Chapter 21: From The Other Side, With Love
"You look like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders. More than you usually do," America said, smirking as she pulled her shirt off and grabbed her pajamas out of the dresser drawer. James might just have woken up, but for everyone else, it was the end of the day.
Rachel quirked one eyebrow up where she stood in the doorway. "You said that looks good on me."
"It does," America said. "But you look good in everything."
Rachel rolled her eyes and blew a kiss toward America as she sat down on their bed and started peeling off her socks and shoes. "I've just got a lot on my mind."
"Since the day you were born," America said dryly.
"You knew this when you started dating me."
"I did." America shimmied out of her jeans and grabbed the Christmas-themed, super-comfy ones Jan had given all the Avengers last year. "So, what's up? More of the usual worrying? Even more intense worrying?"
"Actually, neither," Rachel said, and when America looked over, she saw that Rachel had a smile trapped at the corner of her mouth.
America hopped onto the bed, grinning crookedly. "Okay, spill."
"It's a bit complicated…"
"It always is. Spill."
Rachel grinned and hopped next to America, still caught between her usual thoughtful expression and a smile. "I saw my mom."
America had started to follow her as she flung herself backward onto the bed, but at the mention of Jean Gray, she immediately sat upright. "What?"
"No, she's not- That's the thing," Rachel quickly tried to explain. "It wasn't like when the Phoenix shows her to me. And she's not coming back; don't worry."
"So…" America started to grin. "Oh, that's my Demiurge. Pulled him from the other side?"
"That's what it looks like," Rachel said.
"And now you've got a head full of memories of the people you've lost and you got your brother back? That's awesome!"
Rachel gave her a dry look. "Really?"
"You knew where I came from when we started sleeping together."
"Right." Rachel shook her head and then fell backward again, and this time, America joined her. "It sounds so messed up, because my brother literally died to bring me this sneak peek, but…"
"But you got to see her," America finished for her. "So tell me about her, huh? What was she like?"
Rachel grinned. "Nothing like what the Phoenix shows me, for one thing."
"Are you surprised?"
"Yes and no," Rachel admitted. "I mean, I know the Phoenix can lie and manipulate, but it doesn't always have to. And I've asked Dad, and I know that the version of my mom it shows me was real. She was like that, especially when she was with the Phoenix. But up there…" She sighed. "She's different. A lot more like Dad talks about her being - when he talks about her. She's full of light and love and she's just so… much."
America smiled easily. "I'm glad you got to see her, then."
"Me too," Rachel said - and left it at that for the moment. Later, she'd talk to Nate about the rest of it. About how they had seen while they were reinstating James' defenses what he'd been up to in Heaven.
Who he'd been with.
They knew James was incredibly conflicted on several levels, for obvious reasons. And maybe telling America, who wanted Billy to have what he wanted, was a bad call.
So she focused on her mom and let herself have that happiness.
She needed that anyway.
For as often as Tommy had been having nightmares about what had happened with James, Mia had been sure he'd be down to check on him as soon as word got out that he was alive.
Mostly.
Maybe it was the "mostly" that was holding him back. He hadn't told anyone, but Mia knew he was one more loss away from losing it. And for as weird as things had been between her, Tommy, and James before all this went down, it was all … a lot. And Tommy didn't do well with complications.
But the last thing Tommy needed to be at that point was isolated. And Mia needed to keep her mind occupied lately anyway. She'd started to mourn over the last month or so, but it was complicated when she was also worried for her missing friends.
And as it turned out, she liked to run from complicated things too.
She knew if he wanted to be anywhere in the world that he could be, well, anywhere. So instead of trying and failing to find him, she simply texted him: "Hey, are you in a time zone that has a good burger?"
She waited, smirking to herself, and ten minutes later, he zipped over to her with a bag of food to split.
"You're a pushover; you know that?"
"I'm always hungry, and I like sharing. Is that a crime?"
Mia rolled her eyes at him and lightly shoved his arm as they sat down on a bench in the garden. It had just snowed, so most of the kids at the school were on the front lawn in the middle of a snowball fight. So, the garden was relatively private.
"So, I'm gonna stop by and say hi to James once everyone stops crowding him."
"Good; he'll probably want to see his best friend," Tommy said carelessly.
Mia tipped her head to watch him. "Uh-huh."
"No, I mean it. You're probably right after my brother on the list to say hi."
He was saying all the right things, but there was no real voice to it. No enthusiasm. "Okay, so what's your hang up?" she asked.
"I have zero hangups."
"Sure."
"Would I lie to you?"
"Yes."
"About this?"
"Yes."
"Fair."
Mia shook her head and then stole a fry out of his hand with her tail. "Seriously, what's got you locked up in your head? I know you don't hate him. And I don't think you're dumb enough to think he hates you anymore."
"Yeah, I think that's an impossible thought to hold in my head when he didn't kill me," Tommy said dryly.
"Okay, so… what?" She raised both of her eyebrows and leaned toward him. "You're in your head."
"Can't hide anything from you, can I?" Tommy asked with a sigh and a sheepish smile.
"I've known you too long."
"And too well."
"Something like that."
Tommy chuckled and leaned back on his elbows as they sat together. "It's stupid," he said at last.
"I can almost guarantee it's not."
"It is." He tipped his head back and forth a few times before, finally, he nodded, as if he were telling himself it was okay to talk about it. "I know why Billy and my mom aren't wishing this fixed," he said, picking up his half-arm. "And I'm genuinely excited to see what your dad comes up with, so at this point, I don't want them to do it. And I know they were worried that the spell would take something else from me to compensate for the arm."
