Author's Note: Yes, I finally updated. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, I'll have this story all wrapped up. So I can start on the next one. beg For those of you who are reading this, thanks for sticking with it. And thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. I really appreciate it.

This chapter is totally un-beta'd so any mistakes are my fault. Oh, and before I forget denotes thoughts. Enjoy!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 6

"You did too."

"I did not."

"You DID TOO."

"I DID NOT."

"YES, YOU DID!"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

"DID TOO!"

"DID NOT!"

"Guys, give it a rest! We're almost upstairs now." Finn's tired voice came from the elevator shaft.

"He did it on PURPOSE!" Marguerite's voice rose until she shouted the last word.

"I DID NOT!" Ned yelled at the top of his lungs.

Veronica smothered a grin at the weary tone in Finn's voice. She could imagine how tired her friend was after chasing around a pair of five year olds for several hours. Wiping the paint from her hands, she began walking over to greet the little group. As the exited the elevator, she froze, horrified by the sight that greeted her.

Finn was spattered with mud and grass, her hair standing up in messy clumps, and she was caked with mud to her knees. Mud covered Ned's face, his hair, and saturated his clothes. Marguerite's back was coated in mud, and her hair was a sodden, muddy mess. Before she could say anything, a seething Marguerite pushed Ned out of the elevator. "YOU DID TOO!" she screeched.

Ned shoved her back in retaliation. "DID NOT!"

Finn quickly intervened before things could escalate. Grabbing each child by a shoulder, she separated them. "That's enough," she said firmly as she gave them a gentle shake, which caused a small shower of mud to fall onto the floor. "You two need to chill out all ready. So apologize and get it over with."

"I don't see why I have to apologize," Marguerite mulishly muttered as she folded her arms across her chest. "He started it."

Ned groaned melodramatically as he threw his head back. "Buuut Finn…." he whined at the young woman. "I didn't do it on purpose."

Marguerite gasped in indignation. "Yes you did," she vehemently insisted. "You knew it wouldn't work but you did it anyway."

Ned planted his hands on his hips and leaned towards Marguerite. "Nuh-uuuuhhhh," he countered. "It was an accident. I thought it would work."

She narrowed her eyes as she glared at him. "Are you from Krypton?"

He leaned back a bit, obviously thrown by her question. "Noooo. I'm from New York."

"And is your name Clark Kent?" she persisted, aggressively leaning towards him.

Ned snorted, his defensive attitude evaporating. "You know it's not," he reminded her. "My name is Edward Malone."

Marguerite flashed him a knowing look. "Then you can't fly."

He rolled his eyes as he heaved a sigh. "I know that now. That's why I had to do the 'speriment. I'm supposed to 'speriment so I learn things." Spotting Challenger on the couch, the boy turned to him for confirmation. "Tell her Challenger! Tell her how important it is to 'speriment so you can learn things."

Challenger, who had been surreptitiously watching the drama over the top of his book, cleared his throat and looked up. He fought down the urge to laugh at the scene before him. "Yes, Edward, I did tell you that it is very important to experiment," he solemnly said.

Marguerite ineffectively brushed at the mud on her clothes. "But I'm filthy and dirty because of his experiment!" she wailed, a tearful treble in her voice.

Veronica finally sprang into action. "I don't know happened and I don't want to know," she said in a steely voice. "Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take Marguerite to the shower. You two," she pointed at Finn and Ned, "are going to stand right there and NOT MOVE until I get back." She motioned for Marguerite to come with her. With a final warning glare over her shoulder, she marched the girl out of the room.

Challenger walked over to the remaining pair and looked them over. "What on Earth happened to you?" he asked Finn.

Ned answered for her. "We had lotsa fun with Finn. We ate lunch with our fingers and Finn told us a story about Superman! Do you know about Superman?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "After the story, we showed Finn where we helped Veronica with the garden today. Oh and I found a spider but nobody wanted to look at the spider but me. Then we showed Finn where the pipe was making a puddle. We showed Veronica but she made us come upstairs to have lunch. Not Finn! She told us not to touch the pipe sowe went and visited the goat while she fixed it. 'Cept the goat tried to eat Marguerite's hair. So she started crying, and I thought that she wouldn't have cried if Superman was here," he narrated, getting more and more animated as he continued. "But Superman would have to fly to get to us. Then I wondered if I could fly too. So I did a 'speriment to see if I could fly! Except my 'speriment didn't work and we got all dirty. And when Finn saw us, she said 'Oh crap!'".

Moving quickly, Finn reached out and clapped her hand over his mouth. "That's enough outta you," she nervously chuckled as she glanced over at Challenger. His disapproving stare did nothing to reassure her.

"Okay, look," she said, her tone slightly defensive, "I told them a story about a superhero who flies. While I was busy with the pipe, Ned here decided to see if he could fly. So he climbed on one of the tables and jumped off." Finn tilted Ned's head back so she was looking him in the eye. "Of course he didn't fly because he's not Superman," she said, emphasizing her words. Letting the boy go, she looked back over at Challenger. "He landed too close to Marguerite, they both got knocked off balance, and they fell into the puddle. No big deal, really."

Challenger looked over the filthy pair again while he processed their story. Deciding to overlook Finn's slip of the tongue, he focused on the most important problem. "The main water line is leaking?"

