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Alice smiled as she stepped onto the tarmac back at the facility she called home, it had been a few weeks since Mianth's visit. Another round of meetings and interviews, mostly with people who didn't follow racing at all, which meant she had little to talk about outside of racing or her previous work with dusty old shit as Roslyn called it. Racing was still a little ways off, but there were plenty of meetings and events to go to. The trucks were ready, and she was eager to sling some dirt with them. At the moment she was more excited to spend time with Jenny and Harley, Victoria would also be joining them as Sherman had to be off world for meetings and Samantha was scheduled to accompany Kathrin out to a potential job site. Alice was thankful so far that the two girls got along really well.

The glimmer of fresh snow made Alice think of racing with the twins and helping Jenny shred some jumps. Her cousin Randy should be rolling into town for a little vacation, even with the kids they should have a little party or something. Since Jenny would still have work to do, that left Alice time to try and expand the girls' minds since Jenny usually spent more time being active. Jenny read stories to them, but usually stories that had action and adventure. Not that Alice found them bad, anytime spent reading was good in her book. She just preferred literary classics and stories for older children.

As she entered the apartment all three looked a bit guilty as they all had a cookie in hand or jammed in their mouth. Jenny was the one with cookies jammed in her mouth, Harley and Victoria were eating theirs a bit more civilized. "I hope you haven't eaten them all."

Jenny handed a cookie to Harley and mumbled a "Gif ma...ma un."

Harley carefully got out of her chair and headed over to mouse mom. "Hi! Here go."

"Hi, and thank you." Alice bit into the still warm cookie, peanut butter with chocolate chips. "So good."

Jenny had finished chewing her mouthful and kissed Alice's cheek before taking her bag back to the bedroom. "Hi love, these are just the first batch. I don't think the timing could have been better."

"At least I see some still on the cooling rack." Alice sat down next to Victoria and helped Harley get on her lap. "Hello Victoria."

Victoria managed a coo, and smiled with still mashed cookie in her mouth. Cute and kind of gross at the same time Alice thought. She had always thought Harley was a bottomless pit, but Sherman's little girl was always hungry and like her father did not really care what it was as long as she could eat it. Granted Victoria had tried to eat things that were not food as most babies did, and managed to ruin a remote for the TV.

That being said the two girls also enjoyed being read too, so much so that a bed time story had to be started well before bed time in most cases. Unless Nodrog was the one reading to them, then they never went to bed on time as he would read late into the night until they could not stay awake any longer. Not that Jenny or Alice stopped him if they came home late and found the three of them up, they just sat down and listened as well.

This race season would be a little more manageable as there were fewer races spread out over the year. Off road was still not as popular as on road though it had much longer races in some cases, like Baja. Though Alice still had some on road races or events she would be at as most where more local except the rally in France. Something else that had been added to her calendar was Wes and Natasha's wedding. Amber already had her measurements on file as Natasha had insisted Alice be one of her bride's maids.

It would be a little bitter sweet as Natasha's father had passed away and Wes' was still in prison. Which torqued Alice off, he deserved a god dammed medal. Despite the fact her and Wes had been very close at times, she was really happy for him. Most of Jenny and her friends were married and most had one kid, some had another already on the way. For the most part the kids all got along thankfully, so that made adult play dates a little easier to schedule as the kids could occupy themselves for the most part with some supervision.

Harley and Hailey were damn near impossible to separate after they spent any time together. Victoria was happy to be with anyone who let her tag along, though Harley was clearly her favorite kid to be with. Alice was grateful for that as Victoria spent a fair amount of time staying with them while Sherman and Samantha were out with their jobs.

As Alice and the two girls went out to the living room she was also glad the two of them were so well behaved. According to her own parents Alice and her brother were not always so cooperative and well mannered at this age. Jenny of course had been petrified into behaving by her miserable father and had only really started misbehaving once her grandparents had bought her the little condo they shared in college.

She hoped they would stay good friends even after they were older as Victoria would need to spend time living with them in the future. As Alice doubted Samantha would give up the traveling that came with her position since Jenny could always watch Victoria.

