There was commotion from the hallway as Logan and Victor heard a vehicle pull into the driveway, the group made their way from the kitchen to the foyer in time to be greeted by a tiny, five-foot-tall, brunette girl. "Hey Vic," she said, waving toward Victor.
"What are you doing here Kit Kat, you're supposed to be running the streams?" he replied concerned.
"All but one team is in transit at the moment so the stream is running itself, and there was no one else to bring the truck down for you," the girl replied, tossing him a set of car keys.
"I hope you're not expecting a ride back?" he ribbed, though they both knew he would if she asked.
"Nah, Epsilon's ten minutes out with some kids, gonna hitch a ride back with them," she replied.
"Aww, that's sweet, you accept Pete's proposal yet?" Victor asked her.
The girl blushed prettily before responding saucily, "Why you afraid I'm off the market for good?"
"Girl you've been off the market since you laid eyes on the guy, the two of you have just been pussyfooting around that fact for far too long," Victor replied with a chuckle.
"Well for your information," the girl replied, "I did indeed accept his proposal, we're getting married as soon as this is all over."
"You're making him wait?" Victor said surprised, he was sure the kid would have dragged her off to the nearest Courthouse to get hitched straight away. They'd been together for the better part of a decade already, and his proposal had been in the air for six months.
"I call it motivation," she replied, "Not that much more motivation is needed than getting these places shut down but still, it would just be a distraction otherwise. Anyway, you gonna introduce me or what, caveman?" she gestured toward the gathered crowd.
Victor quickly introduced her to everyone, ending with his brother and his family.
"This a Katherine Pryde, one of our hackers and general tech expert, she's running most of the online operation and managing a large portion of the cross-team communications," Victor introduced her to everyone else.
"I finally get to meet that man that started this all," she said, stepping forward to shake Logan's hand, "I'm sorry for what you went through, it's not much consolation but it's going to save a lot of people's lives down the road," she added.
Logan shrugged, "It could have been worse but it hasn't ended too badly," he replied, hugging Marie close, Niamh still sleeping where she was cradled to his chest.
The girl, Katherine, didn't get a chance to reply further when a helicopter buzzed in over the treetops and began to descend onto the back lawn. The group made their way out the nearest exit to greet the new arrivals.
Niamh woke to the sound of the chopper engines but calmed quickly when Logan and Marie both soothed her, as she watched the lawn wide-eyed. Marie had read that babies didn't have great eyesight, because their eyes hadn't learned to focus yet, but, maybe if Niamh had her mutation, she had something from Logan too? She did seem to be watching specific things, rather than just observing at large.
A very tall, easily seven foot, heavily muscled, man stepped out of the helicopter as the rotors powered down, he ducked well under the blades as he made his way to them, shaking hands with Victor who introduced the giant of a man as Peter Rasputin, CO of Epsilon squad. Turned out this was the same Pete who was engaged to the tiny slip of a girl who ran their tech.
Logan waited until the pair were out of earshot before he turned to Victor and asked, "So... how do they..."
"Don't ask," Victor replied with a chuckle, "Seriously don't, Kitty gets real pissed, however they do it they manage, and she can still walk in the morning."
"Oh my god! You two are unbelievable," Marie exclaimed, catching on to their conversation, laughing as she blushed, no wonder poor Kitty got pissed at people asking questions about *that*!
They assisted Epsilon to unload their passengers, as Jean triaged those who needed further medical treatment on the lawn. Whoever their field medics were, they were well trained, and stocked. Most of the injured would require nothing more than bandage changes and observation for infection. They were transferred inside, as Ororo, and several of the students, prepared and assigned rooms for them all.
Half an hour later Epsilon, and their extra passenger, lifted off to return to base. Marie, who was by now sitting inside on the Rec Room couch with some of her old friends as she fed baby, watched Logan and Victor as they conversed on the lawn. Logan must have sensed her watching them as he turned to look at her right then and winked at her, she smiled back, before turning her attention back to her task, whatever they were discussing, if it involved her, they would tell her later.
Later was about ten minutes after, as she was burping a freshly fed baby. Logan came into the room and leaned over the back of the couch so he could place a kiss on both her and baby before he told her Victor was going down the road to buy a baby capsule, so they could safely transport Niamh, and to ask if she needed anything else.
"If we're gonna be on the road for a while probably some disposable diapers would be a good idea, that way we don't have to worry about doing washing on the way," was all she could think of to suggest.
Logan said he'd pass the message on, and get their stuff, they would be leaving as soon as Victor got back.
Marie's friends were of mixed opinion on this development, some wanted her to stay, some thought Logan was too - insert random negative trait that didn't apply to him in any way shape or form -, others just asked her to write or send photos of baby. Several of her friends asked to hold baby, and while Marie did allow her to be handed around for quick cuddles, she was very careful to make sure whoever was holding her was careful to avoid skin contact.
Half an hour later Logan came downstairs with both their packs, and Marie's laptop, which she had initially left behind purely to cut down on traveling weight. The X-Men followed him into the Rec Room, just as Victor walked in with a brand-new baby capsule. He set the capsule down on the coffee table in front of Marie and she settled Niamh into the seat, buckling her in as she stared wide eyed around her.
Once Niamh was buckled in Victor produced a bag, and drew out a small purple toned quilt, which he tucked in around the little girl, to keep her nice and toasty in her seat, and a fluffy pink teddy bear which Marie 'aww'd' over as he tucked it in beside baby. Niamh finished her appraisal of her new digs and appeared to find everything in order, promptly closing her eyes, apparently, she could fall asleep instantly.
The X-Men made one last minute attempt to change their mind about leaving but quickly left off, instead extending an open welcome should they ever decide to return, or even if they just wanted to visit. Handshakes and hugs, some awkward, ensued as they fare welled everyone before heading out to the SUV parked in the driveway. Logan buckled Niamh's seat into the back of the vehicle, waiting for Marie to finish with her friends before he boosted her into the truck.
With baby in the back seat there wasn't enough room for them both to sit in back together, so he kissed her softly before shutting the door and climbing in the front. He had ended up shotgun after losing the argument with Victor over who should drive, apparently because it was Victor's truck that meant he got to drive...
They pulled out minutes later, finally, permanently, heading away from the place that had been his prison for almost four years.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Chapter End Notes:
Wow! Second of July and I just noticed this story has almost 35,000 views! Would love some reviews to see what people think of the finished story, to help with my future writing. I have a few 'epics' in the works at the moment and trying to decide in which direction to take them... they tend to devolve into sweet, cute, happy ending, shipper fics... Though I have been told I'm a terrible person who puts my characters through hell before I give said happy ending... My bad?
I hope you're all enjoying my work regardless :)
I hope you're all enjoying my work regardless :)