Title: Tempting Fate
Author: R.Solo56
Rating: PG
Date: 9/5/00
Characters: Terry, Paul, Danny, Marc, Leigh, Annie, and Luke.
Song: Love Sent Angel
Summary: Leigh and Annie are watching Leigh's six year old adoptive brother Luke while their "parents" are away. Mytown's bus breaks down and they appear on Leigh's doorstep, as polite as they seemed on TV. But what is making Leigh extra hostile?...Will Terry find out?
Disclaimer: This story is totally fictional and was written all in fun. Please don't sue me!
More Mytown Info: Go to, the Mytown Official website.

"Luke, cut it out before you--" There was a thud, followed by a small whine that threatened to errupt into ear piercing sobs--"...hurt yourself." At the same time, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Leigh volunteered. "Can you check on him? He probably just ran into the screen door again. He'll be okay in a little bit."

"Sure," Annie said, then sprinted off.

Leigh sighed and opened the front door. There stood four, not-too-ugly- looking guys. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yeah, our bus broke down, and we were wondering if we may use your phone?" one of the smiling bunch inquired in an almost annoyingly friendly, irish accent--or so she told herself.

*Bus?* she thought. Just then Annie came walking up, holding the hand of Leigh's little brother, who was holding a lifesaver shaped ice pack to his forehead. "What's going on?" As she looked more closely at the group, she let out a gasp.

"What?" Leigh said to her pale friend.

"Don't you know who they are?" she asked, shocked. "They're Mytown. They're a new musical group. One of the Boy Bands." Raising an eyebrow at the guys Leigh opened her mouth to tell them what she thought about those nasal, syncronized lip syncers, but Annie interrupted her. "Don't even think about it. They do sing, and they help with the songs."

Feeling her face warm as the guy who had inquired her help looked at her with a smirk, she silently cursed herself. As she reluctantly studied his face, she noted he did not have that boyish cuteness that she had come to expect from the boy bands. Rather, he resembled one of those tall, dark and handsome guys that seemed, after they reached thirty, to remain that way for twenty to thirty years beyond.

"Leigh? Yo, Leigh!"

Leigh blinked, knocked back to reality by her friend. "Oh, right. Uh, I guess you can use the phone." She stepped back, allowed the guys to come in. "It's in the kitchen."

"I'll show 'em!" Annie volunteered eagerly, dragging Luke along with her. "By the way, I'm Annie. And this is Luke."

"I bet you will," Leigh mumbled.

"What?" the same guy asked, seeming to be the only one who heard her.

"Nothing," she said tersely, and followed behind the others.

The guy fell into step beside her. "I know we're not exactly what you would call original, but we're still nice guys," he said. Leigh faked a laugh. "No really," he insisted. "Once you get to know us. Don't you even want to know my name?"

"Not particularly," she mumbled, wishing he would give her a little more space.

"I'll tell you anyway," he said with a sigh. "I'm Terry. And may I ask for your name?"

She sighed, figuring she might as well tell him so he'd go away. "Leigh."

"...a," he said with another grin.

She looked up at him. "Huh?"

"I said, a," he answered. "You said your name was Leigh, so I said, a. Get it?"

She raised an eyebrow, not mentioning how rediculous his Star Wars character refrencing sounded to her. "Cute."

He chuckled. "Sorry, but with a name like that, hair that long, and a brother named Luke, I say you were desperately asking for it."

Leigh couldn't stop a small smile from spreading across her face, but she still insisted, "That is *so* childish." As they entered the kitchen, she saw one of the guys had found out how to work the phone, while the other two sat talking with Annie at the table. Luke sat beside Annie but was silent, like he always was around strangers.

Annie suddenly looked up. "Hey, Leigh, I see you met Terry. Handsome, isn't he?"

Leigh blushed, narrowed her eyes, and said lightly, "Well, he's not ugly."

The two other guys laughed, and Terry smirked. What *did* tick this guy off?

"What?" the one on the phone suddenly shouted. "But we have a gig *tomorrow*!" He paused, sighed. "Fine, fine, yeah, whatever. Okay, we'll handle it." He hung up the phone and turned toward the rest of the group. "They can't reach us until Wednesday."

"That's three days away!" One of the other guys said, whom Leigh assumed to be the youngest.

"I know, I know," he said. "But I checked out the engine and it would take about that long to fix, anyway, and Jay's going cookoo over the price."

"I guess we can book a hotel," Terry said.

"In this dumpy patch of nowhere?" Annie put in. "Besides, the few you can find are pricey, rat infested dumps. You're better off staying here."

"Annie!" Leigh warned.

"What? You're folks are gone for another *week*, remember? Besides, I *know* who these guys are. It's not like they're *really* strangers."

"But, still..." Leigh tried.

"It's okay; we can stay in the bus," Terry offered.

Annie looked pleadingly toward Leigh. Leigh sighed. "Okay, okay. I guess we have room. You guys can stay here."

"Are you sure?" Terry inquired.

Leigh nodded. "Annie's right about the hotels, you know. Trust her, you do *not* want to stay at any of them."

"Well, okay. Thanks *a lot* for your hospitality."

