*****035:

Except----

We got back to the new studio and Ben was at his wits end. Felicity had finally stopped screaming at our rushed departure--- but now she was hiding under some dangerous building materials that had been stacked against a wall. He couldn't get her out, and when he came near her to move the boards and stuff she started screaming again.

This was annoying and terrifying to both Rafe and I, and Ben was just annoyed. He wanted to be sympathetic, I could tell, but the screaming was just too irritating.

Rafe knelt down. He could see her under there. He spoke in clear and concise Spanish to her. "Felicity, where you are is dangerous. Come out right now."

When she kept sobbing and didn't move Rafe began to count from five to one in Spanish. When he got to dos, she started to crawl out. Apparently she'd seen and responded to this tactic before. I would have to remember it. When she was all the way out, he hugged her close. "We didn't leave you, Ben is right here to take care of you. Aubrey and Rafe needed some alone time."

She hugged his neck fiercely, scowling at Ben over Rafe's shoulder. Nothing she said was coherent.

I didn't interfere in Rafe's assessment. Ben and I just stood there watching him. He pulled her off his neck finally and looked into her teary eyes.

"We will never leave you, but you cannot run away if someone is tending you. You must obey them. You will apologize to Ben. Tell him you're sorry for running away and screaming. There will be no more screaming."

She hiccupped at him, her thumb in her mouth. He pulled it out and turned her to face Ben who now knelt in front of her.

"Tell Ben you're sorry."

Felicity shook her head.

"It's okay." Ben said, feeling sorry for the pitiful creature.

Rafe turned her around, and looked right into her eyes. "Rafe said you must tell Ben you're sorry for running away. Do you understand me?"

She nodded, and tried to crawl back in his arms, but he kept her at a distance, looking into her eyes carefully. He flipped her around which wasn't hard and prompted her again.

"No." She mumbled, and tried to turn into his arms. Rafe lifted her up none too gently and marched back to our house. He went right upstairs with Ben and me following. He dumped her on her bed and knelt as she geared up to scream again.

"Felicity. I love you very, very much, and I will never leave you. But you cannot be allowed to scream at Ben and run away when he is tending you. Tell Ben you're sorry, or I will spank your bottom and you can stay on your bed until you tell him you're sorry. You're a big girl, and you know what I'm saying."

Ben was all apologetic now himself, not wanting to see this clash of wills between them, and not thinking what she'd done was so bad. But Rafe held up a finger at him.

"Felicity?" He prompted her.

She looked right at Ben and then back at me. I could see the stubborn little gears working. She may have been initially afraid that we had left her, but honestly she'd been with Ben many times now. He was at our place pretty much all the time. And she didn't scream when Grandpa was with her.

"No." She said and turned and buried her face in her pillow. So Rafe got up, pulled her up and over his knees and smacked her twice on the butt, then plopped her back on her bed--- howling in outrage, as we all went and stood at the bedroom door. Ben and I backed down the hall.

"When you are ready to stop screaming and apologize to Ben, you may come out."

I thought about threatening not to go to the zoo, but Rafe did not want to do that. He said she would come around, and to just keep it simple. Not going to the zoo was a given if she refused to mind.

"So, you spanked her." I whispered as we stood now in our bedroom doorway.

His brows rose at me. "I did. Do you have a problem with that?"

"What about time outs and all?"

He shrugged. "If it fits. Right now, she is contesting my authority. She needs to know I will not tolerate----." She stopped screaming, and we heard her flop off her bed. Then she came to the door.

"Aubrey, Rafe panked me." She said this in English and her eyes welled up with tears again.

"He is very sad that you won't tell Ben you're sorry." I nodded, trying not to cry myself at her forlorn expression.

She looked up at Ben who was biting his lips in indecision, looking pathetic.

"I sorry." She said in English and then ran to Rafe's arms as her tears overflowed again. He knelt, clasped her to him and lifted her up, smoothing her hair and her back gently, crooning to her how much he loved her and that we will never leave her, and if she ever stays with Ben again while we are busy, she better not run away or scream at him.

Then Rafe, still holding her, passed her hesitantly off to Ben for hugs, which were dutifully received, and then on to me, where I held her softly, whispering how much I loved her and I wanted her to be a good girl and not run off ever again. Then she went back to Rafe, and he offered her a drink of strawberry smoothie, and she accepted, so they bounced on down the stairs, smiling and talking about her mermaid and her coloring pictures she'd done at the play area earlier. All was forgiven and forgotten. I hoped.

Ben was whispering. "I will never be able to discipline a kid. That about killed me."

"I know. I almost started crying myself." He hugged me with one arm. Rafe had set Felicity on the counter while he poured her some left over smoothie in a cup. She drank it eagerly and then asked for a cracker.

He gave it to her, eyeing me warily.

"Do you need a smoothie too?"

"Only chocolate will do." I said and went to him, I put my arms around him from behind and lay my cheek against his back, closing my eyes.

"Still up for the zoo?" He asked finishing off the rest of the breakfast smoothie.

"I can see if Shellie and the boys want to go." Ben said, relieved to have a reason to text his new girlfriend. I nodded against Rafe's back, as he patted my fingers to see if that was okay with me.

"We have to leave pretty much right now." Rafe said. "I'm going to change into shorts. Aubrey?" He nodded toward the stairs, and then got Felicity off the counter. "Come on, munchkin, let's find you some shorts, it's hot outside today."

We all went upstairs to change, and Rafe tackled me while I put my hair into a high ponytail to keep it all off my neck. He'd changed into black basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. He wore his baseball cap backward. His eyes in the mirror behind mine were steady.

