Chapter Four

Mama Drama

"Hey guys, I need you to get the dishes done before I get back," Ronan stated as he walked through the apartment, gathering numerous notepads and papers before shoving them into a briefcase. He looked up when he heard the groans coming from his kids and rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm sorry that the guys are on their summer tour and that you don't really have much to do while you're on a break from your own music, but doing some chores isn't going to kill you."

"That's what you think." Patrick commented from where he was watching the TV, his mouth hanging open. He only looked away when it turned to a commercial. "I mean, what if I'm mopping, and slip in a puddle of water, fall into the handle of the mop, and impale myself in the chest?"

"Then you can clean up the blood with the mop." Ronan cracked in reply.

He laughed to himself, but let out a sigh as he looked around the apartment. Due to the fact that it was so big, others would call it a penthouse, there was a lot of space for all of them. But, that caused the messes that they created to spread pretty quickly and to get in people's way if it wasn't cleaned up quickly. While he is laid back on a lot of things, the one thing that Ronan couldn't stand for too long was a big mess.

"Please, just clean this place up before I get back and we can go to Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner tonight," Ronan said as he looked at his watch. "I have a run of meetings today, so I probably won't get back until 5."

"If we have that long, then we'll definitely have the mess cleaned up by then." Sydney commented with a bright smile. Ronan turned and gave him a hard stare and Sydney slowly leaned back, his eyes widened as he did so. "What?" he asked slowly. He let out a huff and held up his hands. "I promise I won't just sweep the dirt onto the carpet like I did last time."

"Good," Ronan replied and picked up his suitcase. "I'll see you later." He paused as he turned back around to face his daughters. "In case you guys want to go somewhere, you can take the van, as long as I can use one of your cars." He added.

"Take mine, its fine," Riley replied with a wave of her hand. "See you later, Ronan." She stood up as the door closed and turned to face her siblings. "So I'm thinking if we get these done as fast as possible we can get some time to do whatever we want before he gets back." She paused. "Which means that we'll also have to clean up the mess we'll potentially make from that, but I think it'll be worth it."

"Same chores as usual?" Rhuben asked her sister as she turned off the TV. When Riley nodded she turned and grinned at Patrick. "That means that you're helping me fold and put away the laundry." She laughed evilly, rubbing her hands together as Patrick let out a groan and tilted his head back as he obediently followed his older sister out of the living room and towards the laundry room.

"And Syd does sweeping so that means that you and I put up the dishes, Riles," Noah commented, ruffling Sydney's hair as he moved by them. He followed Riley into the kitchen and opened the dishwasher, glancing at the clean dishes that were in there. He tilted his head to the side as he gazed at the silverware. "We'll just trick Patrick into putting up the silverware as well." He said.

"Good idea," Riley agreed, taking her phone out of her pocket and placing it on the counter beside her. She glanced at the screen for a second before reaching up and opening the cabinet to take the dishes from Noah to put away, letting out a little huff.

Noah noticed and glanced at his eldest sister, studying her for a moment before speaking up. "You know, with you waiting for WayneWayne to ask you out, it made me realize that you always act different whenever you're in a new relationship."

"No two relationships are the same, No," Riley pointed out.

"No, I get that, but this is one of the few," Noah scratched the side of his head. "Well, potential, I guess, relationships that you act happy. In one you were very shy, in another you were kind of possessive, and in another-"

"What's your point?" Riley asked as she grabbed a stack of plates from his hand, blinking as he held onto them, making sure that he had her attention.

Noah smiled at her. "I'm just saying that if you do go out with WayneWayne, that I think that you'll be happy and I want you to be happy." He let go of the stack of plates and bent down to grab another set as Riley put them up. "And to have the chance to potentially kick his ass if and/or when he decides to break up with you." He added with a toothy smile.

Riley laughed and brought Noah into her side for a hug, giving him a noogie as well. "Remind me to make sure that I never forget that underneath that calm exterior there's a very evil person waiting to strike." She said and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Bro."

