Author's note: Thank you to ZabuzasGirl, Rasha007, NicoleR85, Luna von Rae, partygirl98, ss, Jinxofthe2ndLaw, NotMarge, and SA Jedi DC of Marvel for the reviews! Yes, they're having twins! And they're going to be soooo cute!

Anyway, as for today... For those who want to see the new McCoy house, google "house plan 137-249" and it should hopefully pop up as one of the first options. I know it's huge, but eh, they can afford it! And just in case anyone's wondering, Jaws (the book) came out in February of 1974 :-)

Moving Forward

"What do you hope they are?" Zoey asked after dinner that night, while she was painting her toenails. "The twins, I mean."

I considered that for a moment, grinning happily.

Twins. We were having twins. Two baby boys or girls- or maybe even one of each. I honestly couldn't decide which I would prefer. I just wanted to meet them already.

"I just hope they're healthy," I finally replied.

"You're no fun. Even though you do have a point," Zoey admitted. She stuck her feet off the edge of the couch and wiggled her toes, trying to dry them. "I'm going to miss you when I can't see you anymore, toes."

I snorted, picturing her with a beach ball-sized baby bump. All things considered, it was probably less of a joke and more of an actual prediction.

Zoey then proceeded to lay down with her feet sticking off the side of the couch and her head in my lap, her eyes closed. I reached down and lovingly caressed her face in silence for a long moment, smiling when she let out a little sigh of contentment.

Lucie and Charlie were snuggled up together on the sofa cushion next to me, and Sidney had weaseled his way in between Zoey and the back rest.

All was peaceful here, shut away from the world outside and their negative opinions. It was moments like these in which I wished I could freeze time just so I could hold onto that serenity.

"How did you feel about today?" Zoey murmured eventually, opening her eyes.

"Honestly? It went much better than I thought it would," I told her.

After Dr. Stevenson took a sonogram picture for us of our babies, he told us to make an appointment to come back in five weeks so we could try to see what sex the twins were. The receptionist had still been borderline terrified out of her mind about me, but no one tried to make a scene or anything.

I'll take that over an angry mob any day.

"I could tell they were all afraid of me, but not enough to run away. And that little boy seemed to like me plenty."

Zoey gave me a rather sad smile. "Kids are great like that, I think," she mused. "They don't understand prejudice until their parents teach it to them."

I nodded slowly in agreement.

"You'll show this town, Hank," she declared fiercely. "Just be yourself, and you'll show everyone what a normal, kind person you are despite everything. They'll have to accept you."

If only it could be that easy.

I practically had the sonogram picture glued to my hand for the first few days after the doctor's appointment because I wanted to proudly show off our babies to everyone I knew. I couldn't tell who was more over the moon about the twins- Marceline, for getting two grandbabies, or Olivia.

"How are you doing, Livie?" I asked her seriously after she stopped squealing with delight over the prospect of getting two cousins instead of one.

She immediately sobered and looked down at her feet. "I'll be ok," she said finally, after a moment's thought. "My daddy is a bad man, Uncle Hank."

"But he's still your father, Livie," I argued. And then I wanted to bite my tongue off.

Olivia shrugged. "He doesn't want to be anymore."

The pathos of that one statement practically ripped my heart out. It made me regret not making Grey suffer more before I let him go, especially when I considered the sonogram picture in my pocket. What kind of man acts that way towards his child over something they can't even help?

Someone who's not a man, that's who. I will never do something like that.

"I really will be ok, Uncle Hank. You're such a worrywart," Olivia chided.

And then she gave me a big hug and walked away.

That Saturday we took advantage of the nice weather and open houses on the market to go look for a new place to live.

Having two babies on the way made it even more imperative that we move into a bigger home- especially before Zoey got too far along in her pregnancy. I knew how grumpy she would get if she had to just sit there and not help with the moving process. Especially in her library.

I also knew how picky she could be, and for that reason I expected to resign myself to a very long day of house-hunting.

So imagine my surprise when Zoey got all starry-eyed as soon as we walked into the first house, bright and early in the morning before anyone else was really around.

It was a two story, four bedroom and three and a half bathroom Victorian-style dwelling, so big that it practically constituted a mansion. Out front was a large covered front porch complete with a gazebo, as well as a second story veranda.

Inside there was a family room (with a fireplace), a living room ("this could be my library!" Zoey gushed), and a sun room ("imagine how much the cats would love all these windows!"), as well as a spacious kitchen, breakfast room, dining room, powder room and utility room.

