Finally completed nouther Accidentsverse fic!
Title: Troubling Developments
Author: Timemonkey
Fandom: Marvel
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nothing really
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author’s Notes: Part of my Accidentsverse. For those of you who have forgotten, David is Johnny's son, his mother dumped him on Johnny unexpectedly when she discovered he was a mutant.
Accidentsverse archive is here: http://timemonkey.livejournal.com/12522.html#cutid1
"There is no pleasing that child!" Johnny declared as he entered the kitchen, where his sister was sitting at the table, just finishing a cup of coffee. He sat down in one of the chairs next to her's and slumped over, exhausted, his head and arms resting on the table, "How is it even possible for one kid to cry that much?"
Sue rubbed her brother's back sympathetically. "Don't worry, Johnny, he'll get over it. Ray's in an unfamiliar place, his dads have been gone for days and he doesn't recognize us yet, once he gets used to us he'll calm down."
"I hope so, his crying's keeping David up, too, and I do not have the energy to deal with the two of them at once," Johnny said, he lifted his head up from his arms and looked at Sue, "I should have let Peter watch him."
"Ray's safer here with us," Sue pointed out, rubbing Johnny's back soothingly. Sue shook her head in disbelief, "I still can't believe an entire cult has dedicated itself to trying to kill a baby. It's disgusting!"
"People are stupid, sis," Johnny declared. "Ray's a mutant, born from two men, on a date that vaguely matches some prophesy from, like, a thousand years ago if you squint at it closely in the dark. That's all the reason they need."
"They better hope the X-Men find them before they try anything stupid," Sue said. "Jean-Paul looked furious when they left. I can't imagine what might happen if they actually try to hurt Ray."
"Probably something like what happened to the last group that tried to hurt Frankie and Val?" Johnny teased with a hint of a smile. Sue had quite a bit of first hand experience with the protective parent rampage.
"Do you still have that shirt Bobby left here a few months ago?" Sue asked.
"Uh, yeah, somewhere. Why?" Johnny asked, confused by the sudden topic change.
"Because the shirt will smell like Bobby, and if you wrap Raymonde in it it might calm him down," Sue explained. "And once you've calmed him down make sure you talk to him a lot so he'll get used to your voice, like you did when you first got David."
"Oh, yeah," Johnny said, with a little smile, "I forgot about that. Guess I've just gotten so used to having him around I forgot I had to break him in first."
Sue patted her brother's arm comfortingly as she stood up and turned to leave. Turning back she added, "You're doing fine, Johnny. And remember, if you need any help all you have to do is ask."
Johnny watched his sister leave and took a deep, relaxing breath. Maybe Sue was right, David had been just like this at first. Maybe all he had to do was be patient. Maybe he could handle this after all. Johnny's new-found confidence retreated a moment later when the sound of a crying baby filled the room. Johnny groaned and turned back to the doorway where he found Ben, standing there with Raymonde in his arms, sobbing for all he was worth.
"Sounds like the tyke could use some attention," Ben said, handing the child to Johnny.
"What's wrong now?" Johnny asked the baby, futilely. "I just put you down like ten minutes ago!"
"He's not wet," Ben said, "I already checked."
"Maybe he's hungry?" Johnny guessed. "Kind of sounds like a hungry cry. That what you want, kid, lunch? Let's go warm up a bottle for you and then go find that shirt so you can get some sleep. Then maybe I can get some sleep sometime this week," Johnny added, under his breath. As taxing as babysitting had been Johnny was now fairly certain he'd be able to handle it. He had a plan now, first milk, then dirty laundry. Soon, all would be well.
//////////////////////////////
//////////////////////////////////////////
Hours later Johnny laid wearily on his bed, a baby boy held in each arm. On the one side was Raymonde, wrapped in his father's shirt, which had been successful in getting him to calm down, now sleeping peacefully. In the other arm was Johnny's own son, David, who was still awake and fidgeting in his father's grasp. Johnny looked down at the infant and smiled, "You know, David, you're a good kid and I'm lucky to have you."
