Keeping Katie Ch 17
Katie moved over to sit between Elliott and Olivia. Elliott glanced down at the girl and smiled at her. She gave him a small smile and looked at Don and Karen approaching the older couple with worried eyes.
Olivia gave Katie a smile as well. "You did well in those races. I almost had you in the toe race, but you're too quick for me." she told the girl.
Katie smiled at her. Elliott gave her a pen and paper. "Can you draw me a picture of a dog, Katie?"
Katie took the pen and drew a few desultory lines but she was watching the adults in her life talking. BB and Laslo came over to stand near Katie, Elliott and Olivia. Elliotts kids came to stand near their dad. It looked like a show of force.
Don turned and saw this and him mind kicked into damage control. He glanced over at Karen and caught her eye. "Everyone is here to meet you. Let me introduce you. This is Casey Novak, Fin Tutuola, George Huang, Elliott Stabler and his kids Maureen, Kathleen, Elizabeth and his son Dickie, Olivia Benson, and of course Katie. Everyone this is Mr. and Mrs. Jones. They're here for the picnic today. Would you like something to drink? We're about to eat." Don said.
John came out of the house carrying a large bowl of food. "That's my cue to start the grill. Elliott, do you want to be my assistant chef."
"Right with you." Elliott said.
"Please have a seat." Karen suggested to the Jones. "I'm glad you could make it."
"Thank you for inviting us. So do you all work together?" Mrs. Jones asked.
"We work with Don." Casey said.
"You're cops?" Mr. Jones demanded looking nervous.
"Not all of us. I'm with the DA's office and George is with the FBI." Casey said casually.
"This is John Munch and you know Charlene." Karen put in.
Mr. Jones eyes got big and he paled just a bit. "Do we need our own lawyer?" he tried a joke that failed miserably.
"Are you planning on confessing something?" John asked with his ususal sarcasm.
Mr. Jones flushed with annoyance. "Mr. Jones, we are all here to have a good day, play some games and enjoy the weather. No one is here for professional purposes. You can relax." Karen hastily assured the man throwing John a stern look.
"I brought a dish, if you think it would be alright." Mrs. Jones said tentatively.
"You didn't have to, but that was thoughtful of you." Karen told her with a smile.
"I'll get it." Mr. Jones said. He was up and headed for their car in an instant.
Don and Elliott were over by the grill laughing together about something. "Hey, who wants what? We have hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst and chicken." Elliott called.
"Yes." Karen laughed. "Cook it all. What we don't eat we can use as leftovers."
"Just what I wanted, to work at the grill all day." Don pretended to groan.
"That's why you have an assistant chef and a whole pile of backups, my dear." Karen called back.
"Well, I for one, have plenty of food to get ready. Who wants to help get it out here?" Charlene asked.
"I will. Me. What can I carry?" the kids all asked.
"Come on, guys. There's plenty to do." Charlene called heading toward the house with the youngsters in tow. "Casey can you help me with this?"
"Sure." Casey said.
"What can I do?" Mrs. Jones asked.
"If you don't mind, I need someone to make sure the kids don't put everything right on the edge of the table. I'll get the plates and silverware." Karen asked.
"I'd be happy to. Which table do you want to use?"
"That one over toward the middle of the yard. Less things to fall onto it."
"George and I will get the chairs over here." John said.
"Olivia, can you supervise the distribution of drinks? I have a ton of things in the frig, but they have to go in the coolers."
"Yes, ma'am." she grinned.
With everyone busy it wasn't long until they had the meal ready. The kids got their food first. Then the adults went. Katie had a huge pile on her plate. "Make sure you eat all that." Don told her.
Katie made a sign. "She says she's starved." Karen said with a laugh.
"How can you eat so much with such a small stomach?" Mr. Jones asked.
"She's a growing girl." Don told him.
"My girls eat more than my son." Elliott added.
"Hey!" Maureen and Kathleen said together.
Everyone laughed. The ebb and flow of the conversation was normal through the meal. There was talking about different meals, likes and dislikes and various holiday traditions. For the most part, the Jones listened without comment. Mrs. Jones kept watching Katie, but Mr. Jones watched everyone. For the life of him, Don couldn't pin down why he disliked the man. He'd done nothing wrong, it was nothing overt, but Don just couldn't relax around the man.
After the meal and the food was put away, Laslo and Elizabeth collaborated to set up a stereo system for music. They put on some loud music and Elliott shouted for them to turn it down. What ensued was a discussion of the different kinds of music.
Katie came over and crawled up onto Dons lap. She was sleepy. "I think someone ate too much." Mrs. Jones said with a smile.
"Do you feel okay, Sweetie?" Karen asked the girl.
Katie shook her head patting her tummy. "You ate too much? Tell you what, let's go inside for a few minutes, okay?"
Katie reluctantly got up and went with Karen into the house. "Is she going to be okay?" Olivia asked.
"She probably took her to the bathroom. If she goes that relieves the pressure and she can digest what she ate. We had to do that alot with Dickie."
"Dad!" Dickie said horrified.
"Sorry, but it's the truth."
"Enough digestion topics. Olivia, would you like to dance?" Elliott asked.
"I'd love to."
The two of them started a movement and soon there was only Mr. and Mrs. Jones together with Katie. She was nervous, looking for someone else to be with. "Katie, how are you today?" Mrs. Jones asked kindly. Katie gave her a thumbs up sign. "Can I see what you're drawing?" she asked.
Katie slid the paper across to her. "That's very good. Do you have a dog?" Katie drew a number in the air.
"You can't have that many dogs. No one does." Mr. Jones said.
Katie crossed her arms and scowled at the man. She drew the number in the air again and refolded her arms across her chest, sticking her chin out belligerently. Karen came of the dance floor with Don and grabbed something to drink. "What's up?"
"Young Katherine here, says she has fourteen dogs here. I don't believe she is counting them accurately." Mr. Jones said.
"Well, she's right. We currently have fourteen dogs here. We have six adult dogs and eight puppies. Two that are almost ready to go to new homes and six that will be ready in two weeks. Very good, Katie. That's a good memory."
Katie gave Mr. Jones a triumphant look. "Katie!" Karen told her sharply. "I'm sorry, Mr. Jones."
"That's quite alright." he said except it wasn't. Judging by his eyes, he was lying and it was a mark against her with him.
Don came over and also reached for something to drink, but his eyes bored into Mr. Jones so the older man dropped his gaze. It was a dominance thing. Mr. Jones understood that and Don wasn't above making his point abundantly clear. "One of these days Katie'll be able to join us on the dance floor. Katie, how about now? I'll dance with you." He cast one more look at Mr. Jones and led Katie over to the dancers.
"Mr. Jones, Katie doesn't lie. I'm really down on liars. She does however make an error in judgment about gloating from time to time. I hope we can overlook her for her youthful indiscretions." Karen added for emphasis.
"Of course." he said.
A shiver went down Karens spine at the glimpse into the real Mr. Jones.
TBC
