Chapter 5 A Fool For Tools

On the Road

After their wonderful meal, Luna swung by her place to drop off her stuff. She rushed back into the jeep and pulled out and into traffic. She practically raced to the nearest Home Depot.

"On a time crunch?" Ava teased.

"Home Depot doesn't stay open all night."

Ava grabbed two carts as she entered and pushed one at Luna who lifted a brow at her.

"Believe me we'll need em," Ava grinned maniacally and started off towards the power tools.

Just as she reached the section, her phone binged with a text message. She unclipped it and entered her password before finding a text from her father.

Ava snorted a laugh causing Luna to look at her, "What?"

"Dad said he got a shiver down his spine and figured he should text me. I'm gonna text him back telling him it was just me entering Home Depot and all their tools will now bow before my greatness."

Luna smirked and shook her head, "I have a feeling I'm going to get a permanent neck cramp from shaking my head at you."

Ava hopped up and down as she reached her favorite brand of tools. Her cart was soon filled with just about one of everything before she led Luna off to a section with screws, nuts, bolts, and wires. She grabbed whole spools of a few wires she said were vital to just about everything nowadays. She found a sturdy pole which she held on to while shoving tubs of small screws, nuts, and bolts into Luna's cart. When she ran out of room she frowned.

"Well, That should do for now," Ava said.

"For now? Geez woman you use more tools than I do!"

"I'm also starting from scratch. The small crate I was able to bring here was the only set of tools that didn't get burnt to a black, depressing crisp."

"True," Luna said shrugging, "We done then?"

"Umm," Ava said sheepishly, "Are you gonna have enough room in the Jeep?"

"We can always throw some of it under your feet up front," she said.

Ava hugged one of the tools to her, "Sacrilege! Throwing tools, she didn't mean it precious she didn't mean it."

Luna laughed, "You are just the right type of crazy for our crew."

Ava smiled wide and they headed to the checkout. The checkout boy's eyes bugged out of his face at the sheer amount of tools and supplies two hot chicks were buying. When everything was bagged and rung up they made their way back to the jeep. They opened one side of the jeep and started stacking the bags of tubs on the bottom pushing her clothes off the side. Soon the tools followed and they closed the door. Luna climbed in and opened the sunroof so they could toss the last of the bags towards the door they just closed. Ava laughed and climbed in.

"Your poor jeep."

"She can handle it," Luna said patting the dash.

"So what reaction can we expect from the guys when we unload?" Ava asked as she nibbled her bottom lip.

"I'm pretty sure at least one of them will go 'daaaaaaamn'," Luna mimicked Doc's voice causing Ava to laugh.

They pulled up to Barney's and found a parking space close to the door. There were more vehicles than earlier in the way. Barney poked his head out the door and motioned to Lee behind him that they were back.

"Need help?" Barney asked.

Luna nodded, "Oh yeah. That shiver you felt down your spine was your credit card crying from our trip to Home Depot."

Barney raised a brow as he stepped up to the jeep and pulled open the rear door on Ava's side. Bags and boxes of tools almost tumbled to the ground as he stepped out of the way. Ava giggled and stepped forward to catch a box before it could slide any farther out.

"Did you buy ANY clothes?" Barney asked with furrowed brows.

"Yeeees," Ava said slowly, "they're in the back with the rest of the supplies."

"Supplies?" Lee asked as he opened the back hatch.

"Spools of wire?" Barney asked confused.

"They are commonly used in most electrical systems. Believe me I use a lot and a spool is cheaper than buying it by the yard," Ava said as she started handing clothing bags to Luna who started bringing them inside.

"Upstairs in that old storage room Luna," Barney said in her direction.

Luna nodded before heading up.

"We got the stuff hauled out of your room and brought downstairs, we'll have to go thru it to see what we even had in their," Barney explains, "Managed to get you a bed in there too. Feel free to paint it however you want it. Make it home."

Ava stopped shuffling bags and leaned forward to hug Barney with one arm while her other was weighed down with bags.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

He gently one armed hugged her as well and started grabbing the spools and boxes. All the guys were still there and he handed everything out as they came up. Ava didn't recognize all of them, but one seemed to be running his mouth a mile a minute. Just as she got to the doorway se heard Doc.

"Daaaaaamn honey!" Doc said, "You DID make Barney's pocket book cry!"

A loud laugh burst out of Ava as she headed up to her room with her bags. Luna passed her on the stairway. All in all it took two trips for the women to get all her clothes and boots upstairs. The men had quickly carried her stuff into Ava's work room stacking things wherever they could without it falling down.

When the last of the bags, boxes, spools, and tubs were brought in, everyone gathered in the main room. Ava stood between Lee and Luna while Barney made more introductions.

"This is Galgo, never shuts up but he's passionate about ….well.. Everything. Good marksman, fast, agile for someone our age, and he's always happy," Barney said as he motioned to an attractive Spaniard.

Barney pointed next to Galgo, "Then we have John Smilee here. He's basically me, just younger and less experienced."

Smilee smirked as Ava covered her mouth with a giggle. Barney shook his head and pointed next to Smilee, "You've heard of Thorn, our hacker. He'd good with drones and he holds his own in combat."

"So you're the techie I've been hearing about," Thorn said with a smile as he gave her a once over and smiled appreciatively, "Least you're nice to look at."

"Looking is all you're gonna be doin when it comes to this Tech Goddess," Ava said with a typical Ross smirk as she put her hands on her hips.

