▸All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie

T H E  M A L L  R A T S

Early the next morning, I was woken up by Dustin roughly shaking my arm. I groaned and slapped his hands away. Grabbing the edge of my comforter, I pulled it closer to my chin and turned to my other side.

"Dawn, come on!" Dustin grumbled. "I discovered something that you and Danny need to know."

"Is it something life threatening?" I asked with my eyes still closed.

"Uh, I don't know."

"Is someone dead?"

"Not that I know of."

"Is it supernatural?"

"No."

"Then wait to explain it when my alarm goes off." I waved him away.

Dustin sighed. I snuggled into my fluffy pillow and was about to drift back to sleep, but my alarm went off. My eyes snapped open as I gritted my teeth. I sat up and turned to face a grinning Dustin.

"Fine. What is your discovery?" I yawned.

"I intercepted a message from the Russians on Cerebro." Dustin informed.

"Wait, what?" I blinked at him.

"And I got the message right here." Dustin took out a tape recorder from us pocket and waved it around. "Let's wake up Danny and go see Steve."

▷

"Why won't you let us hear the message?" Danny asked Dustin.

We had arrived at the mall a few minutes ago. Dustin was excited to see Steve again. Over the year, the two had bonded. It was always heartwarming to see the two reunite.

"Because I want you guys to listen to it with Steve." Dustin replied in a "duh" tone.

"Alright, let's hurry this up so we can listen to this." I picked up my pace.

"She just wants to make out with Steve." Danny loudly whispered to Dustin.

Dustin laughed.

"That isn't...all that true." I pouted.

"Don't worry, you two can make out all you want afterwards." Dustin patted my back.

I sent him a glare. He only responded back with a large grin. The three of us entered the ice cream parlor. Dustin eagerly walked up behind the older couple.

"Hi." Dustin greeted Robin after the customers in front of him left.

"Hi." Robin replied.

"I'm Dustin." He introduced himself.

"I'm Robin." The worker looked at Danny and I with a raised eyebrow.

"Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is-is he here?" Dustin questioned, pointing to the back.

"Is who here?" Robin asked.

The back door swung open to reveal Steve.

"Henderson." Steve brought up his arms in excitement. Dustin laughed and pointed to my boyfriend. Steve did a hop of joy before walking over to my little brother. "Henderson! He's back! He's back!"

"I'm back! You got the job!" Dustin pointed to the ice cream.

"I got the job!" Steve played an imaginary trumpet while making the noise. I chuckled, biting my lip to suppress my laugh so the two could enjoy their reunion. Steve initiates their handshake. "Hey!"

"Oh!"

The both of them made the sounds of a lightsaber. They fisted their hands as if they were holding a lightsaber and they were hitting the other's weapon. Dustin "stabbed" Steve with his, causing Steve to hunch over and stick his tongue out as he "died". The both of them went into a fit of giggles.

"How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked Steve.

"He's a special case." Steve started, wrapping an arm around Dustin's shoulders. He paused and looked at Dustin with furrowed eye brows. "Did you get taller? You got taller. Are you taller than Dawn?"

"No." Dustin grumbled out. "Almost though. Two more inches and I'll be taller than her. Just two more."

"He wishes though!" I skipped over towards them. Steve grinned and wrapped his other arm around my waist. I pecked his lips with a smile, placing my hand against his chest. "He's got something to share with us."

"What is it?" Steve looked at the three of us.

"Top secret." Danny walked over and leaned against the counter.

"Usuals?" Robin pulled out her ice cream scooper.

"Yeah, what do you want Dust? It's on me." Steve stated. Danny coughed into his hand. Steve rolled his eyes at his best friend. "All three of you."

"U.S.S. Butterscotch Sundae." Dustin told Robin.

"Coming right up." Robin sent us a smile and went to work.

"Alright, is it related to the, uh, other thing?" Steve glanced at the three of us nervously.

"No." Dustin shook his head.

"Thank God." Steve sighed in relief. "Okay, you can explain it once we get our ice cream. Go ahead and find a booth. I'll bring it over."

