Chapter Five

Friday night came a lot sooner that Phil would have liked. As he stood on a porch across town from his own house, he could think of a thousand things he'd rather be doing; a good number of them involved being alone with Keely and none of them involved being within ten miles of her father. But Keely needed him so he would follow her to the edge of the universe and back, however unpleasant it might be.

Jeff answered the door. "Hi, Keely. Hi, Phil," he said as he let them inside. A smiling woman who wouldn't have been out of place amongst the Stepford wives was standing behind him.

"Keely, this is my wife, Linda. Linda, this is Keely and her boyfriend, Phil."

Linda's smile only got wider. "Keely, I've been looking forward to meeting you! I can't wait to get to know you. Why don't you come into the kitchen while I finish dinner so we can chat?"

Before Keely could answer, Linda was already dragging her off towards the kitchen. Keely shot Phil a "get me out of this" look but when he started to follow them, Jeff stopped him.

"Phil, I want to apologize for the other day. I was completely out of line. I was just scared, you know? It was a little hard for me to accept that my daughter was all grown up and I guess I figured if I got rid of you, I'd have better control of the situation. I'm sorry, Phil."

"Apology accepted, Mr. Teslow."

"Good man. How about we start over? I'll give you a second chance if you give me one."

"Deal."

Phil shook his hand and Jeff smiled . "You know, I actually have a lot of respect for what you did, standing up for what you believe like that. I guess Keely really is lucky to have someone like you in her life. I'm sure you'll take good care of her."

"Thanks, Mr. Teslow. That really means a lot to me."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, it was all Keely could do not to slam her head on the counter. "So, that boyfriend of yours is pretty cute," Linda said, "How long have you two been together?"

"Two years," Keely answered, praying she wouldn't have to go into any details.

"Wow. Sounds serious."

"Yeah, it is."

Keely's prayers were answered. Linda changed the subject. "Any idea what you're going to study in college next year?"

"Broadcast journalism." Keely figured keeping her answers short was the best way to avoid any sort of real conversation with Linda. As she answered questions after annoying, mundane question about every aspect of her life, Keely was reminded of a Gilmore Girls episode in which Rory and Lorelai were forced to endure idle chit chat with a group of overly enthusiastic bed and breakfast patrons. Much like Lorelai Gilmore, Keely had never been good at the small talk.

Lucky for Keely, dinner was soon ready and she followed Linda into the dinning room. Seated at the table were Phil and Jeff who, much to Keely's surprise, seemed to be getting along; a girl about her age, a ten year old boy with a mop of brown hair and little 6 year old girl who, with her blond hair and green eyes, looked almost exactly like Keely had at that age.

Keely sat down next to Phil and Jeff introduced her to the rest of his family. "Keely, this is Linda's daughter Amber. She'll be going to school with you starting on Monday."

Amber looked like she didn't want to be even remotely associated with either Keely or Phil and they were both strongly reminded of Candida, Pim's Fashion Zombie rival.

Jeff continued. "And this Scott and Lily."

During dinner, Keely ate quietly, taking in everything and everyone around her. Amber didn't talk much and looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Keely could tell already that they weren't going to be buddies any time soon. Phil was involved in an animated conversation with Scott, something about a science fiction novel called Ringworld that Keely didn't understand. Lily happily hummed to herself as she ate as Jeff chatted with Linda.

Linda, with her perfect hair and neatly pressed dress was quite the opposite of Keely's own eccentric mother and the energetic Barbara Diffy and Keely wasn't sure how she felt about her yet. She didn't know how anyone could leave the throughly unique Mandy for someone whose housewife skills could put all of Wisteria Lane to shame but Keely was determined to be happy for her father.

After dinner, Jeff ushered Keely, Phil and Amber into the living room, saying, "You three should really talk, since you're going to be seeing plenty of each other in school."

As soon as he left, Amber's cell phone rang and she stalked out of the room to answer it, glaring at Phil and Keely as she went.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Phil said.

Keely laughed, then said, "Hey, I'm going to go find the bathroom."

She left and Phil sat down on the couch. Not more than a minute later, Lily came skipping into the room and sat down next to him.

"Are you my new brother?" She asked him.

"Nope. Keely's your sister and I'm her boyfriend."

"Oh." Lily processed this information, then said, "I had a boyfriend in Boston. His name was Joey. We shared a cubby."

