#th char development the emotional maturity..

[hinamie]

9 / 266

[neshabeingchildish]

That Page Power

She had to get some things in order with her numerous corporations, first. It was times like these that she missed Mimi the most, because that woman had been so great with organization and filling in blanks. Jasper was her assistant… well… he was the family's assistant. Honestly, he was like a super personal assistant who also mannied and helped with manual labor. Charlotte had to often remind the kids that "Uncle Jasper is not a butler!" They'd get away with anything that he let them and not having kids of his own yet, what he allowed became a lot before he got Barfield.

That was when Hank was 11 and Charlie was 6. The year that Charlotte finally was ready to announce her bid to the presidency of the Hero League. Jasper had told her, apologetically, "I'm a father now, so I can't be your campaign manager."

"I think I'll figure out a way to make it," she told him. 

"I'll do it. It'll be good practice for both business and politics that I'll need to run My Little Ham," Hank offered. The business would definitely be his, but instead of 18, more and more every day, they were sure that he'd be able to take over any day now. Charlotte's family all had shares in her companies, but Hank would have the most when he became an adult. She really wanted Charlie to handle at LEAST SoulDates.

There was something poetic about her only daughter having the rights to a social network that her mother once created for her father… but Charlie wasn't interested in that. Charlotte wasn't always sure just WHAT Charlie was interested in, because even though they had a pretty communicative relationship, Charlie didn't really connect with Charlotte very well. She was very attentive to her brother, who was the smartest kid alive, in her little mind. She adored her Uncle Jasper, who spoiled her rotten and played every game that she wanted whenever she wanted. And she LIVED FOR her father. He was the most super superhero in the world, Mr. Danger. "And someday, I'M gonna be a superhero too!" She'd often brag. 

"You don't have to be a superhero," Charlotte would always tell her, trying to be sure not to be the kind of mother that Simone and many other supers complained about, trying to instill some normalcy in her, even though she had powers. In fact, she wasn't even allowed to remove her bracelet until they decided that she was responsible enough to begin honing her skills and using her powers. 

But, of course, sometimes she did. She took it off just to marvel about the fact that she had powers, then she'd put it back on in a hurry. She didn't know what her powers were, but she knew that her mother had a failsafe in the bracelet that alerted her if it was off for too long. 

Many parents special ordered bracelets for their children's powers, however, because it was Hank's idea, Charlotte left it up to him whether they would put it on the market. His agreement was only if it was Charlie's company, since she was his inspiration for it. Charlotte loved that idea. Charlie was definitely more interested in jewelry than computers. But… a particular type. Gadget jewelry. 

Growing up with a father with a bionic arm and a brother who made gizmos for fun, she didn't care about style so much as "What does it do?" A techie watch? Meh. A Whiz Watch. Yasss. The same seemed to apply for Charlotte's technology verses Hamilton's. Charlotte made things that were far more complicated than Charlie could comprehend and the parts of it that were helpful, you couldn't really see immediately. With the exception of her dad's arm and the house system, Charlie just didn't care about her mom's work. Charlotte didn't have stories that she could share with her about awesome aspects of her job, so Charlie didn't ask or care how work was for her. She always tried to be nice about not caring, but Charlotte left her to decide what she liked. Until it came down to the superpower and the hero life. 

Charlie resented the fact that she wasn't able to polish her skills yet. Her dad was always excited about the possibility of her following in his footsteps, so she figured that keeping her hampered wasn't his idea. Hamilton made the bracelet for her, but try as he might to be a grown-up, she knew he didn't have any REAL authority in that house, and she wasn't sure if her daddy did either, for that matter. They had her mommy's last name. They lived on her mommy's work, mostly. Her daddy had to have gotten paid, but even being a superhero outside of the house, when he got back, he was the one of the two who cooked and cleaned and planted flowers. Charlie wasn't smart like her brother, but she was able to see a power dynamic, whether or not she was able to express what she was seeing. Like, her daddy would say something really cool and she'd get excited, then her mommy would make him think about it, or ask, "You sure about that, Hen?" And suddenly, he changed his mind to something boring instead. 

Well, she wasn't gonna get the best of Charlie with that reverse psychology or whatever it was that Hank would tell her "only works on Dad," when he was determined to do things differently than what she said. Not reverse psychology. She was mixing up her examples, but WHATEVER! Charlie took off her bracelet and put it in her trinket box. The box glowed and a holographic manifestation of her mother appeared, "Hey, Charlie. Interface tells me that your bracelet is off. Mind telling me why?"

