Hey guys and gals, time for another chapter! Don't really have much to discuss at the moment, so let's just go right into it. I present Chapter 38! Make sure you leave a review! Enjoy ;)

(Beginning of Chapter 38)

It had been five weeks since the arrival of Elliot. Christina, Emma, and Morgan were all back home from the hospital. And things couldn't be going any better for the Ross', Emma and Hunter were now officially an 'item', Luke had gotten on the all "A" honor roll, while Ravi was getting more and more friends at school. And Zuri, well she hadn't changed that much, after all it had only been five weeks, but her parents have noticed a change in her mood, she seems happier.

Mindy still didn't know how to tell Conner about Paul's death, she didn't even bother trying to attend his funeral. But she had a lot on her plate right now. She and Gavin were spending more and more time together, with Conner even calling them a 'couple' once in a while, which didn't hurt. Mindy was now over eleven weeks pregnant, and was in the waiting room, waiting for her ultrasound, Gavin was there with her, holding her hand.

"It's gonna be okay, don't worry." Gavin stated, rubbing his hand on her back, calming her down.

"I know...it's just we both have sons, I have Conner, and you have Wyatt. What about this one? Will it live with you? Me? Both?" Mindy exclaimed.

"I'm not gonna leave you high and dry Mindy, I care about you...a lot! And I'm gonna love this baby. We both will be in it's lives."

Mindy smiled, and kissed him on the cheek, "You're a good father..."

He smiled back, and said, "And you're a great mother."

Suddenly, a nurse walked out, and called out Mindy's name. They both stood up, and followed her down the hall.

"MOM!" Zuri exclaimed, running through the front door, throwing her backpack to the ground.

Christina quickly shushed her, whispering that the baby was sleeping.

"Guess what!" Zuri stated, now talking quietly.

"Please tell me it's nothing bad?" She replied, afraid of what Zuri was about to say.

"Well is signing up for the school play, talent show, and joining the chess team something bad?" Zuri asked, a smirk on her face.

Christina smiled and exclaimed, "Zuri's that's great!" before she embraced her daughter in a hug. Suddenly, they both heard the baby crying upstairs, along with the baby-monitor in Christina's hands.

"I shouted that didn't I?" Christina asked, with Zuri nodding. She sighed, and walked up the stairs.

Luke, Ravi, and Conner silently walked into the house behind her, throwing there backpacks on the ground too. Since Emma was still recovering, she didn't go to school, her siblings would bring back her work for her to do at home, and to bring back the next day.

"So Zuri...your birthday is in a couple of days...and you still haven't told us what you want?" Luke asked.

"Hmm...well I would like money, dolls, a new tea-set, a limousine, a helicopt-" Zuri began, only to be cut off by Luke, "Our family is rich, you have hundreds of dolls, you have three tea-sets already, we have a family limousine, and we also have a helicopter."

"Alright! A kitten it is!" Zuri stated, smiling as she walked away.

Emma clicked through the channels on her tv, not finding anything interesting to watch, finally settling on the cooking channel. But while watching, she heard a tapping at her window, knocking exactly what it was, she smiled, and made her way to the window, pulling back the curtains and seeing her boyfriend, Hunter. She opened the window, and let him inside.

"Hey Pineapple," He stated, smiling as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Sup Buttercup," She replied back, smirking.

"Cute..." He stated, "So any chance you can leave the house tonight? You already got the stitches out a few days ago..."

"No I can't, my mom is making this 'first home-cooked dinner with Elliot' thing...it's supposedly a big deal."

"Oh...well how about tomorrow night?"

"Why? What do you have planned?"

Hunter smiled, and said, "Well I was thinking we could go on a date...a real date. Not one with me and you watching a movie together in your living room with your mother watching our every move."

"Sorry about that, ever since that psycho Clayton, she's kinda been 'overprotective' when it comes to boys."

"Don't worry about it, I think it's sweet, I would love to have a mother like that."

"Well Mindy, I can see the baby..." The nurse said as she slid the transducer around her belly, smearing it around the gel already on her.

"R-Really?" Mindy said, a smile on her face, as well as Gavin's.

"Yep...oh..." The nurse stated, realizing something.

"W-What? Is something wrong?" Mindy exclaimed, both of them getting nervous.

"Umm...no nothing's wrong." She replied.

"Then what? I'm not having twins am I?" Mindy stated, now serious.

"No you're not having twins."

"Oh thank god..."

"You're having triplets..." The nurse stated, a smile on her face, "Congratulations..."

