Chapter 15: "Akihiro Cares"
It was never too hard to find Leslie Ann. She was almost always in the garden or greenhouse tending to the flowers — and if she wasn't there, then she was with David, either in the Danger Room or curled up with him somewhere hidden away.
Luckily for Jana, it was the former that morning: her friend was in the greenhouse looking over her little domain like the nature witch she was. Thor's empathic flower had migrated to Westchester by that point and had a place of honor, and Jana couldn't help but make her way over to the vibrant blue plant. It really was so cool.
"Everyone always finds Thor's plant first," Leslie Ann said with a grin when she saw where Jana's attention was.
"Well, yeah, it's big and blue and not very subtle," Jana pointed out. "Kinda draws the eyes."
"Matches you," Leslie Ann teased, tipping her head towards Jana's hair, which she'd just recently re-colored.
"In color, yeah," Jana said with a little nod. "But I like to think I'm not that much of an eyesore," she couldn't help but tease, just to get Leslie Ann to roll her eyes.
Leslie Ann shook her head as she finished tending the rare and more delicate flowers in that section of greenhouse and then made her way over to Jana to peel off her work gloves and give her friend a hug. "Did you come here to make fun of my Asgardian flower? Because if you did, I'm going to kick you out."
Jana smirked and shook her head. "No, just haven't seen you much outside of team practice and wanted to make sure you hadn't dropped off the face of the planet or joined the baby brigade or something," she teased. "I know you can't have kids, but if you and David want to adopt…"
"There's plenty of little kids to play with if you're that desperate," Leslie Ann teased right back. "I know for a fact that Matthew will fight you if you say the word 'fight' around him, so…" She shooed her friend playfully with both hands.
Jana shook her head at that. "It's such an easy tease, though," she pointed out. "Even Cody has a little one on the way now…"
Leslie Ann raised an eyebrow Jana's way. "Does it bother you?" she asked.
"No," Jana said, then reconsidered. "A little. I… know that Sinister wanted to make sure he had a 'good' match when he grew up, and…"
"What does that matter?" Leslie Ann interrupted her. "You haven't been Sinister in a while now. He's out."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't remember it," Jana said, leaning against one of the dividers with a frown. "It's not like it goes away."
Leslie Ann frowned as she came to stand beside her friend and bumped shoulders with her. "I heard about what happened with the weapons group."
"Yeah …. That's … I didn't come down to talk about that," Jana said.
"No, but it's obviously bothering you," Leslie Ann pointed out. "And I don't want my best friend to be moping."
"Since when did you pick up psychiatry?"
Leslie Ann rolled her eyes at that. "I don't need to be an empath or a psychiatrist to know you're down on yourself when I've known you since we were kids, but the fact that you're making Thor's flower droop in sympathy is also a pretty solid giveaway," she pointed out, gesturing to where the flower was, in fact, looking a little less vibrant.
"I don't know that I like your weird alien flower," Jana said, crossing her arms.
"You're just saying that because she busted you," Leslie Ann said with a smirk, reaching over to stroke the blue petals.
"She? Does she have a name?"
"No, but it seems like a she, doesn't it?" Leslie Ann said. "And there's enough personality that it just doesn't feel right calling her a 'flower' or 'it' or… whatever."
"Okay, sure," she replied, then bit her lip and leaned against the wall. "I just … kind of lost it. I guess. And I'm still coming down from that terror."
"I don't really blame you," Leslie Ann admitted. "If it had been me and someone forced me to, like, drain someone's life or something, I'd be freaking out too. You're allowed."
"Sure, but it didn't really … I mean. I did, though. You wouldn't drain someone."
Leslie Ann shook her head. "It's not a perfect parallel. I mean, you were trying to save his life, too. I know Uncle Scott told you Gerry felt the same way… He didn't even know if he could take the Hippocratic Oath, you know? But I don't think it counts as your choice if it was the only non-lethal option… if that… makes sense," she said, ending with one eye half closed as she winced, not sure her message was getting through. "I mean... I mean, you still have every right to totally freak, because that couldn't have been fun at all, but … yeah."
"But I didn't really lose it until later … and I guess that's the thing."
"You mean after Remy stopped helping you stay calm?" Leslie Ann asked.
"No. I mean after Akihiro stopped," she said. "I didn't realize that he was doing that much."
