Being a sort of strange single parent sort of thing was exhausting. The worry of not knowing where his wife was, as well as reports about her possible location, mixed with raising a child alone while working was... well, it made for the occasional need for the closest thing to silence one could get.

It was lucky, then, that he knew of a location in the mansion that was totally isolated. Only a few people knew where it was. It was a perfect place to change a stinky diaper without any interruptions. So, Saphirus had Jr. splayed out on the bartop on his pad, diaper bags and supplies spread about the place.

"Hoof!" He turned his head away from the smell for a second as he worked his magic with the baby wipes, and got to rolling up the diaper in a neat package and throwing it into the small garbage can. A would-be near miss was skillfully directed mid flight into the can. He blew on the tip of his finger, and then wrapped up Jr. once more, papoosing him once more, and walking over to the beer fridge.

He opened it to reveal a bunch of baby bottles. He'd downed the last beer yesterday and hadn't had time to restock. Plenty of room for baby stuff, though!

He gave the bottle away to the baby, and looked at his phone. Lunch time! Awesome. He got to digging in the diaper bag once more.

Nope. That is a big nope. It was time to hide. Two women in the mansion hallway were literally attacking each other because he had gone out with both of them in a period of twenty-four hours. Sam didn’t have the heart to pick one so he didn’t in fact he had been avoiding them both. Sadly though both women had seem to corner him. Well, almost corner him. It was only a matter of time for them to decide to turn on him. It was his fault. The icemancer used the second story window and a well placed ice clone to get out of the situation meaning he had to lie low for a few hours. Meaning the man cave was the best place to go.

The door opened and he backed into the man cave making sure no one was following him. ”That is meant for glasses not @$$$$$.” Sam complained pointing to the baby on the bar. While he had no problem with babies, there were some places that were supposed to be sacred.

”You’re the guy that keeps drinking my beer!” Sam said snapping his fingers. The door slammed shut behind him and he had to double-check it was just them. It was. ”You drink the whiskey?” Sam asked as he walked towards the kitchen spotting all the bottles and then was hit with the smell of whatever the baby just produced.

Sam started to gag as he covered his face. ”Was that you or the kid?” he made his way to find a hidden bottle of whiskey. He needed something to pass the time while he hid for a few hours.

Saphirus looked up from the diaper bag as the door opened. It wasn't that girl again, was it? It had taken an hour to get the @#$^ing couch back in here alone! Wait, she didn't use doors. No, it was... Aw #@$%. Baby Sam. He shot out a surprisingly Sam sounding statement. He shrugged, and pulled a package of Trinkies from the diaper bag, opening them up as the young man started to complain about the missing beer.

"I mean, me and 19 year old girls, apparently." He sent a flat look Sam's way, remarking on his choice of people to tell about this place. How did he even know about it, anyway? Didn't people lose their memories when they became young? He did. The older mutant shook his head as he took a bite of his cream filled snack, leaning against the bar.

He felt the young man digging around with his sixth sense, and his expression hardened a little bit. "Nah, I threw out the whiskey. I don't drink the hard stuff anymore." He took another bite, and then threw the wrapper away, placing a hand on JR. instinctively.

"The hidden ones, too. Figure I'm the only one of age that knows about this place, eh?" He wore a slight smirk as he side leaned against the bar again. "Why? You wouldn't have any need for that stuff, right?"

He scowled a bit as Young Sam remarked on the smell, waving a dismissive hand. "Eh, I'll throw it out later. Got a couple diapers in there."

”Juniper was invited. Helped me find this place too. Sides not like I can keep her out.” Sam returned just as flat. This was his room. His office was attached to it. Meaning he had more claim on the man cave than anyone and he could say who could and couldn’t be here. The person who shouldn’t be here it the one that threw out his whiskey apparently.

”You threw it out?” Sam asked rhetorically. He smacked his head on a wall with a hidden compartment when he didn’t feel the bottles there. There was at least one he left here. Juniper didn’t even know about it. ”Come on.” Sam ran to the other side of the room near the hot tub and opened another compartment. Nothing. ”####” reluctantly he looked to the fridge and found nothing.

”****” he mumbled aloud so the man could here it. ”It makes dealing with you a bit easier and I got some time to kill.” Sam’s head tapped the fridge door when he found he was out of luck. He could just leave and go to the bar he owned or a liquor store. He couldn’t leave though his ice clone was probably mince meat at this point meaning he’d be targeted next. He had to stay here and hide. Without booze.

”Who are you anyway?” he asked as he turned towards the diaper dad. A beam of ice shooting from his hand to the diaper bag hoping that would seal the stink in. He then shot at the garbage can too just for the sake of killing a smell.

Yup... Saph didn't like this one bit. The way he was looking around. It reminded him of Sam when he was struggling with some demons and in a rough patch... Not that they weren't all doing a little of that at any point in time back in the day.

"Did I stutter." He knew all of Sam's hiding places. He used to restock them when ever he drank the last bit. Saphrius bounced the young one on his chest a little more, recieving a finger in his nose as a response. "Let me guess... You're hiding from someone. Girls?"

He watched a lot of the security cams. Usually he minded his own business, but he'd happened to see that familiar face hitting on plenty of students. For better or for worse, Sam had always been a charismatic dude. Of course young him had a few girlfriends.

Man, if he ever reverted he was never gonna live this down.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the man move suddenly, and he discerned the target fairly quickly, snatching up the diaper bag before it was hit. "I'm your friend... Saphirus. Known you for ten years. Well... The real you." He shrugged, suddenly wincing as a little hand pulled on his beard. "Agh! Okay, okay! Snack time." He started digging through the bag in his hand for some little crunchies.

He didn’t stutter but Sam figured that was a rhetorical question, why would he get rid of his booze? It wasn’t his and the fact that he was so casual about everything just pissed him off more. The man cave needed a code to get in so this guy had to have one or he had some sort of power set similar to Junipers. ”Ding, ding. Anyone int the mansion could have guessed that.” Sam said sarcastically, ”I’d offer you a drink but someone happened to get rid of them.” he said sulking as he just grabbed water or he liked to call it un-brewed/stilled drink.

Saphirus, who was a friend. A friend that got rid of his booze. Clearly the friend who had been sleeping on the job with his older self. It seemed no one was hiding his booze or older Sam just had better hiding spots. Sam debated if there was any here that Saphirus didn’t know about.

Then his ‘friend’ said something that he hated to hear, ‘the real you’ meaning that who he was now wasn’t a person. The who he was now was just a placeholder till he became the ‘real’ Sam again. He was starting to like his time in the mansion less and less the more he was reminded of who he was. ”You knew the old me, I am real.” Sam corrected a little more aggressively than he intended. No booze, current situation and someone telling him he wasn’t real was starting to irritate him. He wanted to hit something, maybe drink something.