Chapter Three

The restaurant was closed and Scotty was sitting at the bar reviewing the menu for the coming week when he heard the door behind him open. He turned and his face broke into a wide grin as he recognised one of the two men who walked in. "Kyle!" He stood and hugged his old friend

"Hey Scotty." Kyle returned the hug. "It's good to see you again." He pulled back a bit to give Scotty the once over. "And you certainly look smart in that chef's uniform."

"You haven't changed Kyle." Scotty said.

"You have." Kyle replied. "You're calmer, and much happier I think?"

"Yeah, I'm happy, very happy."

The man behind Kyle cleared his throat which caught Kyle's attention. "Oh, sorry. Scotty this is Warren Smith, my partner. Warren, Scotty Wandel, my old friend and chef extraordinaire."

"Well I don't know about that extraordinaire part." Scotty said as he held his hand out to Warren. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Warren had a Texas accent Scotty noticed, and unless he was mistaken those were cowboy boots.

"So this is your restaurant?" Kyle asked, looking around. "Do we get free samples?"

Scotty laughed. "Later, why don't you come upstairs for a while? We can talk in peace there and the staff will be setting up for the dinner soon." Scotty led Kyle and Warren upstairs to his apartment. "Kevin is working at the moment, Olivia is at her cousin's and Daniel is with his grandma so it's just us."

"How did he take the news about what I am?" Warren asked.

"Kevin took it as well as I expected but he calmed down pretty quickly, oh and we had to tell Olivia too since she overheard us discussing the subject rather loudly." Scotty admitted as he let them into the apartment and gestured for them to have a seat. "Do you want a drink?"

"Coffee please, black." Kyle asked.

"I don't know how you can drink it like that." Scotty said with a shake of his head. "Must be a lawyer thing, Warren?"

"Just water for me, thanks."

Scotty got them their drinks and water for himself and sat down as well. "So how did Olivia take the news of an impending werewolf visit?" Warren asked.

"Better than her dad, which I think embarrassed Kevin into rationality. She said she'd like to meet you but you aren't allowed to eat Zemulon."

"Zemulon?" Kyle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Her gecko, don't ask."

"He's safe from me." Warren commented. "Not enough meat on a gecko to make it worth the effort of catching." Kyle laughed at that and Scotty took his cue from him and laughed as well.

"We stopped to eat on the way here, you cannot be hungry." Kyle protested. "Scotty one thing you will quickly learn is that there is nothing on earth with the appetite of a werewolf. I'm serious we go out for dinner and then pick up a takeaway on the way home."

"My body runs faster and hotter than a human's." Warren defended.

"Not going to argue with you there love, you're defiantly hot." He added flirtatiously and then in an aside to Scotty that was loud enough to Warren to easily hear. "I'd keep him around just to be a hot water bottle in winter."

Scotty laughed, yes Kyle had certainly not changed. "So what were you thinking of doing while you're here?"

"Warren's never been to LA so we were thinking of playing tourist for a while and I defiantly want to get in some beach time and surfing." Kyle told him.

"Do you surf at all Warren?" Scotty asked.

"No, that would be hazardous for my health." Warren said and then explained at Scotty's confused look. "Werewolves can't swim, our muscles are too dense for us to float. I will be perfectly happy to watch."

"Do you think you can find time to join me?" Kyle asked Scotty. "It's a lot less fun surfing on your own."

"I have no real skill but I'm sure I can fit you in somewhere, in fact my brother-in-law is a much better surfer than either of us, we could invite him too."

Kyle agreed to that quickly. "I don't mind, the more the merrier."

"Oh don't say that or we'll have the whole clan there with us and poor Warren will be subjected to a Walker interrogation on the beach while we surf."

"I'll survive." Warren promised. "I'm sure I've been through worse."

"You don't know the women in Kevin's family." Scotty warned him. "They'll have all your secrets out of you."

"I still think I've been through worse." Warren insisted. "You two should have your fun, Kyle puts up with enough of my problems and pack that I can put up with your in-laws."

"You might regret saying that." Scotty said. "But if you insist I'll call Justin later and see about getting our surf date set up." He paused for a moment. "I think Kevin will probably want to come but I'm not sure about Luc."

"Luc?" Scotty asked, it was yet another name he thought he recognised but wasn't sure why. Then it clicked. "Oh the guy who's wedding you did that crazy dance at! He's hot, and very familiar for some reason."

