing on his face as he dropped his hands to his sides. "Do you have a problem with that?"

He rarely ever got angry with his sisters, but right now was one of those few times. She knew how important it was to him to go to this show tonight, so why would she try to cut him off at the legs and make sure he didn't make an appearance? It was more than a little baffling to him right now that she was trying to impede his progress. "Of course I have a problem with it, Chaleen! Why exactly can't I go?"

"You don't remember?", she asked, this time giving him the look like her question was so obvious that he should instantly know what she was talking about. "Phil, I brought this up to you the other day. My friend just moved here, and she needs a babysitter. I told her that you were good with kids and that you'd be more than happy to do it. Does any of that ring a bell in that head of yours?"

Brows knitted together and eyes squinted in thought, he scratched at his chin, trying for the life of him to remember if this conversation actually took place or not. He was a bit scatterbrained, he would admit that, but he just simply couldn't remember anything. "I don't remember that happening", he stated, plain as night. "Can I go now?", he asked eagerly, hoping he'd be home free.

"No, you can't. Phil, you even said that you'd do it! How can you not remember this? I only asked you on Wednesday!", she exclaimed, growing exasperated with her brother's ignorance.

Eyes widening and lips pursed together, he now knew what she was talking about. 'She was serious?', he thought to himself. He was in his room, listening to music and writing some stuff down for what him and the boys were going to do for their next show that was coming up soon, when Chaleen entered, he now remembered. Mentally smacking himself in the forehead, he groaned as a pleading look came across his face. "You were actually serious about that!?", he near yelled. "Come on, Chaleen, you know how important my being there for this show is to the boys! I can't afford to let them down!"

She wasn't having any of it, though. Standing her ground, she looked into her brother's eyes with her steely resolve, shaking her head, her body in the stance that basically said that there was no more room for argument. He couldn't believe that she was actually holding him to this. He was distracted by his music and his wrestling! Plus, who was her supposed friend? And why would she volunteer him of all people for this? Sure, he had briefly demonstrated the ability to handle children and keep them from crying their eyes out, but that was it; it was brief. Sticking him in a house with a child for however many hours at a time would only lead to disaster. And the house possibly being set on fire. It wouldn't surprise him at all if that happened either.

"You said you'd do this for me, Phil. Please? And plus, need I remind you who had to drive you to the hospital last month to get your stupid ass stitched up after taking a chair to the back of the head?", she said, a wicked looking smile on her lips as she watched her brother scowl and shake his head. He was in her clutches now, and there seemed to be no escape in sight. Thinking, trying to come up with something rational sounding that could get him out of this, he struggled, and drew blanks. Finally, he came up with something he knew sounded absolutely ridiculous, but he figured it'd be worth a shot anyways.

"I can't go babysit some kid! I'm seventeen years old, living on the north side of Chicago, and it's Friday night! Why would you stunt my growth as a young adult by relegating me to the confines of someone else's house, when there's the whole world out there for me to go see? I shouldn't be doing this. I should be living my life!"

Chaleen let it all set in for a moment, while Phil gave her a hopeful look that maybe, just maybe, his absolute and utter bullshit would work in this instance. The silence began to envelope the room, but before it became deafening, she burst out into a fit of laughter, hunching over and slapping her knee, all while he stood there, the look of death in his eyes, more than a little irritated that she was treating the situation like it was a joke, even if his previous words were a bit dumb and desperate sounding. Leaning forward and using his arm for support so that she didn't literally fall on the ground laughing, she sucked in a deep breath and stood upright again, steadied and grinning like the cheshire cat himself. Grabbing her keys from the jar on the counter, she took her brother by the arm and began to lead him out the door and to her car.

"Do you have any idea how crazy you sounded there?", she asked incredulously, still not believing that Phil was able to pull something as far reaching and borderline sad out of his ass like that. "I mean, that might have worked on Chez or Cassie, maybe even Charlie, but come on, Phil, you know me. Why'd you even bother?", she asked as she unlocked the car doors and slid into the driver's seat, watching her disgruntled brother enter the passenger seat beside her.

"On the off chance you'd actually have a heart and let me go to the show so I can teach those assholes who the real number one wrestling federation is around these parts of Chicago", he groused under his breath as he did his seatbelt, then folded his arms across his chest, pouting and scowling all at once as the car rumbled to life. A wonderful Friday night and he was going to be spending it watching some drooling, screaming, snotty brat. And not even get paid for it. If that wasn't a serious kick in the dick, he didn't know what was. His eyes drifted over to his sister, hands firmly gripped on the steering wheel, a smile on her lips. She sure was enjoying every second of this.

