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"Good morning sunshine," Francie said as she walked out into the kitchen Monday morning.

Will looked up from the morning newspaper. "Morning," he replied. "Where's Craig?"

"In the shower." Francie said as she started opening cupboards. "I thought that I would make us all some pancakes. That's if you guys actually have any flour in this place."

"Here," Will got up, grabbed the flour from on of the cupboards and handed it over. "Do you want some help?"

"Thanks, but I think I can handle pancakes." Francie smiled. "But I would love a coffee."

"Hint taken. One coffee coming up."

A few minutes later when Francie was about to start cooking, Will appeared at her side, a jar of chocolate chips in his hand.

"Here," he said.

Francie laughed. "No way."

"Yes way."

"Ok seriously, we are not putting chocolate chips in the pancakes."

"I got news for you," Will replied, upending the jar into the batter. "Oh yes we are."

"Will!" Francie whacked him with the wooden spoon she'd been stirring with, leaving a sticky mess on the side of his face.

"What have you done now, Will?" Craig asked, walking into the kitchen.

"I did nothing." Will said innocently.

"Ha!" Francie scoffed. "He put chocolate chips in the pancakes."

Craig's eyes lit up. "Nice."

Francie looked at the two of them, her expression a cross between disbelief and disappointment. "Oh, I need to do some serious work on the culinary preferences of you two. But for now, I guess I'm going to have to give. Chocolate chips in pancakes it is."

"We'll go plain next time, Fran." Will said as he wiped his face clean with a tea towel. "Oh hey, I've been meaning to ask, do you have a meat cleaver?"

Francie's brow furrowed. "What do you want with a meat cleaver? You don't cook."

"Be careful with your answer," Craig warned. "There is a police officer in the room."

"I just want one for Halloween," Will said.

"Francie raised her eyebrows. "You planning a spree or something?"

"No, I am planning on being a butcher…as in meat butcher, not human butcher." Will added quickly seeing the amused looks on Francie and Craig's faces. "I want some props to look authentic."

"You want to take a real meat cleaver to a party where there will be a lot of people consuming quite a bit of alcohol?" Craig asked with a grin. "Does taking a sharp instrument which can cause grievous bodily harm really sound like a good idea?"

"Oh." Will paused for a few seconds. "I never really thought of it like that. Probably not a really good idea."

"Probably not," Francie laughed. "How's about I help you make a fake one. Less chance of losing a digit or limb that way."

"Thanks." Will said. "So, what are you going as?"

"If I can get away from the restaurant, I have a pair of butterfly wings that I think will do for my costume."

"I suggested her dying her hair blonde." Craig said and then leaned towards Will, whispering exaggeratedly. "But Francie didn't think it was very funny."

Francie swatted him with the tea towel. "You shut up or I'll patch the eyeholes on your balaclava."

Will looked at Craig questioningly. "A bank robber," he explained. "I thought I'd experience life on the other side of the law."

Will nodded and then turned back to Francie. "You'd look…interesting as a blonde."

Francie gave him a look. "Do you want your little toy meat cleaver?" He nodded. "And do you want these pancakes with chocolate chips to be edible?" He nodded again. "Well then I suggest that you never mention me as a blonde ever again."

Will grinned and looked at Craig. "She's all yours."

"Hey," Vaughn came up beside Sydney, who was seated at the desk in their study, her laptop open in front of her. "What are you doing?"

"Just creating a worksheet for my year eight's," she replied, looking up and smiling. "How was your day?"

"It wasn't too bad." Vaughn replied. "We got invited to a party."

"Ooh." Sydney's face lit up. "What's the occasion?"

"Don't get too excited. The principal at Abrams is turning 50 and the school council is throwing him a party. All staff and any partners are expected to go." Vaughn said. "And to top it off it's at some ridiculously fancy place downtown, which means we'll have to dress up for a boring and stuffy evening."

"Oh well," Sydney smiled. "Keely will be there. She'll keep us entertained."

Vaughn laughed. "Yeah, hopefully."

"However, dressing up will be a slight problem for me. I don't see me squeezing into any of my dresses any time soon. Which means…" she trailed off, grinning gleefully.

"Shopping." Vaughn finished with a roll of his eyes. "Hey, speaking of dressing up, have you decided on a costume?"

"Yup," Sydney turned back to her laptop.

"And?" Vaughn pressed.

"And you will just have to wait and find out."

