And here's chapter 2! The story of Mama Elle continues, from a slightly different perspective, this time...
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Okay, Kim Possible grumbled mentally, Camille Leon's teamed up with Falsetto Jones in... Spain? Her mind boggled at that for a moment, before she continued with the report on her GJ issued — and Wade modified — tablet computer, And the Seniors are buying up real estate in Denmark, but using villainous funds to do so...
She shook her head as she walked down the street from the hidden GJ tubeway. It was rather pedestrian to be sure, but she was visiting Drew's mother, and it would be rather rude to just appear on her doorstep! Especially as this was the first time they'd be meeting without anyone else there to act as a buffer.
The things I do for that man... she sighed fondly to herself, before sobering slightly, But this is a waste of time! I have reports to read, training schedules to update, a few promotions to consider feeding up to Director Du... Director Powers, Possible, he married Mo, remember!
Kim just couldn't understand what she had been thinking when she agreed to the meeting. She disliked admitting it, but she hated dealing with the clingy, often overbearing woman, even if she is Drew's mother! And she always felt on edge, even when the blue man was there. So why agree to meet her all alone?
She pursed her lips slightly as she glanced up the sidewalk to Mrs. Lipsky's house. With a sigh, she gave a little headshake, concluding it had been her distraction with trying to rush back to her job that had short-circuited her critical thinking capacity enough to agree with it. The fact that her job, and the reports she'd just been reading, had her in a heightened state of alertness — in mission-mode, as Ron used to say — didn't help her annoyance. Still, she tried to smother her mental and emotional state as she reached out and knocked firmly on Mrs. Lipsky's front door.
After something like a half-minute, Kim could hear hurried steps coming toward the door. She briefly caught some angry, spiteful mutterings of "Youth cream… Pah!" before the door began to open. "Come on in!" the jowl-faced woman said with a good deal of cheer, practically throwing open her door in greeting, the annoyance Kim had heard through the door gone. "I'm so glad to be able to meet my precious little boy's only good lady friend."
"Don't you mean one of them?" she asked as she entered the small home, not managing to suppress her confusion at Mrs. Lipsky's assumptions about Drew.
Kim got an owlish blink in reply. "My Drewbie has other lady friends?" The confusion and certainty perforated every word, almost making Kim doubt herself.
"Yes…? I mean, yes ma'am." Kim was directed to a small dining room table where a tea set was already prepared and various snacks such as tea cakes and crumpets were laid out around it. Sitting down, she couldn't help but to feel the coziness of the space seep into her limbs. "Drew and I have many mutual friends that happen to be women, not to mention his lady friends from work."
"Oh my. My little boy is quite the lady's man," Mrs Lipsky giggled as she poured out tea for the both of them. "But I'm sure you're his best lady friend."
Alarm bells went off in Kim's head. She could see the proverbial minefield in front of her, the mines all variants of the words 'babies for Mama', with that one British comedian's theme song as the musical accompaniment for stepping across that minefield. Drew had made his last conversation with his mother no secret, and it was clear to Kim that his mother was still not giving up without a fight.
"Yeah, I am his best lady friend," Kim emphasized. Small lies don't hurt anyone. She considered taking a sip of tea, but thought better of it. It was a manners faux pas to do so before the host did, after all.
"Oh my!" The small woman put a hand to her lips in surprise. "That certainly wasn't the impression my Drewbie gave me!" She tilted her head and looked between Kim and her tea. "You can drink your tea if you want. I'm not all that thirsty."
Apparently Mrs. Lipsky had the same babies chant going in her head, if the oddly colored disappointment Kim saw in her eyes was any indication. Her Kimness, as Ron used to call it, the instincts that went into overdrive in mission mode, screamed at the agent, telling her the look in the older woman's eyes was more significant than just babies. But what are they trying to tell me?
She wanted to discard the intense sensation of nervousness, but after her BF-ex-BF had left, she'd learned to never ignore those instincts. They haven't led me wrong yet... She barely resisted the urge to give a sharp shake of her head when she realized how long she'd been silent. Instead, she gave her head a thoughtful, easy half shrugging sway, "I'm afraid you're mistaken. Drew and I… We are friends, good friends, yes, but we aren't together like that." Small lies don't hurt anyone!
