Costume Drama
Summary: a badly-timed case leaves Uncle Jimmy in charge of Hallowe'en. Part of the 'Future Perfect' universe.
Disclaimer: the kids are mine; the rest belong to other people.
A/N: This takes place in the 'Future Perfect' universe, which features Katie and Leigh, the twin daughters of Tim and Abby.
Abby looks up at the sound of approaching children and smiles, putting down the evidence bag she was about to open and switching off the oversized screens.
She hates this case. It's bad enough that she's been working 36 hours straight, and that they've been working 16-hour days for the last week – that happens sometimes. But she's missing Hallowe'en because of it, and that's a tragedy.
Jimmy and Breena had been happy to take the twins. Parental-kidnapping cases usually don't require an ME, so Jimmy isn't working the same ridiculous hours as the rest of them, this time. And Breena had been happy to help Katie with her princess costume yesterday, when it became clear that Abby was not going to have time to finish it; it was a nice change, she said, to be able to make something girly.
From the sounds from the hallway, the kids have had a good time.
But, she thinks ruefully, sometimes it really sucks not being there.
Donny barrels through the doorway first, dressed as a cowboy and happily 'galloping' on a horse made out of an old-fashioned mop, the cotton strands making an impressive mane. He makes a quick circuit of the lab, somehow not knocking anything over with the wildly swinging mop handle, before bashing her across the shins trying to give her a hug. He's followed a minute later by his father, walking at a more sedate pace, carrying all three kids' candy sacks, and Katie, dressed head-to-toe in pink with a tall conical hat topped with a wispy scarf that trails down her back.
Abby deftly disarms Donny of the horse and hands it to Jimmy before giving her daughter a careful hug, trying not to crush her billowy princess dress. She looks towards the doorway; the loud grunting in the hallway leaves no question where Leigh is.
'She's been walking slow like that all night, Mama!' Katie tells her. Donny immediately pipes up with a complaint about how much more candy they could have collected, if Leigh had hurried up.
Abby raises one eyebrow at Jimmy. She still has no idea what Leigh's costume is. Leigh insisted on it being a surprise, and even Tony hasn't been able to pry the secret out of Jimmy, who apparently takes co-conspirator duties seriously.
Leigh finally comes into sight, clutching a brain in the crook of one arm, walking stiffly and moaning. Breena has done an amazing job with her zombie makeup. Apparently working in a mortuary means you can make living people look dead, as well as make corpses look presentable for their funerals.
'I guess I need some sleep,' Abby mutters a minute later, sheepishly apologising to Palmer. She's holding a dyed cauliflower in one hand, the kids are hysterical with laughter, and Jimmy is eying her warily, clutching the shoulder where she punched him before her own brain kicked in enough to realise that he wouldn't have 'borrowed' a brain from one of his 'patients' for her daughter's costume.
Leigh's still giggling when she reclaims the cauliflower a few minutes later, insists that they need to find Uncle Tony before they leave, and zombie-walks back into the hallway. Watching Jimmy return the hobby-horse to his son and shepherd the children towards the elevator, Abby wonders if she should warn Tony. For Palmer's sake. After all, Tony's had even less sleep lately than she's had...