Well, I shoud've known that my readers would be smart enough to guess the right name! I tried to make up my own, but then I found out what it was in canon and it fit so well that I couldn't resist!
Anywho, this chapter may seem like a bit of a filler, but it's background info that sets the stage. I promise we get to the action come the next chapter!
Thank you for all the reviews and alerts and favs and to everyone who read! And thank you to SuniGyrl for putting up with my habit of procrastinating until the last possible moment!
Enjoy
Morning Routine
Ororo woke slowly, her mind slowly but surely becoming aware of the light filtering in through the drapes and the warm body wrapped around her. She groaned softly. She didn't exactly want to go back to sleep, but she wanted to bask in the delicious warmth that Logan radiated just a little while longer. She wasn't tired from the… activities… they'd indulged in the night before, but she was in a clingy mood and at the moment just wanted to be held.
She lay still for a while, soaking in the silence of the mansion. It was too early even for the other teachers to start waking up, but if Ororo wanted to get her toddler ready for preschool without raising a holy clamor in the process, she needed to sacrifice some sleep. Once fully awake, little Kendall Logan was bright and chipper as the shining sun. But, in that half-asleep twilight, she could be every bit as grouchy as her father.
Carefully extracting herself from Logan's grip, Ororo smiled when he mumbled petulantly into his pillow and burrowed deeper into the clean, warm sheets. Since she was the morning person in their family, it was usually up to her to wake the other two up. So long as she had in mind the time that she wanted to wake up before she fell asleep, Ororo always got up on time.
Logan and Kendall, however, could both settle down for a fifteen minute nap and end up sleeping for hours without the slightest perception of how much time had passed. If Ororo left it up to them, they wouldn't stir until noon.
Wondering at the mood her daughter would wake up in, Ororo quietly walked into the room attached to hers and smiled down at the three year old. Like her father, she was cocooned in several blankets and deeply asleep. Ororo nudged the mass of blankets softly at first, unsure if that method would be effective on this particular morning. Sometimes a slight breeze could snap Kendall awake, and other times she could sleep through a hurricane.
Gently peeling back the blankets, Ororo laughed when the small girl tried to yank them back with a growl. "Time to get up, Kendall," Ororo chimed.
Face half buried in her pillows, the girl glared up at her mother with one sleepy eye and Ororo had to bite back another laugh. She had eyes exactly the shade of amber as Logan's, which made her look even more like him.
But, for the most part, Kendall was a pretty even blend of both Logan and Ororo. She had her mother's mocha skin and facial structure, but she had her father's eyes and dark hair. And the combined thickness and wildness of both Logan and Ororo's hair had made Kendall's nearly impossible to deal with, hence the braids Ororo had done a few nights ago.
The parent she was channeling, however, was completely and undoubtedly Logan. "No," Kendall said.
"Yes," Ororo insisted, tossing aside yet another blanket. She'd strip the whole bed if she had to. She'd done it before. "You have to wake up because you have to go to pre-school, and no one wants you to be a crabby apple."
"Ruby is a crabby apple," Kendall declared, fiercely wrapping her entire body around her last pillow.
Ororo pinched the bridge of her nose. Sometimes she wished that the children weren't so perceptive as to pick up on the hostilities between the adults. Ruby and Kendall had been getting along just fine the day before, but if Kendall had heard Remy fussing at Emma for 'accidentally' burning the dinner he'd slaved over for Marie, then Kendall was sure to treat Ruby with nothing short of disdain. Ororo would have to address this, as this wasn't the first time such a thing had happened.
On the other hand, calling Ruby a crabby apple wasn't a capital offense. Courtesy of Logan – and probably Remy too – Kendall's vocabulary was already a bit more… colorful… than Ororo cared for.
She narrowed her eyes at Kendall and towered over her. "Don't you be sour," she warned in a playful tone, reaching out and tickling the girl's sides. She clutched her pillow tighter and turned away, trying to stifle her laughter and appear annoyed instead. Pillow and all, Ororo hoisted the girl into her arms and carried her back into the main bedroom. She plopped Kendall on the bed with her father to allow her a few minutes more of light dozing while she began getting ready.
