Boo Boo's

The neighbor's door was opened by a little girl not much older than Bailey.

"Hey Heather, I'll trade you." Madison said playfully.

"Trade me for what?" The little girl asked in a soft sweet voice.

"I'll trade my sister for yours."

"Deal! I'll be right back."

Heather ran upstairs and came back down a few minutes later.

"Katie said she is having hair issues and will meet you at your house ASAP. Can Bailey still stay?"

"Hummm, I don't know," Madison teased, "I'll just have to trust that Katie will be over soon. Mmmm okay, I guess Bailey can stay."

The two little girls' squealed with delight and both ran upstairs. Madison laughed at them and shut the front door. She turned around and ran into Heather and Katie's older brother.

"Hey Jeremy," she smiled.

"Hey back,"

Madison passed him by and walked back over to her house. Jeremy couldn't help but watch her walk. He wasn't watching where he was going and stumbled on the front step. His father, Rick, walked around the corner from the house as he was doing yard work and watched Jeremy stumble. He also noticed his son was distracted by his daughter's friend.

He laughed, "Jer, why don't you put yourself out of misery and just ask her out?"

"Dad, are you crazy? She's the captain of the cheerios and she happens to be dating the captain of the football team."

"Oh, that's right, she is dating that guy. Well, wait for him to mess up and make sure you are there at the right moment."

"Dad, seriously, you just have no clue."

Jeremy went in the house with a half disgusted look on his face. Rick turned on the sprinklers and just laughed.

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Madison walked in her back yard to find Aaron kneeling on the ground and setting up the bounce house.

"Do you need any help?"

Aaron looked up with a direct eye level view of a young, firm waistline and a bellybutton sporting a pink jewel. A feeling came over him that he hadn't felt since he was a teen himself. He quickly dispersed of any impure thoughts and distracted himself. He stood up.

"Yes, I need to lay this out flat first. You can take that end while I pull on this one."

She took the one end and began to walk backwards while pulling as Aaron did the same in the opposite direction.

"So," Aaron cleared his throat, "does either your dad or brother know about that piercing?"

"Piercing? Oh, my bellybutton? It's not pierced, it's just a temporary jewel that can be placed anywhere on the body."

"Anywhere? Where else would someone put them?"

Madison laughed at his naïve question.

"Uncle Aaron, really?"

He thought about it for a second then by watching the look on her face he quickly determined other places where the jewels could go.

"Aww, okay….soo anyway, great weather for the party today."

She laughed again, "Yeah, great weather." She playfully rolled her eyes and smiled at him. He returned the smile as Katie was walking up with Dave as her escort.

"Hey bitch!" Katie greeted Madison.

"Hey whore," Madison returned the compliment.

"Girls, hey now, first, watch the language. Second, I thought you were best friends, what happened?" Dave asked.

The girls looked at Dave then at each other and laughed.

"What is so funny?" He asked.

"Daddy, we're just playing with each other. We greet each other that way out of love."

"Out of love? Wow, remind me to not get on either of your bad sides," he bantered along.

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"It's 1:00, time to get Bailey ready for her party," Madison said to Katie before turning to her brother, "Spence, we're going to get Bails and Heather from across the street, we'll be right back."

Spencer was in the middle of setting up a monkey display that squirted water. He nodded his head to show acknowledgment but stayed focused on his project in hand.

Ten minutes later in Bailey's room…

"Mawdyyy, I don't wanna wear a dwess," Bailey whined.

"Oh come on, what is the point of having a little sister if I can't dress her up every now and then. Please."

"I'm not a dow, I'm a human bweing." She stated as she crossed her arms.

Madison and Katie couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not fwunny."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Tell you what, if you let me dress you the way I want for your party I'll sneak you a cupcake before any other guests arrive."

Bailey thought about it. "Heder can have one too?"

"Yes, I'll sneak one for you and one for Heather, promise!"

She thought about it another few seconds.

"Kay, dweal!"

She held out her hand to shake her sisters for the verbal contract to be official. Madison laughed but took her hand and shook it. She then continued getting her little sister dressed. She helped Bailey with the first layer of her dress. It was a full body slip with an attached petticoat. It was needed to give the dress the extra flair.

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"Stay here with Katie and Heather, I'll be right back."

Madison ran down to the kitchen and found the extra cupcakes. She grabbed two of them and was about to head back up.

