Jensen did not like Mallory at all. She was the daughter of a rich man, and she flaunted it. She mocked those who were different or made a mistake. She bullied the ones she wanted something from. She touched him way, way too much.

He wanted out of there so bad.

They'd had dinner at a nice place first upon her request, and he felt a bit out of place since he was in casual clothes he'd brought to change into from home after work. Then she reluctantly agreed to get a drink at his favorite bar but insisted that they sit in a booth as far away as everyone as possible. Her face looked as though it was catching a continual bad smell the entire time so far. Jensen had to refrain from looking at the clock. It was almost nine. He wanted to go home. He was tired. He missed his little girl.

"So," Mallory said now, reaching to trail a finger down his arm. "Your place or mine?"

Jensen was taken aback by her forwardness, and he was trying to piece together words to say back when someone plopped down onto the seat beside him and gave him a jolt.

"Hiya," Kate said when he looked at her. He wondered if she could tell he was incredibly relieved to see her.

"Excuse me," Mallory said. "You can't just barge into our conversation..."

"I think I can," Kate disagreed.

"We are on a date here," Mallory said sharply, leaning forward now. Jensen was about to intervene when:

"That's what you think," Kate retorted, looping an arm around Jensen's neck. "I know it's expected to schmooze big clients and all...and, to be honest, I find that a bit strange in this line of work but whatever...but nothing says you're allowed to touch another woman's man."

"What?" Mallory asked, stunned.

What? Jensen looked at Kate, but then he realized she was returning the favor from when he'd done it. Honestly, he could have kissed her. Platonically, of course.

"You heard me," Kate said to her, sliding her other hand across Jensen's chest over his shirt. It sent shivers through him, but not in a bad way, and then he started analyzing his feelings about it and ending up just feeling confused. She rested her head on his shoulder next. "He's taken. Get your muckers off and go find someone else to bother."

Mallory looked astounded until she looked angry.

"My father will be hearing about this," she hissed, getting up.

"I went out to dinner with you," Jensen stated. "Nothing said we were doing anything further than that or that this was a date."

"Run along now," Kate said, gesturing with her fingers. Mallory huffed and walked out, and after she was finally gone, Kate let out a snicker and took her hand and arm back, sitting up and leaning away from him now.

"You're welcome," she told him.

"How did you know she was a client?" he asked.

"You weren't exactly wearing an expression that said you wanted her to be so touchy with you," Kate answered with a shrug. "And you're positioned in a way that said you were ready to bolt the first chance you could."

He looked down at his leg turned to the side, seeing she was right. He gave a soft laugh. "Touché"

"And Tavs said you were doing something for work and that you don't lie," she added. He looked back at her and could tell this meant something to her, the fact he didn't lie.

"I don't," he confirmed.

"Good."

"Thanks for the rescue."

"Now we're even."

"Alright." He sighed and pushed a hand over his head. Dalvin was not gonna be happy to hear that Mallory was upset. Kate was already standing up. "You wanna stay? Beer's on me."

"No," she answered. "I'm feeling something a bit more fun tonight."

"I see."

She held his gaze, and he felt his stomach wobble slightly. She wasn't even dressed up fancy to go out, just had her cargo pants and a grey t-shirt on. She waved goodbye, and he let her go. He put his money on the table and left not long after. He wanted to go home.

He wanted to just be with his daughter, even if she was already asleep.

...

Kate woke up the next morning with a dry mouth and a headache. She had drunk a bit too much, and she was paying for it.

"Urgh," she groaned, sitting up slowly. She had ended up just coming home and downing some alcohol, having lost the desire to go find something fun, and she'd crashed on the couch. Her shoulders and back were stiff, and she needed a shower. On her way to it, she noticed the dog standing by the sliding door window with her tongue hanging out.

Right.

"Hey, you," Kate said, opening the door and letting the dog inside. "I didn't forget. I swear." She'd totally forgotten that she was part time feeding a stray. She figured it must get food elsewhere at night. After the dog's first visit, Kate was unable to help herself and acquired two bowls and some dog food. She wasn't entirely a loner after all. She thought she might adopt it when the time was right. She hadn't come up with a name for her furry friend yet, though.

