"I'm fine," Conner grumbled.

Dana rolled her eyes as she checked the readings again.

"Conner, your temperature went up again," she countered. "You have a fever, and you are staying in bed."

He groaned as his head fell back against the pillow. Krista was sitting next to his bed, watching in concern. Kira and Trent, who had come up after a text from Kira woke him up, were sitting on the other bed to stay out of the way since Ethan had left. Tommy was sitting on the opposite side of the bed from Krista. After finally getting his mother off the phone, he had decided to stretch his legs and go see what was going on with Conner, which is why Ethan was now next door with Jason. Dana was back for a second check on Conner after his temperature had gone up again.

"He was fine this morning," Krista said anxiously, looking at Dana.

"I don't think it's anything to worry about," Dana assured her. "He slept for a long time and now that he's gotten some rest his body is trying to heal faster, which could account for the spike in temperature."

"So why can't I get up?" Conner asked.

"Because that's not the only thing it could be," Dana said firmly. "While I have examined your shoulder again and don't think it is the case, there is always a chance that this fever is an early sign of infection. So, you are going to stay until your fever breaks and we are sure it isn't coming back."

"But you just said it was nothing to worry about…" Conner grumbled.

"I said I didn't think it was," Dana corrected. "But we aren't taking risks."

Conner scowled at her.

"Then how come Dr. O can come and go whenever he wants?" he argued. "He just passed out yesterday and you aren't confining him to his bed."

"Because I'm not trying to leave the med bay," Tommy inserted drily. "I needed to stretch my legs so I walked over here and now I'm sitting again. Why are you trying to throw me under the bus? What did I do to you?"

Conner sighed as he slumped against his pillows.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled. "I'm just sick of being in this bed. I want to move…"

"It could be worse," Tommy pointed out. "Your leg could be broken—"

"That is not funny, Dr. O!" Conner sputtered.

Krista flinched at the thought.

"Sorry, Krista," Tommy apologized. "Conner, relax. One more night here isn't going to kill you. Take it easy and eat dinner tonight and I'm sure it will be gone by morning."

Conner scowled but didn't argue. Which was just as well, because they were interrupted a few minutes later, not long after Dana excused herself. Jake walked in, shaking his head.

"Oh, hey, Jake," Tommy said. "What brings you up here?"

"Chasing Zach," he said. "But I lost him…"

Looks were exchanged.

"I'd have thought you'd be after Eric or Wes," Trent commented. "Especially after earlier."

Tommy frowned.

"Earlier?" he repeated. "What did they do?"

"Well, hot sauce on Jake's burger and salt in his water if I overheard correctly," Trent said.

Jake grimaced at the reminder, grabbing a seat.

"Yeah," he muttered. "That was—pleasant."

Tommy sighed.

"Sorry about them, Jake," he said. "They really mean no harm…"

"It's fine," Jake said. "I should have been expecting something. I mean, I know Rocky likes screwing with me already. Anyone else I should worry about?"

Most of the room shook their heads.

"Nah," Ethan said, walking back in. "At least, not right now. No promises on the future."

Tommy frowned, looking at him.

"Ethan—"

"Adam is next door," he said. "He wanted to stretch his legs and get a change of scenery, so he sent me back over her since he figured I'd be concerned about Conner."

"Oh, great," Conner muttered. "Does everyone know I have a fever?"

"You have a fever?" Jake said in surprise.

"Well, not everyone," Ethan snickered. "Though that might change now."

He didn't bother grabbing a chair, he just sat down on the floor by Conner's bed.

"Anyways," Ethan said, getting comfortable. "Jake, if you wanna be safe from the blues just talk to Billy. He'll tell them no and they'll leave you alone. Chain of command after all."

Jake nodded slowly.

"Alright," he said. "So, if I talk to the original of each color—"

"Nope," Ethan interrupted, shaking his head. "That is not going to help. It will work with the blues because most of us are fairly laid back anyways. The rest…? Well…"

He shrugged.

"You should be safe with the yellows, too, though," Kira inserted. "For the most part. Don't mess with us and we won't mess with you."

She paused.

"Except maybe Dustin. Though he's good most of the time unless he's with the other boys. And Taylor. She's fine unless you mess with Eric. You mess with him—or her team—you mess with her. Unless they deserve it, of course. And if you don't listen to Trini, she will make you regret your choices."