"I do mind!" Charlie snapped.

"You do?" Charlotte asked, taking a seat in her office, where she had been working until she got the alert. "Am I going to have to get your father involved, young lady?" 

Charlie folded her arms and said, "You're not the president yet, so you can't boss him around all the time!"

Charlotte gave her an empathetic smile and said, "Okay. But, for right now, I still need you put that bracelet back on and we can discuss how you're feeling."

"I'm not putting it on because that's not who I am! I'm supposed to be a hero. Why don't you want me to be?" 

"You're too young, Sweetie. Studies show that 94% of supers who are exploited for their powers from an early age become stunted adults with difficulty sustaining healthy relationships and 85% suffer from emotional trauma or mental dysfunction."

"How early are the ages in the study?" Charlie asked, reaching for her bracelet, a little frightened by her mother using statistics and studies. She didn't really understand a lot of that, but it sounded like messed up stuff.

"Prepubescent children's bodies have not yet developed enough to practically navigate powers. Those who can do so earlier generally have hands on daily training and extensive support. When you hit puberty, we'll TALK about it. Now… bracelet please." Charlie begrudgingly put it back on. "Please don't make me have to contact you this way again." Not only did Charlie not make her have to contact her that way again, but Charlie couldn't be bothered for most contact with Charlotte. 

She still said "I love you," every night. She still encouraged her for her presidential race. But… Charlotte knew pretending when she saw it. 

"She hates me," she said to Jasper and Henry while they worked in the campaign office. 

They wanted to argue with her, but all that would come out was, "For now," from Jasper and a "Hate's a strong word" from Henry. 

Henry elaborated, "Charlie is a sweet girl. There's not a hateful bone in her body and certainly not towards you. You're her mom. You're her hero. She sees you as a woman that she'll never grow up to be able to be and that's valid. You're intimidating. But, she knows that she has a good heart and she loves making people happy and wants to help people, in her own way. Whenever you tell her that she can't, she feels like she's not good enough. Like you don't trust her." 

"Did she tell you all that? Because she's six and doesn't have the greatest vocabulary," Charlotte said, typing something.

"I paraphrased because she's six and doesn't have the greatest vocabulary, but she definitely expressed a lot of this in her own words. I told her that you're scared of forcing her to feel like because she's super, she's got a responsibility to save people and that's why you're trying to protect her from being like Uncle Ray." 

"What did she say?"

"Uncle Ray is awesome. He lets me play with lasers."

"WHAT?" 

"I know, right? He didn't even invite us along for laser play with our own kid?" 

"That's not…"

"I know that you're scared of pushing her into the lifestyle and her resenting it later… but… I think she's resenting you for trying to keep her away from it. But, Char… if it was Hank… would you keep his power dampened?"

"Hank's more responsible than her."

"So, no."

"He's above level intelligent and above level maturity. I can't treat them exactly the same because they aren't the same."

"When you're 6, it looks like loving differently. She's got no reference to how you rationalize. All she has is that Hank has always been trusted to be who he is, but she isn't. Not by you."

"If that keeps her safe, then I don't mind being the villain in her narrative. She'll understand one day."

"That's why I said "for now" when you said she hates you," Jasper said, proud of himself.

"Somebody's gonna hate you later for naming him Barfield," she commented.

"I think he'll be honored that his father wanted a unique name for him."

"Naw," she said, not looking up.

"I actually agree with my wife on this one," Henry said.

Now, she looked up, "What do you mean, on this one?"

"Thought that was obvious. On this subject, not the last."

"Okay, so wait… you think I'm wrong to try to protect our daughter?"

"I think that you're going about protecting her wrong. Yes, kids who have powers get exploited early and it negatively affects them, but… that's not what this is or what this would be. I believe that whenever children begin to ask about things and be interested in things, that's when decisions should be made. I think that she'd be fine to begin learning her powers and if she doesn't like it, she would tell me and we'd stop." 

Charlotte felt blindsided. She scoffed, "Well, did you tell her that?"

"I did. Because, I believe that she was looking for support and I genuinely had some for her."

"You're the reason that she thinks I'm the bad guy! You're not supposed to tell children when we disagree."

"She thinks that you're the bad guy in this situation because she knows that you're the one that doesn't want her to do what she wants. Not because I happen to agree with her that it's unfair."

"Wow. I would never do that to you.."

"You'd never have to, Char. If the kids tell me that they want or need something, my default is to explore that with them."

