Angela came running into Ziva and Skylar's room. "Turn on the TV, turn it on now!" She about-faced and ran from the room.

Ziva lifted her head with a groan and peeked at the clock. "It's eight in the morning!"

Skylar yawned, stretched, and turned on the TV. Her shocked gasp brought Ziva out from beneath her pillow.

"What's wrong, Skylar?" She followed Skylar's finger that was pointing at the TV screen. "Holy crap! How did that happen?"

Craig ran into the room. Chest bare, Ziva couldn't help but notice that he wore only a pair of sweats that hung low on his hips. And that he looked fiiiiine dressed—or undressed—like that. She told her brain to dial back the hormones; they had a crisis to deal with right now.

"Did you see the news? Lenny's taken over the White House and declared himself President!" Craig yelled.

Ziva sat up and brushed her mussed hair out of her face. "How in the hell did he manage to accomplish that? The guy is an idiot!"

A'Cadia came into the room looking pale and upset. "I wasn't fast enough! I had all his plans but I didn't tell Logan what I'd given him."

"Wait, what?" Craig frowned at her as she sat next to Skylar's feet on the bed.

"I went back to Lenny's stupid office building and copied files from his computers. All of his plans, everything. I gave the drive to Logan last night, but I didn't tell him what was on it, I just told him to give it to Storm. This is all my fault!" She gestured toward the television screen.

"And how exactly do you figure that?"

She sent Stone a defeated look. He stood framed in the doorway, one shoulder propped against the doorjamb, arms folded across his massive chest. "If I had told Logan to look at the plans right away maybe we could have stopped this!"

"Mmmhmm, maybe and then again maybe this idea of his wasn't in those plans. Maybe Lenny would have won anyway, and people would have gotten hurt if we intervened. At least now we can come up with a solid plan to get his butt out of there."

Skylar had a goofy little grin on her face as she looked between Stone and A'Cadia. Uh oh, Skylar was going to start playing matchmaker. Ziva sat up deciding distraction was probably best right now. As much as she enjoyed teasing A'Cadia about Stone, letting Sky start attempting to get them together would probably be a mistake, though it would be highly entertaining. Her brand of matchmaking involved a lot of picture taking and glitter.

"Right, so what do we do then?"

Stone shrugged. "We figure out a plan and we go kick his butt."

A'Cadia sent him a giant grin. "I like how you think."

"You would," Ziva muttered under her breath.

"Out of the way, Mountain Man." Logan pushed past Stone and eyed all of them. "Storm's office now."

They all sent glances around the room, eyeing one another, before standing and following Logan downstairs to Storm's office. No one was certain if they were in trouble or if this had to do with Lenny. They entered to find Storm sitting behind her desk, although she looked calm, her hair was sleep mussed, and she wore a pair of white silk pajamas, a fluffy white robe over them. Ziva wondered if she was wearing a pair of bunny slippers.

"We seem to have a problem," Storm said calmly while watching the television coverage.

"Seems like a bit more than a problem," Logan growled.

Storm sent him a quelling glare.

"It's a massive problem! We cannot allow Lenny to control the country! The entire government! Can you imagine what he'll do?" Skylar wailed.

Ziva snorted. "Oh, I think we can imagine. He'll probably use tax dollars to go buy himself a real flippin' crown."

"That would be the least of our problems!" Storm snapped.

The sound of Mellissa's theme song preceded her entry into the room. "The meeting can now commence; my awesomeness has arrived!"

"You weren't invited to this meeting!" Storm told the curtain climbers curtly.

"Oh, come on now, Storm, that hurt our feelings." Mellissa pouted.

"Yeah, I even put on my emergency meeting tutu! Look see, it has red alert written on it in big red letters!" Angela pointed to the black tutu with the red letters on it.

Storm put a hand to her forehead. "I don't care how many tutus you have, you still weren't invited to this meeting."

"Ah but see, not inviting us could be detrimental to your mission! We can help or more precisely, I can help," Stevie told her.

