( Volume: 4 Arc: "Disneyland" Issue 2/2 )
Chapter 160 : making memories
Julian started as the bathroom door was almost torn off its hinges, to reveal Laura's deathly white face, full of fear and panic.
A moment later he understood why.
"KELLER!" She shrieked. "HE GOT LOOSE! NATE WENT DOWN THE HALLWAY—"
Julian might have asked—before having experience with the Shrimps—how the boy had 'gotten loose'. He knew better, now. He knew this was a situation requiring immediate response. He stumbled out of the shower, not bothering to turn it off or to rinse the soap out of his hair; he would have forgotten a towel if Laura handed grabbed his wrist and handed it to him as he rushed past.
It was well known that in this aspect of parenting—catching a misbehaving shrimp—Julian reigned supreme. Although the Shrimps obeyed their mother unquestioningly, there had been the rare occasion on which they had 'taken control of the situation', and Laura had failed to catch them.
This seemed to be one of them.
As Julian reached the door to see Nate shoot down the hallway in a cloud of energy, screaming enthusiastically, he realized the boy had had enough, and was going to see Disneyland now.
"Oh no you don't," he said, making a fist. Suddenly the two were locked in a mental force battle; Julian gripped the doorway. The small boy was getting stronger, and definitely putting up a fight. At the same time, Julian didn't want to hurt him. He was well aware of his own past damage record.
"Be careful!" Laura said fretfully, peering around the doorway at the borderline-toddler floating in midair.
"Holy FUCK," Julian said. "This is insane. I can't—" his hand tightened on the doorway, his knuckles white. "I'm going to hurt him if I—"
"DON'T!" Laura said, panicked.
At that moment, James's door opened, and he peered out. "What the hell are you guys doing? I heard screaming—" he suddenly noticed the mass of energy right in front of him; Nate was almost glowing white. "What the freak is that?"
"Nate," Laura said, her voice trembling.
"Hey…Jim…" Julian said with effort. "Would you mind—"
James looked at the mass. "I'm not touching that," he said.
"Get a towel," Laura said. "Or a bedsheet, or something. Please!"
James disappeared for a few moments; then suddenly he reappeared, and flung a towel over the mass of white. Nate screeched, startled; he shot towards Julian, who barely had time to catch him.
The towel began to cry.
"Thank you," Laura said, awkwardly.
DING!The elevator at the end of the hallway opened, revealing a very wealthily-dressed older couple. They took in the sight of the half-naked and dripping Julian holding the screaming, lumpy, squirming towel (Nate); Laura, in her bra and underwear, with one eye outlined in makeup and her lipstick smeared across her cheek (as her hand had gone astray while applying it, at the moment of the escape); and James, who was dressed in about three sweaters.
The lady reached over and pressed a button on the elevator; the doors closed again.
"Oh, come on, we're not that bad," Julian grumbled.
"I hate you guys." James closed his door quite firmly.
…
"Nate…we need to have a talk," Julian said seriously, to the boy, who was now sitting sulkily on the edge of the bed, looking at his hands. Julian was now dressed, and seated on one of the chairs. Laura stood behind him, her arms folded.
The boy looked away.
"NATE!" Laura snapped. "Look at Julian when he talks to you."
"No!" Nate said.
"That was really bad, what you just tried to pull," Julian said. "You could have gotten hurt. You could have hurt someone else."
"Don' care!" Nate said. "DISNEYLAND! Wan' see Pirates!"
Laura sucked her tongue.
"We'll see the pirates, Nate," Julian said, knowing he was going to hear about how he shouldn't have let Nate watch Pirates of the Caribbean."But nothing is more important than safety." He paused. "If you get hurt, you can't see the Pirates."
"Why?" Nate asked.
"Because you'll be hurt," Julian said. "You'll be like Casper."
"Keller—" Laura said, as Nate's face crumpled.
"MUM—"he began to howl. The little boy was afraid of Casper, and Julian had already been berated for having allowed him to watch it.
"I DON' WAN' DIE!" Nate wailed.
"Way to go, Keller…you've managed to convince the boy with the healing factor that he is going to die."
Julian sighed, bowed his head.
"And we don't want you to die, Nate," he said after a few moments. "If you did, we'd have no one to take to Disneyland." He paused. "Except Rachel. I guess we'd have to give it all to your sister."
Laura instantly saw Julian's brilliant strategy. Nothing could make Nate want something more than hinting that his sister was getting it.
"Damn, Keller," she mumbled. Julian tried not to grin, seeing Nate's face cloud over with jealousy.
"No! Take me!" Nate said uncertainly.
"She'd have Tito all to herself, too," Julian said. "And your friend. You know, the one you share."
Nate's eyes widened. "But—"
"I wouldn't have to time things anymore, I guess," Laura said. "I could just let Rachel have all his toys…like the Castle."
"NO!" Nate shouted. "I be good! I be good!"
"That's good to hear," Julian said seriously. He leaned over and ruffled Nate's hair. "You and Tito ready to go rescue some princesses?"
Nate just about fell off the chair in excitement. "YES!" he shouted.
"Oh my god, Keller. I refuse to let you turn my son into a man-whore. I refuse."
