(((Dedication: to The_Swan_Princess
Summary:
Jacob is never taking Niki to the zoo again. Ever.
Disclaimer: We do not own the Twilight fandom.
Fandoms: Twilight
Pairings: Edward/Gracie, Jacob/Niki
Warnings: strong language and kissing
Notes: This is a one-shot spinoff of my posted story, Silence in the Night.)))
Niki and Gracie Go to the Zoo
By: Tjix and EverAfter-Silence
"I want to go to the zoo."
Jacob sighed and rolled his eyes. "Not another one of your schemes, Niki."
"This isn't a scheme. I want to go to the fucking zoo, Jake, how is that a scheme?"
"I don't know what you're planning, but…"
"I'm not planning anything. I want to go to the zoo, and I want you to take me. And, I want to invite Gracie."
"Niki."
"She won't bite anybody. You know she won't."
"We can't take her out in the sun."
"It's overcast. Please, Jake, come on."
"No."
Her expression was mulish. "Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"Absolutely not."
"Absolutely… uh… yes."
"Niki!"
Her face turned pleading. "Please, Jake?" Leaning up, she brushed her lips coaxingly against his. "Please?"
"Niki," he groaned. "You always do this to me."
"Come on. Don't you want me to be happy?" She kissed him again.
When she finally pulled away for breath, he was dazed. "Fine," he murmured. "Whatever you want… but… do we have to bring the bloodsucker?"
"Yep," Niki said cheerfully. "Nothing's the same without my goody-two-shoes sidekick." She considered for a moment. "And Paul," she added as an afterthought. "Let's bring Paul."
"Oh, God, help me," muttered Jacob.
"This is extremely unwise," Edward said warily, nervously adjusting his sunglasses and glaring at the cashier of the gift-shop.
"Oh, Edward, relax. What's the worst that could happen?" Alice was grinning and skipping, excited at the prospect of getting out of the house.
"That's really the wrong question to ask, Alice," Gracie reminded her gently. "But honestly, Edward… we're all very experienced at remaining inconspicuous. There won't be any trouble."
Edward's eyes narrowed as they locked onto Niki, who was making a fuss over a stuffed walrus toy with her two long-suffering packmates standing behind her. "Inconspicuous," he muttered. "Right."
Gracie's hand brushed soothingly over his arm. "She's not planning anything, is she?" she half-asked, half-stated, placating.
"Well, she's not planning anything. But then, most of Niki's stunts aren't premeditated," groused Edward.
"That's why I can't see it when she's going to do something stupid," Alice piped up. "Because by the time she's decided to do something stupid, she's already doing it."
"She's got you two, me, Jacob, and Paul to look after her," Gracie pointed out. "Do you really think she can still get into trouble?"
Edward and Alice exchanged a glance. "Yes," they said in tandem.
Gracie giggled.
"I want to go see the big cats," whined Niki, who was clinging to a mildly amused Gracie's arm.
Jacob groaned. "Niki. I'm a werewolf. I hate cats."
"Well excuuuse me, Your Wolfiness! In case you forgot, I'm a werewolf too. I like cats." Niki thought about what she'd just said and then amended, "Okay, maybe not all cats. But I like big scary cats. Like panthers. And tigers. Rawr."
He laughed and shook his head. "You are unbelievable, Nikita Black."
She smirked. "I know it. Can we go see the cats now?"
Alice frowned, troubled. "I don't know if that's a good idea," she admitted.
Edward whirled on her at once. "What did you see?" he demanded.
"I didn't see anything. I just have a bad feeling."
"Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaase," Niki begged, dragging on Gracie's arm.
The copper-haired vampire patted her friend on the head. "If Alice doesn't think it's a good idea, it probably isn't," she said gently.
Niki turned to her only ally. "Paul?" she implored, her eyes large and beseeching.
Paul looked up from her big brown eyes to see everyone glaring at him. "Uh…"
"Come on, Paul." The gleam in Niki's eyes turned evil.
Paul swallowed. "Sorry, guys. I'm more scared of her than I am of you." He started walking toward the big cat exhibit.
Niki giggled and clapped her hands. Jacob snarled in helpless fury and stalked after his two packmates. The three vampires exchanged expressions with raised eyebrows, then followed.
There was a Dippin' Dots on the way to the exhibit. As soon as Niki spotted it, she raised a fuss.
"PLEASE, JAKE!"
"Niki, Emily's going to have dinner for us in half an hour. You don't need to eat. And the last thing you need is sugar in your system!"
"Please!"
"No."
"Please!"
"No."
"Please!"
"No!"
Niki took a deep breath. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssseeeeeeeeeee?"
Jacob rolled his head on his neck wearily. "Okay. You know what? Fine. Whatever. Here, here's five bucks. Buy yourself a freaking ice cream."
"Thank you!" Niki snatched the bill from his hand, jumped up to kiss his cheek, and then skipped all the way to the Dippin' Dots cart.
Five minutes later, after munching cheerily on her ice cream for three bites, Niki announced, "I'm not hungry. Here, Gracie, you want this?" She waved the plastic bowl temptingly under her friend's nose.
Gracie eyed the bowl, both eyebrows lifted. "Um… no. Thank you."
"Oops. Right. I forgot. Hey, Paul, you want this?"
Paul glanced nervously at Jacob, who looked murderous. "No thanks, Tinkerbelle. Uh… why don't you eat it?"