"Bella?" she tried, and the dog flat out ignored her. "Hmm, no eh? Alright...Frannie?" Still ignored. Kate twisted her lips as she thought. It would come to her eventually. She went to shower, coming out after to find the dog standing by the door, waiting to be let out.

"You don't wanna stay?" she asked, and the dog whined and pawed at the glass door. "Oh alright. Be free then." She opened the door, and the dog skittered away. She sighed and went to make herself something to eat. At least it was Sunday and she didn't have to work; other staff ran the place while Tavs was off. Speaking of, Tavs had somewhere else she wanted to take Kate. She had been vague and mysterious about it, which had Kate intrigued.

"Where are we going?" she asked after riding in the car with Tavs for a bit.

"You'll see."

Kate suppressed a huff and watched the scenery go by. Children were playing soccer on the quieter streets, laughing and shouting at each other. She got lost in a memory when Tavs finally pulled into their destination.

"A community centre?" she asked, peering at the sign.

"Yea," Tavs said, unbuckling herself. "I volunteer here on weekends when I'm free. I thought you might like it too."

"Oh." Kate didn't know what to think. She liked volunteering, but she had wanted to stay off the radar down here.

"Relax," Tavs said, reading her mind. "Nobody will think to look for you here."

Kate reluctantly unbuckled herself and got out. She followed Tavs inside, her hands in her pockets as she went. She looked around while Tavs greeted everyone and led her to where they were supposed to go. She was surprised to find herself outside in a ball field.

"Baseball," she said dumbly.

"Yea," Tavs confirmed with a smile. "I almost made the big leagues until I got called to go to war instead. I like doing it for fun now, though."

"I'm not very good at it," Kate confessed, watching the teenagers spread out on the field.

"You're my assistant coach," Tavs reasoned. "Just cheer them on. You don't have to do the teaching."

"Okay, good."

"Of course, you might have to step in to play if we're down someone."

"But...I'm an adult," Kate said, confused.

"Things are a bit looser down here," Tavs advised, clapping her on the back lightly. "It's all good. It's just for fun."

"Fun," Kate echoed. "Right." When was the last time she'd done fun? She couldn't remember. Tavs showed her where to sit, and a bunch of teens came to huddle around Tavs.

"Hey, guys," Tavs said, high fiving some and fist bumping others. "How was your week?"

"Long," a girl said.

"Boring," a boy commented.

"Stupid," another girl said.

"Sounds like my week," Tavs replied, making them laugh. It was very clear these kids loved Tavs. Kate smiled.

"You ready to play ball?" Tavs asked them. "You been practising?"

"Yes," came the collective reply.

"Okay. First thing is first, meet my assistant, Kate. Kate, this is the team. Donnie, Jorge, Yolanda, Fiona, Ritchie, Norman, Lulu, Tim, Fara, Micah, and Penny."

"Hi," Kate said with a wave. "Nice to meet you all." Some of the teens smiled and waved back while the others just waved and looked uninterested or did nothing at all. Some spoke Spanish to each other while looking over at her. Tough crowd.

"Micah and Penny are our backups, but they will switch in and out sometimes too," Tavs explained.

"Got it."

"Okay, kidlets...or should I say: teenlets," Tavs said now, rubbing her hands together. "Let's show them who's boss."

"Yea!" they all shouted, pumping their fists in the air. Tavs clapped and they ran off to get ready. That's when Kate saw Jensen, and she almost laughed. He was clearly the coach of the team they were up against. She was slightly surprised by it, but then again, as she watched him, he was very natural with kids, and his team looked pleased with him as well.

"Hope you like second place," Jensen said as he sauntered over, smirking at his own smack talk. Tavs rolled her eyes.

"Just because you beat me once..."

"Twice," he corrected, interrupting.

"Twice," Tavs conceded begrudgingly, "doesn't mean you will always win."

"Wanna bet?"

"No," she retorted, giving his shoulder a shove as he laughed. "Go away, please." He obliged.

