Steve and Katie came out and Steve advised Jesse that he'd be taking Katie home. They got into his car and headed home. When they pulled up Katie got out and started to walk up the walkway. She turned around and looked at her Dad and then went back over to him.
"Daddy."
"Yes."
She leaned into the car and gave him her biggest and tightest hug ever. Then she said,
"Thank you."
"For what?" He asked looking at her.
"For being best friends with Uncle Jesse and for being the best Dad in the whole wide universe." She then went up the walk again and into the house.
Kit came out of the kitchen and saw Katie going up the stairs. Kit then went up stairs to find out how the lunch date went. Kit knocked on the door.
"Come in."
"Hi Katie."
"Oh hi Mom."
"So how did your lunch date go?" Kit asked sitting on her bed.
"It was ok. Nothing to write home about." Katie said sitting next to her Mom.
Kit looked over at her daughter and could see that she wasn't lying. Katie got up and went to her closet to get undressed. She stood in her closet and started to cry. Kit walked over to her and put her arms around her and asked,
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Katie looked at her Mom and said, "No. It's ok."
Kit then left her alone and went back downstairs to start dinner. Fifteen minutes later Katie joined her Mom in the kitchen. Katie set the table and helped her Mom clean the vegetables.
"Mom. How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling ok. A little tired but I feel ok." Kit smiled over at her daughter.
"Good." Katie smiled back.
Kasey Lynn came into the kitchen with her friend Abby.
"Katie! You're home!" Kasey Lynn signed and then ran and hugged her.
"Yeah. I've been home for a while." Katie signed back to her.
"Katie this is my friend Abby. Abby this is my big sister Katie." Kasey Lynn signed to Abby.
"Oh! Hi! Please to meet you. Kasey Lynn tells me that you're going to be a teacher and a singer. Wow that is so cool! My brother has a band and they're looking for a singer." Abby signed to Katie.
"Really? That's nice." Katie signed.
"Yeah you should come by and hear them play. They only play country music. From what I hear they are really good." Abby signed.
Kasey Lynn started to laugh at Abby.
"What's so funny?" Abby signed to Kasey Lynn.
"What you said. From what you hear they are really good." Kasey Lynn laughed and signed.
"Oh. That was funny. What I really meant from what my Mom and Dad say." Abby smiled and signed.
"I might just do that." Katie signed.
"Good. They are practicing this Wednesday night." Abby said.
"I won't be around this week. We are going away." Katie signed to Abby.
"Oh ok. Next time. I'll let Kasey Lynn know and she can tell you. Opps I have to run. Mrs. Sloan can you call my Mom and tell her that I'm ready. My Grandma Jean is coming in tonight from Chicago and I don't want to be late." Abby signed.
Katie heard the doorbell ring. Katie left the kitchen to answer it. When she opened the door she saw the cutest guy ever.
"Hi is Abby here." The guy said.
"Sure come in. You are?" Katie asked.
"Tommy. Abby's brother." He said walking past her.
"She's in the kitchen. Abby tells me you have a band." Katie said looking at him.
"Yeah sort of. We just need a singer." He said looking at her.
"Well I sing." Katie said.
"That's nice. Can you get my sister for me? I'm in a hurry. Our grandmother is landing in an hour and I have to pick her up." Tommy said.
"Sure. Sure." She said walking into the kitchen.
Katie signed to Abby to tell her, her brother was here.
"Oh good. Thanks everyone. Bye Kasey Lynn. See you when you get back." Abby signed and hugged Kasey Lynn.
"Bye." Kasey Lynn signed.
Katie walked Abby out to her brother. Tommy and Abby then left. Katie then closed the door and went upstairs. Kit called MJ and Katie down for dinner but only MJ showed up.
"MJ where's Katie?" Kit asked.
"Probably in her room. I'll get her." He then got up and went to get her.
When MJ reached her room he heard her phone ring.
"Hi Patty. You dialed the wrong number." Katie said.
"I dialed the right one 'miss smartie pants'." Patty laughed.
"What's up?" Katie asked pulling out her duffel bag.
