(Hmm… my first post since school has started, and boy is it a different year! Lindsay and Lori being up at the high school now, the new chorus teacher, the homework, dang… at least there's home life and friends to keep me going, right Jack?)

Homework sucks, Reviewers!

x) Norma Jean - Glad you liked bothe CLE and the chapter! Don't worry. Eight period (last class of the day), I have a PowerPoint class, which means I'm on a computer... a computer the SUB can't see... yep. Regular teacher's out since she just had a baby, lol. But don't worry! I'll be updating soon. Thanks for the review!

x) Sentinel Sparrow - It's cool about the Anti-Bush thing. If the suspense is killing you, you just may die before the end, lol. I'm coming up with some good cliffies! LoL. Thanks for reviewing and enjoy the chapter!

.: Anyone wanna help as rebel against the 'No Bookbags' rule, too:.

CLE – "Beverly Hills" by Weezer

Well, I guess I HAVE to put a disclaimer because SOME big rich movie companies don't like to SHARE… so, disclaimer. There. Now get off my case. I'm having a bad school year without my bookbag, and it's not even been a week yet. Have a nice day!

I own my people, including Isabelle's parents whom you shall be meeting in this chapter if all goes well. Also, their dog if I can think of a name and type, LoL. Enjoy the chapter, peeps. I'm gonna be wrapping this up as fast as possible now, so I hope you and I both can keep up!

P.S. - Might not be updating for a week or two... I'm gonna take some time to try to finish this up so I can get a jump start on my other stories and the upcoming LotR one... I still need lots of progress on it beofre it's done, so bear with me for a while, k? Don't worry, though. I've still got a good number of chapters left for this one (at least 7 or 8!). Thanks in advance for your patience! You guys are so good to me!

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: "Onward, Patsy!"

- Lindsay's PoV (still) -

About an hour later, Will, Liz, Paige, Stewie, Erica, and I were walkin' out the front door of my dad's house dressed up in warm clothes because it was freezing out. The roads were somewhat clear now, and our cars were still not returned to us, so we walked to Markie's in the calm snowfall waiting for a bus to show up.

"It better be here soon," Erica said as we walked out of Mark's with three bags of food and 'rum.' "We've got thirty minutes til dinner starts. Are we even allowed all of this crap on the bus?"

"So long as we don't eat or drink it, I think," Stewie said, "but we're probably going to do it anyways," she laughed.

"Paige, you're psychic," I said. "Where's the bus at?"

She did her little thing before answering. "Coming past what looks like a big sandstone church. Up a little hill… past a store with the sign 'South Side Grocer…'"

"About two minutes away," Erica panted heavily. "Oh… god, this is so nerve-racking!"

"It's all right, Grace," Will said. "We'll get the information we need to know tonight by following you, Jane, and Mary. We'll be step ahead thanks to you."

"Yeah, and what if that's not good enough?" Erica asked. "Lindsay, you said they're shooting for the day after tomorrow – Tuesday. That means we're in a world of crap. We're supposed to stop this by bringing lots of wenches to slap Jack by Stewie's incentive, but we're helping at the same time!"

"So we put up a few decorations and get paid some money," I said. "No biggie. If we don't have time tonight, we'll go back tomorrow and get anyone we can in the Caribbean to help."

"Yeah, and where do you suggest we spend the night to do that?" Erica asked sarcastically.

"My dad's," I said. "Did I tell you that he and Trudy left for my uncle's cabin this holiday?"

"Really?" Stewie asked.

"Yeah! Found a note saying I was to go to my grandma's with Justin and Charlie and that they'd be back the day after Christmas, but I'm not going up til Christmas Eve. I've got the whole place to myself until Friday when Justin comes up for the weekend. So we can stay there til this all blows over."

"I wish it would all blow over and be that simple," Liz said, "This is tesing us all, as Grace said. Very annoying as well."

"Very," Erica emphasized.

"Bus!" Stewie shouted as it pulled up to the storefront. The doors opened, and we stepped inside. It was freezing cold inside, too, but at least the first few seats were freed up. They have nice heaters by the feet. Haha…

Erica and I sat behind the driver with Paige and Stewie next to us and Will and Liz behind us. There weren't a lot of people on the bus at all; maybe four max. Erica and I each had a bag of food on our laps, and Stewie was digging through the other with Paige. We were all munching happily on whatever by the time the bus driver had asked us where we were going for the third time.

"Here," Paige said with her mouth full, stretching to hand him this small cruddy piece of paper. "It's Isabelle's address," she clarified to us as the bus driver took it from her and scanned it. "Jack said this is where they were headed after they stopped for wine."

"Okay then," Erica said. "Let's go."

