Disclaimer: Still don't own...
WENN9366 - Thanks for the correction! Got it fixed :)
zombierose3 - Glad you are enjoying the story! Hopefully I can get this one wrapped up in a couple of weeks.
The rest of the week went incredibly smooth according to Lizzy's standards. She had pulled Natalie aside from time to time and asked her if Fred was still around. The little girl repeatedly confirmed that he was in fact present. However, Natalie did disclose that she had made Fred promise to not cause any havoc until after the trip to the zoo. Apparently Mickey had given Natalie a stern warning that if she misbehaved, the zoo trip would be canceled.
Fred happened to have been in the room with her when Mickey had given her the warning, and his immediate thought was to sabotage Mickey's plans. That was until Natalie informed him that this was the first family outing she had been on since her parents divorced. Fred saw the sadness in the little girl's eyes, and he knew she had him over the barrel. There was no way he could be as mischievous as he wanted to be as Natalie was truly looking forward on going to the zoo.
"Can we try hard to behave Fred? I really want to go and see the monkeys." Natalie had begged.
"Well you're just taking all the fun of our playtime together!" Fred exclaimed.
Natalie had even went so far as to pull out the puppy eyes and droopy lip, "Please Fred?"
"Fiiiiiine. I guess we'll be bored for the next two days..." Fred whined, but he grabbed Natalie's pinky finger with his own and shook on it.
Things may have boring, but it also gave Fred time to think of a plan of action for when they would go to the zoo. He was determined not to let Mickey get the upper-hand with Lizzy, or any hand for that matter.
The drive was somewhat awkward as Lizzy tried hard to keep up with Mickey's small talk on the way to the zoo. She knew she was acting kind of cold and standoffish, but she certainly did not want to give Mickey the wrong impression that this was another 'date'. While she had enjoyed their first date together, it had happened before she knew Fred was back and still very much in her life.
Mickey pulled in front of the park entrance once they had reached their destination, "I'll let you ladies out here while I park."
"Ok." Lizzy replied, "Come on Natalie, let's wait on that bench over there by the snow cone stand."
Natalie's eyes lit up, "Oooo! Can we get a snow cone?"
"Maybe when we leave, but for right now just sit tight with Lizzy." Mickey answered. He gave Lizzy a wink, "Be right back!"
Lizzy and Natalie walked over to the bench. Fred popped into view next to the snow cone stand, and he held what seemed to be the biggest snow cone Natalie had ever seen. "Look here Fart Face! I got me a treat and you dooon't!" he teased.
"I'll get one too when we leave!" Natalie said.
Lizzy looked down and saw the little girl looking and talking to nothing but air. She suddenly felt the pit of he stomach drop when she realized who Natalie was talking to. "Is Fred here?"
"Yep, and he's got a gigantic snow cone." Natalie said with a pout.
'Shitshitshitshit', Lizzy thought, 'Oh God PLEASE don't let him get out of control...'
"He's showing off, it's all different colors of the rainbow." Natalie pouted, "Do you think Daddy will let me have one when we leave?"
"Of course, just ignore Fred's teasing." Lizzy said. She immediately regretted saying that as she realized Fred had probably heard her.
"IGNORE ME?!" He had heard her alright. "HA! You can't ignore me! I'm Drop Dead Fred!" He dropped his icy treat on the ground and climbed in the snow cone booth. He walked up to the ice shaving machine and began to yank the machine's nozzle around in an attempt to take it apart. The attendant in the booth had no clue what was going as he had his nose buried in a magazine.
"If you're gonna ignore me, then no one's gonna get any snow cones!" he said while thrashing about within the booth. "Gah, how do you get this dammed thing apart? Oooo,a button! What's this do?" He wondered out loud as he jammed his thumb on top of the large 'ON' button.
Shaved ice began to fly out of the nozzle, which was perfectly positioned at the back of Lizzy's head. The icy slush splattered all over her and she let out a shriek. She spun around, only to be met with more slush which continued to cover the front of her shirt.
