Chapter 9: "Welcome Back, Cody"
The Summers family came downstairs as a group for breakfast once everyone was awake — and it didn't seem like Annie or Chloe was going to detach from Cody anytime soon.
Breakfast in itself was an experience, since there were a few kids around the place that Cody hadn't met yet. He'd been warned about Ariel and had seen pictures, and Chloe had shown her pictures of Lily, but it was still different in person seeing Krissy come downstairs with a tiny ball of white fur in her arms. And weirder still to see the tiny blonde in the group of Howletts happily eating sweets.
The little blonde stared up at the broad young man for a moment. "Do you like choc-o-lit?" Lily asked, doing her best to enunciate every syllable.
Cody blinked at her, then nodded lightly. "Yeah."
"D'ya want some?" Lily asked.
Cody nodded again, watching the little girl as he got his tea. It was easy to see K's influence in her face and mannerisms, but not everything matched up. After a moment of watching Lily be Lily, he reached out to ask K about her. What's her story?
Alternate dimension, K explained as she fed John. Billy saved her from Sabretooth - who happens to be her father.
Ah… okay, Cody thought to himself, unable to stop himself from thinking about the potential in Lily regarding her parents, the genetic possibilities Sinister had taught him to seek out. It was a good match, though not as perfect as K and Logan were...
Lily moved over to make room for Cody, tossed her hair over her shoulder very much like K did, and then patted the chair next to her with an insistent look. "I'm not s'posed to bite. So I won't."
Cody smirked before he sat down next to her, and Annie beamed between the two of them as she set some pancakes in front of Cody with instructions to eat up — which he did.
Lily watched him with a curious expression, then tipped her head as she watched him. "Do you wanna try one of mine? I gots rainbow choc-o-lit chips."
"That's alright. I'm eating my own breakfast," Cody told her quietly.
She watched him for a moment longer, then pulled on his arm until he picked it up, shoved her plate right next to his, and climbed over to sit on his knee.
Cody looked downright surprised at the move. "O...kay."
She looked up at him and then simply leaned back so she could use him for a chair. "I like you."
"Alright," Cody said, a small smile tugging at his expression. "I'm Cody, by the way."
"I'm Lily," she said as she let out her breath and then went back to her pancakes, happily humming to herself all the while.
Cody couldn't help but shake his head to himself, though when he saw K watching the interaction, he had to ask, Did you put her up to this?
Didn't have to, K replied. She's just like this.
I wouldn't know.
You will. She likes you.
Alright, he replied, nodding her way before he went back to his pancakes, careful of the little girl making herself comfortable on his knee. It was obvious she had her mother's charm, but she was already much more overtly pushy than he'd ever seen K act. Already, he could see how Lily was far more of an opportunist than anyone in the Howlett family, and he found himself wondering which side she'd favor as she grew up. Blonde hair and blue eyes were the most obvious Creed features, but when he really looked at her … the slope of her nose and the curve of her chin wasn't like K's at all. When Lily brushed her hair behind her ears, he realized the very tips of her ears were delicately pointed … just a little bit, though. Which meant her physical mutations were likely more like her father.
He found himself watching her hands move, looking for any sign of the lions claws he suspected were hidden at the tips of her fingers, but she was just too young to show anything that overt yet. That could be interesting to study—
Wait, no. Cody closed his eyes and forced the thought out of his mind. I'm home, he reminded himself before he dared to open his eyes again.
Lily was singing to herself, humming when her mouth was full, and she watched Cody out of the corner of her eye as she carefully cut a bite out of her rainbow-chip pancake and slid it over to him.
"What's this for?" he asked.
"Whatcha mean?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders up.
"You don't need to feed me," he said. "My mom has that covered."
She turned to look at him and took her fork to pick up the little piece of pancake. "That's not feedin' you … this is feedin' you." She got a determined look on her face and simply went for it. "Open up!"
Cody looked taken aback before he simply shook his head and let her shove the forkful into his mouth. She giggled delightedly at him, covering her mouth with both hands and drawing her shoulders up to her ears.
"Thank you, Lily," he said with a small smile.
"You're welcome," she sang out before she once again sat on his knee and snuggled in, hugging him for playing along.
"How long has this been going on?" Gerry asked with a grin as he and Charlie came down.
"Jealous?" Lily challenged with a grin.
"Oh, definitely. Who doesn't want to spend time with Lily?" Gerry nodded seriously.
"I see you've met my little brother, Lily," Charlie said, smiling at the tiny blonde.
Lily shook her head. "Nuh-uh. He's not little."
