Katrina stood under the arched entrance to her living room while she held a plastic tray containing three bowls of vanilla ice cream- Rainbow coloured sprinkles and all.

She stood unnoticed while JC and Cody sat on the couch, happily flipping through the pages of the child's music workbook as JC patiently explained the basics of the subject. Cindy sat contentedly on the carpeted floor by herself while she stroked the fur of the purring kitten in her small hands.

"Ahem," Katrina cleared her throat, entering the room and setting the tray down on the coffee table. "Ice cream for dessert," she announced.

"Awesome!" Cody cheered as his aunt handed him a bowl. "Hey, Aunt Kat, guess what?"

"What?" she asked, handing his sister a smaller bowl.

"JC helped me finish the rest of the pages."

Katrina raised her eyebrows at JC who closed the workbook and set it on the coffee table next to the tray. He picked up the bowl and shrugged.

"It was basic stuff and Cody already had most of it done," JC said. "He knew what he was doing."

"That's great, Codes," Katrina smiled. "Maybe we can get you a new one if we go to the mall tomorrow."

The child beamed as lowered his head to focus on his dessert.

"You alright, honey?" JC asked the four year old who sat a few feet away from him on the carpeted floor.

Cindy smiled up at him and nodded. She continued to silently swirl her plastic spoon around in the ice cream before feeding herself.

"She gets quieter than usual when she's worn out," Katrina explained, taking a seat in between JC's legs to join her niece on the floor. She smiled when Pixel crawled over to her and curled up in her lap.

"Where's your ice cream, Kat?" JC asked, nudging her shoulder gently with his knee.

Katrina shook her head. "I ate too much at dinner. I don't have much more room for anything else."

"But you love vanilla ice cream."

She chuckled. "I thought my thighs were beginning to look too big?"

JC shook his head at her. "Open your mouth."

Katrina leaned her head back and did as was asked. JC grinned as he placed the large spoonful of his ice cream in her mouth. He chuckled when Katrina groaned and tried to swallow.

It took a few seconds before she could think straight. "Brain freeze," she murmured, rubbing her forehead.

Cody and Cindy giggled.

Just then, the ringing of Katrina's house phone interrupted.

"Jace, phone, please," Katrina said, turning around her head.

JC reached up at the wall behind him to grab the cordless phone and handed it to her.

"Hello?" Katrina answered, relaxing against the front of the couch.

"Hey, Kat," the familiar voice greeted her.

"Sean," she proclaimed with a smile. "How are you? How's the trip?"

"That's my dad," Cody whispered to JC.

JC nodded.

"Great, the trip's been great so far," Sean told his sister. "Busy with work and what not but still pretty great. How're things with you and the kids? Are they behaving?"

"Oh, things are fun over here," Katrina replied. "They've been wonderful, really. The four of us are having some ice cream right now."

"The four of you?" her brother questioned.

"JC's here," she answered, looking up at him. JC made a face and Katrina elbowed the side of his leg. She could hear her brother groan on the other line. "The kids like him a lot, Sean."

"He's not doing anything inappropriate in front of them, is he?"

"No, he's smarter than that."

"You sure?"

"Sean," Katrina said with a warning tone.

"Are Cody and Cindy okay around him?"

"I told you, they're having fun here with the both of us."

"Alright, if you say so. Can I talk to them now, please?"

Katrina raised the phone in the air and smiled at Cindy. "Daddy's on the phone."

The little girl lit up, scrambling to her feet. "Daddy!" she squealed into the phone.

Cody hopped off the couch happily and eagerly went to stand next to his sister.

"You two can go into the kitchen if you want to talk to him alone," Katrina told them.

The two children jostled out of the living room, leaving Katrina and JC chuckling.

"Those kids are adorable," JC smiled.

"I know," Katrina agreed, standing up and collecting the two almost empty bowls of ice cream Cody and Cindy had left behind. "Having them for this week feels like a vacation for me. They're an excuse to have excessive fun and eat junk food all day."

"You're not fat, you know," JC told her. "You still got a nice ass."

She laughed whole heartedly, placing the bowls on the tray and taking a seat next to him on the couch. "Yea, well, that's what probably helped me get Ethan's attention today."

"The vet guy from the Aquarium? Please," JC practically scoffed.

"Hey, he was nice," Katrina defended.

"He was trying to pick you up."

"He was very respectful, thank you very much."

JC shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against the cushions. "Whatever you say. Are you going to give him a call?"

Katrina smiled, shaking her head. "I doubt it. I'd like to, but I doubt it."

