Babysitter Blues {for Roark}

[CleverFox]

It was almost time for him to leave for work and Samuel Quinn, or Sam as he preferred to be called, was just waiting on the babysitter who was supposed to start watching his little adopted son during the evenings. Sam wasn't really happy about the fact that he was going to have to leave the little boy, who was only six years old, during the evenings for the foreseeable future but he had to work second shift at the hospital for the next couple of months at least so there was really no avoiding it. At least he hadn't had much trouble finding a babysitter since one of his coworkers had a teenage daughter named Katy who needed the extra cash and had agreed to come over during the evenings and watch the child.

Currently the little boy, whose name was Crevan Alexander, was sitting on the floor playing with some wooden building blocks though how long that would occupy him was anyone's guess since he didn't have the longest attention span in the world. Sam smiled fondly at the boy as he walked over and ruffled the kid's unruly chestnut brown hair, Crevan looking up at his dad through large and expressive blue eyes as he smiled at the man. Sam hadn't had custody of the child for very long but it was long enough for him to grow attached. The child was his godson originally though since Crevan's mother had died the day that the boy was born Sam had gained custody of the child when his dad died in a car crash about eight months ago. That had been an odd experience since he'd been expecting the little guy to be upset but oddly enough it hadn't seemed to matter very much to Crevan and he'd adjusted very well to living with Sam.

"Almost time for me to go little man," he told the child as he continued to gaze down at him fondly. "I want you to behave yourself for Katy and be a good boy, alright?"

Crevan once again offered his dad a smile as he chimed, "Okays! I'll be goods!" Of course the child saying that he would be good and actually managing to carry through on that were two totally different things and while Sam knew that to be the case the child himself was blissfully unaware. He very seldom tried to get into trouble but he seemed to have a knack for finding it regardless of that fact.

[Roark]

Katy Foley, pulled into the Quinn driveway pretty much at the exact minute she was supposed to arrive. She had meant to get there a little earlier, as she was generally a pretty responsible sixteen year old girl but she hadn't realized her car had been so low on gas and she HAD to stop and get some to ensure she made it to the Quinn household let alone back home. Of course she barely had the money to put a few gallons in the car let alone fill it up, and hence why she was taking a regular babysitting job over her summer break. Katy's daddy was very loving but also pretty stern and while he bad bought her a fairly decent used car he had insisted that Katy had to pay for her gas herself. It was really a very fair deal especially since he paid for her insurance as well, but he did not provide Katy with an allowance either once she turned sixteen and had told her she needed to learn to work and depend on herself for money. Unfortunately, she hadn't had much luck initially finding a job as most kids started looking right before summer began and not right when and had taken the few available for kids her age in the area. Once again her Daddy had come to the rescure though finding her a babysitting job for one of his coworkers at the hospital.

Katy had done a little babysitting here and there and generally enjoyed it, though not always depending on the child. Little boys were her favorite though as she always found them to be the cutest and so she was pretty excited that if she had to babysit all summer at least she would be doing it with a little boy. Katy climbed out of her car wearing a cute little red top and a pair of khaki shorts and hurried toward the front door of the house. The teen girl was fairly tall at 5'7 with a pretty athletic figure to go with her green eyes and medium golden blonde hair which she currently had thrown up in a quick ponytail. Katy was about to ring the doorbell when Samuel opened the door, ready to leave for work. "Hey Mr. Quinn. Sorry I just barely made it, I'll try and be here a little earlier from now on," she promised. "I had to stop and get gas and all. Don't worry I will keep a good eye on Crevan and I'm sure we will have fun together," the girl added enthusiastically looking up at Samuel to see if he had any last minute instructions for her before he left.

[CleverFox]

Sam was sort of starting to get impatient as he waited for Katy to arrive so that he could leave for work since he had always been punctual and hated the thoughts of being late. He was just about to pick up the phone and call the girl, whose number he had gotten from the teen's father when he had been informed that Katy had agreed to take the job as Crevan's babysitter, however just as he was pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. "That's gotta be her," he said to himself before leaning down and placing a kiss on top of Crevan's unruly chestnut brown hair. "Daddy's off to work little man, you behave yourself and I'll see you in the morning." He said this because although he wouldn't really be out all that late since his shifts were shorter than the average eight hours he would still not be home before the little guy would be in bed for the night.

