Epilogue: Alaska
My next thirty years
Will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here
In my next thirty years
~Tim McGraw
Henry, Denali National Park
Ten years later
Crouched in the open garage, inviting the warm summer breeze inside, a man known as Wolverine was working. He lovingly painted the wood only recently sanded to a silken finish. His dogs, Andine and Eliar, romped playfully in the river that butted up against the back of the house. He could hear the playful snarling and soothing sound of splashing water.
In the last several years, Wolverine had become someone that few would recognize. The wilds of Alaska had become his home, the one place in the world that he felt completely welcome.
He worked out of his garage, where all manner of tools could be found. Last summer Storm had insisted he organize his “Cave” so the entire space was clean, ordered. Logan found, over the years, that while he enjoyed construction and lovingly added on the additions to their home by hand, carpentry was where his heart lived.
Rockers, shelves, armoires, if someone could describe it, he could build it. Though several times over the last years, his friends tried to convince him to open a shop, he preferred working at home. He took jobs when he was bored or they needed some extra cash. Finally, Wolverine was on no one’s schedule but his own. Just a man with a wife in a house by a river.
Life just didn’t get any sweeter.
Or so he had thought seven years ago.
Dark eyes went from scowling in concentration to smiling merrily as the school bus stopped just up the road. Logan put his brush down on the paint can, taking a clean rag to wipe his hands off. At just past three in the afternoon, his children returned from their school in Fairbanks.
“Daddy!” Little Jean was a stunning girl of five with her mother’s snowy hair and bright blue eyes.
“Ah, there’s my baby,” he said when the little one leapt into his arms. He held her up to kiss her plump cheek. “Have a good day?”
“I drew you and Mama!” Though she reached into her backpack to retrieve the aforementioned drawing, Logan shook his head and placed her back on the ground.
As the school bus drove away, he noted that his sons were at it yet again. On a long-suffering sigh, he jogged over to the brawling duo, grabbing each by the belt. He hauled them both up, stretching his arms out so they would stop for a moment.
“What in the flamin’ heck are ya doin’?” He demanded of them in a fierce growl.
At once, two seven-year-old voices spoke, pointing to one another.
“He started it.”
Logan rolled his eyes heavenward. “Ya wanna wait til yer mama comes home?”
That warning halted any and all protests. He dropped both boys to their feet, shushing Jeannie’s girly giggles at her troublesome brothers. His sons were almost mirror images of him. Short for their ages, but strong. Dark hair, dark eyes, and lighter skin tone than their sister.
They were both so stubborn Logan often told Ororo he should have known better than to breed with her. That usually got him chased around the house with a water hose while he laughed himself to tears.
“Whatcha fightin’ bout?”
Silence.
In an eerie imitation of his wife, Logan crossed his arms over his chest and stared at them. No growling or threats were required, that was ‘Ro’s department. All Wolverine had to do was stare at his sons to get them confessing things they hadn’t even done yet.
“Well,” the elder by seven minutes, Henry, began. “I told him he was a stupid brother and I wanted a replacement.”
Ouch. Logan frowned. He didn’t like it when his children fought over such things, especially if their mother was around. Conceiving and getting their hands on these three proved difficult enough.
“Why don’t ya like Jimmy? He’s yer brother.”
Henry shrugged one thin shoulder. “Dunno.”
“Ok.” Logan exhaled slowly before turning to the younger twin. “Jim?”
The boy was looking at the ground. “I like him. He’s a good brother. He hurt my feelings though.”
That nearly brought Logan to tears. He sighed at them both, crouching in the drive and beckoning them closer. Ororo might excel at drying their daughter’s tears over a headless Barbie doll, but Logan alone knew how to diffuse his sons.
Ororo said, constantly, that only another bull could deal with those two without losing their mind.
“What’s Mama say to you three? Huh?” He looked from one to the other. “Every night ‘fore ya sleep, what’s she say?”
In unison, all three recited their mother’s words faithfully. “Just because we’re family doesn’t mean we can’t have bad days and not like each other. The important thing is to make up, cause family is forever.”
“That’s right,” Logan nodded, approving. “Now, both of ya go inta the back an’ talk while yer weedin’ Mama’s garden.”
