Astrid strode forward to greet her two adoptive parents, the cat still nestled in her arms. Her heart was beating far too quickly in her chest for it to be a normal rhythm, and she could feel her eyes starting to bulge. Her skin felt clammy, too. She was more nervous than she had been in a long, long time.

Bijou squirmed slightly as Rebecca and Jesse conversed. Astrid was silent, trying not to push her luck any farther than it would go naturally. However, when she heard Rebecca mention that the apartment didn't allow pets, she made a sound like a wounded animal. That was what she felt like, after all. She had just saved the little creature, and she was suddenly having to face the fact that she could be ripped from her arms after such a short period of time.

>> ”Jesse, babe… do you think we could get away with keeping a cat at the base?”

>> "Well, people get away with doing a lot of things at the base."

Astrid's face brightened suddenly. That was a viable option. She stepped in place and hugged the cat closer to her chest, a gleeful expression on her face. "We could totally do that! We could bring her to the base and let her be the team pet! Maybe the team mascot! That would be so very cute!"

She beamed at her parents. There was no use in trying to hide her excitement from them, anyway. She was very excited. That was a fact, and there was nothing that could bring her mood down. Certainly not the fact that they were talking about bringing a cat into a sterile place, anyway.

By that point, Bijou had managed to squirm right out of her arms. She set her down on the ground and watched as the cat stretched out and went around the room, sniffing the new space that she'd just been put in.

Meanwhile, Astrid put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath in, assuming that the decision was final. "We will probably have to take her to a vet to make sure that she is not sick and then buy her some food and a collar. This will be perfect! Mister Geo and Miss Agnes can watch her when they stay over for the night!"

Rebecca could be accused of being “hard” at times to the people around her, and not only was that true, often it was intentional. Survival and getting things done were her motivating factors, and in a world where mutants were still looked at with caution and even hate, it did her no favors to be kind-hearted. Still, if those accusers could see her in her private moments with Jesse and Astrid, they would understand that she was softer than the persona she wore in public.

As a responsible adult, it was on Rebecca to figure out how to explain to her daughter why they could not keep a cat. It may have sounded easy in theory, but saying no to Astrid was not easy. She already had to keep the girl homeschooled because her wings would only make her a target in a public school, and that also made her more protective when Astrid left the apartment in general. The girl was important to her, and she took on the responsibility of being her mother, so if anything happened to her… well, Rebecca would never be able to cope with that.

But this was a small thing, and when she heard Astrid’s non-verbal reply to the reminder of their apartment policy, it seemed like the best choice to find some way to keep Bijou. The cat was named, after all, and she was not heartless. Jules would kill her once she realized Rebecca let an animal into the building, but she was sure there was some combination of persuasion and free drinks that could get her gruff friend to look the other way one more time.

Jesse agreed with the idea, pointing out what they already brought into the building, which prompted Rebecca to make the necessary comment under her breath, ”We do let Agnes in, after all.” She had to remind herself that a Team Leader should not be petty, but after a long day and in the presence of her wife, little comments were bound to slide.

The idea was accepted wholeheartedly by her daughter, who was already naming Bijou the team mascot. This was the kind of enthusiasm she was going to have to get used to, because once the team met Bijou, she would be receiving a lot more of this.

Bijou was set down so she could explore Rebecca and Jesse’s room, indulging in her kitty curiosity. Astrid was coming up with the next steps they had to take, which made Rebecca smile. She was a lister, just like her mother. The idea of Tristan and Agnes watching the cat overnight did earn a laugh from her as she tried to picture the kitten curling up next to Agnes on her borrowed hospital bed. ”I’m sure they’ll love that. And I’ll bring Bijou to the vet, first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, you, young lady, have Violin and Music Theory lessons tomorrow. Do you even know what time it is?” she teased, doubting Astrid was checking a watch when she was off flying and rescuing cats.

