Author's Notes: Yep, I can hear the readers out there now saying, "OMG! She's actually updating a story!" LOL I'm sorry for keeping all of you waiting. But Real Life has a good way of getting in the way of story writing. Anyway, I know Bobby and Derek are suppose to be having their blow up in this chapter, but I have a scene or 2 to include before that, so I figured I stop here and put that in the next chapter. I promise that I won't keep you guys waiting forever any more. Maybe a month, but no longer than that. LOL Thank you as always to everyone to takes the time to read and/or review my stuff. I truly do appreciate it. Original characters belong to me; LO:CI and its characters belong to Dick Wolf and company. Read, review and enjoy. :o)

Wednesday, September 7, 1977
Home of Bill and Susannah Lewis
Dinnertime

Susannah hid her smile behind one hand while patting Cara's arm with the other hand. "It's okay, dear," she said. Cara huffed again. "Whatever," she mumbled. Bill half expected Bobby to pull the chair out for CeCe as she sat down between him and Cara. Lewis, Tricia and Mattie sat on the other side of the table. Lewis started to reach for a roll, but Bill smacked his hand. "Say grace, son," he said with a smile. "Ouch," Lewis said as he rubbed his hand. A few snickers could be heard around the table before everyone bowed their heads.

"Who wants to talk about their day first?" Bill asked as he looked at everyone around the table. "I think CeCe should go first since she's our guest," Susannah said. CeCe looked at her with some hesitation, but Susannah nodded, giving her a smile of encouragement. "Well, I-I had a pretty good day. I started working at Mr. Liu's bookstore today," CeCe said. "That's wonderful, CeCe," Susannah said. "Do you think you'll like working there?" CeCe nodded with a smile. "Yes, ma'am. I think I will."

Susannah turned her attention to her son. "So, Lewis, how was your day?" she asked. He shrugged. "It was okay. Nothing special." Bobby snorted. "I guess that date you made with DeLane Palmer for Saturday means nothing," he said. Lewis kicked him under the table. "Shut up." Bobby just chuckled to himself. Cara's eyes widen with surprise. "Jedidiah asked DeLane Palmer out for a date?! It's about time!" she exclaimed. Lewis shot his sister a mean look. "Shut up, Cara. It didn't take that long," he said. Cara scoffed. "It took you a year to ask her out," she said. Lewis rolled his eyes and sighed. "Geez, you're making a big deal out of it," he mumbled under his breath.

Bill and Susannah exchanged puzzled looks. "Who's DeLane Palmer?" Bill asked. "You remember her, Dad," Cara said. "She was the girl in the red bikini at the Covingtons' pool party last year. Jed and Dale Patterson almost knocked Mom and me into the pool trying to get to her." Susannah nodded her head in understanding. "Oh, I remember now. Jedidiah almost got grounded for almost making me spill my drink on my new sundress," she said teasingly. Lewis groaned. "Mom, can you go onto somebody else, please?" he whined before shoving some pot roast into his mouth. He kicked Bobby under the table again and whispered, "This is all your fault." Bobby didn't do anything but smile.

"Mattie, Tricia, anything special you'd like to report?" Susannah asked with a smile. Mattie pursed her lips in thought for a few seconds before she shook her head. "I've got nothing other than the newspaper staff had a meeting today." "What about you, Tricia?" "I just waited for Mattie to get out of her meeting," Tricia replied. "Miss Wells wants her to join the newspaper staff," Mattie said. "She thinks Tricia will make a good advice columnist." "I think you should do it," Cara said. "I've seen how some of the kids come to you and ask your opinion about stuff. You're pretty good." Tricia shrugged. "I told Miss Wells I'd think about it and let her know by Friday."

"What about you, Bobby? How was your day?" Susannah asked. Bobby shrugged and said, "It was okay." "I kissed CeCe, but I'm not telling anybody that," he thought to himself. "So, Mattie and Tricia, can I count on you being my clean up crew for this Saturday?" Bill asked. "Well, that depends on how much you're paying, Mr. Lewis," Tricia said. Mattie poked her in the side. "Don't be rude," she said through clenched teeth. "I'm not," Tricia hissed back. Bill laughed. He said, "It's okay, Mattie. For 4 hours of work, I'm paying $30 cash and tickets to the car show on Sunday." He reached into his shirt pocket, pulling out the tickets to show to the cousins.

