This series of drabbles is for the Ars Amatoria challenge and for my Valentine's Day fic challenge.
Youth: Set somewhere near the beginning of the series, after Jack and Z joined SPD. Also set before the series.
"Carmen!"
"Hey Carmen! Over here!"
Carmen Delgado looked up from watching her daughter Lizzie play in the sand to see a familiar woman toting a little boy. Carmen loved to take her daughter to the park to enjoy nature and was always content to sit on a bench while her daughter climbed all over the jungle gym and the sand box.
"Carmen Delgado?" The woman calling to Carmen reached the bench, she was short about five foot with a short chestnut hair and dressed casually.
"I'm sorry do I know you?"
"It's me, Nancy Carson, we worked at SPD together?"
"Of course!" Carmen got up to hug her former coworker, "It's been what five years?
"Yeah, I have someone you should meet," Nancy looked down to see her son hiding behind her legs, "Carmen, this is my son Bridge. Bridge come out and meet the nice lady."
He looked down at his shoes and said a small, "hi."
"He's precious, how old is he?"
"Four years old. It seems like yesterday he was just a baby. Don't they just grow up so fast?"
"Yes they do, oh wait. Lizzie! Lizzie! Where did that girl get to now?" Carmen looked over the jungle gym with Nancy and Bridge following. They found a a girl with long espresso hair and a yellow sundress playing with her dolls underneath the slide.
"Lizzie? Why didn't you answer when I called?" her mother said exasperated.
"My name is Z! Not Lizzie, Mommy." She ignored her mother and played some more.
Carmen looked over to her friend, "That's what her Daddy calls her."
"Oh, how is Danny doing anyway?"
"His flower franchise just keeps growing, pardon the pun. We have five branches in this city alone. Are you still working at SPD?"
"Yeah, I even bring Bridge along sometimes. Right sweetie?"
"Yup, the cat lady lets me play with the computers." Any trace of shyness disappeared as Bridge started talking about the base, "And she's funny cause she hisses a lot and sometimes she hisses at the scary dog guy and the scary dog guy goes bark and gruff a lot and they let me crawl around in the big circuits and play in the training room which can become anything you want it!"
Carmen winked at Nancy, "Aren't you the talkative one! Why don't you go play with Liz-"
"Z!"
"Why don't you go play with Z, while your Mommy and I catch up?"
Bridge nodded and sat down in the sand next to Z, "Whatcha doing?"
"I'm playing superhewos," she said as she shaped a mound of sand, there were many other mounds each with a doll sticking out of them.
"How do you play?"
"Well," Z pointed to the dolls, "These are the people who need to be saved. And this is Waven, she's going to save them." She held out a black haired doll with a dark blue cape and leotard.
"Can I play?"
Z scratched her chin and dug into her Teen Titans backpack before producing a green action figure with pointy ears, "You can be Beast Boy."
"Hey, I know this guy," Bridge grabbed the toy and looked at it carefully, "He can change into lots of animals and he's really funny! He's from my favorite show!"
"Hey that's my favorite show! I have all the action figures and the bikes and cars and the playsets, my Mommy is even making me a Waven costume for Halloween!"
"That's really cool! My mommy is getting me a costume too, it's gonna be real good cause I'm gonna be a power ranger."
"What's that?"
"You don't know what a power ranger is?"
"Nope."
"Well," Bridge thought for a second, "They're superheroes like the Teen Titans except they don't do their fighting on TV. I saw the real thing at the base and they fight aliens, and they know lots of martial arts, and they save the world a lot, and they have these cool cars and bikes too."
"Wow," Z said astounded, "Can I be a power ranger too?"
"Sure, I'll tell the cat lady and the scary dog guy that you want to be one too."
"Well, if we're going to be superhewos any way maybe we should play something different."
"Like what?"
Z thought long and hard before her face brightened, "We can play house!"
"No, I'm a boy," Bridge wrinkled his nose, "Only girls play house."
Z looked at Bridge with puppy dog eyes, "Please, please, please!"
"Oh fine, but you have to swear never to tell anyone I played house." Z crossed her heart and promised.
"Cwoss my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."
"How do we play?"
"Don't boys know anything? I'll be the mommy, you can be the daddy, and Beast Boy and Waven can be the childrens."
"What do I do as the daddy?"
"You buy the childrens things, you make the mommy laugh, you get to share a room with the mommy, you take the childrens out to play, and you get to kiss the mommy."
"Ew, why would I want to do that?"
"Cause when you like someone you kiss them."
"Oh," Bridge still had a confused look on his face, "Have you ever kissed anyone?"
"Sure lots of times, I kiss my Mommy and my Daddy and my Abuela."
"What's an Abuela?"
"It's espanol for Grandma. I can speak espanol a little bit."
"Espanol?"
"Yup, it's a special talk that my parents taught me."
Bridge looked at Z shyly, "I think I like you."
"Why?" People were always telling Z that she's nosy and shouldn't talk so much.
"Cause you have lots of ideas on how to play, and you're funny, and you like the same show I do, and you want to play superheroes..."
Z laughed as he kept going. Bridge kept babbling and didn't see as Z inched closer to him, he didn't even notice when her face was close to his. She pressed her lips to his for a split second and pulled away fast.
"Ewwwww..." they both said in unison.
"Let's not do that ever, ever again!" Z said and Bridge nodded in agreement.
"Bridge!"
"Earth to Bridge!"
"Bridge!"
Bridge saw a hand waving in front of his face, the hand belonged to his newest friend and SPD cadet, Z. "Sorry Z, what were you saying?"
"You were going to tell me about your first kiss before you blanked out."
He looked at her curiously and smiled, "My mom took me to the park and we met one of her old coworkers and her daughter. She was the cutest little girl..."