Chapter 21, Enjoy!

Warnings: None

Unbeta AF

The Parent Trap

Chapter 21

Kids Will be Kids

Stephanie wanted to fly, badly, really badly! She was entranced by the thought of flying. The idea of flying high in the sky, just like a super hero! Stephanie would spend time, looking outside the window, during her free time at school, flying up in the sky, doing tumbles and spins in the air as she did. She was a super hero, right? She had powers, maybe she could fly?!

"Do you think we can fly?" Stephanie asked, looking over to Carlos, one day, as they sat outside on a nice fall day, in the backyard, "We're super heroes, we should be able to fly!"

"I don't know," Carlos said, looking out in the backyard, "Mami and Papi are heroes, but they can't fly…"

Stephanie and Carlos turned to look at their Mommy and Daddy, the both of them were standing by a grill, arguing about the steaks and fish they were cooking.

"Don't cook my steak too long, Diesel, I wanna it still mooing when I cut into it!" Heidi said, making Diesel puff up, poking at a slice of fish, "I want it raw in the middle!"

"Do you want the fish raw too?!" Diesel asked, making Heidi look thoughtful for a moment, "Woman! That's how you get worms, s!"

"Sushi! Diesel, that's raw!" Heidi said folding her arms, "Grill the meat!"

"I don't know about them," Stephanie said, as they watched the two argue, "Maybe I have to force my flying out, I just jump off a roof and then I fly! Isn't that a good idea?"

"I don't know Steph," Carlos said, frowning, "Maybe you should start off low to the ground, like real low, like on the couch."

Stephanie hummed and rubbed her chin, looking out at the backyard, maybe she should start low, but the couch? No, that's too low….

The next day, Stephanie climbed on the roof of the shed in the backyard, it was just her and her Daddy in the house today, because Mommy took Carlos to the dentist because he had a sore tooth. Sounded like a cavity to Stephanie, hehehe.

Stephanie walked over to the edge of the shed's roof and looked down at the pitiful pile of pillows she had dragged out the house to land on, just in case she didn't fly the first time round. Stephannie looked backed away from the edge, a little bit, let out a sigh, and then she was running to the edge and then was jumping off the roof of the shed.

She had a moment of feeling like she was floating in the air for like… half a second and then she was falling, fast. That fall was going to hurt! She let out a loud yelp as she realized she was going to miss the pillows!

"STEPHANIE!" Instead of the ground, Stephanie felt and heard a pop and she was landing hard, on Diesel's back, in the kitchen. Stephanie blinked and looked around, shocked, did she fly?! Did she fly?! How did she fly from the backyard and into the kitchen then?!

"Ugh…" Stephanie looked down at her Daddy, who twitched, moaning low in the back of his throat, "Steph, sweetie, get off Daddy's back."

"Daddy are you okay?" Stephanie asked, looking down at the man, who weakly reached his hand out, his fingers pointing to his phone that rested on the counter, "Oh, your phone!"

She ran over and grabbed it, handing it to Diesel, who lifted his head up, eyes glazed with pain and he said, "Phone, Call Heidi…"

His phone buzzed in response and then Heidi was on the speaker, "Diesel, I'm sort of in the middle of getting a cavity filled…." Her voice sounded muffled and the sound of buzz filled the air, "What is going-"

"I think my back is broken," Diesel wheezed, looking into his phone, "Call the ambulance!"

"I'll call Daddy, he'll be over there quickly…"

Two hours later, Stephanie's Daddy was laying face first on the bed, moaning weakly as a doctor loomed over him, poking and prodding, while her Mommy and Grandpa looked on. The doctor clucked her tongue and said, "It's not broken, but his spine is bruised, something hard must have fallen on it."

"What happened?" Heidi asked Diesel who whimpered in agony.

"Stephanie…Stephanie happened," was all the man said before he went lax on the bed his body limp from the pain meds he was given.

Stephanie sat on her bed, beside Heidi, who had an arm wrapped around the child's shoulder, "Is Daddy hurt badly?" She asked Heidi, who hummed and looked at girl, "I didn't mean to hurt him…"

"What happened, tell me what you were doing before Daddy called me," Heidi suggested and Stephanie sighed and told Heidi what she did, she had jumped off the shed and tried to fly and she did fly but wound up on Diesel's back.

