Some Girls [IC]

[alderwitch]

Alex gave Zoe a frown and informed her tartly, "No one in this family is a 'nasty skank'. People are talking because clearly they both lack the sense that God gave little green apples and because apparently someone wants to see Mike turn Mark into a red smear on the school quad. Of course we haven't had sex. While I won't say that pregnancy is impossible considering the insanity of the super-hero life style, it would certainly be immaculate conception."

Alex realized that she wasn't giving the simple answer and she didn't want Mike's temper - uncertain as it currently was - to be set off again so she repeated as he approached, giving Zoe a gentle pat on the back, "I'm not pregnant and I haven't had sex with anyone."

Then, with the sort of intuitive understand that she'd always had of Mike, she stepped out of the crowd and wrapped her arms around his waist in a gentle hug with the calm assurance that it would drain away the last of his wrath.

[angrydurf]

Mike's shoulders dropped to their traditional slump almost imediately and soon his breathing evened as well.

He looked down at Alex with a chagrinned look, "Well thats not what Daisy thinks." He said with some confusion, he really couldn't explain why her words had seemed so true in the cafeteria.

Then his face twisted in confusion once more, "What family?"

[N/A]

Alex gave Zoe a frown and informed her tartly, "No one in this family is a 'nasty skank.'"

"Well yeah. You know that. I know that. But some people at school like to talk. Telephone game, y'know? You spend the night at your boyfriend's house once and the next day people are saying you got a summer job doing amateur porn in Mexico." Zöe rolled her eyes.

"Well thats not what Daisy thinks."

"Daisy." Zöe cracked her knuckles and grinned like a shark. That twit is gonna pay. Oh yes. She will pay through her surgically-altered nose for this. You farked with the wrong family, Bitch.

Then his face twisted in confusion once more, "What family?"

What little color there was drained from Zöe's face. OH SPRAK Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.

Zöe gulped and cleared her throat. "You know. Me, and Alex. Another time, another place, fruits dropped from the same tree, remember? I'm sure that's what she means."

[Electra]

Erin rolled her eyes at Zoe's last-ditch attempt to preserve the charade. "This is probably not a good place to talk about any of this," she pointed out, looking over at the lunchtime crowd still hoping something interesting was going to happen in this weird little drama. "I'm sure you all have really got a lot to talk about that you don't want everybody else hearing about. I'm sure you can grab one of the study rooms in the library at this hour and have it all out with nobody going for anybody's throat." She hadn't been sure of that a few minutes ago, had never seen Mike look that mad at anyone, but he seemed a lot calmer now, if confused. At the very least, he probably wasn't going to stay mad at Mark.

[Avenger Assembled]

When his deception worked, convincing the crowd that nothing had gone amiss, Mark turned around and took in the sight of Mike and Alex embracing. The first thought that passed through his mind was a simple one. Oh. A moment later, That's how it is. Well, geez, why didn't Mike say anything sooner? Or Alex? Waves of deep annoyance shot through him for a moment, easily visible on his pliable face, quickly replaced by calm. Hey, if they're happy that way, they're happy that way. Alex is really sweet, and Mike is...Mike is... With a very few exceptions, Mark was a master of putting annoyance and unhappiness away in places in his mind where they couldn't bother him. But this time...Hey! Mike is my friend! We fought Nazis together!

He put thoughts together as he walked slowly towards his friends, rusty wheels turning in his mind. And...and he thought I knocked up Alex! That...that BIG JERK!

"So. I think we'd better get off the quad," he said as the crowd filtered away, mumuring, "Dunno if they'll believe that again."

[alderwitch]

Alex pulled back from Mike as she felt him relax, giving him a tiny smile before it faded as she flicked her gaze to Mark. Her expression looked both sadder and somehow older than usual. She made no move to touch him as he approached as that would have felt awkward but she did glance him over to confirm that Mike hadn't done anything.

"No, that's not what I meant. Though, this wasn't how I intended to talk about this all, it appears that's what we're going to do anyways." She gestured for them to head for the study rooms that Erin had suggested. Once they'd trooped in, Alex shut the door with a quiet click, and started softly, "I broke into the lab last night and ran some genetics tests."

[angrydurf]

Mike was still a little confused by the whole exchange but nodded at Zoes hurried explanation. He wasn't sure what to say to Mark, he still wasn't entirely happy even with what had gone on though he had no good reason for it.

As they settled in to the room Mike leaned against the back wall of studdy room and looked curiously to Alex, "So she is your sister?" He asked still trying to put all the peices together, "And what does that have to do with why everyone is saying ... those things."

[N/A]

When Alex mentioned the words "genetic testing," Zöe sighed and slumped down into her chair.

"No, Mike." Her gaze fell to the floor. "I'm not."

