Disclaimer: I own Lexi and Izzy Fox-Mulwray. All else belongs to someone
who isn't me.
Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone who was kind enough to review - this story has just passed the 50 review mark, my first big milestone. Thanks guys!
Author's Note II: I'd like to thank goldstranger again for her jungle-gym idea. i've adapted it a little to suit my demented purposes. *Author giggles manically* Jesse and Emma torture!
Author's Note III: Sorry about the formatting, I'm posting this chapter with WordPad and that doesn't have the option of saving in html. format.
Words in / / = Thoughts.
Words in * * = Italics.
*
Chapter 7.
Day Six.
Sanctuary, morning.
"OW! Lexi! Quit it!"
Lexi ignored her uncle's pained protest and continued use his arms as as rungs for the new climbing game she had devised.
"Twiet, Uncie Jess!" She rebuked him sharply. "Me twyin' to tontentay!"
The twins had woken Jesse up a lot earlier than he would have liked - at twenty to six in the morning, to be precise - and had then proceeded to rope him into helping them construct an elaborate obstacle course consisting of chairs purloined from the lab - thankfully, Adam had still been asleep, hula hoops, skittles and, for some horrible reason Jesse did not even want to contemplate, all the basketballs the Fox-Mulwray sisters could get their hands on.
Emma, who was less than amused at being dragged from her warm bed at such an ungodly hour, was assigned the task of holding two of the hula hoops at arms length, suspended about twelve inches from the ground for the first part of the twins' game.
The two adults knew better than to try to appeal to Adam to put a stop to an activity that was highly likely to end in tears - probably theirs! Although poor Jesse had spent a good three hours restoring Adam's lab to it's former, immaculate condition, the leader of Mutant X was still decidedly miffed about the twins' decorating antics and Jesse and Emma knew that they could not expect any sympathy from the older man.
Izzy finished her task of laying the skittles in two orderly rows and looked up at her sister with a solemn nod.
"Me weady!" She called.
"Otay." Lexi let go of Jesse. "You stan' ober dewe!" She commanded, pointing to a spot behind Emma, where the basketballs were stacked in a tidy pile.
Jesse gulped and reluctantly obeyed, moving to the spot indicated before Lexi had a chance to shock him into complying.
Lexi and Izzy moved to the beginning of their bizarre obstacle course, each taking up her position in front of the line of skittles.
Izzy smiled up at Emma. "You say 'go' An' Emma."
Emma raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Go?"
The twins took off.
Using their feral speed and coordination, they skillfully wove through the lines of skittles and were neck and neck as they approached Emma and the hula hoops.
Because of their feral abilities, the twelve inch jump was no problem for the two toddlers.
It probably would have been better, however, if they had jumped through *different* hoops.
Their collision didn't trouble the twins in the slightest. Picking themselves up off the floor and shaking off the attentions of an anxious Emma, they proceeded to the next leg of their journey, agilely jumping from chair to chair until they reached the pile of basketballs.
Jesse knew what was coming.
A well-aimed throw from one of the twins - he couldn't tell which but he was willing to bet that it was Lexi - winded him and when he bent over said twin leapt onto his back, scrambling up until she was perched on his shoulders.
Izzy (Admit it, you all thought that it would be Lexi) clapped her hands in glee. "I win!"
Lexi, frustrated to have lost their race, scowled briefly before congradulating her twin.
Jesse, still out of breath, shot Emma a pained look.
/What on Earth are these kids going to do to me next?! /
* * *
"They're probably just energetic." Adam had shown no sympathy when Jesse and Emma had brought their tale of woe to him. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was half past seven on a Saturday morning and Adam hadn't had his coffee yet. "You should know better than to encourage them in their antics." He added severely.
"Encourage them?" Emma was incredulous.
"Do you *want* to unleash a 'Lexi Super Tantrum'?" Jesse asked scornfully.
Adam ignored Jesse's very reasonable question. "They've been cooped up in Sanctuary since Shalimar and Brennan left." He added thoughtfully.
"When are they back?" Jesse interrupted eagerly.
"The day after tomorrow." Adam frowned at the younger man. "As I was saying," He continued. "Lexi and Izzy are probably just bored. There's only so much that they can do here. Maybe you should take them out. To the park, perhaps."
Remembering what had happened when he had taken baby Shalimar out, Jesse regarded his mentor doubtfully. "Are you sure?"
"Of course." Adam smiled genially. "I think that it would be good for all of you."
"I guess." Jesse's tone was doubtful. He brightened suddenly. "At least there's one consolation - if anyone tried to snatch those two, they'd be begging us tto take them back within five minutes!"
* * *
Three hours later.
After more than two hours of playing on the swings, the seesaw, the monkey bars and the jungle gym, Lexi and Izzy were still full of energy and ready for more.