"A little snack for you and Katie?"

Madison jumped and turned around to see Aaron standing right behind her.

"Oh my God, you scared me."

He laughed, "Sorry, perhaps because you were trying to be sneaky?"

She sighed and decided to come clean. "It was the only way I could get Bailey to agree to wear the dress I picked out for her. Please don't tell my dad, he never lets Bailey have too much sugar because she usually jumps off the walls."

He crossed his arms, "mmm, I don't know Maddy, I don't like keeping secrets from Dave."

"Please, it's just a tiny harmless secret. It doesn't put Bailey in danger in any way."

"Perhaps but it might put your bottom in danger if he finds out."

"It's a risk worth taking. The dress I picked out for her is absolutely perfect. I promise when you see her, you will agree."

She looked up at him with big blue pleading eyes as she bit her bottom lip slightly waiting for an answer.

He sighed, "alright, but let's not make a habit out of this, okay?"

"Okay, I promise!" She exclaimed in excitement then gave Aaron a kiss on the cheek before running back upstairs.

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Madison and Katie cleaned away any evidence of chocolate off of their sisters and finished getting them both ready. Heather was wearing blue jeans with pink ruffled cuffs and a matching pink top with ruffled sleeve ends. Bailey had on a beautiful sun dress with large, multi-colored polka dots, a stripped waistline sash with attached felt balloons that read birthday girl on them. To top off the look was a matching head wrap that Madison wrapped snuggly around her little sister's thick brown hair. Katie curled the ends of both Bailey and Heathers hair.

"Okay, finishing touch, shiny clear lip gloss."

"Yip goss? Mawdyyy," Bailey whined.

"Please, it'll make your outfit totally perfect."

Bailey sighed because she saw how happy her big sister looked.

"Awite, but that's it, k?"

"Promise!" Madison smiled.

The girls could hear the guests starting to arrive.

"Okay, Katie and Heather, I need you both to gather everyone to the bottom of the stairs. We need to bring in the birthday girl properly."

The two sisters ran downstairs and gathered everyone as instructed. Madison helped Bailey with her ankle high ruffled socks and shiny maroon colored Mary Jane shoes. The maroon shoes complimented several large polka dots from Bailey's dress.

"Okay, wait here and when you hear the music, that is your queue to come out and down the stairs," directed Madison.

Madison knew her little sister never had a problem hamming it up for an audience. She has suggested to Dave more than once to let her go to a few auditions.

"K, I'll wait."

Bailey gave her sister a big smile and a thumb up gesture. Madison walked out and stood on top of the stairs with her Ipod and an attached speaker big enough for all to hear. There were close to 30 people there with only about 20 of them being children that were Bailey's age. She stood there for her sister but had a couple pairs of admiring eyes glued on her.

"Hello everyone, thank you soooo much for coming today for my little sisters 6th birthday. It means a lot. Okay, okay, without further ado….."

Madison pushed play on her Ipod and Girls just want to have Fun started playing. It was the Miley Cyrus version as she was one of Bailey's favorite singers. Bailey came out looking absolutely adorable. Everyone gasped at just how adorable she looked. Dave especially had a really big grin on his face. His youngest was a bit of a "tom boy" and didn't get to see her dressed up in dresses too often. Bailey walked down the stairs and received a huge greeting. Heather grabbed Bailey's hand and all of the children including a few of the parents walked out to the backyard. Dave, Aaron and Spencer stayed behind to talk to Madison.

"Princess, you did a wonderful job, your sister looks absolutely precious."

"Thanks daddy."

"Yeah, I don't know how you did it sis but whatever you did it was worth it."

Dave and Spencer started to walk off to join the party. Aaron lingered behind with Madison.

"You were right about the cupcakes, it was worth it." Aaron whispered as he brushed part of her hair away from her eyes.

They both stood just looking at each other; it was as if they were lost in each other's eyes. Aaron then caught himself and pulled away. He didn't know what was happening to him.

"Hey, well, we should get to that party," Aaron suggested.

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All the games had been played, the birthday cake had been eaten, presents opened and guests were starting to go home. Two teenage boys arrived and both greeted Madison and Katie with huge smiles. The girls took the boys by hand and went to find their fathers. Dave and Rick were talking along with Aaron, Spencer, Derek and Jeremy.

