Maxwells -Christopher- 21; Jonathon-19; David-18; Miranda-16
Yuys- Victoria-20; Dominic-18; Veronica-16
Winners-Damien–19; Quatrina-19; Vaughn-16; Mira-14
Bartons-Miles-18; Donavon-17; Carin-16; Isabella-13
Changs- Leigh-20; Merin-19; Jet-16
Merquises-Thad-24; Zach-23; Kellie-18

~~~~~~

Part One

"There will be three teams," stated Heero as he looked up at the kids in front of him.

"What do you mean three teams?" asked the Victoria as she propped her hand on her hip and looked at her father.

"Three teams ice princess. Which means you’re an open target," drawled the Chris Maxwell. His cobalt eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Don’t call me that!" Victoria snapped as she poked her finger in the middle of his chest. Her Prussian blue eyes glared up at him since she was nearly a head shorter then him. "If you weren’t so tall I would kick you’re…"

"Can it Vicky," Miranda Maxwell said as she raked her hand through her ebony hair. "I would like to know the teams."

Victoria glared at the taller girl, but held her tongue. "Go on dad," she said as she turned her back on the two Maxwells.

Heero cleared his throat again. "There will be three teams. The Green team will consist of the Winners and the Bartons. The Yellow team will consist of the Changs and Yuys. And since the Maxwells bragged that they could take all of them on, they will be the Blue team. And I will also mention that Zach, Thad, and Kellie Merquise will be snipers, so all of you will be open targets," he finished. "Now do all of you guys have you’re paintball machines?"

"Yeah," all the kids said.

"May the best team win then," said Heero as he gestured out to the vast property that Relena and himself lived at with her brother and Noin. It was a combination of woods and open ground.

The Maxwells all grinned at each other. All of them possessed their father’s trademark devilish smile. They turned and looked at the others and looked back at each other as they went off into the woods.

"Why do I not like this?" asked Veronica as she glanced at the others.

"We better get a move on," said Victoria as she hoisted her paintball gun on her shoulder. "We don’t want to be sitting ducks for the Maxwells."

"Then let’s get going," said Damien as he and his team went off into the woods.

The Yuys and the Changs looked at each other. They had the Winners and the Bartons to worry about as well as the Maxwells and the ‘snipers.’ They squared their shoulders and went into the woods.

Heero and all the other parents watched from the yard as the kids disappeared. He raised his gun and fired it, signaling the beginning of the games. "I don’t think that you’re kids will stand a chance with everyone determined to get them,’ he said as he glanced at Duo.

"Don’t underestimate my kids Heero. You’re just hoping that they won’t win for the second year in a row," Duo smirked as he leaned against the marble railing.

Heero, Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre scowled at him. Zechs rolled his eyes.

******************************************************************************

Miranda, Chris, David, and Jonathon stood silently behind a large rock. They were all wearing black muscle shirts with royal blue soccer shorts. Their paintball guns ready for their victims.

"Remember, we attack as a group. More then likely they’ll be in small groups of their own," whispered Chris. "But also remember, Victoria is mine," he said grinning.

"Got it," David whispered back.

"Someone is coming," Jonathon hissed as he peered around the rock.

"Its Quatrina, Isabella, Mira, and Vaughn," Miranda said as she got herself ready.

"One, two, three," said Chris as they all came out firing.

"Dammit!" yelled Vaughn as he tried to dodge all four Maxwells.

Quatrina and Mira began to fire their green paint at Jonathon and David. They both missed and ended up with blue paint splattered over them all. "Argh!" Mira said as she stamped off.

Quatrina glared at them as she left. "You guys are going to get it!" she yelled as she followed her sister.

Vaughn took aim at Miranda. "I’ll get you Randy," he said as he fired, but she dodged it.

"No, you won’t," she said as she rolled to the ground and fired. The paintball exploded on Vaughn’s gray shirt. "Bull’s eye!"

Isabella was a little more fortunate as she ran behind the rock and fired around it. Then she felt something hit her on her back. She looked over her shoulder and saw the bright yellow paint of the Yuy/Chang team. She looked up and saw Leigh grinning. "Darn it!" she yelled as she stamped off.

Leigh grinned and flipped her silky black hair over her shoulder. "Always look behind you." She glanced back at Veronica and Jet. "I spy Maxwells," she called out.

"And I spy a Chang," said Jonathon as he leaned over the rock and fired at her.

"Shit!" she yelled as she dodged the paintball. It missed her by mere inches. She glared up into the cobalt eyes of Jonathon. "I’m going to…"

"Save it! We’re under fire by a sniper," screamed Veronica as she dove under some underbrush.

Jet followed suit after her, but not before firing a volley at Jonathon Maxwell.

******************************************************************************

The fathers sat up on the terrace. They could hear the outraged yells of many of their kids. Quatre stood up when he saw his two daughters coming out of the woods covered by the blue paint of the Maxwells. Not far behind them came Mira and Vaughn.

"Damn them all," Vaughn said as he flung himself into a chair. "Those Maxwells ambushed us," he said as he slumped down even further.

Quatre raised a brow at his son’s language, but didn’t say anything. He turned a glance to his daughters, who were scowling and muttering under their breath. Three of his kids were covered in blue paint. He looked at Duo, who smiled guilelessly and was just about to say something when he held up his hand. "I don’t want to hear it," he said as he sat down.

"I didn’t even hear her," Isabella protested as she sat on the railing. "Leigh just came out of nowhere," she said as she glanced at the yellow paint on her back.

"At least you weren’t pegged by a Maxwell," muttered Mira.

Trowa looked over at his youngest. "You’ll do better next time."

"Thanks dad. And next time I’ll be more careful and peg a Maxwell for myself," she said.

******************************************************************************

Jet leaned up from his hiding place. "There’s someone," he said as he aimed his gun and fired. Yellow paint splattered on the ankle of Donavon Barton.

"Crap!" Donavon muttered as he saw the yellow paint before striding off.

"Surprise, surprise," Chris said as he fired at Jet from behind.

Jet’s mouth dropped open in surprise before stamping off. "This is injustice!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Veronica crawled along the ground. She knew that all the Maxwells were close as well as her cousins could pick any one of them off. She saw the familiar shoes of Randy. "I got you," she said as she aimed. She leaned up a little to get a better shot when she felt something slide down the back of her shoulder. She froze and checked her shoulder. Her hand came away with the red paint of the sniper’s. "Shit!" she yelled as she stood. She heard male laughter coming from somewhere above. "Damn you Zach!" she said as she walked off.

Miranda and David looked at each other and watched as Veronica stamped off. They looked above them. "We have to be careful," she said as she scanned the trees.

"I agree," said David as he glanced up. Then he saw movement. "A Barton at three o’clock," he called out as he fired at Carin. He missed.

"She’s mine," Randy said as she fired in Carin’s direction. She missed as well.

"Come and get it," Carin yelled as she jumped over a log and ran into Jonathon. "Oh crap," she muttered as she was surrounded by three Maxwells. "A little help here Miles, Damien!" she yelled.

A volley of green paint was fired at the three Maxwells, who returned fire. Then yellow paint from Leigh was being fired. The yellow paint hit Carin, who started cursing loudly as she walked off.

"Well at least I got someone," Leigh said as she got ready to fire again as she stood behind a tree.

"Not the one you really wanted though," said Chris as he fired one at her back. Bright blue paint spread out on her charcoal tank top. "Two Chang down and one to go," he smirked as he sauntered off.

"Damn you Maxwell," she screamed as she stalked off.

Chris grinned as he walked towards his brothers and sister. It had grown silent again. "Well, how is it going?" he asked.

"We got rid of the majority of the Winners and the Bartons, although Miles and Damien are still out there somewhere. Probably regrouping," said Jonathon as he took a deep breath.

"And Merin, Victoria, and Dominic are out there too. Along with Zach, Kellie, and Thad," said David.

Randy tapped her foot as she looked up into the trees. "Can we go after the snipers too?" she asked thoughtfully.

Chris looked at her. "I don’t know. We never had to deal with them before," he said as he tossed his braid over his shoulder.

"I say they’re fair game," replied David. "I mean the ultimate goal is to make sure that one team will win. And once there is no one left of two teams, the snipers can’t go after them. The last team standing wins."

"I agree. We have to take them out," said Jonathon.

"Let me handle it," said Randy as she grinned evilly. "I’m sure that they won’t be expecting it," she said as she walked off, her ponytail swinging behind her.

The three brothers watched her walk off. They looked at each other and shrugged. Their sister didn’t need their help in this. They walked off in search of the remaining prey.

******************************************************************************

Wufei looked up to see his son and his oldest daughter stamping up the steps with blue paint. He turned an eye at Duo. "You’re kids have no sense of…"

Leigh held up her hand. "I already yelled that at the baka Chris, dad. Save it," she said as she dropped into a chair.

"He got me too. After I pegged good old Donavon," Jet smirked as he glanced over at Donavon.

"Damn Zach," Veronica yelled as she came up the steps behind the Changs. "I almost had Randy and he picked me off. So much for family loyalty," she snapped as she sat down on the railing. Bright red paint slid down her arm.

Zechs glanced over at Heero, who raised a brow at him. "Your son aimed for my daughter," he said.

"Everyone is open game Yuy," Zechs said smugly.

Heero scowled.

Carin Barton slid off the railing and looked out into the woods. "I would still be out there if I hadn’t been surrounded by three Maxwells. And Leigh just happened to fire at one of them and hit me instead!" she hissed in the other girl’s direction.

"You were in the way," Leigh said as she turned her nose up.

"Hmph," Carin said as she turned her focus back to the woods.

******************************************************************************

Randy smiled as she climbed up a tree and scanned for any one of the snipers. "Where are you?" she asked herself as she climbed higher. She spotted movement below her. It was Kellie Merquise. "Ah, ha. Got you," she whispered as she fired at her.

Kellie walked along silently, her violet eyes missing nothing. She smiled at the thought of everyone being fair game. She felt something hit her shoulder. She paused and looked at her shoulder. Bright blue paint. "Dammit!" she hissed as she looked around her. She was hit. She couldn’t see any one around her. She clenched her teeth and walked off. "Damn all Maxwells," she mumbled as she walked back to the house.

"One down, two to go," Randy said with satisfaction as she climbed out of the tree in search of her next sniper. She knew that Zach and Thad were in trees. She heard voices behind her. She hurriedly crawled under a bush and waited. She watched as the yellow shorts of the remaining Yuys and Changs came into view. She knew that she couldn’t go after them alone. As soon as they passed she stood and followed them silently, keeping a mindful eye out for the remaining Miles and Damien and the other sharpshooters. Then all hell broke loose as Victoria, Dominic, and Merin were fired on by a sniper and by Miles and Damien. "Gotcha!" she said as she ran forwards and aimed for the spot that the sniper was shooting from.

Thad aimed carefully into the melee below. He fired at Merin and hit her. "Score," he said gleefully as he aimed for his cousins. Then he felt something hit him in the chest. He looked down. Bright blue paint trailed down his brown shirt. "What the hell!" he exclaimed as he looked at it.

Victoria hit Damien with her yellow paint. "See ya," she said as grinned at the Winner heir.

Damien’s aquamarine eyes glared at her. "Damn Yuys," he said as he walked off.

Dominic shot his sister a look and glanced over at Merin. Her eyes narrowed at the trees. He heard a thud behind him and saw his cousin standing at the base of the tree with blue paint on him. "Thad, you have blue paint on you," he commented.

"No shit sherlock," Thad replied. "A Maxwell is somewhere close. One of them has become a sniper," he said as he walked off.

Victoria looked around her. "I don’t see or hear anything," she said.

"I don’t either," Dominic replied as he looked deep into the bushes.

"I’m going back," grumbled Merin. "Hit a Maxwell for me," she said as she followed Thad.

"Did anyone even hit Miles?" asked Victoria as she looked at her brother.

"No, Merin was aiming for him, but Thad hit her," replied Dominic with a sigh. "So as far as we know, we have him running around and we’ve seen several others with blue paint. So I assume that all the Maxwells are alive and kicking."

Randy grinned as she listened to their conversation. She had one more sniper to go and two Yuys and a Barton to contend with. She crept off to find the last sniper and her brothers. She walked along and felt something hit the ground behind her. She whirled and fired up into the trees. "Missed me!" she called out.

"Shit!" yelled Zach as he almost fell out of the tree. He looked at the bright blue paint sliding down his arm. His blue gray eyes glared at her. "How did you hit me?" he asked.

"Oh, luck," she replied as she blew him a kiss before sauntering off.

Zach watched her go. "Now I know why they want the Maxwells to lose," he muttered as he walked off.

******************************************************************************

"Hey it looks like someone is coming," said Duo as he stood and looked out. His eyes widened as he burst out into laughter.

"What are you laughing at baka?" Wufei asked as he looked up from his drink.

"Take a look," Duo snickered as he sat down again. He was grinning smugly.

Kellie stamped up the stairs. "I was targeted by a Maxwell!" she screeched. "I didn’t know I was an open target!"

Duo was clutching his sides.

Damien, Merin, and Thad came up the steps. All scowling.

Damien’s sibling’s snickered at him. "At least I wasn’t hit by a Maxwell," he growled as he sat down in a chair. That shut them up.

Leigh raised her brow at her sister. "You were hit by a sniper," she said flatly.

"And you were hit by Maxwells," Merin replied just as flatly.

Jet and Leigh scowled.

Zechs eyed his son. "A Maxwell," he said.

"Damn right, a Maxwell! I don’t even know which one it was!" Thad said irately. "I was in a tree. I could see everything. I didn’t even spot a Maxwell."

"The Maxwell that probably hit you, you wouldn’t even expect," said Zach as he walked up the steps. He glanced at his sister. "It was that little minx, Randy," he said a low angry voice. "She targeted me all the way up in a tree because my shot missed her!"

Duo was pounding on the table, still laughing. He looked up. "My little girl is one hell of a shot!" he said between fits of laughter.

"So now all that is out there is all four Maxwells, two Yuys, and a Barton," Quatre stated wryly. "This could be interesting."

"Maxwell, this is injustice!" Wufei practically yelled at Duo.

"It’s only injustice because you’re losing," Duo replied as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

All the men turned to glare at him.

******************************************************************************

Randy found her brothers. "Don’t have to worry about snipers any more. And Merin and Damien are out too," she said as she leaned up against the tree.

Chris grinned at his sister. "You did good sis," he said as he patted her shoulder.

"Well I only took out the snipers. Vicky took out Damien and Thad took out Merin. So that leaves us, Miles Barton, and Vicky and Dominic Yuy," she said.

"That’s certainly good to know. It’s two against one against four," David pointed out. "I think we’re going to pull it off for a second time in a row."

Jonathon nodded. "Yeah, but remember, we have two Yuys to worry about. These two usually don’t miss. Miles is pretty good too," he said as he raised his brow at his siblings.

"He’s right. We have to look out for them. They could be anywhere," said Chris as he stood up. "Let’s go and look for them," he said.

Then firing started.

"Dammit!" yelled David as he dove to the ground.

"You’re asses are mine Maxwells," Victoria yelled as she fired.

"Remember what I said. The ice princess is mine," said Chris as he started firing back.

The Miles joined in. "I will not let one of you get away," he said as joined the heat of the battle.

Paintballs were flying all over the place. Green, blue, and yellow hit the ground, missing their targets.

Jonathon felt something hit his leg. He looked down and saw green paint. "Aww hell," he cursed before he left.

"Yes, I got myself a Maxwell," Miles said as he continued to fire.

"And that's the only one you’ll hit Barton," said Randy as blue paint hit him square in the middle of his chest.

"Shit!" Miles said under his breath as he trudged off.

Dominic aimed for Randy. "Say good night sweetheart," he said as he fired.

"You wish," David said as he pushed his sister out of the way and fired back. The yellow paint missed him by inches. But his aim was true. It hit Dominic in the stomach.

Meanwhile, Victoria and Chris were firing away at each other. Neither one was hitting. She glanced out of the corner of her eye. She saw David. She fired and hit. "Got you," she said triumphantly.

David looked down at the yellow paint sliding down his leg. "Oh well," he said as he turned and walked off.

Victoria knew she was alone now with two Maxwells. She let a smirk reminiscent of her father’s cross her lips. She was a Yuy after all. "Come and get it bakas," she yelled as she turned and started running.

Chris and Randy looked at each other and grinned. Randy took off after her and Chris went another direction to cut her off. "You’re mine ice princess," he said under his breath.

******************************************************************************

Heero glanced up when he saw Miles, Jonathon, David, and his son come up the steps. He raised a brow at his son.

"David hit me," he said as he sat down in the chair.

"Justice is served," Wufei said as he noted the two Maxwells.

"Randy hit me," mumbled Miles as he got up on the railing.

"So all that is left is Randy, Chris, and Victoria. This really ought to be good," said Zechs as he stood and looked out across the lawn.

Then the sounds of yelling were heard. They all stood and watched as the last of them came in.

******************************************************************************

Victoria fired over her shoulder. "You won’t hit me!" she called out.

"And you sure as hell won’t hit me!" Randy yelled back.

Victoria could see the terrace. She had lost track of Chris, but she was more concerned about his sister at the moment. She kept on firing over her shoulder.

Chris ran up the side of the lawn as he came out of the woods. He saw Victoria firing over her shoulder. He grinned and ran out into the open towards her.

Randy saw her brother out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and continued to miss on purpose. "Keep on going Vicky a little more," she said.

Victoria fired again and missed. She growled as she glanced over her shoulder.

Chris sprinted out into the open. "Hey ice princess, looking for me," he yelled as he fired.

Victoria whipped her head around when she heard his voice. "No!" she yelled, but it was too late. Blue paint hit her in the chest.

"Wohoo!" Chris whooped as he skidded to a halt.

Victoria looked down at herself. "You little…!" she screamed.

Randy ran past her and jumped into her brother’s arms. "We won!" she yelled. Her impact toppled her and her brother to the ground.

Everyone on the terrace was speechless. David and Jonathon ran down the steps and joined their brother and sister. They helped them off the ground before they all started whooping and yelling happily. The noise outside brought Noin, Sally, Hilde, Relena, Catherine, and Middi out of the house.

Victoria was fuming. She glared at the Maxwells and stomped off.

Duo was grinning widely. "Told you so!" he said.

He received looks from the others.

"I see that our kids won again," said Hilde as she slipped under his arm on the railing to look.

"Yup," Duo said proudly.

The other kids growled and grumbled. The Maxwells had won the paintball war again. They turned and went after Victoria.

She was standing under the tree. She punched the bark. "I swear I’ll get him," she hissed angrily.

"Hey sis," said Dominic as he came over. "Don’t worry about it. The rest of us have an idea."

"Oh really? And what’s that?" Victoria asked sarcastically.

"We’re going to declare war on the Maxwells. They might have won the battle, but they won’t win the war," said Leigh as she smiled.

"I’m intrigued," replied Victoria. "Please tell me more," she said as she leaned away from the tree.

"Well its like this…"started Dominic as they all gathered around under the tree to bring about the downfall of the Maxwells.

Part Two

