Esha Napoleon: Thank you! firewing pegasus: Apology accepted. Nope it's not the healthiest choice but at this point it's baby steps. As long as she's eating James feels they can just worry about healthy later. And good to know you're almost done catching up.

"Come on Snoopy, hold still!" Tryg ordered as he did his best to get the cape tied around Snoopy's neck. He, Connor and Tiffany were going to start filming Snoopy's debut film but they were having some difficulties getting going. First of all they couldn't find Snoopy or Spike (who was playing the role of Snoopy's sidekick) masks for a good hour (they finally found some eye masks they cut holes into so they wouldn't be completely blindfolded). Then it was a matter of getting the masks on. Neither Snoopy nor Spike wanted them on and were now trying to get them off so they could eat them. "Snoopy! Don't be naughty!"

Snoopy barked and began jumping all over Tryg, playfully attacking him because he thought that was the game they were playing.

"Snoopy baby no!" Tiffany scolded as Tryg squealed loudly. She placed the video camera down where it would be safe and tried to get the overexcited puppy to calm back down. "You're being too rough-" She shrieked and jumped back as Snoopy started pouncing all over her. "Snoopy! Ow ow ow baby your claws are too sharp!"

"Snoopy calm down!" Connor ordered, which made his beloved puppy cease attacking and trot over him so he could lay down at his feet.

Tryg pouted his lips and got back up to his feet. "How do you do that?" he asked. "I can't get Snoopy to listen to me like that."

Connor shrugged. "I dunno. Snoopy just listens to me real good." He raised his eyebrows as Spike randomly ran into the wall and knocked himself silly. He was always doing that and nobody could make him stop. They had all tried but all their efforts had been in vain. Spike was just a lost cause, plain and simple.

"So we're shooting the first scene in here, is that right?" Tiffany asked as she reclaimed possession of the camera.

"Uh huh," Tryg confirmed. "This is Snoopy's Batcave. And then when we're done here we can build a machine to make Snoopy look like he's flying-"

Connor was trying to listen to Tryg go on and on but he couldn't. He couldn't concentrate on anything he was trying to focus on. He was tired because he couldn't really sleep anymore. Every time he tried to sleep he had nightmares about being shot and he would wake up screaming and crying. And he didn't care what James or Tiffany said; the dreams felt so real. He was now utterly convinced he was going to get shot again and he didn't know what to do with himself. He was too afraid to even go outside and play in his own backyard, that was how much he was shaken.

And he hated it. He hated himself for being so weak and stupid and scared. Cooper was out there all alone with nobody to help him and he couldn't even do anything about it. What kind of brother was he? He sucked. Cooper always tried to protect him, even when he was being a big meanie. And then when it was Connor's turn did he ever do his job right? No, he didn't. He would think he did but then something else would go wrong. The night he had gotten stabbed he had thought that at least he had kept Cooper from getting killed. But no, all he had done was allow Cooper to go back on the streets where he was alone and probably dying in some alley. He was so fucking stupid. Maybe everyone else was right about him. Maybe he was just a retard after all.

"Connor?"

Connor jumped slightly, Tiffany's voice jarring him out of his unhappy thoughts. "What?" he said, blinking and shrinking back at the way Tiffany and Tryg were just staring at him.

"Are you okay?" Tiffany asked gently. She was getting really really concerned about the way Connor was behaving. He hadn't been himself at all since coming home from the hospital yet again. He wasn't being the gigantic brat he normally was or the equally gigantic sweetheart he was capable of being when he felt like it. He was distant, obviously severely affected by his whole experience during his rescue mission. And while that was obviously to be expected, she didn't like the fact that he was obviously bottling it up. The more he bottled it up the more it seemed to torment him and she hated that. He couldn't handle it and it was so painfully obvious that it was breaking her heart.

"Yeah," Connor lied. "I'm okay."

Tiffany and Tryg both exchanged looks. They both knew he was full of shit but Tryg was too young to get why that was bad and Tiffany didn't know how to get him to open up without upsetting him. "Are you sure?" she finally asked hesitantly.

"Yes!" he snapped, getting defensive now which was never a good thing. "I'm fine!"

Snoopy cocked his head to the side at Connor's tone and began wagging his tail and trying to jump on him to get him to cheer up. Connor however, was not amused. "Stop it Snoopy!" he yelled, scaring the poor puppy half to death.

"Connor!" Tiffany exclaimed, more shocked than anything as Snoopy deflated and began to make crying noises.