The attendant heard Lizzy's shouts and immediately looked up from his magazine. "Oh my God!" he screamed as he rushed over to the machine to turn it off. Unfortunately for him (and Lizzy), Fred had pushed the button so hard that it was stuck.
Lizzy moved away from the stream of ice while dancing around trying to get the ice remnants out of the inside of her shirt. Natalie was pointing and laughing hysterically. "Nice one Fred!"
"Ha ha..." he laughed weakly at the sight of Lizzy dancing and glaring (which was an odd sight), in the general direction of the snow cone stand. "Ahhh...it was an accident Snotface...I swear..."
Lizzy stomped into the restroom yanking her shirt off as soon as the door closed behind her. At least the customer service manager had been gracious enough to let her use the staff bathroom to get herself cleaned up. She was highly irritated with Fred for getting her soaked. For someone who claimed to love her, he sure as hell had a funny way of showing it.
Lizzy pushed the button on the hand dryer and held her shirt underneath the air current. She sighed and muttered, "Dammit Fred! WHY do you do these things?"
Fred popped up beside her. "I swear, it was an accident Elizabeth, I'm so sorry." Even though he knew she couldn't hear him, it just felt right to express his apology out loud.
As Lizzy methodically kept turning her shirt so it would dry evenly, she felt the 'something' again. She looked around the bathroom, eyeing the stalls. She stepped away from the air blower and did a quick check to see if anyone was in the bathroom with her. Once her knowledge of being alone was satisfied, she walked back to the air blower and continued to dry her shirt. She knew the 'something' had to be Fred. "Fred, are you there?"
"I'm here Lizzy," Fred said moving to stand closer to her, "I wish you could hear me..." He gazed longing at her smooth, flawless back and became overwhelmed with the urge to touch what he currently couldn't have. He reached out to lightly graze his finger along the slim black strap of her bra. His mind immediately flashed back to the thought of her standing over him with a whip in her hand. He felt a sudden tightness in his pants as his breathing became labored.
He tried hard to force the image out of his head, but the thought of Lizzy in nothing but her bra and panties was too vivid to ignore. "Oh Elizabeth..." he breathed, "You are so beautiful." Fred then took a chance and moved his touch from her bra strap to barely stroke the back of her neck with his index finger. He saw goosebumps begin to prickle up underneath her skin, and she visibly gave a small shudder.
When Lizzy felt the goosebumps, she immediately pulled her hands away from the dryer and pulled the shirt to her chest in an effort to cover herself up. "Fred..." she said cautiously, "Fred, if that's you...you really need to behave today..."
She received nothing but silence as a response. 'Fine, if he wants to play this game, then I'll play,' Lizzy thought to herself.
Lizzy took a breath and said in a stern voice, "Fred, if you don't behave I'm going to be forced to do something drastic and you won't like it." She had an idea that could either possibly work, or turn horrifically awful, but she needed somehow elicit a response from Fred.
However, getting a coherent answer from him was beyond impossible at this point. Fred was still entranced by Lizzy's beautiful skin and how it easily responded under his touch. He wasn't sure if she could feel his soft stokes against the back of her neck, but he could certainly feel her skin beneath his fingertip. He carefully reached out his other fingers to gently caress the curve of her neck and the top of her shoulder. He knew he shouldn't be interacting with Lizzy like this, but there was no way he could stop himself even if he wanted to. His restraint not to put his lips where his fingers were exploring was fraying by the second. He could hear Lizzy talking, but his mind couldn't process the words.
"Fred I'm serious" Lizzy continued, unaware that her very presence was bringing out raw, carnal actions within her former imaginary friend, "Don't make me..." she took a deep breath, "Dammit Fred, if you cause any more trouble today, I'll be forced to give Mickey a big girly kiss!"
The bold statement seemed to kick Fred out of mesmerized state, and he yanked his hand away from Lizzy as if he had been burned. His mind snapped and the flood gates of his internal angst and unhappiness about this entire situation finally broke open.
