Gracie breathed in the cool sea air as she and Mom backed the Mustang out of the craft's large cargo bay. It was leaps and bounds warmer than western PA but there was definitely a pleasant nip in the air. But more than anything…GOOD GRIEF; she needed a good night's sleep. According to Mom, it was a sixteen hour time difference between Middleton and Wellington! Ugh…Gracie felt like the walking dead in the seat next to Mom. How…how did Mom manage to look so awake?
"I know you're almost fifteen Gracie dear," Mom sighed, flashing her ID to Airport Security as they drove off. "But the moment we check into the hotel, it is so 'Bedtime for Bonzo'."
"No arguments…YAWN…here Mom," Gracie moaned, fighting to stay awake as far as the hotel. "How…YAAWWWWWNNNN…how are you still awake?"
And try she did, bravely and valiantly. Under different circumstances, Gracie would've been awestruck at the bright lights and the beautiful cityscape they were currently driving through. Wellington truly was a lovely city. Kim took in the whole street. She and Eme had done several missions in the land of the Kiwis and in general, it was just a pleasing environment all around. The Bolton Hotel loomed in front of them and Kim pulled into the parking lot. Mother and daughter checked in at the lobby and Kim got Gracie to the elevator as quickly as possible. The trip to their floor was a little iffy. By the time Kim had managed to get the door unlocked and both the Possibles had dropped their luggage on the sofa, Gracie Possible had officially gone as far as she could go. Never mind being subtle; Gracie just fell to the cushy bed and completely clocked out.
Just like when she'd fight to stay awake when we'd let her stay up, Kim thought to herself, Out like a lite. Kim's maternal instincts took over and she began cradling her daughter with one arm and lifting the sheets with the other. Kim nestled the nearly comatose Gracie onto the cotton sheets and wraped the blankets securely around her eldest daughter.
Gracie Possible, why do you have to grow up so fast? Kim sighed to herself, gazing at the product of her labor. Ha…in more ways than one. But at least this is something that you'll never get too old for. Kim leaned down and planted a tender kiss on her forehead.
"Goodnight my precious baby," Kim breathed, tucking the covers just a tiny bit tighter.
You had to feel for the poor girl. Throughout the years, Kim had gotten to the point that jet lag didn't really affect her. She was coast to coast so often that her inner clock adjusted fairly easily. The same was said of Shego. Poor Gracie…a sixteen hour time change was hard for anybody but her daughter was TOTALLY wiped out. Secure in the belief that Gracie was sleeping soundly, and being the consummate organizer that she was, with a compulsion that Ron and Monique claimed rivaled that of Veronica from Pals, Kim unpacked their bags.
GRRRRRRRRR!
Wow; Kim must've been a lot hungrier than she thought, hearing her stomach trying to tell her so. Kim and Gracie had only had snacks since lunch. If she remembered the website correctly, the Bolton Hotel had two pretty well thought of restaurants attached to the hotel. As quietly as a mouse so as not to disturb Gracie, Kim locked the door and headed to the elevator.
Hmmm…8 pm in Wellington would be…about 4 am in Middleton? I don't want to risk waking Nicky up.
Whipping out her Kimmunicator once the elevator doors dinged closed, Kim keyed up the video messaging app and began recording. "Hey Eme; we just landed in Wellington about an hour ago and checked into the Bolton Hotel. Jet lag's hit the munchkin like a brick so I put her to bed. I'm gonna get a bite to eat in the hotel bar; then I'll probably turn in too. We start scouting tomorrow morning so we'll be sending you lots of pictures. Give the twins and Nicky a kiss for me; love you," Kim brought the screen up and gave a long kiss. "And THAT Mrs. Possible, is a little preview of things to come." The elevator dinged when the doors opened on the lobby. "Okay, now I really gotta go cause I'm totally starved; night night…or good morning depending on the perspective."
Kim laughed at her own joke and pocketed the Kimmunicator. Now…where to get some decent grub? The hotel attendant directed her in the direction of Corina's, a high end Rugby bar attached to the hotel, that boasted top shelf but down to Earth food. Stepping through the doors, the atmosphere was decently pleasing. There was a variety of patrons that Kim could see, ranging from what were likely college age kids celebrating a night out, to people her own age, even what she was positive was an elderly couple celebrating an anniversary.
It was a fair place to get a bite to eat. Kim smiled and took a seat at the bar. Taking a stray menu, she began perusing her culinary choices.
"Evenin' ma'am, the cheery bartender greeted her. "What's yah pleasah?"
What the heck! She felt like a treat. "Can I get an order of fish and chips and a pint of Kilkenny Irish Ale?"