Connor shook his head and just about burst into tears. "I'm sorry Snoopy," he quickly apologized. He pulled his puppy into his lap with his good arm and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I got a retarded brain telling me what to do I can't help it."

"Connor…" Tiffany shook her head and went over to him so she could pet his head. The poor boy needed some kind of help and he needed it fast. She wanted to give him some kind of help herself but she honestly didn't know what to do. She really didn't. Note to self: talk to James. And if he don't listen, slap him until he listens. Connor's his baby he has to do something about this.

James scrubbed his face with a wet rag, shaking his head at the way Thorn and Scarlett had just put a massive amount of make-up on him. He had let them give him a makeover and they had run wild with it. He literally felt like a tarted up whore and he was so busy trying to get the stuff off his face that he hadn't given a thought to getting rid of his fabulous pink fingernails Scarlett had so thoughtfully given him.

"Girls…" He chuckled and rinsed his face off, satisfied with how clean he had gotten himself. He knew that later on they were just going to want to do it again and he would happily let them because he was whipped. He was whipped and he was proud of it. Hell he was thinking about just keeping the pink nail polish on for awhile longer just because he knew the twins would enjoy seeing it.

"JAMIE! JAMIE DARLING! JAMIE! JAMIE! JAMIE!"

The sound of Mindy's yelling made him bolt from the bathroom to make sure nothing was the matter with his wife. But it became perfectly clear once he saw her bounding towards him while holding Elizabeth and the cupcakes he had made her that all the yelling was a good thing. "Baby Doll-"

"I love them Jamie!" she exclaimed, practically jumping all over him and pressing her lips against his. "I love them! Thank you Jamie!" She kissed him quite eagerly and he could kind of taste the cupcakes on her lips, which made him very very happy. "Ambie told me you made them for me-"

"Of course I did," he said, kissing her again before tapping her lightly on the nose. "I would make anything for you Baby Doll, you know that."

She giggled lightly and kissed him again. "I wanna finish them Jamie. I really do."

"So go ahead and do it Baby Doll," he encouraged. He wanted her to eat very very badly because she really needed it. She needed to put on weight again and go back to being his healthy Baby Doll.

"I'm going to Jamie," she promised him. "But I uh…need a special platter."

James raised his eyebrows. He could see the all too familiar twinkle in her eyes and he knew he was going to like where this idea was going. "Oh really now? A special platter? You think I could help you with that?"

Mindy stuck her tongue between her teeth and giggled loudly. "I sure hope so. I need all the help I can get Jamie."

"Well then…I can't let you be in need Baby Doll." He gave her one last kiss before leading her into their bedroom. Mindy set Lizzie Bear in her bassinet because she was happily chewing on Lammy and then grinned at James.

"I love it when you help me Jamie. You're so thoughtful. You're the biggest sweetheart ever."

"Well I try," he said with a grin. He took off his shirt and then flopped down on the bed. "I try very very hard for you Baby Doll."

She smiled and climbed on top of him before setting the tray of cupcakes down beside him. "You don't have to try hard for me Jamie. You always help me good." She took one of the cupcakes and broke it up into pieces so she could spread it around his chest. "Mmmm…yummy!"

He chuckled as she began to eat off of him, liking the way she made sure to kiss his chest with each and every single bite.

"I could eat off you forever," she informed him as she took another cupcake and did the same thing as she did with the first one, only this time she did it on his stomach. He watched her very intently, liking what he was seeing very very much. He could feel his cock starting to twitch inside the confines of his jeans and he arched up against her as much as she could to see if she would feel it too.

She giggled and grinded against him as she took another cupcake and started smearing the frosting all over his body. "From now on I want you to always make my cupcakes for me," she informed him. "Okay?"

"Of course," he agreed immediately. Like he would say anything else. "I'd make cupcakes for you forever and ever." He sucked in a quick breath as she began licking up the mess she made.

"Did you like that Jamie?" Mindy asked. She place the rest of the cupcake in his mouth and then began eating away at it, not stopping until she got to his lips which she kissed very happily.

"I loved it Baby Doll," he assured her. "And I love you."

"I love you more," she declared. She gave him another kiss before moving back so she could very slowly unbutton his jeans.

"I love the way you think," James said very eagerly. He helped her get his jeans off because they were now way too restricting. "You do need a much much bigger platter."

"Mhmm." Mindy giggled girlishly before taking another cupcake and just holding it while she stared at James. He was so beautiful and she wanted to cry because she still had a hard time believing that this was the man she was married to. He had chosen to spend the rest of his life with her and not anyone else even though she didn't deserve him. Sometimes she pinched herself to see if this was a dream because he was too good to be true. But either this really wasn't a dream or she was in a deep deep sleep she couldn't get out of (not that she wanted to-she was very fine where she was now).

