"Hey, hey you! Stop! Hey, it's tough to run in heals, so would ya pleasestop for christ's sake?"
Gambit turned around to see a woman around his age, heavily made up, comingtowards him. The heavy make up wasn't surprising. This was not a goodsection of town and at this late hour, the only women wandering around werefor the most part heavily made up. What did surprise him was that she worea long, heavy coat buttoned up, covering a great deal of her body. That wasan uncommon sight in this area, no matter how cold the temperature. "Wereyou talkin' t'me?" he asked as she ran up to him, panting and out of breath.
"Yes," she gasped, holding her arms closely around herself. "You, I needt'talk t'you."
Just my luck, he thought. I'm going to get propositioned by aweird hooker. He'd come to New York City looking for a chance to getaway from the mansion for awhile, catch a little excitement. While hewasn't above occasionally paying for excitement, this wasn'texactly what he had in mind. "An' why is dat?" he asked.
"You're Gambit, aren't you?" she asked him. "You're one of the X-men,aren't you?"
He gulped. Although he really didn't go to great lengths to conceal hisidentity, he really didn't think people noticed when he was dressedcasually, as he was tonight. "What makes you t'ink dat?" he asked her.
"The eyes give you away buster. I've seen the X-men on the news an' stuff.A face like yours, eyes like yours, they're hard t'forget ya know?" She'dcaught her breath now and was chewing gum and snapping it loudly.
"Maybe dat X-man just a relative?" he offered, half kidding.
"Don't matter. What matters is can ya get in touch with him? Or any of theother X-men?" She tipped her head to one side, her long, obviously dyedblack hair falling over one shoulder.
"Mebe I can, Mebe I can't," Remy said, refusing to commit himself one way orthe other. "Why you askin?"
"Because I got somethin' that belongs t'one of them. The one you callBeast. And I want to give it back." She stated.
Remy was more than a little skeptical. He knew Dr. Hank McCoy rather welland somehow the idea of this woman having anything of his seemed rather...remote. Still, Hank had been know to have a very kind heart. Maybe he lenther money or something and now she wanted to pay him back. Stranger thingshad happened. "What is it?" he asked.
"Well, that's the thing, I left it back at my place. I live back there,"she jerked her thumb behind her. "I was gettin' ready t'go out and workwhen I saw you walk by and I had t'get you. Under this coat I'm like, uh..not dressed."
I'll bet you don't wear much when you are dressed for "work,"Remy thought, but didn't say out loud. "So are you askin' me t'come backt'your place so you can get whatever it is you got for Hank?"
She shook her head. "No, it's okay, you don't have t'come home with me."She motioned to a tiny coffee shop. "Uh... could you wait in there for me?It'll just be a minute, I swear. I just want to give this to you an' youcan be on your way and I'll be on mine. Is that okay?"
There was something desperate about this woman, but Gambit couldn't senseany danger from her. He looked over at the coffee shop. It was small, butit looked well lit and moderately crowded. If she was setting him up forany sort of trouble, she'd picked a bad place. Besides, there was somethingabout her that made him think she was telling the truth. She did havesomething for Hank and once she gave it to him, they would go their separateways. "All right, I'll wait," he agreed.
"Thank god!" She exhaled sharply with obvious relief. "I swear, I'll onlybe a minute."
"I'll give you five," Gambit warned her. "If you aren't in the shop in fiveminutes, I leave."
"Don't worry, I'll be back way before then." She turned to rush off thenstopped. "Well, I might not be, but if I'm not, I'll send a friend of mine.But I swear on a stack of bibles either she or I will meet you in less thanfive minutes." Before he could answer her, she turned and ran off down thestreet as fast as eight inch heals could carry her.
Oh dis ought to be amusing! Gambit chuckled to himself and walkedinto the coffee shop. He got himself a cup of lukewarm weak coffee fromthe counter and took it over to one of the small tables by the window towait.
Four minutes later, another woman came into the shop, holding something inher arms and looking around. She spotted him and walked over. "Hey, youGambit?"
Gambit looked at what she was holding, his eyes widening. He started toshake his head, no, but for some reason it came out like a nod instead.
"Then this is for you," the woman said, putting the bundle on the table."Tonya said you knew where to take it." She turned and started to leave theshop.
