The next day A.J. was up bright and early, calling all the other guys, telling them to come over as he’d a surprise. The only one he hadn’t had to call was Howie, as his best friend had decided to stay over, in case he needed any help at all with Tesia. Once done calling them all, he set about making sure he’d plenty of drinks for them all, as well as food.

“J! J!” A little voice shrieked excitedly as he was suddenly tackled around the legs by a munchkin.

“Hey Baby T.,” A.J. smiled. “What’s up?”

“Owie an’ I builds tower outta bwocks!” Tesia exclaimed. “Comes see! Comes see!”

A.J. shrugged, letting her take his hand in hers, also allowing her to ‘drag’ him out into the living room.

“Wook!” Tesia pointed to their tall tower, which was about the same size as her. “It pwetty!”

“Yes, very pretty,” A.J. assured her. “I think it’s wonderful, T.”

Tesia beamed proudly, then ran over to tackle Howie once more. “My Owie an’ I makes ‘nother one?”

“Sure!” Howie grinned. “We can knock this one down and build another.”

Tesia shook her head. “No knocks down. Uses da other ones.”

“Good idea,” Howie nodded. “You’re very smart.”

Tesia just giggled as she squirmed away, running over to her other new set of blocks. They’d gotten a few cases, so that she could have plenty to build with – though, with all she had, ten little kids could’ve built with them.

A.J. left Howie and Tesia to their tower building game, as he went to get the door seeing as the doorbell had rung.

“Alright Alex, what’s so important you had to drag all of us over here?” Kevin demanded as he sauntered on in.

“Yeah,” Nick piped up. “Frick an’ I were gonna go shoot some hoops.”

“Hey Aje!” Brian grinned. “What’s up?”

“I’ve someone I want y’all to meet,” A.J. smiled back.

“Alex, if you dragged us all over here just to meet some girl….” Kevin trailed off, his threat lingering.

“It’s a girl, but not what you think,” A.J. smirked. “Trust me.”

“You look like a cat trying to cover shit,” Nick commented, only to be smacked by all three boys standing there with him. “Ow! Hey!”

“Watch your language,” A.J. ordered. “All of you. And you’ll see why in a second. Now, follow me.”

The three who’d just arrived all looked at one another and shrugged, clearly not understanding at all. They followed him to the living room and where shocked to find Howie building block towers with a small toddler.

“Alex, what in the world is going on here?” Kevin asked, looking ready to kill the young man should he say the wrong thing.

“Guys, this is Tesia,” A.J. told them. “Tesia, this is Brian, Nick, and the grouch here is Kevin.”

“Since when do you have a kid?” Nick blurted.

Brian raised his eyebrows. “Is she yours?”

“Yes and no,” A.J. replied. “Guys, this is my little sister, whom I just met yesterday.”

“Your Mom had a toddler?” Nick said, looking and sounding utterly confused by it all.

“No, you…” A.J. shook his head. “We ran into my father at the mall yesterday. He’s her father, and apparently has been for the past three years without telling me a thing.”

“Wow,” Brian commented, then crouched down to smile at the small child who was currently hiding behind Howie, whom was sitting on the couch now. “Hi there Tesia.”

Tesia whimpered softly, not always that great with strangers – even if they did look friendly. She was terribly shy until she felt comfortable with the person – or people – whom she’d just met.

“Yeah, I’d whimper too if his face was the first thing I saw too,” Nick joked, moving to sit next to Howie. “Hey Munchkin. You been playin’ with Howie, huh?”

Tesia whimpered more, her little face beginning to pucker up as her lower lip trembled.

“T., they’re good guys,” A.J. assured her. “Crazy at times, but still good.”

“We’re no crazier than you are,” Brian riposted.

A.J. waved him off, not bothered by the truth.

“Guys, quit scaring her,” Kevin said, taking a seat in the chair that was nearby. “She’s obviously shy and you two goons moving in on her isn’t helping any.”

Tesia cocked her head to the side, eyeing this strange, tall, dark-haired man. He wasn’t making goofy faces at her like the other two; instead, he was just sitting there taking them all in.