”I’ll be out most of the day tomorrow, between the vet and the office and the pub,” she advised her daughter, running through her tight schedule in her head. ”Your other mom or dad will be around, so if you would like to visit Bijou at the hospital, just ask, and hopefully they can accompany you. Would you mind, dear?” It was not ideal, since Jesse was stuck in the Mirror World, but New York had plenty of reflective surfaces, so keeping an eye on their daughter was still something her trapped spouse could do. Even with the challenges they were working through, Jesse was a godsend as a partner in parenting, especially with the hectic schedule Rebecca often found herself balancing.

Rebecca grabbed Bijou from a hamper of her dirty laundry and scratched behind the little beast’s ear, earning a purr before she offered the pet back to Astrid. ”Why don’t you take tonight to cuddle with Bijou and get some sleep.” She pulled her daughter close and got on her tiptoes to kiss the girl on the forehead, making up for the fact that her fifteen-year-old had already outgrown her. ”I love you, sweetie,” she reminded her daughter. On a night like this, she wanted to make that sentiment clear to both the people she loved in the world, even if getting sappy might go against her hardened reputation.

Astrid seemed excited about the option of bringing her new pet to the headquarters. It was dubious whether the X-team needed a mascot or not, or if a stray cat was going to be the best choice... but if Jesse wanted to be honest about it, a stray was probably exactly the mascot that described their ragtag team best.

>>"We will probably have to take her to a vet to make sure that she is not sick and then buy her some food and a collar. This will be perfect! Mister Geo and Miss Agnes can watch her when they stay over for the night!"

Jesse chuckled. The cat was definitely in need of some care. a hair cut, probably, a bath, a collar, several shots, and maybe some flea spray...

>>”I’m sure they’ll love that. And I’ll bring Bijou to the vet, first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, you, young lady, have Violin and Music Theory lessons tomorrow. Do you even know what time it is?”

Of course Becca could not say no. She could never say no to strays, and she had a hard time saying no to her soft-hearted daughter, even when it was in her best interest and it was Becca's turn to play Bad Cop. Jesse, doing what she could to support her spouse, tried to send a stern look at the kid from the mirror, folding her arms. Bedtime indeed.

>>”I’ll be out most of the day tomorrow, between the vet and the office and the pub. Your other mom or dad will be around, so if you would like to visit Bijou at the hospital, just ask, and hopefully they can accompany you. Would you mind, dear?”

"Not at all." Jesse smiled. She liked to go on trips with the family, even if it mostly meant following along in shop windows, or tagging along in a small mirror someone was carrying.

>>”Why don’t you take tonight to cuddle with Bijou and get some sleep. I love you, sweetie,”

"Goodight, kiddo" Jesse waved as their daughter left with the cat. Jesse bristled a little at the idea of the dirty little fuzzball in their daughter's bed, but she had to admit that her standards of hygiene had grown a lot since she had been under Becca's supervision. Jesse waited with chuckling again until Astrid was out of earshot.

"We're gonna need some flea repellent..." she grinned at her wife "And a collar... I think the kid just got us an X-cat."

"Miss Anges is not that bad, she is just misunderstood," the teen enthused. She really did believe that some day, she would make Combatant smile and participate in the happiness that occasionally went through the offices.

She listened while her parents discussed, not butting in at all in case it would make them change their minds. She only began to speak again once she was told to go to bed.

"Okay," Astrid agreed dreamily as she turned to exit the room. They were letting her keep the cat, and that was really all she cared about. Save for her time at her music lesson, she could spend the entire day with her new friend! It was some of the best news that she had gotten in months.

She turned back, accidentally knocking a cup off of a dresser with her wing, and looked at Rebecca. "I love you too!" she exclaimed with a grin, not even noticing the water that was beginning to spread over the floor. 

With that, she scurried out of the room, Bijou held tightly in her arms. She rushed to her room and set Bijou down on the bed, allowing her to get a good look at her new surroundings.

While the cat was moving around the room and getting ready to go to bed, Astrid closed the door to her room and shut the window, making sure that there was no way for Bijou to escape her new home and go back to the streets where she would be alone and cold.

After changing and giving the cat a few moments, Astrid then settled into bed and set Bijou down on a nest of blankets. Both the girl and the cat then settled in for the night. 

