Chapter 4

Big Brother's Advice

Evening came and Freddy had finally got settled back into the Brotherhood House. Even though he was tired from the flight, he took the time to set up his room so that Tiffany could sleep in their as well. Lucky for him, it didn't take much since he didn't own very much stuff. All's that he had to do was clean up and set his room up to be baby compatable. As he did this, Tiffany decided that she wanted to help. Though her way of helping was more of hindering. She pulled out all of her toys from the luggage and scattered them all over the floor. When she tried to pull out her clothes, she ended up pulling the suitcase off of the bed, and everything simply fell out.

"Uh oh." she said.

Freddy turned around, "What the- How-" he stammered as he looked at his floor.

Quickly she flipped over the suitcase. Everything else that was inside fell out and she quickly throw it back in, "Dad Dah, I 'elping!" he watched as the contents of his suitecase grew higher and higher, "Yay! I 'elp!" he stared at her speechlessly as she stood proudly by the mountain of clothes that she created.

"Uh... Good job, sweetie." he walked over to the pile of clothes and moved them over to his dresser.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "What you doin', Dah Dah?"

"Putting the clothes away." he said as he began folding them.

"Why?"

"So that they don't get all wrinkley and stuff."

"Why?"

"Sooooo that they'll look nice when we pull them out."

"Why?"

"Just-Just... Because that's how things are done around here!" he didn't yell, but he was getting a little annoyed.

"Why?"

He ran his hand down his face, "Just-Just go play, sweetie."

"Okay, Dah Dah." she sat down and began playing with her toys.

"Thank God!" he murmured and went back to work on folding and putting the clothes away.

Within ten minutes Tiffany was already bored and ready to explore the house. She walked out of the room when Freddy's back was turned and began heading straight for the stairs. As she attempted to decend down the steps, a pair of hands picked her up, and brought her back into Freddy's room.

Freddy looked up to see Lance holding his daughter.

"I think you lost something." he held her out to him.

"Thanks." he took her, "I didn't even hear her sneak by."

"You might want to invest in a baby gate, bro. So that your little escape artist there doesn't get herself hurt."

"Yeah, I'll say." he playfully tossed Tiffany up in the air and caught her. She giggled hysterically as he began tickling her.

Lance simply watched the two and smiled, "You two already look like a real family."

"That's cause we are." he chuckled, hugging his daughter, "She a part of the Brotherhood family now." Lance's expression suddenly went serious, "What?"

"I'm glad that you're happy to be a father and all. But..."

"But what, Lance?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, Freddy, but I don't think the Brotherhood life is the right life for her."

"What do ya mean?"

He leaned against the door way, "We are constantly fighting for Magneto's dream world, where mutants reign supreme, and humans are practically our slaves. What if your daughter doesn't become a mutant like us? Where will she fit in our world? Do you honestly think Magneto would be willing to make an acception for the two of you?"

"I-I don't know."

Lance's expression softened when he saw how sad Freddy became, "I'm not trying to be mean, buddy. I'm trying to give you a realistic view."

"I know... It's just- It's just I've never had a family before, until I joined the Brotherhood. Now that I have Tiffany, I just want her feel like she's a part of something bigger, ya know?"

"Yeah, but that something could be more of a danger to her health than anything else. It could even get her taken away from you. Not just by Magneto, but by child services too. If that happens, you might never see her again."

Freddy hugged his daughter protectively, "I don't want that to happen."

"I know you don't, buddy, but these are things you gotta think about now. You have to put your kid's needs before your own now. And you will have to make a lot of sacrifices in order to keep her."

Freddy stared at his friend for a long time before speaking again, "You sound like you are speaking from experience."

"I am." he pushed himself off of the door frame and started to leave. Before leaving, he turned to say one last thing to his friend, "As Mystique said, make use of this time, Freddy. I suggest that you think about what's more important to you. A fight that we may or may never win or your daughter who needs your love and guidence more than ever. Think about it." he started to leave, but Freddy called out to him.

"Lance, wait!"

"What?"

"What... What would you chose?"

Lance stopped, keeping his back turned towards Freddy, "If it were me... I would chose my kid over a crazy man's dream any day."

"You have a kid of your own don't you?"

"I did... Once."

"Once? What happened?"

Lance was very quiet for a while, "Just take this time to think long and hard, Freddy. I'll see you later at dinner." with that he had disappeared into his own room.

Todd came into the room shortly after Lance left, "Yo, Freddy! Whats up? Whoa, you okay, yo? You like like someone just kicked your puppy."

"What? Naw, I'm okay, Toad. I was just thinking is all."

"Oh, that's cool, yo. Oh, by the way. Mystique wanted me to give you this." Todd handed Freddy a wad of money.

Freddy took it, "What's this for?"

"To buy Tiffany a bed and some other stuff. She also said, you might want to buy some groceries for her, like healthy baby food stuff." Freddy gave the money back to Todd, who was confused, "What's wrong, Freddy? Don't you want the money? It's free. No strings attatched."

"I don't want it."

"What? It's free money, yo! Freee moneeeeey."

"I want to use my own money to help my daughter. Money that I've earned. No one elses."

"Really? But Mystique-"

"Mystique is not happy with me right now, so I don't know where here intentions lye. I don't even know where my intentions lye." he put his daughter back down and continued to put the rest of the clothes away.

"Freddy?" Todd approached him slowly.

Freddy placed his hands on the dresser and leaned forward, "Lance said that if I wanted to keep Tiffany, then I would have to make sacrifices."

"Sacrifices? What kind of sacrifices?"

"The kind that could tare my family apart."