Disclaimer: I don't own any X-Men or X-Babies. I also don't own the Big Foot monster truck, Underoos, but I do own some Lego's and some Matchbox cars so there...
Feedback: Love it! I also need some comments on what to do next chapter! I'm stumped ... sorta! Give a girl a hand, ya'll!
Archive: Aly & Kerrie get my immediate permission if they want it. Anyone else just send me the http of your page before posting.
Notes: Thanks go to Khalia for a quick beta. Wow! Talk about fast. I'd also like to thank my friend Kristy who inspired the Big Foot bit w/o her knowledge.

Frozen Pop
by Shade

Day Three: Shopping Made Uneasy

Bob woke early the next day on the couch. He'd let Bobby sleep in his parents' bed yesterday and last night. He also made Remy sleep in his old room so that he wouldn't have two sick kids on his hands. The couch wasn't the most comfortable place, so he found himself waking up before six. After some grumping and groaning, Bob finally got up. He checked on the boys and both were still sleeping sweetly. He also discovered that there was nothing on TV in the early mornings. After about three hours of brain dead channel surfing, Remy bounced into the living room. They both went to check on Bobby who was doing much better.

Bob decided to make breakfast for them. They headed down to the kitchen. Remy and Bobby sat at the table while Bob began breakfast. The two boys were talking about the X-Men visitors from the day before. Remy told Bobby how nice Jean was.

Bob smiled and turned off the bacon. He was filling three plates with scrambled eggs when there was a knock at the back door.

"Huh, two mornings in a row. I wonder who it is?" Bobby asked and opened the door.

"Hey, homme."

"Remy, what are you doing back? Did you lose something yesterday?"

"Non, not exactly. I heard you tellin' Jeannie about taking de boys to de store, an' dat gave me an idea."

Bobby went back to fixing the plates.

He said, "What? Did you want to come and help?"

"Non, I just didn't tink it was safe to take dem in yo' car. It's a death trap waitin' to happen, mon ami."

"What, Simon? I wish you guys would quit ragging on him. He hears you, you know."

Remy rolled his eyes. It was well known among the X-Men that Bobby had the worst car. It was an old beat-up, blue Honda that he had named after Simon Le Bon.

"It may be good fo' you, but tink of de kids. Dat's why I brought dis."

Remy held up a set of keys. Bob looked at them, and made his way to the door. He peered outside and saw a dark green Lincoln Navigator parked behind Simon. It dwarfed the lost Duran Duran member. He thought for a moment that he saw poor Simon shiver.

"Wow. You bought me a SUV!"

There was a tight sigh behind him.

"Non, I bought *me* an SUV. I'm lettin' you borrow it to take de kids out."

"Oh."

The kids had joined him and they were jumping up and down excitedly.

"Can we look? Can we look?" Bobby was saying as he hopped beside little Remy.

"Non," Remy replied picking him up, "you should be eatin' yo' breakfast since you were sick. Dat goes fo' you too, petit."

Little Remy frowned.

"Don' like eggs!"

Gambit put Bobby down back in his chair and picked up the smaller version of himself and did the same.

"Oui, Remy didn't like eggs when he was yo' age either, but now he like dem jus' fine. See, BJ be eatin' his eggs. Dey are good fo' you."

Bob smiled at Gambit. He was surprised at how good the Cajun was with the kids. Bobby looked confused.

He asked, "BJ?"

"Oui, dat stand fo' Bobby Junior. I tink dat sounds cool, don' you?"

"I like that! Bob can I be BJ now?"

"Does that mean I get to be Bobby again?"

The boy nodded and smiled a toothy grin. Before he could agree, Little Remy interrupted.

"Do I still get to be Remy?"

The newly renamed Bobby rolled his eyes and replied, "Yes, Remy. I'll be Bobby, he'll be BJ, and you'll be Remy, okay?"

"What does dat make me den?" Gambit asked.

"You can be my boyfriend, Lance."

Gambit looked confused as Bobby sat down to eat his eggs chuckling all the while.

Bobby stared at the Port Jefferson Mega Mart. The boys were in the back seat playing with all the compartments in the Navigator. Until that day, Bobby had never seen a vehicle with that many nooks and crannies. It was probably because it was huge. He had pretended that he was driving the Big Foot monster truck all the way to the store. He even imagined rolling right over a slow lady in the fast lane a few miles back. If there hadn't been children on board, he might have went ahead and done it Big Foot or no.

Now was the true test, though. Bobby took a deep breath and let it out. He had no illusions about this trip. He easily remembered what he was like when Maddy had taken him out to a store.

"Okay boys, we're here! Before we get out, I want to go over the rules."

He heard both boys moan unhappily. Bobby tried not to smile.

"No, we gotta do it. BJ, you are going to sit in the cart because you're not completely well yet. Remy, you have a special job."

"I do?"

"Yes, you have to put your hand in my pocket, and you can't take it out of my pocket until I tell you to. That way we won't get separated. If you have your hand out of my pocket and I tell you to put it back in, you do it all right? That way we can get everything we need and I won't have to worry about you guys. Also you are absolutely not to use your powers, guys. You *never* use your powers in public, unless I say it's okay. You understand?"

He was rewarded with two nods.

"Good, now if you guys behave, we'll get you some toys to play with, too."

"TOYS!" the boys shouted in unison.

"I thought that would cheer you up. You have to be good, though."

"We will!" BJ said excitedly.

Bobby lifted BJ into the bright red cart when they got inside. He looked at Remy, who immediately put a small hand into his pocket. He patted the little guy on the head and walked through the inner doors.

