Meeting the Twins
"Remember, Jason," Mr. Rocca said as they approached the door. "You can't jump on the bed, ok? Mom is still resting."
"I won't," Jason promised.
Nodding, Mr. Rocca opened the door and held it open for Jason to walk inside. The eight-year-old's attention immediately went to the single bed in the room where his mom was sitting, leaning back against a pile of pillows. He looked around curiously, but everything in the room was foreign to him. He hadn't seen a hospital room before.
"Come on over, Jason," Mrs. Rocca smiled, watching her son. "Come meet your sisters."
With his stepfather following, Jason padded over to the bed. He paused next to the bed, frowning at the two small pink bundles in his mother's arms.
"Why are they so small?" he asked, leaning on the bed for a closer look.
Mr. and Mrs. Rocca laughed, exchanging looks.
"They won't stay that small long," Mr. Rocca said.
"Do you want to hold one of them?" Mrs. Rocca asked.
Jason nodded and she shifted a little on the bed, making room for him to climb up next to her. Mr. Rocca helped him get settled next to his mother. Once Jason was situated, Mr. Rocca reached over to take one of the small pink bundles from his wife and placed the baby carefully in the eight-year-old's arms. Jason took the baby cautiously, holding her tightly against him for fear of dropping her.
"That's Vida," Mrs. Rocca smiled. "And this is Madison."
"Vida and Madison," Jason repeated, nodding as he looked down at his little sister.
He watched her for a moment, her eyes still closed, and then looked up at his mother.
"Are you sure I don't get a brother?" he said. "Boys are more fun…"
His parents chuckled, shaking their heads.
"You'll have plenty of fun with them—even if they are girls," Mrs. Rocca said gently. "And you have friends who are boys. Besides, you get to have something even better than someone new to play with."
Jason frowned.
"What?" he said.
"You get to be their big brother," she said. "And as their big brother, it's your job to look after them and take care of them when dad and I aren't around. Can you do that?"
Jason nodded, a very serious look on his face.
"I'll always look out for them," he said solemnly. "Promise."
Mrs. Rocca smiled as he looked back down at Vida. As he watched, the tiny little girl in his arms blinked her eyes and opened them. She stared at Jason for a moment as a smile spread across his face.
"Hi, Vida," he said, her cheek resting against his chest. "I'm your big brother."
As he spoke, Vida made a small sound and suddenly spit up all over the front of his shirt. Jason immediately froze, the smile falling from his face.
"Mom!" he cried in horror. "She threw up on me!"
Mr. Rocca quickly took Vida out of Jason's arms and handed her back to his wife. Jason was still trying very hard not to move as he stared down at the spit-up that was soaking into his favorite red shirt.
"It's on me, it's on me!" he exclaimed. "Get it off. It's gross!"
"It's just spit-up, bud," Mr. Rocca said, grabbing a towel to wipe it up. "It's not like she pooped on you."
Jason's eyes widened as he looked up at his stepfather in horror.
"She can do that?" he said in surprise. "I am never holding her again!"
Mrs. Rocca laughed quietly, shaking her head as her husband continued cleaning up Jason. Mr. Rocca just shook his head.
"We're off to a great start," he muttered, helping Jason off the bed to go finish cleaning up. "Great start…"
Parking his car, Jason climbed out and looked around. The sign for the store caught his eye. Grabbing a bag off of the front seat and shutting the door behind him, he headed into the Rock Porium. He'd barely made it a few feet inside when he was suddenly hit by a smaller figure.
"Jason!" Madison cried, hugging him tightly.
"You're here!" Vida exclaimed, hurrying over to join in the hug.
Smiling, Jason set down the gift bag he was carrying and picked them both up in a hug and spun them around as they squeaked in surprise. Laughing at them, he put his little sisters back on their feet.
"Hey, kiddos," he said. "Did you miss me?"
"Of course," Madison smiled.
"Jason!" Chip grinned, running over.
"Hey, Chip," Jason said.
He opened his arms for a hug, but Jason just raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not hugging you, kid," he said.
So Chip hugged Jason, instead. Rolling his eyes, Jason sighed.
"Chip, let go," he said, smiling a little anyways.
"Hey, Jason," Xander said, walking over.
"Xander," Jason nodded, shoving Chip away.
Chip just laughed, catching himself. Jason smiled, glancing around at his sisters and their friends.
"So how are things going?" Jason asked. "Keeping busy?"
"Oh, we're keeping busy," Chip said, grinning. "Real busy."
Vida elbowed him.
"Not that busy," she said quickly. "Mostly just working here."