Heidi snickered silently to herself but then sobered up and said, "No more trying to fly, I don't think you can fly, you can do more than hurt Daddy, you can hurt yourself, badly."

"Yes, Mommy," Stephanie leaned against her Mommy but the thoughts of flying wouldn't leave her head. She really, really wanted to fly.

She had shelved the idea of flying, for a few weeks but then the idea came back, in full force, thanks to the wonderful words from a teacher.

"Do you know, that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want to do," Stephanie's eyes sparkled and she looked at the teacher before her, as they spoke to her class, "If you want to do something, you can do it."

The children all murmured, excitedly and then Stephanie raised her hand and the teacher said, "Yes, Miss. Evanston?"

"What about flying?" Stephanie asked, looking at the woman, who blinked, confused, "Yeah, what if I want to fly?"

"Um, yes, if you want to fly, very much, I think you can do anything you want, you can fly," The woman said, smiling nervously.

"Steph…" Carlos said, to the girl, who was buzzing with excitement, "I don't think you should be talking about flying."

"If the teacher says it's possible, then it must be possible, maybe I need to jump from a higher place," Stephanie was determined to fly. She was going to fly!

On the same day, after school, Stephanie climbed out the window of their third floor playroom and made her way up to the very top of the house. She just needed to jump from a higher place! She slowly crawled her way over to the side of the roof and looked around, this is perfect! It was high up, she should be able to get enough air to fly from here!

Stephanie giggled and then stood up, almost losing her balance as she did, but then she found her bearings and looked down, determined. She was going to fly, she was going to do this! She grabbed at the chimney as a cool fall breeze fluttered through her hair. She looked down again and found that she was very high in the air. If she didn't fly, she might get hurt badly. She could do this, she wasn't going to get hurt badly.

"Just do it, Stephanie, just jump," She whispered to herself, letting go of the bricks of the chimney and then she was jumping off the roof.

She heard many things happen at once. There was a loud shattering of glass, an inhumane yowl from something and someone screaming. Time was moving slowly for her but then it was speeding up as she fell. She wasn't flying she was falling! She chose the side with the stone paths too! Stephanie let out a shriek of terror, closing her eyes and waiting to hit the stone.

But then she wasn't falling. She was being grabbed and wrapped up tightly in an embrace that reminded her of summer and fruits. Stephanie opened her eyes and looked up, seeing she was in Heidi's arms. Heidi held her tightly and then they were both falling, but they weren't falling fast, it was like they were floating down, slowly. When they landed, Heidi was talking a mile a minute.

"Oh my god Stephanie, what did we talk about, trying to fly?!" Heidi asked, as she looked down at Stephanie, "Are you hurt? Did you break anything, talk to me, please!"

"I-I'm fine, Mommy," Stephanie said, as she looked up into Heidi's eyes, "I-I was trying to fly!"

"You could have died! I could have lost you!" Heidi's voice was high pitched, and tears filled her eyes, "If Carlos hadn't come screaming for me-" Heidi hugged Stephanie close to her, her frame trembling as she held the child close to her chest, "You could have died…"

Stephanie clung to her Mommy and then her Daddy was coming over to them both. His face was pale and he looked shaken up. Stephanie was then being pulled away from Heidi, who tried to cling tighter to the child but then her Daddy was saying, "Heidi, you're bleeding."

"It's fine, it's just a litte-" Heidi started but Diesel cut her off with a sharp, "No, it's not fine! Come on, into the house!"

Stephanie looked at her Mommy and paled seeing that her arm had a long cut on it, and it was bleeding, a lot. Stephanie looked up and saw that the playroom window was shattered, shards littering the backyard and the roof of the second floor. Did her Mommy jump out the window to save her?!

Stephanie sat beside Carlos on the couch of the living room, as the doctor helped heal their Mommy in the kitchen. Carlos turned to Stephanie and said, "Steph, you could have died! Why did you try to fly off the third floor?!"

"I thought…if I could, if I could jump from a higher spot, it would work," Stephanie whispered and Carlos frowned, folding his arms and giving the child a look.

"Mami and Papi told you not to try to fly, but you didn't listen, Mami got hurt really badly, she jumped out the window to get you!" Carlos said, his eyes glittering with tears, "She almost didn't catch you!"

