Bobby was standing downstairs in the lobby of his apartment building, sorting through the mail when he heard a cough behind him.
"Greetings, dear boy!"
He turned around and his face lit up when he saw the arrival.
"TAV!"
The two men embraced unashamedly (after all, considering their history, it's lucky that hugging is all they did) and both began speaking at once.
"How did you get in?"
"It's good to see you!"
"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow!"
"I took the day off today!"
In a flurry of excitement, the pair set off to the lift up to Bobby and Julie's apartment, giggling and swapping stories like a two young girls.
Julie
Julie was sitting on the lounge, feet up on the other cushion and a notepad in a clipboard resting on her legs. She was working on the design for her next computer game whilst the kids played in their new 'power-proof' playpen. Olivia was sitting and playing with them.
"Julie," Olivia said suddenly, and Julie, stifling a sigh looked up.
Olivia was pointing to Tom who was sitting on the potty. A definite smell filled the air and after a few minutes Tom pushed himself off.
"Very good Tom!" Julie said applauding enthusiastically.
Soon he and B'Elanna would be potty trained... and then in a years time the other four would have to be dealt with. Julie got up to empty out the potty before they suffered too much longer from the smell of two-year-old poopy and of course, that's when the door opened.
Bobby
"And so I had to climb over a barbed wire fence!" Octavian was saying as he and Bobby entered the apartment. "Lucky for faster healing!"
"You would've been torn to shreds," Bobby replied, and the two of them had a laugh at that.
"Just as well my pretty face didn't scar!"
"Julie!" Bobby called. "I found this ratty bum downstairs."
Julie
Julie looked up in shook, bag of poop in one hand.
"Tavvie?" she exclaimed.
She moved forward to give him a hug, then remembered her burden at the last minute. Olivia shapeshifted an extra long hand and took it out of her grip. Julie shot her a grateful smile, stepped out of the playpen and hugged Octavian as was her original plan.
Bobby
"Hello old mum!" Octavian greeted, hugging her back.
Bobby went over to greet the kids.
Julie
Julie giggled.
"How you been?" she asked pulling away.
Bobby
"Oh, I've been simply smashing!" Octavian replied, glancing at Bobby, who was lifting one of his daughters in the air.
"I'm a Harvard man, you see. And we are always smashing! How about yourself?"
Bobby tickled Dax gently and kissed her cheek.
Julie
"Oh simply fabulous," Julie giggled. "My computer game company has really taken off, so we're like, loaded. Mostly because a couple of my partners have computer oriented powers. That seriously cuts down on the numerb of techincal staff we need."
She nodded enthusiastically.
"And these are the kids. B'E and Tom are the ones playing with the blocks. Josh has the truck. Cindy is cuddling the teddy bear. Bobby's holding her twin, Dax," Julie told them, and took a deep breath before continuing. "And the girl playing on the xylophone with oh so much enthusiasim is Tinga."
Bobby
Octavian merely shrugged at the last statement and turned to Bobby. "Dear boy, I dare say we are due for a night of debauchery!"
Bobby glanced at Julie, then at Tinga, then at Octavian.
Julie
Julie pursed her lips, but said nothing. She stepped back into the playpen.
Fine. If he was going to be like that, she just wouldn't tell him about Tinga's super-enhanced senses. He can go on being ignorant about his own daughter. See if she cared.
Bobby
Bobby put Dax down, then picked Cindy up for a cuddle.
"Well, how about I pick up some food for dinner, and give you guys a chance to catch up?" Bobby asked, noting the tension.
"You're going to leave me alone with your wife?" Octavian teased. "Have you forgotten our twisted relationship history? Speaking of twisted relationships! Did you hear that Jono and Bek broke up?"
Bobby looked shocked. "What? No, I haven't spoken to Bek since... since we graduated actually. It's a shame, I always thought we'd keep in touch, but you know..."
