A/N - In the past few years, I transitioned to becoming a playwright (had a play go up in NYC late January), and have learned how to write short 10-minute plays. I always kind of dreaded writing one-shots in the past, but I wanted to see if I could bring the skills I learned in playwriting to fiction. This is the result.
Hide and Seek
"Mommy! Mommy! Look what I made!"
Amy Bradshaw couldn't help but smile as she saw her daughter, Kacy, bound through the door of the family house in Barcelona, stretching a colorful piece of paper between her two hands, her arms outstretched as far as they could go.
"Mommy! That's you," she pointed at a stick figure with blonde hair, a huge crayon smile lighting up its face, "that's Mama" she pointed to another stick figure with messy brown hair, and finally she pointed to a smaller figure who was holding hands with both the women, "and that's me!"
"That's beautiful!" Amy replied as she took the drawing and held it for closer examination. Despite being her biological daughter, Kacy hadn't quite inherited Amy's talent for drawing, but it was another masterpiece for the fridge nonetheless. As Amy secured the art with a magnet, Lucy Diamond, former criminal mastermind and Amy's gorgeous wife, walked into the room. Amy gave her a quick kiss, which prompted Kacy to slap a hand over her face in order to cover her eyes.
"Do you guys have to do that?" the little girl asked.
"Yes, because your moms love each other very much," Lucy said. "Almost as much as they love you." She disengaged herself from Amy's embrace and tickled the girl, eliciting a fit of giggling.
"Stop it Mama!"
"Say mercy!"
"Mercy! Mercy!" Lucy stopped, but Kacy kept laughing on. "I'm gonna get you back for that, you know."
"You'll have to catch me first!" Lucy said, running away from Amy and Kacy and starting up the stairs. Kacy bounded after her as fast as her two little legs could run, and Amy couldn't help but smile. Life was perfect here.
A few hours later, Amy was lounging on the couch, snuggled warmly into a sleeping Lucy's side when Kacy ran down the stairs and landed right in front of them. Lucy groggily groaned as she regained consciousness.
"Mommy, let's play hide and go seek!" Hide and seek was one of Kacy's favorite games. With her two mothers being superspies, the game often turned into an endurance test as Kacy used all of her wit to find them. Amy had once hidden from her for thirty minutes, moving from spot to spot, before she finally took pity on Kacy and let out a cough to clue her daughter in. Most often than not, when playing the game, Lucy would inevitably be found first and mother and daughter would then team up in search of Amy.
"Oh yeah?" Amy replied.
"Yeah. And I wanna make a bet," Kacy said.
"What's that?" said Lucy, suddenly alert at the idea of a gamble.
"I bet I can find Mommy before I find you, Mama."
"I don't think that's fair," Amy replied, "you'll just search for me first and ignore Mama."
"Nah-uh," Kacy refuted, in perfect four-year-old logic.
"What if we set a time limit on it?" Lucy asked. "Like Kacy has to find you in five minutes."
Amy considered it. "Okay, and what happens if you win?"
"I think Mommy should have to give Mama a kiss," Lucy said with a smirk and a mischievous gleam in her eye.
"Eww, no. Who wants to see that?" Kacy replied, disgusted by the thought, "I know! I know! My allowance doubles."
"I don't know," said Amy, as she bit her bottom lip, actually considering the idea. Kacy only made five dollars a week as it was.
"Please, Mommy!" begged Kacy.
"Yeah, please, Mommy," joined Lucy. She spoiled their daughter and both she and Amy knew it. Amy tried to play the part of the disciplinarian, but sometimes it left her no other choice than to indulge her daughter.
"You're on. Both of you," she said, shooting a sly look at Lucy.
"Yay! Okay, now, Mommy, you hide and I'll count to twenty. Are you playing, Mama?"
"No, I'll keep an eye on the time," Lucy said. Kacy left the roo
"No helping her, Lucy," Amy said, "I mean it."
"But…"
"I mean it! Don't tell her where I hide."
"I swear, she won't hear it from me," Lucy made the motion to zip her mouth shut and throw away the key.
"Mommy, then you can't hide in the attic or basement, okay? Has to be either here or upstairs."
"Okay, sweetie. Now close your eyes and start counting. I'll hide," Amy said. Her daughter did as she was told and began counting down.
"Twenty. Nineteen." Amy shot Lucy a glance and put up a finger over her mouth to remind Lucy not to say anything. Lucy responded by putting up both her hands as if to say Never!
Amy quickly ran upstairs. She knew exactly where she'd begin. She had once hidden from Kacy for ten minutes just under Kacy's bed, and she'd never been found. In fact, Kacy had been in the room, looked everywhere else and when she'd gone into another room, Amy had quickly ducked out from her hiding spot and gone to hide somewhere else. She loved her daughter, of course she did, but she wasn't about to make this easy on her. She had always seen the game a way to increase Kacy's awareness of her surroundings.
"Two. One. Ready or not, here I come!"
Amy lay on her back under Kacy's bed. She made sure no hair was sticking out from under the bed as she turned her head towards the door, eager to watch Kacy's efforts. The stairs squeaked as Kacy crept upstairs. She must have heard Amy's footsteps as she climbed the stairs to hide. Good, her skills were improving.
The door to Kacy's room opened, and Amy could see two little feet make their way towards the bed. She quickly suspended her breath so her daughter wouldn't hear her. The feet stopped right next to Amy's head and in a flash, Amy saw her daughter's face as she put on a huge grin and looked right at Amy.
"Found you!"
Amy was beaten. She crawled out from under the bed, ready to admit defeat until she saw the device in her daughter's hands. As Lucy came into view, climbing up the stairs, Amy called out, "I thought I said not to help her!"
Her daughter was holding a handheld device, which projected two dots. Above the one where Lucy was standing it said "Not Amy", above the other read "Amy".
"Hey, I just said I wouldn't tell her where you were, and I didn't, did I?"
Lucy had a point. Amy had been in love with her wife long enough to realize she had to listen to the exact phrasing of the words which came out of Lucy's mouth.
"Fine, you two win," Amy said. She couldn't help but smile as Kacy jumped up in the air a few times, arms stretched out high above her.
"So, my allowance is doubled now?" Kacy asked.
"Yes," Amy sighed, I suppose it is. "Now for the second part of the bet."
Amy put her hands on either side of Lucy's hips and the two leaned in to share a kiss.
"Ewww…"