Liz made her way down the labyrinth of hallways that formed the mansion, going slightly mad in the process. Again, she was feeling that low hum of emotions somewhere, a steady tide of feelings that shouldn’t be there. The feelings seemed more distinct and complex than ones she typically associated with bugs, and they were much stronger and more numerous than she could ever remember feeling on the campus in her youth. Had the mansion acquired a petting zoo in the years since? Or bought some tribbles?

It wasn’t all the time, but sometimes she caught all these emotions that she wasn’t expecting to find and it was going to drive her nuts until she finally figured out where this underground pet shop was located. Or maybe a lab somewhere…?

Liz shook her head. She needed to refocus. She didn’t want to show up to her meeting in a huff just because she felt something weird. That would just be awkward for everyone.

Liz had an informal meeting scheduled with the English teacher, Rebecca Grey. When they’d arranged it, the idea was something along the lines of a “hey, this is what you got yourself into, so get ready!” meeting. Something like a new hire’s orientation. And because it was the mansion, Liz had absolutely no idea what to actually expect.

She finally made it to the other woman’s office. “Knock, knock,” she said as she followed suit with a quick rapping on the door.

The Mansion was in many ways a mutant waypoint. People came and people went, but when the left, more often than not, they found their way back. Rebecca did, and in the years since her return, she saw old faces come to visit. In the best of cases, they joined her on the Mansion Staff. (And in one case, they put a baby in her and proposed, but that was a specific example.)

That baby was on the way in the coming weeks, and while Rebecca loved her job, she was looking forward to maternity leave because Iris was already taking a lot out of her. Today’s mutation du jour was harmless, at least, covering her in large spots the same color as her freckles. This could be worse; sure, they looked like cow spots, but did not come with cow accoutrements, so yeah. Little victories.

Sitting in her office in the afternoon, the English Teacher looked up to spot Liz, the Mansion’s new teacher, at her door. Liz was a few years younger than her, so while their time at the Mansion had brief overlap, it would be nice to meet her in earnest as an teacher and a peer.

Grinning, Rebecca slowly got up and made her way over to Liz to offer a hand. At this stage of pregnancy, she was living and dying by dresses and comfy shoes for the foreseeable future, hoping to balance professionalism and a desire to not be miserable. ”Hey there! Glad tae hae ye joinin’ th’ team, Liz. Hope yer ready fer a wee bit o’ Survivin’ Mutant School One-Oh-One.” Rebecca considered the moniker and corrected, ”Weel, One-Oh-Two. We did thes as students, but Ah promise, teachin’ ‘em is somethin’ else entirely.” A challenge was nice, she reminded herself every time furniture in her classroom had to be replaced or extinguished.

Liz entered the office and quickly strode over to the other woman’s desk. No sense in having the very pregnant woman make the trek all the way to the door! Liz shook the hand firmly with a smile to match Rebecca’s. “It’s good to be back, even if I’m on the other side of the desk, so to speak,” Liz said gaily. “And you’re not wrong! I’ve been meeting with some of the students and...well, let’s say it’s a good thing I’ve been taking self defense classes!”

The blonde winked and laughed merrily. There were certainly a number of new dimensions one had to consider when teaching all-mutant classes. The chances of a child turning into a ravenous polar bear in the middle of a lecture was just one possibility. At her old school, she only had to deal with the regular nightmares of working with hormonal teenagers. Except for Billy, of course. He might’ve been a pyrokinetic. Nobody had actually seen him start any of those fires.

Liz withdrew her hand and considered the redhead. Their paths had never really crossed back in high school and they certainly hadn’t hung out. However, the school was never too enormous so there was always a general sense of who everybody was (assuming they stuck around long enough), even if you didn’t personally know them. Rebecca’s giant red splotches, however, were a new thing for sure.

“You’re looking good,” she said brightly, finding a seat for herself. “I love your dress.” Liz had had a roommate back in college and if there was nothing else she’d learned from the other girl, it was that complimenting someone’s appearance and stroking their ego right from the get-go was an excellent way to break the ice and make people feel better. It also worked well with people when you didn’t really know what else to say.