"But…"
"But…" He took a deep breath and let it out again. "Look, I wouldn't tell anyone but you, and not just because we used to sleep together."
"Making it weird," she said, though she was smiling.
"Sorry. I just…" He waved one hand through the air. "You were one of his Horsemen too. You know the kinds of lies he was telling us in our heads on top of the torture."
Her expression fell, and her tail stilled. "Tommy…"
"Yeah, I know. I shouldn't let it get to me."
"That's not what I meant." She reached out to wrap her tail around his wrist. "I just want you to be okay."
He stared at her tail for a long moment and then gave her a tight smile. "I'm fine. It's just hard to shake the feeling of being an afterthought."
"You're not."
"I am. It's okay. James died, and Billy couldn't handle it, and everyone was mourning a death. That's kind of a bigger deal than an arm."
"No one knows how to help, Tommy. The ones that do are making you a new arm, and everyone else feels like you're pushing them away," she said gently.
"Yeah, I know. I don't even know what they could do either. It's just messed up because Apocalypse was right and Billy does always get the spotlight and-"
"Excuse me?"
He picked his head up fast at her tone. "What?"
"I know I didn't just hear you say Apocalypse was right."
"Well, he-"
"I know I didn't just hear you say Apocalypse was right about anything."
"Well, he-"
"Because I don't really care how depressed you are, Tommy. You don't get to let him win. Ever. Okay?"
Tommy blinked at her. The problem was that when she did stuff like that, when she stood up for him, when she laid down the law… he just wanted to kiss her.
But that was a whole can of worms he knew better than to open. She was still mourning, and he was a wreck. And he knew he was a wreck. Starting something up right now was such a bad idea it wasn't even funny.
And he couldn't think far enough ahead to promise himself he'd get around to starting something up later. So instead, he just smiled and nodded at her.
"Okay, Mia," he said. "Whatever you say."
"That's what I thought," Mia said with her nose tipped up. "So … after that horrible subject matter, I think we should get some gelato."
Scott was waiting for all three of his kids to be okay - Nate and Rachel were drained after all the work they'd put in and James was still recovering from all of it. So the next and most pressing thing on his to-do list was to find Annie and figure out how he wanted to tell her that they needed to get married fast.
He felt bad, because he knew she had daydreams about what she wanted their wedding to look like. He knew that she wanted her whole family there, and she wanted to make a big deal of things. And he wanted to give her as much of that as possible… while still moving quickly so that they could get married while James was still around.
He appreciated the time that Billy had bought them, obviously, and he had hope that this would get figured out so the spell could become permanent. But all of his instincts to have backup plans told him that they needed to proceed as if any day with James could be their last with him.
Because it could.
But that wasn't exactly a romantic proposal, and he was trying to figure out how to talk to Annie about this whole thing.
He realized, belatedly, that he was projecting - which he didn't usually do - when Annie opened the door before he got there with a smile on her face and yanked him into their room.
"So," she said, still smiling, "my family has been conspiring with Wanda."
He hadn't expected that as an opener, so he was shocked into a smile. "Okay…"
"They have wedding preparations ready to go as soon as we say the word 'go'. Leslie Ann, somehow, has been leading the charge. It's genuinely adorable," Annie continued, smiling more and more with every word.
Scott couldn't help but chuckle. "This somehow doesn't surprise me either."
"Right?" Annie beamed at him. "So, Scott, are you ready to get married?"
He laughed and leaned down to kiss her. "Ready when you are."
Hank was more than willing to make sure that James had a chance to heal after everything that had happened since the last time he'd seen James awake and functional before the Department struck … and since he was covered with monitors and ledes and all forms of surveillance to ensure that he didn't suddenly expire, he felt justified in giving his nephew some actual rest.
But, when James finally woke up, Billy was there, waiting for him to get moving and ready to have a more extensive 'hello' than they'd been afforded so far.
However, like every time he'd woken up so far since being ripped from Heaven, James was incredibly off balance, confused, and disoriented for far longer than he realized. His senses were going haywire and his hearing in particular seemed to be thick with familiar voices competing to be heard.
He'd noticed it before the surgery, too - as he drifted to sleep from the meds. His family from the other side debating how things were going for him and arguing over what they should do about … something looming over them. James's mind was nowhere near focused on the here and now. Not when he could still hear the voices of the people he'd just been torn from as he started to drift to sleep or wake up. He didn't know if it was left over echoes or if he was dying again after his heart had already stopped once, and he wasn't ready to leave Billy so soon. Especially when he hadn't even gotten to talk to him.
By the time Billy came into focus, the voices were louder than the lab and James had to force himself to focus on what Billy was saying. The kiss that followed helped immensely, but it also left him feeling like rushing off to Billy's room wasn't the best idea. Not yet, anyhow.
"Wait," James said, resting his forehead against Billy's once their kiss broke. He needed to focus, not get lost.
"Hank said the surgery was clear sailing," Billy told him. "You've got a green light to get out of here with me, if you're not having problems-"
"No, I don't think it's that," James promised as he pushed to sit more upright. "You know where I was-"
"Yes, we covered that," Billy said, watching James carefully. "And now-"
"-we can't do anything else until I deliver a message to you," James said, cutting him off - something he never liked to do. "And I can't do that right myself."
Billy frowned. "What do you need?"
"My brother," James said in a sigh, looking incredibly stressed around the edges.
"What kind of message is it?" Billy asked, trying to find some levity in what was shaping up to be a very serious sounding conversation.
But James was still hesitant to answer clearly. "Ultimately positive, I think, but … remember how I promised I wouldn't keep secrets? There's so much that happened, it would take a long time to relay everything."