"Alright," Jake said. "That takes care of blue and yellow. Sort of. What about red?"

He looked at Conner. The red ranger snorted.

"Good luck," he said. "You're on your own."

"Wow…" Jake said. "Thanks. Just gonna throw me out there on my own, are you?"

Conner shook his head.

"No, you misunderstand. You're on your own because they won't listen to me. Or anyone else. The reds don't listen to each other, or anyone, really. Maybe Dr. O."

Ethan snorted as the other Dinos rolled their eyes.

"He's not wrong though," Ethan said. "Think about it, Jake. A bunch of alpha males battling it out? He says to leave you alone and that puts a target directly on your back."

Jake blinked and looked at Tommy who just shrugged.

"So, maybe we'll come back to that later…" he muttered. "Uh…what about green?"

"We don't have one," Conner pointed out. "Dr. O? Care to weigh in on that?"

Tommy sighed.

"Smaller group," he mused. "So, hit or miss. If Adam or I say no, they'll leave you alone. Ask anyone else and good luck. But, to be honest, they are the least of your problems. They aren't really the pranksters."

Jake frowned.

"Then, who do I have to worry about?" he asked. "The blacks?"

He paused.

"Ok, so that sounded horrible the way I worded it—"

"Yes. Yes, it did," Ethan snickered.

"But, no," Tommy inserted. "Though Zach is a notable exception, they do tend to stick to themselves."

"Dr. O is right," Ethan nodded. "And Danny will if Max is in on it. Dr. O will ignore you because he'd rather screw with Rocky or Ryan. But no."

"The ones you actually need to worry about are the extras," Trent inserted as Kira rolled her eyes.

"Extras?" Jake repeated.

"The sixth rangers," Ethan offered. "The loners? Essentially the ones who don't start with their teams."

"They're a group of their own?" Jake frowned.

"Sort of," Tommy admitted. "Though a few aren't part."

"Name one, Dr. O," Conner said.

"Jason."

Jake frowned.

"Jason is a red ranger," he said.

"He was also gold," Tommy explained.

"But does that really count?" Ethan asked. "I mean, he was only holding that power. And Trey does come around once in a while."

"He held it and used it, so it counts," Tommy said. "Not that he's ever allowed to touch it again."

Jake frowned in confusion.

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Because it almost killed him," Ethan piped up. "And since it was not Dr. O nearly dying, he's not ok with it."

Ethan yelped as Tommy jabbed him with his cane.

"Hush," he said. "The point we are trying to make, Jake, is you have to take the rangers as individual groups. Sometimes by team, sometimes by color."

"Like the mob," Ethan added. "You have to plead your case with each family to keep yourself safe."

Tommy grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Can we please not compare us to a criminal organization?" he asked drily. "Jake, the way to do it is to target the ring leaders. Right now, that means Eric, Wes, and or Ryan."

"What am I supposed to do?" Jake frowned. "I can't fight them!"

"I never said to fight them," Tommy countered. "You want their respect? Sic your wife on them."

Jake stared at him.

"I need you to explain that," he said. "Because I fail to see how I gain respect by siccing my wife on them."

"It's simple," Tommy chuckled. "There is nothing most of the rangers fear more than an angry pink ranger. So, you have a built-in safety net being married to a pink ranger."

The younger Dinos exchanged a look.

"Ok, yeah," Conner said. "That will definitely work."

"Either that or prank them on such an epic level that you publicly humiliate them in front of other rangers," Ethan inserted. "They'd respect that, too. Though it would give them free reign to prank you again. But they'd think it through first knowing there would be consequences the next time."

Jake nodded, thinking over what they'd been saying.

"I think I can arrange something," he mused. "We'll see what comes first."

"But that's why pranks on Dr. O are always planned carefully," Trent said. "Because if it effects Kat or upsets Kat in any fashion…? All bets are off."

"That's not wrong," Tommy chuckled.

Jake laughed. They continued talking, Jake asking more questions about the different ranger groups as they chatted.

