~ Chapter Forty Seven ~

"Hold it!  Hold it!"  Kevin hollered, waving a piece of white paper in the air, trying to quiet in the noisy din in the clubhouse.  "Will y'all just shut up and listen to me for a minute!  Kangaroo Court is now in session!"

"SHUT UP!"  Brian hollered, putting his lungs to good use once again as the clubhouse fell silent.

"Thank you... I think."  Kevin gave his cousin a disgruntled glance, before continuing on.  "First item on the agenda - AJ?  Pitching an entire inning with your fly down?  Five dollar fine."

"That's absurd!"  AJ said in shock from his perch on the table next to Kevin.  "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Which is why you're being fined."  Kevin nodded.

"Does this make sense to anyone else?"  AJ pleaded.

"No."  Nick shook his head.

"Nick?"  Kevin haughtily inspected his teammate.  "In game two, you were 3 for 3 with a walk, correct?"

"Yeah?"

"Ten dollar fine."  Kevin decided.

"WHAT!"  Brian yelped.  "I got dinged twenty dollars for the same thing in July!"

"Yes."  Kevin agreed mildly, inspecting the paper in his hand.  "You were.  And now, as per clubhouse tradition, we have some highly respected awards to hand out here, and after that, we're gonna cut down the largest tree in the forest - with a herring."

"We will do no such thing!"  Brad Arton gasped in shock as everyone in the clubhouse broke into laughter, save Nick, who just looked confused. 

AJ shook his silver highlighted head sadly.  "Nickolas, Nickolas, Nickolas... you've never watched Monty Python either, have you?"

"No?"  Nick said hesitantly.  "Should I?"

"This would probably be a good time to announce that the winner of the award for most clueless - is Nick."  Kevin made a large show out of handing Nick a baseball scrawled on in black Sharpie marker.

"Shut up."  Nick glared. "I got better things to do than watch TV, dude."

"I just want it in on the record that I came in a close second!"  AJ yelled, pounding his fist on the table.  "It was a long and hard fought battle, and I harbor NO hard feelings towards Nick for his victory!"

"Most improved...  Howie."  Kevin smirked, tossing a ball at the third baseman.

"Yeah, whatever, Kevin!"  Howie wrinkled his face up good-naturedly. 

"I came in a close second!"  AJ piped up.  "I know it's hard to improve perfection - and ultimately... well... that's why Howie won."

Kevin continued handing out baseballs, managing to come up with a category for everyone on the team, AJ announcing he came in second every single time. 

"Most obnoxious..."  Kevin raised one thick eyebrow.  "AJ."

"I came in a close second on that one too."  AJ nodded, accepting his baseball. 

"Yes, you did."  Brian agreed, laughing.

"Now... the moment we've all been waiting for..."  Kevin continued.  "The annual results of the wives poll.  Scott, our wonderful clubhouse manager, was kind enough to organize this again, and as the reigning champion for the last two years... "  Kevin paused to flash the rest of the team a fake smile.  "It's time to announce the best looking guy on the team - according to the women."  He held up the manila envelope the clubhouse manager handed him, before carefully opening it, staring in confusion at the card inside.  "What the..."

"Face it, Kevin."  AJ said lazily.  "I am more attractive than you."

"Up yours..."  Kevin retorted.  "Fine, there's no accounting for women's taste - but... this years winner of the jockstrap... is Nick."  He threw the equipment at Nick, who living up to his award, looked clueless. 

"What - did you rig it or something?"  Brian wondered, punching Nick in the shoulder.

"No!"  Nick said in confusion.  "I didn't even know there was such a thing.  What the hell did they base it on?"

AJ coughed.  "Well, usually it's who looks best in their pants.  At least that's what I hear."

Nick's eyes traveled from the jockstrap in his hand to Brian, then to AJ.  "Aw, you guys are messin' with me."

"No... it's actually a poll."  Brian nodded.  "They all have great fun discussing the ‘options' in the stands."  He giggled.  "Nick, y'all are blushing."

"Am not."  Nick protested. 

"Are too."  AJ smirked.

"Before I lose your attention here - we got one more award."  Kevin interrupted, still annoyed at having lost his best looking status.  "This is a new one this year, but it's pretty important."  He pulled another ball out of the box.  "Brian - we couldn't exactly agree on what to call it, so this is a most cool, or most inspirational, or most admired, call it what you want, but... I'm not very good with words here..."

