A'Cadia stared at her car with a deep sense of loss. She was going to strip Lenny's flesh off a single layer at a time and then dip him in lemon juice. After that, maybe she'd cover him in honey and leave him for an army of ants to discover. If he managed to live through that, well, she'd come up with something else.

"You okay, kiddo?"

"No. I'm contemplating the worst possible death for Lenny."

Logan chuckled as he stepped up beside her. "Don't worry I can fix it and it will look good as new when I'm done."

She heaved a sigh and turned away from the car, heading back into the house with her father at her side. "How's Ziva doing?"

"She's fine. A little waterlogged, but good. She and Craig were lucky those valet guys came running last night or Lenny might have hauled them off somewhere. Who knows, he could have simply drowned them instead," he told her.

"Craig, maybe, but Ziva he would have taken with him. You know he wants her on his side," A'Cadia reminded him.

"Yeah, right we know that. Wish we knew exactly why that was." He stopped part of the way down the hall between the kitchen and the foyer. "He ever give you guys any indication of his plans for her?"

She shook her head. "He played those cards pretty close to his chest. Kept it all a secret. Doubt he's told anyone his full plan. He's not the bragging, monologuing evil guy type."

Logan rubbed his chest in a gesture she had come to recognize as one that meant he was either nervous or thinking. He finally gave his head a little shake.

"Damn, wish we knew what he was up to."

"Wish Vincenzo would get here with that van," she said with a smirk.

He chuckled and shoved playfully at her shoulder. "Anxious to storm the castle gates, little girl?"

She shoved him back. "Shut up!"

He grinned and shook his head. "I've got to go talk to Storm, I'll catch you later. Behave."

"Don't get hit by lightning!" she called after him. He waved a hand back at her to acknowledge that he'd heard her. Storm still had the flu and was sneezing lightning bolts, though she felt somewhat better by now. Her father would still be injured if struck, but at least he had a good chance of surviving with his ability to heal so quickly. A'Cadia grinned as she wandered down the long corridor and into the large TV room where the others were sprawled out.

She supposed the one thing she could be glad for was that her mother decided to take a little trip and stay away as long as she and her friends were staying at the house.

She grinned and shook her head. Craig had Ziva tucked in on one of the large sofas. A'Cadia suppressed a giggle when she saw Ziva under a pile of blankets, propped up on a stack of pillows, with Craig fussing over her like a little old grandmother.

Her gaze swept the room and she frowned. "Where's Skylar?"

"She went to some stupid concert," Mellissa answered from her position on the floor where she and Angela were playing Monopoly. It appeared as if Mellissa was winning by a landslide.

"Concert? What concert?" she asked, frowning at Mellissa.

Mellissa shrugged. "Don't know, didn't ask. But she was dressed all weird."

A'Cadia shot Ziva a look and she shrugged. "Do not look at me, I just woke up. I was out cold, I never saw her."

"She was wearing all black. Mellissa is right it was weird," Angela answered and then groaned when she landed on Park Place, which Mellissa owned and had a hotel on.

"Yes! I win, you are so bankrupt!" Mellissa shouted before looking up at A'Cadia. "Yeah, she was all goth-like. Very un-Skylar."

She gave up the Skylar mystery with a shrug. Maybe all Ziva's teasing about her cheeriness had gotten to Sky. She sauntered over and dropped down beside Stone on the couch. With a grin, he dropped an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, you," she told him with a smile.

"Hey, you, yourself. Are you done mourning the loss of your car?" he asked with a smirk as he tightened his arm a fraction, hugging her closer.

She elbowed him in the side and he grunted. "No, I'll mourn it for a bit longer thank you very much."

He dropped a quick kiss on her temple. "All right then."

They settled back on the couch, watching TV. She yawned and dropped her head against his shoulder. Sitting beside him was somehow comforting, she didn't know why, but it was. With him, she felt safe, though she couldn't say why that was. Slowly, her eyes slipped shut and she dozed off.

