Bobby groaned, rolling out of bed as he heard the buzzer going off in their apartment.
"I swear to God, if someone's not dead, they will be," he grumbled, looking at the clock.
7am.
Oh man, he didn't even have school today. Why was someone making him get up at this ungodly hour?
Bobby grabbed a shirt, throwing it on as he sleepily padded out of his room and to the front door. He opened it, yawning.
"Robert Drake?" the woman at the door chirped.
She was way too chirpy for 7am, Bobby decided.
"Mmhmm?" he leant against the door, afraid that if he had to stand up on his own, he might just fall over and go back to sleep.
"I need you to sign for this. The car is downstairs," she went on.
Oh, just a car.
Wait... A CAR?!
"Whaaa?" Bobby's eyes shot open as he took the clipboard and pen from her hands. "I have a car downstairs?"
"Yes," the woman replied, eyeing him strangely. "You didn't know?"
"Um, no," Bobby said, signing the paper with a flourish. "Did I win the lotto?"
The woman grinned, taking back the clipboard and reading over it. "Delivered from a William and Madeleine Drake."
"Those are my parents, but... what kind of car is it?" he asked, still bleary eyed, only not as much as he had been, moments before.
The woman laughed, eyeing Bobby with a flirty glint in her eye. "You'll have to come downstairs and see. Although, you might want to get dressed first."
Bobby looked down at his boxers and shirt and shrugged. "Nah, the neighbours love to perve on me in this. Or they should."
He closed the door behind him as he followed the woman downstairs and out onto the street to see his...
"OH MY GOD!" he yelped. "I hope your opinion of me hasn't been diminished by my slightly girly reaction just then, but... OH MY GOD. It's a JAG XY. Only like... my favouritist car ever!"
The woman laughed and handed him the keys. "Well, I'd say you're a lucky guy to have your parents buy you this. Enjoy it."
Bobby waved absently to her and looked at his car. He grinned like a kid, and unlocked it, then slid into the drivers seat. He reached across and opened the glove box, finding the registration details inside, and a letter from his parents.
He opened it and scanned through it quickly.
It seemed that William and Madeleine had felt somewhat guilty of their rejection of him and their grandchildren, and instead of coming to talk to him about it, they would just buy him the car.
Well, the letter didn't say that exactly, but that's what Bobby got out of it.
"How awesome. Guilt, you are my favourite emotion right now," he murmured, hopping out and locking the door. He touched the retractable roof with his fingers, smiling, then turned and went back into the house, bouncing the whole way.
Knowing he'd never get back to sleep, he went into the kitchen to start making breakfast for the whole house. Fruit salad for him and Julie, with toast, coffee and juice, then he started organising the food for the kids.
Julie
Julie woke at 7:30 as if like clockwork, and as usual poked her head into the nursary before heading to the kitchen.
"You're up early," she observed, seeing Bobby's handiwork.
Bobby
"Delivery girl woke me up," Bobby said, yawning for the millionth time. "Mom and dad bought me a car."
He paused.
"I don't know why, but it's awesome!"
Julie
Julie blinked and stared at him.
"Wait," she said. "Did I hear that right? Your parents gave you a car?"
Bobby
Bobby nodded and grinned.
"Only like my favouritist car in the whole world! I think this is their way of feeling guilty."
He giggled.
"I love guilt!"
Julie
Julie's eyes widened.
"They got you a Jag?"
She promptly sat down on the nearest seat and stared.
"They must be feeling hell guilty with all them money they're throwing at you."
Bobby
Bobby nodded excitedly.
"They feel bad for like... shunning me. But not enough to welcome me back to the family, more to just ease their minds. But hey, works for me!"
He handed her a plate of fruit salad.
"So I say, we take it out for a spin. You know what? We need a family sized car for our kidlets."
Julie
Julie nodded, taking the plate graciously.
"Sounds like fun," she said. "My ol' bomb isn't much good for our load any more, huh? But then, we don't do a lot of travelling..."
She started eating the fruit.
Bobby
"When the kids get older we should do more travelling," Bobby decided.
"Right now it's too hard to get all our kids around."
Julie
"Yeah," Julie agreed. "But I like travelling. I think I would like to do a cross country train trip around the States and Canada. I think that would be fun. And I wanna go to Europe. And Australia."
Bobby
Bobby nodded and ate some of the fruit on his plate.
"I'd love to go to a whole bunch of states that I haven't been to before."
Julie
"Yeah, that'll be fun," Julie agreed.
Some of the juice from the fruit she was eating starting dripping down her arm and she twisted her head around so that she could lick it up before it dripped on the table or the floor.
Bobby
Bobby looked at Julie for a second and grinned.
