A/N: Yes, finally a new chapter! I am hoping to get the next one out much sooner. Thanks to Sam for, some time long ago, suggesting the science fair project to me. Also for betaing for me at like 3 am.

Read. Enjoy. Be kind, review. Might be good motivation to get that next chapter out :p

Grace entered the biology closet to meet up with Luke that Friday afternoon. He grinned at her once she sat down and immediately leaned in for a quick kiss. Grace blinked at him after he pulled back

"What was that for?"

"I need a reason now?" Luke asked her with a smile, lightly stroking her arm with his fingers.

"No, your hormones are reason enough," she confirmed, causing him to smirk a little before leaning in to kiss her again. After savoring the feel of his lips for a few short seconds, she pulled back and leaned into him. "So, when is the science fair? Shouldn't we be starting on our project soon?"

"Oh, that," Luke said, rubbing the back off his head. "I already made plans for the fuel cell powered model car that we had talked about as one of our options."

She gave him a small frown, "You decided and started without me?"

"Grace, the science fair is tomorrow."

"What?" she asked in surprise, sitting up so that she was no longer leaned up against him. She gave him a confused look. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you had enough to worry about," Luke told her with a shrug. He reached out to lightly run his hand down her arm. "Besides, based on past experience, I didn't think you would care too much."

Grace shrugged and didn't resist as Luke moved so that he could put an arm around her.

"Somehow I doubt either of our parents are going to be too keen on letting us pull an all niter this time around."

Luke laughed, and pulled her closer. "I can always work on it alone."

"No way, dude," Grace told him, "You're not going to build cool toys without me."

"Guess we're going to have to talk our parents into it…"

---

"You want our permission to spend the night with your girlfriend?" Helen asked her youngest son in disbelief.

"That means 'no way in hell'," Kevin supplied as he rolled past the table towards the refrigerator. Luke glanced back at his brother before returning to giving his parents a pleading look.

"Yes, spending the night in the garage to work on a science fair project. Which needs to be done tomorrow."

"I wouldn't let him be alone with science and Grace," Joan warned as she joined Kevin in raiding the cabinets. "Those are like his biggest turn ons."

Helen and Will shared a concerned look as Luke shot a glare at his older sister.

"We did the same exact thing last year," Luke reminded his parents, an edge of frustration in his voice.

"Last year you guys weren't groping each other as an extracurricular activity," Joan commented with a smirk.

"Joan!" Luke exclaimed, flushing at all the attention directed at him.

"She has a point, honey," Helen said, her voice filled with a twinge of her remaining southern twang. "It just wouldn't be appropriate for us to let you spend a night alone together now that your relationship has changed."

"I still feel the same way about her as I did then," Luke said with aggravation, not really realizing what he was saying. Joan and Kevin smirked at each other and Helen was fighting a smile down as Luke blushed bright red. Trying to brush off the embarrassment he changed angles, "We have a lot to do on this project. And Grace will be disappointed if I have to do it without her."

"Well, what does her father think about this?" Will asked, knowing what his own feelings about his daughter spending the night with a boy… over his dead body.

Luke shrugged, "She's probably discussing it with him now."

---

"But, Dad, we did it last year!" Grace practically yelled to her father.

"Last year I didn't think I had to worry about what could happen to my only daughter alone with a boy all night," the Rabbi answered, giving her a look.

"Dad, what exactly are you implying?"

---

"Helen, they are going to be doing something school related," Will argued, having decided to take Luke's side in the matter.

"Before or after they go at it on the table?" Joan asked teasingly, knowing she was only making Helen uneasier about the whole thing.

"There will be no 'going at it'," Luke insisted, adjusting his glasses. "Joan is just obsessed with accusing people of looking at porn and having sex."

"Am not!" Joan didn't hesitate to shout over her shoulder as she ventured out to the family room.

"We've been planning this for weeks and now its all going to be screwed up because Joan can't keep her mouth shut. Great," Luke mumbled, defeated. He slouched back in his chair and pouted like a sullen little boy.

Helen sighed, "Okay, let me present an idea."

Luke sat up in his chair, and grinned, "Anything."

"Joan stays with you two through the night."

"What?" Luke exclaimed, in shock as the same time as Joan from the other room. Joan appeared in the doorway seconds later.

"You have to be joking. You want me to sit around and watch them have science sex all night?"