"Yeah," the other guys joined in. "We appreciate it."

---

"Hey, little guy, what's your name?" Terry inquired, finding Leigh's little brother playing in his toy room. He was playing with a bunch of toy cars on a rug that resembled a suburban neighborhood.

"Luke," he said meekly. "Wanna play?" He held out a little red corvette. "This one's my faborite, but since you're a guest, you can use it."

"Thanks, Luke. I'd love to play. I'm Terry." He crouched down beside the boy and accepted the car. He watched as Luke pushed an ambulance into the parking lot of a hospital. "Oh, is someone hurt?" Terry asked, playing along.

"Yeah," Luke said. "A little boy got pushed down the stairs and he needs stitches."

"Oh, no," he said.

"Don't worry. He'll be okay. The doctors are all very, very nice and they'll fix him."

"Well, that's good to know," Terry answered. *I always thought little boys were scared of doctors,* he thought.

"I gots stitches too," Luke gloated. "On my arm. Wanna see?" He held out his arm to him and sure enough there was a long white scar on his forearm. "I was very brave," he continued. "I didn't even cry...well, mostly."

Terry smiled kindly at the child. "That's good." *I wonder how he got such a large wound.* "Hey, Luke, what's that in your ear?"

"Huh?" Luke brushed a hand over the side of his face.Terry reached over and pulled a silver dollar from the boy's ear. "Well, lookie here," he said with a smile, and held out the coin to him.

Luke laughed. "Cool trick, Terry." He accepted the gift. "Can you pull a rabbit outta your hat too?"

Terry chuckled. "Well, no."

Luke looked a little disappointed. "Darn. Oh well. Drive to the beach."

"Huh?"

"Drive the corbette to the beach."

Terry looked down and the red car in his hand, then the picture of tan sand and blue ocean on the far side of the rug. "Oh, right. Okay."

---

"I win!" Annie squealed as she slapped the table.

Paul sighed, defeated. The other guys laughed. "You're too fast," he whined.

"You should see Leigh. She's the one who taught me."

"Oh, I don't think I'll try her then," Paul said. "Spit's just not my kinda card game."

"Oh, c'mon. It's fun once you get good at it," Annie insisted. "I'll go slow this time."

"Yeah, Paul, c'mon, you don't want to be beaten by a girl do you?" Marc put in, followed by Terry and Danny.

"Okay, okay!" Paul finally agreed. "I'll play again. You're goin' down, 'lil orphan Annie." He grinned at her.

"I'll believe it when I see it, Paul Bunion."

"Quit callin' me that!"

When the game began anew, Terry stood and attepted to sneak out of the kitchen. "Hey, where are you going, Fairy?" Marc piped up jokingly. God, how Terry hated his name.

"I'll be right back," he said.

"You're going to find that Leigh girl aren't you?" Danny inquired. A chorus of voices chimed in syncronized "ooh's".

"Oh, cut it out," Terry ordered, but all they did was laugh.

Terry left the kitchen and followed down to the end of the hallway. The door to the room on the end was partially opened and light poored through the crack. Listening closely, he heard muted speaking on the other side. Politely, he knocked. "Can I come in?" The speaking stopped abruptly, and Leigh appeared at the doorway.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Terry blinked at her bluntness. "I...was just wodering where you were. Everyone else is in the kitchen." Looking at her more closely, he found the tell tale signs of tear tracks on her cheeks. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she insisted, set to close the door, but he stopped her.

"You don't look fine," he argued. More softly, he inquired, "Why don't you like me?"

Taken aback, she stuttered, "I-I never said I didn't like you...."

"You didn't have to." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I just want to be nice to you, Leigh, but you won't let me. What's really wrong?"

For some reason, Leigh abandoned the idea of telling him it was none of his business. She really did feel like talking. "Okay, okay. You can come in if you want."

Terry accepted her offer and sat at her desk chair while she took her bed. *Man,* he thought for what seemed to be the umpteenth time since he got there. *She's beautiful.* He had never seen anyone like her before. He'd seen cute, pretty, even stunning, but there was some sort of natural beauty to her that made her stand out from a crowd even without a single trace of makeup. Now, if only she could smile. "So, you want to talk about it?"

"I do," she mumbled, her eyes downcast. "But the real question is, can you take it?"

Terry smiled at her. "I've heard a lot more than you might think, Leigh."

"None like this, I bet," she said.

"Try me," he urged.

Finally, she looked at him. "Can I trust you?"

"I give you my word as a gentleman and an Irishman," he said, with his hand over his heart.

She let a small smile slip and all he wanted to do was kiss her. "It's a long story," she warned. "And I have no idea how to begin."

"Begin wherever you like."

"Did Luke show you his scar yet?" Leigh asked quietly.

"Yeah. He seemed very proud of himself, and how he didn't cry about it."

Leigh smiled again. "I'm surprised he didn't tell you about the war story yet."

"War story?"

"Yeah, he likes to pretend he was in the air force and that he got a purple heart, but his dog ate it."

"Dog?"

"Dinah," she explained sadly. "She ran away last year."

"I'm sorry."

She nodded silently. "It's better than the truth, at least."

"Truth?"