"James, I know you were out of it, but it wasn't very long."
"It was for me." He shook his head distractedly. "Just … I need Nate to help. And after, I will answer anything you want me to answer."
"But it's tied into this message you have for me," Billy said slowly.
"Yes."
Billy watched James - especially aware of how stressed he looked - before he leaned forward, kissed James' cheek, and then snapped his fingers. The next second, all three of them were in a private room, with Nate blinking around in obvious shock with half the buttons on his shirt undone.
"What the heck," Nate said, though Billy didn't look the least bit apologetic.
"Sorry if you were busy," James said.
"I was, yeah," Nate said, but Billy just shrugged.
"Need your help," Billy said simply. "And it's stressing James out, so…"
Nate gave Billy a hard look and then sighed, running his hand down his face. "What?"
James caught Nate's eye and cut right to it. "I want you to show him everything."
At that, Nate straightened up, both eyebrows high. "Define 'everything.'"
James sighed when he saw the reactions between his brother and Billy and realized he needed to explain a little. Fast. "He needs to see the message from Magneto, but I don't think you can start there, all things considered. Skip what isn't relevant, but he needs to know pretty much everything."
Nate watched James for a long time before he switched to projection. Are you sure?
I'm not going to hide anything, Nate. Considering how much it threw me off to find out how little time had passed, I think perspective is important.
Nate took a deep breath and let it out again. Okay. Not sure how smart this is, but… I get it. Can't keep secrets from the ones we care about.
I want to be here, James told him. With him and our family. But I can't do that if he doesn't know how much happened. If I have to hide that, then I'm lying.
Yeah. I get it. Nate held out both hands as his eyes glowed blue. "Okay, Billy, you might want to sit down. There's a lot incoming."
Billy had just been expecting a message, so he frowned when he heard Nate's advice. But he took it all the same, hesitantly sitting down and glancing toward James. "O…kay."
"I know. Just remember that I'm glad that I'm here with you." He turned toward his brother for a moment. "Nate, if he needs clarification on anything, go ahead and give it to him."
Nate nodded and then reached into Billy's mind, linking him to James' memories and pouring in everything. He glossed over the finer details of the relationship with Noh, though he did highlight the argument Noh had with an angel who had said something about James' misery keeping him from salvation. Like it or not, bad coping mechanism or not, having a relationship with someone he already knew well had helped anchor him in Heaven and kept him from slipping into purgatory like Logan had done. Nate figured Billy needed to see just how miserable James was being separated from them.
He showed Billy the family on the other side and the way Erik in particular seemed like an entirely different person when he was reunited with Charles. He showed Billy how Erik had gone out of his way to patch things up between himself and James when he was in his right mind. And that helped to explain why Erik had been so close to deliver the message he had for Billy.
Nate made sure the message was the last thing Billy saw, along with James's entire experience before he woke up with Sinister, though he made sure it wasn't before Billy had a solid understanding of the long months James had spent in Heaven. Not the weeks his body had spent on Earth without him in it. And when he pulled them both back out of the psychic plane, he somehow wasn't surprised to find that Billy had tears pouring down his cheeks. He was sure he was overwhelmed - for multiple reasons.
Billy held up a hand to keep anyone from saying anything, hiding his face with the other as he tried to wipe his cheeks. But even at that, he couldn't stop sniffling, even trying to hold it back, and with a whispered spell, he sent Nate back to Kate, utterly unable to get a hold of himself and not at all interested in an audience. Though he didn't wish James away, either.
James didn't make a move one way or the other, obviously feeling horrible about the whole thing, especially with Billy plainly falling to pieces in tears. So he sat back, waiting for the other shoe to drop as Billy put his head in his hands.
A long time passed before Billy got enough of a hold on himself that he could even consider conversation. He picked his head up and wiped his cheeks but notably couldn't meet James' gaze. "Okay," he said softly, his voice hoarse. "I don't know what to say."
"Neither do I," James said softly. "But you probably need some space to process … everything."
"Yeah." Billy wiped his face again, still without looking at James.
It took James a few more moments before he nodded to himself and stood up. "Okay. If you decide you want to talk to me, I won't be hard to find."
That did, finally, get Billy to look up, eyes red and shining. "Promise?" he whispered fiercely. "You won't disappear?"
"Not if I have a say in it," James said.
Billy nodded more times than was necessary. "Good. Yeah. That's good. Okay. I just…" He sucked in air through his teeth, visibly trying to rally. "That was… a lot…"
James nodded, his hands in his back pockets. "Yeah, and I don't even know how to start to apologize - but, for what it's worth? I was never so relieved to see you than when I woke up."
Billy smiled softly and wiped his face yet again. "Yeah. Missed you too." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "The stupid part is I don't want you to apologize," he said in a quick breath. "Because, I mean, what kind of monster does that make me? Like, no, you're not allowed to move on when you're dead. You have to pine for me for the entire lifetime I'm here on Earth, even if it's several lifetimes for you - god, what an ego I'd have to have, right? That's so stupid."
James was shaking his head at that, though. "I don't think so."
"It is, though," Billy said, red-faced. "And you don't deserve Purgatory, so, like, yeah, of course, of course you needed to move on and be okay and spend time with your birth parents and…" He trailed off.
"It was a lot," James said, sounding half choked.
"I want to be so mad at you, I really do," Billy said. "And that's stupid."
"Pretty sure your grandfather was mad at me until the very last second."
Billy smiled, but it only lasted for a second. "Yeah," he agreed. He leaned back and let out all his breath in a woosh. "Can I just… I want to be really clear that we're not breaking up. I just need a second to… I can't even…"
James's shoulders relaxed visibly. "Take all the time you need."
