Disclaimer: You know the drill. 'Mutant X' and all of it's characters = Not Mine. Lexi and Izzy Fox-Mulwray = Mine.
Author's Note I: To tigereyes320 – don't worry, the baby will be born very soon. Thanks for your name suggestions. I've decided on the baby's sex and mutations but names were a problem. I think I'll be using one of yours.
Words in = Thoughts.
Chapter 2
It was easy enough to find their way to the kindergarten classroom. All they had to do was follow the noise.
Lexi and Izzy clung to their parents' hands as they approached the room, more intimidated than they cared to admit by the clamour emanating from the room.
It sounded as though there were a herd of wild animals in there.
Izzy shrank back as they reached the door, not wanting to go in.
Shalimar squeezed her daughter's hand reassuringly. "It's alright, Izzy lizard." She said softly, using her daughter's special nickname. "You're going to have lots of fun, trust me."
Izzy nodded bravely, blinking away the tears she felt pricking her eyelids.
She wasn't going to let them see that she was scared.
Lexi, though more than a little scared herself, gave her twin a reassuring smile, wanting her to know that everything would be alright.
Izzy gratefully returned her twin's smile, thankful that she would have someone with her as they embarked on this terrible adventure.
In a way, the twins were at a decided disadvantage, as they were starting during the second semester, whereas their classmates had been there since September, when Lexi and Izzy had been too young to be enrolled.
"You must be the Fox-Mulwrays." The teacher, a brunette in her mid twenties looked up as they entered, giving them a warm smile.
"How did you. . .?" For a brief second, Lexi was afraid that her new teacher was a telepath.
"You girls are the only set of twins enrolled." The teacher explained kindly. "I'm Miss Roberts. I'm going to be your teacher. So," She consulted her list. "Which of you is Alexis and which is Isabelle?"
"This is Lexi." Brennan, seeing that his daughters were struck dumb with uncharacteristic shyness, laid a gentle hand on his elder daughter's head. "And this is Izzy."
"It's very nice to meet you." Miss Roberts shook the hands the little girls extended to her before straightening to look Brennan and Shalimar in the eyes. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine.' She assured them.
There was a definite note of dismissal in her voice.
"Shouldn't we stay for a while?" Shalimar wasn't ready to abandon her children to the wide world just yet. "Until they've settled in."
"It's best not to crowd them." The teacher advised in kind, but firm tones. "I find that children settle better when left to their own devices."
"You have our numbers?" Brennan pressed anxiously. "In case one of the girls needs us?"
"Yes, Mr Mulwray." Miss Roberts moved closer to the door. "I wouldn't worry. Everything will be fine."
After kissing their daughters goodbye, Brennan and Shalimar reluctantly left the room, clearly no happier about the parting than Lexi and Izzy were.
Miss Roberts waited until they had left the room before shaking her head, torn between amusement and slight exasperation.
It was always the same; the parents were more trouble than the children.
"Alright, girls." She held out her hands to the twins, already unsure who was who. "Let's find you a seat." She looked around the room where four tables of four places each were laid out. "If you . . ."
"Lexi." The little girl supplied the name.
"Alexis." Miss Roberts stressed the use of the unabbreviated name. "If you sit down here." She motioned to a vacant seat at the table closest to the window. "Then Isabelle can sit here." She pointed to a place at the table near her desk.
Izzy whimpered softly in dismay.
Lexi put her arm around her sister's shoulder, giving Miss Roberts a fierce look. "We want to be together."
"But if you're together then I can't tell you apart." Her teacher said calmly, reasonably. "When you're sitting at separate tables I'll know who's who."
"We'll tell you." Lexi pledged, not prepared to leave her twin's side.
"Now, Alexis, you have to do as you're told in school." Miss Roberts began firmly. "You'll be able to make friends with the other children. Won't that be nice?"
Izzy looked ready to cry.
Lexi sighed inwardly. Her parents, grandfather, aunt and uncle had all stressed that they were not to use their powers in school but she felt that she was being left with no choice.
"Together." Her voice was firm and commanding as she looked her teacher in the eyes.
Miss Roberts gaze became misty for a moment before her expression cleared.
"Alright, girls." Her voice was cheerful. "Why don't you both sit down at the table by the window."
"Okay." Lexi assented, as though that had been Miss Roberts' idea all along. "Come on, Izzy."
Before Izzy could protest, her sister steered her over to their table and bagged two chairs next to each other.
Izzy waited until Miss Roberts had moved away to greet another family before giving her sister a half reproachful, half grateful look. "We're not supposed to use our you know what in school."
"I don't care." Lexi stuck out her lower lip stubbornly. "I said we'd stay together and we will."
Sanctuary, half an hour later.
"Do you think they're alright by themselves?" Shalimar asked for the seventh time in as many minutes.
"I'm sure they're fine." Emma told her friend in a reassuring tone. "We should probably be more worried about their teacher." She patted her stomach as her unborn baby moved within. "You know, if this little one doesn't hurry up, I'm going to change my mind about having a natural birth. What do you say, kiddo?" She addressed her swollen stomach. "Are you ready for your grand entrance?" She felt a dull thump as the baby kicked in response. "Was that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"
Kensington Junior School, an hour later.
Having learnt the alphabet and the basics of counting before their third birthday, the Fox-Mulwray sisters had found the early part of the morning insufferably dull.
For some reason Miss Roberts refused to accept that they knew their stuff and, rather than allow them to play by themselves, insisted that they join their classmates as they chanted the alphabet.
Lexi snorted in disgust.
If school was going to be this boring every day, then she was going to become a kindergarten drop out.
The two other children at the twins' table seemed nice enough.
Simon had won Lexi over instantly by offering her a Twinkie he sneaked from his lunch and Anna, a pixyish looking child with long dark pigtails bouncing against her cheeks, seemed determined to make an idol of both twins, who were by no means put out by her admiration.
"Alexis?"
"What?" Lexi frowned up at her teacher, who had dared to interrupt her conversation with her deskmates.
"It's your turn to tell the class a little bit about your family." Miss Roberts told her patiently. "Would you and Isabelle like to stand up and talk to the class?"
Lexi gave her teacher a sweet smile. "'Course."
Izzy stood up next to her sister, knowing that she could count on her to do most of the talking.
Lexi, a little orator in the making, cleared her throat before commencing her address.
"Me and Izzy live in a big house with our Mommy and our Daddy and our Grandpa and Aunt Emma and Uncle Jesse." She announced to her audience. "Other Grandpa doesn't live with us but he visits a lot and he brings toys. Our Grandpa is the smartest man in the whole world."
"He is." Izzy seconded shyly. "He has a lot of cool stuff in his la . . .office." She corrected herself hastily.
"Uncle Jesse and Aunt Emma are having a baby." Miss Roberts cursed inwardly, knowing that Lexi's statement would mean a lot of questions for her from her less well informed little pupils. "We don't know if it's a boy or a girl and it was supposed to be here already but it's being very lazy and not moving."
"Uncle Jesse says he hopes that the baby won't get into bad, being late habits." Izzy said solemnly.
"Aunt Emma says that we can help her take care of the baby if we promise not to teach it to play tricks." Lexi gave her teacher an angelic smile. "We play a lot of tricks. One time we . . ."
"That's lovely, girls." Miss Roberts interrupted hastily, not wanting to hear the details of the kind of trouble her new students got into. "Let's give someone else a chance to talk, hmm?"
"Yes, Miss Roberts." The twins chorused sweetly.
She regarded them with a mixture of amusement and fear.
They were an adorable pair, but she had a feeling that she had taken responsibility for a set of troublemakers.
She wasn't wrong.
TBC.