Chapter 24: Baby Games

Logan and K were enjoying an early morning breakfast one Saturday morning in the boathouse as Abbey slept in when they were surprised with a pair of visitors. The couple was snuggled into each other, enjoying the quiet of their little hideaway when Jean and Scott more or less simply let themselves in about five seconds after knocking.

"You…. you slimy little ….ugh!" Jean said, her hands in fists at her side, though she was smirking hard, and Scott was having a very hard time keeping a straight face when he knew exactly how happy Jean was. Jean crossed the spanse to where Logan was and hit him in the shoulder hard. "You knew!"

"Of course I did," Logan said with a little frown, clearly not understanding what it was that had Jean so upset with him when she'd just gotten he good news out to her husband at least.

"Do you have any idea how much I've wanted this? How long we've tried to … and you … you could have told me weeks ago!"

"Hey," Logan said with a frown, one hand up to catch hers when she tried to hit him again. "I thought you wanted to find out for yourself."

"Are you crazy?!" Jean hissed. "I would have been fine if …. Do you know how relieved I would have been …. I just …"

"He won't do it again," K cut in, stopping her from smacking him again. "I'll explain it." She gave Jean a warm sort of smile just before the redhead shook her head one last time and then wrapped K up in a tight hug.

At least you told me sooner than later, Jean projected out, which really only got a laugh from K and in short order Abbey joined the four of them, dragging her teddy bear behind her as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

She took in the scene - her mom and Jean hugging while both Logan and Scott watched the two women with smirks before she made her presence known with a clear declaration of 'UP'. Logan picked her up and carried her toward the two women, and she leaned over to kiss Jean.

"I hope you don't mind us staying for coffee," Jean said over Abbey's shoulder, grinning widely at the fact that the little girl couldn't help but snuggle in more.

The little family made their way to the mansion one morning for coffee as they usually did on school days, though they didn't expect to be greeted by a couple of early morning visitors.

"Logan, K. Nice to see you two getting along so well still," Fury said to them as they entered the kitchen with Abbey balanced on K's hip. K froze in her tracks, for just a moment before Jean came and picked up Abbey from K, taking her to Charles' office to play while the newcomers had a word with the two ferals. "Cute little girl," he said in a blatant attempt to be friendly to K.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Fury. Stark," K said stiffly, as she poured herself a cup of coffee. Tony frowned at her clearly disappointed tone and Fury, tipped his head a little, though his expression was one close to resignation and Stark had no humor to him today.

"Are you ever gonna warm up to me?" Fury asked her wearily.

"Are you ever going to be straight with me?" K asked, one arm across her stomach as she tipped her chin up defiantly.

"That's why I'm here. To clear the air," Fury replied, turning to face her as Logan stepped up behind her, his hand on her hip. "We have a problem you two need to be aware of."

Logan tensed for an instant and set his mug down. Fury never bothered telling someone that here was trouble unless it was too much for SHIELD to handle - and the threat was imminent. "What kinda problem?" he asked, tightening his grip on his wife.

"We've had reports that Sabretooth is back in operations," Stark replied, watching them both for a reaction.

"Bullshit," K replied "Logan killed him. You all said that. How can he ..." Some of her fire slipped as she realized that he simply wouldn't be there unless they knew that Creed was headed their way, confirmed when Fury broke her gaze and looked away before he shook his head.

"I can't say with any certainty, but you two need to keep your eyes open, especially with that little girl around," Fury replied. "The sources are credible. The DNA evidence is solid. He is out there and he is hunting." Fury stood to leave.

"What did you do with his body?" K asked, suspicious and angry, her head cocked to one side. None of her concerns were eased when Fury paused and took a deep breath before answering her.

"Victor Creed's remains disappeared shortly after we took custody," he replied, his head tipped downward as he looked at her and K abandoned even trying to look at him as she turned to Stark next.

"Did you know?" she asked, wide eyed with a clear tone of betrayal in her voice.

Stark shook his head and her shoulders relaxed incrementally. "No. I wasn't aware of the situation until yesterday. I lobbied for you to know immediately," Tony swore.

K went still as she tried to keep her nerves in check. She hadn't trained to fight Sabretooth in months, since they'd thought he was dead. She knew she was woefully out of practice against him, and the idea that he could get to her when she was that far off her game had her sick to her stomach as she turned to Logan. "Is my program still in the computer?" K asked with a waver to her voice.

