Grant Matthews (_eyeofthetiger) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-12-19 21:55:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | 2009-08-05 |
Just when I thought I had forgotten
Who: Raya, Grant and Robbie (NPC)
Where: indoor climbing place
When: noon
It was still raining - though it had thankfully reduced to a drizzle - when Raya got to the climbing place, so she waited just inside in the lobby for Grant and Robbie to arrive. She’d arrived a little early to make sure there was gear on hand for the three of them, and three spots on a wall that had routes that would be challenging enough to hold the two adults’ interest as well as ones suitable for a seven-year-old. It had given her something to do while she waited since she’d been too excited to stay at home after talking to Grant, though the coffee was probably also to be blamed, and helped reassure her that she wouldn’t make a completely horrible impression on Robbie. Raya hated the idea of Grant’s kid hating her guts.
Between worrying about Robbie liking her, being excited to see Grant again, and the vast amount of coffee she’d imbibed in the past twelve hours, Raya couldn’t help but rock back and forth on the balls of her feet, trying not to actually bounce. She probably should have shifted into puppy form and burned off some of her excess energy before driving over, but then she might have risked being late. Or falling asleep halfway through the afternoon. Unexpected third shift or not, she was going to be awake to enjoy her afternoon with the Matthews boys. If she survived the waiting until noon.
All Grant needed to say was, “You want to go climbing today?” and Robbie had immediately started putting his toys away and getting ready to leave. His son was beyond excited at the prospect of actually going out and doing something, and Grant couldn’t really blame him. He himself was eager to see Raya again, somewhere outside of the bar where he knew he was supposed to be doing work and not ignoring the other customers who came in while she was there. This felt good, normal. Grant needed a little piece of normal, truth be told. And he did want Raya to meet his son. Robbie was the biggest part of his life now, and Grant wasn’t going to hide that from her.
Robbie actually got to the door first, pulling it open and rushing in without holding it open for Grant. In two strides, Grant caught the closing door with, “Slow down there, kiddo,” his senses already picking up on Raya’s scent. It wasn’t the same as it had been when they were kids, but it was her, and as a were he’d always recognize it now. He grinned, watching Robbie look over the place in awe.
“Hey Dad! Where is your friend? Is she here already?” All Robbie knew was her name, and nothing else about her except that Raya was an old friend of Grant’s. Better to keep things simple, given that a seven-year-old didn’t understand the meaning of the word “ex-girlfriend” yet. Then he saw Raya waiting for them, and he waved. “Hi! Are you Raya?”
“That’s her.” Grant grinned, coming forward for a hug. “Hey, you.”
Robbie stuck his hand out. “And I am Robert Gabriel Matthews, pleased to meet you!” The kid grinned, “But you can call me Robbie.”
Raya had seen, smelled, and heard them coming, but she managed to stay in one place rather than rush over, hands loosely tucked in her pockets. Grinning, she took her hands out of her pockets, first to wave back at Robbie and then to hug Grant. “Hey. Long time no see,” she joked, dimples prominent as she pulled back and turned to Robbie. Her hand closed around his and shook it once firmly--little kid firmly, not police officer were dog firmly. She’d gotten a good handle on reining in her strength fairly early on, mostly as a result of almost endless practice after nearly breaking her captain’s hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, Robbie. I’m Raya Ofelia David Oliveira Castelo Branco, but you can call me Raya.” Raya winked at Grant over Robbie’s head. It was a widely accepted fact that Raya had had the longest name of anyone they had gone to school with and Raya rarely had reason to use her full name, either then or now, outside of occasional court testimony. But hey, if Robbie was going to give his full name, she might as well give hers.
“Felt like longer,” Grant said, smiling at the joke shared between them and letting the hug linger for a few moments longer than necessary. What? He could always use the excuse that they’d only just met back up the day before and therefore, he was catching up for lost time. Robbie didn’t know any of that though - in truth, Robbie hadn’t met a lot of Grant’s friends in general. It was kind of hard to hang out when you had a small child in tow, and at least Raya didn’t seem to mind right now. At least in Michigan, Grant’s parents were nearby to act as instant babysitters at the drop of a hat.
Robbie’s eyes grew wide at the sound of her name. “Raya Of- Of- Dad, I don’t think I can say that one. Raya it is.” Grant only chuckled; he’d practiced saying Raya’s full name too so he could get it right, accent and all. “Are you going to come climbing with us? I’ll race you to the top and everything.”
She would have been glad to let the hug go on even longer than that - wrapping her arms around Grant just felt right - if not for Robbie. Raya hadn’t spent a lot of time with kids; she’d babysat occasionally in high school, and a few of the people she’d worked with over the years had families, but it wasn’t much. Still, she was determined to make a good impression on Robbie and do her best at having a friend with a kid because she owed Grant that and more.
