Chapter 11: The Little Hawk Takes A Spill
The kids half tumbled outside, with Bobby and a few of the other adults trailing after them to keep an eye on things as they went, grabbing up a sled and some little inner tubes while Bobby got to work setting things up for them.
The youngest of the group were with Kurt and the bamfs in the little inner tubes, happily sliding around on short hills and giggling madly. Krissy kept shouting for the bamfs to go "faster!" and the bamfs seemed to heartily agree — which was why Kurt was keeping an eye on things to make sure they didn't go overboard.
But Gerry and the twins were all piled onto the sled and squealing with delight as Bobby got them going fast. Gerry was in the front shouting "faster" almost as loudly as his little "cousin" Krissy was, and he was so into it that he wasn't quite holding on when the sled made a turn.
The squealing and laughter immediately gave way to very loud screaming and crying as soon as Gerry hit the ground, and the other adults rushed over to see what had happened as the little blonde boy was crying and holding his arm.
Clint looked totally panicked as he knelt down in the snow next to his little boy and tried to calm him down. "Gerry, it's okay. Can I see?" he repeated over and over again as the twins rushed and tumbled over to see if their friend was okay, both of them with wide eyes and obvious looks of concern.
Gerry was still crying hard but finally let Clint take a look at his arm, and to Clint's credit, he didn't look concerned at all until he had pulled Gerry up into his arms and was looking over his head so that Gerry couldn't see the panicked-Dad look on his face. "It's okay, buddy. We'll get you fixed right up," he promised.
"Can I help with that?" Kurt asked gently as he took a few steps toward them. "I'm sure Bobby can get the little ones inside on his own."
Clint looked at Gerry to see if the little guy was up to 'porting, and when Gerry nodded, Clint looked up at Kurt again. "Do your thing, Nightcrawler."
Kurt tried to give him a reassuring smile as he put a hand on both of them for good measure and teleported them right into the living room, where most of the adults were still gathered, only to turn toward Hank and Tyler. "I think we could use your help, doctors. Our little hawk had a spill."
Both of them quickly made their way over to where Clint was gently trying to shush Gerry. Jess looked alarmed and disentangled herself from cuddling with Logan and James to run over to see what had happened.
After Hank did a quick assessment, he peeked up at Clint and Gerry with a serious expression. "I'll meet you in the lab."
Kurt dipped his head down to catch Gerry's attention. "I'll bet we can beat him there if you're up to it."
Gerry sniffled and rubbed the fist of his left hand against his eyes but nodded all the same.
"Would you like Tyler to join us too?" Kurt asked. "I think I can take him with us."
"Yes!" Gerry called out quickly, probably louder than he meant to, before he hid in his dad's shirt again.
Tyler gave him a little smile, and in a flash of smoke, they were in the lab — about a minute before Hank got there, already directing them on where to take Gerry for an X-ray.
"If it's not out of line too badly, I think Tyler can take care of it quickly enough," Hank said. "With a little something for the pain, of course."
"Hear that, bud?" Clint said, trying very hard to not look like he was still upset on Gerry's behalf. "You think Lifeguard here is up to fixing your wing for you?"
Gerry picked his head up to size Tyler up for a second before he nodded. "Like when you fix Dad?" he asked Tyler with wide eyes.
"Maybe better," Tyler said with a smirk. "We'll have to see what Dr. Blue's pictures say first."
"He's gonna take pictures of your arm," Clint explained as Hank led them to where he needed them to go. "You're gonna get to see what it looks like in there," he added as Gerry's eyes widened.
"That's gross."
"Just the bones," Tyler told him. "None of the gross stuff."
Gerry considered that for a moment before he sort of smiled. "That is kind of cool," he admitted.
Tyler nodded and looked over to where Hank had it all set up. "Come on; let's see what you have in there," he said. "Cross your fingers that it's not too bad."
"Cuz then you can fix me up," Gerry said with a knowing nod.
"Cuz then I can fix you up when you're awake," Tyler said. "I'm gonna fix you up either way."
Gerry's eyes got really wide, and he seemed to forget all about being hurt as he looked Tyler's way. "I wanna be awake! I wanna see!" he insisted.
"If it's bad, trust me, you don't wanna be awake," Tyler told him. "Either way, I won't leave you here until you're all done, okay?"
"Okay," Gerry agreed, without looking away from Tyler. "I don't want it to be bad. I wanna see."
Tyler nodded as he led the two of them over to Hank. "Either way, I'll make sure it doesn't hurt," he told Clint.
"Good," Clint whispered his way as Gerry was distracted asking Hank about the "inside my arm machine." "Kid loves you; I don't want him to feel like he's getting hurt when he's too young to understand what you do."
"I don't want him scared," Tyler said. "He'll be okay either way, but I have a feeling it'll be alright. I'll check for sure my way before we start anything, though."
"Thanks, Ty. Seriously," Clint said as Gerry waved them over with an excited look painted all over his face.
