She was lying on the carpet coloring a picture with crayons, and when Ro looked over she saw the first alternate Zee, the small child with his feet in the air and blanket over his back. His tongue was stuck out in his immense concentration, crayon working diligently to capture whatever was in his mind. There wasn't anything to help this little guy with.
"Whatcha got, Zee?" she asked, looking over.
He raised his head and beamed. "Dis one is yous, Rows," he said, pointing to a mass of squiggles, which had a blob of yellow at the top.
"Am I really that fat?" she teased. "And who's this?"
"Dat's me!" he said loudly, happily. "Dat's yous and mes and dere's my bwankie and stuff."
She smiled. "And what's this green blob? Your mommy's flower bush?"
Now he frowned and slightly cowered under his blanket. "Dat's a monsters."
"A monster?" Ro sat up a bit and tried to see the scariness. "Why's there a monster in your picture?"
"Yous scaring it away, Rows. See?"
"You mean I'm scarier than a monster?" Ro was sure that was supposed to be a compliment, and she sat up to hug the little guy.
"Yeahs." He buried his face into her shoulder.
"But why did you draw him, huh?" she asked. "He's not here with us right now."
"Uh huh."
Ro frowned a bit and looked around. "Where?"
The little Zee refused to show her.
"I don't see him at all," Ro pronounced after a very long moment. "In fact, I don't think he should be in your picture at all. Here." With him still in her lap, she took his drawing and very carefully ripped out the offending green monster-blob. "There, all better. The picture is much better, isn't it?"
Zee peaked out and then nodded, though Ro noticed his eyes dart to the scrap of paper in her hand.
"You know what, I think we should get rid of this monster, don't you?"
He looked up at her with wide eyes. "Hows?"
"We'll rip him up into itty-bitty pieces!" she whispered conspiringly. "Then he'll go away."
"He will?"
Ro nodded. "Yep. Here, let's rip him together. You take that half, and I'll take this, and we'll pull him apart!" They proceeded to do just that, and she over-exaggeratedly cheered. "That'll show him, huh?"
"… yeah," Zee agreed, nodding.
"Let's make him into even smaller pieces, show him he can't mess with us. Ready, let's go!"
And then there was a flurry of tearing and little pieces of paper, and Ro was laughing at the change in Zee's face, and then helped jump and crush the little pieces of monster.
"No more monster!" Zee cheered.
Ro bent down and hugged him. "No more monster! We rip up monsters, here, don't we?"