"How come?"

"If he wanted a date, I wouldn't be able to go or even see him soon because I'm watching Cody and Cindy for the rest of the week. By the time they leave, he probably would have already forgotten about meeting me."

"I like the way you think, SmartieKat."

"Hey, I don't tell you anything when you pick up random girls and hook up with them. And that happens on a weekly basis."

JC grinned. "Totally worth it though."

"He seemed like a pretty nice guy though," Katrina said, almost blushing. "Maybe I'll see him around if I go back to the Aquarium one of these days."

"Alright, enough talk about the animal doctor," JC said, getting up and placing his empty bowl on the tray. "I'm not going to sit here and have girl talks with you over some other guy. That's like the time you tricked me into watching A Walk to Remember with you."

"You cried when we saw that movie," Katrina pointed out.

JC stared down at her on the couch and pointed his index finger. "We were eating really spicy Thai food and I was coughing."

 "Yea, you keep telling yourself that."

JC rolled his eyes at her and looked at the digital watch on his left wrist.

 "I should probably call it a night and head on out of here," he said. "Probably go home and spend a couple hours in the studio. I have a couple songs I need to be working on."

 "Projects?"

"Nah, just some beats I came up with and I wanted to finish ‘em. That's it."

Katrina never asked further questions whenever JC brought up recording. He rarely ever let her hear any of the material he worked on privately and she always got ignored whenever she suggested that he try releasing a song.

The conversation usually ended with JC having the last word because she would change the topic. It was always easier to play it safe than risk pissing him off.

"What're you gonna do?" he asked, taking his car keys out of the pocket of his jeans.

"Give the kids a bath, put them to bed, feed Pixel and then probably get ahead on some reading. And I still have to finish decide what we're doing tomorrow."

 "I actually have a few meetings tomorrow so you won't be seeing me," JC told her. He walked over to the television set and picked up his Aviators, hooking them onto the neckline of his t shirt. He checked his phone before turning around.

Katrina looked at him, unsure.

"What?" he asked.

"Is that a, ‘I'll show up unexpectedly anyways' kind of ‘you won't be seeing me' or is it a, ‘I really have shit to do' kind of ‘you won't be seeing me?'"

 "Nah, I'll call first if I'm free," JC promised with a smile.

"I know your antics, Chasez."

****

Rain.

What Katrina would have used an excuse to go to curl up in bed with a hot cup of tea and a good novel had turned into a day of sleeping till noon, wolfing on grilled cheese sandwiches and potato chips as they played board games and watching animated movies in wrinkled pajamas till five.

JC hadn't called for the day, and Katrina presumed he was actually caught up with work.

The dark and cold weather had eliminated all chances of doing any outdoor activities for the day and the lazy atmosphere called for some mellow family time among the trio.

"Can I pleeeaaassseee lick the spoon?" Cindy pleaded, standing on the tips of her toes as she held on to the top of the counter. "Please, please, please, please-"

"Okay!" Katrina laughed, pulling the long, wooden spoon out of the chocolate cake batter. She handed it to the delighted child before she turned to her nephew who sat at the kitchen table.

"Do not tell your parents about this," she warned, speaking of her dental oriented brother and her sister in law. "Not a word."

The boy grinned cheekily. "Can I eat the icing?" He held up a silver spoon in one hand and an unopened jar of vanilla icing in the other."

"Cody, you're supposed to be deciding on colours so we can dye the icing."

"I did- blue, green and red."

"You guys don't get sick from eating too much sugar, do you?" Katrina asked uneasily.

"Nope."

"Fine," she permitted, turning back to the large bowl of batter. "But only one spoon or we won't have any icing for the cupcakes. And you guys have to brush your teeth again when you're done."

The two children sat together in glee, the rims of their lips as well as the palms of their hands quickly dirtying and become sticky with the chocolate and vanilla pastes. The glee in their eyes would have fooled anyone to think that it was Christmas morning.

"Aunt Kat?" Cindy spoke up.

"Yea, hun?"

"Is JC coming over today?"

"Not today, Cin," Katrina shook her head. "He's working today."

"How come you don't have a boyfriend?"

Katrina laughed at the question she had gotten from a four year old. "Boys have cooties."

"Girls too," Cody defended. "But the girls at school don't listen!"

The conversation caused Katrina to laugh harder, spilling some of the cake batter out of the paper holders.

"You guys are too funny," she grinned. Swiping some of the remnants off the sides of the pan with her finger, Katrina slid the tray into the oven and turned around.

