AN: I am not dead and I am finishing up a two year program in college. Four weeks left! I have a dozen tests and assignments due each week, and I have fieldwork, which is the equivalent of a fulltime job I am not being paid for, but I am trying to write again.

So this is a birthday oneshot for Shreedle/RandyPandy. The AU here is her own and there's not a whole lot of differences in the main storyline, but I've tried to explain or skirt the more AU bits in case she ever plans to fully write out her own fics. But I'll leave three notes: bioroids are just Reploids that are partially organic, they grow, have an immune system, etc. Xavier is X, and he's a bioroid, this is pre-X1, and he's roughly 14 here. Zero goes by the name Rhythm, is an adult, and is X's legal guardian.

*~X~*

X sat unhappily waiting in a chair in the hall outside of a small lab on HQ property. Clearly this was not where he wanted to be on a sunny afternoon, but neither did he appreciated the short, blistering line on his right forearm. There had been a training accident, a minor one at that, and he had been sent to the infirmary to have it seen to. Had he been a full Reploid, there wouldn't have been any fuss over it, but Xavier was a bioroid with a propensity for illness and injury, so he had been ordered off to get it looked at. Of course, being young and as averse to doctors as he was, he had protested "it was only a small burn!", but his superior hadn't been having any of that and warned him that if he did not cooperate, a certain tall blond would be notified. Not wanting to deal with that, X complied.

When he arrived as ordered, it was chaos, and not because of him, but because of an emergency involving a Maverick and explosives. Lifesavers were running everywhere, and he hadn't even been allowed past the front desk. To his (private) delight, they were forced to turn him away due to the minor nature of his injury, but his glee hadn't lasted long as the black-haired nurse behind the desk shoved a small, plastic card at him. It held an unfamiliar name and a room number. Dread pooled in his stomach and his shoulders fell as he examined the card, emblazoned with the HQ logo and the words "Dr. Pax Selas". He was being sent somewhere else, to someone he really didn't know.

He opened his mouth to protest, that it really wasn't worth pulling out someone who was not on the medical team to deal with, but she spoke first.

"He's not technically on the roster here, but he's proven more than medically competent and I sent him an email about you. I actually wouldn't be surprised if we saw him joining us soon. Go drop by his lab and let him look at it, Xavier, I promise he's not a cannibal."

X's shoulders drooped in defeat as he sighed and walked away from the desk, feeling that arguing would be useless. Behind him, she called out to remind him that they would be doublechecking to make sure he went to the right place. Grumbling, he trudged through the halls away from the infirmary and toward the research wing, and there he had found the room number matching the one on the card. He rang the buzzer and then sat down in the nearest chair, picking restlessly at his scarf. He could be doing so much right now.

Yet he was here. Reluctant, but here.

X tapped the arm of his chair, a quick, nervous rhythm as the seconds ticked on into minutes that felt like hours. He could be training, or making dinner, or cleaning his room, or anything else but sitting here! The nurse at the desk had assured him that she had informed this Reploid of his impending visit, but he might as well just go. He had tried, after all, it wasn't his fault that no one came for hi—

"Xavier Riley?" Called out a light male voice. He started, having not even heard the door open, and turned to see a short—almost as short as he was—slim, blue-haired unit standing in the doorway, smiling at him. "My name is Pax and I'll be seeing to your injury today! Would you please come in?"

No, he wanted to say, despite the fact that this Reploid looked soft and gentle and like X could definitely overpower him if it came down to it. But he knew that it wouldn't end well for him if Rhythm had to be called, so he fiddled with the hem of his scarf and stepped inside after Pax. It was a small, clean lab, smelling more of lemon cleaner than chemicals, thankfully, with only a few computers, a large, dry fish tank, and servers, but with a mass of unidentifiable wires and bits of metal strewn across the tables. There was a smaller room, an office judging by the photos and awards on the walls, and the door open to it so he could see the mess inside.

Pax encouraged him to sit at a mostly empty table where a few medical supplies had been laid out, but nothing sharp, thankfully. Xav warily looked back at the office, noting the heap of papers on the floor, the chair that had been yanked away from the desk, a cup of styluses and pens strewn across the desktop. It looked almost like there had been a fight, or someone had been rushing to hide or turn something off. Any of the options didn't bode well for his mental wellbeing.

"Sorry for the wait," Pax said apologetically, gently taking Xavier's arm in his hands. "And the mess. I had to catch a gremlin and keep it from chewing on all my wires and papers."

