We all promise to love and protect you forever always…
Todd was happy that he still had almost a month of summer vacation left when Jayden was born. He was looking forward to spending time with her. He wanted to get to know his new sister, especially after coming to a startling revelation. He found out that he really loved the tiny creature and all he had to do was hold her to figure that one out.
Todd had actually expected to hate his baby sister. Part of him still thought that she was going to take his She-she and Kimmie from him, but as he held the small being in his arms, nothing inside of him could hate her. All he could do was love little Jayden and promise once again to be the best big brother to her as he possibly could. He was going to protect her from any and all harm.
The redheaded boy did wonder why Jayden slept so much, though. Kim and Shego had been warned that for about the first week or so their baby girl might sleep almost twenty-three hours a day, but that would decline as time went on. They did not mind; it was better than her being up for twenty-three hours a day.
Jayden really did not sleep as much as her parents were led to believe. One of them would rock her to sleep and then put her down in her crib. The parent would make it to the door and then Jayden would start crying as if she was in dire distress. They were starting to believe that she did not like either the crib or the room. They were not sure which it was, but then they started putting her down to sleep in their bed and she did sleep most of the day away there, happily curled up with a Care Bear blanket and using one of the pillows almost like a mattress since she was so small.
Kim and Shego still slept in their bed with the baby when she was in there at night. They had been advised against it, but Isabel told them that she used to sleep near her kids when they were babies too. She said that she slept much lighter than usual, which was already damn-near close to not sleeping at all, when a baby was near her and she was willing to bet that they would be the same. She was right. Kim and Shego slept extra-light around the baby and woke up from the slightest movement from anyone in the bed, so they were confident that they were not going to roll over onto Jayden.
Since the parents were now sleeping three to a bed, Todd decided that he was going to try his best to sleep in his own bed every night. Once again, he did not hold any animosity toward Jayden for seeming to take his extra space in their parents’ bed. He understood that they needed to be close to the baby; Jayden was certainly too small to take care of herself, so their parents had to do it. Besides, he was soon going to be eight years old.
Todd had a birthday coming up in a couple of months and he acknowledged that he was growing up. So, he needed to stop sharing the bed with his guardians, he told himself. Shego noticed his effort and she was proud of him, although she did not say so out loud. She did not want him to start thinking that he needed to get along without them.
Having Jayden and Todd to take care of was a handful, though, even for two extraordinary females like Kim and Shego. They both wanted to get in time with their kids and it was difficult to balance with Todd being an active child and them not wanting to take Jayden outside right away. They settled on one of them taking Todd to his activities while the other stayed with Jayden.
(New day)
“That was a great game you had, champ,” Shego congratulated Todd one more time as they entered the house. He just grinned proudly, but found himself to be very talkative when he saw Kim to be at the top of the stairs.
“Kimmie! Kimmie, guess what?” he said excitedly while running to the stairs to meet her. He embraced her tightly, almost as if he had not seen her in months instead of the hours that it actually was.
“Shh,” Kim said. “Jade just fell asleep,” she informed them.
“But, you gotta listen!” he implored her.
“Yeah, you gotta listen,” Shego teased her wife with a smirk on her face.
“Okay, just tell me quietly,” Kim begged as they all went to the living room.
Todd agreed, but he did not keep his word. He explained, almost as loudly as possible, how he had hit a grand-slam to win the baseball game. He did not mean to be so loud, but he was just so excited. His excitement was understandable considering the fact that it was not everyday a kid hit a grand-slam to win a game. As he spoke, he noticed his Kimmie kept glancing upstairs and he did not seem to like it.
“You’re not listening, Kimmie!” Todd practically howled.
“I am,” Kim insisted.
“No, you’re not! I hit a grand slam, Kimmie! I won the game!” Todd shouted and then the baby started crying.
“Sorry, Smiley. Hold that thought,” Kim said.
“I’ve got the baby,” Shego said, recognizing that if the redhead left now, their son would be absolutely crushed. He might even think that Kim preferred the baby over him.
