[A/N]: Sorry, guys, I missed this one by mistake :(
Ben stood, transformed and lumbered over. "Hey there, little guy. Name's Ben. I know I look scary, but I promise I'm actually a big softie. Your mom and dad here will tell ya."
Luv extracted himself from Sue's hug with polite patience, the way children do when they want to be helpful but also want to go explore. He craned his neck way back to look up at Ben who now turned back to his rocky form to entertain the kid. His eyes went wide as dinner plates. His mouth fell open slightly.
"Whoa. You're really really big." He reached out tentatively, his small hand hovering near Ben's rocky arm, then pulled back. "Can I touch? Does it hurt you?"
"Nah, kid. Go ahead. Feels like rock 'cause it is rock. Weird, I know."
Luv's small hand pressed against Ben's arm with the careful gentleness of a child who'd been taught to be cautious. His eyes lit up with wonder. "It's warm! I thought rocks were cold but you're warm like people!"
"That's 'cause I am people," Ben said with a gentleness that made his gravelly voice almost soft. "Just people who looks different. But different ain't bad, right?"
"Different is good," Luv said with the absolute certainty of a child. "Dad says different means special."
"Your dad's a smart guy."
Johnny approached with his usual lack of self-preservation instincts, though this time there was genuine warmth in his expression rather than just bravado. He crouched beside Luv. "So, kid, want to see something cool? I can do this neat trick with fire."
"Johnny, no," Sue and Reed said in perfect unison.
"Johnny, absolutely not," Jay added with the uncertain authority of someone still learning how to be a parent and not entirely sure if he's doing it right.
Johnny's hands sparked with small flames anyway. Just enough to be impressive without being dangerous. "See? Fire. Better than any lighter."
Luv's eyes went wide. He took an instinctive step back, his hand reaching for Jay's leg, grabbing onto the fabric. "Is that real fire? Doesn't it hurt?"
"Nope! Doesn't hurt me at all. I'm special like that."
Luv's initial wariness gave way to cautious excitement. He leaned forward slightly, still holding onto Jay but stretching to get a better look. "Are you like a dragon? Can you breathe fire too? Can you fly?"
"Yep! Want to see?"
Before anyone could stop him, Johnny ignited fully and lifted off the ground about two feet, hovering with showmanship. Flames wreathed his body, carefully controlled to avoid setting off the smoke detectors Sue had installed specifically for situations like this.
Luv gasped. His free hand came up to his mouth. Then he started bouncing on his toes, his earlier wariness completely forgotten in the face of something this amazing. "That's so cool! You're flying! You're really flying like in the cartoons!" He tugged on Jay's pants leg excitedly. "Dad, did you see? The fire man is flying!"
"I see, buddy. Pretty impressive, right?"
"Can I learn to do that? Can I fly like the fire man?"
"Not unless you're a mutant with fire manipulation powers," Jay said with the careful patience of someone explaining something complicated to a five-year-old. "And I'm really hoping your inherited abilities stop at telekinesis and reality warping. Adding pyrokinesis to the mix would be excessive even by our standards."
Johnny landed and extinguished with theatrical flair. He grinned at Luv's obvious excitement, then caught the look on Sue's face and had the grace to look slightly sheepish. "Tell you what, kid. When you're older, I'll teach you all about controlling powers. Well, the parts that apply to whatever crazy abilities you end up with."
But Luv had already lost interest in Johnny, his attention pulled back to Franklin and Nathan like a magnet. He returned to his position between the two babies, kneeling with the easy flexibility of childhood. Franklin immediately grabbed for him again. Nathan's little legs kicked with what looked like joy.
The three of them created a small tableau. Two infants and a five-year-old connected by something invisible but undeniable. When Franklin cooed, Nathan echoed it a half-second later. When Luv hummed softly, both babies quieted, listening. When he touched Franklin's hand, Nathan's fingers curled as if feeling the contact too.
The adults watched in silence, seeing something unprecedented. Something that spoke to connections deeper than genetics, bonds that transcended the violence of their creation.
The afternoon stretched on. Tension gradually bled away, replaced by something approaching normal family gathering. The kind where people actually relaxed instead of maintaining polite facades. Luv rotated between the two babies with natural ease, his presence keeping both Franklin and Nathan calm in ways their parents noticed and definitely filed away for future concern.
Jean moved to Sue's side on the sofa, both women watching their sons interact with this child who was genetically both and neither. Their shoulders touched. Neither pulled away.
"They made the right call," Jean said quietly, for Sue's ears only. "Reed and Scott. Much as I hate the idea of anyone tampering with Nathan's DNA, especially without..." She paused, correcting herself. "Especially making that choice. They protected our boys from something we can see right in front of us. What the Cabal tried to do."
Sue nodded slowly, her hand finding Jean's and squeezing. "I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it. But I understand it."
"We're allowed to be angry and understanding at the same time," Jean said with a small, tired smile. "Motherhood is complicated like that."
"Isn't it just."
Across the room, Scott and Reed had gravitated toward each other near the windows. Far enough from the group to talk without being overheard, close enough to keep eyes on their families.
"Jean told me she argued with you for a week," Reed said quietly, watching his son through the reflection in the window.
"She did," Scott confirmed. "Kept asking what gave me the right to make that choice, even with her permission. Kept saying it felt like playing God."
"Sue asked me the same thing. In almost the exact same words."
Silence stretched between them. Comfortable. The silence of two men who'd made the same impossible choice and carried the same weight.
"I'd do it again," Scott said finally.
"So would I," Reed agreed.
