Chapter Nine

"Whatcha makin?" Katalin leaned over the table curiously to get a better look at Tom's creation. They were all sitting at the table being with a clay Olivia referred to as 'playdough'.

"A ship." He answered, holding it up to show the girl.

Katalin made a face. "It don't look like a ship to me."

"It don't- I mean doesn't?" Tom raised an amused eyebrow. "I thought it did."

"No… it looks like a banana." Katalin declared.

Jack looked up from his own project with an amused look, studying Tom's 'ship'. "She's right. It does look like a banana."

"A banana with…. holes." Stephen tilted his head to a side, examining the ship, distracted from his own artistic work. "Why does your banana have holes?"

"It's not a banana!" Tom exclaimed, finding it hard not to laugh at the pure silliness of the conversation. "It is clearly a ship."

"Is it a banana boat?" Maria asked, looking up from the cannon she was making to attack her sister's castle. This meant that every five minutes Maria would smash her Katalin's work resulting in tears from the younger girl, who would quickly recover and start construction again.

"No, I don't believe a banana boat would work in the ocean." Tom looked over his shoulder to holler down the hall. "Olivia! My work is being criticized!"

"That's nice!" Olivia shouted back from her room where she was getting ready for work.

"I don't know, Tom. Stephen, do bananas float?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"I have no idea." Stephen replied, putting the final touches on his masterpiece. "There!" He declared with a triumphant look.

"You finished?" Maria looked at his project, stared a moment, then looked up at Stephen. "What is it?"

"It's a sloth my dear!" Stephen answered.

"It don't look like a sloth." Katalin announced. Then after a pause she looked around the table. "What's a sloth?"

The adults laughed while the little girls looked confused. Tom chuckled, teasing Katalin. "Why Miss Katalin, I do believe you are being critical for the sake of being critical." He told her.

Katalin giggled. "You're silly, Tom."

Tom laughed, "Thank you Katalin."

"What are you making Jack?" Maria asked, looking curiously at Jack's work.

"Ice cream." He replied.

"Ice cream?" Stephen raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Why?" Jack looked around confused at why his 'ice cream' would be so interesting.

Katalin leaned across the table to see. "Now that looks like ice cream." She declared. "Good job Jack."

Jack laughed, "Why thank you Katalin, and I must say that is a fine castle indeed."

Katalin beamed, her little face positively lighted up. Just as she was about to reply however her sister reached out and brought her fist down, smashing the poor girl's castle quick as a cat.

"CANNONBALL!" She declared proudly, grinning wickedly at her sister.

"MARIA!" Katalin screeched, her eyes going wide and her face going quite red. "LIVIA!" She howled like a wounded beast, tears streaming down her face. She bolted up and ran down the hall to her cousin, crying quite vocally without any restraint.

The men all stared at the remaining little girl who seemed completely unaffected. The girl had been being horrible to her younger sister all day, and Tom felt like he ought to say something but had no idea what to say. He did not want to be too harsh on the girl, but he did not want to be perceived as too soft.

However he did not have the opportunity, Olivia soon stormed down the hall, pulling back her hair as she walked with her brush held in her mouth until she freed up a hand. As soon as she did she held the brush fast, waving it rather like a sword for emphasis. "Maria, put the playdough away, right now." She ordered.

"But Livia!" Maria protested. "We were playing!"

"Maria, you were being rotten and you know it. This is the fourth time I've had to say something to you and I don't want to hear it. You can put it away now, apologize to your sister, and play nicely, or you can go to my room and spend the rest of the day in timeout. Your choice." She crossed her arm, giving the girl a harsh look that made Tom subconsciously sit up a little straighter. He had never heard her use such a commanding tone, nor look so stern, and he realized for the first time that Olivia could be rather intimidating if she wanted to be, more so than he thought possible in a woman. Quite frankly it made him rather nervous, as if he had done something wrong and was being reprimanded.

