Nudged into action.

[brokendoors]

It's been an interesting few weeks. Far more interesting than usual, and Ivy finally gets a moment to sit down.
But once she's on her butt, she can't sit still.

Caleb's spending the Thanksgiving weekend with his grandparents and isn't due until Monday afternoon, and she's lonely. This why she gets the urge to pull out her cell phone, and scrolls through the list of names.

And stares, bites her lip, and begins texting a message.

Hi, Casper. I doubt you remember me. Ivy, from the Nexus. Got a little boy with asthma. If you do, I was wondering if you were busy? Maybe get a coffee or something.

He probably doesn't remember her, and it's been so long that she's had an actual friend so she'll be really pathetically awkward.

Comments

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

His smile is infectious enough that she smiles right back. "Yeah, actually. Excited, too." she's trying not to vibrate with energy. "Coffee in San Francisco. That's really freaking amazing."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

It is amazing. And it's a sign how long Casper has lived in the Nexus, when he's started to take things like this for granted. It's good to get a reminder just how lucky he is to be able to go off to some faraway city for a cup of java at the drop of a hat if he so pleases.

His smile widens into a grin. "Let's not hang around here, then," he chuckles. "Right this way." he leads her through a portal. One second they're in the Nexus, the next they're stepping out from a building on Belden Lane - San Francisco's French Quarter.

Usually Casper did his travel by PINpoint, but that convenient portal was a nicer way.

"I try to come here a couple of times a year, at least," he says, leading her down the street. The café they were going to was just around the corner.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

Ivy is listening, honest, but she's too busy looking around to be much of a conversationalist. "Hopefully not Starbucks. Those are everywhere. Except for my old hometown when I was a kid."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

He laughs. "No, not Starbucks. I'm sorta picky about my coffee." He really is. It's his one and only addiction, and one he has no intention of quitting.

The café (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oOWEt14x2NA/S6zXuqkYguI/AAAAAAAACU0/3ZOBx1kSR0M/s1600/Cafe+Noir+inside.JPG) is on the small side, but makes up for it in style and atmosphere. It's also rather busy, but there's a free table far in past the bar.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

She grins. "Good. They always smell fantastic - like this place! - but the coffee never delivers." Ivy's pretty into coffee. Or. Rather, sugar and cream with her coffee. "I take it you've got a french press at home, and not a Keurig?" Ivy is dying for a Keurig machine.

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Yyyeah, I have, actually." He grins wide an takes a seat at that vacant table. His manners aren't quite good enough that he'll pull out her chair for her. But as far as he knows, this isn't a date where he's required to have good manners. Just two people grabbing a cup of coffee. So he'll just be himself. It's not like he's rude.

A waitress comes by to take their orders. Casper opts for a double espresso and a chocolate macaron, and after the waitress has written down Ivy's order as well she's on her way to get their selected drinks and pastries.

"So, you said your boy is doing better?"

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

Ivy definitely doesn't mind having to pull out her own seat. She's not considering this a date, either. (If she had, the blush might be permanent.) She definitely wouldn't mind, but the idea of getting to know someone before having to worry about date protocol is a nice one.

Ivy orders a Caffè breve and two small thin, crunchy gingersnaps.

"Mmhm. Something in the carpets, I think. We got new carpeting, and voila. Better already. He's with his grandparents for the holiday."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

Casper nods. Environment is definitely important when it comes to someone with asthma. "Sounds good. What about you then? Stuck at work for the holiday?"

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

It is, and it felt like she'd won a war when she'd gotten her boss to buy new carpet.

She nods. "Mmhm. We had the local food bank come out and deliver Thanksgiving dinners to the people who actually live there, and weren't able to get home. So there was about five people, all huddled in the lobby. I feel for 'em."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"I can imagine a nicer time, yeah." He had a hard time imagining spending Thanksgiving anywhere other than at his parents' place. "How did you spend it, though, being stuck at work?"

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"That morning, me and Caleb sat in front of the TV in the lobby, drinking hot cocoa and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade." Grin. "He got excited over seeing Santa. And at noon his Grandma came and got him. It got a little busy after that, with people bringing food and our guests coming out. But I got a turkey sandwich and some pumpkin pie. I watched a lot of TV."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

It could have been worse, it sounded like. At least she had gotten some quality time, then. "Hot cocoa, turkey and pumpkin pie. Sounds like you got the essentials." He grinned. "Personally I was out cold at eight-thirty with a severe case of food coma."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"Oh yes. There was sweet potatoes, too, but someone went and ruined them with marshmallows." she jokes, chuckling. "Your family does it up big on the holidays? Were your boys with you?"

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Yes and yes. My mom, and actually my dad in particular went a bit crazy when I suddenly brought my boys along. There had usually just been us three celebrating before, with the odd exception when some relative or other came to visit." The Robinson's didn't have all that many relatives, at least not many living on the western side of the Atlantic. "Grandchild fever or something, I guess."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"That's how Caleb's grandparents were. They didn't think I'd let him stay, since I wouldn't be there. I think they actually bought toys." It was hard, really, to let him go. But she's trying to trust more. And really, if they bought him toys, she couldn't turn that down!

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"So Christmas came early for Caleb, huh?" Not knowing what the relationship was like between Caleb and his grandparents - who Casper assumed was on his paternal side, judging from how Ivy talked about them - he could only imagine and think that the boy must have had a nice time.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"I think it was a portent of what's to come." she says a little dryly. "Caleb is the only grandchild right now, so .. yeah. Spoiling time is a go."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but that's just as it should be. Every kid should be spoiled rotten by the Gran's at some point." Casper sometimes wished that he had been, growing up. "He'll be too old for it before you know it."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah. I agree. And they're good to him, which is all that really matters to me. I just wish I could spoil him more."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Spoiling him doesn't have to involve toys and other things that require money, though. Time, attention and first of all love doesn't cost anything."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

She nods knowingly. "Oh, I know. And that's more important than toys. But it doesn't stop me from wishing, y'know? I wish I could stay home all day and color with him, too. Or take him on a picnic more often." Ivy really likes picnics, and Caleb likes playing on the playgrounds.

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

The waitress arrives with their orders, and Casper is happy to pick up his small cup and deeply breathe in the scent. Mmmh, coffee...

"Here's what I think," he starts, and pauses to take a first sip of glorious black goodness. "He knows this. And that makes all the difference."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

And while Casper is talking, Ivy happily sips her own and nibbles her gingersnaps. "Oh, gosh. This is fantastic." She's pretty sure this is what Heaven tastes like: sweetened coffee and gingersnaps.

"You're right. He's a smart kid, and he knows I'd do anything for him. And he's a good kid. Living in a hotel room, with Dylan and Cole as 'role models'" and she does look pained here "he's got a lot of opportunity to run wild. And he doesn't."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Told you this was a good place." Being a coffee fanatic, he knows to pick his hang-outs.

"Kids are pretty adaptable. While raising a child is hard work, their needs are still fairly simple." Which makes it all the more sad how many children there's out there who doesn't have their needs met. Casper is a good example of this, and could tell horror stories straight from him own life. But at least it turned out well for him in the end. "So who's Dylan and Cole?" That pained look of hers does beg the question.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

She nods exuberantly. "Want a taste of these gingersnaps? Before I decide to hog them."

"Dylan and Cole Sprouse. They star on the Disney Channel about twin boys that live in a hotel. They're much older than he is, but the jokes are pretty dumbed down."