Justin aimed a solid right hook into the face of his adversary, before enveloping his hands around his neck and cutting off his circulation. He could feel him dig his nails into his skin as he gasped for air, but for the moment, he didn't care.

"What did you say about my sister?!"

"Is that all you got," he said throatily.

"Where do you go off disrespecting my family like that?"

"Your family has always disrespected mine."

"My family has never done a damn thing to you! You stay away from my sister!"

"Don't…waste…your…breath…"

"Justin, stop!"

Justin felt a strong hold on his shoulders.

"Justin, please stop!"

He turned his head slightly to see his sister beside him, tears, in her eyes. He could feel the pair of hands on his shoulders get stronger as they tried to pull him off of his foe.

"Justin, man. Come on. It's not worth it! Whatever he did, it's not worth it."

From the sound of the voice, Justin knew it was Jesse who was pulling on him from behind. But he still would not let go.

"Justin, look at him!"

Justin turned around to face his adversary and what he saw made him tremble at the sight. The man's face was a mask of anguish. His eyes were closed, his mouth gasped for air. His arms hung limply at his sides. Fine veins popped up around his eyes and his face looked strained and ashen.

Justin instantly let him go and he fell flaccidly to the ground. His hands immediately flung to his throat as he began chocking.

AJ ran to his side and helped him sit up.

"Are you okay, sir?"

Feeling his breathing return to normal, the young man smiled as he stared at AJ.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little worse for wear. But uh…nothing broken."

"Really?"

Justin scowled as he shoved Jesse off of him.

"Find another way home from school, AJ! I'm out of here!" he said as he yanked his car door open and within a few seconds, sped off.

AJ sighed as she extended her hand to the stranger.

"I'm so sorry about my brother. He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

"No, no. I'm okay. Really. A few scratches never hurt anybody," he said as he got to his feet.

AJ cringed. This man had a nose bleed, watery eyes, and bruises all over his body. His shirt was torn in several places and a blood stain drizzled down his pants.

She began caressing his face.

"Oh, you have a black eye," she said, noticing the purple swelling around his eye.

The man took her hand and removed it from his face, smiling warmly.

"A black eye is not as dramatic as it seems. It doesn't necessarily indicate a serious injury. The fatty tissue along with the lack of muscle around my eye socket allows a potential space for blood accumulation with relatively minor injury. So as this blood is reabsorbed, various pigments are released which are similar to this bruise, lending itself to the extreme outward appearance you see here," he pointed to his face for emphasis.

A smile slowly appeared on AJ's face.

"Wow, you know a lot about contusions."

"Nah. I just do a lot of reading. My mom knew a lot about that stuff too."

AJ's grin widened. She extended her hand.

"I'm Anne Jean, but all my friends call me AJ."

The man's smile widened.

"Connor Moke," he said as he shook it.

"Moke? Like that exotic flower?"

"Yeeeeeaah. Or, you know like that British rock band."

AJ chuckled slightly.

"I'm not that big on rock."

"Well, maybe I can open up your variety sometime?"

AJ raised an eyebrow.

"Are you asking me out?"

"Maybe."

Again, she chuckled.

"You are…something else."

Connor smiled again.

"I gotta go. But uh…I'll see you later, AJ," he said, winking as he said those words before walking away. AJ heard the sound of a motorcycle speeding off a few feet away.

Jesse stood next to her.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know…but I think I just got a date," a small smile appeared on AJ's lips as she said those words.


Kim sighed softly as she put her head down on the kitchen counter. She was having a very nice dream that involved Ron where her six screaming kids were safely in the care of their parents and AJ was already in college like Justin. She groggily opened her eyes when she saw her oldest child walk through the front door.

She put her hand to her forehead.

"Justin, please don't slam the…"

Bam!

Almost immediately, the two youngest additions to the Stoppable clan were wailing through the house once again.

"I got 'em, KP!" Ron called from upstairs.

