Kevin liked kids.  Their lives were simple.  Sugar was good, and peas were bad.  They liked cartoons and fun.  It made Kevin happy that this little girl laughed so easily.  He'd been afraid that with as fearsome as Jack was, that he wouldn't let his daughter laugh.  Kevin had seen his type before.  

Everything had to go the alpha male's way, what he said was law.  No one spoke out against the king, no one could stand up against him.  He was always the biggest, baddest one of the bunch.  Calling the shots, and controlling everyone around him.  Kevin couldn't understand what Finney saw in him.

Kevin let his thoughts cycle through as he snuck up on the counter where Kailah was hiding.  He'd known for a minute that she was there, he'd just taken his time with it, letting the little girl's excitement get the best of her.  In a quick motion he leaped to her picking her up in both arms, "I've got her!"  He loudly proclaimed and proceeded to make growling, gnawing sounds that mostly just tickled the little girl's belly.  Smiling, he set the little girl down, he'd almost forgotten how much fun kids could be.  He would have made a great uncle.

While better trained hunters would have noticed the occult objects strewn about the store, Kevin hadn't been trained towards that.  Witches were a grey area for his group, and only Professor Gordon knew about them.  They were always told to avoid witches, never taught anything other than vampires' fangs and werewolves' fur.  Sure there was the occasional oddity, let us not forget the tragedy that was Mexico with the Chupacabra, but the majority of Kevin's time was spent going after werewolves and vampires.

Show Kevin a bag of herbs and he'll think it's marijuana.  He'd already found one individual that probably indulged greatly in the five leafed 'herb', Kevin could only assume there were others, and probably a dealer somewhere as well.  A problem Kevin didn't need or want to handle.

Kevin looked to the beautiful Amanda, "How about lunch?  Can you close up shop for an hour or so, or is it passed that time?"  He wanted to take them all out to lunch, the little girl, Amanda.  Money was tight, but he wanted to be kind in return for the carefree moment spent with Kailah.  He'd understand if she couldn't, but then maybe he could bring something back.

Amanda knew all too well how Jack came across to hunters and stranger who looked at their little girl wrong. Mostly because he'd been like that towards her for the longest time as well, but she knew how loving he was when he was with their daughter. No matter how tough and scary he could be, she'd seen the alpha turn into a soft and loving father when they were at home. Besides, she had hurt people for far less than making Kailah play hide and seek.

Like any proud mother, Amanda couldn't help but grin at how happy Kailah was at the moment. So she reached out her arms once Kailah was put down and smiled when her daughter came running towards her. Picking her up again, Amanda kissed her hair lovingly. They really needed to rearrange their schedules so she could spend more time her.

"It's been rather slow today anyway, so I'm sure we could spare an hour," she said as she turned to address Kailah. "You're the boss. Lunch with Kevin?" she asked the girl before she wished she could cover her ears at the squeal that escaped Kailah. Turning back to Kevin, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Lunch sounds great." It was one of the perks of being her own boss, she could have lunch whenever she wanted and was free. Usually she had her lunch in the back room, but occasionally she'd close up for an hour and go out to eat.

Kevin's smile showed his pleasant surprise that she'd agreed and he quickly tried to think of a good place to take them, "Any kinds of food allergies or aversions, or anything?"  The town was not grand or mighty, but big enough he didn't know all the places to eat yet.  "I'm really up for anything, any preferences?"  He meant the question to Amanda, but looked to the little girl.  She was the boss.

Originally, Kevin was thinking a fast food restaurant might be good, the kid could play in the jungle gym and give him a chance to chat with Amanda alone.  Couldn't just play hide and go seek the whole time as they discussed things a little girl shouldn't have to know about.  Kailah was a sweet, little girl that didn't need to know people wanted to hurt her father.  She'd never understand that, especially if the man was nothing but wonderful to her.