"Wanna get married next weekend?"
Julie
"Yes, let's," Julie replied.
A cry eminated from the nursary.
"It appears I'm being hailed," she sighed, and got up to wipe the residue juice off so she could tend to her children without getting them sticky.
Bobby
Bobby followed her into the nursery and went to see how his little twins were going.
"So, we've gotta organise a porter for us and the kiddies, Friday? Hanky. Who else?"
Julie
"I'm sure Annika won't mind," Julie replied, "Aww, what's wrong, Tingy-babe?"
She picked up the sensitive baby, and jiggled her around a bit while she picked up a bottle.
"Hungries?"
Bobby
Bobby bent down and peered at his baby girls and giggled.
"They're so amazing."
Julie
Julie smiled.
"Yes, yes they are," she agreed. "I just wish I knew why Tinga was so sensitive to every single thing."
Bobby
Bobby looked over at Julie and shrugged.
"I guess you could talk to Xavier about it."
Julie
"I guess. It might just be a baby thing though, and I'd hate to bother him... I'll think about it," Julie replied.
Tinga finished the bottle just as B'E and Tom decided they wanted to get out of their cribs. She put Tanga back in her's and the took B'E and Tom out of their and put them on the floor, where they promptly crawled over to their toys. Julie chuickled and pulled out Josh to feed him.
Bobby
"It might ease your mind," Bobby suggested.
He lifted Dax out of the crib and kissed her nose gently.
Julie
"Yeah... yeah it might..." Julie agreed. "So, for this little spin we're going to take in your new car... anywhere in particular you wanted to go? Or are we going to take a scenic tour of New York?"
Bobby
"Scenic tour. I have to drop in at Uni and hand in an essay, but other than that, we can roam the world," Bobby nodded.
"By world, I mean New York."
Julie
Julie giggled, and burped Josh.
"Wow, the world is pretty sucky if all it is is New York," she joked.
She put Josh back into his crib.
"Well," she said. "I guess I'd better pack these guys stuff."
She opened up the cupboard and pulled out the two bags she tended to bring wiht her on those occasions where she had to take her kids out. Julie avoided going out very often.
Bobby
Bobby put his daughter back into her crib and then went over to help Julie.
"We should look into getting a van... OH MY GOSH, let's get an RV and take family crazy caravan holidays!"
Julie
Julie grinned.
"Yeah!" she agreed, with just as much enthusiasim. "That's a great idea. Marvellously marvellous even."
She loaded a bunch of nappies, toys and other neccesary good into the bags.
"Hmm, I should go get some baby foodstuffs," she said finally.
Bobby
"We can go grocery shopping this afternoon. We need heaps of stuff," Bobby told her.
He yawned and then stretched.
"K, I'm gonna shower, otherwise I might pass out."
Julie
"Okey-smokey," Julie replied.
Satisified that the children would be okay for a while, Julie headed back into the kitchen and collected baby food and drinks for her six babies, and packed them away in the bags. Then she headed back to her room to get dressed for the day's outing.
Bobby
Bobby went into the bathroom and showered, then shaved, then walked through to their bedroom to search out his clothes.
"Hmmm, wanna have a picnic on the beach? One beach, any beach?" Bobby asked, picking up a shirt.
Julie
"Sure," Julie replied, pulling on her pants. "Hmm... now, food, clothes, diapers, pacifiers, toys... oh... a top might be good."
She opened up her drawer and fished around for a good shirt to wear.
Bobby
"Ummm, k, well, we'll stop off at the store and I'll run in and get meats and bread and everything. Good thing is, I'm a walking esky."
Bobby grinned and then pulled his pants on properly.
Julie
"Yes, us adult folk need foods too," Julie giggled.
She kissed her 'walking esky'.
"Well, I think we've got everything."
Bobby
"K, well shall we?"
Bobby patted Julie on the behind gently, walking with her to get the kids.
Julie
Thus Julie pulled out the strollers (nice big ones for multiple kids), and began dressing and loading up her children. Bags were stored, and the walk down to the car began.
Julie was rather looking forward to seeing Bobby's new car with her own eyes.
Bobby
Bobby bounced excitedly on the way out of their apartment, and in the elevator on the way down, he could barely contain himself from making a sort of "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" noise quietly.
The elevator doors opened and Bobby practically flew out, pausing to open the main doors of the lobby open for Julie and the kids.
And there it was.
All silver and sparkly.
Julie
Julie pushed the stroller out of the elevator, stopped short and stared at the car.
"Bobby!" she exclaimed. "Oh, it's beautiful!"
Bobby
"I know! I can't hate my parents anymore!"
