##### I Am Yoga studio, downtown Toronto, 3 days after 2nd rescue #####
KK sat at a small folding table just inside the door of the studio. There were at least twenty people in the small studio already, she hated to have to turn people away. This is a charity event after all. She smiled as she saw six familiar faces. "Hey guys. Thanks so much for coming."
"We wouldn't miss it." Jules smiled and handed KK a fifty dollar bill.
KK looked at it. "Is this for all of you? Or?" She was confused since there were six of them and it was $15 per person.
"Nope. Just for me." Jules smiled and stepped aside as Ed, Sophie and Clark stepped forward.
"This is for us." Ed handed her a hundred dollar bill.
"For me." Spike put a fifty down.
"Me." Greg put down a fifty.
"For us." Wordy put a fifty down and turned back to Shelly. They had dropped the kids at her parent's for the morning.
"And me." Sam put a fifty down and smiled up at KK. He saw the tears in her eyes and moved around the end of the table to hug her. "Thanks for setting this up. Mik will be so surprised."
After Sam released her, KK wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at the group in front of her. "Thank you all so much." She put a hand to her mouth and put the money in the lockbox, tears dripping down her cheeks.
"Anything for a friend." Jules gave her a reassuring smile and a hug. She looked at the crowd in the studio and the line still waiting to get in. "This is amazing." She breathed.
"It takes a village." A woman said from behind them.
The group turned to her. "Hi, I'm Jules." Jules stuck her hand out to the beautiful blonde.
"Hi. I'm Kasey. I took, take classes here." She smiled. "We've all been so worried about Mik. She's such a wonderful person. I can't imagine why those two men wanted to hurt her. Some family." She frowned.
"I know. It's tough." Jules turned and looked around. "This should help a little."
"Yeah. It will. We all miss Mik terribly." Kasey looked around. "Looks like we're going to be sardines."
"Yeah." Jules looked out the window at the beautiful sunshine and blue skies. "It was nice to meet you Kasey." Jules smiled at her, turned to the group and motioned for them to follow her outside.
KK greeted and thanked every person as they came in and paid. Nearly everyone gave more than the $15 entry price from the flyer. KK looked at her blackened thumbnail and remembered putting up the flyers all over town. It was pretty ironic that she was putting up flyers for this charity yoga event to benefit Mik and she had yelled at Mik for doing nearly the same when they first met. Mik would get a kick out of that when she told her. She also love how KK missed the nail and but her thumb.
It'd been hard for KK to visit Mik, but she'd been there almost every day. When Mik was first in the hospital, she'd left early every day so she could visit Mik before visiting hours were over. As it was she only got to be there for a few hours. She was glad Sam had been there as much as he was. She could see what Mik saw in him. Sweet, caring, charming and protective of those he cared about.
After all that had happened to Mik, KK was glad that Mik had found such a solid guy. She hoped they would last. After leaving work early last week, her boss had been on her ass to make up the time and her work. She'd gone in early and stayed late the past couple days and was almost caught up. She hoped one more early day tomorrow would do it. She'd told her boss about this event and he'd been extremely understanding about her being in late. She was surprised when he showed up with her ten coworkers. All of them had donated at least $30 each.
She smiled as she looked at them, all grouped together and in their sweats. It was funny to see them out of their dress clothes but it warmed her heart that they would all come. Even Randy Detweiler who had made it clear that she did not like KK. Not since high school when KK had dated Orlando Kowaltzki, Randy's crush. Poor Randy had been nursing her crush for Orlando since graded school, but Orlando never gave her the time of day. Randy still hadn't forgiven KK for marrying him.
KK looked around the very crowded studio and stood up. There was still a line outside the door. She looked down at the money box and sighed. She couldn't let any more people in. They were at capacity already. She'd have to make an announcement. She looked at Orlando and handed him the money box. "We can't fit any more people in here." She said with disappointment. "Put that in the safe, I'll make the announcement." He gave her a kiss and made his way through the people to the office and shut the door.
Just as KK was standing on her chair and going to yell to get everyone's attention, she heard a piercing whistle. She looked and saw Ed and Jules moving through the crowd.
Ed squatted down and Jules climbed on his shoulders. When Ed stood and Jules was above everyone's heads she got their attention. "Hey everyone!" Jules waved to the people in and outside of the studio. "Thank you all so much for coming! It's a beautiful thing you're all doing for Mik. But as you can see we're out of room for all of us to be in this space.
We have an idea. Please follow us and we'll lead you to the new location. If you haven't given your donation yet, KK will be around to collect it." She pointed to KK who waved to them all. Jules put a hand on Ed's head and he moved towards the door. "Follow us!" Jules yelled. She ducked as they went through the door and sat up again. They walked a couple blocks, then turned down a street. Another block and they turned into a park. Ed crouched down and let Jules down from his shoulders. She walked to the gazebo and climbed the stairs. She stood next to a gorgeous brunette in workout gear.
