hey all. updates are gonna be few and far between (ok, more like mostly on weekends) because I'm back at school (sucks, I know) as is Cimmy. just thought I'd let you know. once again, fanfiction.net does not show this story has been updated on the 'Just In' page, so you have to go through my profile to read the new chapters.

anyway, here's chapter 28. review for us, ok?

disclaimer: Ducks belong to Disney. Fred and Cecilia belong to Cimmy. Lex, Jeff, Matt, Anna, Chris, Sammie, Anthony, and Robbie belong to NYgoldfish54.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Chapter 28: Too Much Information, part 2
By NYgoldfish54

Russ's POV

I wonder what I should order for dinner. I'm kind of hungry, not too much. A sandwich looks good…yeah, I think I'll have a corned beef sandwich…

I'm not sure what's going on, but it's sort of odd. Something's up between Fred and Cecilia, Connie and Guy, and now Lex and Charlie. It's amazing how something as innocent as taking a trip to Florida can bring on all sorts of doom and disaster.

Charlie's lecturing Cecilia.

"No, you can't go with Fred!" Charlie finally bellows at her, causing the rest of the people here to turn around and watch the table.

"I can and I will!" Cecilia hollers back.

"Could we…calm down, please?" requests Fulton in a quiet voice. He looks as though he's going to pound the pair of them if they don't shut up.

"Yeah, take it easy, Charlie, please," Julie says.

"She has to go home with us. She's expected to," Charlie growls.

"I want to go with Fred!" Cecilia says.

"Uh…duh," says Luis, as the waitress comes over.

After we order, the argument continues. I probably shouldn't be listening, but I am anyway.

"She can come with me, Charlie," Fred says, looking at Cecilia.

"You're both insane!" Charlie says angrily.

"Listen, I hafta leave," Fred mumbles. "I'm going whether you like it or not, and I'm taking Cecilia with me."

"The hell you are," says Charlie.

"I have to," says Fred.

"Oh yeah, why do you have to?" Charlie asks, annoyed.

"My dad…I'll explain later," Fred mumbles, looking sad.

Charlie opens his mouth again, but Lex sees the look on Fred's face, and cuts in. "Leave him alone, Charlie, just eat."

Our food's arrived. Yay! Corned beef sandwich!

"Whose side are you on?" Charlie spits at Lex through a mouthful of chicken.

"Since when are there sides, Charlie? You keep bringing up these sides that don't exist," Lex says calmly, eating her salad, and periodically, throwing croutons at Jeff.

"I thought we were close, why are you so quick to side with Fred?" Charlie asks, a little more impatient this time.

"I'm close to Fred, too. Besides, Charlie, he's upset, look at him," she says, looking up from a cherry tomato and examining Fred, who does look rather pale.

"What's that got to do with you and me?" Charlie asks, clearly irritated now.

"I don't know. You weren't asking about you and me," Lex says, chewing up lettuce now.

"Well, I am now! What about me, Lex? What about this morning, in my room!?" Charlie says, rather angrily and loudly.

The whole table looks over, and Lex finally stops eating. She just looks at Charlie, then says, "Portman, pass the salt."

Portman's watching with interest, numbly doing what he's told. Lex shakes some salt on to her salad, and then continues with it. I wonder if she's aware the whole table is still watching her. Good thing most of the restaurant has cleared out.

"What about it?" Charlie bellows at her, and I notice that Jeff and Anthony tense, and Matt and Chris stand up.

"I don't know," she says, looking around. "Matt, Chris, what the hell are you doing? Sit down. Charlie, we're not even dating. I mean, what do you want me to say?"

Matt and Chris sit, though they don't look too happy. This look of realization suddenly comes over Anthony's face, and he says, "Hey, Lex, is that what was going on when I came-"

"Anthony, if you want to live to see the city again, you'll shut up now," Lex says, her voice dangerous. Anthony rolls his eyes, but shuts up anyway.

"What's going on?" asks Connie finally.

"Yeah, fill us in," says Dwayne, and for once, he's not the only one confused.

