A/N: Now to age the kids a bit so the next story in the main thread can be next-gen...I give you Kane: The Awkward Teenager

Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan.

015: Flowers

"What's this?" Pauline asked as Scout handed her a bouquet of dried flowers.

"For you!" six year old Scout insisted.

Pauline laughed. "For me?"

Scout nodded intently. Kane smiled as his young…whatever Scout was to him moved on with her mass of dried bouquets. He'd never admit it to William or Daniel but he enjoyed the younger ones in their family. Especially Scout.

"I have more," Scout said as she looked down at her crate. Scout tended to get herself into these messes. She'd become fascinated with something so simple and then make more than she knew what to do with. Kane, on leave from battleschool for the Harvest Festival, cleared his throat.

"You want to take them to the patients at the medical wing, Scout? I bet they'd like it."

Pauline nodded with approval. "I bet they would."

"Okay," Scout shrugged. Kane grinned and lifted the crate for her. He was able to tuck it under one arm and hold Scout's hand with the other. He learned long ago if he wanted to keep up with the child he had to hold her hand. She'd get 'lost' if not. Scout didn't protest.

The entered the medical wing and Kane's heart fluttered. The apprentice he'd hoped to find was on duty. He set Scout's crate down. She wasted no time going bed to bed giving each patient awake her life's story. One day they'd need to teach her to be discreet but at this age it was charming and she had the patients' spirits lifted in no time. Knowing she wouldn't leave the medical wing without him, Kane walked towards Evangeline.

Evangeline was Roman's sister. Roman was a battleschool apprentice in his third year. Before their dismissal for the festival, each student's family was invited to share a meal at the dining hall. Kane's parents hadn't come. They'd gone to Redmont to visit the Treaty family and bad weather kept them from arriving back in time. Scout's parents, Liam and Lina, had come instead. Kane's parents both apologize profusely but in all honesty Kane didn't mind. He knew they'd tried their best and he couldn't be mad at them for the flash flooding that blocked so many of the roads. Honestly, he was surprised they'd made it in time for the festival at all.

At the ceremony following the meal, at which awards were given to each year, Kane was accepted into specialized training to become a Royal Scout. He'd never anticipated becoming a knight when he entered into battleschool and he'd always looked up to the other Royal Scout apprentices. Kane had met Roman his first day of training. Roman, though set to become a Royal Scout, was being groomed as an officer and was sent to their barracks as their Captain during training.

Because he was a Ranger's son, Kane became subject to bullying almost immediately. The others taunted him, saying if the Ranger's didn't want him they didn't either. They didn't care that Kane chose battleschool over the Ranger Corps. Why would they let the facts get in the way of their own personal stories?

Roman had come to his rescue when he found out, but not in the way expected. Roman had quietly pulled him aside, figured out what was going on, and asked "Didn't Ranger Halt teach you about Unseen Movement?"

"Well, yes."

"What about Tactics?"

"I'm trying to distance myself from the Rangers. What good is using Ranger skills going to do?"

"I'm not talking about Ranger skills. I'm talking about Scout skills. They're using information about you against you. Two can play at that game."

With Roman's guidance, Kane discovered secrets that could get his bullies dismissed from battleschool and ridicule their families. Kane had never been one to wield secrets so fiercely. It was one of the reasons he chose battleschool. Unlike his father, he valued chivalry. Still, he became desperate when the bullying began seeping into his classes.

Kane purposely let himself get cornered and then hinted to each and every one their secret without revealing it. Ben's father was serving a life sentence in the Araluen dungeons, meaning Ben should have gone to another fief for battleschool and claimed the black mark openly rather than hide it. Cameron had a crippling disease that ran through his family that could strike at any moment. Judd was responsible for a string of thefts from the apprentices from nobility. The thefts were petty enough Kane didn't feel too bad about keeping the secret, but he later learned Roman turned him in. Roman had discovered it earlier and let it lie just long enough for Kane to get his point across.

From then on, Roman mentored Kane personally. Kane invited him to meet his family one night at dinner but Roman never returned the favor. Kane at first assumed Roman's family lived in another fief but at the ceremony, when Roman went up to receive an award for excellent leadership, they'd cheered. Roman's parents, brother, and much younger sister all clapped for him as he got his award. What struck Kane, however, was the blonde sister wearing a medical apprentice's uniform. Using Roman's own tactics against him, he learned the girl's name was Evangeline and she was apprenticed under Master Jonathan, the Head Healer, directly.

