Knocking the Socks Off

"Smurfie!" Lana screeched with a squeal that could've shattered windows. Sprinting full-steam, she jumped into the arms of the small but strong newcomer. After an anaconda-like hug, the busty ginger kissed each of his cheeks, forehead, and then an exaggerated one to his lips.

Standing back in the foyer, Peyton took in the new arrival and her best friend's reaction. "As if this day couldn't get worse, it just did," she muttered.

"Why, Nathan Toone, where in the world did you come from?" Bridget asked in shock, turning to look at Rachel and Gabriela.

"Don't look at me. We found him here when we got back from the cemetery, and I had no clue he was coming," Rachel responded to the curious look.

Nathan "Nate" Toone lowered Lana back to the floor. A short, stocky young man with short, dark brown hair and blue eyes, Nate held out his hands as if to apologize.

"Sorry, Aunt Bridget. Mom wanted to surprise you."

"Oh, that damn Tinny," Bridget grumbled as she moved forward to wrap Nate up in a hug. "And look at you! You've gotten so big."

"Not that big," Lana teased.

"I just talked to your mom the other day, and she gave no...wait, that's what the twins hinted at it. I thought they were only acting like devils as usual. Your mother said you were dropping your grandparents off at the airport. That little liar," Bridget remarked, shaking her head at her remaining best friend's behavior.

"Technically, I did drop them off at the airport. I just left with them too," Nate replied with a mischievous grin. "Dad felt terrible that Mom had to skip the trip. He insisted that someone from the family be there for the service and ball. And it's not like the twins can be trusted to behave."

"As if you can," Peyton mumbled, still in the same spot in the foyer.

"Oh my, Noelle and Natalie would've somehow ended up taking an exotic vacation somewhere instead," Bridget chuckled. "They are so much like your mother."

"Not that this one is any better," Gabby teased, putting an arm around Nate's neck and rubbing his head. "He got lost picking up his Uncle Teddy from the airport this morning."

"That's what your grandparents were talking about!" Bridget exclaimed. All the puzzle pieces from the last few days were falling into place. "I thought it weird that your grandfather would be worried about Teddy getting lost in town."

"What can I say? I wasn't old enough to drive before we moved to Hawaii," Nate said as his excuse.

Always full of excuses, aren't you? Peyton asked in her head. Why did I punch that boy? Well, he looked at me funny? He stared at Lana's breasts! He started at your ass, Peyton! He bumped into Finny! The serious, well-behaved blonde was not thrilled, to say the least, about the arrival of their old friend. If she and Finn had an unspoken bond, then so too did Lana and Nate. The trouble was that while she and Finn worked to keep Lana's worst impulses in check, Nate worked to bring them out. Sure, at heart, Nate was a good person, but he acted before he thought things through. And like his mother, he could be a daredevil, which meant that Peyton had been the one growing up that had to fix the messes he caused. Lost in her thoughts, it took Peyton a moment to realize that everyone was looking at her.

"Aren't you going to say hello, honey?" Bridget repeated to her daughter, motioning her forward.

Sighing, Peyton walked over to hug the newcomer. One that turned into Nate squeezing her tightly, lifting her off the ground, and swinging Peyton around.

"Hello, my love. I've returned to steal you away from Finley," Nate announced to the room.

"Hey! What about me?" Lana challenged.

"We agreed that you'd be my mistress," Nate replied as Peyton demanded that he put her down.

"Back when we were thirteen," Lana huffed.

"I'm sure we'd be happy if he married either of you," Bridget remarked, winking at Rachel.

The red-haired mother added, "But you get the one Finn doesn't choose."

Her husband didn't seem to find the talk as amusing as the two women and tried to change the subject. "Does Sean need anything? Another pill or some water?"

"His last pill should wear off in a few hours. Then he's switching to the new ones I picked up. Hopefully, those don't have the same side effect," Bridget explained, glancing at the clock. "But he is due for another antibiotic."

"I'll get a bottle of water," Lacey offered, hurrying to the kitchen.

"Has he eaten?" Rachel inquired her motherly side showing.

"It sounds like Frida made him some lunch. Oh! We still have the pizza from Luigi's in the car, and I need to put it in the garage," Bridget remembered.

"I'll get it!" Jeff said, already moving toward the hallway.

"Him and that damn Luigi's," Gabby grumbled.

"Well, we have plenty of leftovers still. So I thought that whoever wanted that for dinner could do so, and the rest of us can have sandwiches," Rachel suggested. "It's been a long day, and I suspect none of us are up for cooking a large meal."

"That sounds good," Kimberly chimed in. "We can put a few things together and leave it in the fridge. That way, people can eat whenever they want."