"No problem, sis." Noah replied. He nodded over towards her phone as it buzzed on the counter. "That might be what you've been waiting for." He said, laughing quietly to himself as Riley grabbed the phone and picked it up. She read the text that she had received and turned to Noah with her eyebrows raised. "What?" he asked when he noticed her looking at him.

"I still don't get why they want to meet all of us," Sydney commented as he buckled up his seat belt, sitting in the very back of their black mini-van. "Now, I mean. Why wouldn't the Dooley's want to meet us sooner?"

"Who knows," Riley replied with a shrug as she started the van. "But for this one, I would rather it be later than sooner, but don't say I didn't warn you that they're a bunch of psychos." She commented as she peeled out of the parking space and turned onto the highway.

"You mean even more so than us?" Patrick asked. He looked impressed as Riley nodded silently. "Wow, I didn't think that was possible." He said, nudging Noah on the arm, causing him to smile back.

"Hey," Rhuben said to Riley quietly from the passenger seat. "D'you mind stopping at Dak's on the way?" she asked. She sighed and slouched a little bit in her seat as Riley shook her head, letting her know that it was ok. "Nothing's wrong, really." She commented after a second. "I just feel that the last time that we were there something was up, and I wanted to talk to him about it." She looked at Riley out of the corner of her eye as Riley gave her an odd look. "I could feel you thinking it." She commented as if to answer her unasked question.

"You know, I should be used to it, but sometimes this silent communication thing is really creepy." Riley commented.

"You're telling me." Rhuben remarked.

Riley reached forward and turned on the radio, smiling as the song Dynamite by Tao Cruz came through the speakers. She turned it up and the five of them sang, loudly, to the song as she drove to the Zevons' house. They got so into the song that every time they would pass another car or at a red light, the people on either side of their building would stop and stare at them as if they were crazy. But that just caused them to sing even louder. They didn't get a lot of time off, and when they did, they used it the best that they could, which meant that they also had a tendency to act a bit more rambunctious than usual. Although it they were asked about it, they would just say that they got before easily. Which was also true.

Riley pulled into the Zevons' driveway, and parked the car, waiting as Rhuben got out and strode up to the front door. Rhuben raised a hand and knocked on the door, only having to wait a few seconds before Lizzie opened the door, smiling with pleasant surprise as she spotted her friend.

"Hey Rhu," she greeted before giving her a quick hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to Dak for a minute," Rhuben replied as she stuck her hands into her shorts pockets, suddenly not sure what to with them. "I thought he was acting weird when we were over a couple of days ago and I just wanted to be sure that everything was ok."

"He's just up in his room, come on in," Lizzie took a step back and allowed the raven-haired girl to enter the house. Lizzie closed the door behind her before calling up the stairs to Dak. She turned back to Rhuben, now looking serious. "He's been acting really grumpy lately; I think it's been a couple of weeks now, although he's good at hiding it around you guys. I think he's still really upset that Mom and Dad are hardly around and that they don't really pay much attention." She shrugged carelessly. "It bothers me sometimes, but I know that they love us and that they're working hard just for us to keep having the life that we have now, and to support us. It sucks sometimes, but Dak takes care of me and we have a really good time together." Lizzie's serious look deepened as Rhuben looked hard at her, not saying a word. "What?" Lizzie's eyes then widened. "He didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell her what?" Dak asked as he bounded down the stairs. He paused when he felt the tension in the foyer and turned a hard stare to his sister. "Tell her what?" he repeated the question.

"Nothing," Lizzie replied as she shook her head, her blonde hair hitting her in the face.

"Tell her what, Lizzie?" Dak pressed.

"I told you-"

"Elizabeth Zevon, what did you just tell her?" Dak demanded.

"You're not dad, Dak!" Lizzie snapped back as she shook her head. "You can't tell me what to do!" She paused and looked at Rhuben out of the corner of her eye before turning back to Dak. "That's what I told her! I told her about Mom and Dad!" Dak closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the banister. "It's not my fault," her shoulders slumped. "I thought that you already told them, it just slipped out."