David's gaze turned upwards, drawn by his father's voice, though unable to understand his words. The baby boy's bright blue eyes watched curiously as Johnny smiled again and then leaned over and kissed his forehead. His gaze then turned to the other child in his arms, "And you, you little screamer, are a royal pain in the butt, just like your dad. Ah well, at least things will get easier once you start to grow up," Johnny continued.
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Things had not gone according to plan, Scott decided as the team returned from their mission. While their primary objective had been achieved, things had spun out of control rather dangerously, and he had to admit that he had no one to blame but himself for the oversight.
They'd been lucky enough to catch wind of the gathering due to Multiple Man's extensive information gathering system from having so many of his dupes spread through so many walks of life. Naturally, they'd contacted Bobby and Jean-Paul and informed them of the situation and both of them had insisted on coming along to stop it. Scott had identified Jean-Paul as a problem immediately. The French-Canadian man's rage was obvious to everyone and Scott had spent much of their trip there arguing with him over his role in the mission.
Jean-Paul insisted he be in the infiltration team; since it was his son in danger, he felt he had the right to confront them himself. Scott had argued that this was a bad idea since not only was Jean-Paul easily identified but it was also quite clear that there was no way Jean-Paul would be able to control himself, which would blow their cover and prevent them from gathering the information and evidence they needed to shut the whole group down and ensure Raymonde's safety. Under normal circumstances the information gathering would have been much simpler, requiring little more than getting their hands on a single member with the relevant information, but the team was currently lacking a telepath, with Rachel and Betsy in England and Emma pregnant.
Ultimately, Scott had won the argument, though it had taken him up until the very last moment to get the raging speedster to admit defeat. Scott, turning his eyes from the empty sky before him to those seated behind him, turned his attention to the French-Canadian speedster and the man whose shoulder he was resting his head on. As it turned out, Scott admitted silently, Jean-Paul wasn't the one he should have been worried about.
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The jet landed at the Baxter Building a short time later. The tired X-Men were met on the roof by the members of the Fantastic Four who were not otherwise busy babysitting. Before they could ask what had happened, however, Bobby stormed past them all went and into the building without saying a word.
"Did something go wrong?" Sue asked, concerned.
"Actually," Scott began, "the mission was, technically, a complete success."
"Then what's wrong with the Popsicle?" Ben Grimm wondered.
"There were a few more people there than we were expecting," Scott explained, an edge of disappointment clear in his voice.
"Nearly five-hundred!" Jean-Paul said angrily.
The three heroes recoiled in shock and horror at Jean-Paul's statement. Even in their most pessimistic guesses they'd never thought that many people would be out to get Raymonde. If that many people had been driven enough to get together and do something then who knew how many more might be out there? No wonder Bobby and Jean-Paul look so angry and the others so down despite their victory.
"That's horrible," Sue said, "we'll do whatever's necessary to help you bring them in."
"That won't be necessary," Scott explained, "we managed to catch them all red-handed."
"How did you manage to capture them all?" Reed asked, curious.
"It wasn't us, it was Bobby," Lorna clarified.
"Bobby?" Reed asked, surprised.
"Yeah, he kind of snapped after they started talking about how they were going to kidnap Ray and 'return him to the hellfire he was spawned from'." Lorna explained, a hint of admiration in her voice. "Unleashed a frigid hell on them. It was ...impressive."
"And surprising," Alex added. "Who knew Bobby had it in him?"
"They were threatening his son, Alex. If someone threatened our son I'd certainly bring the house down on top of them," Lorna said. "Honestly, despite the terrible circumstances, it's kind of nice to see Bobby so protective."
////////////////////////////////////////
Bobby was storming his way through the Baxter Building, his goal clear in mind. He was tired, he was mad, and he wanted to hold his son and be sure he was safe. Bobby wasn't normally an angry person but the scene he'd witnessed that day had pushed him well past his limit. All those people, what they were planning to do, and to a child whose only crime was existing.