"Hey wait a second!" Gambit scooped up the bundle and started walking afterher. "You can't do dis! You can't leave me with dis! Dere is no way Ican't take this!"
The woman turned and looked at him. She was older than the first woman whoapproached him, closer to middle aged, with a look on her that said shedidn't take any crap from anyone. "Yes you can, yes you will," she statedflatly. "Tonya told me t'turn it over to you. I did. I sure ain'tkeepin' it. And don't expect Tonya's gonna take it back either. She'spacking her stuff. She's out of here." With that, she turned and left.
Gambit looked down at the bundle and shook his head. "Oh Hank, " he moaned."What in de world have you gotten me into? And what 'ave you gottenyourself into?"
"Hank!"
Hank look up from his microscope for a moment. He knew who it was and thefact that the person shouting sounded excited didn't phase him either.
"Hank!" The cry came again, closer to the door. "Hank are you in there?"
The object of all this shouting didn't move from his chair. Instead helooked back at the microscope and counted. "Four... three... two..."
The door banged open. "Hank!"
"... One." Hank looked up again and spun around on the chair. "HelloBobby. Is there a particular reason for your shouting or are you justexorcising your rights to free speech, even if it is late at night and yousound both loud and obnoxious?"
"Hank, you gotta get upstairs, now!" Bobby exclaimed. "I mean right now.Immediately. It's important. Very important. Now!"
Hank slowly slipped off the chair. "Your gift for speech is only outdone byyour redundancy. What is the problem Bobby?"
"Gambit just got back." Bobby said, heading for the door.
"Oh well that certainly clears it up." Hank followed his fellow teammateout of the lab. "Amidst all the work I've been doing with the legacy virus,the rule that we all must scream and shout whenever Gambit returns must havecompletely slipped my mind. A terrible oversight and I thank you Robert,for correcting it."
"No jokes Hank, it's more than you think." Bobby said, leading him up thestairs. "He has something for you. Something some woman gave him. You'vegotta see this."
"A woman gave him something to give to me?" Hank pondered."There is something wrong with that whole concept. Reverse it and I can seeit. Women always want to give Gambit something, although it's not usuallysomething I could carry with me." Did he know this woman?"
"No." Bobby shook his head as they walked through the mansion heading forthe kitchen. "Remy claims he'd never seen her in his life. Says her namewas Tonya, at least that's what someone claimed her name was."
"Ah, the plot thickens!" Hank exclaimed. "An unknown woman. The name Tonyastrikes no bells with me, with the exception of Tonya Harding and I doubtthat is the woman Gambit met. So, what is this thing Gambit has beenentrusted to pass on to me?"
"It's something you've gotta see for yourself," Bobby replied as they walkedinto the kitchen.
Gambit was sitting at the table when they walked in, the bundle on the tablein front of him. He rose from his seat as they walked in. "Hank, I don'know what you've been doin' in your spare time... well, actually now Ido know but, mon ami you've got to be more careful."
"Remy I don't understand.." Hank began then stopped abruptly as he saw thebundle. "Oh my stars...." He looked up at Gambit, his eyes wide. "How inthe world did this get here?"
"Up to de mansion? on my bike, an' let me tell you it wasn't easy." Gambitshrugged. "How did it arrive into the world? You de scientist, you tell meHank."
Hank approached the bundle cautiously. This has got to be some sort ofjoke, he thought someone is playing a trick on me and a very badone at that. He leaned closer to the table to get a better look.
Lying on the table, wrapped in an old blanket was some sort of doll, a bitsmaller than the average human baby, but the appearance was far from that ofan average. The tiny face was covered with sparse blue hair, thicker at thehead. Hank looked at Gambit. "It's... it's a doll isn't it? It's got tobe it can't be..."
Before Remy could answer, the "doll" opened it's eyes and let out a scream.
"Sorry, Hank, dat's no doll," Gambit said. He felt sorry for his friend,but there was a part of him that wanted to laugh. This was a situation nosingle man ever wanted to find himself in and selfish as it seemed,he was awful glad it was Hank's problem and not his.
"It's crying!" Bobby said, coming over and looking down at the screamingfigure.
"I can hear that," Hank replied dryly. "I do have ears."
