Once upon a future, Mirror took two bullets to the lungs and died.

Right now, as he sat in the kitchen at two in the morning, Mirror would have gladly taken another two instead of being a parent.

Baby X (for lack of a better name) did not like living in a new place. Or s/he was teething. Or hungry. Or all of the above. Either way, wailing happened, and Gawain dragged himself and the wiggling bundle down to the kitchen to feed. Miss Taylor had show him how to do it, but there seemed to be some disapproval behind her eyes, of the "your baby, you feed it" variety. What was it with people being so judgmental about surprise pregnancies around here?...

Gawain sat in the kitchen, fighting off the post-shifting drowsyness, and held the sippy cup for Baby X to drink from. She (currently a she) seemed content with it. Not to mention quiet. Gawain was grateful for that. Enough people knew already that he brought home an infant (including Maxine), no need for more of them to find out...

The mansion was known for ridiculous rumors. Enough that Evelyn typically didn't give much credit to them. While she hadn't spent much time in school, she knew gossip couldn't always be trusted.

But when you hear a rumor your girlfriend/boyfriend suddenly has a kid, it becomes somewhat hard to ignore.

The initial news sounded too odd to be true. After all, how could you have a kid and not know about it? If you were a girl, seemed pretty impossible.

But Mirror happened to also be a boy. And that's where the echoes broke.

Evelyn tried not to panic unnecessarily. But the thoughts that went through her head at the what ifs made it hard not to panic at all. If Gawain had a kid, Gawain was a knight. Wasn't that whole chivalry thing to like, rush to the mother's side when you found out, make her an honest woman, something silly like that? But what if you had a girlfriend? What happened then?

It was far too much for Evelyn to process and she found herself very in need of something to eat. Popcorn, something munchy. Anything.

Her craving for popcorn vanished the minute she saw the x-men in the kitchen in a wriggling bundle of holycrapisthatyours sitting on the table. She tried to keep her face neutral as she coughed at the doorway, and rubbed the back of her neck.

There were no echoes. She was pretty sure they stopped working about the same time she stopped breathing.

There was a cough at the doorway, and Gawain knew from the way his stomach dropped through the floor, even before he looked up, who was standing there. Baby X, oblivious to the impending drama, kept peacefully feeding.

Gawain looked up, and turned bright red.

"Um... hi Eve."

Just how much did she know? From the way she was staring at him, either nothing or everything. Gawain was exhausted, not to mention still very, very out of his comfort zone. He wished he had echoes to help.

The blush, the tone of voice. It told way too much in just a few actions. Evelyn felt like her stomach was in a million pieces, turning, blended, insides unnaturally twisting inside her. Her thoughts raced, words tangling and jumbling inside her. She tired to stay calm. Inside her head there was only chaos.

"So, uh, I'm pretty new on the whole dating thing, but I really don't know what the protocol is when the other party magically acquires a child..."

Somehow, her voice was calm. Years of holding it together at dinner parities with her parents might have helped. She stayed in the doorway, and slowly glanced at the kid. She always watched girls around kids with their cooing and baby talk and instant attraction to them, but none of that was kicking in. Maybe it was the echoes. Maybe it was the boyfriend sitting next to the kid. She felt like she was lacking some necessary maternal instincts to get through this.

>>"So, uh, I'm pretty new on the whole dating thing, but I really don't know what the protocol is when the other party magically acquires a child..."

"Believe me, I have no clue either." Gawain sighed, and heard himself sounding miserable. Baby X made soft noises and Gawain allowed her to take a breath in-between gulps. He was a little bit glad for having to look away for a second.

"So... I guess you heard then" he concluded, looking back up when Baby X was latched onto the sippy cup again "Look Eve, I had... absolutely no idea. I would have told you if I did..."

[Unhappy tone of voice. Exhausted body language. Stress. Confusion.] The echoes helped take away some of the stress at least. Gawain clearly was not prepared for this situation any more than she was. Although, it was probably worse for him. The kid wasn't hers, she really had no responsibility for it. She wasn't the one trying to feed it and goodness knows she wasn't the one dealing with the crying and fussing and all that other baby drama. But it didn't ease her worries completely. There were still things gnawing at the back of her mind, wedged between the logical sound of her echoes and her own tangled thoughts. She shifted her footing, and toed the invisible line to enter the room.

