The next morning, Emily and Ethan took their bikes out.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Maddie asked just as they were about to reach the door.

Emily and Ethan stopped in their tracks. "Crap," the two muttered under their breath, luckily unheard by Maddie.

"We were just putting our bikes here," said Emily. "I was just going to grab my soccer ball and go to the park to teach Ethan how to play." Ethan nodded. If the two excelled in anything, it was lying.

"Okay," said Maddie. "Just be back before noon."

It was then that Ethan remembered what he was supposed to say. "Hey, Mom?" he said. "Dad called us this morning while you were at the market. He wants to get together for dinner again tonight because he had so much fun."

Maddie dropped the dish she was cleaning, which fell to the floor and spiraled. Luckily it was a plastic plate. "W-what?" she asked.

"Yeah, he said he and Cody want to come over here, to see how we live," said Ethan. "Em and I are going to show them our rooms!"

"Oh-okay," said Maddie, picking up the plate and cleaning it again.

"Bye Mom!" Emily and Ethan chorused as they left. Once outside of the apartments, Emily and Ethan high-fived.

"That was almost too easy," said Emily.

"Yeah," said Ethan. "You have it?"

Emily held up a piece of paper that had their Dad's address scribbled on it. "Right here."

The two biked over to another set of apartments, which turned out to be seven miles away. The two were beat by the time they got there.

"What apartment number is it again?" asked Ethan, chaining their bikes to the bike racks.

"Uh…248," said Emily.

The two entered the apartment building. Just as they were heading to the elevators, a man stopped them. His hair was brown, his cheekbones were high, and his shirt was sweaty.

"May I help you two?" he asked.

"Uh…we were just visiting a friend," said Ethan.

"I find that hard to believe," said the man. Emily noticed a pin on him that said Mr. Jeffery.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" asked Emily.

"No kids live in this apartment building," said the man. "You two are thieves who are trying to sneak in and rob us!"

"What?"

"No we're not!"

"We're not even thirteen!"

"We don't even get paid minimum wage!"

The man grabbed the two by the ears. "You two are coming with me."

E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3

Zack was lying on the couch, watching wrestling between two men he had never seen or heard of.

"Yeah, uppercut…UPPERCUT!" said Zack. Soon, there was a knock on the door. "CODY, DOOR!"

"I'M IN THE SHOWER, YOU GET IT!" said Cody.

"Fine, fine, fine," said Zack. "Man, I wish we had Tivo." He walked to the door, opened it, and saw Mr. Jeffery holding his kids by the ears.

"Mr. Martin," said Mr. Jeffery. Zack almost grinned at seeing him. He reminded him a bit of Mr. Moseby. "I found these two kids in the entrance hall." Zack loved it how he said 'entrance hall' instead of 'lobby', which it was. "They claim to be your children."

Zack nodded his head. Mr. Jeffery let go of their ears and left. Zack looked at his two kids. "Well…what are you doing here?" he asked.

"What, can't kids come to see their Dad?" asked Emily. She and Ethan walked in, Zack closing the door behind them.

"Actually, we—" Ethan stopped in mid-sentence. A man who looked exactly like Zack except a bit different, walked out of a bedroom with only a towel around his waist.

"Hey, Zack, who was at the door?" it was only a second after he said that that he noticed Emily and Ethan. He looked down at his towel and ran for the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Wow…disturbing," said Emily.

"Yeah, that's Cody," said Zack. "If you're wondering why he's so pale it's because he doesn't go in the sun much."

"I GO IN IT ENOUGH, THANK YOU!"

"Anyways," said Emily, trying to get the picture out of her head, "our mom was wondering if you would like to come over for dinner. She wants you to see the apartment."

"She does?" asked Zack.

"Yeah, and she wants Cody to come to," said Emily.

"Why?" asked Zack. "He's an anti-social nerd."

"I HANG OUT WITH YOU, DON'T I?"

Emily and Ethan glanced at each other. Talking to Zack was like talking to someone from school. He was cool and he didn't care much.

"Well, just be by at seven, 'kay?" said Ethan.

"M'kay," said Zack. Emily and Ethan started to head towards the door. "Wait? So you're just leaving? Like that?"

"We have to be back soon," said Ethan.

"Don't you want to meet Cody?"

"You mean the anti-social nerd?" asked Emily. Just then, Cody walked out.

"I can see how they're your kids," he said.

"Should we take that as a compliment?" asked Emily. Zack and Cody looked at Emily and took in her appearance. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was in two braids. Only the bottom of the braids were showing because she was wearing a gray and black striped beanie on top. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a white shirt with a black guitar on it.

"Sure, if you think that being unsuccessful is a good thing," said Cody as he sat down.

"You know that we're your niece and nephew, right?" said Ethan. "And we're not unsuccessful. We have a job."

"You're twelve."

"Henceforth we don't exactly get paid minimum wage."

"Who says 'henceforth'?" asked Zack.

"Your son," said Ethan. "Oh, wait, that's me, isn't it?"

"You're Ethan, huh?" said Cody. "Maddie's told me about you. You're the mathlete, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm the smart twin," said Ethan.

"Well, I'm not dumb," said Emily. "I just think that there are other things that are more important. Like sports."

Zack smiled proudly as he turned to Cody. "Emily here is an excellent soccer player. Takes off of me."

Ethan nudged Emily and showed her his watch. "We've really got to go," said Emily. "Nice seeing you…Dad. Nice meeting you…"

"Just call me Cody," said Cody. "I didn't exactly plan on being an uncle this early."

"Forgive me for being in love," said Zack.

"Bye," said Emily and Ethan in unison as they walked out of the apartment.

"Wow," said Emily. "That felt weird."

"What? You mean seeing Cody in that towel? That made me feel awkward too."

"No, I mean…calling him…Dad," said Emily. "Think about it. We haven't had a dad our whole lives and now, all of a sudden, this guy shows up. Mom says that he's our dad. And now we have an Uncle Cody?"

"Just focus on the plan," said Ethan.