Bobby thanked his teleporter, whose name he had forgotten in the second that it had taken to get to Tulsa, then stepped up to the front door, thinking vaguely that he probably should start concentrating more when people were saying things to him.
Because that's how he always ended up helping Shayne with some sort of environmental cause. Not that he didn't believe in saving the world, but a lot of the time he didn't really have time to chain himself to trees.
He lifted his hand and rang the bell.
Julie
Julie peered out of the window and smiled when she saw Bobby there. Casually she opened the door and leaned against the edge.
"Hey Bobby," she said.
Bobby
"Hey little lady," Bobby greeted.
He paused.
"Are we mature enough to hug? Oh when have I ever been mature? Come here, Red!"
Julie
Julie smiled broadly and happily she wrapped her arms around Bobby. It felt so good.
"Mmm I've missed you," she said.
Bobby
"It has been quite awhile."
Bobby pulled back and ruffled her hair.
"Alright, now for those other two ladies. I have two giant hugs waiting for them."
Julie
Julie giggled, and lead the way into the lounge room.
"Hey girls, your Daddy's here," she said.
"Daddy!" Cindy and Dax said together and walked over to him as fast as their little legs would carry them.
Bobby
Bobby sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around his daughters, pulling them in close to him.
"Hey cuties."
Julie
"Watch," Dax said, tugging at his arm.
She stuck out her tongue in concentration, her hand outstretched. In a moment a small piece of ice formed in her hand.
"Oh," Julie gasped.
Bobby
Bobby beamed with pride, leaning down and kissing Dax's forehead. He covered her hand with his, and using his own power, helped her form an actual shape.
Julie
"Me too!" Cindy declared.
She touched her hand to theirs and tried to join in witht he ice sculpting.
Julie, behind them all, frowned a little to herself. How long had they been able to do that for?
Bobby
Bobby laughed and with one hand, covered both Cindy and Dax's hands. He helped them form shapes with their ice.
"My girls, so clever."
He glanced up at Julie.
"How long have they been able to do this?" he asked, a broad grin on his face.
Julie
Julie stopped, feeling much like a deer caught in headlights.
"I... I..." she stammered. "This is the first time I've seen it..."
She felt her face grow hot.
Bobby
"Oh," Bobby replied, wondering just how much time Julie was actually spending with all of her children.
But still, he didn't want to ruin such a happy moment, so he made a mental note (unless he forgot) to have a chat with her about it later.
"Well, it can't be very long, considering they can only create lumps. Although, it took me a while to work that out."
He turned back to the girls.
"Smarter than your old Daddy, hey? I guess I'll have to watch out!"
Julie
The twins giggled.
"Benefits of being born with active powers?" Julie suggested.
Bobby
"Yeah," Bobby agreed absently, then swooped the girls up into his arms again.
"That and they clearly inherited my intelligence. Now shush, Julie, I will not hear about your computer programming skills, they are nothing compared to my ability to sweet talk people into doing my work for me!"
Julie
Julie smirked.
"Can't argue with that," she replied. "I could do with that particular ability myself."
Bobby
"Well, Rogue did it because she used to be in love with me. She only married Gambit because I was not for sale."
Bobby nodded.
"I don't want to hear any hoo haa about them being in love for real, Julie, this is my world, and my world is a safe place. A kind place."
Julie
Julie laughed.
"Clearly," she agreed. "I mean, who wouldn't love you?"
Bobby
"Sometimes," Bobby said seriously. "I think that might actually be my mutant power. Ice and being easily fall in loveable."
Julie
Julie looked down at Cindy and Dax who were happily snuggling up to their daddy.
"If the girls have inherited that as well as your iceyness we'll have to beat the boys off with a stick."
Bobby
"No boys," Bobby said to his daughters. "Not until you're 30."
He nodded.
Julie
Julie smirked and the twins giggled, having no idea what on earth their daddy was talking about.
"So... plans for today?"
Bobby
"Hmmmm..."
Bobby looked up at her.
"I'm thinking... ice cream and I'm thinking the park. I don't know what you girls are doing," he joked.
Julie
"Ice cweam!" Cindy and Dax shouted.
"Ahh, they know so few words, but 'ice cream's one of them," Julie chuckled.
Bobby
Bobby laughed.
"It's a good thing to know."
Julie
"Ice cweam!" Cindy and Dax repeated excitedly. "Ice cweam!"
"We should probably go before they start getting really loud," Julie mused, and picked up the baby bag.
Bobby
"My daughters? Loud? Never!"
Bobby lifted the girls off his lap and stood, picking up Dax first.
Julie
"Well, the baby seats are in my car... taking mine or yours?" Julie asked.
"Up!" Cindy demanded, lifting her arms.
Bobby
"Yours," Bobby said, lifting Cindy up.
"Coz, remember? Hank bribed a porter for me."
Julie
Julie shook her head.
"Sorry, brain explosion. I'm so used to people having cars."
She slung the bags over her shoulder and headed for the front door which she held open for Bobby.
Bobby
"Your mom's having a brain 'splosion," Bobby said to his daughters.
"Could get messy!"
Julie
The girls giggled and Julie frowned as she opened up the car door. She sorted out the mess in there, then turned and reached out for Dax to strap her into the seat.
Bobby
Bobby gently set Cindy down and helped Dax into Julie's waiting arms.
Julie
Sometime later the tediousness of loading the girls in the car was over. That was followed by the tediousness of driving down the street to the ice cream parlour, and then by the tediousness of unloading the girls from the car again. The tediousness finished when the four were seated in abothh in the ice cream parlour and two hair chairs for the girls had been dragged to the table by their waitress.
Julie picked up the menu and ordered for herself and reviewed the child treats.