"Your default is careless parenting, just like it's careless everything!" 

Barfield began crying and Jasper got up to check on him. He picked the curly haired boy up and announced, "We're gonna give you two some time. I don't really like Barfield in an arguing space…"  

Henry got up and shook his head, "You're the one who actually works for her, you stay. I'd probably be too careless to help out here, anyway." He winked at Charlotte. She could tell that he was angry, despite him keeping his cool. "See you at home." He told her, then left. The system in his arm noticed that he was dangerously angry and gave him something to balance him out. 

Jasper sat down with his baby and a bottle. "You okay, Champ?" 

Charlotte smiled at him with his son and sighed, "They're so easy at that age. People think it's harder because of the crying and the feeding and cleaning. When they start thinking for themselves and creating their image of you without all of the information that you have, though… that's what's really hard. Charlie worshipped the ground I walk on and then suddenly… she just hated me."

"It wasn't that sudden. You're really abrasive sometimes and I think she's too young to get that."

"When am I abrasive?" Charlotte asked.

"Whenever anybody is not as smart as you and you're talking to them? Like how you're talking to me like you're mad at me, right now?"

"Like I'm mad?" She repeated, "I can't even raise my voice slightly in confusion without being pegged as angry?" 

"I don't know, but you sound really angry and it's freaking me out! I'm holding a baby for crying out loud!" Jasper said. Barfield seemed just fine to Char. She rolled her eyes, then got up and left the room. 

Charlotte went into a small closet that she sometimes went to whenever she needed a moment to herself and she started crying. Henry called her a little bit later. Dammit… had Interface alerted him that she was crying? She ignored the call. If it was an emergency, he'd say that. She only needed a few minutes anyway. She never cried for long when she was out and about. She checked her phone again when she cleaned her face. Henry had texted: Please answer the phone or call me back when you finish crying.

“Damn Interface. I’ve made you too smart,” she mumbled and returned the text: I’m fine. He called back anyway and she answered. “Yeah, Hen. I’m fine.”

“You were crying. Interface said so and I know it’s true because you wouldn’t answer the phone.”

“I’m fine,” she repeated. They held their phones for a moment. “Listen, I’m sorry for what I said. It was unfair and not exactly true.”

“True enough. I am definitely a lot more relaxed than you on most situations, and I can see how that can be read as careless to somebody so uptight.” She tried not to react to that dig, and it was well enough because he kept talking, “But, I feel like you know that I care and it was kind of you just trying to hurt me because I disagreed with you. Charlotte, you are a master at most things that you do. You were the smartest person IN Swellview, not just in school - the whole damn town. You graduated with honors every single time you got a degree. You were a trailblazer in the superhero products manufacturing industry, developed apps that have changed the experience of nearly every super in existence and create things for babies, children and mothers burdened with superpowers, on top of labor and nursing… You’re an amazing person. You can do almost anything, so sometimes, that makes you feel like you’re always right and whenever someone disagrees with you that they’re wrong. That’s fine. You’re entitled to that opinion, but you don’t have to hurt me because I made you uncomfortable.”

“That’s not what I was doing. I was hurt that you didn’t have my back when one of our kids was feeling negatively about me. You couldn’t even at least bring me into that conversation and let both of us talk to her?”

“I guess I could have, but I still would have felt the same way about it, and I’ve always clarified that you’re doing what you believe is best and that you are usually correct. When Mommy makes a decision, it’s the smartest possible decision to make is what I say, without fail, every time. I didn’t not have your back. I just still don’t think you were right! It’s okay to not be right about everything, Char. The old folks used to say that kids don’t come with an instruction manual, then people started making instruction manuals, but they don’t cover everything, because everybody’s kid is an individual. When Hank was Charlie’s age, he could’ve moved to New York by himself and gotten a place, and started a business on his own, if he wanted to. Charlie just accidentally sat on her own ice cream to tie her shoe, then pulled up her dress to eat it off… yesterday. She’s her dad’s kid… And unfortunately kinda her Uncle Jasper’s, somehow.” They both laughed a little thinking about how Jasper-like that entire ice cream ordeal was and how Hank literally timed her to see how long it would take her 1. To notice that she sat in it, 2. To decide what she wanted to do about it. 3. To eat a sundae off of the butt of her dress. “Baby… You are the pillar and beacon of our household and you are the heart of our family. I would be dead without you. Our kids, without you, would be being raised by me and a man who named his only son Barfield, after a child that he once stole and then got taken away from him… That was named horribly THAT time, too!” Now, she laughed harder. That meant it was working. He was softening her up. “But, baby, parenting isn’t a science. It's a miracle. It’s a miracle to be able to figure out what works with a little person who is nothing like you and to do what’s best for them when neither of you know that for certain. Nobody expects you to be perfect at everything. You are the best mother that I’ve ever known. You make sure everyone’s needs are met, you improve just about everything that our kids have had to come into contact with and you think of things that would never even cross any of our minds, not even Hank’s, to make sure your family is healthy and safe. You’re protective, so fiercely protective and I love these things about you and I’m so lucky and glad that such a heroine married me and gave me children.”

