Once the kiddies were fed, Logan and Rogue finished packing the truck. Everyone had a bag, Logan also added a couple of tents, sleeping bags, and other camping gear. Rogue watched him oddly but he just grinned and told her hurry up. James had disappeared from view but before they had a change to go looking for him, he came back, hand in hand with Flora as she and Caleb appeared with pillows and a couple of spare blankets.
They hit the road soon after, hungover friends waving goodbye, including Jubilee, who was wearing her biggest pair of sunglasses as she waved from her bedroom window. Snacks were promptly distributed for the younger kids, whose excited chatter eventually died down when they realised, driving was actually pretty boring.
"Hey James, you mind if mama lays her seat back?" Marie asked the little boy behind her a short while later. Logan could see she was tired; she had yawned several times already.
"You can do that mama," James said with a smile, it took Logan a while to catch on to why he was happy with that until he realised, with the seat tilted back the little boy could reach Marie, he played with her hair for a while before Marie reached up with a smile and took one of his hands, so he didn't make too much of a mess of her hair.
Half an hour later, about an hour and a half into their trip the vehicle grew quiet, Logan cast his eye over his passenger's. Caleb and Flora, in the very back, were cuddled up together whispering so quietly even Logan couldn't hear what they were saying. Marie was fast asleep, as were James, and Ava, the former had pulled Marie's hair as close to his face as he could get it without pulling and was snuggled into it.
They continued to roll down the highway as the hours passed in silence, rolling up to the border at Niagara Falls about seven woke everyone, as Logan handed over a handful of passports for all their passengers. Half of the passports were black market, but the Professor's contact was very talented so Logan wasn't worried, not about that at least. Thankfully the border guards missed James growling at the drug dog they had on site checking vehicles, Marie shushing him quickly. "Leave the doggy alone James, he's doing his job," she said to him, turning around in her now upright seat to reassure him with a smile.
"What's his job?" Ava asked curiously, the idea of a dog having a job like people did was confusing.
"He's smelling for bad stuff hidden in the cars," Marie replied.
"But it's a dog... how does it tell the people if it finds something?" the little girl continued, watching the dog as it ran around the car and back to its handler.
"Usually they sit and point," Marie told her, "Then the people can come in and find whatever it is the dog can smell." Ava fell quiet again as she considered that idea.
When they were finally cleared to continue on their way it didn't take long for the little kids to begin to get restless, and wasn't long before the first, 'Are we there yet?' was voiced, cracking up the adults and older teens.
"We're almost at today's stop little buddy, and tomorrow we can go see the waterfalls, you ever seen a waterfall before?" Logan asked, trying to distract him.
"What's a waterfall?" James asked in response.
"I'll take that as a 'no'," Logan replied with a chuckle.
--
Over the next week they travelled steadily West, stopping frequently for activities meant to wear the little kids out so they spent most of their in-car time sleeping. It was obvious a lot of time had been spent planning the route, and all the hotels and motels along the way had been pre-booked.
They hit a snag at one point when James came down suddenly sick, which left them sitting in a rest stop on the side of the road for several hours until he was finished throwing up. He wasn't ‘sick’ sick, rather it seemed he was allergic to something, which was most unexpected with his healing factor. They made detailed notes of everything he'd eaten, drank, and could remember touching, for the previous day, so they could follow up later before they got going again.
Marie ended up climbing into the back seat and holding James on her lap, as he had become insanely clingy and refused to let her go without a massive, never ending, temper tantrum. It was approaching dark and they were virtually alone on the road, so Logan opted to drive carefully rather than subject everyone to having their eardrums burst by trying to wrestle him into his car seat. He kept a close eye on his sleeping passengers as he drove through the night to catch them up. When they got to their next stop it was far too late for the more upmarket hotel check in, so he pulled into the cleanest looking roadside motel that still had its lights on.
