Chapter 9: "Where This Road Will Take You"

It really started to feel like absolutely everyone was stopping by to check on James, and that feeling didn't ease up at all when Daken stopped in. Not to see Logan ... not directly anyhow.

"Why wasn't Logan with Cyclops at the UN?" he asked in lieu of hello at the door.

Kate raised an eyebrow his way. "Hello to you too. And Logan was busy," she said.

Daken gave her a dry look. "Since when is he too busy to play bodyguard?"

"Since his son was Death," Kate said, readjusting the way she was holding Chelsea as she stood in the doorway. "Or didn't you hear that part?"

He frowned lightly at that, his eyes narrowed a bit more. "I did, but I thought it was part of some cosmic rite of passage, the way things tend to go."

"You're hilarious," Kate said dryly. "No, it wasn't, and it sucked. We've been dealing with the aftermath over here for a while." She balanced Chelsea on her hip and tipped her head to the side. "Were you worried?"

"I'd like to see them," he said, stepping past her so she could close the door.

"Who?" Kate asked. "Don't play the pronoun game, Daken."

He looked at her as if she hadn't been paying attention. "Logan and James. Of course."

"You'll have to ask your stepmother," Kate said. "The kid's been through a lot."

He looked as if that wasn't a surprise at all. "Fine, I'll find her on my own, thanks." He barely looked her way as he simply headed past her to look for K. Or Logan. Or whoever he could find right away. But as luck would have it, he nearly bumped into James first, who was in the kitchen with Chance. "What happened?" Daken asked, totally ignoring Chance.

"Why do you care?" James shot back.

"Be evasive; I'll figure it out sooner or later anyhow, I thought you might want to just tell me rather than leave his father's pasteurized version stand as fact."

"Hate to break it to you, but that's what happened," James said, half glaring at his older brother.

"No," Daken said, shaking his head. "How did he break through? You actually do have a harder head than most. That is genetic. And don't tell me it's his mutant ability. The only way he got through to our father was because he volunteered."

James stared back at him for a moment, knowing he didn't want to get into the details with his half-brother. "I wasn't myself. Car accident."

Daken stepped forward and reached right past Chance's head to grab a coffee cup and pour himself a mug. "And now?"

"And now you're in our kitchen about a few months too late," Chance said with his arms crossed.

He looked down his nose at Chance. "The chances of getting into this place with your little alien watchdog's panties knotted up with all that mess going on were slim to none. I've been doing my own kind of recon in the meantime." Before he could quite expand on that thought, though, he suddenly started to float about two feet off the ground, and his arms were thrown out to the side.

"Leave him alone!" Billy shouted as he stepped into the kitchen, his eyes and hands glowing as he looked outright furious.

"I'm only talking with my brother," Daken growled out, staring at Billy as if he was looking for a fight.

"Let him go," Billy said, his hands clenched in fists as he stalked forward.

"I'm not influencing anyone," Daken insisted, though the accusation had him considering doing something to alter the atmosphere in the room.

"Oh, okay," K said as she stepped into the room with Kate, Chelsea, and Lily peeking around the corner. "Space pants, what did he do? Maybe I can help." She walked forward and rested a hand on Billy's arm.

Billy continued to glare at Daken, his eyes shining with his power. "He's got Noh in his thrall," he said in almost a snarl.

"Noh's on Hala with Jubilee," K said gently.

"No, he's not. I saw him," Billy insisted.

At that, K took a few steps forward and stood in front of Daken, facing Billy. "No, not this time," she said evenly. "He left a few days ago. He's on Hala with Jubilee, Sying, Krissy, and the girls. On my word."

Billy stared at her for a moment longer. "I saw it," he said, though this time not nearly as confidently.

"I'm sure you did, but you didn't see it in our reality," K told him. "I wouldn't stop you toasting Akihiro if he deserved it, but this time, all he's done is forget his manners in a rush to find out things that he could have gotten from a phone call." She looked over her shoulder at Daken, who let out a sigh and rolled his eyes.