"So how did it go for lunch today?"
By this time MJ was listening to the conversation.
"How did it go? In basic terms it 'sucked'." Katie said.
"Why! What happened?"
"Timothy is cute but he smelled to 'high' heaven and he's so full of himself." Katie said as the tears started to flow.
"Oh I'm so sorry Katie." Patty said sadly.
"Me too. Then to top it off Kasey Lynn's friend Abby told me that her brother has a country band and they needed a singer. When her brother came by to pick her up I told him I sing and he blew me off. Can you believe that?" Katie said wiping her eyes.
"Look at this way you are going away for a couple of days with your family, which is great. I won't be around, Liz won't be around and neither will CJ and Dion. Just you and your family. So rest up and when you come back you'll be refreshed and ready to meet new guys." Patty said comfortingly.
"Yeah I guess you're right." Katie said.
"Well I better run. My Dad is taking me out for dinner." Patty said.
"Oooo! That sounds great." Katie said.
"Yeah. Talk to you later. Bye." Patty said.
"Bye." Katie then hung up.
Katie hung up her phone and went over to her bed and lay down. There was a knock on her door. Katie let out a sigh and said,
"Come in."
"Katie dinner is ready." MJ said looking over at her.
"Yeah ok." She said not moving.
"Everything alright?" He asked walking over to her.
"I guess so." Katie said looking at him.
"Katie tell me what's wrong. I hate to see you like this. I know something is wrong." MJ said sitting next to her on the bed.
"MJ I have the worst luck in the world with guys. Brad is in jail, Timothy is smelly and Abby's brother blew me off. What is wrong with me?" Katie then started to cry.
MJ put his arms around her and said, "Nothing is wrong with you. There is something wrong with those guys."
Katie looked up at him and said, "Thanks for listening. Sorry to burden you with this."
"You're welcome and you're not burdening me with anything. You're my sister and that's why I'm here." MJ then got up and pulled Katie off her bed. They walked downstairs for dinner.
After dinner the kids helped Kit clean up and the four all went into the den to watch a movie. The doorbell then rang. MJ went and answered it.
"Hi I'm Tommy. Is Katie around?" Tommy asked looking at MJ.
"Yeah come in. I'll get her." MJ said looking at him.
MJ went into the den and asked, "Katie. Do you know a Tommy?"
"No. Why?" Katie said looking at him.
"Well there is a Tommy out in the living room asking to see you." MJ said looking at her.
"Katie isn't Abby's brother's named Tommy?" Kit asked her.
"Oh yeah! Ok I do know him." Katie got up and quickly went out to the living room to see him.
"Hi Tommy." Katie said looking at him.
"Hi Katie. I just came over to apologize for the way I treated you earlier." Tommy said looking at her.
"That's ok. You had things to do." Katie sat down across from him.
"No it wasn't ok. I was in a bad mood. My band just lost our singer and then we were told that we lost the Solomon barmitzva. Tommy said looking at her.
"Oh that's too bad." Katie said.
"If you're free next week why don't you come by so we can hear you sing." Tommy said getting up.
"Gee Tommy my family and I are going away for a week." Katie said getting up.
"Oh Ok. How about when you get back you call me to see if we hired another singer. If we didn't then we can hear you sing." He said walking over to the front door.
"Sure I can do that." She smiled at him.
Tommy opened the front door and left. Katie then realized that she didn't have his number. Katie ran out after him.
"Tommy!"
He turned around.
"You didn't leave me your phone number." Katie said out of breath.
"Oh! Here it is." He said taking out a piece of paper and writing on it.
"Thanks." She said going back up the walk.
"Tommy who is that fine babe?" Adam asked.
"Her sister and Abby go to school together." Tommy said watching Katie go into the house.
"Wow! She is one fine looking babe! Does she sing?" Adam asked as they got into Adam's car.
"She said she does. We'll find out when she gets back from vacation." Tommy said putting on his seat belt.
"Cool!" Adam said pulling away.
"So what did Tommy want?" Kit asked Katie.
"He came to apologize for being rude to me earlier." Katie said looking at his phone number and smiling.
