The night hadn't gone much better for the three Monkees. Micky had ended up falling asleep sitting at his kitchen table, Peter had barely slept at all, and Mike had gotten up at around three o'clock in the morning and taken a walk.They had all arrived at the studio early. Mike was sitting at the little coffee area that had come into existance with his chair rocked back on two legs, leaning on his left hand and clutching a cup of coffee, staring straight ahead without blinking. Even now and then, Micky would wander into Mike's fixed line of vision, as he was pacing around the set in nearly a run. Peter was furiously pouring cup of water after cup of water, not really bothering to drink them. Ending the seemingly endless wait, the director casually tossed a newspaper down on the coffee table.
"It's going to be a little bit until we're ready... Man, you guys are here early..." He walked off, not realizing the huge piece of steak he'd thrown to the starving lions.
Mike immediately snatched the paper off of the table. "I don't really think there'll be anything in the paper... We'll send Patty out later to check the teen magazines..." But as he said that, he was flipping through the sections furiously with Peter and Micky goggling over either shoulder.
"Oh you don't, huh?" Micky slapped the page Mike had stopped, mortified, on. "Great, that's great!"
Spread over the front page of the Entertainment section were all the pictures that Veronica had managed to snap without the group's knowledge; Mike and Ginger kissing in the booth, Peter and Steph making out, Micky about to break Kari in two, they were there in black and white.
"What does it say, Mike?" Peter asked quietly, not really wanting to know at all.
Mike's eyes darted from left to right. "Says... Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith of the Monkees now all have serious girlfriends... Have been on several heavy dates... Child star Kari Cranston, formerly Kari Harrison, is Micky's... thinking of becoming engaged... Oh gosh..." Mike stopped and leaned in closer to the paper. "The former little star suffers from a trauma she received at age 18 from the result of a horrific car accident. While driving her date and another couple home from her high school prom, the group collided with a truck and all three passengers were killed and Miss Harrison/Cranston (Mrs. Micky Dolenz) Oh please... escaped without any injuries. Alcohol is rumored to have been involved. The has-been actress has yet to drive since."
The three looked at each other.
"Do you think that's true?" Micky asked with a voice full of concern.
Mike gave a tiny shrug. "I suppose we'll ask them when they get here..."
"What's the rest?" Peter said as he and Micky perched themselves back over Mike.
"Uh... Steph Oliver-McKnight, Peter's great love, was adopted at a very young age, hence the two names. The child of abusive parents, she has never met them, though she does know about her adoption... Oh man, you guys'll love this... Recently in an interview, Miss Oliver-McKnight revealed she was pregnant with Peter Tork's first child, orginally thought to be Micky Dolenz's." Mike started laughing.
Peter and Micky both made grabs for the paper and squinted to reread what Mike had just read.
"Oh I'll kill her..." Micky said of the reporter.
"Save some of her for me..." Peter agreed.
Mike was still laughing. Hard. "Well now it looks to me like you're both getting plenty!"
He was promptly punched in either arm. Hard.
"Ow..."
"So what about you and Ginger?" Peter prompted Mike to shut up and keep reading.
"She's probably married with five kids and the two of us ran off to Mexico last night..." Mike readjusted the paper and found his place. The whole article wasn't really all that bad, as they were sure most all of it was only tabloid lies, and the backlash of fans was the only thing that might cause a real upset. "Ginger Barbour, a Southerner like her Monkee boyfriend... They always like to throw that in, don't they?... I don't believe this...Is rumored to already have kids with the quietest Monkee. No wonder he stays so quiet. This bitch is loon crazy... What probably even her lover doesn't know is her truely well-hushed-up past. The twenty-two year old..." Mike stopped reading. Outloud. He continued to read to himself. "Well that's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever seen... Says here that a more in depth spread is in some teeny bopper magazine. When Patty gets here we'll get Davy to send her out to buy it if the girls want to." He folded up the paper and tossed it in the garbage. Then threw his coffee on top of it.
