MindGames

Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'In A Heartbeat' related whatsoever. I only own the story, and the characters that I made up. Thanks for the reviews and everyone who've read this so far. And for the record, I don't own the Airline Company or movie used in this fic.

Parent Trap

Mind games

Clouds are the things you see in the sky from down below. They come in many shapes and sizes of mostly white and gray. Just staring at them creates different objects to be seen --- a pirate ship, a huge rabbit, or a funny face. They bring you shade from the sun and bring you rain at other times. Yep. They're just as peaceful as they seem.

"Except when you're in them," Tyler thought as he buckled his seatbelt once again due to the turbulence. "Dad? How many more hours until we land?"

"We have three more hours left. Why? Are you excited to see Big Ben?"

"Big who?"

"You know that giant clock tower in London."

"Oh that Ben," Tyler said with fake enthusiasm. "Sure, but isn't the bell Big Ben and not the clock?"

"Who cares?" Matthew Connell said with a yawn. "Why don't you go to sleep?"

"I'll try."

Tyler looked outside his window --- only clouds and the Pacific Ocean in sight. He continued to look outside as the horizon became darker and darker. 'Must be the time difference.' He was beginning to fall asleep when a noise from the speaker came on.

"WE WILL BE SHOWING ANOTHER MOVIE: BRING IT ON! IT STARS KIRSTEN DUNST. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION. ON BEHALF OF UNITED AIRLINES, THANK YOU FOR FLYING WITH THE FRIENDLY SKIES."

Tyler sighed. He was so close to finally being able to sleep when they interrupt him with an announcement of showing a film. He didn't quite hear what the movie was. Lazily opening his eyes, he directed his gaze to the screen.

"I'm sexy, I'm cute, I'm popular to boot. I'm bitchin', great hair, the boys all love to stare…"

Tyler groaned as he saw a bunch of cheerleaders --- guys and girls alike, parade in front of the screen.

"Of all the movies, you're showing us this!" Tyler said a little too loudly.

That earned him glares from several of the passengers. For the first time in three hours, he realized that a group of cheerleaders riding the plane with him. 'Maybe they're going to camp or a competition.'

"Do you have a problem with that?" one girl said. "Because, you know like, we can beat you up for it."

"Of course not," Tyler replied. "It just reminded me of my girlfriend, that's all."

"And that's not good because…?"

"I'm not saying it's not good," Tyler reasoned with her. "I just miss her."

He sank lower in his seat as he looked outside once again. He checked his watch, which was still in Kingsport time.

"Nine-thirty. I wonder what Val's doing…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you think he's doing right now?" Val asked Brooke.

Brooke sighed and turned to his sister.

"For the tenth time, Val, go to sleep already. He's not going to call."

"Why not?"

"And I thought you were the smart one," Brooke said as she got up from her bed.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Tyler left about four hours ago. If things went according to plan, he's still on the plane right now. He's probably sleeping, like what you should be doing right now."

"Maybe he's not sleeping…"

"Who cares? Val, you have school tomorrow. Tomorrow's Friday. Friday is a big day. Big day as in a Spanish test, an Algebra exam, a Cheerleading practice, and the nighttime shift at the station. And don't forget that you have the inventory this week as well."

"How did you know all that?" Val asked at Brooke's knowledge of her personal life.

"I'm your sister. I live in the same house. We reside in the same room. I'm Brooke. What else do you need to know?"

"I guess that's about it," Val smiled. "Good night, Brooke."

"That's the most logical thing you said all night."

"GOOD NIGHT, BROOKE."

"Okay, I'll take that as a hint. See you in the morning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second by second went by, followed by passing minutes, dwindling hours, and finally the weekend has arrived. It was nine o'clock on a Saturday morning, and just like any regular Saturday, the squad was expected to be present. The moment Val entered the building with a box of doughnuts and some coffee in hand Alex greeted her.