Kane came up on Evangeline slowly as she restocked a cabinet between two empty beds. A cane lay against one of them, as though its last patient forgot it. Kane cleared his throat. Her hands slowed but she kept working. She didn't even turn to face him.

"Yes?" she asked as she continued.

"Uh…hello," he told her. Though he wasn't on duty that day he still wore his apprentice uniform. He'd hoped it'd impress her. "I'm Kane. Your brother Roman is my captain at battleschool."

Her hands paused, resting on the table below the cabinet. "Hi Kane. I'm Gabby."

"Gabby? Oh, I'm sorry…I thought…"

She laughed. "Evangeline's my real name. Everyone decent calls me Gabby."

"Oh, well, nice to meet you Gabby."

He held out his hand, anticipating her turning to shake it but instead she returned to her task. A patient nearby smirked. Kane withdrew the hand to run his fingers through his hair. He blushed, unsure what to do next.

"Well, nice to meet you," he said again sheepishly before turning to check on Scout.

"Oh Gabby, let the fool know," the patient who smirked laughed from his bed.

Gabby wiped her hands on her apron as she turned to face him. For a moment, Kane was mystified by her steady green eyes that pierced through him. Then he realized, they pierced through him…literally. Her pupils were clouded over and unfocused. When she reached for the cane he realized why.

"Oh," he realized. The patient clapped loudly.

"Oh, he says!"

"That's not nice!" Scout's small voice piped up to the patient. "No flowers for you!"

Gabby laughed, probably at Scout but still Kane felt embarrassed.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Kane?" Gabby asked. Kane looked up. It was as though she were looking past him at something behind him.

"Sorry," he said again. Gabby rested her hands on her cane in front of her.

"You've nothing to be sorry for," she assured him. "It's nice to meet you."

She held out her hand. It took Kane a moment to realize he should shake it. He'd barely gotten his grip when Scout cut in.

"Hi," she told Gabby. "I'm Scout. What's your name?"

Gabby smiled as Scout addressed her. Kane silently thanked the child for coming to his rescue, whether she'd meant to or not. "I'm Gabby. What do you have, Scout? Flower?"

"Uh-huh," Scout answered cheerfully. "They're roses. Do you like roses, Gabby?"

Gabby knelt down, keeping her cane upright. "I don't like their thorns."

"Me neither. I picked them all off. Why do you have a cane, Gabby? You're not old."

"Scout!" Kane gasped. Gabby ignored him.

"Because I'm blind," she told the child.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I can't see."

"Oh. Can you smell?"

Gabby laughed again. "Yes, I can smell."

"Here, you can have one. You're nice, Gabby. I like you."

Scout held a flower out. Gabby searched the air as though the room were dark. Kane debated whether or not she should guide her hand to it but Scout was quicker. She moved it so it touched Gabby's hand. Gabby took the flower and made a big show of smelling it.

"Very nice. Thank you, Scout. How old are you?"

"Six. And my father is Ranger Liam and my mother is Lady Lina and my sister is Caitlyn. Just Caitlyn. Her middle name is Grace. My middle name is Evanlyn, but I don't really like it."

Gabby smelled the flower again and stuck it in the pocket of her apron. "May I have your hand, Scout?"

Scout giggled as she put her hand into Gabby's. Gabby shook it playfully.

"Thank you for bringing flowers to the patients and me. You are welcome to visit any time."

Scout, still unfamiliar with the concept of strangers, shook Gabby's hand back. "Okay. I'll bring Kane with me."

Gabby held Scout's hand still and dropped her voice to a whisper though Kane could still hear her. "Can you tell me what Kane looks like?"

"Well," Scout began, much to Kane's embarrassment. There was no turning back now. What little filter the girl had was gone. "He's really really really big. When we go to the festival tonight he said he'd hold me up high so I can see all the fireworks."

Kane let out a sigh of relief. That part wasn't too bad.

"Rosalina thinks he's handsome."

Well, that blew it. Kane felt his face burn red as Gabby stifled her laughter behind her hand. The patient two beds down did nothing to stifle his. Gabby stood back up, releasing Scout's hand.

"I should get back to work," she said. She reached back to the counter behind her and traced until she found the case of herbs she'd been sorting. She tucked it under her arm. "It was good to meet you, Scout. You too, Kane."

Kane stepped aside as she held her cane at an angle in front of her, tapping it back and forth with each step. He turned back to Scout. Her crate lay empty. Without another word he hoisted her onto his hip and all but ran from the medical wing. Scout squealed as though it were a game.

"Thanks a lot, Scout," he muttered once they were far away.

"You're welcome."