Chapter 25 - Corsair is Trying
James had just started to wake up with his usual confusing mess of voices, interference, and sounds from beyond, only to realize that the lights in the room he was in were dimmed and he wasn't alone. That last bit wasn't too hard to picture since no one wanted him to be alone anymore anyhow. He just couldn't remember ever waking up to find Corsair sitting nearby keeping watch over him.
"He's trying." Katherine Summer's voice held an echoing quality over the din of the noise around him. "If you can give Magneto a chance, you should do the same for him. He just … doesn't know what to do with you."
James turned his head her way in time to see her giving him a warm, encouraging smile. He'd spent a little time with her on the other side, but they really hadn't discussed Corsair at all. And considering that Katherine had made a point to step in …
"You don't have to do anything," James said as he slowly pushed himself upright. Everything seemed to be a lot more sore when he just woke up.
"Don't have to do what? Look out for you? Why not?" Corsair asked, though the lines of worry on his features were both hard to fake and painfully familiar.
"I know you have plenty of other things that need your attention," James said. "There has to be."
"I could lose a grandson at any moment," Corsair said, sounding as stressed as he looked. "I'm exactly where I need to be."
James made a face but refrained from saying what was on the tip of his tongue only to be surprised when Corsair said it for him.
"I know. Why start worrying now, right?"
James looked up at him fast but honestly had no idea how to respond. "I didn't-"
"You don't have to say it. We've never really spent any time, and when I was around…" he sighed. "I never treated you kids the same."
"No," James said, automatically trying to shift the way this talk was going. He wasn't used to dealing with Corsair, certainly not like this, anyhow. That was usually where Scott stepped in. "you did what you could-"
"I don't need you to make excuses for me," Corsair said as he got up and made his way over to a hidden panel that James didn't know was in the room he'd taken up. He kept his back to James as he did … something. "But if I've learned one thing, it's that I can't make up for what I never did, and I can't fix anything that's in the past." When he turned around, he had two glasses and two very different looking bottles in his hands.
"It's alright-"
"Do me a favor and just stop," Corsair said before he sat down kitty-corner from James and then set the bottles down. He didn't say anything as he opened both bottles and poured out a measure for each of them, then picked up his and watched James expectantly.
"What are you doing?" James asked, looking perfectly confused.
"Having a drink with my oldest grandson," Corsair said, gesturing for James to pick the other glass up. "You're old enough now, right?"
James frowned and shook his head. "No, I just turned twenty."
"How long ago?"
"I'm not exactly sure," James answered slowly. "I don't know what the date is."
"No offense to your boyfriend, but either one of us might not be around for your next one and I've missed out on too many of your other birthdays," Corsair said.
He hated that Corsair had a point, even if he was being careful to frame it as if Corsair himself might not be around. But there wasn't a flaw to his logic, so against his better judgment, James nodded once and solemnly picked up the glass.
Both glasses were the same size, but the liquid inside of them was wildly different… the almost shimmering sky blue liquid in James's glass didn't look toxic, but it had to be on a different level if Corsair wasn't touching it. Not that James thought he was trying to kill him.
Corsair didn't have anything more to say at the moment, or if he did, he wasn't able to speak up yet, so James simply followed his lead and drank when he made it clear that's what he expected. And immediately started coughing.
Corsair smiled crookedly as he reached over to pour up another round for both of them. "That," he said as James cleared his throat with slightly watering eyes. "Is a little something I picked up a few star systems over. Strongest drink I can find." He was almost smiling as he spoke of it.
"What is it?" James asked, though he didn't back down from picking up the next round.
"No idea how to pronounce it. I know it's made out of three intoxicants, a hallucinogen, and a few stimulants. I tried a little bit and it kicked my ass six ways to sunday from just half a shot." He gestured toward James with his glass. "I bought that when we found out for sure you had the powerset you do. Figured it would just be going through the motions for your first drink if it was normal alcohol. This stuff got your old man drunk, as I understand it. Took a load more, though."
He waited for James to meet his gaze before the two of them downed their next rounds, though James wasn't coughing like he was the first time out. He hadn't expected anything like that.
"Now, I know this doesn't count as legal, exactly," Corsair said.
"It is a pirate ship," James pointed out, and Corsair broke into a broad smile. Katherine was right - he was making an effort, and James absolutely didn't want him torturing himself if he were to drop dead at any moment. Not over him. "And I'm gonna bet Dad might fight you on taking me for my first legal drink."
