Just Another Camping Trip
A/N: Not what any of you are thinking, but the story is pretty self explanatory, so I shall not delve into its inner workings. All you need to know is that it is AU, and very different, and that I will try to portray each of the boys equally. However, if I do manage to focus more on John and Gordon I do apologise. But I like them. I like them lots.
Warnings: Mentions of abuse (Many different kinds), Special Educational Needs, though not in an educational setting… kind of, bad guys and things that go 'BOOM', and of course much OOCness. Oh, and I messed with the ages, sorry. So I want no one complaining to me about anything that seems odd about the characters. It's an AU!
1.
To tell the truth I don't know how I had managed to allow myself to be talked into this. This being an annual camping trip organised for underprivileged children and those in foster care or orphanages. My late wife, Lucy, of ten years had attended every single year. That was fine, normally there were a dozen things I needed to do for my company, and it gave her a chance to get off our Island for a week and do what she loved most. Work with children.
Not that I was against children. I happened to like them; we had had a daughter of our own; who normally accompanied Lucy to this particular event. But the idea of being surrounded by so many made my nerves fray, actually being around them? Well…
"Jeff!"
I turned, inwardly cringing from the onslaught of pink that invaded my sight. Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, my wife's sister, who despite the fact that we were no longer really family, what with my wife and daughter having died two years ago in an accident, had continued to push herself into my life in a way that only a lady of the Creighton-Ward family knew how.
If I had never fallen in love with Lucy, I would have fallen for Penny. I knew that. I think it was the pink that put me off. My dear sister in law had an unfortunate obsession with the colour.
"Penny." I greeted.
"I'm so glad you could come Jeff. We've been terribly short handed this year, and I would have hated to send some of the boy's home, not when they look forward to this all year." she smiled at me.
I looked around at the children, all of varying ages, most excited; talking happily to people they had most likely met last year. I knew what this camp meant to some of these children. Lucy had lamented the fact that some of them only had this single week as a reprieve from a year of abuse and neglect. It was also a time when the social workers involved could assess some of the children, talk to them in a safe environment and maybe help them out of that life of abuse.
I nodded to Penny, who beamed at me in that typically English fashion of a half smile that told so much, yet so little. I had learned it was best to just let that kind of smile wash over me. Fighting it was useless. It was how she had gotten me to agree to this. The smile told me plainly that she knew I would agree to whatever she had planned, whether I wanted to or not.
But again, being English she would never let on just what her hidden agenda was. All I knew was that there was one. I'm glad she isn't into business or I would have my hands full. But like Lucy, Penny was more inclined to spend her time with the less fortunate that herself, working as a part time child psychologist/Social worker, and organising events like this.
"So where do you want me?" I asked her.
"The group you'll be leading this week is just over here. We're starting to split them into their teams now. I thought you might like to get started. You never were much good in a crowd of small people like this." she teased.
I looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Small people?" I asked.
She smiled demurely. "That's what they are Jeff dear. People. They just happen to be smaller than we are." she took my arm and began to direct me towards the small group of boys I would be leading, filling me in along the way. "I've given you Scott and Virgil, they're brothers, their father is an army man, so they're used to rules and structure. But there's a history of physical abuse. And John, he's very quiet, you'll hardly get a word out of him, just remember not to raise your voice to him, he reacts badly. Then Gordon, he had ADHD, so he will tend to be a little energetic, but normally he's ok so long as you give him something to do. And lastly there's little Alan, he's an angel, you shouldn't have any trouble with him."
"Five of them? They all the same age?" I asked, already beginning to dread the idea of this. How could I work with a group of boys who obviously had things wrong with them? I wasn't qualified for this.
"No, Scott's the oldest, almost twelve. Virgil and John are both ten, I believe John is a month or so older than Virgil. Gordon is eight (but he'll tell you he's nine), and Alan is seven. They're all good boys Jeff. They won't give you any trouble. I know this is strange for you, so I steered clear of the more challenging cases." She smiled at me again. "Thank you again Jeff."
With that one sentence she had made it so I couldn't gracefully bow out no matter how much I wanted to. I stifled a sigh and let her lead me through the throngs of children to the five she had picked for me.
"Here we are. Boy's, this is Jeff Tracy. He's going to be your team leader this week."
I looked at the array of boys in front of me. The one who I assumed was Scott, a tall boy wit mousy brown hair, snapped to attention, not in the completely military fashion I recognised from my days in the air force, but not entirely unlike it either. The other mousy haired one, who was standing close and a little behind Scott, I supposed was Virgil. The positioning seemed somehow natural for them, knowing what little I did about them. My eyes moved on. The older blond haired boy I would guess was John; he was sitting quietly on the ground, not looking up, though he did close the book resting on his lap and place it on the ground beside him. The red haired one I pegged as Gordon, though he was being surprisingly still for someone with ADHD, just fighting as he stood, shifting from foot to foot slowly. Which left the last boy, also blond haired, to be Alan, standing beside Gordon and smiling disarmingly at me, and I instantly knew I would have to watch out for that. It reminded me of my daughter's smile, the one she used to flash when she really wanted something she knew I wouldn't give her.
"Hello boys." I greeted.
"Hello sir/Mr Tracy." came the array of answers.
Penelope smiled charmingly at us all. "Well, I'll just leave you boys to get acquainted. Here's your pack Jeff with all the things you can do this week. Have fun." She handed me a white envelope before leaving me standing there facing five boys, each with varying degrees of wariness and interest on their faces. Biting back another sigh I dredged up a smile for them and opened the envelope. Time to see what I had really let myself in for.
A/N: I know, I know… but I'm only setting the scene. Forgive me please! Lol. Naw, just review. I'd appreciate it. I know, Jeff POV. I know nothing about Jeff, nothing. But this could prove… interesting… I think so anyway. Now Review!