At last he came to Johnny's door and was surprised when the door opened before he could knock.
"Hey, man," Johnny greeted Bobby, standing in his doorway, still fully dressed but his hair and clothes all ruffled, making it clear that he'd only just woken up. Rubbing at his eyes Johnny added, "Heard you stomping down the hall and didn't want you to bang on the door and wake the boys. How'd everything go?"
Pushing past Johnny into the room, Bobby walked over to the crib in the corner and gazed down at the two infants within. Though he wanted to pick up his son and hold him, Bobby was reluctant to risk waking the boy so he simply reached down and gently stroked the boy's hair.
"Bobby?" Johnny asked cautiously, clueing into the fact that Bobby was upset. "Are you okay?"
Bobby shook his head and, without looking away from the crib, said, "No. It was terrible. I'm...it's just...I didn't think there would be so many of them." Bobby shook his head again, trying to banish the image of earlier that night. "The things they said, the things they were going to do. I...I lost it."
"Damn," Johnny said, shaking his head sadly. Looking back to Bobby he decided to try and be postive, "But you got all of them didn't you? So this'll be the end of it."
Bobby just shook his head and, with an edge of despair that Johnny had never heard from Bobby before, said "No, this is just the ones that were willing to do something about it now. There'll be more later, and even more after them. I've seen it before, no matter how hard we fight, no matter how much progress we should be making, nothing ever changes and we just end up right back where we started."
Johnny walked over to Bobby and wrapped a comforting arm around him, "That's not true Bobby. You guys have made a lot of progress, you just don't realize it because you X-Men are always throwing yourselves at the worst of the problem. You never get to see how the rest of the people are changing because you only ever see them when they're whipped up in a panic."
"It's not enough Johnny," Bobby declaired. "It was bad enough when it was just people hating me and my friends for who we are, but now they're doing it to Ray and I'm not sure I can take it anymore." Bobby hung his head sadly, defeated, and continued, "He's not even a year old and he's already had two attempts on his life. It's just going to get worse from here, human and mutants can't live together."
"That's crap," Johnny stated. "And you know it's crap. Look at us here, Sue, Ben, Reed and me aren't mutants, doesn't bother us living with Franklin. And everyone else here is fine with it. Hell, you and Jean-Paul are living out in the open all Out and Proud and everything's been going fine."
Bobby snorted at that, and Johnny smiled. He wrapped both his arms around Bobby and gave him a reassuring hug, which was returned a moment later. "Maybe you're right," Bobby conceded.
"Things'll get better," Johnny reassured him, "you'll see."
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Jean-Paul was sitting alone in the Fantastic Four's kitchen, contemplating the events of the day. It was pretty late and amost everyone had already fallen asleep, they'd decided not to finish the trip home until the following day as they were all physically and emotionally drained. The day had been productive, but depressing, and Jean-Paul wasn't entirey sure how to react to it all. He was snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality as a cold beer was slid in frint of him. Looking up he found Logan, sitting down into the chair across from him and cracking open a beer of his own and smirking at him.
Raising an eyebrow curiously Jean-Paul asked, "Is there something you would like, Logan?"
Taking a swip of his beer Logan simply replied, "Thought you'd want to celebrate?"
"Celebrate?" Jean-Paul asked, skeptially.
"Pretty impressive, the thing you pulled today," Logan said. "Not everyone can play Slim like that."
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Jean-Paul replied, just a tad too quickly.
"I'm talking about all the fuss you made on the trip during the mission. The way ya kept Cyke so focussed on you that he completely missed how ticked off the Ice Cube was getting, and just how badly he was going to snap once we got inside. He'd never have let you inside, no way you culd keep your cool, and you knew that so you snuck your boy under his radar so those bastards would get what they had coming."
"Merely a coincidence Logan," Jean-Paul denied with a smirk that quite clearly said otherwise. Logan just chuckled and the two men drank together in silence, Jean-Paul's mood having definitey improved.
