The second he had pulled up the long driveway and parked his motorcycle in front of the mansion all of his senses had honed in on Ororo’s scent. It was a scent that had sustained since leaving her, and he followed it as if enchanted, completely ignoring the few students who had spotted him and called out a greeting. His nose hadn’t steered him inside the mansion but along the side, around the back, and finally to one of the gardens. The garden that Ororo had planted herself and tended to personally.
The second he spotted her standing with her back to him so beautiful and regal in her short Summer dress and straw hat, Logan released a strangled cry of joy. Her focus was on the flower she held in her hand which she held out to their daughter who also stood facing away from him. Keira wore denim overalls and a little straw hat of her own with her white curls spilling out beneath it. Seeing his daughter, who just a few days prior he wasn’t even sure he’d ever see again, pulled the tears from his eyes. Then Logan stood in awe watching as his child turned her head to the side, lifted it, and sniffed. She then quickly snapped her head to where he stood several yards from her and her mother.
“Daddy, Daddy!” Keira screamed out just as she took off in a full-on sprint to her father, who smiled as he took steady strides to meet her. Ororo remained where she stood as if transfixed. She was too afraid to turn around for fear that Keira was mistaken and Logan had not really returned home to them. But then she heard his unmistakable voice.
“Hey Pum’kin,” He spoke out as he grasped his child up into his arms and hugged her snuggly. Ororo clamped her right hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut as she quietly sobbed and thank the Goddess for answering her prayer.
“Daddy, you came back,” Keira said excitedly through her giggles as her father nuzzled and repeatedly kisses her cheek, which made his bread tickle her. Logan finally pulled back and regarded her.
“I toldja I was coming back, didn’t I?” She nodded in reply.
“But you were gone so long I thought you forgot,” She spoke this in a hushed tone with a small pout.
“Ferget you and yer momma, never,” Logan proclaimed and allowed his eyes to shift from his daughter to where his wife now stood just a couple of feet from them with a tear-streaked face and a trembling smile on her lips. “Oh God, ’Ro,” He gasped out as he looked at her in complete astonishment. The smile that had just been on his face fell away and his mouth gaped a little. He was completely at a loss for words as his eyes locked on her very swollen belly.
“Welcome home, Logan,” Ororo finally spoke to him as she lovingly placed her hands upon her belly and their child within. Logan could find no words only anger as he silently cursed himself for leaving her with a kid in her womb. Keira instantly picked up on her father’s anger and pressed her face against his neck to hide.
“I’m so sorry ‘Ro, I-” His words were silenced when Ororo closed the distance between them and placed her hand over his mouth.
“No, my love, do not apologize,” She said with a sweet smile as she removed her hand from his mouth and placed it back upon her belly. “Not for such a wonderful blessing. Besides he was conceived the night that you left, so you could not have known.”
“He?” Logan repeated as he instinctively reached out his free hand and placed it upon the swell and lifted his tear-filled eyes from her belly up to her eyes. She smiled wider at him as she nodded her head.
“Yes, David Charles Howlett, I hope you do not mind that I have already picked out a name for him.”
“Ya named him after yer two fathers, I don’t mind that at all, darlin,” Logan replied and she breathed a sigh of relief. “I just wish I could have been here fer ya.”
“You had a mission to complete, remember?” Ororo stated. “And did you?”
“Yeah, baby, I did and I made sure that problem will never, ever bother us again.”
“Good, now, may I have some of those kisses you were giving Keira a moment ago?” She asked teasingly and this made Keira quickly lift her head and frown a little as she shifted her eyes between her mother and father. Whenever her parents would start kissing or as she referred to it getting ‘yucky’ she never wanted to stick around and watch them.
“Are you gonna be yucky?” Keira asked and both of her parents laughed a little not only at her words but the very cute frown marring her face.
“Yep, we’re gonna be very, very yucky,” Logan affirmed and then swooped in and kissed his daughter’s cheek before he settled her back onto the ground.
“Your Auntie Jean is just over there on the patio, and she knows you are coming. So, you go straight to her, okay?”
“Okay,” Keira nodded and then looked back up to her father. “You’re not gonna go away again are you daddy?”
“No, pum’kin, daddy’s never gonna go away from ya again.
“Yay!” She exclaimed as she beamed brightly up at him, and it was then that he noticed one of her bottom teeth was missing.
“I see someone got a visit from the tooth fairy,” Logan said as he flicked his thumb across Keira’s chin. She nodded her head vigorously as she broadened her smile to give him a better look.
“Yup, but this time I only got a quarter instead of a dollar,” She said with a tsk.
“Keira Marie Howlett, you should be grateful for whatever you got,” Ororo chastised a little miffed at the fact that once again Logan managed to come out as the ‘favorite’ parent even when Keira was not even aware she was doing it.
“I’ll have a talk with the tooth fairy and get ya yer change,” Logan promised as he tossed her a wink and Keira smiled in satisfaction and then turned and skipped away to find her Aunt Jean.
“Will you ever grow out of spoiling her?”
“Unlikely,” Logan answered as he grasped her about her expanded waist and tugged her belly right against his, and at that moment their son decided to kick and invoked a giggle from his mother and a chuckle from his father. “Sorry, kiddo, but yer daddy’s back home so yer gonna have ta share her momma now.”
“Is Sabretooth really gone and you are home for good?”
“Yeah, darlin,” He stated and she smiled and then gripped her hands into his leather jacket and yanked him into a deep kiss. He snaked his arms around her and pull her as close as the child between them would allow. After a few heated moments, they pulled from the kiss and Ororo leaned back to study him, she then reached up her right hand and scratched at his beard and then combed her fingers through his shoulder-length hair.
“This shall take some getting used to,” She said with a smile.
“Naw it won’t, as soon as I can get upstairs ta shower it’ll all be gone,” He chuckled and she giggled a long but quickly her smile faltered and she let out a slight sob. Before Logan could question what was wrong Ororo spoke out again.
“Do not ever leave us like that again Logan, please … never do that again.”
“Never again, ‘Ro. I’m home fer good and there’s nowhere else I ever wanna be.”