"Lighten up, brother. It could be worse, you know", she said as she came to a stop sign, looked both ways, and then made a left turn.

"How could it possibly be worse, oh wonderful sister of mine?", he asked, adding sarcastic emphasis and air quotes around the word wonderful.

"You could be doing this for free", she stated simply as she made another turn down an empty street. "That would suck hard, now wouldn't it?"

"Wait, you mean I actually am getting paid for this? I'm not sacrificing a night of making those douchebags feel worthless for nothing? Don't mess with me right now, sis. I won't hesitate to stop drop and roll the fuck right out of this car", he said, a serious expression written on his facial features as his hand creeped slowly toward the lock on the door, indicating that, indeed, he wasn't kidding about it.

"What, you really thought you weren't? She offered a hundred bucks for this! I figured you'd do it on that principle alone. My friend is very protective of her daughter, so she always offers top dollar for babysitting services."

'A hundred dollars...', Phil thought to himself as the car came to a stop at a red light. 'That's more than I make for one show.' He turned to look at his sister, who was focussed on the road ahead. "How often does your friend need a sitter?"

Chaleen's lips curled into a smile. "How'd I figure that you'd ask that...she usually needs someone to do it two or three times a week, she works a lot of night shifts. And don't worry, it's mostly during the week, tonight was a one night only circumstance, her job really needed her. So before you even ask, yes Phil, you can do this during the week and continue to wrestle on weekends, if you so choose", she said, finally coming to a stop outside of a nice looking home, with the white picket fence out front, a tire swinging from a tree and covered in shades of white and blue. It was your typical home in these suburban parts of Chicago. Stepping out of the car, his sister walked ahead, so he followed closely behind until they reached the front door.

Ringing the doorbell, they waited a moment before it swung open to reveal a woman who looked like she was in her late twenties, her arms extended, welcoming Chaleen into a big hug. Raising his eyebrows at the exchange, the woman welcomed them into her home, and he marveled at how clean and put together everything was. That is, until he peeked into the kitchen and the other living room, seeing how crazy it all looked. Words couldn't describe how chaotic it all appeared to be...it was like three or four children lived in the house, not the one he had heard about. While the his sister and her friend continued to chat, Phil found himself wandering around house, looking at the various pictures of the woman and her daughter. He found one that dated back a few months, the girl wearing a birthday hat on her head, all smiles. "Hmm...March. Can't be any older than eight or nine", he mused quietly, running a finger along the frame of said picture. Upon hearing his name being called, he left the room, but not before taking one last glance at the young girl in the photo. She looked so happy.

"Ah, there he is", Chaleen said, waving him over to her. "Marie, this is my brother, Phil", she said, introducing him to her. He extended his hand and gave the woman a firm handshake and a nod of his head. "He'd be more than happy to sit for you while you're working all those crazy hours."

"Nice to meet you, Phil", the older woman said sweetly, while he returned the favor. "There's just a few things you need to know about-"

"Mom?"

The three of them turned to the stairway, and there stood the little girl in question. She was wearing a Power Rangers shirt and matching pajama pants, her long, brunette hair tied in pigtails. She had an eyebrow raised as she looked down at everyone. "Ah, there she is. Come here sweetie, I want you to meet your new babysitter."

The young girl bounded down the steps and stood close to her mother, clutching onto her arm while she looked up at the man who was to be looking after her now. But before she even said anything else, she made eye contact with the tattoos on his knuckles and her mouth formed an 'o' shape, amazed and intrigued with the ink. Instantly, she grabbed his hand and began to examine every detail of it. Phil's first instinct was to snatch his hand away and scold the girl, but he knew he couldn't afford to make such a bad impression, especially right in front of the girl's mother and his own sister, on his first night on the job. Instead, he tried a lighter approach. "Find something you like there?", he asked through slightly gritted teeth.

"I like your tattoo. It's cool!", she exclaimed eagerly, smiling a toothy smile. Smiling and stifling a chuckle at her energy, he knelt down to her level and held his larger hand out for her to shake.

"What's your name, kiddo? My name is Phil, but I prefer to be called Punk."

"Hi...", she started slowly, eyes looking down at her multi colored socks. "I'm April Jeanette...but you can call me AJ if you like", she said, shaking his hand with her own tiny one, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. He grinned, ruffling the girl's hair with his free hand, while she giggled, still toying around with his tattooed hand.

Maybe this whole babysitting thing wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it would be.

And that's a wrap on the first chapter! Can't wait to see what you all thought. Chapter two will be up soon. Lates! =)