Chapter 2: "You Need to Know I Love You"
The whole flight was quiet out to the tucked away little cabin that K had hidden miles from any other people. Chance and Elin got there as the sun was starting to go down, and they had just enough time to figure out what they were going to do for dinner and start up a fire before the darkness really settled over the forest.
And it was advanced levels of darkness. One look up at the sky and they could easily see not only the stars but also the star clouds that made up the edges of the galaxy in the pitch black sky. Elin was poking at the fire as the wolves began to howl in the distance, and she had to close her eyes and soak it in for a moment.
"Gorgeous," Chance said, pointedly looking her way just to get a rise out of her.
"I … wasn't doing anything … and I look like a mess after the rush to get things settled," she defended before she drew in a breath, held it and gave him a quick kiss. "Handsome."
He leaned back and shook his head. "My beautiful wife, by the light of the fire, lost in thought and enjoying nature… hey, I like when you're happy, what can I say?"
She grinned wider at him for that. "You don't have to say a thing about that," she said. "What do you say to a s'more? I brought the stuff …"
"You want sweets? Okay, I'll bite," he said, grinning crookedly.
"Anniversary celebration, weirdo," she said with a laugh. "And I only brought your peanut butter cups."
"Oh good, those are the best s'mores." He leaned over to steal a kiss before she started to get out the ingredients.
A little time passed, and as they'd done at just about every campfire they'd shared since they were kids, she stole his perfectly toasted marshmallow. "Besides, I really only like this part."
He laughed and stole a kiss in return. "Yeah, I've noticed," he said, slipping another marshmallow on his stick. "It's nice to get kisses in return now that we're married."
"It's like stealing twice," she said, grinning at him. "Win-win."
"I married a thief."
"A marshmallow thief. To be fair."
"A thief," he insisted, kissing her with a smirk. "A scary, scary thief."
"I'm so not scary," she laughed. "Not toward you, anyhow."
"Well, I've got husband privileges, Mrs. Summers," he teased.
"True enough, Mr. Summers."
The fun and games went on through several stolen marshmallows and one shared s'more - though Elin did make sure to make some for Chance that she didn't teasingly steal from him - and overall, the evening was pretty peaceful deeply in the woods.
The morning of their anniversary, however, was a little more interesting. The two of them slept in - partly from jet lag and partly from staying up too late the night before. So, when Elin turned to give Chance a good morning kiss, she had to tease just a bit. "Campfire s'mores for breakfast right? No fuss … some muss. Don't have to work too hard for it… "
Chance laughed at that. "You've got sweets on your mind," he teased her.
"It's from being around you so much. You make my teeth hurt."
He grinned and kissed her deeply. "I'm not even sorry," he said, not pulling back far from her when the kiss broke.
"I hope not," she said, though she was quick to reach over to the bedside stand to snatch up a little something for him, which was his first tip-off that she was already fully wide awake. "Ha. First. For once." She handed him the little wrapped box that held a new wireless headset for when he was piloting and jiggled her foot, half holding her breath as she watched him.
Chance was shaking his head and grinning at her. "You distracted me," he accused her.
"I totally did," she agreed with a little smile.
He laughed before he reached over to grab his present to her - a set of earrings with a necklace to go with it. "Thought you'd like something nice with all the weddings we've been doing lately," he said.
She smiled and kissed him again, then tapped her fingers on his chest as the kiss ended. Clearly she was building up to something. "Very sweet, but I wasn't actually done. That is only half of your present," she said, pointing to the headset and enjoying the look of anticipation as it spread over his features, even as she looked more anxious.
He raised his eyebrows. "Really? I didn't… get you a second one..."
"I'm not fishing," Elin said, then bit her lip as she smiled up at him - not in a rush to get to whatever the second half was.
He smiled and kissed her gently. "Alright. Happy anniversary. You shouldn't have. What'd you get me?" he teased.
"Well …" she started out slowly, drawing it out as she spoke, "if you want it…. I thought … I'd … maybe give you the green light."
Chance stopped nuzzling into her and blinked at her hard. "I… what?"
She tipped her chin down as her heart raced, already wondering if maybe … this wasn't the tenor she wanted the conversation to follow. "I thought … well, I thought if you really wanted to stop trying not to get pregnant, I would maybe go along with you."
"...really? You're not… pulling my leg?" Chance asked, though he was starting to very slowly smile.