"Come see my bones!" he shouted at the two men.
Tyler took a quick look at the picture as Hank explained it to both Gerry and Clint while Tyler laid a hand on Gerry's hand and tried to 'see' if there was anything that wasn't showing on the images. But all seemed fine — a simple break, nothing terribly out of line that wouldn't snap into place with a little coaxing.
As Hank laid out what they were going to do, he got the medications ready for Gerry and simply gave him a shot to take the edge off and generally not make it hurt. While they gave it a few minutes to take full effect, Tyler pulled up a chair next to Gerry.
"Okay, bud," he said, "can you give me your hand for a minute? The one that hurts?"
Gerry nodded carefully as he looked down at his hands and pulled his hurt arm over. "It feels weird," he said.
"Yeah," Tyler said. "It's gonna feel weirder in a minute. Try to relax. Tell me about the game you were playing earlier with Chance and Charlie." He put his other hand on Gerry's shoulder and started to concentrate as Gerry told him the story, working everything back to where it should be.
"We were going really fast," Gerry said with a little loopy grin as he finished his story. "I forgot to hold on."
"You're gonna hold on better next time, aren't you?" Tyler asked.
Gerry nodded very seriously. "For sure."
"Alright then. How about you give me five?" he asked, raising his hand up and waiting for Gerry to pick up the freshly healed arm.
Gerry gave him a quick high-five, and it wasn't until after that he realized what had happened, and he broke into little fits of giggles as he looked over his new arm. "You fixed it! You fixed it!"
"That's what you wanted, right?" Tyler teased.
"Yep!" He motioned Tyler closer with an excited giggle, and as soon as Tyler was within range of Gerry's short arms, he wrapped them both around Tyler's neck. "You fixed it!"
"Glad it was an easy one," Tyler said as he gave the little guy a hug right back.
Gerry nodded enthusiastically. "That wasn't scary at all! That was really easy!' he said, all but dancing in place. "That was really cool!"
"Yeah, Ty's pretty great, isn't he, bud?" Clint said, the relief obvious in his voice.
"A Hawkeye's best friend," Tyler teased.
"My best friend is Chance, but you can be my friend too!" Gerry said.
"That's how I met Kate," Tyler told him. "She'd broken her arm too."
Gerry's eyes were wide. "No way," he said, totally enraptured. "I'm just like Aunt Katie!"
"Yeah, but her arm was hurt a lot worse," Tyler said. "You should ask her about it."
"Did you have to fix her up while she was asleep?" Gerry asked, wide-eyed and solemn. "It was that bad?"
"She should have been asleep," Tyler said. "But she was awake. We were way out in the middle of the woods, and it needed to happen fast."
"Wow." Gerry was totally wrapped up in Tyler's story, staring at him in pure awe. "That sounds really scary."
"But she's fine now, right? Nothing to worry about."
"And now I'm just like her!" Gerry said, beaming. "My arm is all fixed too." He showed it off by flexing it and making a 'muscle' and then grinning at Tyler before he give him another hug. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome, buddy. No one should be busted up on Christmas," Tyler told him before he ruffled Gerry's hair. "How about we head upstairs again and get some cookies?"
Gerry nodded his agreement and hooked his arms around Tyler's neck to be picked up, clearly content to stay with his new best friend as they made their way back upstairs. He was still a little loopy and needed someone to carry him anyway, but Tyler was clearly his favorite choice.
When they got to the top of the steps, Jess was headed their way, but Gerry stopped her in her tracks with a giant smile as he waved at her.
"Mommy, Mommy, Ty fixed my arm, see?" he said, waving his hands at her to illustrate. "See? It's all better!"
Jess let out all her breath and broke into a little smile as she kissed her little boy on the cheek. "Yes, I see."
"Ty's my favorite," Gerry said in his best attempt at a conspiratory whisper, giving Tyler a little squeeze around the neck as he said it. "He can fix Dad and Aunt Katie and me!"
"He sure can," Jess agreed as she fell into step with them on the way to some of Annie's cookies — and it wasn't two seconds after they were within sight of the kids that they were mobbed. All of the little ones wanted to know the story of Gerry's adventure, which he told them all with wide eyes, loopy grins, and excited bouncing as he munched happily on his cookies and described the "inside my arm machine" to his captivated audience.
"All better," Elin said confidently as she gave him a little squeeze and headed off to other things.
Charlie had to examine his arm for herself before she could make the same pronouncement, of course, but when she had decided he was definitely "all better," she zipped over to her mom to get another cookie for Gerry and all but shove it at him. "Sorry you cwied," she said as she gave him the cookie.
He grinned at her lopsidedly. "It's okay," he promised. "It hurt a lot, but nothing hurts anymore. It just feels kinda weird still."
"That's the drugs," Tyler told Jess. "We gave him a little something just in case. It should wear off in a few hours."
"I was wondering why he wasn't already back to running around at top speed," she said quietly.