"Well, Dem and her have been keeping in regular contact," Octavian said, waving his hand dismissively. "Bek's been touring all over the place with her music. And Jono cheated on her! I never thought that would happen. But Bek simply just walked out on him once she'd found out. I dare say, we taught her a few things about standing up for yourself!"
Bobby grinned. "I feel like we did leave our mark on poor innocent Rebekah. Julie, did you ever keep in contact with her?"
Julie
"Sadly, no," Julie replied, shaking her head. "Wow, Jono cheated? Jono cheated?"
She mulled that over for a moment.
"Nope, still can't believe it. Poor Bek."
Bobby
"More like poor Jono," Bobby said, shrugging. "No offence, but that kid is moody as all hell, not to mention angry and bitter, with good reason, of course, but he was never going to find someone as nice as Bek."
Tav nodded. "I concur, my friend. So, rather, it's his loss, not hers. I wonder if they are still speaking though..."
Julie
"This is true. Although one has to wonder who he cheated on her with," Julie replied. "And for that matter, why has someone whom we've pegged as being angry and bitter ended up with two, possibly three girlfriends?"
She frowned, thinking this over.
"He must be good in bed," she decided.
Bobby
"Snow trip," Octavian said knowingly. "I saw it ALL. And yeah."
Bobby ignored Julie's comment and thought for a moment. "Hey, so, I have to go see Hanky this afternoon... do you want to come, Tav? Or you can hang out here."
"Hmmm," Octavian pretended to think. "I think I might go see whoever is left at the school. Jubes! Oh Jubilee! Secretly, I think she may have wanted to marry you, Bobby."
Julie
"Rogue and Shannon are there," Julie told him. "Rogue and Gambit are engaged."
Tinga continued to play away a merry tune - in tune - on the xylophone.
Bobby
"Rightio then! Congratulations to those two, though I daresay I won't tell Dem quite yet," Octavian said cheerfully. "Still don't like him enough to tell him congratulations in person, but I won't be overly snipey if we run into them."
"Ah, all we can ask of you," Bobby said, punching his arm affectionately.
"So shall we leave this room of children? They are freaking me out a little, with their tiny hands and heads," Octavian announced dramtically.
Julie
Julie pursed her lips.
"Most people think they're cute," she said, finally, when she felt she could trust her voice to come out steady.
Bobby
"I'm not a small child person," Octavian said condescendingly. "That hasn't changed about me. Anyway, shall we?"
"I think I'll alleviate the tension," Bobby said, then promptly letting off a fart. "Ok... we should turn a fan on or something, so I don't suffocate the kids."
"Well, dear boy, I shall meet you downstairs. Keys in your jacket?"
"Yeah..."
Octavian flounced out gracefully and Bobby looked at Julie, expecting an earful.
Julie
"Well!" Julie exclaimed. "I certainly didn't expect that! Although I suppose I probably should have..."
She paused and sniffed the air.
"Okay, Bobby-honey, that one was really foul," she said, waving her hand in front of her nose.
Bobby
Bobby chuckled. "Better out than in?"
He leant over and kissed her cheek.
"You can't expect him to change too much, he will come round and want to know Tinga, but right now, he's just not ready. Anyway, I'm probably going to end up staying over with Hank, he's flat out with research and I don't like him being alone down there."
Julie
"Okay," Julie replied.
She looked anxiously over at Tinga.
"She's not creepy. She's very, very talented, and she takes more after Tav than me. Well, except for the awesome good looks and the red hair. Those definitely came from me."
Her half joke brought a grin to her face.
"Say hi to Hank for me."
Bobby
"Yeah. See ya."
Bobby waved and headed out to meet Tav.
These days, with all the stress and the petty bickering they'd been doing lately, Bobby felt more as if they were roommates, rather than a married couple.
"Are we off then?" Octavian asked as Bobby hopped into the car.
"Yeah."
And they sped off in the direction of the school.