"Onward, Patsy!" Stewie yelled as she jumped up enthusiastically and pointed forward. "Chop chop!" We all started laughing and told Will and Liz (and Paige some) about Monty Python. About ten minutes later, we were leaving town and heading onto the highway as we finished up telling them about it.

"We're gonna have to watch it before you guys go," I said. "We'll like, have to go down to Vicky's and have Josh have a pow-wow in his movie room so we can all watch it."

"With these guys?" Erica asked.

"Yeah! He'll probably think it's awesome anyways!" I said.

"Well, I'd like to see it happen, too, but we still have all of this crap to worry about," Erica said, popping a few Combos into her mouth. I sighed and leaned back in the seat. She did have a point…

"Oh well. It's nice to dream," I laughed. "Hey Will, pass up the gummi sour worms, would ya?"

"No food on the bus!" the grumpy bus driver said.

"Oh yeah? You wanna piece of this? Huh!" Stewie yelled.

"Sit down while the bus is in motion!"

"I can't! I had sugar!" she retorted. "Weeeee! Ninety-nine bottles of rum on the wall, Ninety-nine bottles of rum!"

"Shut up!" he yelled.

"Touchy…you wouldn't happen to be related to Noah the Cop, would you?" Stewie laughed in sarcasm.

I laughed, too, and leaned forward to get a good look at the bus driver as I remembered the car ride from a year and a half ago. Suddenly, the driver looked away and stayed quiet, and I opened my mouth with a huge grin.

"Oh my god! You are that hot annoying cop, aren't you?"

Then he turned around to look at me.

"You!" he said. "You and you and that one crazy drunk are the reasons I lost my job! Actually, I can't remember if I was fired before I chose to quit or not because of you crazy people!"

"We love you, too, Noah," Stewie said.

"Shut up…"

"And since this is such a great reunion, I'll sing a song for Jack since he cannot be here with us," Stewie said sadly before taking a deep breath.

"No! No singing!"

"OH! Ninety-nine bottles of rum on the wall, Ninety-nine bottles of rum! You take one down, pass it around…"

"Stop!"

"Ninety-eight bottles of rum on the wall!" Erica, Paige, and I yelled with Stewie as Will and Liz giggled behind us. Noah started flipping out similar to the way he did in the cop car that night, and we were laughing uncontrollably. This is so great!

- 20 minutes later -

"OUT! GET – OUT!" Noah screamed, slamming open the bus doors and tossing us out of the bus with our food like we were some herd of freakin' animals. He got back in his seat shaking as he closed the doors and started at us, fearing our might, haha. He had two black eyes this time, which had to mean we're improving.

"Wait!" Stewie yelled as he sped away from us at the corner. "I still have sixteen bottles of rum left!"

We were still laughing our butts off as we leaned against the stop sign, kicked the snow around, and picked up our grocery bags of food and garbage. The street lights had just came on with the snow still falling all winter wonderland-like, and we started up the sidewalk.

"Which one, which one…" Paige said in a singsong voice as we passed all of these ritzy homes, each one with a distinct smell. I liked the red and brown one; it smelled like steak and marshmallows at the same time. Weird combination, but still yummy (just like me! Haha…)

"Did Jack describe it at all when he showed you the paper?" Elizabeth asked. "Maybe that would help."

"I never heard him say anything," Will said. "Grace? Paige?"

"Nothing," Erica said.

"All we have is the address which should be easy to find considering the conditions of the neighborhood," Paige said.

"These people must be loaded," I laughed. "I wish I was rich."

"It's a beautiful place, especially with all of this snow." Paige sighed. "I need to tell Jack that we need to visit places with snow more often back on the Pearl."

"Later," Erica said. "Right now, we've got a stake-out to busy ourselves with. What's the number of the house again?"

"Three twenty-six Berryvine Hill," Paige said from memory. "Well, there's three twenty-two there across the street…"

"Two more up and cross the street… it's the light blue and white one," Erica said, pointing at it. "And Isabelle's car isn't there yet. Come on."

We sprinted across the road slipping around on the snow and ice and colliding with each other, but we made it to the front of the house in tact. We gawked at the huge house. It smelled like blueberry pie and French fries.

"How do we get in?" Erica asked.

"Go in?" Paige asked. "You want to go in?"

"Well, we certainly aren't going to hear the dinner time conversation from out here," she said. "We need a way to sneak in… like a broken window in the basement or something."

"I doubt you'll find a broken window," I said. "But it's worth a shot."

Just before we could start stooping over to creep through the yard, the front door opened, and this nice-looking old man you'd see in a storybook greeted us with a smile.

"Oh, hello!" he laughed. "Fiona! Come look at this! We have carolers!" This nice woman with short fading reddish hair came to the elderly man's side wearing an apron and potholders. She smiled when she saw us.

"How nice," she said. "We usually don't get carolers around here so early! This is pleasant!"

