A/N: Well I'm back with another chapter. And thanks for all the reviews (hands out goodies to all the people who reviewed) I hope you all like this one, and if you don't, feel free to throw rotten tomatoes at me.

Disclaimer: I will never in a million, gazillion, bajillion years own RENT or any of the characters. (I wish they were real so I could have a secret affair with Collins. Although I will most definitely get my ass kicked by Angel...LOL)


10:00 p.m.

"I don't know, Sean. I don't think my Aunt Mimi will laugh about this. She's already mad about the stove."

"How was I supposed to know that would happen? Anyway, we cleaned it up, didn't we?"

"And the book that you ripped?"

"It was heavy and it slipped out of my hands."

"Yeah, but--"

"Don't be such a pussy, Jason."

"I am not a pussy! Give me that ketchup bottle."

Earlier that evening

"Okay, Meems. Here are the numbers for the police department, Jason's doctor and the Poison Control Center." Angel led Mimi to the bathroom with Collins trailing behind them. "Here's a key for this medicine cabinet. There are bandages, antibiotic spray, tweezers...whatever you need." She walked her out of the bathroom and to the kitchen, showing her a small cabinet. "This is where we keep all the cleaning supplies and hazardous chemicals down there. Here's the key for that, too." Angel looked at her with worry. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Mimi rolled her eyes with impatience. "You know, I HAVE done this before. And I managed to do it without turning the place into a maximum security lock-down. Only one of Jason's friends is staying over, right? How much trouble could they possibly cause in a few hours?"

Collins tried to quietly signal Angel not to respond, but it was already too late as soon as the words were out of Mimi's mouth. Angel looked at her as if she had sprouted another head and then burst into uncontrollable laughter. Collins waited patiently for his lover to collect herself while Mimi looked at her with confusion.

"What the hell is so funny about what I said?"

Angel stopped laughing long enough to wipe the tears from her eyes and gasp, "I completely forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

"You haven't done this before, have you?"

"What? I baby-sit Jason all the time."

Angel shook her head and started to giggle again. "When there's two of them, it's a whole different game. And you've never met Sean. He's--"

"ANGEL!" Angel looked up in surprise at Collins' barking command. He looked even more puzzled when Collins grabbed her gently by the arm and dragged her to the living room. "Excuse us, Meems. We just need to have a word. We'll be right back."

The couple left the kitchen while Mimi stood there, burning with curiosity about their sudden need to talk privately. She peeked through the doorway, but her friends were on the opposite side of the living room, whispering too quietly for her to catch more than a word or two. "Oh, well," she said to herself. "Might as well keep busy." She went to the fridge to figure out what to make for dinner for Jason and his little friend, Sean.

In the living room, Collins cupped Angel's cheek gently. "Baby, you know I love you."

She smiled up at him with a glimmer in her eyes. "Of course. And I love you too."

"And you know you mean the world to me?"

Her smile broadened. "It's the same for me."

Suddenly Collins grabbed Angel's shoulders and shook him softly. "Have you lost your mind? Are you trying to scare her off? I've been wanting to take you out for a romantic dinner for weeks! You're throwing away our golden opportunity."

Angel looked abashed. "Sorry. I just didn't want her to have any unpleasant surprises."

"You know what happens if she leaves now?"

"We send Sean home and have a nice dinner, just the three of us?" said Angel hopefully.

"No, baby. Sean stays HERE, because his mother won't be back from her trip until 11:30 tonight."

"Oh." Angel looked at her watch and quickly did the math in his head. "Oh!"

From the fridge, Mimi had taken out some meat and a box of spaghetti. She was rooting around for spaghetti sauce when Angel and Collins reentered the kitchen.

Angel spoke hurriedly. "All right, chica. The boys are in Jason's room. We're off! See you in a few hours."

"Yes. We'll see you later, Mimi," added Collins in his deep voice. The two of them rapidly grabbed their coats and headed for the door.

"Wait a minute!"

Collins and Angel turned slowly and reluctantly to face her.

"Why are you in such a freakin' rush all of a sudden?"

The couple looked at each other before Collins spoke in reply. "We don't want to be late getting to the restaurant and then the place will be packed."

She looked at them with suspicion, so Angel added, "Yeah. It's Friday night and we're going to that new Indian restaurant Mo has been talking about. She says the food is great. We'll bring you back something, okay?" Angel quickly pecked Mimi on the cheek before sprinting out of the house with Collins in tow.

