"What're alkali metals? I don't remember,"


Right, right, she was a child. Chemistry was probably a few years away in her education. "Left hand column of the periodic table of elements, except the top one, hydrogen." Years as a nerd were useful, it would seem. For all the good that information really did him. Now taxes, those he wished someone would have taught him. Not that it would have done him any good, in hind sight. He was in a totally different country.

I should just hand it all off to an accountant.

"Adolescent tiger shark. I have the marking and everything,"

Cafas poked at a steak, trying to gauge how done it was. He absently glanced at Abby before realizing she was actually trying to show him. Huh, so she did. "That's pretty awesome. We get more than a few of those in Australia. They get nearly as big as the great whites. That pool must seem tiny to you when you're a shark." Tiger sharks were huge animals, and classified as man eaters. That was unfair though, they were more like goats, they just ate anything and everything.

Kinda like some of the teenagers around here.

"So how long have you been here at the school for?" He asked, pulling out the drawer he assumed the girl was looking for. The one with the masher and, should she be feeling energetic, the whisk. He knew some people whipped their potatoes to really get the last of the lumps out. Cafas just didn't care enough to bother with it.

>>"That's pretty awesome. We get more than a few of those in Australia. They get nearly as big as the great whites. That pool must seem tiny to you when you're a shark."

"It's better than a tub. At my Uncle's that's all I have. But I tend to stay in the deep end," she smiled softly.

>>"So how long have you been here at the school for?"

Abby looked up and grinned as he handed her the mixer thing. "I came when I was nine so... three years. It doesn't feel like a long time." She moved her chair over now that she had everything. The potatoes would be heavy but she was prepared to carry the pot to the sink, where the strainer was set up. "I don't have many friends," she continued. "Some of the older girls like to dress me up. And I know a lot of others my age. But no one really wants to be my friend. I think it's my teeth."

"Yeah, I didn't exactly have a lot of friends when I was your age." Cafas poked at steaks and decided they were done enough. He shut the gas off and let them sit. "Can't blame my teeth though," Not that Cafas had really noticed Abby's teeth, "I was just bad at talking to people." That's what he'd had Sophie for. She was the face of the operation.

He left the pan, getting the gist of what Abby was going to do. The potato pot was in his hands moments later. He covered the ground to the sink in short order. "Here." He tipped the potatoes into the strainer, letting the water swirl away. "Best advice I can give is try not to take it too hard, and keep trying. All you need is one person on your side, they make it much easier." The X-man smiled at the shark shifter with his best big brother smile. He supposed it was starting to get more to the dad smile point.

Nope, we're not getting into that conversation again.

"Now, let's see those teeth, they must be pretty cool if they scare people off." Cafas tipped the potatoes back into the pot for Abby to mash.

>> "Best advice I can give is try not to take it too hard, and keep trying. All you need is one person on your side, they make it much easier."

Abby listened as he gave her advice. He had grabbed the pot before she could, so she was left standing on her chair. Staring at him.

>>"Now, let's see those teeth, they must be pretty cool if they scare people off."

Now that was scary. She had learned how to smile and talk without showing her teeth. It wasn't often someone asked to see them. Sometimes she forgot to hide them, but mostly she kept them for sight. Opening her mouth a little, she let the pink haired man see them. The front teeth were really like a shark's. Not that she had rows and rows. Just the shape. The further back in her mouth the more normal they got.

Once she thought he had seen enough, she snapped her lips shut and moved to get a bowl for the potatoes. Her Mommy used the pot but last time she did that she got in trouble.  She'd have to remember to wash all the dishes after she finished eating.

Ah, yeah, it made perfect sense she'd be shy about her teeth if they scared her. Cafas refrained from facepalming, but he cringed a little internally. Still, she didn't seem to be insulted, just shy. Actually he hadn't quite expected her to show him after her initial reaction. She did though.

Pointy.