Mindy's face went to pure panic, while Gavin smiled with glee. "T-Triplets? A-As in...three babies?"

"Yes, and from what I can see, two of them are girls, and one's a boy." She replied.

"W-We'll both finally have daughters as well as sons...aren't you excited?" Gavin exclaimed towards Mindy, who was speechless, she didn't know what to say, or how to say it.

"Conner how could you leave me at the bridge! I was being attacked by zombies!" Luke exclaimed.

"Yeah and one of us needed to make it back to the base, might as well been the good player, so I left you." Conner replied back.

Luke scoffed, and said, "I'm better than you! Who won the last game? Oh yeah! Me!"

"Only because you cheated..."

"Dude I had a score of 1,346! You had 872! I won! Fair and square!"

Conner sighed, and looked at the controller. Seeing his smile go away, Luke got into serious mode.

"What's wrong? I don't really mean to be making fun of you, I thought we were just playing..." Luke said.

"It's not about the game Luke."

"Then what?"

Conner looked up at Luke, and said, "M-My feelings...they're getting stronger..."

Luke realized what he meant, and said, "Oh...well is there anything I'm doing that's causing them to get stronger?"

"It doesn't matter, everything you do...it's just...never mind..."

"What? Conner you can tell me, even under the circumstances." Luke said sympathetically.

"You'll think I'm weird..."

"W-Why would I think that?" Luke asked, getting a little nervous.

"Well...umm...sometimes I have dreams...of you...and me..."

Luke cut him off, "No need for the details...but that's fine Conner, it's normal to think of that when you like somebody...I guess...I mean I've had dreams like that..."

Conner's eyes met with Luke's, "Y-You have?"

"Yeah...of me...and-" Luke began, but was cut off by Conner leaning in and kissing him.

Luke pushed him back, yelling, "What the hell?!"

"I-I thought you..." Conner began.

"Not about you! I was gonna say girls I like!"

Conner felt horrible, not only did his crush basically yell at him, as well as reject him, but he just kissed his best friend.

"I-I'm sorry..." Conner stated, tears in his eyes, he jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.

Luke let him go, tears forming in his eyes as well, he wiped off his lips and stared at the spot where Conner was sitting. Meanwhile, Conner ran down the stairs, tears rolling down his face. He ran out of the house, and into the backyard. He climbed into the tree house, and sat against the wall, and just started to cry. Even though his kiss with Luke was invigorating, he felt so guilty. Their friendship would never be the same again.

"Emma can I borrow some markers-" Ravi exclaimed, barging into his sister's room, and seeing Emma and Hunter kissing on her bed. "W-Whoa!"

"RAVI! GET OUT!" Emma yelled, throwing one of her pillows at him.

"Why is Hunter in your room? Why were you too kissing? Does mom know he's here?" Ravi exclaimed, quite loudly.

"Would you can it butt-munch! You're being too loud!" Emma hissed, "I don't want mom knowing he's here!"

"Oh...well then...I'm gonna need a little incentive to keep my mouth shut..." Ravi stated, a smirk on his face.

Emma sighed, and said, "How much?"

"I don't want your money, you see...I got assigned a project for history class, which requires me to go to the park and listen to a boring lecture, you take my place, take notes, and get them back to me."

"Ugh...fine! What's the lecture about?"

"I don't know! That's why I'm sending you!" Ravi exclaimed, and quickly left the room.

Emma huffed and quickly locked the door as he left, she turned back around, and saw Hunter still sitting on her bed.

"So..." She uttered, "Where were we?"

Hunter smirked, and said, "Well we were kissing...and things started to get...a little...PG-13..."

Emma giggled, and grabbed the neckline of her shirt, and pulled it to the side, revealing her light blue bra strap. "Is that PG-13 enough for ya?"

"Gettin' there..." He replied.

"Your turn, whatcha got?"

Hunter smiled, and pulled down the side of his jeans, exposing the white waistband of his black boxer-briefs.

"There ya go..." He replied with a smirk.

"Things just got wild!" Emma exclaimed, being sarcastic, yet funny.

Cole awoke as he felt pain in his wrists as his bonds were tightened greatly. He saw a shadowy figure looming over him, judging by how big the person is, he assumed it was Eddie.

"P-Please...let me go..." Cole whispered, trying his best to keep his eyes open.

The large man didn't respond, and simply left him. Cole no longer felt cold, feeling the warmth from clothes, meaning he was actually wearing something. From what he could make out, it was an old black shirt, and some old sweatpants.

