Penname: ObsessingOverEdward

Original or Derivative: Original

Prompt: Putrid

Date: June 14, 2011

Rating: T

Genre: Tomfoolery

Warning(s): Unedited, so read at your own risk!

Note(s): Continuation from the June 9th prompt. Flash forward from Ready to Love Again/HOFY. Katie/Bella, Chase/Edward, Tony/Anthony, Shawn/Seth, Marian/Mae. Liz is off to college.

OoOoOoOoO

Katie balanced the laundry basket on her hip and knocked on Shawn's bedroom door. "Start separating your laundry. I'll be back in a minute to get it," she said through the door.

She moved to Tony's room to find the door propped open while he diligently sorted out his laundry into color piles. She took note of his wet hair and board shorts as she squatted to gather his whites. "Did you go surfing this morning?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Marian wouldn't let me sleep in. She's getting pretty good at boogie boarding."

Katie grimaced. She hated that her daughter, who was only eight, had a love for the ocean like her father and brothers. It scared Katie to death to think of her children challenging the power of the sea, but she also knew that she could never deny them the adventure.

"Did Shawn go with you?"

Tony shook his head. "No, he didn't get home until late, so she couldn't get him up."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "How late? Did he make curfew?" Chase and Katie had retired to bed early and … well … they hadn't heard anything once they were behind closed doors.

"When does Shawn ever make curfew on time?"

Katie rolled her eyes and made a note to talk to her wayward son. She ruffled Tony's hair and picked up the laundry basket. "Thank you for being the good child."

Tony shook his head and smiled. "Between Mae and Shawn, I don't think you need one more headache."

Katie leaned in and kissed his cheek before she moved toward Shawn's room. Sometimes Katie worried that Tony was too responsible, which was a ridiculous thing to think as a parent. Isn't that what you want your child to aspire to? Chase always told her that Tony was just like him when he was growing up, and reassured her that their son was far from perfect. However, Katie had to wonder. He was a straight "A" student, he was the peacemaker between Shawn and their sisters, and Katie and Chase never received a call into the principal's office while he was growing up, nor did he break household rules. Shawn claimed that Tony was just more cautious and better at sweet-talking his way out of trouble, but Shawn usually said that when he himself was caught up in something rowdy.

Katie knocked on Shawn's door before she entered and the smell that hit her nose halted her in the doorway. "What in the heck is that putrid smell?" It was a cross between corn chips and a barn.

Shawn's head lifted off the pillow and squinted in her direction. He sniffed the air and then let his head fall back onto the pillow. "I don't smell nothing."

Katie smacked his size twelve foot that stuck out from under the covers. "Get up and find whatever it is that's stinking up this room, and open a window." She looked around and the disaster zone while her seventeen-year-old son rolled out of bed, his hair in a wild disarray. Clothes littered the floor and she had to step over a pile of dishes and empty snack bags. "What did I say about eating in your room?"

"Tony does it all the time," Shawn countered as he picked the bags up and tossed them in the waste basket.

"Yeah, but Tony brings his dishes to the kitchen when he's done and his room doesn't look like a tornado hit it."

Shawn rolled his eyes and half-heartedly looked under a jacket to appear as if he were searching for the odor. Katie began to kick clothes into a corner where she could start sorting, all the while keeping an eye out for the culprit of the mystery smell. She heard the phone ring and Chase's voice as he picked up the line downstairs.

"What is that," Katie said pointing to a burlap bag.

Shawn rushed over and kicked it under the bed. "Nothing."

Katie furrowed her brow and held out her hand. No wonder the kid always got caught. He was careless and didn't lie very well. "Hand it over."

Shawn sighed in defeat before he reached under the bed and withdrew the bag. With a sheepish look on his face, he handed it to her. Katie's nose wrinkled when she realized where the barn smell was coming from, and opened the bag. Surprised, she looked back at her son.

"Do I even want to know why you have hay in your room?"

Shawn's eyes widened and he shook his head. "I-I was just … uh, well, I—"

"I think it's best if you plead the fifth, son," Chase said as he stood in the doorway. He turned to Katie and gave her a crooked smile. "I just received a call from Mr. Banner. It seems that someone let a goat loose in his office and he wanted to know the whereabouts of our son last night."

Katie's mouth dropped open and she turned a menacing stare at her brat of a child. "You didn't?"

Fear sparked across Shawn's eyes and she knew in an instant that he was guilty. She reached out and pinched him, causing him to jump back with a yelp and rub his side. "You can't afford one more suspension this late in the school year. You won't be able to walk at graduation for a stunt like this."

Chase placed his hand on Katie's shoulder and tried to sooth the Mama Beast that was about to be unleashed. "Don't worry, honey. Shawn and Anthony were home well before curfew last night, so there's nothing to worry about."

"You dragged Tony into this mess?" Katie growled at Shawn before she turned on her husband and poked her finger into his stomach. "And you lied for them? What does that teach them?"

Chase grabbed her hand before she could do more damage and chuckled. "It teaches them that they need to be more careful and follow the plan to the letter." Chase stared over her shoulder at Shawn and frowned. "I told you to get in and out, but you gave yourself away when you took the iPod. Mr. Banner mentioned a pink cell phone missing as well, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Susie and Teresa showed up after we were finished."

"Ah," Chase said with a smirk. "That explains why you guys were late getting home."

Katie stared, dumfounded between the two of them, before she shoved Chase aside, and stomped out the door with a huff. "Stupid boys."