I can't stop writing Kat and Ray pairings. If you haven't read my earlier stuff, I've aged Kat up to 17 so that it's not too creepy.
**Since I Met You, B.B. King and Katie Webster**
Ray held the door of the public library, counting kids as they trudged past, messing with mittens and zippers as they exited the building into the cool late afternoon air. "Yay! How long 'til dinner?" Willy, an outgoing 12 year old shouted as he and his mate Krishawn emerged from the magazine racks, each with a stack of old issues to take with them.
Ray surreptitiously scanned the titles. "Nice try guys. The swimsuit issue stays at the library. He removed it from the stack. "But otherwise you're good to go." He tucked it under his arm and waved them toward the rest of the kids sprawled all over the benches along the walkway outside. "Two hours until Bacon lets us in to eat. We're all going to take these books back to our rooms and have some quiet time until dinner."
The two bookworms grinned happily. They had been overjoyed when he'd announced the special treat. It had been dark and rainy all week and by now they were all getting sick of each other's company. A few days ago he'd begged Master Chief to let him out of the evening military science study group he'd arranged for new recruits in order to attend the Mayor's first city council meeting. He'd been hoping to learn something about schools or social services or anything that could help the kids. The meeting had run into the wee hours of the morning but now he thought it was well worth the lost sleep, considering he'd met a librarian in the lobby and then helped her successfully petition the Mayor to open the library for limited hours. They'd been the only ones here today, but the librarian promised that she'd advertise in the market and hopefully there would be more people next week.
Ray frowned as he realized that he hadn't seen hide or hair of the two 13 year olds in the group, Gabe and Natalie, for at least a half hour. He had a sneaking suspicion what the hold up was, and it wasn't that they were both bookworms. Damn it. He'd already caught them making out in the hotel laundry room last week. He'd given them a repeat of the speech an older counselor had once given him about there being a time and place for everything before sending them to their rooms. But he was pretty sure it had fallen on deaf ears. He sighed in relief when they emerged, albeit giggling and holding hands, from the travel section.
He tried to sound like Chandler had when he'd told Ray about Cody, disapproving but not angry. It certainly had gotten him to think a few things through. "I didn't know the travel section was so entertaining."
"What can I say, I like exploring my possibilities old man." Gabe winked at Ray as he led Natalie out the door. "You should try it." He nodded over his shoulder toward the stairs leading to the children's room where Kat was with the three youngest.
From the other side of the door, Ray heard Colin laughing. "Yeah, I'd love to see that. In fact, I'd even volunteer to babysit the littles to see that."
Ray felt his temper rising. "Fuck off Colin. You know we need her help or we'll never be able to join up when we turn 18." Yeah, He was smart enough to know that Kat Nolan was already half in love with little Luna and Sadie. So far she was the first person to take interest in the kids that wasn't going to eventually leave with the Nathan James and didn't already have kids or a life of their own. So yeah, he might be looking, but he wouldn't be touching her with a 10 foot pole, no matter how much he might wish otherwise. He gripped the door tighter. "Come on Kat, hurry up before those two end up being the punchline of an after school special." He muttered. He didn't know what it was about St. Louis, but ever since they'd arrived three weeks ago, the kids had been getting more comfortable testing their limits.
Not for the first time, Ray wondered how much effort he should put into keeping the group together. Maybe it would be best to focus on the littlest kids and let the rest find their way. The twins had been talking about trying to contact an aunt they'd had in New York. They were convinced they must be immune since both of them had survived. Derek kept insisting that he could take care of himself, although he'd never actually tried to go it alone. Even Brie, who had come from a large family, sometimes complained that it would be easier to manage themselves if they broke into smaller groups. But every time he thought about breaking up the group, his heart ached a little, like the way it did when he thought of Cody. They had stuck by each other through the darkest moments. There had been other kids at the camp, after the parents stopped coming and the other counselors fled. Ray hadn't even been the oldest for the first few months. But everyone that left had put a little crack in his calm and controlled facade. And as far as they all sknew, every one that had left had died.
He looked up as a clatter sounded from the staircase winding up toward the children's room on the second floor. Chubby 10 year old Ethan was standing on the landing, sheepishly blushing as half the stack of books he'd picked out tumbled down the rest of the steps. Beside him, 8 year old Sadie giggled. "Kat told you not to take so many. Now you see why."
At the top of the stairs, Kat stood with little Luna. She had a handful of picture books pressed against her chest with one arm and the other was extended out to hold Luna's hand. "Do you need some help carrying those after all?" She called down to Ethan.
"No!" Ethan spit back, his freckled cheeks staining an angry red beneath his messy mop of blond curls.
Kat didn't even blink, she just began slowly descending the stairs, one eye on Luna and the other on Ethan. "I am sorry that you are angry with me Ethan, but we can look at the atlas next time we're here at the library. It is just too big to bring home."
Ethan spun around to face her as she reached the landing. He put his chubby fists on his hips and Ray could see that he was close to tears. "Hah! That's what my mother said about the fish I wanted for my aquarium before I went to camp. Wait Ethan, you can get it next time." He mimicked in an awkward high pitch. "And just look what happened! I'll never see my fish again!" He stomped his foot, threw down the books he'd just picked up, and began running down the stairs. "Grownups are all liars! I'm done listening to you!" Ray reached for him as he ran past but Ethan just slammed into the push bar on the door and kept going, his chubby legs carrying him past the surprised teens sitting outside and down the alley along the side of the building.
Bewildered, since Ethan was usually the most happy-go-lucky of the younger kids, a trait Ray had chalked up to the fact he could always be brought out of a bad mood by the promise of a snack, Ray followed him out the door. Colin grabbed his arm before Ray made it five feet. "I'll go walk with him and make sure he gets back safely."
