04x16 - Bless This Tess

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

Alright, you guys. Watch me.

It's backwards skip,
backwards skip,

toot the horn, toot the horn,

sprinkler leg shimmy,
eh! Sprinkler leg shimmy,

and finish with
flippin' the pancakes.

Oh! Whoa!

Step aside. I've got this.

Skip! Skip!

Toot the toot!

Shimmy! Shimmy!

Flip the cakes!

Bite the cakes! Bam.

You didn't get one move right.

- Nia, give it a try.
- Yeah. Move.

Here goes.

Alright. Hey! Hey!

Alright. Backwards
skip. Backwards skip.

- Toot the horn. Toot the horn.
- Toot! Toot it!

Sprinkler leg shimmy,
sprinkler leg shimmy,

- and flip the pancakes?
- Hello...

- Yes! Nailed it!
- Yeah!

- That's how it's done.
- Yeah.

That's exactly what
I did, right, Levi?

Not even close.

What are those kids
even doing right now?

It's one of those online
dance challenges.

My man on the ground says
it's sweeping the Internet.

- Who's your man on the ground? Levi?
- No, it's me.

I was lying on the ground
outside his door, eavesdropping.

Hey, Tess, do you really
think that we'll be able

to learn these moves?

And by we, I mean them.

You know, back in our day,
we didn't have to let people know

we were dancing. We just danced.

Why do you guys have to
document every moment?

Document every...
mom, don't you have, like,

a billion photo albums of
us in the hallway closet?

That's right, I do. I'm gonna
go look at them right now.

I'm okay!

It's just the photo albums!

Oh, come look at
this picture of Levi!

Or-or maybe it's Booker... oh
no, no, no. That's... that's Nia?

- I don't... I don't think I'm okay.
- Rae!

♪ Hey... Yo ♪

♪ Let me tell you somethin' ♪

♪ Had my vision all worked out ♪

♪ But then life
had other plans ♪

♪ Tell 'em, Rae ♪

♪ It's crazy when things
turn upside down ♪

♪ But ya gotta get up
and take that chance ♪

♪ Maybe I'm just finding my way
Learning how to fly ♪

♪ Yeah, we're gonna be okay
Ya know I got you, right? ♪

♪ It might be wild, but ya
know that we make it work ♪

♪ We're just kids caught
up in a crazy world ♪

♪ C'mon! ♪

♪ It's Raven's Home ♪
Yo!

♪ We get loud! ♪

♪ It's Raven's Home ♪

♪ It's our crowd! ♪

♪ Might be tough, but
together we make it look good ♪

♪ Down for each other
like family should ♪

♪ It's Raven's Home ♪

♪ When it's tough ♪

♪ It's Raven's Home ♪

♪ We got love ♪

♪ 'Cause no matter the weather,
ya know we gon' shine ♪

♪ There for each other,
ya know it's our time ♪

Yep! That's us.

♪♪

You know, guys, I'm
really excited for this video.

I mean, it's the first
thing that the four of us

have done together in a while.

So, let's get back
to it before we have

a whole new dance
trend we have to learn.

We teens are a fickle bunch.

What? I'm a teenager now.

I threw my lifts away.

This is actual growth.

Oh. Gotta hit
pause on rehearsal.

What? What pause? No,
no, I pause your pause.

Well, my mom's working a double,

and my dad's coming into
town tonight to drive to New York

first thing in the morning
and check on grandma zo.

My uncle Mike will be watching
me while my parents are away.

Alright, well, I accept
your pause then,

but hurry back.

- Bye, sweetheart!
- Bye, sweetie!

Love you! Love you, sweetie!

Bye, sweetie!

We need to talk
about your friend Tess.

And how I'm so much
taller than she is?

Oh, sweetheart, we know you've
been tripling up on your socks.

You wanna keep secrets,
maybe do your own laundry!

And speaking of your
own laundry, there it is.

- Back to Tess.
- Yeah.

Tess' dad has been on the
road these past few months,

and she's interacting with him,

so it might be best

if she didn't come and go so
casually until we know it's safe.