"Great idea," Gabby agreed. "We had a late lunch, so most of us probably aren't hungry yet."

"It's okay if I stay here, right?" Nate spoke up. "I'm cool with a couch."

"Of course, you can!" Bridget stated. "Harvey wouldn't send you away."

"And there's a free bunk in the boathouse, now that Owen left," Rachel revealed. "How about you grab your stuff, and the kids can show you where you'll be sleeping."

"Boathouse?" Nate repeated in surprise.

"No, it's nice out there. There are six built-in bunks. Ask Newt and Austin," Lana motioned to the two teens. "Jared, Sean, and Finn are out there too."

"Hey, what's taking Finn so long?" Nate questioned, glancing back toward the hallway.

"He's not with us," Lana informed him. "Didn't anyone tell you about his dad?"

"They did, but I thought that he was with you."

"He was, but we went to check on Sean and came back with him," Lana explained.

"You didn't stay to help him find his dad?!?"

"No, Prof. Lufflutz is with him," Peyton explained. "He knows how to deal with Mr. Singer."

"But he doesn't know what Finny needs!" Nate pointed out. "I can't believe you left him to deal with this by himself."

"We didn't just leave him. He told us not to wait," Lana responded, watching as Nate stormed to the foyer. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To help my friend!"

"Here we go," mumbled Peyton.

"Mom!" Lana yelled, in the direction of the kitchen, before rushing after Nate.

Rachel came out of the kitchen with Bridget. When both found out what Nate planned to do, they rushed after him. Peyton shrugged at the scene and went into the kitchen for a drink.

"He needs help, and if no one else will, then I'll do it," Nate snapped, zipping up his jacket.

"Nathan Toone, do you think I would just abandon Finn? Well, do you?" Rachel questioned, almost angrily, which wasn't like her.

"Uh, no."

"I pleaded with him to not runoff, but he wouldn't listen. He said he needed to do this," the redheaded mother recounted. "If Larry wasn't with him, then yes, I'd be worried, but he is, and he knows Fred as well as anyone."

"And don't forget today's a bad day for Finn," Bridget added. "He might want to be alone when he talks to his father."

"He needs someone--"

"And we're here for him. Larry promised to call when they learn anything," Rachel informed him.

"And you wouldn't know where to find him. They went to Fred's condo but might not be there now," Bridget remarked.

"You know how much Lana and Peyton care for Finn. Do you think they would leave him behind if they thought he needed help?" Rachel challenged.

"No, no, they wouldn't," Nate firmly agreed.

"So, come back inside, and wait with us for any word. Okay?"

"Okay, Aunt Rachel."

It wasn't until Nate took off his coat, and went back into the great room with Lana, did Bridget and Rachel breathe a sigh of relief. They looked at each other, silently worried about Finn.

"--and then Orion killed Roddy Taft, but he'd changed his name to Shawn Lewis. Changed his face too! It was awesome!" Sean narrated. The injured teen was on the pull-out couch, where he dramatically waved his hands during his storytelling.

"Orion? Who's Orion?" Jared queried.

"Orion's a badass," Sean giggled. "He's this cat from outer space!"

"Outer space?" Jared glanced over at Newt, who merely shrugged. "What about Watson? I thought you were a dog person."

"I am! But not Zackenstein." The three others in the room looked at each other and mouthed the name in confusion. "I think he found Orion in a crashed meteorite like Superman. I bet his super cat came here to take over the world. Or maybe to defend it from an alien rat race!""

"I was a humpback? Thanks," Newt remarked sarcastically. He's been preoccupied with that attribute since he'd heard it minutes earlier.

"You were Igor...or wait...I think you were called Gavgor."

"Gavgor?" JoJo repeated, giggling.

"And you were white!"

"White? Ah, hell, no," Newt's issue with the humpback part vanished with an even stronger complaint. "Why the hell was I white?"

"Dude, it was a dream," Jared reminded him.

"Hmm, I don't--I got it! I dreamed you were white because you're a nerd!" Sean exclaimed.

"What the...I can be black and a nerd. Not that I'm a nerd...I'm intelligent."

"I think he meant a geek," JoJo giggled. But, unfortunately, it proved to be the wrong move as it caught her BFF's attention.

"You were a redhead! Yep, my bestie was a ginger that scared the bejeezus out of me."

"A ginger, huh?" Jared commented, imagining how JoJo would look with that shade of hair color. "Maybe you should think about dyeing--"

"And you were called Chlopatra!" Sean excitedly recalled. "Then the peasant girl--hey, I think it was Lacey! She held a mirror that reflected your spell back at you."

"And turned me into a beast," JoJo guessed, based on his earlier comment.