"Kiss him? KISS HIM?" Fred raged, his anger growing by the second, "I'll never let it happen!" He slammed his hands against the wall on either side of Lizzy, as he moved his body dangerously close to hers. Lizzy stood still as the hair raised on the back of her neck as the air around her seemed to be charged with an unnatural energy. She let another shiver course though her body as she thought she felt a warm breath wash over her skin.
Fred leaned forward and growled his discontent into Lizzy's ear. "You belong to ME," his said as his voice dropped into a rough and gravelly whisper, "Do you understand? YOU are MINE!"
Lizzy rushed out of the bathroom and almost ran face-first into Mickey, "Hey! I see you were able to dry out your shirt," he said cheerfully.
"Um yeah, it dried out quickly," she replied with a nervous laugh. Fred had felt so close but yet so far away all at the same time. She suppressed another shiver and forced herself to give Mickey a smile. "So, how much do I owe you for my admission pass?"
"Ahhh...well...we all got free passes into the zoo. Kind of a stroke of luck that you got hosed with ice. I should take you Vegas," Mickey said jokingly.
Lizzy gave him a strained smile, "Sorry, but I really don't see that as being lucky."
"Well we're up $30 bucks, I'd call that lucky."
"Yeahhhh, I think my definition of 'lucky' is significantly different than yours."
Mickey turned his attention to Natalie as she tugged Mickey's pants leg, "Daddy, can we go see the monkeys now?"
"In a minute Natalie, why don't we grab a map and see where they are at?" Mickey said, "I'll run over to the customer service stand and grab one."
As soon as Mickey was out of earshot, Natalie poked Lizzy's arm. "Fred told me to tell you that he's really sorry."
"I bet he is..." Lizzy muttered, "When did he tell you that?"
"Right before you went to the bathroom."
"He's not around now is he?"
Natalie looked over both shoulders, "No. Why?"
"I think I made him mad..."
"Why'd you that?"
"Why'd you do what?" Mickey asked Lizzy and Natalie as he returned with the map.
"Oh...um...nothing..." Lizzy said giving Natalie a sidelong glance.
"Well, I've got us a map, so let's get this show on the road!" Mickey said as he grabbed Natalie's hand. "Let's see if we can go find these monkeys!"
Lizzy, Mickey, and Natalie slowly made their way through the attractions. They had seen the alligators, bears, giraffes, zebras, and tigers, however, they still hadn't made it to the monkey sanctuary yet. They had decided to have a quick bite to eat by the koala cages before moving on to the rest of the park.
"Natalie, do you want a hot dog?" Mickey asked as he looked down at his daughter.
"Yes please!"
"OK. Lizzy, what would you like?"
"Um, a hamburger will be fine."
"Awesome, I'll go order." Mickey gave Lizzy a quick wink before walking off towards the food court.
Fred popped up behind Natalie, "Hey Fart Face, have you seen the monkeys yet?"
"Nope not yet! Where have you been Fred?" Natalie asked.
"Fred?" Lizzy turned around to look at Natalie, "Where's he at?"
"I'm right here Snotface. Whaddya want?"
"Fred asked what did you want," Natalie repeated.
"Um well," Lizzy started, "I wanted to apologize if I said anything to...um...upset him."
"Oooooh, what did you say Lizzy?" Natalie asked.
"Well, I'm not going to repeat it, but it was something really stupid. I didn't mean it," Lizzy replied.
"You'd better not have! I wouldn't let it happen even if you did!" Fred yelled in Lizzy's face.
"Let what happen? Fred, what did Lizzy say?" Natalie begged.
"Never you mind Fart Face, it's adult stuff anyways." Fred said.
"Adult stuff? What are you talking about? Is this about the 'having it off' thing?"
"NO!" Lizzy and Fred said in unison.
Natalie gave the both of them an odd look before pouting, "I wanna know!"
"You want to know what Natalie?" Mickey said as he walked up carrying everyone's order. "What are you ladies chatting about?"
"Lizzy told Fred something that made him mad, and neither one will tell me what she said," Natalie complained.