You think we should,
like, quarantine from Tess?

I do.

But don't get it
twisted. I love Tess.

It's like she's my third child.

- Um...
- I mean fourth!

Fourth! I love you.

You my baby.

But by limiting the
number of households

we interact with,
we reduce the risk.

But, it's Tess.

I know. I'm doing this for her,

and her family, and our family.

It's safest for everyone.

Everybody has to make
sacrifices. I mean, look at me.

I had to stop SCÜTing
because it was too risky,

and now it's just sitting in the
parking space, collecting dust.

Wait, didn't you stop driving
that SCÜT way before...

Ahem! Making a point,
Chels! Put a sock in it!

Aw!

Whose itty-bitty
socks are these...

What? Oh, Rae!

Aw, these aren't
our clothes. Rae!

We grabbed the wrong load again.

Back to the laundry room.

♪ ♪

Silence.

Peace.

Yes. Heaven.

- Hey, Rae! What's up!
- What you doin'?

Nothing. Just reading.

Oh! I love a good book.

Ever since quarantine started,

I've been waking up so early.

- Uh-huh.
- Yeah.

Which is great because then I
get all my work done by noon,

and I have all this extra
free time on my hands.

- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.

You weren't listening
to me at all, were you?

What? No, sorry.

I-I'm just really into my book,

so if you don't mind,
I'll get back to it.

Oh!

Right, of course.
No. I hear ya. I got ya.

No prob.

Oh.

Magazine.

Ooh! Okay!

Look at us. Reading.

Relaxing, huh?

This magazine's a snooze.
Switchies, huh? Let's switch.

Let's switchy switch.

Gustav and Amelia?

She should've left him ages ago!

Hey, Nia, you sent a
bunch of random stuff

in the group text with Tess,

but nothing about us being
quarantined away from her.

What gives?

I keep typing something
out and then deleting it.

How do you tell your best friend
that you can't see them for a while?

- I don't know.
- Yeah, that's tough.

No, no, guys, I'm actually
asking. Like, how do I do that?

I mean, I haven't gone
an hour without seeing her

since the very first
day that we met.

And we can't even finish

our dance challenge
video all together.

I don't know about
all that. I mean,

you are speaking to

the second best dancer
in our friend group.

Try to figure out something.

Something... Not that.

Speaking of ruining things,

I think you should
be the one to tell Tess

that she can't come
over here anymore.

Me? No, you've known
her the longest. You tell her.

I met her two minutes
before you did.

- So? That's still longer. You do it.
- No, no, no!

You do it. See, it'll hurt
less coming from you

'cause you guys are like good
friends, but we're best friends.

- Big difference.
- So?

I will arm wrestle you for it.

I'm just glad no one's
asking me to do it.

Moving in with you
guys has been amazing.

- I just had a vision!
- Oh, that you're gonna do it?

We don't have to
tell her anything.

♪ ♪

And that is why, uh,
Levi, next slide, please.

Really?

You couldn't have found
a picture with Tess in it?

Now, while you guys said
that you didn't want Tess

"coming and going..."

You didn't say anything
about her coming and staying.

So we propose that...

Tess moves in!

Yeah, at least while
her parents are away.

- What do you think?
- I think my arm is getting tired.

Can I please put this down now?

You want that five
bucks or not, Levi?

Keep it up and keep it high.

Levi, don't blow this, okay?
I need to borrow five bucks.

So... what do you guys think?

I have to hand it to you kids.

You used my words against me.

- You guys are good. So good, it's bad.
- Yeah.

So bad, it's scary.

So scary, it's impressive.

Yeah, it was really a
group effort, you know?

Everyone really
pitched in, but, um,

it was mostly me.

You won't even
notice that she's here.

I guess moving Tess
into our household

will reduce the risk
for exposure, so, uh...

Yeah.

Sure, Tess can move in,

- but only if her parents say it's okay.
- Yes!

And you know what? You
know what? Uncle Mike,

he can move in here, too.
If he wants. No big deal.

- He's the hunky cop, right?
- Mm-hmm.

Ew!

