"Venti white chocolate mocha." Anna listened to the couple of people placing their orders at Starbucks. It was her treat for getting up early. She had to. Because the last thing she needed after the weekend she'd had was to have to talk to Arlen about it. Even though she knew he'd want every detail. Maybe distracting him with caffeine would help, but she doubted it. One thing was for sure though: she loved getting to wear her scrubs all day. They didn't itch her sunburn either.

With two cups in hand, Anna walked from the coffee shop to the elevator further down the lobby. It was entirely too quiet this early, yet Anna actually liked it. When she arrived at her floor and walked into the reception office of the practice she was shocked to see she'd even beaten the secretaries. This was a first. Smiling brightly knowing that she could at least start her day without any conflict, she placed Arlen's macchiato in his station before she went to check on her paperwork.

The sound of a basketball on concrete echoed through the backyard. Justin, with one hand, bounced the ball twice before taking a lay up and letting the ball fall effortlessly through the net. His other hand held his phone. "Zoe, I'm not doing a party. What do you mean? No, I've never had a Halloween party. No, that was Jayce and then Joey. No, I'm pretty sure I've never had a Halloween party. Ok, but Zoe think, that was really my Mom having a party, not me. And if I do remember correctly I was a basketball player because my mom forced me into a costume and Trace and I hid on the back porch stealing back the candy Momma gave to the trick-or-treaters. I don't even like Halloween."

His ball hit a crack in the court and he chased after it, just catching it before it fell into the grass. He bounced the ball once before grabbing it and holding it against his hip. "Well, no, of course I'm not gunna turn one down if you are going to have one, but-" He shook his head at what Zoe was saying over the line. "Just don't use me as the bait to get people there Zoe, okay. I'll just be using it as an excuse to get wasted so fans are a no. And y'all better get some slutty chics-"

"Justin Randall!"

"Shit," Justin cursed softly. "Gatta go. Mom's here." He was about to hang up when he heard Zoe laughing. "It's not funny Zoe. She looks pissed."

"Did I stutter Justin?"

"No Momma," he answered, hanging up on Zoe and walking towards his mom who was standing in the back doorway of the house. He wasn't surprised his mom was yelling at him for what he'd said, but was more surprised to why she was at his house. He'd talked to her a day ago and she was rambling on about getting new flowers planted before the first frost and whatever. No mention of visiting him.

He threw his basketball onto a chair and reached to hug her. "What are you doing here Momma?"

She just pointed inside. Justin did as she asked and his surprised doubled. "Mrs. A?"

Trace's mom sat at the island in his kitchen sipping a Dr. Pepper. Justin went straight from curious to concerned. His eyes flashed back and forth between Lynn and his Mom. "What's going on?"

"Is Trace home," Lynn asked taking a seat beside her own best friend.

Justin, still confused, shrugged, "Uh, I'm not sure. Trace!"

"Suck it," was the reply.

Momma Ayala turned to Lynn, "What happened to their manners? Remind me to get some soap for that boy."

"Trace," Justin yelled out again, "I think you better get in here."

A thump could be heard as Trace threw open a door and pounded down the stairs, "Do you really think I give a tit-mouse's ass what you-Oh, hi Momma. Lynn."

"Sit," the two women chorus and Trace and Justin sat beside each other in a flash.

"Now Zoe tells me that the two of you just can't seem to get along," Lynn began. Both boys turned to each other and without a word made an agreement that Zoe was at the top of their shit lists.

"Oh my gosh," Tani mumbled walking past Zoe and into the kitchen, "what kinda crack are you on Zoe?"

Zoe, meanwhile, was laughing hysterically on the couch. "Justin...mom...shit!" She literally had tears in her eyes she was laughing so hard.

Tani continued her search for some graham crackers and tried to wait out Zoe's hysterics before she got the story. By the time she'd spread some peanut butter on three crackers Zoe sobered up. "So?"

Zoe grabbed one cracker. "So, you know how Trace and Justin have been having their pissy fit?"

Tani cupped a hand under her chin to catch the crumbs when she bit into the cracker. "They aren't getting along? No! Since when?"

Zoe flicked Tani in the arm. "Alright, smart ass."

Tani smirked. "So, what'd you do?"

With a smile Zoe proclaimed, "I called their moms."

"No really."

Zoe nodded.

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

Tani took another bite. "You're cruel."

Zoe waved a dismissive hand. "It appears that way. But when they're playing sword fights in the pool again or whatever they do for bonding they'll thank me."