Ever the optimist, Rebecca’s daughter spoke kindly of Combatant, proving the redhead was raising a young woman who was already better than her. It was every mother’s dream. She got an “I love you” from her teenage daughter before she ran off to her room, (justifiably) more excited about her new cat than sleep or anything else in her night.

Rebecca flinched when a cup was knocked off her dresser, but she downplayed the accident. Astrid’s wings were wider than ever, and at times they could be unwieldy in the apartment. Being conscious of this, most of the cups in the house were hard plastic rather than glass. There was a clatter against the hardwood, and water spilled out across the floor, but nothing broke.

It was Jesse who spoke first, amused that their daughter had found a way to turn a stray cat into a mascot. If anyone could say they had Rebecca wrapped around their finger, it was Astrid, even if she was blissfully unaware of how much power she wielded. ”Tell no one, but I’m actually incredibly excited,” she admitted, running her fingers through her red hair, still feeling faint dampness not dried off by her towel. ”Jules is going to have my ass for this when she finds out, but… I’ll make it work.” Rebecca sighed; “making it work” felt like the summary of her life lately.

Rolling her shoulders to loosen up the last of her tension, and still silently wishing she could whine a massage out of her lover, a yawn worked its way out of Rebecca. ”I think Astrid’s not the only one who should get to sleep,” she admitted before looking down at the small water spill on the ground. It would have been best to get paper towels, sop up the spill, and throw the cup in the sink.

Or Rebecca could grab a towel from the top of her hamper and toss it on the ground. ”I’ll deal with that tomorrow.” It had been an exhausting night physically, mentally, and emotionally. Rebecca just wanted to sleep and reset everything.

Walking over to the side of her bed, one last mirror was hanging. At the end of her nights, Rebecca never properly cleaned off her lipstick. On this particular night, there was still a clear trace of the dark shade she had worn to work. The mirror was stained with several lip marks, but most of them were stacked over each other in the center of the frame. Rebecca waited for her spouse to move through her dimension until she was standing face to face with her.

Rebecca planted her customary goodnight kiss on the glass, meeting the spot where Jesse did the same. It was not perfect, and Rebecca would kill any number of people to feel the soft lips of her lover instead of the hard surface of a mirror, but it was theirs. A little nighttime ritual they could forge in their new normal. ”Goodnight, Jesse. I love you.”

With a smile, Rebecca crawled into the bed and burrowed under the covers. Her face was obscured by a pillow as her arm absentmindedly stretched out to where Jesse’s side of the bed used to be. She closed her eyes, not wanting to feel the stinging of tears forming, as her smile slowly faded. She would learn to love her new normal, but she would never stop missing what they once had.

>>”Tell no one, but I’m actually incredibly excited. Jules is going to have my ass for this when she finds out, but… I’ll make it work.”

"It would be a pity for that ass" Jesse grinned. Now that their kid had gone back to her room (only knocking a few things over as she left in a flurry of excitement and a new cat), the mirrorwalker was back to her usual flirty self. She wilfully ignored the fact that Rebecca looked exhausted and worn out. She worried about that enough without saying anything.

>>”I think Astrid’s not the only one who should get to sleep... I’ll deal with that tomorrow.”

"It's just water" Jesse shrugged reassuringly. One of the many things that ate at her about being trapped in the mirrorworld was that she could do virtually nothing to help her family - other than emotional support. No chores, no financials, no cooking... She could not even protect them from harm. The feeling of constant helplessness, watching her family from the outside, was near impossible to bear.

Jesse moved into the mirror where they usually said goodnight to each other, and smiled as her wife pressed her lips to the glass. It was not the time to worry about the things they could not solve.

>>”Goodnight, Jesse. I love you.”

"I love you too, beautiful" Jesse smiled, watching as her wife tucked herself into bed. She smiled until the lights were turned off; after that, she quietly left the bedroom, and moved into the mirrors of the living room, where the TV set had been left on, in case she wanted entertainment. In the mirror world, Jesse did not need sleep, although sometimes she indulged in it anyway, just to pass the time. Sometimes, she stayed up, thinking.
Dreaming with her eyes open.