Chapter 14: Looking To The Past And The Future

As soon as the funeral-goers arrived back at the mansion, they were greeted by Annie and James, who of course ran full bore forward until Scott scooped him up and had to laugh at the little guy. Annie, on the other hand, ran right for Logan and K and wrapped her arms around both of them to hug them tight.

"We weren't gone that long, were we?" Logan asked.

"No, but you need hugs," Annie insisted.

"You been drinkin' Kate's Kool-aid again?" he teased, though he gave her a hug right back.

She had to smirk at that. "If that were true, I'd make sure there were more witnesses, and you know it," she teased right back. "You just need hugs is all."

"I'm fine, thanks," he told her before he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

She squeezed him a bit tighter for a moment before she moved on to scoop Elin up and ask her how her trip had gone.

"We got to have a snowstorm," Elin said with wide eyes and a big smile. "I like the snow."

"Of course you do," Annie said with a little laugh. "Did you stay warm? You know Miss Kate hates the cold — did you help her find blankets?"

She nodded solemnly and tipped her head Kate's way. "We had lotsa hot chocolate."

"That's the only good part of snowstorms," Kate called Elin's way with a little laugh. "That and cuddles."

"Uncle Scott had a snowball fight with me," Elin reported before she leaned forward. "That is the best part of snowstorms."

Annie nodded her agreement and leaned forward to match Elin. "Did you win?"

"Only because he let me," she said with a dramatic eye roll Scott's way as she shot him a look with her hands on her hips.

Scott held up the hand that wasn't holding James and grinned. "Hey, you were giving me a run for my money."

"Daddy says it's not right to lie."

Annie laughed outright as she booped Elin in the nose. "Your daddy's right," she said, laughing even harder at the look Scott shot her way.

"What about you? How were things at the mansion?" Kate asked. "The girls give you any trouble?"

"Probably went like clockwork with the trouble magnets gone," Logan called over to her as Elin ran toward him.

"All the youngest kids were just fine," Annie assured her. "It's the older ones you have to watch out for. You know they've started up a betting pool again?"

"For what this time?" Scott asked.

"Jubes and Noh," Annie reported. "It seems the students are siding with Sying," she added, shooting a little smile Jubilee's way. "They're encouraging him, so don't be surprised when he starts asking you again for a little brother or sister. I did try to tell them not to use him to win their bets, but they outnumber me, and we have a whole school full of troublemakers."

"Good thing Logan's not in the pool, since he always knows before we do. And then he is a mother hen," Kate said, shooting a look at Logan.

"Not even sorry when you wander around on good days in need of a helmet and mouth guards," Logan said in an easy tone.

"Wrong Hawkeye," was the almost automatic response.

"Your arm still wrapped?" he asked. "Or was it your ankle this week?"

She rolled her eyes. "Ankle was last week, and Ty fixed it up, and you know it."

"Yes, but the arm was the week before that," Kurt said with a little smirk, and Kate smacked him playfully in the arm.

"Don't encourage him."

"Don't give me so much material," Logan replied.

"You'd be wrapped twice as often as me if you didn't heal so fast — and you know it."

"What are you talkin' about?" Logan asked with a frown. "I'd be dead a hundred times over."

"No, you'd play it smarter like I have to and just get wrapped all the time," Kate countered, which had Scott honestly trying his best to hide his laughter.

"Scott, would I play it smarter?" Logan said, turning toward Scott.

"Nope," Scott replied without hesitation, still grinning and trying not to laugh too hard.

"See? Dead. Hundred times over. Easy."

"Then you should be impressed with my only being wrapped every week, keeping up with you guys," Kate pointed out.

"Listen, you get hurt in stupid ways," Logan said. "I get hurt from literally running head first into gunfire. There is a difference."

"Yeah, yours is stupider." Kate had her hands on her hips, and Scott was back to trying not to laugh again.

"No," Logan said. "A samurai does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death."

"That explains so much," Scott muttered, shaking his head as Kate just gave Logan a look.

"Well that makes Clint a samurai by that logic," she said.

"It really doesn't," Logan argued.

"Reckless, irrational, doesn't think…" Kate listed them off on her fingers.

"It's part of the honor code," Logan said. "You don't think about yourself. You think of the outcome, and you don't even consider the possibility of losing — because once you do, you've already lost."

"Okay, that part I like," Kate said, pointing his way with a small smile. "The not considering losing. Good outlook to have."

"I'd lend you my copy of Hagakure, but you don't read Japanese," Logan told her.

"I'll find one in English," she said with a shrug. "I may know a thing or two about books."

