Mansion greeting duty sounded really good right now.

Mirror usually worked out pent up anger and frustration in the Danger Room, but that practice had to come to a point where he had to give up the DR to people who were actually trying to train and not just punch random stuff. Not being calm enough to go to the archery range, he just decided to do actual work in order to take his mind off... a lot of things.

Cafas, on his way out, reminded Gawain that there was some girl called Alli coming in to talk. Putting on his official "on guard duty" outfit, Gawain stalked his way to the office and settled down, wallowing in self-pity and sulk, resigned to keep doing exactly that until the mystery woman showed up for the nickel tour of the Mansion.

This day started out bad enough, maybe it would get better.

When someone knocked on the door he stood and walked up, all official, only to meet Miss Taylor coming in.

"Gawain?" she said, accompanied by cooing sounds from a baby basket "I'm sorry, I have to go run some errands. We are out of everything. I'll be back in an hour, I promise."

And thus, Gawain ended up sitting in the X-office with Baby X cooing at a stuffed frog, waiting for the visitor to show.

Presenting a friendly image, he was.

Allison was not particularly frantic right now. That was partly because she was exhausted, and partly because it had been two weeks (or something; she hadn't really kept the best track of time recently) and there was only so long that constant panic could last.

The panic was still there, of course. Even if Allison hadn't eventually sorted Alex separate from how she'd become pregnant in her head and started to love them, waking up to find her baby missing after falling asleep for no apparent reason without noticing was not a situation anyone would react well too. So the panic was still there, and the guilt and anger; they were just dulled and pressed down beneath the exhaustion.

They were, though, still more than enough to make her move, even though doing so felt perpetually exhausting now. She spent the subway ride staring out the window, and the walk staring at the ground, and then a few minutes staring at the gates before realizing she'd already gotten to the Mansion and needed to go in.

Someone--probably a student, but who knew with mutants; aging seemed to be affected pretty frequently--gave Allison directions to the office Cafas had told her to visit. She still had to stop and stare around at a few corners, but that was because she was having trouble remembering the directions. Finding the door (probably) was a relief, even if it took effort to knock and push the door open. "Hello? I'm Allison, Cafas told me to come here, I think?"

I should really give her a name.

Gawain looked at the baby in the basket who was busy falling asleep. She was a girl today, last time he checked anyway. One could never be sure with babies. Especially the gender-shifting ones.

No baby should grow up being called Baby X, though. There would be ample time for mutant names later.

There was a knock on the door, and an unknown redhead walked in.

>>"Hello? I'm Allison, Cafas told me to come here, I think?"

"Hi" he stood up and walked over to offer a hand "Gawain. Welcome to the Mansion."

"Hi." It was really good that shaking hands was as thoroughly engrained a response as it was for Allison, because otherwise she would have completely forgotten. "Um...."

So. This was kind of awkward. How exactly did she explain this and be believed? This was not a situation Allison had been trained for. "So, um, a few weeks ago, about, someone kidnapped my baby, and I haven't been able to find them, so I asked Cafas if he could help and he told me he could but to come here instead of talk over the phone. Is he here?"

That... really wasn't going a long way towards making Allison look competent or calm. But at least it was said. Hopefully whoever this was--Gawain--would either ask her about whatever doubts they had, or just tell Allison where Cafas was. She really didn't care, as long as it got the X men to help look for Alex.

>>"So, um, a few weeks ago, about, someone kidnapped my baby, and I haven't been able to find them, so I asked Cafas if he could help and he told me he could but to come here instead of talk over the phone. Is he here?"

Gawain's eyes darted towards the baby basket on the desk, than back to Allison, before he comprehended the second part of what she was saying. His first instinct was: she is here for the baby. And then she finished the sentence. Oh. She was here for Cafas. made much more sense.

"Um, no, actually, he had to leave" he said, offering her a seat "But I am sure he told you to come here because he thought the X-men could help."

Soft cooing sounds from the baby basket signaled that Baby X was halfway to sleep, but momentarily distracted by the new voice in the room.

Ordinarily Allison would have caught the quick glance to the side, but at the moment she was tired and upset, and not paying any particular attention to anything that didn't obviously have to do with getting Alex back. Instantaneous side glances did not fall into that category, so it was ignored in favor of finishing her sentence.

And of course Cafas was missing. Allison had no idea what he might be doing, and really didn't care; she was far too tired for reason to bother pointing out that there were in fact other important matters in the world than hers, and that Cafas was allowed to deal with them. She cared that she wanted him to help, and he wasn't here, and not about any more than that. The X men were not, in Allison's mind, a good substitute, even if that was what she'd been aiming for anyway. Organizations tended to be a lot more effective when one of their members asked for help for a friend than when a stranger wandered in and asked for the same.