"Science sex?" Kevin questioned with a laugh.

"You know, like Bring It On. Except instead of cheer sex, science sex."

Luke rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'll let you test run our project if you'll stop making crazy accusations."

"Something in your underwear drawer upstairs tells me they aren't so crazy," Joan pointed out with a raise of her eyebrow. Luke's cheeks reddened and he stood.

"Just forget it. I'm going to go call Grace."

Joan's guilty conscience kicked in and she stopped him. "Chill out, geek. I'll do it. Maybe I can invite Adam too. It'll be like a… science party."

Joan scrunched her nose up, appalled she had even said that. The siblings turned to their parents, wearing identical pleading expressions, waiting for the verdict. Will and Helen glanced at each other.

"I'll call Mr. Polansky," Helen relented with a sigh, earning a cheer from both Luke and Joan.

---

"Why did I agree to this?" Grace asked Luke as Joan set up the numerous snacks and refreshments on the table and rambled on about something to Adam.

"Well, you said you were all excited to play with the finished product," Luke answered, giving her a lopsided smile. "But I think you just missed me this past week."

"Oh really?" Grace said, amused. "Lucky for me, mind reading isn't one of your special talents."

"Why is that?" Luke asked with amusement, enjoying the playful banter.

"Because you'd be all crushed when you found out I'm only in it for the toys," she replied with a smirk.

Luke gave her a mock sad look, "And here I thought it was for the food."

"That too."

They grinned at each other, happy to finally get to spend some time together. Grace had been busy helping her father with getting her mom situated in rehab and adjusting to life without her mom in the house. They had tried to meet in the biology closet as usual, but Friday had been the only day that it had actually happened.

"So, what are you guys building?" Joan asked, breaking into their little world.

Luke shook his head as if to clear his head from the daze that Grace tended to put him in. "A model car that is powered by fuel cells. See, a reversible fuel cell works to perform electrolysis as well as to create energy. The electricity required to activate electrolysis is created with a large solar cell. During electrolysis, water is separated into hydrogen and oxygen and the resulting energy is stored as a gas. When needed, the gas is fed into the fuel cell, which then serves as the power source."

Joan stared at him blankly, having no idea what he had just said.

"You couldn't just have said a model car that moves?"

"Cha, he wouldn't be Luke without the confusing explanations," Adam informed her helpfully.

"I understood just fine," Grace told them, amused.

"That's because he's rubbing off on you," Joan said with an eye-roll. "Its scary, really."

"I think it's hot," Luke commented offhandedly as he pulled out his plans and spread them across the table. Grace gave him a fairly hard nudge and cleared her throat.

"What?" he asked, looking over at her.

Grace shook her head, having a feeling that it was going to be a long night.

---

"Joan!" Luke yelled for the tenth time in the hour that had passed when his sister knocked over most of the supplies on the table. Again.

"Dude!" Grace exclaimed, already moving to pick up the mess. "You need to come with a warning label or something."

Joan made a face at her friend and helped pick the supplies up. Once everything was back in order she moved to go back to working on piecing the solar panel together. Luke shot out his arm and blocked her.

"No, you are banned to the chairs," he informed her, pointing a finger towards the plastic chairs, where Adam was already seated, working on a sketch of the unfinished boat. Joan pouted and looked to Grace for salvation. She only raised her eyebrows and gestured towards the chairs.

Joan grumbled and plopped down next to her boyfriend.

---

Around midnight, Joan was absorbed in a book and Adam was finishing up his sketch. Luke was sweating because of his deep concentration as he prepared to solder on the electronic parts. Grace looked up from putting the protective covering together and saw what he was about to do.

"Hold it right there, Geek," she said, gently taking the soldering iron away from him. "Unless you have had some good soldering lessons and got steadier hands since last time we did this, you're not touching the solder equipment."

Joan looked up from her book and snickered at Luke. "Your girlfriend has to do it for you, that's sad."

"Hey, rocket boy came up with all the plans and supplies," Grace quickly defended her boyfriend. "Pretty much all I'm good for."

"Not all," Luke whispered to her as he handed off the electronic parts, making her flustered enough to spill several of the small parts on the table.

Adam looked up to see the exchange and watched them thoughtfully for a moment. Ditching his boat sketch, he flipped to a blank page.

