Chapter 11 - Murder Face And Baby Face

It had been a few weeks since little Kurt Howlett made his debut in the world, and everyone had developed a pattern of who got to snuggle him and when, with the big blue Kurt insisting that he start his day off with his little namesake. Even if he lacked the oh-so-important tail — which was pointed out at least once a week.

That morning, Kurt and Kate had 'borrowed' the little guy and left his parents in the kitchen to wake up properly, half curled into each other and splitting the paper yet again. Everything seemed perfectly normal until Elin and Chance came in for their coffee, and Logan went perfectly still. He was staring straight forward at the paper, and hadn't even taken a breath until K turned and kissed his cheek to break his focus. He blinked hard a couple of times and let out his breath in a chuff before he seemed to relax. Even if it was forced.

It was slight, not enough to notice unless someone was looking for it — though he was busted out when Charlie came into the room and immediately scrunched her nose up at him. "What's got you in that mood?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it," Logan said, looking entirely engaged in his paper. "Not your concern."

"It is if you're going to scream murder like that," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee, watching him over the top of the mug with a frown. "And you two have been in such great moods! I was really enjoying it."

Logan met her gaze over the top of his paper. "Let it go unless you want it aimed at you."

Charlie rolled her eyes and jokingly stuck her tongue out at him like she used to as a child, but Gerry snagged her around the waist and pulled her into a kiss, smirking over her shoulder at Logan for a moment before he pulled her off to have breakfast together.

Logan watched her go, but it was clear to anyone that knew him at all that he was most certainly not happy.

"So, is this something the team needs to gear up for or did Howard make the news again?" Chance asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Not yet," K said. "On either count." She waved her hand at him. "Don't worry about it. It's really just a cry for me to kiss him stupid."

Chance smirked at that as he sat down by Elin. "I'd try that, but I don't think anyone would believe it if I tried for grump," he said, resting his chin on Elin's shoulder with an easy smile.

Elin, however, was watching her father with narrowed eyes, and when she realized he was making a point of not looking at either one of them, she too flat out stopped. "How about we go out to breakfast today?" she said suddenly as she turned toward Chance. "Somewhere … that doesn't have banana bread."

"O...kay," Chance said, though he wasn't going to turn down the chance to go out with her. "We can go get some pancakes or something," he offered.

She nodded and looked over to her mother, who gave her a slight nod. "Something sounds perfect, yeah," Elin agreed before she quickly got to her feet. "I'll drive."

"Alright. Just let me kiss my mom this morning," he said with a small smile, since Annie and Scott had just come down, and he wanted to steal over to kiss her cheek — something all of the kids liked to do in the morning as they moved out and Annie made it clear she didn't like her impending empty nest status.

Elin waved Annie's way with the tips of her fingers. "Did you need anything while we're out?"

"I'm out of nutmeg, if you're going to be out," Annie said. "And I wanted to send Magda some cookies for her twenty-first next weekend."

Elin nodded at that. "Pretty sure we can spare a few minutes for that."

Annie smiled and pulled Elin into a quick hug. "You're such a sweetheart."

"Love you too," Elin said before she gave her a quick squeeze and then headed for the garage as her nerves started to prickle up. They loaded up into the truck that Elin had taken over from K, and the two of them headed out, though Elin passed the usual road they'd take to go into town and just kept going.

"Are we running away together?" Chance had to tease when he noticed it.

"We probably should," she said, looking perfectly serious.

Chance lost a bit of his teasing smile at that. "Alright, what's up?" he asked.

"Oh… just thinking of how much I want to keep you around," she said.

Chance smiled at her. "I'm not going anywhere, El," he promised. "But I'm not opposed to being kidnapped if you want to reassure yourself," he had to tease.

"I do. A little bit." She looked his way for just a moment, then headed toward the little bakery her mother had shown her a few months before Kurt was born.

Chance couldn't help but smile as they arrived. "This looks like something my mom would run if she wasn't busy keeping the X-Men fed and watered," he said. "Can't you see it? Annie's Bakery…"

"It's a nice little shop," Elin agreed, but she didn't get out of the truck yet.

Chance came around to open her door and held out his hand to her. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You're not quite yourself this morning."

"Yep, I think so," she said. "Let's grab some coffee and cinnamon rolls and go down to the big lake … you know, the ice skating lake?"

Chance peered at her for a moment. "You're not getting ready to leave me or something and just buttering me up?"

