Leaping Lizards, you all really like this story! Thanks! Enjoy the next snippet of their lives ^^
Warnings: Lots of Ketchup
Disclaimer in chapter 1!
Have fun!
Two and A Half Women, oh...and Carlos
Chapter 2
No Fank You
Stephanie has learned by now that despite being a certified genius, Heidi was still a little girl, a little 4 year old girl whose diet consisted of sweets and cheese and maybe the odd yogurt or two. Though she knew this very well, she couldn't help but try to add a little spice to the girl's palate.
"No fank you," Heidi pushed the plate of chicken nuggets away from her frame and pulled the small dipper bowl of ketchup to her instead, "I want ketchup for dinner."
"What? B-but last week, all you ate were chicken nuggets!" Stephanie ran a hand over her face, watching Heidi take a spoon and eat ketchup, "We have 10 bags of chicken nuggets that need to be eaten now."
"I don't like nuggets now, I want ketchup," Heidi finishes the small container of ketchup and then grabs the bottle and begins to squirt it in her mouth, "Mmmm!"
"Don't you want to be strong and healthy for Papi, when he comes back from Boston."
"Ketchup has all the vitamins and nutrients I need!" Heidi continue to squirt ketchup in her mouth, her teeth dyed red from the condiment.
"Come on, Heidi, these organic, cage free chick-" Stephanie started, pushing the plate to Heidi but Heidi was having none of it and sent the plastic Hello Kitty plate flying across the table on onto the floor.
" .You." She went back to eating her ketchup.
"Heh heh heh…."
"Julie, you be quiet!" Stephanie turned to Julie, who was eating her nuggets quickly, "Can you help me get Heidi to eat real food?"
"30 bucks, and I'm all yours." Julie said simply, finishing her meal, with a smile on her face, "I'll get her to eat all the icky food you want her to eat."
"30 bucks? Can't you be more realistic and ask for ice cream for breakfast?" Stephanie gawked at Julie, who shook her head and sat back down.
"30 bucks, take it or leave it," Julie grabbed her sling shot ("Where did you get that?!" "Found it in the contraband closet, you should change the location, Steph.")
"I'm not going to pay you 30 dollars," Julie sighed at Stephanie and then stood up and skipped off, "See ya later, Steph, have fun with buying all that ketchup at the store."
"More Ketchup please!"
"Did you just eat that whole bottle?"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Julie was doing her best Muttley impression, as she watched Stephanie struggle with Heidi to eat some real food.
"Come Heidi, I made French toast, with extra syrup and whipped cream and strawberry milk," Stephanie pushed the plate of food to Heidi, who crossed her arms and turned her nose up at it, "Please, Heidi, Ketchup does not have enough in it to keep you full!"
"It does, I don't want dis, no fank you!" Heidi pushed the plate away and grabbed the bottle of ketchup, again to drink it right from the bottle.
"Heh-heh-heh."
"Julie, don't you have school to go to?" Stephanie turned to Julie, who finished her breakfast and was now watching Stephanie try to feed Heidi.
"30 bucks, like I said, and I'll help you…" Julie smiled sweetly, but Stephanie was learning a lot about Julie and that smile was anything but pure.
"Go to school, your father will be home in a few days, he can handle Heidi." Julie shrugged and hopped off the table and grabbed her bag.
"Kay, Steph, smell ya later!" Julie ran out of the house
"How about some pizza for breakfast?"
" .You."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Meltdown in 3…2…-" Julie started the countdown.
"Julie, Heidi is not going to throw a hissy fit," Stephanie looked over to Heidi, who stared down at the bowl of sugary cereal with absolute disgust, "It's Trix, all kids love Trix."
"Not the kid who's food pyramid has been dominated by ketchup," Julie shrugged as Heidi's cheeks began to flush, her bottom lip quivering and tears filling her eyes, "Oh baby, this one is gonna be a doozy!"
"NO! NO! NO!" Heidi wailed, grabbing the cereal and sending it flying across the room and over to the wall, "I DON'T WANT FISH! I WANT KETCHUP!, I WANT KETCHUP, I WANT KETCHUP!"
"Alright! Alright! Geez, I'll get you the ketchup," Stephanie ducked back into the kitchen and went to get the bottle of ketchup as Heidi's meltdown entered DEFCON 1.
The moment the ketchup bottle was placed in front of her, Heidi stopped crying, picked it up and began to eat it, with gusto, a smile on her face. Stephanie let out a growl and then turned away mumbling, "I can see him now, Oh, hey Babe, how were the girls? Julie is Julie, Carlos but Heidi has eaten 10 bottles of ketchup while you were gone? Babe, she's a kid, she needs real food, I know that but, whenever I try to feed her real food, she decides to become Picasso and toss it at the wall!"
"Heh-heh-heh-heh."
"Go to school Julie."
"It's Saturday!"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Stephanie was at her wits end. It was the day that Carlos was due to return home from Rangeman Boston, and Heidi had gone through enough ketchup bottles to build a fort with. Even worse, she was starting to smell like ketchup. Ketchup for breakfast, lunch and dinner, how was she not hungry? Why wasn't she ketchup now?
"Julie, I'll give you the 30 bucks to help me with your sister." Stephanie walked over to Julie, who was sitting on the couch, playing her video games, "I'm tired of the dining room smelling like ketchup."
"I've rescinded my offer," Julie doesn't look up from her game, her lip in her teeth, "I don't want 30 bucks now."
"Oh, that' nice, you're-"
"I want 60 bucks and three items from the contraband zone."
"What?! No way, that's not happening!"
"Ketchup breath."
"…..60 dollars and one item from the contraband zone."
"Deal," Julie paused her game and then got up, going over to Heidi in the dining room. Stephanie felt something akin to horror fill her body. That was too fast, she accepted that deal too quickly, oh gods, Stephanie has messed up, somewhere. Stephanie groaned and followed behind Julie into the dining room. Heidi was sitting there, surrounded by food, her tiny arms crossed and her eyes filled with tears. She looked up at Stephanie and Julie and said, "I don't want any of this food, I want-"
"Hey, Heidi, if you eat all this food, I'll buy you that rubrick's cube you wanted, you know, the one with 15 sides," Julie watched as Heidi's eyes got big, "Yup, I'll buy it for you, but you gotta stop eating just ketchup."
"Okay!" Heidi nodded her head and pulled a plate of pancakes to her and began to eat them, kicking her feet, "Oh! I like pancakes!"
"Wha-wha-what just happened?" Stephanie blinked looking over to Julie who smiled sweetly again.
"I would like all 20s' please and I think the packet of Roman Candles you and Papi took from me," Julie smiled sweetly to Stephanie, before skipping away, "It's easy, Steph, she's a genius, you don't bribe them with food, you bribe them with genius things, duh!"
"I need a vacation," Stephanie sighed and slumped in a chair, just as the front door opened and Carlos came into the dining room, "Carlos.."
"Babe, I know you like to spoil the girls, but all this junk food will give Heidi problems." Stephanie felt her eye twitched and she turned to glare at Carlos, "Uh…"
"You got five seconds to get away from me, before I drown you in ketchup." She hissed, causing Carlos to back away from her.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh!"
End.
Julie is an opportunist, Stephanie is going to learn that the hard way, throughout this series. Lols.