They weren't gone for five minutes before Mimi heard a loud crash coming from the bedrooms. She said a quick prayer. "Oh, Lord. What did I get myself into? Please don't let them kill me."

7:15 p.m.

"Don't worry, Aunt Mimi. We'll get dinner started while you fix Dad's book."

"Hold it, Jason! You and Sean are not to go near that kitchen!"

"But why? Dad always lets me help when he cooks."

"I am warning you to stay out of there! Go watch TV or something."

"But Dad doesn't like me to watch too much TV."

"I grew up with my eyes practically glued to the TV and I turned out okay. Now, go. And try not to touch anything!" she called out uselessly after the departing figures of Jason and his friend. "They must stay awake night thinking of ways to torment us," she muttered to herself. After the liberal use of tape, Collins' book was as good as new...as long as no one tried to open it. She hadn't been shocked to find the two boys looking through the book with all the nude Greek pictures. The shock had only begun when Sean had accidentally dropped the book, ripping out five pages in the process. Satisfied that she had done her best, she put the book back on the shelf. She was sure that Collins would be understanding. He was so cool, it was practically inhuman.

Mimi stood up and stretched. She took a deep breath and was alarmed to smell something burning. She took off running to the kitchen, screaming, "Jason! Sean!"

8:00 p.m.

"And don't stop until every bit is scraped out of there," Mimi ordered.

"But Aunt Mimi--"

"No, Jason! I told you not to touch anything, but you wouldn't listen. Now you two have to clean up after yourselves."

Jason set his jaw mutinously. "We were just trying to help."

"You can help more by NOT burning the apartment down. You two keep working. I'm going to the key for the cabinet so we could find some oven cleaner."

As soon as she was gone, Jason turned on his best friend. "This is YOUR fault."

Sean raised his eyebrows in innocence. The look was completed by golden brown curls which surrounded his head like a halo and had helped to escape punishment many times before. "How was I supposed to know it would melt like that?"

"I TOLD you we were supposed to use foil, not plastic." He scraped a little more at the plastic wrap which had melted all over the inside of the stove and was now clinging in blackened lumps all over the rack.

"I guess my mom uses plastic in the microwave, not the stove. Still, you don't have to get your panties in a twist."

"Shut up, butthead!"

"Boys!" Their heads shot up at Mimi's silent return. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Neither boy spoke for the next thirty minutes.

8:30 p.m.

Sean broke the silence by asking, "So what are we gonna eat for dinner? I'm starving."

Jason looked dubiously at the black, charcoal-like lump in the trash. "I dunno. I think Aunt Mimi was too mad to make something else. We could just make sandwiches."

Sean sneered a little. "We had sandwiches for lunch. I want REAL food." He thought for a minute. "I know! We could make French fries! That's real easy. My mom makes them all the time."

Jason began to get that sinking feeling in his stomach again, but he thought French fries sounded pretty good. "We better not make a mess or else we're gonna get it."

"We'll be done before she wakes up from her nap."

Jason walked to the kitchen doorway. He could see Mimi sleeping on the couch. He felt a little guilty that she was so tired, but he also felt hungry. He turned back to Sean. "What do we need?"

9:00 p.m.

"Those were good, Sean."

"See. I told you so. And your Aunt Mimi didn't even wake up."

"True, but we better clean this all up fast." Jason lugged the pot of hot oil to the sink and put it down carefully. "Is it okay if we dump this down the sink while it's hot?"

For the first time that night, Sean seemed unsure. "Maybe we should let it cool down first. I think that's what my mom does."

Jason ran to the doorway. Mimi was starting to stir. "We can't wait. If she wakes up and sees this, she's gonna get mad. Maybe if we dump cold water on it--" He quickly flipped on the faucet.

"Jason, NO!"

9:20 p.m.

Mimi sat at the kitchen table, fuming. She watched while the two boys scrubbed down all the kitchen cabinets in a fruitless effort to eliminate the oil which coated everything in sight. All three of them had already slipped and fallen on the oily floor at least twice each.

Sean whispered to Jason, "What about the stuff on the ceiling? We can't reach it without a ladder."

Jason spared a quick glance for the oil stains on the kitchen ceiling. He whispered back, "Shh. Don't say anything. I don't think she noticed that yet."

"I'm still hungry, too."

"You can eat when you get home, Sean."

They continued their work under Mimi's watchful eye.