She looked up at Alex. "So you know. You figured it out. That changes the face of the landscape in a big way. Why? Why did it even occur to you to run my farking DNA? Who does that?! Can't you see I was trying to protect you?"

[Electra]

"Because you told her a story that didn't make any sense, and she was worried about you," Erin pointed out brusquely from her spot near the door. "It wasn't to try and trap you, she thought you needed help, but you weren't telling her what she needed to know to help her." She stopped abruptly, looking over at Mike, then at Alex. "This isn't a conversation for me, though. I'm going to clear out and let you guys have it out. Mark, if you want to come with me, I'll fill you in."

[Avenger Assembled]

"All right," agreed Mark, who truthfully looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else right then. "This isn't my business to hear about either, I guess." He put maybe too much of a beat on those words, and turned to follow Erin out without looking back at the others.

[alderwitch]

Alex watched them go, her hazel eyes fixed on Mark's back as it burned itself into her perfect memory before she seamlessly shifted her attention back to Zoe, her expression once more serene.

"Sit down, Mike," Alex said quietly, pushing him into a chair like the diminuative dictator that she was, "I'm pretty sure that you've got that backwards, Zoe. It's our job to protect you."

Her hand still on Mike's shoulder, her touch firm she said the words that Zoe wouldn't, or couldn't, "Zoe's not my sister but we do share half our DNA. She's my daughter from what I'd guess rougly thirty years in the future. Give or take."

She paused, her had tightening on Mike, "She's our daughter."

[angrydurf]

It wasn't hard to elicit the look of befuddled confusion that overtook Mikes face at revelation. Really complex math could achieve much the same effect half the time. This time however it didn't fade into a self depricating smile or shrug but lingered as he tried to wrap his mind around that concept.

"Wait ... Wha?" He stammered then shook his head and glanced between Zoe and Alex, "Are you sure?" He asked Alex though he knew it was a stupid question even as he asked it, this wasn't the kind of thing Alex wouldn't have double and triple checked.

The gears were obviously turning though slowly as he absorbed the shock of his young life. "So?" He asked tentitively, "What now?" It was more an attempt to buy time to figure out what this meant himself than a real question but he thought he needed to say something.

[N/A]

"No. NO!" Zöe leapt to her feet, the chair beneath her toppling on its side to the ground. "Fifteen years from now, it'll be your choice to have me and your job to protect me. Not now. This is exactly why I didn't tell you! I didn't want this sprak hanging over your heads. You don't need this kind of pressure right now. It's not right. You can't be my parents when you're still kids yourselves. And no one should expect you to be. I don't. And I don't want you guys to hook up just because you think you should, either. Not for me, not for anyone. You guys deserve to be happy, just like everyone else. And obligation is like the least sexy thing ever."

"I'm the one who's from the future. I know what's coming. So I'm the one who can help you. I watched you guys die once. I'm not gonna let it happen again."

[alderwitch]

Alex released Mike to grab at Zoe's shoulders'. Her daughter - and that was still taking some adjusting to think about - was already taller than she was. Alex's hands were firm but not tight as she looked up at Zoe, "It's not right that you had to watch us die. It's not right that you're here alone. It's not right that a lot of things happen, Zoe. Life isn't fair, it simply is."

Her voice gentled but she didn't pause for breath as she continued, "You're here now, and that's all that matters. It is our choice, Zoe, but it's you're overcomplicating what that choice is. It costs us nothing to love you, Zoe. Nothing. I don't care about the future, what matters right now is the present. How could I let you be so very alone if I have the power not to? What kind of person would I be?"

[angrydurf]

Well if nothing else Zoes outburst served to shake Mike loose of his confusion.

His eyes flashed and his jaw set as he spoke his voice hard but not angry, "Zoe sit down." It was her fathers voice, the first Zoe had really heard it since her arrival.

"Just because you can talk twice as fast as the rest of us doesn't mean you need to." he said, his gaze fixed on her. "You may have had all the best reasons, and certainly the best intentions keeping this from us. But now we do know and thats not going to change."

He layed one big hand on each of the girls shoulders as he continued gentler now, "I don't claim to understand how you got here or what any of this means for the future you know." He paused and took a deep breath, "But I'm not one to let friend or family down when they are hurting."

[N/A]

Zöe sat down and listened to her parents. Then she grabbed Alex and Mike's hands, squeezed them, then gently pulled them off her shoulders. She looked down at an angle to the floor for a moment, a pained expression on her face. "Look, you can't get too attached to me. You can't think of me in those terms. The 'You' that become my parents don't exist yet. They won't exist for another fifteen years. You're not Them yet. You will be, someday. You guys already remind me of them so much I almost say 'Mom' and 'Dad' instead of 'Alex' or 'Mike' every time I see you. But you're not my Mom and Dad yet, and you don't have to be. You shouldn't have to be. Someday, when you guys are all grown up, you might go ahead and get married, and have a baby. Then you'll have that Z to worry about, and she's gonna need all the attention you can give her. I'm an extra 'Me' in the world. A fifth wheel on History itself. I don't know how to get back to my own time, even if I wanted to. All I can do now is keep an eye on you guys, and make the best of it here."