"True, but … I'd like to take you to that bar when you are old enough and get you drunk. We'll be lucky if you get a decent buzz off of what I have here." He gestured to what James now saw was a bar. "I have a stockpile, but …"
"There are other ways to do it," James pointed out.
"Sure, sure, but, this is a pirate ship in space. It's nice to go with the perks sometimes."
"Did you do this with Rachel, too?"
Corsair laughed, shaking his head as he set up to keep pouring. "No. She wouldn't have anything to do with me for her twenty first. I don't think she's too impressed with alcohol anyhow."
"She's not," James confirmed.
"Then … how about we just … let's get to where you don't look like you're just waiting to die, huh?" As he finished speaking, he pushed the bottle full of sky-blue liquid toward James. "No pressure, I just … don't want to miss my shot at this."
"Okay," James agreed, earning himself a more sad smile as Corsair shook him by the shoulder and they both started drinking a little too much.
The funny thing about Corsair was that, in spite of all his bravado and bluster, the stories he began to tell once he had lost his big pirate facade shifted to something far more emotional that betrayed exactly how close he had been keeping track of his grandkids over the years.
He was much more likable this way, as far as James was concerned.
And James's reaction to his drinking played on how close to the edge he was with the other side and how worn down he was. He had some serious immunity to whatever was in that bottle, but nothing like he'd expected from what Corsair had told him he was expecting. So for the first time really since he'd woken up, James was extremely relaxed and almost smiling as he simply listened to Corsair tell stories … that Katherine was more than happy to correct from over his shoulder. Not that Corsair knew it.
Corsair had just gotten up to grab the second bottle for James and some water for himself to go with his scotch when Alex passed the room in search of them. He did a hard double take, backed up with a confused expression on his face, then cautiously stepped into the room to see what the hell was going on.
At first, he thought his father was just … refereeing. Or something close to it. But then he realized that neither Billy nor Tyler was in the room with them, and Corsair had just sat down next to James and was just breaking the seal on a very strange, rather large bottle of some shimmering blue liquid with alien markings.
Alex blinked, watching James, realizing the kid was drunk. And he saw how Corsair kept looking toward James, long looks that ended when James looked his way. Looks a lot like the ones he had been giving Scott and Alex when they first reunited with him.
It only took him a second to realize Corsair had been holding onto that booze for James. He was trying to connect to the kid, in one of the few ways he knew how.
And Alex got it. He did. He'd sat with Lorna the night after she and Wanda had talked about what to do with James' body. He knew how close they'd all come to an official goodbye. And he knew they weren't out of the woods yet.
So, rather than trying to break it up when he knew, honestly, that they both probably needed the closure if this went the way it was trending, Alex just sat down across from them, propped his feet up, and joined in.
Scott had been rubbing his eyes and pacing for a few minutes after Vision had told him what his scans had found about Wade. There wasn't anything they could do to fix what was stopping his healing, though they could obviously give him medical care while his powers weren't working. Apparently, the department had injected him with microscopic particulates of carbonadium. The only thing for it was to let his body flush it out, but in the meantime, he wasn't healing.
That was how they had apparently decided to deal with healers who got out of hand. It was deadly, it was effective, and it could never leak out to other organizations who might try their hand at the same thing.
Annie watched him pace for some time before she got up, stood in front of him, and grabbed his hands. "Call Wanda," she said simply.
"I don't-"
"It's Christmas Eve, and you're pacing. Call her. Everything will still be the same here for the next few days. You said yourself that SHIELD is batting cleanup and that the people we went to stop were in disarray. What is stopping you from asking to join the rest of your family for Christmas?"
Scott let out a long breath. "It's okay," he started to say, but Annie huffed at him.
"I want to see my stepchildren for Christmas, Scott. Call her."
Scott sighed, but with Annie looking at him like that, he couldn't ignore her. So, shaking his head at her, he called Wanda. "Any chance of a spell to get me and Annie to my family?"
"I know where they are if you want to go," Wanda said. "I've sort of been bouncing over when I can, so, yes, of course."
"Thank you." He ran his hand down his face. "I think… we need a break."
"As soon as you're ready, I'll get you there. Any preference on who you want to land nearest?"