"Maybe a favorite restaurant?"  This time he meant it to Kailah, and really hoped it wouldn't be a chain establishment known for bad pizza and mechanical talking mice.  The only thing in those places were screaming kids high on ice cream.  Didn't sound like the pleasant lunch he had hoped for.  Kevin dug his hole though, so now he'd have to take his consequences. 

Amanda shook her head at the allergies question. She had no allergies herself and as far as she knew, Kailah hadn't inherited any from her father either. She just couldn't believe that the first person she'd really taken a liking to in so long was a hunter and that he'd already been in a fight with Jack from the looks of it. She'd make sure to have Angel stalk the hunter from now on. Hopefully the cat wouldn't mind getting away from the wolf-scent and hopefully Kevin didn't have a dislike for cats. Amanda couldn't stand the thought of Jack hurting Kevin just because he was a hothead.

When she heard the question about a favorite restaurant, Kailah seemed to go on and on about something. The only thing Amanda could really make out once the words were really gushing was milkshake and she couldn't help but be amused. "I don't normally take her to fast food places, but they have one of those jungle gyms right down the street. She can have her milkshake and whatever else she wants just this once and go play."

Sure, Amanda could go for fast food at times just like everyone else, she just preferred proper food whenever possible. On rare occasions like today, when she had a feeling they really ought to talk without Kailah listening in. "So... Kind of a random question.. But now that I know how you feel about kids, where do you stand on cats? Just in case you need more paints and the cat's around..."

Kevin liked the way this day was panning out and moved to hold the door open for the ladies.  Life had never missed out on a chance to be terribly ironic, and Kevin saw that this situation was no different.  Beautiful, and smart woman whose ex-something wanted Kevin to drop dead in a most literal fashion.  Jack posed a threat to them, whether Amanda saw it or not, it was only the involvement of the daughter that stopped Kevin from informing Professor Gordon that there was confirmation of a supernatural.  Once reported he would be expected to have a full follow up of relations, family, friend and lover.  He didn't care overly much that Finney would be interviewed, he was an odd boy, but human and harmless.  A supernatural daughter was a problem though.

"Hey maybe you can give her a snickers bar and a coke before she heads back to Jack...  Or is that just a 'grandparent' thing?"  Vaguely, Kevin remembered caring about a kind elderly man that cursed Kevin's father and promised to do that in a joking manner.  Kevin never saw him much and never again after the terrible evening that opened his eyes to the supernatural. 

Kevin rarely ate 'healthy'.  He knew he should, he just preferred a good burger over a salad, and rarely had time to cook. Eating at fast food restaurants sustained him, if one could call what was served food.  Over processed and strangely addicting, Kevin ignored the numerous studies that told him his diet would one day kill him.  He had to worry about things inhumanly strong throwing him across rooms, diet was the least of his worries.

In response to her question Kevin shrugged his shoulders, "Never really think much about cats.  I'd prefer to have a dog, but it'd be too cruel with my small apartment and schedule.  I don't mind them, they just aren't as good as dogs."  Dogs were like Kevin, loyal and always sniffing up skirts when they shouldn't.

Ever the gentleman. It was one of Kevin's best qualities, not including his good looks. He was smart, funny and charming too. Why were the good ones always doomed to get her in trouble with Jack? Just this once, she wished the universe would stop teasing her. Then again maybe she wasn't quite done redeeming herself.

"Oh, I'm gonna load her up on all the sugar she wants before handing her over. Serves him right for hitting you like that," Amanda replied with a chuckle. She knew full well that her parents didn't give her daughter tons of sugar, but she wanted to be devious and it was such an innocent little thing. Jack had no cause to use an innocent prank against her. She could just claim not to have known any better and given into her daughter's pleading.