One heavy weight on Ray's shoulders exchanged itself for another. "I ought to go. It's me he's mad at." He sighed.
But Colin held his arm firmly. "Nah, he's pissed at the world and taking it out on you because you're the one he depends on. Trust me, we've all felt that one once or twice over the last few months."
Ray's bewilderment increased. "Pissed at me?"
Colin grinned. "Of course at you. If you want to play Dad, you're going to have to be the bad guy sometimes, aren't you?" Colin strode off, leaving Ray feeling drained and hollow. Was that what they thought he was trying to do, play Dad?
The door pushed open behind him and Kat hustled Sadie and Luna out. The stack of books in her hands had doubled and he had no doubt she'd picked up all of the ones Ethan had thrown down in frustration. He reached out and gathered them from her arms so she could fuss over the girls' winter coats. He watched her efficient movements. She'd only been helping out for a few weeks but the kids adored her already. Two days ago, 14 year old Rena had been looking over his shoulder as he sketched the group and remarked that he forgot to include Kat. When he'd tried to explain that Kat had her own family with her father Rena had scoffed and tossed her long dark curls over her shoulder. "Ray, her Pops be gone with the President. She needs us to keep her from bein' lonely." He didn't have the heart to reply that Kat was just a babysitter.
He waved to the rest of the group and they began the trek back to the hotel. He couldn't help but peer around the building searching for a sign of Colin and Ethan. The long alley featured a late model Nissan, a dumpster, and bags of trash, but the two boys were gone. Brie stopped at the first corner, heels bouncing on the curb as she waited for him to catch up. "They'll be fine. Let Colin man up for once. He's been a dick lately anyway."
"As far as I can tell, that's his M.O." Kat chimed in from behind them.
Brie laughed and linked arms with Kat. "Colin's alright. He's just pissy right now because Ray set up the PlayStation in the room he shares with Jamal, Derek, and Gabe."
Kat turned her green eyes on Ray, a half smile on her luscious pink lips. "How could you be so evil?"
Ray felt the tips of his ears turn red. "It's not like I want to be a jerk! But one of us has to stay with the little guys and they can't be up playing games all night or they are rotten in the morning! I'd switch with him, but I spend half the night getting shit done." If you asked him, it was kind of shitty of Colin to be such a baby over video games. Ray might have taken a spot in the room with the game player, but between the laundry and studying with Master Chief and filling out forms to make sure they all got fed, he didn't have much spare time.
Brie shrugged. "You could always move it to my room. Sadie and Luna have that Pretty Pony game they love to play, right girls?" They'd had this discussion several times since leaving the camp and they always came back to the same issue, someone had to be the gatekeeper and every time the kids ended up saying Ray should be the one.
Sadie and Luna laughed. "Yeah Ray. Just because we're girls doesn't mean we don't like games."
Ray ruffled Sadie's hair. "I know, I know. Didn't I play Rainbow Pony with you last night?" He didn't really enjoy the game, but over the last few months he had quickly learned tht a little time spent doing activities the kids liked went a long way toward keeping their spirits up, as well as his own.
Kat laughed and the sound went straight to Ray's gut. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why he was so aware of her. Sure she was hot, but she was so annoying. Besides, he didn't have time for girls. And sharing a room with 4 guys, he didn't even have much time to review his spank bank either. "Don't you have to make your own pony for that game?" Her eyes sparkled.
Sadie's eyes grew round. "Oh yeah. Ray's pony is yellow with sunshines on it and curly glitter hair! He put purple polish on her hooves and a matching crown! He made her soooo pretty!" The little girl twirled to emphasize her joy. Luna nodded vigorously.
Kat laughed. "I would love to see that!"
He didn't know what possesed him today because when Brie invited Kat over to hang out that evening, he was almost sad that he'd miss it. "You should come over and hang with us girls tonight, Kat. Plus, we could use a hand since Ray is going out for the second night in a week." She wrinkled her nose. "Cranky pants over there says he needs adult time. As if!"
"That sounds like fun. What do you think Luna? Will I be good at Rainbow Pony too?"
Luna twirled one blond curl with her free hand. "You'll be the best. You should make a cloud pony and then it can be the sunshine pony's buddy!"
Kat winked one of her bright eyes at Ray over the girl's head. "Well, I have nothing to do in the evenings now that my dad is away. It's a date then."
Ray scowled. Great. Now she'd be in his space. Well, not his space exactly, but the space the kids occupied and that he was in every day. He stretched his stride to catch up to the boys. He should be checking with them and making sure they'd picked up at least one educational book like he'd told them to. He should have done it at the library but he'd been so tired that he'd fallen asleep the second he sat down on one of the bean bags in the children's section. When he woke in a panic he'd found Kat quietly reading to the girls from an oversized picture book. He wasn't surprised he'd accidentally napped given he'd gotten up at 0600 to start some wash before PT and then after that it had been one thing after another and another. He was pretty sure he'd sat down for 5 minutes at lunch, but then Ethan had spilled his milk and he'd had to take him upstairs to change.
The big topic of conversation with the boys these days was how many professional athletes, and which ones, may have survived the flu. Given that none of the others had any interest in soccer, it didn't hold his interest for long. Instead, his mind kept returning to Kat's clear green eyes. Damn, he'd liked it when they shared that look over Luna's head. It made him feel lucky or something to think that she had the time of day for him. A look? Seriously, what was wrong with him? He needed to find a girlfriend, or least a friendly girl, and have a little fun for a few days. Then maybe he could focus on the important tasks at hand.
