Not Your Usual Bachelor Party

[Ragunn]

"Remember. We be surprisin' 'im." Although quite frankly, Cord thought it wasn't much of a surprise. Not with Jason grinning like that. Then again, he'd already decided he'd surprise Jason instead.

"I'll keep the secret!" the kid said, so transparent with his contained expression that Cord grinned. Yes, this was going to work. He was leaning against the transport hub, cloak around Jason once again in the rain.

"Ah'm sure ya will, b'y," he said, water dripping off his cloak and hood even as he watched the big man walk their way. As always, he was keeping tabs on any possible weaknesses and strengths, and found yet again that he was glad this man was someone he trusted -- and was trusted by. Even by Jennie, and that took some doing.

Jason looked up and over at him from under the cloak, a clear message on his face. Cord chuckled. "G'wan. Ya'll get wet soon anyway."

With a cheeky grin, Jason zoomed off with considerable speed toward Joe, bumping into the big lug who laughed. "Hi Joe! Did you bring muffins?"

Unsurprising, Cord thought, as he watched Joe laugh even harder and answer: "Sure did." Sometimes Cord wondered if Joe shouldn't have been the person to adopt Jason, especially now, what with Lucy around. Passive and so neutral in expression as he was, Joe didn't catch that thought. Just as well. Had things gone that way, he was pretty sure Jennie wouldn't have objected, and just watching the two chatter on gave his frozen center some well-needed heat. It was the same as always with that kid.

Finally, he walked over to Joe, who was doing his own part in shielding Jason from the elements. "'lo, Joe."

From that towering height came a friendly look and smile, even as Jason looked at them both, a pleased third broken soul. "Hey man. How ya doing?"

"Keepin' tae th' tracks. Guid, means," he answered honestly, then glanced over his shoulder. "Look, ya aten't gang tae be surprised, sae Ah'll jus' tell ya. This be ya bachelor party. Some barbie--"

"...barbie?" Joe asked, even as Jason exclaimed with gusto: "Barbie! Lots of cheese! Wait. Cord! It was supposed to be a surprise!"

For a moment they just stared at each other before the adults began to laugh.

"Nae fair!" Jason said, huddling under Joe's protection. The use of brogue caught Joe by faint surprise at least -- so at least there was one of those --, giving him reason to look at Cord with amusement.

For his part, Cord grinned lop-sidedly. "Sorry, buddy, Ah jus' couldnae help it. Joe's a smart guy."

"Yeah, he is! Like my dad!"

The adults were quiet for a moment at that, not that Jason really noticed, but after a mutual glance Cord pointed over his shoulder at the shuttle hub. "Think ya be smarter 'n eivver o' us, Jason. Nu, could ya get us th' tickets, private?" he asked, handing over a chit.

Watching the boy happily bound away to get the tickets for transportation, the men stood in the rain for a while, shaking their heads. "Man, Cord."

"Aye. Well. 'e's doin' better a bit. 'e's real excited 'bout this thing."

"Can tell, man."

Cord looked upward toward Joe, lighting a cigarette with bots from his fingertip. "Look, ya ken Ah don' do parties. Sae Ah fig'red a day at th' beach, some meat an' jus' soda an' watchin' Jaze be Jaze'd do th' trick."

He wasn't too surprised to see Joe stare after Jason and quirk a kind of smile. "Probably better, no frills."

Bingo.

Cord nodded, watching Jason fuss around. He crushed the cigarette and put it in a ziplock bag the moment he saw Jason come back. "Let's go already! We'll be late! It's bad manners being late!" the boy insisted, grabbing them by their wrists. Cord smirked underneath his hood and matted hair. Joe smiled.

It might not have been the most colourful of bachelor parties in a sense, but Jason certainly made it vibrant. Joe and Cord sat on the beach, watching Private Kim clown around in the water. They stuck to soda as promised, barbecuing and talking about nothing related to crises or the conflict. There was this... one tiny topic of what Redcloud had sent to Jason as a birthday gift -- a genuine Kyr'Ozch sniper rifle that Cord had first glared at, then come to a conclusion about it. He'd simply disabled the weapon with Jen's help when Jason wasn't looking. Thank God ammo hadn't been included with the message. Joe took this news about as he always did. Calmly, but with a hint of the look that to Cord screamed the following message: he's going to have words with the man.

But the topics turned to more casual ones again, and the atmosphere was lifted as they grilled the meat and watched Jason's antics. Finally, though...

"Jason!" Joe yelled, "come an' get your food! Cheese is goin' cold!"

Cord watched the sudden one-eighty Jason did in the water with the faintest of smiles, content with the moment. Taking mental snapshots.

He found himself smiling as the two ate and he cleaned up the grill.