AN: CHAPTER 50! Can't believe it. And here I told K in the beginning that I wasn't sure what I could even write about with this bunch…Silly rabbit. So, to commemorate the longest fic I've ever written on its 50th chapter, I'm hitting all the ships/situations, what have you. So, it's long. Mega-long. Don't get used to it. But this isn't the end of parents' weekend, just the continuation. Enjoy and by the way, I really like reviews. They make me happy, and you guys rock at writing them. It's a win-win, right?


Rosa and Ella approached the large blanket that still housed the spread of food and drink that had been their mid-day meal, only to find less-upright parents and Greyson. All extras had gone their own way—and Ella was glad not to ask of their whereabouts. It was clear that something had their attention, and upon further inspection, the girls were soon witness to the fact that Jasper, Pax, and Jake had joined up with a group of boys playing Ultimate Frisbee in the far side of the lawn.

Sitting down next to Grey, Ella leaned in and spoke at a whisper. "Why aren't you playing?"

"No girl enjoys a black eye, and I plan on going out tonight."

"Black eyes? They're just playing fris—OH!" she shuddered and ducked behind Grey's shoulder as Pax tackled Jasper to the ground. "Why did he do that?"

"Well, see, he was defending him, and," Grey began.

"It looked rather offensive to me," Ella frowned.

"No, Jasper was playing offense."

"He's the one that got tackled!" Ella pointed, clearly distressed.

"Have you ever watched a game of sport in your whole life?" he sighed, exasperated.

"Yes, but that's just barbaric. It's Frisbee, not football."

"Well, this is very similar. The offense tries to make it to that goal line," he pointed to the area near where the boys had fallen a moment ago, "and the defense tries to stop them. Like Pax just did."

"So, what Pax did was good?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Grey began. "Well, in the game."

"Aren't they getting a little rough?" Amy winced as she watched her son get elbowed hard in the ribs.

"They're boys," Logan sighed, rubbing his hand over her back.

"Okay, that can't have been good," Ella protested as the boys were once again on the ground. It was unclear who had instigated the fall, and from the looks on their faces when they got up, this wasn't the last time they'd go down.

"Whose idea was this?" Rosa asked.

"A group of guys yelled out for joiners," Colin winced as Jasper took down some other kid. "The violence is spreading to innocent bystanders."

"A father must do his duty," Finn made an effort to stand up, taking two full, focused attempts at becoming vertical.

"Your duty?" Katherine asked, her concern splitting between her rib-cracking son and her overly obligated husband.

"I'll just jump in there and lighten things up! They take life too seriously, and I, my love, can fix that," he took a giant step to clear the blanket, wobbled, but retained his balance. He shot a beam at his wife, who hopped to her feet and threw her arms around his neck from behind.

"What's this? Getting frisky while I have a job to do? Down, woman!"

"You promised me a piggy back ride," she reminded, hoping to distract him from a situation that might lead to pain. The worst kind of pain—one he wouldn't even feel until the next day.

"So I did," he conceded, grabbing the underneath side of her knees as she hopped up onto his back. "Charge!" he yelled as he took off at a full sprint toward the game.

"No!" she screamed, holding on too tight in her terror to pummel him as she wanted to. "Finn, turn around! GAH!" she yelped. The crowd parted as the screaming pair came through, Finn making a swipe at the Frisbee. Katherine had wrapped her body so tightly around his torso that he barely needed to keep hold of her. The group of boys their son's age stared at the couple that was making off with their game piece. Jasper, Jake, and one other boy raced off downfield to retrieve it.

"See? That's why we didn't let you join the game," Miel told her husband.

"This isn't going to end well," Rory grimaced, as the lot of them ended on the ground, Finn still wrestling for the Frisbee. "Is she okay?"

"Well, she's lived with Finn this long and never really been hurt. Well, except the broken toe thing."

"And the hair-lightening shampoo incident," Amy couldn't hold in her chuckles.

"Did he swap it for Nair, or something?" Rory asked from her lazed position, as she reclined between her husband's legs, her head on his chest.

"No, he decided to lighten his hair, you know, by using the shampoo and being out in the sun. But they were taking a bath, and she let him shampoo her hair. . . . She liked the way her hair felt after using it, so she used it all week—until they went to the beach that weekend."

