The next morning, they awoke to bright sunshine, and the now unfamiliar sound of quiet. No pattering feet, no hushed whispers to be quiet, no tiny bodies bouncing on the bed, or wriggling under covers for morning cuddles. No requests for bizarre breakfast options, or activities to do that day.
"I miss them," Marie said softly, as she cuddled up to Logan, "It's too quiet when they’re not here."
"Let me interrupt your silence then," a voice rumbled through the door, "Why the fuck is there a chipmunk running around your living room, and am I killing it or putting it outside?"
Logan and Marie both burst out laughing, before getting up. Marie informed Sabretooth that neither option was suitable, while Logan made his way out to the living room to catch Monkey and return him to his cage.
"Let's get breakfast downstairs this morning," Logan said, pecking Marie quickly on the lips as she came out of the bedroom fully dressed.
She nodded in agreement turning to Sabretooth, just in time to catch sight of his broad naked back, muscles flexing as he pulled on his shirt. She turned away, suddenly aware that she didn't get to see Logan like that anywhere near often enough, he was always covered up in some way because of her stupid skin. He did it so she would feel comfortable and safe she knew but it still sucked, both that he couldn't be comfortable, and that she didn't get to enjoy the view her incredible man offered.
"You okay?" Logan asked, worriedly, tapping her chin up.
Forcing a smile Marie replied, "Yeah, I'm good, just thinking."
"Well, whatever that thought was, don't think it again, it looked depressing," Logan teased, trying to lighten her mood.
"It was," she cuddled up to him, "But I'll live. Now, let's go get breakfast I'm starving!"
They took the stairs to the ground floor, bypassing the cafeteria and instead heading for the smaller kitchen. The chatter of young voices could be heard from down the hallway, so they knew that's where they would find the kids.
As they walked into the kitchen a chorus of shouts went up. "Mama!" James yelled as he threw himself at Marie, while Ava went for "Daddy!". It took a moment for anyone to notice Sabretooth standing in the doorway, it was James that eventually did, spotting him over Marie's shoulder he growled loudly, baring his teeth in a snarl.
"It's alright buddy, he's a friend for now, he's not going to hurt you," Logan assured the little boy, ruffling his hair.
James shook his head. "He wants mama," he said, not taking his eyes of the man.
"Not any more sweetie, me and daddy kicked his butt real good, he won't mess with us anymore, he's gonna be staying here a while, and while he is, you have to be nice to him, okay?" Marie explained.
James just looked at her with a scowl on his face, a perfect miniature replica of Logan, before he announced, "I don't wanna."
"Then stay away from him," Logan shrugged, before instructing him to finish his breakfast.
Turning to Sabretooth and indicating he should come in, Logan introduced everyone. "You've met James obviously, and Caleb, this is Caleb's mom Sarah, Caleb's girlfriend Flora, and this is Ava."
Sabretooth nodded to everyone in turn until he got to Ava, she was the closest, still in Logan's arms where she had settled in for a hug. He took her hand, turning a handshake into a kiss on the back of her hand and a cheeky wink as he said, "Well hello little lady."
Ava froze, staring between him and Logan for a moment, before she burst out into giggles. Sabretooth couldn't help remembering what Logan had said the night before, about what had been done to the poor girl. It didn't seem to have affected her too badly in the grand scheme of things, thankfully. She was a real little cutie, how anyone could have done that to her was a mystery, hell he was a self-professed grade-A psycho and even he would never dream of doing shit like that.
Both Caleb and James were still regarding him warily, though Ava seemed to like him well enough, so he decided to introduce himself, it didn't appear Logan was going to. "I'm Victor, don’t worry though, I won't be in your hair for long, Rogue seems to think I can help this guy out with some things but then I'll be moving on,” he told them, noting Caleb relax a little. The teen seemed to understand that whatever rift had been between them last time they met was smoothed over now.
Ava lost interest in him then, turning back to Logan and asking him about the mission. "Actually, I need to talk to you about that, alone, can we do that now?" Logan asked.
"Only if James doesn't eat my breakfast while I'm gone," she glared at her brother, who was already trying to sneak food off her plate.
"James, you want seconds, you ask, don’t steal your sister's food," Logan reminded him, as Rogue picked Ava's plate up and moved it away from him. With that sorted Logan carried Ava out of the room, in search of some privacy.
"Why does-" Caleb started to ask before being interrupted by Rogue.
"We found the guy who landed her in hospital," Marie said bluntly, her tone implying that was the end of the conversation. Caleb took the hint, with a dark smirk, and returned to his breakfast.