"Yeah, but he's younger than me," Charlie said.
"So? He's not little."
"That's what you call someone who's younger. Little brother. Or little sister." She smiled and poked Lily in the stomach.
Lily giggled but gave her a tiny growl for the poke.
"You should play with Cody," Gerry suggested. "He hasn't gotten to play with any little kids in a long time."
"Maybe later," she said, leaning her head on his chest. "We're havin' pancakes."
"Yes, you are," Charlie said, still smiling as she sat down on the other side of Chloe, who was still grinning as she watched her big brother.
Of course, with Lily so wrapped up in Cody, it wasn't long before Chelsea wanted to be part of the action, too, and she tugged on Chloe to get picked up so she could see Lily. "You gotta biiiiig teddy," she told Lily seriously.
"Uh-huh," she said, perfectly happy as she lightly kicked her feet.
"Can I play too?" Chelsea asked, her eyes as big as she could get them.
Lily gave her a sideways look. "You gotta ask Co-dy."
Chelsea looked up at Cody and batted her eyelashes in her best dramatic pout. "Can I play? Pweeeease?"
Cody looked between the two girls and simply nodded quietly in response, which got a delighted giggle out of Chelsea.
Annie beamed as she watched the two little girls lead Cody off and then sat down beside K, letting out all her breath.
"How are you holding up?" K asked her quietly.
"I miss my boy," Annie admitted with a sigh. "I know … he's here. And I'm very grateful. I got my son back from the dead!" She shook her head. "But I miss my boy."
"I know exactly what you mean," K said with a nod.
Annie nodded. "With James," she said. "I remember."
"I'm honestly surprised he didn't try more than once."
"As I understand it, more than a few people let him know that my husband's life was at stake if he did so," Annie said mildly.
"That was just enough to start him thinking," K said. "That wouldn't have been enough on its own. But it was enough to get him through."
Annie rested a hand on K's arm and then went ahead and put her head on her shoulder too. "Your family is so wonderful to mine," she said. "I love you. So much."
"It goes both ways," K said. "And I think you know we love you too."
Annie smiled at her and ran her hands through her hair. "How is Elin? She and Chance went to bed last night, and I haven't seen either of them since."
"She's been hiding with him," K said. "They both got torn up pretty well."
"I'm sorry," Annie said. "It's hard when your kids are hurting."
She shrugged. "Not a thing anyone can do about it. It'll fade with some time."
"All of this will, hopefully," Annie said. She paused. "Well. Most of it. I know my boys are… changed."
"So are my two," K said. "Just have to see how much in the long run."
"Oh, I know psychologically — that's not—" Annie shook her head. "I meant… the changes."
"Yeah, well in that case, Elin's the one that got off easy, then," K said, nodding. "The boys will all cope."
"I didn't mean she got off easy," Annie said, letting out a sigh. "I just meant… that won't fade. It's so very permanent."
K gave her a look. "She got off easy. They all have psychological trauma, and that is almost always much worse than anything physical."
Annie let out a sigh and put her head back down on K's shoulder. "What are we going to do with our kids, K?"
"Back 'em up," K said. "They're tougher than we wanna give 'em credit for."
"Oh, absolutely." Annie looked toward the door that led out to the living room, where Scott had gone to be with Cody and the girls. "I don't think I've ever seen Scott cry like that when Cody came back," she said softly.
"He needed it."
"He did." Annie let out a breath and then squeezed K's arm. "I'm going to go sit with my boys."
"I'll be around," K promised.
Chance and Elin had sort of been hoping for some quiet, and for the most part, that had been the case. Even healed up, they were both looking for someplace to simply curl up. They were tired and still a little bit sore too.
Which was all well and good until Wade showed up.
Chance had no idea how Wade found out about what had happened; he just knew that he had been in the kitchen grabbing some more food — he was so hungry still — and then the next thing he knew, Wade had rushed in to grab his arm and drag him into the hallway.
"Listen, tiny mini Summers," Wade said in a serious tone. "We gotta talk."
Chance pulled his arm out of Wade's grasp. "What are you talking about?"
"Listen, little brotha from another Summa's," Wade said, still perfectly seriously. "I heard you've recently found yourself in a unique position." He chuckled and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "It's so. Exclusive. Just you and me, really. I mean. You could technically count the stabby girl-band, but really. You and me. Exclusive club. Ooh! We should get matching jackets!"
Chance was thrown off enough that he didn't even try to get out of the hug. "What are you … are you talking about the — how did you even…" He shook his head. "Wade, this was… not really…"
But Wade had shifted just slightly so that he was petting' Chance's hair. "I know. I know. Lot to take in. Lot to process. But don't … don't be like Uncle Wade, okay? Unless you really wanna — and I gotta say. Red. Would look. Fabulous on you."
