A/N: Hope everyone had a happy Day of Pink, followed by an even happier Day During Which Chocolate Goes On Sale! Thanks to those who reviewed as always, and those who are still reading this piece of work. Here's the next chapter, and I hope everyone likes it! As always, feedback is awesome and makes me happy!

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it. If you don't recognize it, I still may not own it. I'll get back to you on that one...

Kevin was certain that he would have been subjected to a two-against-one interrogation by Aunt Emmaline and Miss Penelope the next morning, but they simply gave him indulgent smiles when he came downstairs. He was in too good of a mood to be truculent about possible prying, so he greeted them with a smile in return and after breakfast, went outside to water the flowers, including the patch of newly planted forget-me-nots. So far, none of them had sprouted up yet, but the other plants were thriving, and to keep Aunt Emmaline happy, he made sure that there were no weeds.

When he came back inside, Miss Penelope had gone, and Aunt Emmaline was sitting in the parlour looking through her photo albums. She looked up with a smile both calm and wistful when he sat down next to her.

Sooner or later, he'd have to face up with everything, and he thought that it may as well be now. Bolstering himself with a memory of Mina's words, of remembering that there were people who cared about him, he looked down at a photograph of his mother at her high school graduation.

"What was she like then, Auntie?"

Emmaline sighed, and patted his knee. "Laurie was always such a sweet, loving girl. I'm sure you knew that, because she was your mother, but she just had that spark in her, you know? She was very popular in school, and was homecoming queen." She flipped through the album, and a photograph of Lauren, pretty and youthful in a mint-coloured dress and a little rhinestone tiara smiled up at them. "She always wanted to help others, and used to volunteer at the Community Centre on the weekends instead of being out all hours of the day and night like some of her classmates. A few of the other girls thought she was square for doing that, but she didn't mind."

She turned back to the graduation photo, and her smile was full of pride. "She did well in her classes and got a scholarship to Cornell. She got to New York, and for the longest time, even though she loved her classes and enjoyed the college experience, she was very lonely. She used to call home every night. And then one day she ran into your father on the campus, literally crashed all into him, because he was rushing to get to a professor's office hours after getting out of class. Well! He didn't make office hours that day, and stayed back to help her pick up all her books. Her voice was different when she called that night, and I just knew."

She gave him a sidelong look and patted his hand again. "It's not hard to tell when someone's fallen in love. They glow."

Kevin cleared his throat awkwardly. "I guess."

"Anyway, she and your father were an item all throughout their college years, and he worshipped the ground she walked on. He went on to study business and she became a medical assistant, and after he got a job at his firm, they got engaged. He bought her engagement ring not a month after he started working, and they were very happy."

"Do you think she liked New York?" Kevin asked Aunt Emmaline. "It's... it's just very different from here, and she grew up here. She never quite lost her southern accent, and it sounds very different from native New Yorkers."

Emmaline turned the photo album to the page where Kevin's parents stood smiling at the camera on their wedding day. Both John and Lauren wore radiant smiles. "It didn't matter, really. She was happy, because she had love. She could have lived in a desert and been happy as long as she had him and she had you. Oh, I know how much you and your father loved her, but I can say that she loved you back just as much. Lauren always had such a great capacity for love, and I think that you take after her like that."

"Do you?"

"Yes indeed," Emmaline shut the album gently and turned to look at Kevin directly. She smiled, her usual placid, slightly vague smile, and her soft doe eyes held all-encompassing knowledge and wisdom. "She would have liked your Mina, I think. Of course, not just because Mina's a sweet girl, who cares for others the way that she did, though she'd appreciate that. But because Mina's put a smile on your face, and even thinking about her makes you feel happier. Did you have a good time last night, dear?"

"Uh, yes, yes I did." Kevin awkwardly fiddled with one of the doilies on the end table. There might have been a microscopic speck of dust on its filigreed surface.

"That's good," Emmaline said mildly. "Penelope says that your girl was all smiles this morning, and she could overhear Mina singing in the shower. People only do that if they're happy, you know."

The image of Mina singing in the shower wasn't exactly where his mind wanted to go quite at that moment, so Kevin remained silent and manfully nodded. Emmaline carefully placed the photo album on the coffee table.

"The county fair starts today and runs until the Fourth of July," she told him with a smile. "Maybe sometime, you can take Mina. It's always a lot of fun."

~*~

Kevin bought another glass of lemonade from Junior that afternoon, as the two young entrepreneurs were back in business, Frankie apparently paroled for good behaviour. With it, he acquired a bit more information, and armed with the knowledge of Mina's evening schedule and whereabouts, he sought her out the day after that after Little League practice was over for the evening.

Perhaps the children that she coached knew what was going on, or perhaps the way her eyes lit up when he arrived gave her away. Either way, more than one of the girls giggled when he approached her as she was putting the equipment away, and the children made themselves scarce quicker than usual.

Mina happily agreed to meeting up with him at the fair the next day, and once again, he helped her put her things away in the locker room as the sun set outside. He was tempted to kiss her in there as he watched her hang up her cap, a lustrous fall of golden Rapunzel hair cascading down her back, but remembered that there were two kids waiting just outside the door. She was aware of his scrutiny, however, and blushed visibly as she took his hand and walked out of the locker room with him.

They did sit outside on the porch for a few minutes after the kids went inside the house, and talked about everything and anything as the sky darkened around them and the stars came out. Kevin saw a shooting star, and even as he pointed it out and Mina gasped in surprised pleasure, he impulsively made a wish, even though he didn't believe in such things.