"Its fine, Lizzie," Dak commented as he raised his head, looking partially nervous and partially relieved. He turned his attention to Rhuben. "Aren't you going to say anything?" he asked after a second.

"I have a question, actually," Rhuben replied slowly. "Is that why, every few weeks or so, you're really adamant about not going to your house?" She asked. "Because your parents aren't around?"

"Yep," Dak nodded once. "They're not around much, and I get kind of embarrassed about it, since so many people expect me to have such a perfect life and my parents suck." He gave a bitter laugh. "I try not to think about it, so I try to keep as busy as possible."

"Which also explains why you like to come over to Ronan's apartment so much." Rhuben added, suddenly getting it.

"Partially." Lizzie commented.

Both teens ignored her. Dak suddenly looked serious as he raised a hand and pointed at Rhuben. "You can't tell anyone," he said. "WayneWayne knows, but that's it. You can't tell anyone else." He paused. "Well, I know you'll tell Riles, but Ronan can't know. Neither can your brothers, or Mrs. Knight, or Gustavo, Kelly, the guys, the girls, anyone that you know. No one can know about it."

"Promise," Rhuben shrugged once more. "But I can't guarantee you about Syd; I think he has a suspicion about it."

"Probably the only time that I have how smart he is."

"Try living with him."

Lizzie looked back and forth between the two of them as there was a silence that filled the foyer. But it wasn't an awkward silence or an uncomfortable one in the slightest. "So, in light of what you've just found out…" Dak spoke up again, nervously rubbing his hand over the back of his head and his neck. He flashed a smile. "Would this be a really bad time to ask you out?" He asked. "It's fine if you say 'no'-" he started to say, like every other time that he had asked her out.

Rhuben interrupted him this time. "Sure," she blushed lightly as she looked at her feet. "I'd like to go out with you."

"Oh, you're going to love it," Lizzie sprang forward and grabbed onto Rhuben's hands in hers, lightly swinging them back and forth. "Dak told me about it already. He even said that he's found a way to make sure that on magazines hear about it and report on it." She beamed at her brother before turning back to Rhuben. "It's brilliant even if I do say so myself." She raised her hand to the side of her mouth. "Since it was my idea in the first place."

"Lizzie, shut up." Dak commented as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What are we doing…then?" Rhuben asked, her voice lowered to a shy tone. "You know that I hate surprises." She reminded him.

"Trust me, Bells, you'll love this surprise," Dak commented. "Trust me." He looked down and pulled his phone out of his pocket as it started to ring. He quickly looked at the face of the screen. "Oh, it's my agent, I have to take this," he looked up and walked over to Rhuben to give her a hug. He stopped when he noticed her looking at him curiously. "What?"

"You called me Bells," she replied.

"So?" Dak asked slowly, not sure if he was going to get hit or not.

"So nothing," Rhuben shrugged. "I like it." She replied. "It's nice.

Dak smiled and gave her a warm hug. "I'll call you later with the details and everything." He gave her a warm hug, only pulling back slightly when he finished. "Bye." He smiled down at her.

"Bye," Rhuben replied with a shy smile as she pulled some of her hair behind her ears. Dak looked down as his phone rang again and took a step back as he answered it, disappearing around the corner of the kitchen and out of sight. Rhuben turned back to Lizzie and blinked a little bit when she saw her giving the raven haired girl a really wide smile. "Do you always smile like that? Or have I not noticed?" Rhuben asked with a teasing smile as she pushed Lizzie's blonde hair out of her face.

"I just like the idea of you and my brother together," Lizzie replied as she walked her friend to the front door of the house. "I've been waiting for it for forever." She added, hanging back off to the side as Rhuben moved to grab the doorknob to leave. "Something wrong?" Lizzie asked, noticing Rhuben's hesitation as she reached for the doorknob. Rhuben turned to face the younger girl, slowly shaking her head.

"I just had the strange feeling that I was being watched." She murmured in reply.

