Disclaimer: I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen for the last time!
A/N- A couple people have been saying they wanted some Charlie and Anne action. Review or message me your thoughts on this. This chapter has another make out scene in it. I want everyone to know that conflict is coming next chapter. I'm not going to make it all boring this whole time… message or review your thoughts or comments! I'd like 10 more reviews before going on. And please, your thoughts! I love that you like it, but 'Cool please update' doesn't cut it.
Sarah ran out onto the dock looking for Eliot. She saw him sitting and waiting on the raft, tying up the kayak, looking around somewhat nervously. Sarah waved and quickly jumped off and began swimming towards the floating island. She swam up to the raft and felt around for the ladder. She felt a hand and grabbed on. Eliot swung her up onto the dock. She wiped her eyes and smiled. They looked at each other for a minute and then they sighed.
"I told my family this morning," said Sarah. Eliot sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"What did they say?" he asked.
"Well, everyone thought it was good, except my dad, which is kinda annoying, but other than that, everyone was really okay with it," she replied shrugging her shoulders. She raised her eyebrows towards him as if asking him to tell her something. Eliot sighed.
"I told them too," he started. Sarah saw the look on his face and sighed. She eased them down so she was leaning against his chest sitting on the ground.
"All my siblings were fine with it, Anne and Calvin thought it was really cool, so did Serena, but my dad says that I should 'think hard about this and make sure it's a good decision'. I mean, come on! No offence, Sarah, but I'm not getting married to you! He should be able to understand love! He's been through what is it, 4 wives by now?" he said, muttering the last part. Sarah nodded her head analogizing what he had said. Eliot just sighed again and played with her braids. He lifted them up and twirled them in his hands. He went to put them down and froze.
"W-ww-what's that?" he asked, knowing full well what it was. Sarah hit him playfully.
"Ow. When?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yesterday," she said. He sighed again and rubbed it gently.
"At least it's mine," he said with an evil grin. She smiled weakly at him. The grin wiped off his face as it clouded over with worry.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Sarah sighed.
"I just… don't like that my dad doesn't like you," she said. She quickly realized her mistake and began to cover it, "Not like that! I just mean…" Eliot laughed.
"I know. Actually, I think it's better that your dad doesn't like 'us'," he said. Sarah looked up at him confused.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because he's got 12 kids! He's got a couple more to go after you, and I can't imagine it being easy for them going through this again!" he said. Sarah agreed. He rubbed her shoulder.
"Hey Sarah, how about we go to my house? I mean, my dad's gone, everyone else is fine with you being there, and Serena will take care of anything," he said, begging her. She saw the look in his eye and sighed.
"Alright. But I get to row," she warned. He nodded eagerly and hopped into the kayak with Sarah.
At Eliot's House
Serena greeted Sarah at the door warmly and invited her in. Eliot rolled his eyes and led her through the kitchen, hearing a chorus of 'hellos' bellowed at him. He sighed and walked down a flight of stairs. The sign on it said 'Eliot's Room'.
"You have the floor?" she asked him. He nodded.
"After much begging and yard work! But yeah, I do. I've got a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, sitting room and theater room thing," he said.
"Theater room thing?" she asked.
"Well I was avoiding using 'movie theater' because that sounds bad. It's just a big screen with a couple big fluffy couches for two in there," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. She got the hint quickly.
"Well, I must go check out these big fluffy couches to see if they are up to date," she said, taking his hand, "Care to join me?" she asked, giggling. He smirked and walked with her into the dark theater.
In the Theater
Sarah randomly picked a movie and chose 'Aquamarine'. Surprisingly Eliot didn't care or know how it got there. He just shrugged and muttered something about siblings. Sarah popped it in and grabbed the remote. She took off her jacket and threw it over the back of the couch. She cuddled up against Eliot for the first 15 minutes, and then he began making little swirl motions on her neck, right near her hickey. She gasped and he stopped, looking down at her with big eyes.
"Are you okay? I did something wrong…" he began. Sarah laughed.
"I just… wasn't ready for that. You can continue if you want," she said. He smirked and began massaging her neck yet again. She sighed in happiness as all her worries left her. She gently moved a bit so he could to her neck easier. He gently rubbed circles around her upper neck and moved closer and closer to her cheek. Then he suddenly moved up and lightly nipped her ear. She giggled and gently lifted his shirt up and traced his abs. Woah, did I just say abs? He must be working out… she said.
