Infinite

I laughed loudly as Ronnie, who'd been racing around the playground after my little sister, slipped on the rocks that he jumped back down to the ground. He shot me a look over his shoulder before he hurried over to the end of the slide to catch Nico.

"If you come down here, I'm going to get you, Moon!" Ronnie called up to the dark haired girl. She giggled and held onto the handles to keep herself from going down.

The little girl giggled contagiously as she climbed out of the slide and turned around to go down the little steps. I couldn't contain my grin as Ronnie pushed off the side of the slide and took off running towards those same stairs. He shouted for Arch when the little boy ducked out of his hiding spot and darted away so he wouldn't be caught. Ronnie jumped up the small stairs, his boots clanging against the rubber covered hard metal beneath them. Nico's big eyes widened and she screamed loudly as she tried to climb back up towards the slide, trying her best to follow after Arch.

"No you don't!" Ronnie taunted as he hurried after her. He wrapped his arms around her little waist and pulled her feet from the first rung of the stairs. "Gotcha!" he shouted as he pulled her up into his arms like a baby.

"No!" Nico complained, trying to push herself out of his grasp. "No!"

Ronnie had a bright grin on his face as he hopped down the stairs, dodging another boy who ran onto the playground. Ronnie jumped down into the rocks, managing to remain upright, and spun around quickly, laughing as Nico screeched and held onto his hoodie.

I was sitting on a picnic table on the other end of the playground, near the slide when a woman came walking over with a stroller and sat beside me. I glanced at the baby and just melted. All wispy hair and big cheeks. "She is so adorable," I gushed softly to the young blonde lady.

She grinned and glanced at her daughter. "Thank you so much," she replied, plucking the little girl from the stroller and holding her in her arms. "This is Margot." She scanned the playground and pointed at a a young boy who'd made his way to the top, "That's my other one, Matthew. I'm Miranda."

I grinned and looked back to her and the baby. "I'm Atticus," I told her, looking up as Ronnie came walking towards me with Nico still screeching playfully in his arms. Arch was behind him, hiding behind a pole. Ronnie was pretending he didn't know he was there. The woman looked the duo and I explained that they were mine.

"You have a nice family," she said just before Arch jumped out at the singer and raced after him, wrapping his arms around his legs to slow him. "They're kind of adorable together."

I rolled my eyes playfully, but couldn't disagree. Ronnie managed to wrangle both kids into his arms and he trucked across the rocks, his boots slipping as he hurried over to us. "Here, take her," Ronnie demanded, basically dropping Nico into my arms, "I don't want her anymore."

I patted his side as I situated a squirming little girl on my lap. Ronnie dragged Arch back to a decent position when the child tried to practically climb over his shoulder and away from the singer. Ronnie frowned and yanked him back down. "Where do you think you're going?" Ronnie asked, looking the at the blue eyed boy seriously.

Nico squirmed out of my arms and I put her little feet on the ground. She headed back to the playground as quickly as her little legs would take her and Ronnie set Arch down so he could get Nico before she ended up on the rocks.

He set her on the playground and then barreled up the slide to catch up with Arch. He was a mess or dark hair, dark clothes, and dark eyes and he disappeared up the slide and into the playground.

He appeared at the top after a few minutes and had Nico back in his arms. It was hard for her to get around on her own quickly, so the two of them conquered it together. Ronnie darted around a group of slightly older kids and chased after Arch, making his way across the playground with slightly more reckless abandon than was warranted with Nico so close. He jumped down from one of the platforms and Nico giggled, but my heart stopped. He chased the boy and eventually scooped him up as well.

"He's really good with them," Miranda said, nodding towards Ronnie when I looked at her. She smiled

I nodded, tearing my eyes away from him as he crawled into the large playground with Arch and Nico on his heels. "Yeah, he really is," I agreed, "I guess I just got pretty lucky to end up with this group."

"If only more men were willing to spend their Sundays climbing through jungle gyms with their kids," she answered. She didn't sound bitter, but I could hear the undertone.

