outfit
~*~

Things were finally calming down again in the shop as people went on vacations and spent time outside to enjoy the nice bouts of weather they seemed to be having that summer. It was great though as it meant she had time to really organize things around her shop. So the redhead had reorganized things and ordered new supplies when her her mother called.

Amanda still hadn't been trusted to be around her daughter for too long without supervision, but Jack was busy at work and both her parents had been called in for something so her mom would rather leave Kailah with her for a few hours at the shop rather than call a babysitter. Not that she was complaining. She loved spending time with Kailah whenever she could, and having a few hours on her own was a great way to show Jack and Marie that she could be trusted with her little girl again.

Kailah was overjoyed by seeing her mother again, though it was a good thing she got her just before nap time so she could practice getting Kailah to sleep. Her mother had brought some blankets and pillows so they'd make an impromptu place for the toddler to rest her head. It took some time before the toddler was down, but Amanda could finally leave her girl sleeping in the back room without closing the door completely so she could get back to work.

If her mother was correct, she had about half an hour of grown-up time before Kailah wanted her attention again. Thankfully she had been given a few options for meals, none of which she could heat up if there were customers in the stores since she'd need to use magic for it. Her mother really had planned everything though, from snacks to drinks. Luckily she had stored all that away in the back and was busy reaching for something on the top shelf when the bell on the door signaled that someone had just entered the store.

"Be with you in a moment," she said as she finally reached the book she'd been struggling with reaching.

A phone call by mid-morning started Kevin's day off on a sour note.  His presence would not be required at work, and they felt it best he took a few days off.  Wonderful.  Kevin gets his face smashed in while minding his own business, and then gets suspended from work.  He wondered what else could possibly go wrong, an incredibly dangerous thought.

Feeling lazy, Kevin only threw on a pair pajama bottoms and sat at his desk that also happened to be his dinner table.  An open jar of peanut butter sat in between empty wrappers of the numerous quick meals he'd eaten recently.    He quickly checked his secure email, the only message for him stating there would be no additional assistance and to be more careful.  The message enraged him and he yelled his frustration at the laptop, only to have his neighbor pound on the wall for being too loud.

He stood up from his table, clenching his fists and grinding his teeth.  Today was not turning out well at all.  After a moment of deep breathing, Kevin decided to change his stars, starting with his mess.  Having lived in dorms for most of his life, he usually picked up after himself, but he'd been too busy scoping the town and working at the grill to come home and pick up.

Thankfully, his place was small enough he didn't have that much to do.  He threw away a bunch of empty wrappers and spoiled condiments, tidying as he went.  The motions calmed him down as he rationalized the phone call and the email.  As his tidal wave of clean flooded into his room, Kevin picked up his jeans from the other night and emptied out the pockets, finding the little business card Amanda ad given him.

There was his silver lining of the thundercloud that struck earlier in the morning.  He had some free time and couldn't see a reason to not go to the art shop.  A bit more pep in his step, Kevin went to his pillbox sized bathroom to take a quick shower and shot a look at himself in the mirror.  Standing in just a pair of pajama bottoms he could easily see the toned muscles of his abdomen, the strength in his arms.  He flexed a little in the mirror, letting his eyes drift to his jaw covered in manly stubble and began glaring into the glass as he saw the whole of his face.

A deep bruise has bloomed on his face, and it promised to get worse before it ever got better.  The bridge of his nose was still slightly swollen, parts a vibrant purple that faded into a yellow as it spread to the corners of his eyes.  Tentatively he touched the puffy flesh wincing in pain with each tap, assuring himself that it was still broken and still hurt very much.  He could feel his anger flaring but dashed it aside as he started up his shower.  This day would get better.  It had to.

Cleaner and dressed Kevin drove around downtown, searching for the address of Amanda's art shop.  He had to drive passed it twice looking for a parking spot, and it gave him just enough time to beat away the nervous energy as he tried to figure out something witty to say.  He'd almost reached the door to the store when he turned back around, psyching himself out that she didn't want to see him.  Kevin was ashamed of his own fear and manned up, opening the door with a quiet bell.

"Take your time."  So much for the witty lines Kevin had rehearsed.  He busied himself as best he could, looking at various strange accoutrements for artists.  It was his intention to seem as nonchalant and smooth as possible.

On any other day, Amanda would have been thrilled to hear Kevin's voice as she realized it was him that had entered her shop. It was just that she'd had too much fun the other night and she wasn't sure how he'd react when Kailah woke up again. She didn't want to lose a potential friend because of her daughter, and she didn't want to have to explain everything about Jack if it came up. She'd just have to hope that he either wouldn't be there for long enough, which was a grim thought, or that he didn't mind kids.

