Just the Way You Are

Matthew and Monica talked in their bedroom as she went through her closet. They had moved back in the Buchanan Mansion about eight years ago before Mayte was gone because they needed more space and it was nice to have all the kids around the family all the time.

"You need to tell G the truth about Justin being his biological father. I told you to tell him this years ago." Monica said.

"I know. I will. It just never seems like the right time." Matthew replied.

"The right time for you or him? You don't like to say out loud that he's not your biological son and you're afraid he won't look at you the same but you are his father regardless of what DNA says. G will always love you. Nothing can change that. What if no one ever told you the truth about your father?"

"It's not the same. Justin didn't want him."

"He still has to know. If no one treats him like he has the strength to handle things he never will." Monica sat next to Matthew on the bed. "You're a good father and nothing you tell him will make him forget it." Monica kissed him.

-v-

Drew and Tori were sitting with their feet in the pool at the Buchanan mansion. Tori kept fidgeting trying to keep her cover up, covering up.

"I feel so out of the loop about everything since I've been home, like everyone is keeping something from me."

"Like who?" Tori wondered if he had already caught on to Val and Leon.

"Val, Leon, G, my mom and James."

"Why do you think your parents are keeping something from you?"

"They just seem like they're hiding something."

"I think you feel this way because you've been gone so long."

"No, things are off... What is going on with you?" Drew asked because Tori was so fidgety.

"This thing won't do it's job and cover up." Tori replied.

"You look fine. Just take the thing off. I know you're tired of fixing it because I'm tired of watching you fix it." They laughed.

"I don't know."

"If you can't trust me, who can you trust?" Drew smiled. She finally took the annoying cover up off. Drew turned on some fun party music and got in the pool then took her hand to join him. They playfully danced around in the water for a few songs. All of a sudden a slow song came on. They looked at each other for an awkward moment then Tori suddenly decided to swim and Drew just watched her in admiration and fascination.

Leon, Ryder, Sierra Rose and Liam came out to join them.

"Snap out of it!" Ryder got Drew's attention.

"What are you talking about?" Drew questioned.

"I know you. In that hopeless romantic head of yours, you were just creating an entire story of you and Tori being married with three kids." Ryder laughed.

"Was not." Drew said.

"Oh. It was two kids." Ryder joked.

"You're not funny." Drew said. Ryder laughed.

"I'm funny. Leon, when did you realize Drew was in love with your sister?" Ryder asked.

"Around the time I realized I was in love with his sister." Leon said in a joking tone and laughed to play it off.

"Would y'all shut up?" Drew said as Tori swam her way back.

"Aw, you don't want her to know. Y'all are just too cute." Sierra said.

-v-

Meanwhile, Val was inside sitting in her room sadly holding an old Build-A-Bear when Grey came in.

"Are you all right?" Grey asked.

"Yeah... It's just, my mom gave me this bear and when you press the hand my mom's voice would say, 'Mommy, loves you Valley Bear.' It stopped working. I have other things but this was special." Val explained.

"At least you have things of your mom's. You have home videos and voice recordings. You even have some of her old clothes and toys from when she was a kid. You have people to tell you stories about her. All I have of my mom is an old year book picture. My grandparents don't even come around anymore since they've come into some money." Grey said.

"I'm sorry." Val said.

"Why doesn't dad ever tell me anything about my mom? When I ask him about her, it seems like he's trying come up with a feasible story. He tells you about your mom. Sometimes I think I'm adopted. I don't even look like a Buchanan."

"Don't be ridiculous. You look like your mom. My guess is dad just doesn't want to tell you that he and your mom just weren't close. They knew each other from school and maybe they just hooked up one night."

"You're saying, maybe I'm the result of a one night stand?"

"I don't know. I'm guessing, I just don't think they actually dated and if they did they weren't happy because then he would have stories to tell. Think about it. Add dad's stories together. First of all, we're a month apart. He says when he and my mom broke up she was barely pregnant with me but he didn't know yet."

"So my mom was the rebound."

"I don't know. I'm just trying to make sense of things."

"I want to know more about my mom. I just don't know what I'll find."

"You can start by searching the internet. Maybe there's something there. I want to know about my mom too... Dad actually gave me a new video of her. He said it's a video diary. I've just been afraid to watch it."

"You're never afraid."

"I get afraid. I'm just brave most of the time..."

"So I guess we're on a mission to learn about our mothers."

"Yeah. Have you told dad about those assholes bullying you?"

"Not yet."

"Grey Rich Buchanan!"

"Come on, don't say my whole name. It's awful. I'm going to talk to Drew first."

"If that's what you want. Things will get handled much faster if you talk to dad. He'll shut all that s**t down."

-v-

Kya was having lunch at the Buena's Dias when Sam came over to her.

"Kya. How are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Better. I spoke to James and he helped me a lot. Do you want to join me?" Kya asked.

"Sure." Sam had a seat. "I have a job for you."

"I'm always down for that. What's the job?"

"Could you decorate my apartment? Make it very... Me. It's pretty boring right now."

"Sure! I'd love to!"

"You can pretty much do whatever you want. I'm open. I have a nice budget and I'll pay you well. When you're ready, give me an estimate and we'll make it happen."

"Great! Thanks! So let me ask you something. If you could go anywhere in time, where would you go?"

"If I wanted to go to the past, I'd probably meet my biological mother. Maybe if I met her at some point in her life, she wouldn't be as bad as I imagine she was but I'm weary of traveling to the past, could mess up the present or cause a paradox. Maybe I'd go twenty years into the future or maybe a century. There could be consequences to knowing the future too."

