Disclaimer: I do not own The Incredibles or Static Shock

Chapter Nineteen: Winter Wonderland

"So you guys are going out?" Violet asked.

Francis nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "Yeah."

Violet smiled at him. They were walking side by side down a hallway in the Sanctum's underground HQ. Both had just spent an hour working in the weight room and were heading to the gym to run laps. "That's great. Do you have any idea where you're going to take her?" Violet tucked a hair that had slipped loose from her ponytail behind her ear. "You're going to have to make a pretty strong impression if you want Frieda to be your girlfriend."

Francis stared down at the tiled floor. "I've got an idea, yeah. She'll probably like it."

"So what is it?" Violet asked.

Francis smirked softly and shook his head.

"Why not?"

"It's a surprise." Francis answered teasingly.

Violet pouted. "That's no fun."

"Learn to live with disappointment." Francis joked. They reached the gym and Francis pulled the door open.

Bob, Lucius, Virgil, and Dash were already inside. Dash was zipping around the track, his body a blur of red and black. The others were standing under one of the basketball hoops, talking. Lucius had a basketball tucked under one arm.

They looked up when Violet and Francis walked in and Bob smiled widely. "Perfect timing. Francis is on my team."

"Huh?" Francis raised an eyebrow.

"We were trying to figure out teams for a game." Lucius explained, holding the basketball aloft. "Two v two, you in?"

"Against you two?" Francis nodded at Lucius and Virgil. "Sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Virgil asked.

"It means you suck at basketball and I love cleaning the floor with you." Francis grinned.

Bob snickered. Lucius put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Yeah, but you've got the human wrecking ball to play with. Graceful, he is not."

"I am extremely graceful." Bob looked affronted.

"Enough talking, more playing." Francis snagged the ball out of Lucius' hands and sprinted up court, dribbling the ball expertly and throwing a lay up into the net with ease.

He turned and grinned at the others. "One to none."

"No fair!" Virgil retrieved the ball.

Francis shrugged. "Who said I play fair?"

Francis was actually putting a lot of effort into this date. He knew this was his one chance. If he couldn't impress Frieda tonight, then that was it. He would be stuck in the friend-zone. And he'd have to pretend like he didn't mind when he would really be kicking himself for blowing his one opportunity.

He pulled a dark blue button-up out of his closet that wasn't too badly wrinkled and laid it out on his bed. Then he found a pair of jeans that didn't have holes in the knees. So far so good. Francis got dressed and walked to the bathroom. He shaved and ran his hands through his hair, making it spikier than usual. He might have even dabbed a little of Bob's cologne onto the back of his neck. It couldn't hurt.

Francis had begged and pleaded with Bob to let him borrow one of the family cars for tonight. He didn't think Frieda would appreciate having to ride on a motorcycle in winter.

He spared a glance at the clock over the microwave in the kitchen and sped to his room. He'd have to leave in the next few minutes if he wanted to pick Frieda up and still be on time.

He put his shoes on and threw on his warmest coat, stuffing a pair of gloves into the pocket.

Francis had hoped no one would be around when he left. Everyone had found out about the date one way or another and had been teasing him relentlessly all week.

He ran into Virgil first. Virgil grinned at Francis as he walked in the living room. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Francis hurried past.

Dash zoomed out of the kitchen, balancing a bowl of popcorn in one hand and an open can of pop in the other. He wiggled his little blond eyebrows at Francis suggestively. "Have fun."

Francis aimed a kick at the little speedster but Dash just laughed and dodged before running into another room. Francis shook his head and chuckled quietly.

Francis ducked away from Helen who wanted to fix his hair and from Bob who tried to give him a talk about respect and boundaries and then thankfully made it to the sanctuary of the garage. Francis slammed the door shut and thought about melting the lock so no one could follow him in. There was something wrong with the people in that house.

Frieda opened the door and smiled at Francis standing on the stoop. He returned the smile. "Hi." Francis said softly.

"Hi." Frieda fiddled with her scarf. Francis had told her to dress warm. It's a good thing he did. The sun had set and it was cold out. Soft flakes began to fall from the clear night sky.

"Um, should we…or…?" Francis hesitated. He wasn't sure about date etiquette.

Frieda laughed. "We can just go. But we have to be back by eleven, my parents get nervous about first dates."

"Okay, then we better get going." Francis said. He offered his hand to Frieda and they walked down the steps to the car.