"Fred? You mean Drop Dead Fred?" Mickey gave Lizzy a disappointed look, "I thought you were done with this whole Fred thing?"
"Well I am..." Lizzy started to say, but Mickey cut her off.
"Seriously, this isn't good for Natalie to keep believing in a person who doesn't exist. And Natalie, I told you to stop pretending Fred is real."
"But Daddy, he's my best friend!" Natalie pouted.
"No he's not because he doesn't exist!" Mickey said angrily. "Now come on, sit down here and eat your lunch."
Both Natalie and Lizzy sat down at a picnic table while Mickey set their food in front of them. As soon as Mickey sat down, he started in on the two of them again, "Please tell me you guys are not going to continue with this Drop Dead Fred charade."
Natalie immediately started to get upset, "But Daddy, I won't have anyone to play with!"
"You've got plenty of toys and coloring books! Plus you can play with your babysitter!" Mickey argued back.
"Lizzy is the only babysitter that's played with me! And if she wasn't here I would be alone!"
"That's nonsense Natalie," Mickey snorted, "I'm here, so you're not alone."
"You just don't understand..." Natalie mumbled.
Lizzy felt extremely uncomfortable. She wanted to tell Mickey that he was wrong, and that she knew how it felt to be lonely. Mickey wasn't as condescending as her mother was, but he seemed to be quite vocal against keeping an open mind about his little girl's imagination.
Fred was in the tree above the picnic table eavesdropping. He was beginning to hate him almost as much as the MegaBitch. Who was he to tell Natalie that she wasn't allowed to play with him? And where did he get off thinking he can tell Lizzy not to believe in him as well? Fred continued to glare at Mickey as he began lecturing Lizzy.
"Lizzy, you can't encourage Natalie like this. I know you think you're helping, but this is only going to cause more problems." Mickey said, "And why on earth would you even talk to Fred...regardless if he's your imaginary friend or Natalie's? God, do you remember how out of control he was?"
"I'm sorry Mickey..." Lizzy said quietly.
"Listen, just please stop with this whole Fred thing. I don't want Natalie exposed to this anymore, and if it continues...I'm sorry but...I'm going to have to find another babysitter..."
"NO DADDY!" Natalie cried as she grabbed for Lizzy's arm, "I like Lizzy! You can't take her away from me!" the little girl sobbed. "And Fred's my bestest friend in the whole world! Please Daddy! Don't take me away from him too!"
It was deja vu to Lizzy's ears as she heard herself say those exact words to her own mother long ago. Her heart went out to the little girl, and she decided that it was best to just try and drop the whole subject of Drop Dead Fred altogether.
"Mickey, people are staring." Lizzy said calmly, "Please, let's not make a scene. We're here to enjoy a day at the zoo, remember?"
Mickey's lips set in a grim line before answering with a nod. "You're right. We'll discuss this later. Let's just eat and forget about imaginary friends and start thinking about those monkeys." He finally relaxed and then gave them both a smile. "Come on, I bet they are waiting for us to come visit. Let's finish and go see the rest of the animals."
Fred skulked behind Lizzy, Mickey and Natalie as they walked though the rest of the park. He noticed Mickey move closer and closer to Lizzy as they neared the monkey sanctuary. 'He'd better not try anything,' Fred thought to himself, 'especially after the way he treated them at lunch.' He swore to himself to not take his eyes off of Mickey for Lizzy's sake.
When they finally reached the cages, Natalie ran forward to get closer. "Look Daddy! There are so many!"
"There sure are, sweetie." Mickey said as he watched his daughter run up to look at the group of monkeys closest to the edge of the cage.
Fred popped up beside Natalie. "Oi! Look at them Fart Face! You know you kinda look like that one there on the right!" he said while pointing.
Natalie giggled as she looked back towards Mickey and Lizzy to see if they were watching her. She didn't want her father catching her talking to Fred. "Oh yeah?" she whispered, "You look like that one over there!" she pointed to another monkey that was sitting in a tree.