"We don't need both a breakfast room and a dining room," she concluded after our tour of the downstairs. "I think it would be a nice office for you, don't you think?"

I laughed at the way she was already planning everything out. "If you say so, sweetheart."

All four of the bedrooms were upstairs. They were all quite spacious and certainly nice enough, but the moment we stepped into the master bedroom I knew, without a doubt, that we were getting this house.

My fire fairy wouldn't be able to resist having a fireplace in her bedroom. Or all the windows in the large sitting area, along with the huge bathtub and big walk-in closet in the bathroom. The nail in the coffin was the small staircase next to the fireplace just outside that led to a little covered loft balcony area. It was perfect for star-gazing.

"Hank-" Zoey began. She was practically glowing with excitement.

"Let's go see about the asking price," I told her simply.

And then I swept her up into my arms and gave her a kiss.

There had surprisingly been no incidents of overt prejudice towards me in the almost two weeks since I stopped using my serum.

Sure, I got a lot of frightened looks, and sometimes people saw me coming and immediately turned around and went in the opposite direction. The realtor had almost urinated on himself when I sniffed him out in the kitchen to ask about buying the house last Saturday.

But mostly the people of Salem Center were content to leave me be if I returned the favor.

I knew something would happen sooner or later though, so it wasn't really a surprise when it did.

It was a Thursday, and as per usual we were at Marceline's Cafe.

Zoey was still looking for her book of the week among the shelves while I waited at the counter chatting with Billy about the house we were buying.

"We're signing the closing paperwork next Friday," I told him.

"Congratulations, kid," Billy said sincerely. "When do you plan on moving in?"

"Hopefully next weekend," I replied. "I was wondering if I could borrow your truck?"

"Sure," he agreed. "Won't you need a moving company, though?"

Clearly, Billy didn't realize just how strong I was, especially now. Even without my second mutation I had still been able to lift the front end of a muscle car with relative ease. In my Beast form I could take the same car and throw it like a shot put without breaking a sweat.

And then Alex and Zoey would kill me for destroying one of their sacred automobiles.

"I can handle it," I said simply.

Billy chuckled at himself. "Right. I forgot," he joked, gesturing towards me.

It seemed like a throwaway statement, but him saying that was actually quite pleasing to me. The more people who forgot what I looked like and treated me like a normal person, the better I felt.

Zoey approached the counter just then, carrying a copy of Jaws, by Peter Benchley.

"Sweetheart, you already have that book," I told her gently. "After you read it you told me we were never going to the beach again, remember?"

"Really?" she asked blankly, staring at the cover. "Oh, right. Duh."

And then she wandered towards the bookshelves once more, muttering to herself.

I turned back to Billy, trying to fight off a smile. He looked like he was trying to hold back laughter as well.

"Pregnancy brain fog?" he suggested sagely.

I shrugged unhelpfully, not wanting to incriminate myself.

"Hey!" Zoey griped at that moment from over by the bookshelves. "I heard that! And I'll have you know, I'm growing two babies here. Cut me some slack."

Billy and I both started laughing at her righteous indignation as she stood there with her hands on her hips and an adorable pouty expression on her face.

I loved her so much, even when she was grumpy.

But then I stopped chuckling rather quickly because there was a tinkling sound over by the door at that moment, indicating a new customer had just come in. I didn't want the newcomer to startle and misinterpret my laughter as something else, like roaring.

Oh, and I was also afraid that if I kept it up Zoey would randomly burst into tears.

Sometimes lately she would start weeping for little to no reason, leaving me scrambling to figure out how to make her feel better because I hated to see her cry.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" I begged once, holding her close.

"Sid ate part of my sandwich," she sobbed, like it was the end of the world.

"I'll go make you a new one," I promised.

Because God forbid I suggest that she eat around where the cat nibbled on it. That made too much sense.

And then she would get a hold of herself, feeling completely mortified, and apologize for crying in the first place.

The babies, I'd already decided, have taken control of my wife's brain. At least there's only twenty-nine weeks left.

I felt so bad for her- if I was having trouble just witnessing it, I could only imagine how exhausting it was to actually go through so many emotional extremes in quick succession.

"Ahem," a man's voice interjected pointedly behind me, cutting into my thoughts. "Are you going to order, freak, or not?"

Uh oh.