Do it in the Name of Love

-- PART ONE --

Four actors, four apartments, one shared balcony. Hijinx insue. It sounded like the title of some B-movie or a novel sitting on a newsstand, doomed never to be bought because it's plot was too "out there" to be believable. But it was actually happening to Aaron Lohr, LB Fisher, George Stanchev, and Jeff Geddis. Add one promised Thanksgiving dinner for a collective group of their relatives, and you had the situation the boys were currently shoe-horned into.

They hadn't exactly volunteered to host the Turkey Day festivities. The honor had, more or less, been dropped in their laps by family members, overly eager to see where the boys were living.

Complicating matters were the occasional "trips" the four would take. But not the acid kind. Well, when they first began to happen, one could easily assume that acid was the culprit, but the boys were clean. Thanks to the dimension-hopping technology of a modern-day Nutty Professor, the four actors had been propelled into a world that never quite managed to climb out of the 60's. Each trip brought a transforming experience along with it. Transforming in the literal sense of the word. Coming through on the other side, the boys were changed into the Monkees.

Bulgarian born George Stanchev's alternate personality was that of London native, 5'3" Davy Jones. Los Angeles based singer/dancer/actor Aaron Lohr was the wacky, curly-haired drummer Micky Dolenz. Toronto native Jeff Geddis was the Monkee known for being headstrong, a leader, and wearing that green wool hat-- Michael Nesmith. Rounding out the group was Upstate New York raised LB Fisher as the multi-talented Peter Tork. As the Monkees, they felt a strong bond to one another, almost like brothers. It wasn't that they weren't good friends in their real lives, but they were more the kind of friends who would occasionally go out to have a beer together, not lay down their lives for one another.

Granted, even this distinction was starting to break down. Moving in next door to each other had changed things. It wasn't planned, but being neighbors meant a more natural tendency to watch each others' backs. Jeff, between jobs at the moment, was home most of the day and would "keep an eye on things" for Aaron and LB in particular.

Aaron was away daily for performances in a new musical he had landed months before. On days of both a matinee and evening performance, Jeff was accustomed to not seeing him at all.

LB was busy shooting episodes for a CBS series and was away a lot as well. Although his character was officially on a 'reoccurring' basis, he >>>was<<< signed on for at least a dozen episodes. When he was needed on the set, it wasn't uncommon for him to put in 12 hour work days. Those times, Jeff would try to have some sort of meal waiting for LB, even if it was simply a hamburger and fries from Wendy's.

George was another story. His sudden move had strained relations with the record label he was signed on with. Eventually, he parted ways with them, opting to try some stuff on his own. Calling in a few favors, George had managed to shoehorn in some time at the recording studio. To his credit, he was almost finished with his first independently produced solo album. It had put a terrible strain on him financially though, despite the favors. There was very little money left for marketing the CD, but he refused any money offered to him by his three other friends. He wanted to do this himself, no 'charity' strings attached. Everyone assumed it was stupid pride, but to George it was a desire to prove he could do something like an album all by himself.

Standard procedure was to pool their money at the end of each month to pay off the rent, making George's "no charity" excuse even lamer than it already was. They were practically using a mutual bank account already. A little extra money wouldn't have been a deadly sin. They had a cooperative agreement in place so that if one was a little short that month, the others would pick up the slack. George was stubborn despite that, and they were left with no choice but to accept it.

This Thanksgiving meal was going to be their biggest lesson in cooperation to date. Aaron had performances straight up until the day before family would arrive, and LB was scheduled to shoot his last scene at 11am on the same day Aaron would be gone. With half the labor crew tied up, Jeff and George were left with preparations. George's melancholy mood wasn't going to help Jeff very much either since he was lately, distracted to the point of being off in his own little world. Still, he had decided that laconic help was better than no help at all.

When the "big day" finally rolled around, LB's mother, Jeff's father, George's girlfriend, and Aaron's brother and sister were to arrive around 1:00 in the afternoon. To say the boys were anxious would have been a grotesque understatement...

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"Turkey?" Jeff barked as if he were giving orders to a platoon of soldiers.

"In the oven--" Aaron hollered back over the whir of the blender. He lowered his voice, "-- for the 43rd time."

LB turned from the balcony where the table had been set up. The reasoning behind selecting the balcony had been simple. One, it was nice outside. Two, the balcony connected all of their apartments to each other, so relatives could freely wander between each one. Lastly, he was the one with the largest table in his apartment, and the idea of having to clear that thing off sent shivers down his spine. It would be a two day project-- minimum. "Guess everything's set out here, guys!" He called inside Jeff's apartment, ground zero for food prep.