"Read it then," he said. "Covers the heart of the way the samurai thought."

"Which chapter covers hug magnetism?" she almost couldn't help but ask.

"The one right before the manual on how to remove a boot from your ass."

She smiled at him sweetly. "Can't wait to read that chapter. Seems like you need it."

"If you say so," Logan said as he picked up Elin. "See you later. Gotta get the little ones upstairs." The little ferals headed out right after K took James from Scott and gave him a little kiss on the cheek, though the rest of the group didn't depart right away.

"When you check out that book, get a copy for me, would you?" Scott asked Kate in a quiet undertone once the little family had left.

Kate smirked his way for a moment. "You want to learn the ways of hug magnetism too?" she asked innocently.

Scott gave her a dry look. "I'm just curious."

"Uh-huh." She smirked wider and flounced off to join Kurt and slip her arm through his.

The two of them made their way upstairs together, dropping by the living room to find Kari and Krissy both wrapped up with Noh, Kitty, and Peter Quill. Kari had her tail tightly wrapped around Peter and didn't seem to want to go anywhere at all, while Kitty and Noh were just trying to keep up with Krissy and Sying, who were climbing the walls — literally — in a game of tag. The bamfs were of course on the kids' side and were actively keeping Kitty and Noh from peeling either of the giggling toddlers off of the ceiling or walls — which of course only had both Sying and Krissy laughing harder.

"Krissy," Kurt called out, shaking his head, "what's the rule about walking on the walls and ceiling?"

Almost immediately upon realizing that she had been caught, Krissy stopped in her tracks and looked Kurt's way with wide eyes and a little sheepish smile. "Not when my hands are sticky."

"Or?"

"Or when my feet are wet or muddy."

Peter just grinned as he watched the conversation between father and daughter and couldn't help but laugh. "And here I just had 'don't draw on the walls' when I was a kid."

"We have that rule too," Kate chuckled his way as she sat down beside him to try and take Kari, though the little pink elfling gave her mother a very dry look and snuggled into Peter harder.

"Kari grumpy," Krissy explained as she climbed back down from the ceiling. "I think she miss you, Mama."

"I can see that," Kate said dryly as her little girl continued to give her a glare and wrap her tail even tighter around Peter, who shrugged apologetically. Finally, Kate let out a sigh, looked over at Peter with a twinkle in her eye, and said, "I guess I'll just go then," as she very dramatically got up from the couch and started to walk away, with got a loud squeak of protest from Kari until Kate came back to scoop her up and pepper her cheeks with little kisses.

Kurt smiled as he watched Kate and Kari and sat in a seat nearby, though his attention was quickly distracted when he saw the picture frame on the side table. It was an old picture of the team, years ago when he first joined, and he couldn't help but pick it up and examine it a bit closer, curious to know if Logan had been messing with him.

And, of course, he wasn't. It was clear to see even in the old picture that Kurt's fur was a much darker and deeper shade of blue, and Kurt looked down at himself with a bit of a frown as he realized he looked sort of faded in comparison.

Kitty must have noticed the look on his face, because she dropped down into the seat next to him and peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. "Your trip put you on the path down memory lane?" she asked curiously, and Kurt couldn't help but smile at her question.

"In a manner of speaking," he admitted. He gestured to the picture with a bit of a sigh. "We were all so young."

"Yeah, and we still are. I don't know what you're talking about," Kitty said. "I'm not old."

Kurt smirked her way. "No, of course not."

"Good, because you looked like you were headed that way, and I had to cut it off at the pass."

"Me? Nonsense," Kurt said, shaking his head and looking affronted.

She grinned at him and gave him a little one-armed hug and she looked down at the picture and then made a face. "Oh, look at my hair."

He let out a little laugh. "You looked darling."

"I looked like I had a mop on my head." Kitty snatched the picture out of Kurt's hand and set it on the table. "No, no."

He gave her a crooked grin. "You weren't the only one to make questionable fashion decisions."

"Trust me; I've been living with space aliens and all sorts of crazy. I know, Fuzzy Elf. I know."

He chuckled a bit more at that, though he didn't get to say anything further as Krissy distracted both of their attention by climbing up into his lap. "Inna see," she said as she tried to make a grab for the picture. "Inna see."

Kurt gently picked it up so that Krissy wouldn't fall over trying to get to the picture, and she giggled delightedly as she immediately picked out her dad in the picture. "Papa so small," she said, turning her head — and the picture — sideways as she considered it. "Dünn."

"Well, this picture was taken a long time ago," Kurt tried to explain. "See this? This is Kitty," he added, and Krissy narrowed her eyes at the picture.

"Nu-uh."

