Intervention

[Kaylie Mathews]

"If I had a better notion of myself I'd pack up and leave again."

Walking around the house she shook her head, wondering how she could just up and leave what she had worked so hard to build. Fingertips brushed over the hard wood of the walls, that she herself had cut, measured and nailed in place. She walked past the brick fireplace...such perfection was in how each brick was laid and mortared. No, she could not leave this house. Flopping back on the couch, pride filled her blue eyes as she looked around. "Redneck Woman," played in the background, courtesy of the stereo that her brother had given her. Salem jumped in her lap upon hearing her voice.

"This place is seriously lacking excitement Salem." All of an answer she got from the feline was his purring and meowing. The translucent green cell phone on the end table started ringing...grumbling to herself she crawled the halfway across the plush hunter green sofa to grab it, wondering who would be calling this early in the morning she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Kaylie. This is Ladd. Guess where I am. If you guessed two blocks from your house you're right. If you're not decent please throw on some clothes, I need you to direct me to a place that serves food. I just got into town and am starving for company and a good steak."

She blinked and smiled broadly as the familiar voice filled her ears. Nearly falling off of the plush couch to grab frantically at her clothes. She was not prepared for company wrapped in a towel. "Ugh...yah right. Three in the morning you decide to visit me? Two blocks away, I would have expected much more notice Ladd. I'll be ready in five."

With that she hung up the phone, cursing him the whole way. Salem tilted his head and stared at her, she would never let on how happy she was to hear from him not to him for sure and not to any one else. She quickly scurried to get dressed, ran the brush through her hair and voila, she was ready.

"Sure you would." Ladd grinned to the cell as he dropped it on the passenger seat again. There was no need to give the gal time to primp and agonize over what to wear. He checked the clock on the dash board. He'd made the drive in under two hours this time. Nice, he thought as he parked the pick up in Kaylie's drive way.

She had heard the rumble of his truck pull up as she put the finishing touches to her outfit. She grumbled to herself that it would have to do on such short notice.

Half a minute later he was letting himself into her house by the back door. He had opened and closed the door so quietly, and once again forgotten to knock, that his voice was all the warning she had to let her know he was there. "Hello Kay. Do you need help zipping up anything or are you ready to go?"

"I'm ready, no thanks to you." She stuck her head out of the bathroom and then walked around the wall into the living room with a frown.

Ladd quickly looked her over with obvious appreciation in his eyes. He'd have given her the same look had she been wearing a slitted evening dress. "Wow, would you have a look at that! I'm not interupting a date, am I?"

"If I was on a date, I would not be wearing worn jeans and a tanktop. If I was on a date I would not have agreed to meet you. If I was on a date...Oh hell never mind. Really Ladd, do ya give me no credit?"

Her own blue eyes traversed up and down his body, it had been to long since they had last seen eachother and frankly she had not much good news to tell him either. Not with the shop burning down and not being able to claim the insurance. Ah well she wasn't going to let that ruin her night of fun on the town with him. She snatched her keys off the kitchen table and turned to him. "Well are you gonna stop staring so we can go or are you going to starve to death in my living room?"

He chuckled and winked at her before he pulled her into a warm hug. Kaylie was all of 5 foot 4 and 126 pounds soaking wet so fighting him off would prove difficult. She quit trying to hang on to that tough exterior that had served her well for so long and so she gave in. Thankful to be with good company again after so long, she let herself enjoy the embrace and hugged him back with a smile before she stepped back from him, though totally not out of his arms, but enough to get a good look at him. Maybe to study him or lust after him. Hell, she didn't know either which way, she did know that her stomach itself had started to growl, having not eaten all day.

"I wouldn't want to be that much trouble. All that paper work don't you know." He took the keys from her as he let her step out of his embrace and swept a bow. "After you, milady."

"Ugh Ladd really, do I look like a high class broad? You've known me for years. A simple get your ass moving is good enough for me."

His eyes rolled theatrically and he gave his trademark grin. "That's what I get for trying to be nice. Well, get moving then."

[Kaylie Mathews]

Kaylie turned from him, brown pony tail bouncing, she opened the door and stepped through it. The crisp morning air hit her with a long forgotten vengeance and she sighed softly. She should have grabbed a jacket. Damning herself, she shook off the thought and the chill. She watched Ladd lock the door before he turned to hand her back her keys. Kaylie shoved them into her pocket as he lead the way to his pick up. She knew it was dark blue, though right now it looked a dusty black.

"The door's open." Kaylie hopped into the passenger side. Mindful of the phone, she moved it to rest in the middle, between where their bodies would soon be. Then she reached for her seat belt and settled back.

Ladd turned the key in the ignition. "Just tell me where to turn." He nodded to the pack of smokes on the dashboard and tapped the CD into its slot. "Light us some?"

The girl grabbed the pack, slipped two of them out and dug deep into her pocket for the zippo he'd given her on her 18th birthday. A quick flick and the cigarettes were lit. She handed one to him and took a long pull off of her own, she exhaled and flopped back in the seat. Blue eyes studied Ladd from the shadows as he drove. He was still as none-descript handsome as when she had first met him. Though the Hawaiian shirt he wore today was mellower. She had to snap herself back to reality as he almost missed the turn.