"Um … if I was going to do that, I would not take you to one of my favorite spots, goober."

He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "Just checking. I'm all for surprise dates, but you're usually a lot more… enthusiastic about surprises, I guess is the best way to put it?"

She waved her hand impatiently. "I just had to decide which spot. Work with the spontaneity."

He grinned at that and offered her his arm so they could grab some breakfast together. "Love you too, El."

When they stepped into the bakery, the girl behind the counter waved at them both and headed toward the cinnamon rolls. "Is your mom still looking for that rye bread? We got some in," the girl asked, and Elin paused and looked up at Chance with a little smirk, waiting to see how long it would take him to figure out that this was one of those well-kept secrets her family had.

"She didn't say, but I'm sure she'd appreciate a little," Elin told her. "Cinnamon rolls and coffee to go, too. First and foremost."

Chance couldn't help but smile as he leaned over to kiss her cheek. "My mom would be mortified to know you've been cheating on her with another baker."

"Your mother isn't a Swedish baker," Elin giggled.

"Cheating on her," Chance insisted, grinning wider. "For shame."

"Only because Mom couldn't do it herself," Elin defended.

"Hey, give me a recipe and I'll figure it out," Chance said.

"It's on the wall in the kitchen at the cottage," she said. "You just have to learn Swedish to read it."

"To be fair, I've been working on a little," Chance pointed out. "Though not baking terms. I was looking more at those songs you sing that I like so much."

She shook her head at him as the girl double-checked that they didn't need anything else, then rang them up. "I don't know what songs you're talking about," Elin said, tipping her chin up.

Chance laughed and kissed her again. "I liked the ones you sing when I'm healing," he said. "But I might just like listening to your voice in general…"

"I'll try dirty limericks next time, and we'll see if it has any different impact on you."

Chance chuckled. "I'll have to step up my Swedish game, then."

Elin picked up the baked goods after she slipped the counter girl the cash while Chance grabbed the coffee, and the two of them headed toward the lake, though Elin simply wasn't teasing him much as they got to her spot.

She backed the truck up nearly to the edge of the lake, and the two of them sat on the open tailgate with their coffee and breakfast, listening to the birds singing and watching fish jump. They were really just starting to get comfortable when Elin broke the silence. "So. I think … you'd be smart to keep your distance from Dad for a little while."

"What did I do?" Chance asked with a frown, turning to face her.

"Apparently, you got me pregnant."

After a beat of silence, Chance broke into a delighted laugh and outright tackled her into a kiss. "If you're teasing me, El, I swear I'm going to take you to Alaska and not bring you back until you are."

She shook her head at that but kept a hold of him. "I am not teasing. Charlie wasn't wrong about the murder face. She just doesn't know why."

"It's not like he didn't know we were trying," Chance pointed out, though he was grinning hard and kept kissing her in between almost every word.

Elin nodded. "True. But … you know how strong the protective instinct is. You've seen it."

"I have," Chance said, nodding. "And I saw how he was about your mom before Kurt got here. You're going to be spoiled rotten, I hope you know." He kissed her a little longer and laughed again. "Whatever you want. Seriously."

"Well, if that's the case, then I need to get you to rein it back. Just a little. It's still crazy early if Mom and Dad picked it up. I don't even know if a test would come up … so just … wait before you tell anyone, please?"

Chance nodded, though he didn't stop kissing her. "We'll tell everyone together, once we've had a visit with Hank and it all looks good," he said, at least making an effort to be more reasonable.

"You're terrible," she said, though she didn't push him back.

"No, I'm elated," he corrected her and kissed the end of her nose.

"Mom will get him to cope; just give her a chance to work her magic, okay?"

Chance nodded. "I'll give him some space," he promised. "But you know as soon as my parents know, you're going to get totally and completely mobbed, right?"

She gave him a dry look. "I'll deal with that when it comes around."

"Dad will never ever get over it," Chance said, grinning even wider. "You've seen his grandpa face. Come on."

She raised one eyebrow and pushed back a little bit from him. "And he's the one out of the whole lot of you that knows about all the instinct issues. He'll help tone it down so no one gets hurt."

"See? Nothing to worry about," Chance said as he kissed her again. "Seriously, El. This is amazing. You're going to be the best mom."

"You're going to give me a complex," she said.

"What, having faith in you is a problem now?" Chance teased. "Like I haven't seen you with your siblings… totally mom material."