She turned her back and rummaged through her drawers and vanity, listening to Kendall yanking blankets, Logan's perturbed grunts, and finally their breaths falling in sync. Ororo turned and saw Logan – still half asleep – roll onto his stomach and lightly drape an arm around his daughter before settling back into sleep.
Going into the bathroom, Ororo took care of washing her face and brushing her teeth and emerged only five minutes later to see Logan half sitting up, scowling down at the child. Seeing the confused look on Ororo's face, his scowl deepened. "She kicked me," he grumbled.
"You shake the bed when you snore, daddy," came their daughter's muffled reply.
Logan looked downright indignant as he turned his glare on Kendall. "It's my bed, pup! I can sing if I want to!"
Seeing both the bundle of blankets and Logan jerk, Ororo had to assume that she'd kicked him again. "You're tough. You be okay, daddy."
Logan made short work of the blankets and pulled Kendall out, squirming and screeching in delight. Holding her at eye level, he shook his head. "What ever happened to my sweet little girl?" he declared in mock disappointment, tugging gently on the sleeve of her fairy princess pajamas.
"Uncle Remy said I could use a dash of Cajun spice," Kendall piped up cheerfully.
Scowling again, Logan set her down. "I bet he did," he said flatly. "You know what else you could use? Some clothes. Go get dressed."
Kendall's cheerful demeanor disappeared and she gave Logan a black look, letting out a growl of annoyance. Logan calmly pointed to the door to her bedroom and the toddler loudly stomped every step, even slamming the door behind her.
"She's aggressive this morning," Ororo observed as Logan got out of bed and began to get dressed himself.
"She's a three-year old's version of aggressive," Logan corrected, getting out of bed and trading sleep pants for jeans. "She's probably just craving meat again. I'll make her an omelet with sausages for breakfast and she'll be fine.
Ororo frowned, biting the inside of her cheek. "I just don't understand why she gets like that so out of the blue. It's not like we feed her tofu or veggie burgers. She ate steak just last night!"
Logan shrugged, looking far less concerned about the topic than she was. It bugged her a little, but she had to grudgingly admit that he was so in-tune with their daughter that he'd be the first to know if something was truly wrong with her. But far from being jealous of their close relationship, Ororo felt fiercely proud and protective of her family at times like these.
"It might be a mutant thing," Logan said. "There isn't exactly a wealth of data about children of mutants. We don't know if having two mutants for parents causes kids to develop the X-gene sooner. Or if having strong powers that we're fully in control of affects the control the kids might have. We don't know for sure if she'll have my powers, or yours, or some combination of the two, or some power completely different. And of course we have to factor in the fact that you're an omega…"
Ororo nodded absently, still staring at the door and tracking Kendall's movements on the other side. The same thoughts had crossed her mind from time to time, but Logan was right; raising Kendall was going to have to be a learning experience. Well, more of a learning experience than raising a child already was. When she sensed the young girl defiantly crawling back into bed, Ororo tapped into her ability to read minds via neurological sparks and spoke inside her daughter's mind. "Ah ah. Get dressed."
Kendall harrumphed loud enough for Logan to notice and stare at the door a moment before turning to Ororo with a lifted brow. "I suppose her aggression isn't hurting anything," Ororo allowed, "but I just don't want her to get like that when we're not around. She could've done worse than to growl at that boy last week."
"Probably should've," Logan mumbled under his breath, jolting in surprise when she landed a firm smack on his backside. But he recovered from his surprise with ease and gave her a wicked grin. "Didn't get enough last night?"
"Apparently you didn't," she said, watching him out of the corner of her eye. She sighed melodramatically. "But when do you ever?"
Logan preened as he pulled on a flannel shirt, looking entirely too smug for six o'clock in the morning. "I'm afraid attending to our daughter is top priority, darlin'," he said, clearly mourning that fact. "But I believe I'll be available to ravish you" - he looked at his wrist, unfazed by the fact that his watch was still on the nightstand - "around noon."