"How is that?" Ziva asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have a friend who has other friends and they owe me a few favors."

"Great the midget has friends in low places that owe him favors; this is looking like it's going to Hell real quick," Logan grumbled as he stuffed the stub of a cigar into the corner of his mouth. Ziva didn't want to know where he kept those cigars until he decided it was an appropriate time to jam one in his mouth.

"What sort of friends are these exactly? Although, I probably shouldn't ask," A'Cadia asked tentatively.

"Hey now, do not insult Vincenzo, he is an upstanding businessman," Stevie complained.

Even Skylar snorted at his explanation. "That sounds like a bad definition for a mobster, Stevie."

"Oh, come on guys, just because his name is Vincenzo and he's from Sicily, you automatically assume he's a mobster. That's totally stereotyping!"

"Really, what does your buddy Vincenzo do for a living then? Is he in waste management?" Ziva asked him.

"He owns this pizza place in Manhattan. Best slice in town!" Stevie replied with a grin.

"A pizza place huh." She gave him a skeptical look.

"Look, Vincenzo has mad skills. The guy has persuasive powers that are off the charts. Dude can talk just about anyone into anything in seconds."

"And I'm guessing that it isn't another slice he's talking people into," Craig said sending Stevie a good glare.

"Come on do I question you guys about your friends? I mean jeez Lenny was Craig's best friend."

"You wanna sleep for eternity, Booger Boy?" Craig took a step toward Stevie.

Ziva put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Leave him be. Now is not the time to put down someone we might need to fight Lenny."

Craig made a rumbled sound of agreement and stepped back, turning away from Stevie. "Fine, but he keeps making cracks like that and I don't care who his friends are, he's sleeping until he hits puberty."

"Look we need a plan to get at Lenny and I can help, all right?" Stevie looked at all of them.

"And these friends of yours are mutants who can help?" Logan eyed him.

"Yes, sir." Stevie opened his mouth to say more, but Skylar interrupted him.

"Lenny is making a speech." Skylar pointed at the screen.

They all turned to listen to what Lenny was saying as Storm turned up the volume on the TV.

"Furthermore, I declare the title of President obsolete. I shall be known as King Lenny."

"He can't do that! The Constitution says so!" Skylar yelled, pointing at the TV.

Everyone shushed her as Lenny continued speaking. "I also declare the Constitution null and void. It's so old, the sucker is outdated, we're startin' over now, baby."

Skylar spluttered and gestured at the screen. "He can't do that! He can't! What about the Senate and House! He can't just take over like this!"

"Oh yeah and I'm dissolving the entire Congress. Poof, buh-bye! Now, the first order of business, the school known as Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is hereby closed and the property seized. The place is neither a real school nor is it safe for youngsters."

"He can't do that either!" Skylar looked close to heart failure. Her faith in government systems was being torn apart piece by piece.

"Where are we supposed to go now?" Craig scratched at his still bare chest, frowning.

Storm rose from behind her desk. "Everyone go and pack, be quick about it, for all we know Lenny has already sent some of his people here to haul us off the property. I want to be gone before he has an opportunity to get his hands on any of us."

"But what about the cooooouch! It'll be all scared and alone! Lenny will hurt it!" Mellissa sobbed.

Storm pursed her lips and looked at Logan. "Put the thing in the basement. It will be safe and secure down in the X-Men area."

"You're kidding?"

"Just do it, Logan! We don't have time to argue!" she snapped.

He grumbled and grabbed Stone to help him before disappearing from the room. Everyone else scattered to go pack.

Ziva glanced over at Skylar and shook her head. "Can't you pack without possessing your things?"

She dropped a sweater into her suitcase and popped out of it. "It's faster this way!"

They finished packing and headed out into the hallway. Craig met them as he came out of his room. Ziva wasn't sure if she was happy or disappointed to see him fully dressed now. Angela followed, pulling a pink suitcase with a ballerina on it. She'd changed into what she called her packing tutu, which was covered with boxes, bubble wrap, and rolls of packing tape. There was a giant U-Haul truck plastered across her butt.

