A.N.: Okay, I got stuck with how to start the Friday-night chapter, so I've changed it so that, instead of a dance, there's the first varsity football game of the year, then the party. Oh—to jamac1209, I tried to find you on but couldn't—to answer your question, Pogue and Rose have been friends since they were kids, so they were always splashing about nude in the paddling-pool, and grew up next to each other so nudity wasn't an issue for them so it was natural.


Rose Amongst Thorns

Chapter Sixteen

Gumdrops


"So, she's meeting us at your house?" Rose asked, ambling over to the passenger side of Evan's car; he tugged the door open for her and took her bag so she could lower herself slowly into the seat. Her right shin was covered with a sticky bandage after today's cross-country training session. Evan handed over her purse and the plastic bag in which she kept her wet swimsuit and beach towel, which she would put straight in the dryer with Finn's swim stuff as soon as she got home.

"Yeah. She drove to school today, so she has to take care of her car," Evan said, when he had climbed into the driver's seat. "How'd you injure yourself today?"

"My shin," Rose grimaced. She would definitely be wearing pants to the dance and party on Friday. Her knees had barely begun to heal and already Hailey had decided to maim her further for the sheer audacity of talking to one of the boys she lived with during lunch-hour. She hadn't been able to catch up with Rose to inflict any major damage, just this one grazed shin. "It'll be alright; it's just a graze."

"How's your hip today?" Evan asked.

"Better, but still the most disgusting colour," Rose said.

"So you and Miller eat lunch together every day?" Evan asked, glancing at her as he pulled out of the school drop-off loop.

"I didn't yesterday," Rose said, shrugging. "But I like it when I do sit with him."

"It's pretty cool, you know, you sitting with him," Evan said. "He doesn't sit inside if he doesn't have to."

"Why don't you guys sit with him?" Rose replied.

"You know how it is," Evan said, shrugging.

"No, not really," Rose said, eyes fixed on Evan's. He shrugged slightly again. She guessed it was an I-can't-sit-with-my-little-brother-at-school thing.

"Oh!" Evan started squirming in his seat, and dug his hand into his jeans pocket, withdrawing a cell-phone. "Hey, can you answer this—and if it's Hailey, don't let her be mean to you." Rose took the cell-phone nervously and glanced at the screen.

"It's your mom," she said, flipping the phone open. "Regina? Hi, it's Rose."

"Hey, Rose, are you and Evan on your way home?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, we just left school," Rose said. "What's up?" Regina sounded worried.

"Caleb got held back at school today," she said anxiously.

"Caleb got detention?" Rose blurted. "I thought first-graders couldn't get detention!"

"What's going on with Caleb?" Evan asked, surprised.

"Well, he's a McGowan," Regina said dryly."Can you ask Evan to go pick up Caleb from school?" Rose relayed the message, and Evan took a right turn off Bernal past the middle school Ian attended as a sixth-grader, to the elementary school that spread beside it. "He'll be in classroom B-31."

"Okay, we're just pulling up now," Rose said. "We'll see you at home."

"Oh—there was one more thing—I left a chicken out for dinner, and I might be a little late home, so I left Sean in charge of the cooking, but can you just check on him and make sure he's not just shoved the whole thing in the oven?" Regina asked. Rose laughed.

"I'll take care of dinner," she promised. "See you later."

"Bye Rosie, thank you," Regina said, and they hung up.

"D'you want me to go grab Caleb?" Rose asked, when Evan pulled up in the drop-off loop outside Caleb's nice-looking elementary school.

"Yeah, okay," Evan shrugged; Rose grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car, and followed the three disparaging-looking parents to classroom B-31, and waited. The classroom door opened and the few misbehaving students, who ranged in age from ten to five, made a mad dash for freedom.

Caleb was the last to shuffle dejectedly out of the classroom.

"Caleb! Oh my god, what happened?" Disregarding the pain, Rose fell to her knees when Caleb spotted her and ran over, his face twisting with pain and humiliation. One of his eyes was bruised black and purple. He ran into her outstretched arms and choked on a sob. Rose wrapped her arms tight around the little boy. She could remember doing so with Lucia, and it made the back of her throat and her eyes burn. She rubbed Caleb's back comfortingly and peered at him when he let go of her. "Caleb, who did that to you?"