"Yes that would be Luc." Scotty agreed, noticing that Warren had rolled his eyes when Kyle said Luc was hot, obviously he was very familiar with Kyle's tendency to 'window shop' other men. "And if you're having trouble recognising him, it's probably because he has more clothes on in the wedding video and pictures. But he has done some underwear modelling."

"Seriously?" Kyle laughed.

"Yes." Scotty said. "And I'll warn you now that Kitty Walker-McAllister is my sister-in-law."

"The Republican?" Kyle stared at him in shock, then realised something else. "Then that crash she, her husband and family were in a couple of years ago, Scotty were you involved in that? Is that what started the problems with you can Kevin?" Scotty nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It just didn't seem important at the time and I guess Facebook isn't quite as good for keeping in touch as face to face meetings." He gave Kyle's shoulder a shove. "Besides you're one to talk about keeping secrets, what's this drama that caused you to two get back together?"

Before either Kyle or Warren could answer that one the door banged opened and Olivia walked in, dropping her bag next to the door as she did so. "I'm home!"

"Olivia, come and meet our guests." Scotty said, holding out his arm to her. She sat on his knee and he wrapped his arm around her. "This is my daughter Olivia, Olivia this is Kyle Brooks and his partner Warren Smith. Kyle is the old friend I told you about the other week."

"And Warren is the one Kevin was getting stressed over?" Olivia asked with a grin. "It's nice to meet you." She told them both then turned her attention back to Scotty. "Can you help me with my homework tonight? I'm having a problem with my English assignment."

"Of course I can." Scotty said and kissed her hair. "But only if you go, pick your bag up and put it in your room before Kevin trips over it again." She grinned but went to do as she was told.

"She's a little darlin'." Warren said with a smile. "Reminds me of Jesse at that age, she could never remember to pick up her bag either but Adam always said any wolf who tripped over it deserved it. Adam's my alpha." He added as a quick explanation for Scotty.

"Hauptman?" Scotty asked, Warren nodded. "I've heard he does a lot of consulting for the government, I also heard he got married a couple of weeks ago, so quietly that the media had no idea he'd moved the date until he was spotted in D.C. with a wedding ring."

Warren laughed. "He didn't move the date, his wife did and it wasn't all that quiet either."

"You have to explain now." Scotty said. "And I take it that the craziness that had just calmed down is linked to this wedding?"

"Partly." Warren agreed. "And I can't talk about most of it, but we organised a surprise wedding."

"A surprise wedding?" Scotty knew that his own wedding to Kevin had been what some might call a surprise with only a week's notice, if they'd been a hetero couple someone would have made shotgun comments for certain. But he still wasn't sure how you got a surprise wedding.

"Well the first thing you need to know is that we are both really good friends with Adam's wife Mercy." Kyle told him. "In fact Warren as known her longer than Adam."

At that moment Olivia came back in and sat down next to Scotty. "What you talking about?" She asked.

"Kyle and Warren were just about to explain how they helped organised their friends' surprise wedding." Scotty told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let her cuddle into his side.

She frowned. "How do you get a surprise wedding?" She asked. "The bride and groom must know they're getting married."

"The bride thought she was eloping." Warren told her. "Got a bit of a shock to find everyone in the church waitin' for her."

"But that's jumping to the end." Kyle interrupted. "It all began when our friend Mercy had to start planning her wedding and her mother insisted on helping." Kyle then proceeded to spin a tale of stressed brides, bets and competitions which left the competitors feeling guilty that they were going to push the bride into eloping to get away from them. Which resulted in them planning a surprise wedding, ready to go as soon as the bride decided to elope.

"Jesse, Adam's daughter, brought me in to make sure the groomsmen had their tuxes sorted out in advance." Kyle explained. "And then I helped her to cover up what she was doing since we only told her father about it three days before the wedding."

"Remind me to make sure this Jesse never gets within ten miles any of the Walker women." Scotty said and Olivia poked is ribs. "What?" He protested. "I'm just worried they'd try to take over the world or something." He looked back at Kyle and Warren. "So the bride just turned up at the church to find it full?"

"All her friends and family, human and otherwise, waiting for her." Kyle grinned. "And I swear it looked like half the small town she grew up in where there too."

"Human and otherwise?" Olivia asked. "Do you mean werewolves?"

"And a few Fae Mercy is friends with." Warren told her.

"I actually think the humans were outnumbered." Kyle told them.

"It was a close thing but I don't think anyone took a head count." Warren said and then thought about it. "No I think you're right, you were outnumbered."

The ringing of Scotty's cell interrupted them. "Hello." He answered repressing a groan; it was the restaurant's number which meant it was seriously unlikely to be good news.

