Disclaimer: Same as always, don't own the Tracys or the TBs just Samantha and any original characters and I'm not making any money from them. This story is for the sole purpose of entertaining myself and those who are interested in a twin story.

A/N: Thanks for any and all reviews for the previous chapter as they are greatly appreciated. Ms. Hobgoblin, thanks for the continued encouragement and our ongoing competition. Bluegrass, thanks for being a great sounding board and not letting me make that monumental mistake with one of the ideas I had been tossing around.-sam1

Chapter 36

"Mommy, where goin'?" Mikey sat back in his car seat while Samantha secured the safety harness that protected him. She had already fastened Lucy in her car seat while Alex continued to struggle with Johnny. Unfortunately, their oldest son was in a playful mood and was making it a bit difficult to fasten his safety belt.

"Daddy, I wanna pway wif you," he asserted with another giggle. "Not wanna sit in a dumb ol' car seat." Benny waited patiently yet as close as he could manage next to his dad while glancing all around him. Looking across the car lot, he noticed someone sitting in his car and watching him and his family. A sudden trickle of fear swept down his back and he ran to the other side of the family SUV to his mom's side.

"MOMMY, IN NOW!" He clawed at her leg in an attempt to climb into the safety of her arms. Just as quickly, she scooped him up so that he could clamber across Mikey and settle into his own car seat so that his dad could fasten him in.

"What wrong, Benny?" Lucy asked from the seat behind him. Benny had scrunched his eyes closed and had grasped Mikey and Alex's hand tightly within his own.

"Dat man watchin' us, Sissy," he mumbled. Samantha looked across the seat and out past Alex and saw the outline of a person just sitting in his car. A few seconds passed and the driver started his car and drove out of the parking lot. "Me no wike bein' watched by stwangas."

"He's gone now, Sweetie," Samantha told him. "And we're all going out for lunch and Daddy and I will make sure to get a private booth so that we can block anyone from looking at you and making you uncomfortable." Benny peeked his eyes opened just a bit and smiled.

"Fanks, Mommy." He released Alex's hand but kept a tight grip on his twin. "Bubby, me hungwy is you?"

"Yep, me hungwy and den me wanna sweep," Mikey yawned. "We sweep in da pway room at Mommy and Daddy's work."

"I protect you while you asleep," Johnny piped up from the backseat. "Me and Lucy make sure no bad people hurt you, right Sissy?" Lucy nodded her head in agreement before staring out the window and the buildings they passed. Alex and Samantha looked at each other before smiling in response to their children's conversation.

"Sounds to me as if our children are very much like you and your brothers," Alex told her.

"Yep, and Johnny is definitely just as protective of them as Scott was and is of us," Samantha added. "Lucy will be the one to help Johnny deal with things that he needs help with just as Virgil helps Scott or I help John or he helps me. The only difference is really Johnny is so much like Gordon."

"WHERE UNCLE GORDY, MOMMY?" Johnny hadn't heard everything but he had picked up on his favorite uncle's name.

"Johnny, what has your daddy said about being loud while he's driving?" Samantha turned a bit in her seat so that she could look back at her oldest son.

"Daddy said I hafta use inside voice and no yellin' allowed," he answered. "But Mommy, I wanna see Uncle Gordy."

"Uncle Gordy is in Kansas still and you'll see him in a few days," she offered. She could see him take a deep breath as if preparing to argue with her. "That's enough, young man. You'll see him before long but if you raise your voice in this vehicle again, you will be put in time-out and will not be allowed to go swimming this evening." Glaring miserably at his mom and understanding that she would most definitely enforce what she said; he swallowed and looked down at the floorboard.

"I sorry, Mommy," he muttered. "I be good now wif no more yellin'. When we gonna eat? I'm hungry." He paused just as Mikey's stomach started growling as well. "Mikey is hungry too. Sissy, are you hungry? Benny?" Mikey began nodding his head in agreement.

"Yep, me hungwy and so is Bubby," he answered for both him and Benny.

"Mommy, I'm hungry, too," Lucy added. "We almost there?" Alex looked in the rearview mirror and caught his daughter's eyes.