Billy held her gaze for a long time, obviously struggling to reconcile what he'd seen with what K was saying.

"Tell him what you've been up to, Akihiro," K said, not turning Daken's way.

"I've … been dealing with some of the more independent weapons programs while the attention was focused on the UN," he replied.

Billy watched Daken for a long time before he finally let him down, and the glow disappeared from around his hands.

K gave him a little smile, stepped back toward Billy, and put her arms around his neck in a hug. "It's okay. Him helping the good guys is enough to send anyone into a spiral. I know."

"I was so sure… Noh was so twisted up," Billy said.

"If he is, he's probably enjoying some alone time with Jubes," K whispered.

Billy finally let out a breath and turned Daken's way. "I… owe you an apology."

"Just tell me that what I've been doing will actually help," Daken said. "Some of those blueprints were not very friendly."

"I kind of recruited him," K whispered low so that really, only Billy, Daken, and James could hear it. "It made sense while they all knew where we were."

Billy nodded slowly and closed his eyes to try to focus. "Yes," he said at last. "It's helping."

"Then am I going to get torn to pieces if I continue to talk to my brother?" Daken asked, still simply watching Billy.

"No," Billy said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I'm ... I have the realities wrong."

Daken smirked. "Then I can only hope that the me in whatever reality you saw doesn't cross your path."

Billy chuckled and nodded. "I'd go now to stop that Daken, but I'm trying to limit my interference to just this reality. At least until I get a better handle on my powers."

"If it makes you feel any better, that couldn't possibly be a long-term game," Daken said. "And Noh, I'm sure, would get revenge. In fact, the only reason I never did that in our time together is because it was too easy."

"That really doesn't make me feel any better," Billy said.

He shrugged. "If it isn't a challenge, it wouldn't hold my interest."

"Stop. Talking," K said, giving him a severe look. "What is wrong with you?"

"So many things," Billy said in an undertone.

"True story," she agreed before she headed over to take Daken by the arm and lead him out of the kitchen. "Carry on. I've got this one."

But that just left Billy, Kate, the kids, and the two older boys standing there staring at each other.

"So," Kate said, smiling Billy's way, "you decided to go all defender of virtues, huh?"

"It… seemed like a good idea."

"How long has this been happening?" James asked, frowning at Billy. He hadn't been around enough to know what had happened, and besides that, Billy's problems had started before he'd been caught by Apocalypse.

"Right before it all started," Billy said, smiling grimly as he pointed at his head. "Apocalypse had to deal with me so I couldn't warn anyone."

James turned his head, his gaze on an unfocused point. "That was the collar that Kurt wanted me to make, right?"

Billy frowned and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Tyler was able to turn off the powers for a while, I think. It's hard to remember right." He rubbed his forehead. "I couldn't turn it off, even when I was dreaming."

"So …" James started out very slowly. "The whole time we were out raising hell and torturing people, you were … flickering through different realities?"

"Not flickering," Billy said. "I just kept seeing the realities. I stayed where I was, but I was … I kept seeing horrible realities. It wasn't like how I usually see the different possibilities. They were all-encompassing. And it was every world where he took over. Every world where my friends and family died…"

"And Apocalypse did that to you … so that you wouldn't interfere," James said … just as slow, but much quieter than his last question.

Billy nodded. "It was sort of like what he did to Kitty. A power surge that …." He rubbed his hands through his hair. "I'm… a little bit insane…"

"Why is it still …" James was frowning harder at him.

Billy shook his head. "No, I have my normal power level back." He looked up at James for a moment and looked truly apologetic. "But after weeks and weeks of not knowing where I was… I can't … I still forget where I am," he said quietly.

"Is that how you found my new little sister, then?" James asked, glancing over to where he knew Lily was still trying to sneak a peek.

Billy nodded. "I saw her…. Creed was going to kill her."

"That can't be helping," James said quietly. "if you're going to other realities to bring at-risk kids back here. I'm not complaining … I just … gotta ask."