"Well, shouldn't we do something?" Bobby asked, raising his voice to beheard about the wailing."
"Of course we should do something!" Hank exclaimed. "I'm just not surewhat..."
Although he wanted to, Gambit couldn't completely suppress a smile. "Well,Daddy, maybe you oughta check t'see if it's hungry or leakin'."
Hank looked at Gambit, his eyes wide. "I am not this child's father!" heexclaimed loudly.
"Really? Sure look like you."
"Gambit, I can assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt this child is notmine!" Hank swallowed hard. "Who gave this child to you? Where were you?What, exactly happened?"
As Gambit was about to answer, the kitchen door opened and Joseph and Roguewalked in. "Good god what's all the sc-" Rogue began, then stopped when shesaw the baby. "What in the world?" she began.
"Seems like our blue furry friend been doing somethin' in his spare time wedid'n know about," Gambit answered grinning.
"Remy, I'm telling you this is not my child!" Hank shouted, louderthan he intended to. His raised voice caused the infant to increasevolume.
"I dunno sugah, sure looks like yours," Rogue said. "How did it get here?"
"I was in de City when a woman came up an' said she had somethin' for Hank,"Gambit explained.
"And while you're all debating the child's parentage, haven't any of younoticed he or she is crying?" Joseph asked walking over to the table. "I'mnot an expert by any means, but the last time I checked, when a child iscrying, they usually want and/or need something." He scooped up the bundleeasily, then frowned feeling something extremely warm and wet on his sleeve."Well, I know one thing that's wrong right off the bat. There wouldn'thappen to be any diapers around, would there?"
Joseph's common sense approach seemed to knock Hank out of his shockedstate. He's right, he thought. We'll worry about who's childthis is later, right now the important thing is to stop him or her fromcrying. He looked at Joseph. "No, as far as I know, there are nodiapers in the mansion. They aren't something we find ourselves in need ofvery often."
"Well, something has to be done," Joseph said, looking very uncomfortableholding the child. "The blanket is ruined and I think my shirt will betoo."
Although Hank had no younger brothers and sisters, he wasn't completelyignorant to the world of babies. He'd earned money when he was younger bybaby-sitting and actually had been rather successful at it. "Let me see thechild," he suggested, holding out his arms. Joseph happily surrendered theinfant to him. Hank looked over at Bobby. "Robert, make yourself useful.Go and see if you can find an old towel or sheet somewhere, something we canuse for a temporary measure until we can find proper diapers."
Bobby nodded and left the room rather quickly.
Gambit sensing he might be called into service decided to volunteer ratherthan be drafted. "While your doin' dat, I'll go down to the store and buysome diapers."
"Good idea," Hank nodded.
"You might want to pick up some formula too," Joseph suggested. "And abottle."
"An' some of those baby wipes," Rogue offered. "An' some powder, an.."
"How am I suppose to 'member all of that?" Gambit asked.
Joseph sighed. "I'll go with you," he suggested. "I've spent some timewith children, recently. I'm sure I can help."
"Is there something I can do?" Rogue offered.
Hank thought for a moment. "Why don't you try to find something for thechild to sleep in? he suggested. "Somehow I doubt Remy or Joseph are goingto find a crib at the 7-11."
Rogue thought for a moment. "Ah think Ah can manage that."
"Good." Hank said, carrying the child from the room.
While the other four busied themselves making preparations for theunexpected guest, Hank took the child up to his living quarters and broughther into his bathroom. Fortunately for all the members of the house, thechild had stopped screeching and instead was whimpering quietly. Hanklooked down at the bundle. "You're not having a very good night are you?"he asked, taking a towel and placing it down on the vanity and lying thechild on it. "Forced to ride up here on a motorcycle, surrounded bystrangers. We don't even know your name. Worse, we don't even know ifyou're a boy or a girl. Well, that's easily remedied..." He pealed off theblanket. Underneath, the child was naked except for a very soggy disposablediaper. He pealed that off, trying to only breathe through his mouth. "Ah,I see you're a little girl!" he exclaimed.
