On the roof, Spike opened an eye. “So?”

Savannah chewed a bite and swallowed. “So what?” she replied.

“Prospect?”

“You’re being as bad as Skyler. Esme already has him feeding me.” Savannah scowled at Spike and poked her in the nose with the blunt end of her fork. “And where did you end up last night?”

Spike grinned. “Home.”

“Right.” Savannah snorted. “Just not alone.”

“I’m not saying.”

“I wasn’t asking.” Savannah poked at her plate. “You’ve just volunteered to go with me to pick up the supplies.”

“I’m the one with the POs,” Spike pointed out.

“Frankie will want to tag along.”

“We’ll be picked on.”

“Oh yes, don’t buy out the hardware store.” Savannah snorted. She should make a bet on who would say it first.

“We could try.” Spike half-grinned.

Savannah sighed. She looked over at Gideon. He was talking with Quinn. “Why me?” she murmured to herself. Wasn’t there an unwritten rule about how the boys went to the older men and the girls went to the older women?

Spike reached over and rocked Savannah’s knee. “It’s not official yet.”

Savannah looked at her plate and pushed a bite of toast about with her fork to get more egg yolk on it. “Might as well be,” she muttered.

The van pulled in and more members of the Club, mostly male, opened the back doors and jumped out of it. Frankie slammed the driver’s side door and, seeing Savannah and Spike on the roof, found the nearest ladder and climbed up to join them. She looked at Savannah’s face. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

Spike tilted her head back. “She’s not cheerful about being the prospect’s sponsor.” She shut her eyes to soak up the sun better.

“He didn’t notice.” Savannah said, meaning the lip-gloss. “I told you he wouldn’t notice.”

“It isn’t like he’s going to say anything. I’m sure he noticed,” Frankie said. “Besides you rolled him out of bed.”

“Did not,” Savannah objected.

Frankie wrinkled her nose. “You did something. He’s grumpy at you.”

Savannah flushed but snickered at her plate.

Frankie stomped her foot. “Savannah!” She lowered her voice. “I told you to be nice to him.”

“I said good morning!” Savannah said.

Frankie crossed her arms. “And what else did you do?”

Savannah’s eyebrows twitched and she grinned. “Beda gave me a key.”

Frankie’s jaw dropped and Spike’s eyes snapped open.

“You didn’t,” Spike said. Savannah wouldn’t let herself in would she? This was Savannah though, of course she would. But Spike’s brain still refused to believe it.

“He wasn’t dressed yet.” Savannah played with her silverware. “I didn’t see anything really. He was behind the counter. You know how those apartments are laid out.”

Spike guffawed. Her back arched and she started laughing.

Frankie slapped a hand over her face and groaned, “I said nice.”

“I said good morning.”

“It was.” Spike poked Savannah. “For you.”

Savannah held her hand up. “Frankie, keys.” They needed to get going.

“I want to drive,” Frankie said.

“I’m driving.”

Frankie narrowed her eyes. “If you tell us more about the prospect from this morning.”

Savannah’s eyes widened and she flushed. “If he takes his shirt off, you’ll see what I did.”

“Then I’m driving.”

“Oh fine.” Savannah stood up, snatched the keys out of Frankie’s pocket, and stalked off towards the ladder to take care of her dishes.

Spike snickered, coughed, and started laughing again.

Frankie groaned. “He’s not going to like her at all if she keeps doing this.”

“It’s so Savannah though,” Spike said between giggles. “Besides, you’d do the same if you thought of it.”

Frankie sighed. “But I’ve got Georgie.”

“Georgie porgy, pudding pie,” Spike recited and rolled out of the way as Frankie’s foot lashed outwards. She caught the edge of the roof with one hand and rolled off, catching her weight with a grunt before dropping down.

“Haven’t you heard of a ladder, Spike?” Frankie marched over and glared down at her.

Spike smirked up at her. “Shotgun,” she said and dashed towards the van.

“Oh!” Frankie stomped her foot again and scrambled for a ladder. Spike did not play fair.

---

Several hours later, Savannah climbed the nearest ladder and stopped. Her eyes tracked across the roof that now was a much more hazardous place to be. She located Ted and carefully walked from what looked like one solid place to the next. “Van’s full. We need help unloading it.”

Ted looked up at the sun and squinted. “Whatcha do? Buy out the store?”

Quinn snickered.

Savannah crossed her arms. Of course Ted would be the one to say that. “And if we did?” She raised an eyebrow.

Ted kept a straight face. “I’ll need the receipts.”

Spike came up from behind Savannah and pulled them out of her pocket. She held them out to him. “Don’t expect this type of service all the time,” she said and cocked her hip.

Savannah looked around for the prospect. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted him. He’d taken his shirt off. Sunlight reflected off the metal of his tags and that damned nipple ring. She looked up at the sun and looked back down. It was almost ten o’clock. It wasn’t bad yet, but still long exposure wouldn’t be good for him. “Prospect, are you wearing sunscreen?” she asked.

