Jason shut the car door and walked a few feet away to call Kellie.
"What's up?" Kellie asked when she answered, "How are things going with Danny and Jake?"
"Not well and I'm not sure," Jason said.
"Let me me move some place a little more private," Kellie said, "Johnny is setting up the tent and then the fire. The boys decided that I'm not allowed anywhere near the fire because the smoke might hurt the baby. Okay now tell me what's going on?"
"So we get to the park and Danny obviously doesn't want to be there," Jason said, "Refuses to play catch and asks Jake to come check out his game with him instead. Then he takes off when he sees Cam and Trina. Jake was disappointed. The next thing I know Cam and Danny are shoving each other. I go break it up and give Danny a warning."
"I'm guessing the warning didn't do much," Kellie said.
"I went back to Jake," Jason said, "And Danny ran off. Cam and Trina hung out with Jake while I went after Danny. When we get back, Jake asked if he could come spend the night and camp out with Jamie and Jared. Danny, Cam, and Trina all go over to the car while I check with Liz to see if Danny can spend the night. Liz says okay. Jake runs to the car. By the time I get there all four kids are in the car. Cam and Jake are saying they all want to go the campout, including Danny. I don't think Danny actually wants to come over. Trina wants to know if Joss can come. I honestly have no idea what just happened other than three extra kids have decided to crash at our house."
"That's a lot," Kellie said, "How long was Cam at the park before Danny joined him? Like long enough to see what happened with Danny and Jake when you got there?"
"i don't know," Jason replied, "Maybe."
"Keep in mind this is just a guess," Kellie said, "But maybe Cameron is taking an issue with how Danny's treating Jake. He is protective of both Jake and Aiden."
"If that's the case then maybe I should just bring Jake over and take the rest of the kids home," Jason said, "I don't want to wreck this for the younger if the older kids are fighting."
"Bring 'em all over," Kellie said, "We can always send the older kids home if there's a problem. I doubt Trina and Joss will spend the night anyway."
"Are you sure?" Jason asked.
"I'm sure," Kellie said.
"Why do I feel like I walked into the middle of one of your crazy plans?" Jason asked.
"Let's just say I have a theory," Kellie answered, "So maybe this might be along those lines. Anyway, we could tell the kids all at once the gender of baby. And tell Trina, yes, Joss can come."
Kellie and Jason's House
Jason drove up up to house and saw Kellie waiting out front with Trina, who had taken a ride share when they went to pick up Cam's stuff and Aidan wanted to come with them too.
"Alright Trina," Kellie asked, "What exactly went down at the park with Danny and Cameron?"
"Cameron reamed Danny out for being a jerk, especially where Jake's concerned," Trina said, looking at her phone, "I can't say that I blame him."
"Joss says Oscar wants to come," Trina said, "Says Drew thinks they can transport him here for a bit."
"That's fine, Trina," Kellie said, "but ask them to bring more smores supplies and hot dogs. I didn't buy enough for a whole party."
"No need," Trina said, showing Kellie the grocery bag she was holding, "I figured if we were going to invite ourselves to your house, the least I could do was make sure we wouldn't run out of smores and hot dogs."
The boys piled out of the car. Cameron prodded Danny out of the car. Jason was behind them.
"You're a good kid," Kelle said, "Be sure to tell your dad that."
"You know my dad?" Trina asked.
"Back when he was a cop in California," Kellie said as Aidan ran up to her.
"Where's the s'mores?" Aidan asked.
"Trina here will take you and Jake out to the backyard," Kellie said, "Danny's going to take everyone's stuff upstairs to his room."
Aidan and Jake cheered as they followed Trina. Cameron went to follow.
Kellie grabbed Cam's shirt to stop him, "You're not going anywhere just yet."
"That's not fair," Danny said, "Why do I have to take everything upstairs?"
"Because before you can join us in the backyard, you get a 30 minute timeout," Kellie said, putting her hand out, "Give me your phone."
"For what?" Danny asked.
"Sulking and running away at the park," Kellie said.
"What am I five?" Danny said.
"It's questionable," Kellie said, "But enough is enough. It's one thing for you take an attitude with me or your Dad, it's an entirely another thing for you take it out on your siblings or any of the other kids."
"You can't put me in time out." Danny said, looking at Jason.
