UneasyUnnervingUnlucky

Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'In A Heartbeat' related whatsoever. All I have is this story and the characters that I made up. They belong to Disney and Alliance Atlantis and so forth. Thanks to all that reviewed so far.

Parent Trap

Uneasy - Unnerving - Unlucky

Hank was on the verge of running as fast as he could, but the words that Marianne spoke to him earlier held him on his place. 'This is not a minor detail. THIS IS A MAJOR ONE! I can't believe this. I have the worst karma. But I promised Marianne that I wouldn't freak out! I promised not to be intimidated. Then again, he intimidated me even before this. Well, at least things can't get any worse.'

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. McLemore," Hank said as he extended his hand.

Mr. McLemore just looked at his hand and then at him. Hank slowly took his hand away and gulped in fear.

"That's General McLemore to you," he said firmly.

"Dad…" Marianne started to protest.

"I don't want to hear it, Marianne," he told her. "Let's just go inside and eat."

After Marianne's dad left, she took Hank's had and let him inside.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's all good," he said just before passing by the room that contained military awards, plaques, and medals. "I'm not the least bit intimidated."

Hank carefully pulled out a chair for Marianne and then sat beside her, as far away from her dad as possible.

"Dad, how did you meet Hank?" asked Marianne.

"There was some call from his, um, EMS thing, and he went to our house."

"Did anything happen?"

"It was a false alarm, right Hank?"

"Right," Hank replied uneasily.

Hank looked around the table and spotted Marianne's mother and some guy a little bit older than him. 'It's probably her brother, Jake.' Hank ate while putting his etiquette skills into action. While eating, he tried to come up with ways to get on Marianne's dad's good side. It wasn't easy to please an army general.

"Marshall, could you pass me the pot roast?" asked Mrs. McLemore.

"Here," said Mr. McLemore as he passed her the roast.

"That's really cute!"

Everyone at the table turned to the owner of the voice, and Hank could not have been more terrified.

"What was really cute?" asked Marianne's dad.

"You know, how your wife calls you by a military nickname," said Hank.

Jake burst out laughing, but directly covered his mouth when his dad looked at him. Marianne could only feel sorry for him.

"Actually, Marshall is my first name. And my name has two L's. Marshal on has one."

"Oh," was all Hank could say. 'So it does get worse.'

"Anybody want some more salad?" asked Marianne to remove the attention off Hank.

"I do," Hank said quickly as he grabbed the container from Marianne.

"I didn't know salads were available in the South?" asked Marshall.

"Excuse me?" Hank asked. 'The south?'

"Well, isn't that where you and your penguin buddies come from?"

Jake laughed once again and this time louder than before. Hank was confused until he looked down at his attire.

"Dad, leave him a lone," Marianne told him.

"What?" he said as he gave a small laugh. "I was just trying to make a joke."

"And it was pretty funny," Hank said as he smiled at him, but Mr. McLemore only frowned at his comment. 'OK, so he doesn't like me a little.'

A few awkward moments passed by, when Mr. McLemore spoke once again.

"So Hank, do you play any sports?"

"I'm the co-captain of the football team," Hank told him. 'That should impress him.'

"Co-captain? Why? Aren't you good enough to be captain?"

"Well, I am but…"

"What position?" he asked before Hank could finish.

"Quarterback."

"Oh," he said as though disappointed.

"Is there something wrong with being the quarterback?" asked Hank.

"Well, nothing," Mr. McLemore told him. "I just think it's a cowardly position, that's all."

'Great! Now he thinks I'm a wuss.'

"Well, I think of it as the opposite of cowardly," Hank told him. "Throwing a ball accurately is harder than it seems."

"Are you contradicting me?" he asked Hank.

"No, I was just saying that I think…"

"I don't care what you think," he told him. "And for the record, never contradict me in front of my family."

"Dad!" Marianne almost yelled. "He was just stating his opinion! What is your problem, anyway?"

"Marianne, you know better than yell at me," said her father. "You are being very disrespectful."

"You're the one to talk," she said as she abruptly got up. "Come on, Hank. It seems that we're not wanted around here."

Hank stood up and followed Marianne, who was already at the door.

"The food was excellent, Mrs. McLemore," Hank said. "Only the best women could cook like that."

"I was the one who cooked," said Marianne's dad.

"Oh, well, I'll see you all later," Hank said as he hurried to the door while silently scolding himself. 'You should have shut your mouth, Beecham.'

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Tyler and Val were eating at The Tomato Palace, which is known to have the best pizzas in town. Tyler insisted on eating there instead of going to his house, so Val decided to keep him company.

"How's home?" asked Val.

"Great! Couldn't be better."

"Really? Then why are you here instead of there?"

"It's kind of crowded there already."

"Yea…four people and a butler in one enormous house. That's a large bunch."

