Author's Note: I'm overwhelmed with the number of reviews, PM's, readers, followers and people favoring my story or myself. The numbers were already rising when my favorite author Little Leaf of the Redwoods recommended me and then the numbers of hits went through the roof. I can't thank her enough!

Since I can't reply to reviewers who don't log in, I'll respond to a few things here:

- Yes, protests and universities pretty much go together, right, especially back then! I was in a few myself when I was a student. Hopefully, Crane's ideas will be as innocent as mine were ;-)

- In the series, only the oldest 3 are adults (well, okay, Daniel is 18, so technically one as well), the rest are teens, with the youngest 12. Since this is a prequel to the show with Crane starting college, they're all 4 years younger than they were on the show.

- Glad nobody objected to me cheating a little where history is concerned. I do try to do my research (and history grrl has helped me a few times), like I actually made sure there was a mall to go to for them, even though it was a little bit of a drive. I even know which mall it is, but am not specifying it :-)

Okay, on with the story. A little bit shorter than the last couple of chapter were, but somehow this was the perfect place to cut it off.

Chapter 12

"Daniel! Evan! Hurry up, boys!" Brian was standing in the doorway, fully dressed, knowing their oldest brother was waiting impatiently in the truck. He wasn't sure what was going on with Adam, but the guy was definitely in a strange mood. He seemed preoccupied. Maybe it was because of Emily, Brian thought. After all, Adam wasn't used to dating and having a love life, let alone juggling it with parenthood. Yeah, that must be it.

"Brian, tell those two, if they're not out here in exactly 90 seconds I'm gonna leave without them," Adam leaned out the window of the truck. "I really wanna get there by the time the mall opens. Get a good parking spot. Avoid most of the crowds."

"Yes, Adam, I know…we all know, you only said it about 10 times this morning alone," but Brian laughed as he said it, avoiding a snarky reaction from Adam.

"We're here…we're here," Evan ran past Brian on his way to the truck, Daniel behind him at a much slower pace.

"Come on, buddy," Brian draped an arm around Daniel's shoulders as he accompanied him to the truck, "cheer up."

"I wish Adam would just let me stay here," Daniel said miserably. The fight with his best friend the previous day had put the teenager in a dark and broody mood. It was easier to be mad at the world, or even better: Adam, than acknowledging the fact that he had handled the whole thing wrong. Better than allowing his own guilt to overwhelm him. No, none of this would have happened if Adam had done the right thing and not date his teacher.

The only good thing about the entire day was that stupid Mandy had received a C for her essay on The Road not Taken. When the girl complained that it was unfair to be judged on her opinion alone, Miss Morgan had calmly explained that it wasn't her opinion she disagreed with, but her arguments. The girl had not truly read the poem, she had listened to what others said about it and she'd glossed over the actual words. So her opinion wasn't founded in the poem. Daniel's, on the other hand - and yes, he had been held up as an example to the entire class - was well founded in the text. He had clearly read it well and thought about the poem itself. It had made Daniel blush, and it had also triggered some mixed feelings, because this person who was praising him and whom he actually liked as a teacher, was also making his life difficult by dating his brother.

"Daniel! Come sit with us!" Evan called from the bed of the truck where the boys were sitting, blankets ready in case they got cold.

"There's room up front," Brian nodded at the cabin. Since the three youngest had apparently decided against sitting in the warm cabin with their older brothers, there was a spot for Daniel if he wanted it.

"This is more fun, Brian," Evan declared, as if it was the most natural thing to say. Brian had to be careful not to roll his eyes. Two days earlier that same Evan had complained that Guthrie and Ford had called shot gun before him and he'd had to sit in the back.

Daniel shrugged and climbed in the back, leaving a somewhat confused Brian to get in last.

"Wow, we really must be the worst big brothers in the world."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Adam shrugged, "It IS Christmas time, you know, I'm sure they're talking over some secrets."

"True," Brian agreed as they left the yard, "I guess it's just Daniel's mood that got me wondering."

"You'd think he was happier with Emily, considering the fact she gave him an A on that essay."