---

At 2 A.M., Grace watched with amusement as Luke carefully put the finishing touch on their model car and let out a sound she had dubbed as a squeak of geeker joy.

"Don't get too excited yet, Girardi," She told him with a smirk, leaning against the table next to him. "Still need to test it."

Luke gave her his lopsided grin that always made her stomach flip flop. "I think we should stick to our promise and let Joan test it. At the fair."

Grace smirked. Knowing his sisters knack for humiliating herself, it would be something worth seeing. She glanced back at Adam and Joan and noticed for the first time that they had moved to sitting on some cushions against the wall and were fast asleep.

"Lightweights," she commented to Luke, turning back to him.

"We should probably move into the family room," Luke suggested, as he pondered the comfortableness of a cushion and a wall.

"Right."

Luke went over to the couple passed out on the cushions and carefully picked up his sister. Grace raised her eyebrows, surprised that he hadn't just woken her up and that he was apparently stronger than he looked.

"It's better than waking her up, trust me," Luke told her as he passed her to take Joan inside the house.

"Well, Rove, if you think you're getting the same treatment, you're dead wrong," Grace informed the sleeping boy as she grabbed him roughly by the arm and pulled him to his feet. Adam woke up once he was upright and looked disoriented at waking up in such an odd position.

"You have the strangest way of waking people up," he told her sleepily. "Luke get this treatment too?"

"I'm me, this you know," she smirked a little. "And I found a new method with the geek."

"Sick, I don't think I want to know," Adam said, his nose scrunching up.

"Probably not. Now get your ass in the living room."

"Yes ma'am," Adam replied as he absently grabbed his bag and trudged into the house. Once they reached the living room, he yawned, squeezed himself into the recliner with Joan, and promptly fell asleep.

Grace shook her head in amusement as Luke placed a blanket over the two.

"Want to watch a movie?" Luke asked, tugging the edge of the blanket over his sister's shoulder before turning to face his girlfriend.

"Sure," Grace replied, lying down on the couch so that her head was propped up by the armrest. Luke put The Matrix in the DVD player for them to watch. The FBI warnings came up on the screen as Luke contemplated where he should sit.

"C'mere," Grace prodded, tilting her head towards the small space of couch in front of her and effectively solving his dilemma. Grace shifted to her side to give him room as he lay down next to her.

Five minutes into the movie, Luke felt Grace's arm wrapping around him from behind and her chin resting against his neck and knew that there was no way he was going to be able to innocently lay there and watch a movie. Smiling to himself, he turned to face her.

"Hi," she said, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Not up to action and awesome visual effects?"

"You're much more interesting," he told her, inching in for a kiss.

"Mmmm," Grace hummed before pushing him back. She bit her lip and looked up at him. "Your sister and Rove are right next to us. Your parents are just a hallway and a flight of stairs away."

"They're all asleep," Luke pointed out, leaning in again.

"But," Luke's lips brushed hers. "What if." Their lips met again. "Someone wakes up and…" Luke pressed his lips more firmly against hers. She pulled back and sucked in a deep breath. "We really shouldn't."

"Since when do you do what you 'should' do?" he challenged. Before Grace could settle on a response, he slid his hand up under her shirt to touch her back and sucked her lower lip into his mouth. Unable to resist any longer, Grace pulled him closer and moved her lips against his.

---

Adam woke up in the morning to the pleasant feel of a small, warm body curled up to his and warm breath on his neck. He looked over to see Joan laying next to him on the recliner. He smiled fondly at the sight of her resting her head on his shoulder, her mouth slightly open as she slept. He carefully slid out of the recliner, so not to wake up his slumbering girlfriend, and stretched out his cramped muscles. He looked over at the couch to see Luke and Grace sound asleep on the couch. They lay face to face, their noses touching. Luke's arm was rested over Graces waist, and she had her arms curled up against his chest. Adam cleared his throat uncomfortably and adjusted his beanie.

Not wanting to disturb them, he simply wrote a note and placed it next to Joan. He softly kissed her forehead before shouldering his bag and silently leaving.

Joan's eyes fluttered, having been woken by the kiss. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up, stretching. She noticed the note as it fell into her lap.

Jane,

Didn't want to wake anyone. You looked peaceful. I promised my dad I'd be back first thing in the morning. Hope you don't mind me bailing on the fair. See you later.