The child stopped her whimpering and looked up at him with large, blue eyes.Hank didn't know if it was relief at being freed from lying in her own wasteproducts or that at least her sex was known that stopped her from crying,but it didn't matter. "Well, this is a start, isn't it? We know you're agirl and we've gotten that terrible diaper off you. Let's see what we cando to make you more comfortable shall we?" He took a washcloth from thetowel rack, soaked it with warm water and began cleaning off the child.While he cleaned her off, he studied her carefully, making visualassessments. "Well, you seem healthy enough," Hank murmured. "A bit thin,a bit small, but nothing time and food won't take care of."
There was a tap at the bathroom door. "Hank, you in there?"
"No I'm not, Bobby," Hank called out. "This is a recording."
"Verrrry funny." Bobby snorted. "Is it okay for me to come in?"
"Unless the sight of a naked infant titillates you, I can't see why not,"Hank answered.
"Gee, you're such a riot," Bobby commented opening the door. "I can'tbelieve you don't have your own sit-com yet. I found some stuff."
Hank looked as Bobby began placing some old towels he'd found on the otherside of the sink. "Brown towels?" he asked.
"My idea," Bobby said proudly. "I figured they wouldn't look so stainedwhen she was done with them."
"My, I'm amazed Proctor and Gamble hasn't hired you for research anddevelopment," Hank murmured. "But, I suppose one of them will do until Remyand Joseph return." He turned his attention back to the infant, who wasgrinning broadly now, waving her tiny arms and legs around, obviouslyrelieved to clean again.
"Aw, a little girl," Bobby said, looking down at her. "She's kinda cute."
"Cute?" Hank looked at him. "This child is beautiful. Look at thosesapphire eyes, the fair skin underneath that spectacular blue fur. I wouldsay she's easily the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."
"You would say that." Bobby commented. "It's the resemblance to you." Helooked at his friend. "Hank, it's just you and me now... tell me, is sheyours?"
Hank sighed. "Bobby, I assure you there is no chance on heaven or earththat this is my child by blood."
"But how come she looks so much like you?" Bobby asked.
"I don't know," Hank admitted. "But I plan to find out." He dropped thedirty washcloth into the sink and turned the water on to rinse it. "Do me afavor Bobby, rip the end off one of those towels so it's square."
"Sure," Bobby agreed, doing as his friend asked. When he finished, helooked at it. "How are you going to make it fit?"
"Simple," Hank answered. "Fold it in half so it forms a triangle, then layit down there." He waited for Bobby to do that then picked up the childand put her down. "I've heard this is how people used to do it before thedays of disposables and pre-fitted cloth diapers," he said, bringing thecenter corner of the towel up between the child's legs and the other twoaround. her waist. "See? Perfect. You wouldn't happen to have anythingwe can use to fasten this would you?"
"I thought of that," Bobby said, reaching into his pocket and pullingsomething out. "Here."
Hank looked at the offered object and quirked one brow. "A roll of maskingtape?"
Bobby nodded. "Yeah, why not? It should work and it'll be easy to takeapart too."
"I was thinking more along the lines of a safety pin." Hank took the tapeand tearing off a piece. "But I suppose that never occurred to you."
"Well it did, but I didn't know where to find any," Bobby admitted.
"Then you get an A for effort and a C- for results." Hank used some smallerpieces of tape to hold the front closed, then wrapped a longer one aroundthe child's waist to hold the makeshift diaper. "There, you're all set."
The child looked at him steadily for a moment, as if she wasn't quite surewhat she should do, then grinned broadly and waved her tiny arms and legswildly.
"She admires your taste in fashion, Bobby," Hank commented. "Let's hopewith time she'll outgrow this phase."
"Yeah, right. At least she's too young to talk like she's swallowed adictionary, unlike some folks I know."
Half an hour later the clock read 2:00 a.m. Bobby, Hank and Rogue were inthe kitchen waiting for Joseph and Gambit to return. Hank held the infant,who didn't seem at all upset with the sudden changes in her life. She alsodidn't seem ready to go to sleep. She peered over Hank's shoulder, lookingabout the room with sharp eyes for one so young.
"Ah fixed up a makeshift crib using' some blankets and a dresser drawer,"Rogue said. "Ah put it in your room Hank."
"Amazing how everyone automatically assumes that I should shoulderresponsibility to this child." Hank commented dryly.