"What?" Julian asked innocently. "Kid's got instincts. I'm not going to discourage him. It's healthy." He paused, grinning. "And I can't help it if he inherited some of my moves."
"Those aren't moves. Those are pathetic cries for help."
"Yeah right. I've dated about every girl at the school."
"Pretty sure you haven't," Laura said.
"Hell yeah I have. There's…" Julian stopped to think. He opened his mouth, frowned, shut it, then opened it again. "I got you, didn't I?"
"I really don't think you can count me," Laura said skeptically. "You were mycry for help."
"Ouch," Julian said.
"TITO!" both Shrimps suddenly said.
"Yeah, Angel and Tito are approaching the door," Laura confirmed, glancing at it.
"So I hear," Julian said. "Freakin' claw people."
Nate slipped off the chair, ran to the door and tore it open, as Angel raised her hand to knock.
"TITO!" Nate burst. "ITWIEDTOGOBUTJOOSTOPPEDMEANDTHENHESEDIWOULDTURNINTOCASPERANDTHEN—"
"COOL!" Tito exclaimed, with a flutter of his wings.
"I love how they yell at each other when they're a foot apart," Angel murmured. "Me and bird brain heard screaming earlier…sounded like there was a good smack-down going on in the hallway. What happened?"
"He nearly escaped," Julian said grimly. "We had to towel him."
"Jeez." Angel grinned. "I would've helped, but we had our own situation. Tito stole Mike's breakfast…and started a food fight."
"Oh my god," Julian said, suddenly realizing the additional complications of having so many kids: not only more mouths to feed and more trouble to supervise, but the chance for larger-scale disaster. Organized crime.
"We got it cleaned up," Angel said. "Also, we're ready, whenever you guys are."
"Just got to grab the bags," Laura said. "Meet us by the cars in five minutes."
…
"Is it just me, or does he scream louder as we get closer?" Julian asked, leaning his elbow on the steering wheel as they sat at a traffic light. This was in response to the "—AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—" emanating from the back seat, a sound which stopped only when Nate had to breathe. James was sitting between the twins, hunched over, his face squeezed into a permanent scowl and his hands clapped over his ears.
Even Rachel looked irritated. "Nett," she said, several times, but was drowned out by her brother's excitement.
"I think you should talk with him about power concealment again, before we get out," Laura said, glancing at the boy. "Last thing we need is him flying out here."
"You're probably right. If I can get a word in edgewise." Julian rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling little tendrils of migraine leave the knotted mass in his forehead, and reach into his eyes and down his nose.
"Green," she said. His head snapped up; seeing the light was green, he pressed down on the gas.
"This is not how I imagined spending my future," Julian said, somewhat blandly.
"Neither did I," Laura said. "Honestly, I figured I'd be the top pick in a brothel by now. Or, y'know, working for the Kingpin."
Julian paled; she grinned. "You're so gullible."
"I was being serious."
"So what did you see yourself doing, around this point?"
Julian paused. "Leading an X-man team. Maybe continuing school somewhere, eventually."
"And probably screwing everyone at that school, knowing the way you think," she said, her lip curling.
"Actually, no." Julian raised his eyebrows, glanced at her. "I've always seen myself as a one-woman guy."
"But—" Laura looked mildly confused.
"I see something I like, I let her know I approve. That doesn't mean I'm going to give it away just like that." He paused. "Before you came to the school…I only ever looked at—well, you know."
"—But the Cuckoos—"
"I may have embellished that," Julian said, flushing slightly.
"Oh," Laura said, a little surprised. Despite having seen from his actions what he was really like, it was unusual of him to actually admit it. She smiled slightly, and put her hand over his on the arm rest.
He smiled too.
"Can you tell me the next turn?"
"GOD!" James snapped from the back. "You're a billionaire! Why can't you get GPS?"
"Because…it's more fun this way," Laura said defensively, as both herself and Julian secretly wondered why they hadn't thought of it themselves.
…
After a day filled with listening to screaming children, chasing runaways, stern lectures, crying, nauseating rides, treats and consequent vomit-cleanup, the two families return to the hotel to crash for the night. All the children were asleep by the time that the doors were unlocked; the four parents traded tired smiles for a moment (while James stormed straight into his room and shut the door with a solid thud!), then entered the rooms.
"Do you think they'll be okay in a bed like that?" Laura mouthed to Julian, who was carrying a sleeping Shrimp in each arm, having noticed that she looked tired and drawn. He nodded and headed towards the second bed, which they had pushed over against the far wall, having shoved their king-sized mattress against the window, and reinforced the locks (after Nate's near escape of earlier).
Julian laid them down carefully, watching the small, sleeping faces and feeling strange, like he always did. It was strange to see pieces of himself in miniature, and to admit to himself that those two little beings had become the only reason he and Laura had managed to keep sane during the last year.
After they finished changing the exhausted children and tucking them in, they began to prepare for bed themselves. Julian sat on the edge of the mattress and waited patiently for Laura to complete her nighttime rituals: take a shower, brush her teeth, and comb her hair.
The door opened, and he frowned, having heard none of the usual noises. Looking up with tired eyes, he took in a sight he hadn't seen in a while; Laura stood in front of him, but her clothes didn't.
She gave him a direct look. "Get in here."
Julian blinked, uncertain.
"Now."
He wasn't one to argue.