"No, it's not helping," Billy said. "I'm trying to make sure I only step in when it's this reality, but I still get them mixed up."

"It's a little different look — the insanity on a Demiurge," Kate said, rubbing her hand over Billy's back. "It's alright; we're getting better."

James looked very thoughtful as he watched Billy, but he didn't speak up at all, instead going back to get a cup of coffee in time for Chance to remind him to take the meds before Sadie came to remind him. Again.

But Billy stayed in the kitchen as the group slowly dispersed, watching James in return until the others were gone and he spoke slowly. "What he did wouldn't have worked for Vanessa," he said quietly. "Not quite the same way. She'd still be seeing the future, but she would know it was this reality and still be able to warn people."

"Doesn't matter," James said in response, his gaze on his coffee cup and his features twisted as he tried to control his reaction. He wasn't prepared to do that. Not when his dreams had shifted slightly. He was no longer dreaming about the fire all the time. Sometimes, it was trying and failing to save Vanessa. Sometimes, it was just her lifeless body hanging upside down with a vacant gaze and a broken neck.

"It does matter," Billy said quietly. He closed his eyes to concentrate. "There… I can see a reality in which he did that to her. But Sinister wanted her gone."

"Please don't do that," James said very softly, on the verge of tears just due to subject matter. Everyone had been so careful to avoid talking about Vanessa that now, James didn't know how to address anything to do with her, let alone the labyrinth of what if scenarios.

"But I know you wanted to ask," Billy said.

"I don't want you taking any risks on screwing up your focus. Not for something that can't be changed. She's gone. That's all there is to it." James had slipped straight back to anguished and heartbroken. No one had tried to really talk to him about Vanessa except for his parents and his sister, and he was under the impression that everyone would rather just … forget about her and how upset James was that she was gone. She was just one girl, after all. One girl whose only impact on the group at large was really just James. And so many, many more were killed by his actions, let alone what the four of them and Apocalypse's followers had done. He knew the three were upset by those they'd murdered, but James had been killing people almost nonstop for the whole time he'd been under Apocalypse's thrall. One girl that had no family … no ties … she didn't have the impact that the other deaths had, and James knew that they just didn't care.

At least, he thought that was the case.

"It's alright," Billy said. "She meant the world to you. And I know you wanted to know." He closed his eyes and concentrated. "In that world, Vanessa went insane. Like I did. But you took care of her when you came back, even if she never fully recovered."

James was deathly quiet. "And how many of those realities did you see that I didn't come back?" he asked at last. He didn't want to talk about Vanessa. Not like that, at least. Not with Billy.

"Dozens," Billy admitted. "Dozens where your sister was Death, too."

James gestured to his head. "They cut me open to get rid of him. What happens if they missed something?"

Billy held out his hand to James. "I can look. I know there are realities where they did miss it, and it was every bit as horrible as you can imagine. But if you want the reassurance, I can look again."

He thought about it for a moment and then just shook his head, knowing that if Apocalypse could come back through him, James wouldn't fight it — he didn't want to — and that scenario would likely end in his death. "No, nevermind."

But Billy reached over to grab James' arm, his eyes already glowing. "LookintoJames lookintoJames LookintoJames," he chanted to direct the spell. His hand glowed where it was touching James for just a moment before he smiled James's way. "Well, you're filled with all of the same emotions that he tapped into to overtake you, but as for Apocalypse himself, you're totally clean. If that makes you feel any better."

"Not really," James admitted. "Thanks for trying, though."

"It's the least I can do. I've seen so many realities where you were Death — and where you were dead. I don't want this to be one of those realities," he said. "You have so much to do here."

"If you say so," James said.

Billy leaned forward. "I shouldn't warn you… I was looking ahead and… it's not an answer to your question but… you need to look out for Elin and Chance. I've seen you save them… I still haven't quite sorted out what it is that got them there, but they were in it deep."