"So it's pretty much an all around dangerous idea."

"It doesn't have to be but that's why I can't let it get into the wrong hands."

"But you could make the present better like Marty McFly."

"Or you could make it worst like Biff."

"In Biff's world it was better, not so much to everyone else." Kya laughed. "Since we're talking about it, we should watch the Back to the Future trilogy together. It could be fun."

Sam smiled, knowing her motive behind the suggestion. "Yeah, let's do that."

-v-

Before Leon went home he made a stop to Val's room to say goodbye.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked then sat next to her on the bed.

"Working myself up to watching this video diary of my mom. I've seen home videos of us but this is a little different." Val replied.

"I'd stay and watch it with you but I really shouldn't be in your room."

"That's okay and I don't think anyone would think anything of you being in here unless they caught us doing this." Val kissed him then the door flung open.

"Ooh!" Mayte (My-Tay) exclaimed as she stood at Val's door. "I'm telling daddy!"

Val grabbed her before she ran off, closed the door and sat her on the bed.

"You didn't see anything." Val said.

"Yes I did." Mayte made kissing facing.

"Listen. You can't tell daddy because I have to tell daddy and if daddy doesn't hear it from me, he'll think I was hiding this from him."

"But you are."

"Not for long. Just don't tell. One day you're going to be my age and you're going to need a favor and I will owe you one. Okay?" Mayte wasn't convinced. "I'll give you my allowance for the week." She still wasn't won over. "The next two weeks."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Mayte shook Val's hand and left the room.

"You were just blackmailed by a seven year old." Leon pointed out.

"I know." Val shook her head.

-v-

Drew was downstairs in the living room with Davonna and Veta playing the piano and singing his heart out to Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. Davonna and Veta were singing backup.

When they got to the end of the song, they heard claps. They turned to see Grey standing there.

"Yet another one of Drew Evan Buchanan's talents. I didn't know you two could sing like that." Grey said.

"Thank you." Davonna and Veta sung in harmony. They laughed.

"Just call us Destiny's Child." Veta said.

"I'm Beyoncé." Davonna said.

"Why do you get to be Beyoncé?" Veta asked.

"Because I'm actually Destiny's child." Davonna replied.

"That doesn't count. It doesn't matter anyway. I like Kelly. Beyoncé had her hey day. Kelly is on top now." Veta said.

"And none of us were alive when Destiny's Child was even a group." Drew pointed out.

"We're going outside." Davonna informed.

"Veta, you feel all right?" Drew asked.

"I'm fine." Veta replied.

"Don't do anything crazy. Vonny, come get me if anything happens." Drew said.

"I haven't gotten sick in months. I'm growing out of it." Veta explained.

"I know. I'm just making sure. I convinced your mom to let you come along. I don't need her cursing me out if you get sick on my watch."

"I'm fine!" Veta exclaimed.

"We're leaving in about an hour or two." Drew informed before the girls went outside.

"Is that a new song? It sounds like an oldie?" Grey asked.

"It is old. You know I like a lot of old stuff." Drew replied.

"So were you singing about Tori?"

"What's up, G?" Drew changed the subject.

"I have to ask you something." Grey said in a serious tone.

"I'm all ears." Drew replied concerned.

"... Can you teach me how to fight?"

That's not something Drew expected to hear from Grey. He wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Why do you want to learn how to fight? You're not a fighter."

"It's a handy skill. You're not a fighter either but you know how."

"Yeah but I have that Buchanan temper which you don't have. Perhaps, I have an Evans temper too." Drew laughed. "The skill is really a stress reliever and a good workout. My whole family can fight, we never actually do. We're lovers."

"That's why I want to learn and self defense is a useful skill."

Drew had his eye brow raised. He saw red flags. "What's going on? Somebody bothering you?"

"No!" Grey replied sort of panicked.

"Who is it? We can handle this right now."

"I'm sixteen, not six. I don't need my big brother to fight my battles. That's why I'm asking you to teach me how to fight my own."

"So someone definitely is bothering you. Bullies?" Grey didn't answer. "How long has this been going on?"

"... Since the beginning of the school year."

"Why didn't you tell someone?"

"It's embarrassing."

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You know. Dad, my mom and Shane were all bullied in high school. Did you ever hear the story behind dad getting paralyzed?" Grey shook his head. "They were at a school dance and some bullies completely humiliated him so he ran off and got in the car with Hope's dad who was on drugs at the time and they got into a car accident. As tough as my mom is, as confident as she's always been, they even made her doubt herself. They really get it. They've all been through a lot."

"How'd they deal with it?"

"Eventually, the bullies found something else to do but unfortunately it all got out of control before that happend and you can't let it go that far. My mom always has a snappy come back for everything. That's what I do."

"But no one ever bothers you because you're cool and they know that you can kick their ass. So can you teach me how to fight like you?"

"You're cool too, G. Don't let other people convince you that you're not. Now I can't teach you how to fight like me. That took a lot of training. I can teach you the basics. I don't actually want you to have to fight but I'll teach you what you need to know just in case. You don't have to go up against them alone. Don't you know you have a team? We're Buchanan's. There's a lot of us and they can't beat us all. I don't care where I am in the world, you can always talk to me. When you need someone in person and immediately, Leon is still here." Drew stood up. "First thing's first. It takes more energy to swing and miss than it takes to swing and hit so the key is, don't let them hit you..." Drew began showing Grey some basic moves so that he could feel confident and well... Not get beat up.

It's hard keeping up with these family trees lol.