"What a pleasant-" she started saying as she turned around, but she stopped the moment she saw the bruise on his face. "What happened to you?" she asked, honestly concerned. Kevin was just a nice guy, who in their right minds would punch him out like that? What could he possibly have done to deserve it? She silently vowed to make whoever hurt Kevin miserable.

Remembering she was running a store and had a book in her hands, Amanda smiled slightly and put the book down. "So... What can I help you with?" She was trying, and failing miserably, to be casual about it all. They had really had a good time and even with the flirting and stuff they seemed to understand that there was a limit to how far things could ever go. There was no point denying she was attracted to the other, but she'd much rather have him as her friend than not at all if those were the options.

"I uhm... I had fun the other night." The usually eloquent and confident werewitch was reduced to a nervous young woman who didn't know left from right at the moment. What on earth was she doing?

As she was working, and it happened to be a store, Kevin felt it only right to actually peruse the items, and probably end up purchasing something.  Exactly what that would be Kevin wasn't sure, but he figured at least something would fall within the lines of courtesy.  He didn't miss a beat when she went from pleasant surprise to concern, "This?  Oh it's nothing, hurts more than it looks.  I wouldn't recommend having face connect with an iron fist."  He tried to laugh it off, but his anger could be heard in the edges of his words.  The man would pay, not directly, Kevin could never beat a supernatural punch for punch, but that didn't mean he was without indirect means.

In response to her last question Kevin smirked a little, careful to not smile too big as it pulled the skin of his face and hurt more than it should, "See, I have these four walls, small, but they are rather plain.  I'm hoping to change that."  He figured he could buy a small portrait or something to just make his dank, plain walls a little bit cheerier.  The off-white was starting to bug him, or so he'd convinced himself.

A small smile on his face he looked to her, "I had fun too."  His blue eyes were soft and he could feel his attraction for her with every move she made, every word she said.  This woman would be the death of him, if she didn't drive him crazy first.  Possibly both.  He found the thoughts amusing and eerily fitting.

Amanda didn't for a second believe that Kevin was actually OK with it, even if he was trying to laugh if off like that, but she would respect his privacy and not pry. Friends told each other stuff when they were ready for it, right? It wasn't a good thing to pry information out of people before they were ready to talk, it always ended up with someone getting hurt.

Upon hearing what Kevin wanted, Amanda smirked slightly. "Well, I happen to have something you can brush onto walls to make them less plain?" She wasn't sure if he was truly looking for paints though or if he was looking for something else. There weren't a lot of other things she had in her store that could lighten up walls, but she had a feeling he was really just making up an excuse to be in her store, just like she'd made up some excuse to slip him her business card.

"We should do it again some time," she said before she sighed slightly when she heard her daughter start to get up. "Now before you say anything... I didn't want to say anything yet since I barely know you and all, but I have a daughter," she was talking quickly though so that she'd get it all out before Kailah yawned as opened the door Amanda had left open for her earlier.

Smiling slightly, Amanda walked over to her daughter and picked her up. "You're so cute when you're sleepy," she mused and walked over to Kevin, Kailah still on her hip. The little girl seemed to be too sleepy still to do much but cling to her mother, but she'd wake up soon. "This is Kailah," she said and looked at Kevin, searching his face for a reaction to it all.

Kevin had been mumbling something about hoping for assistance painting his walls when he let his words fall away, listening to the urgency in her voice.  The confession helped fill in some pieces of Amanda that Kevin had been curious about.  Phone call about a kid?  It was easy to believe the child would be hers.  The information also soothed his ego in a way.  Any single mother was afraid a child would scare off a potential man, and it made sense she wouldn't want to get close.

Sure he'd been the first one to dissuade her advances, but what guy wanted a beautiful woman to actually back off?  When he's single and lonely as Kevin already was?  He hadn't wanted to turn her down, and it had hurt his giant ego mildly that she hadn't pressed the issue.

As she walked over to her daughter, Kevin began sculpting a heartfelt speech about having children, his hopes for them some day.  He was going to explain all how he didn't mind kids and just the other day had played with a kid of his own free will.  He wasn't going to mention it was the devilish off spring of a crazed werewolf, but it was a simple omission.  There was no reason Amanda ever needed to find out that Kevin had even followed up with telling the daughter to hide from her father.