>>"I had... absolutely no idea. I would have told you if I did."

Lie detector sensors buzzed with the truth. Good enough for now...

"Yeah, word gets around...Especially with the echoes...So, what are you going to do?" It was open ended. What would he do about the baby? What would he do about the mother? What would he do now that he thought he was a parent? It felt silly that she was worried about herself in this situation, but she couldn't help it. She was worried about that too. Maybe after this she could go train in the danger room. At least she had that she could focus on now...

>>"Yeah, word gets around...Especially with the echoes...So, what are you going to do?"

Evelyn sounded as confused as he was, and she was not even saying everything she could have said. Finding out your boyfriend knocked up another girl, even if it happened before you started dating... well. There was a lot to say about that.

"I... don't know." he said lamely, looking down again to check that the baby was not drowning in formula "I tried to contact Becca, but... she is out of reach. Honestly, I have not heard from her for months. Which... kinda makes sense, I guess. And her... girlfriend is also missing."

Because complications always come on many levels.

"MRC is talking to the woman who kidnapped the baby, but she is not being very cooperative. Hopefully they will be able to get something out of her..."

Eventually.

Deep breathe in.....deep breathe out.

Finding your boyfriend/girlfriend had a baby with another woman who also happened to have a girlfriend...other woman and said girlfriend of other woman missing. Kidnapper of child of new-boyfriend-now-father won't tell location of other woman....

There was no training in the world to prepare for this situation.

"I guess I hope you find her then...." She felt like she should say more. She felt like maybe she could be upset. The situation really made the whole concept of dating look like something to regret. She had no idea what this would do. Would he stay around? Would he go look for the missing mother of his assumed kid? Did they do a dna test or something? Was there verification before making life altering decisions about said kid?

Deep breathe in....deep breathe out.

The echoes drowned in her emotions.

"You still going to do missions and stuff in the meantime or you going to take--" Babysitting leave? "A break." She tried not to glance at the kid. It wasn't it's fault it got planted in this situation. At least it had mutants for parents, right?

Was the mother a mutant? She added that to the ever growing list of confusion. Mutant child of significant other had warning signs all over it.

>>"I guess I hope you find her then...."

"Yeah I hope so too." Gawain sighed in agreement. The sooner Mommy had the baby, the better.

>>"You still going to do missions and stuff in the meantime or you going to take-- A break."

"Well..." Gawain looked down at the baby who was not dripping formula out of the corner of her mouth. Putting the sippy cup down he awkwardly listed Baby X up to his shoulder and stood. This was way, way out of his training.

"There is not really anyone else to take care of it... her." he said "I mean, Miss T would probably watch her if I asked but... yeah, until Becca shows up, I'm kinda stuck with... being a father."

God it sounded weird.

Evelyn's stress level was making it hard to hear the echoes. Enough that she misunderstood Gawain's hopeful sigh. He hopes he'll find her... So this royally sucked. The whole knight idea came flying back to thought. She couldn't breathe. Breathing was necessary though right? Deep breathe in....

She somewhat choked on the exhale.

"Well I guess, I mean... Maybe I can just hang out with the other trainees until you sort that out. I don't want to get in the way of your fa--your kid. Your whole parenting, mom dad..." Deep breathe. She was supposed to do something with it. The baby seemed somewhat content with it's awkward position on Gawain's shoulder. She was forced to face it now, which made this whole thing worse. The echoes fizzled, struggled to read it's body language. Did it have body language?

Maternal instincts. Anytime now. Would be useful.

"I've never really dealt with kids. I might break it." It might break me.. "I mean, if you need help, I could try..." Because watching the kid of one of your boyfriend/girlfriends past girlfriend (was it a girlfriend?) wouldn't be awkward in the least. "Or if you need like diapers or something mom never cut off my credit card so there's that..."

Holycrap, there would be diapers.

>>"Well I guess, I mean... Maybe I can just hang out with the other trainees until you sort that out. I don't want to get in the way of your fa--your kid. Your whole parenting, mom dad..."

"Wha..." Gawain turned around to look at her, and consequently squeezed the baby that burped a generous amount of formula up over his shoulder. God babies were gross.

"I've never really dealt with kids. I might break it. I mean, if you need help, I could try... Or if you need like diapers or something mom never cut off my credit card so there's that..."

