An Ann n Anny High School

by lolzwaitwhat

Based on VampireMeerkat's An Ann n' Anny (Gender bent Ed Edd n' Eddy) The Ans are in for the ride of their lives as they face something that will change them forever... their senior year of high school...They will make friends, battle foes, zombies and bigfeet, and maybe, just maybe, date the Kanker bros? First chapter is more of a one shot, series actually starts on chapter 2

11. An, Ann 'n Anny Valentine's Special pt2

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AN, ANN 'N ANNY LOVEY DOVEY VALENTINES DAY IN PARIS

PART TWO!

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Tee tossed and turned in his comfy, four poster bed.

Honestly, the mattress was as soft as a cloud and the pillows were nice and fluffy and everything in his mind told him that this bed should be super comfortable and he should fall asleep in half a second.

But he just couldn't.

He was used to his lumpy old mattress and old, flat pillow back home at the trailer, the 'floating on a cloud' feeling was not as cozy as the infomercials on TV made it seem, he didn't want to be floating on a cloud, he wanted to sleep on a bed!

He sighed as he turned over with a frustrated huff.

It wasn't the bed.

It wasn't Jay and An next door going at it, either, although the sounds of them having sex wasn't exactly lulling him to sleep...

Tee grabbed the pillow and folded it over his head with a groan.

As if it wasn't bad enough that he had to teach his future asshole of a step dad to dance tomorrow, but now he had to listen to Jay having fun with his girlfriend next door while he had barely spent much time with Anny today. He was too tired to get up and tell them to keep it down. His day had been draining to say the least, and now all he wanted was sleep, yet, no matter what he did he still couldn't get any rest.

He wished he could talk to someone about all this, but Jay was "busy" with An. (Author: (chuckling) yeah he is!) and after Double-N vomited again, Larie had begged her aunts and her fellow Ans to let him watch over her tonight.

It didn't surprise either him or Jay when Larie had gotten on his knees and begged them to let him watch over her (not that he'd let her see that), after all, each of them had made a promise to Babs to always protect the gals they loved and their future children, (after she told them what her violent family had been like to her when she was growing up) and right after they made that promise, she died in a car accident. It hit all three of them pretty hard, but Larie definitely was the most effected by that and thus became super defensive of Double-N.

They had also made a promise to April to find good girls to marry one day and always be little gentlemen with them, and one week later she died. Jay had definitely taken that lesson to heart, back when they were pouncing on the Ans for kisses he was always the most gentle with his An, and as they got older, they remembered what gentlemen actually meant and tried to act that way towards their Ans afterwards, (it wasn't until after they started dating their Ans that they actually acted like gentlemen, but in their defense, their girlfriend's kisses were addicting and it was only after they started getting them instead of just taking them that they finally started to calm down)

Finally, the creaking and moans from next door came to a stop, much to Tee's relief, he finally had some peace and quiet to try and get some sleep.

After three of the longest minutes of his life lying in his fancy bed waiting to fall asleep, he began pulling at his hair in frustration.

URG! Why couldn't he sleep?!

After a few minutes of silently swearing and groaning, he took a deep, calming breath and closed his eyes once more and began trying to figure out what to do with Anny for Valentine's Day.

Ironically, he fell asleep before he even came up with one plausible idea and dreamed that he and Anny were going at it.

He would wake up the next morning, look up at the ceiling, frown and ask, "Seriously, the one time I didn't want to sleep and actually think about something and ya finally let me sleep?" (Author: I gave you sleep and an erotic dream instead, deal with it)

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Larie watched as Ann slept, smiling softly at her relaxed expression. He was relieved that she was feeling better, he was still worried as hell about her, but less so then he had when she had gotten sick earlier that evening. After getting An and Anny to watch her while he informed her aunts, he then begged them and the other two Ans to let him watch over her tonight. Normally they'd reject the idea immediately, but Larie just looked so worried and upset and Jay and Tee assured them that Larie would never think to do anything that he normally would want to do if he was alone with his girlfriend in her hotel room overnight. The women had been torn, but Fiona and Miranda were dealing with Luca's jetlag, the other night he had gotten up several times and started crying, scared that he woke up in a strange place instead of his nice, warm bed at home. He had done this after they had brought him home from Russia too, so they knew this was going to happen, but they doubted if they could handle it if they had to take care of Luca and Ann. Especially if she would wake up in the middle of the night to throw up, Luca would hear her and it would be twice as hard to calm him down so he could fall back asleep then it normally was because Luca would not only be upset from waking up in a strange place, but if Ann was sick, he'd feel awful for Ann, who was basically like a big sister to him, and cry even harder. It would also be bad for Ann, since she'd feel guilty for waking and upsetting Luca. They had hoped that An, Anny and Clover could sort of watch over her, but when Larie had begged them to let him do it, they figured that they'd give Larie a chance, Ann's best friends were in rooms right next to hers and Clover had the hearing of a freaking bat, so if anything happened, they could handle the situation until they arrived if he dared to try anything.

Clover knew nothing about taking care of someone who was sick, the last time she tried to take care of someone sick, Fiona, Jude and Zoe drove into Sanji's driveway only to see him half stumbling and half crawling out of his house, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and was soaking wet, bits of chicken noodle soup in his hair, when they finally reached him, he could barely speak, although he managed to get out, "No… sponge bath… Clove…" then he collapsed onto the ground and had to be taken for the hospital.

Sanji only had a cold.

Clover was forever banned from taking care of any sick people after that, so she was automatically unqualified to care for Double-N.

An and Anny could do it, but An could be overenthusiastic about caring for sick people that normally didn't help much (Like when Sam got sick and she shoved fruits and vegetables into his mouth) and Anny had no bedside manner what-so-ever. So while they had felt kind of awkward leaving Larie to take care of Double-N for the night, but, in all honesty, they didn't really know what to do to help her, they had taken care of her a few times when she was sick and her parents were at work, but they would do it for a few hours or so while doing her chores inbetween and trying to contact her parents and inform them that their daughter was ill, then had to go home or to school or what have you, they'd never taken care of her at night before, they didn't know what to do, Double-N was the An who knew how to take care of someone who was sick, not them.

And their boyfriends assured them that she'd be alright in Larie's care, so all the women reluctantly agreed.

Fiona, Miranda and Luca left after agreeing to let Larie watch over Ann for the night and Jude, Zoe, Sanji and Tee all went back to their rooms and went to bed while Anny and Clover just walked into the bedrooms they crawled out of this morning and crawled into the beds.

An and Jay snuck out to who knows where, although, Larie was pretty sure Jay was probably wooing An with his cooking skills or some shit and how the fuck did his bucktoothed little brother become sexually active before him?!

Jay had freaked out in health class when they were explaining how babies were made (unlike Larie, who eagerly listened to every word, making it one of the few times before he started getting tutoring from Ann that he actually paid attention in class) and when Larie and Tee tried to de-sensitize him to it, he curled up in a little ball with his eyes closed and his hands covering his ears while he hummed loudly to himself.

Larie and Ann had been silent while he sat by her bedside, both too overly aware of one another to talk or sleep. Finally Larie silently took her hand and kissed her cheek and wished her a good night. She had smiled shyly and gave him a peck on his cheek and wished him sweet dreams before settling into her bed, still holding his hand and closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. It had been an hour since then, he then started to gently rub the back of her hand with his thumb, wishing he could do more to make her feel better.

He wasn't used to people being sick, well, April had been sick, but he and his brothers had been too young to understand that, they just randomly started visiting her at the hospital one day and it quickly became normal to see her there, they were told she was sick, but she simply looked tired to them. She was still the same woman who would cover them with kisses and give them big, tight, warm hugs and excitedly ask about their weeks, the only difference to them was that her smile was a little more tired and her voice had a little less energy, it wasn't until the last visit that they realized that April's illness was real, and she had to cough up blood and be wheeled out of a hospital room to undergo emergency surgery to make the boys finally understand how serious it was.

He and his brothers hardly ever got sick, his dad didn't get sick often either, and he hadn't really thought about Ann ever getting sick, since she was so health conscious, honestly if he was to guess which one of them would get sick first, he'd of guessed it'd be him.

The fact that she'd feel ill at all was not something he'd ever considered, (except for maybe morning sickness, but he figured that wouldn't happen until they were older) he knew it was possible, after all, everyone got sick at some point, but she was always so careful when it came to possibly getting sick, she had made a scarf, mittens and a hat for him just so he wouldn't catch a cold for Pete's sake! She was very aware of germs and ate healthy, she carried a first aid kit where ever she went, and, to be honest, the idea of her taking care of him while he was sick was something he had fantasized about more then once, not that he'd tell her that, but still, he never thought she would get sick before he did, and definitely not from bad food!

And he never thought that anyone would ever be stupid enough to serve her bad food with him around to stare daggers at them, let alone shove a live snail down her throat in front of him.

He clenched his fists, he wanted to murder Pierre Formage for what he did to his poor, sweet Ann…

But at the same time, Larie could have ripped his hand off of her nose when he pinched it so she wouldn't of had to swallow the snail he'd shoved into her mouth. He could have grabbed his hand when he went to shove the snail into her mouth so it would go nowhere near her mouth. He could have eaten it himself and saved her from the trauma of having to vomit up that man's cooking. (and been the one who needed taking care of) He could have done something to help her, but instead, he had just sat there, staring as Mr. Cheese poisoned his beloved Ann with his bad food, stunned at his actions and not reacting to them until after the damage had been done.

Then later on, he gave her a custard-filled kiss after she had told him that she didn't think her stomach could handle it, basically telling him that she didn't feel so good and he just shoved more food down her throat!

He felt so horrible, what kind of boyfriend was he?

He heard a light knock on the door, "Double-N? Larie? You two decent?" Anny asked in a low voice. Larie flushed, then reluctantly let go of Ann's hand and got up and opened the door, frowning at his older brother's girlfriend, "First of all, Ann is sleeping, so whatever you were gonna ask her is gonna have to wait until morning. Second of all, I'm not gonna try anything if she's not feeling well." He said in a low, stern voice.

Anny gave him a sheepish grin, "Can ya blame me for thinking that you two were having fun in here?" Larie turned redder and shook his head slightly, then said, "What's up?"

Now it was Anny's turn to turn red, "Honestly, I wanted to ask you something…"

Larie arched his neck back in surprise, he never really talked all that much to either of the other Ans without Ann being present in the conversation, he certainly never had a one-on-one conversation with Anny before, so the fact that she came to specifically talk to him was surprising to say the least.

"Ohhh-kaaayyy…" he said, "Uh, why don't we talk in the hall so we don't wake Ann?" he then suggested. Anny nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Sockhead's been through enough today."

They stepped out into the hall and Larie silently shut the door behind them, they stood there silently for a moment before Anny let out a long breath and said, "I want to ask you about Bethany." She said plainly.

Larie's eyes widened, but he really wasn't all that surprised. It was obvious that after seeing Tee's long lost mom, Anny'd want to know a bit about her.

Larie sighed, while he didn't want to talk about Tee's mom to Anny behind his back, but he knew that she wouldn't stop until either he or Jay told her what she felt that he needed to know, and Jay wasn't very good at keeping secrets, Larie didn't have to be good at math to know that his blabber-mouthed blonde brother plus a determined Anny equaled Tee kicking his and Jay's asses.

But Anny was a persistent woman to say the least, after all, the girl came up with crazy schemes so she and her friends could earn a few quarters and buy some jawbreakers, bugging him and Jay for information was a cake walk compared to that, especially since she could ask either of her fellow Ans to ask on her behalf and get the information pretty easily that way too, so it was probably best that she hear the information first hand from one of the brothers then just try and hold out on her as long as he could without Anny getting her friends involved... Although the thought of Ann flirting information out of him sounded like a lot of fun… he shook his head wildly, she was lying in bed, sick, and he was daydreaming about her seducing him! He suddenly felt like an asshole.

"Uh, Larie? Can you tell me about Bethany or not?" she asked, confused by his sudden head shake.

Larie straightened, "Uh, yeah, I can, but I don't know much." He warned her, "and what I do know isn't pretty." She nodded and motioned for him to continue. He sighed again, "Our dad and all three of our moms were best friends. Now, I don't know how, but he somehow got all three of them pregnant at about the same time. All I do know was that Bethany was pissed about it, she apparently never wanted kids and her being pregnant was not something she was okay with." he then shifted uncomfortably under Anny's silent, steady gaze, "but she had Tee anyway…" he bit his lip, not sure if he should talk anymore, he felt really uncomfortable talking about this.

Talking about any of their moms was not something any Kanker brother felt comfortable about doing.

But at least they had good memories of his and Jay's moms, so there was something positive to talk about with them, with Bethany… there were no happy memories, hell, there were no memories in general. She had left when they were infants, all Tee had of her growing up was her old bathrobe and a picture of her holding him as a baby (and she wasn't even smiling) and the brothers had found the nasty note she had left behind when she had left.

With April, they had memories of laughter and picnics where the food was only second best to the huge amount of fun they had, Jay had learned that he loved to cook and wanted to do that for a living.

With his mom, Babs, they had memories of long talks and good advise and fun projects, hell, Larie learned about his love of art and that was when he first learned that he was good with metal.

But with Bethany, there was nothing but what little she had left behind when they were babies, and most of it wasn't very positive.

"When did she leave?" Anny asked quietly.

Larie hesitated, then sighed and huffed, "Our first Christmas…" he looked at his feet, "She left a note saying she was going to dance in France…"

"And?"

Larie flinched and bit his lip and looked up at her, silently begging her not to make him say what else was on the note, but she only moved her hand, urging him to continue. He sighed and murmured, "That Tee was our dad's, April's and my mom's problem now."

Anny's face contorted into a snarl and her eyes were dark and angry, she clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles were a bloodless white, her teeth were gritted and the ends were pointed.

Larie was surprised how terrifying she looked at that moment, he was actually scared of what she was capable of right now, and coming from a Kanker, that was seriously saying something.

She stood there for a moment, fuming, then stomped back towards a door, threw it open and went inside. She must have remembered that the others were sleeping so she then closed it quietly behind her.

Larie groaned, why had he opened his big fat mouth? Tee was going to kill him for telling Anny about his mom, at least if Ann had seduced it out of him then he'd have a legitimate excuse as to why he had talked. He then shook his head and decided to focus on one thing at a time, right now, Ann was still not feeling well and he needed to keep an eye on her.

He quietly opened the door to her room, only to see her sitting up in her bed and looking at him, her eyes half open and tired but curious at the same time.

"What did you and Anny talk about?" she asked him softly, rubbing her eyes. Larie smiled guiltily, feeling bad for waking her, "You heard us, huh?" she nodded.

He sighed as a small, awkward smile lit up his face while he quietly closed the door behind him and crossed the room to his seat.

"She wanted to know about Bethany." He said softly as he sat down, then pulled her close, "But what I want to know is how you're feeling." He whispered into her ear. She blushed as she hugged back, then murmured, "I'm feeling alright, thank you, exhausted, but alright."

"Better then earlier?"

She nodded, "Much better then earlier." He kissed her forehead, "Good, now get some rest."

"What about you? Resting in that chair is probably going to be uncomfortable…" she pointed out.

"Meh, I'm not that tired…" he fibbed. To be honest, he was worn out, as freaking out over his sick girlfriend hadn't taken a lot out of him, he had also worked with Fiona to figure out what they could do in the Notre Dame for the wedding in one week to make it wedding ready without messing with the church, which with Pierre's special requests was like trying to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle across a tightrope, and he also wanted a metal sculpture that represented his and Bethany's love for each other that they would reveal after they cut the cake at the hotel, and Larie had to sit with him for three hours until he finally drew a design that Pierre agreed with and that Bethany would approve of.

So Larie would have loved to get some rest. But since he had done nothing to protect Ann earlier, he felt that staying up to watch over her would be his way to repent for it.

Ann looked at him plainly, "Larie Kanker, if you expect me to believe that pitiful lie…" she stopped halfway through her sentence and covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide.

"Ann?" he said, concerned, gently cupping her face in his hands.

She pulled away from him, threw off the covers and dashed towards the bathroom, her cheeks green as she threw the door open and practically dove inside.

Larie sat there for a moment, stunned at what just happened (Author: Food Poisoning, the number one killer of Larie's faps), then he heard her throwing up and he leapt to the bathroom, his own eyes wide, "Ann!" he cried, turning on the lights and seeing her slumped over the toilet, tears streaming down her face as she became sick again.

He quickly pulled her hair out of her face, wiped some of her tears away with his fingers and murmured soft words as Anny and Clover rushed in, followed by An.

They all heard Larie's cry, and easily guessed what was going on and dashed to the bathroom and looked at the sobbing girl pitifully.

When she was done, An grabbed some toilet paper and handed it to her to wipe her mouth with, she thanked her and An and Larie helped her up and tucked her into bed while Anny grabbed the towels in the bathroom dropped them onto the floor to make a path to the bathroom, 'just in case' while Clover called Miranda and Fiona and let them know what had happened.

Afterwards Clover lead An and Anny out of the room while Larie sat on the bed beside her, holding her tightly while she sniffled and gently stroking her hair and cooing comforts, Anny silently closed the door behind them. "Poor Double-N." An said softly, her lower lip starting to quiver, "It's not fair… She was so excited to come here, Anny!"

Anny patted her simple friend on the back, "Come on, An, let's head back to bed, Larie's got Sockhead… we can spoil her rotten tomorrow after work," she then lead her sad, simple friend to her room, "By the way, why is your hair all messed up?" She then took a closer look at An, "And why are you all sweaty?"

An anxiously looked away from Anny, "NO REASON!" she cried, then gave her a nervous toothy grin that screamed 'I HAVE A BIG SECRET!'

