Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or Dairy Queen.

Remember kids, Read & Review!

Ahh…The good old family road trips, so full of song, so full of fun. If by song you mean screaming and arguing, and by fun you mean throwing things and complaining. Then, yes the Manning Children had lots of those.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" the girl in the backseat screamed.

"What is it, Julia?" He asked irritated. "4 more hours, Craig Manning. Just 4 more god-damn, fucking hours" He thought in his head, trying to keep his sanity.

"I want cake!" She replied, pointing out her window to the Dairy Queen.

"I'm thirsty, Dad" the boy beside her groaned.

"Julia, you're not getting cake. Chris, you drank water half an hour ago" He replied letting out a sigh.

"But…Daddy…."She said pouting, tears on the verge of falling.

"No! Don't give in now! You can do this, Craig! Just 4 more hours! Man…what would Ellie do in this situation…" he thought to himself. "Oh, right…Ellie would have packed tons of bottled water for Chris, and gave Julia a notebook and a pen. Stupid! Why didn't you think of that, Craig Manning?"

He stopped at the red light and searched for some paper and a pen. Oh, crackerjacks. No, paper! Wait, Napkins work too, right? He took a handful of napkins and gave them to the girl. Pen, pen, pen….where would I put a pen? Oh, right the glove compartment! He opened the glove compartment and low and behold there was the pen! He threw the pen to Julia, and she caught it in her hands (Amazingly good, I might add).

He looked at her; she was smiling now, doing calculus on her napkin. He looked over at the boy and he was still frowning. Chris placed his head against the car window; his legs were brought up to his chest, his shoes abandoned on the car floor. The little boy looked tired and was clutching the armrest. Craig felt so bad. He mentally slapped himself for doing this, but when the traffic light turned green he turned into the Dairy Queen.

He walked in there, hand in hand with his children. The wait inline wasn't that long and soon it was their turn.

"Hi, welcome to Dairy Queen. How may I help you?" the cashier said cheerfully.

"Umm….can I have one cake for the girl, 10 bottles of water for the boy and a Moolatté, please" He said looking at him.

"Uh…sure, for here or to go?" the man asked typing in the order.

"To go, please" Craig replied.

They were back on the road again. Julia and Chris Manning were happy and content, while Craig was still sane and enjoying the silence. But, of course that silence didn't last very long….

"Chris….wanna play shadow?" the little girl asked a grin appearing on her lips.

"What's that?"

"What's that?" she repeated.

"Stop that, Julia"

"Stop that, Julia" she mimicked twirling her red hair around her finger.

"Fine, you know. Let's not play shadow, let's play…." The boy looked outside his window and saw a yellow car. "Yellow car!" He screamed punching his twin in the arm.

She rubbed her arm and glared at him.

"Eiffel Tower!" She yelled and swung her legs off the floor to kick her brother in the gut. Soon, enough a war broke out in the Manning Family van.

Punches were thrown at each other, kicks were exchanged, and cake and bottles of water were flying, screaming and insults were heard, would you believe me if I said they were only seven?

"Ha! You missed, sucker!" Julia screamed taking some cake and flinging it across the seat. Chris stuck his tongue out and opened his bottle of water, pouring half of it all over Julia's head. Julia screamed and responded by punching him. She was aiming for his stomach but instead kicked his hand, spilling water on the back of Craig's head. Craig slammed on his brakes and turned around to look at his children.

"Okay! Stop it, already!" Craig yelled grabbing the bottle out of Chris's hand.

"He started it…."the girl said crossing her arms.

"No, I didn't! If you didn't provoke me with your stupid mimicking game, I wouldn't have started the 'Yellow Car' game" he snapped back.

"Me! If you didn't punch me first, I wouldn't have kicked you!" She yelled back.

"Stop it!" Craig interjected. "That's it! No more sweets for you, Julia! And Chris, stop smirking because you're banned from playing any videogames"

1 hour later…

Yes, peace at last. He sighed and smiled at the silence. No more complaining, no more screaming, and definitely no more cake throwing and water pouring. Julia and Chris Manning were finally asleep.

He looked the road ahead of him, and remembered passing that sign before….

"Oh, shit! No! Come on, I can't be lost! Not now!" he let out a groan and kept on driving. "Okay, if I keep on driving straight I'm sure to hit something…..right?"

Julia woke up and saw her Dad strumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "Oh, no…we're lost, again!" she thought remembering last time they had a road trip. She leaned over and shook him awake. Her brother opened his eyes and she pointed at their Dad. "Not again!" he thought to himself.

"Dad, are we lost?" she asked.

"No, of course not" Craig replied.

"Are you sure? Remember last time you said that?" Chris said.

"We're not lost…we're just a little off course" he replied.

"Dad, we should ask for directions"

"No, we're fine"

"I'm gonna check the map" Chris said looking for the map.

"It's not here Chris, remember? We left it on the kitchen counter at HOME" Julia replied.

"Well, check the GPS system then" Chris said looking at his dad.

"Chris, this van doesn't have GPS" She replied.

"What? Why?" he asked clearly shocked at the lack of technology in the van.

"We went in the wrong direction last time, when we used the GPS system" Craig replied.

"We're going to die out here, aren't we?" Chris said sighing.

"Stop being a baby, Chris. We're not going to die out here, we're going to slowly rot away in the van and then eaten by birds" Julia replied.

"We're not going to die" Craig replied still sticking with his 'Drive straight and you're bound to hit something plan'.

9 years later…

"What are you doing, sis?" Chris asked sipping his cup of water.

"Packing for the road trip" she replied placing a big box into the trunk.

He looked at her and asked "Do we have GPS?"

"Yes, and maps too." She replied.

"Water, candy, notebooks, spare tires, a baseball bat?" he asked again.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes and why would we need a bat?" she replied looking at him.

"Just in case, some psychopath decides to attack the Manning family" he replied.

"Mom is coming right?" she questioned clutching onto the keys.

"I think so….but if she isn't, no matter what Dad claims you're driving" he said.

"Okay, good. We don't want a trip down memory lane again"

"Oh, mom told me to tell you guys that she's sorry and can't go on the road trip" Craig said walking over to the van. Julia and Chris looked at each other. Julia closed the trunk and dashed for the driver's seat.

"I'm driving!" She screamed putting on her seatbelt on as quickly as she could. Chris dove for the passenger seat and yelled "I call shotgun!" Craig looked at his children's strange behavior and just sat in the backseat.

The good old Manning family road trip, there is just no better way to bond with your children…..