"Where's Mellissa?" Craig asked her.

"She's coming, she had a lot to pack," Angela said.

At that moment, Mellissa came down the hallway, stopped at the top of the stairs beside them with two rolling suitcases, smiled at them, and turned to head back to her room. "Be right back!" She disappeared back into her room and reappeared a minute later pulling two small rolling coolers behind her.

"What's in those?" Ziva eyed the coolers nervously.

"Whipped cream, what did you think?" Mellissa smiled pleasantly up at Craig. "A little help pretty please!"

He helped her get her things down into the foyer, where they met up with A'Cadia, Stone, and Logan. A'Cadia looked at them with a frown. "Where's, Booger Boy?"

Ziva heaved a sigh, turned and went back up the stairs. The others on her tail. A frown pulled at her features as she neared Stevie's door. Mack and Jack were sitting outside the door as if they were on guard duty.

"What the heck?"

"Oh, Stevie's enacting the security protocols, I forgot," Angela told them.

"Why are Mack and Jack in the hall?" Craig asked her.

"'Cause he said it's better if no one knows the security codes except him. Safer or whatever."

"They're cats," Ziva protested.

"Highly intelligent mutant cats," Angela reminded her.

Logan pushed past them, shoving his phone into his pocket as he did, and knocked on Stevie's door. It opened a crack and Stevie pressed his face into the small space, staring out at Logan.

"Everyone is out of the lower level just like you asked," Logan told him.

"You sure 'cause once I lock this down, it's locked down until I do one hell of a process to unlock it."

"Just lock it up, kid. It's safe."

"Is the couch safe?" Mellissa asked.

With a roll of his eyes, Logan nodded.

Stevie shut the door without another word. Everyone looked at one another in the silence of the hall, before they decided standing there would gain them nothing, and headed back downstairs to wait in the foyer for Stevie.

Storm was waiting for them, her suitcase by her feet.

"So where are we going exactly? We can't stay in a hotel with the kids; we'll last about an hour before they get us kicked out." Ziva sent Mellissa and her two coolers a glare.

"We will not!" Mellissa said in protest of the accusation.

"Right, how many times have you destroyed Storm's office now?"

Mellissa went silent and Ziva could see her counting on her fingers. "Twenty-seven and a half times!"

"Try like fifty-seven."

"Okay whatever; it's still not that many!"

Stevie came strolling down the stairs all smiles, followed by the cats, as Ziva and Mellissa continued to argue about the possible destruction of any hotel property they might stay in.

A'Cadia sighed and cut off the brewing argument. "I know where we can stay. Everyone get in the cars and follow me."

She headed for the garage. Aware that Stone was directly behind her and more than likely planning on riding with her. This was going to be so exciting. Thank God her mom was away on some girlie trip to a spa in the Poconos with some of her friends. She could imagine her snobby mother taking one look at this group and promptly calling in the cops. She should retract her earlier statement that she knew where they could go. Having this group at her house might not be such a good idea.

But as she looked around the garage, she knew she couldn't do that. As much as it would pain her to have to endure anything her mother said or did if she found out they were staying at the house, she decided it would be worth it. Her eyes lit on Logan where he straddled his motorcycle. She had no clue what kind of reunion her mother and Logan would have, but she could imagine it wouldn't be pretty. Yeah, she was looking forward to fun and excitement. Especially when they got a look at the house. She grimaced and got into her car.

"Hey, don't look so glum, we'll get Lenny. Everything will work out. You'll see," Stone told her.

Of course, he would believe she was upset about Lenny. She wished she could buy into his belief they would get Lenny. They may beat Lenny in the end. But she'd have to endure her mother for life.

"Yeah, I know," she told him as she started the car and headed out of the garage. No time like the present to begin showing her mother she was no longer a child and she could make her own choices. Right? So why wasn't she buying that? And why did it feel as if she had a ton of rocks packed in her stomach?