Mrs. Lipsky looked expectantly at her, her eyes traveling from Kim to the tea and back again, clearly distracted by Kim's apparent disinterest. "So, you aren't hungry, or thirsty, or anything…? Not even a small sip of my delicious tea? I picked the leaves myself!"
For some reason, the insistence on the tea made Kim's skin crawl with a strange feeling of paranoia. "No thank you. I just had lunch, and, at least for me, a full stomach with caffeine is a bad combination." Small lies don't hurt anyone! she repeated, the chant Drew had taught her a few months earlier settling her nervous gut. It had seemed silly at the time, but it had helped immensely with the stress she felt when lying. Well, it had helped when he pointed out that nearly everyone used small, social lies a daily basis, even me! She managed a convincingly honest smile through the guilt that admittedly assaulting her mind. Small lies don't hurt anyone!
"Oh, dear me," Mrs. Lipsky gasped, "My old friend, Belle, had the same problem!" With a completely at ease smile, the elderly woman shrugged, "I hope you don't mind if I continue?"
"By all means." Kim smiled, mentally relaxing as Drew's mother swallowed another little lie.
"As you may know, willing that you're such a close friend, my dear Drewbie wants to have children someday," Mrs. Lipsky said. "Do you... I mean, you look like a hard working woman... Are you a field agent, or are you stuck behind the oh-so-dreaded desk?" Kim nodded reluctantly, reminding herself that as blasé as she was with the tubes, GJ was still, with a good deal more than their 'international police agency' trappings would indicate, a top-secret organization.
"If you're able to say, what with you being with Global Justice and all that they do, of course!" Kim shrugged, spreading her fingers and opening her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Lipsky continued, as if she were on a roll, "And so what would it hurt to give your good friend, my Drew, my little boy, a baby or two?" She sighed, staring Kim in the eyes and smiling in a hopeful manner, "It's been his dream since he was six, to have some little babies, and being the old-fashioned lady I am, I so desire to have a grandchild to spoil!"
Kim paused as she was about to answer. Yes, Kim wanted to have children sometime, and with Drew would be nice, but... Something was... Odd about the way Mrs. Lipsky had said that. The pacing of her speech, the almost poetic cadence, strange emphasises, and odd, almost subliminal stoppages, set off some subtle alarm bells in her mind. Even more troubling, it heightened her already edgy Kimness. She found herself nearly shaking her head again at her thoughts, weirdly trying to synch with the older woman's speech, but her instincts screamed at her not to. Instead, she gave Mrs. Lipsky a disarming, if understanding smile, "That is an awful lot to ask a friend for. Babies and children take a lot of time and care, not to mention the issues that could pop up with pregnancy."
"But how will I get my little grandbabies to spoil?" the older woman gasped, the sound coming across flatter than Kim had expected. There was another note of disappointment in Mrs. Lipsky's eyes, but for some reason, the redhead couldn't help but think it was not at Kim's denial, but something tangentially related to it. Something she could almost put a finger on. "I… I know my little boy doesn't have many options when it comes to women. As much as I love my baby, he just ruined his chances when he did that whole supervillain thing."
"You… Know about the villainy?" Kim asked, so surprised she was knocked off of the mental tracks of placing why the conversation seemed so off.
"Of course!" Mrs. Lipsky tittered. "My little boy tries to hide his bigger projects, but I'm more observant than he gives me credit for. I knew that he was doing smaller villain things — doing the mind games that I used to get such a kick out of from our cousins — and he knew that I don't like those big, flashy villain types."
Kim boggled at that tidbit of information. She knew? Drew did all of that song and dance for her for no good reason? That seemed… Odd, and a waste for all involved. Why let him do all that?
"Now, he could always use his little science doo-dads to try and make a baby," the other woman continued from her previous topic, "but, well, I don't put much stock in them. Drewbie told me about a son he had once that went and dissolved on him! That's why I want him to have a ladyfriend help him out."