Mattie and Tricia looked at each other, then at Bill and said in unison, "We're in." "Thank you," Bill said, laughing. "What are you going to do with the extra tickets?" Susannah asked. He shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about it." "Can I have an extra ticket?" Bobby asked quickly. He thought, "Maybe I can ask CeCe to go with me." "Sure." "Can I have another one, too, Dad?" Lewis asked. Bill nodded. Susannah clapped her hands. "Okay, kids. Finish eating so that you can do your homework," she said. The kids, Cara included, did as they were told.

"Are you going to ask DeLane to go with you to the car show?" Tricia asked Lewis. She and Lewis, along with Mattie, CeCe and Bobby had retreated upstairs to Lewis' room after dinner to do their homework. Cara was downstairs helping Susannah and Bill clean up before she left to go to her apartment. Lewis shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe. Maybe not. I haven't decided yet," he said as he went to sit on his bed, leaning against the headboard. "Of course, he's going to ask her," Mattie said. She was sitting in a chair at one end of Lewis' desk; Tricia was sitting on the opposite end. "Because if he doesn't, Jedidiah knows I'll talk about him for a month," she finished saying.

Lewis tore a couple of sheets of paper out of his notebook, crumpled each piece into a ball and threw them at Mattie, one after the other. "Hey! Cut that out!" she exclaimed as she ducked. "Quit calling me 'Jedidiah,'" Lewis grumbled. "That's your name. I can call you that if I want." She picked the 2 pieces of paper off the floor and threw them back at him. Tricia, CeCe and Bobby watched with amusement as Lewis and Mattie threw the 2 balls of paper back and forth at each other.

"Um, Lewis?" CeCe said. "What chapter are we suppose to be reading for Biology class?" She was sitting at the foot of the bed that Bobby was sleeping in, leaning against the wall next to the window. Bobby was also sitting on the bed Indian style, leaning against the headboard. "Chapter 2," Lewis replied as he caught both paper balls. "Oh, and make sure you study the word list for that chapter and chapter 3. Mr. Collins likes to give pop spelling quizzes before class ends." "Oh, okay. Thanks." CeCe pulled her biology book out of her satchel, opened it and started reading.

Lewis tossed the crumpled pieces of paper into the trash can. He stuck his tongue out at Mattie and said, "Turn around and do your homework, Matt. You're not gonna blame me for your falling GPA." Mattie stuck her tongue out at him before she turned around to open the history book that was laying on the desk. Bobby was very quiet, staring at the 10 words written in his spiral notebook which were: peace, nurse, Verona, name, rose, sweet, smell, blue, happy and song. "How does Miss Wells expect us to write something using these words?" he thought. He sighed heavily as he kept staring at the page. No ideas were popping into his head right away.

Bobby looked away from his notebook and began staring at CeCe, who was reading her biology book. He noticed that she moved her lips as she read. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him staring at her. She stopped reading to look at him, blushing as she flashed him a small dimpled smile. CeCe started reading again, playing with the exact braid he had tugged on earlier.

Bobby turned to an empty page in his notebook and scribbled something on it. He held it out to CeCe, waving it a couple of times at her. Without looking away from her book, she took the proffered notebook. She finished reading the last sentence in the biology book, then she turned her attention to Bobby's notebook. CeCe's eyes widen with surprise as she read what Bobby had written: "I've kissed you 2 times already. When are you going to kiss me?" When she looked at him, he had a slight smirk on his face. She shrugged her shoulders and silently mouthed, "I don't know."

CeCe blushed as she handed Bobby's notebook back to him. She quickly turned her attention back to her biology book, playing with her braids. Bobby had a big grin on his face as he watched her blush. Suddenly, he had an idea about what to write for English class. He turned back to the page where his list of words were and began to write quickly before his inspiration got away from him.