"Good morning, Val! You're early today."

"Good morning to you too, except I always come to the station around this time."

"Hmm, I must have arrived late then."

"You must have," Val laughed as she entered the main room.

Hank and Jamie were already there, sleeping and watching TV, respectively. Val carefully put the box and coffee on the counter as she headed for the locker room to change. She deliberately opened the box, and it only took a few seconds for it to have its effects.

"Hank, wake up!" Jamie said as something in the air caught his senses.

"Five more minutes, Dad," Hank mumbled as he rolled and fell down the floor. "Now I'm awake."

"Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Honey dip, chocolate dip, cinnamon, glazed, jelly and Bavarian crème."

"Is Val here already?"

"Yea, and that only means one thing."

"FOOD!" they both said as they raced for the box.

Val emerged from the locker room minutes later and found herself only two doughnuts left out of the possible twelve.

"Thanks for leaving me some this time," Val told them.

"Anytime," Jamie said. "Thanks for the food."

"And the coffee," added Hank. "You really didn't have to."

"But you're glad I did, didn't you?" she said before taking a bite off of her doughnut. "I had the extra money. I only bought the coffee this time because Brooke's not here yet. She's the only one who could make good coffee."

"I have to agree with that," said Hank. "Hey, did Tyler call?"

"He didn't call yet. I called the hotel he was staying in and there was a message left for me though."

"What did it say?" asked Jamie. "Is he having fun?"

"It really didn't say much. It said he went to the Tower of London, visited Westminster Abbey, and he looked around the Museum of Victoria and Albert."

"What about his dad?" asked Hank. "Did he go with him?"

"The note didn't really say.'"

"He seems like he's having a lot of fun," Jamie said as he finished his coffee.

The alarm suddenly went off and all three headed towards the ambulance, leaving all the food behind. Alex came in the room in hopes of catching them.

"It's a false alarm," he said but was too late for they already left. "Well, more food for me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler looked at his watch once again. Four forty-five in the afternoon. 'Val should be home.' Dialing the number he all knew too well, he waited for Val to pick the phone up. Well, not before going through the operator for a long distance call. The phone rang three times before the answering machine answered him.

"Hey Val! Guess who? No, it's not Tom Cruise. I'll give you a hint. I'm much more good-looking than Tom."

Tyler reviewed his words before continuing.

"Oh wait. You're probably one of the millions of girls who think he's the hottest guy on Earth. Well, I was just kidding with the whole 'looks' thing. I mean, I don't really look a lot better or as good as Tom. I mean, I'm probably not even close. Wait, I'm babbling."

Tyler paused once again before going on.

"Um, I'm going to see Ben the bell on the clock tower today. I know it's commonly known as the Big Ben, but I'm striving for originality here so bear with me. You're probably going to say that I wasn't even close to original."

Tyler laughed a little. He could literally hear Val talking to him, except that she really wasn't there to talk with him. Just then he realized that the machine cut him off. One more time, he called the Lanier's house.

"It's me again. I got cut off there. Oh yea, I know I said that I'd call everyday, but I didn't get a chance to call yesterday because I thought you were still awake because I was awake and then I realized that I was six hours ahead of you and then you were still asleep or at work or at school then so I didn't call yesterday so sorry," he halted briefly to catch his breath. "I should really talk to Jamie. He could give me advice on my grammar because I probably lost you there on whatever I was talking about. Well, that was just a long way of saying sorry for not calling the other day."

Once again, there was a pause.

"So I'll call you later or tomorrow. I'll be Italy then. I totally forgot that it's still morning there. I hope you're having fun. I miss you so much. Bye."

The moment he put the phone down, Mr. Connell burst into the room with his briefcase.

"Hey Ty!" he greeted. "What have you been up to?"

"Not much. I went to Hyde Park. I saw Princess Di's home. I went down Oxford Street and did some shopping. I went on a Double Decker. It was a pretty interesting day."

