Chapter 9: "I Hate You So Much Wolverine: The Next Generation"

The next day, as promised, Logan was making dinner — and the little Kree kids were having a blast playing out by the lake while they waited for the food to be done.

Jubilee stayed close by Ael while he was still a beginner at swimming, while some of the older kids swam around a bit. Sying was swimming laps around Krissy and Chance, right up until Chance caught him by the foot and told him to quit showing off — which of course, prompted Krissy to burst into laughter.

Even Kate was enjoying herself, having a slightly better day than usual and lying out on a chair watching the kids laughing and playing together.

As usual, Logan's approach seemed hands-off, and he was spending a lot of time drinking and occasionally looking in on what he had on the grill when he'd grab another beer — and one for Kurt, of course. He'd just chucked another one at the Elf and taken a seat when Kate spoke up.

"You are killing me with that, you know that, right?" Kate said, shaking her head.

"What am I killing you with now?" Logan asked.

"It smells amazing, and that's not fair, and you know it," Kate said, resting her hand on her stomach.

Logan shook his head and took a good slug off of his beer. "Yeah? What do you smell that you think is killing you?"

"Oh, you know, the fish that I can't eat. Duh."

"I'm not havin' fish tonight either," he told her. "I've been eating fish for nearly a month straight."

"Then… what did you bring me?"

"Obviously not fish," he replied, leaning back in his chair.

"Why no fish?" Kaleb asked curiously, coming over to investigate what his dad and Logan were up to.

"Fish for just about everyone," Logan told him. "But I've had too much of it lately. And your mom can't have any until the baby's here."

"Does the baby not like fish?"

"The fish just makes me sick, sweetheart," Kate explained as best she could. "And the baby doesn't like it either."

"So let's hope you like the other stuff then," Logan said quietly. "I'd hate to think I got too fancy on ya."

"You know how I grew up. Trust me: no such thing as too fancy comparatively."

"How does venison tenderloin with a cherry glaze sound?" Logan asked.

Kate positively beamed at him. "Sounds perfect to me."

"Then consider yourself spoiled," he told her.

"Papa says she's gotta be spoiled because she's doing lots of work," Kaleb said, grinning up at Kurt, who ruffled his hair.

"That's right, schatzi."

It wasn't much longer before everything was cooked and ready to go, and Jubilee was more than happy to help set up the table, cheerfully setting one of the salmon filets near Ael and the kids so they wouldn't miss out on the cedar planked salmon.

"What's this?" Ael asked, as he always did whenever there was something new to try.

"Cedar planked salmon," Elin told him before she started listing off the other dishes as well, pointing to each in turn, even as she pulled a little face at the mushrooms that were all cooked up.

Ael's eyes widened, and he pushed back from the table. "No!' he said, shaking his head vehemently. "No. No fish. No."

"We have venison too," Elin told him. "With cherries."

"Venison… what's that?" he asked, still sitting as far back away from the fish as he could.

"It's from a deer," she told him. "It's meat."

Ael chewed on his lower lip as he thought it over. "Okay," he said slowly.

Elin shook her head as she turned toward her mother. "Ael doesn't want to try the fish. He likes them too much to eat them."

K simply nodded and whipped up a little plate for him with the venison, since that wasn't laid out on the table. When she set it down in front of him, she ruffled his hair.

Ael glanced up at her. "Thanks, Grammy K," he said, sounding relieved.

"You're welcome, sweetheart," she told him, then gave him a little kiss on the forehead.

"He likes learning about lots of fish and reading about them," Sying said. "Dad got him a book and he reads it in Kree instead of English to him."

"Well, once he gets bigger, we'll just have to take him scuba diving," K decided.

Sying grinned. "That's a good idea. Then he can meet fish in person."

"Are you alright with the salmon, sparkling maple leaf?" K asked Sying. "Or do you feel a kinship I should know about?"

Sying giggled. "I can eat the salmon."

K brought Kate hers next. "You aren't one of those overly attached to Bambi are you? Because I have some seriously bad news if you are," K told her before she set the venison down.

"Oh please. Stop teasing the toddler who doesn't even know you're teasing him," Kate said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not teasing him. He's fine; he's too little to know better. I'm just watching out for your well-being."

