And So It Goes pt 1
It's been so long since I've done this, I had to look it up. :/
Title: And So It Goes
Author: slynn6776
Rating: T
Fandom: Big Time Rush
Pairings: Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo
Spoilers: None
Beta: tripp3235
Disclaimer: Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.
Notes: I fully admit to having never thought of or planned to write this fic. It came into my head and wouldn't leave until I starting putting it on paper. While I tried to stay as true to the characters as possible, the situations are a bit more realistic and things that weren't known in canon, I made up. If I got it wrong, I'm sorry. Thanks to my beta, Tripp! You are awesome. Enjoy!
Summary: Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.
Chapter 1
"But Mom said you have to."
"Ugh," Kendall groaned. "But why? She always lets you stay at the Palms by yourself. She knows you're not going to run away or talk to strangers or whatever..."
Katie looked up at her big brother and rolled her eyes.
"Besides," Kendall added. "I can't. I promised Jo we'd go to the park this morning. I stayed home plenty of times by myself at your age."
"In Minnesota," Katie interrupted. "Ever since Mom saw that report on --"
"You'll be fine," Kendall interrupted in his turn.
"I know that," Katie shot back at him, "but Mom said someone has to stay with me now that she's working weekends and you..."
"Not it," Kendall piped up immediately.
James and Carlos, who until this moment, had only been watching the exchange with mild curiosity, reacted on instinct.
"Not it," they chimed in chorus.
"Not -- what?" Logan began, having been distracted momentarily fixing his shoelaces.
Logan looked up just in time to see Kendall, James and Carlos, the later of the three the only one to slow down long enough to shrug, racing out the door, leaving him alone with Katie.
"Guys?" Logan feebly called after them.
"Looks like it's me and you," Katie said.
"Um...what just happened?"
"While you were busy making sure your laces are all exactly the same length, my brother, and your other best friends, ditched you, and now you have to watch me all day."
"I was not making sure my laces were all the same length. I was just making them even."
Katie looked pointedly down to his feet and then up again with a 'who are you kidding' look in her eyes.
Fighting down the blush that was creeping up his neck, Logan walked around Katie and toward the kitchen in hopes of finding a distraction.
"So?" Katie asked, following right behind him as he yanked open the refrigerator door.
"So," Logan repeated, closing the door again without having retrieved anything. "What? What am I supposed to do? I'm a terrible babysitter."
"I'm not a baby."
"I... I know," Logan stammered, acutely aware he'd just offended her. "It's just..."
"Listen," she interrupted. "All you have to do is hang out, okay? I don't need a nap. I don't need you to cut the crusts off my sandwiches. You don't have to tie my laces. Heck, if anything, my mom should be making me watch you four. I'm only going along with this because she's the one who hands out the allowances. Okay?"
"Okay," Logan repeated.
Katie nodded shortly, then turned on her heels to head off to her room.
"No," she heard Logan call out from behind her. "Not okay. I can't... I really can't. Camille is expecting me to show up on set for lunch today."
Katie, with her back still to Logan, rolled her eyes, but otherwise made no indication she'd heard him.
"Katie, Katie, Katie," Logan said in a rush, running to cut her off, and as she'd expected, wearing what she called his 'worry face', complete with a crease just above his nose. "I can't today. Someone else has to do it. If I miss this date..."
"Look around," Katie said, dramatically moving her arms in a wide circle. "There's no one else."
"Can't you just stay by yourself for a little while?" Please? This is really important."
"I can, but my mom won't like it."
At the thought of upsetting Mrs. Knight, who had after all been so good to Logan and the others, he quickly shook off that idea.
"All right then," Logan sighed in defeat, there was really only one option left. "You'll just have to come along."
"I don't think so."
"What? Why not?"
"Because I don't want to."
"Katie, come on..." Logan pleaded. "You have to work with me here."
"No, I don't."
Logan sighed, casting about him for some way of making this work, before ruffling a hand through the back of his hair.
"Katie?" he begged. Didn't she understand what this date meant to him?
Katie crossed her arms and stared up at him indignantly.
"I'm sorry I called you a baby," Logan tried.
"And?"
"And?" he returned, beginning to panic, remembering why he was often so glad to be an only child. "And what? What?"
"You have to buy me lunch."
"Fine."
"And," she continued.
"There's more?"
"I'll go," Katie said, drawing out the words as long as possible, "but only if afterwards you take me to the mall."
"Fine," Logan agreed.
"And buy me ice cream."
"Fine."
"And --"
"Katie, is your mom going to pay me for any of this?"
"No," Katie answered, as if that should be obvious.
"Then that's it," Logan said firmly. "I'm down to my last fifty bucks, and between lunch and ice cream and whatever else you've got planned..."
"I don't have a plan!"