He laughed as he caught himself picking out all the flaws and faults with the motel, he knew exactly what the rooms would be like, this was the type of place he'd have stayed in, without issue, before he'd met Marie. Now though, he correctly called it a shit heap, if he had any other option there would be no way his kids would stay here. He booked the last room with two beds, this wasn't the type of locale he wanted the kids in separate rooms, hell, all the rooms probably had the same damn key, who knew who you'd wake up to find sharing your room, aside from the usual roaches and rats.
Returning to the car he noticed Marie was awake, though she hadn't made effort to move yet. Once the car was moved to their room Logan lifted James out of Marie's arms so she could get out, Caleb carried a still sleeping Ava inside, and they all headed inside. Flora didn't comment as she walked in, just wrinkled her nose at the look, and smell, of the place.
"Yeah, it's as bad as it looks," Logan murmured to her with a chuckle. "Sleep in your clothes tonight, change in the morning and put these ones in your laundry bag," he added. Flora just giggled as she headed for the bathroom, a squeaked 'eww', filtering out a moment later.
"Home sweet home?" Marie teased, as Logan surveyed the beds.
"God I used to live like a fucking slob," Logan added with a chuckle, "You don't realise how disgusting these places really are until you gotta put your kids in them."
"It's just for one night, they'll survive," Marie assured him, moving over to the bathroom as Flora came out. "Oh, yeah, that's 'eww'," she commented.
Flora giggled. "I washed my hands but I'm not sure if they ended up any cleaner than they started." The girls continued to make jokes about the accommodations until Logan asked them if they'd prefer to sleep in the car, both laughed before replying no, and everyone quickly got into bed.
Logan, James, and Marie shared one bed, Caleb, Flora, and Ava, shared the other. They slept through until just after dawn, when Ava woke everyone up with a shout when she fell out of bed. Once they were all up, they packed up quickly and checked out, heading for the original hotel so they could check in in time for breakfast.
The next day they were back on track, though Marie still had no idea where they were actually heading... until she spotted a familiar road sign.
Sitting bolt upright in her seat she spun around to face Logan a shocked look on her face. "Are we going to Alaska!?" she almost squealed, she did squeal a moment later when Logan turned to her with a grin.
"I wondered how long it would take for you to catch on," he commented, when she finished squealing. "Careful darlin I'm trying to drive," he added, when she reached over to hug the daylights out of him.
"Oh my God I can't believe it! I'm finally going to get to Alaska!" After a little more squealing on her part she finally asked, "So, where exactly are we heading?" she begged for more details.
"I got us a cabin just outside the Denali National Park, we've got it for three weeks, then we've got to drive back, I figured we could go back via Anchorage, I wasn't sure where else you wanted to see aside from the city and the mountain, so, let me know if you want to stop off anywhere else while we're there," Logan told her, watching with a smile as she absolutely hummed with excitement.
"That is fantastic! ... Thank you," she said, suddenly overwhelmed by emotion that Logan would not only remember but go to such lengths to see her dream come true.
"You don't need to thank me Marie," he replied, reaching over to wipe away her tears before he pulled her over for a quick kiss, keeping hold of her hand as they continued driving.
All was silent until James piped up again. "What's 'laska?"
"Alaska is a place, it's a state, a long time ago, back when I first met your mama she was on this very road, trying to get to Alaska, we didn't end up making it that time, and then mama moved in to the school... I planned to take you when you graduated high school but you went and did that early without me knowing, so I kind of missed the boat then but we are going to make it this time," Logan promised with a chuckle.
"Just watch out for falling trees," Marie replied with a giggle, "You are wearing your seatbelt, right?" she teased.
"Yes dear," Logan replied sarcastically.
Their banter lead to a full explanation of their first meeting, Logan pointing out the bar as they passed, the exact spot he kicked her out of his trailer, and then picked her back up again, and a short time later he pulled over and pointed out the stump of the tree, that Victor had dropped on the road, which brought his old truck to its sudden brutal demise.
"Every mile from here is new ground darlin, you ready?" he asked, as he got ready to pull away again.
"Sure am," Marie replied with a smile, she threaded her fingers through his as they set off again into the future.
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