A/N - PracticallyAnAvenger - so glad you double-dip reviewed. Craig is Annie's brother in law in the 714 Universe proper. He's her straight-up brother here. I personally tend to agree. Logan needs K to relax a little and live. But Marvel gon' have to make some concessions if they were to want my though. girl. Nate and Kate ... just wait and see. They are definitely getting into trouble. Not sure if it's MTV level or not

Chapter 65 - Deep Breath

Meanwhile, the Summers kids were still enjoying their extra-dimensional visitors. James was plainly soaking up every moment he could in a way that had Rachel and Nate doing the same, though the two of them were enjoying watching James as much as they were enjoying taking in things with Logan and K.

The Howletts were like no couple they'd seen before for how affectionately close they were at all times, regardless of who was around them. And the attentive way they both took care of each other - and James … and Nate and Rachel and Billy and Kate, too - as if it was effortless was kind of hard to look away from. K was constantly leaning into Logan and he was endlessly wrapped around her - only breaking apart during meals when they were out of coffee, and more often than not, Logan handled it before K could consider it herself.

He'd just sat down with her refill when there was an insistent knock on the door and before he could move, she stole a quick kiss and was on her feet, insisting that she had it covered before the kids could get to it.

K was almost to the door when she heard the complaint from the other side. "You're taking too long, kiddo, come on," Tony said, and that was enough to get her to hesitate. She didn't want to set him off - and she wasn't sure where this universe's K stood with Tony before she died. And she'd seen a few alternate realities already. She knew that her feelings for one person or another really didn't matter in any of those worlds. So, she took an instant to take a breath before she pulled the door open.

"Keep your shirt on," she said as soon as the door was cracked open. Tony had turned toward her - ready to say something snappy, but he froze when he saw her. He had his mouth half opened and one hand at chest level, so when he stopped, K really didn't know which way he was going.

Until of course, Tony let out a disbelieving sort of sound and stepped forward to wrap her up in a tight hug right in the doorway. "Woah, easy. It's okay," she said, though at that, she returned the hug almost as tightly. "Tony. What's wrong?"

"I was not expecting to see you," he said quietly, and on hearing his tone, K snuggled in and even turned to kiss his cheek.

"Were you utterly lost without me? Couldn't stand to go on?" K had to tease just because she'd had to hear it not too long ago herself when she was triaging her reality's Tony after a near Death experience.

"Yes."

K squeezed him a little tighter for a moment. "Yeah, love you too." She gave him a few more moments to pull it together before she drew back slightly with a smirk. "Don't suppose you'd want a cup of coffee with me, would you?"

When Tony stepped back, K took his arm and let him lead the way, at least as far as where Logan was waiting for her with a smirk. "You know she's comin' back with me, right?" Logan pointed out.

"Yeah. That just … You two disappeared too fast on us."

"Wasn't us," Logan pointed out. "Not really."

"Yeah, I know how interdimensional travel works, thanks," Tony said as he finally stopped staring and got himself a cup of coffee. He barely got a sip before he was shaking his head with an appreciative smile. "Yep. Really is better when you make it."

"James is learning," K promised. "He can't go back to whatever you people had told him was good coffee."

"I really can't," James agreed, though he was frowning slightly at Tony. It was just perfectly fitting that he couldn't hold back his questions to Tony, even if he still hadn't gotten a good handle on asking anything of Logan and K. "Why are you … what is the story with you two?"

"He likes to torture himself with unattainable things," K said without missing a beat, with Logan nodding along next to her.

"Same in every reality I've seen," Logan agreed, then looked up at Tony. "Why are you here, Stark?" He was clearly irritated, but he had been doing his best to be tolerant when he had been enjoying the morning up until then.

"You really can't share for even two seconds, can you?" Tony said, shaking his head as he set his mug down. "I'm here for a couple things. Number one …" he turned toward James. "You were supposed to tell me if you got any other interdimensional visitors."

James gestured between Tony and K. "I didn't realize you had a thing for my mom? So I'm not sorry for not telling you about her being here. But also ...now that I know that, I can't un-know it and it's messing with me."

