Authors' Note: we're back. I guess we should apologize for the cliffy .We're sorry. We couldn't resist. It just seemed like a really cool way to end the chapter. It was also a good excuse to characterize Basil a little more. Plus, we had it planned for a while and we were really excited about it. Two plus two is five. We do not own the Sisters Grimm.

Chapter 21

"Wait, what?" asked Sabrina.

Rose repeated slowly. "I. Just. Saw. Daphne. Making. Out. With . Some. Dude."

"Well, do you know who it was?" asked Sabrina.

"Aww, the little marshmallow's found love at last!" said Puck sarcastically. "Let's try and find out so we can blackmail her into doing stuff for us. Like the laundry."

Sabrina threw a roll of gorilla tape at his head. "Why wouldn't she tell us? And who is this guy, anyway? Do we know him?"

"Umm, I didn't really see his face, but he was wearing a leather jacket."

"What's so important about that?" I asked.

"It had his name on it," said Rose.

"What was the name?" prompted Sabrina.

"Jim Hawkins."

"Like from Treasure Island?" I asked.

Rose nodded enthusiastically.

"Is he hot?" asked Sabrina.

Puck scowled. "Can you talk about this when I'm not around?" he asked, annoyed.

I kind of agreed with him. "Yeah. I don't exactly enjoy hearing how hot some guy is. It sounds so shallow."

"Fine," said Rose flippantly. She turned back to Sabrina. "Okay, so he's really, hot. He's got brown hair that's always really tussled and these shiny coppery brown eyes, and he's got that whole half-shaven look, like he's all, 'I'm too young for a full beard, but I'm just too busy with my amazing life to have time to shave'.

I noticed Puck feeling his face. Probably wondering if he had that 'whole half-shaven look like's he all I'm too young for a full beard, but I'm too busy with my amazing life to have time to shave' thing going on.

"I'm going upstairs," I said. I really didn't need to hear about Daphne's boyfriend and his lovely hair. I was happy for Daphne, but the idea of hearing about it was weird. To me, she was always the cheerful, happy-go-lucky, always-there-for-me sister. I always thought of her as my freaky sister, the one who I'm a little embarrassed to talk about in public, but the one who's always ready for fun. I could never really see her in a relationship. It was like seeing a teacher in the grocery store: you know that they have to go grocery shopping like everyone else, but you were so used to seeing them one way that you forgot they had a normal life.

Thinking about Daphne in a relationship with some guy made me feel weird. It wasn't like Puck and Sabrina, who'd been together almost as long as I'd known them. It's strange, for me to know someone so well and then realize they have a life outside of the way you know them.

Wow, that makes me sound like I have to be the center of everything. Wait. Am I like that? Hmm. There was the sausage thing. And the fact that on Christmas Eve's eve I snuck down the stairs with a baseball bat because I had to find out what was going on. And the fact that I wanted to be included in the family business and know everything. And look how many times I wrote the word 'I'. I have uncovered a serious character defect in myself: I have to be involved in everything. I always have to be doing something.

Okay, I'm pretty sure it's unhealthy to sit and think about my personality, so I'm going to go do something. Oh, crap, there I go again.

..~0~..

I went to get some coffee and had a really weird, random conversation about the lady who owns the place. It went something like this:

I picked up my coffee cup.

"You're using your left hand?" the lady noticed. I looked down. I hadn't even realized.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Isn't that hard? Or are you lefty or something?"

"Actually, I am."

"You know what they say about left-handed people?" We then had this whole chat about spiritual voodoo, lefties, and right-handed people.

Then, someone I hadn't seen in a while came in: Uncle Jake.

"Hi, I'll take a coffee," he said.

The lady looked confused. "What kind?"

"The regular kind."

"What do you mean, 'regular kind'? We have frappucinos, decaf, latte, iced—"

"Fine, then. I'll take the African blend. That was the kind Briar always—Oh, never mind." Then he noticed me. "Basil! You got taller!"

I knew I hadn't gotten any taller, but I smiled and nodded just to be a good nephew.

"How's everything here?" he asked.

I sipped my coffee. "It's good. But—" here I lowered my voice. "Did you hear about the Hand?"

He looked around warily. "Yes. What do you think I've been doing lately?"

"Umm… I don't know. Wandering around the planet in a state of extreme boredom, looking for something to do to take your mind off of the fact that you're almost fifty?"

"Besides that. And I'm not almost fifty. I'm almost forty-nine. Huge difference." He winked.

"Okay, then, what?"

"Keeping contact with overseas Everafters."

"Why… Oh. In case there was another problem, and we needed help?"

He grinned. "So you know everything about the family now?"

"Yeah," I said proudly.

"Good. So I've made a sort of… alliance amongst those of us who would help if there was another Scarlet Hand problem. Sabrina and Daphne have kept contact and told me about what's going on, although they don't know what I've been doing. I tracked down Evan Weiss."

"Wait, who?"

"Harry Houdini's closest living relative. He knew about a lot of escapes, but he was very old when I found him, and he passed away before I could find anything out."

"That's a definite drawback."

"It is, but he gave me some clues. Let's go back to the house and talk about it."

He lead me out front to his shiny black corvette.

"Nice car," I commented, wondering how he could afford a car like that, as he didn't seem to do any kind of formal work.

"It belonged to Evan. He may have been old, but he had great taste in cars."

End Of Chapter

Authors' Note: we decided to be emotional today. And we felt that characterization was necessary. And Uncle Jake needed to appear at some point. We may move him away at some point, but he's here for now.

Doglover231: Sorry for misspelling your name. We're idiots of a special breed. As for the amount of flames: well, it's really just flamey. Although I did post a Kane Chronicles story and get a flame. It wasn't flamey, though, it was a girl. I think I should introduce them. And no review is a sucky review. Some are better than others, but we love all reviews.

Noraekaye: Glad you liked the thing with Puck's kids. If we ever did write a story about their kids, it would be a total, cracky parody. As for Rose… well, we don't really like using only canon characters. In real life, you're not going to be with the same people 24/7. You'd get bored and go insane. We're really glad you like our OCs.

RockSuperstar: Daphne needs a boyfriend besides Mustardseed. There's nothing wrong with him, it's just a little too much of a 'leftover pairing'. And Daphne is her own person, so she deserves a relationship that isn't Puckabrina Part II. And we're glad you like the betting. It was my idea! And thanks for understanding about Puck And Sabrina's kid, it just wouldn't work in our story.

yorkie999777000: we had that planned for so long. So happy you liked it. And Daphne's grown up at this point. Sure she's still sweet, but she's an adult, too.

ANannyMouse: Any specific Narnia characters? How many people actually figured the 'A nanny mouse' thing? Because now I feel smart. And a mouse that babysits and never told anyone her name? That's so cute.

Flamey: I learned that I should be in a mental hospital a looong time ago. And I also learned that you need spell-check badly. And I don't expect anyone to watch ben 10. I don't.

County: (AKA the accounted flaming reviewer) I loved that bit of grammar. And the betting was fun to write.

twilitNavi:Thanks for teaching flamey to spell. And did you say your stepmother is insane? I thought that was only in fairytales. Also, thanks for explaining the Red Shoes.