A while later, Tommy returned to Jason's room. He'd texted Adam to promise he wouldn't be gone long and he had already been gone longer than he intended with Jake showing up. Trent and Ethan walked with him, talking quietly about Conner. They had decided to leave after Dr. Thompson, one of the base surgeons, had shown up to check on Conner's shoulder. They knew they'd get the update and they didn't all need to be crowded in during the checkup. Ethan was scrolling through his tablet and immediately dropped into a chair when they walked in. Tommy just took his normal seat and let him be. Trent stayed standing. Adam stood and stretched, intending to walk around for a while.

"I'm gonna sit with Conner again tonight," Trent said, glancing over at Tommy. "Because otherwise Krista will stay up all night worrying. At least if she's in bed she might actually fall asleep."

Tommy nodded.

"Make sure he eats dinner—" Tommy started to say.

His phone alert going off interrupted and all four men looked at it in surprise. Trent froze. He'd managed to avoid Christine and Will so far, but if he left the room now they would see him in the hall. They weren't that far from the elevator. Ethan, seeing the look on Trent's face, quickly set his tablet aside and jumped up. Adam hurried toward the door to see if he could stall.

"Hide," Tommy hissed, looking at Trent.

"I got it!" Ethan said.

Grabbing Trent by the arm, Ethan hauled him across the room. Before Trent realized what was happening, Ethan shoved him toward the wall that separated them from Conner's room. Acting on instinct, Trent phased through it as Ethan darted back toward his chair.

Trent stared up at the ceiling of Conner's room for a moment as he collected himself. He'd hit the ground after going through the wall since he hadn't really had time to catch himself.

"Well, you weren't gone long," Conner commented. "Nice of you to drop back in."

"Ethan shoved me through the wall," Trent muttered, getting back to his feet.

Conner was grinning in amusement as Krista and Kira were shaking their heads. Jake was gone.

"I'm assuming there is no need to check you for injuries," Dr. Thompson said drily, standing by Conner's bed with Dana.

"Oh, I forgot you were here," Trent said sheepishly. "Hey, Dr. Thompson."

Thompson was one of the surgeons employed by Lightspeed to work for the rangers. He didn't know everything, but he knew enough. And he didn't ask unnecessary questions. Eying Trent for a moment, the surgeon shook his head and went back to talking to Dana. Trent walked back over and grabbed the chair he'd been sitting in earlier.

"So, why the entrance?" Kira asked in amusement.

"The psycho siblings were coming," Trent muttered. "And Ethan helped…"

Kira laughed.

Back in Jason's room, Ethan had dropped back into his chair and was quickly shifting what he'd been working on in case someone managed to get a glimpse at his tablet screen. He didn't want either of the siblings to know he was digging into their lives. So, he went back to working on his actual work. Adam, who had watched Ethan's reaction in amusement, just shook his head.

Christine and Will walked in a moment later, scowling when they saw Tommy sitting in the chair. Adam took that moment to slip out, not really wanting to deal with the siblings at that particular moment. With Ethan there, he wasn't worried about Tommy dealing with them alone.

"Don't you have better places to be?" Christine demanded.

"Nope," Tommy said. "Don't you have someone else to bother? Oh, wait—no one wants to talk to you."

Ethan snickered as Christine sputtered. Will glared at Ethan.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Ethan," Ethan answered, not offering his last name.

"And why are you in my husband's room?" Christine snapped.

"Tech support," Ethan smirked. "Dr. Oliver requested help with fixing his phone and he's not allowed to bring it up to me. So, I came down to him."

He held up Tommy's phone, which he had snagged off the table when he sat back down. Tommy raised an eyebrow at Ethan but didn't say anything. Ethan just held eye contact with Will, waiting for one of the siblings to try and chase him out of the room.

"This place actually has tech support?" Will scoffed.

It was Ethan's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Dude, this is pretty much the most technologically advanced facility on the planet," he snorted. "But it still doesn't fix itself. Duh there's tech support. Someone has to be able to fix things that break."

"Good," Will said, reaching into his pocket. "Here."

He threw his phone at Ethan. Surprised, Ethan barely caught it.

"Hey," Ethan frowned. "What—"

"Fix it," Will said. "It hasn't worked right in almost a week. Screen won't even turn on."

"You want me to—" Ethan started to say.

Then he grinned and nodded.

"Of course," he said. "I'll be happy to take a look."

Tommy looked at Ethan in surprise, but Ethan just shook his head. Grabbing his bag, he took a quick look at the phone and dug out a cord. He plugged the phone into his computer and his fingers started flying over the computer.

