A/N: Ahhhh oh no! Not liking X-Force #12...especially when I saw the previews for #13! SPOILER....
Hellion falls prey to stranger danger! View my helix blog for link-- (on my author's page)
NOTE: This chapter is just what the title states.
( Volume: 3 Arc: "f-word" 4 Issue: 1/3 )
Chapter 91: family day
Julian leaned his cheek on his palm, trying not to look too bored. It was such a wind-down—to train for weeks, to get his adrenaline pumping,
to have a field day—the first in four that would determine whether he'd get to be a real X-man or not—and he'd won it—and now he was being
forced to shop. For children's wear.
He was more of a pack-mule, really.
Before this excursion to the mall, Laura had had a serious talk with the Shrimps, telling them they'd have to use the neat trick 'Auntie Emma'
had taught them…pretending they were normal kids…if they wanted to go to the toy store. The Shrimps had been spending a little bit of time
with Emma every week, as she was trying to teach them to use their telepathy; more of how not to use it at this stage, as they were afraid
the Shrimps would soon begin prying into people's thoughts. She did, however, teach them how to disguise themselves; when the Shrimps
did this, the little skin patterns vanished and they looked like regular toddlers.
Julian worried non-stop that they would forget to do this, even though they'd hammered the importance into the children's minds.
They had stopped at the food court, and the Shrimps were also sitting at the table, each with a small sundae in front of them. Julian worried,
also, about giving them sugar. Laura seemed to think it would be alright; she'd commented that she was trying to introduce Nate to the
concept of eating food that didn't come out of a boob. Her plan seemed to be working—Nate was beating the rest of them, ice cream all
over his face.
"Keller, can you try not to look so bored?" Laura asked. Whispered.
"Hmm?" Julian stifled a yawn. "I'm not. Really."
"I'm trying to give the Shrimps a nice time. We haven't been doing much with them lately."
"I know." Julian's eyes settled on Nate, who was turning the bowl upside down to lick it (and getting ice cream in his hair).
"Please tell me we have napkins."
Laura sighed. "I'll take him to the washroom. Jeez, look at him…he's like one of those animals you see on discovery channel…with the carcasses…"
Julian shuddered, seeing exactly what she was getting at.
"Where we going next?"
"Toy store," Laura said flatly. She did look a little bored herself—but at the word 'toy', both Shrimps perked up.
"Lego, mum! I wan' Lego! Like Tito! He got pirate set!" Nate demanded, slamming his bowl down on the table suddenly. "Mum!"
"Nate, those pieces are tiny. How can I trust you guys won't eat them?"
"We won's," Nate promised.
"I wouldn't trust him," Julian advised, folding his arms. He'd caught Nate trying to swallow marbles from a pile the other day (with Rachel
cheering him on). "Kid's lying through his little teeth."
"Mum!" Nate said, agitated. "I won' eats it!"
"We'll see." Laura watched the small boy till he looked away guiltily, knowing what both 'adults' were thinking about. They'd had a long
discussion about the marble incident, resulting in the seizure of said marbles (which Laura had locked in a childproof drawer until Nate
was 'old enough').
"Moweh?" Rachel asked hopefully, having finished her sundae.
"What do you say?" Laura asked. She was very adamant (for some reason that Julian wasn't aware of—God knows she didn't have any)
that the Shrimps learn manners, and learn them well.
"Pyease," Rachel said solemnly. She couldn't pronounce L's yet.
Laura looked at Julian, who finally got up and headed back to the dessert booth, rummaging in his pockets for change.
"Another blueberry for me," Laura called after him sweetly.
…
So now Julian found himself standing in the Lego aisle, with Nate, staring at boxes of plastic toys. For the first few minutes, he'd been
attracted to the brightly colored boxes himself—he'd been obsessed with Lego when he was about seven years old. The packages,
with their semi-realistic scenes, tended to naturally cause an adrenaline reaction.
