Guardianship
"Colonel Baird?" a nervous voice echoed through the phone.
"Yes, Jenkins?"
"Can you join me in the main annex? We have a bit of a situation…"
"Did Jones mess with Stones desk again?" she asked tiredly. The last thing she wanted to do after a long week was break up a squabble between those two numbskulls.
"I think it would be better if I explain when you get here," Jenkins replied evasively.
"I'll be there in 5," she sighed, already pulling the laces on her boxing gloves.
The moment she opened the door, she heard an awful, high-pitched screeching.
"What the hell?" she growled coming around the corner to find a little red headed girl being spun on a chair by a little brown haired boy.
"Faster, Jake! Faster!" she girl squealed with glee.
"It's not fair Cass, he's been spinning you forever," a smaller black haired boy whined from his position standing on top one the tables. Without another thought, Eve turned back toward the door.
"No. Nope. Not dealing with this," she mumbled, shaking her head.
"Oh Colonel, so glad you made it," Jenkins smiled as he came in from his lab.
"Sorry, Jenkins, this is above my pay grade. Whatever those jokers got themselves into, it's not my problem," she said, moving toward the exit.
"Well, actually, I had a mix up in the lab while I was experimenting with Nick's elixir, but I feel I should point out that as their guardian, this does, in fact, fall into your purview," Jenkins continued, hide his amusement though his eyes twinkled mischievously giving him away.
"You did this?" she groaned.
"I have already called Mr. Carsen in from the field. I am sure I will be able to get this sorted out, if I could have but a few moments of quiet," he replied, eyeing the three children chasing each other around a table.
"Flynn is coming in?" Eve asked, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
"Of course that would be the thing you decide to focus on," Jenkins grumbled rolling his eyes. "Are you going to take them or not?"
"Take them?"
Jenkins nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Where am I supposed to take them?" she groaned eyeing the children with mild disgust. "Wait, just to be clear, that is Cassie, Jones and Stone, right?"
"Yes, those children are younger versions of Mr. Stone, Miss Cillian and Mr. Jones," Jenkins confirmed. "And as to where you take them, I don't care, as long as I don't have to hear them anymore."
"You own me," she snapped at Jenkins before turning to the kids. "Who wants to go for a ride?"
It only took a few minutes for them to make it back to Eve's apartment. She set up her laptop and put on a movie for them before excusing herself to make lunch. She was finishing the last sandwich when she realized the apartment was entirely too quite. Stepping back into the living room, she was slightly terrified to find it completely empty.
"Hey, kids?" she called, as she began to search the house. "Stone? Jones? I mean… Jake? Zeke? Cassie?"
"You're ruining my equation!" Cassie screeched. Eve followed the sound of the girl's voice to the guest room, where Stone was drawing a full floor to ceiling Dragon on one wall and Cassie was writing a complex equation on another.
"I need that space for my proof," Cassie whined.
"Well, I need it for my knight in shining armor," Jake growled back.
"Drop the Pencils and markers now!" Eve said, her voice calm but deadly. The children both turned in horror.
"I told you she would be mad," Cassie whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Don't be mad at Cass, Ma'am. We couldn't find any paper, but I made sure it was washable. I'll make sure to clean it all up," Jake explained moving slightly to stand in front of his friend.
"We can deal with this later," Eve sighed. "Do either of you know where Ezekiel disappeared to?"
"He was playing with the box in your room," Cassie said quietly. Immediately, Eve knew exactly which box Cassie was talking about.
"Stay here," she yelled before running as fast as she could to her room. Thankfully, Ezekiel's lock picking skills were clearly not very developed at his young age, so she found him trying to pick open her small gun safe with a hair pin. "Zeke, you are not to play this that box ever again. I know that you like these kinds of puzzle's, but this one has something very dangerous in it. Promise me you won't try to open it again."
The boy looked scared. "I ppppromise," he stuttered.
"Alright then, I made lunch. Are you hungry?"
Without answering, the boy ran for the kitchen. They were half way through their lunch when the doorbell rang.
"Nobody leaves this table," Eve warned, before moving to see who was at the door. She was relieved to find Flynn on the other side.
"Jenkins told me there was so kind of mishap, and that you might need my help?" he commented curiously.
"He didn't tell you anything else?"
"Nope, have to admit I was happy to hear from him though. I have missed you, Eve," he grinned, pulling her in for a kiss. For a moment, Eve was distracted by the arrival of her Librarian, but she was quickly brought back to reality by a chorus of giggling.
"Well, who do we have here?" Flynn asked, immediately kneel down to the children's level.
"This is what Jenkins called you about. Apparently he was messing around with some stuff at the lab, and de-aged all of our little librarians," Eve explained.
"And how are our little librarians behaving?"
"Ok you know, Cassie and Stone turned my guest room into and art studio/ blackboard, and Jones tried to break into my gun safe, so about as well as you would expect," she answered, happy to finally have some help.
"My goodness little ones, you have been busy," he laughed. "What do you say we go to the park and give Miss Eve's poor house a rest?"
"Will it have a merry go round?" Cassie asked excitedly.
"Can we get ice cream?" Ezekiel begged.
"I wasn't done with my drawing," Jake grumbled.
"Maybe, Maybe, and I am sure you can finish your drawing later. What were you doing before I got here?" Flynn asked.