"Yes, it really is," Kitty said with a little laugh.

Krissy narrowed her eyes even further at the picture, still clearly not believing it. "Where Mama?" she asked at last.

"Mama's not in this picture, Prinzessin," Kurt told her.

"Why?"

"Because she wasn't an X-Man yet," Kurt explained.

"Why?"

Kitty snorted a bit at the insistent purple elf, and Kurt shot her a look before he tried to explain, "She was too little to join the X-Men."

"Miss Kitty little in this picture," Krissy argued. "So where Mama?"

"She was really little," Kitty said. "She was probably littler than you," she added, poking Krissy in the stomach and tickling her to get a giggle out of her.

Krissy giggled and swatted at Kitty's hand until she stopped. "Okay. That's little," she agreed, then paused. "But not too little. Inna be an X-Man too soon!"

"When you are older and you get your powers," Kurt said with a little smile and a nod, "then you can start to learn how to use them to become an X-Man."

"Se-e-e-e?" Krissy smiled triumphantly at Kitty. "I not so little. Inna be an X-Man real soon!"

"Sure you are, Krissy," Kitty said with a grin as she tickled the little girl again. "I bet you'll even be better than your dad."

"Uh-huh!" She giggled and pushed Kitty's hand away. "Inna be the best X-Man ever."

Kitty just laughed and started to really tickle the little elfling, which dissolved into a whole lot of giggling on both sides as Krissy tried to tickle her back until Sying rushed over to try to save Krissy — and ended up getting caught up by Kurt and tickled as well.

The group of them stayed and played for a little while longer, but it was clear that Kari was done when she started to fuss and glare and let out little squeaks, so Kate took her upstairs — and Sying and Krissy weren't long after that, either.

Kate was still putting Kari down when Kurt arrived with Krissy, so he took Krissy to her room and gently tucked her in, singing little German lullabies very quietly as he waited for the little elfling to drop off to sleep. An he found he was also fairly exhausted from the travel and then playing with his little girl.

When Krissy finally drifted off, he knew she was asleep because of the little light snoring, and he carefully and quietly crept out of the room to go change into his own pajamas and get ready for bed. He met a couple bamfs on the way who were ready for snuggles too — and an idea occurred to him.

He crouched down by the bamfs and whispered a few instructions to them in German, and their ears and tails perked up at the prospect of something fun to do. A few more bamfs started to gather, clearly sensing the excitement, and before long, they were all nodding their enthusiasm about the whole idea, and they vanished in little poofs of smoke.

Kurt smirked to himself a bit as he went about the rest of the nighttime routine — brushing his teeth, changing into his pajamas, pulling Kate into bed with him once she finally managed to get Kari to sleep… And they were in a deep snuggle and halfway asleep themselves by the time the bamfs returned.

Two of them had discarded boxes for hair dye and were chattering their report as Kate sat up a bit and stared tiredly at them while Kurt shook his head at their timing.

"Kurt," Kate said, "why do the bamfs care that Jubes and Scott are dyeing their hair?"

Kurt looked a bit sheepish as the bamfs seemed to strut a bit at their amazing detective work. "Logan mentioned something earlier; I was curious-"

"You little imp." Kate sat up a bit and shook her head at him. "You little… you little half-demon imp."

Kurt shrugged openly. "I needed to know."

"Why, so you could ask them the best brands?" she asked, still shaking her head. "I've got my purple dye. And you're not gray yet."

"Nothing like that," he replied with a little frown. "I'm just … I'm surprised they're dyeing, that's all."

"Well, I am gonna be dyeing. What's wrong with that?" Kate asked.

"Nothing; he just said that a couple of our team mates weren't entirely …" He let out a sigh. "Nevermind. Pin it on that fact that I sometimes have to let the imp out."

She rolled her eyes at him and playfully smacked him with her pillow. "Just because you and your ridiculous bestie stay frustratingly thirty doesn't mean the rest of us have it so easy."

"It came up on the plane," Kurt said before she could get worked up further. "I was asking him how he was coping with the whole situation."

She deflated a bit at that and let out a sigh. "Yeah, he's even more ageless than you, Engelchen. Can't be easy," she had to admit. "But still. You'd think you'd be happy we're dyeing it and still looking so young," she added, a bit of the tease coming back to her tone.

"I'm only happy when you are, Vögelchen," he replied earnestly.

She grinned at that and pulled him into a deep kiss. "Then you should be plenty happy right now," she told him before she just pulled him that much tighter.

Thanks for reading "Legacy"!

You can find the next volume "A Rose For A Kiss" on robbiepoo2341's profile very soon!