Crevan looked up at his dad as the man told him that he was leaving, the child waving as he said, "Bye-bye." Almost immediately he went back to his play and Sam sort of smiled before going to the door, opening it just as Katy was about to ring the door. He was several inches taller than the girl he met at the door at 6'1 and he had dark brown hair and kind green eyes which he locked onto Katy as she apologized for not getting there sooner. "It's alright Katy," he told her easily enough, not upset since he did still have time to get to work without having to push the speed limit. "Crevan's in the living room and he shouldn't be a problem. His bedtime is at eight thirty and he sometimes isn't cooperative with that but it's usually not an issue. I should be back around eleven, give or take." Having said this he smiled at the girl before leaving since he really did need to get to work.

[Roark]

Katy was relieved when Samuel answered the door and didn't seem to mind that she just barely made it on time. She listened as he told her where Crevan was and that he should be well behaved. Katy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at hearing that. All parents told her that their child or children shouldn't be a problem but how true that was tended to vary very widely. It wasn't that she expected Crevan to be a troublemaker in fact quite the opposite, but she knew little boys his age could certainly be handful if they wanted to be. The eight thirty bedtime seemed typical but Katy was not thrilled when Samuel stated that Crevan sometimes wasn't cooperative with it. In her mind that was pretty much code for he is NOT going to cooperate, especially with a brand new babysitter, though she was a fairly optimistic girl so she still held out hope that it would just take a little convincing on her end to get Crevan in bed and nothing more. "Right eleven, see you then!," Katy smiled back and stepped aside as Samuel made a speedy exit for his car.

Katy closed the door behind him and then after a quick glance around the hall headed for the living room where she found a very cute looking little brown haired boy playing with wooden blocks. "Hey there buddy," she called softly to get the boy's attention as she approached. Katy quickly squatted down next to the little boy to greet him more properly once she had his attention and was sure she wasn't about to startle him. "My name is Katy, you must be Crevan," she greeted with a warm smile. "I just know that we are going to have fun together and you are going to be a good boy for me aren't you?," Katy asked softly as she decided to take a seat on the floor a little ways across from Crevan next to a pile of his unused blocks. "What are you building there?," she asked in a friendly tone.

[CleverFox]

Sam really wasn't trying to be misleading or anything when he told Katy first that Crevan shouldn't be any trouble, not aware of the fact that the girl had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him as he said it, but he really did think that the child would behave. Of course he never left the little guy with Katy before so he could always be wrong but he just didn't give any thought to that. After telling her that he informed the babysitter of the child's bedtime, giving her the head's up that sometimes Crevan wasn't overly cooperative about it but once again he didn't think it would be a huge problem for her. Once he'd gotten all of that out of the way, or at least everything that he remembered, Sam told her that he would be back around eleven. "Have a good evening," Sam said as he made his way to his car, which Katy had parked beside on the driveway, the man not even realizing that he had completely neglected to tell her that giving Crevan sugar in any form was something she should do sparingly since the child responded to that even worse than typical children his age and even the slightest amount would turn him into a little bundle of energy that would be bouncing off the walls.

Crevan was perfectly content playing with his blocks for the moment, since his short attention span hadn't quite kicked in yet, but he looked up when he heard someone talking to him in a soft tone of voice. There was something of a questioning look in the little boy's blue eyes as he watched her walked across the room before squatting down next to him and telling him her name. "Yeps 'm Crevan," the child said with a nod of his head, not really seeming to have a problem with being left with a stranger, the child tilting his head to the side as she said that he was going to be a good boy for her. "Tha's whats Daddy said too," the child informer her with something of an odd look before turning his attention to the blocks as she asked what he was building. "A fort!" he exclaimed rather enthusiastically, holding up one of the blocks as he asked, "Wanna plays?"

[Roark]

Katy smiled as the little boy confirmed that he was in fact Crevan nodding his head in agreement with her. She watched as he tilted her head after she suggested that they would have fun and that he would be a good boy for her. "Did he?," Katy replied unable to help laughing a little when Crevan simply replied that his daddy had told him the exact same thing. Well that was something though she noticed that Crevan didn't really answer her, but that was ok besides he was already proving to be just as cute as he looked and Katy was quite happy about that since they were going to be spending a lot of time together over the summer if everything went well. "Oh a fort I see!," Katy echoed as Crevan explained what he was building and asked her if she wanted to play. "Oh I love forts and I love to play," Katy replied enthusiastically as she scooted subtly over toward the boy. She looked over at what the boy had built so far for a second and then by just putting a block down to mirror what he had done on the other side of the fort. "I think a fort needs a BIG tower, don't you?," Katy asked as she began to find a couple of bigger blocks and began setting them up to form the base of the tower watching Crevan to see if he would join in on her idea and started building it taller with her.