The conversation was pretty stilted at first. Weeks of being candid and comfortable in each other's presence were dashed to pieces by the awkward first date atmosphere. Francis drummed his hands on the steering wheel, just to fill the silence with some sound. Frieda smiled at him and put her hand on his arm. Francis relaxed slightly.

"So where are we going?" Frieda looked out the window. They were driving towards the suburbs that circled Dakota. Apartment buildings and skyscrapers rapidly turned into brick houses and strip malls.

"You'll see." Francis teased. The snow began to fall in heavier, fluffier flakes.

Frieda squealed in delight when Francis pulled into the Dakota Zoo's parking lot. "What are we doing here? It's not open at night."

Francis just smirked and walked Frieda to the entrance. There was a line of people streaming through the gates, all bundled up in winter clothing. Francis and Frieda joined the end of the line.

"During the winter, the zoo does a Christmas light show…thing. It's open at night and people can walk around. Some of the animal exhibits are open and there are light displays." Francis explained, as they got closer to the front of the line.

Francis paid for their tickets and they walked through the gate. The view was breathtaking.

There were lights draped over every tree. Some lights had been shaped to form the outlines of animals. A glittering brown monkey climbed shining green trees, a twinkling yellow banana in his little hand. A pink hippo threw sparkling blue water over himself. Giant snowflakes adorned every lamppost.

Meanwhile, the snow continued to fall in fat flakes, twinkling as they passed through the lights and settled on the ground.

Frieda's eyes shined as she took it all in.

"Do you like it?" Francis asked.

Frieda threw her arms around the boy. "I love it! It's so beautiful!"

Francis let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in. "Good."

"Let's walk around." Frieda intertwined their arms and they set off.

Francis didn't mind letting Frieda pull him along. They walked slowly, arm in arm with Frieda resting her head on Francis' shoulder, occasionally letting out a small delighted gasp as she pointed something out to him.

Besides the dazzling light displays, some animal exhibits were open as well. The polar bears and penguins were the most popular and crowds had gathered around those exhibits. Francis made Frieda squeal by dramatically leaning backwards over the bear enclosure. She grabbed his coat, laughing as she pulled him upright.

When snuggling into Francis' side as they walked was not enough to keep the shivers away, they stopped and got hot chocolates from a stand. Francis felt a little guilty because he could easily keep Frieda warm, but that would bring on complicated questions Francis didn't know he could answer. He felt better when Frieda got whipped cream on the tip of her nose and she let him wipe it off. Francis popped his thumb into his mouth to lick the sugar and the way Frieda looked at him, with her cheeks red from the cold and snowflakes in her hair, Francis didn't know if he had ever seen anything prettier in his entire life.

Frieda gripped the front of Francis' coat and buried her head in his chest before reaching up and brushing the snow off his shoulders. She grinned up at him and then pulled on his hand, leading him down the path to the next exhibit.

Francis didn't want to be cocky, but he might have just planned and executed the best first date in the history of first dates.

On the drive home, Frieda and Francis talked non-stop and couldn't seem to keep their hands to themselves. Francis resisted the urge to pull over to side of the road to steam up the windows, which would be pretty easy for him.

Francis got Frieda home ten minutes before her curfew. Her parents were standing by the bay window, looking out for their daughter. They abruptly closed the curtains when the teens spotted them.

"Sorry, about them." Frieda sighed, blushing red. "They can get pretty protective. I'm kind of surprised they're not coming out here to interrogate you."

"I'm pretty okay with them not doing that." Francis admitted.

Frieda giggled. "I think most boys would agree with that sentiment."

They were quiet for a second. "I really had a lot of fun tonight." Frieda said.

"Good, me too." Francis smiled. "So it was a good date?"

Frieda nodded. "The best date I've ever been on. And I'm not just saying that."

"So, we can go out again?" Francis offered tentatively.

"Definitely." Frieda reached out and thumbed Francis' collar, then stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "Most definitely."

Francis grinned and swooped down, kissing Frieda full on the lips like he'd wanted to all night. His hands were on her waist and she was holding onto his coat and she tasted as sweet as that whipped cream had. The porch light flickered on and off and Frieda stepped back, rolling her eyes. "My dad." She kicked the front door. The light flickered again.

Frieda bit her lip. "I'd better go in."

Francis nodded. "Ok."

"You'll call me?"

Francis nodded again. "Yeah."

"Ok." Frieda smiled at Francis and opened the door. "Good night."

"Good night." Francis put his hands in his pockets and grinned at her. The door shut softly behind Frieda.

