"I Am," Bruce Laughed, Catching Rebecca When She Ran And Jumped At Him. He Swung Her Up Onto His Shoulders

"I am," Bruce laughed, catching Rebecca when she ran and jumped at him. He swung her up onto his shoulders and straightened up.

"It's in the city," Bruce told Andie. "A brownstone."

♤

"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 laughed to himself as he saved the voicemail, shut off his phone, and shoved it into his pocket. He looked around the subway train, trying not to feel itchy and uncomfortable with all the people. He felt as though he might not have done a great job, since he basically ran off the thing when it stopped. He hailed himself a cab, and found himself back at the school in record time.

Even though he had been living at the school for almost a week now, he still felt uncomfortable just walking right in. He hesitated on the doorstep, then pushed it open, making his way inside.

♤

"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 cradled Rebecca's head in his palm, letting her lean back, supporting her weight so he could look her over. He couldn't help but smile at her before he looked back up at Andie, his face turning serious again.

"I have to finish up here," Bruce informed her. "I have patients, a few people who need me right now. I just need to finish with them, wrap things up. And then I can come with you." Come home, he didn't say, afraid of the implications of a word like home.

"Bruce, I don’t care where we are. I just want us to be a family." Andie sighed. "And don’t go all brooding on me saying that we can’t be. Like I said earlier, clearly we need to try something different. Leaving doesn’t do anything."

Andie wasn’t about to back down on this, especially not with how happy Rebecca clearly was in her father’s arms.

Bruce looked down at Rebecca again, then up at Hank. "Is her blood... Is she like me?" He sounded almost equal parts terrified and curious; the terror outweighed the curiosity, but it was plain that he wanted- no, needed to know everything.

"We’ll stay until then. Like I said, the whole trust thing is damaged right now. I’m not letting you out of my sight. If you’re worried about Becky, I’m sure my Nana and Poppy would be more than happy to visit with their great granddaughter." Andie said, putting her hands in her pockets as she looked at him.

"I promised to protect you," Bruce said, slowly. "I can't do that now." Bruce looked down at Rebecca. "I've destroyed her life. She can never... she'll never lead a normal life."

"Da…Da no sad." Rebecca frowned and started to pat at his cheeks.

"Hank and Charles both think that we won’t know anything for sure until her powers start to kick in. That perhaps the X-Gene suppressed things a bit." Andie said softly, going over to them and wrapping her arms around both Bruce and Rebecca.

"Is this another battle for mutant rights? Did you two have an argument? We thought you might have more information that might be able to help us."