Stephanie let out a noise, looking away, her eyes filling with tears. She didn't mean to scare Mommy or try to die, she just wanted to fly. Stephanie and Carlos looked up as Diesel walked into the doorway of the living room, pointed to Stephanie and said, in a rough voice, "You, come with me, now…"

Stephanie slid off the couch and walked over to Diesel, who grabbed her hand and led her upstairs to her room. He closed the door and then he was leading the girl to the bed and sitting her on it. He crouched in front of her and asked, "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Stephanie shook her head, her eyes and Diesel let out a sigh, but then his voice was serious, once again, "Stephanie, Mommy and I told you no more attempts at flying, right?" Stephanie nodded her head, "Why did you try to jump off the roof of the house then?"

"I-I thought if I got higher, I could fly," Stephanie whispered, as she looked at Diesel, who shook his head and slowly grabbed Stephanie's hand, "Daddy, I just wanted to fly, I didn't mean to make everyone scared."

"Stephanie, if Mommy and I told you not to try to fly, it's for a good reason," Diesel said, looking at the child, who bit her lip, "You could have died, that was dangerous! Mommy got hurt trying to save you."

Stephanie whimpered and said, "I'm sorry, Daddy, I didn't mean to make everyone upset!"

"I know but you did something Mommy and I told you not to do, you broke a rule, I'm upset but I'm happier that you're not hurt, Stephanie."Diesel hugged Stephanie to him and kissed her head, "No more trying to fly, okay?"

"Okay," Stephanie sniffled burying her face in Diesel's arm, "I won't Daddy."

Stephanie ate her meal silently, looking over to her Mommy, who was silent herself, awkwardly holding her fork, in her right hand as her left hand and her arm was heavily wrapped with bandages that smelled of strong medicine. Stephanie moved her food around on her plate and then Heidi said to the sullen child, "Eat your meal, Stephanie, sweetie."

"I'm sorry you're hurt," Stephanie said, looking over to her Mommy, who sighed and placed her fork down, looking at the child, "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"Stephanie," Heidi said, looking at the child, "I know you didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, but we told you not to try to fly, but you didn't listen to us, we didn't tell you not to fly because we want to see you upset, we said so because it's dangerous, you can't fly, I can't fly, Daddy can't fly."

Stephanie picked her meal once again and said, "I know, Mommy, I'm sorry."

"You could have died," Heidi said, looking at Stephanie, "You could have been hurt badly, I was scared you would be hurt."

Stephanie bit her lip and then Diesel was grabbing Heidi's hand and looking over to Stephanie. He leaned forward and said, "We were talking earlier, about what to do about this incident, and we've decided as punishment, no playing after school with your friends. We'll come pick you up, and we come right home and we'll do some reading and work on homework together, until we say so, okay?"

"Okay," Stephanie mumbled, looking down at her meal, "I'm sorry, Mommy and Daddy."

"We know you're remorseful about what you did now, we don't want you to get hurt in any way, Stephanie," Heidi said as Diesel held her hand tightly, "Just…don't do that again, please."

"I won't, Mommy, I promise!"

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Heidi let out a noise of pain, as she tried to close her fist but failed, looking at the red that was starting to stain the bandage on her arm. The doctor had told her it would be a while before the meds would fully mend her. The glass from the window had cut through muscles not just flesh.

"Hey," Heidi turned to see Diesel, walking out the en-suite, looking at her bandaged arm, "That was a bad cut, little my ass."

"It felt painless to me, when I was scared out of my mind," Heidi said, looking down at her wound, "I can't believe it, where was she getting those ideas to fly?"

"You know kids," Diesel said climbing into the bed, grabbing Heidi and pulling her close, looking down at Heidi's wound, "Haven't you wanted to be a bird, once upon a time?"

"I mean, yes, but then I knew I couldn't fly, in the end," Heidi said, as she placed a hand on her wound, "I was so scared, she could have died."

Diesel wrapped his arms around Heidi, kissing her temple, as she shook, "She didn't you caught her before she could hit the ground."

"What if I hadn't?" Heidi asked, running a shaky hand over her face, "What if she just…hit the ground…gods."

"It's okay, it's okay," Diesel rocked the woman, as she began to cry, "Kitten, she didn't die, it's okay."

