Chapter 15 - Seeing Yellow

"So," Elin said over breakfast as she watched Annie working. "I don't suppose you'd want to go with me to see Tyler today …"

Annie paused what she was doing so she could spin to face Elin properly and break into a huge, warm smile. "I'd love to!" she said.

Elin gave her a little smile and let out her breath. She was still getting used to dealing with her mother-in-law in this particular state of joy and excitement. "Oh, good. That will be easier, I think."

Annie leaned over to kiss the top of her head. "It's always nerve-wracking when it's your first,' she said sweetly. "I know I appreciated having a second person there, especially my mom, since she'd been through it all."

Elin tried to smile a bit more convincingly. "Mom is on a higher mission right now. So."

Annie chuckled at that, though it wasn't quite as warm. "Yes, well, if it had been me, I don't know that I would have been as restrained as she was," she admitted.

"She wanted the whole picture before she killed him," Elin admitted.

"And now we have a wedding on the horizon," Annie said. "Eventually… they're just so young…" She tutted a bit to herself and then turned toward Elin, biting her lip and refraining from speaking ill of anyone, the way she'd been raised to do. "But you — this is much more exciting. When is your appointment?"

"It's … kind of open?" Elin said. "Tyler said to come down when I was ready."

"Well, if you'll give me just a minute to finish with the washing up…"

Elin got up to head her way. "I'll help. I can't stand having nothing to do for too long."

The two of them fast-tracked the work, and it wasn't long at all before Elin was fidgeting in the elevator with Annie, rolling her ring back and forth on her finger absently. She had to keep reminding herself that she'd decided to go through with this for him, that she'd wanted to give fatherhood to Chance, and that even if she felt as if she was woefully not ready for all of this, she was looking forward to watching him with their kids.

Annie waited until they stepped out of the elevator before she snagged Elin and hugged her tightly before they could get to the lab. "Why don't we do something just us girls when we're through? If you want to get away, I'm sure we can spend the day out on the lake or even on the range if you're in a more explosive mood."

Elin smirked to herself for just an instant, wondering if Annie would even care if she took her to the Swedish bakery in the mood she was in. "We'll … see how it goes."

Annie smiled and pulled her arm around Elin's shoulders as they went down to the lab, where Tyler couldn't quite rein in the smile when he saw the two of them, knowing exactly what Elin was up to. "Let's see if we can get a good picture for you today, shall we?" he asked with a smile as he led Elin over to the machinery.

"You're so horrible at controlling your face," Elin said, scrunching up her face at him.

"I am," he agreed seriously, though he was smiling hard. "It's a real problem."

"You're a terrible, terrible influence."

"Sure am," he chuckled, pulling out a chair for Annie too before he got down to work, smiling to himself when he got further in.

Elin was biting her lip and watching Annie out of the corner of her eye, knowing that it was going to be a dead giveaway to Annie and that no explanation would be necessary. And while Annie had been watching Elin, she couldn't quite keep her attention away from the ultrasound. So Elin saw the exact moment that Annie saw the second profile and let out a little gasp, one hand covering her mouth before she turned toward Elin, her eyes dancing with delight.

"Surprise?" Elin said quietly.

"Elin!" Annie removed her hand from over her mouth, delighted and crying, before she simply leaned over to hug Elin tightly at the shoulders.

"Naturally … Dad figured it out first," Elin said.

"Of course he did," Annie said, shaking her head to herself before she simply hugged Elin a little tighter and then tried to wipe at her cheeks.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm just… I always cry when I'm emotional," she said, though she was smiling.

"Well … did you want to show Scott with me?" Elin asked, still anxious about everything to do with the pregnancy but still looking forward to watching Scott get choked up.

"Oh, yes, please," Annie said, her eyes sparkling with both excitement and pure emotion.

"If you want to keep centered … Chance knows already," Elin told her. "And … he didn't tell."

"Oh, I would hope he knows," Annie said with a little smile. She wiped her eyes again and then cleared her throat. "Just let me… let me splash some water on my face, or Scott will know."

"If it's that bad, you can hide behind the corner. But … we'll probably want Tyler around for that … just in case."