“But I make everybody miserable and at least one of my kids hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you! But, if we keep holding her back, she might one day. And I mean… I think you could stand to lighten up on being the expert of everything in this one area. I think I’m a pretty good dad, and I feel like my input is as important as yours when it comes to the kids.”

“Of course it is! I’ve never suggested that it wasn’t.”

“Charlie thinks that you think I’m too stupid to be a daddy and that every time I say something you make me think about it until I change my mind. Those are actually her exact words.” 

Charlotte sighed, “So… You think that she’s ready, to start fooling around with her powers?”

“No. I think that she’s way too young and it would be terrible for her to fool around with her powers! What I think is that we should allow her the freedom to get comfortable with having them and being more open about it. If she takes off her bracelet, let her zip around the room for a little bit. Maybe let her pick up a few heavy things.”

“When she was an infant, she crushed your hand. She’s 6 now. She’s clumsy and awkward. She could accidentally zip around and knock the fountain on herself or something!”

“She has a daddy that’s faster than her to catch her from making that kind of mistake.”

“Okay.” Charlotte took a deep breath. Henry knew it was hard for her to relinquish this kind of power, considering that her child was on the line. A lot of people thought that Charlotte was a detached person, kinda cold and not affectionate, but she was actually the opposite whenever she loved someone and she loved her children probably more than she loved a man that she spent 13 months cooped up with, waiting for him to recover. “Okay… I’m going to accept that you as her father… will do what you think is best… with that… And…” her chest was tight and she could hardly breathe, “If anything happens to her, I’ll just have to kill you.”

“That’s such a fair agreement. I’ll want that, too.”

.

They announced at dinner Henry’s plan to begin letting Charlie get familiar with her powers. She cheered and reached for her bracelet while Hank nearly choked on his pot roast Charlotte quickly saved him and flawlessly warned Charlie, “Not so fast, Missy. Your dad has to go over the rules.” Charlie sank back in her seat, sure that that meant he was gonna give her Charlotte’s rules, which she was sure were gonna be rules that sucked. 

Henry assured her, “So, your mom and I talked about how you feel and we decided that was more important than how Mommy feels about this… because it’s your power and your body.” Charlie looked surprised and looked at her mother, to see if she was going to object to this. Henry kept talking, “But, you mean so much to both of us that we can’t just let you do whatever you want. So, we are going to try to help you accomplish what you want, but only in a safe way, okay?”

“Okay?” She repeated, still looking at Charlotte, who was trying not to cry, “Are you okay, Mommy?” Charlotte nodded. “Are you gonna cry? If you’re gonna cry, I won’t do it…” 

“Charlie,” Henry said. “Don’t worry about Mommy, okay. Right now, what we’re talking about is helping you. So, these are the rules, you ONLY take off your bracelet when you’re training with me and no other time. Do you understand?” She nodded.

Charlotte gave her different examples to see if she actually did understand. She did. Henry proceeded. “Whenever we’re training, always tell me your goal before you make an attempt. That means tell Daddy what you’re about to try to do before you try to do it. Because, for one thing, I have to be sure it’s reasonable. For another, I want to know what to be paying attention to, in case it goes wrong.” 

She nodded, and before Charlotte could ask her questions said, “Like, if I want to try to pick up that goddess statue in the garden, I say I wanna pick up that statue and you are there in case I can’t, and you have to help me.”

“Right,” both parents said.

The other rules were doable too. No training in the house. No showing off what she learned, even to family, unless Daddy was there to back her up. No hero complex whenever she saw someone in danger. “We’re training you to be comfortable in your skin, NOT to become a superhero. If you honestly and truly still want to do that when you get older, then that’ll be up to you. But, we aren’t going to train you to be a superhero just because you have superpowers,” Charlotte said, firmly. 

Charlie nodded solemnly, then cheered, “I want to get started right away. I’m gonna go grab my Lady Danger costume and put my hair up and call Starlette and tell her to suck my big toe!”

