Hey, Lovlies. So, I was going to get the date in here, but it didn't feel right to have in this chapter. So it'll be in the next one! I haven't started writing it yet. But I'll get it posted soon hopefully!
And I just want to thank arinhel . melleide for Beta reading this for me.
After having the whole "Date" thing figured out, Clarke exchanged a few more texts with Finn. Mostly in order to find out the details on the party, like whose birthday it was, if there were any special instructions, whatever.
What she found out was that the party was for a girl named Maya, and all they needed to do was show up with a present and the invitation. Clarke was a little worried at first, Jasper did not have the invitation having missed school, but Finn said it was alright. He and Monty had Jasper's invite.
Then from Jasper, who had spoken up on hearing the girl's name, she learned that Maya was, apparently, the prettiest girl in the entire class. Clarke had hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with girl drama for at least a couple more years,but it seemed Jasper had developed his first crush on someone who wasn't a Disney princess. So she made a quick amendment to her shopping list, adding the newest set of Lego: Friends ® blocks as a present for the girl. As well as some wrapping paper that she figured she could let Jasper pick out.
For the most part shopping went well. With the promise of a new pet hanging over his head, Jasper was on his very best behavior and Clarke could hardly believe how behaved he was. By this point in the shopping trip Clarke usually hadto chase her son all around the store, but soon they had all of the groceries and the wrapping paper. Jasper had picked out a shiny silver roll that he declared had the perfect amount of glitter to it.
After the grocery shopping was done, they were off to the pet store.
"What kind of bunnies do you think they have there, Mommy?" Jasper asked as they were pulling out of the parking lot. "I hope they have some with the floppy ears. The floppy ear kind are the best kind, since their ears can't poke you in the eye when you cuddle them."
"I'm sure they have a lot of different kinds, hon." Clarke was pretty sure that's not how rabbits work, but she figured that there was no point in trying to convince her son's 5-year-old brain any differently. Jasper then started asking all kinds of other questions about what kinds of rabbits she thought the store might have. When Clarke was getting Jasper out of his seat, she saw her son was practically vibrating in excitement.
"I hope they have really fluffy ones," Jasper told her. "Do you think that my new bunny will like the name Carrot? I think he will. Did you buy carrots for us feed him? What if his favorite food isn't carrots? I don't like carrots. Maybe he'll like chicken nuggets like me, what do you think, Mom?" His stream of chatter went on and on as they walked through the parking lot, and into the pet store. Clarke made the appropriate noises and gestures when needed. She was used to her son's brain moving a mile a minute, and she knew exactly how to let him exhaust himself with his questions.
When they got inside Jasper made a bee-line for the rabbit cages and Clarke had to jog to catch up to him. She gently grabbed and turned him to face her before she let him look at the small pets, and she crouched down to talk to him."Jasper you know you can't run off like that. It's dangerous." She gave him a slightly stern look, and Jasper looked down, chided.
"I'm sorry, Mommy." The sour mood did not last long though, and he soon looked up smiling widely. "Can I look at the bunnies now? I want to find which one will be the best!" Clarke sighed, her son was too cute sometimes, even when he was being a little monster.
"Yes, buddy. Let's find an employee first so they can help us pick out the perfect one."
The first bunny that the employee brought out apparently had ears that were too pokey. The second one's ears were too floppy. The third one just wasn't soft enough, although Clarke couldn't tell the difference in softness values. Kids could be so strange sometimes, especially when it came to the criteria necessary for them to like something.
The last one that the employee got out was finally the right one; he was orange. Jasper declared this to be perfect, since his name was going to be Carrot. The bunny had small floppy ears, and according to Jasper he was just the right amount of softness.
Once they had the bunny in a travel box, Clarke had the employee help her pick out all of the necessary supplies. The indoor hutch was probably going to take Clarke all night to put together, but the employee said the travel box was fine to keep Carrot in until it was put together. They also got some soft bedding, rabbit food, hay, chew toys, treats, and a little rabbit harness Jasper wanted in order to take Carrot on walks. Clarke figured that that was probably not going to happen, but it was worth a try. Lastly, she grabbed a few books on how to raise bunnies, two kid's books for Jasper and one for herself.
"Okay, Jasper," Clarke said as she was loading her son and his new pet rabbit into the car, "You have to remember that taking care of Carrot is going to be a huge responsibility."
"I know, Mommy. I'm going to be the best pet owner in the world." She would have sworn her son's smile could have lit up the world at that moment. "When can Monty and Mr. Collins come over again so Monty can meet Carrot?" Jasper asked.
Clarke laughed, "I don't know buddy, maybe soon. Remember we're going to Chuck E. Cheese's tomorrow with Mr. Collins and Monty? You can tell Monty all about Carrot then." Jasper nodded excitingly at his mother, and then turned to look at his new, pet bunny named Carrot.
