When Nat pushed open the door to the kitchen he thought it had exploded and then he saw the small figure seated on the counter smashing down an impossibly thick sandwich.  With obvious delight the boy stabbed the pile of bread and meat with a long wooden skewer topped with a half dozen green olives.

“So make any more girls cry today?” the boy said without looking up.  He hopped off the counter and rummaged through the refrigerator.

“Nah, just your sister.” Nat said, folding his arms across his chest, waiting for the kid to finish.

“Great!”  Nicky’s eye lit up.  “I can go get her worked up than.”

“Why is she always crying anyway?”

Nicky pulled out a 2 liter bottle of soda.

“Cause she likes you and you don't like her back.”

He twisted off the top and took a long drink straight from the bottle.

“I don't even know her to like her!”

So?”

“We just met a couple days ago,” Nat had to fight down the complaint in his voice.  No reason to give this kid any ammo.

“So?”  The kid shrugged.  “Heck in the elf forest where dad comes from you meet a girl and bed her two minutes later.  I've even been hit on!”

“I find THAT hard to believe” Nat snorted.  “And I'm from San Diego, not an elf forest.”

“And she is from here,” the boy said.  “So what?  She likes you and you don't like her.  Makes great games for me.”

He grinned and leaned hard on the sandwich, trying to make it smaller.

“You're an evil little bastard aren't you?” Nat observed.

“ME!” Nicky cried, sounding wounded.  “Evil?”  He snorted.  “Hardly . . . I am still in training and I do have parents so I am not a bastard.”

“You like to trap people, tease them . . . “

“YEP! it's a lot of fun!”  Nicky crowed.  “I get to find all the buttons to push on people!”

“ Anyone ever slap you down yet?”

The boy laughed and tried to take a bite of the sandwich.  Most of it squirted out the back.

“Hey, help yourself to some lunchmeat,” he made a sweeping gesture at the half dozen different butcher paper wrapped piles of cold cuts.

The thought of a sandwich or three made Nat’s stomach growl.

“So you keep making Jessy cry,” Nicky said.  “I keep on playing her and I get to tease you both for being stupid!”

“What if she retaliates?”

Nicky chuckled.

“I’m sure I can get her to be mad at you,” he gloated.  “That would be fun to watch.”

Nat leaned closer to Nicky  "What if I retaliate?"

Nicky stepped back.

“You’re not allow to outside the danger room and I won't go.”

Nat’s smile was evil.

“Plus you are older than I am,” the boy pointed out.  “It would be unfair!  I just a wittle kidddddd!”

“Never said I'd hurt you.”

Nicky grinned taking a bite of the sandwich that was rapidly disintegrating onto the floor.

“But I can cram you into something and pinch it closed.”

“See the great thing is you are so dense I can tell you all this and you won't know what to do,” Nicky shot back.  “I guess it's true about dinosaurs.”

He took a quick step away from Nat.

“So big no brains.”

The boy turned and ran, leaving a trail of sandwich.

Nat just watched him go with a smile.

With the kitchen clear of crumb-snatchers, Nat carefully pulled open the refrigerator looking for something without Nicky cooties.  The poke in the ribs almost made him jump and he looked down into the soulful eyes of the girl, Luthien.

“Hello,” she said.  “May I have that orange over there to your right?”

Nat picked up the orange between thumb and forefinger and carefully handed it to the girl.

“Thank you.”

Tiny little fingers dug into the skin filling the room with the scent of oranges and wild shots of juice.

“You better clean up your mess or Marie will have a fit,” the little girl dropped each piece of the rind carefully into the trash.

“Your brother's mess.” Nat told her.

“Which one?”

Nat eyed her knowing she was being purposefully obtuse.

“The one with horns,” he said, letting the sarcasm seep in.

“Hmmm . . . “ she sucked the juice from a slice then chewed.  “But Mark isn't here.”

“Nicky . . . the EVIL one.”

“Oh,” she said serenely.  “He's not evil.”

