She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not: Part 7
By: LeaMarie F. Rocket. Assisted by: Tiki E. Rocket

Disclaimer: We don't own 'em. If we did, the boys would be living with us permanently.
Though, we do own, Lea, Tiki , and any other thing that hasn't been seen on the show. Please don't take.

Author's note:
Lea: Sorry, if you like Davis, he kinda gets bashed in this one, both literally and figuratively.
Tiki: Why are you apologizing?
Lea: I'm just being nice!

Lea opened her eyes and looked at the sleeping boy next to her. Lea smiled softly at him. Matt had somehow wrapped Lea tightly next to him in the middle of the night. He had his head resting on the pillow, while Lea's head was on his shoulder.
Lea glanced over at Kari's bed to see TK had been talked into Kari's bed sometime in the night. "So much for being a gentleman and letting her have the bed." Lea thought to herself.
A crash from the kitchen caused her to sit up quickly.
"What was that?" Matt asked, snapping awake.
"I don't know," Lea muttered, standing up. She grabbed Kari's curling iron off the dresser and walked quickly out of the room.
When she got to the kitchen she saw Tiki in the middle of a large mess of pots, pans, and cookie sheets.
"What in the name of the Worlds are you doing?" Lea snapped. "You scared me half to death and back!"
"Sorry, I pulled out a pan from the pantry and they all came down!" She cried.
"Did any hit you?"
"No."
"Darn."
"HEY!"
Lea started giggling. "Just kidding. I'm going to go- er...maybe not."
"You're going to go, what?"
"I was going to go get dressed, but I realized there's two boys still in there. I don't mind one in there while I'm changing, the other one I do."
Tiki rolled her eyes. "YEEP!" She hollered suddenly. She'd had her back turned to the door, and Joe had crept in and poked her in the side.
"Morning," he said, smiling at Lea.
"Morning. Sleep well?"
Tiki glared at the two, fuming.
"ACK!" Lea cried, spinning around. "Don't do that!" She yelled at Matt, who'd just poked her in the side. "Morning," he said smiling at Tiki.
"Morning. Did you sleep ok? She didn't kick you off the bed, did she?"
Lea glared at Tiki.
"Nope." He wrapped his arm around Lea. "Did you see TK?"
"Yes. I wonder how she talked him into the bed."
Tiki started to snicker. "Just don't tell Tai that one."
"Tell me what?"
Lea spun around to see Tai standing next to Sora. "TK slept in Kari's bed!" Lea announced cheerfully.
Tai's eyes widened. "HE WHAT?" Tai started to march to Kari's room when Sora grabbed his hand.
"We all had to sleep somewhere. Would you rather have had Davis in there?"
"NO! Point made."
"I just wish he'd get up! I wanna go change!" Lea whined.
"I can fix that!" Tai and Tiki said simultaneously, Tai's face expressing overprotective/territorial instincts, and Tiki's showing a malignant smile.
"I don't think you need to change. You look cute right now," Matt told her, glancing at Lea's nightwear. It was pants and a small tanktop made of a fuzzy material, flames of red glitter burning the bottoms of the pant cuffs and the waistline of the shirt. It was, needless to say, a little revealing.
"You would think that," Tai told him.
"What? They're really soft!" Matt protested.
"Yes, and some of that really soft material was my skin, Dear," Lea told him.
"Um..."
Tiki giggled. "I doubt either of you minded."
"I didn't." Lea smiled. "I'm going to go wake up the others now. Tiki, I think I'm going to need your help for a second."
"Why?"
"Just come on." Lea walked off, followed by Tiki. She opened the door to Tai's parent's room. Inside were Yolei, Mimi, Izzy, Cody, and Davis.
"Time to get up you guys!" Lea called to them.
"Just ten more minutes!" Came the plea.
"Tiki, get ready," Lea whispered, then, louder, "Ok, fine. I'll go pull TK out of Kari's bed, first."
Davis snapped awake. "WHAT!" he yelled. "How dare he! That Casanova!"
"Do you think he even knows what that is?" Tiki asked Lea.
"I'm gonna KILL HIM!" Davis launched himself across the room, stepping on everyone else on his mad dash to the door. Before he got out the door, Tiki jumped in front of him, catching him before he made it into the hallway. He flailed, still trying to run despite the fact that Tiki had him in the air.
"Kick me again, little boy, and I swear you will direly regret it!" Tiki yelled at him. He froze, then fell limp. Tiki hoisted him over her shoulder, walked to the couch, and dropped him unceremoniously onto it. He hit with a 'whumph'. As soon as he was down, she sat on his back to prevent him from taking off.
"That was really mean, Davis!" Yolei cried, rubbing at a red mark on her side. "You should watch where you're going!" Cody rubbed his head, wincing.
"I'm with Yolei on that one," he said.
Mimi wailed. "He stepped on my stomach! That really hurts!"
"Lea, could you grab some icepacks for them?" Tiki asked.
"Make someone else do it, I gotta get TK and Kari up!" Lea called back.
"Hey, you three, if you really are mad at Davis, you can beat him up now!" Tiki called, feeling Davis struggling under her as he tried to make a break for TK.
"Gladly," came an embittered response from the others. Tiki jumped out of the way just in time.
Lea gently shook TK and Kari's shoulders, though shaking one would have shaken the other anyway, they were so closely wrapped together.
"You two, get up!" She said softly. "Davis is about ready to kill you, TK. Tiki's got him distracted... or maybe it's the others who have him distracted, either way, Tiki started it, but you need to get up!"
The pair murmured something along the lines of "I don't care" and settled again. Lea sighed. "Kari, he's gonna start drooling on you in a moment..."
"What?" she cried groggily, sitting up. TK whined, eyes opening.
"Kari, where're you going?"
"He wasn't about to drool on me, was he?"
"No, but it's time to get up so we can eat breakfast and get on with our newly active lives," Lea stated. "Remember Ken?"
Kari moaned. "I was hoping that was just a dream..."
"Nope. It's real..."
There was a pounding of feet coming closer, and the door flung open, followed by a shocked cry of dismay.
"TK! Get out of that bed!" Davis shrieked, then squawked in surprise as he fell floor wards as Yolei knocked him to the floor.
"Oh, no you don't, you poor excuse for an alarm clock!" she cried. "We're not done killing you yet!"
"Why me?" He asked, tears streaming down his face as Yolei dragged him back to the couch.
TK, Kari, and Lea looked on, amused.
"Well, I guess that means it's time to wake up," Kari sighed.