As if on queue, the three girls walked in, all smiles.
"Hi!" Steph ran over to Peter and hugged and kissed him. Peter stood there usure if she'd read the paper of not.
"Hey there babe!" Kari and Micky's exchange was the same.
Ginger laid her hand on Mike's back, who hadn't stood up. "What's on your mind there, cowboy?"
"Nothing," Mike said immediately. "Hey, is it supposed to rain today? I didn't read the paper..."
"We didn't either. We didn't get one this morning," Ginger answered. "But it is LA so I'd doubt it... Are you okay, or has Peter had more of those funny cigarettes out in the Black Box again?..."
The girls looked at the boys curiously as they were hesitating to answer them.
"What? Did you read an article? Was it bad?" Steph asked, the mood getting very serious very fast.
"Um, here," Micky said handing the soggy newspaper to the girls. "Mike did it."
The three glared at Mike, but were too horrified at the pictures to really give him hell.
Kari turned pale as she read her horrific past stated ever-so-politely. Ginger and Steph both put a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her, but it was done in vain. Kari was slowly reliving that night, the pain and guilt just as strong now as it had been then.
The three girls finished the article, Kari close to tears. Micky walked over to Kari and, looking at the others, began to usher her to his dressing room.
Steph and Ginger watched them leave, feeling so sad for their roommate, but Steph had other things on her mind.
Ginger walked over to Mike, throwing the paper on the floor.
"That reporter is going to die for doing Kari like this. I am personally going to make her pay," Ginger growled.
Steph just numbly stood there as Peter came over to comfort her.
"I mean, she had no right to put that in her article, I mean she...Steph, what is it? What's wrong?" Ginger stopped, noting the look on her friend's face.
"My parents, I mean, my adoptive parents, never told me anything about my real parents. I always had thought that it was that they couldn't afford to have me, or they just didn't want me... I had no idea... I had no idea that..."
She couldn't finish, but she didn't need to.
Mike, Ginger, and Peter just stood there before Ginger suddenly spoke.
"That bitch is going to wish she never wrote one word of that article. Mike, you can get your own coffee today."
With that, Ginger stormed off towards the exit of the studio.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mike, Peter, and Steph were in the Black Box, Micky and Kari still locked away in his dressing room.
"I wonder what she wrote about Ginger," Steph said slowly.
The three had been sitting in silence for the past ten minutes, so this sudden sound made the two men jump.
"I wonder if she is still alive," Mike stated cynically about the reporter.
Peter and Steph laughed, the mood easing up a bit.
"Judging by the things said in that article and the way Ginger reacted, I'd say 'no'," Peter said.
"Can you believe what she said? ' pregnant with Peter Torks' first child, originally thought to be Micky Dolenz's.'?" Steph asked in annoyance.
"Hey at least you don't already have them," Mike said, referencing Ginger's little bit in the article.
Steph sucked in her breath, suddenly realizing something.
"How am I going to explain this to my family?? They're probably so angry..."
"Yeah, well, at least it's not true...right?" Mike asked in mock suspicion.
"Right!" Peter and Steph chimed.
Just as the two had spoken Ginger came running in through the door. She collapsed on the ground panting, obviously tired from running.
She glared at Mike. "And you said that they wouldn't care about me being you're girlfriend."
This caught everyone's attention.
"What?" Mike asked, concerned at the fact that his girlfriend seemed to be barely alive.
"The stupid girls. The fans. They nearly killed me when I got back to the studio."
"So I take it you went to the reporter's office."
"Yeah, she wasn't there, but this was," Ginger said producing the magazine that the article was continued in. "I thought we could all read it together."
Before they opened the magazine, Micky and Kari ran into the room.
"You guys have got to see what is going on outside," Micky said hurriedly.
The four got up and followed Micky and Kari (who seemed have recovered from the article's blow), leaving the magazine behind.
