xxx

"Gotcha, Jill! You're it!" a small girl yelled out to her friend in a sing-song voice. "Try and catch meee... bet you can't!"

Jill pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as her bottom lip started to quiver. "You did not tag me. I was talking to your brother, which means that I was out of bounds, so I'm not it!"

"Are too!"

"M-MOM!" Jill yelled, her eyes filling up with a four-year-old's easy tears. "Kate's being unfair! She said she tagged me, but she didn't and I –"

A blonde woman holding a red-haired toddler scowled. "Be quiet, Jillian! You'll wake up Veronica and I just got her to sleep! Would you stop being so inconsiderate?"

Tears started to spill over as Jill stomped one foot and rushed over to stand in a corner, arms folded over her chest in annoyance. Someone shifted to stand behind her nervously, and she glared at the ground beneath her feet.

"Kate, I'm not it," she sulked petulantly. "You're a cheater." A longer silence followed, and out of eventual curiosity, the tiny blonde turned around.

"Don't cry," a little boy said quietly, half-smiling at her. "My sister says that she'll be 'it' if you come back and play. And, um... she's sorry for making you mad." He paused, shuffling his feet slightly. "Are you coming?"

"Okay," Jill said brightly, all memory of tears forgotten. He gave her another half-smile and turned around, walking to where a dark-haired boy and a worried-looking Kate were standing.

"Ooh, you two LOVE each-other," the dark-haired boy teased. Pouting again, Jill hit him.

"We do not, Jack! Just 'cause he's nice, not like you –"

"Right," a firm, deep voice growled, making all four children jump. A tall, handsome man grabbed the arms of both Jack and Jill. "I've had enough of your arguing. You obviously can't behave yourselves in company, so we're going home. Linda?"

"Aw, Dad," Jack pleaded. "We'll be good."

"If you were planning on being good at all, you would have shown it an hour ago."

Linda was already on her feet, clutching baby Veronica in her arms. She walked over to a tired-looking and thirty-something brunette, kissing her on the cheek. "Sorry we have to leave so soon, Sharon," she said regretfully. "Jack and Jill are getting snippy with each-other, and I should get Veronica to bed."

"That's okay," Sharon replied instantly, giving the Evans family a gentle smile. "You know that you're all welcome here anytime – God knows I enjoy the company, what with Daniel... you know."

Jill's mother smiled, a shade of sadness on her pretty face. "I know. You bring the kids over to ours if you get the least bit lonely... or, if you need any help." There was a look of understanding exchanged, then changing her tone, Linda turned around. "Jack! Jill! In the car!"

xxx

Jill woke up with an uncomfortable, sudden start, puzzling over her dream. She knew that it – or at the very least, some part of it – was based on a real memory, rather than her imagination. But for the life of her she couldn't place the young boy's name; in all honesty she could hardly know whether or not 'Kate' was really the girl's name! With a tired shrug she rolled over to see that it was after midday, according to her clock. And no matter how reluctant she was, eventually she'd have to get out of bed – so letting her thoughts travel to poor Gray, who would have had about three hours of sleep compared to her eight or so hours, she pushed herself up.

Quietly crossing the area to Jack's room, she smirked a little to see him fast asleep. He'd always been an early riser, actually – and she felt the tiniest twinge of guilt for keeping him up so late last night. Her guilt was quickly eliminated with the thought that he hadn't been required to stay up, and grinning widely, she walked over to kneel beside his bed.

"Jack?" she said brightly, springing to her feet and sounding more cheerful than she was just to annoy him. There was nothing worse than a freakishly happy person when you'd just woken up. "Jack, wake up!" He muffled a groan as he rolled over, grabbing his pillow from behind him and smothering it over his own head to drown out Jill's voice. "JACK. WAKE –"

"Okay!" he snapped, throwing the pillow and smacking his sister right in the face with it. She threw it back indignantly and poked her tongue out, a tiny smirk on her face.

"Come on, it's for your own good. You know it's not healthy to sleep in for ages."

"What time is it," he mumbled disinterestedly.

"Twelve thirty."

"What?" Jack jumped out of bed immediately, his whole attitude changing. "Heck, what's going on? I don't sleep this late. And since when have you woken up before me?"

"Please – you had a long trip yesterday, then you stayed up until all hours of the morning. Midday is hardly a sleep-in, anyway." She rolled her eyes as Jack waved her out so he could get dressed. "I can see when I'm not wanted. Breakfast?"

"Oh no," he said quickly, following her into the kitchen and pulling a shirt on simultaneously. "Oh no. I haven't seen you for awhile Jill, but my memory is good enough to recall that you were the only student who managed to fail Food Tech three times." His gaze suddenly dropped to the floor, and he shook his head. "I think we all remember your practical exam. Poor Mrs. Howard was never quite the same."