“Oh, okay,” Kim agreed and with that, she turned her complete attention to Todd, who grinned.
The little baseball player got to continue his story and that time, Kim actually seemed interested. He was glad for that while Shego left the room to go check on their baby girl, who was sleeping in their room as usual. Shego smiled, even though the baby was crying.
Jayden was just four weeks old, but they were already starting to figure out what her cries meant. It made their lives easier to know just what she was hollering about and that was why they were learning fast. Shego went over to the baby and picked her up, rocking her in her arms.
“It’s okay, mini-monster. Mommy’s here,” Shego whispered. Yes, she had already dubbed Jayden her “mini-monster.” Kim had graduated to her “mega-monster.”
Jayden did quiet down and she curled up into Shego’s warm chest. The action made the green-skinned parent smile inwardly. She always smiled in someway when she held Jayden. The baby just made her feel overwhelmingly happy whenever they were together. Just thinking about Jayden made her feel pleased. She sometimes wondered if her mother felt the same when she was born and that was why Isabel acted so…crazy; yes, she thought her mother just acted crazy when it came to her. She was not going to act like her mother when it came to Jayden, she told herself.
The pale woman continued to rock the child for a few minutes before putting her down on the bed. She lay down next to baby, very close. She put her hand out for Jayden to grab, which the child did. Jayden then started trying to pull one of Shego’s fingers into her mouth, but the happy mother was not allowing her to do so. Jayden took exception to the denial and began fussing again.
Shego laughed a bit and got up. She rushed into the bathroom and washed her hand. She returned to the bed and gave Jayden just what she wanted, namely her pinky finger. Shego kept her claw-like nails cut down to nubs on the left hand since Jayden’s birth. She had filed down the nails on her right hand, but not enough to where she thought it was safe for Jayden to play with her right hand. She kept her nails on her right hand because they were weapon for her to use out on assignments at work.
Jayden giggled while suckling on Shego’s pinky. The pale woman did not mind it because she damn sure was not getting their daughter a pacifier. She had declared the day that they got Jayden home that she did not need a pacifier and she promptly tossed away the one the hospital had given the baby. Jayden did not seem to care about that the moment that she discovered her mommy had a pinky.
Their alone time together was interrupted as Kim and Todd came in. Kim came in because it was close to meal time for the baby and Todd came in just to see his little sister. He leaned over his She-she’s back and started making faces at Jayden, who grinned in response.
“You better have clean hands, bat-boy,” Shego said to Todd.
“I washed ‘em real good,” he assured her with a smile while reacting over to tickle Jayden. She laughed at her brother’s antics, but she made sure not to let go of her mommy’s pinky finger.
“You better had, booger,” the raven-haired woman replied. “I don’t want to have to tickle you,” she informed him.
“I don’t want you to neither,” he declared wholeheartedly.
Shego could not help laughing a bit at that. They played with Jayden until she started crying, letting them know that she was hungry. Todd ran off to go play some video games while Kim got situated to feed Jayden. She did breastfeed, which only opened up for a new way for Shego to get on her nerves, even though she knew that it was done out of concern.
Shego kept on Kim about making sure to drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Kim usually made mocking hand gestures while Shego lectured her about her diet, which earned her an admonishing, but very light slap on the wrist more often than not. On a few occasions, Kim did respond to the lectures by pointing out that her mother was a doctor and she knew about watching her diet and everything. Shego would then snidely point out that her mother was a neurosurgeon, not an obstetrician.
Debates between them died down as Jayden got a little older. It was mostly because they settled into a routine. The pattern continued even at the summer’s end and Todd had to go back to his biological parents. Jayden did seem to miss her big brother, though, crying sometimes for no reason at all that her parents could see, except that it was usually the time that Todd came into the room and he would read a story to the baby.
Todd’s favorite thing to do with the baby was to read to Jayden, which Kim and Shego were happy about. It helped out in many ways. It allowed their kids to bond, it helped Todd practice on his reading, and someone should read to Jayden; they had been told so by their mothers. They all actually read to Jayden and they were pretty sure that most people would object to what they read.