"Sun-streaked?"

"More than. She freaked—she ranted at him about how none of her clothes or any of her make-up was the right color for such a light shade of hair, and she went on a purging spree that ridded their entire house of anything that could change the shade of anything on her body."

"Nice," Rory giggled, until the group collectively cringed at the fact that the game had restarted. A very sheepish Finn was following his wife, who refused to look directly at him. She didn't refuse, however, to yell.

"You could have killed me!"

"You were perfectly safe—you told me you always feel at ease in my arms," he crooned.

"When you're immobile, yes, but when you're rocketing toward a band of thugs that are tearing each other apart limb for limb," she yelled.

"What is all the commotion?" a voice came from behind Ella.

She turned from her perch between the twins. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited," Ambrose gave a small smile at Rosa, who looked rather taken aback. "You said the next time Jake was here, I should come up," he reminded her.

"That's right, I did," she managed.

"And Jake paged me this morning, to tell me he ended up coming with, so," he hedged.

"Well, let's get the boy caught up, shall we?" Grey asked. He pointed to the adults. "Snockered," he then pointed to the game, "what happens when two boys don't get the girl."

"Shut up," Ella elbowed him.

"Where's Jake?" Ambrose asked.

"He's … in there," Ella said with distaste as she pointed to the Frisbee gaggle. "He's got that thing about playing all sports, no matter how moronic or made-up."

"All sports are made up. If they weren't, then they wouldn't exist," Grey prodded.

"Now would be a good time for you to shut up," Ella scowled as she continued watching the drama unfold.

"Well, as much fun as that looks, mind if I just hang out here?"

Rosa scooted over to make more room for him to sit. "So, you're just visiting Jake?" she inquired.

"Well," he cocked his head. "Not exactly."

"Told you so," Ella sing-songed under her breath.

"I had to get away from all the baby talk," he said with distaste. "It's bad enough that they're having another one, but now all they do is talk about which crib to buy and how to baby-proof the kitchen, which I get, but then Gwen's sister started in about the benefits of breastfeeding," he shuddered. "I heard the word engorged and I had to get out of there."

Rosa put a comforting arm on his back.

"Dude," Grey handed him a drink. "That's heinous."

"Did we just get dropped into a bad surfer movie?" Ella giggled, to which Greyson only ignored her.

Tristan turned to check on the kids, only to frown. He tugged on Rory's arm. "Did we just gain a child?"

Rory laughed. "How much of that stuff did you have? You know that kid," she promised.

"But we didn't bring him."

"Once they learn to crawl, they can pretty much locomote themselves around as they wish," she promised.

"Doesn't look like one of yours," Logan frowned, taking a break from the rough-necking that was still in progress.

"That's my godson," Rory imparted. "Ambrose."

"Wait, the one that my daughter's got the hots for?" Miel leaned in.

"Well," Rory said, not wanting to speak for any of the kids, especially those not her own.

A loud commotion, louder than the grunting and body-bashing that had been going on had broken out on the field. By the time all attention was on the game again, Pax was bleeding from the face, a crimson gash over his left eye. Some boys were crying foul, some were telling the others not to be girls, but he was just staring at Jasper, who had hold of the Frisbee.

"You okay?" he panted from exertion.

"Like you care," he shook his head stiffly, wincing as he touched the gash with his fingers. Ella jumped up, as did Amy. Rosa held hold of Ella, warning her not to go.

"But, he's bleeding," Ella exclaimed. "I can't believe this, of all the dumb, archaic things they could have done," she began.

"Actually, it might be the smartest thing they've done so far," Rosa said. Ella looked to Grey, who shrugged.

"She's probably right. Let him shake it off."

"Shake it off, he's bleeding!"

Amy was up, on her way to follow her son, to care for his wound, but Logan jogged to catch up and caught her by the waist.

"Don't tell me they were just being boys."

"Okay," he said, searching for the words he wanted to use in their place. "Just, don't go after him."

"My son is bleeding," she impressed upon him.

"As is mine. Let me go talk to him, I promise if he needs both of us, I'll come get you."

