I'm so sorry this chapter took so long guys! I basically took a break for a few days from writing so I wouldn't get burned out, but then this chapter was much harder to complete than I thought it would be and it ended up taking forever. Hopefully no other chapters take quite this long.

A big thanks to my beta who not only corrected this chapter, but also found the perfect chapter title for it.

Also, it occurs to me that many of you might not know where the title of this fic comes from. If you listen to the full Despicable Me theme song on youtube, it should become obvious. It is my absolute favorite line of that song.

Chapter 6: Crazy Isn't Always Bad

Lucy hummed to herself as she closed her locker door. She had just finished working out at the AVL gym where she was a member for free because of her job. The AVL gym was not a normal gym. There were obstacle courses, traps, a shooting range, and basically any other adrenalin filled activity that spies were expected to be able to face without breaking a sweat.

"Hey, Lucy!" A voice behind Lucy called. The secret agent turned around to face her colleague and friend Melissa. Melissa was about five years younger than Lucy, but she had been working with the AVL much longer than Lucy had been. In fact, Lucy's friendship with Melissa was one of the reasons why Lucy joined the AVL in the first place. Melissa also had a hand in getting Lucy the job by putting some encouraging words into her boss's ear about Lucy and her extensive martial arts training.

"Hey Melissa." Lucy greeted enthusiastically. Melissa was a short girl with long black hair which was tied back in a braid. She had tan skin, dark eyes, and a serious set to her mouth. She was much more muscular than Lucy, and her low center of gravity made her a strong fighter.

"I haven't seen you in forever, girl!" Melissa broke out into a smile. "Last I talked to you I think you were on your way to Australia!"

Lucy chuckled. "Yeah, well those plans got blown out of the water… or almost blown up in a volcano." Lucy shrugged. "Either one."

Melissa raised an eyebrow at her. "About that… those files on your latest mission are on a need-to-know basis, but I heard some rumors about EL Macho?"

A secretive smile formed on Lucy lips. As spies, they really weren't allowed to talk about the details of their missions to each other, but rumors spread easily, and usually the top-level security agents got the gist of what their coworkers were involved in.

"Well, let's just say that we don't have to worry about El Macho coming back," Lucy assured her.

Melissa appraised her skeptically as if she were trying to fill in the pieces of what Lucy wasn't telling her on her own.

"Mhm," Melissa hummed. "I also heard you were working with the villain they recruited. I feel sorry for you, girl."

Lucy laughed and shook her head. "Ex villain and no! He was great! I mean, he stole the moon." Lucy's voice was just above a whisper, a look of admiration on her face. "So I wanted to work with him. I've been following his career for years, and I've always thought he was brilliant. And working with him is… I mean, he is…" She couldn't find the words to express just how much she loved working with him, and just being with him in general. Lucy noticed Melissa was giving her a funny look that she couldn't quite read, and then her friend's eyes grew wide.

"Oh. My. God." Melissa's mouth was hanging open, her eyes reflecting her horror. "Don't tell me you actually have a thing for him?"

Lucy blushed. "Well, we're pretty much dating so, yeah, I would say I have a thing for him."

Melissa's face switched from horror to anger so quick Lucy barely had time to process the change. "Why would you do that?" Melissa cried angrily, grabbing Lucy's forearms in a tight grip. "I know you're getting desperate-"

"I'm not desperate-" Lucy tried to interject, but Melissa didn't seem to hear her.

"Since none of the other guys you've gone on dates with haven't worked out," Melissa continued. "But a villain? Gru? Yes, I know who the villain was we recruited was. Don't ask me how I know, I can't say." Melissa had said that last sentence very quickly, obviously more interested in getting back to the topic at hand. "We work for the AVL, Lucy. The Anti-Villain League? There are rules about hooking up with a villain!"

At this point Lucy was glad they were alone in the locker room, because Melissa was practically shouting.

"But Gru's not a villain anymore, and he's a consultant for the AVL. He's practically a colleague!" Lucy hurriedly tried to explain.

"There are rules about dating colleagues too!" Melissa insisted, the frown she was wearing only growing deeper.

