Chapter Four: Calvin

The purr of an idling boat engine roused Liz from her book she was studying for college. What was it with the Murtaughs and disturbing her everyday with that stupid boat? Giving up on studying, she put her book aside and went outside to find her father confronting Eliot Murtaugh.

"Hi, Mr. Baker, I'm looking for Sarah."

Clearly puzzled, her father corrected, "You mean Jake."

"No, Sarah and me and Calvin are going boarding together this afternoon." Eliot gestured to the boat.

Calvin. Calvin was here. Feeling a surge of excitement, Liz excused herself past her father and Eliot, who sat down to talk. Hesitantly, she made her way to the end of the dock, where a burly, well-muscled, blonde-haired young man sat behind the wheel of the boat.

Her movement caught his eye and he turned to face her, his eyes brightening in recognition. "Elizabeth Baker!" he gripped her hand and appraised her quickly. "You look better than ever!"

Pleased, she smiled, feeling her cheeks grow hot. "You remember?" Inwardly, she chastised herself, Get a grip, Liz Baker. You're twenty, not twelve. Stop acting like it's your first crush. But actually, Calvin was her first crush. She'd liked him since she was younger than Sarah and the memory of her first kiss – from him, on a sandy beach when she was fifteen – still glowed brightly in her mind.

Apparently, he remembered it as well, because he ducked his head and shifted his weight in the boat before asking nonchalantly, "So, what have you been up to?"

"I've been at Harvard for a year," she said, looking up to meet his eyes. "What about you?"

"I just got back from Yale," he said with an attempt at airiness. "I'm almost done with my fifth semester." Calvin was a couple of years older than Liz, which was the primary reason she'd never told her parents about her first kiss – her dad would have flipped if he'd found out that seventeen-year-old Calvin Murtaugh had been kissing his fifteen-year-old daughter.

The clatter of footsteps on the dock alerted them to Eliot and Sarah's arrival. "Oh, Liz!" Sarah, said, seeming surprised to see her standing there. She sized up the situation in a heartbeat and, casting a quick glance at Eliot, she added, "D'you want to come with us?"

"I don't know…" Liz said hesitantly, not wanting to intrude on her sister's outing with Eliot and still unsure if Calvin would mind.

The oldest Murtaugh soon dispelled any doubt she might have had. "C'mon, Baker," he cajoled, giving her a shadow of a wink. "You know you want to." He indicated the empty seat beside him. "Get in." He extended his hands for her to take and pulled her into the boat, catching her waist to steady her before turning to help Sarah get in and moving aside for Eliot.

Fortunately for Liz, she always wore a swimsuit under her clothes while at the lake, having learned from past experience that she never knew when her twin brother might shove her into the water. So she peeled off her t-shirt and her capris, tossing them back on the dock.

"Here," Calvin said, tossing her a life jacket. "It's Anne's, but she won't care if you use it. She likes you." Flattered, Liz said nothing, but focused instead on strapping the jacket on. Calvin watched her for a moment while Eliot dug up a life jacket for Sarah. "Can you ski?" he asked.

"A little, and not very well," Liz admitted.

"I'll teach you," he responded promptly.

Liz allowed her eyes to meet his again. "Well, if there's time, I suppose you could. This is Eliot and Sarah's outing. I don't want to invade on their fun."

Calvin shrugged carelessly. "Your choice." He turned to where Sarah and Eliot sat, their preparations finished. "You two ready?"

They glanced quickly at each other before responding together, "Yeah!"

Calvin nodded and got behind the wheel, igniting the engine.

"Hey! Guys!" a shout hailed them. Liz and Sarah turned in unison to see their father jogging down the dock, dressed outrageously in a full-body wetsuit and a bike helmet. "Mind if I come waterboarding with you?"

Calvin's eyebrows shot up and he glanced quickly at Liz, while Sarah groaned quietly and closed her eyes in exasperation. "It's knee boarding, Dad. And I'm pretty sure you can't do it," she said, a little irritably.

