This place was great, not only did they have a library a danger room, his secret man cave in his office but they also had a fully functional kitchen. Even better open to the public. Basically anyone could come at any hour of the night and eat some food. Sure there were name tags on some but Sam was more than happy to scrub off said names if something looked good and said person was Gawain, or Serena. They couldn’t be mad at him. He was there teacher and pre-teacher Sam was hungry.

Middle of the night was the best time to be in the kitchen as well. Food from his understanding was picked up the following morning everyday to make sure everyone was well fed which meant whatever he ate now would be replaced. So instead of sleeping or training because both of which were currently out of the question (someone booted him from hogging the danger room) it meant he was about to eat what ever he saw.

Having worked up quite the appetite Sam in his marathon of training simulations (he had to be better than Serena she was too happy beating him). Sam stalked into the kitchen and cracked open the door giggling to himself as he was looking at everything not where to start. To think a few days ago he was living off squirrels in Canadian wilderness hiding for his freedom. ”Everything’s turning up Sam, good for you.” he said justifying why he should eat everything.

Pregnancy was starting to hit Becca hard. Late-night snack runs were a rarity for Rebecca, who tried to keep her eating contained to the daytime hours. She was an X-Man, so she had to consider her fitness and wellbeing. Sure, there were exceptions, and Midnight Chocolates did not count, but generally she tried to behave.

That said, she was craving chocolate something fierce tonight and had no justifiable reason to call Serena or Raine for a Midnight Chocolate. She already begrudgingly agreed to Gawain that she was done going into the field until the kid arrived, so until then, it was much easier to justify late-night snacking.

Gawain was asleep, so before Rebecca left the room, she waited for midnight to make sure her newest baby-mutation would not totally hinder her plans. Midnight came and… no claws. No wings. She pressed a sheet of paper to her skin to make sure she was not dealing with acidic sweat. Golden. Whatever it was today, it was not obvious. She would head to the kitchen and hope for the best.

When she made it to the doorway of the kitchen, Becca stopped at the sounds of masculine giggling. Folding her arms under her chest, she smirked. She had been warned about this, like the rest of the staff. Young Sam. ”Fair warnin, if ye try tae pilfer mah leftover pad thai, Ah hae nae problem givin’ ye detention, Sam.”

With his mouth full of what he assumed was her pad thai Sam jumped a little and smacked his head on the shelf above him. ”Owwwww…” Sam mumbled through the food as he pulled his head out to confront the voice that startled him in the first place.

Quickly chewing his food he shook his head. ”No Ma’am.” She was pregnant, that was the first thing he saw followed by the red hair. Sam’s eyes landed on her face and he smiled and scratched the back of his head. ”Awww man, now I feel bad. I totally thought it was Gawain’s. Sorry.”

Grabbing the container from the fridge Sam offered it to her. ”Can you give me detention? I’m a teacher here.” he smirked and settled on some eggs from the fridge. Pulling the eggs and a carton of orange juice he set them down next to the stove. ”aaaand you are? Beautiful accent by the way.” Sam gave her a smirk.

Becca always regretted not becoming better friends with Sam. He was an important person in Gawain’s life and her peer on the X-Team. Things just never seemed to line up for them, and the mess with Jules did not make things easier. Still, this Sam had never put Jules through all that trouble; he was as innocent. Well. About as innocent as Sam got.

She would accept the bump on his head as penance as she stifled a giggle. ”It was Gawain’s bit as his girlfriend, Ah hae rights tae it.” She scrunched her nose, admittedly annoyed by the pilfering of a potential snack, before remembering her purpose and softening. ”Luckily, Ah came hear fer somethin’ sweet, sae ye gie tae live today, Sam.”

Becca grasped the handle of the freezer, wondering if it had been recently polished. It felt smoother than normal. ”Ah mean, Ah was gang ahead wi’ assumin’ becomin’ a wee brat puts ye on sabbatical.”

Reaching into the freezer, Becca spotted a carton of death by chocolate. Pleased to see some survived the day, she reached for the carton.

And it slipped out of her hands, falling back into the shelf. Was it covered in ice? A cardboard carton should not be so slippery.

Two more failed attempts and she furrowed her brow. She went into the utensil drawer and pulled the ice cream scooper out. It almost immediately fell from her hand, clattering on the floor. It. Was. Her. ”Fuck a duck, this kid’s testin’ mah patience awready.”

