"You…young man are going to be on your best behaviour." Casey stated as the whole family walked the short distance to Cathy and James's home. Derek looked at her in amusement. He wondered if she realised she sounded like his grandmother. As if reading his thoughts, she threw him a "be supportive" look and he chuckled and took her hand in his own.

"Your mom means we don't care what your problem is with Lucy, you behave yourself this afternoon. I want to see politeness and some of that Venturi charm pulled out okay?"

"Sorry dad but I refuse to try and 'charm' Lucy."

"I wasn't talking about Lucy. I was talking about her parents."
Stig grunted. Bethany sniggered as she walked along behind him. He turned and glared at her. Oblivious, the two youngest children, Alex and Ruthie were running ahead.

"This is going to be an unmitigated disaster." Casey said through gritted teeth to Derek. "I should have left it alone and never started this."
"Oh come on princess. Cathy is nice and James and I get on. You can't regret the friendship now."

"There won't be any friendship when this all hits the fan."

Derek stopped and turned to his wife. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

"You think too much."

"You don't think at all."

"The perfect combination." He smirked and kissed her soundly. Stig and Bethany rolled their eyes and carried on walking as if they weren't there. Reassuring though it was to have two parents who were so into each other. Sometimes you had to avert your eyes.

They arrived at the Morgan home and were surprised when the door was opened by Teddy.

"Edwin JR. What are you doing here?" Derek asked suspiciously. That was his normal tone of voice with Teddy who was, like his father before him, completely incapable of doing anything that wasn't sneaky.

"I got an invite. Why else would I be here?"

Lilly appeared at the door. "Hi. Mom says to come on straight through. Everyone's in the back yard." They led the way through to the back, to find the rest of the Morgan's sitting in the sun. Derek took himself off to the barbecue where James was fighting to control the smoke and Casey handed over the bottles of wine they had brought as gifts.

"I hope Derek is good at barbecues." said Cathy. "James is completely useless."
Casey winced. "No. Derek's a disaster too. The last time we attempted one, we had to call the fire department."

"That wasn't my fault." Derek said from across the yard. "That was Alex knocking over the bottle of paint stripper in the garage and not telling anyone. The liquid soaked into the charcoal bag and when I set light to it on the grill the whole thing went up."

Stig laughed. "Yeah. You looked weird without eyebrows for a while."

Everyone laughed, including Derek. "Don't worry son. I have plenty of anecdotes about you too."

Lilly perked up. "Really? I'll go get my file."

Teddy looked questioningly at her. "I'll tell you later." She whispered back.

So far Lucy was no where to be seen. Obviously, she had been the first person that Stig had looked for as he entered the house. He began to hope that Lucy had found somewhere else to be.

The hope was short-lived.

"Lucy will be out in a second. She had a dance class this morning so she's changing."

"I'm here, Mom." A voice called from the direction of the house and Stig turned to see his nemesis walking from the house.

She looked…amazing. She was in a shirt dress with a pair of short leggings underneath. It was casual and smart at the same time, and yet again Stig found his mind wandering to the shape of her body beneath the cloth. He hadn't known she was a dancer. In that outfit, he wondered how he had missed drawing that conclusion.

"You dance?" Casey asked when Lucy drew near.

"Yes. Jazz mainly, but a few other styles."

Derek took a sip of the beer he had been furnished with. "Casey still dances a bit, don't you hun?"

Lucy looked with interest at Stig's mother. She nodded.

"Go on." Her husband encouraged. "Show them your party piece."

"Der-ek!" Casey protested.

"Come on…" he smirked.

She sighed, kicked a leg straight into the air and as it fell she slid into the splits on the ground. It was effortless, skilful and totally impressive that the lady who had done it had four children.

"Wow!" said Cathy. "I don't think I could get my leg halfway there, let alone all the way back and then into the splits."

"I've just never stopped dancing." Casey said.

"I bet that helped while you were carrying the children."

Casey winced. "Not really. Venturi babies have big heads."

Lucy glared at Stig. "Now why doesn't that surprise me?"

He glared back.

Lilly decided it was time she made a few case notes. First there was the very obvious way that Stig had looked for her sister as soon as he crossed the threshold. Secondly, was the moment when Lucy emerged from the house and he equally obviously checked her out. Thirdly, was the moment just then when Lucy had immediately responded to the baby comment with a dig at Stig.

Lilly had recorded Stig anecdotes for a long time. It had started when she was a little girl and had her first crush on him. That had been over almost as soon as it started – he was just so much older than her, but it had progressed into an interest in the pranks he pulled, so she continued recording them. For the last eighteen months, she had noticed the progression and increasing frequency of the pranks aimed at Lucy. At first, they had been once a month, but now they were almost daily. Lilly didn't often see Stig and her sister at the same time, but now that she had, she was starting to have suspicions as to the reason behind the animosity behind them.

She crept away to her room to update the file, failing to notice she had a tail.

"Care to share?" Teddy's voice said as she lifted the large file from its hiding place.