Danny and Dustin grabbed some napkins from the counter. Then, they went to go look for a place for the four of us to sit.

"Need help?" I offered.

"Sure." Steve nodded.

He went to the back and helped Robin make our ice creams. Robin handed me Dustin's and Danny's.

"Thanks Robin." I sent her a grateful smile.

"Anytime." She nodded.

"Go ahead and give those to the guys, babe, I got ours." Steve told me.

"Okay." I turned around to look for my brothers. They were seated in a booth towards the front of the shop. I walked over and gave them their ice creams. "Here ya go!"

"Thanks, Dawn." They both uttered, grabbing their dessert.

I sat down next to Dustin and waited for Steve to come over. My brothers quickly dug into their food. No more than a minute later, my boyfriend sat next to me. He handed me my ice cream.

"Okay, catch me up with everything first. I want to know how camp was." Steve slung an arm over my shoulder and brought me closer towards him.

"Tell him about Suzie." Danny smirked.

"Suzie? Who's Suzie?" Steve looked at us in question.

"Dustin's new girlfriend." I scooped a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.

"Girlfriend, hmm?" Steve raised a brow.

"Yeah," Dustin nodded," hotter than Phoebe Cates."

"No, no. No way." Steve shook his head. "Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No."

"Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed as he took a spoonful of his sundae. "Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are coming in. She says that kissing is better without teeth."

"Wow." Steve looked at Danny and I in shock. "Yeah, that's great. Proud of you, man. That's ro- that's kinda  romantic. That's like, wow."

"That's what I told him." Danny added, playfully punching Dustin's arm. "We have ourselves a little Casanova here."

"So you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin switched the subject.

"Yeah. I mean sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for my girl." Steve looked down at me with a smile.

"And I'm loving it." I pecked his cheek.

"He's been giving his free ice cream mostly to his girl." Danny stabbed his spoon into his ice cream.

"What? He makes you pay for yours? He must really love Dawn more than you, then." Dustin teased.

"Shut up." Danny shoved him only causing the rest of us to laugh. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Ha ha."

"So, where are the other knuckleheads?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, they weren't at the house today." I leaned against Steve.

"They ditched me yesterday." Dustin informed us.

"No."

"My first day back. Can you believe that shit?"

"What?"

"But they planned the surprise party and you were gone most of the evening." I frowned.

"Whoa, seriously?" Steve looked at Dustin.

"I swear to God." Dustin took another spoonful of ice cream. He pointed at all three of us. "They're gonna regret this, though, big time. When they don't get to share in my glory."

"Glory?"

"What glory?"

"So, last night, we were trying to get in contact with Suzie." Dustin started.

"Oh." Steve nodded.

"Did she ever respond?" I asked.

"No, but that's not the point. And uh..." Dustin glanced around the parlor. He covered his mouth and mumbled incoherently.

"Uh..."Steve exchanged confused glances with Danny and I.

"Run that by us again, couldn't hear it." Danny said.

Dustin repeated it, but I could only hear certain words.

"I still can't hear you." I told him.

"Uh..." Dustin clicked his tongue and swiped his thumb at his nose.

He glanced around the shop again. Cupping one hand near his mouth to cover anyone to reading his lips, Dustin softly repeated his sentence. Once again, we heard nothing.

"Just speak louder." Steve suggested.

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin spoke loudly.

Everyone in Scoops Ahoy turned to face us. I slouched into to Steve to hide my face from the stares.

"Not that loud." Danny spoke with a mouthful of ice cream.

"Jeez, shh. Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you said." Steve furrowed his brows. "What-What does that mean?"

"It means, Steve, that we could be heroes. True American heroes." Dustin answered.

"Huh." Steve smiled. Dustin hummed  in response. "American heroes."

"Imagine that on a job resume." Danny placed his elbows on the table.

"Just think," Dustin faced our brother, "you can have all the ladies and more."

"More?" Danny repeated. Dustin nodded with a large grin. "I don't know...I'm still recovering from-"

"Dude," Steve interrupted, "it's been almost five months-"

"Six." Danny leaned back against his seat with a depressed sigh.