Laughing a little at Robbie stumbling over her name - he wasn’t the first person to stumble over her name, and he wouldn’t be the last - she grinned down at the little boy. “Maybe I’ll teach you how to say the rest sometime. I bet you’d pick it up even faster than your dad did,” she added, throwing a teasing glance at Grant. “And I am absolutely coming climbing with you. Though you better not let me win. I expect you to kick my butt fair and square.”
If Grant didn’t have a kid of his own, it was likely he wouldn’t be hanging around them, either. Even now, Robbie was new in town and still getting to know people, so it wasn’t like there were a bunch of sleepovers at the Matthews’ apartment or anything like that. Soon, Grant was going to have to prepare himself for that - but he wasn’t going to think about it now. He was doing the best he could by Robbie and nothing anyone could tell him - even the Landows - would convince him otherwise. Just seeing the way Robbie interacted with Raya proved it again.
“It’s Raya Ofelia David Oliveira Castelo Branco.” Grant grinned, he still had it memorized and said perfectly. “We can practice it when we go home, if you want.” He winked at Raya, because she knew that’s what he’d done, when they were kids. What? He’d wanted to impress the new girl, and he’d done a good job of it.
Robbie bounced a little. “We can beat Dad together then.” He glanced back at his father, “Sorry Dad, it’s just going to happen now. Nothing you can do about it.”
Grant raised an eyebrow. “Really now.” Dry humor, same as always. “We’ll see what happens. Come on, let’s get some gear.”
“Show off,” she joked, grinning widely. Raya was fond of her own name, of course, but mostly she just liked hearing Grant say it. She’d taught him to curse in Portuguese as well, something her parents hadn’t approved of, but Robbie was still a little young for that. Maybe when he was older. There’d been a time when she informed Grant that he was going to have to take Portuguese classes in college because her trying to teach him usually ended with either her giving up or them getting distracted, or both, but then things had ended and there wasn’t much use for it.
Raya laughed happily at Robbie’s pronouncement that they would beat Grant to the top and nodded. “You got it.” She turned to Grant and gave him a faux helpless shrug. “Nothing you can do about it, Grant,” she echoed. Then Raya walked towards where they could pick up their gear. “I had them set aside harnesses and stuff for us, so it should be all set.” She might be a bouncy puppy at times, but she was also well-prepared. Especially when it came to playtime.
Grant just smiled, lifting one shoulder in a little shrug. He had a feeling he was going to breaking out his old Portuguese to English dictionary to start looking up phrases again. He didn’t need to teach Robbie the curses, though he did remember those well enough, and maybe he’d convince Raya to teach him again. That thought brought memories back for him, widening that smile on his face. He’d always planned to take classes in college, but never did, because he and Raya had fallen out of touch before he’d gotten as far as college. “And so the teaming up on me begins,” he said, shaking his head.
“Awesome! That means we don’t have to wait. I’m going up first.” Robbie waited as patiently as he could until he could get his harness, hanging onto it until Grant and Raya got theirs, too.
“Not until we’ve got this thing on you properly, kiddo. No getting hurt on my watch.” Because his in-laws would crucify him for it, and Grant knew it. Sometimes it was hard to contain his son’s energy, but it was also a good thing. It meant he’d gotten something from his mother after all, and Grant was happy for that. Even if it meant he was constantly going to have to run after Robbie and try to keep up with him.
While Robbie was looking away to grab his harness, Raya leaned close to Grant. “You know I’m always on your team,” she said seriously, and quietly enough that he might have missed it if he weren’t a were. Then she stepped away, grin sliding back into place just as quickly. “You can absolutely go first,” Raya agreed with Robbie, “just as soon as we get you all strapped in. I don’t want you pulling a Humpty Dumpty on us. If I had to put you back together I’d probably get all your bits mixed up and you’d have an arm where your head should be,” she teased, grabbing her own harness from the counter.
She’d never let anything happen to Robbie. There was a reason she was a cop, and it wasn’t just that she was good at it - Raya was in it to help people, to make the world, or at least wherever she lived, just that little bit safer. That was even more important to her when the people she cared about were on the line. “Come on, let’s get you all geared up.” Raya sat down on a nearby bench and put her harness down next to her so she could get make sure Robbie was safe and snug in his harness first.
Grant didn’t miss it. Robbie did, because he didn’t say anything, but Grant heard it. Before Raya stepped away, Grant reached out for her hand and gave it a squeeze. Sometimes, that was all you needed to hear, that she was still around. For someone who was convinced that it was only a matter of time before everyone left again, Grant found that reassuring. Following them over to the bench, Grant left his harness next to Robbie and kneeled in front of his son. “Let’s see how this thing all works, now.”
