Who: Lina & Pete Wisdom + Amelia, Hank McCoy and Katherine Pierce What: The Wisdoms bring Amelia to Hank for a test to confirm her x-gene When: Today Where: Hank's Home Lab Rating/Warnings: Low, except Amelia accidentally learns to say her first curse word (sorta), oops Status: Complete!
Usually a laboratory was quiet and cold, like a morgue would be. But not the personal laboratory of Henry McCoy, no, not at all. The A/C was inviting, felt nice on a hot summer day, and in this particular instance, Hank wasn’t alone. He liked when Katherine would come by because she a good inspiration in all facets of his life, and yet also a good reminder that he couldn’t live in this very workspace. All the time.
Today the background noise was a recording of O Mio Babbino Caro from a Puccini opera. Call Hank a romantic, but there was something utterly soul-stirring about a soprano aria. Over on the far side of the lab, he easily hung upside down (by his feet) from a ceiling beam. And in front of him, written on a chalkboard in precise, even, and neat handwriting, was a set of complicated equations, more symbols than actual numbers. Lost in thought, he tapped a pencil against his lips, fully intent.
"But the confounded thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water!” Shaking his head, Hank set aside the pencil and backflipped to the ground, heading over to turn off a series of ominously bubbling test tubes. “I’ll work on this later,” he sighed, since the creation of matter in a non-equilibrium state could wait for the time being. “Someone from the network is coming by - I need to get the scanning mechanism set up, they’re bringing their daughter for a DNA sample.”
Science! What a wonderful thing!
And fashion, what a wonderful thing. At least for the model here, currently engrossed in a designer’s professional portfolio (a peek of what was to come during her photo shoots in Prague) while Beastie here did his thing. It was adorable to watch him muse over whatever the fuck he was researching, and she’d help. Sometimes. If it involved something simple like holding a beaker or measurements, but she’d been using the time to prepare for their trip and finalizing travel arrangements (they’d be staying somewhere nice, of course, a unique and culturally rich hotel).
A shred of normalcy appreciated after her recent round of dreams; the memory of Jeremy’s death was a ghost that relentlessly haunted her but there was nothing she could do, nothing she could change. All Katherine could do was focus on the here and now. “I won’t get in your way too much,” smiled the vampiress, all coy and batting pretty lashes. “What’s wrong with the kid, though? Anything serious?”
The binder shut, she slipped out of her seat in the lab and sashayed over circle her arms around his waist from behind. Her nose nuzzled the nape of his neck too - mmm, the nibbly temptation.
“No, nothing serious,” Hank replied, a light chuckle escaping him as Katherine snagged him from behind. Caught. Yes, what fine scientist prey he made - in a stark white labcoat, glasses, very human thanks to the serum injection from this morning, and barefoot for the time being (taking his shoes off and hanging upside down often helped him think). He rubbed her arms, leaning back into her and turning his head so he could plant a kiss or two on her as well. “They simply want to test for the x-gene. Her father is also a mutant.”
Whether or not something was considered wrong with her because of the potential presence of the x-gene, well. That was up for debate. No one in their cluster of ‘special’ dreaming folk would think so, surely, but society as a whole wasn’t always so kind. “I’ve never had one so young here in the lab before - however, I have prepared for her frozen yogurt bites as a treat,” he stated happily. Hopefully Amelia enjoyed those. Hank had dutifully researched the best, healthiest finger foods for a toddler - from what he understood though, the child certainly liked food and would eat just about anything.
Slowly, Katherine lifted a brow. “How young are we talking?” Frozen yogurt bites - obviously not for, say, a teenager, as he was probably preparing to butter the kid up before they did whatever examination.
And there went the doorbell. Guess she’d find out.
“I got it,” she offered and buried her face into the crook of his neck, nipping (gently, no fangs out) before she pulled away. “Finish whatever you have to do and I’ll bring them in, like a good little assistant.” All she’d need was her own lab coat - short, nothing underneath, nerdy glasses. The model wasn’t wearing anything so scandalous today, though, just skinny jeans and a stylish top, all curly-haired and high-heeled. But later, hmm, that’d be an idea!
