Hello! Yes, HI. robbie - you know I love me some happy Scott, and the seeds to get the X-Men and the Avengers on board from day ONE really should be how it was. But ... alas.
I'm sure we'll be seeing Clint again soon ... there is a lot to unravel there, but it might be in snippets since there are big things happening HERE. With our BOYS.
Griezz - in that chapter, I had said that Clint was early 20's ... then a little math when he guessed K was 6 or 7 years older at 30 would put him right around 23. It was all there. So yes, he's pretty young. As he was when he met Nat. ;)
Chapter 14: Summer Vacation
The professor had offered up the use of the property - until of course, he heard that the available lawn simply wasn't long enough for the other plane to land that Scott would be learning in.
But that only had Scott grinning wider at the idea of getting to fly the old warbird as well as a smaller private plane. What he wasn't expecting was the amount of reading that was going to go into his flight education.
He knew he'd have to do a lot of reading - but this … was so much more than he'd anticipated. And Scott loved it. Every bit of it. The fact that there was practically a whole new language to learn when it came to the radio calls had him grinning. Particularly since he knew most of it already from listening to his father way back home in Alaska.
Honestly - a lot of what his father had taught him had stuck, and it was fast-tracking a lot of the process. The fact that he naturally tried to think about what he wanted to say before he spoke did him wonders when it came to learning how to handle the radio, and he was meticulous about keeping track of the weather conditions, too.
But for as much fun that part of the prep work was - the hands-on stuff was really what got Scott going. Knowing exactly how the plane worked and what can go wrong - how to compensate for it if it did … how to fix it yourself …
It wasn't going to be something that was said and done in weeks … but it was a solid start. Of course, it was somehow much better - and much worse - when they finally got caught up with Harry Tabeshaw in north-western Alberta.
As Scott had expected, Harry greeted them with a broad smile and open arms, quick to pull Logan into a bear hug, laughing all the while. Scott smirked at K and tipped his head for her to go along too, though when Harry realized that there was a woman with them, he stopped and let Logan go. "You didn't say you had company," Harry said, his smile a little more troublemaking.
"Harry, this is K," Logan said, gesturing toward her with a smirk.
She waved the tips of her fingers at him with an almost understated 'hi' that had both men grinning at her. "Does Heather know about her?" Harry asked, though he hadn't even tried to lower his voice.
Logan stopped and looked over to Scott for a moment - only then really realizing that he hadn't checked in with Heather since … "No," Logan said. "I've been a little caught up, didn't … really reach out. In a while."
"Oh, believe me, I know," Harry said. "She caught me on my way out. I know all about how much you haven't told anyone - and in how long. Hanging out with Avengers …"
"Oh, knock it off and get the kid started on his flight training."
"Sure," Harry said, laughing outright. "Ready to fly, Slim?"
"You bet," Scott said as he headed for him, though he paused when he saw the little high-wing plane. "Is that big enough for all four of us?"
"No," Harry admitted. "But it's big enough for us guys … while the girls get acquainted."
Logan let his shoulders drop as he turned toward Harry again. "Where is she?"
"In the cabin. Waiting." Harry let the smile fall a little, but Logan shook his head and blew out his breath.
"You and Scott can start the preflight," Logan said. "I better introduce Heather before we go."
And while Logan did in fact turn off with K, Scott didn't exactly have his heart in the flight lessons anymore, not with this latest twist. He hadn't even thought about Heather - and he knew there was a story there with Logan… He had just started to feel a little more settled, stopped worrying about Tony Stark and now this?
No way was he going to be anywhere but where he could see Logan and K. He knew he'd be too preoccupied otherwise.
Thankfully, it seemed like Harry was of the same mindset, because Scott really didn't have to say anything before both of them followed Logan and K to see what the damage would be.
Logan made his way over to K, and put his arm around her back, his hand at her waist as he gently started them toward the cabin not far off the flat, short grass runway. K simply turned her head his way, frowning slightly. "Is this a jealous ex?" she asked, which earned her a somewhat confused response from him.
"No, not … no," Logan said, shaking his head before he let out a sigh. "I promise I'll explain everything tonight. But for now, just know she's a good friend. And she frets."