"And totally different," she argued.

"Only practice we've got before they're our own, though," he pointed out.

"Well, we're out of practice time, big guy."

"I'm not worried," he promised. "Between you and me, we'll have the sweetest, scariest kids on the planet."

"Just remember: whatever they're like … you asked for it."

"I did," he agreed and then kissed her again. "How are you feeling, though? You're okay?"

"Honestly? Completely numb." She paused and tipped her head to the side. "With a healthy measure of near-terrified. I'm sure it'll pass."

He watched her for a moment before he finally let up with the kisses and pulled her into a solid snuggle instead. "Whatever you need, I swear I'll take care of it," he said. "I'll learn to make Swedish food if you're craving it too."

"I know," she said, nodding. "I just … was not expecting to figure it out like this. I should have known, but still."

"Yeah, the early warning system is kinda … wish you'd found out for yourself," Chance admitted.

"Oh, no," Elin said, shaking her head. "I knew it would be someone in the family to give me the heads up. That's fine. It's just I don't think he thought he'd react like that either."

"Hey," Chance said, tucking into her a little more, "I get it. I'm protective of you too."

"I know. Love you too, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't, but it's nice to hear it," Chance said, shifting so he could go back to kissing her again. When he pulled back, he gave her a solid grin and let out a delighted sort of laugh. "I'm going to be a dad, El. Best day ever."

"Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that I'm going to be hearing that phrase a lot?"

"Because you know me really well?" Chance said with a smirk.

"Might be it," she agreed before she reached over to pick up her coffee again. "We'll just have to take our time getting back."

Chance nodded seriously. "Yeah, I'm good right here for a while. Just… soaking in my wife and my family."

She gave him a sideways smile and leaned into his side. "This is going to be a countdown to when we can let you shout from the rooftop, isn't it?"

"Would you have it any other way?" he couldn't help but tease. "Because I'm sort of born this way, sorry."

"If I didn't like you the way you are, I never would have bothered even dating you, let alone marrying you."

Chance grinned. "Well, good, because I'm pretty sure our kids are going to have a little bit of my nonsense." He tapped her on the nose. "Your looks, of course."

"You need to stop, please," she said as seriously as she could, looking up at him with her chin tipped down. "You're not going to get a grip if you start fantasizing about what our little one will look like."

"I can rein it in when it's not just the two of us," he defended.

She raised an eyebrow in a challenge. "Wanna bet?"

"What're the stakes?" he shot back.

"I don't know. It should be good, though. Maybe … when we tell them?" She started to smile crookedly. "I think it would be fun to really drag it out and watch you squirm until we knew if it's a boy or a girl."

Chance nodded, easily rising to her bait because he was in such a good mood. "Alright. But if I can keep from saying anything until the first appointment with Hank? Then we're telling my parents right after that."

"That includes your diabolical twin wrecking things, though," Elin said.

"That's not fair!" Chance said, shaking his head, wide-eyed. "Charlie has no self-control over good news."

She shrugged up slowly. "Take it or leave it."

He bit his lip and then let out a long, slow breath. "If Charlie's the one that ruins it? We split the difference. We tell my parents after the first two months."

"Tell you what," Elin said. "Keep it to yourself until after I can get a positive test, and we'll tell them then. But if Charlie wrecks it …" She leaned closer to him until she was nearly brushing her lips at his ear. "Then I won't even tell you what we're having."

"You're mean," he whispered back.

"You knew that even before we ever went on a date."

"I did," he said, then held his breath. "Alright, but I have to talk to her. Or she will wreck it, and that's not my fault if I can't warn her."

Elin nodded. "I never said you couldn't tell her to stow it," she said. "In fact … if you want to tell her to meet you away from the house before we get back, we can handle it privately."

"Perfect," Chance said with a nod.

She picked up her cinnamon roll. "But we have to finish these before we go back. You know that."

"I'm not in a rush," Chance assured her, nuzzling in a little better.

She looked up at him with a big mouthful of cinnamon roll. "Mmmhmm," she said before she pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Yeah, sure, I believe you. Keep in mind I have to go talk to Dad, too."

"Yeah, I'd definitely appreciate not getting stabbed, even if I might actually survive it? Because I don't want to forget this." He paused, smirked, and then tipped his head down. "Though that might help me rein it in," he had to tease.

