"Wait, so you actually made a date with Ava?" Tucker asked incredulously, and Ben chuckled.

"Well, not an actual date, but she said I should call her. And I'm pretty sure it's not to see if her phone works." Tucker smiled, trying to keep his cool about the whole thing, already sure he was going to win this argument.

"Okay. I know I just met her, but I feel like I can speak for her, okay? She was not into you." Ben wasn't giving up that easy.

"Then let's hope I don't get my heart broken when I call her. Which she asked me to do. Okay?" Tucker's smile fell, and he jumped up.

"Okay. You are not calling my girl, okay?"

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed, getting their attention. "No one is calling anyone." Bonnie snorted, making them all jump.

"But I didn't even bring my swimsuit." she murmured, rolling over and falling asleep again. Danny turned back to the other two.

"No one is calling anyone." He said more quietly this time. "Learn from my mistakes. When I played in calgary, I fought over a girl with one of my teammates. Sure. I got the girl, but I lost the guy." He paused for a moment. "Then I lost the girl, too. Then I lost my phone. It was a really bad week." But Ben got the message.

"You're right. I get it. Tucker, what do you say?" Tucker sighed, but nodded.

"Fine. Neither of us will call her. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Ben told him, but Tucker wasn't convinced.

"Agreed?"

"I said agreed." Ben told him, agitated, just as Bonnie sat up panickedly.

"I'm up! What did I miss?" All three boys just started giggling at the beard that had been drawn on her face. "You fu mom-chued me, didn't you?" Ben and Tucker both shoved
Danny to the front, and Bonnie stood to her feet, Danny running for his bedroom. "Oh no you don't!" She shouted, running after him. "I put into this world, Danny Wheeler, and I can take you out of it too!" A door slammed, and Ben hurried to his own room to make sure Emma was still sleeping.

There was no need, however. When he walked in, he found Brooke laying on his bed, Emma curled up in her arms, both asleep. Brooke's arm was over her with Emma pressed up against Brooke's front, as if Brooke was protecting her. Ben couldn't help but smile, tip toeing over and trying to lift Brooke's arm so that he could pick up Emma and put her in her crib, but Brooke just tightened her hold on the baby. Ben sighed, but took a pillow and a blanket and moved himself to the couch for the night. Last thing he needed was to wake up with Brooke again.

BABYSITTER

The next morning, Ben hopped onto his computer to check something out. The apartment was already bustling and alive with action. Brooke had woken up and was taking care of Emma, Danny had to take a phone call, Tucker was already gone, and Bonnie had made coffee for her and Riley.

"Mom?" Ben asked as he brought his laptop over to the counter. "Were you on my computer last night?" Bonnie nodded as though it were completely notmal.

"Oh, yeah, honey. And you know what? You should really make a habit of erasing your history. You never know who's gonna be snooping around." Ben smirked at his mother.

"That's excellent advice, hotbon79." Brooke hurried out at once with Emma on her hip, looking over Ben's shoulder, both she and Riley laughing with him. "Is this your online dating profile?" Bonnie nodded, trying to unsuccessfully hide how emabaassed she was.

"Yes. Yes, it is. And there is nothing to be ashamed of. I have nothing to hide." Riley, Ben, and Brooke were currently reading her profile, however, and disagreed.

"It says you're a widow." Bonnie shrugged at Ben's accusation.

"Yeah, well, your father's kind of dead to me." They chuckled again, and Riley read something else.

"And for age, you said that you're..."

"AAH!" Bonnie hollered, shaking a finger at her to shut her up. "You listen up, little girls, you ain't gonna look like that forever." Brooke a d Riley exchanged looks, then looked back at Bonnie. "Yeah, you heard me. Enjoy those while they're up high." Then she turned to speak to the entire room. "This is how online dating works, okay? Everybody lies. It's like the weight on your driver's license. It's more of a suggestion. So I would appreciate a little support while I am trying to restart my life." That was when Danny came in, looking like he was about to cry.

"My life is officially over." Ben nodded in agreement, though he looked more disgusted.

"Mine too. Mom, robe." He groaned, looking away, and Bonnie looked down to see that her robe didn't quite cover everything.

"Oh, God. Sorry!" She exclaimed, fixing it as Danny came over to spill his troubles.

"The Rangers are having a big media day, and the front office wants me to give some kind of speech." Riley smiled at him, happy for hkm.

"Oh, how fun!" She told him, and Ben, Brooke, and Bonnie all laughed.

"Have you seen Danny on camera?" Ben asked her.

"He looks like the deer after it got hit by that car." Brooke said, and they all laughed again as Danny shook his head vigorously.

"I'm not doing it." Riley gave them a look as she went over to Danny.

"Could you people possibly be less supportive?" Bonnie shrugged, holding up her coffee.

"Yeah, but it's early. I'm still waking up." Brooke shook her head as she checked her watch.

"Maybe, but I have work in two hours, so I need to be the least cheerful person I can be right now." She explained, and Riley turned to Danny pulling him out onto the fire escape to talk to him in private.

"Hey. Wheeler, relax. You make people bleed for a living, I'm pretty sure you can handle a little public speaking." Danny gave her a look.

"Crushing bones, easy. Putting words one after another, no thank you." She sighed, trying to think of some way to help Danny, when she snapped her fingers. She had it!

"Okay, well, then let me help you. I just took this mock trial seminar, and I was pretty much the star of the class." She looked out into the street, pretending she was in the courtroom. "I'm not out of order. You're out of order! This whole system is out of order!" She smiled up at Danny, who looked impressed.

"You just made that up? See, I could never do that." She sighed, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"But you can. I just wish you could see yourself the way that I see you." He tilted his head, trying not to stare at her eyes and wonder how they looked so beautiful and made him think of chocolate.

"How do you see me exactly?" She shrugged, smiling sweetly at him.

"You're an amazing, loving, big-hearted guy who's passionate about everything that he does." He smiled back at her, feeling his cheeks flush red.

"That's me. Full of passion." She nodded, squeezing his shoulders encouragingly.

"We just need to hunker down together." He nodded, getting pumped up now.

"Fortunately, I'm an excellent hunkerer." She patted his shoulder, glad she finally got him out of his funk.

"Okay, then it's perfect. It's time you stopped holding back." He nodded, thinking of what he was really holding back from Riley Perrin.

"I was just thinking the same thing." She patted his arm.

"Then it's a date." She told him, heading for the window.

"I won't let you down." He told her as she left, and he took a deep breath, just as Bonnie popped her head, having listened the entire time.

"What was that all about?" She demanded, making Danny jump, and he smiled, embarrassed to have been caught in this position.

"Riley just had a few ideas for me." She gave him a look.

"Yeah. It looked like you had a few ideas for her too." He laughed loudly.

"What? No. No ideas." She gave him a look, and quickly looked away from her.

"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Look at me and tell me that you don't have a crush on FatPants." He crumbled, and he shook her head.

"I can't."

"Why not?" Bonnie demanded, thinking he was chickening out on her.

"Your robe." He groaned, and she looked down to see her business popping out again.

"Oh, God, sorry."