A/N - Hey all - this was supposed to go up Monday night, but then I lost power. Then I figured Tuesday night ... and I lost power again. So. Well, shit. Here we are. This was actually as fast as the universe would allow. So. Hope I can be quicker with the follow up. Much love as always to PracticallyAnAvenger. We didn't forget you, my dear! And hey - it's finally here!
Chapter 132 - Destination Wedding
Kate and Nate both had been completely prepared for something simple for the ceremony itself, since it had to take place entirely within the small home where Scott was allowed to be. They had their wedding party, which consisted of their parents, their siblings, and their closest friends - and Toby, who they'd asked to officiate. Everyone else would be at the big reception later, but really, they were planning to get dressed up, say some vows, and then catch Scott in the biggest hug possible before they had to leave.
But neither of them knew that Billy had been working on a huge spell just for the two of them, as a wedding present. He had been working with his mom on some reality-altering magic, cramming tons of space into the living room so that, when Kate and Nate arrived, the living room had a small meadow right in the center of it, with a gorgeous arch made of roses.
The soon-to-be newlyweds both stared in abject shock at all Billy had managed to do before Kate let out a noise of pure joy and flung her arms around Billy, hugging him tightly.
"This is amazing," Kate gushed happily, still squeezing the life out of him.
Billy grinned and hugged her back, "So are you. Congratulations," he said. "Oops. Got a little too enthusiastic with your veil." He helped her get her veil back on her hair just right. Her hair was pulled up underneath the veil in an updo with strands of hair falling down on either side of her face, and he didn't want to mess up what looked like a complicated hairdo.
No one could hide their proud grins at the expressions Kate and Nate were wearing. They had already come to their wedding excited for the unified start, but the fact that Billy had set this up to even look like they originally wanted it to look before all the complications… it was perfect.
Now with something a little more substantial than a living room to work with, everyone in the wedding party arranged themselves on the proper sides. Lexi, as Kate's maid of honor, led the way alongside James, who was Nate's best man. And they went down in a proper parade, with one of Kate's bridesmaids (and her little brother Jimmy, her bridesman) paired with each of Nate's groomsmen (and his sister, Rachel, his groomswoman). America went with Rachel. Jimmy went with Tim. And although Tommy had originally been in the party, Mia grabbed Billy to walk with, since Tommy, for obvious reasons, had been dropped from the wedding party for his own safety. So Cassie took up the rear by herself - but she'd prepared for that and had brought a basket of flowers to throw indiscriminately around as if she'd been meant to be the flower girl the whole time. She even completed the bit by shrinking herself to be about two feet tall. She hadn't known there would be an aisle to walk down, but she had come ready to pelt people with flowers.
Scott and Annie stood on Nate's side, and Clint and Natasha were beaming on Kate's as Kate came after Cassie, laughing at the flower petals that had marked a path for her to walk.
As for Kate, the fact that she was laughing just made her more beautiful to Nate as he watched her walk down toward him. Jan had designed her dress to somewhat hide the fact that she was pregnant, drawing attention to her archer's shoulders rather than to the rest of her body. Her shoulders were bare, but the dress had long sleeves that started about halfway down her upper arms. The sleeves themselves were billowy and sheer, so that everyone could see how toned she was from all her years of training. The top of the bodice started at about the same level as her sleeves, with the top of her dress wrapped tightly around her chest in patterns that almost looked like x's.
And then, just above her stomach, Jan had designed the dress to billow out in multiple layers, so that the fact that she was pregnant meant almost nothing next to the many different designs overlapping to create an almost windswept effect for the bottom half of Kate's dress. With each step, she looked like she was stepping out of a movie - and the best part was the Jan had managed to design the very bottom of the dress to look like feathers, so that it looked like she was being carried by birds in the wind.
Toby grinned as Kate and Nate stood in front of him, tickled that they had asked him to be part of this momentous occasion - and that they trusted him to be part of the small circle of those allowed into Scott's small circle of house arrest trustees.
"I can honestly say that I have been looking forward to this day, personally, for some time," Toby said, smiling crookedly. "Everyone who knows you has seen the way the two of you look at each other, so we are all more than excited for you to be here."
Kate and Nate couldn't stop grinning as Toby took them through the ceremony. They'd just asked for something simple, since they hadn't been expecting much, just a civil ceremony without too many bells and whistles. So all he had planned was to give a little speech and let them sign their marriage certificate in front of him. But that just meant that everyone was kind of making things up as they went along.
"Hey, Katie," Nate said, running with the impulse to give more personal vows than they'd planned, "you're absolutely amazing - you know that, right? You make my life fun and remind me of everything good in the world, everything that makes it worth fighting for. Love you. I promise I'll always keep you and our family safe - even if you don't need me to," he added, and she chuckled to herself.
"Hey, Natie," Kate sang back to him - purely to get him to laugh at her. "I love you. You're my rock. You're always there with a plan, with support, with something to make my dreams come to life, even if it's silly dreams like getting you to dance in public." She gave him a teasing smile. "I will always feel safe with you, and I swear to you, I'll do everything in my power to make your dreams come true too, as cheesy as that sounds. Because i love you, you big dork."
Toby couldn't stop smiling as he pronounced them married and then stepped back, gesturing between them. "There's a kiss involved, I'm sure you know," he teased.
Nate grinned and grabbed Kate around the waist, pulling her to him to kiss her deeply - while the others erupted into applause and wolf whistles. And when they broke apart, everyone in the meadow-living room mobbed them to give their congratulations and hugs.
"Love the dress, baby girl," Clint said as he pulled Kate into a hug. "Jan overdid herself."
"We haven't even seen what she and Tony put together for the reception."