Amy crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't like the idea, not one bit, but she wasn't going to deny him his shot. "Fine. But don't leave him if he's bleeding and needing someone. Just, call me."

Logan nodded, placing a kiss on her cheek. "I promise," he said before jogging off after his son. Katherine made her way up to Amy, who hadn't moved a muscle.

"Is he okay?"

"I guess so. I didn't really get a good look at it," she shrugged.

"I take it you know about the girl thing."

Amy nodded. "This isn't like them, at all."

"I guess wishing they'd sit down and talk rationally is too much to hope for, right?" Katherine smiled.

Amy cracked a smile. "I just wish there was something we could do. I talked to Pax, but he's so stubborn."

"I wonder where he gets that from," Katherine played dumb.

"The thing I really don't get is why there's still a problem. Pax gave her up, and instead of taking her for himself, Jasper also backed off. Why didn't one of them just admit to wanting to be with this girl?"

"I don't know," Katherine said as she spied her son leaving the field now as well. "But I'm gonna find out. Watch Finn for me?"

"Will do," Amy promised, watching as her friend went off in search of the boy that brought the game momentarily to a halt.

XXXX

Luke walked into the Dragonfly Inn, hoping that Lorelai would be manning the desk. He was in no mood to deal with Michel, especially after being unable to find Kirk. He had to hand it to him, his hiding places had gotten more inventive over the years. It was just a matter of time, but he would find him.

He found one of the employees behind the desk, probably covering a break. He smiled and nodded, walking through to the kitchen. He saw Sookie mid-preparation, moving and jostling about the kitchen the same way she did every night.

"Luke!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Lorelai, is she around?" he asked, feeling as if everyone already knew. He was fully aware of the rate at which news spread in this town, but he hoped against hope that out of respect, the corks would remain in place just long enough for him to find a way to tell Lorelai… and by the time they did talk, it would be a funny anecdote…. He cringed. This was never gonna be a funny anecdote, the kind that started, 'Remember the time….'

"She's in her office, why?"

"Oh, no reason, I just thought I'd come by, see her. She's been working late all this week," he pointed out.

Sookie put her ladle down and wiped her hands on her apron. "That's so sweet! I can't remember a time that Jackson just popped by, to say he missed me, without wanting to show me some fruits or vegetables, or beg me to let one of his weird family members stay at our house instead of a hotel," she frowned.

"So, her office, you said?" Luke tried to curtail the conversation.

"Yeah, ooh, when you see her, ask her to come in here before she leaves. I have an idea to run past her."

"O-kay," Luke nodded and moved back toward her office. He found her sitting, well, leaning at her desk, her head down and eyes closed.

"Sleeping on the job?" he asked.

Her head popped up with a start, and she narrowed her eyes when she saw it was him. "Evil, evil man," she muttered, but stood to hug him in the next moment. "One that I vaguely recognize, too."

"I'm the one that's at the house all those hours that you aren't."

"Ah, my house sitter, right, right," she teased. "Sorry about the hours, it's just been crazy around here this week, with Michel on vacation," she began.

"Michel's on vacation?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Did you think he just lived at the front desk?"

"Well, he's there every time I come to see you, harassing me and trying to tell me that you've mysteriously disappeared with another man or contracted some horrible flesh-eating disease."

Lorelai giggled. "He told you I had a flesh-eating disease?"

Luke smirked. "Yep. Said you got it from eating red meat."

"See? You two agree on something."

"God save us all," Luke muttered.

"So, what do I owe this visit to, really?"

"I can't miss you? I can't just want to come by and talk?"

"You want to talk?" she asked, slightly troubled.

"Sure."

"Okay. About what?"

"I don't know. Anything. Pick a subject."

"Okay," she tapped her nails against her desk as she sat on the corner now. "Um…Should I get a perm?"

"Okay, anything else."

She smiled. "You came here, you pick a topic. I don't like the pressure."

"Fine. I was watching the news the other day," he began.

"You don't watch the news."

"No, you don't watch the news."

"True, but I've never seen you, in all the years I've known you, watch the news."

"How can you see me watch it if you avoid the television when it's on?"

"True. Continue."

"Okay," he shook his head, ready to continue. "I was watching the news, and they had this segment on about this couple," he swallowed.

