"Allie are you in here?" Victoria, the Taylor's housekeeper asked knocking softly on the door to Allie's bedroom.
"Yeah Vicki come in" Allie replied shifting on her bed to sit cross legged with a pillow in her lap.
Vicki opened the huge double doors and entered the room struggling to carry a large box with holes in it.
"Here let me help" Allie jumped up from her bed and raced across the room to take one end. "What is this?" she asked feeling whatever was inside move.
"Open it and see" Vicki said with a knowing grin on her face.
They set the box down on the floor and Allie opened the top flaps to reveal three tiny German Shepherd puppies.
"Oh my god!" Allie exclaimed picking one up "Aw they're so adorable!" she said scratching the puppy behind the ears.
"They're Bella's litter" Vicki explained referring to Mr Taylor's favourite and the best specially trained security dog he owned.
"Wow so is dad keeping them or is he gonna sell them to the police force again?" Allie asked. Her dad had on numerous occasions sold puppies from his pack of well-trained security dogs to the police K9 squad who were desperate for dogs from reputable sires.
"He's keeping them, she only had these three" Vicki informed picking up the other two puppies.
"Small litter. I guess Bella's getting old" Allie commented setting the puppy down on the hardwood floor to let it have a little run around.
"Your mother will have a fit if she sees this" Vicki giggled as Allie rolled her eyes.
She and her mother didn't exactly get along. Her mother couldn't get past the fact that Allie obviously had a closer relationship with her father than she did with her. It was entirely her own fault though, always leaving Allie with nannies to go off on shopping trips and plastic surgery appointments. Then she wondered why she'd never bonded with Allie.
"Speaking of mother, where is she? I haven't seen her since I've been home" Allie asked half expecting her mother to be off getting more lipo done. She loved looking like the youngest 50 year old woman in Minnesota.
"She's in California on a shopping excursion" Vicki said simply. She loathed Vivian Taylor but she couldn't really say much to Allie since the woman was her mother.
"Oh such joy" Allie said sarcastically laughing when one of the three pups jumped on his brother and sister.
"Your father doesn't think so, he's worried about his bank balance rapidly decreasing" Vicki joked knowing what Vivian Taylor's spending habits were like.
"I swear I'm gonna kill that woman if she brings home any more ugly clothes for me to wear" Allie said half laughing. Her mother always brought home clothes that anyone in LA would find stylish but she preferred not to wear miniskirts that just covered her backside. Hayley had laughed her ass off the first time she saw what Allie's mom had bought her in LA.
"Yes, I didn't understand what purpose a miniskirt served in Minnesota" Vicki laughed.
Their attention was turned back towards the puppies when one started whimpering.
"I think this little guy may be hungry" Vicki said scooping the whimpering puppy up into her arms.
"Can I come watch?" Allie asked. Now that she knew her mother wasn't around she felt free to do what she wanted and that included helping Vicki out with the dogs. Her mother hated her fraternising with the help as she put it.
"Sure thing, your father wants you to name them anyway. Thinks you could use some cheering up" Vicki said repeating David's words.
"Cool, I'm gonna call this one Demon" she said pointing to the little male puppy who'd jumped his brother and sister earlier. She looked at the other two.
"The whingy one can be called Bash cos he reminds me a bit of Portman when he's hungry" Allie said laughing.
"Oh yes and who's this Portman?" Vicki said eyeing Allie suspiciously. The housekeepers hadn't been told why Allie was being brought home and they knew better than to ask.
"I guess you'd call him my boyfriend" Allie said turning red when she saw Vicki's face light up.
"ALLIE! You've been keeping this from me! You naughty girl" Vicki pretended to scold her. Vicki had been working at the Taylor's house for three years now, since she was 18, and a lot of the time she'd been there for Allie when she needed someone to talk to. Now they were almost inseparable when Allie was home.
"Sorry Vick, its just kinda hard being away from him and I've been trying not to think too much about it, too depressing" Allie said looking at the last puppy to be named.