As Victoria scribbled on a sheet of paper with a crayon, Alice still had concerns about her behavior. As Victoria was never fussy or had temper tantrums, the little wolf girl just seemed to always be content doubly so if Roslyn or Nodrog were watching her. Harley and the other kids would have fits or be argumentative and rebellious while Victoria just stood there looking lost as to why they were doing it, or just ignoring them and minding her own business.

It had crossed Alice's mind a time or two to ask Nodrog if he had anything to do with the two girls seeming to never get sick, as both girls rarely got more than just the sniffles even when their friends were more ill. Harley had only run a fever twice and she couldn't recall Victoria ever having a fever. Victoria had made herself sick eating things she shouldn't, having once nearly sucked an entire bottle of strawberry syrup empty. Still if all they had to deal with was an upset tummy or poopy diapers Alice would be pretty damn thrilled. Though given Sherman's monster blood, Victoria might have a stronger immune system than the average person. It also might explain her slower growth as she was on the small side despite eating everything edible given to her.

Harley was going to be a handful, as she had the same abundance of energy as Jenny had. She also didn't seem to have a slow speed, doing everything as fast as she could, after learning to run Harley rarely walked. Everyone blamed Alice for that part of her personality, not that she would deny it. Alice did have dreams of being on track with her daughter either in racing or drift, as that was the one thing Alice and her father regretted, is they never raced together.

Jenny did not necessarily share Alice's dream of mother daughter racing, as the accident at the ring still had her shaken. The off world races where better as they were too concerned with keeping it clean. It had been a late night conversation; Jenny didn't want to be a downer but it was hard for her to not worry about Alice and Harley racing. Even with Lilith magically fixing Alice's leg, it still gave her nightmares.

Alice did point out that her dream hinged on Harley actually wanting to drive a race car. While Alice wanted Harley to race, she wasn't going to force the issue either. After all Harley might not even want to play sports, which Jenny didn't want to think about and Alice found kind of funny. In either late night conversations or any other time they wondered what Harley and Victoria might want to do, after all Winston and Nodrog both played musical instruments and both girls so far loved watching them play.

With Harley's heterochromia, they were a little worried about her being picked on in school as while it was more common now that anthros were so common it made her different. Or as Jenny had thought out loud, Harley might end up with a lot of boy problems. Alice had forgotten about a girl they used to go to school with who had heterochromia and she was asked out and harassed constantly by boys and girls to go out with them.

Not that Victoria was much better off with her albinism, violet eyes and diminutive size. Though Victoria's father could be quite frightening when required so she might have the problem of everyone being too afraid to ask her out, which wouldn't be bad. Everyone was waiting for a growth spurt as no one in Sherman or Samantha's family was short. The thing that enthralled Victoria the most was magic, as anything from sleight of hand to elemental manipulation and telekinetics. Nodrog had found out one night when Victoria was having bad dreams, if he made a small flame in his hand dance and flicker softly to a lullaby Victoria would calm down and slowly drift off to a peaceful sleep.

Sherman could do the same trick and just holding her and letting her watch the flame slowly dance she would calm down and fall asleep. Samantha could never get the hang of magic, but had found a solution in placing a candle well out of Victoria's reach and letting it burn through the night. Unfortunately that eventually backfired and Victoria would cry if the candle was forgotten and she was alone, if she was in bed with Harley then it was okay not to have a candle.

For not being around children at all, Roslyn did manage to watch the girls a few times for a single night at a time. Lucy and Ron would take them if it was going to be for a few nights though the two girls did get equally spoiled by grandparents and the Valkyrie anytime they watched them. Though in the care of the dragon, they might have gotten the most spoiled as his rules were much different than everyone else's, it's not like anyone could argue with him and Harley and Victoria would keep it a secret. Granted they could not get away with anything when he was around.

When Alice was down at the shop she brought the girls with her so they could play with Hailey and get used to the racket of a garage. Though this is also where they would likely learn a bunch of words they shouldn't know until they were older. The twins didn't swear, and little Joe only slipped a curse in rarely. Jenny only cared if they used the swear words incorrectly, proper grammar mattered more. The twins intrigued Harley as they had different eye colors like she did. While Natasha seemed to be more interesting to Victoria who seemed to love Natasha's accent. Big Joe's dancing would get them all giggling hysterically.