He coughed, spitting out the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth as he slept, and then he slowly sat up. Since he was chained to the floor, he could only sit up a little.

"Hello? J-Jacob? Grayson?" Cole called out, hoping he wasn't alone.

Receiving no answer, Cole couldn't help but tear up. This just couldn't be happening again. He just wanted to wither away and die, at least that way he would finally be free. But then, he heard the large metal door open, and light flooded the room.

Victor walked in, he was smiling contently. But that wasn't what had Cole terrified, what terrified him, was that he was covered in blood, and it looked fresh.

"Hey buddy..." Victor said, lowering down to touch Cole.

Cole screamed bloody murder, causing Victor to cover his ears in pain, and then quickly strike his son across the face.

"Shut the hell up!" He screamed, while Cole clutched his cheek in pain.

Cole didn't have the strength to talk, and when he felt his father pet his head, humming a nursery rhyme, things only got more terrifying.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you...as long as you behave and do as I ask. This blood is Jacob's, he decided to protect Grayson when I wanted to take a little swing at him. So I stabbed him...a lot! In the end, Jacob was dead, and Grayson still got raped..." Victor stated, in a calm and passionate voice.

Cole began to cry even more, and he sobbed out, "P-Please...what do I have to do...to get out of h-here?"

Victor smiled, and said, "Well a trade is a pretty guaranteed way to leave, you go out, find a cute boy, and force him to take your place here."

Cole looked down at the ground, tears still flowing down his face.

"Do you have someone in mind?" Victor asked.

The seventeen-year-old slowly nodded, and Victor asked, "His name?"

Cole looked up at his father and said, "L-Luke Ross..."

"Mom?" Luke asked.

"Yeah sweetie?" Christina asked, now sitting in a rocking chair, with Elliot in her arms, trying to get him back to sleep.

"Have you seen Conner? I really need to talk to him..." Luke said, looking around the nursery, which was painted a light green color, and had a sort of jungle-theme, with dinosaurs scattered around.

"No I haven't, why? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing...don't worry about it." Luke stated, and quickly left. Christina looked down at Elliot, and said, "Teenagers..."

Luke walked down the stairs, still looking for Conner. He saw Zuri sitting in the living room, watching tv. But still no Conner.

"Zuri, have you seen Conner? I'm looking for him." Luke asked.

"Yeah he came down here like ten minutes ago...he went outback, looked pretty upset..." She responded.

"And you didn't bother to check on him?"

Zuri chuckled and exclaimed, "Yeah like I'm gonna miss a new episode of Power Ponies! Do you even know me?!"

Luke rolled his eyes and huffed in annoyance, he loved his sister dearly, but sometimes she could be such a nuisance. He walked into the kitchen, and out the sliding glass door. He went down into the yard, feeling his socks get wet from the still-wet grass, having not thought ahead to grab shoes. He climbed up the ladder, and into the tree house, seeing it as the most obvious place Conner would hide out here. And he was right.

"Conner?" Luke asked, crawling inside the fort they had made months before.

He could see the boy in the corner of the fort, tears streaming down his face, "L-Leave me alone..."

"I'm sorry for snapping at you...it's just you crossed the line. I thought I made it clear I don't like you like that?" Luke stated.

"Oh trust me Luke you've made that loud and clear!" Conner exclaimed.

"Don't get mad at me! You're the one that kissed me! What did you think that I would magically turn sides or something?! It doesn't work like that!" Luke exclaimed.

"I know it doesn't!" Conner yelled.

"Then why'd you kiss me!" Luke yelled back.

"Because I think I love you!" Conner screamed, tears streaming down his face.

Luke leaned back, a little taken back by his statement, things just got on a whole new level of complication. He sighed, and bursted out, "I-I can't do this right now..." and crawled out of the fort and down the ladder. Leaving Conner shocked, and even more upset. Their old friendship was gone now, and they don't know if a new one can form.

The thirteen-year-old ran back to the house, soaking his socks once again. When he got inside, he ran upstairs and up into his room, where he threw his now-dirty socks in the hamper, and jumped on the bed. Tears formed in his eyes, he couldn't believe this was happening.

Gavin pulled up to the house, Mindy in the passenger's seat. Her still shocked, while he couldn't be happier. They were having three babies, in the addition of Conner and Wyatt.

"Three babies Mindy! Three babies! It's a miracle!" Gavin exclaimed.

"I know...you've been saying that the whole ride here...and the entire time we were checking out of the doctor's office, and you told everyone in that gas station we stopped at on the way here..." Mindy replied.

