"For Kit's Sake"
Authors: Robert Brown

Disclaimer: This story uses characters created and copyrighted by Disney
            (except where noted, in which case they were created and
            copyrighted by us or by another and we have permission to use
            them).  The authors hereby give permission for this story to be
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Quick Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, I'll try not to let it happen again.
My best friend/brother had a surgery that did not go so well and it took him
three times the normal time to get back to his home.  Also, I am looking for
a new place for my website since geocities is closing down.  And to top it off
I am trying to find a new apartment.  But I should be able to start writing 
more with things starting to fall into place.  This fic will be 10 chapters, 
hopefully finished by the end of the year.  Feel free to annoy me.  Happy
Reading!

Chapter 2: A Big Mistake?

	Rebecca sat at her desk, catching up on some paperwork she had set aside
to do that day.  It had been a little over six weeks since Kit's leg had been
broken and today was his first day back to school.  The office was unusually 
quiet, like it used to be before the incident, and she had to take a few 
minutes to get used to it.  
	Of course, if she hadn't tricked Baloo into going to Louie's that
morning, she wouldn't have the place to herself like she did.  Since Kit had
been injured, Baloo had been the employee she'd always dreamed of having.  
He picked up his cargo in the morning, made his runs without any detours, and
returned to Cape Suzette with plenty of time to spare.  She'd like to believe
it was because he was finally taking her seriously, but she knew he wanted to
be around if Kit needed him.
	All through Kit's recovery Baloo had been there for him when he could; 
close, but not hovering.  He'd gladly spent time with the younger bear 
whenever he could, reading comics and playing games with the boy.  But he 
hadn't let Kit take advantage of him.  A second bowl of ice cream after dinner
was nothing, but when Kit had tried to wheedle a five-dollar model airplane 
kit out of Baloo, he'd been met with a firm "No" for his troubles.  Kit had 
grumbled and complained, as any kid would, but Rebecca could tell that he was
glad that Baloo hadn't given in.  And so was she.
	But she had to be truthful with herself.  As much as she enjoyed the 
increased profit margin(thirty percent over the past month!), she missed the
real Baloo.  She missed his bad jokes, his lazy attitude, his laughter, and
his smile.  His interactions with her were becoming less and less frequent,
relegated to business discussions.  And even that was on occasion reduced to
notes instead of face-to-face.  She may have gained a terrific employee, but 
she was losing her best friend.
	That was why she had conspired with Louie to get Baloo to loosen up.
A shipment of nozzles for his gas station was the perfect cover.  Louie had 
made sure a party was in full swing by the time Baloo arrived.  She had been
on the phone, letting Louie use her as an excuse for not attending to the 
invoice right away.  It had taken almost fifteen minutes for Baloo to be drawn
into the festivities.  But once he had, she and Louie had exchanged a phone
high-five, as he called it, and she'd known he'd be in good hands for a few
hours.  After everything he'd done over the past six weeks, he deserved it.
	The weeks had not been all easy, no matter how Baloo had managed to make
it seem.  In the very first week, Baloo had a run-in with Don Karnage and the
usual band of Air Pirates.  Baloo had been very tight-lipped about the whole
affair, saying only that Karnage had agreed not to bother him again for the 
entire time Kit was convalescing.  This was very unusual for Baloo, who had 
never passed up an opportunity to brag about handing Karnage another crushing
defeat.  She didn't know whether to be suspicious or worried, but whatever had
happened, the Air Pirates had kept their distance after all.
	And that was only on Baloo's end of things.  Kit had thought she was 
joking when she'd promised to make sure he kept up on his homework; he'd 
quickly found out it was no joke.  As much as he'd grumbled, he came to look
forward to it as a way to pass the time while Baloo was out on his deliveries.
Once the homework ran out, Wildcat had kept him occupied with simple games and
teaching him how to tinker.  
