Hi Mum, It's Sammy (The Return of Clone 63 - Part 2)

"Pop? Could you help me with my homework?"

"Depends, honey. Whatcha got? I'm not much use on local history. I don't know any more than you do about that." I could never get either Monica or Goby to admit to being the one who started calling me "Pop the Cop." I'm pretty sure it was Monica who decided to get sillier and sometimes call me "Poppa the Coppa" though she won't admit to that either. Jericho gets to be just Dad.

"Logic problems, Pop. You know the kind. Randy, Sandy and Andy live on the same street. They live in a red house, a blue house and a green house. One owns a cat, one owns a dog and one owns a rat. Who lives in which house with which pet?" Logic has never been a strong point with me but this should be good practice.

"All right, Monica. Let's tackle it. What else do we know?"



Monica read the rest of the information and we slowly worked through the steps. Eventually we found that Sandy lived in the blue house with the rat. Andy the red house with the cat. And so Randy had to live in the green house with the dog.

"That was the last of my homework. Thanks, Pop." I gave her a hug and went to bed. Tomorrow was a work day and I'd have to head off early.

The next morning, I had an idea while eating breakfast. "Hey, Jericho?"

"Yes, Sam?"

"I'm thinking about throwing a party tonight."

"Any particular reason you'd like to throw a party?"

I tapped my head pretending to think about the question. "Now let's see...house warming party? Getting to know my coworkers party? Showing off my lover party?" I laughed. "That enough reasons yet, blue and beautiful?"

"Any of those reasons will do, Sam. If you are that keen on having a party, then we should have one. But..." he shuddered for a moment, "suppose one of the guests is like Chuck?"

I winced at the thought. My former boss, Chuck, had fired me and attacked Jer because of who we are. "We know that's possible, but I'd just as soon have people know about us now. Living quietly in the background isn't going to stop everyone from finding out eventually. And everyone in the police station knows already. I made sure of that when I signed up." I reached for his hand. "Well?" I asked as I squeezed it lightly.

Jer nodded. "You're right. If we stay here, everyone is going to find out. So let's throw that party."

So I went off to work knowing that Jer would have a full day of toddler taming ahead of him.

We were moored to the central island, and which is where the main police station. That's the station I'm assigned to for now. There are also two small stations on the outer islands. Each station has one or more bicycles for getting around on land and one or more boats when we have to travel between islands.

I'd be bicycling on the island while I was getting to know locals and the area. Later, I'd have to pass a boating test before they'd let me pilot a boat between the islands.

As it turned out, it was a very wet day of toddler taming for Jericho. If I wasn't bonded to a Seastrider, I would have been a bit worried about the fact that the toddlers were being rained on much of the day.

But since both Seahorse and Anemone are Striders like their dad, getting a bit wet wasn't a problem. Well, at least that's my hope. Jericho should know what he is doing. I may have to gently remind him that there is such a thing as too wet for the rest of his family.

I know that Jericho took advantage of the times when the toddlers were asleep to explore around our new home. Not so much looking around the islands as the deeper water near our boat. Poor Jericho, if he'd let me know exactly how much he missed the sea, we would have moved so much sooner.

Then again, it's one thing in life we will never be able to truly share. Jericho can swim anywhere his fancy takes him. I'm going to have to learn to scuba and have a ton of equipment if I want to follow him under water. It's going to take a lot of time and effort, though I do want to try.

Eventually, my work day was over. The family was all home and our party guests started to arrive.

"Hey, welcome to our party."

"Dude, what an awesome boat. Wish I could live in a place like this."

"There are plenty of boats available. Why don't you get one?"

"I'm a Uni student, dude. No water around campus. Can't have a boat without water. And I have no money. Can't buy a boat with no money."

Jericho shook his head. "That's too bad. Well, have fun tonight."

It was a good party. Someone brought some food, and there was plenty of dancing and conversation for most of the evening.

Mind you, we know so few people in town, I invited not only both cops I usually work with but everyone else I'd even met. That included our babysitter. She is the only teen we invited but once the music came on, she didn't seem to mind too much.

I had a bit of a surprise from one of the guests. "Dude, has anyone ever told you that you're hot?"

I couldn't believe he would ask. "Are you kidding me? I thought you met my husband?"

"Is that the blue dude? He's pretty cute too."

"Sorry, but he's all mine. And I'm not interested in playing around." I took another look at him. "Weren't you the guy in the mascot outfit?"

"Yeah dude, that was me."

"Is that the best job you can find?"

"Pays for college, just."

"Have fun with the rest of the party but don't hit on me again. I'm seriously not interested."

Eventually I had a chance to dance with the hottest guy at the party. "So, Jericho, how did your day go?"

"The toddlers and I had a very good day. They are both bright little ones. And Sammy?"

"Yes, love?"

"Our resort cleared 800 today."

I stopped dancing for a moment. "Seriously?"

Jer smiled a bit sheepishly. "Well, I spent that and more on improvements but it is turning a tidy profit."

"Nice. At this rate, I'll be able to retire and you can provide for the family. I can be a kept man, that sounds good."

"Oh no you don't," replied Jericho with a wicked grin. "You are going to have to earn your keep, one way or another."

"You know," I started to say. We were interrupted by a particularly loud thud from upstairs.

Jer and I both stopped to listen since we knew that Goby and Monica had retreated upstairs to play. We waited a moment watching the stairs in case one of the twins came rushing to find us. When there weren't any more loud noises, we resumed dancing.

The entire family was still getting used to the boat. Sounds travel much better through the structure then a house and so everything was louder than we were used to. And even moored to a dock, the boat still rocked a bit. I'm not sure that living on a boat was really a long term proposal for us. Maybe a solid house with a beach front would be better.

It was getting late and our guests had departed. Jericho and I were still dancing though, we were having too much fun to stop.

I decided to return to our previous conversation. "So, how exactly would you expect me to earn my keep?"

He waggled an eyebrow, and started to grind his hips against mine. "I can think of a few possibilities."

"You keep that up and I will have to quit work. It's hard enough to leave in the morning as it is."

"Well, Sam, if the resort keeps earning money like it is, I think you could give up police work. We could moor the boat at the resort and just concentrate on that. It's been rated as a three star resort now, up from the 2 stars it had when I bought it."

For the next few days after the party, we were all settling into our new routines. Goby, Monica and I would have a day off soon for a local summer festival. I thought everything was going very well.

Then I heard an odd sound coming from the top deck of the boat. I climbed the ladder to find out what it was. I found Monica quietly sobbing in one corner.

"Monica, honey? What's wrong?" The quiet sobs grew louder. I put one hand on her shoulder and waited for her to stop. "It's all right, honey. It's all right."

Finally the flow of tears slowed. It was still a couple of minutes before Monica could talk again. "Oh Poppa. He doesn't like me any more."

I pulled her into a big hug. "Who doesn't like you, Monica? What's upsetting you so much?"

Monica tried to reply but had a hiccup attack instead. I just waited for her reply.

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Bonus pics

So to make Jericho Mer, I had to cheat to get him the reward.

And it looks rather interesting when they do the transform.

The first and final look at the IFs of the twins. The houseboat is too small and I'd rather have the kids interact with family or friends. So the toys got put back in the inventory and they are never coming out again.

Sammy rump.

Slow dance really is so sweet.

Jericho really can power through water after his transformation.

Let me out of this thing!