Chaperon
#4 of Ester Series
Chaperon:
By TerraMGP
((Fourth story in the Ester series, Preceded by One week and Followed by All Tied Up. Ester, Ruth, Lillian, June and Diana are all copyrighted to me. Please do not use them or redistribute this story without prior consent. Comments and feedback adored))
Looking back at the situation Ruth had to admit to herself that she was at least a little bit annoyed with Lillian's request. She couldn't exactly say she minded considering the fact that her best friend was the one asking and the requests usually involved watching her favorite, and only, god daughter. Frankly the only real problem the woman had with the whole arrangement was that from the looks of it Lillian knew just how much Ruth liked to help out, and now it was starting to cut into the woman's gym time. "Gaah, Its almost one in the afternoon already. Damn it Lil, the girls old enough to stay without someone to check up on her by now." Slowly pulling herself out of the large black SUV they had recently purchased the Ursine walked casually to the apartment complex with spare key in hand. It would be a quick little visit, in and out. For once Ruth was going to stick to the plan no matter what happened and get herself to the Gym on time.
Slipping the extra key into the apartment door Ruth managed to get it half way open before stopping short, paw firmly clasped over her mouth. In the middle of the room young Ester was standing in her black and green flannel Pjs, holding her PS2 controller and singing into it as the opening credits for ‘Kingdom Hearts' blared almost painfully though the small apartment. Ruth did her absolute best not to laugh as the girl continued to sing her heart out like an off-key little pop star, far too absorbed to notice the door now wide open with someone standing in it. "When you walk away, you don't hear me say, please... oh baby, don't go. Simple and clean is the way that your making me feel toni... eep! Aunt Ruthie?" The mouse girl jumped in shock only to land hard on her rump, looking up in embarrassment at her godmother who was now struggling hard not to fall down laughing.
"You know that sure doesn't sound like the little girl who begged and pleaded with me to get an extra ticket to see Iced Earth next time they came around. Sure you don't want me to See about some Hanna Montana tickets or something?" In spite of her obvious embarrassment Ester quickly managed to pull herself up and put on a rather aggressive look, for her at least.
"Hikaru Utada is not a pop star. She's a well respected and intelligent singer with wonderful taste. Besides you promised you were taking me to the concert. You promised." Again Ruth struggled not to laugh as the young girl did her absolute best to look serious and intimidating over the issue. This was one of the reasons it was so damn easy for Lillian to sucker her into this, it was nice getting some time to be around the sweet child.
"Fine, fine your right. I did promise. But your going to have to prove that your metal between now and then. You know I won't be letting you into that concert dressed up with frilly pink mini skirts and plushie backpacks kiddo." Ester promptly stuck her tong out at the comment and turned back to her game amid the sea of half-sorted magic cards, Pocky boxes and unused card sheets that so often managed to take over the living room on Saturday mornings. Granted for Ruth this wasn't too much of a problem since she was used to living this way before she met June, but as she picked up one of three empty cereal boxes sitting beside the couch, she had to chuckle once more.
"Aunt Ruthie, has Mommy talked to you yet about tomorrow? I need to call Diana back and let her know what the plan is but aunt Junes secretary said she was in a meeting." Ester blinked as she saw her god mothers large paw reaching around to hit the pause button right in the middle of the tutorial, promptly picking up the controller and setting it aside.
"Ok start from the top... just what is happening tomorrow? Your mother hasn't said thing one to me about any plans. She just said to stop in and check on you today for a few minutes then I could be on my way. For all she knew I had plans."
The mouse girl looked back and shook her head "Oh no, she said you guys didn't have anything planned. Auntie June said so herself. That was why she said you guys could take us to the mall tomorrow for our date since Mommy has to talk to the guy delivering their new stoves." With that it seemed that Lillian had once again managed to trap Ruth under thumb for more free babysitting. Leaning back on the couch Ruth let out a long sigh of frustration that barely masked a ‘damn it Lillian', laying with her head back over the edge as she tried to count the number of times this week she had been volunteered out of her own schedule.
However June was right, they didn't have any plans tomorrow. Odds were good it would have ended up with about a half hour of cuddling followed by June getting dragged off for another early morning power meeting to decide on a project name that didn't have a code attached or some other such nonsense. Plus this way she could at least keep an eye on that little troublemaker Ester had managed to become so infatuated with. Hell she might even scare the girl into behaving a bit more. It made perfect sense, which only deepened the overall feelings of absolute defeat. "Ok Kiddo, pick this stuff up and go get dressed. If Auntie Ruth is going take you and your girlfriend out on a date tomorrow then she's going to have to give you a few pointers today." It took the girl a long moment to get over her shock at the announcement, but it did sound quite exciting. Within moments the large boxes of cards had been hauled back to Esters room and trash thrown away, leaving the disaster area of the living room nearly spotless.