"Actually, she can," Jason said, opening the back of the car, "At least when you're here. I agree with her. What you did to Jake today…I thought you had better manners than to be rude to your brother like that."
"I want to go home," Danny said, "I didn't even want to come."
"If you want to go home, I'll take you home," Jason said.
Cam started to protest until Kellie glared at him. She turned her attention back to Danny.
"You can go home after you take all the stuff upstairs and your time out is over," Kellie said, "Now hand over the phone."
"You're not my mom," Danny said.
"I am most definitely not," Kellie said, "But whether you like it or not, we're family. When your willful misbehavior hurts the other children in this family, I won't continue to stand back and let you treat your siblings or cousins with anything less than respect and kindness."
"Danny," Jason said.
"The sooner you hand over the phone and go upstairs, the sooner you can go home," Kellie said, "Or roast marshmallows and hot dogs with your brother and everyone else."
Danny handed Kellie the phone. Jason handed Danny some of the backpacks and sleeping bags. Jason took the rest himself.
"Leave the sleeping bags by the front door," Kellie said.
Danny and Jason went in the house.
"If you don't mind," Cameron said, moving towards the door, "I think I'll go roast a hot dog."
"I do mind," Kellie said, "You're not exactly an innocent party in all of this, Cameron Webber."
"I'm just looking out for Jake," Cameron said.
"Does Danny actually want to be here?" Kellie asked, "or is that your doing?"
"I may have told Jake Danny thought the campfire would be fun too," Cameron said.
"And backed him into something he obviously doesn't want," Kellie said.
"Well until you went all mafia princess on him just now," Cameron said, "I haven't seen anyone hold him accountable for ruining his time together with Jake. It's like he doesn't even want to hang out with Jake. It's not fair to Jake."
"No it's not," Kellie said, "But forcing Danny to spend time with us may not be your best idea. While your heart may be in the right place, this whole thing could blow up. I hope you realize that."
"I'll take full responsibility, Mrs. Morgan," Cameron said, "If things get out of hand, I'll intervene."
"No, you won't intervene," Kellie said, "You're in charge of Aidan. If things go haywire with Danny, Jake, or my kids, that's for Jason and I to sort out. Are we clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," Cameron said, "Can I go now?"
"As long as you take the sleeping bags out back first," Kellie said.
Upstairs, after dumping the backpacks and bags, Danny immediately went for the tv in his and Jake's room, only to realize it was no longer in the room along with anything else he would consider fun.
"Where'd all my stuff go?" Danny asked.
"I'm guessing Kellie had it removed since you're supposed to be in time out," Jason said.
"That blows," Danny said flopping on the bed, "What I am I supposed to do?"
"Think about why you ended up in time out in the first place," Jason said, "That's normally how time outs work."
You're not really going to let Kellie put me in time out," Danny said, "It wasn't even for anything I did to her or to her kids."
"I am," Jason said, sitting on the bed, "Whenever you're here at our house, Kellie has every right to set the rules. The campfire was something she planned for Jamie, Jared, and Alyssa. It's her call when you get to join them, Jake, and the others."
"Even though whatever she thinks I did didn't happen here," Danny said.
"You realize that we'd still be sitting here talking before you went out to the campfire," Jason said, "Or when I took you home."
Danny groaned.
"Here's the deal," Jason said, "Until your attitude improves and you can tolerate the time we spend together just you and me, I won't plan anytime together with both you and Jake. You have to want to play with Jake even when I'm there. He looks up to you and wants to hang out with you. You weren't willing to do it aside from showing him your game. Even then you ditched him. That's not fair to Jake to get his hopes up about spending time with both of us and having you take off or forcing him to do only what you want."
"Whatever," Danny rolled his eyes.
"No, not whatever," Jason said, "We've tried giving you space and time to work out whatever this is. We've let you skip out on the times I want to spend with you and not forced you and itdoesn't seem to make a difference to you."
"Why should it make a difference to me?" Danny yelled, "Even if you don't ditch Jake and I for your new little family, you'll probably end up shot or disappear off the docks again. Jake too for that matter. We all thought he was dead in that car crash and he wasn't. So why doesn't matter if I spend time with you and Jake when I'd end up losing you all over again at some point?"