Scott paused, but Annie spoke up. "I'm just gonna say it. It's Christmas Eve, and Alex is the only one of the family who doesn't have a significant other there with 'em. He might be the safer bet to interrupt."
"You got it." Wanda sounded chipper enough. "I'll be right behind you with Lorna and Vision before you know it."
She wasn't wrong; the whole thing took only a few minutes before Wanda was ready - and the next thing Scott and Annie knew, they were with Alex… and Corsair and James, all three of whom were visibly drunk.
"...the hell?" Scott blurted out as soon as he realized what was going on. And when he saw the bright blue bottle James had, he turned toward Corsair. "Dad."
"What?" Corsair asked with a half-grin. "Come on, Scotty - join us. We're doing the first … near legal drinking."
"He's been twenty for less than a month," Scott said dryly.
"Intergalactic waters," James decided, which had Corsair laughing outright.
"Seriously, Dad?" Scott pinched the bridge of his nose, too tired to deal with this. It was bad enough that his dad was trying to corrupt his son, but the fact that they were getting along made it weird on top of being bad.
"Hey, I took my chance while the timing worked out," Corsair said.
"Live like you're dying and all that," Alex said. "C'mon Scott. You know."
"I already said I can't join the crew," James said, looking perfectly relaxed as he took Tony's cuff off and tossed it on the coffee table.
"That's the least of my worries, but at least you've kept your sense," Scott said dryly.
"Oh, go on," Annie said, pushing Scott at the shoulder. "I can't join or I would. It's been hell the last few months. Unwind and consider you being actually relaxed a Christmas present to me."
"Grab a glass, Scotty," Corsair said, gesturing vaguely toward where the bar was. "You can catch up slow or we can give you a little of James's stuff."
Scott rolled his eyes at his father, but with Annie giving him a look, he did end up pouring some for himself.
So of course that was when Nate showed up, having followed the pattern of stressed psychic impressions to its source - his dad … who was drinking with Alex, Corsair, and James.
"I've definitely missed something, haven't I?"
"And you're definitely too young," Alex said, though that had James and Corsair cracking up.
"Come on, Nate," Annie said, putting her arm around his shoulders. "They need this, and I need to find a place to lie down - after I tell you about my first official mission," she added, beaming at him enough that he had to laugh at her enthusiasm.
Scott shook his head as he watched Annie talk Nate's ear off all the way down the hall, but before he could say anything, Corsair was already handing him another drink.
And honestly, he was too tired - and his family was in too good a mood - to turn it down. "Sure, what the hell," he said, drinking from the bottle instead of pouring himself more.
"Oh, is that the way it's going to go?" Alex laughed.
"It's been a long day, Alex. Shut up."
"No, no, I'm fine with it. Just need a couple extra bottles, that's all."
"I'll get 'em," Corsair said, but Alex laughed and held his hand up.
"I got it, Dad. You started before me, and you'll fall over if you try to get up now."
"Like hell I will," Corsair argued, then got to his feet only to sway heavily. "I can walk just fine."
"Sure." Scott put one hand on Corsair's shoulder, which sent Corsair back down to sitting.
"Was it that bad?" James asked as Corsair swore at both of his sons.
"Yeah," Scott said simply.
"Sorry I couldn't help, then."
"'S'fine. I'm sure Annie will tell you later about how she raised the alarm and found out they'd captured Deadpool," Scott said after another long drink.
"How did that turn out?" James asked, then looked a little confused as Corsair handed him another drink - though he didn't turn it down, either.
"Found him," Scott said. "Healing's not working right now. It's a whole damn thing."
"Sounds like it," James agreed, but didn't want to speak up on anything that hadn't been working for him when Scott was in a mood like that. "Sorry about all of that."
"Yeah, well." Scott took a long drink. "Anyway. Merry Christmas Eve."
"I don't have anything for anyone," James said, and Corsair almost echoed him with a 'me either' as he leaned on James.
"That's fine," Scott said. "We'll just be glad we're all here and together. It's that kind of Christmas season."
"Awful?" James laughed. "Sounds right."
"Yeah, well, we can have a better one when we get back home. Annie's projecting to me that she already contacted her family, and they're prepping a wedding right now."
"Perfect," Corsair said with a slightly-too-wide grin. "I'll be there."
"Funny how that worked out for you," Alex drawled out, sharing a significant look with Scott before he snorted a laugh, shook his head, and had another long drink.