Tomorrow, Diesel was going to go talk to the teacher that Stephanie asked about flying. She should have told the child that literally flying was possible or something, not tell the child she could fly, if she tried! She almost broke her neck! Diesel sighed, patting Heidi's back, as Heidi weeping filled his ears. He heard the glass breaking, Heidi's screams, Carlos's screams and raced out the house to see Heidi and Stephanie floating down, with Heidi asking Stephanie what was wrong with her and was she okay was she hurt? Diesel noticed that Heidi had cut herself on some of the glass. She tried to brush it off, too concerned for Stephanie's well-being, but Diesel was having none of that! The doctor had tsked, muttered about how this was second time they was called out here and told Heidi that she had sliced muscles opened and she'll mend fully, but it will take some time and she would have issues holding things until then.

The fear that he could taste in the air, that came from Heidi. Diesel was glad she got to Stephanie before anything serious could happen. She had been quiet, deadly quiet when they healed her but he could smell the tension in the air, the terror she had felt. Diesel would handle this one, Heidi would be too emotional to handle this, she would most likely raze the school to the ground, if Heidi found out it was a teacher who planted another seed in Stephanie's head.

He was going to make sure that their children keep their feet solid on the ground.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"I am the night!" Carlos whispered, as he slunk through the hallway of the super secured building, looking for the bad guys, "I am Batman, not afraid of peas and brave against the biggest bad guys!"

"Look at all this treasure, boss! There are so many chips here!" someone said, in a room, "Can we take 'em all?!"

"Heck yeah! Take them all, they're my favorite, all of them!" Carlos took out his weapon of choice and peered into the room, seeing the bad guys taking the treasure! Oh no, if they took all the treasure, the Mayor would be sad!

Carlos stepped into the room and snapped, "Freeze, bad guys, drop the treasure!" The two bad guys yelped and turned, "I am batman! The good guy!"

"Oh no! Let's cheese it, Little S.!" The bigger bad guy said but the he yelped as Little. S turned on him and pointed their weapon at him, "Little S. Et Tu?!"

"I'm not a bad guy, I'm Woman Wonder in secret!" Carlos ran up to the last remaining bad guy, beside Wonder woman, "Now, Bad Guy, you're surrounded and with my lasso of truth, we'll make confess, get him Batman!"

Carlos ran around the big bad guy to run rope around his frame and then Wonder Woman took out her golden lasso of truth and lassoed the bad guy's hand and asked, "Now, what is your favorite cookie?!"

"C-c-curses! I like-I like all of them!" The man howled and Wonder Woman and Carlos looked at the bad guy and giggled, "All the cookies!"

"Is that why you three are in here?!" Carlos turned and found the Mayor in the archway of the kitchen, looking at the group, "What is going on here?"

"Mayor!" Carlos ran over to the woman, saluting, "It's me, Batman, Wonder Woman and I found out about the Bad guy trying to steal all the treasure!"

"Oh was he?" The Mayor asked, sauntering over to the bad guy, who was wrapped in jump ropes, standing there, holding the treasure, "I hope the Bad Guy knows that those chocolate chip cookies are for after dinner."

"I was only going to steal one…Mayor…" The Bad Guy muttered and looking at the Mayor, who tsked and looked at Wonder Woman and Batman, a smile on their face.

"Good job, Batman, Wonder Woman, as a reward, you each get one cookie," The Mayor said taking the stolen cookies and handing each super hero a cookie, "I'll deal with the Bad Guy!"

"Thank you, Mayor," Carlos said as he and Wonder Woman ate their treat, "We'll leave the Bad Guy to you!"

"That was fun, Carlos, we should play heroes again!" Stephanie said to Carlos as they skipped out the kitchen, as they heard the 'Mayor' chew out the Bad Guy, "We even got cookies out of it!"

Carlos nodded his head and patted his trusty utility belt. This was the best gift ever! He loved his belt and his mask and cape! He was Batman! He was unstoppable!

Yeah!

"Mr. Evanston!" Carlos, who had been running around the playground, with his friends, dressed in his Batman gear, froze as the stern 5th grade teacher Mr. Long walked over to the boy, his hands on his hips, "Boy, what are you wearing?"

