§ § § -- October 27, 2001

Roarke and Leslie, just finishing supper, were both utterly astonished when Maureen and Myeko appeared on the porch, each with a little girl in tow. "Hi, guys, what's up?" asked Leslie curiously.

"Problems," Maureen said, exchanging a rueful glance with Myeko. "I guess it's really our fault. Mr. Roarke, could we sit down?"

"Of course," Roarke said, gesturing at the two empty chairs. "What's wrong?"

Myeko settled down in the nearest chair; Maureen took Christian's usual seat. Noelle stood behind her mother with a look on her face that suggested she was about to start bawling any moment; Brianna, standing beside Maureen, kept shooting her glares. "Well," Maureen said, "we goofed. Brianna and Noelle have the same second-grade teacher, and their class is holding a Halloween party next Wednesday. All the kids are dressing up. The trouble is that there'll be prizes for costumes. And naturally, Brianna and Noelle came to me and Myeko looking for help."

"Right," Myeko said. "I've been really frantic, you know, because Dawn eats like a horse, and it seems like all I ever do is feed her, in between trying to write my column and getting it e-mailed to the paper. I couldn't come up with any ideas, especially after Noelle shot down every suggestion I made by telling me some other kid already had dibs on it. So I finally got desperate and told her about Leslie's idea for my one Halloween party back in high school." She turned red.

Roarke's expression cleared instantly, and he and Leslie exchanged a look of vivid memory. "I see," he said, amusement glinting from his dark eyes. "Leslie, am I correct in assuming that you were eventually going to come to me about this?"

"I was, yes," Leslie said, "but circumstances dictated otherwise."

"How so?" Roarke inquired.

"Brianna wanted to do the same thing," Maureen explained, making his eyes go wide. "I told her to go and ask Leslie herself if she really wanted to do it, and I was a little surprised when she actually did."

"She stole my idea!" Noelle wailed suddenly at Roarke. "Everybody else stole all my other ideas. Now she did it too!"

"I thought of it first," Brianna said angrily, hands on hips, glaring at her. "You're the one who tried to steal my idea, Noelle Tokita."

"I did not!" shrieked Noelle and burst into tears. Maureen and Myeko gave each other helpless looks; Roarke looked a bit startled; and Leslie sighed gently and put a finger to her lips for her friends' benefit.

Then she put one arm around Brianna and extended the other hand to the sobbing Noelle. "Come here, honey," she coaxed, and Noelle moved slowly to Leslie's side, still crying energetically but allowing Leslie to slide her arm around her too. "You two have been best friends just about all your lives. Are you going to let this make you enemies now?"

"But it's not fair, Miss Leslie," Brianna protested. "I know I thought of it first. I asked you all the way back a whole week ago, 'member?" Hearing that, Noelle wailed louder.

"Yikes," murmured Myeko. "I called the next day on Noelle's behalf…" Maureen gave her a sympathetic look.

"I know you did," Leslie said to Brianna, "but that doesn't mean Noelle stole your idea. Did you tell her that's what you wanted to do?"

"No," said Brianna, bewildered, shaking her blonde head.

Leslie smiled. "Then if you didn't tell her, how could she steal your idea? She didn't know about it till her mother told her. Sweetie, I know we're on Fantasy Island, but even here, Noelle can't read your mind."

"But I still thought of it first!" Brianna insisted indignantly. Noelle's crying graduated into sobbing.

"Hold on a minute here, Brianna," Leslie said, turning then to Noelle and patting the child's shoulder. "Sweetie, it's not the end of the world. There's a whole lot of things you could do for Halloween, you know."

"But I wanted to be thaaaaaat…" bawled Noelle, dissolving into a new round of misery and sobs. Myeko, red-faced, rested her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands; Maureen grinned. Leslie swallowed back a laugh of her own and shifted her arm to stroke Noelle's hair.

"I know, honey, I know," she soothed the child. "Seems like all your ideas got taken by your whole class, huh?" Noelle nodded tearfully. "Tell me, what other ideas did you have? I bet you had a whole bunch of good ones."