Anny narrowed her eyes, now normally, when An had something to hide and wouldn't tell them, she and Double-N would sort of tag team her to get it out of her, usually with Double-N calmly trying to get the information out of her and keeping An calm before Anny would get impatient with their brainy friend's tactic and tackle her to the ground and tickling her belly with a feather and shouting at her to 'TELL US ALREADY!' while Double-N would normally shout, 'ANNY! THERE WAS NO NEED TO TACKLE HER TO THE GROUND!'

Since Sockhead wasn't feeling good, Anny knew that she could just skip that part and just cut to the chase.

So she did.

After a five minute struggle, Anny had An pinned, "WHAT WERE YOU DOING!?"

"NO! AN WILL NOT TELL ANNY THAT SHE AND JAY JUST HAD SEX!" An then paused as she realized that she just said what she didn't want Anny to know. She looked to her loud friend, who was absolutely stunned, "YOU AND JAY HAD SEX!?" Anny shouted.

"ANNY! AN!" Clover snapped as she opened her door, she had an eye mask covering one eye while the other glared angrily at them, "ANN GETTING SICK AND WAKING ME UP IS ONE THING, SHE CAN'T HELP THAT, BUT IF YOU TWO KEEP SHOUTING AND MESS UP MY BEAUTY SLEEP, I'LL MESS YOU UP!"

"Yes Ma'am!" the two Ans whispered in response, then ran to their rooms and quietly closed the doors behind them.

Anny pulled out her phone and sent An a text that read, 'we're talking about this later, lumpy. You, me and sockhead.' Then she placed her phone on the table beside the bed, plugged it into her charger and flopped face forward onto the bed.

What a day.

Everything that happened seemed to spiral in her mind, but when she finally got to An having sex, the spiral shattered from shock, (much to her relief, it was making her feel dizzy) An could hardly watch a movie with kissing without turning away with a blush on her face. She used to cry out 'eww gross!' when they were younger but once they got to high school, An just went to blushing and turning away, mainly because her fellow Ans explained that she couldn't do that at school if she saw people making out in the hallways and suggested she just not look at the kissing if it made her feel uncomfortable. (Actually, that's what Double-N said to her, Anny just told her to get over it) And it took her and Double-N four months to teach An where babies come from when they were kids and as soon as she finally got it, she flipped out and wouldn't come out of her room for three days, and now she was suddenly screwing Jay? When did their relationship get that level anyway?

Ugh! Just thinking that her sweaty friend's romantic relationship suddenly becoming sexual made her skin crawl!

If it was Double-N and Larie doing it, well, Larie had always kinda been aiming for Double-N's virginity, so if anything, Anny was at least semi-prepared for it, but An and Jay? 'No way!' she thought as she got a bad taste in the back of her mouth from the thought.

Now that she thought about it, Larie was actually acting more like Jay would with An whenever something was wrong with her then his usual, perverted self, but at the same time, he'd never seen Double-N sick before, so it made some sense that he'd be more caring and less crude. And Jay was kinda acting more like Larie wanted to act with Double-N…

She decided to stop thinking about her friends' sex lives before she puked and think about something else, like what she and Tee could do for Valentine's Day, since he had enough on his mind, maybe she could figure something out for them instead… but what?

It wasn't like Anny had any other dating experiences to use as reference, they were in Paris, France, that was really all she had really thought about when the topic of this trip came up. Getting them there. After all, a flight to Paris and back from Peach Creek wasn't exactly cheap, so she focused on how they would get there, An focused on what they would bring there and Double-N was the one who would research things for them to do, so Anny was at a total loss here.

'I'll ask Sockhead for things that are going on around here at breakfast if she's feeling any better, if not I'll ask the lady at the front desk.' She decided, then snuggled into the cozy bed, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

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Jay woke up the next morning at eight and got up with a yawn and a stretch, feeling quite refreshed.

But then again, he'd had a pretty good day yesterday… well, except for the whole Bethany thing and Double-N getting food-poisoning and An having a chunk of knife fly at her face, but other then that, it had been a pretty good day, he got to cook for everyone in their group and work with professional chefs in a real kitchen and learned loads, he'd got to see An with her cute new haircut, he got kisses and loads of affection from An and then he and An'd had sex.

He smiled goofily as he remembered last night's activities, it wasn't until after Christmas that Jay finally understood why Larie had been so eager to hop straight into the sack with Double-N, sex was awesome!

Jay smiled as he hopped into the bathroom and took a nice hot shower then got dressed and ready for the day, it was great to be able to take a long hot shower without worrying about there not being enough left for the other three occupants of his trailer home, and the room was nice and spacious, not that he had or brought a lot of stuff with him, but still, it was nice to have the space. The bed was big and cozy and had plenty of room for him and An last night, it even had curtains they could close for privacy.

All and all, he was in a great mood this morning…

Until he checked his phone.

There was a message from Larie and another from An, but they carried the same message:

'Anny knows.'

Now, Jay had no idea what Anny now knew about, but the messages made him feel uneasy, as if the good mood he'd been in had been a balloon that was about to be tied and suddenly was let go to fly in every which direction while making a fart noise, "PPPPPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He texted both of them back the same question, 'what does she know about?' then dragged himself out of his room and walked to the kitchen to make breakfast, although, with the way he was now feeling, he almost felt like just ordering it, but he cleared his head and got to work on the most important meal of the day, he didn't want the chefs of the hotel to think he was lazy.

Tee and Sanji dragged themselves into the kitchen when he started cooking the bacon, the smell being probably the only reason they even dragged themselves out of bed.

"Morning!" he said, trying to seem as cheerful as he had been before he seen those text messages. He got mumbles that sounded similar to his own words in response as they both collapsed into bar stools at the island and Sanji flipped on the TV, where the news was being broadcasted in French, making him swear in Hindi for a minute before letting his head fall into his folded arm with a groan.

"I just… want to know… the fucking… weather…" he grumbled.

Tee glanced up at the screen for a moment and listened to the cheerful man who was pointing at a map of France, then said, "Rainy and cold."

"Fuck." Was Sanji's only response.

Sanji didn't mind rain, he worked with plants, so to him, rain was good. It was the cold he minded, he hated the cold, cold turned rain against him, it went from watering his plants for him to turning to snow and ice and killing them instead.

Tee looked at Sanji and realized that he wasn't really in a mood to talk yet, at least not until the coffee that Jay had put on finished brewing. So he turned to his younger brother, "So you're in the kitchen again today?"

"Yup!" Jay said, feeling a bit more cheerful at the thought of being in a kitchen all day again, Jude was a great teacher and so were the other chefs that worked here and the people here were grateful to have his help cooking, there were a lot of people staying at the hotel for this wedding, so they had way more mouths to feed then normal, and he was learning so much about cooking and loved every minute of it, the only thing he liked better was the fact that he could cook then see his beloved An afterwards. It was almost as if they were a working couple… Jay's eyes then glazed over as he slipped into a fantasy of going to work in a kitchen then coming home to a nice house in the suburbs where An was happily awaiting his arrival home and would run to him and embrace him when he opened the door and announced that he was home from work.

Tee watched as his brother sighed happily and floated above the ground while he went about making breakfast. At least someone was enjoying this trip. He then rubbed his eyes and wondered how Larie was doing with Double-N and wondered if he should go grab his phone and check if he sent him any messages at all last night.

Then Jay's phone beeped and his blonde brother snapped out of his fantasy and dashed to get it, his eyes wide with anticipation as he glanced through the messages on his phone.

Larie had replied first, 'about Bethany.' So Jay sent him another message asking how she knew about that before checking An's reply, 'that we had sex last night.' Jay turned bright pink before asking her how she had learned about that before he smelled something and remembered that he was in the middle of cooking breakfast and dashed back to the stove, where a nice three cheese omelet (Author: yes, I am gonna keep making this joke) was now burned. He softly scolded himself while tossing it out and starting on another one and deciding to wait until he was done cooking to read his messages.

"Did Larie text you last night?" Tee asked him. Jay froze for a second then turned back to his brother, "Text me about what?"

"I dunno, what he's doing today, how Double-N is, you know, stuff like that?"

Jay shook his head, "You want me to text him and ask?"

Tee waved his hand dismissively, "Nah, I'll text him after I eat and get ready for the day, he's probably exhausted after watching over Double-N last night." The coffee maker beeped to inform them that the coffee was ready and Tee and Sanji slowly got up and poured themselves each a cup.

Just as Tee was about to take a sip, there was a knock on the door, Tee and Sanji glanced at Jay, who sighed as he placed their plates at the table and said, "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

When he returned, he plopped a newspaper onto the table and only said the word, "paperboy" as means for an explanation. Tee picked up the paper eagerly, maybe he could find something for his Valentine's date with Anny, like a fancy party he could sneak them into or something. "Hey, they're having a parade and a carnival here in Paris on Valentine's Day." He said aloud, considering the idea. He sighed and lowered the paper, Anny would never go for that for their romantic Valentine's date in Paris, and besides, a parade seemed more like something Jay and An would do for their date.

"Let me see!" Jay said cheerfully, Tee passed him the paper and Jay's eyes flashed through the information, "They're also having a carnival and a whole bunch of fun things to do this weekend here too!" Jay said cheerfully as he quickly memorized the list of what would be happening on Valentine's day, not that he could really understand it since it was all written in French, but he could ask some of the guys in the kitchen to translate for him or maybe the lady at the front desk, then he stopped when he saw Pierre and Bethany's names and pictures in the paper with a big headline above their photo and said, "Hey, I think the wedding we're helping with is in here too."

"Mind if I look at that?" Sanji asked. Jay shook his head and passed him the paper, Sanji glanced at it, "well, not only can I not read it, but they spelled my name wrong." He said with a groan as he tossed the paper into the center of the table, where it stayed while they all silently dove into their breakfasts. Jay's phone buzzed again and he quickly picked it up.

"Who the hell is texting you right now?" Tee asked.

"An." Jay said quickly as he typed in a response, smiling as he spoke her name. Sanji and Tee looked at each other as if to say, 'of course.' Before Tee could ask what An was saying, there was a knocking at their door.

They looked at each other.

"Don't look at me," Jay said, holding his hands up, "I already did that this morning, one of you two get it." Then went back to eating his breakfast.

After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, Tee reluctantly got up and answered the door… only to see Anny and An, up and dressed with a grumpy Clover, a cheerful Zoe and Jude and a determined Fiona, who looked at his bare chest, (remember, kids, Tee sleeps shirtless) saw his tattoo and smirked at him, he quickly covered it with his hand, his face now pink, "Morning, are Jay and Sanji up too?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're eating," he said, then remembered his manners and asked, "care to join us?"

"Thanks, but Jude, Zoe and I already ate, but…" then loud growls came from the other three's stomachs, "Clover, An and Anny have not, so we'll discuss what we're doing today while you all eat. Then you boys can get dressed and we'll get to work."

Tee stepped aside and let them in, turning a deeper shade of red as they glanced at his hand over where his tattoo was, An looked at him and asked, "Are you doing the pledge of allegiance?"

"No, An, I'm covering up my tattoo." He said plainly.

"Oh…" then she looked at him, stunned, "You have a tattoo?!" she cried. Anny sighed and pushed her further inside, "Come on, Lumpy, let's eat, I'm starved." She then glanced at Tee and gave him a semi-sympathetic glance and a warm smile that made his face turn redder as she passed him.

He watched as the two Ans walked further into the suite, then finally realized that Miranda, Luca, Larie and Double-N weren't there.

'Must be in the An's suite.' He thought as he closed the door and followed the girls into the kitchen with a smile on his face, despite all the stuff with his mom, having breakfast with Anny made it all the bad things suck a little less for Tee.

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It was nine in the morning on Monday, February 9th and Ann was feeling a little better, not much, but a little.

After the first time she got sick last night, she woke up three more times to vomit, although all she really managed to get up was bile from her empty stomach, with Larie waking up with a start and dashing to her aid and comforting her for an hour or so before she drifted back to sleep.

Her Aunts, Zoe, Jude and Luca arrived at their door at seven that morning to wake everyone up. Larie got the door and updated them on all the times Ann had been sick through out the night and asked if he could stick around today and watch over her too.

The two could see that he was obviously exhausted and figured that he had been up all night taking care of their niece so they agreed, as long as he also got some rest too, and the materials he needed to start with the sculpture weren't in yet anyways so, after checking on their niece and making An, Anny and Clover get up and out of bed and get ready for the day, Fiona, Zoe and Jude took them to the boys' room to wake them as well. Aunt Miranda and Luca stayed behind to watch over the two tired teens while the others were away.

Miranda was calling Ann's parents and giving them an update, leaving out the fact that Larie watched over her last night and not one of them, and Luca was watching TV just outside the room, and from the faint sounds of a familiar theme song that wafted through the crack under the door, Ann guessed that he was watching Sesame Street.

Ann glanced over at Larie, who had fallen asleep beside her on the bed… well, actually, he kind of walked in after the others left and collapsed onto the bed right next to her and fell straight asleep… He snored loudly… well, actually, his snore sounded more like he was going 'Eeeeee' in a higher pitched voice, which probably would have annoyed anyone else, but, to Ann's surprise, she didn't mind it at all.

She actually thought it was kind of cute that he made such a funny sound while he slept, and it was so much higher pitched then his normal voice! He sounded like he had when he was a kid! She stifled a chuckle as she tried to, once again, get some sleep before her body decided that it needed to make her lean her head over the toilet and feel ill, even though she had nothing in her body to expel. She was a little dizzy and felt weak, but that came with the territory when one was ill, she closed her eyes and smiled as she listened to Larie's unique snore, it was strange, but it was sort of soothing to her, maybe it was because she knew that if she needed someone, he was right there.

Usually she was stuck at home on her own when she was sick.

Sure, An and Anny would take care of her once they knew she was sick, but they'd usually have to go to her home and find out that she was sick before they'd be able to try to nurse her back to health, and frankly, they'd usually have to go home or to school and she'd be alone again with no one to take care of her, so having Larie with her through this ordeal for so long was new, but comforting.

She felt something wrap around her and opened her eyes to see that Larie had pulled her into a warm hug in his sleep, smiling widely that he had her in his arms, even though he wasn't awake to enjoy it. The hug brought a smile and a crimson flush to her face, and the sudden embrace made her feel a little better about her being sick ruining her highly anticipated romantic trip to Paris that she had been dreaming about for years.

She closed her eyes and hugged back, letting her disappointment about missing out on Paris fade away as she fell asleep, enjoying the warmth from Larie's embrace as she did.

…Until about eleven forty-five when her aunt walked in to check on them and found them like that and flipped out, only for them to groan in exhausted unison that 'we're sleeping!' and snuggle closer. Miranda then sighed, walked to her tired two year old, who woke up at four in the morning and hadn't fallen back to sleep and was now grumpy and fussy, scooped him into her arms and brought him into Ann's room and told the teens to make room.

They both barely opened their eyes at the odd request to see a sleepy Luca in Miranda's arms, then groaned a bit as they slowly pulled themselves apart so Luca could be slipped in between them and then they slowly curled around the toddler the three of them quickly fell asleep, smiling softly.

Miranda then took a few pictures of the three of them and smiled as she then sent the pictures to Fiona and then dialed her wife's number, knowing she was probably eating lunch right now and was free to talk about how cute they were.

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It was 10 AM and Jay watched as Jude showed him how to properly cook mussels. Jay had never cooked them before, honestly, since their dad often barely made enough money to keep them all fed and clothed, he hadn't worked with a lot of the fancy ingredients that the chefs here were using. He'd heard of them and had heard of what not to do with them, but he had never had any experience cooking with them before, so he was eager to try it out for himself.

"Alright, Jay," Jude said as he put the finished mussels on the plate with a few other elements that Jay had learned about yesterday, "Now you try." Jay smiled eagerly and gathered the ingredients and started working on the dish…

When Pierre came in.

The whole kitchen froze when he came onto the scene, a sudden chill in the air as Pierre Formage joyfully bounded into the kitchen.

This was bad.

Pierre often came into the kitchen and tried to 'help out' which meant he walked over to someone's work and wrecked it. Pierre looked around and spotted Jay, who's heart sunk as the man lit up and walked over to him with an excited smile on his face.

Now, Jay had no idea that Pierre liked to come into the kitchen and mess up other people's food, but he knew that Pierre looking happily at the food he was trying to prepare was not a good sign.

"Mr. Formage!" he said, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt, "What are you doing here?" Pierre brightened, "I come down here to assist some of the chefs in the kitchen from time to time." He explained cheerfully, Jay's stomach sank down somewhere next to his heart as Pierre then picked up a spatula and started poking at the mussels Jay had been cooking. The other chefs gave Jay sympathetic looks as Pierre started asking what Jay had done so far, Jay told him what he had done and what he was going to do, hoping that once he saw that Jay had it handled, that he'd go away.

"Um, sir, if you don't mind me asking, aren't you supposed to be taking a dance class with my brother?" Jay asked him, hoping the change of topic might distract Pierre from his food.

Pierre looked at him with wide eyes, "You and the red haired boy are brothers?"

"Uh, yeah, the guy with the blue hair is my brother too, we told you that when we met you yesterday." Jay said plainly, pretty annoyed that Pierre forgot that the three boys were brothers.

"OH! You three boys are related!" he said, surprised, then looked at him and said, "I thought the girls were related!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Because they had the same first name." Pierre said with a shrug, "I figured their parents were lazy."

Jay couldn't believe that he had just said that, while he didn't know Anny or Double-N's parents very well, he knew An's pretty well, and even though her dad wasn't fond of him, it pissed him off that he'd think that the Ans parents were lazy. He wanted to say something along the lines of 'watch your fucking mouth', but he kept his mouth shut, snapping at this guy would give him nothing but trouble.

