It Keeps Getting Worse

Tony didn't argue and flew back down the steps and slid back into his spot by the television. Jethro and Lisa had disappeared, and Abuela was in the kitchen. When the game ended an hour later Tony made his way to the kitchen in search of a snack. Abuela was icing a cake.

"Where is your company?"

"Not my company," Tony muttered, then added a little louder, "upstairs, putting his stuff up. I'm hungry. Can I get something to eat?"

Maria narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Did you show him where he could put all of his belongings?"

Tony ignored her question and began reaching for the bowl of icing so that he could stick his finger in the sugary goodness. Maria popped his hand with the spatula she was using to frost the cake. "Not that- the cake is for dessert tonight. You can have some fruit. First, though, go get Malcolm. He's probably hungry and thirsty, too, and is shy to ask."

Tony started to argue but decided it really wouldn't be that much work to go get the cretin and escort him down. He hit the stairs at a run and burst through the door of his bedroom to find Malcolm holding one of his comic books. "Put that back," he ordered sternly. "I told you to not touch my stuff!" Malcolm dropped the book and tried to defend himself by saying he was just looking, and had no reason to mess it up. "I don't care!" Tony snapped. "Stay away from my things and get away from my side of the room. Now, get downstairs. Abuela- and you don't call her that- only I do- wants you in the kitchen- pronto!"

Though his feelings were obviously hurt, Malcolm didn't respond. He just nodded and headed downstairs. Tony took a moment to assess Malcolm's activities. Evidently, he'd been unpacking and trying to put away his clothes when Tony interrupted him. On top of a pile of pajamas was a photo of Malcolm and Lisa with a man who must be Malcolm's dad. Tony studied it a moment, then headed down himself.

As the afternoon progressed into the evening, Tony's mood got nastier and worse. Abuela and Gibbs made it a point to engage the guests in dinnertime conversation, and the more interested they were in Malcolm's responses, the more irritated Tony got. When dessert was finished and the adults left to enjoy steaming cups of coffee in the living room, Abuela instructed Tony to start cleaning. Lisa spoke up and said Malcolm could certainly lend a hand, and the boy agreed good naturedly, increasing Tony's annoyance. As they started rinsing dishes to load the dishwasher Malcolm said quietly, "Tony, I know you don't want to be around me. You can go and I'll finish this by myself." Tony thought he'd misheard, so asked Malcolm to repeat the offer. When Malcolm did, he couldn't believe his good fortune. He absolutely hated cleaning up the kitchen, and now this schmuck was going to shoulder the chore for him! Life was good!

"Ok," Tony grinned, throwing down the sponge he'd been holding and heading for his room. He would cut on his IPod and listen to music for a nice relaxing bit of after dinner entertainment. Passing the living room Abuela, who was putting on her sweater to leave for the evening, saw him and asked suspiciously if he had finished. With a smile reminiscent of the cat who swallowed the canary he told her Malcolm had volunteered for the job.

Fifteen minutes later, sprawled out on his bed reading a comic book and with his IPod filling his hearing, he missed his father's knock, and nearly fell of the bed when his dad was suddenly standing in front of him.

"Wow, Dad!" he said shakily. "Give me some warning next time. You about scared me to death!"

Jethro smirked and motioned for Tony to take out the ear buds and scoot over on the bed. "Hey Son, I want to talk to you."

Tony flipped onto his back and gave his father his attention. "Aye, aye, Captain."

Jethro leaned down and tussled his hair, and Tony responded with one of his megawatt smiles. "Tony, I know you aren't too pleased about having a roommate, and I realize that Malcolm and his mom are strangers. To tell you the truth, I hadn't seen Lisa since we were both about your age."

Tony raised his eyebrows, trying to decide how his dad could remember that far back.

"Anyway, the point is that they are family- our family, and that is why they are with us."

"You didn't even ask me," Tony interrupted, "you just told me."

Jethro nodded and kept his voice level. "That is correct. But what is also correct is that I am the adult and the parent, and you are the child. It was not your decision to invite them here- it was mine, and I don't have to consider any input from you."

Tony scowled, and Jethro continued. "The point is that they are here now, and they are guests in our home. While they are under this roof they are going to be given respect, both of them."

It dawned on Tony the direction the conversation was taking and he began to frown and plan a verbal comeback to make his father see that Malcolm should go somewhere else.