"Huh." Leslie Ann tipped her head to the side as she watched Jana. "That… huh." She brushed some of the dirt off of her hands and arms as she tried to figure out how she felt about that before she let out a breath. "I mean… that's what he should do, yeah? Help you out… be a good boyfriend... "
"Yeah, but he doesn't do that kind of thing."
"Yeah, I'll be honest: I'm pretty surprised too," Leslie Ann said. "What… kind of weird animal magnetism powers…?"
"Oh. my. God. no." Jana shook her head hard. "No."
Leslie Ann couldn't help but smile at her friend. "Okay, okay. But still. That's new for him, isn't it? That's got to be a good thing… right?"
"It is, as far as I know. New, that is. I don't know … I don't know why he'd do that?" She stopped and turned Leslie Ann's way entirely. "I don't even know how the heck he knew where to find me."
"Well, it's not like he came over and told the team what he did, but, I mean, he is related to the best tracker in the world," Leslie Ann pointed out reasonably.
Jana shook her head. "You don't really see what I'm saying here. No one here even knew I was gone."
Leslie Ann crossed her arms as she watched her friend. "Then… I guess… the only explanation is that he went looking because he was … worried?" she offered, though her voice went up in pitch at that last word because she did know Akihiro's reputation and was having a hard time reconciling things in her head.
Jana pointed to her with one finger. "That is exactly the internal reaction I'm having."
Leslie Ann nodded. "I can't blame you," she said seriously. "I don't… huh. I mean… I guess the right best friend reaction here is to be excited for you, right? Because you've got a guy who cares? I think?" She shook her head. "I don't know, Jana. There's no handbook for how to deal with your best friend dating Logan's bad copy?"
"That is an unfair assessment."
Despite herself, Leslie Ann couldn't help but grin. "Aww, you're protective of him," she had to laugh.
"Shut. Up."
"What's wrong with being happy that you're in a good relationship for you?" Leslie Ann asked. "I'd say it's about time!"
"I don't know if that's what this is," Jana said before she slid to the ground against the wall and sat cross-legged.
Leslie Ann came to sit down next to her with a little smile. "Well, do you need to have a name for it?" she asked slowly.
"I don't think so, no," she said quickly.
"Then, I think…" Leslie Ann watched her friend carefully. "You both have plenty of time to figure it out. And it sounds to me like you're protective, he's protective… that's a good start to at least being serious." She held up both hands. "You don't have to call it that. And I know you don't want to scare him off because I know about the flighty thing. I just… it sounds like a good thing. To me."
"Can we maybe … do something that doesn't involve talking about guys?" Jana said, one eye closed.
Leslie Ann nodded. "I've got some saplings that need tending. Want to help?"
"Sure; why not," Jana agreed. "I mean … I'll just, what … follow you? Or should I walk ahead and let your subjects know that the queen of the greenery is coming to bless them?"
Leslie Ann laughed outright at that. "See, now I want to see your page boy impression…."
"My liege."
Leslie Ann just laughed harder. "Yes. Prepare my subjects for my arrival. Chop chop!" she said, clapping her hands together and laughing.
Voices erupted into the hall as the door to Logan's office opened up — and a moment or two later, not only Logan but K and Akihiro stepped out, speaking quietly between them, though they all looked like they were in agreement with everything but the finest details. They stopped a few doors down from the office, and then, the couple headed toward Scott's office, leaving Akihiro to his own devices while he waited for them to return. Which meant … tea.
He made his way to the kitchen and started up some water, almost humming to himself the little old tune that was stuck in his head — but not loud enough for anyone but those with advanced hearing to catch, of course.
He was mixing up the matcha when Leslie Ann and Jana turned the corner, though he didn't try to draw their attention to him as he watched them in his peripheral vision. The two of them were joking around as always when they got together, this time something about royalty, for some reason.
Jana looked up when she realized that he was sitting there with his tea, paused for a moment, and then smiled lightly. "I didn't know you were here," she said.
"On my way out," he replied before he lifted the cup to his lips.
Jana frowned. "Oh?"
He tipped his head to the side. "Little outing with my stepmother, it turns out."
"Ah, got it," Jana said, nodding her understanding. "Don't be nice — not that I have to tell you that with these guys," she added with a smirk.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Akihiro replied with a smug sort of smile.
