"Damon, I need to speak to the investigator you that helped me with the company."
"Oh, why?" Damon smiled pleasantly at her, knowing that this shrewd old friend of his was looking for more than the information they'd provided.
"I wanted to ask them a few things about the company. The report was a bit thin."
"I told you when I took on your little favour that you'll never meet the investigator and you won't get any information other than what you asked for and nothing that could harm the company."
"Damon, we're friends, surely you don't need to go to that extreme? I only wanted to meet them, there's no harm in that.
"No, nobody ever meets my investigators and even though we don't have a contract, we have an agreement and I hope you will honour that." His eyes flashed stone cold, leaning forward slightly in his chair.
"Of course, sorry." Her laugh tinkled like light bells through the room. "I didn't mean to overstep my boundaries."
"Even friends argue sometimes" He chuckled, noting her worried look.
--
"Jackson, why are there people taking measurements next door?"
"Hmm?" He looked up from stocking the fridge. "I don't know, maybe another shop is opening next door." He briefly met her eyes before turning to his task.
"I don't trust you. I still remember how you stole the show at my first-year presentation."
"Don't get so worked up." He got up, throwing the towel at her. "I don't know everything that's going on in this part of town. And anyway, I have bigger fish to fry."
"Still wooing the teenage dad? How's that going?"
"At a snail's pace. Who knew it would be so complicated." He grimaced. With Skye, it seemed to go ten times slower. The kid was so sharp that going out with Raymond led to a myriad of questions, that he barely avoided by his phone ringing.
It wasn't as easy as dropping in or going out on the spur of the moment. There were schedules to check and Skye to consider. He hasn't even got to the hand-holding stage if Eric was to be trusted.
"I saw Tony hanging about last week." He grabbed a cookie from the display.
"Hey, stop eating the merchandise! It's already bad enough that you take boxes of treats to your beau."
"Stop changing the subject." He countered.
"Nothing much, we're seeing where things are going. Sort of giving it another try."
"You are?" He asked in disbelief. This was news to him since last he checked in, they were still waging a cold war.
"Yes, I saw how gooey you got when you were doing all those stupid things for him."
"Hey!" He objected.
"Anyway, I thought we needed a bit of romance, so we're dating again." She had a dreamy smile on her face. "I think you have the winning recipe when it comes to winning someone over.
"I'm glad it's working for you." He sourly admitted. "Maybe I should step it up on the romance front because the furnace is burning a bit low."
"What are you planning?" She leaned back against the counter drinking her coffee.
"I think I'm going to take them to a concert. Or a kids-friendly show at least. I don't think I can sit through a stuffed piece of pizza singing about flying through space with a hammer and a mushroom that's one line away from looking like a penis!"
"Geez, you wonder who's high, the writers or the kids!" She laughed. "Well, at least you've got a plan, now go and put it into action. I think one of those babies is getting ready to ask you out." She nodded wisely to a table where a group of particularly excited teenage boys were sitting throwing not-so-subtle glances at Jackson.
"I don't blame them. I'm quite a catch if I have to say so myself." He glanced over at the table, removing his apron.
"Ugh! Get out you pig of a man!" She grabbed his apron and waived him off. This was a very different side of her friend that she'd rarely seen. He seemed so much happier, taking time in his relationship and really investing time.
--
Jackson finally decided to take them to an acrobatics show. He wanted to try a magic show, but after seeing what Skye was like with street performers, he thought better of it. The magician would probably run away screaming.
From Skye's expression throughout the show, he was confident that he'd done well. His eyes still sparkled as he recounted every trick at record speed. The three of them walked hand in hand through a park with a dam at its centre.
"Squirt, you're getting too big for this." Raymond grinned at his son who was happily using their arms to swing between them.
"Look, what I can do!" He yelled running forward and doing a string of cartwheels on the grass.
"He's not going to do that all evening, is he?" Jackson asked, as Skye stopped the cartwheels and was now showing off his skills in doing back flips.
"It wears off after a while. Well, after he had shown his friends and the rest of the family. Until then, it's going to be a theme. His granddads are going to go berserk now."
"They're not against him doing acrobatics are they?" They took him shooting according to Raymond, so why would they have a problem with acrobatics?
"No, they're going to go overboard signing him up for a billion courses at once. And because they indulge him, he happily goes along with their plans. That's how he gets away with doing things other six-year-olds can't or shouldn't do." He laughed, watching as Skye fell down on the grass when he could no longer maintain a handstand.
"Maybe we should go and get ice cream," Jackson suggested, holding his hand out to Skye. Grabbing his hand, Skye vaulted up so that he clung to Jackson's neck. When Jackson got his hands under him, Skye kept climbing until he was seated on his shoulders. Jackson held on to his legs to steady him.
"What? You're not even going to say anything about him climbing all over me?" Jackson gently bumped into Raymond, chuckling.
"You're the only one he does this to, so you should be the one to stop it, otherwise he's going to keep doing it."
"So it's our little thing? Cute" Things seemed to be looking up, he thought happily. After a while, Skye started losing steam and scampered down from his shoulders to piggyback him.
"I think we should call it a night. I don't think the little one is going to make it much longer." Jackson hoisted a sleepy Skye higher on his back as they walked back.
"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Raymond grinned.
"I'm practising. Let me take a win."
"Okay, I'll let you have it." He strapped a sleeping Skye into the backseat before they set off. "You know you can drive faster, right?" He asked when they moved at a snail's pace.
"I don't want to wake him up." He whispered, briefly meeting Raymond's eyes.
"Trust me, it's going to take a bomb to wake him, so you can speed up a bit. If we keep going at this rate, we'll arrive in time for breakfast."
"Okay, okay." His smile was back in place as he sped up. "I'm new to all of this, you're going to have to cut me some slack here."
"Don't worry, you're doing well so far. Skye would have kicked a fit of astronomical proportions if he didn't like you and you invited us out." He turned in his seat to look at his son.
"It must be my irresistible charm and good looks." He winked.
"God, even when you're an ass you look good," Raymond mumbled under his breath.