Disclaimer: I don't own Cheaper By The Dozen or any of it's characters.

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed. Much appreciated :)

Lorraine was in the Daniels' kitchen getting herself a glass of water when Micah walked in. She tried to ignore him as he stood near her by the sink watching her. She put her glass in the sink and was about to walk out when Micah grabbed her arm stopping her from walking away. She looked down to the hand on her arm then up into his eyes hers filled with confusion. Micah stepped closer to Lorraine and bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. Lorraine froze in shock the moment his lips met hers. Micah pulled away slowly and licked his lips nervously.

"Sorry but I've wanted to do that ever since the day you stepped in between Charlie and me" Micah said quietly.

"B-but why? I mean I-I thought you hated me" Lorraine stuttered trying to make sense of what had happened.

"I don't hate you" Micah said.

"Then why do you do and say the things you do?" Lorraine asked feeling confused.

"When you were younger didn't you ever have that boy at your school who tormented you daily only to find out that he had a huge crush on you?" Micah asked.

"Let me guess you're that boy"

"What do you think?" Micah asked then leaned in and kissed her again.

His second kiss was more passionate than the first. The first had been a test of the waters to gauge her reaction. This time Lorraine didn't hesitate. She kissed him back with as much fervour as he showed her. Her arms came up and wound themselves around his neck as his came around her waist pulling her closer.

Lorraine woke up with a jerk.

'What the hell was that about?' she asked herself. She felt worse now then she had when going to bed the previous night. She had, had a dream about Micah and she didn't know whether to consider it a good dream or a nightmare thinking back on it now. She felt utterly confused by the dream. What did it mean? Was she developing a crush on Micah Daniels? That was something she didn't want to even think about.

Lorraine stretched with a yawn, as it was Saturday she intended to stay under the warm covers a little longer but her siblings had different ideas.

Lorraine heard a loud thud like a body hitting the floor, a shout, the high pitched squeal of Jessica - or was it Kim? Whatever - then the sound of numerous feet thundering past her door.

"Ugh!" she moaned burying her head under her pillow. Then came the 'thwack' of a ball and the sound of rollerblades down the hall. Mike and Jake were playing indoor hockey again.

Frustrated Lorraine kicked the covers off of her and went and got dressed.

'I so can't wait till I can move out' she thought as she made her bed and tidied her room a bit.

Opening her door Lorraine made her way down the hall dodging numerous items strewn across the floor and the odd sibling running around.

"Lorraine duck!" Jake shouted. Lorraine did as she was told and just in time too. She heard the 'thwack' of Jake hitting the hockey ball and felt the rush of air as the ball sailed over her head. She rolled her eyes and jogged downstairs hoping it was safer down there.

Going into the kitchen she got herself a clean bowl and a spoon out and poured herself some Cheerio's then went to the fridge to get the milk.

There was no milk.

'Great' she thought with a sigh as she closed the fridge door with a slam then picked up a pen and added milk to the growing list of groceries needed, then took her bowl to the dining table and sat down picking at her cereal with her fingers.

Charlie was already sitting there looking like he has just woken up too munching away at his cereal. He rose an eyebrow at Lorraine's breakfast then reached over and dumped hers in with his then pushed the bowl to sit between them.

"Thanks Charlie" Lorraine said smiling up at him gratefully.

"No problem" he replied with a smile. The two then sat there in silence and ate their breakfast. When they were finished Lorraine took their bowls back into the kitchen and Charlie followed.

"Where's dad?" She asked as she rinsed their bowls.

"Training with the team, he won't be back till dinner I guess 'cause Shake wanted him to do interviews"

"Great" Lorraine moaned. It would be left to her to look after the younger ones as Charlie was heading back to Midland.

"Nora said she'll come over later and help get dinner ready and put the younger ones to bed"

"So your staying at Beth's this weekend right?"

"Yeah I'm just about to head off, oh and dad left a note on the fridge"

"Right, See ya"

"Yeah see you when I get back"

Lorraine went back over to the fridge to read the note Tom had left, not noticing it when she had first come into the kitchen.

'Hey kids, I have training all day with the team and some interviews that Shake had organized for me to do. Henry could you mow the lawn, Sarah unload the dishwasher, Lorraine clean the kitchen and Jake, Mark, Jessica and Kim could you please tidy the house. See you around dinner. Dad.'

'Yeah fat chance any of that was going to happen' Lorraine thought. The others obviously had other ideas for the day. Lorraine decided to at least do the kitchen, she didn't know where Sarah was so she just unloaded the dishwasher herself and stacked it full of the dirty dishes then wiped down the benches. Her job accomplished she knew not to bother about the rest of the house because it would go back to it's original state in 5 minutes flat.