"Oh." Kit said.
Kit heard the front door open up. She went out to the living room to greet Steve.
"A rough day at the restaurant babe?" Kit said looking at him.
"It was very busy." He said hugging her.
"Oh you poor baby. Why don't I go upstairs and run you a nice hot bath." She said looking at him.
"That sounds like a great idea." He said walking over to the stairs with her.
They walked up the stairs and headed to their room. While Steve undressed Kit put on the bath water and put three drops of bath bubbles in for him. When she turned around she saw the sexiest man in the world. He walked over to her and helped her out of her clothes.
"Steve!" She laughed as he started to kiss her on her neck.
"What?"
"What about the kids?"
"Sorry this is 'adult' bath only." He laughed.
Kit smacked him on his bare butt and said, "They're going to come in."
"I locked the bedroom door." He then started to kiss her again down her neck.
They ended up on the bathroom floor.
"Oh! My god! This floor is cold!" Kit laughed.
Steve helped her up and then picked her up and carried her into their bedroom and gently put her down on their bed where he continued to kiss her down her neck and down to her torso. He then went over to her scar and gently kissed it, which sent her over the edge with excitement, and he finally made love to her. After they made love he and Kit went into the bathroom to take a bath together. Kit washed his hair while he soaped up and he did the same to her. After their bath they threw on their sweats and went down to the kitchen to have a cup of tea.
"What time are we heading out tomorrow?" Kit asked looking at him.
"I think 5am. The traffic should still be light at that time." He said walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her and hugged her.
"Steve I feel so safe like this." Kit said hugging him.
"That's good to know because I don't want anything to hurt you." He kissed her on the head.
"Steve can I ask you something?"
"Sure." He said sitting down.
He then pulled her onto his lap.
"How about you and I go back to Bordeaux Inn and get re-married there?" Kit asked looking at him.
He was quiet for a while then he looked at her and said, "Sure why not."
"It will be like eloping." She smiled at him.
"Eloping?" He asked looking at her smiling.
"Yeah eloping. Is there something wrong with that?" Kit asked looking at him.
"No." Steve said kissing her.
"I wanted to do that the first time but I didn't want to hurt your Dad's feelings." Kit said putting her forehead onto Steve's.
"Well now no one can be hurt." He said caressing her face with his hand.
While Steve and Kit were talking Kasey Lynn came into the kitchen followed by Katie.
"Ahem!" Katie said laughing.
Steve and Kit looking over at them and smiled.
"Do you two need something?" Steve asked looking at the two smiling faces.
"Well excuse us for interrupting a private moment but as I recall this is the kitchen and we are thirsty." Katie said winking at her Dad.
Steve looked over at Kit and said, "Miss smartie pants is thirsty and so is her sidekick."
The four just laughed at each other. Katie and Kasey Lynn took out their drinks and left their parents alone. As Katie was leaving the kitchen she shouted,
"Intimate moments are for the bedroom! Remember that when MJ comes in for his drink!"
"She is absolutely too much." Kit laughed.
"Yeah a lot like her Mom." Steve laughed.
"And like her Dad." Kit laughed.
Kit and Steve left the kitchen and joined the girls in the den as they were watching a movie while MJ was up in his room on his computer talking to CJ and Dion. The doorbell rang and Steve went and got it.
"Hi Patty."
"Hi Mr. Sloan. Is MJ around?" Patty asked walking in.
"He's up in his room the last time I saw him." Steve said looking at her.
Out of Katie's two best friends Steve likes Patty the best. She has old fashion manners. Her cousin Liz is the type of girl that likes to live life in the fast lane. Patty sat in the living room to wait for MJ.
"Patty you can go up to see him. If my guess is right he's probably on the computer with CJ and Dion." Steve smiled at her.
Patty was a little hesitant until Steve again told her it was ok by him. Patty went up the stairs and walked down to MJ's room and knocked on his door.
"Come in."
He turned around and saw whom it was.
"Hi Patty." MJ said smiling.
"Hi MJ. Your Dad said it was ok for me to come up. What are you doing?" She asked walking in.