Tyler chuckled and leaned toward Elin, dropping his voice to a whisper only she could hear while Annie went to freshen up. "And if you're all in one place, I can tell you what you're having," he said.

"Just tell me now; I'm not sure what to do to tell the group. It'd be nice to have something before Dad."

"Well, you've got one of each on the way," he whispered to her. "So I hope you picked out names for a boy and a girl."

"Well, that simplifies things," she said dryly.

He grinned at that and then leaned back, finishing up what he was working on before he moved to the printer so he could give Elin a couple good pictures of the little ones. "You can't tell on the pictures yet, but I cheated," he told her.

"Of course you did. You're a horrible influence," Elin deadpanned as she snapped a picture on her phone to send to her parents.

"I know. I should really stop," Tyler said in a tone that clearly said he would not.

"Ty, if there was a way I could point fingers of glitter at you for that, I would just … stab you right now. You know that, right?"

"And you know I wouldn't complain, right?" he shot back. "We'd love a fifth."

"Does that mean you don't care if I stab you?" Elin brightened up.

Tyler shook his head. "So, do you want me to ask Scott and Chance down here, or are you going to them?"

"We'll go up," Elin said, looking supremely disappointed that she didn't get to stab a Creed that day. "We don't need to give Chance a heart attack thinking there's a problem. He can be delicate."

"You married him," Tyler teased.

"Yeah. Seems to be a pattern, doesn't it? I mean … Dad broke it, but so far, all of us healers have been picking delicate little things to get all wrapped up in," Elin shot right back.

"And we love our delicate little things," Tyler said.

"Exactly. But … seriously. Be within shouting distance. I have actual concerns for him," she said, looking toward Annie and knowing that, even if the news was good, if Scott had a heart attack for any reason, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

"I'll be close by, but I'm pretty sure you'll just get cried on, and I'm not going to get in the way of that." Tyler smirked. "You need some happy tears."

She gave him a dry look. "But you're much closer to a chamois."

"Yes, but I also have twin toddlers to take care of, and they trump you and your aversion to being a towel for Summerses to cry on," Tyler teased.

"Alright. Just so we're clear — I hate you."

"Of course you do," Tyler said with a smile her way before the three of them headed up to where Chance and Scott were in the War Room going over some applications from students in the new semester who wanted to try out for the team.

"If you guys are busy, I'll just catch you later," Elin said when she saw what they were up to, already backing out. She had been benched from the team, after all; she saw no reason to interrupt them when she wasn't involved anymore. It felt an awful lot like banging her funny bone in her chest when she was reminded of what she was kept out of.

"No, no, come on in," Scott said, smiling wider when he saw that Annie was there too. "What have you girls been up to?"

"I went with Elin to visit Tyler," Annie said, bouncing over to where Scott was to kiss his temple. "We're very lucky grandparents."

"To be fair, I'd rather have been plotting with you two," Elin admitted quietly as she frowned at the layout and then very casually slipped the folded-up paper to Scott. "But whatever. Here's what we saw."

Scott smiled widely as he took the paper, though when he recognized the distinct profiles of two little ones, he looked completely gobsmacked for a moment before he let out a laugh that it didn't sound like he'd meant to.

"Congratulations, Mom and Dad, you're getting two grandkids at once," Chance said with a grin that only seemed to fuel Scott's beaming smile even more before he had all but tackled his son into a hug.

Annie couldn't help but let out a laugh when she saw the display and then leaned over to kiss Elin's temple, obviously emotional all over again. "Oh, he's not going to be able to get anything done for a while until he's done processing this," she chuckled. "You've just made his whole month."

"Okay."

Annie smiled — and then laughed when Scott finally released Chance to pull Elin into a long hug too.

"How are you feeling?" Scott had to ask her once he'd given her a proper squeeze.

"I'm fine," she said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great," he said, smiling down at her. "But I'm not the one carrying twins." He kissed the top of her head.

"You two should go celebrate," Elin said.

Scott gave her a little bit of a look for that one — like he couldn't quite believe she was trying to get rid of him — but Annie seemed to think it was a brilliant idea and simply snagged Scott.

"And you two should do the same," Annie called out happily, pushing Scott out the door with a spring in her step.