"Just in time too." Jeff tossed his oven mits to the side as a knock came at the door. "That's them."

Tossing the fashionable "Kiss the Chef" hat, (which Aaron had plopped down on his head while he was working) into the same pile as the mits, Jeff ran a hand through his hair. His father was a traditional man who believed a person wasn't worth a damn unless he held down a 40 hour a week job and pulled in a steady paycheck. Since his father had made it perfectly clear on more than one occasion that he didn't approve of his son's career choice, the least Jeff could do was attempt to impress him with a nice home cooked meal and try to look his best. Well, if he hoped to have any peace and quiet this weekend, that was. Endless rants from daddy would not a fun time make.

Jeff slid the bolt aside and jumped in surprise. The person before him was no 55 year old man, but a rather petite brunette in a form-fitting, stylishly cut white pants suit. Who---?

"Hi. I'm---"

"Sarah?" Jeff guessed. She more or less fit the picture George had painted in Jeff's mind. Of course there was the whole boyfriend-bias, but he happily noted that she was just as pretty as George had said. If not a little moreso.

"Bingo." Sarah smiled and shook his hand warmly. "Nice to meet you---" She let the greeting hang in the air, unsure about which of George's friends this was.

"Jeff." He supplied for her, to which she gave another radiant smile in return.

"-- Jeff." Sarah filled in the blank.

"Hey there!" Aaron smiled, extricating himself from the mound of dishes in the sink. "George has told us so... little about you."

Jeff shot Aaron a "look". Even if it was true that George hadn't elaborated much beyond the physical description, you didn't just come right out and say so! Playing damage control, Jeff explained, "What he means is, George has been working so hard on his new album that he hadn't had very much time for idle conversation and..." He trailed off. Best I can do.

"So, where is this hard working man of mine, exactly?" Sarah asked with a touch of impatience.

That was when his three friends realized that George wasn't in the room.

"He's probably over in his apartment taking care of some last minute details. I could take you over, if you'd like." LB offered.

"I'd like that." Sarah was uncomfortable with the idea that George hadn't even bothered to come over and say hi. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something was up. She reluctantly followed the blonde guy to the door.

As the two were making their exit, a pleasant, cheerful-looking woman scampered down the hall. "Luke!"

LB jumped back in surprise, almost knocking Sarah flat on her back. "Mom! I told you not to call me that in front of everyone."

"Luke, eh?" Aaron smiled. "You actually let people call you that once?"

LB grimaced. Luke Bradford Fisher was his given name, but for as long as he could remember, he had used LB. "Meet my mom everyone." He muttered.

Mrs. Annie Fisher was clearly getting a kick out of her son's reaction. "He's acted like that since he was nine years old. Suddenly decided one day that LB sounded 'cooler' than Luke."

"Either that, or he was sick of the Star Wars jokes." Aaron cracked. "Luuuuuke... I am your faather..." Receiving less than a warm response from his buddy, Aaron rushed to change the subject. "If it's any comfort, we can share the humiliation together in a minute. My brother and sister will be here soon."

"Wrong, pal." A voice came from the open doorway. "Already present and accounted for." Chris Lohr dumped his bags on the floor and pulled Aaron into a tight bear hug. "How've you been, kid?"

Aaron tensed at being called 'kid' by his big brother. He was 25 now, for God sake. Not a 'kid' by most definitions of the word. At moments like this, he remembered exactly why he had always felt that he was in competition with Christopher. Getting out from under his brother's shadow had always been one of his lifetime goals. Tension eased, however, when his ten year old sister Roxie, tottered in carrying the remaining bags. She was the "caboose" of the family, Aaron having been 15, and Chris, 18 when she was born.

"Hey sweetheart!" Aaron extracted himself from Chris, planting a kiss on her forehead. Giggling, she rushed out of his grasp to begin exploring the room. "Picked her up on your way?"

"Yeah. Mom was more than happy to get Rox off her hands for a while." Chris jammed his hands into his pockets and leaned up against the wall.

LB grinned and took Aaron aside. "She's a cutie, pal."

Aaron nodded. "Looks a lot like mom...." He trailed off, then realized something. "Hey! Shouldn't you be escorting Sarah into the arms of her beloved right about now?"