Tyler didn't seem to pay attention. He just stared at his food.

"Tyler?"

"What?"

"Is everything fine at home? You seem rather distracted."

"Yea. Everything's perfect."

"Is this about your dad?"

"No, of course not," he told her as convincingly as possible. "Wh…wh…why would you think that?"

"Ever since he came back you seem more troubled than often."

"He's back, Val," Tyler said in a tone that only meant uncertainty. "After years of not seeing him, he's back."

"I thought you saw him like about a year or two ago?"

"For only a mere minute during that school play. A small glimpse. He told my mom to tell me that he could not stay because he had some work to do."

"I'm so sorry."

"And he didn't even return my calls. I probably have a better relationship with his secretary than with him."

"Have you talked to him?"

"I can't talk to him."

"But he's your dad. Don't you miss him?"

"I do, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know how," Tyler said in frustration, anger, and unhappiness. "I don't know how."

Val noticed that Tyler was almost about to cry. Val reached out for his hand as her heart started to break for him. She hasn't seen him act this way before.

"Tyler, it's going to be fine."

"How?"

"Because you are going to talk to him no matter what. He's your father. You can't stay away from him forever. Maybe he regretted all the things that he did. I mean, he came all the way down here to visit you. And he's staying for a few weeks just to see you. You were the one who told me that this doesn't happen often. Well, it's here now, and you should take advantage of this. You deserve to be happy."

"Maybe you're right," he said in almost a whisper.

"Of course I am," Val smiled at him, bringing out a faint smile to his lips.

"I guess I have to face him sooner or later."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yea."

As they got out of the pizzeria and headed for Tyler's car, Val noticed a rather familiar vehicle speeding rapidly past them.

"Was that Marianne?" she asked.

"I think so."

"She looked upset. Maybe she had a fight with Hank."

"Well, probably not. She just came from his house's direction."

"Whatever the problem is, she was definitely not in a good mood."

"You can count on that."

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Another day started, and Jamie couldn't have been more disappointed. To make matters worse, he woke up late so he had to move twice as fast in order to get to school on time. All his classes seemed to pass by in record time, but English went by in a drag. And just as English was about to be over, someone decided to keep him there.

"Jamie, could you stay for a few minutes? We need to talk."

Jamie didn't reply, but simply sat down as everyone left the classroom.

"Once again, I'm glad that you joined the Kingsport Academic team."

"Same here," Jamie lied. 'Please lady, cut to the chase.'

"I just want to tell you that we have a meet next week. It's going to be at Hamilton High School. Their team is ranked number 2 in the state. We're number 7. You have 4 other members with you. It's going to be quite fun. We will…"

"I completely understand what you're telling me," Jamie said in order to cut her off. 'Please spare me the details.'

"Also, we'll be meeting after school from 2:00 to 3:00 for practice starting tomorrow, so you better be prepared and ready."

"I'll see you then," Jamie said as he stood up. 'Now you're taking away the only spare time that I have? This is a joke! Caitie will never forgive me, and it's all my dad's fault.'

Jamie couldn't have been happier to finally leave the classroom and leave her. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. Lunchtime was the same, although everyone had their own problems, except for Val and Caitie. The next thing Jamie knew, he was at the station ready to do his shift. Surprisingly, he was the first one. A couple of minutes later, Hank walked in the door.

"How are you, Cadet Hank?" Jamie asked in a joking tone.

"I'm fine," Hank said before realizing that Jamie just called him a cadet. "Wait a minute, you knew all along didn't you?"

"Knew what?" asked Jamie innocently.

"You just called me 'cadet.' You knew about Marianne's dad."

"Girls tell each other everything. And girls talk. What can you do?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked angrily.

"You didn't ask," Jamie smiled. "So, did the general make you do push-ups?"

"I would have preferred that than his verbal put-downs. Man, he hated me."

"That's what generals do."

"Why didn't you say anything when we got a call to Marianne's house?"

"We didn't go to her house, did we?"

"I thought you knew. He was that rude guy when Brooke's friends decided to play around."

"You mean the one in the military suit? That was Mr. McLemore?"

"In the flesh."

"You're in deep trouble right now. Did he remember you?"

"The moment he saw me, his face was filled with disapproval."

"Talk about misfortune."

"Well, what about you? How's our Academic boy?"

"I'm having the most horrid luck nowadays. And Lowry just won't leave me alone. Also, for the next several days, I will be frittering the only leisure time that I possess practicing with a bunch of academic overachievers. No offense, Hank."

"None taken. At least after the whole competition is over, you won't be seeing them. I swear Marianne's dad is going to hunt me down for as long as I'm with her."

"Yea. At least."

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Hey guys! I'm sorry for the delay. I hope you liked it, and don't forger to review. I'll be back! ~ Scarlet182