"Just talking to CJ. Dion and Liz went to the movies." He said kissing her.
"Oh that's nice. I thought CJ had a date with April." Patty said sitting on his bed.
"She's on her way over." MJ said shutting down his computer.
"Speaking about a date. How did your dinner go with your Dad?" MJ asked sitting next to her.
"It was ok. The restaurant wasn't that clean and the food 'sucked' I mean stunk." Patty said looking at him.
"That's terrible." He put his arm around her and started to kiss her.
"MJ can we go somewhere else?"
"Why? This is my room and it's private. No parents or sisters to bother us." He said continuing to kiss her.
"Let's go to the tree house where it's more private." She said kissing him.
They both got up and headed downstairs. On their way out to the tree house MJ decided to grab some ice tea and his all time favorite snack spicy tortilla chips. They then went up to the tree house.
"So you really like it up here?" MJ asked as they put down the food and drinks.
"Yes I do. You can see everything from up here. Look! You can see the stars starting to come out." Patty said looking up.
"What stars? All I see is the most beautiful girl in front of me." MJ said watching Patty.
"MJ." She laughed. "Come here and look at the stars with me." She then lay down and looked up.
MJ lay down next to her and held her hand as they watched the stars start to come out.
"Did you see that? A shooting star." Patty then closed her eyes and made a wish.
MJ sat up and leaned over and kissed her. She opened her eyes and said looking at him,
"My wish came true."
MJ laughed and then he said,
"Patty I want you to know that I really care about you. I know that we are only sixteen but I want you to know that I love you." He leaned forward and kissed her.
Patty sat up, looked at him and asked, "What took you so long? I was in love with you since we were kids."
Patty leaned forward and went to kiss him when she lost her balanced and fell on top of him. They both looked at each other and started to laugh.
"MJ are you up here?" Steve asked coming up the stairs.
Patty quickly jumped up when she heard Steve's voice.
"Yeah Dad." MJ said laughing.
Patty smacked him in the arm and mouthed 'shush'.
"What are you two doing?"
"We were just talking and looking at the stars." MJ said.
"I just wanted to know if you guys want to come with me to get ice cream. You still like chocolate right Patty?" Steve smiled at her.
"Yes. Yes I do." She said.
"Dad can't you take Katie or Kasey Lynn with you?" MJ asked looking down at his Dad.
"MJ! Don't be so rude!" Patty said looking over at him.
"Sure." Steve said.
He then walked away.
"MJ! That's not nice. Your Dad just came and asked us to join him. What's wrong with that?" Patty said.
"I was hoping that we would just stay here, talk and kiss." He said looking at her.
Patty then got up and climbed down the ladder.
"Patty! Come back here!" MJ shouted after her.
Patty ran inside and said,
"Mr. Sloan I'll go with you."
MJ caught up with her and said, "Me too."
The three walked out of the house and got into Steve's truck and drove off to the ice cream shop. They got out and went inside to get ice cream. Steve watched MJ's interaction with Patty. He could sense that his son really enjoyed being in Patty's company. Steve and Kit were really happy that MJ and Patty started to hang out together. They really liked Patty a lot. When they were done they went back to the house. Patty took the ice cream into the kitchen. While she was in the kitchen, Kit came in to start serving everyone.
"Mrs. Sloan."
"Yes Patty." Kit said looking at her.
"Please let me help you serve the ice cream." Patty said taking the ice cream cups from her.
"Patty you're our guest." Kit said looking at her.
"Mrs. Sloan please. It's the least I can do since I'm always here." Patty said.
"Thank you Patty." Kit said sitting down.
Kit then got up and called everyone into the kitchen for the ice cream. After everyone was done Patty and Kit cleaned up and then sat down and talked.
"Patty how's your Dad doing?"
"He's doing ok. He's been very busy these past two weeks with work and all." Patty said looking at her.
"You know your Dad is always welcomed here for dinner." Kit said looking at her.
"I know. I tell him that we should go out and then when we do we have the worst night ever. You see my Dad took me to this fancy restaurant and the food 'stunk', the place was dirty and to top it off the staff was rude to us."