"Charlie, what are you talking about?" Matt asks with his fists clenched on the table, in a voice of very forced calm. "What happened in your room this morning?"

"Nothing, forget about it," Charlie says, watching Matt's fists.

"They slept together," Adam announces, for the whole table to hear. Everyone stops everything they were doing, whether it was eating, drinking, or breathing. "Sorry guys, I couldn't take the suspense," Adam says, looking very intently at his bread.

Both Charlie and Lex stare at each other, then at Adam, then at the table full of surprised people, and then back at each other. I'm sitting and looking like an idiot with my mouth hanging open. I know it. I glance around. Fred actually looks furious. Cecilia doesn't look surprised, but everyone else does.

"I'll kill you," Matt says, looking straight at Charlie.

"No, Matt, I'm her best friend, I'll kill him," says Jeff, standing up.

"I'm her brother, I'll kill him," says a voice.

Lex whirls around, coming face to face with her brother, Robbie, who looks absolutely furious. He's heard everything that's just been said? I have a feeling Charlie's lucky he's not dead already.

"Uh oh," says Lex, her eyes wide, and sounding much like a four year old.

"Yeah, 'uh oh' and you're dead too. Just wait till I tell mom about this," Robbie says, picking Lex up from around the waist.

"You wouldn't tell her! Put me down!" Lex yells. Robbie grants her request and drops her next to Jeff.

"Hold on to her, Jeff. Now you," he says, turning to Charlie and grabbing his shirt, "say your prayers."

Charlie's just looking at Robbie O'Leary with this look of great confusion on his face. Lex is wiggling, but Jeff's got a firm grip on her.

Robbie's fist connects with Charlie's face, and Charlie goes flying. Wow, this looks familiar. Charlie is lying flat on his back, and not moving. I look at the Bash Brothers. They're just sitting there. They should probably be doing something, but look absolutely dumbfounded, and aren't moving.

The next thing I hear is a string of swear words from Jeff. Lex has gotten out of his grip, it appears, by biting his hand. She gets out of their reach before Matt and Chris can grab her.

She grabs Robbie's arm before he can hit Charlie again, while he's down. "Don't, Robbie," she says, tears in her eyes. He doesn't look too convinced.

"Get off, Lex."

"Robbie, please," she begs.

Robbie just looks skeptical. "Oh, alright," he says. "Let go, I won't hit him again."

"Don't be mad Robbie, please, it wasn't so bad. He didn't take advantage or anything. It was my fault too, hit me instead."

"Don't you get enough beatings at home?" Robbie asks her.

"I'll get a huge one if you tell mom and dad about this," she says. "Don't tell, Robbie, please."

"Who said anything about telling dad? And quit whining. Fine. I won't tell mom. But you're going to a clinic when we get back to New York, you understand me?"

"Yeah, yeah, alright."

"I'm not kidding, Alexis!" Robbie bellows. For one, wild moment, I can't figure out who Robbie is talking to. Alexis?

"Neither am I!" Lex shouts back.

"Who's Alexis?" Averman asks, looking confused.

"His sister, idiot," Anna mutters.

That's right. 'Lex' isn't her real name. In math, the teacher kept calling her 'Alexis' and she kept saying, 'Lex.'

Robbie looks down at Charlie on the floor. "I'm not sure I like you, kid. Come on, get up off the floor, I didn't break your cheek bone."

Charlie sits up and rubs his face. Lex kneels down next to him and examined the purplish bruise coming up on the side of Charlie's face.

"You'll live," she decides, smiling.

Charlie looks at her. "You're brother hit me," he says.

"Delayed reaction, there?" Adam asks.

"Banks, shut up, as this is all your fault," I tell him. If he hadn't said anything, none of this would have happened.

"Are you alright?" Lex asks Charlie, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, I think," he says, burying his head in her chest.

"Do you want me to hit you again? Get your nose out of my sister's shirt!" Robbie yells.

"What did you want, anyway, Robbie?" Lex asks, pushing Charlie off her and standing up again.