"Cupcakes should be out in twenty minutes or so, okay?"

Both children nodded, licking the sweet remains off of their spoons.

"What now?" Cindy asked. The four year olds face from the tip of the nose, down, was covered in chocolate. Her brother was a bit neater with the sugary task.

 "Can we make cocoa too?" The older sibling asked, hopeful.

His aunt chewed it over for a moment before she heard another rumble of thunder from the outside. "That seems like a loottt of chocolate for one day."

Two pouts were darted her way complimented with sad puppy eyes.

"Fine," Katrina gave in. "Two conditions."

An echo of groans sounded.

"No cupcakes until after dinner and you guys gotta help me clean up. Deal?"

"Okay," the two said in unison.

Katrina chuckled. "What'd you say we turn on some music, huh?"

"The Wiggles!" Cindy chanted.

"I was thinking of something a little different, Cin," her aunt told her. Katrina reached into a drawer from a table that was pressed against the wall. She pulled out a C.D. case and held it in front of the kids.

"Do you know who this guy is?" she asked them, pointing to the most familiar face of the five on the cover.

"Hey, that's JC, isn't it?" Cody grinned.

"Indeed," Katrina smiled as she opened the case.

"I wish he could have hanged out with us today," Cindy said, continuing to look at the cover. "He could make cupcakes with us."

Katrina laughed, taking out the disk and spinning it around her finger. "Believe me. JC's a much better singer than he is a chef."

****

"McDonalds!"

"In N Out Burger!"

"McDonalds!"

"In N Out Burger!"

"McDonalds!"

It was an argument neither child seemed to be giving up on, no matter how insane it was beginning to drive their aunt.

The Los Angeles weather had calmed down from the day before, and Katrina was determined not to spend another day cooped up in the apartment. The grass at the park was far too damp and the sky was too overcast to risk having a family afternoon there, and what was supposed to be a stroll through the mall had turned into a day of newly bought games, clothes, books and sweets for both her niece and nephew as well as herself.

She would have considered the day an otherwise success if she hadn't made the mistake of asking two young children to decide on what food they should end their day with.

"In N Out Burger!"

"McDonalds!"

"Guys!" Katrina slammed the door, startling the two arguing children in front of her. She heaved a sigh and dropped the seven shopping bags she was holding onto the floor of her apartment. "You've been arguing about dinner since the moment we left the mall, to the moment we just walked in here. STOP."

"It's Cindy's fault," Cody mumbled.

"I want McDonalds!" his younger sister argued.

"Enough," Katrina said sternly. "If you two don't decide on something, we're staying in for dinner."

Cindy folded her arms while Cody frowned, looking away from his sister.

"I'm giving you two ten minutes," Katrina told them, picking up the bags. "If you two don't decide on where you wanna go, we're staying home and I'll make mac and cheese."

The two children sighed, turning around and speed walking toward the room they stayed in together. Katrina could hear soft bickering fade away until she heard the bedroom door close.

She walked into the living room and rested all the bags she held onto one area of the couch before falling back onto the other half.

She was about to put her feet up on the coffee coloured table when her front pocket started to vibrate.  It was only a second later before her signature contact Macarena ringtone began to play.

"Yo," she answered, holding the phone to her ear. "What's up?"

"Hey, SmartieKat," JC greeted her. "What've you guys been up to today?"

"Just got home from the mall," Katrina yawned.

"How was it?"

"I'm a couple hundred bucks poorer than I was this morning," she chucked, and JC laughed. "But it was pretty good. We got some lunch there and I took Cody and Cindy to meet a few friends from back at the store."

"You mean your co-workers?"JC asked.

"They're my friends too, you know."

"No, they're your co workers," JC told her, laughing quietly. "People like me are your friend because we hang out, and, really, I'm the only one you hang out with. Like, ever."

"That's because I'm reluctantly around you seventy nine percent of the time."

"Just the way it should be."

"Shut up, JC," Katrina groaned. "What'd you want, anyways? How are you?"

"I'm great. I wanted to know what you guys were doing tonight."

"Cody and Cindy are too young to get into a club, Jace."

"I wanted to take you guys out for dinner tonight, smartass."

"In N Out Burger or McDonalds?" Katrina asked.

"Huh?"

She laughed quietly, before saying, "Never mind."

"You guys up for it?" JC asked. "I figured they leave Sunday night and it's already Friday. And I don't think you've taken them around at night time since they've been staying with you, have you?"

"No, but that's why people like you exist. Where are we going?"

