Eye of the Beholder

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone for the well wishes for doing the LiveStrong Challenge this summer. Very big thanks and virtual hugs go to mythigal for her donation. I know this chapter is a little shorter than normal, but the place I ended it was just too perfect. As always, thanks to WeepingAngelOfDeath, Michael, MrFantatiBeast, onewing, blue_lioness, Capt_Davy_Jones_Lover and Cougar for your reviews.

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“What kind of question is that?” Annie mumbles after staring at her sister in surprise for several seconds.

“One that obviously needs to be asked,” Amanda replies softly. “What's gotten into you, Annie? Your son is lying there sick, possibly dying and your worried about someone finding out about his abilities?”

“What is going on?” Cathy asks, confused by the intense, but quiet conversation between her offspring.

“Where is it, Annie?” Amanda requests again, ignoring their mother.

“It's in the girl's room,” Annie mutters miserably, her head and shoulders drooping in defeat. “It's on the shelf in their closet, behind the games.”

Amanda nods her understanding and then goes to retrieve her property while Annie stands there with tears running down her face. Mike gently pulls his trembling wife into his arms and she starts to sob into his chest. He starts rocking her and talking quiet reassurances into her ear while the twins go over and latch onto their grandmother.

Confused and bewildered, Hank watches all of this from his spot by Paul's bed. For lack of anything better to do, he takes the boy's pulse and worriedly notes that it's fast and faint. He starts to go towards Mike and Annie in hopes of convincing them to call an ambulance when Amanda returns with her laptop in one hand and the power cord in the other.

Baffled, he watches as she quickly brushes past him, sets the small machine up, sits it on the bed next to Paul and then turns it on. Mike and Annie move to the other side of the bed as she does this and a moment later the screen flickers to life. What he expects to see and what is there on the screen are two different things, shocking him enough make his eyebrows rise to near his hairline.

Instead of a normal desktop with wallpaper and icons on the screen, it's black with white ones and zeros streaking from top to bottom. Amanda takes her nephew's hand, places in on the keyboard and then watches him expectedly. After several long moments of nothing happening, Hank opens his mouth to ask what she's expecting to happen when Paul lets out a sudden cry of fear as he swiftly sits up in the bed.

“Mommy,” the boy whimpers.

“I'm right here, baby,” Annie answers as she takes him into her arms and holds him tight.

Paul clings to her as if his life depends on it, his entire body trembling as he sobs into her shoulder. Mike crawls onto the bed to hold his son from the other side, encompassing his wife into his embrace. A moment later, the twins join them and soon there's a lot of hugging and crying on the bed that has Hank wondering what's just happened.

He looks down at Amanda and sees that she's pressing different keys on her computer, but if the frown on her face is any indication, it's not doing what she wants. He lifts the item off of her lap and turns it around to see what he can do, but stops and stares at the machine in shock instead. The numbers are gone, but instead of wallpaper and icons there is nothing more than a jumble of pixels that he can't make heads or tails of.

“Amanda, I'm a bit...perplexed,” he admits, a frown wrinkling his brow now.

“Let's go downstairs and I'll explain,” she sighs as she unplugs the computer and then stands up.

He quickly puts a hand under her elbow when she wobbles and she gratefully leans against him as she waits for the latest round of vertigo to pass. Once she's sure she can stand on her own, she carefully leads him out of the room. As they're passing her mother, Amanda's stomach decides to make itself known and Hank's own tummy answers in kind.

“Have you two eaten lunch yet?” Cathy asks, looking at the two of them before her gaze rests on her daughter. “I know you didn't eat much breakfast.”

“Could they make hospital food any more bland?” Amanda grumbles as she wraps her arms around herself at the memory of that horrid place.

“I believe the hope was to get something on the way, but Amanda decided that she wanted to come here first,” Hank explains while he tucks the laptop under his arm and then makes his way towards the stairs with Amanda right behind him.

“You're still planning on leaving?” Cathy questions sadly as she follows them.

“Can you give me a good reason to stay?” Amanda shoots back, carefully negotiating the steps right behind Hank. “I'm sick of being everyone's kicking dog and I'm not going to put up with it any more. If you want to bow down to Annie's every whim, then fine, but you'll excuse me if I don't curtsy every time she walks into a room. I'm too sore from my roll down that hill yesterday.”

“We don't bow down to Annie's every whim,” Cathy huffs as she impatiently waits for the other two to get to the bottom. “Hank, could you go a little faster please?”

“I could, but I will not,” Hank answers without bothering to look back at the woman. “If Amanda stumbles or falls, I want to be close at hand to help her.”

“She's not a child, she can walk down the stairs without help,” Cathy grumbles.

