A minivan rumbled down the driveway of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, in the middle of one fall morning. It unusually attracted very few curious glances, though the arrival of strangers wasn't a terribly odd occurrence, those already residing at the school liked to keep abreast of the latest gossip around new arrivals. However, it just so happened that the arrival of this vehicle had been perfectly timed to coincide with midmorning classes, so most were otherwise occupied.
As the van rolled to a stop outside the front door, Charles Xavier rolled out of his office with a grin, telepathically summoning those who needed to be present to meet the new arrivals.
The first door to open was the sliding side door, two young boys, no older than five years of age leaping from the vehicle whooping and hollering as they proceeded to break into an enthusiastic game of tag, shouting hellos to the approaching crowd as they ran for the lawn where their game of tag quickly dissolved into a wrestling match. They were followed by a dark haired girl, about seven years old, she was decidedly more subdued than the boys, and smiled shyly as she said hello to everyone.
The drivers door popped open, and out of the vehicle stepped the one, and only, Wolverine. It had been five years since anyone had seen or heard from Logan, after he had abruptly left the team and school, so he was immediately flooded with welcoming greetings, and even a few hugs from the more daring of his former teammates and students.
"Who did this to my little kitty cat?" Logan asked, mock annoyed, as he pointed to Kitty's bulging belly that she had just hugged him around.
"That would be me," Pete answered, as he grinned proudly.
"Well it's about damn time," Logan replied with a grin, clapping him on the shoulder in congratulations. He had known those two were sweet on each other since they were teenagers, it had apparently taken them a while to figure it out.
Suddenly remembering his vehicle had two more passengers, Logan excused himself to the passenger side of his vehicle, popping open the first door he tenderly woke Marie.
"Are we there yet?" she murmured, with a grin and a yawn, mimicking the constant query they had had from the boys for only about the last four thousand miles.
With a chuckle he helped Marie out of the vehicle, her large belly making it difficult for her to manoeuvre herself, before he collected the sleeping toddler from the last car seat. This boy managed to sleep through anything Logan had discovered, so he didn’t bother trying to wake him, simply propped his chin on his shoulder and carried him, as he led Marie around the car to the waiting crowd.
"Heck, Logan, you're putting the rest of us to shame," Scott said with a chuckle, when he saw the slumbering toddler, and Marie's very pregnant belly.
"What can I say, I'm the best there is at what I do," Logan replied with a smug grin.
"Be that as it may," Jean began, her own young daughter riding on her hip, "What brings you back to New York?" she asked happily. Despite his gruff demeanour, Logan had been a vital fixture at the mansion, and everyone had missed him sorely in his absence.
"Chuck, have you been keeping secrets?" Logan queried of the old man, with a cock of his brow.
"It may have slipped my mind and I forgot to mention that Logan had called and arranged for his family to move back into the mansion, for him to resume teaching, and Marie to run the kindergarten... you know how it is, old age, oops," Charles replied, trying, and failing to smother his grin as the crowd around them erupted into cheers, congratulations, and well wishes.
"Why the sudden change of mind?" Scott asked curiously.
A sullen squeak, from the young girl, still standing next to, or probably more accurately described as 'hiding' behind her parents, drew everyone's attention, and Logan and Marie both shared a look.
"Suki's mutation manifested, and she kind of got herself expelled from school, our options were try the school two towns over, homeschool, or head back here where she could go to school with other mutants," Logan explained.
"Why did she get expelled?" Ororo asked worriedly.
"Prejudice," Marie replied with a scowl, "Fear, jealousy, you pick, a kid was picking on her, threw a rock at her and she popped claws and growled at him."
"Wounded pride is more like it, she didn't even touch the little shit but he pissed his pants in terror, and all the other kids laughed at him,” Logan said, with a grin, pride and amusement evident in his voice. “Unfortunately, it was the sheriff's son, and he kicked up a stink and insisted she be expelled for 'threatening behaviour'," he expanded, a rumbling growl accompanying the further statement, "I could have shown him threatening fucking behaviour."
Suki giggled, as she hugged her dad's leg, everyone around here seemed to find the story amusing, so she figured she wasn't in trouble here.
"Well, I for one think you have made the perfect choice, now if the McKinley family would accompany me, I will show you to your new home," Charles said, reminding everyone else they had classes to get back to.
"I thought we only had two big boys?" Logan jokingly asked, as he turned to the open field where the two wrestling boys had become four, while the group was distracted.
"How did they get outside?" Scott groaned, as the group of boys came running at Logan's call. "This is Alex, and Andy," Scott introduced the two other little boys, while they clung to his legs, as Niko and Yuma did to Logan. Logan could tell just by looking at them that they weren't biological brothers though, which Scott confirmed later that day. Andy was the son of Melissa, one of the young girls Logan had rescued on his last mission. Scott and Jean had adopted the boy when he was born, and raised him alongside their own newborn son.
They also discovered that Jubilee, of all people, had contributed a now two year old daughter to the eclectic mix of youngsters at Xavier's, with the help of her boyfriend, a new X-Men recruit who went by the codename Gambit. This brought the number of students for Marie's new daycare to second grade class to eleven, including the few abandoned children the school housed. That would increase to fourteen once Kitty and Marie both delivered their babies.
"How did you manage twins a second time?" Scott asked Logan incredulously over lunch.
"I told you One-eye, I'm the best," Logan reminded him, earning a giggle from Marie, as she patiently reminded two year old Bodi, how to eat with cutlery, without getting his food in his hair, or flicking it at his sister across the table. She wouldn’t bother pointing out, both sets of their twins were fraternal, which meant *she* was the best!
--
Two months later, Logan interrupted the starter class, which was being subbed by Jubilee and Kitty, with her new-born daughter in tow, to extract his own brood. He watched over his sleeping family later that evening after everyone had fallen asleep in mom and dad's bed after introductions to their newest siblings, Eden, and Lida.
So much had changed in his life in the last decade. He never would have thought at the time, that the terrified girl he nursed back to health, would have become the most important figure in his life, or that she would have given him the most amazing gift he had ever received; a family. If anyone had told him only a few years before he had met her that one day he would be changing diapers and cleaning up puke, and actually enjoying it, let alone watching cartoons and singing lullabies willingly, he would have directed them to the nearest nuthouse. Now though, he couldn't imagine his life any other way.
"Come to bed daddy, tomorrow's going to be a big day, you need your sleep too," Marie interrupted his musing, as she cracked an eye open to watch him, a tired smile on her face.
"Yes mama," Logan replied with a grin, gently shifting children around until he could slide into bed beside his wife. He finally fell asleep, contentedly watching the dreamy smiles on his children's faces as they too slept soundly.
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