- Hey, Tess, great news!
- You can come here again!

Actually, you can stay
here as long as you want

until your parents are back.

Wait, what? When wasn't
I allowed to come over?

Oh yeah, no. We couldn't
decide on who was gonna tell you,

but, um, I got you.

"You can't come over. Sad face."

But now, you can! Happy face!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

So this is my room.

- She's been here a million times.
- Yeah,

but never as my roommate.
Now, we can stay up all night,

we can do homework,
we can finish our dance.

Eh!

Well, I'm officially

a Baxter-Carter-
Grayson-O'Malley!

- Wow, that's a mouthful.
- Yeah.

Oh, and the best
part is now there are

just as many girls in this house

as there are boys.
No, moms don't count.

Woo!

That doesn't mean anything.

Hey, Tess, do you wanna
see the best part of this room?

Yeah.

- Okay, do you guys wanna see it, too?
- Yes! Yeah!

Alright. So, you just have
to scoot back a little bit.

- Okay. I see, I see.
- And then it's kinda right here, right?

You look right here, and
you close the door, and...

Yeah!

♪ ♪

I'm afraid to go
in there, Chels.

This is Tess' first morning
as our house guest,

and the kids have been
slacking on their chores as it is.

Right?

Can't imagine the mess
we're about to walk into.

I know. I know that "you won't
even know she's here" stuff?

- Please.
- Right? Kids? Yeah, okay, whatever.

Oh, they've been in constant
slacker sleepover mode.

I bet it's a total pig sty...

This is our apartment, right?

I-I wanna say yes, but
I've been wrong before,

so... man.

Look at these floors!
Somebody waxed the floors!

And this table's set!

And can you smell
that beautiful aroma?

Which one? The sandalwood
candle or the delicious breakfast?

- Don't know.
- Either way,

it's covering up the smell
of teenagers. Love it!

Well, well, well!

I was sure this place
was gonna be a mess.

Yeah, so did we.

That's how we left it.

We just figured the moms are
gonna clean it up like always.

Excuse me?

You are a Saint, and I love you.

Good morning, fam!

I made all of your favorites.

- Pancakes for the boys...
- What?

Waffles for my girl, Nia.

Why, thank you, Tess!

And French toast
for Ms. B and Ms. G.

Oh, I see what's happening!
I see what's happening!

- We're dreaming.
- Tess,

this is incredible.
This place has literally

never looked so good.

Seriously, mom and
auntie Rae could never.

Excuse me?

Uh...

You know what? Someone's
calling me. I gotta take this.

Hi, someone.

- But, how did you do all of this?
- Well, I wake up

every morning at : am
to work out and start my day.

I ordered groceries, put
them away, waxed the floors,

dusted, did the laundry,

and, obviously,
cooked some breakfast.

Wow! This is such a great

change of pace. You know what?

Levi, Booker, Nia.

When Tess' parents get back,
I'm gonna move y'all in with them.

I'm keeping this one.

- You got some syrup? Get some of that.
- Yeah! Okay.

♪ ♪

Well, call me destiny's child

'cause I got nothing
but bills, bills, bills.

- Oh hey, Rae!
- Hey, girl. Hey.

You still reading
that book, huh?

Must be a real page-Turner.
Where you headed?

Downstairs to, uh,

to your best dressed life. You
know, to catch up on some...

Some bookkeeping.

Oh, you know what?
I've always wondered

what bookkeeping
is. I think I'll join you.

Actually, no.

Because, uh, Levi...

He needs you in there.

Oh. Okay, well you know
what? I'll just go talk to Levi,

and then I'll join you.

Aren't you glad you don't
drive that SCÜT anymore,

and you only have the one
job, so you can just spend

the whole day with me, huh?

The SCÜT, eh? Hm.

♪ ♪

Call me destiny's child 'cause
I am an independent woman.

Nia, I know you're watching
other people's dance challenges,

but you gotta feel these towels.

Is Tess a secret housekeeper?

I didn't even know
towels could be this soft.

This fluffy...

- Oh, she's good.
- Too good.

I'm starting to
get a little worried.