Yeah, he could see how kids would be mean for such sharky teeth. It was the sort of lesson you learned later in life, looking past appearances. Or perhaps it was unlearning the habit of not doing so. Young children genuinely didn't seem to care who their friends were. To Cafas though, the teeth were just cool. Perhaps Calley had jsut desensitized him to scary teeth. Abby shut her mouth quickly and scurried off for something else.

"That's awesome. Must hurt to bite your lip though." It hurt enough with human teeth. He couldn't imagine it was any more fun with a sharper set of teeth.

The X-man wandered a few feet to grab plates and cutlery for them. While they had a bit of time, he figured he'd go the extra mile and warm the plates. He set the oven on a low temperature and slid them in. It was something he knew his grandmother had done, and restaurants seemed to, so why not give it a go? Maybe it actually made a difference.

"You know, I think we might nearly be done. What do you think?"

>>"That's awesome. Must hurt to bite your lip though."

Abby felt heat rise to her face. She wouldn't admit it but the first time she met DocProf was because she had bit her cheek. He had seen her a few more times since then for similar reasons. She moved back with the bowl. Hopefully her cheeks weren't too red.

>>"You know, I think we might nearly be done. What do you think?"

"We still have to mash the potatoes," she stated. How were they anywhere near done? The potatoes needed mashing and then butter and salt and pepper. Then they could eat. That reminded her.

"Why'd you miss dinner?" she asked, tilting her head to be able to look at Cafas.

Oh, good job Cafas. He'd embarrassed her. Or made her made. Something that made her face go red. He had to assume embarrassment, given how shy she'd been about her teeth in the first place. He felt dumb for having made an off hand comment about them, clearly he should have known better, he was an adult.

"Yeah, but that'll take no time at all." Mashing was a quick task, so long as you didn't care too much about having perfectly smooth potatoes. Cafas certainly didn't. Especially not when it was him doing the mashing (or waiting on it for that matter). Plus, when compared to the process of boiling the potatoes, and cooking the steaks, it was certainly almost done. Arguing didn't seem worth it though, let the child be pedantic.

"Why'd you miss dinner?"

"Trying to convince a four year old in a bad mood to eat his own dinner distracted me." The metal manipulator leaned against the bench, shaking his head with hours old exasperation. Rowan had decided to be a proper handful. It had been something of a new experience. Normally Rowan was well behaved with Cafas, and when he wasn't Maya stepped in. The poor thing had just been run ragged from being on call, and so it had fallen to him. "Getting him to bed had taken priority after that. That took ages." Honestly he'd been trying to get him away from sources of attention. If there was no-one there to see him cause a scene he was going to be much more manageable. At least that was the theory. "Normal boring adult things." All part and parcel of dating a single mother.

Cafas sighed and took his weight fully back onto his feet again. The shark girl probably wasn't old enough to understand the whole having a child thing. Hell, Cafas hadn't been until a few months previous. Maybe nobody was until they had one. Maybe not even then.

>>"Trying to convince a four year old in a bad mood to eat his own dinner distracted me. Getting him to bed had taken priority after that. That took ages. Normal boring adult things."

Abby paused in her assembly of the mixer and looked at the pink haired man. He didn't look like a dad. She didn't know any dads with pink hair. She opened her mouth to ask a question. Then she reconsidered it. It might be mean to ask. But he had been nice so far. And the teachers always said they could ask any kind of question. Taking a deep breath, the little blonde decided to just ask. "If you're a Dad, why's your hair pink?" she asked quickly.

Taking the pot full of potatoes, she plopped them in the bowl followed by milk and butter. She took the mixer and mushed some of the potatoes down. "Mommy always said you needed to help the potatoes along before they were ready to be eaten as mashed potatoes," she explained quietly before turning on the mixer.

Apparently, Cafas had attracted Abby's attention. She stared at him briefly, and he froze like a rabbit in headlights. He should surely have more resistance to people staring than he was displaying. Actually, he was pretty sure he did have more resistance than he was utilising. It was just the way she looked at him. He wasn't used to the level of evaluation. Not that he had much idea of what was giving him pause.