His sons grumbled lowly, but he was able to pick up “Aw, man. Figures.” Both boys nodded their acceptance of this punishment. But the looks on their youthful, innocent faces made him melt. ‘Ro constantly got on his case for going too easy on the children. He couldn’t help himself.
So, he decided to give them incentive for making up.
“Got some X-geeks comin’ in from New York today. Don’t want yer mama groundin’ ya, right?”
Brilliant and beautiful twin smiles erupted on their faces. They quickly grabbed their bags, kissed their father on each of his bearded cheeks and bolted for the house. Fence mended. Those two would be thick as thieves again inside an hour.
“Now.” Logan slapped his thighs, standing to face his daughter, happy with the way he had handled his sons. “What’d my Jeannie-Bean wanna show me?”
“Mama’s gonna be mad,” she teased in a sing-song voice so like her mother’s Logan was momentarily afraid of her. “You know she don’t like it when you let the stinky boys get away with fighting.”
Logan stalked toward his daughter with a playful glare. “Weedin’ Mama’s garden ain’t enough?”
“Nope. I’m gonna tell!”
“Better run, tattler!” he snarled without any hint of malice. “I’m gonna get ya, baby girl!”
Jean squealed and ran, dropping her backpack onto the floor. Logan scooped it up as he chased his daughter through the yard, enjoying the way her carefree laughter bounced off of the surrounding mountains.
He caught her, as always, lifting her tiny body and tickling her until she begged for mercy. Then, with her riding on his shoulders, he headed back into the garage. Both boys were dutifully weeding the garden, chatting amicably as they worked.
Logan sent Jean into the house to change out of her school clothes, knowing the twins had already done so without prompting. The little girl would come back out in a few minutes, plop down on her father’s tool chest with a Popsicle and watch him work.
His life was neat and orderly, though the children kept him on his toes. He thought that giving up his adventures as an X-Man, becoming less nomadic was a small price to pay for all he had gained.
While he got back to painting his newest creation, waiting for Jeannie to come back, he thought on this. Though how he and Ororo had been thrust together was horrible, they had created a life together from the ashes of her kidnapping.
Just after Sinister’s demise, before they returned to the wild, he witnessed the destruction of the lab. With Ororo at his side, he insured any bio-material “ including that taken from him against his will “ was destroyed. He never wanted to wonder if someone had taken those hated samples and used them anyway.
They returned to Alaska and that same summer began what would be a year and a half of renovations to the house. They married that year, in a simple ceremony right here at the house they built together, surrounded by family.
The wanderlust his bride had thought would destroy them did quite the opposite. For the first three years of their marriage, she traveled with him every time he got restless. They traversed the expanse of Alaska and Canada side by side. It made them closer, able to share in anything.
After his last bout with nomadic urges, Ororo confessed that she wanted a child. Because of her infertility, they had stored the ova stolen from her in the Fairbanks Hospital with Doctor Tate. Logan agreed almost instantly.
A suitable surrogate mother was found, paid for her months as an incubator. The In Vitro Fertilization process failed the first two tries. On the third, they found that Ida, their surrogate, was pregnant. She lived with the couple during her pregnancy, as per the agreement, then left their lives once the twins were born.
Two years later, they began the process all over again. It broke Logan’s heart when their original surrogate for Jeannie miscarried in her eleventh week. The third surrogate gave them Jeannie for a handsome price.
He knew it still bothered his wife. Her inability to carry their children herself was something that she might never come to terms with. They decided that more little ones was not a good idea, given the expense and how ragged the first three ran them.
Logan had once said to Ororo, years ago, that Sinister’s plan was evil. He joked to her now that had he come face to face with Henry, Jimmy, and Jeannie, he would have paid them to take the trio off his hands. This usually made his wife giggle into hysterics.
Any time he thought the rumblings of that same nomadic nature were rearing their heads, all he had to do was look at his home and family to dismiss it. Leaving them all, even for a short time, would mean missing something. Every lost tooth, peal of laughter, and shed tear were worth sticking around for.