--
Logan sat Ava down on the couch in the library, the library was always deserted at this time of the morning so they would have adequate privacy. Ava appeared to pick up on his tension and glanced at him worriedly as he sat down on the coffee table in front of her.
"Ava, sweetie, we found something at the lab, someone..." Logan faltered.
"Someone bad?" Ava asked perceptibly.
With a nod he replied, "Yeah, we found the soldier, the one from your nightmares," he explained gently. Ava shuddered, offering little more than a sound to indicate she'd heard him. "He's never going to hurt you again sweetheart, I made sure of it, he's never going to hurt anyone again,” he assured her gently.
"Was he sorry?" Ava asked softly.
"Not to start with, by the time I was done with him he was really sorry though," Logan assured her with a feral grin.
Ava's own feral nature snuck to the surface for a moment when she asked, in almost a growl, "Did you make him hurt?"
"Yeah sweetheart, I made him hurt, I'm not going to tell you what I did but he hurt a lot, I made sure of it," Logan responded. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better back then sweetheart, but I'll do my best to make things right, now and always," Logan reassured her.
"I know daddy," Ava said, offering him a big brilliant smile, she must have been taking smiling lessons from Marie, before she climbed into his lap and hugged him again, an Ava special full body hug.
For several minutes they sat in silence just comforting each other before Ava pulled away. "My bad dreams can go away now because he's never coming back," she announced with a happy, childlike smile.
"That's right sweetheart, now we better get back to your breakfast before your brother decides we're never coming back and eats it for you!" As Ava laughed, he picked her up and made his way back to the kitchen, sitting her down next to Marie who had been guarding her breakfast for her, while he moved to the kitchen island to sit next to Victor, as he had asked to be called. Now that his mind was a little clearer, he noticed that name was really familiar.
"So, Victor, what exactly is it that Rogue thinks you can tell me?" he asked, as he helped himself to the coffee and breakfast Marie had set aside for him.
"I think you best read whatever's in that file first, then decide if you really want to know," Victor suggested. With a shrug Logan finished his breakfast.
Once the kids were done, they begged Marie to take them outside, everyone else had already left for classes, leaving Logan and Victor alone.
"Alright, time to stop procrastinating, whatever’s in that file I've been looking for for seventeen years, now it's sitting right in front of me and I'm too chicken shit to look at it," Logan muttered, as he stood to stalk out of the room.
"Some things never change," Victor replied with a chuckle, as he followed him back to the suite. Rogue had asked him stay with Logan while he read through all the information she found, and help him fill in blanks. The girl seemed to have a lot more faith in him than he himself had, maybe that's what Logan loved about her. Though she seemed to be an all-around great package, sexy in a cute way, gorgeous tits, nice ass, tiny little waist, her voice wasn't grating, and she seemed to understand that every minute detail didn't need to be questioned like some women did. Add to that she was sweet, kind, caring, and the kids obviously loved her too, and he really didn't think his brother had done that bad a job.
--
It was several hours before they were done going through all the information, it wasn't a complete record of Logan's - James Howlett's - life, mostly his military career and more recent in between periods. Pre-World War one he'd lived on an Indian reservation apparently; no information had been collected from the tribe at the time but Victor assured him he hadn't been born there. Between the first and second world wars, they'd both bounced from conflict to conflict through Europe and Asia.
After the second war he had settled down for a time in Japan, marrying and having children, there was no record of what had happened to his family but Victor told him they had been murdered while he was in Korea. For some time, he had disappeared, completely, even Victor hadn't known where he was and had been surprised when they both ran into each other again, in the middle of the Vietnam War. That was when things started going downhill, mutants were becoming more common, more easily recognizable, and when Victor fucked up one too many times and got them both in serious shit, that was when their mutations were discovered, or rather, acknowledged.
Initially they had been offered amnesty for the charges against them, on the condition that they remain with a secret military company, comprised mainly of mutants, for five years. "By the time that five years was up you'd had enough, the orders were getting progressively more fucked up and you wanted out, you walked out one hour after your contract ended, abandoned the company in the middle of the African jungle, just turned around and walked away," Victor chuckled, "You always had a special way of making a point.
"Stryker kept an eye on you after that. You settled down in Canada, had a job, a home, a woman, too bad she was a lying whore... not in a literal sense, she didn't ever sleep with anyone else, that I know of. She worked for Stryker, she was his eyes on you, she was how he drew you back in," Victor admitted, "I don’t know if she loved you, she said she did, but how can you do something like that to someone you claim to love. Rogue on the other hand, that one really does love you, god knows what she sees in you but she does."
"Why were you so angry with Stryker?" Logan asked, as he flipped through the part of the file dedicated to the experiments that had been done on him, it wasn't just the metal.
