A/N: So I kind of just had this idea that I write in my own Hunter into Hunter Street. Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Nickelodeon except my OC and her backstory.
Chapter One: The New Hunter
Maximilian (Max) is standing in the street looking for Tim. When he spots Tim he walks over saying,
"Tim, we meet again. It's so great to be back in Amsterdam. Love this town."
"Hello, Maximilian. Do you think you can at least try to get along with this foster family?" Tim asks him.
"Who's Maximilian?" Max asks Tim. He looks behind him to see if Tim is talking to someone else.
"Sorry, Max. No more 3:00 A.M. hip-hop concert. No more bubble wrap under the toilet seat. And no more stray dog stampedes." Tim tells him.
"I-" Max starts but is cut off by Tim,
"I mean it!"
"I didn't have anything to do with those dogs," Max defends himself.
"Then how did they get into the house?" Tim asks
"Maybe they had their own key?" Max suggests.
"This is your last chance. I'm all out of families. If it doesn't work out with the Hunter's, you're going to have to go to Blackfriars." This does not go over well with Max.
"The orphanage?" he asks with disgust written all over his face, "I hear they serve nothing but gruel seven days a week!" he argues.
"That's not true," Tim tells him, "they serve it six days a week. And on Sundays, you go hungry."
"What?" Max asks, completely believing what Tim tells him.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Tim reveals, "but I can guarantee that the Hunter's is nicer. Now, if I could only find it." Max decides to guide Tim and so they make their way to the Hunter house. As they ride the bike Tim informs Max about the Hunter's. How they've already taken in five foster kids and how they all get along great. Then they end up getting food because Max wasn't guiding Tim to the Hunter house.
~At the Hunter house~
Sal walks into the rec room with two bottles of soda. He has a giant, goofy smile on his face, and Anika is giddy beside him.
"Now, Sal? Can I do it now?" she asks with excitement.
"Take it easy, Anika," Sal responds, "We have to do both bottles at the same time." Anika is waiting with a piece of mint over one bottle when Sal realizes he needs another person. So he starts asking around the room. First Daniel, who thinks he's too busy. Then Tess, who doesn't even say anything. And finally, Emmy, who was hunched over a computer saying no.
"Why do we need somebody else?" Anika asks, "Just do it yourself."
"I can't. I need to record the results for later analysis."
They both sigh as Erik walks in asking,
"What are you monsters up to?"
"We're doing an experiment!"
"Trying to. I need another research assistant," Sal corrects.
"What kind of experiment?"
"Carbon dioxide reactivity."
"We're going to see which soda shoots higher, normal or diet colazzer," Anika explains.
"You want to do this in the house?" Erik questions. Anika and Sal look to each other before Sal says, more like asks,
"For science?"
"Sounds good to me!" And the three of them are about to do the experiment when the doorbell rings and Kate enters the doorway announcing what they knew from the doorbell, then rushes off to answer the door. Erik gives all of them a little speech about welcoming Maximillian as a Hunter and they all go to greet him. Except for Tess.
"Tess," Erik says, "Can I at least get a thumbs up?" She gives him one and he shrugs.
Everyone besides Kate is standing in a line as Kate opens the door from the mudroom for Maximilian. He comes in to see everyone and comments that the house looks like a museum. Which Erik tells him,
"Well, it is a museum, at least part-time. But most importantly it's your new home." Max nods as he asks a little more about the museum. Then Erik decides it's time for him to be introduced to everyone.
"This is Anika," Max gives her a fist bump, "Sal," Sal gives an enthusiastic fist bump, "Emmy," Emmy lightly hits her fist against Max's, "Tess," Max holds out his fist and she ignores it until Erik clears his throat and she shakes his closed fist, "And this big guy is Daniel."
"Dude! You are cut like canned ham!" Max exclaims as Daniel shows off his muscles. Tess and Emmy snicker at Max quietly.
"Is adopting kids from all over the world your thing or something?" Max asks Erik. Erik laughs and says,
"No, The Hunters adopted me when I was a kid. Brought me over from the UK. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm just paying it forward."
"It's gonna take me a while to learn everyone's names, so in the meantime," Max proceeds to give out nicknames. Sal is Megabrain since he 'looks smart'. Emmy is given Raven because of her raven black hair. Tess is Alt Girl, while Daniel is Canned Ham.
"What about me?" Anika asks
"I think I'll call you Spunky Monkey."
"Can I call you Dude Bro?"
"You can call me anything, except for Maximilian," Max says, "So what do you guys do for fun around here?"
"Well actually, Sal is in the middle of a scientific experiment. He needs another research assistant. Interested?"
"Sounds kinda boring," Max admits. Sal looks down, a little sad, and Anika jumps in saying,
"Not this experiment!"
