Baloo was standing in the doorframe between the kitchen and the office. He stood staring at his daughter, the girl that he had adopted not all that long ago. The sight before him both broke his heart and made him the proudest papa in the world.
Molly stood looking in the mirror adjusting her cap and gown. She was desperately trying to make her cap go straight, which was looking more and more unlikely as the minutes went on. 'Next time I'll try on the cap before I do my hair', she thought in frustration.
Baloo chuckled to himself as he watched the scene, thinking that Molly looked almost vain as she continued primping in front of the mirror for quite awhile longer. This was funny to the big bear because this was a trait that was very unlike Molly. She was much more comfortable out helping Wildcat fix the engine on the Sea Duck than she was putting on makeup or doing her hair. But she was growing up…all too quickly.
"Aaaaahhhhh! This is never going to go on right", screamed Molly as she threw the cap across the room.
"It looked fine to me Pigtails." Baloo said as he walked across the room towards her.
"It looked horrible!"
"No it didn't. It'll be alright."
"No it won't -- it won't ever be alright!"
Baloo was slightly taken aback by this reaction.
"It won't ever be right! Mom's supposed to be here. She isn't here. She's supposed to be here!" Molly screamed as she collapsed down upon the sofa.
Baloo walked over to the sofa wanting to comfort the sobbing girl. She hadn't even mentioned her mother for several months. Baloo knew that she certainly hadn't forgotten about her, but he did think that maybe she was healing – moving on.
As he looked down upon the crying girl on the sofa, he was at a loss for words. He knew he couldn't bring her back, as much as he wished he could. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Molly eventually calmed down, like always.
Every time Molly looked up at him with tears in her eyes it always brought him back to that terrible day when all of this started. And like many times in the past the big bear tried to comfort the girl as best as he knew how.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pirate Island
The sun was just beginning to rise on the island when Rebecca got up to take a bath. She had never appreciated this luxury as much until after she and Kit had been held captive down in the dungeons for over six months. She didn't think that she was ever going to see daylight again. Then, just when she had given up hope, they were suddenly moved to a prisoner's camp.
Rebecca didn't even know that Karnage was smart enough to think of such a thing. Although she had always wondered how he had managed to handle such large amounts of stolen goods.
He had built camps that were actually pretty comfortable; compared to what you would expect anyway. They had a house. It was nothing special, just a shack really, but still a house. There were exactly 32 huts that were aligned to form a sort of oval shape. Rebecca had had an ample amount of time to count the huts. It was ingenious really, she thought. The way that they were spaced apart, and with the trees, there was no way that you would be able to see them from the air. Not that any planes flew this route. The only planes that they ever did see were Khan's. They had direct orders to ignore anything that didn't relate to the cargo that they were carrying. And they did it quite well.
Rebecca slowly walked home from her day of keeping inventory, a job which she detested but came quite naturally, when she noticed something unusual. A plane was landing on the airstrip. But not just any plane – it was one of Khan's planes. She decided that she had to go investigate. 'I've been around Kit way too long' was the only thing that Rebecca thought as she silently made her way through the jungle brush to get a better view. It was probably just a hi-jacked plane, but they almost never kept the plane. All the pirates wanted to do was to get the loot and get out.
When she got closer, she noticed something else that was quite strange. It was one of Khan's pilots that flew down. She continued to watch as the pilot got out of the plane, talked to one of the pirates as the cargo was being taken, and then got back in his plane. She was more than a little surprised when he started his plane up and started down the runway.
"This is very wrong. I've got to go tell Kit. He'll know what to make out of it."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Molly lay in her room on her bed. She couldn't stop thinking about that evening. It would definitely be one of the most special days of her life, she knew that for sure.
She had managed to finally calm down enough to make her way through graduation. As she sat there in her cap and gown listening to the commencement speeches and then the names of her classmates being called off, tears formed once again in her eyes. It was a very bittersweet moment.
Finally, her name was called. As she walked across the stage to receive her diploma she looked up in the audience to see Baloo sitting there in a very nice, yet rarely worn suit, wearing a grin a mile wide. She felt very proud in that moment. But maybe more importantly, she felt more loved than she had felt for a long time. Baloo, her father, meant the world to her. But only now in this moment did she really understand how much.
After the ceremony Baloo had taken her out for very nice meal. It was by far the most expensive restaurant that Molly had ever been in, and she suspected the same was true for Baloo. Was this really Baloo, she kept thinking. This was a very un-Baloo like thing to do. Just knowing the fact that reservations to this place had to be made weeks in advance made her feel really special. To know that he was thinking about how to make this night memorable for her that long ago made the girl smile every time she thought about it.
As she lay there, still gazing up at the ceiling, a knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts.
"Come in."
"Hey. I uh…I just…well, I got something for you", Baloo said as he held out a box to her.
"Thanks Baloo, you didn't have to", she said smiling as she took the box from him.
"No, I didn't have to. I wanted to."
Molly unwrapped the package and looked up at her father for just a moment before opening it. Inside were a pair of diamond earrings.
"They're beautiful, they really are, but…how can you afford these?"
"I've been saving up for awhile. Nothing too good for my little girl."
"I'm not so little anymore, Papa Bear."
They both froze for just a second. It had been so long since anyone had called him that. And Molly couldn't quite believe that she'd said it either. It just came out.
"Well, good-night", the big bear said as he gently kissed her on the top of the head.
"Good-night."
When she was alone again she sat there looking at her gift. She had never owned a real piece of jewelry before. Like their dinner before, it just made her feel special to know that he had spent the time to pick out a gift especially for her.
It wasn't the money that was spent on it. She really could have cared less about that. It was that Baloo was willing to give things up for her, something that she had never really thought about him doing before. He was willing to give up partying at Louie's and whatever else he wanted to spend money on, just to save up to buy her something that he thought that she would like. It really made her feel warm inside.
"I could be happy here. I could really be happy here. -- Finally"
She got up to start getting dressed for bed, when she plopped back down. "I can't do this. I need something…some sort of closure."
A few moments passed.
"I have to go to Pirate Island", she finally said with a look of determination.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Chapter 5 coming soon!!!
Please R&R