“No?  Well, he’s at the other end of that trail then.”

“We need to practice anyway,” she finished the orange and pushed a short stool over to the sink then climbed up and turned on the water.  Carefully she adjusted the temperature, pumped a little soap into her palm then lathered up her hands, careful to cover every square millimeter.   Pulling a fresh towel from the towel ring she dried her hands then folded it and hung it back in place.  With a paper towel, she wiped up any water splatters and placed the used paper towel in the trash.

“Why does he pick on Jessy?” he asked her.

“Because he is learning,” she said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

After crumbing the first two of slices of bread, Nat managed to get a couple of sandwiches started.

“Learning what?  To be mean?”

Luthien started putting away the cold cuts, folding each wrapper perfectly along the folds.

“Learning people.”

“You can learn people without being mean,” Nat suggested.

“But then you only learn one side of them,” she said.  “He is learning one side and Aaron the other.”

“Which side do you learn?”

She picked up a cloth and started to wipe the counter.

“I don't,” Luthien blinks at the tall boy.  “Why should I?”

“What's your part in your trio?”

“We are equal parts of a whole but I think Sorcha messed up in our creation.”

Up ending the 2 liter Nicky had contaminated, Luthien held it as it glugged down the drain.

“Your creation?”

“It is a very long story but mommy told it to us, it is our birthright to know of our creation.”

“What do you mean creation?”  Nat finished making his sandwiches.

“When mommy was lost and on her travels to deaden the pain of the loss of dad she traveled to a planet that healed her scars and made her pretty again.  There was Sorcha.”

Nat was beginning to think this little girl was actually a 50 year old in disguise.

“Who's Sorcha?”

“Sorcha took from her . . .  her . . .  um . . . essences . . . dad would call it um . . . DNA.  Sorcha was a brilliant scientist that was in his third new body.  Well, in the vats they grew new bodies for the great minds.”

“Third body?” Nat sounded incredulous but Luthien nodded.  “You sound like a sci-fi novel.”

“We are.”

That caught Nat off guard.  “Uh?  They degraded, right?  I mean I saw that movie about clones . . . “

Luthien patted his hand as if to say ‘silly Nat’.

“We are not clones.”  She said.

“What are you then?”  He put his hand to his forehead.  “This is starting to give me a headache.”

“We were recumbent DNA grown as children for Sorcha but we were to die.”

“Die?”

               She nodded gravely.  “But dad saved us and he altered us to be of his DNA.”

“He alters DNA too?”

“Yes, father can alter DNA.  It is all rather simple.

               Luthien quickly cleaned up Nat's small mess.

               “But Jessy,” she said,  “Jessy was born, not created, as were our other siblings.  Still confused?”

               Nat nodded his head "No?"

               “It's okay.  You will learn,” the girl said with a smile. 

She toed the step stool over by Nat and climbed up and sat before him.  Her eyes met his and seemed to bore in.  For a second she again felt like a 50 year old then she was a little girl again.

“You have pretty eyes,” she said.  “Can you give me a horsey back ride to my room?”

“I don't want to hurt you,” Nat told her.  He could imagine Archer or Raven’s reaction if he broke something a precious as this beautiful child.

“I'll hold on tight,” she assured him.  “I can sit on your shoulders and hold your head then you won't have to touch me and you are too gentle to want to hurt me.”

Nat surrenders.  “Okay . . . but you'll prolly hit your head on the ceiling . . . “

“GOODIE,” she clapped her little hands and beamed.  “I always wanted to be tall!”

She crooked her finger and Nat moved closer, hunching down.  Luthien climbed his body, holding onto his head the whole while, and then settled onto his shoulders.  She giggled.

“”This is even better than daddy's shoulders!”  She held on to the top of his head, careful not to choke him.

Ducking low at the back door Nat straightened up once on the lawn and Luthien laughed with glee.  She waved at one of the upper floor’s windows when Jessy’s face appeared.  Her sister smiled and waved back.

“Can you go fast?” The little girl shouted with a grin.