"Zoe," Tani cried tossing the remaining piece of her cracker in the sink, "please do not talk about Trace's parts while I'm eating. You think calling their moms will work?"

Zoe shrugged. "Probably. They're over there now. So we'll know soon."

"What do you mean they're there now?" Tani stopped running the garbage disposal and turned to look at Zoe.

"Justin and Trace's moms are at Justin's house right now. And Justin got yelled at for saying slut and ass." Tani stared at her in shock. "You wanna go visit?"

"Yes!" Tani cried running toward the garage. Zoe had just enough time to grab the remaining graham cracker before she ran after Tani.

"Is red the new tan?"

Anna threw a therapy ball onto a coaster chair and let out a long breath. She glanced at her watch and reasoned she'd gone pretty far in the day without Arlen asking her about her trip. "Unfortunatly no. I just don't handle sun well."

When she turned around he was leaning against the wall, a bottle of water in his hand and a giant smirk on his face. "You know a cup of coffee does not make up for the compromise we made," he winked.

Anna nearly laughed. "Arlen, he's not your type."

Pulling Anna's chair away from her desk Arlen made himself at home. "In case you haven't noticed, my type is anything with a penis. Preferably free on communicable diseases."

Anna covered her face in shame for Arlen. "Arlen, really?"

"Just being honest sweethart," he answered, "which you are not. You had fun and I was working. Tell me!"

Taking a look again at her watch Anna sighed, "It'll have to wait until after work. I'm booked through lunch."

Arlen held out his hand and Anna linked pinkies with him. "Don't make me hunt you down and search through the personel files to find you. Oh, and just a little fyi, I'm really in the mood for some maki."

"Noted," Anna smirked, knowing she'd have to buy off Arlen with food and stories about boys. He seemed satisfied and left, giving her a good eight minutes or so until her next client. She grabbed the bottle of aloe Justin'd brought to her room and squirted a little onto her hands before rubbing it across her shoulders as best she could and tapping a little on her nose. She looked at the bottle thinking how she was going to explain the past two days to someone else when she wasn't even sure herself what had happened.

Tani and Zoe were so used to waltzing into Justin's house that they didn't even think about knocking when they arrived. Zoe was too eager to see Justin and Trace getting yelled at. When they walked into the kitchen though, the scene was perfectly peaceful. Justin and Trace's moms were cutting up some fruit in the kitchen. Meanwhile,Trace and Justin could be seen through the back door playing basketball.

"Oh, dear! Hello," Trace's mom cried, clutching her chest and tossing her knife into the sink. "I didn't know Justin was expecting guests."

"Hi Mrs. Ayala, Mrs. Harless," Zoe beamed. "So, how'd everything work out?"

Tani stood back a little watching Zoe's interactions with Justin's mom. If Zoe hadn't told her herself that she'd talked to Justin's mom, she wouldn't have believed it. Lynn was literally shooting daggers at Zoe. Tani knew they didn't get along, but this was even making her uncomfortable. No wonder Justin usually did what his mom said.

"Hello, Zoelie."

"Zoe, dear, good to see you," Trace's mom cut in through the tension, "you look fantastic. Come give me a hug sweetie." Zoe smiled at Mrs. Ayala and ran around the counter to give her a hug.

"So has crisis been diverted? The stars and moon have aligned once again? Trastin is still a couple?" Zoe asked again.

Lynn gave the pineapple she'd been chopping a sharp jab, "Yes Zoe."

"What was the deal," she asked grabbing a chunk of watermelon. "At first I thought it was some macho fight over a girl, but-"

"Not really any of your business," was the reply.

"Zoe, does it matter," Tani asked, finally joining in, "I mean, look at them. They look happy." Tani pointed out the window where Justin and Trace were whipping the basketball at each other. Faint snorts and yelps were heard through the open window.

"Oh, gosh, Tani, hello darlin'" Lynn cried dropping her knife and rushing to Tani. "Gimmie a hug."

Tani exchanged glances with Zoe before wrapping her arm around Mrs. Harless. Zoe looked pissed! But Tani had gotten along much better with Justin's mom than Zoe ever had. Then again, Justin's mom had known Zoe since probably birth and knew about every misdeed Zoe'd done. Tani had been pretty good at keeping her image clean.

Suddenly the door flew open and all four women turned to see Kendall breeze into the room. She stopped in her tracks when she saw who else was there. "Hi?"