“Don’t. Don’t do any of that,” Henry said, then whispered to Charlotte, “She can’t do that, right?”

“No, she can’t,” she said smiling through her teeth. Then, to a crestfallen Charlie said, “Daddy has to make a training schedule for the two of you, but it certainly won’t be at night, after dinner. You can put on your Lady Danger costume after you wash up and MAYBE Daddy will let you zip around outside for a little while before bed.”

“Honestly, that’s the only thing that might make her sleep tonight,” Hank said, monotone. Charlotte looked at him and he forced a smile, got up with his empty plate and took it to the kitchen. Charlotte followed him while Henry tried to calm Charlie down before she choked on the food she was trying to hurry up and finish.

“Hank? Is everything okay?” He started washing his dishes and seemed like he was really thinking about the question. “You know that you can tell me anything,” she said. The look on his face said otherwise and she wondered, well damn, is HANK feeling a way about me too? “I know that I’m not a perfect mom, but I promise you guys, I try my best.”

“You’re an excellent mom, Mom. I just… know that you stress about things. I don’t always like to stress you out. You’re like surrounded by stress inducing people, and I like being the one sensible person that doesn’t make you make that one face where for a few moments, you contemplate a mass murder, then remind yourself that you have children and they’re not old enough to get their own jobs.”

“I sadly know exactly what that face is, but if you’re stressed out, I’d rather you give that mess to me and you will be fine.” She took the dish from him and set it to dry. 

He leaned against the counter, almost as tall as her now, obviously just INSISTING on taking after all of his father’s physical genes, with the exception of him starting to look a little more tanned now and have a little more darkness in his blond curls. “As long as Charlie was in that bracelet, she was a normal girl. We had a great relationship and we were both normal kids, and now… I’m going to be an outcast. I’m not a super,” he said sadly. 

“Well, we don’t know that, but as soon as you’re ready, we can get you tested and…”

“I did the test myself. I’m negative. I’m a non-supe.” He looked like he might cry.

“Well… Listen… I, too, was a non-supe and that didn’t make me any less than your father or Ray.”

“Did you feel like an outcast?” He asked.

“Not because of that.”

“Because you were surrounded by stress inducing people?”

“Yup.”

“But, you had Jasper with you. He’s clearly the designated outcast.” A little bit lower and to himself, he declared, “I can’t believe that he went through the process of finding a surrogate to carry his child and named that boy Barfield.”

“Well, you know what? Jasper WAS the designated outcast of the Man Cave, but we all were pretty weird in our own ways. Whatever makes you different makes you special. Maybe because you’re the only non-super in the house, you’ll be able to do things that we might not be able to. Superpower regulations are always up and down. Whatever happens, you are the smartest kid that I’ve ever met and I get to brag to people that I made you! Hell, that can be your thing. Charlotte Page made you. You are the firstborn son of the Pagemaster. You don’t need a superpower. You’ve got that Page Power, right here.” She lovingly tapped her finger at his brain. “And you’ve got even more of it than me.  Dominate a few industries. You’ll be global.”

“I just want a superpower,” he said, sighed and looked at her, “And now for the part to stress you out - that’s why I am working on a system to make myself become a super.”

“No,” she said, flat out. “If you want to work on a system to grant superpowers, okay, but I refuse to let you just experiment on yourself. You know how I got this? I was kidnapped and reprogrammed, and genetically altered. It was painful and scary and I thought I was fine, then one day it showed up, just as scary and then I had to learn to live with it. People born that way don’t feel any pain or discomfort. It’s their nature. I don’t want you to risk yourself for something that you don’t need.”

“I need to know if my Page power is powerful enough for me to accomplish it.”

“Don’t experiment on yourself!” She warned, then hugged him and kissed him. “If anything happens to you, I’m… Whew Chile, I don’t know why you and your sister want me to have a heart attack.” 

He smiled softly and said, “You know that I would never disobey you or do anything to make you sad. You’re my favorite.”

“Don’t say that,” she said, with a big smile on her face.

“He’s sweet, but God help him…” He said, of Henry and shook his head.

.

