Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's reading this… (Are there people reading this? I don't know… I'm posting all this stuff up together…)

Reviews: I love praise! But then again, who doesn't like having their ego inflated? J Um, as for criticism, NO FLAMES! Flames are mean and mean people suck… hehe… I'll take constructive criticism. And if there's anything you don't quite understand, e-mail me and let me know!

Disclaimer: I'm broke, don't sue!

Actual disclaimer: Hasbro, Sunbow, Marvel, and everyone else owns G.I. Joe. I'm simply borrowing their characters for my own fictional purposes. The only thing I own are my invented children.

Just in case disclaimer: In the event you do end up wanting to sue me for "stealing" something, I'm warning you ahead of time I have nothing of worth… just a lot of college loan debt…

The kids had finally gotten all their stories straight by 8:00 that night and they were allowed to get something to eat. Most of them were starving because they hadn't been allowed to get anything to eat. Many of them hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning.

"Man, I hope there's something decent to eat in this mess hall," Beth said.

"Beth, it's a mess hall. It could be called school cafeteria and it would still taste the same- gross," Abby told her.

"Ew," Beth said as she crinkled her nose in disgust. "Can't we just order a pizza or something?"

"With what money?" Alayna asked.

"I have some on me," Hallie said. "Carla and I were shopping earlier. We have our purses."

"And I have a little in my wallet," Alicia said.

"We can't just blow all our money the first night we're here though," Kaelin told them. "I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck know that these are the only clothes I have with me and I'm planning on going shopping for something decent tomorrow."

"Decent?" Shannon asked. "We're stuck in the eighties. Big hair, tri-color socks, hi-top sneakers, skintight jeans, hideously oversized sweaters-"

"How do you know so much about eighties fashion?" Carla asked her.

"I watch reruns of eighties TV shows," Shannon told her.

"Well, we need to find something other than these clothes to live in," Kaelin argued.

"We'll deal with it later," Chris said. "I just want to find something to eat now."

They all walked in silence for a few moments until they arrived at the mess hall. Cole, Chris, and Alayna immediately ran towards the kitchen. "FOOD!" the three of them yelled in unison.

Beth and Abby laughed. "Hey, save some for us!" they shouted.

"If you kids want something good to eat then you kids are in for a real treat," came a voice from inside the kitchen. They all looked up to see Alicia and Matt's father standing in the doorway leading inside, blocking Cole, Alayna and Chris from entering.

"You're gonna cook for us, Mr. Hinton?" Annie asked.

"Oh, please say yes," Danny said. "All of us know you're the best cook amongst all of us here." Alicia cleared her throat loudly and gave him a very sharp look. "Well, besides Ali, of course," he added quickly.

Roadblock looked at Alicia with interest. "You think you can cook as good as me, well then get over here and let me see," he said to her.

"You're on," Alicia said with a grin. "But I'm gonna warn you, every recipe you've ever taught me, I only improved on."

Her father laughed at that. "Prove it."

Forty-five minutes later, the kids were all sitting around a large table in the cafeteria and literally inhaling the chicken piccata and angel hair pasta that Alicia and Roadblock had whipped up. "Ali, this is absolutely amazing," Alayna told her. "I wish I knew how to cook as well as you."

"It's a gift," she said with a smile and a shrug.

"Any chance of sharing a little with us?" Beth asked.

"She already did," Matt said with a grin. "With me."

"There's no need to gush over this," Cassandra said airily. "It's good, just not as good as what the cook at my grandmother's house makes for us regularly."

"Good for you," Annie said sarcastically. "Some of us just aren't as privileged as you."

"Guys, can we not start a fight over this," Emily said quietly. "We've had enough stress today and having a fight is only going to make all of us more tense."

"Emmy's right," David said. "Let's just all take a deep breath and enjoy our food and then find somewhere to crash for the night because I'm exhausted."

Abby laughed. "You know what's funny?" she asked everyone in between her giggles. "This morning, Beth and Dave and I were stressing out about our biology regents like it was the end of the universe if we didn't pass it. Now look at us. Our final seems like a cakewalk in comparison to the rest of the day."

"Oh, my god!" Shannon exclaimed. "I totally forgot that you guys had a final exam today! How was it?"

"Easy," Beth said. "Thanks to Abby and Dave's excellent tutoring."

"She gives us too much credit," Abby said, rolling her eyes. "She knew the stuff cold, she was just playing dumb so we could have an excuse to hang out with me during finals week."

"Hey, you said those study sessions really helped you!" Beth argued.

"They did," Abby conceded. "I'll admit I probably would have failed if I didn't study."
"Fail?" Beth asked incredulously. "You're the last person who had to worry about failing. You got straight A's all year in bio."

"Yeah, but if I failed the final-"

"You would have had to repeat the whole year," Beth and David finished with a roll of their eyes.

The rest of the kids laughed at their response. "I'm guessing you've had this conversation before?" Danny asked.

"Only about fifty times a day," Beth said, looking sharply at Abby.

