My Kingdom For a Double-Plait Bolt!
A/N: Oh lordie this took forever!! ARGH. It's long - I apologize; I hope to be able to make up for it with a short chapter down the road. BUT now that I've finished Act II I'm taking a break from this fic for a while so look for updates on AAE coming... eventually! (Yep, that fic is still active, I just wanted to get some serious chunks done on this one!) Yes well. Again - thank you to all who have reviewed, and I will make an effort to reply to any reviews that I get; thank you as well to all those who have read but not reviewed. I hope you're enjoying this rewrite.
Act II, part three
The month of September was not generally among Gosalyn Mallard's favourite months, for various reasons, but it did have a few things going for it. Baseball and soccer were both in full season, which was a plus since it meant there was usually something on TV, and even the obvious downside - returning to school - was a little offset by getting to catch up with some friends who you usually lost touch with over the summer.
But the high point of September was, in Gosalyn's opinion, the somewhat sparse school schedule, at least compared to later in the year. At least they had the decency to ease you back into it, what with the holidays and the half days and the staff meetings and the Teacher's Days.
Gosalyn was enjoying a Teacher's Holiday at this moment, with every fiber of her being, because the next day she'd be back suffering in school and she intended to make this freebie day count. At 7:45 there wasn't a whole lot to do yet, but there was nothing wrong with getting some of her TV watching out of the way early in the day.
When the doorbell rang, Gosalyn was so thrown off by it at first that she didn't even recognize the sound. She had to mute the television and wait for it to come again, and even then she was hesitant to check at the door to see what was going on. It was a Teacher's Day, right? And it was early in the morning, not the standard time a person generally got visitors. She did a quick run-through in her mind over who it could be: Honker, Morgana, the police... None seemed that likely.
She opened the door halfway, somewhat suspicious, and peered outside. No one was out there that she recognized; there was just a woman on the doorstep, kind of tall and skinny, with glasses almost as big as Honker's. Gosalyn relaxed a little and opened the door the rest of the way. "Can I help you?" she asked carefully. The woman looked like a librarian or something; she might be a truant officer in disguise. Even though Gosalyn was 88 sure that there was no school that day, she had to play it safe. She held a death grip on the door, ready to slam and barricade it if need be.
The woman looked perplexed, and didn't answer for a moment. Then she looked at the outside of the house, as if she didn't know where she was. Sure enough, a moment later she turned back to Gosalyn and said, "I'm... I'm sorry, I think I must have the wrong house." She checked a piece of paper that she had been crumpling into a little ball, and then looked back up. "Is this... 537 Avian Way?"
"Sure is," said Gosalyn.
The woman's brow creased. "Five-three-seven?" she repeated.
"Sounds right," answered Gosalyn as helpfully as possible.
"Avian Way?"
"Is this a trick question?" Gosalyn asked. The librarian-woman looked as if she was about to say something, but had decided against it at the last minute; her mouth hung slightly open, and she looked confused. Gosalyn sighed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is still Avian Way, unless they changed the maps."
"Oh," said the woman. She checked her piece of paper again, then squared her shoulders. "Does... does Drake Mallard live here?"
"Um... maybe," Gosalyn answered, stalling for time. "Just out of curiosity, are you at all familiar with the county school calendars?"
"Huh?" The expression on the woman's face was too surprised to be fake.
Gosalyn relaxed, satisfied that she wasn't about to be dragged to school. "C'mon in, I guess. I'll get Dad."
"Dad...?" asked the woman in a weak voice. She looked shaken, but stepped into the house and closed the door behind herself. Gosalyn gave her a sidelong look; now she looked more like a schoolteacher on her very first day. She decided it might be best to get a little background information. "Are you selling something? 'Cause technically, I'm not supposed to negotiate with door-to-door salespeople, but..." She lowered her voice, in case her father was listening. "If you've got any free demonstrations, I'm all for 'em." She was a big fan of the demonstrations, especially if they involved pouring dirt over the carpet or stuff like that. So far, no one had ever come selling knives, but Gosalyn still held out hopes that someone would come and would demonstrate the sharpness of his knives by throwing them, preferably at a living target.
