Abby was enjoying her walk back to her room. Her first sleepover had been fun. She had helped a friend with figuring out some things and had a bunch of fun over the night. Though she hadn't really slept much. Now was a good time to go to bed. Sleep until like noon. That sounded like a great plan.

She passed a few people she recognized. A few classmates. Including some of the boys who had laughed and mocked her the day before. They were staring after her now. It made her smile a little. They were wrong. She did know Panu and they were friends. It gave her enough confidence to get to the dorm corridor.

There she stopped. Cafas was standing there. Uh-oh... She had forgotten to let someone know she was going out. Oops.  "Morning, Papa."  Abby froze.  She hadn't meant to say that out loud.  Before he could respond to her slip, she dashed towards her room.  Safety was in her room.

Abby had been gone all night. When she hadn't been to dinner the previous night, he'd been worried, but not terribly so. Abby did skip meal times, and as much as he tried to time his so they could eat together, it didn't always work out.

What had worried him slightly more was when he'd overheard a group of boys talking about her leaving the Mansion with Ambrose Jaager's son. Cafas knew Panu. He knew Panu was part of Ragnarok, and part of their recruitment team, so to speak. With the Utopia announcement, the riots, and the bridge bombings, Cafas was not at all happy with the idea of those two hanging out. She was way too old to be his friend anyway.

He'd really started freaking out when she was not answered her door when he knocked and called for her, or the Mansion at all, or her room again when he'd gotten back to it. So he had stood at the end of her corridor for the whole night, waiting for a young lady that was about to be in so much trouble for not letting anyone know where she was going.

He spotted her moments before she spotted him. His face was set firmly with disapproval. "Abby Cl-"

"Morning, Papa."

Abby froze, and Cafas melted. It took them both a moment to recover from it. Abby was just a bit quicker off the draw, bolting for her door. Cafas shook himself out of his surprise and happy heart melting and turned around to keep her in his sight. "Abby Clark. You come back here this instant." His voice was full of a warning that he'd heard Maya use on Rowan. He did not make a move towards the girl.

Abby had just gotten to her door when Cafas called her name again. She froze as soon as she heard his voice. That was a Dad voice. It had been a long time since she had heard one, but the reaction was still the same. Freeze. Turn. Face judgement.

Her face was burning red, so she kept it down, laying her eyes on Cafas' shoes. That was a safe place to look. She didn't want him to comment on her slip. The slip that had only really happened because she was tired and she had been thinking of him as Papa for a while now. She hadn't meant to call him that. She knew why he was there. But couldn't he wait until she could think without embarrassing herself? Please?

Well, at least Abby was suitably embarrassed by her actions. His parental voice had also worked like a charm. Now there was a nice change. He'd fully been expecting her to just keep running. Turned out it wasn't a voice that needed practicing, it was just an instinctive tone. It certainly explained how universal it seemed to be.

Learned response I suppose. We all hear it as kids, so we all use it on our own.

Cafas dropped into a crouch to come eye to eye with Abby, who was still avoiding his gaze and staring at his shoes. Her red face told him all he needed to know. She knew she'd messed up, or at least she was embarrassed about the whole "Papa" things, which Cafas saw no reason for her to be. Children were odd like that though.

"Where have you been young lady?" He asked, tone firm, eyebrows arching. His tone softened as he went on. "Not at dinner, not home all night, didn't tell anyone where you were going, didn't call, didn't even leave a note. I was worried Abby. Anything could have happened." Cafas sighed. Defiant he'd been ready for, compliant and meek was difficult to be angry at. He kind of just wanted to cuddle her and make her smile.

Have to make sure she understand first.

She had really messed up. She really had. She had even told herself to tell someone before she left. But she had forgotten. Panu had texted her and she had forgotten to let someone know she was leaving for the night. She didn't have any excuse for him either.

Panic set into the young girl's tired mind.

Abby had never been approached by one of the adults for something like this. She hadn't ever got in trouble at the Mansion before. She had worked really hard not to get into trouble before. But she had gotten in trouble now. And with Cafas too.

”Am I gonna have ta leave now?” she asked quietly, turning her eyes to look at Cafas. She didn't want to leave. She liked living here. She had friends now too! She was even looking forward to spending time with her new friends. ”I don't wanna leave, Papa! I like it here!” Abby winced at her slip again.

Abby was quiet longer than he'd been expecting, and when she did come around to speaking, it was unexpectedly melodramatic. Cafas did not roll his eyes, or smile, as much as he'd have liked to. He had to be a responsible adult. Also it was kind of sad that abby would think she was going to be kicked out, and he didn't want her to be scared.