The group looked nervously around the Digital World. Nothing had changed since the last time they'd been there. There were no dark spires, and no evil digimon.
"There's nothing here!" Mimi complained.
"Kinda like Davis's head," Yolei quipped.
"That's not fair!" Davis protested.
"That's right!" Tiki said, ignoring the puzzled look her sister gave her. "You know why it's not fair?"
"Why?" he asked, pouting a little.
"Because only the special ones of our group can be the one with that talent!" Tiki declared. "Only you and Mimi are lucky enough to have empty heads! It means that you two are special enough to have heads with enough free space to make sure you can absorb the most important information!"
"Really? Cool!" He marched onward, self importance eking from his person.
"Tiki, that was really mean," Lea muttered.
She grinned. "Yeah, but he doesn't know that."
Lea shook her head. "You really shouldn't have given him false hope like that."
Tiki shrugged. "Oh well. He's special, remember?"
Mimi looked wide-eyed between the two. "I don't get it."
"That's okay. You're just as special as Davis is!" Tiki told her.
"Really?"
Lea burst into laughter. "Please, excuse me a moment." She walked a few feet away and continued to laugh.
Tiki turned to Matt. "Am I the only one who thinks it's kinda odd that there's nothing wrong here?"
He shook his head. "If you're crazy for thinking so, than so am I."
Beastiemon came tumbling out of the bushes at that point, Tigeramon shortly after. "Hiyas!"
"Hiya Beastie!" Tiki called. "Have you noticed anything strange lately?"
"No, nothing."
Tiki turned to Matt, who gave her a similar look. "We must not be crazy after all," she said. Facing her digimon, she bent down and picked it up. "Nothing at all, you say, huh?" she said thoughtfully. "Not even a control spire to knock over..."
"Nope!" Tigeramon said from the ground. "We knocked over a couple the other day, but that's all we've seen lately."
Lea returned from the bushes. "Tigeramon!" she cried happily. She rushed over and hugged the creature. "It's good to see you!"
"Good to see you too, Lea!" It said back, snuggling against her. "I was just telling Tiki that everything has been really quiet lately."
"Hm..." Lea and Tiki stared thoughtfully off into the atmosphere.
"So Lea, who's the digimon?" Matt asked.
"Oh!" She cried, returning from her space trip. "Everyone, this is Tigeramon, my digimon. I don't know if you've already met her, but the green thing Tiki's holding is Beastiemon." Beastiemon smiled slightly at the group, teeth glinting in the sunlight. Tiki set her digimon down and wandered away from the group, Beastiemon trotting along side her. "I'm gonna go think for a few minutes, okay?" She called over her shoulder.
"Joe?" Lea asked softly.
"Hm?"
"Would you go keep an eye on her?"
"Sure," he said, waving Gomamon towards him and jogging to catch up with Tiki. Lea sighed and turned back to Matt.
"What do you make of all this?" she asked.
"Nothing, really," he said. "I mean, look around."
Lea looked. They were standing on a small hill, the other DigiDestined lolling around them, playing with their digimon and looking, over all, like they were out on a picnic.
"It's so peaceful..." Lea sighed. "I don't think I've ever seen it like this before."
"Which means either Ken was bluffing," Matt said, "or this is just..."
"The calm before the storm," Tai murmured. Lea turned to see him standing close by. He must've been listening to their conversation, because he had a disconcertingly serious expression on his face. Lea nodded.
"I'm doubting it'll be this calm around here too much longer," Lea said. Matt nodded, resting a hand on her hip. It wasn't a pulling grip; more like he was looking for something to anchor himself to. Lea put her hand over his.
Tai stared out into the horizon, sighing to himself. "So, this must be the Matt that I heard so much about," Tigeramon said, looking Matt over.
Matt smiled.
"Yes, that's him. My boy toy!"
"Your what?" Both demanded.
Lea just smiled. "Isn't he cute?" She asked Tigeramon.
"You know I'm standing here, right?" Matt asked her.
"YEP!" She chirped.
"Have you had coffee this morning?" Tigeramon asked.
"Yes, and it's kicking in!" Lea chirped again.
Matt shook his head. "She's like this a lot in the mornings after having a cup," Matt explained.
"So, you see her a lot in the mornings?" Tigeramon asked innocently.
"Only twice! We've only slept together twice!" Matt panicked.
Tigeramon's eyes widened and she shot a sly look at Lea. "Oh really? Lea, I thought you would tell me when you'd do something like that!"
"That's not what he meant!" Lea cried. "We've slept! As in unconsciousness!"
"Oh, how boring..." Tigeramon turned its back to her, sighing, red fur and black stripes stretching and relaxing on her shoulders. She flicked a tufted ear. "You really should have some more fun with your life. Inactive boyfriends are just not good enough for you!" Tigeramon turned her head to wink a bright yellow eye at her trainer.
"I'm not inactive!" Matt cried defensively. "We just haven't been going out long enough for us to do anything that interesting!"
"Oh, so you think relationships are all physical, huh?" Tigeramon accused, turning her head to face him now. "Typical male!"
"Oh, that is SO not what I meant!"
Lea giggled at the fight between her partners- monster and mate- and prayed that Matt would figure out Tigeramon was only teasing.
Some time later, Tiki and Joe returned, hand in hand, Digimon at their heels.
"And what were you two doing?" Lea and Tigeramon asked.
"They were making out!" Beastiemon called. Gomamon burst out laughing, and Tiki and Joe blushed.
"Beastiemon, don't lie!"
"I wasn't lying! You were making out!"
"We kissed, okay?" Joe cried, then clamped a hand over his mouth. Tiki blushed and looked at her shoes. "Sorry," Joe muttered.
Tiki looked up at him, smiling. "Don't worry, Lea would've found out anyway..."
"Yeah, don't worry about it, Lea and Matt have been sleeping together, so you and Joe kissing is nothing!"
"Tigeramon!"