Billy nodded and let out a soft sound from the back of his throat. "I… I kinda knew, you know? That if I hadn't snagged you first… I mean, I get it. He's cute and all. And I'm glad I got there first. But, yeah, I knew."
James finally smirked crookedly at that. "I'm glad you got there first, too. I mean, you beat him by a lot. And truth be told, even if it was anywhere near close, I think he was more interested in my brother. I was just more pitiful."
"I think he's interested in whatever comes his way. He's weirdly zen like that."
"That is also true," James said flatly.
"Would it be weird for you if you showed up back in Heaven in like a hundred years and they're together?" Billy asked, just because it was a much better conversational track than the one before.
James scrunched up his nose. "No. Honestly … I haven't put any thought to his reaction to anything once I realized I was back and maybe had a shot at going back to what it was before."
Billy smiled and then realized it and groaned. "Oh, man, I'm getting such bad Schadenfreude over a dead guy."
James shrugged. "You can't really help that."
"Yeah, but that seems mean. I mean, I'm not gonna take it back? But I feel like I should at least try to be diplomatic or something. My grandfather just blessed my future kingship; I think I should try to be dignified, right?"
"He's fine. I'm sure of it," James said. "I vaguely caught a curse in Kree on my way out so he probably knew what happened before I did. But…it got pretty loud, too."
"So… I called dibs? No taksie backsies? Something like that?"
James smirked again. "Yeah, pretty much exactly that, I think."
"Okay, well. I'm going to maybe, like, fly around the island a few times, but, really, I was serious about not wanting you to disappear, okay?"
"I'd guess that Kate would be here now if she knew where we were," James said. "I'll go wherever you tell me to."
"Uh…" Billy winced. "That feels weird. You can go wherever you want, just please - not too far away? We're all worried about you?"
"I don't know where to go," James admitted in a sigh. "But I know I probably need to eat something and pace. So. Yeah."
"Okay, well… let's go do our respective paces, then," Billy said, nodding slowly. "And… and we'll decide what to do from there. I totally want to curl up with you tonight but also I'm insanely jealous and still feeling weird, so I hope it's okay if also maybe not?"
"I'm honestly surprised you didn't just reverse the spell and be done with me, so … yeah. Take your time."
"I'm wildly vacillating between anger and relief, and everything else in between is genuinely making me dizzy, so…"
"So I'll go," James said.
Billy sighed and got to his feet before he gently reached for James' hand to give it a slight squeeze. "I'm not letting you die without a fight, for the record," he said. "That's the one thing I know for sure. I want you back. I want you here. If we're - if this is going to work, I'm going to fight for it, and I need you to fight too. Deal?"
James nodded. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm yours for as long as I can keep going, absolutely."
"Good." He let his hand drop away. "And, hey, Sinister's dead, Apocalypse is dead - if we can figure out this whole accidental hell bond thing, let's take a long, well-deserved vacation because I'm so tired, James. I really am."
"Me too," he agreed before they both turned to walk off in opposite directions.
Billy did a few lazy trails through the clouds as he tried to sort out his thoughts, but the second the thought occurred to him that he looked like a classic pop culture angel flying around up there, the whole experience of flying soured on him, and he touched down at the top of the tower he and Tommy shared.
He sat there on the roof for a while, but he kept glancing up toward the clouds and felt like he was being watched. And that definitely wasn't helping his mood. So, with a frustrated sigh, he floated down to the window and climbed inside to his room.
But his room was empty, and that brought up all sorts of other reminders too. So that was no good.
And every time he ran into something like that, he felt stupider. Heaven was a good place, and it was good that James got to be there when he died. He was glad James was alive. He was glad James had happiness on the other side. If he'd stayed dead, Billy would probably have been happier for him and Noh, because he figured it was like Scott and Annie and Jean and he was trying - so hard - to be mature about it.
He didn't really want to be mature about it, though.
… He knew exactly where to go.
Tommy's room wasn't far, and when Billy knocked, he could already hear his brother pacing around anyway. Tommy kept saying that no one cared about him, but Billy made a mental note to wish Tommy down into the main areas more often so he couldn't hide from everyone's concern and affection and claim it was their fault.
And already, having his brother to focus on was doing him some good, reminding him that he wasn't the only one in the world struggling.
In fact, based on the fact that Tommy hadn't instantly opened the door as soon as he knocked, he was, frankly, suddenly more worried about his brother than he had been when he got there. He knew Tommy wasn't taking any of this well. Maybe he needed to check in with him.
After he was done being immature about the Noh thing.
Finally, Tommy got to the door and flung it open, an easy grin on his face that Billy didn't believe - but when Tommy saw the look on his brother's face, his expression shifted, and he grabbed hold of Billy's arm to yank him inside and shut the door.
"Okay, what happened?" Tommy asked, kicking something under his bed fast enough that Billy didn't see it, but he did hear when it clunked against the wall.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Tommy said at first, but then, knowing Billy would wish himself the answers if he wanted them, he let his shoulders drop. "It's stupid. It's…" He ran one hand through his hair. "I know how it sounds but, you know, hear me out because writing stuff down is good for you right?"
"Yes," Billy said slowly. He didn't like the tone Tommy was taking.
And Tommy could see Billy frowning, so he shrugged it off. "Look, I don't know what to say to Mia, so most of it's crossed out and unusable anyway…"
Instantly, Billy's expression brightened. "Oh really?"
"Shut up. You came here for a reason, right?" Tommy said, shoving his brother in the shoulder.
"You're writing a love letter?"
"Shut up."