Bobby's answer was interrupted by Joseph and Gambit coming into the kitchen."We have returned," Gambit announced, placing a plastic bag on the counter.
"We were able to get diapers and some other baby supplies, including abottle and formula," Joseph added. "The woman at the convenient storesuggested a soy formula since we don't know if the child has any allergies."
"Dis baby stuff ain't cheap either," Gambit commented. "Hank, you owe ustwenty five bucks."
A pained expression crossed Hank's face. "Remy, I'll be glad to pay you themoney. But I admit, I am getting tired of everyone assuming this child ismine when I am constantly stating she is not."
"Oh, forgive me," Remy said, grinning broadly. "Some woman give me a bluechild an' say that she belong to you. What am I suppose to t'ink?"
Hank drew in a deep breath. "All right, I see your point. But, and I'monly going to say this one last time; this child is not mine.
"Well then, who's child is it?" Joseph asked, moving over to stand next toRogue.
"I don't know," Hank admitted. He turned to Remy. "Now that the childseems to be settled, please tell me, what happened this evening?"
While Gambit told the story, Hank continued to hold the infant. She stayedremarkably calm during the story of her arrival to the mansion, onlyinterrupting by occasionally cooing or making other baby noises. Every timeshe did, Hank automatically reached down and stroked her hair.
"So let me get this straight," Hank said, feeling frustrated at the lack ofinformation in Remy's story. "This woman approached you and said she hadsomething for me."
Remy nodded. "She never used your name though, she called you Beast."
"Hmm... I see." Hank nodded slowly. "And you didn't try to locate thiswoman again after you were given the child?"
Remy shook his head. "I really didn't want t'run around de streets wit' aninfant in my arms looking for some woman who didn' want to be found. Ifigured the best thing would be to just come back here. 'Sides, Hank, howwas I to know she wasn't your daughter?"
"Because I would think you knew me well enough by now to know that I'm notlikely to engage in any sort of intimate relationship with a woman like thisTonya" Hank retorted.
Gambit shrugged. "Far as I know you ain't seein' anyone. Lots of men havebeen known t' take a little walk on de wild side when they ain't got nothin'steady."
"Well I'm not 'lots of men.'" Hank pointed out.
"You can say dat again." Gambit sighed. "Mebe I should have gone lookingfor de woman, but hell Hank, she obviously didn' want the baby. And Ireally didn' know what else to do."
Hank nodded. "I think I understand what happened. This woman found herselfgiving birth to an... unusual infant. Obviously she's seen pictures ofmyself in the newspaper or perhaps on the television and figured if shecould find a way to give me the infant, no one would question it. However,a simple blood test will easily prove the child is not mine."
"So what are you going to do?" Bobby asked.
Hank shrugged. "Well, right now the child is safe. I don't suppose itwould hurt to have her stay here a few days. I can run some tests, makesure she's healthy and see if I might be able to locate at least one of herparents."
"Tomorrow night I'll go back to where I got her an' see if I can't findTonya," Remy offered. "But I'm tellin' you Hank, even if I do find her, Idoubt she'll remember who de baby's father is, unless he was as unusual asyou."
A week passed, and although Dr. McCoy was able to prove the child wasn't hisby blood, he wasn't able to find out who the child did belong to.The small sampling of blood he took from the child showed a variety ofinteresting characteristics, many of which were similar to his own, butenough differences to take him out of the picture. He fed the data on herinto Cerebro, having the computer try to match her scan to any mutant knownto it's data base, but it came up blank.
Not to mention there is also the possibility that neither of her parentsare mutants, Hank thought. In which case the chances of findingeither of them could get much more remote.
To give him credit, Remy went out almost every night that week, returning tothe same place he'd met Tonya and roamed the streets, trying to find her.He met several interesting characters who knew her vaguely, but told him shemoved away from the neighborhood. "An' we all know people like Tonya ain'tlikely t' leave a change of address card wit' de post office." Gambitsighed.
"True enough," Hank agreed. They were sitting in the kitchen. It wasrather late at night, Remy had just returned from his nightly searches tofind the child's mother and Hank was curious to see how it had gone. "It'sprobably pointless to keep searching for her."
"Probably," Gambit agreed.
