TLR Chapter 96

Coral had proudly given the announcement invitations that he and Ryan had designed to Mutt so he, Adam and Torren could get them to their respective recipients. He had asked the brats if they were willing to be delivery men for a resort wide party. He had slipped one of the invitations into Jeff’s mail on his way to give them to the other young men.

Jeff opened the envelope that looked like a card first and laughed.  It wasn't Halloween but here he and Mutt were, invited to a costume party. Since the invitation said it would be a pirate theme he thought he and Mutt could use the ones they had worn at the Okoro’s when they visited there for Halloween. He didn’t think his husband would object and he knew Coral was a practical man and would re-use the costumes he and Ryan had worn. He wondered if Ry would dress up Castiel again as a parrot and grinned to himself remembering the sight. He’d share his thoughts with Mutt when they were together at home tonight.

<<<<>>>>

Brody looked up when he heard a voice at the bungalow door.

"Brody!" Mutt called, knocking on the door. "You home?"

"Yes, I'm here, Mutt," Brody answered stepping up to the door and opening it to let the three brats in.  "What can I do for you boys?"

Mutt rifled through a stack of weathered looking envelopes and came up with the one that was addressed to Harry and Brody.  "This is for you guys," Mutt grinned as Adam and Torren looked on with smiles on their faces.

"We'll catch up to you later, Mutt," Adam said. "We have to go about our appointed rounds.  See you later, Brody!" he called before he and Torren ran in opposite directions.

"You were our first stop," Mutt explained. 

Just about then Harry arrived driving up in his golf cart, taking a break from his rounds. "What are you guys doin'?” he teased, "Goin' door to door sellin' Girl Scout cookies?"

"I wish," Mutt said. "I could go for some peanut butter cookies right about now." He laughed.

Brody chuckled as he took the envelope and opened it to reveal a pirate map.  “Looks like we're invited to a pirate party, Babe," he said as he read the invitation and wrapped his arm around Harry's waist.

Harry grinned and snuggled into Brody's side. "Sounds like it could be a lot of fun."

"Gotta go, lots more of these to deliver." Mutt grinned.  "Hope to see you both there!" he said as he turned to go.

"Don't slam the door, Mutt," Brody growled a second too late.

"Sorry!" came Mutt's laughing voice from the other side of the door. They heard his footsteps running down the stairs.

Harry chuckled. "You gotta be faster than that to catch up with him."

"So do you want to go, Babe?" the younger man asked.  "Look, it says dress as your favorite pirate.  A costume party?" he laughed.

Harry nodded. “Sure I’d like to go and dressing up as a pirate sounds like fun.” He grinned at Brody.

<<<<>>>>

Adam ran to the bakery, looking through and picking out several more of the envelopes.  "Guys!" he yelled. "Who's here? Come out, come out wherever ye are!"

Vic and Warren jumped and looked at Adam. "You gotta scare a fella? What's so important?" Vic groused.

"Got somethin' fer ya's.  Here ye go, Vic!  An' one for you, Warren." Adam grinned, unfazed by Vic's attitude.  "Where's everyone else?" he asked, craning his head to see into the back room.

Vic took the envelope and opened it and grinned. "This looks like fun!"

Warren nodded. "It does." He called Spencer over, "Spence, look, we've been invited to a Pirate costume party."

Spencer said, "Cool...I wanna go as Anne Bonnie!"

Warren chuckled. "You can come as Anne Bonnie if you want little one." He kissed Spencer on the head.

"Can I go find clothes right now?"

"Knew it'd cheer ye right up, Vic." Adam grinned as Tristan came out. Adam grabbed Tristan's hand and unceremoniously slapped an envelope into it.   

"You'd make a great Anne Bonny," Tristan laughed as he opened his own envelope, marveling at the cleverness of the invite.

Warren shook his head indulgently, "Not in the middle of your work day. Maybe after work."

"What's going on here?" Came another voice from the back room.  "Is everyone slacking off?"

Vic turned to Brendon. "No boss we've all been invited to a Pirate costume party!"

Adam delightedly held Brendon's invitation just out of his floury reach. 

Brendon said, "A Pirate costume party, hmm?" He reached for the envelop. “Give it here brat.”

"Not til you smile fer me, big boy," he teased.

Brendon gave in and gave Adam a big smile. 

Adam grinned. “Now that’s what I call a smile!” He handed Brendon the invitation. 

Vic put an arm around Arnie. "Would you like to go kid?

"I'd love to. It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun." Arnie smiled. "Hey, I've got dibs on Davey Jones," he joked.

"Pirates, not Monkees," Adam joked, waving as he ran out to deliver his next batch of invitations.

Brendon smiled and turned to Tristan after opening his invitation. "Hey Tris...I've been invited to a Pirate costume party."

“Yeah, I got one too. Check out the way these invitations have been made.  They're clever, aren't they?” Tris said admiringly

"Yes, they are,” he agreed. “Do you want to go?" Brendon asked.

Tristan hesitated just a moment before grinning ear to ear.  "Yeah, I'd love to go if you want to.  It'll be a lot of fun."

Vic looked over at Warren and smiled.

Brendon gave Tristan a wide grin in return. "Yeah I do... we should have a good time."

"Guys, want to make our costumes or go to a shop and rent them?" Warren asked.

The group of bakers stood around discussing the merits of renting verses making their own costumes. Spencer was already using a pencil and paper to draw his dream costume.

