Disclaimer: You know the drill. 'Mutant X' and all of it's characters = Not Mine. Lexi and Izzy Fox-Mulwray and Ryan DeLauro-Kilmartin= Mine.
Author's Note: To Crystal 113 – Actually, Ryan's an empath, not a telempath. He can sense other people's emotions but not manipulate them. He takes after Jesse more than Emma as far as mutations go and, as well as phasing and massing, his main power will be propulsion, although obviously that won't manifest yet, not until he can walk.
Chapter 7.
Sanctuary, midnight.
"Lexi?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you asleep?"
Lexi giggled. "No, silly, how can I be asleep when I'm talking to you?"
Izzy paused, accepting her sister's logic. "Good point."
"You ready?"
"Are they asleep yet?"
Lexi took a deep breath, reaching out with her psionic gifts to gently touch the minds of the adults.
"Everybody's dreaming." She reported, wrinkling her nose. "Uncle Jesse really needs to talk to someone about all the dreams he has about spiders."
"Maybe we should do something to him as well." Izzy suggested temptingly. "Maybe fill his bed with spiders – real ones this time." She smiled fondly at the memory of her uncle's terror when he had found a rubber spider in his bed.
"No." Lexi shook her head regretfully. "I think he'd cry if we did. 'Sides," She grinned. "Don't you want to see Aunt Emma get mad?"
Izzy nodded eagerly.
An angry Emma DeLauro was one of the most entertaining things one could witness.
"Come on," Moving as silently as a ghost, Lexi slipped out of bed. "Let's get to work."
The next morning.
"Are you two okay?" Shalimar regarded her yawning daughters with a concerned expression. "Why are you so tired?"
"No reason, Mommy." Lexi told her sweetly, rubbing sleep sand from her eyes.
"I hope you didn't pick up some bug in school." Shalimar said, worried. "Maybe we should get Grandpa to check you two out."
"We're fine, Mommy." Lexi assured her, not wanting to be stuck in the lab while Adam ran his tests.
"Honest." Izzy finished solemnly. "We're just a little sleepy, that's all."
Remembering how she and Nikki had stayed up all night talking, despite Adam's rules about lights out, Shalimar let the matter go, glad that her daughters had made up.
"Alright then," She smiled at the two five year olds. "We'd better get going if you two don't want to be late for school."
An hour later.
Since the arrival of their adored firstborn son, Emma and Jesse had been woken at ungodly hours by a crying Ryan, and ended up sleeping a little later to catch up on sleep lost during the four o'clock feeds.
Moving quietly, so as not to wake the baby slumbering in his crib, Emma dressed as quickly as she could.
She tugged one of her shoes on, frowning as she rummaged through the closet for it's partner.
"Jesse?" After coming up empty handed, she glanced up at her husband.
"What's wrong?"
"Have you seen my left shoe?"
"Which pair?"
Emma scowled. "All of them."
Kensington Junior School, the same time.
"Do you think Aunt Emma's figured out what we did yet?" Lexi asked in a hissed whisper.
"Probably." Izzy frowned petulantly. "I still say we should have put shaving bream and itching powder in them."
"Are you kidding?" Lexi stared at her sister. "Do you want us to have to clean all those shoes out?"
"I guess not." Izzy conceded reluctantly.
"I wonder if Aunt Emma's found any of her shoes yet." Lexi mused aloud. "We hid them really well." She paused. "Do you remember where we hid them?"
"Nope." Izzy responded cheerfully.
"I'm glad you guys are friends again." Simon ventured, looking up from his numeric exercises.
The two little girls gave him a puzzled look.
"Why wouldn't we be talking?" Lexi asked, affecting confusion.
"We're twins." Izzy added.
Simon shook his head impatiently. "Girls are so weird." He muttered, disgruntled.
The twins exchanged an amused glance.
It was so much fun to screw with people's heads.
Sanctuary.
"Remind me to strangle your daughters." Emma muttered angrily, hunting behind the couch for her missing footwear.
"What did they do now?" Brennan asked, amused.
"Hid the left half of every shoe she owns." Shalimar filled in for her friend, nodding towards the psionic's bare foot. "No sign of them in the girls' room." She reported cheerfully.
"I found this in the freezer." Jesse announced, entering the room bearing a red sandal as though it was some kind of trophy and presenting it to his wife.
Emma scowled. "I hate those shoes." She grumbled, grudgingly accepting the proffered sandal. "And it's freezing cold and wet now."
"Not like you have much choice." Shalimar quipped.
"Hiding your shoes?" Brennan grinned. "That's creative. Creative and wrong." He amended, taking in the look on his teammate's face.
"Why don't we just wait until the girls come back from school, and get them to round up your shoes?" Shalimar suggested logically.
"And what am I supposed to do until then?" Emma demanded angrily.
Brennan shrugged. "Mix and match?" He suggested.
Seconds later a cushion was snatched up from the couch and made solid contact with the side of his head.
Kensington Junior School, a couple of hours later.
Miss Roberts smiled down at the class of cherubic five year olds, all of whom were absorbed in drawing portraits of the characters they were portraying.
She had handed out little picture books featuring the various animals involved and her little pupils were studying them as intently as Shakespearean actors trying to get in character.
"What's wrong, Izzy?" Anna asked softly, looking up from the impossibly long necked purple giraffe she had drawn.
Izzy scowled unhappily. "I hate being a bear." She grumbled. "They're big and furry and brown and boring."
"But you wanted to be a bear." Simon pointed out.
"Well, I don't want to be a bear now." Izzy pouted. "I wanna be a tiger like Lexi."
"So ask Miss Roberts if you can change." Lexi suggested sensibly, thrilled that her sister wanted to team up with her.
"I think she's getting someone in the first grade to be the other tiger." Izzy said dolefully. "And you can only have two of every animal in Noah's Ark. What if Miss Roberts won't let me change?"
Lexi put her arm around her sister, hugging her. "Oh, I'm sure that we can convince her." She said in a sweetly conspiratorial tone.
TBC.
Next (and probably last) Chapter: The twins' school play. I don't know if there'll be another sequel. Please keep up the reviews.