"I know; that's the best part."
Kate grinned up at her dad and then saw out of the corner of her eye that Natasha was waiting for the hug to end - but Kate actually didn't want to get out of the hug. So she reached out and grabbed her mom's arm and yanked her over so that the hug became a group affair. "C'mon, Mom. We all know you're not actually allergic to affection."
Natasha chuckled and clutched both Clint and Kate close to her. "I'm just proud of you, my little bird," she said, and Kate, all of a sudden, couldn't help but tear up. Her emotions were a lot closer to the surface since becoming pregnant, and having just gotten married, yeah, she was full of emotions.
And while Kate had her face buried in Natasha's shoulder while Clint kept them close, Nate had just tucked himself into a hug with Scott. They didn't say anything, even telepathically, because they didn't need to. And even when Rachel came running over and practically collided with Nate, there were still no words. Nor were there words when Rachel telekinetically yanked James over to join the hug (and Annie didn't need the prompting to join them).
At some point, Kate skipped over to the Summers hug and tapped on Scott's shoulder, grinning when he turned her way. "Hey, so, I heard your fiance made an amazing cake, and I'm starving, so…"
"Oh, honey, I've got you," Annie promised, wriggling out of the hug that was quickly breaking up on its own anyway. She left the area of effect of the spell and stepped from grass onto wood flooring into the kitchen and came back with a small picnic basket. "When my sister got married, she spent the day starving. The first thing she told me when I asked her what I should plan for my own wedding was to make sure someone is on hand to make sure the bride and groom eat, because everyone wants to talk to them and they never get time to themselves." She pushed the basket into Kate's arms. "Baked your favorites. The cake is already at the reception."
"I love you. You are the best. You know that, right?" Kate said, and Annie beamed with pleasure.
"You're a beautiful bride, Kate," she said.
"And you're going to be gorgeous when it's your turn. I've seen Jan's designs."
"I know, right?" Annie leaned forward to whisper, "That look Nate had when he saw you? That's what I'm going for with Scott."
"They have, like, the same face. It's gonna happen," Kate promised.
Annie beamed and then gave Kate one more hug, then flounced off, leaving Kate to dig through the basket and giggle at the fact that Annie had frosted all of the sugar cookies purple with blue details and had wrapped the little sandwiches and fruit in baby blue bags tied in purple.
"Stealing," Nate said, snatching one of the bags from Kate's hand with a mischievous grin, and she shoved him in the shoulder.
"Stealing from a pregnant woman?"
"You have a whole basket."
"Stealing from a pregnant woman."
"On her wedding day, no less," America called out helpfully.
"On her wedding day," Kate echoed.
"I'm having flashbacks," Nate teased and then pulled Kate over to kiss her. "Stop teaming up on me. On my wedding day."
"Oof, turned that around on me," Kate said.
Nate grinned and then handed her the unwrapped mini sandwich he'd stolen from her. "I'll grab my own," he said, and she laughed, settling down to snack before what she was sure was going to be a crazy reception.
Billy wished everyone back to the gala that Tony and Jan had prepared for the wedding reception, and immediately, the vibe shifted. Where the celebration at Scott and Annie's house had been personal and quiet and emotional, the reception was absolutely filled with people, food, and music.
Jan had clearly gotten full rein to go wild. The place was decorated to the nines in blues and purples that seamlessly blended together, so that it was never clear where the blue ended and the purple began. Everything about the ribbons, the chairs, the tablecloths - everything was symbolic of Kate and Nate coming together.
Tony probably had a hand on the ice sculptures that looked like a hawk, but they made Kate laugh, and that was what he was going for.
In fact, as soon as they arrived, Tony started up a cheer and encouraged everyone else to take it up, which had the wedding party as a whole laughing and ushering Kate and Nate out onto the dance floor so that they could start the dancing.
It seemed like every single hero was there, even the newbies. Plus a few of Kate's cheerleading friends and Nate's football friends, who looked a bit out of place but were at least not causing trouble. Nate could hear them, because they didn't realize they were projecting, thinking about how they'd always known Kate and Nate would get themselves in trouble, and they weren't surprised at the shotgun wedding, though they were also projecting how cool it was that they had such big support from their teams.
But he was too thrilled with getting Kate all to his own to care what they thought. They'd have gotten married baby or no. And most of them seemed to know that, too.
Because Scott couldn't be there, Kate and Nate had decided to forgo the dances with their parents. But everyone wanted to dance with them and give them well-wishes… and suddenly, Kate understood why Annie had made sure they ate before they got to the reception. Even though Jan had chocolate treats everywhere - chocolate-covered strawberries, cupcakes, and candies - Kate hadn't left the dance floor. And she was having too much fun to break away and stuff her face.
The song she'd been dancing to with America ended, and Tony slid right in, looking like the cat that ate the canary.
"What do you think, kiddo?" he asked, pulling her into a spin.
Kate beamed up at him. "You're totally spoiling me."
"Are you surprised?"
"I mean, remember how when I told you I was pregnant, you gave me a whole speech about birth control and-"
Tony waved her off, still grinning. "That's not the point. The point is that you wanted to get married, so I had to make that happen."
Kate smiled and stopped the dance to stand on her toes and wrap her arms around Tony in a big hug. "I love you too, Tony."
Tony melted into the hug, pulling her tightly. "You're my goddaughter, baby girl. Anything for you."
"I love it," she whispered. "Really. Thanks. It's been absolutely crazy, and this has been really hard, and I'm gonna cry."
"Don't cry-"
"No, like, the good kind," she promised quickly, pulling back to look up at him. "I'm crying about everything lately. Just super emotional."