It wasn't. "I'm really sorry to interrupt but we need you down stairs, we're seriously short staffed. The sous-chef called to say she running about an hour late and whoever is doing the bar set up hasn't shown up yet."

Scotty groaned. "I'll be right down." He promised and hung up. "I'm really sorry guys but they need me downstairs."

"Do you need some help?" Warren asked. "I couldn't help overhearing." He added apologetically. "I might not be able to help with the cooking or make fancy cocktails but I've had some practice at setting up a bar."

"I don't want to impose." Scotty protested. "You're supposed to be on vacation."

"It's not a problem." Warren insisted.

"And why don't we go downstairs too." Kyle said to Olivia who did not look happy that Scotty was going to have to work. "And we'll see if I can help with your homework, I can't have forgotten that much English since I was in school."

"All right." Olivia agreed. "But no legal speak."

"Legal speak?" Kyle asked.

"Kevin always uses much longer words then I need to, especially when he's been in court all day." She said and Kyle laughed.

"Agreed, no legal speak." Kyle promised.

Olivia went and got her school work from her room and the four of them went downstairs. Olivia sat at the table in the back of the restaurant that she usually used when she did her homework downstairs and Kyle sat with her while Scotty gave Warren a quick rundown of the bar and then disappeared into the kitchen.

"Hopefully someone will be in soon to take over." He shouted over his shoulder as he disappeared.

"This must happen a fair bit if you have your own work table." Kyle said as Olivia pulled out her school books.

"Sometimes I work in Kevin's office if he's here and has something he needs to do. Or if they know they're going to be really busy then I go to Grandma Nora's. Normally when this happens Uncle Saul keeps an eye on me while he does his own work, but he's away with Jonathan this week."

"Uncle Saul and Jonathan?" Kyle asked.

"Saul is Grandma Nora's brother and Jonathan is his boyfriend, well fiancé but grandma was complaining that they'll never set a date."

"Well that's better than Scotty and Kevin, who got married so quickly I couldn't get the time off to be there." Kyle complained. "Now what's the homework?"

"It's this silly thing where we're supposed to correct the spelling and grammar errors in a paragraph." Olivia told him as she pulled out the sheet. "And then we have this sheet to do on verb tenses."

"Oh that is torture." Kyle agreed. "Why don't you have a go at it first and then we'll look over them and see if you missed anything? And start with the verb tenses since that's probably the worse bit so it'll be good to get it out of the way."

"Okay." Olivia agreed and picked up her pen.

Meanwhile Warren was doing reasonably well at setting up the bar for the evening crowd. He'd only had to shout a couple of question to Scotty, shout because there was no way he was going any further into the kitchen than the doorway. It looked like chaos and frankly he'd been to pack meeting that were quieter.

He'd just come back from getting some more olives from the storeroom when an older woman walked in carrying a young boy, her grandson judging by the age difference. "I'm sorry ma'am but we're closed at the moment."

"You must be new here." She told him. "I'm Nora Walker, Scotty's mother-in-law."

"My apologies again then ma'am." Warren said. "I don't actually work here, I'm just helping out because Scotty is a little short-staffed this evening. My name is Warren Smith."

"Pleasure to meet you." Nora said but before she could say anything else Olivia came in.

"Hey Grandma." She said as she hugged Nora. The little boy obviously recognised her because he started reaching for her. "Hi Daniel, did you have fun with grandma?" He babbled some noises that sounded like it might be a yes, he wasn't old enough to be talking yet but he certainly knew when someone was walking to him and wanted to have his say as much as anyone else in the family.

Kyle had followed Olivia into the room, she had jumped up from her homework the second she heard Nora's voice. Nora saw him and raised an eyebrow that he had followed her granddaughter into the room. "Kyle Brooks." He introduced himself as he moved to join them and offered his hand to Nora. "I'm an old friend of Scotty's, and I see you've already met my partner Warren."

"I'm Nora Walker, Kevin mom." She said. "Where's Scotty? Warren said something about been short staffed?"

"His sous-chef is running late." Kyle explained. "So he's covering for her in the kitchen and I'm covering for him with Olivia and her homework."

"And Warren got stuck tending the bar." Scotty said as he walked in. "I thought I heard your voice Nora and I see you've met my friends already." Daniel obviously recognised his dad and started squirming so Scotty took him from Nora. "And this is my son Daniel." He held up Daniel's hand like he was waving. "Hello."

"He's a cutie, no doubt about that." Kyle said.