"Right," she said, wary of the whole situation. It was odd enough for Luke to pop in to chat, but he looked downright uncomfortable as he carried out the aforementioned mission.

"See, they'd been married for some long amount of time, like, thirty years or something," he tried to sound like it was a funny story, but he only managed to pull off a pained expression.

"And this made the news? What were they, in Hollywood?"

"No, they had been married thirty years, only to find out that there'd been some glitch, the paperwork or something, and it turns out that officially they were never really married."

"A glitch?" she blinked.

"It was the damnedest thing," he nodded. "Isn't that weird?"

"Weird? Luke, that's horrible. See, this is why I never watch the news. It's never good. They never open with things like, 'Hey, you won't believe that great thing we witnessed,' or 'Millions of puppies rescued,' it's always, 'Marriage proved to be sham,' or 'Poor homeless orphans mangled in freak accident,'" she made a face.

"Okay, I get it, but it's not that big a deal, especially next to the homeless mangled orphans, right? I mean, all they have to do is get remarried. It's not like you can unmangle an orphan," he frowned at the words.

"No, they can't get remarried, Luke. They have to get married, for the first time. They have to come to grips with the fact that everything they'd been living for the past thirty years, none of it was true. They'd been living a lie, and all the kids they'd had—did they have kids?" she asked urgently.

"Uh, yeah, um, two," he lied.

"Both suddenly illegitimate!" she cried. "Geez, because of some stupid glitch, everything they thought they'd worked so hard to build, all down the drain. That's so sad."

"You of all people can't believe that, I mean, just because a kid's parents aren't married, it doesn't mean that the kid doesn't have a sense of home," he argued.

"No, you're right, but think about it, Luke. If this happened to us, don't you think it would shake you?"

"Well, yes, it would shake me, but," he tried to be calm.

"Wouldn't you worry about the effect it would have on Will? I mean, all his life, he's had parents that were married, only to find out one day that we were just two people that lived in the same house?"

"It's not like it erased everything that happened in those thirty years," Luke argued.

"No, but it didn't, but it has to make a person think about what they were really doing—what the point of marriage is in the first place."

"I guess," he frowned.

"I mean, if marriage is really just some act of a paper being filed, then what is the point? Why bother at all? If no one is really bound to anyone else out of something greater, if the government can come in at any time and say, 'oops, sorry, do over!' then why does anyone bother?"

"Okay, see, I just wanted to have a nice talk," he stepped up to her, his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't mean to get you all worked up."

"Sorry, it's just—I'm tired. It's gonna be so nice to come home and curl up in my husband's arms," she snuggled against his chest. He felt guilty for not telling her outright, but right now saw no way to tell her.

"I'll be waiting," he promised, giving her a lingering kiss before taking his leave and hoping that tomorrow would be a better time to tell her about the world-shaking glitch.

XXXX

"So, you need stitches?" Logan asked as he walked into the bathroom of his son's dorm. Pax had water running and a damp paper towel held up to the wound.

"I don't think so," he winced as he touched it.

"Let me see," he took his son's hands down and peered at the broken skin. "It's not deep."

He nodded and went back to flushing it out. Logan watched as he worked.

"So, it got pretty rough out there. Your mother almost broke it up a few times."

"She never did like to see any violence."

"She's not the only one that was gonna break it up," he spoke honestly.

"Aunt Katherine?" he asked.

"Well, yes, but I was talking about Ella Dugrey."

"Oh," was all he said as he tended to the still-bleeding gash.

"Oh? Son, there are many appropriate responses here, but the least of them is 'oh.'"

"What do you want me to say?" Pax glared at his father.

"How about explaining to me why you and Jasper were reenacting an American Gladiators episode, all seemingly over a girl that neither of you appear to be dating. Or why you ran after this girl, after that weird encounter we all witnessed with her and that guy at the picnic," Logan supplied.

"I don't want to discuss it," Pax turned back to the mirror to check the status of his bleeding.

"Tough," Logan said, moving to stand next to the sink.

"Excuse me?"

"I said tough. Normally your mother and I let you work out your own problems. But you're clearly not handling whatever this is."

"How do you know?"

Logan sighed and put his hand on his son's shoulder. "You're fighting with Jasper."