"Ah!" Lucy held up a finger. "But there aren't rules about dating former villains who are now consulting for the AVL, are there?"

Melissa looked ready to tear out her hair. "There should be!" She snapped. And then the slightly younger girl took a deep breath. "Look, Lucy, I'm just worried about you…"

"And even if they are against Gru and I dating, what are they going to do?" Lucy continued. "They can't fire him, they need him. If they fired me, then who would work with Gru? No one else would be willing to do it."

"And that's exactly why I'm worried about you!" Melissa pushed. "Most agents in the Anti-Villain League are here to, I don't know, actually stop villains! You know how much damage villains have caused, how terrible they are… and then you turn around and date one? Are you crazy?!"

For the first time since this conversation began, Lucy finally stopped and looked at her friend. Melissa was actually worried about her, wasn't she?

"You think I've gone crazy?" Lucy repeated.

Melissa finally released her grip on Lucy's arm. "Sweetie… you're dating a very dangerous man; ex villain or current villain, it doesn't matter. It takes a certain type of person to become a villain… A person with a lot of hate and resentment in their heart, and that doesn't just go away."

Lucy pursed her lips, knowing Melissa was right. As AVL members, they knew the typical profile of a villain, but when she pictured Gru the words hate and resentment just didn't fit. He could be grumpy, yes; he demonstrated that he could be cold and downright scary when he wanted to be, but hateful? Resentful? Lucy could still feel his warm, strong arms around her when he picked her up and swung her around after the mission. She could see the way he beamed when all three of his children knocked him over with a loving hug.

Gru was the most loving person she knew when it came to those three girls, and when it came to her… she could feel warmth flooding her cheeks. He was so gentle and sometimes a little shy, like he was scared of messing up. But then Lucy remembered what Margo said, about how he hadn't always been so loving…

"Maybe he was like that before, but-"

"Lucy!" Melissa interrupted sternly. "He's dangerous, and he's going to hurt you. You're such a sweet girl looking for love, and he's going to break your heart at the very least. And from what I've heard about him, he's not your type at all. I mean, you're so fun and full of energy! You deserve someone who you can see yourself spending the rest of your life with!"

Lucy couldn't help it. Melissa's words had her imagining something she never allowed herself to think of before. They had just started dating, after all, and Lucy had been through many bad relationships that ended in failure. She had just been hoping this relationship would last for as long as possible. Lucy was a cheerful, quirky girl that seemed to draw people towards her, but as fast as she seemed to attract friends, she seemed to lose them just as quickly. People, who once found her personality fun, soon would find her annoying, weird, and a bit too in-your-face. Without knowing it, Lucy had already been preparing herself for the day Gru grew tired of her too. After all, Melissa was right; they were both very different people.

However, Melissa's question allowed her to dream. What if? What if they stayed together? What if they ended up spending the rest of their lives together? The question sent a tingling sensation down her neck and spine; it was both pleasant and terrifying. As the years ticked by without a steady relationship, Lucy had found it harder and harder to imagine herself as someone's wife, not to mention a mother of three…

The tingling sensation grew stronger, but this time it was warm and it engulfed her entire body.

Those girls… they were the sweetest girls she had ever known, and she loved spending time with them. She would dare say she loved them already, even though she had only known them for a short time. She had no idea how she would do as a mother, or if she was ever meant to be one at all, but maybe one day for those girls- those three beautiful girls who seemed like they had been through so much and still had a reason to smile- she could do it.

As for staying with Gru, waking up next to him every morning, spending the day together down in his lab as they wait for a new mission, picking the girls up from school and then helping Gru with dinner, that sounded like an extraordinary life to Lucy. Extraordinary because of who she would be sharing it with.

Mrs. Lucy Gru. The thought made her smile so wide her cheek bones hurt.

Lucy shrugged as she tried to contain her smile the best she could. "It's still too early to say, but maybe I could see us…"

Melissa clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Lucy agreed, a little more dreamily than she intended.