"He used us, turned us against each other. When we saw each other last, I'd thought we had an understanding, you'd be pissed with me for a while but then we'd meet up again and everything would be back how it always had been. You never turned up, for a long time I was angry at you, you were the only family I had left, the only family I'd had for a long time, and you walked away like it meant nothing. Then I ran into you, almost by accident, you didn't know who I was, you didn't remember me, that's when I went back, tracked down Stryker's operation found out what they'd done to you, then destroyed your memories. I had lost my family, and you were still there to remind me."
"Family?" Logan asked confused.
"We're brothers Jimmy," Victor replied, a sad smile accompanying the statement.
"Rogue knew?" Logan queried, still confused.
"I assume it's in there-" he indicated to the records Logan held- "Stryker figured it out, it wouldn't have been a difficult conclusion to reach given how similar our mutations are."
"That's why she wanted you here," he realised.
"Like I said, that girl loves you, she'll do anything for you, even if it makes her uncomfortable... don't look at me like that, I've kidnapped her once, and tried to a second time, you really think she's happy to have me here, she wants me here for you, she's willing to make that sacrifice. I'm happy for you, all you wanted for a long time was a quiet life and a family, now you've got it, I won't get in the way of that, you deserve it with all the shit you've been through," Victor told him honestly.
After several minutes of silence Logan finally asked, "Is there anything else I need to know?"
"Only that you're shit with relationships so be careful with this one, oh, and you were born in eighteen-thirty-six," Victor replied with a grin.
"... Did you just say- I think I misheard, was that eighteen-thirty-six? As in one, eight, three, six? The early nineteenth century?" Logan stared at him incredulously. Victor just nodded in response.
"Does that raise any more questions for you?" Victor asked, when Logan just sat in stunned silence.
"So, what happened before World War One?" Logan eventually asked.
"Not much, we both ran away after our dad's died, ended up working in the mines for a long while, you weren't any good for heavy lifting but you were quick on your feet and scrawny enough to fit into small spaces. Then we joined the Civil War in America, spent some time as outlaws out West, just for shits and giggles, moved to Africa, because why the fuck not, fought in both the Boer Wars, then came back to North America. You met a pretty girl while you were out hunting and ran off to live with the Indians... Then those records pick up from the first world war," Victor briefly outlined.
"These records don't record a next of kin, wouldn't I have..." Logan stopped, when he saw the look on Victor's face.
With a sigh he told him, "She died, before the war, so did your daughter... pneumonia."
"Is that what you were meaning when you said I was shit with relationships?" Logan commented ruefully.
"Your first girlfriend died, freak accident, you first wife and daughter died, illness, kid was five, your second wife and two boys died, murder, the kids were two, and a new-born, so new you hadn't even got to meet him yet being away in the war, then you last girlfriend was spying on you for the guy who tried to ruin your life. Yeah, you have a pretty shit record with relationships. Good thing this one's different, she'll make it, and so will your kid's, these ones heal," he joked darkly. "So, what about this family?" Victor asked, "Rogue's not worried about the oldest kids’ mom being around?"
Logan chuckled. "Rogue's got nothing to worry about from Sarah, that was a long time ago, right back when I first lost my memory and was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Besides, Caleb's a little old anyway for needing a lot of mom time, him and Rogue get on okay but more as peers than any kind of parental role, she's only about eighteen months older than he is."
"These guys must have given you a hard time on that, surely, defiling their students, hell, how did you not get kicked out?" Victor replied in amusement.
"After the statue thing, I left for a while, I knew what I wanted and I knew she would give it to me but I didn't want to fuck anything up, she was barely legal as it was and she had to finish school... We talked on the phone rarely, and when I found out she had not only graduated early but Scott had put her on the fucking team I came straight back, literally, drove through the night, halfway across the continent. Everything since then has been a little crazy but it's all working out, mostly everyone is supportive, though there was a pretty impressive shit fight initially," Logan chuckled at the memory.
"What about the other kids, how'd you get them away from their moms?" Victor asked, though with them being mutants it possibly wasn't that difficult.
"Ava's family are dead, both parents and her baby brother were rounded up when she was captured and executed, extended family believes they all died in a car wreck, I'm happy to leave it that way. James, well, poor kids story is fucked up from the very beginning, he was an experiment, the labs paid some chick to 'collect' from me - one nighter in a bar somewhere - then carry the baby, then they bailed, leaving her to raise it, planning to come back and collect when he manifested. He manifested at two, no one seems to know exactly why though, Jean thinks someone might have been experimenting on him long distance - the labs triggered Ava to manifest with some serum they'd developed, would make sense if they'd tested that on James, Jean suggested they could have given it to him at a doctor’s appointment with his vaccinations or something. The mom dumped him into foster care and the lab picked him up days later, then Rogue rescued him from the lab the night I rang and found out she was on the team, by the time I got home James was already settling in and calling her mama. And that was about five months ago, I think."