Ester was about to switch her game off when Ruth patted the girls shoulder and smiled. "Well dear not quite yet though. I do have to do one thing first. You may as well get a bit further in your game. I promise though I'll be back in a couple of hours to pick you up, ok?" Ruth gave the girl another smile and a pat on the forehead before heading over to the door and looking back at the clock. "Though if you get the time dear, it might be a good idea to fish out that jacket we got you when you started going to high school. I have a feeling that it might need to be dry-cleaned again." As confusing as the request was Ester once again paused her game and went off on her search as her godmother gave another reflective smile and chuckled to herself. She may have been a doormat when it came to helping out a friend, especially a friend who needed someone to babysit, but for once Ruth Alexandria Winehurst was going to get in her hour at the gym, or die trying.
The rush was the one thing that always brought her back. Ruth looked up at the massive stack of weights now raised in the air from the leg press machine, grin stretching wider and wider every second she held the mass of weight up. She felt powerful, felt alive in a way that nothing else ever did. It was like at any moment she could have ripped out of her tight athletic singlet and shattered the machine if only she pushed it that tiny bit further. Back in her competitive days Ruth remembered spending hours on end rotating though exercises like this, working her already impressive build into a bronze-furred goddess of bone and sinew. Men and women alike would watch in awe as she pushed past boundaries of her flesh and found herself set at new heights for it. Today a good portion of that thrill had passed. Standing in front of crowds displaying the gifts that god had given her no longer seemed to be as important as it was fifteen years ago. June, A steady job with good pay, hell she even had a nice shiny new car that for once was all caught up.
But every once in a while she simply had to get out that primal surge that only came from the mix of adrenaline and triumph. Letting the plates fall slowly to meet the few she had not dared try to lift at this point Ruth yelled out her minor triumph much to the confusion and annoyance of those around her. "Gah that was great. Why the hell don't I do this more often?" Yanking up her towel Ruth slowly made her way past the other body builders and off into the showers. Ten minutes after this found a newly refreshed Ruth sitting with one leg still hanging out of her SUV as the tensed fibers in her arms and legs throbbed with excited energy after so many hours of pushing herself past the normal limits. "Damn it June, will you pick up the phone? Its after noon, you shouldn't have any more meetings. Just pick up the phone already. Pick up, pick up."
"Ok I picked up." June sighed " Mind telling me what's so important?"
Ruth winced at the urgency in her beloveds tone but did her best not to let it affect her ongoing rush. "What's urgent is that you volunteered us to go play babysitter again tomorrow. For a date no less. Were you planning on telling me about this at some point?"
The sound of hard typing came from the other end of the phone even as the stoats frustration grew more palpable, taking on an almost tangible quality. "Look Lillian asked and you were apparently busy at the time. I knew you would want to help out because you never say no to the woman so I just said yes for you. I was planning to tell you tonight once I got done filing this report. Besides are you really that mad about it? I figured you would be ecstatic."
Antsy as she was the Ursine woman could not sit there in the car and hold this conversation. She quickly unseated herself and began to pace about phone still plastered to her ear. "Well of course I don't mind, but seriously I would like to be included in the decisions at least. Just because I'm willing to help an old friend out doesn't mean that I didn't have something special and romantic for the two of us to do now does it?" There was a long pause at the other end, devoid not only of speaking but of the frantic typing that Ruth had grown so accustomed to as background noise for their phone conversations. "Ok fine, but I still claim that I'm right in principal. Besides now that I know what you and Lil worked out I managed to make a few plans of my own with Ester. Luckily I stopped in today and found her singing into her game controller."
"Singing into her control.... You know what? I'm not going to ask. Look sweetheart I'm glad you have something to do today but I really can't talk ok? I really have a lot of work to do and if I don't get it done I won't make it home till Tuesday." Once again Ruth felt utterly defeated by the awesome and fearful power of her lovers work schedule. At least if nothing else she knew that this situation might get her a bit of leverage later if and when they managed to have some alone time. But for now, she had much bigger fish to fry. Shutting the phone Ruth hopped into the car once more and started to speed off, now already twenty minutes late for her little project of the day. She didn't like Diana, but if Ester was going to be around this girl and go out on a date the least Auntie Ruth could do was help the little squeeker get herself ready for it properly. By the time she pulled up Ester was already sitting on the apartment building stoop with a brown suede jacket folded over her lap while slouched over a dog eared copy of ‘out of the silent planet' which it seemed the girl had already cut a good part of the way though.