~~~~~~

A week had passed since the paintball battle and the other kids had concocted a scheme that they knew was foolproof and sure to show the Maxwells that they weren’t the only ones who could get away with it.

Victoria, Dominic, Veronica, Damien, Vaughn, Miles, Leigh, and Kellie climbed in through the windows of their prospective victims. Namely Christopher, Jonathon, David, and Miranda.

Victoria eyed Chris’s sleeping form as she unscrewed the jar of honey. An evil little smile crossed her lips as she watched her brother tie Chris’s outstretched hands to the bedposts. "Now lets see how you like this devil," she whispered as she started pouring honey on him.

Dominic rolled his eyes. He knew his sister was going to enjoy this way too much. Her and Chris had been squaring off against each other for years. He watched and made sure that Chris did wake up because frankly, you didn’t tick off a Maxwell, just like you didn’t tick off a Yuy. "Come on Vicky, we can’t stay here too long," he hissed at her in the darkness.

"Almost finished," she said softly as she let the syrupy honey drench Chris. And knowing a sure way to stick it to him she opened another jar and poured the sticky contents on his hair. She knew it would be a bitch for him to wash that braid of his. "Serves you right," she stated as she dipped the end of the braid in the honey.

Dominic’s Prussian blue eyes widened as he watched his sister pour the honey on the braid. "He’ll kill you for this," he said.

She looked up at him and grinned. "He wouldn’t hurt a woman," she said as she put the honey back in her knapsack. "Now let’s get going," she said as she went over to the window. She let her brother climb out first. She glanced over her shoulder at the slumbering form. "Have a very sticky morning Chris," she said softly as she tossed her golden blond hair over her shoulder. And with that she climbed out the window.

******************************************************************************

Veronica and Damien had the pleasure of going after Jonathon. She opened the bottle of chocolate syrup and began to pour all over his limp form. She held back a giggle as she made patterns with it on his white tee shirt. "What a surprise he’ll have when he wakes up!" she said gleefully.

Damien rolled his eyes at his companion as he tied Jonathon’s wrists together on the bedpost. He shook his platinum blond locks. "I swear, you Yuys are sadistic," he muttered. "Remind me never to make any one of you guys mad."

She glanced up at him in the darkness. Her sapphire eyes sparkled as the moonlight hit them. "We’re not all sadistic. That’s Vicky’s department. Mom says she’s almost like dad," she whispered back.

"That’s reassuring," Damien replied wryly as he watched her open another can of chocolate syrup. He knew that it would be a mess in the morning.

Veronica emptied the last of the syrup on Jonathon’s head, knowing it would take a few washes to get it out of his thick chestnut hair. But unlike Chris, his hair was short and spiky. "All done," she said as she put the can back in her bag.

"Good. Now let’s go," Damien said as he opened the window and climbed back out.

Veronica glanced at Jonathon. "All is fair in war," she said as she followed him out into the night.

******************************************************************************

Vaughn and Miles were taking care of David. "This is too easy," said Vaughn as he poured the thick fudge onto the sleeping David.

"Well Maxwells do tend to sleep like the dead," Miles said as he tied the wrists to the headboard.

"Can you imagine what it is going to be like when he wakes up?" Vaughn asked his older cousin.

"Yeah. All hell is going to break loose. Although he’s the sanest of the four, he’ll be ticked like the other ones will," Miles replied as he opened the container of fudge and started pouring the thick liquid along with his cousin.

"But that’s to be expected," Vaughn answered as he poured the last of the fudge on David’s chocolate colored hair.

Miles grinned and poured the last of the fudge in his container on David’s head. "Now that’s all done with. Let’s get going," he said.

Vaughn nodded his dark blond head and opened the window and climbed out. He started to snicker at the thought of being a Maxwell and waking up tomorrow morning.

Miles’s green eyes gleamed with amusement and followed his cousin out.

***************************************************************************

Kellie and Leigh had gotten Randy. "I’ve wanted to do something like this for so long," said Leigh as she let the caramel ooze slowly out of its container onto Randy.

"Whose idea was this to pour dessert toppings on all of them?" asked Kellie as she tied Randy’s wrists to the headboard as well.

"It was Quatrina’s idea actually. Victoria wanted to pour motor oil on all of them," Leigh said as she swirled the caramel on Randy.

"Leave it to my cousin to be utterly sadistic," mumbled Kellie as she took out her own addition of whipped cream. She joined Leigh is making a sundae out of Randy.

"You know she gets that from her dad," said Leigh as she poured the rest of the caramel on Randy’s head.

"I know. I’ve heard the stories. Its hard for me to believe that Uncle Heero could be that bad sometimes," said Kellie as she dabbed whipped cream on the tip of Randy’s nose.

Leigh added the last thing. She plopped a maraschino cherry on the whipped cream on Randy’s nose. She chuckled softly. "This should be interesting tomorrow morning," she said as she tapped her nail against her lips.

"You know, they’ll probably declare war on us," said Kellie as she opened the window again.

"I know. You really think a Maxwell will go down without a fight? Hardly. They’ll come back swinging," said Leigh as she followed Kellie out of the window.

*****************************************************************************

The eight of them stood on the lawn on the Maxwell’s home.

"Have all the missions been completed?" asked Victoria as she looked up at the dark windows.

"Yes, all missions have been completed," replied Veronica as she roller her eyes at her sister. "You know, you’re starting to sound like dad when you ask that."

"It must be the genes," said Kellie as she brushed her ebony hair away from her face.

Dominic rolled his eyes. "It must be. I got the looks, she got the personality," he said as he pointed at his older sister.

"No wonder Chris calls her ice princess," said Damien as they started to walk back to their cars.

"And no wonder it makes her good and mad," replied Vaughn with a smirk.

"I say, she’s just hot for him," said Miles casually.

"What! Are you out of your mind Barton!" Victoria hissed at him. "I wouldn’t go after him even if he was the most eligible bachelor on Earth and the Colonies!"

"Right and I’m Treize Khushrenda," snorted Miles as he climbed into Damien’s dark blue Mercedes.

Victoria gave him a death glare that would rival her father’s, at him as she got into Dominic’s truck. "I’m not hot for him!" she muttered under her breath.

Kellie and Veronica rolled their eyes as they sat in the backseat of the truck.

It was a silent ride home.

******************************************************************************

Chris opened his eyes slowly. He felt strange. He yawned broadly as he looked down at himself. His cobalt eyes went wide. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

******************************************************************************

Duo and Hilde awoke to the sounds of yelling and screaming. He felt out of bed. "What the hell is going on?" he muttered as he made his way down the hall to Chris’s room. He could hear his son cursing fluently. He opened the door and his mouth dropped open in shock. "Chris you’re…"

"I know that dad!" Chris snapped. "I’m covered in honey from head to toe. And tied to the friggin’ headboard. And to make matters even worse, the honey is in my hair!" he yelled.

Duo made a face. He knew what that was like. His son looked infuriated beyond belief. He didn’t blame him. He went over and untied his son’s wrists from the headboard. He knew he could have gotten out of the rope, but his son looked too incensed to do anything.

Hilde made her way to her daughter’s room. She could hear Randy cursing loudly. She opened the door and stopped in her tracks. "Oh my! Sweetheart you’re…"

"Made up to look like a God damn sundae!" Randy yelled as she struggled to loosen her wrists from her headboard. It took her a minute, but she finally got them loose enough to slip her hands out. "Who ever did this, is going to be a dead man!" she screamed as she swung her legs out of the side of her bed. The caramel slid slowly down her arms and legs. The whipped cream dripped off the tip of her nose.

Hilde saw the angry glitter in her daughter’s cobalt eyes. "Do you know who did this?" she asked as she went over to her.

"Yeah I think I have a pretty good idea, who did this," Randy said as she popped the cherry in her mouth. Her eyes narrowed to mere slits. "And they are going to pay for it dearly."

******************************************************************************

Duo went down the hall to Jonathon’s room. He opened the door and came face to face with his chocolate syrup covered son. "You too?" he asked.

Jonathon nodded his head. His hands were balled into fists. "When I get my hands on whoever did this, they’re going to wish that they were dead!" he said through clenched teeth. He saw Chris behind his dad. "Chris you’re hair is…"

"Don’t you think I know that!" he hissed at his brother.

"I hate fudge and whoever did this knew it!" yelled David as he slapped his door open. His brothers and dad looked at him. His blue-violet eyes were snapping with anger. "I swear I will kick someone’s ass for this!"

"You and the rest of us," muttered a furious Randy as she came out of her room at the far end of the hall.

Chris, Jonathon, and David stared at their baby sister and began to snicker. "You look like a sundae Randy," howled David.

"Shove it fudge boy!’ she snapped back.

Chris and Jonathon burst out into full-fledged laughter.

She turned her eyes to her brothers. "And Chris, it’s going to take you all morning to wash that stuff out of your hair. So if you don’t want me ripping it out while it’s sticky, I suggest you shut up!" she retorted. "And Jonathon, you look like you just dunked yourself in a vat of syrup and if you don’t want me to…"

Duo went over to his daughter and pressed a finger against her lips to silence her. "Enough you guys. Why don’t you go get cleaned up?" he said as he pushed Randy back towards her room.

They all went back into their rooms and into their bathrooms to get cleaned up.

******************************************************************************

Hilde closed her daughter’s bedroom door behind her. She looked up at her husband. She could see his eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter. "That’s not very nice. They’re our kids," she chided gently.

"I know, but even you’re trying to keep a straight face babe," Duo pointed out as they made their way downstairs.

She sighed and glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. She grinned up at him. "I suppose you’re right. They did look funny," she said as she began to laugh.

"And our son was right, Randy looked like a sundae," Duo said as he joined in his wife’s laughter.

******************************************************************************

Chris scrubbed his head almost a dozen times to get all the honey out. He could only think of one person who would think of doing this to him. He braided his hair while it was still wet. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. "I’ll get you ice princess, bet on it!" he said as he left the bathroom. He went back into his room and saw that the sheets were gone. "Mom must have already gathered stuff to be cleaned. This isn’t going to make her happy," he mused as he pulled on a clean shirt and shorts. He left his room and made his way downstairs.

******************************************************************************

Jonathon was secretly glad that he had short hair. But it still took him three washes to get out all of the chocolate syrup. "Damn those who did this. They just declared war and they’re going to pay," he said as he pulled on his clothes and left the room.

