A/N: Alright one more! This one goes out to Jo! it, uh, was supposed to be her second birthday story... I'm using this to distract her from another story she wants to fingers crossed :D She's awesome though. Go read her words. Happy Belated Birthday! Happy Early Midway Birthday!

Real talk though: The plot is crazy therefore I felt free to make everyone crazy and irresponsible and all the things. Consider it cute cuddly crack and keep that in mind!

A/U: Nicky is Red's daughter. I'm thinking she's around 8-10 years old. Use your imagination for whatever works for you :)

XOXOXO

Late afternoon, Nicky came into the apartment and slammed the front door. She was quickly walking to her room when Red stopped her.

"Hey," she said, grabbing Nicky by the shoulders. "How was your day? How was the zoo?"

Nicky nodded her head. "It was a lot of fun."

Cupping Nicky's face, Red pushed her hair off of her face. "You hungry? I've got dinner going."

"Yeah, it smells good," Nicky said, wide-eyed.

"Mmm, you're always hungry aren't you. Come on then, it should be ready," Red said. She went to take Nicky's bag from her shoulders, but the young girl took a few steps back.

"Can I take a shower first? I smell like hay and poop," she said, clutching the straps at her backpack tightly.

Red looked at her suspiciously, Nicky was apt for trouble, and the odd behavior was making her wonder what it could be this time. "I don't smell anything but dinner," Red said, her voice slithering curiously like a snake trying to sniff out whatever secrets Nicky was keeping.

"Maybe it's just in my nose then, but uh, can I please take a shower? I'll wash my hair," she begged.

Laughing Red brushed a hand across Nicky's wild locks. "Okay kid, go shower and we'll eat when you're finished." Nicky was definitely up to something.

Red was pulling plates down from the cabinet when she heard two loud thumps from Nicky's room. She walked towards the bedroom and called out, "Nicky?"

"I'm okay it was just my boots," Nicky yelled. She quickly zipped her backpack up just as Red was opening the door.

"Well hurry up. Do you have homework?" she asked, eyeing the backpack Nicky was hugging against her chest.

Nicky shook her head. "No, I uh, just brought my history book home. That report is due on Monday. I thought I could work on it this weekend," she added, hoping that Red wouldn't ask too many questions if she was being good.

"Oh, did you now?" Red said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you said I needed to focus more. I thought you'd be proud," she explained, big brown eyes filling up with crocodile tears.

Red shook her head. Nicky could be too much at times. "Alright. After dinner, we'll take a look at this history."

Nicky rolled her eyes and briefly forgot that she was trying to get rid of her mother. "It's American history, not Russian."

"You think I've lived in this country this long and don't know anything about America's history do you?" She wasn't expecting an answer. If she got into an argument with Nicky about this, they would never have dinner.

As Red turned to walk away, she heard Nicky grunt and turned back around. "Did you say something?"

"No," Nicky said quickly, as she clutched her backpack tighter. "I yawned," she said, covering her mouth and faking a yawn. "It was a really long day. I guess the zoo just wore me out."

"Hmm," Red hummed skeptically. "Maybe we should go to the zoo more often. I might get some rest."

"Ma," Nicky whined.

Chuckling Red came over and kissed her on the forehead. "Go get your shower."

Once Red left the bedroom, Nicky counted to five before opening her backpack. She cut her eyes at the creature in front of her. "You have to be quiet," she whispered. She picked her up and put her on her bed while she got clothes to change into.

As soon as Nicky's back was turned, the joey jumped down from the bed and started to move around her bedroom. She ran over and picked it up, cradling it in her arms. "Stop that." It kicked against her, and they nearly fell over as she tried to keep a grip on her. The baby kangaroo started squeaking, and Nicky pointed at her as she spoke. "Big feet, big mouth," she hissed. "Be quiet and be still. Do you want to go back to the zoo?"

The animal just stared at her and tried to move its feet in an attempt to get loose. As it thrashed in her arms, she almost dropped her. "Ugh, I can't leave you in here alone. You're making too much noise." She picked up her clothes with a free arm and headed towards the door. "I guess you're getting a shower too."

