Authors Note: WhooHoo! 9 Chapters posted and more on the way! I couldn't think of a tittle for this chapter, so I went into my itunes, hit shuffle and decided to name the Chapter after the song that played. If you get a chance, listen to Old Man by Redlight King, it's a good band, and I like most of their music. If you guys can think of a better Chapter title, Lemmie know! Anyway, here's Chapter 9.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my idea behind this story, The X-Men belong to Marvel, and the movie verse from which this came belongs to 20th Century Fox.

Chapter 10

Old Man

The next few days went as most would call the "American Dream". There first official day at the home of the Pryde's, Kitty had decorated the tree, while John hung the stockings after getting his hand smacked with a wooden spoon for sticking his finger into moms homemade pumpkin pie then a second for the lemon meringue, followed by a third for the apple pie. Her dad hung the garnish and mistletoe. Then later they sat by the fire and played Quelf while drinking hot coco and eggnog. The whole day John and Kitty couldn't seem to keep their eyes from one another. The previous night, before John fell asleep, he realized how Kitty had become so homesick.

The third day was spent shoveling snow which quickly turned into a war after a snowball John had thrown at Kitty hit the back of Theresa's head, who in turn threw one at her husband for laughing followed by two landing on John, and after that it was every man woman and child for themselves. When the shoveling finally finished, John took a blistering shower, leaving just enough water for Kitty to take a warm one.

Carmen wasn't blind, he could clearly see the signs of there attraction like words written on a page, but while he felt they were the perfect balance for one another, Theresa was a different story. For her, she liked John as a person, and a friend to her daughter, but wasn't too keen on the idea of him as a potential boyfriend; her excuse, he was too much of a "Rebel". But that didn't stop Carmen from trying to get them to realize their feelings for one another by plotting ways to get them under the mistletoe. Each plan, despite however brilliant it may be, failing.

That night Kitty lay awake in her bed with the undeniable realization that her feelings for John ran much deeper than friendship. Little did she know that John lay in his bed thinking the same thing, the very acknowledgment terrifying him.

John awoke just after sun-up the following morning. With a back arching stretch, he fumbled down the stairs not bothering with a shirt. He was in a zombie-like state. His mission? Coffee. As he shuffled into the kitchen he poured himself a cup from the freshly brewed batch, not thinking anything of it. Turning, he opened the fridge in a feeble attempt to find creamer, only to shift things around aimlessly.

"If you're lookin for the Bailey's Creamer, it's in the door beside the Pickles."

A gentle male voice echoed in the empty room scarring John into a defensive pose. He raised his fists, bent his knees slightly like Scott had taught him, only to discover Carmen moving to sit at the island.

"Man, you can't just sneak up on me like that! Be thankful I don't have a lighter at the moment, because I'm pretty sure you'd be missing some eyebrows right about now."

"I wouldn't doubt it." The rugged man laughed before taking a drink of his coffee. "Sorry for laughing, but the look on your face was priceless. I wasn't trying to scare you."

"It's fine, just didn't think anyone would be up at this hour."

Carmen smiled. "Welcome to the normal for me."

"Yeah, well it's defiantly not that way for me." John replaced the creamer and shut the fridge with his heal before taking a seat across from the father of the girl who had dug a warm hole into his cold demeanor.

"So, have you been enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah, a lot more than I thought I would. I'm not a big fan of the holidays."

Carmen nodded taking another drink. "So I've heard."

When John arched his eyebrows he laughed. It reminded him of Kitty's. The tone was very similar, but hers more light and feminine, it was abundantly clear to him that the two loved to laugh. He figured that he must be where she gets her carefree, fun-loving, hard-working attitude from, where her stubborn, stern but gentle side came from her mom.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

The teen choked on his drink, a coughing fit erupting from his lips. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not stupid, John. I know that look very well."

"What look?"

"The look of a man who can't get that certain girl off his mind. The one person that he sees in everything he does."

"I don't get a look...Do I?"

"It's very faint, but its there. The only reason why I can see it is because I have quite a few years experience on you."

"Oh, but what if this girl doesn't see him as anything more than a friend?" John blurted before he could stop himself.

Carmen chortled. "You'd be surprised. A good lookin lad like yourself? I mean come on! With tight abs and ripped biceps like that? You've gotta be fighting them off with a baseball bat."

"Actually, no. I usually keep my shirt on. Like I said earlier, didn't think anyone else was up." He paused to take a drink before continuing. "Besides, I guess you could say folks back home call me an asshole."

"Yeah but she's just like her mom. She saw right through my bad-boy persona and after meeting her, I didn't feel like I needed the shell any longer."

"If people back home saw me, they'd be shocked to find that Frankenstein's Monster actually has a heart." John shrugged. "But when it's just me and her, I don't want to be so much of a jerk."

"You want to be there for her and protect her." He said with a knowing smile.

"Exactly. I mean, she makes me do things that I've never wanted to do for any other person."

"Like by making a winter wonderland in the back yard for her?"

John paused. "How'd-"

"She wrote home almost immediately."

"Ah." John sighed, deep in thought before draining what was left of his cup. "But my question is, how do I get the girl?"

"See, now that's where you're on your own. But the way I see it, it boils down to two options. Either wait until she outright tells you or tell her how you feel. Just watch, the correct decision will come to you in time." Carmen said as he stood placing a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Now go get ready, we've got a long day ahead of us. The misses and I haven't had a chance to find the perfect gift for one another and so far as I know you two haven't either, so we're headin to the mall in a last minuet attempt to find something nice."

John's face fell. "I don't exactly have any cash sir."

"I got you covered." Carmen held up his hand as John began to protest. "I insist."

The older man set his cup in the sink, before making his way out of the kitchen toward the dinning room. "Hey, Carmen?" He paused, turning to face him. "How long have you and your wife been together anyway?"

He grinned. "Since I was seventeen and she was fifteen. I'm thirty eight now. I'll let you do the math."

Shaking his head, John got out of the chair and moved to rinse out his cup and set it in the sink. He never really had that "Father and Son" talk before, and it gave him some piece of mind to know that not all fathers were drunken bastards like his.

Authors Note: Hm… wonder what its gonna be? I'm so excited! I can't WAIT to read you're guises reviews!