"Hell, you don't waste any time do you?" Victor chuckled, "How long until you marry the girl?"
"Three weeks," Logan replied, a soft smile settling onto his face, "Speaking of which, we haven't got the rings yet, we were going to stop by the jeweller after Rogue was done with the dress fittings but someone kidnapped our son..."
"No, you're kidding, who would do such a thing," Victor mocked shock, "Come on then, let's go find your brats, I think it's probably time for me to head out, don't want to wear out my welcome."
"You know, if you swear to behave, and not engage in any overt illegal activity, the Prof would probably let you stay," Logan suggested.
"Yeah, I don't think I'm quite at that level of domesticity yet," Victor replied with a chuckle.
--
There was a small crowd in the kitchen fixing a late lunch when they entered, well, Marie was fixing lunch, the two kids were arguing over who got to keep a certain rock they'd found on their walk. Logan shook his head with a grin as Marie rolled her eyes in his direction, he walked over to Ava and leaned down to whisper in her ear, a moment later her eyes open wide before she grinned. "You can have it then," she announced, and shoved it at James before picking up the cookie Marie had set down in front of her while they waited for her to fix their lunch.
"They've been arguing over that rock for forty-five minutes, tell me your secrets," Marie whispered dramatically to Logan, when he made his way over to her, placing a kiss on her covered shoulder.
"I just reminded her how Monkey was James’ until he lost interest," Logan replied with a smirk.
"Genius!" Marie commented with a laugh, as she handed him a couple of loaded plates.
Victor joined them for lunch, taking the hint when Rogue set down an extra plate, obviously intended for him. They chatted comfortably for some time before Victor revealed he would be leaving within the hour.
"You are coming back for the wedding though, right?" Rogue asked, her tone clearly saying the only correct answer was 'yes'.
"I should be able to swing that, when is it?" Victor replied with a grin.
"The fourteenth at four pm, here at the school," Rogue answered.
Victor nodded, and confirmed he would be there. "So, where's the honeymoon?" he asked, conspiratorially.
Rogue paused, looking blank, before she shrugged. “Honestly, I wasn't even interested in a 'wedding' so if we’re going anywhere, he knows I don't."
"Where you going?" James asked suddenly, his head popping up from where he had been shovelling food into his mouth.
"We, are all going on holiday, after mommy and daddy get married," Logan replied.
"Yay! Where we going?" Ava asked again.
"That's a surprise," Logan answered.
"When we going?" James asked.
"The fifteenth, you guys are gonna have another sleepover with Caleb, and then in the morning we’ll go on holiday, how does that sound?" Logan asked.
"Sounds like fun," Rogue replied with a smile.
"Lots and lots of fun," Victor added, joining in with Rogue's laughter. Logan just shook his head with a grin.
"Who's going where?" Scott asked, wandering into the room.
"Daddy's taking us holiday," Ava announced.
"Oh that, yeah, I was hoping someone else was going," Scott murmured.
"I'll be out of your hair within the hour pretty boy," Victor replied, as he took a swig from the beer Logan had given him earlier.
"Speaking of being out of people's hair, we didn't end up getting to the jeweller at the mall yesterday, shall we take a trip?" Logan asked Rogue.
Rogue looked between Logan and Victor. "Sure, if you can find a babysitter, no offense, but we aren't taking the kids out for a while."
"Sorry," Victor replied with a grin, "If it helps, I'll be following up whatever's left of the Brotherhood, without Mystique it’s gonna be hilarious to watch."
"Hey Scott, what are you doing for the rest of the afternoon?" Logan asked suddenly.
"Grading, why?" Scott replied, turning his attention back to the group from where he had been fixing himself a coffee.
"Can you watch the kids while Rogue and I go get the last of the wedding stuff?" as Scott opened his mouth to say 'no', Logan added, "You didn't have to of course, I'm sure Victor would be happy to stick around and watch them for us..."
"Sure, sure of course I can," Scott hurriedly answered, "You guys finished your lunch, we can go downstairs and you can run riot in the gym, how does that sound?"
"Okay!" Ava answered, jumping up, running out of the room, quickly followed by James.
"Thanks Scott," Logan replied with a grin. The other two waited until the other man had left the room before they burst into chuckles.
"Well played," Victor commented, as he drained his beer, "If you're going now, can you drop me at the train station on the way?" Logan agreed, and they headed for the garage.