Kasey pulled in front of the house, but waited until the song that was playing ended before turning off his car. He was restless today. He'd woken up early and headed to the gym, but even that didn't help cure whatever was getting to him.
That was the problem, he didn't know what was bothering him and keeping him so restless. It was the oddest feeling. He just couldn't settle his mind. It was almost a feeling like he was supposed to do something but had forgotten, and would end up having hell to pay because he didn't do whatever it was. But, of course, there wasn't anything he'd forgotten.
As he climbed out of the car, he smiled as the door opened and Faith came running out to greet him.
"Uncle Kasey!" She ran up and hugged him.
He wrapped her in his arms as he hugged her to his chest. She'd just started hugging him about a month ago. It had been over two years since she'd been kidnapped and abused. Slowly, she was starting to trust again, and he was excited to have her trust him. "How are you, Stripes?"
She blushed at the nickname he'd given her since she was always wearing stripes or talking about stripes. The girl had a passion for zebras and stripes. Why, he had no clue, but he enjoyed the friendly teasing it allowed him to have with her.
"I'm good. Dad and Xander are out back." She pulled away from him. "I want you to help me." She looked up at him, her eyes filled with hope.
"With?" he asked cautiously.
"I want a trampoline, but Dad says they are too dangerous and I'll break my leg on one. You have to help me convince them that I won't." She started to walk inside beside him.
"But what if I agree with your dad?" He paused as they stepped into the entryway. "I have a secret. I broke my arm on one when I was about your age." He'd actually been a little older and drunk with his friends, but she didn't need to know that.
"Noooo!" She puffed her lip out in a pout. "I thought for sure you'd help me."
"Stripes, you know I can't go against your dad. I do have an idea though. I'll talk to your dad tonight and see if he's up for it, okay? It's the best I can do."
"What's the idea?" She twisted her long, dark hair over her shoulder.
"I'm not saying in case he says no. No reason for you to be let down again. I promise to try, but that's the best I can do." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you asked Beau? Being a doctor, he might be able to make your dad think it's safe." He knew Faith and Beau had formed an odd friendship over the year. Faith was always following Beau around when they were at the team house, asking millions of questions of the team doctor.
She sighed. "Yeah, I asked him. He started in on how many kids come into the emergency room with injuries. He didn't help me at all. He made it worse." She rolled her eyes.
He fisted his hand to keep from reaching over and messing up her hair. Her hugging him was one thing, she chose to do that, but he still wouldn't make her uncomfortable and touch her first. "Sounds like you might be outvoted on this one, Stripes."
"It's not fair. Everyone has a trampoline."
"They just don't want you hurt." He gave her a sympathetic smile.
She sighed, but shrugged. "I like your new haircut. It makes you look better."
He ran his fingers through his now short hair. He'd cut off his shoulder-length hair, tired of the black-dyed, gothic look. He was now back to his normal light brown. It was hard to get used to short hair again, but it would make life a lot easier. "Did I look bad before?"
"Not bad, but it made you pale. You looked sick, like those people in that medical show Xander likes to watch." She stared up at his hair. "I like it like this."
"Good, then I'll keep it like this just for you." He nodded toward the back of the house. "We better go find your dad before they come looking for us."
"They know I'm safe with you." She led him toward the backyard.
Kasey smiled, but Faith's words really hit home. She didn't feel safe with many people. She still had major trust issues, and rightfully so. The girl had been through hell. The fact that she agreed with Xander and Matt that he could be trusted was huge. While she had never really been scared of anyone on the team, she hadn't been welcoming to them either. He was glad that was changing.
A wolf whistle had him looking up.
"Look at you." Xander whistled again. "You meet some girl who finally decided you needed a style overhaul?"
Kasey turned so Faith couldn't see and flipped Xander off. "I decided it myself. I don't need any woman telling me how to dress."
"That's a matter of opinion." Xander grinned. "Seriously, it’s a good look on you. Grab a beer and have a seat."
