shimmerandsing | Small surprises.

Alison didn't like it when her husband wasn't home. There were a variety of reasons for it, but the main reason was because he wasn't with her when he was gone. She had spent most of the day in a funk, waiting for Longshot and Asuka to return home from a clan mission. She couldn't complain too much when he was sent away. The jonin knew Alison was pregnant and somewhat clingy where her husband was concerned. So, if he had been called away, it was probably very important.

She still missed him, though.

So, she spent most of the day in her music room. Her single had done remarkably well since its release and now she was looking to find more good material to record. She had almost an album's worth already.

She was taking a break from working, having a sandwich for lunch in the kitchen, when she saw the glowy orange light from John's arrival. She hoped Lisa was with him. The girl had not been in her room this morning and that had worried Alison, too.

"Hi, guys!" She called. "Come have some lunch with me."

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As Asuka made her way to the kitchen, Longshot kept a close watch on John. He almost took the cookie away! He chewed warily until he was sure the cookie was not going to dance away from the new plate. He looked up at Alison.

"How many cookies do I get once I've eated lunch?"

Alison laughed softly as she looked down at Longshot. He was so cute. Well, he was always cute, but he was really cute as a toddler. She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"How about one of each kind?"

"Is there fifty kinds of cookies in there?" Longshot asked Lisa as Asuka stepped into the kitchen.

The ninja glanced around and looked somewhat confused at the little blond boy sitting on Alison's lap. He looked familiar somehow.

"Did Longshot make it back from Ireland? We got separated and I wasn't sure what Nexus portals to use."

"Nuh uh. Only two. Sorry." Lisa grinned at him and took another bite of her sandwich. Somehow, she kind of thought she was going to be blamed for all of this. It was nice to be wrong. Just this once.

John quirked an amused eyebrow at Asuka and pointed at Longshot sitting in Alison's lap. "He made it back. More or less..."

"Sandwich?"

"Nerts!" Longshot said to Lisa and wrinkled his nose. He looked over at Asuka and waved. "Hiya, babysitter!"

The ninja, for her part was blinking. "He was ... taller ... the last time I saw him..."

The young Mojoworlder straightened up in Alison's lap as he finished up the half of sandwich he had been given. He was tall! See?

"Apparently there were little green men and magic involved," Alison told Asuka. Huh. That just never really sounded right, no matter how many times it was said.

She picked up half the sandwich John had brought her and offered it to Longshot. "Still hungry, cutie?"

"Yes!" Longshot grabbed the sandwich and took a big bite out of it.

Asuka, trained to be unflappable, was at that precise moment very flapped. "No sandwich, thank you," she finally replied to John.

She grabbed a chair and slowly sank into it. She stared at the young Longshot. "I don't... I don't understand. Unless, well, he said he heard giggling. I thought it was just one of those things..."

"He's not usually prone to hearing things," John remarked as he set the last, unclaimed sandwich on the table within Alison's reach and then took his own to another seat. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if there was giggling involved, maybe it wasn't meant to be malicious and maybe it's only temporary."

"Or Longshot'll have to grow up all over again!" Lisa seemed amazed by this. It would be fun to have a little brother to play with, though. She bet her Dad would be spending a lot more time here if that happened.

"They giggled because they thought I was fuuunnnneeee," Longshot commented before he took another bite of sandwich. He chewed happily. He was sitting in Ali's lap, and it was all comfy.

"I didn't mean that he was making things up," Asuka tried to explain. "I know he's aware of a lot of things other adults are not. But... I didn't think..."

Longshot waggled his eyebrows at Lisa as he chewed.

Alison squeezed Longshot gently and kissed the top of his head. "You are funny, sweetheart. And adorable."

She brushed his hair back from his face as he ate. It wasn't so bad to have him as a child. She'd miss their adult fun, but getting to hold and snuggle a tiny blond child would be fun enough to make up for it.

That is, if it was temporary like John suggested.

"And you're bee-you-tee-full!" He said to Ali around a mouthful of sammich.

Asuka rubbed her forehead for a moment. "I think I can find where we were when he said that. Maybe find whoever did this to him?"

"It's as good a place to start as any. I'm really not all that knowledgeable about magic. Or little green people." He was kind of glad for that, actually. Magic and little green people were on the list of 'Things I Can't Shoot If I Need To' and that bothered him.

"Can I go, too?" Lisa looked hopeful.

"Absolutely not. If you shrink as much as Longshot did, you'd disappear."

"Lisa go POOF!" Longshot emphasized with minimal sammich spray from his mouth. He giggled a little. He swung his legs a bit that they bounced on Ali's.

Alison chuckled and picked up the washcloth John left nearby. She wiped quickly across Longshot's mouth and then set it aside.

"You finished your sandwich. Want your cookie, now?" She reached for the one on the plate and held it out to him.

"When should we go?" She asked Asuka.

While Longshot went 'plech' at the washcloth on his mouth again, Asuka leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"Should you be going, Alison? If you're hit with whatever Longshot was, what'll happen to the babies?" She smiled faintly at Longshot snatching the cookie. "I could probably visit my uncle and get something to bring a little green man here."

Leaving Longshot and Alison here while the search went on sounded safer to Asuka.

"She's right, Alison. I think we'd all feel better if you weren't in harm's way. Even if this isn't malevolent magic, it's still unpredictable." John watched Longshot bemusedly.

"I'll go with Asuka." He was still in uniform, even. Man, it had been a long day.

Lisa dug a peanut butter cookie out of the bowl and put it on Alison's plate. Then she took one for herself and munched happily.

Longshot eyed the cookie Lisa had set out. He glanced left. He glanced right. He glanced up at Ali's chin. Then he snagged the cookie off her plate! He was two fisting his cookies! HA hahahahaha!

Alison stifled a laugh at Longshot's cookie grabbing. If this was any indication of things to come, then their children were going to have their mommy wrapped right around their little fingers. She kind of didn't mind, though.

"Hey," she grinned down at the tiny blond. "How many cookies do you have, huh?"

"One-a each," Longshot replied before he nibbled on the peanut putter cookie. He fluttered his eyes innocently.

Asuka put her hand in front of her mouth to hide her smile. It took her a second to regain composure. She looked at John. "Will just the two of us be enough? It was just me and Longshot and you see what happened with that."

She gestured to the cookie-munching kid nestled happily in Alison's lap.

Small surprises.

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