X blinked, suddenly wondering if this pastel-haired Reploid was crazy or if he was serious. "Gremlin?"

A slow grin stole across Pax's face as he turned his head, nodding it toward the partially-obscured tank on the other side of the lab. "When I'm done cleaning your arm, go look in the tank."

Oh, he was serious. X turned his head back toward the tank, but was unable to really see it past the projects the blue-haired unit had on the table, but he could tell it was very big. Was Pax doing some genetic experimentation? The thought made his skin crawl with anxiety as he turned his attention back to what the Reploid was doing, watching him rub an alcohol swab over where the energy blade had nicked him. X flinched and Pax scowled.

"I swear, trainees should know to put a limiter on their weapons during training. I know everyone forgets, but that won't save anyone if someone gets dealt a mortal wound," he said, drawing X's attention back up to his face.

The (apparent) researcher was frowning in concentration as he looked down at the angry red line in X's skin, slim fingers massaging a thick white cream into the burn, bringing relief with it. With the Reploid distracted and his own anxiety eased somewhat, he took the time to examine the man. He had the youthful, androgynous features popular with some of the smaller models of Reploids, pale skin, pale blue hair, and pale green eyes. Almost everything about him was light—except for the speckles of red in his right optic. Odd, especially given the connotations of the color. He also looked strangely familiar.

"Have we met before?" He asked curiously, sure he had never seen the man on HQ before, but finding him recognizable nonetheless.

Pax looked up from his work, a small smile on his face. "No, I don't believe so. My friend and I just moved here from another base and I haven't seen you face-to-face before today."

X considered that, wondering if maybe he hadn't seen him in person before, but nothing came to his processor no matter how he wracked it. Maybe a news article? Someone as striking as Pax would surely stick in anyone's memory.

"Where are you from?"

"The Norway Hunter base. Or I should say, I'm fromGreece, my friend Polar is from Germany, we moved to Norway to join the Hunters,and then here. I don't see him much, so I doubt you've seen him, either, he's in the navy."

X pursed his lips in thought, glancing back at the desk and taking note of the photos of two Repoids standing together, one clearly Pax and the other a massive unit with short silver hair, as tall and only a little thinner than Rhythm.

He watched Pax mop off the excess cream from his arm, before he spoke again: "Your friend?"

Pax chuckled, apparently catching his thought process. "Is he my boyfriend? No. I think that happens every time I say 'he's in the navy, I don't see him often', for some reason. I'm older than he is and I've known him almost since he was activated. Unfortunately, he's two feet and a hundred pounds bigger than me, so when he grew up he decided he was going to be my parent. He at least considers himself my caretaker."

Xav thought of Rhythm immediately, grinning. "Big Reploids tend to like to adopt smaller ones, I think."

"Mmm, you've got that right. He's annoying but I love him. Oh, I don't have enough bandages, I'll be right back."

Pax got up, gathering the used medical supplies into his arms and striding off into his office to apparently get more bandages. Xav looked down, flexing and extending his fingers, rolling his wrist, admiring the silvery gleam of the cream and the lack of pain. Well, disaster hadn't happened yet and Pax didn't give him any creepy vibes, so all in all this was going better than most of his doctor's appointments. After a few moments, he remembered the tank and stood up, wondering if he could peek inside before Pax got back.

He stepped around the other table, getting a view of a tank decorated with what looked like real flowers and plants and a… fish castle? No, it looked more like a very small, empty dollhouse. Now he was even more puzzled and curious, raising up onto his toes to look down into the tank. Something bright, blood red in the miniature house squeaked and darted out of sight. X reared back in shock, core pounding. He had figured it would be something alive but whatever that had been was shiny in an almost organic way, but the shape and movement brought nothing to mind.

He watched, unsettled, and as he stood there the thing came back into view from behind a wall in the tiny house. It was a red, semi-opaque blob smaller than his fist. It was shiny and wiggled like stout jello, and there was a dark orb in the center of it that looked faintly golden, and the orb was staring at him, a faint golden gleam deep in the center of it. Two slightly darker spots in the gel became apparent to him, then, tiny eyes, perhaps. The amorphous red jello pulled itself up and stared at him intensely, giving him the feeling of being judged. And then it peeped, a high, inquisitive noise, and Xav couldn't stay wary because it was cute! The tank had no lid, so it must not be such a dangerous creature. X lifted a hand to touch it, and then pulled back.

"He's harmless, I promise," Pax announced from behind him. "He's only a few months old and he doesn't have teeth. The most I've seen him do is hiss at broccoli."