"It's going to take a little while," he said, eyes on the computer screen. "Since I'll have to diagnose it first—unless you can tell me exactly what's wrong?"

Will rolled his eyes.

"Isn't that part of your job?" he scoffed.

"Just thought I'd ask," Ethan shrugged. "If you leave before I'm done, I'll have someone deliver it back to your quarters."

"Whatever," Will said.

Christine had walked over to the chair on the other side of the cryo chamber and was glaring at Tommy. He was pointedly ignoring her. Reaching over, he took his phone back from Ethan so he could send a message. As she usually did, Christine started sighing. Tommy continued to ignore her and Ethan just reached down and grabbed headphones and turned on some music. Will, who had moved to stand behind Ethan working on his phone, alternated between glaring at Tommy and looking over Ethan's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Will asked a few minutes later, frowning.

Ethan didn't answer, not hearing Will over the music.

"Hey!" Will exclaimed, grabbing Ethan's shoulder and shaking him.

Tommy straightened up in his chair, but Ethan had already pulled his shoulder out of Will's grasp.

"What?" Ethan snapped, turning in his chair and pulling his headphones off.

"What are you doing?" Will demanded.

"Fixing your phone?" Ethan said. "Like you asked?"

"But why are you copying it?"

Ethan sighed. Tommy relaxed slightly, but he was still watching Will closely.

"Seriously?" he asked. "Dude, it's standard procedure to backup any device I work on to make sure that if something goes wrong your information isn't lost. Especially since I don't know what's wrong with it. What if there is a virus and it wipes your phone while I'm fixing it? Do you want to lose everything on it?"

"Oh," Will muttered. "I guess that's fine. Just stay out of my stuff."

"I don't have to open your stuff to back it up," Ethan said, rolling his eyes. "Now can you let me work in peace? It's bad enough you're standing there hovering."

Without waiting for an answer, Ethan put his headphones back on and turned his attention back to the computer. Will continued to stare over his shoulder.

A few minutes later, the door opened again.

"Tommy, I need—oh, wonderful," Hayley said, striding in. "You have company."

She stopped to level a glare at Christine and then frowned at Will standing behind Ethan. She glanced over at Tommy who just shook his head. Shrugging, Hayley walked over and grabbed a chair.

"So, be glad you're up here and not sharing a suite with Rocky's family right now," Hayley grinned.

Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Hayley, I never share a suite with them," he pointed out. "What happened?"

"Well, apparently when Rocky got back to the suite with Karly earlier he then had to go look for Damien," she said. "Found him in the cafeteria where he had figured out how to work the computer."

"Oh boy," Tommy winced. "What did he order?"

"What didn't he order?" Hayley sighed. "Rocky stopped him when he found him, but by that point he'd already stuffed himself with every dessert or snack possible. Then he had more snacks. Now he's throwing up from a sugar overload."

"No one wants to hear that," Christine exclaimed.

Hayley turned, raising an eyebrow.

"You have a son," she pointed out. "You can't really tell me you've never cleaned up puke before."

"I have a sensitive stomach," Christine said stiffly. "So, Jason took care of messes like that."

"Oh, well lucky you," Hayley said. "I've cleaned up more messes than I care to think about."

"Like when Rae was going through that phase?" Tommy chuckled. "Where she kept putting everything in her mouth—and then throwing up because it wasn't edible…"

"You're one to talk," Hayley said drily. "What about when JJ was two and projectile vomited—"

Christine stood abruptly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hayley said. "Were we bothering you?"

"I can't believe you can just speak casually about something so disgusting," Christine huffed.

"Oh, I can change the subject," Hayley said with a smirk. "Tommy, did you hear Kelsey sliced her hand open again a few weeks ago? She broke a glass. Blood everywhere—"

Christine spun, stalking toward the door.

"Will, let's go!" she ordered.

Will hesitated. Ethan still had his phone hooked up.

"Don't worry, he'll make sure you get it back as soon as he's done," Hayley smirked. "He's very prompt."

Scowling at Hayley, Will followed his sister out the door. When they were gone, Ethan pulled off his headphones as Tommy chuckled. Hayley was pleased with herself.