Kim read Jayden science books, mostly ones that she had to read for class or ones that she was reading for research purposes. Shego read action novels to the child. Todd read anything that interested him, which could range from video game magazines to horror stories on the teenage level. They figured if Jayden understood them, she had to be a very confused baby from the reading material.
(New day)
“Princess, what should we do for the gremlin’s birthday?” Shego wondered out loud. She was lying on the sofa with Jayden lying on her chest. She had been asleep not too long ago with her arm securing Jayden to her and unbeknownst to her, Kim had snapped a picture of the sleeping pair.
“We should throw him a party. He made a lot of friends over the summer, so they should be able to attend. I bet he would love that,” Kim suggested. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa and just enjoying the silence. Praise be to the sleeping gods, she thought since Jayden was out like a light. The baby had been crying most of the day and driving her parents insane…more so than they already were.
“You sure you want a bunch of people over here with Jade around?” Shego asked. She knew that she did not like that idea, so she doubted that her spouse was too thrilled with it since they tended to be on the same wavelength on what they wanted to do with the baby.
“Well, I’d rather a bunch of people over here than taking Jade to some noisy kid’s restaurant or something,” the redhead answered.
“I guess you make a point,” the pale woman conceded while rubbing the baby’s back. Jayden cooed in her sleep.
“It would be a nice surprise for him. You know as well I do that he’s never had a birthday party. So, we’ll invite some of his friends and tell his grandparents and his uncles and he’ll have a blast,” Kim explained.
“And what are we going to do with the baby?”
“I would say she could go spend some time with one of the other babies, but our mothers are probably going to want to see her,” Kim thought aloud.
“No, I think it is better if we let her go hang out with one of the other babies. It’s Smiles’ big day, so all the focus should be on him,” Shego stated.
Kim nodded in agreement. She noticed that Todd sometimes got huffy when he wanted attention, but focus was on Jayden. So, it would be a good idea for Jayden to be some place else on his birthday if his grandparents came. The last thing that they wanted was for the boy to be depressed because his Grandma, Grandpa, and Mee-ma were paying more attention to Jayden than to him on his birthday.
“So, where do you want to take Jayden that day?” Kim asked curiously. They had many options with Todd’s birthday being a Saturday.
“You don’t think he’s going to want your friends there too? He does look at them as like his friends,” Shego pointed out.
“That’s true.”
“This is complicated.”
“It is,” Kim concurred. “Well, if Betty watches everybody, then I guess my friends would come by for a couple of hours,” she figured. “Especially since it’s for a good cause.”
“I guess Bets might watch everybody for a couple of hours. Mayah already drives her crazy. What harm could three more brats do? Especially when two of them can’t even walk yet,” Shego pointed out.
“That’s true. And Bo can barely walk,” Kim added in.
“Then it’s settled.”
Or it would be settled when Betty agreed to baby-sit for everyone. Kim’s friends did agree to come to Todd’s party for a few hours, as along as Betty was going to baby-sit. So, now, Betty was the deciding factor in everything. Shego asked Betty the very next time she saw her, which happened to be at work.
“Yo, Bets,” Shego called to the boss the second that she saw her. The one-eyed woman was coming out of her office, probably to yell at someone, but the pale woman could care less about that.
“What?” Betty replied in an annoyed tone. She was about to go holler at some of her more incompetent employees that did not seem to pass fifth grade English, or so the state of their reports lead her to believe.
“Do me a favor,” the green-skinned female said.
“What kind of favor?”
“We need a babysitter on Todd’s birthday.”
“Why?” Betty asked curiously while making her way over to Shego. She did not feel like shouting about babysitting through out the whole floor. They strolled over to Shego’s desk while they spoke.
“Look, we want to throw Todd a big birthday bash since his birthday is on a Saturday. He gets a little testy about things that are supposed to be about him, but we’re worrying about Jade and paying attention to her. So, we figured that for his birthday, it would be best if Jade wasn’t around,” the emerald-eyed female explained.
