A/N: Phew, wasn't sure if I'd have this out quite in time, what with work and my insane sleep schedule. Anyway, here's the first chapter to my little Christmas fic, since it's getting a bit too long to post as a oneshot. If you're reading this, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas. And Happy Holidays! :3
A chilly wind swept over the suburbs of Dimmsdale, the moon high and full in the cloudless sky. Despite the relative closeness to the Downtown area of the city, one could easily see stars speckled here and there in the deep blue, almost black heavens.
It was currently winter in Dimmsdale, the twenty-fourth of December, and just a short few hours before Christmas. The grass in front of many of the houses bore a light covering of powdery snow, and nearly all of the houses were decorated, some more than others; with Christmas lights, large plastic decorations, and even a few Christmas trees, with the occupants apparently caring little for the inevitable rise in the cost of their electric bills.
It was the holiday season, after all.
The Valentine house was no different, though it was decorated a bit sparsely, compared to the rest of the houses it shared the street with. Another difference between this house and the others was that it was currently still occupied, whereas the occupants of the other, nearby houses had long since left, either on vacation, or to visit loved ones for the holidays, leaving the neighborhood uncharacteristically empty, and quiet.
"Yeah, everything's fine." A distinctly feminine-sounding voice echoed through the empty house as the voice's owner, a twenty-one year old red-head by the name of Victoria Valentine, Vicki for short; yanked open the house's bathroom door and stepped out, a thick cloud of steam billowing out around her into the second floor hallway. Having just taken a shower and put on her pajamas, she wore a pair of striped, thigh-high stockings, appropriately holiday-themed with alternating red, green, and white stripes. Her upper body was covered by a thick, lime-green sweater that was longer than average, the fabric reaching almost the midpoint of her thighs, and leaving just over an inch of exposed skin between itself and the aforementioned stockings. Finally, out of modesty, she wore a pair of black panties with a lace trim, this being the first thing she snatched out of her underwear drawer before taking a shower.
"Mom, I'll come and visit Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow, I just want some time to myself so I can unwind." In Vicki's right hand and held up to her ear was her cellphone, while her left hand was positioned on her hip in a mildly impatient manner. "No, I won't stay up late and then sleep in so I don't have to go, I'll leave here at noon the latest... Make that one, actually-Hm? No, I'm just giving myself enough time in case the power goes out and turns off my alarm, that all." The girl rolled her eyes at her mother's fussing over her. She was practically a grown woman now, yet her mother, Nicki; still treated both her and her little sister like angsty teenagers. Tootie she could understand, but her?
"No- Mom. Mom. I'll drive up there tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with you guys, but then I'm coming back here. It's nothing to do with you, dad, Tootie, or anyone else in the family, I just don't get the house to myself very often, and I want to... Alright, so I'll come up tomorrow. See you then-Wha? ...Really?" Vicki deadpanned at her phone in place of her mother. "...Hah... Yeah, I love you too..." The girl sighed and rolled her eyes, her cheeks pinkening a little. "Bye." She at last hung up her phone and let her right arm drop back to her side, the sleeve of the oversized sweater she wore sliding down her wrist to almost completely cover her hand. "Jeez, a couple of days to myself, that's all I'm asking..."
The red-head made her way down the hall, not bothering to quiet her footsteps as they lightly thudded against the hardwood floor. Once at the end of the hall, she descended the stairs down to the living room, then crossed it and headed into the kitchen, making a beeline for the cupboards. She quickly took out a large bowl and placed it on the counter, then opened the cupboard adjacent to the one she'd opened and produced a bag of popcorn, which was soon transferred to the microwave and heated up.
As she waited, Vicki took a quick look at the newspaper, noticing that the next few days were going to be unusually cold for southern California, with the highest temperature being thirty-eight on the twenty-sixth, without factoring windchill. "Pfft, global warming my ass..." She scowled at the newspaper, being that she wasn't exactly a fan of cold weather. "Guess I should just be happy I don't live somewhere that gets a lot of snow, digging my car out would be a pain. Hehehe... Unless I got the Twerp to do it..." She chuckled to herself, then returned to the microwave as it beeped, the bag of popcorn inside still popping every second or two.
