Fic: An Old Photo 1/1

Author: Rifka

Subject: Chris, Harry, Holly & Toby in a small AU.

Posted to: TSXF and TS

Beta assistance: Sandra, primping in Seattle

Feedback: That would be nice.

Notes: I needed a little break in between writing fics. I don't know the ages of the kids but I'd like to think of them as just being "little" kids and in AU I guess that's allowed. This is for everyone who's had a rough time lately.

Chris had chased the little tyke from his bedroom down to the kitchen after hearing laughter coming from up there but it wasn't the usual hilarity he heard. This had a different 'ring' to it. He quietly had gone upstairs and laughed to himself when he saw the young boy. But now that they were on the ground level he sort of had him cornered in between the kitchen table and one of the walls.

"Harry put your clothes back on." Chris said as he held on to the child's pants and shirt.

"No!" Harry said.

"Harry, I said put your clothes back on now." Chris insisted nicely.

"No, no, no!" Harry was adamant.

"Do I have to call your father?" Chris questioned in a louder tone.

"No!" Harry wasn't concerned.

"Holly, please tell your brother to put his clothes back on." Chris was asking for help now he knew he wasn't going to win this one by himself.

"He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to." Holly stubbornly said in a sing-song voice.

"Please help me out here. You don't want your dad to come home and see what's going on and get mad do you?" Chris thought some psychology would work on the kids.

"He'll be mad at you." She said pointing a finger at him.

"But I have my clothes on so he can't get mad at me!"

At the same time in the living room Chris heard a small voice saying "Ok" over and over and then "bye daddy".

"Harry, were you just on the phone?" Chris questioned him as he walked back into the kitchen wondering how and when he escaped when he thought he had the kid trapped.

"Yes."

"Who were you talking to?" Chris asked knowing full well who it was.

"Daddy."

"And what did you tell Daddy?"

"That you were yelling at me." Harry said triumphantly as he put his tiny hands on his hips and stuck his belly out.

Chris tried to keep from smiling. "And what did Daddy tell you to do?"

"He told me I could do anything I wanted to and he would get back to me in 24 hrs."

Chris Keller could only imagine the message that was left on Toby's voice mail.

"Harry, come here, please." He begged.

"No!"

"Are you mad at me?" He hoped not.

"No."

"Let's go play a game." Keller sounded excited with this idea.

"No."

"What do you want to do?" Now he was feeling dejected.

"I want to be nekkid." He giggled and ran around the room.

Just then the phone rang. Saved by the bell Chris thought as he grabbed the receiver from its cradle knowing who would be on the other end and thanks to caller ID he was right.

"Hello Toby." He said not knowing what kind of mood Beecher would be in.

"What's going on Chris? Harry called and he sounded upset and all I could make out was that you were yelling at him. Uh-huh... uh-huh so let him run around 'nekkid', little boys like to do that."

"So do big boys, Toby."

"Not in front of Holly you won't! Ok, you have it under control then? Has my mom been there yet?"

"Yeah, everything's under control but if you pick up something for dinner that would really help me out and no, your mom hasn't been here yet. We probably won't be able to go with her now. Uh-oh, gotta go Toby I hear the doorbell. Love ya, bye."

"Christopher Keller! What's the idea behind letting this naked little boy answer the door?" Victoria asked with some shock in her voice as she entered the house. She still questioned the wisdom behind Toby's decision to let Keller stay home all day with the kids. The house sometimes looked like a cyclone had hit it but the children seemed happy, well nourished and for the most part they usually looked clean.

"Victoria, I just don't have an answer for you." Chris told her while he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Grandma, I'm all dressed. Let's go to the zoo but Harry can't come cause he's naughty." Holly said.

Victoria hugged her granddaughter hello as her grandson continued running around the house like a wild banshee.

"Harry, come here and give Grandma a kiss. You know you can't come with us unless you put your clothes on." She told the little boy as he ignored her. "You know his father used to do that." She told Chris as he sat on the couch, catching his second wind. The kids were out of earshot and didn't hear the last part.

"You don't say. Hey, why don't you go ahead and take Holly and I'll make sure Harry gets some clothes on sometime today.

A few hours later Toby came home from work, walked into the house and heard giggling coming from one of the rooms upstairs. He put the dinner bucket on the kitchen table and went upstairs. When he arrived he found a naked Harry and a naked Chris Keller sitting on the floor next to a child-sized table playing "Go Fish".

"Uh...What is going on here?"

"If you can't beat 'em, join em!" Chris shrugged.

"Where's Holly?" Toby anxiously asked.

"Give me a little credit, pal. She's spending the night with her grandmother and us men are gettin' down and stayin' nekkid, why don't you join us?" Chris asked.

"I'm not going to..." Toby saw the look of disappointment on Harry's face. "Well, I guess we can all eat fried chicken without clothes on---but just this once! Then we're taking a shower and putting on our pajamas. Deal, Harry?"

"Speak for yourself!" Chris piped up. "I'm goin' to bed 'nekkid!"

"Me, too!" Harry squealed.

"Chris, you aren't helping..."

"Oh, and what was it you told me on the phone? 'So let him run around 'nekkid', little boys like to do that'. I rest my case, Counselor."

As Toby started taking his clothes off, he knew he would have Keller's rapt attention. There was no way he could strip knowing the usual outcome with his son sitting there. Chris looked up at him knowing what was going on in his head and howled with laughter.

Toby didn't get a chance to respond as the doorbell rang. The two men looked at each other, wondering which one was going to get up first. Toby was silently elected.

"I'll just go peek and see who it is." He said to the other guys.

He walked downstairs and looked through the peephole and saw the distorted face of his father. He opened the front door but hid his body behind it.

"Ah, Hi Dad." He said sheepishly.

"Toby, aren't you going to invite me in?" Harrison asked.

"Ah yeah, dad except I don't have any clothes on."

"Oh, I caught you and Chris in the middle of something. I'm sorry, I'll go," Harrison said as he felt slightly embarrassed.

"No Dad, it's all right, come in. We're all naked. I mean, Chris, Harry and I. It's a long story but have you eaten? We've got some fried chicken upstairs and we've got a mean game of cards going. You're more than welcome to stay but I guarantee that if you do, Harry's going to insist that you get 'nekkid' too."

Harrison looked at his eldest son and thought back on the times he was too busy working or just wasn't in the mood to play with him when Toby was young. He wanted his grandson to have some funny memories when he was an adult so he stripped his clothes off and folded them neatly and put them on the couch.

"You can close your mouth son. I know you've seen naked men before," his father said laughing.

"Well, this is certainly going to be a Kodak moment, let me get the camera." Toby said as they both walked up the stairs. Toby grabbed the camera from the top of the dresser in his bedroom then walked into the room where the guys were. Harry was munching on a drumstick when he saw his grandfather and squealed in delight as Toby put the camera on the tripod and set it for a short delay.

"Ok, everyone get close together. Harry, sit on my lap." Toby said as he sat down at the small table that would cover the family jewels.

"No, I want to stand." Harry declared as he stood up.

Chris said, "Okay, on the count of three everyone say "NEKKID!"

Harry looked at the photo in his hand. After all these years, it still brought a smile to his face. And once his own son got older, he'd invite Dad and Chris over for a bucket of chicken, play a couple of hands of "Go Fish", and spend the evening with all the guys being nekkid!

~The End~