A/N: THIS IS PART OF A SERIES. You'll be super lost if you read it on its own, so head over to my profile to get it in the right order. This is Volume 44 of the 714 Marvel Universe.

Chapter 1: "The Hard Questions"

It was past breakfast, and most everyone in the mansion had dispersed to one corner or another doing their own thing. So, after cleaning her fingers of syrup, Lily made her way over to where Teddy was texting back and forth with America. It was clear that she'd talked K out of putting her hair in braids for the day, and her long, blonde hair was almost poofy as she dropped into the seat across from him and leaned her chin on her crossed arms on the table in front of her.

Teddy looked up at the little blonde and then grinned. "What's up, buttercup?"

She looked up at him and drew in a deep breath only to blow it all out at once almost immediately. "Where do babies come fwom?"

Teddy blinked at her in surprise. "Why do you want to know?"

"I heard-ed my big brover talknin' 'bout it."

"Which big brother?" Teddy asked, one eyebrow raised and honestly wondering if there was about to be a shotgun wedding.

"Chance."

Teddy couldn't help but laugh and then nod. "Yeah, he wants a baby pretty bad, huh?"

She raised her eyebrows and nodded her head. "Uh-huh."

"Well…" Teddy tipped his head to the side as he considered her. "Babies… come from my magic husband when he wishes real hard for small little sass boxes," she said with a smile.

She tipped her chin almost to her chest and gave him an incredibly dry look. "Nuh-uh."

"They so do," Teddy insisted.

She shook her head with her eyes closed. "No. Dat's not right."

"You can ask Annie," Teddy said. "She'll back me up on this."

"I don't wanna ask Amnie," she said, throwing her arms across the table and resting her forehead on the flat. "I'm asknin' you. And you're lynin!"

"I am not," Teddy said. "You know I don't lie to sweet little girls. Billy really does wish cutie pies into existence."

She peeked up at him — only her eyes and the bridge of her nose showing from behind her arm. "Is dat where you came fwom?"

Teddy had to let out his breath. "Okay, fair. I didn't come from Billy."

"Is dat where Elin came from?"

"No, uh ... not all kids come from Billy…"

"Or alllllll of the Summerses-es-es? And Elfses?"

"Some of the Summerses come from space and time traveling," Teddy smirked.

She dramatically pushed her hair out of her face. "You're jus' stallin'."

Teddy let out a long sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… okay. So. You, uh… you take a mom and a dad and… well…"

He didn't get very far into his explanation before Logan came in from the garage to wash up. He'd been working on his motorcycle again — and as usual, there was a bit of grease and oil to contend with. "What are you so anxious about?" Logan asked over his shoulder as he started to wash up.

"Um… Lily wants to know where Chance is going to get a baby."

Logan stopped and slowly turned toward the pair of them.

Teddy seized on Logan's obvious discomfort. "So, why don't you, uh, explain to Lily where Chance is gonna get one of those, huh?"

Logan narrowed his eyes at Teddy and didn't bother to bite back the growl at that. "That'd be hard to do if he's dead, won't it?"

Lily let out a grumble. "I didn't ask where him was gonna get one. I asked-ed where dey come fwom. An Ted-ee's bein' siwwy and keeps makin' up stowies."

At that, Logan covered his eyes with one hand and took a few deep, slow breaths — and to Teddy's surprise, he crouched down next to Lily, held her gaze, and simply launched into the truth. Stripped down and without any real detail, but it was the truth.

Lily thought about it for a moment, though she had a look on her face that read exactly how gross the idea was, before she looked over to Teddy. "Dat's weird."

"I tried to tell you about the more fun way," he pointed out. "Billy and I got our little ones from magic and dimensional travel."

Logan gave Teddy a look for that. "Lying to little girls. If it wasn't fun, do you think K would have gone ahead with more than one?"

"Hey, I didn't say we didn't have fun of our own. Neither one of us had to have contractions," Teddy said easily.

"You didn't get to feel the kicks either," Logan argued.

"Tomato, potato."

"Don't gimmie that. Ain't like you didn't grin for ten minutes straight when you felt any one of those babies kickin'," Logan said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I definitely did. But I'm a sucker for kids."

"Then why didn't you tell da truth?" Lily asked, staring up at him with her big, blue eyes.

"Well, you thought it was gross," he pointed out.

"But is it true?" she asked.

"Yes. But so was what I told you."

"But dat isn't how I was born."

"Neither is what Logan told you," he told her gently.