	Occasionally the Jungle Aces had visited, but it was hard to keep a 
group of rambunctious kids quiet for any length of time.  Since Kit had really
needed his rest, she'd been forced to keep those visits to a very short amount
of time.  They'd all signed his cast and wished him well, but Rebecca knew 
that seeing them had made it worse for him as he was confined to bed.  After
their visits, he'd always gotten a little sadder, but not enough to really 
concern her.
	What had concerned her, however, was when Kit had insisted on calling 
that nurse that Baloo had given him the number of.  She couldn't blame him;
he was quite smitten with her after all.  But she'd had no idea how the wolf
would react, nor how to break the truth to him without hurting her himself.
	She shouldn't have worried.  The nurse, who she'd found out was named 
Velvela, had turned out to be quite the good sport over it.  That first phone
call had lasted over a half hour and each one that followed had been at least
fifteen minutes long.  She'd also come by to visit him rather frequently, 
spending at least an hour with him when she'd had a day off, talking with him
about everything and nothing.  Rebecca had never seen the boy look so proud 
and flustered when Velvela had left a lipstick print on his cast and another 
on his cheek her first visit.  And that look had been repeated with every kiss
she left on his cheek each visit thereafter.
	After the fourth visit, Rebecca had asked to speak with her, voicing her
protests to this continuing.  He was only thirteen after all and she was a 
grown woman just this side of twenty.  It wasn't fair to Kit to be led on by 
someone who obviously had no real interest in him.  
	She had expected to face Velvela's anger, or spluttered denials, or even
mocking laughter.  But what she'd gotten, she couldn't have expected in a 
million years.  "And who says I have no interest in him?"  the lupine had 
asked, her tail twitching irritably.  "He's a great kid, and I can tell he's
going to grow up to be a great guy, the kind of guy that comes along maybe 
once in a lifetime.
	"Look, I don't know if you're aware of this, but the life of a nurse is 
a hard one.  As much as I want to find a serious relationship right now, it's
just not in the cards.  Maybe five years down the road I'll be secure enough 
in my job to look for one.  And you know what?  In five years Kit will be 
eighteen.  Now I'm not going to encourage him to wait for me, but I'm not 
going to discourage him either.  Same goes with me waiting for him.  But I am
going to spend time with him, as friends, and see if the relationship grows as
he does."
	Rebecca had been fairly speechless as Velvela walked out.  Try as she 
had, she had been unable to offer any realistic challenges to her logic.  The
lupine nurse had even given her a chance the next time she visited to voice 
any rebuttals she may have come up with.  But since there was nothing there,
Rebecca had been forced to agree not to interfere until she could come up 
with something.  And so far, she still hadn't.
	The clock struck noon, pulling her from her thoughts.  "A good time for 
a break," she decided, pushing away from her desk and heading to the kitchen.
She wanted something simple and light today; sandwiches would make a nice 
working lunch.  She grabbed a loaf of bread, thankfully fresh, and two plates
before remembering that she only needed one.
	As she put the second plate away, she remembered a time when she had 
made sandwiches for Kit.  As she'd passed by her desk, the phone had started
ringing.  She had fully intended on asking the caller to hold for a few 
moments, but it had turned out to be a very important client that she had been
trying to land since before Kit's "accident".  Against her better judgment, 
she'd been drawn into a full conversation.  By the time she had been able to
get off the phone, fifteen minutes had passed.  She'd turned back to the tray 
with a heavy sigh, trying to come up with an apology for Kit; even though she 
had landed the contract, she'd felt bad for making him wait.  
	But the tray wasn't where she'd put it!  She had looked around on the 
floor, thinking she may have accidentally knocked it off the desk while on the
phone, but it wasn't there either.  She had then swept her gaze around the 
entire room, hoping that she had mistakenly set it down somewhere when she'd
heard the phone ring.
	She had found it easily, but she hadn't believed her eyes.  The tray had
been moving up the stairs on its own!  She'd padded over to bottom of the 
staircase only to find that her initial thoughts had been incorrect.  Molly, 
her little Molly, had been carefully working the tray up the stairs.  As 
Rebecca had watched, her daughter had lifted the tray up high enough to place
it one step higher than it was, then had immediately clambered up behind it.
