Table Talk

Frances glanced over at Donny who slunk down in his chair and put his head in his hands. He blinked a few times before looking over at Leo and Bria and then over at Mikey and Nao, "Any other surprises for this table so we can save the dying?"

"I'm not dying, Fran," Donny said, "I'm trying to get my wits back."

"And how's that going for you?" Electric and Frances said together. They both looked at each other with a raised eyebrow before turning their attention back to the genius.

Lily pouted, "Gomen?" she asked uncertainly.

"Don't apologize," Donny said as he looked up at Lily, "It's fantastic news." He told her gently, "I'm just shocked."

"You know the usual reaction is to cheer and hug her hard enough so that she says "I can't breathe" and then you put her down and let her bounce around happy." Frances pointed out, "You can't be that much of a shut in."

Ellie sighed happily. "That's three families we get to welcome." The dog shape-shifter grinned widely. "This is so exciting!"

Lily blushed a bit, "That it is," she scratched her cheek, "So…What's for breakfast this morning?" she asked as she scooted her chair closer to Don and waved her hand in front of his dazed face.

Ellie grinned and started bring out the plates. "Eggs, toast, bacon, pancakes and since Frances is here, we have waffles. This pile is chocolate chip, this one is strawberry and this one is pecan. The plains ones are in the middle." She explained as she set the last plate down after her three trips to the kitchen.

Donny blinked and glanced over at Lily, "Nani?"

"Are you sure you're not dying?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"I'm quite positive." Donny said with a gentle smile. "I'm just thinking. Sorry. I should be enthused about the news and everything."

"Worrying about that final battle that's coming up?" When Donny shot Frances a glare, the human-neko nodded, "Bingo."

"Shut up, or I'll tweak your ears enough to make sure you go unconscious," Lily glanced at him sharply.

"I call the Chocolate Chip waffles!" Brianna called and raced Electric for them.

"Strawberry!" Nao shouted and attempted to beat Sam for them.

"No need to get violent. I understand perfectly." Frances said as he leaned over and scooted the plain waffles closer and dodged Eletric's and Brianna's flying hands to steal two from the pile and push it back. "Ian and Lese are spending more time with Nicky and Danny." He looked at Donny. "But think of it this way, enjoy it now and cherish it. There's no need to overthink the simple things. Sometimes I wonder if that's the problem with geniuses."

"No fair!" Sam cried out as he tried to fight over them with Nao.

Donny watched Frances for a while before chuckling and shaking his head. "I think you're right." He smiled at Lily and gave her a one-armed hug. "I should enjoy this."

"That's the spirit!" Frances said with a grin.

"I'm going to steal them back." Sam said. "Or at least share them! What's the harm of having one?"

"I'm playing, don't get your balls in a pinch, that's Matt's job," Nao giggled as Raph stole two with his Sai and place one on his and one on Rachel's plates.

"Freaking ninjas." Sam and Electric muttered as Leo had snatched a plate from Electric hands and gave it to Bria.

"Speaking of, where is the hyper-active blond?" Frances asked. "And where's the uptight doctor...what's his face...Alex?"

"His name is Andy," Rachel sweatdropped. "Ian couldn't get him out work so he's doing that. Matt couldn't stand another moment away from the salon, so she's working there too. She'll be back."

"Thank you, Leo," Bria said lovingly and grinned as she took several pieces from the plate.

Jacob took two pieces of the pecan waffles and reached for the blueberry syrup and poured a generous amount on it.

Frances winced as he looked at it, "Nuts with blueberries…one might mistake you for a squirrel."

"Ah," Jacob said with a smile on his face, "But since you enjoy carrots when you can get them, one might believe you to be a rabbit."

"I would make a horrible white bunny," Frances said with a horrified expression on his face.

Ellie snickered, "Sadly, Franny, I can picture you in a bunny suit."

"Get that mental picture out of your head right now!" Frances shrieked, turning red, "I'm a neko! A neko! A cat!"

Lily shook her head and took one chocolate chip and one strawberry waffle, as well as several pieces of bacon, "Your guys' imaginations freak me out sometimes…"

Ellie grinned and Frances just shook his head. Electric decided to be the one to say something. "We're not as bad as Ian or Rae. Both of them are so morbid…" He shuddered, "It scares even me and I love horror stories."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I think Ian much worse than me. I can't stand being in the same room as a movie going. Sam," She glared over at the red-head who smirked.

"Matt is pretty bad too…and Andy when he's drunk enough to be random," Jacob replied, "Remember Ellie?"