"Sorry" Vicki said knowing she hadn't really upset Allie.
"Its okay. I have these little guys to cheer me up" she said picking up female puppy.
"So what are you gonna name this one?" Vicki asked.
"I have no idea, ummmmm" she thought. The boys were so easy to name. "How about Sascha? No wait there's a skank called Sascha at my school and this cutie's no skank are you" Allie scratched the puppy behind the ear. "Ummm she kinda looks like a Shadow to me, what do you reckon?" Allie asked looking at Vicki.
"Yeah I can see it, she's a bit darker than the other two" Vicki said picking little Demon up leaving Shadow to Allie. "Come on lets get these ones their food"
"Allie?" Vicki started
"Yeah"
"Why Bash? Whats that got to do with a hungry Portman?" Vicki asked.
"Well he's a Bash Brother and he'll just about bash anything that gets in his way when he's hungry" Allie replied laughing.
Vicki's jaw dropped open "Is DEAN PORTMAN your boyfriend?" she asked recognising the name from the Goodwill Games. She knew the Ducks now went to Eden Hall.
"Yep" Allie replied smugly. She knew Vicki had a secret crush on the Bash Brothers when they both watched the Junior Goodwill Games on TV.
"You lucky bitch!" Vicki replied laughing.
"I know!" Allie laughed back as the two girls made their way down to the kennels to feed the puppies.
Fulton and Hayley were spending Saturday morning lying on the grass outside the dorm room buildings just enjoying the peace and quiet.
I"ve got it!" Hayley exclaimed suddenly tugging on Fulton's sleeve.
"Got what?" Fulton replied a little grumpy. Portman's bad mood over the last two days had kind of rubbed off onto him.
"Tell all of the Ducks to bring their swimmers and meet me at my dorm in 20. I have an idea" she said running off.
"Where you going?" Fulton asked confused.
"Just tell them!" Hayley yelled back blowing him a kiss.
Fulton shook his head, he knew his girlfriend could be quite insane at times.
"Hayley do you think maybe you'd wanna tell us what the hell we're doing here?" Charlie demanded tapping his foot impatiently.
"Nope, it's a surprise!" she said as all heads turned towards Fulton, looking for an explanation.
"Don't ask me, she wouldn't tell me either" Fulton whimpered making the rest of the group sigh.
"Whatever but this had better be worth it" Charlie grumbled reluctantly following Hayley towards possibly the biggest house he'd ever seen.
"It will be" Hayley giggled knowing that everyone will be surprised when they find out why they're there.
"Dude how'd you let her talk me into this" Portman complained. He'd argued that he wanted to be left alone but Hayley was having none of it and had physically dragged him out of his dorm room. She was tough for a tiny cheerleader.
"Dunno but she's too scary not to agree with" Fulton replied staring in awe at the giant house.
"I'll be back in a sec" Hayley said walking towards the security booth next to the gates leaving the Ducks to gush over the luxurious grounds that lay before them.
"Hayley, I must admit I've been expecting you" the Security Guard stepped out of his booth.
"Miles you know I cant resist seeing you!" Hayley laughed. She'd been to the house so many times during holidays over the last four years that Miles had grown used to the outgoing teenager.
"Are they all with you?" Miles asked wondering whether he needed to grab his gun or not. They seemed like a harmless bunch of kids but you never knew these days, especially with a big group like that.
"Yeah, surprise for Allie. Is she home?" Hayley lowered her voice.
"I believe she is. Victoria said something about Allie helping out with Bella's new puppies I think." Miles replied.
"Awesome! I bet they're so cute. The puppies, not Allie and Vicki" Hayley giggled making Miles smile.
"Shall I announce you or do you just wanna go on up?" Miles asked cutting the conversation short when the Ducks had grown impatient and were now forming a circle around Hayley.
"Go on up? Hayley are you making us walk all the way up there" Goldberg complained feeling a stitch coming on just looking at the hill.