"Steaks will be done in a few." Matt waved from his place in front of the barbeque. "How have you been?"
Kasey grabbed a bottle of beer and sat down. "Good. Not much new. Gym and work. Such an exciting life."
"Dyson's trying to talk me into joining some baseball league, you should join with us." Xander sat down beside him.
"Ah, no." Kasey shook his head. "I suck at baseball." Truth was, he had a huge aversion to baseball bats, but that was something he wasn't going to share with anyone. Only Bryon knew that story, and he wanted to keep it that way. "I'm going to start running again in the mornings, I think, maybe hit the range more often."
"Too bad you don't live closer. Xander goes running almost every morning. You could join him." Matt flipped a steak, sending smoke high into the air.
Kasey was about to answer when Faith's dog came bounding out the door straight for him. He braced himself, tucking his beer between his legs just before the large German Shepherd bounded onto his lap.
"Faith, I told you to leave him in the basement until we were done eating," Matt yelled.
"He was scratching and whining. He knew Kasey was here and wanted to see him." Faith walked out of the house with a smug grin on her face.
"If he steals dinner, then you're going to have to make us something else." Matt glared, but his voice lacked any anger.
"Cereal it is." Faith laughed.
"Hey, Zeus." Kasey hugged the large dog to his chest. She'd gotten him as a puppy, but it had grown so fast.
Xander and Matt had gotten Faith the dog after everything she'd been through, and now she and the dog hardly did anything apart. Other than school, Faith nearly refused to go anywhere without Zeus. She'd started bringing him over to the team house sometimes when they'd go over there, and Kasey had taken to the dog right away. Obviously, the dog felt the same way. Kasey grinned as he scratched behind her ears.
"He loves you." Faith smiled.
"And I love him." Kasey winked at Faith. "She's getting so big."
"Yep. Dad says I'll have to get a bigger bed if she grows anymore." Faith sat down on the ground in front of Kasey.
"You keep growing and he'll have to do that anyway. I swear you've gotten a foot taller in just the last few months." Kasey glanced around the dog in his lap to see her.
"That's cause Mommy was tall, huh, Dad."
"Yep. My wife was five-foot-nine. Faith will hopefully get some of her height." Matt smiled. "Faith, I need you to go wash up. We're going to eat in a few. I want you to grab the steak sauce and whatever else you want when you come back out, please."
"Okay." She stood, and Zeus jumped off Kasey's lap to be with her.
Kasey watched her walk inside. "She's growing up fast." He glanced over at Xander.
"I know. I don't know how to stop it." Xander grinned. "I'm just glad things are starting to mellow out for her. Each day is a little better."
"I've seen the changes too. She's a strong kid." Kasey stretched out his legs. "So, I know you didn't call me over here to visit. What's up?"
Matt and Xander exchanged glances.
"Shit, this can't be good if you're nervous to tell me." Kasey took a long sip of his beer. "Let's hear it."
Xander sighed. "We wanted to ask you before we asked Faith if she was okay with it, but we'd like to sneak away on a small honeymoon. We haven't really had any time alone since we got married. We aren't even sure she'll be okay with it, and if she's not, we won't go, but if she is, you're the only one other than Beau who she might trust enough to spend a few days with. Beau, being on call all the time, well, we thought we'd ask you first."
Kasey was shocked. He didn't know the first thing about how to take care of a young girl. "Me?"
"She trusts you. She hates spending even an hour with my mom or sister." Matt set a plate of steaks on the table. "I know it's a lot to ask. If it's easier, you guys can stay here so she's around her own things. It's up to you. If you say no, we'll talk to Beau. We don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"No, I mean, I'll do it. I'm just shocked you'd ask me to." He glanced at Xander. "What about work? I mean, I can probably get the days off too, but that leaves Dyson handling anything by himself. I guess if it's just a weekend that isn't too bad, but…" He shook his head, he was finding things to worry about.
