"Morning," a voice mumbled. A blonde woman watched in interest as her husband dragged himself along and plopped himself onto a stool at the counter. He was still in his pink boxers with a black tank top and his red hair stuck in all directions. She smiled lovingly.
"Well, don't you look fabulous this morning?" she said. He smiled at her and reached over the counter to grab a mug of coffee. "Hey, get your own!" she glared, though she was smiling. He smirked at her and drained the rest of the mug in retaliation. Her jaw dropped as she made a noise of indignation. Then she pouted and turned back to cooking breakfast.
Jack chuckled and got up to put the mug in the sink. He was surprised at the clinking sound it made instead of the dull thud it usually made. He looked in the sink to see dirty dishes already in there. Then he smiled. Everything about his wife endeared him, including the way she woke up at ungodly hours of the morning to have some quiet time to herself every day. He left the mug on top of the plate it rested on and continued on his way over to the blonde ponytail in front of the stove.
"Hey, pretty lady. How are you this morning?" he grinned as he spoke, wrapping his arms around her surprisingly slim waist. Then again, he thought, why wouldn't she be thin? She's a dance teacher, after all.
"Well, considering I just had my coffee stolen by a whiny little weirdo, I'd say I'm pretty good," she leaned into him as he laid his head on her shoulder. He scoffed and placed a small kiss on her neck.
"I'm not whiny," he corrected her. She almost took the bait and called him a weirdo again, but that would've been too easy. She switched off the stove and twisted around in his arms.
"Don't you have to get ready for work, Mr. Spicer?" she asked, trying to fix his hair in the process. Move this strand here, move that strand there, that one over there, and tada! His hair was magically presentable!
Jack turned his face to the side and tapped his cheek with his finger expectantly. "I'll go as soon as I get a kiss," he smirked. Ashley arched a brow, but complied. He turned toward her at the last second in a juvenile move and caught the kiss on his lips. She laughed and kissed him again, holding it for longer.
"Ew!" a voice rang out. The couple broke apart and smiled warmly at the little boy standing at the foot of the stairs. He had blonde hair and was rubbing the sleep out of one of his dark brown eyes. The other eye glared at them in mock disgust. "I'm only a child!"
Jack laughed and started walking. "Hey, squirt. If I'd known you were up, I would've kissed your mother more," he teased, ruffling his son's hair on his way past him up the stairs. Alistair turned to his father and scowled moodily, trying to fix his hair. Jack smiled fondly at him before looking back up at his wife. "He's got your smile, Ash," he joked.
"You know what I like to be called, Jack," she said, throwing him a look. Even though she'd long outgrown her skin tight cat suit and eyeliner whiskers, everyone and their grandmother knew that she liked to be called Kat, in memory of her old pseudonym from her childhood hobby. Jack was the only one who could get away with calling her anything else.
"Right. My mistake, Kitty Litter," he smirked. Ashley hissed at him and he ran up the stairs laughing.
Ashley groaned. "Just go get ready for work, doofus!" she shouted after him. Then she turned to Alistair, who struggled to hold in his giggles. "You hungry, sweetie?" she asked, setting up a place at the counter anyway. Alistair nodded and climbed up onto the stool as she set down a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of him.
"You got everything you need for school today?" she asked as he scarfed down his breakfast. He made some noise that she took to be an affirmative answer. He swallowed with what seemed to be a fair amount of difficulty. "Alistair, slow down. You could choke," she chastised. She got a glass of water and sat down on the stool next to him, holding it in front of his face. He took it gratefully and started chugging it down. Ashley sighed and eased it away from his mouth. "What did I just say?"
Alistair smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Mom," he said, but then changed the subject. "Why can't I go to the school you teach at?" Ashley chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, completely undoing his work to repair the damage from his father's attack. He whined and fixed his hair as quickly as he could.
"You can't attend my school because it's a dance school. I teach people to dance. You wouldn't be learning any math, reading, science, or social studies," she explained. Alistair started to talk about how cool it would be and she held up a hand to silence him. "Besides, the child's classes don't take place during regular school hours. They start after school so kids can attend my classes and school. Any class before that is for adult level classes."