Bobby was dancing a sort of jig by the car.
Julie
Julie giggled helplessly.
"This is so awesome," she said.
She shook her head, as if in a daze.
"I almost don't want to go for a ride in it, like it would soil the fabulousness of it. Almost."
Bobby
"Ah I know, but we have to test this bad boy out!"
Bobby flipped out the keys and pressed the button and the car unlocked. He grinned with delight and opened the door.
Julie
Julie peered inside.
"Very slick," she said approvingly.
She looked at the kids, then back at the inside of the car.
"Hmm..." she frowned. "I don't think that there is enough room for them all... I wonder if I can con Annika into taking care of them..."
Bobby
"You know what?" Bobby said thoughtfully. "We should hire a nanny."
He turned to Julie, his eyes all big and blue and sweet.
"Can we at least bring along the fruit of my loins? I haven't spent much time with those two lately."
Julie
"Sure," Julie nodded, checking her watch. "Hmm, Annika will be up by now, I'll harrass her. A nanny sounds like a really good idea. We just need a place to keep her. And for that matter, a means of paying her."
She pulled out her mobile phone and started searching for Annika's number.
"Though, we're about to introduce the gaming susbscription, so hopefully that will take off and we'll profit from that. A steady stream of regular payments will be really nice."
A few minutes later, Julie had successfully talked Annika into taking care of four out of the six children.
Bobby
"Once I'm done at Uni we'll have a lot more money coming in. I'm applying for a couple of jobs, part time, just to get us through."
He shrugged.
Julie and Annika
"Nifty," Julie replied. "Okay, well, why don't you get Cindy and Dax settled? I'll take the others back up. I think it's so cool that Annika managed to get an apartment on the same floor of the same building."
She removed one of the bags, two of the car seats and the two children, of course. Then she zipped back upstairs with the other four. Annika was waiting when she got back, Brett in her arms. Julie let them all in, retrived the two-child stroller, said her good byes and zipped back down again.
Bobby
Bobby opened the back doors and settled the car seats, then settled his daughters IN the seats.
"Alright, you both set?" Bobby asked, his eyes crinkling in the corners as he grinned at his kids.
He closed the back doors before hopping into the front seat, waiting for Julie. He turned around to look at his kids again, wondering if it would be too cold for them if he put the top down.
Julie
Julie reappeared in the car park. She dumped the replacement stroller in the foot of the back seat and then sat down in the front passanger seat. She clapped her hands excitedly.
"Oh, this is going to be great," she said, beaming at Bobby.
Bobby
Bobby chuckled.
"I know!"
He started the car.
"Too cold for the bubs if I put the room down?"
Julie
"Hmmm..." Julie considered. "Yeah... it might be. Sorry."
She pulled on her seat belt and sat back for the ride.
Bobby
"That's cool," Bobby said, reversing out of his parking spot.
"This is so exciting! Ok, we'll go down to the shops, pick up some picnic food and I'll drive us out to... somewhere."
Julie
Julie nodded.
"A plan, a plan, oh yes we have a plan," she sang cheerfully. "By the way, may I add your parents rock?"
Bobby
Bobby laughed.
"They do, don't they? Right now, at least."
He stopped at a traffic light.
"So... want to go to a park or a waterside venue?"
Julie
"Hmm..." Julie considered. "Lets go to a park. Otherwise I'll want to go swimming, and I didn't bring my suit, so I'd go skinny dipping and I wouldn't want to leave Cindy and Dax alone."
She nodded.
Bobby
Bobby snorted.
"That was very well thought out."
He flipped his indicator on.
"Alright, I know just the place actually... it's in between here and my parents place, probably closer to here though."
Julie
"Cool," Julie replied. "And I'm glad it's closer to here than to your parents, given that they live in Boston."
She grinned at him and waggled her eyebrows.
Bobby
"Well yes... but once we drove to my parents house."
Bobby grinned.
"Long night... also... Logan drives like a madman."
Julie
"Logan is a madman," Julie joked. "That may have something to do with it."
She started looking around the front of the car.
Bobby
"That, and we were in Scott's car, and he has those buttons to make you go really fast."
Bobby chuckled and then turned the corner.
"I know there's a little shop about 20 minutes from the place I'm taking us, so we can stop there and get lunchables."
Julie
"Marvellous," Julie replied.
She pulled down the flap above her head.
"Ooh, nice mirror."
Bobby
After driving for some time, Bobby pulled over at a supermarket.
"May as well all get out," he suggested. "Get some air and stretch out legs."
Julie
"Okey-dokey," Julie said cheerfully.
When Bobby was done parking the car, Julie got out and unfolded the stroller, and loaded up the twins.