******************************************************************************

David had scrubbed furiously. He hated fudge. No one really knew why. He just hated it. He raked his hand through his thick hair. "Well at least I didn’t get the works like Randy," he said as he walked down the steps.

******************************************************************************

Randy was still fuming when she got out of the shower. She slammed everything around. She didn’t like being made a sundae out of. "Whoever did this, is going to wish they didn’t! We’ll make sure that they’ll pay dearly," she growled as she flounced down the steps to breakfast.

******************************************************************************

The next day was Sunday and Heero and Relena were having dinner at their house. All were invited.

The Maxwells arrived last and it was auspicious to say the least. The kids couldn’t help but stifle snickers when Chris, Jonathon, David, and Randy came into the room.

"How was your Saturday, Chris?" Victoria asked sweetly as her lips curved into a smile.

"It was fine ice princess," Chris replied as he stopped to look at her. He leaned down closer to her. "But next Saturday I won’t be able to say the same for you," he said as his eyes glittered.

"Bring it on braid boy," Victoria challenged. She wasn't intimidated by the look in his eyes.

His lips turned up into a devilish grin. "You’ll wish you hadn’t said that," he said as he moved past her and sat down in the chair across from her.

As dinner progressed, the other kids couldn't help but poke fun at the Maxwells.

"How did you like the fudge David?" Miles asked nonchalantly.

David glared at him, but then grinned. "I didn't like it at all. But at least I didn't look like a sundae like Randy," he replied as he glanced at his sister.

"Jerk!" snapped Randy as she stuck her tongue out at David.

Gales of laughter ensued at her indignant expression.

The evening went on with a few more barbed comments that went back and forth across the kid's dinner table.

"Admit it. There is nothing you guys can do to get back at us. We won this time," Victoria said smugly as she cleaned the chocolate pudding off her spoon.

Chris stood and looked down at her. "You want a war ice princess, you just got yourself one. And we will win. Count on it baby," he said as he left the room.

"Now you went and did it!" exclaimed Veronica as she watched the other Maxwells leave the room.

"Did what? We'll give the Maxwells a war that will make our dads' battles seem like child's play," Victoria said, alluding to the friendly rivalry that existed between their fathers.

"Why does that not surprise me?" asked Merin as she swiped her silky black bags out of her pale blue eyes.

"Like I said the other night, Yuys are sadists, especially Victoria," Damien pointed out.

"What do you think they're going to do to retaliate?" asked Miles as he leaned back in his chair.

"Knowing them, any number of things," Carin stated as she twirled her strawberry blond locks around her fingers. "They don't take crap from anyone unless it's from themselves."

"How did I get myself involved in this?" moaned Mira as she slunk down in her seat.

"That's a good question," sighed Isabella.

"We'll just have to be on guard that's all," said Dominic as he glanced at Victoria.

Victoria nodded her head. "But don't worry. We have this in the bag. They can't do anything short of being illegal. So we have nothing to worry about," she said. "Trust me."

All the others looked at her and then at each other. All thinking the same thing. What had they gotten themselves into?

******************************************************************************

Chris, David, Jonathon, and Randy sat outside on the porch of the Yuy/Merquise home.

"What are we going to do?" asked Randy. "We've declared war on them, so what's next?"

"Something that even that they won't expect," said Chris with a wicked smile playing on his lips. "Want to hear it?"

"Sure. I'd like to know what we're going to do to them," said David as he leaned forwards, resting his elbows on the table.

"It is within the realms of being legal?" asked Jonathon wisely as he gazed at his older brother.

"Of course it is. Now it's like this..." Chris started as they all huddled together as he outlined his battle plans.

