-Sang's POV-

Nathan, Kota and I were lounging around outside by the pool. It was too cold to go swimming, but the sun felt amazing. I was wearing short light pink shorts with a simple cotton grey t-shirt. Kota was on the lounge to my right. His left hand on my thigh, just above my knee; his right hand propping a book up against his leg. Every once in a while he will move his hand off my thigh to turn the page, then put it back on my thigh. Each time it sends a tingle of excitement through my body.

Nathan was on my left. He was holding my hand, fingers tangled together. We started off talking about school and random stories about the guys from when they were younger. It was fun to think of them as younger versions of themselves.

I heard a car door slam shut and a few moments later Gabe walked out onto the patio.

"You better have sunscreen on Trouble."

Kota put his book down and shielded his eyes as he looked up at Gabe. "Of course, she does Gabe. We even had her reapply it a few minutes ago."

"Good. Now, Trouble go take a shower, but don't wash your hair. Let me know when you are done and I will wash your hair and get you ready." This is it, getting ready for my first date. I wanted to look at Kota, to show him I am excited, but I couldn't bring myself to look away from my feet as I scurried into the house. I can't believe how nervous I feel. Is he this nervous?

I ran a bath and slid in. After shaving my legs, I decided to take some time to just soak. It felt like I was only in for a few minutes, but Gabe knocked on the door telling me to hurry up. "I still have to wash your hair Trouble, and then we need to look at your clothes."

"Ok, hold on Meanie!" I jumped out of the tub and dried off. I wrapped the towel around my body, but then thought better of it. The last time I opened the door to Gabe in just a towel he seemed to get flustered. I put the clothes I was wearing before back on and opened the door.

Gabe looked me up and down, but I couldn't figure out what he was thinking. I started to put my finger up to my mouth, but Gabe quickly grabbed my hand and pushed me further into the bathroom so he could fit in. He washed my hair and started to blow dry it out. Usually Gabe kept up a steady conversation when he was doing my hair, but today he was silent. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Was he just concentrating on what he was doing or was he distracted? Was he regretting that he offered to help me get ready for the date?

"Earth to Trouble...are you in there?" I snapped my eyes up to Gabe's and realized that he was staring intently at me. "You seem distracted Trouble, are you okay?"

"Yes, Meanie, I am fine. Are you okay?"

"Aw you're adorable. Other than the fact that I am getting the girl I really like ready for her date with one of my best friends I am fine." O no, he was regretting it. Did he not want to go through with this anymore? I already had to worry that Nathan wouldn't want to go through with it, now I would have to worry about Gabe too? Was anyone else against it? Was this really going to work?

"Whoa, hold on Trouble. I'm sorry, I was just kidding. I didn't mean it. Not about the liking you part, I do, but I am okay getting you ready for your date. More than okay, I want to do this. I meant what I said yesterday. Come on, let's go get you dressed." He opened the door and looked both ways, as if looking for Nathan and Kota, before tugging my hand and pulling me out into the hall. When we got into Nathan's room he sat me on the bed and began to look through the closet.

We finally settled on a green and white striped cotton dress with a jean jacket. "Change into this Trouble and put on these flats then come out to the Living Room." I quickly got dressed, but then stood in front of Nathan's dresser mirror. I don't know how he did it, but Gabe always picked out clothes that made me feel confident. I wanted to get out there before Gabe had to come back to get me so I took a deep breath and headed out to the Living Room. Kota was standing in front of the TV, pacing back and forth as Gabe sat on the couch. Kota was wearing a green button down shirt with his sleeves rolled up to the middle of his forearms. His hands were tucked into the pockets of faded jeans and it looked like his eyes were closed. How could he see where he was going?

Gabe glanced up and saw me. A huge smile broke out on his face as he coughed once and looked over at Kota. Kota stopped moving and his head snapped up to look at me.

"Sang, you look…" He stopped, took his hands out of his pockets and went over to the couch to pick up something. He brought up a handful of daisies and walked around the couch to me. "You look beautiful. These are for you." He held the flowers out to me as he kept his eyes locked to mine. I know I was blushing but I was too overwhelmed to actually feel nervous. I took the flowers from him and brought my nose to smell them. "Thank you Kota" It's all I could manage to get out. I wanted to tell him he looked good too, I wanted to say something about the daisies, but I couldn't get any other words out.

Gabe clapped his hands together knocking us out of our little bubble. "Alright you two, I will take those flowers Sang and put them in water. Have fun at the museum and don't be home before dark." He made shooing motions at us to get us to move towards the door.

Kota's car was in the driveway, and he went over to the passenger door and opened it for me. He waited until I was in the car and then closed my door before walking around to the driver's side. As he pulled out of the driveway and made his way out towards the highway, he put his hand on my leg.