"No excuse. Gotta toughen up, kiddo," Tony said. "And … as lovely as it is to see K again." He paused and tipped his head to give her a once over like he always did before. "Looking exactly as I remember…"

"Thank you," K said primly, which got a wide grin out of Tony and an understated grumble from Logan.

" … we need to talk about a few things. Like how I need to know what happened in Genosha. All of it."

James hedged. He didn't want to discuss it, and he didn't want to relive anything that he could avoid, either. But K gave him a little smile that totally disarmed him and in short order, James was telling as much of the story as he could remember - not only from his recollection, but from what he'd been told, too.

Tony didn't interrupt him through the whole story, and instead simply listened to the end before he asked a few questions to clarify the finer points. When he'd heard all he needed to, he nodded to himself, set his mug back down then leaned over to kiss K's cheek. "Maybe I'll see you later. Before you go back."

"If not, try not to forget me, huh?" K replied before she shifted to give Tony another long hug. Logan tactfully ignored the display as K took a moment to whisper her thanks for all Tony had done for James, which just had Tony holding on a little tighter until he had control of himself.

"Alright," Tony said finally, stepping back from K and trying hard not to look directly at any of them, though that in itself was a dead giveaway for how emotional he was. "Tell Scott I'll catch up to him later. We have things we need to discuss … you know … when you're not … meeting your parents."

"Thanks, Stark," Logan said in a warm, genuine tone, though that seemed to do more to crack Tony's control than K did and a moment later, Tony was rushing back out to leave James with his parents for whatever time they had left together.

"Damn," Logan said low, drawing the attention of all the kids there. "Guy's damn near got me feelin' sorry for him the way this is goin'."

"He married Jan," James offered. "He's fine."

Logan smirked at that and nodded at how quickly James had gotten on board to pick on Tony. "Sure is."

For a long while, Logan and K answered the kids questions while they waited for Scott and Ororo to return from seeing Dr. Hale, and when the kids didn't have any more questions, they started asking for stories, though those were hard to navigate when they didn't know what was similar and what wasn't between the two worlds.

When Scott did finally return, he was actually in reasonably high spirits, all things considered since Ororo had done a magnificent job of lifting his spirits on the way back. He took a look at the group as they were gathered up, and just as he was finding himself wishing there was a way for James to get … just a little bit more time … Logan spoke up.

"You got a minute, Scotty?" he asked, and Scott nodded without even considering it.

"Of course. What's on your mind?"

Logan redirected Scott and the two of them headed toward his home office, then closed the door behind them. "How're you feelin'?" Logan asked.

"I'm going to daily therapy half against my will and I'm never without my oldest friends lately. I'd say about as good as I've been in years."

"Great," Logan said, then looked over his shoulder as if someone would sneak up on them through the closed door. "I think I need a little longer to make sure James is alright."

"What's going on?"

"He's not processing it yet. Any of it," Logan said, shaking his head. "When it hits, I wanna make sure he'll be alright. It's not … I know he feels guilty. This is more than that."

"What are you suggesting?" Scott asked with a frown - since worrying about someone else was always going to be a thousand times easier than facing his own issues.

Logan blew out a breath and put his hands on his hips. "I'd like to get him out of the city for a few days anyhow. K wants to make sure he knows where a few of our old cabins are so he has a place to go when it gets overwhelming."

"Which is more often than he'll admit to."

"He's young," Logan replied. "He'll grow out of that."

"So … you want to take him camping?" Scott asked with an odd mixture of confusion and amusement warring for supremacy on his features.

"Well if you wanna boil it down to bare bones, yeah. Pretty much. Fresh air will make it easier to shake off the guilt."

"As long as he's up for it and you take all the precautions -"

"I've got precautions you've never seen, Slim."

"Yeah. Too bad you don't know if they'll work on anyone in this reality."

"We'll make sure it does," Logan promised. "Just a few days - let him see how we reset and see if it helps him, too."

"Then - if he agrees, I think that might just be good for him."

James was both nervous about heading off into the wilderness with his parents and excited for it. He had no idea what this trip was going to be, and even though he knew all about camping and basic survival skills from his dad, he just knew this was going to be something else entirely. He just didn't know how different it was going to be.