"We're here," he announced. "You all act as if your mother and I never feed you." Both adults hurried out of the SUV and unfastened their children from their car seats. Benny opted to have Alex carry him while Johnny held their father's hand. Mikey and Lucy both held onto their mother's hands. As Samantha had promised Benny, she requested a private booth that all four children scampered into with their parents sitting on the outer edges. Alex ordered for his family and noticed Johnny watching him curiously.

"Daddy, why you order for Mommy?" he asked when the waitress had walked away.

"Well, it's easier for the waitress to understand one person and it's also considered proper manners for a husband to order for his wife in a nice restaurant," he answered. "Besides that, I've known your mommy for a very long time and I know what her favorite meals are."

"But why you order for us? Mommy knows what we like," Johnny countered.

"To save time is the main reason I ordered for all of us because Mommy and I have some more work to do so that we can go see Grandma and Grandpa Murphy."

"Why we go see them, Daddy?" Lucy asked. All she wanted to do was go back home to where they had two swimming pools and Uncle Virgil and she could play the piano together. "I wanna play piano with Uncle Virgil and I miss him." Scooting over in the booth, she leaned against her dad before looking up at him.

"Don't you want to see your grandparents in Florida?" Samantha asked. "They miss seeing you and need to spend time with your daddy as well. We'll all be home in a less than a week and you can play piano with Uncle Virgil then."

"Okay, Mommy, I love Granma and Granpa Murphy," she replied. "Granpa throws me up in the air like Daddy does and makes me laugh. Granma gives good hugs and her tells me that her loves me and Johnny and Mikey and Benny this much." She held her arms out to emphasize just how much they were loved. In doing so, she hit Alex in the stomach.

"Oomph." Alex looked down at his only daughter and grinned. "I wasn't expecting that one, Princess."

"Sorry, Daddy, I not mean to hit you," she giggled. "I just showin' how much Granma loves us. But why her no say she loves Mommy?" Samantha leaned back in the booth and watched Alex try to explain his mother's somewhat cold attitude towards her. Benny leaned in against her side and rapidly blinked his eyes in a last ditch effort to stay awake. Mikey leaned against Benny and had fallen asleep in just the short time they'd been seated.

"Um, well, Granma does love your mommy but in a different way," Alex said, cautiously.

"But why, Daddy?" Johnny asked. Alex looked over at Samantha with a silent plea to help him.

"Your granma loves me because I married your daddy but she loves you as much as she loves your daddy because you are all a part of him," Samantha explained. "Much like my dad loves the four of you and me in a way that is different than how he loves your daddy." Lucy and Johnny looked at each other and then back to their parents.

"I not understand, Lucy."

"Me neither, Johnny, but as long as Granma loves Mommy I not care." Samantha had noticed her oldest twins looking at each other and the silent nod that each gave and realized that they were communicating much like she and John had done when they were growing up. Alex cleared his throat to get her attention and pointed to Mikey and Benny. Both had fallen asleep and the waitress was coming with their food. Gently, she shook both boys until they opened their eyes and looked up at her.

"Me sweepy," Mikey mumbled, irritably. Benny just snuggled closer to her and whimpered. Samantha shifted Benny onto her lap and slid Mikey closer to her.

"I know you're both sleepy and I promise that as soon as you eat, you can go back to sleep," she told them. Lucy and Johnny had already started eating their food while watching their mother trying to wake their baby brothers. With an irritated cry, Mikey climbed up on his mother's lap next to his brother.

"Don' wanna eat," he cried. "Wanna sweep now." Snuggling as close to her as he could, he closed his eyes and fell back asleep, his arm wrapped around Benny.

"I'm not going to fight them," she said. "We can take their food to go and heat it up when they wake up later." It was then that she realized that she couldn't eat while holding both toddlers. "Better get mine to go as well." While Alex, Johnny, and Lucy ate their lunch, she held her youngest close while quietly humming a lullaby. A soft grin lit up her eyes when both boys snuggled even closer to her in their sleep. Alex watched over them with a look of pride and unmistakable love. It was Samantha who carried them to the SUV and while she fastened Mikey in his car seat, Alex fastened Benny in his.