"That doesn't matter as long as I go to school, though, right? It'll just be called night school."
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, bud. Now finish up and get ready for school," she said, getting up and washing the dishes she used earlier. Alistair picked up his eating again.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready for work, too?" he asked between bites, eying her stretch pants, tank top, and track jacket with curiosity.
"I am," she said, gesturing to her attire. "I have to wear this or I can't dance. It'd be pretty hard to dance if I was wearing jeans or high heels, you know?" He nodded in understanding.
"So if you don't teach during school hours, what do you do in the meantime?" he inquired as he shoved the last bit of pancake into his mouth.
"I usually warm up and think about how I can teach my classes better and handle the paperwork and think of ideas to try with the students one on one and—"
"I think he gets it, Kat," Jack said, coming back down in a clean cut gray suit and tie with his hair combed and sticking up in their usual spikes. He wasn't quite as pale as he used to be and he looked pretty good with his uncommonly red hair. Women now threw themselves at him, much to his wife's annoyance. After outgrowing his world domination phase, he kept working on his robots and eventually created others to help with simple things around the house. Investors saw them and now he is president of his own robotics company.
Ashley laughed. "You want some breakfast before you go?" she asked, taking Alistair's dishes and washing and rinsing them along with hers. She didn't seem to need to hear his answer as she already started to load the food onto a third plate and set it on the counter. One glance at the clock and her eyes widened. "Oh, shoot! Alistair, go get ready and we'll leave as soon as you get down," she said as she frantically dried the dishes. He obeyed and scampered up the steps. After putting them away, she rushed over to the fridge and took down her grocery list from its purple circular magnet. She folded it up and, having nowhere else to put it, shoved it into her bra cup, to which Jack raised a brow at. She caught this and said, "So I don't have pockets. Bite me."
"Bend over," he grinned, waggling his eyebrows. Ashley just scowled and turned up her nose.
"This is exactly why we don't have more kids," she kidded. "Anyway, when you're done, just leave the dishes in the sink. I'll get them when I get back from shopping," she continued, grabbing her car keys and her purse and trying to stuff her feet into her trainers all at the same time. Jack didn't dare point out the fact that she could've put her shopping list in her bag when she seemed so frazzled.
"I'm ready!" Alistair called from the front door. Ashley leaned over the counter to give Jack a quick kiss on the cheek, which, of course he took on the lips and hurried out, ignoring her son's loud protest of, "Oh, gross! Old people love!"
By the time Jack finished eating, they'd been long gone. Ignoring Ashley's offer, he took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and washed his own dishes. When he was done, he turned off the tap and set off on his way, locking the door behind him.
In his office, with nothing to do—surprising for president of an entire company—he looked over the photos on his desk. The first one was taken the day the xiaolin warriors left the temple. They all stood in front of the temple, striking silly poses for their own amusement. Omi stood on his head on top of Clay's hat with a cheesy grin as the cowboy made a horrified face at the camera while holding up a daisy he'd picked up a few seconds prior in the back. In front of them stood Ashley and Raimundo. She had one leg up across his hips and one hand caressed his face. Raimundo, playing along, held her leg at the knee and had his other arm around her shoulders. Ashley had her head turned behind her towards Jack, grinning at him mischievously as he sulked jealously, Raimundo doing the same with Kimiko. He chuckled to himself as he saw that Kimiko was even angrier than he was. As soon as the flash died down, Ashley and Raimundo broke apart and laughed to their hearts' content. Kimiko yelled at Raimundo while Jack whined at Ashley, though they didn't much care. They were having too much fun.
After they'd settled their differences, Ashley and Raimundo became close friends and partners in crime due to their playful natures. During the warriors' last days at the temple, Ashley would come over and help him pull as many pranks as possible before he had to leave.