"Oh, that's nice. Do you miss him?"

Lily shook her head. "No! He's not my boyfriend anymore. He broke my Powerpuff doll."

Before Phil could respond, Lily asked, "Wanna play with me?"

"Sure," he replied and she ran off.

Lily returned shortly after with armful of toys. Onto the carpet she dropped a Batmobile, assorted Disney princess figurines, a handful of Harry Potter Legos, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable action figures and a Barbie doll dressed like Jackie Kennedy. Lily handed Phil a Hermione Granger Lego, Ron Stoppable and Sleeping Beauty, then she put Jackie Kennedy in the Batmobile, picked up Kim Possible and proceed to tell Phil a story about "how KP was saving the pretty lady."

When Keely returned to the living room, the scene she found made her smile. It was at the same time the sweetest and funniest thing she had ever seen. Phil was sitting on the floor with Lily, Sleeping Beauty in one hand and Hermione Granger in the other. He held up the princess and said in a high pitched voice, "You can't use magic on me, I'm the princess!" Then, holding up the Hermione Lego, he said, in another high pitched voice, this one with a bad British accent added, "Of course I can! I'm in my seventh year at Hogwarts! Wingardium Leviosa!" He flew Sleeping Beauty around while Lily rolled on the floor in hysterical laughter.

"Bravo!" Keely said. "That was an Oscar-worthy performance if I ever saw one."

Phil snapped his head around. "Keely! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to wonder if Emma Watson should be worried about her job security."

Phil's face turned bright red as she laughed. She pulled him to his feet as she said, "Come on, Princess, we'd better get going."

Lily looked up at Phil. "Will you come back and play with me?"

"Of course," he replied with a smile.

Lily jumped up on the couch so she was tall enough to kiss Phil on the cheek. "'Bye Phil!"

After saying goodbye to Jeff and Linda, Keely and Phil were on their way. In the car, Phil said, "Well, that wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it would be."

"I don't like them."

"Golly, Keel, don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel."

She ignored his sarcasm. "I don't like them, Phil."

"I'll admit that Amber isn't exactly Miss Congeniality and Linda seems like she belongs in a Twilight Zone episode but Scott pretty cool, smart too, and that Lily is just about the cutest kid I've ever seen. You got lucky, your sister isn't a wannabe evil dictator bent on world domination."

"I still don't like them."

"You don't know them. You just met them. Remember you weren't exactly president of my fan club the first time we met."

"That because I didn't know you."

"Exactly!"

Keely didn't want to admit it but he had her there. She couldn't think of a reasonable argument so she went with, "Yeah, well, that was different."

"Keely, you have to give them a chance," Phil said as he pulled into her driveway.

"I'll try, Phil, but it's hard."

"I know," he said, following her up the porch steps, "but they're important to your dad. Think of it this way: if you expect him to get to know me, you should get to know the people who are important to him. I know it's not easy, Keel, but it's a two way street."

"Do you ever get tired of being right all the time?"

"No, after eighteen years, I'm pretty used to it."

She smiled. "Thank you, Phil."

"For what?"

"For everything. For being there for me through this whole thing."

"Don't mention it. You know you'd do the same for me."

"I know. But it doesn't mean I don't appreciate it." She hugged him. "I will never stop being grateful that I have you in my life." life." She pulled back a little so she could look at him. "Just promise me you'll never leave me for June Cleaver, like my dad."

"Of course not! Donna Reed maybe, but never June Cleaver."

She gave him a look and he smiled. "Keely, I'm not going anywhere. I love you and there isn't anyone I'd rather be with."

"Not even Donna Reed?"

"I don't know, you're not much of a cook..."

Keely smiled. "Hey, I bet Katie Couric can't cook either."

Phil laughed then leaned over and kissed her.

"Well, I've got to get going. See you tomorrow."

"'Night, Phil."

As Keely watched Phil pull out of her driveway and take off towards his own house, she felt for the first time in a week, like she had her situation under control. She still wasn't sure how she felt about her father's return or the new people in his life but she was going to try to accept the changes and somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew everything was going to turn out all right in the end.

A/n: I'm still considering doing one more chapter of this story, an epilogue, but I haven't decided for sure yet. So stay tuned for either another chapter or a new story. As always, reviews are appreciated!

--Sam Mulder