Scotty beamed with pride, like every other parent on earth he loved hearing people praise his children. "Thank you both." He told them. "Warren someone will be here soon to take over the bar and Angela should only be another fifteen minutes or so."

"It's no problem." Warren told them from where he was stacking glasses. "Like I said, I've had practice at this sort of thing."

"Nearly finished with your homework?" Scotty asked, turning to Olivia.

"Nearly." She agreed. "Kyle is lots of help."

"Not too much I hope, you're supposed to do the work yourself." Her father reminded her.

"I've had some practice at this Scotty." Kyle told him. "I'm just checking and correcting."

"Why don't I stay for a bit?" Nora suggested. "I can keep an eye on Daniel for you since your friends seem to have their hands full already."

"Would you?" Scotty asked. "I hate to ask after you've had him all afternoon already."

"Not a problem." Nora said taking him back from Scotty. "We had fun and it's not like there's anyone waiting for me at home who can't look after himself."

"I won't be much longer." Scotty promised just as someone shouted his name from the kitchen. "Coming!" He shouted back and grinned at everyone before leaving, he knew his mother-in-law far too well. Nora wanted a chance to meet Kyle and Warren, and would happily use her grandson as an excuse.

"And I hear your homework calling." Kyle told Olivia, who sighed heavily but turned back to where her homework was indeed waiting if not actually calling. "Would you like to join us?" Kyle asked Nora.

"Alright." She agreed. "You know, Scotty was very excited when he told me you were coming."

"I can imagine, we haven't seen each other in years." Kyle told her as they sat down. "I was sorry to miss his wedding."

"Well I did tell them they needed to give people more than one week's notice but they wouldn't listen." Nora replied as she pulled a toy out of her bag to keep Daniel occupied while she began her interrogation of Kyle, just in case Kevin's irrational concerns about Kyle were true. "Are you and Warren married?"

"No." Kyle told her, recognising the maternal interrogation for what it was. "But we may as well be, it's just that neither of us feel the need for a piece of paper to tell us we're in this for life."

"That's what a lot of people your age say until they're holding the piece of paper." Nora pointed out.

"And we live in a pretty up tight town." Kyle said as he wiggled his fingers for Daniel. Who immediately abandoned his toy and started playing with Kyle's fingers instead. "The Tri-Cities is not LA, I just glad it's not Texas either."

"Should I warn you now my daughter is a staunch Republican?" Nora half joked.

"Scotty already did."

"Kyle." Olivia broke in, pushing her paper towards him. It was the paragraph she was supposed to be correcting.

"Not bad." He said with a smile. "But I can still see a spelling error and two grammatical errors, have another look." With a sigh Olivia pulled the sheet back towards her and started looking over it again.

"You're good at this." Nora observed. "Do you have children?" Kyle shook his head. "Nieces or nephews."

"Yes but I rarely see them, my family aren't comfortable with my being gay, though my sister tries."

"Then how are you so good with kids?" Nora asked.

"Did Scotty tell you what I do for a living?"

"No but Kevin did." Nora said, her son had been feeling a little insecure at the time.

"Divorces can be messy, very messy." Kyle said and Nora nodded her agreement, she'd seen it first-hand since three out of her five children were divorced. "Sometimes people take their anger out on others who can't defend themselves. I've offered my house as sanctuary to clients and their children who are or might be in danger. Part of what Warren does as a PI for my firm is security for anyone who's been threatened."

Nora stared at him in shock. "That's amazing."

"Well it needs doing, and given the size of my house it's not exactly a hardship."

"How did you start doing that? Nora asked.

"Social services were threatening to take a client's daughter away because the girl's father broke her arm and my client couldn't prove that she could stop it happening again. I asked the social worker if letting them stay with me would be enough, since the father didn't know where I lived. It worked out well and eventually the father ended up in prison for assault with a deadly weapon."

"Kyle." Olivia broke in again. "I still can't find the last mistake."

Kyle pulled the sheet so they could both see it. "Look here." He pointed to a line. "Someone mixed their words."

"Yes!" Olivia said with a grin. "It says 'their' but it should be the 'they are' version not the possessive."

"Good job Olivia." Nora said proudly, then added to Kyle. "You'd never know that a year ago she couldn't read."

Olivia looked away, embarrassed but Kyle grinned and hugged her against his side. "Well that just makes her an even more amazing young woman."

"Can we go upstairs now?" Olivia asked. "Kyle and Warren haven't met Zemulon yet."

"The gecko?" Kyle asked.

