Disclamier: I do not own cheaper bby the dozen
Chapter 51
Thanks to haley96, thamiresbr, la-la-la-45, Islanda & stromdog11 for reviewing.
Sarah stood ready to go. She knew she had to win this one for her family and she get to beat Elliot. Out of all the Murtaugh's Elliot was the one she least wanted to be head to head against.
"Come on Sarah," Kyle cheered.
Tom walked over to Sarah and put his arm round her.
"Dad I'm so sorry if I lose this for you. I know it means a lot to you," Sarah said.
"Don't worry about it and why you apologizing for losing you could win this," Tom said.
"I know but I'm up against Elliot and I know he's going to be fast," Sarah said.
"Yeah and I know you're going to be fast too," Tom said trying to clam Sarah's nerves. Sarah wasn't usually the type of person to get nervous but she knew it was up to her to win this for her family and she was under so much pressure it was making her nervous.
"And no matter how this round goes Sarah all I want you know is that I'm really proud of you I'm proud of all of you for trying your hardest and getting this far and if Elliot does win that's the way it is plus there's always next year but I'm pretty confident that we could win this," Tom said.
"Thanks dad," Sarah replied, "And I'm proud to call you my dad."
"You're getting me all welling up," Tom replied, "Now you just go out there and give it your all and make me even more proud than I already am and I know you're the best for this and I've defiantly made the right choice choosing you."
Tom had defiantly made Sarah feel better now and slightly less nervous but she knew all her brothers and sisters would be gutted if she was to lose.
Elliot was feeling pretty much the same way as Sarah. He was also under a lot of pressure probably a little more than Sarah because the Murtaugh's had never lost the Labour Day Cup before and he knew his dad would be furious if he was too lose it. Jimmy was about to go over and speak to Elliot after noticing Tom had been speaking to Sarah.
"Jimmy wait I think I'll go speak to him because I'm sure he's quite nervous and you'll just make things worse," Serena said.
"How will I?" Jimmy asked.
"Do I even have to answer that question?" Serena replied as she raised her eyebrow.
Elliot was looking the course up and down.
"Don't worry about it you'll do fine," Serena said as she came over to speak to Elliot.
"I'm more worrying about if I lose," Elliot replied.
"You're worrying about what your dad will say?" Serena said.
"Yeah I know he'll be mad with me and he say I've let the whole team down and how can I call myself a Murtaugh and that he's ashamed to call me his son," Elliot said.
"He might be a little upset if you lose but he won't be ashamed to call you his son and he won't say how can you call yourself a Murtaugh either. He loves you Elliot and I know he gets very competitive and hates losing but he loves you kids loads more that he loves winning and he would hate to lose his kids over some cup," Serena said.
"I'm surprised he's not over here just now telling me how I must win this," Elliot said.
"He was going to come over here and speak to you but I said I would do it instead because I know you're probably nervous about it and he would just make things worse and I'm very disappointed in your dad today he's been a total jerk," Serena said.
"Yeah he sure has," Elliot agreed.
"So don't worry about it or worry about your dad just go out there and give it your best shot and if the Baker's win oh well it doesn't really matter at least they finally win it and quite personally I think they do deserve to win it at least once and maybe that's this year or maybe it's not maybe it's next year or the year after," Serena said.
"Thanks," Elliot said, "And I know you're not my real mom but I love you like you were my mom," Elliot said.
"Oh thank you Elliot," Serena looked as though she was about to cry. None of Jimmy's kids had ever said they loved her before and she wasn't exactly surprised Jimmy always had a new girlfriend and already had four wives so they probably just thought of her as another person who they called their step mum and then eventually like the others they would be off the scene and Jimmy would have some new girl but Serena knew should be in it for the long run and thought of Jimmy as the one and Jimmy thought that he had finally met his perfect match.
"How is he?" Jimmy asked.
"Nervous but he's doing fine," Serena said, "But he is worrying about what you'll say or do if he loses."
Jimmy didn't know what to say.
"Have you been crying?" Jimmy asked.
"No not really. It's just Elliot said he loved me like I was his mom," Serena said.
"Oh well it looks like you doing better at being a parent than me at the moment," Jimmy said.
