"Come on Tim, wake up… wake up Tim…" and as that thought bounces around Tim's consciousness like a pinball caught in the bumpers, he opens his eyes. Tim eyes the clock and notices that it is 6:00.
"Heh, right on time." Tim thinks as he makes sure to turn off the alarm clock so that it doesn't wake Jubilee up.
Tim gently sneaks out of bed and tip-toes out of the room, making sure to open the door like he usually opens the casing on a bomb… soft and gently, so that it sets nothing off.
Tim paces down the hall, to the corner of the kitchen where his cellphone is connected to a charger. Tim checks his memory and scrolls down all the numbers he has listed, which boy does he have a lot of, till he finds a number for a School called, "Xavier's School for the Gifted". Since no other name on the list really lended itself for a workplace of a social worker, Tim naturally thought that it was the right place. And if it wasn't, then this world would probably dial the right number for him. Hey, weirder things have happened while Tim's been here…
"Hello, this is Xavier's School for the Gifted, this is Paige, how can I help you?"
"Hi, I'm Timothy Drake, husband of Jubilation Drake?" and Tim resisted the urge to bite his lip as he (im)patiently waited for 'Paige' to answer.
"Oh, hi Tim! Is Jubilee sick today?" and when he heard Paige answer with that, he released a relaxing breath.
"Yeah, Jubes is feeling a bit under the weather today, so I figured I'd call in for her today."
"Uh-huh… well, give Jubes my best and I'll count her down as sick." And Tim could tell that Paige saw through his deception by her tone of voice as she hung up.
"Well, I've got that part taken care of…" Tim thought as he strolled back into the bedroom. Only a few minutes had passed, so Tim easily creeps back into the bed, making sure to lye on his back in order to stare at the ceiling for 20 minutes or so.
Tim watches the fan spin around a few times, and then starts moving his head to match the movements of the fan, in order to keep himself awake to take the kids to school.
"Man, I really wish I had something to do here because this is soooo boring…" Tim thinks as he closes his eyes for what seems to be a few seconds, but when he opens them up again, he looks at the clock to see that it's 6:40 now.
Tim chuckles to himself and gets out of bed. He looks at his clothes, and although he's wearing his pajamas, Tim decides that these are good enough clothes for taking the girls to school in.
Tim strolls down the hall without a worry or care in the world, and when his daughter's see him, both of them wonder what's up with their father.
"Okay girl's, grab your stuff, time to go to school!"
"Daddy… are you feeling alright?" Suzie asked, as even she was bedeviled by the looks of her father.
"Alright? I feel better than I have in a long time! Now come on, we've got little time to waste…" Tim said as he grabbed his car keys.
Suzie and Steph looked at each other and decided that for better or worse, they might as well go along with it. So they grab their bookbags and follow their father out of the front door, and as Tim turns the corner to from the door to the garage, the girls notice that Tim isn't wearing any shoes or socks.
Suzie looks up to Steph, who's sighing and has brought up her right hand to her face, rubbing her temple.
Suzie gets into the back of the Capri and Steph get's to ride shotgun up with Tim, who is now envisioning the spectacle the other students are going to make when they see the state of her father. Tim didn't pay any attention to how fast he was going, and every once in a while he'd glance at Stephanie, who didn't seem to notice how fast Tim was going.
As Tim reaches the intersection where the school is at, Steph utters,
"Do you mind if you just pull up to the side of the school and not park in front of the school?"
"What, you afraid of people of seeing me and thus embarrasing you?" Tim said as the bluntness of his query sent Steph reeling mentally.
"Um… ah…"
"Look, nobody's gonna notice, trust me on this." Tim said as he gave a wide smile towards his daughter. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Tim notices that the light has now allowed for him to turn. Revving the car, Tim speds through the intersection and then pulls into the school, parking right in front of the door.
And just as he had said, none of the students standing outside or walking to enter the school even acknowledged their presence.
And as both girls got out of the car, Tim rolled down his window and said,
"Have a good day at school girls, Mom and I will pick you up later today!" and with said, Tim sped out of the parking lot like he had a fire under his arse.
