"Come on, Dash, you can do it!" Bob claps his hands in front of him and holds his arms out, hoping his son will take his first steps towards them.
Little Violet, now three, didn't walk until she was about a year old, but Bob has a good feeling about Dash, who at only nine months is far less shy and timid than his sister.
Dash stands hesitantly and teeters for a few seconds before losing his balance and falling forward. He starts crawling to Bob instead, who chuckles and catches him before easily moving the toddler back over to where he started.
Helen, who's just finished feeding Violet, watches on from the kitchen, one hand brought to her lips in amusement. Violet's quiet attention is also on her brother as she curiously peers over from atop her high chair.
Bob tries again, wiggling his enormous hands. "C'mon, baby, come to Daddy!"
Helen rolls her eyes. Her husband could be ridiculous at times. And ridiculously cute, if she's being honest, but that's neither here nor there.
"We should bribe him," Bob exclaims, finally getting up and searching through the cabinets.
Two pairs of eyes, one brown and one blue, follow the strong man's progress. "Bribe him? With what, Bob?" Helen frowns.
"Do we still have any of those cookies you made?"
"No."
"Or Cheerios?"
"No."
"Hell, anything. I just want that kid to walk!"
"He's only nine months, honey, he's not going to magically start walking," Helen sighs, but decides to lend her eager husband a hand anyway.
Dashiell Robert Parr had been born in an impressive two minutes and twenty-two seconds. It could have taken much less time due to Helen's elastic, er, capabilities, but she didn't want the doctor to die of shock, so she forced herself to slow down the process a bit. She'd already made that mistake with her firstborn, who entered the world after about ten seconds as Helen's natural instinct to stretch took over amidst the pain. Thus, Rick Dicker was required to get involved and erase more than a few memories at the hospital.
Helen doesn't want to think about what having your mind wiped does to a doctor's technique.
Anyway, Bob could be on to something here. Helen walks down the hallway towards the nursery, quickly stretching one hand over the edge of the crib to snatch up Dash's favorite stuffed animal, which happens to be a cheetah. She turns the light back off as she leaves the room, the toy in tow.
Back in the kitchen, Helen gracefully lowers herself to the floor, a few feet away from Dash. She dangles the plush by its tail in front of her son. "Come on, Dash! Look, it's your favorite," she tries.
The baby simply stares at her, so Helen moves the stuffed animal in front of his face, continuing to talk in a high pitched voice as she makes a series of funny faces.
Now it's Bob's turn to roll his eyes. "Honey, you're doing it again," he says.
It had always worked with Violet. But before Helen can retort, they notice Dash is babbling cheerfully and pushing himself back up onto his tiny feet. The rest of the Parrs watch, wide-eyed, as he wobbles in place for a few moments before carefully moving one foot in front of the other.
Helen stands up and holds out her arms with a grin, waiting to catch the toddler.
"Dash, baby, come here," she coos, heart pounding in excited anticipation.
Dash continues slowly making his way towards his mother, with her hesitantly backing away to keep him moving. The baby grows more confident with each step, and then he...disappears.
Bob blinks in confusion as his wife lets out a gasp. "Bob, w-what just happened?"
Bob grimaces. They couldn't have two children with the power to turn invisible, could they?
"Bob!" Helen says again, panic in her eyes.
But then they hear a giggle from down the hall. The two Supers rush to the nursery to find their pint-sized son, well…
Dashing around the room.
Stunned, they stand together, tracking the small boy with their eyes as he sprints from one end of the room to the other. Each burst of movement causes the colorful posters on the wall to flutter; Dash appears to be moving almost at supersonic speed, which would be impossible under the usual circumstances, but...
"He has powers," Bob yells excitedly, missing his wife's less-than-gleeful expression. "Yeah, baby!"
Helen, with her short hair now looking rather windswept, draws in a long breath through her nose. She's undeniably proud, yes, but a small part of her had hoped that their second child would be...normal. They already had their hands full with one kid turning invisible at every opportunity, not to mention the amount of times Bob has slipped up, each incident causing them to move yet again. Dash having powers simply adds to the challenges on Helen's plate.
She forces a happy smile on her face, mentally bracing herself for the exhausting days that surely lie ahead.
Oblivious to Helen's inner turmoil, Bob lets out a loud laugh at the sight of their son zooming around the small room in a blonde blur.
Startled at the sound, the toddler finally stops, wobbling in place as he tries to regain solid footing but is not out of breath in the least. Helen quickly extends an arm, scoops him up and smothers his face in kisses before she can help herself.
Bob's face splits into an enormous grin. "Great job, buddy," he commends, and again, Helen catches a glimpse of the future.
From here on out, she knows she will be the bad guy, constantly combatting Bob's encouragement as their kids come into their full powers. Like their parents, they'll have to suppress their abilities in order for everyone to stay safe. Helen only hopes the kids all understand why it has to be that way. Bob barely understands as it is.
Dash smiles and starts squirming in Helen's grasp, holding his chubby arms out for Bob. Helen hands him off and walks back over to the living room to check on their eldest.
"What are you doing?" Bob asks when he sees his wife moving their wedding photo to the top shelf. "Violet never caused any trouble when she started walking."
"Dash can't just walk, Bob," she snorts. "He can run. It's only a matter of time before something gets broken."
God help them all.