"But Mom! I don't wanna go!" Joe whined, on his mother's heels as she entered the living room. His fingers played with the bright tie around his neck as his puppy dog eyes burned a hole in the back of her head. It wasn't for a moment when she turned around to face him as she sat down on the couch. "She's just so. . .so. . .ugh."

"Joseph, you agreed to go out to dinner with her and you're going. You gave her your word." Mrs.Jonas stated, looking up at her son.

"It's Jasmine! I thought you hated her? Why won't you let me just stay home?" he almost squeaked at how his own mother was turning on him.

"You know I don't hate people. . .But you can't back out on your word. You're going to dinner and that's final." she stated.

"What about Frankie?! You and dad are going out, Kevin and Nick are going to a movie; hello? Me, stay here with Frankie. It's completely logical!" Joe continued, trying to come up with an excuse bold enough to be able to bail on dinner with Jasmine.

"Joseph Adam, if I have to tell you one more time; I swear, boy." her eyes narrowed at him, then softened after a moment. "Besides, I already have someone taking care of Frankie, thanks for your concern." she nodded, then looked from him then to the television. "Was that a car door I heard outside?" her voice perked up, causing Joe to exit the living room and make his way over to the door.

"Hope you have fun tonight, mother." he forced a smiled, then exited the house to see Jasmine already making her way up the walkway.

Only moments after Joe left the house, Mr.Jonas entered the living room as he slid his arms into his light jacket. Patting his pants down and feeling his wallet and cell phone, he smiled down at his wife as she stood from the couch.

"Kids gone?" he asked, she happily nodded.

"Kevin and Nick left about 10 minutes ago, Joe just left, and Bailey should be here any -" Mrs.Jonas stopped as the doorbell echoed through the house. Her eyes flickering and a tiny smile appearing on her face, she made her way over and opened the door.

"Hey Mrs.J." Bailey smiled, stepping in cautiously, glancing around behind her for any familiar faces. After saying hello to Papa J, she averted her attention back to Mrs.Jonas.

"Don't worry, sweetie. Joseph just left. It's just you and Frankie for the night." she reassured her. "Kevin and Nick should be back before him, so you won't have any. . .encounters, if you want to call it." she kept her warm smile on her face. "We won't be back 'til late, but you don't have anything to worry about."

"-And thanks for coming on such short notice." Mr.Jonas added, following his wife out the door. Smiling an 'anytime' as the door closed, Bailey turned to the quiet house. The fact that it was quiet with Frankie irked her a bit.

"FRANKIE!" she called out, setting her purse down on the edge of the couch and kicking off her shoes. Still, the house was quiet. "Frankieee." she continued to coo, approaching the basement door.

"You gotta find me!" she faintly heard his voice, then yanked the door open to see the basement was already lit. Biting her lip and killing her smirk, she silently stepped downward, her fingers trailing along the railing before she hit the landing at the bottom. Glancing around the open space, she looked out for any sight of movement. Biting her tongue, she noticed a big lump of something on the couch with a blanket over top of it.

"Hm, I wonder where he could be. . " she spoke out loud, tiptoeing towards the couch, watching as the blanket shook a little from the laughter that Frankie was trying to contain. About to pounce on him, Bailey noticed a lit up case on the shelf above the television. "Aw." she cooed, forgetting about Frankie and averting her attention to the gecko laying before her. "What the -" she breathed out, reading the new name-tag by his lid. In hot pink, foamy letters, 'Twiggy' was spelled out neatly where 'Taco' used to be. "Bullshit." she murmured, peeling the letters off before reaching her hand in and grabbing the orange gecko.

"Hey!" Frankie exclaimed, causing Bailey to spin around. "You were supposed to find me!" he cried, the blanket flying off of his body and to the floor. "Woah, he's orange again." he exclaimed, shooting up from where he was laying and stopped in front of Bailey, his tiny fingers coming up and stroking the back of Taco's scaly head.

"Wasn't he always orange?" she questioned, looking down at his shaking head. "Oh."

"I'm hungry! Mommy said not to eat anything until you got here." he whined, pulling his hand back and looking up at her. "She said it'd give you something to do."

After putting Taco back in his case, Bailey followed Frankie back upstairs and into the kitchen. Yanking open the fridge, she observed the contents inside.

"You want pizza bagels?" she yelled to him in the living room.

"We don't have any. Joe ate them all!" he yelled back, crossing his legs on the couch as he turned on the Disney Channel.

"We'll make our own, not those frozen ones." she stated. "Come in here and help me!"

"No!" he yelled back stubbornly.

