"Matters of Kin"

"Kerrie, wh..." Not only could Bobby not finish his statement, he had yet to even think of anything to say.

"Bobby! Bobby, I..I.."

"Kerrie?" Jack exclaimed. "Th-the Kerrie?"

"Bobby," she shifted the child in her arms, "This is Janeane, my niece. I'm her guardian." There was an awkward silence. "Did you all want to come inside? We can talk there. It's cold out here."

They entered Kerrie's apartment. "Make yourselves at home. I'll be right back." She went into a bedroom, and put Janeane in her crib. She then reentered the living room, where Jack, Alex, Kat, and Jerry had all squeezed onto the couch, wondering what this would be like, how his would turn out. Bobby took a living room chair, and Kerrie stood. "Over a year ago, almost two, my sister, and her husband, were in a car accident. They died that night. I've been taking care of Janeane ever since. Actually, my other sister is supposed to, but I don't know where she is."

"I'm sorry, for your loss." Alex said, her face blank, not looking at Kerrie, just looking off.

"Thank you. I don't believe I've actually met any of you."

"Kerrie, this is my brother Jack, his..my...friend Alex, my friend Katrina, and my brother Jeremiah. Everybody, the infamous Kerrie."

"Infamous? You talk about me?"

"Yyeah, well, that note, I put it in my pocket, BIG mistake. And now I will never hear the end of it." His expression changed, as he first changed the subject. "You didn't want me to know."

"It scares people off, you know. The responsibility of taking care of a little kid. But you, I just, I didn't want to scare you away."

"Me? You like ME?" She nodded. "You care about what I think? And you didn't want to chase me off, because," and by this time he was more stating than asking, "you really like me, and you wanna go out with me. And you're going to. Because you can't reject this adorable face."

"Damnit. You're right. It's like, my kryptonite. Hey, this isn't your whole family, is it?"

"Nah we got a few more at home. Why?"

"You didn't catch that? You just invited me over for dinner tonight."

"When did I do that?" He smiled.

"Just now." Everyone on the couch interrupted the conversation.

"I'll call the sitter." Kerrie went over to the phone, and Bobby returned to his party.

"I like her." Jack said. "She's...assertive. She's good for you."

"Hey, I'm not marrying her or anything."

"But you ARE dating her."

"Well.."

"Let's see, you wouldn't date anyone else, you keep coming back to see her after a one night stand, and if she ever went out with anyone else, you'd kick his ass into next thursday. Yeah, you're dating." Jack sat back and smiled.

"So..you guys are dating?"

"Yeah. Where were you?" Alex smiled. "Oh yeah, getting laid at a motel."

"Shut up."

"Well you were."

"At least I wasn't doing it in a house full of people with the door open."

"We didn't know it was. We were a little...preoccupied. And besides, we never actually did. We were so RUDELY interrupted."

"Wh-! I didn't know. I just saw some hooded guy."

"We know." Jack reassured.

"OK," Kerrie came in, "Sitter's on his way." Bobby noticed how different she had looked compared to that night. She had her hair back in a resting ponytail, was wearing FULL clothes, and had on little make-up, what she had on being lighter, making her face look, softer, somehow, if that made any sense. He wanted to kiss her, but not here, in front of the rest of them, and besides, he hardly knew her. But he did, he knew how to make her smile, and how to make her crazy. But did HE know that?

Iciss awoke silently, peacefully. She was in an unfamiliar room. Angel's room, she soon recalled. Angel was asleep, next to her, his arm around her waist. She finally got up the courage to start moving, slowly, in brief movements. She was clear, almost, she had made it off his bed halfway, most of her legs still there, when Angel stirred and moved slightly. Iciss froze, in a rather odd, uncomfortable position, almost like she was doing push-ups. Her arms were shaky, under pressure, and so her hold on herself would only work for so long before she--

too late. She collapsed with a yelp. She popped back up and looked at the STILL unconscious Angel nervously. 'Damn, you a heavy sleeper.' She then had to search around for her clothes. 'Ah, a shirt. Now for underwear. Where the hell--? Oh. There they are. Jeans over here.' And thats how it went before she found all her clothes, and got dressed. A complicated process indeed. She looked over at Angel. He was still sound asleep. He looked so cute. She went over and kissed his cheek sweetly, then left the room. She turned around, only to see something that froze her where she stood.

Angel then stirred, and awoke, wrapped his sheet around his waist, and went to the doorway, where Iciss was standing, and not moving. "Hey," he said smoothly, then looked to see where Iciss was looking, down the stairs. So he looked too. There, at the doorway, was a group of six. They had returned, and with one more this time. And they were all staring.

"Hi there." Jack greeted, grinning.

"Oh, shit." Iciss said,and Angel was so shocked he dropped his sheet.

Kat went "Whoa!", Kerrie laughed, and Alex tilted her head and asked Jack, "Does that look like rugburn to you?", making Jack tilt his head as well. "Looks like," he responded, with a smile.

Angel soon entered the living room, with everyone else, this time fully dressed. He and Iciss were introduced to Kerrie.

Then the real action started. They were laughing, talking, having fun, when there was a knock on the door. Kat volunteered to get it this time, since she was closest. She opened it, to see two men there.

"Can I help you?"

"Alexis Fischer?"

"Who wants to know?"

One man pulled out a gun, and was about to shoot. But Angel showed up behind them, apparently he had snuck around out the back, and shoved the gunman. He still took the shot, but he only hit Katrina's arm. The other man pulled out his gun and attempted to shoot Angel. But Jack came out through the front, and shoved the man, whose gun fell away from him, as did the first man and his gun. Bobby and Alexis showed up with guns pointed, and the men started running, down the street, jumping in a car, and taking off. Then Bobby went over to where Kerrie and Jeremiah were trying to help Kat.

"Shoot to kill, motherfuckers. That, that ain't no way to get the job done." She seemed fine, though she was breathing heavily, and winced in pain. "I need a beer." Speak of the devil, here comes Angel, with, of course, a beer. A nice pain reliever.

"Well, you'll live." Kerrie said, examining Katrina's wound. "Not that you were worried."

"Hahahah. This hurts like a bitch."

"Right now, let's bandage this up."

"Am I gonna die?" Apparently she was a little drunk already.

"Shut up." Bobby laughed.

"Oh, come on, you'd be lost without my wit. You love me. Damn, I AM your sister, for God's sakes."

"What? You've had a little too much to drink."

"No, I can hold my liquor, you know that. But you don't know this. I'm Evelyn's daughter."

Bobby looked at her, confused, suspiciously. She nodded.

"What? But I thought--"

"She gave it up? She did. To friends, who were trying, but couldn't. Little before she adopted you."

"What?" Jack saw and wondered what was going on, they hadn't heard the conversation.

"Meet your big sister, Jackie." Bobby said.