"Did I handle that okay with you?" he whispered.

"I don't think spankings can be used in all situations, but you're the dad and I support you. That wasn't bad anyway. My brothers would have laughed if someone had spanked them just twice."

Rafe grabbed my butt through the fabric of my tan capris and caressed it before slapping it playfully.

It took an hour to get to Sylmar, and find the Wildlife Learning Center I'd heard about on the radio. It was a privately owned and operated refuge for exotic and wild animals who had been somebody's pet that they no longer wanted, or in the case of an Eagle, it had been hit by a car, and damaged. Felicity slept on the way there, and was happy to ride in the new stroller we'd got just this week, a kind of big tired, tri-wheeled, canvas thing, with a drink holder for her and a shade roof.

Of course, it took fifteen minutes and both of us trying everything we could think of to get it to unfold. But once we did, we laughed at the simple construction and knew we'd never forget. Was it this way with all new parents and new strollers?

The refuge was primitive. It wasn't expensive to get in. We watched a little film and heard the blurb about how they got the animals and how they were funded, how big the facility was and how many animals it served. Then we were allowed to walk around on our own. Inside were animals--- not in cages, but in terrariums, or habitats. They were wild animals--- spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, the raccoon-like Latin American kinkajou—and other little critters, and then there were the seven American alligators to look at. Rafe ended up carrying Felicity while I pushed the stroller, and in about a half an hour we met up with Ben and Shellie and her two boys to walk around with.

I wasn't feeling all that sociable still, my mind relieved for the most part but somewhat tired. So I held Rafe's hand and listened while the guys joked around, or the kids spotted some new animal. At every snack bar stop Rafe got us water, and one chocolate soda--- never had one of those before--- and we enjoyed the hot afternoon.

While we were walking, Parker called and told Rafe he'd gotten one of the groups he'd put out feelers about to sign with the new label. Ben and Rafe high-fived, and whooped it up for a full five minutes. Another call from Mack Stacey, Axis and Rafe's manager, whom I hadn't yet met, called to ask Ben and Rafe to do an interview, and then for Rafe to be a presenter at the Golden Globe Awards coming up in February. They said yes to both, and then a few minutes later, when he might not have answered his private line, he got a text from Jack Nicholson, saying that his courtside Laker's seats were available for the next game if he wanted them. He said yes so enthusiastically I thought he was going to explode.

"How much is that going to cost?" I asked.

"They're his, he can charge whatever he wants." Rafe was doing a little sexy mo-jo dance in his excitement.

"When's the game?" Ben wanted to know.

"Tomorrow night." Rafe was texting back now, still hopping from foot to foot, singing a little Laker's song under his breath. I thought he might blow a gasket.

"Are you going with him?" I asked Ben, who about jumped up and down.

"Nah--- he'll take you, of course." He said mildly disappointed.

"He's got the four available." Rafe muttered. "I took them all. You can come." He was still texting, and then he hit send and howled so that all the animals in the Wildlife Learning Center would be terrified. Felicity had gotten down to walk with the boys, but now she was staring at Rafe anxiously. He did a whole high five dance with Ben and then proceeded to tango with me on the boardwalk all the way to the next exhibit.

"So, how much did he charge you?"

"Twenty-five hundred a piece."

"Om--- a quick ten thousand?"

"Oh, yeah, we were going to talk about major expenditures. I guess I'll have to veto any argument you may put up about Laker's tickets. No matter what, we're going. They get offered, baby, we're freaking going!"

I grinned. "The most coveted seats in the history of the NBA? Are you kidding? Of course we're going."

"Have you gone before?"

I nodded. "But not in those seats. At all, of course not."

"Are you a Laker's fan?"

I'd never thought to ask him, and he'd never brought it up. "Will being a basketball fan do?"

"No, you're a Laker's fan. Felicity, come here!" he ran and scooped her up, tickling her tummy and making her giggle as he blew raspberries against her skin. "This family is Laker's fans. Can you say Lakers?" She said it and he rolled her up to his lips again and raspberried her. Her laughs were almost as loud as her screams.

Ben was back with Shellie, and they watched Rafe's antics with admiration. I could see the hope in Shellie's eyes, hope that Ben was like Rafe--- which he was and he wasn't. I could also see the hopeful admiration in Ben's expression as he gazed with longing at Rafe with Felicity and then he looked at the two little boys. Grabbing them now would be like copying, I'm sure that went through his head, but it wouldn't have bothered anybody if he'd tickled and played with them. He was just a more reserved type of guy. He might do it, but maybe not in as public of a place.

"We'll have to get you two jerseys."

"Do you have a jersey?"

"I own a jersey, I don't wear a jersey. I have a wall of jersey's in my basement."

"That's a room I haven't been in."

"What? You haven't been in the trophy room? Where do you think I watch the games I can't attend?"

I laughed. "I guess in the trophy room."

"You're damn—darn right."

"How often do you get invited?"

"Maybe three or four games a season. And then another three or four I just go--- not on the wood. And then the rest we watch on the big screen." He high-fived Ben.

"You too, huh? You up for this Shellie? Par-tay at the Stryker's for away games." I high fived Shellie who was looking typically confused, and I wished not for the first time she was a little less sheltered, and a little more into it. I hoped she was who Ben needed and wanted. He definitely was needing someone.

The little park kiddie train was coming along behind us. It tooted and Felicity looked back in wonder, so Rafe hailed the driver and we all boarded for a tour around the perimeter.

*****