Here! Finally back into my Ironclad writing zone! Ba-boom! I have no idea what that was. Please forget I ever did it. *cough cough* Review!
"Look at him!" I said to Lunaire, making kissy faces at a little puppy in the window. "Jett would love him!"
"You are not getting my son that dog!" she said firmly.
"Oh, but Lu!" I said, pretend pouting. "Please? It isn't every day you turn five!"
"No, but the day you do turn five is not the day to get a puppy." She grabbed my arm and pulled me away, her hand on her growing belly.
"When are you due again?" I asked her. I squinted one eye and said, "In...two months?"
"Two and a half," she said. I nodded and looked at her stomach.
"How's my wittle godson?" I said in a baby voice to her stomach. "How's my baby-waby-boo?"
"You're insane," she told me. Then her cell phone rang and she answered it with a, "Hello?" Her face fell after a minute. "Oh...did he...crud...okay, yeah, I'll come get him." She hung up her phone. "Jett's in trouble. I gotta pick him up."
"What'd he do?" I asked, frowning.
"Went potty on another kid while he was sleeping," she sighed.
"Jett or the other boy?"
"The other boy. I'm gonna miss birthing class."
"I'll do it," I offered. She frowns at me, confused.
"You'll go to birthing class for me?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, just gotta get pregnant. Hold on. Let me call Tony. No! Genius! I'll pick up Jett!" She laughed.
"Oh! That makes more sense!" She laughed again. "You don't mind?"
"Not at all," I said, shrugging. "He can come over, too. See Steve again." She smiled at me and hugged me.
"You're a gem, Pinky! An absolute gem!" she cried, mimicking her birthing teacher. When she was in the same class with Jett, her husband Ryan missed a few classes, so I substituted. Dayla, the teacher, didn't seem to understand what an inside voice was. She would yell half the time in a ridiculous voice that she never stopped using. She was fun to mock.
"Not as gemmy as you, doll!" I replied, using the voice as well. Then I kissed both her cheeks and said, "Now go and fly!" just as Dayla did to someone who was about to give birth. We both laughed and I went to my car to pick up Jett.
Steve's POV
"Hey, buddy," I said, smiling at Jett. He threw himself at me and hugged my leg tightly. He grinned wildly up at me.
"Hi, Captain Wogers!" he exclaimed. I smiled more.
"Just call me Steve, pal," I said, ruffling his hair and smiling at Birdy, who was standing behind him. She returned the smile.
"I hope you don't mind. He got in trouble at daycare and Lunaire had to go to class."
"It's fine," I replied. "How was the mall?"
"Fine. Lu wouldn't let me buy anything fun though."
"No flamethrowers?" Stark asked, walking in the room and kissing Birdy's cheek. She laughed.
"I have you for that," she said, grinning at him. I rolled my eyes.
"Want me to turn on the TV for you, Jett?" I asked. He nodded. "Okay. What do you like to watch?"
"Dora!" he replied. I looked over my shoulder at Birdy.
"Is Dora an appropriate kids show?" I asked.
"Nope," Stark said before Birdy could speak. "Absolutely terrible." Birdy smacked his arm and rolled her eyes.
"It's fine, Steve," she said.
Birdy's POV
The last of Yo Gabba Gabba ended and Dora came on, making Jett smile and clap his hands. At that moment, Thor walked into the room.
"And what is this?" he asked in his booming voice as the upbeat theme song came on.
"Dora," Jett answered, his eyes locked on the television screen.
"What is this Dora?" Thor asked, looking at the screen.
"It's a kid's show," I replied.
"It's ridiculous," Thor said slowly, staring at the screen.
Five minutes later.
"But Dora!" Thor exclaimed. "The bush you are seeking is right behind you! You should not need my assistance!"
I stifled my laughter behind my hand and shook my head, glancing at Tony. He was grinning. I looked away quickly so I wouldn't laugh again. My phone rang.
Choking back laughs, I ran into the kitchen where only Steve was and answered it. "Birdy Kardynal."
"Birdy."