K frowned a little herself at that and tipped her head to the side. "She frets, but you didn't bother letting her know you were okay…"
"Oh, shut up," he grumbled. "I already promised to explain later. Don't make this harder than it is."
At that, K planted her feet and refused to take another step forward. "She's going to ask what I am to you. How about you get your story straight with me before she starts in since I can tell from here you aren't going to try to lie." She tipped her chin back toward the plane. "And I have the sinking feeling that you're just going to ditch me with her so you don't have to answer anything."
Logan looked almost deflated as he shook his head, but before he could answer her, Heather stepped out.
"You are alive," Heather called out as K looked clearly unhappy about being stuck in the middle like this. "Yet you didn't tell me as much in months - and instead you reach out to Harry Tabeshaw."
As Logan took a few steps forward, he gently put his hand out toward K and she seamlessly turned, pasting on a pleasant expression as she did so, taking a step just as Logan's hand touched her shoulder. "Didn't realize you'd still be concerned."
"Logan - the Department pulled out all the stops, Mac was sick … and not a word from you," Heather said, looking positively genuine as she grinned at him - flat out ignoring K and the expression of disbelief she was giving Logan as they reached the little strawberry blonde. "Who's this?" she asked after she'd rushed forward to give him a hug.
Logan paused just long enough for K to step forward and offer her hand. "Kayleigh," she answered for him. "Hi."
Heather looked taken off guard for just a moment before she took K's hand and shook it - though it took her a moment too long to put the smile back into place. And K wasn't the only one that caught it.
Harry elbowed Scott and kept his hands folded in front of him as they watched the two women size each other up.
"Great, so the three of us can spend a little time while Harry gives Scott his lesson," Heather said, nodding to herself, but K was the one to correct her.
"Logan had promised Scott that he'd be with him while he flew," she said. "I'm not about to try to make him break a promise to Scott."
For just an instant Heather paused, and before anyone could intervene, she was quickly making up time. "Oh, I hadn't realized that was the arrangement!"
Logan stopped at that and looked between the two women, smelling trouble immediately. "Yes you did," he said. "I had told you that before." But Logan suddenly wasn't sure he wanted to leave the two of them alone especially this far from anyone else while the guys headed up to fly.
"It must have slipped my mind then," Heather said, smiling at the three men. "We can talk later. Have fun!"
K turned her head to meet Logan's gaze just before he leaned over to steal a kiss,that she surprised him with and drew out a bit longer than he'd expected. He met her gaze for just a moment, though he couldn't quite say anything to her, even if he was sure that the look in K's eyes meant something was going to happen. "You sure this is alright?" Logan asked, clearly to K, even if it was Heather that answered with an enthusiastic 'yes'.
"We'll be here," K said. "Whether or not that means you'll be back …"
Logan gave her a very unamused look and a little growl. "I'll be back before you know it."
K waved the tips of her fingers at them and the guys headed out, leaving the two women alone several hundred miles from anyone and anything.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Scott asked Logan as they approached the little plane.
"Yeah, bound to happen sooner or later," Logan said. "Woulda been nice to know what I was walkin' into though."
"Hey, don't look at me," Harry said. "She hopped on last night when I headed here, I didn't have a way to warn you that would have helped at all."
"It's fine," Logan said as he climbed into the back of the plane while Scott and Harry did the preflight checklist.
Scott was a little nervous, but he was pretty sure that K wasn't going to start up anything dangerous with Heather.
To his surprise, Harry didn't do the take off, and instead simply started walking Scott through it as they sat at the end of the runway, looking down it to taxi. His heart was pounding as the engines on the little high-wing fired up, and he couldn't stop the smile that came with the step by step process while they got into a higher gear. The plane was shaking from the wash coming off of the propeller, and on Harry's direction, he took the brakes off and began to adjust the flaps and ailerons on the wings so they could get the speed they needed to take off… a slight rudder adjustment sent the back of the plane fishtailing - but only for an instant before he corrected. Twenty miles an hour became forty … and the plane leveled out on the airstrip - the tail now level with the nose.
In a few more moments, they were moving out at nearly sixty, and just before they hit seventy, the flaps went down and a second later, the lift was easy to feel as the wheels left the ground.
