A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken me awhile to update I've been rather busyJ So this chapter is sorta the last is this section of my story. In other words, the next chapter, (the one to follow this one) is a bit of a turning point. Also, two chapters from now it's gonna start to get a bit "romantic" at least I thinkJ

Disclaimer: Everything is pretty much mine but anything that's not belongs to whoever created it J

Summary: In this chapter Maria takes the all of the kids on a tour of Washington D.C.!

***Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed! I love reviewsJ Also here are some little responses to some of the reviews people gave: Emilyn: I'm REALLY sorry about the spelling! I think I may have put up the un-edited copy I'm going to try and fix itJ ILUVTSOM: Oh don't worry she'll realize she living her favorite movie soon enough, (I'm REALLY excited about that part! I'm thinking of devoting a whole chapter to her discoveryJ )

***Again please R/R ***

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I awoke at 8am the next day, to a loud knocking on my door. The children had never waken me up before... but sure enough, today I could hear many small muffled voices.

"Miss. Maria?" I heard one of them say, "Are you awake?"

"You're keeping your promise for today, aren't you?"

"We're all dressed and ready to go..."

I quickly got up and headed for the door. Opening it slightly, I peered into the bright, sunlit hall.

"And what if I changed my mind," I said to all the eager faces staring up at me. It was just as a joke, for I had a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"Oh Miss. Maria!" Little Audrey began, her eyes looking watery; "You can't do that! We--"

"I was only kidding, darling! Oh, come now... don't cry!" I said in a soft voice, kneeling on the ground, my arms out stretched. She immediately lunged forward, nearly knocking me over.

"There, there... it's alright," I then looked around at the other children, who seemed a bit amused by the event before them.

"So," I began, still holding Audrey in my arms, "What's the plan for the day?"

"What do you mean, What's the plan for the day?" Hillary asked uncertainly.

"I mean, what do you children want to do?" I responded.

"I though we we're going downtown," Luke said.

"We are Luke, but what do you want to do downtown?"

The response to my question was complete silence. I looked from child to child, no one saying a thing.

"Well then," I said, quickly coming up with an answer to my own question, "I'll try my best to give you all an exciting tour!"

Expressions lightened as I spoke and the children began to whisper amongst them self's. Audrey finally pulled away from me and began to join her brothers and sisters in their conversations.

"Alright everybody," I said, standing up and clapping my hands together, "I want you all to go change into the new clothes that I bought for you... and I want you to meet me in the entrance hall in 10 minutes. Ok?" I needn't have bothered verifying because the second I finished, the children dashed off towards their rooms.

After getting dressed myself, I went into the bathroom to freshen up. As I straightened out my hair, I began to worry a bit.

What was I going to do with seven children all day? That was a rather hard question to answer, as this was also my first time touring Washington. Yet, as I had been a teacher, I had been told what most students found most appealing on their field trips to Washington. I decided to go along with these decisions and picked four destinations for the day. First, we would travel to the National Air and Space Museum, then The Museum of Natural History. Next, we would head for the National Mall, and look at some of the monuments. To conclude the trip, we would go look at the White House.

Once I was done cleaning my self up... I headed downstairs where the children were already waiting.

"Alright everybody?" I said, as I descended the stairs. I did a quick scan of the children below to make sure everyone was wearing a warm jacket atop their clothes. After all, it was the beginning of October and it promised to be cold out.

My prediction of chilly weather was correct, as we soon learned stepping into the front yard.

"Burr!" I heard Mimi say, "It's awfully chilly today!"

She was right too. It also looked like rain there was absolutely no sun in the gray morning sky.

"It's good everyone decided to wear their jackets!" I said cheerfully, "Oh... I must stop at the bank quickly before we head into town... we need money for the metro."

"Oh, the metro! We're riding on the metro!" Exclaimed an excited Julie.

"Yes," I responded in a half laugh.

We walked the five blocks to the bank, where I withdrew some money. We then proceeded to the metro station. Once we were all standing on the train platform, I gathered them all around me.

