Chapter 9 - Casting Call
Kaleb had just gotten done with team practice when he teleported up to knock on Sadie's door with a smile and a pair of ice skates slung over his shoulder. "Feel like going out tonight?" he called out to her as he shouldered the door open.
"Did you get Bobby to freeze the lake?" she asked almost distractedly as she frowned at her phone.
"No, but there's a rink close by, and I thought it might be fun to go skating. I can always send a bamf to kidnap him and have him make a rink if that's what you want," Kaleb teased, though his smile fell a bit when he saw how distracted she was, and he teleported over to her with his head tipped to the side in a silent question.
She smiled slightly to herself at his offer. "You're very sweet. Offering to get yourself grounded for a little ice skating …" She turned her head to look up at him and let out a sigh. "Trying to see if I got a part. There were a lot of callbacks that I didn't get called to," she explained. "And they didn't say which roles they were checking over extra … So. Probably got a hard pass."
"If that's the case," he leaned over to steal a quick kiss, "I'm sure you'll get one next time. But maybe you're in there somewhere. I can't imagine they saw you dance and didn't give you a part. That's ludicrous."
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a more devoted moment, resting her forehead on his. "You're adorable and wonderful; you know that, right?"
"It's nice to hear aloud," he teased lightly. "And I hope you know you're amazing too."
She simply kissed him for a long moment and then put the phone in her pocket. "I probably shouldn't worry about it either way, right? Not when I have a charming heartbreaker asking me out."
"Well, I don't want to stop you from knowing about your stardom," he teased. "Why don't you get your skates — and we'll check again before we leave."
"I've been hitting reload for half an hour," she admitted. "They were supposed to be up already."
Kaleb frowned and then shrugged and pulled her into a kiss. "Then you definitely need a distraction," he decided.
She smiled a little wider and nodded. "Let me grab a sweater."
He nodded and simply propped his head up with both hands, tail swaying easily. "Take your time. If you want, I'll even take your phone and hit refresh for you so you don't even feel like you've left," he had to tease.
"You'd have to get it out of my back pocket first," she laughed.
"I can do that too," he said with a crooked smile.
She shrugged up both shoulders but didn't move, giving him the chance to do exactly that before she stole a little kiss and headed over to grab some warmer gear. "Since you offered. It would be rude for me to renege."
Kaleb grinned as he waited for Sadie to pull on her coat and then offered her his hand to simply teleport them to the rink — which was thankfully not too crowded, seeing as it was the middle of the week. "If you forget how to skate, I'm sure I can hold your hand," he teased.
"Oh no! I can't remember anything about ice?" she said with a shocked tone. "How did that happen?
Kaleb just started laughing as he took her hand to lead her out onto the rink. "Don't worry," he said through his laughter. "I'll teach you."
They were both laughing by the time they made it through the first lap around the ice, especially with Sadie pretending to have forgotten everything as Kaleb skated backwards and kept both of her hands in his — until they reached the spot they'd gotten on the ice and she suddenly "remembered" and left him in the dust. Which just had him laughing all over again.
From there, it was an exercise in showmanship for both of them all over again. As was almost always the case when they were together. They skated literal circles around each other and did a few neat little twirls before they finally ducked out to catch their breath and let Kaleb give his feet a rest from the Elf-friendly skates.
As soon as he had the skates off, Kaleb grinned, let out a contented sigh, and set his feet up on the bench across from them. "That was fun."
"In another couple weeks, we can go sledding," she said. "If you like." She was still smiling when she pulled the phone out and opened up the page.
He grinned up at her. "That sounds fun," he agreed. "And you know Bobby will make sure Christmas is a winter wonderland regardless of the weather."
"Of course," she said, though her smile started to wane as she read what was on her phone.
Kaleb frowned and then teleported to stand behind her so he could peek over her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her middle. "Did you not get in?" he asked, fully ready to console her if she hadn't.
"I … got Titania." She was perfectly still as she stared at her name on the screen. "I don't …"
Kaleb grinned and spun her around to pull her into a kiss. "This calls for celebration. Let's tell your parents and then get sushi."
The smile was slow to make her way onto her face, but once she started to actually process it, she was grinning. "Natasha needs to know."
"Oooh, yes. Aunt Nat will die," Kaleb agreed, not wasting another second before he seized her hand and teleported them to Bed Stuy, wearing a huge grin as he stole another kiss just because he could.
She was smiling at him still before she knocked on the door. "I hope she's home."
"She and Uncle Clint are supposed to watch Chelsea this weekend for Mama and Papa's anniversary. She should be home," Kaleb said, grinning wider when there was an excited, tiny dog barking at the door. "Oh, and I think that's, what, Lucky the Fourth?"
"I just called all of them Lucky," Sadie admitted just before the door opened.
Clint grinned when he saw the two of them standing in the doorway. "Hey, what's the occasion?" he asked, stepping aside to make room for them to come in.
"I need to talk to Aunt Tasha," Sadie said, smiling but almost holding her breath.
"No problem. She's teaching Nikki some codebreaking stuff in the back room. Totally something I can break up," Clint said with a smirk as he gestured for them to make themselves comfortable.
She followed them at least to the living room before the puppy was pulling at her shoelaces and she had to crouch down and give him a little pet, while Kaleb whispered, "Already got adoring fans," just to get her to smile.
It didn't take long, though, before Natasha came out and smiled when she saw Sadie there. "What can I do for you, malen'kaya kuzina?" she asked.
"I got Titania," Sadie said, wide-eyed.
Natasha paused for a moment, her lips slightly parted, before she just laughed and nodded, hardly breaking stride as she came over to pull her arms around Sadie. "Of course you did," she said as if that was the only possible outcome.
