Part deux.
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"Tabitha! Tabby, get up! Got somethin' I think you should see!" Tabitha stuck her arm out from under the blankets and flipped her husband the bird. "No, Tabby, really!" The arm returned to the warmth of the sheets. Who'd Sam think he was anyway? Waking up so early. Ridiculous.
Something heavy crawled onto the bed and started jumping up and down.
"Chelsea. Let Mommy sleep, Dumplin'."
"I'm not Chelsea," a very Chelsea-ish voice giggled. "I'm a kangaroo! See? Bouncy, bouncy."
"Argh." Chelsea giggled innocently as her father plucked her off the bed and held her to his waist like a potato sack.
"Tabby, c'mon, it's important!"
"Not as important as my beauty sleep." Tabitha could hear Sam sigh and the weight was deposited back on the bed. The whole matress shook as the 'kangaroo' resumed jumping.
"I'll be making breakfast so don't leave me waiting."
Sam treked back down the hall to the kitchen, laughing at the whining he had left in his wake. In all his two years of marital bliss, it was at times like this he thanked God for Chelsea coming with the package. He'll admit he was just as unsurprised as anyone when Tabitha was found to be pregnant, but he was a little sad for her when she left the institute. The two met up again a few years later and ended up married, obviously. Since then it's been one struggle after another, but their little cheerleader has always been-
Well now he was getting sappy. Luckly, Tabitha chose that moment to come stumbling into their kitchen with the little four-year-old in tow, ending abruptly any furthur sap leakage into this particular segment.
"Morning, hon."
"This had better be damn important." An envelope was handed to her that was written in fancy calligraphy.
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"Evan,-why're-you-so-mean-to-me? I-mean,-I'm-your-younger-cousin-for-goodness-sake,-you-should-be-setting-a-good-example-for-me-not-blaming-me-for-everything-you-do-wrong-in-your-life! It's-not-my-fault-I'm-so-much-better-than-you-in-every-way!"
The black boy glared at his cousin and, after sighing dramatically, yelled, "She's doing it again!" over to his aunt who was sorting through the RSVPs they had gotten in the mail that day. Ororo chuckled and waved an envelope at the young African child she had taken in some time ago. "Miana, your hero's coming and he's bringing his sister."
"Alright!" Mia did her little 'victory' pose and spat, "Finally,-someone-else-who-knows-the-incredible-monotony-of-you," to Evan before speeding out the room and out of the institute to let the only Brotherhoodian left in Bayville in on the news.
Looking to his aunt with pleading eyes, Evan hoped, "You said that to get rid of her, right?"
Ororo nodded but added, to her nephew's chargin, "The fact that it's true is but a bonus."
"Aw man! Auntie O, you're killing me here! Why'd we have to invite the bad guys anyway?"
With the patience that could only come from years of tending to a mansion full of impatient mutant hellraisers, Ororo explained that 'Where there are no bad guys, there can be no good guy.'
"And therefore their presence is most essential to this event."
"Wow, deep. Shakespeare?"
"Firehotquotes. com, now take these names-" Ororo passed her nephew the RSVPs, forcing him to tear himself away from his beloved computer game, "-down to Jean. Tell her to add them to the pile."
"Will do, Auntie O."
"And go find your cousin!"
"Aw, Auntie-"
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Mia tapped her foot impatiently against the lenolium of the corner store and gas bar. She had broken the little bell thingy already from hitting it too hand and was left alone in the store waiting for the owner to show his face. She hadn't spoken to Todd since he turned her job application down ages ago, something about not being careful enough with the merchendise, but the news of the Maximoff's return most certainly warrented a visit.
The shaggy haired Toad finally came out of the back room and looked down in unadulterated amusement at the blur of Mia's foot and the remains of his brass bell.
"Waiting long, were you? I know I must've been in there for a full five minutes." Mia was not amused.
"Now see, if-you-had-hired-me-in-the-first-place-you'd've-been-out-ages-before."
"Oh right, last week was it?" Last week, was that all?
Todd hopped up on the counter in front of her and sat on it indian style, talking to her face to face. Using his tounge he pulled over a couple of bags of chips and invited Mia to snag some soda. They all but appeared in her hands.
"So what's got me back on your good side, young grasshopper?"
"Stop-calling-me-that," whined the child ripping open the 99ยข bag of salt and vinegar chips.
"What would you prefer? Old fruit fly? Aging dungbeetle? Nearly dead gnat?"
"Wanda-and-Pietro-and-Kelly-are-coming-to-the-anniversery. They-should-be-here-by-next-Tuesday."
Wanda, huh? Well, long time no see hide nor hair of. This ought to be interesting, in a schadenfreude(1) kinda way.
"Hey,-since-when-you-got-the-Avenue-Q-album?" Todd told her he had been listening to it all day and that she could borrow it if she promised to keep him updated about the guest list developments. "Hey-great.-Oh,-and-we-got-the-green-light-from-Avie-and-Boomer(2),-but-we've-yet-to-catch-up-to-Fred.-You'd-think-with-an-entourage-like-his-he'd-be-easier-to-track-down."
Todd listened half heartedly to what the kid was saying and nodded every so often, but was really miles away.
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(1)I've been listening to Avenue Q lately so I had to stick this in. Schadenfreude is basically German for 'happiness at the expense of others' I believe.
(2)No, she's still Boom-Boom in this fic, Boomer is only a nickname. Oh, and Avie is Avalanche.
Anywho, here's part two. Up next the LeBeaus, Scott, the last one and a half kids, and decorating (read kid-proofing) the institute.