Lea lay back on her bed looking up at the ceiling. She was wearing a dress she and Tiki had purchased special for that evening- Tiki bought it as a birthday gift for her- made of shiny red material. The skirt was short and form fitting, that went 1/4 the way down Lea's thigh. The top was spaghetti straps that Lea was convinced were just for show.
"I can't believe she talked you into that." FireSoul said, announcing her presence.
"I can't believe I can breath in it!"
FireSoul chuckled. "Honestly, I think Matt's gonna love it."
"I hope so," Lea sighed. "Owch! Shouldn't have done that," Lea coughed.
"A little tight?" FireSoul asked.
"A little."
FireSoul sat on the bed. "Lea?"
Lea sat up. "Yes?"
FireSoul pulled her close to her and started stroking Lea's hair in a motherly fashion.
"I want you to know, that whatever goes on tonight, I'll stand behind you," FireSoul told her.
"What do you thinks gonna happen?" Lea asked looking up at her.
FireSoul gave her a knowing look.
"I might spend the night there! But that's it!" Lea insisted.
"LeaMarie, I don't know what's going to happen tonight. All I know is that I see a very pretty girl who's dolled herself up for her boyfriend. And I know what happened the last time you two went clubbing," FireSoul responded gently.
"Nothing major happened!" Lea exclaimed defensively.
"He saw a girl shirtless for the first time. And honestly, how far would you have gone?"
Lea looked down at her lap. "I don't know," She whispered.
"Lea, I'm not lecturing you, and I'm not scolding. I only want you to know I'm behind you," She paused. "I'm sure Tigeramon will be too."
Lea sighed. "You're trying something, aren't you?"
"No."
The doorbell rang causing l to jump.
"It's Matt," FireSoul told her. "Go have fun."
"Thanks. I'll talk to you later." Lea waved and walked out of the room.
"You're life's really complicated isn't it? You only trust who you have to." FireSoul shook her head.