"So?" his eyes fell from his father's, the only way he could remain resistant to the line of conversation.

"You two have never frozen the other out like this."

"Perhaps it's time for a breather."

"A bloody one?" Logan persisted.

"You think I haven't tried to fix this?" his son erupted.

"I think that you would be better served in letting someone who's not tangled up in the mess help you."

"I broke up with her to prevent this from happening," he said after a moment of silence.

"How ironic," Logan shook his head.

"He just got more pissed off, even after I told him all of it—and she's on me to tell her why I did it."

"Maybe he's mad that she can't let it go."

"Maybe."

"So, tell her and be done with it. Simple."

"I can't," he turned away again, dabbing at the wound that was no longer bleeding.

"Paxton," he groaned. He looked at his son, hating to even ask the next question. "Why not?"

"I broke up with her to salvage things with Jas—but I," he looked to be in more pain now than that gash could cause him. "I'm in love with her."

Logan looked completely floored. "What about Jas?"

Pax shrugged. "He didn't say, but I'm pretty sure."

"And so you fight."

"I'd say you're all caught up. Happy?"

"Not particularly," he answered honestly. "What do you want to happen?"

Pax threw the wet towel in the trash. "I'm not trying to win her back. I just want Jas and me to be okay again. There'll be other girls, right?" he did his best to sound convincing.

"So, help Jasper get the girl," he said, making the solution sound clear.

Pax's eyes met his father's. "And now the actual solution."

"He's your best friend, and you love her. You want them to be happy, right?"

"Yeah, but," he blinked.

"'Cause otherwise this will be some unrequited deal where they're both always wondering what might have been."

"Agreed. But he's not gonna let me help him, and she's not gonna drop this."

"Exactly. So, you're gonna have to bypass them."

Pax's brow furrowed. "What? How?"

Logan stood up straighter, proud of his solution. "Get a girlfriend."

Pax shook his head. "Dad, look," he began.

"Any girlfriend will do."

"But," he protested.

"If you like, your mother and I can assign one—or I can let your grandmother Shira choose an appropriate match," he threatened.

Pax shuddered. "Any girl will do?"

XXXX

Billy came into his house, letting the front screen door slam behind him. His parents and younger sister were eating dinner, and they all looked up at him as he stomped to the table.

"Hey, honey, I didn't know if we should expect you, but there's plenty if you want--," Sookie began.

"What I want is to set something straight," he stopped to think about his words, but continued.

"Watch your tone, young man," Jackson said. "No matter what is going on in your personal life, this is still your mother."

"Oh, so I can't yell at her, but she can start telling everyone in the world that I'm gay?"

Lia spit out some soda at her brother's words. "You're gay?"

"No!" he yelled. "I'm not gay!" he redirected to his mother.

"Honey, calm down, fine, you're not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with it, if you were," she soothed.

"But I'm not!" he yelled. "Why would you tell people I am?"

"I didn't!" she swore.

"Lorelai?" he offered.

"Oh, well, that was just more of a general wondering as to what you had been up to," she blushed.

"Yeah, well, she told Ella, who believed her!"

"You're talking to Ella again? That's great!" Jackson encouraged.

"No, she and I had a shouting match, when she saw me with my new girlfriend," he explained.

"New girlfriend?" Sookie asked. "We didn't know anything about this."

"Because I didn't want Ella to find out through Lorelai," he gritted out the words.

"But honey, it's good. Why should she care that you're dating? You've been broken up for a while."

"I'm dating her ex-roommate."

"But I thought her ex-roommate was Paris' kid, the annoying one that you couldn't stand on that road trip last year," Sookie began.

"Her name is Jane."

Lia's eyes were huge as she watched the exchange. It was rare that this level of family drama occurred now that only half the kids were living at home.

"Wait—you're telling me you're dating Paris' daughter?" Sookie clarified.

"Yes. Her daughter—not her son."

"You can't date Paris' kid," Sookie shook her head.

"You haven't even met her," he was growing confused.

"I don't have to! The nut can't fall far from the tree, and let me tell you, that tree is insanely twisted. Being in the same room as her for five minutes, I wanted to pluck all the hair off of her head, and she was just a kid. You're supposed to care for kids, but all I ever wanted to do with that one was cause her pain," Sookie thought back to when Paris was just a bit younger than her own son.