"Work?" someone interrupted. "What work? I don't see anyone working."
They all glanced around to see a man standing there with his arms crossed, glaring at them.
"Don't worry, Toby," Xander reassured him. "We'll get it done. Just give us a little while—no one is here anyways."
"Fine, fine," Toby grumbled. "But I'd better see you working when I come back out here."
Jason watched as he disappeared into the backroom.
"And that is?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's Toby," Madison answered. "He's our boss."
Jason nodded.
"So how is DJing going?" Jason asked, glancing at Vida. "And your filming, Maddy?"
"Great," Vida answered. "I love the set up here at the Rocky Porium. Maddy's been filming all of us—she's got some of me at work."
"And they turned out great," Chip added.
Maddy blushed, ducking her head.
"You'll have to show me some of your films," Jason said fondly, putting an arm around Maddy's shoulders. "Oh, V—Tommy sent this for you."
He held out a CD case to her.
"What is it?" she asked, glancing at the cover. "Wait a minute—this CD isn't on the market yet. It's not due out for a month!"
She looked up at Jason who was grinning at her.
"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "But Tommy got a few advanced copies and requested one for you. You'll probably want these, too."
He dug several more CD's out of the bag sitting on the floor, handing them over. Vida took them excitedly, glancing through them. Her eyes widened as she opened one of the cases. She quickly opened the rest of them, looking at all of the CD's.
"Jason," she said, looking back up. "These are all signed. Tanya Park—Kimberly Hart—Kira Ford—how did Tommy get all of these?"
"He just made a few phone calls," Jason smiled. "They were happy to send them—that's how he got Kira's new CD, too. She was already planning on sending him an advanced copy, so she just sent an extra along."
"Tommy knows them?" Vida exclaimed.
"Of course," Jason said. "So do I—well, I've know Kim and Tanya for years. I've met Kira, but I don't know her that well. She's one of Tommy's students."
"What?" she said, eyes wide. "Kira Ford is one of Tommy's students?"
"Well, was," Jason corrected. "She graduated a few years ago. Tommy actually paid for her demo. He then gave that to Tanya, who gave it to her husband and manager, Adam, who signed Kira without hesitation."
"Cool," Chip grinned, looking at the CD's over Vida's shoulder. "I didn't know you and Tommy knew famous people."
"You'd be surprise," Jason chuckled. "You guys have met a couple of them, too, though it's been quite a few years since you've seen them. But you two know Adam, Tanya's husband, fairly well from the dojo."
Madison and Vida exchanged sheepish looks.
"Guess we never thought about that," Vida said. "I never put together that she was the same person…"
Jason chuckled, shaking his head.
"Anyways," he said. "Maybe if Kira is free sometime this summer Tommy can bring her out for a visit. I can talk to Tanya and Kim, too."
"That would be the best present ever!" Vida exclaimed, hugging Jason again.
He smiled, hugging her back. When she let go, Jason reached back into the bag and pulled out something else, handing it to Madison.
"And this is for you," he said. "It's been a while since you've gotten a new camera—Tommy thought you'd like an upgrade."
"This is—this is wonderful!" Madison smiled, turning the video camera over in her hands. "Look at all of the features on it."
"And it's all charged up and ready to go," he said.
Turning on the camera, Madison started playing with some of the settings, pointing it at different people as she tested it out. Jason smiled as he watched. The door from the back room opened again.
"Hey guys. What's going on?" a young man asked. "Oh, you must be Jason. Maddy and V said you were coming."
He strode over to them, grinning. Jason eyed him, the smile slipping from his face.
"Oh, right!" Madison exclaimed, momentarily putting down her new camera. "Jason, this is Nick. He's new in town."
"It's nice to meet you," Nick said, holding out his hand.
"Mmm hmmm…" Jason said, looking at his hand briefly before turning away. "So when do you two get off work? I want to take you out to dinner."
Nick frowned, slowly letting his hand dropped.
"Umm…Not too much longer," Madison answered.
"But we could probably slip out now," Vida said. "Right guys?"
She looked at the boys expectantly.
"You'll cover for us, right?" she persisted.
Xander, Chip, and Nick exchanged glances.
"Why not?" Xander shrugged. "It's not like there's a lot left to do before we close. But you'll owe us."
"Thanks, guys!" Madison beamed. "We'll be back later."
"Call us if anything comes up," Vida said, glancing at Nick. "We'll have our phones."
He nodded and Jason frowned again. Putting an arm around each of his sisters' shoulders, he turned and led the way out the door. Madison and Vida started chatting excitedly as they left.