"Right away ma'am."
The bartender poured Kim her drink and she began sipping it while she people watched a little. Her eyes fell on the college kids. You know, Kim had never really had that "crazy college phase thanks to that hefty dose of responsibility and life experience that Drakken's hair-brained scheme had heaped on her. But...eh…C'est la vie as the French say. Her books on Early English History were taught in any number of college campuses across the world where the subject was studied. Every one of her five Feronia Syndicate novels had spent six months on the New York Times Best Seller list. She had an unbelievably breathtaking wife and four beautiful children. So she didn't "get to" wake up with a pounding headache in the middle of a filthy dorm room? Not exactly a missed opportunity when you thought about it. Her only great regret was that it had taken her and Eme so long to realize their feelings for each other; so many wasted years.
"What's this; a pretty Shelia all by her lonesome?"
Kim's eyes darted to the unexpected guest next to her. It actually turned out to be two women. One was a leggy blonde, bordering on six feet tall. The other; with the series of small facial tattoos and the tanned complexion and the fact that Kim was sitting at a bar in New Zealand, she was a Maori. Looking closer, at the held hands, each with a ring on the appropriate finger…Kim would bank on the pair being in good company with her and Eme.
"Aren't we all," Kim smiled, raising her glass. "I'm just getting a bite to eat while my daughter's asleep in the room."
"You're a Yank?" the Blonde replied, mildly surprised.
"Last time I checked," Kim nodded, setting her glass down. "You ladies care to join me?"
"Love to mate," the Maori woman said, taking the stool her partner had pulled out for her. "Izzy and me thought you had the look of a mum taking a break from the 'biters; us too. I'm Stella."
They were a family? Good to hear. Unfortunately homosexual parenting, at least in the states, still caused a bit of a societal stir, even after nearly half the states recognized homosexual marriage and nearly three quarters recognized adoption; so Kim and Eme were always happy to meet fellow parents. "I'm Kim; How many you two have?"
"Two little boys," Izzy answered after ordering their drinks. "Name of Liam and Olly." She dug in her purse for her wallet and showed Kim a picture. "Olly just started Kindy."
"Awwww…they're adorable," Kim gushed. By the look of the boys, Stella and Izzy had both elected to be artificially inseminated. Olly, the older boy, had Izzy's curly blonde hair and Liam had Stella's face. "My better half and I have a boy ourselves," Kim dug out her Kimmunicator and brought up a family photo taken at The Lotus Blades a few weeks ago. "Nicky, he's the youngest; the two troublemakers in the middle, those are our twins Emily and Zoe, and our oldest is the emotional teenager on the right is Gracie."
Kim could see the wheels turning in their heads. They saw Em's green hair, Gracie and Zoe's pale complexion…and the green tinted meta-human she married. Their eyes turned to her in unison, each pair the size of dinner plates. They both took a good look at the redhead seated next to them and…you REALLY had to love the sudden look of realization.
"Cr…CRICKEY…"
"You…you're…"
"We are SO buying the next round!"
The trio shared a good laugh, Izzy and Stella at their gushing and Kim at having such a good time hiding it. After downing the remainder of her ale, true to their word, Stella and Izzy had it immediately refilled. From there, the evening was a whirlwind of conversation. Stella and Izzy actually lived in Eden, New South Wales, where Izzy ran a medical practice. Stella had grown up in Johnsonville, north of Wellington, and had attended University of Sydney where they met. They were in Wellington for Stella's family reunion and had just come from a Wellington Hurricanes rugby game, hence the rugby sweaters they were wearing.
"So I guess you could say that Gracie was your little miracle?" Stella asked.
Most of the civilized world knew at least the basic story of Gracie's inception. Kim proceeded to give her new friends the whole story, beginning with Drakken's hair brained scheme to Bonnie Rockwaller's attempted kidnapping. Wow…when Kim thought about it, after fifteen years, it all seemed…well…kind of distant, almost as if it was one of the stories she'd wrote.
"Wait till we tell the boys that we had dinner with Kim BLOODY Possible," Izzy gushed, raising her glass in a toast.
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
"Gracie sweetie; time to get up."
Time? Man, what time WAS it? Gracie could remember pulling into the parking lot…somewhere…then…? Was there an elevator? Wow, she hadn't been so tired since the day after the church youth lock-in. She glanced at the alarm clock…nine in the morning. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and hauled herself up. Boy…she sure missed George right then. It just didn't feel quite right, waking up without her little buddy and partner in crime. But leaving him behind was the only way Gracie could be sure the band stayed on track.
"How long was I out?"