Francis leapt off the stoop and pumped his fist in the air.

An explosion rocked the Loft. Black smoke clogged the vision of Lucius and Bob, who were monitoring from the control room. Bob sighed and hit the kill switch, the simulation coming to an abrupt end.

Virgil coughed violently; he held one hand over his mouth and the other waving in front of his face, trying to clear the air. He slowly lowered his disc back to the ground.

Francis rubbed the back of his head, face twisted into a grimace. The front of his uniform was singed and smoking. He picked himself up as Virgil landed beside him.

Violet released the force field that surrounded her body and put her hands on her hips, glaring at Francis. "What was that?"

"What?" Francis brushed the glowing embers off the flame retardant fabric of his uniform.

"That was like amateur hour." Violet complained, sweeping her hand to indicate the remains of a detonated bomb a few feet away from Francis, the obvious source of the explosion. "You are fire guy. You have one job; don't let the bomb go off. What do you do? You let the bomb go off. If this were a real mission civilians could have been killed."

"I tried." Francis growled through gritted teeth. "I almost got there…"

"Almost isn't good enough Francis." Bob's voice came on over the speakers. "Forget what would happen in the real world, you weren't protecting your teammates. If Violet hadn't gotten her shield up she would have been hurt. We will not run these simulations if you cannot handle them. We don't want anybody getting hurt."

Francis let out a frustrated breath.

"Relax man." Virgil said. "They're trying to help."

"And I'm trying to do what they're saying." Francis retorted.

"Then maybe we should go back to the easier simulations." Lucius suggested.

"No!" Violet stamped her foot. "Me and Virgil have been working for months to get to this level."

Francis leveled a glare at Violet.

"Violet, patience is a virtue." Bob scolded gently. "Francis is new to this. Let's give him a chance."

Violet nodded after a moment. "You're right." She turned to Francis. "Sorry. I got frustrated."

Francis nodded in acknowledgement.

"Let's try this again from the top." Lucius said. "To your starting positions."

Francis ran a towel through his hair agitatedly, still fuming from the training session. He threw the towel across the room and flopped back onto his bed. He was exhausted. His schoolwork on top of his Superhero bookwork on top of intense weekly training sessions was drowning him. He was always sore, especially since Violet and Virgil had graduated to the next level of training, for which they were fully prepared, and Francis had tagged along. He thought he could handle it. He might have been wrong.

He didn't have Violet or Virgil's knowledge of evasive maneuvers or team exercises, although he had been trying to learn. There was a playbook the Sanctum Supers utilized, the same kind used in football, which Francis had been reading through every night, trying to catch up to the other teens. He was still only halfway through. Violet and Virgil had had it memorized for weeks.

The training sessions were tough and Francis usually got the hang of it by the end, but it was a trial getting there. Francis felt a tightness in his chest and he rubbed his palm distractedly over where the pain was. He'd never realized how hard it was being a Superhero.

"Mom."

No response.

"Mooooom."

Silence.

Dash rolled his eyes. "Mom, you're doing it again."

"Doing what?" Helen asked distractedly, trying to feed Jack-Jack some strained peas. Jack-Jack was clapping his hands in the gooey green paste covering the tray in front of him and ducking his head whenever the spoon got too close to his mouth.

"The faces. You're doing the weird faces again." Dash explained. He tapped his fingers against the table.

"I do not do weird faces." Helen argued, not taking her eyes off her infant son. Jack-Jack's attention wandered and she managed to get a spoonful of food past his lips. Jack-Jack scowled at her, furrowing his little brow in disapproval but he swallowed anyway. Helen grinned in delight and contorted her face into a series of smiles and dopey looks all while cooing happily at Jack-Jack.

"Yeah, you do." Dash grumbled. "It's weird."

"Hiya honey." Bob walked into the kitchen and bent over to kiss his wife on the cheek.

"Hi. How's training going?" Helen scooped a fresh spoonful of peas out of the jar.

Bob rummaged in the fridge for something sweet and eventually found a package of Oreos in the cupboard. "It's alright. Francis is having some difficulty adjusting to the group dynamic."

"When do I get to train?" Dash asked.

"He'll get the hang of it." Helen said. "Francis is a fast learner."

Bob looked over his shoulder at his wife to reply. "Hon, you're doing the faces."

'Told ya." Dash said triumphantly.

Bob poured himself a glass of milk and sat down beside Dash, tossing a cookie onto his son's plate. Dash grinned and reached for it. Bob shook his head. "Finish your sandwich first."

