Derek Bale's Story

Derek looked off into space thinking about Ron... wow. It's been too long since something like this happened... "Ron, do you need me to go over?" He heard, but it didn't register in Derek's head. He had his thoughts focused on Ron. With all this focus, he was quite startled when Lauri wrapped her arm around him. The touching... the touching was always a problem.
"C'mon kiddies, lets go get some drinks! It's still early but, as the song goes, it's five O'clock somewhere, right?!" The girl paused. "That's right you're still just nineteen, huh? When are you going to turn twenty one? I wanna see what kind of drunk you are. I bet you're the cutesy/shy type, or maybe the flirty type?"
Derek pushed Lauri away. "I uh-"
"Hurry it up!" Lauri chimed. Derek looked at her with his ever serious expression and said, "I don't drink." Derek was just really sensitive to alcohol. One sip, and he'd be totally wasted.

---

Jason smiled hearing Ria's thought in his head. The fact that it was just in his head made him feel better. He turned his thoughts back to Van. He said they had to spy on the heroes.... could he do that? Of course. He had to. It was for a better world. He looked up at Van with a determined composure. "Just tell me when to go."

Jason felt like he needed to prove himself to Van. He got the feeling that his boss didn't think to highly of him. Jason needed to become his right hand man. This was a new start for him to be more than just Jason.

He had to admit, going on patrol alone was one of the most boring things Arthur had ever done, not to mention difficult. Doing this with the others made it much less important for him to pay attention to everything, but now he had to keep his eye on anything that might look suspicious and that caused a bit of a slight throb in his temples. He'd first finished his own patrol, then Jaspers, and was about half way through Ron's when he finally decided to stop and take a breather and close his eyes for a bit. There hadn't been any news from Ron or Jasper for a few hours now, and he was starting to get a little anxious. Though, he was mostly worried about what the higher-ups would think of Ron's accident once they found out. They were already being threatened to be shut down, but so far had done a wonderful job at keeping up with the demands, but with Ron's accident..it could really leave a bad impression.

"M-make it a...sensitive clean up."

He let out a sigh. Whoever Ron accidentally killed was an innocent person, which just made things worse. Alright, enough of that, he thought to himself, bringing up his hand and lightly smacking his cheek as he opened his eyes again. He put his hand back into his jacket pocket and turned around on the sidewalk, ready to continue patrolling when Jasper suddenly latched onto him and buried her face into his chest. That was one of the last things he was expecting to happen and he was quite surprised at first, but quickly became concerned for her when he felt something wet soak through his sweater. Jasper was actually crying?

"C-can we g-g-go shopping now?"

Arthur hesitated a moment, even more concerned now that he heard the shakiness in her voice. What happened to the stubborn, strong Jasper? The only reason he could think of for why she'd get like this was if Ron did something to upset her. Arthur knew the guy would be in a shocked state right now, but to take it out on Jasper. That idiot..

Finally he was able to give her an understanding smile and he lightly hugged her. "Definitely. You've got to help me pick out a present for Ron, after all." He said before bringing his hand up to his ear. "Hey, guys, Jasper and I are going to go Christmas shopping, you might as well too. I think we've done enough patrolling for the day."

-----

They didn't spend a lot of time shopping, let alone talking, but Arthur kept up his happy act the entire time despite that. He was still furious with Ron for causing Jasper to fall into such an emotional sate, and he'd get an ear full from him the next time he'd see the guy. For now though, he tried to keep the mood as light and positive as he could, every now and then trying to reassure Jasper that Ron would be alright after h got some alone time. In the end he managed to get a gift for Ron, with the help of Jasper of course, and one for Lauri as well, though he still needed to find something for Rain and Derek.

When they got home Arthur would've cooked something up, but since he'd used up a lot of space in his brain and a head ache was already bothering him an hour before, they just brought home Chinese and he quickly headed up to his room, telling Jasper that she should get some sleep in the process. Once he was alone, his happy act quickly dropped and he found himself feeling rather frustrated that Ron still hadn't been home yet and they weren't able to get a hold of him either. If his head wasn't throbbing so horribly he probably would've waited up for him, but instead he quickly changed into boxers and a t-shirt and it didn't take long at all for him to fall asleep, tucking away Ron and Lauri's gifts before he did so.

Rain jumped when Lauri suddenly slung her arms around Rain's shoulders. Still slightly dazed, she listened as Lauri babbled on and on about drinking. Finally, when Lauri mentioned Christmas shopping, Rain came back to her senses. "Well, I already bought everything, so I don't really need to shop..." she said quietly, wondering how Lauri could be so happy when a death had just occurred.

Still, she managed to keep her wits about her, following Lauri and Derek around the mall. Luckily, her shopping was already finished, so not much input was expected from her. Finally, the three of them returned home. Without another word, Rain trudged to her bedroom and was sprawled on her bed without even changing. She'd think of a way to comfort Ron later, but for now, it was time to let the day's events be lost in dream.