"Anywhere you guys want. I was thinking somewhere besides fast food since that's all you've been feeding the poor kids. And we can always take ‘em somewhere for a drive or something afterward."

"Yea, that sounds pretty good, actually," Katrina agreed. "Do you want us to meet you there or are you coming over here?"

"I'll pick you up," JC said, and Katrina could hear a car door slam in the background. "I'll be there in twenty."

"Okay, I'll see ya."

Hanging up the phone and tossing it next to her, Katrina relaxed against the couch and sighed. "Cody, Cindy!" she yelled out. "Come into the living room please!"

A few seconds later, the pitter patter of two pairs of feet could be heard running the short distance from their room until they were standing in front of Katrina.

"What's going on?" Cody asked.

"Change of plans," she told them. "Go get ready. JC's taking us for dinner."

"JC?" Cindy smiled.

"Awesome!" her brother added.

"Exactly," Katrina smiled. "And he'll be here soon so go change."

* *

"Yo," JC called out, entering the apartment. "Anybody re- Woah."

Cindy grinned, running up to him and hugging his leg. She looked up at his pleasantly surprised face. "Hi, JC."

 "Hey, sweetie. Are you ready to go?"

The child nodded, letting go of his leg and allowing him to lift her up and walk closer to the kitchen area.

"Hey, JC's here," Cody smiled, appearing out of the room.

"What's up, man?" JC said as he high fived the boy. "Where's your aunt?"

"In her room," he responded. "I don't think she's ready yet."

"Typical Kat," JC thought.

"Hey, you're here," Katrina said, almost surprised. She stood behind Cody in her pink robe that was tied tightly around the waist. "Did twenty minutes go by that fast?"

"The kids are dressed and you're not?" JC raised his eyebrows.

"I was putting away the stuff we bought today, okay?"

"JC, I got a new music book today," Cody told him, excitedly.

"Then let's check it out, dude," JC said, patting him on the back. "We've got a while to wait anyways."

Cody scampered off, his sister squirming out of JC's arms and following closely behind just for the hell of it, leaving JC and Katrina to stand together.

"Friday night dates with a pain in the neck and a seven and four year old," she joked. "Isn't my life reality television worthy?"

"Totally," JC nodded. "Are you going to take a shower or just change?"

"Shower, so gimme ten minutes and I'll be ready to go."

"Twenty minutes? Okay, I hear ya."

Katrina chuckled, shaking her head at him. "I know that Cody and Cindy really like that you came over, so thanks for giving up your usual Friday night bar and club session this once."

"I don't mind," he assured her. "However, I do mind that you're still standing here talking when you could be getting ready to leave."

Katrina swatted his arm before turning away to walk over to the bathroom.

JC walked over to the fridge when he had started hearing the house phone ring from the living room.

"Let it go to voicemail!" Katrina shouted before closing the bathroom door.

JC ignored the ringing as he pulled out a soda from the fridge and a handful of grapes. He walked into the living room and took a seat on one of the single seating couches before popping another grape into his mouth.

He sat patiently while the ringing continued, until the voicemail that was coming through sounded on automatic speaker.

"Hey, Katrina, it's Ethan. You know, that guy from the Aquarium a couple days ago and talked to you about Macaroni penguins? Yea, um. I hope this doesn't sound weird but you never gave me a call so I got your number out of the phonebook. You're the only Katrina Smart listed from this town, so. Yea, uh, I was wondering how you were doing and if you wanted to come back to the Aquarium for a one on one tour sometime. Or, you know, it doesn't have to be the Aquarium. I know this might be a little short noticed but what're you doing tomorrow night? Call me back if you wanna meet up, alright? My number's on the card or you can find me on the Aquarium's website. Alright, I guess I'll talk to you soon. Have a good night."

JC frowned upon hearing the voicemail.

Was this guy serious? He was actually interested enough that he had to look up her name in the phone book? Katrina had never called him back, so he had taken it upon himself to be the first one to make a move.

As far as JC knew, Katrina wasn't intending to call the guy in the first place, and she had two children who were going to be in her care for the next couple of days before she went back out to work.

Generally, JC didn't believe she had the time to be bothered on whether or not she should go out with someone she had only met for five minutes. She would be busy, either way.

He set the soda can down onto the arm of the couch and swallowed the last grape before getting up. He moved toward where the phone was installed onto the wall and clicked the red button that indicated she had a message.

JC stared down at the glowing switch. He didn't need to replay the voicemail and quite frankly, Katrina didn't need to hear it.

 Delete.

The speaker sounded once more as he pressed down on the push button.

"You have no new messages."