"If you're a Dad, why's your hair pink?"

Cafas laughed. A short burst of mirth, bubbling over the barricades set to stifle it. That was precious. He'd been asked about his hair so many times, in so many ways. This one was new, unexpected, and so innocent it almost broke his heart knowing the poor girl was about to meet the real world in a few years. Cafas seized composure with the full force of his acting career and stood back up, an amused pity reflected in his eyes.

"Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you, that was just so unexpected. Well, I guess technically I'm not a father. My girlfriend just has a son, and that comes with responsibilities, especially after the first few months." Cafas was learning that at a cracking pace, "It changes a lot in your life when you have so much responsibility to another person, but it doesn't need to change who you are. Who I am like having pink hair." That seemed like a fair explanation. It didn't do justice to exactly how complicated the whole thing was, but Cafas wasn't convinced he could ever put that into words.

"Mommy always said you needed to help the potatoes along before they were ready to be eaten as mashed potatoes,"

Motherly advice on cooking. He missed that something fierce. He hadn't realised until Abby had said that. He was struck by a wave of loneliness that overcame the bitterness he still held for his parents, if only briefly. His eyes softened and face fell as his gaze returned to the shark girl.

"Do you miss her? Your mum?" Cafas dropped into a crouch to be on eye level with the girl, stood on her chair. "It's okay if you do, I miss mine sometimes."

Abby wasn't sure how to take the sudden laughter from Cafas. She didn't think she had said anything funny.  Was he laughing at her?  Should she not have asked.

>>"Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you, that was just so unexpected. Well, I guess technically I'm not a father. My girlfriend just has a son, and that comes with responsibilities, especially after the first few months. It changes a lot in your life when you have so much responsibility to another person, but it doesn't need to change who you are. Who I am like having pink hair."

She nodded at his answer. So she just surprised him. She couldn't remember the last time someone laughed because of surprise but accepted the explanation.

>>"Do you miss her? Your mum? It's okay if you do, I miss mine sometimes."

Abby stopped the mixer and looked down. She always missed her Mommy, but she had met some that didn't even know their Mommy or Daddy. "I do. Aunt Teresa tries but she isn't Mommy." The little girl paused before asking a question that always bothered her. "Is it bad that I don't like it when Aunt Teresa tries to be my Mommy?"

"I do. Aunt Teresa tries but she isn't Mommy."

Yeah, Cafas could see that well enough. Even with the pain and anger he felt, he didn't think anyone could adequately replace his parents. The years of fond childhood memories still weren't entirely erased, even if perhaps it would make his life less painful if they were.

"Is it bad that I don't like it when Aunt Teresa tries to be my Mommy?"

Now there was a tricky one. Cafas' eyes glazed momentarily as he tried to find his gut instinct through the mess of things he probably should be saying. "No, and I think you should maybe tell Aunt Teresa how you feel. It's the only way it will get better." Boundaries needed to be set in every relationship, from both sides. Sometimes they were just intuitive. Clearly, is other cases, they weren't.

"At the same time though, do you think it's bad that Aunt Teresa wants to make this feel more like home for you? Maybe she's just trying to lessen the loss?" Cafas's eyebrows rose gently, tracing the edge of his fringe. Maybe in a few years he'd be in the same place with Rowan. That was a scary thought. He hoped someone would have the same conversation with Ro. Really he hoped Ro would feel okay coming to him about it directly.

It's gonna be a tricky life ahead for us both I think...

>>"No, and I think you should maybe tell Aunt Teresa how you feel. It's the only way it will get better."

Tell Aunt Teresa? Would that actually work? Would Aunt Teresa listen to her?

>>"At the same time though, do you think it's bad that Aunt Teresa wants to make this feel more like home for you? Maybe she's just trying to lessen the loss?"

Abby thought about that for a bit. It wasn't often that she saw her Aunt and Uncle. Only when they visited or some holiday was coming up. Home. Did she think of her Aunt and Uncle's house as home? Not really. The school was more home than their house. She didn't really have a room there. Though it was technically her room, she didn't decorate it like her room here.