In answer, Nat gathered his legs and leaped, soaring into the sky a good hundred feet before coming back down with a heavy thud.  He managed to leave foot prints a only few inches deep in the lawn.

“I can only jump!” he said.

Luthien giggled.  “You are like a pogo stick!”

Nat squatted and leaped straight up.   He didn’t realize it at the time but he reached just over 120’.

At his apogee, he spotted Jessy coming out of the building and felt Luthien waving to her.  The little girl screamed as they began to fall and Nat made sure he absorbed all of the impact with his legs so as not to injury the child.

“Again, AGAIN!!”

Nat hit, recovered and leapt again.  Jessy moved closer, calling up to the pair.

“Luthien, the boys are looking for you and gee whiz when do I get my turn?  That sure looks like fun!”

Again Luthien screamed on the way down.

“You're too big for horsey back rides!  He would never be able to lift you!”

Nat landed, absorbing the shock.

“Nat, you think I am too big?”  She was only a few feet away, this time she wore an American flag halter and Daisy Dukes, barefoot, naturally.

“Since I can lift the whole house . . . no.”

“Nah, he just thinks you are too fat and ugly!”  Nicky had followed his sister out and was a few feet behind her.  “RIGHT, Nat?”

“Nah, fat and ugly comes only in little boy packages . . . about . . . “  Nat began then held up a hand at Nicky’s height.  “This tall.”

“HEY I can't wait to tell Aaron how much you hate him!” Nicky rubbed his hands together like a cartoon villain.

“I guess I have to go in now,” Luthien said morosely.  “Thank you for the ride.”

               “Sure . . . “ Nat grinned at Nicky.  “I’ll toss Nicky in after you if you’ll hold the door open, or not.”

               Jessy stepped up to Nat and held out her hands.  Nat squatted and Luthien let herself be lifted off.  As soon as she was clear, Nat took a swipe at Nicky with one arm sweep.  The boy danced back.  Luthien smiled and headed for the house.

“Yep . . . big, dumb and slow . . . a true dinosaur!”

As Nicky stuck out his tongue at Nat, Shay appeared behind him.

“I'M NOT SLOW, YOU LITTLE MONSTER!”  She lunged at him and he dodged.

“OH SHIT!”  The boy took off like a rabbit.

Shay vanished and reappeared in front of Nicky.

“I am a LOT faster than YOU, kid!”

Nicky drop to slide between her legs.  Aaron came out to meet Luthien and holding hands, they watched their sibling.

A dozen Shays appeared, surrounding the boy.

“WE can get YOU,” the group shouted.

“Okay . . . okay!” the boy screamed.  “I will give you the pictures!”

Jessy looked up at Nat standing beside her, watching the scene.

“GEESH!” Nicky barked in frustration.

A dozen Shay’s pointed their fingers at the kid.

“IF you EVER come in my room again!” They screamed.  “I'll get Wren to suspend you over the lawn for a week!”

Jessy said in a small voice to Nat “Think I can have one of them rides?”

“Okay!  Okay!”  Nicky held up his hands in surrender.  “Not like you got much worth SEEING!”

Nat noted Luthien and Aaron coming up behind a couple the Shay figures.  Beside him, Jessy sighed deeply.

“How about I burn your clothes off you right here?” the Shays said, raising a finger with a glowing tip.  “I am going to tell your father this time, Nicky . . . I am tired of it!”

Jessy dove into the ground and popped up next to her brother just as Luthien stepped between two Shays and grabbed Nicky.  The triplets vanished.

“DAMNIT!” the Shays screamed in frustration.

“Danger room,” Jessy warned.  “Remember?”

All the Shays turned to Nat and with hands on hips hissed "They always work together!"

“You will get suspended if you do anything out of the danger room,” Jessy said trying the sooth the girls.  “Come on, Shay, calm down.  You know Nicky is a little twit.”

“I didn't see you all calm when he put those pictures of YOU on the internet!”  They all snapped back.

