Thank you everyone for reading, you're awesome. :D
I hope you enjoy this chapter, me and Chellerbelle have been waiting for this. ;)
Chapter 33
"Thank you for inviting me," Wanda told her friend as they put together some side dishes.
"Can't have you hanging out in that big ol' house by yourself on the Fourth of July now can we?" Marie waved her off, taking a knife to a tomato.
"I think the holiday means more to you than to me," Wanda admitted a little cheekily, "but any excuse to eat your father's bar-be-q."
"The man does know his way around a grill," Marie chuckled and looked out the back patio to where her father and Miss Munroe were talking as the man seasoned the chicken and steaks.
"Is that why you're not with Remy today?" she had to admit, she was curious, but she wasn't going to say something unless the subject presented itself and this counted, somewhat.
"Nah," the girl shrugged, "he has a job and holidays are apparently big signs that say a building is going to be empty, the security understaffed, and those who are left are disgruntled they have to work."
Wanda frowned as she put water on to boil for the corn-on-the-cob, "Never thought of it that way."
"It's a big job too," Marie leaned in a little, "Warren hired him and you didn't hear that from me."
"Hear what?" she said perfectly innocently.
The Southerner chuckled and finished with the tomatoes, "Anyway, I'm proud of him. He's really focusing on his business right now, making sure he has a sustainable business model, trying to bring in bigger clients."
"Not asking you to marry him every five minutes…" some days she just couldn't help herself.
"No kidding," Marie practically snorted.
Seeing the bubbles starting to rise off the sides of the big pot, Wanda put the cobs in to cook, "Don't you want to marry him though? Eventually?"
"Yeah," the word was a little unsure and drug out as she chopped some radishes for the salad, "but when he asks because he wants to get married, not because he thinks he should get married."
"This is Remy LeBeau we're talking about," Wanda put the lid on the pot and walked over to her friend, "he's bright but sometimes very dumb."
"Very," she shook her head, "speaking of marriage though, how's your brother doing?"
"Good," Wanda shrugged, "they 're moving into this nice loft apartment not terribly far from John Hopkins next week. Two bedroom, one and half bath. Basically a small home only stuck together with others."
"How they affording it?" Marie's eyes grew big, "Sorry, that was terribly rude."
"It's okay," she waved her off, "Crystal has a trust fund she's been milking and Pietro got a job last semester with a well known nutritionist."
"I didn't know," her friend finished, adding everything into the salad bowl, "it's good though, sounds like they are pretty well on their feet."
"Yeah," Wanda frowned, "only Crystal is pregnant so we'll see how long this all lasts."
Marie turned towards her, eyes wide, "She's not, is she? Wow, that's fast."
"A little too fast," Wanda returned dryly and when her friend gave her a look she explained. "They say she was a honeymoon baby but I have my doubts."
"Well," the Southerner turned a little red as she stifled some laughter, "you know what they say, like father, like son."
"Oh, don't even go there," she grimaced. She wasn't even twenty-one yet and she was going to be an aunt. Her brother hadn't the sense to either wait, if it was indeed a honeymoon baby, or to use a condom. Then again, she almost did the same with John… was sexual idiocy genetic maybe?
Wanda only knew she was too young to be an aunt and much, much, too young to be a mother.
"Fine then," Marie moved to the fridge and grabbed two cans of Ginger Ale, "why don't we talk about the subject you've been avoiding for weeks," she thrust a soda into Wanda's hand, "have you talked to John recently?"
"Ugh," Wanda held the cold can to her head as if she just gained a headache, "can we go back to talking about my brother's sex-life?"
"No, gross," the girl shook her head, "and that doesn't answer my question. You two still in touch at all?"
"We're not," she shook her head lightly, wanting to laugh at the irony of her friend using the word touch, "and we never will, it's over, time to move on."
"Wow, you're going to make a great lawyer," Marie smirked at her, "because if I didn't know you better I would almost believe you."
"So what if I miss him a little?" she brushed it off, opening her soda. "It's only natural."
"No, you two were natural," the girl waved her fingers in the air, "I still don't know why you broke up."
"I told you why," Wanda frowned.
"Don't by it," Marie shook her head. "Just cause you had a little fight over the whole 'no touchy' business? Nah, you two are too smart for that."
And yet that is exactly what happened… wasn't it?