We got to the museum a little after 1pm. Kota came over to open my door and as I stepped out he grabbed my hand, locking our fingers. We stayed like that and we walked into the museum. Kota quickly grabbed a museum map and handed it to me.

"You're in charge of the map Sang. Let me know if you see something you want to see."

We spent the next few hours seeing everything in the museum. I didn't need to refer to the map because we just went from one exhibit to the next. Kota kept his hand locked with mine throughout the museum. We would talk about what we saw, he gave his opinion on things and asked for mine. At first I would just agree with what he said, but after a while I started to express my own thoughts. Not that we really disagreed about what we were seeing, but it was fun to hear a different version and he seemed to enjoy hearing what I thought. We had a lengthy discussion on dinosaurs. I said I would be more afraid of a dinosaur that could creep along the land, because it could hide in the bushes without me knowing, but Kota thought he would be more nervous about something that flies because it could just swoop in and grab him in the blink of an eye.

A docent came around to let us know that the museum would be closing in a few minutes and we made our way back outside.

"Would you like to go get something to eat, Sang? It is a little early, but it is a school night."

"Yes, actually I am hungry. Is there somewhere close by that we could walk to?"

We had to walk about two blocks before we saw a small café on a corner. We found a booth off to the side and the waiter brought us menus and water.

"You know Sang, I don't know the last time I had a real conversation about anything at the museum. It was great. Did you have fun?"

He pushed his glasses up with his finger and then ran a hand through his hair. "I did, I haven't been to a museum in a really long time and it was nice to learn about the local history. You knew a lot of stuff that wasn't even mentioned there, you should work there." Did Academy members get regular jobs? There was so much unknown about the Academy, which meant there was so much I may not know about the guys. "And what did you mean about a real conversation?"

He smiled and let out a sigh. "I tend to go to the museum alone, all the guys have tried to go with me at one time or another, just to be nice, but it's not really their thing. There was the time that Luke and Gabe were asked to leave the children's exhibit because they were taking over to make the "ultimate dinosaur", the time that Nathan and Victor got into an argument with some other visitors. We were in the Revolutionary War artillery section and Nate and Vic overheard another group of people talking about which weapons would be better if we were attacked by zombies. Nate and Vic disagreed with their choices and proceeded to spend the next half hour loudly discussing the best way to rip a zombie's head off. And I can't forget to mention the time that Silas and Dr. Green actually tried to take some of the weapons out of the cases so they could feel how heavy they were." He was laughing by this time.

"What about North and Mr. Blackbourne? Did they cause any trouble?"

"I don't think Mr. Blackbourne has ever caused trouble, at least not in front of any of us. And North, surprisingly, enjoys going to the museum every once in a while. He will never admit it to you, and even made me deny it to the guys. North believes that the more you know the better prepared you are for anything and everything, so he tries to take in as much knowledge as possible. Unfortunately he doesn't talk a lot when he is there. He will grunt a little if I say something he doesn't agree with and he will move off to another exhibit without even telling me, so I end up talking to myself a lot."

I am actually not surprised to learn that about North. He always seems to be taking in everything.

"That doesn't shock me about North, what he shows to everyone else seems to be just a shell compared to who he is with you guys."

Kota tilted his head to the side and cocked one of his eyebrows. Did I say something wrong? He seemed to catch my expression because he straightened his head and smiled softly. "I don't know how you do it Sang. After everything that you have been through, you still found a way to connect with us in a way that I never thought would happen. It took Luke years to truly break North down until he saw who North really was. Same with the rest of us, North kept the tough guy persona on at all times, even when it was just our family. But you did it in a few months."

I didn't know what to say. I never thought about it like that.

"But enough about North, this is my date. He can talk to you about himself on his date."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. Kota was talking about me dating the other guys as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe it wasn't to some people, but it was in my world, my world with my nine amazing guys. For the first time since my talk with Mr. Blackbourne I really thought this would work.

We talked about school, our favorite books, just about everything. All of a sudden Kota jumped as if something startled him and he reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. "Hello? We are at dinner." I couldn't tell who he was talking to, but his lips pursed together as he listened. "I am not entirely sure why you are calling right now Nathan. Whatever it is can wait, if it can't North is the go to tonight." Nathan called him? Was something wrong? What did he mean North was the go to? "Enough Nate, we will be home when we are done with dinner." With that he hung up the phone. I looked down at the table, we had been done with our dinner for a while, I don't even know how long we have been here. It didn't feel that long.

"Nate apparently thought we got lost. We have been here for about 2 hours." Two hours, how did that happen? I am sure Nathan really didn't think we got lost, so I wonder why he really called.

"What did you mean that North was the go to?"