Matt stood by the door of the apartment. He'd rang the bell hand knew Lea'd be there soon. He straitened out his dark red shirt and picked a small piece of fuzz off his black pants.
He felt the crystal bump into his chest. He pulled it from under his shirt and looked at it. The flames that had once started at the bottom of his crest had now grown to a little over half the way up.
"Each time I look at it, the flames are a little higher. They really jumped after the last time we went out."
Matt put the crystal down again just as the door opened.
Matt felt his mouth drop.
"Hi, Hon!" Lea smiled. "Come in." She stepped inside and allowed him in.
Matt wrapped his arms around her. "You look terrific!"
"Thanks. I'm ready to go, unless you can think of something I need to bring?" she asked gently.
"Don't know. Are you going to spend the night?" He asked running a hand down her arm.
"Do you ant me too?" Lea asked leaning against him.
"Of course."
"Then let me get a change of clothes."
Matt watched as she walked away.
"She's coming home! Good thing dad's gone again."
Lea walked in again, caring a small bag.
"We can drop that off at my place before dinner," Matt offered.
"Thanks."

Tai and Sora stood at the entrance of the restaurant, waiting for the others.
"Joe goes clubbing?" Sora asked, surprised.
Tai nodded. "I've seen him waiting with Tiki for Lea."
"That's cool."
"Hey Tai!" Tiki's voice rang out. "Hey Sora!"
"Hey! Where's Matt and Lea?" Joe asked from Tiki's side.
"Don't know. They haven't showed up yet," Sora explained.
"They're probably making out someplace," Tiki guessed.
"Or standing right here," Lea said stepping out of the shadow, Matt's hand tangled in her's.
"We ready to go in?" Matt asked.
"Yeah!" Tiki exclaimed.
"She's hungry," Joe explained.
"I can tell. Let's go in before she attacks something," Lea suggested.
They walked in and found their table.
"Oh YUM!"" Tiki exclaimed looking over the menu.
"Now I'm hungry," Lea said giggling.
It took a few minutes, but the waiter finally took their orders.
"Can you really eat all that?" Sora asked Tiki.
"Yep!"
"And she never gains an ounce," Lea complained to Sora, then to Tiki, "You know I hate you for that."
"I know. So why were you and Matt so late?" Tiki asked coyly.
"We had to make a quick stop," Matt explained.
"Where?"
"I had to drop something off at the apartment," Lea told them.
"Oh, and what was that?" Tiki asked in an innocent tone.
"Ok, truth be told, I actually ran your bra up a flag pole alright?" Lea snapped.
Tiki glanced down her shirt at her chest. "No you didn't. I'm wearing it."
Joe reached hesitantly for a napkin.
"Hmmm...I wonder whos it was then. Well the see through green ivy panties were definitely yours."
Then napkin was suddenly raised up to Joe's nose.
"Now look what you did!" Tiki cried.
"Me? It wasn't my image that did that!"
The waiter set the food down, cutting off the impending fight.
That was interesting," Sora commented.
"What?" Lea asked looking up.
"If it'd been your undergarments, Tai would've been the same situation," Tiki told her.
"You ok, Joe?" Lea asked.
"Fine. It's stopped now."
"That's good."
"So where's this club that we're going to?" Tai asked changing the subject.
"Just a couple of blocks from here."

