Personal note from robbie: My friend is coming over to spend a couple weeks with me (after a two-week quarantine, naturally, so that she knows she's safe to come visit), and I have a book coming out while she's here (Scaleshifter: The Black Dragon), so I'm spending the next week getting my files ready for that book so that I don't have to worry about it while she's here. Then, I'll be out of touch for two weeks hanging with her. So that's three weeks that I'll be mostly out of touch. Which means I might not update here for a while. Sorry!

Chapter 10: "Take a Breath"

Scott had told James what time he could usually be found trying to get some of his old strength back — in the early morning when the kids weren't trying to mob the pool for some summer fun.

And the timing worked out perfectly for James, since the further out he got from the whole fiasco, the earlier he was waking up, and he knew he still wasn't up to a run with his father yet. But the pool was quiet, and there simply wasn't going to be a lot of splashing unless there was a problem. It was a good way for both of them to go easy. For now. Until the competition would inevitably start, probably by the end of the summer.

Of course, even without the solid competition, that wasn't going to stop either of them from eventually pushing themselves hard, though it was harder for Scott to get to the point of pure exhaustion like the last time James had seen him on his own when he had a swimming partner.

"You're getting faster," Scott said as he and James finally took a break, both of them in the shallow end as Scott sat on the steps leading into the pool to get his breath.

"You too," James replied, sinking down so that just his head was above the surface.

"Yeah, I'll be running foot races in no time," Scott deadpanned.

"You're beating me on distance in the water," James said in a more reasonable tone.

Scott let out a breath and smiled James's way, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "I don't have as much weight to pull."

"Yeah, but that's just details though, right?" James replied. "Or excuses. Whatever. Same thing."

Scott chuckled at that. "Yeah. What's a hundred pounds and a stroke to us?"

James tipped his head to the side as if to say 'not a thing'.

Scott smiled his way before he gestured to the other side of the pool. "One more lap?" he offered.

"Sure," James agreed, backing up to give Scott more room.

By the time the two of them finished their mini-race, a few others had started to make their way down to the pool, though Chance had outpaced the little ones, since he knew that his dad and James would be there. He watched the race and recognized the look on James' face when he'd let Chance get close in their sparring sessions to save his feelings and couldn't quite stop the smirk as he offered his dad a hand to get out of the water.

"Good swim?" he asked with a crooked smile.

Scott returned the smile. "Good way to start the day," he replied.

"Yeah, I can see that." Chance helped Scott get seated and then looked past him to James to give him a significant sort of look and a mouthed out 'thanks.'

James frowned at Chance as soon as he knew Scott wasn't looking, making it clear that he wasn't acknowledging anything.

Chance shook his head at that. "C'mon, Dad," he muttered to Scott. "You know the kids're going to come mob the place, and Mom'll kill me if I don't get you back to stuff you with food," he teased.

Scott just chuckled. "Of course."

James, on the other hand, dried off and dropped into a chair to stick around until someone more responsible showed up to play lifeguard for the little ones. Of course, that didn't happen for a while, since the bamfs preceded the kids.

The little guys took one look at James and quickly disappeared again, bringing Kate with them and chattering at her as she gently stroked their hair. "Okay, okay, I'll come play lifeguard, calm down," she reassured them.

James looked up when she appeared with them and only waited for a moment when he realized that he couldn't understand what the little demons were saying to each other and Kate. They no longer wanted him to understand them, and that was a large part of getting it in the first place. It was an entirely alien sensation considering he'd never known a time when he couldn't understand them.

He stared at a little group of demons on the far side of the pool before he simply got up and turned to leave, though he wasn't entirely surprised by the cold shoulder, it served as yet another reminder. The quick exit to get Kate was reasonable, he thought. No reason to leave the kids with him.

Kate saw James leave and frowned his way for a moment, but with the bamfs chattering insistently that the kids needed adult supervision, she didn't get to say anything about it. Especially when Kade was the one leading the charge of everyone running to the pool, with Ael not far behind.

With everything that had been going on lately, it was easy to lose track of time, but when Chance had realized that it was getting to be mid-July, he made it a point to call up the resort where he and Elin had stayed for their honeymoon and schedule a weekend up there. Just three days — he didn't think Elin would want to be gone for too long.

But it was their anniversary. And if he was honest, he needed a break away from the house and the family that no longer included his little brother.

"Alright, so," Chance said as he caught up to Elin and wrapped her up from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Three days up north. You and me."

She leaned back into him and turned her head to kiss his cheek. "I don't know that we can get away."

"Sure we can," he said. "I asked Krissy to get us a pair of inducers, and I used Uncle Craig's name for the reservations."