"Will we be back before Kate's birthday?" James asked, just before hitting his drink pretty hard. The family from the other side was hanging close, taking in the odd scene and providing soft commentary that was becoming increasingly hard for James to ignore. And, in spite of himself, the more inebriated James became, the more he focused on those on the other side. Openly watching them.
He'd been trying not to do that, but he could only do so much at once and the alcohol was enough to blow his multitasking out the window.
"When's that?" Corsair asked.
"The thirty-first," Scott told him, and Corsair shrugged.
"A week? Maybe. Depends on how smooth the trip home is and if anyone tries to stop us. No problems? Yeah, we'll be home in five days tops. But if-"
"So we'll be home in five days," Alex said. "Scotty'll blast anyone who says otherwise, right?"
Scott toasted Alex without responding otherwise. It was nice to see his family getting along, but he wasn't drunk enough yet to really be in a joking mood. If anything, he seemed to be getting more somber as he got buzzed.
James watched his dad for a long moment, then looked past him with a frown before he reached over and took his bottle. "You're going the wrong way."
"Hey," Scott said, too buzzed to be quick enough not to lose the bottle.
"I don't want you getting low," James said. "And I don't know how to fix it, but you are, so …"
"How often have you done this, Scotty?" Corsair asked with a bemused smile, though he once again pushed the blue stuff toward James. It was too entertaining not to. .
"Drink? Few times," Scott said dismissively.
"Okay, but around the kid enough he can read your drunk mood?" Corsair asked. "Didn't expect that."
"Wondering if I picked anything up from you?" Scott asked.
"O-kay, Scotty," Alex said, holding up both hands. "We were having a good time, okay? Let's not … do that."
Scott gave Alex a long look before he leaned back with his arms crossed. "This is - I rarely - it's not like this is - it's not," he started to say, but he was so put off by the whole idea, especially since he rarely got drunk when he was in charge of three kids on his own and even when they were grown rarely indulged because he was cognizant of his own mental state. It was just… so far from the truth.
"I can go get some food," James offered - which had been a suggestion from Katherine when she saw the way they were going. "You probably need it, right? Big fight, no break before you came here?"
Scott dragged a hand down his face. "Yeah," he said. "Two fights, one after the other. Sure, I could use a bite."
"Be back, then," James said as he got up and handed Scott's bottle to Alex for safe keeping. He wasn't swaying like Corsair had done, but he wasn't entirely his usual self as he left the three of them alone for a few moments. The adults needed to chat without him around anyhow.
"Take it the fight took a turn?" Alex guessed after a long moment.
Scott rested his head against the wall and looked up. "They had prisoners they weren't intending to sell. And they had Deadpool contained with microscopic carbonadium." He gave Alex a significant look. "You can imagine what they did in the cell block when they heard us coming, right?"
"Nothing good," Alex said, frowning since he was far from healed up himself.
"Wade's in medical. Not healing. Got five out, and only because Natasha's team took fire."
"That's it?" Alex said, sobering up a little quicker now.
"That's it." Scott sighed, dragging his hand down his face again. "We did everything right; the whole damn thing was going exactly to plan. But taking them out cost a few dozen lives we didn't even know to protect."
"I was hoping for better news," Corsair said, joining the boys in their scowling.
"Well, the good news is the plan worked. The department's wrecked, Stark and James' cyber-assault is still wrecking them and anyone who wanted to join in their sick games, and they bled so much money and lost so much face it'll take a long time before they're anywhere near capable of what they pulled before." Scott shook his head. "That's the thing. The whole op ran perfectly. We just didn't know about the cells."
"Always a monkey wrench," Corsair said, shaking his head before he took a long, deep pull from his glass.
"Wouldn't have even known about them at all if it hadn't been for Annie," Scott said after all three had been quiet for a nearly uncomfortable amount of time.
"And now she's regaling Nate with tales of her adventures," Corsair said with a smile.
"Hopefully, she's getting tips on how to keep from overdoing it, but yeah, I'm sure Kate's already got pages full of notes for her on customizing her look and picking a name," Scott said, starting to smile a bit - which was good timing for James.
When James returned, he had an armful of snacks for the group of them and looked a lot more sober than he wanted to be. "I would have been faster, but Hurricane Annie was insistent on a few things. She's taken over the galley. No one is surprised."