Melissa shook her head. "If this is some weird phase I'm snapping you out of it at the first sign of trouble!" Lucy's friend was pointing a strict finger into her face, but then the shorter girl seemed to sigh in defeat. "But I guess we have all been there. Sometimes we all have to date people who are bad for us."

Lucy frowned at that, but she didn't have a chance to interrupt.

"But seriously, why couldn't you have gone for a younger guy? Look at you! You could totally pass as somewhere in your early thirties! If you're going to be dating someone you shouldn't be, you should go for a younger guy. Gru is way too old for you."

"He's only ten years older than me! That's not that big of a difference."

Melissa snorted. "Yes it is."

"What about that new guy you're with?" Lucy countered, starting to get angry. "He's twenty-five; that's ten years younger than you!"

"Exactly! He's younger than me! Because I knew I could do better than all the weird single old guys. Besides, my guy is totally sweet, and he's a civilian, which is who we are supposed to be dating. Not co-workers and definitely not villains!"

Lucy just crossed her arms. "I thought that you would be happy for me."

"Sweetie," Melissa said gently. "I'm happy you're getting back out there, but you can do better. You know that, right?"

Lucy pursed her lips, but didn't answer. She knew she couldn't give Melissa the answer she wanted to hear. Melissa didn't understand. She didn't want to be dating anyone else. She liked Gru, more than she liked anyone else she had dated before.

So instead, Lucy gave her friend a lopsided smile and changed the subject quickly. "Welp! I should get going! I promised Gru's girls that I would go with them to their dance class. I haven't seen them dance before but they talk about it all the time!"

Melissa looked like her world had stopped spinning. "W-wait a minute. Girls? Gru's girls? He has kids?"

Lucy nodded absentmindedly as she searched her purse for her car key. "Yep! They are honestly the sweetest girls you have ever seen."

"That's so weird…" Melissa mumbled, mostly to herself. "So, wait." she said as she made a face. "You're dating a guy with kids? Why would you do that to yourself?"

Lucy considered her friend for a moment before grinning somewhat manically. "I guess from your perspective I have gone crazy, huh?" Lucy adjusts the strap of her purse over her left shoulder and then gave Melissa a little wave. "I'll see you later, Melissa! Bye!"

When Lucy arrived at Gru's house, she was greeted by a strange sight. Gru and his girls were out on the lawn staring up at their house. The girls were in their dance outfits, and there were multiple minions scurrying around them, each minion with what looked like a gas masks on their face.

Lucy's chest clutched with worry. It looked like the girls and Gru were fine, but she could tell something had gone wrong, and in Gru's house, a mistake in the lab could be fatal.

Lucy parked her car and approached the family. Gru was on his cell phone, and from the way he was raising his voice, it sounded like he was talking to Doctor Nefario.

Agnes spotted Lucy first and ran to attach herself to the spy's leg.

"Lucy!" The little girl cried happily.

At Agnes's cry, Gru turned around in surprise.

"Hi Agnes," Lucy greeted, bending down to give the tiny girl a hug. She looked up to see Gru watching her. His mind looked a million miles away. "What's going on?" Lucy addressed the question to the girl's father.

Gru sighed. "Dere was a gas leak een the lab. The gas ees poisonous eef you're exposed to eet for too long, but we managed to catch eet before eet traveled eento the house. We are tryeeng to find the source now."

"What about your munchkins?" Lucy asked with concern. She was glad the girls and Gru were safe, but there were thousands of those little guys down there, plus Doctor Nefario.

Gru waved off her concern. "The meenions all have gas masks, and so does Doctor Nefario. Dey weell be fine. Once dey find the source we can start clearing the lab. I normally would be een dere helpeeng dem but…"

Gru's 'but' drifted off and Lucy knew why. He had to take care of his girls first, and he couldn't exactly leave them outside while he tried to fix the problem for who-knows-how-long.

"We were about to go to dance class," Margo explained, coming up behind Lucy, "but then the alarms went off and we had to evacuate."

Lucy had noticed previously that the girls had their dance clothes on, but only now did she realize that they had their dance bags as well.