X spun around, looking guilty at having been caught despite the invitation, but Pax was smiling at him, so he cautiously lowered his hand into the tank. "He is? What is he?"

"My son," Pax said, his smile morphing into a grin. "Well, daughter, maybe. My child. We've been calling it a he because I had intended for it to be a boy, but things don't always work out that way with kids!"

X paused but the "blob" lifted itself up and touched his hand, the surface firm but cool under his fingers as it touched him gingerly, exploring the unfamiliar hand. So Pax must have made this little thing, but something about his tone made him hesitant.

"Your—"

"My actual child. I made a portion of his core, the dark bit you see there, I'm still making the rest of his frame, you see. He'll have a body just like you and me. He'll be completely normal aside from having a second circulatory system for gel and a cavity for his core," Pax said, his arm snaking in under Xav's to poke the red, gelatinous newbuilt, causing it to squeak.

"Oh…. I've never heard of a Reploid like that before," X said, intrigued, but a little uneasy. What was the purpose? Who made the other part of its core?

"Have you ever heard of the Devils? Back in Mega Man's day," Pax began, glancing at him as he noticed X stiffen. "I'm guessing that's a yes."

"That makes more sense now, but he's small for a Devil." Xav remembered something massive and yellow for a baleful red eye. This newbuilt was small and red with a golden eye, but he could still see some similarities.

"Oh, well, he's not exactly. They're called Limiteds. Another researcher, Dr. Doppler, has been working on them, too, but frankly, he's an idiot, trying to recreate the actual Devils in miniature. I'm more concerned with making a new kind of Reploid, but I think I made something else entirely, just something compatible with us."

The Limited had crawled onto his hand by now, and X felt his lips twitched as he realized the newbuilt was muttering wordlessly as it examined Xav's hand, poking and slipping between his fingers. It almost sounded like he was mocking his father.

"But enough about that, I've taken up more of your time than I'd meant to," Pax said, sounding embarrassed as he realized what time it was. "I have your bandages if you're ready to get out of here?"

"Um," Xav looked at the Limited staring at his burnt arm but not touching it. Was it concerned or just curious.

"Oh! Capricious," Pax laughed, reaching out to take him, but the young Limited had other plans, it seemed.

He flattened himself to Xav's arm, forming a solid sleeve of red gel. The sensation was odd, but almost like a massage. Pax put a fist on his hip as he frowned down at the Limited.

"This is why Polar calls you Lucy. You're so much trouble!" Pax sighed and addressed Xav then and said: "I had already planned to, but Polar thinks he's the reason why Capricious is going to be a redhead. I just let him think that."

X snorted in amusement, and Pax turned back to Capricious.

"He likes you a lot. I think he's excited to have someone more his own age around. It is kind of hard to find young Reploids around for him to socialize with…." Pax gave up trying to remove the baby and instead shooed him back down to Xav's hand so he could gently wrap X's arm.

"And especially fellow bioroids," he added pointedly, an odd expression on his face.

Xav glanced at the Limited again, watching it watching him. "He's organic?"

"Partially, yes, his shell less so, but the gel is."

Pax sat back and removed his gloves and tried to pry Capricious off X's arm again. This time he complied with a sullen chirp.

Xavier smiled at him and couldn't resist petting him again and telling him: "You're so cute!"

The blue-haired unit grinned at him, and the way the Limited purred and puffed itself up. He turned and gently returned the Limited to his temporary home and looked back at X.

"You know, I'd know he'd be very happy if you'd come back and see him. Particularly after he gets his shell. And I wouldn't mind some company or help either, if you ever find yourself around here."

X was shy when it came to most doctors, medical or otherwise, but something about Pax was…. Nice. Nothing had been disturbing to him about their meeting, there was nothing visible in the lab that would upset him. Xav wondered how into detail Pax had gotten in his file. And the Limited—Capricious—intrigued him. Pax just seemed like an interesting, lonely guy. Did he go out or interact with more people than just his friend?

Finally, he nodded, returning Pax's smile. He did have some experience in lab work already, after all. "I wouldn't mind. Maybe I could learn more about Limiteds?"

Pax's optics brightened at his acceptance, glancing over at Capricious. "Of course! But I warn you, once you get involved with Limiteds, it's hard to disentangle yourself from them."

"I think I'm willing to take that risk."

X followed his gaze to the Limited, sitting still and watching them intently from his perch. Capricious let out a not-so-innocent chirp.