"Stretching legs is good."
Bobby
"Mmmm, I'm so hungry, hey?" Bobby said, locking the car and assisting Julie with the twins.
When that was done, he started for the store.
Julie
Julie followed Bobby through the doors.
"So, what foodstuffs do we want to get?" Julie asked, walking into the nearest aisle, pushing the stroller.
Bobby
"I would like chicken."
Bobby grinned.
"But it's up to you. We could get a BBQ chicken, salad and rolls... or we could get... I don't know. Meat and such and BBQ it ourselves... we need a pyrokinetic child. I'm a walking esky, but fire is trickier."
Julie
"Just a tad," Julie agreed. "BBQ sounds good."
She looked down at Cindy and Dax.
"I wonder what powers these two have?" she mused.
Bobby
"We'll find out soon," Bobby said, shrugging.
"Second gen mutants get their powers right away, I think, so it should be interesting."
Julie
Julie nodded in agreement.
"Yeah," she said. "And they also take after their parents. So... I wonder if we'll have a couple of little ice princesses."
She smiled at Bobby as they entered the frozen food section.
Bobby
Bobby laughed.
"Probably. Go out and have sex with John, if we ever see him again. Then we can have a pyrokinetic kid."
He paused.
"Did you ever meet John?"
Julie
Julie shook her head.
"Nope," she replied. "But Rogue mentioned that he'd joined a circus. A mutant one that's been touring Europe. She toured with them for a few months. Maybe if they ever tour the States we can arrange something. Although in the current climate of anti-mutantism, perhaps they're going to avoid the States for their own safety."
Julie then cocked her head to the side and gave Bobby an amused grin.
"Soooo... you, my beloved fiance, would actually encourage me to get pregnant to another man?"
Bobby
Bobby chuckled.
"Probably not."
He thought about what she'd said about John.
"Does Rogue know how to find this circus?"
Julie
Julie grinned.
"I thought not," she replied. "Umm, last I heard, they were going to Genovia. Which is why she part ways, because she had already been to Genovia and wanted to go to Ireland. Hmm... well, Gambit gave her a mobile phone, so we can call her when we get back and see if they have a website or something with their tour dates."
Bobby
Bobby digested this information for a moment.
"Yeah... after we get married and stuff, I might go to Genovia. I want to make things right with him."
Julie
Julie nodded.
"Okay," she said. "Sounds like a plan. Ooh, chippies!"
And in this exclamation, Julie picked up a few bags of chips that were on special.
Bobby
"Oooh, cheese and onion!"
Bobby put a packet into their cart, then headed for the deli to get the chicken.
Julie
Julie was close behind Bobby with the girls.
"Oh they're so cute!" said a nearby shopper.
Julie looked over and tried to keep the expression on her face neutral. These people who seem to think anyone with newborn/toddler twins was fair game...
"Are they twins?"
"Yes."
"Identical?"
"Yes."
"Girls?"
"No, they're boys with too much estrogen in their systems."
Bobby
Bobby grinned politely at the shopper then asked for a chicken at the deli.
He bent down to play with his daughter's for a second.
Julie
The shopper gave Julie a weird look, the twins another adoring glance, and departed.
"They're dressed up in pretty frills and flowers and she asks me if they're girls," Julie muttered, rolling her eyes. "That's the only problem with having twins - the stupid twin questions."
Bobby
Bobby laughed as they paid for their purchases and started to head out of the store.
"Just as well we didn't have all the kids then."
Julie
"Agh," Julie winced, following Bobby out. "Yknow, one time I was out shopping with the kids before I had Cindy and Dax, and someone actually had the nerve to say 'I hope you had your tubes tied'. The gall of some people!"
She waited for the car to pass, then continued walking across the car park.
Bobby
Bobby just shook his head, a tiny smile on his face as they walked thowards the car.
"Well, it's probably because you're so young, I guess. Not that it matters, but yeah... that's my theory."
Julie
As soon as the car was unlocked, Julie started unloading the twins.
"It's just plain rude," she said. "Telling me I should have my tubes tied. I love my kids, all six of them, and people like that just make me want to have more kids, if only to defy their horribleness."
Bobby
Bobby chuckled.
"Come on J, don't let it spoil your mood. You can vent when we're back home, but for now, it's picnic happy family time."
Julie
Julie had to smile. Bobby had that effect on people.
"Yeah," she agreed.
She folded up the stroller, tossed that in the car and double checked the girls were strapped in before she got into the front seat.
Bobby
Bobby hopped into the drivers seat and fastened his seatbelt, then started the car.
"K, so we have food, so off we goooo!"
And they were off.
