All right, here you go!

Free to a Good Home part 4

When Leah and Gabriel exited the Fireshot, as Leah learned earlier, the monsoon blew them away. Ducking their heads against the storm, they quickly ran to Café and Tats. Well, Leah ran and Gabe trotted. When they entered the shop, Leah was surprised by the mix of people.

There were people with tons of visible tattoos and piercings while some had no tattoos and piercings. Others had just piercings while some just had tattoos. The rest had barely visible tats and piercings or just the standard one pair earrings.

Bags of delicious smelling coffee beans drifted toward Leah's nose and tickled it, causing her to sneeze. A bar held some muffins, bagels, and other foods. Coffeemakers, bottles of alcohol that were locked up and a sign that boldly said, "NO ALCOHOL UNTIL EIGHT PM!!!", tea bags, and stove/grill were near the wall. A sign near the back doorway said "Tattoos in here." An arrow pointed to the door, and Leah noticed that some of the customers had pieces of papers with designs on them.

When Gabe entered, everyone hooted and yelled, "Hey, Gabe! Go Gabriel!" There were a couple of ladies behind the counter and one yelled, "Whose kid is that, Gabe?"

Gabe puffed his chest and grinned proudly while pulling Leah close to him. "She's the Fireshot's."

"You won against Child Services people?!" A customer shouted.

"Of course they did. They had me for a bloody neighbor, now don't they?" A red headed woman with a couple of visible tattoos and piercings, which included a belly piercing, exited the Tats part of the shop.

"Rosanne! Great to see you again!" Gabe said as he swept the red head into a hug, the other customers returning to their purchases.

"You saw me yesterday, you big oaf. Now, please properly introduce me to this fine young lady," Rosanne said as she swatted Hide.

"Leah, this is Rosanne Smith. Rosanne, this Leah Beta," Hide introduced the adult and girl to each other and continued, "Now if you pardon me, I need to do a tattoo. Watch Leah for me, will you Rosanne?"

"Of course, now get in there and work your magic!" Rosanne said with her light English accent and a laugh. Saluting the two girls, Gabriel went into the Tats half, leaving Leah with Rosanne.

"Well, let's hope that Gabe can do that tattoo or we'll be in trouble," Rosanne muttered under her breath. Turning to Leah, she smiled. "You hungry?"

"No thank you. We just had lunch." Leah replied with a small smile.

"Alright. Pick a seat at the bar while I fix me a cup of coffee." Leah did as she was told and Rosanne did make a cup of coffee that smelled like cinnamon.

"How did Gabe find you?" Leah asked, thinking that Rosanne had a spark too. Rosanne smiled and explained, "Gabe found me, a plain human, when he needed a tattoo done on his back. After that, we continued to talk. In time, he introduce me to Sebastion, and we've had some sort of sibling rivalry ever since."

"Oh," Leah said, realizing what Rosanne meant by "a plain human", "What kind of sibling rivalry?"

"Basicly, the 'I can win against you' kind. We love trying to beat each other in poker." Rosanne said with a laugh.

"How come it's a café and a tattoo shop?" Leah asked, curious.

"Well, I can make a pretty darn good coffee and I like doing tattoos, so why not combine the two? So I did. Besides, some people like coffee while getting their tattoos."

"Oh." It seemed logical to Leah.

"Chase doesn't really get though. I like to make stuff, not just tattoos and coffee," Rosanne continued.

"I get it! That's why you opened the Café and Tats?" Leah said.

"Yeah. It's pretty cool, except the days that work is really slow and time seems to drag on."

Leah giggled at that, and they continued to chat while Gabriel finished up the tattoo that was giving Rosanne trouble. As they were waiting, more people came in for coffee, hot chocolate, and other warm drinks. When he was finished, Rosanne went back to work with the promise that she'll call again if there was another tattoo that was being difficult.

On the way home, Gabe carried Leah so that she didn't get left behind in the pouring rain that was still going. When they entered the shop, there was no one there. With good reason; it was almost 5:30 and the rain wasn't stopping!

"So did you have fun?" Gabe asked as he helped Leah out of her borrowed coat. Leah nodded her little head as she hugged Gabriel as he was still kneeling down with the coat and kissed his cheek.

"Rosanne was nice!" she replied. Gabe chuckled as he returned her kiss.

"Of course she is. She deals with us all the time." Leah giggled at the joke as they walked up the stairs to the apartment. When they entered, they noticed Bee on the couch in the living room, reading. Looking up, Alex noticed that the other two members of the Fireshot were finally out of the rain. Putting down his book, he asked, "Wow, three hours. That must've been one hard tattoo."

"It was a hard one. No wonder Rosanne rated it a nine on the hard scale. Why is the shop closed?" Gabriel asked.

"No one else came in after you left, and nobody wanted to pick anything up in this storm. So we decided that the smartest move was to close up." Alex replied.

"Where's everyone else?" Leah asked, looking around. She did hear someone in the kitchen, but she didn't hear anyone else.

