Title: Play date /Part 1 of ?

Author: Simon

Characters: The Flying Graysons

Rating: PG

Summary: While still in the circus, Dick spends a day with a young fan.

Warnings: none

Disclaimers: These guys aren't mine, they don't belong to me, worst luck, so don't bother me.

Archive: Fine, but if you want it, please ask first.

Feedback: Hell, yes.

Please note: I've made Dick about twelve in this story. His parents are still alive.

Play date

The little girl was sitting in the front row and normally Dick wouldn't pay any attention, but she'd been pointed out to him by Pop because it was her birthday. He always tried to make a deal over kids, Pop did—especially when he knew it was a birthday and so he'd asked Dick to go over after the performers parade that always started the show and give some flowers to the girl.

Blushing and at his parent's urging, he'd done it, hating every second of it. She'd been surrounded by a group of maybe ten other girls and a few parents to boot and every single one of them either oohed and ahhed or giggled when he'd handed her the handful of daffodils.

Except the girl herself—she had taken the small bouquet from him, blushed and stammered her thanks.

And then she had stared at him throughout the entire rest of the show. When he was backstage, waiting for his cue, he could see her waiting for him to appear by peeking through the slit in the curtain. When he made his entrance, she had fixated on him to the exclusion of anyone and anything else. When he'd performed his part in the act he could feel her eyes on him and when he made his bow and descended from the rigging he couldn't see anything but her watching him.

It was almost creepy.

After the show, back at the trailer and changed into an old pair of jeans and an equally old Haley tee shirt, he was starting his math homework when his father came in. "Dick, there's a young lady who would like to speak with you for a minute."

Mom looked up from mending a torn pair of tights. "Who is it?"

"The birthday girl from the show. I think she wants an autograph or a picture—go ahead, Dick. Be nice to her."

His mother seemed to know something about this; he looked at her for an answer. "Her mother's name is Susan Landon and she spoke to me earlier—I meant to tell you, but I simply forgot honey, I'm sorry. They live here in town and she said her daughter—Sarah, I think? Anyway she said her daughter had seen your picture in the paper or something and asked for tickets and to meet you. I didn't think you'd mind, honey. Okay?"

Oh, man. It was part of the job, but—oh, man. "Okay."

"A little enthusiasm would be good."

Dick plastered a smile on his face and faced the enemy.

She was standing there with her mother, the other girls, her friends, were back about twenty feet and giggling. He wished they'd all go away and leave him alone. Right now. Long division was looking pretty good, in fact.

He wasn't sure what to say, so, "…Hi."

Her mother touched her arm, giving her a little shove. "Hi…um, you were really good."

"Thank you." He'd been taught to be polite to fans.

She looked like she wanted to say more, but shyness got the better of her, she looked at her mom. "Go ahead, Sarah, it's all right."

The girl seemed to gather up her nerve. "I was wondering, are you were going to be here long?"

"You mean in, um, this town?" He'd already forgotten it's name, if he'd ever bothered to learn it.

She nodded. "I was thinking, um, I thought that—I mean…" She was close to panic, her eyes landed on his sneakers, studying the scuffmarks or something before she continued in a rush of words. "I was thinking that maybe if you were going to be around here for a while, maybe you could come over to my house and maybe come swimming or something, if you'd maybe like that or something."

He didn't know what to say, nothing like this had ever happened to him before. Usually the townies tried to stay as far away from the carnies as they could, expecting them to get mugged if they got too close.

"Dick, honey, the young lady invited you over, what do you say?" Oh, God, his mother was laying this on him. He looked over at her, praying she could hear his mental plea to help him. Didn't she realize they could be white slavers or something? If he went to their house, his parents would probably never see him again. This could be it, the end of life as they knew it.

"Don't we have tonight's performance and a three pack tomorrow?" Three shows tomorrow, that's what he meant. Please, don't make me do this. Please, please, please.

"We have a seven o'clock tonight and then tomorrow we don't start until four and it's only a double." His mother looked at the girl's mother who nodded at the unspoken question.

"Dick? Would you like to come over at, say ten? That's not too early, is it? You could stay for lunch and since it's supposed to be so hot tomorrow, if you bring your bathing suit you two could go swimming. Sarah?"

The girl looked like her mother had just told her she could have a new puppy—if he would just come when called. "Could you? It would really be fun." She was practically pleading.

He looked up at his father. Surely he would understand. "But didn't you say you wanted to practice the quad tomorrow morning? You thought it was kinda shaky last night and you said that…"

"You did it perfectly this afternoon; you're fine…All right, tell you what. We'll get in an early practice and make sure you're solid—sound okay to you?" Dad smiled his lady killer smile at the other mother. "I should be able to bring him over at ten, no problem, just give me directions."