The effect was obviously not lost on Maria either, for she hung her head and muttered her apologies to Katalin, who somehow managed to smirk and sniffle at the same time. She put the playdough in its container, sulking, and gave her cousin a dark look. "Well now what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, watch a movie, play a game, read a book, memorize the periodic table, make a sandwich. Whatever you want as long as it's legal and your mother would approve." Olivia went into the hall closet, searching for something. "Just don't destroy my apartment." She added, finding what she wanted and stuffed it in her bag. "Okay, I have to get to work for a bit."

"Awwww. Why?" Katalin pouted, clinging to Olivia's leg.

"It's just for a few hours Katalin. I'll be back before you even miss me." She assured the girl, prying her off her leg. "Don't give Tom, Jack, and Stephen a hard time girls. They're not used to such scheming minds in such cute faces." She teased the girls, ruffling their hair. "And you gentlemen have my permission to lock them in my room if they're acting up. If you have any problems call me. The number is on the fridge."

"Certainly." Tom looked up and smiled at her. He was becoming more comfortable with her cousins, but he was still slightly nervous at being left with them.

"And someone tell Blakeney to get off my computer in the next hour or so. He's really addicted to minesweeper and keeps getting closer and closer to the screen. Any minute now he'll be sitting on my keyboard." She added digging through her bag.

"Olivia, your keys are on the table, dear." Tom pointed out, amused, knowing exactly what she was looking for.

She looked up, spotting them there. "Oh." She snatched them up, quickly closing her bag again. "Okay, I'm late. Got to run." She quickly hugged her cousins, telling them again to behave, distractedly kissed Tom on the cheek, and in a whirlwind of motion, disappeared out the door muttering to herself about something or another.

As soon as she was gone a silence fell on the group seated at the table. The younger girl, Katalin, still sniffling, timidly approached Tom and tugged on his arm for attention. Tom could not help but smile, Olivia's cousins were quite possibly the most adorable little girls he had ever seen, and Katalin looked like what Tom could imagine Olivia had looked like as a child. He wondered vaguely if any daughters he and Olivia may have in the future would look like Katalin.

The little girl was impatient with Tom's distracted musing, and tugged again with more insistence. He looked down, eyebrow raised in amusement. "Yes Katalin?"

"Can I play dress-up with Livia's old costumes? She lets me do it all the time, as long as I ask first and don't get in her real clothes and stuff." She asked sweetly, unable to keep still and shifting on her toes, as if dancing in one place.

Tom hesitated, unsure if Olivia would really approve of her cousin getting into her things. However, he did recall she had moved a stack of clothes into the closet of the room he shared with Blakeney. Old costumes that were cleaned out of the theatre where she worked, he supposed that was what Katalin was referring to. "You're sure Olivia allows you to play with her costumes?" He asked, just to be sure.

Maria piped up in support of her sister, "Livia does let us play with them. She says she brings them home because no one wants them anymore cause they're too old." She then made a face, "But I don't want to play dress up. All Livia has is a bunch of old girly skirts that are too big for us anyway."

Katalin rolled her eyes, "Well what else are we gonna do, Maria?"

"Watch my movie!" Maria replied, jumping up and running to Olivia's room, reappearing with an item and handing it to the nearest adult, who happened to be Jack.

He looked at the box with an amused expression, "Muppets Treasure Island." He read, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

Katalin groaned, "Not that movie again! I don't wanna watch it!"

"And I don't wanna play dress-up!"

"It's my turn to pick the game!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Not!"

"So!"

"Not!"

"So!"

Stephen stood up and cleared his throat, quite tired of listening to the girls scream at one another. "Perhaps a compromise?"

They both looked at him mid-argument. "What's compromise mean?" Katalin asked curiously.

"It means bargain stupid." Maria snapped at her little sister.

"Don't call me stupid! Dummy!" Katalin glared at her.

"Fine, poop-poo-head!" Maria shot back.

"All right girls that's enough." Tom said, echoing what he had heard Olivia say to break up their arguments at least ten times already. "Maria, you may watch a movie and Katalin you may play."

"But it's no fun playing dress-up alone." Katalin pouted, sticking her lower lip out so she looked as pathetic as possible. "Will you play with me Tom? Please?"