"I'll be at my desk," she said flatly, "waiting on you, counting the ways…"
"Don't get too excited," he muttered sourly.
Rolling her eyes, Ororo grabbed Logan's wrist and brought the inside to her lips, nipping gently at the soft flesh. His heightened senses seemed to intensify tenfold when she used less force rather than more, and she watched with satisfaction as his amber eyes smoldered in an instant. "I have meetings today," she clarified. She really wouldn't mind a midday get-together, but she'd been putting this meeting off for too long already. "But in about fourteen hours I'll be all yours, James."
She bit the inside of his wrist again, so softly that it was barely more than racking her teeth across his skin. The heat in his eyes ignited into a raging inferno and he pinned her between the dresser and his hips. His lips descended on her neck and the heat of his tongue stroking languidly against the tender flesh made light explode behind her eyes. Amazing that he still had this effect on her. He'd done exactly what he was doing at the moment thousands of times, and she never got tired of it.
She did, however, get tired of breaking off his advances when he was just staring to heat her up. She sighed as the mental alarm in her mind went off and pushed Logan back to a more respectable distance just as Kendall came out of her room. Not that she and Logan abstained from affection of any kind when Kendall was around – there was nothing wrong with her seeing them hold hands or kiss – but she didn't need to see her parents becoming impassioned.
Offering the still-scowling toddler her hand, Logan, Kendall and Ororo all made their way down to the deserted kitchen. In another fifteen minutes the place would be crawling with hungry, irritable, half-asleep teenagers and even a few teachers afflicted similarly. Ororo enjoyed the tranquility while it lasted and deposited Kendall at the table.
After three years of working in-tandem every single morning, Logan and Ororo moved through the kitchen and around each other effortlessly, as though it were a practiced dance. In a way, it was; before Ororo could even turn to open the fridge, Logan would tap the milk jug that was already sitting on the counter. And before Logan even contemplated adding onions, a perfectly chopped bowl of them would appear at his side.
Kendall had seen them do this enough times that she was less than impressed, but Emma's jaw had all but hit the floor the one morning she'd dragged herself out of bed early enough to meet them in the kitchen.
Setting a plate of what was more or less a meat omelet in front of Kendall, Ororo ate her fruit as she watched both father and daughter inhale their food with great enthusiasm. She might have minded more if they were messy or uncivilized about it, but food wasn't something that either of them played with. For all their speed, there wasn't a single crumb of food that strayed from their mouths. It was actually a little impressive.
When she was done, Kendall stretched tall and glanced up towards the ceiling before slumping back in her chair, a satisfied (and slightly mischievous, if Ororo was honest about it) smile on her face as she rubbed her full tummy. "Daddy, do I eat meat because I'm a hunter like you?"
Logan smiled fondly and tweaked her nose. Sometimes it still amazed him that his daughter adored him so, but he certainly wasn't complaining. "That's right, pup. It's in your bl – "
In the next instant, Logan worked hard to stifle an undignified yelp as Kurt popped into existence in front of Kendall (hovering an inch off the table, no less!) and noisily greeted her. She gave an equally loud reply and Kurt teleported to the other side of the kitchen to make his own breakfast before snapping back to the table next to the toddler, who was now wide awake and animated.
Logan noticed that the blue menace had seated himself at such a distance that he couldn't reach him, probably because he knew the Canadian was itching to drown him in his cereal.
"Mmm, too early for plotting homicide," Betsy grumbled as she entered, announcing her presence.
Logan let the memory flash in his mind and gave a satisfied smirk when she eyed Kurt with a hint of disdain. "Morning people," she hissed as she went about making herself tea. "On second thought, if you lunge fast enough, he may be too startled to teleport away."
"Don't pawn your grumpiness off on everyone else just because you didn't get a decent night's sleep," Ororo declared as she set her dirty dishes in the washer.