“I don’t need you both to help me,” Robbie said, scrunching his face together. “I’m not a little kid anymore.” Looking up at Raya, he attempted to stay still while Grant had him step into the harness. “I’m not going to go all Humpty Dumpty but if I did? I think we should replace it all with robot parts. I’d be like Darth Vader. That would be cool, wouldn’t it? Even if he was the bad guy.”
For Raya, it was good to have a reason to stay. When she was a kid, she hadn’t had a choice, and as an adult, she only moved when she didn’t have a reason not to. She’d liked Israel, enjoyed her time in the Army, but after her compulsory service and time in the reserves, there hadn’t been anything keeping her there. Raya had never planned on being career military, no matter how good she was at it, and knew she’d return to the States. So she had. And she might have stayed in Ann Arbor with the same precinct for the rest of her life if she hadn’t lost her pack. Without her pack, there was nothing there for her, so she’d moved to Scarlet Oak. But Grant was a reason to stay, and this time she could.
“Even grown-ups help each other out, Robbie,” she told him gently. “Besides, your dad has to practice on you so he doesn’t mess it all up when he tries to do his own,” Raya added, whispering conspiratorially. “How about I help tighten your straps, and then you can help tighten mine?” she suggested. She was more than strong enough to tighten her own, of course, but letting him tug on the harness to be sure wouldn’t hurt anything. “And we’ll see about turning you into a cyborg. Not sure what kind of robot parts they have lying around here.”
Grant himself had never liked moving much. He’d lived in Chicago and would have been damn happy there if Sabrina’s job wasn’t in freaking Colorado. And after she died he couldn’t convince himself that moving was a good idea. That was really the only reason why they’d stayed outside of Denver as long as they did. Robbie was in school, the kid was happy and well, and Grant didn’t want to deal with anyone else anyway. Now that his parents knew what he was, he couldn’t pull away forever. They were the ones who got him to Scarlet Oak. They would make sure they’d be all right. And with Raya here too, and no matter what happened, Grant wouldn’t bail on her.
Rolling his eyes, Grant just shook his head. “Such faith she has in me,” he said, connecting everything together, and then stepping back for Raya to tighten his straps. He trusted Raya with Robbie, and knew the kid would be as safe as if he’d done it himself. Meanwhile, Grant grabbed his own harness to start strapping himself in. Though he wasn’t as vocal about it, he really was as eager to get climbing as the other two were. Burning that extra energy would definitely be a good thing.
To his credit, Robbie stayed as still as he possibly could while Grant worked, and then waited for Raya to double check his dad’s work. “I can do that for you,” he said. “Fair is fair after all. I don’t want you to fall because I don’t have the pieces to turn you into a cyborg, either. Though you can’t be Darth Vader, I called that one already.”
“He talks like this all the time,” Grant pointed out. “In case you haven’t noticed.”
Raya watched Grant get Robbie into his harness, not because she didn’t think he could do it on his own, but because two sets of eyes was always better than one. It was always good to have backup when something important was involved, and there was nothing more important than keeping Grant’s kid safe. Both for Robbie’s sake and for Grant’s - she couldn’t let any more bad things happen to Grant, especially ones that she could prevent. Everything went together properly, though, and Raya quickly tightened Robbie’s straps, careful not to pull too hard. The harness was supposed to be snug, not cut off all the circulation to his legs.
Then she slipped into her own harness, putting it together matter-of-factly before looking over at Grant’s to double-check his, too. When everything looked to be in place, she handed Robbie the ends of her straps. “Alright, kiddo. Tighten away.” She’d left him enough slack that he’d actually be able to tighten it some, even if she’d take another pass at it herself, afterwards.
“Oh, no. If I’m going to be a machine at all, I’m going to be a Terminator,” she declared with a grin. “But you don’t have to worry about me. I bounce when I fall.” Even as she talked to Robbie, she couldn’t help shooting glances at Grant. Whether it was shared amusement or just needing to see him there, she didn’t know, but she seemed to smile a little wider every time she did so. “Hey, you’re the one that raised him. Maybe you should think about duct tape, next time,” she teased.
In truth, Grant was glad to have another set of eyes making sure all the safety stuff was in place. He was well aware that every little thing he did wrong in regards to Robbie could, would, get back to his in-laws and the Landows would use it as another reason why Robbie shouldn’t be with him. Grant had never thought he was a bad father until the last few months, thinking that not knowing what you were doing 100 percent of the time was part of the process. Going climbing was a great idea, something different and fun and Robbie was so excited about it, so why shouldn’t they do it? Together Grant and Raya wouldn’t let anything happen, and he firmly believed that.