“I guess that would be the trouble with being an only child and then having a baby around. I guess I could watch Jade. She’s actually well behaved…I don’t know which one of you she could possibly get that from,” Betty remarked.
Shego had a deadpan expression on her face from that. “It’s not just Jade. Kimmie’s friends agreed to come to the party, but they need a baby-sitter too,” she continued on.
“Whoa, you want me to watch two other brats too?”
“Yeah, for a few hours.”
“I don’t know about this…” Betty said hesitantly.
“Come on, Mayah is the worst of the bunch since she can walk and shit like that,” Shego pointed out.
“Mayah’s a good baby,” Betty argued. Her daughter was fine by her anyway.
“Tell me that lie again,” Shego said. She had been around Mayah enough to know that the girl was not the little angel Betty would like the world to believe. Mayah was the type of baby that preferred to go after things after being told “no” or “don’t touch.” She also had an unhealthy fixation with grabbing parts of the face, especially lips and eyebrows.
“Well, how many hours are we talking?” Betty inquired. She did not think it would be so bad since Jayden and Raziya were not many months old and Jayden was a lazy baby anyway; they joked that Jayden was probably a cat in past life with the way that she slept.
“About three hours. Todd’s party isn’t going to be too long,” Shego replied.
“Why? Because when Jade’s away it weakens your powers?” Betty teased.
“Hardy, har, har,” the emerald-eyed officer said dryly.
“I guess I can do my part. Why wasn’t I invited, though?” the brown-haired woman asked, as if she was insulted.
“Somebody has to watch the babies,” Shego answered in a “duh” kind of voice, like that response was obvious.
“Watch your mouth, or I won’t do it.”
“Nah, it’s seriously just that we need someone to watch the kids. I’m sure he’d love it if his Aunty Betty showed up, but we don’t want to leave Falsetto with four brats, now do we?” Shego pointed out.
“Don’t call him that. Dahntay would have his hands full, but he probably wouldn’t agree to this. Fine, I’ll watch the brats and be excluded from the party.”
“Well, you could always come by and pick them up and wish the gremlin a happy birthday. I’m sure he’ll love it.”
Betty agreed. “Well, then, I need to find the little badass a gift. What did you two get him?”
“A bike, a telescope, and an educational video game as the ‘big’ gifts, as Kimmie likes to call them. For the little gifts, we got him some toys from a couple of shows that he likes,” Shego answered.
Betty nodded. She supposed that she could go buy him something after work. She tried to think of the things that he liked that she knew about anyway. She knew what she would get him within seconds.
(New day)
Betty came over to Shego’s house, looking to pick up the kids and wish Todd a happy birthday. She was surprised when the door was opened to find the house did not look like it was ready for a party, even though it was almost one and she thought that the party started in about an hour. She was curious about that.
“Hey, Bets,” Shego said as she came out of the kitchen area.
“Hey, where’s all the—” Betty was cut off.
“It’s a surprise,” the pale woman said. They had not put any of the decorations up yet because the party was going to be a surprise for their little son.
“Oh, so when is it going to start?” the one-eyed woman inquired. She was not sure if they would be able to pull off a party in an hour since nothing was up yet.
“About an hour. Kimmie’s friends are going to stick around for a little while and then bid us ado in order to rescue you from the brats, so don’t worry. Everybody’s in the living room, though.”
Betty nodded and she went to the living room, along with her very obvious gift. Kim and her friends along with everyone’s progeny were in there. Kim was holding Jayden, who was sleeping, which was far from surprising. Felix had Raziya, who was just as knocked out as Jayden. Bokuden was holding onto Yori’s leg while reaching for a cookie that Ron was holding. Todd was focusing on the pile of gifts that he already had.
“Bo, this is my cookie, so stop it,” Ron ordered, but his son continued reaching, which he expected. He thought Bokuden was way too greedy and he knew that was saying something coming from him. Bokuden ate everything he possibly could and tried to eat the impossible things.