The cat question had been a bit random probably from Kevin's point of view, but she had needed to know if her familiar would be watching from a distance or not. Jack had no one but himself to blame as she wasn't gonna let him get away with hitting her friend like that. Besides, Kevin seemed to have a knack for trouble. "I can assure you Angel is the perfect little princess, but I try not to let her stay here for too long of a time. Gets messy with cat hair everywhere and she doesn't like to share with Kailah so mostly she just stays to herself when Kailah's around," she wasn't even aware that she was rambling right now.

"Kailah loves all kinds of animals at this stage," turning to her daughter, she asked the little girl what her favorite animal was. Amanda couldn't help to chuckle at the little "roar" that escaped her daughter. "Right now she appears to be into lions. I'm rambling, please tell me to stop if I talk your ear off..."

He chuckled as she spoke about loading the little girl up with sugar before handing her to Jack.  In another world, Kevin would want to see how that ended, but Kevin knew it could never be in this one.  The odds were too far stacked out of his favor.  As much as he would enjoy pursuing Amanda in a less-than-chivalrous manner, there was nothing else to be done.  Her ex-lover could kill Kevin before there was time to get a shot off.  There were other ways to deal with Jack, perhaps Professor Gordon would allow a full extermination team into town.  Kevin doubted it as all teams seemed to be terminally busy.

Idly, Kevin listened as she spoke about the feline, nodding every so often with an encouraging noise every so often.  Whatever the topic, Kevin didn't really mind hearing her just ramble on.  So long as the level of her attractiveness was never outweighed by the amount of talking about her cat, Kevin wouldn't mind listening.  There was of course a limit, but he didn't mind it at all right now.

The little girl roaring like a lion made him grin widely, "Guess there must be thing about you girls and cats."  Kevin would have to remember that lions were what Kailah liked right now.  Maybe he could get a little stuffed animal for the kid.  Sure it would probably have a listening device implanted in it, just behind it's voice box, but that was an effort for eggheads back at base, so at least a few weeks away.  He wondered if it would be weird for him to get a gift for the little girl. It might be difficult, but Kevin would find a way to fit it into the situation, if he could even get the listening device. Otherwise it'd just be a guy giving a kid a stuffed animal.

"I don't mind you talking, it's nice to just have a conversation with someone."  His words were honest, he didn't mind talking about anything with Amanda right now.  She might know what he does for a living, but at least it didn't seem to bother her.  Killing her ex-lover might, but Kevin would cross that bridge when he came to it.

((As for the image, link is attached to "level", it's from Demetri Martin- wonderful comedian!))

It really sucked to see how fond Kailah was already getting of Kevin and knowing that he would never truly be trusted around her as far as Jack went. Heck, she wasn't sure if she could even send Kailah straight to her father without bathing her first as she wasn't sure if he'd smell the hunter on her. She'd need to find a way around that as she truly didn't want to terminate the beginnings of a potentially good friendship because of the alpha.

"It's a family thing," she chuckled, almost blurting out that it was a witch thing. That would have potentially been really bad. It might be bad enough that Kevin knew she knew about Jack as well as the fact that Kailah being supernatural, he didn't need to know how special she was. Not until she knew for sure where he stood on witches and magic and all. Maybe she'd need to find a way to warm him up to it like she'd done with Maxxie.

"You know, despite all the scary things that run around town at times, Bitter Springs is really a nice and quiet place most of the time. It's actually a great place to raise princesses like Kailah because there's always someone to turn to for help." She said with a slight grin. Of course, she couldn't tell him how they took care of their own business and kept the humans mostly out of it when they could, or how they would take care of their own, but she wanted to. She wanted more than anything to make Kevin see how dangerous it was to come into town and expect to make a difference for the innocent humans when the supernaturals seemed to take good care of their own. Even the vampires and werewolves seemed to mostly ignore one another and the odd rogue that had a problem or started something was usually dealt with without repercussion.

"So if you ever find yourself in trouble, don't hesitate to ask for help. Just leave out the bit about what you do," she winked at him and looked at Kailah as the toddler started talking rapidly again.