Lisa's pov

Shane is bringing his new girlfriend Kimberly out to dinner with us tonight. I haven't figured out yet who's being punished; the four of us, Shane or Kimberly. We have to be on our best behavior and pretend to like her, even if we really despise her. Shane's caught in the middle, trying to sell our virtues to her and vice versa, in addition to downplaying our faults and hers. Kimberly has to tolerate us or risk losing Shane. Truly a lose, lose, lose situation.

On the way to the restaurant, Mike and Shane each remind us about fifteen times to behave ourselves tonight. Blah blah blah polite, blah blah blah respectful, blah blah blah best behavior, blah blah blah consequences is all I heard. I really have no desire to meet Shane's new girlfriend. It's nothing personal, I don't even know Kimberly, afterall. I won't like any woman he's dating. Truth be told, I know it's selfish but I don't want to have to share Shane with anyone. I mean let's face it, Mike and Shane have their hands full with the four of us and their jobs as it is. How is he going to be able to juggle a girlfriend in the mix?

Mercifully, the threat of blistering our butts, thinly veiled in the guise of a lecture, ceased as we arrived at the restaurant. Kimberly was meeting us here, as she was coming straight from work.

Shane commences the introductions, "Girls, this is Kimberly. Kimberly, this is Stacey, Lisa, Carrie, and Julie."

Kimberly says, "It's so nice to finally meet you girls. Shane talks about you all the time. In a way, I feel like I already know you."

Stacey and Carrie say, "It's nice to meet you too." Stacey appears to be on her best behavior. I think she's just happy to be out of the house since she's still grounded for lying to Mike.

Julie and I aren't so receptive to Shane's current piece of tail. Julie ignored her greeting and I mumbled, "Whatever," without even looking up. Unfortunately, our rudeness did not go unnoticed by Mike. Shane, however, was too busy staring at Kimberly's chest to pay attention to us.

As we followed our server to our table, Mike grabbed Julie and I by the back of our shirts and pulled us to him. Thankfully, we were at the back of the group so the others didn't notice.

Mike warns, "I thought Shane and I made it very clear, you were to be on your best behavior tonight. Did we not?"

WTF Mike! How the hell do we answer that? Yes you did not or no you did? Julie and I just look at him blankly, unsure of the correct response.

"I'm waiting, ladies!" Mike says impatiently. He's still holding the backs of our shirts to prevent our escape from this irrelevant conversation.

"What do you want from us, Mike?" I say with attitude.

"What I EXPECT from the two of you, is to treat Kimberly with respect and to act like civilized human beings. Is that something you can do, or is that too much to ask?"

Good God, it's like having a conversation with The Riddler. I throw out my hands in desperation, indicating I don't know what you want by my facial expressions and gestures. I, honestly, don't think Julie's even listening anymore as I see her staring out the window.

Mike sighs, exasperated by our lack of cooperation.

"Look, I know this isn't easy for you but I'm not going to remind you again to be polite. The next time you fail to be respectful, there will be unpleasant consequences. Am I clear?"

Not even a little bit, Mike, but whatever. I'm so over this conversation.

I hear Julie say, "Yes sir," absentmindedly as she continues to look out the window, oblivious to Mike's stern warning.

Mike then looks to me, anticipating a response.

I sigh, "Whatever, you can't make me like her."

Mike bends to my level so we're face to face. He lightly pats my right cheek three times with his open hand before gripping my chin.

"You're right, Lisa. I cannot make you like her but I can and will take you over my knee if you act inappropriately. I strongly suggest you don't test me." He lightly pats my cheek again, which I know is a preview of what I'll receive if I continue to mouth off.

We join everyone else at the table. Shane gives Mike a questioning look, to which Mike replies by simply shaking his head from side to side. We order our food and have polite conversation while we wait for it to arrive. Well, everyone besides Julie and me has polite conversation with Kimberly. I can tell Shane is starting to get aggravated with us.

Once the food arrives, the tension amongst us escalates. Julie continues to give Kimberly dismissive one word answers and refuses to engage in any type of meaningful dialogue with her.

At one point, Shane slams his hands down on the table rather loudly after hearing me ask, "Can I just eat my food in peace, please?"

He starts to get up from the table but Kimberly stops him by gently squeezing his arm and motioning for him to remain seated.

Shane's breaking point was nearing and stupidly, Julie and I were determined to bring it to fruition. Kimberly asked me, "What's your favorite subject in school Lisa?"

To which I replied, "Look, I'm sure you're a nice person and a lot of fun in bed but I don't really feel the need to get to know you. Okay?"

Julie added on, "Yeah, when Shane gets tired of you, he'll move on to his next conquest so it's not really worth our time to become too invested in you. Ya know?"