“Normally, I would agree with you,” Hank replies, continuing his slow descent. “But I've seen the pain pills they've prescribed for her and they can cause drowsiness, vertigo and loss of coordination.”

“What's going on?” Stuart asks appearing at the foot of the stairs and Hank can smell wood sap on the other man and sees wood chips stuck to his pants.

“Nothing much,” Amanda answers. “Just your daughter trying to kill your grandson is all.”

“Oh, stop being so melodramatic,” Cathy snaps.

“Why?” Amanda retorts, quickly looking back over her shoulder at her mother and immediately loses her balance.

She falls into Hank's broad back and he easily takes her weight as he reaches behind himself to help steady her. They take the last couple of steps fairly quickly, Hank never relinquishing his hold on her to assure her safety. They both ignore Stuart's scowl as Hank makes sure she's steady again before Amanda turns back to her mother.

“Why shouldn't I be melodramatic?” Amanda demands, her left hand clutching Hank's shirt for more than one kind of support. “It was the only way I could make you notice me when I was growing up. Why should it be any different now? Ever since Annie got sick, all you two have done is cater to her every whim. It was like I didn't even exist any more. Even when she wasn't around, it was like I was invisible unless I did something really outlandish and only then did you either one of you notice me.”

“You make us sound like horrible parents,” Cathy says, hurt evident in her voice.

“You weren't abusive,” Amanda replies heatedly, her body shaking with pent up anger and frustration and Hank's arm slips around her waist to help steady her. “But if Annie so much as sneezed, you two were 'Annie, would you like this; Annie, would you like that; here, Annie, let us kiss your ass while we completely ignore your sister'!”

“Amy!” Cathy gasps. “Really, such language.”

“Would mind not pawing my daughter while in my home?” Stuart demands, glaring at Hank.

“I hardly call keeping her from falling down 'pawing',” Hank responds as calmly as he can considering Beast is doing its best to take control and take her away from these people.

“I see you aren't denying what I've said,” Amanda snorts while she leans against Hank, her left hand finally releasing his shirt so it can hold onto the arm around her.

“Annie was very delicate as a child after her sickness,” Cathy reminds her.

“And of course that's a perfectly good reason to let her dictate my life,” Amanda spits back.

“She didn't dictate your life,” Cathy scoffs.

“I couldn't get a pet because of her,” Amanda points out.

“Yes, you could,” Cathy retorts.

“Yeah, if I wanted a cat,” Amanda snaps. “The funny thing about that is that all the cats slept in her room and used mine as a litter box. For some silly reason, I'm not much of a cat person now. I wanted a horse, but we couldn't get one because Annie didn't like the smell. I wanted a dog, but we couldn't get one because Annie was afraid it would chase the cats. I couldn't even get a rat because they freaked Annie out!”

“We had the chicken and goats,” Cathy weakly defends.

“And what wonderful pets those make,” Amanda retorts sarcastically. “I couldn't do anything without her approval either. If I wanted to go to the movies, I only got to go if Annie wanted to see the movie. I wasn't even allowed to go out with just my friends unless it was 'Annie approved'. When we were looking for houses, you picked this one because Annie liked it. Never mind the fact that I hated it, I hated leaving my home and all of my friends and I hated the fact that nobody listed to a damn thing I had to say!”

“It wasn't all that bad,” Cathy tries to argue, but not sounding too convinced herself.

“Not for you, maybe,” Amanda shoots back. “It's not like if you so much as sneezed wrong, you'd suddenly find yourself in trouble. More often than not, I wasn't even guilty of anything, but because Annie said I did it, then you believed it. How would you have liked to grow up like that, Mom? No matter how hard you tried, you'd always be compared to the 'Golden Child'? Always knowing that nothing you did would ever be good enough in your parent's eyes? That you'd never be seen as an individual, but as an extension of someone else? Try it some time. I can tell you it does a lot of damage to a person's psyche.”

“You really thought it was that bad?” Cathy asks in a small voice.

“I didn't think it was that bad,” Amanda answers as she sags against Hank, her energy almost spent. “I know it was that bad. I was half expecting you to have my name legally changed to Annie II and no, Mom, I'm not joking about that last part. I can't take this any more. Hank, I want to go home.”

“Of course, my love,” he assures her, giving her a gentle squeeze with his one arm before loosening his hold. “Is everything packed?”

“Everything but the computer,” she tells him.

“Alright, why don't you go sit down and I'll go get your bags from your room,” he suggests and she nods her agreement as he starts to lead her into the living room.

“I'm not June Cleaver you know,” Cathy snaps, suddenly going on the offensive, following them with Stuart right behind her. “I did the best I could with a sickly child and another who delighted in getting into trouble. I had to nag you to do your chores, your room was always a mess and you were constantly sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night. Do have any idea how embarrassing it was to go to church or the store and have someone come up and tell me what they saw you and your friends doing around town?”

