Kim glanced at the backseat of the minivan. Kasy and Sheki were sitting in their seats, being relatively good for super-powered five year olds. Relatively being the key word in that sentence.
“Mommy!” cried Sheki. “Kasy keeps poking me!”
“Kasy, keep your hands to yourself. We’re almost at the zoo.” said Kim. She glanced at the person driving. “Right?”
Shego nodded. “Almost there, Kimmy.” she said.
Kim smiled at her wife and set back. She glanced down at her hands in her lap. After five years being married to Shego and raising the twins, she occasionally felt startled when she saw that her own skin was peach; it sometimes made her feel like an outsider, being the only one in the family who didn’t have pale-green skin and the ability to create plasma bolts from her hands.
Shego glanced out of the corner of her eyes, noticing the bitter-sweet expression on Kim’s face. Shego rolled her eyes slightly. After five years of marriage, she could sometimes sense exactly what Kim was thinking. “Kimmy… you’re the glue that holds this family together. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the most super person in the car.”
Kim smiled and leaned over to kiss Shego on the cheek.
“Yuck, mushy stuff!” commented Kasy. Sheki nodded agreement, covering her eyes.
Shego chuckled as Kim found herself blushing. Amazing thought Shego, to herself. Five years of marriage and raising kids, and she still blushes at the drop of a hat
“Here we are at the zoo, kids.” said Shego, parking the minivan. The parking lot was already mostly full of SUVs and minivans, but Shego wasn’t worried about not being able to find her van later. For one thing, she was sure her minivan was the only one here that was bullet-proof, with a suped-up engine in case a high-speed escape or chase was required. For the second thing, none of the other minivans were painted jet black, with bright green flames painted around the wheels and back bumper. On the front hood of the van was painted, in neon pink, a stylized ‘TP’ logo (for Team Possible).
For once, Shego wasn’t wearing a green-and-black leotard and Kim wasn’t wearing mission clothes. Today, for a Family Fun Day, both were dressed for a very different mission. Shego was wearing a pair of black denim pants and a long sleeved black shirt, with a green short-sleeved shirt on top. Kim was wearing blue denim pants and a pink sweater. Shego wished once again that she could convince Kim that Kim looked best wearing green… or nothing at all.
Shego and Kim got out on opposite sides of the van and opened the side doors. Shego helped Kasy get out of her seat… the red haired, green skinned girl was wearing purple jeans, along with blue shoes and a blue shirt. Kim helped Sheki out. Sheki was the quieter, more feminine of the two… she actually liked wearing dresses, and was wearing a pink one today that matched the pink hair-ribbon in her long, jet black hair. Kasy, not wanting to waist time with her hair, had her hair loose, cut to shoulder length.
“Ok, Sheki.” said Kim. “We’re here.”
“Going to see the lions?” said Sheki, cautiously.
“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.” said Kim, smiling.
Sheki smiled back but quickly grabbed onto one of Kim’s hands. The dark-haired girl wasn’t timid, exactly… she just preferred to know that she had backup available. Kasy was the risk taker, the one always willing to tackle a new situation without considering the odds. Kim and Shego both suspected, however, that many of the twins wilder adventures had been due to one of Sheki’s ideas… Kasy was as happy running around in the backyard as she was running around lost.
Sheki was the one who seemed to be curious about how things worked. For example, such as how the parachute in Kim’s pack folded down; fortunately, Kim had realized that someone had tinkered with her ’chute before she needed to use it. The two girls had been carefully lectured on not playing with their mothers’ equipment gear, and Kasy had responded to the lecture by asking when they (the twins) could learn to parachute jump.
Going to the zoo had been a hastily suggested compromise on Kim’s part… she felt the twins were far too young to be jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. Shego went along willingly enough, but suspected that parachute jumping (even without a properly packed parachute) would be safer then taking the twins to the zoo.
“They got nakey mole rats?” asked Kasy, curiously.
“No, Kasy.” said Kim. “No naked mole rats.”
“Wanna see Rufus.” said Kasy, trying her own version of her mommy’s puppy-dog pout.
“Rufus had to stay with Uncle Ron and Aunt Monique” said Shego, firmly. “You can see them another day.”
The family foursome walked up to the front gates of the Middleton Zoo. Shego paid, using her Global Justice account. While Kim knew that Shego still had a considerable amount of money saved up from Shego’s days as a super villain, Kim still had moral issues about Shego using that money. So, the family used the money that Global Justice was paying as a retainer for the services of the two women, and left Shego’s ill-gotten gains to be used in case of an emergency.
Kim picked a map up from the counter as she passed through the entrance way. Shego, of course, hadn’t bothered. The raven haired woman could be meticulous in planning a robbery or a mission, but preferred to ‘wing it’ and go where her whim took her when not on an assignment.
“Where do you want to go first?” Kim asked, checking the map.
“Wanna see the lions!” said Kasy, firmly.
Kim glanced at Sheki, prepared to suggest a change of venue if Kasy’s twin sister seemed too frightened of the idea. However, Sheki just nodded in agreement. Kim pointed the direction to the big cats exhibits.