The unspoken question hung in the air. What do we do with her now? It was a question Hank had been running over in his mind constantlysince she first arrived. So many questions, he thought. Evenif we were able to find this Tonya, she never said she was the child'smother. And, if she is, it's obvious she doesn't want her. So what next?Call child welfare?
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of crying, shortly followed byStorm coming into the room holding the child. "Forgive me, but as I waspassing your room I heard her."
"I understand," Hank assured Storm, reaching for the baby. The moment thechild was passed to Hank, she quieted down, her loud cries turning intosofter sobs. "Shh, it's okay, I'm here," he murmured.
Remy looked up at Storm, quirking one brow. Storm, however wasn't lookingat him, she watched Hank with the girl. "She is a very special child."
Hank nodded, running a finger along the inside of her diaper. "That she is.She's not wet though, and she can't be hungry..."
"I think she is lonely," Storm finished for him.
"She miss her Daddy," Remy added, with a grin.
Hank looked up. "Remy, she's not my daughter."
"Yeah?" Remy tipped his head to one side, studying Hank and the childcarefully. "Looks like someone forgot t'tell her that."
"And what is that suppose to mean?"
Gambit shrugged. "Last I knew babies don' care 'bout biology or familytrees. Babies want to be held, changed and loved. Dat is what dey look forin a parent, care an' love. Since she came here, we all 'ave lent a hand,but you the one who's taken care of her. You de one she quietsdown for, You de one she smiles most for. You de onewho's dealt with most of her diapers, You-"
"I see your point," Hank interrupted. "But you're not suggesting Ikeep this child are you?" He looked from Remy to Storm.
"Why not?" Remy shrugged. "Jean-Luc, he find me, he kept me. He's de' onlyfamily I ever known. Mebe I'm not his by blood, but that don' mean he isn'tmy father."
Hank looked over at Storm, expecting her to be the voice of sanity and comeup with a dozen reasons why he couldn't even consider adopting the child.Instead she nodded. "Gambit is right. Since the child arrived here, youhave been the primary care giver, you have acted as her father."
"But Ororo," he began, trying to think up reasons of his own. His wordsstopped abruptly as he felt a tiny hand close around his finger. He lookeddown at the child, who was looking up at him intently. You have a roughlife ahead of you little one, he thought. I had an advantage overyou, I wasn't born blue and furry, I did this to myself as an adult. Evenif you had a mother and father who love you, as I did, it still won't beeasy. I can't offer you much, but I can offer you one thing; A chance tofeel less alone. You'll never feel you're the only one like you.
He looked from Storm to Gambit. "You're right," he admitted softly.
Storm smiled. "Does this mean she shall be staying?"
Hank nodded. "Providing Charles and everyone else has no objections, shestays. And if Charles does have any objections, we'll probably bothleave." He sighed, not sure if he liked this option.
"I do not think Charles will." Storm smiled gently. "And if he does, youhave a lot of support here. In the short time the child has been here, wehave all grown very fond of her."
"There is something very special about her, isn't there?" Hank asked,looking down at the child again. She grinned and tried to stuff his fingerinto her mouth. He pulled it away from her mouth, but let her keep her holdon it.
"If you gonna keep the little one, don' you think you should name her?" Remyquestioned. "I mean, we can' keep callin' her Girl, or little one."
"Good point," Hank agreed. He shifted the child so his hands were aroundher waist and held her up. She looked at him, cooing happily, enjoying hernew view of the kitchen. "What should I call you little one? Anysuggestions?"
Gambit chuckled. "Petite Bete."
Ororo suppressed a smile, but the look Hank shot Remy could be described asannoyed. "Small Beast indeed. She needs a name, not a neurosis." Hestudied the child further. Her grin broadened and her cooing turned intolaughter. She knew she was the topic of conversation among these adults andshe liked it. "Mm... something special," Beast mused. "Something that fitsyou..." He ran over names in his mind. "Juliette? Amanda?"
"If it were up to me," Storm murmured, "I would name her, Sikudhani."
"See what?" Gambit asked.
Storm chuckled. "See-koo-THAN-nee," she repeated slowly. "It means asurprise, or unusual. Long ago I knew a little girl with that name. Shewas a delightful child, always smiling, so eager to see the world. It is agood name and I think it suits this one," She reached over and placed herhand on the child's head, gently stroking the fine blue hair.
