.:Chapter Five:.

Kevin shifted his weight as he turned his skates to the side, sending a wave of slush into the glass partition of the ice rink. After coming to a stop, he spun his hockey stick in his hands before walking to the side of the rink and stepping out to the players' bench. He retrieved his bag and took of his jersey, pads, and skates before heading into the locker room to take a shower.

He allowed the warm water to soothe his burning muscles, his mind wandering to his family. He had been allowed back into their lives to try and start up a relationship with his kids again, he was starting to become at least friendly with his ex-wife, who may as well still be his wife considering they were only separated, and he had finally given them the money for child support he hadn't given before. What else was it going to take to have them understand that he really was trying to have things go back to normal?

OK, maybe mentioning to Kendall and Katie that he thought about getting back together with Kacy wasn't a good idea. How was he supposed to know they would be so against it? They didn't have to say anything for him to know, he could see it in their faces. He could tell from the sudden silence that had permeated them the whole way home. They weren't happy with the idea and he knew it was going to take a long time for them to trust him…to believe he wouldn't ever raise a hand to them again.

He saw that apprehension each and every time Kendall was around him. At first he wouldn't stand too close, wary of all of the sudden hand movements he would make, but as time went on he would start to relax a bit and they would even start to enjoy each other's company. It would cycle all over again the next time they would hang out. He could see how worried his ex-wife was about it as well, her eyes watching his every move each time he was around her, her words clipped with apprehension, the unresolved tension of things they hadn't ever been able to say to each other.

It was enough to keep him up at night and it had since he had left the first time.

It was his own fault; he couldn't get over his bitterness and that other woman had stroked his ego and he fell for it. The guilt caused him to start drinking a little; his temper got out of control….he could admit it now. It was his own fault. He could admit that now.

Now if only they would stay around him long enough so that he could admit it to them.

Turning off the water, Kevin grabbed his towel and dried off. He changed into his work clothes, left the ice rink and got into his car, heading to the office. One he arrived; he took his briefcase from the car and went inside.

"Good morning, Mr. Knight," his assistant, Nadine, said, appearing at his side. "We have a new potential client coming in to see you today for a twelve o'clock lunch meeting. The case of the car accident from last week; it's being moved to trial because the woman in the car is suing for emotional trauma."

Kevin snorted slightly. "She was the one that…" he shook his head. "Never mind, I'm not even going to question that, it won't be hard to win this one." He took the folder she handed him and tucked it under his arm. "Do I have any other meetings today?"

"Mr. Farnsworth wants to meet up with you sometime this week to talk about the future of the firm," Nadine continued. They left the lobby, zigzagging through hallways at a power walk. "Barnes and Buchanan are going to be in the meeting as well."

"OK."

"Other than that there are those e-mails that you have to catch up on, a fiscal meeting that I'm sure no one wants to go to, as well as a quick briefing over the cases from last month and the outcomes of those cases," Nadine said. They reached his office and she went over to the desk that resided outside it, sitting down. "I'll hold your calls if that would make work more efficient for you."

"Thanks, Nadine," Kevin said. "I'll let you know if I need anything else."

"Please do, sir."

Kevin unlocked the door to his office and went inside, flipping on the lights as he did so. His view of Los Angeles was one that many would be jealous of, though he didn't find himself too enamored with it himself. The city was never something he particularly enjoyed, though having lived in St. Paul—one half of the twin cities—for so long he had gotten the best of both worlds. Living in and commuting to the city day after day, going hunting or up the mountains to snowboard when he got too tired of the constant cars, horns, and terrible drivers.

He preferred being away from it all so it was a bit of a slap to the face when he first learned that he had been transferred out to LA to start working there. It had only been a couple years after he had left his family and the next thing he knew, his son's face was being plastered all over the TV with his new band. He was shell shocked when he saw the first news article then angry, wondering why Kacy had never told him that they were moving out to LA. The anger had faded quickly as he understood that, in a way, he didn't deserve to know that about them anymore.