"Reynolds!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening. Steve looked up. "Er, hi!"
"Hi," he said. "Do you still want to see Sara?" My heart stopped.
"Of course." I held my breath.
"Next week she'll be at Vacation Bible School at NYC Methodist Church, so we can arrange something the week after. Got it?"
"Got it," I said, nodding quickly. He hung up and I looked at Steve.
"What did he say?" he asked.
"I'll get to see Sara..." I said.
"That's amazing!" Steve said, smiling. "When?"
"Next week," I replied, "but I'm signing up to work at VBS..."
"Thank you again, Miss Karydanl!" the lady running VBS, Wendy, said. "We really needed extra helpers. I appreciate it so much!"
"It's nothing," I said, smiling. "So, uh, I'm the...?"
"Lion tamer," Wendy inserted, leading me into a room and pointing. There was a beanbag with a lot of stuffed lions all around it and a box of markers and paper masks. "You just sit there, tell the kids not to come close to the lions because they bite, and give the craft for the day."
"Easy enough," I said, smiling.
"No, Donald, don't eat that," I said, yanking a blue marker from a four-year-old's grasp. "You color with markers, not snack on them." I handed it back to him and he started scribbling on his mask, getting a fair amount of blue in the carpet. I sighed, but smiled. I loved kids.
"What group is next?" I called to the lady in the next room, about twenty feet away. She looked at her schedule.
"Three-year-old's," she called back. My heart jumped. Sara was in that group.
"How much time left?" I asked.
"About five minutes," she answered. I nodded and looked back at the kids. A little girl, Tammy, held up a mask of a tiger colored with purple and green and countless others. I smiled.
"That's amazing, Tammy!" I said. "You're a much better artist than I am!" She giggled.
"Thanks," she said.
"We might have to send it to a museum," I continued. "It's great." She giggled harder.
"You're silly," she said. I gasped.
"Me! Silly? No! You're silly, Miss Tammy!"
She giggled again. I smiled and watched the other kids until Wendy rang the bell for next station. All the four-year-old's left our station, the Market Place, and a lot of smaller kids filed through the door from the playground. A small girl with thick black hair to her shoulder blades bounced in front of her teacher, yapping and yelping about who knows what. It took all my strength not to break down in tears. I kept smiling.
"Masks!" a chubby boy who had the name 'Chris' around his neck yelled, running to my station. A girl came up to me.
"Why do you have pink hair?" she asked.
"I like pink," I said back. I was sick of telling the embarrassing story over and over again. A lot of kids flocked over to my station, but Sara still yapped to her teacher.
"Why don't you go make masks with your friends?" the exasperated woman said, pointing over to me.
"Okay!" Sara said, coming over to my station. I handed my daughter a mask, knowing I had tears threatening to spill over. But I kept them in and watched the little kids. Most of them just scribbled and said things like, "It's an ewwaphant!" or "Do you think it's pretty, Miss Pinky?" or "Mine looks better!" But Sara carefully colored in the lines of her raccoon, making it ridiculous colors, but neat ridiculous colors.
"That's very pretty," I said to her when all the other kids had cleared to the glitter glue station.
"Thanks," she said. "I'll give it to my daddy." Don't cry, Birdy...
"Are you close to your daddy?" I asked her, my heart heavy. She nodded.
"Yes. He says I'm his only girl." She caps the red marker she was using. "Can I have a yellow?" she asked. I handed her the yellow and she said, "Thank you," and continues coloring.
"You're very polite," I said. "Your mommy should be proud." I am. I really am.
"I don't have a mommy," Sara said. "Or I do, but I don't know her. Daddy always said she wasn't ready to be a mommy when I was a baby." She colored more. "But sometimes...I can 'member. I 'member crying and a lady with hair like mine and bright blue eyes holding me and telling me it was okay..."
"Do you...miss her?" I choked out, glad she was looking at her mask and not me since a tear just streaked down my face. She shrugged her tiny shoulders.
"I don't 'member her a lot," she said. She looked up, finally. "You look a little like I 'member her...but her hair wasn't pink."