Beast tried out the name, "Sikudhani, Sikudhani McCoy." He looked over atStorm. "I like it." He looked back at the child, raising her higher."What do you think?"
She responded by giggling madly, her arms and legs splaying out to her sidesas if trying to fly. "I believe I can translate that to mean she likes it,"Hank said.
"Yeah? Wait till she 'ave to spell it," Gambit offered. "But, I t'inkyou're right Storm. It does fit her."
"Now, let's see what Charles is going to say about our new permanent guest."Hank sighed.
"You want to what?" Charles asked, his face was almostexpressionless, but his eyes flickering slightly.
It was the next morning and Hank stood in Charles' study. He held Sikudhaniagainst his hip, her little legs around one thigh, her hands trying tocircle his waist. "I think you heard me," Hank said calmly. "Since wecannot find either of the child's parents, I am going to keep her."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Charles asked, also trying to sound calm.
"I'm very sure," Hank said. He might have been plagued with doubts thenight before, but he wasn't going to express them now. Besides, in hismind, the advantages of raising this little girl far outweighed thedisadvantages, for both of them. "Sikudhani needs a home."
"Siku-?" Charles began, then stopped. He's already named her, hethought. And I have a feeling I might as well be banging my headagainst a brick wall than try to discuss this with him, but I have to try."Henry, have you given this careful thought?"
"I certainly have," Hank assured him. "I am fully aware that this will notbe easy. Raising a child is never easy, but I cannot help but feel thatthis is right. That somehow, Sikudhani was brought to me because it wasmeant to be."
"I might point out that while it's never easy for a single parent to raise achild, there are other considerations in your case to look at," Charlespointed out. "You are an X-Man. You put your life on the line on aregular basis, is it fair to the child?"
"I thought about that," Hank countered. "And I admit now that I'm a father,I will think twice before exposing myself to totally unnecessary danger.However, I've often thought my skills as the team doctor and scientist faroutweigh my physical prowess to the team. There are many times when I feelI won't be needed to 'save the world' on the front lines. Life is often arisk Charles. People die every day without even being so-called SuperHero's."
Just as I feared, this is turning into a debate, Charles thought,his elbow on the desk, leaning his head against his fingers. "I'm not surethe mansion is the proper place to raise a child."
"There have been children here before," Hank pointed out.
Sikudhani squirmed uncomfortably. Hank automatically shifted her, so shewas resting against his chest, his arm under her butt to support her. Shepeered over his shoulder looking at the door, her sapphire eyes gleamingwith interest. Although young, her ears were quite keen and she could hearnoises outside that door. Interesting noises, like the murmur of voices,the scraping of feet.
"Children yes, infants no." Charles shot back.
"She won't be an infant forever," Hank reminded him. "And what about Scottand Jean? They're married now. It is not at all uncommon for marriedpeople to have children. Will you expect them to leave if they produceoffspring?"
"Of course not," Charles said. "But that would be different-"
"Oh really?" Hank interrupted, his tone rising slightly. "Are you implyingthat just because I'm using a less conventional method of having a child,that she and I don't have the same rights?"
"No!" Charles answered quickly. "However, in the case of Scott and Jean,the child would have two parents. Also, certain adjustments wouldhave to be made-"
"Those same adjustments can be made for Sikudhani and myself," Hankinterrupted.
Charles nodded, giving him that point, but still not ready to abandon thediscussion. "Well then, how about the fact that it's proven a child doesbest when raised by two parents? She's female. She'll need positive femalerole models in her life, she'll need a mother."
"There are a multitude of positive female role models' in this place," Hankreminded him, sailing easily over this verbal debate. "Yes, I admit nothingcan quite replace a true mother, but I'm certain Sikudhani will not lack forfemale influence and love in her life. She has Ororo, Jean, and Betsy, notto mention a variety of other women who are frequent visitors to this place.In fact, I fear rather than too little feminine influence, she'll mostlikely suffer from too much."