Logan even looked pale as he nodded. "You can start this afternoon," he told her hoarsely.

K took a session in the Danger Room before her riding class, and while running one of her favorite simulations, she got her ass positively handed to her as the Sabretooth simulation popped up in the middle of it, beating her worse this time than it had when she'd first started training before she married Logan. At the end of the session, she brushed herself off and changed quickly, not yet even close to healed from the beating she took. She was sure to zip out before Scott could realize how badly that session had gone.

He wasn't used to the programming anymore any more than she was, and though he'd faced Creed himself more times than he cared to count, it was jarring to see her lose that badly. Especially since she'd been so amazingly capable of handing it to Sabretooth before. Of course, her hasty exit wasn't going to be enough for Scott to get off of her case even if she had left before he could say anything to her. Instead, she'd inadvertently left Scott to go over the tape and see when exactly it went south on her while the experience was still vividly fresh in his mind as well.

When K got to the barn for her riding class, her students couldn't keep their eyes off her. She had a fairly large, wet bloodstain on her side that she hadn't even noticed until one of the younger students asked her about it. She looked down, realizing she should have waited a few more minutes before changing out of her uniform. But it was a little too late to avoid it now. Instead, she clapped her hands once loudly and did her best to divert their attention to the task at hand.

She also didn't have time to change before meeting up with Logan for the women's self defense class either. Though Logan didn't need to guess what had happened judging by her injuries. He took her hand and pulled her to him as he looked her over with a more critical eye. "Danger room?" he asked, not surprised at all when K simply nodded in response. Clearly, he was worried about her, and though Scott had said her session didn't go well, he had failed to mention exactly how badly it had gone. But now wasn't the time to address that. Not when she was doing a pretty damn good job of soldering through it. And he knew she had to be shaken up from the loss.

The self defense class ran well as they continued on how to break free of one hold or another, and though it was clear to Logan that K was tired by the end, he took a hold of her hand and held her back as the room cleared. "Darlin', put me on the ground." he told her, trying to get her moving, but K shook her head. "Come on, sweetheart. Take me down."

In spite of the seriousness of their situation, Logan had to try hard not to chuckle when she did her best impression of a dramatic teenager when she sighed heavily and turned to him. Her gaze was to the ground and her shoulders were slumped before she very suddenly lunged at him. But unlike in spars that they'd done a hundred times over, In no time, Logan had her on the ground, unable to move or even wriggle her way out from under him. Nothing she knew could shake him and she was hopelessly pinned. Which really only had her more frustrated. "OK. You win. Let me up," she said though Logan shook his head.

"No. You have to beat me. Try something else," Logan suggested, but K was honestly wiped out and didn't have the strength to do what he was asking.

"Logan, I'm tired. I can't do it right now," she said wearily as he shifted into an even more solid position over her, prompting her to scoff more at what he was asking.

"Too bad. You have to fight. I won't let you give up because you're tired," Logan replied, though he didn't have any of the teasing tone she was used to hearing from him.

"Can't this wait?" she asked, still upset with herself for how badly she'd done in the simulation earlier.

"No. If he's around he won't wait until you're ready, and if he wins, you're dead and so is Abbey," he said grimly "So … Fight me."

She knew he was right, but the wording was what she needed to spur her on. With her teeth gritted, K suddenly fought back with a renewed fire, all while Logan tried to give her pointers, telling her to use any means necessary even on him. When she finally got one arm free, she took a swing at him, unable to connect as he blocked her. To her frustration, she couldn't get anywhere with him, though they didn't stop until Logan could see she just didn't have it in her. When they left the room with his arm around her, K felt like a complete failure, though she knew it was only the beginning. There was no way that she'd allow herself to stay that defenseless against Sabretooth. For Abbey. And when the two of them collected their little girl from Bobby, it was clear to both of them that they had a long way to go.

Weeks went on like that - the usual classes and every spare moment they could manage spent in the Danger Room or sparring in the gym. K was making some improvement, though still not enough to beat him should he appear unannounced. She hadn't thought much of it until Kitty handed her a letter that had to be a warning. Clara was coming to visit.