Tony reached up to her cheek and brushed away a tear, smiled softly - and then the moment passed and he spun her around as the song ended, sending her twirling into Thor, who immediately pulled her into the sky with him and laughed along with her.
Eventually, though, Jan grabbed Nate and Kate away from the dance floor to Annie's beautiful masterpiece: a four-layered cake with gorgeous, painstakingly decorated flowers. And when Nate put his hand on Kate's and they cut into it together, they saw that each layer was a different flavor - so Kate took the chocolate one and Nate took the red velvet one, and they finally sat down to eat. (And Billy, helpfully, wished a full plate to each of them, with one of each treat between them.)
You look like you're going to break your face smiling, Nate projected to Kate, and she leaned into him, smiling contentedly.
I've been imagining us getting married since we were kids. So I'm pretty happy. She glanced up at him without picking herself up from the lean. What about you? Still half convinced that I didn't mean it when I said I wanted to marry you?
Hard to believe that when you've been practically singing this whole time.
It's because I looooooove you.
Yeah, yeah. Love you too, Mrs. Summers.
Love you more, Mr. Barton.
Yeah, that's not-
I know. But your face was worth it. She leaned into him and kissed him - and everyone around them started up with wolf whistles.
…
After the reception was over, Clint and Natasha had plans of their own - though Natasha had wanted to talk to Coulson for a little while first. So Clint fully intended to get home ahead of her and set out a few candles or something to set a mood.
Instead, he opened the door to find someone in a red and black suit giving Lucky treats and scratches behind the ears.
"Hey, what are you-" He caught himself as he realized who he was looking at. "Wade?"
"Hawk-guy! I was wondering when you'd finally find your way home," Wade said, clearly smiling under his mask. "Mazel tov on your beautiful baby's wedding day. I'll bet she was radiant with a lovely Summery glow to boot. Not going to be too salty about the whole lack of an invite or anything. I know the planning was more in-laws territory. You know. Plans 632- infinity."
He tapped a stack of files next to him. "Brought your lil lady something to give to the prime Summers. He is disturbingly hard to keep from being detected by lately, you know? Where'd he learn to be so sneaky?"
"Probably learned it from hanging out with Nat all the time," Clint said, smiling in spite of himself. He tossed Wade his unlocked phone with the photo app pulled up. "Spidey did the official photography, but I got some pics too," he said, knowing that would get Wade dancing and gushing, especially since he had pictures of the other kids and other events. And that gave him time to read over what Wade had brought - or at least to skim. There was a lot of it.
And most of it, surprisingly, had to do with Emma Frost and all the pies she had her fingers in.
"You know, I have to admit," Wade said with emotion touching the timbre of his voice, "Those kids are something else. I am a little salty that I haven't had my share of visitation, though." Wade looked thoughtful for a moment. "Who do I talk to about getting my fair share of time with my nephew? And … and my Summersy niece and nephew? They're totally fair game. They grew up together, they're mine."
"Honestly, Wade? You dropped so far off the radar, we kinda all assumed you were dead," Clint admitted, catching the phone as Wade tossed it back to him. "Or underground. There were a few years there where I didn't even know where those kids were, and I was married to one of the three adults on the planet who did know." He pocketed his phone. "But you're right. Those kids are something else. And I got a pretty solid son-in-law in the deal. Remind me to tell you about how he wrecked Hydra for what they did to my Katie."
Wade rearranged himself so he was on his stomach, heels kicked up behind him and his head in his hands - with Lucky flipped over trying to give him kisses at his chin. "Hey. Hawt guy? Tell me aboot how your big strapping young stud-muffin of a son in law wrecked Hydra for Katie's honour. There's a 'u' in there, you know. Because I'm Canadian and all. I love me a good romance novel. Then you can tell me everything I missed out on. I was totally reading between the lines of all those newspaper articles, and angry rantings from mustachioed commentators but I definitely need the non-readers digest version of oh … everything. Then I'll tell you where I've been tucked away all cozy and warm."
Clint smirked and leaned against the wall as he filled Wade in on everything that he wouldn't have heard on the news. Things like how Clint was genuinely grateful that Nate had handled Kate's trauma well from the very start. Or how Natasha had blown up her friendship with Fury because of what happened. Or how Wanda had claimed the entire team under the protection of Genosha. And so on.
"And, hey, Kate's due in March. Which is wild, right? It feels wild."
"Ooooh, yeah. You're going to be a grand-hawk. Does that come with extra frills?"
"No idea," Clint said, shrugging broadly.
"You're already getting the gray to go with the title," Wade teased.
"Yeah, I know." Clint gestured to Wade. "You look the same, though."
"As expected," Wade replied easily. "Gift that keeps on giving."
"Something like that." Clint sighed and then gestured to the files. "Okay, I gotta ask. What're you up to?"
"Trying to keep my nephew and his friends safe. Security has been generally lacking, so I've picked up where Mrs. Hawkeye left off, going after not very nice men who want to do unspeakable things to my lil buddies. You know …" he started ticking things off on his fingers as he rolled over and hopped to his feet. "and making sure that they don't know I'm involved, cleaning up rescue scenes, chasing down DNA snatchers, destroying evidence … basically keeping the ol' X-Force alive all on my own."
Clint raised both eyebrows. "Wade…" He shook his head. "Okay, fill me in. Let me help. You deserve a break too sometimes."