Becca took on the challenge of being a teacher by jumping right to hardmode. She could have taken another teaching job to get the hang of it, but beyond some student teaching, she jumped right into teaching at the Mansion. "They're a bit of a handful, but most of them are harmless or at least mean well. Is this your first official teaching job?" Surprisingly, a lot of Mansion teachers were like that. To be fair, many of the Mansion teachers were not originally trained to be teachers.

Not particularly bashful, Becca grinned as Liz took a look at her. She was certainly a sight. "Thenk ye! Ah picked it tae gae wi' th' spots-- which, Ah'd loch tae clarify, are new." She held an arm up with two large red spots. "Jist a gift frae th' wee lass Ah'm carryin' aroond. She keeps givin' me random temporary mutations. Been a bit ay a trip." She was still curious how things would be when her gift-giving baby was out of her and in the world.

"Yer lookin' guid yerself! Nice tae know when Ah'm on maternity leave, th' students can have a new cute teacher tae crush on." The Mansion, as with any school, was a vortex of hormones. She had not been immune, crushing on Mr. Holloway when she was a student. Liz would take her turn as the new popular teacher with a smile like that, Becca was willing to bet.

This far into her pregnancy, Becca was quit to sit back down on her desk. "Sae whit hae ye been up tae o'er th' last few years? Whit journey takes ye back tae th' Mansion?"

“This is actually my second teaching gig,” Liz said with no small amount of pride. “Got an education degree, went through clinicals and such, and spent three years after college at a high school in Ohio.” Wonderful, brutal, joyous, awful years - the blessings and curses of working with children. Now let’s add rampant mutant activity to the list. Well, she was looking to challenge herself, right?

Elizabeth’s science background reared itself at Rebecca’s explanation of her appearance. “Congratulations!” she said quickly. Liz had been pretty sure the other woman was pregnant but hadn’t exactly wanted to comment on it first. Some people were sensitive, and some people were just f--

“So your child is already displaying an active X-gene?” she said, cutting off that other train of thought. “That’s got to make pregnancy far more...interesting. Is it just the lovely spots, or can the child provide full makeovers, too?” She cocked her head and blinked rapidly. Now that would definitely be a nice perk!

Liz could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks as Rebecca complimented her. She shook her head quickly and held up a hand. She groaned, “Oh I don’t even wanna start thinking about that!” It was probably for the best that she wasn’t at the desk or her head would be flopping hard down on the wood. How could she forget that? Oh, right.

“Basically, I’ve just been at college and then was a schoolteacher for a bit. Got involved in dog training, too. But it feels like I barely even left,” Liz explained. And then she just had to spill her guts. She wagged a finger at the redhead in mock consternation (okay, the consternation was a little real). “Especially because the guy I was dating before I left for college got deaged, is still living here, and thinks I pretty much abandoned him a couple of months ago.”

Beat.

“So what about you? I hear you’re an X-Woman. How’s that working out?” she said, her smile firmly plastered on her face and totally pretending she hadn’t just said anything weird.

At least Liz was not coming into Xavier’s green. Nothing prepared you for the eccentricities of mutant school, but Liz knew what it was like to claim and hold the attention of stubborn, hormonal teenagers. ”Soonds loch Xavier’s is lucky tae hae ye back wi’ ‘at experience under yer belt.”

Given her appearance, Rebecca was used to questions and assumptions about her baby. Liz was on the right track. ”Aye, a wee bit mair. She keeps givin’ me new mutations e’ry day. Naithin’ overpowered.” She was waiting for the day where she woke up with telekinesis. ”Ah’ve had four arms, Ah’ve been a bird person, Ah’ve had stone fists. It’s been… weel, a test in adaptivity, tae be sure.” She empathized with Impact, because now she was the one who would have to adjust to a baby constantly adopting new powers. Babysitters would have to be paid extra.

No teacher was looking to be the object of admiration for her students, though it sounded like she had a second reason to be concerned. A weirdly relatable reason. Liz tried to change the subject, but Becca was not forgetting about it because the coincidence made her grin.

”Aye, Ah rejoined th’ team when Ah finished my Masters. Bein’ on th’ X-Men has been great, though Ah’m currently benched an’ limited tae comms right noo fer obvious reasons.” Maya would never let her out into the field in her state, not that she thought she could handle it right now.