"And what's so bad about being concerned over my grades?" Abby argued.

"Nothing. But you're obsessed," Beth told her.

Abby stuck her tongue out at Beth in response.

"I'm ready for dessert," Alayna announced. Everyone's heads snapped in her direction and looked at her now empty plate.

"You're still hungry?" Hallie asked her.

"She's always hungry," Chris said, rolling his eyes at his little sister.

"Geez, I'll never understand how you stay so tiny when you eat so much," Kaelin told her.

"High metabolism," Alayna said with a shrug.

"Hey, does anybody want some ice cream?" Abby's father's voice said from behind them. The kids turned in their chairs and saw him and Ace, Cover Girl, Mainframe, and Wild Bill with their arms loaded with half gallons of ice cream and an assortment of toppings including chocolate syrup, butterscotch, and sprinkles.

"Hell, yeah!" Alayna said happily. "Just put it right here in front of me."

"Put it on that table over there," Chris told them, pointing to a table across the mess hall. "If you put it in front of her, there won't be any left for the rest of us." He shot his sister a smirk, which earned him a good-natured slap to the forearm from Alayna.

"Here, let me help you with that stuff," Abby offered, taking some of the tubs of ice cream from her father. She walked over to the table next to where her friends were sitting and began taking the lids of the tubs of ice cream. Shipwreck and Cover Girl were busily placing the toppings and the bowls and spoons out for the kids.

"Come and get it guys!" Abby said happily. "They got all the good flavors!"

Beth walked over and began to name all the available ice creams for her to choose from. "Cookies and Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Coffee- ew- Vanilla Fudge Swirl, Orange Sherbet, Butter Pecan- hey, there's no Cookie Dough?" she asked them.

"Cookie Dough ice cream?" Cover Girl asked. "Never heard of it. Sounds like it would be pretty good though."

"Never heard of it?" Beth asked incredulously. "But that's your favorite flavor! You get it all the time when we go to Patty's!"

"To where?"

Abby jumped in then to save Beth. "Uh, Beth? Reminder… we're in the eighties. Possible that Cookie Dough wasn't around then."

Beth looked at Abby like she had three heads, but conceded that she had a point. "Maybe. But I couldn't imagine life without Cookie Dough ice cream."

"Who's Patty?" Cover Girl asked.

"Oh, she's the lady who owns our favorite ice cream shop at home," Abby explained quickly. "Beth, just pick a flavor in there and make yourself a little mini-sundae before Layna eats it all."

"So what brings y'all down here?" Chris asked.

"Well, we were talking before, and we figured it might be nice to try and get to know you kids a little bit," Cover Girl said. "Outside of the whole military thing," she added, when she noticed all of them tense up over the possibility of going through questioning again.

"Where's the rest of our parents?" Cole asked.

"They're… around," Wild Bill told them. "Some of them had a duty shift."

"Others are still absorbing the shock," Ace added.

"Well, they'll just have to get over it," Hallie said. "We're here, we're real, and probably not going to go anywhere anytime soon."

"Oh, we found these bags, in an empty room at the other end of the base," Cover Girl said, pointing over to a set of shopping bags that she had placed on a chair at the end of the table the ice cream was laid out on.

"Oh, those are mine and Hallie's," Carla said. "We were shopping in Quincy Market earlier and I was holding the bags before we showed up here."

"Any clothes in there?" Kaelin asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Can I borrow something to wear tomorrow?"

"NO! This is what I'm going to wear!" Carla exclaimed.

"I was going to suggest taking some of you kids to buy some new clothes tomorrow," Cover Girl suggested. "We're not quite sure how long you'll be here and I know you probably don't want to live in the same clothes for more than a day or so."

"I'm already ready to change my clothes," Kaelin said. "These are covered in horse hair."

"Oh, come on Kay," her brother teased. "A little dirt won't kill you."

She shot her brother a dirty look and crinkled her nose in disgust. "I'm ready for a shower, a good book, and a long nap. The only good thing about still being in these clothes is that my Palm Pilot is still in my pocket."

"You brought your Palm Pilot on the trail ride?" Cole asked her incredulously. "Kay, you know I love you, but you're just a little anal."

"What's a Palm Pilot?" Mainframe asked.

"It's a handheld electronic organizer- a miniature computer, if you will," she explained. "It's my lifeline to ultimate organization."

"One thing you should know about your daughter," Cole said to Mainframe, "is that she is the most ultra-organized human being on earth."

"What's so bad about being organized?" he asked.

"She makes organization look like an extreme sport," he said.

"And it's a good thing I do," Kaelin retorted. "Without me, you'd fall apart, Mr. Slob-of-the-Year."

Chris and Danny snickered. "Don't you guys side with her now too," Cole complained.

"Sorry man," Danny said. "But she's right."

"Yeah, without Kaelin keeping you together, you'd never get anything done," Chris added.