I've spent years constructing
a very intricate web of reasons

why I'm unable to do chores,

and she's unraveled
all of them in, like, a day.

Look, she probably just
wants to impress our moms.

I just hope she's done soon
because I've barely seen her

since she's moved in, and I
wanna get back to our choreography.

See? It's already starting.

Mom wants me to
clean the windows.

It's okay though. I've
got the perfect excuse.

Third floor. Can't
clean the outside,

why clean the
inside, am I right?

I mean, come on. We're never
gonna be able to hang out.

Okay, so she gets to repel
off the side of the building,

but when I wanna do
it, it... it's too dangerous.

It's ill-advised. It's
unfair, that's what it is!

♪ ♪

Oh, I see you. I see you.

Oh! She sees me, she sees me.

Hey.

Hey. Where you
going, Rae? Liartown?

Okay! Okay! You caught me!

What's going on, Rae?
Why are you avoiding me?

Because, Chels, I have
quarantine claustrophobia.

- What?
- At home, the kids are always there.

At work, you're always
there. Which I love.

But I... I need
something for me.

You know, I need
a place where I can

be in my own thoughts
and do the things that I like.

Ah. Oh, like a she-shed?

Yeah. Yeah, exactly like that.

Yeah, well, that's a great idea!

- Really?
- Yeah!

Huh... That was easy.

Just gotta stay
firm in how you feel,

tell people what
it is, and they...

Oh man, Rae!

What's going on?

It's just like the
old days, right?

No kids, no problems.

Read to me, Rae. Read
to me. Tell me a story.

Chels, I love
you, but this isn't

a we-shed she-shed.
It's a, it's a...

Me-shed she-shed.

What? I can't believe
you just said that.

I know, right? That was
kinda tongue twistery.

We-shed she-shed,
me-shed she-shed.

And then you gotta go
into the he-shed she-shed,

and then the
she-shed she-shed...

♪ ♪

Nia, what is this about?

Okay, you were
right. Tess living here

is nothing like I
thought it'd be. I mean,

we haven't done one thing
that I was looking forward to.

Oh, I know, right?

She's upset the delicate
balance of my do-nothingness.

Sure, the toilets smell
amazing when you flush...

But at what cost?

Don't forget about the little
mints she leaves on our pillows.

Those are nice.

- They are.
- The moms are already hinting

at all the extra chores we'll
have to do when she leaves.

The longer she's here,

- the more damage she does.
- Well, what do we do?

She gotta go.

- Alright, let's go tell her.
- Okay.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Tess! Tess, where are you?
- Hey, Tess!

Tess something
O'Malley, where are you?

An extension cord

strewn across the
floor carelessly?

Tess definitely
hasn't been here.

Hey, Tess, there
you are... save it.

I heard everything
you guys said.

Wait, what? When?

Just now!

I was under your bed,
cleaning for dust bunnies.

I also found a broken
lamp under there.

My bad.

So, um, you heard everything?

So, you heard the part
how we love those mints,

right?

And the toilets?

I heard it all.

Bye, you guys.

Wait, wait, Tess! Um,

we did say all those things,

but it's only because I feel
like I spent more time with you

before you moved
in than I do now.

I miss neighbor Tess.
That was my best friend.

I barely get to see
house guest Tess.

Yeah. And the only reason I
wanted you gone was because

your thoughtfulness is wreaking
havoc on my thoughtlessness.

It just seems like
you're more into cleaning

and trying to impress our moms

than you are into
spending any time with me.

Is that really what you think?

I'm not trying to
impress anyone.

This is literally just how I am.

I come from a family
of hard workers.

Essential workers.

And we know.

No, you don't.

My mom is a nurse,
and the people

at the hospital depend on her.

And my dad is a truck driver,

and people depend
on him all over.

Listen, I know you guys
see me as the fun neighbor,

but you've never
actually lived with me.

I take care of the
people I live with.

Things have been
super stressful,

and moving in with you
guys has been amazing.

At least, it was.

That was before I found
out how you really felt.

- That was my vision. Okay.
- Not the time, Booker.