"Rude how?" Kit asked getting up and putting up the tea water.
"Forgive me for boasting but my Dad is a very good looking guy and when they saw him come in with me they and some of the customers made some nasty comments about us."
Kit looked over at Patty.
"Oh! Don't get me wrong. We were really dressed up. I guess they thought that I was my Dad's date or something. I heard one woman say, "She is so young! He should be in jail." "Well my Dad and I laughed and then to really shock them we started playing along. It was funny to see their expressions." Patty laughed and so did Kit.
"You know Mrs. Sloan I wish my Dad would meet someone nice. It's been 13 years since my Mom died. I hate to see him without someone. I can remember when he used to show up out of the blue and give my Mom flowers. Then one day while we were at the beach he told my Mom to look up and there was one of those banner planes flying by. On the banner it said, 'Kimberly will you marry me?' I remember my Mom getting embarrassed and then saying 'yes'. I could never understand why he asked her to marry him again. So I asked him 'Daddy aren't you and Mommy married?' He said yes but that is something people who are in love do." Patty said as her tears started to fall.
Kit sat next to her and then hugged her. Then Kit asked, "Did they have another beautiful wedding?"
Patty wiped her eyes and said, "No. When they were planning the wedding Mom was told that she had cancer. It spread very quickly and she died a month later. Then Aunt Kelly and Liz came to live with us until three months ago. If it wasn't for Aunt Kelly I think my Dad would have had a nervous break down."
All this time while Patty and Kit were talking MJ was listening at the door of the kitchen. He never knew anything about Patty's life. MJ then walked over to her and hugged her. Kit got up and poured the tea for them and then left Patty and MJ alone. Patty and MJ then went up to MJ's room to pack for his trip.
"You ok?" He asked looking at her.
"Yes I'm fine. I like talking to your Mom. She's very sweet." Patty said looking at him.
"Thanks." MJ smiled at her.
Patty looked at the time and said, "I better get ready. My Dad will be here soon."
There was a knock on MJ's door.
"Come in."
"Patty your Dad is here." Katie said smiling.
"Thanks. Tell him I'll be right down."
Katie then left.
"I'll see you on Wednesday?" Patty asked picking up her pocket book.
"Yes you will." MJ then hugged and kissed her.
Patty went to leave when MJ grabbed her by the arm and said, "I love you."
"I love you too MJ." Then Patty left.
MJ finished his packing and then got ready for bed. He climbed into bed and went to shut off his light when there was a knock on the door.
"MJ you decent?" Katie asked.
"Yeah come in." He sighed.
"What's that about?" Katie asked walking in.
"Nothing. What's up?"
Katie walked over to his bed and sat down.
"You ok?" She asked handing him a white envelope.
"I guess." He opened the envelope and found a computer made card in it.
The outside of the card had a guy and girl on it holding hands. Inside it read: MJ when I see you, talk to you or hold you, you make my heart skip a beat. I enjoy being in your company. Thanks for being you. Love you a lot, Patty.
He then closed the card and put it away.
"Is everything ok between you and Patty?" Katie asked looking at him.
"Yeah we're fine. It's just that I heard her tell Mom about her Mom dying. Did you know her parents were supposed to get married again? But that never happened because her Mom died of cancer." MJ said looking at his sister.
"Yeah she told me that years ago." Katie said looking at her brother.
MJ then put the envelope on his nightstand and said good night to Katie and fell off to sleep. The next day at 5am everyone packed up the car and headed up to the cabin. On the ride up MJ was very quiet. Steve looked through the review mirror to see if MJ was ok.
"Hey pal you ok?"
"I'm fine." He said looking out the window.
When they reached the cabin everyone took in their things and put it in their room. MJ then came out and went outside for a walk. Steve went outside to keep him company.
"MJ need company?" Steve asked looking at him.
"Dad I would rather be alone." MJ said looking at his Dad.
"Sure. I understand." Steve then walked back to the cabin.
"Something wrong babe?" Kit asked looking at Steve.