Stolen novel; please report.

Spike turned around, saw Gideon, and started to giggle under her breath. Savannah elbowed her.

Gideon looked up. “Umm.” His eyebrow rose. What did Savannah care about whether or not he was wearing sunscreen? Why did he need sunscreen? He’d never worn sunscreen past the age of twelve, or when his mother could no longer chase him down and force him to wear it. Not in the military when getting sun burnt would get him a demerit on his record for damaging government property. “No,” he said. He’d never gotten any demerits for sunburns.

Savannah sighed and rolled her eyes. Boys. She turned around and walked back to the edge of the roof. “Esme! Would you throw up the sunscreen?”

“Sure!” Esme shouted, turned around, found the bottle, and came over and tossed it.

Savannah caught it. “Thanks.” She turned around stalked over to Gideon.

Gideon’s eyebrow stayed where it was. She couldn’t be serious.

Frankie bounced up over the edge, saw Gideon, and started giggling. She loosened her hands and slid back down to the ground.

Savannah opened the bottle, turned it over, and poured a dollop into her palm. “You’re going to burn,” she muttered. “And then you won’t look nice for your pictures and then it will turn red and hurt and you’ll whine and peel and—” She trailed off and put it on his face like war paint, holding out the bottle. “Do your chest and arms,” she ordered. She wasn’t touching the front of him. No way. No how.

Ted stopped what he was doing and stared at Savannah. No. It couldn’t be. It was too early for Savannah to be grooming Gideon. Sure, Brand had confirmed Ted’s suspicions that he was up to something when he sent Gideon on the mission that Gideon hadn’t really needed to go on. Ted had thought that’d been the end of it. Maybe he was wrong, and Brand was up to something deeper.

Spike bit her tongue, spun about, and went back down the ladder, joining Frankie where to the two burst into more giggles.

Eberron peered over the edge of the roof and made an inquiring face. They ignored him.

Gideon sighed and did as ordered. It wasn’t worth fighting about, especially when she looked like she’d push him down and do it herself if he didn’t.

Savannah finished rubbing the sunscreen into Gideon’s face, took the bottle back, walked around the back of him and drizzled it on his back. No. She wasn’t putting up with a whiny prospect who was in pain from something completely preventable. She started rubbing it around. She finished as quickly as she could, rubbed the excess up her arms, and walked away.

Gideon stared after her like she was crazy.

She stopped by Ted. Ted raised both eyebrows at her.

“What?” she asked.

Ted decided to completely forgo mentioning her invasion of Gideon’s personal space. “How much is in the van?”

“Enough I need volunteers to unload it.” She paused. Her eyes lit up with mischief as she dropped the bait. “And there’s ice cream.”

Quinn jumped up and darted down the ladder.

“For lunch!” Savannah shouted after him.

“Don’t care!” Quinn shouted back.

“It’s not like we need help with the ice cream,” Savannah muttered and rolled her eyes. She smirked. Her hint had worked. Quinn was predictable.

Eberron stood up, slapped Gideon on the arm, and jerked his head towards the ladders. Gideon tore his gaze away from Savannah, still confused, and followed Eberron.

The girls were still giggling. That is until Frankie saw Quinn headed for the ice cream.

“Get your hands out of that,” she said. She darted after him and snatched the bag.

“I’m helping.” Quinn pouted.

Frankie rolled her eyes, pulled out an ice cream sandwich. “Help with something we can’t lift,” she said and handed it to him. Quinn’s eyes lit up. He took the ice cream sandwich and opened it. Frankie rolled her eyes, and passed one to Eberron and Gideon as she passed them.

Spike snatched the other bag of ice cream and another from the hardware store with nails in it. She caught up with Frankie and the two put their heads together and started talking.

Gideon stared after them again and opened his ice cream sandwich slowly. “They’re at it again,” he said. They were talking about him. And there was giggling. It was like they’d never seen a guy without his shirt, which didn’t seem possible to him.

“They’re girls,” Eberron replied.

“I feel like I’m back in high school,” Gideon muttered.

“It’ll wear off.” Eberron shrugged.

“Until he meets the next set of girls,” Quinn spoke up.

Gideon paused with the ice cream a few inches from his mouth. “They come in sets.”

“The Fearsome Foursome, Brier’s Barbies, Ashley’s Entourage.” Quinn tilted his head.

Gideon stared at him. “You’re making this up.”

“Some of it.” Eberron smirked.

Gideon took a bite of his ice cream. “It is like high school,” he muttered after chewing.

“It isn’t like they name themselves,” Quinn said. He finished his sandwich, picked up a pile of shingles, heaved it over his shoulder, and walked away with it.

Eberron snorted. “Sometimes they do. The Foursome inspires fear, therefore the Fearsome Foursome.”

“Not what I meant,” Quinn said over his shoulder.