Lorraine was about to head back upstairs to her room when the phone rang.

"I got it!" she called out and grabbed the portable phone before anyone else could answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi, I was wondering if I could speak to Lorraine please"

"You've got her"

"Hey it's Justine"

"Hey what's up?"

"Not much I was wondering if you wanted to go to the mall with me and hang out?"

"I would love to but I can't, dad's at work, mom's still away and Charlie has gone for the weekend so someone has to be here for the younger kids" Lorraine explained.

"Damn, well I could just come over to your place instead if you want and give you a hand"

"If you think you can handle 9 kids running riot around the house, wait count that 8 Henry is most probably holed up in his room reading or something since Charlie is away"

"As long as I don't get left by myself with the brood I'm sure I'll manage" Justine said with a laugh.

"Ok see you soon"

"Will do" Justine said and Lorraine hung up.

"Who was that?" the elusive Sarah asked seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"A friend"

"What friend?"

"Ugh, nosey much Butch?"

"Better being butch than and air headed Barbie" Sarah countered back.

"Whatever" Lorraine replied rolling her eyes and walking off heading to her room. 10 minutes later the door bell rang.

"I'll get it!" someone shouted. "Lorraine someone's at the door for you!" Jake shouted. Lorraine hurried downstairs and saw Justine standing there.

"Hey c'mon in" Lorraine said inviting the other girl in with a wave of her hand. "Uh sorry about the mess but it's kinda not worth trying to tidy up, everyone will have it like this again in no time" Lorraine said

"It's ok" Justine replied with a chuckle.

"Are you thirsty? Do you want a soda or something?" Lorraine asked.

"Yeah a soda would be good" Justine replied as the two walked into the kitchen where Lorraine went to the fridge and grabbed two sodas out. They headed into the lounge room where Mark was watching some documentry on insects.

Justine stayed most of the day with Lorraine. It was pretty relaxed with the two of them having to break up only the two scuffles that broke out. One between both sets of twins - Nigel and Kyle had gone into Kim and Jessica's room and messed it up. The two girls were furious, they liked thier room in a certain order and the boys had destroyed that in a matter of minutes.

The other fight had been between Sarah and Jake. Mike had, had enough of hockey so Sarah had decided to play. One of them had scored but the other contested it and a screaming match ensued.

At 5 Justine called home for someone to come get her. 15 minutes later the door bell rang and someone answered it, there was talking in the entry but Lorraine couldn't make it out from over the noise of the TV.

"Justine your brother's here!" Jake shouted.

Justine and Lorraine both stood up and walked to the front door where Micah was waiting.

"Hey kid, you ready to go?" Micah asked.

"Yeah I just have to get my bag" Justine replied and walked back into the lounge room.

"How's it going Baker?" Micah asked.

"Good, you?" Lorraine replied.

"Not bad" Micah said as Justine came back.

"Well i'll see you at school Monday" Justine said.

"yeah see you then" Lorraine replied just as Nora came in the door with an armload of groceries.

"Hey Lorraine" she said.

"Hi, Nora this is my friend Justine and her brother Micah, guys this is my older sister Nora" Lorraine said making introductions. Justine and Micah waved hello.

"Hi nice to meet you, are you staying for dinner?"

"No we were just leaving actually" Justine said.

"Another time then, Lorraine when you're finished here can you give me a hand to get dinner ready?"

"Sure" Lorraine replied as Nora made her way into the kitchen. "I'll see you guys later"

"yeah bye" Justine said giving Lorraine a quick hug then her and Micah left. Lorraine closed the front door then walked into the kitchen where Nora was already unpacking the grocery bags.

"Micah was pretty cute" Nora observed.

"Nora don't" Lorraine moaned putting some stuff away into the fridge.

"Why not, I'm just stating the obvious"

"Yeah well remember me telling you about the guy who has been giving Charlie and me a hard time at school?"

"Yeah"

"That was him" Lorraine said

"No, he seemed like a nice enough guy"

"Yeah well looks can be deceiving" Lorraine muttered putting away the rest of the groceries.

After dinner Lorraine went up to her room and flopped down onto her bed and stared at her ceiling thinking. As much as she hated to admit it, Nora was right. Micah was cute. Lorraine just didn't like how he was at school. At home he was a completely different person, he was just like Justine said - a normal person.

Lorraine rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow with a groan. She had to think about something else. If she didn't then she would end up developing a crush on Micah and she didn't think that would end too well.