"Paris is a little scary," he conceded, "but Jane is great. And I don't care what you say, I'm dating her. Now, if you'll quit telling people I'm gay, we're done here!" he stormed down the hall and slammed his bedroom door shut.

"Well," Jackson said, breaking the moment. "I don't see what he got so upset over. There really isn't anything wrong with it."

XXXX

"So," Katherine sat on her son's bed.

"Can you please just mind your own business?"

"Unless you're going to give me an original penny, I won't."

"I'm not in the mood for Snapple facts," he sighed.

"It's either that or telling me why you went all caveman on your best friend."

"You're blowing this out of proportion."

"The amount of tension out there—it's like you're an electric eel," she pointed out.

"I hardly have enough electrical charge to start fifty cars," he sighed, "I've been using those static-free sheets you packed with my stuff."

"You know what I mean. You look at that girl, and it's like you've been struck by lightening. It'd be cute if it weren't for the whole gashing open your friend's head thing."

"We were playing a game," he sighed.

"Good thing you weren't playing tennis," she shuddered. "I can only imagine what a ball going over a hundred miles an hour to the head would have done."

"The fastest was 154 miles an hour, in 1963," he offered.

Katherine smiled. "See? It's always a good time for Snapple facts."

"I'm trying to back off of the whole situation, it's just, after I saw him go after her—he's gonna tell her he's in love with her, and that's gonna be it."

"You're so sure this is the one girl for you? 'Cause if she's really into Pax, maybe she's not."

Jasper was silent for a moment. "I promise not to play any more games with him until it's resolved."

"I just hate to see you like this, turning yourself all inside out like this."

"The starfish is the only animal that can turn its stomach inside out," he said, trying to lighten the moment. He didn't have any more reassurances for himself or his mother.

Katherine pulled her son in for a hug. "You'll make amends, and everything will work out. You'll see."

"I hope so," he said with earnest, not sure at the moment how to even go about setting everything back as it should be.

"Just remember, one brow winkle is the result of 200,000 frowns," she heeded.

"Then you must smile all the time," he sweet-talked.

"Use some of that charm you got from your Dad," she squeezed him tight before letting him go. "You'll get through this fine."

XXXX

"You're all dressed up," Pax said as he greeted her at the door. "Hot date?"

"I have to believe they all have potential, right?" Rosa smiled. "Can I come in?"

"Won't your date have a hard time finding you if you're over here?"

"I have some time. I wanted to talk to you."

"Come on in," Pax opened the door wider to allow her to enter. She stepped into the middle of the room and spun around.

"I wanted to apologize for yelling at you earlier."

"You can't be sorry retroactively, just because I have a head wound."

"Today wasn't really easy on anyone," she conceded. "But you have to admit, Ella needed to get the vultures cleared away."

"I'm not a vulture. I just felt the need to explain some things to her."

"And now?"

"The need has passed."

"Why don't you just tell her?"

He looked up at his friend. "Tell her what?"

"You love her."

He crossed the room and got a cold can of soda, but didn't open it. Instead he held it to his head, which was starting to pound. "I don't love her. You should go."

"Pax, come on. It's me."

"Did I want to break up with her? No. Did I do what I had to do? Yes. Now, you should go, before your date thinks he's being stood up."

"What are you going to do?"

"Rest. If I drink tonight and pass out, my mom will personally kill me. Bare hands and all."

Rosa nodded. "I just want things to be okay for you guys."

"Don't worry about it. Things will calm down, we'll all move on," he promised.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"It means go, and have a great night. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a bag of frozen vegetables."

Rosa shook her head and took her leave. He was suddenly alone again, and he grabbed a bag of frozen peas and carrots that his mother had stocked his freezer with before they left for the alumni dinner and retreated back to his bedroom.

XXXX

The door began to unlock, and Will pulled the covers up over their bodies quickly. Anna was still giggling as the light flipped on.

"What the hell is going on?" Davey asked.

"Hey, you're back early," Will said, doing his best to let Anna scrounge under the covers for her clothes.

"Shouldn't you both be in your individual counseling sessions?" Dave asked.