Love, Adam

Smile playing at her lips, she got up and hurried upstairs so that she could have first dibs on the shower. She almost ran into her mother, who was coming down to check on the kids.

"Oh, mom," she called out before her mom walked in on the scene in the living room. "Don't be upset with them. They didn't have wild, kinky sex or anything. Adam and I would have noticed."

With that, Joan bounded happily up the stairs towards the bathroom. Helen stared after her, frowning slightly. She walked into the living room and spotted the couple on the couch. She noticed the way their legs were entangled and how Luke's hand was halfway under Grace's shirt and shook her head in slight disappointment.

She went over to wake them, and considered giving them a piece of her mind. She smiled softly as Luke burrowed into Grace's embrace when she tried to lightly shake him awake and decided against giving them a hard time before their big event. There was always time later on, after all.

---

The science fair was buzzing with students and teachers milling about trying to get all the projects in order. Grace propped up her and Luke's poster board on their table as he set up their car on the ground in front of it.

"When did all the parts and junk turn into that?" Joan asked as she looked the car over. "How'd I miss that part?"

"Could be because you were splayed out on Rove and snoring," Grace remarked, smirking when Joan flushed a little.

"I never got to test it," Joan said, disappointed look on her face.

"We're going to let you do the presentation run," Luke told her, handing her a small remote. "That controls the wheels."

"Awesome," Joan exclaimed, grinning. Her expression suddenly turned worried. "I have no idea how to work it."

"You just pour water in this tube here," Luke informed her, pointing to the tube in question. "And then you steer it with the remote."

Luke moved over to the poster board when the judges came over to see the presentation. He gave them a quick explanation of how the car worked and then nodded to Joan to give them an example. Joan fumbled with the model, pouring water down its tube as she was told.

Grace drifted over next to Luke and whispered, "Did you tell her she has to take the wheel locks off?"

"Oops," Luke said with a smile, just as Joan figured out where the switch was and turned on the car.

Joan shrieked as the car took off and she attempted to turn the wheels with the remote and found no result.

"Luke! I think its defective!" She shouted, giving up on the remote and rushing over to where Luke and Grace stood, both trying hard not to laugh.

Chaos broke out as teachers and students jumped out of the way of the car as it moved rapidly across the floor. It knocked over and ran through several projects before crashing into the wall. Joan winced, and turned to give Luke an apologetic look. He didn't look mad, though, just like he was about to burst out laughing at any given moment.

"There's a wheel lock that you have to release," Luke told her, eyes dancing with amusement. "Did I forget to mention that?"

Grace lost her battle against the laughter and snorted before dissolving into giggles. Joan looked over at her, and then back at Luke, who was starting to laugh as well.

"You did that on purpose!" She whined. She smacked Luke on the arm, and glared at him. After a moment she shrugged. "Well, I guess it's your own fault that it's ruined then."

Luke shook his head and told the judges, "That was a test of its durability. Now for a test of how it runs."

Luke collected the model from where it had crashed and brought it back over. He unlocked the wheels and handed the remote off to Grace.

"Show them how it's done, sweet," he said with a grin, knowing she didn't like his new favorite pet name. At all.

Giving him a dirty look, she took the remote from him and turned on the car. Showing off, she had it do several fancy spins before ending with a screeching halt. She felt the urge to bow as the judges clapped, impressed. Instead she just smiled smugly and gave Luke a love-nudge in the ribs.

"Definitely in it for the toys."

Luke shook his head, amused before reaching out to take the remote back.

Grace pushed him away. "I have one more 'trick'."

Grace re-filled the water tank and sent the car speeding off, weaving through the people.

Gavin Price's eyes widened as a mini car that came up to about his knees came rushing at him, full speed. Realizing that it wasn't going to stop, he gave chase. Grace laughed as she made the car follow Price all around the room and, finally, out the door. She went to pick up the car while Luke gathered everything else so that they could make a quick exit.

"Hey, don't you have to stay to see how you did?" Joan asked as they rushed past her.

Grace turned so that she was walking backwards and facing Joan." That's what you're here for, Girardi."

Joan scowled as the couple left and Price cautiously re-entered, not looking very pleased at all.

"Ms. Girardi," he stated sternly, coming to stand in front of her. She winced and inwardly planned two blonde teens painful deaths.