Chapter T.W.E.L.V.E

"I'm just going to get them some new stuff at the store tomorrow." I mumbled to myself.

"Where are the clothes for Leo and Samantha?" Asked Olivia when I sat down in the car empty-handed.

"We are going to stop at the store and get new ones tomorrow."

"Yay!" Shouted Olivia while the other kids clapped loudly.

"Sorry that it took so long." Jeremy apologized when he was finally done talking to Katrice, the babysitter.

"It's fine. Here Olivia, you can play on my phone, but you have to use headphones." She nodded, then quickly put them in.

"Jeremy! They can't live there, not until it's cleaned."

"I know it's messy, but it's not that bad."

"Yes, it is. When was the last time they brushed their teeth? When was the land laundry last washed? Should I keep going?"

"No, I see your point."

"Good, then it settled. You are staying at my house while it gets clean and until you get groceries."

"We have food, Lee."

"Jeremy, what you have is a heart attack waiting to happen!"

"It's not that -"

"Yeah, it is. You can be mad at me all you want but you know it's true. What happens when the kids miss a day of school they decide to call CPS for some reason. You not only get your siblings but your daughter taken away. Then you couldn't work because you would be monitored way too much."

"I know. I'll get it fixed." Jeremy said as if he had realized what could happen.

"Good. I'm going to call the boss and update him." Jeremy nodded. I tapped a few buttons on my car, and it called Dominic for me.

"Hey, Bay. Where are you?" Answered Dominic on the second ring.

"About to be pulling into the driveway. Are you off speaker and away from Damon and Jeff?"

"I am now. What's going on?" He said after a second.

"Jeremy's kids are going to be staying with me until he cleans his house. I have that mother and son to do tomorrow, and Jeremy doesn't have a babysitter, so he has to cancel his job tomorrow, so I need you to find someone else to do it."

"Bay, I can't cancel it for him, then the other agents will want to do that, and we just can't allow that."

"We'll figure something out. How about you do it and just don't say anything to anybody else?"

"But he already said he was going -"

"Find someone else."

"God Bailey, I don't know why I let you dictate everything."

"Whatever, Dom. Find someone else to do his job."

"Fine. Is that all?"

"No, I need you to clean up the alcohol we left in the living room."

"Okay."

"That's it, I'll see you in a minute." And with that, he hung up.

"Man, you got some nerve. If I said that, I would have zero cases, and if I did, they wouldn't pay worth anything. Or he would just flat out put a bullet hole or four in my chest."Jeremy said, shocked by what I had said to our monster of a boss.

"You did the same thing but in a different way."

"I do not."

"Yeah-huh."

"I do not! Give me one example!"

"Okay. You don't talk to anyone but me, and if you do, it is snappy, and you are super standoffish and don't even get me started with the snarky comments!"

"I do not do that!"

"Bull."

"He's in love with you." Jeremy said suddenly, after a few seconds of silence.

"No way."

"Yeah-huh," he replied mockingly.

"Nope."

"Think about it. First, he gives you special treatment. Second, he listens to you and doesn't do anyone else. Third, he is always finding some excuse to come over and see you, and before you say it's just to sleep with you, you're wrong."

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Yeah, you were."

"Prove it."

"Wow! You're so smart. You got me there."

"See! See what I mean about the comments!" He was just about to say something when Olivia shouted,

"We're here!"

"We're here!" Echoed Leo and Samantha.

"Okay, guys, remember that Sniper is not a horse, so you can not sit on him." I reminded them as they unbuckled.

"I won't!" shouted Leo as he hopped out of the car. Laughing, I went over and unbuckled Samantha from her five point harness.

"He is totally going to sit on the dog." Jeremy said from behind me.

"Yup."

"I sit on the doggie, too!" Samantha said while wiggling down for my arms.

"No, you can not sit on a dog." I said sternly while putting her down.

"She is totally going to sit on the dog." I said as I walked in after her.

"Yup." Jeremy said as he followed us in. We walked into all the kids fighting to see who would give Nico the first hug. Leo won.

"Who are they?" Damon asked snarkily.

"This is Olivia. She's 8 years old. And this is Leo. He is five. They are Jeremy's brother and sister." I told Damon as I pointed to each one.

"And this is Samantha she is thr-"

"I'm three!" Samantha interrupted.

"Yup, you're three."

"Uh huh, and he is my Daddy." She said while pointing at Jeremy.

"Me? No, I'm not!" Chimed Jeremy with a huge grin on his face.

"You're a liar! You are my Daddy!" She yelled while trying to smack him.

"Okay, okay, I was lying. I'm your Daddy!" He replied frantically while trying to run away from her.

"Pizza time?" She asked.

"Yup, where did Olivia and Leo go?" I asked Jeremy.

"Guess?" Dominic says sarcastically, I flipped him off.

"Come, Sniper." I hollered, he barked then came running as if their life depended on it, because sometimes it did. Just as I saw a sniper, I heard Olivia and Leo running and giggling after him.

"Time to eat." Jeremy said when his brother and sister came into the kitchen.

"Okay," Olivia replied. Laughing, I walked to the kitchen and got them food. Once I had finished getting them food, I grabbed some carrots out of the fridge and gave them to the kids, then set them by the pizza in case others wanted them. Grabbing my food, I joined everyone at the table. We had a huge dining room table, so everyone fit just fine.

"So Jeremy, are you going to keep this babysitter?" I asked. Usually, he only kept the babysitter for a week before switching them out, but Katrise had been with them for almost a month now.

"Yeah, if she doesn't quit."

"Did she say she's going to quit?" Nico asked.

"No, but I mean her sister just died. When our parents died, the two younger ones didn't want to do anything for 3 months. I mean, Katrise was a lot closer with her sister than we were with both our parents combined."

"True. I mean, when my mom died, I was 13, and I didn't want to do anything for like two years until I got into boxing." Dominic smirked knowingly at me, while Jeremy mouthed he loves you, and Nico rolled his eyes at the code speaking and at the other guys' faces.

"Do you have a job?"Nico asked Damon while trying to change the conversation and include him.

"Nope," he replied, not bothering to look up.

"O-kay. What about you, Jeff?" Nico asked as he popped the "O. "

"Yeah, I work for my parents at our animal clinic, but that's only in the summer. They want me to focus on school now though because apparently I can't do both." He replied, Nico nodded.

"Well, I have to go, Bailey." Dominic said when everyone had finished. The kids had run into the living room, while Damon had gone upstairs to start unpacking or something, I didn't really know or care.

"Okay, I'll walk you out." I said when he stood up.

"Bye Nico, Jeff." Dominic said if he grabbed his keys for the kitchen table and made his way to the door, with me following behind him.