Steph was not kidding when she said she couldn't cook. I finally put her to buttering bread, it was a pretty easy job. I took over cooking the bacon. I had never liked cooking it in the microwave, so I had three pans of bacon cooking while I was getting a nice golden brown color on the bread in another pan. The secret to making large amounts of grilled cheese, is you lightly brown the bread, but don't make it into a sandwich yet. You get all the bread done, then make them into sandwiches on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for the cheese to melt. That way everyone can eat hot sandwiches.

I occasionally would look in the oven to see if my huge sugar cookies were done. I had planned on fruit pizza for dessert. The hardest part of that was getting the sugar cookie crust just right.

About the 100th time Steph muttered "I can't believe they are going to eat this." I put down my spatula and turned around to stand in front of her at the breakfast bar.

"Steph, not only are they going to eat it, they are going to love it. This is a family favorite. I promise."

"Yeah but… it's not healthy. They all eat healthy all the time."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. She would just have to see. When the last batch of bacon was finished I laid it on paper towels to drain and cool, while I pulled the cookies out of the oven and set them on the counter to cool as well.

I put Steph to work mixing the yogurt and cream cheese for the fruit pizza while I sliced the fruit. Ella had brought a mandolin slicer, and it was going really quickly. I wasn't much for kitchen gadgets, but I needed to get one. I stopped what I was doing long enough to refill my coffee cup, and make another cup for Stephanie. I had to fill her cup a little over half way with water before adding the coffee, apparently she preferred to drink her coffee rather than eat it with a fork as I did.

I handed Steph her coffee just as she finished getting the cream cheese mixed. I told her how to spread it out on the sugar cookies, and set her to that. Once I finished slicing the fruit, I told her how to start putting the fruit on, and left her to finish that while I went to chopping the bacon strips into bacon bits. While I was doing that the landline rang. I sighed and went to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ray. Is dinner ready, we can smell the bacon cooking in Lester's apartment." Tank said.

I had to laugh. Those boys were like locusts, they would devour everything in their path if you let them. "It's not ready yet, but IF you can all behave, and by that I mean stay OUT of the kitchen, then you are welcome to come over."

I didn't even get a response, there was just the soft click of the phone being hung up, and just moments later they were all walking through the front door.

Bobby started to head into the kitchen, so I hurried back to pick up my knife and pointed it in his direction. "Freeze Buster! Stay out of the kitchen. If you come in here, the food will be gone before it is even done."

Bobby laughed and held his hands up in mock surrender. "I just came to get the beer."

I nodded and lowered my knife letting him walk towards the fridge, but had to smack his arm playfully when he reached over and grabbed a pinch of bacon bits.

"Out! You're going to spoil your dinner." I said as I playfully shoved him out of the kitchen. "You boys find something to watch on TV and let us finish dinner in peace."

Bobby laughed and nodded. "Yes dear." he said as he walked back to the living room with the beer.

I rolled my eyes as I turned back to work. I saw Stephanie was finished with the fruit pizza, so I sent her to join the guys in the living room while I finished up. All I had to do now was to throw together the sandwiches and put them in the oven to heat, and to warm up the soup. I worked on getting dinner finished as I heard the guys turn on some sort of game. They were getting really into it as I was finishing up. I put the sandwiches in the oven to warm and walked out to the living room.

"Ok guys. Dinner will be ready in about another 5 minutes or so." I had hardly finished my sentence before there was a stampede to the kitchen to get the table set.

I found a large plate to put the sandwiches on, and I pulled them out of the oven just as the guys lined up with their bowls to get soup. I let them serve themselves while I piled sandwiches high on the plate. Just as Steph filled her bowl, and went back to the table I carried the sandwiches and put them in the middle. I grinned when I noticed someone had filled my bowl with soup, and had put a fresh cup of coffee at my place. I sat down, and the chaos of meal time began. It was a good five minutes before we stopped passing things around and getting settled in.

"I'm glad you guys could make it tonight." I said as I sipped my coffee.

"I wasn't going to miss it for the world Ray. I haven't had grilled cheese and bacon for forever!" Lester said before inhaling his third sandwich.

I leaned over and whispered to Steph, and she smiled as she sat up and looked over at Ricky and said "That stuff will kill you Babe"

Tank started to cough as he choked on his beer and Bobby leaned over to pound on his back. Ricky raised an eyebrow but just grinned. "Laugh it up Babe, this is probably the last time you'll be able to say that to me."

We all got in a good laugh, and Steph finally seemed to be relaxing a little. I cleared my throat and took a sip of my coffee. "Gentlemen, I had an ulterior motive for inviting you here tonight. It came to my attention that poor Stephanie never heard how you all became a part of the Hunter family."

Tank grinned and waved his hand. "Oh let me start. It's a great story."

Ricky glared at him. "Shut up Tank."

I kicked Ricky in the shins under the table. "Let him tell the story. It's a good story. You just don't like it because it shows you were a brat."