It took less than a minute for her to open the bag, pour its contents into the bowl she'd prepared, and return to the living room, the bowl in one hand, and a can of soda in the other. She set her food and drink down on the coffee table in front of the couch, then unceremoniously plopped down onto the cushions, stretching herself out on them to take up almost the entire couch. She opted against using the spare Christmas blanket that was draped across the back of it, as the living room was already fairly warm, thanks to the heat being on and the Christmas light-covered tree in the corner of the room, presents for her, Tootie, and their parents already laid out on the small carpet lying underneath the tree; giving off a pleasant amount of heat from the sheer number of Christmas lights on it.
Her parents tended to go all-out when it came to decorating the inside of the house for the holidays, at Tootie's insistence, but they usually didn't bother with the outside. A few lights draped on the shrubs out front, and a wreath hung on the door was generally enough for them, though as previously mentioned, the inside of the house was much more heavily decorated, with mistletoe hung in a few sneaky places(pretty much entirely for Vicki and Tootie's parents' benefit), Christmas stockings hung on the side of the entertainment center and pinned under the edge of the television in lieu of over a fireplace; since they didn't have one, blankets with Christmas-y themes sewn into them popping up in their rooms and around the house... Their parents pulled out all the stops when it came to Christmas decorating, and she had to admit(only to herself, of course)... It did give the house a warm, cozy sort of atmosphere.
"Hum... What do I... Wanna watch?" Vicki mused to herself out loud as she snatched up the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV, propping herself up on her right elbow, along with a few spare throw pillows she stuck under her arm and the upper right side of her chest.
At twenty-one, she was still in the babysitting business, though it had become more house-sitting than babysitting, and she now only had one client, or two; if she counted the Turners as two separate entities. Timmy's parents had apparently been so impressed with how well she kept an eye on him that they asked her to continue watching over their house(and by extension, only son) long after Timmy had outgrown the need for a babysitter. Naturally, she was thrilled with the arrangement, as the Turners paid her a very lucrative amount of money for her services, which amounted to little more than her lying on the couch in their living room for practically the whole day, though she'd occasionally go for a swim in the in ground pool she'd commanded Timmy to dig in the backyard, or hang out with Timmy himself, as time had seen fit to resolve most of the conflicts they'd had when he was ten, and she sixteen.
That wasn't to say they didn't fight now and then, but it was a bit more like fights between siblings or close friends than between mortal enemies. The both of them figured that they were likely going to be stuck with each other for the foreseeable future, so out of necessity, it was easier to work towards burying the hatchet than constantly bickering and fighting over every little thing.
Not to mention, the boy-now teen-she called the Twerp had proven time and time again that he didn't deserve the crap she gave him growing up. He'd developed a big brother instinct toward her little sister, Tootie; and that meant a lot to the red-head, as she couldn't keep an eye on the girl all the time, especially not at school. Add to that, he'd also stuck his neck out for Vicki herself more times than she could count, and definitely more times than she was willing to admit, with his insistence on telling his parents that he wanted her to stay as his babysitter; rather than go to the Learnatorium, the numerous times he'd literally saved her life, and even going out of his way to be nice to her being just the tip of the iceberg. "Hmph. Lucky me that little Twerp's not the petty type, he'd never let me hear the end of it if he was..." Vicki shifted her legs back and forth a few times in an attempt to get more comfortable, then began surfing through the TV channels, hoping to find something to watch that wasn't Christmas themed.
"Huh..." A small, thoughtful noise escaped the older girl as her mind invariably again focused itself on the buck-toothed teenager she had slowly become friends with over the years. She wasn't really the type to get Christmas presents for anyone outside her immediate family, and though she did have a couple of friends she occasionally spent time with, it hadn't really crossed her mind to get Christmas gifts for them.
Timmy, however; felt a bit different. She'd certainly known him longer than her friends, Heather and Theresa; and though not all of those times had been pleasant, they'd still played a factor in establishing the friendship they had today. Despite how prideful she could be, Vicki couldn't deny that she enjoyed being friends with Timmy. He was smart when he actually cared enough to apply himself, he was kind and considerate, if still a bit childish at times; and he'd endeared himself to her, to the point where she'd caught herself on more than one occasion thinking of him as cute. "Heh... I can kinda see where Tootie's coming from-"
Ding-Dong!
