Matty went upstairs and found his grandmother in the kitchen. She was working on dinner. She smiled at him. "Hello Angel. Just starting to get things ready for dinner tonight. Do you want to watch some television?" He went in the living room and started watching baseball. A couple of hours passed.

Then Phillip came in the room. "Hey little dude. Oh man, the Orioles are totally getting crushed by the Red Sox. " Phillip sat next to him and put his arm around him. His mother came up from the basement. "Sweetheart your home. How did it go with Doctor Smyth?"

He sighed. "I'm not fired. Not even suspended. He told me that he was impressed with how I handled myself. That he needed more agents that had honor and did not follow orders blindly.

That if I wasn't so young. He might consider me to be the section chief. But I needed a few more years of experience under my belt. Told me to tell you that you aren't fired either, but you are suspended with pay for two weeks for insubordination. But all will be forgiven when you come back."

"Well, I am not sure I want to go back. I will have to think on that. I am going to check on dinner. See if your grandmother needs help with anything."

Matty grabbed a pad and paper and handed it to Phillip. "You want to tell me something?" Matty nodded yes. Phillip grabbed the pad and paper. "Alright little dude. Go for it." Matty tapped. "I WANT WEEK ONE." Phillip looked at him. "Do you know something? Mom just came up from the basement from being alone with Lee." Phillip smiled. "Alright you are down. I'll spot you the $5." Then Phillip yelled "Grandma! Matty is in on it now. The pot is up to $20 now!"

His mother came out from the kitchen. "Will you stop it with this nonsense? I mean it. Nothing is going to happen between Lee & I. Alright?" His grandmother came out of the kitchen and just patted his mom on the arm. Then she went over to Phillip. "So, he has week five? That is worse than my week." Phillip nodded. "No Grandma he went for week one." His grandmother made a face. "I should have thought of that. Your mother is stubborn though. I think you or Jamie have the better odds. But even with all that hair Lee is still an 11."

His mother just groaned and went back in the kitchen. Then the back door opened, and Jamie came in wearing a camera around his neck. "Hey family and Worm Brain. I'm home." Phillip smiled. "Hey Doofus. Who did you see at the lunch?" Jamie smiled. "Just Andy Castle and Billy Fergusen. Andy's married to Linda Montez now, so she was there too. That was fun getting called Zorba the Geek again after all these years. They were disappointed that you couldn't come too. Told them you had to work. How did that go? Want me to get you a job at the NY Times in the mailroom or something?"

"I'm not fired. Not even suspended. Doctor Smyth was creepily nice to me. Mom's not fired either. He just suspended her for a couple of weeks. Oh, and the little dude is in on the pot. So, it's up to $20 now." Jamie said, "Oh week five is a bad week though. I'll put in the $5 for him." Phillip said, "No man, I already spotted him the money. He doesn't have week 5 though. He went with week one" Jamie looked at him. "Oh, that's smart. I wish I had thought of that. Except mom is stubborn though. I think it's going to be you or me that wins. But I'll split the money with you little dude if I win." Phillip smiled. "I will too. I bet grandma will too. So, you are guaranteed $10 little dude."

Jamie then said, "We need to warn him too. That when they do crack. If he knows they are alone in a room together. You need to make a lot of noise before you enter that room. Or you will see things that you cannot unsee." Phillip nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah, we need to give the munchkin that warning too. "

His mom came out of the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour. I just called the Gilstrap house and told Leann to come home. Lee's going to try and come upstairs to eat with us. He is sick of being in the bed. Phillip or Jamie will one of you help him up the stairs when it's time for dinner?" They both nodded. "Sure mom. We both will help him." Then she said. "Phillip, I need to talk to you alone. Come out to the gazebo with me for a few minutes?" Phillip nodded and followed his mom outside.
Then Jamie said, "You want to go read some more Harry Potter in our room until dinner little dude?" Matty smiled and nodded yes. "I started taking my posters down. We will have to get you some that you like. I'll take the photos down too later." Matty nodded no. "You want to keep my photos up?"

Matty smiled and nodded yes. Jamie smiled and hugged him. "You know your dad got me my first camera. He said it was old. But I think he just went out and bought me one. He was trying to buy my love. It kind of worked too. I really wanted to hate him in the beginning. But your dad is hard not to like.

You are so lucky that he is your real dad. The funniest thing about him is how he thinks he is terrible at being a father. But he really is the best. I mean he is a huge dork sometimes, but he actually cares. My real father I love him, and he means well but he never wanted kids. Phillip and I ruined his life.

I feel bad for Joey sometimes because he doesn't have mom as his mother. And Carrie really does hate Phillip. That is not just in Phillip's head. It sucks for Joey too because Carrie has drilled it into Joey to be scared of Phillip. Like Phillip is an idiot but he really is the best big brother. He will do anything for you, and I mean anything. The girl I just had lunch with when we were kids. Phillip and she were dating. He dumped her because she started calling me Zorba the geek. My high school experience was so much better because he was my brother. He was the most popular kid in school.

There is still a shrine to him at Arlington high school because they won the basketball championship twice when he was on the team. I would have been picked on so much more if it wasn't for him. Only he is allowed to call me names. And he is such a doofus that sometimes he just goes to the high school when he is feeling down because he is still a legend. He likes getting gushed over. He should be the one that's a little bit famous not me. Anyway, let's read a little bit."
Jamie started reading to him. Matty was happy. Jamie seemed to be the most like himself in the family. He really like Jamie. He loved Phillip and Leann too but they both had so much energy. Jamie was just relaxing to hang out with.

They were reading and the door opened. His mother popped her head in. "Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes. Phillip is helping Lee up the stairs. You don't have to worry about that Jamie." Jamie smiled at his mother. "Thanks mom."

Jamie and Matty went to the dinner table. His sister smiled at him. He smiled back. His dad came to the table. His whole family was together and happy. His dad sat next to him. "Hey buddy." They said grace and then they started eating. The pot roast was amazing. It was so good. He didn't really know what succotash was, but he tasted it. He loved it. The pot roast and succotash tasted like love. This was quite possibly the best meal he had ever had in his life. This was a perfect meal.

Notes:

Aww that was a sappy chapter. Jamie & Matty are cute together.

Next chapter - May actually have some plot in it.