"You can be pretty dense sometimes. Don't you see that that is exactly what's making it even harder for him?"

"You been talking to Crane." It wasn't a question and the grin on Brian's face proved him right.

"Well, yeah, you know that boy's got that kid figured out."

Adam nodded, "That's a fact. And he's right, I know." He was quiet for a while and Brian didn't push. There were times he'd like to push a little, and he wasn't always sensible when dealing with his older brother, but other times he knew when to be quiet. It took a while, but when they were on the main road Adam spoke again, "Smart as that boy is, he can be a damn fool."

"Daniel?"

"No Crane."

"Oohh," That was unexpected. Brian waited, trying not to study his brothers face.

"Yeah oh indeed," Adam's jaw was set, his lips a straight line. "I shouldn't tell you, it'll spoil the day for you as well."

"It's spoilt yours already?"

Adam made a small gesture with one shoulder and one corner of his mouth twitched a little, "Spoil is a big word."

"You're worried about him?"

"Damn straight I am," Adam hit the steering wheel with the flat of his right hand, "That idiot is getting himself involved in things he shouldn't."

"Illegal things?" Brian tried to keep his voice calm, but Adam was worrying him and all sorts of scenario's were going through his head now.

"I don't know. Maybe. No, probably not, but still…."

"Adam, you're worrying me." Brian felt like stopping the car and beating the full story out of his brother if necessary.

"It may be nothing. He may be fine, but he's upset over some teacher being fired."

"I'm trying hard not to fill in the blanks here, but unless you start telling me a bit more, I will and I'll probably get it wrong and pull an Adam by jumping to conclusions."

Neither man was aware of the beautiful countryside they were passing through. Not that they took for granted the beauty of their surroundings. Far from it. But the two of them were too focused on their conversation to take in the beauty. Adam managed to keep his eyes on the road, for safety reasons, but that was it. "I don't jump to conclusions…," Adam didn't have to look to the right to know the look on Brian's face, "much." Then he took a deep breath, "Some teacher got fired for being gay."

"So Crane's joined some protest?" Remembering this was Crane they were talking about, Brian immediately amended his words, "Or starting a protest?"

"I wish that was all." Adam shook his head, as if trying to shake off his worries, "He thinks there's some foul play, something about the university being blackmailed into firing him and he wants to investigate."

"So? He'll ask around a bit…you don't think he's gonna ask questions that'll get him in trouble, do you?"

"Brian, I don't know. He might. The teacher already decided not to take any legal action, so that should be it, right? Case over. But no, not for Crane. I told him not to jeopardize anything, to make his exams his priority. But will he listen?"

"We're talking about Crane. The poster boy for being good."

"Yeah, except when he thinks what he's doing is right. You know that."

Now it was Brian's turn to sigh. The younger man stared out the window for a few long moments, not seeing anything, "He always did hate it when he felt someone wasn't being treated fairly."

"Exactly." Another slap on the steering wheel, "Damn it! Davis may not be far away, but it's too far to keep him from getting in over his head. What if he does something that causes him to lose his scholarship?"

"Okay, now you're doing exactly what Daniel keeps doing: worrying over things that haven't happened yet. Sounds like all he's doing is asking questions and maybe heading for some protest. They may not like that, but I doubt that'll lead to any real trouble."

"I hope you're right, Brian, I really do."

"For now, you have to let it go, man. I need you to get through this day with the boys. We need to bring our A game to keep an eye on all four of them and get all our shopping done as well."

"You think it's wise to let them go off on their own for an hour or so?" Adam shuddered at the thought of letting them lose in the mall.

"Not completely on their own. But in duo's I guess we'll have to. Daniel and Evan are old enough to keep an eye on Ford and Guthrie for a bit."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And why would I wanna do that?" Daniel was leaning back against the back of the cabin He'd been listening to Evan explaining their plan, but found it hard to get as excited as Ford and Guthrie clearly were.

"Cause they always get stuff like peppermint sticks," Ford argued.

"Don't you think we owe them a nice gift?" Evan looked at his brother in confusion.

Daniel just shrugged, "Don't know why."

