Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for no update yesterday, real life called and demanded me back for a bit...
At Victor and Logan's insistence Marie ended up taking two months off school after baby arrived, it meant she was a little behind the rest of her peers when she came back but she was able to concentrate and study a lot better with Lucy more settled into a routine. She managed to catch up and graduate with the summer class at eighteen.

--

She had finally graduated, Lucy was twenty months old, and Logan's apprenticeship was almost finished. She had applied to, and been accepted to a college about two hours north. She was unsure about going so far away but Logan had insisted, it was the best college for what she was studying, and they would make it work.

It seemed he and Victor had come to some sort of arrangement about money, because Logan didn't bat an eye when Victor suggested they should buy a house rather than rent, for the four years they would be up north. They would be returning once Marie graduated, as Xavier had offered her a teaching position at the sschool. Neither of them wanted to leave the school permanently, it had been Logan's only remembered home, and the best home Marie had ever had.

One weekend in late June, after school was done, Logan and Marie, accompanied by Lucy and Victor, headed for the small town the college was located in, to look for a new home. Unfortunately, they just couldn't seem to agree on what they wanted! Marie wanted something small, more like an apartment but with a backyard for Lucy. Logan wanted an actual detached house, on its own section.

"Marie, we need more than two bedrooms, if Lucy's bedroom is big enough she can have a playroom in there, otherwise she'll need a separate room to keep her toys-" Lucy did have a lot of toys after all- "And, you'll need a separate room for a study..."

"I can just study at the dining room table, and Lucy can have a toy box in the living room!" Marie argued.

"You'd have to get rid of most of Lucy's toys for that to work, and you'd spend more time gathering your notes to put them away or rescuing them from Lucy than studying, at least if you have a separate study you can just shut the door and come back later without worrying about Lucy getting all your notes and books," Logan counter argued.

Victor and the real estate agent were trying not to laugh as they stood off to the side listening to the argument, both kids had good points, until Logan stepped in it with one doozy of a comment...

"... Plus, when the next baby comes along, we'll have enough space for a separate nursery," he commented.

"No!" Marie declared firmly, "No more babies until I'm finished college, I'll consent to a study but no nursery, no more than three bedrooms," she finally gave in. Logan chuckled as she suddenly realised, he had played her into agreeing with him, "Your dad's right, you are sneaky."

"You'll thank me in the long run," Logan replied, kissing her lovingly, before he repeated his comment that had started the disagreement, "This place isn't going to work."

"Alright, next," Marie agreed.

--

The next was a large two-storey brick house with large front and back yards, and a garage. Logan loved it.

"It's too big," Marie argued.

"It is big, but I don't think that's a bad thing, and the garage means I could maybe work from home," Logan suggested.

"I really don't want a big house," Marie replied, "Then I have to clean it," she pointed out when Logan looked at her curiously. With a laugh Logan announced that if that was the only objection she could come up with this one was staying on the maybe list. It stayed on the maybe list.

--

Over that weekend they viewed fourteen properties with three different realtors. A month later they moved into a small, three-bedroom, single level house, with a big backyard, and a double garage, within walking distance of both a preschool, and Marie's college.

"Still love it?" Logan asked, as they blobbed on the couch after putting a tired and grumpy Lucy to bed in her new room.

"I do. Not so keen on the unpacking though," she said tiredly, eyeing the stacks of boxes still sitting around the room.

"A job for tomorrow," Logan announced, tugging her back to her feet, and wrapping his arms around her as he walked her to their room. "Finally, our own place, no more having to be quiet so the roommate doesn't hear us," he murmured suggestively, as they walked into the bedroom.

"Thank god, I love your dad to bits but that always kinda squicked me out," Marie admitted.

"Yeah, well at least he never said anything to you, god I will never forget that day, I have never wanted the floor to open up and swallow me more, what I wouldn't have given to have Kitty around right then!" Logan chuckled, digging through a box looking for the sheets for the bed.

The next morning, at the bright and early hour of four am, the pair were awoken to the sound of twinkle twinkle little star being sung, terribly off key, at the top of an almost two-year-olds lungs.

Logan groaned. "Time to broaden her musical horizons, and teach her how to tell time," he mumbled, making no move to get up.

Half an hour later, Lucy had sung all the songs she could remember and decided that meant it was time to get up. "Moooooooommy!" she called loudly.

"One time I'm glad not to be the favourite," Logan chuckled as Marie giggled. She had just thrown the covers back when the tiny voice made a new request.

"Daaaaaaaaaaddy!"

"She changed her mind, she wants you," Marie giggled again as Logan groaned and rolled out of bed. A moment later she heard his voice filter through from the next room.

"Hey cutie pie, you all ready for the day huh, where are your jammies gone, oh, under the bed, how the hell did you get them under the crib, come on, let's put them back on... you have to put the jammies back on if you want to hop into bed with mommy... yeah, good girl..."

