Summary: Scott finds an unwelcome visitor in his locker.

Notes: This ties in with the short, Missing Pet.

Scott and Monty

2081

Scott Tracy nervously eyed, the scaly creature that had somehow managed to end up in his equipment locker.

He highly doubted that his son and nephew's pet danger noodle ended up in there by accident and he was going to find a way to drown the goldfish for this one, or the Mermaid, because those two were the ones that were the most likely to have put the thing that everybody else called, Monty, in his locker.

Monty, for his part in this fiasco, seemed to be quite happy to be where he was, staring back at Scott with beady black eyes.

Scott shuddered, as he started to look for a way to safely remove the nope rope and return it to its enclosure.

Not that he wanted to, mind, but his suggestion of placing the thing under One's thrusters and taking off was ignored - it seemed like everybody else on the island wanted the disgusting creature.

He hoped nobody had heard his unmanly scream when he discovered the slippery thing in his locker.

"What were my son and nephews thinking, when they got you huh?" Scott growled at the snake as he picked up a box in the hope of putting Monty into it without touching him.

Monty just stared back at Scott as if wondering what he was up to.

"Now if you will just slither into here," Scott muttered. "I will get you back to where most people think you belong."

But Monty seemed quite happy to be where he was.

"Scott Carpenter Tracy," Scott jumped at the sound of his wife's voice behind him. "What on earth are you doing?"

"I'm trying to remove our son's and nephew's scaly menace from my locker," Scott growled in response. "Do have any idea on how he got in here?"

"So that's why you were screaming like a little girl a few moments ago," Piper replied, as she gently pushed Scott aside to look at the situation herself.

"You heard that?" Scott asked, his heart sinking.

"Honey, I would be shocked if John didn't hear you on Five," Piper answered dryly, as she pulled the box, that Scott was trying to coax Monty into, aside and gently picked the snake up. "Oh poor baby," she cooed to the thing. "Did some meanie put you in, Scott's stinky locker?"

Scott pulled away from his wife, as Monty coiled himself around her arm, not wanting to be next to the snake, "My locker doesn't stink," he grumbled. "But if you're looking for a smelly locker, to shove that thing into Gordon's-"

"Mom! Dad!" Shane called out as he, and his cousin's, Aaron, Alex and Kevin, entered the room. "You found him!"

"I didn't realise he was missing," Scott growled. "Do you boy's have any idea how Monty got into here?"

"Considering that we have been lucky to keep him so far," Shane replied. "No, we don't."

"The lid of the tank was on properly when we left it this morning," Aaron added.

"And Monty was definitely in the tank," Alex agreed.

"Shane and I only found the tank lid ajar just now," Kevin added.

Scott sighed, as Virgil and Jeff appeared behind the boys, "Aaron, Alex," he questioned. "What time did you check on Monty?"

"Just before lunch," Aaron replied, as Alex nodded.

Scott swore under his breath, if Monty had been in his tank, before lunch that meant his two prime suspects had an alibi.

Because Gordon, Alan, Penelope and Kayo had taken the older kid's out on some water exercises, and had been off the island since very early that morning, the only reason the four younger boys had been left behind, was because they were grounded because of how they came to be in possession of their scaly pet.

He ruled out the boys, they knew he didn't approve of Monty, they were not about to risk losing him for a stupid prank.

And it was obvious that Piper, Virgil and his father were just as confused as he was to how Monty ended up in his locker.

John was on Five, and had been working with him on a rescue for the last couple of hours, so unless John had his bratty daughter intimidating him again - which he doubted - he didn't have time to sneak down to earth to mess with the snake.

So that left Belle, Willow, Brains, Parker and Edward.

He doubted it was Edward, the young man had only been on the Island for a bit over a month, and while he had developed a good working relationship with him and his family, it wasn't at the level where it would be smart to pull one over the 2IC - not if he wanted to keep his job.

Besides, Willow had him helping her and Belle catch up on some paperwork in regards to, the medical division of IR - so that ruled Willow and Belle out as well.

So that left Brains and Parker as the would be pranksters.

Now pranks were not typically Brains's thing, but Scott had played enough games of traumatise the engineer over the years, that Brains would be quite justified to return the favour.

And then there was Parker.

Who was someone Scott had got on relatively well with until he found out Piper was his daughter, not long after they announced that they were moving the wedding up due to Piper being pregnant with Scout, now Scott's relationship with Parker was similar to the one Parker shared with Gordon.

And Parker had the history of breaking into places that where he wasn't meant to be, not that Scott ever locked his locker.

Scott sighed loudly, "Put Monty back in his enclosure," he snapped. "I am going to check the camera's, and find out who took the snake out of the tank."

Piper passed Monty back to Shane, and the boys left the room to return him, "Put on some pants first honey," she told him as she kissed her cheek. "I'm going to find my father, and have a word with him, because I know for a fact that Brains has been stuck in the lab working on his latest project."

Jeff looked at his daughter-in-law, "Like some backup?" He asked.

"Please," she replied, as she and Jeff left the room together.

Virgil looked at Scott, as Scott reached for his pants, and shrugged.

0o0o0

It was a couple of hours later and all of the human residents of the island were gathered in the comm's centre.

Scott looked at his family, "If Monty is to remain a member of this household, he is not to be used in any more pranks," he told them. "I mean it, the next time I find him in my locker, bed, or any other place where there is no reasonable explanation for him being there, he is looking for a new home," he ran a hand through his hair. "I have been tolerating his presence up to this point, but I won't put up with it if I have to keep checking for him in my gear."

"F.A.B." Everyone else acknowledged.

0o0o0

Monty sat coiled up happily under his heat lamp, without a care in the world.