But, the X men were apparently what she could get right now, so she'd deal with that and get Cafas to convince them later. "Okay." Allison ran a hand through her hair while she sorted the words out. "Who do I talk to, then?"

Hearing a baby was... really painful. Allison had heard plenty through her life about how all babies sounded the same, but it was still disturbing how much it sounded like Alex. She winced and turned deliberately away from the sound.

>>"Okay. Who do I talk to, then?"

"Um, me. Mostly." Gawain moved towards the office table to offer tea or coffee, but Baby X had better ideas, and she started to make whiny sounds that were, as Gawain had learned in the past days, the lightning before a storm of wailing. Abandoning the table, Gawain picked the baby out of the basket awkwardly, and held in on his shoulder. Baby X settled for that.

"I'm one of the team leaders on the X-team." Gawain explained "So, why don't you tell me the basics? Like, how your baby got kidnapped, when, and if you have suspicions. If he is a mutant, I might actually be able to get our resident telepath so he can search for him."

That was, anyhow, a start, and as official-sounding as he could muster with a baby about to burp.

"Okay...." 'Me' was... not very impressive. Nor did the not-entirely-certain way he said it help. Since he was apparently the only option though....

"Um... I assume it was a mutant of some kind, because I just kind of fell asleep for a few hours in the middle of the day when I'm normally not tired at all, and Alex was gone when I woke up. That was... a bit under three weeks ago, I think? My sense of time is kind of off. I've been looking, and getting everyone I can to look, and we haven't found anything, I'm not sure I can tell you much more about that."

Allison really wasn't sure whether it was more painful to talk about Alex, or losing Alex. Since it had to be said, though.... "They're about a month old now. Light brown hair, gray eyes... and a healing mutant. Whenever they're hurt, even if it's just a bruise or papercut or pinch, they heal while shifting to the opposite sex. They were male when they were kidnapped, but they probably aren't now."

>>"Okay.... Um... I assume it was a mutant of some kind, because I just kind of fell asleep for a few hours in the middle of the day when I'm normally not tired at all, and Alex was gone when I woke up. That was... a bit under three weeks ago, I think? My sense of time is kind of off. I've been looking, and getting everyone I can to look, and we haven't found anything, I'm not sure I can tell you much more about that."

That did sound like a mutant, and Mirror briefly wondered why she was not going to the MRC with this. Probably because she knew Cafas. In times of distress, people liked calling in personal favors over going the official route of the system. Mirror couldn't blame them. Still, it was not much to go on.

>>"They're about a month old now. Light brown hair, gray eyes... and a healing mutant. Whenever they're hurt, even if it's just a bruise or papercut or pinch, they heal while shifting to the opposite sex. They were male when they were kidnapped, but they probably aren't now."

Gawain froze, and Baby X must have felt the sudden tension is his shoulders because she started squirming and making soft complaining noises, He adjusted his hold, but his eyes never left Allison's face. He was trying to call a bluff. Now it all made sense, and all at once. He just didn't know if he could trust her, friend of Cafas or not.

"I don't know how much Cafas has told you." he said finally, shifting Baby X onto his arms "We call her Baby X, because the woman never gave us a name. She seemed adamant about me being the father, though. Since, as I am sure Cafas has mentioned to you, I am a gender shifter as well."

He was not sure Cafas had mentioned that at all.

"Told me?" Allison was too tired to bother preventing her forehead from creasing in unexpected confusion. "He didn't say..." much of anything trailed off as the rest of what the guy was saying filtered in, and Allison finally dared look at the baby. They did look very like Alex, as much as she could see anyway. She jumped up from the chair and beamed. "Alex!"

The next thing the guy said made her pause halfway over, and blink at the guy. "All Cafas told me was to show up here and he'd help. That seems kind of manipulative for him to have done on purpose, but I don't know him that well...." She eyed the guy. "And I am entirely sure you're not Alex's father." In large part because the father was very definitely dead, but no need to add that. "What's gender shifting like? I'm not, so I'm not sure I can really help Alex much when they grow up...."

>>"Told me? He didn't say... Alex!"

She finally realized what he was taking about, and jumped up from the chair. Baby X winced at the sudden sound and twisted around, trying to look. Gawain held her closer to his chest.

>>"And I am entirely sure you're not Alex's father. What's gender shifting like? I'm not, so I'm not sure I can really help Alex much when they grow up...."

Gawain tried to keep hope from clouding his judgment. Not the father? Wasn't that what every guy wanted to hear? Every unmarried guy, anyhow. And definitely Evelyn. But still, who was she to walk in and take the kid just like that?...

"Whoa whoa, hold it" he said, looking from the baby to Allison and back "How do I know you are telling the truth? From what I know I am the father of this kid. In that case, you are right, there is no way you would be the mother since I don't know you. So..."