Part Three

~~~~~~

The moon was high, but not quite full as two figures slipped though the moonlit trees to the Barton residence. They slipped in through the window of Miles’s room and got to work.

"Are you sure this will work?" David whispered at Jonathon.

"Definitely," Jonathon replied as he set to work on the bathroom door in the room.

David sighed and began to work on the mechanism that would prevent anyone from leaving the bathroom once the door was closed.

Jonathon fitted the hole he made in the door for the mechanism. "There will be no way he’ll be able to leave the room. Even Uncle Trowa will have a hard time picking the lock," he said.

David chuckled as he pushed the mechanism inside the hole. The trigger would be sprung once the door was closed. It would be impossible to get out. "Now let’s see how much he enjoys this," he breathed as they finished.

"Onwards to the other rooms," Jonathon said softly as he and his brother made sure that all of the Bartons wouldn’t be able to get out of their bathrooms.

******************************************************************************

Chris and Randy climbed up the trees outside of the Winner residence. Once inside they split up and went to separate rooms.

"Payback is so sweet," Randy said as she handcuffed Quatrina Winner to the bed and then took out some black shoe polish. "I hope you like black hair," she said as she began coating Quatrina’s russet locks.

Chris eyed Damien with ill-concealed amusement. He handcuffed him to the bed and took out a makeup kit loaned to him by his sister. "I hope you enjoy looking like a girl Damien," he said as he swiped bright red lipstick on Damien’s lips.

They crossed each other in the hall. They gave each other a thumbs up sign and proceeded to the other rooms.

With Mira, Randy handcuffed her too. But instead of black shoe polish, she had green spray paint. "I hope you like green hair sweetheart," she said as she put the 'washable, but will leave a tint in your hair for a few days' paint on Mira’s blond locks.

Chris chuckled as he surveyed his handiwork on Vaughn. "You look like a hooker now, just like your brother."

Chris and Randy climbed out the way they came. It was on to the Yuy/Merquise residence.

******************************************************************************

Jonathon and David made their way to the Chang house. They split up as well.

Jonathon opened a large laundry bag and proceeded to stuff all of Leigh’s clothes inside it. "What are you going to do with no clothes babe," he said softly as he tossed the bag out the window. He had left nothing behind. He crossed the hall to Jet’s room.

David stuffed all of Merin’s clothing inside the laundry bag as well. "Why do women have so many clothes," he muttered as he tossed the heavy bag out of the window.

Jonathon tossed the last bag out of the window. He met his brother in the hall. They nodded at each other and climbed back out the windows. They hoisted the bags over their shoulders and went over to the Chang’s pool. A wicked Maxwell grin crossed their features as they pulled the divider from the pool.

"How much do you think they’re going to like wet clothes?" asked David as he tied the bags onto the thick nylon rope.

"Not much," Jonathon replied as he finished tying the last bag on. He flung the one end of the divider to the other side, where David hooked it back. Three bags of clothes stuck in the middle, soaking up the water.

"Now let’s get going. Chris and Randy need help with the Yuys and the Merquises," David hissed as they made their way towards their last destination.

******************************************************************************

Chris and Randy waited patiently for their other two siblings to arrive. They had made sure that David and Jonathon would get passed the top-notch security that they knew Heero had installed. They knew that he had designed it so that even he couldn’t get through it. But they had figured out a way around it. And they had also learned the ins and outs of tight security. They finally saw them slipping through the shrubbery.

"About time you two," Randy whispered at her two brothers. "We’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes. It is now three in the morning," she said as she glanced at her watch. "We have until six at the most to get this done."

"How much gear did you bring?" David asked as they made their way across the lawn.

"We brought the works. We figure you two would start with the Merquises and we would start with the Yuys," Chris said as they climbed the tree outside a hall window that was between the two wings of the house.

Once they reached inside, Jonathon and David went to the left to the wing that was occupied by the Merquises, while Chris and Randy went to the right, where the Yuys were occupied.

David opened the bag with the gear that Chris had brought. His job was to booby trap Thad’s room. He snickered at the thought of seeing Thad’s face first thing in the morning. He pulled out a similar mechanism that he had used at the Bartons and installed it on the bedroom door. He then went to the bathroom and filled two buckets with hot water. He dropped a few tablets of purple tie-dye in the water. "I hope you like purple passion Thad," he whispered as he set it on top of the door. He placed the other bucket with the die on the shelf above Thad’s head. He tied fishing wire to it and then through the loops on the blanket he was using. "That’ll teach you," he said as he closed the door behind him. He heard the lock snap into place. He chuckled again and went down the hall to Zach’s room.

Jonathon was in Kellie’s room. He began stringing rope across the room. Back and forth across the bed. When he was finished with that, he installed the locking mechanism on the door. He dropped a tablet of red tie-dye in a bucket and put it above the bathroom door. "I hate doing this to a girl, but it’s war," he sighed as he opened a tub of whipped cream. He spread it with a spatula all over her arms and her legs. Then as an after thought he put some on her hair. He plopped a cherry on the base of her throat. He stood back and admired his handiwork. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. "Oh revenge is so sweet," he said as he left the room.

At the same time, Randy was in Veronica’s room. She stripped the sheet off of the bed and started pouring flour on her. Her lips twitched as she tried to contain her laughter. When she was finished she opened a jar of honey. "Only fair you get some of this too," she said as she drenched Veronica with the sweet sticky substance. She pulled out another jar and filled a tray with honey and set it on the floor next to the bed. She then went to the bathroom and filled a bucket with water, she placed it over the bathroom door. "What a gooey mess that’ll make when that hits you," she chuckled softly. She then went to work on the door and installed the locking mechanism. She smirked at the thought of flour and honey coated Veronica as she left the room and went onto Dominic’s room to put up similar traps.

Chris observed the sleeping Victoria. He knew he was going to enjoy this immensely. He went to the bathroom first. He opened the linen closet and began working on the valve that controlled the hot water. He turned it off. "I hope you like sub-zero showers ice princess," he said as he got up off the floor. He went back into the bedroom. He pulled out about two dozen grapefruits and put them in buckets. He rigged them on the shelf above her bed so when she tossed down the covers, down would come the grapefruits. He went to the bathroom and filled a bucket with water. He emptied dirt that he had collected in a tin into the water. "I hope you like a mud bath too," he smirked as he placed it above the door. He pulled out trays and filled them with molasses. He set them around the bed and for good measure he poured it into her golden hair.

"Hey you need some help?" Jonathon whispered as he stuck his head in Victoria’s room.

"Wouldn’t mind," Chris replied as the bottle of molasses emptied on her hair. "Can you set the locks on her door?" he asked.

"Sure," Jonathon said in a hushed voice as he took it out the bag Chris had and began working on the door.

Chris grinned as he got out some flour and doused her hair with it. "And that’s for the honey in the hair," he said with a grin. Then he pulled out bags of marbles and dropped them on the carpeted floor. "Remember no pain, no gain," he said to Victoria’s sleeping form.

Jonathon looked up at his older brother. He could see the devilish light flickering in his eyes. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Hey are you finished yet?" hissed Randy as her and David poked their heads in.

"Almost," Chris replied as he got out some cut grass and sprinkled it all over the bed. "Now doesn’t she look pretty as a picture," he snickered.

The other three held back their laughter as they left the room.

Chris looked over his shoulder as he closed the door. "This round will go to us baby," he said as he followed his siblings down the hall and back out of the window.

They walked to Chris’s black Firebird parked just outside the high stone wall. They climbed over it and piled in.

"Too bad we didn’t use mini cams that we had," said Jonathon on the way back to their home.

"I don’t think they were necessary since most of them will have visible effects from this," Chris said as he pulled into the garage at the back of their home.

"Well at least we got this done for it is now six," said Randy as she looked at her watch. She hopped out of the car behind her brothers. She looked out across the water that their home overlooked. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon.

"Yeah, I’m beat now," mumbled David as he yawned.

They slipped through the back door and went to their respective rooms. They changed out of their all black gear before falling asleep with contented smiles on their faces.

******************************************************************************

Miles scratched his head as he woke up. The summer sun filtered through his window. He yawned broadly and shoved his russet bangs out of his face. He walked to his bathroom and closed it shut behind him. When he was finished he went to open the door again. It didn’t budge. "What?" he muttered as he tugged on the door. "This is impossible," he said as he pinned his green eyes on the door. He yanked it. Nothing. "Shit!" he cursed as he began pounding on his door.

Trowa and Middi woke to the sounds of pounding and yelling. "What the…" Trowa asked as he got of bed and walked down the hall to his kid’s rooms. He heard Miles yelling, so he went in. He looked at the bathroom door. "Miles?" he called.

"Dad, I can’t get out of here. The door won’t freakin’ budge," Miles yelled. His face was beet red.

Middi went to her daughter’s rooms. She could hear Carin cursing behind the door. "What’s wrong honey?" she asked.

"I’m locked in here and I can’t get out!" Carin screamed as she kicked the door with her foot.

Trowa checked on Donavon and Isabella. Sure enough they were also locked in their bathrooms. He came out into the hall and looked at his wife. "Carin too?" he asked.

"Yes," Middi replied. "How did this happen? How come all our kids our locked in their bathrooms?" she asked quizzically.

"I think this is the work of a Maxwell. It has their name all over it," Trowa replied. "Its payback for the dessert toppings that some of them made out of the Maxwells last weekend."

"Well at least it’s only that," said Middi, relieved.

*****************************************************************************

At the Winner mansion, Damien blinked his eyes. They felt a little weird. He also found his hands handcuffed to the bedposts. "Oh crap!" he muttered as he tugged on them to no avail. He then looked at the mirror placed at the foot of his bed. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Quatrina heard her twin brother’s scream of outrage. She went to sit up and found herself unable to move since she was handcuffed to the bedposts. "Oh no, please don’t tell me," she said as she fell back against the pillows. She turned her head and she saw her reflection. Her aquamarine eyes went wide. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Quatre’s eyes popped open to the sounds of yelling and screaming. "What the hell?" he muttered as he climbed out of his bed to see what was going on. He opened the door to Damien’s room and stopped. His mouth dropped open. "Damien…you’re…"

"I know dad! I look like a hooker you would find on L2," he yelled. "And to make it worse, I’m wearing handcuffs!"

Catherine made her way to Quatrina’s room. She pushed the door open and almost started screaming herself. "Darling what happened?" she asked.

"That’s pretty damn obvious!" Quatrina shrieked. "I’m handcuffed to the bed and my hair is dyed black!" She thumped her heels on her mattress angrily. "I swear I’m going to kill whoever did this! To hell with pacifism!"

Quatre left Damien’s room and went to Vaughn’s room He could hear fluent cursing in several languages as he pushed open the door. His eyes went wide once again. "Son…"

"I look like a goddamn hooker!" Vaughn howled as he yanked on the handcuffs furiously. "I can’t believe this! I can’t even move!"

Catherine braced herself as she opened Mira’s door. Her eye fell on her very angry fourteen-year-old. "Oh my," she said with shock.

"I got green hair!" Mira snapped as she shook her head. Her violet eyes were snapping with suppressed anger. "And to make it worse, I am handcuffed to the bed!"

Quatre came out into the hall and looked at his wife. She nodded her head. "I guess I should call Duo to get the handcuffs off?" he asked as he raked his hand through his hair.

"I guess we should," Catherine agreed. "Who would do such a thing? Our daughters have green and black hair."

"I think I know, but I’m not one hundred percent sure. Our sons look like hookers," he replied.

"Oh Lord," Catherine muttered.

"Well we’ll have to clean them up a little before Duo gets here," Quatre said as he and his wife went back to their children’s rooms.

******************************************************************************

Merin stretched her arms over her head as she rolled out of her bed. She went over to her closet to pull on her workout clothes. Her mouth dropped open. Her closet was empty. "What!" she shrieked.

Leigh pulled her drawers open. There was nothing in them. Her blue eyes widened several degrees before she let and outraged yell. "Dammit!"

Jet poked his head out his door. He could hear his sister’s cursing in a mixture of English and Chinese. "What are they yelling about? Silly women," he muttered as he opened his closet. "Ahhhhhhhh!"

Wufei threw open his door and walked down the hall. He could hear his kids yelling and cursing. He stood in the middle of the hall. "What the hell is all the yelling about?" he called out.

Leigh, Merin, and Jet came out of their rooms wearing furious expressions.

" I have no clothes in my closet or my drawers," Leigh said through clenched teeth.

"Neither do we," Jet and Merin replied in unison.

"What do you mean you have no clothes?" Wufei asked as he gave each his kids a look.

"Like we said. Our closets and drawers are empty," Leigh said as she raked her hand through her silky black hair.

Sally had come out of the bedroom and heard her kids’ explanations. She stood behind Wufei and just happened to look out of the window. Her eyes fell on the pool and several bags floating in it. "What is in our pool?" she asked as she continued to stare, trying to make out what the objects were.

"Huh? What do you mean woman?" Wufei asked his wife.

"We have something floating in our pool. I don’t know what they are though," Sally replied. "I’m going to go take a look," she said as she turned on her heel and went down the steps.

Wufei and the kids followed her down the stairs and outside to the pool. Jet and Wufei pulled the divider out of the pool.

"They’re our clothes!" exclaimed Leigh as she opened one of the laundry bags.

Merin and Jet nodded their heads in agreement.

"Do you know who did this?" Sally asked as she looked at her three kids.

Merin, Leigh, and Jet looked at each other. "MAXWELLS!"

Wufei slapped his hand on his forehead. "I should have known! It has them all over it!"

******************************************************************************

Thad opened his eyes slowly. "Another lovely day," he mumbled as he tossed back the blanket. A bucket came crashing down on his head, along with its contents. He blinked for a moment as purple dye dripped off the tip of his nose. "What the hell is this?" he asked as he looked at himself. He got out of the bed with purple dye trickling down his face. He went to the bathroom and found himself drenched for a second time. "God damn it! What the hell is going on here?" he yelled as he went to his bedroom door to open it. It wouldn’t budge. He tried again. He twisted the knob and nothing. He pounded on the door, still dripping with purple dye.

Kellie could hear her brother pounding and yelling down the hall. "Shut up Thad," she mumbled as she opened her eyes. She let out an ear splitting shriek when she saw the ropes that were criss-crossed across her bed. She also felt gooey. She looked down and screamed again. "Aieeeeeeee! I’m covered in whipped cream! She reached up and felt her hair. "No, no, no!" she whimpered as she got out of bed and opened the door of her bathroom. Red dye splashed down on her. "WHAT THE HELL!"

Zach sat in bed with his arms crossed. Hot pink dye dripped off the end of his nose. He could hear the yelling and screaming of his siblings. He got up out of the bed, his eyes flashing with anger. He went to his bathroom only to end up with another ducking of dye. He went to his door and found that he couldn’t open. "All right, I’ve had enough of this shit! DAD!"

Noin rubbed her head as she listened to the sounds of yelling and screaming. "What’s going on?" she asked as she climbed out of bed and went down the hall to her children’s rooms. She could hear Kellie cursing a mile a minute. "Kellie, what’s wrong?" she asked.

"I’m covered in whipped cream mom! And red dye! I look like a freak!" Kellie yelled through the door.

Noin took a step back. She tried the knob. It wouldn’t turn. She tried again. Still nothing. "What?" she asked puzzled.

Zechs followed his wife down the hall. He tried the knob to Thad’s room. "Thad, are you all right in there?" he asked.

"Hardly! I’m covered in purple dye and I can’t open the door!" Thad snapped as he gave the door an angry thwack with his hand.

Zechs tried the doorknob. It wouldn’t budge. He looked at Noin trying Kellie’s door. It wasn't moving either. He went over to Zach’s door. "Zach are you all right?" he asked.

"Does this answer your question? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zach yelled through the door. "And I can’t get out either!"

Sure enough when Zechs pulled on the knob nothing happened. "Noin, I would very much like to know how this happened?" he asked as he looked at his wife.

She shrugged. "I wish I knew," she replied.

******************************************************************************

On the Yuy side of the house, things were going in a similar manner.

Dominic woke up and sneezed. He blinked his eyes for a minute. He could see dust floating in the air. "Huh?" he asked and then he looked down at himself. "Holy shit!" he hollered as he lifted his hand to his face. It was covered with honey and flour. He rolled out of bed and stepped in more honey. He cursed and went to his bathroom. Green dye came pouring down on his head. He stood there for a moment before turning on his sticky heels and going to the door. He tried to pull it open, but the door never moved. He tried again. He slammed his hands on it. "Son of a bitch!" he yelled.

Veronica stretched her arms over her head. She felt funny. She looked down at herself. "Oh my God!" she shrieked as she raced to her bathroom only to have water pouring down on her. The flour began to cake on her arms. "MOM!" she yelled.

Victoria could feel the sun on her face. She opened her eyes slowly and she tried lifting her head off the pillow. Her hair stuck to it. "Why in the world…" she said as she reached up and touched her hair. The scent of molasses filled her nostrils as her hand felt her gooey hair. "No way! This can’t be possible!" she said as she looked at her hand. She looked down at herself. Grass cuttings were all over her. "Shit!" she muttered as she threw the blanket back. Grapefruits fell like bombs on top of her. "AHHHHHHH!" she yelled as she covered her head. She felt fury rip through her. She stepped out of bed and into more molasses. "Dammit!" She walked across her room and began slipping and sliding on the marbles. She landed with a thud on her backside. She got up and walked the remainder of the way towards her bathroom. She slammed the door open and muddy water fell on her head. "ARGHHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she went to her door to open it. It wouldn’t budge. She kicked it. "Dammit! Someone let me out of here so I can go kill a certain Maxwell very slowly!" she yelled.

Heero sprang up out of bed at the sounds of yelling and screaming. He pulled out a gun from the bedside table.

"Heero, it’s just our kids," Relena mumbled as she rolled over to look at him. "You can put the gun away."

Heero snorted and hopped out of bed. He left his room. He could hear curses coming from two of his children and his youngest yelling for Relena. He went to Dominic’s room and tried to open the door. Nothing. He pulled on it again. Still nothing. He yanked it with all his strength. It wouldn’t even move an inch. "Son, what is going on in there?" he called through the door.

"What’s going on? I’m covered with flour and honey, not to mention green dye! I can’t get out of my room and it is making me really mad!" Dominic yelled back through the door.

"Honey and flour?" Heero asked as he stepped back from the door.

Relena could hear Veronica yelling for her as she walked down the hall. She could hear Victoria cursing like a sailor. She knocked on her youngest daughter’s door. "Sweetheart, what is it?"

"I look like a pile of goo! I am covered head to toe with honey and flour and I am soaking wet too!" Veronica yelled through the door. Her sapphire eyes were glowing furiously now. "And I can’t open my door!"

Relena turned the knob and found it stuck. "I can’t get it," she said as she looked at it curiously.

"You won’t," said Heero as he stood behind his wife. "Dominic is trapped in his room covered in honey and flour."

"So is Veronica," Relena replied as she looked at him over her shoulder.

"Will someone get the hell over here? I want out and I feel like killing someone!" screeched Victoria as she pounded the door with her fists.

Heero and Relena went over to her door. They could hear her cursing fluently. "Vicky, what is going on?"

"What is going on?! I’ll tell you what’s going on! My hair is covered in molasses as is my feet because I stepped in a tray of it when I climbed out of bed. I got bombarded with grapefruits, I slipped on marbles and bruised my backside, and a bucket of muddy water fell on my head! Does that answer your question! And now I can’t get out of my room! But once I do, I’m going to make Chris wish he’d never been born!" she yelled, completely incensed.

"Chris did that?" asked Relena. "But Veronica and Dominic are messed up too," she said.

"They’re not the only ones," Zechs said as he came down the hall. "Thad, Zach, and Kellie have all woken up to various sorts of booby traps."

"Chris couldn’t do that alone," Heero mused. "He wouldn’t have had the time to do it," he said thoughtfully. "Unless…"

"Unless he had help from his siblings," finished Zechs. "The Maxwells sabotaged both our families," he said.

"You’re apparently not the only ones, who’ve woken up to their kids’ yelling and screaming. "I just got off the phone with Quatre. Apparently his kids woke up handcuffed with dyed hair or they look like hookers," said Noin as she came down the hall. "And it doesn’t end there. The Changs found all their clothes in their pool. And the Bartons are locked in their bathrooms with no way to get out," she finished.

Heero’s and Zechs’s mouth dropped open. "There is no way that the Maxwells could have done all that in a single night," Heero said. "There’s only four of them."

"But they’re kids of a Gundam pilot that prided himself on getting the impossible done," said Relena. "And for being a prankster no less."

"They could have done it. I mean if they split themselves into two groups they could have easily gotten to the Winners, the Changs, and the Bartons in no time. And if you listened to what my wife said, the pranks played on the other three families was not as involved," said Zechs. "And if I am not mistaken, those locks that are on the doors, can only be undone by Duo because he was the one that designed them so that even Heero couldn’t break them."

"Damn it," Heero muttered as he raked his hand through his hair. "So what do we tell our kids?" he asked.

"Wait. Quatre called Duo to undo the handcuffs on the Winners. Then he has to go to the Bartons and get them out. Then he’ll come here," said Noin.

"You know what else. They slipped through the security here too. It’s virtually impossible to get in. I designed the system so that even I couldn’t get through it," said Heero as he began to pace. "How did they do it without setting anything off?"

******************************************************************************

Victoria stripped off her soiled clothes and threw them in the hamper after pacing for the past half-hour. She was mad. She was beyond mad. She was royally pissed. "I swear Maxwell, when I get my hands on you," she growled as she climbed into the shower. She turned on the hot water and got freezing cold. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Duo fell onto the floor outside of Victoria’s room. "Quite a set of lungs she has," he said as he fiddled with the lock. He had recognized it right away as being his. He had already come from the Bartons and the Winners to undo the handcuffs and the locks. He had a hard time keeping a straight face when he had to take the handcuffs off of Quatre’s kids and when he unlocked the Barton’s from their bathrooms. And he was biting his lip now. He placed a set of pliers inside the knob and cut the wire and the lock clicked. "There, you should be able to open the door now, but you’ll have to replace all the locks."

Heero raised a brow. "Thanks Duo," he said. "Oh by the way, ask your kids how they got past the security. I found nothing out of order."

Duo shrugged. "My kids have their ways. You would have to ask them," he said with a grin as he stood.

Just then Victoria came stomping out. She was wearing a bathrobe as she slammed the door open. She pinned a glare on Duo. "Your son better have a will because when I get through with him, he’ll wish he were dead," she said through clenched teeth. Her Prussian blue eyes flashed dangerously.

"Vicky, what’s wrong with your shower?" Heero asked as he noted her dripping hair still coated with molasses.

"Chris turned off the hot water in my shower! He turned the cold water on full blast!" she snapped before she turned on her heel and flounced down the hall.

Heero heard his bedroom door close with a resounding slam.

Duo looked over at Heero. "Your daughter is something else," he said with some awe.

"That she is. Better tell your son who to leave his worldly possessions to," Heero said as he patted his friend on the back and left him standing there.

Duo chuckled as he made his way down the hall and out of the house. He sure didn’t envy his son. "Chris, you might have pissed off the wrong woman," he said as he drove back to his home.

******************************************************************************

Chris, David, and Jonathon were leaning under the hoods of their cars when they heard their dad pull up outside of the garage.

Duo walked up and eyed his sons. They had been up since nine that morning. He walked into the garage. "Just came from freeing Bartons, Yuys, Winners, and Merquises," he said nonchalantly. "Tell me, how did you guys accomplish all of that last night?" he asked as he raised his brow.

Chris looked up at his dad, leaning against the side of the garage. "If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret would it," he replied, giving his dad a grin.

"No, it wouldn’t. But let me in on one little thing. How did you get through Heero’s security? You know he designed so not even he could get through it let alone the four of you," Duo said as he rested his hand on the Chris’s convertible.

Jonathon, David, and Chris grinned at each other.

"Well, dad, Randy has this penchant for computer hacking. Even Heero wouldn’t be able to trace her. She took the security system off line for several hours and when she put it back on line, she made sure that it would look like there was nothing. She made it look like it had run normally all night," Jonathon replied.

"And where is my little hacker at the moment?" Duo asked. A little surprised that his sixteen-year-old daughter would challenge the hacking skills of Heero Yuy and succeed.

"She’s helping mom make a late lunch," Chris replied as he wiped his hands on his jeans.

Duo looked back at his oldest. "Chris before I forget. There is a certain Yuy out for your blood," he said. "I think you know which one it is."

"Victoria," Chris answered. "She’s always been out for my blood ever since I dipped her pigtails in India ink when we were six," he said. "I’m not concerned. She’s almost a full head shorter then me," he pointed out.

Duo couldn’t help but chuckle at his son’s response. "Oh, don’t take height into account. You never know what to expect," he said. "But in your mom’s case. I never had too much trouble."

"Duo! Are you home? Lunch is ready," Hilde called as she came out into the garage. She spotted him. "Good you’re home."

"Did you need me for something babe?" he asked as he looked at his wife.

"I need you to do a few things around the house," she replied with a slight smile.

"Ok right after I eat lunch," Duo said as he started towards the house.

"Hold it right there. I don’t think so. Work first then you eat," Hilde ordered as she propped her hands on her hips.

"Babe come on. I’ve spent the entire morning and afternoon unlocking doors and undoing handcuffs. I’m a little hungry," he said as he started on his way to the house again. He was brought up short when he felt her latch onto his braid and give it a tug.

"And what did I say. Work first, then you can eat. They won’t take you long. Now the list is on the counter. The faster you do it, the faster you eat. Thank you dear," she said as she pressed a kiss on his cheek and walked back to the house.

Duo could hear the barely concealed snickers of his sons. He glanced over his shoulder at them. All of them were biting their lips to keep the laughter inside.

"I thought mom was never any trouble," Chris snickered. "She blew that theory to hell in one minute."

Duo flushed and strode off. He sighed. He really did let her walk all over him too much. He heard his son’s finally erupt into gales of laughter behind him.

They watched their dad leave. Jonathon turned to look at Chris. "You know Vicky is going to kill you?"

"I know. She’ll try of course. She can try all she likes," replied Chris as he walked towards the house.

Jonathon and David glanced at each other and shrugged. They sighed and followed him into the house.

This time it was Sunday dinner at the Maxwells house. The Winner, Yuy, Merquise, Chang, and Barton children were not at all happy with going to the house of their now enemy.

The Maxwell children were helping their mother with dinner. Hilde had decided that she wanted to eat outside on the deck and put blankets on the lawn for the kids to sit at.

"You know that the others are going to want to kill our children," Duo said as he followed his wife around the kitchen.

"I am well aware of that," Hilde replied as she checked the corn on the cob that was boiling in a pot. "And they learned all those tricks from you," she said as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

He grinned. "What can I say, my kids are pretty damn good at those tricks too," he said as he chuckled. "You should have seen what they did to the others in retaliation for looking like desserts last week," he said as he leaned against the counter.

"I know that they certainly didn’t inherit any of those traits from me," she said as she turned off the corn. She looked over her shoulder at him. "They had to inherit your traits."

"Like that’s a bad thing," Duo said as he pushed himself away from the counter. He wrapped his arms about her waist. "But you still love me," he said as he kissed her ear.

Hilde sighed, but she still smiled. "Yeah, and the others still wonder why," she teased as she looked at him over her shoulder.

"Hey," he replied indignantly. He looked into her laughing eyes and smiling lips. A slow grin came to his face. "I’ll show you why," he said as he kissed her full on the mouth.

Chris and Randy came in from outside and got a good look at their parents. He sighed. "You would think that they would have found a room by now," he said as he turned to look at his sister.

"They’ve been married long enough," Randy said as she rolled her eyes. "Mom, everything is set up outside. Jonathon and David are lighting the candles still," she said as she tapped her foot.

Hilde flushed as she broke the kiss. She looked over at her children. "Good, now I need you two to take out the potato salad and the fruit salad," she said as she wriggled out of Duo’s arms. "And you can check the chicken on the grill," she said as she gave Duo a push towards the deck.

"All right," Duo said as he gave her a swat on the backside before going out on the deck.

Chris chuckled at his mother’s expression as he got the potato salad out of the fridge. It would be enough to feed an army.

Hilde glanced over at her son. He looked so much like Duo. "You know that the others are going to be upset with what you’ve done," she said as she started putting the corn on the cob in a large bowl.

"I know that mom," Chris said as he turned to look at her. "But they started it with making us look like dessert toppings."

"Didn’t mean you could sabotage every one of them," she admonished. "I swear, you’re as bad as your father. I know you didn’t get this from me," she said as she pointed a spoon at him.

He grinned at his petite mother. "No, we just got your brains," he said as he pressed a kiss on her cheek before going back outside.

"And I got your looks," said Randy as she took out the fruit salad. "No wonder dad taught me some of his tricks," she smirked.

Hilde looked over at her daughter. Duo did get paranoid about her. More now since she was sixteen. She had her thick midnight hair, the flawless ivory skin, and the generous curves that had only become apparent this year. But she had Duo’s brilliant eyes and some of his height. Randy stood at five foot eight and a half. But what was the killer was she exuded the Maxwell charm, thrown in with good old-fashioned sexuality. And with her looks, it definitely made Duo worry. "Your father is just paranoid about stuff like that," she said as she walked out of the house with Randy.

"He just wants to keep the sons of the others away from me, especially Miles," Randy said as she set the fruit salad down on the table.

"With good reason," said David as he came back up to the deck. "He chases around anything in a skirt. Including you."

"Are we talking about Miles’s current interest in Randy," said Jonathon as he sat down in a deck chair. "He knows better then to chase after her."

Duo turned around to watch the conversation. "Everyone of those boys knows better not to go after your sister," he said as he looked over at his daughter.

"And speaking of those boys," said Randy as she leaned over the railing. "I think I see the Yuys and the Merquises coming through the back gate," she said with a smile.

"This is going to be an interesting Sunday dinner," Hilde mumbled as she rolled her eyes heavenwards.

**************************************************************************************

Victoria walked up the steps to the deck. She saw Chris lounging on a chair. She felt like strangling him with that damn braid of his. She balled her hands up into fists and walked over to him. "I hope you’re satisfied Maxwell," she hissed as she leaned over him.

Chris grinned up at her as she leaned over him. "I am. How did you like getting out all that molasses out of your hair?" he smirked.

"Go to hell," she spat at him. She slapped him across the face. "And if you ever do something like that again, I swear I’ll kill you," she growled.

"Is that a promise?" he asked as rubbed his cheek where she slapped him. He stared into her eyes.

"I hate you," Victoria snapped at him. He wasn't at all perturbed by the slap. He seemed to be inviting another one with the way he was gazing boldly into her eyes. She latched her hands around his neck. "You want me to kill you Maxwell, it suits me just fine."

Chris rolled his eyes and pried her hands from around his throat. He stood up and looked down at her. "You’re going to have to do better then that ice princess," he whispered against her ear and gave her backside a hard swat before walking away.

Her eyes went wide. "Bastard," she yelled at him over her shoulder.

"You know, that only encourages him," Randy said as she walked past Victoria.

Victoria whirled on Randy. "And what would you know?" she gritted out.

"That the more you hate what he does to you, the more he’s going to do it," Randy replied as she smoothed her hand over her hair. "But you’re a smart girl, you would already know that. What I think is that you like what he does to you because you know he’s the only guy not afraid to piss you off. And because your hot for him like Miles said you were," she said, grinning wickedly.

"Like hell I am," Victoria retorted sharply. "All you Maxwells are devils, who were born to make the rest of us miserable."

"We weren’t born to make you guys miserable, although it is fun to drive you guys crazy. We were born because our dad couldn’t keep his hands off of our mother," Randy said truthfully as she walked away.

Victoria glared after the youngest Maxwell. The only girl born into a family of hell raisers. She turned on her heel and went down to the lawn where she would be sitting with the others.

******************************************************************************

Dinner for the most part, went well. Many of the kids glared at the Maxwells throughout dinner. Some of them had tell tale signs that they had been had by the Maxwells. Quatrina’s hair was still black for the time being and Mira’s hair carried a greenish tint to it. Dominic and his cousins were tinted with the dye that had been dropped on their heads. And the Changs clothes smelled strongly like chlorine.

"I think we should retaliate," Victoria said as she took a sip of her iced tea.

"Retaliate! Are you crazy or something, did the grapefruits on your head knock something loose," Veronica hissed at her older sister.

"Can you imagine what they would do to us if we did," Quatrina snapped. "I have black hair for the entire week!" she exclaimed as she pulled her hair over her shoulder.

"They can’t do anything worse," Victoria said as she put her glass down. "They probably used every trick in their arsenal for sabotaging us," she said thoughtfully as she tapped her nail against her lips.

"They can do worse! Their Maxwells for crying out loud!" Merin stated angrily.

"They have their mother’s brains, don’t forget that," Dominic pointed out. "They can very well have more up their sleeve if we do something back to them," he stated.

"Well I am not going to lose this war to a Maxwell. I would rather kiss a snake first," Victoria said as she glanced over at the Maxwells, who were getting dessert.

"Justice needs to be served," said Jet as he nodded his head towards Victoria.

"Lord, you sound like dad," said Leigh under her breath.

"All right, what would we do?" asked Damien in resignation. "I just rather not wake up looking like a hooker again."

"Got that right," Vaughn muttered as he crossed his arms.

That brought a round of laughter among the group. Vaughn and Damien just scowled.

Victoria’s smiled evilly. "All right, this is what we’re going to do," she said as she started to outline their plan of attack.

******************************************************************************

"Do you think that’s wise, letting them all huddle over there like that?" Jonathon asked as he looked over his shoulder.

"Probably not," Randy replied as she eyed the group as well.

"They could accomplish a lot with Victoria as the master mind," David pointed out. "And she is usually out for blood. Namely yours," he said as he pointed at Chris.

He shrugged. "Not to worry. They can’t do anything to us, short of being illegal. I say let them come at us with all they got. I want to win this war," Chris said with determination.

"Here we go," mumbled Randy. "Round three is sure to be interesting," she sighed.

"Bet on it. Just bet on it," said Chris as his eyes fell on Victoria.

Part Four

