A/N: Okay, I lied. There's a lil Fillmore/ Ingrid in this chap. Anyway, here you go. It's a lil long. Well, it looks long as I'm typing it up and it took a while so I hope you like it. Uhh PLEASE read the A/N at the end.
It was Monday afternoon, Ingrid had just finished up her cheerleading practice. She, Matthew, and Fillmore were gathered in Fillmore's room. "Okay," Matthew began. "You wanted them and I got them. Every paper, file, picture, and shred of information I could find on Victoria Anne Hawkins, age fourteen, grade eight at Ben Franklin Jr. High. What I don't understand is why you wanted it."
Ingrid paced the room. "Well, I think I've got an idea of who's doing this and for whom. Read all the information please."
Matthew looked at Filllmore who shrugged, indicating he had no idea what was going on. This was just how Ingrid operated. Matthew returned the shrug, resigned to the fact that he'd be left in the dark until Ingrid was ready to explain. He sighed and read what he had. "Let's see, she transfered early this year because she moved into Ben Franklin's school district. When she was at X she was active in the newspaper and cheerleading. Since her transfer Victoria's grades hve risen and she's now the cheerleading captain.
"That's it," Ingrid announced. "Okay, read everything about the squad."
"Well, all I have is that they've won the city competition six years in a row, but then they lost to their biggest rivals last year."
"Who won?" Fillmore and Ingrid asked in unison.
"X Middle School."
Fillmore looked at Ingrid, "Why didn't I know that?"
"The competition was the day of your surgery last year and you were out for two weeks so the hype was over by the time you got back."
Fillmore nodded but then realized something. "Then why didn't you know? You said you only skipped the day of my surgery and a couple days during my recovery."
"I lied, I skipped the whole two weeks."
"Why?" He sounded half angry at her lie but more curious than anything.
She shrugged, "I know it was minor surgery but the being scared thing works both ways."
Fillmore smiled and so did Matthew who was pretending to be engrossed in his notes while actually listening to their conversation.
"So who is this Victoria Hawkins?" Fillmore asked, finally.
"Libby's best friend," Ingrid was smiling, beaming if that was possible for Ingrid.
Fillmore didn't see a connection. "Ingrid, I thought we were going with the family connections angle."
"We did."
Fillmore shook his head, "But Ingrid-"
Ingrid turned to Matthew. "Matthew, why was I so bad at making a vase?"
"Exactly," Ingrid thought this would be enough but once she looked at their confused faces she knew Fillmore and Matthew didn't get it. She sighed, "Looke you guys, we were looking at one small part, not the whole thing. Being a blood relative is not a requirement for being a family member. Fillmore why doesn't my dad makEe you knock on the door at our house?"
Because he says I'm part of the family."
"Exactly, I'd do anything for Fillmore, and I'd do anything for family. Your best friend usually is part of your family."
"I got it," Fillmore said. "You thinkg Libby is passing information to her best friend Victoria."
Ingrid nodded, "It'd make her look great to take the trophy back from her old school."
"Only one problem," Matthew interjected.
"What's that?" Ingrid asked.
"How are we going to prove it?"
Ingrid sighed, "I hadn't gotten that far yet."
"Well I know where to start," Fillmore voluntered, "we need to search Ben Franklin."
"But there's no time," Matthew pointed out. "The competition is in two weeks and searching the school without a clue what we're looking for would take forever!"
Fillmore nodded, "what do you suggest?"
"We need a motive. She must have talked to the team, they seem close. Maybe they know if she's unhappy with cheerleading or something. Our best bet is one of the girls."
"But who?"
Ingrid thought, "A team's only as strong as it's weakest link. I'll try Samantha. In the meantime, Matthew, we need some hard evidence. Take Anza and Tehama and search Ben Franklin. Get more on the cheerleading squad and who Victoria hangs out with. Follow her, we need to catch her in the act most likely, or at least figure out how she's doing what she's doing."
"Got it."
"Fillmore I don't know what else you can do until the takedown." She smiled, "You could try to get your team to state."
Fillmore nodded, "That and I have some things to sort out." He thought about Anza and how wrecked their friendship was. He still needed to fix things.
Ingrid nodded and sighed. "Tell me about it. But all my sorting's going on at home." She looked at Matthew and then turned back to Fillmore. "I'm gonna go on home."
Fillmore nodded, showing he understood. "Meet you at the corner tomorrow."
"As always."
ON THE WAY HOME
"Matthew?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you mad at me?" She didn't know why she asked him that. But it seemed like a decent way to end the silence.
"No," he sounded truthful yet surprised. "Why?"
Ingrid shrugged, "Well, when our parent stold us about the wedding and I, um..."
"Freaked out?"
"Well, yeah." She thought back, almost ashamed of how she acted. "Look, i didn't mean to offend you or your mom, I just-"
"You didn't."
"Oh, well...ok."
They walked for a while without talking. "Why don't you like her?" Matthew asked.
"What"
"My mom, why don't you like her? She's a good mom. I mean, she's not perfect. Her cooking's pretty bad but other than that...She's not very strict, she doesn't treat me like a little kid, she's really easy to talk to. So what's wrong with her?"
"Nothing's wrong with her."
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Why don't you like her?"
"I do like her Matthew."
"Are you afraid?"
"Of what?"
"Of having a new mother?"
"Of course not."
"You wouldn't have to call her mom."
"I know."
Matthew opened his mouth but then shut it, remaining silent. For some reason thjis made Ingrid feel as if she had to say something. "It's just weird. One day she's practically asking for my approval and the next she's getting engaged!"
"Your dad proposed."
"I know."
"That means they're in love. Don't you want them happy."
"Yes, but they haven't been together long enough to be in love."
"But they've known each other since you moved here."
Ingrid sighed, she couldn't believe she was standing there talking about love. She didn't understand it, she was only fourteen. "Okay, let's say they're in love. Now, if this doesn't work out do you think they can ever go back to being friends like they were? No, because this little relationship has ruined their friendship."
Matthew was silent for a minute. Ingrid thought this was because he had accepted that she was right. Boy, was she wrong.
"I was right, you are scared."
"What?"
"This isn't about you and Fillmore."
Ingrid stopped dead. "I know, I wasn't talking about that."
"Yes you were."
"Of course I wasn't. I know who I was talking about. I was talking about..."
Matthew smiled, "our parents know what they're doing. They're adults."
Ingrid thought, could she have transfered all her worries about what was going on in her life to what was going on in her father's? She had. Matthew was right, she didn't need to worry about them, they were adults. She started walking again. "They are doing the right thing." Now the question was, were she and Fillmore going to do the right thing?
A/N: There you go. Okay, here's why I wanted you to read this. I want to start another ff but I have 2 different plots. So I'll list them below and I want you to vote for the one you like the best. You can either e-mail me or leave it in your review. Here they are:
1.) (Set in 7th grade) Ingrid gets upset when an article is written giving Fillmore all the credit on the latest bust. Basically Fillmore doesn't see a big deal and they get in an argument. (Better than it sounds) Anyway, I was thinking of switching the roles and they might be more believable (Ingrid gets all the credit) So if you vote for this tell me who should be in which role.
2.) (Set years later) Fillmore and Ingrid tried to stay in touch but after going to different colleges they drifted apart. Ingrid becomes a detective and comes home to her NY apartment to find Fillmore (whom she hasn't heard from in forever) sitting on her couch. He's on the run and needs her help to clear his name on a bank robbery he swears he didn't commit.