That was all that needed to be said.
Hours passed. The sun tracked across the sky, painting the room in shifting patterns of gold and amber. Conversation drifted into safer waters. Parenting anecdotes shared with the knowing laughter of people who'd survived similar trenches. Power manifestation concerns discussed with the clinical detachment necessary to stay sane. The logistics of childproofing homes for children who could potentially reshape reality debated with genuine intensity.
Normal stuff, if you ignored the fact that they were discussing mutant abilities and cosmic-level threats with the same tone most parents used for teething problems and sleep schedules.
Luv gradually showed signs of the day catching up with him. His movements slowed. His eyes developed that glassy quality children get when fighting sleep. He kept returning to Domino, climbing into her lap for increasingly longer periods before the babies' sounds would pull him back.
Finally, he climbed into Domino's lap and stayed there, his small body curling against her chest. His head rested on her shoulder. His eyes drooped despite his best efforts to keep them open.
"Mom," he mumbled, his words already slurring with exhaustion, "the fire man is really cool. Can we get a fire man at home?"
"We're not getting Johnny," Domino said, running her fingers through his hair with movements that were becoming more natural each time she did it. "But maybe we can visit him sometimes."
"Okay. That's good too." His eyes closed fully. His breathing started to even out. "I like it here. Everyone's nice."
"You had a big day, sweetheart," Domino murmured, more to herself than anyone else, still learning the rhythms of maternal comfort.
"Not tired," Luv mumbled, the universal lie of children fighting sleep, his words barely audible. "Want to stay and play more."
"You can play more after you rest," Jay said, moving to sit on Domino's other side, creating a small family unit within the larger gathering. His hand rested on Luv's back, the touch still a bit uncertain but growing more confident. "I promise Franklin and Nathan will still be here when you wake up."
"Promise?" Luv's voice barely rose above a whisper, already more asleep than awake.
"Promise, buddy."
That seemed to satisfy whatever concern Luv had been harboring. His body went fully limp, the boneless surrender of a sleeping child. His breathing deepened into the steady rhythm of genuine sleep.
Sue watched them with an expression that cycled through emotions too complex to name. Wonder. Grief. Joy. Fear. Hope. All of it written across her features in equal measure. "You two are going to be good parents. Terrifying, overprotective and probably traumatizing to his future dates, but good. Really good."
"That's the plan," Domino said with a smile that carried both confidence and uncertainty. "Good and terrifying. Make sure anyone who threatens him knows exactly what they're dealing with."
Jay confirmed with a nod, his eyes still on Luv's sleeping face. "Though I'm hoping we get at least a few months of relative peace before the next crisis. Let Luv adjust to having a family, give Domino and me time to figure out this parenting thing without external pressures. Maybe learn how to do bedtime stories without improvising badly."
"You'll be lucky if you get a few weeks," Scott said with the tired wisdom of someone who'd learned this lesson the hard way. "The universe seems to have a sense of humor when it comes to timing disasters."
"Optimist," Jean teased, elbowing her husband gently.
"Realist," Scott corrected. "There's a difference."
The afternoon faded into evening. The light outside shifted from gold to amber to deep orange. Conversation eventually wound down as exhaustion caught up with everyone, the adrenaline of the day's revelations finally wearing off.
Jean and Scott were the first to leave, carefully bundling Nathan into his carrier with the practiced efficiency of experienced parents. They made their goodbyes with genuine warmth, promises to coordinate playdates once everyone had recovered from the week's chaos, offers of help if Domino and Jay needed advice about raising a child with potentially catastrophic powers.
"Call us," Jean said firmly, her hand on Domino's arm "Day or night. We've been through this and we can help."
"We will," Domino promised.
Ben, now back in his human form, departed next, citing the need to check on Alicia. Johnny went with him, probably to avoid cleanup duty, but not before ruffling Luv's hair gently enough not to wake him.
The room felt quieter with just the Richards family and Jay's new unit remaining. The silence comfortable rather than awkward.
Sue stood moving to where Domino sat with sleeping Luv in her arms. She knelt beside the chair, putting herself at eye level."Thank you. For saving him, for giving him a chance, for choosing to love him instead of seeing him as a threat or a weapon." Her voice cracked slightly. "He's got Franklin's genetics, my son's DNA, and you're treating him like he deserves the world."
"He does deserve the world," Domino said simply. "All kids do. And this one especially, after what he survived."
Sue leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Luv's forehead, careful not to wake him, her lips barely brushing his skin. "You're going to do great things, little one. I can feel it."
Reed approached Jay, extending his hand. "If you need anything, any resources, any scientific consultation, any help at all, you call us. He's family now. Which makes you family too. And family protects each other."
Jay shook the offered hand, gripping firmly, meeting Reed's eyes with equal seriousness. "Same goes for you. Franklin's my godson, which means if anything threatens him, they'll have to go through me first."
"Understood," Reed said with a small smile that carried genuine warmth. "Though I suspect between all of us, any threat would be thoroughly neutralized before it got within a mile of any of our children."
"That's the idea."
Blue light gathered around Jay and Domino. The familiar crackle and pop of teleportation preparing to fold space. Energy building in the air like static before a storm. Luv stirred slightly at the energy discharge but didn't wake, his small face peaceful in sleep.
"Same time next month?" Sue called as the light intensified, already making plans, already weaving this new family into the fabric of their lives. "We should make this a regular thing. Let the kids grow up knowing each other."
"Count on it," Domino called back.
The light flared bright enough to leave afterimages dancing across everyone's vision.
Then they were gone.
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