A.J. took a seat in the other chair that was there. “You still gonna play with your blocks, Baby T.?”

Tesia shrugged slightly at her brother, as she watched the two blonds back off some. She then, again, eyed the other man who’d come in. She didn’t know why, but she was curious about him. Keeping her eyes focused on him, and occasionally her brother, she inched out from behind Howie and hopped down off the couch.

A.J. watched as Tesia climbed down off the couch and eyed him before casting a cautious look back at Kevin. He gave a curt nod when she gazed upon him again, signaling it was alright and that Kevin was safe.

Tesia smiled at her brother, then summed up her courage and ran for the one she was after, crashing into his legs upon reaching him.

Kevin chuckled softly when he saw and felt her crash into his legs. “Careful there, Hunny. Don’t wanna hurt yourself now.”

Tesia cocked her head to the side like she had before, watching him closely as he smiled warmly at her. “Ups,” she told him finally. “Pwease?”

Kevin grinned and scooped her up into his lap. “That better?”

Tesia nodded as she stood upon his legs, to peer at his face better. She looked at him, not noticing or acknowledging the others who were all staring at her. “Who you?”

“I’m Kevin.”

“E-E-Evy?”

“Sure, you can call me that,” Kevin told her. “Some people call me Kevy anyway.”

“My Evy?”

“Yes, your Kevy,” Kevin nodded, tickling her sides gently, as he was holding her steady.

Tesia giggled and squirmed about. “Ickles! Ickles!”

Kevin laughed. “Yes, I’m sure it tickles, Hunny.”

The others smirked, not fully believing the sight before them. The man who rode their asses about being late and all that jazz, was sitting there laughing as he tickled a toddler. Yup, people were right when they said ‘if you want a man to make a fool of himself, give him a baby’.

“Well, now that it seems y’all are acquainted, what’s everybody wanna do?” A.J. asked, smiling as he listened to his little sister laugh heartily.

“I think Frick ‘n’ Frack have been occupied, Aje,” Howie chuckled, nodding to the two blonds who’d moved to play with Tesia’s blocks.

“I’m building a house and car!” Nick exclaimed.

“I’m building people and a dog!” Brian proclaimed.

A.J. shook his head. “Guys, shouldn’t you ask Tesia first? Those are her blocks after all.”

“Hey Munchkin, do you mind if we build you some stuff?” Nick asked, grinning widely.

Tesia shook her head, giggling, as she was now hanging upside down in Kevin’s lap as he tickled her playfully.

“See? She don’t mind!” Nick stated. “C’mon Frick! Let’s get building!”

“Well, if y’all are busy, I’m going to steal Howie and go raid my fridge for some food,” A.J. informed them. “Gotta make sure we’ve something to eat for lunch.”

“Peeny butter!” Tesia squealed.

“Yes, we’ll have that too,” A.J. laughed. “But we need more than just peanut butter, Silly.”

Tesia just kept on laughing hysterically, as Kevin began to blow raspberries on her tummy.

Kevin laughed merrily, as the giggling child kept asking him for more.

“Kids,” A.J. said to Howie as they headed for the kitchen. “What do yah do with ‘em?”

“Get the video camera and record them,” Howie smirked, heading for where he knew A.J. kept his camcorder. “You need me, just holler.”

A.J. shook his head, though he was smiling. “You’re all crazy!”

“That’s why you love us,” Howie reminded him.

“Damned straight,” A.J. agreed. “Now, git to filming that crazy crew in there! And don’t let Frick ‘n’ Frack destroy my living room with block creatures!”

Howie just chuckled as he turned the video camera on, to record everything that was going on in A.J.’s living room at the moment. “You’re gonna hafta buy a whole lot more tapes for this thing, Alex. I’m sure you’re going to want lots of footage now.”

“Yeah, yeah,” A.J. waved him off, as he headed for the kitchen. “I know, I know.”

Howie continued to film as Frick ‘n’ Frack played, Kevin and Tesia laughed, and A.J. hunted down some grub for them in his lavish kitchen.