All it took was a blur to get to the door, unlock it, and -
“Hi!” was the squeakiest little response that had ever greeted the vampire, and while she was aware that there were two grown adults (daddy with the distinct Brit nose, mommy with the volcanically red hair), Katherine’s eyes traveled down to the toddler that had one hand clinging to the man’s, the other clinging to the woman’s as she stood between them. Big, blue eyes, soft curls of dark hair with a hairband, and the kid was grinning with her impressive baby teeth. “Hiiii! Hi!”
Yep, Amelia Wisdom wasn’t a shy little person, and she’d been so determined to walk to the door all by herself too - but needed some support from her parents, her steps were still wobbly. “What she said,” grinned the sorceress, mirroring her daughter’s. “It’s her word of the day, she’ll be saying that a lot - but hi, we’re here to see the doc?”
Amelia wasn’t shy, she was also friendly - something her grumpy father was not, but he was glad that his child hadn’t inherited the Wisdom propensity for resting bitchface. In fact, she was just so bloody adorable she had strangers coming up to coo over her all the time - which, granted, was slightly annoying for the one parent that sort of hated people.
“Pete Wisdom,” he introduced himself, scooping up Amelia to carry her in his arms because this was a new place and he didn’t want her running off to explore, put her sticky hands on all she could touch, and break potentially vital antiques or something. “This is my wife Lina, and here - “
“Hi, hi!” said the baby, and another for good measure. “Hi.”
“Well, her name’s Amelia, but close enough,” Pete patted her belly with one hand.
Good call, hubby. “Was about to suggest we get her off the floor before she ravages the house in innocent toddler destruction,” Lina whispered to Pete, patting that cute little padded diaper butt.
“Oh,” came Katherine’s brilliant lack of eloquence before she got her shit together, mentally - it wasn’t often she was distracted by a baby (toddler, sure, maybe, but the kid looked like she just learned how to walk). “Hey. I’m Katherine, Hank’s girlfriend. Come in and follow me to the lab. He’s been expecting you three.”
Amelia insisted on being extra friendly, waving her hand so excitedly at the model like they were best friends in the world or something as they went through the house. Kinda cute, thought the vampiress. But despite being someone who’d conceived, carried, and given birth she hadn’t a clue how to behave around children.
Avoid cursing, she imagined.
Down in the lab, Hank was busy getting everything together that he’d need for a cheek swab - a simple way to obtain a DNA sample, much less invasive than drawing blood. There were multiple ways to do it, really, since DNA was everywhere - plucked hair, tissue, fingernails, rectal swabs (but no one wanted that done either).
He saw Katherine leading the parents and their daughter in, and he greeted them cheerily. “Hello, welcome!” There was a microscope or two as well, certain scanners with optical attachments - lens, filter, mount, powerful enough to image and size DNA molecules about 50,000 times thinner than a single human hair.
It really was quite exciting, if you asked him.
“Dr. Hank McCoy, it’s nice to meet you all in person. You must be Amelia,” he said to the smallest human, who had reached out to play with Katherine’s hair. Sooooooooo soft. Hair was amazing.
Pete chuckled a little, stopping his daughter’s little fist by closing his hand around it so he wouldn’t pull. When she got her grip on something, it was stronger than appearances would have you believe. “Yes, this is her. Yours for the time being,” he added, passing her over to the scientist. Wisdom knew of Hank McCoy, a version of him - this one was decidedly different (much younger), though in any reality he seemed to have a very large brain. Either way, Pete knew he wasn’t apt to drop Amelia or cook her in an oven, so, it was alright to let him do what they came here for.
“Oh, hi there,” he said in amusement as he took the tiny human - though it wasn’t like he was much better than Katherine, when it came to interacting with children. However, he sort of had a feeling that holding Amelia would do her some good, so it was a game of pass the potato when he gave his girlfriend the precious cargo next. “I’ll take her in a moment, I just need to finish setting up, and we should be all clear to go!”