A'Cadia came awake with a start, blinking for a moment wondering why she was awake, then she heard Skylar's cheerful voice. With a grumble, she blinked her eyes open and stared at the ceiling, realizing she and Stone had fallen asleep watching TV on the couch. She was going to kill Skylar for yanking her out of the dream world, she'd been having a great dream that involved, her and Stone, a drive-in movie and the fact that her car wasn't waterlogged.

She turned her head to look at Skylar. "What are you yapping about, Skylar?"

"Oooh, goody, you're awake! You can meet Death!"

She wasn't certain she'd heard that correctly. "Meet Death? No thanks, I seriously do not want to meet my death, thanks, but no thanks."

Skylar rolled her eyes and giggled. "No, no, silly, not "meet your death", just meet Death, my new boyfriend."

Ok, now she really wasn't certain she was hearing correctly. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and focused on the guy standing beside Skylar. He was several inches taller than Skylar's very average five-foot-three, his hair hung in longish coal-black waves around his face. The guy gave his head a quick shake to move some of the strands out of his eyes. Black skinny jeans hugged long legs and the ragged cuffs of the jeans rested on a pair of shit-kicker boots. She squinted but couldn't identify the name of the band on the concert t-shirt he wore, not because it was partially hidden by the long, black leather jacket he wore, but because she honestly had no clue who the band was. She noted there was a guitar slung across his back as well. Skylar was gazing up at the guy as if she'd discovered where the sun rose and set. Great, fabulous, little miss sunshine finally finds a boyfriend and his name is Death. She struggled to sit up, shoving at Stone to force him to move.

"You want to give us some explanation, Skylar?" A'Cadia asked.

"We met at a concert. Death is the lead singer, oh, and lead guitar. I've been following the band for a long time." She grinned happily. "I won backstage passes a couple of years ago and I got to meet the band. Death and I have been emailing back and forth since then and tonight, well, he decided we should become more than friends. Oh, oh, and he's one of us!" she finished in a hushed tone as if it were secret.

"He's a mutant?" Ziva asked from beneath her pile of blankets.

Skylar gave an enthusiastic nod before prodding her new boyfriend. "Show them!"

He slung the guitar around in front of him, fiddled with it a moment, gave them all a serious, brooding rock star look, and hit a high note. A note that was perfect for shattering glass. And not just a single little wine glass but every piece of glass in the house.

"Holy—"

"So, you can shatter stuff with your voice?" Craig asked quickly before Mellissa could finish.

Death nodded but said nothing. Craig shot Skylar a look as if waiting for some more of an explanation.

"Isn't he fabulous?" Skylar gushed while sending Death an adoring look.

"Right, soooo ... your name is Death?" A'Cadia asked skeptically. She was quite certain there was more to Skylar's story about how they'd gotten together. She was certain Skylar had paraphrased things.

"No, Death is a stage name, my real name is Satan," he answered in a more or less monotone voice.

"Ooooookaaay then ..." She didn't know what to say to that, instead she glanced at Skylar, but she was too busy sending Death admiring looks to notice anyone was looking to her for more information.

Stevie strode into the room smiling like a fool, followed closely by several very large men in suits, a couple of them in trench coats. "Hello, everyone, good news, Vincenzo has arrived! We can move forward with the march on the Capital building!"

Ziva yawned and managed to struggle out from beneath her pile of blankets. "Great, can we discuss this in the morning when we're all awake."

Stevie looked crestfallen that his announcement of Vincenzo's arrival wasn't met with more enthusiasm. But he took it in stride, turning to his guests with a smile. "Come on guys, I'll get you all settled for the night!" He marched from the room leading Vincenzo and his business associates away.

"Great, my mom will flip if she discovers we've invited the mafia to stay for a sleepover," A'Cadia muttered with a grimace that turned into a smirk. "If she had a choice though, I bet she'd pick the mafia remaining here over mutants. Thank God she's not here."