"Uh, no, An, with one N, has a younger brother and Anny has an older sister, Ann with two Ns is an only child, but she and Luca get along like siblings and according to my brother, she babysits him often." Jay informed him, he had no idea why he told him that, but he figured that since this guy was going to marry Tee's mom, he might as well know something about his future step-daughters-in-law. Pierre nodded in response, although it was obvious that he had not paid any attention to what Jay had just said.

Jay frowned, "Mr. Formage, my brother and his girlfriend are waiting for you they can teach you how to dance for your wedding day, it's five days away and it seems really important to Be-Miss Rogers that you go to those lessons."

Pierre stiffened when he heard Jay almost call his fiancée by her first name, "Kay, what were you about to call my future wife?"

"My name is Jay, sir." Jay corrected, hoping he could change the subject, but the look on Pierre's face said he wasn't going to budge, he wanted to know why Jay seemed so familiar with her.

"Uh, she knew our parents back in the states when they were young." Jay said, trying his best to be as vague as possible in his reply, "They were best friends before she moved out here, we even have a picture of her holding my older brother, Tee, the one who's waiting for you to teach you how to dance, as a baby."

"You said they were best friends, what happened?" Pierre asked, suspicious.

"Uh, you know how it is, someone moves away for work and it gets harder to keep in touch." He said nervously, "They used to write back and forth but…" Jay looked down at the mussels in the pan, "The letters stopped coming after my mom died." He said in a soft voice as he took the pan off the heat and began plating them.

Pierre let Jay's words sink in, then he backed away slowly and walked out of the kitchen, thoughtful.

Pierre then pulled out his phone and spoke in a soft, almost conspiratorial tone, " Il est moi. J'ai un travail pour vous, je vais vous donner les détails en un peu." (It's me. I've got a job for you, I'll give you the details in a bit.) and closed his phone. He didn't like the idea of Bethany knowing these three boys and not telling him about it, the fact that it might be hard for her to talk about the death of a close friend not even crossing his mind, the only thing he could think about that there could be other things she could be hiding from him, and he didn't like that. He then walked up to his suite and made a few more calls inquiring about any information he could get about an American family with the last name of Kanker and how they had a relationship with Bethany Rogers.

He was going to find out their connection and see if Bethany's relationship with that family was really as innocent as the blonde boy in the kitchen had tried to make it seem.

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Pierre was late.

He was really fucking late.

Tee impatiently tapped his foot, he wore his usual teaching attire of a white tank, tight black pants and tennis shoes, he even had his hair pulled off his face. Anny glanced at her phone for the millionth time to check the time, wearing her usual tank top, yoga pants that captured all her curves and tennis shoes while her hair was pulled up into a ponytail. Frankly the only reason Tee wasn't pacing around the room swearing was that he had Anny around to admire, although he had gone back and forth a bit to admire her from different angles, but that was it.

Fiona and Bethany had told Pierre to be in the South Ballroom at ten o'clock on the dot for his dance lesson.

It was eleven o'clock now.

Tee had left Fiona a message, informing her that the groom had not yet graced them with his presence. She said if he didn't show up by eleven-fifteen, then he and Anny could leave and do as they pleased and if Pierre had a problem with that, then she would personally tell him to go fuck himself. That he should have been there on time instead of fucking around and wasting their time and that he deserved to be left alone in that big empty ballroom to think about what he had done.

Tee bit his lip, wishing for the fifteen minutes to fly by, then he got an idea.

"Hey Anny." He called, a gleeful smirk on his face as he strolled over to her.

"Yeah, Tee?" she replied, looking to see that her boyfriend was now beside her, she jumped a bit in surprise at his sudden appearance by her side. He held out his hand, his smile growing bigger on his face, "We have fifteen minutes to kill before we can leave this joint and do something fun," he held out his hand, "wanna dance?"

Anny smiled at him, "Sure, but let me put a timer on so we can ditch this place before that douche bag shows up, that way instead of teaching him how to dance, we can teach him to show up on fucking time." She said, Tee laughed and nodded in agreement. Although he loved dancing with Anny, sending his future step-dad a big 'fuck you' for making them wait this long would be worth the shortened time he would have to dance with his beloved Anny in this beautiful ballroom.

She set a timer on her cell, then brusquely shoved her phone into her bra and took Tee's hand, making his smile widen.

"Which one?" Anny asked him, his smile grew even bigger.

"The Rumba" he replied. Anny smiled back, "Haven't done that one in a while." She said as they started, "You know, Double-N said that the Rumba is known as one of the most romantic and sensual of all Latin dances." Tee pretended as if that information was news to him, "Really? Huh, didn't know that."

"What a load of bull!" Anny replied with a laugh, Tee started chuckling too as they teased and flirted back and forth, feeling more at ease and happy then they had been since they learned that Bethany would the bride at this wedding. The Rumba then shifted into a tango and then a waltz as they enjoyed being in their own little world.

Which was when Bethany came in.

She knew Pierre's lesson was supposed to start at ten sharp, but she had an appointment with Zoe to try a few more hairstyles for her wedding at nine so she figured she would be late, but she also figured that Pierre would probably be wrapping up or that Tee would be taking a break for the sake of keeping his sanity, at least, that's why Bethany had to take breaks when she was teaching him, as well as to let her poor feet out of her shoes to ice after Pierre stomped on them so much, only to find her son and that pink haired girl from before… this one being Anny, if memory served… dancing and laughing and having fun as they enjoyed just being together.

For a moment, Bethany's mind flashed back to when she and Ben had been that age, the four of them were going to go to prom together and Ben promised to dance with each one of them.

Only he had no idea how.

So Bethany, not wanting to be embarrassed by him, took it upon herself to teach him how to dance. When she had finished he could waltz pretty well.

She could see the seventeen year olds she and Ben used to be dancing in place of Anny and Tee, her eyes glazing over as she watched them as she recalled the lesson she had given Ben so long ago.

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FLASHBACK!

~Not So Dirty Dancing~

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Seventeen year old Ben Kanker looked down at his feet, which were only covered by his socks since his shoes made an annoying squeaking sound on the floor, and looked up at her, "So like this?" he asked, indicating the position of his feet, he wore a white t-shirt and dark grey sweatpants and his socks were white on top, but dark grey on the bottom with a hole for his left pinky toe to come out of.

"Yes." Bethany said, wearing dark leggings, a red tank top and black ballet flats, then laughed as she pushed his chin up with his finger, making him flush, "But you can't look at your feet the whole time, Ben, you have to keep your eyes on your partner." She explained as she chuckled.

"Then how do I know that I'm not stomping on my partner's feet?" he asked, trying to look back down but unable to due to her finger pushing his chin up, so he, instead, lifted his left leg up and held his stinky foot up into the air and wiggled his toes at her, the pinky one in particular wiggling in her face, she let out a squeal as she took a step back and covered her mouth and nose with her hands to block out the smell, but it did nothing to hide her smile or her laugher, "You're so gross!" she cried.

"What? It's Ode de Man!" He then smirked, then put down his foot and leaned toward her, holding up his arm and smiled as he said, "Wanna whiff?"

"EWW!" she shouted then moved her hands away to push his arm back down, "I hope that you're not going to do that at the Prom!" she giggled.

He snickered as he told her that, "I may or may not have been planning to do that at the Prom. Or I might do this!" He then scooped her up over his shoulder and then started walking around while he said, "Whadda think, Beth? Too much?" he asked her as she bounced with laughter on his shoulder. She swatted at his back, "Put me down! Put me DOWN!" she cried. After parading her around the room, Ben finally obliged and put her back onto the ground, both laughing, Bethany then lightly banged her fists against his chest as if she was angry that he had picked her up and was making him pay for it. He pulled her into a hug and then lifted her off the ground and spun in a circle, making her burst out laughing before putting her back down.

"Alright," he said, his face pulled into an easy smile and his hands up in surrender, "I got all the goofy stuff out of my system, now you can teach me."

Bethany shook her head, "Ben Kanker, I don't know how I put up with you."

"Ugh, you sound like my mom!" Ben replied, making a face. She smiled, then grabbed his ear, "Benjamin Horace Kanker, you stop being a goof ball and let Bethany teach you how to dance already so you don't make a fool of yourself at that dance!" she said, doing her best impression of Gladys.

He rolled his eyes as he snickered back, "Yes Mom."

"Okay then," Bethany said, letting go of his ear and taking a step back, "Alright, first take my hand." Ben flushed, but obeyed. The moment their skin touched, she felt a tingling sensation that quickly rushed from her fingertips to her heart, which started to beat rapidly and made her face turned pink, which was fine, since to do a waltz, the next thing Ben had to do was, "okay, now place your hand on my waist."

Ben's face went from pink to red to a reddish purple, his pupils were wide and after a long-ish amount of silence she thought impossible from Ben Kanker, well, if you didn't count the steam screaming out of his ears, she heard him squeak, "You want me to what?"

She rolled her eyes and chuckled, "You have to put your hand on my waist, it's required for the dance."

Ben slowly reached for her waist, his face bright red, when he finally placed his hand there, she felt the tingling sensation suddenly flood her system, making her suddenly hyper-aware of his movements on her skin.

And that his hands were really sweaty.

She bit back a giggle as she then instructed him how to go through the steps, her voice soft and calm while his face just turned as red as the hair that flopped into his face and he shook a bit through the dance.

Once he had gotten most of it down, he relaxed and even started to playfully tease her and make her laugh.

"Alright, Ben, I think you got almost all of it down," she said finally, "all there's left is the dip…" To her surprise, Ben dipped her perfectly without any sort of instruction from her and without any warning from him.

The only thing was neither of them had thought about how close their faces would be when he dipped her.

They both froze in place and turned red as they realized that their faces were barely breaths away from each other's.

"like this?" Ben barely whispered after a few minutes.

"yes, like that…" Bethany replied in an equally soft tone.

They stood like that for a moment, staring at each other with crimson cheeks and feeling stifled by the romantic tension between them that made it hard to breathe before they both started closing their eyes and leaning closer to each other… Bethany's heart was racing as she could feel the heat coming off of his lips come closer… and closer… until… until…

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"Bethany!" Pierre cried, snapping her out of her flashback and making her jump in surprise and clutch at her chest, which felt as if it was at risk to burst out of her chest as she turned to see him happily skip towards her.

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(Author: DAMMIT! I WAS SO CLOSE TO FINISHING THAT FLASHBACK! SO FRIGGIN' CLOSE! Well, fuck it, Pierre killed that sweet, flashback so… I guess the flashback's over kids.)

Flashback ended…

Because Pierre's a dick.

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Anny and Tee both jumped, flushed, then turned to Pierre and Bethany, surprised by their presence. Then a buzzing sound came from Anny's bra and they both quietly groaned and murmured curses and that they should have left when they could as Anny turned off the timer.

"Pierre!" Bethany replied, "You scared me! I thought you had finished your lesson and left already!"

"Finished?" Pierre replied, confused, "I haven't even started my lesson yet."

"What? But your lesson was supposed to start at ten!"

"Yeah." Anny piped up from behind them, "It was supposed to start at ten," she then motioned towards Pierre, "he's been keeping us waiting here for over an hour, we could only get this place until eleven twenty when they have an event happening in here at noon."

As if on cue, several groups of people began coming in thorough another door, setting up tables and chairs and putting down tablecloths and silverware.

"I can fix that!" Pierre said and was about to walk over to the people and tell them to stop what they were doing, only for Bethany to grab his arm, "Pierre," she said, "Perhaps instead of learning here, maybe you could use the meditation room on the seventh floor? No one will be in there since the plumbing is still being repaired and you can use the CD player in there as well." She suggested, not wanting him to fire anymore people just because he had not bothered to show up to the dance classes her son was having on his behalf until now.

Pierre seemed to consider it for a moment before brightening, "Great Idea, Mi Amor!" he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and motioning for Anny and Tee to follow them, "Come! Come! There is no time to waste! We have only five days until the wedding!" he said sternly, as if it was their fault they had to start his lessons later.

The two teens grumbled as they followed him to the elevator, annoyed. Pierre kept his arm wrapped around his fiancée, but looked Anny up and down in a way that made Tee's frown quickly contort into a defensive snarl. He stepped between his girlfriend and Pierre and glared at him in a way that silently threatened serious bodily harm to him if he dared to try anything with Anny.

It was bad enough the guy was marrying his mom, but now he was ogling his Anny?

Tee wasn't gonna have that shit. This guy was gonna go through a hell of a first class.

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An smiled as she and Zoe sat at a small café waiting for the sandwiches they had ordered for lunch to arrive and chatted excitedly as they looked through Double-N's notes to figure out what they should do now that they had all the make-up that Zoe wanted to try on the bride as well as buy for later brides and themselves. An was grateful that Zoe had asked her to come with her and agreed to visit some of the places Double-N had wanted to go with her, since she was in a foreign country and her best friends were detained and Jay was busy in the kitchen, even though An spoke flawless French she still felt uncomfortable exploring the city alone.

"Thanks again for coming with me, Zoe." An said cheerfully. The petite Asian woman smiled vividly at her, "It's no problem, An, honestly, actually I wanted to look around this place with everyone too, but Jude is busy in the kitchen with Jay, Clover is busy with that team of tailors and dress makers, Sanji is ordering all the flowers he'll need and Fiona is busy with not only the wedding, but ordering all the materials Larie will need, making sure Pierre shows up for his dance lesson with Anny and Tee and with all the things going on with Ann, so I'm very happy that you invited me to explore the city with you."

The waiter arrived with their food and the two women eagerly dug in, they then ordered dessert and then paid with one of Pierre's credit cards (the adults were all given one of his no limit credit cards to pay for supplies they'd need for the wedding that's how they paid for the make up too) and began to explore the city, they then bought nice cameras (with Pierre's credit card) and took beautiful pictures of the city, they went to the Louvre, they went to the Statue of Liberty (there is a Statue of Liberty in France, the French gave the US the Statue of Liberty and have another one in France. An got really confused when Zoe explained all that to her, so she just said, "Double-N will explain when she feels better") the Arc de Triomphe, and much more…

Then they got to the big one.

The Eiffel Tower.

They walked up to the elevator entrance, only for a large guard to cut them off, "Je suis désolé, Ladies, I'm afraid you cannot go up."

"Why not?" Zoe asked.

"Around this time of year, people act a little crazy, and sometimes people do things that they really shouldn't do on the tower."

"Like what?" An asked. The guard suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Ohhh…" Zoe said.

"What?" An asked, "I didn't hear him say what it was."

"I'll tell you back at the hotel, An." Zoe said, then thanked the guard and they headed back to the hotel with An asking, "What were those people doing that was so bad up there, Zoe?"

(Author: the same thing you did with Jay last night)

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Bethany insisted on staying and watching the class so Tee had to teach him normally instead of making him do ridiculous things for his and Anny's amusement. He and Anny demonstrated how to do a waltz and then Pierre did something that shocked everyone else in the room.

Pierre had the nerve to try to grab Anny's rear when Tee instructed him to take one of her hands in his and place his other hand on her waist so they could do a waltz. Pierre instead reached for her rear only for Tee to grab his hand and crush it in his own, "How dare you." He growled in a tone that made Bethany recall how scary Ben got whenever someone tried to harm, harass or make fun of her, Babs and April.

"Anny is here to help me teach your sorry ass how to dance, she didn't have to come in and help me teach you, but she did anyway and you have the nerve to try that shit on her?" He tore Pierre off of Anny and held him by the collar of his shirt, his look murderous to say the least, "You show her some respect! Dance is an art, not just something girls do on a pole for your sick amusement!" He hissed, throwing him back to the floor as if he was something disgusting (Author: he is), then looked over at Anny and said that she and 'Miss Rogers' could go, that he could teach Mr. Formage alone. Anny nodded and led Bethany out of the room.

Once they were out of earshot of the men, Bethany shook her head with a small smile and murmured, "Just like his father..."

"What?" Anny asked her, surprised by her words and the small smile on her face.

"I said he acted a lot like Ben back there." Bethany said quickly, her face pink, 'just like his father?' where had that come from?

"Well, yeah, what did you expect?" Anny asked her. Bethany paused and considered her question before shrugging and replying with a soft voice, "I don't know, bitterness?" she guessed, "Him yelling at me for leaving him so many years ago? I don't know, I didn't really want to think about it." she said, hunching her shoulders and rubbing her arms uncomfortably. The two women walked side by side, their pace slow, but steady as they made their way to the elevator.

"Ya' know, Tee and I were actually planning on looking for ya'." Anny finally said, making Bethany jump at the sound of her voice, then looked at her in disbelief, "Why?" she asked.

Anny shrugged, "Could you blame him for wanting to know where his mom was and if she was okay?"

Bethany said nothing, she felt ill, how could Tee still think of her as his mom when she had left him so young and in a way so cruel? She remained silent the whole way to the elevator and all the way up to Anny's floor, where she got off, then turned around and said, "I guess you can't" then walked to her suite, with Bethany staring at her, stunned.

She was so confused and conflicted. She wanted to go through the box, but didn't know when Pierre would be back to the suite. When the doors closed and the elevator rose to her floor, she quickly decided to risk it. Pierre never went into her closet anyway, it was too big and honestly, he didn't really like it when she wasn't looking her best, one time she was too sick to get out of bed and put on make up and get all dressed up for him and he looked disgusted with her and went out only to return hours later with lipstick on his collar and smelling like cheap perfume.

Ben liked how I looked no matter what I wore or if I had make up on or not. A voice in her head lamented. And he always would pamper me when I was sick. Ben pampered all three of them whenever one of them were sick, he was always in a panic, asking what he could do for them and always having to do things twice because he was so worried and messed up the first time and would have to clean up a big mess.