But after fifteen minutes of standing in the aisle while Nate examined the boxes…the nostalgia had quickly worn off.
He and Laura had had a whispered conversation, before coming to the mall, about whether Nate should be allowed Lego or not. The
pieces were small, and the boy was not all too concerned with safety. At the same time he was very smart (Julian just didn't understand
how he could be unsafe and smart at the same time).
Finally it had been decided that Nate would be allowed to have one small set—but they'd make him beg. Laura figured he would be less
likely to eat something precious to him, something he'd had to work for.
"Joo! Look!" Nate called.
Julian started; the toddler had run out of his eyesight.
"Where the hell did you go?!" he asked, panicking.
"JOO! LOOK!" Nate repeated louder. Julian ran after the voice, around the corner, and saw that the boy was crouched in front of a glass
display case containing a castle.
"Cool." Julian shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to look casual, despite the fact that his heart was doing about a million beats per
minute. The kid was so damn fast…if he glanced away, he was gone, instantly.
He wanted a leash.
"Wan' dat!" Nate said, tapping the glass.
"Nahh, you don't want that," Julian said. "Castles are no fun. All the Lego-men are stuck inside defending it. Trust me…it's more fun if you
have a small set…and go exploring with them."
Nate looked up, considering this with a serious frown. He didn't understand all the words, but the toddler looked up to Julian and his
experience (despite having stabbing issues with him at times). And he'd just said the word 'fun'.
"Look…what about some pirates?" Julian picked up a conveniently smaller box (labeled clearly '10 parts, for 0-3 years') and pretended to
read it, knowing nothing made Nate want an object more than if he was holding it.
Sure enough the toddler ran up to him, hands waving. "Wan' see!"
"There's three guys in this one, Nate. And a boat. You could help Tito's ship out."
"JOO! Gimme!" Nate was very demanding now.
"No. Say what L—mom told you." Julian still had a difficult time referring to her as 'mom', afraid the word would come up in his mind
during inconvenient times.
"Gimme!"
"Nate."
The boy looked away. "Please."
Julian handed the box to the boy and patted his head. "Speaking of—mom—let's go ask her if you can have it. The Lego men are
creeping me out, all these eyes…"
…
Laura was in an aisle four rows away, having peered around the corner and watched the exchange between the two boys. She was
often surprised at how good Julian was with the Shrimps, especially since he hadn't wanted them in the first place. He had a knack for
treating them like adults, and had begun to figure out all their little 'tricks'; they'd even ceased to stab him in the knee, respecting
him more as they developed.
She was surprised, too, about how well the twins listened to her, respecting her every word. Almost fearful, awed respect, like wolf
cubs for their mother. Granted, things weren't always like this. There were tantrums—many tantrums—and bad days—and days when
the Shrimps lived to cause trouble. Nate still wouldn't listen to Laura about feeding. But the basic respect was there, and that
still surprised her.
She looked back at Rachel; they were in the plushy aisle, and Laura was hoping the tot might see something cuddly. She didn't know
why, but she wanted her to have a girly toy, amongst the many Duplos and mechanical toys the Shrimps already had. Something that
Nate wouldn't take from her.
Maybe it also had to do with the fact that Laura didn't feel all that feminine at times. She was attractive—sexy, she knew—she wore
nail polish and makeup and dressed in low-cut tops—but she'd never bothered to have things that were soft and girly, just cute.
Not meant in any way to attract males. In this subconscious way, she wanted her daughter to have the option of becoming a
different person. So she stood in the plushy aisle and waited for something to catch her eye.
Rachel examined a pink hippo critically with her eyes.
Footsteps—the boys were approaching. Julian made a scoffing noise. "You don't want that, Rae, it's too—"
Laura shot him a look that spoke of pure death, by heated instruments, and he physically swerved into a rack of hotwheels,
causing several to fall off the pegs.