The librarian/school teacher didn't have any obvious wares, though - no vacuum cleaners or knives, just one solitary bag and it didn't look like it was packed with Miracle Kleen or anything like that. "Well," said the woman, digging through the bag - Gosalyn's hopes momentarily soared - "I do kind of have... where is it..."
She came back up holding a small piece of twisted metal, and Gosalyn felt cheated. "What's that?"
"It's a bolt he ordered. Well, kind of ordered - it was really ordered for him, or rather - well..." The woman had been starting to speak more quickly, but after correcting herself twice she sort of reined herself in and smiled a little. "It doesn't matter. Is your - your father nearby?"
"Just a sec," Gosalyn assured her. She stood at the bottom of the staircase, gripping the end of the banister, and took a deep breath. "DAAAAAD!" The woman took a quick step backwards, towards the front door.
It took her father a moment to respond. When he did answer, it came in kind. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?"
"IT'S NOT THAT EARLY, DAD!" To the woman, Gosalyn said, "He can be a real baby about this."
The librarian woman looked stricken. "Please tell me he wasn't asleep!"
Gosalyn didn't get a chance to answer, since her father called down, "WHAT IS IT?"
The woman was waving her hands. Gosalyn chose to ignore her; no point in turning back now. "SOMEONE TO SEE YOU!"
"WHO?"
In a whisper, Gosalyn asked the visitor, "What'd you say your name was?" The woman shook her head vehemently. With a shrug, Gosalyn called up the stairs, "I DUNNO, SOME WOMAN!" The woman in question put her hands to her mouth and looked terrified. Gosalyn added on impulse, "SHE'S CUTE!"
There was a pause. Gosalyn glanced at the visitor, who looked like she had forgotten to breathe for some time now, and then her father called, "I'LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE."
"There ya go!" Gosalyn said cheerfully. The woman looked weak, like she might faint, which reminded Gosalyn that she probably should offer her a seat or something. "Wanna sit down to wait?"
The woman wandered over to the couch and sank slowly onto the cushions. "Why did you tell him I was cute?" she asked in a trembling voice.
Gosalyn shrugged. "Gets him downstairs more quickly." She sat down as well, her curiosity piqued by the visitor.
The woman blew out a breath, then inhaled deeply. She took off her glasses and wiped them with her sleeve, replaced them, and peered at Gosalyn for a moment. Then she raised an eyebrow, and for the first time looked slightly more at ease. With an air of slight amusement, she said, "Shouldn't you be in school?"
"It's a Teacher Day," Gosalyn said hastily. The woman didn't show any signs of knowing what that meant, so Gosalyn added, "Y'know - they have meetings and stuff. No students allowed."
"Ohhh," said the woman. "We didn't have those at my school. Lucky you, I guess?"
"No fooling," agreed Gosalyn, though she got the feeling that the woman was more like Honker, and would have spent the day dreaming of being in classes. "I got a whole extra day to do whatever I want."
"So what are you going to do?"
This wasn't the first time Gosalyn had heard the question. Unfortunately she had yet to work out an answer. "I dunno. Maybe just get reacquainted with my old friend television."
The woman made a face that reminded her of the one her father had made when she'd told him the same thing. Adults were weird, Gosalyn thought. "Well," said the woman, turning a quick glance toward the staircase and apparently trying to look like she wasn't doing just that, "my name's Beth. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," Gosalyn said courteously, although so far she wasn't sure what she thought of Beth. "I'm Gosalyn."
Beth nodded slowly, and the look she gave Gosalyn was so intent and examining that it made the young girl a little nervous. "And Drake is your father."
It occurred to Gosalyn that Beth seemed to need everything repeated to her three times before it sank in. Rather than giving an answer that spelled everything out, she said, "More or less." It was truer than just saying yes, and besides, as slightly mean as it was, the resulting look of confusion that crossed Beth's face was pretty funny.