Thank God that restaurant was loaded with witnesses because there was about to be a double homicide. I can honestly say, I've never seen anyone look as angry as Shane did at that moment. His eyes were black as night and his jaw couldn't have been any more rigid.

"THAT'S IT!" he yelled. "You two, come with me!"

Mike stood up but Shane stopped him.

"It's alright, Mike, I've got this." Shane roughly grabbed us both and dragged us out of the restaurant, with Kimberly in tow.

"Shane, please," Kimberly pleaded, "don't do this."

"They are not going to get away with speaking to you that way." Shane glared at us.

Kimberly pulled him aside, far enough away from us so we couldn't hear their conversation. Shane was livid and she was obviously trying to calm him down. She kept patting his arm and giving him sympathetic looks. Shane was gesturing angrily and incredulously but Kimberly was more persistent and persuasive in her argument. Shane finally acceded to her demands, so she returned to the restaurant and Shane turned his undivided attention to us, his two petulant preteens.

"You have Kimberly to thank for me not thrashing the two of you within an inch of your lives right now." Shane took a few deep calming breaths as he struggled to keep his temper at bay. "If it were up to me, you'd be taking turns over my knee begging for mercy." He continues to pace restlessly, trying to rein in his anger. "Unfortunately, Kimberly made me promise not to punish you for your incredibly rude immature wildly inappropriate disrespectful remarks."

"Great, so she's bossy too," Julie mutters under her breath, taking full advantage of the clemency Kimberly just granted us.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH HER?" Shane yelled. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO THE TWO OF YOU HAVE AGAINST HER, ANYWAY?" He stood rigidly in front of us, arms crossed, looking incredibly imposing.

"I don't care enough about her to have anything against her," Julie said, rather matter of factly.

Shane sighed and turned his back to us, trying to calmly collect his thoughts.

"You know, I'm really disappointed in you, Julie. You didn't even give her a chance. That's all I wanted. I didn't realize that was too much to ask."

The guilt trip appeared to be working on Julie.

"I'm hungry, can I go eat now?" Julie questioned, without emotion.

Or maybe not.

Shane threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"You know what? I give up, Julie. Go apologize to Kimberly for your rude remarks and finish your dinner."

"Ok," Julie said, before walking back inside the restaurant as if none of the events in the last fifteen minutes had transpired.

"You can't make us like her. You know?" I said somewhat timidly, avoiding eye contact with Shane.

Shane again sighed loudly before addressing me, "Look, Lisa, I understand Julie's antipathy towards Kimberly but I really don't understand your animosity towards her. Explain yourself please."

"Uh, I have no idea what you just said, Shane, but I'm not gonna like anyone who's going to take you away from us." Shane's expression instantly softened upon hearing my words and seeing the tears forming in my eyes. I turned away from him, embarrassed by my own emotions betraying me. I wanted to be angry, not sad. Why the hell was I crying?

"Lisa baby, look at me," Shane says softly, while kneeling down and gently turning me towards him.

I reluctantly face him but refuse to make eye contact.

Looking down at my feet, I say, "It's not fair. We loved you first. She shouldn't be able to come along and just shove us out of the fucking picture." Tears were flowing freely down my face now as I blushed from embarrassment, unable to control my own emotions.

Shane's pov

Wow, her mom's suicide and father's homicide really left her with major abdonment issues and rightfully so, I thought. I have to remember to schedule some extra appointments for her with Dr. Evans. I hate to see her hurting like this.

I slowly tilted her chin up and she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"First, believe me, baby girl, when I tell you there isn't anyone on this earth who could make me stop loving you. I've loved you and your sisters from the moment I laid eyes upon you. No one will EVER take you away from me or push you aside. The four of you will forever be my number one priority. If I ever made you doubt that, Lisa, I'm truly sorry and I pray you'll forgive me. Understand?"

Lisa's pov

I nod and Shane pulls me into the most comforting hug I've ever had. He holds my head against his shoulder with his left arm as he soothingly rubs my back with his right.

"I love you more than you'll ever know, Lisa." After a few minutes, Shane holds me at arms' length and says sternly, "Secondly, I don't ever want to hear you curse like that again. That kind of language is unacceptable and you know that. This is your one and only warning. Am I clear?"

"I'm sorry, Shane," I manage to choke out, before I start sobbing, still overcome by emotion.

Shane wraps his loving arms around me, pressing me against his chest, letting me cry into his shirt as I nuzzle closer.

"I know, baby. I forgive you but you still owe Kimberly an apology, so let's go back inside."

Once back inside, I apologized sincerely and profusely to Kimberly for my rude remarks, which is more than I can say for Julie.