Epilogue one, part 1
Beginning of September
Victor leans back against the car and sighs. His mate was taking this a lot harder than his cub.
It's Zoe's first day of school and they dropped her off together. Zoe couldn't wait to get inside but Rae can't stop hugging her.
"Okay that's enough" Victor intervenes out of necessity "She's gonna be late if you to keep this up. Go inside and have fun, alright princess? Mom and I will pick you up together at the end of the day".
"Just one more hug" Rae says as she pulls Zoe close to her.
"Have to go now mommy, love you".
She quickly kisses Zoe one more time "Okay sweetie, I love you. You're gonna have so much fun".
"I will!" Zoe exclaims as she runs across the playground, her little backpack bouncing on her back.
Rae slowly gets up and straightens her back again. She blinks and a few tears, which she can now finally show, leave her eyes. She's shivering a little as she continues to look at the school door, even though Zoe is long gone.
Victor moves away from the car to stand behind his mate and pulls her against him from behind "Shouldn't you be happy she's outta your hair for a little bit? Now you can actually get some work done" he tries to cheer her up.
Rae takes a deep breath and sighs "I really liked having her around all the time. I miss her already and she's going here 5 days a weak. That's so many days!".
Victor chuckles as he kisses her hair and presses her even closer "It's good for her. And for you also. This is how it's supposed to go with cubs right? They're suppose to go to school and shit?".
Rae turns around in his arms and lets her head rest against his chest "I guess" she whispers as she wraps her arms around his waist.
She loves hiding away in his big arms when things get a little dark in her mind.
Victor slowly strokes her hair and back as he kisses her some more "Let's go and do something together now that we have the chance".
He actually took the whole day off so he could spend it with just her for a change. Of course they always had the evenings because Zoe's bedtime was at 7, but still. He wanted to actually do something together and go outside the house.
She looks up and kisses him "Yes" she smiles "That would be nice".
After about 20 minutes in the car he stops in the middle of a forest.
"Wanna finally tell me what we're going here?" she asks him.
They get out of the car and close the doors.
"Feral training" he casually replies "Something you badly need".
She scoffs out a laugh "Excuse me?".
"It's obvious that my brother didn't teach you any proper feral fighting techniques at that mutant academy of yours".
"School for gifted youngsters" she rectifies him.
"Yeah, yeah, that one. Anyway-" he continues as he takes her hand in his and starts walking "Let's take a stroll and find a nice and quiet place. Somewhere no one will interrupt us".
"Hm, hm" she replies sarcastically "Because we'll be doing feral training. So that's what that's called nowadays".
He chuckles as he squeezes her hand "We're going to do actual training, so get your mind outta the gutter Kitten".
She starts laughing "Fine, fine. Feral training it is".
He offered to help her with it months ago, but with Zoe around their lives have been kinda hectic. But now it was ideal.
She looks down at their hands as they walk further into the forest. They're holding hands. Almost like a normal couple.
She likes it.
And she likes the idea of Victor teaching her how to properly fight and use feral techniques in the right ways.
She isn't bad at fighting or weak or anything. She just isn't as good as he is, so he probably has a lot to teach her, mainly due to all his experience.
Of course she has the reflexes, the agility, the speed and the enhanced strength that comes with being a feral. But fighting like one, like he does, she never really did that before.
"I actually wanted to talk to you about something" he suddenly breaks the comfortable silence after a few minutes.
She can smell he's a little uneasy all of a sudden. A little uncomfortable.
So this should be good.
"Okay" she replies "Shoot".
"It's-" but he instantly stops talking. He's not quite sure how to bring this topic up. Even Victor Creed knows it's weird to talk about what he wants to talk about, after only knowing each other for five months.
Especially looking at how they met.
Rae laughs softly "Victor what's going on? Why can't you tell me?".
"It's about Zoe".
"Okay" she replies "So what about her?".
"Well-" he takes a few seconds to think about his next words again "Do you think she's lonely?".
"Hmm" Rae let's the thought cross her mind for a little while "No I don't think she is. She has us and we give her loads of attention. Then there is Anna who adores her. And Zoe has quite a lot of friends, judging by the amount of play dates she has per week. Why? Do you think she's lonely?".
Rae smells Victor is still a little uneasy and hasn't really spilled the real question.
"I meant-" he carefully tries again "Because she's an only child".
"Oooooh" Rae muses a she finally understands where this is going "Uhm, well to be honest: no again. I don't think Zoe is lonely because she's an only child".