"Syd." Vaughn said as he gently shook her shoulder. "Hey Syd, wake up."

Groggily, she opened her eyes and it took her a second or so to realize that she was stretched out on the couch. "Oh," she yawned, rubbing her eyes. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours." Vaughn smiled. "I thought I had better wake you- Weiss and Ainz will be wondering where we are."

"Oh god, the party." Sydney sat up straight and in doing so; saw that Vaughn was already in his costume. The sight of him dressed in an adult- sized Boyscout uniform was too much and Sydney cracked up. "I cannot believe that you have actually gone though with it."

Vaughn looked down at himself. "You think I shouldn't have?"

"No!" Sydney said, standing. "It's fantastic. I love it."

Vaughn eyed her. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Sydney said resolutely. "It's not quite up to your hot goth number, but there's something pretty cute about you dressed up as a Boyscout."

Vaughn laughed. "Ok, I think somebody is still half-asleep." He gave her a soft kiss. "What do you reckon?"

Sydney just smiled. "I'm going to get changed. I won't be long."

"Good," Vaughn called after her. "I can finally see what this costume of yours is."

About fifteen minutes later Sydney walked back into the lounge room, wearing black pants and a fitted black t-shirt, which had stars painted over it, with a crescent moon on the back.

Vaughn studied her for a few seconds and when Sydney offered no explanation, he threw up his hands. "Ok, I give. What are you?"

Sydney grinned as she turned on her side, showing her considerably rounded figure. "A bump in the night," she said with a flourish of her hands.

"That's not a bad effort, Bristow." Vaughn said as he walked towards her. "Kind of brilliant actually."

"Yeah," Sydney smiled as he pressed her lips into his. "That's what I thought." She walked over to the kitchen bench and grabbed her bag. "Come on. Let's go."

"Hey guys!" Ainsley greeted Sydney and Vaughn at the door with a hug. "We were starting to wonder where you had got to. Craig was going to head over to yours to see if you were ok, but we didn't think it was good idea for him to wander the streets in that costume of his."

Vaughn laughed. "Sorry, but Syd needed a nanna nap."

"Right." Ainsley smiled, hitching her skirt up as the turned to walk inside, trying to stop herself from tripping over.

"The dress looks great, Ainz." Sydney commented.

"I know. I don't think I could have found anything more disgusting." Ainsley replied gleefully as they reached the living room. Looking around the room, Sydney couldn't believe that were so many different ways of dressing up as something starting with B. She saw a butcher and bank robber (Will and Craig), a ballerina, a boxer, a Barbie doll, a banker, a beekeeper and a lot more.

Vaughn, who was taking in the costumes as well, spotted Weiss and frowned slightly. "Hey Ainz, has Weiss forgotten his ABC's or something?"

"No," Ainsley said.

"So then why is he dressed up as a pig?"

"That's his way of dressing up as bacon," Ainsley replied, waving a hand, motioning for Weiss to come over. "You should have heard the spray he got form Alexis. Apparently she has gone vegetarian this month."

"Well, well, well. Would you look at Mr Boyscout here," Weiss said as he approached them. "You know, if you gave yourself a really close shave, you could almost pass as a real on."

"Oh thanks, Weiss." Vaughn replied. "And you know, you pass well for a pig yourself."

"Uh, uh, uh." Weiss wagged his finger. "I am bacon." He turned to Sydney. "And you're a bump in the night, I presume?"

Sydney stared at him for a few seconds. "You picked up on it just like that? You certainly know how to surprise us, don't you Houdini?"

Weiss shrugged. "Deep down I am a very intelligent guy."

"Too bad you don't show it more often," Ainsley said, beating Vaughn to the punch.

"Oh but that is all in my plan, you see." Weiss replied. "If I'm smart all the time it's only going to get boring. But if I only show glimpses of it every now and then, it is going to keep people on their toes. You have to keep them interested."

"Keep who interested?" Vaughn asked.

Weiss paused, his eyes moving between the three others. "That's a good question," he mused. He straightened up and clapped his hands. "How about a drink? I feel like a drink."

As he and Ainsley walked off, Sydney turned to Vaughn. "Will we ever get an answer to that question?"

Vaughn laughed. "I wouldn't count on it. Just another of life's mysteries- the chicken and the egg puzzle, Stone Henge, what becomes of us after we die and who exactly Eric Weiss needs to keep interested."