<<<<>>>> 

Torren arrived at the security office and tossed the invitations into each of their mailboxes.  He'd specifically asked to deliver these because he knew there was a low likely hood of anyone being in the office just then, either being on their rounds, just left or not coming in yet.  He grinned to himself.  Easiest job by far.  He ran out and went in search of Jake.

<<<<>>>> 

Shorty heard the rowdy bunch before he saw them.  "Hey, Bo, wanna check the door and see what those boys are up too," he called from the kitchen.

"I'm half afraid to.  What on earth has 'em all riled up like that?" Bo smiled.

The twins came running into the bunkhouse, slamming the door behind them.  They ran smack into Bo, who if he'd been smaller would have been bowled over.  As it was they bounced off him and barely kept themselves from falling.

"Look what we got!" Jarrod yelled.

"Invitations!"

"To a party!"

"A pirate party!"

"And you got one too, Bo!"

"And so do you, Shorty!" Jarrod fairly shouted in his excitement. "Mutt asked if any one of us is going out Con and Brian's way if we could deliver theirs."

Shorty dried his hands on a towel and walked into the living room to see what the twins were yelling about.  He couldn't help laughing at the excitement on his boy's faces. "I'll be happy to," he offered.

"Here, Shorty!" Jacob said excitedly, handing the older man three envelopes.

"We've been invited to a party!" Jarrod yelled.  "We're supposed to dress as pirates!"

"I'm so psyched. This is going to be a blast!" Jacob shouted.

Bo covered his ears as best he could but he couldn't help smiling also at the boy's excitement.

"Shorty, you should be Long John Silver!" Jarrod said, excitedly.

Shorty laughed.  "Come get your lunch and we can talk about it at the table," he instructed.

"I'm too excited to eat!" Jarrod answered.  "I want to start googling pirates so I can figure out which one I want to be!"

"Me too!  Let's get the computer!" Little Jake said.

"Boys," Shorty growled, "lunch. Now."

"But..."

Bo made a slicing motion across his neck and looked at the two younger boys before glancing at Shorty.

"But...!" Jacob tried again.

The big vet crossed his arms.

"Yes, sir," the twins said, quieting down immediately and sitting quickly before that option was taken from them.  Bo grinned and sat down, shaking his head, rereading his invitation, already imagining how he'd look as a pirate.

Shorty smiled and sat too.  He really didn't want to spoil the young men's fun but they all needed to eat and get on to the afternoon chores.

 <<<<>>>>

Torren ran to Duke and Jake's bungalow. It was still early and the men didn't have to be up and out till later, so he slid the invitation under the door and ran to his next stop.  He liked the fact that everyone on his list was already out or still sleeping. It made things much easier for him to do his job, and he smiled happily.

He slipped Dean's invitation underneath his door and ran before the big man knew what had happened.  He liked Dean a lot but as with most other people, he never knew what to say after 'Hello.'

Torren's next stop was James, Heath and Jaxon's house.  He knew that James and Heath wouldn't be home, and he didn't mind Jaxon, so he knocked on the door and waited for some sound inside.

"Hey Tor," Jax said opening the screen door, "come on in."

Torren smiled. He was happy to see the young man looking so happy. James and Heath had definitely had a good effect on the young man.  "Here," he said, trying to hand Jaxon his envelope.  “There’s one for James, too,” he said, chickening out from delivering it directly to the resort owner, who he was sure would want to talk for a little while.

"What's this," Jax asked opening the envelope with his name on it and looking at the invitation map.

Torren just grinned as he saw Jaxon's face while he read the invitation.  "Gotta go.  See ya there!" he said.

Before Jax could say anything the young man was gone and if not for the invitation he would have been wondering if Tor had actually been there.

Torren stopped at the infirmary next.  He was prepared to leave the invitation in the inbox when Heath came out of the back room and caught him.

"Hey Tor, what brings you here?" the doc asked.  "Are you ok?"

"Fine. Here." Torren smiled as he handed Heath his invitation.  "Bye."

"Freeze young man," Heath ordered. "What's this?"

"You can read. Open it up and see what it says," Torren replied before thinking.

Heath's eyebrow climbed to his hairline. "Come again, little boy?"

Torren immediately realized that he'd spouted off at the mouth again and his eyes widened. "Sorry, Heath. Didn't mean it to come out that way. Sorry.  Ummm, bye," he said again, fleeing the scene as though the hounds of hell were after him.

Heath didn't know what to do so he just shook his head and yelled, "Bye!" at the fleeing man. He glanced down at the weathered envelope in his hand. Opening it, he grinned and then gave a pleased laugh.  It did sound like fun, he thought.

<<<<>>>>

The three young men met outside the maintenance office, their pockets all but empty. 

"Delivered most 'a mine," Adam announced happily. "Jus' gotta get t' the lodge an' give Charles and them theirs."

"Me too," Tor added. "Well, kinda," he admitted with a blush. "I still gotta stop by the housekeeping office but that won't take much time. I'll take care of that when I head out for my first assignment."

"All I have left are Cary and Tank.  I can take care of 'em when I see them today," Mutt added. 

"Sounds good.  We done good today, gentlemen," Adam said, hamming up his accent.

"Now, to some real work," Mutt said. “Get goin' before I tell the boss you've been slacking off." He grinned.

TBC