We chatted for a couple of minutes and she lightly introduced me to her son when he came over to ask if he could play with his baby sister. When his mom said no, because she was too little, I sent him over to Ronnie and our two. Ronnie accepted him easily and they spent the next few minutes running away from each other.

Arch grabbed Nico's hand and he followed Matthew to the slide. The first boy went down, and then Arch sent Nico down after him. Nico was slow to move off the bottom, so when Arch went, he bumped into Nico and pushed her off the bottom of the low slide. She was a little stunned as Ronnie hurried over and plucked her from the rocks.

"You okay, Nic?" Ronnie asked, lifting the little girl into his arms as Arch apologized quickly, looking incredibly nervous that Nico might be hurt, even though there were only a couple of inches from the slide to the ground. "It's okay, Arch," Ronnie said, hugging the boy to his side, "She's fine, don't worry about it."

"Ronnie, time to go!" I called out to him, watching the look on Arch's face. The trouble-maker grinned and then darted back around the large playground. Ronnie shouted for him to come back, but Arch refused.

Ronnie stood up and called out over the top of the slide, trying to hold onto Nico. She wanted to follow Arch. His mischievousness was rubbing off on her. "Atticus! Come on, don't leave me to fend on my own!" he complained, looking desperate.

"I'm not helping you" I shouted back to him, "The park was your idea so now you have to wrangle them back to the car all on your own. I already chased them around."

He groaned audibly and dramatically, glaring at me. "Atti, they actually listen to you," he said, knowing that I wasn't going to take his side on this, "Come on."

I grinned and lugged myself up from the bench. I traipsed over the rocks and pulled Nico from him. "I'll be waiting in the car," I said, kissing his jaw lightly, "Good luck getting Arch off the playground and into his carseat."

He rolled his dark eyes. "Fine. You're so helpful." He turned around and stomped through the playground, immediately intimidating other kids to move out of his way.

I laughed as he barreled in the direction that he went. "Ronnie, don't break him!" I called, Nico bouncing in my arms as I hurried after him, "Arch, come on, get in the car, man!"

"No!" Arch screamed from where he was hiding, "Find me first!"

I sighed loudly and put Nico down. "Get him, Nic," I demanded, watching as she shook her head and ran off. Ronnie grumbled, hurrying over to me. He stopped at my side and looked at me as though I was insane.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked incredulously, "Now we have to catch them both."

"I thought she'd be on my side," I answered innocently, "I didn't know she was a traitor!" I shouted, shaking my head as both little kids laughed and gave away their position. Ronnie and I stayed silent as we quickly formed a plan. We each headed a direction, cornering the kids behind the climbing rock.

We both screamed and raced over there, darting for a kid. Nico Moon and Arch jumped backwards, eyes wide, giggling uncontrollably. Ronnie pressed his lips together to stop from smiling and I folded my arms over my chest. There was no where for them to run. They stood shoulder to shoulder and looked at us with big eyes.

"What're you guys doing?" Ronnie asked, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans, "I mean, I don't know why you would possibly be back here when Atticus and I are getting ready to go for lunch. Especially since the first one to the car gets to pick where we eat."

Arch's eyes widened as he realized he was bigger and older than Nico. He grinned darted between us so that he could make it to the car first. It was parked on the edge of the playground and Arch had his eyes on the prize.

Ronnie winked at me and quickly scooped Nico into his arms. I followed after them as Ronnie raced past Arch and the little boy complained, trying to run faster. I was right behind him when Arch finally made it to the car. Ronnie had already opened the door and was lifting Nico into her carseat.

"That wasn't fair," Arch complained as he ran up to Ronnie and stood at his side, peering into the car seeing as Ronnie was half inside, getting Nico situated. "You cheated."

Ronnie looked back and frowned at the child. "I did not," he refuted, offended, "I never said that I wasn't racing, and I won so I get to pick the restaurant." He pushed Arch away from him playfully, the little boy sliding on the gravel under his feet.