Billy grinned broader as he sat down, but by the time Tommy had finished rolling his eyes and joined him on the couch by the window, the smile was gone - which was how Tommy knew something was genuinely bad.
"Hey," he said, bumping his brother's shoulder. "What's up this time? You really that bugged about the magical grounding? It's not that bad once you get used to it, and you know Mom only lets it happen when we're supremely stupid."
"Right, yeah, I forgot Mom did that," Billy said.
"Yeah, I'm forgettable," Tommy said carelessly before he nudged Billy again. "For real, though. What's on your mind? Must've been bad for you to come here. I'm not exactly the stable member of our family, and that's saying something."
Billy let out a tired laugh. "Yeah, I think you have competition," he said dully, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "So, um. James was in heaven. And… he was there for months. I guess time works differently there. I don't know."
"Okay," Tommy said slowly.
Billy took a deep breath and let it out. "So, um, Noh's there too, apparently. He didn't go to some Kree afterlife or whatever, because he died in our reality and he wasn't linked to the Kree here or… something. I don't know."
"Ah." Tommy said and then yanked his brother into a hug. "I can threaten him for you?" he offered.
Billy burst into a tired laugh. "Sure, Tommy."
Tommy didn't let him out of the hug. "Okay," he said. "Tell me everything."
When James got to the kitchen, he could hear someone else in there and wasn't surprised to see that Annie was there pulling out ingredients - though her head was pressed to her shoulder, and she was on the phone, listening to someone on the other end with the occasional "mmhmm" thrown in to show she was listening.
James didn't want to interrupt her, but he couldn't possibly lay down for another minute and not lose his mind, so he silently tried to keep out of her way as he grabbed a few things that were ready to go in an attempt to just shove something in his face.
"No, no, I think that's perfect," Annie told the person on the other end. She glanced up when she realized someone else was in the kitchen and broke into a smile when she saw James. "Evie, seriously, you know me. It all sounds amazing. Just let me-" She paused and laughed. "Actually, no, I really like that idea." She smiled and pulled out a seat for James as she waltzed around the kitchen, pulling a few more things out than she had been playing with before. "Okay. Talk to the girls and see if their school schedules are open. Can you text me once you hear back?" She pulled out a bowl and a whisk. "Perfect. Okay, I gotta go. Love you," she said cheerily before she hung up and pocketed the phone, though she hadn't stopped her whirlwind of activity and was already throwing things into the bowl. "Chicken's in the oven. I was going to bring you something with protein in about half an hour," she told him. "That's what you need, isn't it?"
"You really don't need to go to all that trouble," James said. "I can manage."
"Yes, I can see that, but I like going to all that trouble. It helps me feel useful," Annie said, measuring up some cornmeal before she went hunting for some eggs.
"Well … thanks," James said before he started peeling an orange. "I got a lot of catching up to do, it seems." He was frowning at the silverish tinge to his nails, and knew that couldn't be great. But considering he'd been in a coma of sorts for so long …
"To be honest, I was going to bring you boys dinner for selfish reasons, too," Annie told him in a tone that sounded confidential but was too bright to be that.
"That works, too," James said, not going for the bait simply out of habit.
"I needed to talk to you about the wedding," she told him, since he wasn't picking up her hints. "We're having it soon. I mean soon. We're working with family to pin down the soonest we can all be together. It's my side that's the holdup. The girls are in school, and Anton works…"
"Oh, yeah," James said with a nod. "If it's that bad of a scheduling problem, I'm sure someone could call a threat into the school anonymously…"
"Ha ha." Annie pointed her whisk at him. "Don't get into trouble."
"No, I'm serious, it'd work."
"And I'm serious: don't do it." She shook her head and got back to stirring. "And anyway, we think next Saturday will work. Mary Beth has her choir concert this weekend, and Anton's working most of next week, but he said he could switch shifts with someone if need be."
James scrunched up his nose. "What day is it?" he asked. He hadn't thought about that in a while, and he knew they were floating into the Christmas and Hanukkah season.
"Oh, it's Thursday," Annie said, flushing pink. "I knew it was probably a stretch to try to make it happen this weekend, but your father wanted to make it happen as soon as possible, all things considered."
James shook his head. "I can rearrange the work schedule for Anton if he needs it. Little light hacking is good for the season."
"I'll let you know if we need it," Annie said. She poured out the mixture into a pan and slid it into the oven above the chicken before she wiped her hands off on her apron and came to sit beside him. "We want you there," she told him seriously, one eyebrow raised significantly. "So we're going to get married as soon as we can. We're not taking chances."
"I'll do my best," James said.
"Yes, well." Annie cleared her throat and smoothed out her apron. "As it turns out, my sister and my niece have been conspiring with Wanda to put a plan in place to more or less have the entire wedding details handled for exactly something like this."
"You can't possibly be surprised by that," James said, then offered her part of his orange.
She took the orange slice and popped it into her mouth. "I thought I'd be in on the conspiring," she admitted. "But then again, I did spend a year being less talkative than usual. That damn geneticist."
"I would bet they started light conspiracy while you were in Genosha."
"You'd be right," she agreed. "And Leslie Ann spearheaded a lot of it, God bless her."
James nodded his head a few times. "Good. It's about time for you two."
"I tend to agree." Annie smiled and leaned back in her chair. "You know, I'm due in three months from yesterday, and Jan has apparently been sketching updates to her design with every passing moment?"
"Again, that really shouldn't be a shock," James said. "She's got color schemes three ways in case of either gender."
"You're not kidding." Annie smiled and looked down at her stomach. "We have the names picked out."
"I know."
