While Jim locked up the clubhouse, Dan once again brought up the movie he had seen. "Seriously you two, I really think you would enjoy watching that movie. It’s right up your alley with all the stunts and spying and things," he casually mentioned, watching Mart walk Diana home.

"It does sound like a great movie," Trixie replied.

Dan smiled at Trixie and Jim. "Besides, it’s not like you two saw any of it last night." With that, he turned on his heel, leaving Trixie and Jim to stare at him with open mouths.

Trixie and Jim looked at each other.

"Busted," Jim said quietly. "I was certain Mart would figure it out first."

Trixie shook her head. "No, he’s too wrapped up in Diana right now." She called out to Dan’s retreating form. "Daniel William Mangan, come back here!"

Dan slowly turned around with a big grin on his face. "Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Co-President? How may I help you?"

"You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?" Trixie asked. "And that’s Ms. Co-President."

"Enjoying this? Who me? Now why would I enjoy catching Mr. Honorable and Ms. Detective hiding something? Damn straight I’m enjoying this. I can’t believe you two are keeping this a secret. Although I can probably guess why."

"Oh, really? Please enlighten us." Jim said, raising a ginger eyebrow.

"Fine. Trixie, you’re annoyed at how much Honey and Di keep pushing you to date Jim…plus you’re enjoying being mysterious yourself and keeping a secret. Jim, you’re probably also annoyed that people keep pressuring you but mainly it’s because you don’t want to deal with Brian’s overprotective big brother act."

"Well, you’re wrong about Jim’s reasons," Trixie began. "Right about mine, but Jim isn’t worried about…Jim?" She was looking at her boyfriend, who was most definitely looking guilty.

"Well, OK, it’s not the main reason, but, yes, it did factor into the equation." Jim replied. "Don’t look at me like that, Trixie. Brian is as annoying as your father¾ more annoying, actually, because at least your dad doesn’t threaten to physically hurt me."

"Oh, so your dad knows?" Dan asked, looking at Trixie.

"Yes, of course he knows. All the adults know." She looked back at Jim. "What do you mean he threatens you?"

"Oh, it’s really nothing, Trixie, don’t worry about it. I’m more interested into how Daniel here managed to be at the same theater as we were yesterday."

Trixie allowed herself to be temporarily led off track. She also wanted to know just what had led Dan to that particular theater and that particular movie. Somehow, knowing Dan, she doubted it was just coincidence.

"Well, actually, that’s a long story. Shall we go back inside the clubhouse?"

Jim unlocked the clubhouse and they headed back inside. Jim sat on the sofa and, taking advantage of the fact that Dan knew of their relationship, pulled Trixie down to sit on his lap.

Dan smiled as he grabbed a chair, flipped it around and straddled it. "We-ell, let’s see now, where should I start? I guess I should start with the day Mart and Diana were supposed to go on a picnic. That’s when I first became suspicious. We found Jim in the stable, but oddly enough, Trixie, you weren’t there. I thought that was really unusual, why would you go riding without Trixie since you had just been studying with her?" Dan said, looking at Jim. He laughed at how uncomfortable Jim looked, especially when Trixie turned in his lap to glare at him.

"Actually, I was there." Trixie finally said. "I just happened to be hiding in the straw, since someone shoved me in there when he heard you and Mart approaching."

"Well, that was my first clue. Then, I noticed that when Honey and Brian and Mart and Di would go out on dates every Friday and Saturday, neither of you ever invited me out to do anything."

"Well…you were always on dates with some mystery woman somewhere…" Trixie stammered. "We figured you were busy."

"Uh-uh. I don’t think so. We used to do things together as the single Bob-Whites. Then all of a sudden, you two never invited me anymore. So…I started paying attention to what you guys were doing. And how you were behaving. I have to admit, both of you are becoming superb actors. If I hadn’t been looking for changes in your behavior, I might not have noticed anything. But once I did, I really got suspicious. So I tailed you last night." Dan grinned.

"You did what?" Jim stammered.

Trixie jumped up off of Jim’s lap, leaving him feeling bereft.

"You did what???? And I didn’t notice someone following us?" Trixie said, pacing back and forth. She had promised herself that dating someone would not change her in any way¾ and here it was affecting her instincts. She couldn’t believe that she had been so unobservant; she always noticed when a car was following her. There had been ample times to practice that skill, after all.

