Monique and Will sat on the porch swing, holding hands so discretely it was amusing. A perfect early evening in Middleton, and all the residents of Possible Manor were out on the front porch to watch the sunset and wait for the evening's poker game. Kim played with the twins in their portable playpen while Ron and Shego shared the Adirondack loveseat and Bonnie and Justine had the chairs.
Bonnie felt some frustrations with the small talk. Kim and Will talked of leading missions, Monique had amusing stories of crazy customers at Club Banana, Shego had her trip to Europe to talk about - although it had been strictly business. Even the orientation sessions for Global Justice sounded amusing when Ron told about them. Justine said nothing, but Justine never said anything. Bonnie felt like she had nothing to talk about except changing diapers and feeding infants, but she knew both Shego and Kim were both terribly jealous as the twins grasped the top of the playpen and bounced up and down chanting “Bon, bon, bon, bon…” Bonnie smiled to herself. She preferred having the spotlight, and felt sometimes like she only had a cameo role on the porch, but after only seven months this place felt far more like home to her than her parents' house ever would.
While they sat there Felix's car pulled into the drive.
“Will you and Mr. Renton be joining in the poker game tonight?” Will asked Justine.
“I don't know,” Justine said nervously, “maybe.”
“You know you're welcome, don't you?” Monique added.
“Yes. I just need to see if Felix wants to play with me… If Felix wants to play tonight.”
Felix meanwhile had parked. With the ease of practice he got his wheelchair out and seated himself in it, then he rolled back and took a long box out of the back seat.
“Looks like Felix is here to play. He brought a three foot sub,” Ron chuckled.
Kim and Shego exchanged glances. “I don't think that's a sub, Ron,” Kim told her buddy.
“Sure it is, KP,” Ron said confidently as Felix approached the house. “Felix! Hey, bro, we got some floods up down on the garage. And we got a half hour to game time. Want to go down and shoot some hooooooOOOOOPS!”
Kim and Shego grabbed Ron in mid-question and threw him over the porch railing into the lilac bushes.
“God's going to get you for that, KP, and if he doesn't, I will.”
“It was an accident, Ron.” Kim said as she stared at the pants in her hand. “My ring must have gotten caught on something.”
“Give them to me,” Bonnie asked, taking the pants from Kim.
“Is she going to bring them to me?” Ron called, “I lost my boxers in the bushes.”
Shego stared in disbelief as the front door closed behind Bonnie. “Uh, bad news, Stoppable, she went into the house with them. She may want you to go in after them.”
“Er, I'm going to practice my ninja stealth techniques and go around the house to the back door without anyone seeing me.”
“Have you noticed how weird Ron and Bonnie have been acting around each other since Yori was here?” Kim asked.
“Not really. I mean, sure I know that Bonnie has been acting strange. But how do you tell with Stoppable?”
Felix meanwhile had gotten up the ramp and had positioned himself by Justine, “Here, these are for you.”
Justine opened the box, and started crying as she saw the roses.
“Sorry that I missed your birthday.”
“Well, Shego, since Ron seems to be incapacitated at the moment why don't we go make sure snacks get out?”
“Uh, sure Kim.”
“Monique, Will, could the two of you take the girls in and give them a bath?” Kim suggested.
“You gave them a bath before you brought them out. Don't you--”
“Monique,” Shego hissed, raising one eyebrow and jerking her head back to indicate Felix and Justine, “why don't you two go give the babies a bath?”
“Sure,” Monique answered.
“But you just said--”
A quick elbow to the ribs from the woman he loved silenced the normally sharp Mr. Du.
“Honestly,” Monique complained as a crowd of adults and babies went into the house, “men can be so slow.”
While he might have been slow on the uptake out on the porch Will had the good sense to not contradict her.
There would be a low turnout around the table that evening. The occasional players were all enjoying the summer evening with other friends and family. Only one semi-regular player came. Wade arrived alone by hovercraft. Kim answered the door when he rang the bell.
“Where is Drakken?”
“Back at Innsmouth for psychological evaluation and peeing.” Kim looked puzzled and Wade chuckled, “They check specimens to make sure he's taking his medications.”
Kim noticed that Justine and Felix were together on the love seat. There was just enough light to tell they were both looking a little flushed, as if Wade's arrival had surprised them.
“Are you two interested in joining the game this week?” she asked.
“Can we sit in next week?” Justine asked.
“It's such a beautiful night I think we'll just sit out here and talk.”
Kim smiled. She doubted if they had been talking when Wade arrived.
The game broke up early. Bonnie had all the luck that night. Or maybe she had finally sprung the trap. For weeks her face had regularly betrayed if she had a good hand or not. Tonight she was grinning like every hand was four aces, and raising without a shred of hesitation. The unflappable Will Du found himself thoroughly flapped. And the ever-confident Shego found herself hesitating about whether she should meet Bonnie's raises or have the good sense to fold, and usually guessing wrong.
Shego and Monique saw company to door as the party broke up. Justine was on Felix's lap. Monique glared at the couple, “I'll walk you to your car, Will.”
Shego chuckled as Monique and Will went out to the driveway.
“What's wrong with her?” Felix asked.
“She and Will usually sit out on the swing for a little while after the game. I think she feels that you're intruding on her privacy. You want to use your key, Justine, or should we just leave the door unlocked until you come in?”
“Just leave it unlocked.”
“And if my mom asks tomorrow if I was up late again with Ron, I'm going to tell her I was with my girlfriend,” Felix added.