InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Shut up, LOST is on!"

Mia Bailey (in_focus) wrote in genome_project,
@ 2012-05-12 19:24:00

Entry tags:

ben bailey, may 2012, mia bailey

Who: Mia and Ben
What: Sibling Bonding Time
When: Saturday afternoon
Where: Mia's house
Rating: PG-13?

Saturdays were excellent days. On Saturdays, unless there was a competition going on, Mia was off work (relatively speaking). She still had the boys and Tino (because let's be honest, Tino still needed taking care of most days) to deal with, but it was easier dealing with her own kids rather than someone else's. She didn't have another mother looming over her shoulder to make sure she didn't somehow emotionally scar their children. She was free to emotionally scar her own children as she darn well pleased.

At present, however, the twins were too busy making toy cars explode dramatically to be too emotionally damaged. Although they kept eyeing the cookies Mia had made, they had managed to keep their hands off of them until their Uncle Ben arrived.

The sound of the doorbell signaled his arrival, and Mia smiled as she headed for the door, two children following in her wake. The door was pulled open to a resounding chorus of "UNCLE BEN!" And Mia stepped aside to let the more popular sibling step in. "Hey, Ben."

(Post a new comment)

imeltwithu
2012-05-13 04:38 am UTC (link)

In Ben's opinion, family was meant to be dropped in on. Randomly. Whenever the mood struck him. They wouldn't be family otherwise! Besides, surprise visits were the best. Who didn't like surprises? But mostly, it had just been a while since he'd seen Mia and the kids. And yeah, Tino too. Railroad kept him busy. It was nice to feel like he was doing something. It wasn't the highest paying job he could have gotten, probably, but he liked it. Plus, if he was helping other people he didn't have to deal with his own neuroses. Always a plus.

Bur anyway, what kind of person doesn't like to walk into a room of small people shouting your name? (Well, maybe a lot of people, but Ben was a fan) He grinned broadly at those adorable smudgy faces, snuck them some candy with a (very obvious) stage-whispered warning of "Don't let your mom see!" He gave Mia a cheeky grin and straightened back up, putting his arms out for a hug, "Hey, Mia."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-13 05:05 am UTC (link)

Mia watched on in amusement as her children made a horrible attempt to hide their candy bars in their much too small pockets. "You know, they're already getting cookies. You're going to give them a tummy ache." She eyed her children who were inching away to hide the candy bars in with their collection of toys.

With a soft chuckle at her children, Mia shifted forward into her brother's embrace, giving him a tight squeeze. "I've missed you, you big lug."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imeltwithu
2012-05-13 05:27 am UTC (link)

"Oh, they'll be fine. Healthy sugar overdose." Not that over dosing on sugar was healthy, "You know they'll burn it off in ten minutes." Oh kids and their metabolisms. "Then they'll crash early and you'll have a little quiet time." Really, it was just thoughtful of him.

Ben gave Mia a small squeeze back, "Missed you too." It was nice to be missed. "Glad to see that not much changes too much in my absence, though. How have you been?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-13 02:26 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, well, luckily their uncle is here to entertain them in the midst of their sugar high," she drawled. "AND you can be the bad guy who puts them to bed. Although for some reason, apparently when Uncle Ben puts them to bed, it's less of a tragedy. I haven't figured that one out yet."

She released her brother, sizing him up to make sure he still looked healthy. "I've been... busy. The dance studio has been getting... popular." She shrugged. "Which is a good thing, though. Money never hurts." Especially not when she thought about the horror of two teenage boys eating her out of house and home eventually, not to mention having to finance their college later. "What about you? How's Katie?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imeltwithu
2012-05-13 03:04 pm UTC (link)

Ben shrugged. That wasn't a punnishment. Maybe it was because he didn't have his own kids yet, but occasionally taking care of Mia's kids was pretty okay for him. "That's because Uncle Ben tells the best bedtime stories."

While she was sizing him up, he was making sure she didn't look to frazzled, "That's good news. You don't need to hire more help or anything do you?" If you asked Ben, she had enough stress with the twins and Tino, she didn't need her passion to become something that stressed her out too.

"I'm alright. Working a lot. But it's nice, keeping busy." He shrugged as well, "Katie's good. How's Tino?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-14 12:38 am UTC (link)

"I dunno. Tino's are pretty epic sometimes," she answered with a soft laugh. Sometimes it was still strange for her to think of Tino as a father, but then again, sometimes it was hard to remember him any other way.

"No, no. I'm fine," she insisted, waving off his concern. "We've got enough staff for now. I'm not looking to upscale us any time soon." That thought, in fact, was slightly terrifying.

"Tino?" She smirked. "He's Tino. The usual."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imeltwithu 2012-05-14 02:33 pm UTC (link)
	Ben scoffed, "Not more epic than mine!" He had no idea, obviously, but he had to defend his storyteller position. "You sure, Mia? I mean I think I see a gray hair there..." He ruffled her hair a little, "Nope, never mind." He shot Mia a broad grin and then stepped toward the living room, "We gonna stand in the doorway all day?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-15 03:45 am UTC (link)

She gave him a condescendingly reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Oh, of course they are, Benny," she cooed, earning Benito's attention briefly.

Mia swatted away his hands as she followed him into her living room. "You'd better say nevermind. My hair is never going gray. Ever." Mia refused to accept the fact that she was ever going to get out of her thirties (much like the denial she'd experienced about exiting her twenties).

"How're things at Railroad?" she asked, gesturing for him to sit down as she went to retrieve the cookies.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imeltwithu
2012-05-15 04:13 am UTC (link)

Ben laughed at her as she swatted at him. "It is going to happen sometime, Mia. Maybe sooner for you. You did have twin boys." He was just teasing, but it was always fun to rile up his poor sister. Some things never changed.