"We, uh, sort of skipped them," Will grinned, wishing only to continue his honeymoon activities. "Did yours end early?"

"I was in there for two and a half hours," he muttered. "Evidently the whole four-in-four thing was grounds for Mal divorcing me, and I had to be deprogrammed."

"Mal was there?" Will asked, starting to feel quite self-conscious about the state of dress his friend had caught them in the longer he stood there, seemingly not bothered in the least.

"No, but I brought it up."

"Why'd you bring that up?"

"She asked if there was any reason that Mal and I would be having problems."

"Geez, Dave."

"Wait, you thought I had been gone a short time? Have you … all this time?"

"Look, if you could come back in like an hour," Will asked.

"We have to be at dinner in a half an hour. I wanted to shower and pick up Mal, in the girls' room."

Anna tossed her keys at her brother. "Shower in our room. And have some fun, we'll all be late for dinner."

Dave held up his hand. "Look, if we get caught, we'll be forced into some rare form of punishment—tied to a chair and forced to listen to How Am I Supposed To Live Without You—married couples aren't supposed to engage in sexual activities until day two, and you guys aren't supposed to be doing this at all. They frown on non-married couples," he began.

"Dave if you leave right now, I'll give you all the money I have. Go!" Anna urged.

"Geez, this whole place makes people insane," he muttered as he grabbed some clothes. "You guys were fighting, and you get here and you can't keep your hands off each other. I was perfectly happy, and now I'm a bad husband," he grumbled. He stopped right before he got to the door again.

"If we get caught, I'm giving you guys up, too. I won't listen to Michael Bolton by myself, I'm taking everyone down with me."

"Go!" Will and Anna urged. He locked the door behind him and Will dove back under the covers, now ridding her of the clothes she'd made an attempt to cover herself up with during the intermission.

XXXX

"Did you have to bring my brother?" Ella asked Grey.

"Hey, Jake is cool," Grey said calmly as he drank a beer.

"Yeah, well, having your little brother around puts a crimp in your style."

"I thought you were swearing off guys?" Grey reminded her of the words she'd said as they walked into the party.

"I am," she frowned.

"Then you have no style to crimp," he joked. "Come on, it's not that bad. Let yourself have a drama-free night," he urged.

"Yeah, you're right," she smiled. Both of their attention was caught as Rosa walked in on the arm of her date for the evening. "Looks like drama just walked in."

"Crap. You go stall her, I'm gonna go pry Ambrose off that redhead," they split directions, off to diffuse the situation.

Ella was almost through the crowd to Rosa when a familiar form stepped in her way. She looked up at Jasper and was suddenly rendered speechless.

"Hey," he offered over the noise of the party. "You in a hurry?"

"Um, sort of," she squinted toward the direction that Rosa had been in, only to find a sea of unfamiliar faces. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you, about earlier. I didn't mean to get so rough," he sighed. "I feel horrible."

"You should tell Pax; you didn't do anything to me."

"You're not mad?"

"I'm," she bit her lip. "I hate to see you guys like this."

"It's not your fault," he said, leaning in closer to let a band of clearly drunken conga-liners by.

"Yeah, well, it feels like it."

"We can't help being bowled over by your beauty," he smiled.

"I'll work on being uglier," she teased.

"Don't think you'll have much luck. Maybe shoot for acting dumber," he offered.

"I thought boys like 'em dumb."

"Maybe that was true of the boys you used to date. You're at Yale now. Boys here like it when you can differentiate equations and come up with cures for rare diseases."

"So, I'm safe then," she mocked relief.

"Dance?" he asked.

"Oh, well," she frowned.

"You don't want to?"

"That's not it, I just," she turned to see only strangers. The thought that at least Grey was taking care of Ambrose crossed her mind. "Yeah, let's dance," she let Jasper take her hand and lead her to a more appropriate spot.

XXXX

Grey had lost sight of Ambrose. He turned back to see Ella dancing with Jasper and sighed. He heard his name being called, and turned to see his sister waving him over.

"Hey," he walked up next to her. "Where's your date?"

"Off to get drinks," she yelled back over the noise. "Didn't you come with an entourage?"

"They're around," he promised. "I won't lose any of them, especially the minors."