"Gah!" The sudden and loud noise of the house's front doorbell caused Vicki to jump in surprise and inadvertently bounce off the couch, causing her to fall in between it and the coffee table in front of it, and land on the floor on her rear-end with a loud 'thud'. "Ah! Ow..." She reached up, bracing her left arm on the couch and her right on the table, then pushed herself to her feet, taking a moment to rub her now sore butt. "Who the Hell...? It's a quarter after nine and freezing out!" Vicki muttered out harshly, casting a death glare at her front door, and whoever was unfortunate enough to be standing on the other side of it.
Another growl of annoyance escaping her, the red-head rapidly walked over to her front door and unlocked the top lock, then the smaller one set into the doorknob, before finally yanking the door open angrily and looking around, her gaze eventually dropping a few inches to meet her blue-eyed visitor's, at which point her expression softened a bit, and she visibly relaxed. "No one's home." She remarked flatly, her lips tugging upward into the absolute slightest of smirks.
"Merry Christmas to you too..." Timmy Turner quirked an eyebrow up at the girl who was still essentially his babysitter, his tone bearing a noticeable hint of confusion.
"I hope you're not here to sing Christmas carols, Twerp, because it's just me here, and I'm not interested in freezing my butt off in the doorway while you sing me your rendition of 'Jingle Bells'." She quipped sarcastically, crossing her arms as she leaned against the front door frame.
"Just you?" Timmy's eyes lit up a little, a smile beginning to form on his face.
"Eyep. Mom and dad took Tootie to visit our grandparents and the rest of our family for the holidays. We usually stay up there from Christmas Eve and through New Year's, but I decided to stay here this year; haven't had the house all to myself in a while..." The girl grinned, excited by the prospect of being able to sleep the cold mornings away in her warm, cozy bed. "Speaking of..." She began again, looking the fifteen year old on her doorstep up and down.
As usual, and not surprising the red-head in the least; Timmy wore the pink baseball cap he always did, though Vicki had a sneaking suspicion that he owned more than one. Next, he wore a pink Letterman's jacket, the vest part and cuffs being pink, while the sleeves were white, and below that, she noticed the collar of a dark-colored shirt, possibly black, judging by the light shining down on him from the porch light. In addition to this, he wore a pair of dark blue jeans, and finally, a pair of off-white sneakers that looked to offer little protection against the cold winter night the teen had almost certainly walked through to get to her house.
"What's up? Shouldn't you be at your house? Your family likes to come down and visit for the holidays, right?" The twenty-one year old shivered as a gentle gust of chilly air swept over the porch and into the house. "Maybe I should've put some pants on after all..." She thought to herself as she rubbed her upper arms to try and generate a bit of warmth.
"Ah... Yeah, but they're... Loud and... Kind of traditional when it comes to the holidays. My grandparents think everyone should spend Christmas huddled up in the living room by the fireplace while we drink eggnog and talk all about past Christmases and stories from when they were growing up... Stories they tell every year..." Timmy remarked in a somewhat evasive tone as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, though the tone was meant more for his grandparents, who he didn't have the heart to tell that he'd already heard their stories enough times that he could repeat them from memory. "And my mom makes this... 'Special' eggnog around Christmas that makes everyone even louder; then she sends me up to my room for the night, but I can't sleep because everyone's so loud..."
"And you figured you'd come over here and spend Christmas with your favorite babysitter..." Vicki shot the teen a knowing grin, giggling a bit as he looked up at her with a small, hopeful smile. "Heehee! Ah... I guess a little company would be nice..." She brought her index finger up to her lips, tapping it against them before snapping her fingers and pointing at Timmy. "But! That jacket's gotta go. I mean, did you look in the mirror when you put it on?"
"Well I-... Not really." The brunet admitted sheepishly, taking a brief moment to look at the somewhat baggy jacket he wore. "It was just the first thing I grabbed from my closet before I snuck out of the house, and I... It's not that bad, is it?" Timmy frowned at the older girl. It had been his fairy godmother, Wanda; who'd told him the jacket made him look handsome and kinda cool, and he'd thought the same when he put it on, though he hadn't gotten the chance to see himself in the mirror, like he said.
"No, it's not that bad." Vicki answered with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "But it's definitely nowhere close to that good, either. You look like... Well, a dumb jock." The red-head shrugged. "...Or someone trying to look like a dumb jock, anyway. The Letterman jacket look... Doesn't really suit you." She shot him an apologetic smirk, shivering once more as another, stronger wind swept over her and Timmy, this one making him wince as well.