"Daddy, Drew and Stryder are here now to take us out. You said we could go when half of the guests had left home right? Madison asked as she was holding Stryder's hand.

Dave looked around to take a quick count of the guests.

"Alright, it's fine with me if it's okay with Rick," Dave said.

"I suppose a deal is a deal. Be back by 11:30." said Rick.

The girls smiled and gave each of their fathers a kiss on the cheek. They left with their boyfriends. Jeremy rolled his eyes and shook his head. His father noticed.

"What's wrong? I thought you like Drew."

"Yeah, Drew is cool. It's Stryder. I don't know, he's just kind of a jerk. He thinks he is just so cool. Ugh, I hate him!"

"Those are some pretty strong words, has he hurt you personally?" Aaron asked from simple observation.

"No, he's just an ass," Jeremy said as he looked at his cell. "I'm going to go out with the guys. I'll be home later, k dad?"

"Sure thing, see you later."

Jeremy left in a hurry. Dave and Aaron looked at each other then over at Rick.

"Any idea why he was so angry?" Dave asked Rick.

"Oh, I know exactly what it is."

Everyone waited and looked at each other then back at Rick.

"What is it?" Asked Dave, Aaron and Derek in unison.

Rick was taken back for just a second. "Whoa, sorry, Jeremy has a big crush on Maddy. He has for some time now. Please do not ever let him know I blabbed."

"Don't worry, the secret is….."

"It's mine! You can't have it!" Bailey screamed then kicked a little boy.

Dave ran over to the scene.

"Bailey Nikol! You know better than to kick people."

Dave picked up his little girl and brought her into the empty house and sat her on the couch.

"You little missy are getting a time out for kicking. Don't move from this couch until I come and get you."

"Daddy!" Bailey whined.

"No, stay here and calm down. I will be back." Dave ordered as he walked outside to check on the boy.

Bailey sat there with her arms crossed and sticking out her bottom lip due to her pouting. She moved from that to sucking her thumb for comfort. Six minutes later Dave came back.

"Okay monkey, you can get up now. First, I want to know why you got so upset."

"He kept hitting my baby dow. I told him stop but he wouldn't so I kicked him."

Dave could appreciate the fact that she stood up for herself but knew he needed to nip the kicking in the bud.

"Okay, I can understand that. Next time I need you to tell a grownup okay. If you kick someone out of anger again, you're going to get more than a time out. Do you understand?"

Bailey pouted and subconsciously put her hands over her bottom, "yes daddy."

"Okay, good girl. Let's go and say good-bye to the rest of your guests heading home."

Two days later

Dave just fed his children breakfast; they were all sitting at the table. Bailey was messing around with some scratches she had gotten from Heather's new kitten.

"Monkey, stop messing with your scratches please," asked Spencer.

"Oh, I was just thinking," she said very grown up like in her high pitched voice.

"Thinking about what?" Dave asked with a smile.

"My boo boo's kinda look like Mawdy's."

Maddy got a really bad sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Okay, I need to change for cheerleading practice. Gotta go…" Maddy said as she left for the other room.

"Hold it right there young lady!"

Dave quickly remembered Maddy cutting herself after her parents were killed. He thought she had conquered it. He walked into the other room where Madison was waiting for him. She had a panic look on her face.

"Madison Rachel, take off your bracelets."

She did so and her arms were clear.

"Okay, I'm sorry but I have to know, have you been cutting yourself again?"

"What? No!"

Dave could tell from years of FBI training combined with parenting experience that she was lying.

"Pull down your pj bottoms and show me that there are no cuts."

"Daddy, no, why can't you just trust me?"

"Madison…" Dave said with a raised eyebrow.

She knew that look meant she would be in serious trouble if she didn't comply. With tears falling down her face she pulled her pj bottoms down. She had several self inflicting cuts on her thighs.

Dave looked heartbroken and scared for his daughter. She pulled up her pj's and waited to see what her father would do. He held out his arms and she ran into them.

"We will get through this princess, I promise. It will be okay."

Later that night after the school football game…

Madison was alone in the school parking lot with Stryder. She was trying to calm him down.

"We lost! God damnit! I had it and that dumb ass A.J. fumbled."

"Stry, baby, its okay. There will be other games."

"Other games? You're the captain of the cheerio's, how could you talk like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like a trader. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering what a bitch you are!" He screamed in her face.

"Stryder, please….please don't! I'm sor…."

WHAM!