"Oh," Lizzie gave a warm smile. "Don't worry about that, we have some really nosy neighbors. They're always snooping around our stuff, so we get that feeling a lot." She reached out and patted Rhuben on the arm. "Don't worry too much about it." She gave a bright smile, waved, and bid Rhuben goodbye, closing the front door behind her.

Yeah, like I believe that. Rhuben thought to herself as she looked at the houses next to the Zevons' and then to the ones across from her, noticing that there was no one outside. Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling and couldn't help but let a shiver run up her spine. It was a familiar feeling, back when they had gotten the news that their father could get put on parole for good behavior, she and her siblings were on edge and feeling like they were being stalked for months. But that was a while ago, and things had calmed down on that front.

So what could it be?

"Tell you later?" Riley guessed as Rhuben got into the passenger seat of the van and slammed the door shut before buckling up.

"Yep," Rhuben replied with a short nod.

"I thought so."

"Hey," WayneWayne smiled at his friends as he opened the door to his house. He gave Riley and Rhuben a hug before high-fiving Patrick, Noah, and Sydney, taking a step back to let them into the house. "Thanks for coming by, my family have been really eager to meet you guys."

"I bet," Patrick said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at WayneWayne curiously. "Are they really as crazy as you say, or are you just exaggerating?"

"I'm not exaggerating," WayneWayne lowered his voice, closing the door behind them. "Try not to take any offense to what they say, and don't' make any sudden movements. Also, they can smell and will pounce on your fear." He added with a serious look that slowly melted into a smile. "I'm kidding." He said after a second. "But, like I've said before, I'm apologizing in advance for all of the questions that are going to be thrown your way as well as the fact that they're probably going to get really up in your face."

"Then I don't think it's a good thing to have Syd here," Rhuben said slowly as she put her arm around Sydney's shoulders. "You know about his…" she trailed off as WayneWayne nodded.

Due to their PTSD from their abuse, the Jacksons each reacted to meeting new people in different ways. For Sydney, being the youngest and having experienced it at such an early age, he had a habit of, when put under a lot of stress or fear, he would mentally revert back to the mind of a five year old. He would act like a typical five year old, and could potentially have some temper tantrums. Having witnessed one before they had told WayneWayne that they were being abused, as well as seeing a few after their father was sent to jail almost two years ago, he was used to it and could help out whenever his help was needed. But it was still a good idea to warn people about it.

"I know," WayneWayne nodded and scanned his friends' faces. "And I'll do my best to make sure that it doesn't get that far." He turned on his heel. "C'mon, they're waiting in the living room."

"How fitting," Riley murmured under her breath as she rolled her eyes sarcastically. Of course they would be waiting for them the same way they met me. Seems kind of symbolic if you ask me.

"Mom, Dad, Jaycee, Natalie, Sam, I want you to meet my friends." WayneWayne said as he led them into the living room. He could feel his heart beat starting to speed up as all eyes turned to him and his friends. Relax, WayneWayne. Things'll be fine. "You already know Riley-"he pointed to her.

"Hey Girlfriend," Natalie greeted with a bright smile. "I was wondering when we'd see you over here again."

WayneWayne ignored her. "And this is her sister Rhuben, and Patrick and Noah, and that's Sydney," he pointed to them in order and then turned to his friends. "And that my Mom and Dad, Jaycee, Natalie, and Jaycee's husband, Sam."

"Hi," Sydney greeted shyly with a small wave.

"So," Natalie got to her feet and walked over to Rhuben. "You're the one that's dating Wally's best friend!" She reached out and shook Rhuben's hand hard. "I think it's cute that you two are dating a set of best friends, how long have you two been going out?"

"Actually, we haven't-"Rhuben didn't get a chance to finish as Jaycee pushed Natalie aside.

"So, tell me about Wally and his girlfriend." Jaycee stated as she placed her hands lightly on her protruding belly. "How are they together?" She looked over at her brother, who looked the epitome of embarrassed. "I don't see them holding hands much and they've been together for six months now."

"She doesn't like PDA," WayneWayne jumped in quickly.

