"Holy moly…just what is she doing in there?" Kathy snapped angrily as her patience finally reached its limit; enough was enough. After slamming so hard down upon her car horn she nearly punched a hole through the steering wheel, the intensely frustrated young woman clambered out of her battered little sedan and stormed up the walkway towards the ornate front doors of the massive Victorian mansion, all the while muttering murderously under her breath.

"Fifteen minutes? What did she decide she wanted to try and read War and Peace right before she left? I told her I'd be here at seven-thirty! Not seven forty-five, and she's completely out of her mind if she thinks I'm going to just sit in my car and twiddle my thumbs until past eight o'clock! C'mon, what is taking her so long? Sheesh!"

She continued ranting venomously to herself as she strode up the porch for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and without so much as a quick courtesy knock, Kathy open the doors and barged straight into the foyer.

"Hey, Frankie! Frankie!" The young woman stopped in front of the main staircase, cupped her hands over her mouth and began howling like an irate timber wolf. "Hey Frankie, you comin' or not? Seriously, I'm not waiting one minute more for y-"

"Shhhhh!" a panicked shush suddenly rang out from the nearby TV room. "Not so loud!"

As soon as she recognized the unmistakable voice of Foster's resident caretaker, Kathy abruptly went silent, gawked confusedly in the direction of her friend's reply for a few moments, then broke out anew with a fresh sour scowl.

"I don't care if a little too much of a racket gets the rabbit's underwear in a knot!" she snapped furiously. "You know how long I've been waiting for you in the driveway? Too long, that's how much! Seriously, this is not cool! What are you-"

"Kathy! For crying out loud, will you just quiet down a little?" she could hear her best friend beg shamelessly.

"Oh, no way! Not until you tell me why…" The cross retort died upon Kathy's thickly painted lips the second she entered the room and came across a rather curious sight. By the look of Frances "Frankie" Foster's makeup-coated features, snappy outfit, and scarlet locks let down from their usual ponytail, it seemed that she was more than ready for a night out.

However the dozing little boy lying curled atop her while she lay sprawled across the couch, plus the look of almost motherly worry on her expression all seemed to give a clear sign that the redhead was going absolutely nowhere soon. As Mac stirred a little in his deep slumber, Frankie instinctively hugged him a little closer and grimaced.

"You…you almost woke him up." she whispered with an embarrassed grimace, make it clear that she was more than aware of how odd the whole scene looked. Kathy, hopelessly baffled, just stared back for a few moments as if the caretaker was completely out of her mind.

"So…this is why I've been waiting?" she murmured as she began to fidget confusedly with her slightly curly, jet-black locks. Almost instantaneously Frankie lit up with such a magnificent blush her flaming red hair and her normally pale facial tone nearly became indistinguishable from one another.

"I'm sorry, Kathy, I'm sorry!" she sputtered apologetically. "I swear, I didn't mean to keep you waiting, it's just that…well, I got ready earlier than I expected, so I decided to watch some TV to kill the time, and…Mac joined me, see, and he…he just kind of…y'know dozed off, and…honest, I heard you honk loud and clear when you first showed up, but…b-but…"

While she was temporarily overwhelmed with utter embarrassment to the point where all she could do was stammer, Kathy tilted her head and murmured incredulously, "…You didn't come out to the car…because Mac decided to take a nap?"

As absolutely foolish as she knew it sounded, Frankie reluctantly admitted the queer fact of the matter with a wordless nod before trying to explain lamely, "I'd…I'd have to get up to leave and…I-I didn't want to wake him up while I-"

Before she could go on like so, Kathy buried her face in her hands with emitted a low groan of complete and total aggravation. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me…"

"Oh c'mon, Kath, give the little guy a break!" The redhead protested. "He didn't sleep well at all this week, he was too busy stressing about a history project that he had due today, and-"

"Mac is not the problem here, and you know it, Mama Foster!" Her friend countered. "Oh my God, you're…you're….you're just unbelievable, you know that?"

As one of her least-favorite nicknames rang loud and clear in her ears, Frankie at first wanted to fire back with the appropriate counter, but before she knew it, instead she found herself arguing defensively "But…but you should've seen him Thursday night! The poor little guy was so tired, I thought that-"

"And so I was just supposed to just wait outside all night because you wanted Mac to catch up on his Z's?" Kathy grumbled.