Bobby
Bobby ordered himself something, then turned to the girls to ask them what they wanted. After some lengthy child/Bobby (or were they the same thing?) chats, he finally managed to convey to the waitress what they wanted.
"Ice cream!" the girls cheered.
Julie
Julie chuckled.
This was nice. She, Bobby and their kids. Just like a family should be.
"This was a good idea," she said.
Bobby
"I have them every once in awhile," Bobby grinned.
He leant over and kissed Cindy's forehead.
Julie
Julie grinned.
"You have them more often than that," she replied. "So... how's uni?"
Bobby
Bobby shrugged.
"Same old, same old. I somehow got roped into manning a bake sale with Shayne on the weekend."
He frowned.
"Gotta start listening to what she's saying."
Julie
Julie tensed momentarily, then realised that Bobby had said that he had to start listening to Shayne and relaxed.
"Yeah, that might help," she joked.
Bobby
Bobby shrugged.
"Well, I guess it's for a good cause. I think we're raising money for saving the whales. Or the trees. Or... something."
Julie
Julie giggled.
"All in a good cause," she replied.
The waitress arrived then with their desserts.
"Ice cweam!" Dax and Cinday shouted enthusiastically.
Bobby
"Thanks," Bobby said, smiling up at their waitress.
She blushed slightly and left.
Julie
Julie frowned at the exchange.
Cindy carefully picked up the spoon as best she could and dipped it into the ice cream. The resulting scoop ended up half on her face but it was a good attempt.
Bobby
Bobby chuckled at Cindy and wiped her face gently, before helping her with the ice cream.
Julie
Dax achieved a successful ice cream into mouth proceedure.
"Very good Dax," Julie said absently.
Bobby
Bobby ate some of his own ice cream, before helping Cindy again.
"So... how's Tulsa?"
Julie
Julie shrugged.
"Same old. Boring as all hell but hey, great parties."
Bobby
"Oh, yeah?"
Bobby wondered how much partying she was doing, versus how much looking after the kids.
"Yeah, we're winding down at Uni. Plus, we've got Uni Ball coming up. Ha. What a great sentence, right there. Lennon and I want to go in costume, but Gab and Shayne are firmly against that idea. Mainly because it's not a costume party."
Julie
Julie smiled weakly.
"Sounds like fun," she said softly.
"You knew he was hanging out with Gabriella. You knew. Stop freaking out." she thought to herself.
Bobby
"It would be, if we were allowed to dress up. We wanted swords."
Bobby chuckled.
"Although, I can see why they would worry about Lennon and I having weapons."
Julie
"Swords are good," Julie nodded. "But that is a good point. Y'know. You wielding a sword in public. The real kind of sharp sword, that is."
Bobby
"No, Lennon and I have fake Sting swords, from Lord of the Rings. They light up blue and make clanging noises!"
Bobby grinned excitedly.
Julie
"Ahh," Julie nodded. "That sounds cool. Plus, y'know, that wouldn't make them real weapons so, y'know, they have no need to be concerned."
Bobby
"I think they're just nervous after the last time Lennon and I had weapons. And Shayne ended up with a black eye."
Bobby chuckled.
"We didn't mean for that to happen!"
Julie
"Ahh."
Julie ate some ice cream thoughtfully.
"Eh, she probably deserved it."
Bobby
Bobby's eyes narrowed slightly, a little annoyed that Julie would ever think one of his friends deserved getting hurt, but he let it go. Something he found himself doing a lot, when it came to Julie.
He opened his mouth to say something when his phone rang.
"Hey baby," he joked, flipping his phone open. "If you touch my laptop, I swear, I will sign you up for all the porn on the internet."
Julie
Julie's eyebrows raised. Baby? Who was this baby? Her eyes narrowed.
"Mo' ice cweam?" Cindy asked hopefully.
Julie's eyes flickered over to her daughter and vaguely noticed she had finished hers.
"One bowlful is enough, honey."
Bobby
Bobby laughed, scratching his arm lightly.
"I did try, but she password protects everything. Dude, I think it's... try the bottom drawer in the kitchen. Yeah, the one we throw everything into."
He paused.
"Cool. Hey Len? Yeah, I was about to say. Give Gab a call, get her in on this bake sale business as well. We may as well all be stuck here. Love you too."
He hung up.
"Sorry, he couldn't find our spare key."
Julie
"Ahh," Julie nodded.
"Mo' ice cweam!" Cindy demanded.
"Mo' ice cweam!" Dax added.
"One bowlful is enough, girls," Julie said. "Don't want to make yourselves sick."
Bobby
Bobby turned to his daughters and wiped their faces with napkins.
"I think we need a walk in the park to settle that ice cream," he said decisively.
Julie
"You go on ahead," Julie said. "I'll take care of the bill."
She stood and made her way to the counter.
Bobby
Bobby stood, lifting Cindy out of the chair first, then Dax.
"Alright kidlets, shall we?"
He picked them up, making his way out of the parlour.
Julie
Julie paid the bill and headed out of the parlour. She took a moment to look around and see if she could see them. Spotting Bobby with the girls, Julie trotted after them.
"Hey."
Bobby
"Hey."
Bobby looked around.
"Alright, I'm newish to Tulsa, where's a good place to walk with the girls?"
Julie
"Oh, right," Julie said. "I knew that."
She paused, then continued in the same direction.
"There's a park just a couple of streets away. May as well walk - parking's bad."
Bobby
"Awesome."
Bobby hitched Dax a little higher on his hip, following along behind her.
Julie
And thus it was that the four had a lovely time playing in the park before Bobby left. Although Cindy and Dax had a marvellous time, Julie was feeling somewhat despondant that Bobby hadn't made a move on her. She was beautiful again. There shouldn't be a problem!