[CleverFox]

Crevan looked over at Katy as she asked him if his daddy had told him to be a good boy and he nodded his head somewhat solemnly as he confirmed, "He dids. Always says stuffs like that, ALL the time." The little guy looked at her for a moment as though sizing her up before telling her what it was that he was building and then asking if she wanted to play with him and he smiled when she told him that she loved forts and loved to play. "Yays!" he exclaimed since he liked having someone to play with and sometimes his daddy was too busy, not all the time but sometimes. He watched as she scooted closer to him and picked up a block before placing it down, the child gazing on in a scrutinizing manner as she did so and seeming to size up what she was doing before going back to his own constructions. "Tower?" he asked before watching what she was doing for a moment before catching on, the child grabbing a couple of blocks and trying to copy what she was doing before he stopped and gazed at it for a moment. "Needs a moat," he declared before jumping to his feet, the little boy fully intending on going to get some water from the bathroom sink though he hadn't given any thought as to how to do this without making a mess.

[Roark]

Katy just nodded back, grinning a little, when Crevan told her that his daddy was always saying stuff like behaving and being a good boy all of the time. "My daddy is the same way," she told him sympathetically. She smiled as the little boy seemed to get very excited and animated when she told him that she loved forts and to play. She didn't particularly love forts, but Crevan didn't need to know that but she did actually enjoy playing. She could still be a bit of a kid herself, but from the babysitting experience she did have Katy definitely enjoyed the children who wanted to interact with her way, way, way more than the ones who didn't want to have anything to do with her even if it did make for a lot less effort for her part. "Uh huh real high Crevan," Katy explained when he asked her about the tower and she stacked another block up onto the base to demonstrate for him. Katy smiled a little as Crevan began to do the same thing she was doing but was surprised when he suddenly declared the fort needed a moat before jumping to his feet. "Oh no Crevan, I don't think we can do a moat here buddy. Its a really good idea but moats are only for outside forts. You will just get the floor all wet in here," Katy told the boy gently as she didn't really enjoy shooting his idea down, but it obviously wouldn't work and she saw no reason for him to make a big mess to see that for himself.

[CleverFox]

Crevan sort of tilted his head to the side when Katy explained to him that the tower had to be really high and while he didn't really get why that was the case he was going to take her word for it and so after a bit of study he placed a couple of blocks on the tower that she was making. However it wasn't long before his thoughts bounced to something else and Crevan announced that the fort needed a moat, the little boy jumping to his feet as he said this so that he could run to the bathroom and get some water for that. He stopped short when Katy told him that she didn't think they could have a moat and the little boy sort of pouted at her in response to that. "Is an outsides fort," he maintained as he gazed at her with a sort of determined look in his blue eyes since to him it was an outside fort because naturally all forts had to be outside. The six year old sort of pursed his lips for a moment as he thought about it and decided that it would be okay if the floor was wet, nodding his head to himself as he said, "Be okays, Daddy would lets me." This was not strictly speaking the truth, since if Sam knew what the kid was up to he would have stopped Crevan, but as far as the little boy was concerned Katy didn't need to know that. Having said this the child turned and ran for the bathroom, pushing his little step stool over to the sink so that he could fill up a cup with water.

[Roark]

Katy noticed Crevan beginning to pout when she told him that they couldn't build a moat right here, but she could understand that and even thought it was a little cute. However, she began to notice something else in the boys' eyes that got her worrying a little. There was definitely a determined glint in Crevan's big blue eyes and Katy knew just how strong willed some boys could be, wheter Crevan would be like that or not she didn't know yet. It didn't look so good for Katy though when the boy pursed his lips, announced his Daddy would let him, and ran off. Katy hopped up, knowing that she was going to have to do a little more if she was going to prevent a mess.

Katy didn't quite know where Crevan was headed since this was her first time in the house and she hadn't actually been given a tour but she figured it was toward a bathroom since she had seen the kitchen was not this way. And in fact Katy did catch up to Crevan as he was pulling a little step stool over to the sink in front of the bathroom. Katy stopped and stood in the doorway, hoping that she could just reason with the child but not preparing to let him out of that bathroom with a cup of water in his hands. "Crevan we need to talk for a minute buddy. There is no way to build a moat in the living room. You have to have a trench or a hole or something to put the water in so that it will stay. You are just going to pour water on the floor and it will go everywhere and make a mess. It won't be a good moat for your fort and it would even flood the people in the fort," Katy tried to explain hoping that this imaginary people logic would help if nothing else did.

"And there's one more thing Crevan. I'm pretty sure your daddy would not let you put a moat in the living room either now would he? I know he wouldn't let you do something that he told you not to do. While your daddy is gone Crevan I am in charge buddy and you have to listen to me, just like you do when you are such a good boy for your daddy ok? You can do that for me right?," Katy asked speaking gently the whole time and smiling at her new exuberant little charge.