"We were just finishing lunch. The park sounds perfect," Eve answered, surprised at how well Flynn was adapting to the unusual situation. "Go put your plates in the sink and get your shoes on?"
"So they have the tendencies of their older selves but the mentality of children?" he asked once the children had disappeared.
"That seems to be the case. I would put them about 5-7, but I don't know much about kids, so that is just a guess."
"You are doing a great job with them," Flynn commented, reaching out to squeeze her hand and pulling her close.
"I… um" she stumbled on her thoughts not sure what to say.
"We're ready to go," Jake announced, the others trailing behind him. Eve was thankful that she didn't have to say anything as Flynn led the children out door. They walked to a park near her apartment. The children ran off to play, while Flynn led Eve over to a bench.
"Well I have to say this is a first," Flynn commented, eyes following the little librarians as they ran and chased each other around the equipment.
"You are not kidding. I mean regular kids are bad enough, but these guys drive me nuts as adults," she agreed, as she looked around for signs of trouble.
"You don't like kids?" Flynn asked, clearly surprised.
"Kids are fine, as long as I don't have to deal with them. I was an only child. I grew up around grown-ups. The running around, coloring on walls, Zeke don't hang from the bars like that! Let's just say I don't think kids are in the cards for me."
"You never know, Eve, sometimes life surprises you," Flynn laughed at her contradiction. She had spent the better part of the day taking care of three kindergarteners, and yet she said she wasn't good with kids. She nagged her charges like a mom, even before the lab accident.
Instead of pointing out the contradiction, he started to tell her about the case he had been called away from. They were joking about their last trip to India, when Eve's heart stopped in her chest. One moment she was sitting on the bench, and the next she was racing across the playground as fast as she could. She watched in horror as Cassie fell from top of the slide. When she hit the ground, her body went slack.
"Not today, Cassie. Please, not today," Eve mumbled as she knelt on the ground and checked the girls pulse. When she felt the rapid beat beneath her finger, she sucked in a deep breath. Before she could decide what to do next, Cassie's eyes fluttered open. "Are you okay?"
"My head hurts," Cassie answered blinking back tears.
"I bet it does, Little one," Flynn said as he knelt down next to them. "Can you follow my finger with your eyes?"
Cassie complied, and Flynn ran a few more tests he knew, before he felt confident that she didn't have a concussion. They decided to take her to the take her to hospital anyway though because of the tumor. They weren't sure if child Cassie had the tumor, but Eve insisted that a trip to the hospital was necessary.
The kids were all quiet in the car on the way to the hospital. After a day of near constant noise, the silence was suffocating.
At the hospital, they checked her in as Cassandra Carsen, Eve and Flynn's daughter. They explained the accident, but said nothing about the tumor, in case it didn't show up. After half an hour, Cassie was wheeled back out with a completely clean bill of health. Eve looked at Flynn in shock and he pulled her into his arms.
"I told you we would figure something out," he smirked proudly. "Now, who's up for ice cream?"
"Me!" the kids all screamed. Flynn laughed and led them out to the car. While they sat at the ice cream shop devouring the biggest sundaes they had ever seen, which Eve had told Flynn not to buy, they got a call from Jenkins. He had finally found a way to reverse the formula he had created. They told him they would be back soon, but as so as she hung up the phone a thought occurred to her.
"What if it comes back?" she asked, knowing Flynn would know what she was talking about.
"I think we have to take a chance here. I mean Jenkins was working with the elixir of life. I don't think it will do any damaged, but what other choice do we have?"
"We could just leave her the way she is?"
"And make her grow up all over again? Who would take care of her? What if she remembered someday?"
"I could take care of her," Eve answered ignoring Flynn's other arguments.
"You? Eve Baird? Who just hours ago declared kids not in the cards for herself?"
"It's different though, Flynn. It's Cassie," she said desperately.
"Let's talk to Jenkins and then we will decide," Flynn finally said. When they arrived back at the annex, Jenkins assured them that there was little possibility of the tumor returning. They gave the children the new elixir and within moments, they were transformed back to their usual ages.
"What happened?" Jake asked, putting his hand on his head in a way that reminded Flynn of Cassie.
"So mishap," Jenkins answered. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"We were sitting at our desks," Cassie started.
"And then Cass saw smoke coming from the lab, so we went to check on the old man, and… That's it, that is all I remember," Jones finished.
"So, what happened?" Jake asked.
"It's a long story," Eve sighed. "Bottom line is we think we got rid of Cassie's tumor, and Stone, you are going to repaint my guest room."
"Are you serious?" Jake and Cassie asked at the same time one giddy and one in disbelief.
"You will need a cat scan to confirm, Miss Cillian, but I am pretty sure," Jenkins answered before disappearing back to his lab.
"Well, now that everything is on track, Eve would you care to join me on the hut for a chimera?" Flynn asked.
"Sure," she answered, before turning to the others. "You guys go home and don't get in any trouble while I am gone."
Flynn laughed at her antics, as he tugged her through the door. He was pretty sure if he pointed out her mothering nature she would shoot him, so instead he took her on an adventure and they still made it home in time to check on their librarians before bed.
A/n: so someone asked me to write for Eve and Flynn, and this is what came out. I know it's really tropey, but there isn't a lot out there in this Fandom, and I thought it would be a funny read.