Elin couldn't help but smirk at that and then turned to face him and give him a kiss. "How long have you been plotting behind my back, Sweet Summers?"

"Well, I would have liked to do something bigger for our first ever anniversary, but I know we probably can't get away for more than a few days the way things are at home," he admitted.

"I mean, outside of it being the first, is it normal to go all out for the first?"

"No, but you have to understand — I never thought you'd even date me, let alone marry me, so having an anniversary is sort of a big deal for me, okay?" Chance said.

"The feeling is entirely mutual, you ridiculous romantic," Elin said before she stole a kiss.

Chance grinned at her and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I can't help it," he said. "I'm hopelessly, eternally in love with you."

"Did you tell Mom and Dad?" she asked. "Or … Moms. And Dads."

He nodded. "My mom was on board from the minute I said 'anniversary', obviously. She's the one who suggested Uncle Craig, since he's not as tied up in the team as the rest of the family."

Elin nodded. "Yeah, my Mom would have given you a set of fake credentials," she said, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Chance said. "But she and your dad were both on board with the idea of us getting away for a while. I tried to suggest that we could watch the kids if they wanted to do the same thing, but, well, you can imagine how that went."

"Yeah, they're ... " She let out a sigh. "They're talking about ignoring theirs this year."

"I hope they don't," Chance said with a frown. "It's twenty years. That's supposed to be a big deal."

"Tell that to them," she said before she kissed him again. "They're both depressed. Which sucks. Because it's always been just one of them at a time for the other one to drag out of the misery."

"Which is why having a twentieth anniversary would be good for them," Chance reasoned. "Let them get away from it all. James is doing better … we can watch the kids… it would be good, right?"

"It would," she agreed. "But I don't think they'll even consider it until it's a lot closer." She stopped and looked up at him with a little frown. "James said that he'd gone to the cottage too, so … no one is touching that place until we can clear it."

"Alright, so we need to get that done sooner rather than later, because if nothing else, tactically, we need to have that getaway for the kids the next time something stupid happens," Chance reasoned.

"Ah, but, there are dozens of them," she said before she started kissing her way along his jaw.

"Yeah, but that's the one the kids know best," Chance argued as he pulled her down to sit with him, grinning to himself .

"They haven't seen the others; they're just as sweet. I promise. Even if it doesn't have your finger paintings on the wall."

Chance chuckled at that. "That's where all the character is, El," he teased her as he pulled her into a kiss. "Physical proof of how long I've loved you."

"I do have other things stashed from our world tour," Elin promised. "You know. Unless a tree fell on the cabin or something. You still haven't seen that one."

"Well then, that's where we're going for the second anniversary," he decided.

"You'll have to ask Dad about it," she said with a grin. "He doesn't really let visitors go there. I don't think your dad's even seen it."

"I'm sure he'll be amenable. 'Dear Dad, I'd like to take Elin someplace nice for an anniversary and want to get away to the cabin.' Makes you happy, makes him happy, right?"

"Probably," she said, nodding. "So when do we leave for your weekend retreat to Alaska?"

"Friday night," he said. "We'll fly commercial — you know, because a Kree ship would probably attract attention. But we'll look like my Uncle Craig and Aunt Theresa so that we match the names and everything."

"Okay," she said, quickly sitting up away from him. "Guess I'll see you Friday then."

He laughed and pulled her back down. "Hey, hey, since when does a trip mean I can't see you anymore?"

"What? You don't think it'd be fun to do a little distance for a day or two?" Elin had to tease.

"No, no, I don't think that separation is fun, no," Chance said, pulling her down harder in a playful pin.

"I dunno … if it gets you all … possessive and territorial …"

Chance smirked at her as he put his face in his hair. "If I could growl…"

"Well, that's not something I thought I'd ever hear," she said with a little laugh.

He chuckled and pulled her tighter. "Don't you forget it — you're mine," he teased.

She leaned forward to give him a rather long and involved kiss. "Why would I forget that?"

"No idea," he agreed before he simply got wrapped up in her all over again.

Amadi had been helping her father in his shop, and the Maker had been humming to himself distractedly as he worked. When she'd gotten her Stark phone, initially, Forge had been irritated, and a bit insulted, but … after he checked it out and looked it over carefully, he decided that it … would be okay. For now.

He still complained about the number of hidden sensors dotted over the thing, and it wasn't too helpful that Amadi hadn't had a phone before this fiasco, so even now with the new tech, she only had a handful of names in her contact list.

Amadi couldn't help but laugh when she saw how annoyed he was about it. Especially since he didn't think separating the Horsemen or treating them so delicately was the right move.