Matt swung the doors of the club open. He saw the looks of excitement on Tai and Sora's faces.
Lea reached out and pulled him onto the dance floor.
The music thumped, pounding most conscious thoughts out of their minds.
The flashing lights shinning off of Lea's dress caught Matt's attention. He reached out and touched the red shine.
Lea smiled and pulled herself close to him.
"Do you like it?" she asked snuggling into his arms.
He pulled her closer and started dancing slowly.
"Yes. It looks really nice on you."
She looked up at him, a pleased smile on her face. "Really?" she giggled a little. "Thanks!"
"Are you two going to stand there or dance!" Tiki yelled over the music, disappearing into the crowd with Joe not far behind.
Lea watched as her sister disappeared, boy at her heels, smiling after her. When she turned back to Matt, however, he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was glaring off to the side.
"What?" She asked, trying to see what he was seeing.
"Nothing," he said, turning his attention back to her and smiling.
"Okay..." She smiled weakly at him. "Let's just go dance."
Tai and Sora had stood, looking around in an awed silence since they arrived.
"Wow," Sora murmured, "look at all these people!"
"Short skirts, tight clothes, heavy music, darker lighting..." Tai's face showed his excitement. "This is awesome!" Sora shot him a dirty look. "What's that about skirts?"
"Yours is short! It's really cute on you, too!" He cried, trying to keep from being beaten.
She huffed, blushing faintly. "All right. But if you look at anyone other than me with that drooly look, I'll get mad!"
"Okay!" Tai agreed, then, "What drooly look!"
But she was already walking away from him, into the throng of scantily dressed people. He gave chase, and so began a dance as old as time.
When he found her amidst the crowd, she had started dancing. It was strange to see her; ordinarily she seemed reserved and quiet; now, her eyes flashed like the sequins on her skirt, which swayed with the movements of her hips, entrancing him. He began to try to move in synchrony with her, but that proved difficult; she was moving to the fast paced music in a way he didn't understand.
He became the ultimate 'white boy dancing'.
Sora turned to him, chuckled, and began directing him.
"Move your shoulders like this," she demonstrated, "and your hips like this."
"You mean like this?" Tai began to attempt what she was saying, shoulders moving easily enough, but hips still too jerky.
"Here," she said, and reached out to grab his hips. Tai blushed as Sora nonchalantly began moving his hips in rhythm with hers.
"All right, and do that thing with your shoulders now, too," She instructed. Tai followed her orders, and was shortly moving the way she wanted. "Great!" She moved in a mirrored version of what he was doing- Only more sparkly than he.
Lea and Matt had found Tiki and Joe, Tai and Sora not far away. Lea watched in amusement as Tiki glanced off to one side, obviously oggling a cute blond across the room. Joe followed her line of vision, and muttered something to her. Almost instantly, she pounced on Joe, grinning madly and squeezing him close, muttering something back. He blushed faintly. Tiki's lunatic expression faded into something more touching, and she said something else. Joe's reply wasn't spoken; instead, he embraced her tightly, and kissed her cheek.
"Hee, they're so cute!" Lea said to Matt. Matt, who'd been watching with her, grinned. "Yeah, though I'm guessing if it weren't for Joe she'd be flirting with that other kid."
"Well, yeah... but can you blame her? He was really cute..."
Matt shot Lea an annoyed look. "Oh really?"
Lea smiled at him. "Yup! But you're cuter!"
Matt smiled faintly back. "Good." He leaned in closer. "You're beautiful."
Lea blushed. "Oh... Thank you." She glanced nervously around for a moment, then said, "Jeez, I need something to drink..." and vanished into the crowd.
Matt glanced around, trying to find her head amidst the multitudes, cursing himself silently for not making her wear higher heeled shoes. He took off in the direction she'd gone, feeling strangely lost and alone on the dance floor.
When he got to the wall, he wound his way to the bar. It didn't take long for him to find Lea sitting on a barstool, chatting amiably with someone sitting next to her. He glared when he saw it was male. "Probably done nothing but stare at her chest the whole damn time," he thought irritably. He stepped in silently behind her.
"Yeah, I'm here with my friends," were the words that froze him.
"Just friends?" the guy next to her asked.
"Well, friends and boyfriend," she added. Matt relaxed when he heard that; at least she wasn't disowning him to other people.
"Oh," responded the guy. Matt took this moment to surprise her by a hug from behind.
Lea squeaked, then smiled when she saw who it was. "Hey, Matt!" she said chirpily.
"Hey," he said, kissing her cheek lightly, pulling into an almost possessive embrace. Lea giggled. The guy next to her excused himself to go back to dancing, obviously seeing he'd have no luck here.
"Here you go!" the bartender said, setting down a brightly colored drink and watching Lea too long for Matt's taste. He shook himself. "What's wrong with me?" he thought angrily. "I don't need to be this protective. I know she can handle herself..." He glanced at Lea from the corner of his eye as she sipped at her drink. "...And I should know she's put her faith in me," his mind added, feeling the crystal under his shirt swing and tap against his chest.