Rebecca had been afraid that she would hurt herself, but Molly had managed to
make it all the way up the stairs without incident.
	Curious, Rebecca had followed silently, not wanting to startle her.  The
tawny-furred bear had half-carried, half-dragged the tray to Kit's door.  With
her hands full, she had been forced to bump it open with her hip in such a way
that Rebecca had had to cover her mouth so that her laughing couldn't be 
heard.  She'd then crept over to the door and peeked in, wanting to see and 
hear what was going on in there.
	"Mommy made this for you," Molly had said, struggling to put the tray 
across his lap, "but she's too busy to bring it up herself."
	Kit had grabbed the tray and set it in place before it could fall, 
breathing a sigh of relief that Molly had not been able to see but Rebecca 
had.  "Thanks a lot Molly," he'd said, picking up half a sandwich and taking a
bite.  "And thank your mom for me, these are delicious!"  The rest of the 
conversation had been pretty normal.  Well, as normal as Molly's stories could
be.  Kit had listened raptly; Molly always had been able to spin a tale that 
drew you in if you weren't careful.  
	Satisfied that they would be occupied for a while yet, Rebecca had 
started downstairs when she'd heard Molly ask a seemingly innocent question.  
"Hey Kit, why do you have lipstick on your cast?"
	Rebecca had almost laughed again as she could hear Kit spluttering in an
attempt to come up with an excuse that would satisfy Molly's ever-curious 
nature.  "Well," he'd started nervously, "you know how sometimes you kiss a
pain to make it better?"
	"Yes...?"  Molly had answered, but Rebecca could hear her daughter's
disbelief already starting to pop up.
	"Well, with the cast on, Velvela couldn't kiss my pain directly, so she
put on lipstick to help her kiss go through the cast."
	"Oh."  Molly had scampered past her just a few seconds later, apparently
happy with the answer she had received.  
	Rebecca had thought the matter was settled and was about to return to 
her work, but she'd heard a weird sound coming from downstairs.  She had 
looked over the railing to find that Molly was rummaging around in her purse.
Her first thought had been to stop her and demand to know what she was doing,
but she had changed her mind when she saw her daughter pull out a tube of 
lipstick and a compact.
	While Rebecca watched, Molly had opened up the compact and, using the
mirror inside, had started applying the bright pink lipstick to her lips. 
Unlike the last time Molly had played makeup and ended up looking like a 
clown, she had been very careful to only paint her lips with the waxy 
substance, even using a tissue to wipe off the excess when her hand had 
trembled.
	She had hid in the bathroom as Molly ran back up the stairs, creeping
back to the door only once Molly had gone inside.  It hadn't surprised her to
see Molly place a firm kiss on the cast on the opposite side of where Velvela
had put hers.  But she had been surprised when her daughter had placed another
one on Kit's cheek.  Kit had looked as surprised as Rebecca felt, and neither
one had said anything to Molly as she ran from the room, her face as pink as
the lipstick she'd been wearing.
	A strange feeling tugged at Rebecca's stomach as she thought about the
incident and she set the bread down, not very hungry anymore.  When she'd 
first come to Higher for Hire, she had worried about Molly developing a crush
on Kit but soon put it aside as they seemed to settle into a brother-sister
relationship.  
	That misconception had been pretty forcefully dispelled by this act as 
well as the ones that followed.  Any time Velvela had left a kiss on Kit's 
cheek, even if he'd scrubbed off all the evidence, Molly had somehow known 
and insisted on doing the same.  Kit had tried to refuse her once, but the
same glare that Rebecca herself used on Baloo had the same effect when Molly
used it on Kit and he just meekly accepted it.
	Then there was the open hostility Molly displayed toward the she-wolf.