The morning came a little later than usual for some reason, as if the alarm never actually went off. When Lauri realized that she'd slept in an hour pass the time the alarm would've originally gone off, she was pretty surprised. Even though she did always use her power to turn it off the moment it came on, she'd never slept any later than a few minutes afterwards. This time she was never even woken up. She sat at the foot of her bed and spent about twenty minutes brushing through her hair before putting it back up into a piggy tail and tying a dark blue ribbon around it as she went over the events of the day before. She'd gone shopping with Derek and Rain and managed to buy Arhur, Ron, and Jasper each a gift along with buying herself a few new pieces of jewelry. She'd already wrapped up the gifts and slid them under her bed before she ate and went to sleep. As far as she knew Ron still hadn't come home yet, so she hoped he'd be back this morning.

As usual, she went downstairs in her PJ's, a small spaghetti-strapped, light blue top and equally small matching shorts with pink lining. Once she got downstairs, she entered the kitchen and stopped to wave to Rain as she opened the refrigerator. "Good morning!" She said with a smile as she peered into the fridge, only to have her smile instantly vanish. She wasn't exactly planning on drinking in the morning, but that didn't mean she didn't check to make sure her afternoon beverage wasn't there. The entire thing was gone! "W-who....grr" She straightened up, clutching the handle of the refrigerator tightly as she lightly slammed it. Arthur doesn't even like the smell of beer, Rain was under age, Derek doesn't drink, Lauri definitely didn't drink it all. The only two who could've possibly stolen it would be Jasper or Ron, and what better therapy was there after accidentally killing someone? She turned away from Rain without another word and was about to yell for Ron as she left the kitchen when she spotted him in the living room. She stopped abruptly when she figured out he was trying to wake up the sleeping Jasper and her eyes softened. Maybe she'd let things settle a little before killing him.

She turned around and decided to go the opposite direction. She was able to catch a glance of Arthur going downstairs so she followed him and found him eating his breakfast at one of the tables below. Putting on a pouting face, she walked up behind him and threw her arms around his neck, dropping to her knees behind the chair and practically hanging off of him as she pressed her cheek against the left side of his head. "Arrrthuurrrr....Ron stole my beeeeerrr..go buy me some, go buy me some, go buy me soommeee!" She begged playfully, though she was being a little serious as well. "Please, please...I'm too tired..go buy me some!" She continued, slightly shaking her arms.

Jason nodded in reply to Ria and Van's orders. He was a little nervous to just go into his sister's base.. but he was doing it all for her. He sat back and waited for Ria to leave before Jason would make his move on the place. He's seen a couple of videos of spies and such, so he'd use those skills to get in without arousing suspicion. He scanned the area closely, and looked for any weak spots or small area he could squeeze in. Every building had one, and Jason just had to find it.

---

Derek walked into the kitchen, only to see Jasper there. He looked up at her, and walked to see what she was doing. "I thought you'd be going christmas shopping with the others..." Derek said, watching Jasper as she worked. Derek stepped back and headed to the fridge to grab a nice cold soda. Christmas was no one of Derek's favorite holidays. Lost of lies to kids and such did not make Derek happy. That and he just never got presents for Chritsmas before. It never crossed his mind. He never had anyone that would give him any presents.

Rain couldn't have spent a better day. She had secretly made a list of the presents she wanted to give everyone. It was only a matter of finding the proper ones. Of course, she didn't let Ron see the list or what she'd bought. She wanted every present she gave to be a surprise.

For Derek, she bought a few boxes of Christmas cookies, knowing he would enjoy that. For Arthur, she'd asked an assistant at the music store to help her compile a CD of soothing classical music, knowing that it would help soothe his frequent headaches. Jasper had a similar gift, an MP3 with a playlist Rain had compiled with Jasper's favourite songs. She didn't know anything about liquor, but with a little help from the shop assistant, she'd selected a bottle of whiskey for Lauri.

Ron's present was the hardest to get by far. It hadn't been easy shaking Ron off, but she'd finally escaped his watchful eyes. While he was in the toilet, she'd quickly purchased a watch and managed to slip it into her bag before he returned. Rain tried to be discreet about it, not wanting to show Ron his present before it was time to open it. Luckily, she'd already gotten everything wrapped, including the watch, so Ron hadn't a chance of seeing the presents in her bag.

Later, at lunch, Rain sat at the patio of the quaint cafe they'd gone to, staring blissfully at the scene of others bustling around shopping. She caught Ron staring at her and felt her cheeks and the area above her ears heat up. "I honestly can't tell you how great today was, you made it pretty nice too," he commented. Rain nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for a nice afternoon. And lunch." She smiled.