"Dad, please tell me that we're going after the guys who tazed Scott." Gordon stared at his dad while Bekkii cleaned up the worst of the cuts and scrapes on his face and hands. Scott hadn't woken up as of yet but she hadn't left his side instead ensuring that he was comfortable. "Why are you still here?" Bekkii bit back a snort of laughter at his directness.

"Um, from the looks of it, I'm cleaning out the scrapes and cuts on your face and hands," she retorted. "Unless you'd rather have them get infected?" Grandma lightly tapped Gordon's leg and shook her head.

"You behave yourself, young man," she admonished. "She's helping you out so stop being rude."

"Yes, Grandma." Bekkii looked at the tiny woman and the man sitting before her and could hardly believe that he backed down immediately at her words. Most men would have just laughed in the old woman's face but Bekkii could sense that the men in this family respected her too much to brush aside her orders. A slight groan drew her attention from the meanderings of her mind to the dark-haired man lying on the gurney behind her.

"Wh-what ha-hap-happened?" he stammered, quietly. "Wh-where am I?" Cautiously, he peeked one eye open and saw some of his family blurrily standing around the room except for Virgil who was stretched out in the chair next to the gurney. His arm protectively shielding his broken ribs.

"Hey, Scott, good to see you're coherent again," Virgil said. "You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened earlier in your therapy session?" Scott closed his eyes and tried to recall what had happened. With a quick gasp, he opened his eyes again.

"Where's Gordy? Is he alright?" Gordon walked over to his brother's side and gently grasped his arm.

"I'm right here, Scott, and aside from some minor cuts and scrapes, I'm fine," he assured him. Scott looked up at him and took in the cuts on his brother's face and hands.

"Good, n-now what t-the he…heck ha-hap-happened?" he demanded. Jeff moved up next to Gordon and looked down at his oldest son.

"You were tazed by three police officers when you couldn't control your anger," he said. "Gordon tried to tell them that you had a head injury and had been in a car accident but they didn't listen." Grimacing slightly, Scott covered his eyes with his hands.

"I wa-wanted to g-go h-h-home and g-g-got up-upset when G-Gordy tried t-to stop me." His hands remained on his eyes as he shifted his long body in an effort to get comfortable. "D-da-dad, I don't w-want to be h-h-here. Want t-to go h-h-home." Jeff put his hand on Scott's arm and squeezed.

"You don't have to stay, Son. You're not a required to stay." Wearily, Scott dropped his hands from his eyes to make sure that Jeff wasn't trying to placate him. Shifting his gaze, he saw his grandmother off to the side of the room next to John. She saw the hesitant question in his grey eyes and spoke up.

"He's telling you the truth, Scotty," she told him. "You know that your dad wouldn't lie to you and you best apologize right now."

"Yes, M-Ma'am. S-so-sorry, D-d-dad." Carefully, he shifted the blanket off of him and accepted his father and brother's help in getting his balance when he stood up. "Thanks." Dr. Gallagher walked in the room but wasn't surprised to see her patient standing next to the gurney.

"Alright, Scott, I figured you'd want to go home so you're free to leave," she told him. "Mr. Tracy, if he needs anything don't hesitate to call me." Bekkii had backed away from the family and into a corner but that didn't keep Scott from noticing her. Instantly his face reddened in embarrassment when he thought of how he had behaved earlier in the day.

"B-Bekkii, I'm s-s-sorry," he muttered, embarrassed from his behavior and his inability to control his stutter. "W-when is m-my next s-s-ses-session?" Inexplicably, his words and apology flooded her with a sense of happiness. Not so much because of anything other than he was continuing to make an effort to speak and overcome the temporary speech problem and that he wasn't giving up on his therapy.

"Tomorrow morning and the same time as today," she answered. "Get some rest tonight and don't overdo it. Remember you were given some strong pain medicine and a sedative." He patted her shoulder as he walked past her with his dad at his side.

"Y-y-yes, Ma'am." He gave her a small grin as he and his family walked out of the room. Flustered by his touch, she stared after him and missed seeing Grandma sizing her up.