Quietly as she could Ruth moved out of the car and walked herself over to the girl and snatched up the book with a short laugh. "You know I can't help you out if your going to play bookworm again dear. Now come on, we have plenty of things to do."
Ester wasn't used to going out cloths shopping too much, and it showed as she wandered into the J.C. Pennys store almost totally lost. Funny thing was Ruth never really spent too much time in places like this herself. Back in high school she was too busy working on her body and making every boy and girl she came across drop their jaw at her perfect powerful frame. It was a lot of hard work, taking up time that most girls would have frittered away on fancy cloths, makeup and any other cheap attempt they could find for looking beautiful without doing the work. However Ruth had gone in once with her mother to get some nice things before her own first date and while the date itself was disastrous the memory of going out with her mother like that had been something very special to this day. That was what Ruth wanted to give her god daguter. She may not have been the girls mother and this may not have been Esters first date, but Ruth was going to make sure that her God daughter had someone there to help her learn how to look nice. Moving into the women's section Ester looked around at the vast array of clothing with more than a tiny bit of disdain. "Aunt Ruthie I already have cloths I like. Do we really need to go around here like this? I'm used to my usual outfit."
Without a word Ruth picked a brand new green skirt much the same as the one the young girl already wore. "Now dear like it or not you do have to buy new cloths every once in a while. This skirt for example is a size bigger than anything you own, and I know because you've gone up since the last time I bought you that skirt two years ago." Ester looked down at the band of her skirt and finally realized that it was probably the main reason she always had a red band around her waist region. "I understand that you like looking a specific way sweetheart, and that's fine. But like your mother keeps telling you dressing simply doesn't mean that you can't do a few things to look nice. I mean come on at your Auntie June. She doesn't even wear makeup and does she ever look bad? Now come on. Lets Go get you a top to go with it."
A couple of hours later the pair stood at the checkout counter with several new outfits, a new pair of shoes and a large bottle of vanilla scented conditioner all being checked off and put into a large bag by their seemingly disinterested cashier. "Now don't go telling your mom I got you all this ok? I know she's not going to notice it in the first place, not when you never change what you wear."
Ester shook her head at this and simply stuck her tong out. "That's not true Aunt Ruthie, I do have that shirt Jimmy gave me. Remember? The one he got at that prerelease?"
Her godmother just started to chuckle and gave the girls head another little pat of amusement before sliding her credit card though the reader and writing down her name. "Dear, A black shirt with a Green Mana symbol on it does not constitute a change in outfit. Nor does a shirt with a D20 on it, or a bolter shell necklace, or any other promotional gear that cousin of yours manages to pawn off on you. If it was a change I know for a fact you wouldn't wear it in the first place, you never did before." Part of her wanted to protest on principal, but they both knew that Ruth was right about this one. This was what made the whole situation so special though, being able to bond with her young god daughter with one of her most important life, even if she didn't particularly like the other girl involved.
Sitting on top of the toilet seat in her mothers master bath Ester looked around at the various items now laid in front of her with an obvious sense of foreboding and dread. For a girl who didn't really do much other than combing her hair the array of things that was laid out right now seemed quite overwhelming. "All right Ester I'll go over this all really quick. If you want to get those small knots out of your fur then you'll have to start using the small fur pick. I know its more than you want to do but I promise that those knots will be much better." Ruth picked up the small green comb and started to run it though some of the fur on Esters cheek watching the skittish mouse flinch as the tiny knots of fur were slowly pulled free of each other with only a moderate amount of yelping and simpering as she flinched away from the pain she was convinced would come. "Oh come on you big baby, its not that bad. You want to look nice for your little friend right? Nothing wrong with looking presentable on special occasions right?" The girls apprehensive behavior didn't really come as a surprise with her history. However frail the mouse girl was Ruth knew that she could be exceptionally strong willed and stubborn about many small things.
In spite of the struggling Ester soon stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fur and hair freshly brushed with a slight gloss from its recent wash. The thick plastic frames she had taken to wearing were now fully adjusted to fit her face. Gone was the rather front-heavy giant D20 she so often used as a necklace, replaced instead with a small subtle necklace with a more dazzling dice resting in the middle. For the finishing touch Ruth started to slide esters well fitted suede jacket over her god daughters slender frame, buttoning the middle button and patting her head with no small amount of pride showing on her face. "There. Now if you can look this nice when you go out with us tomorrow, I guarantee you'll knock that girls socks off." The gratification Ruth felt from the sight was just beyond description. It was hard not to cry seeing just how grown up the little scamp had become, leaving her with a mix of nostalgia and pure joy.