Beth found that she liked this girl. This wasn't such a huge surprise; she liked children in general and usually found that they made her much less nervous than adults, despite having almost unilaterally negative experiences with other children during her own youth. The past few years had taught her that, as much as children might be dishonest with one another, they were usually pretty straightforward with adults, and that put her at ease. Beth liked to know she could trust the people she was talking to.
The only problem was, where had this kid come from? Launchpad hadn't mentioned a daughter; in fact, he'd outright said that Drake Mallard was not married. Not that one had to be married to have children, but... he hadn't seemed the type to do otherwise. A former marriage? A death in the family? A long-term relationship, or a reminder of a wild youth? Gosalyn had definitely verified that Drake was her father, and Beth had no idea how to fit that into her schema.
And why hadn't Launchpad mentioned this? Maybe he just didn't know - though that seemed unlikely, under the few circumstances Beth knew about their lives.
Well... Nothing else to do now except soldier on. After throwing another look at the staircase, Beth cleared her throat. "So, well, what kinds of things do you do in your spare time? Do you like sports?" She gestured at Gosalyn's shirt, half-answering her own question.
"Do I? Hey, do birds bird? Do bees bee?"
Beth, her chin in her hand, blinked and then smiled. "Does that mean 'yes'?"
From the top of the stairs, a voice came that made her heart leap in her chest. "Sorry to keep everyone waiting, I just had to..." The footsteps that were hurrying down the stairs slowed and momentarily stopped. "Oh. It's you." A moment later the footsteps started again, though not nearly so quickly.
Beth stood up and smiled, wishing her cheeks didn't feel so tight. She wanted to look composed and professional, and she was pretty sure she was only managing neurotic and jumpy. But at least he'd recognized her! That was good, right? "Mr. Mallard! Um, good morning, I - I'm sorry for the intrusion this early..."
She looked at him carefully as he came the rest of the way down the stairs. Although she'd thought the day before that she'd burned his features into her mind, she found that that was hardly the case. She'd forgotten little things, like the blue of his eyes and the worry lines in his forehead. She also hadn't remembered him being so short; looking at him now, she realized she was taller than he was. She thought he probably would only hit around her chin. Rather than finding this a turn-off, however, it struck her as rather cute. A different kind of grin plastered itself over her face and she couldn't get rid of it, no matter how she tried to straighten her expression out.
Drake Mallard did not look as forgiving of the early hour as she'd hoped he would. He crossed his arms as he came to a stop in front of her, and now that he was close enough she could see that he was noticeably bleary-eyed. "So it is early where you come from," he said. She couldn't decide if his tone was sarcastic or just a form of very tired humour.
"Yes, I..." She fumbled in her purse for the bolt, and couldn't find it. Well, she could stall - make some small talk or something, right? "I, I like to get up early, don't you? I mean, well, I guess not..." His expression was distinctly sour. "There's nothing wrong with sleeping in, of course! That's nice too. I just thought you might, you know, be going to work early and I wanted to catch you."
"Ohhh, that explains it," he said in a sing-song tone. That was sarcasm, she was sure. A cold feeling started creeping up her body, starting in her feet and slowly spreading up her legs.
She swallowed. "Well - I -" Where was that bolt?! He was eyeing her as if she might be searching for a weapon. She laughed. "You know, your daughter is charming," she said lamely. It wasn't in her bag, was it? Good lord, she had brought it, hadn't she? Had she actually shown it to Gosalyn, or just told her about it?
"Gos," Drake Mallard said to his daughter, "I have explained to you about little girls who let strangers into the house and fathers who wake up to find everyone tied up in the basement, right?"
Gosalyn was watching them both over the back of the couch, and she rolled her eyes. "C'mon Dad, I'm not that bad a judge of character."
