Title: 'Ballroom Blunder'
Alternative Title: '$300 Dress!'
Series Based On: Go Go Gadgetinis
Characters Featured: Inspector/Lt. Gadget, Inspector Prince, Penny, Akio Ichiro Gadget, Yumi Gadget, Chief Quimby, Chief Littlewood.
Theme: Curiosity, love, letting go, perseverance, passion.
Info: Prince doesn't want to go to the crime fighting ball due to last times events of her being confused for a M.A.D Agent and getting arrested, but Gadget insists she confronts her fears only to end up in a tense situation himself.
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Ballroom Blunder
"I told you! I'm not going to go to that stupid ball, Gadget. I really am not." Prince's eyes flared as she recalled the last time she attended the crime fighting ball. "You remember last time, don't you?"
Gadget's eyes whirled as he tried to recall the previous events. "Something about... M.A.D?"
"It's always about M.A.D, Gadget, but what specifically?"
“OOOH! I remember!” His eyed widened as the memories came flooding back. “You got dived on my seven agents.”
“Yes. And not M.A.D agents, either. They were YOUR men!”
“They explained all that afterwards though.”
“Yes, after they virtually hog-tied me. Gadget, come on. Don’t make me go.”
“They thought you were still a M.A.D agent. They said they were sorry!”
“Did they say sorry to my $200 dress? Nope, I think not.” Prince sighed and folded her arms. She remembered the bruises, the shouting, the unnecessary yanking of her arms to get them into cuffs. She was not going to go through that again if W.O.M.P paid her a million dollars.
“What are the chances of it happening again, sweetie?” Gadget slowly made his way over to Prince and put one arm around her waist. “It’s been, what… 3 years since it happened? Something like that?”
Prince snorted. “Yeah. 3 years of me looking over my shoulder when out shopping, just in case I bump into a police officer who DOESN’T remember those events. Besides! I can‘t get a babysitter for Akio and Yumi!”
“Hush.”
Prince looked up at Gadget. His soft eyes and beaming, innocent smile always seemed to make her feel better, even if the situation was awkward. She loved that about him and understood why he made such a good Lieutenant. He knew how to calm her inner rage before it even manifested itself and she knew that was why they made a good team.
“Penny is looking after them tonight, so go go get your dress on, Gadget girl.” Gadget pushed her lightly on her hip causing her to turn towards the stairs.
“OK. But, if anything happens again, I swear I will not be held accountable for my actions.”
“Fair enough. Now get to it! I want to see that dress on you. After all, I did buy it.”
Prince rolled her eyes and grinned at the hungry look he was giving her. “Fine. Fine…” She walked up the first few stairs while wiggling her behind just to tease him.
“Wowsers…”
+++
A while later and Gadget had finished freshening up in the downstairs bathroom. He was clean shaven and had dressed in a red tuxedo with a black bow tie. Instead of his usual fedora, he was wearing a black silk top hat. After spit shining his shoes, he took a quick peek at his watch before striding over to the stairs. “HONEY!? TIME’S GETTING O…” He was cut off mid-sentence, as Prince had just turned the corner and stood at the top of the stairs in her new gown. A fishtail dress of what seemed like oceans of black silk, dainty pearls around her neck and simple, yet elegant black ballerina-style high heeled pumps. She looked simply stunning and Gadget had a hard time holding himself back from running up the stairs and tackling her to the ground.
“What do you think?” Prince eyed the hem of her dress with a critical eye. “It doesn’t make me look too dorky does it?”
“Wowsers, no.”
“Or, like I’m wearing a bin liner?”
“No.”
“Or like…”
“SHH!” Gadget put a finger to his lips. “You look fine sweetie. You’ll be the best looking woman there.”
Prince was still not used to receiving such complements and blushed as she walked down the stairs. Hooking arms with Gadget, she raised her head and looked him in the eyes, a smile creeping its way onto her worried face.
“Ready?” Gadget started to walk towards the front door.
“Oh lordy.” Prince suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“What?”
“I hope SHE isn’t there.”
“Who?”
“Meredith!”
Gadget laughed loudly, causing Prince to whirl her head around sharply to look at him. “It’s not funny! You know how she gets on my nerves!”
“Everyone gets on your nerves, dear.”
“That’s not true!” Prince pouted and pulled her best fake offended grimace. “I only find most people irritating. Not all.”
Gadget looked down at her with a sympathetic smile.
“I can’t help it! I guess I just inherited my father’s temper…”
“Now you listen here.” Gadget turned her around and looked her dead in the eye, a serious look on his face. “You are NOTHING like your father and you never will be!”
“Well, I can’t help genetics, Gadget.”
“That may be, but you can just ignore them.”
“That only works for so long… One of these days I’m going to end up blowing up in someone’s face and then they WILL have to have seven agents dive on me.”