Opening her bedroom door, she peeked her head out to see if Red was nearby. Certain the coast was clear, she ran across the hall to the bathroom. Taking a shower with a baby kangaroo was not one of her better ideas. The bathroom was a muddy mess and Nicky never even got to use soap or wash her hair.

She'd just have to fake it. Wrapping herself up in a towel and the joey in another, she snuck back into her room. The bath seemed to have settled the animal, and it was beginning to doze. Without hesitation, Nicky placed the sleeping bundle in her closet and shut the door. At least it couldn't hide or wander far that way.

Dinner went by quickly, and Nicky almost forgot about what she had done. Telling Red about all the other animals kept her busy. They breezed through history and had managed to come up with an outline that should make the report easy to finish.

Kitchen clean, the mother and daughter moved to the living room. Nicky curled up next to Red's side and leaned heavily against her. The zoo had tired her out after all. She basked in her mother's attention, enjoying the feel of gentle fingers running through her hair.

Nicky was almost asleep when Red turned the channel to the news. She let out a small whimper of protest, but Red rubbed fingers gently across her forehead erasing any tension that rose. Holding her breath, Nicky tried to feign sleep when she heard the zoo being mentioned.

Today, at the [city] Zoo, a baby kangaroo went missing. The zoo was hosting an event for all of the counties schools today. It wasn't until after closing that the staff realized the joey was missing.

As the news cued in on one of the zookeepers, Red looked down at Nicky with a dreading look. "Tell me you didn't," she said, voice stern and stressed.

"Didn't what?" the girl asked, batting her big brown eyes in innocence. She shrunk down into the couch further, trying to hide from her mother's knowing gaze.

She didn't want to ask. She didn't want to know the answer. Mother's didn't get to take the easy route, though. "Nicky," she said, dragging the girl's name out. "Is there a kangaroo in your bedroom."

"Nooo," Nicky said, shaking her head and sitting up.

Red cocked her head and pushed further. "Are you lying to me?"

Biting her lip, Nicky looked down at her lap. "Um, not exactly," she admitted, crinkling her nose in discomfort.

It was Nicky. There was no doubt about it. Her daughter was as wily as she was, and the minute she started plotting all hell would break loose. Red just continued to stare, knowing that Nicky could only squirm for so long before she would break.

"Fine. It's not a kangaroo yet... it's still a joey," she said with an exasperated sigh. Nicky crossed her arms, and her shoulders slumped. She knew she wouldn't be able to pull it off for long, but she had hoped for more than a few hours.

Pulling Nicky onto her lap, Red hugged her. She knew Nicky was disappointed. Crazy, but disappointed. "Baby," Red cooed. She kissed Nicky's forehead. "You took it away from its mother." She knew that most parents would be livid-yelling, grounding, losing their shit. She had never been that kind of parent. She found it much more effective to listen to what Nicky had to say first and then go from there. They had always been close, and Red had learned that listening to her girl was always the right course of action. "You took it away from its mother."

"You can be its mom," Nicky said, sitting up and looking at her mother with pleading eyes.

Red couldn't help but laugh. "Nicky."

"Well," Nicky said, scowling at Red. "You won't give me a sibling."

"A sibling?" Red said in disbelief. She couldn't imagine Nicky having to deal with sharing her attention. A sibling might sound fun, but Nicky would hate it in the long run. Red knew she was spoiled and overindulged, but Nicky was her baby, and she couldn't help it sometimes. "I can barely keep a handle on you. What would I do with two of you?"

Nicky grinned and leaned back against her mom. "Love us."

Red wrapped her arms around Nicky and kissed the crown of her head. "Silly girl."

They sat like that for several minutes before Nicky began to talk again. "Can we sleep in your bed tonight?"

"Absolutely not," Red said in disgust. "You're not bringing that dirty thing in my bed."

"You haven't even seen her," Nicky protested. "She had a bath!"

Shaking her head in amusement, Red leaned closer to her daughter's face. "Not a very good one. You're dirty too. You still didn't wash your hair," she said.