Arch looked offended too. "Atticus!" the little boy complained, turning to me so that I would back him up, "Ronnie cheated and I want to pick where we eat."

I walked up with my arms crossed over my chest. "How did Ronnie cheat?" I questioned, leading him around to the other side of the car so I could buckle him into his booster seat.

"He never said he was racing and then he helped Nico get here first even though I was almost here!" he explained quickly, climbing into the car with a little help from me.

I glanced up at him as I fastened him into the carseat. "Well, doesn't that mean Nico won?" I asked, giving Ronnie a pointed look as he finished with Nico and stood up to shut the door. He fiddled with his jacket and shook his head.

"No, that does not mean Nico won," he denied, "It means both of us won so we both get to pick, but since I'm older and driving, I get to pick." He shut the door and walked around to the driver's seat. I finished with Arch and moved to the passenger's, giving Ronnie a look when I passed him.

"What if I want to pick?" I asked when I buckled myself in, "I did sit quietly by and watch you teach these innocent minds how to break the law."

Ronnie grinned as he carefully pulled out of the spot, keeping an eye on the vehicle that had parked too close to us after we arrived. "You could've joined us, Atti. We never excluded you."

"I was not about to help you steal from that poor man!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around in front of me, "He had a whole day planned of sitting by the creek and you three showed up and ruined it for him."

He grinned in the mirror at the kids. "Moon felt it was cruel and unfair punishment towards those worms. They never did anything to deserve being stabbed and eaten alive."

"Yeah, Atticus!" Arch agreed, "It was a mantarian mission!"

I hid my smile from Ronnie as I corrected the young boy. "Humanitarianism, Arch."

He shook it off. "Whatever. We had to do it!"

Ronnie pulled out of the forest preserve and onto a main street. The clock on the dash said it was already two in the afternoon and none of us had eaten since breakfast. Nico was dozing in the backseat, Arch was looking out of the tinted window as we drove through the city, not knowing exactly where Ronnie was taking us, but being quiet anyways because we knew that food was on the other side of our wait.

"Burger King!" Arch shouted as we pulled up outside of the building only a few minutes later.

I sighed as Nico was stunned awake. She cried for just a minute before Ronnie was pulling her out of her seat and into his arms. She wrapped her own around his neck and held onto him as he led us into the fast food restaurant.

"Can I go play?" Arch questioned as he hung on the railing that separated tables and chairs from the ordering counter. He glanced at the play room quickly, trying to hide his excitement.

I looked back at the large room where yet another playground sat. This one much smaller and completely enclosed by the building. "What do you want to eat?" I questioned, grabbing his arm so I could pull him to the counter to see what his choices were.

He wiggled out of my grasp. "Chicken," he stated, "And fries."

I smiled and nodded towards the playroom. Ronnie set Nico down and she sleepily followed after Arch, who patiently waited for her and held the door open. As the people in front of us ordered, Ronnie wrapped his arms around my waist and planted his chin on my shoulder. "What's wrong, Atti?" he asked, pulling my back against his chest.

I tipped my head to look at him and offered an easy smile. "Nothing, I'm just tired," I replied honestly, leaning into him.

"It's been a long weekend," he stated honestly, "Although I'm a little bummed we have to take the kid home tonight. He's fun to have around. "

"Yeah, he definitely keeps things interesting," I agreed, dividing my attention between the people ordering in front of us and the conversation that we were having. Ronnie wasn't paying any attention to the reason we were in line.

"He's a little shit," he agreed with a laugh, "But yeah. He's definitely entertaining."

I lightly smacked his side as I pulled away from him to order our food. The group that was in front of us before moved over to the pop machine so I stepped up and smiled at the lady behind the counter. "Hi, can I get two chicken nugget meals and a spicy chicken sandwich and large fries?" I turned to Ronnie. "What do you want, babe?" When he didn't answer me, distracted by his phone, I repeated, "Ronnie, what do you want?"

"You really are him," the girl behind the counter said right away, "I wasn't sure, but then she just called you Ronnie and... oh gosh. What are the chances of Ronnie Radke walking in the Burger King where I work?" she asked herself, a large grin on her face.