At first it had been kind of cute; Rebecca remembered her first crush on an
older gentleman and the less than ladylike way she'd acted around the woman
he'd been interested in.  But that mischievous and calculating streak she'd
inherited from her father had forced Rebecca to make sure the two met up as 
infrequently as possible.  Adding to the problem, at least in Rebecca's eyes,
was that Velvela did not disregard Molly, choosing instead to treat the young
bearess as a serious rival.  After all, if she could wait for Kit, who was to
say that Kit would not wait for Molly?
	That left Rebecca in a very awkward position, one she had yet to find 
her way out of.  If she scolded Molly, it could be interpreted as a de facto
support of Velvela and would definitely alienate her daughter.  But any 
offense taken with Velvela, especially in light of their earlier conversation,
would only encourage Molly.  What was a mother to do?
	Fortunately for her sanity, a knock at the door drew her attention away
from these troubling thoughts.  "Coming!"  she called, her voice quavering 
noticably.  She walked toward the door slowly, taking a few deep breaths to
calm herself.  Satisfied that she had regained a more business-like demeanor,
she turned the knob and opened the door.  "Welcome to Higher for Hire," she
said as cheerily as she could manage.  "How may I help you?"
	A smartly dressed wolverine stood on the doorstep, a briefcase clutched
in one hand while the other rested comfortably in the small of his back.  A 
pair of pince-nez sat loosely on his nose, falling slightly askew as he looked
up at her.  "Excuse me," he said in a slightly nasal voice, pushing his 
spectacles more firmly up the bridge of his nose.  "Are you Ms. Cunningham?"
	"Why yes I am," Rebecca answered, though her good cheer was slightly 
forced now.  The last thing she needed right now was a pushy salesman ruining 
her day and trying to take her hard-earned money.  "What can I do for you?"  
she asked, already tightening her grip on the door to slam it in his face.
	The wolverine pulled a piece of paper from his briefcase and studied it
intently, bringing it closer to his nose so that it was easier to see.  "And
is this the home of Master Kit...Cloudkicker is it?"  he asked, looking up 
from the paper back to her.  "I have been assigned to perform a follow up 
interview."
	"Oh excuse me," she said, embarrassed for her assumption.  "I'm just 
surprised that it took so long for someone at the hospital to follow up with
us.  Please, come in."  The wolverine merely smiled, saying nothing as he 
walked past her into the office.  "So what would you like to know Mr. ...?"
	"Mr. Sripe," The wolverine offered, settling into a chair as Rebecca sat
down behind her desk.  "Now then, perhaps you could tell me a little bit about
Master Cloudkicker and his relationship to Mr. von Bruinwald?"
	It didn't take much to get Rebecca talking about Kit and she went on and
on about every aspect of his life.  From his schooling to his relationship 
with Baloo to the crazy adventures he went on as Baloo's navigator, she spoke
of him animatedly and effusively.  She was proud of the young man that Kit was
turning into and she knew that Mr. Sripe could tell.
	However, when the conversation was steered to his time with the Air 
Pirates, warning bells started to go off inside her mind.  "Excuse me," she
interjected as soon as she could do so without seeing rude.  "But I don't 
really understand what the hospital would need this information for."
	Mr. Sripe smiled knowingly, sitting back in his chair.  It had been 
rather easy to get caught up in such fanciful tales of the young boy's life.
If he hadn't been able to independently corroborate these stories before he
even stepped near the dock, he would've thought Rebecca was buying in to a
child's fantasies.  But the truth was she had actually been downplaying 
things.
	"Mr. Sripe?"  she said firmly, concerned when the wolverine did not 
answer her question right away.
	"Pardon me," he said, pulling his glasses off his nose and cleaning the
lenses with a cloth he pulled from his vest pocket.  "I'm afraid there's been
a bit of a misunderstanding here.  At no time did I say I worked for the 
hospital or even the school.  I am actually a senior agent of Cape Suzette's
branch of Child Protective Services."