"Why not?" Ford asked incredulously. None of the boys would voice it, but to them Adam and Brian were their parents as well as their older brothers. They were the ones who had dried their tears when they were sad, patched up scrapes and bruises, tucked them in at night, sang nursery rhymes and read stories, sorted out problems with teachers and were always there when they needed them. So in Ford's mind, they deserved the best gift they could find them and Evan's idea had been perfect.

"Don't you love them, Daniel?" Guthrie was watching Daniel with wide, innocent eyes and Daniel found himself crumbling. He could be nasty to Adam. He could give Brian a hard time. Evan and Daniel argued like cats and dogs at times. And even Ford, with all his cheerfulness, could get on Daniel's nerves, probably because of his cheerful attitude to life, when all Daniel wanted to do was be moody and contrary. Guthrie's innocence, however, always broke through the wall.

"Aw Guth, that's not it…"

"Then what, Daniel? I don't get it." Guthrie pulled himself closer to his older brother, sitting next to him. "I want to give them everything I can."

"And this is what we can do," Ford added.

"Okay…okay…I'll do it. But then we have to contact Crane too. He'll want to be a part of this."

A smile broke through on all three worried faces and Evan quickly agreed, "Of course! We'll figure out how to do it, but we will."

"Good, then I'm in. And I'm sure we can find what we need today," despite his mood Daniel found himself warming up to the plan, "I think I can ask my arts teacher at school if he can help. It's his hobby, I think, so I'm sure he can do it."

Immediately grasping Daniel's intention Evan beamed, "That'd be great! Adam and Brian are gonna be so surprised."

Guthrie was so excited he was literally bouncing causing the two men in the cabin to glance at each other in surprise. The mood in the back seemed to have changed dramatically.

Murphy's was such a small town it didn't have a mall. In fact, the nearest mall was about an hour's drive from the ranch, which is why it was quite an outing for the McFaddens. They only did it about twice a year. The Christmas shopping trip was a tradition, even if not every McFadden was a fan of shopping. Adam, in fact, hated it. He always had. Even as a small child he had tried everything he could think of to get out of having to go shopping with mom. As he got older those protest had changed tune, he'd found new arguments, but nothing had ever worked, except being ill, but then mom stayed home. Now that he was the head of the family, however, Adam made sure mom's Christmas tradition was kept intact. And now it was usually Evan who complained the most. Daniel actually liked going, mostly because there was a music store in the mall and he always made sure to have some extra money to spend on accessories for his guitar. Fortunately for Adam and Brian, Daniel could never save up enough money for the things he would really like, so there was enough to choose from for them to buy a nice present.

As they turned into the parking lot, Adam groaned. "I really hoped that by leaving early we'd avoid the crowd."

"It's two weeks before Christmas, there's no way there's not a crowd on Saturday," Brian gave a little shrug. "Coulda told you that."

"And you sat there listening to me going on and on about how glad I was we were getting here as the stores opened."

Brian couldn't help the small grin, "Hey, I wasn't about to burst your bubble."

"See if I get you a gift for Christmas!" Adam finally spotted a good spot – fortunately he wasn't too concerned about parking close to the entrance – and parked the truck, "Might just get you some coal and a switch."

"Hmm…I'd rather have Candy wrapped up in a bow, thank you very much."

"Get your mind out of the gutter! Geesh." Adam looked disgusted, but it was their regular banter and he didn't really mind.

"It's fun in the gutter every now and then, bro, you should try it some time."

"No, thank you." Adam turned off the engine and pushed the door open. Immediately the kids jumped out as well, leaving their blankets in the truck. "Hey, come here for a minute, all of you." He waited until everyone was gathered around. "There'll be no running in the parking lot. We stay together until we're at the food court. Guthrie, I won't force you to hold my hand," he ignored the boy's indignant look, "but you stay at my side, understood?"

The "yes, sir" may have sounded a little sullen, but Adam accepted it. "In the food court we'll spend the money from the swear jar on some hot drinks and a muffin…or whatever else you'd like, as long as it's reasonably, and we'll divide into groups. There will be no wandering off on your own. Guthrie and Ford, you are to stick to someone else the entire day. Even if we split in duo's, you two will not be together. Clear?" Two heads bobbed up and down. "The no wandering off alone goes for everyone! Understood?" Four heads bobbed this time and one split into a grin.

