The Csendes family was growing. Officially. Unofficially. It didn't matter. What mattered was that fitting four people in an apartment meant for three would not do. Also, she was going to have to expand her meals. Was their new charge a vegetarian? Did she have allergies? There was a lot that went into being a flat-mate, even if she was not in this case to be a mother of any kind.

The expanding started by the removal of a few walls. Removing them was always easier than adding them, or so she was told. The empty apartment across the hall was absorbed into their own space. It added a bathroom, one regular sized room and a boxy guest room, a small hall and tiny bit more room to their living area. Which was perfect by Maya's standards.

That would put Sveta, their new ward a respectable hall way away from their own room. She would have to sneak past their room to get out and likewise, someone would have to sneak past their room to get to her.

Her boxes arrived that morning and beyond sliding them toward Sveta's room, Maya didn't touch them. They hadn't painted her room anything beyond the neutral khaki color that was in the rest of their apartment walls. The bathroom had all new fixtures, toilet seat covered and shower curtain, though none of that would fully make up for the old pipes.

Now all that was left for Maya to do was wait. Which was something she wasn't especially good at. So instead, she, with the help of Jude, baked.

Sveta started unpacking her suitcase. If she still had been Effie, like not so long ago, as she had originally planned together with the Matchmaker, she would have been polite enough to intoduce herself to her new family first.
But she wasn't Effie anymore, and they were not her family.

It was not like she was not grateful to Sebastian for taking care of her, or his family for accepting the burden of having a power booster around all the time. She really was grateful. But she also felt out of place, and alone, and unsure, and... kind of like a burden, yes.
So she unpacked her things once again, trying to create a room that with some time and luck could become a decent substitute for a home.

Once she was done, she couldn't really come up with a new excuse for not meeting Sebastian's family. So she walked out of her room, across the hall, and into their half of the apartment, towards the kitchen where she heard voices from.

The woman was there, and a little boy; they were making food. Sveta stood in the doorway, not really sure of herself; she was holding the clothes she had borrowed from Sebastian's wife after the incident with Garrett. She had washed them and folded them.

"Hi." she said finally with a shy smile, and cleared her throat "Can I come in? I bring back your clothes."

Jude had tugged at her elbow, but considering the fact that Ghost was removing a tray of cookie from the oven she had tried to ignore him.

>"Hi."

"Oh! Hello!" Maya deposited the hot cookie sheet... uhm... she looked around at the counter tops. She had gotten a little carried away it seemed. Muffins, rosemary bread, banana bread with walnuts, banana bread without any nuts, chocolate snaps, snickerdoodles, and now in her hand was a tray of mint chocolate chip cookies.

Jude trotted around the counter and waved. "I am told you are not to be touched, but I am human right now. So I am safe!"

Maya slid the hot pan underneath one of the cooling racks full of cookies and slipped her hand out of the oven mitt before turning around to close and shut off the oven. She cleared her throat after Jude spoke and he stopped from offering his hand, instead offering to take the clothes.

"Come right in, Sveta. I'm Maya, the bouncy one is Jude. I've heard a lot about you. Uh... muffin?" Maya pushed a plate of what looked to be some kind of red berry muffin toward the blonde before she pulled out another plate and slid some cookies off the cooling rack to clear it in preparation of the new set of cookies. "I wasn't sure what you would like so there's a lot to choose from. I'll take the rest in to the store for employees so don't worry. Someone will be eating all this." Certainly she didn't expect Sveta to eat it all.

Jude deposited Maya's clothes on the arm of the couch. They lasted for about four seconds before sliding off onto the floor. "The TV is over here. We don't have cable, but we have movies and can get the free channels." He would introduce Sveta to every corner of the apartment if she would let him.

That. Was a lot of cookies.
Sveta looked around in the kitchen; the scent of all the different kind of freshly baked things mixed together was heavy, but still nice. Smelled like a home where people live quite happily.