"So, what exactly are you doing?" Hayley asked, turning to Ethan.

"Will asked me to fix his phone," Ethan grinned. "So, of course, I started with backing up his data."

Hayley started laughing. Tommy just shook his head.

"Do I want to know?" he asked.

"Nope," Hayley and Ethan answered.

Carter strode irritably down the hall from the elevator, still scrolling through the message thread. He was finally out of meetings with Trini—missing dinner—and had come back to a new message thread on the ranger phone and he was not amused. He stalked into Tommy and Jason's room without knocking.

"Take it back and make it stop," he demanded, holding out the phone.

Tommy and Hayley looked up at him in surprise. It was just them in the room with Jason now. Ethan had left a while before to deliver Will's phone to someone from Lightspeed after Hayley reminded him the siblings weren't allowed functioning personal devices. He'd been planning to go to the suite to do some digging after he dropped it off.

"Make what stop?" Tommy asked, eying the phone.

He didn't put out a hand to take it back.

"They won't stop," Carter repeated.

"Again—won't stop what?" Tommy asked. "I don't have the phone, Carter. So, I don't even know which 'they' you are talking about."

"All of them!" Carter exclaimed. "They're saying I've locked all of you in a dungeon!"

"Oh, that," Tommy said. "I read part of it earlier. They do that kind of thing all the time—just ignore it."

Hayley pulled out her own phone and started texting. Carter scowled.

"How am I supposed to ignore it?" Carter asked irritably. "I know not everyone is happy with my decision—but seriously? I'm protecting you. It's not like I arrested anyone!"

Tommy sighed.

"Carter, let it go," he said. "That's just a way for them to vent. Half of the time I don't even know about it unless one of the kids mentions it in passing. I don't pay that close of attention to their group chats. If they really thought you were doing something wrong they would act on it, not just make up stories in a text thread."

Hayley snickered, looking at her phone. Carter shot a scowl at her.

"So, I'm just supposed to ignore it?" Carter snapped.

"Yep," Tommy said. "Again—they'll act if they think something is actually wrong. Like that time a few years back when Eric and Wes somehow got it in their heads that I'd been turned evil again. They didn't just text everyone. No. They broke into my house in the middle of the night and tried to arrest me. Nearly had me in handcuffs before I even realized they were there—which is pretty impressive given my security systems. I almost broke Eric's jaw fighting back before I realized who he was, and Kat broke a lamp over Wes' head…"

"I remember that," Hayley laughed. "It was utter chaos in your house when I got there a little while later. You had conceded to letting them cuff you until I could get there and prove you were fine. Eric had an ice pack on his face, Wes was bleeding, and Kat was yelling at both of them for being ridiculous."

Tommy nodded, chuckling at the memory.

"I'm just glad JJ wasn't in the house that night," he said, shaking his head. "Though I'm pretty sure Eric and Wes chose that night on purpose. They wouldn't have wanted him in the way if they could avoid it. I think they were considering cuffing Kat, too, though."

"How does any of that help me?" Carter demanded, still clutching the phone.

Tommy sighed.

"It's part of being the figurehead, Carter," he said. "You are the leader and the one making decisions. So, you take the blame for anything they don't like. Just let it roll off and don't take it personally."

Carter sighed, looking at the phone again.

"Hmm…" Hayley said. "I think this part could be better…"

"What are you doing, Hayley?" Tommy sighed.

"Helping," she answered with a smirk.

Tommy rolled his eyes as Carter frowned.

"Why?" Carter asked.

"I need something to keep my mind busy," she shrugged. "I think I'm going to make Tommy the pink ranger—"

"Hayley, if you send that I swear—" Tommy growled.

"What?" she grinned, her finger hovering over the send button.

"I'll send everyone that picture of you drunk on Halloween weekend in college," Tommy said, grabbing his own phone.

Hayley eyed him, trying to decide how serious he was.

"Fine," she said. "But you are going to answer my questions or I'll share the pictures I have of you from pledge week."

Tommy rolled his eyes and put away his phone as she deleted what she'd written.

"What questions?" Tommy asked.

"For my investigation," Hayley answered. "I have more questions for you."

"What investigation?" Carter frowned. "I'm leading the investigation, remember? You are all supposed to be staying out of it."