"This is ‘cause of the admiration we have for you, for everything you're going through right now, we're damn impressed with the way you're dealing with it all, plus on top of it all you're a freakin' cool person, and we luv-ya, man."  AJ interrupted.  "What?"  He added, raising his eyebrows at Kevin.  "It was the best I could come up with on the spot!"

"No... that was good."  Kevin nodded, handing Brian the baseball. 

"Wow."  Brian turned the ball over, inspecting it.  He raised his eyes up, scanning the clubhouse.  "Did all of you sign this?"

"Yep."  Kevin said quietly.

"It wasn't easy, either."  Nick leaned over, pointing.  "Howie writes really big, so the rest of us didn't have any room."

Brian laughed.  "Thank you, Nick." He stood, still turning the ball around in his hands.  "Guys... seriously, this means a lot to me.  I appreciate all of you putting up with this the way you have."  He stepped over to hug his cousin.

"Aw, man!"  Nick exclaimed as Brian moved on, hugging AJ.  "Is he gonna hug everyone in the clubhouse?  This is gonna take forever!"

~*~

Stacy glanced down at her hands.  She actually had her fingers crossed.  Feeling slightly foolish, she tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket.  It was the top of the seventh, Mariners ahead 3-1, and the Dodgers were trying their best to stage a late inning rally.  They had runners at first and third, with only one out. 

"Give up the run... go for the double play."  Denise waved her hand at the infield, shaking her head.  Stacy had thought Felicia was obsessed, the way she knew every single little thing happening on the field and seemed to be able to watch four different players at once, but Felicia paled in comparison to her mother-in-law.  If Buddy Williams ever needed a replacement, Denise was ready and waiting to take the job. 

Arton stepped onto the rubber and stared in at the plate, squinting at the sign Kevin was giving him.

"I think I'm going to pass out!"  Karen announced dramatically. 

Arton stepped off the rubber and threw the ball over to first, forcing the Dodger's left fielder back to the bag.

"Oh please!"  Denise sighed, crunching her empty Pepsi cup with one hand.  "That guy's built like a freight train - he's not going anywhere.  I bet the ground shakes when he runs."

Becky chortled at Denise's last comment. 

Arton carefully adjusted his pants, and stepped back up onto the rubber.

"Throw the ball already."  Felicia muttered darkly.  Stacy agreed completely, if Arton kept stalling much longer, she was going to be screaming as loud as Karen was.  She glanced out at right field - Nick was standing in the middle of the outfield grass, staring up at something above his head - either the crowd, the closed roof of the stadium, or the birds flying underneath it - slowly blowing a pink bubble, appearing to pay no attention to the game.  Stacy would have laughed at him, if her nerves weren't rattled by the situation on the field in front of her.

Maybe it was less nerve-racking to be on the field playing than it was to sit and watch.  She strongly doubted it.  Nick had a supremely confident attitude about baseball.  World Series - no big deal.  Interview on national television - whatever.  His picture in People Magazine - perfectly normal.   

The batter swung at the pitch, sending it sharply towards shortstop.  Karen and Becky both screamed at the top of their lungs, jumping up and down. 

"Double play!"  Denise hollered and Felicia's hand came up to her mouth in shock.

Stacy was confused.  The infield had turned a double play and ended the inning, but the players weren't moving back towards the dugout.  "What happened?"  She turned to Felicia.

Felicia pointed towards second base, where Brian and the Lawton, the Dodger's left fielder were both sprawled out flat on the dirt around second.   

"How did that happen?"  Karen demanded, dropping back down into her seat. 

"Lawton slid into second and ran right over the top of him."  Felicia didn't take her eyes off the field. 

"Brian!"  Becky yelled.  "Get UP!"

~*~

Nick took a deep breath.  Brian still wasn't moving.  Lawton was up and slowly heading back to the visiting dugout, apparently only suffering the wind being knocked out of him.  Brian, on the other hand, appeared to be out cold.  Nick hadn't even seen what happened, he had been heading over to back up the throw to first base.  He wished they would replay the collision at second on the video screen, but they wouldn't.  Unless they knew it wasn't a serious injury, they wouldn't replay it. 

He couldn't even see Brian, what with the trainer, Buddy and Kevin all hovering over him.  Kevin had to be in the middle of things, as usual.  Nick reminded himself to breathe again.  He just wanted Brian to move.