Six Months Later, on a Sunday Afternoon

"Whoa, whoa, whoaaaaaaaaa!!!" yelped Johnny, grasping a box to his chest and haphazardly trying to avoid the little bouncing boy with his playmate, Derek rushing around his legs and up to the kitchen's refrigerator, "Slow down there, Cadet! We haven't had lunch yet!!!"

Derek Westerly, eight years old and self-proclaimed 'Space Ranger of Zarthon' took the metallic strainer off his head and grinned, "Come on Johnny! Me and Martha are playing Space Rangers!" He held up his water pistol towards his guardian and went on, "You could be the deadly Plasmoid, Nexus, from the Linda Galaxy!!!"

Martha McFarlane giggled, and looked at the adult expectantly through her curly brown locks, "Come on, Mr. Durant, it'll be fun!"

Life would never be the same again in this house, he thought, laughing at how cute the two eight year olds were together. It was hard to imagine that Derek hadn't been in his life three months ago, or his big brother Bradin and big sister Nikki. A heavy blow to Ava's heart had led her towards pre-mature motherhood, something that at times, she didn't know exactly how to deal with. Heck, the only reason why Johnny seemed to be good at it at all was because of Becca, his niece in Missouri, more like his own daughter at times than anyone else's. Johnny sighed heavily, watching the two small children digging into the home appliance and drawing out a platter of fruit Susannah Rexford had so graciously prepared for the house the night before. Derek reminded him of Becca when she was his age, full of spunk and energy that reminded him of her mother, his sister. He hadn't thought about his sibling as much now, due mainly to the kids' arrival after Ava's own sister and brother-in-law died, but that didn't mean she was forgotten. Far from it.

So very far from it.

Derek and Martha placed the platter on the island and unwrapped the plastic wrap on it, gobbling down pieces of strawberries and pineapple as they watched him. "Whatcha thinkin' about, Johnny?" asked the boy.

"Eh, nothin' Derek," he said, dismissing his thoughts and setting the carton he was holding down, "You two just go on ahead and play without me. Maybe you can convince your older brother to hang out instead."

"Convince me of what?" Surprised, Johnny looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with Ava's eldest nephew poking his head in from around a doorframe, a laidback smile drawing lazily across his face, "Callie and I are going to the beach today. She promised me she'd show me some volleyball moves." Bradin strolled in from the garage, bright red swim trunks swishing as he walked towards the kitchen, "By the way Johnny, can I borrow a twenty?"

The dark haired man shook his head, "Sorry my man, no handouts before allowance time. Besides, can't you ask Jay for an extension on your paycheck or something? He's always great about that kinda thing."

Bradin shrugged, blonde hair flopping over his eyes and plopping down on a tall netted chair beside the island, "Yeah, but I did that last week. I still have to pay him back for that, plus an extension last month."

Money always seemed to be a problem in this house...

"Hey Bradin, why don't you just make money doing your DJ thing from the party we had a couple months ago?" piped up Derek, mischieviously.

Big brother glared at little brother and glowered, "If I did that, then you'd feel free to break it!!!"

"Hey, HEY! NO fighting here, gents! You can take the sibling rivalry outside, thank you very much!"

Martha agreed, "Derek, let's go outside and play. We can take the fruit out there, can't we Mr. Durant?"

"Sounds like your girlfriend's got a good idea," replied the teen, snatching a few pieces of fruit from the plate on the counter.

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!!!" shot back Derek, rolling his eyes before grabbing Martha's hand, "Come on, Martha, let's go outside. We can get the fruit later..."

Bradin smirked, watching the two smaller children leave before downing a few more strawberries, "Man, touchy, touchy."

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to be a big brother once in awhile to him," replied Johnny, scolding him, "Take him out swimming, or surfing, or something."

"I'm not taking him surfing! There's no way in hell I'm taking my little brother out—"

"Language!"

He grimaced, "Sorry. Johnny, look, I-"

Johnny cut him off, "Listen, I know growing up isn't a slice of pizza right now, and things are crazy because of your parents passing away, but you know what? Your sibs are the closest thing you've got to your parents right now. Besides, Derek looks up to you. He likes you. He looks up to you. Give him something to look up for."

It had been awhile since he'd done something with the little runt... "Fine," he said, finishing up a kiwi, "I'll do something with him later." Sliding from the chair, he snatched the towel he'd left earlier from one of the other seats and slung it around his neck, hopping down the stairs and toward his room, "I'll just be—"

DING-DONG! The doorbell rang just then, and expecting Callie, Bradin hustled to the door, "It's ok Johnny, I've got it! It's Callie, I bet—"

However, the persons behind the door couldn't have surprised him more. Flinging the door open, a man with white hair, dressed in tan slacks and a short sleeved, blue gingham dress shirt had one hand reclining from the bell, and the other one on the shoulder of a girl Bradin's age, brown, mousy colored hair flapping in the late day breeze. She wore dark sunglasses that he could see his reflection in, and she was dressed in a dark red tank top and dark blue jeans, a black poncho draped over her shoulders.

The man spoke first, "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was where Johnny Durant lives."

Bradin sputtered, "Uh, yeah, this is where Johnny is. I mean, he lives here, in this house..."

The girl grinned cynically, "Obviously..."

"Becca," chided the man, squeezing her shoulder, "Apologize."

Behind her glasses, the blonde could have sworn she was rolling her eyes at him, "Sorry for pointing out that you're an idiot."

"BECCA..."

"Yo, Bradin, whose there?" called Johnny, running towards the door, "Is it those door-to-door people ag—"His foot mounted one stair before he started, wide eyed, at the gentleman beyond the door, and was shocked, "Pop?"

Suddenly, the girl relaxed, and her eyes would have shone if she took off her glassess "Uncle Johnny?"

"Beck!" Surprised, he hopped up the stairs and gave her a hug, kissing the top of her head, "Where did you?? How did you??"

"Johnny, we've got a lot to discuss," answered his father, nodding towards Bradin, "as well as your... living conditions."

Bradin himself just shrugged, watching the drama unfold, "Yeah, I think I'd better go find Callie at the beach... right now..."

When she heard him scamper off, Becca snorted, "Not the talkative type, is he? Who is he anyway?"

"Yeah, well..." Johnny began, "it's a long story... a very, VERY, long story..."

A/N: No, Johnny doesn't really have a sister or a niece in the show, but I thought I'd give him one to give him much more depth. There's very little about him that would explain his kind of character, so I thought I'd give him something to explain why he is who he is.

And to clear something up, as sort of a backstory: All the adults know Becca because she used to go fly out to CA every so often (her mother was a lawyer, so she made good money). So Ava, Jay, Susannah and Johnny all know her, as well as Erika because Becca surfed with her a few times, and they became friends.

Bradin, Nikki, and Derek don't know about Becca, and YES, Becca is going to poke, tease and prod Bradin because.. well, she doesn't trust guys. A guy blinded her, her father ran out on her, and although she loves her uncle Johnny, he wasn't there when her mom died. So Becca's got problems with guys. And, at times I think Bradin's a bit too cocky, too involved in his own life, and really, really stupid when it comes to his tastes in girlfriends (don't get me wrong though, I love Jesse for being his dorky self) so I purposefully made a character to bring him back down to Earth when he needs to have his feet on the ground. It's a symmetry thing! LOL!

Anyway, because of school, I can't really update this story or any others until the weekends, so I'm probably going to hold of until then to write. Things get crazy, and taking 2 senior classes when you're a junior ain't no piece of cake. So, look for updates, probably consecutively, every week! I'm off to write something else though, so please R&R when you have the time! THANKS!