So he closely followed his career as they moved up in the music world and he hadn't been prouder.

Turning from the window, Kevin sat down at his desk and booted up his computer to get started on the e-mails that were inevitably blasting through his mailbox at high speeds. Every time he left for the weekend he came back with some sort of crisis he had to deal with. He enjoyed his work, he enjoyed the fast paced atmosphere, it was the things he was supposed to fix that others could that irritated him.

As his computer came up from its cold sleep, Kevin turned and scanned the pictures on his desk. They were old ones, those that many would have updated but he didn't have that luxury. Two of which were of him holding onto his son and daughter when they had been born, another of Kendall and Katie when they were still very young, having just eaten a bunch of cake—which was evident from the blue streaks on their faces—and one of him and Mrs. Knight a couple months after they first started dating.

He remembered that day fondly. He and his hockey teammates had just gotten out of practice at the university and they had gone to the diner to hang out and get some food. Kevin had noticed her as soon as he stepped into the restaurant; she was working a nearby table, cleaning it off so the rest of the team to sit down. Then she had come back and passed out the menus, giving them a bright smile as they went.

Now, what she would say, if asked about it, "The other boys on the team had all been so rowdy and I was starting to get upset. Kevin came over and personally apologized for his team."

What she didn't know was that Kevin had orchestrated the whole thing. He watched as Jennifer—that's what her nametag said—walked off to take someone else's order before leaning into his teammates, lowering his voice. "Hey, what do you think about her?" He nodded to Jennifer.

The Center, Vinnie Kostas, looked over his shoulder at Jennifer, as did the rest of the table. He turned back to Kevin and shrugged. "She's easy on the eyes. Why?" He smiled. "Are you into her?"

"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "She's in some of my classes…I didn't know she worked here." He cleared his throat and lifted his menu, pretending to look at it. He kept one eye on the menu, the other on the waitress, feeling something stir in his gut when she smiled again, tucking a strand of auburn hair behind his ear. "I have a plan." Still holding his menu close to his face he instructed the other guys to be as obnoxious as they could, without getting them kicked out of the diner, and he would handle the rest.

The plan had gone off without a hitch. There was a bit of loud laughter here and there, some horseplay, some napkins getting knocked around, drinks getting knocked over, and the whole while he could see frustration in Jennifer's face, though she did her best to hide it from her patrons. When it was time for them to leave, Kevin left a generous tip on the table before making his way over to her as she stood at the cash register, putting in the money from the bill.

"May I help you?" Her tone was frosty as he leaned against the counter.

"Yes, I wanted to apologize for my teammates," Kevin said. "I know they were being obnoxious and I wanted to comment you for putting up with them for as long as you have."

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "'Commend'," she repeated. "That's a big word. You must mean it then."

Kevin placed a hand over his heart. "I really am sorry for them. It wasn't fair to you. Especially how I sat back and watched it all happen. Being the captain of the team, I should have said something sooner. So, for that, I apologize." He leaned in towards her. "Let me make it up to you." Jennifer looked startled for a moment. "Why don't you let me take you out this weekend?"

Jennifer's started expression melted into a startled laugh. "You don't even know me."

"I know your name is Jennifer."

"Kacy."

"Your nametag says Jennifer."

"It's my first name," she explained. "I sometimes go by my middle name, Kacy."

Kevin smiled and nodded. "Kacy. Then, it's good to meet you, Kacy." He held his hand out towards her. "I'm Kevin. It's nice to meet you."

"Thanks." She laughed again. "But I know who you are." Kevin looked amused. "You're the captain of the hockey team who's studying law. There aren't many people at the university that do that." She reached out and shook his hand with a grip that was much tighter than he anticipated. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"So, how about going out this weekend?" Kevin pressed.

She hesitated. "I don't know…"

"I'll be a perfectly gentleman, I promise." He crossed his heart. "And I'll make sure that none of those guys comes with." He pointed over his shoulder, out the window, to the group of guys that were waiting around for their captain so they could leave.

