Happy... um, Friday? Enjoy. Not too much longer on this one, I decided how I'm going to end it.

"Whatcha reading?" Tony said to Ellie as he plopped down on the couch beside her and popped a peanut M&M into his mouth.

Ellie looked up for a moment. "Little Women."

"Ah. Has Beth died yet?"

Ellie looked up again and roller her eyes. "No."

"Oh. Did I just ruin it for you?" Tony offered Ellie his bag of M&Ms.

"No thanks. And no, I've read it before. This time is for a class."

Tony looked disgusted. "It's called summer!" He put his feet on the couch and stretched them out, trying to knock Ellie off.

Ellie returned the look. "It's called summer reading assignments!" Ellie looked down at the book and then looked back up. "Have you read it?"

Tony stopped chewing and gave Ellie a genuine deer-in-the-headlights look. "What? Why?"

"How'd you know that Beth dies? Or who Beth is? Have you read it?"

Tony looked at the floor. "Maybe..."

"Gosh Tony, you're such a girl!" Ellie said exasperatedly. Just then, Michelle walked through the door.

Tony looked up from where he was laying on the couch and used his best whiny voice. "Michelle! Ellie's calling me a girl!"

"Ellie, are you calling my husband a girl?" she said as she took set her purse and computer case down on the desk.

"Well he is a girl! He read Little Women! Do men read Little Women? No."

Tony threw an M&M at Ellie. "You're reading it!"

"Yeah, for a class!" Ellie said, throwing the blue M&M back at Tony. "Plus, I am a girl."

"I read Little Women," Michelle said from the kitchen counter where she was going through mail.

"And you're a girl!" Ellie said, standing up to leave the room.

Michelle laughed. "Yeah, he is kind of a girl. Have you seen him around spiders?"

"Hey!" came Tony from the couch. "Now you're both ganging up on me? Do I need to call Jack?"

"I bet Jack's never read Little Women," Ellie said from the kitchen, near Michelle.

"I bet he has," Tony said, tossing a green M&M into the air and catching it in his mouth.

"That's the thing about Jack Bauer. He seems all manly and tough on the outside, but deep down..." He threw and caught another M&M in his mouth. "Deep down inside... he's a girl."

Ellie exhaled exaggeratedly and headed toward her bedroom. "Sixteen-year-olds these days!" Tony said, loud enough that Ellie could hear. Michelle kicked her shoes off and walked over to the couch, and Tony sat up so that she could sit next to him.

Putting his arms around her, he said, "So do you think you married a girl? And how was your day?"

Michelle smiled and kissed him. "My day, or the whole thirty minutes of it after you left, was fine. I got the reports done for Chapelle. And no, honey, I think you are very, very manly."

Tony kissed her back, but after a few seconds, Michelle pulled away. "Now give me some M&Ms."

The next afternoon, Jack entered Tony's office. "Hey Tony," he said, "Have you got the files I needed?"

Tony looked up from his computer. "Yeah, they're ah..." He shuffled around on his desk for a moment before holding up two manila folders. "They're right here."

"Thanks." Jack took the folders and turned to leave.

"Ah, Jack?" Tony said.

Jack turned around.

"Have you ever read Little Women?"

Jack looked confused for a moment, and then said, "No," in that are-you-nuts voice of his. "Why? Have you?"

"Oh, no! Course not." Tony answered quickly. "It's just, um... Chelle and her sister were talking about it last night, that's all."

Jack nodded. "Right..."

Tony did his best what-are-you-talking-about face. "What?"

Jack sighed and turned to leave again. "You are such a girl."