And once the door closed, Elin let her shoulders drop at last. She was glad to see Annie and Scott so happy — she was — but… "I want to go to sleep," Elin admitted as she started backing toward the door herself.

Chance nodded and then quickly crossed the span of the room to scoop her up into his arms. "Then let's curl up. Not like I have anything more important to do than to spoil you rotten like I promised."

She nodded at that and simply snuggled up closer as they made their way upstairs. She waited until they were curled in and she was halfway comfortable before she told him how the rest of the appointment went. "That stupid Creed said that everything looked good so far with both of them. And … I guess we need a cute way to tell our parents — at the same time — what we're having, too."

Chance nodded thoughtfully, though he was grinning as he nuzzled into her. "I'm sure we can think of something. Blue hats… pink balloons… something."

She nodded at that. "Yes."

"So," he said, kissing her neck with a smile, "what color balloons are we attacking our parents with?"

"Honestly? I think it would be best if we used just yellow. Since … it's both."

Chance stopped and picked his head up, an even wider grin on his face, if that was possible. "Oh, that's amazing," he said, grinning widely before he kissed her all over again.

It was a few weeks before Logan and K came back from the cabin, and the first thing they did, after picking up John and Kurt, was to get Sadie alone and have a moment. She was clearly terrified of what was going to be said — especially after her father's violent reaction to Howard and the fact that even K had slapped the hell out of him. Though it wasn't like Pepper was overly warm either. Pepper's meltdown from slightly confused at the engagement announcement quickly turned to a 'What' that had echoed the tower moments before she tore into both of them.

Sadie was understandably gunshy.

But to her relief — and total surprise — when she was finally in front of her father again, he didn't say anything at all before he wrapped her up in a tight hug and let her melt down a little bit. Which she really needed. She didn't even realize how much she'd needed to get it out, since she'd been operating on such a high stress level since she'd even found out, so having her dad telling her that it was going to be alright was enough to break the floodgates.

Howard, however, still got a low, reverberating snarl that made his hair stand on end, and K just nodded her head when she saw Howard take a few steps backward. Though she was sure someone like Chance had to have coached him not to run, since that would have put him right back at square one.

But after that — after Sadie had gotten to cry for a moment and was reassured that, even though both of her parents weren't exactly happy about the situation, they were glad that she was alright and were at least partially okay with their fast-tracked situation — they got back to the institute. The little group made their way to the kitchen before Sadie went upstairs to the suite, and though Logan and K usually went for coffee, Logan didn't even hide the fact that he was getting out a bottle of whiskey. He felt like he'd been dealing with an overly long string of stupid lately, and even though K had done some amazingly quick work getting him calmed down, he certainly wasn't happy. And he honestly didn't give two craps about what anyone thought of him cracking open a fifth at ten in the morning.

"Oh," Annie said when she saw him, and though it was clear she didn't think much of his drinking, her eyes were twinkling. "You should wait until after we know, don't you think?"

Logan just glared up at her before he took a long drink. "After we know what?"

"Elin and Chance were going to tell us what they're having once you were home," Annie explained, beaming at him and obviously in too good a mood to let his glare get her down. "You know. The twins," she added in a whisper.

"Yeah, I know," he said, nodding once. "So I should have two glasses."

Annie rolled her eyes at that before she turned to K and gestured openly. "Please? We've had to wait this whole time…"

"We just left from seeing Howard," K explained, leaning into Logan and resting a hand on his knee. "He can switch to champagne after."

"Ah," Annie said, nodding. "How did that go?"

"Well enough," K said, turning slightly to watch Logan take another drink. "Howard stayed in the same room and didn't wet himself or run. So there's that."

Annie smirked and then tipped her head to the door. "Well, there's a wrapped box with balloons inside, and I've been banned from the living room." She leaned forward with a smirk. "Apparently, your daughter thinks I might peek."

"She's right," Logan said. "You definitely would."

Annie laughed. "Then don't keep me waiting. Come on, you two; we're just waiting for you!"

"Builds suspense," Logan said, draining the glass.

"Builds blood pressure!" Annie said. "Come on."