The house was quiet as Jasper finished up with her fruit roll. She knew that Lauri, Arthur, Rain and Ron had all gone out Christmas shopping, but she was pretty sure Jason had stayed home. He was the quiet type, but he usually appeared in the kitchen at some point. She shot a glance at the clock on the stove and sighed, he probably just overslept, it was a long night for all of them. Instead of worrying, Jasper busied herself with spreading the cream cheese and fruit filling across the thin cake. She was just about to begin rolling it when she heard footsteps entering the kitchen.

"I thought you'd be going Christmas shopping with the others..." She felt him look over her shoulder at the roll-in-progress, then head off to raid the fridge.

"Nah, didn't you hear? Ron and Rain are together now, I wanted to let the two have a nice first date." She attempted to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "Plus, with Lauri out of the house, I'll finally get some peace and quiet, it's nice. I haven't been able to bake without interruption since I worked at mum's bakery." Jasper sighed and smiled before peeling the ends of the cake out of the pan and rolling it. "Anyway, I already bought presents last night, I don't need to go out again." She wiped her hands off on her apron and began searching through the cabinets for a nice, festive plate. She found one and quickly transferred the roll onto the plate and smiled at her handiwork before turning to look at Derek.

She had to admit, he was very handsome, and she may have had feelings for him, but she knew that Lauri had her eyes on him as well, and she wasn't going to get in the way of that. Derek was a good friend to Jasper, he didn't know her as well as Ron did, but Jasper and Derek had a lot in common, and he was nice to talk to. "If you want some of the roll, you might want to get a slice now before everyone gets home, I'm afraid it won't last the night." She cracked a bit of a smile.

Derek looked up at Jasper, hearing the negative tone come out of her mouth. He wanted to ask, but didn't. It wasn't any of his business. He stretched a bit before she told him, "If you want some of the roll, you might want to get a slice now before everyone gets home, I'm afraid it won't last the night." He couldn't help but smirk at her comment.
"Then I take it it's really good." Derek walked to the roll and looked at it before saying, "Yeah. Might as well take a piece." Derek grabbed a plate and took a piece with his hands. He wasn't a very elegant eater. He lived on the streets for a long time, and had never been into a restaurant before. A nice restaurant. As the food went into his mouth, he looked up at Jasper and told her, whilst eating, "Itz rweally gwed."

"Then I take it it's really good."

"Well I'd like to think so." Jasper mused, walking to the sink to wash the flour off of her hands before drying them off on. She untied her apron and removed it and then placed it back on it's hook. "I'd have some, too, but I don't really care for fruit rolls. My mom and the people at the bakery loved them, though, so I got into the habit of making them for others. I don't mind, I enjoy making things and watching people eat it."

"Itz rweally gwed."

She turned around just in time to see Derek stuff his slice of the roll down his throat. She smiled as his face lit up when he tasted it. Rolling her eyes, Jasper grabbed a paper towel and walked over to him.

"Don't talk with your mouth open." She laughed, wiping the filling off of his face like a mother would. "It's unsightly."

Derek turned a little red, seeing Jasper come at him with a napkin. He pulled back, struggle to swallow the food in his mouth as quickly as he could so he could speak. He coughed, having swallowed maybe a little to quickly. "ha! cheh! Don't- cheh~" He patted his chest to help the food go down. It was nerve wracking to him to have a girl come and clean his face. It had never been done to him. Not by his mother or any one else. When he finally cleared his throat, he sat back up and looked at Jasper and said, "Don't do that. I can clean myself up..." He said a little awkwardly. he scratched his head and looked away, not really sure what else to say. How do you tell someone that their kindness was not appreciated... "Thanks though.........." He whispered under his breath.
---
Jason sighed, not really wanting to go shopping, but if Ria wanted to go, Jason did kind of have to go. His whole out look on the event changed hearing Ria talk about becoming a couple. His face burned with embarrassment. Was she serious? Jason thought to himself. She couldn't be serious... He opened his mouth to respond, but just couldn't find the courage to speak.
"I... uh... I du- well.... uhm....." Jason looked away from Ria in totally shyness.
"I mean, we don't want to be looking suspicious, cos if we do, then we're in trouble, and we'll easily blend in the crowd with other couples in New York City if you don't mind doing it". Ria said, giving Jason some sort of relief. She did that on purpose. She wanted to see his expression and how he would react, but Jason kind of liked it. Well... he really liked any girl that gave him attention.

Jasper stopped and pursed her lips as she watched Derek choke on the roll, her hand hesitating before going back after his face.

When he recovered, he stood up straight and looked at her with a flustered look on his face, she didn't get it.

"Don't do that. I can clean myself up...Thanks though.........."