Julie
Julie watched the scenery pass by in the window for awhile before turning her head to Bobby.
"So, how far away is this park anyway?" she inquired.
Bobby
"Another 5 minutes and we should be there," Bobby said.
He drummed on the steering wheel absently, as he drove, and sure enough, after a few minutes, the park came into sight.
Julie
Julie looked out of the window eagerly at the park.
"Oooh, that it? Sweet."
Bobby
Bobby swung into a parking spot and turned the engine off.
"Mmmhmm, lunchable time!"
Julie
And for the umpteenth time that day, Julie loaded the twins back into their stroller.
"I think the twins are getting hungry for lunch too," she observed.
Bobby
Bobby nodded and grabbed the blanket and food from the boot of the car. He then walked ahead into the park and spread the blanket out on the grass and started pulling food and plates from the bag.
Julie
Julie followed Bobby to the site, and gave him a hand setting things up until Cindy started crying and demanding attention. Julie fished one of the bottles out of the bag, took Cindy out of the stroller and began feeding her.
"A mother's job is never over," she smiled. "I guess we're lucky we lastest this long without crying."
Bobby
Bobby laughed and sat back, before lifting Dax out and cradling her in his arms gently.
"They've been pretty good today."
Julie
Julie nodded in agreement.
"Yes, they have," she said.
She sighed and looked around.
"This is a beautiful park."
Bobby
"Mmm, it is," Bobby said, looking around.
He then reached for some chicken.
"It's nice to get out of the city for awhile."
Julie
"Yes, it is," Julie said. "Nice, fresh air out here. I haven't smelt fresh air for a long time. There are certain advantages to living in the middle of nowhere."
She grinned.
Bobby
"Do you miss Tulsa?" Bobby asked.
"Or Roswell?"
Julie
"Well, I did leave most of my friends behind in Tulsa," then Julie thought over what she said. "Actually, but the time I left most of my friends were the... uhh... sex fiend variety, so maybe I don't. I had made actual friends in Roswell, though. But I think most of all I miss the quiet living."
Bobby
"Must've been hard."
Bobby smiled at her.
"I remember when you first showed up at Xavier's. You were almost quiet."
Julie
Julie smiled in rememberance. Bottle now empty, she put it down and lifted Cindy to burp her.
"Yeah," she mused. "Didn't know anyone. Got comfortable enough before too long to go back to some old habits though."
She waggled her eyebrows cheekily.
Bobby
"I thought you were really shy," Bobby laughed.
He thought for a moment.
"I was sort of with Rogue when you showed up. And then... just went with you. Rogue and I talked about it later though. Was kinda funny. We were all 'so, I guess it goes without saying that we've broken up'."
Julie
Julie nodded.
"You two kinda had 'just friends' written all over you," she replied. "But wasn't Gambit in the picture before I was?"
Bobby
"Yeah, I think so."
Bobby paused while eating a bit of chicken.
"We worked well at first, but then it just... died, I guess."
Julie
"Yeah... well I'm glad that there were no hard feeling between you guys," Julie said, playing Cindy back in the stroller, "otherwise I'd find it very hard to be engaged with you and friends with Rogue at the same time."
She chuckled and finally helped herself to the chicken.
Bobby
Bobby grinned cheekily.
"Who would you have chosen? Or do you girls have that solidarity too? Bros before hoes. Or in your case, chicks before dicks."
Julie
Julie giggled.
"Well, given that Rogue was the one who practically set us up..." she said. "I may have chosen Rogue by default. But then... who knows?"
Bobby
Bobby heaved a sigh.
"I probably would've ended up with Kitty or some such if that had happened. Or I'd still be single, living in the mansion and just annoying Hank a lot."
Julie
"Of course, there is always the fact that Rogue went travelling... so maybe without her around to interfere..." Julie waggled her eyebrows at Bobby.
She leaned over to get more chicken.
Bobby
Bobby laughed and finished the last bit of his chicken off.
"Or I might've just ended up completely with Tav."
Julie
Julie chewed her chicken thoughtfully.
"I wonder what happened to him? One day he was at the school, the next day... nothing."
Bobby
"He's off at Harvard. I speak to him occasionally, but it's really not the same. I get the feeling we've grown apart because we both want such different things in life."
Bobby shrugged slightly.
Julie
"Yeah. Well, at least his father can't get him now," Julie replied decisively.
She reached over and took his hand.
Bobby
Bobby rubbed his thumb over her palm and grinned at her.
"Wanna just hang here for a bit then rescue Annika, who needs a Bobby-given-nickname by the way, from our kiddies?"
Julie
Julie giggled.
"Sounds good to me. But let's not rescue her too soon, okay?"