"Okay," Nicky said sitting up. She held her hands in front of her as she spoke, hoping to bargain and come to some mutual agreement. "If we take a bath, I promise I'll wash my hair-Johanna's too. Then can we sleep in your bed?"

"Johanna? Is that your little friend?" Red smiled at her amused and chucked her under the chin.

"Yeah, she didn't have a name yet. Her brother's name was Joel-what a stupid name. I wanted to give her something better." Nicky moved to her knees and got right up in Red's face with pleading hands. "Please Mama."

Red closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She was whipped by the tiny beauty before her. "Go get your pj's, I'll help. I'd rather not have my bathroom flooded.

Nicky's eyes lit up like Christmas, and she kissed Red's cheek gratefully as she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.

Before Red could respond the girl was running off to her room.

Red was proud of herself for keeping her cool. Not many parents could handle finding out that their child had committed a felony and still stay calm. Nicky was too smart for her own good and left unsupervised could find her way into trouble that most adults couldn't manage. Standing in the doorway of her bathroom, Red began to loose her cool. "Nicole," she said sharply. "What the hell happened to my bathroom?" There was mud everywhere.

"I told you we took a bath," Nicky said defensively.

Red just shook her head. "You're doing dishes for the next two weeks." She watched as Nicky nodded-she hated doing the dishes. "That's just for the bathroom. We'll talk about the zoo-napping later. I see a lot of folded laundry in your future."

"But Mama," Nicky whined. Folding was her least favorite of all the chores.

Red crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "No, but Mama anything. Now get yourself and your mangy friend in the tub," she said, swatting Nicky's ass as she walked by.

Nicky glared over her shoulder but did as she was told. She put Johanna into the tub full of bubbles first, and then quickly undressed and joined her.

"I thought you said that thing was cute," Red said as she came back into the room. She stared at the sopping wet creature and cringed.

Nicky glared at her and stuck her tongue out. "She is cute!"

"Hmm," Red hummed. "People say the same thing about you." Before Nicky could respond, Red dumped a cup of water on her head.

Spluttering for air, Nicky glared at her mother. "That wasn't nice," she accused.

Red just laughed at the petulance reaction and continued to soak Nicky's hair.

Twenty minutes later, the group was headed to the bedroom. The damn kangaroo had started to grow on Red. She would never want to keep it, but she could see the appeal it might have to a child. She almost felt bad that Nicky was going to have to take it back, but then she remembered how they had gotten it in the first place and all sentimentalities ceased to exist.

"Wanna see a trick?" Nicky asked.

Red was turning the sheets down and looked up from them to her daughter. God help her. Did this girl ever tire? "No," she said firmly. She wanted her bed and sleep. That was it. Just a peaceful night at home without any drama.

"Please," Nicky begged, wanting to show her mother just why she was so enraptured.

"No, but you're going to show me anyways so go ahead," Red said, sighing with weariness. She sat down on the bed and watched as Nicky ran out of the room. The curly haired girl came back trailing her raccoon pillowcase behind her.

"Nicky, I know that's not your pillowcase that I just washed," Red warned.

Nicky looked up at her with wide eyes and then shook her head as if escaping her mother's spell like gaze. "Shh," she said, one finger over her lips and a scowl upon her face. Her tongue stuck out slightly as she rolled up the pillow case into a much smaller sack. Holding it in front of the joey she let out a squeal of laughter when the Joey flipped right in.

Red couldn't hold in her laughter. She wasn't sure if she was laughing at the joey-who she secretly found adorable-her daughter or the whole situation. Shaking her head, she humored Nicky and let the girl climb up in her lap and repeat the trick several times. "Alright little one," Red said, kissing the side of her head. "Time for bed."

Nodding, Nicky pulled up the sack behind her and climbed under the covers. Once situated she let the joey back out and hugged it closer to her.

Red was almost surprised at how little the joey fought Nicky's loving devotion. She knew her girl was a charmer-she just hadn't realized it worked on animals. Chuckling to herself she wondered if that was because of Nicky's feral tendencies. Encircling Nicky's waist from behind, Red curled up with her. "You know we have to take her back," Red said, nuzzling against her hair.