Hayley scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Go back to someone attacking the rangers, Carter," she snapped. "What I do in my spare time is none of your business. I haven't broken any of your rules."

Carter opened his mouth to snap back and the phone started to ring in his hand. He scowled at it.

"You should take care of that," Hayley smirked. "You wanted to be in charge—that means you get to deal with the phone."

Tommy nodded in agreement, watching Carter.

"You know, it is kind of relaxing not having it for a while," Tommy mused as it continued to ring. "I'd forgotten what it was like to not always be on call. Carter, you should really answer that. Jungle Fury may not be one of the nosiest teams, but if you ignore them…"

Spinning, Carter stalked away and out the door as he answered the phone.

"Dad!"

Tommy looked up from his phone, raising an eyebrow as JJ skidded into the room.

"Slow down, kiddo," Tommy said. "Or you're going to land on your face."

"Sorry…" JJ apologized.

Tommy just nodded.

"Now what has you all fired up?" he asked.

"Not much," JJ said, bouncing in place in front of him. "I was just at the pool with Marc. I decided to come see you before mom says it's bed time."

"Well, that explains the wet hair," Tommy chuckled, ruffling his hair.

"Dad!" JJ protested, swatting his hand away.

Tommy just laughed. A phone ringing caught his attention. It wasn't his. Jason's phone was going off. It had gone off once or twice over the last few days, but Tommy had left it. However, he could see Mrs. Scott was calling her son. Guessing it was prompted by Rocky's call with his own mother earlier, Tommy sighed. Hopefully he'd be able to get her off quickly without her asking too many questions about where Jason was. Since Jason most definitely wasn't coming to the phone and Tommy wasn't ready to explain why.

"Hello?" he said, answering.

"Jas—this isn't Jason."

"No, it's not, Mrs. Scott," Tommy chuckled. "It's Tommy."

"Oh, Tommy! Hi," she said. "What are you doing answering Jason's phone? Shouldn't you be sleeping? You nearly died."

"I know," he sighed. "But, uh, no. Jason is actually the one—sleeping—right now."

He glanced over at the cryo chamber.

"Why is Jason sleeping? It's after 5p! It's far too late to still be asleep and too early to have gone to bed already."

"Yeah, he was up all night with me," Tommy said hesitantly. "So, he needed a nap…"

"Then why are you still awake? You need rest, too."

Tommy hesitated. But JJ jumped in before he said anything else. He snatched the phone way.

"Hi, Mrs. Scott!" he said with a grin, dancing out of Tommy's reach.

"JJ?"

"Hi! So, dad doesn't want mom to know but he was feeling really sick last night so Jason sat up with him so Kim would go to bed and no one else knows so please don't tell grandma," JJ said, barely pausing for a breath before continuing. "I'm helping now cause dad still isn't feeling the greatest and has been sleeping on and off but he's awake right now but Jason isn't which is why he answered the phone."

"JJ," Tommy hissed, reaching for the phone.

JJ stayed out of his reach.

"Oh!" Mrs. Scott said in surprise. "Well, then I'll stop bothering. You tell your dad to feel better, ok? And tell Jason to call me when he wakes up."

"I'll try," JJ nodded. "But he's gonna sit up with dad again tonight and he was already up all night last night and most of the morning and he still hasn't dinner so I don't know what'll happen when he wakes up, but I'll tell Marc to tell him to call as soon as he has time."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Mrs. Scott chuckled. "Goodbye."

"Bye!"

He hung up, grinning at Tommy. Tommy sighed.

"Alright, good cover," he said. "But question."

"Yeah?"

"What do you plan to do next?" Tommy asked. "Because I don't know when Dana is going to wake up Jason. And we aren't getting through another twenty-four hours without his mother calling back now. She'll be expecting to hear something from him."

"Umm…" JJ said hesitantly. "Wait!"

Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"I've got an idea!" JJ announced.

"Ok, what—"

But JJ didn't stay to explain. Instead, he turned and bolted out of the room.

"JJ, wait!" Tommy called after him. "My pho—Ok. Jason's phone."

He sighed, reaching to grab his own.

"I'll text Kat…"

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Kat," Krista sighed. "He won't eat without a fight. Conner just keeps saying he doesn't want to eat what we bring him but won't tell us what he will eat. I don't understand all of the details of his genetic changes, but…"

She sighed, resting her cheek in her hand as she stared at her own dinner.