"You sure it wasn't from the car accident?" James said flatly. "I was breathing for Chance until Sinister yanked me back."

"I know," Billy said. "But I'm talking… there's a lab…" Billy's eyes glowed for a moment as he trailed off, following the future. He blinked back after several minutes and stared at James. "Hey," he said, his voice different suddenly, with a bit more of the echoing equality of the Demiurge. "Don't."

"I don't know what 'don't' you're talking about," James said in an even flatter tone.

"Yes you do," Billy said, drawing himself up. "And believe me, I know how bad that can be. Personally. I'm telling you: don't."

James closed his eyes and turned away. Teddy's words were still ricocheting around in his mind, but he didn't want to have this conversation again.

Billy let his shoulders drop. "I know," he said softly. "You'll never get away from that moment of weakness. It'll follow you around forever, and it sucks. It really does. But it's better than the alternative. I promise you it is, no matter how guilty you feel right now. I know that too. I remember. Teddy still gets nervous for me sometimes, and it's been decades. I know."

James couldn't look him in the face as he shifted guiltily. "I just … long term, with all my screw ups … if I wasn't there, everything could be simpler for everyone else, you know?" He hadn't said as much to anyone out loud, and he knew that Billy would have to have seen a future where that much was absolutely true. Finally, he looked up to meet Billy's gaze. "You can't tell me that it's not relevant in multiple worlds. I've played it out in my head more times than I can count. I'm too much trouble."

Billy sighed and then tried a different tactic. "You have to realize what the ripple effects of that would be. Right now, you're careening toward exactly the kind of pain I'm trying to stop. And if you do what you're considering, you're going to take Scott and Logan with you," he warned. "One right after the other."

James shook his head and looked down at his hands.

"I'm serious," Billy said. "Scott will be first. He'll have another heart attack, and that one will be fatal. Your dad's only lasting longer because it takes him longer to accept that you're gone and not missing." He drew himself up. "Chance never recovers. He and Elin leave the team. Your mom takes the other kids and goes into hiding. And then Leslie Ann hangs herself because she's convinced you had the right idea." He let his gaze fall on James. "Want me to go on?"

"There's no way," he said, shaking his head.

"I can show it to you," Billy said. "Shock therapy. Worked for Cyclops to get him to finally tell your dad he liked him — seems to work miracles."

James shook his head and met Billy's gaze. "I haven't been a real part of things here for a long time. You're overstating things."

"Fine." Billy's eyes glowed for a second before they found themselves in the cemetery in Westchester. "Read them. Tell me I'm wrong."

James shook his head and looked over to Billy. "You're not convincing. This could be from literally anything. Come on, just … let me go back to my room."

"I'm trying not to show you—" Billy let out a sound of pure frustration as his eyes glowed even brighter. "Fine." In an instant, the scene changed, and they were standing at the funeral for James — and just like Billy had said, James' family was a mess, and Scott flat wasn't there, either. Annie was hunched over between Charlie and Chloe simply sobbing her eyes out, and Charlie wasn't even registering it, staring at nothing straight ahead.

Which was nothing next to James' family. The girls were an absolute mess. Elin and K were both trying to hold it together, but Elin's whole focus was on Chance, who had clearly shut down entirely and was barely even moving after losing two brothers, with his dad fighting for his life in the med lab. And K was wearing an expression James had never seen on her face. She was somewhere between broken down and terrified, holding on tightly to Logan — who looked more haggard than James had ever seen, with an almost vacant expression that he'd only ever really seen in the mirror … recently.

And that seemed to do it more than any of the threats or predictions. The idea of his mother that upset and his father snapping like that had James' attention.

Billy watched James for a moment before the scene shifted again, subtly. Only this time, it wasn't James's funeral, even if the pictures were incredibly similar. Billy didn't say a word to explain it as he simply let James take it in: the loud and uncontrolled sobs coming from Jubilee, the way that this time, Elin and K simply couldn't keep it together as Elin had melted into a teary mess and K was staring at nothing, crying and recoiling from anyone touching her. Or the fact that Charlie was so far removed that she had to be carried from her seat, the way Lily was clutching onto Sadie since K didn't want to be touched — all of it.