Author: Timemonkey
Fandom: Marvel
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nothing really
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author’s Notes: Part of my Accidentsverse. For those of you who have forgotten, David is Johnny's son, his mother dumped him on Johnny unexpectedly when she discovered he was a mutant.
Accidentsverse archive is here: http://timemonkey.livejournal.com/12522.html#cutid1
"There is no pleasing that child!" Johnny declared as he entered the kitchen, where his sister was sitting at the table, just finishing a cup of coffee. He sat down in one of the chairs next to her's and slumped over, exhausted, his head and arms resting on the table, "How is it even possible for one kid to cry that much?"
Sue rubbed her brother's back sympathetically. "Don't worry, Johnny, he'll get over it. Ray's in an unfamiliar place, his dads have been gone for days and he doesn't recognize us yet, once he gets used to us he'll calm down."
"I hope so, his crying's keeping David up, too, and I do not have the energy to deal with the two of them at once," Johnny said, he lifted his head up from his arms and looked at Sue, "I should have let Peter watch him."
"Ray's safer here with us," Sue pointed out, rubbing Johnny's back soothingly. Sue shook her head in disbelief, "I still can't believe an entire cult has dedicated itself to trying to kill a baby. It's disgusting!"
"People are stupid, sis," Johnny declared. "Ray's a mutant, born from two men, on a date that vaguely matches some prophesy from, like, a thousand years ago if you squint at it closely in the dark. That's all the reason they need."
"They better hope the X-Men find them before they try anything stupid," Sue said. "Jean-Paul looked furious when they left. I can't imagine what might happen if they actually try to hurt Ray."
"Probably something like what happened to the last group that tried to hurt Frankie and Val?" Johnny teased with a hint of a smile. Sue had quite a bit of first hand experience with the protective parent rampage.
"Do you still have that shirt Bobby left here a few months ago?" Sue asked.
"Uh, yeah, somewhere. Why?" Johnny asked, confused by the sudden topic change.
"Because the shirt will smell like Bobby, and if you wrap Raymonde in it it might calm him down," Sue explained. "And once you've calmed him down make sure you talk to him a lot so he'll get used to your voice, like you did when you first got David."
"Oh, yeah," Johnny said, with a little smile, "I forgot about that. Guess I've just gotten so used to having him around I forgot I had to break him in first."
Sue patted her brother's arm comfortingly as she stood up and turned to leave. Turning back she added, "You're doing fine, Johnny. And remember, if you need any help all you have to do is ask."
Johnny watched his sister leave and took a deep, relaxing breath. Maybe Sue was right, David had been just like this at first. Maybe all he had to do was be patient. Maybe he could handle this after all. Johnny's new-found confidence retreated a moment later when the sound of a crying baby filled the room. Johnny groaned and turned back to the doorway where he found Ben, standing there with Raymonde in his arms, sobbing for all he was worth.
"Sounds like the tyke could use some attention," Ben said, handing the child to Johnny.
"What's wrong now?" Johnny asked the baby, futilely. "I just put you down like ten minutes ago!"
"He's not wet," Ben said, "I already checked."
"Maybe he's hungry?" Johnny guessed. "Kind of sounds like a hungry cry. That what you want, kid, lunch? Let's go warm up a bottle for you and then go find that shirt so you can get some sleep. Then maybe I can get some sleep sometime this week," Johnny added, under his breath. As taxing as babysitting had been Johnny was now fairly certain he'd be able to handle it. He had a plan now, first milk, then dirty laundry. Soon, all would be well.
//////////////////////////////
//////////////////////////////////////////
Hours later Johnny laid wearily on his bed, a baby boy held in each arm. On the one side was Raymonde, wrapped in his father's shirt, which had been successful in getting him to calm down, now sleeping peacefully. In the other arm was Johnny's own son, David, who was still awake and fidgeting in his father's grasp. Johnny looked down at the infant and smiled, "You know, David, you're a good kid and I'm lucky to have you."
