“Solana, are you sure? You should sleep in your own bed.” Patty stepped down from her stool and closed the cabinet door. A cabinet door that had perfectly working hinges and clean shelves. She couldn’t believe they’d gotten out of that hell hole they used to call ‘home’.

“Nope. I’m helping Nick with your gang. You enjoy your night alone. Almost.”

“You kidding? Just Amy might as well be alone. Where is she, anyway?” She wondered if she’d ever get used to having so many bedrooms, so much space, so many places to get lost.

“Ben was changing her last I saw. What else do you need to do in here?”

“Nothing tonight. I’m beat. Everyone out. Kids were already packed so we didn’t have to worry about it tonight.”

“Wonderful.” She pulled a key ring out of her pocket and handed it over. “Here are my keys. Silver is the knob and gold is the dead bolt. Lock ‘em both. Oh, and the code is…” She dug into her other pocket and pulled out a receipt. “The price of the security system.”

“The price is the code?”

“Yeah, I’m not real creative. Um, anything there is yours…coffee, food, towels are in a normal spot, all that. Oh, and watch the hot water setting in my bath. Hot doesn’t begin to describe it.”

“Got it. Now to find…”

“Carter Train comin’ through. Load up or get outta the way!!!” With a roar of shuffling feet, giggles and squeals, all of Patty’s concerns came barreling through the back door, Nick leading the way with a firm hold of Amy as his guide. Behind him, each holding onto the waist in front of them were the entire Casey clan and Rosalie…choo-choo-ing, giggling, rolling their eyes and putting on a happy face for the youngest of the players. “Come on, Miss Romero. Get your caboose attached and let’s get outta here!”

Patty looked to Solana with pity while scooping Amy out of Nick’s arms as the train slowed to transfer its load and collect its caboose. “You sure you don’t need another adult there?”

Solana grabbed onto Ben’s waist and chugged along with the train. “No. You go. Have fun. See you tomorrow!!”

And they were gone.

It was silent.

“Mama?” Amy looked to her mother for assurance. The only time it was this quiet was in the morning when she and Patty were the first to wake. But now they were in this odd house full of boxes and funny smells and different rooms and all of the noises were gone. “Go bye-bye?”

“Yep, kiddo…let’s go bye-bye.”

Liz stood and grabbed the last piece of pepperoni pizza with wild abandon. Only to have her hand smacked by her brother. “Mine, wench. Off the ‘za.”

“I don’t think so, Jack…I got it first. You’ve already had 10 pieces.”

“I have not…gimme that. NICK!” Jack yanked the slice of pizza out of Liz’s hand and it quickly flew out of his grasp and onto the kitchen floor. “Now look what you did. God, you are such a brat!”

“YOU did it, you jerk!”

“Woah, woah, woah…hold up.” Nick charged into the kitchen and promptly put his bare feet into the center of the tomatoey slice of pizza. “Shit…what the he-…” He slowly peeled the crust from his foot and looked up to the kids, glaring, seething and sadly, trying not to laugh. And fall over from his balancing act. “Who’s talkin’ first?”

In true form, they talked at the same time. “Oops.”

“Oops? There’s food on my floor, tomato sauce on my feet and all I get is an ‘oops’? Try again. Liz first.”

“I wanted the last piece and he snatched it outta my hand. I’m done.” Liz crossed her arms, stomped her foot and flipped her hair with a jerk of her head.

“Jack. Talk.”

“She’s always takin’ the last of everything and I’m still hungry.” He slunk back knowing his argument wasn’t quite as strong. And Nick still had sauce on his foot. He was dead.

“Get the paper towels over there for me.” Nick tossed the slice into the sink and leaned back against the counter to let Jack through and to wipe his foot. “Thanks…now, turn around and look to your right.”

Liz smacked her hand over her mouth when her eyes landed in the direction of Nick’s gaze. Jack hung his head in embarrassment. “Oh crap.”

“Yeah, it’s full. You each get one more slice. Liz, you take the box out to everyone else and you both are cleaning up. Trash, glasses in the dishwasher, and Jack…you get the floor. Understood?”

“Yes…sorry.”

“This isn’t a zoo, guys…there’s always enough for everyone. Got it? Always.”

Liz took the box from Jack and glared at him, tossing a glance of apology back to Nick. “One more pie here guys…who wants some?”

Solana passed the new waiters and scruffed Jack’s hair totally unaware of what had just happened. “Hey, that’s the last of…”

“Watch your st-…” He sucked in his breath as Solana’s foot landed in some more sauce still on the floor. “…step.” Handing her his soiled towel, he grinned. “Have a towel.”

“What happened in here?”

“Liz and Jack. Are they getting fed right at home still?”

“I think so…I’d think Ben would have said something if not.” She wiped the sauce off of her foot and went to the sink to wet a washcloth and clean up the floor.

“Don’t touch that floor. That’s Jack’s job.”