"And Jack and Stephen can watch the movie with me!" Maria declared, grabbing Jack's hand and tugging it.

"Well, it appears its all been decided." Stephen said, amused at Maria trying to pull the large form of Jack Aubrey up out of his chair and failing miserably.

Katalin jumped and tugged at Tom's arm until he finally got up out of his chair. "Come on Tom!" She shouted excitedly.

Tom reluctantly followed, casting an evil glare at Stephen, hoping he could get out of wearing the costumes himself, quite certain there would be nothing in that closet that would allow him to keep his pride.

As soon as they were gone, Jack suddenly jumped up from his chair, sending poor little Maria crashing to the floor. Her dark eyes widened in surprise and she stared at Jack a moment, a grin slowly breaking out on her face. "That was a GOOD one!" She declared, jumping back up to his feet.

Jack could not help but laugh at the little girl so quick to bounce back and see a joke. He had never spent much time with his daughters, and what he saw of them was nothing like these two. His daughters had been trained by their mother to be polite and when among the adults, speak only when spoken too, like good little children. However, he knew when alone they would slip into the lower deck language they had learned from growing up in a house staffed by old sailors, and was quite used to hearing them shout at one another from a distance, it was just that these little cousins of Miss Corin's acted loudly and openly all the time. It was rather unusual, yet refreshing to him.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Maria grabbed both his hand and Stephen's and tugged them both to the sofa, determined to delay watching her movie not a moment longer.

"What about this one?" Katalin held up a glittery beaded creation. It looked rather like a harem girl's costume, and Tom raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly Olivia had used that for.

He cleared his throat, sitting on the futon surrounded by a pile of different dresses, hats, shoes, and gloves, as well as a variety of things Katalin had pulled out of the closet to get to the costumes she wanted. They had managed to make quite the mess, and Tom was sure that if Olivia came home before they cleaned it all up she may very well kill him.

Katalin was still examining the beaded creation, admiring its silky blue fabric. "Would a princess wear this?" She asked.

"Hm…" Tom was amused by the question, and leaned forward to examine the costume in question more closely. A simply top in smooth flawless blue fabric with beaded straps and a skirt that was slit up the side in the same blue, beaded and sparkling all around. "What does she do on that stage?" He wondered, noting that in this her midriff and back would be quite exposed, not that she ever seemed to care about modesty. "Well, Katalin, what sort of princess are you?"

"The rich kind." She replied. "With lots of ponies and castles, and is in distrust!" She said excitedly, jumping up on the futon.

Tom paused, "Distrust?" Katalin had a way of getting her words confused it seemed, and he thought for a moment coming up with the word she really wanted. "You mean distress?"

"Yeah!" Katalin hopped down and dove back into the costume pile with enthusiasm. "Distress!"

"Well, in that case…" He dug through the pile with her. "What about this one?" He held up a long dress of burgundy velvet with a laced up front and long sleeves which widened at the ends.

"Oooh!" Katalin snatched the dress from Tom and pulled it over her head. He couldn't help but laugh, it was entirely too large, making her look even smaller. The sleeves dragged on the floor and she looked like she could disappear entirely. "Well?" She asked, twirling, which just caused the dress to twist on the floor, making her fall over in a pile herself.

Tom grinned, "Lovely, your highness." He said, giving her a small bow.

Katalin beamed, jumping up and pushing up the sleeves, which really had no effect whatsoever. "Now it's your turn!" She declared.

Tom froze, with an alarmed expression. "Katalin, I don't believe Olivia has anything for me to wear." He said. "You wouldn't make me wear a dress would you?"

Katalin looked disappointed, "Not if you don't want to." She said after a moment of giving him the most pathetic look she could muster.

Tom sighed, this was why he was worried about watching little girls. How could anyone tell someone that small with that cute a face no? He looked into the pile of dresses, then back at Katalin. "I think they may all be too small."

Katalin seemed to accept this. "That's true. You're way bigger than Livia." She went back into the pile, this time looking for shoes. "She don't date guys who are smaller than her. She says it's policy."

