Disclaimer: I don't own The Gifted!

A/N: I'm really glad people are enjoying this! Also, Clarice is a little more advanced at using her portals than she in the show since she didn't have to hide them!

Chapter 3

"So. Portals?"

"Yep," Clarice said, "Portals. I think it'll be the best way to get everything up here from the yard, and it should save us a lot of trips."

John leaned back against the kitchen counter, curious. There were a few standard teleporters at Xavier's, but he didn't know of anyone who could create actual portals. Clarice had mentioned using her ability as a way to get everything up to the apartment quicker, but he had thought she might have telekinesis or something.

This was unexpected.

On the other side of the kitchen area, Lorna was standing next to her husband Marcos. They had brought Clarice's lamp down from their apartment on the next floor up and decided to stay to help out. They had also brought along some breakfast in case Clarice hadn't had any, plus Marcos was still finishing off his plate. Harry had texted back to let him know he would be down in a few minutes, and Shatter replied to say he would be over right after he finished walking his dog Reggie.

John had sent a text to Ororo to let her know that he and Riley were going to be late and so would Marcos and Lorna. He didn't think it would take too long, so he was pretty sure he would be there in time for his first class, but Ororo had said she would take his students if he did wind up missing it. Riley would be late for kindergarten, but her teacher wouldn't mind, not when she was helping out somebody in need.

Riley sat cross-legged on the kitchen counter beside him, her head tilted to the side. "What's a portal?"

"Well, short stuff, it's a cosmic hole that rips through space and time to let you get from point A to point B instantaneously," Lorna said, her tone playfully matter-of-fact.

John rolled his eyes at her not-so-kid-friendly explanation, and she grinned back at him. "What? It is."

Marcos looped an arm around her waist. "You do know she's five, right?"

"I'm just being honest."

Riley blinked and looked up at John, her scrunchy-faced confusion making her extra adorable. "Huh?"

John laughed and ran his hand over her braid, giving it an affectionate tug. "It's…Well, you know how Kurt can teleport? Get from one place to another like that?" He snapped his fingers.

"Yuh-huh."

"Well, it's like that but…" Okay, so he wasn't exactly sure how to explain it either.

"I can show you," Clarice said, smiling at Riley and stepping toward her. "Here, hold out your hands." Riley obliged, cupping her hands and putting them together in front of her. Her wings flexed in excited anticipation.

Clarice raised her right hand and spread her fingers wide. A hole appeared above her palm, small and bright with shimmering purples and blues.

"Ooo," Riley cooed, instantly drawn to it and Clarice. "That's so pretty."

"Ready?" Clarice asked.

Riley nodded. Another portal hole appeared, this one glowing above Riley. Reaching over, Clarice picked up a Halo tangerine that Marcos and Lorna had brought and dropped it into the portal above her hand. It tumbled through that portal and popped out above Riley, falling straight into her outstretched hands.

The five-year-old's eyes lit up as she held the tangerine out toward John. "Look, Daddy! So cool!"

"I saw," John said, impressed. He had heard that portal creation wasn't easy, mainly because, as Lorna put it, it was basically the ability to rip through time and space. He took the tangerine from his daughter and peeled it, handing half of it back to Riley and holding the other half out to Clarice. John smiled. "Very cool."

Clarice tucked a locked of her hair back behind her pointed ear before taking the tangerine slices from him. "So, yeah, I was thinking I could just create a portal here and a portal on the ground, and we could carry everything through that instead of going up and down the stairs."

"Is that what you told those asshole movers before they split?" Lorna asked, her eyes hard. John knew she wasn't mad at Clarice, quite the opposite in fact. She must have seen the movers leaving but not been able to do anything from her apartment. If she hadn't been six months pregnant, she probably would've launched herself off her balcony and confronted them.

John frowned at her over Riley's head. "Language."

"I'll donate to your Cuss Jar later," Lorna said, not looking away from Clarice.

Clarice shook her head. "No, I think they're just generally as…" John lifted his eyebrows and she frowned. "I don't think they liked that I was the one who hired them."

"They didn't like that you were a mutant, you mean."

"Maybe we could talk about this later," John said, resting his hand on the top of Riley's head.

Clarice glanced at Riley and nodded. "Great idea."

The five-year-old was watching the adults with intense focus, and this was actually a subject she could follow. Even though she was a little kid, Riley saw her unfair share of sideways looks and avoidance tactics. She just looked so different than what people considered the norm, and not everyone was willing to accept that about her. Every time some punk kid didn't want to play with her because of her purple skin and her butterfly wings or someone steered away from her, eyes averted because she might be dangerous, he wanted to confront them. Sometimes he did, but other times, he didn't because he knew it would just upset Riley more.

"I think we should start moving stuff," Marcos said, clapping his hands together and giving Lorna a long look.

She nodded, sending a small, encouraging smile Riley's way. "Yeah, sounds good."

Riley peeled off another slice of tangerine and held it out to John. "I can move little things."

He took the piece of tangerine and popped it into his mouth before swiping her off the countertop. "How little? Little like a toaster? Little like a lamp? Or little like a mouse?"

"Clarice doesn't got mice," Riley said, a bright grin popping onto her face. "And little like me!"

"Well, now, that's really little."

"Like super tiny," Marcos teased, "I don't think Clarice is going to have anything that small."

"Nuh-uh, I'm bigger now, Marcos," Riley said, making a face at him, which got a laugh from Marcos. "I'm a big little."

"You sure are," John said. He set Riley down and kept a hand on her shoulder as he looked over at Clarice. "I think we're ready to do this if you are."

"Yeah, let's go for it," Clarice said. Stepping toward the window, she looked down at the yard and then stretched her hands like she was literally tearing open a hole in the air. It appeared in front of her, a glimmering ring straight out of science fiction movie. Beyond it, the front yard and all of Clarice's things were visible. Clarice stepped out from behind the portal, and it wavered a little before stabilizing.

"I can hold it like this for a few minutes," she said, "Then I'll have to take a break." She sounded somewhat distracted, and John guessed that part of her attention was on keeping the portal open.

Riley slipped away from him and darted toward the portal. He stepped after her, but she jumped through it and then jumped back into the apartment. She laughed, a sound of pure joy and amazement, and leapt back out on the lawn again. "Clarice, I love it!"

"Looks like it," Clarice said, but she smiled as the little girl bounced into the apartment, "What are you, part rubber? You're so bouncy." She held out a hand to Riley, who took it and pulled her through the portal, out into the front yard.

"Let's go," John said, watching the two of them. Marcos lifted an eyebrow at him as Lorna headed out to the front yard, hopefully to pick up something light or use her abilities to lift instead. "What?"

"She's good with Riley," Marcos said, shrugging, a cunning smirk on his face. "Just saying."

"She's probably got a boyfriend, and besides, I'm too busy," John said. How could she not already have a boyfriend? That seemed basically impossible. "And we're not having this discussion standing in her apartment."

"Then we can go out to the lawn," Marcos said, gesturing toward the portal. "And you're not that busy, John."

"Marcos…" John shook his head and shoved his friend out of the apartment, through the portal. First Riley commenting on how beautiful Clarice was, and now here was Marcos. Next was going to be Lorna trying to set him up on a date.