"Right now, I just want to go back to bed," Ziva said through another yawn.

Craig grinned as he shot a look at Mellissa and Angela where they had fallen asleep on the floor somewhere between Death's demonstration and Vincenzo's arrival. Kids could fall asleep anytime, anywhere, in seconds flat.

He grinned, wishing he could do that. "Guess we need to put those two to bed."

With a small nod, Stone rolled from the couch and scooped up Mellissa from where she was curled on the floor beside Angela. "You get Tiny Dancer."

Craig grinned as he picked up Angela. They tucked the girls in and then made their way to their rooms. Ziva had already gone to her room as had A'Cadia. Skylar had taken Death to get him settled into a room, she'd speak to Storm in the morning about allowing him to stay. He yawned, long day. They would sleep and figure out how to go after Lenny tomorrow.

***

Lenny stood back with a huge grin as he watched the rep from the tent company oversee the setup of the huge structure. His gaze skimmed over the rose garden, well what was left of it now. Didn't matter, his coronation was what mattered.

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and turned to Brittney. "Brit, did you call the press and let them know about the party tonight?"

She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and smiled at him. "Yeah, and they said they'd see if they could spare someone to be here."

"Spare someone? I am about to be crowned King! How could they not want to be here for this momentous occasion! Fine, fine, send someone out to go buy a video camera! If the press won't be here we'll tape it ourselves and send the tape to the stations! I don't know why I bothered making you Press Secretary you're useless!" He stomped off across the lawn and headed inside.

She sighed, she could hear him grumbling from across the lawn. "Someone is epic cranky today."

"I know, he needs like a nap or something," Barbie commented as she wandered up beside Brittney.

"Yeah, totally. Hey, did you get a new dress for the party tonight?" Brittney asked.

"No, I haven't had any time, Lenny has me doing this stupid Press stuff. You?"

"No, we should totally go find Tif and hit the mall!" she said with a little squeal.

"Totally!" Barbie answered with a shriek of agreement. Together they rushed off to go find Tiffany.

***

Ziva fingered the material of the catering uniforms Angela's tutu lady, Laura, had made for them. "Wow, these are very well made for such short notice."

Angela smiled up at her. "I told you she was good. Oh, wait it gets even better!" She grabbed one of the smaller uniforms and hustled from the room. She reappeared moments later dressed in the catering uniform.

"Right, so what's better about it?" A'Cadia asked her.

Angela fisted her hand in the fabric and yanked the uniform off. For modesty's sake, she'd put on one of her leotards underneath it. With quick movements, she flipped the uniform, reversing it and put it back on, fastening it with the hidden Velcro attachments. "Ta-da!"

Ziva blinked at the newly reversed uniform. "What is it supposed to be now?"

Angela rolled her eyes. "The Capital building tour guides! Clever isn't it? Laura thought of it, you know in case we need to walk around the building."

Ziva and A'Cadia spun around at the sound of a sudden squeal from behind them.

"Ohhh it's so adorable!" Skylar came forward and stood before Angela. "I've always wanted to be a tour guide at the White House! I know everything about the White House!"

A'Cadia snorted. "Figures that she would."

Stevie stuck his head into the room. "Who wants to check out the van?"

"Sure, why not," Ziva said and turned to follow him out to the garage. They trooped out after him. It was a standard white panel van. The name of the catering company had been stenciled on the sides and back of the van. It matched the picture that Stevie had shown them of the company they were certain Lenny was using.

"Vincenzo did a good job." A'Cadia walked around the vehicle, studying the van. "But are we all gonna fit in one van?"

"No, probably not," Vincenzo answered as he flung open the slider door on the van. "We'll be going in two separate vehicles. The van and my town car. I and my men will follow in the car. If they give us trouble at the gates, we'll tell them we're additional security."