I sighed and stepped back, leaning against the same railing. "Pretty high," I said to myself mostly, "Seeing as he's a human and humans have to eat food to stay alive."

The girl either ignored me or didn't hear me, seeing as she was still smiling up at Ronnie and glancing back at her co-workers, who were obviously oblivious to what was going on. Ronnie frowned at me, head tilted slightly; a silent question.

"Nothing," I answered him, "Just get our food when you're done, okay? And order some drinks." I touched his side as I walked past, heading to the back play room to make sure the kids weren't getting into too much trouble on their own.

There was only one other family in the room so I assumed that the three other kids were theirs. They were two boys at the bottom and I could hear a girl shouting from the top of the jungle gym. "Arch! Nico! Come down here please!" I called into the room, hoping that Nico would be okay to make it down on her own.

"What?" Arch whined when he came flying down the spiral slide.

"Where's Nic?" I questioned, looking back into the playground.

Arch looked over his shoulder and then pointed at the slide as my baby sister came spinning down, a smile on her face as she scooted off the end and walked over to me. "Hey, little girl," I greeted softly, pulling her from the floor, "You two have to take your shoes off."

Arch rolled his eyes and raced over to a table. He sat down in a chair and pulled off his shoes as quickly as he could, throwing them under the seat. "Now can I go play?" he asked excitedly.

I grinned as I sat down with Nico on my lap. "Wait for Nico," I stated, untying her little shoes so that I could pull them off.

"Come on, Atticus, I don't have all day!" Arch exclaimed, although he was smiling. He jumped backwards as I tried to swat him with Nico's shoe.

"Arch, be careful!" I demanded, my heart jumping out of my chest as he jumped backwards into another little boy who was walking by with his father. "I'm really sorry," I apologized to the man as Arch helped the boy up from the floor.

The little boy grabbed his dad's hand as his father spoke. "Just be more careful," he stated, "You wouldn't want to accidently hurt someone else's kid while hurting yours."

"Excuse me?" I asked, completely stunned by his words.

He didn't reply as he slid out of the room, moving past Ronnie as he walked in with a tray in his hands. "What was that about?" he inquired, eying the guy's wife.

"I have no idea," I grunted, pushing Nico's little coat off her shoulders.

"Can I go play now?" Arch was already taking large steps towards the entrance of the playground.

Ronnie set the tray down on the table and shook his head. "No, food's here. It's time to eat." He sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs and pulled Arch back to him. He lifted the boy into the other chair and set his food in front of him.

Arch quickly forgot about wanting to play when Ronnie dumped his fries out in front of him. I set Nico into the chair next to me and did the same with her food. "I got you a Coke," Ronnie told me, setting the beverage down in front of me.

"Thanks," I replied, offering him a small smile as I took a sip. We were mostly quiet as we ate, Arch scarfing down his food without any time to say anything anyway. Arch climbed out from behind Ronnie by crawling out under the table. When Nico tried to follow him, I plucked her from her chair and lifted her over me.

"Be careful!" I called as Arch took off running towards the entrance. He disappeared into the play place and then ducked back out to help my little sister inside. I watched them head off in the direction of the smaller slide.

"He's so good with her," Ronnie murmured off the top of his head before he took another bite of his burger. He reached for our Coke as I spoke.

"Someone said that exact thing about you today," I said softly, glancing over his appearance as he lounged in the chair in front of me. He was dressed down today, more simply and regular than usual. Just a pair of jeans and a sleeveless t'shirt hidden under one of his hoodies.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned, popping one of his fries into his mouth.

"The woman at the park today," I clarified, "She told me that you're good with Nico and that she wished more men were like that."

Ronnie licked his lips to keep the smile off of them. "Really?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I told her that the world would be a better place with more of you around." I took a sip of my Coke. "If not a little less special."

Ronnie pushed himself out of his chair and leaned across the table to press his mouth against mine. I ran my thumb against his cheek bone and kissed him back for just a second. "There are kids in the room," I said as I gently pushed him back down to his chair.

