Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men:Evolution or it's characters. Just my OC, Molly Callum/Creature and any original characters/background characters that may pop up from time to time.
AN: Don't be mad, but I'm going to pull a 'Charlie Brown' here. Molly's family is mostly going to be unseen and not speak. Sorry, but I'd rather not write a story involving what equates to my family having speaking parts, that has to do with Gambit and romance to be seen by the whole world. Thanks for understanding. Enjoy!
The main team was sitting in one of the rec rooms with a handful of the older recruits. Quite a few months had past and it was now early May of a new year. Molly had already turned twenty-one and next week was when Molly was not only graduating from college, but herself and many of the recruits were graduating up to official X-Men. That was going to include a big ceremony and everyone was going to receive a customized uniform. Before that happened however, Molly wanted to have a nice, long talk with her friends.
"This sounded really important Molly. What's up?" Scott asked, sitting on the left end of the couch next to Jean, looking alert as always.
"I just wanted to talk to you guys about next week. Everyone's family is coming out for the graduation, including mine.
I think it's important that we try not to embarrass each other," Molly said, standing up straight and being serious. A rare moment for her.
"Oh please. You and Jerk-Face embarrass yourselves," Ray said, "I want to see you two go five minutes keeping your hands off of each other."
"Anyway," Jean glared icily at Ray as she sat on the arm of the couch, "Molly does have a point. We all need to be on our best behavior next week. We want to leave everyone with a good impression of the school and a pleasant experience, right?"
Unenthusiastic mumbling went through the room accompanied with eye rolling and a few coughs.
"How's this for motivation," Remy said as he leaned against the far wall, arms crossed and looking serious, "You all be on your best behavior with no pranks, or everyone gets weekend danger room sessions for a month and I take away the game consoles." Remy seemed to be taking his responsibility as a teacher more seriously as time went on. The kids hated it, but it was better that they knew where Remy stood on matters.
"Okay," Bobby nosily clapped his hands together, "It's responsibility or death so we'd better take it or leave it!"
"Great way to put it, Bobby," Jubilee flipped her hair behind her.
"It's only a few days," Molly said, "It's not going to kill anyone to act a little civil to each other." Most of the parents were arriving mid week or so since the Institute's graduation was on a Friday. Molly was finally graduating community college as well. Molly was just getting a certificate in the mail for college, but had dinner in mind for one night. Plus there was going to be a reception on Friday after the kids graduated to official X-Men. She considered having a party for her own graduation, but didn't want to upstage all her friends since everything fell in the same week.
"We'll just see about that," Kitty led the way out of the room.
Next week arrived quicker then the blink of an eye. The mansion was spotless and everything seemed under control.
Molly, Remy and some recruits and X-Men were standing around in the foyer waiting for the families to arrive.
Molly did have a lot on her mind however. She should have really been relaxed, but it seemed next to impossible. She stressed out easily. _Too_ easily.
"You look like you're going to keel over and die," Remy observed, putting an arm around her waist, "Calm down."
"I _can't_ calm down! I have to figure out where we're going to have dinner, what I'm going to wear, then I have to decide what I want to do with my new uniform. Then my family's going to arrive any minute and I haven't even decided what the heck I'm going to do with them while we're here or if I'll even have time to do anyth-" Molly was interrupted by Remy bending down and kissing her.
"Things will work out, ma Petite. I promise. I'll be with you every step of the way," Remy cupped a hand to her face.
"Okay. Um, thanks for that Remy," Molly smiled. However, she couldn't help but notice Remy himself had been a little more fidgety than usual all morning. After breakfast, he wasn't seen without cards shuffling repeatedly in his hands. Almost like he was nervous or something, but Remy didn't really get nervous. Then again, he was probably only anticipating the visit like she was. (Also, he had to be on his best behavior again with her family around, so maybe that's what had him apprehensive.) Molly watched him take out his cards again, shuffling them habitually. Ooookay.
A few moments later, some families started arriving, including Molly's. (Remy quietly put his cards away.)
Molly's family was made up of two parents, an older brother and a sister-in-law.
Molly's mom had shoulder-length brown hair, green eyes, was average height. She had wavy brown hair, and a thinner build then Molly's. She was dressed in a blue long sleeved top and jeans. Her dad was tall, with brown eyes and black hair with a little gray on the sides. He was dressed in a green polo shirt and jeans. Older brother was tall and muscular with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a sleeveless navy blue shirt and jean shorts. Sister-In-Law was heavy set, with a strawberry blonde bob cut, dressed in light pink and had pretty light blue eyes. Molly embraced them in individual hugs, while Remy was content to shake hands.
"Uh, hi," After that Molly started talking a mile a minute, "I'mreallygladyou'rehereandeverythingandIhopeyoudon'tthinkmyfriendsareweirdpleasedon'tthinkthey'reweirdthey'rereallyreallynice eventhoughKurtisfurryandSammylookslikeafishthey'recompletelynormalIswearImissedyouhowiseverything?"
Remy just stood there with wide eyes, worried. He had to help save the situation because Molly was starting to twitch, apparently losing it. Molly knew she could be a basket case, and in the back of her head, she knew her family could be accepting of her friends (no matter how odd they appeared), and the school. They'd already gotten past the giant hurtle of meeting Remy's illustrious, overly charming, overly affectionate self. Being at the school? Much easier, especially if everyone was on their best behavior. (Molly hoped no one's powers would get out of hand this week. She would've hated to see any of her family end up in the hospital over a frozen hand, plasma blasts or because Cannonball went through a wall!)