"Does she now?" Tom raised an amused eyebrow. "What else does Olivia say?"

Katalin shrugged, "Maria's the one to ask. She stopped dating all those weird guys when I was little."

"When you were little?" Tom teased, "And you're not little now?"

Katalin glared at him, insulted. "I'm not little! I'm FIVE! I was FOUR then. THREE even."

"Oh, of course you're not little at all." Tom covered his apparent insult.

"Anyway, Livia lived with us sometimes when I was little. Summers mostly. To help Mommy and Daddy with us. And she used to bring boys home." Katalin giggled, flopping on the futon.

"Did she indeed?" Tom replied vaguely. Part of him was curious about these apparent former beaus. The other part did not really want to know.

"Uh huh." Katalin rolled over, sitting up, her eyes wide and sparkling with amusement. "This one time, Maria and I snuck downstairs when we was supposed to be asleep, and we caught her and her boyfriend wrestling on the sofa!"

Tom froze, this was now getting to the point where he probably should not ask anymore questions, but he did not know how to reply, so he hoped this was in the end of her story. "Oh…"

Katalin examined the sleeve of her dress casually. "She wasn't doing so good at it either. He was totally winning, but she didn't look like she was trying to get away."

Tom's eyes went wide, now that was more than he wanted to know. Best change the subject before he found out anymore about Olivia's 'wrestling' on the sofa. "What about these shoes Katalin?" He blindly grabbed the first pair he found, desperate to get the little girl off the subject.

"Oh!" Katalin took them and put them on her feet, of course they were twice as big as her feet. "These are perfect! How do I look?" She asked, striking a pose.

Tom laughed, she looked ridiculous to be honest, but her little round face and bright eyes were just adorable. He was enjoying watching her, anticipating a sweet little girl of his own someday. "You look lovely, Princess Katalin." He told her.

She beamed, "I know what else we need!" She dashed off to Olivia's room, well, attempted to dash, but her dress and shoes made it impossible, so instead she stumbled along, reappearing with a bright pink box with hearts and other decorations covering it. She opened the box and pulled out a little bottle with bright pink paint inside. "Nail polish!" She declared.

"Nail polish?" Tom repeated, raising an eyebrow. He did not like the look of inspiration on the girl's face.

"Can I paint your nails Tom?" She asked, climbing up on the futon and wrapping her arms around his neck in a big hug. "Please?"

Tom hesitated, reluctant to have his nails tinted a bright, violent shade of pink, "I don't know, Katalin."

"Puleeaaassse?" She looked at him, lower lip out in a pure pout, trembling slightly, with the biggest puppy-dog eyes imaginable. "Please can I paint your nails? I promise I'll do a good job! Puleeaasse?"

He sighed, there was no way he could resist that look. He supposed there was no harm in letting her paint his nails, and she looked so pitiful. "All right, Katalin."

"Yay!" She jumped up, giving him another hug and squirming out of her "princess" dress. "I'll put it back on later. I can't paint your nails with those sleeves. They're too big. We'll play beauty shop!"

"Beauty shop?" Tom wondered just what he got himself into.

"Yeah!" Katalin scampered off, returning with paper towels and a bag of make-up that Tom recognized as Olivia's.

"Um… Katalin…" He began to protest but the girl was too excited to hear him. She was too busy running about the room setting everything up just so, and Tom gave up, not having the heart to stop her.

Once everything was satisfactory she grabbed Tom's hand. "Now, sit down right here." She directed him to a seat on the floor. "And I'll fix you right up! You're going to look so pretty!" She declared, grabbing various bottles.

Tom sighed, and attempted a brave smile. "Wonderful." He managed, watching as Katalin took his hand and put the first streak of bright pink on his fingernail, wondering just what she had in mind. "Just wonderful."