"I'm sorry about dat, gurls," Gru apologized, drawing Edith's attention as well. "We have to skeep the dance class today. I don't have time to take yoo weeth all dis going on. I think I might have to find us a hotel tonight too. Dis weell take all night to clean up." Gru sounded utterly defeated.

"That's okay," Margo assured him. "We were just going to go over the routine again in class, and we already know it by heart." Lucy had the feeling the Margo was just trying to make Gru feel better about the situation, and apparently Gru knew it too, because he smiled gratefully down at her.

"Well… why don't I take the girls to dance class?" Lucy volunteered.

Gru looked up at her in surprise.

"Yeah!" Lucy continued, "I could take them, and they could stay at my place tonight. I have an extra bedroom, and they need a place to say until this place is livable again, right? It could be like a sleepover!" Lucy was growing excited with her own idea.

Apparently, Lucy was speaking loud enough that not just Margo and Gru heard her.

"Yay! A sleepover!" Agnes cheered.

Edith's eyes were sparkling next to her sister's big brown ones. "I've never been to one of those before." Edith admitted with excitement.

Gru, however, looked hesitant. "Dat ees very nice of yoo Lucy but the gurls can be a handful. I wouldn't want yoo to go out of your way."

Lucy knew Gru was just being overprotective. Gru's inexperience and hesitation with this situation told her that Gru had never let the girls sleep over at someone else's house before. However, this was the best option and Gru knew it too.

Besides, she really wanted to spend some time with the girls.

"Come on Gru, it's no trouble. And the girls seem excited about it."

Once look down at his three girl's hopeful eyes and Lucy knew that was all the convincing Gru needed.

"Weell, eef you're sure about dis Lucy…"

"Totally!" Lucy jumped up in excitement. "Yes!" She pumped her arm in the air.

Gru raised an eyebrow at her, but she just grinned back, too happy to feel embarrassed, especially in front of Gru. He seemed to take her to eccentricities much better than most people did. Although, it could be because he had some eccentricities of his own, albeit very different ones.

"Yes! A sleepover!" Edith cried, and Lucy and Margo grinned at each other.

This was going to be fun.

Gru, with his gas masks in place, had gone back into the house to pack bags for the girls with everything they would need to spend the night at Lucy's. Lucy's car was small, but the three girls managed to squish into the one seat. Margo directed Lucy to the dance studio with ease, and they got there with plenty of time to spare.

The girls were already dressed for class, and so Lucy didn't have to do much. She saw a bunch of moms sitting on benches and talking on their cell phones or reading magazines, and Lucy had a feeling she should join them.

Lucy was surprised about how easy the girls were to take care of. There were three of them with three wildly different personalities and needs, and yet, they seemed to function as a unit independent of any adult help. Even if Lucy hadn't driven them, she was sure the girls could have gotten themselves to dance class on their own if had they had enough time.

Lucy felt a bit nervous. She was worried that she had missed something. She wasn't like Gru, she wasn't a parent, and even though the three girls were the most independent children she had ever seen, she still wanted to be able to help them if they needed it.

Then, Lucy realized what she had been missing. Edith was still in her white boots while her sisters were both in their dance shoes. Lucy looked in the girl's duffel bag and pulled out a pair of pink shoes that most likely belonged to Edith.

"Edith, hold on, you forgot to put these on!" Lucy called to the girl just seconds before she was about to run over and join her sisters on the dance floor.

When Lucy made a motion to hand over the dance shoes to the middle sister, Edith scowled and crossed her arms.

"I like wearing my boots," Edith mumbled defiantly, and then pulled her hat lower over her eyes. "And I always wear my hat."

Lucy blinked. She never even mentioned anything about Edith's hat, but for some reason Edith expected her too. Edith seemed extremely defensive about it. This wasn't the first time that Lucy had seen Edith get defensive over small things, but somehow it made sense. Out of all the girls, Lucy understood Edith the best. Lucy had also gotten into a lot of trouble when she was little, and it got to the point where she became sick and tired of her mother or her teachers ragging on her for the same things; sometimes it was about the things she said, or the things she did, or even things she wanted to do, like martial arts, which nobody approved of. If nobody approves of the choices you make every little thing you do feels like a battle, and Lucy had a feeling reckless, energetic Edith probably felt like that almost all the time.