Tom Baker shrugged off her comment and hopped into the boat. Calvin had gotten to his feet and graciously extended his hand to the older man.

"Hey," Tom said, "You must be Calvin."

"Yes, I just got back from Yale," he replied.

"You know Sarah, and my second oldest daughter, Liz?" Tom asked, apparently forgetting that they'd had at least ten minutes to make introductions already.

Calvin cast a sidelong glance at Liz with a teasing flicker in his eyes that made her blush. "I've just met Sarah, and I know Liz from last time you guys were here."

Tom appeared interested. "Really? You two got to know each other last time?"

"Yeah," Calvin said nonchalantly, "Pretty well."

At this point, Liz could feel her face burning white-hot and she prayed that Calvin wouldn't tell her father that he'd kissed her. Now was definitely not the time for that kind of news. Much to her tremendous relief, he restrained from further comment and gestured Tom to a seat.

Tom nodded briskly and wedged himself between Sarah and Eliot – a fact that annoyed them both, Liz deduced. He threw an arm around each of their shoulders and grinned madly. "This will be fun, huh guys!"

Liz shook her head, feeling embarrassed for her father, while at the same time, Sarah put on a sweet, innocent smile. "Sure, Dad, why don't you go first?"

He shrugged carelessly. "Why not?"

Oh boy, Liz though inwardly, he has no idea what he's getting himself into. She wanted to warn him, but he'd already slipped over the side and into the water. Under Calvin's careful direction, he strapped himself to the board and got into position. When he was ready, Calvin returned to the pilot's seat and gunned the engine to pull Tom above the water.

Sarah and Eliot were placed in charge of watching him for any signals and they chatted easily about favorite classes and sports, while Liz sat across from Calvin and struggled vainly to keep her eyes from straying to his well-tanned arms and strong jaw line. He was apparently aware of her gaze, because he glanced at her and sent her a fleeting, warm smile before flicking his eyes back to the water in front of him. Liz felt her stomach swoop giddily at the same time that Sarah and Eliot let out a combined yell. She jerked around in her seat to see her father clinging to the rope and being dragged – boardless – through the waves. "STOP!" she and Eliot and Sarah cried together.

Calvin reacted quickly, killing the engine and bringing the boat to a stop. Liz leaped to the back of the boat to help her sister and Eliot bring in the line and pull her father out of the water. Calvin joined her a second later and they each took one of Tom's hands and heaved him into the boat. Worried as she was about her father, she was also acutely aware of Calvin's hand on the small of her back as he steadied her against the rocking of the boat on the waves. When they settled Tom in one of the seats and straightened, his hand lingered a second longer than necessary before he withdrew it and took his place behind the wheel to take them back to the dock.

Still feeling giddy and a little embarrassed, Liz decided to get off and help her father back to the house. She was about to follow him onto the dock when Calvin caught her arm. "You're getting off?" he asked, looking a little hurt. "I thought I was going to teach you how to ski."

Casting an apprehensive glance at Eliot and Sarah, who were watching intently, she replied in a low voice, "Maybe some other time, Calvin. I really should help my dad get inside."

"But –"

"Later, Calvin," Liz interrupted in a whisper, leaning closer to him so he could hear, "When it's just us."

She didn't wait to see his reaction, but turned, caught up her clothes, which were still on the dock, and jogged to catch up with her father. Inwardly, she felt a rushing sense of relief. Her head was still spinning from Calvin's nearness and from the way he'd seemed so disappointed that she was getting off and she doubted she could even remember how to ski properly. So, with her head filled with thoughts of Calvin Murtaugh, Liz escorted her father inside.

What'd ya'll think? Calvin's probably the most undeveloped character in the movies, so it's actually kind of nice being able to expand on him a little without sending him OOC. Tell me how you liked it:)

Elena