She chuckled as she remembered one time when April had gotten sick and Ben had rushed to get soup at Babs' orders and somehow got hot soup all over himself, he had yelped and the three girls rushed downstairs to see him wiping his arms and face, crying out, "Hot! Hot! Hot!" while April's mother looked both concerned and amused with her hand covering her mouth to hide the smile that grew on her face.

Bethany quickly shook her head, she was getting married to Pierre in a few days and here she was, thinking about a man who she had basically ran away from seventeen years ago, leaving their child for him and her best friends to raise without her. She felt a pang in her chest.

While she wouldn't admit it out loud, whenever she'd allow herself think about that night she left them all those years ago, she'd feel guilty, but she always assumed that Ben married one of them and Tee and his brothers would grow up with three adults loving them to bits, she just didn't know how short a time two of those adults would have with Tee, Larie and Jay.

She quickly dashed to the suite, closed the door behind her and ran into her closet, she then changed out of the fancy dress and high heels and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a snug t-shirt and quickly opened her chest and dug through everything again and began moving onto the letter she received after April's funeral and continued on from there.

She read through the next two years of what happened in the boys' lives and played tapes and videos of them on her computer, then she found a page that was very interesting.

A page that described how the boys had gotten their first kisses. EVER.

At age six, nonetheless.

Bethany suddenly felt excited and even a little proud of them, she loved these kinds of stories, she and April and Babs used to gather around Gladys' table and they'd tell each other the latest gossip, always eager to tell a cute love story like this with Ben groaning, "Don't you four have something better to do then talk about what's already happened in someone else's life?"

"No." they'd reply, then go back to their stories with Ben looking at his dad and both men shaking their heads.

Bethany could tell by how messy Babs' handwriting was that she had written it down as fast as she could, eager to tell her the story of their boys first kisses… wait…

Their boys?

She stopped herself.

Why had she thought 'their boys'? She had wanted nothing to do with any of the boys why was she suddenly calling them 'their boys' in her head?

She glanced back down at Babs' letter then dove back in eagerly, she could sort her maternal instincts out later, right now she wanted to read about the brothers' first kisses.

She read the story curled up comfortably on one of the couches, using one of the fur coats Pierre had bought her as a make-shift blanket that she draped over her legs, briefly remembering that she used to do that with Ben's jackets all the time before going back and reading the story.

She read each part about the girls with amazement, one could lift a dino head easily with one arm, another made a flame thrower out of a sample spray and a cigarette lighter and the last one just sounded like a little spit fire.

She turned one of the pages to read the girls' names and she nearly dropped the paper.

"And, you'll never believe this, Beth, the girls' names were An, with one N, Ann with two, or Double-N, and Anny! An, Ann and Anny. Can you believe this?! Our boys fell for three girls who have the SAME NAME!" Babs had written, Bethany pictured her smiling widely as she wrote this out, chuckling at the words she was writing on the page.

An, Ann and Anny.

The same name of the three girls who were also here to help for her wedding, the one Babs' had mentioned Tee was fond of, Anny, had been dancing with him earlier. She had an urge to call them over and ask them questions about their side of the story and how they reunited and how they started dating… but then realized since they probably only knew her as Tee's baby abandoning mother, so they probably would want nothing to do with her and they would definitely not want to tell her stories about the boys...

She sighed and curled up into a ball and hugged her knees to her chest, it was too bad, she would have loved to hear those stories… She glanced over to the large pile of unopened letters, 'Maybe Gladys sent me the stories, after all, she made Ben's love life her business often enough, she probably did the same to the boys.' She thought, then chuckled at the thought of Gladys scolding the boys for messing up or being improper, there probably wasn't a date she didn't make them tell her about or a move they made that was unknown to her.

Suddenly she found herself strolling down memory lane, remembering meeting the three people who would make up her whole world when she was just a little girl, games they played, the laughter they shared and the wonderful way she felt back then with Ben, before that night when they all drank too much and the boys were conceived.

She didn't want to think about that night, not that she remembered a lot of it. They had been super drunk.

She put everything back and locked her chest tight and got back into her fancy clothes from before, wishing she could lounge around her own home without having to look as if she was going to a freaking Hollywood premiere… She also wished she could enjoy a homemade meal that wouldn't kill her or get her sick with one bite… and that Pierre didn't go out to questionable places but get furious at her when she simply went out to her weekly lunches with his sister-in-law, who was the only one she could complain to about Pierre without risking him hearing about it…

Ben Kanker popped into her head.

She started rubbing her temples, all this sudden indecisiveness about Ben and Pierre was making her head hurt, she then curled up on the couch, pulled the fur over her shoulders and fell asleep, wishing she could talk to someone about all this.

.

.

.

An skipped into the elevator after checking on Double-N and Larie and playing with Luca and pressed the button for the first floor, a large smile on her face. Jay had texted her after lunch to met him on the first floor after work and they would go buy some souvenirs for their friends and family back home together (with one of Pierre's credit cards, of course) she watched eagerly as the numbers decreased in the little box above, informing her that the sinking feeling she had was correct, that she was, in fact, going down.

She was excited for this, honestly so far she hadn't spent much time with Jay on this trip then she had wanted to, he had been pretty busy in the kitchen for the past two days. But, they did get to come to this fancy and expensive hotel for free and this experience would help him become a better chef…

But An wished she had some more one on one time with Jay, this was, after all, the Ans' much anticipated romantic trip with their boyfriends.

'At least you two get to spend time together now.' A voice in her head pointed out. She smiled, the voice in her head was right, and besides, this was their second day in Paris, they had a few more days until they had to go home, surely they'd get to spend boatloads of time together, maybe even carloads! She began bouncing on her toes as she neared her desired destination.

Then she got to the seventh floor.

The doors opened and Pierre and Tee stared at her for a moment, then Pierre smiled and quickly entered it before Tee could bolt in to make sure he didn't try anything and pressed the 'close door' button. Tee was too late. He banged at the closed doors, "Shit!" he cried as he then quickly texted his brother, hoping all the strenuous training he had made Pierre undergo at least would make it harder for him to try anything on An.

An felt dread sink into her skin as the doors closed before Tee could enter and Pierre smiled eagerly at her, "Eh bien, bonjour, belle. Pourquoi ne pas nous connaître les uns les autres un peu mieux?" (Well, hello, beautiful. Why don't we get to know each other a little better?)

An backed into a corner of the elevator, shaking, "RESTER À L'ÉCART DE AN, MAL ESCARGOT MAN!" (STAY AWAY FROM AN, BAD SNAIL MAN!) she cried.

The Snail man thing made him pause for a moment, before he began creeping towards her, An pressed her back against the wall, this man made Double-N sick with a snail and nearly chopped off her head, so while she could probably rip him in half, it was not in her nature and she was terrified of him, she would normally pick something up and throw it at him while she ran, but there was nothing in the elevator for her to throw and no place she could run away to. An was basically defenseless and trapped. They neared the first floor when Pierre had her cornered, An closed her eyes, "JAAAAYYY!" she screamed.

Then the doors opened and Pierre was lifted up and flung into the lobby, with Jay hunched over in front of his beloved, his teeth pointed and his eyes bloodshot with fury as he huffed and puffed with rage. An pulled him into a hug from behind, grateful and relieved that he had gotten Pierre away from her, "Jay!" she cried happily. Jay softened at her touch and pulled her into a hug, "Are you okay, An?" Jay then asked her frantically as he inspected her for injuries, "Did he hurt you?" An shook her head and snuggled her boyfriend who sighed with relief, "Thank goodness." He then said, "Hey An, the receptionist said there's a cool comic store nearby and the writer of the Evil Jen Comics is signing the newest issue!" he pulled out one of Pierre's credit card he had gotten from Jude (to buy ingredients) "Let's head there first and then go searching for souvenirs for everyone back home, okay?" An smiled as their fingers intertwined and nodded in agreement before they happily dashed past Pierre's aching body, with Jay giving him a dark, threatening glare and a growl as they passed, unbeknownst to An.

"Jay, what was that growling sound?" An asked him.

"Oh, I uh, was so busy in the kitchen that I didn't get to eat lunch…" Jay fibbed. An smiled and held up Double-N's book, "Double-N found a bunch of nice restaurants nearby, wanna eat after the comic book store and then go shopping?"

"Great idea, An!" Jay said. Then they happily skipped out of the hotel, with various customers of Pierre's admiring the cuteness of the happy couple and totally ignoring the massive amounts of pain he was in as he pulled himself off the floor…

Only for a short young lady with dirty blonde hair to stomp on his back as she made her way to the front desk, "Oops!" she said with a chuckle as he groaned on the floor, "Sorry about that!" She lied.

She then walked up to the front desk, handed the woman a card and said, "Hi, I booked a whole floor a few months ago, the party name is 'WC?'"

"Name please?"

She gave her her name and added that, "but I put it under lolzwaitwhat to ensure my privacy."

"I see, and that was all one word?"

"Yeah, figured it be less confusing to put it under that name."

"Alright, and what was the name of your party again?"

"WC." The woman typed on her computer for a second before smiling and handing her several card keys, "Welcome to our hotel, Madame, do you want us to charge everything on this card?"

"Yeah, My friends and I have been looking forward to this for a while however, there is something you should know…" the author then leans in and whispers something in her ear, the woman looked stunned as she backs away, "So I do hope we have your full discretion…"

"Of course!"

"And any packages that come for me…"

"Will be sent up immediately!"

"And any people who give my name…"

"Will be asked to give a code name and if it matches they will be escorted directly to your personal room immediately before being taken to their own rooms!" the woman replied. The author smiles, "I'm glad we could sort this whole thing out." She said, handing her the card.

The woman at the desk takes the card and looks at it funny, then looks back up at the Author, "last time we were here, Mister Formage took it upon himself to cook for us." She fibbed with little effort. The woman nodded and began putting in the information, "Alright Madame, I will have someone escort you to your room immediately to begin the setup."

"Thank you. Oh, and I want every single person who serves us in any shape or form to receive a tip that is roughly half of their monthly salary from that card as well, including you, is that understood?"

"Oui, Madame." The woman said with a smile, "We all certainly hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Don't worry, I will." The author replied as a gentleman in a nice suit scoops up her luggage and walks her towards the elevator.

"I will…" the author murmurs with a mischievous grin as the elevator door closes.

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.

.

Tee sighed in relief when Jay texted that An was fine as he waited for the elevator to take him up to his room to change when the elevator opened to a familiar face, "Hey Tee," The Author said with a smirk, "Long time no see."

"Sam?" he exhaled in disbelief, the last time he had seen her was back when he and his brothers were twelve… and, despite it being five years, she looked exactly the same as she had back then.

"You're heading to the second highest floor, right?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah." He said, walking inside and watching as she pressed his floor button, wondering how the fuck she knew that. They were silent as the door closed, then Tee blurted, "How come you look exactly the same as you did back…?"

"Still have no plans with your Valentine's day with Anny?" she asked him, cutting him off before he could finish. He flinched, "No… wait how do you…?"

"Not important." She replied, then looked him up and down with a soft smile, "Jeez, you've gotten big. Well, we were close to the same size last time I saw you, so you were pretty big to start with, but still…"

He smiled back and poked her forehead, "Nah, you're just small." She playfully punched him in the arm, "You want my help figuring out what to do with Anny on Valentine's Day or not?" He nodded and rubbed his arm as if it hurt, "Good." She said firmly, "Now listen up, cause I'm only gonna say this once. While Anny is a woman who only wants your best, she's also a blunt woman who appreciates simple, heartfelt gestures." Tee looked at her, confused, "How does that help me?" he asked her.

"Think about it Tee, you're in one of the fanciest hotels in Paris for Valentine's Day and that guy has every ballroom and restaurant closed for the day."

"So?"

"So, you have a perfect set up for a simple, but extravagant date with Anny."

"But..."

"I know, I know, 'that's so simple, how will that impress her?'" The author pokes him in the chest where his tattoo is, "Tee, Anny was excited about spending time with you on this trip. The fact that this trip is in Paris on Valentine's Day?" she waved her hand dismissively, "Purely good luck and great timing. The point of this trip wasn't so you guys would stress out over how to show how much you care in an impressive way. Those girls just wanted to go on romantic trips with guys they really liked, they could have literally gone anywhere in the world or at any other time of the year and they would still be just as excited and eager about this trip. Because they would be spending time with you and your brothers. So it doesn't matter if this date is not the most creative or flashy idea you could come up with as long as you and Anny are really enjoying your time together. I mean, weren't you going to try and find your mom together while you were here? That's not exactly what romantic dreams are made of, but I bet you two'd have had a blast anyway." Tee thought about it, she was right (Author: no shit I'm right) Anny would have ran around Paris with him to find his mom, and while that wasn't the most romantic activity, he bet that they would've had a great time. Then again, back when he used to see Sam around a lot as a kid, she not only would tell them where the Ans were, but she had good advice for him and his brothers, like on that screwy valentine's day when she helped them patch things up with their girls… and then he and his brothers joined her and her group of random friends as they TP'd the teaching staff of Peach Creek Jr High's homes. (Author: REVENGE MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Then Tee wondered how the hell she knew about him and Anny going to look for his mom when he and Anny had only discussed that on the plane ride here, but before he could ask, the Author smiled at him and pulled his bangs back over his eyes, hiding them from the world once more, the way he liked it, "Anny doesn't need anything flashy this year, Tee, all she needs on this trip to make her happy is you." The author said, jabbing where his tattoo was with her finger, then the door dinged and opened on the floor right below the one Tee was staying on, "Welp, this is my floor." She said as a well dressed man took some luggage out of the elevator and into the hall, "If you or your brothers need me, I'll be here for ya." She said as she walked out of the elevator, "Good luck, Tee." She called back to him as the doors closed.

Tee then stood there as he was then brought up to his floor as her words echoed in his mind.

'Anny doesn't need anything flashy this year, Tee, all she needs on this trip to make her happy is you.'

'Anny doesn't need anything flashy this year, Tee, all she needs on this trip is you.'

'Anny doesn't need anything flashy, Tee, all she needs is you.'

'Anny doesn't need flashy, Tee, all she needs is you.'

'Anny doesn't need flashy, all she needs is you.'

'All she needs is you.'

Then, finally, after all the time he spent trying to figure out what to do with Anny, he finally knew what he was going to do for their date on Valentine's Day. He smiled as he stepped out onto his floor and strode towards his room to shower and change, pleased that he finally had a plan.

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.

.

The next three days were long, grueling ones, but the Kanker brothers trudged on, dealing with Pierre and planning their romantic dates with the Ans, while the Ans were trying to avoid Pierre and helping with the wedding and planning surprises for their boyfriends as well.

Pierre arrived later and later to class and was so frustrating during class that Tee nearly grabbed his neck and strangled him about a million times. After teaching him for three days, Pierre managed to finally get a waltz down.

After each frustrating day of dealing with Pierre, Tee then helped Fiona organize where everyone would sit during the reception and figure out where people could be placed, so he could get a good idea which places in the hotel would not be used so he and Anny could be alone.

Larie started on the metal sculpture in an old part of the basement of the hotel, where there was a furnace big enough to make the sculpture as quickly as he could, when he finally had gotten the basic shape down and was ready to make it look fancy, Pierre came down and told him that he also wanted it to be a fountain and that if what he had done so far was the best he could do then he obviously had no artistic skills. Larie was munching on metal to keep himself from beating Pierre senseless and then throwing him into the flames.

After he was off the clock, he worked on his gift for Ann, smiling and even whistling as he worked with the silver he bought with Pierre's credit card.

Jay had to do twice the work he would've normally done each day since Pierre came into the kitchen each morning and spent all of it messing with his dishes, making him have to start over and over and over again and had to have Jude and half the cooking staff grab him so he wouldn't stab him from behind multiple times until he finally left for his class, which he was late for. He then asked the lady at the front desk to translate the activities that would be happening for the parade on Valentine's Day, she did so happily and even recommended a few things he and An could do there.

Anny and An helped Sanji with the flowers in the Notre Dame, lining them down the aisle by tying them to the posts of the pews, putting rose petals on the floor because Pierre wouldn't have his bride walk down a friggin' carpet but on hundreds of rose petals that all three Ans had plucked off of roses with thorns covering the stems and pricked their fingers until they hurt too much to move. The three were pleased when their difficult task was finally complete and they were ready to leave early on Thursday to go back to the hotel and relax…

Then Pierre came in to check on their progress and got half of the petals blown away by a gush of wind he let in and told them that they would have to start all over again.

An had to hold Anny and Sanji back, which even with her strength was no easy task, until he left for his dance class, that he was extremely late for.

Ann was helping Clover sew the dress with several dressmakers and Miranda and Zoe were playing with Luca nearby, but keeping a close eye on Ann just in case she felt ill again and could no longer assist with the dress, but she was feeling so much better then she had earlier that week, but she had been told to take it easy, so she did. She also helped arrange the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids, then Pierre walked in and told the women that the dress needed to be ten times more beautiful, making the dressmakers and Zoe have to hold Clover back so she wouldn't try to stab him in the throat with a pair of scissors and then looked at the finished bouquets Ann had made and told her that they weren't good enough to even burn and for her to redo them.

Luca threw a wooden block at him for that and called him a "TYRAN!" (It means 'bully' in Russian.)

Miranda had never felt as proud of her baby as she did when he nailed him right in the nuts, although she acted as if she was sorry for what happened while Ann cuddled her little cousin and thanked him for defending her work while pretending to scold him.

Fiona had a hard time, of course, trying to keep her staff, family and interns from murdering the groom, and honestly she wanted to kick his ass too, but she held back. Although she and Miranda made plenty of money to support their family, they wanted Luca to be able to go to college wherever he wanted to go without worrying about having to work to pay for classes or pay off student loans later, so they had recently started a college fund for him and were putting money in and everything, but they recently looked into daycares (since they couldn't just rely on Ann to always be available to babysit) and saw that most of the good ones were pretty pricey, so they felt anxious when it came to Luca's future.