"Alright," I began in a very serious, firm voice, "This is the one not so fun part of the day. It's also the time you need to pay the most attention. I'm going to layout the ground rules for this trip. The first rule is you must follow all directions I give, or, we will go home immediately and we will never take another trip again. Understood?"

I looked directly at each child, watching them all nod silently back at me.

"Good," I said in the same voice, "Now, I'm going to put you into pairs of two... you must ALWAYS know where your partner is. You must also ALWAYS stay with them. This is SO important because Washington is a large city and I do not want to lose anyone. However, if someone does get lost, ask the first police man you see where the Washington Monument is. Go there and WAIT until I, and the rest of us, come to find you. You can recognize the Washington monument very easily, as it is very tall, and very skinny. It also has a pointed top."

I look around at everyone once more, checking to see if they understood my directions.

"Another way you can make sure you don't get lost, is if you always stay in eye sight of me... in other words, make sure you can always see me. Now, before we get on the train... I'm going to give you your partners. Audrey, you're with Amanda. Julie, you and Hillary are partners, and Luke you're with Zach. Mimi... I hope you don't mind being my partner?"

"Oh not a bit!" Mimi responded happily.

"Good! Then we're all set!" I said, as the screeching of an approaching train began to echo through the tunnel, "Everyone... please stay clear of the edge."

Once the train stopped, we boarded. The children were all, unsurprisingly, very excited. They were chattering loudly amongst themselves.

After we had been on the train for a good ten minutes, then suddenly turned to me.

"What are we doing today?" they all asked in unison.

"Well," I responded, half-laughing, "I thought we would start of going to a museum--"

"A museum?" Luke cut in, "I don't like museums! I hate art!"

"Well," I began, "You don't have to start liking it today... we're going to a different type of museum."

"You mean, not all museums are for art?" Luke asked in disbelief.

"No," I said with a smile, "In fact, the one we're going to today is for space--"

"I love space!" It was Julie's turn to cut in.

"Well good," I said, "Because you're going to see lots of it today! They also have rocket ships and airplanes at this museum."

The children began excited conversations once more, which continued the rest of the train ride.

We got off at Metro Central. I decided it would be a good idea for the children to look around a bit before we committed to one destination. Besides, I wasn't sure if the weather would clear up and as it wasn't raining at the moment. We headed to the National Mall first. I quickly showed them the Washington Monument and reminded them that they were to wait there if they were separated from the group. Suddenly, the first drops began to fall. Following my instructions, we quickly headed to the Space Museum.

Once inside, the excitement began once more.

"I want to go see the Universe exhibit!"... "I want to go see the army jet exhibit!"... "I want to go see the gift shop!"

"Shhh! All right everyone! Here's what's going to happen. You will each get fifteen minuets at the... hey!" I said loudly, as no one seemed to be taking in a word I was saying.

"Alright," I said, as everyone calmed down and faced me, "Now... you will each get fifteen minuets at the exhibit of your choice. It's now," I paused and looked at my watch, "10:30. I want to be done looking at 12:30, and I know you'll all want to spend some time at the gift shop."

All the faces brightened at that note.

"So," I said, "How about we try this... We'll start with Audrey's choice, and work our way up age wise. Sound good to you?"

Everyone agreed without hesitation, and we were soon off. The museum was a very interesting place, especially for a first timer. We visited some of the Apollo models, we saw a few army airplanes... we saw just about everything you could imagine seeing in a space museum.

Once time was up, we went to the gift shop where we picked around for awhile. I promised each child a souvenir from the trip, and they all seemed set on getting one here.

"Miss. Maria! What do you think of space ice-cream!" Luke asked enthusiastically

"Doesn't sound like something I'd be to willing to eat," I said smiling.

"Miss. Maria--"

"You know children," I said, "You really needn't bother with the whole Miss thing... Maria is fine!"

"Ok... well then, Maria," Hillary began, "What's an IMAX?"

