Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

Joe looked over the top of his cards at Katy, then at Pete, trying to make a decision.

“Pete, got any fives?”

Pete smirked. “Go fish.”

Joe mentally cursed and went fishing in the pile of cards. This was their fifth round of Go Fish, and so far, Joe had lost each round. He was determined to win this time. He sighed and stretched out his legs, looking at his new card.

Around them, Patrick was checking the microphones and trying to get them right, while Andy was checking his drums. Luci was in the sound booth, talking over some things with the sound guy. Then she was helping get the merch set up. Next, she was back at the sound guy, trying to help get Andy’s drums sounding right. Finally, she was making sure all the chords were taped down on the stage and everything was perfect.

Pete and Joe were fascinated by the speed she was traveling.

“Uhm! Uncle Pete, got any Jacks?” Katy asked, looking up at him. He pouted, but handed over the card. Katy smirked at the both of them and put down her pair. She turned to Joe. “Got any twos?”

Joe groaned and handed over the card. He just lost to a four year old, again.

//

They were in LA now. Six days had passed since they were in Seattle, and Luci and Patrick were hoping to put that behind them. While they weren’t back together, so to speak, they were talking now without having screaming matches. They had the day off in LA, before they had a show, so they were going to explore.

They were driven around in a mini van by a driver, who was taking them to some of the best shopping areas before taking them to a zoo. While the boys had been to LA many times before, Luci and Katy had never been. They were pretty excited.

The first destination was a toy store. Katy and Joe were pretty excited about that, actually. As soon as the van was parked, they were out like a shot and running into the store. Luci shook her head as she and the rest of the boys followed them in.

“It’s almost like having two kids.” She mumbled, hoping her daughter wasn’t getting into too much trouble. Pete and Andy went off to find Joe, while Luci and Patrick went to go find Katy. Patrick had suggested the stuffed animals as her location. The two headed in that direction, and when they walked up, they saw Katy with an employee looking through all the stuffed animals.

“So, you what is it you’re looking for again, sweetie?” The employee asked as she set aside a few stuffed animals. Katy shrugged as she searched.

“I think a panda! It’s for my mamma, so don’t tell, lady.” Katy had whispered, holding her finger up to her lips. The employee smiled and nodded, searching as well. Luci giggled and stayed out of sight while Patrick approached the two.

“Katy Bear, what are you doing?” He asked, kneeling beside her while she kept pulling out stuffed toys from a bin.

“Looking! Help me, ‘kay?” She asked, not even looking at him. Patrick gave an apologetic look to the employee for the mess, but she smiled and got up.

“Is this your dad, sweetie?” The employee asked, pushing the animals they had already looked at to the side. Katy let out a squeal, holding up a stuffed panda, looking victorious.

“Got one!” She exclaimed, holding it out to Patrick and the employee. “Mamma will love it, right?” Patrick nodded, smiling a bit. Katy looked at the bear for a moment before she looked at Patrick. She leaned over to him and whispered, “I need money!”

Patrick blinked, but smiled a bit. He looked at the price tag. It wasn’t expensive at all, luckily. “Well, Katy, let’s pick up all these bears and put them back in their home before we do anything next, okay?” He suggested. Katy just nodded and began tossing the bears back into their bin. The employee walked away, doing a quiet dance in celebration that she didn’t have to clean up that mess.

Luci went to find the other three while those two dealt with the stuffed animals. She found the boys in the action figure aisle, looking through various Transformers and Star Wars toys. She saw that Joe had a small pile of Star Wars figures already.

“Okay, really, guys, I’m good.” Joe said, picking up the pile of five figures. “Where’s the rest of our group?” Luci smirked and threw her arms around Joe’s middle. He let out a yelp, dropping the figures and flailing his arms around.

“Gotcha!”

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Joe whined, getting free of her grasp. Luci just giggled and pulled away. He pouted and picked up his figures. “Where’s Katy and Patrick?”

“Buying a panda. It seems like Katy’s talking to him again.” She said, linking arms with Pete while they headed to the cash registers. She glanced at her watch. “Hey, we need to head to our next shop soon so we aren’t late to the zoo. They only stay open until five o’clock.”

“Let’s just skip the shopping and go straight to the zoo.” Pete said as Joe went to pay for his new toys. “I’d rather see animals.” Luci nodded, looking around for Patrick and Katy. She saw that they were already outside and pulled away from Pete, going for the doors.

“Okay, here’s the bag, Katy. Are you going to give the bear to your mamma now, or wait until tonight?” Patrick asked, handing the bag to the little girl. Katy looked thoughtful, but shrugged.

“Tonight or somethin’.”