“They weren’t nearly as fearsome when there were three of them. Then Spike showed up and took it to a whole another level.” Eberron shook his head. “That girl has no fear.” He finished his ice cream sandwich and licked his fingers. “But that’s what makes them fun,” he said and picked up shingles. Gideon finished too and picked one up after him.

Gideon hefted the shingles over his shoulder and looked at Eberron. “And annoying.”

“Frustrating,” Eberron added.

Savannah came around a door. “Who are you two talking about?”

“You.”

“Frustrating?” Savannah asked. “How am I frustrating?”

“It’s a long list.”

“And annoying?” Savannah raised an eyebrow.

Eberron smirked. “You live to be annoying.”

Savannah smirked back. “And I don’t have to practice.” She wrinkled her nose. She enjoyed being annoying. Take this morning for example, ordering the new prospect about and not actually telling him where to go. That was definitely annoying.

It had been a test, a test she didn’t think that the prospect had figured out. But he’d passed it. There might be hope for him. He hadn’t gone back to the Club for directions at least. She picked up another bag full of hardware supplies and headed towards the back of the house, her hips swaying back and forth.

Gideon sighed. That explained quite a bit. They unloaded the shingles from the van and went back to work ripping the old shingles off without trying to tear them overly much. The girls got up on the roof and helped. Esme ran water up and snacks on occasion. Around him, the others talked about people he didn’t know yet. He tried to pay attention but quickly got lost in a maze of names that didn’t have faces. The sun rose in the sky, and he began to smell food again.

Ted stood up and slapped Gideon’s shoulder with his gloves. “Ohhh, smell that. Come on, Prospect. Let’s get that fine cookin’ and get out of here before it gets too hot and get your paperwork done.”

“Paperwork?” Gideon stood up and winced.

“Get your residency all squared away, things like that.” Ted nodded.

Gideon blinked. He hadn’t forgotten about all of that, he hadn’t found the time to go and actually look up what he was supposed to be doing. He had not been looking forward to the maze of paperwork and bureaucracy. “Thanks.”

“Part of my job and lookee there.” He jumped off the roof.

“Ted, use the ladder!” the woman shouted. She had brown hair and glasses rested on her nose.

Gideon tilted his head and squinted one eye. She could be Frankie’s mother if he looked at her right.

Ted went over, picked her up, and kissed her.

Gideon raised his eyebrows and took his gloves off, wiping his hands on his jeans. Yeah, had to be Frankie’s mother. He climbed down the ladder and jumped off the last rung and turned. He thought she’d been at the front table next to Ted during Thursday’s potlatch but he wasn’t sure. There had been too many faces.

Savannah stood there with a damp towel.

He eyed her. Now what?

She reached up with the towel and enveloped his face with it, patted him off, came around patted his back and his shoulders, wiped his chest off and then nodded sharply. “There, you’re presentable,” she said and walked away.

He stared after her again. He did not understand her in the least. He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, trying to get it to lay flat with his fingers. He sighed, gave up again, and went for his t-shirt. At least he wasn’t covered in sweat anymore, he supposed.

Ted looked at Hazel. “Her mother would be howling,” he muttered. He raised his voice. “Prospect, come meet my wife!”

Gideon jumped, pulled the t-shirt over his head, and came over. “Ma’am,” he said.

“Hazel,” she said and held out her hand. She was striking, shoulder length brown hair, prominent cheeks, a larger noise, pointy chin, and full lips. She wore rectangular glasses over her brown eyes.

Gideon shook it and let go. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hazel.”

Hazel’s eyes twinkled. “Where are you from, Prospect?”

Gideon shuffled his feet. “New York, by way of the military.”

“That explains the sirs and ma’ams,” Hazel smiled.

Gideon flushed. It was habit. He looked over at the food. “I, uh.”

“Oh, go eat, Prospect.” Ted said. Gideon flashed Hazel and Ted a smile and moved away. Ted shook his head. “Like we embarrassed him or something.”

“He’s new,” Hazel said. “New York huh?”

“Got farm boy written all over him.”

“What gave it away, the worn out clothes, the bleach spots on his jeans?”

“The forgetting to put on sunscreen.”

Hazel laughed. “Yes. Farm boy.”

“Savannah’s taking care of him.”

“Oh dear, lucky him.”

Ted kissed her again. He was hungry too, and changed the subject towards food. He knew Hazel would understand. “You want anything specific?”

“I made up a plate for us already.” Hazel tugged him away. “Frankie’s guarding it.”

“One, huh.” Ted grinned. “Where’s yours?”

Hazel rolled her eyes and didn’t rise to the bait. She smiled instead. “Morgan and Flint are thinking about making us grandparents again.”

Ted faltered. He muttered swear words under his breath.

Hazel grinned. “No need to get excited.”

“You have a cruel sense of humor,” Ted said.

“And you love me anyways.”

Ted stopped, turned her around and kissed her. “That I do,” he said and helped her sit down. Hazel smiled up at him and tugged him down to sit next to her.