The Magical Beanie - VI
Child's Play - Part Two



~*~*~*~*~


As soon as Kevin, Sarah and the interpreter were settled in the living room, AJ immediately started firing questions.

“Okay, why the hell did this happen out of the blue here? I was really getting along with Trisha and then this thing up and hits me!” AJ ranted as he paced across the living room.

“Trisha? What happened to Marcia?” Nick stared. “Whoa, wait, you were in bed with Trisha when you woke up as a woman?” Nick started laughing.

“That isn’t even funny dumbass!” AJ sputtered as he glared at Nick. “Don’t you have something to eat or something?”

“Guys! Please! Let’s get this hex thing fixed,” Brian interrupted.

“You of all people shouldn’t care about this hex thing Brian,” AJ fired back.

“Okay, I admit this is the best thing that’s happened to me for some time but it’s not right and we need to fix this.”

“So how did this happen? I thought this was done and overwith years ago,” Howie questioned.

“Holly, do you want to explain this or shall I?” Brian asked his daughter.

Holly stared at each of them for a few moments from her safe vantage point in the corner of the living room. “I’ll explain.”

She shifted nervously in the chair when all eyes were set on her. “Um, well, me and my sister and brother were worried about Dad and how down in the dumps he was since he and Mom got a divorce. Daddy went to work and came home everyday, nothing else. When Mom remarried, he seemed to be sadder and he did more work, more overtime and we worried more. So Haley remembered the beanie from years ago and she pulled the beanie out and wished that Daddy were 27 again because he was happiest at that age. So that leaves us where we are at right now.”

“Wait a minute! Holly, did you say Haley made the wish?” Brian asked in a panicked voice.

Holly responded with a slight nod.

“Shit, we needed Haley here to fix this, not you!” Brian sighed.

As Holly burst into tears, Shaun stood up to defend her.

“Calm down Uncle Brian, she only is doing what you asked her to do!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that we’re stuck in a worse situation until Haley can fly in now,” Brian replied as he opened his cellphone up.

“Could Holly at least wish us back to being the same age as you are?” AJ rasped.

“Yeah, she could but you’d just be a 27 year old woman, do you want that instead?”

AJ shook his head. “No, that wasn’t what I had in mind, dumbass.”

“Alright then, we’re gonna be stuck like this until Haley grabs a flight into Tampa,” Brian stated as he dialed the phone.

“Easy for you to say,” Nick groaned.

After Brian finished his call, leaving a voicemail on Haley’s pager, Howie jumped up from his seat and clapped his hands together.

“How about we go out to eat, breakup the monotomy of this day?”

“I can’t Howie,” Nick pointed out.

“You can too Nick, I’ve seen people that weigh fifty pounds more than you and they go out to eat all the time. Come on, going out would do us all some good,” Howie defended.

“I’ll go get my van and come back and we can all go."

final update: 5/19/01

~*~*~*~*~


“Okay, so I admit it, eating out wasn’t the best idea I’ve had in a long time,” Howie sighed as he slumped down onto the couch.

“Yeah I agree there,” AJ shot back.

“Well, how the heck was I to know that the restaurant was gonna be full of mirrors?”

“Just forget about it, what’s done is done. We just have to wait for Haley to get here and everything will be fixed,” Brian interrupted.

“So what time was her flight expected in?” Nick asked.

“Nine forty-five tonight, which is about another hour away,” Brian replied as he looked at his watch, “which means I should head over to the airport and pick her up.”

“I’ll go with you daddy,” Holly stated quietly as she stood up.

“Okay, let’s go then, Nick can I have the keys to your cor?”

“It’s on the counter, next to the stove, Shaun go get them.”

~*~*~*~*~


The drive to the airport was spent in silence, both Brian and Holly were engrossed in their own thoughts. As they sat in the lobby waiting for the plane to the arrive, Holly finally decided it was time to talk to her father about their predicament.

“Daddy, I’m really sorry this happened to the rest of the guys, we had no idea that this would have affected them like it did.”

Brian didn’t make eye contact, his blue eyes were scanning the people that were walking by. “Well, we can’t change what happened, but you can see how this affected some of us worse than others. It probably ruined AJ’s relationship,” Brian added with a smirk on his face as he thought about the reaction AJ had when he discovered he was female again. “Hey, there’s Haley!”

Haley walked up to her father and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug and whispered that she was sorry into his ear.

“Well, we don’t have time for apologies now, we just have to fix everything,” Brian answered back.

~*~*~*~*~


On the way back to Nick’s house, Holly, Haley and Brian devised the plan on turning the hex around and benefitting each of those that were involved. As Brian killed the engine he wanted to remind Haley about the plan once again.

“Okay, just remember to take this off and use the exact words that we came up with, alright?”

“Yes Dad, I won’t screw up this time,” Haley replied.

After the pleasantries were exchanged when Haley arrived, Brian directed all of the guys to one side of the room and handed the beanie over to Haley.