"Baby Doll?" James asked, frowning slightly when he saw how watery her eyes were getting. "Are you okay? What's the matter?"

She sniffled and shook her head. "I'm fine." She blinked away her tears and got to work, smearing the frosting and breaking the cupcake into pieces all over James's lower body, purposefully ignoring his cock. He pouted his lips to try to get her to pay attention to it but she just went along her way, eating and licking and kissing and biting any other part of him she could get her mouth on.

"Fuck Baby Doll," he groaned, licking his lips and shaking his head in amazement. This teasing was getting absolutely unbearable. Her mouth was so close to him but yet it was so far from where he really wanted it to be.

"What is it Jamie?" she asked innocently. "Do you want my mouth somewhere else?" Her fingers reached out and very very lightly brushed against his cock, which made him groan loudly. "Is it there Jamie? Do you want my mouth there? You gotta tell me these things Jamie or I'm never going to know."

He licked his lips and nodded his head. "There. There Baby Doll." That was about as coherent as he could possibly be at the moment.

She smiled at his neediness before taking the last cupcake and holding it up playfully. "How bad would you say you needed my mouth?" she asked. "Can you tell me that my darling Jamie?" She took the frosting from the cupcake and began smearing it all over his dick, making him groan and arch up towards her fingers.

"I need it so fucking bad Baby Doll," he said, nodding along as he pleaded his case. "You have no fucking idea how bad I need it."

"Oh I think I do…" she sing songed as she ate the rest of the cupcake before swirling her tongue around just the head of his cock. "How's that Jamie?" she asked. "Is that good enough or do you need more?"

"More," he said immediately. He almost shouted it up he managed to control the volume of his voice at the last second.

"As long as you're sure." Teasing him was way too fun and she kept at it by just kissing her way up and down his length and then taking just the head of his cock into her mouth, lightly sucking on it and watching him as he struggled not to buck his hips up and force her to take more of him into her mouth. The combination of the frosting and the way he always tasted was a very nice combination and she began to take more and more of him into her mouth, sucking on him very greedily.

"Oh fuck," James groaned, grabbing on to the bed sheets so tightly that he just about ripped them to shreds. He was doing his best to watch her but her mouth felt so good that he had to throw his head back against the pillow and close his eyes. "I'm so fucking in love with your mouth Baby Doll." It was getting harder and harder to control his body's movements and he inadvertently bucked his hips up a couple times. She didn't complain though. She just continued to work him over with her mouth, not stopping until he came while moaning her name so loudly he probably got overheard by anyone who was in a nearby room.

Mindy made a show of swallowing every drop of his seed and squealed in delight as he pulled her back up towards him and rolled them over so he was on top of her. "I'm baking for you every day now," he decided, kissing her all over to repay her for the treatment she had just given him. "I hope you know that."

She just giggled and then moaned as his kisses started trailing lower and lower. If she got to eat it all off him afterwards she was perfectly okay with that wonderfully fantastic idea.

Cooper didn't know for just how long he just laid there and cried. His whole perception of time was out of whack. What he did know was that when he finally got control over himself was that his entire body was stiff as fuck and he couldn't stand the thought of staying in this apartment for another second. Not right now anymore. His nightmare was still freaking him the fuck out and he needed to just get away for awhile. Of course getting high was his ideal escape but it wasn't like he had anything just laying around. Every time he got his hands on some he used it all. He didn't mean to but once he started he couldn't stop. His self control went out the window every time he had an opportunity to escape from the hell that was his life.

He forced himself to stand up, nearly fainting because he suddenly became so light headed. At first he thought it was just because he stood up too fast but then he realized he hadn't ate anything since…well since he didn't remember when. He held on to his stomach and closed his eyes, actually believing that he was going to faint. But for whatever reason he stayed conscious and he stumbled out of the bedroom, heading towards the front door when he bumped directly into Taylor.

"Where do you think you're going rich boy?" she asked as she helped him keep his footing.

"I gotta get out," he told her. "I gotta get out I gotta get out like right now."

"And go where? Go get high again? Can I tell you the reasons why I can't let that happen?"

He groaned in frustration. "You can't make me stay here! It's too small I can't fucking breathe!" He began clawing at his arms as his body trembled uncontrollably. He was freaking out to the point where he really couldn't breathe. His lungs felt like they were being crushed by a horribly heavy weight so it hurt to even just inhale.