For Wes and Winston the kids only got their significant other thinking about kids of their own and while Winston thought he was ready for being a father, Wes wasn't sure. Al did the best he could to be a good dad despite being so deep in the mob he was never going to get out. It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows, it was sometimes moving to a new apartment in the middle of the night with his dad looking over his shoulder a lot; and being left home alone unsure if his dad would be back.

It had been a very late diner or very early breakfast meeting with Alice when Wes had asked if she would be okay with him asking Natasha to marry him. She thought it was a little weird to ask her, but Wes had insisted that he felt the need considering their past and Alice being the only one to believe in him besides his father. It was also because Alice was one of the few people Wes really trusted, she had saved his life and still meant a lot to him because of the relationship they had and still have.

Alice still thought it weird, but eating lousy food at two am with Wes was something they had done anytime he needed to talk or vent. Alice had been a lover, but also a cute pair of ears that would listen without judgment anytime he needed someone to talk too. She also told him what he needed to hear not what he wanted to hear on many occasions over the years they had known each other. She was happy that he and Natasha had a relationship that Wes wanted to keep and encouraged him not to wait, because Alice had told him it still bothered Jenny that she had waited so long to tell Alice how she really felt.

Cheap coffee and waffles kept Alice awake enough to listen and offer any advice she could to Wes. They had talked kids and while it was a bit awkward for her to admit, she did tell Wes that she had considered him to be the father; but ultimately thought it would be weird if he wanted kids of his own. "Huh, that was unexpected considering my background."

Alice played with her hash browns. "Where you came from wasn't something I thought of, who you are now is what I was thinking about."

Wes leaned back and gave it some thought while sipping lousy coffee. "Aren't I still a little too rough and impulsive... I don't think it will be long before Harley is a better reader than I am."

"Did you forget how many times Jenny has gotten someone topless at a party?" The two of them laughed at the thought. "Wes, we all have faults, but you are loyal to your friends and you do have a solid work ethic. Street punk and mob errand boy to a well respected and professional race car driver with big sponsors."

"I suppose part of my problem is Joe and you make it look so easy. I just worry about messing up."

"It only looks easy because you don't see Joe getting up at this hour to clean up disgusting diapers. Or me cleaning up strawberry vomit after Sherman's little girl drank most of a bottle of strawberry syrup and made herself sick." Alice shivered at the thought, it was so fucking gross.

Wes looked blankly at Alice. "You aren't making me think being a parent is as great as all of you make it out to be."

Alice waved dismissively. "Parenting is awesome, but also tiring and disgusting. The diapers are a killer, but when they take their first steps or say their first word it's a different kind of high. It's not like prepping for a race; you are never really going to be prepared to be a parent. You just kind of jump in and do it."

Wes chuckled. "I was waiting for the racing to parenting comparison."

"I couldn't compare it to rooting through forgotten buildings and tombs."

"No I suppose not." Wes smiled and put Alice's hand in his. "Thanks for everything Alice, you really are the best. I'm lucky to count you as a friend."

It was the middle of Feb and Alice was down at the shop helping load up the trucks and gear for the three day trip out to Nevada for the first off road race of the season. Stacy was with her as Randy had pulled into town the day before to hook onto her race trailer and haul the trucks out to the desert. The shop was pretty excited as this was their first venture into off road racing.

Robin and Alice had stayed in touch during the off season and Robin would be helping Alice and her team, get settled in at the first race of the year. It was a light two hundred mile race that would take about five hours to complete. A short course with jumps and tight turns followed by rough dirt two track, a long sprint across a lake bed then technical old mining roads around the mountain and back to the start and finish line.

This was a timed event with a staggered start, starting order was random and at the end of the event the driver with the most laps wins, though there is also additional cash and bragging rights for fastest lap. She had enough wins and enough tough races under her belt that most of the drivers she would be racing against had some respect for Alice. Some of them have raced Alice on road courses or drift and one of them has raced her on snow machines.

While the off road crowd was serious about racing they weren't as smug or condescending as some of the on road drivers were. As pits were set up, they had driver and crew meetings the general feel was most were happy Alice was going to sling dirt as it would bring in more viewers to watch their type of racing. As Robin had expressed a great deal of respect for Alice and was looking forward to throwing down on track with the fastest mouse.