Brain's a little scrambled. Hope this doesn't suck

All characters belong to Tom McGillis and Jen Pertsch

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The next morning, Gwen stirred awake as the sun shone through the blinds. A quick glance revealed it was close to ten in the morning, so she climbed out of her warm bed with a grunt, feeling the cold wooden floor under her feet. 'Need coffee.' She thought as she left her room and shuffled to the kitchen, eyes dangerously close to closing again. But as she approached the kitchen, light sounds of snoring drifted through the air, making her eyes pop. Her shuffling turned to careful tip-toe as she snuck down the hall, sneaking into the living room to discover Chris in the middle of the floor, wrapped tightly in a mass of blankets as his head laid lopsided on the carpeted floor. 'Right,' She reminded herself, 'Had a visitor spend the night.' Against her better judgement, Gwen carefully crept towards the sleeping man and then lifted his head a little to slide a pillow underneath. She winced as he stirred a little, but the man muttered something and went back to sleep, burring his face into the comfortable cushion.

'Sleeping like the dead.' She thought as she walked out, continuing her mission to the kitchen, 'How long was he on the run?' Walking up to the kitchen, she reached for the grinds and filters, only nearly drop them when the phone started to ring, making her scramble to get to the receiver and answer it. "Hello?" She asked.

"Hi honey!" Her mom greeted over the phone, making her breath hitch in her throat, "How are things back home?"

"Fine," She said nervously, "Just fine."

"Gwen, is something wrong?" Her mother asked, "Do I need to come home?"

"No, everything's fine!" Gwen assured, "You just caught me off guard. I just woke up and I didn't expect you to call so soon!"

"Okay, if you're sure," Her mother said, "I only called you because I might be stuck over here longer than I thought; your aunt suddenly took a turn for the worst, and we ended up doing a lot of the house work." Gwen nodded as she heard her mother ramble on and on about her aunt's cactus garden and how she was able to grow them in Canada when the teenager noticed Chris stumbled into the kitchen, gripping the blanket tightly around his body as he pulled the refrigerator door open. "Gwen, are you listening?" Her mother asked.

"Sorry," Gwen said as she watched the half-asleep man dig through the refrigerator and pull out a milk carton and a package of hot dogs, "I'm still sleepy, and I didn't get to make the coffee yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry dear." Her mom said, "I'll let you get back to your morning routine; just wanted to see how my Gwenny-baby faired her first night alone!"

"I've been alone before." The teen reminded as she watched Chris try to open the hot dogs with his teeth.

"I'll let you know how things go," Her mother said, "Love you! And your brother says he loves you too! Bye-bye!"

"Bye!" Gwen said sweetly before hanging up and groaning, slamming the phone into its cradle. "Chris, what are you doing?" She asked as she turned her attention to the host as the package hung from his teeth.

"Wha?" He croaked out.

"Have you heard of scissors?" She asked as she swiped the hot dogs. The host just started at her with dull eyes, eyelids threatening to close. "Hey, are you okay?" Gwen asked.

"Mmm-hmm…" He groaned as his head collided with the table.

"Did I wake you or something?" She asked.

"Naw." He moaned, "Don't think I slept at all. I gotta look terrible right now."

"Yeah, you can pass as a zombie right now." She said, "No offence."

"Whatever a zombie is, sure." He mumbled.

"I'll make some breakfast," Gwen said as she turned her attention to the fridge, "All I got is some freezer waffles, and no, you're not eating them cold."

"No, don't do that." Chris said, "I-I already overstayed. I should get going."

"You can barely stand," Gwen pointed out, "That, and you tried to open some hotdogs with your teeth."

"Seen someone else do it before." He said as he laid his head on the table.

"Look, just relax and let me get things started," She said as she slid some waffles in the toaster, "It's no big deal."

"Okay." He mumbled, "You win…" A small snore erupted as he fell asleep on the table, messy black hair falling over his face. With the depress of the toaster lever, she left the host to sleep and went back to her room to get dressed. With the shut and lock of her bedroom door, Gwen pulled out a simple black t-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and her black boots from her closet, and laid them out on her bed.

"Well, now what do I do?" She asked as she started to change, "Maybe I should call someone? No, that's a terrible idea; who would I call anyway? What would I say anyway? 'Hey guys, I have Chris McLean at my house, and he's not such a huge ass as he is on television; he's just some weird test-tube guy with a computer brain and is on the run for not killing us!' I would sound as crazy as Izzy…" She pulled her head through her t-shirt, and glanced over at a full-body mirror that was on tacked onto the wall. Gwen reached out and touched the cold glass, the slight chill reminding her that she was sane and in reality. "Keep it together," She said quietly to her reflection, "You've been through weirder. You've survived worse. I…can do this…" But the mantra failed as Gwen let out an exasperated sigh, hanging her head in disbelief. "I had people help me," She admitted, "I'm basically alone at this point!" Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Gwen held her head up. "Now what?" She asked as she opened the door to her room and began her trudge to the front door as the newcomer kept pressing the doorbell over and over. "I'm coming, hold your horses!" She called as she unlocked the door and threw it open, nearly falling back on her butt.