The redhead tried not to grit her teeth at the memory of Eric and the Diablos. The past is the past! the little voice in her head chided, a reminder of an old, dead argument between her and Drew. Besides, it looks like she's trying to rile you up for some reason; the incident with Eric went public pretty fast after you and Drew got closer after college. Probably to try and slip you up, if she suspects...
Then something else popped into her head: another conversation with Drew about how, when reinforced with truth, a little lie became more of a half truth. Letting an honestly melancholic smile slide onto her face, Kim shrugged, "Honestly, it's still too soon for me to really be interested in anyone. Ron, my boyfr-.. Ex-boyfriend, rather, and I were awfully close when he left Terra, and I'm just not ready to date yet." She let out a little laugh, "Plus, my work keeps me too busy to really date anyone right now!"
"Now now, you shouldn't be like that!" Mrs. Lipsky chided. "You saw how close my boy and that hussy were when she went and broke his heart in front of everyone. If my Drewbie can hop back on the horse, so can you!"
"You seem to be assuming that Drew is somehow 'over' that, and that it's something to be taken lightly…" Her voice became steely, the direction of the conversation sounding similar to the phone conversation Drew had told her about. For a brief moment, Mrs. Lipsky stared at her, and Kim felt as if she were being weighed and measured... And, for some odd reason, not by a mother… It seemed closer to the way Dr Director used to look at her when a particular mission went pear-shaped. Probably just used to pulling this stuff on Drew, making him listen to her… Treating him like her own little soldier, and trying to do the same to me!
"I see." Mrs. Lipsky nodded, smiling gently at her, and Kim felt the weight of her gaze lift. "Well, I guess I can understand that. He's always been so emotional, so sensitive. I worried he might not have grown enough to weigh his options." Kim felt something... Subtly off about the statement, but couldn't put a mental finger on it. Instead of discarding it out of hand, she set it off to one side of her mind, to worry over without concentrating on it. It was something similar to what her mother had always told her to do, think about something completely different, but consciously doing so. It was one of the few things Will had taught her since marrying Monique.
"Drew seems grown enough to me." Kim chuckled, the little voice in her head insisting she test some of the murky water she felt was about, "He is already 43, wrinkles and a-.."
"Age means nothing!" Mrs. Lipsky interrupted with a surprising amount of vehemence. "To assume someone could be pa-.." She seemed to get confused, cutting herself off and covering her mouth, before saying, "Oh my! I'm so sorry. I just get so angry when people say bad things about my little boy because of his age…!"
That was wrong. All of that was wrong. Mrs. Lipsky seemed to understand that too, as she suddenly said, "I'm sorry dear, but I think that I've just managed to wear myself out with my little indignant streak there. Just, please don't be so presumptive about my little Drewbie. His age doesn't mean anything, really."
Kim nodded, making sure to keep her smile pleasant despite the continued, subtle wrongness she felt with Mrs. Lipsky's wording. "It's not a problem, ma'am, I understand." Mentally chewing over the elderly woman's last few statements, she shrugged and murmured, "I get a bit defensive of Drew, too. I mean, it's what friends do; they make sure they're okay, and defend them when they're not around to defend themselves."
Mrs. Lipsky... Didn't flinch, not as most people would. But there was something there, just below Kim's perceptions. It was like fighting Shego, when the woman's muscles would bunch just so, or her eyes would harden at the same moment she threw out an attack. Most people would miss it, but, as with Shego, Kim caught the vague hint of movement in Mrs. Lipsky's lower eyelids, the subtle, more felt than seen cocking of her head to the right.
"Well!" Mrs. Lipsky said cheerily, "I'm so glad my little Drewbie has friends like you around him, then!" She tittered like a gossiping old woman at a rest home, something Kim had experience with thanks to her more common visits with Nana when visiting Drew. But there was something subtly... Plastic about the titter. Again, Kim couldn't put her finger on it, so she put that in the same mental box with the other wrongness she felt and shrugged.