Jesse found himself missing the days of baby Shalimar. At least there had only been one of her.
Keeping a watchful eye on the twins, who were currently absorbed in building what Izzy called 'de bigges' san' cas' in de wowd', Jesse and Emma settled down on one of the park benches, shaded by a large tree and made the most of the opportunity to continue their much interrupted make-out session.
* * *
"Uncie Jess?"
Jesse and Emma sprang apart at the sound of Lexi's voice.
"What is it, honey?" Jesse asked, wiping at his mouth and hoping against hope that none of Emma's lipstick had rubbed off on him.
"Me an' Izzy hungwy!" She complained, sticking out her bottom lip and assuming a pathetic facial expression.
Emma smiled at the toddler. "What would you like to eat?"
"Izzy wan' a ho' dod." Lexi shot her guardians a sly smile. "Me wan' tandy."
"No!" The two adults answered as one.
"Me wan' tandy!" Lexi glared at them.
"You can't have candy." Emma knew better than to give either of the twins sugar of any shape or form unless Shalimar was present to control the mayhem that inevitably followed.
"LEXI WAN' TANDY!!!"
The other adults in the playground were shooting disapproving looks at them and Lexi, conscious of their attention, continued to scream as if she was being brutally murdered.
"Okay, okay, okay." Jesse held up a hand, trying to halt Lexi's tirade. "I'll get you some candy, okay?" Emma shook her head reprovingly. "But," /Revenge is going to be sweet! / "You have to wait until Grandpa is taking care of you before you can eat it."
"Otay." Lexi agreed cheerfully. "Me wan' ho' dod too."
"Fine." Jesse was relieved to have averted a tantrum.
Lexi ran over to get Izzy, who was happily decorating the rather lobsided sandcastle with a collection of leaves, twigs and stones and dragged her back to where Jesse and Emma were waiting.
"Come on." Jesse took Izzy's hand, leaving Lexi to Emma. "Let's get some food."
* * *
Fifteeen minutes later, the parking lot.
"Well, well, well." An unpleasantly familiar voice halted them before they could climb into the car. "Fancy meeting you all here." Eckhart, flanked by two GSA agents, greeted them with a humourless smile. "I come here looking for a rogue mutant and instead I manage to net two fifths of the Mutant X motley crew and. . ." He looked down at the twins. "I don't believe that I've met these two young ladies. They're not yours, are they? No." He answered his own question, studying the two little girls carefully. "They have rather a look of Miss Fox about them. How did you two manage to slip through my radar." He bent down, giving the twins a thin, fishy smile. "Do you know who I am?"
"Girls," Jesse hissed frantically. "He's a bad. . ."
"Funny twown!" Izzy clapped her hands in excitement, delighted by the sight of Eckhart's slightly unkempt white hair and pale face, equating him with an illustration in one of her storybooks. "Look at de funny twown, Lexi."
"Funny-fun!" Lexi grinned.
"How dare you!" Eckhart was furious at this lack of respect for his person. One of the agents next to him was tittering softly. "I am not a clown!"
"Ess you awe!" Lexi told him firmly.
"Dance, funny twown!" Izzy ordered, skipping in excitement.
Against his will, Eckhart felt his legs obeying her command and, to his dismay he found that he couldn't bring his body back under his control.
"Sing!" Lexi called to the two agents, who obediently began to hum a tuneless accompaniment to Eckhart's bizarre dance.
Jesse and Emma, torn between humour and horror, regarded the scene for a few moments before snatching the twins up and, disregarding their protests that they wanted to stay and watch the 'clown', thrusting them into the car and driving away as soon as possible.
The minutes that passed before the effects of the twins' commands wore off were the longest of Eckhart's life.
He couldn't remember ever feeling such relief as he did when he finally regained control of his body.
He glared at the agents, daring them to laugh. They knew better.
He looked at the spot where the car carrying Emma, Jesse and the twins had been and ground his teeth in frustration before turning to his unfortunate lackeys.
"I want those children!"
* * *
As soon as they were a safe distance away from the parking lot Jesse stopped the car and buried his face in his hands.
"Jesse?" Emma was alarmed. "What's wrong?"
He looked up at her, his eyes shining. "Don't say anything." He pleaded. "I want that scene permanatly ingrained in my memory. I don't ever want to forget the look on Eckhart's face when. . ." He turned and leaned into the back seat, kissing each of the twins in turn. "I love you guys!"
Lexi and Izzy exchanged a bewildered look, unable to understand why the clown's dancing could have thrilled their uncle to such an extent.
Grown ups were weird!
*
TBC.
Apologies to anyone who thought the bit with Eckhart was over the top. I wanted to introduce him to the twins.