"Uh-huh." Jana nodded and then leaned over to steal a kiss. "Okay, well, have fun with K, then."
"I'm sure 'fun' won't be on the itinerary." He got to his feet when he heard his father talking with Scott on their way down the hall toward them. "Try not to get kidnapped while I'm gone. At least not without some means to get assistance."
Which really just left Jana staring after him, her lips slightly parted before she had to shake her head in pure disbelief. Sometimes, she just didn't know what to do with him — especially not when he was in such a good mood and even smiled at Scott before he and K headed out.
"I'll be in the War Room," Logan said, turning on his heel to head off and keep as close of an eye on things as he was able to.
K and Akihiro kept to themselves to begin with. Both of them had the black-clad uniforms with no identifying features. They were using a craft that had no ties to any group of record … and outside of the extremely well secured line that James had established for them, they were going in dark.
"You can take orders if you need to, right?" K asked as they started in for a final approach to Estonia.
"I suppose if I must," Akihiro replied, though that only had K smirking to herself as they headed for their rendezvous point.
"I'll see you in a few days, snuggles," K said before she made a point of popping up to kiss his cheek. "Try not to lose track of too much time." When she left the craft, she nearly disappeared into the nearby forest before Akihiro could finish putting in the code for the craft to cloak — and then, he headed the opposite direction.
It was fairly simple in theory. She was going to go in first — since she knew the facility better — and place the satellite-guided targets that James had developed on all of the most dangerous bits of equipment and data storage. Akihiro was to find the best route for the test subjects to flee — and make some friends that would give the subjects safe passage. A task that he was well-equipped for, considering that he planned to just twist their opinion of him anyhow.
He had no idea how the mission had run for K until he met up with her via radio:
"I'm fine, the targets are all marked, just waiting for the signal to connect …"
"And the explosions to start," Akihiro finished with a smirk. "The path is clear. There are three dozen well-hidden places that are simply dying to do me a favor, so whenever you're ready …"
"Already sent the signal out. I'll meet you in the southeast corner of the building. Might … maybe need a distraction if they're antsy."
He smirked to himself, then turned off the mic. "What are the chances," he said to himself, proceeding more cautiously when he knew that she'd ticked someone off. Akihiro had made it to the forest nearest the section K had mentioned when he heard gunfire, though when he concentrated and settled in to see where it was coming from, it was clear that they had no idea where she was. They were firing wildly — there was no sense.
He cautiously made his way forward until he got to where he saw the little door high above the jungle floor. He watched for a long moment before he saw a tiny black figure slip out and then slide down on a rope that he simply couldn't see … even with his eyesight.
Daken shook his head slowly as he watched his stepmother work her way down and out, impressed with her sense of timing as she let terrified battalions pass below her without panicking in the least. She even managed to avoid the ones that were trying to sneak by her. And once she hit the ground, she was on a smooth, quick path to get out.
Of course, black was easy to spot with all the white stone around the compound, and she was barely to the fenceline when the alarm was raised — and the gunfire did end up going the right direction.
Akihiro frowned watching as K rushed for the trees. The wind was in his favor. Had they hit their mark, he would have smelled the blood, though with that many firing her way, it was just a matter of time. Thunder was rolling overhead, and a storm was imminent, but Daken was suddenly torn between the job he'd signed up for — which was moving test subjects — and the need to make sure that his stepmother was secured. Like he had sworn to his father he'd do.
With a growl, he found cover as the shrill whistle of incoming missiles reached his ears. James's weapons system was working perfectly; the research department had already lost its subjects when the first missile hit, obliterating the armory attached to the complex.
He rushed to the escaping testing subjects and quickly told them which way to go — and what the code words were to find shelter — promising to follow up on them as the ammo dump into the forest intensified where K had disappeared. These locals knew the jungle well enough to know where to go and how to hide; they'd know the shortcuts that Akihiro hadn't yet found. But K was obviously scrambling. And once they pulled out the dogs, that'd be it.
Akihiro went high above the search party that was hung up on a small patch of leaves with a clear splatter of blood that had no other trail around it indicating where K might have gone. To make their tracking harder, the rain had started to fall and would obliterate any blood trail they were relying on. But the scent trail … that would rise up on the air currents just enough that Akihiro thought he could track it.