Meanwhile, Jack and Stephen were immersed in the world of seafaring creatures called muppets with Maria. Jack was quite amused by the whole movie. Its whole plot was so ridiculous that even if the ship weren't crewed by strange looking puppet creatures it would still be good fun. During the scene where the first mate, a strange blue eagle fellow who was overly obsessed with safety, called role he almost fell out of his chair laughing, particularly when "Big Fat Bug-Face Baby-Eating O'Brien" was called and turned out to be a woman. The apartment was filled with his loud laughter as he made amusing observations to Stephen, who seemed more confused than amused, for he was trying to identify all the species of animal puppets he was seeing, and was getting particularly annoyed that they kept called the creature Gonzo a "whatever" rather than give its species.

"I say, Maria, is the Captain French?" Jack suddenly ask, feeling particularly witty at the moment.

"No, I don't think so, he don't talk French or have one of those funny accents. Why?" She asked, looking up from the movie briefly.

"Because he's a frog." Jack answered, laughing at his own joke and slapping Stephen on the back quite heavily, for which he received a particularly dark glare from the touchy naturalist.

Maria did not understand the joke, but thought nothing of it and turned back to her movie. "Ooh! The Professional Pirate song!"

"The what?" Jack raised an eyebrow as Maria grew more excited and scooted closer to the television.

"The Professional Pirate song!" She repeated. "You'll see."

The Professional Pirate song turned out to be a rather amusing song sung to glorify piracy to young Jim, the main character who happened to be one of the few non-puppet characters in the movie. By the end of it Jack was positively howling with laughter while Stephen wondered about his friend's sanity. Even Blakeney, who had joined the halfway through the movie after finally finishing playing minesweeper on the computer, raised an amused eyebrow at the Captain's quite vocal amusement. He had to admit the silliness of this movie was rather entertaining, and the fact that the little girl bouncing on the floor seemed to know all the words by heart made it even more amusing. The only one who seemed to be stuck on the impracticality of it all was Stephen, and as the movie continued he persisted in making comments to that effect, most of which were shot down by little Maria.

As the lady pig and the frog captain were hanging over a cliff professing their love for one another and singing a song while the pirates celebrated finding their treasure Stephen made a sort of snorting noise of distaste. "A frog and a pig could not get married." He declared, though Jack and Blakeney had both long stopped listening to his complaints about the unrealistic animals.

Maria turned around to face Stephen with all the sass a seven-year-old girl could muster. "They're muppets. They're not real." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the movie. "DUH."

Stephen raised an eyebrow, that was very rude, had she been his daughter he would likely have tanned her hide, but she was not his daughter and he opened and closed his mouth trying to come up with a proper response.

Jack however found the naturalist doctor being bluntly told the facts by a little girl hilarious, and he broke into a new fit of laughter, receiving quite the glare from his friend for it. "Oh come Stephen, it's just a bit of fun."

"Indeed." Stephen rose from the sofa in a indignant huff. "Too much fun for my tastes. I believe I shall take a walk." He declared, having had quite enough of this and still slightly pouting over Jack's laughing at him. He then turned and headed out the door, finding the insects and birds in the field behind the buildings quite more interesting than the movie and getting a headache from Jack's howling.

Maria turned again, looking slightly guilty. "Is he mad at me?" She asked.

Jack shrugged slightly, amused by this strange little girl. "I am sure he is fine. This sort of movie ain't his type."

"Ain't's not a word." Maria told him, hopping up on the sofa to sit next to Jack.

"Is it not?" He smiled kindly. "Well then I shall have to remember that, won't I?" He was starting to like this little girl a great deal. She was a strange little creature to be sure, but spirited and amusing.

They sat watching the movie until it ended with the pirates stopped, the ship retaken and sailing off to a happy ending, and the rats swimming to retrieve the treasure from the bottom of the ocean. Maria hopped up happily, "Isn't that the best movie ever?"

Jack laughed, "It was very good indeed, Maria." He told her.

She stood for a moment, hesitating. "Now what?"

"Why don't you go see what Tom and your sister are up to?" Jack suggested, watching as Blakeney took the opportunity to seize control of the remote and change the channel on the television. It was a rare occasion indeed when the lad could get control away from the Captain and Doctor, and even Mr. Pullings had more say in what they watched than he did, and the cooking channel Mr. Pullings always choose made him quite hungry.