Justin immediately began to cower as she gave him "The Glare".

"I'm sorry, Mom. You want me to go up there and help?"

Kim slowly shook her head.

"No. Your father said he could take care of them," she put her head back on the counter.

Justin cringed.

"You okay, Mom? I know you've been under a lot of stress lately."

Without moving, Kim spoke.

"I'm fine, Justin."

"'Cause there's a friend of mine whose studying psychotherapy and majoring in psychology and he could probably help you will your postpartum depression…"

"Hey! I am not depressed. I am exhausted." She said, immediately sitting up and glaring at her son once more.

"Okay, so you've got postpartum exhaustion."

"I do not…"

"Mom, you're displaying all the signs. You're sad, exhausted all the time, you're not getting enough sleep, you're easily frustrated…"

"I'm not listening to this," she got up from her seat and took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"See Mom, you cut me off before I even finished my statement."

Taking a sip of the clear liquid, Kim screw the lid back onto the bottle before putting it back in the fridge.

"Justin, all I need is a few hours of rest and I'll be fine. Where's Annie? I thought I told you to pick her up from school today?"

That scowl that was on Justin's face earlier returned.

"She can walk," he said as he stepped into the living room and plopped down on the sofa. Kim followed him.

"She can walk? Justin, I told you to pick her up!"

"And I couldn't do it. Look Mom, something happened and…I just couldn't go through with it."

"Go through with what?"

Justin drummed his fingers on the armrest of the sofa before getting back up.

"I got some studying to do, Mom. I got this huge chem test next week and I'm really not prepared."

He gave a quick kiss on the cheek before heading over to the door.

"Justin wait, don't slam the…"

Bam!

Once again, the two screaming babies were awake from the loud closing of the front door. Biting her lower lip so she wouldn't say something she'd regret, Kim walked back into the kitchen, picking up the breast pump on one of the chairs before heading upstairs to help Ron quiet their youngest children.


Opening the door to his apartment, Justin threw his keys on the counter before taking a seat on his couch, sighing softly. He felt a pair of feminine hands grasp his shoulders.

"Rough day?"

"Sh'a. I ran into someone I really didn't want to see."

"Old friend?"

"Enemy. I can never be friends with that man."

Unwrapping her hands from around his neck, Amber walked into the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"I got to go pick my sister up from the airport. You want any coffee before I leave?"

Justin shook his head resolutely.

"I don't drink that stuff. It'll get me all jittery and junk."

Hearing a knock at the door, Amber went over to go answer it, picking up her coat as she did that. She saw her boyfriend's little sister standing at the door.

"AJ?"

"Hey, Amber," she said as she stepped through the door, "You visiting too?"

"Visiting?"

"Yeah…I mean you're here?"

Amber looked over to Justin.

"You mean she doesn't know? I thought it was just your parents you didn't tell?"

"Didn't tell what?" AJ asked, slightly interested in what she had to say. The gears in her head began to click as realized what was going on.

"Wait a minute…you guys are living together?" She turned to Justin, shock evident on her face.

He only rolled his eyes, covering his face soon afterwards.

"I'm gonna go now," Amber said as she stepped out, closing the door behind her. The shock was still on AJ's face.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are living together?"

"Yeah AJ, we're living together. It's not a big deal."

She crossed her arms.

"If it's not a big deal, why are you keeping it a secret?"

"I'm not. It just never came up," He got up from his seat and began washing his face in the sink.

AJ wasn't convinced.

"Uh-uh. Amber clearly said…"

"What are you doing here anyway? Wait a minute, how'd you even get over here, you don't have a license?"

"I don't but Jesse does."

"That's right. You guys took driver's ed earlier this year." He began wiping his face with a paper towel.

"I'm still taking it."

"I'm not surprised," he said as he leaned up against the counter and folded his arms.

AJ did the same.

"You don't think much of me, do you?"

"I do. I really do. You just see it as arrogance. What are you doing over here?"

