Breakfast was pancakes and scrambled eggs, with syrup that seemed to be dripping all over everything by the time the meal was over. It was, after all, the nature of little boys to make messes as they ate, and the boys from Australia were not exceptions to that rule. By the time they'd finished eating and had started stacking dishes, Ian was having trouble getting his fingers apart from each other – and he hadn't even had syrup.

"Okay, Campers!" Gary moved to his customary position in the front of the room, obviously ready to give out the announcements for the morning, and everyone turned their attention to him, while Shawn tried to get a fork unglued from his hand.

Gary waited until he had everyone's attention, and then held up his copy of the schedule.

"Once I excuse you back to your cabins, I want you to go and clean up a little." He watched as River pulled his hand away from his face, leaving a trail of syrup from his fingers to his hand. "Your cabins, and yourselves. You'll have twenty minutes, and then when the bell rings, you're excused to your morning activity."

He looked down at the paper in his hand, well aware that none of them knew what their morning activity would be.

"Japan. You and Peru will be at the waterfront this morning. So change into your bathing suits."

There were excited murmurings from the members of those two cabins, but Gary ignored that and continued.

"Russia and Spain, you're at the corral. Australia and Romania, you're up in the field, and Egypt and Argentina, you two cabins will be down at the lagoon – again, you'll need bathing suits, as well." He looked around. "Questions, counselors?"

There were assorted headshakes, and he made a motion with his hands, shooing them away.

"Off with you, then."

The campers stood up en mass and headed for the door, some of them with pieces of cutlery still sticking to their hands and clothing and one seven year old girl with a napkin stuck firmly in her hair. Gary couldn't help but smile as he watched them go, although he did wonder why they still allowed syrup at any meal.

OOOOOOOO

"What are we going to be doing?" Chance asked.

"No clue," River admitted, waving the boy over to him. The Californian was experienced with syrup (and glue) messes on little ones, and knew that the best way to make sure the boys were all completely syrup free would be to wash it off himself. So he'd taken a hand towel and had wet it in the sink, and had grabbed the nearest boy – Grant – and had thoroughly cleaned the syrup off him. Now he was working his way through the rest of them, while they speculated about what was to come, and Ian and Shawn helped them make their beds and clean up their discarded pajamas and other clothing. "We'll probably have to wait until we get there to find out."

There were grumbles about this, but not many – these boys were very good-natured, and the anticipation was part of the fun, right?

River had just washed the last of the boys when the bell finally rang, and the kids darted out of the cabin like rats off a sinking ship. Ian, River and Shawn all went outside, watching as their boys ran off to the ball field, and as the rest of the camp came boiling out of their own cabins and headed off to their own assigned areas. Danin, Ann and Sierra – who were all in Romania – were walking together towards the ball field with a small group of their own girls, and River, of course, noticed this immediately.

"Hey! Wait up you guys!"

Ian scowled as the girls all turned around at the call and then came to a stop. The little girls surrounding them all stopped, too, watching as the three counselors headed their way – River walking a little faster than the other two, and Ian down right dragging his heels.

"Did you tie your kids up and leave them hanging on the coat racks?" Danin asked as River came up beside them, a warm smile for all three of them, and the sun shining brightly off his Hawaiian shirt.

"Nah. They're probably at the field and halfway done with whatever it is we're doing," he told them, smiling at their little girls so cheerfully that the little ones couldn't help but smile back – even though they didn't like sharing their counselors with a boy.

"They can't," one of the girls said, firmly. "They have to wait for us!"

River shrugged, pretending innocence.

"You'd better run up there, then, and see what they're doing…"

The girl gave him a suspicious look – which was joined by all the other girls giving him a similar look – and then she let go of Ann's hand and took off at a run, anxious to make sure that the boys hadn't reached the field first and taken all of the fun before they had managed to even get there. Right behind her went the other little girls, and Ann shook her head, amused, as Ian and Shawn walked up.

"You're really good with them. Too bad you're a guy; you'd make a great counselor for little girls."

Shawn snickered, and even Ian had a glint of amusement in his dark eyes at that particular comment. River reached out and pulled Shawn into a headlock, giving him a noogie.

"No comment from the peanut gallery, Adams, or I'll tell Gary that you asked to be in charge of all the stinkiest, smelliest jobs."

Shawn laughed, and easily pulled himself out of River's grasp – he wasn't one of Bra'tac's student's for nothing, after all.

"I'm already sharing a cabin with you guys," he retorted, moving to stand over by Ann and Danin, where he'd be shielded. "How much stinkier can it get?"

"Smart ass."

Ian made a grab for Shawn, and Ann was almost frightened by how quickly he moved. She didn't even see him tense or anything, but the next thing she knew, he was on the same side of them as Shawn, and had grabbed the younger boy into a headlock of his own. And this time, while Shawn struggled, laughing, to get free, he couldn't. Ian let him go only a moment later, though, his point proven, and Ann smiled to see him finally relaxing his guard a little around them. All six of them were in good spirits when they reached the ball field. And found it set up with bases, and their kids already holding gloves and bats and balls.

"Baseball?" Danin asked.

"Softball," Gary corrected, grinning at the kids. "We don't really want to use a hard ball with them, and a softball won't fly as far when someone hits it, so we don't have to worry about losing the ball."

Of course, since the ball that he held in his hand was easily as bright as the shorts River was wearing, Ian doubted that they'd have any danger of that.

"Line up on the line, guys!" Gary called to the kids, gesturing for the counselors to do the same. As they moved to obey, Gary already started separating the kids into two teams. Co-ed teams that would mingle the two cabins together a bit better. The counselors were separated as well; Ian, Sierra and Ann onto one team, while Danin, Shawn and River were put on the other.

"Each team needs a pitcher," Gary said, as he gestured for Ian's team to head to the outfield, and River's to head in and start getting in line for bats. The bases weren't far apart, in recognition of the short legs and slight power the hitters would have, but it'd definitely make them do some running around. Especially if a kid actually managed to hit the ball.

"Ian can pitch for us," Ann said, tossing him the ball with an amused glance, and waiting for the scowl. Which appeared immediately.

"I don't-"

"Sure!" Sammy yelled from right beside the pitcher's mound. "Ian can pitch!"

Ian sighed, looking at the bright ball in his hand.

"Fine."

How hard could it be?

He turned, watching as Chance came up to the plate, swinging the bat in his hands experimentally.

"Ready?"

The boy nodded, grinning excitedly. Everyone loved being up to bat, right?

Restraining himself at the last minute, because Chance was a little kid, after all, Ian tossed the ball towards him, underhanded, and aiming more for the bat than for the home plate. Sammy swung with all his might, and connected on the very first try. The bright ball came screaming right back at Ian, striking him in the gut before he could even think about dodging out of the way.

"Oof…"

It wasn't deadly. Not that it didn't sting a little, but it didn't knock him down or anything. It just took the breath out of him. As Chance hurried off to first base, while Ian still nursed his side, Gary gave Ian a worried look.

"Are you okay, Ian?"

The cadet nodded, and grunted a little as he turned his attention to the next batter, already feeling a welt where he'd been struck.

Maybe he didn't want to be the pitcher, after all…