"Sorta a hellhound. Which is weird as I thought you'd turn into a panther or cougar or..."

"Tigress?" Jared suggested.

"No, not that," Sean said, suddenly sounding deflated.

I hope Iona doesn't hear about this. She already calls me her little tigress for some weird reason. I don't want hellhound added to the list. Then JoJo blushed as last night's dirty talk about Little Red Riding Hood, The Big Bad Wolf, and fucking tiger style came roaring back. She shyly glanced over at Jared, who grinned as he thought back to their fun.

"Wow, what an exciting experience," JoJo added, forcing a smile on her face. "I can almost picture it."

"Yes, it did," Sean clapped, wondering if his friends had the same dream. "Did you get away?"

"What?" JoJo asked, confused.

"I didn't. Lady Victorian--"

"Lady Victorian? Who's that?" Jared queried, shooting a grin at JoJo and Newt.

"Ramsey in disguise. She tricked me by having blonde hair," Sean pouted.

"And was she a monster too?" Jared asked after hesitating. JoJo braced for another freakout over Ramsey while Newt couldn't give a damn. He was still pissed about being white in the dream.

"Nope! She was an old-timey monster hunter. Looked hot, smoking hot. But she shot me in the heart with a crossbow," Sean started his line happily, but by the end, he was sulking.

"That's okay, buddy," Jared started to say, but tapping on the partially closed door interrupted him.

"Am I interrupting?" Lacey asked after gently pushing the door open. The others said no, so she came inside the den. "I have an antibiotic pill and water for you."

"You're a nurse, just like future Lacey!" Sean remarked.

"What was I like in the future?" Lacey asked with a smile as Sean swallowed his pill.

"You had hair more curly, and brought me goodies to eat, and made googly eyes at Harvey, and you were called Libby," Sean rattled off until he ran out of breath.

"Libby? Why was I called Libby?"

"It's short for Liberty. I don't know why, but probably because you're liberated from Austin in the future."

A loud bark of laughter came from Jared at that guess. Lacey didn't appreciate the laugh or Sean's guess. She tried to change the subject.

"So, what were you all talking about when I interrupted? I heard a lot of laughter from down the hall."

"About last night!" Sean said happily.

"Last night? About Mr. Singer?"

"No, some other craziness," Newt answered, meaning Sean's dream, but a surprised Lacey thought he meant other craziness at the cabin.

"You guys told him about last night?" Lacey questioned, looking at JoJo and then Jared. JoJo blushed and shook her head while Jared coughed and attempted to distract Sean.

"So, any more crazy dreams, buddy?"

"Did something happen to JoJo? Is that why's she's glowing?" Sean asked, ignoring Jared's question.

"I, uh, need to use the bathroom," Newt announced, but JoJo grabbed his arm and wouldn't let him abandon her.

"I'm so sorry," Lacey mouthed at the horrified brunette.

"What happened? Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Sean chanted like a toddler.

"Um, well, you see, I was trying to apologize to JoJo. And it was kind of a dumb, wacky way, I'll admit. So I had Lana--" Jared hemmed and hawed through his story until JoJo had enough.

"We did it!"

"Did what?" Sean asked with a smile, having no idea.

"We had sex!"

"Who?"

"Jared and me!" JoJo revealed, blushing hard.

"You and...but Jared likes girls. He's a sex machine with girls," Sean stated, utterly perplexed.

"Yes, I do, and JoJo's a girl," Jared stated.

"JoJo's not a girl; she's one of the guys!"

"No, she's a girl. Make that a woman. Trust me on that," Jared continued.

"But you can't have sex with JoJo. That's plain weird. You like girls!" Sean insisted.

"I'm out of here," Newt mumbled after JoJo had let go of his arm.

"Um, me too," Lacey muttered, feeling guilty for blurting out what happened.

Jared watched as JoJo's face grew redder, not from embarrassment but anger.

"Sean, trust me on this. JoJo's a girl and has girl parts."

"No, she doesn't," Sean insisted, in his loopy state. A state that everyone seemed to have forgotten about at this moment.

"Dammit, Sean, I'm a girl!" JoJo hissed, leaning forward on her chair.

"No, you're my best friend."

"Aargh!" JoJo screamed, jumping to her feet. She grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled, unleashing her large bra-covered breasts. "I'm a girl!"

Sean stared at the royal blue plunge bra that revealed an expanse of his best friend's cleavage. Then his eyes rolled back, and he passed out onto the bed.

Jared and JoJo watched Sean as she pulled her top back down. Once snores emitted from his nose, the stocky teen shook his head in fascination.

"Damn, you knocked him out, Jo. And you didn't believe me when I said that you have some awe-worthy knockers."