For Kalli.

I own only the made-up characters and nothing more.

****

The kids were quite aware that their mothers were angry with their fathers, but that didn't stop their fun in the slightest. Trevor and Hunter had set to making a tent out of sheets in the guest room in the house, and while Hunter made some "No Girls Allowed" signs, Trevor gathered up some food. They had decided to make themselves an all boy club, and while Kyla paced in the kitchen and Kalli did some dishes to alleviate her frustration, Charlie had gotten out her teen magazine and flipped through to tear out some pictures, Noah held his blanket to him and Rose squeezed her teddy bear as they stood in front of the little sheet and chair tent.

"Can't you read, Noah? No girls allowed." Hunter said, pointing to the sign as Trevor hurried in with the smuggled cookie jar.

"I don't think they saw me! They're too busy talking about how our dads are in for it. Rosie! You can't be here! Boys only!" Trevor told his little sister.

Rose pouted. "I don't think that's fair."

Noah nodded. "I want Rose to be in the club too."

"Sorry, Noah—she's not a boy." Hunter said, and disappeared under the sheet flap, Trevor following behind him.

Noah furrowed his brow and tried rather hard not to let his brother's and his cousin's antics get to him. How come they got to dictate who got to go where? It wasn't their house and it wasn't their sheets or their chairs! Noah looked at Rose who looked at him and shrugged and then Rose's eyes twinkled just a little bit. She looked back at the little sheet and chair fort and pulled her thumb out of her mouth—she had a plan. Whether the planning came from her mother or her father no one was certain, but she certainly knew how to get what she wanted…maybe she got that from Kyla.

"I can just tell Mommy and Aunt Kalli that you guys stole the cookies!" Rose told them.

Charlie leaned on the doorframe and laughed. "And this is why girls are smarter than boys."

"I take offense at that, Charlie!" Trevor replied, coming out from under the sheet flap.

"You would…you're a boy." Charlie replied with a shrug.

Trevor glared. "Oh go read your stupid magazine!"

Charlie rolled her eyes and headed down the hallway to go down the stairs and out to the pool house to her room—she thought the whole idea of their club was stupid anyway. Why would she even want to deal with them when she could be reading her magazine and putting more pictures on her wall? If she'd learned anything from her father, it was to ignore those that upset you—her mother would punish them some way, but Charlie and Dean would good at walking away. Besides…Rose was going to be able to blackmail them—she was the one who took after her mother.

"Would you really tattle, Rose?" Hunter asked her.

"Yeah, that's a really low thing to do." Trevor added.

Rose shrugged. "I want to be in your club and you're being mean about it."

"Fine! Fine! You're in!" Trevor explained.

Hunter groaned—he wasn't happy about it, but he wanted to eat the cookies, so he knew they had no choice. He opened up the flap so that Rose and Noah could get into their little fort and Kalli sighed as she looked at the table and had no more dishes to wash. Kyla nodded and reached out to squeeze her shoulder, looking around suddenly and sighing. If there was one thing that Kyla and Dean had in common, it was knowing when the sweets were missing.

"The kids stole something." Kyla said.

Kalli looked around. "Who stole the cookie jar?"

Kyla laughed. "Probably Trevor—did he hide peas in the couch? Because he's ten and he seriously needs to learn to eat his peas."

"Maybe he just doesn't liked them—and no he did not hide them in the couch, so I assume he ate them." Kalli replied.

Kyla sighed. "Or bribed Rose…she loves peas."

Kalli laughed and the two headed upstairs, finding the lights off in the guest room except for the flashlights. Kyla was fairly certain that Trevor was going to start telling ghost stories, and so she held up her hand to Kalli and Kalli nodded and sighed. She really didn't want Hunter or Noah to have nightmares that night, but they had let Trevor steal the cookie jar, and if they were going to sit and listen to Trevor tell ghost stories, then they were bringing it upon themselves. So Kyla and Kalli stood there and listened to Trevor tell the story.

"It was dark and stormy, and the ghost was watching the little kids as they huddled around the campfire to try and keep warm. He noticed that there was a little girl among them—he would definitely eat her first." Trevor said the glow of the flashlight on his face and he looked at his little sister.

"You're mean." Rose replied, sucking on her thumb and squeezing her teddy bear tighter.

"Before each kill, the ghost would say, 'What goes best with children? More children, I say'." Trevor said and Kyla rolled her eyes.

Kalli looked at Kyla and whispered low enough for just them to hear. "What kind of story is this?"

"The kind that Dean tells his children." Kyla replied. "Last camping trip was a disaster—Rose was too young to remember though…after that Trevor didn't wanna go anymore, but I'm guessing he's over that."

Kalli nodded and they listened to Trevor as he started to describe the sounds that the ghost made when he howled and rattled cans. They could see the shadows of Rose and Noah holding onto each other, and then Kyla jumped at the tent going, 'What goes best with children? More children, I say' in a low, gruff voice, and Rose screamed, Hunter jumping up in disgust. Kyla couldn't help but laugh as Trevor let out a rather boyish yelp, and Kalli laughed a little too—she couldn't help it.

"Noah peed!" Hunter exclaimed. "That's disgusting, Noah!"

Kyla opened up the flap and a crying Noah and Rose hurried out of it, Rose rushing into her mother's arms talking about the ghost and Kalli carrying Noah to the bathroom to clean him up. Hunter hurried after his mother so that she could protect him, and Trevor glared at his mother as she picked up Rose, but kept close to her too. Even if he knew that it had been her the whole time he was nervous.

"Give me the cookie jar and you won't get punished." Kyla told him.

Trevor nodded and grabbed it out of the fort, careful not to step in Noah's pee. "Done."