"So," Jethro continued, reaching down to move Tony's sneaker off the bedspread, "I expect you to be both pleasant and helpful to Malcolm. You are not going to be unfriendly, or rude, and you are absolutely not going to push your chores off on him." Tony blushed- he should have known getting out of cleaning the kitchen would make its way to his dad. "So," his father concluded, "this is a warning- a count of one."

"Dad, that's not fair- I didn't know you were counting!" Tony was instantly on the defense. Anytime that warning count of one progressed to two, and then the number three came into play, trouble for him loomed on the immediate horizon. "How am I even at one, anyway? I haven't done anything wrong," he sputtered indignantly.

Jethro shook his head incredulously, "Your attitude and display of bad manners towards your company thus far gets you to one, young man."

Tony scowled angrily and picked at a loose thread on his comforter. "You don't even care what I want."

"Of course I care. The bottom line, though, is that you are not going to get what you want in this scenario. Plus, your conduct and attitude are just about to earn you a spanking."

"What, Dad- why am I going to get spanked? This is just wrong!"

"Lower your voice. You know exactly what I'm saying, and you also know exactly the actions and attitude you'd better get rid of- quickly. I have no intention of having another conversation with you about this."

Tony opened his mouth to make a smart retort, but thought better of it. Jethro stood up and gave him a smile. "I want to see the son I am so proud of appear and charm our company, ok? Go take your shower and you can have some television time before bed." Tony nodded but didn't speak as his dad made his way out of the bedroom. He was almost furious! His whole life had been turned upside down for a cousin he didn't like, and certainly didn't invite to come stay. Furthermore, he'd been threatened with getting his own butt beaten should the little nerd not be enjoying his carefree vacation! Promising himself he'd make the intruder miserable for getting him into trouble, he headed to the bathroom for his shower.

The rest of the evening passed quietly and Tony kept his thoughts to himself when told he had to go to bed when Malcolm did- a full thirty minutes earlier than he'd anticipated, because Lisa insisted Malcom looked exhausted, so it was Malcolm's bedtime. Jethro joined in, disloyally, adding that Tony might as well get to bed, also. Lying in bed listening to Malcolm breathing on the other side of the room, Tony decided it was a miserable, horrible time in his young life. He fell asleep plotting a way to ditch his albatross.

Jethro left for NCIS early the next morning and Lisa, just starting her new job at an ad agency, left right after. Tony wanted to make the most of the day, considering school was going to start back pretty soon. He called Dylan right after breakfast and they made plans to gather the boys and head out for a movie right after lunch. They argued back and forth good naturedly about sneaking in to something scary, like Halloween, but decided it would be up to the majority vote. Dressing quickly he hastily made his bed and straightened his section of the room, then gave the bathroom a quick sprucing. He hadn't seen Malcolm since breakfast, and assumed he was watching television.

Running down the steps, he slid around the corner and into the kitchen searching for Maria. Finding her in the laundry room folding clothes, he ran up and kissed her, then pushed himself onto the top of the dryer. "Abuela, my room and bathroom are clean and I have all my chores done. You can check if you want."

"Really? Is that so?" she asked absentmindedly, searching the mound of clothes in front of her for the mate to a blue sock she held.

"That's right. I did a super good job, and you didn't even have to tell me more than once," he reminded sweetly.

Maria smiled and brushed his bangs away from his eyes. "You are my good boy," she answered with pride.

"So," Tony continued. "Since I have done everything I was supposed to do, can I go to the movies with all the guys this afternoon?"

Maria shook her head in disbelief, "You can't possibly have any allowance left. Where do you have money for a show?"

"I do, I promise. I even have some for popcorn and a Coke. Can I go? Dylan's mom said he could. We could get to the one o'clock one and be back before Dad gets home from work."

"That sounds ok, but..." Before she could finish, she was interrupted by Malcolm coming in the kitchen calling for her. Answering, she told him to come through to the laundry room, then turned back to Tony and said, "I was going to say that you need to take him with you. Introduce him to your friends, and let him go see the film."

"No!" Tony replied with horror, "Abuela, no!"

Malcolm appeared before she could respond. He smiled a greeting at Tony, then turned to Maria and asked politely, "Mrs. Osirio, are there some chores you need me to do? I cleaned up my side of the bedroom, and straightened up the living room. I could do something else if you like."

Maria was most definitely impressed and practically beamed at that news and Tony felt himself getting annoyed. That Malcolm was just trying to get all the attention and act like he was such an angel. He was such a phony.