"I am usually the one the guys call if anything comes up, doesn't matter what. It can be Academy related or personal. They come to me and I decide if it should go to Mr. Blackbourne. On the rare occasion that I am totally unavailable, but their issue can't wait, North is the person they go to. He is the second in command so to say."

I still thought it was amazing that Kota was the leader of the guys, he was not the biggest or the strongest, but he could command them and command their respect without hesitation. I really want to know how that was decided, but I don't know if they will tell me since it has to do with Academy things.

"We should get going anyway." He held his hand out for mine as I stood up from the booth. He kept a hold of my hand as we walked back to his car. After all the talking we did at the museum and the café, we stayed silent for most of the ride home. He kept one hand just above my knee as he drove. I kept replaying moments from the afternoon. It was the longest time I have spent with just Kota, and it was wonderful, every moment.

I could see Nathan's house up ahead, but Kota slowed down and pulled over to the side. He looked over at me and grabbed for my hand. "Sang, I know I said it before, but I had a great time today. Thank you for going with me." He brought his head closer to mine, our foreheads touching. Would he kiss me? He let out a breath and licked his lips. I know what he is waiting for, he is waiting for me. Did the rule that I had to initiate the kisses still stand? But I can do this, I know how to kiss now. But what if he didn't kiss the same as the other guys I had kissed? Before I could talk myself out of it I took a deep breath and closed the gap between our lips. He didn't seem to respond at first, but then he pressed his lips harder to mine. He moved a hand to my cheek and then moved it back to knot into my hair before sliding down to the back of my neck. He pulled away and I immediately felt the loss of his lips. Now that I started I didn't want to stop. Kota kept his forehead against mine for a beat and then pulled back to sit straight in his seat. He kept his hand in mine and put the car in drive to head the rest of the way to Nathan's. Victor's car was in the driveway, I think Gabe drove it over this morning, but now there was a black SUV in the driveway too. Who else is here?

He walked with me up to the door, but before we even made it to the front step Nathan swung the door open. He just stood there, one hand on the door, the other down by his side in a fist. He was looking at Kota, and they seemed to be doing their silent communication thing. Did Nathan want to talk to Kota about whatever he had called him for earlier? Nathan finally turned to me and said "Did you have fun Peanut?"

"I did, is everything okay? Do you need to talk to Kota? I can go inside and leave you two alone."

"What? No, that's okay, I don't need to talk to Kota." He shook his head as if trying to erase what he was thinking. He stepped to the side and Kota and I walked in around him. Gabe was sitting on the couch in the Living Room. He smiled up at me and then glanced at Kota. His face changed and he winced a little, and then I realized that something looked different, Gabe had a cut on his lip and a bruise on his cheek. What happened? Is that why Nathan called Kota? I looked back at Kota and his face looked just as shocked. His eyes were dancing between Gabe and Nathan, but Nathan seemed to be looking anywhere else. I couldn't wait any longer. "Gabe are you okay!?"

"He's fine Pookie, nothing the doctor can't fix." I looked over to the door to the kitchen and was surprised to see Dr. Sean holding a bag of peas. He walked over and handed Gabe the bag, which Gabe placed on his cheek and then came over to me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug. "Come with me into the kitchen for a few minutes Sang." I hesitated, I wanted to see what was wrong with Gabe. I looked at Gabe, he always understands me. "Go on Trouble, Dr. Green needs someone else to distract him for a while, he has been fucking hovering over me for the last half hour." With that Dr. Sean pulled me into the kitchen. I stayed silent until we cleared the door way, and then I spun around so I was blocking him from moving any further. "What happened to Gabe? Is he okay? Is that why Nathan called Kota earlier?"

"Whoa Pookie, slow it down. Gabe is fine. And that is all I am telling you. It is not my story to tell, but Gabe needs to talk to Kota first." He smiled as if the thought of Gabe talking to Kota would be funny. I didn't think it looked funny.

"Yeah, don't worry Princess, Gabe can handle a bruise." I turned around and saw Victor standing over by the stove. I was so preoccupied talking to Dr. Sean I didn't even see him there. "Did you come to take care of Gabe too?"

"No, but I was with Dr. Green when Nathan called him, so I tagged along. Plus now I get to bring you to my house tonight. So go pack a bag and meet me back here. Don't forget your stuff for school tomorrow."

"I am not leaving until I know that Gabe is okay." I turned around, intending to go into the Living Room, but saw Gabe standing there. "O Trouble, you are so fucking cute. I promise I am fine. Dr. Green likes to overreact; I don't even know why he rushed all the way over here." He looked over my head, silently communicating with Victor and Dr. Sean. With a quick nod of his head he focused back on me. "But of course, you can watch me all night to make sure, because I am going to Victor's too. So come on, let's go get you packed for the night." I still don't know what happened, but at least Gabe was telling me he was okay.