Cole looked temporarily hurt before Mainframe stepped in. "Hey, don't worry about it," he told Cole. "I was a little messy as a kid too. It'll get better, I promise."

"Thanks, Dad. But you always tell me that, and I still feel like it's helpless," Cole said with a frown.

"Okay, first things first. Call me Mainframe. This is still a little weird for me to be called Dad. And second off, listen to your dad. He knows what he's talking about, even if it doesn't seem like it right now."

Cole smiled and nodded. "I'll have to remember that the next time my dad has that talk with me."

"AHA!" Hallie cried out triumphantly. Everyone's heads snapped in her direction as she pulled out what appeared to be the photo envelope. "The pictures from Abby and Beth and Dave's party are still here," she said happily.

"Are these the ones you took?" Abby asked excitedly.

"Mm-hmm. I showed them to Carla earlier," Hallie said.

"You took them?" Ace asked her skeptically.

"Yeah, I do amateur photography," Hallie explained. "I took photography in school this year and I kinda fell in love with it. My parents are supposed to be building me a dark room so I can develop film at home instead of just using the lab at school."

"So you developed these too?"

"Yeah, I'm into the whole process."

"So lemme see these pictures!" Beth said.

"They are amazing!" Carla gushed. "I saw them at lunch today."

"Ooh!" Emily said. "Hallie, please tell me you made doubles of these!"

"I could," she said. "I brought the negatives too."

"Hey, this is a really great one of Laura," Dave said as he showed Abby a picture of their friend Laura Rizzo.

"Was she the one saying that she was the Tick?" Danny said. Abby nodded. "Yeah, she was pretty funny."

"Hey, look at the cute picture of Alayna and Chris!" Alicia teased.

"Beth! You and Abby look soo good!" Annie said.

"A.J., I still can't believe that you and Matt did the running man!" Abby giggled, referring to her friend from school, Matt McManus.

"I can," Danny teased. "Everyone knows that A.J. likes to be the center of attention."

"Yeah, but so does Matt," Abby pointed out. "The two of them together was priceless."

"Oh, hey, here's one with your family, Kay," Hallie told Kaelin.

"I don't remember you getting a picture of us," Cole said.

"Yeah, it was right after dessert," Kaelin reminded him. "Mom and Dad were going to dance and we happened to be walking by when Hallie got all of us together for a picture."

"Oh, yeah."

"Could I see that?" Mainframe asked.

"Sure," Kaelin said, handing him the picture.

He looked carefully at the picture and saw both the children smiling happily, looking like they were having a good time at the party. He was standing next to his son, and he noticed that his hair was almost completely gray rather than the dark brown it was now. Kaelin was standing next to a woman he assumed was going to be his wife. Kaelin had her arm around her mother and a big smile was spread across both their faces. His future wife looked familiar to him, like he had met her before but he couldn't exactly remember where. The woman had green eyes and red-blonde hair that was pulled back into bun. She wore a knee-length pale pink dress and had a warm smile on her face. The woman reminded him a lot of Zar- "Holy shit," Mainframe said out loud. He caught himself but not until the words were out of his mouth.

"What's wrong, Da- I mean, Mainframe," Cole corrected himself.

"Oh, uh, nothing. Nothing really. Um, Hallie? Could I borrow this for a little bit?" he asked, pointing to the picture in his hands.

Hallie shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I can always whip up another copy later."

"I'll give it back later, I promise. And uh, Kaelin, Cole, if you guys have a few minutes, maybe you two would like to see just what it is I do all day around here," he offered his future children.

Kaelin smiled. "Cool. I always wanted to see the computer you got to work with," she told him.

"How'd you know-"

"You told me once that you worked extensively with computers while working here," Kaelin explained. "It's probably why I have such an interest in computers myself."

"I'll tag along, I suppose. I know next to nothing about computers hardware, but I'm sure I'll find something to interest me," Cole said.

"Yeah, he can surf the Internet, write his papers for school, and play the SIMS, but past that, he's clueless," Kaelin said teasingly.

"Hey," he warned, a huge grin threatening to spread across his face. "I can burn CD's too."

Kaelin laughed. "Okay, you win." Kaelin ran over to her friends and told them where she was going before heading off towards the control room with her father and brother.

Once they were out in the hallway, Cole turned to his father and asked, "What was that back there?"

"What was what?" Mainframe asked, feigning ignorance.

"With the picture. You saw the picture and got really pale. What was in that picture that made you upset?"

Mainframe rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath before facing Cole and Kaelin. "Um, it was seeing who your mother will be. It was just a little…" he paused as he tried to find the right word for his children. "It was shocking." He continued walking down the hall, leaving the two teenagers to try to keep up with him.

"Shocking? How so?" Cole pressed on. "Do you already know her? Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Just follow me," Mainframe said flatly. "I'll do my best to answer your questions when we get to the control room."

!!!!!!!!

To be continued…

I'm so evil! There's plenty more to come! I promise!!!! If you want more, then you have to review!!!! So review, review, review!!!! But again, no flames!