Present time--10:05 p.m.

Jason frowned at his friend. "She'll know I'm faking."

Sean smiled devilishly. "No she won't. I did this to my mom and she almost hit the ceiling."

Jason gnawed his lip in worry. "Wasn't that the time you were grounded for two weeks?"

"Nah, she just yelled at me."

"Okay. What do I do?"

"Just do like this." Sean stretched out on the floor to demonstrate. "And you can't move a muscle or smile or laugh."

Jason lay on the floor as instructed. Sean looked at him critically. "Put your leg this way." He looked again. "Turn your head that way." He judged the scene. "Perfect! Except you need a little more..." He tipped the bottle of ketchup. "Okay. Don't move. I hear her coming." Sean grabbed an object from the floor and stood over his friend--waiting.

10:06 p.m.

Nathan Brown and his girlfriend, Alicia, were lounging comfortably in their apartment, enjoying a movie. They looked up from the TV when they heard blood curdling screams.

"Did you just hear something, baby?" asked Nathan calmly.

Alicia cocked her head to the side and listened carefully. Another scream rang through the air. "Yeah. It's coming from Collins and Angel's."

"Again? What will that boy of theirs think of next?"

They both returned to the movie without further comment.

Angel kissed Collins tenderly and sighed with contentment. "That was wonderful."

Collins hugged Angel to his right side as they walked up the stairs to their apartment. "The best part was just being with you. I wish we could get away for a whole weekend, just the two of us."

Angel smiled happily. "Well maybe Mimi will baby-sit for us again in...What the hell?"

As they walked down the hall to their door, Angel noticed how quiet it was. A little too quiet. She immediately began to run through a thousand scenarios--each one more horrifying than the next. "Oh my god!" She ran down the hall and burst through the door in a panic, then stopped in utter amazement.

Mimi was sitting and reading a book quietly. Soft music played on the radio. The boys were neatly dressed and sitting on the floor playing a quiet game of checkers. Nothing was out of place and nothing seemed wrong except for a faint hint of burnt plastic and oil in the air.

"Hey, chica. How was dinner?"

"Uh...great. How was your night?" Angel lent half an ear to Mimi's answer while she looked curiously around the room for signs of disaster. Collins walked into the apartment a minute later.

"Hey Meems. How were the boys? Not too much trouble, we hope?" The boys in question ducked their heads, seemingly entranced by the checker board. Neither of them even said hello.

"No trouble. Everything was fine. They were perfect angels."

Angel whispered out of the side of her mouth to Collins, "Quick. Check the other rooms for damage."

He nodded. "Let me just set this down in the kitchen," he said out loud, holding up a couple of small bags of leftovers. He walked calmly to the kitchen before making a small dash around to the other rooms. He rejoined the others within a few minutes and sat on the couch next to Angel.

She mouthed, "Well?" at him.

He shrugged his shoulders and mouthed back, "Everything's fine." He turned to Mimi and said, "Thanks Meems. We really needed the night off. Maybe you could do this again sometime."

She raised an eyebrow wordlessly. "I don't know. I'm not getting any younger, you know."

Collins looked surprised. "You? You're always so full of energy. Besides, I thought you said they were perfect angels.

Mimi muttered under her breath, "Satan started off as an angel, too."

"What was that?"

"Nothing...Sure. You need a babysitter, you just call me. But maybe it should be just Jason next time. No offense, Sean." She added the last for the boy who had looked up in dismay. "Well, I'm beat and I need to get home." She stood and a heavy object fell out of her lap.

Angel stooped to pick it up. "Uh, Mimi? Why are you carrying a butcher knife around?" She looked more closely at it. "And why is there ketchup on it?"

Mimi sighed wearily and walked to the door. "Ask the two little 'angels' to explain. I'm too tired." She grabbed her coat and purse and walked out the door, tired and stressed out, but with a new sense of lightness. Collins and Angel followed her to the door. "And by the way, Sean's mom called. Her plane was grounded due to bad weather." She ignored the looks of alarm on Angel and Collins' faces and delivered the bad news bluntly. "She won't be back until tomorrow morning. Good luck" And with those final words, Mimi disappeared down the steps, thanking the higher powers for her not having any kids

The End.


A/N:
Hope you liked. You already know the drill. :) Also there will be 2 or 3 more chapters until this story,series, whatever you wanna call it, is complete. Just giving you guys a heads up.