David's gaze turned upwards, drawn by his father's voice, though unable to understand his words. The baby boy's bright blue eyes watched curiously as Johnny smiled again and then leaned over and kissed his forehead. His gaze then turned to the other child in his arms, "And you, you little screamer, are a royal pain in the butt, just like your dad. Ah well, at least things will get easier once you start to grow up," Johnny continued.
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Things had not gone according to plan, Scott decided as the team returned from their mission. While their primary objective had been achieved, things had spun out of control rather dangerously, and he had to admit that he had no one to blame but himself for the oversight.
They'd been lucky enough to catch wind of the gathering due to Multiple Man's extensive information gathering system from having so many of his dupes spread through so many walks of life. Naturally, they'd contacted Bobby and Jean-Paul and informed them of the situation and both of them had insisted on coming along to stop it. Scott had identified Jean-Paul as a problem immediately. The French-Canadian man's rage was obvious to everyone and Scott had spent much of their trip there arguing with him over his role in the mission.
Jean-Paul insisted he be in the infiltration team; since it was his son in danger, he felt he had the right to confront them himself. Scott had argued that this was a bad idea since not only was Jean-Paul easily identified but it was also quite clear that there was no way Jean-Paul would be able to control himself, which would blow their cover and prevent them from gathering the information and evidence they needed to shut the whole group down and ensure Raymonde's safety. Under normal circumstances the information gathering would have been much simpler, requiring little more than getting their hands on a single member with the relevant information, but the team was currently lacking a telepath, with Rachel and Betsy in England and Emma pregnant.
Ultimately, Scott had won the argument, though it had taken him up until the very last moment to get the raging speedster to admit defeat. Scott, turning his eyes from the empty sky before him to those seated behind him, turned his attention to the French-Canadian speedster and the man whose shoulder he was resting his head on. As it turned out, Scott admitted silently, Jean-Paul wasn't the one he should have been worried about.
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The jet landed at the Baxter Building a short time later. The tired X-Men were met on the roof by the members of the Fantastic Four who were not otherwise busy babysitting. Before they could ask what had happened, however, Bobby stormed past them all went and into the building without saying a word.
"Did something go wrong?" Sue asked, concerned.
"Actually," Scott began, "the mission was, technically, a complete success."
"Then what's wrong with the Popsicle?" Ben Grimm wondered.
"There were a few more people there than we were expecting," Scott explained, an edge of disappointment clear in his voice.
"Nearly five-hundred!" Jean-Paul said angrily.
The three heroes recoiled in shock and horror at Jean-Paul's statement. Even in their most pessimistic guesses they'd never thought that many people would be out to get Raymonde. If that many people had been driven enough to get together and do something then who knew how many more might be out there? No wonder Bobby and Jean-Paul look so angry and the others so down despite their victory.
"That's horrible," Sue said, "we'll do whatever's necessary to help you bring them in."
"That won't be necessary," Scott explained, "we managed to catch them all red-handed."
"How did you manage to capture them all?" Reed asked, curious.
"It wasn't us, it was Bobby," Lorna clarified.
"Bobby?" Reed asked, surprised.
"Yeah, he kind of snapped after they started talking about how they were going to kidnap Ray and 'return him to the hellfire he was spawned from'." Lorna explained, a hint of admiration in her voice. "Unleashed a frigid hell on them. It was ...impressive."
"And surprising," Alex added. "Who knew Bobby had it in him?"
"They were threatening his son, Alex. If someone threatened our son I'd certainly bring the house down on top of them," Lorna said. "Honestly, despite the terrible circumstances, it's kind of nice to see Bobby so protective."
////////////////////////////////////////
Bobby was storming his way through the Baxter Building, his goal clear in mind. He was tired, he was mad, and he wanted to hold his son and be sure he was safe. Bobby wasn't normally an angry person but the scene he'd witnessed that day had pushed him well past his limit. All those people, what they were planning to do, and to a child whose only crime was existing.
