Disclaimer: 'Mutant X' and it's characters = Not mine. Lexi and Izzy Fox-Mulwray = Mine.

Author's Note: I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update, I don't think that I've ever been this disorganized. I promise to try to do better for the next update.

Words in / / = Thoughts

Chapter 3.

Half an hour later.

The twins hadn't had as much fun in a long time – not since their last organized prank two days ago, at any rate.

Thanks to their feral abilities they were not only able to outrun their biological grandfather but they also possessed superior stamina, meaning that he was left exhausted before they were even breathing hard.

To add to poor Nicholas's confusion, Lexi and Izzy made a point of meeting up every now and again to exchange possession of the wallet.

"Hewe." Izzy, the wallet's current guardian, passed it into her sister's custody. "Yo' turn."

""t'anks." Lexi stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans. Nicholas was trailing a good distance behind them so the twins had a minute or two to talk. "Other Grandpa no gib up, do he?" The three year old's tone was one of grudging admiration.

"He s'pose to go an' as' Grandpa fo' help!" Izzy complained, her hands on her hips. "He s'pose to star' bein; nithe to Grandpa!"

Lexi shrugged. "Why you t'ink he not?"

Izzy considered the question carefully, a thoughtful expression on her small face. "Maybe we no bein' bad 'nuff." She pondered aloud.

Lexi's eyes lit up with a fiendish glow. "We be eben badder?" She smiled in anticipation, not at all put off by the idea.

Izzy nodded solemnly. "I t'ink we hafta."

"How?"

Before Izzy could come up with a new strategy for mischief, Nicholas's shouts, alternating between angry and pleading, reached their ears and, a few seconds later, he came into view.

As soon as Nicholas saw his granddaughters, he charged towards them, pleading with them to stop.

"Girls, please! Give me back my wallet and I'll . . . I'll . . ."

Lexi and Izzy paused, mildly interested in hearing what kind of proposal he was going to make.

"I'll give you a dollar . . .each." Nicholas said finally, embarrassed at being forced to resort to bribery.

The two little girls promptly dissolved into gales of gleeful laughter.

"How?" Lexi gave him a cheeky, endearing smile. "We hab yo' walle'!"

The two tiny ferals took off in opposite directions and Nicholas, still unwilling to humble his pride by asking Adam to help him, chased after them, even though he knew in his heart that he had two chances of catching up to them – slim and none.

* * *

Ten minutes later.

After an exhausting – not to mention fruitless – chase, Nicholas Fox finally gave up and collapsed on the sofa in the rec room, his breathing rapid and his face red from the exertion.

/I was too hard on Shalimar when she was small! / He thought ruefully, mopping the sweat from his brow. /Compared to Lexi and Izzy, she was a little angel! / He paused in his reflections, thinking back on the havoc his only child had managed to wreak during her toddler years. /Well . . . maybe not an angel, but at least there was only one of her! /

He had been lying on the couch, completely devoid of energy and virtually incapable of moving, for about five minutes when the twins came into the rec room, hand in hand, and trotted over to him, smiling sweetly.

"Hewe yo' walle', Other Grandpa." Izzy held it out to him.

Nicholas couldn't help smiling in relief, delighted that the chase was finally over. However, once his initial joy had faded, he quickly replaced his smile with a frown and schooled his features into a stern expression.

"That was a very bad thing to do, girls." He scolded. "It's not nice to take other people's things without asking them first." He fixed them with a stony glare that had never failed in its quelling powers where his own daughter was concerned. "I hope that you're both sorry!"

"Nope." Lexi responded cheerfully, not affected in the least by his glare. "We no sorry."

"We jus' bowed wif walle'." Izzy added. "So we gib it back."

Nicholas sighed. /I suppose that I should be thankful for small favours. /

He was anything but thankful thirty seconds later when he opened the wallet to inventory its contents.

"It's empty!"

Lexi giggled manically. "We hidded yo' dollaws!" She told him gleefully. "You hafta go look!"

"Where?" His supply of patience was fast wearing thin.

"We no tellin'." Lexi said firmly.

"Yeah." Izzy added. "We pwayin' hide an' see' wif you!"

Nicholas groaned aloud.

/Forget it, there wasn't much in it anyway, and it's not like I need the money. /

"I don't think I'll bother, girls." He said aloud.

The twins exchanged a worried expression; this was not how they had planned it.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"GO LOOK!"

As soon as the command was spoken, Nicholas obediently rose and marched out of the rec room in search of the missing money.

"Dewe." Lexi was more than satisfied with the results of her handiwork. "Dat's bettew. Now we tan be badder wif Other Grandpa gone bye-bye. An' I hab a idee."

Izzy leaned closer, her eyes sparkling with excitement, ready to hear her sister's master plan.

* * *

Five minutes later.

"Nicholas?" It had taken a few minutes for Adam's curiosity to overcome his dislike for the other man enough to ask the question. "What on earth are you doing up there?"

Nicholas looked up from his task of searching the dojo, a rather blank expression on his face. "I'm looking for money."

"You know, we usually don't keep it there." Adam said, his tone a mixture of sarcasm and condescension. "You see, there are these marvellous places called 'banks' . . ."

"I have to look for my money." Nicholas's tone was rather robotic.

"Why?" Adam asked, still in the same sarcastic/condescending tone.

"They said to."

Adam grinned. "Oh, I see." He climbed the stairs to the dojo and pulled the other man into a standing position. "I'm sorry to have to . . .oh, who am I kidding!"

WHACK!

Adam's palm cracked across the other man's face, jolting him back to awareness.

"What the . . .Where . . .How . . ." Nicholas's disorientation gave way to anger. "You hit me!"

Adam just laughed. "Welcome back."

"What happened?"

"Lexi or Izzy. Probably both of them, judging by the power of their influence. Their power is stronger if they combine it." He explained.

"What power?"

"Mental domination." Adam supplemented. "You, my dear man, were a zombie!"

"Those little monsters!" Nicholas growled. "I have half a mind to . . ." He exhaled in frustration. "You know, Kane, you could have given me a heads up about that particular little trick of theirs!"

"What would be the fun of that?" Adam asked sweetly. "Besides," He added mock-righteously. "As their grandfather, surely you ought to know everything about them. Anyway," He smirked. "Whatever happened to you being able to handle them?" He looked around, worried. "Nicholas?" His tone held an edge of warning. "Where are the girls?"

"In the rec room. I think." Nicholas was doubtful. "It's alright. I've only been here a couple of minutes. They haven't had time to get into trouble."

Adam gave him a half disbelieving, half pitying look. "If you knew anything about Lexi and Izzy you'd know that it only takes a couple of seconds for them to get into trouble! You never leave those two alone! Come on!" He ran towards the rec room, motioning fo the other man to follow him. "We'll be lucky if they haven't blown anything up!"

* * *

The usually pristine kitchen of Sanctuary had been transformed into a scene of total and utter devastation.

Childproof locks were no match for the Fox-Mulwray twins and chairs and tables granted them access to even the highest of the cupboards.

Lexi and Izzy, coated from head to toe in flour, were standing amid the remains of at least a dozen broken eggs, a bag of flour and a pint or so of spilt milk, happily stirring the ingredients, some unrecognisable, in a mixing bowl so large that either child could have sat in it comfortably.

They looked up with as their grandfathers entered the room, identical expressions of innocence on their faces.

"W'at?"

TBC.