"The gecko." Nora agreed with a look that told Kyle not to ask any more. "And we should probably wait here for Warren."

"No need to wait for me." Warren called. "My replacement just got here." He appeared around the corner, drying his hands on a towel.

"Let's go upstairs then." Nora agreed. "And Olivia can introduce you to her gecko while I put Daniel down for a nap."

"Should we tell Scotty where we're going?" Warren asked.

Olivia had finished packing her homework away and darted to the kitchen door, sticking her head through the gap she shouted. "Scotty, we're going upstairs." And didn't bother waiting for an answer before returning to the others. "Done." She said with a bright grin.

They went upstairs and while Nora dealt with Daniel, Olivia pulled Kyle and Warren to her room see Zemulon. They listened as she told them about getting the gecko just after she moved in and laughed when she told them that Kevin still looked green every time she said she needed to feed Zemulon, apparently her dad did not like the idea of feeding live crickets to something.

"You know most kids want a dog not a gecko." Kyle pointed out at one point.

"I lived in a group home, there wasn't room for a dog so I never thought about one. Besides geckos are cooler." Olivia told them. "There's no room for a dog here either."

"She has a point Kyle." Warren said. "Can you imagine a dog in this place?"

"If it was a Chihuahua maybe." Kyle said with a laugh.

Olivia wrinkled her nose. "I don't like those little yappy things, big dogs are much better but they need lots of space." She added with a shy look at Warren. "I guess you two have a really big house then?"

"I had it before I met Warren." Kyle told her. "But it does mean I don't risk tripping over him like you would here."

"Olivia have you had something to eat yet?" Nora called from the main room.

"Not yet." She shouted back. "Are you two hungry, Nora's a really good cook. She does all these big dinners for the family."

"We're fine." Kyle told her. "We ate on the way here." Nora made Olivia a sandwich and coffee for herself, Kyle and Warren. They were sitting around the table listening to Olivia tell them about school when Scotty came up and Kevin was with him.

"Well is this a private party or can anyone join in?" Kevin asked when he saw the number of people gathered around the table.

"Hey Kevin." Olivia said after she swallowed the last of her sandwich.

"Hey Olivia." Kevin said and kissed the top of her head. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes and I finished all my homework already, Kyle helped me with it cause Scotty had to work."

"Did he?" Kevin asked looking over at the two strange men and wondering which was which, they were both a little too attractive for his tastes, especially the one with the shorter hair.

"Kevin, this is Kyle Brooks and Warren Smith." Scotty decided that introduction were in order. "As you probably guessed this is my husband Kevin Walker."

"Nice to meet you." Warren said from where he was sitting, he'd noticed the weary look that Kevin had given him and decided not to antagonise the other man.

Kyle however stood and stepped around the table to offer Kevin his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, I've heard quite a bit about you from Scotty." Kevin shook his hand and Kyle continued. "He told me you changed his life for the better and I can certainly see that you did." While Kyle was good at antagonising people when he wanted to, he was also good at smoothing things over when he needed to.

"Thanks and thank you for helping Olivia with her homework, we like for her to have it done before dinner when possible."

"Not a problem, she only needed a bit of help." Kyle smiled. "Your daughter is a very clever girl."

"There was only one bit I couldn't do until Kyle pointed out where to look." Olivia told him proudly.

"Well I should be going." Nora said since the tension seemed to have dropped a little in the room. She had told Kevin that he didn't need to be worried or jealous of Scotty and Kyle's past and now she'd met Kyle and Warren she was certain of it. Kyle was very happy with Warren and wasn't about to try anything with Kevin's husband, interestingly Warren didn't look at all insecure so either he was very confident in his relationship with Kyle or he didn't know about their past. Nora hoped it was the first, it would make for a quieter time, though that wasn't something the Walkers were known for.

"Kyle, Warren, we're having a family pool party on Wednesday once the kids get out of school, you should come." She invited them as she picked up her purse.

"We wouldn't want to intrude." Warren told her politely.

"You won't be." Nora told him. "The more the merrier." She paused for a moment. "Actually I think it would be a very good idea, we're having an informal dinner afterwards."

"That's because we don't all fit round the table anymore when the kids are there." Kevin pointed out. "And mom, do you really think it's fair dumping the entire family on them in one go? Or are you trying to scare them back to the Tri-Cities before they've even unpacked?"

"Nonsense." Nora said firmly. "There's nothing about our family that would scare them off."