A few minutes later Logan walked in carrying the little girl, clad again in her pink unicorn pyjamas, she squealed happily when she saw mommy, begging to 'jump' onto the bed. Marie closed her eyes as Logan tossed the tot carefully onto the bed, she giggling happily as she hit the bed, before crawling up to Marie, and giving her a good morning hug and a big sloppy kiss. They all lay in bed and relaxed for a while, as they slowly prepared for the day ahead.

"When do you need to go to the new shop?" Marie asked suddenly.

When Logan had told Tony he was moving, effectively handing in his notice, Tony had told him he already knew, and asked if Logan would be interested, rather than quitting, in taking on a management position in the new auto shop he was opening in... guess where... the town Logan and Marie were moving to. The new shop was almost finished being set up, a process Tony was overseeing himself, and would be ready to begin operating within the week.

"Tomorrow, so I can help you with some unpacking today, if we ever bother getting out of bed," Logan replied, gently combing his fingers through the dark locks of his daughter’s hair where she lay on his chest babbling in baby talk about God only knew what.

"I suppose we should do that," Marie sighed, glancing over at the clock and seeing it was now six am. An idea suddenly occurred to her, she picked up her phone off the bedside table and set an alarm for one-minutes time, before dropping the phone back on the table. Logan watched her curiously as she continued to chat softly.

When the alarm went off, Marie suddenly got really exaggeratedly excited. "It's wake up time now!" she said to Lucy, "Time to get up now!" she declared, bouncing out of bed and encouraging Lucy to follow her. "Should we go get dressed now, daddy can get Lucy's breakfast, come on, time to get dressed." Logan watched confused, as the pair bustled out of the room before he got up, dressed himself, and headed for the kitchen to get breakfast.

Quarter of an hour later Lucy came running into the room, followed closely by Marie, who scooped her up as she giggled, lifting her up to good morning kiss Logan, before settling her into her highchair.

"What was all that about before?" Logan could finally ask.

"Well, you said she needed to learn to tell time, I'm going to train her wake up by the alarm," Marie replied.

"You think it'll work?" Logan asked, marvelling at the genius of the suggestion.

"I guess we'll find out," Marie replied with a grin, as she swiped a piece of bacon that Logan was in the process of plating.

--

"Daddy!" An ice cream covered Lucy yelled happily when she spotted Logan across the shop. She tried to wriggle out of Marie's arms, when that didn't work, she simply leaned out as far as she could and reached toward him.

"No, don't hug me cutie pie, I'm all covered in grease, don't want to get your clothes all yucky, give me a kiss instead," Logan suggested, once Marie had weaved her way across the shop to him. He kissed Lucy, who ignored his words and wrapped her arms around him anyway, before he kissed Marie too.

"What are you two up to today?" he asked Lucy. Marie's college classes started tomorrow, so she was enjoying her last day with Lucy before they both went to their separate daytime activities, Marie to college, and Lucy, eventually, to day-care.

"We doe'd on da s'ings, end I fawwed off da s'ide, den mommy get ic'eam," Lucy explained, showing him the tissue that came with her ice-cream, it had more ice-cream on it than she did at least. "We seed da dutts, end da s'on, but da goosey a scawy," she continued, chatting happily while Logan continued working.

"You sound like you've been on a big adventure cutie pie, are you and mommy going home for a nap now?" Logan asked.

"No!" Lucy declared, "No naps, ic'eam!"

"How about this," Logan suggested, "You be a good girl, and go home and have a nap with mommy, and when daddy gets home, I'll bring you ice cream, what do you say? Deal?" Lucy grinned and clapped her hands, as she squealed about more ice cream. "But only if you're a good girl and have your nap," Logan reminded her, she nodded her head vigorously before she hugged him again.

Waving goodbye she replied, "Night night daddy?"

Marie kissed him again, avoiding the smudge of grease on his cheek, before she made her way back off the shop floor, bidding a cheery greeting to one of the other mechanics who was just returning from his lunch break.

"That's a real cute kid you've got man," the other guy replied a minute later.

"Yeah, I try to remember that when she wakes us up at four in the morning," Logan replied with a chuckle, as they both continued on with their respective jobs - the alarm training hadn’t quite been going to plan.

--

"Say goodbye to mommy, Lucy," Logan prompted the toddler. It was Marie's first day of college, Lucy's day-care didn't start up until the following Monday, so Logan had taken the rest of the week off to look after the girl to free up Marie. They had walked Marie to college that warm August morning but as Marie prepared to head inside, Lucy was too distracted by all the other people to notice her mommy was getting further away.

"Nooooo," she suddenly whined, "Moooooommmmy," she called, reaching for Marie again. "Kissy!" she declared.

"Alright," Marie acquiesced, "One kissy, then mommy has to go... you have fun with daddy, don't eat too much ice cream," she said, eyeing the little girl seriously.

Lucy giggled, glancing as Logan with a mischievous grin before replying, "'Kay mommy," not at all convincingly.

Once Marie was out of sight, Logan lifted Lucy over his head to sit on his shoulders. "Where should we go now cutie pie?" Logan asked, following off in the direction Lucy pointed. The little girl was getting surprisingly good at navigating, and it wasn't long until they were at the park and she was begging for a turn on the swings.
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