Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my ideas and my characters. I do not own Costco, Barbie dolls, NASCAR, G.I. Joes, or Pep (Flamamble's character) (just wanted to make that clear)!

Author's Note: I'm now using "" instead of italics. Thanx.

Chapter 19: FOOD! and Grocery Shopping at Costco

Day 12/Friday

The night before, the Brotherhood left the Mansion. Unbeknown to the X-Men, Fred had taken all the food in their kitchen, claiming to all the other members of his team that the X-Men had willingly given the food up to him.

Kurt woke up the next morning to his stomach growling with hunger. He had been too distracted thinking about Mystique and talking with her, that he didn't finish eating his dinner, something that was not common for him at all. He put his hands on his stomach and to his amazement, his whole insides were vibrating. 'Whoa,' he thought. 'I need some food.' Groggily, he got up from his bed and slowly walked down the stairs and through intertwining hallways until he finally reached the kitchen. His eyes were still closed (A/N: he must have memorized the path, as he's been to the kitchen so many times before) as he reached for the refrigerator door handle. Reaching in, he expected to grab a plastic bag with a loaf of bread waiting in it for him.

There was nothing there when the sleepy mutant reached in. His eyes shot open as he frantically began to look through the fridge and in every crook and cranny of cabinets and drawers for something to eat ... anything! When he finished searching, it looked as if a madman (A/N: or mutant) or a burglar had come inside and destroyed everything he could get his hands on.

"THERE'S NO FOOD!" Kurt yelled as loudly as he could. Once everyone came downstairs to answer his call, Kurt began to break down in tears. Scott and Warren helped the man to the couch where he sat there and sulked.

The elementary school kids were sent to school without breakfast and were told they'd just have to eat the nasty food served there for breakfast since the Mansion's budget was running low that week and now they had to pay for groceries.

Professor X sat in his office with the other men and Pepper who had come early to work that morning. The pre-school children were, again, playing outside in the snow. He looked through the foggy window and saw the kids' familiar shapes as they constructed their igloo. It was actually, quite ingenious. Nathan had planned it all out by himself and Professor guessed that under his hyper-active exterior and sugar addicted self, there was a very smart kid—although, everyone knew that in his old age, Professor was losing his sanity.

Anyways, the men were coming up with a grocery list that they could take to the store while Pep would watch Mia and Grace, since all the older kids would go with their fathers.

"Well," Kurt began, tapping his finger to his chin. "We need: eggs, milk, butter, bread, bananas, apples, bacon, sausage, jelly, peanut butter, cereal, turkey, chicken ..."

Eventually, Logan switched from scribbling all the items they need on a piece of paper to typing it out on the computer. The list went on for what seemed like a century or more. A few more minutes of boredom passed before John interrupted the go-lucky blue mutant. "Okay mate!" he said. "I think we've got the picture already!"

Most of the men woke up with a start at the sound of John's annoyed tone. Bobby had fallen asleep on Scott's lap and had drooled all over the other man's expensive pants he had gotten from Jean for his birthday. Bobby ran out of the office as fast as he could while Scott ran after him, threatening to shoot his butt off! No one had ever seen that side to Scott, so they all laughed. Bobby, for sure, wasn't laughing, though.

All the men filed into Costco on a mission! They all paired up and held lists of what they needed to get—not the same things, of course, or there would be no point.

Bobby and Lance strapped in their kids to the baby seats at the front of the carts and pushed them along down the aisles, collecting things they needed on their lists. The two boys protested much, saying they were too old to be buckled up like babies, but their fathers weren't really paying much attention to them. They were too busy walking—or in Bobby's case, shuffling, since his bottom was singed and sore from where Cyclops had blasted him—over to the television sets where a football game was going on.

Quickly, Gavin took a deep breath and grabbed onto Nathan. They both became intangible and fell through the carts, landing on the hard cement floor. They gave each other a high-five and ran through the store to meet the others as they had all planned.

Brad and Jenna met the same fate as Gavin and Nate concerning the cart. While Pyro and Roberto were searching through the dairy section for butter, Jenna tried to unbuckle her belt, but it was stuck. Instead, she used her powers to burn through the belt that restrained her from getting up. She then unbuckled Brad and they both jumped out of the cart and ran off to the movie section where everyone had been told to meet.

