Disclaimer: MutantX and its associated characters, locales, etc., is the property of Tribune Entertainment et al; my thanks to them. No infringement of any kind is intended. Other characters, such as Siobhan, are my own, but feel free to use them if you wish.

Four Mutants and a Baby

by Deichtine

Jesse and Emma returned from their shopping trip just as Shalimar and Brennan were preparing to leave, and the outgoing team members found their exit delayed, as they were commandeered to help carry packages from the garage to the impromptu nursery they'd set up in the living quarters.

"How much did you buy?" Brennan asked, or rather grunted, as he heaved a large box onto his back. On it was a large, glossy picture of an impossibly happy baby in a wind-up swing.

"Only about half the baby department," Jesse said dryly as he hung shopping bags from his fingers.

"Yeah, I can tell," Shalimar said. She reached into a bag and pulled out a stuffed purple elephant. "Oh, now, this is just too cute," she said, sharing a girly look with Emma -- causing the boys to share a "here-we-go-again" boyish look behind the girls' backs.

When Adam saw the rapidly filling nursery, he just raised his eyebrows and said, "I thought I said just some basic supplies."

-----

When Shalimar and Brennan arrived at the motel room for the second time that day, they found that someone had been and gone in their absence, and it wasn't housekeeping. Where the room had been a little messy before, it was in a shambles now. The bedclothes had been torn from the bed; the drawers had been pulled from the dilapidated old nightstands, the garbage cans had been dumped out, and the mattress overturned.

"Looks like we got here just in time before," Shalimar said, surveying the damage with wide eyes.

Brennan swore, then activated his comlink. "Adam, looks like this Mary Black, or whoever she is, was for real when she said she was being followed. The room's been tossed. It's a mess. I don't know if we're going to be able to find anything."

Adam's voice sounded troubled. "I understand. Well, do a thorough search anyway. There's always the possibility they might have missed something."

"Got it." As one, Brennan and Shalimar gazed around the

The sky outside the grimy window was growing dark when Brennan finally gave up. "Shalimar, we might as well go home," he said. "There's nothing here to go on and I don't have the first idea where else to look." She didn't answer – her attention was focused on the bedspread, which she was staring at with golden-eyed intensity, as though it had some kind of invisible writing only she could see. Finally she gave up and tossed it down in disgust. "There's got to be something here. I just know it," she said, and he shrugged.

He sat down on the corner of the bed as she grabbed the wastebasket and started digging gingerly through the refuse that was still inside it. "So, how come you're so good with kids?" he asked, idly tossing a spark from finger to finger.

She looked up at him. "I don't know. Instinct, I guess. It just feels natural. When I hold that little girl, it's like something wakes up in me, some deep-rooted desire to keep her safe, make sure she's happy, that what happened to –" she stopped, and dropped her eyes.

"That what happened to you doesn't happen to her," Brennan finished for her. He let the spark die and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "I understand."

"And you," she said, putting the trash can down again, "what's up with you? It's like you hated her on sight."

"I don't hate her," he protested. "I'm just not very good with kids, okay?"

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's a guy thing."

"What have we here?" Shalimar said, her golden eyes fastening on the carpet near his foot. She reached down and delicately lifted a long hair from the floor: reddish blonde. "Hello, DNA sample."

"Good work," Brennan approved. Unfortunately, the finding of the hair did not distract Shalimar from the topic at hand.

"Adam and Jesse don't seem to be having too much of a problem," she said, giving him a pointed look.

His eyes took on a sparkle she knew too well. "Well, that's just because I am so much stronger and more masculine," he said jokingly, and leapt away as she tossed a pillow at him. "Come on. Let's get that hair back to Adam and see what he can turn up."

"Masculine my ass," she said. "Boys."

-----

After Siobhan had been changed and thoroughly fed and played with by Jesse and the girls, and put to bed for the night, Adam called the team for a meeting in the concourse.

"We have a problem," Adam said, by way of introduction. "Shalimar, that hair you found? It's not a parental match to Siobhan."

"If it's not her mother's, whose is it?" Jesse asked, and Adam raised a finger knowingly.

"Well, that's the problem. I ran the hair's DNA signature through the database, and bingo: Nichole Page, a Sonic Elemental." He brought up a picture on the screen to show them: a young woman, shoulder-length hair pulled back severely into a flowing ponytail. Her expression was focussed, emotionally closed. "Our most recent information about her says she's a GSAgent. None of my contacts could tell me what happened to her after Ashlocke's takeover."

"So she's highly trained and on the loose. I wonder who she's working for?" Emma said.

"No way to know, but what we do know is that Siobhan's mother was right – she was being followed. It's lucky you guys got to that motel room when you did."

"Not soon enough, I'm thinking," Brennan said. "We haven't found a single trace of the mother – I'm guessing that Page – or whoever she's working with – got to her before we could."

"Which raises the question," Adam continued. "Why do they want her? And were they really looking for her – or for Siobhan?"

"My God, Adam, you don't think they're after a little baby, do you?" Shalimar sounded shocked.

"We can't discount it as a possibility. And until we know for sure what's going on, I want at least one of you with her at all times." They all nodded. Somehow, something inside of each of them rebelled at the thought of using a baby for any kind of experimental process.

"So, I'm going to be in the lab, keep looking at Siobhan's DNA, see if I can find anything about why they might want her or her parents. It's also vital that we ascertain who her parents are. So, Jesse, you get on the computer, keep searching for matches, anything at all that might lead us to the parents. Shalimar, you're going to dig up everything you can on Nichole Page, see if you can track her movements after Genomex. Emma, I'll need you to assist me in the lab."

"What's my job?" Brennan asked, jumping up from his chair.

Adam pointed genially at him, a twinkle in his eye. "You get first watch over Siobhan."

End chapter 3.