Chapter Three: Sleeplessness and Chaos

Liz groaned and turned over restlessly in the tent she was sharing with Sarah. She was supposed to share with Lorraine, but that darn girl had insisted on shoving a full-size cot into their two-man tent. So, Liz had crawled in to share with her favorite sister. Why had their father insisted on sleeping outside? Forget it. She unzipped her sleeping bag, grabbed her pillow, and crawled outside. She was going back to the house.

"Good idea," she heard Sarah whisper behind her. Liz straightened before extending a hand to pull Sarah to her feet. In the dark, she collided with a sleepy Mike, then Charlie and Henry.

"You had the same idea, huh?" Charlie whispered.

"Yeah," Liz responded a little absently as she carefully picked her way back to the house. When she got inside where a single kitchen light burned, she caught sight of Jake, Lorraine and Mark climbing the stairs, while behind her, Kim, Jess, Nigel and Kyle fumbled sleepily for the door latch. With one arm slung around Sarah's shoulders and Charlie's hand between her shoulder blades, she gratefully climbed the staircase and found her way to her room, sinking deep into the springy mattress and falling asleep at last.

The angry buzz of a boat motor yanked Liz rudely from her dreams. Grumbling irritably, she rolled out of bed, crossing to the window to peer outside. Jimmy Murtaugh stood on the dock, talking to her father. Sighing, she pulled on a pair of sweats over her shorts and followed the stream of Baker kids going downstairs. She pushed the door open in time to hear Jimmy shout, "Mimosas at noon! On the dot!" before jumping onto his slalom ski and taking off.

"Yes!" Mark grinned as he turned back. "We're going to The Boulders!"

"Boulders…?" Liz repeated, confused.

"Yeah, the Murtaugh's place," Sarah said, grinning from ear to ear. "We're going over there for lunch!"

"Joy…" Liz mumbled. If Jimmy hadn't changed, she wasn't sure she could handle lunch with him in his house, Calvin or no Calvin. She disliked anyone slighting her family and Jimmy Murtaugh was especially good at it.

"Welcome to The Boulders!" a tall, willowy blonde greeted them with her arms outstretched. She came down the steps, followed by the Murtaugh crew.

Bending down to Henry, Liz muttered, "Who's the bimbo?"

"Shh!" Kate Baker hissed urgently, casting a reproachful glance at her daughter. "That's Mrs. Murtaugh."

"Mrs.?" Liz repeated in an incredulous whisper, "She's young enough to be his daughter!"

"Dude," Jake muttered beside her, "I want to get inside before they kick us out. Don't piss him off."

Liz raised her eyebrows, then arranged her face into a politely interested expression. As introductions were made, she scanned the Murtaugh children, looking for Calvin, but a quick tally revealed that only seven of the eight were present. Mildly disappointed, she shifted her weight to one foot and clasped her hands in front of her, struggling to keep an interested expression. This was going to be a long lunch.

Thankfully, her boredom was relieved by the total fiasco at lunch. Gunner trashed the entire dining area going after a wad of raw meat that Sarah the Prankster had cleverly planted in one of the seat cushions. Despite the fact that the nice china was totally destroyed and that both Jimmy and her father ended up over the balcony and into the lake, Liz couldn't stop laughing about it the whole way home, a fact that seemed to aggravate Charlie.

"What's so funny about it?" he growled as they got ready for bed that night.

Liz made a face at him. "Just because Gunner ruined your day with Anne, it doesn't mean you have the right to jump down my throat."

"And you only thought it was funny because Calvin wasn't there!" he retorted sharply. From the stunned look on his twin's face, he knew he'd struck a nerve. Without a word, she turned and stalked away, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

Charlie sighed. So much for working that out. He shook his head regretfully and went to the room he shared with Henry and Jake.

So? What'd ya think? It's kind of the Sparknotes version of the scene in the movie, but I didn't want to spend too much time on it, so I skimmed. Oh yeah, and my disclaimer: CBTD and all its characters (except Liz, and the Zimmermans) are not mine.