"A little over twelve hours or so," Mom answered, drying her hair with a fluffy white hotel towel. "You were dug in like a tick."
Gracie could never figure out how Mom and Momma managed to never be affected by jet lag or anything like that, no matter where they went. How did they flipping DO that? Gracie's stomach gave a gurgling rumble. She…wow…all of a sudden she realized she was VERY hungry. She made a beeline for the shower and a short time later, Mother and Daughter made their way out of the elevator into the lobby. Corina's was closed but they each had a full buffet at Artisan's built into the cost of the room. Mom got the pair a table and Gracie headed straight for the buffet with plate in hand. The smells wafting towards her…she almost felt like she was in those old cartoons where the smells made you levitate towards the food. So many choices! In the end, Gracie settled on Hot Smoked Salmon and Spinach on ciabatta toast with a small helping of grilled tomatoes. Mom decided on Eggs Florentine and a breakfast smoothie to drink.
"So Mom," Gracie asked in between bites. "What's on the itinerary today?"
"Well, we've got a quick meeting with a cake designer but after that I thought we'd do a little site seeing," Mom answered, swallowing a gulp of her smoothie. "I met some friends last night and they mentioned a popular idea. A couple of miles from here, there are several regions where Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Beren and Luthien were filmed. Sound good?"
Hmmmmm…that WOULD be cool. It seemed like every fantasy movie ever made ended up being filmed in New Zealand. "Cane we see Rivendell?"
"Rivendell and I really want to see where they shot the River Arindel," Mom confirmed, obviously loving the new look of excitement on Gracie's face. "Those statues from the Fellowship of the Ring are still standing. And I thought we could see the Shire and Edoras when we head up to Auckland in two days. First though," Mom glanced at her watch. "We've got a meeting with the cake designer in…45 minutes."
With their bellies full and their bodies dressed for an afternoon on the town, Mom and Gracie pulled out of the hotel parking lot and onto the street. Gracie was already learning to drive but this whole driving on the left thing was just plain trippy. How the heck was this supposed to work? Twice Gracie had been convinced that they were going to end up in a crash.
"You know why they drive on the left in all English countries?" Mom asked; cool as a cucumber as she made her way up the street. "In Old England, they rode their horses on the left to give them a full range of motion with their sword."
Gracie had never been so pleased to be getting OUT of a car when the car pulled to a stop outside "Olde English Pastry and Cakes".
Upon entering, Gracie was bombarded by a cavalcade of smells and aromas. Looking at all the displays and containers filled to the brim with culinary delights, she remembered the all the times she'd helped Momma bake things like this before. She'd been to bakeries she'd thought were very high class. But THIS place…man, this place almost felt more like a museum than a bakery. The moment she made a move to taste something, a security guard would likely leap out of nowhere, telling her to look but not touch.
"Now Gracie, sweetie," The owner of the place even had a receptionist. "Be prepared; the owner, Madame Lizzet, can be a little…I guess the post polite word is peculiar."
"She actually calls herself 'Madame'?" Gracie chuckled under her breath. "Wait a minute…'Lizzet'? If she's French, why is the bakery called 'Olde English'?"
"Ohhhhh just you wait," Mom heaved a sigh and turned to the receptionist. Gracie was definitely starting to feel a disturbance in the force.
Mother and daughter stood there in pounding silence for the better part of sixty seconds. Should…should she…say something or…or were they supposed to…wait until called?
"Oui? Oui madame," The receptionist answered into her headset. "Do you have an appointment with Madame?"
Mom gave her name and…well, they were subjected to even MORE waiting. Without warning, the doors burst open, startling Gracie so much that she jumped into a fighting stance.
"KIMBERLY DAHLING," Okay…did Mom accidentally lead her daughter into a parallel universe populated by clichés? The red beret? Those black and white striped socks and the black skirt? She reminded Gracie of Mindy Schultz, a particularly insufferable sophomore who thought that having a French great grandmother yet living every waking moment of your life in Middleton made you French as well. To add to the cliché, this "Madame Lizzet" approached Mom and kissed her on both cheeks. "It haz been far too long!"
"Indeed it has Lizzet," Boy, nobody could fake sincerity to an obvious nutcase like Mom could. It almost made Gracie feel proud. "Please allow me to introduce my daughter Grace Anne."
"Oh she iz zo beautiful," Gracie couldn't exactly hide her discomfort but the woman seemed thankfully oblivious to it. And what the heck was Mom playing at, calling her by her full name? This was definitely going down as one of the weirdest days in her life…and it was about to get worse. "Madame Lizzet" grabbed Gracie by the shoulders and kissed both her cheeks as well. Aaaaand there it was; now this was officially the weirdest day of her life.