"That sounds great," he commented, although Tyler got the feeling that he wasn't even listening.

"How was your day, Dad?"

"My day? Well, we talked about our firm. I had a couple of business meetings. I had lunch with Larry Brunson. Do you remember him?"

"I don't even think I know him."

"He's one of your godfathers. I can't believe you don't know him."

"Well, that usually happens when someone doesn't keep in touch," Tyler replied. 'And I'm not only talking about him either.'

"Well, where did you have lunch?"

"I just bought some food at some store. I walked around. Ate with some birds who happened to follow me around."

"You sound like you had fun. I'm surprised you didn't get lost."

'Fun?' Tyler thought. 'How could you say it was fun? I thought this was a father-and-son-bonding trip? While you were having lunch with my supposedly godfather, I was eating a piece of pretzel with a bunch of pigeons asking me for food.'

"Well, you got to love those maps," he tried to smile. "Listen, I was wondering if we could have an afternoon tea. It's one of the famous tourist activities around here. Someone told me that the clotted cream and jam on scones is really good. It would be a good time to talk and catch up on things."

"I'd love to, but I have a business agenda then."

"You said the last business thing you had to do was the one earlier this morning."

"Things change. You can learn to adjust, can you?"

"I guess," he said disappointedly. "How about tonight? We can take a walk from Covent Garden to Leicester Square to Piccadilly Circus. The lady from the main desk said that these places are safe. It would be a nice time to talk then."

"Look," he started. "Tyler, I'm really busy right now, okay? And by tonight I'll be so tired that I'd be lying down on my bed until the next sunrise. This business is really important to me. We still have Italy and France. We have plenty of time to do that nonsense then. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run."

"But you just came back."

"I had to change my tie at least. I can't go out wearing the same tie over and over again. Well, I'm running late. I'll see you tonight or tomorrow or whatever. Bye."

"Bye Dad," he sighed as he picked up his hotel key and left as well. "I hope you're having fun as much as I am."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riiiiiiiiiiing!!!

Hank woke up startled by his alarm clock. The weekend totally drew all the energy out of him. Whoever thought they would get twice as many calls. Then again they were missing one crucial member in their squad. Hank reached out his hand to turn off the alarm, and it was not an easy thing to do when his head was buried in his pillow. Finally getting a hold of the alarm, he used his fingers to search for the off button. After a minute or so, he was still unsuccessful. Reaching the end of his rope, Hank intentionally dropped the clock to the floor. Silence followed the loud crash.

"That's what you get for not shutting up," he said before finally getting up.

The words usually don't mean anything to him, but it did. He recalled where "not shutting up" brought him, and for some reason, he was starting to picture the dead clock with his face on it. Shaking his head, he looked at the clock once again and put it back on the table.

"This isn't a great way at all to start Monday morning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on, fellas!" yelled General McLemore to his young cadets as they ran around the track. "Hustle! This is a great way to start Monday morning."

Hank just continued to run. He figured it was no use to talk and reason with him again. At least not right now. That's probably one good reason why he was ahead among all the other kids.

"Are you still dating his daughter?" asked the person beside him.

Hank just nodded. One key thing about running is to avoid talking at all costs to save your oxygen.

"Why? She's the devil's daughter."

Hank looked at him, and for once, he spoke.

"Mind your own business. Besides, I like her."

"Well, I don't think this is anything serious so you can easily break up with her. There's still time left."

Hank stopped for a brief second before catching up to him.

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"You said you liked her. If it was really serious, then you should have said 'love.'"

"Love? As in big commitment?"

"If you want to put it that way. Why? Are you a commitment phobic?"

"How should I know? I never had one, except for school and my EMT job and for my parents."

"Then I guess you might be one. Word of advice, just dump her."

"But I like her. And I didn't ask you for any advice. Who are you anyway?"

"You can call me Scruples."

"What kind of name is that?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Hank."