"Yeah, I know," Nicky said sadly. She kissed the kangaroo on the head and nuzzled against her in a similar manner to what Red had just been doing.

Red rubbed her back, hoping to lull Nicky back into a sleepy state. "I'm sorry honey."

Shrugging, Nicky petted the animals back and cooing at her to sleep.

"How in the world did you get her out of there?" Red finally asked, laughing. She couldn't even begin to imagine Nicky sneaking around and not getting caught?"

Nicky looked over her shoulder and grinned. "Well, Tyler and Bobby got into a fight, and everyone was watching them... I just picked her up and put her in my backpack. It was easy."

"You're a mess," Red said. She reached over and turned Nicky to face her and left a slobbery kiss on her cheek. "I love you, sweetheart."

"Love you too Mama," Nicky said, yawning. "Love you too tiny friend," Nicky said, hugging her hijacked pet. "I'll take you home to your Mama tomorrow," she promised.

XOXOXO 6 months later XOXOXO

"Come on Mom!" Nicky said, bouncing up and down by the doorway. "We're gonna be late."

"They're open all day, Nicky," Red said as she gathered her things. "I promise you, we're not going to miss anything." She couldn't hide the smile on her face. The zoo had been very forgiving all things considering. A 6-month restriction had felt like forever with Nicky's dramatics but was really very little time at all considering the penalty an adult would have received. It was the first day Nicky was allowed back, and she had been bubbling with excitement all week.

"Alright. Alright," Red said, grabbing her hand. "Let's go." They locked up the apartment and left for the zoo.

Nicky and Red paid for their tickets, receiving several confused looks. Apparently, everyone had seen the face of the little zoo thief, but no one seemed to remember exactly where they knew her from.

"Where would you like to look first?" Red teased, knowing full well that Nicky was dying to go see Johanna.

Turning on her heels, Nicky just cut her eyes at her mother. "Don't play games with me, lady," she said, sounding tougher than Red knew her to be.

Red just laughed at her. "Lead the way, my dear." She regretted letting Nicky navigate once she started being dragged through crowds of visitors and families. Nicky might be able to squeeze through tight spots, but Red was not as capable.

"Over here," Nicky said, grinning back at her mother.

Red stepped up behind her daughter and put her hands on her shoulders. "Now, where's our little friend?"

Nicky looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow that could rival her mother's. "Our little friend?"

"Fresh," Red said, nudging her gently. "I let her spend the night, didn't I? You hand your little animal sleepover."

"Well hello there," a cheerful voice greeted them. "How are you two lovely ladies?"

Red turned Nicky back around and exchanged pleasantries with the young zookeeper. "My name is Red-"

"No it's not. Your name is Galina," Nicky chimed in.

Red glared down at her. "Hush you," she said. "This big mouth here is my daughter Nicole."

"Nicky," Nicky glared at her mother for using her full name.

"Hey kid, if I don't get to be Red you don't get to be Nicky," she teased, winking at the other woman in amusement.

"Oh I know all about Nicky," she said. "My name's Susan." She reached a hand out to shake Nicky's. "You're pretty famous around here," she said, with an amused tone.

Nicky ducked her head in mild embarrassment. It wasn't so much her actions as it was that she felt like she was being mocked.

"Not many kids could keep a joey safe overnight without any training. I hear you did an excellent job with her," she said, voice bright and happy. She winked at Red and began to make small talk with her.

Nicky wandered the edge of the enclosure looking for Johanna. "Where is she?" Nicky came over. She looked at Susan with a terrified look on her face.

"Hey," Susan said, trying to calm her. "She's just hiding back there behind their shelter," she pointed out the kangaroo and watched Nicky carefully. The girl's shoulders dropped in relief, but her face also fell in disappointment.

Red rubbed Nicky's arms affectionately. "See she's all settled back at home and just fine. We'll come back soon, maybe she'll be out then."

"Can we come tomorrow?" Nicky asked, grabbing her mother's hand. "Please?"

