One of a Kind - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 77

DJ was nervous as he stood outside of the Zoo entrance with his parents and Jasmine, Noah staying close to his grandparents but he'd been polite enough to greet Jasmine. They were all just waiting for Kath and Dylan to arrive, but DJ's nervousness got worse when he recognized her car pull up. He walked over as Kath got out of the car so that he could help her with the stroller and he smiled as she hugged him first and he hugged her back. "Hey, how are you?" DJ asked and Kath shrugged.

"I'm fine - sorry I'm late, I had to pull over at the gas station to change Dylan's diaper," Kath said honestly, getting the baby girl out of her car seat as DJ opened her trunk and was easily able to put the stroller up, which allowed Kath to strap the sleepy baby in and she covered Dylan with a light blanket before setting the baby bag underneath the stroller.

"We have to talk at some point before the day is over," DJ said and Kath nodded her head.

"Sure. You wanna push the stroller?" Kath asked and DJ nodded, giving his daughter a kiss before starting to push the stroller back towards their family and Kath was greeted with hugs from Rommel and Karla, each of whom gave her a kiss and Noah launched himself at his Mom, giggling for the first time all morning as she attacked him with kisses and tickles. Kath hesitated when she came face-to-face with Jasmine, able to see exactly what features Noah got from her.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Jasmine said politely, holding out her hand and Kath took a deep breath before shaking it.

"Yeah." Was all Kath said, forcing a smile for Noah's sake but she couldn't lie and say it was good to meet her - she didn't know her at all, she didn't know whether it was safe to trust her or not and all she had to go on so far didn't make her trust the stranger.

"Oh, let me say hello to my beautiful granddaughter." Karla cooed, making Kath smile as Karla and Rommel doted on Dylan for a moment, giving her a kiss each before they all headed into the Zoo together. DJ pushed the stroller, giving him some extra time with Dylan and he shushed the baby girl as she whined - it was loud at the entrance and she was tired.

"She's adorable," Jasmine said to Kath, who had Noah holding onto her hand.

"Thanks," Kath said with a forced smile, giving Noah's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Where do you wanna go first, Noah?" Rommel asked, lifting up his grandson so that he could see the map better and Kath fixed the blanket around Dylan, trying to calm her down so that she'd sleep but it was just loud around them because it was where everybody was coming in and leaving the Zoo.

"Lions," Noah said, pointing and Rommel chuckled.

"How am I not surprised? Come on then, bud, we can go up this path here and work our way around!" Rommel said, Noah, nodding his head but he went straight to the stroller when Rommel set him down.

"It's too loud for Dylan, Mommy, she doesn't like it," Noah said, concern etched in his expression but Jasmine spoke before Kath could.

"She'll calm down eventually, Noah, don't worry. She has all of us to comfort her." Jasmine said with a soft smile and Noah just slowly nodded his head. Kath just looked down at the ground, distancing herself from the others as they started to walk, Noah sticking by DJ and the stroller so he could watch over his sister.

"Don't worry, I hate her too," Rommel whispered to Kath, kissing her head and Kath couldn't help but crack a smile.

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They stopped at the café just before the lion enclosure for lunch a little over an hour later and Noah kept looking over at the play area where the other kids were all playing. Dylan had finally fallen asleep, but Kath had the stroller in front of her, ready for Dylan to wake up and need a bottle.

"Eat one more big bite of your burger and you can go play," DJ said to Noah, encouraging him and Noah did as he was told, jumping down from the table and he rushed around to Kath, pulling at her hand.

"Come play with me, Mommy!" Noah begged, but he let go of her when Dylan started to wake up in the stroller.

"I'll come over when Dylan's finished her bottle, monster, she'll be hungry for her own lunch now!" Kath promised, kissing his head. "Why don't you ask Jasmine to push you on the swings?" Kath whispered to him and Noah hesitated before nodding and Kath watched as Noah went to the play area with Jasmine - Rommel and Karla went with them so that he wasn't alone with her, to make him more comfortable.

"Hey... can we have that talk now?" DJ asked, watching Kath tip the bottle into Dylan's mouth. She protested it for a minute, but started to drink from it, curled into her Mom.

"Sure," Kath said and DJ took a deep breath.

"I've asked Mom and Dad to look after Noah tonight because I'm going on a date... with Jasmine."

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