Wow, the doc was young - really young, and for once, Lina Wisdom felt infinitely aged. “This is a hell of a set up you got here, too,” she murmured in awe, twirling around to take the entire room in with its medical bits n’ bobs and tools. It was a good thing Pete had mentioned knowing of Hank in the dreams; it made her feel infinitely better about the whole thing, extra-assured that an expert would be handling their bundle of joy (and drool and farts) well. “But yeah, sure, take your time - and we owe you for this. I know you probably don’t take regular insurance for payment, y’know?”
Though she tried not to look too amused at the ladyfriend that now had her arms occupied with Amelia. Katherine’s eyes looked like they were bulging with uncertainty (the kid was lava!), but she had a steady grip on the toddler and patiently allowed her to play with all that hair-sprayed hair.
It was hard to deny that the kid was cute, that’s for sure, and seemed unphased being passed from stranger to stranger. “You sure like hair, don’t you,” chuckled the model, but did Amelia the favor of not letting it get in her mouth. She doubted her parents wanted cosmetic chemicals to be ingested by their daughter.
“Likes touching it as much as she likes eating it,” the redhead sighed, crossing her arms.
So seems the pattern of children putting whatever the hell they wanted in their mouth. Katherine actually cooed a little. “Aw, she’s beautiful though.”
A laboratory table wasn’t the most inviting space, but Hank made sure to have a little pillow on there for Amelia to plop her diapered posterior - he had those frozen yogurt bites too, procured from the storage freezer and looking like pink droplets of yum. Perhaps the sight of them alone would get Amelia drooling, not that he needed much. Just a bit of a swipe of cells on the cheek, and that was all!
“She is, she’s very beautiful,” he agreed with a fond grin, watching as Katherine seemed to be a tad smitten. Not that he blamed her. “I promise this won’t take long, Miss Amelia! Can you bring her over?” the scientist asked his ladyfriend. He showed Lina and Pete the buccal brush he was going to use - just a bristly thing, nothing painful. “A mere four or five seconds, and then you can taste-test something delicious for me,” now speaking to the toddler, of course, like she was one of his peers. Hank wasn’t really the type to do ‘baby talk.’ Even at babies. “This is my first time making those, I anticipate you’ll like them but we’ll see.”
Pete, on his end, was pretty entertained. “She’ll let you know if she doesn’t like them, trust us.”
Time to play sexy assistant! Sexy assistant somewhat (a lot) enamoured with the patient in question, and Katherine’s handling of her was as if she was delicate as glass - carefully, Amelia was propped onto the table and, carefully, she unwrapped those stubborn fingers from the rope of curls she’d been clinging to.
“Be good, munchkin, you’ll get a treat after,” Lina said, eyebrows waggling at Amelia who looked a little uncertain at what was going on. “Food. Fooood.”
Oh, oh! Amelia understood that, she did! That grin returned, and her hands clapped excitedly as she echoed the word in baby drawl. “Foooooooooo,” she repeated. “Hi, hi. Hi.”
Katherine stepped back to allow them space, of course, but wiggled her fingers at the tot every time a glance was spared at her direction. If it helped keep that grin on her face and less focused on being a subject of study for about five seconds, then she’d help out.
Hank had his gloves on, a fresh pair, and he stepped closer to gently insert the brush between Amelia’s cheek and her upper gums - then it was just a matter of swabbing to and fro for a few seconds to collect enough cells. “Tickles, doesn’t it?” he said, hoping that the promise of food (and Katherine being pleasantly distracting - she was a lovely focal point, Hank had to agree) would be enough to avoid the poor toddler fussing. If necessary, he could collect the sample in stages but before he knew it the allotted time had passed and he stuck the brush back into its tube.
“That was excellent, Amelia - here you are,” and as promised, he gave her one of those frozen yogurt bites to start with.