The payment for this job was enough to let Luca go to whatever college he wanted and even go for a trip abroad for a year. There was no way Fiona was going to pass a pay day like that up, even if it meant dealing with a man who invited her and her wife to dinner with him and his fiancée on Wednesday (Ann and her friends watched Luca while they were gone) and made passes at both of them all night whenever Bethany so much as looked away, not that she was paying very much attention during dinner.

She seemed to be in her own little world, completely oblivious to Pierre.

Oh, how they envied her.

Bethany had been going through the contents of her chest, on Tuesday she read about Jay's first time making dinner all by himself, about how Larie lost his eye but refused to stay in the hospital because he didn't want to worry his brothers and how Tee was sword fighting imaginary monsters everyday, she read all the way up to the second letter from 'the Kankers' and then painfully grieved the loss of Babs upon opening it. On Wednesday she read Gladys' letters and read how the Kankers and An were reunited, she chuckled at how clueless they had been and wondered if April or Babs had been there to help them, if they could have ended up together a lot quicker. She also read all the funny, but kinda messed up things the brothers did to the Ans while they were in Jr High and found letters from the boys that they sent from camp the summer before they entered high school before realizing it was late and that she needed to go to dinner with Pierre, her wedding planner and her wedding planner's wife, her mind reeling with the facts she had just learned. On Thursday she didn't even bother leaving her bedroom, she sat in her closet, still in her pajamas with the fur coat pulled over her legs as a blanket, pulled one of her emergency stashes of 'Pierre decided to cook today' snacks spent the whole day going through the rest of the letters, the last one was only sent to her two months ago, where she read everything that had happened at Christmas time.

When she finished reading, she looked around her and sighed. She wanted to hear more. She wanted to read more. She wanted to know more about the Kanker brothers and what happened in their lives… She also felt curious about how Ben was doing.

After all, Babs and April had been his best friends too, how had he coped with their deaths? Or had he? Had he ever moved on and dated anyone else willingly since then. (Knowing Gladys, she probably would trick him into one if she felt that her son needed to move on.) Or did he chose to stay true to the three women who left him and his sons?

Then the one that made her face flush; Did he still have feelings for her?

Then the one that made her heart sink; Or did he hate her for abandoning them?

She couldn't blame him for hating her if he did, it didn't mean it didn't hurt as if she was being stabbed in the heart repeatedly, but she would understand if he hated her.

She hoped he didn't.

Bethany looked down at the very large engagement ring on her left hand uneasily. Pierre had brought her up in the world, he took her from a decent dance studio where she performed a few times a year and trained constantly and brought her to the fabulous France that she came there in the first place to experience, he treated her as if she was the only woman in the whole world to him and showered her with love and gifts and promises that she was the only one. She hadn't needed to suffer through years of indecisiveness like she had with Ben, but Pierre could be a royal pain and would just as often neglect her as he would adore her. Even when she was sharing Ben, she never was neglected, although, he too had been a pain at times, although looking back it was actually funny rather then embarrassing or frustrating like with Pierre.

She curled up into a ball and looked at a photo of Ben with the boys when they were twelve that she had in one hand, then looked at the engagement ring on the other.

Should she reach back to the ones from her past or was she just having cold feet? Bethany no longer knew which she should do. She sighed as she sunk her head into her knees and went through all the drawings, the pictures, the videos and various other odds and ends, wishing April and Babs were with her to help her sort out her thoughts.

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.

.

Pierre walked into a shady strip club at about 2 am Friday Morning, he tried to dress down, but it was hard to still not stick out since all he had were designer labels and had someone take the clothes he had away after wearing anything once, so he still stuck out like a sore thumb. He walked to a booth in the back, where a man wearing thick winter clothing with a baseball cap casting a shadow over his face, who nodded at his approach.

"Vous avez ce que je veux?" he asked the man. (You have what I want?)

"Vous avez mon paiement?" (You have my payment?) the man replied coolly. Pierre sat down and tossed him a manilla envelope, the man peaked inside and a smile curled up his lips, he then pulled out a manilla envelope of his own and handed it to him. Pierre looked unimpressed at the envelope in his hands.

"C'était tout ce que l'on pouvait obtenir!" (This was all you could get?)Pierre asked, annoyed.

"Savez-vous combien il est difficile d'obtenir des informations sur une famille américaine ici? Honnêtement, la famille Kanker l'histoire seule a pris trois jours de tri par les documents pour faire de vous un simple family tree, et encore moins par écrit les faits importants concernant leur histoire." (Do you know how hard it is to get information about an American family here? Honestly, the Kanker family history alone took three days of sorting through papers to make you a simple family tree, let alone writing out the important facts about their history.) the man replied with a crooked grin.

"Je vous ai demandé de trouver la connexion entre Bethany et Kanker la famille, de ne pas me donner une leçon d'histoire sur eux!" (I asked you to find out the connection between Bethany and the Kanker family, not to give me a history lesson about them!) he snapped. The man's smirk grew in size and dark glee.

"Monsieur Formage, croyez-vous vraiment que je perdre votre temps à vous donner un arbre généalogique de la famille si elle n'a pas quelque chose qui vous intéresse?" (Mr. Formage, do you really think I would waste your time to give you a family tree if it didn't have something that would interest you?) The man replied with a bit of laughter in his voice as he then got up, threw a couple of wrinkly bills onto the table and swiftly and quietly slipped out of the bar.

Pierre looked up as a tired young woman did her routine on stage for the three other customers of the bar before looking down at the envelope and tearing it open.

The Kanker family won a territory called 'Peach Creek' long ago from it's original owners, the McGees, in a gambling match, but back then the head of the family was called 'Lord Kanker.' His family resided there for many years, selling off the land as times became hard and changed, eventually a Horace and Gladys Kanker lived on the last bit of Kanker owned land with their only child, Ben.

Then there were bios on the three young Kankers working on his wedding, but he didn't really read the info on them, instead, with the man's words echoing in his head, he looked at information about the boys' parents.

Ben had three children, Tee, Larie and Jay, however… these children were born out of wedlock and they were born from different mothers. Jay Kanker's mother was an 'April Byrd', deceased. Larie Kanker's mother was a 'Barbra "Babs" Steel', also deceased…

But it was Tee Kanker's mother's name that made his blood boil with rage and fury, the only one of those women who was still alive…

Bethany Rogers

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.

.

Tee tapped his foot impatiently as it climbed up to his floor. It was Friday evening, the wedding was tomorrow and Pierre had completely blown him off. Tee was furious but could do nothing about it, so instead he helped everyone else with the last of the prep work for the reception that would take place on the first floor, even Double-N, who had made a complete recovery, helped out, much to Larie's relief, since she suggested that instead of making his work a fountain, he should use live plants and have them hang down from the statue instead, saving everyone a lot more work. An and Jay quickly went out with Sanji to grab a few plants that would cascade down it while Larie just pulled his girlfriend into a warm, grateful embrace that she happily returned and told her that he was so glad to have her back. Anny and Tee then teased them until Larie grabbed a few flowers that had either broken so they were now too short to use or that had been cut too short while Pierre was down yesterday to cause them grief since they couldn't cut him instead and threw them at them, making them all end up laughing.

Surprisingly the groom had let them all be today, which was nice after all the hell he had given them this past week. But Tee had a bad feeling that had settled down in his stomach, Pierre was the kind of guy who wanted to see people miserable, so it bothered him that he'd resist the urge to make things harder for them the day before everything needed to be completed, although, he could be coming up with ways to make things more stressful tomorrow so he and his brothers couldn't have their dates with their Ans until it was too late to go out and their plane would leave early the next day before the brothers could surprise their girlfriends and show them that they had picked the right guys to go on a romantic trip with.

Larie and Ann had gone out to explore Paris, since she hadn't gotten the chance yet and they were leaving the day after tomorrow, they were trying to cram in all the sights they could tonight so they could enjoy their date tomorrow after work. And since Miranda and Fiona hadn't spent much one on one time together on this trip and Fiona would be super busy the next day, Ann volunteered herself and Larie to watch Luca for them so they could have some alone time. An and Jay went with Zoe and Jude to see some French Monster Movie Premiere together and Sanji and Clover collapsed into their beds, exhausted from all the work Pierre made them redo this week and relieved that it was all finished and both swore to kill Pierre if he dared to make them try to change anything that they'd kill him together that no one would be able to pin it back on them and hide the body in the one place no one would find it, at least until they were back in the states. They also told them that they had their phones on vibrate if anyone needed them tonight because they were going to put noise canceling headphones on. When asked why, all they did was look at Double-N and Clover said, "Just hope it's not genetic, Ann, that would be really embarrassing." Then went upstairs leaving the teens to look confused, then for them to decide to drop it and go and enjoy themselves.

Tee smiled a bit, he and Anny had some fun plans tonight, they had several tickets to some of the most expensive shows in Paris that they had paid for with Pierre's credit cards, but they weren't going to those, they were just going to explore Paris some more.

Sam had been right, just spending time with Anny exploring this city was plenty fun, they joked around, flirted, held hands and enjoyed being together. He smiled like a dope as he daydreamed what he and Anny would do together tonight. Then the door opened and the Author hopped into the elevator, looking panicked and out of breath. She quickly jabbed at the 'close door' button with her finger until it did so then she turned to him, her body shaking, "Tee!" she blurted, "Anny! Pierre! Trouble!" Tee stiffened and grabbed her by her shoulders, his blood feeling like ice as his heart pounded faster with anxiety, "What are you talking about?" he demanded to know. But before she could say anything, the doors opened and she looked at the hallway behind him and gasped. Tee turned and his blood went from ice to fire as he saw Pierre pinning Anny against his suite doors and stroking her face with his hand and murmuring something in her ear, Anny looked disgusted and upset at his touch and seemed ready to kick him in the balls or punch him in the face.

Tee just looked livid, he couldn't form words, he was so angry, he dashed over and punched Pierre so hard that he flew down the hall and skidded into the ground, then he grabbed his girlfriend's hand and threw the door open and flew inside, with Pierre hot on his heels as he dashed into his room and locked the door behind him, then panted as he glanced around the room for a place to hide.

Closet? No, he hardly had anything in there and it was huge, it would take Pierre five seconds to find them in there, and there wasn't really any place they could both hide in the bedroom. So he looked to his only other option…

The bathroom.

He pulled Anny inside and closed and locked the door again then he pulled her into the shower/tub and closed the curtain and pinned her to the floor of the tub by her shoulders, so any blows Pierre would throw would hit him instead of her… although Anny was much bigger then Tee, her face was pink when she found herself underneath him, her heart pounding in her ears.

Anny opened her mouth to speak, only for Tee to silently shush her.

"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, TEE KANKER! AND I WILL ERASE YOU FROM THIS WORLD!" Pierre yelled as he banged on Tee's bedroom door, his voice kind of muffled through the thick door and the walls of the bathroom, but his anger was still prevalent in his voice. "I WILL BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN!" He declared, then they heard a few thumps, then a girlish cry then whimpering that made them both have to bite their lips to keep from giving themselves away as he then cried, "I'M GOING TO GET MY GUARDS TO BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN FOR ME!" Then they laughed harder when he said, "AND NOT BECAUSE I CAN'T DO THIS MYSELF! I AM SAVING MY STRENGTH TO GET RID OF YOU!" He said then stomped away from the door.

They both let out a breath and Tee let his hands slide off of her shoulders, "You okay, Anny?" Tee asked in a soft voice.

"I need a shower to get whatever slime he's covered in offa me, but yeah, I'm fine." She whispered back.

"What was all that back there about anyway?"

"He said he knew who you were and what you were trying to do and he wasn't going to let it happen. He then demanded that you stop hiding in your suite and face him like a man. When you didn't come out he started shouting that he'd do what your dad's trying to do to yer mom to me and that's when you finally got here." Anny explained.

"What Dad's trying to do?" he murmured, confused, then it hit him, "shit…" he groaned, "guess he found out about Bethany being my mom and thinks Dad sent me to get her back or somethin'." Tee correctly guessed.

"Okay, first of all, if you really wanted to get her back to Peach Creek, it wouldn't take this long for you to do it." Anny said plainly. Tee smiled a little at that. "And second of all, what's with this 'get rid of you' stuff?"

"Fuck if I know." Tee sighed.

Then Tee finally realized that he was lying down on top of Anny in a way that suggested that he wasn't so much protecting her as...doing something else…

He pushed himself off of her and threw his arms into the air and held them up in surrender, "Sorry, I just…!"

"It's fine, you were just trying to…!"

"I still shouldn't of…!"

"I said it's fine!" Anny blurted, her face red and a little closer to his. They both stared at each other for a moment, their hearts pounding loudly in their ears, then Tee gently wrapped his arms around her and they started leaning in closer and their eyelids began to droop.

Then they heard heavy footsteps pounding outside and Pierre shouting, "HE'S IN HERE!" and suddenly there was a loud bang against the door, they could hear that the door was basically broken and only needed one more push before they could enter Tee's room.

"Shit!" they both hissed, then they both clamped their mouths shut as they heard the door break and thundering footsteps pound around the room just outside the bathroom door and laid back down in the tub again.

They heard things breaking and falling to the floor, Tee winced every time they heard something thump or crash (he didn't know if the things they were breaking were his or if he'd have to compensate for the damages, but either way it really sucked) Finally Pierre cried, "He must be in the bathroom! Break down the door!"

"But sir, what if he's…"

"I DON'T CARE! GET HIM AND BRING HIM OUT HERE NOW!" Pierre screeched. The door handle jiggled a bit before something rammed through it and they heard people walk in. Tee and Anny pulled each other in close and closed their eyes and tried not to move, breathe or think or make any kind of noise and get caught.

"He's not here, sir." A voice called, making them both relax a bit, relieved.

"NONSENSE!" He cried, then he threw the shower curtain back, making Anny and Tee's eyes pop open, horrified, but before he could look down and see them, a short young woman leapt onto his back and started repeatedly punching him in the face, "HARASSING TEENAGE GIRLS?! AND ON THE EVE OF YOUR WEDDING NIGHT?! YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT TO ALL PEOPLE WITH MUSTACHES!" she declared as she then grabbed both ends of his curly mustache and ripped it off. Pierre screamed and the Author ran through the room, calling out insults and taunts before he and the guards raced after her.

"JEEZ! I'M REALLY GOING TO HAVE TO RUN IN EVERY ONE OF THESE VALENTINES DAY SPECIALS, AREN'T I?" she asked no one in particular as she dashed up the steps to the top floor.

(Answer: probably)

Anny and Tee laid there, shaking for a moment before Tee moved over so Anny could sit up and he sat beside her. They were quiet for a long time before Anny finally asked, "What the fuck just happened?"

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Bethany leaned against her balcony, still conflicted when suddenly she heard the door open and slam shut, she turned around to see a strange young woman panting as she leaned against the closed door and locked it. Bethany saw this and walked inside, looking confused.

"Wha- Who are yo-"

"Not important!" The stranger cried. Then she ran to a mini fridge and pulled a burlap sack from her pocket and began tossing all of the cans and bottles into the sack, she then stopped then said, "Oh yeah!" Then turned to Bethany and said, "You will be visited by the ghost of your best friends that have passed… Also you can put all the bottles and cans and stuff on my tab."

"BREAK DOWN THE DOOR!" Pierre shouted.

"But sir, isn't that your room?"

"BREAK DOWN THE DAMN DOOR!"

"But sir, since it's your room, don't you have the key?"

There was a pause before Pierre murmured, "Oh yeah…"

"Real genius you've nabbed there, Bethany." The Author murmured sarcastically. Then there was a click and the door opened, the Author then ran forward, bashed Pierre in the nuts with the stuff she stole out of his mini fridge and slipped past the guards.

"CLOSE THE DOOR, BETHANY! CLOSE IT AND LOCK IT TIGHT! AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T OPEN IT UNTIL MORNING!" she shrieked back at her. Pierre snarled at the fleeing female and yelled at the guards to go get her and wobbled after her as well.

"CLOSE THE DOOR, BETHANY!" the girl screamed back at her while she threw the glass bottles on the floor to shatter so there was broken glass all over the ground behind her.

Bethany did so and locked it, a few minutes later an explosion rattled the floor, making her grab one of the many pillars in the suite, then she heard rushing water and someone shouting "SHARK!" and "WATCH OUT, THEY HAVE HARPOONS!" and excited laughter as water began leaking out from the bottom of the door and Bethany slowly backed away from it until she felt something tap her shoulder, she turned to see April give her a big hug, "BETHYYY!" she squealed as she wrapped her arms around her into a big and surprisingly warm hug for a dead woman.

Bethany couldn't believe it, April looked the same as she did in the picture on her funeral card, wearing her favorite, oversized grey sweater with the sleeves that were way too long and hid all but the tips of her fingers and red shorts with white tennis shoes with bunnies drawn on them in marker. Her long blonde hair was floppy and down to her waist and her smile was as vibrant as it was when she was a teenager.

"April?" she breathed.

"Long time no see, Beth." A familiar voice purred, she turned to see, "Babs?"

Yes, Babs. She wore a black t-shirt and dark green cargo pants, a brown vest, various silver earrings on her ears, and her favorite black combat boots. Her shaggy, long blue hair ended halfway down her back and her smile was as devious as it was in Bethany's memories.

"I'd say 'alive and kicking', but we're not really alive anymore." Babs said with a 'what can you do' shrug. April released her from the hug and walked beside Babs, Bethany felt dizzy and half walked, half dragged herself to the nearest chair.

"You okay?" April asked, concerned, "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"She's seeing two ghosts, April." Babs reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" April said, then gave Bethany an apologetic grin, "Sorry Beth."