They ran to the nearest window and were shocked to see the sight below them.
"This is insane," Kari stated, flattly. The six contined to look out the window where hoards of preteen Monkees fans stood out with homemade signs, protesting by yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs about the Monkees' girls, waiting for them to come out so they could be ripped apart.
Steph shook her head. "I've never been so scared of a bunch of twelve-year-olds before."
"Well, it could be worse..." Peter gazed outside. The studio officials were trying to get the raging girls to leave, but had no such luck.
"Man they really hate me." Kari was looking at all the signs that were practically death threats, as much as a preteen could make.
Micky hugged her. "Atleast you didn't choose Davy, you'd be killed for sure," he tried to laugh. Kari just got closer to him.
Steph was still hurt by the article. Everyone, even those kids outside knew about her real parents before her. A couple of posters showed it, too.
"Uh oh," Mike realized something.
"What?" asked Micky.
"We have to go out on location for shooting today..." Mike looked at the group slowly. The other's jaws dropped.
"They're practically eating our car." Ginger looked out to where the girls were parked.
"Atleast they don't know it's us," Kari replied, looking at the studio car covered in girls.
The director came up with a worried look on his face. "Um, it's time to go guys." He paused, not knowing quite how to give directions. "Take the girls with you and there will be some guards along the way to help with security." The director hadn't dealt with something like this before. "As long as you boys cover the girls up there shouldn't be as much trouble." He looked at them for awhile and outside and then walked away.
"Well," Peter said sighing. "Here we go."
With the director and two bodyguards in the lead, the group went down to the back studio door. Hopefully, they could avoid a full on mob by going out the back. They stood in anxious silence as the two guards burst out the door with a security rope as a limo with blacked out windows pulled up almost simulatniously. Four more guards hurried outside, then the director turned to the group.
"You boys are going to have to be a shield," he said hurriedly so that all the screaming girls wouldn't have time to make it over to the new location. "Try to form like a cirlce around the girls. You may loose some clothing."
"Or eyes or wisdom teeth..." Mike added sarcastically.
"But that's better than the girls' lives," the director pointed out, and all the Monkees nodded.
"This is stupid," Ginger said in disbelief. "This is no good for you guys. We'll just stay here."
Mike was inclined to agree. He had no desire to drag her out into this mess. But Steph spoke before he could express that thought.
"No," she said. "I'm not hiding. We're going."
Micky, Peter, and Kari nodded their agreement.
"What about filming today? What if they mob up on us there? All of you would just have to hide anyway," Mike told the girls. "And I don't know if we're inside or outside or both," he said to the director, "but if it's outside we'll be done for."
"It's all secure. Don't worry about it," the director said, moving the group closer towards the door with still more guards bringing up the rear.
"Just hold your breath," Peter told Steph as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders in very protective hug.
She nodded as put an arm around his waist.
Micky stood in the front of the four-point enclosue, directly in front of Kari, who had Ginger and Steph behind her. He reached back and took hold of both Kari's hands like he was going to drag her on if she happened to fall behind. It made the most sense for the two of them to get in the limo first.. "Don't let go of me," he told her.
"I won't." She gave his arms a playful swing even though was terrified that the two of them would be ripped apart no matter how badly she wanted to hang on to him.
Mike put one arm behind Ginger like he was going to absolutely fling her into the limo as soon as the door opened and he turned slightly to the side to shield her. Ginger was afraid that Mike would be absolutely cut to ribbons the way he was standing just to protect her, but she didn't want to make everything worse by holding him, so she just shrunk into the center of the circle towards Steph as much as possible to get away from the crowd.
Davy got in the very back of the intertwined couples to help the shield effect, and hopefully to distract.
"Let's go," the director announced as he took off out the door.
The group hurried out after him. The crowd of girls was smaller, but no less fierce. They were pushing in as far as the guards and rope would allow them. Mostly, they were grabbing at Micky and Kari and Peter and Steph, but the ones on Mike and Ginger's side weren't exactly passive.
