In the total silence, she heard screams, familiar and familial. "Oh, god, Mike… Julie!" she cried, turning. The crazy man in blue was forgotten as she dashed up the stairs. She'd always been fit, healthy, and now, that stood her in good stead as she raced up four flights of stairs. At the dirty door to her apartment, she fumbled with her keys, twisting back the two deadbolts as fast as she could. Flinging the door open, she could hear the muffled screams resolve themselves into words, and only from one child.
"Julie, baby, what's wrong?" she gasped as soon as she staggered into the small bedroom her children shared. Julie sat up in her bed, screaming for her, while Mike was sitting next to her, trying to hug his little sister.
"It'zs dhark!" Julie wailed, pushing herself off the bed and away from her brother. She ran to Stephanie and threw her arms around her mother, still crying. Her thick, dark hair fell around her mother's hands as she hugged her back, holding her tight.
"I tried," Michael said, his little face drawn and tired.
"I know," Stephanie smiled, reaching out and pulling him close. "You were being a great big brother." Her fingers stroked his dark curls comfortingly, watching them shine in the light-
Light?
Sportacus smiled at her when she glanced behind her, the flashlight she kept next to the phone driving back the night. She hadn't even noticed him retrieving it, or turning it on for her.
"Mom?" Michael asked, looking at the stranger in his house.
"Get out!" Stephanie snapped, hugging her children protectively closer.
"You needed help," he explained softly, the smile unfading. "I'm an above average superhero. It is what I do – help!"
"You don't look like a superhero," Michael said, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. Sportacus smiled and struck another dramatic pose, still managing to hold the flashlight steady. "Ohhh, now I see it."
"Can you make it light again?" Julie sniffled.
"No, but I don't need to," he beamed down at her. "You're a brave girl, and the dark is nothing to be afraid of."
Amazingly, Julie seemed to calm down, smiling a little and nodding. "Ok," she murmured, releasing her death grip on her mother.
"Ok, so you're a miracle worker, but you still have to leave," Stephanie said firmly.
Sportacus looked at her for a long moment before finally nodding. With a bow, he handed Julie the flashlight. His face creased in a sudden, infectious grin as he flipped backwards twice before cart wheeling out of her apartment.
"Wow!" Julie screamed, bouncing with excitement.
"Mom… he was cool!" Michael said, still staring where the guy had disappeared. "Who was that?"
Stephanie struggled for an answer. Finally, she simply answered, "Sportacus."
Getting the kids calmed and back to bed meant that Stephanie was short on sleep, so she was already annoyed when she saw the sleeping form on the bench in the foyer as she tried to leave in the morning. "Crap," she whispered, deciding that she'd just sneak past him before he woke up.
Julie had other ideas. Her daughter scampered over and grabbed one of the long, crazy halves of Sportacus' mustache. "Wake up!" she shouted loudly enough to rouse most of the neighbors on this floor.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!" he said, laughing even as he grimaced in pain.
"Julie! Stop that!" Stephanie said, grabbing her daughter's hand and extracting the facial hair from her grasp. "Don't pull on people, and especially not on things attached to them!"
"Flip!" Julie demanded.
"Yeah, do that flipping thing again!" Michael agreed, his eyes lighting up with glee.
Before Stephanie could protest, Sportacus was bouncing to his feet and into a flip. He landed badly, a grunt coming from him as he ended in far too deep of a crouch. "Sorry," he said awkwardly. "I am still sore from last night."
"Did you sleep in our foyer?" Michael asked, frowning.
"Yes, my airship is not here," Sportacus replied, "and so, this was the only place I had."
"You don't have an apartment?" Stephanie asked. She didn't ask, A nice padded cell, maybe?
"No, I do not," he answered, giving her an easy shrug. He was smiling as if this didn't matter. Then his stomach growled. "Where can I find a food tube?" he asked her, still with that same hopeless smile.
"Food tube? Uh huh… look, Sport, I don't know what things are like in your La-la Land, but things don't work like that in NYC. You need a job, and money and a place to live that isn't a prop from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow… and you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
"No," he agreed easily.
Oh, god, it's like a puppy! she moaned to herself. And like most helpless creatures, it awakened a mothering instinct in her. "Fine. Fine. I can deal with this," she said, thinking rapidly. She could beg up some clothes; there were a couple of widows on the sixth floor she could ask for clothes, and maybe Romero had left something behind is she dug in the back of her closet deeply enough…
Still deep in thought, she escorted her children and her strange guest back up the stairs. He's crazy, but harmless. Stephanie remembered the goofy look on his face and added, Probably harmless, and it's just until I can get him back on his feet. It didn't matter, because it seemed as though she had adopted him.