"Me too, sir?" The 'sir' was spoken in a teasing way and Adam reached out to cuff Brian on the head. Of course, Brian had seen it coming and ducked out of the way. It made the boys giggle and Brian felt his plan had succeeded. Sure, Adam was right to give that little speech, but it always put a downer on the entire spirit. Now they were laughing again.

"Okay, let's go…" Adam said a silent prayer, hoping the day would go well as they all headed for the entrance.

Half an hour and 2 blueberry muffins, 1 double chocolate muffin, 2 jelly doughnuts, 1 pumpkin spice doughnut, 2 large coffee and 4 hot chocolate later, the McFaddens were ready to hit the stores.

"Okay, first on the agenda is.." Adam started.

"Christmas presents!" Guthrie grinned.

Adam reached out and ruffled Guthrie's hair, "That too, champ. Don't worry." Looking at Evan and Daniel Adam continued, "Do you two want to go off together for a bit or are you fine with staying with us?"

Evan glanced at Daniel hoping to see some sign that the other boy wanted to, "I guess..if Daniel wants to."

Daniel shrugged, "Yeah, maybe we should."

"Good, Guthrie, you're with me, Ford with Brian. And let's say an hour and then we're all back here. Okay?"

"Not much time, bro," Brian had just returned from taking their empty cups and paper wraps to the trash can. "Why don't we make it an hour and a half."

Adam groaned, "Okay, an hour and a half." He usually knew what he wanted to buy and didn't need much time. Brian was different. He liked to look at different things and take his time deciding. Adam wondered how much of that time was also spend on buying gifts for different girls, but he didn't say that out loud. "Then after that, we'll split up again. Have lunch…."

"Don't give yourself a headache, buddy, just head off. If you're done sooner you can always take Guthrie to the toy store." Brian laughed as he draped his arm around Ford's shoulders, leading the boy away while Daniel and Evan went into the other direction, leaving a shocked Adam behind. If there was one thing the oldest did not want to do, it was going into a toy store.

"Don't worry, Adam," now that all his brothers were away, Guthrie felt more comfortable taking Adam's hand. "I won't ask for anything stupid and I don't want to go into the toy store."

Now Adam felt bad, "Aw it's fine, kiddo, I don't want you thinking you can't want stuff that kids your age want. Don't worry about it. So? Where shall we go first?"

"You're getting something for Brian now, right?"

"Well, yes, I think so. And for Ford, because he'll probably be with me after this."

They started walking away from the food court as they talked and passed quite a few stores before Guthrie said, "Adam? I know something Ford wants…."

"I'm sure he put it on his list if he does."

"Nuh uh," Guthrie shook his head, "Cause he feels he doesn't deserve a new one after he broke the other one. But he saved for it, for a really long time."

"You mean that radio controlled car he bought"

Guthrie nodded, "He was real sad when it broke."

Adam nodded thoughtfully, "I wish he'd asked my advice before buying it. I would have told him to save a little bit more and buy another one. This one was bound to break down."

"You knew it was no good?"

"Well, no good is a big word, but I knew as soon as I saw it, it wouldn't last long. Didn't expect it to break down within two days, though. You know what? I think you've just had a brilliant idea. We'll find him a new one. One that'll last him a while."

"And Brian?"

"Ah Brian….cologne of course. What else?"

Guthrie giggled, "I think he smells funny when he goes out. Do girls like that stuff?"

"They do….when it's used in moderation."

"What's mode….moderation?"

"It means using just enough, but not too much."

"Like you do."

"Like I do. But Brian doesn't really use too much of it. Not since Dad taught him how much to use after he nearly finished an entire bottle for his first date."

"Bet the bathroom stank after that."

"Sure did! Even after Mom had opened the window the place stank for hours."

"Come on, Daniel, you can't buy more than a new pick anyway," Evan tried not to sound whiny, but it was difficult. As much as he liked music there was only so much time he could spend in the music store, especially without money to spend. "We have other things to do. Remember?"