Kacy laughed. She took a deep breath. "Sure," she finally agreed. "I'll meet you at the dining hall and we can go from there." She gently bobbed her head. "Mutual territory and everything." Kevin and everyone else knew that campus was split between the hockey and football teams, each one getting a chance per semester to 'capture' some of the other team's territory. It was something the students got a lot of entertainment out of.

"Sounds good to me," Kevin said. He grinned. "I'll see you then."

He waved and left the diner, going back to the athletic dorm building with his teammates. The rest of that week, Kevin couldn't help but think about her. When they weren't in class together he wondered what she was doing and when they were in class together he tried his hardest to catch her eye. Whenever he did, she would smile and look away again, sending the butterflies in his stomach into a tizzy.

Finally, the date of their date arrived and he met her out front of the dining hall, directed her to his car, and drove up to the mountains to take her on an impromptu fishing trip. He had expected to teach her how to hold the pole and to bait the hook and clean the fish whenever they caught one. But she held her own, and had even impressed him with how quickly she caught a fish.

"I got one!" She cried after about five minutes of their lures bobbing in the water, making small chit-chat as they got to know each other.

"What?" Kevin turned to look at her. "No, you don't!"

"Yes, I do!" Removing a hand from the pole, she pointed at the water, where the lure was rapidly bobbing in and out of the water. She let out a shriek as she pulled hard on the rod and the fish flew into the water, splashing water as it went. When it landed, the fish tried its hardest to swim away, causing Kacy to dig her heels into the sand (thankfully they had taken off their shoes first) and pulled as hard as she could.

The fish came flying out of the water and landed on the sand beside them. Kevin quickly finished it off and placed it in a bucket that was lying in-between them. "Wow that was fast."

"I grew up in Virginia," Kacy explained as she went to another bucket and picked up a worm to bait her hook with. "So my parents and I went fishing a lot."

"Well let's see how you do against a true Minnesota man," Kevin said. "First one to catch five fish gives the other one a foot massage." He lifted his foot from the sand and wiggled his toes. "And let me tell you, not even my mother will go near my feet."

"You're on."

And the rest of the date went like that. They had become so close with each other so quickly that they had ended up making a schedule around their school work, his practices and games, and her job to be able to have some one-on-one time. Not to say they didn't spend time by themselves, but they did prefer being with each other. It was when they had gone hiking that the picture on his desk had been taken. They found an elderly couple coming down the path and he asked them to take a picture.

She had leaned into his side, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist while he put his around her shoulders, holding onto her tightly.

And it was a picture that still made him smile years later.

Picking it up, Kevin looked it over, gently running his thumb over the glass that protected the picture from fingerprints. Maybe that was our problem, Kevin thought. Maybe we had gotten to know each other so quickly…we spent so much time together that we got too comfortable.

His computer finally booted up and he put the picture back on the desk. He opened his e-mail and started to open the fifty or so e-mails that had been resting in his inbox. Clicking the first one, he leaned forward in his chair and started to read.

One of the few things he could say he really enjoyed about his job was that it brought him closer to his family—literally and figuratively—and it gave him a chance to get so absorbed in his work that he was able to get away from his problems.

Even if it was only for a little while.

"Now, are you sure that this will get to her today?" Sydney asked the delivery man that stood in the doorway to the office.

The delivery man rolled his eyes as he looked down at the young Australian boy. "Yes!" He snapped. "It'll get there today. Now, could I get the message and go?" He then peered down at Sydney, who stared back at him. "What does a nine year old boy need to send flowers for?"

"I'm twelve," Sydney replied swiftly. "And that's none of your business." He crossed his arms over his chest, giving the man a critical sweep of his body. "And why are you still delivering flowers? You're, what, almost forty, mate?" His dimple appeared in his cheek. "Are you trying to compensate for something? Lost love? Lack of girlfriend?" His smile then turned sinister. "Being in the closet?"

The delivery man glared at Sydney and said through gritted teeth, "Two minutes!"