"Awww." Dash whined.

Jack-Jack knocked the spoon from Helen's hand. It flew across the table. Helen flung her arm forward and caught it before the utensil went clattering to the floor. Helen sighed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. She reached across the kitchen for a dishrag to wipe up the spilled food. "Honestly, Jack-Jack. You don't like the peaches, the peas, the carrots, or the applesauce. I'm running out of things to feed you. You have to eat something."

Jack-Jack just looked up at his mother happily, banging his hands against the tray.

Bob chuckled. "Just give him some ice cream or something. I'm sure he'd eat that."

"Yeah, because that sounds healthy." Helen rolled her eyes.

"I wish I could have ice cream for lunch." Dash grumbled, picking at his sandwich.

"Don't we all." Bob ruffled Dash's hair fondly. "C'mon finish up and maybe you and me can go do some basic exercises down in the Loft."

"Awesome!" Dash took an enormous bite out of his sandwich and chased it with a mouthful of water.

"Dash, chew." Helen scolded. "You're going to choke."

Dash finished his lunch in three huge bites and dropped his plate in the sink. He jumped up and down in front of his father, eager to get to training. "C'mon Dad. Let's go."

"One sec." Bob ate one last Oreo and drained his glass of milk. He cleaned up and turned to Dash. "So what do you want to work on today?"

"Let's do the obstacle course."

"You always do the obstacle course."

"I'm good at it."

"Yeah, but you've mastered it. It's not a challenge. Maybe we should start you on a Rescue Mission."

"By myself?"

"Can you handle it?"

"Duh."

"Day."

"Good, so we can…" Bob trailed off. He looked at Helen. They both stared at each other with shocked expressions before turning to Jack-Jack. The baby smiled up at them. "Day." He clapped his hands together. "Day day day."

Helen clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god. His first word."

Bob and Dash smiled. "He's saying my name!" They exclaimed simultaneously. They looked at each other.

"I think it's pretty clear he's trying to say Da-Da." Bob said. He leaned over and cooed at Jack-Jack. "Aren't you? Yes, you are saying my name. Yes you are."

"No way." Dash jumped up and ran over to Jack-Jack. "He was saying Dash."

"He said Da-Da." Bob repeated adamantly.

"Dash." Dash argued.

Helen rolled her eyes.

Virgil fingered the thick envelope and contemplated what was inside.

Emblazoned across the front in stylish black calligraphy was the address of the Vanmoor Institute. Inside was an invitation to enroll.

Virgil's hands shook in excitement. The Vanmoor Institute was one of the most prestigious and selective schools on the East Coast. Nearly all the students went on to Ivy League schools. There were only about 300 students enrolled and they came from all over the country. The Institute specialized in science and technology, Virgil's favorite subjects.

It was almost too outlandish to believe. The Vanmoor Institute wanted Virgil. He'd always gotten straight A's and was well liked by teachers but Virgil hadn't thought anything of it. He thought he was pretty average.

The front door opened and closed. Lucius was home from work.

Virgil got up and walked into Lucius' suite. His father was in the bedroom, changing out of his work clothes. "Pops?" Virgil called, settling onto the couch.

"Yeah Virg?" Lucius called back, poking his head out of the bedroom to look at his son.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Virgil asked.

Lucius nodded. "Give me a sec."

A few minutes later Lucius emerged in casual clothes with a smile on his face. He plopped down onto the couch next to Virgil and threw his arm over his son's shoulders. "So what's up?"

"This came in the mail today." Virgil said and handed the letter to his father.

Lucius stared at the seal in confusion for a moment and then pulled the invitation out of the envelope. He read it silently and then briefly flipped through a brochure that had come with the invitation. He looked at Virgil. "Wow. This school looks amazing."

"It is." Virgil agreed. "I did some research this afternoon and it's the best place to study science."

"Which you want to do." Lucius finished the sentiment.

"It's in Dakota so I wouldn't have to change my commute or anything." Virgil said. "And I could still hang out with Richie after school or on weekends or something."

"It sounds like you want to go." Lucius said.

Virgil furrowed his brow before nodding. "I think I do. It would be dumb to pass up something like this up."

"Then I'm a hundred percent behind you son." Lucius squeezed Virgil's shoulder. "And even if it is the best school in the whole country, if it's not the right place for you we can always figure something else out. I want you to get a good education and be happy. You don't think transferring to a second school in half a year is a bit much?"