He glanced out the window and looked down as the trees seemed to sink below the edge of the window … and very quickly, that magical, surreal feeling that he'd missed so much from his childhood popped up and took his breath away. It was an instant that happened in the blink of an eye when very suddenly, what is real and concrete suddenly seemed far away and plastic, as if he was looking down at a diorama rather than the sweeping forests and plains of Alberta.
The higher they went, the more natural it felt to be flying, to be in the air high above the trees and buildings, and for the first time in a number of years, Scott let out a breath he had no idea he'd been holding. His shoulders relaxed, his mind cleared, and everything - in spite of the complexities of the instrument panel ahead of him - everything became very simple.
For the next two hours, Scott flew, taking Harry's navigation cues, and even acing his first stall with a cool confidence that could only be genetic. It was clear to Harry and Logan anyhow that Scott was made for this. He actually got more focused and calm when the plane's engine was off in the stall, and he handled the glide and dive beautifully, swooping up out of the stall as if he'd done it a hundred times before.
The only tell that it had made him nervous was the cleansing breath after the fact when he had them under power again and flying off in a sweeping arc with one wingtip down.
When it finally came time to land, Harry guided him again - his hands on his yolk, and his feet ghosting the pedals as he walked Scott through the landing. His voice never changed as he talked him through it … perfectly even and composed … calm and collected, and only once just before they touched down did Harry pull the nose up just a touch more than Scott had it lined up for.
It was a smooth landing … with only one little hop, and when they finally killed the engine, Scott let out a breath of a laugh that tacked itself onto a massive grin that he wouldn't even consider stopping.
"Congratulations," Harry said with a smirk. "You just put on your first couple hours of flight time." He dropped his hand on Scott's shoulder heavily. "Not bad."
Scott was still grinning hard at Harry. "So, when do we go again?"
"Well you're up here for a few weeks anyhow, right?" Harry said. "We can go once or twice tomorrow if you want. Rack up some hours. You'll need to practice take offs and landings … a few touch and go's … lots more stalls …"
Scott grinned and nodded. "Sounds great," he agreed, still nowhere near close to being able to tone down the grin - not that he was trying that hard.
"Come on," Harry said. "We'll run through post flight, tie her down and call it a night."
Scott simply nodded at that, still grinning hard - and sure that he caught Logan smirking too.
When the three of them were more or less done with the plane for the night, they headed toward the cabin, where K was sitting outside, her head tipped back and leaned against the outside of the building, looking perfectly relaxed and smiling at them … but before she could even greet them, Heather came out … red cheeks and looking livid as she glared at Logan. "What kind of crap are you pulling with a teenager hanging around you? Don't you know you can't just … It's not …" She threw her hands up and let out a sound of pure frustration.
"What are you talking about?" Logan asked, but Heather didn't want to answer … not with Scott standing right there. So she did the only thing she could think of and dragged him into the cabin to get a few things off her chest.
"You look like you had a good time," K said to Scott, still smiling. "Did I hear a stall?"
Scott nodded, though his gaze was on the door Heather had just closed. "What… happened?"
"She wanted to know who I was, and she wanted to know what I was to you two." She shrugged. "So. I told her the bare bones and let her fill in the blanks as she saw fit."
Scott blinked at her and shook his head. "No… she wouldn't be that mad if you just told her the truth," he said slowly.
K leaned forward at that. "I did tell her the truth. She made some assumptions that should be pretty telling of what she thinks of Logan."
Scott frowned toward the door. "Well… I don't know," he said at last.
She smiled at him "I told her that we met on the west coast, that we travelled east together, and that we've been together - the three of us - ever since," K said. "She asked if we were just travelling and I said no. Then there were a bunch of questions about putting a label on it, which I shot down. She didn't like it."
Scott bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I mean, I guess it could look bad but did you tell her you met me first? Because that might help."
"I did," K said. "And then I asked her what the ties were between her husband and the Department. Since she knows so much about what their trouble is. That's a lot more pressing issue, I think, than if I'm sleeping with your Dad."
"Yeah, that's definitely more pressing," Scott said, though he paused and then gave her a little smirk. "What do you think - should I walk in and start calling you 'Mom' to make her feel better?"
