Last Man Standing: Season 5
Everyone in this story is at least eighteen years of age when having sexual relations
Since last visiting the Baxter household, a lot has occurred. The biggest issue was that Eve failed to get into West Point. She moped around, missed school and never got out of her pajamas.
Vanessa was getting upset that she wouldn't snap out of it and she brought up the issue to Mike. Mike who always confronted problems head on went into the living room to speak to her, "Eve, Eve, get your fucking ass off the couch. You're going to work with me."
She had a sad look on her face and stared up at him, "What?"
"Yeah, your mom's tired of you moping; so am I. Either get ready right now or I'm taking you in your pajamas." He clapped his hands together several times, "Let's go, come on."
She cried out, "I'm not going to work with you, Dad."
"Okay, fine. That's a good choice." He turned to Vanessa, "Get some duct tape, I'll get a hand truck. Let's go!"
Eve didn't budge, "All right, all right, all right! Fine, fine, fine. Can I at least finish the Cheerios in my robe pocket?"
Mike just stood there glaring down at her. She hopped up, "Okay, fine! I'll go, but I'm not gonna do anything or talk to anybody."
He blurted out, "That's my job. You got to work up to that." He nearly chased her up the stairs, Go on, come on, come on, come on! Let's go! I got to get going here!"
Vanessa stared at him as he moved towards the kitchen, "That was gentle?"
"Honey, you knew what you were getting into when you asked me to marry you."
She placed her hand over her heart and let out a silent gasp.
He took Eve to work and introduced her to Joe in the repair shop. They hit it off and by the end of the day, she was slowly slipping out of her funk.
She got home and confronted Mike and Vanessa, "Working at Outdoor Man was great. On lunch break, I won eight bucks shooting dice with Felipe."
Mike looked at her, "You won eight bucks?"
"Joe was actually really helpful. He gave me a ton of advice on college."
Vanessa wasn't sure where this was going, "Oh, that's nice. Where did Joe go to college?"
Eve finally had a smile on her face, "He didn't. Yeah, and I'm not going to, either. I'm going to be a mechanic." She grabbed a drink out of the fridge and left the kitchen.
Vanessa stared at Mike, "She is not going to be a mechanic. She is going to college."
Mike tried to calm her down, "She's a little lost right now. She's jumping at the first thing that came along. Lucky I didn't take her to a men's club."
Vanessa didn't see the humor in that, "We need to go talk to her!"
He shook his head, "No, no, no, no, wait. It took her two weeks to get off the couch. Let's not do anything to put her back on the couch, honey"
"Oh, so we can't talk to Eve, but Joe's gonna have her ear for eight hours tomorrow? I'm sure that's gonna work out well."
"All right, tonight, when I go over there, I'll talk to Joe and tell him to keep his opinions to himself, and I'll do that while I've got the engine on a hoist over his head."
Mike went over and fought with Joe and he finally agreed to stay clear of Eve. Mike went to work the next day and while in his office, Eve came in from home. She knocked on his door, "Hi Dad."
He looked up at her, "It's Mr. Baxter."
"I'm gonna go down to the garage. Joe says he's gonna teach me how to heat a can of beans on a engine block."
Mike was pissed, especially after Joe said he'd back off, "Oh great---a mechanic and a hobo. No wonder you like spending time with him. Actually, I don't want you going down there today. I want you to spend some time up here in accounting."
"Why, I already know what I want to do. I'm going to be a mechanic."
"I want you to experience a lot of different things, honey."
She came closer, crossing her arms, "Yeah, but accounting?"
"Yeah, accountants are like the mechanics of numbers."
"Yeah, but the nerds of everything else. I bet none of them know how to tune an engine."
"You don't know how to tune an engine."
"Well, so I'll learn"
"You've been down in my service center for one day. What's your sudden fascination becoming a mechanic?"
"Well, because it just makes sense, okay? It's simple--something's broken, and you fix it. You don't understand, Dad". She turned and left the office.
He mumbled to himself, "Oh, I think I do."
Later that day he went down to the service center and found Eve there, "Hey, Eve."
She rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, I'll go up to accounting in a second. Unless you've decided to send me someplace even more boring."
He came over to her, "I don't think such a place exists. What are you doing?"
"I'm replacing an alternator from the ATV. Joe said it's shot. He went to go get another one."
"Yeah? Why don't you just use the one out of the snowmobile?"
"Um, because it's from the ATV. That part wouldn't work."
"Works in the snowmobile."
"Yeah, well, you can't just pull a part off one machine and use it to fix a different machine."
Mike was trying to make his point, "And you can't just pull a part off of somebody's else life to make your life work, either."
She stopped and stared at him, "Clever" She got up and moved away.
He continued, "It's a metaphor. I learned about that in college."
She stopped and turned, "All right! Fine! I give up. I won't be a mechanic. I'll go to college. Whatever makes you guys happy"
He groaned, "It's not about making us happy. You know what this is really about? Making you happy. Listen, it's about making you happy."
"Dad, what if I never find something in my life that means as much as West Point did? Okay, so maybe I give the accounting department a day just to cross that off the list."
Mike hugged her, "You might be surprised. They're pretty cool up there. Sometimes, they round up to a zero."
She went to accounting and later that evening she returned home to find Mike and Vanessa having dinner, "Look, I know you guys have been anxious for me to make a decision about college, so, uh, I've been thinking."
Vanessa looked up in anticipation, "Yeah, Did you make a choice?"
She nodded, "I did. I'd like to take some time off to figure out what I want to do with my life."
Vanessa let out a long sigh, "Eve, I just--- I just think that's a waste of time."
"No, it's not! I want to try different jobs, some different things, see if there's something good that finds me."
Vanessa looked away, "Mike?"
He looked from Vanessa and then to Eve, "I think it's a good idea."
Vanessa was shocked, "You do?!"
Mike turned back to Eve, "I think if you search, you're gonna find that you're good at a lot of things."
She gave him a weak smile, "I hope." She turned and headed upstairs.
Mike looked to Vanessa, "Calm down, calm down. Honey, she's in a weird place. Give her some time. She'll come around."
She really didn't and she slowly fell deeper into a depressed state. Mike knew he had to do something to cheer her up.
While all of this was happening to Eve, Kristen invited Mandy and Kyle over to her apartment for a dinner engagement. Ryan wasn't very keen about spending time with his rude sister-in-law and her boyfriend. He came out of the bedroom with a blanket over his head and shoulders and let out a sigh, "Hey, babe. You know, I'm feeling really sick. I probably shouldn't have dinner with Kyle and Mandy tonight. Stupid flu, you know?"
She looked amazing. Her long ash blonde hair hung down past her large breasts. Her make-up was done to perfection. Her lips were a dark red and her bangs made her look even sexier. She was wearing a olive green sleeveless dress that buttoned up the front and the two top buttons were open exposing the tops of her large, firm breasts.
She shook her head and chuckled, "Well, that's how you're gonna fake being sick? Those acting classes at the community center are NOT paying off. Come on, Mandy is my sister okay? I want the four of us to be close."
He tore the blanket off and his shoulders slumped, "Can't you just do stuff with her? I mean, I like Kyle, but we have nothing in common. Well other than both dating you and fucking you. At least your dad gives me material for the message boards on Huffington Post."
She let out a silent gasp, thinking back about the two nights Kyle and she spend doing just that while trying to catch a raccoon. She was distracted when there was a knock on the door. "Look, I think Kyle's in this family to stay, so it would be great if you found some way to connect with him."