"What are you doing here," Zoe asked surprised.

Kendall sucked at her teeth, thinking. "Trace said he needed a pick-me-up, so I picked one up." She held out a brown paper bag.

Trace's mom smirked. "That boy's poor liver. I swear."

"Let's go give it to him," Zoe said grabbing Kendall's arm and pulling her outside.

Kendall shook her off, "I can give this to him by myself Zoe."

The boys hadn't noticed them yet. Zoe grabbed the bag from Kendall and pulled the top off. She took a long swig. With her face contorted in disgust, she swallowed a second gulp. "Trace, Jack's here."

"Who," Kendall and Justin asked, before Trace walked up and took the bottle from her.

The four plopped onto a pair of deck chairs before passing the bottle around, with Kendall refusing to sip.

"You better drink her share Zoe," Trace warned, "cuz you're going to need it."

Zoe grasped the neck of the bottle, throwing the paper bag over her shoulder, "why?"

"Cuz," Justin laughed, a grin on his face, "you called our Moms! What is that shit? We're getting you back. Bad. When you least expect it."

"Or," Trace said holding his hands up to stop Justin, "or maybe we'll get her exactly when she is expecting it."

"Oh please," Zoe said passing the bottle to across and to the right, "three hours ago you wanted to rip each other's trachea's out. Now you're all hunky-dorey. Well, maybe only one of you is hunky, but you know what I mean. Best pals forever again. Plus, I got the stare down from your mom J, so I think that's enough."

Justin took the bottle from Trace. "I'm sure she'll still get more from Mom," he reasoned to Trace. "I don't even know how you got her to actually listen to you Zoe. She thinks you are-"

"Yes," Zoe said blowing at her bangs before smacking her hands on the chair, "I'm well aware of what your Mom thinks of me. And you could at least defend me about it."

"Defend you! Zoe, I can't say stuff that isn't true."

She did not find the little chuckle that followed his declaration cute in any way. "Now you know half the stuff she thinks isn't true. But heaven forbid you tell her the truth about the things that her saintly son did."

"Fuck that. I don't need to tell her anything and frankly I dont' even know why-"

"Oh god," Trace cried grabbing the bottle from Justin. "Here we go. Ken, you want some pineapple cake? I'm sure it's almost done."

Kendall looked from Justin's balled fists and Zoe's red face back to Trace standing in front of her with a smile.

"I forgot Jack makes them angry."

"Eh," Trace shrugged, "I don't think it's just the Jack. Zoe hasn't had a good fight in awhile anyway." He threw the arm that wasn't holding the bottle around Kendall's shoulders and led her into the kitchen where the smell of fresh pineapple upside down cake and fried chicken floated through the air. "The more they fight, the more food for us, right?"

Anna pulled her sweater on over her tshirt with a sigh. They day had been long, but she was glad to be back at work. Her final client had made huge gains recently. It was one of those rare times when someone came in, tried their hardest during therapy, did all the at home activities she suggested, and the results were showing immediately. She pulled her purse out of her locker and fished out her phone to check the time, noticing two missed calls.

She typed in her password. Cradling the phone between her shoulder and head she threw her purse over her shoulder and headed out. Arlen nearly knocked her over when she reached the elevator, but stood silently while she listened. The first message was from Pepper telling her about her most recent sonogram and that a picture of Baby was on the way. That made Anna smile. Her next message did not.

"Hey Annester. It's Justin. Uh, hmm. I don't know what-how. Ok. Wow, I really am at a lost for words right now. Which is weird cuz I'm usually so good at words with girls. I mean I'm not just good with words but- Do you think, um, I could come? Yeah, I can say this better in person. Right? You're off at like 5 right? Call me."

"What," Arlen asked, noticing the extreme change in Anna's mood. "Girl, what happened?"

Anna shut her phone. "I don't know. Oh gosh Arlen. He sounds horrible!"

"Who?"

"I'm gunna have to rain check you Arlen. I don't know what happened or what he has to say, but the fact that he called me out of everyone he knows means I can't just blow it off."

Arlen nodded, "Which he?"

"Justin."

Another nod. "Sugar, I don't blame you. You go help that fancypants man."

"I'll bring maki for lunch?"

"No. You'll tell me all the drama tomorrow over a long dinner." He patted her shoulder, then held the door open into the parking garage.

"Thank Arlen," Anna answered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. As she dashed to her car she flipped open her phone and dialed Justin's number.