Twisting to the side, Sydney called over his shoulder to his siblings. "He's only going to be here for two more minutes, hurry up!"

"Hold on!" Patrick hollered back. He was sitting at Ronan's desk, Riley, Rhuben, and Noah all crowded around him, waiting as he painstakingly wrote a note out on the memo pad that came with the flowers brought to the office. "Geez, you guys were the ones that told me to write this like Mama Knight, it's harder than you think."

"Well, we figured because you're able to imitate people's voices so well, you should be able to imitate handwriting," Rhuben reminded him.

Patrick pointed towards Riley with his pen. "But she can forge signatures!"

"Yeah, signatures," Riley repeated. "I can't completely copy someone's handwriting." She shrugged. "Not well anyway." She reached out and placed a hand on the back of Patrick's head, pushing it back down towards the paper. "Keep writing."

Grumbling, Patrick continued to write. When he was finished, he handed it over to Noah, who walked it to the delivery many, who seemed to now be in a staring contest with Sydney. "Here, mate." Noah started to hand it over, and then stopped when he noticed something in the writing. "Hang on a tick; I don't think that's how you spell 'iridescent'.

"Just give it to me!" The delivery man snapped, taking the note and shoving it into the bouquet of flowers that was sitting by the door.

"Ha!" Sydney punched the air with his fists before pointing at the delivery man. "You blinked, you lose."

"Ahh, shut up." The delivery man turned to the Jacksons and sneered. "I'll have this to her today. And if you ever want to use our company to deliver roses again, feel free, just make sure it's a day when I'm not working."

"You got it," Sydney replied with a sweet smile.

The delivery man pointed at Sydney and gave a menacing glare before leaving the office, muttering something about a 'demon spawn'. Sydney continued to peer out the door as Riley changed places with Patrick in Ronan's chair and turned to the computer. "Alright, now we just need to make dinner reservations." She started to type on the computer. "What restaurant did they like to go to a lot?"

"Urasawa," Rhuben instructed. She leaned forward and pointed at the bookmark in the toolbar. "That one." The Jacksons leaned forward and glanced at the website. "Dang, this place is expensive."

"It's no wonder that one woman liked to go out with him a lot," Noah added.

"The gold digger?" Patrick piped up.

"No, the one with the freakishly big ears," Sydney called from the doorway. "The one that always wanted earrings." He turned back to the door and peered out, eyes widening when he spotted Ronan coming up the hallway, looking over a packet of paper in his hands. "He's coming!"

"Darn it," Riley said, closing he web browser. "I didn't get to make the reservations."

"Well, we're going to have a reservation for our deaths if you don't get up," Noah said. After ensuring that the computer was put back in its original position, the Jacksons raced to the front of the desk, leaning against it to hide the computer.

Once Ronan stepped into the room, he stopped in his tracks, seeing five of his six kids all beaming at him, teeth showing. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison.

"And why are you smiling at me like that?"

Patrick shrugged. "Can't we smile when we see you?"

Ronan tossed the folder aside. "Not when it's as creepy as that," he remarked. "Whenever you all smile like that you're up to something." His eyes moved over the five similarly structured faces before he realized that they were hiding his computer. "You know you're not supposed to use my computer without my permission."

"Why?" Rhuben shot back, raising an eyebrow. "Are you hiding something?" Her eyes then narrowed as the seconds passed.

Ronan sighed heavily, crossing his arms. "Look, I know you guys are upset that I didn't tell you that Kacy and I broke up when we did. And I know you're upset that I didn't tell you the reason why, at first, because we have that 'no secrets policy', but it was something that I needed to wrap my head around before I could talk about it." He gestured towards them. "Much like you guys do."

"Well, yeah, but we're young and stupid," Patrick said.

"Speak for yourself," Noah and Sydney harmonized.

Ronan chuckled. "Anyway, we're done for the day. So let's get back home and just chill out or you can go to the Palm Woods or whatever." He ran his hands over his face, missing Patrick check the computer one last time, before his kids left the office. He grabbed his backpack, filled with files and information he could work on at home, and followed them out, locking the door to his office behind them.