So far, so good was all that was able to go through Tim's mind… things had proceeded smoothly, and today had the making of yet another perfect day. How could anything ruin this day?
And on that note, Tim was going 60 mph down a public street, blantantly passing a Police Car… which seemed to not even notice that Tim was going 20 miles over the speed limit.
Tim nearly peeled out as he pulled into the driveway, but what did he care? Anything wrong would be righted…
And Tim strolled into the house like a man who had just been told he won 10 million dollars… the type of man who doesn't have one fear or care in the world.
Tim made his way into his bedroom where he saw Jubes still asleep and rolling around in bed. And now, Tim decided, was a great time to step into the shower. Tim quickly found a piece of paper, scribbling down what he had down, then he stripped down to his bare essentials and walked into the bathroom, closing the door.
Tim opened up a bathroom drawer and started rummaging through all the CD's contained therin, bringing out "Tripping the Live Fantastic" by Paul McCartney.
Popping the CD into the 'Shower Compainion' Tim turned on the water and after it got to a decent temperature, hopped on in.
Tim washed himself to such tunes as 'Jet', 'Got to Get You Into My Life', 'Band on the Run' and was currently listening to 'Birthday'.
"They say it's your birthday, well it's my birthday too yeah, they say it's your birthday… we're gonna have a good time…" Tim sang to himself as a shadow slowly creeped up the wall on the unsuspecting Tim…
"Birthday!" Jubilee yelled as she pulled open the curtains, which caused Tim to actually yelp a bit, which due to the tub being slippery when wet prompted Tim to slip and fall.
"Ow!" Tim said as he began to rub his head, trying to get water out of his eyes.
"Listening to Paul 'Lovesong' McCartney again?"
"Oh yeah. Get my note?"
"Yes, and I have to wonder why you did that… I might've been needed today!"
"Nah, they won't need you today, I'm sure of it. *Smirks* And besides, I wanted to spend some quality time together… and since I took the kids to school today, I was thinking of extending the shower offer you gave me yesterday to you today." Tim said as he saw a twinkle of delight in Jubilee's eyes.
"To cop from Mr. McCartney's song 'Got to Get You Into My Life', 'ooh… then I suddenly see you, ooh and I want to be near you…' and for the record, that includes the shower." And so with a gleeful look on his face, Tim extends his right hand to Jubilee, who takes it, and pulls her into the shower.
An hour or so later…
Tim is holding onto Jubilee in their bed, with her head nestled up to his, and they're both staring at the wall contently. Tim gently kisses Jubilee on the back of her head, which causes her to wearily sigh.
"Wish we could both be like this forever… having you hold me tight for eternity…"
"Me too… or at least until you fart on me, then I've gotta throw you out of bed. That's just a no-no."
"Tim!" Jubilee exclaims as she tries to reach back to tickle his stomach, "What a way to ruin the moment."
"Naw, I'm just kidding…" Tim says rubbing his head against hers.
"Jubes… what would you do if you were given a perfect world?"
"What?"
"You heard me. What would you do if you were given a perfect world?"
"Hmm… I guess try to spend as much time being close to you like this…" Jubilee says with a little moan.
"If you could live in that world or leave it, what would you do?"
"I… I guess I would stay in it, if it was truly perfect."
"Truly perfect?"
"Yeah… if everything and everyone was truly happy, if it truly seemed perfect to me, I guess… why do you ask?"
"Oh no reason… it just feels like I'm in a perfect world now…" Tim says as he squeezes Jubilee's midsection and then closes his eyes and drifts away…
12 P.M.
Tim opens his eyes, listening to what seems to be "Love Me Do" by the Beatles, which seem to fade from his hearing as he wakes up.
Tim sits up in bed, looking for Jubilee, who isn't in bed beside him. Realizing that she's probably just getting some brunch or watching TV, Tim gets up and streches, realizing due to the *ahem* coldness of the room, that he should put some clothes on.
Tim reaches into his drawer to pull out a pair of bluejeans, a pair of socks, and then walks to the closet to pull out a short sleeved tie-dyed t-shirt.
Getting dressed, Tim walks out of the bedroom, to see Jubilee sprawled out on the couch, watching a daytime talk show. Tim notices how she's wearing a pink t-shirt and jeans as well.