	Rebecca's blood ran cold at that pronouncement.  How could she have been
so foolish?  Back when she first met Baloo, she'd had half a mind herself to 
call CPS herself; certainly living with that bear couldn't have been an ideal 
situation.  Yet after she'd seen them together, she didn't have the heart to 
try and break them up.  Something she'd had to learn firsthand.  Something Mr.
Sripe did not have access to.  "Y-You see Mr.Sripe," she began nervously, 
trying to find a way to dig herself out of the hole she unwittingly found 
herself in, "Baloo is an excellent father figure and cares for Kit very much,
not to mention--"
	Mr. Sripe held up his hand, cutting off Rebeeca's ramblings before it
could get very far.  "That fact is not in dispute," he assured her, frowning
as he saw her relax slightly.  "However, after being alerted to this case by
the doctor who treated Master Cloudkicker's broken arm, it was quickly 
discovered that there is no legal ruling or order of adoption that places Mr.
von Bruinwald as the boy's legal guardian.
	"Adding to the situation is that we have not been able to track down any
information regarding Master Cloudkicker's family," he continued, resting his 
briefcase on his lap and opening it.  "Part of the reason it took so long to 
follow up with you is because we were trying to determine if anyone did in 
fact have a legal guardianship over him.  But to be quite honest, as far as 
the agency is concerned, he just showed up one day.  We have assigned him the 
status of 'Orphan' until such time as more information surfaces."
	"Can't Baloo just open adoption proceedings now?"  Rebecca asked, trying
to hide the tremor in her voice.  "I mean, Kit's been living here so long that
it should count for something."
	Mr. Sripe fixed her with a pitying look that made tears want to come to
her eyes.  "Despite the truth of that, and despite the love and care I know 
Mr. von Bruinwald is capable of giving the boy, the fact remains that as a 
single father, one whose job can take him out of Cape Suzette for days at a 
time, he does not provide an ideal household for a growing boy.  The rules are
very clear about this sort of thing; such a petition is very likely to be 
denied."
	Rebecca swallowed nervously, placing her hands on her desk as if to 
steady herself.  "What about me?"  she asked, even though she knew she was
grasping at straws.
	He pulled a folder from his briefcase and thumbed through it.  "It says 
here that you are a single mother raising a young daughter.  Though you do 
fit many of the criteria we wold look for, the fact that you already have a 
child would open you up to very intense scrutiny.  Your competency to raise 
your own child may even be brought into question.  Think about it very 
carefully before you pursue that line of thought."
	By now Rebecca was nearly frantic.  She could not, would not allow this
agent to take Kit away from his family.  There had to be something she could
say, something that would make a clear difference in things.  But what?  From
the way he was looking at her, it was clear that he expected her to lie, and 
she wasn't that good of a liar anyway.  So what could she do?  How could she 
get out of this hole she'd dug herself?
	Well, there was one way....  "When I asked, 'what about me'," she began
slowly to make herself appear more in control than she really was, "I meant 
what would my status as Baloo's fiancée do to his application?"
	The agent's eyes narrowed markedly, regarding her with a shrewd 
expression.  "Is it proper business protocol to marry your employee?"  he 
asked, his tone significantly cooler.
	"We've always felt like we had a family business," she answered as 
smoothly as she could.  "Why not make it official?"
	"And the children are all right with this?"
	"They're the ones who helped us see what was in front of our noses."
	"I don't believe I've ever heard of an engagement that didn't include a 
ring," he said, looking pointedly at her left hand.
	Rebecca blanched slightly, fortunate not to have the agent notice it.
"It does get in the way while I'm working," she said, picking her purse up and
placing it on the desk in front of her.  Hidden away in a small zipper pocket 
was a set of three rings, two wedding bands and an engagement ring.  Though 
she had not worn her husband's ring since she lost him, she had always kept 
them on her person in some way to feel like he was there with her, watching 
over her.  "Please forgive me," she whispered as a quick prayer as she slid 
her engagement ring on her finger, feeling its comforting weight.