Please keep up the reviews.
Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone who was kind enough to review - this story has just passed the 50 review mark, my first big milestone. Thanks guys!
Author's Note II: I'd like to thank goldstranger again for her jungle-gym idea. i've adapted it a little to suit my demented purposes. *Author giggles manically* Jesse and Emma torture!
Author's Note III: Sorry about the formatting, I'm posting this chapter with WordPad and that doesn't have the option of saving in html. format.
Words in / / = Thoughts.
Words in * * = Italics.
*
Chapter 7.
Day Six.
Sanctuary, morning.
"OW! Lexi! Quit it!"
Lexi ignored her uncle's pained protest and continued use his arms as as rungs for the new climbing game she had devised.
"Twiet, Uncie Jess!" She rebuked him sharply. "Me twyin' to tontentay!"
The twins had woken Jesse up a lot earlier than he would have liked - at twenty to six in the morning, to be precise - and had then proceeded to rope him into helping them construct an elaborate obstacle course consisting of chairs purloined from the lab - thankfully, Adam had still been asleep, hula hoops, skittles and, for some horrible reason Jesse did not even want to contemplate, all the basketballs the Fox-Mulwray sisters could get their hands on.
Emma, who was less than amused at being dragged from her warm bed at such an ungodly hour, was assigned the task of holding two of the hula hoops at arms length, suspended about twelve inches from the ground for the first part of the twins' game.
The two adults knew better than to try to appeal to Adam to put a stop to an activity that was highly likely to end in tears - probably theirs! Although poor Jesse had spent a good three hours restoring Adam's lab to it's former, immaculate condition, the leader of Mutant X was still decidedly miffed about the twins' decorating antics and Jesse and Emma knew that they could not expect any sympathy from the older man.
Izzy finished her task of laying the skittles in two orderly rows and looked up at her sister with a solemn nod.
"Me weady!" She called.
"Otay." Lexi let go of Jesse. "You stan' ober dewe!" She commanded, pointing to a spot behind Emma, where the basketballs were stacked in a tidy pile.
Jesse gulped and reluctantly obeyed, moving to the spot indicated before Lexi had a chance to shock him into complying.
Lexi and Izzy moved to the beginning of their bizarre obstacle course, each taking up her position in front of the line of skittles.
Izzy smiled up at Emma. "You say 'go' An' Emma."
Emma raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Go?"
The twins took off.
Using their feral speed and coordination, they skillfully wove through the lines of skittles and were neck and neck as they approached Emma and the hula hoops.
Because of their feral abilities, the twelve inch jump was no problem for the two toddlers.
It probably would have been better, however, if they had jumped through *different* hoops.
Their collision didn't trouble the twins in the slightest. Picking themselves up off the floor and shaking off the attentions of an anxious Emma, they proceeded to the next leg of their journey, agilely jumping from chair to chair until they reached the pile of basketballs.
Jesse knew what was coming.
A well-aimed throw from one of the twins - he couldn't tell which but he was willing to bet that it was Lexi - winded him and when he bent over said twin leapt onto his back, scrambling up until she was perched on his shoulders.
Izzy (Admit it, you all thought that it would be Lexi) clapped her hands in glee. "I win!"
Lexi, frustrated to have lost their race, scowled briefly before congradulating her twin.
Jesse, still out of breath, shot Emma a pained look.
/What on Earth are these kids going to do to me next?! /
* * *
"They're probably just energetic." Adam had shown no sympathy when Jesse and Emma had brought their tale of woe to him. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was half past seven on a Saturday morning and Adam hadn't had his coffee yet. "You should know better than to encourage them in their antics." He added severely.
"Encourage them?" Emma was incredulous.
"Do you *want* to unleash a 'Lexi Super Tantrum'?" Jesse asked scornfully.
Adam ignored Jesse's very reasonable question. "They've been cooped up in Sanctuary since Shalimar and Brennan left." He added thoughtfully.
"When are they back?" Jesse interrupted eagerly.
"The day after tomorrow." Adam frowned at the younger man. "As I was saying," He continued. "Lexi and Izzy are probably just bored. There's only so much that they can do here. Maybe you should take them out. To the park, perhaps."
Remembering what had happened when he had taken baby Shalimar out, Jesse regarded his mentor doubtfully. "Are you sure?"
"Of course." Adam smiled genially. "I think that it would be good for all of you."
"I guess." Jesse's tone was doubtful. He brightened suddenly. "At least there's one consolation - if anyone tried to snatch those two, they'd be begging us tto take them back within five minutes!"
* * *
Three hours later.
After more than two hours of playing on the swings, the seesaw, the monkey bars and the jungle gym, Lexi and Izzy were still full of energy and ready for more.
