"Just so you know, this is the most ridiculously awkward and cute thing ever." Cal muses idly from her spot cross-legged on Kate's bed, munching on a piece of celery dipped in peanut butter while Kate discards outfit after outfit. "You know, you have met the kid before. She's not going to care what you're wearing."

"Either help me pick something or shut up and eat your disgusting snack." Kate grumbles, tossing a t-shirt onto the ever-increasing pile of clothes on her desk.

"It's a trip to the shops, Kate. She's barely going to notice what you're wearing when she's in possession of her Dad's credit card. And I'll have you know peanut butter and celery is amazing."

"How are we related?" Kate mutters under her breath, huffing so heavily her fringe flies up around her face for a moment. She hates that her sister always looks totally flawless in whatever she's wearing, even when she's just rolled out of bed. "Callie, if you can find me an outfit, I'll never sneer at that monstrosity of a meal again. But everything I pick out has me looking like I'm either going to boot camp or like a total frump. Or isn't washed."

"You know there's more people here than just me who can wash, you know?" Cal folds her arms and clicks her tongue in a pointed sort of way. Realistically, Kate knows her sister is right, loathe as she is to admit it.

"But you make the clothes smell so much nicer." She half-whines.

"It's called fabric softener, a concept I have explained many times over." Cal rolls her eyes, before raising herself up slightly to scan Kate's room. "Wear the plain black t-shirt dress with my red belt and your red earrings. And flats. Shopping is a serious sport and you need appropriate footwear."

Kate laughs and tackles her sister, wrapping her in a tight bear-hug. "Thank you, Callie!"

"Oof." Cal groans, squirming out of her sister's reach. "Damn. Go jump your boyfriend instead you weirdo."

"You sure you don't want to hang out with us? You can watch the movie with Bee and Mike or come shopping?"

"Ha!" Cal lets out a dry laugh. "Hon, I'm not going to be paying HEX fees for the rest of my life so I can skip assignments galore. Shopping is just so low on my list of things to do right now. And I think I watched enough of those Pokemon episodes with Bee to have successfully filled my Pokemon related aunty-duties. I would much rather do assignments."

"And yet you're in my room eating celery and-"

"Oi!"

"A delicious snack in my room." Kate corrects primly.

Cal shakes her head sadly. "Well, I'm also an excellent procrastinator. But hey," She shrugs neatly. "You've finally found a guy you trust with your daughter after how many years? I believe there's hope for me in the end."

When Kate moves towards her daughter's room ten minutes later, it's to find Bridie already dressed in a pair of luridly patterned orange tights, a denim skirt and a t-shirt. "Well..." Kate scans Bridie's appearance. "You look cute." She turns to face the tights, poking one of the creatures on them. "Is he a Pikatchu as well?"

"He's a Pokemon as well, Mum." Bridie sighs, plucking the fabric and rolling her eyes in that patented McGregor way. "This is Charmander. This-" She waves a hand over the t-shirt sporting the yellow creature. "-is Pikatchu."

"Well..." Kate felt as though she should have gotten points for remembering one name, but lets it slide. "Are you ready to go? Or have you got more Pokemon accessories to sport?"

"I was ready ages ago." Bridie grins, before catching her mother's eye. "I'll be okay, Mum. Mike's been wanting to see this movie for ages and so have I. So he and I can watch it and you and Rose can go shopping and buy me lots of presents."

"Presents, huh?" Kate tips her head to the side, shuffling closer to her daughter and murmuring into her ear. "And what presents would these be?"

"If I said a Bulbasaur plushie, would you know what that meant?" Bridie grins, as they make their way to the car.

"So... what are we after today?" Kate grins, turning to the young girl walking beside her whose eyes are flicking between each shop name, mouthing each one silently. "Is there a game plan or-"

"Shopping is a serious business. Of course there's a game plan." Rose grins, much in the same way as Mike does before turning to Kate. "I hope you don't mind shopping with me? I guess you probably were keen at the chance to shop just by yourself but-"

"No, are you kidding?" Kate shakes her head profusely and drags a hand over her outfit. "I am a terrible shopper, totally reliant on either my sister or my daughter. Trust me. I'm glad I get to go shopping with you." Rose says nothing to this, but it seems to Kate as though the young girl walks just a little taller as they make their way towards Kmart. "So, are we looking for anything in particular?"

