3
To Hank's immense surprise, Felicity had been as good as gold throughout the detailed examination, co-operative and pleasant and as unlike Peter's impatient style as possible. When he was done, Peter had leaned down and told her
"Go see the Professor for a while, you remember the way to the study right?" she nodded, and Peter grinned at her lovingly, "Atta girl, I'll pick you up from there. I have to talk to Hank"
When she had gone, a little streak of lightning that made Peter smile all the more fondly, he had turned back to the doctor, a serious expression coming over his face.
"Is she alright?" he asked anxiously, "Healthy, I mean?"
"Perfectly so," Hank assured him, "I take it you're concerned that she may experience some of the symptoms you did when you were younger? There's no danger of that, she's fully mutated now as far as I can tell – unless any further gifts will manifest, which of course I can't tell"
"So she won't get the pains like I did? Or the crazy tiredness, or need to eat more than she can hold, like me?"
"There's no reason at all that she should, Peter, don't worry" the doctor smiled comfortingly at him, "Her bones aren't quite as light as yours, but they seem to be developing their structure naturally rather than changing after full growth as yours did, and she seems to be fully adapted to efficient metabolic processes. I'm astonished, frankly – perfect little speedsters like her don't show up every day"
Peter grinned, relieved. Though he hardly knew her, the little girl had touched his heart already. Little balls of energy like her always did, and the idea of having a fellow mutant with a speed gift to train excited him.
"I'm glad, thanks dude" he said, "So I can start training her?"
"I'd start with helping sharpen her focus, but yes – you can start. Good luck, I doubt anybody but you could handle her"
"Nobody could handle me either, and *I* turned out just fine" he winked, made to leave, "Well, mostly"
Collecting Felicity, he'd had a quick whip around the kitchen, returning with an armful of snacks and getting settled with her in a quiet nook of the common room on two large, comfortable beanbags, wiggling into them and getting thoroughly settled before she'd looked askance at him, confused.
"I thought we were starting training?" she said. Peter grinned, popped open a bag of Doritos and offered it to her
"We are, Grasshopper" he smiled, "Most important part of training, you gotta learn to focus"
"Are you going to make me stand on one leg and recite poetry and fight you blindfold and stuff?"
"Not yet – first, you're going to face a much harder challenge than that. You're gonna sit here with me, for fifteen minutes, and talk with me. That's all"
"That's ALL?" she exclaimed, "Fifteen minutes is FOREVER!"
"No, fifteen minutes is a minimum" he told her sternly, "Believe me, I know – it'll feel like an ice age, but you'll do it. We'll keep on building up, and you'll get better at it. This might not seem important but once you get used to it, you'll realise it's done you good"
Felicity sighed heavily, spied a pack of M&Ms amongst the pile and claimed it for herself, tossed a handful down before asking
"What do you want me to talk about?"
"I dunno kid – anything. We can talk about you, if you want to?"
"OK…" she took a deep breath, "ask me a question then. Anything, as long as it's not gross"
Wondering what would constitute gross to a girl her age, concluding that it probably involved 'kissing boys', 'talking to boys' and 'boys', he thought a moment. Polished off the Doritos, dusted the orange powder from his hands.
"So you've got eight brothers?" he asked, "What're they're names?"
"Mark, Oscar, Joseph, John, Daryl, Luke, Matthew and Michael – they're twins"
"Cool, I'm a twin too" he said, watched her fidget but didn't say anything about it, "I have a twin sister, and a younger sister. Wanda and Lorna. Both Mutants like me. You're the only one in your family?"
"Uh-huh. Momma says she must have been cursed" she replied sadly, "I hope she wasn't. She's not nice, but I wouldn't like it if she was cursed"
"Well thankfully there's no such thing as curses, and round here, we call it a gift" he told her, "You want these Mike and Ikes?"
She took them gratefully, unused to someone sharing their candy with her. Her brothers usually just kept what was theirs to themselves, especially the older ones.
"Are your sisters nice?"
"They're great. Stick around and you'll meet them – and my Dad too, we get the Mutant gene from him. He's nice too, but kinda scary sometimes"
He watched her finish the pack of candy with an odd vicarious pleasure. It was good to be around someone whose appetite for trash food matched his own, for a change. Rooted out a second pack of the same and tossed it over to her. She was doing well, seemed to be settling down a little as the conversation progressed, giving him a shy look and asking
"Do you have any kids?"
Peter spluttered, almost choked on a Red Vine
"No! I mean… not yet, anyway…. Jeez that's a weird question, kid"
"Not really" she shrugged, "I mean, you're old and you're married, right?"
"I am not old!" he protested, saw her dubious look, "OK, so I'm getting kinda old. And how'd you know I was married?"
The girl grinned and reached over to take his hand, tapped the two plain bands on his third finger. Observant, he thought, a good start.
"What's your wife like?" she asked, "Is she as nice as you?"
"You've met her, kid. Spark? I guess she's nice, I prefer to say awesome though"
"I don't think I'll ever get married" Felicity proclaimed, "Ever"
"You're nine, little rocket, nobody's gonna marry you for a good few years, and you might change your mind"
"I won't" she said airily, "Is that fifteen minutes yet?"
Peter looked at his watched, grinned delightedly
"Nope. It's twenty-one" he said proudly, "Well done, Flickster – you wanna go run off some energy?"
She nodded, helped him pick up all the empty wrappers, took hold of his hand again just as he was about to rise and gave him a serious, searching look.
"Thanks" she said quietly
"For what?"
"For not asking me more about home" she dropped her eyes, "I – I don't really want to talk about it yet. But I will do. I guess nobody ever listened before"
Peter covered her hand with his, smiled at her a little sadly.
"I'll listen whenever you need me to, Flickster. I'm glad you're here now – things will get better"
"They already did" she smiled. Unexpectedly threw her arms around his neck for a hug. Peter's heart squeezed, realising she was letting him hold her without pulling away.
"You wanna see something cool?" he murmured into her ear, felt her nod, "We have the best assault course ever"
Felicity allowed him to lead her by the hand the whole way there.