"A-Alright, I'll take it off, but can I please come in first? It's frickin' cold out here!" Timmy wrapped his arms around himself, finally giving in to his body's urge to do so in response to the frigid night air around him.
"Well, since you asked nicely..." Vicki pushed herself up off the door frame and turned away from the brunet, her back to him as she made her way back over to the couch.
And Timmy, being a fifteen year old male, couldn't keep his eyes from wandering over his babysitter's body as she walked away. Her sweater, despite being a bit oversized, hugged her body rather well, the thick fabric showing off the noticeable curves of her waist and butt, while the hem of the sweater rode up a tiny bit with each step, inadvertently advertising the fact that she was wearing little more than a pair of black panties under it. Lastly, he couldn't deny that the thigh-high stockings she wore were sexy, in a way; the thought making his cheeks flush with heat.
But then, this was Vicki, his nemesis turned friend, and a fairly close one at that. He knew she was attractive, Hell, she was gorgeous; but she was also six years older than him, still basically his babysitter, and his best friend's sister, the same friend who still harbored a pretty serious crush on him herself. He seriously doubted the red-head would even give him the time of day, should he ever summon up the courage to ask her out in the first place; and in the very unlikely event she did say yes, he imagined things between him and Tootie would be... Awkward. Even more so than they were now, with her flirting and affectionate physical gestures being just shy of a form of assault.
"Hey. You coming in, or you gonna leave the door open and stare at my ass all night?" Vicki glanced at the fifteen year old over her shoulder, her right hip popped up a little as she posed with her right hand on said hip, a teasing little smirk gracing her lips. To be fair, she was just joking around... Mostly. She knew she looked good, and she knew Timmy knew she looked good, if the less-than-stealthy glances he occasionally gave her were anything to go by. And perhaps(definitely) because of this, she took great pleasure in teasing her Twerp whenever she got the chance. It just so happened that her current outfit, which she'd chosen on nothing more than a whim; was perfect for doing just that.
Without a word, the teen stepped into the house, shutting and re-locking the door behind him.
"You can hang your jacket up on the coat rack there." The older girl absently gestured at the coat rack with her left hand, before flopping back down on the couch and getting back into her earlier position, her legs again stretched out to take up two and a half of the three cushions.
"Hah..." Timmy sighed, standing in front of his coat as he hung it up and fished through one of the inner pockets, before retrieving what he was looking for from it and transferring it to his jeans' right-hand pocket. "I guess it does look a bit... Well, I kinda see what you mean about it not suiting me." He admitted as he looked the Letterman jacket over, then kicked off his cold, slightly snow-covered sneakers, his feet now only covered by a pair of simple, black socks.
"Mou should prolly get somethin'..." Vicki spoke over a mouthful of popcorn, pausing to chew and swallow it before she continued. "Mm-hm, I'unno, like what Blondie wears. Y'know, a blazer-type jacket? Pink-Ehe... Pink looks good on you." She chuckled at the brunet, knowing pink had been his parents' choice, due to them thinking Timmy would be a girl.
"Maybe... I'll keep an eye out for one next time I go clothes shopping..." Timmy jammed his hands into his pockets as he walked over to the couch, then passed in front of Vicki, between the couch and coffee table, finally pausing in front of the cushion farthest from the red-head, noticing her legs from her shins-down were occupying the better half of the cushion. "Gonna make your guest sit on the floor?" He quirked an eyebrow up at the girl, the left side of his mouth tugging up into a smirk.
"Pfft, this ain't your first time here. You are hardly a guest, Twerp." Despite this, Vicki curled up a little, bending her knees and pulling the lower half of each leg up near her thighs, freeing up just enough room on the couch for Timmy to be able to sit comfortably.
"Well then how about letting me sit here because I'm your friend? That's gotta count for something, right?" The fifteen year old spun around to face the TV and sat down, relaxing into the soft, warm cushions.
"Sure. It counts for me trusting you to not tickle my feet when I do this." She stretched her legs back out, delicately slipping them over the brunet's right thigh, her toes wiggling as she slipped them between his thighs, though she made sure not to touch anything... Sensitive. "Comfy?" She questioned in a playful tone, her gaze remaining focused on the TV screen.