K and Logan shared a look as seeing the name on the envelope, but neither was entirely sure what to make of it since Clara had done such a magnificent job keeping away from her brother. Unless … she hadn't.

The next morning, Logan watched K from the control booth. She didn't know he was there, seeing as he'd come in to relieve Scott so he could head off to a class. K had just gotten attacked by the simulated Creed when Logan came in, and he and Scott took the time, watching her as she got what could only be described as downright vicious. It was easy enough to see that unlike last time when she'd trained against him, K was on the edge of losing it and going completely berserk. It was almost as if she simply needed the wind to blow just right and she'd flip. Scott unconsciously leaned forward as he tried to see what she needed to send her over the edge.

"Kitty said it was pretty nasty when she went berserk last time. Doesn't look like she wants to do it again," Scott said almost to himself as he watched K. Just the look in her eyes along with the increase in respiration and heart rate looked amazingly close to what happened when Logan lost it.

But that only had Logan frowning and wondering: how bad could she get? He leaned over Scott's shoulder and started typing in a few additional commands in the program before hitting enter and standing upright again, crossing his arms as waited to see what she'd do.

As she avoided Creed's claws and dodged his slashes, which made little contact, a few teammates materialized to aide her. Kitty dodged in to try and help, but Creed slashed her across her torso with an easy swipe when she lost some of her concentration. The simulated Kitty, fell with a cry bleeding copiously as Creed growled out his approval and chuckled to himself low. "Here kitty, kitty," Creed purred out in a manner that had K freezing for just a moment. Her nostrils flared as her low growl slipped past her lips.

The two men in the booth watched her - both of them holding their breath, sure that was going to do it. But by some miracle, K forced it down as she ramped up her attack. She was fighting Victor much harder when the simulated Jubilee got too close this time, getting herself gutted for trying to blow out his vision with a shower of fireworks.

But that did it.

K's pupils dilated to pinpoints and she shook with rage, before she slipped into hyper drive. It was clear in a heartbeat that even out of practice, her small size and ridiculous speed compared to him allowed her to shred him easily. The trouble of course was that she seemed unsated after she hacked him to bits, and was obviously ready for anything as she panted heavily, her senses working overtime as she watched for something to kill.

The simulation gently faded out into a rolling flower filled meadow where the breeze made the grasses and wildflowers sway and rustle against themselves. Slowly, K relaxed, and just as slowly, her claws slipped back into their housings before she slid to her knees with her hands shaking.

Scott and Logan shared a look. "I've got it. Don't sweat it," Logan told him quietly. Scott let out a breath with his jaw locked before he headed out to his class leaving Logan to make his way to her to help get her adrenaline crash under control. "You're gonna be fine, sweetheart, just don't wait to let it out. You can use it to your advantage," Logan said as he knelt next to her and wrapped his arms around her to get her to settle out.

She snuggled into him as she shook her head. "I can't. It's too hard to let it go," she argued as she leaned her head onto his shoulder. As he knew well, it was an incredibly draining experience. If he was being honest, he was surprised she was upright. It was an incredible amount of energy and emotion that went into a shredding like the one she'd just doled out. He knew when it happened with him, it took him time to rebound, so the same had to be true for her.

Of course, with the team around him he always pushed forward and made it look as easy as possible, but if he was alone and could afford to do it, he'd stop and recover before moving forward. So he wasn't surprised when K shook her head still in doubt.

"I can't do it. I hate that," she said, as her exhaustion began to show while he kissed her forehead.

"You need to try, darlin'. Might just be what pulls someone's ass outta the fire."

But the idea of it had her feeling like a failure. "If I can't do it honest -"

"He's got no sense of honor or morals," Logan said, cutting her off. "With him, it's a free-for-all. If you can nail him - nail him. Whatever it takes." He held her gaze for a long while until he simpy pulled her into a kiss for her efforts.

When the couple finally decided to make their way upstairs, they were greeted by a very excited Bobby as the door to the Danger Room opened before they prompted it to.

"Clara's here! I mean – she's here!" He took a moment to run a hand through his hair looking shocked still. "Wow. A Creed welcome in the house. Holy crap." He grinned, wide eyed, though it was clear that he was equal parts awed and scared at the potential conflict.

"Grow up, Popsicle," Logan growled as he helped K up off the floor from their latest hand to hand combat session he'd insisted on giving her after another successful battle. She'd been consistently taking Creed down in the danger room, and now Logan wanted her to be able to stop him too.