He ran his hands over his face. After telling Dak about what happened the first time Riley had met his family, he quickly agreed to keeping up the charade if he was ever asked about it. Then Riley had gone and explained everything to her siblings. They were quick to jump in on the charade. Since they all had the uncanny sense to want to help their friends when they were in a jam with no thought to themselves, they didn't even have to think about it when WayneWayne asked if they were sure about helping him. The way he saw it, if they didn't believe him, no matter how hard he tried to tell them that they weren't dating, why should he even bother trying anymore?

"That's too bad," Jaycee turned to Rhuben and looked her up and down. "Do you like PDA? I've seen you and Dak in the magazines a lot and-"

"Please," Sam pushed his wife back a little bit. "Give them some space, I'm sure they don't like to have all of these questions thrown their way like this." He said in a friendly tone.

"Thanks," Noah said quietly, with a respectful nod.

"What did he say?" Mrs. Dooley spoke up. Instead of the welcoming tone that she gave Riley when she first met her, her eyes were narrowed and she looked like she had swallowed a lemon. "I couldn't hear him." She turned to Noah. "Speak up, what did you say?"

Patrick quickly jumped in as Noah clammed up, looking at his feet. "He said 'thank you'." He reiterated, lightly placing a hand on Noah's back, to comfort him.

"You're welcome," Mr. Dooley replied. He still had the same welcoming demeanor that he had when he first met Riley months ago. "It's so good to meet all of Wally's friends, we've heard a lot about you guys and we've wanted to meet you for a while."

"It's nice to meet you guys, too." Rhuben replied with a nod.

"And how old are you?" Mrs. Dooley asked as she turned to Sydney, giving him a critical look up and down. Sydney gulped as he moved closer to Rhuben's side.

"I'm 11," he replied, his voice shaking slightly.

"Then aren't you a little too old to be clinging onto your sister like that?" Mrs. Dooley asked. She widened her eyes innocently when her husband turned and gave her a disapproving look. "What? I was just asking a question."

"Yes, I'm sure that's what you were doing," Rhuben said slowly, her eyes narrowing. She looked over at Riley, who looked like she was doing everything she could not to say what she was thinking.

"So, Girlfriend," Natalie turned back to Riley, who now seemed increasingly annoyed at not being called by her name. "How come you don't like PDA? Is Wally a bad kisser or something?"

"Natalie!" WayneWayne snapped. "Knock it off."

"She's your girlfriend, part of the family; I should be able to ask these questions." Natalie gave a flippant wave of her hand. "So, is he a good kisser? Yes or No? I've heard that we Dooley's are good kissers." She reached out and elbowed Sam in the side. "Isn't that right?"

Sydney turned and started to tug on the bottom of Rhuben's shirt frantically. "Rhu-Rhu, I want to go," he whispered out of the side of his mouth. "Now, please. These people scare me."

"You're not the only one," Noah muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"Oh come on," Jaycee clasped her hands together. "We have to see them kiss, to see if Dooley's really are good kissers." She patted WayneWayne's shoulder. "Don't be embarrassed, we won't take pictures of this one, but we will for the next one."

"How am I related to you all?" WayneWayne asked as he shook his head.

Patrick looked at his siblings and slightly opened his mouth. There was the sound of a phone beeping and he quickly whipped his phone from his pocket. "Oh look, Ronan sent us a text saying we have to get home," he gave a nervous laugh as he took a giant step backwards. "Apparently we didn't clean as well as he wanted and we have to go. Now. Bye." He turned and practically sprinted towards the door.

"Walk them out," Mr. Dooley said, gently pushing WayneWayne forward.

WayneWayne gave his family an odd look as he slowly turned and followed them to the door. Ok, that was even weirder than usual. I need to move out before I find out if it's contagious. He walked out onto the porch, surprised that he almost bumped into Riley. "Sorry about that, I didn't think they would be worse the second time around." He apologized quickly.