"How did you know my name? And Hank is a fine name, thank you very much."

"It has a powerful meaning: ruler of the home; lord of the manor…but you don't seem to carry those qualities, especially around the him."

Hank continued to run, but what Scruples said bothered him. He stopped and turned around but he was nowhere in sight.

"Where did he go?"

"HANK! Get moving or else!"

Hank continued to run on the general's orders. Despite loosing seven and a half seconds, he was still way in the lead than the other runners. He still continued to look around for Scruples, but he was still nowhere to be seen.

"That was a really odd fellow. Come to think of it, he kind of looked like me. Nah. I'm being delirious. I don't have a twin."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jamie arrived in the station with a few more minutes to spare. He just came from another competition at Forest Green High School. Another victory went to his team. Although he wasn't the hero of the competition this time, which the honor belonged to Vladimir Eidelman, who was their science guy, he still had a blast. He entered the EMS building in high spirits, but the greeting he got rather threw him off. Some people just stared at him, while others yelled comments about his attire.

"Looking good, Waite," yelled one of his fellow EMTs.

Jamie nodded. He has been walking through these halls for a long time now and no one ever said anything about his clothes.

"What happened to you?" asked Alex. "You look like a young president."

That's when Jamie realized that he was still wearing his suit from the competition.

"Oh, I just came from the Academic Bowl. I'll change right away."

"Well, you clean up very nicely. I never thought in a million years that I would see you wearing one of these things. I didn't even think you owned one of these. How many do you have?"

"That's for me to know, and you not to," Jamie smiled before heading to the main room.

"I'm actually getting used to seeing you wearing that," Val said. "You look like James Bond."

"Whoa, get your names straight. The name's Waite. James Waite," he said in a rather decent British accent and a striking pose. "Agent 008."

Val and Hank laughed.

"That was perfect, Jamie," Hank said. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Practice makes perfect, my friend, but let's just keep that knowledge between us."

"Jamie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Does the word 'scruples' mean anything to you?"

"Well, it could mean principles or ethics."

"Is that all?"

"Oh, and it could also mean conscience. You know, a sense of right and wrong. Why the sudden curiosity?"

"I think I talked to my conscience earlier."

"What are you talking about?" asked Val.

"I was running around the track and this guy talked to me. He said some really serious stuff and they're really bugging me even now."

"Maybe it was just one of your boot camp mates," said Jamie as he headed for the locker room to change. "What was his name?"

"He just told me to call him Scruples."

"What kind of name is that?" inquired Jamie.

"That's exactly what I said," Hank exclaimed. "Anyway, we continued talking until I decided to increase my pace. When I turned around again, he disappeared."

"Maybe you just lost him," said Val.

"That's really hard to believe because we were way ahead of everyone. When I turned around, everyone was still way behind. And it was only for a split second."

"Maybe you were just delirious," said Jamie as he returned to the room. "Probably the lack of oxygen got to your head."

"The funny thing is, he looked highly identical to me. He was really weird. It was all weird."

"Maybe he got his weirdness from you because you definitely are one," said Jamie.

Hank threw two consecutive pillows at Jamie, but he missed him all two times.

"And you call yourself the star quarterback," Jamie taunted.

By now, Hank stood up and was chasing Jamie around with one pillow in hand.

"Val!" Jamie cried. "Help me!"

"You're 008," Val joked. "You should find your way out of this mess."

Jamie continued to run away from Hank with a few taunting words. Hank was about to throw the pillow at Jamie when the alarm went off.

"And Agent 008 escapes once again," Jamie laughed before heading to the ambulance with Val and Hank in tow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so the last parts might have been pointless, but I had fun writing it anyway. I hope you liked this. It took me a while to finish, but it's finally done now. The next chapter should be up soon. Today is Tuesday, so the next chapter for 'Realization of Fate' should be up by tomorrow at the latest. I'll be back! ~ Scarlet182