The older Billy took them to Logan's favorite cabin to make sure no one could follow them. The cabin had fallen into disrepair over the years left idle and empty. It was a scenic spot the likes of which James had only seen in photographs, and much like the first time K had seen that spot - with the Canadian Rockies looming nearby beyond a massive crystal clear lake - James froze and just stared for a moment as Logan and K started getting their plan in place. They didn't push him to react or to respond to anything. Not when they knew he needed to process.

After all, there was camping … and then there was camping like Logan and K preferred to do.

Both Logan and K watched James out of the corner of their gazes as he silently processed where he was. They both felt badly that he had clearly missed out on this - and all that he could have learned if their equivalent in this universe hadn't died and left him without their guiding touch.

What they didn't know was that James was experiencing a severe flashback. They couldn't possibly know that he'd dreamed of those mountains since he was little, or that he couldn't explain to Scott for his whole life what it was that he was dreaming about.

Even when Rachel could easily se his thoughts and dreams, she couldn't place where those mountains were, and between the two of them, they'd thought he'd simply dreamed the place up - or imagined it. But … that wasn't the case.

When James finally turned away from staring at the mountain range and the glassy lake, he pushed down his emotions and headed over to where Logan and K were working together to patch up the aging damage to the cabin.

"This alright with you?" Logan asked, half distracted as he fought with an inner door that didn't want to close properly.

"Yeah. It's … kind of perfect," James said, then blinked twice before he came over to give Logan a hand. He was quiet as they worked, watching Logan with a little more thought now. They worked together, with Logan coaching him on how to fix the little problems that the cabin had going on while K took a quick zip out into the woods to find something to feed them with, which left James and Logan plenty of opportunity to talk about what both of them had on their minds.

But as was the case with most Howletts, in most universes, both of them seemed mostly unable to break the ice, at first. Once they were in a comfortable groove of working together, though, James decided he needed to say something.

"I remember this place," he said quietly, though it was plenty for Logan to catch.

"Yeah? What do you remember about it?" Logan asked, though he kept working and did his best to look nonchalant about how incredibly significant he knew it was if James was bringing it up.

"Just … the mountains. The lake," James answered, then drew in a shaky breath. "I think I remember roasting something over a fire with you?"

Logan smirked quietly to himself and nodded. "Sounds right to me," he said, then paused as he considered everything. He knew the kid was finally reaching out, and that he needed something from Logan. It was just harder when Logan knew it wasn't really him that had been the cause of so much upset for the young man. Still …

"It won't mean as much, I'm sure," Logan said after a while, when the two of them had finally secured the cabin and James had just gotten to his feet. "Not comin' from me, since it wasn't really me that left you." James turned his way with a perfectly open look that Logan simply wasn't used to seeing on any of his kids. "The me that was here ... "

"It's alright," James said. "I get it now. I didn't before, but now that I've seen you two together … losing her-"

"It wouldn't have just been about losing her," Logan said. "I've lost women I loved before." Logan leaned against the side of the cabin and broke away from James' gaze. "My James …" It was obvious that Logan was having trouble discussing it, but he also needed this James to understand things. "He tried to kill himself about a year ago when his healing was shot."

James straightened up as his heart fell, but he didn't get a chance to come up with anything to say before Logan continued.

"We had someone nearby that healed him up enough to keep what he did from stickin', but if he hadn't been there …" Logan looked up at James, and it was plain to see how emotional he was thinking about almost losing his James. "If he'd have managed it, I'd have ended up followin' him."

James stared at him for a long moment. "What about Mom?"

He shook his head. "I was too caught up with my head up my ass to think about what it could do to her, or the other kids," Logan admitted thickly. "It would have been a mess, though, I'm not stupid enough to not admit it now."

After a long moment of silence, James had to speak up again. "I guess I don't … I mean, I understand it, but you have other kids. And you have her."

"And about a hundred years or so of murder and dirt on my hands," Logan said. "I was convinced that I'd screwed him up by bein' there."

"No." James' tone left no room for argument, and it was, in many ways, the same kind of flat, end of discussion tone that Scott often used when he'd just had enough.