Before Wanda could formulate a response, remembering Marie was a fairly good debater, there was a loud knock on the door.
"Wonder who that is?" Marie frowned as she headed over to the door, looking over her shoulder, "Oh, we're not done with this conversation by the way."
Wanda sighed and leaned against the counter, she really just needed to move on with her life already and she wished her friends could see that this was the only way to make the pain stop.
Marie opened the door and Wanda could see an average sized guy with short black hair, about maybe ten to fifteen years her senior, standing outside with a peculiar look on his face. He didn't look mad but he wasn't really happy either. He also looked strangely familiar but she couldn't place him.
"Ah, hello," Marie said to the stranger.
"I'm looking for James Howlett," he said with an accent, Japanese maybe, and while he did have a hint of Japanese ancestry in his looks he was built more like, well, Coach Howlett, and had distinctive Caucasian facial traits.
"What for?" her friend was wary, she could see it in her stance.
"Just need to talk to the man," the stranger lightly splayed his hands, a universal gesture of non-combativeness.
Without taking her eyes off the guy, Marie called out onto the patio, "Dad."
There was a slight change in the way the man looked at Marie, a curiousness that wasn't there before and he sized her up, not sexually or like gauging a threat, but what Wanda wasn't sure. John would be able to read this better than her…
"Yeah, darling?" Coach came into the living room with Miss Munroe trailing behind him.
The stranger took a couple of steps into the living room and just stared at Mr Howlett… and suddenly the resemblance became very uncanny.
"Who are you?" the Coach asked.
"Name's Daken," he answered, "Daken Akihiro. I think you knew my mother, Itsu."
The normally gruff Howlett softened a bit, "I knew her when I was stationed in Okinawa."
"She died last year, in the earthquake," there was a tint of bitterness to the sorrow in his voice and he pulled a small worn notebook from his coat pocket.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Howlett seemed genuinely saddened at the news, "she was a good woman."
"But apparently not good enough for you," the coldness was palpable and he roughly tossed the notebook at the Coach.
"What's going on?" Marie asked as she stood between the two men.
"That's my mother's journal, found it in her things after she died," Daken told her and Wanda had a very good idea where things were going and she just couldn't believe it. "She never told me who my father was, guess she was ashamed, she let you have your way with her and then you left her."
"It wasn't like that," Howlett defended himself, holding up the notebook, "I cared for her, deeply, but I was being reassigned."
"Oh, I'm sure it was a great sob story," Daken rolled his eyes, "bet it works every time."
"I respected Itsu," the Coach pointed at the man angrily, "she was a damn good nurse. I never hurt her, never wanted to hurt her, and I never would have left had I known that… that we…" reality was starting to hit the man.
"Wait, wait, wait," Marie threw her hands up to stop both men from saying another word, "are you telling me that… that this guy," she pointed at Daken, "this guy is my brother?!"
"Half brother," the man was not amused at all.
Marie put her hands on her forehead, "How the hell did I end up with three half brothers?!"
"Three?!" Daken shouted out.
"Two on her mother's side," Wanda said helpfully and then realized that was exactly what John would have said, only followed by some random quip.
Miss Munroe gave Wanda a 'not helping' look then went back to watching the dysfunctional family. The normally calm and collected woman seemed a little troubled, but not angry, so Wanda guessed that was something.
Marie pointed at her father, "And you called my mother a slut!"
Coach looked ready to pop a gasket, "This was different!"
"Oh, ghee, really," Marie rolled her eyes.
Daken chuckled almost in the same way Coach Creed would sometimes. "I should probably mention that while I was looking for you, I ran across someone else you might remember, Sarah Kinney."
Howlett went pale and Daken just smiled broader.
"Who's…" Marie started but the look on her father's face made her boil over, "No, don't tell me I have another brother?!"
"Sister actually," Daken grinned, "name's Laura."
…
"So I get this text," Remy lined up for the next shot at his pool table, "it says, and I quote, 'If you ever even dare suggest bareback I will vivisect you and choke you with your lower intestine then bury you in saltpeter.'"
"Well, that's…" John searched for the right word, "specific."
"I know, right?" he chuckled and took his shot, sinking in the 12-ball. "Not that I would ever suggest it, not before marriage anyway, gotta save something special for the wedding night."