"Cooper stop," Taylor ordered, doing her best to get him to stop scratching at himself. "Stop!" She grabbed his wrists and shook her head. "Cooper don't baby. Don't do that."

"I can't breathe," he said miserably. "Please let me out I can't breathe!"

"Okay okay!" Taylor knew agreeing to this wasn't the best idea but what else could she do? She couldn't just let him just stand there and freak out right in front of her. "We'll go for a walk, okay?" She grabbed his hand and began to pull him along, getting him outside as fast as she could. "There. Is that better?"

He let out a long breath, feeling slightly better that he was out in the fresh air. His trembling refused to cease though. It just kept going and going; he had no control of his body anymore and it sucked.

"Rich boy?"

"It's better," he said with a nod. "A little. Thanks."

"No problem." She tightened her grip on his hand and kept as close to him as possible so he wouldn't just take off running on her. They walked in silence for several minutes, with Cooper doing her very best to just forget about his dream all together. He wanted to repress it all and never think about it again but he couldn't. Joie's managed and bloody face was seared in his mind and the words he had said were ringing in his ears. He knew Joie was right and that knowing made it impossible to forget about it like he wished he could.

"Who's Joie?" Taylor asked quietly.

Cooper stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"Joie. You were screaming that when you woke up-"

"No. No I wasn't."

"Yes you were. I heard you say Joie." She blinked, taken aback by the expression on his face. "Who is he?"

"None of your business," he growled. Where did she get off asking about Joie? No…no no no she couldn't fucking know. She didn't deserve to know.

"Rich boy-"

"Drop it. Just drop it." He couldn't even begin to discuss Joie. He could barely talk about him to Mindy without his heart shattering in pieces so he couldn't even begin to start talking about him to Taylor. "If you fucking care about me as much as you say you do then you'll drop this right now."

"Okay," she said quickly. She licked her lips nervously. He was seriously freaking her out with his reaction. He actually looked like he was going to become completely unhinged. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

He growled in response, still not satisfied because the damage was still done. Joie was still on his mind and it made him feel like he was drowning once again. He needed to have an escape now more than ever. He had to get so high he would either never come down again or die; the latter being the preferred option because then he would never feel anything again.

Before he could let go of her hand and take off so he could try to find himself some medicine, he was blinded by dozens of flashing lights. "What the fuck?" he yelled as Taylor cursed alongside him.

"Cooper! Cooper! Who is this girl with you? Is there any truth to the stories that you're on drugs? Are you high right now Cooper? Cooper!"

"Oh fuck me," he groaned as he blinked to regain his vision. He and Taylor were absolutely surrounded by paparazzi. They were all up in his business, taking his picture like he was some freak at the circus.

"Cooper what do you have to say about the new abuse allegations that are being made about your father towards your step-mother?"

"What?" Cooper said incredulously. "What are you talking about?"

"Your father yanked your mother from all scheduled appearances and is isolating her." There was so many photographers around that he couldn't tell who was talking. "That monster that was her first husband-"

"Dad isn't like him," Cooper snapped. He didn't know why he was coming to James's defense right now, given everything that had gone on between them. It was probably just instinct. That was the only reasonable explanation. "Dad never-"

"Did he ever hit your biological mother?"

"NO!" Cooper shouted, balling up his fists and shaking his head. "And he's not hitting Mom either so shut up!"

"What caused the fallout with you and your family? What is your side of the story?"

"None of your business." He grabbed Taylor's hand and started trying to make an escape.

"Cooper! What do you say to the reports of your brother's undiagnosed retardation?"

Taylor's eyes widened as Cooper whirled around. "Rich boy don't-"

"You fucking freaks leave my brother alone!" he shouted angrily. "You fucking stay away from him, you hear me?" That was the last thing Connor needed; having the whole world calling him retarded. That probably was the real diagnosis but with the way people always just threw it around, that was the last thing he needed to be called.

The paparazzi just kept flashing their cameras, not giving a shit about anything he said because it wasn't what they wanted to hear. "Cooper did you see the attack Mindy took part in after her last performance?"

"No but I heard she kicked some major ass," he shot back.

"She went off after being asked about you and your drug use. What are your comments about that?"

"What is your relationship like with her now?"

"Is she involved with you and your father like some kind of wh-"

Cooper didn't even let that jackass finish that sentence. Out of rage and annoyance he speared the guy to the ground and began hitting him over and over again, literally trying to beat the guy's face in until Taylor forcibly yanked him off and dragged him away before somebody could call the cops and have him arrested.