"She should be resting," Scott said, and Alex laughed.
"So should you," James said before he sat down by Corsair again and handed him a few things to eat, too. And then, he skipped the glass and went right for what was left in the bottle.
"Besides, isn't baking her version of resting?" Alex pointed out.
Scott rolled his eyes but didn't want to bring the mood down now that it had come back up a bit, so he simply shrugged and said, "Something like that." He reached for the bottle, and Alex moved it out of his reach, which had him rolling his eyes. "So, did I miss anything?"
"Nope," James said before the other two could chime in.
"James sees dead people and let his future brother-in-law tell Magneto to his face what a crap grandparent he was," Alex said, not about to be deterred.
"This is why no one tells you anything," James said.
"It's not my fault it's the best possible headline for this weird story," Alex said.
"Was he always a tattletale?" James asked Corsair, who couldn't help but start laughing.
"Yes," Scott said immediately, to Alex's indignant "hey!"
"Not surprised," James said low.
"So, is the seeing dead people a constant thing, an occasional message…?" Scott asked, his full focus on James.
The corner of James's mouth tightened up and he tapped his fingers on his knee as he tried to find the right way to answer him. "Yes."
"Huh." Scott tipped his head and then snapped and pointed at him. "Logan. Logan used to steal my damn bottle all the time."
"When you were going the wrong way, yeah," James said before he lifted it from Alex and handed it back to Scott.
"Thank you," Scott said, pointedly looking at Alex as he drank a good quarter of what was in it, falling more into quiet reflection than spiraling, which was enough of an improvement that Alex decided not to try to steal it back.
Meanwhile, Annie had somehow managed to find herself in the middle of a pile of Kate, Rachel, and America as she told them everything - everything - about her first mission. The other three women could clearly see that she was riding an adrenaline high that was fast turning into an adrenaline drop, but they were just so tickled that she was part of this now that they didn't interrupt her, even hyping her up as she told her story.
The first half of it was about what they'd expected, since her job had been to provide some psychic defense when so many of the big telepathic powers were in space. So her spying work in Genosha was exciting but expected.
The part where she was able to find prisoners no one else had known about, though… that part had everyone sobering up a bit, especially when Annie admitted that she had dropped out of contact with Scott after he went looking for Wade, because she'd gotten such a bad headache that she'd had to stop. She hadn't really gotten a look at anything until Wade was on the jet, and that… hadn't been encouraging.
The end of the story was obviously less exciting than the start, so Kate tried to keep her spirits up by grinning and saying, "Okay, but we obviously need to come up with a name for you, because you're too good at this not to run with the team, Miss Annie."
"Oh, we've got time to figure that out," Annie said. "You should have seen Scott's face when he told me he knew I'd gotten a nosebleed. I don't think I'll be back out until our little one's here," she said, looking down at herself with a sigh.
"Yeah, Steve benched me hardcore when we found out," Kate said.
"To be fair, you get a lot closer to the bad guys," Rachel pointed out.
"Mmhmm," America said. "And the other telepaths never get close to the action."
"Never," Rachel said solemnly, which had America rolling her eyes at her.
"I really just wanted to get involved because everyone was so…" Annie trailed off. "They needed everyone they could get."
"And you were mad and wanted to do something about it; we get it," Rachel promised.
"Kinda surprised Scott didn't freak out harder if you got a nosebleed, though," Kate said. "Nate acted like the world was ending if I stubbed my toe while I was pregnant."
"Your doctor was more problematic," Rachel pointed out.
"Not to mention you flipped out on him after finding out and he was scared of you," America said, smirking hard.
"Also a very very good point," Rachel agreed, then gave Kate an appraising look. "I can totally get after you for breaking my brother now."
"I did apologize to him when the dust settled, Rach," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "You can't blame me for freaking out."
"Yeah, but he internalized," Rachel said. "And I'm not blaming you for freaking out. I'm just trying to protect my itty bitty baby brother." She waved one hand. "You know how it is."
"Oh, that reminds me that I need to remind Sam that I can still kill him if he crosses my little sister," Kate said, smirking crookedly. "He fell harder after she turned into my mom when they fought off the department."
"But who stands up for Sam?" Rachel asked innocently.
"Kamala, usually," Kate said, laughing.
"She's not going to stand up to you," Rachel laughed.