“I think that nightshift job Jade and Razi work is starting to get to them,” Monique remarked.
“Let her sleep. It’s much better than when she gets to screaming,” Felix commented with a sigh. Raziya had some lungs on her.
“Yeah, that’s making me look forward to this,” Betty remarked in a highly sarcastic tone.
“Don’t worry. We totally appreciate this,” Ron assured her.
“I’m sure,” Betty said and she rolled her eye. She would appreciate it too if someone was coming to relieve her of her child for a few hours.
“Aunt Betty!” Todd grinned and he ran over to hug her. She mussed his short, crimson hair while returning the embrace.
“Happy birthday, Smiley,” she replied while presenting him with her present.
“Wow, why’d you even bother to wrap that one?” Kim inquired, speaking to Betty.
“Do you want me to tell Shego you’re being a brat?” Betty countered.
Kim decided not to respond to that one. Todd seemed happy enough with the gift, especially since he knew what it was; it was baseball bat. He could always use a new baseball bat. Betty then quickly grabbed up the babies and loaded them into a mini-van she had recently brought; she planned on having more kids, so she thought that the mini-van was a sound investment.
While putting the kids into the van, everyone was trying to let Betty know about their kids particular quirks since she only knew Jayden well and Jayden had the least amount of quirks being only two months old. Raziya was only four months old and would probably sleep as long as Jayden did, which would more than likely be the whole babysitting job, but in case she woke up, Felix and Monique told Betty that if their baby had her little toy squid, she would be fine. The squid was in the baby bag, along with bottles and diapers.
Bokuden was the really weird one. He was nine months old and could walk for the most part. He liked walking into walls for some reason that his parents could not figure out. He also had a thing for reaching for food, even if it was not his and he was not below taking one of the babies’ bottles and drinking from it. Betty sighed; Bokuden was going to be a handful more than likely.
With the babies out of the way, their parents went to prepare for Todd’s party. Ron had the job of getting Todd out of the house until they got everything together and people started arriving. Ron liked his job because it was easy and he got to hang out with Todd. He really liked Todd and sort of viewed himself as a father-figure in the boy’s life, which was how Todd looked at him. He decided to take Todd to an arcade because he had been told not to get the boy any food because there would be food when they got back.
Betty was helped by Dahntay in bringing the babies in the house; it was a good thing that Bokuden could and enjoyed walking or they would have had a problem. She put the babies in the den, which was where she usually let Mayah play. Jayden and Raziya were still sleeping, hard. Bokuden seemed to be wired, though.
The one-eyed woman put the television on for Bokuden, hoping that would work for calming him down. It did not; he did not even seem to notice that the television was on. He just started wandering the den, walking into everything and taking that as a sign to turn in another direction.
“This kid is weird,” Betty muttered about Bokuden.
She decided to keep an eye on him to make sure he did not hurt himself until her own baby woke up from a nap. Dahntay watched Bokuden while Betty went to get Mayah. The little girl grinned widely when her mother showed up and picked her up from the crib.
Mayah had five of her front teeth and showed them off whenever she smiled, which was very often. She was pretty happy with life it seemed and showed that with her expression. She especially smiled when her parents were around or when she got to see Todd for some reason that was beyond everyone. She actually bothered Todd a bit because she always wanted him to pick her up when he was around, but the little boy was reluctant to hold her since she was getting kind of big and he was scared that he might drop her.
“How’s my big girl?” Betty asked Mayah while kissing the child’s chubby cheek.
“Mommmeeee!” Mayah cheered. Her eyes shined with delight from the attention of her mother; her mismatched eyes. She was sporting one brown eye and one onyx eye; the colors coming from each of her parents.
“Come on, I’ll let you go hang out with a crazy blonde boy,” Betty informed her daughter.
She carried Mayah down to the den and put her down next to Bokuden. The two children looked at each other for a long moment, having never actually met before. Mayah was the first to act, walking over to Bokuden and slapping him in the face.
“No!” Betty scolded Mayah. “No hitting, Mayah,” she said and she lightly slapped her daughter’s hand.