"It's time to move on. This will for sure help you move on."

"Or, you know, maybe Robin." I shrugged.

"Robin?" The boys spoke in unison.

"Yes." I rolled my eyes. "I see chemistry there."

"I don't know." Danny glanced over at Robin as she helped a customer.

"Well, we can still be American heroes." Dustin said.

"What's the catch?" Steve questioned.

"No catch," Dustin shook his head, "I just need the three of you to help me."

"With what?"

Dustin reaches towards his backpack. He unzipped it and pulled out a book.

"Translation." Dustin held the red book.

▷

I leaned against the wall in the back room of Scoops Ahoy. Dustin has the tape playing on the table. Steve was slowly walking around the room whilst eating a banana. Danny on the other hand, sat on the floor below the white board that held the translated Russian alphabet with his knees pulled to his chest and his chin lazily cupped in his hand.

"Steve!" Robin called from the front.

My boyfriend ignored his coworker. Dustin presses a button to stop the Russian message.

"So, what do you guys think?" Dustin asked.

"Well...it's defiantly Russian." I pursued my lips in thought.

"All I know is that I know shit about the Russian language." Danny huffed.

"It sounded familiar." Steve broke off a piece of the banana and popped it into his mouth.

"What?"

"The music." Steve pointed to the recorder. "The music right there at the end."

"There was music?" I blinked at Steve.

"Yeah, at the very end." Steve turned to face me.

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve?" Dustin snapped. "Listen to the Russians! We're translating Russian!"

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music-"

"All right," Robin stormed in and walked towards the white board, "babysitting time is over. You need to get in there. Hey, my board. That was important data you shitheads."

"Not as important as this." Danny looked up at Robin.

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin calmly informed her.

"Yeah?" Robin walked towards him. "And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?"

I pushed myself off the wall with interest. Steve and Danny exchanged a look. I walked over to Dustin and my boyfriend.

"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin's eyes widened as he glanced at the rest of us.

"I don't know." Steve spoke with a mouthful.

"You told her about-"

"It wasn't me."

"Danny? Dawn?"

"Ouch, that hurts right here, Dusty." Danny patted his chest as he stood up.

"Your heart is on the other side." I rolled my eyes.

"Right, I know that." Danny chuckled. "I was too lazy to move my hand to the other side."

"You know, I'm right here. Actually, I can hear everything. You four are extremely loud." Robin stated. "You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but you haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet. Sound about right?"

"Well shit." I uttered.

The four of us just stared at Robin. She reached her hand for the recorder, only for Steve to snatch it away.

"Woah, woah, woah. What do you think you're doing?" Steve handed the recorder to me.

"I wanna hear it." Robin shrugged.

"Why?" The boys spoke.

"Because maybe I can help." Robin said. "I'm fluent in four languages, you know."

"Russian?" Dustin quirked an eyebrow.

Robin spoke in a language I didn't understand. It sounded nothing similar to the Russian language.

"Oh-oh-oh."

"Holy shit!" Dustin beamed.

"Damn girl." Danny chuckled.

"That was Pig Latin, dingus." Robin smirked.

"Idiot." Steve muttered, slapping the banana peel against Dustin's arm.

"But I can speak Spanish," Robin sat down in the free seat next to Dustin, "and French and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me."

"Uh..." Dustin pressed his lips together.

"Just let her help." I extended the recorder towards her.

"Hey!" Steve went to reach for it, but I gave him a warning look. He sighed and lowered his hand.

"Thank you." Robin sent me a grateful smile and grabbed the recorder. The boys just glared at me.

"What? We need a fresh pair of ears to help and she can speak other languages. That's three more than we can." I told them.

"Um, excuse you, I know some French." Danny scoffed.

"Kissing doesn't count." Steve grinned, patting Danny's back.

"Not that, you dumbass." Danny shoved his hand away.

"It's your turn, Steve, to sling ice cream, my turn to translate." Robin leaned forward against the table. "I don't even want the credit. I'm just bored."