We all laughed and then turned our attention back to Tank. He took a sip of his beer and turned to look at Stephanie. "Now, I met Ranger and Robin before I met Bobby and Lester. It was way back in Jr. High. My mom was raising me on her own, and we lived in a really rough neighborhood, so she lied about our address to get me into a decent school, one where you didn't have to worry about getting stabbed. Anyway, I would get on the bus early in the morning and take it across town where I could get on the school bus, and in the afternoon I would get off the school bus in Robin and Ray's neighborhood and then walk a couple blocks to get on the city bus to go home." He stopped talking and took another long drink of his beer. I noticed his bottle was empty so I got up and grabbed him another beer from the fridge while I refilled my coffee cup. I listened to him talk as I made my way back to the table.

"I was a big boy even back then, and I didn't really say much, you know pretty quiet."

Steph started giggling. "No, not you Tank. I can't imagine you not being so talkative."

Tank wadded up his napkin and playfully threw it across the table at Steph. "Hush, or I won't tell you the good stuff. Back to my story. I was walking from the school bus stop to the city stop, and Ranger and Robin were walking behind me, those two just wouldn't quit harassing me, and finally I had, had enough. I dropped my back pack and spun around ready to just pound those two into the dirt. Funny thing is I didn't know the first thing about fighting then, but I was bigger than the two of them put together. I started to take a step towards them when Mr. Hunter came out of the house and stood on the front step. He used this voice… it was like nothing I had ever heard. All three of us turned around to look at him, and even from the side walk I could tell he was mad. He said 'Boys, you best be getting in the house right this minute.' I couldn't help but grin at Ranger and Robin because I thought I was getting off easy, but the next thing I knew there was Mr. Hunter pointing to me and saying 'You too. In the house now.' I'm not afraid to admit it, I was scared out of my mind. In my neighborhood when a man got mad, he got to hitting on whatever was nearby. Anyway, the three of us marched inside, and Mr. Hunter sat us all down on the couch with me in the middle. He demanded to know how to reach my mother, and then he actually called her. I thought for sure I was really in for it then, because all it would take is for him to tell my mom I'd been picking on boys that were smaller than me. He didn't though. Much to my surprise he just told my Mom that I was in the same class and his son, and asked for permission for me to spend the weekend over there at his house. My Mom was so happy that I had a friend that she agreed with no questions asked. After he got off the phone, I thought for sure he was going to yell at us or something, but he didn't. He just told us that our punishment for fighting was going to be getting up early in the morning to do some yard work for an old lady down the street."

Stephanie made a face and took a drink of her beer. "That doesn't sound like much of a punishment."

"You wouldn't think so, but I'll get to that in a minute."

I knew this story well, so while Tank was talking I got up and went to the kitchen to get the fruit pizza ready. I was cutting it into slices when Tank continued.

"So, after he told us what our punishment was going to be, he sat us all down at the kitchen table and made us do our homework. I'd never done my homework on a Friday night, that's what Sunday's were for. Not at the Hunter house, homework was always done before anything else. We had just gotten started on our homework when Ray came home with Kestrel. Ray drove to High School so she could pick up her little sister every day after school. When they came in Mr. Hunter fixed us all an after school snack. I thought I'd gotten stuck in one of those TV shows. No one I knew ever had families like this. Well Mr. Hunter sat down at the table with us, and helped every one with homework. Half the time my homework didn't get finished because if I didn't understand something I just didn't do it. When homework was finished, Mr. Hunter drove me to my house to drop off my school books and pick up clothes and stuff for the weekend."

I brought the pizza's back to the table and set them down in the middle. There was a few moments of thank yous and everyone eating before Tank finished his story.

"I tell you Steph, I thought these people were probably the strangest folks I had ever met. After dinner we all played a game together Mr. Hunter included. I didn't think people really did that shit ya know? Anyway the next morning we had to get up while it was still dark out, so we had time to eat breakfast before heading down the street. I guess Mr. Hunter heard us calling each other names and what not because the little old lady down the street was a holocaust survivor, and while we raked, mowed and weeded her yard, she told us stories of when SHE was young. You see THAT was the real point of our punishment, to hear what happens when you start being intolerant to others. Well the three of us boys got to know each other pretty good while working together all weekend, and we found out that we actually liked each other. Sunday before I went home, it was decided that Mr. Hunter or Ray would drive me home from their house every day after we finished home work, and if my mom was working late, I didn't go home until after dinner. After a while, it was just natural to call Mr. Hunter dad, since he never treated me any different than any of the kids. To be honest, he's really the only Dad I've ever had."

Steph just stared across the table at Tank wide eyed. "Wow, that's just… Wow."

