So this little ditty came to me while I was performing my celebratory end of exams happy dance on my way to the bus this afternoon. It's currently a one shot, but I could be persuaded to either continue this particular story line or create a collection of random one-shots to add to it. It all depends on what feedback I get and how I feel about poking my much neglected creativity-inspiration-story-writing gland back into working order. And That's When Life Happened
She was on the phone, taking a call from a very important client and trying to ignore the fact that her son was probably causing all kinds of disruption, not to mention destruction, all over the building. No, she thought during a pause in the conversation, not all over the building, just in the control room, the surrounding offices, the break room, and the copier room. Though, hopefully the men had had enough sense to close the copier room door after what happened last time.
"Are you even listening to me?" the man on the other end of the line demanded. "Let me talk to your supervisor."
A small sigh slipped from her lips. "I am the supervisor, sir."
"Well then transfer me to your boss. I won't be treated like this."
"Sir," she sighed again, running a hand through her straight hair, "My boss is currently unavailable for consultation, but I would be happy to help solve your problem if you could just repeat the situation in as much detail as possible."
Half an hour later, the man's problem was solved and she was exiting her office, in search of her husband and/or son. The former was probably in the gym or at the gun range training the new recruits that seemed to have flooded the place lately. Her son, on the other hand, could be anywhere. He was like smoke when he didn't want to be found, a trait that he was bound to inherit since it came from both his parents.
"Before you even ask," Gizmo said as soon as she appeared at the bank of monitors in the middle of the control room. "We have no idea where he disappeared to, nor what he is up to."
She nodded her understanding and glanced around the rest of the room, keeping her eyes and ears open for any sign of disturbance. There were none, of course. The boy's father had taught him from an early age to never leave a trace that he'd been there. It was useful when it came to keeping the house tidy, since his toys were habitually stacked away so as not to give clues of his activities, but a problem emerged when it came to finding the boy.
"I don't expect anything less," she informed Gizmo, leaning on the top of one of the monitors. "Now what can you tell me about my husband's activities at this very moment?"
A few keys were tapped and the computer mouse was moved around and clicked several times as Gizmo pulled up the live feed from the gym to show her. "Hand to hand with the newbies," he stated unnecessarily; she could see exactly what he was doing on the screen. "He'll probably be another hour or so, he's only just started."
Again, she nodded her understanding, this time pushing off her leaning post in order to continue her search, but paused as the elevator doors dinged open and a very familiar pair stepped out. All at once she wanted to groan and cheer. Groan, because they were probably scoping out how she was coping with her new position and would talk to every one of the men about her performance and then take the footage and watch it to make their own assessment... Well he would at least. And cheer because out of all the people in the world, they were the two that she wanted to see most after the stressful morning.
Then she did groan as she glanced down at her wrist watch. It was only twelve o'clock. She had to endure another five hours of stress and then some before she could sink into a nice hot bubble bath and forget about the day's trauma.
"Mom, Da-uh-Ranger," she stuttered, almost forgetting to address the man properly. There was a time where he would have insisted that she refer to her mother by her name as well, but that had long since passed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to Miami this week for some R'n'R."
The woman she'd called mom stepped forward and embraced her for a moment. When she pulled back to look at her daughter then she stated with an amused expression on her face, "It's Friday, Peigi. Didn't we tell you we'd be back today?" Peigi shook her head no, which prompted Stephanie to turn a questioning glare to her husband. "Didn't I remind you to let the kids know when we'd be back?" she asked him.
"Babe," he said, holding up his hands defensively. "You never once told me to tell them. I was under the impression that was your job."
Stephanie shook her head and whispered in her daughter's ear, "You're father is going senile in his old age," following the statement up with a soft chuckle.
"I am not going senile, Babe. You just didn't tell me."
"Still has pin-drop-in-the-middle-of-a-parade hearing, though," Stephanie muttered under her breath.
"We just dropped in to check on everything," Ranger said, changing the subject. "How are you coping?"
Peigi let out yet another sigh and shook her head slightly. "It was all going fine until Tuesday," she informed her parents, leading them away from the bank of elevators and toward the break room so she could grab herself a coffee; all the while on the lookout for her son. "The baby sitter quit. Claimed she now needed psychiatric help because of Daemon. Anyway, I haven't had the time to look for a new babysitter, so he's been coming to work."
"And terrorising the entire operation?" Ranger asked, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"Yes," she stated flatly. Filling a cup with the fresh brew and taking a grateful sip.
"Why don't you leave him with Ruth?" Stephanie asked, referring to the current Ella-wannabe. Since Ella was forced to retire due to health issues a year ago they'd gone through three replacements, and that was just counting the ones who lasted longer than a week.