"It's tradition in my family to keep 'em secret until they're on the birth certificate, but I'm bursting. I don't know how Evie did it," Annie said, smiling wider.
"She's mean spirited," James said without missing a beat. "And she takes joy in torturing you. Thats how she did it." He spared her a half-smile. "Now you can muster the strength to do the same."
Annie laughed at that. "You know me too well."
"I'm just glad you and Dad are okay," he said. "And I'm sorry for all the messes we've been making."
"I really am okay," she promised quickly. "It's been… an adjustment, obviously." She pushed her hand through her hair. "Well, I've uprooted my life, suddenly acquired powers, and I'm having a baby, so 'adjustment' doesn't seem to cover it, does it?" She shook her head and then got to her feet again. "I know I stashed some chocolate around here…"
"Even if you didn't," James said as he got to his feet then crossed the kitchen to the pantry to pull out three different kinds. "Wanda likes to keep it in stock."
"Perfect. I knew I liked her." Annie grabbed some of all three and brought it back to the table. "I have such a sweet tooth."
"I noticed," James teased.
"It's even worse with this little one," Annie defended herself. "I know it was bad before, but really, I can't stop."
"You don't have to," James said. "And Dad thinks it's cute." He frowned for an instant. "Oh - should I apologize for his face?"
"What face? I think he's handsome," Annie said, smiling around her bite of white chocolate.
"I didn't know if you were okay with how he looks now or if you preferred the ragged look with the scars."
"Oh, that." Annie set the chocolate down and let out a long, tired breath. "It's… easier because we're mentally connected now," she said, though the admission wasn't easy, considering who had given her those powers. "He's still the same there, so it's less of a blow when he looks so much less like himself."
James set his snacks aside and offered Annie his hand. "Are you okay? With all of that?"
Annie squeezed his hand. "Obviously not," she said. "I'd give anything to go back to the way it was before. These powers are overwhelming sometimes, I miss seeing his eyes, even if he's not wearing those damn glasses as much now that you're okay, and I did actually like the rugged look. But he's alive, you're alive, and that damn doctor is dead, so… I'm okay."
"How much did Dad tell you - or project about what happened with me?"
"All of it," she said honestly. "I asked him to project it to me."
James held his breath for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully, but knowing that Annie had trouble given who those powers had come from - and how much weight Sinister had put on that. "You want to keep that powerset? Or, I guess … I know you said you wanted to keep it before. Would it help if you knew what Jean thought of all this?"
Annie blinked several times before she swallowed. "I'm too curious not to ask now," she admitted softly.
"Okay," James said. "Can I just … show you? Because I can't accurately imitate that level of … her."
Annie couldn't help but laugh. "Sure," she said. "I've never gotten to know her before. And she was important to Scott. I'm curious."
James smirked and closed his eyes to focus, then took the time to quickly find the memories he wanted her to see. Jean's enthusiastic reaction to Annie's doctor's appointment that had happened while James was still out but the rest of the kids were safe. She was bouncing in place excited - and more outwardly frustrated that Scott was so lost in himself at that moment that she was trying to encourage Annie from the other side. He focused, too, on Jean's angry tirade about Sinister when the subject came up in conversation - echoing much of what Annie had said on the subject in different phrases, but also with more insight when she had been cursing him every time he so much as thought about anyone in her family - Annie included.
And finally, he focused not just on Jean - but on Annie's parents who were entirely entertained by Jean's red-faced cursing and pacing and promises of war when Nate ran into Sinister in the escape from the facility.
He just wanted to make sure that Annie knew that whatever comparisons Sinister had insinuated to Annie were absolute fiction - and that Jean loved Annie like a sister and was cheering for her every step of the way.
By the time Annie left James' memories, she was blinking back tears - so he absolutely saw it coming when she grabbed him to yank him into a solid hug, already whispering an apology for crying on him, though she had no plans to let him go either.
"This is apparently what I do to people now," James teased, though he kept her wrapped up, too. "I just thought you'd want to know-"
"Thanks." She held him tighter for just a second before she did, finally, straighten up - if only because the oven beeped. "That would be the chicken." She cleared her throat and wiped her face. "Thank you," she said again and kissed his cheek before she went right back into the dance he'd seen her doing in the kitchen before, dishing up a dinner for him with a smile.
"No, thank you," James said. "For everything."
The two of them weren't alone for long, but thankfully the trickle to the little kitchen nook seemed to be entirely Summers oriented - and led by Nate, Kate, and David.
So that was … Nate drifted off as he sat down next to James with David on his knee. He was trying to be careful and keep their chat private - or as private as he could. Is he going to be alright? Are the two of you?
I don't know, James admitted. I just don't … I did the right thing to tell him. I hope I did. I know I screwed up screwing around with Noh. I probably should've just … not.
What? And end up in Purgatory instead? I think you did okay, all things considered.
Not so sure about that, James replied.
Nate braced himself and tried to find a path to reason with his brother, bringing in Kate because he knew he wasn't saying it right. And I'm going to guess that attitude was probably the reason you were in danger of slipping into Purgatory.
Oh, hey, we're having this discussion? Kate said, elbowing Nate so he'd hand David off to James while they talked. Hi, Uncle James. Someone missed you, she added as David climbed up to be in James' face and give him sloppy kisses with exaggerated "mwah" noises like his mom always did - he was getting close to trying out words.
It's not okay to shove a baby at me to shut me up, James said as he let David get it out of his system.
That wasn't the play, actually. I just wanted to lead with the reminder that you're loved and adored and I'm glad you're not a poltergeist - which was also a real possibility, according to Wanda, Kate said, both eyebrows raised significantly. It's why she didn't want Billy to play with soul magic.