"I'm just telling you what I was thinkin'." Logan waited until James turned his angry, hurt expression back to him. "It's not what I think now. The me that took the easy route here - he was wrong. I was wrong, and though it doesn't mean as much, I am sorry for that."

"I don't know what to do with that," James admitted after a few moments, emotional again at how wild this ride was from just a simple discussion.

"Be better than I was," Logan said. "You already are, but just … be better."

Their quiet moment hung in the air for a long while, though it was broken when both of them had to turn their attention toward whistling that was echoing from deep in the trees. As soon as James identified what it was in his mind's eye, the whistling shifted to soft singing in Swedish, and again, he just stared into the trees until he saw K walking out of the woods with three partridge in one hand, singing some old tune to herself as she came up to the little clearing.

"C'mon," Logan said, breaking the spell gently. "She killed 'em, we get to finish the job."

"Is that …"

"Just how we work," Logan said. "I'll take you hunting tomorrow."

"I'd like that," James replied, even as he and Logan started toward K.

The three ferals were in the woods for nearly a week while Billy and Tommy spent some much-needed time at home with their family in Genosha and Rachel and Nate got their fill of fussing over their Dad. But, once it was clear that they'd had some good time as a family to mourn together, and move on together - because though Erik did love them, he had terrorized them all in small ways that none of them quite realized until he was gone and no longer able to manipulate - Billy's mind was wandering more and more as he wondered what was going on with the Summers family. It was early morning in Genosha … but in New York it was still the night before.

James hadn't been answering his texts, which was worrisome, but not too worrisome when he knew from Kate that James had been with his other-dimensional parents doing something. Surely, though, he had to be back home by now.

Tommy had gone back to Westchester just a little while before to get a date with Mia, and Billy hung around just a little bit longer since he was feeling a little guilty himself for not having handled everything differently, even in spite of what his older-other dimensional self had told him. Some things were unavoidable.

But once he'd had time to assuage his conscience, Billy found himself in a rush to get to Brooklyn - back to James so he could get a feel for if he was making the right call to try and stay with his sweetheart. The anticipation was enough to make him think he was going the right way, but … he was still second guessing himself while he was in Genosha.

He appeared in a flash of light in the Summers' family living room, but the only people around were Kate and Nate - apparently he'd shown up shortly after Scott had left with Kitty to go to dinner, just to shake up the monotony of only leaving the house for therapy. Nate swore at the intrusion, one hand up over his eyes as he tried to recover from their makeout session being interrupted so thoroughly.

"Sorry, not sorry!" Billy called out before he made the dash for the stairs. He only made it up a few of them though before Nate shouted from the living room couch.

"He's not here," Nate said before he sat back and recomposed himself.

"Then … I'll just go to his room and wait for him to come back and leave you two alone," Billy replied, laughing still at the curses Nate had let fly. "At least for another twenty minutes."

"No," Nate said in a groan, even as Kate fell apart giggling. "He's not here, as in he's not in the city right now. I'm not even sure where he is, if you want the truth. He left with Logan and K to go … I dunno. Howl at the moon or whatever it is that they like to do in the woods."

"Still? Well … okay. I can just … go to wherever that is," Billy said slowly. He frowned to himself, then finished heading up to James' room just to grab a few things that he could borrow, considering that he wasn't entirely sure what to wear, or what they needed … but he was very sure that a flannel shirt and a fresh t-shirt would be in order anyhow. If it was anything more than that, he'd just have to wish it into being.

He took a moment to focus, then closed his eyes as he tried for as specific a spell as he could muster to go to wherever James was - and hoping he wasn't in trouble.

When Billy reappeared, it was in the center of an old log cabin, and he was entirely alone. For a moment, he didn't move since he'd heard stories about how some of these old cabins had been booby trapped. Maybe he didn't think this through properly.

He heard a splash outside that didn't sound like it was from too far away, and before he really thought it through, Billy headed for the front door and stepped outside to see that James and Logan were knee deep in the water, pulling in fish at about the same time that he realized the scope of where they were. "Oh, okay. Wow," Billy half whispered - but that was enough for the ferals to hear all the same. He'd never seen anything like these mountains covered in lupines, or the sparkling water and snow capped mountains at this time of year.