Kate rolled her eyes at that and then took a good, solid bite. "Just you wait until I'm not a balloon anymore."

"What are you going to do to me?" K asked, joining her with her own plate.

"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something," Kate said. "Or maybe just pour all of my glitter all over you."

"Do you hate me? Is that what it is?" K asked, her chin in her hand.

"Oh, definitely," Kate said, nodding seriously and with a little smirk. "That's why I keep inviting you to all my parties and asking you to hang out with me…"

"So you can pour all of your glitter on me, if I'm to follow your meaning," K said, shaking her head slowly. "For hateful reasons."

"Yes, K. That's exactly what I said. Well done — you get an A in communication and twisting meanings. Now shut up and eat with me."

K pushed a few cherries around her plate and made a face. "I don't know; it could be a trap."

In response, Kate reached over and grabbed one of the cherries to pop in her mouth. "Paranoid," she said, grinning around the bite before she grabbed another one from K's plate. "More for me."

"Yeah, but you're already pregnant," K laughed.

"Mama says that's because she and Papa have anniversary traditions," Krissy supplied helpfully. "You don't get babies from cherries."

"They so, so do," K agreed. "But I'm looking for sneaky glitter hiding spots."

Krissy leaned forward with a little twinkle in her eye. "There's no such thing as glitter. You get baby brothers from kissing, duh."

"Oh no!" K gasped, leaning toward her. "There has been a lot of kissing going on all over the place. With everyone."

"Well, maybe you'll get a baby too," Krissy said. She grinned. "I don't kiss anybody, so I'm not glittery."

"Is it because you're afraid to get a baby too?" K asked, ready and willing to pop that balloon if that's what Kurt was hoping would hold the little elfling back from kisses.

Krissy shook her head. "I'm too little for babies," she said. "I just don't like kissing." She leaned forward conspiratorially. "Sam kissed me at Gerry's pool party, and I didn't like it."

K dropped her volume to match Krissy's. "That's because you weren't kissing the right boy."

"No, I think I just don't like kissing," Krissy said with a little shrug.

"Try a few cuter boys before you decide," K whispered. "Or … cute girls. Whatever works."

Krissy wrinkled up her nose and pulled a face. "I don't like kissing," she insisted. "I like swords and archery."

"I know. I like horses and motorcycles and guns and explosions — and kissing Logan," K told her. "But not anyone else."

"You kiss me on the head all the time," Krissy pointed out.

"That's because you're little and you need them to grow better," K told her.

"Papa says that kisses are just for showing you love somebody."

"Yes. And I love you enough to hope that you grow taller."

"Taller than you?" she giggled.

"Oh, I hope so," K told her, smiling at her. "I like being the shortest one."

By that time, Logan had finally found his seat next to K, and the two of them were half-leaning into each other for most of the meal, quietly discussing something so that only the two of them could hear.

It didn't take long for the kids to get done with their food, and soon enough, they were back to playing down by the lake, a lot of the earlier bad feelings about the fish gone now that Ael had something else to eat and they were playing in the water again.

"He's usually good at trying new things," Jubilee said.

"He's going to have a hell of a time if we ever take him to Japan," Logan commented, leaning back and pulling K with him.

"That would be cruel," Jubilee said, shaking her head.

"Not necessarily," Logan argued.

"Considering how he reacted to something as simple as salmon?" Noh pointed out.

"And I'm sure that I won't be able to find a noodle shop in the whole country," Logan deadpanned.

Jubilee rolled her eyes at him and punched him in the shoulder. "Whatever. Just don't try to get him to eat sushi, whatever you do. His poor little heart would break into a million pieces."

"Did I make you?" he challenged.

"I didn't say make," Jubilee said.

"I seem to remember offerin' you something reasonable and then ending up buying you a sack of burgers more often than not," Logan countered.

Jubilee shrugged, and Noh chuckled. "He should really see the whole of the planet," he said. "He picks things up so quickly. I'm sure he could learn so much on a trip."

"Yeah, let's try not to make our kids too much like me, huh?" Jubilee said. "Following my footsteps… all that."