But she was understandably having trouble bringing herself to hurt her husband, but he was being insistent. Clara was waiting for them, her long white-blonde braid hanging down the center of her back was almost like a calling card. She looked like she'd seen a ghost when they finally met up with her. After a quick greeting, she handed K a small box as the two broke their hug.

"What's this?" K asked looking at the small box with a frown.

Clara was more pale than usual when she took a deep breath to answer. "It was sitting on my bed five days ago. I had gone to take a shower and when I got back it was there," Clara explained, looking spooked as she waved her hand at it, waiting for K to open the box.

K on the other hand felt like she was about to find a bomb as she very carefully slid the two sections apart, completely unprepared to find the little silver rattle inside."It's a baby rattle," K said frowning at it, now totally confused.

Clara nodded, wide eyed and on the edge of a real panic. "It was mine," she said quietly. K held her breath as she looked it over. "I'm sure you two can smell it, but I'm pregnant. Due in six months and I hadn't even told anyone and this just shows up," Clara whispered, clearly ready to lose it.

K shook her head, as she looked at Logan, brow wrinkled. "Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe Bill found it -" K started but Clara was quick to cut her off.

"No. It smelled like my brother. He had it. Kept it, and somehow he knew I was having a baby." She looked green at the thought of him knowing more than she wanted him to.

Logan stepped forward, and removed the box from K's hand before holding it up to his nose, his face relaxing just a fraction as he handed back to K, nodding his chin at her. She cautiously repeated the action, swallowing hard as Creed's harsh scent hit her nose. It was faint, but it was there. From anyone else on the planet, this would have seemed as a sweet, sentimental thought. But seeing as it was him, all parties involved took it as a threat.

"Do you think he'd hurt you, Clara?" Logan asked, trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

She barked out a little laugh, gesturing to her scarred face."One of my brothers?Yeah. He just might," she said sadly.

Logan's jaw was tight. He knew Creed better than anyone, but this was so far out of his range that he had no idea where to was too twisted even for Victor.

"No," K said quietly, still looking at the gift Clara had received. "No, I think he's happy about it."

Logan looked at his wife with a frown but she continued without waiting for him to push. "Think about it, how long has he held on to this?" K asked.

Clara wracked her brain, thinking of all the years that had flown by her. "Longer than I can even remember," she said quietly.

K nodded then handed her the box back.
"I think you're alright. You may have an unannounced visitor, but I think he wants you happy," K said, watching her reactions. "Of course, I could be totally wrong. But, my gut says otherwise."

Clara smiled at her softly. "You understand him better than you think, K. You maybe could have gotten along with him," Clara said, though K bristled at the suggestion, shaking her head shortly.

"No. Hey, let's change the subject. Have you been checked out by a doctor? Just so happens we have one here that loves babies," K told her, pulling her by the arm toward the elevator to Hank's lab.

Logan watched the two women go, thinking hard about all Clara said – and more about what she didn't. Before the horse drive, it had been decades since Logan had seen her, but he knew she was leaving something out. She was far more anxious than he remembered her being, even way back when they'd known each other and were on the run. It was clear that they weren't getting the whole story, and it made him uneasy.

K had been kind in trying to be friendly with Bill's wife, but without fail, every time she talked to Clara, every time she spent a little time alone with her, every time – she would wake up at night for at least two or three days with raging nightmares about Victor. Clara's' visit would not end up being a good one for K, even if she tried to do all the right things.

Kurt had appeared in a poof of swirling smoke, though outside of the trademarked 'bamf' he simply hadn't said a word yet as he studied Logan, who had shifted from staring down the hallway to step outside with a cigarette, working his jaw as he thought. He followed Logan's gaze with his eyes narrowed before he teleported outside to join him, uneasy with what a Creed might want at this stage of the game. "Do you trust her?" Kurt had to ask.

"I did, long time ago," Logan told him. "Knew her before I ever met Vic."

Kurt's eyebrows went up at that and his whole body language shifted to one of raised interest. "Is … she the reason that you and Sabretooth have fought? You old dog, you …"

Logan gave him a dry look. "Believe it or not, no," he replied. "Had nothin' to do with Clara. Least as far as I know."