"You know … I'd let you help, but there's this thing that I remember K telling me about years ago called plausible deniability? It took me forever to look up, but it finally hit me. That girl was on to something. So … you keep playing house-husband and I'll keep keeping my lil babies safe, m'kay?" He patted Clint on the top of his head. "It's worked out okay all this time. No reason to mess with a good thing. And hey - less cumulative concussions for you this way, huh? Ooh, hey - how is my lil nephew? I know he got his melon cracked open, and you know. Other stuff, but I really do need to have a little chit-chat with that kid. He is pulling down some bad attention. So, you know. Before he gets himself all married off would be a good time for a heart to heart with uncle Deadpool."
"He and his almost-fiancée live together at Harvard," Clint said, smirking to himself. "Really, though, Wade - it's good to see you alive. I'll make sure Scott hears you kept his vendetta burning against the White Witch. Looks like you've found, I mean, literally all of her financial stakes." He paused and held up a finger, then ducked into his living room to resurface with a burner phone to toss to Wade. "And hey, if you're determined to go it alone, at least take this. I'm the only contact in there, and only if you dial my first name."
"Why, Mr. Romanoff, how forward of you," Wade said as he held the burner over his heart. "Our secret love rekindled! I would love to once again take up your side hustle role. You and your shoulders …."
Clint rolled his eyes. "It's for emergencies," he said, but he knew Wade was going to run with it anyway. So, he shrugged and went to the cabinet to look for where Nat kept the candles. "So, it's good to see you breathing and all, but Nat and I had plans…"
"Yeah. I guess some people have to schedule that kind of thing out in their old age. I have a standing appointment with Charity every third week."
"Absolutely not the same thing," Clint said with one hand over his face.
"You know," Wade said, one hand on the doorknob to leave. "I gotta say - I was wondering at the beginning if that lil Wolverine was really a little Wolverine or not. I mean … let's be honest. It could have been a little hold over from your buddy Iron Man - who, is really a pain in my butt as far as decoding his material. But no. No … lil Jimmy looks more and more like his bio dad every day. That is going to be a problem if he keeps it up, you know. Delusional iron-sugar-daddy or not."
"Yeah, I know. Nat checks every day to make sure no one is planning to snatch him up. It's not a hundred percent effective but… we've got his back. I promise." And then, because things were a bit heavy, he had to tease. "Jimmy's my kid though. I know the James name gets passed around like a flu…"
"First of all - that Jimmy is looking an awful lot like his dad, too, and secondly … if she's missing the half cooked plans, then she's losing her touch. And I'm staying on duty. No offense to the elderly and showing it squad."
"She's not missing anything. Just hasn't seen anything but plans. Still the same paranoid Nat I love." Clint tossed Wade a can of beer as he hit the hall. "See you around, Wade. Don't die, okay?" With that, he waved Wade off and went back to setting the mood.
It took a little longer than planned, just because of the wedding considerations for Nate and Kate, and all of the team practices that were going on in the background without them, but finally, after months of delays and vacillating between 'please talk to my parents' and 'you can't talk to my parents' from both Kamala and Miles … things were in motion.
As promised, James was going to be the younger generation intermediary to Tony and Steve's experienced, mentor angle. James had no idea why either Kamala or Miles would want him along, but he'd agreed, and he wasn't about to go against his word to either of them.
The first of the two to finally cave and push to have the big intervention, though, was Miles. He'd had a few too many close calls in his spider-suit, and even though he'd had a little time here and there with the Parker family, the truth was that Peter was firmly against Miles doing as he'd done … handling things in secret. He was also too protective of his own family to be one of those to step up and have the chat with Miles' parents though.
Which was how James and Steve found themselves getting more than a few odd looks from the locals when they stepped out of the black SUV closer to Bedford-Stuyvasant than Brooklyn Heights or Williamsburg where both Steve and the Summers family called 'home'.
They were both kind of known in the area, but … only really around Clint's building. Not the apartment complex that the Morales family lived. That building, like several others in the neighborhood, wasn't exactly open to strangers strolling up.
Steve and James made their way up to the buzzer, and Steve hit the button to try and at least introduce himself.
"Hello, this is-"
"Hey, hey!" Miles sounded nervous still, even when he wasn't actually there. "I'll be right there. Omigosh." They could hear scuffling as Miles tripped over himself to rush to meet them and then flung open the door, wide-eyed.
"Is this a bad time?" Steve asked, sounding a little confused. "Because we can do this another day if-"
"No, no, no, no," Miles said quickly as he ushered them past the lobby of the building to head up to his family's apartment. "No, this is … I didn't know it'd be you - I mean … no. Your timing is great. It's just … I'm having a hard time explaining things, you know?"
"You haven't told them yet?" James said, staring at him openly for a moment before he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I thought that was the whole point of this … why are you like this?"
"I told them," Miles insisted.
"When?" James shot back.
Miles hedged, but gestured for them to follow. "Just …. Before I came down." James and Steve stopped and turned to look at each other. "I meant to do it sooner!"
"Miles," a man's voice called out. "Why are Wolverine and Captain America here to see you?"
"What did you tell them exactly?" James asked, though Steve was trying not to smile.
"That you two were here to talk to us," Miles said slowly, then finished with an awkward, half crooked smile and nervous laugh.
James stared at him for a moment longer, even as Steve pushed him to move.
"Not everyone is comfortable telling their parents everything," Steve said.
"That's … so totally not the point," James grumbled. "This is one of those things they need to know sooner than later."
"Like you didn't forget to tell your dad that you restarted the X-Men?" Steve said.
"Like I didn't know he'd know who it was the instant a camera landed on us? Come on. That isn't the same," James said. "This has gone on for mon-"
"Dad," Miles said loudly, cutting over James. "I want to introduce you to … ah … Captain America and Wolverine."
"Officer Morales," Steve said as he offered him a hand - smiling politely as he took in the NYPD uniform he was wearing. "I'm glad to finally meet you. Miles has said great things."
