Chapter 3: That Hasn't Happpened Before

Although Scott followed through on making sure that Elin had more time in the Danger Room — and more time in general with anyone that could push her the right way — it was just a matter of time before she and Chance headed to the gym together to work out and run through a little spar.

It had been ages since the two of them had gone back and forth, and it seemed to be a natural progression back to their usual method of dealing with each other and working together. They knew they'd absolutely fallen apart earlier, but they were determined to figure things out again.

Elin had worked over the heavy bag, and Chance had done the same until she was honestly tired of the same kind of motions over and over. She backed off from where she'd been working and simply started unwrapping her hands when Chance tossed a glove at her in a completely playful mood. "Are you trying to start something?" Elin asked before she kicked the glove back toward him.

Chance smiled her way and gestured broadly. "And if I was?"

She tipped her head to the side and took a few steps closer as she started to unwrap her other hand. "Do you want to fight me?"

"Might be fun," he said. "It's been a while since I pinned you," he added with a teasing sort of grin.

"You mean it's been a while since I let you pin me."

"I know what I said," Chance said before he darted forward and pulled her into a kiss. They were trying to do more things like that, reminding each other that they could have fun together in addition to getting into a more normal routine. Chance would never admit it, but it had been Rachel's suggestion to remind her how much he adored her and not just the fact that she was a wife and mother. And it seemed to be working.

She kissed him right back, but before the kiss ended, she knocked his feet out from under him and bounced backward away from him.

He grinned up at her from the floor. "Oh, now we're playing," he said before he rushed her, and they fell into the easy sparring that they always started with, though things got competitive fast — as they always did.

It was like hundreds of spars they'd had before, both of them working through and anticipating each other's moves, until Elin genuinely slipped partway through a feint. Before she could correct it, Chance got the upper hand in all earnestness for the first time ever.

He ended up pinning her to the mat, and the proud grin of triumph faded in an instant once he realized it — especially because he knew she could never have lost if she hadn't spent so long off her game.

Elin, for her part, was entirely shocked, and she had no idea how to even address it. She didn't need to look at how he was positioned. He'd used this pin on her dozens of times before, but she didn't have it in her to even try to break the pin. She shifted a little, but she just didn't have it. And she didn't even want to try.

Chance tried to backtrack and turn it into a tease and quickly shifted so that he could kiss her instead before he stepped back and let her up, offering her a hand, though, obviously, neither of them could come up with anything to say.

But she lay there for a moment staring up at the ceiling before she met his gaze and finally took his hand and let him pull her up. Her mind was going a hundred miles an hour, and she knew it showed, though the words were simply escaping her. She held up one hand when Chance tried to say something, though it was clear he didn't have anything, really.

She took a few steps back, frowning to herself, then turned toward the door. Again, she only made it a few steps before she stopped, turned, and rushed back to give him a kiss, still without the words to even begin to explain or ask … or anything.

But as soon as the kiss ended, she bolted right out of the room, and down the hall, running all the way until she got to James's lab and let herself in. "You're going to start working with me again," she informed him even before he looked up from the pendant he was working on.

"Wait, what now?" James said as Elin stalked toward him in a huff. The door only then shut tight behind her as she got right up to him.

"I was just sparring with Chance," she started to say before it all just tumbled out in a rush. "And it was fine. Like always. And we were going through the whole anticipation thing — and that's fine! It's fun, but then I slipped, James … I slipped."

James was still just staring back at her. "Okay. And …"

"And he won," she said, looking as if this was clearly the very worst thing that had happened in months. "That has to be the only time."

James finally set his tools down with a growing smile. "Oh, I see. You can't take it."

"Shut up and figure out when you can work with me."

"Or what? You can't kick my ass. Obviously."

She let out a growl and shoved him off of his stool. "I will equalize if I have to, but you're going to help me."

"Does Chance know how much of a bully you are?" James asked from the floor.

"Would you just agree already?" Elin shouted down at him.

"Fine, fine … I'll look at what I've got laid out for a while," James said. "Jeez. I'm going to mark the date, though. I'll have Annie make a cake every year on this date … just as a reminder."

"I hate you."

"I know," James said with a grin. "Go … kiss the victor. He's probably earned it for all the times you've trounced him."

She glared at him one more time before she let him pull her over for a quick hug. "You're horrible."

"Come on, sis," James said as she started toward the door. "It's the fairest fight you've ever had. You lost because you haven't fought in a year. And he's not going to say a word because you're just now getting it in gear to do what you should have done months ago."

She opened the door and simply held his gaze until he let out a breath and opened up his phone to look at his calendar. "Monday nights after seven and Saturday mornings. That's it."

"They're mine now," Elin said before she stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind her. It took her a moment to listen and hear where Chance was, and it was clear that he hadn't stayed in the gym, either. She started down the hall toward him at a brisk pace, and as soon as she was halfway close, she called out to him.

Chance turned to face her and then looked relieved and came over to where she was. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just ... more out of practice than I thought," she said with a sigh.

"Well, I'm not opposed to helping you get back up to snuff," he said. "You did the same for me."

She rested one hand over his heart as he pulled her a little closer. "You're not going to be as tough on me as I need."

"I won't take it easy on you," he said. "And once you get back to beating me…"

"But you won't be as tough as I need either," she said, though she added a little growl. "It won't happen again."

Chance shook his head at her and couldn't help but step into her with a smirk. "You sure?"

"Oh yeah," she said, nodding.

"You're gonna have to prove it, El," he said, grinning wider.

"I hope you don't mind crying, then," she replied. "Because that's how this ends, Mr. Summers."

"Prove it, Mrs. Summers."

"You just want to get me in a compromised position — and after I only just recruited my coach. So opportunistic."