"I..." Rose fidgets with the bracelets on her arms, and as Kate glances down she sees it's a yellow and black threaded bracelet. "Well, I kind of just... wanted... some stuff that wasn't so..." She plucks at the t-shirt she's wearing and Kate turns her attention to it. Realistically, there's nothing wrong about it, but the sequined love-heart doesn't exactly seem to be Rose's style. And then, as though the words are tumbling out, she adds, "I just always go shopping with Dad, or Grandma, and it's nearly impossible to explain to them that I'm too old for stuff like socks with frills and love hearts everywhere. I just like to... to pick my own stuff. Like, I'm not saying I want... I don't know..." She makes a vague gesture across her chest. "Just something a bit more... me."

"Okay." Kate nods.

"I mean, it's not that I want to grow up too fast. I don't want... I don't know... miniskirts and real heels and all that. I just... I think I'm too old now for jeans with... flowers sewn onto them and rainbows and everything. Sometimes... sometimes I just want something a bit plainer. More... normal. But it's hard telling Dad that. And then he gets all embarrassing and calls me his little girl and..." She trails off, flushing slightly. "Well, you know how he is sometimes."

Kate barely suppresses her grin. "Yeah, I know." She agrees. "Look, Rosie, you should be able to wear whatever you want. As long as you're wearing it for you, okay? Not... not for what everyone else thinks. So you show me what you like, and we'll go from there."

Rose looks surprised, but smiles a bit wider. "Well... in here, I guess." They make their way to the 'tween' section, and Rose begins to flick through tops and pants uncertainly. Kate does the same, every now and then coming across something she thinks Rose will like and adding it to the handful of coat hangers in her hand. Once they've retrieved enough they make their way to the changing rooms and Kate waits outside as Rose enters a cubicle.

They're the only ones in the change rooms, and after a minute or so Kate calls out, "So... you're not into Detective Pikatchu?"

Rose lets out a laugh from behind the door. "No. I mean, Dad's been talking about it since before the first trailer was even out. He loves all that stuff. All that sci-fi and fantasy stuff. He got me into Harry Potter but failed when it came to Pokemon. I always used to get sad that they'd battle." Kate grins at Rose's words. "What about you?"

"I never understood it all." Kate admits, unable to stop the twinge of slight guilt that she's been unable to follow Bridie's interest with as much attentiveness as Rose has obviously tried to. "And Bridie gets annoyed explaining it to me all the time."

There's a scraping of a lock as Rose opens the change room door, holding her arms out uncertainly. "How's this?" All in all, it's not such a drastic change, but the jeans are a slimmer fit and darker, and the t-shirt slightly more of a flattering cut.

"What do you think?" Kate asks softly, not wanting to push Rose into anything.

Rose's face splits into a wide smile. "I like it." She grins.

"Well..." Kate grins, picking up her handbag. "I think we should get them then."

"So... have you had to dive into a car to rescue someone before?" Rose questions, her voice a little louder than normal to be heard over the chatter in the food court, before placing a chip into her mouth. "Have you driven the truck? Or... or caught a bad guy?"

"It's really not as dramatic as it looks on TV." Kate laughs, shaking her head softly. "Mostly it's little stuff like kitchen fires. Lots of back-burning when we were back in NSW in the mountains but for the most part it's small stuff or... or traffic accidents and stuff like that." Loathe as she is to put her profession down, she doesn't want Rose to get the wrong idea of what she does for a living.

"You delivered a baby though. What was that like?"

"A lot easier than pushing one out." Kate quips before she can stop herself, then catches Rose's eye. "It's fun. It's always something different. Challenging." Kate leans forward to take a sip of her drink. "Have you thought of what you might want to do?'

Rose shrugs, looking thoughtful. "I think sometimes maybe I'd want to be a vet. Or else a beekeeper. Run a farm, maybe? Something with animals, anyway?" She looks curiously at Kate. "Do you like animals?"