Hayley laughed "Its not that bad Goldberg" she laughed but the rest of the Ducks weren't buying it, especially when they saw the pack of Guard Dogs running towards the fence at full speed barking madly.
"Not that bad, Hayley now there's monster dogs. Do you see them" Goldberg grabbed her head and made her look at the dogs. Even Averman was looking a little uneasy.
"Nevermind, Hayley I'll send for the shuttle bus" Miles spoke up walking back towards his booth shaking his head, the large boy had quite the reaction to the dogs.
"Thanks Milesie!" Hayley called ignoring the stares from the rest of the group.
"Wow, Cujo has nothing on these babies" Averman pondered wondering how close he could get before he actually wet his pants in fear.
"Hayley where the hell are we?" Connie hissed hoping that Hayley would take pity on the females in the group and actually tell her what they were doing on the other side of town at the biggest house in Minnesota.
"Banks, I'd hate to break it to you but this house is way cooler than yours" Russ spoke up slapping Adam on the back.
"Yeah I know, its huge!" Adam replied. Compared to his exclusive Edina house, this was like a castle.
"Hayley is this your house?" Dwayne asked. For once he was just as confused as the rest of the Ducks.
Hayley shook her head "Nope, now no more questions, you'll find out in a minute" she said as a grey minivan pulled up to the gates with a man in a driver's uniform stepped out.
"All of them are going up?" he asked Miles who nodded his head.
"A surprise for Miss Allie" he whispered discreetly into his ear.
"Oh right, Good afternoon Miss Hayley" the driver acknowledged Hayley who had become well known to the staff over the years.
"Hi Tony, I like your hat" Hayley replied waiting for the Ducks to pile into the van.
"Guys I think I might just head back" Portman announced attempting to turn around.
"No, no, no, no" Hayley said pushing him into the van.
"Hayley!" Portman complained as he fell inside and landed on poor Julie.
"Ow Portman you big lump!" she complained rubbing her leg.
"Sorry" Portman said hoping he could make an escape before it was too late. Unfortunately for him it was as the van had already started making it way up the long winding driveway to the enormous house they'd been staring at for the past 20 minutes.
"Damn" he muttered under his breath. What if Allie had called the dorms and he was out at some strange house? He'd never forgive Hayley and the Ducks if that happened.
The van stopped and the Ducks piled out of the van.
"Wow, this is even better up close" Connie exclaimed looking at the lush green lawns and the immaculate gardens surrounding it. "Wow there's even a fountain!" she said grabbing onto Adam's arm.
"Hayley please tell me Eden Hall's kicked us out and we're living here for the rest of our lives" Goldberg exclaimed imagining how huge the kitchen in a place like this would be.
"You wish Goldberg!" Julie laughed knowing exactly what Goldberg was thinking.
"Hey it could happen!" Goldberg protested.
Portman looked around sadly. He knew he shouldn't be feeling so down and that he was being a pain in the butt by dragging the others down but he just really wanted to go back to the dorms, namely her dorm, just to be in the place he last held her.
"Dude you okay?" Charlie patted him on the arm. He was a little nervous being near Portman, especially when he was in such a bad mood but as Captain he needed to ensure his team were all okay.
"I guess, just miss her badly" Portman admitted.
"I know how you feel dude, I miss Linda" Charlie admitted never in a million years expecting to be on a heart to heart basis with the larger Bash Brother.
"Hayley who are all of these people?" Victoria came around the corner holding little Shadow in her arms. Allie was still out the back with the other two puppies.
"Vicki, these are the Ducks. Can I show them to the pool, then I'll go see" Hayley paused before beckoning Victoria over to whisper in her ear "Allie".
"Aw no fair" the Ducks protested. They were dying to know whose house they were at.
"You know who is out at the kennels. I'll show the um Ducks is it?" she waited for a response, several Ducks nodded, before continuing "Right the Ducks the way"
Immediately Victoria was flanked by Connie and Julie "Who's this little guy?" Julie asked.