Gawain, Gawain, Gawain. Every woman in the mansion seemed to be either dating him or wanting to date him. Sam tried his best to hide an eye roll at the mention of the reflection jumper, even if they were supposedly best buds in his old life Sam didn’t know him and didn’t see what was so special. ”Fair point.” Sam agreed as he sidestepped her so she could get into the freezer. He also made a mental note that the red head was off limits so try to keep the flirting down to a minimum.

Sam didn’t like being called a brat especially a ‘wee’ one. He was taller than her. However either due to her pregnancy or the accent Sam just assumed she meant it in a playful manner. It seemed far less insulting than Serena commenting on his game or training. ”Wonder how long the sabbatical will last, what do you teach?” he said as he grabbed some oil from the cupboard and frying pan, which spun in his hand as he set it on the stove.

”What do you want to do to a duck?” Sam asked as he turned his head to the redhead. ”All good?” he asked as crouched down and scooped the scooper up for her. He offered it up. ”Rough go?” he pointed to her stomach not sure if that was okay to do. He didn’t spend a lot of time around pregnant women, in fact he did his best to avoid them. He never knew when he’d be attacked again so it made sense not to endanger the women or their unborn children. Now however without an immediate threat he was a bit more relaxed than he would have been.

Having Sam around as a teenager was a weird dynamic for the Mansion. She knew of the man's reputation, but now that he was back in his prime, she was hearing the impact of this. Her students, female students in particular, would not shut up about him. He also did not seem bothered by this attention at all. Based on his probing compliment for her accent, Sam was not what one might call shy.

The pair of them were going about their own work, heating up leftovers and claiming a late-night dessert. Before they could engage in some standard kitchen chatter, Becca's struggles caught Sam's attention. Even though it was too early for her to be showing, evidently, he might have heard she was pregnant. Either that or he was pointing to her stomach for some less polite reason and might need a kick to the face. (Not that she was in any position to give one out.)

"Sorta. Th' baby has some mutation 'at keeps givin' me random mutations each day. Apparently tonight, Ah'm too slippery tae dae anything," she huffed in frustration. She could give up and accept this power was too impractical to do anything with.

Or she could use what fate put in front of her. Smiling sweetly, Rebecca shamelessly batted her eyelashes. "Ah dinnae suppose a strappin' lad loch yerself'd be willin' tae help me with mah scooping?"

Sam nodded his head, ”It would be an honor.” he said as he ignored his own hunger to help the redhead whose unborn child seemed to like to make the mothers life difficult. Sam took the scooper and the carton of ice cream and found a bowl in another cupboard. Three large, very large scoops of the ice cream and he raised his eyebrows? ”Now if it’s me eating this late I’d go for something like this.” he set it down and didn’t want to ask if he needed to add more he would if he got the feeling she wanted it though.

”At least the powers mean the kid is healthy right?” Sam asked as he grabbed a few pieces of paper towel and wrapped it around a spoon and then offered it to her hoping it would help. ”If I got to spoon feed you, at least got to take me out to dinner first.” he offered a smirk and then started to go back to his own food.

Frying pan on, oil in the pan and two eggs cracked with a single hand one then the other. He wasn’t the best cook but breakfast foods was something he excelled at, that and rations. He didn’t use a rag but instead iced his hand to pick up the pan and cause the eggs to flip when they were ready. ”So… most inconvenient power yet? Or you got some better ones?” he asked as he searched for the bread.

It felt almost infantilizing to ask for such simple assistance, but Rebecca’s craving was stronger than her pride. When they figured out how to get Sam back to adulthood, she hoped this would be a blip in his teenage memory. For now she watched as he scooped generous servings of chocolate ice cream into her bowl. ”Yer a saint, Sam. Thenk ye.”

Ever the quick thinker, Sam offered her a utensil wrapped in a paper towel and the texture did seem to help her grip the handle. ”Ah shoods be good. Ah dinnae need tae here th’ rumors if Xavier’s teen heartthrob was caught feedin’ th’ English teacher treats late at night.” There were enough rumors about her without adding that one to the pile.

Becca happily scooped cold, sweet ice cream and considered the question while Sam worked on a snack that was not stolen from her. ”Aye, th’ baby shoods be healthy, though Ah keep haein’ DocProf check.” Turns out being pregnant was making her paranoid that every odd mutation shift, something might happen to the baby.

And there were some odd mutation shifts. ”This is mildly annoyin’ but it’s nae th’ worst. Slightly acidic sweat mighta been th’ least convenient. Mah arms becomin’ wings made life hard, bit at least th’ wings looked nice.” If that one ever came back, she was absolutely scheduling a stream to show it off.