"Then how's 'bout ya'll don't pawn that God-forsaken cheerfulness off on the rest of us normal people," Remy groused as he entered, pouring half the pot of coffee into a large cup. "Sleep ain't got nothin' to do with why you happy this mornin', padnat," he added as an afterthought, lifting a brow suggestively.
"I bet if you stayed up late playing video games like mama and daddy do them you'd be happy in the morning too!" Kendall declared.
The room was silent aside from Remy choking on the coffee he'd just inhaled. Logan studied his empty breakfast plate with more interest than it probably needed, trying to ignore the mad itch between his shoulder blades that told him he was being stared at.
If anyone else had made such a pronouncement, Logan's immediate reply would've been a hearty, "Damn right!" But, in this case, he was sure that more than a few of the adults in the room would disapprove of an answer like that. One, in particular, could express her displeasure in the most inventive ways…
"Video games, huh?" Ororo said, her voice a bit too casual.
That itch intensified until Logan's eyes snapped up to meet her glare defiantly. "She can hear the static. And she caught me off guard! What would you have said?" Despite his irritable tone, however, he'd probably ask her opinion in the future instead of going to an idea that had come from little Ethan Stark.
The fact that Tony told his too-inquisitive son such things should've been an immediate red flag.
Apparently, using her powers to make a sort of static force field to muffle the noise they made was all well and good for everyone else, but not Kendall. That frequency should've been much too high for Kendall to perceive, but it was unclear whether the toddler claimed Logan's enhanced hearing or Ororo's sensitivity to the weather. Or – Logan shuddered – both.
"Oh, Emma will love this," Betsy declared with a predatory smile, roughly slapping Remy's back as he descended into an intense coughing fit.
"Did I say it wrong?" Kendall turned a confused expression to her father. "What'd I say? Daddy, you said-"
"Come on, pup," Logan said hastily, picking her up and carrying her out of the kitchen under his arm. He could only take so much mortification this early in the morning. "Time to go to school."
Wholly immune to bullying laughter after spending years with Remy, Emma, and Betsy, Logan didn't let it bother him when he heard wild laughter from two of those three as he exited the kitchen.
"Daddy? What'd I say?"
"Nothing, darlin'," Logan said, shifting position so that he was carrying her in front of him, her back against his chest. "Uncle Remy's coffee was too hot, that's all."
Shrugging, she kicked her feet out enthusiastically, suddenly full of energy. Thank the heaven's for her short attention span, he thought, making his way through the mansion to Emma's room.
No doubt the blonde would be scrambling to get ready, having slept until the last minute. Logan certainly wasn't going to be the reason she was late dropping the children off at pre-school.
As if reading his mind, Kendall squirmed and looked up at her father. "I don't want Auntie Emma to take me to school," she pouted. "With Ruuu-by. I don't like her, Daddy."
Of course, he thought tiredly. It's going to be one of those days. Kendall loved Emma fiercely, but it seemed that something had yet again put his daughter at odds with Emma's little clone. Perceptive as she was – though Logan suspected telepathy rather than instinct – Ruby Summers would likely pick up on Kendall's mood immediately and shun her accordingly.
He'd have to mentally prepare himself since it was his turn to pick the girls up from school. He'd probably have to pray that the teachers would have nothing bad to say about them, especially if they were both in this kind of mood. Ruby's temper was as short as Emma's, and Kendall's could be as hot as Logan's and Ororo's.
Then there was the fact that Kendall was displaying these animal-like instincts. Not that Logan was complaining, per se; he'd felt a little misty eyed when the teachers had told him that Kendall had started letting out warning growls if the other children got too close. But the teachers had been 'concerned', and hadn't bowed out gracefully when Logan had suggested talking to the parents of the little boy who had cried when Kendall had growled at him.
But Logan was the bigger man, so he'd mumbled a dispassionate, "Whatever," and he'd left before he lost his composure and told them exactly where they could shove their concern. They had some nerve, expecting him to step back harmlessly and let Ororo address their concerns in the future.