"Jorge Duvall," Caleb sniffled, tears pouring down his flushed cheeks.

"Why?" Rose asked in a shocked whisper. Caleb's face twisted with pain and fresh tears coursed down his cheeks. She reached up and wiped them away with her thumbs. "Caleb… Are you being bullied? It's okay to tell me if you are. You can tell me; who gave you a black eye?"

Caleb sniffled, and another wave of tears leaked from his too-blue eyes. "Jorge Duvall."

"Who's Jorge Duvall, Caleb? Is he in your class?"

"He's in third grade," Caleb said miserably, running his sleeve under his nose. "He says if I don't bring him a cupcake to school every day, he's gonna kick my ass."

Rose's jaw dropped.

"Well, that is not going to happen," she said, climbing off her knees. She hooked Caleb's backpack over her shoulder and offered her arms; he clambered into them, and she carried him to the car, where Evan was waiting, listening to the radio and singing along to a Nickelback song. Caleb climbed into the backseat of Evan's car and put his seatbelt on, hugging his backpack and looking very much like Miller.

"Hey, we've got to make a pit-stop at Safeway on the way home," Rose said, climbing into her seat beside Evan.

"Why?" Evan asked; she nodded back at Caleb, and Evan followed her gaze; his jaw dropped at the sight of Caleb's black eye and his tear-stained cheeks, but Rose shook her head.

"I'll explain later," she said quietly. "Come on, let's get home. I have to make sure Sean's put the dinner on."

"Good luck with that," Evan said tartly, mostly to himself; he drove them to the Sunol Boulevard plaza and parked up in front of the Safeway entrance; Caleb climbed out of the car and latched on to Rose's hand, and together they walked into the store and found the cakes and cookies aisle.

"Okay, what kind did Jorge say he wanted, Caleb?" Rose asked, scanning the shelves full of boxes of cakes and cupcakes and cookies and donuts.

"A Hostess 'Ding Dong' cupcake," Caleb sniffled miserably. Rose found the Hostess cakes section and a box of Ding Dong chocolate cupcakes, and a little bag of gumdrops from the candy section for Caleb, paid for them, and walked Caleb back to the car, clutching a paper bag to his chest and rifling around in the bag of gumdrops, after giving Rose some red and purple ones.

"Hey, Caleb, what've you got there?" Evan asked, glancing back at his baby brother.

"Rose bought me gumdrops," Caleb said, his upset mood forgotten in the face of a treat. Lucia had been the same way, easily comforted. To the very end, Rose thought sadly, glancing back at Caleb.

"Did she? Did you say thanks?"

"Yup," Caleb replied. Evan shot Rose a quizzical look, glancing back at the paper bag in Caleb's lap, but he waited until they got back to the house before questioning her. Caleb ran upstairs to hide his gumdrops and the Hostess Ding Dongs. Rose dropped her stuff in her room, traded her sandals for her fluffy slippers, and returned downstairs. Evan was in the kitchen grabbing a snack. Sean was nowhere in sight; a large chicken, still in its original packaging, rested on the island countertop.

"Okay, so what was that all about?" Evan asked, as Finn came into the kitchen through the back door, his eyes alight with inspiration, two curls wilted with yellow paint. He paused when he saw her and then grinned, dazzling her, and ducked into the pantry for a Gatorade.

"Um…Caleb's being bullied at school," Rose said quietly, checking the kitchen door to see if he was around; he wasn't.

"What?" Evan's eyes widened, and Finn reappeared, looking murderous.

"Apparently some third-grader called Jorge Duvall threatened to, and I quote, 'kick his ass' if Caleb doesn't bring a Ding Dong to school every day for him," Rose said, and Finn's jaw dropped in horror.

"Caleb!" Evan shouted, and the little guy trotted into the room, blinking his wide blue eyes—one of them bruised. Finn strode over to his brother and was on his knees before him, gaping at the bruise.

"What's this about you being bullied?" Finn asked. Caleb glanced at Rose.

"You can tell them, Caleb," she said softly.

"Were those Ding Dongs in that paper-bag you got at Safeway?" Evan asked, looking down at Caleb. It was so strange and endearing to see these two fierce, independent teenagers drawn together in indignation over the treatment of their baby brother. Caleb nodded, twisting the hem of his baseball jersey nervously.