"You know, when I was in the mountains, Cal was a WIRES volunteer. So we always had injured possums or... or the odd joey. So I like animals a lot."

"Wow!" Rose grins. "Does she still do it?"

"I think she stopped when she went back to uni full time and got a part time job. But I know she wants to do it again soon."

"And... do you want more kids?" Rose tries to ask the question casually, but as she glances back at Kate before hastily avoiding her eye, Kate comes to realise the question definitely hasn't come out of the blue. Kate feels the corners of her mouth twitch.

"I... I guess that would be something I'd have to decide with... with the right person." She replies tentatively.

"And..." Rose sounds even more fake-casual. "Is my Dad the right person? Because, I know he's a bit of a dork sometimes, and... and he's sometimes totally embarrassing, but... he's pretty funny too and... I don't know, he likes you and I..." She blushes furiously. "I just wondered."

"Well..." Kate begins, smiling at Rose. "I'd say... he is a dork. But... I... I think he might... be the right person for me."

"It was awesome, Mum!" Bridie squeals as she bounces up and down on one of Mike's bar stools, grinning broadly. "The bulbasaurs were so sweet! And... and the Mr Mime was so funny! And... and-"

"Don't forget the Psyduck!" Mike interjects. "He and Pikatchu strapped into their little carseats! And Snubbull-"

"-The Magikarp-"

"-Jigglypuff-"

"-And Lickitung-"

"Oh my gosh!" Rose interjects, rolling her eyes at her friend. "You're just as big a dork as he is." She accuses. Bridie sticks out her tongue before leaning forwards.

"So! What did you buy? Show me?"

Rose looks meaningfully between Mike and Kate before scooping up her shopping bags. "Maybe in my room. Then we can... uh... listen to music?"

Bridie hesitates for a fraction of a second before her eyes widen slightly and she nods. "Oh. Yeah, okay! Sounds good!"

"Subtle, Rosie!" Mike calls as the girls nod and scurry away, shaking his head. "So, she didn't drive you mad?"

"No. It was... well, we had a great time, actually. She's... she's a very smart kid." Kate suddenly loses the battle she's been fighting since she saw Mike and finally cracks up laughing. "I'm sorry. I can not take you seriously wearing this." She reaches up and plucks the hat from Mike's head, examining it. "I mean, what are you wearing?"

"It's a Pokeball hat!" He declares defensively, taking it back and sitting it atop his head once more. "Ten seconds and you're already making fun of me. See! Knew I should've flirted with that other firie instead? Whatsisname? Dutchy?" He tuts in an overly dramatic way before he grins and closes the distance between them, kissing her. A moment later a little-too-loud music starts up, slightly muffled by the walls, and Kate pulls away.

"Little Ears are really unsubtle." She mumbles, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Yup." Mike agrees, trailing a hand down her arm. "So... am I too broke to shout you dinner some time next week? Or has Rose actually broke the bank?"

"No, should be able to split... say, Subway?" Kate rests her head against his chest for a moment. "You've raised a good kid, Mike."

"Well, so have you." Mike agrees, and she likes that she can just settle herself in her arms and he can tuck his chin atop her head and she's safe. "Bridie's an amazing kid. Smart too." He gives a soft chuckle that rumbles in Kate's ear. "But I reckon our kids have been conspiring. I wonder if you got the same talk I did today?"

"Well, what was yours?" Kate begins hesitantly.

"Well, mostly about your rampant foot fetish. And your secret love for One Direction. But mostly that time is short and we belong together, should pop some kids, all that." Although he keeps his voice casual, Kate feels his chin tilt slightly, and she knows he's seeking her out.

"Yeah, I... I got that same one." Kate concedes. "I mean, Rosie was basically telling me that you're afraid of clowns and if we go out, we can't go to any McDonalds because of an unfortunate incident involving you and a Ronald McDonald statue but... yeah. I got the same one."

"And... what do you think?" Mike murmurs.

"I think..." She sinks further into his arms. "I think I'm glad you're the right person for me." She settles on.