"Six funerals in one year," Billy said at last. "Kitty. Cody. You. Scott. Logan. Leslie Ann." He wasn't even watching the funeral, his whole focus on James. "Look what it does to them." When James was just frozen to the spot, Billy finally let his shoulders drop, and the scene shifted one more time, taking them out of the future and back to the present — though they were still in the cemetery.

Billy stepped forward and pulled James into a tight hug. "You are so loved, James," he whispered gently. "By so many people."

Of course, James didn't really have any means to respond to him other than to just hold on and try not to flat lose it on the spot, though it was a near miss, and his entire frame was shaking.

Billy hung onto him tightly, knowing not only how much he needed it anyhow, but how much more important it was to give him that contact after weeks of being tied down. That was another trauma that was going to take James a long time to get past, and a large part of why he was still teetering on the edge. "I'm sorry. I had to show you. I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

But James shook his head.

"That's what I was seeing when I was sleeping. That or Teddy dying or something else horrible. I had to stop it from happening here."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. It's not your fault. None of it is," Billy said. He gave James one more squeeze before he stepped back, and James saw that he was holding a bouquet of roses. "I brought you to her," he said quietly. "It's overdue, and I know you need to pay your respects."

When James focused on the flowers and then turned to see where exactly they were, it only served to open the floodgates, and he barely made it three steps toward Vanessa's headstone before he was on his knees. He tried to hold himself together, but it was too much, and he'd avoided the cemetery to keep from seeing the names, the still-fresh mounds of dirt, and the confirmation that yes, Vanessa was gone. And Kitty and Cody … all three of whom he felt responsible for.

Billy stood back and simply let James let it out for as long as he needed to, sitting down close by with his hands clasped under his chin as he watched the scene. He knew that James wasn't going to risk causing that future, but that didn't mean that he wasn't an emotional wreck, and Billy wasn't going to leave him alone when he knew how alone he already felt.

Finally, when it was clear that James was just done, Billy waved a hand, and Logan appeared close by.

Logan took in the scene and then started toward them silently. He gave Billy a look as he passed him by, then simply joined James, one arm around his back as he knelt down next to him and tried to gather him up. James looked up at his father almost belatedly, then turned into his shoulder, clutching onto him but too worn down to even try and apologize again. It took a little while, but Logan managed to get James on his feet, and the two of them headed up to the house very slowly.

When Logan finally got James into his room, the young man more or less passed out on the spot as Logan settled into the chair nearby to keep close to him, even waving Kari off when she poked her head in a while later. He didn't begrudge the girl for all the help she'd given James, but this was something Logan needed to do for James.

After the moment in the cemetery, James ended up taking a few days almost entirely to himself and whichever family member slipped in the room with him to keep him company as he tried to work through some of the grief surrounding Vanessa's death. He wasn't over her by any means, but anyone who came into his room to keep him company after Billy had his intervention could hardly miss the fact that he was wearing the pearl that he'd given Vanessa — rolling it between his fingers and staring out of his window.

Regardless of plans to stay or plans to leave them, no one could deny he was missing her terribly.

But eventually, James also started to realize he needed to do something other than grieve. He had no drive and no desire to do anything — but when he started having side effects from the medicine he was on to counteract the adamantium poisoning, James knew he had to do something. His appetite was nonexistent, he'd lost most of his muscle mass, and it was quickly getting to the point that even walking from one end of the mansion to the other had him out of breath. What's more, he was finding it hard to focus … another tip off that even with the drugs in his system, the metal was winning, since he wasn't feeding his healing properly. He couldn't keep going at the pace he was at and live — and he'd seen the way Hank was looking at him, considering when it was time to push for tube feeding again.

