Down in the living room Amanda was still huddled in the corner of the couch and Nick had no idea what to do. Sitting down next to her, he put a gentle hand on her arm and pulled her into a sitting position. "Amanda," he said softly. All he got in response was a scared whimper. "Please don’t cry…..I won’t let you get hurt." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. Lightning lit up the room again and he was able to see tears dripping down her face. Reaching over to console her, he wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Nick, I feel like such a fool," she started, "But, I can’t help it. Thunder and lightning storms scare me out of my mind." "don’t be embarrassed," he told her, "Want to know what scares me?" She nodded. "Gremlins under the bed," he told her. "What?" "I’m serious, I won’t hang my feet off the end of the bed because I’m afraid gremlins will bite my toes." She started laughing , "I’m sorry to laugh at you." "don’t be, the guys laugh at me all the time about it."

‘What do we laugh at you about," came Brian’s voice from the dark. "The gremlins under my bed," he explained. Manda snickered, "gremlins?" "yah, he thinks there is something under his bed that will bite his toes." Brain told her. Manda started laughing. Amanda wrapped her arms around Nick, "hey be nice, I think it’s adorable." In the dark Nick grinned and pulled Amanda closer. "Ok, since you two came back last, one of you is it." Amanda said. "I will," Brian volunteered sitting on the couch. 1..2..3…4…Nick grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her upstairs. He ran into the spare bedroom and pulled them into the closet, shutting the door behind them.

For a few minutes they said nothing. Then Nick said quietly, "Gosh, it’s dark in here." Amanda was standing next to him and reached out and took his hand. "Don’t worry, this closet is gremlin free." Laughing he drew her close to him and kissed her softly. She backed up against the wall and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Downstairs Brian was searching the den looking for Manda. He heard a giggle behind the curtains and crept over to them Grabbing the edge he threw them open and cried, "found you." Manda burst out laughing and tried to run past him, but he stuck out his arm and stopped her. "Don’t I get a prize," he whined. She turned around and looked at him with bright eyes. "I guess so," she said teasingly. "Oh goody," he said in his best little kid voice, "what is …" Manda silenced him with a kiss.