"Even if I can't buy, I can look and dream of what I'm saving up for," Daniel was admiring a new guitar. He couldn't help letting his fingers slide along the strings.

"That is not a toy, young man," A greying man in a brown suit with yellow shirt appeared behind him. "That guitar is much too expensive for some kids to play with. You break it, your daddy's gonna have to pay for it."

"I doubt that," Daniel's snarky response was a desperate attempt to hide the sudden hurt he felt.

"Oh he will. That's a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. It costs a pretty fortune."

Daniel shrugged, "It may be good, but I prefer an acoustical guitar any day."

"Oh…you've had a lesson or two, have you? Well, maybe I can show you a few of those over there…" the salesman pointed at a selection in the back of the store.

"No, I like it here. I'd like to try this one."

"I don't think so, boy."

"Why not? You let that guy over there play," he made a motion with his hand towards a man playing another electric guitar. "And he's not even good."

"Daniel…" Evan touched Daniel's hand.

"That is a grownup who can actually afford to buy it. You're not. So leave the guitar alone and look at things better suited for your wallet and age. Or leave the store."

"I can't even look at things? What kind of stupid crap is that?"

"That's it…you're out of here, young man!" He took Daniel by the arm with the intention of dragging him out the store.

"Don't touch me!" Daniel pulled himself free. "I'm not doing anything wrong.

"I don't want punks like you in my store! Now you leave or I'll call the police!"

"What for? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Daniel," Evan urged, "Please, let's just go. We need to get Christmas presents, remember?"

"Evan, he's got no right to hurt me." Daniel was rubbing his arm.

"OUT!" the salesman gave him a push.

"So do you know what you're gonna get Adam?" Unlike his big brother, Ford wasn't really all that fond of shopping. He wasn't as bad as Evan, mostly because of his nature. He would find something interesting to do or look at no matter where he was. But that didn't mean he liked going from store to store to store.

Brian shook his head, "He won't like me buying him a new shirt, but boy, does he need one. He only buys those checkered shirts, but now that he's dating…"

"He needs to look a bit smarter," Ford chuckled.

"Yeah, you got that right."

"Maybe we should get him some cologne, like the kind you've got."

Brian laughed, "Oh buddy, we'd better not."

"How come?"

"Well, Adam's made it perfectly clear on multiple occasions that he thinks my cologne is too strong."

Ford shrugged, "Oh. Do your dates like it?"

"A girl gave it to me."

"While you were still dating her or afterwards?"

Brian pretended to take a swipe at Ford's backside, "Cheeky! But smart. You've already got an understanding of this dating business beyond Adam's, I can tell you that. It was while we were still dating, so no, it wasn't to get back at me."

Ford giggled, "Coulda been."

"I suppose so." Slowly the ladies man looked at his blonde haired brother, "Am I really that bad? I mean, do you think I just go from girl to girl?" It may have been an odd question to ask a 12-year-old, but he hadn't given it much thought before the words came out. "Sorry, I shouldn't ask you that."

But Ford shrugged, "You like going on dates, but you don't like having a real girlfriend."

Raising his eyebrows Brian thought about that answer. It was closer to the truth than he liked to admit even to himself. For a moment he didn't know what to say.

"Why don't you want a girlfriend, Brian?"

"It's not that I don't want one, kiddo, I just think I'm too young to tie myself down. And maybe I just haven't found the right girl yet. Maybe things will change when I do."

Thoughtfully, Ford nodded, "Maybe…." Suddenly he noticed some commotion in the store they were passing. "What's going on in there?"

Following Ford's look Brian's eyes grew wide, "That's Daniel and Ford. What on earth have they done now?!" But as he stepped into the store Daniel stumbled backwards from the strong push and although Brian tried to catch his brother before he fell, Daniel lost his footing. He fell on his butt, but that wasn't the worst. There was a crash as his head hit the stand of the ride cymbals of a drum kit. The cymbals crashed into the snare drum, which in turn fell into the crash cymbal which ended up falling on Daniel's head.

T.B.C.