So James started out by forcing himself to eat a little more. His stomach lurched every time he took a meal, and he wasn't sure if it was side effects or the depression making it hard to want to eat. But it did start to help a little. And it did start to slowly reverse the muscle loss — but it wasn't fast enough. He had to do something more than just sleep, even if that's all he wanted to do.

But he didn't want to go to the gym, and he knew he wasn't up to running. So he started looking for something he could do. He was in his bed, staring at the ceiling as Sadie slept on a cot next to him, when he heard the subtle splash of the pool echoing in through the open window, so he decided to slip out of bed, grab his phone, and see who in the world was swimming at this hour of morning.

Scott was clearly out of breath, hanging onto the rungs of the ladder in the pool to keep himself out of the water enough to get his breath back. He was clearly exhausted, not quite able to pull himself out of the water to get to where the chair was out of the pool, so he was just letting himself float while he took a break.

James had watched him for a short while through the window before he made his way out to the pool and simply sat down cross-legged not far from the ladder. "Looks cold."

"It's fine," Scott said, picking his head up to look at James.

"That doesn't mean it's not cold," James pointed out.

Scott shook his head. "It's fine," he said again. "What about you? Planning on getting a tan while you can?"

"Warmer than being in that water," James countered with a self-conscious shrug as he half curled in on himself.

"Yes, well. I'm told it's easier to get my strength back this way," Scott said in a frustrated tone.

"I should do it too, but I sink so easy," James said with a grim smirk. "I'm likely to be accused of something if I try swimming and sink instead."

Scott couldn't help but smirk at that. "Little heavier than you're used to, huh?"

"Ah, yeah," he said, nodding. "Hank's conservative estimate is that I'm up from my normal weight oh … one-ten. One-fifteen. Ish."

"How are you holding up?" Scott asked. "Literally."

"I'm here," he said, shrugging. "Can't say physically it's getting better yet, but …"

"Yeah," Scott said quietly. "Yeah, I hear that."

James looked down to his hands for a moment, then cleared his throat, though when he did speak, there was a tremor to his voice. "So, I needed to apologize to you. I wasn't thinking. At all. And I didn't mean to upset anyone. I just thought... I wanted to …" James closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and find what he wanted to say. "I'm sorry."

Scott frowned at that and pulled himself up so that he had his elbows on the side of the pool, part of the way out of the water. "James… are you alright?"

"Absolutely not," he replied frankly. "But I'm gonna try to work on it."

Scott watched James for a moment before he took a deep breath and pushed himself up out of the pool and simply grabbed James — partly to get himself out and partly to pull him into a hug once he was there.

"I won't do it again," James promised quietly.

"Thank you," Scott said quietly. "I can't lose another boy."

"I know," James said as he gave Scott a squeeze.

"You're a good kid, James," Scott said. "I'm glad to have you back."

"I'm not really back yet," he replied, then paused. "But if you're going to work that hard in the pool, I could join you. No reason not to have an extra hand."

Scott smirked at that. "It's a deal."

Even though the X-Men were still wary of the public mood, things were at least starting to look up. The former Horsemen were improving, and for more good news, the McCoy twins arrived at the start of July, blonde and adorable and much smaller than Tristan or Lacy had been.

Tyler was grinning widely and curled up with Tammy and the two little girls when a few visitors arrived from Westchester to see the newest additions to the family — including Logan and K with little Lily, since Tyler was her brother too.

"Hey, Lil," Tyler called out with a grin when he saw her. "Did you come to see the babies?"

"Uh-huh," she said, grinning up at him from where she was sitting on Logan's shoulders.

"You want to come sit with me? You can say hello to Sarah and Hannah," Tyler offered. "They're sleeping now, but they're pretty cute, don't you think?"

She looked down at Logan, who twisted his neck so she could see his face, and then she nodded. "O-tay." Logan picked her up and set her on the floor, though she had barely touched it before she zipped right over and put her arms up for Tyler to pick her up.

Tyler grinned and swept her up so she could see the cute little girls. "What do you think? They're almost as small as some of your sisters were."