"Oh! Right. Sorry." LB turned. "If you'll just follow--" He quickly realized that she was nowhere in sight, "-- me? Aaron? Where's Sarah?"

"How should I know?" Aaron shrugged. "You were with her last!"

"Well, she isn't with me now!" LB replied.

Aaron's eyes went wide. "How do you loose a whole girlfriend?"

"Be selfish, pig-headed, and conceited." Annie Fisher grinned smugly and laughed at her own joke. She had been silently observing the whole conversation from a chair in the corner.

"Gee. Thanks, mom. Really helps." LB groaned.

"Now don't be getting fresh, young man. I happen to know exactly where your missing girl went. Perhaps if you'd been a little more courteous and hadn't interrupted me like that---"

"Where is she, mom? I really don't have the time for this." LB seethed. Her joking had not been taken kindly. George would be none too thrilled if Sarah had wandered off and was lost in the building somewhere.

Slightly taken aback, the gray-haired woman pointed down the hall. "Two doors down." She said, obviously more than a little hurt at her son's harsh words.

LB rushed off down the hall.

"You're welcome." She said in a barely audible whisper.

```*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*```


Sarah, realizing how crowded the apartment had become, had discretely stepped out. She decided that she would try to find George on her own. Luckily, it hadn't taken her very long to locate him.

Through the open door, she saw him sprawled out on his bed, belly up.

"Someone should just shoot me and be done with it." George said to the ceiling.

"Bang. You're dead." Sarah laughed from the doorway and stepped over the threshold.

George turned his head, managing to squeeze out a half smile. "Sarah. How are you?"

"I'm great now that you're here." She sat down next to him on the bed and ran her fingers through his hair. Absently, he kissed the back of her hand just as he had since they went out on their first date together. Fingertips first, then gently running his soft lips over her knuckles and to the back of her hand.

While her affections were usually just the ticket to perking up the 5'7" Bulgarian, all he could feel at the moment was annoyance. He got up and walked to the door without a word. "Let's go eat, huh?"

George's abrupt movement brought Sarah up short. Definitely unexpected, but she wasn't about to give up. He obviously needed some cheering up and she was going to provide that for him. "We could always reheat the food later, you know. I haven't seen you in months and I was kinda hoping that we could," she patted his pillow for emphasis, "talk about your new album---"

At those words, George shook his head angrily. That was the last thing he wanted to talk about right now. "I don't want to keep everyone waiting. It would be rude. Now let's go." He turned on his heel and exited the room hastily.

Wounded look on her face, Sarah got up sadly. A stinging in her eyes threatened to tip over the edge into a full blown fit of tears, but she pushed them back. No. No crying. You've only been waiting for this day for six months. Not like you planned this day out in your head a thousand times, right? she thought bitterly. Getting up quietly, she followed. "Keeping everyone waiting. Hmmm. Not the only rude thing lurking around here."

Everyone was settled down to the table when George and Sarah came through the door. "Sorry we're late." George apologized quickly. A slightly icy tone came through in his voice, noticed immediately by Jeff, Aaron, and LB. They knew his moods too well. Something was wrong. If he was pushing his own girlfriend aside now, his problems were far worse than anyone had imagined.

Jeff bit his lip and tried his best to brush off the silence. "I wouldn't worry about that. You're still earlier than my dad." Jeff picked up his glass. "Maybe he decided not to come after all."

"No way!" Aaron said reassuringly. "I'm sure that he just got lost or something."

"Young man," a voice boomed from the doorway George and Sarah had made their entrance through mere moments before, "I'll have you know that I never "get lost". Perhaps if the instructions had been clearer when my dear son had given them to me, I wouldn't have been delayed in my arrival."

"Hello dad." Jeff glanced up, but didn't bother trying to stand when introducing the slightly balding gentleman, (a fact rather expertly concealed under a Pittsburgh Steelers baseball cap). What was the point in getting up? His dad already thought him the rudest person on the face of the earth. Might as well live up to the expectation. "This is my father, Charles Geddis, everyone. Dad, my friends, and their family."

Murmured "hello's" and "nice to meet you's" echoed uneasily around the table. Charles settled into his place at the table, acknowledging them with the slightest nod of his head. Jeff regretted for a moment that he had not thought to pre-assign seats. He silently cursed his bad luck, for his dad was in the seat directly across the table from him. So much for trying to avoid the older gentleman's gaze throughout the duration of the meal.

Jeff set his glass back on the table--- he suddenly wasn't thirsty anymore. Or hungry, really.

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