"Well, I wanted you and me to go to Universal for a while. I never get to hang out with you anymore," he says, still looking suspiciously at Charlie, who's still sitting on the floor.

"Do you still want to go?" Lex asks, looking hopeful.

"Well, yeah, Lex, you're my sister, we don't hang out anymore, I still want to go," he sighs.

"Well, then let's go."

"Go put a jacket on, it's getting cool out with the sun going down," Robbie orders.

"Ok," Lex says, walking off.

In the five seconds after she leaves the room, this huge buzz of conversation starts.

"They slept together?"

"We haven't even gotten that far, Connie!"

"I can't believe that!"

"How'd Banksie know?"

"Fred, I overheard them yelling."

"I can't believe Robbie didn't let us kill him!"

"I can't believe she did that."

"Neither of them is that irresponsible."

"What the hell?"

"Are y'all as confused as I am?"

"I can't believe Charlie."

"Are they crazy?"

"She was better off with you, Fred."

"You say that like it's such a bad thing," Fred says, and to my surprise, he's glaring angrily at Charlie.

"Well, how was she, Charlie?" asks Portman, grinning.

Robbie looks as though he might shoot Portman and Charlie both, but Charlie ignores this and answers anyway.

"Better than anything I ever dreamed of," he says with a far away look in his eye.

It's perhaps a good thing that Lex walked back into the room just then, because Robbie looked murderous.

"I'm ready," she announces to her brother. "See you all later."

"Hey!" Jeff yells.

"What?" Lex says.

"What about Anna, Sammie, Chris, Anthony, Matt, and me? We deserve an explanation!" Jeff demands.

"First off, I'm sorry I bit your hand. And if I give you an explanation later, is that acceptable?" Lex asks quietly, walking over to Jeff and resting her head on his chest. She suddenly looks very tired.

"It's ok, and yeah, I guess," he says, wrapping his arms around her. Both Charlie and Fred look furious. What is up with Fred? He had a choice. He picked Cecilia! I hope he remembers that!

Matt just rolls his eyes and then sighs. Anna winks at Lex, and Sammie exclaims, "When you get back, we want details!"

Lex laughs, and the tension in the room breaks. Everyone just starts laughing.

Robbie rolls his eyes, picks Lex up, throws her over his shoulder and says, "Come on, you, let's get going or we won't get there any time before midnight."

"Robbie, put me down!" she hollers, beating her fists on his back and laughing. He just carries her out, as if she's not doing anything. She finally stops, and just grins.

"I'm going upstairs," Charlie mumbles.

"I'll get the details," Banksie volunteers, chasing after Charlie.

Jeff whispers something to Julie. She giggles and nods and they leave, hand in hand.

"This is so weird," Guy mutters.

"I agree," says Kenny.

"It's funny," says Goldberg, laughing.

"Oh boy. You all are nuts," Anthony says.

"Hey, Chris, wanna play some pool?" asks Portman.

"You're on," Chris says, grinning.

"Hey Fulton, I Love Lucy is coming on. Wanna watch?" Sammie asks.

"Hell yeah," says Fulton, standing up.

Everyone's making their plans for the evening. Ken, Averman, and Goldberg are going to hang out in that game room. Connie and Guy are going to the pool. Anna's gonna tag along with Matt and Anthony to some kind of music show. Luis, Fred, and Cecilia are going to go for a walk.

As for me, I think I'll go back to my corned beef sandwich. I was too busy gaping at what was going on around me to finish before. Now I'll just finish. I look down at my plate. "Hey, where's my sandwich! It's gone!"

Dwayne gives me this huge grin and says, "Sorry, partner."

"Jeez. Well, what do you say, Cowboy? How's air hockey in the game room sound?"

"Like a plan," Dwayne says.

"Come on," I say, standing up and starting for the upstairs. "We can take turns kicking each other's ass at an air hockey table."

So I'll play air hockey for the evening with the Cowboy and just have a good time. We all need one, after dinner tonight.

So Charlie screwed around with Lex. I chuckle to myself. He's gonna need the most rest out of all of us.