"Well, I’m a bit more subtle at it than most of the crooks we’ve had follow us around. And Jim’s such a conscientious driver, he’d signal each turn. It was easy following you. And it was just as easy figuring out what movie you two had chosen. It was a bit dicey though once I got in the theater. For some reason, you had chosen to sit in the back of the theater. Luckily the theater was really dark and I moved to the other side before you saw me. And then I was shocked¾ absolutely shocked by your behavior. Did you two see any of that movie?" Dan grinned as Jim and Trixie both turned completely red. He continued. "You just better be glad it was me and not Brian that saw that."

Jim groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "I’d be a dead man."

Dan focused his dark eyes on Jim. "You’ll be a dead man if you push Trixie too far, regardless of who does the killing."

"Hey, lay off him, OK?" Trixie said, getting in Dan’s face. "In case you didn’t notice, I wasn’t actually an unwilling participant. And we don’t need anyone else lecturing us on what we should and shouldn’t do. Dad and Brian are bad enough"

"Don’t forget the State of New York." Jim said. Trixie laughed, the tension in the room diffusing.

"OK, somehow I think I know what that means. And I’m sorry for interfering, guys. I know that you two will be responsible and all that, but remember, the motto of the Bob-Whites is that we’re all brothers and sisters, right? So I get to be Trixie’s big brother too."

Trixie rolled her eyes. "God, like I don’t have enough big brothers. Besides, let’s not take that motto literally. After all, most of us would be in rather incestuous relationships right now."

Dan and Jim laughed.

"Oh God, I thought I was the only one who thought that." Jim said, pulling Trixie back down on his lap.

"Well, we do have rather tangled interactions going on right now, don’t we? Talking about the tangled web we weave, how long are you two planning on deceiving the rest of the Bob-Whites?"

Jim and Trixie looked at each other. "Well, we didn’t even think it would go on this long," Trixie said. "We figured Honey or Mart would have figured it out by now."

"Give them time, they’ll figure it out. But I don’t want to be around when Brian figures out that not only are you two dating, but you’ve been dating," Dan said.

Jim grimaced. "Yeah, I don’t want to be around either."

"So you’ve been hiding our relationship because you don’t want Brian to give you a hard time?" Trixie said, frowning at Jim. She tried to squirm off of his lap.

"No, Trixie, we’ve been hiding our relationship because we decided that everyone else was being annoying and pressuring us. So we decided to keep it private for a while." Jim tightened his hold around her waist, not letting her move off his lap. "I am more than willing to put up with anything Brian dishes out in order to date you."

Trixie stopped squirming and stared at Jim, her anger instantly dissolving.

"OK, I’m heading home if you two are getting all lovey-dovey. I get enough of that looking at Mart and Di." Dan said, getting up and heading out the door.

"Well, what are you going to do with this information? Are you going to tell anyone?" Trixie asked, reluctantly turning away from Jim.

"Nah, I can keep a secret. It’s up to you two to decide when to reveal this to them. But I wouldn’t wait too long, they’re going to be pissed off the longer you keep this secret." Dan turned around and shut the door behind him.

"He’s got a point, Trixie. Besides, I really don’t want you thinking that I don’t want to tell others that we’re dating. I want to tell the whole world."

Trixie smiled. "I know, but let’s wait a little bit longer and see if anyone else notices. If they don’t all know by Christmas, we’ll tell them at the Christmas mega-dinner." Using the combined persuasiveness of Trixie, Mart, Honey and Diana, the Bob-Whites had managed to talk the parents into having a combined Christmas dinner with all the Bob-Whites, family, and a number of friends. This had finally overcome Crabapple Farm’s stretchy walls, so Mrs. Wheeler had agreed to host the party at the Manor House.

"That sounds like a plan. And as long as that’s settled, why don’t we take advantage of this alone time?" Jim leaned Trixie back against the sofa and took advantage of the situation. He did not, however, take advantage of Trixie, the warning from Dan fresh on his mind.

*     *     *

Luckily for Trixie and Jim, Dan was true to his word and didn’t say anything to anyone. This didn’t stop him from teasing the two of them whenever he could. As fall progressed, everyone was so busy with Christmas shopping or school that no one else seemed to notice their relationship.

Trixie and Jim still planned on telling everyone at Christmas, but first had to make it through Thanksgiving dinner. Since Christmas would be at the Manor House, the Beldens had invited the Wheelers (and Frayne) to have Thanksgiving dinner at Crabapple Farm. Diana and her family were in Arizona enjoying Thanksgiving with Uncle Monty, while Dan and Regan had opted to have a smaller celebration with Mr. Maypenny.