Beth's face felt hot, and the rest of her felt cold. No bolt. How was she going to be able to explain this...? With a tongue that felt made of lead, she started, "Mr. Mallard, I..." Then it hit her: the bolt wasn't in her purse anymore. After showing it to Gosalyn, she'd stuck it back in her pocket. Relief shot through her like light; she felt nearly dizzy with it. She felt the grin spread across her face again as she stuck her hand into her pocket and touched the little piece of metal. "I have something very important for you!" she blurted, almost triumphantly.
Drake raised an eyebrow and started to answer, but another voice spoke over his.
"Hey! Beth!"
Beth looked to the top of the stairs to see Launchpad, who shot her a little wave and started down to join Drake and herself. She stared, surprised out of remembering what she was doing, and returned the wave in a kind of stunned silence.
"Didn't expect to see ya here so soon!" he said happily as he hit the landing, and then added, "We gotta stop meetin' like this." This was punctuated by a wink, which it took Beth a moment to process.
"Oh. Yeah... guess so," she said.
Drake gave Launchpad a look that was unmistakably an accusatory glare. "'Didn't expect' her 'so soon'?" he quoted, and frowned. "Well, that clears up the mystery of how a shopgirl got my address."
"Mr. Mallard-"
He held up a hand, cutting her off. "Whatever it is you've come here to discuss, why don't you take it up with my good friend Launchpad? I believe you two have met." He swept his hand to the side, indicating the pilot, who looked a little lost. "When you two are done, give me the Cliffs Notes version and I'll let you know what I think. Until then, I'm on a coffee break." With that, he brushed past her and disappeared through a door which Beth assumed led to the kitchen.
Her eyes met Launchpad's. "Oh. That didn't go well."
"Actually, all things considered, that was pretty good!" Gosalyn said from the couch. She was resting her head on her arms, which were folded in front of her. "Launchpad, remember the time he threw the paper boy's bag of newspapers in the fireplace?"
"Oh yeah!" To Beth, Launchpad said, "He thought he was bein' double-billed. There wasn't a fire goin' or anything, it was just for effect."
"Oh," said Beth vaguely. In truth, this barely registered; her mind was on the living arrangements, which she couldn't seem to figure out.
Gosalyn asked, "Why didn't you just give him the bolt?"
"Oh, you got the bolt already?" Launchpad stuck in.
Beth's attention turned from inward, to focus on him. "Well, yeah... I mean, I found one, basically, and I thought I'd stop by, but..." She felt unhappy, to the core of her being. "I just couldn't seem to get to the point. And," she finished in a low voice, "I don't think he likes me."
Launchpad was immediately sympathetic. "Oh, no, Drake's just kinda cranky in the mornings! Before he has his coffee, y'know."
Beth gave a short nod, though she didn't find the excuse very convincing. Gosalyn had turned back in her seat and was facing the TV again. To Launchpad, Beth said, "So... you live here, too?"
"Oh yeah, didn't I tell ya?" She shook her head. "Boy, sorry. My head musta been somewhere else last night. Yep, home sweet home!"
"Oh. I didn't wake you up too, did I?" Up close, he had the same somewhat bleary look as Drake had, which made her uncomfortable.
Unlike Drake, however, Launchpad didn't seem to mind. "Aw, it's not that early. 'Sides, I coulda gone back to sleep, but it sounded more interesting down here."
"Oh," she said again. She couldn't manage to make herself return Launchpad's cheerful demeanour; she kept thinking of the look on Drake's face while she was speaking. It was the kind of look that made her entire upper body go tense, the look that said that she was entirely without value and nothing she said could change that. No changing who you were, she supposed; in any case, it didn't seem to matter now. Returning her attention to Launchpad, she said, "Well, you... you have a lovely home."
Launchpad looked around, and chuckled. "Yeah, it's nice, but it's not really mine. Alla this is Drake's; I just crash here."
"...Really?"
"Yep! I mean, we all moved in at the same time an' stuff, but I'm not on the lease or anythin'."
Beth cocked her head to the side, considering. "So... he's just... letting you stay here?"