"Eh..." Timmy looked down the couch toward his babysitter, his eyes again trailing up along her lean, but curvy; frame, eventually settling on her rear-end once again as he noticed that the combination of her position and the sweater she wore slipping up a bit gave him a rather appreciable view of it. "I'm not uncomfortable..."
Vicki rolled her eyes, almost positive she could feel Timmy's bright blue eyes boring into her. "Perv." She fixed her sweater, re-covering her somewhat exposed bottom.
"Yeah yeah, call me a perv all you want, you're the one teasing me like that just so you can call me a perv when I look!" The teen stuck his tongue out at the older girl, earning him a gentle shove to the cheek, accomplished with her foot. "Ack! Keep your feet to yourself! I dunno where they've been!" He lightly smacked her foot away, though it quickly found its way back into his lap.
"In the shower. Because I just took one." She gave his thigh another weak kick. "Now stop squirming around so much and help me figure out what we should watch."
"You've got the remote." Timmy nodded at the channel changing device in the girl's hand. "Put on whatever you want, I'm cool with... Just about anything." He shrugged indifferently, more happy to be in a nice warm house than anything else, though the presence of his babysitter was a definite plus. "But uh... Some popcorn... Would be nice...?" He gave the red-head's shin a light tap with his finger to get her attention, causing her to pass hand him the bowl of popcorn after a moment.
"Gonna have to get your own drink though, I'm not getting up again." Vicki wrapped her arms around the small stack of pillows she was using, letting her chin drop down and come to rest on top of them.
"You say that like it should surprise me or something." Timmy lifted the girl's feet off his lap and stood up, then headed for the kitchen. "Want anything?" He paused at the threshold between the two rooms, looking back over his shoulder at the couch and its single occupant.
"Eh..." Vicki reached for her can of soda and shook it, realizing it was already about half empty. "Get me a drink... Not soda." She added in quickly. "Something to eat too, popcorn's not gonna last between the two of us."
"Anything else?" The teen questioned sarcastically as he felt himself get forced into the familiar dynamic between the two of them. Vicki would laze around on the couch and 'relax', while he essentially waited on her hand and foot. Truthfully, he didn't really mind, and only responded in a sarcastic tone to see how she'd react. "Want me to give you a massage when I get back too?" He asked flatly, eyes half-lidded in feigned annoyance with one eyebrow raised.
"Actually, I've got this little kink or something in my calf-" Vicki raised her right leg a foot or so into the air to indicate which calf muscle she meant. "If you wanna take a look at it, that'd be great." She let her leg drop back down onto the couch as she finished.
"...Y'know, I'm starting to think you were just grooming me to be your butler all these years." Timmy shook his head, unable to hide the amused grin on his face.
"Chop chop, Timothy. Or you'll lose the privilege of sitting on the couch with me." Vicki replied in a haughty-sounding tone, shooing the brunet away with her left hand, which due to the length of her sweater's sleeves; looked more like a slight shake of the thick fabric.
"Ugh..." The teen groaned as he left the living room and stepped into the kitchen, then over to the fridge and pulled it open. "Hm... I bet she wants... Ah!" Timmy exclaimed quietly, snatching up a bottle of pink lemonade from the shelf in the fridge's door. "And... Oh! I know!" He snapped his fingers, beginning to rummage through the fridge again.
Vicki, meanwhile; continued flipping through the channels on the TV, eventually settling on a familiar horror movie that was already about halfway over. "I'm just gonna put on Dawn of the Dead-" She began in a raised tone of voice, only to dip into a lower octave and then fall silent as the buck-toothed teen reappeared, now holding a bottle of her favorite drink and a bowl strawberries, covered by a small mountain of whipped cream. "Aw..." The twenty-one year old took the drink her Twerp offered, then watched as he set down the bowl of strawberries, and a can of soda for himself. "Well aren't you good to me..."
"Eheh..." Timmy chuckled nervously at the warm smile his babysitter shot him; rubbing the back of his head as his cheeks blushed a light shade of pink. "Well I... I mean, we've known each other long enough, so... J-Just trying to be good company..." The teen sat down after a few moments of awkward silence, only for the red-head to slip her legs back into his lap. "Er... I thought you were kidding about the kink in your leg...?"