She gently lifted her hand to his jaw line. She pulled his head down and turned to face him. She kissed him lightly on the lips and began to retreat when he suddenly forced his lips onto hers. She grinned to herself and placed her hands back on his stomach, making a trail along his muscles. He grinned and put his hands on her hips, slowly moving towards her stomach. She giggled into their kiss as he tickled her. She slowly moved her weight so she was on top of him, her arms holding her up. He was reaching up for the kiss. He slowly moved his way so that she was down lying by his side. He quickly flipped so he was on top. She grinned at his tongue searched her mouth, looking for imperfections. He found none. She grinned as she ran her fingers through his hair. Sarah's hair was messed up and sticking out in odd places from Eliot's hands running through it. Screw it, she thought as she pulled out her hair. It cascaded down her shoulders. Eliot looked surprised to see her hair out of the normal braids. He found it was very straight and very silky. He pulled his tongue out of her mouth and let her explore his. She searched his mouth for anything. All she found was his tongue, which she began wrestling with. Soon enough though, the young couple got tired. Instead of watching the movie, they just fell asleep kissing each other. They were facing chest to chest and Eliot's arms were draped over and under her, as if to say, 'She's mine, back off'. Her hands were still on his abs, searching for something they never seemed to find. Of course, their heads were together and lips locked tightly.
Calvin and Anne sneaked downstairs into Eliot's bedroom. They heard the movie stop, yet no sign of movement from the young couple. Calvin peered into the kitchen and bathroom. Anne looked into the theater and squealed. She came rushing out and hugged her brother.
"Calvin!" she whisper yelled excitedly.
"What?" he whispered back.
"Come look!" she said. Calvin looked at her suspiciously and followed her into the home theater. When he looked, he too gasped. He saw the two younger teenagers, kissing each other while they were sleeping. Eliot's hands were placed protectively over her. Calvin admired his love and commitment. Anne sighed happily as he saw the look on Sarah and Eliot's faces. They were both grinning in their sleep. Calvin sighed as he took out his camera. Anne looked at him like he was mad.
"What are you doing???" she asked him furiously.
"I would have killed for these pictures with my first real girlfriend!" said Calvin, clicking away. Anne sighed.
"Just get done quick, we have to wake them up soon," she said. Calvin finished taking the pictures and motioned for Anne to do something. She shrugged and he walked up the stairs quietly. Instead of waking them up, she took a blanket and threw it over them. Eliot unconsciously pulled up the blanket to cover Sarah's shivering shoulders. She moved around a bit, but managed to never break the kiss. Sarah and Eliot both smiled into each others lips as the now warm space between them circled around them. Anne smiled to herself and remembered when she too was doing the same with her boyfriend. She smiled and pulled the curtain covering the doorway.
A little while later in the theater…
Sarah woke up to find Eliot's lips clamped on hers. She grinned into the kiss. She wanted to wake him up so she decided to gently tickle his stomach. He grinned in his sleep. She noticed he wasn't waking so she decided to slip him her tongue. Still, Eliot wasn't moving. Sarah sighed. She was still tired, so she decided to lean up against him and go to sleep again, her lips up against his.
Even later that evening in the theater…
"Eliot? Eliot… Eliot, where are you?" Jimmy yelled. Eliot's eyes fluttered slightly, but he returned to his dreams. Jimmy walked over to Eliot's bedroom, bathroom and kitchen and still couldn't find him. He sighed and went into the theater.
"Eliot Daniel Murtaugh!" he yelled. Eliot and Sarah woke up quickly. Eliot shot up so fast that if he hadn't been holding on to Sarah, she would've fallen on the ground. Eliot's eyes bolted open as he realized it was his father yelling at him.
"Dad!" he yelled, trying to not be embarrassed by his father in front of Sarah.
"What are you thinking? Coming down here and doing… this with this… girl!" Jimmy yelled with distaste. Eliot's face began to turn red and his fists began to shake.
"'This' would be kissing, right? And this 'girl' has a name! She's Sarah," he said calmly.
"I don't care! Wait… this is that girl you were with at the movies!" he said with his upper lip curling in disgust.
"Dad!" Eliot yelled, gently putting Sarah aside on the couch and standing up.
"I bet you've been sneaking girls in down here for weeks now! I go away and bam! You turn into some girl crazy snot nosed dirt face punk sneaking behind your father's back!" Jimmy said.
"I'm not a snot nosed punk! This is the first time Sarah's even been to this house! And do you want to know why she hasn't been here before? Because I didn't want her to meet you. Yeah, I knew you'd have this reaction. So did Serena, your WIFE, for crying out loud! That's why she made sure you were gone when I brought Sarah to meet my family!" Eliot yelled in his face.
"Oh, and that's supposed to make things better?" Jimmy yelled back. By now, they whole family had gathered on the stairs making sure nothing bad happened. Surprisingly, Serena was among them. (A/N- I wanted to say that in this one, Serena is really one who connects with the kids more, at least more than Jimmy does. She's really not a ditz. Oh, and when they walked through the kitchen, Sarah got all their names and talked to them for a while. I just couldn't remember their names and I was too lazy to find them so I'm going to be making them up for everyone other than Eliot, Serena, Jimmy, Kenneth, Calvin and Anne.)