"Twins," Tammy said with a grin K's way. "Can you imagine if they'd been as big as Tristan was with both of them in there?"

"Oh, God, no," K said, pulling a face. "Don't … ugh. No, don't put that picture in my head."

Tammy smiled at that as Tristan pulled a face her way playfully, and the little family settled in to show Lily off.

"No need for that look," K said. "You're the one with the giant head."

"Hey, my head's normal-sized," Tristan said, pulling a face at her.

"For a troll," K replied, returning his expression almost flawlessly.

"Is not."

"So, so is," she laughed.

"Oh, stop picking on him," Tammy said with a smile. "He's my beautiful boy."

"Mo-om," Tristan grumbled.

"Yeah, come o-o-on, mo-om," K whined out along with him as she headed over to snuggle up with Logan.

Tyler chuckled and leaned over to Lily. "Your mama is hilarious," he told her.

She leaned closer to him and put one hand up by the side of her mouth to whisper, "She says dey need to keep on dere toes."

"And what do you think?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I dunno what dat means," she said, shaking her head.

"It means she wants them to have sharp minds," Tyler said, poking her in the center of the forehead. "So they can be smart."

"Did she toe-ded you too?"

Tyler grinned at that. "Oh yeah. For sure."

She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears and then leaned forward until she was leaning on his shoulder.

And while the group of ferals were all curled up downstairs, upstairs, some of the other Westchester group were chatting with their Chicago friends. Willow had recently turned thirteen and had started to pick up on other people's thoughts, so Rachel was helping her to get her powers under control.

Of course, Scott was thrilled with the news — and Bobby was proudly telling Annie about how Willow had her mother's power, enough that she was also picking things up with her mind already.

"Got all your looks but her mama's hair and powers," Annie teased him lightly. "Sounds about right."

But for all of the good news going around the group, Scott had noticed that Anton wasn't quite his usual good-natured self, though he didn't have to look far to figure out what Anton was bothered by. David and Leslie Ann were chatting amiably among themselves, sitting together on the couch with his arm behind her shoulders.

"How long has that been going on?" Scott asked with a small smile.

"About a month," Anton grumbled.

"Nice to see her smiling again," Scott said, the smile widening when Anton turned to give him a look. "I know you're used to having her all to yourself."

"Just don' wanna see her throwin' herself at a boy just to feel better," Anton grumbled.

Scott shook his head lightly. "Come on, Anton. You and I have both seen her through trauma, and we both know she does the opposite when she's hurting. She left the team, she went to school - this isn't that."

"And you handled it so well when it was Rachel datin' even as a grown woman," Anton grumbled.

"Hey, that was different," Scott said, shooting Anton a frown. "That was a wedding and a baby I didn't even know about." He looked up at Anton. "So unless there's something I need to know on that front…"

"She damn well better hope not," Anton grumbled, getting an honest laugh out of Scott.

"Seriously, Anton. It's only been a month, and it looks like he's got her smiling. That seems like a good thing to me."

Anton let his shoulders drop at last as he let out all his breath as well. "Yes. Well. Sorta hard to get used to the idea of lettin' her go when a few weeks ago we were spendin' every day just gettin' her through."

Scott nodded quietly at that. "Yeah, we're still doing that ourselves," he said.

"Those boys havin' a hard time?"

"Well, Sying has Krissy and a baby on the way," Scott said. "James… he's improving, but I haven't seen him smile in a long time."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Anton said quietly. "Kid's a pistol when he's on his feet."

"Don't I know it," Scott chuckled.

"It's not fair to those kids," Anton said. "Especially the younger ones. At least Leslie Ann was a grown woman."

"They're dealing with it," Scott said. "Which is, actually, a much bigger deal than it seems."

"I hear that," Anton said, resting a hand on Scott's shoulder for a moment before he let out a laugh and shook his head. "Right. You should get back to spoilin' your granddaughter. And you should say hi to Ty's kids. He's been walkin' around like he's king of the world, and it ain't gonna stop anytime soon."