Kurt had lost his serious expression and had shifted to a much more playful look as he bumped Logan's shoulder with his. "What happened, mein Freund?"

"Let it go, Elf," Logan said, but that only had Kurt smiling wider.

"I can't believe I'm saying it, but … what did you do to his sister to have him so murderous?"

"It wasn't his sister," Logan said, sounding tired. "And that's not … you're missing the point entirely."

"And you've been holding out stories when it could be something pertinent."

"It's not."

Kurt simply gave him a look for a long moment that had Logan ready to pop him in the back of the head. Silence stretched out for a long moment before Kurt finally spoke up. "At any rate, I suppose it doesn't matter much right now. What about her now, today?" Kurt teleported over so that he was waiting for Logan to get to him. "Is your beloved safe?"

"I think so," Logan said. "Clara was always too good for the company she kept. No idea how the two of 'em are related."

Kurt smiled to himself then teleported to catch up to Logan, appearing a few paces in front of him and immediately walking backward. "So she dumped you then, hmm?"

Logan stopped and met his gaze with an entirely unamused glare. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"No, not really," Kurt replied with a smile, settling in while Logan worked on his cigarette. Of course that was interrupted when he heard the patio door crack open. He whipped around quickly, dropping the remains of his cigarette and stomping it out as he heard Abbey's tiny voice when Jean stepped out with her. "How's my girl?" Logan asked, no smile on his face, though his voice was light.

Jean set the little girl down to run to her father on her tiptoes, and Logan picked her up, nuzzling her with his nose and with Abbey giggling at him as he did so. "She hid when Clara walked by Charles' office. Something seems different with her," Jean said as he, Kurt, and Abbey got back to the door. Kurt held it open and Logan nodded before they went back in.

It didn't escape his notice that Clara and K were quietly saying their goodbyes. K was sure to wish her luck and Clara promised to let them know right away if she heard from or saw her brother any time soon. When the door closed behind her, K stared at the closed door as Logan made his way closer. She shivered involuntarily and scrubbed her face with her hands and Logan's heart sank. This wasn't going to be good for her at all. "You alright, sweetheart?" Logan asked, and when K turned toward them, Abbey was blinking back at her with wide eyes.

K held her breath as she rushed forward, reaching for them as an anchor. Logan shifted Abbey so he could wrap one arm around his wife too, and for the time being, the little group simply took a minute. As the three way hug went on, Abbey nuzzled in and patted K as they held each other, only stopping to reach forwards and kiss her mother's cheek.

K couldn't help but to chuckle a little at the sweet little girl between them When K picked her head up off Logan's shoulder and kissed her back, Abbey's eyes sparkled as she immediately grabbed a hold of her father's sideburns, to push his head toward K.

Kurt couldn't help but smile as he stepped back from the room while once again, Abbey was pushing the kissing game.

Logan grinned along with K before he complied with his daughters wishes, kissing his wife as Abbey squealed, clapping her hands delightedly. When Abbey started to squirm, Logan let the little one slide down fora moment in favor of pulling K tighter, hoping to ease her mind as he continued to kiss the sense out of her. Abbey remained silent near their feet until the kiss broke and she began squealing and clapping all over again, which got both of her parents smiling her way.

K picked up Abbey and the little one hugged her as she smiled at her father proudly as if to say 'look what I did, Dad!' It was obvious that at this stage, Abbey was convinced that kisses made everything better. Her parents were always more relaxed after they kissed, after all and that was no small trick.

Jean smirked as she and Kurt left the family to their own devices - especially on 'hearing' what it was that Abbey was thinking. Specifically the fact that she was going to have to make sure that her parents kissed a lot more. They both needed to relax and Abbey didn't know why, but that didn't mean she didn't know what the cure was.

Training began to blend the days together, but even at that, K wasn't about to forget that Abbey had a birthday coming up. It wasn't like it was very hard to get Jean to go with her to pick up a few things for the little girl to unwrap - and when it came time to set up her little party, Jean again pulled out all the stops in helping to prep while Kurt and Logan kept Abbey occupied.

Between the two of them, they had Abbey's cake done at almost the same time that dinner was ready for the group, too - and Jean was bouncing in place to see how much of a mess Abbey was going to make.