"If you say so spunky."
So soon enough everyone is in the rec room while Sal and Anika give Max the goggles and mint.
"Is it my breath? I brushed before I came here," Max says and Sal gives him a disbelieving look, "all right, not really, but..." Max almost puts the mint in his mouth, but Erik tells him to wait as Anika explains,
"The mint is for the experiment. When Sal gives the signal, drop it in the soda."
"Huh?" Max asks, obviously confused.
Everyone looks on with anticipation as Sal tells them to drop the mints. The sodas bubble up and shoot from the bottles. Everyone shouts words of amazement as they watch the soda show. And then it was over. Sal wrote down the results and the others started to go back to what they were doing before.
"Now let's show Max around the house. Who wants to do the honors?" Erik asks. Sal immediately volunteers and starts with the room they're in the rec room. Sal shows Max the kitchen, Anika and Emmy's room, Daniel's room, library, outside of Tess' room, and their room.
Kate comes by asking about pizza. Sal orders his special and Kate gets Max a pulled pork and peaches part of the pizza. All of the family is at the dining room table. They're eating, talking, and laughing. Anika's wrestling her hand from Daniel's grip when Max asks Sal,
"So, have you been here the longest?"
"Actually, Anika's been here for the longest."
"Erik and Kate adopted me when I was just a baby," Anika said with a smile.
"And I've been in the family for five… five years," Sal says, "Daniel and Tess were already here when I came."
"We were such an awesome family… before Sal came," Tess comments. Sal looks at her, confused with a pizza slice sticking out of his mouth.
"Kidding!" she says.
"What about you, Emmy?" Max asks
"Three years. Best family ever," Emmy replies.
"I don't know, in all the other foster families I've been in, it always felt like an extra chair or something," Max says, "It's pretty cool you guys call this your family."
"We don't just call it a family, we are a family," Daniel says with his mouth full of pizza. Everyone nods to what Daniel said.
"Cheers," Sal begins, "To Max."
"Cheers!" everybody says as the glasses clink together. The laughter and joy of conversation continue.
Later that night Kate comes into Max's room.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Just wanted to see how you're doing. Do you need anything?" she asks
"Uh, no. Everythings great," he says, "you're all so great."
"So Max, I don't know too much about your history or what you've been through, but if there's ever anything you want to talk about, Erik and I are here for you, okay?" she asks and he nods, "Of course, you don't have to. It's only if you feel like it. What's important to me is that you realize that this is your house now."
He looks around taking in what she's saying.
"This is your home." With that Kate gets up and heads towards the door.
"I, uh, like your dress," Max says before she leaves the room.
"Well, thank you. Erik and I are going to the opera."
"Have fun."
She says goodbye and heads down the stairs. That's when Max hears a voice he hasn't heard yet that day.
"Don't be an idiot, Hunter."
"Please lower your voice," Erik says quietly. Max can't help himself as he quietly goes to see what's going on. A man is trying to buy the Hunter house from Erik. Trying to sell him islands for each kid. But Erik is stubborn and won't sell the house no matter what. Even Kate doesn't seem to like this Mr. Brule, as she calls him. Max smiles when he sees Mr. Brule retreating from buying the house and the way nothing gets between Erik and Kate.
The next morning Anika is up first, like usual, but Erik and Kate aren't in bed when she passes their open door.
"Erik? Kate?" she asks with no response, "Guys, wake up! Erik and Kate are gone!" she yells to the house. Sal, Emmy, Tess, and Daniel are at the door within a few seconds.
"This is the voicemail of Erik Hunter. Messages after the beep." Is what Sal hears as he tries to contact Erik, again. He informs the others about the voicemail. Daniel is busy doing sit-ups while punching the air with weights in his hands. Tess is reading a book, and Emmy is making sure Anika doesn't go overboard with the what-ifs.
"Maybe they stayed at a hotel or something," Tess suggests.
"Why would they do that?" Emmy asks
"And why wouldn't they call?" Sal adds
"Maybe… they didn't want to wake us up!" Anika exclaims.
"29...30," Daniel counts.
"Are you gonna keep doing that?" Tess asks, annoyed.
"Exercise helps me clear my head."
"All you do is exercise!"
"And my head is always clear," Daniel says with a cocky smile. Tess rolls her eyes and Anika announces she's hungry.
"Oh, Kate always makes breakfast," Sal realizes. Daniel is quick to his feet, but Tess is first to say,
"I'll do it!" they all look at her in confusion, "What? I'm a great cook." Soon the Tess special was served; burnt pancakes.
"What's this?" Daniel asks when he sees the pancakes.
"It looks really bad," Anika comments as Sal holds a pancake up for inspection.
"It's all burnt," Sal says.
