The Best gift a father can give to his son is the gift of himself - his time. For material things mean little, if there is not someone to share them with. - unknown

Keyop was still dumbfounded. Princess had rounded on him with a broom. But he supposed the knock off movie line wasn't as funny to Princess as it had been to him and the other people in the shake J.

He reflected now on everyone else's reaction. Jason had well; he had fallen back into the booth, practically rolling. He was laughing so hard. The others that had flocked in had been just the band that Princess jammed with. And well there were the two paying customers. They would have been paying customers, if they had gotten their sandwiches.

As Keyop sat grounded in his room mentally he went back over the situation as it unfolded. He had found the poor half dead… Ok so it wasn't half dead, but it sure sounded plausible. At least to him, Princess on the other hand didn't buy that excuse nor did she accept Jason's idea of its captivity as future science project. What was it again? Caring for all the worlds aged Amphibians. Needless to say Princess didn't find that funny either. That is probably when she clobbered Jason the first time with the broom.

Princess swept up the last pieces of the shattered plate. She was still seething. "How dare him bring that..- Creature into the Snack J. What was it Jason, you called the bugged eyed little creature, a hellbender? Oh there will definitely be some hell bending and it certainly will not pertain to that scale less creature."

Mark just nodded and tried hard to smile politely without busting out into fits of laughter. Jason was smart and hung back further out of her reach than normal.

"And Keyop called it a mudpuppy.. No he said it was almost like a mudpuppy. Now you tell me just exactly how it can almost be a mudpuppy? It either is or it isn't. That is like saying almost pregnant."

Mark choked. Princess arched a brow the glower on her face indicated he'd better not touch that one.

"In my defense." Jason began. "I never actually referred to it as a Hellbender." He wiggled his fingers to indicate the air quote marks that should be around the hellbender name.

"That come from the twin antagonists or the group you jam with that call themselves 'The band.'"

There he went again with the invisible finger pointing. Mark thought.

A towel flew past his head. Jason grew silent. The swats of the broom still a little too fresh in his memory. Let it be said the woman was deadliest assassin in the world with or without the yo-yo.

"So?" Mark began as he deliberately got up and moved back away from Princess who was still welding at least one weapon. "How will you punish Keyop for this little incident?"

Incident was the best word choice for this situation had come up countless times before. Including but not limited to a Ty-Beanie baby and well the discovery of floam. But then someone else had claim that little victory, hadn't they. Another more vivid incident had been the beetle Keyop had taken in. That had almost cost him, his life.

She stopped propping with the broom. "I ground him. He has been ban from having access to the internet, television, any form of gaming." Tiny groaned. He had come in with Mark and had caught the wind down of the excitement. Princess kept going, she didn't seem to notice the large pilots protest. "No iPod, no cell phone, and above all nothing else that requires batteries."

Jason leaned his back heavily against the chair he was sitting in. "Why, don't you just lock him in a dark damp cell. And only give him moldy bread and stagnant water." He shrugged. "Once a week."

"He is my brother, he lives with me… Would you like for him to move in with you? You can be responsible for him, if you like." Princess had practically crawled on to the table Jason sat at.

Jason rather thought she was really pissed this time so he decided to surrender. And the fact he really didn't want share his very meek living quarters with Keyop and the other half the damn forest he would somehow inadvertently manage to drag up.

"Okay, Princess I was only kidding. Just don't you think? Just maybe." Her ice cold glare shut him up.

"Hmm." Mark cleared his throat. "Well seeing he is grounded." Princess glared daggers at him. "I was just going to ask would you object if I went ahead and left that old box of books with him."

She crossed her arms over her chest. He knew the look well. "No Princess it does not contain any smuggled games, iPod and or other wise internet accessible items in it. Would you like to go through it? It's just some old books that belonged to my father, from his military days." He inquired as Tiny heaved a plain dirty brown pasteboard box up from the floor.

"Ahm, and why exactly would Keyop want your fathers old junk books?" Jason ask as a mischief smirk washed over his face.

Mark rolled his eyes and flipped the lid off revealing nothing that would interest Jason or much less anyone else, unless were still under the illusions of youth.

"Spy novels? You have got to be kidding.."

"They were popular in the beginning of war time." Mark comeback

"Military issued?" Tiny noted as he thumbed through a few.

"Everyone must have had copies of those damn things." Jason grunted

Keyop sat crossed legged in the middle of his room staring at the filthy moldy brown box. Mark had to be kidding, he thought. There couldn't possibly be anything in there of interest to him, unless..

The paper was filthy, dog eared, torn and all around scribbled on. But it was interesting. It was notes. Someone went to great lengths to document this.

"Schematic." He smirked as he lay out across the floor in a better position to pour over the plans.