Scott laughed at that and nodded. "He's got every reason to," he agreed as they headed down together to go say hello.

When they got down there, Logan and K had a newborn each, and Lily was sitting with Tammy asking her a dozen questions on how this had happened. She was very serious, and she was leaning close enough to her that she was just short of touching noses with her. "But how?"

"You tellin' that sweet lil girl 'bout how angels come down from Heaven and hide in your body for a few months while they're growin'?" Anton called out to Tammy with a grin.

Lily glanced up at him quickly, startled by the new voice, but as soon as she got a good look at him, it was like watching a spring unwind as she relaxed and then hopped off of Tammy's lap to march right up to him and stare almost straight up at him. "Hi. I Lily."

Anton grinned down at her and crouched to her eye level. "Hi. I'm Anton," he said.

She glanced over to Logan and K, and as soon as Logan nodded his head once, she turned back to Anton and very nearly attacked him with a hug around the neck.

Anton chuckled and picked her up in a hug as he stood up with her. "You been spendin' all your time with Ty and his wife? You know they got some cute kids. Got a little girl just a few years older than you, too."

She nodded her head seriously. "Ty is my brudder."

Anton nodded just as seriously. "Yeah, I heard about the angel that magically came into our world. You're very cute for an angel," he teased her.

She gave him a little smile, her eyes dancing just before she leaned forward and snuggled in. "Das what mama says too."

"Well, I got a couple girls, but they're all grown now and havin' little ones just like you," Anton told her. "My baby, Mary Beth, she's got two."

"We've been telling her that she can have pretty much anyone in her family that she wants," Logan said from across the room. "Looks like she's considering you for adoption."

Anton grinned at that. "Hey, who wouldn't want an angel?" he asked, turning LIly upside down to tickle her before he pulled her upright again.

She smiled at him. "I gots fwee Dads. An' a lot o' sissers. But onwy two … no. fwee and a haf brovers."

"That's a whole lotta family," Anton agreed. "How'd you get so lucky to have so many dads?"

She grinned wider at that. "I have Mama, ana Wolvie, ana Billy, ana Teddy."

Anton grinned. "You are really lucky, lil miss Lily."

She started giggling madly. "Sto-o-o-op, I not miss. I jus Li-ly."

"So you don' want me to call you Lil Miss Priss with a cherry on top?"

"Sto-o-o-o-o-op," she said, giggling more as she swatted at him and then curled in. "You siwy."

"Lil Miss Tiger Lily, Queen of the Entire Northeast," he said, snuggling into her with a smirk.

But she was just giggling quietly at that, and the grin wasn't going anywhere, so she just melted into him and got comfortable. "Yeah, I don't know where she gets that from," K said, getting a little chuckle out of Logan.

"Yes ma'am, it's a mystery," Anton said with a smirk.

"Looks like you might need to come our way for Christmas, Uncle Anton," Logan rumbled.

"Looks like," Anton agreed. "Probably for the best anyway; should bring my girls to Westchester, let their grandparents play with Mary Beth's little ones…"

"There'll be enough little ones," K said. "And if Billy keeps pulling this, we'll probably need to open up a nursery school."

"It's always been like that for y'all," Anton teased. "Never been to that school when there hasn't been a group of little ones."

"Is that why you haven't come by lately?" K asked. "Afraid of the little ones?"

Anton chuckled. "Believe it or not, I'm gettin' older too. I know I don't look it as much as my brother-in-law here, but I'm slowin' down."

"I don't believe it," Logan muttered.

"I know; hard to believe when I still look the same," Anton teased. He grinned at Lily and tossed her in the air once to catch her.

She latched on with him with both arms and kissed his cheek when he caught her. "I wike it hewe. I wike hims." She patted Anton on the chest.

Anton grinned at her. "You're welcome to come visit anytime."

She looked over to Logan and K, and when again, Logan nodded, she burst into a giggle and snuggled up tight again. "Good."