Ozzy grinned and fired back, "True. I could paint a room flaming-hot pink and you wouldn't care. Jack might want to rip his eyes out after a day or two, but you wouldn't mind."

He then turned to Clarissa and said, "Just think, we'll have one of those all our own in a few years. Aren't you just excited?"

Jack smiled as Ozzy and Clarissa came in waving at them. "This is your Uncle Ozzy and your Aunt Clarissa. Uncle Ozzy thinks he's witty." He told Victoria smiling.

  Clarissa slid her arms around his waist, and leaned her head on his chest as she said softly "Yeah.  Got to wonder, since we're both mutants, would we have a normal child, or a cross between US?"

Ozzy smirked and said, "Hey, I got the girl who, according to various studies, just went through a long session of pain worse than ball-kicking to laugh. I think that's something. Then again, maybe she's still high from the painkillers and would've laughed at a five-year-old's poorly constructed toilet humor. I'm a mercernary, not a doctor, what do I know?"

He then turned to Clarissa and said, "Geeze, babe, don't even get me started on thinking about that. Now I'm worried that we might end up having some kind of Lovecraftian horror as a child, given some of the results that stuff has. Heh. Ia! Ia! Gysbourne ftaghn!"

A nod is given to Ozzy and Clarissa as they enter. The venerable Shaolin Monk turned to his one-time student.

"It is a great thing to be honored by one's friends. And from what I see, you are very much honored, Penny and Jack. I take my leave, but know that I am not far away if you or young Victoria are in need."

He turned to Ozzy and Clarissa. "Ozzy...Clarissa...good to see you again," he said as he exited the hospital room.

  Penny shook her head, and said "I didn't use any painkillers.  I've got very high pain tolerance.  Ju-Long, don't be shy, feel free to come and visit a lot.  Ozzy, you are always good for a laugh.  I would think that any child you two have will be a very interesting, cute baby like Victoria is."

  Victoria promptly displayed WHY.  {{Hello!  My eyes still don't QUITE focus right, but I can hear you all just fine.}}  That was sent to all the people in the room, Ozzy, Clarissa, and Ju-Long.

Jack smiled as Victoria said hello. "Yeah she's interesting all right. Got plenty of her mommy in her." He smiled at Victoria before he placed the baby in Penny's arms. "She wants to eat love, you'll have to handle that, I'm not equipped to."

  Penny nodded, accepting Victoria with a smile, and a nurse came in, whispering in Penny's ear or a moment, then tucking the blanket up, over Victoria and Penny's shoulder so that Penny could feed the baby without giving everyone a free show.  Which got a blush from Penny, but she cradled Victoria to her happily enough.  She said "She's one incredible reward for all that hard work, you know?"

"Yes she is...and she's even talking to all of us. A truly remarkable child," Ju-Long said.

Ozzy chuckled and said, "So that's TWO telepathic babies who're already 'talking' in our little social circle. Eh, whatevs. I kinda stopped being surprised by weird stuff when the interdimensional eldritch horror tried to pop into Grampa's back yard."

He then grinned and said, "Still, good to meet you, Victoria. Welcome to Planet Earth. I'm afraid you're gonna live in interesting times, kiddo."

  Clarissa gave Ozzy a grin, and said "Fear not, you have at LEAST eight years before you need to worry about that happening to you, love.  Because I am selfish, and want you to myself for that long."

Ozzy grinned and said, "Sounds awesome to me, love. We can practice 'till then."

  Clarissa grinned, and said "Yeah, if we want practice, we can offer to babysit for Jack and Penny while they have a night off from parenting to just be with each other.  Sound like a plan, love?"

Ozzy smiled and said, "Yeah. Might be nice..."

As he trailed off, he headed over to the room's window and looked out at Weston, and started to ponder. He tried to keep his thoughts shielded, as he didn't know how sensitive the baby was to picking up things, but it was clear that he wasn't thinking about happy thoughts. Clarissa would be feeling a strong sense of worry from him, as would anyone else with empathic powers.

  Clarissa slid her arm around his waist, and said softly "What's on your mind, love?  I know we need to find the idiot who is still making that mutagen.  Whoever designed it, I swear they must have been into bioterror and not just drugs."

Ozzy sighed and said, "Yeah, but... it's not just that. They've kidnapped ambassadors and started shooting at achools. What if the others don't end it today? What if this turns into an all-out war in the streets? I'm just worried about what kinda world little Victoria's coming into, I guess. I'm worried I'll slip up and get people hurt somehow."

  She poked his middle lightly with one finger of the hand wrapped around his waist, and said softly "You and I are fighting to make it a better place.  We can fight, or do nothing, and I can't say I can stand by and do NOTHING now that I CAN do something, and neither can you.  We can try our best, but we can't do more than that, love.  We do our best, and try not to let anyone get hurt, but accept that it may happen, because not everyone cares about collateral damage."

Ozzy smiled and said, "I know, I know... it just doesn't stop me from worrying. Since when have I not worried about stuff? I am your paranoid planner, after all."

  She smiled, and said "Precisely.  You're my paranoid planner, and I am the one that reminds you of what IS, not what MIGHT BE.  So you're doing your job, and I'm doing mine, love.  And we can make SURE when we are ready for our own, it IS a better world."

In reply to Seer (msg # 497):

Jack smiled as he wrapped an arm around Penny and kissed her on the cheek. "She really is. Its crazy, if someone told me a year ago this is where I'd be now, I'd have thought they were crazy."

  Penny chuckled, and said "A year ago, you had no idea you'd be a daddy either."

"Or that I'd be engaged to such an amazing woman." He said with a smile.

"Or that I'd be engaged to such an amazing woman." He said with a smile.

  Penny smiled, and said softly "I knew a year ago that I loved you, but I never dreamed I'd be where I am right now, and so very, very happy."

Ozzy smirked and said, "Man, look at us. With all this sappy stuff, we'll have enough to start making our own syrup in a minute."