"I know it's important that he eats," she continued after a moment. "Especially right now while he's recovering. And Dana said if he doesn't start getting the nutrients he needs soon, she's going to have to resort to something more drastic. I'm afraid of what drastic will mean for Conner…"

Kat nodded in understanding.

"He'll be fine," she said. "Conner is a little like Tommy when he gets sick, especially if medication is involved. It's more mental than anything else."

"So, what do I do?" Krista asked. "I'm scared of what could happen if he doesn't eat… Dana wasn't trying to scare me, but she warned me his health was going to start declining quickly if he didn't start getting nutrients one way or another. And now he has a fever…"

She trailed off, shaking her head. Kat sighed.

"What have you tried?" she asked.

"I've tried offering all of his favorite foods," Krista said. "Even things that aren't actually healthy—like pizza rolls. He doesn't want any of it."

Kat nodded.

"Well, I have a couple of ideas," Kat said. "When you go back up with his dinner, take a bowl of fruit or something with you. Just small bite sized things. Set it where he can reach it and start munching out of it. Don't press him eating his dinner too much, though definitely encourage it."

"Ok…" Krista said slowly.

"Then just start talking," Kat continued. "About anything and everything. And keep taking pieces out of the bowl. The idea is he'll stop thinking and just react to the food being in reach."

Krista looked at her in surprise.

"That's actually brilliant," she said.

Kat smiled.

"Tommy has used that one on him once before years ago," she said. "And if that doesn't work, you're going to want to recruit Kira."

"Kira?" Krista said. "Why Kira?"

"Because out of all of them, Conner and Kira butt heads the most," Kat chuckled. "So, if Kira tries taking Conner's food—"

"Oh!" Krista exclaimed, starting to laugh. "He might eat it to keep it away from her."

"Exactly," Kat nodded. "Hayley does it all the time when Tommy is in a funk and not eating. It can be rather effective. But it won't work if you do it. Just like I can't do it with Tommy."

Krista nodded.

"Thanks for the suggestions, Kat," she said gratefully. "I think I'm going to grab food and head back up. That way Trent and Kira can come eat. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Of course," Kat smiled. "I'm going to make sure JJ and Marc are getting dinner before I run something up for Tommy. I'll stop by later."

As Krista stood up to take care of her tray, Kim and Jake sat down across from Kat.

"Kat!" Kim exclaimed.

"Kim?" Kat said, looking at her in surprise.

"I have—" Kim paused to glance at Jake. "We have an idea."

"About…?" Kat asked.

"The kids," Kim said.

"Which ones?"

"All of them," Kim clarified.

Kat just sighed, looking at her expectantly.

"Right," Kat said sheepishly. "I know JJ said he was disappointed he missed the sleepover with Captain Mitchell last night."

"He'll survive," Kat said drily.

"I know, but hear me out," Kim said. "All of you were so much less stressed today with a break from the kids. And the kids had fun, too. So…"

She glanced at Jake again.

"We thought we would do the same thing again tonight with all of them," Kim said. "Except this time we could plan ahead a little more. We already talked to the kitchen and they said they'd make us pizza and snacks. We can watch movies and play games and all of you parents can have another night to just relax without worrying about your kids."

"You and Jake are volunteering to watch all nine of our kids—alone?" Kat asked slowly.

"Plus Dana's two," Kim nodded.

"And Eric's daughter is here now, too," Jake added.

"So twelve kids," Kat said.

"We can handle it for one night," Kim assured her. "It'll be fun."

"Uh huh…" Kat said hesitantly. "I don't think—"

"Please mom!" JJ exclaimed behind her.

Kat jumped, turning to look at her son.

"JJ!" she exclaimed. "Why do you do that to me?"

"Sorry…" he mumbled. "But can we? It would be fun! And I'll help with the little kids. Marc can, too! We didn't get to go last night…"

Marc was standing with JJ. Kat sighed.

"Do you want to, Marc?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"Sure," he said.

Kat eyed them both for a moment and then turned to Kim.

"Alright," she conceded. "But you're going to have to talk to everyone else on your own. I need to take dinner to Tommy."

"Don't worry, Kat," Kim beamed. "We'll take care of everything. You go spend time with Tommy."