He knew her scent well enough that he didn't need the starting point — but he nearly stumbled all the same when the wind picked up just a touch and carried her scent to him. He froze, looking down into the deep green, desperately searching for a spot of darker, flat black in the shadows. He looked at the trails in the greenery and then started running through the branches as best he could, circling out until he found a bit of her scent trail — and then headed down it as fast as he was able.
When he caught up to her, she had managed to get the bleeding stopped, of course, and the bloodied bit of garment was shoved into a bag as she took cover under some overly large bushes, watching the soldiers half a click over looking for her.
Akihiro was scowling at her as he dropped down next to her — unable to stop himself. "Where were you hit?" he said, unbelievably quiet.
"Don't worry about it," K said, scrunching her nose up a bit, though that wasn't stopping him from pushing her back to look her over, more upset when he saw it was a spot just below her ribcage.
"Did it ricochet?"
"Since when do you care?" K asked, though when she pushed back at him to get a little space, he absolutely wasn't letting her move enough to do so.
Before he could argue with her, the soldiers began to shout, and again, the two of them fell silent. It was only a few more minutes before the rain began to intensify, though when it did, that was their cue to move. Akihiro pushed her ahead of him, sure to keep one hand on her arm. K kept looking over her shoulder at him, and he refused to elaborate on anything. Especially when a bullet whizzed by them, and he reacted by pulling her tight and then dropping to the ground to cover her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" K demanded through gritted teeth.
"Just shut up and let me help." He stayed like that, wrapped around her until another peal of thunder cracked through the air, and when the lightning lit up the area, he got up and pulled her up, only to toss her over his shoulders and make a break for it before the shooters got their vision back. "I'm not in the mood to talk with a walking lighting rod," he halfway snarled at her, still quietly fuming all the way out of there.
It wasn't until they were in the jet — and K was openly gawking at his bizarre behavior — that he honestly lost it.
"Really? Adamantium skeleton in this weather and you … you're drawing in fire too?" He threw his hands in the air, and K looked insulted for half a second — before she outright punched him in the mouth.
"You are certifiable, you know that?" she said as he snarled at her for the hit. "One minute you're fine — and the next, I'm wondering why I didn't just bring someone else. Anyone. Else."
"It wasn't an issue before now," Akihiro snapped.
"Then what is the problem now?"
"Just the fact that you're pregnant!" He was shouting by that point.
K had already opened her mouth to retort, except when he shouted that … she seemed to lose her fire and instead sat there while Akihiro continued to yell about how this was a horrible idea, considering her condition.
She sat back, her hands folded over her knees as she let him get it all out of her system. "I didn't know…"
"Of course you didn't," he snapped again. "If you'd known, my father would have never let you leave the house. Not for this."
"Then … I'm glad I was with you," she said after a long stretch while the engines warmed up. "And you can even keep it in mind that you knew before him."
Akihiro huffed out a breath, letting his anger ebb slightly as he thought it over. "You shouldn't have gone if you were trying."
"We weren't," K said shortly. But that seemed to get a smirk out of him.
"I get to tell my father," he said. "And I hope it's a boy."
"I will drop your sorry ass in a volcano …"
Akihiro smiled outright at that as they finally took off, though the rest of the flight was mostly silent … save for the occasional threat one way or the other. "I take it back," he said finally, just as they were landing. "I don't want to tell him."
"Why is that?" K asked, frowning his way, though Akihiro was smiling crookedly and clearly entertained.
"Because all it's going to take is one whiff of you — half obscured with gunpowder and your own blood on top of that scent — and he's going to lose his cool entirely."
K narrowed her eyes at him. "If I find out that this was some scam on your part … that you said that just to get me to stop hitting you …"
"It wasn't, and even if it was, you won't," he said as they landed the jet.
For a long moment, K sat there in the jet with Akihiro watching her, neither of them moving. "You know, if you stay here, he'll come in to find you — and then it'll be more concentrated. Small space .." He stopped talking when she cracked him in the mouth again, this time breaking a few of the bones around his nose and cracking the spot between his nose and teeth.
"Shut up," she said with a growl — but he only started to chuckle.
"Mood swings. Got it. Early symptom."