"Did you hear me, Daddy?" she asked impatiently, twirling her new braids. The sapphire blue beads clinked quietly the more she played with them, and Logan didn't find the sound to be nearly as annoying as he'd originally anticipated. "I said I don't like Ruby."
"I heard you," he replied distractedly, making his way down the hall a little faster. "And I know you don't like her, but please try not to push her out of the car window again."
When Kendall muttered something about never doing the same trick twice, Logan finally admitted to himself that he was ready to deposit Kendall with Emma and get to his class. But, knowing her, she was probably still making herself up. Lord above, that woman loved her beauty sleep.
He finally made it to her door and knocked. It took some effort not to pound, but he knew that Ruby was likely on the other side, sleeping just as soundly as her mother. He heard rapid movement on the other side, and assumed that Emma was rushing. That was an improvement over still being asleep, but not much of one. "Do you have ANY idea what time it is?" Logan inquired through the door.
"It's daytime," Emma snapped back. "I'm getting ready!"
Logan took a deep breath, causing Kendall to giggle in anticipation. "Well is Ruby ready? They're the ones that need to go. I don't care if you come out of that room looking like tales from the crypt!"
"Of course you don't," she mumbled inside his mind. "We can't all be cranky old hobbits…"
"Why don't you try getting up earlier so you have enough time to cover yourself in all that war paint, Dracula!" he grumbled back. "I'm supposed to be down with my class in twenty minutes and I haven't so much as corrected tests. You drag-ass in the morning, lady!"
Kendall craned her neck to look up at Logan with intelligent amber eyes and grinned widely at him. Shit! After three years, he still hadn't learned to entirely hold his tongue in his daughter's presence. Blessedly, Kendall never repeated anything he said. She did, however, mention his colorful vocabulary to him when she wanted something that he otherwise wouldn't give her. Thanks for the lessons in manipulation, Remy…
Though, it was extremely rare that he didn't give Kendall something that she wanted. As Ororo had guessed from the beginning, Logan spoiled his daughter and caved in to nearly every demand; the foolish, the unnecessary, and occasionally the insane.
Still, he was better then Emma at holding his tongue. The woman had a mouth like a sailor to begin with, and she really seemed to struggle with controlling her outbursts. As far as he knew, Ruby never repeated what she said either, but that could be because Emma blocked her language out of Ruby's mind to keep her from understanding.
He didn't have that luxury, and Kendall had learned the value of the word 'collateral' as a result. "What do you want, pup," Logan asked tiredly.
She grinned wide. "Auntie Dracula is still busy with war paint, so you can tell me a story!"
Hearing Emma referred to as such almost made Logan cave in right then and there. A plot featuring ratty blonde vampires was already half formed in his mind, but he pushed it away a tad wistfully. There really was no time.
"Your zombie aunt won't be much longer," Logan said patiently. "But be good today and I'll tell you a really good story when you get home, okay?" He could never say no to his daughter when she gave him that wide-eyed look of trust and admiration.
And calling Emma 'Auntie Dracula' had boosted her ratings as well.
Kendall nodded in satisfaction and turned to the door just as Emma and Ruby emerged. Emma hadn't done every last layer of her makeup, but she'd still made sure that she looked (her approximation of) presentable. So, stunning rather than flawless. And, as always, she made sure that Ruby looked nothing short of glamorous before she set foot out of that room.
Her blonde hair, the same exact shade as her mother's, was curled and pulled into elaborate pigtails with pink bowties. Her nose, her mouth, the manner in which she carried herself… all of it screamed Emma Frost.
The only difference was that her eyes were a much darker blue to the pale blue that Emma had. Logan imagined that Scott's eyes might've been that color under those glasses and optic beams, but he'd never mentioned that to the sensitive White Queen.
Shaking away that belief, Logan returned to his original line of thought; he could understand the attention to Ruby's appearance.
What he couldn't fathom was who the hell Emma was trying to look good for. Not that he'd ever bother asking; he was sure the answer would be something akin to a slap in the face, followed by the declaration that she didn't need to look good for anyone but herself.