"...I'm going to be flat broke before sunset," Logan continued on as if she'd said nothing. "And my parents, who aren't exactly thrilled with me being here in the first place, told me that if I asked them for anything else before the first of the month, I could just pack my bags and come home. Understood?"
"Yes," Katie said with an exasperated sigh. "Fine, forget the ice cream."
"We can still get ice cream," Logan said. "Just, no sprinkles."
"Sprinkles are for babies anyway," Katie said with a smile.
And Logan found himself smiling in return.
****
Kendall, James and Logan couldn't help but laugh at Logan's misfortune, but being the good friends that they are, they didn't laugh for too long.
"Was that mean?" Carlos was the first to ask, as their running gave way to walking just as they reached Bitters' desk.
"Nah," Kendall said, trying to shake off the nagging feeling that it might have been. "Besides, I'll only be gone a few hours. I'll take over when I get back. And Katie's not so bad. She'll probably just stay in her room or maybe drag him to the pool."
"Well, I couldn't have done it anyway," James said, looking a bit down. "Gustavo wants me at the studio today to redo some of my solo tracks."
"What about you, Carlos?" Kendall asked. "Got plans?"
"Not really," he admitted.
"I'd invite you along..." Kendall started to say.
"No thanks," Carlos said quickly. "I don't want to end up as the third wheel."
"Come with me to the studio," James suggested. "If I get done early we can go hang out."
"Cool," Carlos said with a short nod.
"There's Jo," Kendall said, standing up a bit straighter as he spotted her standing across the lobby. "I'll see you guys later."
"Have fun," James called after him before turning to his other friend, still at his side. "You ready?"
"Let's go," Carlos answered, eager to go anywhere, no matter the destination.
A short while later, James and Carlos found themselves at Rocque Records, greeted by an already agitated Gustavo. After a moment or two of letting into James, for no obvious reason other than it was Saturday and he'd had other plans himself, he turned to Carlos.
"And why are you here?"
"Why are any of us here?"
Gustavo looked momentarily lost for words, but shrugging this off, he bellowed for James to get in the booth.
"Where do you want me?" Carlos asked, good naturedly for the most part, but knew it would irritate the boss.
"Out of my face!"
James grinned at him from behind Gustavo's back and Carlos took a giant step backwards.
"Is that far enough?"
"Kelly!" Gustavo yelled.
"Yes?" she answered, popping into the room quickly.
"Get him out of here, will you?" he said, waving frantically in Carlos' direction. "One dog is all I can handle today."
Kelly smiled in her tight-lipped way that meant business, and grabbed the offending "dog" by the elbow, yanking him sideways and out of the room.
"Come on," she said, letting go only when they were halfway down the hall. "I'm sure we can find something to do."
She stopped abruptly in front of a door Carlos had never noticed before, opened it, and ushered him inside.
"What's this?"
"My office," she answered, as if it should be obvious, taking a seat in front of a computer.
"I didn't know you had an office," Carlos said, taking a quick look around.
A quick look was all it afforded. The room was just big enough for the desk and two chairs that had been crammed inside of it. The walls were mostly bare, except for a large corkboard that took up one entire wall and was filled with various schedules and clippings. Her desk was neat, with only a few personal affects and there were no windows.
"Of course I have an office," Kelly said, tossing him a magazine she'd retrieved from a drawer.
Carlos caught it, but didn't begin reading. He was still looking around the room in surprise.
"Didn't this used to be a broom closet?"
Kelly looked offended, but didn't deny it, and for several long minutes, neither of them spoke.
"So," Carlos said, after turning through the magazine without finding anything of interest, "why are you here? Aren't you off on the weekend?"
"If Gustavo's at work, so am I," Kelly said, without taking her eyes off of her computer screen.
"Do you at least get overtime?"
"Nope."
Carlos frowning is what finally drew her attention completely.
"It's part of the job," she explained.
"That you don't get paid for."
"Doesn't bother me."
"Really?"
"I love my job, Carlos."
For a minute she'd thought he'd let it drop. Kelly really didn't mind the sometimes crazy hours she worked, or the sometimes crazy people she worked with. It was worth it in her opinion, but she knew Carlos and the rest of the boys might not get that this was how life was sometimes. The last thing she needed was them making a fuss with Gustavo, or worse, with Griffin, over her.
"I get it," Carlos finally said. "It's like hockey."
"I'm sorry?"
"Your job," he explained. "It's like hockey."
Kelly raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"See," Carlos explained, "if you want to play in the game, you've got to do all this other stuff to make it happen. Sometimes it’s real obvious, like practicing, but sometimes it's not, like going to bed early and eating right."
She said nothing.
"Kendall could probably have said it better. A lot better."
"No," Kelly said quickly, shaking her head. "No, you're right. It is like that. A lot like that, actually. I get it."
And this time, when she smiled, it was a real one.