She gave him a little kiss. "I think it'll be a great trial run for him? I mean … what are the chances my sisters will find boys that heal too?" She patted his knee. "My sweet little test dummy."

Chance chuckled. "Yep. That's me."

She perked up and gave him a broad smile. "Hey! Father's Day is right around the corner! He's always wanted to stab a Summers!"

Chance blinked at her for a moment before he burst out laughing and pulled her into a long kiss. "Love you, Elin."

She was giggling to herself as she returned the kisses. "It's funny; admit it."

"It is," he said, shaking his head. "But I thought we were going to try to avoid the stabbing. You know, so your dad can get used to not stabbing whoever it is that Sadie and Malin ultimately end up with."

"They have bad taste. It might just be for the best," she said with a shrug. She grinned and turned his way. "He's always wanted to stab a Stark, too."

"You're hilarious," he said, though he couldn't help but steal a kiss. "Does Malin even have a taste yet?"

"She does," Elin said, nodding. "She's liked a couple boys in class, but one of them out of nowhere tried to steal a kiss? She broke his jaw before he could do it."

"Go Malin," Chance said, grinning.

"No idea why boys have pushed after me and my sisters so hard at that age."

"Well, if you want the way I remember it...?" Chance said. She nodded and took another sip of her coffee, looking up at him and waiting to hear his outlook. "Well," Chance said slowly, "right about then, you went from being the cute girl that I grew up with that I liked sharing cupcake kisses with… to this gorgeous girl that made my heart literally stop in my chest, and I couldn't figure out how to act around you." He smiled at her. "That's when it all went downhill for me for a while there. Just… too intimidated."

She scoffed. "I wasn't any different. That was you."

"Well, maybe it's a guy problem then," Chance said. "That age… we don't know what to do around pretty girls. And you and your sisters? Definitely pretty."

She set her coffee down and scooted over to kiss him more properly. "I love you, but I think you have lasting mental damage."

"And I love you, but I have to disagree," Chance said. "My eyes work just fine, and you've always been the prettiest girl in school."

She shrugged. "It's a small school."

Chance kissed her again. "And you only get prettier every day."

"Did you tell Charlie to bring more coffee, Mr. Summers?"

"Told you I'd do anything you asked, Mrs. Summers," he said with a smirk.

"You're wonderful, you know."

"Have to be to keep up with you."

The two of them stayed like that, curled into each other and nibbling at their breakfast and stealing kisses until Charlie showed up with more coffee.

"You two really couldn't be bothered to leave?" she teased. "You had to call out for room service?"

"Yes," Elin said.

Charlie shook her head as she brought the coffee over, though she paused when she 'heard' what was going on because of how elated Chance's song was. She covered her mouth with one hand, especially because she could also hear Elin, who was nearly out of her mind with terror and anxiety and self-doubt. "Oh. Oh," she said, unable to come up with a proper response that encapsulated both aspects of this new development.

"Dad tipped us off," Elin told her. "Though I'm sure you figured that out by now."

"That definitely explains this morning," Charlie agreed, still with one hand over her mouth. She didn't know what to say. She'd been hoping that the two of them would have resolved things between them after she'd tried pulling both of them aside — and she knew Rachel had talked to them both about how they kept putting each other's needs first instead of trying to work together as equals — but based on their vastly different reactions, that obviously hadn't happened. On the other hand, she knew that both of them had agreed to this baby, and it was good news… So she didn't know what to do other than say, "I … I'm sure Logan will get used to the idea sooner than later."

"Oh, I know. I'm entirely sure he didn't think he'd react like that either," Elin said.

Charlie nodded and then simply couldn't help but dart forward and wrap Elin in a hug anyway. "I know how you're feeling right now, and … and I just want you to know I'm here for you. Even if that means I need to hit my brother for you too."

"Thanks, sis," she said, nearly clutching to her for a moment. "Right now, all I want is to keep this on the down-lo. It's still early."

Charlie held on tight. "Don't you worry," she whispered. "I know better than to do that to you." When Elin actually let her hug her for a while longer, she knew she had to change the subject at least slightly, or she'd have a crying Howlett on her hands. "You know me and Gerry will babysit for you whenever you need it." She paused and smiled her way. "Maybe you can help me convince him not to wait until he's done with medical school."

"I can try," she said. "But maybe start by being sneaky … make sure you're snuggling baby Kurt when Gerry gets in from class… start planting ideas …"

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at that. "Best sister-in-law ever."