"Frankie, you little fart. If you want to eat, come in here and help me!" Bailey continued, pulling out a jar of pizza sauce and bag of shredded mozzarella. Grabbing the bag of mini-bagels off the counter, she carried the contents to the table where Frankie was now seated with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Oh smile, you little Gremlin." she laughed, poking his side and making a smile appear on his lips.

Within minutes, cheese and globs of sauce were all over the table. A little red dab topped off Frankie's nose as a few finger marks accompanied Bailey's cheeks. Laughter echoed through the house as they lined up numerous completed pizza bagels on the baking sheet. Standing from the wooden chair, Bailey grabbed an oven mitt off the oven door and pulled it open, placing the sheet onto the middle rack of the 350degree hot box. The door squeaked shut as the front door to the house cracked open.

Hearing a car door and a vehicle drive off, Bailey looked down at Frankie as they listened to the door shut. Waving at him to come to her, Bailey motioned for Frankie to hide under the table since they didn't know who had entered the house. Grabbing a large carving knife out of the holder on the kitchen counter, Bailey leaned up against the wall as she inched towards the corner of the kitchen. Mouthing for Frankie to stay quiet, she quickly turned the corner to come face to face with Joe.

"Holy shit, Bails!" he exclaimed, his hands instantly shooting up in innocence. Quickly, she looked over at her own hand and lowered the knife before turning back into the kitchen. Jamming it back into the holder on the counter, she turned and glared at him.

"You're not supposed to be home." she stated bluntly, waving for Frankie to come out from under the table. "You scared the crap out of us."

"Well, um." Joe stood there uneasily for a moment before clearing his throat and taking in his surroundings. "Looks like you two had fun." he chuckled, looking at the white specks of cheese that were scattered on the table top. He then looked back to Bailey who was wiping her saucy face.

"What are you doing home?" she asked before grabbing a sponge off the side of the sink to clean up their mess.

"Oh, I uh, kinda have a stomach ache. . .and a little head ache. . .and my back sort of aches a little too." he forced out, slipping his hands into his pockets as he leaned against the doorframe. Within seconds, Frankie shook his head and exited the kitchen.

"Kinda? Little? Sort of? Nice, Joseph." she forced out a chuckle, then wiped down the table, her lam catching the bits of cheese.

"I just didn't want to be there, with her." he stated, his eyes studying her movement as she trailed to the trashcan and wiped off her hands.

"With who?" Bailey questioned, turning to look at him as she tossed the sponge into the sink.

"Um, Jasmine." he reluctantly replied, averting his eyes away from hers.

"Figures." she sighed, then made her way past him and into the living room, letting her body fall down into the couch. Within a moment, Joe followed her and sat on the opposite side of where she was.

"She just talks so damn much. . .It's like. . .just shut up." Joe groaned, hoping that he could think of something to say to relieve the tension between them.

"Then why'd you go?" she questioned curiously, looking over at him.

"Mom made me." he sighed, then looked away from her. "But I bailed anyway and decided to come back here." he shrugged.

"Did you know I was going to be here?" Joe's eyes looked over into her blue ones, pausing for a moment before he shook his head.

"Nah, but mom kind of hinted towards you being the one watching Frankie." he shrugged, a piece of dark hair falling into his eyes. It wasn't for a moment before he decided to move it with a swing of his head, making Bailey almost choke on her own oxygen. She absolutely loved it when he did that.

"So, um." she cleared her throat. "Why would she do that?" Joe's eyes found hers again.

"I'm not quite sure. Maybe she planned it." he lied, then caught her eye once again. He knew exactly why. "Maybe she wants us back together or something." he finished, his tone sounding as if he was guessing. "Everyone in this house misses you, Bails."

"-And I miss every single person in this house as well." she replied, her voice and her stare breaking only for a moment. "But too bad this wasn't my choice."

"Aw, c'mon. Don't say that."

"Why? It's true." Bailey spat. "You ended it, Joe. Not me."

"Yeah, and I shouldn't have." he stated, his body turning on the cushion to fully face her. "Bails, I regret it so much. I got lost in all the work, there wasn't any time." he rambled. "I'm sorry. If I could take it back, I would." Bailey began to feel her eyes sting a bit as they shifted downward.

"Me too." she muttered, facing forward and away from him.

"So, can you let me fix things? Can we just forget about that stupid argument and just get back together?" Joe pleaded, his voice almost cracking. "Bails, I miss you so much."

"Are they done yet?!" Frankie called from the basement, interjecting into the conversation. Rising from the couch, Bailey wiped her eyes, ignoring Joe's words and headed into the kitchen.

"Yeah, Terd. Almost done." she yelled back, almost cracking as the hot air from the oven kissed her cheeks. Pulling out the hot tray and placing it on the stove, she took off the mitt and made her way back into the living room; Joe was gone