Of course, when the time came, the wide-eyed little girl simply stared at the perfectly frosted creation that Jean had slaved over. There was some quiet speculation… and then Jean burst out laughing when she reached out to try and encourage the little girl to just … wreck it.

"She doesn't want to ruin it," Jean laughed, though she had a tear in the corner of her eye from how incredibly touched she was. "She's … a year old and more considerate than most adults."

K gave Jean a slow once over. "And yet you're surprised somehow …"

"Shut up," Jean laughed before she again reached out to Abbey, encouraging her to enjoy it, and with a bit of prompting, finally, Abbey carefully put a finger into the side of her cake … and then two … and then with a curious expression, she simply pushed her entire hand into the side of the cake only to withdraw it and frown when she saw how messy she was.

She refused to touch it again until Kurt came over to encourage her - dabbing a touch of icing on the end of her nose - and staying close enough for her to do the same to him … which only meant a massive belly laugh from the little girl as she went to redecorating her favorite uncle.

Which was nothing compared to the look on Scott's face when Abbey finally got a little wound up and whipped a handful of cake right at him - and managed to nail in right in the side of the face. Scott stared up at her, shocked for an instant. But Logan and Kurt couldn't hold back from that and fell apart laughing - prompting Abbey to try and whip more handfuls of frosting at the various adults until Jean telekinetically picked her up, shaking her head at the little one.

She was sure to set the little girl into Logan's arms. "You … are a horrible influence."

"You're the one that was telling her to make a mess," Logan laughed before Abbey smeared a streak across his nose.

"Yes, but you're the one that was laughing at Scott!" she argued, hands on her hips.

"But it was funny!" Kurt said between tears, holding his stomach and trying to keep himself upright.

Jean narrowed her eyes and whipped the remains of the cake at him, which only had Logan laughing harder, though Scott and Kurt both joined in for that as Logan and K headed off to clean the little one up.

A few days after her birthday, and far apart from the cake smashing incident, Abbey was playing in Charles' office near the window, stacking blocks and making her teddy bears kiss when she saw someone outside. She stopped her play and watched them walk across the grass and as she watched, the stranger paused to look back at her for a moment. She was almost mesmerized since she'd never seen anyone that didn't live there walking across the grass. She had one hand on the windowsill as she quietly watched, frowning for an instant before the man waved to her before he kept walking. She hadn't seen this person before, but they looked funny.

Suddenly Charles called for her to come over to him, and as she'd done countless times before, she stopped what she was doing and toddled over so he could pick her up. Charles frowned as he watched her settle in then he gently peeked into her memories to see what it was that she saw. "Is that all you saw?" Charles asked, and Abbey nodded with a quiet 'mmhmm'.

Abbey ducked her head down as Charles closed his eyes, which really only meant that someone would be in the office soon. Sure enough, Auntie Jeannie walked in and crouched down next to Charles so she was eye level with her while she snuggled Charlie. Abbey smiled, knowing that Auntie Jeannie would 'talk' to her and it would be easier to tell her lots of stuff.

When prompted, Abbey projected out what it was that she'd seen out on the lawn to Jean. The two of them stayed that way for a long while with Charles simply holding her and Abbey enthusiastically as always telling Jean everything she saw.

After they had their little talk, Abbey turned to Charles and gave him a hug. He looked like he needed it to the little girl and that was what Abbey's job was after all. Making people happy. But she watched as Charlie and Jeannie shared a look, and a moment later, she floated up in the air until Jean reached out to pull her into a snuggle.

She waved over her shoulder at Charlie, who once again looked very, very serious. She went with Aunty Jeannie with no fight. "We're going to go find your Daddy," Jean told her, which got Abbey to grin up at her delightedly.

When they found him, he was with K, and both of them were in their uniforms, which usually Abbey loved, but … her father looked very serious, and her mother was wearing an expression that Abbey had never seen on her. Someone was in big trouble.

For the first time in weeks, Abbey didn't clap when her parents kissed, though when they both took a moment to kiss her, too, she couldn't help but coo up at them as they headed upstairs at a jog. But then it was very, very quiet in the big room as Abbey and Jean left the big metal room and then settled in to one of the more solid ready rooms. It was the one they kept with lots of toys for Abbey, and she didn't know why she and Jeannie, Kitty, or Jubilee would stay in this room sometimes, but her aunts always tried to make it more fun.