"How…?" Bethany stopped herself and shook her head, "What are you two doing here?"

They looked at her as if she was crazy (which she figured she might be since she was seeing her dead best friends) "Because you needed us." They said in unison. Then they took a seat on either side of her and looked around.

"Nice place." Babs said coolly.

"Yeah, it's really pretty!" April agreed.

"I've got a great view of the Eiffel Tower on the porch." Bethany said with a shrug.

"Really?" April squealed, "Which way?" Bethany smiled, dead or alive, April was still April, she got up, still a bit shaky on her feet, but Babs quickly helped steady her and Bethany led them to the back porch. April raced out and looked like an excited child at Christmas as she leaned over the railing to admire the iconic landmark.

"Be careful Apr… wait what am I saying? We're dead, she can't get hurt if she falls over..." Babs said, shaking her head at her forgetfulness. Bethany shivered at her friend's easy acceptance of April's and her own demise, then looked at them, "I'm so sorry I didn't come to your funerals." She said softly, both of her friends looked at her and sighed as they came over and patted her on the back, "It's okay, Beth, you just needed some more time." April said softly.

"More like you were being a big stubborn baby, but you didn't miss our funerals on purpose." Babs said plainly.

Bethany winced but couldn't argue her point, then settled into a chair, "So what do I need you guys for?" they looked at her with surprised expressions, "Not that I'm not happy to see you two again!" she quickly added, holding up her hands to stop them from accusing her of not missing them, "But I'm wondering what you're here to help me with."

"What else?" Babs asked her. It took Bethany a minute before all three said, "Men." They then smiled and started to giggle, it had been so long since they had said something in unison, Bethany sombered when she realized that she wouldn't get to do that anymore, even though they were right in front of her now, they were still dead.

April laid down on a couch on her stomach and swung her feet in the air while resting her head on her arms and looking at Bethany eagerly and Babs kicked her feet up on the table and leaned back with her hands behind her head, relaxed.

Bethany smiled at the familiarity of the poses and began telling them her time with Pierre and how all this stuff with Tee had been bringing back old memories of Ben and how her feelings were now all mixed up and confusing.

After she told them everything, she looked up at them expectantly, April and Babs glanced back at each other for a brief moment and looked back at her.

"Go back to Ben." They said in unison, their tones matter of factly, once they saw Bethany's baffled expression they quickly decided that they'd have to explain why.

"This guy seems to treat you like a trophy and not a person…" Babs began.

"He doesn't like to see you with others…" April added.

"Yet he ditches you to go to shady places and comes back smelling like perfume and with lipstick on his collar." Babs growled.

"He doesn't take care of you when you're sick." April recited.

"He can kill you with his food." Babs said plainly.

"And apparently he has a temper." April concluded, indicating the door he almost had someone break down.

"And you obviously miss Ben." They concluded in unison. Bethany flushed and slipped her head into her hands, she couldn't argue with anything they said and she was finding herself leaning towards Ben… but… "I can't…" she said.

"Why not?" they asked in unison.

"Because I ditched you all on the boys' first Christmas!" she blurted, then curled up in her seat and spoke in a soft voice, "I wrote that cruel note! I blamed Ben for something even though I know wasn't his idea! I hurt all of you and the boys, I can't just pretend it never happened and that I never hurt them! That I never hurt you two…" tears started to slip down her cheeks and her friends got up and slipped beside her, "Beth, Kankers may be masters of keeping grudges, but Ben could never stay mad at any of us for too long, remember?" Babs said softly.

"Yeah! The longest he stayed mad at any of us was for a week," April agreed, then looked at her shoes guiltily, "Although I guess that was fair, I mean, I forgot to refill the tank in his truck after I borrowed it without asking and he nearly froze to death when he got stuck in that snowstorm all night and his parents were worried sick."

Bethany didn't look up, she just squeezed herself tighter.

"Look, just because you feel bad for what you did, doesn't mean you have to punish yourself by marrying this guy." Babs told her, "I'm sure if you just talk to him…"

"Then you can make up and marry him and the boys can have a mom again!" April cheered.

Bethany sunk her head into her chest and stayed silent, her cheeks pink. That wasn't how she wanted to get Ben back then, she wanted him to choose her, she didn't want to be the only one left for him to choose. She never wanted that to happen.

And even if she and Ben worked everything out, she wasn't sure the brothers would accept her as their dad's wife, let alone a stepmom/mom.

Her friends sighed at her troubled face and rubbed her back, "Hey, maybe you should sleep on it." April suggested as they tried to comfort her.

"Yeah, a good nights sleep will do you some good." Babs agreed.

Bethany looked up at her friends, she felt childish asking this, but she doubted she'd ever get to see them again and she had really missed them, so she asked, "Would you guys stay with me tonight?" her cheeks pink from embarrassment. Her friends smiled and gave her a hug, "Sure." Babs said softly, "It'll be just like old times!" April squealed.

The three of them walked into Bethany's room, slipped into their pajamas and snuggled together under the covers.

The next day Bethany would wake up alone and cry a little, then found a note on her bedside table,

'Even though we're dead, we're not entirely gone. There are pieces of us in our boys that will live on forever. We love you, Beth. All of us. Even Ben and the boys. And no matter what happens, we know you'll make the right decision for you.

Love,

The Kankers.'

She pulled the note to her chest and wiped at the tears falling down her face before getting up, putting the note into her chest and locking it. She then walked out of her room and unlocked the door, only for Zoe, Clover, the Ans and Fiona to come in, Zoe and Clover pulled her back into her room to get ready and the Ans carried in things like her veil, her shoes and her bouquet, etc, that they'd need to get her ready.

Clover turned on the news. The perky woman behind the news desk informed them that several crazed female fans of Ken Watanabe attacked the Eiffel Tower guards last night and broke the locks, apparently they had heard that he was at the top of the Tower for a new movie. No word if what they said was true, but they were all in huge trouble for doing so. When the perky woman then started talking about her and Pierre's wedding, she asked them to turn the TV off.

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The bride and groom took separate limos to the Notre Dame, Pierre wanted to go in his Rolls Royce, only to find a bunch of ferrets destroying the interior. (Author: muh ha ha :)

Honestly, he'd had a rough night. The girl who ripped his mustache off had friends. Friends with sharks, access to explosives, harpoon guns, golf carts, guns that shoot ferrets, canned cheese, baseball bats, and the girl had shook up enough soda cans and launched them at him and covered him in bruises that he barely managed to cover with his suit. And make up… his eye was still sore from that cherry coke that she launched into it. When she had run out of sodas and bottles, she then knocked on every door on the floor she was on and shouted, "ROOM SERVICE!" only for angry guests to come out and see that there was no room service, just a man who was running around in the hall. Then he got beaten up by his own customers!

He snarled and banged his fist against the arm rest as he remembered her smirk when she called out to a mob of young women that were ogling an Asian man and pointed at him and said that he hated some Japanese actor in some movie he'd never seen and he got attacked by them, letting her and her friends escape up the elevator with all of them flipping him off with triumphant grins on their faces.

Then he went to bed and was awaken by loud cries from downstairs, since he was still steamed, he stomped to the elevator and banged on the door of the screaming individual... only to find his wedding planner's wife wearing a bathrobe and apologizing for the noise, "My wife is very… vocal… when we're being…intimate."

Now normally, the thought of two women going at it was enough to make Pierre forgive and forget, but he was just in a bad mood and stormed off.

His whole body ached and he missed out on a chance to ask to watch two women go at it for free!

And it was all Tee Kanker's fault.

He wanted revenge.

And after the wedding that's what he was gonna get.

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.

Once inside the Notre Dame, Tee admired not only what the others had done inside the majestic church, but the original beauty of it as well. Fiona acted as an usher and herded the guests around while Tee sat beside Anny on the bride's side, holding her hand tightly. His brothers sat there with their Ans too, along with Jude and Sanji, Miranda and Luca. Pierre's Brother, Gaston, and his wife and children sat with them, saying that since Bethany was the one who invited them all, so they would sit on her side.

They stayed there until Zoe and Clover returned, reporting that the bride was ready to walk down the aisle. Anny felt Tee's grip on her hand tighten and saw pain flicker through his eyes. She placed her other hand on his and squeezed it tightly, she couldn't imagine the pain he was going through right now and wished she could do something more to lessen it.

Tee's head had sunk into his chest, he barely glanced up at the front of the church to see that the groom was glaring at him with eyes filled with hate and that his moustache gone, for a moment, he felt a flicker of amusement at the memory of the five foot woman leaping onto his back and ripping it off of his face, only for the fact that his mom would be tying the knot with this guy to snuff it out. Pierre snarled at him and made a cutting motion at his neck, informing the red haired Kanker that he was dead meat. Larie and Jay snarled back and moved to get up, but their girlfriends stopped them, making a scene wouldn't do anything but get them in trouble, luckily Anny's glare was lethal enough that it made him turn away from Tee begrudgingly.

"Thanks Anny." He murmured, giving her the best smile he could muster. It wasn't much, but the fact that he was at least trying was a comfort.

Once everyone was seated, there was a moment of chattering before the music started to play and everyone turned to watch the bride walk down the aisle.

Tee turned around and saw his mom emerge from the back of the church and walked towards Pierre with her head held up high and elegance in her stride. Her hair was done beautifully in an elegant bun, her dress resembled one that Tee had seen in a story book April and Babs used to read to him and his brothers when they were little.

Bethany looked beautiful…

Tee quickly turned around and looked at his hand in Anny's, he grabbed her hands tightly with both hands, she was right, it was painful.

So painful.

It hurt watching his mom walking down the aisle to this guy, it hurt that she never invited him to this wedding in the first place and he was still hurting from when she left them all those years ago!

He wanted to leave. He wanted to go back to the hotel, to the plane, home to the trailer in Peach Creek, anything then watch this! All he wanted to do was cry.

Bethany saw Tee turn away with a pained expression, then Larie and Jay noticed their brother's dismay and quickly turned their backs to her, the Ans turned to their boyfriends and seemed to be quietly consoling them.

She saw the little boys who were smiling vibrantly in those photos upstairs in her chest for a moment before they transformed into the teenagers who couldn't even look her way, her heart ached that they couldn't even stand to look at her right now.

It hurt so much.

She stood beside Pierre in front of the alter, her hands gripping her bouquet tightly and beginning to sweat. Neither Bethany nor any of the Kanker brothers listened to what the officiant was saying to the bride and groom until he got to the vows, thoughts swirling in their minds.

"Do you, Pierre Formage, take Bethany as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." He said, puffing his chest out with pride.

"And do you, Bethany, take Pierre as your lawfully wedded husband?"

Bethany was quiet for a moment, looking down at the flowers in her bouquet, but not the beautiful Blue Wedding Bells that she had picked as the center flowers, but three random flowers that seemed to have been added last minute, a yellow daffodil, a blue iris and a red rose…

When was the last time she had seen those three flowers together like this?

Oh yeah…

It was after she, Babs and April had informed Ben that they were all pregnant, Bethany had yelled at him, saying horrible things that she really didn't mean and shouting that it was all his fault and that he had ruined their lives and none of them ever wanted to see him again. Ben left with a heartbroken expression and tears down his cheeks, his head curled up to his chest. Later that night, when April and Babs finally managed to calm her down, there was a knock at the door, Bethany had opened it and he held out nine flowers, three daffodils, three blue irises and three roses, (their favorites) they were grouped in threes with one of each kind of flower in them. "I know I messed up." He said softly, "But I want to make it right, I'll raise all three of those kids with everything I've got and take care of all of you and the babies…" then his eyes glazed over and his voice became thick with emotion, "And if any of you don't want to see them or me ever again," his head sunk lower into his chest, "I would understand…"

She looked at the flowers and, in her peripherals, she looked at the Kanker brothers and instantly knew that they had been the ones to slip these flowers in, that they wanted to tell her that whatever she did, they still cared.

She sucked in a breath.

"I don't." she said.

The Notre Dame was a buzz with gasps and whispers from the guests, some of whom started pulling out their cell phones and started recording the couple, eagerly awaiting bloodshed, but the Kanker brothers just sat there silently, their mouths open but no sound coming out.

"I'm sorry, Pierre…" she began, only for Pierre to turn to her, his eyes red and his teeth pointed.

"SORRY?! WE GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS ONLY FOR YOU TO SAY NO AT THE ALTER AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS SORRY?!" He shouted back, then pointed to Tee, "IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID KID, ISN'T IT?"

Bethany suddenly felt fury flood through her veins, her beautiful blue eyes became sharp and terrifying, her fists clenched, her lips curled into a snarl, she had never felt so angry in her entire life!

Stupid? He did he just call her baby boy STUPID?! Even though she left all of them at such young ages, her friends had loved them to bits and did their best to not only raise them, but to share as much of their experiences with her, telling her about their baby boys and allowing her to watch them grow up even though she wasn't there. And even though it must have been hard and the brothers probably had not wanted to, they had worked so hard to make her wedding beautiful for her and put up with Pierre's ridiculous antics…

And he had the nerve to call one of her sons stupid…

In the back of her mind, she registered that the reason she was probably so angry was that her maternal instincts were kicking in and that she felt a stronger connection with the boys since she had gone through all the letters and videos and everything, almost watching them grow up. But the rest of her mind was too busy being pissed off at Pierre to give a fuck.

She remembered after an incident when she, Babs and April were fourteen where this big, scary guy threatened them with a knife and told them to give him all their money, Ben had show up just in time and beat the shit out of him, afterwards he taught them a few ways they could defend themselves in case that ever happened again.

'Pull your arm back,' she could hear him say as she pulled her arm back.

'Keep your fist at an angle so you don't hurt your wrist,' she twisted her fist so it was at an angle.

Then her arm flew out so fast it looked like a blur as her fist whammed into Pierre's face, sending him backwards onto the ground, "TALK ABOUT TEE OR ANY OF MY SONS LIKE THAT AGAIN AND I PROMISE YOU THAT YOU WON'T NEED TO GET PLASTIC SURGURY NEXT MONTH BECAUSE I'LL REARRANGE YOUR FACE FOR YOU!" she roared.

Chuckles rolled through the crowd as Pierre quickly scrambled onto his feet, his face bright red with anger, he turned to the Kanker brothers, who were looking at Bethany with amazed and amused expressions on their faces.

"C'EST ENTIÉREMENT DE VOTRE FAUTE!" (IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!) Pierre shouted as he leapt towards them…

Unfortunately, Pierre never read the bios about the Kanker brothers, so he didn't read about how they were the last people you ever wanted to mess with.

Larie and Jay hopped up and hooked him by his arms and held him back while Tee smiled, the blue eyes he inherited from his mother gleaming with devious glee, "Je pense que quelqu'un a besoin de vous enseigner une leçon de ce qui se passe lorsque vous essayez de gâchis avec un Kanker." (I think someone needs to teach you a lesson about what happens when you try to mess with a Kanker.) He said with a flawless accent and an impish grin, "Ne croyez-vous pas les garçons?" (Wouldn't you agree boys?)

"Oui!" his brothers agreed in unison. They then dragged him outside and closed the door behind them.

Bethany walked up to the An's group and her ex's brother and his family and said, "Gaston, I'll leave as soon as possible, but it'll take a while for me to pack everything…" Gaston waved his hand, "Bethany, you can take as much time as you need… But if you just want to get away from my brother, you can pack up a few bags of necessities and we can put your things into storage. You can just give us a call and an address we can send them to and we'll take care of everything." She smiled at him gratefully and gave him a hug, "Thank you." she said softly.

Bethany looked at Fiona, Miranda, Luca, Clover, Sanji, Jude, Zoe and the Ans, "I'm sorry that all of your hard work will be wasted now…" she said sheepishly.

"I wouldn't say that." Fiona said, she looked at Gaston, "the statue Larie made can be a thank you gift for letting us stay free of charge, and you can use all the flowers in your hotel," Gaston brightened, "Actually, we have a float in the parade tonight, we could toss the flowers out to the crowd, it will be romantic and memorable to all in attendance!" Fiona and Gaston began chatting about how they could salvage their work so it would not be a waste.

Bethany turned to the Ans, suddenly bashful, "Um, Babs sent me a letter telling me how you all met when you were six, I was wondering if you could tell me your side of the story…"

The Ans looked at her a moment, their gazes critical and their lips pulled into thoughtful pouts… "Fine," Anny finally said, "But on one condition." She said, Bethany trembled a bit at those words, but nodded, "You have to tell us what they told you guys about how we met." Anny said with a smirk. Bethany looked at the Ans, pleasantly surprised at Anny's response.

"We've actually been quite curious about the boys' side of the story for a while now." Double-N said with a warm smile, "So we would be happy to exchange stories with you." An gave her a cheerful grin as she patted to the seat next to her and Anny hopped one seat over so they could all chat and talk together Bethany felt her heart swell with joy, 'Was this what it was like to Gladys when she would have us at her table?' she wondered as they talked.

As she swapped stories with the Ans, the Kanker brothers came back in and walked over to them, they waited until after they told each other about how they had met before they made themselves known.

Bethany slipped the Ans a card, telling them to go to the place on the card and gave them a knowing smile before the Ans slipped away to give them privacy.

They stood there awkwardly, Bethany rubbed her arm, "Look, I know I haven't really been there for you, Tee." She looked at Larie and Jay, "To any of you, really. But there's something I'd like to show you back at the hotel, is that okay?" They nodded and left.

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Pierre pulled his bruised and battered body into his limo, furious. When he got home, he was going to call the police and have those three boys arrested, then he was going to break, burn and completely destroy Bethany's belongings, starting with that fancy chest she kept in her closet that she loved so damn much.

"BAHHHHH!"