Mrs. Belden and Trixie had been working all morning on the food. In the two months that Trixie had been dating Jim, her cooking skills had improved, especially after she had asked her mother for some cooking lessons. She had decided to cook dinner for Jim one Saturday when Bobby was spending the night with Terry and Larry and Mr. and Mrs. Belden had dinner plans in town. Mrs. Belden had been thrilled in Trixie’s interest in cooking since, as always, once Trixie was actually interested in something, she did it well. Mrs. Belden attempted to point out this additional silver lining of Trixie’s dating relationship to Mr. Belden; however, he just grunted a noncommittal answer.

The men had spent the morning raking leaves, cleaning the house, and setting the table. Brian had been kind enough to set the place cards out, making sure he sat next to Honey and trying to seat Jim as far from Trixie as possible. When Trixie walked by, she made a change to the seating to put herself across from the table from Jim. The more easily I can stare at him, Trixie thought with a smile.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Beldens was always a dress-up affair, so no one blinked when Trixie came downstairs in a long blue dress, nylons and heels. She helped her mother serve the food, then sat herself across from Jim as her father carved the turkey. Trixie waited until the blessing was said and everyone had started eating before she made her move.

She stealthily slipped her stockinged foot out of her shoe and ever so slowly stretched her leg underneath the table. Jim was bringing some food up to his mouth when he felt Trixie’s foot caressing his leg; he paused slightly before continuing to raise the fork to his mouth. He looked up from his plate and glanced around the table. Seeing everyone else engrossed in their food, he quickly cast a warning glare in Trixie’s direction. She calmly met his gaze, blinking her big blue eyes innocently.

Jim looked around the table again. None of the Bob-Whites or the adults were paying attention. He shook his leg free from Trixie’s foot.

"Hey! Who kicked me?" Mart said, sitting on Jim’s right.

"Sorry, Mart…my leg was itching, something was bothering me. I didn’t mean to kick you."

Everyone looked at Jim and Mart momentarily. Mrs. Wheeler took that time to compliment Mrs. Belden on the meal.

"Helen, you have once again outdone yourself. This food is fabulous," Mrs. Wheeler said, smiling down the table towards Mrs. Belden.

"Thank you, Madeleine. Sadly, I didn’t make that cheesecake you love, but I plan to make it for Christmas dinner." Even though the mega-dinner was to take place at the Manor House, Mrs. Belden still wanted to cook for everyone. To Diana’s delight, Mrs. Lynch had also volunteered to cook. Diana had missed her mother’s cooking since their family had come into money. To everyone’s relief, Mrs. Wheeler did not volunteer to cook.

Everyone went back to eating and small talk. Trixie waited for a few minutes before resuming her torture of Jim. This time, she caressed his inside calf, making sure Jim couldn’t shake her foot off this time. She slowly ran her toes up and down. Jim was beginning to look a little hot under the collar, uncomfortably looking over at Mr. Belden and then at Brian. Once again making sure that he was unobserved, he glared at Trixie and mouthed "Stop."

Trixie blinked at him and daringly ran her foot higher. However, her height did limit her advances so she slowly and sensually ran her foot down his calf. She waited a minute or so and started up again.

Jim glowered at her. Once again, he mouthed for her to stop. When she didn’t, he looked around the table, counted to three, and…

"Aaaaaah!" Trixie cried as she slipped legs first under the table. The entire table stopped eating and turned to her.

"Are you OK?" "What happened?" "Trixie?" "Is everything alright?" "Are you hurt?"

Trixie blushed to the roots of her hair as she lifted herself back into her chair. "I’m sorry, I…ummm…slipped." She stammered. "I guess that’s why these underthings are called slips, huh? They’re so slippery." She tried to joke, looking at everyone but Jim. For Jim’s part, his stomach was hurting from holding back his laughter.

Mr. Belden frowned at Trixie and then at Jim. Mr. Wheeler smiled to himself. He turned and asked Brian how his classes were going, drawing attention away from Trixie.

Trixie smiled at Mr. Wheeler thankfully. When it was finally safe, she glared at his son.

Jim blinked his green eyes at Trixie, innocently looking at her across the table. After all, he had warned her. And it was worth it, Trixie behaved for the remainder of the dinner.

After dinner and clean-up, Honey and Brian left to take a walk and Mart went upstairs to call Diana. Trixie and Jim waited a few minutes and then also left for a walk, heading in the opposite direction that they had seen Honey and Brian take. Trixie waited until they were out of sight of the house and then went to smack Jim in the chest. Jim had been expecting as much and easily caught Trixie’s right hand and then her other one when she tried again with her left hand. He lifted her hands above her head and pinned her up against a tree, pressing his body against hers. He started kissing Trixie, letting his frustration take over. He stopped just before he completely lost control, pulling away but keeping her arms lightly pinned.