"Well, come on outside," Finn scowled. "We're gonna teach you to defend yourself. We're the only ones who get to bully you." His fierce protectiveness sent a shiver up and down Rose's spine, and she watched through the huge kitchen window over the sink as Evan and Finn taught Caleb, who wasn't even half their height, self-defence.

She saw Sean in the garage, working on Finn's car, and knew he wouldn't be in to make the dinner any time soon. A little annoyed that Sean couldn't do just this one thing Regina had asked of him, Rose set to cooking. Regina hadn't said what she wanted to have with the chicken, so she just did whatever she thought the boys would like. She covered the chicken with butter and herbs including garlic-powder, salt and pepper and some rashers of streaky bacon and shoved it into the oven, made some baked macaroni-cheese from scratch using some of the remaining bacon, put some potatoes on for mash and another few into the oven for baked-potatoes, tossed up a salad with tomatoes, beets, peppers, cucumber and sliced boiled eggs, grabbed the tubs of coleslaw and potato salad from the fridge and set the table with cutlery, plates and height-ordered condiments, and tidied up a little bit in the kitchen and living-room while she waited for the chicken to cook, basting it with the melted butter occasionally.

If she left the McGowan house in two years with nothing else, Rose knew she would be capable of feeding a continental army, the amount of food the McGowans had to have for every meal.

When Regina got home, she drifted in smelling the scents wafting around the kitchen. Roast chicken, bacon, cheese and buttery mashed potatoes.

"This smells divine," Regina sighed, looking around. Rose was doing her homework at the island, keeping an eye on Finn and Evan in the backyard with Caleb. Regina went and looked at the chicken, which was almost cooked, and the table spread. "I take it this wasn't Sean's doing."

"He's working on Finn's Impala," Rose said, tapping her pencil against her textbook nervously. "I think he thinks a magic fairy puts his dinner on the table."

"That sounds about right," Regina sighed. She shot Rose an affectionate smile. "What would we do without you, hm?"

"Um…Regina?" Rose asked, nervously. "Did you know Caleb's being bullied at school?"

"What?" Regina glanced up sharply, the Viking oven door slamming shut. "He's being bullied?"

"When he got out of detention today, he had a black eye, and he made me buy a box of Ding Dongs to give to the guy who punched him," Rose said anxiously. "Apparently the boy said if Caleb doesn't give him a cupcake a day, he'll get his ass kicked."

"What?" Regina gasped, her eyes wide. "The admin lady who called me about his detention said he'd been in a fight, but she didn't say he was being bullied. Caleb! Do you know where he is?"

"Evan and Finn are out in the backyard teaching him self-defence," Rose said, nodding at the window; Regina marched over to the window and observed for a few seconds.


Caleb was all anyone could think of that afternoon. When Evan and Finn had finished with their lesson on how to punch someone without breaking your thumb, and if he needed to go for a cheap-shot, kick straight for the crotch, and that fighting is only acceptable when you know you can win, Regina sat cuddling Caleb; when John got home from work, he sat with Caleb on his knee, debating with Regina as to whether they should call the school or call Jorge Duvall's parents about Caleb being bullied.

Amidst the distraction, Evan must have managed to sneak Hailey up to his room, because when Rose and Caleb went upstairs to get everyone for dinner and opened Evan's bedroom-door, they were having rather energetic sex on Evan's desk chair.

Her brain exploded from shock. When the last remnants of OH MY GOD fizzled out, and Evan and Hailey had noticed the intrusion, she yelled, grabbed the door-handle, and slammed the door shut. Caleb looked up at her, his eyes wide and his eyebrows raised, his lips pulled together, trying not to smile. Rose glanced down at him.

"You forget what you just saw right now!" she said, pointing a finger at him threateningly. He just giggled. The bedroom door burst open. Evan, flush-faced and wearing only his hastily tugged-on boxers, appeared.

"Rose!"

"Er…Hi."

"Hi. What're you…doing?"

"Er…After I've finished making calls about a shrink for Caleb, and one for me, now that we're both scarred for life, dinner's on the table," Rose said, trying not to look anywhere but at Evan's face, definitely not at Hailey, who was hastily trying to dress while Caleb ogled and giggled. Rose put a hand over his eyes, and he just giggled harder, clawing at her fingers.

"Okay—er—thanks," Evan panted, his chest rising and falling. "We'll be right down."