"Your mom doesn't like us," Riley said as soon as WayneWayne had cracked the door behind them. She waved her siblings off to the car as he turned to give her an incredulous look. "Don't look at me like that," she said calmly. "I know when parents don't like us, most don't, and I know that your mom just sees the dark hair, the makeup, the piercings, and maybe some of our tattoos, and she writes us off." She raised a finger to her forehead. "I think she was fine with it at first, because it was just me around, but seeing all of us together, I know she thinks that we're trouble or something."

"You're crazy," WayneWayne replied, although he wasn't denying it completely. He noticed the difference in her demeanor pretty quickly, but didn't want to call her out on it with all of them there. Plus, there was the tiny chance that they were wrong. "My mom likes you guys just fine, she's just having a hard day." He ran a hand through her hair. "But thanks for still going along with the story, I don't think that they'll ever-"

"Oh will you just ask me out, already?" Riley snapped. WayneWayne's eyebrows rose quickly and Riley blinked, looking away. She raised a hand to her mouth and took a tiny step back before lowering her hand, sucking her lips into her mouth. "Did I just say that out loud?" she asked meekly.

"Well," WayneWayne raised his index finger to his ear and stuck it inside, wiggling it around. "You kind of yelled it, actually. And," he shrugged. "Subject change, much?"

"Oh," Riley nodded once. "Ok," she still refused to look at WayneWayne. "Please excuse me while I go and drown myself in the bathroom." She said as a blush rose up her cheeks and she stepped around WayneWayne, getting ready to move away as fast as possible.

WayneWayne reached out and grabbed onto her elbow before she could get away. "Seriously, why is it that every time a girl does something embarrassing the first thing that she wants to do is run away?" He asked as he pulled her back in front of her.

"Because it's easier than to sit there and bask in the glow that is our embarrassment," Riley replied sarcastically.

WayneWayne chuckled as she placed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. He rocked back and forth on his heels. "If it helps at all, although I'm not sure it would," he added as a quick afterthought. "It helped make me les nervous to…ask you out, maybe?" He asked, his voice rising a bit at the end.

"Considering the fact that I just yelled in your face for it," Riley mumbled as she looked down at her feet, twisting her right foot back and forth across the floor. "I didn't think that you would have to ask." She lifted her head, her cheeks still burning red. "Um, when were you…uh…thinking of going…out?"

"Do you need an answer now?" WayneWayne asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"For the sake of my sanity, that would be great." Riley replied with a nod. Her eyes narrowed slightly when WayneWayne slowly smiled at her. "What?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I could have just misheard you, but I think that you may have just said that you've been going insane over me." WayneWayne replied.

"Wha?" Riley's eye twitched for a second as she thought about it. "But..I…you…ugh," she shook her head. "Shut up!" She snapped and WayneWayne laughed again. "I'll see you later," She gave a short wave over her shoulder before walking down the porch and heading over to the van.

A/N: There's a bit more Wiley in this because someone asked for it, in case anyone was wondering and I wanted to show a Riley and Noah relationship moment since we don't see it a lot. There might be a bit more Wiley in the next chapter. Alright, so Dak and WayneWayne finally asked the girls out. But are you going to see their first dates…..No. Now, I know that you guys are probably gonna rant and rave and scream your heads off, wondering why you won't see it, and it's simple. It will be better as a one-shot/deleted scene, that way I can make them as long as I want, and not worry about keeping the pacing of the story. That being said, these first four chapters set up the story and now it's gonna move faster.

Also, I still don't know how long this story is going to be, I still only know it's gonna be between 20-40 chapters, but it's not gonna end soon, since it's still only the beginning. Sorry this chapter was kind of short. Also, you might think that Rhuben (and Riley sort of) finding out about Dak's family may have come too soon/too fast, but trust me, it's needed for the way the rest of the story is gonna go.

What did you think? I accidentally spelled WayneWayne's sister's name wrong in this fic. First I called her Jacey, and then I called her Jaycee. From now on, it'll be Jaycee, just in case anyone's confused.

An update to Elevate is coming soon, as well as a new story, and maybe a new Kiley centered fic.

Cheers,

-Riles