"Hey, Hey, loverboy has finally gotten out of bed!" she says as Tim just smirks at her comments. As Tim walks by her, he quickly gives repentance by tickling her feet.
"On no, you just didn't!" and Jubilee grabs a pillow off of the couch and smacks him with it. Tim begins to laugh and actually leaps over the couch yelling,
"Geronimo!" and Tim falls ontop of Jubilee, continuing his tickle assualt.
"Just remember, you started this."
"Me? If I remember Timothy, you're the one who started the tickling…" and Jubilee grabbed him, with the intention of rolling him off of her, but instead he actually fell off of the couch dragging her with him. Tim landed on the floor only to have Jubilee land on top of him. Although in a little bit of pain, Tim started laughing.
"And what do you think is so funny? I've got you pinned!" Jubilee said as she straddles him, pinning his arms and legs to the ground.
"Okay, okay, I give! What's my punishment?" Tim asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"Hmm… since your finally up and you called me in sick today, you'll have to take me shopping!"
"OH NO, NOT THAT! NOT SHOPPING!" Tim yelled in mock shock.
"Oh yes, shopping! The only thing that bring you to your knees! Or I can think of something even more devious…"
"No, NO… I'll take shopping…"
"Good boy. Let's not waste anytime…" Jubilee says as she gets up and turns the TV off…
While Jubilee's not looking, Tim vaults up from the ground and begins to run his wrists.
"Jubes has got quite a strong grip…" Tim thinks to himself as he walks next to Jubilee, who is going through the closet looking for her favorite coat…
What she pulls out is a yellow trenchcoat, which when Tim sees her put in on, brings back a memory of her years younger wearing an outfit just like that but with earrings…
"Hm? Something wrong, Tim?" Jubilee asks when she sees the glazed look on Tim's face.
"What? Oh!" Tim says as he snaps out of it, "Nothing's wrong… I was just admiring your beauty…"
"Nice comeback, but I can tell your lying…" Jubilee says as she grabs his left cheek and squeezes it. As she walks past him, Tim reaches in and grabs an old jean coat and puts it on.
"Why don't we take your car, Jubes, as we're going shopping for you…"
"Oooh, do I detect a scent of sarcasam from you?" Jubilee said as she picked up her purse and took out her car keys.
"Moi? I'm never sarcastic!" Tim replied as he followed Jubilee out of the door.
Tim thought to himself that it' a pretty day outside, the sun is in the sky, just the right amount of clouds in the sky, and the wind was light enough to keep you from getting too hot. Perfect…
Jubilee opened up the Garage door and then backed her car out, allowing Tim to get inside. Tim looked inside the garage to see the side opposite where Jubilee parks her car is littered with toys, bikes, lawn equipment, tools, ect…
"Y'know Tim, you've really got to clean your side of the garage."
"I might do that this weekend." Tim said as they began their consumer journey.
Their first stop was DSW Footwear, where Jubilee wanted to try out some new shoes. It was here as Tim was trying on a pair of red sneakers that he remembered his meeting with Bart and Kent tonight.
"Oh crap! I completely forgot!" Tim said outloud when he remembered he was supposed to meet the guys at Bowl-O-Rama tonight at 7:00… this really ate into his plans, as he had something completely different planned for tonight…
Suddenly, he heard a ringing in his pants pocket. Tim brought out his cellphone, which wasn't in that pocket a few minutes ago, and heard Kent on the other side.
"Hey Tim! Sorry to bother ya, but I've gotta cancel the bowling thing tonight. Bart's got to go to a car salesmen meeting, so I figured we could just do it tomorrow at the same time."
"Oh, well, I was looking forward to it, but if we have to move it, well then, I guess we have to." Tim said, blatantly lying. He didn't want to admit that he was estatic it was canceled tonight…
"Okay, tomorrow night then…" Kent said as he clicked off from his side. Tim was relieved that hurdle was overcome.
"Hey Tim, who was that on the phone?"
"Oh, it was just Kent saying 'hi'. Found anything?"
"I found these comfortable leather boots. Howabout you?"
