Arms Hotel, Saturday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

Okay, so for all the complaining about having to get up early - especially after a night chock-full of pollen - this was Kathy's favorite weekend of the year. Surrounded by kids who called her mom, arguing over breakfast, listening to them babble on about their likes and interests and hopes, singing them to sleep at night. Even with as a late an evening as they'd had, she was still up, bright and early, humming around the public room of the suite, readying it for tiny visitors.

A hotel room meant that she had to rely on room service for breakfast, but she made due, making sure to order plenty of fruit (heavy on the strawberries), and juice, and more bacon and sausage than any one room really ought to have.

Now to wait for folks to start showing up!

[Open for all tiny children and their parents, whether related or not!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"There's Zeke," Kathy said, gesturing to the oldest kid in the room. "This is his second visit; he and Carys came the same year. Mine and Ezra's." And looked startlingly like them both, depending on his expression. "He was a lot littler then, though."

She nodded to the girl in the leather jacket, radiating 'too cool for this.' "That's Evie, eleven going on twenty, I swear. She calls you dad-junior, but probably just to get a reaction. She's embracing adolescence early."

"Carys is killing me with how much older she is," even though Anders already knew Carys well. Of all Kathy's kids, she was the most frequent visitor. "And Dante has another kid with Ez. He's bringing him over in a bit, but that's all I know about him."

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"Dad junior," Anders snorted. "What, I'm Dante's little buddy for her?"

His eyes skipped fondly over Zeke and Evie before coming to rest on Carys. "I guess she had to get older," he said. "But..."

But he didn't want her to.

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"Oh no, she assured us you were the cool one," Kathy said, lacing her fingers through his. "I think she was just being super-cool when she said that, you know?"

There was a lot of 'look how cool and grown I am' this year. And Kathy was sad about it.

"Did she, though?" Kathy asked. "I mean, like, did she really?"

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"It's magic," Anders said lightly. "So ... not for us, no. For us, you'd think the island would be considerate and send us a 6-year-old forever."

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"Right?!" Kathy asked. "Somebody better still be little enough to want to sit in my lap or you're getting tapped for the job, mister."

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Anders squinted at her. "Is that supposed to be a punishment?"

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"Well, I was gonna read stories to you and sing you songs," Kathy said, "but you could probably convince me to something else instead. So then probably not."

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"Plus I like stories, and I like it when you sing," Anders told her. "... not that I can't think of a few other things to do, if I'm in your lap."

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"So how about I start telling you a story and then we transition to those other things if the spirit moves you," Kathy teased, giving him a wicked smile.

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Anders grinned back. "I like that plan," he said. "The hard part is going to be waiting until the kids are gone so we can have grown-up storytime."

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"You know who's a good baby-sitter?" Kathy joked. "Dante. I'm sure he wouldn't mind keeping an eye on everyone if we wanted to get to story-time early."

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"He's been wanting to stuff them with burgers," Anders joked. "So maybe while he's doing that, I can stuff you with ... stories."

Long, hard stories, with happy endings.

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The very best kind.

"I definitely did not get enough...stories...last night," Kathy decided. "And you know I am a firm believer in keeping up with the oral tradition."

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"As you should be," Anders said. "What's life without regularly ... drawing on our oral tradition? Those stories are the most stimulating kind."

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"I get on me knees every day in appreciation to your commitment to stories that really...move me," Kathy said, leaning in to give him a soft, giggly kind of kiss.