"Is that really so bad?" Noh asked gently. "That they want to be so much like you? You are a warrior and an X-Man and a beautiful, kind-hearted romantic. What better aspirations can they have?"

There was just a beat of silence before Logan totally fell apart laughing.

Noh frowned at both of them. "I was not joking," he said. But that only had Logan laughing harder.

"Ignore them," Jubilee said, pulling a face.

"Oh, you gotta tell that one to Scott," Logan said between breaths as he tried to get it under control. "He'll love it."

Jubilee stuck her tongue out at him again as Noh slowly shook his head. "I still don't think I understand," he said.

"It really doesn't matter," Jubilee said, waving them off. "You were saying nice things about me. Let's just start there and keep going."


Sying was full of excitement that weekend after his parents and grandparents had worked out a schedule for him to start coming once a week to take his self-defense lessons. He was pretty sure that he was absolutely going to show his Grampa Wolvie that he didn't need the lessons and that he was ready to go, no matter what he said.

He was a little bit surprised to see he wasn't the only kid there. In fact, every one of his friends his age were there — even Charlie — and so were some of the younger kids like Kari and Cody and even Sadie.

"I thought you didn't want to be an X-Man," Sying said with a frown Charlie's way.

She shrugged lightly. "Dad said I should go so I know how to fight." She paused and looked toward Scott, who was crouched down by Cody in deep conversation of some kind. "In case someone ever tries to grab me again."

Sying frowned but nodded his understanding all the same. "I guess that makes sense," he said slowly before he made his way over to Logan with more of a smile than before.

"Ready to get back into it?" Logan asked as he helped Elin and Sadie stretch out.

"Back?" Sying wrinkled his nose. "I've been working with Dad. It's not like I stopped working on stuff when I went to LA."

"Yeah," Logan laughed. "But this isn't the same. And your dad doesn't fight like any of the things I use. And it's pretty worthless in this room anyhow."

Sying drew himself up and stuck out his chin. "It's not worthless — I can fight a lot of guys all at once if I want to!"

"So can I, without any abilities working," Logan told him. "You're not ready for that. Why don't you pair up with Krissy and she'll take it easy on you while get you up to par."

Sying sniffed a bit. "I'll take it easy on her," he said.

"We'll see," Logan said with a smile, shaking his head and already entirely amused.

The little boy wrinkled his nose at Logan and turned on his heel, clearly meaning to run over to his assigned sparring partner, but he'd only taken about three steps before he stopped cold, and looked down at his feet in alarm. "Dad!" he shouted, totally concerned.

"What's the matter?" Noh asked, quickly breaking off his conversation with a very excited little Cody and Scott to stride over to his little boy. "Are you alright?"

"Dad, my feet feel funny," Sying said, still sounding incredibly upset. "They don't move like I want them to."

Noh tipped his head to the side as he studied Sying for a moment before he glanced up at Logan. "Dampener?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, figured we'd keep the playing field level for everyone," Logan said. "And he's young enough that it's second nature to rely on the speed and everything. Not gonna help him later."

"No," Noh agreed slowly. "And we've been working on honing those powers, not working at this speed." He reached out and ruffled Sying's hair. "No one in the room has powers, Sying. You won't be faster or stronger than anyone in here."

"Why?" Sying asked, wide-eyed. "I don't like it. It feels … It's harder to run, like my feet are tired."

"That's the same speed everyone else has to move, kiddo," Logan told him as he moved on to help James get ready.

Sying wrinkled his nose. "I don't like it," he repeated.

"Remember how we told you that you needed to learn to fight without your powers?" Scott said as he made his way over. "This is part of that. We come across dampeners and inhibitors all the time; if you can't fight without your powers, you'd be useless in those situations."

"I know it's strange when you've never had your powers taken away," Noh said gently. "Why don't you stretch and warm up with Krissy while you get used to it?"

Sying glared at both of them but practically stalked over to Krissy anyway, though considering who his sparring partner was, he wasn't going to complain to her. So that was something.

Noh shook his head with a rueful little smile. "We've been so focused on making sure he knows how to control his strength and speed, this hasn't even crossed my mind," he admitted. "Not when we were working on his instincts."