"The rapid healing hurts," Tyler told her. "We didn't want him getting scared."
Jess smiled and squeezed his arm at that. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "He really does look up to you." She paused and had to smirk. "In so many ways." She watched for a moment longer as Chance offered to play "quiet games" and Gerry and the twins headed off to play with the fingerpaints before she finally let out a long sigh and went back to join Logan on the couch, shaking her head at her little boy… who was growing up so much like his dad. Bandages and all.
Annie had gone all out again on the Christmas dinner — which was especially impressive, considering how many people she was feeding. Not only all the X-Men but also Annie's entire family had come up for the meal, and of course, Tony had dropped by with presents for all the little ones and his two favorite X-Men. So it was a pretty full house.
But she was totally in her element, a twinkle in her eyes as she swept around the kitchen, singing little Christmas carols to herself as she piled food onto serving trays, her long brown hair swept up and pinned in a bun and her apron half covered in flour and other baking residue.
The dinner looked magnificent, and all the Christmas guests were sure to tell her so, but that wasn't what had her in such a good mood as she swept her way through the dining room to lay out her delicious creations.
No, she was in a good mood for a completely different reason as she sat down at last beside her husband, and he grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed it.
"You've really outdone yourself this year, Annie," Storm said with a smile.
"I had a lot more to do this year," Annie replied with a little glance at the feral family across the table before she settled into a smile. "And I wanted things to be perfect." She glanced at Scott as she squeezed his hand in return, trying not to betray how excited she was.
At that, Scott took a deep breath and stood where he was to get the group's attention, clearing his throat. "Before everyone gets too full of Annie's good cooking, we have one last Christmas surprise," he said as Annie beamed next to him. He glanced her way and broke into a wide, honest-to-God grin. "We're expecting."
There was a beat of silence before most of those in attendance began to all but trip over each other in the mad rush to congratulate them. Kate and Kurt were there first, cheating by way of
teleportation to wrap both of them up in a hug while Logan and K tried to corral Krissy and Elin with the rest of the kids while Tony looked almost shocked as he held James. If history was anything to go by, the Howletts knew already anyway.
"That's great news!" Kate gushed as she wrapped up Annie. "How far along are you?"
"Not very," Annie admitted with a smile. "But we wanted to tell everyone while we had you all gathered here." She squeezed Kate back as she added, "We only just found out yesterday."
Kate beamed, but she didn't get to say much else as both of Annie's sisters pushed past her to wrap up their youngest sister in huge hugs and gush about how excited they were — and Leslie Ann was wrapped around Scott's middle asking if she could babysit for them.
Of course, it was obvious that Scott and Annie hadn't told the twins yet, because they would have spoiled the surprise, but once they figured out what was going on, Charlie was giggling madly, but Chance looked shocked and stubbornly told Logan, "I don't want another sister."
"Maybe you'll get a brother," Logan told him quietly.
Chance seemed to consider this for a moment and slowly relaxed his glare. "I guess a brother would be otay," he said with his shoulders slightly slumped.
"The thing about little sisters," K told him very quietly, "if you get one? Is that they need someone to watch out for them — because they can't ever do it themselves."
The little boy tipped his head her way and nodded a few times as he thought about it. "I can help," he said thoughtfully.
"It'll be a big job," K warned him. "They're always getting into trouble, and bigger kids might pick on them accidentally."
"I can help!" Gerry offered, climbing up next to his best friend. "I got a little sister coming. We can take care of 'em together!"
"There you go; you can see how hard it is when Gerry does it first," K told him. "Unless you get a brother. Then it's even worse."
Both little boys looked wide-eyed at that. "Even worse?" Chance repeated.
"Sure; they'll be in your stuff all the time, and they're just as reckless as the big boys because they think they're as big as you — so you have to keep them from getting hurt."
Gerry was nodding along to everything K said, but Chance looked more concerned. "Imma need lots of help," he said quietly.
"Pretty sure Elin and Krissy will help you either way," K told him.
"And Sying!" Gerry chimed in helpfully. "He always tries to help, even when he shouldn't."
"Especially if Krissy's there," K agreed, not even trying to hide the smirk.
"Sying likes Krissy," Chance whispered.
"I thought so," K whispered back.
"Don't tell anybody. It's secret," he insisted.
She nodded her head and put one finger over her lips as she winked at him — and Logan was quietly chuckling at the whole situation.
The rest of the evening was filled with congratulations and Annie's delicious cooking as the conversation alternated between the usual Christmas fare and asking Annie and Scott if they had any names picked out yet.
"Well, we have a ready-made girl's name," Annie said with a sly smile. "Since we thought Chance was going to be a girl."
"You've got plenty of time to think about it," K said as the happy couple finally made their way to the table.
"We'll have to start considering boys' names," Scott said. "We had a few the first time around, but... " He gave K an unrestrained grin. "We've got time."
She got up and crossed over to give them both a hug and press a glass of the warm wine into his hand. "Congratulations, big guy."