The girl, Sarah, was right beside him, close enough that Dick was the only one who heard her. "My real birthday isn't until tomorrow, so you're kind of like a present—my best present." She smiled shyly, blushing and faded back against her mother.

His mother was beside him. "What do you say?"

"…Thank you." The three parents smiled, Sarah looked like she had died and gone to heaven, the other girls giggled jealously and Dick wanted to fall through the ground all the way to China.

Shortly before ten the next morning he was showered, wearing his only pair of not torn jeans, a clean tee and had a pair of cut offs and a towel in a small gym bag.

"You look like you're going to your execution, guy. It's really not that bad—you may even have fun, you know." His Dad was standing next to the Harley, sidecar attached, and handing Dick the small helmet that fit him.

"Why do I have to do this? It's not like I'm ever going to see her again and—Dad—she's a townie. Townies never like us."

His dad leaned against the bike seat, facing Dick. "Your mom thinks, and I think too, it would be a good idea for you to see how other people, people who don't travel with a show all the time live."

"But when we're down in Florida we live like they do in a house and everything so what's the big deal?"

"…You can tell me about the differences when you get back okay? Will you do that for me?"

Not quite sighing as he faced the firing squad, Dick climbed into the sidecar. "This was Mom's idea, wasn't it?"

"…Mostly."

Male understanding passed in the look between them and the Dick put on the helmet he had to wear whenever he was on the Harley. They could talk it over when he got back and it was only one afternoon. No big deal and it wasn't like he'd ever see these people again or anything. He could do this for his mom. "Okay, I'll go."

"That's my guy."

Fifteen minutes later they were pulling into the driveway of a largish suburban house in a development on a street with similar largish houses and tended lawns and SUV's parked out front or visible in the open garages. There were careful flowers in borders and hanging from pots near the front door and one of those wooden flagpoles hanging from a big oak tree with a Peanuts banner of Charlie Brown and the gang in an inflatable pool shouting 'Cowabunga'. Dick hated it on sight.

The Harley made more noise than was probably polite for this place and the silence when the engine was killed was very loud.

The front door opened as they were getting off the bike and both Sarah and her mother came out, smiling. "John, you didn't have any trouble finding the place, did you?" She was walking towards them, Sarah following but slower, still as shy as Dick. "Could I offer you a cup of coffee? Tea? I know Sarah wanted to show Dick the tree house out back and I thought that maybe you'd want to make sure that Dick was comfortable before you left him for a few hours."

"Coffee sounds perfect, if it's no trouble, thanks."

"Dick would you like a soda or something?"

"May I have some water, please?"

"Sarah? Would you get…thank you." The two kids each took a bottle outside to see the promised tree house while John and Susan settled in the kitchen, watching the kids through the large windows overlooking the back yard and pool. "I thought Mary would be here, give us a chance to catch up."

"She wanted some time to see her family." John's answer was mild, they both knew there were a lot of things to be settled there. "And no, Dick doesn't know about any of this, Susan."

"Neither does Sarah." She glanced out the window; the kids were up in the tree house—a work of art with several levels, porches, a hammock and bay windows in the main section. She saw the look on his face. "Jim built that last year. We'd just put the addition on and had all this construction stuff left over—the windows used to be in our bedroom and it just seemed a shame to throw it all out."

He nodded absentmindedly. "Mary wants her parents to meet Dick while we're here."

"Of course she does." She sipped her coffee. "They want to meet him, too; I saw Caroline at the market last week and it was all she could talk about. She's been planning the menu for days."

The kitchen door slammed open. "Mom? Can we go in the pool? It's like seven hundred degrees out there."

"Of course, show Dick where he can change, okay? John, would you like to go in to cool off?" He hesitated. "I'm sure one of Jim's suits would fit you." He smiled, nodded a little reluctantly, "You're sure Dick doesn't know anything about this?"

"I'm sure and please don't tell him yet. Mary and I want to do it ourselves."

"Then you'd better get to it if you're having dinner with them later." She went out of the room, returning a minute later, holding a pair of trunks. "These should fit. You can change in there, I'll meet you out back when you're done"

The kids were already going off the diving board, Dick showing off a little with a couple of flips and Sarah suitably impressed but doing her best to keep up. The two of them were getting along well, as far as the adults could tell, and that was a good thing all things considered.

A couple of hours later, after the swim and the iced tea and as John and Dick were taking off their helmets back at the fairgrounds, Dick gave his father a sharp look. "What was that really about?"

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon, Dad. You knew her; you were talking like you both knew each other and I heard you mention Mom's family like she'd know what you were saying. And Sarah made a couple of comments about how they used to be friends a long time ago."

"Yeah, well, sometimes you're too smart for your own good—I though Sarah didn't know about any of this."

"Yeah, well, that's what her mom thinks, anyway." Dick put the helmet down in the sidecar and looked up at his father. "So…?"

TBC

2/28/06

6