"I don't trust her," Peigi told them quietly. "Last week she gave him a full sugar chuppa-chup, and it wasn't even a red day. And she's always sidling in and out of rooms for no reason. I don't like her."
Both parents nodded at her explanation and Ranger was about to make a suggestion when there was a loud crash from somewhere nearby. This was quickly followed by running footsteps.
"I didn't do it!" seven year old Daemon Brown cried, announcing his arrival in the break room. "I swear I-." He paused, taking in the grownups in the room. "PA!" he finally cried, launching himself at Ranger. "Guess what I am!"
Ranger took a long, hard look at the costume his grandson was wearing and stated, "Obviously, you're a ninja." The boy nodded, probably grinning from ear to ear behind the fabric that covered his face.
Peigi shook her head once more and started out of the room to assess the damage Daemon had caused this time. As she reached the doorway, however, she saw her father-in-law ambling toward her, a mischievous grin spread across his face. "It's in the spare cubicle we've been keeping stationary supplies in," he informed her. "But I didn't do it."
"What didn't you do?" she asked him, feeling a headache coming on. "And how long have you been here? I thought you were visiting Nana Freda in Washington."
"Build a tower out of boxes of pencils," Bobby shrugged and pulled her into a welcoming hug. "And I got here about half an hour ago."
As her eye began to twitch in realisation, she stuck her finger to the offending disturbance with a sigh. "You paid Gizmo to not know where you and my son were, didn't you?" she asked, almost dreading the answer.
"No one ever sees the ninjas," Bobby stated matter-of-factly and continued past her to greet Stephanie and Ranger. It was only then that she noticed that Bobby had on a similar outfit to the one Daemon was wearing, and his left hand dangled a piece of cloth that probably made up the ninja mask.
Obviously, the men she'd admired in her youth had gone completely bonkers with the arrival of their very first grandson. It was the only explanation. She never would have pictured them doing anything as crazy as dressing up as a ninja at work in order to build towers in an unoccupied cubicle. They had always been so hard and, well, serious. Shaking her head for the umpteenth time since she got off the phone, she turned back to where Daemon was regaling Ranger with some tale as Bobby inserted details here and there. Both men were beaming at the boy, completely wrapt. Stephanie, too was listening carefully, but her smile was more delicate.
"Daemon Gregory Brown, what do you have to say for yourself?" she demanded, interrupting the happy get together.
"Sorry Mama!"
"If I go into that cubicle, what am I going to find?" she continued, hands on hips.
Daemon's eyes widened. "Nothing!" he exclaimed. "A ninja never leaves a trail! That's rule number one! Daddy taught me!"
"Well then you better go clean up your mess," she told him. As he dashed from the room, Peigi quickly caught him in a hug. "Be quick my ninja boy, and I'll allow you to have a gummi bear after lunch." He squirmed to get free at that, but she held him tighter for a moment and whispered in his ear, "You better take Ninja Pop with you."
He was off like a rocket, dragging Bobby behind him as he explained about the possibility of a rare treat once their mission was accomplished.
Ranger came up behind Peigi as they all watched the two ninjas disappear down the hall placed a light kiss on the top of her head. "You never told me Sean was into ninjas, Piggy," he commented, slinging an arm around his wife's waist.
Peigi felt the smile twitching at the corners of her own mouth now and tried to subdue it, with minimal results. "You never told me Bobby was into ninjas either," she countered.
"You never asked," he stated, as if it was the end of the argument and he'd won. He should have known his daughter better though, after all, she was half Steph.
"You never asked either. Besides, Sean wanted to keep it a secret. Daemon was doing quite well at it too, until Bobby brought around Sean's old ninja costume last week." Peigi chuckled. "Bobby was amazed his own costume still fit. Apparently he was going to give it to Sean, but decided to try it on one last time. Once it was on he couldn't bring himself to part with it. Of course this means Sean is a little put out, because he doesn't have a ninja costume anymore."
"Anymore?" Stephanie asked.
Peigi let another chuckle slip out before she answered. "He through his ninja costume out around the same time he was promoted to the A-team. He thought it was too juvenile."
"Who knew he could think of anything as too juvenile with Bobby as a father," Ranger commented thoughtfully. "I mean, look at you with your mother's influence. You've still got all your superhero costumes tucked away even though they don't fit you anymore."
"Those are special, Dad, Ella made them for me. Besides, just because they don't fit me doesn't mean they won't come in handy for my own kids."
Ranger shook his head, bemused, and kissed her on the top of her head again, stating, "I'm gonna go help the ninjas."
Let me know what you think. Should I continue? Should I add? Is it perfect just the way it is?