"Jazz is in the kitchen, making dinner. Chase is working out with Eric, and Seb's taking a nap, I'm not completely sure." Bee informed her. Gabe grinned like mad at the nap part and ran off to Sebastion after he hung up the coats. Leah ran straight into the kitchen to see Jazz at the stove. Running straight for him, she hugged him while he was at the counter and nothing was in his hands.

"Oof!" Jazz didn't really expect the attack, although he should have seen it coming.

"Daddy!!" Leah cheered as Jazz untangled her from his legs and hugged her into his chest.

"Hey, baby. Did you have fun?" Jazz asked, squeezing her.

"Uh huh. What's for supper?"

"Gumbo. No tasting until dinner, though." Jazz said as she looked for the ladle. "Want to see Chase?"

"Yeah!" Leah squirmed as she was put down.

"Go get him! I've got to finish dinner." Jazz said as Leah ran down to the basement. Eric was busy running while Chase punched and kicked the punching bag. Running feet on the stairs alerted them to stop and see who was coming down. Realizing that it was Leah, Eric hopped off the treadmill while Prowl moved toward his foster daughter. Making a jumping leap, Leah landed in Chase's arms and was swept up into a sweaty hug.

"Hi, Papa," she said as she watched the love and pride grew in Chase's blue eyes.

"Hello, Leah," he replied as they rubbed noses. Eric smiled at the adorable moment before clasping his hand on Chase's shoulder and pulled him to the stairs while simultaneously giving Leah a kiss on her forehead.

"C'mon. Let's shower then we can have some of Jazz's gumbo." Eric said. Prowl chuckled at that while Eric asked Leah, "Did he say what the meat was?"

Leah shook her head no while they went up the stairs. As soon as they reached the top stair, Chase put her down and said, "Tell Jazz that Eric and I are going to shower, then we'll be at dinner, okay?"

"Okay!" With that, she bounced away to tell Jazz while the two adults looked at her lovingly and went to their separate showers, Eric's in his room and Chase in the public bathroom. After telling Jazz what Prowl said, Leah then went to Bee to tell him that supper was almost done. Alex offered to tell Sebastion and Gabriel that dinner was just about ready since the door was closed. Finally, Prowl came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and rubbing his hair as Jazz yelled "Dinner!!!"

Alex and Eric rushed in to help with the dishes, only to be stopped at the sight of Leah and Prowl getting the dishes together. Alex was the first to say something. "Uh, when did Leah learn the kitchen works?"

"Just now. Grab the silverware, please." Chase answered. Bee looked at Prime, who shrugged and got the silverware. Finally, Gabe and Seb made it to the table and everyone dug into the clam, chicken, and sausage gumbo. It was spicy, spicy enough to make even Eric's eyes water. Leah didn't mind; it was good! Finally, dinner was over and the dishes were in the dishwasher.

"Leah, you are in serious need of a bath," Alex laughed. It was true; she was covered in grime.

"Bath, then pajamas, little missy. Okay?" Jazz said. Leah nodded and Jazz escorted her to the bathroom. As he started the bath, she undressed and as soon as the bath was done, complete with bubbles, she hopped in, with no Jazz in there, of course. She soaked in the water for a little while, then scrubbed off the grime that was on her skin. After she finished scrubbing and draining the water, she ran to her room with a towel around her to get into her pajamas. Finally, she headed towards the kitchen with her pajamas on.

"It's Bee's turn tonight, right?" Eric asked as she came into the kitchen. A chorus of "yes"s was his answer and Leah looked around confused.

"What's tonight?" she asked, confused.

"Movie night. Every Saturday night we switch turns on picking the movie. Tonight's Alex's turn," Sebastion explained, hoisting her into his arms. Everyone else was in the living room, waiting for Alex's selection.

"Here's one that we haven't seen in awhile!" Bee exclaimed, holding up Home Alone.

"Oh boy." Gabriel said with a smirk. Sebastion sighed and handed Leah to Eric.

"I'll make sure everything's locked up before someone wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to check the locks." said Seb. With that said he went to check the locks. When he came back, Eric refused to give her up to Seb good-naturedly, and Bee inserted the DVD. He then plopped down next to Eric and the movie began.

Leah never saw a movie like Alex's selection before. It was live, not animated, and the crooks didn't even know what hit them! The main character was a kid like her, and was smart. Then again he was older than her and playing.

When the movie ended, Leah was feeling tired. Apparently so was everyone else, because after the movie was over, everyone gave their good night hugs and kisses and went to bed. Prowl tucked her in and asked, "Did you have fun today?"

Leah nodded her head sleepily and said, "I got to meet Rosanne."

"So I've heard. You like her?"

"Uh huh. She's nice." Chase chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Good-night, Leah."

"Nighty-night, Papa." Prowl turned off the light and Leah fell into a dreamless sleep.

Cuteness! Next up, chicken pox and kindergarten? What the heck! Please read and review!