Jesse found himself missing the days of baby Shalimar. At least there had only been one of her.
Keeping a watchful eye on the twins, who were currently absorbed in building what Izzy called 'de bigges' san' cas' in de wowd', Jesse and Emma settled down on one of the park benches, shaded by a large tree and made the most of the opportunity to continue their much interrupted make-out session.
* * *
"Uncie Jess?"
Jesse and Emma sprang apart at the sound of Lexi's voice.
"What is it, honey?" Jesse asked, wiping at his mouth and hoping against hope that none of Emma's lipstick had rubbed off on him.
"Me an' Izzy hungwy!" She complained, sticking out her bottom lip and assuming a pathetic facial expression.
Emma smiled at the toddler. "What would you like to eat?"
"Izzy wan' a ho' dod." Lexi shot her guardians a sly smile. "Me wan' tandy."
"No!" The two adults answered as one.
"Me wan' tandy!" Lexi glared at them.
"You can't have candy." Emma knew better than to give either of the twins sugar of any shape or form unless Shalimar was present to control the mayhem that inevitably followed.
"LEXI WAN' TANDY!!!"
The other adults in the playground were shooting disapproving looks at them and Lexi, conscious of their attention, continued to scream as if she was being brutally murdered.
"Okay, okay, okay." Jesse held up a hand, trying to halt Lexi's tirade. "I'll get you some candy, okay?" Emma shook her head reprovingly. "But," /Revenge is going to be sweet! / "You have to wait until Grandpa is taking care of you before you can eat it."
"Otay." Lexi agreed cheerfully. "Me wan' ho' dod too."
"Fine." Jesse was relieved to have averted a tantrum.
Lexi ran over to get Izzy, who was happily decorating the rather lobsided sandcastle with a collection of leaves, twigs and stones and dragged her back to where Jesse and Emma were waiting.
"Come on." Jesse took Izzy's hand, leaving Lexi to Emma. "Let's get some food."
* * *
Fifteeen minutes later, the parking lot.
"Well, well, well." An unpleasantly familiar voice halted them before they could climb into the car. "Fancy meeting you all here." Eckhart, flanked by two GSA agents, greeted them with a humourless smile. "I come here looking for a rogue mutant and instead I manage to net two fifths of the Mutant X motley crew and. . ." He looked down at the twins. "I don't believe that I've met these two young ladies. They're not yours, are they? No." He answered his own question, studying the two little girls carefully. "They have rather a look of Miss Fox about them. How did you two manage to slip through my radar." He bent down, giving the twins a thin, fishy smile. "Do you know who I am?"
"Girls," Jesse hissed frantically. "He's a bad. . ."
"Funny twown!" Izzy clapped her hands in excitement, delighted by the sight of Eckhart's slightly unkempt white hair and pale face, equating him with an illustration in one of her storybooks. "Look at de funny twown, Lexi."
"Funny-fun!" Lexi grinned.
"How dare you!" Eckhart was furious at this lack of respect for his person. One of the agents next to him was tittering softly. "I am not a clown!"
"Ess you awe!" Lexi told him firmly.
"Dance, funny twown!" Izzy ordered, skipping in excitement.
Against his will, Eckhart felt his legs obeying her command and, to his dismay he found that he couldn't bring his body back under his control.
"Sing!" Lexi called to the two agents, who obediently began to hum a tuneless accompaniment to Eckhart's bizarre dance.
Jesse and Emma, torn between humour and horror, regarded the scene for a few moments before snatching the twins up and, disregarding their protests that they wanted to stay and watch the 'clown', thrusting them into the car and driving away as soon as possible.
The minutes that passed before the effects of the twins' commands wore off were the longest of Eckhart's life.
He couldn't remember ever feeling such relief as he did when he finally regained control of his body.
He glared at the agents, daring them to laugh. They knew better.
He looked at the spot where the car carrying Emma, Jesse and the twins had been and ground his teeth in frustration before turning to his unfortunate lackeys.
"I want those children!"
* * *
As soon as they were a safe distance away from the parking lot Jesse stopped the car and buried his face in his hands.
"Jesse?" Emma was alarmed. "What's wrong?"
He looked up at her, his eyes shining. "Don't say anything." He pleaded. "I want that scene permanatly ingrained in my memory. I don't ever want to forget the look on Eckhart's face when. . ." He turned and leaned into the back seat, kissing each of the twins in turn. "I love you guys!"
Lexi and Izzy exchanged a bewildered look, unable to understand why the clown's dancing could have thrilled their uncle to such an extent.
Grown ups were weird!
*
TBC.
Apologies to anyone who thought the bit with Eckhart was over the top. I wanted to introduce him to the twins.
Please keep up the reviews.