Leon Orcot (under_arrest) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-05-07 09:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, leon orcot, sharon carter |
Who: Leon Orcot and Sharon Carter, plus Chris
When: Recently
Where: Baseball Field
What: Leon takes Sharon and Chris to a baseball game
Rating: Low
Status: Complete.
Leon was very excited to bring Chris and Sharon to their first baseball game, and had made sure to wear his Los Angeles Angel’s jersey, and to deck Chris out in a baseball cap for the same team. It wasn’t easy to make it back to their seats with a couple of beers for himself, sodas for Sharon and Chris, a couple of hot dogs and nachos for snacking on, plus three large foam, novelty fingers, but he managed it with a tray and by keeping the fingers tucked under his arm, and he only had to yell at one person for bumping into him as he made it back to their seats.
“Chris, help me out here,” he said when he got back to the seats, and Chris hopped up to his feet to grab the foam fingers out from under Leon’s arms so Leon could hand Sharon her snacks and pop.
“You excited for the game?” Leon asked the two of them.
Sharon was pregnant enough now that it was quite obvious. She wasn't due until July, but she couldn't hide the baby bump anymore. So when it came to dressing for the game, her choices were limited. Not that she had a jersey or anything to begin with... but she grabbed a Los Angeles Angel's ball cap and put it on her head for the game. She turned it around backward. To be cool.
She'd befriended Chris over the last few weeks. It was hard not to; Sharon and Chris spent a lot of afternoons together after school, Sharon helping with his homework, plying him with ice cream sundaes (using the excuse of buying them for him so she could feed her own cravings) and snoozing on the sofa while he watched television or played video games on her computer. They'd reached an understanding, really, the pair of them. And it was comfortable.
When Leon returned with snacks and things, Sharon reached up to help sort everything out. God, this was a lot of food. And it looked so good. "I'm excited about these nachos," she replied, a bit of a tease in her voice.
“I have no idea why stadium nachos are so good,” Leon said, laughing. There was something a little disturbing about stadium nacho cheese and how much it kind of looked like plastic, but it was always so delicious. “The hot dogs are pretty good too.”
“Thank you,” Chris said, grabbing his drink from the tray. “Here you go, Sharon,” he said, handing her one of the hands he had grabbed from Leon and smiling at her.
"I think there's a direct correlation between how bad something is for you and how good it tastes," Sharon nodded sagely at that thought. She accepted the soda from Chris, giving him a gentle, "thanks, Chris." She was glad he'd opened up a bit over the last couple of weeks, glad that she had friends in both these guys. Even though they were both very male.
"So, I think I know the rules of this game pretty well," Sharon said, turning to Leon as she started on her nachos. The hot dog would be devoured later. "Is there anything else I need to know before it starts? Or, wait, has it started already?"
“It’s about to,” Leon said, gesturing toward the field where the players were taking their positions. “Not a lot to know, really. Keep an eye out for any baseballs coming our way, and make sure that you yell really loudly. That goes for you too, Chris.”
Sharon laughed. "I will absolutely yell the loudest in the whole park if a ball comes our way," she said, grinning brightly. "You two have to catch it, though, if it comes at me. I'm not much of a catcher." She was a pretty athletic girl in her time, but pregnancy had made her clumsy and off kilter. "At least, not with my bump."
"Oh, it'll all be Chris," Leon said, ruffling Chris' hair. He has even made Chris bring the catchers mitt that Leon had bought him.
"Our dad used to bring me to games all the time. I think I was around Chris' age when I caught my first ball." When Chris had first moved in, Leon had been a little nervous to bring up their parents around them, but he always seemed really interested in hearing stories about their father when he came up.
Sharon was interested. She hadn't pressed Chris for any information, but since Leon brought it up... "That must have been great for you and your dad," she said, softly, glancing once at Chris before continuing. "My dad really likes baseball, too. Though, he never brought me to a game. If I'd have been a boy, maybe he would have?"
Leon snorted. “Well, he should have taken you anyway,” he said. “Bet you would’ve loved it. Doesn’t make sense to me at all.” After all, Leon knew a ton of girls who could probably kick the crap out of most men, Sharon included among them. “Are you guys close?” Maybe it was a personal question, but Leon figured that he might as well get it out of the way now than have things get awkward in the future. Sure they had worked together for a while, but personal conversations didn’t come up as much in professional friendships, and, well, they weren’t exactly in the same profession anymore.
Sharon didn’t mind the personal questions. She and Chris were close. Probably closer than she was with Leon now--as they spent so much time together. But she wouldn’t mind getting close with Leon. "Not as close as we used to be." Sharon licked some cheese off her fingertips, then went in for another chip. "Spending almost two years in training and undercover without any contact with previous friends and family meant that I lost track of a lot of people."