"You sure about that?" Logan asked, crossing his arms. "No proof to the contrary, and chances are, that group took the least complicated means possible."

"You really think in any universe K would — no. Pretty sure this is a Kinney situation. Test tube baby."

Logan shrugged. "Makes it easier to think of that way, but … you don't know what it was like for her there. Neither do I. I can guess, but … who knows."

Teddy let out a breath. "Well, Lily," he said, looking her way, "we think you might have been made the same way as your big sister, Laura. Someone took bits of Logan and a woman named Dr. Kinney and put them together. Logan wasn't involved. Not really." He shook his head. "Sometimes, babies are made differently. They're all special, though." He kissed her forehead. "Especially you."

"Nice save," Logan said with a chuckle as he started to head out, leaving Teddy with Lily and whatever follow-up questions she might have.

Teddy shook his head and then tapped Lily on the nose. "What do you think — should we just ask Billy to magic up a baby for Chance so he can be happy?" he teased.

"Yes!" she said brightly, nodding her head.

"Well, you should ask Elin," Teddy said. "She might want to do it the other way."

She shook her head slowly. "I don't fink so … she wooks at him like he cwazy."

"She does, doesn't she?" Teddy said. He reached over to pick her up and tickle her. "We'll let them figure it out. If they ask Billy, I'm sure he'll magic them a cute little girl for you to play with. But that's their decision."

She let out a long sigh. "O-kaaay."

"I know. It's so hard to be patient," Teddy said with a smirk. He put her up on his shoulders as he said it. "But in the meantime, why don't we go play with John and Chelsea? You're such a good big sister, you know."

She smiled brightly, then fell apart in giggles when he tickled her stomach. "Otay, that sounds fun. An' I can be just wike my James."

Kari and Alyssa had coordinated to pull a double date together between the two of them, though this time, Kari was the one to choose the destination. And, true to form, she picked her mom's favorite pizza joint — the one closest to her Uncle Clint's home.

Like the last double, James and Alyssa met her and Tim at the restaurant — but at least this time, it was a much more relaxed place.

"This is pretty much a staple of any Hawkeye diet," Kari explained as she waved the group to a table close by the window. "Best pizza in New York."

"According to Clint's scale," James added to Alyssa as they took a seat. "Which brings into call how far it is from his apartment."

"Hey, it really is the best pizza," Kari said. "I grew up on this stuff."

James shook his head slowly. "It's not, but if it makes you happy …"

"It does. So shut up," Kari said, rolling her eyes at him.

James was smiling, and Alyssa was right along with him, knowing exactly what he was alluding to. The favoritism that Kate's kids had for Clint the more his age showed was getting blatantly obvious.

Tim cleared his throat. "Are they… always like this?" he asked Alyssa quietly.

"They grew up together," Alyssa said. "Their dads are best friends … so yes. Yes, they are."

"Alright," Tim said with a little nod as he rested his arm behind Kari while they waited for the pizza to arrive.

"Have you got your classes picked for the semester yet?" Kari asked Alyssa. "Last time we talked, you were still trying to decide on your physical science requirement, right?"

"I … think I have it figured out," she answered, nodding her head. "I'm sure it'll be fine. As long as the class I want isn't full by the time I get to registration." She smiled wider at her. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm really just going to focus on my art now that I'm done with high school," she said. "I'm working on a painting of those orchids from the wedding."

Alyssa turned to Tim. "Are you in college too? I think it's interesting to hear what everyone is focused on."

Tim nodded. "Pre-law," he said in his quiet voice. "My parents wanted me to go into business, but I'm not really interested in that."

James grinned at that. "Smart man."

"I thought so," Kari said with a smirk his way.

"What kind of law are you looking at?" Alyssa asked. "I'm focusing on journalism. Of course."

"Of course," Tim said with a smirk. "I was thinking constitutional law."

"Nice," James said, nodding along. "Keeping politicians straight? Tough job."

"Someone's gotta do it," TIm said, the smirk stretching into a smile.

"I told him if he makes it all the way to the Supreme Court, I'll do his official portrait," Kari teased.

"Think you can sit still for that long, Tim?" James had to tease.

"I think so," Tim said, smiling Kari's way. "Spending all that time with a pretty girl."

Kari blushed purple at that. "Yes. Well. Yeah."

James and Alyssa shared a little look and simply sat back to keep out of the way of all their quiet, shy flirting. When the pizza arrived, they dug in, with Kari pointedly insisting that it was the best and Tim quietly agreeing that it was pretty good.