"We'll see," Red said, brushing a loving hand against her cheek and gracing her with a sympathetic smile.

"Um, actually," Susan said. "I was just about to give her some treats. I could use some help if that's okay with you Red?"

"Oh, Mama please?" Nicky asked. "I'll do all the laundry for the rest of the month!"

Throwing her hands up in mock defeat she dipped her head. "How can I argue with that?"

Susan grinned at the pair and moved towards the gate, opening it to let Nicky into the enclosure. "The other kangaroos are actually out doing a show, you came at just the right time." She led Nicky over to the middle of the pin and told her to stay put. A few minutes later, Johanna was hopping behind Susan and heading right towards Nicky.

Red took a nervous breath at how big the animal that was now bounding towards her daughter had gotten. She knew the woman wouldn't have let Nicky in there if she thought she might be hurt. Already she was sure they were breaking several safety guidelines. This Susan was putting her job on the line, and that eased Red's mind slightly.

Nicky and Susan were both surprised when the kangaroo hopped right over to Nicky. She hesitated at first, but after a moment she nuzzled up against Nicky in familiarity. Nicky giggled in excitement and wrapped her arms around the kangaroo.

"She's almost as big as you are," Susan teased. "I guess there won't be any backpack smuggling this trip."

Nicky grinned up at her. "Thank you so much for letting me see her," she said, wrapping her arms around the zoo keepers waist.

"Anytime kiddo," the young woman said, squeezing her back. "Let me go talk to your mom. You two have fun."

Nicky bounded off, letting the kangaroo chase her. The two played as if they had been raised to her. Bouncing along beside her friend, Nicky's laughter rang through the area.

"Thank you for this," Red said. "I'm sure you're taking a risk doing this."

"It's nothing," Susan said, waving off Red's concern. "I actually wanted to show you this." She handed Red a pamphlet and pointed to one section in particular. "There's a junior zookeeper program we're starting this summer. I don't know if you'd be interested in it for Nicky, but I know how much she loves Johanna. She's sent so many letters checking up on her."

"You were the one responding," Red said, putting the pieces together.

Susan nodded, blushing. "Yeah, the other's just wanted to throw them out, but I couldn't. She seems so committed." She shrugged and turned to walk Nicky. "She's really a great kid, and she seemed so eager about learning more that I thought I'd show you."

Nodding, Red looked down at the pamphlet. "How much does it cost?" she asked, nervously.

"Don't worry about that," Susan said with firm determination. "I'll sponsor her."

Red shook her head. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You're not asking," Susan said. "I think it would be a great experience or her and I think she'd be a good influence on the other kids."

Laughing Red shook her head. "A good influence huh? You want a herd of little felons running loose in your zoo? You don't have enough wild animals already?"

Susan joined Red in her laughter. "I think she has figured out the right way to interact with the animals," she said. "What do you say?" Susan asked, trying to convince Red.

"Alright, why not. She's your responsibility on zoo property, though," Red said, pointing at Susan playfully. "I'm not going to be bailing the two of you out of jail when you try to steal the animals and start your own circus."

"I promise there will be no circus starting," Susan said, grinning up at Red.

They stood in silence for a moment watching Nicky and the kangaroo play. "Why don't you go tell her," Red suggested.

"Me? You sure?" Susan asked in surprise.

"It was your idea," Red said, shaking her head in amusement.

Without any more prompting, Susan jogged over to Nicky and told her the news. The little girl hugged her quickly letting out a squeal of excitement.

Her attention didn't stay on the zoo keeper for long. Turning to look at her mother, Nicky ran to her and jumped into her arms as she neared. She wrapped her arms and legs around her mother and hugged against her tightly. "Thank you so so so so so much."

"You're welcome, honey. Don't make me regret it. Susan is offering you a big responsibility, you need to treat it as such," Red instructed.

Nicky nodded against her and pulled back. "I will. I promise." She kissed Red's cheek and then wiggled out of her arms. Leading her mother into the enclosure, she brought her over and helped her feed Johanna a treat.