"If you have to work, you can always leave Faith for a few hours at the team house. You know Becca or Beau would be happy to hang with her. We know it's a lot to ask." Matt glanced at Xander again. "We just want a couple nights."
"I get it, and if Faith is okay with it, I'll do it. Just let me know when." Kasey wasn't sure what he was getting himself into, but he could handle playing X-box and eating pizza with Faith for a few days.
"If Faith is okay with what?" Faith walked out the door, Zeus right behind her.
Matt grabbed the plate of steaks before the dog could get to them. "How about we sit down and eat while we talk, that way your troublemaker won't be trying to steal the food."
"He's hungry too," Faith grumbled as she went over to the table.
"And he has his own food to eat. He doesn't need ours." Xander narrowed his eyes at the girl and the dog.
"So, what were you talking about?" Faith reached for a baked potato from one of the plates.
Matt stared at his daughter for a moment, then blew out a short breath. "Xan and I are thinking about going away for a couple of nights, if you are okay with that? We thought you might stay with Kase if we do, but we wanted to ask him if he was okay with it before we talked to you."
Faith seemed to withdraw a little, wrapping her arms around her chest. "You're going away without me?"
"We haven't decided yet." Matt reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder. "That's why we are talking about it now. So we can decide. Xander and I want to go have a small honeymoon. Do you know what that is?"
She nodded. "To celebrate your wedding?"
"Right, but if you don't want us to go, if you're not ready to stay with someone else, then we'll wait." Xander smiled. "We just wanted to get an idea of whether Kase would stay here or have you at his place if we do go."
Faith bit her lip as she seemed to be thinking about everything.
Kasey was just as scared as she probably was. What the hell did he know about children? Sure, he did fine when they were playing video games, but he'd never really been around kids, not since he was one, and that was a lifetime ago.
"Do you want to stay here with me?" She asked Kasey.
"I think we'd have fun." He would do it for his friends, even if he was uncomfortable with the whole thing. "I can come stay here with you and Zeus, or you two can come to my place. Either way works. We can eat lots of pizza and junk food and have fun playing video games."
Matt narrowed his eyes. "I asked you to take care of her, not fill her full of sugar."
Kasey grinned at Faith, ignoring Matt. "They'll be gone. We don't have to tell them anything we do. They'll never know."
Faith started to smile, then seemed to think about it some more and went back to frowning. "Why can't I go with you?" She looked at Xander as she asked the question.
"Well, a honeymoon is supposed to be just for the married couple. They go and do a lot of that kissy stuff that you hate me and your dad doing."
Kasey laughed. "You hate it when they kiss?"
Faith nodded. "They get all silly and look at each other funny. It's creepy. Then they laugh and get in these tickle fights." She shook her head. "They say that's what people in love do. If that's true, I never want to be in love. I hate being tickled."
Kasey raised a brow at Xander and mouthed, "tickle fights?"
Xander glared and pointed at him. "Don't even go there, buddy."
Kasey laughed, trying to imagine muscular, tattooed, and bearded Xander rolling around the floor being tickled. It was a side of his friend he prayed he never saw.
"Can I think about it?" Faith asked.
"Sure, you let us know. We won't plan anything until we are sure you'll be okay with it." Matt brushed her hair back from her shoulder. "Now eat before the food gets cold."
Just like that, the conversation was over. Faith started to eat, and Xander and Matt exchanged glances across the table.
Kasey watched as he cut into his own steak, wondering what it would be like to have a family. Hell, he couldn't even deal with dating most of the time. He didn't like sex much, found it messy and awkward. He was better to take things into his own hands every once in a while, than deal with the stress of being physical with someone else.
He was better off on his own. That was comfortable. He knew how to do that.
He ate in silence, listening to Matt talk about some new computer program he'd bought, glad for the company, the free meal, and most of all, a night off work.