"I don't know." Virgil said truthfully. "I really do like Dakota High. Things are good there. But I need to check this out. I'd always think about it if I didn't."

Lucius nodded. "Ok." He looked at the invitation again. "Well, it says here we can tour the school before we finalize anything. How about I take a day off from work next week and we go check this place out."

Virgil grinned. "Sounds good."

To sum it up, the Vanmoor Institute was just about the coolest place on the planet.

Virgil was in complete awe. He and his dad had taken the tour, been shown the classrooms and facilities, and paged through the class catalog. Everything seemed perfect. It was Virgil's dream school.

There were normal classes for most of the day, including English and history along with other core curriculum classes. Most of the afternoon, however, was filled with specialized science courses and project classes.

"So what do you think Pops?" Virgil asked as he and Lucius sat down on one of the outdoor benches in the courtyard.

"I think it's a very impressive school." Lucius looked around. "I think you'd like it here."

Virgil nodded. "Me too."

"So is that a yes?" Lucius asked.

Virgil nodded again. "Yeah. Let's do it. I want to enroll."

Lucius stood up and stretched his back. 'Then I'm going to attempt to re-find the front office and maybe get a head start on the paper work."

"I think I'll walk around a little. Meet you out front in an hour?" Virgil asked.

"Deal." Lucius walked off.

Virgil watched his dad turn a corner and then he stood up, looking around the courtyard. He wanted to explore the school some more and find some students to talk to.

To Virgil's disappointment, not many of the students seemed interested in talking with a strange teenager they didn't know. They all seemed very wrapped up in their own work. Kids were walking the halls with telescopes in cases, huge graphs and poster boards, and they were punching numbers into calculators with the same fervor and ferocity that teenagers at Dakota High played video games.

"Hey, excuse me." Virgil tried to start up a conversation with two older boys slouching against a wall. One had long blond hair pulled into a ponytail and the other had on glasses and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

"Can we help you?" The one with glasses asked snidely. He crossed his arms over his chest and exchanged smirks with his friend, as if sharing a private joke.

"My name's Virgil and I'm transferring here next week. I was wondering if you had any tips for the new guy? I don't really know what to expect." Virgil explained, putting on his friendly face.

"I don't know Mr. Trapper. Do you have any tips?"

The blond shook his head, a mean grin pulling at his lips. "Not that I can think of Mr. Specs. You?"

"Yeah, here's one." Specs stood upright. "Always watch where you're going in the hallways, they can get pretty crowded.

"Um, alright. But I…" Virgil swallowed the rest of the sentence as Specs pushed him backwards into the stream of students. Virgil collided with someone and they both fell. Papers flew into the air. Nobody stopped to help or even cast a sidelong glance at the kids on the floor.

Virgil rubbed the back of his head as he sat up. "Those jerks." He growled, glaring at the spot where Specs and Trapper had been. They had disappeared into the crowd of students.

"We really have to stop meeting like this."

Virgil turned around and couldn't help but gape. Daisy was on her knees, trying to gather her papers before people stepped on them.

"Daisy?" Virgil managed to choke out.

"Hi Virgil." Daisy smiled.

Virgil shook off his shock and scrambled to retrieve the rest of Daisy's things before helping her up. "I'm so sorry. This time it wasn't my fault. I was pushed by this jerk…"

Daisy held up her hand to stop him. "Let me guess, ponytail and glasses?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Virgil asked.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Specs and Trapper are jerks. Geniuses, but jerks. Just ignore them." Her eyes widened as she suddenly thought of something. "But what are you doing here? I thought you went to Dakota High?"

"I do…or I did. I just transferred." Virgil said, feeling proud of himself.

A smile lit up Daisy's face. "That's fantastic! Maybe we'll have some classes together."

"I hope so." Virgil said.

The bell rang. Daisy looked down the hallway. "I've got to go." She looked back at Virgil. "I'll see you on Monday?"

"You bet." Virgil grinned.

"See you around then." Daisy waved as she walked away.

Virgil looked up to the ceiling and fervently wished that he be in every single one of Daisy's classes.

Author's Note:

Woohoo! Update! So this chapter's basically a whole bunch of fluff filler. Fluff that sets up some later stuff but still, I got a toothache writing this chapter it was so sweet.

So, I don't know if the zoos in your area do Christmas lights but mine does and it actually is magical. Seriously. Any guys out there, take note. It would make the best date. Ever.

PLEASE REVIEW!