James and Logan shared a look before James broke into a bright grin and headed for the cabin at a jog while Logan handled their fishing gear. "Hey, stranger," James said, looking relaxed and at home in the trees, though some of that faded off as he considered everything. "You found me. Wasn't sure that you'd want to, though."

"It's almost like you forgot who you're talking to," Billy said before he pulled James over for a kiss that started easy and stretched out into a more appropriately Howlett-influenced 'hello'.

"Hi," James said quietly. "I'm glad you're here."

"Much better," Billy replied with a growing smile. "This is your …"

"Logan's," James replied. "They gave me a list of cabins and villas and hideouts the two of them had all over the world for me to use when the city gets to be too much." He smiled brightly.

"Is that why you haven't been texting?"

James' smile slipped. "No signal. Sorry. I thought Kate would fill you in."

"Kate is a little bit wrapped up with Nate right now - and I didn't think you'd still be out in the wilderness."

"Well … as it turns out, my birth-dad has a thing for places with a view, too."

"I noticed," Billy said, grinning widely again.

James paused, then turned toward Logan, who was still at the shoreline of the crystal clear lake. "So … we weren't exactly ready to come back just yet … are you going to stick around with us?"

"Can I?"

"I would hate to take you from this view so soon."

"And I'd hate to interrupt if whatever is going on is getting you so relaxed."

"I really don't think it would be interrupting anything," James said. "We've just been hunting and fishing … cutting wood … and they've been telling me stories about themselves."

"Anything interesting?"

"Mostly family background, more or less," James said quietly as he led Billy toward the birch trees behind the cabin. "This is a whole lot different than what you're used to. If you don't want to stay, I get it."

"Are you kidding? It's beautiful here and I get to see you relax and maybe get to see if your timberwolf story is true? If I'm allowed, I am totally staying with you." Billy thought about it for a moment. "Unless you don't think Logan and K would be okay with it-"

"No, they're fine," James said, cutting across him. "Mom said you're her favorite stargazer, and Logan hasn't tensed up when talking about anything close to you and I the whole time. I think they'd be fine with you staying here."

"The cabin is small-"

"Yeah, guess we'll just have to bunk up." James kept a straight face for all of a few moments before he broke into a troublemaking smile.

Billy couldn't help but grin right back at him. Sure, he still had a moment of doubt, a moment when he heard his grandfather in his head insisting that he should run far away from a traitor to Genosha… but it was easier to ignore this time, now that his older self had identified the difference between his thoughts and his grandfather's teachings.

And now? Now, he was in the middle of nowhere with no expectations other than to relax with a gorgeous guy.

He hadn't realized how badly he'd needed to get away from it all until just then.

So yeah. He definitely wanted to stay.

Now that the full weight of the former X-Men and even a few Avengers in the know had come to bear in the rotation of helping Scott, and Logan and K had returned from their impromptu camping trip with Billy and James, there wasn't much of a reason for Logan and K to stick around outside of wanting to spend a little more time with the Summers family. And they did want to spend more time. Especially since Billy was completely enamored of Logan and K and wanted to know every bit of advice he could get for helping James with his powers.

They all knew it, but they still weren't quite ready to say goodbye without a whole new round of hugs over K's well-made coffee that last morning, a few days spent making sure the rotation would work, and one final night spent just being with the kids and Scott.

It was an early morning for everyone, since Scott still had his standing appointment, but they wanted to have enough time for a goodbye. And because Bobby was taking his turn that morning, that meant he arrived early too - and he made sure to wrap Logan in one final farewell hug.

"You feelin' alright, popsicle?" Logan asked, frowning to himself at Bobby's reaction, though he didn't try to stop him, and even had somewhat reciprocated.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bobby said. "Just didn't get long enough when you were getting mobbed at the school." He stepped back and let out a breath. "Don't know what you know of the story, but you saved my life. So.. thanks."

"Don't know it, don't wanna know it," Logan said. "Not the fine details anyhow. Besides - I thought you knew I'd do whatever needed to be done."

"Yeah, but it still … I could just as easily have not walked out of there. So just take the thank you, okay? Didn't get to say it before."

