One For The Team

CHAPTER SEVEN

I don't know why I expected Raven to be shocked, but he is clearly anything but. The man never behaves the way I expect him to.

"I know this, Little One. Why do you think I've been up your butt so much?" he says, throwing my earlier words back at me now that he understands what they mean.

"H-how?" I ask him, incredulous. I'm pretty sure I did a fairly good job of hiding it.

"Okay, I didn't know exactly what was going on with you, but you have been extra jumpy. So I decided to stick closer to you. Want to tell me what's going on?"

So I tell him everything. My craptastic childhood. Being pulled out by CPS. Going to the foster homes. Discovering I have a knack for playing ball. Then I tell him about Volto and everything he put me through. Until I went to college that is, when Volto disappeared from my life. How happy I was in college. How happy I was when I got this job. then i tell him about Volto showing back up the first day of practice.

He sits there quietly, listening to everything I tell him. Only the small tic of his jaw and the icy look in his eyes, give any indication of how he's taking it.

"You have to let me contact someone, Sang." The use of my actual name tells me how serious he is, but I shake my head in the negative.

"That's not an option, Raven. You don't know what Volto is capable of." I tell him, panic coursing through me. He absolutely cannot tell anyone. "I only told you so you can keep a better eye out. You are my bodyguard, this is need to know information for you. Nobody else needs to know." I tell him earnestly. I need him to understand that the more people who know about this, are the more people who are in danger. After all of these years, I still don't know Volto's agenda.

"Fine." he finally says after what seemed likes years. "I won't tell anyone. For now. But I promise nothing if this person escalates his attempts, Little One."

He fiddles with his phone for a minute before tucking it away in his pocket. He reaches out and pulls me in for a hug, and I stiffen a moment, not used to hugging. I relax in his embrace after a moment, because, let's face it... it felt nice. His large arms wrapped around me, engulfing me, hard planes of muscle that felt soft at the same time. All too soon, I step away from him and look up.

"Thank you, Raven, for being my confidant." A strange look crosses his face, and being used to his misunderstanding of certain English words, I know right away he has no idea what 'confidant' means. "It means someone I can tell things to that will keep my secrets." Understanding dawns on his face.

"Yes, Little One, I will be your confidant as long as you need me to. As long as you don't get hurt." he amends. And I have to be okay with that.

********

It's game time.

Since it's an away game, we'll be batting first, and Nathan is about to walk up to the plate, strains of Metallica's One blast through the stadiums speakers as he approaches the plate. The first pitch is about to be thrown and I prop my right foot on the bench in front of me and rest my forearms on my leg as i prepare to watch the action.

Nathan swings at the first pitch, making contact. I watch the ball fly through the air, a pop fly, easily caught by the center fielder, who throws it back to the pitcher. Nathan trots back to the dugout.

The chorus of Thunder by Imagine Dragons sounds out as Marc walks up to the plate. He takes his stance as the pitcher prepares to lob the ball. It leaves the pitcher's hand at a fast clip, then drops right before the plate. Marc swings and misses. He steps back and readjusts his gloves, before taking his batting stance again. I shout out encouragement, as the pitchers prepares to lob another one. It's clearly a fast ball and is heading straight over the plate. The perfect place for Marc to hit it. He swings and connects, the ball flying just short of the foul line toward third base. Marc takes off toward first base, where Owen has taken over for Sean as coach. Owen makes a 'whoa' motion with his hands and Marc steps on the plate before coming to a stop a few feet past the base. He walks over to the base, taking his batting gloves off and tucking them into the back pocket of his pants.

The dugout erupts into cheers before calming down as North approaches the plate, The Imperial March blasting through the stadium. He strikes out, and stalks back to the dugout, a dark look across his too handsome face. I mentally sigh. I really have no business pining for any of these men. I bring my attention back to the game.

The tinny sounds of Tiptoe Through the Tulips sounds out as Silas walks up, his large frame crowding the plate. I appreciate the sight of his behind in his tight uniform pants, and not for the first time today, I have to mentally shake myself. He takes his stance, and when the ball flies at him, he takes an awkward swing. American League pitchers make for terrible batters, and I have to laugh a little, much like Silas does. He knows he can't for nothing. He just shrugs with a huge grin, and readjusts his position. He swings twice more and misses both times, giving us our second out.

Pour Some Sugar On Me pours through the speakers as Luke walks up. He takes his left-handed stance. His first swing is a foul, giving him a strike. Marc inches his way toward second base, ready to take off at any second. Luke's second swing is also a foul, giving him a second strike. From here he can hit all the foul balls he wants to without striking out. He's on his fifth swing, when Marc takes the opportunity to steal second base. The catcher sees, and as soon as the ball is in his mitt, he quickly stands and throws it to the second baseman, who deftly catches it and swings around to tag Marc.

"Out!" The umpire yells. Marc stands from his slide, his left leg stained brown from the dirt, and jogs over to the dugout, as the field clears of the opposing team.

The game continues as any other game. We win 4-2, and as we're all hooting and hollering, and we make our way to the locker room after the field interviews, I begin to feel light headed. I stop and lean against the wall. Raven stops and places a hand against my shoulder.

"Are you okay, Little One?" he asks, concern etched on his features. I wave him off as the feeling subsides.

"I'm fine Raven, I just felt light headed for a second. It's passed." I tell him as I lift from the wall and make my way to the locker room. That's when my legs crumple underneath me, raven quickly catching me. I hear a distant 'Coach!' shouted as blackness pulls me under.