[;Courtney;]- alone after all.

[Rachael ;; Courtney]

Courtney walked into the food court of the Cranberry Mall and stood near the counters as she decided on what to eat. She sighed quietly, looking around before ordering. Only a couple people were scattered among her. Hmm..its not real busy today., she thought then turned to order. "I'll have a small caesar salad and a coke."She got her food & sat down at a table near the exit to the other shops. She quietly set her bag down next to her & started to eat her salad.

[[.Jeff.Steve.]]

Only a couple people...that in until Jeff, et al, comes in. He stops and turns, counting quietly, his children. Billy Jasmine, Matt, Malik, Rocky...Mieke's asleep in Jeff's left arm, and Jenni is at a friend's house. Jeff appears tired--who wouldn't with a practically newborn baby, plus six other kids? Two of them--Matt and malik--aren't even his, but his wife's form before she met him. But now she's dead, so he's taking care of all the kids. By himself. He has on khaki shorts, white tennis shoes, and an off-white shirt, light brown hair lightly spiked, eyes green because he has his contacts in. After getting the four older children Happy Meals, Jeff sits down at a table--he had to pull over a couple extra chairs, plus a baby seat for Rocky--and reaches into the diaper bag that's hanging off his right shoulder, pulling out of it a snack container full of cheerios, handing it to Rocky. Then he pulls out a bottle and sets it on the table. He'll just waits 'til Mieke wakes up on her own to feed her.

[Rachael ;; Courtney]

Courtney looked up from her salad to take a drink when she noticed a guy with quite a few kids with him. She smiled at the baby in his arms while taking a sip. She kept watching until she realized she was probably staring so she went back to finish her salad. After finishing it, she pushes it a few inches away from her, reaching into her bag & grabbing a notebook as she wrote something down. She was a nurse & she forgot a note that she had to remember for tomorrow. She looked up again, closing the notebook and watched the guy again with a sigh.

[[.Jeff.Steve.]]

Luckily for him, none of the children are fighting--being twins, Billy and Jasmine fight a lot, and Matt and Malik have their occasional bout as well. And it usually happens at the worst possible times. But right now, they'll all eating happily--older children their happy meals, and Rocky his cheerios. Mieke opens her tiny eyes and whimpers softly. jeff looks down and smiles at her. "Have a nice nap, sweetie?" She's a quiet baby--only cries if she's hungry or sick or needs to be changed. Jeff grabs the bottle and starts feeding it to the baby.

[Rachael ;; Courtney]

She put her notebook back in her bag then grabbed her garbage and threw it away. She made her way back to her table, grabbing her bag & made sure she had everything. She, again, looked up at him seeing he was feeding the baby. She breathed deeply, deciding to go say hello. She walked over and stood a few feet away smiling slightly. "Hello." Simple greeting...but it usually worked. She stood glancing around then back to him.

[[.Jeff.Steve.]]

"Hello," he says in a kind voice. But he doesn't look up, he's concentrating on Mieke. When people approach him, they usually have questions, the same questions: Are they yours? Why so many kids? Where's their mother?, just to name a few. "Can I help you?" He forces his gaze away from the baby to half-glance at Courtney.

[Rachael ;; Courtney]

"Um, no probably not. I just thought I would come over to say hello. I just thought you looked...sort of lonely in a way I guess. I'm Courtney." She half grinned wondering if this was the right thing to do or if she should just leave. Yet something was telling her to stay put.

[[.Jeff.Steve.]]

He is lonely--as much as he loves his children, though Matt and Malik technically aren't even his, they can't fill that void left when Liz died. "Well, I'm Jeff...Nice to meet you." He gives a kind smile. He'd try to shake her hand...but his left hand is occupied by Mieke, and his right, her bottle. He pauses for a moment, wondering if he should tell her what the kids' names are, if she'd care..he refrains, for now. It's best not to give that kind of information if someone doesn't ask for it.

[Rachael ;; Courtney]

She smiled. "Nice to meet you too. You know, I love kids, even though I don't have any of my own." She smiled as she looked at the kids that sat around him.

[[.Jeff.Steve.]]

Jeff has to give a soft laugh. He loves children too..He would die if anythnig happened to any of them. "This is Mieke," he says, nodding towaqrd the baby in his arms. Then he nods toward the one-year-old in the high chhair. "That's Rocky.." Then he looks around at each of the kids, saying their names as he nods at them. "That's Billy, Jasmine, Matt, Malik..." He pauses for a long moment. "And Jenni, she's the oldest, is at a friend's house." Yes, seven kids. It's like seven overlapping sentences of eightteen to life.

[Rachael ;; Courtney]

She smiles a Mieke, "Mieke is cute." She sighed quietly. Suddenly, her cell phone rang & she picked it up and answered..."Hello?...Yes, I can be there a.s.a.p...Yep, Bye." She quickly put her phone away then started walking away then remembered Jeff and went back. "I'm sorry I have to leave so soon but I have to get to the hospital. You see, I'm a nurse. Bye, hope to see you again!" She waved then went out of the malls' entrance & drove away to work.