Wednesday, September 7, 1977
Outside of the Harpers' Apartment Building
12 minutes before CeCe's curfew

"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Lewis," CeCe said before she got out of Bill's car. "You're welcome, CeCe. Anytime," he replied. Susannah and Bobby were standing on the sidewalk waiting for her to get out of the back seat. Lewis got out of the car after her. "Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Lewis," CeCe said. Susannah smiled, reached out and gave her a hug. She said, "You're welcome. You can come and have dinner with us any time you like."

CeCe smiled as she nodded her head. She waved at Lewis and Bobby and said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow." "See ya," the 2 friends said in unison. "Bobby, why don't you walk CeCe to her door?" Susannah said. "Make sure she gets there safely?" "Uh, okay. Sure," he said. CeCe glanced at him briefly before averting her eyes down to the ground. Bobby followed her as she headed towards her building. Lewis started to go with them, but his mom shook her head and pointed at the car. "Get into the car, sweetie," she said. He looked at Bobby and CeCe, then at Susannah. "Mom, are you trying to play matchmaker?" he asked as he slid into the backseat. She smiled as she sat down in the passenger's seat. "Never mind what I'm doing, Jedidiah William Lewis. Just hush."

Bobby and CeCe were quiet, lost in their own thoughts, as they walked up to the 3rd floor. CeCe stopped on the landing at the top of the stairs. She turned around to look at Bobby, pointing at her apartment door. "That's me," she said quietly. He turned his head to look at the number on the door before nodding. He had stopped on the stairs to where he and CeCe were standing eye to eye. She looked deep into his brown eyes for a few seconds before looking down at the ground, playing with the satchel strap that was slung around her neck.

Bobby just stood there staring at CeCe, unsure of whether or not he should try to kiss her again. "Thank you for inviting me to dinner," she said, her eyes still focused on the ground. "You're welcome," he said. "And for being nice to me," she softly added. A puzzled look crossed his face. "Why do you say that?" he asked, tilting his head to catch her eye. When CeCe finally looked up at Bobby, she raised her head and shrugged her shoulders. "Not too many people take the time to be nice to the weird new kid in school," she replied. He snorted. "You're not weird."

CeCe smiled at Bobby's kind words. He smiled as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall with his shoulder. "Can I ask you something?" she said. He nodded. "Why…why did you ask me if I was gonna kiss you?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. Just asking." "Oh" She looked at her watch. It read 8:55. "I better get inside before Mama calls," CeCe said softly. "Okay," Bobby said as he pushed himself away from the wall. She smiled and blushed as she turned and headed towards her apartment, taking her key out of her satchel.

"Hey, CeCe," Bobby said. She walked back to him. "You-you-you wanna hang out this weekend? Maybe go to the car show with me? That's why I got the extra ticket." She nodded and said, "Yeah. I'd like that." "Cool. I-I'll see you tomorrow." They looked at each other and smiled. CeCe leaned over and kissed Bobby on the forehead, right where his mole was. "Good night, Bobby," she said softly. With 2 quick steps, CeCe was gone, disappearing into her apartment. He just stood there, stunned. He put one hand on the rail and the other on the wall for support because his legs were starting to turn to jelly. Bobby stood there for a couple of minutes, smiling to himself and trying to regain his composure. The only word he could manage to say was "Wow."

"Where the hell you been?" Derek asked as CeCe entered the apartment. He was sitting on the couch, his long legs stretched out in front of him watching TV. A big bowl of popcorn was in his lap and a bottle of orange Crush was in his hand. "Out," was all she said as she removed her satchel, hung it on the coat rack and headed toward her room. "I know that, dummy! Who were you with AND where is what I want to know!" "You ain't my daddy!" is what CeCe thought as she pressed her lips together and stopped in her tracks. She sighed heavily, replying, "I went to work after school. Then I had dinner with Bobby at the Lewises."