Chance shook his head and tried to duck around him, though Wade had him in a pretty tight hug that was hard to get out of tactfully. "I'm not—"
"You are! And it's okay! We're all a little crazy, it's just … how you express it. And … I think you, ickle Summerses, would do well focusing it into your ah-maaaaaayzing Tactical … whatever." He tipped his head to the side, and it was clear from the tone in his voice that he was frowning. "That's genetic, right? Tactics? Sticks? All that noise?"
"I've got tactics, yeah…." Chance said, still trying to get out from under Wade's arm.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh, I hear you," Wade said, nodding. "So what else did you get, then? Outside of the dashing good looks and the whole … I swear. You kids were born with a disapproving look on your face."
"This is just my face," Chance said almost automatically.
"I know, and it works for you, right? I mean … kinda seems like catnip to our little stabby friends - amiright?"
"Only care about one of them," Chance said.
"Oh, that … is your first mistake — saying something like that. Especially when it's flat untrue. Gotta care about all of 'em or one of 'em will come back to bite you. Hard. And if it's the mama bear … you do not want her biting you."
Chance shook his head at that. "Not what I — look, I'm alright. I appreciate the concern, really. I do."
Wade took him by both shoulders and made sure he was looking him squarely in the eyes. "Are you sure? Because … the whole being a normal person and then suddenly healing thing? It's rough. I know."
"Yeah." Chance met his gaze and then let out all his breath as he let his shoulders drop. "I wouldn't have been okay without Elin and Logan," he admitted. "There was a moment there when I couldn't even think."
"Well … I don't know what they said or didn't or .. whatever … but. You start hearing voices, you better tell someone that's not in your head." He tapped the side of his head. "Gets a lil' bit busy up there."
"I… haven't … are you saying I'm going to…" Chance stared at Wade. "Are you serious?"
"Well … As far as I know, Logan doesn't have that problem. Or K. Or … any of the kids - well, James maybe. He's a lil bit crazy still. And I didn't have a master geneticist screwin' with my helix … but …." Wade dropped all of the teasing and silliness to honestly get serious. "...I just want to watch out for you. I don't want you to deal with the crap I do."
Chance nodded along as Wade got serious. "I… I don't have any voices, but I'll let you know if that happens," he promised. "Right now, it's just a lot of being starving and tired."
Wade nodded, and it was pretty apparent that he was smiling under the mask. "We could totally have a support group, you know? I mean … when I got my lil' boost … it took a while to really work full bore … but man. That's kind of a wild sensation when you realize it's incredibly hard to die."
"I didn't really think about it that way? More… just… it's … I dunno."
Wade clapped a hand down on Chance's shoulder. "Just wanna make sure that the girl you married gets to stay married to a Summers … and not feel like she got slipped a Wilson by mistake."
"Yeah, I want her to be alright through all this too," Chance said earnestly.
Wade grinned wider at him. "Good! You're gonna be together a loooooong time!"
But at that, Chance totally stopped and then stared at Wade, a smile frozen at the corner of his mouth. "We… are," Chance said, looking totally floored and excited at the same time.
Wade was clearly grinning now, nodding slowly. "Eternal Summers! Roll credits!"
Chance broke into a sort of dazed laugh as he turned toward Wade, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Do you know what that means for her? Do you really — I didn't even think about that aspect of it!" he said, getting more thrilled by the minute.
Wade booped him on the nose. "That's right, lil Summers. Go kiss your girl."
Chance grinned. "Hey, I don't need telling twice on that," he said before he simply ducked out of Wade's grasp and rushed off to find her.
Elin was going over a few of the latest reports when Chance came almost bursting in, grinning from ear to ear in a way neither of them really had since the Sinister thing.
"Elin — I didn't even think about — do you know what it means that I can heal?" Chance blurted out, almost breathless.
"You still don't have a chance to beat me," she said, without missing a beat.
"No — it means I'm not going to get old without you," Chance explained, the grin widening with every word.
She stopped for a moment and just stared at him.
"It means if I leave you, it's not going to be in a hundred years when I'm old and gray — it's going to be when the world ends and we go with it!"
She shook her head at him as he came up to her and put both hands on either side of his head as he swept her up. "You … are so dramatic."
"And I am so right," he shot back, pulling her into a thrilled, excited kiss. "Just think about it. Really think."