"Remember, parents will be doing early morning bed checks," she smiled jokingly.

"So, your date is going well?" he inquired.

"So well that after dinner I dragged him to a party where my friends are," she sighed.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm trying to go through all the frogs at a rapid pace."

Grey smiled. "No one's good enough for you. Just ask Dad."

"New topic. Oh, hey, there's Jake, and Am—," she cut off as she witnessed his hand placement and the way the girl was grinding up against his body.

"Shit," Grey swore under his breath.

"What? It's fine, I'm fine," she lied.

"Rose, come on," he put an arm around her shoulder.

"No, seriously. Why should I be upset? We're not dating, first of all."

"No, but come on," he coaxed. "He came up here to see you."

"No, he didn't. Clearly he came up to score with college girls."

"Yeah, but you were the intended girl. You just had a date," he clarified.

"Look, I've seen all of Aunt Amy's Sex And The City shows," she sighed. "And the truth is, he's just not that into me."

"What?" he nearly screeched in disbelief.

"They even wrote a book about it!"

"Have you lost your mind? That guy is totally into you."

"No," she shook her head. "There are no mixed messages. If he wanted to be with me, he'd do it, no matter the circumstance."

"You're insane. He doesn't send mixed messages, he told you he likes you."

"Yes, but now he's got some tramp wrapped around him; that's mixed."

"He doesn't know you're here, and he thinks you don't want him. You want him, go get him. That girl will move onto the next warm body. Even if I have to sacrifice myself to provide it for her," he smirked.

"You're not helping."

"Did I say I was trying to help?" he feigned innocence. "Just trying to speak the truth."

"I'm not going over there. I'm going to find my date."

"Fine," he shrugged.

"It is. Everything is fine."

"If you say so," he placated her.

"Stop that," she admonished, as he put his arm back around her for comfort.

"Is this guy bothering you?" her date came back up, two drinks in hand.

"Yes," she said. "Let's get out of here," she wiggled out from under Grey's grasp and turned to her date.

"What about the drinks, and your friends?" he asked.

"You're right. You should go," she smiled.

"You're serious."

"There are no mixed messages, buddy," Grey piped up.

"What are you, her boyfriend?"

"Total frog," he turned to Rosa. "Let's get drunk," he handed her one drink out of the guy's hands and took the other for himself.

"Hey!" the guy called after them as they moved further into the party.

XXXX

Jess got back into bed, having shut the window. The first cool breeze of the year had hit, and though it was a welcome relief to the heat they'd experienced this summer, he didn't want Gwen to catch cold.

"My protector," she snuggled down into him as he joined her.

"Remember this when you're giving birth," he mumbled into her hair, causing her to giggle.

"You got it," she took a deep breath, and for a moment they laid next to each other, only the sound of beating hearts and soft breathing filling the room.

"Hear that?" he asked.

"I don't hear anything," she strained for a moment.

"That is the sound of drama being everywhere but in this house."

"I think the universe owes us a bit of drama-free time," she grazed her fingers over his chest absently.

"The universe had some help," he led, already smiling.

"What do you mean?" she propped up to look at the amusement on his face.

"I was the one that asked Sari to bring up breast-feeding in front of Ambrose," he chuckled.

"You drove your son out of the house on purpose?" she was clearly a bit surprised.

"Well, I knew Jules would probably have a date, and that Sari wouldn't want to stay here, that just left Ambrose in the way of our having complete, utter alone time," he said. "You're mad?"

"Not mad, just, the look on his face when she started talking about engorged nipples," she laughed. "He may require therapy."

"Hey, it was for his own good. He wanted to go to Yale, and I gave him a reason."

"So, your torment was cleverly disguised as good parenting?"

He nodded. "I've been called an evil genius, but clever parent will work too."

"Okay, Wylie," she giggled, more than happy to share the illy-gotten free time they'd earned.

He moved over her, his hand brushing over her chest light, down the beginnings of what was becoming evident to be their child in her stomach, and to her thighs. His pace was slow, and his look much more intent on her skin. "Be glad you can't call me Road Runner," he breathed as he kissed the place that he removed his hand from.

"I love your evil mind," she arched her body under him, reaching out to hang onto him for the slow, luxurious ride that he was about to take her on.