“Did it ever occur to you the the reason I was such a trouble maker was because it was the only way I could get your attention only on me without interference from Annie?” Amanda tiredly asks, leaning heavily on Hank.

“Perhaps this conversation should wait until Amanda is feeling better,” Hank suggests as he tries to lead her away from her parents.

He can see the rebellious look on Cathy's face as she draws in a large breath of air and Hank changes directions, heading now for the front door. He refuses to leave her without at least with some protection while he retrieves her luggage and he figures the car is the best he can do on such short notice.

“Aunt Amy?” a new voice softly calls from the bottom of the stairs and all of the adults turn that way.

“Yes, Paul, what is it?” Amanda responds, exhaustion evident in her voice.

“I'm sorry I messed up your computer,” Paul says while he steps towards her. “I can try and fix it if you like.”

“That would be very nice, thank you,” Amanda replies as she gets the laptop from Hank and hands it over to her nephew.

Hank watches in fascination as the boy takes it, opens it up and shortly after getting it powered up, the messed up images reappear on the screen. A look at the boy shows that his pupils have dilated well past what should be normal and Hank watches in fascination as the young mutant before him concentrates on the computer in his hands. After nearly a minute of very little happening, the pixels start so shift and swirl and slowly they reorganize into a more discernible pattern.

“I knew it!” Annie yells causing everyone else to jump. “I knew I'd find you down here! What do you think you're doing?”

Everyone looks at the rampaging woman as she comes storming down the stairs with the exception being her son.

“I'm fixing Aunt Amy's computer,” Paul calmly answers, still not looking up.

“Aunt Amy can fix her own computer,” Annie snaps as she marches towards her son.

“Doubt it,” Paul replies and Hank must admit that the boy is impressing him more and more as the desktop becomes clearer with each passing moment, plus handling his mother at the same time. “Aunt Amy can barely manage to get on the Internet, no way she's going to fix this.”

“Thanks a lot,” Amanda mutters at her nephew, though not harshly.

“Besides, aren't you always telling me to clean up after myself?” Paul asks, still intently staring at the screen before him.

“Yes,” Annie growls as she gets closer to them and Hank not so subtly gets between her and Amanda.

“Then that's what I'm doing,” Paul tells his mother. “I'm cleaning up the mess I made in her computer when I couldn't get out.”

“I must admit, I am most impressed with this young man's abilities,” Hank states as he continues to watch.

“No one asked you,” Annie hisses at him and Hank just stares at her, fighting with Beast internally to keep it from chasing the woman away from their mate.

“Back off, Annie,” Amanda snarls as she comes around Hank and glares at her sister.

“Make me,” Annie challenges.

WHACK!

“You hit me,” Annie gasps in surprise as her hand comes up to hold the sore spot.

“Felt good too,” Amanda retorts rather smugly as she tries to subtly rub the stinging sensation out of her fingers.

“Amanda! How dare you!?” Cathy demands loudly.

“See!? This what I mean!” Amanda shouts at her mother. “You didn't yell at Annie when she slapped me and you even blamed me for it, but when I when I return the favor it's suddenly 'how dare you?'!”

“You hit me!” Annie shouts, still in shock.

“Well, yeah,” Amanda snaps back as she points to the scratches on her face. “Give me one good reason not to do it again.”

“I'm pregnant!” Annie yells and then slaps her own hand over her mouth as her eyes go wide in horror.

That last outburst actually drags Paul's attention away from the computer and he stares at his mother with wide green eyes. Nobody says anything for many long seconds and Hank wonders why people aren't congratulating the woman. He takes a quick look around and sees nothing but shocked faces until he spots Mike at the foot of the stairs with a look that's a mixture of anger and sadness.

“What do you mean you're pregnant?” Mike nearly growls which acts like a starting pistol to get everyone talking at once.

“I swear I didn't...,” Annie tries to start, literally throwing herself at her husband.

“Aren't three of us enough!?” Paul demands as his mother grabs his father's shirt front in her fists.

“I would never...,” Annie cries, tears starting to trickle out of her eyes, but Mike just glares at her, his arms unmoving.

“Annie, how could you?” Cathy nearly sobs and Stuart looks like he's torn between killing something and crying himself.

“I swear I haven't...,” Annie wails as the tears flow freely down her cheeks.

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” Amanda quietly chuckles, sounding rather evil to Hank's ears.

“May I ask what's going on?” Hank requests in a slightly louder than normal voice.

“A few years ago, Annie told Mike she didn't want to risk having any more kids,” Amanda replies, sounding very smug. “So, with much grumbling and cringing, Mike went and had a vasectomy.”