Steve licked his lips and looked over at me. I gave him a nod. The bell from the front dinged.

"Fine." Steve grumbled. Robin quickly gave him the ice cream scooper with a large smile. He muttered curses under his breath and pointed at me. "You owe me Henderson, I'm doing this for you."

"I know." I cheekily batted my eyelashes at him.

"At least a kiss for now?" Steve wrapped a hand around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"I guess you deserve that." I snaked my arms around his neck.

"I deserve a lot more than one kiss." Steve looked down at me.

"True." I shrugged and kissed him.

"Ugh, I don't miss that." Dustin scrunched up his nose and gagged.

"It's all they do." Danny and Robin both spoke at once.

"Surprised we haven't lost any customers with the amount of kissing these two do here." Robin leaned back into her chair.

The bell began to rapidly ding. Steve groaned against my lips, pecking them one more time before he pulled away.

"I'll be back. You four better have something when I come back." Steve pointed the scooper at us.

An hour had passed by with us replaying the tape. Steve was still working his shift, checking in every now and then. Danny was now sitting next to Dustin while Robin walked around the room. I was currently laying on my back with my legs propped up against the wall.

"That music in the background...does it sound familiar to you guys?" I asked, tilting my head to look at everyone.

"Sort of." Danny nodded.

"I'm paying attention to the words than the music to translate." Robin shook her head. She spun around and pointed at Dustin. "Wait, that last part, just one more time."

"Okay." Dustin rewinded the tape.

Dustin resumed the audio. The three of us stared at Robin as she listened to it. She snapped her fingers and pointed at the player.

"Okay, that word. Um..." Dustin quickly stopped the audio as Robin tried to think of the translated word. "It's pronounced..."dly-nna-ya." Which is spelled...d-d."

Danny quickly shot up from his seat and towards the white board. He scanned the first row. Danny pointed at the Russian letter above "D". I swung my legs down to the ground and stood up.

"Yeah, okay." Robin grabbed the pen and started to write down the word.

"It's the-the chair." Dustin pointed at the letter. "The chair looking thingy."

"Okay," Robin bit her lip and looked up at the white board, "replay that sentence again. I think I can translate it."

"On it." Dustin rewinded the tape once again.

We listened to the Russian man speak. Robin would tell Dustin to pause it to write a translated word. It wasn't long until we had an entire sentence translated into English.

"One sentence translated." Danny high fived her. "Way to go."

Robin opened the window. She leaned forward to tell Steve the good news.

"We got our first sentence."

"Oh, seriously?" Steve walked towards the window holding two ice cream cones.

Max and El we're on the other side of the counter waiting for their ice cream. They smiled and waved when they saw me. I waved back only for Dustin to shoot me a look which caused me to lower my hand.

"Yeah. "The week is long"." Robin spoke the sentence in a Russian accent.

"Well that's thrilling." Steve said not so thrilled.

"I know, progress." Robin closed the window on him.

By the time the entire mall closed, we translated a few senstences. Steve and Robin had cleaned the tables, ice cream scoopers, check the cash register, and close the ice cream parlor. When they came back, we all stood in front of the white board which now held the translated message.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." We read aloud.

"That makes absolutely no sense." I blinked in disbelief.

"Let's talk about this on the way out. We don't need security or anyone coming by to question us." Robin ushered us out of the back room.

We collected our stuff and headed out of the ice cream parlor. Steve pressed a button on the side that released the gate to close the shop. He inserted a key into a lock and locked the gate once it touched the floor.

"I mean, it's just...it just can't be right." Steve stated.

"It's right." Robin informed.

"Maybe it's like a riddle of some sort." I shrugged.

"A riddle? Really?" Danny raised a brow at me.

"Honestly, I think it's great news." Dustin looked at all of us.

"How is this great news?" Steve walked next to me, slipping his hand into mine. The five of us started to walk away from Scoops Ahoy. Steve chuckled and shook his head. "I mean, so much for American heroes. It's total nonsense."

"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code." Dustin declared.