Allison was encountering a number of metaphors that made abruptly more sense recently. So far none of them were pleasant, and the feeling of ice water as the guy pulled Alex away from her. The feeling that her chest was burning with fury was also a remarkably accurate metaphor, though one Allison had more experience with. She glared and tried to convince her fists to relax. And her voice to stop growling. "I know their name and birthday and mutation. How many month old sex shifting healers do you think there are? Alex is mine, give them back."

And if whoever this guy was didn't, things were not going to stay as civil Allison was holding them for long. "My baby was kidnapped, and now a stranger has them and won't give them back. For all I know you're the kidnapper, not some random, hypothetical, conveniently missing other person."

That probably wasn't a good way to make the guy like her, but Allison didn't care. The glaring probably wasn't helpful either, but she was either going to be angry or crying, and angry tended to be a lot more productive. Especially when kidnappers were involved.

>>"I know their name and birthday and mutation. How many month old sex shifting healers do you think there are? Alex is mine, give them back."

"Hey, hey, cool the engine lady" Gawain backed away and put baby X back in her basket. First things first, you don't argue with a potential hostile mutant with an infant in your arms. Once Baby X was safely strapped into the baby basket, Gawain turned back to Allison.

>>"My baby was kidnapped, and now a stranger has them and won't give them back. For all I know you're the kidnapper, not some random, hypothetical, conveniently missing other person."

"Whoa" Gawain held up his free hands "Listen, I'm not doing this to mess with you okay? First of all, I'm not the f*-- kidnapper. She's in custody by the MRC, they are trying to get her to confess where she got the baby. I'm on the X-team, for heaven's sake, I'm not the bad guy here. You think I liked taking home a baby that's supposed to be mine?"

(That question, obviously, was rhetorical.)

"All I'm sayin' is, if the baby were really yours, would you want me to hand her off to the first person who shows up and knows their mutation? You could be lying about the name and the birth date, I got no way to verify that. So, believe me, I'd be the happiest person to give Baby X back. The moment you prove she's yours."

It was really hard not to just grab Alex back even when the guy wasn't moving. The only reason Allison didn't when the guy started moving away from her was because she couldn't figure out a way to make sure Alex wouldn't be hurt regardless of what mutation the guy had. Instead she followed, edging around so she could see Alex as well as possible the entire time. Maybe she could get to Alex once he moved away; it would be just as hard for him to get Alex away from her, and if he wasn't as concerned about Alex's safety, Allison had plenty of ink with her. There weren't many people she couldn't kill, especially if their goal was to get close to her. She'd have preferred that Alex not grow up hiding--more than having Aura for a mother made necessary, anyway--but between that and leaving them with someone she didn't know who might have kidnapped them and had no apparently reason to be as possessive as they were.... Allison could probably just leave the country; if she trained the ink her skin made back to a skin color and let it build up long enough, and cut her hair, maybe tattoo the whites of her eyes, that would make her look plenty different. Aura would go with her if she asked, she was sure, and the Order could probably get them to anywhere they wanted relatively easily. Maybe they'd like to have a sort of branch somewhere else? That mutant island she'd heard of, if it existed? Allison could figure that out later. And in the meantime....

"Yes, because no one with a good guy badge has ever done anything wrong. That's just unheard of." Allison had to wonder if there was a mutant somewhere that could actually manifest sarcasm and hit people with it. "And given you're refusing to give me my kid, clearly you don't mind having them around that much."

Allison kept glaring, though her posture shifted a bit from leaning forward ready to pounce to straightening and folding her arm. She couldn't actually glare down at the guy, but she could certainly give that impression. "And just how many people have you told about their mutation, then? I certainly wasn't spreading it around. Don't you know how many people would want to test a healing mutation?" And if anyone did decide to test Alex, Allison was coming back here and killing the guy, even if he handed Alex back immediately. "And just what kind of proof do you want? I'm not leaving without my kid."

>>"Yes, because no one with a good guy badge has ever done anything wrong. That's just unheard of. And given you're refusing to give me my kid, clearly you don't mind having them around that much."

"Well no, since where I stand now she is my baby until proven otherwise." Gawain folded his arms too, mirroring her gesture and making it all the more obvious that he was the taller of the two.

>>"And just how many people have you told about their mutation, then? I certainly wasn't spreading it around. Don't you know how many people would want to test a healing mutation? And just what kind of proof do you want? I'm not leaving without my kid."

"Sure ya are, as soon as I know she is yours. If she is, you gotta be able to prove it." he was not even sure how, but he really did not feel like letting go of the kid with an unclear conscience "I can't just take your word for it. And no, the only people know she is a gender shifter are the other X-men. And I don't think anyone knows about the healing."