	Mr. Sripe sat forward in his chair, closing his briefcase as he 
continued to stare at her.  "I admit to finding the timing of this very 
suspect," he said slowly.  "If this is an attempt to defraud a government 
agency, it will go badly with you.  You will go to jail, your daughter will 
be taken from you, and you will likely never see her again.  Are you sure you
wish to stand by your words this day?"
	Rebecca's spine stiffened in response to his veiled threat against Molly
and her demeanor was now that of a mother protecting her child.  "I am 
absolutely sure," she said in a curt, clipped tone.  "And I do not appreciate
your attempt to threaten me by using my daughter."
	To her surprise, the wolverine actually relaxed in the face of her 
words, even allowing himself a small smile.  "Hold onto that fire," he advised 
her, "you're going to need it in the upcoming months."
	"Huh?"  Rebecca asked, not sure what his change in demeanor meant but 
not trusting it either.
	Mr. Sripe smiled, leaning back in the chair more comfortably.  "With 
this new information, I no longer see the need for an immediate intervention,"
he said, whipping a piece of paper out of his briefcase and scrawling his 
signature at the bottom.  "This paper grants you and Mr. von Bruinwald a 
temporary legal guardianship over Master Cloudkicker.  I don't know what your
wedding plans are, but I would suggest you make sooner rather than later."
	"Of...of course," she said, taking the offered document and scanning it
without really seeing it.
	The wolverine stood, smiling a bit more at her bemused reaction.  "I 
will be dropping by randomly to ensure that this is all on the up and up.  I
suggest not turning me away too much lest suspicions grow.  I can see myself
out.  Good day Ms. Cunningham."
	Rebecca did not move from her chair, still trying to wrap her mind 
around everything that had happened.  The phone rang, but instead of answering
it she just picked up the receiver, let it drop back to the cradle, then took
it off the hook and left it there.  After what she'd just been through, she
didn't feel like dealing with anyone.
	Later that afternoon, Kit nearly skipped in through the front door.  He
had feared his enthusiasm to return to school would die away once he actually
stepped inside.  But with everyone in his class, the teacher included, happy 
to see him, he had enjoyed a quasi-celebrity status throughout the day.  He'd
even brought the cut off cast in for show-and-tell, making sure to point out
the two very distinct lipstick kisses on them.  The boys had been jealous and
a few of the girls had even offered to add their own to the cast.  All in all,
it had been close to a perfect day.
	That all came crashing down when he saw Rebecca still sitting at her
desk with the phone off the hook.  "Miz Cunningham?"  he called, dropping his
bookbag by the door and running over to her.  "Are you all right?"
	Rebecca looked over at him, slowly blinking her eyes as if coming out of
a daze.  "Oh, hello Kit," she said, trying to smile for him.  "Everything is 
fine.  Just go up to your room and do your homework, OK?  I have something I
need to think about."
	Kit was scared; he'd never seen Rebecca act like this.  It was so 
disconcerting that he didn't even think of refusing her and hurried up the
stairs, grabbing his bookbag along the way.  But he didn't go to his room.
Once he was out of sight he crouched down by the banister, determined to find
out what was going on.
	He didn't have to wait long.  Within a half-hour he heard the Sea Duck
taxiing across the water to the waiting dock.  "What a party!"  Baloo yelled,
bursting through the door wearing at least three lei, a pair of pink and 
purple shades, and a lampshade on his head.  "Oh Beckers you were right!  Ol'
Baloo is back in action and feelin' fine!  I owe you and I owe you big!"
	When no response was forthcoming, Baloo took off his shades to see the
state that Rebecca was in.  "Becky?"  he called softly, setting the lampshade
down in his favorite chair and lumbering over to her.  "Hey, what's wrong?"
	If only Baloo had the chain of events that would follow, he may have 
never asked the question.  He was already regretting it when she looked up at
him with a haunted that he hoped never to see again on her face.  "Baloo," 
she said quietly, "you're going to kill me."

TO BE CONTINUED