"About how he got the scar." She hesitated. "Our step father...he...didn't like Luke very much. He wanted another baby girl. So...he, um, pushed him down the stairs when he was three. Luke almost had to get stitches for his head too." She smiled sadly. "It's funny. His real parents were angels, but they just didn't have the money to care for him. My mother had a kind heart, so she took him in, dispite our step dad's warnings."

Terry shook his head. "I'm really sorry," he said quietly.

"There's more," Leigh said. "Do you know why our step dad liked little girls so much?" Terry shook his head. "Go on, guess," her voice cracked, and her lips started quivering.

"Oh, Leigh," he whispered, realization dawning on him, freezing his blood in his veins. "No."

"Yes," she managed to get out, then bit her lip.

Terry was shocked by the fierce protectiveness he suddenly felt for Leigh and her brother. Without even thinking, he stood and walked to her so as to sit beside her and take her into his arms. He noticed that she was trying so hard not to cry in front of him that her body shook, almost convulsively. "It's okay, princess," he assured her, the nickname, oddly, sounding so natural to call her. "You can cry." And she did. It dawned on him that this was something she needed to let out, so he didn't stop her, only held her until the storm passed.

Sitting up, she made to swipe at her eyes, but Terry beat her to it, running gentle fingers across her cheekbones. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, although she enjoyed the feel of his closeness.

"What for?" Instinctively, he kissed her forhead, rubbed her back.

"For crying like that," she explained. "I've never cried like that in front of anyone. In fact, I've only told that to two people in my whole life. And that was the *only* thing I could trust one of them with."

"Well, I promise I won't tell anyone. As for the crying, I'd say you needed that."

"You wouldn't even tell the guys?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not even the guys." He held her close again.

"You know," she said softly, leaning into him. "I've always wanted proof that you guys really knew how to sing."

Terry smirked, not surprised. "Is that so?" She nodded. "Well, I think I have the evidence you've been looking for." With that, he began his own acapella version of Love Sent Angel.

Half way through the song, they could hear muted laughing from the other side of the door. Standing up quickly, they both ran into the hallway to find the rest of the group, Annie and Luke evesdropping on them. Leigh brought a hand to her mouth, and Terry inquired, "How much did you guys hear?"

Jokingly, the guys began their own version of Love Sent Angel while Annie pretended to swoon into Paul's arms, and Luke laughed. Leigh visibly relaxed, but Marc continued, "So, are you guys gonna kiss, or what?"

Leigh blinked, and Terry spoke. "What are you talking about? Don't *you* have a life?"

"C'mon," he insisted. "You know you're dying too."

"So are you, Leigh," Annie piped up. "I can see it in your eyes."

Leigh blushed, and turned to Terry. Unable to deny that, he lifted his hand to her cheek, rested it there for a moment, then slowly dipped his head and caught her lips with his. He forgot about the other people watching instantly, and surprised her by intensening the kiss. He knew then how inexperienced she really was, and he wasn't surprised.

"Uh...maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Danny said, backing away.

"Ew, yuck!" Luke cried and ran to his play room.

Annie tapped Leigh on the shoulder. "We're still here, ya know."

Leigh jumped away from Terry instantly, her face aflame, breathing quickly. Marc slapped Terry on the back, and laughed. "Why don't ya get a room, pal."

Terry laughed self consciously. "Oops."

"I think we'll leave you two alone now," Paul said. As they all retreated, Leigh and Terry watched Paul drop an arm around Annie's shoulders and tease, "Hey, gettin' any ideas?" She responded by elbowing him in the ribs with a laugh.

Left to themselves again, they stood quietly for many moments. "I'm sorry," Terry said finally. "I guess I let that get a little out of hand."

Leigh blushed again. "No, it's okay. I...liked it."

Terry grinned. "That's good to know." He dropped an arm around her shoulders, mimicking Paul. "I knew you would," he gloated teasingly.

"Childish *and* egotistical," Leigh muttered with a laugh. "What more could a girl want?"

He chuckled, and followed her back into her room. "How old are you, Leigh?"

"Eighteen."

"A little on the short side, aren't you?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, thanks a lot."

"I'm just kidding," he said, wrapping his arms around her.

She smiled. "I know."

"Leigh, if you're eighteen, then why don't you just leave? You know, to get away from...."

Leigh shook her head. "I have to look out for my brother."

"What about your mother?"

"She's dead. My stepdad has a girlfriend who's too drunk to care about Luke."

Terry's eyes hardened. "Come with us." *Wow, did I just say that?*

Leigh looked up. "What?"

"Come with us."

Leigh shook her head. "I can't do that...."

Terry nodded. "Yes you can. Once we get you two out of here, we can figure out what to do." Leigh hesitated. "I'm not leaving without you, Leigh."

She thought it over for many minutes. Finally, she said, "A."

"What?"

She smiled. "I said, a. You said Leigh and I said a. Get it?"

Terry laughed, delighting in the sight of her smiling. He bent and kissed her briefly. "Is that a yes, Your Highnessness?"

She smiled wryly. "You better believe it, Flyboy."

Terry kissed her again, long and slow, not having to worry about evesdroppers this time.