~~~~~~

"This is nuts!" Veronica hissed at her older sister as they hog-tied Chris.

"What is?" Victoria replied as she opened the window.

"Chloroforming them!" Veronica hissed back.

"Well we can’t have them awake for this now, can we?" Victoria answered sweetly as she grabbed the rope that was flung over a heavy tree branch. She tied it tightly to the one around Chris’s ankles.

"I swear, your sister is crazy," Damien muttered as he and Carin slowly and carefully slid Chris out the window.

Veronica nodded at that statement as she climbed out the window after her sister.

"Hey, are you guys ready?" she called softly to Dominic, Thad, and Zach, who were holding the other end of the rope.

"Yeah," they all called back.

"Well then start pulling boys," Victoria replied as they slowly lowered Chris’s inert form to the ground.

The three boys gradually let the rope slide through their hands as Chris finally touched the ground.

"He’s down," Dominic called back to his sister.

"Good," said Victoria as she and the others climbed out of the tree. "Now get going to Jonathon’s room. I’m sure that Vaughn, Donavon, and Leigh are finished with him," she said as she dropped to the ground without a sound.

******************************************************************************

Around on the side of the house, where Jonathon’s room was, Leigh had just finished hog tying him. She went over to the window and watched as the rope was flung over the tree branch. "All right you guys, they’re here. Get this boy over to the window," she whispered to Donavon and Vaughn.

"One, two, three," Vaughn said lightly as he and his cousin picked up the taller boy.

Leigh tied the rope tightly around his ankles. She yelled softly out the window. "This one is good to go."

"This is nuts," Donavon said as they slowly pushed Jonathon’s form out the window.

"This was a Yuys idea, so of course its nuts," Vaughn muttered as he climbed out of the window after Jonathon was now hanging upside down, swaying silently in mid-air.

Leigh and Donavon climbed out of the window behind him and slid down the smooth bark of the trunk, testimony to the fact that the Maxwells snuck out of the house often enough to make it look that way.

"David and Randy are still left," said Leigh as she hit the ground.

"Everything is going according to plan," said Victoria as she rubbed her hands together.

******************************************************************************

David was being taken care of Jet, Merin, and Isabella.

"I can’t believe I’m doing this," Isabella hissed at Merin.

"Believe it. Victoria was gifted with the true Yuy mind," Merin replied back as she tightened the knots on David’s ankles.

"They’re all crazy if you ask me," Jet muttered as he opened the window. He looked down below him. "Hey, we’re ready with Maxwell number three."

Zach tossed up the rope over the branch. Isabella went over to the window and grabbed a hold of it. She looped it tight around David’s ankles. "He’s good to go," she whispered to Merin and Jet, who slowly and carefully pushed him out the window.

Zach, Thad, Dominic, and now Damien lowered him slowly to the ground.

"This had better work," Merin muttered as she climbed out of the window after her brother and Isabella.

******************************************************************************

Inside of Randy’s room, Miles, Quatrina, and Mira were tying the rope tightly about her wrists and ankles.

"You know she is pretty cute for a Maxwell," Miles said as he looked at Randy’s face in the moonlight.

"Stop getting ideas Miles. If Duo knew you had your eyes on his daughter, he would kill you. According to my dad, he wasn't called the God of Death for nothing," Quatrina hissed at her cousin.

"She’s too young for you besides. You’re the same age as Jonathon," Mira pointed out.

"So I can look can’t I?" Miles said with a grin, his green eyes gleaming with amusement at his two cousins.

"Not if her father kills you first," Quatrina replied exasperatedly.

"We should get going," said Mira as she opened the window. "Hey, we’re ready," she called out to the others below.

"Forget the rope," Miles said as he put Randy’s limp form over his shoulder.

"You’re going to carry her out!" Quatrina yelped softly.

"She’s certainly light enough," Miles said with a shrug.

"If you drop her, your ass is going to her father’s and yours," Mira hissed at him.

"Then it’s my ass, isn’t it," Miles said as he climbed out onto the branch and walked casually to the trunk with Randy on his shoulder.

"I swear, when he does that, he looks like Trowa," said Quatrina as she and Mira followed him out.

Miles hopped to the ground effortlessly. "All done," he said.

"Show off," Victoria muttered as she and the others followed them to Dominic’s truck.

******************************************************************************

"Hurry up move your asses here," Kellie ordered as she sat behind the steering wheel.

"Come on, into the bed of the trunk they go," said Victoria as she got in next to her cousin.

Veronica slid in next to her sister. Dominic, Zach, and Thad got in the bed of the truck with the four out cold Maxwells.

Miles, Isabella, Carin, and Donavon piled into Quatrina’s SUV, along with Damien, Mira, and Vaughn.

The Changs piled into Leigh’s Jeep and followed Dominic’s truck to the Sanc Kingdom Nature Preserve.

******************************************************************************

Victoria laughed. And it wasn't a nice one either. It was almost reminiscent of her father’s when he blew things up. Or that was what Duo had told her. She poured honey all over Chris. "Since you like this stuff so much, I think its only fitting you get another basting in it devil," she said.

"God, she really gets into this whole revenge thing, doesn’t she?" Vaughn asked as he and his brother then emptied a bag of feathers onto Chris.

"Like I’ve been saying, Yuys are sadistic, especially Victoria," said Damien as he rolled his eyes.

"Tie him up to that branch there boys," Victoria said as she rubbed her hands together. She watched with glee as Zach and Thad tied Chris to the branch, hanging upside down. She walked over to where her brother and sister were pouring honey onto Jonathon and then dumping feathers on him too. "Make sure that they all get it," she called. She propped her hands on her slim hips.

"What, does she think she’s a general now," muttered Donavon as he coated David with honey.

"Beats the hell out of me," replied Jet as he dumped feathers onto David.

"It’s such a pity to do this to her," Miles mused as he leaned over Randy.

"Get your hormones in control Barton," Victoria said as she walked over to him.

"Here we go," muttered Carin as she opened the jar of honey that was going to be used on Randy.

"Oh like you should talk Vicky," Miles said pointedly. "You’re getting off on just sabotaging Chris."

Victoria’s face flushed with color. "Like hell I am," she snapped.