"Alright, alright," Logan said with a wave. "You got time for coffee before you two head out?"

"For K's coffee? Yeah. I woke up early for that," Bobby said, grinning as he slipped over to rest his arm around K's shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Hi. Thanks."

"You're welcome," K said, leaning over to kiss him right back.

"So you're headed back soon, right?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, you guys will be better long term if you don't have us for a crutch. Even if you still don't know how to make coffee," she told him.

Bobby grinned. "Hey, I still burn water."

"I will never understand that."

"It's a gift," Bobby said as he sat down next to Scott.

"It's something alright," Scott said under his breath.

"Can you have coffee before you go?" K asked, already pushing a cup his way.

"Yeah, it's not like it's a medical appointment," Scott said dryly.

"Some of them are more strict than others," she said with a shrug.

Scott chuckled and shook his head as he saluted her with his coffee. "I think being followed around to the point that my kids are sharing my room is strict enough."

"They adore you. Enjoy it."

"Never said they didn't."

"Oh, he must be feeling a little better," she said to Logan. "He's doing that thing. You know the one." The two of them shared a look and Logan nodded silently.

"He does a lot of things," Bobby said.

"He does," Logan agreed, refusing to elaborate, if nothing else to not rile Scott.

"Well," Rachel said slowly, looking toward the older Billy, who was sitting on the counter watching some other reality with spinning galaxies in his gaze, "I guess… I guess we have to see you off, then."

"Yeah," Logan said as he sat down next to James. "Had to happen."

"It was nice to meet you," Nate said. "Put a face to all the stories."

"It was a nice break," Logan agreed.

"Sounds like we all needed it," Rachel said. "I'm glad we could help you too."

"You're all wonderful," K said as she gave the younger Billy a kiss on the cheek.

"And you're just like Dad said you were," Rachel told them with a smile.

"Sorry about that," Scott said dryly.

"Truth is the truth," Logan said, totally unconcerned.

"Some things never change," Bobby said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, never," the older Billy agreed as he jumped down from the counter and came to stand by Logan and K. "Okay, we should head back."

"Yeah, just need one more hug and a kiss," K said, slipping off to wrap up James. They'd been over everything a dozen times, and both Logan and K had been sure to do all they could to try and reassure him that the attack on Erik was needed, considering how out of control he was. And of course, when they hadn't been watching over Scott, they'd been with James and Billy.

Just about the time they were about to let up on the hug, though, Rachel and Nate both came rushing over too, and Nate yanked Logan's arm so that all three kids had the two of them in a hug.

Thanks for helping Dad, Rachel projected to both of them.

We can't turn our backs on him, Logan answered.

Yeah, we love him too, she replied as the kids finally let up on the hug.

James took one more moment to give Logan a hug alone before he stepped back - though Logan didn't quite know how big of a deal that was for him.

"Love you too, Scott," K sang out. "In case you forget, you have witnesses now."

Scott shook his head at that. "I think if you ask my kids, they'll tell you the feeling's mutual. Obviously."

"I'd rather hear it from you, but I'll take it," K said.

He let out a sigh and shook his head before he got to his feet and pulled her into a tight hug that took her off her feet. "Love you too," he said as he set her down.

She didn't let him get back a step before she popped up to kiss his cheek. "I know."

"You just like to hear it," he teased.

"Everyone does," K said. "All the time. Even if they act like it doesn't matter."

Scott smirked. "Then I hope Logan makes sure you hear it," he said, looking over her shoulder at Logan. "Often."

"He's pretty relentless about that, actually," K said with a shameless grin. "He even learned Swedish for me."

"Good," Scott said, then paused and stepped over to hug Logan too, even if it wasn't an off the feet affair. "I'm glad you've got your family, Logan," he said low.

"Yours ain't too damn shabby either, Slim," Logan said. "You've done great with 'em."

"They've got a lot of their parents in them," Scott said, looking over his shoulder with a fond smile at the kids.

When the hug was over, Logan stepped back to K and Billy. "Don't make us come back here for anything bad."

"Don't worry," Scott promised. "Good luck."

"You too," Logan replied, and with that, they disappeared in a flash of light.