DISCLAIMER: It is hard for me to accept, but I do not own Prison Break or T-Bag and recieve no profit from using the characters in this story.
Katie Salinger had come downstairs to set the dinner table. Listening to her mother gossiping about the neighbours made her smile into herself and patronise her silently. As she reached up to lift the dinner plates from their cupboard Katie felt her shirt skip over the ring in her naval. Glancing round quickly to check her mother hadn't noticed, she hurriedly set the plates on the counter and ran back to her bedroom.
Sitting down on her bed she contemplated whether getting the piercing had been worth this paranoia. She stood in front of the mirror and lifted her shirt enough to be able to examine her belly button ring. She smiled at how cute it looked, nestling in her naval, the green jewel on the catch went perfectly with her light tan. She ran her finger down the slight line in her abdomen and caressed the ring at the end. 'Yes,' she thought smiling. 'It was worth it.'
"Katie!"
Katie started at the sound of her mother's voice. She quickly pulled down her shirt and darted to the top of the stairs. Her mother was standing in the hall looking flustered.
"I asked you to set the dinner table ages ago, where have you been?"
Katie began walking down the stairs. "I think I'm getting my period," she said gently rubbing her stomach. Deceiving her mother, and feeling the cool metal through her top sent a tiny jolt through her lower abdomen and she stifled a smirk. Her mother scrutinised her face, "well, your father called, he's bringing a friend home for dinner, so I want the table set quickly."
Katie walked slowly down the remainder of the steps as her mother rushed back to the kitchen. At the end of hall was the kitchen, and just next to that was the undersized dining room. It had been originally built as a storage room as it was positioned along the rear wall of the house, but her mother, in an attempt to make the house more welcoming, had squeezed a dining table and eight chairs into the cramped space. Returning into the kitchen to collect the plates, Katie saw her father's pick-up pull up outside.
"Oh, they're here," gasped Katie's mother. "You go and hurry along with the table, I'll greet them."
Katie walked after her mother into the hall and turned into the dining room. As she was setting out the plates she heard the front door open, followed by her mother's high, harried tones and the low, placating ones belonging to her father. After putting out five places, she reached for the door to the hall but stopped to listen to the lilting, southern drawl of her father's guest.
"Ah'm new to th' place Miz Salinga', came up from Alubama on a visit, and fell in love with th' country here," he said. His speech was hypnotizing, and for once, Katie found herself interested in one of her father's friends. She opened the door gently and stepped into the hall.
"Mr. May, this is our daughter Katie. Katie this is your father's friend from work, Theodore May."
Katie looked up and saw Mr. May take a step towards her. He had a charming twinkle in his dark brown eyes and a smile playing on his mouth. His dark hair was bleached blonde and fell over his forehead into a point on one side.
"Hi there Katie, it's lovely to meet you," he said holding out his hand.
Feeling awkward at so formal an introduction and sensing both her parents' eyes on her she replied quietly, "Thank you Mr. May," and extended her own hand.
As he raised her hand to kiss it, his smile dropped to something more seductive. "Please Pretty, call me Teddy."