"I'm worried about MJ." Steve said looking at her.
Katie spotted MJ from her window walking down to the lake. She grabbed her light jacket and ran outside to be with him.
"Don't you dare push me into the lake Katie." MJ said without turning around.
"I won't. I hate when you do that." She said sitting next to him.
"I can't help it. I can always sense that you're in the area. Besides you do it to me too." MJ said finally looking at her.
"Did you ever notice that it freaks out Mom?" She laughed.
"Don't forget Dad too." MJ laughed.
"Hey MJ. You still upset about what Patty said to Mom?"
"Kind of. I feel sorry for her for loosing her Mom at such a young age." MJ said looking out over the lake.
"Me too. I don't know what I would do if Mom died. Maybe just lock myself in the closet." Katie said resting her head on MJ's shoulder.
"I know what I would do if I ever lost you." MJ said looking over at her.
"What?"
"This might sound terrible but it's the truth. I would kill myself." MJ said as his tears started to fall.
Katie picked up her head and looked at him and said, "I would do the same thing if anything happened to you. That's my word."
"We better stop talking about this. It's making me depressed." MJ said holding Katie's hand.
"Ok. So tell me what do you and my best friend do up in the tree house?" Katie smiled looking over at MJ.
"None of your business." MJ smiled at her.
"So are you going to audition for that guy Tommy's band?" MJ asked as they got up and headed back to the cabin.
"Yes. Hopefully he didn't hire someone else by the time we get back home." She said putting her arm around her brother.
When they went inside Kasey Lynn and Kit were making hot chocolate and Steve was putting some wood in the fireplace.
"Where did you two go off to?" Kasey Lynn signed.
"Just down by the lake." MJ signed back to her.
"MJ want to go fishing tomorrow?" Steve asked looking over at him.
"That would be great Dad. Just the two of us?"
"Yes." Steve smiled at him.
The next day Steve and MJ got up real early, grabbed their fishing gear and headed down to the lake. They caught some fish for that night's dinner. The guys came back up and cleaned the fish while the girls went down to the lake to swim.
"Katie."
"Yeah Mom."
"You still auditioning for Tommy's band?"
"Hopefully he doesn't hire someone by Friday." Katie said looking over at her Mom.
"Well if he doesn't I hope you get the job." Kit smiled at her.
"Thanks Mom." Katie smiled at her.
After their swim the girls headed up to change and to sit down for dinner. After dinner they all went for a walk into the woods. While they were in there Kasey Lynn looked at some green leaves that were shiny. Before anybody could stop her she touched the leaves. MJ ran up to her and pulled her away and signed to her,
"Kasey Lynn come with me."
He picked her up and quickly walked back up to the cabin. He pulled up her sleeves and washed her hands. After that she looked at him and signed,
"What's going on?"
"That was poison ivy you touched. Hopefully I caught it in time." He signed to her.
"Oh my god! Am I going to die?" She signed back.
"No." MJ signed.
"Than what?" She signed.
"You are going to itch and itch and itch." He said showing her as he pretended to scratch himself.
"Is there anything that I can take or do?"
"Mom can put calodine lotion on you and you can't scratch yourself or else it will spread and then we can all get it."
MJ then looked at her hands and noticed the rash starting to form. He quickly ran into the first aid kit and got out the calodine lotion and put it on her hands.
"Rub it in."
Kasey Lynn did what she was told. By the time they came out of the bathroom everyone asked how she was.
"I think we caught it in time." MJ said to them.
As the night went on Kasey Lynn was starting to breakout on her arms and legs. MJ told her to put more lotion on her and then helped her into her sweats. Unfortunately nothing helped. By mid morning the next day Kasey Lynn stopped itching but unfortunately the poison ivy spread all over her body.
"This stinks!" She signed.
Kit told them that she's going into town to pick up some more lotion.
"I'll go with you Mom." MJ said looking at her.
MJ and Kit left.
"Mom."
"Yes MJ."
"What do you think about Patty?" He asked looking over at his Mom.
"I like her a lot. She's very sweet, polite and has great manners." Kit smiled over at her son.