"Busy, but they always are. People always need attention. Want to vent. Need a new job because their status was leaked. Need a new name. Want to sell their power. All kinds of things going on." He took a seat, but only after checking for Hot Wheels or action figures.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-16 03:08 am UTC (link)

"Hey! You watch yourself, mister," she snapped, seriously considering withdrawing her offer of cookies with all this grey-haired talk. If Mia ever saw an actual grey hair, she'd be at the hair-dresser dying it away before you could say lickity split.

Easing down next to him, Mia set the cookies on the coffee table and sighed. "I worry about them- Ben and Gino. What happens when they grow up? Do you think things will be better?" Or would people still be hiding who they were forever?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imeltwithu
2012-05-16 06:37 pm UTC (link)

"Okay, okay!" Ben put his hands up in surrender. Apparently it was a touchy subject. So sue him for being a realist.

He gravbed a cookie and started munching on it as he thought about her question. "I hope so," he said finally, "I think someone has to eventually figure out that we're all still human." And that they hadn't exactly done this to themselves for fun. "Just because we have something that most people don't, doesn't necessarily mean we're going to use it to harm. Just because you have a car, doesn't mean you're going to run someone over." He shrugged, "But there are always going to be people who will do just that. Not much you can do."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-17 01:05 am UTC (link)

"I know. And they'll have it so much better than we did. Someone will actually explain what's happening to them instead of leaving them to fend for themselves." That wasn't bitterness in her voice, now was it? "They'll have someone who can explain what's happening to them."

She spotted her boys eyeing the cookies and nodded with one finger raised, indicating only one cookie was allowed at present. Gleefully, they ran to take one, before disappearing back into their corner 'o toys. "Sometimes I wonder when they'll start showing up, you know? Or what they'll be able to do."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imeltwithu
2012-05-17 01:55 am UTC (link)

Well at least he and Mia were on the same page there. "Some honesty. Some training." He agreed, "Things are easier if you don't feel like ou have to keep secrets." Only to find out later that what was happening to you was the end result of a very elaborate experiment.

"Puberty is my guess. It's how it was for most of us. Maybe earlier with two mutated parents." He hated the word mutant, but what else could he use to describe what had been done to them? "From what I've seen, it's random. I think they're about as likely to have you or Tino's powers as they are to have anything else." Ben eyed the boys as they ran off with their cookies. "I hope, for your sake, that neither of them have mine."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-17 02:25 pm UTC (link)

Mia's nose crinkled slightly at the term mutated, but what other word was there for it? Her parents had let people go in and mess around with her DNA. She could see her kids eye lashes when they were down the street and she always knew who was hanging around in dark alleys. She was mutated. She was a mutant.

"I've heard that, too. Honestly, I'd rather them have yours than Tino's." She'd learned to trust what they had, but early on, it had been hard to deal with not ever really knowing if he was affecting her somehow. When she'd figured out he dealt with lust moreso than love- that had helped.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imeltwithu
2012-05-17 03:18 pm UTC (link)

Ben laughed and shook his head, "Be careful what you wish for. I could have all your silverware scattered over the house in a second if I wanted to." Not to mention screws yanked out of the wall and cars taken apart.

The nicething was that he could generally put everything back together just as easily and quickly, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "That would be fun for you. Maybe everyone's powers should be like Katie's. More defense, less offense."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_focus
2012-05-17 05:21 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, well, I think I'd prefer that to having one of them chemically inducing girls to sleep with them." Physical powers were doable. It was the ones that allowed you to manipulate people that worried her, things like persuasion and telepathy and whatever the hell Tino's was classified as.

"Or mine. Mine's pretty harmless, thankfully." Her high school years were rough enough without some crazy superpower taking over her body.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imeltwithu 2012-05-18 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Ben cringed and took another bite of cookie. "Good point. He agreed. Good thing they're still a little too young for that, huh?" That was bound to be trouble, pheremone powers or no. "True. There are a lot of relatively harmless things. Like Johnny. He shouldn't even have register, frankly." Or at least not in Ben's opinion. But no one asked him. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	in_focus 2012-05-21 01:08 pm UTC (link)
	"God, I hope they're too young for it forever. I don't think I'll ever be ready to deal with teenage boys. Maybe I can just make Tino do all the parenting at that point, and then I'll come back once their hormones even out a little." Which was essentially never. "Well, last I checked my eyeballs aren't going to hurt anyone. Built in binoculars are pretty scary." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imeltwithu 2012-05-21 03:13 pm UTC (link)
	Ben raised both eyebrows, "You really think that's the best idea?" While he liked Tino, and they got along swimmingly, he remembered exactly what Tino was like as a teenager. Even if Mia had suddenly gotten amnesia on the subject. "Very scary," he laughed, "Maybe if your eyes looked like binoculars they would be more menacing" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	in_focus 2012-05-21 04:29 pm UTC (link)
	"Valid point." Sure, Tino was a good dad. He loved their kids, and she loved him for it, but him doing things on his own? Maybe not such a great idea. "You can take them instead." Mia cupped her hands in front of her eyes to imitate her binocular eyeballs. "Certainly very attractive." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imeltwithu 2012-05-24 04:06 am UTC (link)
	Oops, maybe Ben shouldn't have opened his big mouth, "Oh no. That's okay. You can leave it to Tino. I mean, I'll maybe, probably have some of my own by then.myou know. Don't want to complicate things." Or at least, a guy could dream, right? He snorted, "A very nice look." (Reply to this) (Parent)