He had, in fact, taken an entirely different viewpoint than all of the other X-men. Where the team and family at large had pointed out that Amadi and the rest of the Horsemen's actions were really Apocalypse working through them, Forge had simply shrugged at the idea.

"The real problem isn't that there was a hurricane or two here or there," he'd said when it was just him with his wife and daughter. "They knew living in those areas that there were inherent risks due to the weather. The problem is that you showed them how bad it could be and they've never — in the entire history of their government — bothered to put in safeguards for the people that live there. You just exposed their corruption and laziness. Had they set up better protections, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad as it was. And they want to blame you so they don't get blamed at home for how they're handling it."

And Forge flat out refused to hear any argument to it. It didn't matter who brought it up; the reaction was always the same. He'd raise one hand, already shaking his head, and then simply ignore the argument or walk away.

Amadi had heard Forge make his point often enough that it was impossible not to let the message sink in, and it had helped significantly with her own recovery. Add to that the fact that she'd been spending months in LA with the friends that she'd made there — and that one of her closest friends was Bashir Morales, and he was a bundle of pure optimism — and she really was doing the best out of the four former Horsemen.

The biggest issue she had left to work out, honestly, was that, like the others, she was still struggling with her powers. It wasn't quite as bad as James, with his healing pretty much shot, or Sying, who still hadn't made a plasmoid — but she wasn't at the full weather witch powerset that she had reached before Apocalypse had grabbed her.

She was playing with a few little rainclouds at the beach when Remy came down to join her with a warm smile. He had been finding excuses to build her up, and she appreciated it — especially because seeing him alive and well and hanging out with him was doing more to assuage her nightmares than even her dad's insistence. Remy had been the trauma Apocalypse had used to get into her head. Now, she had the ammunition, emotionally, to fight back.

"You warmin' up so you kin help Miss Leslie Ann wit Stormy's garden when you go back, lil Stormy?" he asked.

"Um … I guess that depends on if I'm allowed to go look at it," Amadi said half under her breath.

Remy wrapped his arm around her shoulders with an easy grin. "Course you are. Dat garden is de pride and joy of your mama's — leavin' you aside, of course."

She smiled lightly and leaned into the hug. "What about you? Everyone keeps asking if I'm alright, but you scared me."

Remy turned to wrap her up properly, tucking her head under his chin. "Course I'm alright," he swore. "Takes more'n a half grown Wolverine to keep ol' Remy down."

"You looked pretty down when we left," Amadi pointed out, because she'd been thinking about it before he came by, and it still left her breathless sometimes.

"And I bounced right back up," he said, kissing her forehead. "Jus' sorry you had to see that, lil Stormy. You too good to have nightmares like dat." He dipped his head down to catch her gaze. "Don'tchu worry 'bout ol' Remy, lil Stormy," he told her seriously. "Ain't goin' nowhere. Dat's a promise."

She gave him a little smile and then snuggled into a hug. "I don't know that I want to go to Westchester again," she said.

"Well, dat's up to you, lil Stormy," Remy said. "Ol' Remy wouldn't complain if he got to see his favorite girl more." He paused and looked down at her. "But it sure ain't like you to let somet'in scare you away from what you wanna do."

She pulled a face at that but let out a little huff. "Maybe it's just how it all started — or that we broke the school."

Remy let out a little scoffing noise. "Your mama just 'bout knocked over de whole school when she had you, and she wasn't even tryin'," he said. "It's just part of de way tings are when you got powers."

She couldn't help but smile at that a little, but it dropped off quickly. "But we only wrecked it so that he could grab Sying too."

Remy nodded slowly. "Don't dat tell you a lil sometin' 'bout how good de X-Men are at protectin' de people we care 'bout?" he pointed out. "You gotta tear up de whole place just to get de one person."

She paused and finally nodded slowly. "I didn't think of it like that," she admitted.

He kissed her forehead. "De X-Men take care of de ones we love. You gotta know dat."

She nodded. "I do know that," Amadi agreed. "Look at how my father defends me. It's easy enough to see."

"You got a buncha people on your side, lil Stormy," he said warmly. "And we gon' support you no matter whatchu do. But don' you go lettin' nobody scare you offa what you want."

Amadi gave him a little smile. "Yes, that's true too. I just don't know what that is now."

"How 'bout we start wit' a game o' cards?" Remy asked with a grin. "We take it one day at a time, lil Stormy."

She smiled at him and shyly produced his deck that she'd taken from his coat pocket. "I suppose that would be a place to start."

He grinned at her, obviously proud. "Das my girl."