"Well at least I’m the one admitting that I have an attraction to Randy," Miles shot back.

"One that could possibly kill you," stated Isabella as she began to pour honey on Randy.

"Not if Vicky kills him first," Carin mumbled under her breath.

Victoria sputtered indignantly at Miles. "Screw you," she hissed at him.

"Before or after Chris," Miles said wickedly.

That remark made everyone stop what he or she was doing.

"Oh shit," Carin said as she waited for Victoria to kill her brother.

Victoria’s face got redder and redder before she slapped the six foot three Miles and stamped off towards the parked cars. "Asshole," she yelled at him over her shoulder.

"Never said otherwise," Miles said as he rubbed his cheek. He looked over at his two sisters and then at Randy. "Oh well," he sighed as he tied the rope around her ankles and then hung her upside down on the tree next to her brothers.

"They do look kind of funny," commented Thad as he stood back and observed the four of them.

"We better hope that they won’t retaliate after this one," muttered Kellie as she took a photograph.

"Let’s go, its three in the morning, I say its time we head home," said Dominic. "Besides, we have a thirteen and fourteen year old, who need their beds."

"Speak for yourself," Isabella said as she propped her hands on her hips. Her blue-gray eyes filled with some amusement.

"Yeah, time for your bedtime," teased Miles as he picked up his baby sister.

"Put me down baka," shrieked Isabella as she pounded on her brother’s back on the way back to the cars.

"Well, I’m glad that this is over. I’m tired," Mira yawned.

"Come on," said Damien said as he put his arm around his sister and led her back to the SUV.

Victoria was the last one to leave. She stood staring at the four Maxwells, honeyed and feathered. She was still fuming over what Miles had said to her because for some strange reason, getting into bed with Chris didn’t seem that bad. She pushed that thought aside. She smiled nastily. "Nighty, night, Chris," she said as she waggled her fingers at him and left.

******************************************************************************

Chris felt something licking his face. A smile crossed his sleeping face. "If that was Victoria, I would definitely want to wake up to that every morning." His eyes popped open and found himself face to face with a deer. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His yell woke up his siblings.

"AIEEEEEEEE! What the hell is going on?" shrieked Randy as she looked at herself. "I look like a goddamn chicken!"

"We all do!" Jonathon snapped angrily as he struggled with the ropes tying his wrists together.

"And we’re all sticky too, with honey," muttered David as he finally loosened the knots on his wrists.

"And I bet I know who is responsible for this," growled Chris as he reached up and untied his feet. He fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"I guess that means I don’t have to mention names," said David as he dropped to the ground too.

"And by your tone, it wasn't one of the guys," Randy said as Chris got her down out of the tree and set her on the ground.

"Sure as hell, it was that icy cold hearted little…" Chris started to say.

"We get the idea," said Jonathon as their sister covered Chris’s mouth. "It was Vicky, plain and simple."

"When I get my hands on her, she’ll wish she never messed with the son of Death," Chris gritted out. "And I was dreaming about her too."

"Where are we?" Randy asked as she looked around.

"The Nature Preserve," said David as he walked a few steps.

"And I suppose that we have to walk all the way home," said Randy. She knew that their house was a good ten miles from here.

"Well let’s get going," Chris said as he started walking.

The other three sighed and followed. They walked along the coastal road trying to ignore the looks that they were getting from the passing cars. The summer sun was beginning to beat down on their necks.

"I’m so tired," said Randy as she stopped and put her hands on her sticky, feather covered thighs. She absently rubbed her ankle she had broken the previous year playing basketball.

"Come on," said Chris as he picked up his sister and started walking again. "We have four more miles to go," he said as he started walking again.

David and Jonathon sighed and followed their brother and sister.

******************************************************************************

At the Maxwell house, Duo sat at the table reading the paper. Hilde was making breakfast.

"Did anyone see our children this morning?" she asked without turning around.

"No, I checked their rooms. They were all empty," he replied as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Are you thinking, what I’m thinking?" Hilde asked as she set the platter of scrambled eggs on the center island. She turned back to the stove again.

"That our kids were more then likely kidnapped by the others and taken someplace," Duo answered as he put down the paper. "But what I think," he said as he got out of his chair and walked behind his wife. "That’s we’re completely alone in this house," he finished as he slipped his arms about her waist and kissed the side of her neck.

"Duo, I’m trying to make breakfast," she said sternly, but she couldn’t help but smile as he kissed her ear. "And if my memory serves me correctly, this is how I got pregnant with Miranda."

"And what fun that was," he murmured as he turned her around. He switched the stove off behind her as he covered her lips with his.

Hilde laughed as she wrapped her arms about his neck. "You’re a devil, you know that," she said against his mouth.

"Got that right," Duo said as he leaned her against the counter. His hand was slipping down her leg under her nightshirt when there was a knock at the kitchen door. "Dammit!"

"Go on, answer the door," she said with another laugh as she pushed him towards the door.

"This better be good," he growled as he opened the back door. "What the…" he started to say, then burst out into laughter.

"Duo, what is it? What are you laughing at?" Hilde said as she came to the door. She clapped her hand over her mouth to keep her laughter inside.

"Thanks a lot mom," David said as he rolled his eyes.

"You look like chicken’s," Duo howled as he looked at his four children.

"No shit dad," Chris gritted out as he set Randy down on the flagstone path.

"And we’re hot and sticky too," said Jonathon. "They used honey to make the feathers stick."

"And my ankle is killing me," Randy hissed. "I walked nearly six miles barefoot, on concrete!"

"Sweetheart, go hose them off," Hilde said as she stifled her laughter. "And then I’ll take a look at Randy’s ankle."

"Come on. I’ll clean you up some. You wouldn’t want to track feathers in the house," Duo said as he herded his four children back into the yard. He picked up the hose and started with his daughter. "Wipe off as much as possible, then go to your mother," he said as he wiped some of the feathers out of her hair.

"Thanks dad," Randy said as she smoothed her hands down the front of her black muscle shirt and boxers. She left the yard and went back inside the house to be tended to by her mother.

"Do you know who did this to you?" Duo asked as he held the hose over Jonathon.

"Oh, we know. And they won’t get away with it," Jonathon replied angrily as he pulled the feathers off his shirt. He went inside the house afterwards.

"And if they think that we have nothing left, they have another thing coming," David said defensively as ran his hands over his hair as the water streamed down. He went inside the house.

"I know whose idea it was too," Chris said as his dad held the hose over him.

"And who would that be?" Duo asked as he turned off the hose.

"Who else, but Heero’s eldest. That ice princess Victoria," Chris growled.

"I see," Duo said as he pushed his son towards the house. "Go on inside and get cleaned up. Then you can come down and eat breakfast."

"Right dad," Chris sighed as he went inside. "Don’t worry Victoria, I will make payback a real bitch!"

******************************************************************************

Sunday dinner this weekend was at the Winner household. The dining room was big enough to fit all the families, even at the same table. Barbed comments started flying back and forth between Chris and Victoria as soon as they sat down.

"So how did you like your feathers?" Victoria asked in a saccharine voice.

"No more then what I’m going to do to you," Chris shot back.

"Is that a promise?" she said with an innocent smile.

"Oh bet it is baby. I got you once, I’ll get you again," he said as he gave her a wicked smile.

"Are you sure you can back that up, braid boy?" Victoria asked as she ran her finger along the edge of her knife.

"Oh I can back it up. Did you ever hear that payback was a bitch," Chris said as his eyes bore into hers.

"Yeah. Why?" she questioned as she stared back at him.

"Because sweetheart, you’re the bitch," he replied as he leaned back in his chair.

For a moment, Victoria was speechless. "You bastard!" she snapped at him.

"Never said I wasn't" Chris retorted. He swirled the spaghetti Alfredo on his fork.

"I oughtta…" she started as she got out of her chair, but her brother pulled her back into it.

"Stop making a scene Vicky," Dominic hissed in her ear.

Victoria speared the pasta with her fork, glaring malevolently at Chris, sitting across from her. But she didn’t say anymore.

******************************************************************************

"Why is it that every time that those two are in the same room as each other, the air goes, crack, snapple, pop," Miles observed from his seat next to Randy.

"Probably because, they’re both hot for each other," Randy replied as she turned to look at Miles.

"Glad to see someone agrees with me," he said as he turned to face her. "And what happens when we walk into a room?" he asked as he leaned forwards a little.

"Absolutely…" Randy said as she leaned closer to him, so that her lips were inches away from his.

"Absolutely what?" Miles asked; clearly interested in what she was going to say and the shape of her lush red lips.

"…Nothing," Randy finished as she chucked him under the chin with her finger and turned back to her plate.

"Hey, what’s that…" Miles trailed off when he caught the eyes of Duo on him, as well as her brothers. "I didn’t do anything," he said quickly.

"And it better stay that way," Duo said warningly as his eyes narrowed at Miles.

"Man, this sucks," Miles muttered under his breath and went back to eating. "Can’t get anywhere with the women in any of these families."

"Well, Miles is right. Vicky is hot for Chris," Randy said as she looked up at Victoria and smirked.

"I am not!" Victoria shrieked as she slammed her fork on the table. "You say that to me face to face wench!"

"Come over and get it!" Randy said, pleased that she had touched a nerve in Victoria.

******************************************************************************

"Here we go again," Heero said as he put his head in his hands.

"Why do your children always have the urge to kill each other?" Quatre sighed as he looked at Heero and Duo.

Heero and Duo looked at each other and replied, "Habit."

"Great," muttered Quatre as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

******************************************************************************

"Well are you going to sit there and glare at me, or you going to do something about it?" Randy challenged Victoria.

"Argh!" Victoria growled as she pushed her chair back and rounded the table.

"Don’t you think someone should stop her?" asked Quatrina as she watched Victoria approach Randy.

"I say let them fight it out," commented Leigh as she rolled her eyes.

Randy got out of her chair; pure devilment was flashing in her eyes. She stood her ground as Victoria stood in front of her. "Well?"

"Say it again to my face brat," Victoria hissed at Randy.

Randy bent down to Victoria’s level, since she stood about two and a half inches taller. "I said, that you’re hot for my brother," she said triumphantly.

The color in Victoria’s cheeks flared. She slapped Randy across the face. "Cold day in hell," she gritted out.

"You would only think so ice princess," Randy snapped back as she slapped Victoria back.

******************************************************************************

"Are you two going to stop this?" Hilde asked as she watched the fight going on between her daughter and Victoria. She glanced at Duo and Heero.

"And to think, I tried teaching her pacifism," moaned Relena into her hand.

"All right, all right," Duo said as he pushed back his chair. He went over to his daughter, who was now engaged in a staring contest with Victoria. "That’s enough Randy," he said as he pulled her away.

Heero had gotten up as well. He slipped an arm about his daughter’s waist. "Enough," he said as started pulling her away.

"By the way Randy, your nickname leaves a lot open doesn’t it? What did you do to earn that nickname," Victoria smirked.

Randy’s face flooded with heat. "You bitch!" she ground out as she tried to get out of her father’s grasp.

"I think that’s enough," Duo said as he put his daughter over his shoulder. "I’ll be taking her outside for a little bit," he said as he went over to the terrace doors and went out.

"Put me down dad!" Randy yelled as she tried to get loose.

"And you, young lady, are going to go cool down somewhere," Heero said sternly as he pushed her out of the dining room.

"But dad…" Victoria started to say. Then she caught that look in her father’s eyes. "All right, I’ll be in the living room, cooling off she said as she left the room.

"That was entertaining to say the least," Zechs remarked dryly.

"Not every day, you see Randy and Vicky go at it," Trowa said as he raised a brow at Heero.

"What is it with the onnas in your families?" Wufei directed the question towards Hilde and Heero and Relena.

"Father’s influence," Relena and Hilde replied in unison.

"I hope none of my children never marry either of yours," Wufei sighed as he looked heavenwards.

"An even worse combination would be a Yuy and a Maxwell," Zechs commented.

"And why would that be?" asked Hilde pointedly.

"Think of it this way, one would be the son or daughter of the God of Death, and the other one would be the son or daughter of the "Perfect" soldier. Imagine that," Zechs said.

"Oh God," Wufei said as he shook his head. "That would be bad. Maxwell’s antics with a suicidal bent of Heero Yuy."

"Are we going to fight about this too?" asked Quatre as he slunk down in his chair.

******************************************************************************

"This is bound to be interesting," Carin remarked to Leigh.

"Yeah, another round of fighting," Leigh said as she rolled her eyes.

"Are the adults going to start fighting too?" whispered Kellie into Veronica’s ear.

"Hope not," Veronica replied. "Or else, we might get to see a real war firsthand."

******************************************************************************

By the end of the evening, everyone’s tempers had cooled down.

The four Maxwells were getting ready to leave when Victoria walked up to them.

"Ready to say that we win," she said in a syrupy voice.

"A Maxwell doesn’t lose to a Yuy, even if she is a girl," Chris replied as he turned to look at her. "But we will get you guys back. Just you wait ice princess," he said softly as he leaned down to her.

"Bring it on," Victoria replied as she pressed her nose against his. Challenge burned bright in her eyes.

"Remember, you asked for it baby," Chris said as he grasped her chin with his hand and gave her a hard kiss before walking out the door.

Randy, Jonathon, and David looked on wide-eyed. And then burst into laughter as they followed him out the door.

Victoria could feel her lips throbbing. "I HATE YOU MAXWELL!" she screamed at his retreating back.

******************************************************************************

On the car ride home, Randy leaned over to her brother. "What exactly are we going to do to them?" she asked.

"Oh, you’ll see," Chris replied enigmatically as he turned and looked out the window. "You’ll see," he said as a slow smile crossed his face.