He smiled as broadly as he dared as Amanda brought the sleep little girl over, all cuddled up with messy flaming locks.  The kid the other day had the same kind of hair, Kevin remembered as the terrified horror struck him.  Red hair.  Amanda's hair.  The kid's hair.  Amanda's hair.  Angry, angry father.  The realization felt similar to the cause of the bruise on across his nose, it felt like a punch in the face.

The fear was momentary as he started laughing at the irony of it all.  "Oh god..."  He whispered under his breath.  He was still chuckling to himself at the fact he was destiny's play-thing, when he spoke directly to the little girl, "Hey Kiddo, where's your elephant?"  He took the moment to look around the store, not for the elephant, but for the dark haired man that had probably given it to her.

Amanda caught something about assistance, but she didn't really catch much more as she'd been distracted by her daughter waking up again. She was glad that her mother had let her watch her own daughter for a few hours that day as she was gonna ask Jack if she could see her more now that she was in control of her emotions again.

The redhead was confused when she saw Kevin's reaction to seeing Kailah. He'd seemed like the kind of guy who'd like kids, but why did he look like he'd just seen a ghost? She felt like she'd missed something big here, especially when he started laughing. How did he know she had an elephant and why was he talking to her like they'd met before.

It all clicked when Kailah looked up at Kevin and pressed a finger to her lips and made a 'shhhh' sound. Amanda couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of it all then. "So you're the one who got my little princess to hide from her dad?" she asked, highly amused though as she couldn't possibly imagine Kevin hurting an innocent child. "Probably not the best idea in the world, but nicely done." Hopefully Kevin would understand from how amused she was by the whole thing that she wasn't upset with him for doing so.

For some reason, it didn't bother her one bit that Kailah seemed to want to be held by Kevin now since he'd asked about the elephant. She knew she'd be in trouble if Jack ever found out, but she honestly didn't think Kevin meant her any harm and Kailah really was reaching for the hunter so she'd be able to talk to him more about the elephant.

Kevin reached for the little girl as her arms came out towards him and he nodded eagerly at every word she had to say.  He didn't completely follow her train of thought as she continued to babbled on about her elephant and the world they shared together.  Kevin helped out every so often when very young people were brought into the institute.  The Professor rarely kept children as young as Kevin had been, normally giving them to the state to take care of.  Kevin could remember being afraid that first night in the big facility and always did his best to calm the kids down and talk to them.

"I may or may not be the man who taught her all about the quiet-quiet..."  He grinned sheepishly,knowing he was caught, but glad she didn't seem to mind.  "And may I just say, your ex is an idiot."  He was careful with the placement of his words.  He wanted to confirm that the crazed werewolf was indeed out of Amanda's personal life.  Granted the connection would always be there so long as Amanda was involved with the girl, and Kevin to understand that to a point.

A tangled mess of emotions was beginning to grow in him.  He knew for a fact that the dark haired alpha male was not human, he had every reason to want to kill the man.  The werewolf had killed an innocent person all because he thought Kevin had sent someone to follow him.  Then he'd punched Kevin in the face and bruised his fragile male ego.  Kevin had a bullet with the werewolf's name on it, and he was going to make sure it hit home.

There had always been the child, but Kevin would have seen to it she was cared for, would have made certain that the little girl grew up supernatural free and happy.  Now the unknown little girl belonged to a woman Kevin fancied, and that mucked everything up.  Amanda wouldn't want her daughter's father killed, would she?  No, of course not.  Exes hated each other generally, but death tended to be a step too far.  There was no way Kevin could let that monster continue his reign of terror though.

A simple reconnaissance mission to a quiet little town was turning out to be everything but what the job had described.  She-male boys that dated monsters.  Monsters that fathered darling little princesses.  Mothers that had the worst possible taste in men.

It was a relief when Kevin didn't seem to mind Kailah babbling on about her elephant and how it could occasionally fly because mama made it fly. Her daughter really seemed to be quite taken with the hunter, despite only having met him once before, and since Kevin didn't seem to mind she was cool with it. No reason for her to panic about what they all were as as far as she knew, Kevin had no idea about either her or Kailah.

Amanda couldn't help but laugh slightly at the statement of her ex being and idiot. "Oh we were never an item. Kailah is the best mistake I've ever made, but her dad and I would just have made each other even more miserable than we already do by trying to stay together," she shrugged. It was true though. When they hadn't always worked out as friends raising a kid together, how would they had worked out as a couple? Amanda couldn't even count on one hand all the times she'd wanted to throw stuff after Jack or seriously hurt him, much less the times she'd actually thrown stuff after him in an argument.