Lucy smiled, knowing exactly what she would have wanted to hear as a child. "Good choice," Lucy agreed. "I don't think I would be able to recognize you without your hat anyway." She winked at the girl, and Edith looked absolutely dumfounded.

"And I guess it's better to dance in shoes you're comfortable in, huh?" Lucy continued when Edith didn't say anything. "Just like I love doing martial arts in these." Lucy lifted up her foot to show the little girl the high-heeled shoes she wore every day. "Even if everyone thinks I'm crazy."

Edith's nodded. "Exactly! Everyone always yells at me but they don't get it!" Edith pulled her hat back so that Lucy could see her dancing eyes.

"Edith, come on!" Margo called from the dance floor where they were doing stretches.

Lucy shrugged. "Just because you do something different than everyone else doesn't make it wrong," Lucy told her. "And if people think you're a little crazy, that's not necessarily bad either." That was something Lucy had a hard time learning herself, especially because people usually looked at her like she was some kind of strange alien when she was just trying to be herself.

Once she learned this lesson, Lucy started feeling much better about herself. Lucy suspected this was why she was the only agent comfortable with asking a villain to help the AVL. To Lucy, different didn't always equate to bad.

Edith ran off to join her sisters and Lucy sat with the dance moms. Some of them were really young and in their twenties, but most of them were just a little younger than her.

Lucy waved as she sat down next to them. "Hi!" she greeted.

"Hello dear." said the pudgy blonde-haired women beside her. "I haven't seen you before. Which one is yours?"

"Oh, umm, none of them are mine actually, but I came with those three." Lucy pointed to the girls.

"Oh! Are you a friend of the family or something?" The lady prodded with a little more eagerness than polite interest would dictate.

Lucy smiled. A friend of the family? You could definitely say that, but Lucy hoped she was a little bit more…

"Umm, yeah, something like that."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy could see the women appraising her critically. Slowly, a smile began to spread across the lady's face.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." The lady patted Lucy's leg. "That father of theirs comes to every single one of their dance classes, and being a single father can't be easy. It's nice to know he has someone else who can help him out."

Lucy blushed and shrugged. "Well, that's what partners are for."

The lady next to her eyes suddenly grew very large and she looked absolutely delighted.

It took a moment for Lucy to realize what she had said. When Lucy had called them partners she had meant it in the two-colleagues-that-work-together kind of way. That was not, however, the way the lady understood her wording. It wasn't as though Lucy could fault her for it, though. After all, the lady wasn't wrong. Their relationship had long since moved on from being a purely professional one.

"Well, I must say, you two make the cutest couple!"

Lucy smiled down at the women. That was a nice change of opinion, especially compared to the lecture Mellissa gave her earlier this afternoon.

"Umm, thank you," Lucy responded awkwardly.

"Hey Kim!" A hushed voice said from behind Lucy as another woman sat down beside her. "Zoey and me were practicing our pirouettes so Zoey could be just perfect for the recital!" Even though this new woman was talking in a whisper, her voice still seemed to carry across the dance room. She was short, and had very lean muscles. Lucy suspected that she had once been a dancer herself. She had straight brown hair that didn't fall past her chin.

"That's nice, Chloe," the women Lucy had been talking to, who apparently was named Kim, responded in a tired voice.

Chloe seemed to notice Lucy for the first time. "Oh, hi!" Chloe greeted emphatically. "I'm Chloe!"

"Lucy," the spy introduced with a smile, shaking the manicured hand that Chloe held out.

"Well, Lucy, I must tell you what I tell all the moms here. I used to be a dancer, and I give my daughter private lessons, so you shouldn't feel bad if your daughter isn't quite on the same level that mine is. I'm sure she will get better. Of course, my daughter is going to be a famous dancer one day, but not every girl can make it that far, you know?"

Lucy was starting to like this mom less and less. Instead of correcting Chloe about how she wasn't a mother, Lucy decided to ask a question instead. "So, which of these girls is your daughter?"

