groovygamers.com

After dinner, as Mitzi is cleaning up the kitchen there is a knock at the door.  Carolyn calls from her office for Sylvia to get that since Virginia has already left for practice with the drama club.

She opens the door and is met by a man in his late twenties or early thirties.  His dark hair is short cropped, like Kel's dad's.  His brown eyes are soft and smiling, but they have a quality to them that reminds her of Kel's grandfather.  His green trench coat has seen better days, but his combat boots look to be in good shape.  They're black and modern, like Kel's dad wears when he's in his utility uniform.  This man has chosen black khakis and a dark blue polo shirt, which don't seem to look quiet right on him either.

"Hi, I'm looking for,"  He looks at a scrap of paper in his hand, "Sylvia.  Some friends said that you and some friends might be looking for a self-defense instructor?"

"I'm Sylvia," she hazards, heart thumping hard.  She's getting ready to run or put up an illusion or something, anything.  Nervous work, this superheroing.  "May I ask which friends?  The ones who referred you, I mean?"

"Dave and Betty called me, and a local retired cop.  Apparently someone asked him if he knew anyone, and it's related to your group.  Someone named, "  Again his attention goes to the scrap of paper in his hand, "Colin.  Apparently Stan Juszkowski know a cop that knows this Colin guy and thinks he needs to learn self-defense, and Colin is a friend of yours and so it's all related back."

"Oh my god!"  Carolyn's voice from behind her is loud and carries a tone of suprise Sylvia isn't used to hearing.  The man's attention goes past Sylvia to Carolyn and he smiles.  A moment later Carolyn has moved next to Sylvia and is hugging this stranger.  "I thought you were dead."  she says, holding him like a long lost friend.

"Reports of my death have been been common."  He sets her down and holds her at arms length, "Man you look great.  So you're the Avery in avery-Vaughn.  Who's the lucky girl?"

About that time Mitzi comes from the kitchen, "What's all the raquet out here?"

Jack's gaze stops on Mitzi as she approaches.  "Do people ever tell you that you look like Veronica Lake?"  Jack asks, shaking her hand as she offers it.

"Only old ones."  Mitzi says with a smile.

"Well."  Carolyn says, grabbing Jack by the arm, "Jack certainly qualifies."  She pulls him inside and closes the door behind them.  "What brings you here?"

Jack looks back and forth between Mitzi and Carolyn a few times, then seems to come back to himself.  "Sylvia."  he says, pointing to the teenage girl.  For a moment Carolyn's gaze narrows, and she looks back to Sylvia for a moment.

"Why?"

"The Banner's asked me to help teach them self-defense."  The answer shows instant releif on Carolyn's face.

"Let's have some coffee."  Mitzi says, breaking the awkward moment.  "Why don't you take Jack to the living room and I'll bring a tray."

Carolyn leads Jack and Sylvia to the living room and gets everyone seated.  "You look the same."  Jack says with a smile.  Carolyn gives him the same look she gives guys that hit on her when they're out.

"You're a liar."  She says simply, but then she smiles.

A moment later Mitzi arrives with the tray and serves coffee.  Jack takes his black, and Sylvia notices that sitting in a regular house with folks having coffee seems slightly out of place for him.

"So."  Mitzi begins, "How did you two meet?"

"That's a funny story."  Jack begins, but Carolyn cuts him off.

"NO, it's not the least bit funny."

Jack shrugs, "I was pushed out of a helicopter and crash landed in the water.  Carolyn was boating and found me.  It was love at first sight."  Jack says with a smile.

Mitzi almost spits her coffee out, but covers the event fairly well.  "You fell in love with Carolyn?"

"No, the woman she was dating apparently fell in love with me.  What was her name?"

Carolyn's look could melt steel, but Jack just smiles.  "Lisa, her name was Lisa."

"Yeah, it's sister Mary something now.  she became a nun."

Carolyn laughs, and Jack joins her.  "You have that effect on some women."  she manages to say, and Jack laughs harder at her joke.

"I didn't do it.  I swear."


Sylvia eyes her parents and this new guy and can't quite make herself warm up to him the way she ought.  He's clearly an old acquaintance of Carolyn's, but there's something about the way he's dressed and the way he carries himself, incongruities of costume and manner, that makes her uneasy.  She remembers learning in San Francisco that, when someone claiming to be a policeman comes up to you, you should look him up and down and make sure he's wearing all the right pieces.  Jack really isn't.  He looks like someone dangerous pretending to be someone nice--a waiter at a Ruby Tuesday's maybe, in his khakis and polo shirt--and Sylvia wonders if he's hiding some scary-looking piece of gunmetal under his trench coat.

"Are you a soldier?" she asks.  She thinks perhaps not.

"Sort of."  Jack says.  "A long time ago I was in a war, and I've sort of been fighting ever since.  One thing or another it seems.  They say it's in your blood, to be a soldier.  I suppose that I'll always be one, even when there isn't anything left to fight for."

"Jack is one of the super soldiers from the second world war."  Carolyn says, "Which is why he thinks Mitzi looks like Veronica Lake, and his fashion sense is a disaster."