A loud slamming noise brought the tender moment to a close, followed by a loud string of cursing and grumbling that would have made a sailor faint. "Ester... you should probably head off to your room for a bit, sounds like your mom had a bad day." Rushing the girl off without any room for protest Ruth simply walked out to the room where her best friend now sat flipping though the channels with an uncharacteristic mask of anger. "Rough day at the office Lil?" she asked jokingly only to get a rather hard impulse scowled in reply.
"Oh... its you Ruth... wait what are you doing here? I figured Ester would probably be up at Jamie's by now." Ruth simply plopped herself down by the feline and picked up the remote shutting off the TV and giving the smaller woman a hard hug.
"Nope, I yanked her out of the house a while ago so I could get her coat cleaned. Figured she would like to have it for her date tomorrow. Of course that also means she heard your little verbal rampage there. You know your really not the kind to get so upset over... well anything now that I think about it." Lillian's jaw dropped as she realized her daughter had heard her swearing like that, then threw herself back against the couch cushions with added aggravation.
"Perfect, even better. First they try to tell me that I'm going to have to be in all day to sign forms and decide how to fit in the stupid stove because its too big, now my little girl just heard the brunt of my rage. What the hell else could go wrong."
The large ursine woman simply shrugged her shoulders and gave her friend a pat on the back. "I donno, you could order Brussel sprouts instead of asparagus? Your fridge could break and you'd have no place to survive a nuclear explosion?" As always Ruth chose to eschew the obvious sarcasm in the question and go directly for the punch line no matter how inappropriate. "You know Brussel Sprouts really aren't bad if you know how to cook them properly. Besides its not funny. I have to stay around all morning and most of the afternoon to make sure that nothing happens. The whole reason I stayed open for service was that they swore they could have the damn thing in before we had to start prep, and I am not going to let some weaselly salesman ruin a service because he wanted to make some arbitrary quota. I don't care if I have to go out and get camping stoves but I'm not going to cancel a service. I haven't had to yet and I won't now."
Classic Lillian, refusing to avoid a challenge even if it drove her up the wall. Without another word Ruth simply stood up and walked into the kitchen, coming back out a few moments later and dangling a freshly opened beer in front of the felines face. "Hmmm sounds like quite a problem. Doctor Ruthie prescribes twelve ounces of fine microbrew Ale."
Lillian watched as her friend sat back down drinking half of her own bottle without so much as a pause. "You know that's not going to help the situation one tiny bit. But I guess it won't hurt anything either..." The two women simply sat and sipped at their drinks without a word between them for a couple of long moments. As time went on Lillian slowly started to come out of her tensed almost raging state. Finally she was able to look back at Ruth with a small slightly relaxed smile. "So what is it you were doing with my little girl all day hmm? I was under the impression that you were totally against Ester hanging around with Diana."
"I never said I didn't. Frankly I'm shocked you ever stood up for her. But that doesn't mean Ester should have to suffer because of it. Sooner or later that girl is going to break her heart, but if that troublemaker is afraid of what will happen if she screws up she will be on best behavior and that works for now. Sooner or later Ester will outgrow her and move on to someone who actually cares about her. Until then I don't see a reason she should be deprived of some happy memories and experience with a first date." Ruth simply finished off her bottle of beer, taking a look at the strange expression of shock that seemed plastered to Lillian's face.
Even when the brew was gone it seemed that gaze stayed unwavering on her until finally she could take the self consciousness no longer and set the bottle down. "Ok I'll bite. What is it? Is there something on my face? Come on I didn‘t do anything."
The awkward silence soon cracked, then shattered into uncontrollable laughter as the feline slumped forwards and held on to her sides almost unable to stop the devastating laugh riot. "Ruth... you sound like an old overprotective parent. I mean I know you've been wanting something more to do the past couple of weeks but seriously, Taking her out and giving her advice? Next thing you know you'll be dressing her up for the date." The laughing slowed for just a moment only to fall backwards again in a brand new laughing fit as she saw the blush just under her friends fur. "You did didn't you? You got her all dressed up. God Ruth your too much you know that? Don't get me wrong I appreciate the help but I never expected you to do so much in a situation like this. Next thing you know your going to be going to conferences for the poor girl and coming over to pack lunch." A few moments later though Lillian just let out a sigh and shook her head at the obvious discomfort Ruth was feeling.