“Okay, from our past experience, we know that the hex doesn’t take place until after we’ve been asleep. So, it’s best that we get this overwith and then go to sleep so we can be back to normal in the morning. Haley, go ahead, I think we’re ready.”

“I’ve been ready since I woke up with my period the other day,” AJ interjected.

As the room broke out in laughter to AJ’s remark, they instantly stopped when they saw the dirty look that was thrown at them by AJ.

Haley clutched the beanie tightly in her hands and closed her eyes. She didn’t know if closing her eyes would work, but she was willing to try anything extra at this point to ensure that the hex would be gone in the morning.

“I wish that the spell is taken off. I wish that Nick was thin again, like he was when he was 21, that Howie was back to his happy go lucky ways when he was 27, that Kevin was like he was when he was young and 29 and that AJ looks and acts the same as he did when he was 23.” As Haley spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

“There, that’s it, the counter-spell has been set and I hope to God that it’s gonna work,” Haley sighed.

“Okay, I guess we just have to go to sleep and wait until morning,” Brian stated.

“This better work,” AJ warned. “I’m running out of stuff and I sure as hell am not going back to the store.”

“Go home AJ and come back in the morning,” Nick replied. “Leave the poor girl alone. Brian, you can take the second room at the end of the hall, Haley and Holly you two can share the room across from where your dad will be. Kevin and Sarah can share the first room. Sarah, Scott will show you where your room will be, just take your dad’s hand so he will follow you.”

After Nick directed where those that needed to stay at the house were they were going to sleep, he struggled out the chair and slowly lumbered down the hall towards his bedroom. “God, this better be gone in the morning, I hate being this way.”

~*~*~*~*~


The doorbell ringing constantly woke Nick up from the sound sleep he had been enjoying. Without thinking, he flipped the covers off his body and stumbled out of the bedroom. After taking roughly six steps he realized that the hex was gone, he was thin again. He threw the front door open and was met face to face with AJ. Both men’s mouths dropped open at the site of each other and automatically pointed at one another.

“Oh my god, AJ!” Nick exclaimed.

“Holy shit!” AJ remarked and walked past Nick into the house. “Yo, Bri! Get the hell out here!”

A sleepy Brian Littrell wandered down the hall towards where Nick and AJ were standing. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stared at the two men standing in front of him. He rubbed his eyes again, this time from wondering if they were betraying him.

“Oh my gosh, you guys!”

“Yeah, ain’t this kick ass?” AJ commented.

“I for one like this alot!” Nick yelped.

Jack woke up and sat up on the couch. He looked at his father and was shocked at what he saw.

“Yeah I know, isn’t this the best!” Nick gushed.

“Yeah I guess,” was Jack’s unenthusastic reply.

“What?” Nick asked.

“Oh, I dunno, think about it dad, I’m 19 and you look like you’re what, 21? So I guess it’s Nick now instead of dad.”

“So you’re not happy with this?”

“Hey, if it makes you happy, I know I can adjust to this, hell, it’s better having a dad that’s young and can do things than having a dad that weighs about 400 pounds and sits on a couch watching tv day in and day out.”

“Okay, since we’re all in agreement that we like what has happened, I’m taking this toy and I’m going to set fire to it,” Brian stated as he grabbed the beanie off the coffee table.

‘No, that wouldn’t be a good idea Brian,” Kevin reasoned.

“Why not? You want to be a Russian dancer again?”

“No, it’s not that, I’m just worried that some day something could happen that the beanie might be able to correct,” Kevin pointed out.

“I never thought about it that way. I guess you’re right,” Brian replied as he scooped the beanie up and stared at it. “Okay, but for safe keeping, when I get home, this is going into my vault at the bank.”

After spending one more day together, the group went their separate ways and try to pick up the pieces. Brian immediately went from the airport to his bank in Marietta and put the hexed beanie in his safety deposit box. He didn’t see the glowing of the eyes as he put the lid down, he figured out of sight out of mind.

From the new found youth, Brian and Leighanne discovered the friendship they once lost and they started dating again once Leighanne’s divorce had been finalized from her second husband. Holly and Haley were secretly happy that this was happening, Brian was not aware that this was a small request that Haley had added mentally as she held the beanie when the hex reversal was being done.

A satisfied smile played across Haley’s lips as she laid back on the bed.

“What are you thinking about Haley?” Holly asked.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Spill it, I know you’re hiding something!” Holly demanded.

Haley sat up in bed. “Okay, you know how I mentally asked for daddy and momma to get back together?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s just say there’s gonna be a little suprise for them if this all works out.”

“A little suprise?”

“Yep, that’s all I’m gonna say to you, now, goodnight,” Haley replied as she settled back on her pillow, her hands behind her head.

“Ugh! I hate when you do that!” Holly replied as she hopped off the bed and stormed out of the bedroom.

.....at the National Savings Bank in Marietta, Georgia, a certain beanie in a bank deposit box was glowing.

The End?