Crystal shrugged. "Well, if we don't have an apartment in a few days, we'll find somewhere else to stay." Not to mention she'd be looking at picking up hours and another job.

Erik looked at them and looked at Charles and sighed. He knew the type; too cautious and wary and scared to accept anything, too spooked to be reassured. Just the type Charles would puppy-eye into staying for as long as possible.

Indeed, Charles was starting to give them the puppy-eyed look, but paused, putting a hand to his stomach.

"Ah, someone's feisty this morning," he said warmly, smiling.

Paige blinked at that.

Crystal paused at that too, looking at him a bit weird. Sure, she figured they were mutants, she'd figured everyone in the house was (reinforced by the fact that one little girl had a little rain cloud over her head).

Erik smiled and moved over to Charles, lifting up one of the little ones to sit on the counter to get a better feel.

"No shoving," Charles admonished gently as Wanda and Pietro tried to get a better feel. Gently, he moved the childrens' hands until they were in the right spot. "Right there."

"I feel it!" Wanda exclaimed, grinning.

Paige glanced at Crystal, bewildered. She'd expected mutations, sure, given Darwin and (presumably) Alex, but not quite like this.

Pietro grinned as he got his chance to feel the baby kicking and showed his excitement by taking off around the dining room table again.

Erik snorted at the kids. "Only another few months."

Crystal blinked. That... sounded like a baby. Inside Charles. And wow wasn't that just all sorts of weird.

"I think we just broke Paige and Crystal," Darwin commented as he glanced at the girls. Charles blinked.

"Oh my, I apologize, I did not in any way mean to make you uncomfortable," he said. "I suppose no one thought to mention it, everyone was so focused on the situation at hand."

"I--this is--what?" Crystal blinked, her brain no longer putting two and two together right; now she was just getting fish. Erik had to laugh at her.

Alex snickered as well; he remembered how he'd taken finding out.

"As far as secondary mutations go, Papa got off pretty easy," Darwin explained, sitting down next to the girls. "There's a little sibling due to arrive in a couple months or so."

"Secondary?" Paige asked, definitely not squeaking. "In what world is that secondary?"

"Well he wasn't always able to do this," Darwin said reasonably. "It developed. Thus secondary. Ask Hank if you want all the scientific jargon."

"So what's first?" Crystal asked cautiously after a few moments. She was almost scared to find out now.

"Oh, he's a telepath," Alex said, grinning. "Real strong one."

Paige's eyes went a bit wide.

"Define strong," she said tentatively. Alex positively smirked.

"Strongest ever."

Crystal made a strangled squeaking noise, even as she mentally slammed her shields into place.

Darwin snorted. "Papa is the strongest," he agreed. "But he's good about it." He grinned. "Not that he affects me."

"Really, boys," Charles admonished, "you shouldn't try to scare them like that." He looked apologetically at the girls. "Really, there's no need to worry, I would never pry without your express permission."

Crystal just made the squeaking noise again while Erik tried not to cackle. Too much.

And about then, the front door opened, and two bickering people headed inside.

"...really, Logan, they're just books, they're replaceable," Tony was saying as he headed for the kitchen.

"You've never heard Chuck when it comes to saving books," Logan replied. "Makes a man want to run for cover."

Paige froze with a deer-in-the-headlights expression as two more people made their way into the kitchen.

"Mornin' Chuck," Logan greeted as he and Tony went straight for the coffee machine. He glanced at the two newcomers at the table. "More strays?"

"I do wish you'd stop referring to them that way," Charles said, giving Logan a bit of a look. "And what's this about books?"

"There's a couple boxes of stuff in the side entrance," Tony said, patting the coffee machine fondly as he got his own cup of coffee. "Still soaked from the storm last night." He looked at the two girls and raised an eyebrow before shooting them the Patented Tony Stark Flirting grin.

"Our things," Paige said, a bit mournfully. "They're probably all ruined."

"None of it's startin' to mildew yet," Logan said, "but it will if you leave it much longer."

"Right, then, that won't do," Charles said. "Children! Looks like we've got a mission for today."

There were various shrieks as the kids figured out what that meant and went stampeding to get their 'capes'.

Hank grinned.

"I'll go supervise," he volunteered, getting up as well.

"What's going on?" Paige asked faintly.

"The Defenders of Literature. This isn't the first time we've saved wet books," Charles said, beaming at them. "Not to worry, we'll have your books properly restored in no time."

"There's no point in protesting, is there?" Crystal asked faintly.

"Hey look, we've got a smart one," Tony said, looking at her like she was a rat that had just done a particularly cute trick. "She's getting used to your steamrolling already, Charles."

Paige just looked mildly overwhelmed.

"Stark's right, you get used to it," Logan added from behind a mug of coffee.

"Wait. What was that? I think I just heard someone agreeing with me," Tony said, putting a hand to his ear. "I think I should call a press conference for this, we should make this day a national holiday."

"Don't look too much into it, Tin Man," Logan said. "I can still shred your suits like cheap paper."

"That's assuming you can get to me, weighed down as you are," Tony said, the banter easy and normal. "You wouldn't be able to catch me if your life depended on it."

Logan just snorted. He knew he could tear the Iron Man suits apart if he felt like it, and Stark knew it too.

"I still kind of feel like I'm dreaming," Paige murmured to Crystal. "This is so bizarre."

"So, so bizarre," Crystal murmured in agreement, watching the two continue to bicker back and forth. And then it dawned on her who was in the kitchen and she nearly passed out, because, holy shit Tony Stark.