They had only made it to the lobby of his record company before he spotted Mrs. Knight heading his way, holding onto a bouquet of flowers. "Kace," he greeted her, surprised. "What are you doing here?" He glanced at the flowers, chuckling. "And where'd these come from?"

Sydney let out a muffled yelp which was immediately overpowered by shushes from his siblings.

Mrs. Knight moved the bouquet aside and regarded him with surprise. "What do you mean where'd they come from?" She gestured to the note that was poking out of the side on a plastic stick. "You sent them to me." She shook her head. "Actually, I was on my way in to talk to you about something when this delivery guy stopped me, held a picture up next to my face, shoved these flowers in my hands, charged me, and stormed out of the building."

Now Ronan's expression of surprise melted into confusion. "I never sent you flowers."

"It says here you did." Mrs. Knight shifted the flowers in her hand and took the note out, handing it to him.

Ronan took it and read it over. His eyebrows rose then he laughed for a moment. "I'll admit this looks like my handwriting, but I can guarantee this isn't mine," he said. "For one, I wouldn't use language as flowery as this, and two, I think I know how to spell iridescent." There was a sudden pumping sound and he looked up to see that Sydney had blasted open the front door to the record company and he, Noah, Patrick, Riley, and Rhuben had sprinted out of it as fast as they could. Turning back to Mrs. Knight, he nodded at the door. "Though, now I think I know where they came from. Look, I'm sorry about this, Kace, I guess they're taking it harder than…" he trailed off.

Mrs. Knight nodded and sighed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Kendall and Katie aren't taking it well either," she said. Her right eyebrows lowered in a pensive expression. "Actually, I think there may be something else going on, but it wasn't easy for them either." She started to say "it wasn't easy for me,"but decided not to. It wasn't easy for you? She thought. You were the one that broke up with him, like he'd believe that. She tried hard not to think of the day they had broken up, Ronan had been blindsided by what she had said, but he handled it like a champ, agreeing with her and promising that he'd still be a friend to her if she ever needed to talk.

That they'd still be friends.

She had held onto that piece of hope with a bit of uncertainty, who was able to stay friends after breaking up? It never seemed to work. And yet, here she was, wanting to talk to him about the child support that Kevin had suddenly given her and she couldn't find the words to bring it up. Not after the way he heart had started to rapidly pound when she had seen his scrawling signature on the bottom of that very beautiful note.

"They're some beautiful flowers though," Ronan continued, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I don't think I've ever seen them be that nice," he joked.

Mrs. Knight laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear as she gazed at her friend. Was that a forced laugh? It didn't' seem like it was the sort of laugh she had gotten used to. Mentally, Mrs. Knight rolled her eyes. Great, now she was acting like a teenage girl in love again, analyzing everything around her. She looked at him again, he looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to start either. Come on, you can talk to him, she thought. This whole child support thing is huge…you'll explode. Just say it.

She wanted to talk about it, she really did. But…things were too different now."I mean, I guess it's the thought that counts," Mrs. Knight agreed.

"Besides, if I was going to send you flowers,"—lifting a hand, Ronan gently flicked at a rose that stuck out of the bouquet—"they would have been bigger than that." He smiled at her. "You deserve that at least."

He left Mrs. Knight standing in the lobby of Blazing Phoenix, thinking about what he had just said.

A/N: The explanation of Kevin's and Mrs. Knight's first meeting each other was first introduced in Memories and Melodies but I expanded upon it here. (I'm sorry if the Jennifer/Kacy thing was confusing. But since her name is Jennifer and we prefer keeping the 'K' theme of the family to call her Kacy; we decided from a suggestion of a friend to make Kacy her middle name that she sometimes goes by).

Now that I've done a chapter with Kendall, Katie, and Kevin, the next one will be more about Mrs. Knight as well as BTR and their friends. I don't know if I'm going to follow that pattern or go off with the POV I think works with what I want to say at the time.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles