words don't rhyme [lissie]

[Jake Gullane]

Jake left work and headed down Hogsmeade High Street towards Honeyduke's. He'd been working the lunchtime shift at the pub, and had only stopped to change into a clean t-shirt (he'd managed to get gravy on the one he'd been working in) and grab some food himself, then called goodbye to his still-busy colleagues, and headed out of the door. It was mid-afternoon now - lunchtime stretched out in the busy pub - and he was due to collect Skye from her nursery and keep her until Emma finished work later. Nursery had become a little complicated ever since Skye had started levitating her toys a few months ago, but they didn't have any other options, and so far, nothing had happened. Jake had tried to reassure Emma that the same thing had happened to him when he was little, and nobody had ever noticed, but he had to admit that it was a slight concern. At least now Jake's own friends knew about his daughter, he could take her out in the Wizarding World and introduce her to all the things that would one day be her world.

Introducing her to Honeyduke's, however, had probably been a bit of a mistake. Skye had a definite sweet tooth, and now demanded things from 'the magic sweetie shop' every time he saw her. Emma had forbidden him from feeding her too much, but the odd treat was allowed, which was why Jake was headed there now. He paused outside to glance at what was in the window, deciding what to buy. Every-flavour beans were probably a bit of a mean thing to give a three-year-old, and he doubted she would appreciate cockroach clusters either. Maybe he'd just get her some chocolate. 

He looked away from the window, and was about to turn towards the door and enter the shop when he caught sight of someone coming towards him along the street, just a few yards away. For a moment, he thought of bolting into the shop and out of sight, but she'd seen him too, and had seen that he'd seen her. He couldn't run away. But he'd spent the last few months attempting not to bump into Lissie Hewer, which was harder than you might think. Ever since they had kissed in the kitchen of the flat, the only way Jake could think of to deal with the situation was to avoid her and hope to goodness that she forgot about him, and about the kiss. He didn't like doing it, because the trouble was that he liked her, but she was a sweet seventeen-year-old girl for God's sake, who'd never even kissed anyone until she'd kissed Jake. He couldn't be what he thought she wanted him to be, and he had no intention of hurting her, so avoidance seemed the only answer. 

However, she was now almost beside him, so all he could really do was smile and make the best of it...

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie couldn't believe that, only after a few days Hogwarts had finished, she had found herself back in the castle. Truth be told, she hadn't really needed to come back here. But Jack needed to get a few things he'd left behind and she had decided to come along instead of holing herself up inside, watching reruns all day on the television. She was hoping that she could convince Jack to make a stop in Hogsmeade to grab something to eat before heading home. However, as they were leaving, the Headmistress appeared out of nowhere and demanded Jack's attention. After about five minutes of politely standing beside her brother, zoning out of the conversation, Lissie excused her to use the loo.

Instead, she found herself making her way to Hogsmeade. She wasn't sure why she had decided to do something unlike her - lie about using the bathroom and then wander off. That made two somethings that were not characteristically her. She shrugged as she entered the small town, deciding to let it go. Jack would find her eventually or they would meet back up at home. Besides, it wasn't as if she could get lost or hurt; she knew the area now. And she was a "big girl". She was just going to stretch her legs for a few minutes. In a little while, she would make her way back up the path to the castle and find Jack. The chances of him still being there with the Headmistress were over 100%.

Lissie smiled to herself as she slowly walked through the main drag in town, watching everyone milling about. She had missed the townspeople; they were always nicer here than in Diagon Alley. As she scanned the people of the crowd, a particular man jumped out at her. Instantly, Lissie could feel herself blush. She went to look away, pretending she hadn't seen him, but then Jake's eyes met hers. Even from where she stood, she could feel the awkwardness.

They had kissed last summer. And she had liked it, and had wanted more. Not only more kisses, but more from Jake. She had fallen head over heels for him without even realizing it was happening. They hadn't seen each other some time. And now here they were... in the street of Hogsmeade. Lissie thought about jumping into a shop, but that was rude. So instead, she clasped her hands in front of herself and walked toward Jake.

"Hey," she said sheepishly, forcing herself to directly at him. "It's... it's nice to see you. How are you?"

[Jake Gullane]

Jake took a deep breath as she approached, his mind racing with trying to think of the best and most sensible way to deal with this situation. In the end, though, there was really only one way to deal with it. He wasn't going to brush her off and be rude, that would only make things worse. Anyway, chances were she was already over it, he told himself. She was seventeen, there were plenty of guys all round her at Hogwarts, it had been months ago, and it wasn't like they had dated or anything. It had been one kiss, that was all. For all he knew, she'd kissed multiple people since then.

So he pushed his worries out of his head and forced himself to relax as she spoke, giving her a genuine smile - it was good to see her, after all.

"Hey - you too," he replied. "It's been a while." Shit, no, Jake, wrong thing to say. That brought back thoughts of the last time he had seen her, which had been in the flat kitchen, right after they'd kissed. At least he was wearing a shirt this time. "I'm fine," he answered her question, then, feeling like this was a bit of a pathetic answer, went on: "Pretty good, actually. I've just come from work."

Now that the most awkward moment, that of actually meeting, was over, he was beginning to think that this wasn't really such a big deal. He was good at blagging his way out of situations; all he had to do was act normal, right? He allowed himself to look at her properly, and then wished he hadn't, because she looked very nice. More than nice, but he wouldn't let his mind go there. And he really needed to stop his eyes going there too, so he firmly fixed them on her face.

"How about you?" he asked. "How've you been? Are you in Hogsmeade for anything special, or...?"

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie felt relieved when Jake smiled at her. She returned his smile, realizing that she hadn't smiled at him yet and hating how easily it came. Seeing him, after all this time, ignited the same burning feelings that she had felt last summer. Only this time, they were much stronger. An image of Jake pushing her up against the wall, the pair snogging madly and her hands grabbing at clothes, flashed in her mind. That had never happened, but she wanted it to. She managed to keep herself from blushing as she focused on the boy in front of her again.

First his smile and then his voice. The voice she hadn't heard for a year now. Her body was swooning for him, but Lissie managed to keep herself poised. She nodded politely, agreeing that it had been a while since they had last seen one another. And it had been. It had been too long. Something inside of Lissie wondered if perhaps Jake was avoiding her purposefully. But how could he? She rarely went to Rupert's apartment, where Jake often crashed, and it wasn't as if her brother brought along his friends when he came over to the house. There really was no way for them to see each other. But Lissie, of course, wanted them to.

"I've been alright," she replied with a half-shrug. "School is over with, which is a relief." Hint, hint. She was going to remind Jake that she was a seventh year now, but thought better of it. Maybe later she could give him a little nudge.

Lissie shook her head and glanced around them, her hair moving with the wags of her head. Then she settled her blue eyes on Jake. "I'm not here for anything special, no," she told him. She didn't want to mention Jack because that would send Jake bolting. "I was already bored and decided to come here to walk around. I like it here. I also had no idea you worked in Hogsmeade," she added, not wanting him to think that she was stalking him. That would be awful. But she couldn't believe for the life of her that she hadn't seen Jake during any of the school trips to Hogsmeade. "Where do you work?"

[Jake Gullane]

The most sensible thing now would probably be to keep the conversation as brief as possible, make an excuse about having to dash to pick up Skye (which would be a lie, since it was far too early to pick her up yet) and make his escape before any further damage could possibly be done. The thing was, he didn't really want to do that - for some reason he wanted to stay and talk to her. It was very easy to think of the most sensible way to behave when she wasn't there in front of him, but it seemed like every time he actually talked her, the sensible option seemed to fade away unappealingly, while some part of his brain told him that talking to her wasn't doing any harm, and it didn't really matter that much anyway. It was vaguely alarming, but even that seemed easy to ignore.

"Oh yeah, summer holidays," he agreed. Schoolgirl, she's a schoolgirl. "Got any plans for it? One thing I miss about school, the long holidays," he added with a laugh. He leaned back slightly against the wall of Honeydukes to look at her, making no signs of moving away or ending the conversation, despite the screaming of the sane part of his mind. Was talking to her - or looking at her for that matter - such a crime? No, he decided, it wasn't.

"Yeah, it's nice here." He nodded as he glanced around. "Oh... yeah, I've worked in the Three Broomsticks for... well, quite a while now. It's okay there, long hours but I don't mind it and the other staff are a good laugh." He hoped that she wouldn't start thinking too much about why she had never seen him in there - the truth was that if he had ever seen her coming into the pub, he had ducked into the kitchen and hidden. Some of his colleagues had caught on to what he was doing and teased him about who he was avoiding, but luckily, there were always dozens of students coming and going in the Three Broomsticks on Hogsmeade Days, so nobody had worked out who she actually was. He didn't really plan on admitting that to her though.

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie observed the way Jake seemed to make everything so effortless. She smiled to herself upon hearing his laugh; she had forgotten what it sounded like. She watched as he leaned against the side of the building, taking that as her cue to relax as well. Jake wasn't going to run off; if anything, he seemed to want to stay and chat with her. So chat they would. Lissie unclasped her hands in front of her and ran a hand through her hair before letting her arms hang at her sides.

"Summer holidays finally," Lissie said. She had been itching to get out of the bloody castle since the weather had begun to turn nice. She chuckled in her mind, and then tsk'd herself silently; all she had done was spend the beginning of the holidays inside. Duke enjoyed the company, but she really ought to get out of the house. Sunbathing was always an option and even after three years with Jack, Lissie still felt awkward in a bikini when she was around her brothers. They didn't even have a pool, so it made lying out under the hot sun that much less appealing.

Lissie laughed as well. She wasn't sure what life after Hogwarts held for her, so she didn't think long holidays were much to miss. She reached up to tuck some hair behind her ear. "No, I haven't got any plans yet," she responded, giving her head a small shake. "I'd like to do something, but I don't know what or with who." Lissie didn't realize how her statement could be taken until after she said it. It was a perfectly innocent mistake and pretended to still not realize it, but instead plunged on with the conversation.

"The Three Broomsticks?" Lissie echoed with curiosity written all over her face. How could they have not seen each other? That was so strange.... "It's a pretty popular place. I'm sur-prised we haven't bumped into each other before. But that doesn't matter. I'm glad that you seem to be enjoying it." She could definitely imagine Jake working at the bar. She gave him an encouraging smile. "So are you off duty now, or only on your break? I don't want to keep you if you've only got a few minutes...." By the looks of it, Jake seemed to be done for the day. But Lissie wasn't one to be rude. If he needed to go, then he needed to go.

[Jake Gullane]

"At least you didn't have any major exams this year," Jake pointed out encouragingly. "You just finished Sixth Year, right?" Making her seventeen, which was technically an adult in the Wizarding World. She wasn't actually a little girl, she was just a hell of a lot more innocent and, well, vulnerable, than he had been at seventeen, which made her seem younger.

If she was any other type of girl, he admitted to himself reluctantly, he would probably be trying to make a move on her. Although there would still be the issue that she was Rupert's sister - but Jake was actually a lot less bothered by that (except that he didn't want to lose Rupert's friendship, nor yet get his own nose broken) than by the prospect of hurting Lissie herself. He only had an older sister himself, and it would never have occurred to him to be protective over her - Jake didn't really see it as a brother's place to try and protect his sisters, unless someone was actually trying to hurt them, which could go the other way just as easily. He wasn't sure Rupert would see it in the same light though, much less Lissie's other three older brothers. He knew nothing about George or Charles except for passing comments by Rupert, but he had been taught by Jack Hewer at school and had a healthy respect for him.

If Jake hadn't been on the alert for any signs that this was other than a perfectly ordinary, innocent conversation, he probably wouldn't have thought twice about her passing comment. As it was, he didn't quite know what to make of it, because in all likelihood she meant nothing by it. She'd made no other signs that she was thinking of him as anything other than a casual acquaintance, her brother's friend. Which was a good thing, Jake told himself, ignoring the faint twinge of something that could even have been disappointment. He liked it when he made her laugh though, even though his comment hadn't been that funny.

"Make the most of it while you can - it's all school's good for!" he told her. "You'll suddenly think of all the things you want to do in the summer once you're working full time and can only take three days at the end of August because all your colleagues want holidays in the summer too." He spoke from his own experience - Jake had never done anything hugely exciting in his school holidays. He'd left school by the time he was old enough to make major plans with friends, and his family had never had the money to go anywhere. The idea appealed though.

"Yeah... I'm in the kitchen quite a bit, we need extra people there on Hogsmeade days," he said vaguely, attempting to gloss over that line of thought (they needed extra people on the bar more than in the kitchen on Hogsmeade days). "It pays the bills and the child maintenance anyway, that's the main thing."

He hesitated. This was his cue to leave, if he chose to take it. He didn't want to... but he ought to. He paused... And failed the test.

"No, it's cool, I've finished my shift for today. I have to pick Skye up later, but not for a while. I was just going in there to get a treat for her." He nodded at the door into Honeyduke's.

[Lissie Hewer]

"That's true," Lissie agreed, pleased that Jake seemed to remember she had been a sixth year. Which meant he had to know how old she was (or was going to be a few weeks time.) She nodded. "Yes, I did. And, talking of exams, that means I have NEWTs next year." If she were being perfectly honest, Lissie wasn't worried at all about the scary final exams required of seventh years. She didn't even know what she wanted to do with her life, so she wasn't going to let these exams (which were far in the future) ruin her last and final year of schooling. Lissie found herself laughing again, this time more appropriately matched to the statement Jake made. She wondered if he was telling the truth (if school was only good for the holidays) or if that was his own, very personal opinion. "I reckon I'll have to find out myself. But working full-time does sound awful." She scrunched up her nose, making a face.

She probably sounded spoiled or immature, but working full-time really didn't sound like a lot of fun at all. Lissie knew that all of her brothers enjoyed their career choices, which was great because there was hope that they would let her discover what made her happy and help her achieve that goal. Lissie cleared those thoughts from her head, though, and focused on Jake. She nodded.

"Working in the kitchen doesn't sound so bad," she said. To her, it seemed as if most students got butterbeer on Hogsmeade weekends, but Jake worked at the place, so he must know best. Lissie reflected on what his job must be like. That was her type of job, she thought. Behind the scenes, working away from the action and the people. Maybe not in the kitchen of The Three Broomsticks (or any other pub), but definitely something that required as little people-to-people interaction as necessary. Lissie brightened at the word 'child'. "Oh! How is Skye? I hope she's doing well! She must be so big now. It's been such a long time since I've seen her." The last (and first) time Lissie had met Skye, the girl had wanted to have a cupcake that was about as big as her face. She had been so sweet and Lissie had thought she was the cutest.

Lissie's eyes opened a little wider. "Oh," she said. "Well, then, let's go in, shall we?" It didn't sound like an invitation for her come along, but that's how she was going to take it. Besides, if Jack came looking for her and saw her with Jake....

[Jake Gullane]

"Yeah," Jake said sympathetically. "I never took them myself, but everyone seemed to stress a lot over NEWTs. Still, they're a year away, and you don't even have to think about them until September at the earliest, right? Like I say, make the most of the summer." Jake had only really been vaguely aware of his friends doing NEWTs - Skye had been born in the January of that year, so he had had a five month old baby by June, and school and exams had seemed a world away. Everything that had happened since made that seem a long time ago, but it really wasn't, he reminded himself.

"It's not the most fun," he agreed. "The whole being an adult thing's pretty overrated, to be honest." He grinned at her. "It's better than not having a job at all though. Being unemployed gets old fast. And I actually prefer the bar," he added. "I mean, none of it's too bad, but I'd rather be serving drinks and talking to people than washing up." 'Talking to people' usually involved chatting up pretty girls - not on Hogsmeade days of course, when you never quite knew if you might be talking to a Fourth Year, but in the evenings - but she did not need to know that.

He smiled when she asked after Skye, his eyes lighting up slightly without him actually being aware of the fact, as they always did when talking about his daughter.

"Yeah, she's good! You'll have to come and see her some time," he said without thinking. "She goes to Nursery most days, when me and Emma are both working, but at least working evenings and weekends means I get some daytime shifts off, so I usually take her then. She's into choosing her own clothes at the moment - it's party dresses and tutus everywhere we go these days, she won't let you put her in anything else.

He'd kind of assumed that she would come with him without actually making it an invitation, so he simply smiled at her as he pushed himself away from the wall. "Okay, you can help me choose something." He opened the door and held it for her.

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie nodded, agreeing with every word that Jake was saying. Students did get worked up over NEWTs. Then again, it didn't help that there was pressure from everyone (parents, professors, mentors, friends, etc) to do well on them. But Lissie wasn't worried about it at all. Like Jake said, they were a year away. She didn't need to start worrying yet. "Right," Lissie concurred. "September at the very earliest. It's not life or death, though, so there isn't any sense in worrying about something in September that won't happen until June." It would be very different if the exams meant she lived or if she died. But they didn't. Besides, standardized testing was a bit foolish, wasn't it? Expectations of teenagers today was unrealistic.

Lissie chuckled softly. "I'm going to take your word for it," she decided. Most of the adults in her life that she encountered were her brothers - and they seemed to be fine with adulthood. But perhaps they just didn't want to disillusion their little sister just yet. "I promise to thoroughly enjoy the rest of teenage-hood, however long or short that may be."

As Jake talked about working at the bar, Lissie couldn't stop the small smile that appeared on her face. That was Jake: working behind the bar, talking to people. She wondered if she might catch him working one day, shimmy up to the bar and order a butterbeer. There would be loads of pretty girls there, trying to catch Jake's attention, but he would only pay attention to her. They'd laugh and flirt and he'd slip her some free snacks. It would be like they were the only two in the entire place.

"I would love to see her again!" Lissie said enthusiastically, pulling herself from another fantasy. She grinned at the thought of the little girl in tutus and party dresses. Skye really was a cute child. "Well, I bet she looks adorable no matter what!" Lissie obviously didn't know two things about parenting, but she knew that it was important for children to be creative - that included their own style of dress. Lissie stepped through the door of the sweets shop, flashing Jake a perfect smile. She thanked him and then stopped to look around, trying to remember what sweets she had seen kids pick out before.

"What is her absolute favorite sweet?" she asked Jake now, turning to look at him.

---

((OOC: ...and there goes Lissie's mind again. xD ))

[Jake Gullane]

Jake nodded his approval of this attitude. Of course, he had ever respect for people who cared about exams and wanted to do well in them, and they were very necessary if you wanted to do certain jobs. He personally had never seen the point of getting worked up over them, as their importance in after-school life seemed overrated. Then again, he had been capable of doing reasonably well without doing much in the way of steady work, so maybe it wasn't fair of him to tell anyone not to stress. "Definitely not life or death," he agreed whole-heartedly. "Though they'd like to make you think that, I bet. I mean, I didn't do them, and I'm still alive." He grinned at her, to show he wasn't entirely serious, though his voice took on a rueful note with his next words. "You might want to skip some of the things I did instead, though."

"Now I'm talking like some old fogey," he went on cheerfully. "Sorry. To be fair, most adults also overrate how great being a teenager at school was. Not that I'm exactly a proper adult," he added. It was weird, he was only twenty - coming up twenty one, but still - which wasn't really properly grown up at all, and a lot of the time he still felt like a kid, except for the times when his adult responsibilities weighed in on him, and he felt about fifty.

He glanced at her, caught the smile on her face, and wondered curiously what she was thinking. So far their conversation had not seemed awkward in the slightest - it was as if that kiss had never happened. They both knew it had though. Was she really as at ease with him as she seemed?

Skye was a safe topic, though, and he laughed as they entered the shop. "Well, I think she does, but I might be a bit biased. I've seem some parents give us funny looks in the park when she's running around looking like she just came from Cinderella's ball." It didn't occur to him that she might not know the Muggle fairytale, and he looked around the shop.

"Well... She's obsessed with just about anything that comes from the 'magic shop'. Some of the things here aren't really that great for little kids though. Her favourite Muggle sweets are Gummi Bears. She's not too fussy though." He glanced around again; they were the only customers in the shop, and there was no sign of the proprietor, who had presumably popped into the back while the shop was quiet. Coming in places like this always reminded him of being a kid. Back then, he had done exactly what he wanted, regardless of whether it was something he ought to be doing. "You know, when I was young," he murmured with a mischievous grin, leaning closer to her so that he could speak quietly - even though part of his brain was telling him that initiating closer proximity with her was a very bad idea. "Before Hogwarts, I mean. We used to go in sweetshops, and some of us would distract the guys at the counter while the rest of us pocketed whatever we could."