"You have a strange way of looking at things my friend," John shook his head and watched Remy sink another ball, "and why do I even bother playing this game with you?"
"That is a very good question," Remy smirked.
John sat down on a barstool, best get comfortable, "How is Rogue doing anyway?"
"Calmer," the man sunk yet another ball, "she was livid for awhile, I had to pick her and Wanda up cause she wouldn't stay there with her dad. After all the comments he made about her mother being a slut and here Coach had his own illegitimate children running about."
"But the difference is he didn't know they existed," John was trying to sort the facts in his head, "Raven willfully cheated on Coach and made him think Graydon was his."
"That's just a bunch of splitting hairs now isn't it," Remy sighed and moved around the table.
"You're right," John frowned and picked up his drink from the side table, "what a mess."
"Mess is too mild," the Cajun lined up another shot, "but from what I hear, Coach at least tried to make peace with Daken but he didn't seem interested. When Rogue finally settled down they went to see Laura together."
"Yeah," he sipped his cola, "how did that turn out?"
"Better, I guess," Remy shrugged and sunk another ball. "Apparently Laura was neither interested nor disinterested in meeting her father and half-sister. Rogue said she had a poker face that would put mine to shame."
"That's saying something."
"No kidding," all that was left was the eight ball, "but yeah, Rogue and Coach are back on speaking terms though she's been staying over here a lot more."
"And what about Miss Munroe?" John couldn't even imagine what was going on in her mind when all that went down.
"All I got out of Rogue on that one was 'words were had'," Remy chuckled then pointed to the right of the table, "eight ball, side pocket."
"Miss Munroe is a pretty understanding woman," John didn't even bother watching Remy sink the ball as it was a foregone conclusion, "and I guess it's not like he abandoned those kids. Though, makes you wonder why the mothers never looked him up."
"Who knows," the man shrugged and they both heard the front door of the apartment open, "ah, Rogue's back."
The apartment was rather spacious and had room for two bedrooms but Remy had turned one into a game room, which meant that while John was in town visiting he had to sleep on the hide-away sofa bed. And as John walked out of the room behind his friend, he first noticed Rogue, well, her distinctive white bangs, as that was all he could see from all the bags she was carrying.
"Leave anything in the store?" Remy laughed, helping her with the stuff.
"Hardy har har," the girl rolled her eyes then looked over at John, "oh, didn't know you had company."
That's when Wanda came into the living room proper, also carrying a load of bags in her arms. His eyes locked on his former girlfriend's and there was instantly a flame, but not of the kind her friends were probably hoping for.
"Remy just neglected to tell you I'd be spending a few nights for his birthday?" John said dourly.
"Huh, must have," Remy managed a poker face but he could see right through it.
"Marie," Wanda's words were little less than a scold, "of all the childish things."
"Well," the girl caved in, "you two weren't going to talk on your own, something had to be done."
John shook his head, "Just because you feel insecure about your relationship doesn't mean you have to force that on others."
That made the Southerner angry but Remy held her back, "He's just mad we got one on him, let it go and let's put these up."
Remy and Marie grabbed the bags and quickly exited into the master bedroom leaving the ex-couple alone. "I would leave but I'd have to grab my clothes and toiletries first."
"Of course," Wanda nodded and grabbed her purse from where she had set it down after man-handling the shopping bags, then turned and headed towards the door.
Despite himself, "Wanda."
"What, John," she didn't bother turning around.
Now that he stopped her he didn't know what to say, so he sighed and went with the first thing that came to mind, "I finished my book."
She slowly turned back around, "You did?"
"Well, first draft," he admitted, scratching his neck, "but it's finally together, every scene is there, it's not patchwork or just a jumble of ideas."
"That's great," she said softly.
"Yeah, ah," he chuckled nervously, "you were always supportive of me finishing it so, ah, I thought you'd like to know."
Wanda nodded ever so slightly, "I look forward to reading it when it's published."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he threw his hands up, another nervous gesture.
"We'll see," she had more confidence in her voice that he could ever feel about such things.
"You know," he couldn't really look at her, "this, this part I miss."
"This part?" the woman asked curiously.
"Being friends," John met her eyes again. "Not sure we could go back to that though."
"No," she said sadly, "not today."
"Yeah," he nodded and with that Wanda turned back towards the door, he wouldn't stop her a second time.