Ziva gave him a skeptical look. "Lenny's people aren't going to buy that."

Stevie smirked at her from where he was leaning against the side of the van. "Ahh, but you see they will. Vincenzo here has a very special sort of mutation. He can convince anyone of anything. You do remember me telling you that don't you?"

Ziva still looked skeptical. "I'm not buying this."

Vincenzo stepped out of the van and up to Ziva, invading her personal space in a big way. She refused to step back and give him the satisfaction of knowing he intimidated her. Stevie could insist all day long the guy wasn't mafia, but he sure nailed the stereotype perfectly. Blue-black hair, swarthy Italian complexion, dark brown eyes that held a twinkle of humor right now probably because he was enjoying her discomfort and a very expensive, perfectly tailored suit.

He adjusted the cuffs on his shirt, fixed his tie, and grinned down at her as if considering what he was going to say. The guy was big, muscled, wide shoulders and he hovered over her. She was not going to back down. Hell no.

He cocked his head to the side, still smiling. "You think yor a tough one. That nothing can scare you." He chuckled and leaned in closer to her. "But it's all an act, isn't it? Yor not as tough as you seem are you, little girl?"

Ziva blinked and stepped back from him, her mouth opening to answer him, she gave her head a shake to clear it of the sudden urge to answer him. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Vincenzo arched an eyebrow at her as he stepped back. "Oh, I think you do."

Slightly panicked Ziva turned away from him. "Stevie, I don't like games. Tell your idiot friend to back off. This all better be ready to go tonight so we can make this happen!" She shot Vincenzo a dirty look before stomping out of the garage.

A'Cadia shook her head as she watched Ziva go. She looked over at Vincenzo. "Probably not the wisest choice you made there, Vincenzo. Ziva's touchy; you might not want to piss her off."

Vincenzo arched an eyebrow at her. "She may be touchy, but I was telling the truth. Her bravado is a front."

Craig, who had been quietly standing in the background, stepped forward now. "Ziva isn't a coward!"

Vincenzo shifted his gaze over to Craig. "I never said she was a coward. If called to fight, she will. But one cannot be brave at all times." He finished with a shrug.

Stevie pushed himself away from the van. "If Vincenzo wanted to force Ziva to admit to something, he could have, that was merely a demonstration. And certainly not the full force of his powers. If he wanted her to answer, she would have." He glared around at everyone before nodding. "All right before this dissolves into a war of mine is bigger than yours, Craig you can go hug Ziva and comfort her. Vincenzo, let's finish getting the van ready. All right? Everyone happy? Good!" Stevie sent everyone a smile, clapped his hands together, and turned toward the van, dismissing them.

Craig shot the mobster a glare before he left the garage to go in search of Ziva. On the way, he passed the large TV room and spotted Skylar and Death. Giving his head a shake, he kept going. Death was strumming his guitar and Skylar was staring at him as if he had lit the stars in the heavens. What was it about guys in a band that girls liked so much? He took the stairs two at a time and jogged down the hall, he found Ziva in her room, curled on her bed, hugging a pillow.

"Hey, you okay, babe?" he asked as he sat on the bed beside her.

"No. How did he know, Craig?"

"I don't know, but you're not a coward, Ziva. You went into Lenny's place and brought back the antidote for us." He reached out and stroked her hair gently.

She rolled onto her back and stared up at him. "Do you really believe that I'm brave?"

"Yes, I do." A smile touched his lips.

She sat up, wrapped her arms around him, and buried her face in his neck. She needed someone to believe in her, no one had, not since her mother had tossed her out of the house. She'd been alone and it felt good to have Craig on her side, to have his belief in her.

He pulled back and smiled down at her while framing her face with his hands. "Hey, come on. We can do this. We'll beat Lenny. We're the good guys, remember?"

Slowly she nodded her head. "Yeah, we're the good guys. Let's hope wecan do this." She sighed. "All right, let's do this. Let's go get him."