”Hoo abit ye? Hae ye been settlin’ intae th’ life ay yer older self? Ah know that’s been a struggle fer some tae adjust tae.” She knew Agnes handled the revelation poorly, but not everyone was going to wake up to the kind of life she lived and lost.

Sam was a saint. First time for everything, he smirked silently into his bread that found the toaster. Pressing it down, ”Been called a lot of things. First time I heard that.” he then laughed, ”That sounds more my speed.” he added. So she was the English teacher. ”Me a heart throb?” he gave a bashful hand wave and flipped his eggs onto a plate.

”Wings would be cool.” Sam nodded his head as he grabbed the popped toast and sat across the counter from the woman eating ice cream. Leaning on the counter he made a egg sandwich between the two pieces of toast. He took a swig from the OJ carton and shrugged. ”I haven’t been drinking excessively if that’s what you mean.” he answered truthfully. Sam also was making it clear he didn’t approve of his older self.

”I like my choice in staying at the mansion so far. Gives me some opportunities to figure out what I’m gonna do next.” Sam said as he took a bite and washed it down, ”Danger Room. Awesome. Company, also awesome. Everyone seems really nice. Which is weird to me.” he set his plate down and then held the carton of OJ looking at it, ”Nice but weird.”

It was nice to see Sam at least feigning modesty, because she was sure he knew he could afford to be confident. He was good with women when he was an adult and now he was an older teen in a place where plenty of teen girls were investing more attention in the men (or women) around them.

Rebecca was keeping a journal of the powers her pregnancy had created. Beyond their physical nature, she was not seeing much of a pattern. ”Wings were cool, but nae haein’ hands was a struggle. Ah was also tay heavy tae fly,” she grumped, still annoyed that her wings were pretty but useless.

Sam was evidently clued into some of his personal struggles from his adulthood. Becca scrunched her nose. Ah didnae mean that, bit Ah’m still happy tae hear it, Sam.” Alcohol was not a positive influence in Sam’s life, from what she heard thanks to Jules and Gawain. Maybe if Sam was going to be starting from this younger point, he could avoid it.

There were limitless possibilities, but it sounded like for now, he was content where he was. She understood that; the Mansion was wonderful enough that she willingly moved back to be staff. ”Ah’d like tae think Ah’ve gotten used tae th’ weird over th’ years. My first girlfriend had bug wings, my second was a mind reader,” evidently, ”And noo mah significant other travels through mirrors. And Ah’m sharin’ dessert-breakfast with th’ strappin’ young man who used tae be my team leader. Life is weird, but th’ company is nice.”

Nodding his head into the OJ he smirked, ”All good.” it wasn’t anyone elses fault his older self was a drunk so he didn’t need an apology from them. He shrugged slightly as he nodded his head to the company. He then frowned at the mention of a mirror hopper and how he used to be a team leader. ”Strapping?” Sam smirked as he bit into his sandwich again feigning more modesty.

”Mind readers.” Sam said as he shook his head, ”Bane of my existence, bet that was a nightmare.” he said knowing older Sam’s and his complicated history with Amanda. He frowned, ”So how long have you and Gawain been a thing?” Sam asked curious now about his relationship to everyone.

It was never easy to be faced with an unexpected shake-up in your life, and this de-aging was undeniably a shakeup. Sure, they did not remember being older, but they were time-displaced, they were missing people who were once part of her story, and they lived with the baggage of their older selves. Sam... well, there was baggage there. He was still a good man, though; truly bad people rarely became heroes, and he was that. When she started as an X, he was one of the more tenured members and she treated him with a degree of deference.

My, how times changed. Now they were snacking together late at night, talking about ex-girlfriends. "Nae, it wasnae 'at bad. She never told me while we were togaether. Which Ah'd be mair offended by, bit apparently my mutation protects my mind frae telepaths." To some degree, at least. That did limit the invasion of privacy that could have come from that withheld information. Of course, after cheating on Vanessa, Becca did not have the moral highground to complain.

The topic moved onto more current relationships and the memories Sam asked about earned a dreamy grin. "Depends on where ye count startin' it. Casually, it was abit two and a half years ago? Then 'bout a year and a half ago we settled doon and made it official. Time flies."

Of course, she did not want to give all their sordid details, and she was curious how Sam was adapting to the life thrust upon him. "Hoo abit ye? Any lasses ye've got yer eyes on?" She nearly said eye singular, but made a point to pluralize because it was nice having Sam in one piece, eyes and all.