"Do not! At least I don't smell like one like YOU do!" Fred exclaimed. Natalie laughed out loud, and the sound made Fred's insides swell up in pride. It felt good to make the little girl laugh, especially after her father almost had ruined the entire day for her. He turned around to see Mickey trying to invade Lizzy's personal space. A spark of jealously ignited within him, "Natalie, stay here with the monkeys OK?"
"OK Fred." Natalie said as she turned back to watch the monkeys.
Fred popped up behind Lizzy and tried to glare a hole through Mickey's head. He didn't like how Mickey was looking at her and the way his body language emitted a desire for HIS Lizzy.
"So...um...Lizzy," Mickey said moving closer to where Lizzy was standing, "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I honestly don't know what came over me."
"Um, that's OK," Lizzy said slightly backing up a bit. She could see Mickey was trying hard to turn on the charm full blast, and she secretly wished Fred could materialize and intervene. When she first reconnected with Mickey, she honestly thought he was an understanding and open-minded guy. But after seeing his reaction about Natalie's imaginary friend, she didn't have the same good feeling about him as she originally had. "Are you going to...um...apologize to Natalie?"
"Yeah sure, I'll talk to her later," Mickey absently said as he looked into Lizzy's eyes. "Say Lizzy, um...wow...you're just so beautiful..."
"Um, thank you Mickey." Lizzy said blushing deeply. She might have not thought very highly of the man in front of her at the moment, however, a compliment such as the one he gave her couldn't go unnoticed by her ego.
Fred was fuming. He could barely contain the jealousy within him. He could see Mickey was beginning to zero in on Lizzy's lips. Regardless of the compliment he bestowed upon HIS Elizabeth, it was very obvious she was uncomfortable with Mickey being in her 'bubble'. "You're not going to do what I think you're going to do Fartpants! Not while have anything to say about it!"
Fred popped inside the monkey sanctuary near the entrance. Natalie saw Fred in the cage and became immediately excited. "Fred! What are you doing in there?"
"Quick Fart Face! Go to the other side of the cage door!" Fred yelled as he tried to look for the locking mechanism. If he couldn't physically break Lizzy and Mickey apart, he sure as hell would make enough racket to MAKE them separate. He gave the couple a quick glance and could see Mickey trying to get in closer.
"OK Fred I'm here!" Natalie yelled.
"Is there a lock on the outside of the door? Like a keyhole or a knob or something?"
"No, it's just got a sliding thingy."
"A 'sliding thingy'? What in the bloody hell does that mean?"
"You know, where you slide the metal thingy over and it comes out of the hole..."
"Do what?"
Natalie reached up and slid the lock open and pushed open the door. She then pointed to the lock, "See? This is what I meant."
"Brilliant! Now step back...things are going to get messy!"
He went over to a group of monkeys and began to gently poke at one of them. The monkey looked to its left and let out an irritated cry to complain and scare off the monkey next to it. The other monkey let out angry cry and began to pound the ground beneath its feet. This in turn raised the attention of all the other monkeys, which then led to more noises, bouncing, and swinging from treetops. Fred quickly made his way out of the cage, grabbed Natalie's hand, and raced over to a tree. "Watch Fart Face! This is going to be BRILLIANT!"
The two monkeys began to square off, as a challenge seemed to be initiated between the two primates. They made loud screeching noises and began to chase one another around the cage. Finally, one stopped, scraped up what looked like mud, and hurled it at its opponent. The other monkey deftly moved out of the way and the mud splatted hard against the fence and the pavement outside.
Mickey was oblivious to all the noise as he could only concentrate on the woman in front of him. "Lizzy..." Mickey murmured as he began to lean forward. Lizzy felt extremely vulnerable and uncomfortable as she could clearly see that Mickey intended to kiss her. She began to panic, her eyes darted around looking for anything that could pull Mickey's attention away.
SPLAT!
Mickey yanked his head away from Elizabeth and reached up to wipe something off of his face. "What the hell?" He looked at the mess in his hands, "Where did this mud come from?"
Then the smell hit him. Apparently this mud had the distinct smell of...feces...?