Later that night found Clarke with the indoor hutch seemingly put together, but she was staring at four extra screws in her hand. She's not sure if she left them out by accident or if they were extra ones in the package. She really didn't want to put the little guy in there if it was a death trap.
Jasper was already sound asleep, it being well past his bedtime. He had spent most of that afternoon just watching and petting Carrot. Clarke was beyond surprised how gentle and caring Jasper was being. By no means was he a mean kid or anything, he just was not always completely aware of where his arms were all the time. Her son was very prone to flopping about, but he moved so carefully and deliberately around the bunny, it was by far the cutest thing that Clarke had ever seen.
Just when she finally figured that she would leave the screws aside until morning, since the hutch seemed sturdy enough, her pager went off.
She checked the page, hoping that it was something small that she could deal with in the morning, but, alas, it was not. There had been a major ten car pileup on the highway and the hospital needed all hands on deck. It was nearly 10 o'clock and there was no way she'd convince her babysitter to come over to watch Jasper, and since it was a Friday night the hospital daycare would not be open.
After a few moments deliberation she picked up her phone and dialed Finn's number. It only rang twice before he picked up.
"Hey, Clarke, is everything okay?" Finn greeted, his tone seemed a little worried, probably because she was calling so late.
"Well," Clarke started, "Mostly. I absolutely hate to do this, but I was just called in to work and I can't leave Jasper home alone and the daycare is already closed by this time of night. Do you think that I could maybe drop him off with you? I know he'd love to spend the morning with Monty and I seriously don't have any other options unless I'm going to let him hang out in my surgeries." She hoped that he would say yes, her subconscious was practically jumping up and down at another excuse to see him.
Finn laughed, "Yeah, of course. I'll text you my address, and I can take Jasper to the library with me and Monty in the morning, too." Clarke almost forgot that Finn was the head Librarian at the local library branch. But he had explained that pretty much he used his seniority to bring Monty to work with him as often as possible.
She loved the image that popped into her head of Finn reading to a whole bunch of kids.
"Then three of us can pick you up for the birthday party?" His tone was questioning and hopeful, and she could not help but smile at the thought that maybe he wanted to come over a little earlier.
Clarke nodded to herself and then said into the phone, "Sounds good, I'll be over in just a bit with Jasper. I might be able to pick him up earlier or maybe even meet for breakfast, or more likely lunch depending on how long this lasts. They might not make me go in for my shift tomorrow, but I will definitely need some nap time."
"Well that would definitely be ideal," Finn told her, barely hiding the excitement in his voice.
"Alright, then. I'll see you in a bit," she told him.
"I'll see you soon," he replied. The tone of his voice made Clarke's face turn a bit warm.
Clarke woke a very sleepy Jasper up explaining to him what was going on.
"But what about Carrot?" Her son asked after the initial excitement wore off. She had completely forgotten about the bunny.
"He'll be fine, dear," Clarke told her son, "He has food and water. And you'll see him again in the morning."
On the way there he got pretty excited, but Clarke told him that Monty was probably asleep and explained that he would need to be on his very best behavior. When they arrived at the Collin's residence Clarke decided to text Finn that they were outside instead of knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell . She didn't want to wake Monty up. Finn opened the door almost immediately.
"Hey," he greeted Clarke with a smile, and looking down at Jasper, "Hey buddy. I set up an air mattress in Monty's room. Let me show you and your mom the way."
The house was a decent size, especially since Clarke was pretty sure that Head Librarian at a local library was not the highest paying job. Obviously Finn did pretty well for himself, though.
Once Jasper was tucked in Clarke really needed to get the hospital, luckily it was only a few minutes away.
"Thank you so much for doing this," Clarke told Finn.
"It's really no problem. And besides, you can watch the boys another night. So it's all good. Is everything okay at work? It doesn't seem like you usually get called in at night?"
Clarke shook her head, "I don't, but I guess there are a lot of serious injuries. I'll text or call you when I know what time I'll be done for sure tomorrow."
Finn smiled again, his hand reached out and touch her arm gently, "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Clarke blushed, "Me too," she moved her hand up and touch Finn's arm for a second, before letting it drop back down.
"Okay, good luck at work." He smiled as he walked her to the door, and opened it for her.
"Thanks." Clarke told him, and walked out to her car.
She was already in way too deep with this whole "relationship" thing, but she wasn't going to worry about that. For now she was going to focus on saving lives. After she had done that, she could afford to be excited for her and Finn's date tomorrow, even though it'll be amongst a whole bunch of kindergarteners and their parents.
Alright. That's it for this one! I hope you like it, let me know in the comments! Also I was thinking about having the next chapter be in Finn's POV. I'll probably work on writing it this weekend so let me know if you all have any objections about that before then!