"She's a girl, this is Shadow. You wanna hold her?" Vicki handed the puppy over to Julie before she could respond.
"Hi Shadow" Julie whispered as Connie came around the other side.
"She's so cute" Connie laughed as Shadow yawned in Julie's face.
"Ew puppy breath!" Julie shrieked laughing.
"Sorry about that, she's just eaten lunch. I can't say the food smells much better but the vet reckons that's what she should be eating" Victoria commented immediately knowing why Allie was friends with these two girls.
"Okay, make yourselves at home. I'll just see where Hayley's got to" Victoria announced opening a set of French doors to reveal an Olympic sized swimming pool complete with a water slide and a diving board.
"Awesome a hot tub! Now we're talking" Luis exclaimed suddenly wishing that Traci were there with him.
"I'd better get this one back to her mother" Vicki said taking the puppy from Julie. "Remind me to show you the rest of the kennels later, there's two more little ones like this out there" Vicki said when she saw the disappointed look on Connie's face.
"Okay, thanks!" the two girls chorused giving the puppy one last scratch behind the ears.
"I want one now!" Julie exclaimed shaking her head as the boys had already stripped off to their shorts and were taking turns jumping off the diving board.
"Hayley where are you taking me?" Allie asked. She could hear voices coming from the gym but since Hayley was covering her eyes she wasn't really sure where she was.
"it's a surprise" she replied simply not giving any more away.
"It'd better be good" Allie said in a fake stern voice.
"Oh it will" Hayley said smirking as she opened the doors.
The Ducks looked up to see their surprise. Hayley pressed her finger to her lips to warn them to be quiet until she was ready.
Portman gasped. Even in a pair of ripped Army style pants and a white tank top she still looked like the hottest girl on the planet to him. It took most of his strength not to jump up and take her in his arms that second.
"Ready. One, two three!" Hayley yelled as she took her hands off of Allie's eyes.
"What the?" Allie said as it registered "OH MY GOD!" she yelled hugging her best friend "You are the greatest" she exclaimed as one by one the Ducks approached her and hugged her.
"Nice pile of bricks Allie" Russ commented knocking fists with her before giving in and hugging her.
"Thanks Russ" Allie laughed.
She frowned when she realised that Portman was standing over the other side of the room.
"Aren't you gonna give me a hug?" she teased hoping he wasn't mad at her.
"Aren't you gonna give me one?" Portman challenged back.
She grinned evilly and took off running towards him, jumping into his arms at the last possible second. Unfortunately Portman lost his balance and sent both of them into the pool.
The Ducks burst into laughter at the sight of the Bash Brother struggling to resurface as Allie pushed him back underwater.
"Graceful entrance" Ken joked as Allie got out of the water thanking the Lord she'd remembered to wear a bra this morning. The last thing she needed was to be see-through in front of the entire hockey team.
"I've done better" Allie smirked squeezing the water out of her hair before opening the doors to a large cupboard in the corner of the room. She pulled out two huge fluffy blue towels and threw one to Portman.
"Here baby, you're a bit wet" she teased as he pretended to glare at her when he caught it.
"Allie can we turn the hot tub on?" Connie asked hopefully as she glanced sideways at Adam.
"Sure just give it about five minutes to heat up and circulate fresh water" Allie said pressing the switch on the side of the tub. I'm just gonna go find some swimmers" she said wrapping the towel around her and grabbing Portman by the hand leading him out of the room.
"Where are we going?" Portman asked cheekily not really caring where they went. He'd been dying for the chance to have Allie alone again.
"I guess you'd want some dry clothes?" she said eying his wet jeans and t-shirt.
"Yeah" he admitted sheepishly.
She looked around to make sure no one was watching them before she pulled him into her bedroom, shutting the doors behind her.
"This is your room?" he asked looking around amazed. He'd never seen a room this big before.
Allie nodded burying her head into her closet trying to locate some clothes that Portman might actually fit into.
"Here" she said throwing him a Metallica t-shirt and the biggest pair of black sweat pants that she owned.
