OH, I still don't own RFR... that much is true.

GUYS... I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED SOONER! I AM ONE BUSY BEE... COLLEGE, WORK/FAMILY, AND TO TOP IT OFF... TRYING TO STAY ON TOP OF THE FOUR STORIES I HAVE OUT THERE... WELL, it's just say... IT's a little "MORE" than just ambitious... that is the difficulty... I EVEN WANNA PUT MORE OUT THERE... BUT NOT UNTIL I AT LEAST FINISH POSTING UP ONE... YOU GUYS DON'T KILL ME IF YOU KNOW, I USUALLY HAVE THE FINISHED PRODUCT... FOR A LENGTH OF TIME... I JUST REPEATEDLY POUR OVER IT... UM, well... I WAS gonna put up a long chapter so as not to break the flow of the piece, but turns out a GOOD stopping place Popped up, so I'm taking advantage of it...

AS FAR AS SHOUT-OUTS GO... (I usually like to individualize my response, but this one will be general...):

THANKS FOR ALL THE CONTINUING SUPPORT... UM... GUTTER MINDS and TEMPTING COME-BACKS ASIDE... I THINK IT'S HIGH PAST TIME... I GO ON WITH THE SHOW...


"Ray, look at yourself... You got caught outside in the storm... You're all soaked and freezing!"

'I can't believe I'm about to say this...'

"Ray, why don't you get out of that sweater and shirt before you get pneumonia and catch your death?"

I can't believe she just said that...'

Lily retreats back slowly towards the couch and retrieves a fuzzy, worn-out, folded orange blanket...

Ray watches her movement with a peaked interest...
"ARE YOU DEAF? I told you to take that sweater off Mr."

"But Lily..."

"You'd better do what I say, if you know what's best for you, Ray..."

With a defeatist attitude he can only respond with a
"Yes, Mame... You know, you sound just like my mother."

He starts to pull his first layer of clothing off...

Good thing his big ol' head has gotten stuck in his sweater for a minute, otherwise he might have seen how beet-red flustered Lily had become...

She was also trying desperately to stifle her fit of giggles during this time, because it seems Ray was fighting with his shirt, and the shirt was winning by a landslide...

3 minutes later...

Ray had finally done as he was told and looked up half-naked to find Lily had returned to her previous seated position on the couch...

Lily, with arms wide open spreads out the afore- mentioned orange-blanket and instructs,
"Come over here, Ray." and pats the place to the right of her...

"Lily, that thing must be older than we are and you want me to wrap it around myself?"

"Yes I do, I'm sorry but it's all I have..."

With a quick stomp of his foot Ray says, "Fine."

He walks like a condemned man on death-row in order to meet his fate... Who knows where that blanket has been? It seemed like a woolly monster, or a mutated puppet out to get him...

Ray starts to sit down on the couch with his back to the blanket, and Lily proceeds to ensnare him with it...

She brings the top two ends around his neck in a cape like fashion and he's now snuggled tight as a bug in a straight jacket...

"Now, see Ray that wasn't so bad... WAS IT?"

He opens his eyes from their cringed position and answers, "Yes, yes it was... you have no idea. I think I want to take my chances facing a frigid death."

Lilly rolls her eyes...
"Too late for that Ray..."

"Aww man!"

"You're such a child..."

"But Lillllllly..." Ray whines out, "It itches..."

Ray struggles frantically to break his arms free and scratch himself all over,
Lily compares his motions to that of a dog with fleas.

"Oh, you big baby..., here let me help."
Lily lifts up the blanket a little bit to leave some room for Ray's back to be scratched...

She wonders how she never noticed how muscular he was under all those long-sleeve, v-necks...

She smirks watching Ray trying to blow up to the edge of his nose, and blink away some fuzzy woolen fibers from his eyes...

"Okay Ray, you can stop looking so pitiful 'cause I'm not buying it... and you wonder why you never made the drama team?"

"My nose is itchy though and the fuzzy stuff is flying everywhere... I blame you for this!"

"Aww, does someone's wittle nose need scratching?"

"Well yeah, because I can't use my hands with the way you kung-fu wrapped this "thing" around me... Have you been working out? I've been meaning to get to get to the gym... they miss me over there, especially the hottie trainer ladies..."

"Well, I'm not touching that hot dog you call nose."

"Come on, you already did me a solid by scratching my back... What could it hurt?"

"A lot more than you think, like my pride."

"Please, I'm dying here... don't leave me hanging... Please, pretty please with sugar and cherries on top."

"NO! And that's final."

"Did I ever tell you how nice, sweet, and sensitive you are... really, trutifully so?"

"Oh all right, since you put it like that. You can't help it if you're a dufus can you Ray?"

"NOPE, I'm totally defenseless and without a clue."

"That's what I like to hear, now stop whining before I come to my senses and change my mind..."

Lily begrudgingly scratches edge of Ray's nose...

"See, I knew I'd win..."

"No, you just knew I'd let you... though I'm giving you more of that 'credit' you're so fond of.."