What was she going to do about this whole thing? On one hand, it didn't feel right to let Kailah hand out with Kevin behind Jack's back, but on the other hand she hadn't been told for over a month that Finny was putting her daughter to sleep at night. The made it perfectly clear to her that Jack would never need to know that she actually liked the hunter who'd taught Kailah to hide, because he was a decent guy.

"Please tell me he isn't the one who did this to your handsome face?" she asked as she reached out to gently touch the side of nose before she thought better of it and ruffled her daughter's curls instead. It was an inappropriate thing to want to do, and she wasn't supposed to use magic so obviously. Besides it would probably have hurt a bit.

Children had the craziest imaginations.  Flying elephants, like this was Disney.  It made him feel a little less nauseated knowing the two had never dated.  He would just ignore the fact that something had to happen for the darling little girl to be in his arms.

He looked directly to the little girl and her bright big eyes, "You wanna know a secret?  I can do magic!"  Then Kevin made her 'fly' by flinging her in the air in a controlled manner.  To the child it seemed like feet and feet, when in reality it was not that much at all.  Every good man knows how to toss a child playfully in the air, it's genetic.  Despite the pain, Kevin had a huge smile on his face as he played around with the little girl ignoring glaring errors of facts.

If Jack was a werewolf, then his child was probably a werewolf too.  Especially if the mother was.  The likelihood that Amanda had come away from the relationship completely unscathed, was doubtful.  It would be logical to assume that Amanda was also a werewolf, but Kevin wasn't ready for reality yet.  He wanted to remain in fantasy, much like a child.

As he ignored the information that would crumble him, Kevin responded, "Well, apparently he didn't enjoy the fact I... exist so..."  He stumbled over his words.  It must be the insanity sinking in that made him almost admit to being a hunter.

Amanda loved how good Kevin was with Kailah. It was one of the most important qualities in a potential partner; they needed to be good with her daughter. Too bad he was also a hunter, which would make it impossible for it to work out. Didn't matter how attached she or Kailah got to him, there could never, ever, be anything more than friendship between the two as long as he was hunting down and probably killing her kinds of people.

Kailah was squealing with excitement and joy when she was tossed like that and Amanda couldn't help the amused chuckle that escaped her. She was going to ignore the fact that Kevin was a hunter for as long as she possibly could. It was one thing to openly accuse him, but another thing to bring up that she knew if he brought up something related to it.

"He generally doesn't take too kindly... erm..." she didn't know how she was gonna make that last thing she wanted to say not sound like an offense. So it ended up being a mere whisper. "to hunters..." Amanda smiled tried to shrug it off, but she just couldn't help it. She was afraid of how he'd react to it all. The fact that she knew what Jack was and that she knew what Kevin was.

"Listen, let's just deal with Jack when that time comes, and forget about the whole thing for now?" She clearly didn't want to end all associations with Kevin just because the cat was out of the bag, and she wasn't going to show him she was supernatural as well unless it served to save his life. She just didn't want the good feelings to end, didn't matter if they didn't lead anywhere.

Kevin gently set the squealing girl down who proceeded to pout that the fun had ended.  The color, except for the bruises, drained from his face.  It shouldn't have surprised him.  Of course Jack had talked about Kevin's business to Amanda.  He squatted down, becoming as close to eye level with the little girl as he could easily manage, "Wanna play hide and seek?  I'll count to ten and come find you."

He watched as the girl scampered off before turning to face her mother.  "So he told you?  I guess that shouldn't be odd.  He did mention protectiveness.  I can understand that."  His eyes followed the trail the girl had taken, "One."  He spoke loudly so Kailah could hear him.

Blue eyes focused again on the mother, the beautiful Amanda.  "I'm not here to hurt Kailah, I would never hurt a child.  Jack seems to think I'm here to rape and pillage. I just want people to be safe."  It mattered only a little if Kailah was a supernatural, she was just a little girl.  So long as she didn't hurt normal people and didn't make herself known, Kevin would do everything he could to protect her.  He still had not reported that an 'offspring' was involved with the supernatural Jack.  In fact, Kevin had reported very little and nothing recent. 

His face was cold and stern as he spoke, "I will deal with Jack.  I won't do anything to compromise you."