With his straps tightened, Robbie jumped up to check out Raya’s. He tugged on the straps all right, then walked around her in a circle, as if inspecting her from all sides. “I think that looks good,” he said. “Right, Dad?” he glanced back at Grant, “What’s a Terminator?”
Grant laughed. “It’s from a movie you can watch when you’re older,” he said. His eyes met Raya’s, and his smile morphed from hey look the kid made a funny to something much more meaningful. It was the kind of change one wouldn’t notice unless you knew him really well, which Raya did. “He got it from his mom,” he said, quieter, so only Raya could hear him. Robbie, meanwhile, was starting to head over for the wall already. “Suppose it could be worse, so that’s why I can usually skip over the duct tape method of keeping him quiet.” He watched Robbie for a moment, “Bet he sleeps the whole way home, though.”
Biting back a laugh at Robbie’s extremely thorough inspection, her expression then changed to one of melodramatic horror. “Woe is the state of the world, that there are people in it too young to have seen all the Terminator movies.” She managed to look properly horror-stricken for another moment or two before her grin returned. “We’ll have a marathon once you hit puberty. Promise.” It occurred to her a moment later that Robbie might not actually know what puberty is, and she had to hold back another laugh as she reached over to check Grant’s straps for good measure.
Raya didn’t miss the change in his expression, and her own quickly followed. It was strange for her, trying to walk the fine line between not wanting to bring up Robbie’s dead mother and ruin a nice outing and not wanting to disappear her completely, either. She just hoped that she got better at it, and quickly. “You’re kind of amazing, you know that?” she said suddenly after a long moment of quiet. Another beat, and then she added, “And he’s a great kid. No duct tape needed. Though if he doesn’t crash on the way home, I’m going to start searching for his hidden battery pack.”
“There’s more than one Terminator movie? Who plays the Terminator? Is it someone big and scary and that’s why I can’t watch it?” Robbie looked over the wall, reaching for a handhold to start climbing. Sometimes he just couldn’t stay still, and it never occurred to him to wait for the adults. “You can come over to our apartment and we can watch it there. And we can have ice cream and popcorn and all sorts of snacks.”
Grant paused, reaching over to hold Raya’s hands in both of his as she finished checking his straps. It wasn’t that he wanted to ignore the fact that Robbie’s mom wasn’t here anymore. Sabrina was gone, and while Grant was still dealing with that in his own way, he wasn’t going to dwell on that now. Not when he had Raya here with him, and Robbie seemed to like her, and today was a good day. Grant needed more days like this. “Thanks,” he said, thumb rubbing over the back of her knuckles out of habit. “I’m doing my best.” Even if not everyone thinks so. “He will. Then he’ll be all energy again for when I pass him over to my parents.”
Raya squeezed Grant’s hands lightly, completely comfortable. Well, completely comfortable except for the feeling in her stomach that she wasn’t quite willing to call butterflies and the overwhelming urge to lean up and kiss him. Her heels even lifted off the ground a half inch, weight moving forward onto the balls of her feet before she forced them back down again. Making out in the middle of the climbing gym with a seven-year-old looking on would be more than a little ridiculous and moving way too fast. Or so she told herself. “Hey, if your mom can’t chase down bad guys anymore, at least she can stay busy chasing down Robbie.” Raya wasn’t entirely sure the latter didn’t take more energy.
She may have been a little distracted by Grant and the need to tamp down her own feelings, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hear what Robbie said, and she could certainly see what he was doing. Raya didn’t miss much; it was part of what made her a great detective. “Yes, there’s more than one. Different people play different Terminators. Yes, it’s too scary for you to watch,” she answered, nearly as rapid-fire as he had asked it. “And I would be happy to come over and watch some other movie and have snacks but only if you back away from that wall, mister.” Raya gave him a look that let him know she meant business, even as she kept smiling. “There’s a reason you put that harness on.”
It was hard for Grant, knowing that his son was looking on and taking note of everything he did, knowing that he and Raya weren’t teenagers anymore and therefore needed to pretend to act their age every once in a while. He hadn’t been prepared for the way all these feelings would come back to him, though - there had once been a time when they’d been inseparable, and it was easy to fall back into that. Having her this close did that to him. He took a breath and let it go. “Some days, I think she’d take the criminals,” he said, joking.
“I’m not a criminal!” Robbie shouted from his position on the wall. “And I like this idea of movies and-”
“And you’re also in trouble for climbing without us,” Grant fired back, not missing a beat. “Raya’s right, wait for us. We meant what we said about that whole ‘not falling’ thing.” Amazing, how quickly he’d gotten back to the “we” mentality when it came to Raya, even for something as small as this.