"You can call me Maria, and actually, Tony and I were just going over some plans that include you."

"Abuela!" Tony started to whine and stopped when he saw the look she gave him. Turning to Malcolm he asked, "Hablas espanol?" When Malcolm looked at him blankly, Tony felt the first sign of victory he'd had in twenty four hours. Turning back to Maria, he began arguing in fluent Spanish that he was not responsible for this cousin, he didn't like him, and he certainly wasn't going to be embarrassed having a geek show up when he met up with his friends. Did she want Tony to be laughed at because of this cousin?

Malcolm seemed to realize that Tony was being ordered to befriend him, and muttering a quick "Excuse me, " he headed out of the kitchen and to the back yard to walk around by himself.

Maria yanked Tony off the dryer and held onto his arm, then smacked his rear end- hard. "Let me tell you something young man. You are not going anywhere except to a time out in your room until lunch! Then I will not even consider having you not return to time out unless you have a plan of action to share with me, directed at how you are going to include that child in all of your future activities. Do you understand me?"

Tony was hurt that Maria hadn't taken his side, and also cognizant of the fact that he had not gotten her that mad in quite a long time. She was furious! In a moment of clarity, he realized it was in his best interests to not argue with her, so he simply turned, walked through the kitchen, and went to his room. Hot tears started the moment he closed the door, and he threw himself on the bed and cried in frustration. This was just so wrong, and so unfair!

When the tears were spent, he got up to pace his room and think. Going to his window he looked out over the back yard. Malcolm was evidently helping Maria work in the flower bed. He was laughing, and she was laughing, as well, as they moved some of the flowers from one part of the bed to the other. Tony felt betrayed. The nerd had even replaced Tony in Maria's heart and affection. Lunchtime was a long way away, and Tony eventually did start thinking about how to earn his way out of time out.

He slipped out in the hall and grabbed the phone, then took it back in the room with him. Abuela hadn't said not to get on the phone, now had she? Dylan was sympathetic when he dialled him and spilled out the morning's crisis. Dylan also wanted to go to the movie, and to get all his friends together. Reasoning with Tony and arguing him down point by point, he got him to realize that his future happiness depended upon appearing to be Malcolm's buddy. His advice was to drag the intruder along, then they could just ignore him and make him sit somewhere else in the theatre. Tony reluctantly agreed, and hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, whispered that he had to hang up.

There was a timid knock on the door, and Tony had a moment to slip the phone out of sight under the bed. He really didn't want to get Maria any madder. It crossed his mind that the phone could ring and give him away, but he had to hope that it didn't happen.

Malcolm appeared in the opening and Tony let out a breath. It wasn't his Abuela, after all. Dismissing his presence he threw himself on the bed and grabbed one of his comics. Malcolm sat down in the chair and spoke softly, "Tony?"

"What?" Tony asked, in the rudest tone he could conjure.

"Tony, I'm sorry you're in trouble. I know what it's about- at least I'm pretty sure I do. It's about me, isn't it? You don't want me around, and they are making you invite me. Is all that it?"

Tony didn't respond, but felt his stomach flip flop. His conscience took over and he realized how awful he had been to someone who hadn't deserved it. Nevertheless, this cousin had still caused him numerous problems since his arrival, and Tony wasn't ready to forgive him. He remained silent.

"I know you don't like me. I can tell. I don't have that many things about me to like. I don't know how to play sports, I'm not that good looking, and I just really only know how to work on computers and make good grades. That's about all that I know how to do." He paused, and Tony, beginning to get interested in the narration, propped himself on an elbow and turned to face Malcolm. His cousin continued, "Anyway, I think even my dad isn't that fond of me. He always wanted me to be tough, and I just don't know how. So when my folks split, he didn't even fight for custody, or ask for joint custody, or anything." Tony definitely was feeling empathetic to the boy, and he winced appreciatively to the observation. "Well, I guess the good news is my mom really loves me. There's no question about that. But she just doesn't want me to do anything. She's very overprotective."

He smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes, and Tony sat up crosslegged on the bed to hear the rest.

"So what I'm trying to tell you is that I told your grandmamma- wait, I mean I know she's not really your grandmamma..."

"Don't worry about it," Tony ordered. "Just finish what you were saying."

"Ok- well I told her that you had invited me to the movie before you ever went downstairs, and that I had refused to go with you. She believed me, and she believed my story. So, I think that she's going to come up pretty soon and tell you that the punishment is over and you can go."