All the girls were having a sleep over at Phoebe’s house. She had called them after Chad had tried to get her pants off. Rather than explain to her dads why she was home early, she called her team instead. Katarina was on the bed, laughing her ass off.

“I can’t believe you said that!”

“Well, it’s true.” Phoebe smiled. “Uncle Lorenzo and the rest of the uncles weren’t teaching me to knit.”

“My dad takes that very seriously,” Juliet agreed.

“I know. Uncle Vince is the same way.” Katiana nodded.

“That’s because he’s crazy,” Viktoriya reminded them.

“He’s so gorgeous, though,” Lily pointed out.

“They all are.” Katarina laughed.

“I love parent-teacher conferences.” Lily giggled.

“Oh God, I thought my teacher would faint,” Viktoriya said. “And he isn’t even gay!”

“My teacher did faint.” Juliet smiled.

“I would have too.” Lily sighed.

They collapsed on each other laughing and Mark poked his head in the door. “Pizza?”

“Oh, yeah!” they all said at once.

“Thanks, Dad.” Phoebe smiled.

As soon as Mark left Phoebe got serious.

“You like Landon.” She pointed to Katiana.

“A lot of good that does me; now he’s gone.”

“You never gave him a chance, anyway!” Katarina smacked her arm.

“Look who’s talking.” Lily retorted. “Joshua likes you, a whole lot.”

“I can’t lose him as a friend,” Katarina argued.

“You sound like Uncle Tomas,” Lily said. “Don’t you remember that story?”

“Don’t you?”

“That’s not what I’m afraid of — Damon is such a big flirt. I don’t know if I can trust him.”

“Damon is so in love with you, Lily. He always has been.” Phoebe smiled at her.

“Then why does he flirt so much?” Lily wondered.

“It’s just how he is. It’s in his nature but it’s all in fun,” Katarina confided, “Trust me, I get all the dirt from Joshua.”

“So, Landon?” Katiana asked Katarina.

“So in love. Always has been.” Katarina told her. “You should give him a chance.”

“I will, once he matures.”

“He’s not a wine.” Lily rolled her eyes.

They all turned to Juliet expectantly and she cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

“Conner?”

“Nothing happening.” Juliet flopped back onto the bed.

“But you like him,” Phoebe said. “And he likes you.”

“We don’t talk about anything.” Juliet sighed. “I think he’s scared of my dad.”

Lily laughed. “I would be too if I were a guy.”

“Well, kiss him then,” Phoebe instructed. “I know my brother has a crush on you, he always has. He just needs a push.”

“What about you, Phoebe? Going to give Stefan another shot?” Lily asked her.

“Oh, Lily. I know he’s your brother, but I think it’s too late.”

“It’s never too late, Phoebe. He loves you. He always has and he always will. You’re his soulmate.”

Phoebe took her hand. “I’m not making promises.”

“Well, I’m glad Jordan and I still talk…and kiss,” Viktoriya chimed in.

“Is he any good at it?” Katiana asked.

“Well, I’m sure it’s no Reynolds kiss but he is really good at it.” Viktoriya smiled.

“I would love to test that theory.” Katarina sighed.

“The Reynolds kiss?” Phoebe looked confused.

“Oh, yeah.” Katiana stretched out on the bed thinking of Landon. “He’s so sweet to me and all I do is hurt him.”

“Seems to be the curse put upon us women.” Katarina joined her.

Soon, they were all heaped together on the bed and Phoebe stared at the ceiling and thought about Stefan.

“You know, I never even kissed Stefan with tongue? I really want to try that now. I bet he’s so much better at it than Chad.”

“Stefan’s never kissed anyone but you, Phoebs. That slut Jaime kissed him; he didn’t kiss her,” Lily told her.

Mark poked his head back in. “Pizza’s ready.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Phoebe turned to the girls saying, “Let’s eat.”

Mark pulled Phoebe aside. “Don’t think I don’t know what happened out front tonight.”

“What?” Phoebe tried for innocent.

“If you hadn’t taken care of yourself as you were taught, he would be dead right now.” Mark stared at her.

“You and Dad?”

“Ready and waiting.” Mark cautioned her. “Don’t ever underestimate how much we know or how far either one of us will go to protect you.”

“Stefan called you.”

“Yes, he and Nico told us what kind of person Chad is, not that we didn’t know that already. We don’t blindly let you date whomever, but you listen to me right now, Phoebe Greystone: you are never to go out with him again. Is that understood?”

“Yep.” Phoebe kissed his cheek. “Love you, Daddy.”

Mark watched her skipping down the hall and shook his head. “Now, I’m ‘Daddy’.”

Stefan and Nico sat on the dock with Colin and Conner and stared at the sky full of stars. Stefan leaned back with his hands behind his head and sighed. Conner looked over at him and said, “I know.”

“Oh, you do?” Stefan asked.

“Yep, Juliet’s at my house right now and I’m stuck here with you guys.”

“Where’s Nikolai?” Nico asked Colin.

“Spending time with his dads.”

“You like him.” Stefan smiled at him.

“Duh.” Conner laughed.

“Don’t you ever worry that you’re older than him?”

“No, and you shouldn’t worry about age, either, Nico. Tanner has always loved you.”

“Yeah, when he was a little kid.”

“He still does,” Stefan corrected.