Davy turned his back to the girls he was helping to protect and waved and smiled, mostly to Peter and Steph's side, as a distraction. Mike wasn't even looking at the crowd as he was completely facing Ginger.
Micky jumped in the limo and yanked Kari inside. He pulled some flowers off of him that girls had thrown to him and held Kari. "Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly.
Kari nodded, breathing hard. The shouts of names she didn't even realize thirteen-year-olds knew weren't lifting her spirits, but physically she'd sustained no damage.
Steph came flying into the limo with Peter's help. The two scrunched in close to Micky and Kari with Kari and Steph in the middle like Peter and Micky were still trying to protect them. Peter's shirt had been ripped slightly on the side and Steph only had the rude names shouted at her like Kari.
The limo was rocking back and forth and Ginger climbed in next to Peter and Mike followed, still hugging Ginger with one arm as the door slammed shut.
"Everybody still in one piece?" Mike asked with a special look towards Ginger, who nodded.
"Yeah I think we made it," Micky answered as the limo slowly pulled out towards the location.
There were girls actually running along side the car. "Save that thought for the end of the day, Shotgun," Mike said lazily.
"Well..." Ginger said, still in shock. "That was...interesting."
"Are little girls supposed to know those words?" Kari asked Micky, who, in return, shrugged.
"Aww, your shirt got ripped," Steph said, while picking up the torn bit and examining it in her hands.
"This is nothing. You should see some of Davy's shirts," Peter said laughing at the thought.
This made everyone smile.
"Wait..." Mike said realizing something, "Where's Davy?"
"Too late!" Micky said as the car began to drive forward.
"Maybe they took him in another car," Kari said hoping that they hadn't left him to the wolves.
"Well, no matter what, we couldn't have gotten him in here..." Steph said trying to get in to a more comfortable position, but finding it impossible.
"You know what's the kicker though?" Mike asked the group. "Those girls actually think they have a chance with us... I mean, not to sound rude or anything, but it's insane for them to think that we'd go with them if we're single."
"Yeah, but it's time for them to face reality.. .Micky Dolenz is off the market and is in the check out isle... Honey, it'd be faster if you had twelve items or less..." Micky said with the most serious face he could muster.
"Shut up," Kari laughed playfully punching him in the arm.
"No, you shut up," Micky said returning the punch.
Pretty soon the two were in a slap fight, the other four laughing, completely forgetting about what had just happened, as they drove up to the place where they were going to film for the day.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The beach? I thought you said this was indoors!" Mike asked, angry
"No, I said it was secure and it is, so stop complaining," the director said as if he was talking to a little child... which he kind of was...
"If I knew we were coming to the beach I would have brought my swim suit!" Patty said walking up to the group with Davy.
"Patty!" Ginger said through clenched teeth. "When'd you get here?"
"Why just now! Davy and I-"
"It was a rhetorical question."
Patty laughed, not knowing what that word exactly meant, but said, "No you're rhetorical, silly!!"
Ginger exchanged looks with everyone not knowing if she should laugh or not.
"Well, we're going to need you boys right now. So if you'll please..." the director interrupted.
The boys reluctantly said their good-byes and Steph, Ginger, and Kari suddenly found themselves alone with Patty.
"Do you guys like this nail color?" Patty asked looking at her nails intently.
Before Ginger could open her mouth, Steph said, "Hey, Patty? I feel like we haven't gotten the chance to get to know each other you know?"
Patty frowned, thinking, "Yeah, me too."
"I mean, I want to be your friend, but I feel like we barely know one another."
"Yeah. I feel that way too," Patty said getting excited.
"What do you say we go over there on that big rock by the ocean, away from all this Hollywood junk and just have a girls day?"
Patty seemed to ponder this, but it didn't look like she was going to go for it.
"I bet we'd get a great tan," Steph added.
"Ok!" Patty squealed. "Let's go!"