"Ahhh," I said, raising my eyebrows, as another idea popped into my mind, "Well, an IMAX is a giant movie theater. It's so big that when you watch the movie, you actually feel like your part of it."

"Oh," said Hillary, looking sad, "too bad father won't let us see movies."

"Yes..." I said, trailing off, "Alright! Anyone ready for lunch?"

Yes was the overall response, and so I bought the children their souvenirs and we were off once more.

Thankfully, the day had cleared up, and the sun was now brightly shining over head. We walked around for about five minutes, and stumbled upon one of the outdoor restaurants.

It's actually not really a restaurant, but it's also not a vendor. It's a small building where you go up to the window and place your order.

Any ways once I had ordered eight separate lunches, and each person had gotten his or hers, we headed over to the Mall. There we found a nice patch of grass to sit and have our picnic.

"Maria," Hillary said, catching my attention.

"Hmm?" I responded.

"Can we do this everyday?" She then asked.

"Don't you think you'd get tired of it, Hillary?" I responded.

"I suppose so," she gave a quick pause, "Every other day?"

I had to laugh at this. These poor children had been cooped up for years, and now that they were finally free, I could imagine how great freedom and fresh air felt.

At around 1:30, I gathered them all together.

"I think it's time to be moving on. I have two more things I want to show you today."

It was now time for our group to pay a visit to the Museum of Natural History. When we entered the lobby, the children were immediately drawn to the giant sculpture of an elephant.

I quietly pulled Amanda aside while the rest of them were chatting away.

"Amanda," I began, "I'm going to go buy us all tickets to an IMAX show--"

"Oh wow! Are you really! That's--"

"Shhh!" I said cutting her off, "It's a surprise, and I need you to watch them while I go buy the tickets, alright?"

"Of course! Oh, I can't wait! It will be so--"

"Shhh... Don't tell them though, ok?" I said.

"Ok... are you going to get them now?"

"Yes... I'll hurry, just make sure no one gets lost, ok?"

"Sure!"

"Good," I said as I turned and walked across the room to the ticket booth.

I bought eight tickets to the 2:15 showing of Coral Reef Adventure, which I thought would be appropriate for everyone.

As it was nearly 2:15 when I bought the tickets, I quickly went back and retrieved the children, dragging them, partially against their will, to the theater line.

"Tell me why we're standing in this line again?" Hillary asked, rather annoyed.

"Because," I began, "I think you'll like this exhibit."

"Can't we come back later when there is no line?" Wined Luke.

"No... You guys really have to trust my judgement on this one... I really think that you'll like this."

At that precise moment, the doors to the theater opened and the line began to move forward.

We walked through the doors, and into the long hallway that led to the open room. The hall was only lit by floor lamps, so it was rather dark.

"This is a bit scary--" Julie stopped in mid sentence as we entered the theater.

"M-Maria! Why didn't you tell us we were coming to see a show!" asked Hillary, scanning the large room.

"I wanted to surprise you!" I said happily as I led them to a row half way up the flight of stairs.

I feel that I was very correct about them liking the move, for when it was over, it was all they talked about. It wasn't until we reached the White House that they stopped talking.

I think it was a very special moment for them, and was for me too.

You see, the White House is a very breath-taking thing to be looking at, especially for the first time. We stood there for about five minutes, until I broke the silence.

"Alright everyone... it's time to head home."

There was then immense awwing and booing, but I was able to stop that quickly.

"If you're good... we can stop for ice-cream once we get off the train."

That seemed to go over well as there was not another complaint.

On that note, our Washington trip was pretty much over. I believe that I can confidently answer for the children and me that it was a wonderful day.

True to my word, once off the metro we paid a visit to a local ice-cream shop, then walked the rest of the way home, happily laughing, talking, and eating our ice-cream.

Sadly, most good things don't last forever. The second I pushed open the gate of the house, I knew that this good day was very much over. There, standing at the top of the stair that led to the front door, was the Senator.