( Volume: 3 Arc: "the new x-men" 3 Issue: 2/3 )
Chapter 89: immature
"KELLER! You take Rae!" Laura shouted as she swept Nate off the ground, his tiny fisted hands waving their claw-stubs
around. "NOOOOO! Mummm!" he wailed, his face red and tear-streaked.
Julian ran after his daughter, who had her claws out as well and was running after Laura and Nate, screaming at the top
of her lungs. He caught her under her armpits and swept her into the air. "Rae! Cut it out!" he said sternly as the little girl
kicked, throwing her head back to increase her vocal power.
"NATE!" Laura set the boy down on the counter. "You be reasonable now, or neither of you will ever see Tito again."
Nate's eyes widened, and the sounds suddenly ceased from both Shrimps (except for gulps and sniffles).
"M-mum," he said, choking on a sob.
"Explain." Laura's voice was deadly serious. Again, Julian felt like spilling every secret he'd ever had, even though he wasn't the
target of her command. He settled for gripping Rachel tightly.
"Fwend—Wae—" Nate struggled with his vocabulary. "Wae took fwend!"
"Not Nett's fwend!" Rae burst angrily. "Fwend want me!"
"I'm reasonably certain that two psychics that share a brain connection can work out an imaginary friend without the problems you
two encounter. But don't worry, it's not your fault…I'm sure it's hereditary." Laura said icily.
Julian knew this comment was directed at him. He rolled his eyes.
"I think the solution here is to time when you can have your friend," Laura said. "If you two can't share him without help, I'll have to
take control of him."
The Shrimps were familiar with the timing method. Laura had an egg timer, and used it to monitor time slots for everything from the
bouncy-whirly station to feeding times (since Nate had been an asshole—as Laura told Julian—and had taken Rachel's share out
of spite).
The Shrimps dreaded the sound of the timer bell going off, signifying the end of their time with the object.
" No mum!" Nate said, his eyes wide. "Shawe! Shawe!"
"Fwend…fwend no like bell!" Rachel added. She sniffled loudly.
" All right, then," Laura said. "If you Shrimps so much as raise your voices with that friend of yours…I will time it. Understand?"
"Yeth," the twins said solemnly.
"Good. Get some snot rags, Keller."
Julian handed her a bag of cloths that she used for cleaning the often snot-and-tear-streaked-faces of the Shrimps. She wet two
with lukewarm water from the sink, handed one to him, then set to the familiar process of dabbing at the toddler's face. Nate
wrinkled his nose but remained silent, afraid to vocalize his displeasure at having his face touched. Rachel, meanwhile, enjoyed
having her face cleaned; Julian smiled slightly at the way she closed her eyes and tranced out like a rabbit being petted.
…
"God…three months of training and I'm still sore," Julian groaned. The Shrimps were in their cribs, having just fallen asleep; something
that was becoming slightly more regular (their teeth having finally emerged from the gums, and their brains seemingly beginning to
adjust to the mutation development), although this was not the case with every night.
Laura didn't respond. He glanced down at her face; she was sprawled on top of him, on the couch, with her cheek pressed against his
chest, and his hand stroking her shoulder slowly. More his thumb, now, since he'd almost drifted off himself. They'd been watching
Robot Chicken, Laura's favorite show. He couldn't see her eyes from this angle, to see if she was asleep.
"Still awake there, beautiful?"
"Don't call me that," she said quietly. Julian stiffened. "Laura—"
"No. Please don't."
Julian squeezed his hand on her shoulder. "Sit up…we've got to talk."
"No. No we don't. It's a simple request."
He pushed himself up anyway. "Laura…this isn't fair…you're making assumptions and not listening to what I'm telling you."
"Because you say one thing and do another!" Laura hissed, glaring at him.
"How have I done another? You're asking me to do things that are impossible. I can't control biological instincts. I'm sorry, I'm just not that
advanced yet. You tell me all the time how dumb I am…I thought you had it all figured that out." Julian's tone was a bit sharper than he
meant for it to be.
"This whole…Squad thing…is bad. I can't wait till it's over." Laura looked away from him.
"We're going to win, Laura…and then we'll be X-men…all of us. And then there will be missions…possibly missions you can't go on…and maybe
Sofia and me will be in Hong Kong, alone, and we'll have a fling in a hotel room." Julian stared at her. "Just like Cyclops and Frost, am I right?"
Laura avoided his gaze (reminiscent of Nate, when he knew he'd been bad).
"I'm insulted you trust me so little." Julian's voice was low.
"Keller."
"That's it, isn't it? You don't trust me! What the hell is it you want from me, anyways? I've asked you many times…how do I keep you happy?
I'll do it. But I can't read your mind and make it up for you." Julian waited for a response, and Laura continued to stare at the TV screen.
"Goodnight." He got up and walked to the bedroom in the dark.
…
"GOOD MORNING JULIAN!" the class barked back, as one.
Julian winced. "Can you guys not do that? It's really creepy."
Sylvia smirked at him from the front row and tapped her pencil on the paper. He noted that several desks had been pulled ever-so-slightly
towards her; Gilbert's, Ernst's, and Basilisk's. It reminded him of how Brian and Santo had nudged their desks over to his in the days when
the Squads had been a rumor.
"Great. So I have something fun planned for today…since it's nice out, we're going outside."
Alarm amongst some of Xorn's old students. Stiffening.
"Outside?" Ernst peeped.
"No campfires, I swear," Julian said quickly. "I thought we'd play basketball…have some races and shi—uh, stuff. Frost gave me prizes." He
grinned. "I'm kind of tempted to just keep them for myself."
This piqued the collective class curiosity.
…
Julian had a quick lunch in the cafeteria, then walked quickly downstairs and towards the house. He met Laura at the door.
"Uh," she said. She was wearing her defense class gear—the required padding to spar with Wolverine (in case he had an
accident with his adamantium knuckles)—even though she didn't need it.
Julian brushed past her with a scowl, like he had in the pre-Shrimp days.
"Wait—" she said, catching his wrist. "You're right, we need to talk."
"You have class, and I have homework. You already had all of last night." Julian tried to shake her grip off.
"You know I don't do on-the-spot thinking when it comes to, uh, emotions. I'm Wolverine's clone, for fuck's sakes!"
Julian was slightly amused by this comment, and by her wide eyes.
"Fine. You have one minute to explain to me why you're handling this relationship like a teenager with PMS." He folded his now-free arms.
"Because I am a teenager with PMS?" Laura suggested. "Keller…I'm eighteen. What did you expect?"
Julian sighed. "Yeah but—wait a minute, you were seventeen last I checked. When the hell did you have a birthday?"
"It doesn't matter." Laura waved her hand. "I don't tell you some things because…well…I don't understand them myself. I don't know
how to explain to you how I…that doesn't matter either. I…I love you?" She seemed to plead.
Julian considered. "I love you, too, but you've got to start trusting me a little. You're like a bank that won't give me
credit even though I'm a billionaire."
"We heard you got disowned," Laura said.
"I'm leaving now."
"Wait." Laura leaned forwards and kissed him softly. "I'm sorry. We'll work on it together, okay?"
"Fine." Julian rested a hand on her back. "And yes, your birthday does matter. I feel like an asshole now. When is it?"
" You wouldn't remember anyways." Laura stuck out her tongue at him, then whirled around and pranced off down the path to the school.
"Fucking bitch," he hissed after her.