"Way to point out the obvious," Emmy says as she judges the pancakes on her plate.
"Good morning, my peeps," Max says as he walks in and sits down, "what's for breakfast? Maybe I'll order in." Max says after seeing the pancakes.
"We have a problem," Sal tells him, "Kate and Erik didn't come home last night."
"What do you mean they didn't come home?"
"This is totally unlike them," Tess says.
"And we have no idea where they could be," Emmy comments.
"But I'm sure they're fine," Tess says, noticing the looks on Anika and Sal's faces. Daniel stops eating as they all look at each other in a moment of silence.
"What do we do?" Max asks.
"We stay calm as Sal tracks Erik's cell phone," Emmy says pointing to Sal.
"Here…it… comes!" Sal shows everyone the screen tracking Erik's phone.
"Phone not found. Great. Can we freak out now?" Max asks. Daniel starts to exercise, suddenly. Emmy rolls her eyes at him.
"Does he always do that in a crisis?" Max asks
"He's just clearing his head," Anika says, "How's your head, Daniel?" Daniel takes a moment to think then says,
"Could be clearer."
"Last night, before they went to the opera, I heard Erik arguing with someone. He called him… Brule. Do you think this guy did something?" Max asks
"They have an argument like once a week," Tess tells him, "Mr. Brule's been trying to buy the house. He's a bit of a jerk, but basically harmless."
"Well, I don't understand why we're just sitting around. We should go look for Erik and Kate," Max says.
"We should go to the opera house!" Emmy proclaims.
"That's a great idea! Let's do it, come on!" Sal says as the three of them head towards the opera house. Tess is trying to get them to eat her awful pancakes on their way out. Daniel only notices them gone after they've left.
At the Opera house, Sal is explaining to Max and Emmy that the Sunday matinee is currently happening. And how Erik takes him sometimes.
"You like opera?" Max asks
"Oh, yeah!" Sal says then rethinking what Max said, "I mean, it's okay."
"Let's just go," Emmy says impatiently as she walks towards the opera house. They wait in line and almost get in when,
"Oh, oh, oh. Tickets, please. Tickets, please," the ticket guy says as they try to walk in. Sal is about to explain to the ticket guy how their parents were at the opera when Emmy pulls out a ticket from her pocket.
"Here's my ticket, these two thought they could just tag along."
"Well, you can't. Good day. Enjoy the show."
"Erik and Kate's seats?" Emmy asks Sal
"Balcony, seats six and seven," Sal whispers to her. She nods and heads along.
At the Hunter house, Tess walks into Erik and Kate's room. She looks around and under the bed. Anika's head pops down from on top of the bed.
"What are you doing?" she asks
"Looking for clues," Tess says
"Tess, there's nothing here."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Tess admits. Tess gets up from the floor and joins Anika on the bed. She notices a picture of Erik and Kate. Anika's eyes follow Tess' to the painting.
"Do you think they're okay?" Anika asks, "Tell me the truth. Just because I'm the youngest doesn't mean people should lie to me."
"I do think they're okay. I really do."
"Then where could they be?" Anika isn't' expecting an answer from Tess and looks away sadly. Tess watches her and comes up with an idea. She hits Anika's head with a pillow.
"What are you doing? This isn't helping," Anika complains, but she now has a smile on her face.
"But it sure is fun," Tess replies as they start an epic pillow fight. With some squeals here and there, and pillows waving around wildly. Then the pillow in Anika's hands accidentally flings from her grasp and hits the painting of Erik and Kate. The painting falls to the ground.
"We're in trouble now," Anika says. All Tess responds with is a high pitched,
"Eeh!" As they go to pick up the painting Anika points something out that is placed in the frame. Tess pulls it out to find a rolled-up piece of paper. Unrolling it they find a picture of two men.
"Who are they?" Anika asks
"I don't know that either, but I do know one thing. Anika, we just found our first clue!" Tess exclaimed. Daniel is looking at How to cook your first meal. He comes across canned ham.
"Canned ham, I don't think so," he says aloud.
"You mad bro?" Tess asks as she and Anika enter the rec room, "Just because Max didn't give you a cool nickname like Alt Girl."
"Or Spunky Monkey." Anika does a little dance pose for her nickname.
"Who cares what some twerp calls me?" Daniel asks as if he doesn't, "Whatcha got there?" Tess hands him the paper.
"We found it in Kate and Erik's room. It was hidden behind the painting of them," Tess says.
"Two old geezers in weird clothes. Big whoop," Daniel says sarcastically as he hands back the paper.
"Danny, aren't you worried about Erik and Kate?" Tess asks
"Of course I am, but I'm sure there's a logical explanation, and they're going to walk in that door any minute."