Matt and Lea entered the dark apartment.
"It's kinda messy," Matt warned. "I haven't had the chance to clean up, so there's a lot of garbage hanging around..." Lea walked in and flipped on the light. "Oh, this isn't bad," she said. "You should see Tiki's room!"
"It's worse?"
"Think college dorm without alcohol containers."
"Yikes..."
The two kicked off their shoes and made a beeline for Matt's room.
As soon as they entered, Lea flopped down on the bed, sighing deeply. Matt flopped down next to her, mimicking her sigh.
He heard her chuckle dryly to herself, take a breath, and mutter "Tadaima" into the pillow.
He sat up on his elbows. "You're home?"
She readjusted her head so she could look at him, smiling. "Yeah," she said. "I'm home." She rolled over on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Matt felt the energy build in the room that meant FireSoul was nearby. She was close to him; He could feel the refreshing energy buzz that exuded from her.
"Ever since I was little," Lea murmured, "I've been trying to find a place comfortable enough to call home... When I'm with you, I feel like I'm there, even if we aren't actually in a proper living establishment." She snickered at that. "Even when we're at school." She turned to face him again, asking, "Have you ever felt like that?"
He rolled onto his back, resting his head on his hands and resting one foot on the bed, letting the other leg stretch out, thinking. "Yeah..." he said reflectively. "When I'm with you." He realized it was true; every time she'd been around, he felt like he could stay comfortable there forever.
They lay in silence for a few minutes, then Matt sat up quickly, muttering "I'll be right back" over his shoulder. Lea rolled onto her side, watching the door for his return. She didn't wait long; he darted back in a few moments later, triumphantly holding a key in his right hand.
"This," he said, "is a key to my apartment. This way, if you ever want to 'come home', you can waltz right in, flop down on my bed per usual, and we can be together."
She chuckled, eyes tearing up at this touching action. "Thank you," she said. "I'll keep it close by at all times." She took the key from him and tucked it into her pocket.
He sat down on the bed as Lea sat up, bringing their faces an alarming three inches apart. Without thinking, Matt leaned in and kissed her gently, broke for a moment to whisper "I love you," and went back to kissing. He felt FireSoul's energy fluctuate, and the connection given to him by the crystal told him she loved him back.
Then it clicked. He realized why he was always so protective: He loved her, and he didn't want her taken away. He pulled her close to him, holding her body tight, silently swearing to himself that he'd never let this go.

The next morning, Matt woke up to find he was alone. Groggily, he sat up, noticed he was shirtless, pondered what happened to his shirt, remembered, and stumbled out of the room to find Lea.
She was in the kitchen. Cooking. The house was spotless.
Matt looked around, surprised and now wide awake.
"Where'd all the junk go?" he asked.
"Oh, I got bored, so I cleaned," Lea called. "Want some eggs?"
"Sure..." Matt looked around, surprised by the lack of mess. Tentatively, he made his way to the couch. Lea watched him, amused.
"I've watched Tiki's cats get that same look when she rearranges furniture," she commented. "Alarmed and confused."
Matt nodded. "Yeah, that sums it up..."
"You really slept in late," Lea continued amiably. "It's nearly 11, and you're just getting out of bed! Though I can't say Tiki and I haven't done something similar..." Lea sighed, reflecting on lost days. "There was a time where we could go to bed at 11 and not wake up until one the next day!"
Matt grinned, chuckling to himself.
They fell into silence as Lea finished cooking. Just as she was serving, the door to the apartment opened, and Matt's father walked in.
At first, he walked past, muttering a greeting to the kids, then stopped, and gave the living room a puzzled look. He shook his head, said "at least it's clean" and went to bed.
Lea and Matt looked at each other, and burst out laughing.

Author's Note:
T: HEY Everyone! In case you couldn't tell, I stepped in again to help write the story!
L: Yes you did, dingbat, and I'm very thankful.
T: Hurray! Cuz you know, I almost spend more time working on your story than I do working on my own side...
L: Yeah you do!
T: Oh well, we're not hurting for it. Thanks for reading, love you all!
T&LM.R

Author's Note 2:
L: Sorry about the formatting on my first attempt to update chapters 6 and 7. Some baka forgot to fix it before uploading.