"So when is the last time you talked to mom?" Vida grinned, taking another bite of her dinner.
They were sitting down at a local restaurant, catching up and just enjoying spending time together. Jason glanced up at Vida's question, sighing.
"I don't know," he said, running a hand through his hair. "A week or two? Why?"
"Cause you are in so much trouble, big bro," she laughed. "We just talked to mom last night."
"Mom said it's been at least a month since she's heard from you," Madison said.
Jason frowned.
"It can't have been," he said. "No way."
"Yes way, big brother," Vida smirked. "And she has proof on her phone if you really want to argue."
"I guess I should probably call her then…" he sighed. "Before she really gets mad…"
"You really should," Vida agreed.
"Though she did talk to Trini last week," Madison said, shrugging. "So she's probably up to date on everything—but you still should call her."
"I will soon," said Jason, rolling his eyes. "You two are pests, you know that?"
They laughed.
"It's not our fault she's heard from Tommy more recently than you," Vida snorted.
"Wait—what?" Jason exclaimed. "When did Tommy call her?"
"Last week," Madison said. "Just to check in and see how things were going."
Jason muttered under his breath.
"I'm gonna kill him," he grumbled. "He's making me look bad."
"Only a lot," Vida laughed.
"Hey, you two should be on my side," Jason grumbled. "And I'm sure Tommy calls his own mother as rarely as I do."
Madison started shaking her head.
"That's part of why mom's so upset," she said. "I guess Tommy calls his mom at least once every couple of weeks if not more—mom can barely get you to call once a month…"
Jason threw his hands up in the air.
"You know, I should have just said those presents were from me," he said. "Tommy doesn't need any help staying on everyone's good side."
The girls laughed.
"Sorry, Jason," Madison said. "But that wouldn't have worked…"
"Why not?" Jason asked.
"Tommy put notes in the CD cases," Vida smirked.
"And there was one tucked into the strap of my camera," Madison added.
Jason rolled his eyes.
"The guy can't remember to take his briefcase to work," he muttered. "But he can remember that?"
The twins laughed harder.
"He's so dead," Jason said, shaking his head. "Anyways, enough about me and how much trouble I'm in with mom—what's with the new kid?"
Vida and Madison exchanged glances.
"Umm…Nick?" Madison asked. "What about him?"
"What do you know about him?" Jason asked, looking at them expectantly.
They shrugged.
"Not a lot, I guess," Vida said. "He's new in town. Only been here a couple of months. Showed up on his motorcycle out of the blue."
"But he's sweet," Madison added. "We've all been—hanging out. He fits in well with us. Kind of like he's supposed to be part of our group."
Jason frowned.
"I want you two to be careful around him," he said. "You don't know anything about him."
"We know a lot more than you think," Madison protested.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Jason asked suspiciously.
Vida rolled her eyes.
"Relax, big brother," she said. "He's just a friend."
"Uh huh—sure," he retorted.
"He is," Madison insisted.
"And besides," Vida said. "We can take care of ourselves, remember? You and Tommy made sure of that."
"Yeah, I know," Jason said. "But you still hardly know him. And the kid rides a motorcycle—"
"So do you," Vida retorted. "What's wrong with that?"
"Sis is right," Madison said. "Actually, Nick kind of reminds me of Tommy."
"Oh, because that makes me feel so much better," Jason muttered.
The girls frowned.
"What's wrong with Tommy?" Madison asked.
Jason snorted.
"There are so many things I could say to that," Jason said, shaking his head. "But—"
A beeping ring went off. Vida and Madison exchanged glances. Reaching into her pocket, Vida pulled out a small phone. She glanced at it, and then up at Madison. Jason raised an eyebrow, waiting for one of them to say something.
"Is everything alright?" he finally asked.
"Umm…yeah," Madison said. "It's just—well…"
"We need to get going," Vida said quickly. "Something came up—at the…we need to get going."
Jason shrugged.
"Go on," he said. "I'll take care of the bill. Do you two want your leftovers?"
"That would be great!" Vida exclaimed, pulling Madison out of her chair. "We'll catch up to you later, big bro!"
They both darted out of the restaurant. Sighing, Jason caught the waiter's attention. After paying for dinner, he took the leftovers and headed out to his car.
"He was right," he muttered to himself. "How is it that Tommy is always right about this stuff? Get a ranger involved and suddenly he's all knowing."
Still muttering himself, he climbed into his car to head to the hotel for the night. As he started to drive away, he pulled his phone out and dialed.
"Hey, bro," Jason sighed when Tommy answered. "You were right…"