Patty ran off and before Steph joined her, she said to Kari and Ginger, "You two owe me big time."
Ginger and Kari watched realizing that their friend just took a bullet for them.
"You want to talk?" Ginger asked Kari.
"Yeah, I think I do."
The two walked over to the shade of a trailer set up in the middle of a beach as the crew bustled around in the distance, keeping up with the boys running around in the sand and water.
"You doin' alright with what that wack job said? The press is just..." Ginger asked.
Kari shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's just I had to relieve it all. And she made it sound like I was drunk. It was the guy that hit us that was drunk. And those stupid girls! Gee! What did I ever do to them?"
Ginger shook her head. "I know, man." Kari ignored Ginger's habit of saying "man" regardless of gender out of training. Ginger let a tiny smile play on one side of her mouth. "So what did you and Micky do that, uh, lessened your pain?"
Kari shoved Ginger in the arm, but she was smiling. "Nothing!"
"C'mon, ya'll had a make out party, didn't ya?"
"No..." Kari was grinning.
"Well on your way to all those babies, then?"
"Gingie shut up!!!"
There was crash in the trailer, but they figured it was part of the normal bustle of the set.
Kari continued, "No, he just told me about some stuff he had to deal with after 'Circus Boy'. It's nice to be able to relate to him like that. Did Mike say anything about you? I never read the rest of the article."
"No. I didn't read the rest of it, either. By the time I got past the bits about you and Steph I was too mad to give a damn what she said about me. No doubt I'm a pushy, hateful, controling, gold-digging whore. Mike did mention that according to her we have kids already. Oh well."
Kari laughed. "Yeah, you're so easy Gingie. All she had to do was ask Mike about that."
Ginger rolled her eyes. "So you're fine? I know it's been really hard for you. It's okay if-- What was that?"
The door to the trailer had slammed.
"I don't know..." Kari looked around the corner.
Just then, their respective men and Peter and Davy came over to them.
"Hiya!" Micky plopped down beside Kari and rubbed his face in her hair. Ginger was looking at him strangely. "I like to get into girls' hair," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Right." Ginger nodded. Kari laughed.
"What was wrong? I saw y'all lookin' worried?" Mike asked the two about what they were looking for as they came up.
"We just thought we heard something in the trailer," Ginger replied, still wondering what it could've been.
"Oh, it was probably just some kids," Davy said, as if he was used to everything abnormal.
"Right," Kari said, unsure after what happened last time. Micky was still playing with her hair. She figured it was about the right time of day for him to act goofy, as the rest did around twelve or one.
"Where are Steph and Patty?" asked Peter.
Kari cracked up. "Tanning," Ginger smiled.
"Did you make her go?!" Peter pointed accusingly. The rest laughed.
"No, she 'took the fall' for us," Kari still giggled.
Just then Steph and Patty walked over. "Well speak of the devil," Mike said.
Steph and Patty looked as though as they were out of breath.
"What's wrong?" asked Kari.
The two girls exchanged looks. "They found us," Steph said, in a controlled panic.
"Who?" Peter asked concerned.
"The girls. The fans. They're headed this way!" Patty squealed.
"Ok, um, quick everybody into the trailer!" Mike said hurriedly, the girlish screams of the fans becoming louder.
The eight ran as fast as they could over to the trailer and crammed inside.
"Well, here we are again," Peter mumbled and they stood cramped in the tiny little trailer.
"This is ridiculous," Micky said as the girls where right outside the trailer screaming. "I mean, we have our lives to live. What we do in our personal lives is our own business."
"We need to set everyone straight. We can't let people go on thinking that Steph is pregnant with my baby," Peter said.
"Or that Kari was in any way responsible for that accident," Micky added.
"Or that Ginger is..." Mike started to put in, but stopped at knowing he and Ginger hadn't discussed her bit in the article. "What on Earth exactl did she say about you?"