"I'm sorry, but I'm excited."

"But aren't you scared? Three babies is a lot to handle..."

They walked inside, and Gavin saw the babysitter, Marnie.

"Oh hello Marnie...how's Wyatt? He wasn't bad was he?"

"No Mr. McCoy, he was so behaved, he's taking a nap right now, except he scraped his knee while playing outside a few hours ago, but I put some Neosporin on it and put a bandage over it. So no need to worry about it right now, but when he wakes up you should change the bandage..." Marnie exclaimed.

"Thank you Marnie, and here's your money for babysitting." He replied, handing her fourty bucks.

"Thank you! Just call me when you need me again!" She exclaimed, smiling as she left.

Once she was gone, Mindy said with a chuckle, "Well she's awfully perky...do I have some competition?"

"Mindy...she's sixteen, so she babysits Wyatt, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is I would like the chance to babysit Wyatt now and then..."

"Awe...is someone getting jealous?"

"Oh shut up!" Mindy giggled, before leaning in and kissing Gavin on the lips. Before parting away, she whispered in his ear, "Wyatt's still sleeping..."

Gavin smiled and said, "Really? Are you sure?"

Mindy nodded and said, "This can make it official..."

She led her out her hand, which Gavin gladly took, and they both smiled before walking back into Gavin's room...

"Hi sweetie..." Christina said gently as she brushed her hand through her husband's hair as he woke up from his nap.

He smiled and said, "What a beautiful thing to wake up to..."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure...I'm sure it's my disheveled hair, or the bags under my eyes...or maybe the wrinkles I'm getting..."

"Well I think you look gorgeous, and not a day over thirty-five..." He stated.

"Oh well isn't that sweet..."

Morgan tried to sit up, cringing as he did. Christina watched painfully as he stood up, he had just gotten out of the hospital, and was supposed to be taking it easy. But when you gotta go, you gotta go.

"Okay you gotta go, my mom will start dinner any minute..." Emma exclaimed, leaning up off of Hunter, who's shirt was rolled up to his chest after an intense make-out session.

He pulled his shirt back down and leaned up, quickly kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. "Maybe I can stay for dinner?"

Emma chuckled and said, "Yeah...sure! And I'll just tell her we were in here making out for ten minutes..."

"Alright, alright, I'm going..." He replied, standing up and walking to the window. "I'll miss you..."

Emma smiled and kissed him goodbye, "Alright beat it!" she exclaimed with a smile as he crawled out of the window. She watched him as he crawled down to the ground, and waved him off. Once he was out of sight, she closed and locked her window, before heading to her bathroom to fix her hair, which was all messy from the make out session.

Then she heard her mother call out, "Emma! Dinner!"

"Luke? Where's Conner? Is he not eating dinner?" Christina asked as she set the table with her son, "You and him are usually together, and you two are always the first ones to the table..."

He replied, "I don't know...why should I care?"

"I was just asking..." She stated, not liking his little comment there, but brushed it off anyway.

Suddenly, Emma came waltzing down the stairs, a smile on her face. "What are we having?" She asked.

"Lasagna...why are you smiling like that?" Luke stated, noticing his sister's odd behavior.

"I don't know...I'm just smiling...is that a crime? You should do it more often..." She retorted.

"Alright that's enough!" Christina hissed, "Your father will be down in a minute, and he's not supposed to be stressed remember?"

"Sorry..." They both replied back.

"Luke go get Ravi and Zuri, and ask Conner if he wants dinner." Christina said.

Luke huffed and walked back upstairs, knowing full-well that Conner wasn't up there, but he was not about to talk to him right now.

He knocked on Zuri's door, and walked in, seeing her watching 'Beauty and The Beast' on her tv. "Dinner time Zuri...I'm sure Belle and Beast can wait..."

Zuri nodded and paused the tv, and then followed her older brother out of the room. She headed for the stairs, while Luke headed over to Ravi's room. He knocked and then immediately walked in, not waiting for an answer.

He saw Ravi laying on his bed, tears streaming down his face.

"Ravi? What's wrong?!" Luke exclaimed, his overprotective brotherly instincts kicking in.

The younger boy wiped away his tears and said, "Nothing...I'll be down for dinner in a minute..."

"We've had this discussion before bro, you can tell me anything...what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Luke asked, sitting next to his brother on the bed.

"It's stupid...don't worry about it..."

"It's obviously not stupid to you...and if it's bothering you, then it's bothering me..."