K smirked and dipped her chin to her chest, though it didn't hide the smile that immediately followed. "I wouldn't do anything to make her feel better, personally," K said before she peeked up at him. "She can't seem to fathom how they'd try to use her to get to him. But … you do what you think is best … sweetheart."
Scott's smirk stretched a little wider at that. "It was just a suggestion," he said.
"I do thank you boys though," K said, turning toward Harry, who was outright grinning. "That was long enough of a time that I neatly turned her attempted interrogation into a real one."
"And does she know what the department is doing?"
"She knows more than she wanted to admit to," K said. "They are still trying - and they know that there is a connection with the Hudsons, even if the Hudsons don't think they'd abuse that tie."
"You told her how we ended up traveling together, right?" Scott said with a frown.
"In as vivid detail as I could manage," K agreed. "I was very explicit."
"Then I guess I don't get how someone could be in that much denial. I'm sixteen and they still tried to use me."
"Yeah, but you're a genius," K said. "Don't let it go to your head that you have common sense."
"I'm not a genius, K," he said, rolling his eyes, though she couldn't actually see that with the glasses on.
"I think you are, so just take the complement, okay?" She shrugged. "Besides … she's just been in there stewing for the last twenty minutes … and all she could come back to was the fact that I refused to tell her more about Logan. I stonewalled her and said she'd have to ask him. Not my business to say."
"Yeah, I still don't entirely understand Logan and Heather," he admitted, shaking his head. "She's easy to get along with when she's not playing interrogator, but…"
"Don't sweat it, Caramel Mocha," K said. "I asked Logan to give me something to go off of before I walked in there … so … I worked with what I had. Which was nothing."
Scott nodded. "Well, it could be worse," he said with a shrug. "He could still be interested."
"Good thing it's just sentimental," K said with a smirk. "One way, anyhow."
Scott shook his head at that, though he didn't really want to get into it, so he cleared his throat and straightened up. "Did you get to see any of the flight or were you talking to Heather the whole time?"
"I saw the end … nice little banking you did when you were coming around for the landing. Pretty sure I could see the smile from here."
Scott grinned. "I love flying," he told her. "Alex and I used to beg our dad to let us come on flights with him."
"It shows," she said, grinning back at him. "And it suits you."
"It sure does," Harry said. "Kid's a natural."
"So you're going to rack up a bunch of time, right?" K asked.
"Oh yeah," Scott said. "I want to go up again tomorrow."
"Great! You'll have both licenses before you know it," K told him.
Scott smirked and leaned forward slightly. "Driving test can't be harder than driving your truck away from the department, right?"
"Yeah, you're fine," she said. "Has Logan shown you how to drive a stick shift?"
Scott shook his head. "Not yet. But to be fair, we've been pretty busy."
"We'll have to do that too," she said. "In the mud. Preferably."
The little conversation was interrupted when Logan stepped out and let out a deep breath before he turned toward the three of them and smirked. "Ready to burn some steaks, then?"
"Only if you're cooking," K replied, rolling with it easily. "Right, Scott? You've had a long day."
"Oh yeah. I've had a long day," Scott said with a smirk.
K got to her feet, and a moment later, Logan put his arm around her shoulders. "You're coming aren't you?" K said, looking first to Harry, and then to Heather.
"I feel like I should not, but it's too much to pass up," Harry chuckled.
Heather gave him a dry look, but fell into step next to him, and it was under an hour before Logan was cooking up steaks over an open fire with Harry. When the group sat down to eat together, Logan was a little surprised at how cheerfully affectionate K was.
She wasn't being too obvious, but the fact that she kept one hand on his leg just over his knee through most of dinner - and in plain sight of Heather - had him sidling closer to her and simply enjoying it - and returning the favor by keeping his arm loosely around her shoulders.
They were almost to their dessert when Logan realized exactly how quiet Heather had gotten, and it didn't miss his notice that she was almost pointedly not looking K's direction. But there wasn't much he could do about it. He was just getting lost in thought, trying to figure out the intricacies of the two women and what all had been said when K leaned a little closer and squeezed his leg, drawing his attention immediately just before she stole a kiss that wasn't entirely polite for all audiences.