The obstacle course race was just about to get underway. Sarah and Elliot were both lined up and ready to go.
"Good luck," Elliot said to Sarah.
"Good luck to you too," Sarah replied.
"Come on guys you need to cheer on your sister," Tom said to his kids, "And remember we win as a team and we lose as a team so if Sarah loses this it is not all her fault that we didn't win the cup."
All the Baker's were cheering Sarah on. She looked quite nervous.
"On your marks. Get set. Go!"
"Come on Sarah," Jake shouted.
They both got off to a good start and climbed up the slide and slide down it at the other side a crawled through the tunnel. Elliot was slightly in head but not by very much. They both squeezed through the two tubes and were running through the inflatable men. As they came through the tunnel at the end of the assault course Elliot was starting to widen his lead.
Next up they had to step through tyres and just as Elliot finished stepping through the tyres Sarah was just starting.
"Come on Sarah you still got plenty of time to catch up don't worry," Charlie cheered from the sidelines.
Elliot was half way through the cargo net but had gotten his foot got in it and Sarah was now starting the cargo net.
"Come on Elliot what are you doing?" Jimmy shouted.
"My foot's got in the net dad," Elliot replied.
"Well hurry up and un hook it," Jimmy said.
"Got it," Elliot said but by this point Sarah was level with him.
The monkey bars were next and Sarah was the first one to start them. She was really speedy on the monkey bars and was starting to take a bigger lead on Elliot now.
She approached the swim across the lake and dived in. She swam as fast as she could using the front crawl stroke. Elliot dived into the water. He was still a bit behind Sarah but he was swimming very fast and was starting to close the gap between them.
"Come on Elliot you can catch up on her," Kenneth shouted.
As they got to the other side of the lake and started the one hundred meter sprint to the finish line, Elliot had got up and they were now equal.
"Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" Jessica, Kim, Mark and Henry began to chant.
They were now only fifty meter away from the finish line and they were still neck and neck.
"I can't watch," Tom said as they got closer to the finish line.
They were now only ten meters away and Sarah they were still really even you couldn't tell by looking as to who was slightly in head as they were both moving too fast.
They both stormed through the finish line and were both unaware of who had won.
Both families weren't sure either. They didn't know if they should be celebrating or congratulating the other family.
"Who won," Tom asked the judges.
"We are just about to check our video evidence just to make sure we're right and to make it fair but we think we know who won," the judge replied.
"And when will we find out?" Jimmy asked.
"When we present the trophy," one of the other judges answered.
"Well done Sarah you did great," Tom said.
"Just wish we knew who won," Sarah replied.
The next few minutes were rather silent for both families as they were all too anxious to find out who had won. The judges were all gathered round a TV screen watching who the recording of the race to see who had actually crossed the finish line first.
"Yeah look we were right their foot crossed the finish line first," one of the Judges said.
"Ok so we have a winner then," the only female out of the judges said.
"Yup better go announce who it is then."
"Could all the families who took part in the events today please meet over at the main stage in ten minutes and we will announced the winner," the man who had organised the whole event announced through a megaphone.
All the families were over by the main stage waiting for the winner to be announced.
"Now first of all I would like to thank everyone who helped me organize this event and all the time and effort they took to make sure that it ran smoothly and also a big thank you to our three judges for making sure all the events were fair and last but not least all of the families who took part as this event would not have been possible without you all," The man who had organized the completion said, "Now I hope you've all enjoyed yourselves and I'm glad this event has run so well."
"Oh will he just tell us who won already," Mike said.
"I know," Kim agreed.
"Ssshh he's getting their but will you please stop being so rude other people will be able to hear you. Actually he could probably hear you," Tom said.
He continued to speak.
"So now is the moment you've all been waiting for the cup to be presented," He said as he walked over to the table which had the large golden cup sitting on it.
"Now this years a little different because we usually already know who had once by this point but as the last event was so close we've kept it from the families until now."
"My heart is beating so fast dad," Sarah said.
"Same," Tom said.
"So the winner of the Labour day Cup is ...
Please review and let me know who you think should win. Also if you have any sequel ideas let me know please!