Kate saw Piper, then, in her baseball cap and t-shirt and pants. She was bouncing on her feet as she watched the bigger kids practising throwing the ball around, clapping her hands and smiling hugely. She was pretty sure the most hardened of hearts would look at that and feel something.

"Okay, seriously," Tavs said now, making Kate look at her again, "I cannot lose to him one more time. It's embarrassing."

"Then don't lose," Kate reasoned, smirking. Tavs made a face at her.

"Here," she said, handing Kate a ball cap. "Put this on. You're one of us now."

"Okay..." Kate took it from her.

Tavs then went to corral her team, jamming her own ball cap on her head as she walked. Kate put hers on and tugged it down low, crossed her arms, and looked around. There wasn't a big audience, which made her wonder why there weren't more of the kids' parents watching. Maybe it was just for fun, but didn't parents show up for support anyway? She frowned.

"They're orphans," Jensen said from her left, startling her. She'd thought he'd walked away, but apparently, he'd come back.

"Who are?" she asked stupidly.

"Most of the kids here," he answered with a nod of his head in their direction. "It was Tavs's idea to make sports teams to build camaraderie and help with self-confidence and self-esteem."

"That's great," Kate said. "But...how sad."

"I know," he agreed, lifting his ball cap slightly to scratch at his head before settling it back down again.

"How did you get into doing this?"

"I don't really know," he said truthfully. "Tavs twisted my arm, but I'm glad I did."

"J!" a boy from his team called. "Can you throw me some fast balls?"

"Be right there," Jensen replied. He looked at Kate again. "Tell Tavs not to be too hard on herself when she loses."

"Ha, ha," Kate said sarcastically as he snickered and went back to his team. She did her best to not constantly look at him. He seemed lighter around these teens, and he was smiling more. She could still see the pain in his eyes, though. She knew that would probably always be there. She could relate to that.

"Alright, let's go, let's go, let's go!" Tavs called, clapping her hands as her team spread out onto the field. Kate got settled in for a good game, and she found herself laughing a lot more than she had in a long time.

It felt really nice.

...

Jensen chewed his gum absently as he watched his team, keeping an eye on Piper at the same time. She was easily entertained and spent most of the time by his side jumping up and down while clapping her hands excitedly.

"You got this," he said to Miguel, who was up to bat next. Three of his team, Kyle, Felicia, and Carlos, were on the bases. The others were anxiously watching from the pit: Rachel, Jimmy, Veronica a.k.a. "Ronnie," Otis, Andres, Jade, and Maria. Ronnie and Jimmy preferred to be the backup players, but Jensen was trying to coax them out more often. He saw their talent and wished they could too.

"Come on, Donnie!" Tavs was calling out. "Strike 'im out!"

Jensen grinned as he heard the sound of light desperation in her voice. He knew how much she hated losing to him. He looked over to see Kate standing with her legs apart and arms crossed, a ball cap pulled low over her eyes. He felt a tumble inside when he saw she was already watching him.

His team whooped and hollered, making him snap his eyes back to see Miguel racing around the bases while the other three all ran by home plate. He fist pumped and hollered at them enthusiastically and encouragingly while Piper jumped around shrieking, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!" at the top of her lungs, her voice bouncing with each jump.

"Agh, come on, Donnie," Tavs said now. Donnie cracked his neck, looking determined. He managed to strike out Otis, but Rachel got through. Andre squeaked through next. Maria was struck out.

And then it was Jade.

Jensen could see this girl going far in a baseball career. She was very good, and she knew it but didn't brag about it. He so hoped that someone, somewhere, would see her potential and give her a shot.

Tavs groaned when Jade hit the ball out of the park and all of his players went across home plate again. Jensen gave her another cheeky grin. Before long, Kate was sauntering over to him as the players switched and had a small water break.

"You are loving this, aren't you?" she asked him. Piper had run to say hi to Tavs in the meantime. Jensen had watched Tavs hurry over to ensure Piper didn't hurt herself on the way.

"Of course," he answered lightly. "Tavs needs to lighten up a bit and not be so competitive." He chewed his gum again, and he noticed something shift in Kate's expression. "What's wrong? You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said absently, backing away from him.