Mayah looked up at her mother as if she was asking why she was being admonished. She then turned back to Bokuden, who did not seem to care that he had been smacked in the face. It would seem that Mayah figured it would take a lot more to get to the new kid in the house, so she pushed him. Bokuden fell back while Betty reprimanded her child again. Bokuden just sat there for a moment and then he stood back up. He strolled over Mayah and then head-butted the one-year-old, having to practically jump to do so since Mayah was taller than he was. He had to struggle to keep his balance after that act.
Betty could not believe what she was seeing as Mayah fell back. The little girl rubbed her forehead with her short, pudgy fingers for a few seconds. She then climbed to her feet. She walked over to Bokuden and Betty thought that she might have to break up a baby fight, but then the children did something exceptionally weird; they started laughing. It would seem that pair had bonded over the abuse.
Todd could not believe what was happening and he could not smile wide enough as it occurred. He was overjoyed to find out that his She-she and Kimmie had thrown him a birthday party. Surprisingly enough, as soon as he found out, the first thing that he asked was where his baby sister was, apparently wanting her to be present for his birthday. It was explained to him that it would have been hard to throw the party and take care of all of the babies, so Betty had decided to help out by taking the babies for the day. Todd seemed to understand that.
It was a pizza party, which really delighted Todd and he made sure to have all of the piazza that he could eat; Kim tried the same thing, but every time she was trying to get a slice, Shego would call her for something. Attending the party were Todd’s friends from his baseball league that he played in over the summer and other friends from his swim classes. And the most brilliant move of all, well for the moment anyway, was the acrobatic clown.
“You know he’s going to be doing shit like this later on, right?” Shego whispered to Kim as they watched the clown walk on his hands through out the backyard. The kids thought that it was great.
“Ah, he does crazy things anyway,” Kim replied with a smile. They were going to have deal with some bizarre stunts for a little while after Todd saw the clown work though, and she knew that.
“Where the hell did you find a clown like this anyway?” the pale woman inquired curiously.
“He’s actually a friend of Yori’s from her high school. He lost a bet to me a little while ago and this is payback,” the redhead explained.
Shego nodded to that. She checked her watch to see what time it was to see if the masterstroke of the whole party was going to be there soon. Kim checked Shego’s watch too; the hero did not wear a watch of her own. They figured that everything would fall into place soon.
“Oh, pizza!” the couple heard four familiar voices declare.
“The things we do for this boy,” Shego muttered with a tired sigh. The four voices belonged to pair of twins, her brothers and Kim’s brothers. She hated the fact that her brothers now knew where she lived.
Todd went wild when his uncles came to greet him; all of his uncles except for Hego had shown up. And then, after he saw his uncles, he went even crazier to find his grandparents, not counting Jason, in the living room. He had a trillion and one things that he wanted to say and do with his grandparents, but first, he wanted to know if his Grandpa and uncles were going to do anything with rockets. The answer: yes, of course.
Jim and Tim, along with their father, set up a fireworks display in the backyard. They planned on it being the finale of the whole party, which worked for Todd’s guardians as long as everything went according to plan and nothing blew up before schedule or set anything on fire. Todd was not as happy about it, wanting to blow something up immediately, which his uncles could relate to from when they were his age.
Todd then had a ball introducing his friends to his uncles and grandparents. His friends’ parents thought that it was so cute that he so clearly admired his uncles and grandparents. He did not seem to notice his excited behavior, but that was because he was like that around them all the time. Isabel and Ann did think it was so adorable that he was so happy that they were all their for his first birthday party ever.
Bokuden was obviously a bottomless pit when it came to eating it would seem. Betty had given him juice and applesauce along with giving the same to Mayah. Bokuden practically inhaled his food and then started eating Mayah’s snack by sticking his hand in the applesauce cup. Mayah gave him a look as if saying she could not believe what the hell he was doing and then she slapped him. Bokuden did not even flinch and just kept on eating.