"Understandable," Logan told him. "But this is kind of my specialty — making everyone miserable in combat class."

"I do feel bad," Noh admitted. "Everyone here started out powerless and then acquired them — he has no frame of reference." He grinned Logan's way. "He'll hate this; I'm sorry in advance."

Logan smirked up at him with a wicked twinkle in his eyes. "Oh, I know. Don't apologize."

"But he's had nothing but unconditional love and affection for you until now," Noh said, the smile widening.

"Everyone gets the wakeup call sooner or later," Logan replied before he turned back to the kids and all of them simply settled down as class started.

As soon as they'd paired off with their sticks, they started to work, all of them going slow to begin with and picking up speed as their partners allowed. It was clear that Elin and James were trying to match Scott and Logan for speed. Logan was working with Scott on his right at a quick clip and had Kari giggling on his left, trying to go fast, but she was hitting much harder than the other kids were. The others were all fairly well-matched — except, of course, for Krissy and Sying.

"I want a different partner!" Krissy finally called out, clearly frustrated.

Logan and Scott stopped and turned her way. "What's the problem, kiddo?" Logan asked.

"I wanna go fast," she pouted, and Sying looked terribly insulted, his jaw dropped as he couldn't even begin to come up with a response to an insult like that. "He's so slow."

Logan nodded and called out for Kari to pair up with Krissy. "Be nice," Logan told Kari.

Kari nodded happily. "I won't hurt anybody," she promised.

Now temporarily partnerless, Sying stared as the two sisters started up with the sticks, getting into a much better rhythm than he'd had with Krissy, and then he sat down on the floor with his hands in fists. "I'm not slow," he muttered.

"I know that," Logan told him before he waved him over. "You can join us or you can work with your dad."

Sying glanced up at Logan and grumpily climbed to his feet. "I can work with you," he said.

"Same motion," Logan told him. "Don't try to go slow. I'll keep up just fine with whatever you can do."

Sying narrowed his eyes slightly, more in concentration than anything else, but looked like he was working hard at the motions, watching his own arms and the sticks as much as Logan's like he was working out in his head how to pour on the speed when it was so hard to go fast.

"Hit harder," Logan said, though Sying wasn't sure if the direction was meant for him or Scott.

"I am hitting hard," Sying grumbled.

"Fine. Hit harder," Logan repeated.

"Try hitting as hard as you can," Scott said. "Like you're trying to break the sticks in half."

Sying let out a noise of frustration. "That's a bad idea."

"No it's not," Logan said before he made a quick hard move that knocked one stick out of Sying's hand. "Bring it."

Sying seemed to get even more frustrated, especially because he couldn't just zip over to go get the stick. But he did start to hit a little harder — the frustration was clearly helping him with that much at least.

"You can hit harder than that," Logan said low. "Come on — get mad about it."

"I am hitting harder!" Sying almost hissed out.

"Kari was hitting harder before I sent her over to play with Krissy. I know you can do better than that."

Sying narrowed his eyes and let out a frustrated breath, but it was a few more hits with Logan looking like it was no problem keeping up — not even looking at him and keeping track of Scott instead — that finally made him lose his temper entirely and take a mean swing. It was only as strong as a normal person could hit, but it did finally have power to it.

"There we go," Logan said, finally turning his way. "Keep that up. And faster."

Sying bared his teeth at Logan and kept up the hard swings, clearly mad now. "I hate this class."

"Good," Logan told him. "Means you're working and not screwin' around."

The rest of the class went more or less the same way — with the kids who had been doing it longer setting a quick pace while Sying seemed to get frustrated every time it took him a while to get the hang of something new. So almost as soon as Logan dismissed the class for the day, and switched the dampener off — that was it for Sying. He took off running out of the classroom, and he was outside in a second.

"I don't think he likes my class," Logan muttered quietly to Scott.

Scott just started to laugh as he shook his head, leaned back against the wall as he did. "He'll get used to it or he'll find something else," he said.

"He'd be the one in his class to come bitchin'," Logan agreed, nodding.

That had Scott laughing harder as he nodded. "That was a rude awakening."

