Bruce Smiled Down At Rebecca, Leaning Down To Press A Kiss To Her Forehead. He Glanced At His Watches

Bruce smiled down at Rebecca, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. He glanced at his watches - his heart rate was steady, but the hour was getting later. 

"Should we get something to eat?"

"She really is." Andie smiled, pulling her phone out again so she could take pictures of them. "That’s our big girl, you can do it baby!"

Rebecca grinned up at Bruce as he helped her walk, a look of absolute triumph on her face having started to master a new skill.

Bruce reached up to hold onto Rebecca's ankles, tipping his head back at a severe angle to look at her. "Would you like that? Do you want to go see the house after Mommy's classes tomorrow?"

♤

"Hey Bruce, our little genius is asking for you." "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad! The ‘sperment is waiting! Come home soon!" "Come home soon sweetie, we miss you! Love you!"

Bruce followed after Rebecca to the tree, pressing his ear against it and humming thoughtfully. "Hmm. Sounds like... oak?" He grinned playfully down at Rebecca, then winked at Andie.

"Oh I’m sure she could have been walking by now, she just doesn’t want to. Before you ask how I know, I asked her." Andie said, running her fingers through her hair.

Rebecca squealed with excitement, clapping her hands. She got up on all fours and started crawling to one of the trees. “Expore!”

"There's certainly no prior studies in something like this," Bruce commented. "I'm the only one who survived like this. By extension, she's presently the only child who can even be considered to hold radiation in her body like I can, never mind the X-Gene factor."

Bruce adjusted his grip on Rebecca, laughing at her lecture. "Good. It's good to hear she's learning all the right things."

Rebecca made a stern face that looked much like Andie’s as she looked up at him. “Bad word Da. No say bad word.”

"That’s part of why we think she hasn’t been effected other than accelerated development. We still don’t know what her mutation is going to be, especially with the radiation. She could take after me, she could have something completely different." Andie said, chuckling as Rebecca shook her little index finger at her father, still lecturing him about bad words.

"She picked that up from my always lecturing Logan about watching his words around tiny ears."

Bruce hesitated, then surrendered Rebecca to Andie, lingering just for a moment. He gave Hank a short wave, then kissed Rebecca and Andie on the cheek. 

"Be careful flying out of here," Bruce warned. "I'll be with you again soon." He let his hand settle on Rebecca's hair for a moment before he kissed her again, on the forehead, and ducked back into the house.

"We need you more than you know." Andie said softly, shaking her head. "I’m going to trust you. And if you don’t come back I’m hunting you down. Again. Do you understand me?" She didn’t want to leave him, not after finally finding him, but she might not have all that much of a choice.

Bruce shook his head, seemingly without realizing it, as he looked back down at Rebecca. She looked... normal. Well, extraordinary to him, but, objectively, just like any other child. Healthy. Carefree. Bruce could hardly bear the heavy weight and the sharp pain that came with the words radiation in her blood. He pressed his forehead to Rebecca's again.

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

Hank sighed and looked at Bruce. “We found traces of radiation in her blood but not enough to draw any firm conclusions. It could end up being part of her mutation but we won’t know for sure until she’s older. She’s healthy and developing a bit ahead of the curve, so there doesn’t seem to be any negative effects as of yet.”