"It was only a small fire," Jill protested instantly. "It could have happened to anyone."

"You were making a salad!"

"Shh," she said, cutting him off with an impatient glare. "It's all in the past – but if you're so eager, fine. You make breakfast."

"I will," he challenged, storming over to the fridge and pulling it open. He froze on the spot. "What are you, a bachelor? You have muffin mix, a spinach and... curry powder, by the looks of it. Where's all your food?"

"I'll have you know that curry-spinach muffins are both delicious and nutritious," she countered, forcing Jack to scowl at her. She smiled, shortly becoming serious. "... I did have some food," she puzzled. "At least, I think I did. I've been eating at the inn a lot, actually – the food there is healthy and cheap; besides, this house seems kinda flammable. Those salads are killers." Jack glowered at her and she shrugged. "Oh well. I guess it's the inn for breakfast this morning!"

"Hmm. I'll get ready," he eventually sighed, turning back and walking into his bedroom.

"Hurry, I'm starving," Jill called. She threw her tangled dark hair into a ponytail, pulled a not too flash t-shirt over her jeans and made sure that all the previous night's makeup was off her face, then sat down and waited for Jack.

xxx

When he'd taken more than a decent amount of time to get ready, the siblings were finally out of the house and heading up the street towards the inn. Jack's eyebrows were raised as he took in the old-fashioned houses and cobblestone paths – it was like he'd fallen smack bang into the middle of a fairytale. They were passing a winery, and he could only assume that the mid-sized building ahead was the 'inn' Jill kept referring to.

"Hey Jack," Ann said instantly upon seeing the pair walk through the door. Jill gave her an evil glare which she failed to notice, completely absorbed by something else. "My Goddess – Jill, your hair! Did you realize it was a different color?"

" No, Ann, I had no idea." Rubbing the bridge of her nose impatiently, she glanced back up at the waitress. "It was an accident – involving hair dye – and it is not open for discussion. And I'll make it perfectly clear this time that 'not open for discussion' includes with Manna."

Pressing her lips together in what turned out to be a failed effort to suppress giggles, Ann eventually calmed herself down enough to choke out a rather lame; "You're such a dumb blonde. No, sorry, brunette." Jack started chuckling to himself and the two high-fived, leaving Jill to glare at them both with her hands on her hips.

"Jack... you're so going home tomorrow."

"Aw, come on," he sighed. "Be nice. I haven't told you off for staying out until four in the morning with that boy –"

"Gray?" Ann gasped, grabbing Jack's forearm and pulling him over to a table. "What? Tell me everything! Why wasn't I informed?" she turned and raised a teasing eyebrow at Jill. "And what exactly kept you two so busy until that hour?"

"It's not –" Jill protested, before being immediately cut off by her brother who told Ann the 'true' story, with great emphasis on the quotation marks. With the story growing steadily more and more ridiculous between Ann and Jack's overactive imaginations, she eventually stopped trying to protest all together and half-listened to how she'd secretly eloped with Gray using the festival as their cover, honeymooned in Spain and came back several hours later – not realizing that they were so late, because of the time difference in Spain. Or something like that.

"– you think they went to Italy? I always wanted to go to Italy; their flight could have stopped over there."

"Yes, Jack, we went to Italy," Jill said in a monotone, making both people gape at her, then at each-other.

"Did you hear that?"

"A confession!"

" Okay, very cute," she said in a voice that highlighted how cute she really thought it was. "Sorry I'm so moody, but I'm really tired and I've got to take Jack around the town."

"If you hadn't eloped to Spain you wouldn't be so tired," her brother shrugged as he stood up. "Alright, lead me away, dear sister. Where first?"

"Just upstairs," she shrugged. "Gray's up there – it's after one o'clock now, right? And Cliff will be, too, so you can meet him."

"Goody." He obediently followed his little sister up the stairs, watching as she knocked briefly on a door and barely waited for a reply before barreling in. There were two men in the room and both gave her half-smiles, though the expression of the one Jack hadn't seen before abruptly changed to confusion.

"Hi Gray. Hi Cliff," Jill smiled.

Gray grunted a reply at her, not making much eye-contact with either sibling, but Cliff still had an expression of utter bemusement on his face. After a long pause, he put all their minds to rest. "Your hair..."

Gray graciously turned to face the wall so she wouldn't see him smirking; Jack was rather less polite about it as he openly laughed.

"I know. I know. Don't ask, please – um, this –" she gestured in Jack's direction, "Is my big brother."