"We were going to read it... the magazine is still in the Black Box," Ginger said. "But thanks for trying to defend me. It's so cute when you try to play boyfriend."
Mike gave her and "I'm-not-amused-you'll-pay-for-that-later" look and turned back to the guys.
"I think you all know what this means."
Peter, Micky, and Davy looked at him sulking.
"What? What does that mean?" Kari asked.
"Press conference," Micky answered.
"What? When?" Steph asked, not liking the sound of it.
"As soon as possible," Peter said seriously. "This ends now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shooting had wrapped early for the day on the beach due to the constant interruption of screaming, raging fans. The group had dinner exhaustedly on the bus and instead of going back to the studio, the company bus pulled into the large building where their press conference had been set up immediately after they'd gotten out of the trailer earlier that morning.
Amid flashing and clicks from cameras and yelling and murmers from reporters, the four boys took their seats behind microphones at a long table up on a platform as the girls watched from a curtain behind them off to the side.
Peter opened the press conference. "As I'm sure all of you know by now, articles have been coming out today about romances that Michael, Micky, and myself have been having. I'm supposed to be a father soon, Micky's getting engaged to a drunken child star, Michael is already a father... None of that is true."
Mike continued. "Absolutely none of it. And none of it would be your business if it was."
Micky interviened before Mike got too offensive. "The whole initial article was just a pack of lies. Now that you know that, we'll take questions."
One young man in a suit stood up. "So, are you boys dating these girls?"
Mike answered. "Yes."
There were snaps from cameras around the room and excited chatter.
"Are you serious with them? When did you meet them? Is it true that they're actually your assitants?" the reporter continued.
"We have no obligation to explain how serious we are with anybody. Are you married? Are you dating anyone? You don't have to tell me that, so I don't have to tell you. They are our assitants, and they're also our girlfriends."
"So you will actually use the term 'girlfriends' for them, then?"
"I wouldn't use the term 'boyfriend'."
Another female reporter jumped from her seat, and Micky called her out. "Is it true that your girlfriend is the child star Kari Harrison?"
"Kari Craston," Micky corrected her. "Yes. She wasn't drunk like the article implied. Alcohol was involved in the accident she was in, but it was the person who hit her that was drunk."
A male reporter yelled out immediately, "Are you expecting a child, Peter?"
"No and I hope I never am! I could never loose the weight!" Everybody laughed as Peter continued, "No. None of these girls are expecting."
"Are any of you married or engaged? Another report said that you, Michael, and Ginger Barbour, have been married for a while and have something like six or seven kids..."
"Do you think it's likely a 22 year old girl has seven kids?" Mike smirked. "No, none of us are married and we never have been, and none of us are fathers."
"What about the girls? Have they been married? Do they have kids from other men? I was thinking that Miss Barbour might be a mother, considering she was engaged for a long time. I hear her old fiancee is looking for her."
Mike froze. He'd read something about a serious relationship Ginger had had before when he was reading the paper, but no one else in the group had read it. "No, she doesn't have any children. I bet he, if he exists, is looking for her, he lost something good."
Micky closed the press conference. "So there you have it, everyone. None of us are married, none of us have any kids, there's no reason to hate these girls. Everything's fine in Monkeeland."
"I hope it is..." Steph muttered from behind the curtain as the boys stood to leave.
"Man, I hate those things," Micky muttered as he, Mike, and Peter walked off to join their respective girls.
"You did well," Kari said giving him a hug.
Mike walked over to Ginger, and Peter walked over to Steph.
"So what do we do now?" Mike asked wondering what the rest of them would do with their night.
"I have to go check on my sister," Steph said looking at Peter. "I, no doubt, have to explain myself to my family about that lovely article. That should be fun."
"I'll go with you," Peter offered.
"Really? You'd do that? They might kill you."
Peter laughed. "I'll risk it."
"I dunno, you want to go to my place and watch a movie?" Micky asked Kari, wanting to unwind after this horrifically active day.
Kari smiled. "Sounds great."