“Until then, I will always be there to quell that emotional storm. I’m always on duty, remember?”
Prince chuckled to herself. “Oh, no doubting that.” She grabbed at his nose and wiggled it around, before placing a light kiss on his lips. “OK! Let’s get this thing over with so I can hurry up and take these bloody shoes off!”
“Sure thing, ma’am.” Gadget opened the door and slipped a cardigan over Prince’s shoulders as she stepped out the door. He ran to the car and unlocked the doors, before turning to face the house. “Hey look, honey!” He pointed to one of the top floor windows. There sat Akio and Yumi in their pyjamas waving frantically at their parents.
“BYE MOM! BYE DAD!”
“AKIO! YUMI! GET AWAY FROM THAT WINDOW!” Prince virtually ran towards the front of the house as if she expected them to both come toppling out, but before she reached the lawn, Gadget had extended his arms and had pulled her into the car, shutting the doors behind him.
“Sweetie, don’t worry about them. See, look!” He pointed up at the window again just as Penny had dragged the twin away and told them off for opening the window. “Penny knows what she is doing. She’s 23 years old now. She’s old enough to know what’s what.”
“I’m glad you have confidence in her, Gadget.”
“And you don’t?”
“It’s not that I don’t, honest. I just…”
“You’re just protective. I understand.” Smiling softly, he placed a hand on her thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “You don’t know how hard it’s been for me to watch you tackle criminals every day. I get scared of you having an accident and getting hurt all the time, but if I restrained you as much as I wanted, you’d never grow. And that, my dear, would not be fair on you. The kids are 7 years old, not old I know, but they are old enough to start thinking for themselves. Trust them. Trust Penny. You‘ll see, you‘ll have nothing to worry about.”
“Thanks Gadget…”
Gadget simply sighed contentedly through his smile and started the engine of the Gadgetmobile.
“I just hope you are right.”
+++
At the crime fighting ball, everyone was mingling and eating small snacks that were being served by waiters on silver trays. The ball was being held at an old house in the countryside on the old grounds of a cotton plantation. It was a very large place with marble floors and dizzying buttresses.
The Gadgetmobile pulled up outside and Gadget and Prince stepped out of the car. “Wow!” Prince was awestruck. “This place is beautiful! Better than last years venue! I wonder what the place used to be like before they tore it down to build this place?”
Gadget walked over and handed the keys to the Valet, before putting an arm round Prince’s shoulders and admiring the house himself. “It was probably not as grand as this. I would imagine it was a simple plantation house before. Nothing too fancy.”
“Wow. I’m just speechless.”
“Shall we go in?”
“YES!” Prince yanked on his arm eagerly and virtually dragged him through the front doors, ignoring the doorman in the process.
The main entrance was even more breathtaking. It had velvet curtains trailing down the walls and the large marble staircase was the biggest Prince had ever seen. It reminded her of old films from the 1930’s and 1940’s like ‘Gone With The Wind’ and she found herself imagining running down them in a melodramatic way shouting things like, “OH MAH, I DECLARE!” and, “Great balls of fire. Don't bother me anymore, and don't call me sugar.” That was, of course, until Gadget snapped her out of it.
“Lets go into the ballroom, shall we?”
“Oh, ok. Fine.”
The two rounded the corner and entered the ballroom. The room was filled with people. People dancing in the centre and people eating and chatting away on the sidelines. The punch bowl was by the door in case anyone needed a quick drink and waiters were still doing their rounds with finger food and champagne.
“OH! OH!” Prince’s mind was doing over time. The ballroom was even more exquisite than the entrance hall, with golden chandeliers, ornate ceiling roses and antique dining tables, paintings and a fully dressed buffet table to the left by the windows that led to the gardens.
“You ok, dear?” Gadget noticed the look on her face and the way her mouth was moving, but seemed unable to spout words.
“Mmhmm. Er, ugh… I think I need a drink.” She pounced on the waiter as he walked by with champagne and started guzzling it in an attempt to bring reason to her mind.
“You go easy on that! You haven’t eaten all day, you’ll get drunk.”
Prince simply peered at him over the champagne flute and nodded.
“What’s gotten into you anyway?”
Prince took the glass from her lips and sighed while catching her breath. “Lovely… Ugh… House… Gasp!”
“Oho! Really?! And all this coming from a woman who didn’t want to come an hour and a half ago!” Gadget leaned forward, his eyes thinning out as he gave her a sarcastic grin.
“Oh shush you, before I push you into the punch bowl.”