"Now that makes more sense than a riddle." Danny tilted his head to face me with a smirk.

"Shut up." I pinched his shoulder.

"Ow!" Danny chuckled, rubbing his arm.

"Wait, what do you mean a code?" Steve inquired.

"Like a super secret spy code."

"That's a total stretch." Steve commented.

"I don't know, is it?" Robin shrugged.

"You're buying into this?" Steve asked.

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission." Robin started. "What'd you think they were gonna say, "fire the warhead at noon"?"

"She's got a point." Danny pressed his lips together.

"Exactly." Dustin pointed at both Danny and Robin in appreciation.

"And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so...the silver cat feeds. Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message." Robin explained.

"Exactly."

"Then what are they truly trying to say?" I thought aloud.

"Okay, why would anyone mask the the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Robin fired another question.

"That's true." Danny nodded.

"Exactly."

Steve mocked Danny and Dustin. Holding back a giggle, I lightly smacked his arm. He gazed down at me as he tried to hold back a smile.

"So I guess that confirms your suspicions." Robin told Dustin.

"Evil Russians."

" I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child," Robin chuckled and looked at the older teenagers, "but, yeah, totally evil Russians."

"So how do we crack it?" Dustin probed.

"There's still more we need to translate, right?" Danny glanced at Robin.

"Yeah," she nodded, "hopefully a pattern emerges."

"A pattern. Right, like maybe "silver cat" is like a meeting place?" Dustin suggested.

"Could be, yeah. Or some sort of symbol?" Danny added.

"Or a person."

"Or a weapon."

The three of them kept shooting possible answers to each other. I checked on Steve to see him listen quietly. There was a frown on his lips. I leaned closer to him and placed my head on his shoulder.

"You okay?" I whispered.

"Hmm?" Steve blinked before he peered down at me. "Yeah, yeah, just thinking. That stupid song keeps playing in my head. It sounds familiar-"

"But you can't remember the name?" I finished his sentence.

"Yeah. Exactly." Steve nodded. He stopped in his tracks when we passed by the horse machine that little kids ride on. "Hold on a sec."

Robin and my brothers were a couple of feet ahead of us. They were unaware that we had stopped. He let go of my hand and dug both of his hands into his pockets. Steve pulled out both hands causing spare change to fall onto the floor. In one of his hands, he held a nickle.

"Steve?" I stared at him in confusion.

"Do you have a quarter?"

"Um, I don't know." I dug into my jean pockets to search for the change.

"Hey, Steve? What are you doing?"

"Uh, it's a quarter. I need- do you have a quarter?" Steve held up a nickel while he looked at them.

"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin joked as they jogged over toward us.

"I got one." I bit my lip and pulled out my hand from my front pocket. I handed the quarter to my boyfriend. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Steve pecked my cheek.

Steve crouched to the same level as the machine and inserted the quarter into the coin slot. The horse immediately started to move. Music started to play. Familiar music. I gaped at the ride, exchanging a shocked look with him.

"Need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin teased.

"Guys, listen." I pointed to the machine.

"Shh." Steve hushed her.

Dustin chuckled along with Danny and Robin.

"Would you three please shut up." Steve warned them.

"Holy shit." Dustin waved a finger at the horse.

"That's the song." I muttered.

"What?" Danny blinked in confusion.

"The music." Dustin shrugged off his backpack. He placed it on the ground. "The music!"

Dustin unzipped his bag and kneeled on the floor. He grabbed the recorder and pressed the side button. The same exact music played from the recording.

"I don't understand." Robin shook her head.

"Oh my God." Danny gasped with wide eyes.

"It's the exact same song on the recording." Dustin explained.

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." Robin pointed to the machine.

"I doubt it." I gnawed at my bottom lip.

"Indiana Flyer? I don't...I don't think so." Steve told her. "This code, it...it didn't come from Russia. It came from here."

TBH I'm so loving Steve and Dawn. Part 3 of this book is gonna be filled with moments between them and of course the Henderson sibling trio.

Who else loves the Hendersons?

Can we talk about sibling goals?