"But this is home," she said finally. Even though some of the other students didn't like her much, it was still home to her. "And Aunt Teresa doesn't live here. She lives with Uncle."  Abby was a little confused now.  "Aunt Teresa only acts like a mommy when I'm at their house. Not when I'm here."

Cafas wasn't really sure how to handle that one. It was good that the Mansion could feel like home for Abby, though. He knew for many kids it never quite got there. It was probably one of the things that kept him coming back, just how much it still felt like home for him.

Well I'm sure Maya would say talking it out is the best answer.

"Well, I still think you should talk to her. You will need to be gentle though, because she might just be doing her best, and it would be sad to hurt her feelings if she's just trying help, wouldn't it?" There was of course, every chance Aunt Teresa was just trying to have authority. He wasn't entirely sure what Abby meant about acting like a mom.

Cafas took the mixer gently from Abby's hand and set to mixing the potatoes more. They didn't need too much. That was the advantage of an electric mixer. It was done in no time at all. Not literally, that would be weird, but figuratively. "There. What do you think? Done?" He stepped away from the bowl to allow Abby to look. He was pretty certain it was fine, so pulled the warm plates out of the oven with a tea towel. Steaks were loaded onto the plates, as was the corn, ready for the potatoes.

"Come on, we can eat and you can tell me about your mom if it'll make you feel better. I bet she was lovely, she raised you after all." Abby seemed like a good kid. It was generally a good indicator, although by no means a guarantee, that their parents had been decent people.

>>"...You will need to be gentle though, because she might just be doing her best, and it would be sad to hurt her feelings if she's just trying help, wouldn't it?"

Abby let him take the mixer as she thought about what he said. She should probably tell Aunt Teresa how she felt. Though she wasn't sure how to be gentle about it. She'd have to think about how to do that. She nodded absently to Cafas's question.

>>"Come on, we can eat and you can tell me about your mom if it'll make you feel better. I bet she was lovely, she raised you after all."

Her mommy. He wanted to know about her. "I don't remember a lot. She died several years ago," Abby admitted as she sit down. She remembered different things though. "I remember Mommy singing while we cleaned. She would put on music for anything. Sometimes she asked me to play the piano for her. She liked that a lot." Abby started on her meal. The steak was yummy.

"She smelled like oranges and rain," she remembered that all the time. It was why she liked the rain. "Daddy smelled like salt and coffee."  She remembered those things better than others.  "Daddy would dance with Mommy when he came home, if we still had music playing."  She missed them.  "What about your Mommy and Daddy? Do you remember them?"

Abby handled talking about her dead mother very well for a kid her age. Certainly better than Cafas was handling having shoved his foot so deep into his mouth with that question. How awkward he felt was internalised as he tried to brush it off. He probably should have seen it coming, there were a lot of orphans at the Mansion. He just hadn't, like a fool.

Her parents did sound nice though. They sounded happy, even. Like they never moved past the smitten stage of their relationship, just built upon it, and kept it strong. It was a nice thought that such happiness could exist, even briefly, in a world all too often clouded by violence and tragedy.

Cafas was chewing when Abby proceeded to punch him right in the family memories. Her question was just as innocent as his, he knew, but it still stung just a little bit. Then again, did he get the right to complain when he'd had his parents so much longer than Abby had ever been given. He swallowed.

"I do. I remember their voices, and their faces. I remember my dad comign home from work and playing video games with me, my mom asking me about school, what I was learning, how my friends were. Mostly I remember being scared they'd find out what I was. Turned out, when they did, they were scared of me." That was probably the most painful memory. the look in their eyes that had made him pack everything he could, and wait for them to go to sleep so he could run.

Not quite how it went.

"I was sad to lose my family. Angry even. Eventually I came here though, and even though it took a while, the people here became my new family. So at least I got a happy ending to that story, right?" The X-man smiled, doing his level best to believe it. It just didn't feel like an ending. It felt like the beginning of a much harder road.