Kasy waved and yelled at the lounging felines, while Kim helped Sheki in reading the plaque that talked about the wild cats.
“It says the lionesses work together to hunt… like you and mom?” asked Sheki.
“That’s right.” said Kim, smiling reassuringly. “But we don’t hunt for food… we hunt bad guys.”
“Bad guys! Kapow, zap!” said Kasy, pointing a finger like it was a gun at where a lioness was snoozing in the shade. Shego quickly pushed the hand down, in case Kasy had been planning to plasma-blast the sleeping cat. “No plasma blasting dumb animals.” said Shego, firmly. “What did I tell you girls?”
“Never use our plasma powers on a living being unless we absolutely, positively have to” chorused Kasy and Sheki, both girls being familiar with the line from Kim and Shego delivering it multiple times.
“That’s right.” said Shego. “Don’t even play or pretend to, because you might accidentally fire off a blast.”
“Aw, mom…” said Kasy. “Sheki and I are MUCH too good to do that. We got dumb skills!”
“Dumb skills?” repeated Shego. “Ok, that’s it… you’ve been spending too much time with Uncle Ron.”.
Kim glanced at the plaque again. “It says here they like to lounge around in the sun, just like you three do.” said Kim.
“Hey, that last vacation, you spent plenty of time on the beach also.” said Shego.
“Yeah, but I tan.” pointed out Kim.
“You tan, we store.” said Kasy, grinning. “Right, Sheki?”
Sheki nodded.
“Ok, girls.” said Shego, firmly. “Lets try the reptile house next, ok? They like to sun themselves also… and they’re green!”
Kim rolled her eyes.
Shego tisked. “What, it’s not MY fault that you’re the only one in the family who doesn’t like green.”
“I like green.” said Kim. “In moderation. And moderation does NOT mean coloring everything half green and half black.”
Kasy and Sheki, used to their mothers conversations, just giggled.
The rest of the morning went well… Kasy trying to get the family to rush to the next exhibit while Sheki read the animal information, getting help from either Kim or Shego.
They had lunch in the zoo, buying sandwiches at an outdoor restaurant area. Kasy pestered Shego to do ‘the toaster trick’ until Shego finally broke down and used her plasma glow to toast the bread for the two girls sandwiches. Neither Sheki or Kasy had yet developed the necessary control for the slow, sustained power flow required to evenly toast bread. Sheki was getting close, while Kasy’s attempts tended to leave the bread looking more like charcoal then toast. Considering Kim’s own early attempts in the kitchen, Kim didn’t feel she had any right to criticize.
By early afternoon, Kasy was starting to get tired from all the running around. Shego picked the red-haired girl up and set her on her shoulders. “Well, girls?” Shego asked. “Ready to go home?”
“Uh-uh, we haven’t seen everything yet!” set Kasy, firmly.
“Well, we’ve seen almost everything.” said Kim.
“Haven’t gone that way.” said Kasy, pointing.
“Um, right.” said Kim. Actually, she had been a little hesitant of going that direction. She knew there was no way a phobia could be transmitted by osmosis, but the two girls did spend a lot of time with Uncle Ron and Aunt Monique.
“Oh, come on…” said Shego. “Let’s go see what’s that way, and then head home for ice cream.”
“Ice cream, ice cream!” chanted Kasy and Sheki eagerly.
The last exhibit was the monkey cages. A large chimp came right to the edge of the cage and hooted, startling Sheki and having her grip Kim’s hand tightly. Kasy merely laughed and eagerly pointed out a squirrel-tailed monkey to her mom.
The idyllic scene was interrupted by the cry of ‘stop, thief!’.
The four turned to see a young man, holding the purse he had just snatched, running away from a yelling octogenarian woman. Kim let go of Sheki’s hand and rushed to intercept the thief. Shego started to follow after but stopped, realizing she had been left with Sheki and Kasy. The thief glanced back at Kim and dashed toward the exit. Fear lent extra speed to his feet; while he was not as fast as Kim was, he had a considerable lead and it looked like he was going to get away.
Shego hesitated, not wanting to use her plasma powers, in public, on a person who was just a minor street hood. On the other hand, she didn’t want him to get away, either.
“Kasy! Help!” said Sheki, insistently. Sheki had her two hands pressed together, pointer fingers extended. Kasy looked at her twin sister, then looked down at where Sheki was pointing. Realizing what her sister had in mind, Kasy began to grin and point also.
The two girls fired in tandem… not aiming at the thief, but at a large branch overhead. Their aim, after frequent practice sessions, was perfect. The limb was seperated from the main tree, falling in front of the fleeing thief; almost on top of him. The tree limb slowed the thief enough for Kim to grab him, snatching the purloined purse from his hands. Park security showed up quickly, taking the thief off Kim’s hands and allowing Kim to return the purse. Any questions the security had about how the branch had so fortunately fallen at just the right time to stop the thief were quelled when Kim flashed her Global Justice badge.
On the ride home, the two young girls were quiet, exhausted from a long day. They fell asleep shortly after finishing their ice-cream cones. Kim tucked the two girls into bed. “Good night, angels.” she said softly, kissing them on their slumbering foreheads.