Soon after this picture was taken, Kimiko and Raimundo got married on a beach in Brazil, much to Ashley's delight. She spent the days before and after the wedding lounging on a towel and flirting with surf instructors, many of which Jack had to drag her away from.
Clay was the next to get married to a girl named Sarah from Texas. It was a small affair in a beautiful little church in Dallas. Even Jessie showed up. Clay gave her the biggest bear hug he could when he saw her the day before the wedding. "What kind of gal would I be if I missed my own brother's wedding?" she joked as Clay held her tight, near tears.
Omi chose not to get married and concentrated on training to be the best warrior he could be like he'd wanted ever since he was a child.
They were the last of the group to marry. Then they moved to Manhattan and bought a house on the outskirts of the city, away from the noises of the cars and buses and taxi cabs. Jack started up Spicer Robotics and Mechanics there and Ashley opened up her dance school in a nearby shopping district. Surprisingly, Kimiko and Raimundo moved to Manhattan as well for a change of pace. Raimundo found himself a job as a dance teacher at Ashley's school and Kimiko ran Tohomiko Electronics with Keiko sending status updates and information to her via email.
The other photo was one Ashley didn't even know existed; she hadn't seen him take it. A little blonde baby with dark eyes lies sleeping in his crib while his mother watches over him while tucking her hair behind her ear.
His eyes softened as he stared at this picture. He'd never seen her look as gorgeous as she was before this moment in time. With her soft eyes and warm smile as she reached down and moved his blanket out of his face and sang to him quietly even though he'd fallen asleep minutes before. She didn't know that Jack had come home early that day to surprise them and had been watching since she started singing. He took the picture before she noticed him and then walked into the nursery to wrap his arms around her. She nearly broke both my arms that day, he thought fondly, running a hand through his hair.
He jumped when his phone rang. He picked it up to hear his secretary's voice. "Mr. Spicer, the president of Tohomiko Electronics is calling about the merging of the two companies," she said.
"Thanks, Nancy, put her through," he replied.
"'Sup, Jack?" came Kimiko's voice.
Over the next ten minutes, they worked out the details finalizing the merge. Now they were just having a friendly conversation.
"It's wild how different we are now. I mean, Rai's a dance teacher at Kat's school and we're the presidents of our own companies."
"Yeah, it is," he replied distantly. "Hey, I gotta go, Kim. You still comin' over for dinner tonight?" he asked, picking up the photo of Ashley off his desk and staring at it lovingly.
"You know it. Is Kat making her famous filet tonight?"
"Yep. She's probably shopping for it right now. See you later. Just make sure Rai doesn't bring his 'special sauce,'" he said, referring to a prank involving hot sauce and lemon juice that ended with him with his head under the faucet for a good twenty minutes trying to soothe his tongue.
"You got it," she laughed. "Bye, Jack."
"Bye."
He sighed heavily, smiling at the picture in his hand. Twenty years ago, Ashley would barely look at him. Now they're married with a son already in the second grade—who won the school science fair, he recalled proudly—and he couldn't be happier. Comparing the girl in the skin tight suit from his adolescence and the woman he now called his wife at the age of thirty five made him chuckle.
This time, his cell phone rang and he grinned at a picture of Ashley snoring away in bed popped up on the caller ID. He pressed the answer button.
"Hey, Ashley," he teased. During Ashley's rant on how she wanted him to call her Kat, he just barely paid attention as he just kept smiling at the framed photo in his hand.
My, how they've changed.
Whelp, that's that. I hope you liked it. I sure did. Being a Jackley shipper and a shipper in general, reading all the fanfictions of them in such a short time broke my heart. So I decided to add to it. Adding this to it makes it a grand total of four! *triumphant thumbs up* Five if you count Speechless by SilverShadow65, which by the way, is awesome. I've read it at least five times and it's still not old. I highly recommend it.
Anyway, during the process of writing this, I gave myself a mission. That mission was to make this so sickeningly sweet and fluffy, your puppy has to punch a wall to feel manly again. I don't know if I succeeded, but I had fun anyway.
Hope to hear what you thought,
~Music
Bye bye!