"It's not like I didn't try and do anything!" The redhead countered. "When I heard you pull in, I did try to get up, but…"

"But…?" the other woman grumbled impatiently as she tapped her foot.

"I…I-I…" Frankie stammered a little in her still-skyrocketing embarrassment before she managed to answer, "I tried to get up, but…see, as soon as I tried, Mac stirred a little, and…and I thought I might wake him up by accident, and…I keep trying, really, but every time, it always seems that I might…y'know….look, I know I sounds stupid, but-"

"And it only sounds stupid because it is stupid!" Kathy snapped as she rolled her eyes. "Holy jeez, you are such a freaking mom, I can't even stand it! Frankie, you're really going overboard here, you know that? You're my friend and I love you to death, but sometimes you're just too much with-"

"I'm not a mom!" Frankie snapped. "I'm Mac's big sister. And you better not bring up that stupid argument again, because-"

"Earth to Frances Bridgett Foster!" her friend groaned. "Just look at yourself! The only reason we're in this mess is because you're without a doubt the most shamelessly maternal woman I know, and because of that you can't get off your rear and-"

"I…I…" Frankie sputtered "No, it's just that…I-I told you, I just don't-"

"Pfft! Yeah right!" Kathy scoffed. "Don't even try it! You can't fool me! And don't think you can get away only with that 'I just don't want to wake him" load of garbage. I see right through you, Foster's resident Mommy! You tell me it's only that, but you and I both know it's not true! You say that you don't wanna budge only because Mac needs to sleep, but you know what?"

The young woman leaned in close to the redhead as she accused in a whisper, "You don't it this only because you have to, but because you like this. No, scratch that, you love it when you just get to cuddle him, because you are hands-down, such a m-"

"N-no!" Frankie hastily replied, but her darkening blush said otherwise.

As the redhead nearly became as scarlet as a ripe strawberry, Kathy shot right back, "See? See? You do like it, because you're such a mom! M-O-M, mom! Got it? You're the most motherly thing here in a fifty mile radius, and that's what's holding us back from-"

"Nuh-uh! Kathy, I've said it a thousand times over, I'm Mac's big sister and guardian and…and I…" Rather than continue on with the instinctive barrage of protest, Frankie actually paused a moment to mull over her friend's accusations. Her emerald eyes darted down towards the still-slumbering child in her arms, and once she realized the full extent as to how utterly reluctant she was to disturb her charge, she let out a long sigh that seemed to say, just who am I kidding?

"See? See?" Kathy said accusingly. "Case-closed! You are so a mom, and that's what's holding you back! But if you think I'm gonna let that keep us from a night out, then you have another thing coming! C'mere!"

"Hey! What are you doing?" the redhead yelped as her friend took a few steps forward with arms outstretched.

"Doing what you didn't have the guts to take two measly seconds to do, Mommy!" Kathy grumbled. "Look, this isn't rocket science! If you're having such a hard time parting with him, then I'll just pick up Mac, you can get up, and I'll put him back down nice and easy-"

"No!" Frankie steadfastly refused, looking so horrified it was as if her companion had just offered to shove Mac into a wood-chipper. Automatically the stubborn woman tightened her hold on the boy and cried, "You might wake him up! C'mon, he really needs this!"

"Fretful Mama Foster thinks that he needs it!" Kathy plopped herself down on the other end of the couch with a frustrated sigh. "That, and chances are it probably doesn't even matter what you do tonight, because if I know you, and unfortunately I do, you'd probably be just as happy staying here and-"

"I know it sounds weird!" Frankie snapped. "But…look, I just really, really don't want to wake up Mac because…because…"

After trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, the redhead admitted defeat with a sigh as she started shaking her head wearily. "Okay, you know what? Fine, you win! I do like this! God forbid I actually like bonding with him! Oh, heaven forbid it!" she whispered sarcastically.

"Thank you!" Kathy sighed in relief.