It was probably for the best that Kailah ran to hide again, though Amanda could've hugged Kevin for even thinking about shielding her daughter from scary talk like that. "I've told him not to start fights with people, but he doesn't listen." That was all she said with a shrug as Kevin started counting. Most hunters couldn't immediately pick out a supernatural, and when Jack antagonized them and made it clear he wasn't a human there was bound to be trouble.

"Listen, I'm not worried. Decent guys don't hurt innocent children," she said with a slight smile. She really wasn't worried about Kevin going after her daughter, because deep down she knew he would have done so already if that was his intentions. One thing was for sure though, if Kevin ever learned the truth about what she was, it was essential that he never learned why she wasn't allowed to see her daughter half the time.

Amanda actually did step closer to Kevin when he said he wouldn't do anything to compromise her and hugged him. "I'm pretty good at making his life miserable all on my own, just don't get yourself killed because of him?" she said quietly as she let go of Kevin again and stepped back a little. "I know we barely just met and all, but I'd hate to see you hurt. Anyone who makes Kailah squeal in joy like that is a decent person. She's an excellent judge of character you know." She winked playfully at him before calling out: "Ten." Amanda was afraid Kailah would break something if she was left unattended for much longer.

"It's kind of funny.  I never would have even suspected him, but we met at the gym and he did things nobody could do.  Okay, sure, maybe a Kenyan, but last I checked, Jack was a white boy."  It had been odd to see a man run so fast without even a drop of sweat, made Kevin's ego hurt in all sorts of ways.  Being reminded he was weaker, being reminded he wasn't as good as a supernatural.  The thoughts infuriated him at the time, which granted him the vindictive idea of scaring the father through the daughter.  Kevin would never hurt a child, but Jack assumed the worst of him, and Kevin had used it to his advantage.

The hormones associated with attraction fluttered his heart as she spoke well of him, even if it was by indirect means.  She thought he was a decent guy.  Made everything else just that much harder.  He still felt the need to protect her from the midnight world, but at least she was aware it existed.  Kids didn't scare Kevin, and it never would have run him off in the first place.  An irate, irrational ex, now that was a challenge.

He smiled at her concern, "Trust me I have no intentions on dying anytime soon."  Kevin liked being alive, it was why he fought so hard.  Sure there were men in his group that didn't care if they lived or died and fought with a certain reckless advantage.  That wasn't Kevin.  He wanted to live and he wanted it at its fullest.  No broken bones, though it happened, no permanent scars, though he had a few, thankfully none on his vain face.

Kevin gave her a nod before loudly announcing his presence as he walked around the store.  In over dramatic gestures he went to all the obvious hiding spots, making sure Kailah knew where he was looking, "Is she over here? No. How about here!"  He was waiting for the telltale giggle of a little person proud of their hiding spot.  It wouldn't matter if their little butts were sticking out in the air, or their shoes showing, children loved to do well.  It was no fun if he found her immediately.  Scary if she hid herself well though...  He'd been the one to teach her that too.

So she'd been right all along. If Jack didn't seem to have an innate need to provoke hunters, they most likely wouldn't pick him out in a crowd. As it was, there was no point trying to tell him otherwise as that bonehead wouldn't listen to her. It really didn't help that she never listened to him either though, they were just as bad. Though while Jack tended to aggravate hunters, it seemed Amanda had a habit of befriending them.

The redhead was fully aware that at one point or another she would have to tell Kevin the truth about herself if they were to remain friends. She was sure he would find out eventually anyway, if he just knew what to look for he'd find plenty of evidence around the store. Her former employee hadn't noticed anything off though, not until he knew the truth about her so she must have hidden it well. Still, sooner or later he was bound to notice the things that didn't really belong in an art store if he started really looking around.

Kailah was hiding behind the counter, and Amanda was just watching Kevin as he went looking for her, letting the toddler think she'd hidden really well. A giggle escaped Kailah as the nice man was looking for her, she seemed to really think she had found the perfect hiding place. So while Kevin was searching for her daughter, Amanda was silently admiring how good with the little girl he was. If it wasn't for that one little thing, that she was sure he'd freak out if he truly learned the truth, she would have a really hard time not just throwing herself at him. Oh, and not to mention Jack would have her head for it.

Despite her attraction to the hunter, Amanda could never risk going out with someone that would make Jack take her daughter away again. Friends was another thing altogether, she wouldn't let Jack have a say in who her friends were, even if that meant she was friends with some vampires again. As long as she didn't bring them around Kailah he had no say in the matter, and she trusted Kevin enough from how Kailah seemed to instantly have taken to him. If he hadn't been a decent guy, her daughter would never have agreed to play with him in the first place.