Jayden was tired after his class. As it turned out, sitting in a room and taking notes for a couple of hours was tiring. He didn't want to head down to the dojo and work, but he did feel a little inspired. His classes had given him a few ideas and he wanted to discuss them with Lauren. He was sure she was feeling tired too after working on the dojo for the day but even just discussing some new ideas would be more than enough work for the day to make Jayden comfortable with the progress the dojo was making. But when he walked into the dojo, he was surprised by what he saw. Lauren was nowhere in sight, unless something had happened to turn her into a teenage boy. The boy was wearing red, like Lauren normally would.

"Uh… who are you?" Jayden set his bag on the floor before having a look around. Lauren worked quickly – the dojo was really coming along. Aside from a few aesthetics details, it was pretty much done with renovations.

Troy wiped off some dust and paint from his hands on his pants and got up to shake Jayden's hand, "I'm, uh, I'm Troy. I was just helping Sensei Lauren…"

"Sensei?" Jayden asked. His sister came out of the back room in time to hear it and smirked.

"Mentor makes me think of Ji and all my past mentors. I figured I would stick with what's traditional. Jayden, this is Troy, he's our first student. Troy, this is my brother and business partner Jayden."

"We have a student already?" Jayden asked as he took Lauren aside, letting Troy get back to his work on the back wall.

"I'm giving him free lessons," Lauren shrugged her shoulders. Jayden rolled his eyes and groaned. Lauren put her hands on her hips, "What that tone, young man!"

"I didn't…"

"Troy's helping me finish this place up, and in exchange I offered him some free lessons. He's already pretty good; he just needs a little more practice. I think the experience would be good for business and I'm finding out what kind of teacher I want to be."

"Lauren…" Jayden sighed and shook his head, but he decided to drop the matter. He walked to his bag and started to pull out a few notes, "I've got some interesting stuff here we're going to have to go over. I'm learning a lot in my classes and I think the sooner we get on top of this business stuff…"

"No," Lauren shook her head and walked away from her brother. She placed her hand on Troy's back, "You did great today. Thanks so much for your help."

"No problem," Troy gave her a little nod, "I can come back tomorrow, if that's okay."

"Tomorrow's perfect. Bye, Troy."

Troy bowed before he grabbed his bag and walked out. Jayden put his notebook on the counter in Antonio's kitchenette and sat down at the barstool. When he turned around to see if Lauren was coming, he saw she was getting ready to leave, "Lauren?"

"Didn't you hear me? I don't want to talk about your stupid business stuff."

"Stupid business stuff? Lauren, this is the most important part of starting a business. We need to get our papers in order and we need to make sure we're actually certified before we open. We've got a lot to…"

"Then you take care of it," Lauren huffed and walked to the door. She put on her jacket, "All my ideas are crap anyways."

"What does that mean? Lauren, you're not making any sense. Let's just sit down and…" the door slammed shut as Lauren walked out. Jayden sighed loudly and shook his head. Antonio walked into the dojo moments later and gave Jayden a look.

"I just saw Lauren looking…"

"I don't know what I did, but yeah, I pissed her off," Jayden sighed.

Antonio took a seat beside Jayden, "You must have done something."

"Not that I can think of. I told her we needed to go over a few of the things I learned in my classes and she got angry."

"Paperwork is pretty frustrating. Mind if I take a look?"

Jayden handed Antonio his notes, "I guess we're doing this by ourselves."

-Samurai-

In his basement, Mike was working on a rocking chair with Jack. One of his ideas to save money was that he would build as much as the furniture as possible. He had the power to make the wood for cribs, changing tables, and rocking chairs, and he was good enough with his hands to come up with something sturdy, safe, and comfortable enough for his wife and his twins. He had already built a crib (which had earned him many praises from Jack) and was now working on a rocking chair. If he had time, he wanted to build two, but for now he wanted to make sure he and Emily had at least one to rock their children to sleep.

Jack was excellent with carpentry – having worked on a farm his entire life, he had plenty of experience creating his own pieces – from furniture, to tools, to tree houses for his daughters. When he saw the start of Mike's rocking chair, he jumped right in to help and the project was moving along quickly.

"You're really planning on building everything yourself?" Jack looked up at Mike who nodded his head.

"Emily and I are still getting settled. Ideally we want a place of our own before the twins are born and we know that means a lot more money than what we have saved up. I'm working really hard to make sure that happens."

"I can tell. I really admire what you're doing."

"Really?" Mike looked nervously to his father in-law. He had earned Jack's trust when it came to Emily, but the bigger, stronger man still did terrify him. It was surprising to hear that Jack admired something Mike did.

"When I heard I was having a baby, I wanted nothing to do with the kid or Ellie."

