And so it begins
“Mrs. and Mrs. Pryde-Rasputina?”
“That’s us.” Illyana says, waving at the social worker and motioning to herself and Kitty. The woman nods. “Follow me.”
As they walk, the social worker started listing things. “I assume you have the proper papers?”
“Yes, we gave them to the man in the office.” Illyana confirms.
“Do you have any requirements with the children?”
“Only that they’d be okay with us being married.” Kitty mutters, rolling her eyes.
“Well, we’ll start here.”
An hour of interviews went by, until a social worker drags in a red-headed girl. “HEY!” she yells, jerking her arm back. Illyana smiles, and Kitty knows she’s liking the kid’s gusto. Her social worker sighs but leaves, and the redhead looks at them.
“Hi. I’m Illyana, that’s Kitty. Who are you?”
“Jean.” She says, looking angry.
“Why are you so upset?”
“‘M not.” She mutters, sinking into her seat.
“Sure.” Illyana scoffs.
“Would you be good with taking in five kids?” She asks suddenly.
“What?”
“It’s just, um, these four other boys, they’re kind of my brothers, but not really, and so help me God if I’m leaving them here.”
Illyana stares at Kitty, and she shrugs. “Well, I mean, we’ve got a big enough house..”
“Yana, we gotta think about this-”
“I like her. I wanna talk to the boys.” Illyana says, sending a pleading look in Kitty’s direction.
Damn her wife for being so cute.
“Okay, then, we can do that.”
“You’re the one who wanted kids, Kitty.” Illyana smirks, then goes to get the social worker, Jean running after her. Kitty sigh and walks out after them.
She gets there to find Jean running into the arms of four boys. One looked to be about 12, but the others seemed to be around Jean’s age, almost 17. She was whispering something at them with furious hand motions accompanying it, and one of the boys was muttering something back. She was about to listen in when the social worker motioned them to the meeting room.
“What are your names?” Illyana asks when they step inside. The oldest looking one, oddly wearing sunglasses and sporting long hair, speaks up. “I’m Scott, that’s Jean as you know, that’s Warren, that’s Bobby, and that’s Hank.” He says. His voice, Kitty notes, is high. Perhaps he's sick.
“Ah.”
“We- um- I think I had a speech for this, but I lost it, so, here goes. There’s five of us, but we’re good at chores and stuff, and uh, we’re all pretty nice and respectful most of the time so yeah, I think that’s it?”
“I have a 125 IQ.” Hank says.
“Hank has a 125 IQ,” Scott repeats, “And that’s all.” Kitty nods.
“Do you have questions for us?” Illyana asks.
“A few. Bobby, you can go first.” Scott says.
“Do you have an ice rink? Can you make cookies? Are we allowed to watch TV? Ooooh, do we get beds?” The little kid starts, speaking a mile minute. Illyana laughs.
When they leave a hour later after earnest conversation, Kitty notices the five of them are all touching in some way; Hank has his arm around Bobby’s shoulders, Jean is holding Warren and Scott’s hands, and Warren has his other arm linked through Bobby’s. It’s cute.
Illyana squeezes Kitty’s hand. “So…”
“I want to adopt them.”
Illyana punches the air in victory and kisses Kitty’s cheek. “Hell yeah! I’ll go ask the social worker.”
After they fill out all the paperwork, the worker notifies the kids from their dorms. Kitty peaks into the boy’s dorm,where Jean was hanging out. Scott is running around, picking up bits and pieces of Bobby’s stuff here and Hank’s books there, all the while yelling, “We're gonna be late, c’mon guys!” Bobby is smiling when he spots Kitty, and shoves the last thing into his (small) suitcase. Warren and Jean already have theirs packed, Hank is finishing up his, and Scott’s only holding a small backpack. Bobby runs over and hugs Kitty around the middle, yelling something so quickly she can’t understand him, and the other four walk over too. Scott shakes the social worker’s hand, thanking her, while Jean laughs at him silently behind his back. Well, Kitty thinks, at least the kids are happy with this.
Before they can leave, the worker pulls Kitty aside. "There's another thing."
"Yes?"
"One of the children- she introduced herself as Scott? She's a girl, but always talking nonsense about how she's 'actually a boy.' We think you should-"
Kitty sends her a death glare. "If Scott says he's a boy, he's a boy. Got it?"
"Well-"
"Good-bye."