"Oh … just …. Shut up, or I'll give you an early symptom that'll keep you from walking straight for the next six months." K was clearly not entertained — and Akihiro was having the time of his life, outright grinning as he followed her by a few paces, almost skipping along after her.
To K's supreme irritation, Akihiro was, of course, right. Not that it was a shock, all things considered. Logan went into total protect mode the moment he saw her — particularly since, as she'd said, they weren't planning on anything of the sort. So it was a shock to both of them. What was more of a shock, though, was the simple fact that Akihiro seemed to have all but moved in by the time the weekend rolled around, and he'd made it a point to stick close to her, even taking care of getting the coffee just right. Of course, that was a move that had half of the teachers in shock, since no one had quite figured out how K and Logan made the coffee just so. But Akihiro had managed without a bit of coaching.
He had made it a habit to take the seat across from K during coffee, regardless of who sat next to him, and he was honestly enjoying his own version of irritating her. Even if, to anyone that didn't know him, it would have looked exactly like him being a wonderful son.
But it was still early. Early enough that neither K nor Logan had any plans to tell a soul for a while yet — which only raised more suspicions about why Akihiro was sticking around.
And things stayed that way until a few days later, when the rest of his brothers and sisters were gathered up on Sunday morning, enjoying their usual, quiet family breakfast that was a staple on the weekends. Akihiro was smirking to himself, waiting and watching that everyone was well involved in their meals before he simply dropped the bomb on everyone.
"So when, exactly, does the betting pool start up on date and sex?" he said. "Because I'd like to make a wager."
Logan and K both simply stopped and stared at him, not reacting beyond a simple, disbelieving glare. Jana looked like she couldn't decide whether to believe Daken as she twisted where she was sitting beside him to look at K better; Chance looked thrilled, of course; Sadie and Malin both simply looked surprised, though Howard wasn't far behind Chance… and John and Lily both seemed to consider it before grinning and nodding to each other and whispering about their new brother or sister and how they'd have more family to play with.
The oldest of the feral kids seemed to give Akihiro the same sort of look Logan and K had … since they knew, and they knew that it wasn't his place to say a word, too.
"Well, congratulations," Howard said — not as well-versed in the quiet conversations going on around him to know that it hadn't been something Logan and K were ready for. "That's great!"
"It's still very early," Sadie told him quietly. "Akihiro is just … excited apparently."
"Well, I mean, it's good news," Howard said with a small smile and a shrug. "Did you know?"
"Thanks, Howard," K said finally as Sadie shrugged lightly.
"I haven't been around the house much lately, so no," Sadie told him.
"Well, I'm putting our names forward for babysitting," Howard said with a smile. "I've got a great setup off of my office; Maria loves it."
"And, hey, that's a great birthday present, Dad," Chance said with a small smirk.
Logan ran his hand over his face and let out a little breath. "Not … really what's going on here."
Malin slipped over to kiss her dad's cheek. "That's alright. Congrats anyway," she said, though as she passed Akihiro, one of the knives that Clint had given her somehow got into his shoulder — though she acted like nothing at all had happened.
"It's not my fault I figured it out first," Akihiro said, though he was grinning in spite of Malin's little jab.
"Just didn't figure you for the baby face crowd," Malin sang out. "Jana, you should run. Far. Far away."
"Oh, I'm more about the baby discovery," Akihiro said. "The look on her face was golden. Our father more so." He started to chuckle. "Now all I need is to find out it's a boy too …"
"And … then you can die. Happy," K said with a tight smile.
"Are you guys hoping for one or the other?" Howard asked, genuinely curious — and not in on the jokes that Akihiro had been throwing around.
"They've been hoping for a girl for the last two," James said quietly. "Akihiro is being an ass."
Howard frowned at that, looking between Akihiro's smug look and his in-laws before he nodded. "Well, Akihiro, what's your ante? I'll match it for a girl," he said.
"You don't have to do that, Howard," K said.
Howard shook his head. "No, come on. I'm good for it. And it'll be really satisfying when I'm right," he said, tipping his chin up. "Gotta trust Sadie's parents and karma."
Sadie kissed his cheek. "We'll figure it out later. We're the only ones that know — unless my brother's been spreading it around already. He's just … going for shock factor."
"If he has been, I could use a new target," Chance said, perfectly straightfaced.