"Besides- " He walked closer to the desk, not ready to yield the floor toCharles yet. "-If you think you can possibly talk me out of this, you'rewrong. It will be rough enough for Sikudhani to grow up in this world,perhaps having a father that bears a resemblance to her will help her. Andone other thing, this whole debate is pointless. I'm not asking if Imay keep her, I'm merely informing you of my plans. If you do notwish for her to live here with me, then we shall both leave together."
Why am I not surprised? Charles thought. He looked up at his longtime friend and former student. "All right, since you are determined toraise-" he paused, trying to remember the name Hank had bestowed upon her."-Sikudhani, I have no objections if you stay here. However, before we makethis official, I think we should have a meeting. Everyone who lives hereshould have the chance to-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sikudhani interrupted him "Oh! Oh!Oh!"
"I think we can take this to mean my daughter has no objections," Hank said,stressing the word daughter a bit.
That wasn't really the case though. Actually, what prompted the noises fromthe infant were the sounds outside the door. Both men were caught up intheir debate and neither of them realized someone on the other side of thestudy door had taken hold of the knob and turned it.
"Callin' a meetin' Charles?" Logan asked, walking into the room. Rogue,Joseph, Scott, Jean, Storm, Gambit, Warren, Betsy, Bishop, Sam and Bobbyfollowed him, crowding the room.
Charles looked up. "Were you listening outside the door?" he asked, notlooking pleased.
"That's besides the point," Logan began.
"We knew Hank was planning on talking to you this morning," Jean explained."And we were all... concerned on how it would go."
"Let's cut to the point, " Bobby interjectected. "You want to know how allof us feel about having Sikudhani live here? Well, I don't think any of ushave any objections. Hank is right, the both of them belong together."
"We're a team, Professor," Warren began.
"We're more dan a team," Gambit interrupted. "We're like a family. So, nowHank got a daughter an' we got a niece."
"An' like any family, we're willin' t'help Hank with his daughter any way wecan," Rogue confirmed.
Scott looked at the professor, a faint smile playing across his lips. "Ithink you can skip the voting process, it's obvious it's unanimous."
Charles closed his eyes for a moment, looking pained. Everyone waited tosee what he would do. When he opened his eyes, they were glittering. "Ishould have known," he said, the tone of his voice holding unmistakablewarmth. He looked at Hank. "All right Henry, it's decided. Sikudhanistays with you, and the both of you stay here."
A cheer broke out among the X-men and they pressed closer to Hank and hisnew daughter to congratulate him and re-confirm the offer to help out in anyway they could. Sikudhani giggled and kicked, in her most captivating way,thrilled at being the center of so much fuss. Then she suddenly stopped,her tiny face screwing up in an expression of deep concentration.
"What's wrong with her?" Bobby asked.
Suddenly, Logan's eyes widened as he sniffed the air, then made a face."Something smells like shit in here," he said, turning away.
By the time he'd finished speaking the smell had the chance to carry aroundto the rest of the inhabitants of the room. "Oh dear." Hank extended hisarms, holding Sikudhani outward. "I fear it's time to change her diapers.Perhaps-"
"Oops,, gotta go," Logan interrupted, heading straight for the door. "Gotthings I gotta do."
"Let me help!" Bobby exclaimed, following the retreating X-Man.
"Don't ferget about me!" Sam chimed in.
"-Someone-" Hank continued.
"I jus' remember, I left de coffee pot on in the kitchen," Remy excusedhimself.
"Are you sure you can handle it by yourself?" Bishop asked, followingGambit.
"Um... Warren, didn't you promise to take me to breakfast?" Betsy askedhopefully.
"I certainly did!" Warren quickly agreed. "Shall we?"
Hank sighed, watching as the rest of his team mates found reasons to leavethe room as quickly as possible. When it was just the original three ofthem, he looked at Charles. "Maybe you would be-?" he began hopefully.
Charles shook his head. "Your daughter, your problem," he interrupted.
Hank sighed, looking at his daughter. She looked at him with anexpression of both bewilderment and discomfort. "You know, I don't doubtfor a moment that most of the time, you'll be overwhelmed with love andattention," he said, walking out of the room with her. "However," hecontinued, heading up the stairs to his room, where the diapers were. "I dobelieve there are times when it's just going to be you and me."
The child kicked her legs and grinned, as if to say this sounded okay withher.
The End for Now...