"Pretty much. Seemed like a good idea 'cause we work together, an' I got no other place to go."
"Gosh. That's very kind of him." Once the words had come out she realized that she sounded like a fawning schoolgirl, but she couldn't take them back.
"I guess so," said Launchpad, looking around the room as though, after all the time he'd been living there, he still wasn't quite sure what the place looked like. "It's probably real convenient to Drake, too, since I can help watch Gos and stuff like that. Ya can't leave her alone for more than a couple hours." He grinned fondly.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" asked Gosalyn, twisting around to look at them over the couch. "I am extremely independent, you know!"
"Isn't that what your Dad is always sayin' is the problem?" Gosalyn rolled her eyes and turned her back on him in a huff, which Beth recognized as fake. She had to smile a little over that. "Anyway, yeah, it works out pretty well. This is a nice neighbourhood, an' like ya said, it's a pretty house."
"It really is," Beth said, looking around absently. It was nothing like the small one-level place she called home; even the sunshine seemed brighter and happier. She looked at the door to the kitchen, and sighed. "Do you... do you think he's going to come back out any time soon?"
"I dunno. Do ya have to be someplace?" asked Launchpad.
She shook her head. "No, I just... I mean... if he wants me to leave, then I should..."
"Don't worry about it."
"I probably should have called first," she said worriedly, "but I'm just no good on the phone..."
"You just gotta relax. Stop gettin' all nervous an' things'll go fine."
"But I'm always nervous," she said, almost plaintively, and then couldn't help but laugh at herself. Launchpad joined her. "I am though!"
"Okay, then don't be as nervous!"
"Y'know what," said Gosalyn suddenly, "howabout I go check on Dad?" She jumped to her feet and disappeared into the kitchen.
Drake leaned against the sink and nursed his second cup of coffee. When the door opened, he looked up sharply, then relaxed when he saw it was his daughter.
"Is she gone?"
"If you mean Marion the Librarian," Gosalyn said, "she's still here. Launchpad's being cute with her. I had to leave."
Drake made a face. "Doesn't that drive you up the wall?"
Gosalyn shrugged. "Not any more than it does when you and Morgana start up."
"Hey!" Drake stared into his coffee mug, trying to discern how much longer he could make it last.
"She's not so bad, Dad," Gosalyn said in a lecturing tone. "She's kind of twitchy, but she seems nice." She pulled a carton of orange juice out of the refrigerator and opened it; Drake reflexively took it from her, placed it on the counter, and handed her a glass. She took it without comment. "But I am pretty sure she's waiting for you to come back out there."
Drake slumped. "You think if I slip out the back window, she'd get the hint?"
Gosalyn rolled her eyes as she took a big swallow of orange juice, then said, "Geez, Dad. Just come out, talk to her, and get it over with!"
"Pfft. Fine." He finished off his coffee and made for the door. As Gosalyn followed him, he turned to face her just before they left the room. "But I know I've told you before about letting strangers into the house. Don't think I'm just going to let this go."
"Oh come on, she's totally harmless!"
He shook his head, and the finger he was pointing at her. "That's not the point this time! She could have been a mass murderer, you know! They look just like everyone else! I think it's time we started reconsidering whether or not you're old enough to stay by yourself on the nights when I'm out."
Gosalyn stopped, and looked at him with her mouth hanging open. "You're kidding."
"Dead serious." He turned back towards the door, and Gosalyn stepped in front of him.
"Are you just saying this to get back at me for letting someone you don't like in the house? Because that's not cool."
"I'm saying this because I'm your father," he said, deftly side-stepping the question and feeling more than a little annoyed that she'd picked up on that. "And I'm responsible for your safety." He pushed past her, and stepped into the living room, using his conversation with her as an excuse to keep from immediately addressing Beth. "I think it's time we started looking for-"
"No Dad! Don't say it!" Gosalyn exclaimed, her eyes wide and pleading. She went so far as to hold both hands out to him, clasped in front of her chest.
