Day 13 : Trick 'r' treat (Kate and Freddie, AU)

I was going to do another entry in my 'Camp Sunnydale' AU per the 'aye' votes for day 10, but I came across a trivia list a couple of days ago, and found an odd little fact that wouldn't get out of my head. In my forthcoming Kate-centric fic, at one point she muses about what would have happened if she'd driven the RV back to Texas with Freddie riding shotgun. This is something that might have happened if she'd done just that.

Kate grimaced to herself, shifting her weight from left foot to right. Her 1950's sweetheart outfit had been a pretty good idea – she wasn't showing any skin to give Hank ideas, and if something happened, her flat saddle shoes meant she could book without tripping like some stupid blonde in a horror movie.

Pity she hadn't taken an equal amount of care with her choice of date. In her defense, Hank, who sat behind her in American History at her new high school, had always behaved like a nice guy before.

Maybe it was because he was drunk with his basketball team buddies. Testosterone poisoning?

It was times like this Kate wondered if she'd appreciated Kyle enough when he was alive. She hoped that Kyle had felt that way, at least.

"Hey man, got the paint?" Jimmy called out.

"Right here!" Hank yelled back, brandishing a spray-can in each hand.

"I don't get it," Kate sighed. "What's the point of all this, when we could be at the dance?"

She really wasn't asking anyone in particular, but one of the cheerleaders answered anyway.

"The guy who owns this dairy is the father of the Dillon Panthers' quarterback, even though Dave should be going to our school," Jenny explained. "Marking them in Cowboys colours is reclaiming our territory!"

Kate did her best to look mildly enthusiastic, in order to ward off suspicion. In her head, however, she was counting down the minutes since she'd sent an emergency text.

In answer to her prayers (maybe God hadn't given up on her after all?), a siren sounded close by, and a blue light started flashing.

"Holy shit, it's the cops!" Susie squealed.

"Actually, it's the Rangers," came a deep voice, growling out the darkness.

The two cheerleaders let out small screams, and Hank dropped the paint cans in fright. Jimmy just fell over – although that could have been the six-pack he'd slammed in the car (good thing Kate had already been driving at the time).

Freddie Gonzales stepped out of the shadows of the main building, looming impressively despite the fact he was the shortest man there. Perhaps it was the dark expression on his face – it was the same look he'd worn when he and Kate had faced off against Sex Machine in the labyrinth.

"Boys, you do know it's illegal to graffiti a cow in Texas?" Freddie growling. "I could toss you all in jail right now for this, and throw in a few charges for underage drinking and general stupidity. Pretty sure that would make you all ineligible for sports teams this year. Wonder how Coach Cortez would take it, knowing that one of his best shooters won't be playing this season?" He gave a softer, but still dangerous look towards Susie and Tania, "Or how Coach Sylvester would take having her National Cheer Team put at risk by losing two of hers?"

Susie and Jenny went pale (for Susie, who was dressed as post-series Bella Swan, went even whiter under her silver-dusted and ghost-face makeup, which was a real achievement). Kate had met the cheer coach, and couldn't blame them.

"Fortunately for you, my wife managed to get a sitter, so I have better things to do than spend Halloween booking you losers into jail. So seeing as you haven't actually sprayed anything yet, I suggest you call a cab to get to whatever supposedly epic party you're on your way to and get the hell out of here."

Jenny timidly raised a hand. "Um, sir? I haven't had anything to drink, 'cause I'm on Atkins, so I can drive us to the party. You can breathalyse me if you want?"

Freddie looked at Kate. She nodded slightly.

"Fine, I'll take your word for it. As for you, young lady," he turned that fearsome gaze on Kate, who hunched in on herself in not-entirely-fake-trepidation, "we will be having a talk. Get in the car."

Kate nodded and scuttled to the car.

As she rounded the building, she heard Hank hiccupping, "Wait, where are you going, Kate?"

"You think I'm going to let the girl who pays me board spend the rest of the evening with your dumb ass?" Freddie snarked. "Or are you so drunk you can't even recognise me from when you picked her up an hour and a half ago? A helpful hint for the future, boy; you're never going to impress a woman by getting drunk. Especially if it means you're too out of it to actually pay attention to her."

Freddie shook his head and did his best Clint Eastwood stride out to the car.

Kate was waiting in the passenger seat as instructed, and even as Freddie fastened his seat belt, she told him, "Thank you so much for the rescue."

"Happy to help," Freddie chuckled. "Want me to drop you off at school? The dance only started an hour or so ago, so you'll just be fashionably late."

"Please," Kate nodded. "I should have just gone with my friends from choir in the first place. I just wanted to try feeling normal again, y'know?" She sighed. "For some reason, I'd forgotten just how stupid high school boys can act. I think I need to start looking at older men."

I did some googling; while one website says that it's still a hanging offense to graffiti someone else's cow (doing it to your own cow is okay, apparently), I'm pretty sure they've downgraded that to either a criminal misdemeanor, or a state jail felony, depending on the monetary amount of damage. It's chapter 28 of the Texas state penal code, but I'm not sure if it's 28.03 (criminal mischief) 28.04 (reckless damage or destruction) or 28.08 (graffiti, but that only talks about buildings).

In an extra trivia note, all the OC names are musical tributes; Jimmy from Jimmy Eat World, Jenny and Susie from the Everly Brothers ('Poor Jenny' and 'Wake up Little Susie') and Hank from Hank Williams, which I heard playing from Mum's radio through my open window.