When Marie left he was able to turn back to his bike, which in his haste to correct her he had knocked over a can of oil that he now had to clean up all over the garage floor. He was actually glad she had the nerve to come find him, he felt a lot better now that he yelled at her. For days he wanted to scream and just rip into her but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, so staying away was just the best. Then she came and found him. It was amazing how she always seem to know what he needed.
He was confused when he heard the footsteps again coming up behind him. They sounded like Marie’s but it didn’t smell like Marie. Which could only mean two things. Either it was Mystique or someone he feared a lot more.
“I think we should talk,” he flinched at the voice. For the few minutes he had been at the mansion during the week Jubilee was constantly teasing him how much the girl acted like him, but evidently she thought just like Marie. He half felt like crying, no man should get two ‘we need to talk’s within the same day. Unsure of what to say he stood up and crossed his arms and just grunted at her.
She cocked an eyebrow at him and he matched her with one of his own. But the Wolverine mannerism stopped right there because she walked over and hoped up on the hood of a car just like Marie did. In fact, it was the same car Marie did; the very same spot. He realized how far in over his head he really was.
“I’m sorry us being here is weird for you.” He could tell by the tone of her voice she wasn’t exactly asking for forgiveness from him. And if she was as much like Marie as she seemed to him he knew there was more to come so he stayed silent.
“We didn’t come here on purpose, you know,” she continued, her dark grey eyes unwaveringly meeting his. “Yeah, this is totally fucked up, I agree. I mean I’m seeing my mom almost the same age as me, Chava has to watch her mom making out with some dude she doesn’t even know while her dad is on the other side of the room. And David, well, him and Storm kinda feel right back into cynic, but they’ve always been weird like that. And Phil, fuck, Phil is dealing with reliving his mom’s death all over again and now his dad on top of it so I think you can handle being a little less of a candy-ass.”
He was impressed how not scared of him she was. No one had ever called him a candy ass before, let alone a girl a third of his size. He looked her over, she wasn’t very tall but neither was he or Marie. Now that he got a good look at her face he could find no argument that she was Marie’s. Her hair, her skin, her lips, her cheeks- all exactly like Marie’s. Her eyes unsettled him though, they weren’t warm and welcoming brown, they were dark and cold. He mentally sneered at himself ‘like his’.
“You got guts, kid,” he winced at the sound of the word, it didn’t feel right saying it. He hoped it would be the peace flag between them but flinching when he said it probably didn’t help his case.
“Listen,” she began, her face completely serious, “I know you aren’t my dad. So I’ll make you a deal. I won’t come running to you with a tummy ache if you don’t make me eat my vegetables.”
He smirked and nodded. Again he looked her over and his heart nearly stopped at what hung around her neck. “Where... where’d you get that?” He stammered out.
Her hand shot up to tightly clench the chain hanging around her neck. “My dad gave it to me.”
“Can I see it?” It felt stupid asking to see his own dog tags; tags he hadn’t seen in almost seven years.
She narrowed her eyes at him, but his face did not hide how needy he was, which was unusual for him. Slowly she pulled them over her head and down her long chocolate hair. He held his hand out and tried to keep if from shaking, but he was unsuccessful. As soon as the metal hit his hand his thumb moved along the familiar embossing.
“He was, um, in the army for a long time.”
“Yeah,” was all he could say, his eyes not leaving the tag. He couldn’t help but note even the damn numbers were the same. “He gave them to you?” Logan knew how much the tags meant and was slightly surprised the other guy hadn’t given them to his Marie. Hell, he did and they weren’t even an item.
She smiled, which for some reason settled his beating heart a little bit. “When I joined the team,” she explained, “He said he wanted the bad guys to know who would be coming after them if anything happened to me.”
He laughed, because Marie would say that it sounded just like him. But for the life of him he couldn’t think of what he would say if he had to see his daughter run out onto a battlefield. She bowed her head and he willingly slipped the tags back on. They weren’t his tags, as much as he missed them. They were the other guy’s and he evidently wanted them to stay right there.
“So, what kind of a name is Ricochet?” he lightly pushed her shoulder, although he knew she wouldn’t get the joke.
But she surprised him when he answered, “He said the same thing when I picked it out.”
The tension in the air was easing and he left the bike to lean against the car beside her. This wasn’t as bad as he thought. She wasn’t completely unbearable.
“How’s the other kid holding up?”
Her head turned to face him, “Who? Oh, Phil. Yeah, he’ll be okay. He just got a little excited when he saw all of you. He thought, you know, he might be able to see him mom again or something. And then no Mr. Summers either. It sucks.”
He nodded, “Yeah, it was one fucked up week we had.”
“You and mama really love each other.”
“What?!” he pushed off the car to face her, his face turned completely white.
She just shrugged at him, “It’s what you want to ask me, isn’t it?”
“Has, um, Rogue asked you a lot about it?” He figured there was no point in acting nonchalant at this point, evidently the girl had the same talent as Marie to look right through him.
She snorted, “Duh. Actually, that Jubilee chick is a lot more curious. She’s, um, a lot, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she’s a lot, alright. So your dad and your mom, they go good together?” Asking made him feel like a fifteen year old boy, as if he was just waiting for his voice to crack.
“Do they go good together, hm... Well, if my four little brothers are any indication then yeah, ya’ll go good together.”
He coughed like he was choking, though there was nothing but air in his mouth, “Five kids?”
“Yep,” she smirked, clearly entertained by the distressed look on his face, “Mr. Summers likes to call them ‘the pack’. They’re a lot younger then me though, so I don’t get included in the pranks n’ stuff.”
Shit, he was starting to think maybe he hadn’t done the right thing by not jumping Marie back when they meet. He cost himself the kind of life he always dreamed of having. He had always figured he couldn’t have it, not with his past or lack there of. But the other Logan evidently had the same kind of past but still had two beautiful girls to protect and four little boys to cause havoc with.
“Anyway,” she dragged him out of his inner deliberation and the car shifted when she jumped off of it, “I told Rogue I’d meet her and the other girls, Peter’s gonna drive us into the city.”
The mention of Peter brought him back to the conversion he had with Marie not ten minutes ago. “Hey if you ever need anything I can–“ He stopped when she patted his shoulder.
“It’s alright,” she assured him, “the deal, remember? Lets stick to it.”
“Wait!” He called out to stop her right before she went out the door. “I didn’t really make you eat your vegetables, did I?” He had no clue what he would be like as a dad, but he couldn’t imagine he’d give too shits about vegetables.
“No,” she smirked, “But that’s okay, I don’t get tummy aches.” She winked and left him to his bike.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
He's never gonna get that bike fixed at this rate. ^.^