"Left here Ladd and then the first right afterwards." Two minutes later they pulled up to and parked in front of the closest 24 hour Greasy Spoon. Getting a good parking spot at this time of night was almost guaranteed.

Another five minutes later they sat vis-a-vis at a table in a quiet booth and Ladd was reading their selection off the menue in his hand to the waiter. "A number four with strawberries and whipped cream and a 4 ounce on the side, rare, for the lady, a number 5 five, medium and sunny side up with extra gravy for me and coffee for both of us." Ladd looked up to Kaylie. "Anything else, hun? Juice maybe?"

"Apple."

"Make that two."

As soon as the waiter was out of earshot, Ladd turned his light brown eyes to Kaylie and gave her a searching look. "So... now's a good time for you to tell me what happened to your shop. I drove by there on my way into town, you know." Seeing the odd sad look on her face he added. "Or you can wait until the waiter gets back with the food."

She got another cigarette out and lit and shrugged to him and said quite plainly as she flopped back against the booth. "It burned down about a month ago. The police investigated it and said it was arson. Dale says that he doesn't think the insurance will pan out. So in short, I'm outta luck."

She turned to look elsewhere, not able to show the hurt and pain that she knew was there; not wanting him to see the tears that began to well in her eyes. Her strength was what kept her going. She couldn't show her weaknesses to anyone, couldn't let them know that she was weak.

A couple had walked into the restaurant, and so she watched them. They looked to be so much in love, but what would happen two years from now? She shook her head and finally found the courage to look Ladd in the eye again.

[Kaylie Mathews]

Ladd chatted amicably with the waiter as he delivered their order. Noticing Kaylie's attention had returned to the here and now, Ladd addressed her with a toothy smile. "Kay, look it's Brandon. Do you remember the dog we pulled out of the well last year?" Kaylie did remember. Ladd had almost run over the panicky boy that had jumped into the road with flailing arms. Over the rescue and the visit to the vet they had missed the beginning of the concert they had been on their way to.

"I hope you didn't miss too much of the concert." Brandon looked at Kaylie. His eyes made a question of the statement as he set the plate of pancakes covered by a mountain of fresh strawberries in front of her.

"No, we only missed the opening number. Ladd here even had the sharkfins ready in time." Brandon must have recognized them when he took down their order, for the portions were double of what Kaylie remembered them to be. Even that steak looked more of an eight ounce than a four ounce one.

"You know," Ladd offered the moment Brandon had left again, "JB's giving another concert here next month. Would you like to go again? I'll let you have my tickets if you tell me who your fire insurance was with."

Kaylie thought about Ladd’s offer, then shook her head and looked at him. "It wouldn't be as fun without you. Tyler's outta town on business for the next month. Marc moved about the time when the shop burned down, and I hardly care to go with Dale.” She turned her attention to the mountainous pile of food in front of her and licked her lips in anticipation. “Scape is the name of the company I had signed up with for the shop, why do you ask?" Looking around one last time before, fork in one hand, knife in the other, she dove in and started to enjoy her meal, savoring each bite with a smile.

Ladd chuckled. “Of course I’d be happy to just take you to the concert. But I’ll have to deliver Papadopolus’ yacht and will be surrounded by ocean and sky at the time. What is Marc doing now?” That question successfully distracted Kaylie and they enjoyed the rest of the meal catching each other up on mutual friends.

There were still giddy with laughter when Ladd dropped off Kaylie at her house just before dawn. "Good one, Kay. Now get some sleep, girl. I'll call you later."

She nodded her head at him, thanked him and opened the door of the truck. She turned to look back towards him as she slid out of her seat. "I think you should do the same, you're looking mighty tired yourself."

She stood on the front porch, watching the taillights until they disappeared. Turning to the door, she slipped the keys from her pocket and unlocked the door. She was greeted by Salem entwining himself around her legs. She smiled as she tossed the keys on the table alongside of the cell phone and flopped back on the couch. Salem took no time in jumping up and curling himself up on her chest, smiling she grabbed at the remote and began flipping through the channels.

The phone startled her yet again, grumbling she reached up and grabbed at it. "Hel ... Hello" She rubbed sleep from her eyes. "Ladd!" She sat up abruptly and listened. To have a lawyer scare the insurance company into a settlement offer had not occurred to her. “Oh Ladd, how can I ever thank you enough? In the meantime though I'm going to go stir crazy here in the house. I have to find work somewhere.”

She listened some more, the static had her miss half of what Ladd was telling her. “Braxxx? What's he in the business of?” A short pause. “Poker? Of course I still know how to throw a good hand.” She grabbed for the pen and wrote down the address on a corner of the phone bill. “Got it. Thanks again..."

Kaylie glanced at her watch and frowned at the time. "2 o'clock...that's an hour away. Ladd, dammit. I gotta get in the shower. Thanks again hun, I'll call ya later and let ya know how things go." She pressed the end-button on the phone, grumbled and sprinted towards the shower.