"Sweet Summers, that is something I swear to you I will never joke about." Elin finally looked up at him to take in the growing smile, though it really didn't ease her concerns. She just wanted to make sure he was happy, though, and this was the one thing she thought might do it.
He broke into a smile at last and then started to laugh before he pinned her down in a disbelieving kiss. "I've told you how much I love you, right?"
"Not today," she said with a quiet smile, glad that he was so thrilled despite her own lingering but mostly well-hidden anxiety over the whole thing. "But it's early."
"Well, I do. I love you. A lot," Chance said, still peppering her with kisses. "You're going to be amazing, El."
"Well, even if I'm not, you'll make up for it," she said.
"Hey, I've seen you with John and Lily. I'm not worried at all," he promised, nuzzling into her once more with a smile.
"Part of what I love about you. The pure faith."
"And I'm always right, too," he said, grinning wider.
"No, you're not."
"I am when it matters," he defended.
"You are when I agree with you."
He grinned and kissed her all over again. "Then it's a good thing we're in agreement."
….
Chance was still in a good mood the next morning after spending their anniversary on Cloud Nine, and he was grinning even wider when he saw that Elin was still dead to the world asleep. He kissed her cheek and headed to the kitchen to put some coffee on, then brought it back to their room with the grin still in place as he leaned down to kiss her awake.
"Good morning, sweetheart. Brought you some coffee," he said, though the smile died when he realized that she just wasn't waking up.
He frowned and tried to shake her awake, but there still wasn't any response from her at all. "El?" He started to panic, brushing her hair back - which was when he saw the small dart at the base of her neck.
"Aww. Crap." He pulled the dart out of her neck and narrowed his eyes at it, tossing it aside as he looked around for the source of the dart - though he'd barely started to look before he felt the tug of a telekinetic lift and flew off his feet, only for a pair of Marauders to walk in and grab him. Another two went for Elin as Sinister strolled in, looking over the scene with a smug, satisfied smile that turned into a sneer when she saw Chance.
"Still here," she said with a sniff. "I can't say that I'm not disappointed."
"Still sticking your nose in where it's not wanted," Chance shot back, trying to pull against the Marauders, but he was stuck tight.
Sinister waved his comment off, turning her attention to Elin as she directed the Marauders to take the two of them back with them. Chance felt his feet leave the ground, and he tried to twist away. "Leave her alone, you creep," he bit out.
"I could say the same to you," Sinister replied coolly.
"She's my wife," Chance said. "You're just a washed up scientist using an X-Man for a host."
"And you, young man, are a sub-par specimen of a species that is no longer relevant," Sinister said. "What's worse is that you're clearly trying to taint decades of my work."
"Must not be very good work if I can screw it up so easily," Chance said with his eyes narrowed.
She glanced his way almost lazily. "There has been no reason for you to have lived as long as you have. I won't allow that mistake to continue - or to repeat itself."
Chance's mouth dried out when he realized what she was saying. He'd been thinking about the green light all morning, probably projecting, and if Sinister didn't want future humans kids in the Howlett line... "You… it's none of your business if we — you — leave her alone," he spluttered, starting to really panic now.
"Count yourself lucky that I've found a use for you," Sinister said.
"I'm not helping you with anything, you third-rate excuse for a scientist!" Chance shouted, his pitch rising with every word.
"I don't need your consent."
Chance tried again to get out of the Marauders' grips, but he really was trapped, and he couldn't do much other than get more and more upset as the Marauders took him and Elin to one of Sinister's hidden-away places, far removed from civilization — much like the two of them had been up to that point.
"Don't fret, boy," Sinister said as the Marauders separated Chance and Elin. "It won't do you a bit of good to raise your cortisone levels too much."
"Where are you taking her?" Chance demanded, the threat completely sailing over his head when he was still too concerned about his unconscious wife.
"You'll see her again," Sinister said, following the Marauders that had taken Elin. "When I'm ready for you."
Chance watched as Sinister left with Elin and the Marauders — while the two that had Chance simply dragged him to a cell to wait.
He was pacing the length of the small cell and getting worked up, knowing that neither of them had been wearing their panic buttons — he hadn't even been wearing a shirt and she was wearing his — so no one would think to look for them for several days.
And considering Sinister was already "working" on Elin … that was going to be too late.
Not to mention whatever it was the pale creep had in store for Chance, which he really didn't want to think about.
