The two cars pulled into their respective parking places in unison. From the larger and more family oriented of the two exited a tall, brown haired man with a beard roughly growing in around his face. From the second and more costly looking car exited a man with graying hair and a generally malcontent look on his face.

"So, Dr. Abbott, enjoying your cousin's visit?" Dr. Brown asked the other doctor. Dr. Abbott scoffed.

"She's her mother's daughter, who was her aunt's niece…" Dr. Abbott replied. Dr. Brown chuckled.

"Your step-father must be going crazy," Dr. Brown said. Dr. Abbott sighed and turned to him.

"Look, if you plan on exchanging pleasantries everyday that's fine, but see if you can leave my family out of it…" Dr. Abbott told him. Dr. Brown nodded with a smile, let out a small chuckle, and walked over to his medical clinic.

"Morning Edna," Dr. Brown said walking into the office. Edna was already at her desk. She handed him a few pieces of paper.

"Morning Doc. Mrs. Murrieta called, Devin got another crayon stuck in his nose, so they're on their way," Edna informed him. Dr. Brown sighed.

"What color is it this time?"

"Powder Blue."

"Why does she continue to give him crayons?"

"Kid wants to be an artist," Edna said. Dr. Brown gave her a questioning glance. Edna shrugged.

"Hey, uh, there's one thing that's kind of been bothering me…" Dr. brown started.

"One thing. If there's only one thing bothering you, you're ahead of the rest of us…"

"Why is Jig, it is Jig right, why is she in Everwood anyway?" Dr. Brown asked his gruff nurse. Edna sighed and looked down at the floor before returning her gaze to the good doctor.

"Why are any of us here, Doc?" Edna asked her. He nodded in understanding and walked into his office.

Dr. Brown walked over and sat in the chair behind his desk. He placed his elbow on the desk and rested his chin in his hand. His eyes moved over to the framed picture of his wife on his desk. His eyes then went to the picture beside it. It was of Ephram and Delia, maybe five years ago. They were both smiling and happy. Ephram wasn't a teenager then. Being a father wasn't as hard. Then, though, he didn't have to do it alone… Dr. Brown let out a sigh of general gloom but shook it off upon hearing the door to the clinic opening and Edna welcoming the mother, son, and powder blue crayon.

"Hey Ham," Amy said walking over to Ephram, who was exchanging books at his locker. He sighed. He closed his locker and looked at her. She had a slight smirk on her face and the light was hitting her just right to make her eyes shine. Ephram smiled.

"You know you're the only person who calls me that," he told her. She laughed slightly.

"It just hasn't caught on yet, give it time."

"Oh yea, I can't wait to be referred to as a deli meat. Ham isn't Kosher, by the way."

"We've had this talk Ephram, Ham is short for Hamlet, oh dark prince," she told him smiling.

"You know that, and I know that. But everyone else thinks it's a meat."

"How about Ranma, then?" Amy asked. Ephram looked at her in surprise.

"Ranma?"

"Yea, Jig said that's what the symbols on your shirt say. Ranma one and a half."

"No, just, just one half," Ephram said laughing a little.

"Well whatever. Do you like Ranma better?"

"No, that's probably worse. Just make it Hamlet instead of Ham and we'll be fine," Ephram told her. Amy nodded.

"Agreed," she said and shook his hand.

Ephram walked into his history class and found Jig already asleep at her desk. He scoffed and sat down in his chair. He checked his watch once he was settled, still a few minutes before class started.

"So," he heard from behind him, "which is you favorite gundam?"

"Deathscythe Hell," he answered with a sigh, "and yours?"

"Sandrock," she answered. Ephram narrowed his eyebrows in surprise and turned in his chair to see her.

"Sandrock? With all the frills?" he asked her.

"Hey, with the brown cloak it had on in some eps, a mighty cool looking mecha," she told him. He shook his head.

"No, no. Nothing looked better than the Deathscythe Hell. With the batlike wings and embellishments on the helmet…"

"And the priest in the cockpit."

"You asked about gundam, not pilot. But for the record Duo isn't actually a priest."

"I know, I know. It's in honor of the Maxwell Church that took care of him when he was a kid."

"Yea. But if you want to debate pilots, let's start with the purple vest of Quatre's…"

"It's his sisters' influence."

"More like Trowa's if you ask me…"

"Well, maybe. But that's a completely different conversation," Jig told him and Ephram laughed. He then realized he was laughing and stopped himself. That made Jig smile.