"Uh-huh," Miles' dad looked skeptical as he took Steve's hand to shake. "Why haven't I heard much about you two, then?"
Steve held his gaze. "I can't answer that for you." he turned toward Miles. "Miles?"
"Can we … take this inside?" Miles asked, bouncing on his toes and looking nervously at his neighbors that were watching skeptically.
James followed Miles' gaze to see a few of the neighbors holding up cell phones and recording them. "If you don't want to share the news of your scholarship with your neighbors-"
"What scholarship?" Miles' father asked.
James smirked and offered him his hand. "New outreach program that Miles applied to be a part of - I'd be happy to explain it."
"Yeah, you're gonna want to do that," Steve said, purely amused at how quickly James was covering for Miles in public. As soon as Miles' dad stepped back to hold the door open, Steve rested a hand on James' shoulder to whisper "Good cover."
"Not a cover," James said. "I just haven't told Miles about it yet. Tony and I discussed it. Vaguely."
Steve didn't bother to tease - not when it was clear they had pressing matters at hand. Pressing matters like Miles going into a full panic with two Avengers in the room with his family.
Before either James or Steve could speak up, Miles' father took control of the awkward situation. "Miles, you want to tell me what's going on?"
"You won a scholarship?" Miles' mother asked, obviously trying to help him out. She was watching him expectantly with an encouraging look on her face.
"I… ah…" Miles closed the door with his foot with one hand in his hair, gesturing wildly with the other hand. "Heh. Right. Mami, this is - ah - well, I told you they were coming but, and I mean, well, you know who this - let's go sit in the living room?" He pointed at the couch like it was his mission. "Yes, uh-huh, away from the door, that sounds right."
The group followed Miles' lead, and all took seats before again, his father spoke up. "Want to explain - any of this? I haven't heard about any scholarships from the Avengers available to high school students."
Miles looked toward James, but when he had absolutely no help coming from that corner, Miles shifted around a few times. "Okay. So. Um. That'ssssssssss maybe because…" He shifted again. "So, um." He switched which leg was crossed over the other. "I mean, you know… had to - you know how it is - had to say something with all the people in the hallways wanting to know where the superheroes came from and everything, right?"
"So there's not a scholarship?" Miles' father asked slowly.
"Yes, there is," James said calmly. "The applicant pool is exceedingly selective, and Miles made the cut."
"Oh, there is?" Miles turned toward James with his whole body. "I thought you were here to talk about the-" He glanced at his dad. "The other thing."
"I am," James said. "But we're not going to let your education slip. Pick your school. You're covered as long as you get in."
"If you're not ready," Steve said, looking ready to get up and head out already. "We can circle back when you are."
"Augh no that's going to make everything worse," Miles blurted out, jumping to his feet to hold his hands out like he was trying to referee a fight. He glanced over at his parents, who were both watching him carefully, and shrugged his shoulders nearly up to his ears. "Hi? I'm applying to be an Avenger?"
His parents shared a look, but didn't exactly appear to be overly shocked by the news, though James was looking at him half holding his breath for Miles to keep going.
"And this isn't going to cut into your studying, right?" Miles' mom said. "It hasn't so far, but with team responsibilities-"
"So far?" Miles repeated, staring at his mom openly.
She shrugged, but she was smiling crookedly. "Miles, do you really think we didn't notice? Baby, I'm your mom."
"Oh. Right. Yeah." Miles looked embarrassed. "I thought this was gonna be a whole thing…"
"It was if you were going to keep lying to us much longer," Miles's dad said under his breath, though he was trying to hide his smirk too.
"Right. So! Um. Subject change! Avengers, scholarships, help?" Miles gestured at the two heroes in the living room.
"He wouldn't be a full member until he's eighteen," Steve said with a much more easy smile. "This is just to get him trained properly, outfitted with safer gear, and integrated with the group. There are no underage members allowed anymore."
"And that's contingent on his chosen schedule," James added, sure that Miles' parents were concerned about him not having a back up plan - or even a method to live that didn't rely on a skin-tight bodysuit. "College is taken care of and comes first, regardless of where he wants to go."
"Exactly. That has been the case with all our younger members. James was just the most vocal about getting his education because of Tony announcing it to the world. And considering the circumstances," Steve said, "we are encouraging any new recruits to maintain secrecy on their identities to protect their families." He gestured to James. "I figured that was where the scholarship came in, honestly."
"You're not new. You should know this is how it works," James said almost dismissively to Steve. "That's part of it, but honestly, there's no reason not to get your degrees if you want them."
"And he does," Miles's mom said firmly.
"I do, actually, yeah - were you serious about any college?" Miles asked, wide-eyed. "Because I have thoughts. I have - I have ideas."
"Of course I'm serious," James said, half scrunching his nose. "I already know you're a genius. Why wouldn't I want to see you step it up?"
"Oh, I like him," Miles's mother whispered to her husband, who snorted, though his expression wasn't as soft. He was still thinking about what Steve had said about identities and "considering the circumstances." It was exactly why he'd been worried about Miles in the first place; heroes lived, especially lately, in the space where no one else protected them - or held them accountable.
"Glad to hear you don't take underage kids anymore," Miles's father said toward Steve.
"I wasn't exactly thrilled to have them in the first place," Steve admitted, this time giving James a more serious look. "The fact is, the kids we had in that first wave were ones that we raised. The only reason we did what we did with them was because they were putting on X-Men badges. It was a protective measure, believe it or not."
"Yeah, I believe it," Miles's father said, though now, he was looking at James. "Heard from Officer Wright what this kid was up to before he even had a badge."