Betty separated the pair while Mayah finished her food. Bokuden walked over to Raziya, who was still sleeping and just stared at her. Raziya was out of his reach, napping in her car seat; Jayden was next to her. Since he could not reach the babies, the blonde boy went back to Mayah, wanting her food again.
“This kid is unbelievable,” Betty muttered.
Dahntay brought more juice and applesauce for Bokuden, which appeased the boy for the moment. Dahntay thought that Bokuden was a funny child because he really did just want to eat everything that he could. Since he had been there, Bokuden had grabbed for anything that Betty or Dahntay had in their hands when he was paying attention to the couple, whether it was edible or not. He bit into anything that he could get his hands on, most of which was not for consuming, but he would have tried to devour them if one of the adults did not thwart his attempts.
When it was clear that he was not going to be able to eat any and everything, Bokuden went back to wandering the den until Mayah was done with her snack. The two of them watched a television show together, pushing each other through out the show. They did not hit each other with enough force to do anything harmful, but they seemed to be having fun with it and no one interfered.
Three hours after the babysitting gig started, Bokuden and Raziya were picked up by their parents. Mayah seemed rather upset that Bokuden was leaving. Betty guessed her daughter had enjoyed the slap-boxing contest that they had engaged in for the afternoon.
“How were they?” Monique inquired.
“Raziya might not be human. She yawned once while she was here and that was it,” Betty answered, joking a bit. Raziya had easily slept through the whole stay, just like Jayden did.
“Because she’s lazy like her daddy,” Monique remarked.
“I’m not lazy. It’s just you’re here, so why should I have to move?” Felix teased with a charming smile.
“What about Bo? How much of the fridge did he clean out?” Ron asked curiously.
“All of it, pretty much,” Betty joked. She was going to have to go out and buy some more applesauce, though. It was Mayah’s favorite treat and Bokuden had eaten four in the pack and only six came in a pack.
“That’s my boy,” Ron declared proudly.
“I’ve been led to believe that’s the problem,” Betty quipped with a smug look on her face.
“Oh, burned!” Monique teased Ron, getting a good laugh at his expense.
Ron could care less about the jokes; he had heard them all since Bokuden was born. The blonde child and Raziya were dressed to leave. Their things were gathered and they were on their way. Mayah seemed to instantly miss her company.
“Come on, Mayah. We’ve still got Jade,” Betty pointed out.
Mayah grinned. “See Jade?” she requested, seeming fond of the baby.
Betty nodded and they returned to the den. She moved Jayden onto the floor; the baby was still sleeping in her car seat. Mayah stared at Jayden and just grinned. Betty had to watch Mayah carefully, though. Mayah had no problem with slapping Jayden, even though she knew it was wrong. She typically just waited until no one was looking to knock Jayden a few times and when Jayden started to cry, she would act like she did not know why. Sometimes she would even have the nerve to say “cry a lot” while pointing at Jayden, as if the baby was just bawling for no reason.
The fireworks to end Todd’s birthday went off without a hitch, which was a surprise since Jim and Tim were involved. The party went great as far as Kim and Shego could tell. The kids loved the party favors and everyone enjoyed a piece of one of the three cakes that had been purchased; Shego had actually wanted to bake the cakes herself, but there just was not enough time for it. Todd liked the part where he got to open all of his gifts most of all, outside of his uncles and grandparents showing up.
Once the guests were gone, Shego went to pick up Jayden and told Betty to come by the house. Betty did not ask why, but she did want to know if she should bring Mayah. Shego confirmed that she should and she also hollered for Dahntay to “bring his simple ass too.” How could he refuse that wonderfulinvitation?
The couple did wonder what Shego wanted with them, but they followed behind her in their car. When they got the house, they saw that Kim’s friends were back and Todd wondered what was going on too. They all gathered in the kitchen and Shego pulled out another cake; that one she did make herself. And they all sang “happy birthday” to Todd, some for the second time that day and others for the first, but they were all happy to do it. Todd would never forget his eighth birthday.
Next time: Kim and Shego host Thanksgiving dinner at their home for both of their families.