"Everyone needs friends," Kim chirped, giving a little snigger of her own. She was once again thankful that she had taken lessons on lying from Drew; her amusement sounded natural thanks to thinking about the Tweebs nearly being kicked out of MIST for the fifth time, even though it wasn't their fault this time. Even so, she had to be careful. Something was Not Right, and it wasn't just a mother protecting her son. Kim pondered it for a moment, allowing her face to fall into a neutral, considering expression, before prodding, "You mentioned Shego earlier?"
"Yes, that hussy," Mrs. Lipsky growled, with more heat than Kim could really consider appropriate. Not even her father had been that angry with Ron when he'd left for Lorwardia, after all! Mrs. Lipsky's next words, with vitriol so strong that her mouth practically foamed, shocked Kim enough that she had to fight to keep from gaping at the elderly woman. "Can you believe her? Leaving my poor little love struck boy at the altar? She even had the audacity to tell me it was because she didn't want to have any children!"
Didn't want any children? Kim chewed the words over in her head. No, that's not right, is it? She remembered a conversation she'd had with Shego, a surprise conversation in passing while waiting for their mutual favorite, quad-shot mocha at a coffee shop, back before she'd run off on Drew. Shego had wanted kids, at least one or two, but not for a few years. No, that's definitely up there with 'Not Right' about this whole conversation... Kim nodded questioningly, to keep the older woman going while she continued thinking, But, maybe, it's just the anger about what Shego did, so she's using unintentional hyperbole?
"And that's not all," Mrs. Lipsky continued, and Kim kicked herself for missing part of the conversation, "She had the unmitigated gall to tell me she was leaving Drew for his own good! His own good! And that, that hussy said she loved him? Pshaw, I say!"
There was no way that she would have known that. When, after all, would Mrs Lipsky have even talked with Shego? The former mercenary had kept such a low profile leading up to the wedding, and even more so after leaving Drew that even Wade had trouble tracking her; she had simply vanished those two long years ago! No sign, even to this day... This is getting out of hand... Kim realized, bothered by Mrs. Lipsky's assertion that it was entirely Shego's fault. Granted, Shego wasn't the nicest woman in the world, but...
"I'm sorry, Dearie." Mrs. Lipsky sighed, shaking her head and placing her hands on the table in front of her, "I guess I'm still a bit protective of my little man."
"It's not a problem, Mrs. Lipsky," Kim said with an easy, if not entirely honest smile. Small lies don't hurt anybody... she reminded herself, then glanced at the wrist Kimmunicator, which was in watch mode, "And I'm terribly sorry, but I have to get to work." Taking a chance, she reached out and patted Mrs. Lipsky's hand, "Drew's my friend, my best friend, and I have his back. I can promise, no one will hurt him like that again."
Mrs. Lipsky looked at her, and Kim felt that undeniable sensation of being weighed and measured again. As with the last time, the expression was gone almost as fast as it appeared, leaving Kim wondering whether she'd actually seen it or if it was her own paranoia at work. "Well, you be careful, Dearie! Goodness knows my Drewbie needs friends!"
Kim stood just after Mrs. Lipsky did, wanting to get out of the house which no longer seemed quite so homey and comfortable. There was a subtle foreboding about it, little touches that should have been there not being there, or being strangely out of place. And then there was the conversation, the elderly woman's wording, the cadence, pacing and tonality of her speech niggling at the back of Kim's mind. She allowed Mrs. Lipsky to show her out, making vaguely pleasant small talk, while her mind chewed over the oddness of the visit. As she made her way towards the GJ tube, her mind was zeroing in on the issues she felt with the visit when her Kimmunicator went off. Grimacing, she lifted it and accepted the call, "So not the best time, Wade! I'm going to be late if I don-.."
"Sorry, Kim, but this is work related!" the taller, somewhat thinner hacker extraordinaire chuckled, "I got a hit on the site about a supervillain at work, and Director Powers agreed that you'd be the best agent for the job!"
"Oh?" Kim raised an eyebrow, not sure if she believed him or not.
"Yeah, you're not going to believe this," Wade chuckled. "Bonnie's come out as a villain, and she's working with her father-in-law, Triple-S!"
"Oh, great..." Kim sighed, Wade's words shoving the issues of her visit with Mrs. Lipsky to the wayside. "I'm on my way to the Tenth and Broadway tube, Wade..."
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