"So what," he replied, although he didn't try to kiss me again. He just leaned back against his chair and folded his arms over his chest with his unsettling eyes trained on me.

"What?" I asked softly, leaning my elbows against the table.

"What's wrong?" he asked, repeating the question from earlier, "Tell me for real this time. I want to know." He leaned forward and put his arms on the table, staring at me intently.

"I don't want to talk about this right now."

"We're gonna talk about it sometime," he stated right away, "Sometime today. Whether you want to talk about it or not." He got up, dropping his napkin back on the table, and turned away from me.

"Where are you going?" I asked, reaching out to grab onto a fistful of his shirt.

He touched my hand and smoothed my fingers, pulling them off his hoodie. "It's almost three thirty," he told me, dropping my hand, "We've got to get Arch home by four."

I smiled minutely. "You could just call for them, you know."

He smiled brightly and touched a stray stand of my hair. "Yeah, but this way is more fun." All at one he hurried towards the playground and climbed inside, disappearing from my sight as he quickly moved up the levels, not caring about the age limit that was posted just above the entrance.

I gathered up the remnants of our lunch and tossed them in the garbage. I looked up to one of the tunnels near the ceiling as Nico Moon screamed loudly. She was visible in the tunnel and Ronnie was crawling up there behind her.

I waved and then motioned for her to come on down. Ronnie said something to her and pointed her in the direction of the purple slide. Within a couple minutes she was teetering on the edge of the mouth of the slide.

"Hey, baby girl," I greeted as I grabbed her and lifted her back over to her chair so I could help her get her shoes back on.

I could hear Arch shouting from the tunnels and assumed that Ronnie must've been catching up to the hiding boy. Ronnie's voice floated to my ears as he called for Arch to "shut up and stop screaming".

"Hey!"

I looked at the door of the room. A worker stood in the doorway with an urgent expression on his face.

"You have to get him out of the play place!" he demanded, jabbing a finger towards the play area that Ronnie and Arch were in. "He's too old! You're adults, you should know better!"

I bit my lip to hide my smile. "He's coming out, I promise," I told him, "He's just trying to get one of our kids out." I lifted Nico higher in my arms so that he could see we weren't degenerates. Just parents with a couple of difficult kids.

The man folded his arms over his chest and I could see similar expressions of the faces of the adults in the other family. "He has to come down, now," he said.

"He can't just leave our son up there," I replied, "Are we supposed to just stand around and lure him out with ice cream? We don't believe in bribes. We take action. And my husband is up there taking action. So give us five minutes and they'll both be out of there."

The man didn't look impressed at my sarcastic speech.

Arch screamed again from the tunnels over our heads and I watched as his small form darted across a window in the tunnel. Ronnie followed after him quickly, a blur of black clothes and dark hair slithering through the heightened playground. The employee shot me a warning look.

"Ronnie, Arch, come on!" I shouted up to them, knowing they could hear me, "You're going to get us thrown out of Burger King, for Christ's sake!"

"We're coming!" Ronnie's voice trailed out of the slide right before he did, pulling Arch down behind him as the little boy struggled to break free, even though it was useless seeing as gravity and momentum were playing their part.

"Sir, I have to advise you not to go in the play place again. It's clearly posted and completely obvious that you are too old to be playing up there," the worker said to Ronnie as he climbed all the way out and pulled Arch to his feet.

"Get your fricken shoes on, Arch," Ronnie demanded, pushing the boy to the table. "And don't worry about it. We're leaving," he said to the man.

Arch pulled his shoes and hoodie on, Ronnie plucked Nico Moon from my arms, and I hurried Arch along, knowing his foster parents weren't going to be happy that he was going to be late getting home again.

We drove out to Arch's house and pulled in the driveway. I climbed out of the car and helped him out. Halfway up the driveway, his foster-dad appeared in the doorway and smiled at me.

"Thanks for taking him for the weekend," he said as he reached out and pulled the little boy to him.