James smirked to himself, refusing to rise to the bait, and instead, he took a moment to nuzzle his nose into Alyssa's hair to tell her next time they headed out, he was taking her to sushi. Which set the stage for some more intense flirting all around.

Of course, for this double date, Kari had actually planned to leave the table partway through, and James got a little text while she was gone: If he says anything evil, let me know. He's been nice so far, but now I'm paranoid.

Paranoid is good, was his quick response, though with Kari gone, Tim wasn't even sure where to start in talking to the other two, and what little he did have to say was absolutely non-offensive, even going so far as to talk about how he had no idea people their age could join the team.

So when Kari came back and there were no growls, she looked downright relieved as she sat down by Tim and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You know, they do some cinnamon sticks here that are pretty okay, but the best desserts are down the street."

"You two have fun with that," James said. "We're headed out for coffee."

"Oh, okay," Kari said with a small frown, though she shook it off quickly. "Have fun!"

"Have an extra one for me," James told her with a smirk. "And split it."

Kari blushed a deep purple again. "See you at home, James," she said as she put the money on the table to pay for the pizza and teleported off with Tim before anything blush-worthy could happen again.

Of course, that had James laughing outright. "Thought they could use the privacy," he said to Alyssa. "But if you want something sweet, I'm sure we can find our own spot."

Alyssa grinned and nodded. "I'm fine with coffee. I can get something sweet there if I really feel like it."

"Not sure they have much that's sweet enough for you," James said as he offered her his arm.

Alyssa couldn't help but laugh at that and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "No, I've definitely got plenty of sweet right here," she teased right back.

Elin and Chance were already packed to go for their anniversary — this time to a cabin that Elin had asked her parents' permission to use — but when Elin went to find Chance to leave, she somehow wasn't surprised to find him in the living room on the floor with John balanced on his knees so he could "fly", both of them laughing hard and cracking each other up the whole time.

"Are you being a bad influence already?" Elin asked, though she wasn't specifying who she was talking to.

Chance grinned up at Elin and set John down, though John wasn't ready to stop playing with him yet and simply climbed up onto his chest to sit on him to keep him there. "Uh, yeah, pretty much," Chance said, still grinning at her.

She made her way over to sit down with them both, knowing that this set up was probably a volunteer situation, and it would last until someone came to get John. "So, how long are we playing with my little brother?"

"Just long enough for K to help a very upset Chelsea get a purple Band-aid," Chance explained. "She fell over trying to keep up with Lily, and Lily's been apologizing for her owie. It's precious — you should see it."

"I have seen that. A few times," Elin said, though she slipped down to lie on her side, propping her head up with one arm. "Hawkeye trying to keep up with a little feral. Not. Pretty."

Chance smirked at her before he blew raspberries into John's stomach until John told him to stop — then climbed onto Chance to snuggle him, pretty worn out from the roughhousing going on between the two boys.

"You're lucky he's so snuggly," Elin said to Chance.

"It's genetic," Chance said without missing a beat. "Come over here and I'll show you."

"We'll have time for that once we get moving," she promised. "Plenty of snuggle and cuddle time. If you can stand to snuggle me instead. I'm not quite that small."

Chance grinned down at John. "What do you think, buddy? Think I should snuggle Elin for a while?"

John giggled and slapped him in the mouth, which was just that much funnier to him, and he tipped his head back, melting into a laugh.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes," Chance decided, grinning upside down at Elin.

She shook her head at him, but it wasn't too long before the room was invaded by a sad looking Chelsea with Lily attached to her in a hug promising to kiss her owie.

"You get a purple Band-aid, Chelsea?" Chance asked as John finally let Chance up to go check on his friends.

Chelsea nodded, still looking kind of sad, though she showed him the purple Band-aid. "Just like mama."

"You're some Hawkeye," Chance agreed, nodding seriously before he made sure to give Lily a hug. "Thanks for taking care of Chelsea, Lily. You're a good friend."

"Alright, get out," K said as she walked into the room behind the little ones. "You're making me sick with all the overly sweet."

Chelsea let out a little bitty giggle and halfway attached to K's leg. "I sweet!"

"You're super sweet," K agreed.

Chance grinned as he got to his feet. "See you next week, Mom," he said with a grin as he slid over to wrap his arms around Elin. "C'mon, El. What do you say to a campfire?"

"Sounds like a solid plan," she said before she gave her mother a little wave and the two of them headed out.