"No, but it's supposed to help you see it the way I see it!" said Eliot. By now, Sarah was sitting with her legs pulled up and she was crying. Anne and Serena quietly tiptoed around the father son argument and went to get Sarah. She looked up and smiled weakly at them. They lifted her by her arms and led them over to the stairs, where they sat her down and tried to calm her down.
"Well it doesn't! And anyways, even if I was okay with you seeing her, which I'm not," Jimmy began. Eliot's face turned hopeful.
"You could do much better than that!" Jimmy finished smugly. All of the Murtaugh's, other than Jimmy, and Sarah's jaws dropped. Sarah's eyes filled with tears. Anne and Serena looked at Jimmy coldly and began making soothing noises and trying to stop Sarah's tears. All of the other Murtaugh's simply gave him an icy glare and left the stairs, presumably to have a 'kid meeting' upstairs.
"You have no right to say that! You don't even know her! You've just judged her by her last name is all! If you actually got to know her you'd know that she's a smart, funny, beautiful, intelligent and so much more! But you don't because you think beauty is skin deep. So, yeah, she may not have the perfect complexion! And maybe she doesn't look like Britney Spears or like girly things! But I love her. I can't understand why you don't understand that," said Eliot. Jimmy tried to speak again, but was cut off.
"Oh yeah, I do. No offence to Serena or anything, but you've had what is it now, 4 wives? You obviously don't know how to hold a relationship together. Maybe that's why you hate me so much," Eliot said.
"I don't hate you! I hate that," he said, pointing to Sarah. Eliot's face was now red with rage.
"She's not an animal! And if you hate Sarah, then you hate me," he said. He gave his father one more evil glare. He walked over to Sarah, Serena and Anne. He smiled towards Serena and Anne and nodded. They smiled back at him and walked upstairs. Eliot took Sarah by the hand and pulled her upstairs.
Upstairs with everyone but Jimmy
"Hey, Sarah," said Kenneth, giving her a hug.
"Hey, kiddo," she replied with a weak smile. Eliot took her hand and dragged her outside to sit on the porch swing, which was really made for one, to Eliot's delight.
"Here, sit on my lap," he said with a cocky grin. She grinned at sat on him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her waist and rested his elbows on her hips. She sighed and ran her fingers along his hands.
"Why does your dad hate me?" she asked.
"He doesn't hate you, he hates your dad," said Eliot. He realized his mistake, "Well, he doesn't actually hate your dad, I meant truly and deeply dislikes…" Eliot started, nearly slapping himself in the face. Sarah laughed.
"No, I think it's safe to say that he does hate my dad," she said. She sighed and kissed his cheek.
"I just have to think," he said as he sighed. Sarah nodded and curled up more on top of him, making a bit more room so he wouldn't be so squashed.
"How come any time we sit down we get sleepy?" she asked him with her head against his chest.
"Because we have way too much to worry about?" he asked. She laughed lightly and looked out on the lake. Eliot looked at her and then the lake.
Anne and Calvin were standing by the window that looks out to the porch. Anne quickly took a picture and then snuck off to the kitchen to get something to eat.
Downstairs with Jimmy in Eliot's room
Jimmy was being his normal self—looking through his son's private items and snooping. He looked around Eliot's room and found a couple things, but not much. Most of Eliot's stuff were in other parts of his floor, so there wasn't going to be much. He saw the bed, a desk with a computer, and a closet. He decided to go for the closet first. He looked around and found a shoebox behind all of Eliot's soccer cleats. He pulled it out and gasped as he opened it.
"Oh no…" he muttered. Inside were pictures of him and Sarah, taken at the mall and other places. The picture of them kissing in some park (A/N- refer back to previous chapters!) and at a pond. There was one of him with all of the Baker's, but mostly just with Sarah. One was with Sarah just sitting looking out at the lake smiling. Another was of him and her… kissing? Jimmy shrugged his head. He took a couple for evidence. He then moved onto the bed.
He lifted the mattress and found only one thing. It was a green folder marked 'mom'. It had pictures of Laura, Eliot's real mom, (A/N- Making this all up people. Go along with it!)who died of cancer after her last child was born and Eliot was about 9. There were a couple with just her, but mostly it was of her laughing or with Anne or Calvin. The one that looked the most tattered and torn, though, was the last one in the pile. It was of Eliot, Jimmy and Laura, sitting on a table eating watermelon. Younger Eliot was sitting on the table top with a look of pure joy on his face. He was holding a huge watermelon rind and his face had bits of juice splattered around it. Laura was laughing and Jimmy was looking at how proud his son was. No one knew the photo would was being taken, so there was no stupid grins or silly faces. It was a bit out of adjustment and it was taken nearly halfway sideways, but it was perfect. Jimmy scoffed.