She nodded a few times solemnly, "You know, everyone's imagination's are a little different." She said randomly, "Maybe that's why we got pwned during the Prelude."

"Or maybe it's because you guys had bad timing," Frances snorted, "You need more people to handle that kind of battle. You guys were sorely outnumbered. Big time."

"Ah, so are you volunteering to actually fight with us?" Ellie squealed.

"No," He responded, "I like my life thanks."

"Boring," She whimpered.

"You already have a suicidal doctor, why do you want another suicidal neko?" Frances asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?" Electric asked in curiosity as he took a bite of his waffle and swallowed, barely chewing on it, "Andy's not suicidal."

"He's training with Ian and been talking to Jason." Frances said with a shrug and smirked at Rae, "And who says I can't do a woman's job?" He teased her.

"I bet you don't know what they were talking about." Rachel challenged with a smile.

"Ah...that's...is true." Frances said with a shrug.

"Score one for the woman's team." She grinned.

Bria laughed, "Nice, sis," she smiled.

"I do wonder though if Jason's going to com here and try to combine teams. I may not have heard the conversation, but it's no secret to know that your friend is a little pissed off." Frances pointed out.

"I think he's furiously angry. That was his favorite base they had to destroy." Rachel sighed. "I won't be surprised if he comes here and demands to know everything and forces Ian to accept the alliance. Then again, that's a bad thing…the Water Snakes are no longer of the Three Majors…"

"Well…" Frances and Rachel both looked at each other. "It's not for certain. I mean, it's no secret the Water Snakes are gone…but…there's still gangs who want to take that place…so…more gangwars are going to occur."

"And while that goes on, Ian and Jason are at wits end trying to find a gang to nominate." Frances paused. "I know two that they might nominate."

"I don't want to hear it." Rachel said, pointing her fork at him. "Because once you do Ian will know that I know and Jason will have a hunch I have an idea and then I'll have to spill my guts about what I know about the two gangs."

"That's a lot of knowing," Raph mumbled through a piece of waffle.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Raph," Lily sighed and took another bite of bacon.

"And you're a part of that knowing my friend." Frances said with a laugh. "It's okay Lily, he makes Electric and Sam look like pigs."

"I resent that!" The said duo cried out.

Lily tapped her chin, "You're right," she added fuel to the fire.

The two glared at her heatedly and Frances picked up his glass of milk. "Calm down you two or I'll pour this over you guys." He warned them, "Lily that goes for you too darling."

"Favoritism," Sam grumbled as he folded his arms, "You added her last."

"It was an afterthought," Frances grinned.

Lily grinned and just sipped her drink, "Fran! You remembered how I make cocoa!" she laughed, highly pleased.

"Well…yes…" He said with a slight blush and he turned away. "You were…quite specific."

"I think he still has a crush on you." Rachel said as she took a drink with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

Lily blushed hotter than Fran was but said nothing as she sipped her cocoa and shrank into her shoulders, embarrassed.

Donny looked over at Lily to Frances and back to Lily again. "Do I want to know?"

"Um…" The four who were witnesses to the nine days and more just shared a glance at each other. Whether they were trying to swear secrecy without saying anything or not, was beyond Donny.

"We fooled around." Frances responded honestly. "She loved you then and now." He shrugged at him. "And before you get angry, think about it this way. If a hot girl walked into your lab and Lily wasn't around, I'm sure you would fool around too." He nodded. "I know this because I'm a guy."

"Surprisingly straight too," Electric muttered under his breath.

"I heard that," The neko glared over at him.

"Whoo!" Nao waved her hands, since she was closest to Fran, and she scooted closer to Michelangelo, "Ok, ok, enough of that topic, mm?" she asked her cheeks darkening. She heard Mikey's attempt to stifle a snicker as he heard her thoughts and she hit his arm.

Rachel laughed, "That's probably a good thing."

"It is," Frances sighed in relief.

Lily mewed and swished her tail, putting her cup down and getting up, trying to repress those thoughts at the same time keep Don from seeing no doubt Nao only saw glimpses of. "Food was great, Ellie…" she added taking her plate to the kitchen and left it in the fridge for later. Quickly she decided to go hide in the training room…but that was a bad idea, because that was where most of the 9 days was spent. She groaned and floated up to one of the rafters, no idea where else to go.

Donny wondered what had happened during the nine days that Lily had spent with Frances. He had a hunch that he knew, but decided to wait until Lily told him herself. He was a bit…no…he was very envious that Frances had probably touched Lily first before he had.