The group said their good-byes and walked away.
As Mike and Ginger headed over to Mike's truck, Mike asked, "So what about us? What are we going to to?"
"I don't know, but I do know that my apartment is going to be empty for the next three hours," Ginger said coyly.
"You're place it is."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The whole car ride to the hospital, Steph was a nervous wreck. She played with her beads, ripped up a random piece of paper she hoped Peter didn't need, and was fidgeting.
"It's going to be ok," Peter said, looking over at her during a red light. "You're not really pregnant. It's all the reporter's doing. You have nothing to worry about. It was just a huge misunderstanding."
Steph nodded hurriedly and Peter could help but smile at the way she was acting.
"Well, it's just... I'm nervous because... well... I don't know... I just never really introduced my parents to any of my boyfriends before, you know? I mean, they all have been jerks and haven't lasted very long, but this one, as short as it has been..." Steph stopped talking, suddenly shy, "... this one just feels different."
Peter nodded and they drove the rest of the way in silence.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Micky and Kari walked up to Micky's apartment and plopped down on the couch, relieved that the day was finally over.
"So lets see what's on...?" Micky said turning on the TV.
"Wait, what time is it?" Kari asked.
"It's 7:30, why?" Micky said checking his watch.
He immediately caught on.
"Oh, I heard this really awful show is on. It about four loser boys who can't get a decent break."
Kari laughed, but pretended to be bored and sighed, "If it's the only thing on..."
The two sat on the couch, Micky's arm over Kari's shoulder, and watched as the Monkee's opening credits rolled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mike and Ginger entered her apartment and Mike looked around.
"You know, you really haven't given me the grand tour of this place," he said with mock curiosity.
Ginger just smirked at him. "You'll have to try harder if you want to get into my room."
"Damn," Mike said, admitting defeat.
Ginger laughed and rolled her eyes.
This was going to be a long night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Steph was about to spontaneously combust as Peter parked his car in her parents' driveway and opened the passenger side door for her. Peter could feel her tension. "Relax." He soothed her, rubbing her shoulders. "It's not real; they'll believe their daughter over some stranger."
Steph nodded weakly as she and Peter approached the front door. Mrs. McKnight opened it just in time as the two hit the front step. She then closed it quickly.
Steph banged on the door. "Mommy, open up."
The door opened again, this time to reveal Steph's father.
Steph felt uneasy as her father glared at both her and Peter.
"Just let her in," James called from somewhere inside the house.
Mr. McKnight reluctantly opened all the way so that Steph and Peter could enter the house. Steph shot her brother a thankful smile as soon as she walked in the living room.
Steph and Peter quickly sat down on the love seat, Peter watching out of the corner of his eye as Steph's parents looked him over.
After a moment of awkward silence, Mr. McKnight calmly said, "So... I read an interesting article in the paper today..."
To this James laughed. Mrs. McKnight gave him a look.
"Yeah...that..." Steph said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Micky?" Kari said as the theme song to "The Monkees" faded out.
He nuzzeled her with a nod.
"You acted like a total idiot in the episode. They shouldn't let Mike always come up with the plans."
"What?! He doesn't always come up with the plans! I was essential!" Micky protested.
"Yeah, yeah," Kari agreed quickly. "You are pretty irreplaceable. And cute. And funny. And..."
"And what?" Micky whispered, leaning in closer.
"And MY GOD!"
Micky looked utterly startled at being called God. Then he heard the window shatter and something land inside the apartment with a 'thud'. He immedately leaned on top of Kari as not a sensual but a protective move, then he looked over his shoulder and saw a brick laying in front of the window with a note wrapped around it.
Kari ran over to him as he unwrapped the note from around the brick. "I've seen this scene somewhere before..." he quipped to himself.
"What does it say?" Kari asked.
Micky quickly read the note before he opened his mouth to tell Kari in case, as he suspected it would, it insulted her. "I'm not repeating it."