"I was gonna be a princess, but Cissy Jakes said she was gonna be one. So I was gonna be a skeleton, and then Andrew Lord said he was gonna be one. And then I was gonna be…" She rattled off four or five more ideas, surprising Leslie. "And then I thought I could be the Invis'ble Lady, and nobody else knows you and Mr. Roarke, so it was gonna be the best idea ever. And then…" Noelle hiccuped and they could see she was about to break down again. "And then she…"

"Honey, she didn't steal it," Leslie said, very gently. "Brianna thought of it, and then you thought of it, but you didn't know she did, and she didn't know you did."

Noelle looked pleadingly at Leslie through streaming eyes. "If she really thought of it first, Miss Leslie, does that mean she gets to do it and I gotta think of something else all over again? There's no more things I can be!" Again she started to cry.

"Oh, sweetheart, sure there are," Leslie soothed her, rubbing her upper arm. "There's all kinds of things you can be. If you and your mom talk about it…"

"She can't," Noelle cried. "Mommy's always feeding Dawn. I wanted a sister, but she's such a pig, that's all she ever does is eat, eat, eat! Mommy never has any time to do anything except feed Dawn. Daddy Nick's busy with all the sick animals. And I'm not even talking to dumb old Alexander anymore. He's gonna be a pirate and he said Mr. Roarke'd never ever let me use any of his potions, but he's just a dumb boy and I'm so mad at him I wish I could punch him. Please, Miss Leslie, I wish you'd help me."

Leslie shot Roarke a glance to gauge his reaction to Noelle's remark about him; he had a wry little smile on his handsome features. Myeko looked a little stricken by Noelle's impassioned monologue, and Leslie winked at her. "What about your teacher?"

Noelle shook her head. "Can't. We gotta think of our own costumes."

Roarke cleared his throat suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "Perhaps I have a solution," he said thoughtfully. "Aside from the fact that you needed my permission to use a potion in the first place…"

Brianna, with a horrified look, broke in, "You mean you won't let us, Mr. Roarke?"

"So there," Noelle lashed out, scrubbing at her tear-streaked face. Gently Leslie shushed her, patting her shoulder.

"Oh, now, I never said that, Brianna," Roarke said indulgently. "Did I?"

"I guess not," Brianna said uncertainly.

Roarke smiled. "Then ask."

Brianna stared at him, startled; Noelle, seeing her caught off guard by Roarke's unexpected remark, took quick advantage. "Mr. Roarke, please, please, can I use the invis'ble-lady potion, pleeeeeeeeease?" At that, Leslie, Maureen and Myeko all stared at each other and then at Roarke with wide eyes.

Brianna gawked at her, shock and indignation blooming in tandem. "Hey!" she cried. "That's not fair, Noelle Tokita!"

"It is too, Brianna Harding!" Noelle retorted smugly.

"Hey, hey," Leslie broke in. "Calm down, you two." She grinned at Roarke. "Since you've now been officially asked, Father, what's the verdict?"

Roarke grinned back and said, "It's been quite some time since anyone asked for that particular fantasy, but it won't take much to mix a small dose of the potion. I have nothing against its use. But before this destroys a close friendship, let me make a suggestion."

Leslie, Maureen and Myeko looked at one another again. "Lay it on us, Mr. Roarke," Myeko suggested hopefully.

Roarke chuckled at her terminology. "Is it really necessary for every child in the class to be dressed differently?"

"There's gonna be prizes, Mr. Roarke," Brianna said. "The prettiest costume, the scariest, the most original…"

Leslie looked up with interest. "Did their teacher ever attend one of your parties, Myeko? You did the same thing." They all laughed.

"And I want to win one," Noelle broke in. "I never win anything. Our teacher gives out lots of prizes for lots of things. Brianna won three already. She won a spelling bee, and then she won for best printing, and then she won for making the best drawing. I never win, and this time I want to be a winner."

"Perhaps you can both win," Roarke said with a little smile, "if you two are willing to share the prize. Is there any reason you can't both be invisible ladies for your class party?"