"Right, for the new guns," James agreed. "Gotta have a heat signature of a certain mass to fire on."
Chance grinned James' way. "Exactly. And, you know, I'll want to test it thoroughly before I'm comfortable with it…"
"Naturally," James agreed before he looked up at Howard. "Um … maybe … you can look at them later. Maybe. They might be coded to zap anyone but Chance and myself …"
"I can look at the specs instead of holding it," Howard pointed out.
He shook his head at that. "Nope. Not those."
"Sorry, Howard," Chance said with a crooked smile. "Been working on these since I was barely old enough to shoot."
"And it's on my time," James said with a troublemaking look that made it clear that there was a lot of fun stuff that Howard had no idea about.
Howard frowned James' way. "Oh come on."
"It's literally on a server that will turn off if anyone with Stark DNA enters the room," James said. "It's completely racist. Or something."
"Oh, I see. So you just hate me," Howard said, rolling his eyes, though he clearly didn't mean it. "Rude."
"You need a kiss?" James teased. "Sadie … do me a favor …"
Sadie didn't wait for any more prompting before she simply spun Howard to face her and kissed the sense out of him. "That good?" she asked when the kiss ended, and Howard took a moment to blink as James shrugged and tipped his hand with a little 'meh'.
But that just got Howard to smile crookedly as he caught up and wrapped an arm around Sadie's waist. "I think you need to step up your game, babe," he teased.
"To be fair," Sadie said, poking one finger in the center of his chest. "That was supposed to be from my brother — and I have no idea how he kisses. And I never will. So. There you have it."
Howard smirked and leaned forward. "Well, what about one from you?"
"After breakfast," she said, snuggling in as the entire family was more or less doing their own version of exactly this same behavior.
Howard had to grin a little wider when he realized that he wasn't getting the usual looks of "this is what happens when my daughter marries a Stark" that Logan had going on… or the rest of them, really. And considering how he'd been on his best behavior since Logan had almost murdered him, it was a bit of a shock.
James and Kari had been quietly watching Howard have his revelation, and it was clear that the guy had no idea how to handle it. Especially considering that he could never have gotten away with that around his own parents and not heard some kind of response. "Hey, Chance — you don't mind if I code Howard into that gun, do you? He might have a few thoughts on how to streamline something … that or he might realize I don't need him looking at my homework …"
Chance had to chuckle at that. "Hey, he's part of the family now. I'm alright with my brother-in-law being keyed in."
"Might want to clue him in to the other unspoken agreement of the kids," James said, though only Elin nodded at that — which meant it was something that they had decided on together.
"El?" Chance said with one eyebrow raised.
"Um … I'll explain later," she said, frowning slightly as she nodded. "Unless you want to just listen in. It's solid."
Chance shrugged at that and then waved Howard over. "Might as well."
James got to his feet — though he stole a quick kiss from Kari and made a point to screw up Lily's hair on his way past her, already explaining to Howard what the story was with the guns as he tinkered to add in another profile. Of course, Howard was a little wrapped up in listening to the tech to understand exactly where they were in the process until James stabbed the end of Howard's finger for a blood sample, and a few moments later, he handed over the gun. "Try not to shoot your eye out. That … would be bad."
Howard looked surprised for a moment before he had to smirk. "Dad made sure I could work my way through weapons; don't worry," he promised.
James was smirking, though. "Yeah, but it's still one of those things that has to be said from time to time. Especially with unconventional weaponry."
Howard nodded at that before he tried the gun out for himself, a bit surprised at the power behind it but grinning all the same, especially since, the longer he had it in his hands, the more he could see the good work James had put into it. "That's a thing of beauty, James," he said as he handed it back.
"I do try," James said, smirking crookedly. "You know. Seein' as it's kind of my job. Sorta. Sometimes."
Howard snorted out a laugh at that. "Yeah, yeah."
"Yeah, well, you're part of the family, so might as well key you in. And let you in on family agreements," Chance said, giving James and Elin a pointed look, since he still wanted in on the other secret.
James and Howard turned Chance's way and leaned on each other, nodding in unison as they muttered 'oh yeah. Family.' a few times just to get Chance to complain until Howard tapped James' arm. "No really."
