Disclaimer: If I owned the Gunmen, would I be sitting here right now? Nope, I'd be chillin with Langly. I don't own Yves or Susanne either, in case you couldn't gather that.
Chapter 7 - Watch out for the beginnings of Drama.
It was six months later. In the half year that had passed, Byers and Susanne and had gotten married, and were now living together in a nice flat, not far from headquarters. Frohike and Sam were engaged, though she still had an eighteen year old secret to tell him about. Jimmy and Yves were "seeing" each other as they called it. As for Renee and Langly, they were still taking it slow. Not as slowly as before though, seeing as (her house in the suburbs having been rebuilt) Renee invited him to stay with her for the weekend.
The tall man in the trenchcoat took note of all this with glee. All the Gunmen finally had their dreams coming through. Now it was time to make them pay.
Ringo Langly stretched in bed when he woke up on Saturday morning. He looked to his left, expecting to see Renee, but to his surprise she was already up. Still wearing a grin from the night before, he rolled over and then got up to get dressed. He heard Renee's voice, yelling something, in the kitchen. Concerned (and being his paranoid self), he flew down the stairs to see what was going on. He found her sitting on the kitchen counter, talking on her cellphone.
"Samantha Ann McCoy! How can you NOT have told him yet? Are you inane? No, I don't think he'd leave you. Well naturally he'd be upset that you didn't tell him," she stopped and glared into the phone. "What the hell do you mean I'll be a good mother?"
Langly snorted as he moved to the coffee maker that was next to Renee. She kicked him playfully in the thigh. "Wait, wait, why did you tell Chris he could come here? You've been planning this, you wench." She sighed. "Fine, yes, I'll tell him to call when he gets here." She flipped her phone into place and looked at Langly.
"Should I even ask?"
"Mmm... if you won't tell the boys anything," she replied. When he nodded, she continued, "Ok, so 18 years ago, Sam left Frohike. You know that part. What she didn't tell anyone was that she, well, she was pregnant at the time."
"What?"
Renee nodded. "His name is Chris. Sam gave him Frohike's last name though. I used to babysit for him when I was 15. He's a good kid."
"Going to leave me for someone younger?" joked Langly.
Renee slipped down from the counter and hugged him. "I think I'll keep you." Langly smiled and leaned down, nuzzling at her neck. And then, the doorbell rang. "Damn," muttered Renee, going to the door to see who it was.
"You got here fast," she said to Chris once he stepped in. "I just talked to your mother– ER! Not fair!" Renee cried as she squirmed and tried to wriggle away from Chris, who was holding her above the ground.
"You did this to me all the time when I was a kid, now it's payback," he grinned. At 6'1, Chris easily surpassed both his parents in height. He had dark auburn hair, and warm friendly eyes like his father.
"You're still kid to me, punk, now put me down."
"Yes ma'am," Chris laughed.
Renee shut the door and ran a hand through her hair. Then she went and pulled Langly from the hall where he was lurking. "Come on, Richard. Chris this is Ringo Langly. He's one of your father's best friends."
Chris shook Langly's hand. "I've seen your picture before in your paper. Good articles, Mr. Langly."
"Thanks, but drop the mister."
"So why are you here?" asked Chris. "How do you know Renee?"
"We're uh..." Langly glanced at Renee, not sure how to word it.
"You're, oh!" said Chris, sitting on the couch as he made the connection. He raised an eyebrow as he looked between Renee and Langly. "Aren't you a bit old?"
Before Langly could respond, Renee broke in with," That's enough, Chris. Go put your bags up and call your mom, ok?" Chris rolled his eyes but went anyway.
"Am I really that old?" Langly whined.
Sam paced around, trying to figure out a way to tell Frohike about his son. "Mel?" she asked as she came into their bedroom. "How, how do you feel about kids?"
"I like kids, you know that."
"What about... one of your own?"
"What?" asked Frohike. Sam finally broke down and told him the entire story. Frohike sat stunned. "I can't believe you thought that would scare me off. Do I get to meet him?"
This conversation was how everyone found his or her self at Renee's house for dinner. Much to everyone's surprise, Renee was an excellent chef. Chris and Frohike spent most of their time before eating getting to know one another and in general catching up. Sam pulled Langly aside. "Just so you know, I'm sorry if Chris was rude to you earlier. He's always had a bit of a childish crush on Renee."
"It's fine. Does Renee know?"
Sam laughed, "Of course not. Renee's blind when it comes to things like that. I'm not surprised she doesn't know that you're in love with her."
Langly flushed bright red. "I haven't told her that yet."
Sam grinned, "A woman can tell." She winked and left to talk to her son.
'Then why can't Renee?' wondered Langly. Truth was, Renee knew. She was just a bit afraid to admit it. Those three little words could (and usually did) make all kinds of things go wrong, at least in her experience. Her thoughts were interrupted by Walter Skinner walking into her backyard like he owned the place. Surprisingly enough, to everyone else at least, he was walking a dog that looked to be a wolf husky mix. Renee bounded over with a joyful look on her face, hugging first the dog and then Skinner.
"So after this mutt chews up most of my apartment he gets the first hug? That's not fair."
"I saw you yesterday, Uncle Walt. I haven't seen Rome since you took him in all those months ago."
"Uncle...Walt?" asked the confused Gunmen. The girls apparently already knew. Talk about unfair, with their woman network or whatever it was. Though Jimmy appeared to know also, perhaps Yves told him?
Renee beamed and nodded. "Yeah Skinner is my uncle."
Yves apparently had a moment of epiphany. "So that's where you were hiding out during high school," she said with a smirk. Renee grinned.
After dinner, Renee, Langly and Chris cleaned and washed dishes. Chris was staying at Renee's until Sam and Frohike fixed up a room for him at the Gunmen HQ.
"I still can't believe Skinner is your uncle," Langly said, shaking his head.
"Why?"
"Because, it's just so ironic. Plus, Skinner is so dedicated and uptight and you're... you..." Langly trailed off grinning.
"Jerk," muttered Renee as she promptly threw a sponge at him, hitting him square in the forehead. Renee then announced she was going to take a shower and went upstairs, leaving Chris and Langly alone.
"So..." said Langly, trying to break the awkward silence.
"How long have you and Renee been together?"
"Six mon – Why?"
"Look, as long as you two aren't engaged or anything she's fair game," grinned Chris. "A little healthy competition never hurt anyone." He clapped Langly on the shoulder then went upstairs.
Quick question -- Should I use Susanne or Holly for well... Susanne? I mean after Three of a Kind it was Holly, but Susanne is a bit easier, no? Eh, let me know. Thanks, dears.
Review please? Should I continue?