Sounds like you know more about it than I do, James said as he settled David under his chin and let him play with his hair and pull at his shirt.
I got curious. And it turns out you're really damn lucky you're dating someone who can tap into godlike powers, because most souls that have 'unfinished business' don't make it back to their bodies when they get pulled back.
Most of them probably don't have nearly unkillable bodies, either, James pointed out.
Point, Kate said. But in case you were wondering why Wanda and Strange didn't fix it when your body was still living and you weren't…
I knew it was a horrible idea without being told, James said. I honestly thought Billy wouldn't do that.
I think if your body had been dead, he wouldn't have, Kate admitted, reaching over to tickle David and then laughing when David clutched onto James' hair with both hands, obviously staking a temporary claim. For real, though, I know you're beating yourself up about Noh, but, like, you were dead?
I know. Doesn't seem like much of an excuse right now, though. He gently rearranged David and started squishing up things to share with him. Since the little guy had started in with food he was always pushing for more things to taste - and considering that Annie was making sure everyone was fed this whole time, David was conditioned to dive in right away.
Does it help if I tell you Billy texted me about the whole thing and he's mad he can't be mad because it wasn't even cheating? Kate offered.
He can be mad. James gave her a look. Feels like cheating now.
The exact words were something like: 'It's like getting mad at Scott and Jan or something. Like. Aren't you supposed to be happy someone moves on?' And then a lot of incoherency.
James shook his head. It's not like Dad or Jan or anything like that, though.
Kinda feels like it. You really cared about Noh. We all know it.
Yeah, I care about him. Not the same, though.
Well, yeah, your true love's here and now, Kate said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
Right. So … take it from my point of view for a second and tell me how off I am.
I dunno. Seems like you were doing your best to cope and to assimilate, and now you're suddenly back to a life you actively tried to leave behind.
I was not doing my best at much of anything but being a pain in the ass.
Coping. Being your best self.
Pretty sure it's genetic, too, Nate pointed out, seeing as even Kate wasn't quite getting her point across.
Dad said I was grounded for being awful to Grandpa Charlie and his psychobabble.
The horrors, Kate said at the same time Nate said, I mean, fair.
Doesn't really matter what I think anyhow, James said.
Kate and Nate shared a look before Nate reached over to grab James' arm, since he couldn't do much else with David climbing him. I know there's literally no good way to figure out how to come back from what happened to you, but it does, actually, matter what you think. For the record. We're all glad you're back, but we're also watching you drown and we're worried, that's all.
I'm trying not to, James said. But it's a lot. And the adjustment is harsh. I'll get used to it.
I hope so. I'm glad you're here, Kate said.
So am I, even if it doesn't seem like it right now.
If it helps, half the reason everyone's so on edge is that a lot of us were already preparing to say goodbye, Nate admitted without looking up at him. Adjustment's hard both ways.
I know, James said, sighing even in his mental voice. I caught the plans in place.
Dad doesn't … give up, Nate said. That was…
Kate kissed Nate's cheek and held his hand. That was the sign that said for sure that the only thing that could fix it was magic. And it's a good thing we have a god. And the cutest love bugs, she added, just for the look on James' face.
So is America mad that you took her spot at the top of Billy's fanclub? James shot back.
Kate drew a halo over her head. I told Billy his magical grounding was good for him because if he doesn't get consequences, he floats too much.
He must be tapping into other sources then for how easy he snatched Nate, James pointed out.
Nate raised an eyebrow - since he actually hadn't thought about that. Huh.
Yeah, I noticed, James said. When he pulled you to us, it was with a snap of his fingers. The temporary tattoos or whatever didn't make a dent for a little bit there. I don't think he realized it, though.
Almost definitely not, Nate agreed.
"You three have been conspicuously silent," Annie said as she set down some fresh cornbread between them. "I'm just sayin'."
"It's the whole dead zone around my head," James replied flatly.
"Sure, sweetheart," Annie said, reaching for David so James could eat without holding a toddler, though that just had David squirming and holding onto James tighter with a half-babbled "nuh," which was his best approximation of "no."
"I've got him," James said, bumping foreheads with him before he resettled him and let him destroy a little of the cornbread.
Annie opened her mouth but then closed it again. The moment was too cute to get an argument out of her, anyway. "I won't lie; I'm looking forward to seeing you with ours," she said, resting her hand on her stomach.
James gave her a skeptical look. "I'm not doing anything special."
"Aww, don't lie," Kate teased. "It's the patented Uncle James Magic. Totally works on step-brothers too, right? I'm totally right about this."
"Nate, make her stop, she's traumatizing me," James said in a monotone as he handed David his spoon to bang on the table.
"Kate, you're traumatizing him," Nate said straight faced.
"Must be my mother's influence," she said without missing a beat.
"When are her and Tony going to be here?" James asked since he wasn't sure where everyone was and things had been jumbled enough when he came back he couldn't remember who was where or what they all were up to. But he knew Tony was inbound soon.
"They got sidetracked by something big enough to sidetrack them from seeing you," Kate said, her expression falling.
"Nate, she's holding out on me, too," James said.
"None of us know, actually. All we've got is that anyone who was at the department facility needs to lie lower than lower right now, which we were kinda already doing, but this feels… different," Nate said, frowning.
James frowned and looked around the room. "Where's Dad?"
"Oh, he got a call half an hour ago and disappeared to take it," Annie said, frowning as she came to join them now that the tenor of the conversation had shifted.
"Yeah, that's not fishy at all," James said as he and Nate shared a look.
"I honestly thought it was wedding-related. I just got off the phone with my sister, and he said he was going to talk to a few people," Annie admitted, wiping flour off of her hands.