She frowned, somewhat angrily. She was just trying to be nice. "Hey, I don't understand you, my mom did that to me all th- oh." She trailed off, suddenly realizing. She didn't know much about Derek's past, but what she did know was enough for her to figure out what she did wrong. She tossed the napkin to him and walked out of the kitchen. "Sorry, I forgot." She muttered, heading to the living room.

"No wait... Its alright!" Derek was horrified by Jasper's expression. He never meant to hurt her in any way shape or form. He stood up and just waited for s moment to collect his thoughts. This wasn't the first time he made someone upset because of the way his unknown past. He took a deep breath and turned to face the door. He left to go talk to Jasper. "I never had a mother. Not in the way you did anyways. She only fed me because she had to. She never actually took care of me, so when you were cleaning my face, I just found it really uncomfortable to have someone in my personal space..." He explained, a little awkwardly.

"No wait... Its alright!"

Jasper hopped onto the couch, face flushing out of frustration. Couldn't he make up his mind? She wondered, picking up the remote and flipping through the channels at a heated pace, not really paying attention to what was on. She didn't hear him saying anything else, so she finally decided to settle on a channel and tried to watch it. It was some sort of documentary on global warming.

"Global warming my ass," she muttered, "if the worlds heating so much, then why is it so bloody cold outside?" She began going through channels, again. So caught up in trying to find something to watch, she didn't hear Derek enter the room until he spoke up.

"I never had a mother. Not in the way you did anyways. She only fed me because she had to. She never actually took care of me, so when you were cleaning my face, I just found it really uncomfortable to have someone in my personal space..."

She inhaled slowly, shutting off the TV. "Look, you didn't have to tell me that. It-it's personal but.." She trailed off and stood up before walking over to him, sympathy flooding her earlier angry expression. She somewhat knew what he was talking about. After all, her father wasn't exactly 'father of the year'. Slowly and awkwardly, Jasper set her hand on Derek's shoulder, then, the other one as well, in an attempt to comfort him. "I know what it's like to have a parent who doesn't care. My dad would have traded me for a six pack of beer if my mom would've let him. But.. other people don't understand. They don't know what it's like... er... I guess what I'm getting at is, even if you're uncomfortable, people don't understand that, they just want to help because that's how they show they care. It might feel weird at first but... you have to let them in, even if you're not ready, not just to spare their feelings, but also, it'll help you get better. I guess." She looked around, her cheeks pink and her mouth shut tight. Jasper wasn't one for long, sappy speeches, but she did feel the need to share what Ron had taught her. She had tried to shut everyone out when her father began abusing her, but she later found out that she wasn't the only one hurting, she was hurting Ron and she was hurting her mother.

Jasper attempted to smile, but it looked strange and unauthentic. Slowly, she pulled Derek in by his shoulders and gave him a somewhat awkward hug.

Ron smiled back at Rain as she seemed so excited. "Really? You're ok with this? I thought you would freak out, I mean, I'm really happy that you are ok with this, just caught me off guard." His smile grew even bigger as they got inside the cab and Ron wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a slight kiss. "You don't know how much it means to me that you're ok with this, it really means a lot to me that Caroline will have someone that is happy to see her." He sat up looking around outside being cautious as he usually was. "I don't want to tell the others yet, I don't think they'll have anything bad to say, well Jas. I don't know, I don't think she'll say anything when Caroline's around, it's just a lot is changing fast and I don't want her to feel that I don't care about her anymore." Ron looked down to Rain with a smile. "Don't get me wrong, I like these changes. I just don't want to hurt her, we've been through a lot."

When they finally got back to the house, they grabbed their bags and went inside. "I'm gonna go check on the guys, you're ok with the bags?" He asked as he walked toward the kitchen, the smell off pastries in the air. "Ohhhh! I know that smell! You know you better have made two or else I'm going to eat all yo-Oh, um sorry." Ron said as he walked into the living room to see the two in the awkward hug. "Am I inturupting something?"

Rain smiled into the kiss. "Of course! I'm happy that we can give Caroline a home. She's so sweet, I think it'd really brighten up the place, you know?" she said. She understood his meaning about Jasper. "I know, maybe you should spend more time with her. I hope she doesn't feel left out, perhaps I should just blend into the background until she gets used to it."

Finally, they got home. "I'm gonna go check on the guys, you're okay with the bags?" Ron asked. Rain nodded and took the bags from him. "Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll put your stuff inside your room."

As she headed upstairs, she heard Ron call, [b]"I know that smell! You know, you better have made two or else I'm going to eat all y- " Ron stopped suddenly. "You all right in there?" Rain asked, poking her head in to have a look. The first thing she saw was Ron grinning rather awkwardly. She followed his gaze to see Jasper and Derek hugging each other. To tell the truth, they kind of looked like Rain and Ron that morning.

Dropping the bags outside the kitchen, Rain dashed inside and seized Ron by the elbow. "They're fine, come on!" She dragged him out of the kitchen and marched him upstairs, along with the bags.