"Thank you for squeezing us in on such short notice Lizzet," Mom thanked her as they were led into Lizzet's "office", an ornate Victorian desk situated in the middle of a fairly impressive kitchen.
"Iz my pleaaasure dahling," Lizzet breathed, taking a seat behind the desk. "I just finish a masterpiece for Danish Princess Wilhelmina and I say 'Lizzet MUST make cake for Kimberly and Shego's coming celebration, I say."
"So Mom, what kind of cake d…"
"NO Little Possible," Gracie jumped to her feet and slammed her hand down on the desk, quite a thunderous noise for such a small hand. "YOU don't know what you want. LIZZET know what you want. Come; we begin!"
"Uhhhhh…Mom?"
"Yes Muffin?"
"I…I'm scared."
"I know sweetie…but it will all be over soon."
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
"Where on God's green Earth did you meet that…woman?"
Kim could tell Gracie had been about to use the Possible family "F" word but had thankfully thought better of it and corrected herself. As a teenager, Kim had been against bullying as much as anyone when she was in school. But Shego…her childhood had been something out of the worst nightmare Kim could ever imagine living through; and high school sure as Hell didn't help. Had Shego not physically restrained her after telling Kim the stories of her high school experiences, Kim would've tracked down those bitches and beaten them to within an inch of their sanity. None of the children had ever demonstrated a single mean bone in their bodies but they were constantly taught that words, especially "freak", could indeed hurt worse than the hardest punch.
"Haha…uh…it was after Senor Senior Junior had a particularly hard break up. He and his ol' Pop tried to steal all of the best chefs' secret recipes, Senior for the usual reasons…and Junior so that he could eat his feelings away." Kim felt a chill go up her spine and shivered. "Ugh…Junior's 'heavy' phase; definitely not a pretty sight. Anyway, Lizzet was doing a showcase at one of her bakeries in Marseilles when they made a grab for her."
"Well France would've made more sense but what's she doing here in New Zealand?"
"Oh she's got a dozen bakeries all over the world," Kim answered, climbing into the car and starting it up. "Each one of them is tailored to suit the particular nation or region that it resides in. She spends a year and a half "creating" at each one."
"So…we really didn't have any choice in the matter if the wedding was going to be in New Zealand? 'Madame Lizzet' was going to make the cake?"
"I'm afraid so Muffin. But thank God that woman doesn't do catering."
They'd both had a fair amount of cake samples but Kim could hear Gracie's stomach rumble from the passenger seat, in anticipation of lunch. The clock showed it to be a little after eleven so Kim figured they could grab an early bite to eat. If memory served, there was a boardwalk down by the pier that was usually a lot of fun. Kim smiled as she remembered the time when she and Shego had spent their second anniversary at the vacation house in Melbourne and jetted over to Wellington for the day. Shego had blown ten dollars to win Kim a three dollar stuffed dolphin. By her guess, they were maybe twenty minutes out so Kim turned in that direction.
Mariner's Wharf was most definitely in full swing. Kim was luck to even find a parking space. Everywhere you looked, there seemed to be something going on or a hawker crying their wares.
"This place is spankin Mom," Gracie gasped, jumping out of the car without even opening the door.
"I thought we deserved a little fun after dealing with Lizzet," Kim smiled. Wow…Shego had close to the same look when they were here.
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
All in all, it was a very fun day. Mother and daughter had played a few games and won a few souvenirs for the Twins and Nicky. They'd enjoyed a few of the street performers, even finding a small Irish fiddle trio. After that, Kim and Gracie had managed to preview the two banquet halls and one of the churches Kim had selected. They'd even managed to see the Tolkien locations they'd wanted. They'd sampled some authentic Maori cuisine for dinner and now found themselves in the pool room of the Bolton, Kim luxuriating in the hot tub and Gracie doing laps in the main pool.
They'd get an early start tomorrow after they checked out and after visiting the last church, they'd fly straight to Auckland and get a preview of the locations there; all that left was the security inspection at GJ. With a little luck, she'd be home to ring in the New Year with Shego and a bottle of strawberry massage oil after the kids were in bed.
"Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder," Kim sighed to no one in particular. Opening her eyes, Kim checked to make sure that no one could hear her next words. "The moment we are alone, I am going to take you around the FLIPPING world Shego Possible."
Author's Notes:
I had a lot of funning creating Madame Lizzet. She wasn't in my original draft but I think this works so much better. Though I made her French, I based her and her mannerisms on that of a middle-aged Zsa Zsa Gabor. Look for Kim's new rugby buddies Izzy and Stella to make an appearance later in the story when things get hot.