"Uh, my Batman gear, cause I'm Batman, Sir!" Carlos said, posing but Mr. Long was not impressed.

"Things like that are not allowed at school," The teacher said, holding his hand out, "Give them to me now, your parents can pick them up, when they come to get you after school."

"Rats," Carlos said as he took off his cape, mask and handed them to Mr. Long, who pointed to his utility belt, "Not my belt, Mr. Long!"

"Give it," Carlos let out a sigh and then took off the belt and handed it to the man, who sniffed down at Carlos, "I will take these to the headperson's office, your mother or father can pick them up then."

"Tough luck, Carlos," Otto said, patting the boy's shoulder, "Gotta wait until Mama Evanston can pick it up."

"But I want to play with them now!" Carlos hissed, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I'm gonna get it, after school, by myself, not going to wait for Mami, since we're staying here for lunch and clubs!"

"Really?" Otto's interest perked up, "How are you going to get them?"

"I'm Batman, I'm tough," Was all Carlos said, as he began to make plans.

"I'm going to eat all the cookies," Stephanie told Carlos as he waved her off and slunk away, "Have fun!"

Carlos walked into the hallways, pressing his back against the walls, hiding behind trash cans and tables, as teachers walked by. He stuck to the shadows and slunk slowly through the hallway to the school office. He dove into the open door of the room and pressed himself against the wall, as the woman who kept watch for children sneaking, looked up from her meal, muttering she thought she heard someone.

No she didn't, Batman doesn't make noises! Carlos crawled across the floor and down the short hallway to the door of the Headperson office. He knew at this time, the evil, utility belt holding woman was out for lunch, and so, he could easily slip in.

Carlos turned the doorknob but hissed when he found it to be locked, rats! Carlos took out his handy dandy paper clip, unbent it and put it in the lock to pick it. He found that picking locks was very easy for him, so much so he picked at the locks in the house, dozens of times, and it was funny to watch Mami look around wildly as she wonder who in the hell unlocked the doors?

Carlos let out a noise of happiness, when he opened the door and slipped into the office. He looked around in the tidy office and paused, seeing his confiscated goods on top of the bookcase. Ah ha! Carlos grabbed a chair and then pushed it up against the bookcase and climbed on it to reach up for his goods. He found himself to be too short! If only he could reach up a little more, then he could grab at them, just a little-

"Oh, thank you," Carlos said as his things were given to him but then he paused, looking up and turning his head, dread filling his stomach as the headperson stood beside him, her hands on her hips, and a pointed look on her face, one that said 'You are in deep trouble, young man!'

"Rats…" Carlos said as he was guided off the chair and told to sit on it, "I'm gonna get it."

"Never have I seen such disregard to the rules," the headperson snapped, making Diesel nod his head as he sat beside the sullen Carlos, "Breaking in to my office! Taking things that were to be given to him after school anyways?! Carlos you are a good student, why did you break in here to get your things."

"I'm not Carlos, I'm Batman," Carlos corrected the woman and Diesel covered his mouth, to smother the laughter that almost bubbled out his mouth.

"Carlos!" the woman gasped, before she turned to Diesel, who was still sniggering, "You! Mr. Evanston?! Don't you dare encourage this bad behavior, why I never!"

"Rats…" Diesel sighed as he was lectured by the woman, "Wait, don't call his mother up here, she'll get us both!"

An hour later, Heidi was looking down at Diesel and Carlos, her hands on her hips, "Now, I want you two to know, I am taking the Batman gear, for two weeks, and Diesel, you and Carlos can work on an apology letter to the Headperson about respect, okay?"

"Yes Ma'am," Diesel and Carlos sighed, and Heidi shook her head and walked out the living room, muttering things about hard headed Daddies and sons.

"I don't think you did anything too bad," Diesel said, with a chuckle, looking to Carlos who smiled back at him, "I think you're a cool Batman."

"I am!" Carlos posed and smiled at his Papi, "Okay, Papi, we're good super heroes, gotta write the apology letter…"

"Rats, can you write it, I'll help you with the spelling," Diesel said, making Carlos giggle, "Let's go, Batman, we're going to write the best letter ever!"

Carlos nodded and jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen, shouting he was Batman.

"I am the night!"

"Not for two weeks, Carlos!"

TBC…

Kids will be kids, for sure!