"Don't you think it's kind of weird that it was hidden?" Tess asks, "I mean, why would they do that?" Tess gives the paper to Daniel again. Daniel's eyes narrow as he inspects it a second time.
"There's something written on it. Saga?" Daniel says aloud.
"What's Saga?" Anika asks.
"Looks like there's more to it," Tess says as she inspects the paper, "but it's too faint to read."
(Suspenseful music as we change scenery)
Back at the Opera house Max and Sal are waiting outside for Emmy.
"How did she even get a ticket?" Max asks
"I… don't know," Sal says as he ponders that. The line is almost gone to the opera house and the doors are soon to close.
In the opera house, Emmy is wandering around. She finally gets to the auditorium scanning for seats six and seven. There are some people near those seats and she awkwardly gets by them. At the seats, she looks around before getting on the floor. She uses the flashlight from her phone to see. There looks to be an old ticket that she reaches for.
"Bingo," she whispers
and starts to make her way out of the auditorium. The ticket guy from earlier is looking around. He points to her and she sees him tell the guards around him something, but can't make it out from where she is. The guards seem to be chasing her, though as she quickly tries to find the exit. Only she doesn't know this place as well as Sal does and ends up getting caught.
"Dang," she whispers to herself as they escort her out of the opera house. At least they hadn't found the ticket.
"You could be nicer about it!" she yelled to the guards as they threw her out.
"What happened?" Max asks
"Are you okay?" Sal asks.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Emmy tells them, "And I found this." She shows them the ticket.
"Let's see what's for dinner," Daniel says as he looks at a bottle of red sauce. A few minutes later, the fire alarm is going off, smoke fills the entire kitchen, food is everywhere, as Daniel panics around the kitchen.
"What's happening?" Tess yells over the alarm.
"Nothing," Daniel states falsely, "I'm just making dinner. It'll be ready in five minutes." Another alarm starts to beep, "better make it ten."
The doorbell rings and Daniel is quick to get it. At the door is a policewoman.
"Daniel, is everything okay? I heard the alarm. Should I call the fire department?" she asks
"Yes. I mean, no," Daniel says, "Um, I mean, your fine." And Daniel starts to go into a daydream about her until she asks him if his parents are home. Snapping out of his daydream he says,
"Uh, yeah. That's exactly where they are… home. I mean, where else would they be at dinnertime? Um, Kate is actually helping me. Or well, I'm helping her. It's all good."
"All right," she says, "well, enjoy your spaghetti."
"How'd you know we're having spaghetti?" he asks as if it isn't all over him. She swipes sauce from his cheek and says,
"Just a hunch. See ya."
Daniel mopes when he sees the kitchen disaster he made again.
"I just wanted to surprise you guys with a healthy, home-cooked meal," he says to Anika and Tess, "I'm useless." He looks at the spaghetti he made in disappointment.
"No, you're not. We tasted your sauce," Tess says
"What'd you think?" Daniel asks
"It was good."
"What's your secret?" Anika asks him. Daniel gets excited to tell them how he opened the bottle of sauce when Emmy, Max, and Sal come rushing in.
"Did they come home?" Sal asks immediately. Tess shakes her head, "Call, text?" he continues. Anika joins in the head-shaking then.
"Oh, you guys are just in time for dinner," Anika tells them.
"Yeah, nice decoration job," Max notices the kitchen walls, "spaghetti sauce on the walls really ties the room together."
"Oh, ha-ha."
"So you guys were gone for a long time. Did you find anything?" Tess asks. Emmy pulls out the ticket she found under Kate and Erik's seats.
"Found it under Erik and Kate's seats," Emmy says
"It's Kate's handwriting, no doubt," Sal points out.
"Any idea what it means?" Max asks
"Saganash?" Tess reads aloud. They're quickly in the living room, Tess showing the picture with 'saga' written under it.
"It was behind that hideous picture of Erik and Kate."
"Saga," Sal reads
"As in Saganash," Tess finishes.
"I think something's happened to Erik and Kate," Max says, "something serious."
"I'm calling the police," Daniel says. Tess imitates a buzzer and says,
"Wrong answer."
"Huh?"
"Because they'll call child services," Max says, "who will put us in new foster homes. And no foster family will take all of us. Which means that…"
"They'll split us up," Sal finishes
"No!" Anika cries.
"Or worse, send us to Blackfriars orphanage," Max says, Emmy does a little shiver, "AKA house of gruel."
"Nobody's splitting us up," Tess says, "We all came from different places. We may not look alike or have the same blood, but we're family. Family stays together, am I right?"
"Definitely!"
"Right."
"Sure!"
"So… what do we do?" Sal asks
A/N: Yay! Wrote the whole episode! That might not always happen. Thanks for reading please review!