Rebecca sighed, shining an empathetic smile. ”Ah can relate tae yer struggle, by th’ way. Ah hae nae one, bit two exes who were de-aged and moved intae th’ Mansion. Sae… yeah. Super weird. If ye e’er need tae vent or drink abit it—post baby—let me know.”

Liz grinned. “Hopefully that experience will help! But I just can’t stop thinking that I probably should’ve taken some disaster-survival courses.” Liz shook her head, causing her wavy hair to ripple over her shoulders. “Don’t know if you would’ve heard, but when I was a sophomore here, I think, some kid turned a bunch of batter in the kitchen into a giant, rampaging bread monster. Bunch of us had to battle and bait it outside until another girl could bake it to death.”

Liz still vividly remembered the taste of the monster, even if she’d been using Maya’s dog’s taste buds at the time. Oh wow, there was another name she’d have to track down! Just one more entry in her list of catching-up.

The redhead’s list of acquired mutations was pretty cool, actually. Liz was even more intrigued. “That just sounds super cool, actually,” Liz said, slowly starting to nerd out. “Like, I’ve been a bird lots of time and technically I’ve had four arms a few times, but I’m betting you don’t happen to get any handy-dandy instruction manuals for your...daily specials?” Liz cocked her head again and slightly frowned. “Or is this a common thing for pregnant mutants? Or something from the father….is the father a mutant too? I haven’t heard of stories about gestational mutations before, but then again the field is probably still so young and…”

That’s when Liz realized she was probably getting carried away. She froze, her mouth hanging open. She started speaking more slowly. “I am...so...sorry,” she said haltingly. “I don’t mean to treat you like a lab rat. I get carried away sometimes when I’m curious. Feel free not to answer any invasive questions.” Her cheeks were once again a bit hot with embarrassment.

She sought refuge in Rebecca’s X experiences, but all too soon she was discussing ex experiences. Heaven help me! Liz prayed as the heat in her cheeks blossomed into a full-fledged blush. Her brilliant attempt to change the conversation had spectacularly failed. “Okay, you win. But I will definitely take you up on that,” she said. She had never been much a drinker at all, but she had a feeling that might start changing. “I’ll bring the ice cream and Oreos. I imagine there’s going to be plenty of tea already.”

Becca chuckled thinking about the bread monster. She had not been present for that one, but she did hear about it from Gawain. ”Soonds abit right. Ne’er a dull moment.” Chalk that up with exploding students and the out-of-control toy animator that Nate dealt with. The kids were not necessarily disaster level, but they definitely required a delicate touch.

Liz was excitable, which Becca handled gracefully. She was not the first with many questions, and she was respectful in her curiosity. She was not even in the top five most invasive questioners so far. ”Ye’re fine, Liz, really. In yer shoes, Ah’d be curious tae!” she assured her new colleague. ”This is nae common, frae whit Ah’ve been told. Gawain and Ah are both mutants. Gawain was a mutant frae birth, an’ sae is Iris noo evidently. Bit her power affects folk she touches, we think, and fer noo, that’s me.” It would be interesting to see the parameters of that power when Iris was part of the world around her.

It was fun having someone to talk to casually; Raine was so busy these days and Jules fell off the map. Mirror would always be there, but having friends outside of her relationship never hurt. Something told her Liz would make it onto the short-list of Midnight Chocolate friends sooner rather than later. (Particularly if she had de-aged ex drama to deal with.) ”As much as Ah’d loch tae jist gae raid th’ kitchen fer junk food, maybe we shoulds walk an’ talk? Refresh yer memory wi’ th’ Mansion?” That actually brought up a question she should have asked ahead of their meeting. ”Are ye commutin’ in or stayin’ in ain ay th’ staff suites?”

So some of the embarrassment was mitigated by Rebecca’s assurance. Liz thanked her lucky stars that animals basically never felt that particular emotion. She dropped her psychic walls just enough that a wave of those unlocated feelings could wash over her, giving her more things to experience than just her own faux-paw. The blush vanished beneath the wave.