"No, but she has given Lexi the 'don't break his heart' talk. And Lexi cares about what Kamala thinks; she really likes that whole group," Kate said.
"They're easy to like," Rachel agreed.
"No kidding," Kate agreed. She pointed at Annie. "But we're supposed to be coming up with a superhero name for our super history teacher."
"It'll happen," Rachel said. "You can't force it."
"I'm just surprised you don't already have one," Kate said, and Annie shrugged.
"I'm thirty-eight and never had powers," she said. "I never really had a reason to daydream something like that."
"Well, at least tell us what name you've got picked out, huh?" Kate said. "We're meeting the newest Summers in, like, what, three months tops? I wanna know!"
"We have names," Annie said simply, and Kate stuck her tongue out.
"I'll ask Nate."
"I've politely asked my future stepchildren to keep this secret, thanks," Annie said primly, her eyes dancing with playful glee.
"So only the telepaths know," America said.
"I'm still learning defense when I've got something deeply on my mind," Annie admitted.
"You're doing great, I'm sure," Kate said.
"I'm excited, actually, to be in Westchester full-time to have more chances to learn," Annie said. She smiled lightly. "I haven't felt like a student in a long time; it's kind of excitin'."
"We'll go easy on you," Rachel promised with a warm smile.
"Only to start, please," Annie said. "My first rodeo was with Sinister, mind. I think I can take more than the 101 class," she added with a teasing smile.
"We'll see," Rachel said diplomatically.
"In the meantime," Kate said, "Nate's projecting to me that Scott, James, Alex, and Corsair are getting drunk. Do we need to … do something…?"
"Probably," Rachel said thickly. "Nothing good can come of that."
"I'll go get mine," Annie said, starting to get up and using America's shoulder to get herself the rest of the way.
"Oooh, I'll text Billy and tell him to get his man," Kate said. "I have no idea how he'll react, but he needs to see his fiance in a pirate drinking party."
"Are they engaged yet?" Rachel asked. "Because I thought that wasn't the case."
"Basically engaged," Kate said, waving her hand. "They're taking all the steps and putting into motion all the official plans to get married; that's engaged in my book."
"But with all the drama of the old will they won't they," Rachel said. "Not engaged yet."
"They will," America said with a crooked smile.
"I dunno," Rachel said with a shrug. "They're still kind of shaky."
"He brought James back from literal death and broke the rules of magic to do it."
"And they've been off ever since," Rachel pointed out.
"I just have a little more faith than you do," America said, shrugging easily. It was the only thing they disagreed on, really: America trusted Billy a million times more than she trusted James, and Rachel felt the exact opposite.
"Uh huh. And my brother's getting wasted with the space pirate who barely spoke to him for his whole life. Seems normal to me," Rachel said.
"Scott's drinking with James while he's underage; I think this whole thing is weird," Kate pointed out.
"They were already drunk before Scott showed up," America said. "Your Summers just missed it until his dad got there."
"Still." Kate looked down at her phone. "Oh, Billy just texted that he wished himself there and it's just a series of question marks after that. I think we broke him."
"No way, they did," America argued. "We're innocent."
"Oh, totally," Kate agreed instantly, texting again. "I'm just getting more question marks it's hilarious."
"Can you point me in the right direction?" Annie asked Rachel. "I don't know where to go, and Scott was in an odd mood when we got here. I want to make sure he's okay."
"Yeah, I know where James was hiding out," Rachel said, then offered her a hand up. "Let's go. I kinda want to see this trainwreck myself."
As they walked through the ship, Rachel took the opportunity to give Annie a simple tour so she knew her way around and what to expect. Particularly places to avoid that the crewmen frequented. It wasn't that she was afraid they' try something stupid - it was more that she knew Annie didn't need all that nonsense or the drama that went with Corsair's crew.
When they got to the drinking party, though, even Rachel wasn't expecting to find that Craig had found the disaster on his own, either.
"Hey, Doc - is there a psychiatric term for… whatever this is?" Kate asked, sweeping one hand toward the scene as Nate came to meet her and put an arm around her waist.
"Alcoholism," Craig said flatly, though that was only accented by James holding up what was left in the blue-liquid filled bottle and offering him a shot or two. To Corsair's delight.