Lilly looked embarrassed.

"It's just a little project of mine."

Teddy looked at the title on the folder. "'Observations.' Observations of who?"

Lilly shrugged. "Lucy…and Stig."

"No Way!" Teddy's eyes brightened and he straightened up and came into the room. "I have a file just like that at home. We should compare notes."

"You mean, I'm not crazy for noticing there is something going on there?"

"God no! Come on. Your sister is hot, and Stig always has a thing for hot girls."

"So why doesn't he just ask her out?"

"He's my cousin, I'll admit, but that doesn't mean I automatically understand him."
"I wish he would just leave her alone. She gets really upset."

"She shouldn't. She should actually be flattered. He's been pranking her longer than he's dated any other girl. It's almost like she's special or something."
"Somehow I don't think Lucy feels special."

"Do you think she might rate him too?"

"I don't know for sure. Sometimes, she comes home in a bad mood and the only reason I can see is that he hasn't pranked her. But I've nothing concrete."

He nodded. "I agree. Look we should arrange to compare notes, but right now we're missing the action let's go downstairs.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"So, Lucy." Casey said with a smile. "Queens!"

Lucy beamed in reply. "I know. It was your alma mater too wasn't it?"

"I had the best time there. I went a shy [cue: Derek snigger] …a shy, bookish girl and left a mature, well-rounded [Derek sniggered again.] woman."

"The only reason you were 'well-rounded' was because you were four months pregnant." He smirked, playing with her hair.

"And whose fault was that?" She glared at him.

"Hey at least I married you first." He grinned at the other couple. "I think she still hasn't forgiven me for the fact that she graduated as Casey Venturi rather than Casey McDonald. We were married in the spring and had a quick honeymoon before our finals. The unexpected result was Stig."

The 'baby' concerned rolled his eyes. He'd heard the story many times before.

"Do you regret not waiting for children?" Lucy asked. Her mother flashed her a 'don't ask embarrassing questions' look.

Casey shrugged. "Not really. I still achieved everything I had planned. And Derek and I really wanted children. I wasn't the only pregnant or married person graduating. At 21 several of our high school friends were onto baby number two by the time we left college.

"Lucy is very career-focused. She's got a life plan." Stig said from the sidelines. His contempt was obvious.

"There's nothing wrong with planning a future, jerk." Lucy retorted.

"No. But how can you decide at eighteen what you want when you are 21?" He said. Derek looked up suddenly. It was one of the most sensible things he had ever heard his son say.

Lucy shrugged. "So I may change my mind. But I probably won't. I'm pretty determined."

"Yeah. Determined to be old before your time. College is about having fun."

"Actually" Casey intervened. "college is about having fun and learning. I made the mistake of being too serious about life when I went off to college."

"Tell me about it." Derek said with an affectionate look. "She made colour-coded study plans for both of us."

"And you ripped yours up." Casey said, the affection mutual. James frowned.

"You two knew each other before you went to college?"

Derek glanced at Casey.

"Casey's my step-sister. Although obviously subsequent events have superseded that relationship. Namely the fact, that I married her."

Cathy laughed. "No wonder you two know each other so well."

"Too well at times." Said Casey, smiling at Derek.

Cathy looked at her husband. "Why are you looking like that? Your parents were step-siblings before they married."

"I know. I just find it weird when I find other people who've done that."

Cathy chuckled. "You'll have to excuse him. His parents were incredibly embarrassed about being related and it wasn't until he was sixteen that they told him – their own parents had died before he was born."

Stig tuned out the conversation and looked across at Lucy. He'd made an error a few minutes ago and shown more knowledge of Lucy and her life than he should have done. She had shown her surprise with her eyes, and whilst he was certain no one else had noticed, the fact that she had was unnerving. He didn't understand why he absorbed Lucy facts. He just did. In a quiz where the topic was The Life and Loves of Lucy Morgan he would be the champion. Which reminded him. He had followed up on the Lucy date business and what he heard had concerned him.

He picked up a serviette, balled it and chucked it at her.

"What's all this about you and Matt Hughes?"

Lucy blushed. "None of your business."
"It is if your relationship starts to affect the smooth running of my hockey team."

"Well it won't so butt out."

He sighed. "yeah well. It's not like I'm interested in either of your love lives, his or yours. But just watch him okay? He has a locker room rep."

Lucy looked up. "Oh?"

"He doesn't take the word 'no' very well."

Lucy glanced at her parents to see if they had heard, but they were busy talking. Stig leaned closer. "I'm serious, Lucy."

Their eyes met and for a second, she lost herself in deep chocolate.

"Thanks." She mumbled. "It was only one date."

"He thinks you'll put out on the next one."

"What?!" She hissed. He shrugged.

"Locker room gossip."

"I'll kill him."

Stig held a hand up. "Do me a favour and wait until after the play offs."

She glared at him and then realised his last comment had been a joke. Despite herself, she laughed.

And suddenly, he was pleased he had told her the truth.