The realization hit Mickey like a sledgehammer."OH GOD! I NEED A BATHROOM!" he yelled as he began flailing his hand around trying to fling the poo off of his fingers. As Mickey ran off, Lizzy looked over at the monkey cage and saw an epic poo-flinging fight in the making. She spotted Natalie hiding behind a tree and ran over to the little girl.
"Are you OK Natalie?" Lizzy asked.
"I'm fine!"
"Where's Fred?"
"Right next to me. He's OK too."
Lizzy looked at the empty space next to the little girl. "Fred...did you do this?"
"I was forced to! You were fixing to get COOTIES!" Fred yelled.
"Fred says he had to cause you were getting cooties." Natalie ad-libbed, "How did you get cooties?"
"I didn't...thankfully..." Lizzy muttered. "Um...thank you...Fred."
Fred smiled at Lizzy. He moved to stand behind Lizzy and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Anything for you Snotface. Anything."
"Lizzy look! The monkeys are escaping!" Natalie squealed in delight.
The monkeys had indeed discovered that the cage door was open and began making their way out into the park. A couple of zookeepers had finally noticed there was an incident at the cages and began a hurried chase after the freed animals. Natalie and Lizzy started laughing as they watched the animal handlers trip over one another in attempts to catch the multitude of escaped animals.
Mickey came back to the monkey cages in search of his daughter and Lizzy. The complete pandemonium that was playing out before his eyes was unbelievable. Park patrons were running about yelling and pointing at the numerous monkeys that were running amok. Monkeys were climbing on picnic tables, trees, and other animal cages in order to get away from the animal handlers that were chasing them. Mickey had never before seen anything this crazy in his life.
Among the insanity, he spotted Lizzy and Natalie hiding behind a tree. He raced over and grabbed both of their hands, "Come on, let's get out of here!"
They all ran towards the entrance along with other visitors. None of them stopped until Mickey led them to his vehicle.
"Was that crazy or what?" Mickey exclaimed as they piled into his truck.
"That was great Daddy!" Natalie quipped, "Can we go again sometime?"
"Ha, we'll see." He turned to look at Lizzy, "Lizzy, what in the hell happened back there?"
"I'm not sure," Lizzy lied, "I just remember seeing you running to the bathroom, and then I went to immediately go look for Natalie."
"Well, thank you for that. God knows what would have happened if you weren't there." Mickey said gratefully.
"Ha, yeah sure. Anytime..."
Mickey pulled into the driveway and put the truck in park. "Well Lizzy, today's been awfully eventful. Thank you for coming along."
"Yeah Lizzy! Thank you so much!" Natalie said as she wrapped her small arms around Lizzy's waist. Lizzy gave her a big hug back and kissed her on top of the head.
"I'm happy to have gotten to come along with you," Lizzy said earnestly, "I had a good time."
"Well, we'd best get inside," Mickey said climbing out of the vehicle, "I gotta get dinner going. Would you like to stay and eat with us?"
"I wish I could, but I promised my friend Janie that I would stop by her house and visit this evening." Lizzy lied again for the second time within an hour. She didn't like lying to people, but she was truly ready to just go home and relax in a hot bath.
"Ah OK, well I'll call you later maybe?" Mickey asked.
"Sure. Talk to you later then." Lizzy said as she climbed in her car. She gave Natalie a small wave before starting the car and pulling away from the curb.
"Hey Daddy look!" Natalie said loudly as she pulled on her father's pants leg. "There's a moving truck at Molly's old house," she said as she pointed across the street.
"Hmm, guess they sold the house already. Maybe we will meet our new neighbors tomorrow. For now, let's get ready for dinner." Mickey said leading his daughter inside the house.
Calypso walked into his office to find Roddy buried deep in stacks and stacks of files. "Well, did you find the info I asked for?"
The top of Roddy's head was barely visible behind the mass amount of paperwork. He stood to look over the large stack that was directly in front of him, "Yup. Did you get your research done on humans?"
"I most certainly did." Calypso said with a winning smile. "Let's get us a couple of scotches and compare notes, shall we?"