"We?"

"Hailey's staying for dinner," Evan said, and the blush in his cheeks still hadn't receded.

"And your parents are aware of this?" Rose asked.

"Yeah."

"And you've put her order in with the chef?" Rose asked tartly, glancing from Evan to Hailey and back. Evan looked confused. Rose rolled her eyes. "You could've told me she's staying for dinner. There aren't enough baked potatoes now…Never mind. Wash your hands before you come down—I don't even want to know where they've been. Come on, Caleb."

They reached the stairs when Caleb burst out giggling. "Hailey was naked."

"Yes, she was," Rose shuddered, barely suppressing the urge to retch. "Caleb," she reached down and rested her hands on his shoulders and peered into his eyes. "I am so sorry that she was the first girl you ever saw naked."

"She wasn't," Caleb said happily. "I've seen you with no clothes on."

"When?" Rose yelped.

"When I was hiding in your closet," Caleb smiled unabashedly. Rose blinked after him as he slid down the banister. Completely unashamed. He reached the bottom and landed like a cat, then grinned up at her. "Come on, Rose!" Stunned, Rose shook her head slightly and made her way downstairs; Caleb latched onto her hand and pulled her into the kitchen.

What with the (to the majority, unwelcome) dinner guest, the seating arrangement was screwed up, and Caleb somehow ended up sitting in Rose's lap eating off a plate beside hers, while Hailey sat between Evan and Finn.

"This all is really great, Mrs McGowan," Hailey said, halfway through the meal, which had for the most part been very uncomfortable. At least, for Rose. The boys were quiet, which was novel; Rose knew they only quieted down when they were feeling awkward or there was a really good meal in front of them, and she didn't know whether to put the boys' silence on her cooking or Hailey's dining with them.

"Oh, well, thank you, but you're telling the wrong person," Regina laughed. She and John obviously hadn't been notified of Hailey joining them for dinner, what with the, 'Oh, you're staying for dinner? I think we can find something for you!' from Regina, and the dangerous 'Evan…' from John. "Rose did all of the cooking, didn't she, Sean?"

Sean barely glanced at Rose as he ate his way through roast chicken, mash, baked potato, macaroni-cheese and salad, shrugged, and devoted himself back to his dinner.

"Oh," Hailey said, trying to sound polite.

"So, Hailey, where are you looking for college?" John asked, and the conversation steered off towards Hailey wanting to go either to Boston University or UCSB.

"Mommy, why were Evan and Hailey were sitting on his chair with no clothes on?" Caleb asked, and Rose almost choked on a mouthful of water; Finn did choke on a chunk of chicken, and while the rest of the boys cackled with laughter and smirked at the guilty pair while Regina and John turned to stare at their second-born son, a melange of emotions flickering across their faces, and all of them deadly, Rose tried not to spit out a whole mouthful of water across the table, and thumped Finn on the back till he re-emerged, no longer coughing, but laughing, hard.

"They were playing adult Scrabble, Caleb," Rose said, and Finn giggled.

"Oh. Why didn't they have any clothes on?" Caleb asked innocently.

"We'll explain when you're a little older," Rose smiled.

"Oh. Okay. Mommy, why aren't Hailey's boobies as big as yours?" Caleb asked, and Finn sank back under the table in a fit of giggles; Rose was only kept in her seat by Caleb sitting on her lap, and she bowed over the table, giggling, trying to set her glass down without spilling her water.

"Um, Caleb…" Regina clearly didn't know what to say.

"You know," Caleb said, with the candid thoughtfulness only a child could get away with, pushing his fork around his plate of chicken and macaroni-cheese, "I like Rose's boobies more than I like Hailey's." Finn was in hysterics giggling, Doug was roaring with laughter, Sean was smirking, and Evan was as purple in the face as the beets in the salad.

"D'you wanna know why?" Caleb asked eagerly. Regina looked like she didn't know whether to scold him or laugh.

"Why? Tell us why," Doug cackled, tears glistening in his eyes from mirth.

"'Cause you can do this," Caleb said, relaxing utterly in Rose's lap so his head fell cradled between her breasts, his back against her stomach. Rose, red-faced and paralysed by silent giggles, couldn't stop laughing. "Rose, stop laughing, you're jiggling me!"