Liz sat up straight and angled herself just a bit away from Rebecca, staring at the woman just a bit more through her left eye than her right, her nose up at a somewhat imperious angle. “Well in that case, you should be prepared for a lot of questions because this isn’t exactly something I can just look up on Gurgle,” she said, a sly smile appearing on her face. Well, actually she probably could find a lot of the stuff on Gurgle. Baby mamas shared tons of things, right? Probably made a bunch of sites too.

But another tidbit caught her interest and Liz reoriented fully at Rebecca, her head twisting, not unlike a curious crow’s. “Wait, Gawain?” she echoed. “Gawain as in also Maya? I remember him! How’s he been?” Huh, what were the odds! And if it was the Gawain she knew, then gender-shifting from birth, eventual mirror-travel, plus the mother’s mutant status and…her power set...that would make sense with a child with a spin-the-wheel power. “Also, that Punnett square would be fascinating!”

Liz simply fluttered her fingers at the other teacher. “Oh no no,” she said. “I meant for later tonight or whenever we have a gab session.” A look of mock shock appeared on her face. “After all, stuff like that always tastes better way after dark when you should really be asleep or doing productive adult-like responsible things. Like, I’m not a fan of sugar cookies, but after midnight they’re the best things on Earth.”

But then Liz calmed down just a hair. No sense putting on a full show right here and now. “If you’re up for it, I wouldn’t mind a walkabout,” she said like a normal person. “I have indeed chosen to stay in a faculty suite - I’m single, been living in Ohio for the last several years, and you can’t beat the rent price,” she chuckled. “And so I can be here for the kids, of course!” she grinned mischievously.

“I’ve been trying to spend a lot of time exploring the place again and reacquainting myself with it all, but I haven’t really ventured into the sublevel much. Never went there as a student really, so I’m still not too sure what’s even there, other than the Danger Room.”

No one would accuse Rebecca of being shy these days. Sure, when she was nineteen and new to America, she was still timid and coming into her own. Now she was Pixelbecky, making her living speaking for her classes and her ViewTube audience. She could talk about her life comfortably, but it was even easier talking to a friendly face one-on-one, particularly when that face blushed after getting overly excited. Ye can ask away, always. Ah’m nae shy abit throwin’ mahself it there.”

Throwing out details of her life was a skill, and evidently one name caught Liz’s attention. This was not surprising; Maya was a long-standing popular face in the Mansion. The Punnett Square joke earned a chuckle, too, because a Lit nerd could respect a Science nerd. ”Aye, Gawain-slash-Maya! They’re th’ ain Ah’m havin’ Iris wi’ and… weel, it’s still new, bit we’re noo engaged.” She was slowly spreading word of that, because they planned for a small wedding.

Given her take on chocolate, Becca was sure she could induct Liz into the unofficial Midnight Chocolate club. It’d be even easier now that she was living at the Mansion. ”Ah dae feel th’ struggle. Ah loved mah old apartment, bit Ah dinnae miss th’ rent. Ah’ve actually looved bein’ ain ay th’ Mansion Mums here.” And now Liz was her backup for one of the most rewarding and, at times, stressful jobs in New York.

”Ah can still manage a short walk,” she promised, though the emphasis was on short. ”The Danger Room is most ay th’ sublevel, alang wi’ th’ locker rooms an’ whatnot.” There was also the War Room, but that was exclusive to the X-Men and only really used sparingly. ”Ah gie th’ walkaroond though; when Ah came back, Ah spent time walkin’ th’ groonds, visitin' th' greenhoose, reminiscin'. Thes place holds a lot ay nostalgia.”

Liz visibly relaxed at Rebecca’s assurances. Now that parameters of acceptable curiosity had been established, she could craft up an investigative approach. But... maybe another time? Despite how cool the redhead was about it, the blonde was realizing that perhaps she’d asked enough for the moment about mutant childbirth. Some of the questions, now that she thought about them, were ones that she herself probably didn’t want answers to and since she wasn’t an OBGYN she decided she didn’t really need to dwell on that. At least, not without some of that wine and ice cream.

But one only slightly related question did come to her. It was the one that came up real quick in nearly every conversation Liz had ever had with another mutant. “For the life of me, I cannot recall - what are your powers again? I want to say you pull lightning from the sky, but I’m about eighty percent sure that’s wrong.” Powers. It always came back to powers. Just like asking people what they majored in college or what their job was. Mutant small talk.