Tess, we didn't think
of it like that at all...

No. You didn't.

I was on my last chapter.

Gustav was about to kiss Amelia.

There was rain drops. It was
just beautiful, right? And then,

my fan stopped. Why?

Because someone unplugged

my extension cord!

And...

What's that? Why do
you have your bag?

I'm headed home because...
They don't want me here.

What? No, no, no. Y-You
can't go. I told your parents

you were gonna be here for two
weeks, and that's what's happening.

- But, Ms. B...
- uh-uh!

Only but I wanna see is
yours going back there.

And now for y'all.

No, no, no! I don't want

to hear about it, alright?

Tess is like family to us.

And you guys are the
only family she has,

alright? So, fix it.

And leave my cord alone.

♪ ♪

Chels, what are you
doing? I need that.

Actually, Rae,
you don't. Listen,

I thought about what you said,

and I wanted to do
something nice for you,

so... hop in.

♪ ♪

Chels, you did all this
for me? This is amazing!

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and the best part
is I got you the audiobooks

for your book series,

so you have your
hands free for...

Mocktails and muffins!

I don't know what to say!

Oh Rae, listen, you don't
have to say anything, okay?

Being stuck at home effects
people in different ways,

you know? Some people
need space and some don't.

You do. That's okay.

Exactly.

Yeah, you invited Levi
and me into your home

all those years ago,
you know? And...

You saved us. I...

I never ever want you to feel
cramped or regret that decision.

Never, Chels. Never.

Well, I'll leave you to it then.

Oh, come on. Where
are you going, Chels?

What?

I mean, yes, I love
my alone time, but...

I love my Chels time, too.

- Ooh!
- Here. Have a muffin.

- Thank you.
- You can just bite it...

- Well, I'm just...
- Okay...

I'm trying not to get crumbs.

♪ ♪

Hey, Tess! Can
you come out here?

And, she's ignoring us.

I got this.

Uh, Tess!

A sports ball game is going on!

And we made sandwiches!

Did you cut the
crusts off and cut them

in little cute Dino
shapes like I like?

- There are no sandwiches.
- Oh no, Tess! Please!

Please don't leave.

Look, we know
that this is our fault.

And I am really sorry about
lying about the sandwiches.

I just thought that
you living here

meant that we'd be
spending all this time together,

and that we'd be inseparable,

like... sisters.

I always wanted
one, and I thought that

this was my chance to have one.

What you do for your
parents and for us,

- it's awesome.
- Tess, you're an inspiration.

Look at how fluffy I
made these towels.

- Oh, you're good.
- Yeah, I am! And it's because of you!

So, to show our
appreciation for you,

we decided to learn this
dance challenge on our own.

So you're gonna sit back,
and you're gonna watch.

Okay.

And we're not tagging it
"dance craze challenge."

We are tagging it
"essential Tess day."

Hey! Back it up!

Hey! Hey! Hey!

- Yo!
- Aw!

I love essential Tess day.

So do we!

Yeah. Now, Tess, can
you please forgive us?

I mean, I can't stand
seeing you mad.

- Oh, I forgive you guys.
- Yeah!

- I was hoping you'd say that.
- Wait,

can we do the dance
again? I wanna join.

- Yeah.
- Alright, ready?

Hey!

- Oh!
- Ah!

Oh, that was fun.

But this place is a mess.

It's gonna take till new
years to clean it up.

- Oh, I got it!
- Ah, ah, ah!

No, it's essential
Tess day, okay?

You're not lifting a
finger, so sit, relax.

Mom, aunt Chelsea,
you, too. Relax.

- Thank you.
- Okay.

- I can relax.
- This does feel nice.

And Nia? What you said earlier

about always wanting a sister?

You have one.

Oh... ♪ ♪

Hey, you guys, has
anyone seen the boys?

- No.
- It's a good question.

Hey, how did they get
out of helping me clean up?

As he stood in the snow,
looking at his family crest,

Gustav knew he had found

his long-lost sister.

Now this is the life.

Wait, Gustav found
his long-lost sister?

We gotta put in book two.

♪ ♪