I froze with the others in a soldier-like stance. Carolers?

- Erica's PoV -

Okay. So I'm looking at Isabelle's parents, the people Jack have to win over to get Isabelle's hand in marriage. And they look like patient people, too. In our case, that's a minus. I wish this were a situation where people should definitely not be judged me first appearances. I wish they'd rip our heads of if we took one step towards them. But no. Instead, they stand there happily waiting for a Christmas carol.

Lindsay, Stewie, and I had to be thinking along the same lines. We all started singing a Christmas carol, but the bad part was that we each sang a different one. At this, I cleared my throat and looked at them.

"We'll follow you," Stewie said to me with a laugh. Psh. A laugh. How can she be laughing?

I was quiet a moment before I started singing really loudly all of the sudden. "We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

The others followed along immediately, but Will chose to lip-sync and Liz just to hum. Laryngitis is such a good excuse when you think you'll have nothing else to do with these people for the night, but it can get you into a world of shit when they insist that you come in for a few minutes to warm up before your next stop.

"No really, it's fine," I said hastily. "We still have many stops, and we can't be out too late!"

"Oh, it's just a cookie and a glass of egg nog!" Mrs. Garrett said. "Paul, fix them up a tray and bring it into the living room. Right this way, dears! Lovely voices, as well. You deserve a treat."

We walked rigidly into the living room, and Lindsay nudged me. "Now what?" she murmured out of the side of her mouth.

"I dunno," I said back. "But we better get out of here and fast. Jack and Isabelle will be here in less than forty-five minutes!"

As we shuffled into the cozy little living room that had no trace of Christmas blues whatsoever, Isabelle's mother offered us seats in the big comfy red furniture. Mr. Garrett brought in the tray after we sat there about five minutes staring at one another rigidly. Stewie was in the big comfy armchair, myself, Liz, Lindsay, and Paige on the sofa, and Will just stood behind the armchair. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett sat on the love seat.

"Well, go on and eat up," Mr. Garrett encouraged. "You still have lots of stops, right?"

A thought stuck me.

"We sure do!" I said enthusiastically as I leaned forward and quickly picked up a cookie and glass of egg nog stuffing my face. "Mmm… delicious."

The others were staring at me, but Stewie caught on. "Come on, guys, eat! We've got lots and lots of stops left! Lots!" She then took to what I was doing, and eventually, we all were shoving cookies and egg nog down our throats. In fact, we may have broken a record. Well, maybe two minutes isn't a record, but it is for us!

"Ah! Great nog!" Stewie said, setting her mug back down on the coffee table. She brushed a few crumbs off of herself, and we all stood up. "That was so good! Thanks!" We made a B-line for the door as these people stared at us, but they still insisted that we stay.

"Really!" Liz said finally with a sharp intonation. "We must be going. Thank you kindly for the hospitality, but we have to leave before all of those poor people down at the senior center go to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah!" Stewie said. "The senior center! That was a good one, Liz…" Elizabeth elbowed her and smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Garrett who still looked puzzled.

"Well, maybe you should then," Mrs. Garrett said disappointedly. "I guess we have to get the table set for dinner tonight anyways, Paul. My daughter is bringing her fiancé over tonight for us to meet," she explained. "She's very excited about this all, and from what she's told us, he's a terrific man of good character."

"If only you knew," I said sickeningly.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh! I said… good for you," I laughed. "That's exciting. Well, we'll leave you to your business and we'll head on out. Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Oh, and about that guy your daughter's bringing home," Stewie said to my horror, "he's awesome. But he drinks too much rum sometimes."

"You know him?" Mr. Garrett asked. "Well, that's amusing!"

"Yeah," Lindsay said as we all stared Stewie down til she felt two inches tall.

"I didn't mean to!" she whined. "I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Mrs. Garrett asked.

"Nothing! We're leaving!" I yelled exasperatedly. I grabbed Stewie by the shoulders and steered her towards the front door, but I saw headlights just pull into the driveway. Shoot!

"Um, can we use the back door?" Will asked quickly (yay! He spotted it, too!). "It's tradition for carolers that are invited into a house leave through the back way since they carry Christmas spirit with them… and if we go out the front again… we'll just be taking it away again. If we go through the back, Christmas joy will be with you all season."

Now we all stared at him. Whoa.

"Surely," Mrs. Garrett said. "Right this way."

They waved goodbye to us as we left through the back way, and once we were on the alleyway behind their yard, they closed the door, we ducked out of sight, and then we ran up to the house again and hid under the back porch as we listened to Jack and Isabelle greet Mr. and Mrs. Garrett. They moved into the dining room, and we could hear what they were saying since we were dead silent and scared to be caught by Jack again.

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Okay! There you have it! What will we hear?

Your guess is as good as mine and Jack's…

Please Review!