Immy and Emma sat in their cart and patiently waited for their fathers to go searching for all the different types of cereal Kurt had listed before they began their escape plan. Both of their safety straps were jammed as well. Secretly, Immy had used her form of telekinesis and had grabbed a hammer from the hardware department. She banged the hammer on the plastic piece, but it didn't budge, as they hammer was a sample and made out of plastic itself.

"I got an idea!" Emma said, searching her mind for a power she had borrowed from someone else and had enough control to use. She found her father's and decided it just might work. She touched her belt and 'charged' it. Suddenly, a small explosion went off. She did the same for Immy and they both ran off before anyone in the store knew it was them.

All the kids met together and went wandering through the store until they finally reached the toy section.

Emma, Jenna, and Immy all ran over to where they knew the Barbie dolls would be and started opening packages, not knowing the consequences of their actions since they were only four years old.

"Come play with us!" Emma yelled to the boys as she began to undress the Barbie from her tacky outfit. She grabbed a dress and put it on and showed it to Nathan.

"Eeew," brad said, sticking his finger down his throat. He then began to gag, so he immediately pulled it back out. The other two boys began to beat and pound him on his back so that he wouldn't choke himself.

They all ran over to the opposite side of the toy section and finally found the toy cars and their race tracks. They were also G.I. Joes, so they pretended that the action figures—not dolls—were the racers and that they were in a NASCAR tournament.

Each of the boys stuck the figures into the car and grabbed their remote controls. Brad started the countdown. "3-5-2-7-go!" he yelled. They pressed their control sticks up and the cars started to drive down the aisles. The boys ran after them, eager to see which car would go the farthest. The girls, not wanting to be left alone without someone to protect them, ran after them.

All of the kids were having such a fun time, they didn't notice the security guard standing in front of them. Nathan bumped into the guard's legs and fell back, causing a Domino or chain reaction. "Watch it son," the officer said as he looked around. "Why are those toys unwrapped?" he asked, referring to the cars, Joes, and Barbies. The kids didn't even both answering, but ran around the guard and between his legs to avoid him.

The security guard huffed and puffed as he ran after the speedy kids. "I'm going to need some help," he said to himself. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

Meanwhile, Seth, Erin, and Opal were feeling left out of the action. They never got to do anything with the four year olds and were tired of it. Once their fathers weren't looking, they climbed out of the cart and ran to find the other kids.

The kids ran over to a low shelf and hid underneath it where they thought no one would spot them. "What are we going to do?" Emma asked, hugging close to Nathan who was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. He pushed her off of him and hid behind Brad and Gavin as Emma pouted.

Suddenly, a childish voice came from the side of the shelf and said, "Boo!" All of the kids jumped. Jenna hit her head and rubbed it. Seth laughed at his trick, as it had scared the other kids. Erin and Opal stood there, looking confused, as they didn't know what was so funny or scary. Brad grabbed the others and brought them underneath the table to hide with the rest of them. All the kids huddled together.

"We're gonna get caught," Immy said.

"No," Gavin said, pointing to a bag of flour on the shelf opposite of them. "I have an idea."

The guard had gotten reinforcements. All of them stayed together as they searched for the little miscreants.

They came around a corner and saw flour spilled all over the floor. Standing in front of them were the kids, covered in the white powder. "Boo! We're ghosts!" Brad said, coming closer to the guard and hitting his leg, leaving a handprint of flour on his pants. The guard fumed and the kids were ready to run again, but all the guards surrounded them in a circle and sent a message to the parents of the kids.

All the men drove home with filthy children in their backseats. They had chastised the kids and threatened them with baths—which they were going to give them anyways, but they just wanted them to suffer.

Seth was the first to get a bath this time and Roberto was prepared. He had bought a muzzle and tricked Seth into turning himself into his wolf form. He fixed the muzzle on the boy's mouth and quickly washed him with a special flea bath soap (A/N: yes, cruel, but necessary).

After everyone was cleaned up, the kids and adults ate lunch and were sent up to their rooms for the rest of the day for their misconduct. All the men went to their own rooms and fell asleep. Being a parent was hard work, especially being a single parent. Some of the men cried in relief. Only one more day of hardship, and the women would be back on Sunday.