With Gawain and Maya confirmed as the other parent, Liz only briefly flashed to the logistics of it all before mentally shoving it all aside and putting it in a cerebral strongbox. She smiled because she was absolutely not going to think about that until later or else she was going to start blushing again. Or laughing, which was arguably worse. She didn’t want to do either until she knew Rebecca better. “That’s amazing, though,” she said warmly, resolutely ignoring the other things and plowing ahead. “Do the two of you have a date set, or just taking things as they come?” Weddings and relationships and love were always amazing things to discuss and Elizabeth’s eyes were glinting as if she’d just been given an equation to balance.

Rebecca’s comment extracted a grin from Liz. “The Mansion Mums, eh? Now that sounds like a club,” she said. “Is there a group for Danger Room Dads, too?” Because didn’t the men always go into hiding whenever the women got together? From what the blonde could recall of the Danger Room, she was sure it could simulate or broadcast a football game.

“We don’t need to take a tour then,” Liz said quickly. “It’s not a big concern - it can wait.” No need to stress or exhaust a pregnant lady. Especially because Liz was really liking her so far. It seemed like Rebecca had had similar experiences as Liz upon coming back to the mansion, beyond having similar drama with exes. The nostalgia. “Indeed it does,” Liz agreed. “Most of the time I was here I barely left the grounds. Well, that was actually due to a bunch of traumatic and dangerous situations, but the end result was that my parrot and I spent a lot of time wandering the place.”

Liz quirked her head as a thought struck her. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I'm responsible for a dozen or so saplings getting planted around here. I had a fun day as a squirrel once and completely forgot to dig the nuts back up.”

Science-minded friends were creatures of curiosity, and Rebecca found them fascinating. She had human friends in Grad School in other departments, and they all excitedly tried to toe the line between asking acceptable questions about her mutation while not probing too invasively. The struggle of being a scientist and a person in polite society was real.

The next question was a common one, not just from scientists, but anyone who knew a mutant. ”Nae quite. Ah manipulate magnetic fields. Ah’d show ye, bit… weel, my powers sort ay exploded an’ Ah still need tae learn hoo ae control them again,” she admitted, feeling embarrassed that her mutation control was debatably worse than when she first manifested. Truthfully, she was scared to use her powers while knowing she had the power to possibly accidentally unearth steel support beams.

Thinking about Maya was a much easier thing to shift the focus toward. ”We are figurin’ it aw it. Ah dinnae think we’re plannin’ a big weddin.” Honestly, they were still debating just heading to the courthouse and making their whole family official in one big trip. ”Ah imagine it’ll be soon.” And then she could be married to the Mansion Mom who was also a Danger Room Dad, which made her grin.

As much as a tour around the campus sounded pleasant, Rebecca would not argue against staying in one place. ”Ye soond quite familiar with th’ groonds, then. Ah take it yer power involves becomin’ animals ur somethin’ tae that degree?”

Liz nodded knowingly. “Magnetic fields. Yeah, I can see how that might be...risky...to mess with.” Those typically fell more on the physics side of things, but Liz could still think of a number of very not-good scenarios, including but not limited to neural disruption and widespread electronic blackouts. And if anything ferrous was around…

She clapped her hands on her thighs. “That sounds pretty delightful,” she said. “An intimate gathering can be so cozy.” Liz assumed it probably wouldn’t be worth asking if they already had locations picked out, since they still seemed to be in incipient brainstorming stages. An errant train of thought snagged her attention. “Are the two of you aiming for it to happen on a Maya or Gawain day?” Because if you’re going to rent or buy something new and most likely expensive, it was probably a good idea to tailor it to who you were going to be on the greatest day of your life.

“Eh, something like that,” Liz said, wagging a hand in a so-so gesture. “I’m an animal empath and I can do psychic ride-alongs with them.” She was particular about her word choice - possession, while a more accurate term, always felt...grimy? Evil? And she felt people tended to latch onto that one word and immediately think up demons and such.