“You’re the only one with the age issues. Uncles Tyler and Damon have always known you two would end up together,” Conner pointed out.

“I don’t know.” Nico ran his hands through his hair. “Maybe I should wait a couple more years.”

“Then you will be a couple years older,” Colin continued.

“Shut up, Colin.” Nico laughed. “At least then I won’t feel like I’m robbing the cradle.”

“But you still will be.” Conner chuckled.

“All right! That’s it.” Nico picked Conner up and threw him in the pond.

“Hey!” Conner sputtered.

“Maybe you should cool off too.” Colin pushed Nico in.

Heath came out and stared all the kids in the pond, fully clothed. Caleb came up behind him laughing, and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“They’re growing so fast.” Heath sighed.

“I know, babe.” Caleb kissed Heath’s neck softly.

“Hey guys, dinner’s ready!” Heath called out.

“Can we eat out here?” Stefan asked.

“Not in the pond but on the deck, yes.” Caleb laughed at them.

Nico got out and water poured out of his pants. He stripped his shirt off and paused when Colin’s mouth dropped open.

“What?”

“Wow, you got buff!”

“So did Stefan.” Nico smiled as Stefan stripped his shirt off.

“Okay, that’s it. You guys are training me while you’re here,” Colin told them.

“Me too.” Conner raised his hand.

“Well, let’s go eat some protein. We start in the morning.” Nico smiled.

Aidan watched Tanner with his brother. He had a huge crush on Tanner but after watching him tonight he knew it was never going to happen. Tanner was in love with Nico and Nico was in love with Tanner. Damon smiled at his brother and pointed to his phone.

“Just call him, you know you want to.”

Tanner smiled and grabbed his phone. He sent Nico a text message.

<Still up?>

Nico felt his phone vibrate and read the text message. His heart was pounding already.

<Yes>

<I miss you already.> Tanner waited for the reply; it took two seconds.

<I miss you too.>

<Can you come see me?>

<Where?>

<Aidans>

<U sure U want me 2?>

<I want 2 c U>

Nico smiled. Hell, yes, he wanted to see Tanner.

<B there in 5>

Tanner’s jaw dropped. “He’s coming.”

“I knew it.” Damon smirked.

Arielle took Aidan’s hand. “I know you care about Tanner.”

“It’s not going to happen, is it?” Aidan asked her.

“No, Tanner has always wanted Nico.”

Damon’s phone vibrated; he had a text from Lily.

<Having fun?>

<Would have more w/u>

Lily stared at her phone. <U R so cute.>

Damon blinked at his phone. <Srsly?>

<Duh.>

Damon thought long and hard about what he was going to say.

<Pizza 2morrow?>

<Sure.> Lily waited for the next text and almost jumped when her phone rang instead. “Hey.”

“Really? You’ll go out for pizza?”

“Sure, why not?” Lily felt her heart racing.

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” Damon paused. “ ʼNight, Lily.”

“ ʼNight, Damon.” Lily hung up the phone and let out a loud sigh. She told the girls looking at her on the bed, “We have a date.”

There was loud screaming and they all dog piled Lily on the bed.

Mark looked at Paul and they both laughed. Mark snuggled into Paul and they flipped through channels.

“They are growing up so fast.” Mark sighed.

“You’ll always have me.”

“Thank God.”

Tanner was nervously pacing the driveway waiting for Nico. God, he was nervous; his palms were sweating and he was pretty sure he was going to puke. He saw the headlights coming up the driveway and then Nico was standing in front of him.

“Hi.” Tanner looked up at him.

Nico couldn’t help himself; he grabbed Tanner and picked him up to hug him. Having Tanner in his arms was everything he’d ever wanted. He wanted to kiss him and make him his.

“I missed you,” Nico whispered.

Tanner tightened his grip around Nico’s neck, loving the feel of his body against his — Nico’s strong arms around him, the smell of his cologne. He loved Nico. He always had.

“I missed you too.” Tanner buried his face in Nico’s neck.

Nico was getting aroused and he put Tanner down and looked at his face.

“I can’t stay long. I don’t want to take time away from your friends but I wanted to know if maybe you would want to do something tomorrow?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m older so there aren’t a lot of places we can go.”

“There are tons of places we could go,” Tanner corrected. “You like go-karts right? Maybe laser tag too? Unless you’re scared of me beating you,” Tanner taunted.

“You’re on, Youngblood.”

Nico’s eyes captivated Tanner. They were so blue, and even in the dark he could see Nico searching his face. “What?” Tanner took Nico’s hand in his.

Nico ran his thumb across Tanner’s cheek. Tanner’s heart was beating so fast he was sure Nico could hear it. Nico leaned in and gently brushed his lips across Tanner’s cheek.

“Goodnight, Tanner. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” Tanner watched him walk away and couldn’t help but stare at his ass. It was so perfect.

“Wow.” Damon moved from the front door and smiled at his dazed brother. “That was the most sensual kiss on the cheek I have ever seen.”

“It was, wasn’t it? Almost like he wanted to kiss my lips but changed his mind at the last second.”

“My brother’s in love.” Damon grabbed Tanner.

“You look like you swallowed a happy pill.”

“Lily’s going out with me for pizza tomorrow.”

“Dude!” Tanner hugged his brother hard. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Things are coming together for us.”

“I love you, bro.” Tanner hugged him.

“Love you too.”