We all laughed a little as Steph struggled to find something to say. Lester finally decided to speak up to save her the trouble. "If it makes you feel any better Steph, I met Robin through much more normal means. I met him in detention. Robin was a good kid who was in detention for something really stupid like being late to class or something. I don't even remember now, but I spent so much time in detention I had my own seat. Robin had gotten assigned the seat next to me, and since I was bored, I started passing notes with him, well after an hour of passing notes back and forth, I decided I liked the kid. I gave him my phone number and told him to call if he wanted to hang out sometime. When detention was over I started to walk home like I did all the time. I didn't live far from the school, well Robin made his dad stop and pick me up instead of letting me walk. They invited me to come for dinner, and that's it. I was pretty much a member of the clan from day one."

I stood up and started clearing plates from the table, and picked up another round of drinks from the fridge to take back between trips. I handed out the beer and took the last round of dishes to the sink.

"So Steph, how did you meet my boys?" I asked as I slid into my chair with a fresh cup of coffee. I damn near spit coffee all over the table when she started telling me how she blackmailed her cousin into a job, and met Ranger as a favor to mutual friend. I couldn't contain my laughter when Ricky jumped in and told me about her being handcuffed to a shower rod.

"Seriously? You called him to come get you unhooked from a shower rod? That's priceless. Has he at least shown you how to pick locks since then?"

When she shook her head no, I reached across the table and smacked him in the arm. "You should have at least shown her that. You were probably hoping she'd need your help out of the same situation again."

I rolled my eyes and looked back at Steph. "I'll teach you how to pick locks later."

"Thanks, at least then I'll be able to get into my own apartment with out a key just like everyone else can."

I raised my eyebrow and took a sip of my coffee. "You have a problem with folks coming in uninvited?" I narrowed my eyes at Ricky, thinking he was most likely the most common offender.

"Everyone can get into my apartment, and they often do." she said softly.

I turned to look at her trying to think of a way I could help her make her home more secure. "You know, one of the guys I worked with in Miami, his wife was from New York City, and he told me that her apartment door had 6 deadbolts, and she only locked half of them, so anyone who wanted to pick them would spend half their time locking her door."

Logically I knew that you could tell which way the bolt was turning when you picked the lock just as you could with a key, but lets face it. If you're picking 6 locks, someone is going to notice and you'll be caught.

"Hmmmm I might try that." She said looking a little happier about having some control over who could get into her place.

We chatted for a little while longer, Bobby being the only one of the guys who didn't eagerly offer his "adoption" story. Bobby's childhood was a bad one, he had been through hell and back before he was even old enough to go to school. Luckily Steph didn't ask him about his story. I knew he didn't like to talk about it. I glanced at the clock and realized that it was after 9. I couldn't believe how late it had gotten.

"It's getting late, and I know that we all have an early morning tomorrow, so You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."

The guys groaned, but pushed themselves away from the table. They all came over to give me a hug and thank me for making dinner. Stephanie tried to head to the kitchen to help with clean up, I was about to stop her, but Bobby beat me to the punch.

"Steph, don't worry about the dishes. I'm going to stay and help Ray clean up."

Steph shrugged and went to get her purse. I slipped into the kitchen and gathered her bags of groceries, grabbing the ice cream and other cold items that we had put away and slipping them into one of the empty bags. I handed the backs to Ricky. "Take these, and walk Steph to her car."

He shot me a questioning look, and I just shrugged. "She helped shop, and cook. She doesn't need to lug her groceries back down to her car.

He just nodded, and there was another round of goodnights before Ricky took Steph's arm to walk her to the garage, and Lester and Tank headed out the door. I leaned against the door as I closed it behind Tank and sighed softly. Today had kicked my ass, I was getting old, and I didn't like it.

Bobby came over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "You ok? You're looking pretty beat."

I shrugged and gave him a glance. "Yeah, I'm ok. I woke up not feeling all that great this morning, and I guess I might be coming down with something."

"Maybe you should take tomorrow off, and get some extra rest."

I pushed away from the door and shook my head as I walked to the kitchen. "I don't think so Bobby, I just got here. I'm not going to take a sick day after being employed for less than a week."

I started running water in the sink for dishes. My dad could cook a 7 course meal and manage to clean up after himself as he went along, that was not a skill I had ever managed to master, so the kitchen looked like downtown Bagdad. Bobby walked up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders as I stood at the sink. "You may not have been here long, but you've been on your feet since you got here. For love of God Ray! You drove for 24 hours straight just to arrive and run a large scale op before getting some sleep. You are so dead on your feet right now you probably can't even think straight. Just do me a favor and take a day off, no one is going to think less of you because of it."

I sighed softly and sagged back against him leaning my head back against his chest. "I'll think about it, but I'm not making any promises."

He kissed the top of my head softly. "That's all I can ask. Now why don't you go get changed into your pajamas and I'll get started on these dishes."

I nodded slowly and headed towards the bedroom. I closed the door tightly and dug out my nightwear. Now I just had to convince Bobby to leave, before I did something stupid, like beg him to stay.