>>"I am told you are not to be touched, but I am human right now. So I am safe!"

Sveta smiled at the boy, but didn't take his hand. She was wearing her long gloves, but still, she didn't feel like touching anyone lately. It would be bad to start her new(est) life with a messup like last time.

>>"Come right in, Sveta. I'm Maya, the bouncy one is Jude. I've heard a lot about you. Uh... muffin?"

Sveta walked in, and once the clothes were taken from her by the cheerful little boy, she looked over the cookies and muffins once again.
"Nice to meet you, Maya." she nodded "My name is Svetlana Sergeyeva. But you can call me Sveta." she added with a small smile. People usually gave up the fight with her name pretty fast.

Sveta chose a muffin; it tasted very good. She remembered the Matchmaker teaching her to bake muffins; the first ones turned out quite horrible. All that came after them were hardly any better.

>>"The TV is over here. We don't have cable, but we have movies and we can get the free channels."

The boy seemed very enthusiastic, and he kind of reminded her of Bo. Then again, lately all children under the age of 16 reminded her of Bo. Sveta smiled and followed him.

"I watch movies to practice English" she confessed "Sometimes is hard to understand."

>"I watch movies to practice English. Sometimes is hard to understand."

"Zis I can understand. What language do you have? I have French. Ghost has Japanese and Sebastian has a lot." Jude jumped onto the couch and bounced on his cushion. He had already sample the cookies and that was pretty apparent. "What movie is your favorite?"

No matter how many times they had tried Mom or even Maya, Jude always called Ghost by her code name. He'd experienced years of habit in a dream and clearly it was not a habit easily broken.

Maya ducked to hide her smile as she moved around the kitchen. By the time she was ready to join them in the living room the oven was off, cookies had been shuffled onto plates and cooling racks, and in her hand was a slice of banana bread.

"Do you have a favorite meal, Svetlana?" Unlike most, Maya thought a person's full name was more beautiful than any nickname. As long as it did not appear to bother the girl she would always strive to use her full name. Maya collected her slightly less folded clothes from the floor.

>>"Zis I can understand. What language do you have? I have French. Ghost has Japanese and Sebastian has a lot."

"I speak Russian." she told him, wondering why he called his mother 'Ghost'. She assumed that was who he was referring to, since he seemed to be talking about his family. A family that spoke quite a few languages... "Sebastian speak it too. But I learn English now."

Maya joined them, and together mother and son asked her questions about favourites. As for movies... Bo had loads of them, usually the one she was watching at the moment. As for food, she never had the chance to choose favorites. Eating in itself was always a good thing.

"I do not really have favorites" she admitted, to both of them, fidgeting with her gloves. They were being too nice to her. She was the dangerous girl who caused a neural bomb go off, after all. She still wasn't sure why they took her in.
Shaking off those thoughts, she smiled at Jude. "Maybe you show me some of your favorites." then at Maya "I eat anything. But I am sure everything you cook is very good." she had almost finshed the muffin. It was good.

> "I do not really have favorites. Maybe you show me some of your favorites."

That was precisely the invitation Jude had been hoping for. "Zis one is very good. Iz very recommended here." Jude handed Svelana the movie Chicken Run, a claymation movie. He seemed to think that one too childish then and went for another. "Or zis one." Stardust a movie with real people in it. Yes. Real people were a lot more grown up.

Maya had hoped that Svetlana would come up with something to help her on her way. Kale, broccoli or even some kind of meat would be acceptable. "Sebastian cannot eat meat so most meals we make are vegetarian. Is that alright with you? I could start buying lunch meat if you like. Jude, not too many. Svetlana doesn't need the whole cabinet in her lap."

Jude had kept finding more and more impressive or manly movies. Of course, they didn't have anything over a PG-13 rating in the house so his options were limited, or so one would think. He had already piled about 5 movies in her lap and was about to add another. "But Robin Hood is a good one too."