"I didn't think I even made the fairies," she admitted as she returned the hug. "You're my first stop."
Natasha tightened her hug and then dropped her voice to a whisper only Sadie could hear. "I am so proud of you, Sadie."
"It's only because you taught me," she replied, snuggling in a little deeper.
"You're my best student," she replied. "Bar none."
"Will you come to watch?" she asked just as quietly.
"Give me the list of showtimes, and I guarantee you I'll be at at least one," she said. "If I have to fight the entirety of Hydra to make it back in time, I will," she added with a little spark of trouble in her gaze.
She laughed lightly and nodded. "It'll be in your inbox by morning." She gave Natasha another hug and then kissed her cheek. "Thank you."
Natasha positively beamed at her and held her hand up to cup Sadie's cheek for a moment before she straightened up at last. "You should tell your parents," she said. "They'll be thrilled."
Sadie nodded quickly. "That's next. I wanted to tell you first, though," she admitted with a little smile.
Natasha looked stunned for a moment and then laughed and kissed Sadie's forehead. "I couldn't be prouder. No go tell Logan or he will accuse me of stealing you away for myself." She leaned forward. "And I will."
Sadie laughed at that and then took a step back, smiling. "He'll already accuse you of it."
"Well, he'll have to live with that, then," Natasha said with a wave as Kaleb stepped up to take Sadie's hand.
"Ready when you are, Sweet Elf," she said, biting her bottom lip. When the two of them disappeared — and of course reappeared in a swirl of dark smoke just outside of the Howlett's suite — Sadie managed to gather her composure again just before she opened the door.
Naturally, her parents were thrilled for her, and Logan wrapped her up in a tight hug, chuckling at her as he congratulated her, and K was just as pleased. "We'll be there opening night," he promised. "Go celebrate — you've earned it."
Sadie kissed both of her parents and then darted out with Kaleb. "I don't even know who else would want to know," she said, though she was still smiling.
"Well, my dad will probably die of pride and happiness," Kaleb pointed out with a little laugh.
"We should tell him very calmly, then," Sadie said as her phone buzzed. She picked it up to look at the text, frowned lightly when she saw Howard's congratulatory message, and then put it back in her pocket. "Where do you think your dad is?"
"Hopefully? He's packing for the trip this weekend. He was going to sneak some jewelry into Mom's suitcase while her back was turned if he could."
"Oooh, let's go help distract her then. Or him. Or … something."
"They'll both be too distracted giving you hugs to notice the bamfs putting fake spiders in with the jewelry," Kaleb grinned impishly. "That was Kade's idea. They added a few fake cockroaches to Papa's."
"Sounds like that's a lot of trouble that needs distracting," she said.
Kaleb laughed at that and took her hand to teleport upstairs to his family's suite, where it looked like Kate was well distracted by Chelsea and a couple bamfs running around and around the couch giggling gleefully.
When they got to the living area, Sadie looked at Kaleb and put one finger over her lips before she popped up on her toes and struck one of her favorite poses to see if they could catch the hint.
Of course, when Kate looked up and saw Sadie, she burst out laughing. "Okay, Sadie, what's got you in such a good mood?" she asked as Kurt finally managed to snag Chelsea and toss her in the air, catching her and grinning over at Sadie as well.
"I was informed that, for a few weeks at least, I get to be a queen," she said with a little smirk.
Kurt laughed at that. "You're always a queen," he informed her. "And anyone who tells you it's limited to a few weeks is lying to you, schatzi."
She smiled a little wider. "Yes, well. This time I get to be the queen of the fairies."
It took a moment, but then, Kurt broke into a delighted laugh and teleported over to wrap her up in a hug. "I take it this means you heard back about the ballet? Wundebar!"
She couldn't help but laugh a little at his enthusiasm. "I got the lead," she told him.
"I will come to your performance," he told her, smiling wider and wider as he spun her around in a circle and then finally set her down. "Opening and closing — perhaps more if I can make it," he said, looking just as proud as if she were his own.
"Are you sure you won't get bored with the same show?" she asked with a perfectly serious expression.
"Sadie, I am the drama teacher. I have seen the same monologues and the same plays a thousand times over. I think I can come and see my best friend's daughter come and steal the lights out from under New York City's very noses," Kurt said, drawing himself up with every word.
She couldn't help but laugh as she wrapped him up in a tight hug. "I already promised Natasha the dates; I'll send them to you too."
"I'll buy out a box and we can see it with your family," Kate said. "Then you'll know exactly where to look to see us."
Sadie grinned her way and then rushed over to give Kate a hug too. "Hopefully I won't blow it, then."
"I'll have Kade bring his box of Band-Aids if you fall on stage," Kate teased. "You'll have the best medical attendant in the history of the ballet."
"Which I'm sure will be dreadfully useful for me," she laughed, then gave them both kisses. "Okay, we just had to share!"
"We did, huh?" Kate said with a teasing smirk Kaleb's way.
"I was there when she found out, and I'm the best-looking taxi around," Kaleb said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.
"And he said we should come here after telling Mom and Dad and Tasha," Sadie said. "I was perfectly happy going down for a movie."
Kurt gave Kaleb a wide grin at that. "Good boy," he said, breaking into a laugh.
The tips of Kaleb's ears turned purple, and he took a hold of Sadie's hand. "Well, we've really told everyone now, so I think we're just going to go see a movie," he said.
The second they teleported into the movie room, however, Sadie turned toward Kaleb and positively tackled him with a kiss.
Kaleb couldn't help but laugh as he fell backwards onto the couch, grinning into the long kiss. "What was that for?"
"For being wonderful — and the perfect person to celebrate with," Sadie replied.
"Oh, okay," Kaleb said and pulled her back down into a longer kiss.