"If he wants to join the team, he better be up to snuff. I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life pullin' noobies outta tight spots just because they don't want to listen," Logan grumbled, sounding just as hard about it as he did for any of his regular classes.

Noh made his way over to where Logan was with a sort of smile. "I'll make sure he'll back next week," he promised. "I don't want him to quit in frustration and regret it later."

"And I don't want to burn him out before he even gets going," Logan told him. "But he's gotta know if he skips, he'll be even further behind."

"I'll make sure he knows," Noh said, the smile widening and growing warmer. "I've learned how to deal with an obstinate Lee in my time. Next time, he'll come having practiced with a dampener — it's a good idea, really."

Scott was still grinning over the whole thing — amused at how the class had gone and also glad to see that the kids were going to get the fair shake they needed, no favoritism, to keep them up to snuff for the team if they wanted — but it was Krissy that sent him over the edge into laughter again as she came up to Logan.

"I wanna pair up with Chance next time," she told him.

"We'll see," Logan said. "You'll need to be quicker to work with him."

"I don't wanna work with Sying if he's gonna be grumpy."

"Well, if you work with him again, just don't take it easy on him like you did this time," Logan warned.

"But he's new," Krissy said. "You gotta go easy on new people."

"And he wants to learn to be faster and keep up; he doesn't want you to go easy on him," Logan told her. "So next time? Take him down."

Krissy grinned at that. "I can do that," she said, nodding before she leaned forward with a little smile. "Boys are stupid sometimes. Mom says you gotta knock 'em down when they're dumb."

"They are," he agreed. "So don't be afraid to put 'em on the ground."

Krissy grinned brilliantly and then all but skipped off to catch up with Kari, with Scott still laughing quietly at the whole thing.

"Well, there's one kid who likes your lessons," he had to tease.

"One out of a class this size ain't half bad," Logan agreed.

"Chance and Cody like them too," Scott said after a beat — just to be fair. "I don't think I've seen Chance with that particular expression before."

"Yeah, he gets that one from you," Logan said offhandedly.

"Thanks, Logan; I appreciate that," Scott said dryly, shaking his head.

"Chance needed the boost — kind of backup that he's on the right track," Logan said. "And Sying needed a little reality check."

"Let's just hope when they get older they'll be alright on the same team," Scott said.

"Oh, they'll be fine unless Chance has to pull Sying's backside out of the fire," Logan decided. "Then you'll see some Jubilee level pouting."

"Oh, and we didn't see that today?" Scott chuckled.

"You know it gets a lot worse than that," Logan said with a smirk. "So much worse."

"We'll see how it goes," Scott laughed, shaking his head as he headed to catch up with his kids.


Scott had been going over his checkbook that morning when Annie leaned over to steal a kiss — and to steal the checkbook.

"Hey," he laughed, even as she held it above her head for kisses.

"I need this," Annie said primly.

"For what, leverage?" Scott laughed.

"No, I was watching the conventions, and I want to donate to Cleary's—"

"Annie, we can't," Scott said in a sigh. "The X-Men can't be seen—"

"Oh, honestly," Annie said. "You act like we're not allowed to have opinions. I just want to take some of our personal money and support someone we know who we believe in. Can't we support our friends?"

Scott smirked at her and pulled her into a kiss. "You're really fired up about this, aren't you?"

"Scott, it wasn't that long ago that they were considering a law to track you and our friends and family. This is the first time I can remember watching the news and thinking someone might actually stop something like that. Not just speak out — work to make sure that never happens again." Annie shook her head. "I want our kids to feel safe. After everything that's happened lately, can't I get excited for this friend of ours?"

Scott let out a breath and then kissed her again. "Yeah, I'm excited for her too."

"But you're exercising cautious pessimism," she surmised.

"Just being careful," he replied.

Annie shook her head but pocketed the checkbook. "Still gonna send her our love and support and a hundred dollars," she sang to Scott cheerfully.

Scott smiled at her. "Can't stop hoping, right?"

"Oh, never. That's the whole point of superheroes, Mr. Summers. Didn't you know that?"

"I stand educated," he teased, then pulled her into a much longer kiss this time.