Maria nodded, "Okay!" She quickly scampered off. "Maybe they'll play pirates with me!" She called as she ran down the hall.

Blakeney selected his channel and went back to his chair, pausing to raise an eyebrow at the little girl's shouting. "Pirates sir?" He asked. "What a strange little girl."

Jack laughed, "Indeed Mr. Blakeney." He looked at what was on the television. "Now, what's all this?"

"Something called "Star Trek" sir. It's about a ship that goes in space and explores new worlds. Quite strange." He replied, watching as the ship flew by the screen.

Jack blinked in wonder, of all the strange new technology. "Indeed. I shall have to remember to ask Miss Corin how much truth there is to this program." He said, watching interested as the show began and he settled in to a good adventure story.

A/N: Took me long enough to update eh? I apologize, blame it on my professors and my creation and planning of the history club's Spring Weekend booth, and everyone hope this all goes well Saturday or I'm going to look really really stupid. Too much work and too little time. Actually I should be working right now but I realized this time is normally my naptime so I'm sacrificing my nap to bring you an update. Haha so anyway enough excuses….

Okay so this wasn't the chapter I originally had planned for right here. But I couldn't resist the urge to make Tom play dress-up. I've been through that enough myself so now it's Tom's turn to suffer. Mwahahahaha. Adventures in babysitting! Yay! The next chapter shall be more adventures in babysitting! Yay! Haha so I hope you all like funny little kids…. If not… um… well… tune out for the next chapter or two?

Muppets Treasure Island is in fact one of the best movies ever made, and I highly recommend it to anyone, any age, at all times. Seriously, it's great fun.

Sakai213: Wow. Your review goes in the top 10 nicest things people have ever told me. Haha I love kids, and I spent a fair amount of time with kids (especially preschool aged ones since my mom is the director of a preschool and recruits me to work everytime I'm home), but I don't have kids myself and I worry about my children characters being somewhat believable. These two are based off of two different little girls I used to babysit back in high school and a few moments I probably stole from working at preschool (haha the ain't's not a word thing is actually from a preschooler who couldn't pick a circle out of a shapes pile but sure knew his grammar!) Anyway m'dear thank you for your kind words. They are very much appreciated. Hope you enjoyed the update and thanks again for the review.

Calliope-Elven-Agent: Haha don't worry about not reviewing a chapter. You have permission since you moved to AZ and were Internet deprived. Tom is indeed a sweetheart. Why don't they make real ones like him? Haha you can really tell this is totally fiction by how sweet Tom is. As for the supernatural thriller idea, that really made me laugh…. well…. the actor who plays Pullings in the movie WAS in the latest Exorcist movie right? Haha that really amused me too. I went to see that movie and was confused… Tom Pullings was a priest? Yes, I know it's an actor but to me he's still Tom Pullings and he was a priest. I kept laughing at random things. Of course, I would have done that anyway. But no, it's not a supernatural thriller. Olivia is not possessed by the devil. I promise. If you want to hear Hungarian I believe you can hear it in the movie Chicago. There's a Hungarian prisoner lady and during the song "He had it coming" she tells her story in Hungarian. Thanks for the review m'dear and I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!

ClaireRickman: Haha don't hurt Stephen in that cupboard! And make sure he gets plenty of veggies and citrus! I'm glad I'm warming you up to Tom. Wow I feel like I've accomplished something! Poor Stephen got his feelings hurt in this chapter so he's gone to pout. Maybe he'll come crying to you? Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reviewing m'dear!

Proudmaxfan: Sorry I didn't update sooner. In honor of all the people who were waiting for this chapter and were annoyed at my slowness I shall buy one of the piñata heads I made for history club this weekend, draw my own face on it, and bust it, and mail the candy to you wonderful reviewers. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and hope you liked this one too! Thanks for reviewing!