"It's simple and stupid," James said. "But it's to save us creep factor, okay? Long time ago, Elin and I figured out that this … this little sibling thing wasn't going to stop for ...well. Who knows how long. So we decided that we'd educate the littler ones and stick to our own rule. If Mom and Dad are expecting, there is no way. In hell. That any of us should even consider it until that noise is over."
"Oh… yeah, that would be weird," Howard said, nodding slowly.
"Exactly," James said. "Doesn't really seem like it, I'm sure, from the outside, but … no."
"It's a solid rule. Sadie needed Mom around when she was going through it," Howard pointed out.
James was nodding. "And it would be hard for the girls to have that support when Mom is sicker than hell on her own and barely keeping her head above water."
Chance was nodding slowly as he leaned over to kiss Elin's temple. "This… explains the timing on your green light," he whispered with a smirk.
"I mean … I thought you would have figured it out on your own … conniving little Summers that you are," Elin said.
"I didn't realize it was an actual agreement," Chance said. "Just a personal choice."
"Can you imagine, though?" Elin said. "And it is a personal choice. That James and I have decided to enforce on everyone."
Chance chuckled at that. "And they'll thank you for it."
"Believe it or not," Elin said, "they try to avoid crossing time too. Which … makes me wonder if they're irritated who they thought was next up."
"Who d'you think, though?" Chance said. "I mean, Howard's still dancing on Cloud Nine with Maria, and I don't think James is looking for an elfling."
Elin shook her head at that, and James held up both hands. "No," he said — not expanding on it further.
"I think you're looking the wrong way," Elin replied, pointedly ignoring her brother. "We have older siblings too. They may not be around as much, but … I know that both of them would get up and travel to wherever they were if they were ready to have a little one."
"Yeah, but not Laura," James said, shaking his head.
"Gabby's got her big, blonde Swede," Chance said, nodding slowly. "And she is baby crazy."
"Don't skip over Spoiler McBabyface up there," James pointed out. "There is no reason at all for him to be invested unless he's got it on his mind." He shivered for a moment. "Ugh. Tiny Dakens … with their itty bitty mohawks."
Howard made a terrible face. "I can't… make my mind… think that."
"Angriest toddlers on the planet …." James continued.
"That…" Elin said, holding up one hand. "Or they're the sweetest secret snugglers in the Western Hemisphere."
"I dunno. Jana doesn't strike me that way…" Chance said.
Both Elin and James did their best to hold back a snerk — but the stereo effect was too much for anyone to miss. "Okay, sure."
"So, Gabby or Akihiro," Howard put in. "I'm gonna have to go with Gabby, since, you know, Chance is right about the baby crazy."
"You want to see Gabby with a blonde baby," James said.
"She'll be hilarious." Howard laughed outright. "Can't you see it? Bouncing around shoving her baby at people. 'Look what I made! She is the Best Ever!'"
"As opposed to Akihiro … 'don't look at this child until he's been proven worthy!'" Elin laughed.
"Worthy of what, no one knows!" James added before the two of them were snickering between themselves. "But until then … he won't be claimed!"
"We like to get both ends of the spectrum in our family," Chance laughed. "Just get the whole gamut."
"You love it," Elin said.
"Oh yeah," Chance said without hesitating.
"Alright … well, since we're all so family-centric here … why can't I look at the plans on this thing?" Howard had to ask, not at all expecting it when James looked over at him with an open shrug.
"Most of what's on that server is from Noh," he said. "You're not ready for it."
Howard's eyebrows shot up before he seemed to think about it and let out a breath. "Yeah… alright."
"I promise: when the time comes, I'll clue you in," James said. "But I'm still gathering what he wants to teach me. It's an entirely different branch of physics, really."
"You're killing me, James," Howard said. "That sounds amazing, and I can't touch it."
James didn't even bother to hide the smile. "It is. And I finally figured out how the stuff he has is so emotional. Not just that it is … but the reason behind it. And … why it doesn't go all … Ultron."
"Killing. Me."
"Well," he said, shrugging openly. "If you can figure it out — even a little — then I can teach you some of it. That's how Noh phrased it, anyhow." James shook his head slowly. "So friggin' cool …"
Howard gave James a look that said exactly how much he was dying over the obvious baiting before Chance just had to laugh at him, and the boys went back and forth in their relentless teasing all the way back to the rest of the group.