Chloe beamed. "That one there! The one with the long brown hair. That's my Zoey."

Lucy saw Chloe's daughter immediately. She had arrived late with her mother, but Zoey had quickly found her place in the routine. She looked a lot like her mother, and Lucy had to admit she was a pretty good dancer for her age. She looked just a little bit older than Edith.

Lucy watched the girls dance for a while, and the whole seen was very cute. Margo had this look of concentration on her face the whole time; a look Agnes mimicked, but the littlest girl couldn't stop a grin from spreading across her face. Edith was always a little ahead or behind on the moves, like she was too excited and sped ahead, or she used too much momentum on the last jump and fell behind. She often looked more wobbly than her sisters because of her inaccurate timing.

"I make Zoey practice the routine everyday so she can be the best!" Chloe continued to brag.

With a frown, Lucy noticed that Zoey took up a lot of the room on the dance floor, often moving around more than the routine intended. She had bumped into Edith twice and Margo once, but her mother didn't seem to notice.

"Zoey has the routine down perfectly!" Chloe continued, and before Lucy could say anything a little scream came from Zoey's mouth as an over-enthusiastic twirl sent her spiraling into Agnes, and after tripping over her own feet, Chloe landed face first on the dance floor. Agnes looked stunned over what happened, but she was still standing and unhurt.

Lucy couldn't help herself. "Is that part of the routine?" she asked Zoey's mother as the lady let out a surprised gasp and sprang from her chair.

Kim laughed silently next to Lucy.

With the dance class over, Lucy waited until the girls changed back into their normal clothes, which were in the bag their dad packed for them.

Lucy waited for them to emerge from the changing room, but when Kim had left with her daughter and almost all the other moms had left, Lucy began to worry.

Lucy opened the changing room door a crack and what she saw and heard made her clench her teeth in anger, if only to keep herself from calling out.

"That was all your fault, Agnes!" Zoey yelled at the little girl. "You tripped me up on purpose!"

Agnes shook her head. "Nu huh, you ran into me! It was an accident!"

"Leave her alone, Zoey," Margo defended, lifting their duffle bag over her shoulder, as if she was trying to get everyone out of the room as quickly as possible. "Come on guys, Lucy is waiting for us."

"Stay out of this four-eyes, this is between me and shorty." Zoey took a few steps towards Agnes, and then pushed the little girl hard, causing the unsuspecting kid to skid across the floor and come to a painful stop against the wall.

With perfect timing and speed that she hadn't displayed on the dance floor, Edith lunged for Chloe and knocked the girl on her back. Edith fell on top of her with clutched fists and an angry growl.

"That's my sister," Edith snarled as she continued to pin the slightly older girl to the floor.

Through the blood that was dripping out of Zoey's nose and into her mouth from where Edith rammed her, Lucy heard Zoey scoff and say, "You guys aren't even real sisters!"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, since Eidth's face flushed red with anger, and she looked ready to punch the girl this time. Instead, Margo managed to grab the blonde around the middle and pull her off the girl.

"Edith! That's enough! You'll get in trouble!" Margo yelled, still trying to hold Edith back.

"I don't care!" Edith yelled, struggling as hard as she could against her older sister's arms.

"You should listen to your sister," Zoey mocked, wiping the blood from her nose. "You guys are so weird, especially you." She looked pointedly at Edith. "You're the worst of all of them. You're completely crazy!"

Lucy watched from her hiding spot as Edith's murderous expression, or at least as murderous of an expression a seven-year-old could wear, suddenly fell into a completely calm look of acceptance.

"So?" Edith asked. The word was so simple, but it held so much power. The insult designed to rile Edith up suddenly fell flat, and Zoey was stunned into silence.

Lucy never felt more proud.

This chapter was supposed to have much more Lucy and the girls bonding, but it got too long, and so most of that is going to have to come next chapter. So be ready, because I have a lot of cute things planned.

You know what I love about this story? You guys won't know what is important to the plot until later when it's too late. That's the fun of being a writer ^_^

Please review!