He was slightly apprehensive about kissing her right there, where Willie Harmon and his scary Marine training and guns could see them and take exception, but she seemed not to be concerned. As he walked back across the street, still feeling the imprint of her fingers against his face and tasting her lips on his own, he guessed that if he were to be shot down right then, he'd at least die happy.

The fair was like most events of its kind, all sweet sugar smells and calliope music and colourful lights. He met her in front of the carousel, and for a few minutes, they were content just to watch the brightly decorated horses and unicorns carrying laughing children around in leisurely circles.

They watched jugglers and saw prize-winning agricultural products. Kevin bought her a spool of pink cotton candy, and when her hands grew sticky from it, she rinsed her fingers off at a drinking fountain like a child might, and he found it strangely endearing. They rode a ferris wheel, and when it got to the very top, he kissed her as the night wind tangled her hair, and she tasted of everything sweet and right in the world, and as it came back down, he wondered how he was to do without her when the summer drew to a close.

But it was still June, and there was still time to figure that out. They walked around, and Mina stopped at a colourful game display rack of teddy bears of various sizes and colours, a glint in her eyes.

The hawker caught sight of her and smelled a buyer, and smiled widely. "Two dollars for three baseballs, and three dollars for five. You throw them at the bottles, and can win a prize based on how many you hit. What do you say, honey?"

"Why not?" Mina grinned, and pulled three dollars out of her wallet. "Let's go for five."

She took the five balls and set them in a row on the ground in front of her after stepping back. Blue eyes full of intense concentration, she picked up the first one, winged it. One bottle flew off with a clink, and Kevin clapped.

She ended up hitting four of the five, and beamed as the hawker gestured a shelf of decently sized teddy bears. Picking a light blue one, she held it out to Kevin with a sassy smile.

"It reminds me of Grumpy from the Care Bears. Rather broody, but very lovable nonetheless."

He had to laugh at that, even as the hawker expressed admiration for her aim and declared her to have an arm like a catapult. Tucking the bear under one arm, he wrapped the other around her shoulders, and together they walked away as the night fell again. For a moment, before they got to his car, he had the oddest sensation that they were being watched, but he couldn't see anyone around aside from the families milling around by the parking lot and a few people around his age loitering and talking amongst themselves by the entrance, eating hot dogs. Dismissing the feeling, he drove her home, and when he noticed a Fed-Ex parcel on the porch of Aunt Emmaline's house, asked her to wait for a moment for him before going inside.

He opened the packaging and took out what he needed before going with her, and when they entered the Harmon household, Miss Penelope greeted him cordially. In the den, Louise was thumbing through a Teen Vogue and Angelina was playing baseball on the Wii. Junior, however, hung back in the kitchen and simply watched as Kevin exchanged pleasantries with his grandmother and two sisters. Only after his female relations turned back to their original activities did he come forward, and shyly but determinedly tug on Kevin's sleeve.

"Yes?" Kevin turned to the boy, who seemed almost preternaturally solemn.

"I want to talk to you, Mister," Junior said in his most adult voice. Kevin, willing to oblige, followed Junior to the kitchen, where he waited for Junior to sit down at the counter before taking a seat himself.

"Is something wrong?" Kevin asked.

Junior shook his head, and his dark, innocent child's eyes met Kevin's gray ones squarely. "You're really stuck on Mina, aren't you?"

This topic he wasn't quite expecting, and he simply nodded. Junior sighed before sneaking another look at Kevin.

"I'm going to be the man of the house when I'm bigger, you know. I'm small now, but mama and daddy always say that it's important to be nice to womenfolk 'cause it's the gentleman-like thing to do and stuff. Not all boys who are stuck on girls are nice to them. Danny Elmer is stuck on Mary-Beth Richardson and all he does is pull her hair on the playground during recess until she cries or hits him or something." Junior assumed his most solemn and severe expression, which looked almost comically out of place on his round little face. "I just want you to know that if you're stuck on Mina but not nice to her we won't be able to be friends any more. And that when I get bigger, I'll make you leave her alone."

The childish declaration of brotherly protectiveness touched Kevin, and he held out a hand for the boy to shake. "She's lucky to have you to look out for her, Junior. But I promise that I'll never be mean to her or make her upset."

Junior's face cleared, as this had been an issue of concern ever since Angelina had declared to everyone that Kevin must be totally stuck on Mina from the way he looked at her at practice. He grinned, looking more like his usual self, and shook hands with Kevin.

"I have something for you, by the way," Kevin said after the agreement had been sealed, and reached in his pocket. "It was at my house, but my dad mailed it over."

Junior looked at what Kevin held out, and his mouth dropped open. Abruptly abandoning all dignity, he bounced up from his seat like a spring. "WOW! That's Derek Jeter from the Yankees and that card's one of only a hundred! Are you sure it's for me?"

"Yeah, you can have it," Kevin handed over a forty-dollar baseball card without a thought. "We're friends, right?"

"Gee, thanks!" Junior's face was suffused in a huge grin, and he hugged Kevin impulsively. "Thanks for the card, Mister, and for promising not to be nasty to Mina and stuff." The words were slightly muffled against Kevin's stomach. Kevin blinked, then found himself chuckling as he reached down and patted the little boy's head.

Neither of them were aware that Mina and Miss Penelope had stood at the entrance of the kitchen and overheard the whole exchange. Neither of them saw Mina press her face into the sturdy shoulder of the shorter, older woman and muffle a choked sob.

Kevin wasn't quite sure why, when he was leaving the house, Mina ran out after him and threw her arms around him on the porch. He couldn't really protest, though, and held her for a long time, a plush blue teddy bear sandwiched between them.