Sveta chuckled as the pile of movies on her lap kept growing at a steady pace, complete with Jude's comments. He was a lively kid, and very intent on sharing his favorites with the new... what was she? Sveta wondered. Guest? Roommate? Ward? Stepsister?...
Well, at least she wasn't the only one in the family who spoke with an accent.

>>"Sebastian cannot eat meat so most meals we make are vegetarian. Is that alright with you? I could start buying lunch meat if you like. Jude, not too many. Svetlana doesn't need the whole cabinet in her lap."

"It is okay" she smiled; she reached out to steady the pile before it slid down from her knees, and since Jude was still arranging it, her fingers brushed over his. She winced and pulled her hand away at once, causing some of the movies to slide to the floor. "I'm sorry..."

Get a grip, Svetlana. He's human. You can't hurt him.

"Yes, vegetarian is good." she nodded, turning back to Maya "But, you don't, have to cook for me always." she added. Well, yeah. The woman apparently cooked for an army. One more Russian power booster wouldn't make a difference.
Still.

"I like to cook and besides, I think it's really nice if we would all get to sit down together for at least one meal a day. I want to know what's happened." It was like a daily update. "Our little family is really busy and we don't get to spend as much time together as I would like. I won't make you eat with us, but... I would actually prefer it if you didn't mind."

>"I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Oh the movies were sliding again! He saved Mirror Mask from hitting the couch next to Svetlana but it was a near thing. He obviously had not even noticed that they had contact at all.

"So, do you sink you could pick one out of all zis?" There were a lot of good ones. "If not, I can finish your tour." It was a large apartment now that it was two stuck together, but it probably wasn't large enough to warrant a tour.

What Jude hadn't noticed, Maya had. It was good that Jude was still human, but that couldn't last forever. Another year maybe? She'd done the mental math a hundred times over but it didn't hurt to try it once more. That would be nice if they did not have to worry about Svetlana for a whole year. She smiled, but never was one for hiding her worry.

>>"So, do you sink you could pick one out of all zis?" There were a lot of good ones. "If not, I can finish your tour."

No, Sveta was positive that she couln't choose one from the huge pile of movies, although some of them did look promising. She couldn't even remember when was the list time she watched a movie with someone. There were usually too many people around...

She noticed Maya's expression after she accidentally touched Jude. She sighed. Even after all that talk about family, she still felt like a danger to those three.

"No worry, I not hurt humans." she shook her head "It just not easy to sleep around me for them. But I am far enough." she smiled an apologetic smile, nodding towards her part of the apartment. She adjusted the gloves on her hand "I be careful." Just in case.

Clearing her throat, she turned back to Jude who must have been anxious to hear her answer. "Let's finish the tour please."

>"I be careful."

And for that Maya was whole heartedly appreciative. "That's all I can ask of you." And so it was all she would ask of the girl.

>"Let's finish the tour please."

Jude immediately left the movies as they were partially on Svetlana's lap or on the couch. Maya waved the two on, she would pick that up once there was no chance of accidental contact.

The first stop on the tour? "My room! Is it grand?" The bed lay rumpled and the walls were a deep blue. Toys, clothes and books scattered across the ground making it a minefield that only the maker could navigate. Jude hopped to, fro and just so in order to reach the bed-side table. He retrieved a flashlight and on his way back he retrieved some high-top sneakers. "Did Ghost tell you that she doesn't like shoes in the house?" He eyed the booster mutant's feet as he returned from the depths of his room.

Maya could, of course hear this but opted to bustle around in the kitchen instead of insisting on anything. THey would train Svetlana into the ways of the Csendes soon enough. No reason to push too soon.

Jude tucked his shoes under his arm and led Svetlana to the other side of the apartment. "Ghost and Sebastian are here." He pat the closed door and it creeeeaked open to a very un-Jude-like atmosphere. Wood floor, white bedspread tucked neatly into place and hardly a hair out of line.