"No, you don't have to leave, sweetie. You just need to tell me, or at least someone, in the future. Asking first wouldn't hurt either. It's dangerous to go off on your own like that." Cafas spread his arms for a hug, because Abby seemed genuinely sorry. Genuinely sorry meant that the lesson was learned, right? Surely. He'd ask Maya later. It probably didn't.

"So, I hear you were with Mr Jaager's son. You guys have a sleep over?" Was he gathering information? Was he genuinely interested if she'd been having fun? Why not both! That, at least, he knew to be the correct parental response in the situation. Abby certainly seemed to have put him in a parental role, so he was going to accept that role. Also, he was not going to make a fuss over the "Papa" thing. He couldn't think of a better way to embarass Abby more.

>> "No, you don't have to leave, sweetie. You just need to tell me, or at least someone, in the future. Asking first wouldn't hurt either. It's dangerous to go off on your own like that."

Abby's eyes widened. She didn't have to leave? Cafas wasn't telling her she couldn't be here anymore. She just had to make sure to tell someone next time. She shot forward to hug Cafas, happy to know she still had a home. "I meant to," she admitted, though it was a little muffled. "Panu just surprised me and I forgot."

>> "So, I hear you were with Mr Jaager's son. You guys have a sleep over?"

The little blonde hummed in agreement. "Kirsi was there too. We had lot's of fun. Panu wanted help with the Utopia plans." She was slow to explain her night with her friends. "Panu's room is full of lots neat technology. I didn't know some of those things existed."

Oof. That was quite the hug. Half tackle in its pace. The X-man wrapped his arms around his... Daughter, he supposed. That was strange. She was half his age, but then, she'd made the choice, so he was going to be the best damn dad he could, for Abby, and Ro. Hopefully Maya wouldn't mind terribly their family was kind of expanding.

"Oh Utopia planning? Wow. I didn't know you were planning to go to Utopia. Or is Panu on the council for Utopia?" He was fairly certain Panu wasn't. Then again, he did have authority to recruit for Ragnarok. Maybe Jaager wasn't as smart as he seemed on the surface.

One can hope.

"What sort of technology did he have? I suppose Mr. Jaager can afford to buy the latest things for his son, but things you didn't know existed sounds pretty cool." Cafas pulled out of the hug and opened Abby's door for her, standing aside so she could go in if she wanted to.

The little blonde was very happy Cafas was taking her slip so well. She would have to make sure her Uncle knew she had slipped. Though he had known about her seeing Cafas as a father figure. It would just be good to let him know Cafas knew about it now.

>>"Oh Utopia planning? Wow. I didn't know you were planning to go to Utopia. Or is Panu on the council for Utopia?"

Council? Abby didn't know about that. "I don't think there's much that can be hidden from Panu," she stated. "He's also gonna be living there when it's built so Mr. Jaager probably let him see the plans."

>>"What sort of technology did he have? I suppose Mr. Jaager can afford to buy the latest things for his son, but things you didn't know existed sounds pretty cool."

Abby skipped a bit as she went into her room. Her bag smacked against her back, but she was too happy to care. "There were giant tablets and really cool looking cameras and these helicopter things, though one of them was kinda in pieces. I think Panu was looking at how it was built. And so many tablets! I didn't know they came in so many sizes. Speakers too!"

Abby kept babbling about the different technology she saw in the room as she emptied her bag and started to put some things away. She made sure to put her phone on her nightstand; she would need to use it more often. It would probably be the easiest way to keep contact with him. Her clothes from yesterday were put in her laundry basket to be cleaned later.

"I'm sorry I forgot to tell you I was going to Panu's," Abby reiterated, leaning against her bed. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

He'd gotten a sense that Jaager's boy was some kind of tech manipulator. He'd have thought that would position him squarely in R&D's way, but no, Panu was always trying to hide in the forge. Kid seemed to have taken a liking to Cafas. Or was it the warmth? Seemed counter intuitive, given that computers generally disliked heat.

Kid's a weird one. Maybe he's just keeping an eye on me... Figuratively.

The X-man leaned on the doorjamb as Abby rattled off all the things she'd seen in Panu's room and started unpacking. If Panu wasn't a tech mutant, then he certainly had a love for it by the sound of things. It sounded like his room had to be wall to wall electronics. Cafas nodded along, making affirmative sounds every so often to confirm he was listening.

>>"I'm sorry I forgot to tell you I was going to Panu's. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Thank sweetie, and I forgive you. Just make sure you remember from now on. I know it's exciting, but if something goes wrong I need to know where to find you. For now though, it's all okay. Everyone's home safe." Except Cafas, but the Mansion was sort of home, so that kind of counted. "So did you get any sleep last night?" Cafas was more than aware how much of a misnomer sleepover tended to be.