"Nothing really, I was just trying these on, but they just aren't me." Tim said as he put the shoes back into the box and stacked it back up with it's bretheren.
"Well, let's check out and head to the next store!"
Their next stop was Barnes and Noble, as they both wanted to pick up a couple of new books to read.
Tim went into the historical section, while Jubilee went into the fiction area. When they meet up again, they shared the books they had picked out…
"Caught up in the Slipstream" written by Daphne P, "The Chosen One Rises" by Rea B, "Whistling Dixey in the South" by Lori S, "That Girl in the Window" by Raena L, "The Rob Liefeld Story" by Ryan B, and finally a coloring book by Gerry Valentine for Suzie.
"Oh Tim, please tell me you're not getting the Rob Liefield story for youself, are you?"
"Nah, that's for Steph, she likes the covers Rob does for Supreme. Besides, I can't stand the writer of this book… although for some odd reason, he has fans…" Tim said as he and Jubilee head for the checkout. As their paying, Tim looks at his watch and notices that it's about 2:15 now.
"Jubilee, why don't we go and pick up the kids after we're finished paying?"
"*Looks at her watch* Yeah, you're right, we'd better do that…" Jubilee says as she pays for the books with her Visa card.
With the books in hand, as well as holding their own hands, Jubilee and Tim headed back to the car, and after getting inside, headed towards the girl's school.
After driving for about 19 minutes, Jubilee pulls into the School's parking lot, with school still in session. So, Jubilee parks in a parking spot close to the enterance, in anticipation of their girl's exit from the school. Tim rolls down his window, so that air can get in as she turns the car off.
"It's such a beautiful day today, isn't it Jubilee? Too bad every day can't be like this…"
"Yeah, it is… I would hope in a perfect world that it would be like this…" and with that said, Tim closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath of the fresh air of Gotham, which should be an oxymoron, but ironically, it isn't.
As Tim is relaxing, he can hear a soft music playing in the background, faint enough as to not be normally heard, and recognizing it slightly… sounded like "Earth Angel". But then a loud clanging erupted him from his train of thought, prompting him to open his eyes to see a gaggle of children rush from the entrance doors. After a few minutes, Steph and Suzie make their way out of the doors, and then to the car when they see Mom and Dad wave at them. The girls naturally look at their father to see that he is in normal clothes now, which causes them to release a breath of relief. No one may have noticed their father in the morning, but they probably would've here in the daylight…
"Hey gals! How was your day today?"
"Oh, it was pretty good… how come you and Mom are here?"
"Oh, your Dad called me in sick, so we've just spent the day together! There are some new books in the back seat for you…" Jubilee said as the girls located the Barnes and Noble bag, searching throughout all the books…
"Oh wow! You got me another Gerry Valentine Coloring Book! I wonder if he has Mighty Mouse pictures in here…" Suzie said as she started flipping through the book, and Steph fished out the 'Rob Liefeld' biography.
"Are the rest of these books for you?"
"Yep, those books are for us, Steph but I don't think Mom would mind you if you read any of them." Tim said as Jubilee was already on the road.
The rest of the drive was quiet, with Tim's hair whipping around due to the wind coming from his window, thinking about the plans for the evening.
The Drake family arrives home, with the kids running out of the car with the B&N books in hand, while Tim get's out of the car with the DSW bag, and Jubilee parks the car in the garage.
As they get inside, Tim reminds the girls that they need to do homework first before anything else. The girl's nod their heads, going off into their room to work.on homwork. Tim sits down on the couch, as Jubilee sits down on top of him.
"So, what do you think you want for dinner?"
"Don't you worry about it, I'll handle it."
"You will? Two days in a row? Maybe I have fallen into a perfect world…" Jubilee says as Tim tickles her.
"Now don't start with that, I'd hate to whup you again…" she said in jest as Tim raised up his hands, signalling his surrender.
"You're so right, I wouldn't want to get whupped again…" Tim said as he then quickly grabbed Jubilee's shoulder's and flung her down on the couch. He pinned her down and then said,
"Well, now the tables have turned again. Do you surrender?"
"Yes…" Jubilee begrudginly said, "What's the punishment?"
