Even walking in the rain was preferable to hanging out in the gym with the kids, so Ian didn't hurry as he headed to the fire pit. Sure enough, Gary was there with a couple of the staff members, directing the erection of an odd-looking tarp that was apparently designed to allow the kids to have campfire even with the rain coming down. It was already up enough that Ian could see how the angles of the canvas would deflect the rain from coming into the area that the kids would be sitting in – and it would also allow the smoke from the fire to escape if the wind blew it that direction without choking the campers. It was pretty clever, he had to admit.

"Ian, give us a hand, will you?"

Gary was on a ladder – as was one of the other staff members – but it was clear that the wrong person had been selected, because her arms just weren't long enough to reach the eyehole that the tarp needed to be attached to, and everyone else was occupied holding various ends of the thing and couldn't come to their assistance. To top it all of, there was just enough of a breeze that it was flapping the tarp and making it almost impossible to hold on to.

He trotted over and climbed the ladder the woman was on, reaching around her and grabbing the connector. Then with his other hand he took the corner of the tarp from her and quickly hooked it on before the breeze jerked it out of his hand – and before the woman could get any bright ideas about their close position meaning anything more than what it was. You could never be too careful after all, right?

With her end up, it was simple for the other ends to be connected, and a moment later everything was set. Gary climbed down from his ladder, looking up at the enclosure cheerfully, and then joining Ian and the woman – whose name was Peg. Peg was standing just a little too close to Ian for his comfort. They weren't on the ladder anymore, after all, and the campfire area was fairly large.

"Thanks for the assist," Gary said.

Ian nodded.

"No problem."

"The kids can't be done making their pet rocks already…" Peg said, making it more of a question. She wasn't quite ready to be left out of the conversation just yet, after all.

Ian shook his head.

"I just thought I'd get some fresh air."

"You're soaked," she noted.

He ignored that, but before she could realize he wasn't going to answer her, Gary spoke up.

"We don't normally do campfire in the rain, but I didn't want to disappoint the kids, and this age group really enjoys the experience of campfire – especially the kids who are coming for the first time."

Ian grunted something unintelligible and Gary grinned.

"It's not going to be too long tonight," he promised. "Not with the rain expected to continue."

"Does it normally rain like this?" Ian asked, wondering why anyone would want to go to a camp if it was going to be raining half the time they were there. Of course, he'd never wanted to go to camp when he was younger anyways – rain or shine.

"Sometimes," Gary said, shrugging. "The weather is unpredictable up here."

"I think the rain is refreshing," Peg said.

Ian scowled. She didn't have to slog through it with a half dozen six-year-olds, did she?

"We're making s'mores tonight," Gary said, gesturing to the side of the fire, where one of the other staff members was setting up several long metal 'sticks' that would be used to skewer several marshmallows at once. "The kids will like that."

"Sounds great," Ian said, trying hard to make it sound like he meant it. "I'd better get back to the gym."

He'd rather put up with the kids – who weren't interested in any more from him than just company and advice on their pet rocks – than put up with Peg, who seemed to be standing closer to him every minute.

"I'll be along shortly," Gary promised. "We'll be playing games when they're done painting their rocks, and after dinner we'll be in the gym playing Millcreek's own version of killer kickball."

"Which should wear them out nicely," Peg told him.

Right up until they loaded them up with sugar at campfire, Ian thought. He didn't say anything, though. He just turned and headed back up the hill towards the camp, noting as he did so that the trail was pretty muddy and there were probably going to be a lot of messy cabins that night when the kids came in from campfire. He'd just make sure that the Australia kids took their shoes off when they walked in the door.

OOOOOOOOO

Ninety-one pet rocks were lined up on the windowsills under the drying heat lamps watching the campers play kickball after a hearty dinner.

The kids were divided into two teams, boys and girls well mingled amongst them, and the rules were fairly simple. Everyone on one team was up each inning, and they kicked the ball – which was pitched to them by a member of the other team – and ran the bases. At least as far as they could. Then, the next person was up, and if no one caught their kick (which would make them automatically out) then they would run the bases as well. It wasn't unheard of to have several people stuck on one base, waiting for someone to kick the ball really hard and maybe get them all home safe. The only problem with that was that anyone left on base after the last person on the team kicked the ball was automatically out so the other team could be up. Which meant the last people in the line up tended to take more risks than those at the beginning of the line up and they also tended to get out more often.

The kids enjoyed the game. It was active and exciting, and the ball wasn't hard enough to hurt when someone flung it at them – which made it fun to get tagged out, even. It was difficult enough to catch that when someone did manage to catch it the others were impressed, and there was almost always high-fiving going on and cheering. The kids were warm, and full, and even though they hadn't had a lot of sleep the night before, they were still going full out.

Ian was once more the pitcher for his team, but although everyone seemed to be aiming for him – and he was pretty sure they were at first – the ball really didn't hurt when he was hit with it. After he caught these rogue balls a few times, the kids on the other team realized that aiming at him wasn't necessarily such a great idea. No one wanted to get out, after all – and Ian was proving he was more than capable of catching anything that came near him. Made even more so when he realized that they were going to stop aiming at him if he proved to them how costly it was going to be.

When his team was up, he encouraged his kids to kick it as hard as they could, but stayed back from doing much more than that, well aware that his competitive nature might come out – along with some choice words. Especially since his team wasn't winning.

"Campfire next," River told him cheerfully as the two hung around the rear of the line waiting for their turn to be up.

"Joy."

The Californian smiled.

"Do me a favor…"

"What?"

"Help Shawn make sure the kids get there."

Ian frowned.

"Where are you going to be?"

"Special assignment."

Which was pure bullshit and Ian knew it.

"Yeah? With who?"

The twinkle in River's blue eyes told Ian he was right on the money, and River's smile turned into a grin. A slightly naughty grin.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Ian scowled, but this was hardly the place to argue with River about his alley cat morals.

"Just try to remember we're not supposed to have more kids leaving camp than arrived, okay?"

River grinned, taking that as permission – which it wasn't. Of course, he didn't need Ian's permission, or his blessing, and both of them knew it.

"Thanks."