"It might be a good idea." Scotty told Kyle and Warren. "If you don't come then all Kevin's siblings are going to find some, probably rather flimsy, excuse to drop by and meet you. It's better to get it over with quickly, like removing a band aid."

"You did not just compare my family to a band aid!" Kevin exclaimed.

"You have to admit there are similarities." Scotty told him. "And we were thinking about asking Justin if he wanted to go surfing with us anyway."

"You surf?" Kevin asked, a little hurt that he wasn't invited, especially if his little brother was. "Why aren't I invited?"

"I was going to ask you tonight." Scotty told him. "But I kind of assumed you'd want to come."

"And I don't so much surf as fall of the board with something vaguely resembling grace and style." Kyle put in which made everyone laugh.

"Do you surf Warren?" Nora asked.

"No ma'am." Warren said with a firm shake of his head. "I stay on the beach and admire the scenery." He glanced at Kyle to make it clear exactly what type of scenery he was talking about. "I should point out I don't swim either."

"Then you can sit on the loungers and 'admire the scenery' from there, heaven knows it's all my daughters usually do. And Kevin."

"That was one time mom." Kevin protested. "And you have to admit, Luc looks good in just a little pair of shorts."

"You have a point there." Nora agreed and the adults all laughed.

"I'll be in my room, you guys are been weird." Olivia jumped out of her chair and disappeared in the direction of her room.

"She'll understand one day." Scotty said.

"Hopefully not anytime soon." Kevin muttered.

"Every parent hopes that." Nora pointed out. "But it never happens, so are you coming?"

"You better if you want to avoid been ambushed my family for the rest of your vacation." Kevin told them.

Kyle looked over at Warren and they held one of the silent conversations that only couples who knew each other well could before Warren nodded. Kyle turned back to Nora. "Well if you're sure then we'd be delighted to join you."

"Good." Nora said with a nod. "Kevin or Scotty will give you the details and I'll see you on Wednesday."

"Be careful guys, she's already put you on her mental Christmas card list." Scotty warned them after the door had shut. "You are a dinner party and family meltdown away from Nora adopting you."

"He's right." Kevin told them. "She's like a mafia don, once you're in it's for life."

"If I hadn't just met her that would be a scary description." Warren told them as Kyle and Kevin sat down at the table.

"I'm sure you've seen scarier things than my mom since you're a werewolf." Kevin pointed out. "I mean don't you have to answer to your alpha or something like that."

"I do." Warren agreed. "But Adam's a good guy and I could leave the pack if I really wanted to. It sounds like there's no getting away from your mom."

"Be nice." Scotty laughed. "I get on better with Nora than I do my mother, though she is trying a more than she used to."

"You're supposed to hate your mother-in-law." Kyle pointed out. "Not get on better with her than your own mother."

"Mom adopted Scotty as another son." Kevin said with a smile for his husband. "And I swear she usually takes his side over mine."

"That's usually because I'm right."

"Well it's better than my family and Warren doesn't have one."

"Oh god, don't let my mom hear you say that." Kevin warned them. "Or you'll be finding yourselves invited to Christmas never mind on the mailing list." He shifted a little in his seat. "You know I've been sat on court chairs all day, do you think we can move this to something comfier?"

They relocated themselves to the couches, Kevin and Scotty sat on one while Kyle and Warren took the other. They talked for a while until Warren's phone beeped to warn him he had a message. "It's just Mercy wanting to know that we arrived safely." He quickly text back. "But we need to be going." He told Kyle. "We have dinner reservations in an hour."

"You're not going to eat here tonight?" Scotty asked with mock hurt.

"I thought we'd save your cooking as a treat for another night." Kyle told him as he stood and stretched. "But we can spy on the competition for you if you like?"

Scotty laughed. "I have missed you Kyle." He stood and pulled Kyle into a hug before kissing his cheek. "I'll text you Nora's address and the times for Wednesday, and I hope I'll be seeing you again before then."

"Probably." Kyle agreed. Warren stood and shook hands with Scotty while Kyle turned to Kevin. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too." Kevin said, shaking Kyle's hand. "Olivia, Kyle and Warren are leaving!" She darted out of her room to hug them both before they left, then went back to whatever she had been doing while Scotty went to see about cooking them dinner.

AN: Sorry this was so late, I suddenly realised how much work one of those looming deadlines required. Anyway in honour of getting two out of four assignments done I thought I'd put this up. You can probably expect the next chapter in a week or two and then hopefully I'll have cleared this back log and will get to a regular posting schedule (and have time to visit the coffee shops where I always get inspiration for this so that I actually finish it!)