"I'll make it easy on you, just a kiss. Think that's possible?"
"More than possible." Jubilee said as Tim kneeled down to kiss her, when a voice cried out,
"Can you help me with my math homework?!?" which startled Tim, causing him to fall to the floor for the second time of the day.
"Ouch…" Tim said to himself as he opened his eyes to see Suzie lording over him.
"Can you please help me with my math, Daddy?"
"Yeah, yeah I can…" Tim said as he rubbed the back of his head.
About 30 minutes later…
"There ya go, you're done!" Tim said as he stood up to stretch. Before Tim could even contemplate doing anything else, Suzie asked with pleading eyes,
"Daddy, would you color this book with me?" which Tim could answer with a,
"Sure honey."
So Tim sat back down on the ground putting his hands on a little table that Suzie uses to draw and do homework on.
Suzie put the book, "Coloring with Gerry Valentine" on the table, flipping to her favorite section, 'Mighty Mouse'.
"So we're coloring Mighty Mouse today, huh?"
"Oh yeah, Mighty Mouse with Pearl Pureheart! I wish this had a picture of Mighty Mouse vs Captain Carrot…" Suzie said as Tim laughed. Gerry was a childrens artist who works on certain comics and he did a strip where Mighty Mouse fought Captain Carrot, which Suzie loved. He also published these coloring books with his drawings in it, to inspire kids to perhaps pursue art.
"Hey, why don't I read you that story tonight when you and your sister go to bed?"
"Will you?!?"
"I will, I promise." Tim said as Suzie got out her crayons and sprawled them out over the table. She colored in Mighty Mouse while Tim colored in Pearl Pureheart.
About 30 minutes passed, when they finished the drawing. Suzie held up the beloved picture, for Tim to evaluate. While Tim's Pear Pureheart looked like her comic self, Suzie's Mighty Mouse, was… well… pretty much how any kid draws stuff. He had purple, pink, orange as well as red, yellow and black mixed into the picture, sporadically. But Tim said what any true loving father would say…
"It' beautiful, Honey."
"Thanks Daddy, couldn't have done it without you!" She said as she hugged him. Tim patted Suzie on the head, and after she let go, he walked out to prepare dinner.
Tim saw Jubilee reading "The Chosen One Rises", while Steph was absorbed by "The Rob Liefeld Story". So without any hinderance, Tim began preparing dinner for the family, something he enjoys and thinks the family will enjoy as well… Vegetarian Lasagna.
Time seems to fly by as Tim grabs a plastic pan, grabs all of the ingredients, tomato sauce, cheese, broccoli, asparagas, mushrooms, noodles, ect… putting them in the pan, then throwing it into the oven to cook. Tim then grabbed some brussel sprouts, put that in a ceramic cassarole dish, covered them in cheddar cheese, and put the dish into the microwave to cook and keep warm till suppertime. To waste the next hour, Tim starts to read "Whistling Dixey in the South", a riveting story about the different type of music styles in the south around the Civil War…
And once again, before he knows it, the time has come and dinner is ready. It's about 7:00 now. Tim dims the lights of the dining room and sets everything up before calling everyone to dinner.
"Dinner!" Tim yells, as all of his gals come into the dining room to eat.
"Babe, why is it so dark in here?" Jubilee asks as she takes her seat.
"I just wanted us to have something akin to a nice formal dinner… as a family."
"Uh-huh." Jubilee said as she winked at Tim. She knew he was trying to be romantic, but it's kinda hard when you've also got two munchkins at the table… if they weren't here, Tim probably would've brought out candles as well.
"Okay girl's, here's your portion…" Tim said as he handed Steph and Suzie their plates, filled to the brim with vegetables. As Tim grabbed Jubilee her portion, he watched them, noticing that they never gave an indication that they were disgusted with the meal… in fact, they immediately started gobbling it down.
Tim then grabbed his portion of the meal, and began to eat… all the while exchanging glances with Jubilee.
The meal went by as most meals do… some occasional talking when not stuffing food into their mouths, the arbitrary 'good meal' thanks, and then the clean up.