"Okay," Emma said, already walking down the hall. "Why's everyone standing here? We're wasting daylight! Let's get going!"
Kendall squirmed in her father's arms and reached up for him. Logan leaned down to her level so she could reach and she planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "Bye, daddy!" she shouted excitedly.
Logan started violently. "Easy, pup," he muttered as he gingerly rubbed at his abused ear. Kendall gave him a wide, innocent smile and he set her down on the ground with a mock glare. Obviously she'd inherited those banshee lungs from her mother.
Well, they were both pretty loud…
Emma scoffed at him as the four walked down the hall together. "You protect all your other thoughts like the angry rat that you are," she droned, "but you have no problems whatsoever broadcasting the – quite possibly illegal – things that you and Storm do when you're alone."
"Green isn't your best color," he muttered, flashing her the image of something that he and Ororo had tried a few weeks ago with fantastic results.
Instead of the disapproving scoff he'd expected, Emma leaned her head back and nearly howled her laughter. "How is that even possible with a metal skeleton?"
Logan shrugged, lifting Ruby into the air and letting her give him a kiss on his other cheek. "I'm flexible," he said unashamedly, knowing that Emma was muting Kendall and Ruby's hearing. "And she's strong enough to hold us in the air."
Emma's response was more wild laughter. "Oh, I can't wait to show Betsy!"
And with that statement, his smirk slipped away. Right. That was why he usually preferred to keep his thoughts to himself. Between the two of them, they'd have enough ammo against Logan to last them at least a month. That seemed to be the trend whenever he revealed something that he and Ororo had tried recently.
"That shouldn't be a problem in the near future," Ororo said, coming down the hall towards them. Locking eyes with Logan, she flatly said, "Since we're keeping Kendall awake at night, there'll be no need for video games for a while."
She casually picked up Kendall and Ruby for hugs and kisses each, and Emma gave Logan a smile that was nothing short of vicious. "That must be frustrating."
Logan only shook his head wearily. Nosy and annoying that she could be, Logan wouldn't trade her friendship or candid wit for anything.
Clearly annoyed by his lack of reaction, Emma turned to the girls. "You've got everything, right Ruby? Are you ready, Kenny?"
Logan turned his nose up at the nickname, but said nothing. It had caught on easily enough and Kendall didn't seem to mind or even notice.
"All ready," the toddlers chirped, already skipping down the hall.
Emma followed after hurriedly, and Kendall turned around one last time to wave at her parents. "Bye, Mama! Bye, Daddy!"
Logan smiled back. "See you later, pup," he answered.
"Be good, sweetheart," Ororo echoed.
When the three were around the corner and out of earshot, Ororo wasted no time in turning to Logan with a disapproving frown. "How long ago was that conversation about video games?"
"Three days ago," he answered honestly. "She said sometimes she woke up and heard snapping and wanted to make sure it wasn't a monster."
He'd been rather proud of his quick thinking when he'd come up with the video game excuse, but the look on Ororo's face gave him no small amount of uncertainty.
"And how exactly were you planning on explaining it to her if she ever got up one night and wanted to 'play video games' with us?"
"Eh?"
"Didn't think of that, did you?"
Well, no. "I'm sure we can figure out a way to block out the noise," he purred, pulling her close to distract her from her anger. "We have fifteen minutes to practice..."
Forty-five minutes later, Logan hurried down the stairs and out to the courtyard to find Kitty leading the students through their stretches. He sighed in relief. All the times that Kitty covered his ass, she may as well co-teach the damn class.
Kitty gave him a look that he recognized. "All the times I get this class started for you when you're... occupied…" She shook her head. He sighed. They both knew that she wasn't talking about Emma. Hands on her hips, she boldly continued, "When can I get away with a mid-morning rendezvous?"
"When you're thirty."
Facing his class, Logan rubbed his hands together with a grin and ignored the unflattering statements Kitty was muttering. They'd had a test the day before, which meant the beginning of a new subject. "Who's up for a little martial arts?"