Despite all the teasing, though, this had been exactly what Howard had needed — something fun and downright silly to get his mind off of things for a while, something that was a little harder to do when the crowd dispersed to do their own things for the day.
Not that Howard didn't enjoy spending time with his girls. He did. More than anything else. But he spent all day with Maria, watching out for her and playing Mr. Mom in his office while Sadie pursued her ballet dream. And the two of them weren't quite… loud enough to drown out his thoughts.
Which he usually appreciated. The problem was that he needed to be distracted, or he'd be thinking too much about his mom and the lab results he got back this morning.
"You are so off your game," Sadie said. "You totally missed Maria pulling on Malin's hair. She was trying to get her to get mad, but … it went too far. Maria had a whole handful of her hair. In her hand. Off. her head."
Howard winced at that. "Oh man. Sorry," he said quickly. "I definitely missed that."
She reached over to brush his hair out of his face. "You alright?"
Howard took a second to weigh out his answer, since he'd long ago learned it was way worse if he lied first, even to save face. "Well, I am. Sort of," he said at last before he frowned and then shook his head lightly. "Not… really. It's… can we go somewhere a little less central?" he asked, tipping his head toward the stairs that would lead to the room where they stayed on weekends.
"Sure," she said, already leading the way. "Malin has her sleeping now … so you know."
Howard nodded at that and took her hand, though he was already wondering where to even start as he closed the door behind him and then paced a small circle before sitting down in front of Sadie. "Mom's sick," he said at last. "Like… sick."
"What are you talking about?" she said, frowning and looking a bit panicked at the thought.
"She…" Howard sighed. "She asked me to get a test done, just to be sure I don't — and I don't have it, Sadie, so that's one thing in our favor, but—"
"Howard, what are you talking about?" Sadie said. "Seriously. I saw your mom earlier. She's fine."
"It's called relapsing-remitting MS," Howard explained quietly. "She's fine most of the time, it's just… that's why it took so long to even know she had it, because she's been fine for so long, just thought she was getting forgetful and old… but … yeah." He let his shoulders drop and ran his hands through his hair. "She told me yesterday."
She shook her head and made his way over to wrap him up in a hug. "I really don't understand all that, but … tell me what I can do to help."
"I don't know," Howard admitted. "I mean, you don't get sick, so that's good. We can't see her if me or Maria is sick, though, because a fever could… well… yeah." He dropped off.
"So … we'll have to make sure that if she starts having trouble that… well, I can help her. And I know James will too. I mean, she'll have to listen to him, but ... "
Howard nodded. "I'm going to be doing more at the company," he said. "More or less taking over what she's doing once she's comfortable enough to know I've got it."
"So, never," Sadie had to tease.
Howard couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah, she'll be in the office until she can't anymore," he agreed. "And… and she should be sticking around for a while anyway. This kind of thing… it could be years between attacks, and she's fine when she's not having one, so it's just… She just wanted me to check, because she didn't want me to be sick…"
"So, it's genetic, then," Sadie said, nodding. "Treatments? Anything?"
He nodded. "There's some medicine, but you don't really… cure it. You just manage it."
She took a moment to pull him a little tighter. "Is she okay?"
Howard nodded into her shoulder. "Yeah, she's okay," he said. "She's shaken up, but she's been making plans ever since she found out. You know how she is."
"Oh I'm sure," Sadie said. "But still … You know this side of the family is here to help, too. You just have to let them know what's going on."
"Yeah," Howard said with a slow nod. "I'm just… I don't know if Mom wants anyone treating her any different."
"Have you met my family?"
Howard couldn't help but smirk. "Right. Yeah. Sorry. That was completely off-track, huh?"
"They're equal opportunity and opportunistic, Howard. And you know it."
"I do. I'm just… also trying to … figure this out, Sadie," he admitted. "It's a lot to process."
"I know," she said before she gave him a kiss. "And maybe you can let us help you figure it out. Mom has some good coping mechanisms you might like." She tipped her head. "No. I know you'd like them."
Howard picked his head up to smile at her and kiss her a little better. "Have I ever told you how much I love you and your family?" he asked.
"No. Not a peep," she deadpanned. "Ever."
"Well, I do," Howard said before he wrapped her up and kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Sadie."