"Of course you know Anton," James said under his breath. "Shutting up."
"What, you think the ones on the force that give a damn don't talk to each other?" Miles's dad said, his smirk finally stretching into an honest smile.
"To be fair, I don't know who's appreciative and who isn't," James admitted. "And seeing as his daughter has decided I'm the one to pester for the time being, I'm not taking anything for granted."
"The thirteen-year-old or the ten-year-old?" Miles's dad laughed.
"Thirteen. So far. Not looking forward to them teaming up if that's the case."
"Will they get scholarships too?" Miles' mother asked with a troublemaking look.
"Absolutely. If the Worthington foundation won't cover it, someone on my end will. Or I will. They're family."
"Wow. That's - that's really cool," Miles said quietly.
"So, having covered that much," Steve said, turning back to Miles' parents. "We'd like you to come down to the tower. Get the tour, some badges so you can come and go, and to see what we're trying to do for these younger heroes - before you agree or don't."
"Scholarships yours either way," James said - just to make sure his parents didn't feel pressured to let the kid go into the hero business.
"I'd like the see the place, yeah," Miles's father said.
"It's really cool," Miles put in helpfully.
"Oh, you've been already?"
"I - I plead the fifth."
"That's not how this works."
"I plead the… whatever one lets me get out of this conversation?"
"Bill of rights doesn't apply to parental conversations," James said, which had Steve laughing anyhow. "In my experience, it generally works against them, actually."
Miles's mother chuckled as she got to her feet and offered her hand to both of the heroes to shake. "I think we have a lot to talk about as a family," she said. "But thank you - really - for everything."
"Pleasure to meet you," Steve said, in a much better mood now. He handed them a business card that let them know who to contact when they were ready to head up to the tower, and after a few quick goodbyes, the two of them headed out, though not without being stopped by several well wishers that wanted to meet real, live, superheroes.
Everything ran differently when Tony and James made the trek to Jersey City to meet Kamala's family for the same kind of talk that had gone down with Miles' family. For one thing, her family knew they were coming and the whole thing had to be scheduled out ahead of time. Kamala had insisted, swearing up and down that if she didn't clear the way for them, she would be in the deepest imaginable trouble and blocked from ever getting a shot at joining up officially.
Which was fine by Tony. That simply meant that Kamala had been at least a little bit more up front with her family than Miles had been, and Tony was pretty sure that the outcome with Miles had given Kamala a little faith that maybe her family might consider her. Even if she wasn't confident about it at all.
Tony, of course, rolled up in full exhibition mode, every inch of him reflecting his public persona perfectly, though James had taken a different route and was dressed down considerably by comparison. Instead of a suit, he chose to show up looking more his age … though he'd made sure not to go so casual as to bring the hoodie or as fitted as he'd been using for public statements either. The family was conservative, after all - respect was a major concern.
Kamala's father met them at the door and seemed to cast a critical eye over both of them before inviting them in to where not only Kamala's parents but her big brother was there - along with her best friend, Bruno, who was clearly there for her emotional support but looked like his eyes were going to come out of his head.
"Come in, come in," Kamala's father said, ushering them toward seats. "You'll have to forgive us; we have a million questions."
"That's what we're here for," Tony said with his usual smirk. Not quite troublemaking, but not entirely businesslike either. It usually played well, so he fell back on that more often than anything else. "So. I don't know what you know already, but between the two of us, we can answer just about any questions you might have."
"Kamala told us about the offer to join the team," Kamala's father explained. "She said that it's a work in progress leading up to full membership, as I understand it. But what does that entail, exactly?"
Tony nodded once, then launched into a more detailed explanation than what Miles' parents had gotten- mostly because he was more used to selling ideas to people. He outlined the stepped approach to becoming an Avenger and outlined the protective measures in place as well as those that were still under development. And all of it with a focus that was kind of hard to ignore as he spoke.
It looked like Kamala's parents were simply taking in the information as it came, though her brother, Aamir, spoke up when Tony was done to clarify: "And the team would all be housed at the tower?"
"Aamir, no," Kamala said, blushing and putting her face in her hands. "Why are you like this?"
"It's not a requirement," James said. "Most of the team doesn't stay there, actually."
Aamir nodded, seemingly satisfied, though Kamala's father then had to ask, "And what about college?" He was looking more toward Kamala than Tony as he asked. "This is all well and good, but if she decides this life is not for her, I do not want my daughter left with nothing."
"College is entirely covered," Tony said. "Whatever school she chooses, for whatever degrees she'd like."
"That's actually going to be the case if she joins or not," James said.
"Because she's brilliant," Bruno said, obviously hyping Kamala up.
"And she already helped save my life," James said.
Kamala's mother looked her way in an unspoken question, and Kamala blushed and nodded. "Yeah, I… that's what I was telling you before. I'm actually getting really good at these powers, and I try to help people, not hit them. You know. As much as possible."
"The idea," Tony said, "is to back these younger heroes up. Make sure they're trained well, that their uniforms are protective, and that they have back up at all times, day or night." He gestured toward the street. "We've already seen that if we don't try to help, they get into situations on their own that sometimes get to be too big."
Aamir looked toward Kamala, and she shrank even smaller - accidentally using her powers to shrink too. "I - we - I was just trying to help."
"And you have," James said.
"We just want to make sure you're fully covered," Tony finished.
Kamala nodded, though she was clearly holding her breath as she watched her parents, who were having an entire conversation without words between them. And then, finally, her dad nodded and looked toward Tony. "If at any point, this becomes too dangerous-"
"She's free to step back," Tony said. "And the college offer isn't attached to that. At all." He paused to drop a hand on James' shoulder. "One way or another. She's covered for that."