"HI GWEN!" Cody and Owen greeted.

"Hey, girlfriend!" LeShawna said as she and Sierra peered over Owen's shoulders.

"Guys!" She gasped, "I…I didn't expect you!"

"Well, we were in the neighborhood," Owen admitted as the four teens walked in, "And we thought to say 'hello'. So, 'hello'!"

"Did we come at a bad time?" Cody asked as he poked his head around.

"No…" Gwen answered, "It's fine…"

"Did you get another boyfriend?" LeShawna asked.

"No!" The goth answered abruptly, "I mean, no; I swore off boyfriends for a long while."

"You can't fool me," Sierra said as she moved to the front of the group, "So who did you hook up with this time?"

"No one!" Gwen assured, "I'm seriously single!"

"Do I smell waffles?" Owen suddenly said, and Gwen suddenly remembered.

"Crap!" She shouted as she ran to the kitchen. A small amount of smoke was rising from the toaster as she ran for the appliance and pulled the plug. She turned to the table to find that Chris was gone, blankets and all. 'Where did he go now?!' she thought.

"I knew I smelled waffles!" Owen said as he popped into the kitchen.

"Yep!" She hastily assured, "Darn waffles got stuck in the toaster again! Here, help yourself!" She tossed the toaster to Owen and ran for the living room.

"What are you doing?" Cody asked as Owen tried to pull the burnt waffles out.

"Gotta find a spare toaster…somewhere!" Gwen answered as she scanned the living room to find it empty.

"We can help you find it." LeShawna offered.

"Nope, totally got it under control!" Gwen said as she checked the broom closet, "I know I have a spare toaster somewhere!"

"Who buys a spare toaster?" Sierra asked.

"Maybe one was given as a gift?" Cody suggested.

"That would be a terrible gift," LeShawna said, "No one wants a toaster for anything."

"Hey Gwen, got any syrup?" Owen asked.

"Check the walk-in cupboard!" Gwen called. The big teen looked around until he saw a large door. He opened it and saw Chris sitting against the wall, wincing at the sudden brightness.

"Hey, Chris buddy?" Owen whispered, "Hate to bug ya while you're tryin' to sleep, but can you pass the maple syrup?" The older man looked around and then handed Owen the syrup. "Thanks." He said as he stepped out and closed the door.

"Who were you talking to in there?" Cody asked.

"Chris." The big teen said as he squeezed the syrup into his mouth.

"Oh," The smaller boy said, "That's interesting."

"Wait, Chris is in there?" LeShawna asked.

"That, or Gwen's dad," Owen continued, "But I don't know if Gwen's dad looks like Chris or not."

"Gwen doesn't have a dad." Sierra said as she opened the door, the three gathering around as Chris flinched from the light, pulling his blanket over his head. "What the!?" She screamed.

"Gwen!" LeShawna shouted, "We found your spare toaster!"

"Crap!" Gwen shouted as her rapid footsteps thudded through the house.

"Chris, what are you doing in there?" Cody asked.

"Sleepin'." He mumbled as he pulled the blanket over his head.

"You don't think he…and Gwen…?" Sierra uttered in a horrified tone.

"No, no way!" LeShawna denied.

"What, what happened?!" Gwen shouted as she entered the kitchen.

"Are you dating Chris now?" Sierra asked.

"WHAT?! NO!" The goth shouted.

"Why is he here then?" LeShawna asked, then gasped and her eyes grew wide, asking, "Did he try to what I think he did?!"

"What do you think he did?" Cody asked.

"The wild thing!" The sassy sister shouted.

"Wait, what?!" The smaller teen gasped.

"No, no, nothing like that!" Gwen shouted as Chris tried to join her side, "It's a very long story!"

"QUIET!" Owen said causing everyone to stare at him. "Here's how it's going to go down." He started, "Gwen, you and Chris will start explaining…all of this. And the rest of us will listen and shut up until you're finished. After all that, we'll ask our questions and then try and figure out what to do next. Is that clear?" The rest nodded in agreement, allowing the large teen to smile. "Good." He said.

"When did you get so assertive?" Cody asked.

"Noah gave me some lessons," Owen admitted as he tapped his fingers, "Just in case I run into someone like Al. And I kinda had it with all the fighting."

/

To be continued.