Pierre paused and looked beside him to see a random goat eating a part of the seat. The doors suddenly locked and Pierre scowled and banged on the partition that separated him and the driver and demanded an explanation.

Only to see the partition go down and see young lady who had torn his moustache off his face the night before smirking at him impishly, "Bonjour!" she said cheerfully, then pointed at the goat beside him, "I got you a wedding present! His name is James!"

"You!" he spat, shaking with rage, "I'm going to call the authorities!"

She pouted, "Aw, you don't like him? But he's such a good boy! And he even knows a special trick! Watch! James, RAMSY!" The goat stopped mid-bite and suddenly became vicious and violent and attacked Pierre.

"Good boy, James!" The Author cooed while Pierre screamed like the little bitch he was while being mauled by a goat, "Who's a good goat? That's right! You are! Yes you are!" she then pulled the partition back up and strolled out of the driver's seat and into the streets of Paris, chuckling as she made her way back to the hotel.

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The Kanker brothers shifted through the items in Bethany's chest, looking at the photos and letters and everything their moms and grandma had sent her over the years.

"I stopped reading after I got the first letter from you guys," she said sheepishly, "I thought your dad had married April and even though I was mad at him and ran away from all of you… Istill have feelings for him… I didn't think I could take the heart break of knowing that he married someone else, even if it was one of my best friends." Her eyes started to water, "I just opened most of this stuff recently, but I should have opened it back then, I should have been there at her funeral, at both of their funerals. I'm so sorry…" she looked up at them, "Foreverything."

No one moved or spoke for a moment, then, to her surprise, all three brothers dashed over and gave her a big, warm hug with watery smiles on their faces that she returned with tears of watery relief. "Thank you…" she murmured into their hair, "Thank you for not hating me."

After a few minutes, they let go, and wiped at their faces.

"Do you boys know how we each came up with your names?" she asked them softly. The boys shook their heads and looked at Bethany with wide, curious eyes as she took Jay's head into her hands, "Jay, did you know your mom was adopted?"

Jay's eyes became wider at the new information and vigorously shook his head. "Well, the Byrd family, the ones who adopted your mom, had a son named Jay. He had hemophilia."

"Hemophil-wha?" Jay asked.

"It means he didn't have a lot of platelets in his blood, so if he got anything like a bruise or a paper cut, even if it was tiny, he could die from blood loss or internal bleeding." Larie explained, "People who have that tend not to live very long."

Bethany nodded, "anyway, Jay Byrd was always stuck inside and he was very lonely, but his parents feared if he got any male friends, they would start rough housing and he could die. Jay begged and pleaded, then finally he asked for a sibling. Now, his parents were told that if they had another child, that child could have the same condition, so Jay suggested adoption. They went to a foster home and as soon as they saw the young children playing, he pointed to a lonely little blonde girl in the corner and said, 'Mom, Dad, look! There's she is! There's my new little sister!'" She smiled as she remembered April waving good bye to them as a little girl and rushing over to the sick-looking teenager that was her older brother, she'd always stop herself from hug-tackling him and would give him a gentle, but warm hug. "He died when she was eleven, she was so upset when she lost her big brother. So when she learned she was having a boy, she immediately named you 'Jay', after her sweetie pie of a big brother."

She then put her hands on Larie's face, "I'll guess you know about the Steel family's history with addiction problems?" She asked sheepishly. He nodded grimly, they were also well aware of the difficult times that his mom had been through because of them. "Well, there was one other member of Bab's family who didn't have that problem, her grandfather, Larie. He worked to gain full custody of all of his grandchildren so they wouldn't get sucked into that downward spiral like their parents and finally got it when Babs was ten, then raised all of them as if they were his own, and did his best to make sure that all of them stayed clean. Babs admired him and was glad that someone in her family was responsible and trying to keep her and her brothers and sisters clean, so when she found out that you were a boy, she started calling you Larie immediately." She remembered how Babs would always smile when her grandfather would call her friend's parents and her friends to make sure she really was where she said she was and if she was okay, because even though it could be annoying at times, she knew that he did that because he cared.

She then looked at Tee and cupped his face with her hands, "Lord Tee Kanker was the one who won all of that land that would become Peach Creek. Gladys told us the story when we first became friends and it always left quite an impression on me, so I named you Tee…" she smirked, "Seeing how you have a Miss McGee in your corner, I'd say I named you well." Tee flushed and laughed a bit, Bethany then pulled all three boys into a hug, "I know I haven't been there for you three, but, if you'll let me, I'd like to be…" They hugged back, making her smile and enjoyed the warmth a mother feels in her heart when holding her babies safe in her arms.

"Sounds good, Mom." Tee replied softly. She released them and smirked at them, "You have dates tonight right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, what are you doing?" They each told her what they were doing and she looked them up and down, "Are you wearing those clothes to your dates?"

They looked down at their clothes then back up at Bethany, "Yyyeeaahh…"

"Not anymore." She said sternly as she pushed them out of her closet and, after a few minutes, had changed out of her wedding dress and came out in a white shirt with red polka dots, a warm white coat, jeans, fancy heeled boots and a fancy handbag, "Come on, boys, Momma's gonna make you three look like Princes for your dates tonight." She said as she then fanned out twenty credit cards in Pierre's name. The brothers were then pushed out of the door with small smiles on their faces as Bethany then began to talk about how "I can't believe you three weren't even going to change! I bet those girls are working so hard to look nice for you three and you don't even…" she then shook her head, "Poor Gladys, the things you must have to endure with these three..." She murmured as she pressed a button to the first floor.

These boys were gonna look presentable and appropriate for these dates even if it killed Pierre's bank account!

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The card Bethany had given the Ans was to a fancy spa located in the hotel, where they were both pampered and tortured, they were pampered with facials, manicures, pedicures, and, with Pierre's credit card, they bought a bunch of their products and had it so they would be sent to their homes directly. They were tortured with facial, under arm, leg and bikini waxes.

They received lunch and after they were done at the spa they were sent to the salon, where they got their hair and make up done as well as bought more stuff with Pierre's credit card and had them sent home.

The dresses Clover had made for them were waiting in their rooms when they returned, with matching shoes that were most likely paid for by one of Pierre's many credit cards, they each let out a squeal of delight when they saw them and quickly, but carefully, put them on and ran out so they could show their fellow Ans their new dress while looking at their new dresses. When they saw each other, they squealed and dashed to put on their shoes and couldn't wait to see how the Kanker brothers would react, giggling as they mimicked various faces they would probably make once they saw them, barely keeping their nerves in check.

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Tee was leaning against the door frame of a fancy, but empty café that was on the Author's floor, biting his lip anxiously while trying his best to keep his cool.

Sam had passed him an hour ago with the same group of strange friends, who also hadn't seemed to age since the last time he'd seen them too, and told him, "We're gonna start launching fireworks at about 10:30pm, so make sure that you seduce her before then or else you'll both freak out and it'll go from romantic to awkward."

"Easy for you to say." He replied flatly, "You don't have to do anything else."

"Hey, I'm emptying out the floor for ya, aren't I?" she said, then gave him a light punch in the arm, "You'll do fine, just be your normal, charming self…" She paused, "ON second thought, be all of that just toned down a bit…" she smirked, "Although I suppose if it gets too hot in here you can lower the shades." Tee flushed and flipped her off as she and her friends laughed and waved him good-bye while making their way to the elevator.

He looked into the interior of the café, the back wall was made up of thick glass so one could easily see both the Eiffel Tower and the parade and carnival below, the lights were out and instead it was lit by the moon, the stars, the festivities, and the lights from the Eiffel Tower and a few candles by the table, he had made a simple, but good dinner with Jay supervising and he had an iHome prepped with a playlist with Anny's favorite songs and lots of different types of dance music so they could dance after eating. There was a table set for two in the middle of the room close to the window, he had moved the other tables and chairs into one of the empty rooms on the floor, there were some couches in the back corner of the room where he guessed people worked on their laptops and sipped espressos and didn't want to be bothered by the sights of Paris. Those had been nailed to the ground, so Tee left them where they were. He stared at the table, the silverware was arranged neatly, the glasses were sparkling clean (thank God for Double-N rubbing off on Larie), and the table cloth was a deep red wine color that added to the atmosphere, which was good since he couldn't get wine for their romantic dinner for two.

Sam saw him reaching for wine in the pantry when she came down to help him and his brothers yesterday when they were grabbing ingredients so he could learn how to make the dish he made tonight and so he could make it tonight, she then smacked his hand away and she grabbed a bunch of fancy sparkling grape juices and sodas and shoved them into his arms shouting 'NO ALCOHOL FOR YOU!' And scolding him for trying to get wine for this date before he and Anny were of age.

So he stuck with sparkling grape juice, although he peeled the label off and wasn't going to tell her what it really was unless she inquired if he was trying to get her drunk.

He looked down at his clothes, feeling kinda stupid.

After he told his mom what he was doing with Anny, she had told him that his clothes were too informal, that he needed to dress up for this kind of date. He was wearing a white tux, a red bow tie and nice, new dress shoes that kinda hurt his feet a little. His mom had also made him promise to pull his hair out of his face, "That way you can watch her face light up without your hair blocking your view." She had said with a smile.

He still thought the bow tie was stupid, but hey, it was his first time bonding with his mom, he wasn't going to let a stupid bow tie sour the mood.

"Hey." He heard a familiar voice call, he turned and his jaw sank so far down it fell on the floor and his pants felt tight.

Anny was wearing a strapless white dress that made her look like an angel to Tee, the only thing was she was holding a bouquet of red roses and pink gerber daisies in her hand as she strode towards him. So she went from angel to angelic bride, she smiled when she finally reached him and poked his nose, making his jaw quickly slide back up so he could close his mouth.

"Thanks." He finally squeaked. She chuckled at him and then held the flowers up, "Yer messenger chick handed me these and said that our 'romantic evening would take place' here. I thought you would've texted me or something, but the personal messenger with the flowers was really sweet." She gave him a kiss on the check, and smirked as he turned crimson and a goofy smile curled up on his face, "I can't wait to see what else you have in store for me." She purred. Tee ushered her in, eager to impress his future-bride.

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Jay pulled at the collar of his shirt anxiously as he waited for An at their agreed upon meeting place, which was in the lobby by the elevators.

Bethany informed him that for his date with An, he was dressed far too formally, so she had forced him into a red flannel shirt with a gray undershirt, jeans and a warm, dark gray jacket with a soft material on the inside that insolated his body heat… he didn't really get what that meant but heck it sure was soft and warm! He had showered, pulled his hair back into his usual ponytail, shaved and put on some aftershave. (It stung a bit, though) He then leaned back and forth on his new tennis shoes nervously, which was a bit uncomfortable because they were still a bit stiff, but he knew he'd get used to them eventually. He had a bouquet of daffodils and tiger lilies for her that he managed to scrape together from the flowers left over from the wedding-that-almost-was and he had a messenger bag full of sweets he had learned how to make this week that they could snack on while enjoying themselves.

The elevator door dinged, he smiled and turned around, hoping this time it was An, he had cheerfully greeted about five random people and embarrassed himself, he didn't think he could handle a sixth stranger.

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened as An happily skipped over to him and called out, "Hi Jay!"

She wore a pink dress that fit perfectly to her hourglass figure, the skirt poofed out a bit and it had spaghetti straps, but she wore skin tone tights, light brown boots and a light brown jacket to help keep her warm. Her red glasses bounced on the bridge of her nose and her now shorter hair bounced a bit as she gracefully bounded towards him, a joyful smile on her face, a pink purse with one of those fancy double lettered designer logos all over it.

Jay felt his face burn, his heart race and his jeans feel super tight as she leapt into his arms as she cried, "Happy Valentine's Day, Jay!" He quickly wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Happy Valentine's Day, An," He replied warmly, he then shyly handed her the flowers, which earned him a faceful of kisses, then he pulled a way for a bit, "Ready to go?" She nodded eagerly and he happily took her hand and lead her outside, a cold wind hitting them hard as they left the warmth of the hotel and An began shivering a bit.

Jay instantly pulled her close and slipped her into his coat with him and held it close around them.

"Thanks, Jay." She said gratefully, then she touched the soft fluffy stuff that lined his coat and smiled, "Wow! This is soft!" She cried. "I know right!" Jay replied as he steered them towards the streets, which were full of booths and people.

"Where are we heading first, Jay?" she asked him eagerly, he smiled, "Well, an old friend of mine has a fireworks booth that she made me promise to take you to later so we can set off some later during the parade." An lit up with excitement, "Really?! We can set off fireworks?" He smiled lovingly at her, man did he love seeing her happy, "Yeah! But we have some time, you wanna just have some fun until then?" She nodded and gave him a big smile, "Okay!" she cheered. Then the two dashed into the carnival, some of Pierre's credit cards in their pockets as they began playing games and having a blast when both of their stomachs started to growl. He cheerfully pulled out two éclairs and gave one to An, "I made plenty of snacks so we don't need to stop to sit down and eat, that way we can eat and have fun!" he told her. An wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss, "You think of everything!" she cheered and basically cuddled with him in the middle of the street, making him the happiest guy there, then the first float started coming their way and he pulled them to the side. They then went on to having a very fun, but sweet, Valentine's Day together.

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Larie fidgeted on the motor bike that he rented with one of Pierre's credit cards and held the helmets tightly in his hands, he was eager to start his date with Ann. He had told her to come out to meet him outside of the hotel yesterday after tucking Luca into Ann's bed for the night, giving her a kiss good night and leaving to go to his own room since Clover gave him the stare of death, silently warning him that it would be best if he went back to his room for the night. He looked down at his clothes, feeling awkward and nervous as all hell.

After explaining what he was doing with Ann for their date, Bethany said that, while his clothing was somewhat appropriate for his date, she wasn't going to let him wear the same thing he wore to her almost-wedding to his date with Ann, 'She's already seen it, so you need to wear something else. You want to wow her, don't you?' She asked him.

Of course he did, why else had he, after Tee told him and Jay about Sam being in the hotel just one floor below them, ask her to help him with something he knew that she could somehow manage to do with ease, and this morning he was pleased to see that she had managed to do what he needed for his date to go perfectly.

He wore a light blue dress shirt and black slacks and new tennis shoes, Bethany let him wear his brown jacket, mainly because it was very clean (he was dating Ann, so yeah his clothes would be clean), in good condition and currently in style so he was allowed to wear it for his date, but she warned him that as soon as it was worn out, she was getting him a new one.

Pfftt! As if he'd get rid of this jacket! Jay's jackets were one thing, since he wore shirts and jackets until they went from white to grey and only washed them when he had to. (When they didn't pass the one sniff test… An doesn't mind if he's gross and smelly and he hates doing the laundry, it's his least favorite chore, mainly because they have to wash it by hand and hang it up to dry, since they don't have a washer or dryer in their trailer.) Larie had been aiming for Ann for years, so once they got to high school and became sweatier and hairier and shit, he started cleaning his clothes more often so he wouldn't give himself away when sneaking up on her and so when he kissed her she wouldn't pass out from the smell.

He patted the gift he'd made for Ann in his pocket, making sure it was still there. He needed for this date to be special, this was the only time they'd been alone this whole trip when she wasn't sick and they weren't sleeping! He thought that he'd have some time yesterday, but Ann volunteered them to watch Luca so his moms could have some alone time, although he didlike hanging out with the little tyke and would end up imagining Luca as Allbert while Ann cuddled the little guy and he learned what Clover and Sanji had meant last night when they hoped for Ann's sake that something wasn't genetic.

He smiled eagerly at the thought of figuring out if Ann was a screamer or not.

"Larie?" He quickly turned around to see his girlfriend and nearly fell off of the bike with shock with his jaw dropped and his silver studded tongue hanging out of his mouth and his pants feeling super tight.

She was wearing a black dress that accentuated her best assets with straps that flopped down her shoulders and a skirt that stopped at her knees and dark tights, she wore her stud necklace and black heeled boots and had a thin black jacket on. Her hair was pulled back into a braided bun and there was a fancy designer messenger bag over her shoulder. She gave him his favorite, loving gap toothed smile when she saw him and rushed over to see him. He barely managed to pulled himself together before she reached him and he pulled her into a warm embrace, "Hey Muffin." He murmured into her hair before kissing the top of her head, "Ready for the best night of your life?" he asked with a smirk. She nodded, "Of course!" He then led her to the bike and carefully tied a blindfold over her eyes and placed a helmet onto her head with care. (Since she had her hair in a bun) He then slid in front of her to drive, "Hang on tight, Muffin, with the parade and the carnival, there will be a lot of people in the way, so it'll be a wild ride." Ann nodded nervously and wrapped her arms around his stomach. He drove through crowds of people, smiling like a dope as his girlfriend clung to him tightly from behind. He then helped her off the bike once they reached their destination and lead her to what Ann guessed was an old elevator since she heard a gate shut and felt it jerk a bit when it started rising. She heard Larie move open the gate and he gently lead her forward a bit before taking off her blindfold.

She blinked for a moment to adjust then she glanced around, a bit confused. Then her eyes lit up with comprehension and glee, "Are we where I think we are?" she asked softly.

Larie smiled proudly, "Yup!"

"But how? I thought they didn't allow people up here this time of year because of…" she flushed, "You know…"

"They don't."

"But then, how…?" Larie lead her towards the balcony and held his arm out, "Ann, just stop worrying about it and enjoy the view." He said, "After all, it's not everyday you get to see the city from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower without a bunch of other people around." She smiled as she admired the view of the parade and carnival while they lit up the night with vibrant colors and the moon and stars brightened the night sky.

"It's so beautiful up here…" she sighed.

"Meh, I've seen better." He said plainly.