He wasn't sure what she would think of this story, but he couldn't resist telling her. Not that he would do that now, of course - shoplifting was not something he'd sunk to for a very long time. It had been fun, though, back then when he had been ten and completely careless about consequences, and he couldn't help a certain nostalgia for those days.

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie smiled at Jake. "Yeah, I can't imagine...," she trailed off, letting the rest of her words hang in the air around them. It wasn't that Jake seemed like the type of person who would get a girl pregnant so young and they would have a child together. But it had happened. She could only imagine if it had been her - she would have been so scared. Her brothers would have murdered the boy, probably. Lissie thought about Skye and gently touched Jake's arm. "But things turned out okay. That's all that matters." He was a good father and turning his life around; he needed to focus on that.

"I think you're more of a proper adult than some adults I know," she told him sincerely. He had a child, for goodness sake! Some adults still acted like children. Jake wasn't perfect; Lissie knew that. But he was being the best he could be. She vaguely wondered what her brothers would think if she were to tell them her feelings about Jake. She wasn't even sure Jake was interested in her, but part of her hoped he was. And if she could show her brothers how good he could really be... maybe they might stand a chance. But she was getting ahead of herself - far ahead of herself.

Lissie couldn't help but to roll her eyes. "Some parents are so traditional," she responded. Her parents hadn't been too bad; thinking about them made her heart ache. She had grown up as sort of a flower child, though extremely timid. She had always been barefoot; even these days, she preferred bare feet to shoes.

"Skye has good taste," Lissie said, nodding slightly. Gummi Bears were a good sweet. There had to be something similar to them in here. Lissie was about to go in search of something Jake would let his daughter have, when he leaned closer to her and began talking in a low voice. She felt herself smirking at his story. She had never done anything like that, but it wasn't a surprise coming from Jake. She grinned at him now. "Did your trousers ever fall down?" She imagined Jake and his friends, running out of the store with their trousers slipping from their hips, being chased by the shop owner. The image was funny and she glanced at the shop employee, who wasn't paying attention to them at all.

---

((OOC: waaah, this reply is awful! i'm so sorry!))

[Jake Gullane]

Jake glanced sideways at her for a moment, kind of regretting bringing up his slightly shady past, even semi-light-heartedly. Of course, she was Rupert's sister, so she already knew about everything he'd done - well, not everything (he hoped) but the big things. But she was from such a completely different world, of course she couldn't imagine it, and that was part of why he liked her, if he was honest. And yet in some ways, he felt easier talking to her about it than to any of his friends his own age. He didn't want Lissie to think of him as just some reprobate, though (not that he thought she did), and he didn't feel like analysing exactly why he cared. However, he also gave her a small grin. "Yeah, they did, for the most part. I wouldn't change much."

His grin turned into a laugh at her next words. "Well, if you're comparing me to, say, Rupert, that's probably true," he said teasingly. Of course, she didn't know all the choice details of his current life - she'd mostly seen him being the responsible father with Skye. And also topless and slightly hungover, waking up on a couch, he reminded himself (although he didn't really want to remember), so she did have some idea at least.

"Yeah," he agreed with a shrug. "I don't really give a toss what other people think of her - she's happy, that's all that matters. And she's also three, so I really don't see how it's any sort of big deal what she wears, as long as she's warm enough." He smiled at her again, to show that the mild irritation that had crept into his voice was certainly not directed at her.

He raised an eyebrow at her question, his eyes dancing. "I don't remember them ever falling all the way down. That might have drawn quite a lot of attention." He laughed. "Though mine were usually my brother's hand-me-downs, so they were always half falling down on me. But we were far too good at it for that," he assured her, with mock solemnity, though his lips were twitching. "Practically little criminal masterminds." He didn't intend to tell her about the worst of his childhood thieving exploits, which had gone slightly beyond stealing sweets, but at least this part was more funny than anything. "I don't suggest we try it here though."