She wondered how much she should say about her career in front of Chris. It wasn't as if she'd ... okay, she'd done some bad things. But in the end it'd added up to more good than bad.
“Yeah, I guess,” Leon said, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn’t really considered that aspect of things. “I don’t know how you did that, by the way. You’ve got bigger balls than I do.” Up until Chris had shown up on Leon’s doorstep (so to speak), Leon hadn’t really had any close connections with anyone. He had friends, of course, but not that many and none who he was especially tight with. He probably would have been a good candidate for undercover work, except for the fact that it was never something he ever thought about doing, and also he was a terrible actor and would probably blow things fairly quickly.
“If -” Leon started, but then Stuff and Things happened on the field, and Leon had no choice but to stand up beer in hand, and yell vehemently at the umpire for what was clearly a bad call.
Sharon didn't know what just happened. She started to cheer, mouth full of nachos, then realized that Leon was yelling, so her cheer turned into a jeer with a slight stutter. She glanced over and saw Chris grinning at her, so she gave him a very playful shove.
The game went on for a long time. Sharon finished her food and drink, then felt sleepy full. She tried to pay attention, but kept leaning over to tell Chris knock knock jokes to keep herself awake. Until she ran out of them. Then she turned the game once more.
Leon wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the fact that Sharon and Chris were joking around. On one hand, he was glad that Chris was opening up, but he also felt a little left out. He didn’t feel too left out though, since he was focused pretty intently on the game.
Which is how, when the baseball started flying toward them, he grabbed Chris. He lifted Chris to stand on his seat, and when the ball came toward them, Chris reached up, and managed, just barely, to catch it.
“Yeah!” Leon yelled, while Chris looked at the ball, a little surprised. “Fucking rights, kiddo! Nice catch!”
“I… I caught it,” Chris said, still sounding a little surprised, and then more excited, “Leon! I caught it! Did you see that, Sharon?” He turned to her, and held the ball out toward her.
Sharon was climbing to her feet when the ball came zooming toward them. She was off-balance and carrying a heavy load at the front, so it took her a moment. By the time she was up on her feet springing with joy, the ball was already in Chris's glove. She gasped, laughed, and applauded.
"I see! Yes!" She pointed up at the big screen on the opposite side of the field, showing the three of them. She waved at ... wherever the camera must be? Then she wrapped her arms around him and gave Chris a big kiss to his cheek for the screen. there was an eruption of applause from all around them.
When Chris noticed the camera, he turned to it and gave a bit of a shy wave with Sharon, but at Leon’s urging, he showed the ball and waved it as well. He didn’t seem at all embarrassed by the kiss on his cheek, but smiled wider.
Leon was rather relieved when the camera moved on though. Two blond adults with a small blond child kind of made them look like a family, and he could suddenly understand entirely why some people thought Chris was his son. He hoped there weren’t any cute girls in the crowd who thought he was married with children or something. “See guys?” Leon said, turning to Chris and Sharon. “How’s that for your first baseball games?” he asked.
It seemed like the camera got bored of them quickly. The screen went back to showing what was happening on the field. Sharon turned to Chris, completely unaware of what the three of them looked like. She wasn’t thinking about things that way.
“Show me the ball!” She said, holding out both hands. When Chris handed it over, she examined it carefully. “This is… probably the world’s most awesome baseball.” With a grin, she held it back out to him.
“Of course it’s the most awesome ball. My little brother caught it, after all.” He turned to Chris. “If you want we can try to get it signed after the game, bud,” Leon said. Chris nodded, clearly delighted at the idea.
Leon watched the rest of the game with renewed vigor, only leaving his seat to grab a couple more beers and have a cigarette during half-time or whatever it is they call it in baseball. And, when the game ended, the Angels, of course, winning, Leon cheered loudly.
The Seventh Inning Stretch. Sharon had to pee during it. She offered to walk Chris to the bathrooms. Of course, there was a short line at the ladies. As always.
It was a good game. By the time it was over, the sun had set and the whole stadium was lit by these huge lights. Sharon was glad she’d brought her coat, even though it’d been a hassle to carry it around.
“Let’s go see about getting your ball signed,” Sharon said, and without waiting for a response, she grabbed Chris’s hand and dragged him down the stands toward the dugout, giving gentle “pregnant lady, coming through!”s. People seemed to part for her.
Leon was almost more excited about getting the ball signed than Chris was. Maybe he’d - or rather, Chris would get to meet Mike Trout, and that would probably make Leon’s entire week.
“Being pregnant sure seems handy,” he said, not really thinking much outside of the fact that they were cutting through the crowd with relative ease. Then he seemed to recall the rest of the parts of being pregnant. “I mean, not all the time. But right now. Currently. In crowds. And with bus seats.” He was babbling. “If you take the bus. I guess you probably don’t.” Leon, stop talking. “I know it’s not all sunshine and rainbows and shit like that.”