He was still pacing when a scream split the air, and he froze in his tracks before it started up again, in earnest. He nearly tripped over himself rushing toward the side of the cell closest to the sound as he tried to shout over her and call her name so she'd know he was there and have something to focus on, but that wasn't working. Or, at least, it didn't stop anything, not until Sinister must have finished, because it went silent on the other end of the hallway, leaving Chance shaking from head to toe with anger.
The sound of lumbering footsteps echoed the hall and the cell, and it wasn't long at all before two Marauders stepped in front of the cell and started to unlock it — as always, wordless as they made their way forward. It didn't matter much what Chance did to hit them; they were more reinforced than the ones they'd fought last they'd met, and seeing as they felt no pain, it was next to impossible to deter them.
With a few heavy hits, Chance was knocked senseless, and the two Marauders dragged him down to Sinister's lab, where Elin was still strapped down to an exam table — splattered with blood, shaking, and trying hard not to cry. They wrestled him onto a second table, where one held him down while the other snapped closed the shackles.
By that point, Chance was torn between outright panic and concern for Elin, though panic was definitely starting to win the battle by the time he was strapped down and the Marauders stepped back. It was too familiar. And even though it had been years since Jamie and Viper had kidnapped him and he'd spent ages trapped in the lab in Westchester after that, he still couldn't stop the almost instinctual, automatic terror that set in from being restrained in any kind of medical setup.
He pushed down the memory of being unable to breathe, unable to stop screaming, and glanced over at the tools set out on a tray nearby. That… didn't help his panic at all. He closed his eyes, trying to keep a handle on it. "Elin," he said in as even a tone as he could. "Listen, I ... I'm here, okay?"
She met his gaze and nodded a few times, though she didn't want to blink at all, knowing that after all the healing she'd been through, even closing her eyes for a moment might mean passing out for hours. And she didn't want to leave him alone with Sinister. Not with Sinister's record of trying to kill Chance.
"I love you, alright?" he said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach. "Always have. Always will. You got that?"
"Why are you telling me that?" Elin asked, shaking her head without realizing it.
"We didn't hit the panic buttons, El," he said in an almost dull tone. It was starting to really sink in for him, and he just… he had to make sure she knew he loved her.
She started to panic herself at his tone. "No."
"So just… do me a favor and don't … watch," he said slowly, barely fighting back the terror, trying to focus on Elin. She had already been tortured by this creep, and he didn't want to let Sinister use him against her to make it even worse. He'd seen what that had done to James, and he couldn't let the same thing happen here. It was the one thing he could do — try to help her, keep her from hurting. "Don't let her do that to you."
"No," Elin snarled out, pulling and yanking on her wrists even though she wasn't quite healed yet. She pulled and twisted, keeping it up until she broke something in her hand — enough that she could pull her hand out of the manacle and start scrambling to find the release.
Of course, that was when Sinister arrived, looking annoyed when she saw what Elin was up to. Sinister tutted as she reached out to telekinetically rearrange Elin back the way she was supposed to be. And for good measure, she added another strap above her elbows to keep her from pulling her arm out again.
"Willful," she said with a sneer.
"And you're cowardly," Elin snarled at her.
Sinister waved a hand, then patted Elin's arm, ignoring her in favor of turning her attention to Chance and setting up leads and lines to get a baseline — which clearly showed his panicked heart rate and blood pressure, among other things. Sinister shook her head at Chance's readings and then turned to look through her supplies for a sedative. "I can't get anything done when you are like this," she said in an almost annoyed tone. "Overly emotional. Overly dramatic. And overly concerned for the well-being of a girl far above your place in this world. She'll be perfectly fine one way or another. That is the essence of her mutation, after all. You …" Sinister tutted again as she drew up a measure of the sedative for Chance. "So delicate."
"Chance," Elin called out when she saw the way that Chance was trying to brace himself as Sinister administered the medication. "Don't you dare give up on me."
He was already starting to slow down from the shot when he glanced over at Elin and nodded quietly. "Love you too, El," he muttered as his eyes drifted shut.
Elin stared at him as he passed out, and then, her lips curled back in a roar as she started cursing Sinister in every way she knew how, outright raging against the restraints as she tried to get loose. Somehow.
Sinister glared at her as he called for his Marauders to deal with her, though after the first Marauder got a chunk bitten out of his hand, Sinister called in a second backup that Elin simply hadn't been expecting.
He was a little older than the last time she'd seen him — and definitely taller and broader, more reminiscent of a Marauder — but that was unmistakably Cody in the doorway.