((OOC - Don't be silly, it's fine!))

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie found herself nodding in agreement - or understanding, sympathy? Whatever the reason, she was nodding and didn't have much else to say. She had a past, too (everyone did), but hers as nothing like Jake's. She realized that they could have had similar pasts, if she had changed drastically after her parents' death. If she'd acted out, slept with boys, drank and did other things that kids her age did. But she hadn't; she'd shrunk back into herself even more, afraid to take a step forwards or backwards or sideways. In a sense, she had been stuck. Jack thought she was resilient, but Lissie didn't think she was. Pushing the thoughts to the side, Lissie gave Jake another smile.

A laugh managed to escape her at Jake took a jab at Rupert. "Definitely," she agreed in the same teasing tone. It occurred to her that she didn't know much about Rupert's life. They rarely saw each other and the thought saddened her. Her brothers were her favorite people in the entire world and she loved being with them. She was going to have to bother Jack about getting everyone together. She missed her brothers.

"Exactly!" Lissie concurred once more, nodding. "I hate it when parents have little babies - or even toddlers - outside, in the cold weather and they haven't got hats or mittens or warm enough coats on. I mean, I know when I was younger, I didn't want to wear that stuff, but my parents still made me." It drove her mad when she saw children not properly dressed for the cold weather. The parents needed a serious reality check, she thought.

Lissie giggled again, imagining once more Jake running out of the sweets shop, grabbing onto his trousers to keep them from falling down. It was probably funnier in her mind than it actual would be in person. She gave him a knowing smile and gently shoved his arm. "Don't give yourself too much credit," she said, feigning haughtiness. Being so far away from the front of shop where the store employee was, Lissie grabbing a handful of sweets from the shelf. She shoved them into the pockets of her shorts and looked at Jack as if to say See?. But, being the good girl she was, she quickly removed the sweets and placed them back on the shelf, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks. "It's probably not a good thing to give your child stolen sweets. I'd feel guilty."

[Jake Gullane]

Jake grinned as she agreed with him about Rupert. "I'm definitely the well-adjusted adult in our flat," he assured her. "Though to be fair, you should see them all when I bring Skye round. They all turn into mother hens." Not that he was complaining - he was very relieved that his friends were okay with him having a kid, and having to look after her a lot of the time. And he was immensely amused by the way that Skye had adopted the boys as surrogate uncles.

"Yeah, some people don't really deserve to have kids," he agreed, pulling a face. "Not that I'm saying I'm some perfect parent, but yeah..." Honestly, if he and Emma, two seventeen-year-olds - well, they were seventeen when they started out as parents - could get their act together enough to take care of a child properly, he really didn't see why anyone else couldn't. Sure, they'd made plenty of mistakes, and would continue to make them, but they had a happy, healthy little girl, which was definitely the main thing to Jake.

He wasn't thinking about her brothers, or even really about Skye (even though he was here for the sole purpose of buying Skye something), however, as she responded to his joking remarks. He liked watching her laugh, and he liked making her laugh, and neither of those facts were exactly comfortable for him to realise - though it wasn't the first time he had realised it. It seemed to happen every time he saw her, which was really a bit of a problem. Her amusement was too infectious for him to dwell on the discomfort though, and he laughed back at her.

"Ah, but could you make it out of the door with them?" he demanded of her. "Not that I think you should try," he added. "You're probably right. Bad example to set to Skye." He grinned cheekily at her, conveniently ignoring that several of the payments he'd made to Emma, explicitly for Skye's upkeep, had come from not altogether honest sources. Not that he'd actually stolen any of the money, of course. And in fact, he hadn't taken any payment for anything illegal in a while. "We used to give each other dares, though," he told her. "Make each other take the hardest things we could. Big things, or things that were high on a shelf..." Without thinking, he put his arm round her shoulders and turned her round to look at the shelves behind her.

"One of those, for example." He pointed at a rack of huge round rainbow-coloured lollies, slightly above her head height, each about the size of a football. "I'd like to see you nick one of those." He suddenly realised that his arm was still round her, and removed it hurriedly, his tone changing. "Hey, maybe Skye would like one of those."