Two Peas In A Pod Series 2

Post – See No Evil
Title – Games
Summary – With it being a hot day… Abby and Tony talk about things at the local pool.
Spoilers – None

Tony swam back and forth in a small part of the pool he claimed as his own. "Come on Abs," he called out and copped a face full of water when Abby dove in. "You know what would be perfect, if they stick one of those dinging things, you go skinny dipping and we can relive Jaws," he said to Abby once she resurfaced.

Abby tread water. "You know there's a game Jaws that people play in the water.

Tony shrugged his shoulders as he lay on his back and looked to the sky. "Jaws… A game? What?" He almost lost the balance.

Abby laughed. "You're not going to tell me you've never heard of pool games," Abby said as she slightly pushed him away.

"Had a pool when I was a kid," Tony sighed heavily. "It was used for showing off who was the better athlete… Pools aren't a place for games," he said. That's what he was always told. It was just another tool for discipline and exercise. To be the best that everyone wanted him to be.

"Not even Marco Polo?" Abby asked him.

"Marco Polo?" Tony echoed what Abby had said to him. He knew that he was an explorer but what did that have to do with games.

"No Marco Polo… No Jaws… How about Pool Ponies?" Abby asked.

"I've seen Pool Ponies," Tony said as he began treading water again. "But tell me about Jaws," he laughed. Usually he didn't need anybody to tell him about Jaws.

"Well you see," Abby said when she had his full attention. "There's one person who is in the middle and the others try to cross to the other side of the pool while the one in the middle tries to grab onto one… It's basically like tag," Abby said cheerfully. "Marco Polo… One person has to keep their eyes closed while the others go around the pool. The one who has their eyes closed shouts out Marco, while the others shout out Polo in response. So that means the Marco has to find the others by where their voice is coming from," Abby explained.

"Did you make up those games?" Tony blinked questioningly when Abby laughed again. "What?" He asked.

"These are childhood games that most people played," Abby told him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just surprising that's all," she said as they sat on the edge of the pool. "What other games haven't you played?" Abby asked.

"If I knew… I'd tell you," Tony shrugged his shoulders sadly. It felt like he was an ass for not knowing these kind of things that Abby often spoke about.

"Murder in the dark?" Abby asked him.

Tony shook his head. "That doesn't sound like a fun game," he said earnestly. Any game with the word murder in couldn't possibly be fun. But it was coming from Abby so maybe it was a strange invention.

"One person is blindfolded while the other participants hide around the house… Then the blindfolded person has to feel around and try and find them," Abby said. "Of course it is always advisable you play it on a ground floor," she made sure to add.

"Why's that?" Tony asked.

"Well you wouldn't want a blindfolded child to fall down some stairs now would you?" Abby asked him and Tony quickly shook his head. "No it wouldn't serve anybody well. A lot of games were good games until people got hurt and then subsequently banned from schoolyards.

"You got a point there," Tony said as he walked around.

"I sure do… You know, I half expected you to want to talk about the case," Abby said to open the lines of communication if he needed to talk.

"Actually… No," Tony said quickly. "I'm just mad at myself for not suspecting the father sooner. It's blatantly obvious that fathers are out to screw their children… I'm fine with that," Tony shrugged his shoulders. "There's no problem," he told her.

"Don't give me that… You're still pessimistic about family?" Abby asked.

"Realistic more like it… It's just a matter of time before family screws you over," Tony watched Abby walk away for a moment.

"How about us?" Abby shouted back.

"You're not blood… Not real family. So there are no expectations," his voice trailed off. "No expectations to be there forever," it was true. Tony didn't expect them to be there forever. Soon, it might be time to move on when he wore his welcome out. But till then he was going to enjoy every moment possible.

"With your history I guess I can't really blame you," Abby commented as she came back with two inflated pool ponies under her arms. "We're allowed to borrow these," she said with a huge grin.

Tony's grin matched hers as he followed her to the shallow end of the pool. "It's good that you don't think that we're like the family you had when you were a boy," Abby said to him as they climbed into the pool.

Tony had problems maintaining his balance over his green pool pony. "Okay," he said carefully as if his voice would disturb his uneasy balance. "Now what?" Tony asked.

"You use your hands to paddle to the deep end," Abby told him.

"Wait up," Tony frantically tried to paddle and keep his balance. "Wait up," he said as he finally got the pool pony going forward. Abby turned her pony around and faced the oncoming Tony. He ended up slipping one way and falling off with a large splash. "My pony's drowning," Tony said with a laugh.

Abby paddled her pony to Tony and waited for him to climb back on. "You seriously have never ridden one of those haven't you?" she asked him.

"Nope," Tony managed to climb onto the pool pony in the most awkward looking way. "That obvious?" He laughed.

"You know… I'm hosting a kiddies' birthday party next week," Abby told him. "My good friend is the host really but she often calls me in to help with entertaining all the littlies. You should come along," Abby said.

"I don't know," Tony responded.

"Come on… It'd be fun," Abby waited for the yes response. She knew she could talk Tony into doing anything. Though she'd never misuse that incredible power she had. "You'd get to see a real birthday party," Abby told him. There were times when she wanted to show him everything that the poor guy had missed out on. "Yeah come along and I'm sure you'll have a real blast," Abby said to him.

"Oh… Alright, count me in," Tony shrugged his shoulders.