"Look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Its just kind of funny seeing all this fascination over my daughter's dating. Its wonderful, really it is. Its just a bit much all at once. I really love how you've always been there for us, its just that you've always been so carefree. Its hard to believe that you're the same girl who was so clear when we first moved in that you were going to be having over a lot of different people because you didn't think it made sense to deal with the kinds of headaches commitment would bring. I mean I knew that you'd get past that phase but, wow. Its like a totally different person."
Ruth stayed totally speechless the whole time, keeping her eyes down on the ground from what she considered to be a rather grievous revelation about herself. "So you think that I'm changing too much? I know I obsess a bit Lillian but honestly, I simply like to help out with things. That isn't so wrong is it?" A few more moments passed before Lillian just shook her head and moved closer giving Ruth a big hug and patting her on the back.
"I never said it was anything bad Ruthie. You don't need to be upset. To be frank I'm really proud of you. It takes a big woman to realize that she's changing. You got a real job, settled down, your taking on more responsibilities. It was really just a matter of time before you did in the first place you know but its still nice to see." Both women sat back in their seats and smiled a bit at what had happened. It was finally time for Ruth to face the fact that she no longer had the impulse to act like she used to, and that they all had to accept that no matter what.
As she stood Ruth just gave Lillian a pat on the shoulder and gave her a small wink. "Well I should get home before June kills me. Thanks though, really. You helped me out with something today Lillian. I think I'm feeling a lot better." Lillian smiled a bit at this and just nodded once more, obviously thrilled to hear that.
The next day found Ruth sitting across from June in a small book store coffee shop. She held on to her soul mates paw and sipped casually at the massive vanilla bean drink. This was probably the first time all week that the two women had some time without late night deadlines or sudden meetings to decide on the most trivial aspects of a projects time table. "Look at them." June chuckled softly as Diana stood over the mousette rather impatiently, watching her sift though the large stacks of books to find herself suitable bargains. Ruth looked back with another small chuckle, squeezing the girls hand and grinning
"Yeah..." Ruth Mused "they do make a cute couple I suppose. At least when that little brute there knows to behave."
June could feel her loves paw clenching a bit and quickly squeezed back. "Oh come on now. I seem to remember someone else being a rather big brute when we first started to go out, hmm? Some big self absorbed girl with a beat up jeep trying to take me out to the beach so she could show off." This drew a small growl from Ruth, but she knew damn well it was true. "Yeah, well, I still think there's plenty of difference between how I was and how that girl behaves. I just don't trust her. Still..." She watched as Diana shook her head and slipped a fashion magazine into the pile when Ester wasn't looking, then started to look around casually. "I guess they care about each other... Who knows maybe the small fry will straighten that punk out a bit." June smiled upon hearing this and leaned in to kiss her love on the cheek. It was nice to hear Ruth finally letting go of some tension about this situation after spending so many nights this week obsessing over it.
It wasn't long before Ester managed to carry all of the books over to the table where her god parents sat, coming dangerously close to falling over before Diana came in to snatch up the first ten and steady the rest. June had to laugh a bit at the massive pile of novels and comic compilations barely staying on top of each other. "Good lord girl." June gasped "Do you just wait for them to put books you want in the bargain bin before cleaning them out?"
The small mouse simply nodded like crazy and then set the books back down on the table. "Of course I do auntie June. That way I can get all the books I could want." Everyone else present simply let out a nearly synchronous sigh of frustration at the rather exasperating logic.
"You know girls" Ruth Chimed in "the movies starting in about five minutes, we need to get moving if were going to make it."
Ester blinked a bit and looked at her large stack of cheap books with a bit of a whimper. "B-but I have to get my stuff to the car. I can't take the books in with me... are you sure that we don't have more time?"
Standing up, Ruth put her hand on Diana's Shoulder and slipped two tickets into the Chipettes paw before she could really react. "Here, you girls go ahead. Us old ladies will sit here with the books and meet you up after ok?" June watched as the two startled girls looked at each other, and then started towards the theater quickly with little more than a quick thank you piped up from Ester.
June just blinked again as she looked over the strange expression on Ruths face. "ok what's up? Your really going to let those two girls go off on their own into a dark theater? I really wish youd make some sense this week Ruthie."
Ruth put her finger to Junes lips and then started to smile, those bright brown eyes flashing a bit. "They are going to be fine I'm sure. Besides you and I need to have a little talk. Remember all those conversations I kept putting off back when we started dating?"
"about kids?" The stoat asked, now totally lost.
"Yeah.. About kids. June, I think I'm ready to talk about it now. What would you think about being a mom?"