Jack nodded to Cliff. "Good to meet you. I'm Jack. And... Gray, right?" Jill scowled at her brother – he knew very well that it was Gray, he'd been talking about him all morning... but he'd always been unnaturally good at the whole 'innocent' act. An awkward silence followed – Jill probably should have anticipated that, standing in a room with the two most quiet people in the country.

"Right," she said, clearing her throat. "We've got to keep going... Jack has to meet everyone, you know. Bye guys." She left the room quickly – it took her until the bottom of the staircase to realize that Jack wasn't following. Speeding back up the stairs, she frowned to see Jack still leaning in the door frame

She drew close just in time to hear him ask, "So Gray, how was Spain?" before she dragged him away from the door by his ear.

"You, outside," Jill instructed her older brother sharply once they were downstairs. "I'll be two minutes." He stuck his tongue out childishly and walked out to wait for her. "Hey, Ann?"

"Thank the Goddess," the redhead burst out, grabbing Jill's wrist and pulling her into the kitchen, slamming and locking the door behind them. "I have been wanting to talk to you in private for forever."

"If you weren't having so much fun ridiculing me with Jack –"

"Yeah, yeah," the waitress coughed impatiently. "I'm sorry for that, I am, but..." her cheeks suddenly colored as she stared at the ground. "Um... Cliff kissed me last night."

"What? That's – that's brilliant! When? How?"

"After the festival," Ann replied, starting to get into her story. "We were walking back to the inn, and he was being really quiet. Not normal quiet, Cliff quiet."

"Geez."

"Yeah. Um, anyway... we came inside, and it was about midnight and all the lights were out and everyone was in bed – well, with the exception of Gray, obviously." She winked but rushed on before Jill could interrupt her. "He said, uh... 'I'll see you later', and I said, 'Yeah. I had fun.' And he was all blushing and stuff, so I just went for it."

"And then...?"

"I went to bed."

Jill raised a surprised eyebrow, then forced a smile onto her face. "So... you kissed him." Ann's face fell rapidly and the blonde – or brunette, quickly retracted her thoughtless words. "That's fantastic, Ann. Really – it's great that you took the initiative. And I mean... he didn't push you away –"

"I know!" A dreamy expression crossed the face of the usually alert girl, and Jill had to shake her head. She knew very well what it was like to be around lovestruck people...

"Oh no. Jack," she whispered, waving to Ann quickly before unbolting and throwing open the heavy door. "I can't let him loose! What if he sees a girl?"

"Tell him he can come see me any time he feels like it," Ann said, the corner of her mouth pulling up into a smirk. She stopped Jill dead for a few moments as Jill stared at her incredulously.

"Okay, first? Gross. That's my brother. And second, don't you think one boy is enough to have a crush on for now? Remember, Cliff kissing you?"

"Oh yeah... I should go see what the boys want for lunch, huh?"

"Cliff will probably be happy with whatever you're serving," Jill retorted with a sweet smile. "Now really... I have to go."

xxx

"Jack!" Jill raced up behind her brother and jumped on his back, sending both of them toppling to the ground. "Tell me you didn't talk to anyone female!"

"I didn't," he said in an annoyed voice, "And even if I had it wouldn't matter – I know how to behave in public; I'm not some out of control womanizer."

Silence.

"I'm not!" he insisted sharply. "I just... like them a whole lot."

"Okay, Jack. But promise me you won't hit on any of the girls here. I know your intentions are good, but you and I both know that you'll end up dumping them, and that'll be really awkward for me to deal with."

He held up both hands. "Fine. I'll be charming, and polite, and so well-behaved you won't even recognize me. Take me to a woman; I'll prove myself."

Two minutes later, standing outside the library, Jill was beginning to think that maybe she could have picked a better subject to unleash Jack on first. But he was already pushing open the glass door, and expecting the worst, Jill followed him.

The librarian glanced up, both eyebrows rising. "Hello..."

"Hey Mary," Jill said, smiling awkwardly. She didn't know why, honestly – but there was always awful tension between her and this girl. They didn't openly slight each-other; they smiled when they met during moments like this – but she didn't actually like Mary the same way that she liked most others in town. She didn't have a reason to dislike her, so she didn't – it was just a very weird, guarded feeling. "Uh... this is my brother Jack. I told you about him when I was getting the books..."

Mary let her eyes travel to Jack slowly and she allowed him a tiny smile. "Nice to meet you."

Jack raised an eyebrow and tilted his head ever so slightly, making Jill jab him in the ribs with her elbow. Don't you dare hit on her, her steely glare warned him. Wasn't going to, his own eyes shot back defensively. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Jill, your hair's, uh..."