"It's an old apartment, please don't mind what it has to say." She would insist that Sebastian oil the hinges if the noises didn't make her feel more secure. Who needed a security system when every floorboard, window and door squeaked or scraped?

"Zis is where strangers will stay." The last door besides Svetlana's room and the bathroom opened to a very spartan room. They obviously hadn't finished furnishing it yet.

>>"My room! Is it grand? Did Ghost tell you that she doesn't like shoes in the house?"

Sveta admired the room just like she knew Jude wanted her to. It was the room of a happy and lively child. For a moment her thoughts wandered to Bo again; she hoped her sister was doing just as well as Jude was.

"Oops. I am sorry." she seened to be saying that a lot lately. She took off her shoes, and walked with the boy to the other rooms, looking around. It was a nice, clean apartment that someone could really easily call 'home'.

"Why you call Maya 'ghost'?" she asked curiously once the tour had ended. The question came out of the blue, but he had done it a couple of times now, and Sveta felt like she should know if Maya preferred a nickname to her real one or something...

"Non. Keep your shoes. We are going outside next." He waggled his own red high tops at Svetlana who had started to remove her shoes. Maya had already shoved the DVDs back in their shelf and was just rejoining the tour when the booster asked about her name.

"Many people at the Mansion know me as Ghost. I'm an air elemental so that means sometimes I can go a bit see through at times."

"In ze future no one ever knew her as anysing besides Ghost. It is a good nickname. I never had one so cool."

Jude led them to the window without a second though about the future. He needed to quit throwing that around. It often put Maya in a hard place when people looked to her for answers.

"Jude is ah- adopted. He's human, but we haven't had him tested for the xgene. We're almost certain he has it because of the dreams we've had about the future... which gets a bit complicated." As prophetic dreams that would never come to pass often were...

Meanwhile the boy in question had plopped down and put his shoes on. "She would have to know about the dream sooner or later, Ghost."

Also true. It was hard to believe Jude was ten sometimes. Svetlana would have noticed sooner or later.

"We have a little garden on the roof." And then he disappeared onto the fire escape.

Maya shrugged and motioned to the window. "After you." She would go barefoot.

Sveta nodded at the explanation. Mutant codename, it made sense. Many people had those, even among the Mansion students.

"The M... my teacher, she call me 'Muse'." she told Jude "I not know if she knows I am a mutant, or she think of something else."

It would have made a fitting codename though, if she ever wanted one.

>>"Jude is ah- adopted. He's human, but we haven't had him tested for the xgene. We're almost certain he has it because of the dreams we've had about the future... which gets a bit complicated."

>>"She would have to know about the dream sooner or later, Ghost."

Sveta followed them to the window.

"I know about the future dream" she admitted "Garrett told me once, he had one too. It is... hard for me to imagine. I not know what my future could be."

She really didn't. A few months ago she would have imagined herself to be someone's wife, living happily in New York with her family and her little sister. Now?
No idea.

>>"We have a little garden on the roof."

Sveta followed Jude, climbing out the window to the fire escape. The conversation was getting interesting, since she finally started to piece the family portrait together, and the future dream was mentioned, something she already knew about.
Svera suddenly realized she still had a lot to find out...

>"I know about the future dream"

Ghost sighed with relief. It was a topic she had been apprehensive to broach with their new tenant, but... it seemed Garrett had saved her the trouble already. Bless him.

"That makes things considerably easier then." The metal of the fire escape was sun warmed. Warmer than was entirely comfortable, but it was a short walk up to the roof. "Garrett can vouch. He met Jude there." Or then... "Though it doesn't really help us now. That future will never be."

Jude ran up the fire escape so fast that the whole wrought iron piece jiggled under the force of his steps. Once on the roof he made a bee line for a collection of pots and a watering can.

"Tomato. Pepper. Courgette." He pointed to some pitiful looking plants. The strands were small with green potential, but perhaps not the best execution.

"Zucchini." Ghost corrected the last one.