Jessy blushed  “But Spock took them down,”

“Next time . . . I am going to burn the little shit on the spot!” said the single remaining Shay as the rest vanished.  “AND I can’t get expelled!  Your dad is MY guardian!”

               “Danger room,” Jessy said again.  “Got to get him in there.”

               “I'll talk to Mike, she can’t stand the little bastard either,” Shay growled.  “She’ll ‘port him in and I’ll be waiting.  DAMNIT!”

“Well, he does go in there once a day to visit grandma and restock on her bread,” a look of disgust crossed Jessy’s face.  She half smiled and strolled back toward Nat.  Shay vanished.

“He's going to get his little ass beat,” Nat said.

“If she catches him before she cools down,” her eyes were on her feet again.  “Nicky is just that way.  You just got to look pass it sometimes . . . well, that is what I am told.”  She shrugged.  “He is my little brother and I do have to protect him.”

“He's too young to be like that . . . “ Nat scowled  "He tease Brittany too?"

Jessy shrugged.  “He will do it to everyone he meets.  The triplets are not like others their age.”

“What age are they like?” Nat said.  “Five going on fifty?”

“They aren’t like any age, I guess,” she said.  “They are just different.”

She looked up at him through the curtain of her hair.

“So do I get a ride? Or would you like a ride on my dad's bike  . . . umm I was wondering.”

“You seen Brittany?”

“Nope, I am still packing.  The room I have to move into is so tiny compared to my room.  It's like moving into a closet or something.”

“Who you sharing with?”

“No one.”

“I thought everyone was gonna get a roommate.” He said, wondering who he’d end up with.  “But I guess if you are the daughter of the headmaster, you get privileges.”

“Or no one is brave enough to share with me.”

“Why?” Nat asked.  “Nicky there all the time?”

“Well he helps me with my fashions,” she said.  “He is really good at picking out what looks good on women and he's not all bad, Nat.  He has his uses.  Nat, can I ask you something personal?  Without you getting mad at me.”

“Mad?  You ain't gonna call me Goliath or something are you?”

“Nooooooo,” she drawled.  “But you might get mad I asked.”

“About what?”

“I don't know why you are so sensitive about being tall,” her eyes dropped to her feet.  “I think it's sexy.”

“You aren't over seven feet tall, so you don't understand.”

“No,” she agreed.  “I can't say I am but umm . . . can I ask without you getting mad?”

Nat shrugged.  “I guess.”

“Umm  . . . do you like girls or are you gay or something?” she said in a rush.

“Okay . . . maybe I lied . . . I ain't GAY!” he growled.

“Don't be mad okay,” she soothed.  “I was just umm  . . . trying to figure out why you don't  . . . what I mean is that I've been . . . and you haven't . . . so like it kind of looks . . . “

Nat frowned, scowling down at her.

“And I was told that it must be I am ugly or your gay and I don't think I am that ugly and I been trying to look pretty and I just wanted to know if you would kind of like want to be my boyfriend.”

“Girls are all scared of me ‘cuz I'm so big . . . “ he began but she cut him off.

“I’m not and I am a girl and I will be having a party soon and well . . . oh never mind”

Jessy blushed bright red and turned towards the house.  Nat frowned, confused.

“Guess you don't want a girlfriend,” she muttered, head down.

“We only met a couple days ago!  YEESH!”

Jessy stopped and faced him.

“So not like I am asking to marry you or have sex or anything,” she said.  “Just wanted . . . never mind!”

Her blush deepened, moving down her neck and across her bared shoulders.  Suddenly she turned and fled for the garage.  Nat watched her go, mouth agape.  A few seconds later the bike roared and Jessy shot out onto the cobblestones.  In a blink she was gone, teleported to Spock knew where.

“Umm...Spock?”

“Yes, Nathaniel?”

“Can you tell me where Brittany is?”

“She is not currently in the Valley.” Came the response.

“K . . . thanks . . .”

He scuffed the lawn with a toe and walked slowly back to into the building.