"So I'm guessing that for now … that's going to be what your focus is when you heal," Elin said with a little laugh before she kissed him back.
"You? You're always gonna be my focus, El," he pointed out. "Healing or no."
She couldn't help but smile at him. "You're adorable when you're excited."
"I can't help it," he told her and kissed her again. "I promised you I'd do everything in my power to never hurt you, and here we just got handed a way to do that."
"Weren't exactly handed it," she told him, though he was in such a great mood, she just didn't want to let go of him either.
"Hey, screw Sinister. We can run with the good stuff if he's going to accidentally give us a long, happy life together," Chance said, kissing her all over again.
She waited until he seemed to slow down with the kisses. "And … how did you come to this conclusion? You're … probably not wrong, but where …"
"Oh, Wade came by to make sure I'm not… crazy," Chance admitted, dropping a bit of his elation, though he was still grinning widely.
"Uncle Wade?"
"Yeah, he told me he started hearing voices after he got his healing, so he wanted to make sure I wasn't — which, by the way, I'm not," Chance assured her quickly.
"Well … in all fairness, he was being tortured after they augmented him," Elin said. "It didn't work at all for him to start. They had to raise the stress levels first."
"Then whatever 'new method' Sinister was working on… must've worked," Chance said. "At least… part of it." He leaned over to kiss her again. "Plus, Wade didn't have anyone like you around."
"No, he really didn't," Elin said, nodding. "He used to tell us that he met Lady Death - just before the healing kicked in."
"For the record? I did not," Chance said with one hand over his heart to show how serious he was.
"That's good," Elin said, nodding. "Because that would be totally weird if you met his 'ex'." She leaned forward. "Most everyone thinks he's nuts? But I think there was an actual psychic thing happening. They fell for each other."
"That's… kinda morbidly sweet," Chance said. He shook his head as he sat down with her. "In a weird way."
"And totally something that would happen to him," Elin said.
"Well, he's already offered to … I don't know. Look out for me, I guess," Chance said.
"If he's offered, then he's already set his mind to it," Elin told him. "You don't get a choice in it."
"Oh, so he is related to you guys," Chance couldn't help but tease.
She shoved him in the shoulder. "You're kind of awful sometimes."
"But you're stuck with me forever," he said, grinning crookedly before he kissed her all over again — because he just couldn't get over that part.
When Charlie told Chance that she and Hope were planning to ambush Nate, Chance was immediately on board. He was only just starting to feel less foggy about everything that had happened after a good night's sleep, so the idea of troublemaking was the perfect distraction.
And besides, he did actually have a question for Nate, though he didn't want to worry Charlie about the whole… possibly turning into Wade… thing.
So, Charlie went to go find James, and Hope projected to Chance where they were so he could join them. From there, Hope let Nate know that Chance was internally freaking out about Wade's experience with a similar procedure, and the players were all converging.
And so was Wade.
"Oooh, it's my favorite people — well, some of them, anyway. Top favorites in the second generation. Obviously not including mine…" Wade grinned and then hugged James first, picking him up and making exaggerated noises. "Aaaauuuuggghhh. They grow up and gain a hundred pounds too fast."
"Hundred and twenty-ish, Uncle Nutso," James said. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, you see, I have a bat signal in my cave that lets me know when someone is infused with healing from your family…"
"The one with the rubber chicken and two katana?" James asked, since he knew how to roll with Wade's lunacy easily enough.
Wade touched his nose and then touched James's nose. "Exactly! That one! And it told me there was a new healer who needed introducing to the super-exclusive club!"
James paused, then blinked a few times before he looked over to Chance. "Oh. Is that … a concern … like something went sideways?"
Chance rubbed the back of his neck. "Not so far," he promised. "I had a little brain fuzz when it was going on, but everything seems to have settled. I think?"
"Have you been hearing voices?" James asked, turning toward Chance, and Wade turned with him, one finger on his chin.
Chance shook his head quickly. "Nothing like that," he swore.
"Hallucinations? Delusions of Sanity?"
Chance closed one eye. "Unless you count the part where I was reliving Viper as a hallucination?" he said, still half wincing.
"Were you seeing her?" James asked, one eyebrow raised.
"...maybe?" Chance bit his lip. "I could have sworn I was in her lab, and then, Elin pointed out the Marauder…"
"Yeah, but did you see her?" James asked, and Wade took a position a step behind James, echoing his body language and doing his best to look studious.
Chance was quiet for a long time. "See… to me, it seemed like I was with Viper, on her table, and then Marauders were dragging me around."
"That sounds more like confusion on where you were," James said, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't exactly on board for socializing, but so far, the company could be a lot worse.