"Um. Paper towels." Gawain noted, holding the now much more peaceful post-burp baby awkwardly away from his shoulder. He was so glad Sam was not here to see this. Silver linings.

"I don't..." he muttered while doing his best to clean up "Evelyn, this is not about us. I mean, Becca and I..."

Banged drunk in the X-jet?

"... had a one-night stand. It was rebound, for both of us. We were on a mission together, and... well, I never knew she was pregnant. I mean... I don't even know where she is, or how the woman found her. But we are definitely not... a thing. She's more into girls anyway, for one. So I just... well, the kid is still half mine. Kinda hard to argue with the gender shifting."

Having the baby throw up in the middle of things was a temporary distraction from Evelyn's trainwreck of thoughts. Screeeeech.....not about us....craaassshhh....one night stand.

Chivalry. Yeah. That was a thing. A thing looking far more elusive as the conversation continued. Well, even Sir Gawain had his slip ups.... ironically, not so far from the current conversation--

"Gender shifting. I mean, are you sure....People have the same powers sometimes don't they?" She glanced at the kid. It didn't look like it was gender shifting. Maybe it did it at midnight like it's daaaa----

--holycrapgendershiftingonenightstandbaby.

"She's, rebound....on a mission?" Kabooom.... The echoes crawled from the wreckage like crippled passengers.

She leaned against the doorway. It felt like a little late to remember to breathe.

>>"Gender shifting. I mean, are you sure....People have the same powers sometimes don't they?... She's, rebound....on a mission?"

Whatever he was doing to explain the whole thing, apparently all he accomplished was confusing Evelyn even more.

Get it together, Gawain, and try to make sense. Simple words.

"We were drunk and on our way home from a mission. She just broke up with her girlfriend, and I just broke up with Ami. It was right... after the future dream."

The one I died in.

"It didn't really mean anything."

Yeah, duh.

"And... well." he looked at the baby making soft baby noises while being cleaned up. "The woman never mentioned Becca, but she seemed pretty sure this was my kid, and she had some kind of powers to know stuff. And... well. Becca is, really, the only option. It's not like I get around as much as Sam."

Ba-dum.

Break-up. Drunk. Future Dream. Too much information. Way too much information. Memories buzzed through Evelyn's head. Memories of Burn the City woman. Memories of jealousy. Confusion. Frustration.

She pushed herself off the doorway and tried to walk steady as she headed to the sink to get a glass of water. Composure. She could do this.

"I guess I understand. Well, not really. I mean I've never.... Never broken up with someone that is. Or, well..." Her brain awkwardly fell back into the one-night stand comment.

Any night stand.

She never.

Face beat red, she quickly took a sip of water before the glass was filled. Mirror had a baby. She at least had a cup of water now to distract herself. At least the cup of water wasn't throwing up on her. Not that throwing up felt very far away right now...

It didn't really mean anything...

Not helping.

It's not like I get around as much as Sam.

Choking, choking on water. Once her airway was free she glanced back over her shoulder. As if this conversation wasn't getting more complicated by the minute. "I didn't mean... I didn't think you had. I mean, I'm glad you're not, but..." The baby cooed. It's somewhat almost cute little interjection wasn't helping repair her echoes. Or clear her airway. The echoes buzzed with Gawain's body language, distant look of a memory crossing his face. What memory? She didn't need to know what memory.

Airway. Airway must not be clear. She took another gulp of water. Too much information. Way too much information.

>>"I guess I understand. Well, not really. I mean I've never.... Never broken up with someone that is. Or, well..."

Gawain frowned to himself. Why was this being so darn complicated? It's not like he had ever said that he was inexperienced. Or the other way around. He knew Evelyn had not dated anyone before, but the level of awkward... was unexpected.

He found himself wondering just how much in general Evelyn knew about relationships.

>>"I didn't mean... I didn't think you had. I mean, I'm glad you're not, but..."

"It makes sense Becca didn't tell me." Gawain concluded, dropping the subject "Last time I heard, she was back with her girlfriend. I wouldn't be surprised if they just wanted a family to themselves. It's not like I'm super prepared to be a dad."

That was the understatement of the year, ladies and gentlemen.

Gawain sighed again and deposited the well-fed baby into the baby basket on the table, before walking over to the counter to lean against it.

"Eve, whatever you are thinking, just say it. I'm way to tired to talk around stuff."