"Oooooh burn man," Smilee said as he shoved his shoulder into Thorn's.

"Tech Goddess huh? Prove it," Smilee smirked.

"Did you see the Drummond EMP and the tracker I fixed for you guys or would you like further proof?" she said sarcastically as Smilee just laughed.

"What EMP?" Thorn asked confused.

"Workshop on the table, don't charge it or turn it on. I'd hate to have daddy bill you for killin all his electrical equipment. I hear his plane is his baby."

All the men chuckled as Thorn ran off to the workroom to inspect her awesomeness.

"Anyhow," Barney said shaking his head before pointing over to the couch, "That's Mars, never challenge him to box he'll kick your ass."

Mars just nodded with a smug smile on his face.

"That's the crew," he said as Thorn came back inside the main room shaking his head.

"I bow down to the Tech Goddess of the junk room," Thorn said as he makes an exaggerated bow.

"Candyland," she said.

"What?" he said standing up.

"I hereby dub my workspace Candyland, since I constantly find treats."

The guys laughed and Luna shook her head.

"Now that we're all here again I wanted to let you know Ava's volunteered to be our tech support. Her percentage'll come out of my share so no worries for the rest of you," Barney said clasping his hands together in front of him.

"And if anyone else has stuff for me to fix or junk in general they need to get off their hands bring it on by," Ava said smiling, "I don't like to be idle."

"Need to get you a real man," Luna muttered, "Not that dickwad that sent you runnin."

Everyone quieted at that.

Smilee looked around at everyone before taking a deep breath, "Okay I'm going to be the ass that asks. Why are you runnin from some guy?"

Luna smacked him.

"Owe! You started it."

Ava exhaled deeply. Just as she was about to start her story once again, Tool slapped a file on the coffee table.

"You want to know, you can read about it," Tool said gruffly, "Barney's daughter shouldn't have to relive it."

"Is she really Barney's daughter?" Yang asked.

"Yes," Tool said, "DNA confirmed. I paid a bit to have the samples pushed to the front of the line."

Ava picked up the file from the table, "I'm guessing this is a background check?"

"It's a bit more thorough than that sweetheart," Tool said cautiously. I haven't had time to read it all myself."

Ava flipped through the folder until she came close to the end. Her face paled and her eyes widened as she brought a hand up to her mouth.

"Is that what I looked like after he found me?" she asked in a small voice.

Tool frowned before stepping next to her to see what she was talking about. His frown turned into a scowl.

"You didn't look anything like that when you got here last night," Tool said as Barney peeked over her shoulder.

"It took me awhile to get here," she whispered, "I had to switch cars and take an indirect route so he'd have a harder trail to follow. This was almost a month ago. In fact I think this is the same motel where he beat me to a bloody pulp."

Smilee's face reflected the anger he now felt towards her ex. Ava gave him a watery smile before handing him the file.

"I have no problems with you guys knowing," she said quietly as he took it from her, "The better you know the enemy the easier it is to take him down when he comes."

"You sound certain he'll track you down," Lee said concerned.

"His name is Mike Spears," she said causing Barney and Lee to freeze while Tool sighed heavily, "His father practically runs New York."

"You don't sound like a New Yorker," Toll pointed out.

Ava shook her head, "I moved there for my job and to be closer to Aunt Sara. Mom had died in a car accident and I wanted to be close to family. Tho Sara's son… my cousin… he… he died soon after I started dating Mike. He was an innocent bystander when a gang decided to shoot into a crowd outside a theater. He was my best friend."

Luna wrapped an arm around Ava's shoulder, "Sooner we teach you self defense the better."

Everyone but Barney and Lee looked up sharply.

"She doesn't know any self defense?" Toll asked.

"I know some basics, but that's about it."

Luna smirked at the guys, "We hooked her up with some gear today. Tho I think Lee would be the best to start, he has the best patience out of anyone in this room."

Lee nodded, "We've talked a bit about it. Since everyone's here I was wondering who'd like to help."

"I think the better question would be who wouldn't," Toll said, "Anyone here worth their salt knows our family needs to be protected."

Everyone nodded, even Yang acknowledged the truth in his words. Tho he was still suspicious, it had lessened. He felt sure that once he read her file it would dissipate even more.

"Well on that note I think I'm going to bed," Ava muttered tiredly, "We can come up with a schedule sometime tomorrow maybe."

"Sounds good," Lee said as he eyed the file Smilee, Mars, and Thorn were reading.

"I'll walk you up so we can check quick if any of our things got mixed," Luna said following Ava upstairs.

When they reached her room and closed the door behind them Ava turned to Luna with a raised brow, "We already sorted our stuff."

Luna smiled, "I think Lee is attracted to you."

Ava scoffed, "Yeah sure okay."

"Seriously," Luna said, "He's been eyeing that file since Tool brought it in and he always hovers nearby."

"He's got Lacy to think about," Ava said sadly.

"Yeah sure," Luna said smirking, "But it doesn't mean he can't look. Then next time Lacy is caught cheating he might actually drop her sorry ass."

Ava shook her head, "But that would hurt him too."

"He deserves better," Luna said poking a finger gently into Ava's shoulder, "And I for one think that someone is you."

Ava smiled at her and rolled her eyes, "Shoo, I need all the beauty sleep I can get if you're going to encourage him to stare at me."

Luna wiggled her fingers in goodbye and left on a happy note. Ava sighed heavily and face planted onto the bed. She didn't even bother changing, she just set her new phone on the small end table and fell asleep.