Aamir watched Kamala start to relax, met her gaze, and gave her a quiet smile. "And are you offering scholarships to everyone in their little team?" he asked.
"Yep," James said, before Tony could answer.
"Then you really should be talking to Bruno as well; he was outfitting the team the whole time." When Kamala and Bruno both stared at him, he smirked. "You think I didn't know?" he challenged.
Both James and Tony turned toward Bruno to watch him with near identical expressions before they shared a look, nodded in unison, and Tony got to his feet first. "Make sure you all come to the tower at the same time for badges to get in. My security guy will lose his mind otherwise. Mr. Carrelli, come ready to play."
"Oh, god, why do you know my full name?" Bruno whispered, in pure awe.
James smirked as he got to his feet. "We do our homework, too."
"No kidding." Bruno grinned. "But, yeah, I can - sure! Totally! I can be there."
"Great," James said. "We'll use my lab, then. And we can talk about what schools you're interested in." Before they left, James took the time to step aside with Bruno and exchange information, promising that Tony's way was slower.
"This is really - wow. Thank you. Seriously," Bruno said, still looking completely awed.
"Haven't done anything yet," James said.
"Yeah, um, college. That's - that's really amazing. Thank you."
"You've been covering Kamala and the rest for a while now. You have any idea how many people you helped save?" James asked. "Oughta keep tally."
"I… just… outfitted everyone…"
"You helped her to be able to do what she does," James said. "She couldn't do it without you." He turned toward Kamala. "Right?"
"He's totally right," Kamala confirmed. "And you know it."
Bruno grinned at Kamala. "I owe you."
"Thank you for having us," James said when it was clear Tony was just soaking it up.
"No, thank you," Kamala's father said. "You've given us a lot to talk about. But you're right. She has saved people." He smiled toward Kamala. "And I'm very proud of her. I expect you to keep her safe."
"On my life," James agreed easily.
"I'll hold you to that."
"I owe it to her anyhow," James replied with a smirk.
"Yes, I'll have to ask her to tell me that story sometime," he replied. He glanced toward Kamala again, smiled, and nodded to himself. "I'm sure we'll speak again. Please, consider my home open to you - especially if you have news we need to hear."
"We'll be discreet," Tony promised just before he stepped outside to more loudly give his congratulations on the scholarships for the nosy neighborhood to hear, with James in tow as Tony made a point to stop for photos and autographs. As usual.
"That… is discreet for him," Kamala laughed.
"Apparently," Bruno laughed, still in disbelief.
Kate knew she'd gotten super lucky in that she hadn't had any nausea or anything like that during the wedding or the first part of the honeymoon. But overnight, at about three in the morning, she'd gotten sick, and she hated that feeling. So, she had slept in once she finally got back to sleep around dawn and had waved Nate off when he asked her if she wanted to go walk on the beach.
"Not before at least three cups of coffee," she grumbled.
"Hard night?"
"Yeah." Kate snuggled deeper into her pillow. "I'll get over it. Just worn out. This whole thing where I'm tired all the time? No. Just so much no."
Nate chuckled and kissed the top of her head before he slipped out to make sure she had some breakfast - and coffee.
Kate smiled to herself but started to slowly get out of bed anyway, heading for the bathroom so she could run a brush through her hair. If she didn't get moving, she was way too tempted to just become one with the blankets, and that was no way to spend a honeymoon, right?
Once she looked a little more like herself - and could smell breakfast - she heard Nate in the next room, smirked to herself, and fully intended to bound over to say a much more proper "good morning."
Except Nate wasn't the one in the room.
"Holy futz," Kate said and grabbed the door, fully intending to slam it - and then, she didn't, and she could feel all of the defenses Nate had helped her build up screaming as her defenses fought against the mental intrusion.
And for Sinister, who had come to check on the newlyweds for himself, the simple fact that the defenses Nate had erected were so strong, even against him, was downright fascinating. He had come up against the boy's mother telepathically before, but this was disciplined in addition to being powerful, in a way Jean had never been. And that made it stronger than any previous telepathic resistance he had encountered.
And he was perfectly pleased to realize just how powerful Nate was. He'd always known that Jean and Scott's union was exactly what he needed, what he wanted in his pursuit of power. But to see his theories confirmed… there was no feeling quite like that.
And the boy was smart, too. Not only had he helped Kate enact telepathic defenses that would stump most other telepaths in the world, but he had left himself a way to know if her mind was attacked by anyone powerful enough to do actual damage. The moment Sinister was able to force Kate not to slam the door, he touched the edge of Nate's alarm system and stopped, considering his options.
Much farther, and both of them would know. He valued his secrecy, but he was also interested to see what Nate was capable of if they went head to head.
But seeing what the young man was capable of, he also knew that it would be smart to have leverage. Even if he was confident that he could stop the boy if necessary, he had, in the past weeks, been taking a lighter, quieter touch in his studies. A big fight would not help him there.
And so, he pressed hard against the defenses in Kate's head, working with what Nate had already given him to co-opt some of the shimmering shields to turn them instead into ropes that wrapped around Kate's psyche to force her to sit down - and in the process alert Nate to the intruder in their midst. And while the seconds ticked by, Sinister was quick to tie in an alert system of his own. He knew full well that had Scott the powerset that Jean had possessed, the initial attack would be brutal - and simply a warning so he could take stock. So, the counterattack in case of such barbarism was to make sure a key component of his own psyche was attached to Kate's empathy. He smirked to himself, already congratulating his own deviousness since reverb too harsh to that aspect of her personality would carry the potential to fracture the way she related to those around her … and that was one of those facets that Nate adored about her.