"Oh, I don't want it." Niki dumped it in the first trash can they passed. Then her eyes lit upon a hot dog cart. "Oooh, Jake! Look! Hot dogs!" She went flouncing over to the cart.
Jacob groaned.
Niki wedged her left foot into the chain link fence and lifted her weight up onto it, clinging to the top with small hands. "I can't see," she complained. "Where's the panther?"
Jacob leaned over the gate, peering intently into the sunken bowl of a habitat. "I don't see it." He gave a sniff and wrinkled his nose. "I can smell it, though."
"I want to go find it." Niki pushed down on the top of the fence and vaulted gracefully over it. Ignoring Jacob when he yelled her name, she carefully picked her way down the steep wall and made it to the ground.
"Niki!" Jacob shouted. With a snarl, he vaulted over the gate and slid down the hill after her. Paul gave a huff and jumped after them both.
Gracie leaned against the gate, watching the werewolves in amusement. "Do you think we should go down there?" she asked airily.
"Nah." Alice grinned, leaning over the gate to watch events unfold. "Let's just leave them to it."
Unfortunately for the immortals, a zoo official noticed the goings-on. "Ma'am?" he called, near panic. "Sirs? Uh, you shouldn't be in there! You really—get out of there—how did you even get down there?!"
Niki ignored him completely, and Jacob was intent upon Niki. Paul was polite enough to toss the guy a shrug before again following Niki around the large habitat, looking for the panther.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," Niki chirped. "C'mere, kitty."
"There!" shouted Paul, pointing into a corner. Emerging from the shadows was a dark, graceful shape.
"Awww… look at the pretty kitty…" Niki snapped her fingers and clicked her tongue at it. "C'mere, baby…"
Jacob crouched, snarling deep in his throat. The panther gave him one cursory glance as it approached, then returned its attention to Niki.
The zoo worker was frantic. "Ma'am! Just stay quiet and don't make any sudden movements! I'll get help!" Pulling a walkie-talkie from his belt, he spoke into it in a rapid tone of voice, clearly panicked.
Niki buried her fingers in the cat's fur. "Awww, look at the pretty kitty," she crooned.
Gracie watched the poor zoo worker in mild amusement. "Oh, we should get her out of there before the boy goes into cardiac arrest," she sighed.
Edward bowed low and made a sweeping motion toward the habitat. "Do you want to do the honors?"
Gracie laughed and sprang easily over the gate. In mere seconds, she was beside the werewolves.
Niki was crouched beside the panther, rubbing her face in its side. She appeared to be mumbling endearments into the cat's fur. When she felt Gracie's cold hand on her shoulder, she looked up and grinned.
"Want to pet him?" she asked. "He's soft."
"I'm sure he is, Niki, but that poor zoo employee up there is going to pop a blood vessel if we don't get you out of here."
"Come on, Gracie," Niki beseeched. "Just pet him. Please?"
The redhead rolled her eyes, but obediently stroked one hand across the cat's back. "Oh, he is soft," she said in surprise.
"I know," Niki said smugly, as though Gracie had just dealt her a personal compliment.
"Can we go now?" groaned Jacob.
Gracie withdrew her hand from the panther's fur. "Yes, we really should. Come on, Niki. We can come back another day."
"If they don't blacklist us for this, that is," Paul muttered darkly.
Niki continued to pet the panther obliviously, but Gracie caught her wrist. "Come on, Niki," she said gently. "Let's go."
Niki sighed dramatically. "Oh-kay." Burying her face into the fur on his neck, she muttered to the panther, "Stupid humans, with their stupid little rules about not going into the cages. Psh."
"Niki, let's go!" Jacob tugged at her arm. The panther growled at him and he backed away a few steps.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming. I gotta go, baby," Niki told the panther. "Bye."
He whined softly and bumped his head against her shoulders. She laughed and patted it once more, then rose to leave.
They all climbed easily out of the habitat, rejoining the other two vampires and walking past the stunned zoo employee. Alice winked at him as they walked by and put her finger to her lips.
"Inconspicuous?" Edward muttered under his breath to Gracie. She shrugged helplessly.
"Niki, you're an idiot," chided Jacob.
"Oh, come off it, Jake. That was fun. You know it was."
"I hate big cats."
Niki pouted at him. "I don't know what your problem is. You've been in a bad mood all day." She opened her eyes wide and stuck her bottom lip out a little more. "Didn't you have fun today?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes, but his defenses melted under the power of those eyes. "Yeah, Niki," he relented. "It was okay. But only because it was with you."
"Awwww." Niki lifted her arms to be held and Jacob lifted her easily, holding her bridal style and allowing her to snuggle her head into the curve of his neck.
"Maybe next time we can go see the bears instead," she murmured, eyes sliding half-closed.
"Not on your life, Nikita Black." Jacob's face was grim. "I don't know that I'm ever taking you to the zoo again."
She was surprisingly unfazed by that announcement. "Oh, don't worry," she said airily. "Paul will take me."
Jacob turned to glare at his packmate, but Paul just shrugged. "She's scarier than you are," he reiterated.
Gracie laughed. "Relax, Jacob. We kept her out of too much trouble this time. We can do it next time."
Jacob was somewhat mollified. "Yeah. Maybe you're right."
An evil grin spread over Niki's face. Everyone exchanged wary glances.
"Oh, we'll see," she said sweetly. "We'll see…"