"-A babysitter," he finished, and Gosalyn groaned loudly. "Since you seem to need a refresher course in certain basic concepts of home security."
"I'm - I'm sorry," said Beth Webfoot from behind him. She stood next to Launchpad, looking uncertain. "I don't want to intrude..."
Good. Drake had been afraid she wouldn't take the hint. He started gently inching towards her with the intention of getting her to back up towards the door. It worked amazingly well; apparently she was easily herded. "Well, sorry you had to come all this way for nothing, you know how kids are, maybe LP can stop by in a few days to see what it was you wanted, don't forget your bag! Take care now." He finished with a little wave.
Beth looked overwhelmed, but after a moment she shook her head. "As long as I'm here - this will only take a minute, and I might as well just-" She reached into her bag again, and Drake was just about to see if pushing her out the door would be necessary when recognition lit her features and she went for her pocket instead. A moment later she brought her hand out, holding a little object that he recognized after a second as a bolt.
She smiled, and when he didn't say anything for a space, she clarified. "It's a double-plait bolt! Four-and-a-quarter, isn't that the one you needed?"
Drake looked at Launchpad to be sure. His sidekick nodded. To Beth, Drake said, "Well... yes, actually." He noticed that he sounded surprised. For that matter, he noted a moment later, he was surprised. She'd actually done something helpful? "Uh, well, I guess I owe you..." He trailed off; the price of the bolt had never been discussed. "What do I owe you?"
Still smiling - now a smile wide enough that she her face seemed to threaten to split in two - Beth said, "No charge. I mean, the boxes are like 1.99 for a box of twenty-four, plus tax and all so I guess I could charge you nine cents for the one but really, what would be the point when I can pretty easily cover that myself? Oh, Launchpad, don't let me leave without paying you back!" she said, turning swiftly to face her biggest fan, and then whipped back around to smile again at Drake before Launchpad could answer her. "Anyway you said you only needed one, right? I-I could get you more but it would take a little longer because -"
"This is fine," Drake interrupted her, sensing that he would have to do that before she'd stop speaking. The constant stream of chatter was still annoying, but now that he was looking at the bolt that would fix his biggest current problem, it was a lot less annoying than it had been a few minutes ago. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if maybe he'd misjudged her. "This is actually very, very useful," he said, still sounding surprised.
Beth managed to grin even more widely, and again she spun around quickly to grin at Launchpad, who was standing behind her.
Well, misjudged or not, the bolt was still just a start to the morning. He needed to get rid of her before he could repair the gun, or go after Megavolt, or any of the things he'd need to do today; and at the moment she was acting more like she was being invited to stay for tea than like a clerk who had completed an errand.
Drake cleared his throat. "Well, once again, thanks for stopping by and maybe we'll see you again at the store." He didn't try the herding trick, in the hopes that she'd remove herself this time, but he did keep it in mind just in case.
She hesitated, then started towards the door, which was good; then she paused and turned back, which was less good. "You know, I - I really do hate to intrude, but um, were you just saying something about needing a - a babysitter?" She looked back at him, and her eyes were very wide behind those huge glasses. Drake felt himself freeze, just a little, and a tiny voice at the back of his head seemed to start to tell him to do the herding trick and do it now. Instead he let her continue: "B-because, you know, I..." She stopped again, just for a moment, as if waiting for him to cut her off. For some reason, he didn't, and she continued in an almost perplexed tone, "I mean - I have experience. In babysitting, I mean."
Silence met this statement, as everyone waited to see what Drake's response would be.
The entire reason that Beth's sentence had dissolved the way it had was because she was a helplessly bad liar. In fact, the claim was almost entirely untrue. Aside from being the middle child in a family of five, she had no experience caring for children whatsoever; the statement had been made out of desperation, as she began to realize that she had to leave just as she was starting to finally make a good impression, and she might never get another chance to cement that impression. Although Beth had never been trained in the selling school of "getting your foot in the door", she was essentially doing just that.