"Tell me," Kari demanded. "Or I'll have to wrestled you for it."
Micky grinned but tried to control it. "Then you'll have to wrestle me for it."
Kari jumped at the hand holding the note, which he was holding above his head. She threw an arm around his neck so that she was off the ground. Micky "fell" over onto the floor with Kari on top of him, and she ripped the note from his hands.
"Oh no you don't!" Micky snatched the note back and rolled over onto his stomach, holding the note underneath him. Kari jumped on his back and put her arms around him, trying to grab the note. "Be gentle!" Micky said, giggling because Kari was tickling him in her quest for the note.
"All fair in love and war!" Kari proclaimed and began trying to pin his arms back. Micky suddenly rolled over and pinned Kari down, then he turned over on top of her.
"Give up?" he asked.
"Yes." Kari nodded.
Micky sat up on top of Kari. She immediately snatched the note back and read it.
"I'm a slut and am going to be murdered by fourteen year olds."
Micky was a little disappointed that the wrestling had stopped. "You're not a slut..."
Kari laughed at him. "Yeah you wish!" Micky hugged her. "I won't let those little girls bother you... We may have to make this place our fort... It might not be safe to leave..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I can't believe you have me baking a cake..." Mike said defeatedly as he globbed on more icing. "I've seen this scene somewhere before..."
"I can't either. You look funny doing that." Ginger smiled annoyingly at him. "Don't put so much icing on it for crying out loud."
"Well you made too much frosting then cos we have a ton of it left. You can't just throw it away." Mike looked thoughtfully at the bowl. "Hey I know! How about we take the extra and we put it on you and you--"
"Shut up," Ginger said as she yanked the knife away from Mike that he was using to frost the cake. Then she smacked him gently on the nose with it.
"Very funny," he said, looking at her deadpan. With frosting on his nose.
Ginger cracked up.
"Get it off," Mike warned like he was dead serious.
Ginger threw a dish towel at him.
"No, you do it," Mike protested. "And not with a towel."
"You are just a prevert, you know that?"
"Yeah I do. It's fun, try it."
"No thanks."
Mike stepped forward, frosting covered, and took Ginger's waist. Ginger just couldn't stand looking at him with frosting dripping of his nose and his serious expression. She burst out laughing again, which lead to Mike finally laughing.
Just then they heard a knock on the door. Ginger gently kissed the end of Mike's nose before she went to answer the door and Mike wiped the frosting off.
Ginger immediately slammed the door, locked it, and ran over to Mike. "Mike! Be quiet! Hide," she said with authority as she grabbed his hand and tried to drag him into her room.
Had she not been so alarmed, Mike would have went willingly with her as she dragged him to her bedroom, but he grabbed the counter to avoid being pulled away further. "What's wrong? Who was that?"
Ginger breathed deep as she prepared for a quick explanation. "It's my--"
The front door burst open from the force of the intruder kicking it in. "Her fiancee that she ran off and left! I assume you, you plastic bastard, know all about that from the paper!"
Ginger tried to step between the two men. Mike was firmed up and her ex was advancing towards Mike quickly. Mike pushed Ginger behind him, but not without violent struggle from her to remain in front.
"Yeah, I read about it. She's not your fiancee anymore, buddy, so I'd get outta here if I were you," Mike ordered dangerously.
"The hell she's not! She said she'd marry me and she's going to! What are you going to do about it? Have your bodyguard attack me?"
"Pierce just get the--" Ginger started, then her ex grabbed her arm and yanked her to him and kissed her. She did exactly what she'd done to Mike when he'd had his jealous spell over her flirting.
Mike immediately reached out to Ginger with both hands as Pierce was reeling and moved her over to the corner. Ginger hadn't been shaken before, but now she was unnerved.
As soon as Mike turned back around, his jaw was met with a uppercut.
Mike drew back and connected with Pierce's nose. Ginger was going to witness an event that'd be all over the papers the next day.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~