“Oh. Okay. Hope no one else steps in it.” She tossed the cloth into the sink and grimaced as she saw it land on Nick’s crust. “Yuck.”

“They won’t…that’d mean they’d have to get off their asses and stop feeding themselves. I think we’re safe.” Realizing that his words also meant that they had a moment alone, Nick smirked and slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her into him. “Actually, Jack was just following my directions so I could get you alone in the kitchen.”

“Oh yeah? What a clever boy you are.” She tilted her head up just in time for his lips to land on hers, for his hands to press her closer to him, his tongue to tease inside of her mouth.

“Always thinkin’, that’s me.” He pressed his forehead to hers, cupping her face in his hands and dotting a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “I’m glad you’re here tonight.”

“Yeah…gotta have someone save your ass from flying pizza.”

“Hey, now. I took care of that one all by my lonesome. I can handle these twerps. I just wanted to have an excuse to get you here overnight is all.”

“Don’t think it’s gonna be all that romantic, Romeo.” She leaned into his chest, kissing it and patting his tummy as they separated. “Platonic night.”

“Yep, I know…I thought the girls could get my room and the guys could get the guest room since there’s more of you.”

“That’ll work. We have enough sleeping bags and stuff?”

“I think. I have a few, you brought a couple…”

Kitty joined them in the kitchen, clearing her throat and futzing with her shirt. “Excuse me.”

“Anyone throwing food in there?”

“No…they’re good. Um, they’re ready for the movies though. Sorry to interrupt.” She blushed and left quickly, leaving Nick and Solana standing a foot apart wondering what they’d missed.

“What’s she so embarrassed about?” Nick gave Solana another quick kiss and stepped over the tomato slop to head back to the gang.

“No idea…she can’t seem to look me in the eye anymore. Buggin’ me.”

But, now was not the time to be worried about such things. They had a roomful of kids awaiting movie night. And that’s where their focus would be. The kids. The fun. The potential battles.

The potential memories.

Rosalie snuggled deeper into Nick’s chest and moaned. He wasn’t sure she’d seen much of the last movie, but she totally resisted going to bed. She wanted to play with the big kids. For tonight, it was okay. Sadly, her body was winning over her desires.

“Soñoliento, Nicky.”

“Okay, sweetie…let’s get you to bed then, huh?”

“No.” Deeper into the couch she cuddled, closer to him, making him wonder if she was going to cuddle herself right through him and into the furniture for good. “I wanna stay here with you.”

“Ro, come on. You’re asleep already…let’s go. You sleep in my bed tonight, okay?”

That perked her up. So up that her next words were followed by loud hushes from the others. “With you, Nicky!?”

“No, with Mamí.” He pressed a finger to her lips and scooped her up, climbing over half dead bodies to get her to bed.

Solana stirred from her gaze into the television and rolled onto her back looking more desirable than she should for Nick’s own good. “Need help?”

“Nah, we’re good…” Nick and Rosalie both blew Solana a kiss and tried to head down the hall, although Rosalie was still in an arguing mood.

“I wanna sleep with you, Nicky. In your bed.”

“So do I!” Nick stopped cold hearing Liz’s voice and peeked back into the room, looking to Lani for some help.

“What is it about all the women wanting to sleep with you, Carter…girls, here’s the deal. Boys in one room, girls in another. End of story.” Lani flopped back down onto her pillow on the floor hoping they were done.

“No way. It’s a slumber party. We all sleep in one room.” Liz got up from her spot on the floor and started tossing pillows down, showing everyone that there was more than enough room for 7 bodies there. “See? We can all be in here…”

“I’m all for it. I was expecting to finally sleep with Solana tonight anyway.” All eyes fell on Ben as his halo took a slow tumble from its perched position on his horns. “What?” He grinned cheesily and grabbed one of Liz’s tossed pillows, curling up into a comfortable position.

“Hands off my woman. Ro, you’re going to bed…we’ll argue out the rest later. I swear you come up with the most creative ideas to delay bedtime.”

“Can I wear one of Aaron’s shirts instead of my jammies?”

“Yep…go pick one out…top right drawer in the guest room. Show me your right hand.” He popped her gently on the behind, watching her right hand raise and her curls bounce and sway as she bounded down the hall. Every time he watched her, he felt like he was getting an old home movie of Lani as a girl…and he loved it. He loved them. Turning to the others, his heart swelled at the scene before him too. Jack had his head on Kitty’s lap, almost asleep, Ben was curled into his pillow, but Liz had scooted over and was spooned into him, while Lani’s arm stretched out from under her floor pillow and rubbed both Liz and Ben’s feet. They really were a family, weren’t they? “I’ll be back out guys. I don’t care where we sleep…just so we sleep some, alright?”

Without planning, without thought, without direction, 5 voices snored loudly from the floor. Nick shook his head chuckling down the hall, until one more comment broke through the snores.

“I’m still sleeping with your woman, dude!”