It wasn't like her to lie, and it was even less like her to draw attention to herself in this way, but there was a buzzing in her head and the words had seemed to come out almost automatically. It felt to her as if her life somehow depended on being allowed into Drake Mallard's world.
His pause lasted long enough for her to be sure that he had actually considered it, rather than just reacting on instinct; that was another good sign. Even when he said, "Ahhh, I don't think so," Beth didn't give up hope. Behind him, his daughter Gosalyn let out an exaggeratedly large breath of relief, which caught his attention; Drake raised an eyebrow and looked vaguely in her direction, and Beth hoped she was reading his expression accurately.
Swallowing hard, she said quickly, "You're about ten, right Gosalyn? Ten or eleven?"
"Too old for a babysitter, anyway!" Gosalyn said, and then added, "No offense."
Beth didn't take any, since her attention was mostly on Drake. "She's got to be a handful. Wants her autonomy, full of ideas, and you can see in her eyes how smart she is."
He looked pleased, but only said, "Yeah. And if she did her homework more often, maybe you'd be able to see it in her grades, too."
Gosalyn, seating herself in front of the TV again, said, "I'm saving it all up for med school."
Beth would have laughed out loud, but Drake was right there, and she'd never felt comfortable laughing in front of other people. She covered her bill with her hand for a moment instead, then cleared her throat. She had no idea what more she could say, though; talking about Gosalyn, although it was all sincere, hadn't given her the openings she'd hoped for. Drake still seemed reluctant.
Launchpad stepped in to her rescue. "I dunno, Drake, this sounds like it could really work out! She really does seem to like Gos, an' I know her pretty well from the store... She's real..." He fumbled for a good word, and finished, "Reliable!" Beth beamed, and looked at her feet.
Drake hedged a little more, but even his reluctance seemed to be dwindling. "Well..."
Beth lifted her head up and tried one last shot. "I have references if you want them!" This was such a lie that she immediately kicked herself for it. She was trying to figure out if she could temporarily open up a couple of extra phone lines at her house when Gosalyn spoke again.
"No way, Dad! I am not going for it!"
"Oh really?" her father asked, turning towards her with an authoritative expression on his face (Beth found it incredibly cute). He crossed his arms. "You are aware that you have very little say in this matter, aren't you?"
She was standing on the couch cushions now. "I don't NEED a babysitter! You've said so yourself!"
"I've been known to make the occasional mistake, little missy! And when the mistake results in the pipes busting through the wall in the kitchen, I'm willing to admit I may have misjudged a situation!"
"It is NOT my fault you had cheap drywall put in!"
The argument had come on so suddenly, and was so vehement on both sides, that it took Beth a little by surprise. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Launchpad, who just shrugged a little wearily.
"That's enough, Gosalyn! My say is final, and I say you need a babysitter!" He turned suddenly to Beth, and said, "You really think you can handle this?"
"I..." A third lie sprang to Beth's mouth and took the plunge, this one the easiest and most natural of any of them. "I love a challenge! I think we'd have a great time."
"You're hired," Drake said, though the second half was nearly drowned out by the sound of Gosalyn's protests. The protests, in turn, could barely compare with the sound of Beth's thumping heart, as she smiled giddily. She jumped a little when a hand touched her shoulder; just for a moment, she'd forgotten Launchpad was there. She shot him a smile, then turned back to Drake Mallard.
"Great," she said shakily. "I, um, when should I...?"
"You can start tonight if you're free," Drake said, and held out his hand.
Beth nodded. "I'm free," she said; "I'm always free." This handshake was to be the biggest event in her life so far. She reached for his hand slowly - it was almost as if the further she reached, the slower her hand moved - and his fingertips were so close to hers that her breathing was quickening.
Everyone in the house jumped when the door slammed open, and Drake jerked his hand back just before she managed to take it; his attention was on the figure in the doorway, and after a moment of regret she followed his gaze.
Standing at the threshold was Megavolt, who looked right at her and said, "HERE you are!"
To be continued!