Derek put the bowl of popcorn and soft drink bottle on the table. He got up and stood towering over his sister, pointing his finger in her face. "You stay away from him!" he shouted. CeCe took a small step back as she flinched, afraid he would grab her again. "Why? What's your problem with Bobby?" she asked. "My problem with Bobby is that he's like his brother, taking advantage of girls," Derek replied. "Did he touch you? Put his hands down your shirt or your pants?"

CeCe made a disgusted face. "No! Bobby didn't do any of that!" she exclaimed. "He's been very nice to me. He walked me to the door and left. That's it." Derek grunted. "He won't stay nice for long if you don't put out like the other girls at school. He'll act like his daddy and call you a colored monkey for sure." "Bobby's not like that! How can you say something that mean about your friend?" "He ain't my friend," Derek replied. "I'm only nice to him because we're teammates. That's it."

"Bobby's a very nice person," CeCe said softly. "You shouldn't judge him because of his daddy and brother." "I can judge him because I've known him longer than you have. He'll turn out to be just like them," Derek said. She sighed heavily again as he turned around to go sit on the couch. "And you wonder why Lulu was mad at you, Jarvis and Donny all last summer and didn't speak to any of you," CeCe muttered. "What's that suppose to mean?!" Derek snapped as he whipped his head around to look at her.

"Nana Rose told y'all to stay out of Lulu's business with her boyfriend. 'Don't be meddling with Lulu and Herbert' is what she said exactly," CeCe explained. You see Herbert at the skating rink with another girl, so you go get Jarvis and Donny to help you drag him out into the parking lot and beat him up because you THINK he's cheating on Lulu. Come to find out that that other girl was his cousin visiting from Houston and Lulu was going to join them later." Derek raised a dismissive hand as he headed towards the couch. "Whatever. That don't mean nothing. I know I'm right about Bobby."

The telephone started to ring and CeCe walked towards it, shaking her head. "Bobby will probably kick your ass if you mess with him," she said to herself as she picked up the receiver.

"Hello," CeCe said.

"Hey, Pumpkin. It's Mama," Rosalie said.

"Hi, Mama. How's your shift going?"

"It's going well. I just wanted to make sure you were at home. Did you have a good time?"

"I had a great time, Mama. Mrs. Lewis made pot roast for dinner."

"That's nice. Did you get your homework done?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good, good," Rosalie said. "Where's your brother?"

CeCe looked at Derek. "He's sitting on the couch, eating popcorn and watching TV," she replied. He just rolled his eyes.

"Okay. I gotta make the rounds. I love you. Bye."

"Love you, too, Mama. Bye."

CeCe hung up the receiver. She opened her mouth to say something to Derek, but decided she'd keep her thoughts about Bobby to herself. Instead, she headed to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Wednesday, September 7, 1977
Home of Bill and Susannah Lewis
Bedtime

"Bobby!" Susannah called from downstairs. He appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms with a spiral notebook in his hand. "Yeah?" he said. She held the telephone receiver out towards him and said, "It's Doreen. She wants to talk to you." She placed the receiver on the table and headed into the kitchen as he walked down the steps.

"Hey, Doreen."

"Hey, sweetie," Doreen said. "How are you?"

"I'm alright I guess," Bobby replied with a shrug. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's good. Frances is okay. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to sleep at home tonight, but I'll be back at the hospital in the morning."

"Oh, ok. Do…do I need to go spend the night with her?" Bobby asked. Susannah had just come out of the kitchen and stopped in front of him. She looked at him and shook her head vigorously. On the phone, Doreen said firmly, "No, you do not."

"That's what I'm being told here, too," he said with a sigh. Susannah gave him a small smirk of victory as she patted his arm and headed upstairs.

"Frances will be okay by herself tonight. If anything happens, I'll let you know. Deal?"

"Deal."

"By the way, I liked your friend CeCe. She's cute."

Bobby groaned. "Oh, brother."

"Oh, quit being so dramatic," Doreen said with a laugh. "You should bring her by the pizza shop sometime."

He groaned heavily again. "Maybe. I'll think about it."

She laughed again. "Bobby, you're killing me. Anyway, I'll let you go to bed. Good night, sweetheart. I love you."