Chance let his shoulders drop in relief. "That's what me and Elin were thinking at the time. I mean, it was a pretty similar situation."
James looked thoughtful as he considered Chance. "That might just be more like a trauma-induced flashback."
"I hope so," Chance said. "You'll let me know if I start acting nuts, though, right?"
"You're nuts."
"Thanks, James. That was really helpful. I appreciated this talk of ours."
"But you're not crazy," James said as if that was clarifying. He thumbed over his shoulder. "He's both."
"That's is true and accurate," Wade agreed.
"It is," Hope said, grinning as she showed up with Nate and waved at Chance. "Heard you projecting panic over here."
Chance smiled ruefully. "To be fair, it's worth panicking over. Elin doesn't deserve someone who's not living in the right moment, you know?"
"You're so sweet," Wade said as James took a step back from the group on seeing Nate with Hope.
"If you're having a Summers slumber party, I'll just go," James said.
Hope smiled his way, putting a hand on his shoulder as she passed — and stole Charlie's power, cheating with telepathy as well to effectively show Nate exactly how James felt not only generally but specifically upon seeing Nate. It was enough to actually set Nate back a step, even after James had gone.
Hope turned toward Nate with both eyebrows raised. Well?
That's… there's no reason for him to react like that.
Dad, that's exactly why Grannie Annie was so mad at you.
Nate raised an eyebrow her way. Grannie Annie?
She loves this name. I'm using it. And that's not the point, and you know it.
If he was going to act on it, Billy would have-
Also not the point, Hope said, rolling her eyes. But that's what Charlie's been hearing. Just so you know. She's beyond upset.
Nate looked toward Charlie, who was biting her lip and watching the two of them, though when she saw him look her way, she said, softly, "You felt it, right?" When Nate nodded slightly, she let out her breath. "So, you'll be more careful with him, right? Please?"
"What did I miss?" Chance asked as he looked between Nate and Charlie.
"Cody's having a hard time after Sinister affected his perception of James. Nate showed James what happened." Charlie took a deep breath, but before she could go on, Chance had already turned toward Nate with a dumbfounded look.
"Hey. I can't lose another brother after I just got this one back," Chance said heatedly.
"I thought he was past any danger," Nate said.
"I could have told you he wasn't," Charlie said softly. "I can help, you know. If you let me."
Nate held up one hand as he shook his head. "I was under the impression that Billy had gotten through to him and that was in the rearview."
Wade nodded along slowly. "Hate to tell you, sunshine — that's a long-term, full-time kinda mental health problem. Sorta like your genetic stick. I mean, you rock the look. Absolutely the sexiest stick alive, when we're rating them. But you got one."
When Nate shook his head, obviously a little frustrated by the fact that Hope was actively helping them team up on him. "He'll be fine."
"You're so lucky you're my brother or I'd have hit you by now," Charlie said, rolling her eyes. "Hope, your dad is an idiot. You know that, right? I mean, I love him to absolute pieces and owe him my sanity a hundred times over, but he's an idiot."
"Not the first time I've heard that," Hope said.
"As long as you know," Charlie said, then hopped over to where Nate was and pulled on his arm until he, almost automatically, leaned down for her so she could kiss his cheek. "Love you, Nate. You know that, right? I just want you to be careful."
"Yeah." Nate shook his head at her, though when she darted in for the hug, he tucked her in under his arm all the same and looked over her head to Chance and Wade. "You're calling yourself an expert for my little brother?" he asked Wade.
"Um … I don't see anyone else in this room with extensive healing factor experience," Wade said haughtily.
"And he started out human too," Chance pointed out, once again rubbing the back of his neck. "And… I wasn't actually lying about being worried…"
"But I also started out with a doctor way less dedicated than what you had," Wade pointed out. "My guy was … well, he was the equivalent of a chain-smoking monkey with a screwdriver as far as finesse went." He patted Chance's shoulder. "Your guy actually knew what he was doing." He looked squarely at Nate for emphasis. "You'll be fine."
Charlie snorted. "Nice."
Chance smirked, too, though he kept his gaze on Nate. "Can you check all the same?" he asked Nate. "I know I was fuzzy for a while. I know it. I didn't feel like I had all the pieces until recently."
"I will," Nate promised. "Every timeline that I can find that you have this ability. I'll check them."
Chance let his shoulders drop. "Thank you," he said in a breath and then went ahead and hugged Nate's other side too before he met Charlie's gaze. Without a word, the twins nodded, and they headed off the way James had gone to find him and make sure he wasn't slipping any further.