"Yeah, but, to be fair, you weren't married to her at the time," Mike nervously scratched the back of his neck as he recalled Jack's story of how Serena was born. "I would have been a little freaked out by it too…"

"Freaked out is one thing," Jack shook his head, "If I had my way, I'd probably still be sleeping with random girls I meet in bars. I was lucky enough to have a mother who knew what was best for me and her grandchild."

"Well, I don't plan on leaving Emily or the twins behind. Not now, not anytime soon, and not ever. I'm here to stay."

"I'm talking about more than that. Shut up, son, and let me speak."

Mike sat down on his little bench and closed his mouth. Just because Jack admired him didn't mean he wasn't going to kill him.

"You don't think my daughters and I talk? I know what you've done. I know everything you've ever done with my little girls and their friends."

Mike gulped but didn't say a word. His past wasn't clean.

Jack picked up a hammer and went back to work on the chair while he spoke to Mike, "You were there for Emily when Carrie died, and you've been there for her since, and you were there for her long before that too. You've also always been an important uncle for Terran. Serena tells me you took him in as your own before James turned up."

"James being around doesn't change how I feel about Terran," Mike shrugged his shoulders. "He can always count on me. I promise, I…"

"He's not even your son. You had no obligations towards him and you still took care of him. I almost gave up my daughter. My own flesh and blood. I was ready to turn my back on her. Yet here you are, building a home for your wife and your kids with your own hands, and helping out with a kid you have no obligations too."

"I am his uncle now."

Jack pointed the hammer at Mike. The green Ranger winced, scared he was going to suffer for his smart-ass comment. Instead, Jack used the hammer only to point.

"I hope, if you do have a son, he turns out exactly like you. He'll be annoying, and his drive his grandfather to madness, I'm sure of it, but he'll be a real man. I'm proud of you, son."

"Thanks. That really means a lot."

"I also hope you have a daughter. That way, you'll know exactly how I feel about you once she starts dating."

Mike sighed as he picked up his tools and got back to work, "Moment ruined."

-Samurai-

Lauren got home to the Shiba House and dumped her bag on the floor. She stomped into the common and landed face first in the couch. Kate saw her walking in and sighed, "Rough day at work?"

"I hate my brother."

"Oh, that kind of day," Kate said. She took a seat on the coffee table beside the couch, "Want to talk about it?"

"No… yes," Lauren sat up and hugged her knees to her chest, "I know I'm new to this whole… having a life thing, but Jayden's treating me like I can't do anything right. Mike needs some extra cash, so I pay him to help with the renovations and Jayden's upset with me for doing it. Then, today, this kid came by and it seemed like he was interested in taking lessons. I offered him free lessons in exchange for helping me fix up the dojo. It sounds reasonable, right?"

"Perfectly reasonable," Kate said, "So what's the problem there?"

"Jayden's still frustrated with me. Every time I try to make a decision, he treats it like… like I don't know what I'm doing. I get the business stuff is complicated and I don't know much about that, but there's more to a business than just business."

"Sounds like you have the drive, and he's got the business. You want this to work and Jayden wants to make sure it's going to work. From what I've seen, he's just trying to make sure this dream of your is a success. He is helping you, Lauren."

"But he sounds so condescending when he does it. Every time I try to tell him about a new idea I have he rolls his eyes. He did that today when I told him about Troy."

"Troy?"

"The student. Then he tells me he's got some good ideas that I should listen to. Am I allowed to roll my eyes too?"

"You will treat your brother the way you want him to treat you," Kate shook her head. Lauren let out a sigh.

"I know, and I will, I just… I want the dojo to do well too, but I want to have fun with it. I'm not going to blow all of dad's money. I don't plan on even using half of it on the dojo – ever! But training, that's all I know. I want to turn it into something fun. Something enjoyable with my brother."

"So tell him that," Kate said. She sat on the couch and wrapped her arm around Lauren, "He's doing this for you, Lauren. I'm sure he feels the same way. You just need to make sure you're on the same page with what you're doing and what you want. It'll work out from there."

Lauren nodded her head and leaned into Kate for a moment before she felt her phone vibrate. Thinking it was Jayden, she checked it, hoping to apologize for walking out on him. She saw, instead, it was a text from Emily.

"Parents: check. Samurai Family: uncheck. Can you, Mentor, and Kate come over for dinner? Mike and I are finally ready to tell the others. And there's a surprise for you too."

Lauren answered back, "Another surprise? A baby isn't enough? Yeah sure, we'll come over."

"Awesome!" was Emily's reply, "Come by whenever. Oh, and stay quiet. Mike and I have a bet going about how long it'll take the others to figure it out."

"You're betting?"

"It's tradition. I'll see you soon!"

Lauren smiled as she tucked her phone away and turned to Kate, who had done all she could to respect Lauren's privacy, "We're going to Serena and Emily's for dinner. Everyone's invited."

"Really? What's the occasion?"

"Not sure," Lauren smirked as she got up from the couch to get ready for dinner, "but I think it's going to be an interesting night."