Oh, she was delighted. Confused about her tickly gums, yes, but that went away after she had the treat between her fingers and stuck it into her mouth. Mmmm!
“Now we just place the sample here - “ He began pressing buttons on the scanner, the acquired sample in front of him. “It will generate a genetic profile in a bit. And forgive me - I was so excited about science I completely forgot to ask. Can I get you anything?” he inquired of Amelia’s parents. “Coffee, tea, yogurt bites? Something more of substance?”
“Naw,” Lina waved a hand, dismissive but definitely appreciative. “I’ll sample one of these, though -” The yogurt bites, duh. She plucked one for herself and the look Amelia gave her, like she had betrayed her offspring for not giving her a second taste. One of her ginger brows rose. “Don’t give me that look, you greedy garbage disposal.”
Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.
They were tasty - and okay, yeah, she gave the kid another one because she was getting whiny that food was being eaten in front of her. Ever her child, wasn’t she? Soon after, she was gathered back up in her mother’s arms to be bounced in. And she was happy to show daddy her messy fingers, look at them, she was minutes away from smearing it over his shirt. “So is this whole thing something you put together from dream knowledge? It’s pretty impressive - sure as hell handy to have around here, too.”
Oh, grand, a sticky-fingered toddler. It seemed like Pete’s precious offspring was always in need of a bath - but luckily he came prepared (and he wasn’t wearing the Armani shirt, didn’t even wear anything fancy at all unless he was going to work or he and Lina went out). Reaching into her diaper bag, he found a wet nap and wiped at those little hands so she wouldn’t smear over something expensive in this laboratory.
“It’s a wonder we’ve got any food in the house at all, between you and your mum,” he cooed at his daughter, and leaned in to plant a kiss on her to get her giggling.
Hank chuckled too, bringing up the profile on a gigantic computer touch-screen; he had one at his work laboratory as well. “Well, sort of - one of my specialities in both universes is genetics,” he said. “Genetics and biochemistry. But obviously after dreaming I expanded my knowledge on mutations and the x-gene. Speaking of here, it is!”
He zoomed in on the screen, circling with a finger what literally looked like an x, a criss cross. “Very distinctive,” he noted. “Positioned right on the twenty-third chromosome. Having this gene leads to the creation of a protein that produces chemical signals, inducing mutations - different types, different powers. So we can see that your daughter does possess this gene, but as for the exact power that will blossom - that is more difficult to postulate. I would guess, based on patterns, that her power would be a stronger version of her father’s. The mutation is activated, in most cases, during puberty. Or under stress, or due to hunger or emotional traumas - though I doubt hunger will be the catalyst here,” he grinned.
“Not at all,” Pete snorted. “Mine first came about when I was a teenager.”
None of this really surprised Lina, but now she knew - and that’s what they’d wanted, too. To not just toy with the uncertainty of it, the maybes and the maybe nots. “We always knew you’d be a little firestarter,” she chuckled against Amelia’s temple, kissing her there. “So not only are we going to be dealing with explaining the birds and bees and what a bitch Aunt Flo is, but you probably having an arson record by the age of sixteen?”
Amelia was unphased by the news - clearly, there was only so much a simple, growing mind like hers could handle but she saw the pretty screen, and knew there was a discussion going on, so she tried to contribute by repeating a most random word she picked up.
But that word was, unfortunately, “biiiiish.”
Oh, Katherine tried not to smile but she did, and held her fingers to her lips to hide the fact. “Did she just try to say -”
“Yeah, she did.” Groan. Cheeks flushed with parental embarrassment, she covered Baby Wisdom’s mouth. “Before she tries to curse anymore - is there anything else we should watch out for? Obviously, uh, find you if there’s something a little unstable whenever it does happen? From what Pete’s told me some mutations are easy to slip into and others get a little more complicated.”
Wisdom definitely laughed, though there was so much pride there at Amelia’s baby cursing. “I could cry,” he quipped, jokingly wiping at his eyes. Hank was trying not to laugh, on his end, though obviously the amusement was present there. Kids! They were so adorable, weren’t they, those tiny life forms?