"So there is more to life then my cousin. Curiouser and curiouser."

"You know that's not actually a word."

"It's besides the point."

"Hey, why are you bugging me so much anyway? You're getting on my nerves."

"Because these "small town folk" are getting on my nerves. You know I said "God dammit" the other day and a seven year old boy called me a "heathen"?" Jig said and Ephram laughed.

"Yea, but they aren't all like that."

"I know. Edna and Irv are cool. Yea, but you weren't talking about them. You meant Amy. So does she know you're hopelessly in love with her?"

"No one ever said anything about it being hopeless."

"Oh, it's hopeless…" she said. Ephram was about to set her straight when the teacher began the class.

Dr. Brown came home after the last house call of the day to find his teenage son locked in his room and his young daughter coloring in the living room. Knowing he'd get no response from the son, Dr. Brown walked over to converse with the daughter. He sat down on the couch behind her with a sigh, thankful for the good cushioning of the couch.

"So how was the bake sale?" he asked her. The daughter's marker paused for a few moments before starting up again.

"Ms. Violet thinks we earned enough money to go on a field trip without any cost from the kids," Delia told him. Dr. Brown frowned. His daughter dodged the question about his attempt at baking well.

"That's good…" he said in a tone letting her know that he was aware of her dodge. If she felt it in good judgement not to mention his cookies, he felt it in good judgement not to push the subject. He might not like where it headed.

"Mr. Harper made lemon squares," she said and Dr. Brown laughed slightly.

The phone rang and Dr. Brown got off of the couch and answered it. To his surprise it was for his son. Dr. Brown walked over and banged on his son's door. The music level lowered and the door opened just enough for Ephram to peek out.

"Phone," Dr. Brown told him and handed him the cordless. Ephram looked at it as if making sure it was real, before snatching it from his father's hand and closing the door. Dr. Brown sighed and went to warm up some of the leftovers from when they ordered out last night.

"Hello?" Ephram asked into the phone a tad nervously, figuring it must be Amy at the other end.

"You're right, "curiouser" isn't a word," the girl's voice said to him. He sighed angrily and sat down on his bed.

"God dammit it's you," he said. He heard Jig gasp in mock bewilderment.

"Heathen! Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain!" she yelled at him. She sounded so overly sincere Ephram smiled.

"What to you want?"

"Just to tell you that you were right, it's not a word."

"I knew I was right."

"Well I didn't. Why would Carroll use a word that doesn't exist? I mean, wasn't he a professor?"

"He taught Math."

"Well, a professor is a professor. Don't they live by some code of laws or something?"

"Just the same ones as the rest of us."

"That's just horrible, though, a professor using a word that doesn't exist. Twice."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, he's dead," Ephram said and heard Jig laugh.

"Okay, okay, but now to the serious and probably more substantial reason I called-"

"Finally…"

"What exactly are your feelings for my cousin? Is it an emotional thing, or merely physical?"

"Emotional, I'm quite sure."

"Okay then. Why? I'm sorry, but I just have to ask."

"You sound like you disapprove."

"Well, it's not that I disapprove, it's just that I don't understand. Amy is nice and all, but she's just so, "princessy", you know what I mean? She cares so much about her image she'll force herself to do things she hates doing. While you, you don't seem to give a damn. Plus, she doesn't know the different between cartoons and Anime," Jig said. Ephram sighed.

"She was the first person to be nice to me. She showed me around town. Plus when Bright and I got in a fight, she punched him in the face," Ephram explained. Jig laughed.

"She didn't mention that part. Okay then, I suppose that's a plus for her."

"And, well, I don't know. It's little things too…"

"Like smiles, and hair tosses, and the light touch of her hand?"

"Yea, stuff like that."

"But mostly the punch."

"Mostly the punch."

"Okay then, what about the Colin reason? The theory that she's using you to get to your dad?" Jig asked and Ephram fell silent. "Oops, looks like I've hit a nerve."

"I, uh, I don't know about that…" Ephram told her, his dislike and worry of the theory obvious. Jig sighed.

"Okay, Ephram, this is what I'll do. I'll use my girl and cousin status to weasel my way into her mind, and find out for you whether her feelings for you are sincere, or a trick. Okay?" she asked. Ephram paused.

"Why? I mean, why would you do that for me?" he asked her.

"Because the Deathscythe Hell is cooler then the Sandrock."