"Don’t play with fire, Trixie." Jim warned when he finally got control over his breathing. "I don’t take being teased very well."

Trixie couldn’t respond. She was too busy sorting through her feelings. Shock that Jim¾ Mr. Control¾ had almost lost control , frustration at being pinned and helpless, shock that she actually enjoyed being pinned, worry that her father or brother would see them, an overwhelming excitement at kissing like that, and guilt for enjoying it so much.

"Trixie…are you OK? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that." Jim said, stepping back and releasing her arms.

Trixie looked up at Jim, easily reading the guilt on his face. "No, no, it’s OK, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have teased you like that, I just thought it would be funny. I didn’t realize that¾ that it would actually turn you on."

Jim looked at her in surprise. "Umm…Trixie, almost anything you do turns me on. Trust me that something that intentional definitely affects me."

Trixie smiled shyly at Jim. "Well, then I probably shouldn’t do that stuff around our parents then, should I?"

Jim growled. "No, you definitely shouldn’t do that around anyone."

"Fine, but you shouldn’t have grabbed my leg like that," Trixie cried, finally hitting him. "I can’t believe you yanked back like that. I almost died when everyone looked at me."

"Well, you covered up pretty nicely. I think our parents probably knew what had happened, but no one else seemed to."

"I don’t know," Trixie said with a frown. "Bobby looked at me so intensely. I wish I knew what he was thinking."

"Bobby? He’s a nine-year-old boy, what could he know? Hey, we should head back before they send out a search party." Jim grabbed Trixie’s hand and they walked back to her house, spending the rest of the evening in everyone’s company before they called it a night.

*     *     *

Later that weekend, Mrs. Belden’s mother’s intuition kicked in. Her three eldest children were all out on dates. But her youngest child was home…and he was being way too quiet. Although Bobby had gotten much better behaved since his "horrorcane" years, she still worried when he was this quiet.

She left the soup she had been preparing in the kitchen and pushed open the door to the dining room. What she saw filled her with horror.

"Robert Andrew Belden!" Mrs. Belden screamed. "What are you doing?? What do you have on? Peter! Get in here!"

Mr. Belden raced out his office and into the dining room. He stopped in shock at what he saw before him.

No, it can’t be! Not one of my children! It can’t…he can’t…oh my God.

Bobby had pulled one of the dining room chairs away from the table and was slouching in the chair. He looked curiously at his parents, unsure as to why they were freaking out.

Then he remembered that he was wearing a dress.

"Oh, don’t worry, parental figures. I’m only experimenting," he calmly told them.

"Experimenting? That’s what you call it? You’re too young to be experimenting," Mr. Belden sputtered.

"No, Dad, not like that. I’m just trying to figure out what happened at Thanksgiving dinner when Trixie slipped like she did. I mean, it was so mysterious."

Mr. and Mrs. Belden looked at each other. They both visibly shuddered at their youngest child’s use of the dreaded "M" word.

"I mean, I’m wearing the same dress and shoes that Trixie had on, and I’m about her height, and I’m wearing a slip like she said she was…although I don’t know which one she wore, she has so many of them. But no matter what I do, no matter what angle I sit at, I can’t make myself slip. I think she must have had an outside force to cause her to slip like that."

His parents stared at him.

"Jim was sitting across from her, so he had the best opportunity…but what was his motive?" Bobby mused.

Once again, the Beldens shuddered. Mrs. Belden recovered first.

"Never mind his motive, young man. If you don’t get out of Trixie’s dress before she gets home, I think she just might find a motive to commit murder. So if I were you, I’d hurry upstairs before she…" Mrs. Belden stopped as she heard the kitchen door opening.

"Moms, where are you? Can Jim and I go to…" Trixie paused after opening the door as she took in the scene in front of her. "Bobby! What the heck are you doing in my dress?" Jim stood behind her, eyes wide with surprise.

"I believe you’ve been busted," Mr. Belden said. "Bobby has noticed that it’s impossible for you to have slipped under the table like you did without, as he said, an outside force. He was just trying to figure out why Jim would have yanked you under the table when you came in. Jim, would you care to answer that?"

Jim looked at Mr. Belden, then looked at Bobby, and then looked at Trixie. They both turned bright red.

"Does this have something to do with your dating each other?" Bobby asked.

"You know? You knew? How did you know?" Trixie asked in surprise.