"Cool shirt" he commented eying the "Pus-head" design.
"I won it at a music store, its way too big for me though" she said enjoying the view as Portman removed his wet shirt revealing his tanned torso. He started on his pants and Allie turned away to look in the closet for her swimmers.
"There you are!" she exclaimed pulling out her black 'tankini' (ie: a two piece with a halterneck top and bottoms) from the depths of the closet.
"Wait here I'll be back in a sec" Allie said to Portman who nodded as Allie retreated into her ensuite to change.
Portman took the opportunity to take a peek at the room. There was a notice board filled with photos, mostly of Hayley and Allie when they were younger but there were a few with Scooter too. Portman pushed his jealous streak down when he saw a couple of photos of Allie and Scotoer that were obviously from a time where they were more than best friends. He smiled when he saw that there was a photo of him and Allie taken after a hockey game and one of him taken in his old Team USA Jersey at the Goodwill Games, how'd she get a photo of that? He wondered before realising that her dad would've pulled some strings.
"You ready?" Allie asked from the doorway to her bathroom. She had her swimmers on with her towel wrapped around her waist.
Portman nodded holding his hands out to her. she accepted them and he pulled her in close to him "You're beautiful" he whispered kissing the top of her head.
"So are you" she replied kissing his neck making his skin tingle.
"We'd better get back to the others" Portman suggested lazily. He didn't really want to but he had the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he didn't want her father walking in on them alone in her room.
"I guess" Allie replied equally lazy.
The pair made their way back down the stairs towards the gymnasium where apparently Connie and Adam had just been outed and Guy and Charlie weren't impressed with the news.
"Oh shit!" Allie exclaimed when she was the tears in Connie's eyes and the hardness in Adam's face as they defended themselves against their friends.
"What?" Portman whispered aware that he was the only person in the room who didn't know what was going on.
"Connie and Adam are together" Allie explained softly wondering why Charlie was so mad at Connie and Adam.
"I KNEW IT!" Portman yelled startling the others at his excitement. "Cake-Eater I knew it!" he said laughing.
"It's not funny Portman" Charlie scolded his eyes blazing with anger.
"What's your problem Conway?" Portman asked the question everyone else was dying to know.
"They knew it would screw up the team dynamics yet they went ahead and did it anyway" Charlie replied standing next to Guy who was seething.
"Like you did when you kissed Julie?" everyone was surprised to see the question had come from Fulton.
"That's different!" Charlie stammered.
"How's it different Charlie?" Connie challenged.
"Because it didn't mean anything!" he exploded clenching his fists.
Everyone grew silent and stared at Julie who looked just as shocked as everyone else. She knew it didn't mean anything but she never expected him to say it out loud in front of everyone.
"You're a jerk Charlie" Julie stated simply before walking out of the room. Charlie hung his head. He hadn't meant to hurt Julie but Connie and Adam had made him so angry. They knew the risks of being together and yet they didn't care that it might hurt the team but what upset him even more was that it appeared that Allie and Julie knew about the happy couple and yet they couldn't tell him even though he was meant to be one of their best friends.
"I'm just gonna see if she's okay" Allie said quietly to Portman as she made her way out of the room giving Adam and Connie a small smile of sympathy before leaving.
"Jules?" Allie called seeing the blonde haired girl sitting on a bench on the patio outside.
"Oh hey Allie, sorry to fight in your house" Julie apologised feeling guilty.
"Don't worry about it, this house has never seen so much action" Allie laughed knowing that it was true. No one was really ever home long enough to fight like that.
"Its too nice to fight" Julie commented.
"What us or the house?" Allie laughed trying to get a feel on Julie's mood. She couldn't tell if she was angry or happy.
"Both!" Julie exclaimed. "I'm okay, really its just that I had to get away from Charlie before I socked him one. Can you believe him. I mean I guess I understand Guy being a little upset but Charlie's just taking it too far" Julie explained.