"Jesus, okay," he said, rubbing his rib (he'd been poked by the display).
"Mum!" Nate ran up, wielding the pirates package. "Please! Please!"
"Oh, I don't know, Nate," Laura said, taking the box. "Are you sure you could keep track of all these parts?"
"I was thinking we could make a check-list, and do like a headcount every few hours or something," Julian commented.
"That'd be your job." Laura turned the package over and looked at Nate, sucking her tongue. "You really think you wouldn't eat this, Nate?"
"No! Mum! PLEASE!" Nate looked frantic.
"I'd say give it a shot," Julian said, fingering things in his pockets now. "You girls done, or should we warm up the car for you?"
Laura rolled her eyes.
"Typical method—boy enters store and take ten seconds for the money shot."
Julian glared at her. "Fine, take all the time you want. I'll just think unflattering things about you."
"You do that." Laura turned back to Rachel, who had pulled the hippo out of the rack and was holding it quietly. "That what you want, Rae?"
Rachel paused, then bobbed her head up and down.
"Mmmkay. Let's load him up." Laura passed the Lego box to Julian, and Rachel held up the hippo.
A store worker stared after them with a weirded-out expression, having been privy to the entire conversation.
…
"God."
At home. Finally finished putting away purchases, and setting up Nate's Lego (Laura had catalogued the parts and put the list on the fridge
door). Tags had been cut, clothes had been hung (that store had been a sojourn to hell for Julian, trying to keep Nate quiet in the store
when he was about five times as bored as the little boy).
Julian threw the rag onto the counter, along with his car keys. Little brat had spread some of that mysterious sticky toddler-substance all over
the back seat (despite having been securely fastened in a car carrier). Neither he nor Laura—even with her enhanced senses—could figure out
what the hell it was. It was all over the living room though. And it had taken him half an hour to scrub off the leather seat of his BMW, plus another
twenty minutes to grapple with the straps of the carrier in the dark. Needless to say he was now in a bad mood.
And he was getting a migraine, one of those distinct power-related ones.
"You okay?" Laura asked from the couch, seeing him stop by the sink, his face screwed up in a grimace of pain. She had to admire how much he
and Nate looked alike when they were expressing strong dislike towards something.
"Couple pills should do it. Where the hell is that bottle?"
"Above the fridge, the locked cupboard. You left it on the counter once and I found Nate playing soldiers with it. Damn lucky he didn't figure
out the top could come off, Keller…"
"Yeah, yeah." Julian unsnapped the cupboard with his mind and the bottle shot into his hand (he barely caught it in time). "Jesus!"
Laura wrinkled her nose. "Only you could hurt yourself with a bottle of painkillers," she said derisively. "Well, you and your son."
"Least if he does get into something bad…he's got a healing factor," Julian pointed out. "I probably left it on the table to go puke.
It wasn't like I meant it."
Laura shrugged. "Just don't do it again. Having a healing factor doesn't mean you should be subjected to harmful substances."
Now Julian remained silent, although he had an archive of past events with Laura that seemed to say otherwise. He wasn't in the mood to fight.
"Take your pills and let's hit the sack. I've had about enough of today," she added.
"What? I thought you were having the best time of your life." Julian thought back to her encouraging speech at the clothing store that had
prevented a major, public Shrimp-tantrum. The one where Nate had almost forgotten how important it was to keep pretending he
was a normal boy.
"Fuck that." Laura leaned back her head. "I'm exhausted. I wanted to plunge my own claws into my eyes the whole time."
"Conveniently leaving me with the burden," Julian grumbled, after swallowing the pills. He dropped the plastic tumbler in the sink and
turned off the light. "I don't know which is worse…practice with Frost, or this."
"Well, at least the Shrimps are happy," Laura whispered. She was now in the bedroom, peering into one of the cribs at Nate, who was
curled around his prawn toy defensively.
"Mmm." Julian didn't sound all that relieved.
