Phoenix
New York City, how I hate it! If it were up to me, I wouldn't even give it a glance if I were flying over it. I wouldn't even be here if it weren't some emergency. A few things out of my control have forced me to come back here. I came here to escape from the life I had in my home town, and start a new life as two different people. One was myself, the other was a hero who did what he knew was right. I might have started in Texas, when I lived with my grandparents. But here, is where my other persona was born. Where the Phantom took flight and started his battle against crime. But this time, I'm not alone. This time I have my best friend, and the love of my life, standing right beside me. This time, justice will come to this city. And the person who brought pain to my family, will curse the day he ever decided to try and hurt me or my loved ones!
Months earlier. Shonna Harris slept soundly in the huge King sized bed as the aroma of fresh coffee, and cooked bacon, brought her senses out of her deep sleep. She slowly sat herself up and stretched the kinks out her muscles, and popped a few joints here and there. She opened the closet door to grab a green silk robe and glanced at herself in the mirror that hung on the door. She was six months pregnant, and you could tell she was expecting from the way her stomach stood out in front of her. Soon, she wouldn't be able to see her shoes anymore! She just glanced down at it with a smile.
"You know, you're doing wonders for your mother's figure." She said as she lightly ran her hand over the pale green skin of her belly. She just smiled as she put the robe on and made her way down the hall. There she saw a fresh pot of coffee waiting, along with two plates of bacon and eggs that still had steam rising off of them. And the large Basset Hound that was trying to get some of the food she smelled.
"Down, Ginger!" Shonna said as she took a seat at the table and poured herself a cup. That's when she noticed something, or someone, was missing. She glanced into the kitchen and around the rest of the house from her seat, but couldn't find the person who had cooked the breakfast in front of her. She glanced down at the tri colored Basset who looked at her with those pleading brown eyes.
"Okay Ginger, where is he this time?" she asked the dog, but the dog stayed seated.
"If you tell me, I'll give you half of my scrambled eggs." Shonna told the dog, with air of defeat in her voice.
The dog stood up, and ran to the back door, and tried to look out the window as she barked a few times. Shonna ate two strips of her bacon and fed the rest of her bacon, and her eggs, to the large hound dog. Shonna stepped out onto the backyard patio to find her husband, who was also her best friend, working on what looked like a tire swing.
"You do know it'll be a few years before they can use that thing, right?" she asked him.
"What? Oh, right! I just wanted to get a head start." He told her.
"Frank, we have three more months to go. We've finished the nursery, and we have about ten years worth of diapers thanks to both of our families. I think we have more than a head start." Shonna said as sat in one of the patio chairs. Frank soon joined her as they looked at their back yard.
When Frank moved in, there wasn't a fence. All of it was just an open yard. It also badly needed to have all the dead pine needles that had covered it to be raked up. Ever since Frank came back with Shonna as his wife, he worked like a mule to try and get everything ready. A cyclone fence now surrounded the yard, and it almost looked like a miniature park. Frank was a smart and caring person, but he was so nervous about being a parent. She was also, since this was their first child. Forget being nervous, she was terrified! The once feared thief and assistant to the neurotic Dr. Drakken was now scared of being a mother! It was still a strong comfort to know that the man she loved was just as scared. She looked at Frank as he sat there and held her hand. It was still hard to believe that the man she was sitting with was the same man she had fought against and beside months ago.
The way he acted when he was the Phantom was more darker, more sinister to a point. She smiled because when he was the Phantom, he acted like her. But that was when he was the Phantom, now he was just the same goof ball she had always known. She would have never thought that something as normal as marriage and pending parenthood would actually make her happy! Still, there were other activities she was going to take back up as soon as she had this little bundle, which was doing its best at trying to ruin her figure!
"You okay?" he asked her.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about a few things. How about we go in?" she asked him as she shivered a little.
Shonna took a seat on the sofa as Frank wondered into the bedroom. She relaxed as she propped her feet up on the ottoman in front of her as the large hound dog hopped next to her and laid it's head in her lap. She just smiled as she rubbed its head. The one thing she was glad about the moment was that she wasn't suffering from anymore morning sickness! It was also good to have Frank pampering her like she was queen of the world! That's when she heard four annoying beeps, like it was a little tune. It repeated itself again, like a cell phone. Frank wondered into the living room to find its source.
"What the hell is that?" he asked as he followed it to the small coffee table in the living room. It was coming from the stack of yesterday's mail!
Frank rummaged through the stack until he found a FedEx box that was emitting the beep. He lit a finger with a burst of plasma and sliced open the box and pulled out what looked like a black palm pilot. The little screen had a symbol in yellow that almost looked the Robin symbol, but with a P instead of an R.
"Don't look at me, I haven't ordered anything." Shonna told him.
Frank hit a red button on the bottom of the pad, and the screen lit up with the face of a young man surrounded by computers.
"About time! I thought my package was lost in the mail!" he said with a cheerful disposition.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Frank asked the young man.
"Sorry. The name's Wade Load. I'm a friend of Kim's!" he told him.
"Remind me to kick Kimmie's ass for not keeping her mouth shut!" Shonna said as she walked to Frank's side.
"It's okay. I figured it out by myself. I thought you would need this. It tracks down disturbances, and has a direct secure link to me in case you need my help to do research or anything else." He told her.
"Won't Kim get jealous?" Frank asked him. He find out about Wade from Shonna and their adventure a few months back. He just didn't ever see the young man's face until now.
"Not really. Since she and Ron helped you stop Drakken, Global Justice has been looking into recruiting her and Ron as full agents. I've got too much free time on my hands." He told them.
"We'll think it about it, Wade." Frank told him.
"But we're not starting a website!" Shonna told him.
"Then Kim would get jealous! Enjoy the gift!" Wade said and switched it off.
"That was different." Frank said as he looked at the strange palm pilot, and set it inside a book case.
"Well, I've got to get ready." Shonna told him as she headed for the bedroom.
"Ready? For what?" Frank asked her.
"Don't tell me you forgot? The doctor's appointment we set three weeks ago? The ultra sound is today." She told him.
Frank's eyes started to bulge as his memory kicked into high gear and recalled what Shonna had been telling him in the past few days.
"I'll be ready in a flash." He said as he ran past her faster than a jack rabbit on a hot date!
"I married an idiot!" Shonna laughingly said to herself as she followed her husband.
Author's Note(s): This is just the beginning of the story, so don't expect action right away. This is just to give you an idea of how things have been going for Frank and Shonna since they got married.