Allie nodded "Yeah it was kinda weird the way he went off like that but trust Portman to ask the question though"
"That's why we love him. He's not afraid to ask the question we're all too afraid to ask" Julie replied frowning when a voice was heard screeching from inside.
"Who are all of you people? What are you doing in my house?" a woman demanded.
"Oh no" Allie exclaimed jumping up from the bench.
"What?" Julie asked confused.
"My mother" she replied racing inside.
"Mother these are my friends" Allie explained quickly grabbing her arm before she swatted poor Averman with her purse.
"These children are upsetting my quiet time" Mrs Taylor informed spitting out the word "children" as if it were some kind of filthy disease.
"I didn't even know you were back" Allie said secretly wishing that she'd just stayed in LA for a few more months, even years.
"Well I am now so your little friends have to leave" Mrs Taylor cried ushering the Ducks to pack up and get out.
Allie knew there was no point in arguing with her as she always got her own way when she was in one of these 'moods'.
"Sorry guys" Allie said when the group was in the safety of the front porch. Her mother had watched their every move to ensure that they were leaving.
"It's okay babe, I'm just happy I got to see you" Portman said wrapping his arm around her.
"I'll walk you down to the gate" she said softly feeling embarrassed by the way her mother overreacted.
Charlie and Guy made a point of walking at a distance from the rest of the group and seemed a bit upset when no one objected or made an effort to join them.
"This is ridiculous, Connie and Adam are great together" Allie whispered to Portman.
"Not as good as you and me though" Portman replied quietly squeezing her shoulders gently.
"You big dag!" Allie laughed wrapping her arms around his waist. "But you're my big dag" she added smiling when he kissed her temple.
"And don't you forget it" Portman exclaimed.
"Erm Allie, I don't want to alarm you but MONSTER DOGS!" Averman cried spotting a huge black German Shepherd racing towards them.
Allie laughed for a moment before sticking her fingers in her mouth and whistling. The dog immediately stopped growling and ran over to Allie and sat at her feet.
"its alright Averman, he wont attack while I'm here" Allie laughed as Averman stood behind Portman shaking.
"Oh good" Averman said pushing Portman out of the way to cower behind Allie.
"Unless I tell him too" Allie laughed seeing Averman's face turn white.
"Kidding Averman, jeez! We're running out of spots to bury the bodies" Allie joked.
Averman wasn't laughing "Bodies?" he whispered.
The Ducks rolled their eyes "Joke Averman!" they chorused, including Dwayne who understood that it was a joke also.
The dog who Allie introduced as "Jake" escorted them to the gate where they were met by Miles.
"You lot better quit your bitching otherwise I will come to Eden Hall and kick all of your asses" Allie laughed directing the comment at Charlie who glared at her for a second before smiling slightly. He couldn't be mad at her, not when she had a valid point.
"And you'd better behave yourself" she turned to Portman who hung his head like a little boy.
"Yes m'am" Portman said quietly keeping his head down so that no one could see his smile.
"I'll see you later then" she said kissing him on the cheek.
Portman nodded "Yeah definitely" he replied cupping her face in his hands and kissing her softly on the lips. They ignored the cries of "gross" and "get a room" as they deepened the kiss. It wasn't until someone yelled "I hope you don't kiss Connie like that Banks" that they broke apart laughing hard along with the rest of the group at the comment.
"Shut up Goldberg!" Connie protested not doing a very good job at keeping a straight face.
Adam wasn't much better as he grabbed Connie and replied with "Wanna see?" through laughs.
"I'd better get back before mother has a coronary" Allie said reluctantly letting go of Portman's hand.
"Bye Allie" the group chorused scattering down the road until only Portman remained.
"Night baby" he said softly kissing her on the lips.
"Night" she replied feeling happier than she had in days as she started up the long driveway with Jake at her heels.
Something made her turn around and take another look at Portman. He turned around at the same time and she blew him a kiss.
Unknown to both of them at the time, that would be the last time they saw each other for quite some time.