The trio quickly headed toward the children's clothing section. Bobby asked the boys to point out anything they would like to wear. After several selections, some jumping, some whining, and BJ nearly falling out of the cart, they headed for the changing rooms. There was a desk in the far corner next to a doorway. Bobby smiled at the attractive young sales girl who looked over their clothes. He waited till she had counted all the items before they stepped into the cubicle maze.

Bobby chose a cubicle towards the front where the large folded mirror was located. It was also near the cute sales girl, in case he needed a woman's opinion.

"Who's first?" he asked.

BJ and Remy immediately went into "rock, paper, scissors." This time Remy won. Bobby sat BJ on the bench and tried to help Remy get dressed in the cramped space.

"Don' need help! I'm a big boy!"

"I know that, Remy, but I've got to make sure they fit, okay?"

Bobby struggled with Remy through a few outfits. He was just starting to get a good idea of sizes when BJ decided to make a run for it. Bobby had opened the door so Remy could see the latest outfit in the large folded mirror. BJ slipped away towards the main part of the store.

Finely honed "Official X-Men Prankster" instincts made Bobby turn just in time to see the sandy blonde head disappear out the doorway. He grabbed Remy's little arm and ran after the boy.

"BJ! BJ, come back here! Hey! Somebody stop that kid!"

Most of the women in the children's clothing section laughed at an obvious newbie chasing after a small hellion. None of them tried to stop the small person as he dodged through the clothing racks. BJ was picking up speed. Bobby was getting held back by Remy, so he scooped the second boy up and tossed him over one shoulder. Remy laughed happily at the new game.

"Gotcha!" a voice said from behind a tall T-shirt rack as BJ rounded the corner. Bobby heard the boy yelp in surprise. When he rounded the corner, his eyes boggled.

"Bobby? Bobby Drake! What are you doing back here?" a man about his age asked while holding onto BJ by the back of his pants.

"Allan? Allan Mosby?"

"In the flesh! How are you doing? I haven't seen you since fifth grade, man!"

"I'm trying to get some clothes for these two handfuls. Wow. You're the last person I expected to run into," Bobby replied and shook his childhood friend's hand.

"Tell me about it. I'm here with my boys too. Funny world, huh?"

"You've got kids?" Bobby asked surprised.

"Yeah! Crazy isn't it? Thomas! Mark!" Alan barked.

A pair of twins that looked remarkably like the boy he had known in elementary school stepped up by their father. Alan let go of BJ, who attached himself to Bobby's leg in a heartbeat.

"Serves him right for running off like that," Bobby thought about the frightened boy stuck to his leg.

He said, "They look just like you, Alan."

"Yeah, well that one is the spitting image of the way I remember you from school."

Bobby decided to not bother and try and explain the situation with BJ and Remy. Alan probably would not believe it anyway.

"Thanks, I get that a lot actually. His name's BJ and this one is Remy," Bobby said setting Remy back down.

"This weed is Thomas, and his brother here is Mark."

"Nice to meet you boys. Thanks for the save, Alan."

"No problem. Can't take your eyes off of them for a second, huh?"

Bobby sighed. Alan's boys were eyeing Remy suspiciously.

"Tell me about it."

Silently, he thought about getting Little Remy some sunglasses. Mutants weren't exactly running rampant in Port Jefferson. Well, as long as you didn't count that time Scott and the Professor had saved him from a mob when he first joined the X-Men.

"Listen, Bobby, take my card and give me a call sometime. We can do the family barbecue thing. You can meet the little woman. It'll give us a chance to catch up, too."

Bobby took the offered card and said his good-byes. He herded the boys back to the changing room. An admonishing look from the cute sales girl immediately knocked her off the "female opinion" list. They tried the rest of the clothes without much incident. Bobby decided on six outfits for each boy. BJ had about the same taste as he did which made Bobby kind of warm and fuzzy inside. Remy had Gambit's taste, only scaled down more. The little Cajun preferred darker colors and was more trendy than BJ's funny T-shirt and jeans staple.

Bobby also bought them a couple of packs of cool Underoos (with Spider-man, of all things, on them), some socks, and tennis shoes that lit up. This covered clothing for the time being, so despite BJ's escape attempt, he took the two to the toy section.

He let them run wild, but still kept an eye on them. At first, they agreed on bikes, but Bobby put the brakes on that idea before it put the brakes on his bank account. BJ picked out a football. Remy leaned more toward the Lego's. Bobby was all too happy to buy one of the big sets of the building blocks. He was hoping they'd let him play with the castle and knights too.

While the boys decided on some matchbox cars, Bobby picked out some alphabet flash cards that he was sure Jean would approve of. He also picked up a few children's books for good bedtime stories. A large box of crayons and three or four coloring books topped off their cart. Bobby only had to look at Remy, who immediately put his hand in Bobby's pocket. BJ was put back into the cart and they headed for the check out.

At the check out, Bobby had a small heart attack when he saw the total, but it was much less than he thought it would be considering all the items they had picked up. When he reached for his wallet, there was nothing there.

Panic gripped him, until he remembered who had had a hand in his pocket the entire day.

"Remy."

"Oui?"

"Can I have my wallet back please?"

"What wallet?"

"If I don't have my wallet, I can't pay for all the toys or the clothes."

The Cajun grinned and hugged Bobby's waist. He then stepped back and smiled like a Cheshire cat.

"Don' have no wallet."

Bobby checked his pocket again and found the wallet where it should have been. He shook his head and paid the cashier. When they got home, he was going to have to explain stealing to Remy, but for now he was too tired to care.

continued >>

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