A/N-OK, here I am, continuing an old and almost abandoned fic. And my first chap had so many typos...how am I supposed to rectify them?AAAAAAAAAAARGH! And I'm supposed to be working on my gift as well, but I felt like writing something that was lighter because if I have to write more about Ian after Nat's death now I'm going to cry...I'll continue that when I feel like wallowing in angst (which, BTW, I love. But still, all I've been writing lately is angst. I feel like I need to work on being a positive person, blah, blah...but that's only going to last a day. Tomorrow, I'll feel like doing angst and family and stuff again...)

On with the chapter.

"Hey, kids, I brought you cupca-Daniel Arthur Cahill! Why, pray, are you wrestling a Holt?" Grace demanded.

"I'm sorry, Grace, but I really didn't want to fight-"

"No, fight all you want. I just thought you'd be smarter than to wrestle someone thrice your size-er, sorry, Hamilton, dear."

"Huh? Why?" Ham asked blankly.

"It's just...I forget about peace, at times, and my restless spirit enjoys a little action here and there."

"Oh, it's fine", Ham replied gruffly, though in reality, he hadn't understood a word of what Grace had said. But then again, it was nice to have an old woman bow to you in apology-even if she had nothing to apologize for.

"I'll forgive you if I can have Dan's share of cupcakes", Ham bargained, trying to milk the situation to the best of his capability.

"Hey!" Dan complained.

"You could be a wonderful Lucian, you know," Grace commented.

"What's a Lucian?" Dan asked.

"Nothing, Dan dea-"

"Hey! I'm a Tomas, and don't you dare-"

"But you make a wonderful Tomas as well," Grace added quickly with a twinkle in her eye. "And I'll bring you in extra cupcakes."

"But I want Dan's share and Dan's share only!" Ham whined.

"You dare try to steal a ninja's ploppy kiklim spolk?" Dan demanded. "You-"

"What's a ploppy kiklim spolk?" Ham demanded.

"It's a ninja's treasure, something he thrives on. If he doesn't have enough, he might have to commit sepuku", Reagan supplied.

"Reagan? You're into ninjas?" Dan asked in excitement. And in a moment, the cupcakes were forgotten as Reagan and Dan began a ninja exchange. Apparently, Reagan had secretly been into ninjas since she was five.

"Hey!" Ham roared. "What's this new trend? I wanna know who these ninja guys are!"

"Eat your cupcakes", Madison muttered-or, muttered to the best of her capability. Madison's voice couldn't go below the screaming level.

"I don't want them!" Ham shouted.

"Hack into someone's account", she tried.

"But I've already done that a billion times at home!"

"Spell 'hippopotamus'."

"I can do that! H-I-P-O-P-A-T-H-A-M-I-L-T-O-N-uh, forget it. I'm bored!"

Grace smiled quietly to herself and slipped out with the cookies. Popping three into her mouth, she sneaked back into her bedroom. She assumed Amy and the older Cahills (technically, Ham was older too, but he behaved like a kid) could manage themselves. Now she could have an old-lady night to herself, watching cheesy romantic comedies from the 1950's and enjoying Alistair Oh's portable-bouffete of burritos in her bedroom.

"Guys, should we play Truth or Dare?" Sinead suggested.

"My teacher says that such games increase peer pressure and makes little girls like me feel uncomfortable", Amy said. "Why don't we read something?"

"Sissy", Sinead muttered. "Why don't we invent something together, or booby trap Dan?"

"He's my brother!" Amy cried.

"My brother's are busy scanning the room for good places to hide booby traps, and I think I'm going to join them", Sinead declared.

"Let's just stick with Truth or Dare", Ian drawled. "But it won't be too fun with just the three of us."

"Let's prank Grace", Sinead suggested.

"No!" Amy yelled. "Grace is my grandmother!"

Sinead rolled her eyes at Ian. "Should we call the others?" she asked. "Go", Ian replied. "I'll stay here."

Sinead ventured to the kid's room. "So", Ian drawled. "Evan's all fine?"

"Yes", Amy replied, pleasantly surprised that Ian was interested. She didn't know he was just teasing her, of course. "He loves computers. I think he'll become a great tech engineer someday."

"How boring", Ian muttered. "You don't get time to get all mushy, then?"

Amy blushed and shook her head. Just then, Sinead returned with Dan and the others, Dan and Reagan still engrossed in their ninja conversation.

"Who starts?" Ham demanded.

"I'll ask Amy", Ian replied. "So, Amy. How many times a week do you still cry about that A-minus?"

Amy blushed. "I pick Dare", she muttered almost inaudibly. "So I don't have to answer that."

"As if that doesn't make it obvious enough," Ian pretended to whisper to Sinead. Amy turned tomato red.

"Go to Grace's room and call her the worst grandmother ever, without telling her it's a dare", Sinead challenged.

Amy paled. "I can't do that", she whispered.

"Okay, we'll be generous. Drink a sip of Ham's pee", Dan piped up.

Ian made a face.

"Gross, Daniel," Natalie murmured. "You can always pick Truth, Amy."

"Okay, I'm still upset about my paper, and I cry about it every day", Amy whispered. "I'm so ashamed of myself."

Dan snorted.

"There, Amy. It wasn't so hard, was it?" Natalie asked, making a big show of acting as though Amy was two.

"I believe it's my turn?" Amy asked tentatively. "I pick...Sinead."

"Sure", Sinead replied. "Dare."

"Tell Dan he's a dweeb", Amy said.

Sinead rolled her eyes.

"Okay, pull his hair. Or you can sing a song, if you don't want to do anything else."

Sinead stared at Amy.

"This is going to take time", she muttered to herself.

OK, that was lame, because I literally wrote down whatever came into my mind. No thinking. No proof-reading. But guys, could you review? It's gonna be funny next time, because I've been typing for two hours (you know, the gift and this? I've never done so much in one day, not even when I had to type out a 10,000 word story in six days for the October Challenge) and humor is hard when you're tired. But I promise, it's not gonna be so lame next time.

So long!

~GB639

:)