He had hardly reinforced that failsafe when Nate came rushing into the room, his eyes already glowing, his feet not at all touching the ground. And as soon as Nate saw Sinister - with his glowing eyes and the diamond in his forehead - he knew who was sitting in their room and went instantly on the offensive telepathically.
And as soon as Nate sank what looked like a red-hot blade through Sinister's defenses, Sinister made sure that he could see the reverb traveling down a string that went from Sinister's mind into Kate's. And it was enough to stop Nate in his tracks, especially when he saw cracks in Kate's mind that threatened the part of her mind that housed her empathy, represented on the psychic plane by a big party at Avengers Tower with everyone that she loved.
Nate stopped, and Sinister could see a familiar muscle working in the corner of his jaw. "That was dirty," he said, though he was backing away.
"So was that attack you opened with," Sinister replied.
"You announced yourself by hurting my wife. Not gonna play nice," Nate pointed out.
"To be perfectly honest, she simply panicked before I could announce myself."
"We're on our honeymoon," Nate said. He glanced toward Kate, who was watching the whole thing from her seat on the couch, rubbing her temples as she dealt with the headache of psychic reverb. "Who the hell invites themselves along on a honeymoon?"
"A concerned party," Sinister said dryly. "But seeing as I appear to have misplaced my invitation to the wedding, I wanted to see how well your little bride has been handling all of the circus surrounding you and your family." He tipped his head. "Among other things."
Nate glanced toward Kate, who stopped rubbing her head to glare at Sinister. "I've been handling that circus since I was three; I'm fine," she said. And then, because she couldn't help herself, she said, "I was raised by a carnie. I pretty much roll with anything."
"Yes, I've heard the declarations in the evening news," Sinister said. "And that means precious little to me."
Kate gestured broadly with both hands. "Look, I literally grew up in Avengers Tower. My mom was basically Logan's adopted niece. I heard every story I could ask for. I didn't come into this marriage blind or naive, and neither did he. I'm fine." She gestured toward Nate. "You should worry more about him. He's the anxiety-riddled Summers."
"That is indeed who I am more concerned with in this moment," Sinister said. "You seem to be progressing well enough - though I could be wrong …"
Kate caught his insinuation and, without thinking about it, put her hand on her stomach. And because of the tie to her mind, he instantly saw her memories of how little she knew, medically, about how she was doing, other than Tyler Creed's medical scans to assure her that everything was healthy.
"I've got her," Nate said. He might not have been attacking anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't monitoring what was going on telepathically. And he didn't like that Sinister was zeroing in on Kate's pregnancy.
"Yes, you certainly do," Sinister said. "Though I thought that you were smart enough not to move forward without any proper medical supervision."
"Look, unorthodox as it is, Ty genuinely can tell us if anything's wrong," Nate pointed out.
"Yes, I'm sure he can do what those in backwoods third world countries would consider miracles." He leaned toward them both. "His considerations don't go as deeply as I am concerned for. Particularly when I know far more about your family genetics than even your father." He put on an entirely fake smile as he turned toward Kate. "How is that lovely anti-mutant doctor working out for you?"
Kate blinked toward Nate. "I… thought…"
"Tweaked him," Nate said. "As far as he goes, he's doing just as well as he'd do for anyone else."
"Yeah, that's what you told me," Kate agreed. She blushed. "I didn't realize he was that bad, though."
"You were distracted. I took care of it. You're fine."
"No offense, Nathan," Sinister said. "But I doubt that will be a feasible solution should you come across a particularly closed-minded nurse or orderly - unless you're planning to tweak the entire hospital around her. In which case - how … heroic. Not at all an abuse of powers."
Nate pointed Sinister's way. "There's nothing wrong with keeping people safe. It'll be fine; we'll figure it out. Not to mention we've got plenty of backup."
"I'm sure the targets of your manipulations will see it that way. Though, that's never been the case for anyone else in that kind of situation." He gestured openly. "Of course, there are other solutions."
Nate crossed his arms, though Kate said, "Look, as crummy as his attitude is, he's one of the best, and he's close to home."
"That pitiful excuse is hardly one of the 'best'," Sinister sneered.
"What, you think you'd be better?" Kate challenged him.
"Absolutely." Sinister nodded once, already thinking of how easy it would be to establish himself at the practice so he could, in fact, be Kate's doctor. "Now that little hurdle is settled …"
All at once, Kate went from looking defiantly toward Sinister to staring at nothing, and Nate could see her memories of everything after she had brushed her hair completely wiped out.
"Now, behave and this will be quick and painless," Sinister said.
"The hell?" Nate gestured toward Kate. "What… leave her alone."
"You sound disappointingly like your Uncle."
"You've got my wife's mind hostage. Sorry I'm not more eloquent," Nate said through his teeth.
"Pray I leave it at that for the time being," Sinister replied. "Now, there are a set of rules you should know about now."
Nate glanced toward Kate and then crossed his arms. "I'm listening."
"No one will know that I came to see you," Sinister said. "And you will make this easier on all of us by cooperating, lest I find myself looking somewhere to lash out that have little to do with your young bride." He tapped the side of his head. "Don't be so difficult."
Nate could feel his hands in fists. "Fine," he said - if only because Kate still hadn't blinked out of her staring.
And then, Sinister rushed in, not only erasing Nate's memories of his visit but leaving himself a small, barely noticeable path to slip back into Nate's mind again if he needed to, especially with regards to the medical care for the little one.
Sinister sent Nate back to the kitchen and Kate to the bathroom - and as far as either of them knew, they had a nice breakfast and a lovely walk on the beach that morning, nothing else.