"Hm" he murmurs "So you don't think that, uhm, ya know, that we should-".
Rae blinks a couple of times before finally realizing what he's asking her.
"Are you asking if we should make her a sibling?".
She tries to keep a straight face but a smile is playing around her lips the entire time. This is simply too amusing.
Victor on the other hand, is done being uncomfortable about this topic. They are feral mates. This is a completely normal thing to ask. Time doesn't matter because they are mates for life anyway.
"Yes" he replies determinedly "That is what I'm suggesting. You got a problem with that Kitten?".
Rae can't hold back any longer "Ooooooooooh Victor Creed, the big bad evil, are you asking me to make babies with you?".
He growls "A baby. One. Just one. And never mind".
She takes a deep breath and manages to stop laughing "Okay, I'm sorry. It's just I don't get a lot of good opportunities to make fun of you so".
"I just don't want her growing up lonely and so I thought this would be nice for her" he replies "And also for us" he admits as he thinks about how it would be to have his cub inside his mate's belly.
Rae smiles. Even though it's way too soon for her to even consider making babies, she loves that he thought about it.
"There's nothing wrong with being an only child Victor. I'm an only child. And you practically are, because you and the only sibling you have hardly see each other. People who say that children without siblings are lonely, are just spreading unfounded popular opinion based on nothing. There's actually loads of scientific research that suggest that-".
"Okay, okay, okay, okay" he interrupts her "I get it. No more cubs. Just forget about it alright".
She halts as she turns a little to look at him and smiles "I meant not right now Victor".
He gazes into her eyes as he pulls her close to him "So eventually you would? A few years from now or something?".
She moves to stand on her toes and kisses him softly as her hands rests on his cheek.
"Yes Victor. Eventually. But not for a long time. For now I'd actually like to just spend time with you" she looks down at her hands and decides she has some opening up to do of her own "I'd like to get to know my mate better in the upcoming period actually".
He smirks. He likes her answer and she's right. Even though they have a connection that no one would ever understand and that will last forever, that doesn't automatically mean they know each other very well yet. And he also wants that to change. Even though it automatically will happen for them, since they're going to spend a lot of years together.
"I want that too" he eventually admits "It's why I hired a nanny"
"You what?! I thought I was your nanny!".
He chuckles "Yeah, but you got fired for sleeping with your boss".
It makes her laugh.
"Okay, but seriously Victor. Explain".
He takes a deep breath "Alright. Listen up, cuz I'm only gonna say this once and it will never leave these woods. Understood?".
"Ooooh, is it top secret?".
He scoffs "Hardly, and anyway, no one would believe you if you told them I said this, because I am the big bad evil, remember? But anyway. I hired a nanny for two days a week. Because I want to have some spare time for-, uhm, ya know".
Rae cocks a brow "No? I don't?".
Victor takes a deep breath as he looks her dead in the eyes "I wanna do this training with you, but I also just want to do other shit with you. I don't just wanna rely solely on this feral mate connection. We're good in that area. And we're also good at-"
"Mindlessly fucking?" she jokingly interrupts him.
He scoffs out a laugh "Yes that also. But I was gonna say 'raise Zoe together'".
"Yeah, you weren't gonna say that. Cuz you're a perv. And it doesn't explain why you hired a nanny".
He growls "If you stop interrupting".
She flashes him a wicked grin and presses her lips together, silently promising him to keep quiet this time.
"You and I met only a few months ago when you started working for me. We've been feral mates for a few weeks. I love Zoe and so do you. But this whole situation doesn't really, how do I say this-" he waits for a few seconds to find the right words "enable us to get to spend a whole lotta time together. And that's what I want. Simple as that".
"So, like, go on dates and stuff? Like an actual couple?" she asks him.
"Yeah, sure, like that" he replies.
She smiles as she thinks about what he just said.
She wholeheartedly agrees.
She also loves spending time with Victor and she loves spending time with Zoe. But ideally, they would've had a few years together before cubs came into the picture. Simply to have some more time with just the two of them. To form a deeper connection in other areas of their relationship. Like normal people. And she loves that he wants that also.
"So what do ya say?" he finally asks her.
"I love it" she replies. "And I won't ever tell anyone you said all that sappy stuff".
"No one would believe you anyway" he smirks.
"True. And now I also have something to tell you Victor".
He narrows his eyes "What's that Kitten?".
"Logan and Hank are visiting tonight".
"For fuck sake".
AN: I am also gonna write about Logan and Hank visiting, but it's taking me ages so I decided to just upload the first bit of this epilogue :-)