"Oh, it's handy all right," Sharon agreed, giving him a smirk. She ignored the babbling. It was more endearing than anything else. Maybe someday he'd get to hand-hold a lover through a pregnancy, and he'd understand a bit more about the bad parts. The good parts, though, she was more than willing to share.
"Language, Mister," she added, playfully, lifting both hands to cover Chris's ears. She wasn't surprised when he shrugged her hands away, and then she laughed. "All right, now... who was it that hit the ball for you?" She moved over to the railing nearest the dugout and waved to one of the players.
“You know, I’ve actually given up,” Leon said, running his hand through his hair. He had tried, he really had, but half the time he didn’t even realize he was swearing until someone gave him a dirty look. “I just gave Chris a lecture on how he shouldn’t say any of the words I am. You’re old enough to know what words not to say, right bud?” Chris nodded.
At Sharon’s question though, Chris looked a little ashamed. “Uh…” Chris said. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”
Leon gave his little brother a disapproving look for a moment, but then broke into a grin. “Mike Trout, of course,” Leon said. “The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's best hitter.” He mimed swinging a bat himself, and pretended he didn’t notice what a ridiculous (and, frankly, confusing) baseball team name that was. “You know, his batting average is almost 32%? The league average this year is 28.” As if Sharon and Chris cared at all about batting averages.
Of course, Sharon didn't care at all about batting averages. Nor did she know the proper name of the team that they'd just watched win the game. Or any of the names of the players. She gave Leon a happy smirk, then turned and waved again at the players.
"Excuse me!" She called out, and when one of them turned, she motioned to Chris with one hand, making sure the baby bump was clearly visible. "My son caught the ball? And we were hoping to get it signed. "Our last game before the baby arrives, you know. Family outing and all that? Could someone please ask Mr. Trout if he can come out and make our day?"
The man she'd spoken to broke into a grin. "Sure. I've got a little boy myself," he said, then trotted off down some dark alleyway.
There was a brief moment where Leon was surprised when Sharon called Chris her son, but he’d roll with it. He could ruffle Chris’ hair and call him ‘Champ.’
When Mike Trout came out, Leon broke into a huge grin and tried not to fanboy. Or, at the very least, not embarrass himself with his fanboying. “Mike Trout,” he said, stepping forward to shake the man’s hand. “It’s an honour to meet you. I’ve been following your career closely. My son Chris caught that home run you hit.” He seemed to realize that Mike Trout really came out there to meet Chris, and finally released the man’s hand.
“Go on, Champ,” he said, placing a hand in between Chris’ shoulder blades and gently guiding him toward the baseball player. Chris was hesitant and obviously shy, but he went up to the baseball player without a fuss and let him sign the ball. Leon gave enough time after the questions that Trout asked for Chris to answer, and, when he decided Chris probably wasn’t going to, he answered them for the boy.
Sharon snorted with good-natured laughter a couple of times while Leon was fanboying over Mr. Trout. She shook her head a bit, and continued pretending to be Chris’s mother, giving him encouraging words and running her hand over his hair.
They were just about finished, Mike Trout was headed back into the dugout, when the baby gave an uncomfortable twist. Sharon winced and lowered a hand to her belly.
Chris might have missed Sharon’s wince, but Leon didn’t, even as he was looking over Chris’ shoulder at the kids new baseball. His smile faded a bit, and he sidled over to Sharon, a little bit away from Chris.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, his voice quiet so as to not worry Chris.
“Yeah.” Sharon said, though she was a bit nervous. That was a pain unlike anything she’d felt before. Not unbearable, just different. She straightened her spine and forced a smile onto her lips. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just… probably time to head home?” She glanced over at Chris. “It’s been an exciting day.” She wanted to have a tall glass of water and lay down.
Leon was a detective, and it was kind of in the job description to pick up on when people were hiding things from him. “Did you need me to take you to a doctor?” he asked, still keeping his voice quiet. It may have seemed uncharacteristic for him to be so concerned, but pregnant women made him nervous. He didn’t show it often, but he worried about them perhaps more than the average person might.
In a louder voice, he turned to Chris. “Hey, bud, stop mooning over that ball and let’s get moving.” Not that Chris had been as excited as Leon about the ball. Chris probably knew it, too.
“No no, I’m fine. Just home, I think.” Sharon shook her head enthusiastically. She kept one hand on the bump, then turned to walk with Leon and Chris out of the stadium. She was probably just dehydrated. And Viv was moving, anyway, so that was a good sign.
Leon frowned slightly, but Sharon obviously knew best. He wouldn't worry about it. "Home it is then," Leon said, following Sharon's lead and heading out of the stadium.