Part Five

~~~~~~

"Man, this is not my idea of fun," David muttered as he finished tying the knots around the wrists and ankles of Damien Winner.

"Well, it was all of them who participated in that last prank. They made us look like chickens," Randy hissed as she tied the rope around his ankles that stretched out the window. She glanced out at Chris and Jonathon, who were waiting below. "All right, the last Winner is finished," she called softly.

"Good," said Chris as he and Jonathon slowly pulled out Damien. They lowered him to the ground carefully.

"There, now all we have to do is put them in Dad’s Suburban," said Jonathon as he looked at the four Winners now lying on the grass.

"We should get going you know," said Randy as she shimmied down the tree trunk. "We still have to hit the Bartons, Changs, Yuys, and the Merquises. And it’s one in the morning."

"Whose next on the list?" David asked as he jumped to the ground behind his sister.

"The Bartons," replied Chris as he put Damien over his shoulder.

"Let’s go then," said Randy as she picked up Mira and put her over her shoulder.

They walked to the placed where they had hidden their father’s black Suburban. Jonathon lay Vaughn down in the back next to where David had placed Quatrina.

"Onto the Bartons," Chris said as he hit the gas.

******************************************************************************

"If we sniff too much of this, it’ll make us pass out," Randy whispered as she put the cap back on the chloroform.

"Then hold your breath," David answered as he placed the rag over the mouth of Carin.

Randy stuck her tongue out at him as she tied the rope around Carin’s ankles. She had her out the window in no time. Soon she was lying on the ground next to Donavon and Isabella. "On to Miles," she said as her and David tiptoed down the hall. She slipped into his room first. She tilted her head to one side for a moment and looked at him.

David looked at his sister for a moment. "What exactly is going on between you two?" he asked as he held the chloroformed rag over Miles’s mouth.

"Its called attraction silly. But you know he won’t get anywhere. Dad would kill him first," she replied as she tied Miles’s ankles.

"And what exactly was that at dinner on Sunday, are you trying to get dad to kill him?" David asked.

"I want to see if he is brave enough. I am the daughter of Death, you know. I’m a man’s worst nightmare," Randy answered with an angelic smile.

He rolled his eyes as he slid Miles out the window. "I’ll agree on that one," he said as he climbed out the window.

She smacked him on the back of the head as she went out after him. She dropped to the ground beside him. "Two families down, three to go," she said breathlessly.

"We’ll hit the Changs next," Chris said as he picked up Miles and put him over his shoulder.

"Are you sure we can fit them all in there?" Jonathon asked as he put Donavon in the Suburban. He looked at the four Winners. He raised a brow at his brother.

"We’ll make do," Chris replied as he laid Miles down. "We’ll just pile them like cords of wood," he said as he went to the driver’s side.

"You’re crazy," Randy said as she got in the back. She hung over the seat. "We still have to fit nine more people in here."

"Well aware of that. That’s why I brought more rope for another purpose," Chris said as he drove down the road towards the Changs.

"For what?" David asked quizzically.

"We can tie some of them to the roof racks," he replied simply.

"Are you nuts!" Jonathon asked. "We’re trying to sabotage them, not kill them," he hissed.

"Well aware. Or would you rather ride on the roof racks?" Chris asked as he impaled his brother with his eyes.

Jonathon sighed. "Oh hell. Better them then me I suppose," he commented as they pulled out in front of the Changs.

******************************************************************************

Quick work was made of the Changs, who were put in the back with the Winners and the Bartons. They were now on their way to the Yuy/Merquise residence.

"I’m sure Heero changed some stuff about the security system. I know it must rankle a little to know that your best friend’s little girl can hack into the system," she said as she placed her laptop on the hood of the car. "Now let’s see," she said as she bit her lip as the scanner came to life. Her eyes looked at the information crossing the screen. "Ahh, there we are," she said triumphantly as she typed in a code. "Let’s see how you like being doubly out maneuvered Heero Yuy," she said as she hit enter. "All right boys, let’s go," she said as she snapped her laptop shut. "Let’s go get ourselves some Yuys and Merquises."

They all climbed the high stone fence and dropped over the side on silent feet. There was no moon tonight, so their all black clothing concealed them well. They started with the Merquises first.

******************************************************************************

David and Randy went for Thad first.

"Man, he weighs a lot," grumbled David as he tried to lift him. "Hey, a little help here," he hissed at his sister.

Randy raised a brow at him. "I may be strong, but not what you’re thinking," she whispered back. "I can’t lift two hundred pounds!"

"Oh fine, go get Chris or something brat," he whispered back exasperatedly.

She stuck her tongue out at him as she leaned out the window. "Hey Chris, David needs help lifting Thad," she called out.

"Man, Chris said under his breath as he climbed the tree and into the room. "You couldn’t get Randy to do it?"

"I can’t lift two hundred pounds even with help!" Randy hissed angrily. "So you do it."

Chris sighed. He and David picked up their heavy burden and slowly pushed him out the window. "Wait till I get to the ground then push him all the way out. You think you can do that shorty," he teased Randy.

"Baka! Just watch me," Randy snapped at him.

Chris took hold of the rope with Jonathon. "All right now," he said.

Out came Thad, as David and Randy pushed him out the window. He was gently lowered to the ground.

Randy shot her brothers a thumb up sign, before her and David snuck down the hall to Zach’s room. She slipped in and immediately chloroformed him. She knew that both Merquise brothers were a little sore over being bested by sixteen year old girl. And she didn’t want to deal with one while getting even with them for the honey and feathers. She knotted the rope around his ankles tight before David managed to get him to the window. "Next one’s ready," she called out.

And as before Chris and Jonathon lowered him to the ground beside his older brother.

"Thank God he was lighter," mumbled David as he rubbed his arms a little.

"Don’t be a baby. You’re lucky that Kellie is next. She weighs about the same as me," Randy said as she trotted down the hall on silent feet with her brother close behind.

David rolled his eyes as he put the chloroformed rag over Kellie’s nose and mouth. "Besides you’re a heavy weight for a girl," he teased.

Randy’s mouth dropped open as she knotted the rope around her wrists and ankles. "I am not that heavy! I only weigh a hundred thirty four!"

"A lot heavier then the other girls," he said innocently.

"They’re all shorter then me!" she protested as she and him took Kellie over to the window.

"No excuse," David said with the characteristic Maxwell grin.

"Baka! When this night is over, I’m going to kick your ass!" Randy growled as she climbed out the window.

"You do that!" David laughed as he followed her.

"Are you two done bickering yet?" Jonathon asked as he propped his hand on his hip. "You sound like three year olds."

Randy shot him a rude gesture as she followed Chris, who was carrying Thad, back to the Suburban to drop off their victims.

Jonathon and David chuckled as they followed carrying Zach and Kellie.

******************************************************************************

It was onto the Yuy side next. Veronica and Dominic were made short work of before it was time for Victoria.

"She’s all yours," Randy said as she swept her hand towards Chris.

"Thank you," Chris said as a wicked smile crossed his face. He climbed up himself with rope and chloroform in hand. He climbed in through the partially opened window and dropped to a crouch on the floor. He stood and walked over to the huge bed. He observed Victoria carefully. Her blond hair was spread out in a tangle on the pillows and her hands were flung up over her head. "She sure looks pretty when she’s asleep and not trying to kill me." But grasped in her hand was a knife. "So she’s prepared this time. Good. She shouldn’t underestimate me," he snickered softly as he held up the chloroformed rag. He leaned over her. "Sorry sweetheart," he said in a mocking whisper. But he wasn't ready for her eyes to pop open.

"No such luck baby," Victoria said sweetly as she wagged the knife in front of his face. "Stand back for I know how to use it."

"You wouldn’t," he growled. "And I thought she was pretty. Yeah, pretty dangerous."

"Try me," she challenged as she tapped it on the tip of his nose. She saw his cobalt eyes flicker angrily even in the darkness of her room. She smiled triumphantly. "I win Maxwell. Give it up. You’ll never beat me."

Chris gritted his teeth. She wasn't supposed to wake up. "Shit," he muttered. He knew he would be dead if her father caught him. "Oh well, I like living on the edge," he said as he brought the rag down.

"You baka!" Victoria hissed as the rag narrowly missed her face. She rolled out of the bed and onto the floor. She raised the knife, but Chris was already on her.

He pinned her to the floor. He pried the knife out of her hand and pushed it out of her reach. "I don’t think so," he said as he looked down into her face. "I won’t lose to you. Ever," he gritted out. "You’ll never win against me baby."

"Go to hell!" she spat at him.

"Been there. And it’s actually quite pleasant," Chris said with a tight grin. "Say nighty night Victoria," he said as he put the cloth over her face.

"I hate you!" Victoria snapped at him through the cloth. She could feel herself slipping into oblivion. Then she was out.

He sat back on his heels. It had been harder then he thought. "Damn woman," he muttered angrily as he picked her up in his arms and tossed her limp form over his shoulder. He felt a stinging sensation. He looked down at his arm. He touched it. "She cut me! Shit! She actually got a swipe at me!" he growled disbelievingly. He climbed out the window and slid down the rope.

"Took you long enough!" Randy hissed at her brother.

"Wasn't my fault! She expected me! She had a damned knife on her! And she used it!" Chris snapped as he pointed to his left arm.

"Crap! Is it deep?" Randy asked as she went over to him.

"No. Just a scratch. Are the others loaded up?" he asked.

"Yeah, we got them all in," said David. "Cramped, but we got them all in."

"And what are you going to do with her?" Jonathon asked.

"I have the perfect place for her," Chris said as he started walking.

"He doesn’t mean, what I think he means," said David as he looked at Jonathon and Randy.

"I think he does," said Randy as she took off in run after Chris.

"Shit!" Jonathon and David cursed as they took off after them.

Chris tied tight knots around Victoria’s wrists and ankles. "I hope you like night air. For that's what you’re getting," he growled as he lifted her up on the roof racks and tied her down tightly.

"Chris, are you out of your mind!" Randy yelled up at him.

"I’m not going to drive that fast!" Chris said as he hopped tied the last knot. "Besides, it’ll do her good," he said as he got in the SUV. "Show her, icy little bitch," he muttered under his breath.

"I can’t believe you just did that!" Jonathon hissed at his older brother as the vehicle roared to life.

"Believe it," David sighed as he closed the door. "Now let’s not waste anymore time."

"Just what I wanted to hear," replied Chris as he drove down the road slowly. He drove all the way down to the beach. "All right. Haul ass, we have to row them all out into the bay. And we have to swim back," he said.

"Here we go," Randy said as she hopped out.

The Suburban was unloaded of its cargo of teens and put into three boats that the Maxwells had put there earlier in the day. They were sturdy, brand new lifeboats, complete with oars and even an anchor. The Maxwells stripped down to their swimsuits and pushed the boats into the water. Chris and Randy were in one boat. While David rowed the second one and Jonathon rowed the third one. As soon as they were about forty feet away from shore, they dropped anchor.

"There," said Chris as he dropped the anchor into the water. They knew that the water here was only about ten to twelve feet. All of the kids could swim fairly well. They removed the oars from the boats.

"Can’t believe we just did this," mumbled David as he stood slowly.

"Well let’s go," said Chris as he dove into the water.

Randy shrugged. "Well at least this time, this will prove to them, that they can’t outdo a Maxwell when it comes to pranks and sabotage," she stated as she jumped into the water.

"Let’s just hope you’re right," said Jonathon as he dove in.

They all swam back to shore. They put the oars in the back of the Suburban and then leaned against the tailgate.

"I’m exhausted," said Randy as she rung out her wet hair.

"I’m with you there," agreed David.

"Let’s go home to our warm beds," Chris said as he dried himself off with a towel and tossed it to the others. He climbed in.

"Are you sure we didn’t put them out too far?" Jonathon asked on the way home.

"Nah," Chris said. "They can do it. They’re resourceful," he pointed out.

"Guess you got that right," Jonathon sighed.

For a little while, no one said anything until Randy spoke. "Chris, I’ve been meaning to ask you this for the entire week. Why did you kiss Victoria last Sunday?"

"That's what I would like to know," David said as he looked at his brother.

"Seemed like a good way to shut her up for a few seconds. And I just felt like doing it," Chris replied as he pulled into their driveway. He pulled into the main garage on the side of the house.

"It just seemed like a good idea?" Jonathon asked, surprised.

"Yeah," was the only thing Chris said as he got out.

The three looked at each other. "He’s hot for her," they all said. They jumped out of the Suburban after Chris. The oars were placed outside, behind the garage.

"Time for us to hit the sack," said Chris. "We deserve it. We did good this time."

"I suppose you’re right. I mean, they did leave us out in the middle of nowhere looking like chickens," said Randy as they walked around the back of the house.

"And hopefully, this will be the last of it," David said with a slight grin. "There isn’t much more then can do. They would have to break the law to do it."

"Can you imagine how mad they’re going to be tomorrow morning," Jonathon said.

"I can imagine," said Chris. "Now let’s get back inside."

They all climbed the trees that surrounded their house and into their bedrooms. They stripped off their wet clothes and fell into bed with satisfied Maxwell grins on their four faces.

"Told you I would win Victoria," Chris sighed as he finally fell asleep.

Part Six

~~~~~~

Victoria’s head lolled to one side as she leaned back. She could hear the sounds of seagulls and the sound of lapping water. Her body felt stiff and a little sore. She peeked one eye open and saw blue sky. She opened the other one and looked around. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Huh?" mumbled Dominic as he heard his sister shriek. He opened his eyes. "What the hell are you…AHHHHHHHH!"

"We’re floating out in the middle of the bay!" yelled Veronica as she glared at Victoria. "And you said there would be no possible way for them to retaliate! Well they retaliated all right! They paid us back in full and then some! I’m going to kill you!" she screamed as she lunged at her sister.

"Don’t do that!" snapped Thad, who grabbed hold of his young cousin. "You want to tip us over!"

"Stay out of it!" Veronica snapped back as she elbowed him in the ribs. She got to her sister and latched her hands around her sister’s throat. "You bitch! This is all your fault!"

Dominic and Thad grabbed a hold of her and pinned her to the side of the boat. "Knock it off Ver," Dominic said he looked around him. "We’re not the only ones in this predicament."

"That’s for sure," snorted Miles as he looked over at Dominic. "I must say, they were ingenious," he commented.

"Yeah, they were ingenious all right," muttered Donavon. "They stuck us out in the middle of the goddamn bay!"

"And there’s no oars to row back either," Jet pointed out as he swiped some of his light brown hair out of his face.

"They must of left us out here and swam back to shore themselves," said Mira as she looked over the side of the boat at the deep blue water of the bay.

"That's a little more then forty feet! And compound that with the water current, that’s not an easy swim," said Damien as he looked over at Victoria. "At least your sister is right on one thing?"

"Oh and what’s that?" asked Victoria as she rubbed her neck.

"This is all your fault!" Damien shouted at her. "You couldn’t leave well enough alone! And now look!" he said furiously as he gestured around him. "We’re stuck in the middle of the goddamn bay with no way to get back because they took the oars!" he shouted again.

"Calm down," said Quatrina as she laid a hand on her brother’s bare arm. "Yelling at her won’t help, but we have to get to shore."

"Which means we have to swim back or stay out here" finished Carin. "I say we swim back."

"That’s all well and good. But did you realize that some of the girls are wearing white shirts," stated Vaughn.

Mira, Kellie, Victoria, Veronica, Quatrina, Leigh, and Merin were all wearing white tank tops or tee shirts.

"Shit! Dammit! When I get my hands on that braided son of a bitch, I’m going to kill him!" Victoria yelled. "And you know what? I’m past the point of caring if I’m wearing white. To hell with it! I’m swimming to shore!" she announced as she stood up and dove off the side.

