Family Ties

Part 11

"Why don't we have something to eat before I take you home?" Jackson turned to Raymond, who looked up in surprise, as he clicked Skye's seat belt in place.

"Eh, I don't think that would work." Raymond stumbled. "We should get home and get a headstart on homework."

"Oh, come on. We're just having an early supper. I'm sure Skye must be hungry." he added when Raymond still frowned at him.

"Can we go, Papa? Skye's eyes lit up at the thought.

"Maybe next time, Squirt." Raymond ruffled his hair with a smile.

"Please, Papa?" Jackson added with a sad expression, causing Raymond to chuckle.

"Please?" Skye added.

"Okay little man, but just this once." He smiled at his son. "So where are we going?" he asked Jackson.

"Can we go to Adventure Land, Papa?" Skye's eyes lit up, while he sat up straighter in excitement at the thought of going to one of his favorite restaurants, that had a massive play area for kids.

"No," Raymond said firmly. "You'll be bouncing off the walls all afternoon. But nice try though." he chuckled when he saw Skye's expression darken.

"There's a restaurant near here," Jackson suggested. "It's quiet and very little bouncing off the walls is allowed." A grin spread over his face as Raymond nodded in agreement.

"Why are you getting so involved in my life?" Raymond asked quietly once they were seated.

"It's not that unusual for someone to take an interest in a coworker's life, is it?" he frowned. Cook cut to the chase, he thought ruefully.

"For you, it is," He countered. It wasn't healthy to have Jackson interfere or even get involved in his personal life. This had never happened before. He could orchestrate all his previous jobs from behind the scenes, while his contacts got to work, meaning that his work had never interfered with or affected his personal life. Jackson had already been to his home and Skye's school, which had him slightly worried, but this job was a tough nut to crack so far and they may be spending more time together.

"Papa, can I..."

"Nope." Raymond interrupted Skye, knowing that a burger and chips were on top of his menu plan. "I'll decide on what you eat and you decide what you want for dessert." He bargained. Skye's eyes screwed up in concentration before he nodded.

"Jackson? And family?" A squat man, in a dark suit, came bounding toward them midway through their meal, looking at Jackson in surprise,

"Eh, Ted, nice to see you here." Jackson smiled at him looking slightly uncomfortable. "This is Raymond and Skye." He gestured in their direction. "Ted and I went to college together." He filled the gap at Raymond's raised eyebrow. Skye spared him a brief look before returning to his meal.

 Getting up, Raymond reached for his hand, which he immediately regretted. It was like grabbing hold of a cold, limp, dead fish.

"Raymond, hey?" laughed again, baring a set of bleached white teeth. "What company are you with? I haven't seen you around the club if you know what I mean?" He boisterously laughed again like a foghorn going off.

"I freelance." Raymond smoothly lied. He didn't trust Ted. He tried too hard to be jovial and his laugh was forced and annoying. "What are you doing here?" He asked as if they were old friends, knowing that it would stroke Ted's ego. From the start, it was easy to tell that he collected people and names like trophies.

"Freelance, hey? What are you cooking up Jack?" He grinned like a hyena, staying put as if in no hurry to move on. "So what are two guys doing out on a night like this?" His boisterous laughter boomed loudly through the room, drawing attention to himself, which he seemed to enjoy.

"We're trying to have dinner together." Skye surprised them all. Raymond watched as a scowl crossed his face, his eyes boring into Ted, before turning back to his food.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Ted." Raymond tried to avoid shaking his hand, but there was no way out of grabbing hold of that dead fish.

"Yeah, see you, Ted." Jackson briefly raised his hand in greeting, before sitting down to resume his meal.

"Yeah!" Ted looked slightly confused at Skye. "We'll talk again!" He laughed loudly again sounding like a maniac as he moved off.

"That was creepy and thanks for not helping at all," Raymond muttered toward Jackson.

"Sorry," he blushed. "Ted is loathsome on the best of days. The less I need to speak to him the better." He confessed.

"That I can understand." Raymond suppressed a shudder. "What's his connection with Dealer's?"

"There is none. He's been competing with me for some reason since grad school and we move in the same business circles." He picked up his fork to stab at the food in front of him.

"And since when do you get so snippy with adults?" Raymond turned to Skye, who shrugged his shoulders and stuffed another bite of food into his mouth. He couldn't fault Skye on his reaction to Ted, there was something sleazy about him.

The rest of the evening progressed in relative peace until Skye's dessert arrived.

"Are you out of your mind?" Jackson asked in shock as a large frozen desert with almost every imaginable topping, smothered in chocolate and fudge. "You can't let the kid eat that!" Jackson exclaimed. He didn't know much about kids, but even he knew that giving them that much sugar was begging for trouble.

"What?" Both Skye and Raymond looked at him in surprise.

"Are you sure he should be eating that this late at night?" he gestured toward the mountain of sugar in front of Skye.

"Sugar doesn't make kids hyper, mister, kids make kids hyper," Skye interjected before looking at Raymond who gave him a nod to start.

"He's quoting from a study that was done on the topic. His uncle Eric thought it would be good to teach him that little bit of information." Raymond sighed, briefly resting his hand on Skye's head. "It hasn't proven to be wrong yet." He grinned.

"I wish I had you as a parent now." Jackson smiled, itching to reach out over the table to take Raymond's hand, playing with the cutlery instead.

On the way home, Sky had fallen asleep between them, leaning into Raymond who had his arm around him. Jackson wanted to start making conversation but was also too afraid to wake the boy. When they stopped outside of the apartment block, Jackson turned to Raymond.

"You have a really cute kid, Cook," Jackson admitted, looking down at the sleeping boy. "And his dad is not that bad himself," he smiled at Raymond who was holding a sleeping Skye in his arms.

"Thank you?" He looked slightly confused. Did Jackson just make a pass at him?

"Anyway, I'll pick you up for school tomorrow." He turned around and opened the car door to get in.

"That's not necessary, Jackson. We're good on our own, thanks."

"Don't be difficult Cook, I'm coming to pick you up around seven. Okay, seven it is." He grinned, getting into the car and driving off.

With a sigh, he carried Skye into his bedroom, taking his shoes off and tucking him under the covers. For a while he sat looking at the sleeping boy in front of him, his heart constricting.

"You are my cute kid." He whispered, leaning over to lightly place a kiss on his forehead, before leaving.

With a sigh, Raymond sat on the couch with a coffee in front of him. What was he going to do about Jackson? He seemed to want to worm himself into their lives. No matter how attractive a fling with Jackson sounded, he had to think of Skye and the impact it would have on his life.