"You should have a drink. It'd help with that," Logan said as K leaned over to kiss his cheek and whisper something in his ear. He looked almost irritated before he turned and stole a real kiss, then capped up the bottle and let K pull him along.

The two of them stood next to Elin, and Logan was sure to pull her into a little hug and kissed her cheek too. "Didn't mean to take that long. Had to check in with your sister, too."

"It's fine," Elin promised, then gave him a little squeeze back. "I've been stuck with overly enthusiastic Summers on all sides. Not stranded at all. Nope."

He gave her half of a smile and pulled her in again to kiss the side of her head. "I promise I won't leave you alone with them again for that long when they're bein' insufferable."

"We were thinking our moms could open the box together," Chance cut in with a smile once Logan had given Elin another kiss and let her out of the one armed hug.

"Is that a request?" K asked.

"A request that you and Mom come find out what we're having? Yeah," Chance said.

Elin nodded at that, and K kissed Logan again for good measure before heading over by Annie, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Shall we?" Annie asked, gesturing with both hands.

"I guess so," K shrugged before she looked up at Annie and popped a claw to cut the tape.

Annie beamed, though her enthusiastic smile slipped to a much more confused look when the balloons that rose out of the box were yellow. "...what?" she breathed out.

"One of each," Elin explained as she gave Logan a hug and then let him step back and out of the way.

The confused look quickly switched to one of joy, and Annie hugged the closest person - who happened to be K. "That's amazing!" she gushed.

"You're going to kill the Summers family one surprise at a time," K laughed, though she had one eye closed as she gave Annie a squeeze back.

Scott got to Elin first this time as he pulled her into a solid hug as well. "I can't tell you enough how much they're going to be loved," he said in her ear as he pulled her tight to him.

"I know," Elin said, nodding lightly and half ducking into herself as the hug went on.

"And you are too," he told her. "You know we love you, right?"

"Yeah, I've been told once or twice," she agreed. "I'm just a little overwhelmed. Like … a lot overwhelmed. That's all."

"I'll take you fishing," he told her with a small smile.

"Wrong kid," she told him.

"Never know," he said, this time with an even wider smile. "I didn't say you had to hold a rod, but a few days in the woods…"

"Might be dangerous," she admitted.

"You'd abandon an old man in a wheelchair in the woods?" he teased.

She shrugged. "You have a panic button. And … I'm just saying I know my flight response is ticking up pretty wickedly?"

He hugged her tighter at that. "It'll pass. And in the meantime, you have my full permission to blame my son," he told her in a whisper.

"First of all, I don't need your permission," she said dryly.

He chuckled at that and kissed the top of her head. "Love you, Elin."

"Love you too," she said, then leaned closer to make sure that he heard her. "But you know Sadie could really use some of all of this too. She's terrified."

"I'll get her next," Scott promised. "But you're my daughter-in-law, so I'm allowed to have a little bias about my grandkids, alright? Let me hug you first," he teased.

"You're getting squishier," she told him, though she didn't argue with him over it.

"I'm getting older too," he pointed out.

"Shush with that noise," she said in as harsh a tone as she could manage, just to get a rise out of him.

But of course he just gave her a dry look and then kissed the top of her head. "I think your dad is going to stab me if I hog you anymore," he told her.

"He did get the chance to stab Howard stolen from him," Elin said — even though at the moment, Chance was with Logan, who had a fairly similar expression to Elin's on.

"Go hug your father," Scott said with a smirk, shooing her with one hand.

"Quit telling me what to do," Elin said, pointedly heading for her mother and Annie instead. "Grampa Pushy."

Scott just shook his head at that as he made his way over to Logan and Chance so he could pull his son into a solid, quick hug as well. And when he saw that Logan still looked a bit overwhelmed, he looked Logan's way and said, simply, "Gonna be a couple interesting kids, with your genes and mine in the mix."

"I hate you," was Logan's automatic response, though that alone was enough to cut some of the tension and make things feel almost normal.

It was going to be an interesting next few months in Westchester.

A/N - Well kids, that'll do it for this volume .. I know it was a slow roll out, but tough luck. that's what it is. Find the next volume on robbiepoo2341's profile titled "Welcome To The Family" where we continue our string of the 714 universe!