The smell of pancakes filtered through the doorway of the open bedroom. Breakfast and pancakes was a very rare combination. Needless to say, the two young men in the bedroom awoke to the unfamiliar aroma.

"What was that?" Davy asked. Neither he nor Peter knew exactly what had woken them up. Perplexed, the two of them crawled out of bed, stumbling out of the bedroom. They were met with a stranger, huddled over their stove. "Do you know him?"

Peter responded by shaking his head. The man seemed to recognize their presence and turned around, greeting them with a smile.

"Good morning, boys. Sleep well?" he wondered.

"Well, actually-" Peter began, but Davy put a hand on his forearm.

"No," he added to his action. Davy then advanced towards the strange man. "Who are you?"

"Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry." The man adjusted his glasses and extended his hand. "I'm Andrew."

"Well, that's all very well, but what are you doing here?" Davy persisted.

"Making breakfast." Andrew replied. Davy glanced between Andrew and Peter and then turned his eyes to the stairs.

"Mike!" A few seconds later, the door of the upstairs bedroom flew open and an extremely disheveled Mike stepped out glaring for being woken up. He waited for an explanation, but Davy and Peter merely pointed to Andrew in exact unison. Mike leaned back into the bedroom, calling Micky out of bed.

Micky stumbled out through the doorway, being met with the smell that the others had begun to get used to.

"Hey, who made pancakes?" Micky quickly awoke, sliding down the banister to get his first helping.

"Did you not notice the stranger standing in our living room?" Davy asked.

"Did you make the pancakes?" Micky pointed to Andrew, knowing full well that pancakes was not common in the Pad. Andrew nodded in response to Micky's question. "Well, who cares who he is? He made us breakfast!"

Andrew turned to the other end of the room as Micky began to chow down and as Mike came down the stairs.

"I'm sorry. You all apparently don't know who I am. I'm your new maid. Or...I guess...what do you call a male maid?" Andrew questioned.

"A male man!" Micky shouted. "Or man maid?" he added tentatively.

"Well, hold on there." Mike put a hand out, still trying to grasp everything. "Since when do we have a maid? We can't afford a maid. Micky, did you-"

"No, hey it wasn't me!" Micky quickly defended himself. "I was just as surprised as you were."

"Oh geez, I'm so sorry." Andrew apologized. "I saw your ad in the paper; I even called to ask about it. The person on the phone said I could just have the job and that I could start today. I found the key under the mat outside. I just assumed-"

"You probably just came to the wrong address. Where's the place you're looking for?" Davy asked.

Andrew reached in his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of newsprint. "Says here, 1334 Beechwood."

"You must be joking," Davy went to Andrew's side as he lowered the paper from his eye level to Davy's so he could read it. "Well, fellas, he's right. He's our maid."

"This just doesn't make sense, though. We never asked for a maid." Mike leveled. Micky left his pancakes and joined the four of them, resting his arm on Davy's shoulder.

"Hey, man, take a good thing when you've got it! We've got someone to cook for us and clean for us...we're in heaven!" Micky exasperated.

"For a reasonable price." Andrew quickly added in turn.

"Right, for a reasonable...what's a reasonable price to you?" Micky countered. Andrew was about to speak, but Mike stepped into their negotiations.

"I'm sorry, but we don't need a maid...or whatever it is you are called, at this particular moment, but if the time comes up, we'll gladly give you a ca-" Andrew put a hand on Mike's chest, adjusting his glasses yet again.

"How about this. You let me work here for two days. If you like my services, you can start paying me. If not, I will leave without a word." Andrew said.

"Hey, that sounds fair, Mike." Davy said.

"This is ridiculous. You want to let some stranger come and live with us?" Mike crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head as he spoke.

"Oh, well, I didn't even mention me living here, but I'm sure we could work something out." Andrew reasoned, nodding affirmatively. Davy, Micky, and Andrew began to chatter aimlessly about the upcoming plans while Mike stood aside, still disbelieving his friends' trust in the newcomer.

"He could be," Mike started, but then stopped abrubtly as if saying 'Hey, I'm talking, shut up'. "He could be a killer, for all we know. No offense, man." Andrew shook his head in dismissal. "He could have poisoned the pancakes."

Micky took a step back and stared at Andrew inquiringly, only to recieve a humerous shake of the head from Andrew. Davy rolled his eyes at the scene and stepped towards Mike.

"Can't you just give him a chance? Everything has to happen for a reason." Davy said. "Think about it. What are the odds of him coming here in mistake of all places? Perhaps it's fate's way of telling us-"

"Telling us what? That we need to work more to pay off this guy? I'm sorry, fellas, but I'm not reconsidering. I'm putting my foot down." Mike stated, firmly.

"You're putting your foot down? What's that suppose to mean?" Davy asked. Mike was on his way to start an argument with Davy, but Micky interrupted them. He held his hands out, glancing around the room.

"Where'd Pete go?"

"Hey Pete!" Micky ran up, sand sticking to the bottoms of his bare feet. "Hey, man why'd you run off?"

"No reason. I just felt like taking a walk." Peter replied.

"Oh." Micky nodded in understanding. "The guy left. You know the maid guy."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, Mike finally convinced us that it was a stupid idea." Micky chuckled lightly. "We're gonna have our locks changed to be on the safe side."

Peter only gave a silent nod in response. Micky nervously scratched the back of his neck, letting his hand rake through his messy curls in the process.

"Hey, come on Big Peter, what's bugging you?"

"Nothing."

"Nah, I know you better than that."

"It was me, Mick. I advertised for the maid. I'm the one who said he could start today." Peter admitted.

"Why?" Micky was beyond confusion and it was annoyingly obvious.

"I thought maybe if there was a stranger arond then nobody would fight and Mike wouldn't get mad at everybody all the time."

"Is that was this is about? Man, we don't fight. I mean...I guess, we kind of do. But that's what friends do. They fight, the closer they are the more they fight."

"How is that possible?"

"Well, doesn't that say something? We're comfortable enough around each other to fight about stuff. You see? Would you fight with a stranger? You see how nice Mike was being to that guy?"

"I guess you're right."

"Sure, I'm right. Besides, you hiring a maid was just asking for a fight."

"Do you think I should explain it to Mike and Davy? Tell 'em that I did it?"

"Nah, who cares? Let's get upstairs before all the pancakes are gone." Micky rested his arm on Peter's shoulder and led him through the sand and back up to the Pad.