I don't own the X-Men. I'm getting tired of telling you.

A.N.: I'm sorry about the lack of time breaks in the last chapter, but I had a bit of a disagreement with the computer. There should have been breaks in front of "A little hand clutched at two of his fingers." and "Slurp. Slurp. Sluuuurp."

Chapter 5: Home, Sweet Home.

"How come we're in a helicopter, Daddy?"

"Because Daddy doesn't own a car."

"How come?"

"Because I live on an island, and so do you, now."

"How much do helicopters cost?"

"This one didn't cost much at all. I built it."

"Can you build me a helicopter?"

"When you're older."

"Can I drive the rest of the way?"

"No."

She sighed and turned to the window. "Daddy! I think I see it! Its that big island there!"

"That's your new home." Mort smiled and watched the small figure squirm with anticipation. A thought hit him as he saw her playing with some green hair. "Doria? Do you know what your mutant ability is?"

"Sandra would yell at me."

"Why?"

"I broke the microwave. I didn't mean to. I was just angry, and it broke."

He nodded. That could have been anything. He'd have to wait for tests to be done. He pulled the helicopter into the cave smoothly, and waited for the blades to settle down before unlocking her door. "Stick by me, love. This is a big place, and you don' know your way 'round." He lugged out six of the bags, and she took down one. Mort opened the door to the rec room with his tongue.

Sabertooth's eyes went wide with confusion as he watched Toad follow a little girl into the room. Wider still they went when he saw how similar they looked. "Erm... Toad?"

"I'll fill ya in later." He threw his bags at the feral-looking man, and then added Doria's to the load. "Take these up to my room fo' now. I gotta talk to Magneto."

Sabe grunted and started up the stairs. "Now, Doria, I 'ave to talk to you abou' Daddy's job before we go to see my boss." He sat her on the couch gingerly. "Now the 'umans like Sandra are agains' people like you and me- mutants. So they're mean to us. They think they're better than us. It's Daddy's job, and everyone else 'ere's job, to stop them from being mean. There are also mutants tha' don' like the people in this place. I also 'ave to stop them. Go' it so far?" She nodded. "Now my boss is a very powerful mutant named Magneto. You 'ave to be real polite to Magneto- for now at least- so tha' he'll let you stay with me."

"What if he says no?"

"I won' let tha' happen, love." He extended a hand to her, and led her to Magneto's office.

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"You wait ou' here 'til I call you, dear." He said, sitting her on a small chair outside Magneto's door. He walked inside. "Magneto! I need to 'ave a word with you about a wronged mutant."

"Yes, Toad, go on." Magneto looked up from his desk. "I'm always happy to help a mutant in need."

Suuure... "Its this girl. She's rather young, bu' she's already 'ad signs of 'er gift, and tha' means a lo' abou' 'er potential. I know usually we wait 'til they're older, bu' you see... 'er mother beat 'er. Bad. 'Er mother just died, and... erm..." he trailed off.

"Where is she?" asked Magneto.

Toad hung his head. "Outside your office," he mumbled.

"Ah-ha. Well, let me see her then."

Mort stuck his head outside the office. "Doria, you can come in now."

"Daddy? Is Magneto gonna let me stay?" Magneto received a jolt of shock. Daddy? He watched the little girl- much younger than he'd expected- walk in, and soon it was apparent that the assumed was true. Green hair, yellow eyes, she had his ears, too. As much as he hated to be a softy, he wasn't about to deprive one of his best assassins of his only daughter.

"Doria, is it?" he asked, "Do you want to stay here?" A wave of relief swept over her father.

"Yes, please, Mister Magneto, sir."

He smiled at her manners. "And where will she be staying?"

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Mort loved his closet. He really did. It was a lovely closet. Bigger than any man would ever need, but still, he'd grown quite attatched to it. It was a walk-in- just a bit smaller than his room. He didn't want to give it up, but he wasn't about to abandon his only daughter next to Avalanche in a made-over holding cell.

He had found a goldmine of assorted wall paints in the weapons room. (Lord know why they were there. Swing them at someone's head?) She had insisted on the sage green. So while Sabertooth painted her new room (A.N. Haha. Sabe does all the work.), he set out to show her where things are and introduce her to the rest of the Brotherhood. Beforehand, he might have thought to be embarrassed about this situation, but now, all he felt was proud. This is my little girl! He went across the hall to Gambit's room which he normally wouldn't do, but he had the uncontrollable urge to show her off to everyone.

He knocked. "Remy?"

The door opened. "Oh. Hello, Mort.What yo' want?"

"I wanted you to meet someone." He pulled Doria into view. "This is my daughter, Doria, she's gonna be stayin' 'ere with us, now."

At first, Remy was shocked, but then his face warmed at the little one. "Hello dere, little one. Is yo' happy to be stayin' wit yo' poppuh?"

"Uh-huh." The little one answered. "He got me new clothes."

"See you, then, Remy. C'mon, love. Wha' says we go see Pietro?"

They headed next door to Pietro's room and knocked. No answer. "Prob'ly in the rec room, then. We'll see him later."

Wanda was in her room with Mystique and Wanda fawned over the new addition. Mystique said a pleasant "hello", and pulled Mort aside. "So you've had a daughter all this time, and didn't tell us?"

"No, I just found ou' abou' 'er today."

"And you just adopted her like that?"

"I... I 'ad to. 'Er mother... she wasn't a good person. Lookit the top of 'er head." Mystique noted the cut. "Tha's the kind of person 'er mother was."

Mystique nodded and turned back to the little girl with a smile. "Wel as much as we love having you, Wanda and I have some work to do. Why don't you go meet Pyro?"

Now Mort knew that fatherhood was doing something to his head. When he went to Pyro's room on his own accord, he felt a pang of sympathy for the devil in his now frozen kingdom. "Pyro?" He stuck his head in. Pyro was playing video games. "There's someone I wan' you to meet." Ushering Doria ahead of him, Mort stepped in. "Meet Doria, my daughter. She'll be livin' 'ere now." He grinned proudly.

"Hey Doria..." Pyro looked at Mort with a look of shock and horror. "Erm... how old are you?"

"I'm five and a half."

He looked at Mort with a raised eyebrow. "Well I'm Pyro, and I'm fourteen and a quarter."

She studied him a minute. "I don't like teenagers," she concluded, and she walked out of the room. Mort couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably as he followed his daughter down the hall.

Blob and Avalanche were on a reconnaissance mission, so Mort and his little girl went down to the rec room. "Toad?" said Quicksilver, appearing in front of them unexpectedly, "Who's this?"

"This is my daughter, Doria. Doria, say hello to Pietro. 'E's Wanda's brother."

"Hello, Pietro. I get to live with my daddy now!"

"And why's that?" Toad cringed, not knowing how she'd respond to the question.

"Because Sandra's dead now. It's okay though, because Sandra wasn't a very good person. She lied a lot."

Pietro nodded quickly, and then looked at Toad, horrified. "Well then, Doria," said Mort, "Lets go get something to eat, shall we?"

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