Title: And So It Goes
Author: slynn6776
Rating: T
Fandom: Big Time Rush
Pairings: Logan/Camille and Kendall/Jo
Spoilers: None
Beta: tripp3235
Disclaimer: Does anyone actually read this? If so, these characters and settings are not mine. I'm only borrowing.
Notes: I fully admit to having never thought of or planned to write this fic. It came into my head and wouldn't leave until I starting putting it on paper. While I tried to stay as true to the characters as possible, the situations are a bit more realistic and things that weren't known in canon, I made up. If I got it wrong, I'm sorry. Thanks to my beta, Tripp! You are awesome. Enjoy!
Summary: Katie has a plan, but it's Kelly that ends up needing one.
Chapter 1
"But Mom said you have to."
"Ugh," Kendall groaned. "But why? She always lets you stay at the Palms by yourself. She knows you're not going to run away or talk to strangers or whatever..."
Katie looked up at her big brother and rolled her eyes.
"Besides," Kendall added. "I can't. I promised Jo we'd go to the park this morning. I stayed home plenty of times by myself at your age."
"In Minnesota," Katie interrupted. "Ever since Mom saw that report on --"
"You'll be fine," Kendall interrupted in his turn.
"I know that," Katie shot back at him, "but Mom said someone has to stay with me now that she's working weekends and you..."
"Not it," Kendall piped up immediately.
James and Carlos, who until this moment, had only been watching the exchange with mild curiosity, reacted on instinct.
"Not it," they chimed in chorus.
"Not -- what?" Logan began, having been distracted momentarily fixing his shoelaces.
Logan looked up just in time to see Kendall, James and Carlos, the later of the three the only one to slow down long enough to shrug, racing out the door, leaving him alone with Katie.
"Guys?" Logan feebly called after them.
"Looks like it's me and you," Katie said.
"Um...what just happened?"
"While you were busy making sure your laces are all exactly the same length, my brother, and your other best friends, ditched you, and now you have to watch me all day."
"I was not making sure my laces were all the same length. I was just making them even."
Katie looked pointedly down to his feet and then up again with a 'who are you kidding' look in her eyes.
Fighting down the blush that was creeping up his neck, Logan walked around Katie and toward the kitchen in hopes of finding a distraction.
"So?" Katie asked, following right behind him as he yanked open the refrigerator door.
"So," Logan repeated, closing the door again without having retrieved anything. "What? What am I supposed to do? I'm a terrible babysitter."
"I'm not a baby."
"I... I know," Logan stammered, acutely aware he'd just offended her. "It's just..."
"Listen," she interrupted. "All you have to do is hang out, okay? I don't need a nap. I don't need you to cut the crusts off my sandwiches. You don't have to tie my laces. Heck, if anything, my mom should be making me watch you four. I'm only going along with this because she's the one who hands out the allowances. Okay?"
"Okay," Logan repeated.
Katie nodded shortly, then turned on her heels to head off to her room.
"No," she heard Logan call out from behind her. "Not okay. I can't... I really can't. Camille is expecting me to show up on set for lunch today."
Katie, with her back still to Logan, rolled her eyes, but otherwise made no indication she'd heard him.
"Katie, Katie, Katie," Logan said in a rush, running to cut her off, and as she'd expected, wearing what she called his 'worry face', complete with a crease just above his nose. "I can't today. Someone else has to do it. If I miss this date..."
"Look around," Katie said, dramatically moving her arms in a wide circle. "There's no one else."
"Can't you just stay by yourself for a little while?" Please? This is really important."
"I can, but my mom won't like it."
At the thought of upsetting Mrs. Knight, who had after all been so good to Logan and the others, he quickly shook off that idea.
"All right then," Logan sighed in defeat, there was really only one option left. "You'll just have to come along."
"I don't think so."
"What? Why not?"
"Because I don't want to."
"Katie, come on..." Logan pleaded. "You have to work with me here."
"No, I don't."
Logan sighed, casting about him for some way of making this work, before ruffling a hand through the back of his hair.
"Katie?" he begged. Didn't she understand what this date meant to him?
Katie crossed her arms and stared up at him indignantly.
"I'm sorry I called you a baby," Logan tried.
"And?"
"And?" he returned, beginning to panic, remembering why he was often so glad to be an only child. "And what? What?"
"You have to buy me lunch."
"Fine."
"And," she continued.
"There's more?"
"I'll go," Katie said, drawing out the words as long as possible, "but only if afterwards you take me to the mall."
"Fine," Logan agreed.
"And buy me ice cream."
"Fine."
"And --"
"Katie, is your mom going to pay me for any of this?"
"No," Katie answered, as if that should be obvious.
"Then that's it," Logan said firmly. "I'm down to my last fifty bucks, and between lunch and ice cream and whatever else you've got planned..."
"I don't have a plan!"