"Oh, please, you’re spending so much time with Jim and you always have that goofy grin on your face like Mart and Brian do. Plus you’re wearing more make-up and perfume than you used to." Bobby said, rolling his eyes.

"Why don’t we let you three settle this among yourselves?" Mrs. Belden said, pulling her husband into the kitchen, the door shutting behind them.

.Mr. Belden sat at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands "Oh God, Helen. He’s got Brian’s intelligence and serious intensity, Mart’s word ability and knack for getting in trouble, and Trixie’s curiosity and head for mysteries. We’re doomed, Helen, I’m telling you we’re doomed." He looked up at her, running his hands through his dark hair. "Tell me again why we had a fourth child."

"Umm…because I missed having a baby around…and because we wanted to prove that we could actually plan to have a child," she answered, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

Contrary to popular belief, Bobby wasn’t an "oops." In fact, he was the only one of the four who wasn’t. Brian had been an "Oh my God, how do we tell my parents?" Oops; Mart had been an "Oh well, at least this time we’re married" Oops; and Trixie had been "No way! Not another one so soon" Oops. But Helen and Peter loved them all equally, regardless of the circumstances of their births. Usually, they didn’t regret having created any of their children. But sometimes…

"What if he has Trixie’s mystery magnet too? I don’t think I can stand it again. He’s even younger than Trixie was when she started. I can’t take that and Trixie dating too." Mr. Belden looked pleadingly at his wife.

"Peter, I’m sure it’ll be OK. We can get through anything, right? At least now we know what to look for with mysteries." Mrs. Belden tried to comfort him, grabbing his hand. "Besides, since Trixie started dating Jim, she hasn’t found a mystery."

"Whatever. That still doesn’t make me happy that she’s dating. She’s still my little girl." Mr. Belden leaned back in his chair and pouted.

Mrs. Belden laughed. It seemed odd to see her children’s favorite expression on her forty-something husband. Somehow though, it still looked sexy on him. She leaned over to comfort him.

"So Bobby’s promised to keep it a secret," Trixie said, pushing open the door to the kitchen, followed closely by Jim. "Oh, sorry Moms and Dad," Trixie apologized, seeing that she had obviously interrupted her parents in a close clinch.

Jim tried to suppress a smile when he saw what they had interrupted. Serves them right. I know Mr. Belden’s the reason Trixie and I keep getting interrupted.

Mrs. Belden settled back down in her chair. "So, Bobby has agreed to keep this secret of yours, has he?"

"Well, yeah, but now he wants to go along with us to White Plains as a bribe of sorts," Trixie said. "On that note, that’s why I came over. Since Mart has the station wagon, can I borrow your car, Moms? It’ll only be Jim, Bobby and me, so it’ll be OK for me to drive."

Mr. Belden grimaced. Why did his children keep insisting on getting older? Going to college, driving, dating, wearing dresses…He smiled, at least it seemed like only one of his children would do the last one. Seeing Bobby in a dress was something he hoped never to see again.

At that moment, Bobby ran down the stairs, having changed into jeans and a sweater. He had also carefully placed Trixie’s clothes back where they belong, under threat of death if he had messed them up.

Mrs. Belden got her keys out of her purse and handed them over to Trixie, including her normal admonishments to drive carefully, don’t pick up hitchhikers, watch for the other drivers, etc.

"Yes, Moms. No, Moms. Of course, Moms. Well anyway, thanks, we’ve got to get going."

"Don’t worry, Mr. and Mrs. Belden, I’ll take good care of her," Jim said, holding the door open for Trixie.

"Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of," Mr. Belden muttered.

Mrs. Belden smiled, it really was funny how protective her husband was of their only daughter, especially considering how annoyed he was at her father’s overprotectiveness when they had been young and dating. I guess all things come full circle. Luckily Dad’s not around to see Peter behave as badly as he did.

"So Peter, the kids are all gone. How about taking good care of me?" she said saucily, locking the front door.

Peter smiled. Well, I guess there are *some* good things about the kids growing up. It does get them out of the house more.

 The End

Trixie’s statement to Moms that it was OK for her to drive with Jim and Bobby in the car is the Trivia Fact for the Day. Evidently New York State has a law that states "A junior driver cannot operate a vehicle that has more than two passengers who are under the age of 21 unless a parent, a guardian, or a driving instructor also rides in the vehicle. There is an exception to this rule if the passengers are immediate family members. " I think that’s a good law, I know inexperienced drivers often get distracted by their friends. I know I sure as heck did when I was young and stupid and had more friends in the car than the car had seats. (And I won’t tell you about the person in the trunk!) J