It was not long before the couple attracted the attention of the other guests. A group of W.O.M.P agents approached them, Prince cringing and readying herself to dart out the door just in case of a repeat of last time’s events. Thankfully, they just shook their hands and chatted about crime prevention and other nonsense that Prince was really not interested in at that moment in time. She was too mesmerized by the house to care. So, she left Gadget nattering with the agents and decided to check out the rest of the house before she ate. She knew she wasn’t supposed to go upstairs, but she couldn’t resist a peek anyway.
Gadget hadn’t even noticed that she had left his side and after the agents had parted ways, he noticed her absence. He set about looking for her in the crowd, but she was nowhere to be seen. No sign of any purple hair at all. He decided to ask around in the hope that someone had come across her.
“Excuse me, have you seen my wife? Pretty thing? Purple hair? Superb smile? No? Sorry to bother you.”
Prince was upstairs looking at all the bedrooms. Each one was more grand than the last and she secretly wished she could hide in the wardrobe and live there in secret. She sneaked into the next room wondering if the rooms were ever going to end, when suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. She pressed herself against the wall and hoped the hadn’t spotted her. It went silent. Her heart raced at the thought of her being discovered, but it seemed no one was there anymore and she was safe. Suddenly a hand grabbed hold of her and flung her round the corner.
“AIIYAAH!”
“Shh!”
“Gadget! Oh thank the gods. I thought I’d been caught for sure…”
“Prince! What on earth are you doing!? You know you’re not supposed to come up here, this is where they store the houses valuables. I thought you were a thief!”
“I’m sorry! I couldn’t resist!”
“Do you think that… Hold on a minute.” He dragged her into the next room. “Do you honestly think that you wouldn’t get caught?”
“Well, I haven’t exactly.”
“Yes you have! By me!”
“That’s not exactly the same…”
Gadget frowned over her flippant attitude. If she’d have been caught by anyone else, she would have been arrested and he couldn’t understand why she didn’t realise it. In the situation they were in, if he even got caught he’d get arrested, regardless of his position in W.O.M.P. “Oh, it’s not is it? You think I’m just going to ignore this because you’r…” Gadget was cut off mid-sentence as footsteps were heard down the corridor. His quick reactions came into play and he swung round the corner behind the door and pinned Prince to the wall.
Silence.
The pair, now breathing rather heavily, watched the door just in case someone came through it.
“See what I mean!?” Gadget pressed harder into her as the footsteps returned and subsided once more. “We could both get caught because of your curiosity!”
Prince, trying not to move too much for fear of being tickled by his close proximity, looked him in the eyes. “…Exciting though… Isn’t it?”
Gadget froze on the spot for a second, before turning his head sharply to face her, a look of surprise on his face. The expression of surprise turned to a rather red-faced stare. “Yes. Actually.”
He pressed his body harder against her, causing her to let out a little whimper, before wrapping his arms around her and drawing her into a passionate kiss. She was right. The fear of being caught was certainly exciting. He slowly and quietly closed the large wooden door hoping that the movement wouldn’t be noticed by anyone down the corridor and resumed his amorous intentions.
+++
Down in the ballroom, Chief Littlewood and Chief Quimby were chatting amongst themselves while chewing on random items of food.
“Have you seen Gadget and Prince anywhere?” Littlewood asked while picking at his teeth with the remainder of his mini fish kebab stick.
Quimby shook his head. “I actually needed to talk to Gadget about an important matter tonight. I saw him earlier talking to your men, but I haven’t seen him since.”
Suddenly, an agent ran towards the two chiefs with a sense of urgency written on his face. “SIR! SIR! Come quickly! We have a situation!”
“Show me the way, lad.”
The two chiefs barrelled after the young agent and followed him into the entrance hall where a group of 6 other agents stood fumbling around and readying their equipment.
“What’s the situation, agent Porter!?” Littlewood demanded to know what was so important to take him away from his fish kebabs.
“Sir, noises have been reported upstairs. We have reason to believe that M.A.D is trying to steal the houses fortune!”
Quimby and Littlewood exchanged knowing looks and followed the agents quietly up the stairs. They listened very carefully. Clatters, bumps and shuffling sounds could be heard coming from the second guest bedroom. The two chiefs backed away from the door and gave the order to enter.
The door was kicked open and all 7 agents dived in, tackling the so-called thieves instantly. “FREEZE! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!”
Gadget and Prince shrieked as the agents pulled them to the ground, their clothes half hanging off them.
“CHIEF! What’s going on!?” Gadget looked at Quimby with a shocked expression.
“Gadget?”
“GADGET!” Littlewood covered his eyes.
The other agents were too busy restraining Prince to care about Gadget and his half naked state.
“M.A.D AGENT! I KNEW IT!”
“Oh my gods! $300 dress! $300 DRESS!” Prince flailed wildly, before turning her head to the downed and handcuffed Gadget. “CURSE YOU! WHAT DID I SAY!?”
“Sigh…”
