Disclaimer: The usual...don't own them, just borrowing them for my amusement and hopefully yours, too.
BC Easter Challenge
By
Luisa (MiamiBabe)
It was the Saturday night before Easter and Stephanie still hadn't bought her nieces or Mary Lou's kids a present. She'd had a long day. Connie had given her three skips she'd thought would be easy but turned out to be more wily than expected. To her embarrassment the last one, Mr. Da Silva, an 80 year old flasher, had given her a run for her money. Luckily someone in his nursing home had moved their cane just as he was running by and tripped him.
Now with money in hand and only thirty minutes to spare she was rushing towards the mall to get their gifts. She was exhausted but knew she would feel awful tomorrow if she didn't have some kind of present for each of them.
She parked her mini and ran toward the Macy's entrance. She headed towards the girls section and found a t-shirt with a beautiful horse stenciled on it that would be perfect for Mary Alice. She grabbed it and dashed to the register to pay for it.
She then made her way to the juniors' department and found a pretty silver necklace with a cute teddy bear pendant and matching earrings for Angie. Two kids down and three to go, she thought.
She knew exactly what to get the boys. She rushed out of Macy's and headed straight for the toy store on the far end of the mall. She was going to get them action figures. Mary Lou had mentioned that they'd been bugging her for some new ones ever since they'd started watching Cartoon Network classics. She chuckled as she thought about the characters they were fascinated with.
She looked at her watch and saw that she only had fifteen minutes before the stores closed. Using her best shopping stride, she kicked into gear and power walked into the store with ten minutes to spare.
She was in her shopping zone singularly focused grabbing the toys that the boys had requested and hurriedly heading towards the register. She hadn't realized there was someone in front of her until she crashed into them.
She bounced back as if she hit a wall. As she looked up to apologize for crashing into them, her eyes widened in shock.
"Babe, looking a little crazed." The man said as he grabbed her arms to steady her, looking amused and giving her his almost smile.
"R…Ranger? What are you doing here?" She asked, clearly surprised to see the MIB in a toy store of all places.
He looked embarrassed. Well that was a first. Batman embarrassed.
"I'm buying some last minute Easter presents for my nieces and nephews."
She raised her eyebrows. How cute. She couldn't resist this golden opportunity to kid him.
"You? Not prepared? Mr. Plan Everything actually forgot something?" She lightly teased.
"Smartass." He replied with a smile.
Smiling back, she asked, "Need some help?"
With a relieved look, he nodded. "Thanks Babe. I've got the boys down, but I'm not sure what to buy my nieces."
"How old are they? What do they like?"
"Seven and nine, I haven't seen them in a while so I don't really know but Celia says they're a handful." He replied with a hint of regret in his voice.
She'd never really thought about how lonely it must get for him sometimes, keeping his distance from everyone he loves. For once she felt sorry for Ranger and the life he'd chosen for himself because despite what he thought, she did know he was human and not really Batman.
"Okay. Let's look around. We don't have much time."
They headed towards the girls section of the store and they began searching for gifts that she thought his nieces would like. They teased one another and were uncharacteristically playful. Hearing the last call from the PA system, they gathered their final choices and headed towards the register.
As they got closer, Ranger reached out and gently pulled Steph towards him and took the gifts out of her hands. "These are on me."
As he looked down at the toys she'd picked out for the boys, he began to smile.
"Babe, want to tell me about these?" He teased.
She began to blush. She'd forgotten what she had in her hand or how it would look to Ranger. But suddenly she was in too good of a mood to care, so she teased him right back.
"What?? I can't help Mary Lou's kids have good taste and asked for my favorite toys."
He chuckled and paid for the toys.
When they reached her car he said, "Thanks for the help Babe."
"Anytime." She replied as she smiled up at him.
He unexpectedly pulled her towards him and held her in a strong embrace as he whispered in her ear, "The one in the red, white and blue outfit is my favorite, too."
Before she could digest his words, he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, opened her door and helped her take her seat.
"Happy Easter, Babe."
As she watched him walk away, a smile began to grow on her face as she thought of the Justice League action figures in the bag and the implication of his words, she whispered back, "You, too Ranger."
The End