At last he came to Johnny's door and was surprised when the door opened before he could knock.
"Hey, man," Johnny greeted Bobby, standing in his doorway, still fully dressed but his hair and clothes all ruffled, making it clear that he'd only just woken up. Rubbing at his eyes Johnny added, "Heard you stomping down the hall and didn't want you to bang on the door and wake the boys. How'd everything go?"
Pushing past Johnny into the room, Bobby walked over to the crib in the corner and gazed down at the two infants within. Though he wanted to pick up his son and hold him, Bobby was reluctant to risk waking the boy so he simply reached down and gently stroked the boy's hair.
"Bobby?" Johnny asked cautiously, clueing into the fact that Bobby was upset. "Are you okay?"
Bobby shook his head and, without looking away from the crib, said, "No. It was terrible. I'm...it's just...I didn't think there would be so many of them." Bobby shook his head again, trying to banish the image of earlier that night. "The things they said, the things they were going to do. I...I lost it."
"Damn," Johnny said, shaking his head sadly. Looking back to Bobby he decided to try and be postive, "But you got all of them didn't you? So this'll be the end of it."
Bobby just shook his head and, with an edge of despair that Johnny had never heard from Bobby before, said "No, this is just the ones that were willing to do something about it now. There'll be more later, and even more after them. I've seen it before, no matter how hard we fight, no matter how much progress we should be making, nothing ever changes and we just end up right back where we started."
Johnny walked over to Bobby and wrapped a comforting arm around him, "That's not true Bobby. You guys have made a lot of progress, you just don't realize it because you X-Men are always throwing yourselves at the worst of the problem. You never get to see how the rest of the people are changing because you only ever see them when they're whipped up in a panic."
"It's not enough Johnny," Bobby declaired. "It was bad enough when it was just people hating me and my friends for who we are, but now they're doing it to Ray and I'm not sure I can take it anymore." Bobby hung his head sadly, defeated, and continued, "He's not even a year old and he's already had two attempts on his life. It's just going to get worse from here, human and mutants can't live together."
"That's crap," Johnny stated. "And you know it's crap. Look at us here, Sue, Ben, Reed and me aren't mutants, doesn't bother us living with Franklin. And everyone else here is fine with it. Hell, you and Jean-Paul are living out in the open all Out and Proud and everything's been going fine."
Bobby snorted at that, and Johnny smiled. He wrapped both his arms around Bobby and gave him a reassuring hug, which was returned a moment later. "Maybe you're right," Bobby conceded.
"Things'll get better," Johnny reassured him, "you'll see."
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Jean-Paul was sitting alone in the Fantastic Four's kitchen, contemplating the events of the day. It was pretty late and amost everyone had already fallen asleep, they'd decided not to finish the trip home until the following day as they were all physically and emotionally drained. The day had been productive, but depressing, and Jean-Paul wasn't entirey sure how to react to it all. He was snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality as a cold beer was slid in frint of him. Looking up he found Logan, sitting down into the chair across from him and cracking open a beer of his own and smirking at him.
Raising an eyebrow curiously Jean-Paul asked, "Is there something you would like, Logan?"
Taking a swip of his beer Logan simply replied, "Thought you'd want to celebrate?"
"Celebrate?" Jean-Paul asked, skeptially.
"Pretty impressive, the thing you pulled today," Logan said. "Not everyone can play Slim like that."
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Jean-Paul replied, just a tad too quickly.
"I'm talking about all the fuss you made on the trip during the mission. The way ya kept Cyke so focussed on you that he completely missed how ticked off the Ice Cube was getting, and just how badly he was going to snap once we got inside. He'd never have let you inside, no way you culd keep your cool, and you knew that so you snuck your boy under his radar so those bastards would get what they had coming."
"Merely a coincidence Logan," Jean-Paul denied with a smirk that quite clearly said otherwise. Logan just chuckled and the two men drank together in silence, Jean-Paul's mood having definitey improved.