Ravi looked down at his feet, "I miss Mrs. Kipling..."

Luke sighed and said, "I miss her too...she was such a great partner in crime..."

Ravi giggled, and said, "I know it's been months...but sometimes I get home and expect to see her, and all the memories just come flooding back...like the time I hatched her from an egg...or when we all found out she was girl..."

The older boy smiled and said, "Fun times..."

"Now they're just memories...she and I will never have anymore of them..." Ravi stated.

Luke wrapped his arm around his brother, and said, "Ravi, people come and go, and it's the same with giant Water Monitor lizards...but the important thing is to remember the good times you two had...sure she died, but she died being loved, and cared for by the most awesome person I know...you!"

Ravi smiled, and said, "Thank you Luke..."

"You're welcome...and I told you, you can always ask me anything. Now let's go get dinner...I'm starving!"

They both got up and walked to the door, but were stopped by their father, who was waiting in the doorway.

"Dad? Why are you standing there like that?" Luke asked.

He smiled and said, "Watching my oldest son be an amazing brother to my second youngest son..."

They both smiled and he said, "Me and my brother were never like that...and I wish we were...it makes me happy that you two know how to talk to each other..."

"You heard everything?" Ravi asked, a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry bud, I miss Mrs. Kipling too..." He replied with a smile.

Conner sat in the tree house, still crying his eyes out, while everyone else ate dinner inside. He didn't even have his mom to talk to, she was still out with Gavin.

He closed his eyes, and leaned against the wall, his mind taking over...

Conner sat crying against the wall of the classroom, all alone, the silence was daunting. He didn't know what was going on out there, all he knew was that someone had a gun, and they knew how to use it.

"Please...please...please..." He cried as he curled into a ball, "I-I don't want to die..."

BANG!

He yelped a little, and quickly covered his mouth, tears streaming down his face. That shot was close, as in down the hall close. His body shivered as he heard the footsteps grow closer, and then he heard someone scream, before another shot went off.

BANG!

He heard the victim's body fall to the ground, presumably dead. Conner froze in fear, his eyes locked on the door, he knew if they walked in, he was dead. No doubt about it. But they didn't, the footsteps walked away.

"T-Thank you..." He whispered, still crying.

Suddenly, he was walking down the sidewalk. It was past midnight, he had snuck out. The boy didn't know why he snuck out, he just did. But once he saw him, he knew why he did it. He saw his father, Paul, walking down the sidewalk, well not really walking, more like stumbling. No doubt, the man was wasted. Hatred filled Conner's eyes, he slowly made his way over to him, masked in dark clothing, the darkness from the night cloaked him. He saw headlights in the distance, and the urge overwhelmed him. He raised up his hands, and shoved forward. Paul turned at just the right time, missing Conner's shove attempt.

The car sped by, not noticing either of them. While Paul realized what Conner tried to do.

"Why you little!" He yelled, grabbing Conner by his shoulders. The teenager, clearly caught off guard, screamed as he was slammed into the brick wall the building behind him.

Conner kneed his father in his groin, and pushed him away, which was easier then he thought, still stumbling around, his father twisted his ankle on the curb. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a pocket-knife, clearly ready to stab Conner.

He lunged at the boy, who cleverly ducked out of the way, and ran out into the road. Now terrified, he didn't know what he was doing in the beginning, all he knew was that right now, his father was trying to kill him. Paul chased after him, and ran into the road, well as good as he could with a twisted ankle. Conner turned just as the headlights blinded him, he heard tires screeching, and then a loud thump.

As if in slow motion, he saw his father fly across the road, getting nailed from the side by a pick-up truck. Dead, blood splattered across the road. The truck kept going, not bothering to stop or anything. But Conner didn't care, he let him go, he ran to his fathers corpse, and quickly pushed it down the grass hill into a ditch. Then he bolted, he still hadn't the slightest idea what was fully going on.

Conner opened his eyes after hearing a boom of thunder, and he realized it had started to rain. A smile formed across his face as he remembered his dead father. Then when he thought of Luke, his smile grew bigger as he slid his hand down to his belt...

(End of Chapter 38)

Okay...so I know it took a little bit longer to update, but I'm only human...so yeah...Anyways, what do you think of that ending? #WhatUpWithConner? lol. And what Cole said...do you think he really meant it? Would he trade Luke so he can finally get out of that hell hole? I guess we'll see... Oh yeah, what about Mindy and Gavin? Triplets... As always, please review with your thoughts and ideas of this story, and I hope you liked it! I'll see you next time! Bye ;)