Sylvia only kind of knows who Veronica Lake is.  She's gotten the impression Veronica Lake looks like Kim Basinger, but that may be merely a cruel lie spread by L.A. Confidential.  "Yeah.  Um.  I thought you were in disguise or something."  As what, she can't say, but whatever it was, it was scary.  "Did they do something to you to make you look so young?"

"Ah, well it's a byproduct of the super solider treatment the three of us had.  The two of us that are still alive today only look about ten years older then when we got the treatment."  Jack looks at his cloths.  "Normally I'm a jeans an t-shirt type guy but I thought I'd try to blend in here in the suburbs.  I'm thinking I didn't do so good?"

Mitzi squeeks with that laugh sound she makes when she's trying hard not to laugh.  "The only parts that look like they're actually yours are the boots and the rain coat.  But, if you got rid of those, you'd be fine too.  It's really just the combination."

"Yeah.  This is why super heroes end up wearing costumes, you they never have to decide what to wear."

"Do you live around here?" Sylvia asks.  "I mean, are you just here for like a day, or are you really going to stick around and train us?"  The Avengers keep sending them old people.

"I'm staying at a place in Chicago, belongs to a friend.  I'll be here as long as you guys think you need me to be.  I guess we should set up an appointment to get aquainted and then we can get to work on stuff."

Sylvia nods.  "One of my friends is next door.  His granddad was in World War II, too."  She leads off with that as if asking whether Jack wants to meet this guy.  Maybe he and Grandpa Stilley can play shuffleboard together at the American Legion.

"Well, it might not be the best idea for me to meet grandad just yet.  Sometimes it's hard for the vets to see me.  Most of them recognize me and then it starts to churn in their heads, how much time has passed and all the pain they went through.  And it's hard for me to see them too.  It reminds me that everyone I knew as a young man is dead or dieing."  He sets his coffee cup down,  "Sorry.  I hope I didn't bum anyone out.  Hard not to sometimes."  He smiles, but Sylvia can tell it's forced.  "So, if you can let everyone know I'm here."  He stands up and hands her a slip of paper with an address in the city on it and a phone number.  "This is where I'm staying and the number is to a service that can usually find me.  We'll get started and try to help you guys get a handle on your powers and how to take care of yourselves."

"Thanks, Mr. . . ."  She lets it hang, hoping for a last name.

"Oh, sorry."  He stretches out a hand, "My name is Jack, Jack Donaldson."

She shakes Jack's hand, wondering what Colin will make of Jack when he gets his opportunity to do the same.  "Nice to meet you, Mr. Donaldson."  She's learned a thing or two about decision-making since joining the paper and dealing with the Usual Suspects.  "Maybe we should make an appointment now, say--"  She names a day and time not too far in the future.  "Most of us should be able to make it."

She suspects the turn-out might not be as big as it was for the Hulk, but at least Matt will be able to string words together.

"Sure.  It's been a long time since I've been in Chicago, so it'll give me a chance to catch some sites."

"Mitzi might be able to help you there."  Carolyn says, "Would you mind?"

Mitzi comes over and drapes an arm across Carolyn's shoulders, "I think I can help Jack get settled in the city.  Oak Park has some nice things to see, and then we can reaquaint you with Chicago."

Jack smiles and shakes his head.  "Man it's good to see you."  He leans in and hugs Carolyn again.  "I'm glad you finally settled down."

Carolyn chuckles, "That's funny coming from you."  She says.

A few minutes later Jack is gone and Carolyn is looking off into nothing.

"Is that the Jack you meant when you were talking about looking for a donor?"  Mitzi asks, cleaning up the coffee tray.

"Huh?"  Carolyn asks, coming back to herself, "Oh, yeah.  I was just never able to track him down."

"A donor for what?" Sylvia asks, all unknowing innocence.

"Sperm honey.  Before we decided to adopt we debated artificial means to have a child."  Carolyn says.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't find him then."  Mitzi says, "Otherwise we wouldn't have the girls."

Carolyn comes over and puts an arm around Sylvia, giving her a squeeze, "That's true."  She says with a smile.  "It worked out afterall."

Sylvia's expression turns into the stretched grimace of adolescent disgust.  "Yuck.  I didn't need to know that.  How am I supposed to look him in the eye now without thinking about . . . yuck."

"Exactly how I want it."  Carolyn says.  "Jack has a weakness for Chinese women, so I don't want there to ever be any chance of you thinking of anything but YUCK when you look at him."

Successful parenting through strategic trauma.  Carolyn could write a book.  "Yuck," Sylvia affirms.  And then, with a train of thought so transparent it could be made of glass, she asks, "How do you get someone to ask you to homecoming?"

Mitzi smiles as she sets the last cup on the tray to go back to the kitchen.  "You can try the subtle approach.  You ask if they're going, and work your way around to letting them know that no one has asked you."

"Or you just ask them yourself.  We live in the twenty-first century, you have two mother's.  Do girls even wait anymore?"  Carolyn and Mitzi have always had different approaches to much of life, Sylvia is not suprised to see that this particular subject is no different.

Sylvia nods, taking the advice to heart.  "I'll try the subtle approach first.  If that doesn't work, I'll spell it out in magnetic letters on his locker."