"You sure? You look like you've seen a ghost or something," he commented. He saw her pale slightly, but she shook her head.

"I'm fine," she insisted again. She turned away and went back to her side of the field. Jensen couldn't figure out for the life of him what had darkened her mood. He looked around, trying to see if someone or something had arrived that triggered her. He didn't see anything. When he looked back over at her, she was very studiously not looking back.

...

The gum. Of all things, it was the damn gum.

Kate worked to calm her breathing as she fought hard not to flashback and stay in the present. Flashes of Matt Graver's gum chawing mouth and smirk went through her mind, and she swallowed hard. It was funny the little details that could trigger memories of a traumatic event and stir up feelings again.

"Kate?" Tav's voice said, sounding far away.

I'm gonna tell everyone what you did.

And that would be a very big mistake.

"Kate?"

She whipped her head, finally hearing Tavs clearer now. "Huh?"

"You okay?" Tavs asked, looking concerned. She noticed even Jensen was watching her carefully from across the field. Damn it.

"I'm fine," she lied. "Just got lost in my thoughts is all." She gave Tavs a smile, who narrowed an eye at her to show she didn't entirely believe her.

"We'll talk later," Tavs said.

"Really, I'm fine..."

"Later," Tavs repeated, more firmly. Kate just nodded, knowing it wasn't wise to argue with her. She was like Reggie that way. Both were persistent and just seemed to know how to win every argument.

Kate barely followed the rest of the game. When Jensen's team won for the third time, Tavs playfully got up in his face and spread her arms out, challenging him to a do-over soon. The teams shook hands, and Kate was left standing in the field as everyone trickled their way back to real life.

"Water?" Jensen asked, offering her a bottle from her left. She blinked, trying to stay grounded.

"Thanks," she said, taking it.

"Was it something I did or said?" he questioned a moment later after she'd taken a few sips.

"What do you mean?"

"You were fine until you talked to me, so I've come to the conclusion that it's something I did," he countered. Kate should have known he'd pick up on that. She hadn't exactly been subtle about it. She hesitated. What would be the point of lying? He'd think it was something bigger than it was, but she felt so stupid for being bothered by something so insignificant. In the end, she decided to be honest.

"Your gum," she said, and he looked surprised and confused.

"Oh," he said. "Did it...did it smell bad or something?"

"No," she answered, shaking her head. "It just...it reminded me of...someone." She didn't want to say anything more than that, and he seemed to sense it. She held his gaze, mentally begging him to not ask her who it reminded her of.

"Okay," he said softly. "Good to know."

"So stupid, I know," she started, but he held up his hand.

"We all have things," he said. "Don't worry about it." He gave her a crooked smile then, and she felt comforted by it.

"Thanks."

"Daddy!" Piper called, trotting over to him. "Can we go to the park? I wanna swing."

"For a little bit," Jensen promised her, picking her up and holding her against his hip as he started walking away. "Then we have to get you home and cleaned up."

"Okayyy."

"See you around, Kate," he said, looking at her.

"Byye Auntie Kaate!" Piper called, drawing it out and waving.

"Bye, bye." Kate hugged herself as she watched them leave. She tried to remember the last time she'd spent quality time with her father. It had been a long time ago.

"Kate!" Tavs called. "Let's go!"

She bowed her head and walked towards her friend. She really had no idea what she was doing here, if she was honest. Sure, it was a safe place to run to, but she felt there was more to her leaving America than that. She doubted she would figure it out anytime soon.

"So," Tavs said once in the car with her. "Talk to me."

And Kate shared about Graver, which did help to shake it off that much further. She really hoped that one day, it wouldn't be something she thought about ever again.

A Few Days Later

Jensen pulled himself out from underneath a car on the creeper when he saw her. He paused, hands on the lower bumper. She was alone, and it looked like she was trying to surf. He couldn't help himself. He observed.

She managed to stand up okay, but she couldn't stay on, and he could see what she was doing wrong from where he was. He looked at his watch and sucked his teeth. It was lunchtime anyway. And he was hot.

So why not?