“I’ve probably flown over, sniffed, or explored just about every inch of the grounds in at least a dozen different dogs, birds, cats, squirrels, you name it.” Although the hedge maze still confounded her. “Haven’t done a thorough inspection yet, you know, to see what’s changed or still the same, but I have noticed a bunch of animals somewhere on the grounds that I don’t remember ever feeling so many of before.”

Liz cocked her head and blinked at the other woman. “It’s been bugging me trying to figure out where or what these animals are, too. Did the mansion get a petting zoo or something while I was away?”

In another situation, Becca would love to show off her powers, but for now, she was glad Liz was not pressing the issue. She hated feeling like a risk to the people around her. They were already planning on having Gemma around for Iris’s birth, not only for Iris’s random powers, but to ensure a birth-stressed mother didn’t magnetic pulse the hospital.

Given everything going on in their lives, Maya and Becca had not spent much time thinking about the wedding. In truth, it was a smaller plan than most would expect. ”Hadn’ thought bit it! Honestly, seein’ Maya in a weddin’ dress’d be a sight.” Becca was definitely the more “femme” of the pair most of the time. ”We’ll see if we need it. We’ve… well, we’re considerin’ doin’ a Courthouse weddin. Ah know ‘at soonds plain, bit we sorta have another big thing we want tae dae at th’ courthouse. We’re keepin’ ‘at one quiet though.” The Kalos news was the bigger news for the Mansion in her opinion.

Becca did not want to dominate the conversation when Liz was the woman of the hour today. She wanted to know more about Liz, and animal empathy was an exciting fun fact. ”Animal ride-alongs? 'At soonds amazin! Ah cannae e'en imagine whit it's loch bein' in a bird's heed an' flyin.” Most people would kill for that experience once. Not all animals were created equally, though. ”Ah can probably imagine whit it's loch tae be mah cat; he mostly lays abit, which we're baith guid at.”

There were plenty of pets on campus, but the notion of a cluster of animals sounded surprising. ”Nae ‘at Ah know ay, but fa knows? Mebbe there's some bunny family hidin' oan campus. Ah'll keep an eye it fur a pack ay critters, thocht Ah imagine yoo'll hae better luck findin' them.” Clearly Liz had a sense for this sort of thing. It also meant she was likely not wrong, which kept Becca curious.

Elizabeth smiled warmly at Rebecca’s reception of her suggestion, but she herself didn’t offer further comment. She didn’t completely understand where the humor was in Maya wearing a dress so it was probably best to let the moment pass. “Oh my,” Liz said instead, leaning in conspiratorially. “Must be something pretty big if it’s going to outshine a wedding! Fair warning, I’ll be watching you like a hawk for clues and hints!”

But Liz wasn’t going to push. First of all, it wouldn’t be as fun to find out that way. Also, she really didn’t know Rebecca yet and she had never exactly been close to Maya, so further intrusions in their personal life seemed so gauche.

She allowed the other woman to redirect the flow of the conversation and Liz willingly went along. “You’re probably not too far off,” she chuckled. In her experience, when she didn’t have her own goals to accomplish, the cats she’d possessed only ever wanted to sleep or kill something small and delicious. Sometimes both. A dreamy expression stole over her face.

“Flying is just...amazing,” she finally said. “The words aren’t really great to describe it. But there’s just this incredible sense of freedom. I guess it’s like when you swim in the ocean for the first time and you realize there’s just so much more you can do when you’re not stuck on the ground.” She stared off into oblivion and held up a hand as if she were grasping for clouds. “But at the same time your body just knows what to do and you don’t have to think about hundreds of little micro adjustments or anything. It’s like you were born to be in the air with the earth miles below you, unbound by anything and untouchable.”

When Liz finally came back to Earth, she smiled and shook her head. “Great, it seems like the mystery of the phantom beasties is just going to take a lot longer to unravel then.” Granted, she kept forgetting about them, and only sometimes did she catch their moods, but normally she was on her way to something else and didn’t have a chance to explore. “If I actually knew what I was looking for, maybe I could find them easier,” she smirked. “My dog is fantastic at tracking, but without an idea of even what we’re looking for, I dare say you’d have equivalent chances of finding the critters as me.” Although now that she was thinking about it, maybe she could come up with a class lesson on outdoor tracking?