"No, not the main line. That second line for the garden is leaking, just a little," Finn replied with a shrug. "I put some of that glue over the crack and it stopped. But you and Roxton might want to look at it later, do something a little more permanent to it."

"I see." He paused for a moment, trying to process the absurdity of the situation. In all of their time on the plateau, this was by far one of the more…interesting thing they had experienced. Unsure how to respond to Ned's zealous 'experimentation', Challenger thought of his own grandfather. As he pictured the man's firm and steady gaze, he recalled Grandfather's favorite question. "And what did you learn from your experiment, young man?" Challenger asked, the amused quirk of his lips belying his stern tone.

"That Marguerite doesn't like to be muddy," Ned promptly answered. "She hit me when we were getting up." He pointed out the injured area of his arm.

"I guess some things never change," Finn said, grinning at Challenger. "Now that we've learned not to get Marguerite muddy, what else did you learn?" When Ned gave her a blank look, she prompted, "The most important thing you learned was…."

He sighed dramatically, letting the adults know what his admission was costing him. "I learned that I can't fly and I won't try any more."

"Good boy," Finn praised, patting him on his head. "So what happened while we were having our adventures?" she asked Challenger, who watched the scene with a sense of paternal amusement.

Challenger gave her the abbreviated version that consisted of a brief run-down of Roxton and Veronica's argument, followed by Roxton's retreat into his bedroom and Veronica's absorption in her painting. "Our afternoon had been exceedingly quiet until you three came upstairs again," he finished with a knowing smile.

Ned reached up and scratched at the drying mud on his forehead. "I'm getting itchy," he complained as several layers of mud flaked off of him.

"Then it's a good thing we're finished," Veronica said as she shepherded Marguerite back into the room. "I want you two to go directly to the shower. You," she pointed at Finn, "will make sure he gets clean and washes his hair. Because running water on your hair does not make it clean." She fixed Ned with a pointed glare as she vigorously dried Marguerite's hair.

"Yes, Mother," Finn drawled, winking at Ned as she herded him from the room. "Come on, it's time to get clean."

Veronica sighed as she continued to rub Marguerite's head with the towel. Challenger laughed as Marguerite tried to peek out from the folds of the material, only to be swallowed up as Veronica steered the girl to one of the chairs in the living area.

When Veronica sighed again, Challenger returned to his seat on the couch. "What's bothering you, my dear?"

Veronica shook her head as if trying to dispel her gloomy mood. "Oh, it's nothing, really. I guess I'm just feeling a little tired. I'm not used to having to be the mother, especially to people who are my friends."

"Yes, well, I can see where that might be slightly…peculiar," he said, choosing his words with care. As if on cue, a little eye peered out at him. "However, you've done an amazing job with them so far. In fact, I dare say your mother would be quite proud of you if she could see you right now."

Veronica stopped, startled by Challenger's statement. "You really think so?" she asked, her voice quavering just a bit. "Oh Challenger-"

The rest of her sentence was lost in the angry cry that came from the shower. "YOU GOT SOAP IN MY EYES!" Ned howled, loud enough to scare some of the birds from the nearby trees. "OWWWW! IT BURNS!"

Without saying another word, Veronica sprang from her chair and sprinted in the direction of the shower. That left Challenger and Marguerite alone in the living area.

After a few moments of silently watching each other, Challenger picked up his book and opened it. As he read, he heard Marguerite cautiously approach the couch before climbing up near him. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting ramrod straight with her hands folded in her lap. He could see that she was also watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"What are you reading?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

Challenger closed the book as he turned to look at her. "It's a botany journal." Seeing her blank expression, he tried again. "A book about plants and flowers."

She brightened, smiling at him. "I like flowers. Especially roses, even though it's hard to pick them."

"Would you like to look at this book with me?" Challenger asked, since it seemed like the polite thing to do. Besides, Marguerite had been very guarded around men since they had brought her home. This was the first time she had tried to initiate any sort of activity with him. It wouldn't do to simply rebuff her attempt at socializing.

She nodded eagerly and scooted closer to him. Challenger lifted his arm and she sidled up against him. Slowly, so as not to startle her, he put his arm around her shoulder and opened the book to the appropriate page. "This," he began in his best lecture voice, "is a picture of Symphytum officinale, which is more commonly known as comfrey or knitbone. I'm sure you've seen it back home in England, growing in ditches and along rivers and such." He pointed to the picture on the page. "This really is a superior illustration of the plant but Veronica's parents were quite talented. See how its light pink or light purple flowers grow in clusters and are shaped like bells. When we gather comfrey, the important part of the plant is…." Challenger glanced down at the small girl who had fallen asleep, cuddled against his side. She looks so peaceful sleeping, it really would be senseless to move her now and wake her, he thought as he smoothed down an errant strand of hair. Having made up his mind, he resumed his reading. Really, its not so difficult to keep an eye on them, he thought smugly as he turned the page.

tbc

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author's Note: Yes, again. The information on comfrey comes from http/ which is a wonderful resource for people who are botanically-challenged like me.

I tried to keep everyone in character, but this is how they came out. So, what do you think? Reviews might actually make the next chapter appear more quickly.