"Sorry!" Rose squeaked, unable to stop herself laughing. John called Caleb over to him, and whispered in his ear before hauling his youngest son into his lap, and Rose managed to finish her dinner, still giggling with Finn.


After dinner was finished, Hailey couldn't leave the house fast enough. Evan was hauled into John's home-study for a shouting-match about the house being 'PG-rated.' Finn and Miller did the dishes, Sean retreated to the garage after shooting Rose a rare and treasured grin, Doug disappeared up to his room and they all heard his music, and when Rose had finished her homework upstairs, there was a knock on the door a split-second before it burst open, and Caleb swung into the room clinging to the door-handle.

"Hey, kiddo," Rose grinned. This kid was awesome.

"Finn wants you to come downstairs so he can kick your butt at Guitar Hero, he says," Caleb grinned. Rose smiled, remembering her and Finn's challenge last night. She put her laptop on standby and followed Caleb downstairs to the basement, where most of the boys were now congregated.

It was the first time she and Finn had really hung out since last night; he had gone into his studio after dinner and Rose hadn't expected to see him again before midnight. But he was there, in the den, playing Mario Kart against Doug, Miller and Ian; Evan was sitting hugging a cushion and looking chagrined.

"Hey. What's up?" Rose asked, frowning worriedly.

"Nothin'. I just got spanked, is all," Evan pouted.

"You're a little old for that, aren't you?" Rose asked. "Unless that's what you're into?" Evan shot her a look that was half-exasperated, half-amused.

"You're not grounded again, are you?" Rose asked.

"No, I'm not grounded," Evan sighed heavily, watching the TV-screen. "My parents forgot to implement a no-sex rule in my grounding. So they made sure next time I'm grounded, I won't be having sex for a while."

"They're going to cut off your penis?" Rose asked, teasing; Evan laughed.

"No," he chuckled. "I don't think even my dad could bring himself to do that just to make a point. Mom, on the other hand—she might!"

"Hey, there she is!" Finn said, grinning, when he glanced over her shoulder. "I hope you're ready to have your butt handed to you, Rose."

"As ready as you should be," Rose said, smiling; Finn's eyes glittered, and he turned back to Mario Kart. They finished their race through a lava maze and Caleb switched the game to Guitar Hero. Finn grabbed a guitar, slipped the controller into it and set up singles for each of them; he went first, with Van Halen's 'Running with the Devil,' achieving a high score. The boys all crowed and laughed with exultation as Finn smirked and handed her the guitar; she wrapped the strap over her neck, chose her song, and started playing.

They didn't know that she and Pogue had Guitar Hero battles almost every night to unwind after homework. She played AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' faultlessly, achieving the best score for that song.

"You got spanked!" Caleb laughed at Finn, who sat there on the sofa with Evan looking stunned and faintly nauseated that he had been beaten by a girl at his own game.

"Sorry," Rose blushed, handing the guitar over to Doug, who wanted a go. "I did try and warn you when we were in the shed last night."

"What were you two doing in the shed together?" Evan asked, glancing from Rose to Finn; Finn just shrugged and smiled easily; Rose blushed at the look in Evan's eyes.

"An artist never discusses his work," Finn replied.

"Isn't it the magician never tells his secrets?" Rose asked.

"Same thing," Finn said, eyes following Doug's progress on a Beatles song. Rose and Evan both looked at him. "Okay, so maybe not exactly the same thing," he amended.

"So, you're calling yourself an artist these days?" Evan asked. "Usually you're just going off about how much you suck." Finn punched Evan on the arm, hard. Evan punched him back. "So, he lets you hang out in the shed, huh? Finn never lets anyone in there."

"Well, apparently I have very nice breasts," Rose smirked. "Maybe that has something to do with it." Finn curled up laughing so hard.

"You've gotta admit, Caleb knows a thing or two about timing and delivery," he chuckled, at Evan's red face. "He got you good!"

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad Mom and Dad didn't ground me again," Evan grumbled.

"I thought you two were supposed to be talking, anyway," Rose said reprovingly. "What happened?"

"Well, we talked, and argued—for like an hour," Evan said, blushing.

"And then you made up," Rose said, fighting a wave of nausea at the memory of Hailey writhing in Evan's lap. "And now I am scarred for life. Caleb, too."


A.N.: Kids do say the god-damndest things, in the words of Uncle Buck!