"She's high strung about this week," He calmly explained, "We'll just, uh, give you a tour."
The tour was brief as everyone was quickly gathered into the sitting room for casual chat and coffee.
"This is a disaster," Molly rubbed her face as she and Remy stood at the far end of the room to take in the scene and talk semi-privately for a moment.
"If this is your idea of a disaster, I'd like to see your idea of things going well. Everything is fine. What do you think went wrong?" Remy smiled gently.
"Me rambling then tripping going _up_ the stairs. Bobby narrowly missing us showing off. I don't know, everyone looks kind of bored," Molly said, crossing her arms.
"I don't think they're bored, Cherie, I think everyone is in shock. You have to remember that we _do_ live in a mansion and that anyone who walks through here is going to be impressed. And Bobby wasn't that close." Remy hugged around her waist a moment.
"Yeah. I didn't think of that," Molly smiled a little.
"Come on, let's go sit down and catch up a little," Remy took her hand.
As the day wore on, Molly was happy to see Remy and her family getting along fairly well. He had already met them in Nevada, so this was a bit different. Remy _was_ the only boyfriend that Molly had ever had, so all of them still getting along this time was monumentally important to her. Molly always had expectations for her relationship, even before starting one, so it was her hope that there wouldn't be any fighting and everyone could remain agreeable. So far, things were going well, but that was only the present. There was no telling what would happen later. Molly had to be alert, try to keep everyone happy and comfortable, and, most importantly, make sure her friends didn't do anything stupid as well.
Kitty rushed over and sat on Molly's right, a regular bundle of energy. "Molly, you _have_ to see what Jubilee's mom is making in the kitchen. It's amazing!"
"Kitty, I'm kind of busy here," Molly raised her eyebrows.
"Sweet, don't you want to introduce Kitty?" Remy gave Molly's shoulder a gentle squeeze, trying to subtly let her know that she wasn't really acting like herself and needed to chill out and be mannerly.
"Uh, sorry Kitty. Everyone, This is Kitty Pryde. She's one of my best friends here," Molly said with a smile, calming down a hair.
A round of hellos were exchanged.
"Now go," Remy waved her off, "I can survive without you for five minutes."
Molly just had big, concerned eyes as Kitty pulled her into the kitchen. Remy? Alone with her family?
Now she had another concern weighing on her fragile mind. Would her family actually manage to embarrass her by relating any personal stories to Remy?
Okay, so her and Remy did know a lot about each other. Except there were quite a few things from childhood and early teenage years that she hadn't ever told him directly. Families were always good for telling that sort of thing to a girls boyfriend. Molly's stomach suddenly felt like it was in a knot. Remy would probably take it all in stride, but she would much rather him not know any of it. Granted, all toddlers ran away naked from bathtubs at two years old, but she didn't want Remy knowing things like that time she blew chocolate milk out of her nose at Sunday dinner, or when she had the worse reaction to raspberry bushes, or the time when she got repeatedly hit in the face playing tennis. No, those were family memories that need not be shared. Ever!
In the kitchen, Many of the guests and students watched, fascinated, as Misses Lee made an interesting tofu dish containing spices and colorful peppers. The dish was brought out into the sitting room for everyone to enjoy and Molly sat back down. As soon as that happened, Kurt walked over-sans-image inducer. "I thought I would come over and introduce myself," He smiled confidently. Kurt still had a little apprehension over being 'natural' in big crowds like this, so he was being really brave.
"Uh, this is Kurt Vagner," Molly smiled, finally feeling at ease. If Kurt could do this in front of everyone, she certainly had nothing to worry about, "He and Kitty hang out with me a lot. We're buddies!"
Introductions were exchanged again. "Looks like Scott wants me for something," Kurt looked across the room, "Nice meeting you!"
Molly slowly slumped herself against Remy, suddenly feeling less tense. "Ah, there it goes," Remy said, looking content with his eyelids closed as he took a breath in and let out a sigh, "You managed to stop feeling stressed. You're nice and calm. Relieved. _Relaxed_."
"Everyone got here safe and sound and things are fine. I shouldn't have been so worried," Molly smiled, closing her eyes for a moment to enjoy being at peace. She felt Remy kiss the top of her head. "Ah, n-no kissing!" Molly jerked up again.
"That was barely a kiss," Remy scoffed, "And you can't expect me to not kiss you all week. Then you're just being ridiculous."
"I'm sorry. Knee-jerk reaction," Molly was embarrassed. She was going to end up embarrassing herself to no end by being so silly, really, she realized. She pulled Remy to her for a kiss on the cheek.
"That's all, Petite?" Remy teased, being intentionally aggravating.
Molly smiled. "How do I even live with you?"
"Because you can't live without me," Remy didn't miss a beat. He gave her a little more than a peck on the lips and Molly was fine with that.
AN: It's highly unusual for me to skip so many months, (four, in this case), when my stories usually start new "seasons" in January or so to signify the new year for the team and a new season for the fics, like it's a show. (It probably makes more sense in my head or maybe on paper. Anyway, this fic marks what would be Season 4, Episode 60.) Graduation season usually falls in spring, so I had to time skip just a little, but we'll say nothing big happened to the team and it was all hum-drum saving cats from trees and whatever in the off-screen four months. Okay? Okay!