“Of course, find me at anytime - I will be happy to help if I can,” he nodded. “As for what to watch out for, I doubt that the mutation will reveal itself anytime soon. When she gets older, I would simply make note of all the other standard signs of entering adolescence and prepare as much as you can for this extra bit.”
“Like fireproofing the house?” Pete clarified. “We’ve already done that, for the most part.” Well, look at who he was. And who his wife was. These things were necessary.
Yep, the Wisdom household was fireproof - and also protected by a variation of spells from the sorceress here, ritualistically reinforced so they would stick. Lina wasn’t about to let their home get all sorts of fucked by random OC bullshittery, not when their own child slept under the very same roof. “Yeah, we’re at least prepared for all the potential dam--”
“Biiiiiishhhhhh,” interrupted the little she-mutant, the shhhh part accentuated because ohhh, sounds! Sounds were fun.
“Will you stop that, that’s ru--”
“Biiiiiiiiiiii--”
“Don’t you--”
“Shhhhh!”
“She’s officially the most vulgar person in this room,” Lina whispered in disbelief, glancing over at Pete like are you listening to your spawn here??
Katherine’s smile grew, but since it was a shared amusement by all she wasn’t so ashamed to hide it. “It doesn’t seem like you guys are too worried about what’s to come - and what a place to raise a special girl like that, hmm?”
“Biiiishhhh.”
Hank let out another chuckle, followed by a throat clearing - maybe he shouldn’t encourage the child’s dirty language? But it was hilarious, let’s be honest. “Well! Katherine does have a point, this is probably the best place in the world to raise a magically-inclined child with emerging mutant abilities,” he said. They wouldn’t be alone, would they? Plenty of people with talents, other skills, things not so easily explained. Here, mutant abilities could be learned safely.
And the whole world wasn’t out to get them, necessarily.
“If we raise her without a potty mouth, I’ll be bloody shocked,” Pete snorted. “Alright, love. Should we give her another yogurt thing and call it a day?” Maybe if they put Amelia down for a nap, she’d wake up and forget the new word she learned.
Aw. Katherine was almost a little disappointed (what) that they were leaving so soon - the little girl was cute, funny, and in the back crevices of her mind she wondered if her own daughter was like this once, too. What her first words were, how she handled those stupidly mundane doctor’s visits, what age was she when she took her first steps.
It wasn’t often thoughts like that whispered and nagged, but today they did - probably because Amelia’s presence was a kick to those severely dead ovaries.
“Yes,” Lina concurred, exasperated (but fondly) at baby antics. The wonders of parenthood. Looks like she wouldn’t be watching things like Family Guy or South Park in Amelia’s presence anymore, now that she was a parrot that would shamelessly tell them to ‘fuck off’ and giggle about it like it was no big thing. “Thanks for this, doc - it’s good to really just know, and we’ve got the rest planned out. We’ll manage someone of a normal adolescence for her the best we can.”
Since Pete mentioned that last yogurt drop, the vampire was happy to be the one to hand it to Amelia with a grin. “Here you go, precious. Buh-bye, it was nice meeting you - and the two of you too, of course.”
“Of course, you’re very welcome!” Hank was happy to be of assistance for fellow dreamers - especially for fellow mutants, even if they were technically of different universes. He put his arm around Katherine’s waist, watching fondly as she gave Amelia the last yogurt treat (it was strawberry too, he should add - very tasty). It was nice to see his ladyfriend so at ease and happy around a child - he too was thinking of her daughter, hoping that Katherine would change her mind about checking on the girl.
Hank would never push her into it, but he was simply glad that interacting with Amelia was a nudge. “And it was a pleasure meeting you all - come back anytime, though perhaps our next excursion doesn’t have to be in the lab.”
“Alcohol,” Pete suggested. The necessity of it in their neck of the words? Well. It went without saying and besides, it was how beautiful bonds were formed.