"Good night, Doreen. I…I love you, too."

Bobby hung up the receiver and stood there for a couple of minutes, thinking about what Doreen had said about bringing CeCe to the pizza shop she and her husband Cal owned. "God, if Frankie shows up when I'm with CeCe, he'll do something stupid to embarrass me. He always does," he thought. He shook himself a little to clear his thoughts. He looked down at the notebook in his hand. He turned it over to look at the telephone number that was written on the back. He took a deep breath, picked up the receiver and dialed the number.

CeCe had turned out the kitchen light and was heading to her bedroom with a glass of water in her hand when the telephone rang. She walked towards it, placing the glass on the table before picking up the receiver.

"Hello," CeCe said.

"H-h-hey, CeCe," Bobby said quietly.

A big smile spread across her lips. "Hi, Bobby. You okay?"

"I-I-I'm okay."

A few seconds of silence passed when CeCe asked, "Bobby, are you sure you're okay? Did you need something?"

"Um, no. I'm fine. Sorry. I-I-I just wanted to say good night." "Dammit, Bobby, get a grip! You've talked to her before," he thought to himself.

A soft chuckle escaped from CeCe's mouth. "Well, thank you. Good night to you, too."

"Bye, CeCe. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye, Bobby."

CeCe hung up the receiver with a big smile on her face. She bounced on her toes as she picked up her glass of water and headed to her room. "Derek's got to be wrong about Bobby. I hope," she thought.

"Who was on the phone?" Lewis asked when Bobby came back into the bedroom they were sharing. "Oh, uh. That-that was Doreen," he replied. "She wanted to tell me that she was going home instead of staying with Mom tonight." "Oh." Lewis was sitting on his bed watching Bobby look at the back of his spiral notebook and smile before laying it down on top of his other books.

"What's up with you, man?" Lewis said. "Huh?" Bobby asked, looking confused. He pulled back the covers and got into the bed. "You're looking at the back of your notebook and smiling like some kind of idiot. What's up?" Bobby shook his head and replied, "There's nothing up. Go to bed, man."

"Aww, come on, Bobby!" Lewis said as he put his feet on the floor and pointed at the notebook. "What's on the back of that notebook? Did Hutch draw another picture of a naked girl on there? Come on, dude! You gotta share!" Bobby raised himself up on his elbows and laughed. "There's no naked girl picture on my notebook. Now, go to bed, Jedidiah."

Lewis huffed loudly as he stood and flipped the light switch off. "Some kind of best friend you are," he grumbled. "Won't even share pictures of naked girls. Geez." Bobby just chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Good night, Lewis," he said. "Pfft. Whatever, man. Good night." Lewis laid down in his bed, reaching over to turn off the beside lamp.

10 minutes had passed and neither Bobby nor Lewis were asleep. Bobby let out a heavy sigh and blurted aloud, "I kissed CeCe." "I knew it! I knew it!" Lewis exclaimed as he turned on the lamp and sat up in the bed. "You had that same silly smile on your face when you came back to the car." Bobby sat up in his bed, shaking his head. "No I kissed her when we were here in the basement together." Lewis' mouth dropped open. "Wow! You work fast," he said. "So, how was it? Did you slip her some tongue?"

"God, Lewis!" Bobby said. "That's not of your business!" Lewis let out a playful cackle and said, "You did! Oh, my God! You dirty dog!" "Whatever. I'm going to sleep." Bobby laid down, pulling the covers over his head. "Dammit, Bobby. You can't leave me hanging like this. I need to know details!" "No, you don't. Go to sleep, Lewis." "Come on. Tell me what happened and I'll shut up."

Bobby raised his head a little to look over the edge of the covers at Lewis and said, "Go to bed. I'm not telling you anything." Lewis threw up his arms in frustration as he turned off the lamp and laid down. "You're no fun, Bobby," he said. "Good night, Lewis," was his response. He snuggled further down underneath the covers and sighed. A smile crossed Bobby's lips as he finally drifted off to sleep with thoughts of CeCe on his mind.