"So this is what he looks at…" he said, recalling many a time he had seen Eliot shove a certain picture under the bed. He moved on to the computer.
He check Eliot's emails. A couple from his friends, some spam and some from Sarah. He check out some of Sarah's.
Hope we can hang out today. My dad's taking everyone out for a hike or something so we can go down to the 'cove'. Anne told me that your dad was gone, so maybe we could do something? I dunno, email me back. Luv ya!
Sarah
He read through Eliot's reply.
Hey, Sarah. Yeah, dad's going to some lame business conference a couple towns over and he should be home late tonight. Maybe we can watch a movie or something. Hint, hint… I miss you. I know, it's only been a day, but I miss not hearing your laugh or seeing you smile. Hope you are doing well and Nigel and Kyle haven't killed you yet.
Adios sweet-lips!
Eliot
"Sweet lips? Yikes… he's got it bad. I'll just have to prove it to him that she's no good," he said, shaking his head knowingly. He then moved onto Eliot's word documents.
Eliot had a couple school projects and some stories about the lake his sister's had made and a bunch of other files. But the thing that really caught Jimmy's eye was the folder marked 'mom'. He double clicked and it opened. Inside was a bunch of documents labeled with subjects and dates. He clicked on yesterday's date.
Hey mom, it's Eliot.
I met this awesome girl, Sarah, a little while ago. I haven't been writing much because we've been so busy together. We have this secret place and everything. I can't tell you cuz if dad's snooping in here, he'd find it. Yeah, like he'd stoop that low.
"Ouch," said Jimmy wincing. He continued reading.
She's really cool. She likes all the things I do. Calvin says he might take us out knee boarding sometime. She's really good, apparently. Anyways, she's got all these brothers and sisters—12 in total. They're all really cool, and they've all got one thing they're really interested in. Like Kim and Jessica, they're really into books. I think they'll like Robin and Jeanette (A/N- making it up as I go. Robin and Jeanette are twins about Kim and Jessica's age. I don't remember all the Murtaugh's names, so I will just have to make them up). Sarah's got a twin, Jake, who's really cool as well. He's a skateboarder.
Anyways, Sarah's beautiful. She's got this great personality and these sparkling eyes that never stop. She laughs and smiles like there's no tomorrow. And she's a dancer and a lacrosse player, so she's really fit. I can't stand being away from her for too long. She just… lights up my world, I guess you could say. I don't think I've ever been this happy.
Uh oh, I gotta go, dad's coming down. Probably to check if I've finished my essay on football players of the century. How lame can you get? It's summer break, anyways. Well, we really miss you mom. This family isn't the same without you.
Love,
Eliot
"He thought that was lame?" Jimmy said, commenting on the essay remark.
"I'll show him…" said Jimmy, cracking an (EVIL) smile. He printed some emails and the document about Laura. He took it all, including the pictures and went upstairs. All the kids were out washing the motorbikes and Eliot and Sarah were sitting on the swing outside. He laughed (EVILY!) and went to get a camera. He smirked as he took a picture of them all cuddled together looking out on the lake. He went to his study to get his evidence together before he called the kids for dinner.
Later that evening…
"Kids! Dinner!" yelled Serena. She noticed Sarah and Eliot curled up on the porch swing and smiled to herself. She walked out the door to talk to them.
"Sarah, I called your mom to ask if you could stay for dinner. She said it was fine, and even if you wanted to sleep over. I'm sure one of the girls would be nice enough to let you bunk with them," Serena said. Sarah nodded eagerly.
"Thanks! Are you sure it's okay?" Sarah asked, pulling herself up from the swing. She realized that when she did so, her elbow was in Eliot's gut. Serena laughed, nodded and went back inside.
"Oof! Sarah!" he moaned.
"A little early for moaning my name, don't you think?" she asked him with a giggle. He blushed like mad.
"You set me up!" he said, tickling her sides.
"Yup," she grinned, and kissed him.
"EWWW!" said Rachel, Eliot's youngest sister (who was 5). Eliot laughed and tried to hide his blush.
"Rachel, Seri said it's time for dinner," he said, using the nickname for Serena. Rachel nodded, giggled and ran inside. About a minute later the rest of the gang came piling up to the porch. Eliot lifted Sarah off him and carried her on his back to the table. He put her down in her seat and Jimmy walked into the room with some papers. Serena brought out the food and everyone began eating, laughing and chatting about the day and days coming. Eliot was carefully avoiding Jimmy's eyes and making sure to break any contact made. The whole table stopped when Jimmy spoke.
"So kids, I've got something to show you…"
A/N- Cliffy! Ha. Ha. Ha. I want more reviews! I'm posting chapters like mad and I know that people are reading this. I just want the little blue 'review' number to go up… Please… don't make me resort to begging!!!