Angel of the Night Watchers: Haha you read my mind with the dress-up thing didn't you? Poor Tom. Katalin's really playing him like a banjo. Tom is funny when he blushes I agree. He's so cute. I've said it once, I'll say it again, he is a PUPPY! He's also a gentleman and that's driving poor Olivia crazy. The wedding is a long time off though… will they even get that far? Bum bum bum! You'll just have to wait and see! As always thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed Tom's torment!

Eldarwen999: Haha Tom does need to relax. They're just little girls for goodness sake! What could possible happen? Mwahaha. Too many funny possibilities to even fathom. Hope you enjoyed the update and thanks for reviewing m'dear!

Norma Jean the Dancing Machine: You have many questions. Let's see…. Olivia's past being revealed? Hm… maybe eventually she'll tell him parts of it, but she's sort of secretive that way. He'll have to work very hard to pull it out of her. Maybe if he was smart enough to get her chocolate…. Haha wait… that only works on me. Tom did propose in the first story and she accepted. They're just holding off on the wedding for reasons stated in a previous chapter… and other issues that may be revealed later… Tom SHOULD get a cooking show! That'd be funny as all! Chef Pullings.. hehe. He should go on Iron Chef. Is that show even still on? I used to love that show. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter and it was worth the wait! Thanks for reviewing and sticking with me here!

ArcherofDarkness and Callie: Haha I was sick over break. It was tragic. But I got to spend lots of quality time in my nice comfy bed back home that I don't ever get to sleep in. That was nice. You don't like little kids? How sad! They're funny. Haha even when not falling down…. Gary will get his time later, and no, he's not the snail off of Spongebob. Not really watching that show ever I didn't eve remember Gary the Snail. My old roommate would be crushed that she had no impact on me in that regard. Hope you enjoyed the chapter despite the little kids and thanks for reviewing!

Wing Pikepaw: Haha if that wait killed you this wait certainly did it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Haha yes babysitting is a challenge for poor Tom, but at least the others are there to share in the insanity. Haha Blakeney's turning into a typical teenage boy checking out the girls at the pool. Poor guy. Hey! He can tred water with one arm! And probably swim with one arm… all be it not well but it's possible I'm sure! Hope you enjoyed the babysitting and thanks for the review!

Anyana: Haha barbies. He hasn't been subjected to that yet, but there's still time. These two will likely appear in later chapters too because I love them to death. They're so much fun to write. Poor Tom. Ice cream is the best trick ever! Except when you're babysitting a kid that doesn't like ice cream… that's a problem. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reviewing!

The Lady of the Shadows: I got Jack and Stephen in there don't worry! They have to experience babysitting too! Don't feel too bad about scary reviews. I've gotten my share of those in my lifetime too. You can't make everyone happy, just write what you want as long as it makes you happy. Haha okay that sounded like an afterschool special. But I'm very glad you're enjoying reading this. It's really strange and completely unrealistic but I enjoy writing it and I'm glad people are having fun reading it too! Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long and thanks so much for the lovely review!

Miss Flossy: Sigh. I messed up the link. I feel bad now. Unless you update your story again soon haha. Haha Tom's speech was extremely corny. And I agree, a nice guy like Pullings is pure fiction! Ooh can you tell my last blind date didn't go too well? Anyway, poor Tom is completely out of his element here. Haha he can board an enemy ship but he can't tell a little girl not to put nail polish on him. Well, Blakeney's discovered rock music and now he's found Star Trek. Haha he'll be a Trekkie! Whoo! Thanks for the review and I promise I'll email you as soon as I have a chance. Haha I figured between an email and an update you'd probably prefer the update… or at least other people may appreciate the update some too! Hope you enjoyed Tom's adventures in babysitting!

Wow you guys! 99 reviews already? I'm touched and overwhelmed! I love hearing from you all so keep them coming and I'll send the Surprise, filled with my stupid little piñatas from history club, for you to have a smashing party, and you can eat all the candy and have fun with the gentleman of your choice. Just don't hurt them as I don't own them and will get in trouble if I return them damaged. Until next time m'dears, happy reading!