Annie shook her head and walked past Billy, who was starting to giggle by then purely out of disbelief and a little bit of relief seeing James loosen up. "Mind if I steal this one, boys?" she asked, putting her hand lightly on Scott's shoulder.
"Go ahead; he probably needs it," Alex said with such an obscene grin that Scott kicked him in the shin for it. "Ow."
As soon as James saw Kate, he set the bottle back down, whistled shrilly and started signing fast, telling the story of how they got to where they were with their drinking party and who was there - unseen to the others.
Big crowd, then? Kate signed back quickly.
No, not really. Mostly the other Katherine Summers.
Kate smirked lightly. Tell her I said hi, she said.
Tell her yourself, James replied. She likes you.
Kate beamed. "Hi," she said, waving James' way.
And all of the Summers guys in the room that had been drinking - aside from James - all said hello in response. Which had James covering his eyes with one hand and trying not to laugh.
Kate laughed delightedly. "Not you," she said.
"Not it," James said, when they looked up at Kate in confusion.
"Just saying hi to a visitor," she explained with an easy smile. "I stole her name, and she's blessing my use of it."
Corsair instantly sobered up and looked toward James. "Kat's listening? Here? Now?"
"Has been the whole time," James said, looking for the first time to be perfectly comfortable with his odd position. "She likes to check in on you, you know?"
He was quiet for a long time, leaning back and suddenly more somber, though Alex broke the silence with a quiet, "Hey, Mom," that was somehow exactly what Corsair needed to hear to sit up straighter.
"You keep an eye out on this one, Kat," Corsair said. He took a deep breath. "Miss you."
James tipped his head backward over the couch to find one of his siblings. "A little help?"
"Right," Nate said, and his eyes glowed blue so that he could synch up everyone there. He was already ready to do that the second James gave him permission, too; he was too curious not to.
"I'm not ungrateful, but that's a little over the top, don't you think?" Kat said once she knew what they were up to.
"No," James said, then closed his eyes and decided to just see where it went. He could see them all the time anyhow and the booze only amplified that a little. "They need it."
Scott, Alex, and Corsair were all quiet, just staring at Katherine, so Kate spoke up first. "So, um, hi. Nice to meet you."
"Hello," she said, smiling warmly. "You're all doing so well in spite of everything."
"Yeah, we're kind of amazing," Billy said, shaking his head. This was the second time he'd gotten to see what James saw, so he was getting used to it. Weirdly.
"Hey, Mom," Alex said again, smiling a little wider.
"Hey, troubles," she said with a smile. "I've missed you all."
"Missed you too," Scott said, looking like he could have been knocked over with a feather.
"This probably wasn't the best idea with everyone so altered," she said, focusing on Scott. "But selfishly, I'm still glad. It's been far too long. And I didn't get to say see you later."
"Sorry I didn't have more time to see you before," he said.
"No, no," Kat said, shaking her head. "That is not what I meant. You just take your sweet time. You're going to adore this new little one."
"Oh, I know I am," he said, smiling softly. He picked up his hand and then realized, belatedly, drunkenly, that he couldn't touch her. "Love you, by the way."
"Love you too," she said.
"Love you more," Corsair said, automatically, with a crooked smile.
"Not possible, Chris."
Corsair broke into a laugh that had a sob in it before he shook his head and got to his feet. "Right, well, this has been fun, but if we keep this up…"
"You'll be a blubbering mess," she finished for him with a grin. "I like Hep, by the way. She's smart."
"Reminds me of you," Corsair said without missing a beat. "Calls me out like you did too, Kat."
"Like I said," she teased. "You did well."
Corsair shook his head and then dragged a hand over his face, holding onto the wall to stay upright as he tried to move but didn't quite manage it.
"You okay, Grandpa Pirate?" James asked, peeking up at him.
"'Mfine, just need a minute."
"Lies," James said as low as he could.
Corsair waved him off. "Just need to get to bed is all."
"Yeah, sorry, not sorry." James frowned. "Not too sorry, anyhow. Thank you, by the way."
"Yeah, well, love you, kid," Corsair said gruffly before he affectionately ruffled James's hair.
"Love you too. Maybe we try this again next year? You know …" James drifted off, not finishing his thought when he knew Corsair would pick it up easily enough.
"Absolutely. I'll be there," Corsair promised, taking a few stumbling steps before Craig and Alex caught him and redirected him - with Craig doing most of the work while Alex wiped his face a few times on the way out.