[alderwitch]

"Zoe," Alex said with a stubborn tilt to her chin that she'd obviously passed down to her offspring, "There's a chance that the future isn't mutable enough to change. I don't care what 'me' it was that had you, you're not going to dissuade me from looking after you now. Thirty years, it might all happen again. Mike and I might die but at least we'll know that you'll be safe and in good hands. You can think of it in those selfish terms if you'd rather."

Alex reached out to brush the hair out of Zoe's face and give her a smile, "You're not some unwanted fifth wheel. You're more like, I dunno, getting an extra twinkie in a package that only would have had two."

[angrydurf]

Mike laughed softly despite himself a deep rumble in his chest, "Zoe if you think the results of the test are why Alex cares things must be quite a bit different where you come from."

He shrugged and squeezed Alexes hand, "And you're not gonna convince her otherwise." and she wouldn't Alex took care of people, she was good at it and it made her happy, its part of what he loved about her. As the thought crossed his mind he looked away from them both after his not so little display in the quad it was hard for him to write it off as platonic affection this time around.

[N/A]

Zöe smiled at Alex's reassurances. "Thanks." She reached up and hugged the both of them, then stood up. "Look, I'm sorry I made your guys' lives more complicated than they needed to be. For what it's worth, I really didn't mean to."

I'll make you a deal: We're all the same age, so how about we look out for each other? Not parents who aren't parents yet telling kids who haven't been born yet what to do. Just family, helping each other out. I feel responsible for you, I can totally tell you guys already feel responsible for me, but we all gotta learn to be responsible for ourselves first. So how about we just do what we can to take care of each other? Razor?"

[alderwitch]

"Of course we'll take care of each other," Alex said entirely truthfully even as she neatly sidestepped the question with a guileless smile, "Mind if I talk to Mike for a few? He's kinda had a few bombshells dropped on him, and I have a few other things I need to catch him up on before we have a repeat of the incident on the quad."

Alex's oblique reference she hoped would be enough for Zoe to pick up on the fact that if she didn't want her boyfriend shaken like a can of paint, she'd best let Alex gently break the loss of virginity thing.

[N/A]

Zöe nodded, and smiled. "Yeah, I think you two have a lot to talk about." She reached up, taking Alex and Mike's hands from her own body, and placed them on top of one another. "Remember - don't change your plans on account of me. If you only take one thing away from this, let it be that. But...thanks." She squeezed their hands together one final time, then walked out of the room.

[angrydurf]

Mike smiled down at Zoe, "We must have changed alot by your time if you think either of us change plans that easily." He said with a quick wink.

He watched Zoe leave the room and turned to Alex questioningly, "I'm sorry ... about all that," He jerked his head roughly towards the quad, "I know its none of my business."

[alderwitch]

Alex sighed and pushed him back down with gentle fingertips, "Of course it's your business. Don't be absurd. That's not what I need to talk to you about, well, not entirely."

She sat down next to him and picked up his large hand, holding it gently between hers, "You should hear this from me, as I'm sure that the gossip will rear its ugly head again. I'm still a virgin, but Zoe isn't. She had sex. With Eddie. They're dating."

[angrydurf]

Mike frowned at that, "I knew they were dateing." He sighed and shrugged there was a glimer of anger but quickly surpressed, "I didn't think ... I dunno I thought Zoe was smarter than that I guess."

He shook his head he didn't really know what to think about all of this. He knew Eddie was one of those kinda guys, the boy couldn't stop talking about girls, but really Mike was not so tuned in as to realy know much beyond that.

"Eddies not a bad guy I guess but I can't say I'm surprised, that kinda stuff is important to him in the wrong way ya know?" He explained, he was clearly still considering having a few words with Eddie about how to treat a lady but really he didn't need to cause any more trouble.

[alderwitch]

Alex patted his hand and said soothingly, "I'll have a talk with him. Make sure we're all on the same page and everything."

There was a pause, as Alex made a mental note as she had a great deal to say to Eddie. Hopefully he would prove accomodating. She was uncomfortable with the emotional response that made her feel like if he proved recalcitrant, poking in his brain would be just fine so she moved on.

"Mark and I aren't going to be together any more after this." She said it quietly, and a little sadly for how things ended. But Alex knew Mike would not process that fact on his own without having it pointed out to him. "I was going to break up with him, but I didn't want it to be like this."