Due to the nature of the meal, Tim immediately started doing the dishes in the sink, to make sure he could wash off all of the burnt cheese, ect, off the sides of the pan, as it's much harder to do once it dries. Jubilee comes up and helps dry the plates and pans as Tim washes them.
"Thank you for cooking tonight and the other night Tim, it's nice to have someone else do it in a while…"
"Well, you shouldn't have to do it all the time anyway."
"Besides, you know I love your Lasagna."
"I know you do, that's why I did it." And to be truthful, although she's never mentioned it to him, Tim somehow knew she liked it. That's why he wanted to get out of bowling, because he really wanted to see if the instiction was true…
"So… what time do you think we can get the kids into bed tonight?"
"If we can, then I know just what I want to do…" Tim said with a devilish smirk.
After the dishes were done, Tim, Jubilee and the kids watched a rerun of "Martin and Rowan's Laugh In" to pass the time. And before Steph and Suzie realized it, it was time for them to go to bed.
Jubilee tucked them into bed, with Tim mentioning that he had to read the Mighty Mouse vs Captain Carrot comic before he could join her in their bedroom.
Tim located the issue right by the stack of "Alan Moore's Supreme" comics, and Tim did his best to impersonate all the characters within the book, much to Suzie and Steph's delight.
Finally, it ended with,
["Oh well, all's well that ends well. I'm sorry we came to blows and then teamed up Captain Carrot, but that seems to be the trend nowadays."
"Don't worry about it, MM. How were we to know that it was due to the schemes of Doctor Doomouse? At least this can happen only once, and now whenever we see each other, we'll just team up instead of beating the tar out of each other."
"Agreed." And Mighty Mouse and Captain Carrot parted their ways as they blasted off into the sky. Will the Mouse of Metal and the Bunny of Brass ever meet up again? Write to us, Dear Readers!] and Tim closed the book to see Steph asleep, but Suzie still awake.
"That was great reading, Daddy…" Suzie whispered, as Tim walked up and kissed her on the cheek.
"Glad you enjoyed it. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay." Suzie said as she slipped down to lay on her pillows, while Tim turned off the light and closed the door.
Tim entered the bedroom, to see Jubilee laying in bed, trying her best to stay awake.
"You took your sweet time reading that story! I was about to fall asleep!"
"You know Suzie, you can't rush with her…" Tim said as he took off his shirt.
"So what was this thing that you had in mind for me, back when we were cleaning dishes?"
"Wait just a second, I've got to get something first…" Tim said as he walked into the bathroom and grabbed the Shower Companion, and then also grabbed another CD from within his CD drawer, replacing the Paul McCartney CD…
Tim strolled out of the bedroom with the CD Shower Companion with a comb in his hand, set it up in the bedroom, and then skipped to track 14.
Tim clears his throat and then says,
"Welcome, welcome, I'd like to dedicate this next song, done by the immortal Eric Clapton while he was with Derek and the Dominoes, to one special lady in my life… sitting there on the bed. I present Layla, suitably altered, of course." Tim said with a wink and a cheesy smile. Tim presses play so that the song starts up. Tim tries to sing along, using the comb as a microphone, but is horribly, hideously off-key. But then again, he isn't trying to be good…
"What do you do when you get lonely? Nobody's waiting by your side… You've been running… hiding much to long… you know it's just your foolish pride.
Jubilee… you've got me on my knees, Jubilee… I'm beggin' darlin' please, Jubilee… won't you ease my worried mind, aye…" And Jubilee walked up to him.
Jubilee just started at Tim, who was trying his best to sing and to dance in his best white boy style, when Jubilee rubbed his cheeks, bringing Tim back to reality.
"I have no idea what you're trying to do with this, but I don't think it's having the desired effect." Jubilee said trying to stifle a laugh.
"Hey, it worked on our wedding night!"
"Yeah, it did, but then again you had a better voice then, and I because at that time I didn't know Clapton wrote that song about George Harrison's first wife. So for all I know, you could be singing it trying to subtly telling me you're having an affair with another girl…"
"I would never!"
"Then prove me wrong… Clapton." Jubilee said as she walked back to bed.
*Click*
To Be Continued