"We can’t sit around here all day," Kellie said as she shrugged. "So I’m with Vicky," she said as she too jumped in.

"Aww hell," muttered Quatrina. "Let’s get going," she said as she looked over at her brother.

Damien nodded. "Come on you guys," he said as he looked at his other two siblings and at his cousins. He jumped over the side.

Soon all the Winners, Bartons, Yuys, Merquises, and Changs were in the water, swimming towards shore. When they reached the beach, all they could do was lay there on the sand as the water lapped their ankles.

"I never want to get up again," moaned Isabella as she lay on the sand. "My legs and arms are burning," she said as she rolled over to her back.

"Mine too," groaned Leigh as she fisted her hands in the ground under her. Sand squeezed through her fingers.

"I don’t think I’ll be exercising for the next weak," panted Merin. "I feel sore all over."

"Join the club," mumbled Mira as she curled herself into a ball.

"Come on, we can’t stay here all day," Victoria said as she slowly pushed herself up. She crossed her arms over her chest. "We still have to walk home too." A chorus of groans greeted her ears. "But I’m dealing with the Maxwells now, not later. And if you guys want to kill the Maxwells now for doing this to us, please raise your hand?" she asked.

Everyone’s hand raised in the air.

"Good. Now lets get going. We have to walk fifteen miles to the Maxwell’s house from here," Victoria said as she started walking.

The others soon stood up and followed. The other girls wearing the white shirts crossed their arms over their chests as they walked.

"Can we stop?" moaned Isabella as she knelt on the grass alongside the road.

"Come on," said Miles as he picked up his baby sister. "Not too much further."

"Bull shit," Isabella replied as she rested her head against his shoulder.

Miles chuckled at his little sister’s words. "Hey, Vicky, how much further?" he called.

"About five more miles," Victoria replied as she looked over her shoulder at him. Her shirt was still a little damp, but she was no longer crossed her arms over her chest.

They continued to walk under the gleaming summer sun until they reached the long winding driveway of the Maxwell’s house. It sat on top of a cliff that overlooked the bay.

******************************************************************************

Duo eyed his children over the top of his paper. They were all passing secret smiles to each other. "All right, what did the four of you do?" he asked as he set down the paper.

"What did we do? We didn’t do anything," replied Jonathon with an innocent smile.

"That would be BS, and you know it," Duo said as he gazed at his son. "What do all of you look so pleased for?" he pinned a look on his daughter.

Randy snickered as she tried to smile innocently for her father. "Wouldn’t you like to know?"

Duo looked over at Hilde sitting at the opposite end of the table, sipping her coffee. "Do you have any idea what our kids are up to?" he asked.

"Nope. I tried disciplining them, but they’re as bad as you," Hilde commented as she put down her cup. "They follow in your illustrious footsteps."

"Well its nothing illegal," Randy snickered again. "So don’t worry about that."

Duo raised a brow at his youngest. "Randy, tell me what the four of you did last night?"

"We pulled something on the others, guaranteeing our victory in this little war we’re having," said Randy as she smiled back at him.

"And that would be?" asked Duo, not really wanting to know what his four hellions did, but curious enough to ask.

"Let’s just say, they’re having a very wet morning," said Chris as he swallowed a mouthful of orange juice.

Duo was getting a little exasperated. "Will one of you tell me straight?" he asked.

"It’s like this dad. We chloroformed them all, hauled them in your Suburban to the beach, where we took three lifeboats that we had put there, rowed them out into the bay, and left them there. Without the oars of course," answered David.

For a moment Duo couldn’t believe what he heard. He blinked once and then a slight smile creased his lips. "So that’s what you did."

"I swear Duo, this is your entire fault our kids are turning out to be con artists," Hilde sighed as she put her head in her hands.

"Well they have your brains. They used them to pull this off," Duo pointed out. "So it wasn't all my fault."

"Baka," Hilde said as she threw her napkin at him. "You’re the one who taught them all your bad habits."

"And you love me for every one of them," Duo smirked at his wife.

Hilde sighed in exasperation and put her head in her hands.

Just then there was a knock at the kitchen door.

"I wonder who that could be," Duo said as he got up and opened the door. He came face to face with all the children of his friends. He looked over at his kids, who had stopped what they were doing momentarily. "Morning Victoria," he said, trying not to laugh at the bedraggled appearance of every one of them. He noticed that she was holding an oar in her hands. He raised a brow at her.

"Morning Duo. Would you care to send out your oldest?" Victoria asked sweetly. She clutched the oar in her hands a little bit tighter.

Duo looked over his shoulder at Chris. "Son, its Victoria."

"Really," Chris drawled as he leaned back in the chair. "What does she want?" he smirked.

"I think she wants you," Duo replied as he looked back at Victoria. "And what exactly are you planning to do with the oar?" he asked pointedly.

"Nothing much. Just beat the crap out of him with it," Victoria stated.

Duo’s eyes widened at her answer. "She just sounded so much like Heero after I welded him into the wine cellar with Relena. He wanted to kill me. I guess like father like daughter."

******************************************************************************

Chris had heard her reply. He went over to the door and looked down at her. "How was your morning Victoria?" he asked with a laugh.

Victoria gritted her teeth. "Come on outside Maxwell so I can give you a proper beating," she snapped.

His smile got even broader. "If you like ice princess," he said as he went outside. He walked out and stood in the yard. He spread his arms out. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he challenged. "Come and get it baby."

Victoria growled and charged him. She swung the oar in a wide arc, missing him by inches. "Damn you," she hissed as she swung it again. This time she hit him in the arm. "I’ll take you apart piece to piece if I have to," she said as she walked around him.

"You do that," Chris answered as he rubbed his arm. He motioned her forwards with his hands. And this time when she rushed him, he grabbed a hold of the oar. "But I promise I won’t make it easy for you," he gritted out as he pushed the oar down between them. "But don’t forget this. I will always be stronger then you."

"Screw you," she hissed at him. She put one foot on his stomach and fell back. She succeeded in flipping him over in the grass.

******************************************************************************

Duo sighed as he watched the two of them fight.

Randy, Jonathon, and David were also outside, watching the fight between their brother and Victoria.

The other kids spared them a glance, but they were too exhausted and too intrigued by what was going on between Chris and Victoria to go after them.

******************************************************************************

Victoria straddled Chris’s chest. "I like this much better. And now you’re going to pay devil," she said as she leaned down close to his face. "A Yuy always wins," she gloated.

"And that would be a cold day in hell baby," Chris gritted out as he got an arm free. He grasped her chin between his fingers. "And when are you going to learn, that I will always beat you one way or the other," he said as he gave her a hard kiss on the lips.

She couldn’t break free. She was too surprised that he would kiss her. And she had never been kissed like that before in her entire life. Plus, the grip that he had on her chin was firm.

******************************************************************************

Duo was momentarily shocked. He looked down at Hilde, who was leaning against him. "Did you see this coming?" he asked.

"No. I’m just as surprised as you," she replied as she watched Chris kissing Victoria.

******************************************************************************

Victoria finally managed to brace her hands on Chris’s chest and push. She scrambled away from him. "What the hell do you think you’re doing?" She could feel her lips tingling from the feel of his.

"Shutting you up," Chris replied as he sat up. He could taste her on his lips. He smirked at her indignant expression.

******************************************************************************Miles leaned over to Randy. "And she said she wasn’t hot for him," he whispered.

"They’re both hot for each other. But do you think that they would actually admit it," Randy whispered back.

"And what about you?" he asked as he draped a tan arm over her shoulder.

"What about me?" she asked as she looked up at him through her lashes.

Miles smirked. "If I kissed you, what would you do?" he asked.

"Oh I don’t know. I might like it very much. But my dad would probably kill you," Randy said flirtatiously as she looked over at her father.

He looked over too. He saw Duo glaring at him. He dropped his arm and took several steps back.

"Hands off my daughter Miles," Duo warned as he took a step forwards.

Miles gulped and looked over at Randy. "I swear if I didn’t know better, you’re actually trying to get me killed."

"Well if you want me bad enough, then you’re just going to have to try," Randy challenged with a smirk on her lips as she turned and went over to her parents.

"Devilish little imp," Miles muttered as he turned his attention back to Chris and Victoria.

******************************************************************************

Victoria felt intense heat burning her cheeks. "I hate you," she hissed at him.

"I know you do. All the more reason for me to kiss you," Chris replied wickedly.

"You bastard," she yelled at him. She launched herself at him and pushed him to the ground. She started pounding him with her fists.

He was momentarily taken aback by her sudden attack, but he couldn’t really fight back. He had always been taught that you don’t hit a woman. And that included Victoria and his sister. He managed to latch onto her wrists and pin them to her sides. "Will you stop that!" he hissed at her. "You managed to swipe me with that knife last night," he said as he sat up.

She slid down onto his lap. Her heart was pounding rapidly. She gulped in some air. "A scar to remember me by," she panted.

"Trust me, I wouldn’t forget a bloodthirsty wench like you baby," Chris said as he looked into her eyes.

******************************************************************************

Just then, Heero and the other parents showed up. Hilde had called them and told them that their children were here.

******************************************************************************

"I am not bloodthirsty," Victoria snapped at him. She gripped the collar of his black shirt. "You just make me want to commit acts of violence against you."

"Is that so? It’s nice to know that I have that effect on you," Chris replied with a wicked smile. Their noses were touching and his hands were still pressing her hands on her sides.

"ARGH!" she growled at him. "Why can’t you just go away!" she shouted at him in frustration.

"Because princess, you would be bored if I didn’t annoy the hell out of you," he said teasingly.

******************************************************************************

Heero was getting quite an eyeful of the byplay going on between his best friend’s son and his daughter. His daughter looked like she wanted to kill him and Chris was looking extremely pleased with himself. "All right, hands off," he said as he walked over to them and pulled his daughter away. "I think this little war has gone on long enough."

"I agree," said Hilde. "If this keeps up, you guys are going to kill each other," she pointed out.

"Yeah, leave it to a Maxwelll to pull the most outrageous stuff," muttered Wufei.

"Oh, yeah, like our children didn’t do anything back," replied Sally as she rolled her eyes.

"Onna!" Wufei growled at his wife.

"All our children have inherited their father’s bad habits," Catherine pointed out.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Quatre asked as he looked at his wife.

"Nothing. But have you noticed that they’re the happiest when they’re trying to outdo each other just like the six of you," Catherine said as she looked over at the kids.

"And some of the mothers too," Trowa said as he spared his wife a glance. He looked over at Hilde and Noin as well.

"I was a spy! I didn’t go blowing up stuff," Middi protested as she propped her hands on her hips.

"And I didn’t do anything," Hilde protested as well.

"You held a gun to your husband’s head," Heero pointed out dryly.

"So," Hilde said as she crossed her arms.

"I was a trained soldier," Noin said defensively.

"Not much of an excuse," Zechs pointed out. "You were second only to me."

"Hmph!" Noin said as she turned her back on him.

"But we know who the real culprit is," said Wufei. "Those children have the blood of their baka father running through them," he said as he gestured to Duo.

"You say that like that’s a bad thing," Duo said with a grin. "My kids were only paying your kids back for what they did to them."

"By leaving them out in the middle of the bay," Relena countered as she looked at Duo.

"It was Chris’s idea," Jonathon said as he looked at the parents and pointed at his brother.

"You didn’t have to go along baka," Chris shot back at his brother. "Victoria started this whole thing," he mumbled as he pointed a finger at her.

"My fault! How dare you!" Victoria yelled as she pulled her hand out of her father’s grasp.

"Well it was, you were the one who couldn’t stand losing at paintball," Chris pointed out as he stood.

"Here we go again," sighed Randy into her hand.

"You don’t play fair!" Victoria yelled back at him.

"I don’t play fair! You were the one wielding a knife last night!" Chris accused.

"Don’t those two ever stop," said Damien as he rolled his eyes heavenwards.

"I’ll solve this," said David as he walked over to the hose and picked it up. He pointed it at his brother and Victoria. He turned it on, spraying them with cold water.

"What the…" Chris said as water splashed him.

Miles started to snicker. "Well that’s one way to cool them off."

"What’s the other?" asked Carin as she turned to look at her brother.

"Getting them into bed with each other," Miles replied with more laughter.

"That’s justice," said Jet as he looked at the drenched Chris and Victoria.

"Man, you’ve been listening to dad way too much," Leigh, said as she rolled her eyes.

******************************************************************************

Chris glared at his younger brother. "And what the hell was that for?" he growled.

"Sparks were flying, I had to cool you both off before you singed the grass," David replied innocently as he put the hose down.

Victoria crossed her arms over her chest. "You’re so dead," she said to David.

"He’s mine," Chris said as he started towards his brother.

"Shit," David muttered as he scrambled inside the house and slammed the door shut behind him.

‘Hold it!" Duo said as he grabbed onto Chris’s braid. "You and Victoria, are going to call a truce on this war. So shake and apologize."

"Dad," Chris gritted out.

"Nope, shake," Duo said firmly as he pushed his son towards Victoria.

"You do the same young lady," Heero ordered as he pushed Victoria towards Chris.

Victoria cringed as her and Chris came face to face again. She turned her nose up at him. "Drop dead."

"You first," Chris snapped back.

"Christopher," Duo said warningly. "As much as I like seeing you play tricks on her and the others, end it now."

"Fine," Chris muttered. He held out his hand. "Truce?" he asked Victoria.

Victoria stared at his hand for a moment. She looked over at her father. He raised a brow at her. "Truce," she mumbled grudgingly.

"Good," said Heero as he looked at them. "Now we don’t have to worry about our children missing in the morning or waking up to them yelling and cursing."

******************************************************************************

"Thank God," said Quatrina. "I don’t have to worry about going to sleep anymore."

"Amen to that," added Mira as she nodded her head.

"And I can finally get sleep without things falling on my head or being chloroformed," said Zach as he looked up into the sky.

"And worrying about what our sadistic little cousin will do to the Maxwells," said Kellie with relief.

"And I all I have to worry about, is whether or not my brother will live to see the next day," snickered Donavon.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Miles snapped.

"You going after Randy. Her father will kill you if you lay a hand on her. In any way," Donavon laughed.

"And when this is over, I’m going to kill my sister," said Veronica through clenched teeth.

"You and me both," muttered Dominic, as he looked over at his little sister.

******************************************************************************

Chris and Victoria glared at each other and yanked their hands away. He leaned down to her and whispered, "Don’t think because we ended the war, doesn’t mean this is over between us."

"Fine with me braid boy," Victoria whispered back. "And I will get the best of you. Just remember that," she said as she walked away.

"Don’t worry baby, I will," Chris said as he flipped his braid over his shoulder and went back inside his house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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