AJ walked over to her brother.

"I came to talk to you about what happened at school today."

"I'm sorry I didn't pick you up..."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Why were you fighting with that guy today?"

"It's not something for you to worry about."

"My brother's caught in fight and it's not something for me to worry about?" she asked, arching her eyebrow slightly.

"No, it's not."

"Justin, come on this is me you're talking to. Connor told me…"

"How do you know his name?"

She gave her brother a look.

"He told me. Right after you flared up on him and drove off in your car?"

Justin chuckled dryly.

"So why are you here again?"

"I wanna know why you powered up your MMP when you were in that fight? Or why you were in that fight at all?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Justin, don't tell me not to worry about it. You could have killed Connor today. You probably would have if Jesse and I weren't there to stop you."

"Would you please stop saying his name," he said, clearly irritated.

AJ paused for a moment.

"Why don't you like him? Did he do something to you?"

Justin put hand to his mouth before answering.

"Yeah, he did something, a long time ago, but he also said some things that got under my skin."

"So he said something horrible about you?"

"It wasn't me he was talking about."

"So he said something about someone else?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Stop telling me not to worry about this! I haven't heard anything yet that justifies what you did."

"What did I do, AJ?"

"You put a serious beat down on somebody because he said some things that ticked you off."

"You don't even know what he said." His voice escalated.

AJ flailed her arms.

"Do I really have to know? Will it excuse you for what you did? Justin, with your level of skill, you're dangerous. Not just painfully dangerous, you could kill, especially going up against an untrained opponent like Connor. And all because he said some things that…"

"You…don't…know…what…he…said," he said, cutting her off.

AJ put her hands on her hips.

"Okay Justin. What did he say? What did he say that caused you to go over the edge like that, since you think that's so important as to how this fight started?"

"I can't tell you."

AJ narrowed her eyes slightly.

"You can't or you won't?"

"You don't understand."

"Make me understand."

When he didn't answer, AJ dropped her arms at her sides, shaking her head slightly.

"You know, I don't get you. You say I'm childish, but you're the one who…"

"AJ, I don't want to talk about this," he said giving his sister a stern look.

AJ rolled her tongue in her mouth for a while before answering.

"Fine. You don't want to tell me, that's fine. You just better pray that Connor's not gonna press charges," she said, opening the door.

"With all the counts against him, he's not taking any legal action right now."

Shaking her head slightly, AJ scowled as she closed the door behind her. She could not believe how her brother was acting.


Connor Moke didn't have anything to say as he walked into his little apartment. The first thing he did was head into the bathroom, grabbing a toothbrush to start scrubbing out his entire mouth from that awful cigarette taste. He had actually been trying to quit, but being around his numskull workers, who all smoked themselves, that had proven impossible. The longest stretch he had gone without one was when he was in Australia with his bimbo mother. The woman alone could be held accountable for his addiction with the way she treated him when he was younger. The moment he got home from the airport, he went straight to his room, pulling out a pack and a lighter from his drawer. At least he was twenty now and couldn't hear his mother's incessant rattling about him being too young any more.

The sound of shuffling in his living room let Connor know his workers had come back from their daily run-in with the law. After they followed him to the school to make sure he got there without interference from the police, they went on their way. He could really care less about how they spent their days. Just as long as they arrived back at the apartment at the end of day so they could go over their plans.

"How was school?" one of them called out as they sat down in one of the chairs.

Spitting into the sink, Connor began washing out his mouth before heading back into the room to meet with his workers.

"School took an unexpected turn for the worst. But the plan worked. Got mama's boy all fired up and his sister believes that he really did some major damage to my body," he said with a smile.

"Should we begin phase three?"

Connor's smile spread into a full grin.

"Boys, I've been away for a little while. I miss the thrill I used to have when my dad and I used to pull off those capers all those years ago. Let's hold off on the plan for a moment. Right now, I wanna have some fun. Especially with a certain blonde teenage girl."