I shrugged, forcing a smile. "No problem. It was a lot of fun."

Will rested his hand on Arch's shoulder as they stood just inside the doorway. "Thanks Atticus! Thanks Ronnie!" Arch shouted back towards the SUV. "I'll miss you!"

Ronnie waved out of the side window. I said goodbye one last time and climbed back into the SUV so we could head back to the apartment. Nico would be staying with us for another couple nights, upon request of Frida, who was passing along the message from Dad and Gina, who still weren't talking to us because of what they called the 'engagement stunt'.

We pulled into the parking lot of Ronnie's apartment and I cursed loudly, almost jumping out of the car before Ronnie even parked. "Frida, what the hell are you doing in Los Angeles?" I berated her, running over to where she was standing outside the main doors of the building. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Atticus, relax. I'm fine!" she promised me, pushing me off as I poked and prodded at her, "I would be upstairs but somebody's fiance doesn't know how to share the lock code with the love of his life's little sister!"

Ronnie rolled his eyes as he came walking up with Nico in his arms. "Then you'd be popping in all the time," he muttered, pushing her away so he could type in his specific code, "And we definitely don't want that happening."

Frida rolled her eyes and took to the stairs. "You know you love me, Radke," she taunted, walking next to him as we headed down the hall.

"What are you doing here?" I asked again, hoping that I would actually get an answer this time.

Frida clasped her hands together. "I'm fine, big sister. Just needed to get away from Dad and his constant bitching about you marrying some 'musician' from Las Vegas."

I said, "Don't curse" as Ronnie scoffed.

"Why the hell did you say 'musician' like that?" he questioned, turning back to face her.

She shrugged. "I dunno. That's just the way my dad's been saying it. He doesn't really understand that whole 'King of the Music Scene' thing anymore."

"Shut up, Frida," he muttered as he unlocked the apartment door and scrambled to get inside.

"I'm just saying," she defended as she tossed her bag down on the couch in the living room. "My dad really doesn't like you anymore. It probably had something to do with you sleeping with his daughter after he saved your entire musical career."

"Knock it off," I demanded as Ronnie roughly handed Nico to me and disappeared into our bedroom. I gave Frida a pointed look and dropped Nico on her lap. "Why do you have to go and do that?" I asked with disbelief.

"It's just a joke!" Frida defended, setting Nico beside her on the couch, "He knows I'm kidding."

I crossed my arms. "You know, Frida. You shouldn't joke around about a such a sore subject. Especially when you know Ronnie's been beating himself up over Dad's stupidity."

"Do you want me to go apologize?" she asked, heaving herself from the couch, "Because we joke around all the time and the one time he gets all bent out of shape we have to step around him like he's a bomb going to explode." She walked around me towards the bedroom. "God, Ronnie, you're such a princess."

She disappeared into the bedroom where Ronnie was with just those words. I groaned and covered my face with my hands. Both Ronnie and Frida were impossible personalities and somehow I'd managed to have them both in my life.

"You're so combative," Frida said a few minutes later when she and Ronnie came out of the bedroom.

Ronnie scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're the one with the major anger issues."

"Yeah, well you have a power complex. Everyone says so."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ronnie asked incredulously, stopping in his tracks just to stare at my younger sister. "Who says that?"

Frida met my eyes and with a smirk back in Ronnie's direction, she shrugged her shoulders and dropped down onto the couch. She grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV, leaving Ronnie stunned as he stood there, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

"Hey, get out of my house," he demanded, flipping the TV off, "You can sleep in the hallway until you tell me what you meant and who you're taking about."

Frida's jaw dropped as Ronnie pushed her to the door. "Atticus!" she called, "You're really going to let your boyfriend kick me out?"

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. I moved to the couch and picked Nico up. "You better just tell him what you meant, Fri," I demanded, "Because even his couch is more comfortable than the floor."

She wedged herself between the door and the wall before he could close it on her. "I was just joking," she answered quickly, "No one says that, I don't even know where I got it from. I'm just some crazy teenager, you know that."