Noelle and Brianna looked at each other blankly; clearly this had never occurred to them. Maureen and Myeko followed their daughters' lead for a moment, then peered at Roarke in disbelief. "Why didn't we think of that?" Maureen groaned.

"You were a little too close to the situation," Roarke said. "If I make up a small dose of the potion, one for Brianna and one for Noelle, then perhaps they could go as the Invisible Twins. You would certainly be original, don't you think?"

"Aside from the invisible part," Leslie agreed, "everybody knows about the Invisible Man and like that, but this would be the first time there were ever Invisible Twins."

"But we don't look like twins," said Noelle, eyes wide. "We have different color hair, and twins have to have the same color hair."

"That doesn't matter," Leslie told her with a conspiratorial grin. "Nobody can see you. And since they can't, you can wear lookalike outfits to school on the day of the party, and you really would look like twins."

Brianna and Noelle gaped at her, their faces beginning to light up; then they stared at each other in delight. "Wow!" cried Brianna. "That's an awesome idea, Miss Leslie!"

"Yeah, let's be twins!" Noelle exclaimed excitedly.

"This is what I get for having a pig for a daughter," Myeko said, shaking her head ruefully. "Noelle's right—seems like I never do anything except feed Dawn. Which is why I left her with Nick while I brought Noelle over here. I really needed a break. Gosh, Mr. Roarke, that was inspired. Thanks loads for taking that problem off our hands."

"Thanks from me too," Maureen agreed. "Now all we have to do is go shopping for twin outfits for these two imps. And good luck to us finding something they both like." She rolled her eyes and the adults laughed again.

§ § § -- October 28, 2001

Steve and Marissa Karadimas, a little disoriented, looked around the time-travel room, which was lit only by a nightlight beside the door that connected to Roarke's study, and wondered what time it was. They'd been sleeping and had been rudely awakened by their transport back here. "Must be time to go to the next destination," Steve yawned.

"In the middle of the night?" Marissa said, rubbing her eyes. "We're going to have one very sleepless week at this rate. Where are we supposed to go next?"

Stumbling a little in the dim light and their lingering drowsiness, they hunted around till they found their second destination: the Aztec Empire of Mexico. "Oh, how exotic," Marissa murmured.

"And nice and warm and tropical," Steve agreed. "If it's night when we get there, we can pick a likely-looking place and catch some more sleep before we start checking out the culture. Guess I'm ready if you are. How'd Roarke say to do this again?"

"Close our eyes and count slowly to five," Marissa said, and they stood in front of the painting of Tenochtitlán, closed their eyes, and counted…

…and found themselves in the middle of a moonlit plain, abruptly drenched in humid heat. They wore almost nothing at all, and looked at each other in startled surprise and a little embarrassment. Their attire, such as it was, was made from the skin of some animal they couldn't place; Marissa was clad in a breastband and very short skirtlike garment, while Steve wore no more than a loincloth.

"I keep forgetting about the period clothing," Steve muttered, staring at himself. Both he and Marissa were out of shape, being the inactive scholars they were and in middle age to boot. Marissa surveyed him and smirked.

"You look fine to me," she said, and he grinned at her.

"Well, let's see if we can find some shelter," he said. "I think the first order of business is getting some more sleep, or we'll never be alert enough to get a good look at this place."

They turned to move and were immediately stopped in their tracks by the sight of the magnificent old city before them. Tenochtitlán was totally unlike its successor, Mexico City, in every imaginable way. Laid in a shallow bowl in the terrain and built on a lake, it reminded them to some small degree of Venice, bisected and crisscrossed as it was with waterways and canals. A great pyramid rose in the center of the city; the air was clear, and the design and architecture were open and uncrowded. The moon silvered everything, lending an aura of peaceful enchantment to the scene.

"Now we could live here," Marissa murmured. "It's simply lovely."

"Yeah, we could," Steve mused. "No snow, warm weather year-round, plenty of water views, and an attractive, unpolluted city. I mean…I really liked Mexico City when we visited back in '85, but this is just amazing. Considering the culture that built this place—the engineering feats must have been remarkable. And people think the Aztecs were primitive. You're right, we may just have found our little paradise. Come on, honey."