"Why is that the first thing everyone says to me?" Jill snapped instantly. Jack coughed, turned, and gave his sister an incredulous stare.

"Maybe because your hair's done a 180 degree change in color?"

Mary laughed softly from behind him, otherwise immersed in several papers on her desk. Jill frowned. "Yeah, but... nyeh. Come on, Jack... we've got the rest of the town to get through. Bye Mary."

"Goodbye." The librarian busied herself with her writing, but as soon as she heard the door slam, she dropped her pen and rested her head in her hands. Just trying to be nice to Jill drained her so much. But then, she didn't have a good reason to be anything less than polite, so she tried to smile and bear it. And now the girl had brought along a brother? Ugh.

The Goddess was undoubtedly very angry at Mary for something.

xxx

"So? What did you think of her?" Jill asked, dancing in circles around her brother for some unknown reason. "Think you can resist?"

"She's a beautiful girl. Very, very pretty, in a... hot librarian kind of way," he shrugged. "But... she kind of seems like she's all... reserved but ready to snap at any second, then she'll bite your head off."

Jill made a disgusted face. "There's an image."

"All I'm saying is... you need to watch out for the quiet ones. I'll be making sure not to get on her bad side."

Rolling her eyes, Jill inclined her head towards a small shop. "You want to go to the Supermarket yet?"

"Yeah, whatever." He had to duck just to get through the door, and he glanced around the tiny room in surprise. "... I'm telling you, this place puts the 'super' in supermarket."

"Shut up. It's... cozy. It's a small town. Good morning, Jeff!" she waved cheerfully at a very small man with a very large mustache. "This is Jack... he's come to live with me. He's my brother, and I'm... well, introducing him to people... would you be able to get Karen and Sasha?"

Jeff clutched his stomach and groaned. "O-oh... ow. I'll just g-get them..."

Jack's eyes widened. "Are you... okay? Shouldn't you go to the hospital or something?" He winced as his sister pinched his arm firmly. Jeff ignored the pair of them and hobbled over to the back door.

"K-Karen? There's someone to see you... is your mother there?" He paused for a moment. "...Okay..." still clutching his stomach and wincing, he turned to the siblings. "Karen's coming... ah, but her mother's at the square. Uh... didn't you used to be blonde?"

"Yeah, long story. Hi Karen," Jill called as the beautiful girl stepped into the room.

"Hi Jill. Hey! Your hair's brown!"

"I KNOW!"

"Okay... geez..."

She sighed loudly, closing her eyes for a brief second. "I'm... I'm sorry. Look, I just thought you might like to meet my brother –"

"Ooh, let me see him properly!" Karen requested instantly, half-shoving Jill out of the way in her effort to see the elusive, 'cute-sounding' Jack. Her jaw dropped open, Jack's expression much the same, and she started to twirl a strand of hair around one finger as she gave him a bright smile. "Ah – hey."

"Hey," Jack replied, not paying any heed at all to Jill's warning glares. "I'm Jack, and you are absolutely gorgeous."

"You're not so bad yourself," she countered, barely missing a beat. Jill groaned, knowing that she should put a stop to it early but frankly, lacking the energy.

"Come here often?" he asked, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

"Oh, you know... I only live here," she smiled back. "How about you?"

"I'll definitely be making my visits more frequent."

"I'm very glad to hear it."

The conversation probably could have dragged on for a long time, but an exasperated Jill stepped in. "Jack?" she asked, gritting her teeth meaningfully, "We should get going."

Winking at a blushing Karen, Jack obediently followed his sister. "I'll be seeing you very soon. She's single, right?" he hissed as soon as the door had closed behind Jill and him. His sister whirled around, fixing him with a 'drop dead you disobedient jerk' glare.

"Don't try anything. You don't even know her!"

"I know she's completely hot."

"JACK. Don't. Even. Think. About. It."

"Far too late for that, Sis."

"Ugh," she spat, smacking his arm. "Can you not... wait until you've met everyone before you start deciding which girl you're going to date first? Jack," her voice lowered and her expression became more serious. "I'm serious. You promised me it wouldn't be like this – okay, fair enough, it's Karen... she knows how to handle heavy flirting. But the other girls have no idea – they'll take it as much more than it is, and... they're all sweet girls. I don't want to see them hurt by you, of all people."

"Okay, okay," Jack said, sounding and looking slightly ashamed. "I can't promise I won't flirt at all – you know what I'm like. But if it means that much to you... I guess I can cope without any more of that."

"Thank you." Jill grinned as she threw her arms around him in what was more like an attack than a hug. "Maybe I won't regret letting you come completely."

xxx