With Corsair out of the room, James slid down to a more prone position. "Sorry, Dad."
"Nah, nothing to be sorry for."
"It was just easier than playing telephone," James said. "And he probably really, really needed that."
"Yeah. I think he did," Scott agreed as Annie helped him up.
"You got yours?" Annie asked Billy, who smiled and nodded, offering his hand to James.
"I can't sling you over my shoulder like you can, but…"
"I can't feel my lips," James replied with a frown.
"Okay, floating it is," Billy said, taking James' hand to first pull him upright, and immediately, both of them were several inches off the ground. "C'mon. You need sleep."
"I was sleeping before we got started on this," James said.
"Then let's have a take two," Billy said.
"Two what?" James asked, eyes still closed. "I think I broke Dad's therapist again."
Billy laughed and pulled James into a kiss. "That's okay."
"And his dad. And his brother. Aaand maybe him a little, too."
"That's okay," Billy said and kissed him again.
"I don't think Corsair is going to talk to me again for a long time."
"That's okay. I think morally gray grandparents can just show up from time to time and we'll have our fill, yeah?"
James shook his head at that, though. "It wasn't that."
"Yeah?" Billy turned his way as they floated through the halls.
"He realized one or both of us might not be around next year this time," James said, holding up one hand. "I know. You're going to fix it, but he's right, too."
"Yeah, well." Billy let out his breath through his cheeks. "Only because you both lead dangerous lifestyles."
"Mmhmm." He scrunched up his nose. "That's the most he's ever said to me."
"Yeah, well, if it helps, Tommy's having a small crisis over our grandfather wanting to be proud of him so you can probably commiserate."
"He doesn't get a choice in that," James said. "He's already proud. Can't stop it."
"Yeah, well, apparently, you don't get a choice in your grandfather suddenly caring, so…"
"No," James said, shaking his head. "But yours always cared - he was just a doofus about showing it."
"Pretty sure yours was the same."
"Yeah, well … yours grew up when happiness and good vibes were rationed."
"Yours got kidnapped by slavers and watched his wife get gutted."
James finally opened his eyes to give Billy a dry look. "Like that's not a common thing?"
"For us? Apparently," Billy said, rolling his eyes. "C'mon, let's go to bed. We can just cuddle if you don't think you'll get to sleep, but… c'mon."
"I don't know," James said. "Might have you wish my cuff back. I left it back there and it at least monitors?"
"Got it," Billy said, and one whispered spell later, it was back on his wrist.
They were just getting comfortable, when James seemed to sober up a little bit more. "If I keep dying on you … I'm going to need to sleep alone. I don't want you to wake up to that if I can't come back from it."
"We can circle back to that idea," Billy said. "Cuddles first."
"Alright, I'm just saying it now because I'm exhausted or something."
"Sure, handsome," Billy said and nudged his shoulder. "I get it, but also, I need as much time with you as I can get, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," James agreed, curling in a little tighter.
Billy sighed and wished them the rest of the way to their room, where he immediately curled up with James, both of them tired enough that it wasn't long before James was drifting off to sleep anyway.
Billy was tired, but his mind was still going too fast to rest. It wasn't a problem at the moment though to snuggle up. It was comforting to curl up with James - and the alcohol had done enough that James was relaxed - and that was something Billy just hadn't seen in too long.
He had rested his head on James's chest, half curled around him - using him as a teddy bear-pillow when James had passed out fully. Billy was starting to drift a little himself , too.
Until he heard James go far too still. There was an odd flatness to the sound of the air leaving in a breath when James didn't inhale again. A second later, the reassuring thump under Billy's ear simply stilled and with a jolt, Billy sat up fast.
By the time Billy had gotten started on trying to restart him, the alarm on the cuff went off. It was only seconds, but enough that Billy could see how that could be a problem - seconds mattered.
As luck would have it, Billy's quick response worked - but it didn't miss his notice that it was certainly getting a little harder every time.
He could feel frustrated tears at the edges of his eyes, and he swore under his breath, wiping his eyes. Selfishly, he was grateful that James had slept through it. He was still breathing, still sleeping, and even turned a bit in his sleep, unconsciously moving toward Billy when Billy moved. But mostly, he was selfishly grateful that James couldn't see that he was crying.
This sucked. They needed to fix it now before all of this ended up meaning nothing at all.