People streamed to the gazebo and stood looking up at Jules and the woman in front of them. People were whispering and mumbling about the woman in the gazebo. Some had already recognized her, others were surprised to see the woman in person. Jules looked at them all and smiled. The last of the people, including KK reached the park.
KK looked at the gazebo and couldn't believe her eyes. No way, she thought. No. Freakin. Way. She made her way through the crowd of forty, collecting donations as she went, to the gazebo. She looked at Jules as she made her way up the steps. "Oh my gosh." She breathed. The woman turned to her and smiled a bright white smile.
"Hi. I'm Camille-"
"Camille Bastille." KK said at the same time in an amazed tone.
Camille smiled. She loved meeting fans, it made her day. "Yes. And you are?"
"Oh, uh, I'm Karen Kowaltzki."
"Oh!" Camille's perfectly shaped brows rose on her flawless ebony skin. "You organized this?"
"Yes." KK said surprised. "How?"
"Camille and I go way back." Jules smiled.
"Do you have to say way? We aren't that old." Camille joked.
"Well twenty years-" Jules shrugged.
"Shh." Camille shushed her and turned back to a stunned Karen. "This is a wonderful thing you're doing for your friend Karen."
"Call me KK, please." She put a hand to her heart. She still couldn't believe that the top yoga instructor in Canada was standing in front of her. Mik would die if she knew! "She's one of the best people I know." She looked meaningfully at Jules who smiled warmly.
Camille smiled and put a hand on Jules arm before she turned to the group in front of her. Jules handed her a microphone and then ushered KK down to the grass. "Hello everyone!" The crowd cheered which brought onlookers from other parts of the park and street. "Thank you all so much for coming to this yoga fundraiser to benefit Mikaela Greene! As some of you may know, I am Camille Bastille, owner/operator of Bastille Yoga.
Now, my friend Jules called me and told me what happened to Mikaela. She also told me that yoga is Mikaela's passion in life. And now that life, that passion is threatened." She heard a bunch of people saying 'yeah'. "This woman lives in your community. And a community is a family. We take care of family, right?" More people joined in and said, 'right!'. So she continued, "and that's why we're here today. We're here to have fun, do some yoga and raise money for Mikaela." The crowd, now fifty strong and growing cheered loudly.
"Mikaela is in the hospital, so you can imagine her bills are enormous. She's also at risk of losing her studio, I Am Yoga just around the block from here." She added the last part for the new people that had joined them and we're still arriving. She saw a local news crew and smiled. "So, are we ready to open our hearts and our pockets and help our community member, our family?" She received enormous cheering and applause. "All right then." Camille started putting them through the warm up. She hadn't expected such a large group, but she was so grateful to be part of it.
An hour later, Camille lead them through the cool down and then stood. She put her hands in front of her and bowed to the crowd, the mic between her hands. "Namaste. Thank you all so much! Can I get KK to come up here for a moment?"
KK ran up the steps, still sweating from the workout. She took the mic from Camille and turned to the crowd. "Thank you all so much for coming! We have raised enough money to cover Mikaela's rent for the studio for three months and some for her to use towards her medical bills. This was an amazing event and I can't wait to tell Mik about it. She will be so honored that the community has done this for her. Thank you!"
The crowd cheered and started to disperse. Jules ran up the steps and hugged Camille. "Thank you so much for coming Camille. It means a lot."
"Mik is going to be so jealous when I tell her I got to meet you." KK gushed. "Thank you for doing this."
"Oh. You're welcome. But I'd like to meet Mik if I can. Hate for anyone to be jealous." Camille smiled.
"Oh." KK's eyebrows nearly flew off her face. "Oh my gosh. Really?" She put her hands out towards Camille.
Camille smiled warmly at KK. "Of course!" She turned to Jules. "You have time to hang a little today? I have a 4:30 flight back home but I was hoping-"
Jules smiled at her friend. She always made time for Camille when she came to town. "Absolutely. We're off shift for a couple days."
"Great! Let's go." Camille turned to KK. "Do you want to ride with us?"
Again, KK nearly lost her eyebrows and answered quickly, "yes!" She thought of her husband as they were walking to the limo. "Oh, I have to lock up the studio and tell my husband!"
Camille smiled. "Ok. We'll wait for you. Ask him to come along."
"Oh my gosh!" KK couldn't contain herself and hugged Camille. Luckily Camille was ok with it and hugged her back.
Jules brought everyone over and they met and talked to Camille while they waited for KK. Everyone complimented Camille on her speech and thanked her for doing the event. Jules smiled at her friend as she humbly accepted the gratitude and praise.
Ten minutes later, everyone had left and the four of them were heading to the hospital in the limo.