"Nice to see you, too, little brother," Stephanie scoffed, pulling Tripp into a hug as Joey stepped around them and into the apartment.

"Let me guess, Dad couldn't give you a pizza lecture over Facetime, so he summoned you for one in person?" he quipped, then looked on curiously at the condo's semi-cluttered and chaotic state and the storage bin out on the coffee table.

"I wish," Tripp sighed as Stephanie pulled back, frowning curiously at him.

"Tripp, is everything alright?"

"I'm sorry, Steph," he dodged. "You guys just caught me off-guard. I was just about to head out and-"

"Oh, c'mon. Seriously?" Stephanie scoffed.

"What's wrong?"

"You mean aside from how you already blew me off once today?" she said, rolling her eyes. "Left me stuck with too much pizza
and this guy."

"Well, that's the last time I visit you at work," Joey scoffed, sitting at the kitchen table as Stephanie opened the fridge, grabbing a pie tin from the back.

"I just meant I wanted to spend some time with my other little brother, too."

Shutting the fridge, she grabbed some forks from a drawer, then sat next to Joey at the table.

"I mean, we're never all in town at the same time, and now that we finally are, between work and life, it feels like we hardly see each other!"

"Okay, Stephanie Kayla..."

"Why'd you call her that?" Tripp asked as Stephanie punched Joey in the arm, then ate a forkful of apple pie.

"It's her nickname for when she's channeling Mom," he answered, earning another punch.

"Hey, okay! Once was enough!" Joey whined. "And how the hell are you still hungry after all that pizza we ate?"

"Because it's dinner time. And it's Friday." Stephanie reminded, handing Joey a fork as he caught on, then smiled.

"Tripp, come have pie."

"Joey, I-"

"It's a Friday night rule, Dr. Johnson," Stephanie said with a grin that faded when Tripp got a text and a nervous look on his face.

"I'm sorry, guys, but rain check. I really have to-"

"Leave before cleaning up?" Joey asked.

"Hey, you guys are the ones who are eating. Not me."

"I'm talking about that," he said, nodding to the storage bin.

"I already put it on the top shelf of Mom's closet once. You helped her take it down, fine, but you're the one who's putting it back."

"May I ask why it's out in the first place?" Stephanie asked as Tripp replied to Ava's text, then shoved his phone into his pocket.

"Tripp?"

"Look, just talk to Dad and Kayla, alright? They'll explain."

"Explain what?" Stephanie asked as Joey leaned over towards her chair.

"Why he's acting so freaked..." he stage whispered as Tripp sighed.

"Look, I need to go, but I'll be back here later and see you guys then, okay?"

"What makes you think we'll still be here later?"

"Just trust me, okay." Grabbing his keys off the table, Tripp threw on his jacket, looking pained as he walked out the door. "I... I'll see you."

"Well," Stephanie scoffed, turning to Joey. "What the hell was that?"

"You got me," he shrugged. Getting to his feet and walking over to the coffee table, he picked the storage bin up.

"Guess I'll put this back since the Drs. Johnson couldn't be bothered," he said as Stephanie nodded, getting up to put the pie plate back in the fridge.

"While you're at it, see what's keeping Mom and Dad," she said as Joey stopped short, adjusting his grip on the bin.

"You know, on second thought, maybe I'll just leave it out here," he said, setting it back on the table.

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, Mom may still want to get stuff from it, and who knows with Tripp and-"

"You're babbling, baby brother."

Shutting the fridge, Stephanie looked at Joey curiously.

"What's the problem?"

"Nothing, just-"

"What?"

"Tripp told me once when he stopped by, and Mom and Dad didn't hear him come in, it was 'cause they were in the shower. Like they told him that."

"And?"

"And what?" Joey sputtered. "Like if they're…I don't-"

"Just make sure there's not a sock hanging off the doorknob."

"Steph!"

"Joey!" she laughed. "Get a grip, will you? They're both adults. You're an adult. Technically," she snorted as he rolled his eyes.

"One who knows how to knock on a door and to do that first, right?"

"Of course, I know how to knock first," Joey scoffed.

"Do you know your face is still fifty shades of red?" Stephanie crowed, getting a pouty glare in return.

"Okay, would you rather clean the burnt-on gunk out of the coffee pot or put the bin back in Mom's closet? Your choice," Stephanie offered.

"Fine, I'll brave the master suite."

Turning, Joey picked up the storage bin again as Stephanie reassuringly patted him on the shoulder.

"You got this, buddy."

Rolling his eyes, he adjusted his grip on the bin before heading down the hall, not paying mind to a binder on the top of a book stack that slid off and fell to the floor.

"Wait, Joey," Stephanie called after him. "This fell-"

"I'll come back for it!" he called back. "May as well be hauling bricks in this freaking thing."

Rolling her eyes, not having griped that much when she single-handedly hauled the same bin from the storage unit in L.A., Stephanie set the binder on the desk, only to see a laminated folder poking out from it.

Recognizing it, thanks to the pair of colorful, big-eyed cartoon kittens on the cover, Stephanie opened the folder to find a rubber-banded stack of black construction paper flashcards, a small spiral notebook, and a legal pad.

Taking the notebook out of the folder she flipped it open, then rolled her eyes at what she'd written in dark blue gel pen.

Mom's Pepsi Challenge Results - Round 1

She thought it was Coke, it was actually Pepsi

"God, Mom, what don't you hold onto?" she asked with a laugh, before squinting to read what was written on the legal pad in Kayla's cursive scrawl.

48 hours after exposure to a virus of (presently unknown) origin, the patient (Roman Brady, M, 51 years old) presented with the following symptoms:
sneezing, persistent cough, low-grade fever, dizziness, fainting, fatigue