"Everyone he wants to talk to about wedding stuff is here," James said.
"Well … and Storm, but I'm sure Leslie-Ann is keeping her in the loop," Nate added.
"Okay, but now I want to have a telepathic mean girls conversation when he walks in," James said, trying to lift the heavy tension in the room. "Just to see what he'll do."
"Die of stress, probably," Kate said, only half joking. "He's been on the brink, not gonna lie."
"Pretty sure he'll come in with about twenty plans ready to go if he's talking to your mom right now anyway," Nate said, and Kate nodded her agreement.
"Guess we'll wait and see."
James clearly didn't appreciate the way the conversation was going, but with Nate and Kate on either side of him and David on his lap, he really didn't have a good way to excuse himself. And he was starving, still. So, instead of trying to stage a coup, he got David settled out enough that the two of them started eating. It was particularly funny since James was doing his level best to keep David going while half inhaling his own dinner, too.
David's belly laughs started to really kick in when James would tickle him when he tried to grab at the food on the plate, or when he tried to steal bites of James's food that hadn't been smashed up for him. And naturally, he didn't want anything on his own plate.
The little guy didn't seem to want to take his eyes off of James, either - and every time James took a drink, David would quickly do the same with his little sippy cup that he didn't let go of.
The sweetest part of it, though, was how halfway through dinner, David started to lean his head on James's chest between bites - only picking it up to get another mouthful or a drink.
Which was about when Scott finally came in looking as if he'd been organizing and running in a marathon.
"I've got Corsair coming in the next two hours; everyone is getting on board, and we're sending you off-world as soon as possible," he said, looking stressed, with his hair scrunched in places where he'd been holding onto it through his phone call.
"What? Why?" James blurted out with his nose scrunched up.
"Because the department has been talking to other interested parties, and they're setting up a black market auction," Scott said, waiting only long enough for the significance of that to set in before he was back in a flurry of motion. "We're working on it, but in the meantime, anyone on their auction list needs to be gone."
James shook his head. "Im not going anywhere until I hear back from Billy and sit down with Tony."
"This isn't up for debate, James," Scott said. "They know how to get to you, and they-"
"No, it's not up for debate," James agreed. "I have to talk to both of them. And they think I'm still a vegetable."
"You said we've got a couple hours, Dad," Kate said - knowing that calling him 'Dad' would defuse him for a few seconds. "Besides, the last thing we need is Billy floating around juiced up on god juice worried about his guy."
Scott gave Kate a dry look. "Talk to Billy," he told James. "We need to move fast, because they're moving fast."
"I … am sort of waiting for him to come to me," James admitted. "He's processing."
"I'll shoot him a message," Kate said. "He can process in space with us if need be, right?"
"Considering he and Tommy were both captured, he'll need to go as well anyway," Scott said.
"Did you clear this by Wanda?" James asked, shifting how David was sleeping on him now that he'd passed out.
"She was on the call with me and Natasha," Scott said. "She's staying here to shore up Genosha's defenses, but as I understand it, she's got a line to her boys if my father manages to run you all into trouble," he added dryly.
"Rachel will just mutiny if he starts being stupid," Nate said. "We'll back her up."
"I'm sure," Scott said. He was already in motion to set something else up. "Kate, Annie, you're going too," he said.
"I wasn't even in the captive group this time!" Kate complained, though Annie looked pensive.
"You're going because my son will have a stroke before he's old enough to rent his own car if something happens to you with these people," Scott shot back - which was hard to argue, all things considered.
"Ugh. Nate, your Dad's in Cyclops mode and I'm mad about it," Kate said, falling back in her seat with her arms crossed.
"Thought that was what you guys wanted," Scott said distractedly.
"She's just mad that she's Nate's emotional support … person," James said as he held Kate's gaze.
"It sure seems like we're sending a lot of people into space," Annie said cautiously.
"Temporarily," Scott said. "The auction already has an announced date and time; once we've dealt with that, we can deal with more."
"As far as they know, I could be dead right now," James grumbled.
"And the second they know you're not, you will spend every second being hunted by these bastards, and I'm not going to let you spend what could damn well be your last days on this planet dealing with that," Scott snapped his way.
James considered shooting back a retort about spending his last days off planet instead, but closed his mouth. It wasn't like Scott to snap at him, and he wasn't going to push it too much if he was already this far on the edge.
"Alright." Scott nodded once. "I need to go talk to Bobby. Start packing - and let me know if you hear anything else about this. We're trying to stay ahead of it." He was already headed out the door.
"I'll find it," James said more to his brother and Kate, though.
"I'll bet you can," Kate said. "But let's not send you personally. If you drop dead in front of them, they'll filet you for metal, and I'm not a fan of that course of action."
"Yeah, yeah," James grumbled. "Just get me the fastest laptop you can find around here, huh? I'll see what I have for clothes." He handed David to Nate. "And if you've been texting Billy, you'll probably have better luck seeing where he's at, mentally. I promised to give him room."
"He hasn't really responded to anything except to tell me some gossip about Tommy," Kate said. "What do you need me to ask him?"
James shook his head. "I just want to make sure they're on board for this run," he said. "He'll figure out the rest without any pressure."
"Okay." Kate texted for a minute and then nodded. "Just got a text from Tommy, actually. He says they're going, and he'll handle getting Billy to the ship. Apparently, he passed out asleep not long after the last text I got from him, which explains a few things."
James nodded to himself and then started off. "Let me know when Tony gets here, please. If I can't find any of my stuff, I guess I'll have to dress like a space rat."
"Can't have that," Nate muttered under his breath.