"I was." Vicki admitted nonchalantly, sliding both herself and the small stack of pillows she was using down the couch and a bit closer to Timmy so that her calves were laying more fully across his lap. "But I certainly wouldn't complain if you massaged my legs a little anyway... Eh?" She gave his left leg a weak nudge with her foot, acting as though the prospect of him giving her a massage was some kind of lucrative opportunity for him.
"Oh. Well, I... I guess I could..." He fumbled with his words, noticing the way the older girl was staring at him. Her lips were still curled up at the edges into a playful smirk, but the look in her eyes had become... Almost inviting, in a way. Sultry, even. He wondered for a moment, if she was perhaps flirting with him, but he honestly wasn't sure. Vicki did love to tease him, after all. She'd done just that almost immediately after inviting him in tonight with the way she'd posed in front of the couch.
At the same time, the red-head's actions around him did occasionally blur the line between friendship and... Something more, but again, he simply attributed it to her personality and love of teasing him. Even now, asking him(or offering him the opportunity) to massage her legs, while normally something reserved for people who were far more intimate with each other than they were, was pretty standard fare for Vicki, as she'd told him to do it numerous times after a particularly bad day, back when he was ten, and she sixteen. Since then, the command had turned into more of a request, and she didn't ask it nearly as often, now that they were friends.
Finally, the brunet, despite being in the middle of his teenage years, was not particularly well-versed when it came to flirting. His attempts with Trixie had all been met with varying degrees of failure, to the point that he'd long-since given up on the snooty, dark-haired girl; though her friend Veronica did offer him a somewhat flirty remark every now and again when Trixie was nowhere in sight. He never took those really seriously though, seeing as how Veronica, much like Trixie; never gave him the time of day when her best friend and the rest of the popular kids were around. In short, she wasn't exactly genuine. The only other flirting he ever experienced was from Vicki's younger sister, Tootie, who, while definitely a very close friend to him now, still harbored a crush on him that had once reached nearly suffocating levels. She'd without a doubt calmed down by a fair amount once they became friends, with maturity likely playing a factor as well, but a bit of her old self still seeped out every now and then, with her randomly giving him hugs that were just a bit too friendly, or cuddling up close to him at their lunch table in full view of Chester and AJ. "Not that they seem to mind..." Timmy thought to himself, remembering the way his two best friends simply chuckled to themselves when Tootie got 'physical'. He was almost positive he'd even seen Chester give him a wink and thumbs up once!
"Oh c'mon, it's Christmas, Twerp!" Vicki spoke up, shaking the fifteen year old from his reverie.
"And? What does that have to do with giving you a massage?" Timmy shot her a flat, unimpressed look, again being difficult for nothing more than the sake of being difficult.
"How 'bout you're supposed to be nice to others on Christmas? Especially to your favorite babysitter." The girl gently rubbed her legs back and forth across his thighs, knowing it wouldn't be long before the brunet gave in.
"Hah..." Timmy sighed in dramatic fashion and hung his head a little. "What would you do without me? Like seriously?" He shook his head, the amused grin on his face giving his actual demeanor away.
"Well obviously I'd have to find some other Twerp to wait on me hand and foot." The girl shrugged, reaching for the bowl of popcorn and then placing it in front of her stomach on the couch. "Which would be a huge pain in my ass, you're pretty irreplaceable, Timmy."
Despite her nonchalant, off-handed attitude when she said it, Timmy found he was actually pretty touched by his babysitter's compliment, his cheeks flushing pink as his heart rate quickened a little. "I-Uh... W-Would you mind turning over onto your stomach? It'll make it easier to g-get your calves that way."
"Somebody's nervous~..." Vicki thought to herself with a smirk. "This sounds a lot like an excuse so you can get another look at my butt, Twerp." She moved the bowl of popcorn, returning it to the table before shifting her stack of pillows up near her head. With that done, the red-head turned over to lie on her stomach, slipping her arms under the pillows as she laid her head down on them and faced the TV again.
"That's not untrue..." Timmy thought to himself, his eyes briefly tracing over his babysitter's rear-end, the sweater she wore hugging each and every one of her curves perfectly. "And saying that makes it sound like you want me to stare..." The teen rolled his eyes, settling them on his babysitter's stockinged legs and feet as he flexed his fingers, then proceeded to delicately run his hands up and down her calves, starting with her right one.