"...I'm going to be flat broke before sunset," Logan continued on as if she'd said nothing. "And my parents, who aren't exactly thrilled with me being here in the first place, told me that if I asked them for anything else before the first of the month, I could just pack my bags and come home. Understood?"
"Yes," Katie said with an exasperated sigh. "Fine, forget the ice cream."
"We can still get ice cream," Logan said. "Just, no sprinkles."
"Sprinkles are for babies anyway," Katie said with a smile.
And Logan found himself smiling in return.
****
Kendall, James and Logan couldn't help but laugh at Logan's misfortune, but being the good friends that they are, they didn't laugh for too long.
"Was that mean?" Carlos was the first to ask, as their running gave way to walking just as they reached Bitters' desk.
"Nah," Kendall said, trying to shake off the nagging feeling that it might have been. "Besides, I'll only be gone a few hours. I'll take over when I get back. And Katie's not so bad. She'll probably just stay in her room or maybe drag him to the pool."
"Well, I couldn't have done it anyway," James said, looking a bit down. "Gustavo wants me at the studio today to redo some of my solo tracks."
"What about you, Carlos?" Kendall asked. "Got plans?"
"Not really," he admitted.
"I'd invite you along..." Kendall started to say.
"No thanks," Carlos said quickly. "I don't want to end up as the third wheel."
"Come with me to the studio," James suggested. "If I get done early we can go hang out."
"Cool," Carlos said with a short nod.
"There's Jo," Kendall said, standing up a bit straighter as he spotted her standing across the lobby. "I'll see you guys later."
"Have fun," James called after him before turning to his other friend, still at his side. "You ready?"
"Let's go," Carlos answered, eager to go anywhere, no matter the destination.
A short while later, James and Carlos found themselves at Rocque Records, greeted by an already agitated Gustavo. After a moment or two of letting into James, for no obvious reason other than it was Saturday and he'd had other plans himself, he turned to Carlos.
"And why are you here?"
"Why are any of us here?"
Gustavo looked momentarily lost for words, but shrugging this off, he bellowed for James to get in the booth.
"Where do you want me?" Carlos asked, good naturedly for the most part, but knew it would irritate the boss.
"Out of my face!"
James grinned at him from behind Gustavo's back and Carlos took a giant step backwards.
"Is that far enough?"
"Kelly!" Gustavo yelled.
"Yes?" she answered, popping into the room quickly.
"Get him out of here, will you?" he said, waving frantically in Carlos' direction. "One dog is all I can handle today."
Kelly smiled in her tight-lipped way that meant business, and grabbed the offending "dog" by the elbow, yanking him sideways and out of the room.
"Come on," she said, letting go only when they were halfway down the hall. "I'm sure we can find something to do."
She stopped abruptly in front of a door Carlos had never noticed before, opened it, and ushered him inside.
"What's this?"
"My office," she answered, as if it should be obvious, taking a seat in front of a computer.
"I didn't know you had an office," Carlos said, taking a quick look around.
A quick look was all it afforded. The room was just big enough for the desk and two chairs that had been crammed inside of it. The walls were mostly bare, except for a large corkboard that took up one entire wall and was filled with various schedules and clippings. Her desk was neat, with only a few personal affects and there were no windows.
"Of course I have an office," Kelly said, tossing him a magazine she'd retrieved from a drawer.
Carlos caught it, but didn't begin reading. He was still looking around the room in surprise.
"Didn't this used to be a broom closet?"
Kelly looked offended, but didn't deny it, and for several long minutes, neither of them spoke.
"So," Carlos said, after turning through the magazine without finding anything of interest, "why are you here? Aren't you off on the weekend?"
"If Gustavo's at work, so am I," Kelly said, without taking her eyes off of her computer screen.
"Do you at least get overtime?"
"Nope."
Carlos frowning is what finally drew her attention completely.
"It's part of the job," she explained.
"That you don't get paid for."
"Doesn't bother me."
"Really?"
"I love my job, Carlos."
For a minute she'd thought he'd let it drop. Kelly really didn't mind the sometimes crazy hours she worked, or the sometimes crazy people she worked with. It was worth it in her opinion, but she knew Carlos and the rest of the boys might not get that this was how life was sometimes. The last thing she needed was them making a fuss with Gustavo, or worse, with Griffin, over her.
"I get it," Carlos finally said. "It's like hockey."
"I'm sorry?"
"Your job," he explained. "It's like hockey."
Kelly raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"See," Carlos explained, "if you want to play in the game, you've got to do all this other stuff to make it happen. Sometimes it’s real obvious, like practicing, but sometimes it's not, like going to bed early and eating right."
She said nothing.
"Kendall could probably have said it better. A lot better."
"No," Kelly said quickly, shaking her head. "No, you're right. It is like that. A lot like that, actually. I get it."
And this time, when she smiled, it was a real one.