He avoided looking at himself in the mirror as he went inside to change, removing his chain of wedding rings so as not to lose them in the water. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Ever since her incident at the ball park, he kept wondering what misery Kate had left behind before coming here, and he had this sudden desire to help her feel happy again. Maybe it was because he sucked at making his own happiness that he made up for it by making it for others. He didn't know anymore.

He headed towards her, wading the last stretch to where she was. He worked towards not looking at her fully; it was hard not to admire her, though, and he couldn't stop taking peeks.

"Oh," she said, seeing him. "What're you doing?"

"I think you need an instructor," he advised, stopping next to her and giving her board a sideways glance. She blushed.

"I'm no good at this," she said. "I don't even know why I wanted to try..."

"Because it's fun," he cut in. "You do know it's okay to have fun, right?"

"Shut up," she said, looking away to hide her continued blush. He chuckled lightly, reaching to steady her board.

...

Kate had no idea why she was doing this. She had the day off and decided, "What the hell?" If Piper had so much fun with it, maybe she would too. She didn't really know what she was searching for, but she definitely didn't want to stay controlled by flashbacks and past misery.

"It's easy," Jensen said, and Kate gave him an "uh huh" look in return. They were waist deep with waves slapping into their chests. She tried not to feel self-conscious, but she wasn't even wearing a typical bikini. Her top covered her chest to her neck at the front, leaving her back exposed. The strings tied at her neck and against the middle of her back were slightly tickling her but not enough to be annoying. Her bottoms were small shorts and not constantly trying to fall off or give her a wedgie, which was nice. She suddenly wished her waist was not in plain view. She wished he had kept a damn shirt on. She felt a thousand degrees in cold water. And she couldn't stop looking at all his tattoos spread across his chest, shoulders, and arms.

"I don't have very good balance," she said now as he positioned the board in front of her.

"You'll learn it," he insisted. "Come on. Hop up."

She obeyed, pulling herself up onto the board and kneeling in the middle of it. Jensen was hanging onto it still so she wouldn't just float away.

"Wait for a big one," he said. "Then stand up. Bend your knees...keep your feet about here and here..." He gestured on the board..."and that's all, really."

"Thanks, Teach," Kate said sarcastically. She watched as he took the strap and velcroed it around her ankle.

"So you don't lose it," he advised. She swallowed. A wave was coming hard and fast.

"I can't do this," she said quickly.

"Yes, you can," he insisted, making her look at him. "If Piper can do it, you can do it."

"You had to say that," she said with a rough sigh. "Cheap shot."

He didn't respond, just pushed her out. She gave a slight squeal in her throat as the time came for her to stand up, which she did.

And then she promptly fell headfirst into the water.

She felt disoriented at first, but then her foot was being tugged by her board upward, and she managed to swim back to the surface.

"Shit," she said, wiping her face. She saw Jensen to the left watching with a bit of a smirk on his lips. She detached her foot from the strap, pulled herself up a bit onto the board, and started kicking to get back to him.

"Don't even say it," she said once she got there.

"I wasn't going to," he replied, holding his hands up in surrender. She got back to where she could touch and got back on the board. The second attempt, she managed to stand up for five whole seconds before falling off. Her legs and all other muscles were screaming at her by the time she was done six more tries.

"I told you," she panted. "I can't do this."

"It's not that hard," he promised. "Here. Let me show you."

She let him take the board and paddle out. He wasn't even attaching himself to the board, which she envied. He had that much confidence that he wasn't going to fall off. She observed as he waited for a wave and then stood as it came. She hated him slightly as he rode it until it went down, not falling off at all.

She sighed roughly.

"See?" he said, coming back to her. "Not that hard."

"Show off," she muttered, taking the board back. After five more tries, she couldn't even pull herself up onto the board anymore.

"I think we should call it for today," Jensen said, noticing. "Don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I'm fine."

He gave her a look of scrutiny, but she held firm. "Okay."

"Thanks for trying," she said.

"Anytime."

She forced herself to turn and walk slowly towards shore, turning back to watch as he dunked himself and stayed under for a while. She wondered if he screamed down there into the void of dark water.

She certainly had.