"Oh really?" she said, giving him a knowing smile, "And what, pray tell, would that sight be?" He smiled impishly and looked right at her, "I'm lookin' at it." Ann's face turned scarlet and looked at him with wide shocked eyes as he pulled his gift out of his pocket and attached it to her necklace with a ~snap!~.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Ann." He said softly as he held her necklace up for her to admire. He had attached a small silver heart to it so the bent stud resembled an arrow that was going through it.

Ann felt a rush of emotion flood through her, he had watched over her while she was sick, he had managed to arrange it so they could stand on the Tower even though it was currently forbidden to do so just because she had told him that she really wanted to go with him, and he had made her such a beautiful gift… He was so wonderful to her and now she finally felt confident enough to give him her gift.

"Ann? Are you okay?" He asked, concerned by her silent stare. To his surprise, she grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him into a deep kiss that made a smile curl up his face and his whole body feel all tingly and warm. When she finally pulled her lips off of his with a ~pop!~ She hugged him tight.

"I love you." She said softly as she snuggled closer to him.

Larie's face turned a shade of red so dark it almost looked purple, his smile was curling up his cheeks, steam was screaming out of his ears and his tongue was lolling out of his mouth.

She said she loves him. She said she loves him. SHESAIDSHELOVESHIMSLKGSAHKHGKGHKHGLKHGLKDHFGLKDHFGDLAK!

"Hot daMN!" he squeaked before licking his lips, savoring the taste of her that lingered there.

Larie officially decided that tonight was probably the best night of his whole life… Until he could get her to say that while they were having sex… or when they got married… or when they started having kids… but until then, this was pretty much the best day of his life.

After taking about ten minutes to recover, Larie finally hugged back and kissed her forehead, "I love you too, Ann, I love you too."

They then resumed kissing and enjoying their romantic date in Paris.

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Tee was in heaven.

His stupid bow tie, jacket and shirt were on the floor and he and Anny were making out on the couch in the café. He had closed the shades, but it still let some light in, which was great because once he got the top of her dress off he could see her strapless leopard skin bra.

He chuckled a bit at that, remembering how when they were kids she had been so embarrassed when he and his brothers had discovered in her bedroom while they were on 'holiday' (Home Cooked Ans).

"What are you laughin' at?" Anny huffed, half from needing air and the other half from him laughing at her.

"Just reminiscing." He chuckled as he slipped his fingers under the hooks of her bra and let them snap back on her bare back, "The last time I saw any leopard skin panties was when I was on holiday in your house." He said, his face pulled into a cheeky grin. Anny pause then said, "Oh yeah…" she then frowned at him, annoyed, "You wrecked my house, you asshole."

"I'd say I was sorry, but I got to see you for most of the day. So… I'm not." He said plainly. Anny's frown stayed there for a second until he said, "If yer still mad, you can give me a spanking."

Then she started to laugh, "In your dreams!" She then gave him a predatory look and said, "but I will give ya a taste of your own medicine."

"Oh, I'm so scared!" Tee teased. Anny wrapped her arms around his neck, "You should be. Now get over here, asshole!" Tee smiled as their lips crashed back together and his fingers began to fumble with the hooks in the back of her dress.

'Vivre l'amour.' He thought with a warm smile as he heard a click of the hooks separating and fireworks began whizzing into the air, then blasting into the shapes of hearts and weird looking cupids.

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The next day they all got up early, packed up their things and hopped the private plane, only this time, Bethany went back with them for the return trip with a few bags of her own and her chest filled with letters from April, Babs and Gladys.

On the plane, Anny finally discussed the thing about An having sex with all three of them in attendance while the boys were chatting on their own on the other side of the plane, and the adults were playing with Luca inbetween the two groups. Sanji broke away from his group and slipped into an empty seat beside Jay, "So, how was your night?" Sanji asked them, then he looked at Jay, "Well, actually I know how yours ended, but other then that part, how did your dates go?" Jay turned five shades of pink and three shades of red before he could speak, "Well, we had a lot of fun at the parade and the carnival, there was this little girl who got lost and was crying, so me and An cheered her up and informed one of the police officers who managed to find her parents. She thanked us and gave us each a hug before going with her parents. Then we went to Sam's booth at about 10:30 and we set off fireworks…"

"And then at eleven you two set off fireworks of your own." Sanji teased, making Jay's face turn so red that it steamed, then he looked at Tee, "And you?"

"Two words. Second. Base."

"Nice." Larie said as he slapped his brother on the back.

"And you, Larie?" He smiled dreamily and opened his mouth only for Anny to shout,

"ARE YOU TWO FREAKING KIDDING ME?"

"Anny, please! Keep your voice down!"

"NO, I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO ASK, AM I THE ONLY BITCH ON THIS PLANE WHO HASN'T ORGASMED IN HER ENTIRE TIME IN PARIS?" Sanji, Jay and Tee looked at Larie, who then smiled triumphantly and leaned back further in his seat and held up three fingers, obviously proud of himself.

"No." Bethany and Clover said in unison.

Everyone looked at them, then after a moment of silence, processing the information. Clover had been working non-stop on making and re-making a wedding dress for Bethany, but Bethany had been there for roughly seventeen years… then it dawned on them.

Then Fiona, Miranda, Zoe and An started giggling with pink cheeks and Anny and Clover were laughing hysterically while Double-N flushed then murmured, "Oh my…" Sanji was chuckling and Jude looked embarrassed but seemed to be holding in laughter and the Kanker brothers just didn't want to know anything about any of their parent's sex lives, so they looked grossed out. Luca just looked confused as he sucked on one of his fingers and got drool all over himself. Bethany looked annoyed then she started to laugh too, "Needless to say he had a lot to compensate for!" she snickered, making everyone but Luca start laughing, although Ann and Jude at least tried to keep it in.

They then moved to their seats to prepare for descent and Clover smirked as she passed Ann, "Huh, I guess it does run in your family." Ann turned scarlet and curled up into a ball in her seat.

"Shut it, Clover!" Fiona snapped from her seat while she strapped Luca in and her wife chuckled beside her. Fiona glared at her and Miranda apologized, still snickering.

Larie slipped beside Ann, "Don't let it bother ya, Muffin." He said softly, then smirked as he murmured into her ear, "besides, I think it's cute that you cry out like that when you…"

"Surprisingly, that doesn't make me feel any better." Ann quickly replied with a pink face.

"Whatever, at least with all those fireworks last night, hardly anyone heard you." Anny said dismissively, kind of feeling guilty that she had even brought it up as Tee slipped in beside her.

Jay and An slipped into another set of seats and began buckling themselves in. An turned to him and asked, "Do we make noises?" Jay suddenly became flustered, "I-I dunno, An, I never really…"

"Yeah." Tee said plainly from beside Anny, "You two kept me up during the second night in Paris with your moaning and the bed creaking."

"Oh…" they said in unison. "Sorry, Tee." Jay said softly. Tee waved it off, "whatever, but now we all know to bring noise cancelling headphones whenever we go on any trips with you four," he said, pointing to him and Anny. Then his brothers grabbed some plane peanuts and threw them at him and started a plane peanut war that everyone else quickly joined in on as the plane tilted downwards towards the ground.

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Ben Kanker glanced the clock on the wall from the middle of the couch, it was 9 pm on Valentine's Day (Author: the plane passed the date line on the way back to Peach Creek.), the boys would be home any second now and his mom would come by in a little bit to hear about their trip. He was curious as to how their trip was and how their dates went and everything, but he was especially curious about what happened with Bethany…

His chest ached.

He had told her that he'd understand if she never wanted to see him again all those years ago, but it still hurt like hell to hear she was getting married to some random rich French douche bag this week.

He wondered if she was happier with that guy then she had been with him… then he shook his head, it wouldn't do him any good to dwell on such a painful subject. But it would probably pop up in the boys' stories a lot, so he would ask them to at least keep the actual wedding part out of their story before his mom showed up, she'd understand and probably have them tell her about it later when he wasn't around, but Ben wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't want to hear how the last of his best friends and how one of the women he loved most was lost to him forever. He couldn't bare listening to how…

~Knock! Knock!~

Ben paused from wallowing in his own lonely misery and looked towards the door. It wasn't Tee, Larie or Jay, they never knocked on the door of their own home, they just walked in. His mom would knock but she wasn't coming until later. His neighbors never bothered with him or his boys so it wasn't them and none of the cul-de-sac parents had stepped foot in the trailer park before. So who was it?

He got up and opened the door, his eyes widened in shock and his mouth agape.

"Beth?" he breathed, looking her up and down and secretly pinching himself in case he fell asleep watching that stupid fishbowl movie that was always playing again.

It hurt. So he was definitely awake.

She wore a white t-shirt with red polka dots and jeans with tennis shoes and a white coat, her brown curly hair was pulled back into the same bun she'd put it in when they were young. She had a wrinkle or two, but otherwise, she had aged gracefully and still made his heart race on sight. Her beautiful blue eyes seemed to be inspecting him as well.

'Great' he thought, 'She can see the fat slob I've become over the years.' It wasn't as if he had tried to let himself go, it just sorta happened… Greasy fast food was cheap and had helped him keep his and his growing son's bellies full, and while it wasn't the healthiest thing for all of them to eat, it was better then starving and he worked s bunch of jobs so he could provide for his boys, he couldn't afford to go to a gym and he would rather go to work for a few hours to earn more money for his family then do his own work out for only his benefit. He said he was going to raise his kids and that's what he had been doing for over seventeen years now.

Ben said nothing to her, what could he even say to her? He had rehearsed in his head a few speeches about how she shouldn't have abandoned them and shit, but looking at her now, he couldn't say them. They were too cruel, too angry, they'd scare her away. But it wasn't as if he would fall to her feet and blubber about how he missed her, which he did, tremendously, but he still had his pride, dammit, and he wasn't going to do that.

Bethany didn't speak either while these thoughts ran through his head, she too, had no idea what to say to him after all that had happened and after all these years. Finally she did something she hadn't done in years. She walked up to him, wrapped her arms around him and started to bawl into his chest. Ben had been surprised, but quickly hugged her back and rubbed her back, "It's good to see you too, Beth." He said softly, "It's good to see you too."

While they embraced, Tee, Larie and Jay smiled by their grandmother's car. Gladys then smiled, "You were right, boys, this was probably the best thing you three brought back from your trip to Paris." She said softly, then she invited them to stay at her house for the night and tell her, "Everything. Do you hear me, EVERYTHING! If you leave out a single detail I'll whack you upside the head!"

"Grandma, we were gone for a week, you sure you don't want a summary?"

"Oh hell no! And don't think you three will be the only ones telling me what happened over there! I'm gonna grill your girlfriends and Bethany until I know every single last detail of this trip!" The brothers sighed and looked at each other, resigned that it was going to be a long night at grandma's. But as they watched their dad invite Bethany inside for some water and tissues, they couldn't help but smile and murmur, "Happy Valentine's Day, Dad" as their grandma pulled out of the trailer park and towards her home.

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Epilogue

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Twelve year old Andy, Allbert and Sheldon Kanker smile as they load the last few bouquets onto a wagon, a young woman with dirty blonde hair and a purple apron carrying another one and putting it there as well right behind them.

"Thank you again Samantha for helping us load all these flowers onto our wagon."

"Phew!" the author said, wiping sweat off of her forehead, then smiles at the boys, "Any time! You Kankers are my favorite customers, and you pretty much bought almost everything in the store!" she then has a serious expression on her face "But seriously, I'm so glad we have a huge shipment of flowers in the back for me to unload or else we'd have nothing else for the other guys coming in later today." she then points to the rest of the flowers on the wagon that go up towards the sky in an almost cartoony fashion, "Because your grandpas, dads and Sheldon's Uncle and Luca basically bought almost every single last flower we had in stock."

"Almost every flower?" Andy repeated. The Author nodded, "Yeah, all except for these," she said, pulling up a red rose, a blue iris and a yellow daffodil from one of her apron pockets, "these ones broke when we were prepping and processing them earlier today, so they were too short to use for your orders."

"What are you going to do with them?" Sheldon asked. The author shrugs, "I have no idea, I mean, I can't sell these, they're too short. But I can't throw them away because that would be a waste." She then looks at them and smirks as she holds them up to them, "Why don't you boys take them? I'm sure you guys could make some girl's day by giving her one of these." They flushed and each took one while Andy muttered, "She's as bad as Gladys the Great." (Author's note: that's what their generation calls Gladys, get it? 'Cause she's their great grandmother?)

"You realize I take that as a compliment." The Author teased as she ruffles their hair, "I'll see you boys around. And have a Happy Valentine's Day."

"We will, thank you!" Allbert replied as he and Sheldon wave back cheerfully while Andy waves his hand once then turns to the wagon and his cousins, shoves the rose into his back pocket and snaps, "Let's get going already! It's cold and our dads and grandpas are expecting these flowers to be at the cul-de-sac soon!"

"Alright, Andy, we're going." Allbert said in a calm tone.

"ONWARDS TO HOME!" Sheldon cheered with a joyful expression, but just as they were leaving they heard a soft voice call out, "Um, S-Sheldon?"

They pause and turn to see some familiar faces, three to be exact.

Madeline, Matilda and Maggie.

Maggie, the one who had called out, froze a bit when the Kanker cousins' eyes settled on her and snuggled into her oversized coat that seemed to engulf her, her winter cap snug on her head and her black hair going straight down until it reached her ears before it poofed out into a thick mass of curls that ended at her shoulders. She was shaking a bit in her boots, which was normal since she was the shyest kid in their grade and had a huge crush on Sheldon, not that he really knew that, he just thought she was a nice girl who was just super shy.

"Um…" her face turned pink as she seemed to gather herself, then she closed her eyes and held up a beautiful home-made valentine, "H-Happy Valentine's Day." She said in a small voice, her face bright red.

Sheldon looked at it for a few minutes before he finally asked, "Is that for me?" and made his cousins face palm.

Matilda chuckled, her breath coming out as white as her hair, but since she was albino she couldn't help that. She wore purple glasses and a thick coat, her bag hung over one shoulder and probably held her laptop. Matilda got along pretty well with the trio, she was laid back and joked easily with Andy and Sheldon and worked well with Allbert in their computer science class, but she also enjoyed making Allbert feel uncomfortable since she found his reactions amusing. "No duh, Stink-bomb." She snickered.

Sheldon carefully took the card from Maggie and looked at it with a critical eye, making her shake even more in her boots then she had when she had called out to him. Finally, his face broke out into a big grin and he pulled her into a great big hug, "Thanks Maggie! This was really nice of you!" her face was scarlet and her heart was beating so fast that the sound blurred together into white noise in her ears.

'Sheldon is hugging me!' was the only thing that went thorough her mind. He then let go and pulled the daffodil out of his pocket, "Here, this is for you!" he said cheerfully as he placed it into her hand. She looked at him with wide eyes as he then said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" Maggie swooned and clutched the flower close to her chest, this had to be the best moment in her entire life.

"Huh, that was actually, well, sweet." Madeline said, surprised. Madeline was the richest girl in school, she always did her best to look nice and she loved singing, she got along okay with Allbert, but she thought Sheldon could be gross and that Andy was an annoying little leprechaun. Her stylish pink coat was slim but warm and her long curly brown hair cascaded down her shoulders.

Andy snarled at her comment, "What, you think we get a bunch of flowers every Valentine's day for Kicks?" he snapped, indicating their wagon, "Every year all the men in our family order a bunch of flowers for our moms, sisters, grandmas and our great grandma."

Matilda walked over and smirked as she reached for a flower, ready to pluck it.

"No!" Allbert cried, quickly but gently, grabbing her hand and moving her away from the wagon, "If you remove a single flower from the bottom, then all of them will fall over and we'll have nothing to show for our efforts." He then pulled out the iris, "If you desire a blossom so badly, you can have this one, but please, for everyone's safety, please don't try to remove one from the bottom of the pile!" Matilda took the flower with a little pink in her cheeks, feeling a bit embarrassed, then smiled at him impishly, "Aw, I didn't know you cared, All." She teased. Allbert blushed then murmured, "While I do care for you because you are my classmate and, at times, a friend, I do not have feelings of that sort for you." She placed her face close and Allbert backed away and fell backwards onto his butt, his face pink. "Sure you don't." she laughed.

"If we're done chattin' we've got about a million flowers to get back home." Andy said plainly, then motioned for his cousins to help him get the tower of flowers back home.

"You really think that all the women in your family will like a bunch of flowers if that's what you always give them? Don't you think they'll get bored of them?" Madeline called after him. Andy stopped, turned around and shoved the red rose into her hand.

She flushed at the gesture, making him smirk triumphantly at her as he purred, "You seem to appreciate it." then he turned around and the three boys began moving the wagon towards home, leaving the three girls behind.

A fairy then flutters by the girls and pulls out a bow and a quiver of arrows with hearts on the ends and smirks evilly at them as he pulls an arrow and starts taking aim…

Then the author smacks it into the front window with a fly swatter, making it slam into the glass with a ~SPLAT!~ while she growls, "Not this time, you little shit!"

The girls turn and look at her, "W-w-what was that?" Maggie stammered, holding her flower close to her chest, as if it could summon Sheldon to come and protect her.

"Oh, uh, sorry." The Author said awkwardly, "It's a bug, a really big gross looking bug."

"EWW!" they cried in unison. "Yeah," the author said, "Uh, why don't you three go on ahead so you don't see what I did to it?" the girls nod in agreement and scamper off, each blushing as she looks at the flower one of the Kanker cousins gave her.

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Author's End notes: It's DOOOONNNNEEEEEEEEEE! (falls over, exhausted.) I'm going to take a break for a bit since I've basically been banging this out while I haven't been working or watching my ex-neighbor's dog or doing the things I need to do to live, so the next chapter won't be out for a while. Oh and Yukiko347 won my contest, so her OC will be featured in the next chapter.