"Okay, but if you can't take me, you should just say so."

She stared at him for a second, open-mouthed, before she pounced at him and knocked him backward — though he didn't miss that she put her hand behind the back of his head so he couldn't hit the floor hard when they skidded across the tile.

When they came to a stop, he was grinning up at her and hooked his arms around her. "Who wants who in a compromised position?" he teased.

"My knee is about two inches from invalidating your argument," she said.

He shook his head and pulled her down into a kiss anyway. "Uh-huh."

"You'll heal. It'll be fine," she said with a little laugh.

He kissed her again, a little longer this time. "I give," he teased. "Let's do it again."

"Oh, do you want me to bring dirty tricks in too?" she asked. "I wasn't thinking about you being able to heal before … this changes things."

Chance smirked, shook his head, and pulled her into another kiss rather than argue the point.

"You're totally trying to sabotage me, Mr. Summers," she said when the kiss broke.

"I thought we were bringing dirty tricks in," he said, perfectly straight-faced.

"Yes, but I don't want to damage you permanently," she said.

"You'll have to beat me in more than a surprise attack to do that," he pointed out.

"I don't know about that," she said, though she untangled herself and got to her feet. "What do you say to a little clean up and a movie while the little ones are snuggled up with my littlest brother?"

Chance picked himself up and grinned. "Sounds good to me."

While Chance and Elin had been gone with the twins, though, Kurt had gotten a message from Tyler asking when would be a good time for him and his family to visit. And the tone of the message suggested that there was some good news incoming.

Sure enough, when the McCoys showed up, Tristan was practically bouncing in place, and Tyler looked like he might split his face from grinning, keeping his hand on Tristan's shoulder both to hold him back from blurting everything out and to show how proud he was.

"You look like you're about to burst," Kurt laughed, gesturing them inside. He couldn't stop smiling, especially since good news seemed so rare lately.

"Oh, definitely," Tristan agreed, still smiling.

Tammy paused not far into the doorway to give Tyler a kiss, and then, she took the rest of the kids upstairs to the guest suites, leaving Tyler and Tristan behind to share their good news. "Try not to break the sound barrier," she teased — and it wasn't entirely clear which of the boys she had directed that to. Probably both.

Kurt laughed as he watched Tammy and the rest of the family go upstairs and then turned toward Tyler. He didn't ask before he grabbed both of them by the shoulders and then teleported them to the living room so they could be seated. And then, once that happened, he gestured broadly with both hands. "Well?"

Tyler glanced at Tristan, still smiling. "Go ahead."

Tristan broke into the widest grin yet - which was saying something, considering how widely he had been grinning up until that moment. "I'm putting in my mission papers," he said. "I just talked to my bishop this morning, and he said everything looks good!"

Kurt glanced toward Tyler, remembering how upset Tyler had been when he had put in his papers to go on a mission and had gotten his letter turning him down. So, he had expected Tyler to be more worried, especially because, as Kurt understood it, this was only the beginning of the mission process; they wouldn't even know until much later where he would be going or even if he would be allowed to go.

But Tyler met Kurt's gaze, knowing exactly why Kurt was frowning, and broke into a smile. "Spoke to our new bishop before we started, and he's pretty sure we won't run into the same problems. For one thing, no one's heard from Sabretooth for years."

"And thank God for that," Kurt said.

"No kidding," Tyler agreed fervently.

"And I don't look as much like the guy as Dad does," Tristan explained. "So there's less of a chance of mistaken identity."

"And he can't even growl," Tyler added.

Kurt turned to look at Tristan, who had grown into his father's height, but he had his mother's build. He was tall but skinny; the only similarities to Tyler and Sabretooth were in his facial features. He did look a lot like Victor Creed, but his hair was neatly kept, and he didn't have sharp teeth.

"I think you might be right," he said at last, cautiously optimistic.

"And Dad's been in public enough for people to know him," Tristan pointed out. "Our bishop said if I do get recognized, it'll probably be as Lifeguard's son."

"Or for your work with Chicago's team," Tyler pointed out, smiling.

"Yeah, but my uniform covers my hair and the top part of my face, Dad," Tristan said. "It's not like yours."

"Fair enough." Tyler ruffled Tristan's hair and then smiled at Kurt. "I wanted to come down and let a few people know, but I remember how much you helped when I got turned down from my own mission, so I wanted you to know we were trying again with Tristan."

"And I am truly excited for you," Kurt said, smiling wider. "The environment has certainly changed. I hope you are able to seize this moment."

"I'm kind of hoping I get sent somewhere warm," Tristan admitted. "Half my family likes the cold, but I don't. And I won't know where I'm going until I get my letter."

"From what some of my friends said when I was your age, the second you said you wanted to go somewhere warm, you ensured that you'll end up in Iceland or something," Tyler teased him, again reaching over to ruffle his hair.

"Wherever you go, we will celebrate," Kurt said firmly, his tail twisting and showing his own excitement at the possibility.

"We're planning to have a party when the letter gets here so I can open it with my friends and family," Tristan explained. "We can all find out together."

"Then you should tell Annie," Kurt said, and Tristan lit up, nodding along with the idea.

"Ooh, yeah," he said, glancing at his dad, who nodded his permission before Tristan took off running to go find Annie.

Tyler laughed as he also got to his feet with Kurt, but before he could say anything, Kurt seized him and pulled him into a hug.

"Congratulations," Kurt said warmly.

"It's nice to see the world being better for our kids than it was for us, huh?"

Kurt nodded. "And I hope you don't discount your own influence in getting there."

Tyler smiled lightly. "And yours too."

Kurt smiled and pulled Tyler into another hug. "Let's go tell the others."