"Catie, can you come here a moment?" Nicole's voice was muffled by the voices of Tin-Tin and the children in the family room.

"Excuse me a moment? Kyrano, will you please show Officer Colenso to the sitting room?" Before he could even acknowledge her response, Catie had turned walked to Jeff's home office. "Did you get in touch with Dad or any of the others?"

"Dad asked if you could try and stall Officer Colenso for about thirty minutes or so until he gets here," Nicole answered. "I told him that I'd pass the message but a lot depended on how fast you tossed him out on his butt. Oh, before I forget, John got in trouble with Grandma." Catie tried to hide the small smile that stole across her lips to no avail.

"He cussed in front of her and some other women again, didn't he?" she asked, unnecessarily.

"You got it." Nicole couldn't hold back the laughter that burst forth at the images of the tiny matriarch of the family cuffing her son and grandsons when they used profanities in the presence of a woman. "For such a tiny woman, our husbands and brother-in-laws sure are cowed by her."

"She is tiny but she has one hell of a personality but I don't think that they're so much cowed as they respect her and will do anything to ensure her safety and sense of propriety," Catie added. "Well, I guess I should go and try to stall him but so help me if he bad mouths this family, I will toss him out of our house and on his collective ass in the driveway. He can wait out there until Dad gets home." Sighing at the thought of facing the man in the sitting room, Catie slowly made her way down the hallway. Before going into the sitting room, she went into the family room where her children were being attended by Kyrano, Tin-Tin, and Brains. The shy genius was carefully holding Julie in his arms while studying her just as intensely as she was studying him. Nick hovered nearby, protective of his baby sister, but continued to play with some blocks with Dani. Nick heard her footsteps and looked up at her in the doorway. Crying out for the sheer fun of hearing his voice, he toddled over to her side.

"Mommy, up, pwease," he begged, his arms held up to her. Once he was at eye level with her, he pulled her face towards his with chubby little hands. "Wuv you." His hazel eyes lit with the adoration he held for her even if he didn't quite understand it. All he knew was that his mommy and daddy loved him and his baby sister.

"Would you like to stay with me for a few minutes until Daddy gets home?" she asked him. As impossible as it seemed, his smile widened even more at the mention of his dad.

"Where Daddy?" He quickly looked around the hallway and towards the front door. "Where at?"

"Brains, can you continue to keep an eye on Julie for me? I'm keeping Nick with me while talking to Officer Colenso." It didn't take much for the adults in the family room just how much she loathed and distrusted the police officer. Kyrano and Tin-Tin had felt some ill will emanating from him but until he did something all they had were suspicions and the Tracys had to have hard facts in order to be on the right side of the law.

"Randy, are you available to meet us at the farm house? I'm not to keen on this Officer Colenso being the only officer investigating this accident and would like to have you present just to keep things on the up and up," Jeff asked. "You can either ride with one of us or follow behind in your car, if you're available."

"I'll follow behind in my car that way I can get back here without hassling any of you for a ride back," Randy replied. "I'll go ahead and get security posted outside so that none of you will be accosted by the lurking media. Scott, would it be easier for you to have one of the SUVs pulled up to the doors?" Jeff looked at his son and noticed how pale and shaky he was and that Virgil was walking a bit slower than he had been earlier in the day.

"John, can you get out to the SUV and pull it up to the door?" Glancing at his brothers, he saw how bad off they appeared to be and decided to keep them from the media as much as possible.

"Not a problem," he answered before hurrying down the stairs and out to the parking lot where he was approached by a couple of surprisingly astute reporters who had recognized him immediately.

"JOHN TRACY, WHAT HAPPENED TO SCOTT AND GORDON?"

"WHY WERE THEY ARRESTED? IS THERE ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE VANDALISM AT THE SAN DIEGO BRANCH OF TRACY ENTERPRISES AND THE ACCIDENT YOUR SISTER WAS IN?" John shoved past the reporters without answering any of the questions shouted out at him until...

"WHY IS SAMANTHA BEING CALLED A MURDER AND WHAT IS HER PART IN MARK WELLINGTON'S DEATH?"

A/N: Ahh, this felt like a great place to end this chapter. Until next time…-sam1