Charlotte’s bid for the presidency was met with some opposition. She was criticised for being a “flip flopper,” accusations stemming everywhere from she became radicalized since working in her lab with Max Thunderman and merging their families (something that she hadn’t personally done, but Max worked FOR HER in her laboratories years before and hadn’t in at least 4, and she most certainly hadn’t become radicalized. “What I did become is the Mother of Symbiosis - the political action body, and the extremely successful social network. Supers and Non-pows use my site, app, and lifestyle plan to make peaceful cohabitation practices that some years ago didn’t even seem possible in the wake of The Chemist, Gaia… Who… I also recall creating the serum that stopped her.” Henry screamed out a “WOOOOOO!” Which, she had reminded him not to do before they got here, but, there he was. 

On the flipside, supers insisted that she was a hypocrite because “rumor has it” that she stifled the powers of her daughter, after years of claiming to be pro-supers. “My daughter is currently working with a professional to hone her talents in a safe environment, and I waited until we felt like she was old enough to handle it before moving forward with that. I don’t know if you know this, but if you checkout my article posted in LifeTIME magazine, last year, but still relevant - I spoke about studies that I had conducted myself and how it compared to earlier studies by genetic specialists who focused on metaphysical abilities. Allowing small children free range with their superpowers is nearly as dangerous as forcing power usage on small children. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that when a lot of you were younger, and that’s why so many supers seek out professional help, which… sidenote, one of my companies is in the process of creating a network specifically for the psychological and psychiatric needs of supers. My daughter’s generation gets to live in a time where supers are given healthy choices that make them whole. I am pro-supers, but I’m here to make a way for our future, not pay homage to the toxic things that we got used to in the shadows as second class citizens.”

They even accused her of being a business woman playing politics. They compared her to a non-pow president whose candidacy she hated even speaking about, much less being compared to. She wanted to say, “I oughtta bust this whole building down with my fist.” Instead, she played her politics by saying, “It’s interesting that you bring this man up, because I remember being just a little too young not to vote for him. But, the next time around, I was old enough and I put my vote where I meant it. I’m not gonna stand up here like that man and just tell whoever whatever they want to hear. I’m not gonna make empty promises or gain trust through mutual hate or exploit anybody’s struggles. But, I feel like  have to educate anybody who thinks that I’m playing politics on my history, because I was playing politics whenever I was in Student Council in junior high and high school. I was playing politics whenever I was in college and decided not only to continue my relationship with that little fun group, but to also expand into a political science major to compliment my engineering, because I honestly couldn’t decide what I was going to actually do! So, I kept on playing politics, in the lab, as I worked and went to school, had to practically revamp a college’s system in order to finish on time, which for me was ahead of schedule, and whenever I continued my education, qualified to be this engineering technologist, I got me a nice little job in this cool little outfit called the Hero League, you may know it as the place that I’m trying to be president of… OH YEAH! I WAS THE FREAKING CHIEF TACTICAL ADVISOR!”

“Drop the mic, Baby!” Henry yelled. She laughed, but he was seriously nodding, so she picked up the mic, dropped it too hard and it crashed through the podium. He “WOOOOOOO!”’d again and she wondered if she was now as crazy as him, for even listening to that, but the audience went crazy. She then remembered, these are the same people who have had Ray as president of this organization for a dozen years… On purpose!

She hadn’t even mentioned that she had two apps blast off before she finished her two of her degrees and that one of them was law, which she got just to make sure that she knew everything about her businesses. She didn’t need to… This was gonna happen… 

.

Whenever Ray passed the mantle to her, he looked so proud. Katelyn was getting old and he wanted to take her on a road trip around the world. Jasper and Barfield were going to go, and in their minds they were gonna somehow pick up girls? In and RV with an infant and a dog, with two guys who are like 20 years apart in age? “Chicks love dogs and babies. We’re gonna be swimming in it,” Ray said. 

Charlotte frowned, as they changed over passwords to her and she created new ones, even though she knew all of Ray’s all this time later. “I didn’t think that Jasper even picked up girls anymore. The last girl he was interested in was in college, so maybe you ought to get things straight?”

“Dudes also love dogs! And maybe babies! I don’t know, Charlotte! Jasper and I are having a grand adventure!” He snapped. She laughed and nodded.  He placed both hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. This was one of their most intense moments. She had no idea what was going to happen. “I’m proud of you, Charlotte.” She blushed and nodded her head. Here she was, 36 years old and still getting satisfaction in the rare times that this man actually paid her a compliment. “You’re gonna be great at this. And when you get tired of it, you oughtta go run for President of the United States, JUST to show them that you can!” She gasped and nodded her head in agreement to this ONE brilliant plan that Ray had just had. She was 100% going to run for President of the country… not any time before her kids were old enough to handle that though. The Hero League was one thing. America was always a goddamn mess though.