"But I swear, it's mainly because I just don't want to wake him up, okay?" Frankie snapped. "I don't. If you're more than willing to rouse a little kid after watching him barely get a wink of rest for almost a week, well then good for you! But I do not want to-"

"You're just too maternal for your own good, that's what you are!" Kathy shot back. "I mean c'mon Frankie -"

"That's just the way it is, all right? It's…look, it's a parent thing, okay?" Frankie tried to clarify. "You don't have a kid to look after, you wouldn't understand-"

"I work for child services, and I've seriously met moms with newborns who aren't a third as bad as you can get!" Kathy grumbled exasperatedly. "Look, I'm sick of arguing about this! This isn't hard, Frankie, just pick him up and-"

"It's a lot harder than it looks, Kathy!" Frankie vehemently asserted. "Trust me, if you were in my place-"

"If I was in your place, I would've gotten up and out the door as soon as I heard my friend in the driveway!" Kathy snapped. "But apparently that's way too much for you to handle, because you're such a Grade-A M-"

"Is everything okay? Whatcha fighting about?" the curious query abruptly interrupted the fierce bickering. Together the two ceased their bickering and looked up to see a familiar little girl gawking curiously at them as she plodded into the room in her banana-yellow cowboy boots.

"…Goo?" Frankie exclaimed in surprise. "Wait…where'd you come from? I thought that you left-"

"I called Mama, and she said I could stay here a little longer…" Goo paused to rub drooping eyelids. "Only if I agreed not to go home and let her come by and pick me up instead, y'know, so I don't get lost wandering around out in the dark, or get hit by a car or truck or motor scooter, or maybe a bike, or even getting attacked by a flock of bats, or something like that, y'know. Anyway, I was just playin' with Bloo and Coco in the arcade but…I dunno, I don't have it in me for another round of Ultra Speedboat Racer, because….because…"

The child's unusually slow-paced jabbering was interrupted by a gaping yawn, thus signaling that she was running pretty low on energy. So worn out was she, Goo didn't even seem to notice that the two young women were all dressed to go out; all she noticed was her friend fast asleep in Frankie's lap, and once she saw that Mac was deeply slumbering, which she smiled weakly and asked hopefully, "Hey, can I hang out in here with you guys?"

Before Kathy could understand what was going on, the little girl had already walked over, climbed up onto the sofa, and began clambering into her lap. Needless to say, she wasn't pleased, and immediately tried driving the little one away with a barrage of gentle scolding.

"Whoa, hey! No, nuh-uh! You can sit next to me, okay? Next to me. Goo, what did I just say? I said next to me. Seriously, I'm…no, we're leaving in like, a minute, so you….hey, what did I just tell you? I'm not a pillow, all right? Hey! Hey, are you listening to me?"

Apparently not, seeing as how without a moment's pause, Goo had gone right ahead and curled up atop the young woman's thighs. The moment she made herself comfortable, the drowsy child let her almond eyes shut tight.

Hardly in the mood to be used as a human mattress, Kathy just groaned in annoyance, rolled her eyes, and scooped the little one right off. Or…at least, that was what she wanted to do, at first.

"Uh oh…" Much to her untold horror, the first thing that crossed her mind as she was about to grab onto the little girl was not how much of a pest Goo was being. Rather, she couldn't help but notice how…as Goo lay there, smiling softly in contentment, all curled up and….well, what other way was there to say it? The already half-asleep child looked downright adorable.

Abruptly she made a burst of effort to try and snap back to her senses. Despite her efforts to convince herself a quick shove was all Goo needed…only a moment later she found herself wincing a little at the very idea while she found herself staring in beguilement at the blissful little creature.

"Oh no…" she moaned unhappily as soon as the terrible realization sank it. Despite all that she had been proudly proclaiming earlier…she didn't have the heart at all to disturb such a picturesque sight. "It's…it's…"

She banged the back of her head on the couch and gazed heavenwards with a whimper of utter dismay. "It's too cute."

"Wait a minute, you're not gonna let just a little kid stop you…are you?" Frankie teased from her end of the sofa, as a fat jubilant smirk spread across her features from ear to ear. Kathy sighed heavily while she lit up with a bright crimson blush.

"Y'know…" she murmured with a sigh as she tried to make herself comfortable. "On second thought…vegging out here isn't really all that bad…"

The End