Sam shrugged, maybe all telepaths weren’t bad. He just assumed because all the ones he met had at some point either tried killing him or controlling him. He didn’t know if that was because they could tell what he was thinking or if they were just evil. Like Amanda. ”Apparently older me trained my powers to counteract being mind controlled by having ice clones form and try and snap me out of it. Usually a stabbing.” he said jealous he wasn’t immune to telepaths.

Chewing his sandwich and raising an eyebrow at the woman who described the relationship between her and Gawain. There was some part of Sam that wanted that for himself but at the same time understood that would probably never happen. He didn’t know when he’d have to start running again and anyone he got close to could either turn against him or be used to get to him. The icemancer chugged down some OJ to make it seem he wasn’t really interested in feeling that way. ”Casual still counts.” he said with a shrug.

”Hmmmm.” he first thought about what to say then decided it didn’t matter the woman already seemed to know a lot about Sam and he found quickly that rumors around the mansion spread quickly. ”Nothing like what you and Gawain got.” he said truthfully. Sam didn’t think he and Juniper would ever be more than friends with benefits and his blind date with Mae didn’t go anywhere other than the friendship route. ”I don’t think I’m built for anything like that really, never know when I have to leave.” he added.

”I mean, tons of women here. Kinda nice, downside they all live in the same hallway. Kinda hard to keep things casual if I keep bumping into them, ya know?” Sam said with a smirk into his sandwich.

Telepaths were a touchy topic, even with mutants. There was so much they could do, and a lot of that crossed the lines of agency or consent. From what Becca understood, that was part of what made Nessa apprehensive to come out. The poor thing; coming out had become a near-daily errand for her in one way or another.

Sam had his own way of dealing with telepathic shenanigans, but in classic Older Sam fashion, it made Becca frown. "Older ye needed tae resolve fewer problems by stabbin' himself, honestly." There were better ways to handle that, she had to believe.

Casual did still count, at least to some degree. Sam did have her there. "Ah mean, th' casual time really helped us realize there were deeper feelin's there. Things clickin' an' aw that." Becca thought back to that time, which was actually nice if she ignored the looming cloud over it all. "Sadly Ah was in a much less healthy casual thing wi' someain else at th' time, tay, sae it's nae a time Ah'm prood of. Still, journey's hit low points." And now she was recovering, Mirror was helping her, and Agnes was free from the insect queen's influence and unaware of some of her worst actions back then. Becca was glad, honestly.

The way Sam talked about relationships struck a chord with Becca, because it reminded her of how she talked about relationships after Nessa broke up with her and Agnes left. "Ye know, 'afore Ah figured this aw it with Gawain, Ah was callin' myself relationship kryptonite. Ah coodsnae gie it ay mah own way. Ah was better at hurtin' people than makin' things work." She was selfish in her younger twenties and now she was trynig to work from that. "Ah know ye're young, bit dinnae count yerself it yet, Sam. You were a hero an' a guid guy, and ye can keep bein' that with a fresh chance at life again."

Palming the orange Juice he shrugged, ”It’s what I know apparently.” when she said he could do less stabbing. Stabbing it seemed was a very effective method other than the de-aging he hadn’t been controlled since. Or sober. Maybe telepaths couldn’t control drunks? He didn’t want to test that.

Sam didn’t know what she went through but it sounded like she too had a tough time struggling to find her place. He silently wondered if his older self was in a ‘low point’ when he tried to drink himself to death. His nostrils flared as he focused on Becca, ”Low point is over right? You got a kid on the way.” he said trying to give her a little encouragement even if a child was the last thing he ever wanted.

”I found it was easier to be up front.” Sam said honestly, ”I don’t want to hurt anyone. So I don’t.” he said trying to sum it up. If there were no feelings no one got hurt. Sure he had friends with benefits but he made sure that stayed casual as possible instead of hugs, high fives. Instead of kissing fist bumps it was a healthier alternative to having to hurt someone when he decided it was no longer safe for him at the mansion or in New York.

”Were.” he repeated back to her not getting upset but rather doing something he never did, talked about how he felt. ”I was a hero and good guy. I had to be. I had a lot to make up for. I still do. I’m not him though. I don’t want to be him. I’ve been stuck hiding in the shadows all my life I didn’t escape just to be placed into another bigger shadow. Dude took on a ****ing volcano.” he said noticing the carton of Orange Juice was now crushed in his hand.