It took years for Logan to come to terms with his abuse at Sinister’s hands. Ororo was there with him every night he felt too shaken to make love, every nightmare, every little piece that made up his healing process.
Of course, he didn’t have any problems pounding her into the mattress now. Damn, when did she say she was coming home?
Jeannie appeared a moment later, tossing him a quick “Hi, Daddy” as he finished up on his work. She sat on his tool chest, one of her favorite grape Popsicles turning her mouth purple.
“Whatcha think, baby?” He asked of her, stepping back to admire his work.
Her cherub face tilted as she studied his work carefully.
“Very pretty. Auntie Kitty’s gonna go nuts-o for it.”
“Yeah?” He grunted, satisfied. If it was perfect to Jean, it was perfect for him.
“MAMA!”
The sound of “Little Blue Beast” echoed through the vallet, almost drowning out Jean’s delighted cry. She hopped down off the tool chest so fast it nearly gave her father whiplash. He chuckled to himself at her exuberance, coming out of the garage in time to see Ororo’s plane land smoothly on the water.
Andine, Eliar, and Jean rushed to the dock as Ororo swung the plane around to lose speed. He moved slowly toward the welcoming committee, a wide smile crossing his lips. The plane stopped at the dock he’d built six years ago just before the door opened and his wife jumped from the plane.
“Darlings!”
She scratched the dogs lovingly, then took her daughter into her arms. Loud, wet kisses were rained on Jeannie’s cheeks, making the little girl squeal in delight. Logan reached the dock just as the foursome stepped off.
“Look at that!” Ororo said dramatically for her daughter’s benefit. “It’s the man of my dreams!”
Jean giggled as only a five year old could, wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck. Logan grinned, taking his wife’s hand and kissing her thoroughly. Jean giggled all the harder.
“It’s Prince Charming and Superman all in one, Mama.”
He felt her grin against his lips. “Mmm, that he is, my little love.”
Logan pulled her close again, wrapping one hand around her neck to keep her in place. Her buzzing skin had never become habit for him. He was as addicted to it today as he had been ten years ago.
Age settled well on his wife. There were more lines around her eyes and lips, but that only made her more appealing. She was still tall, lean, magnificent and he thanked his lucky Lights every night that they had gotten through such a torturous past.
“Where are the twins?” She asked when he released her.
With Jean on her hip, she walked beside him, one hand entangled with his.
“Weedin’ the garden.”
“They were fighting when they got off the bus,” his minx of a daughter said quickly. “But Daddy told ‘em we have company coming so they’d behave themselves.”
“Traitor!” He told her, reaching over his wife to tickle his daughter.
“Logan,” Ororo sighed before raising her voice. “Henry Scott! James Warren!”
Ororo put Jean on her feet, making Logan take her tiny hand in his. His beautiful wife was already calling thunder by the time the boys appeared from around the side of the house. When she caught sight of their boys, she pulled up short. Gaping.
They were covered in mud.
“By the Goddess above! Do you see your sons, Logan?”
Oh, she was mad. Logan was laughing. That wouldn’t end well, but he couldn’t stop himself. She was adorable when she got worked up over the twins.
“Hey, why are they “my” sons when they’re in trouble? They got yer genes, too, woman.” He demanded between bouts of hearty laughter.
Thunder boomed in the distance.
“Put it away, darlin’. Ya don’t scare me.”
Two muddy boys trying to control chuckling behind her ruined her shocked gasp. Logan tried to warn them to be quiet, even as Jeannie giggled helplessly. Teasing Mama was a valuable pastime in the Munroe home.
She would never admit it, but Ororo loved every blessed second.
A gust of wind promptly knocked Logan back. He dropped Jeannie’s hand in time for her to scamper away. His body hit the river with a crash and he fought to come back to the surface. He wasn’t worried about drowning. Ororo had done this countless times in the last decade. She never tossed him too far, ensuring his heavy body wouldn’t sink like a stone.
When his head came above water, he was choking on laughter as Ororo screamed for help. Through her laughter, he could see the children mercilessly ticking their mother, mud, Popsicle, and all.
Ah, Logan thought with a satisfied grin as he swam to shore. Just another day.
~**~
Ororo watched her clean and bickering sons as they attempted to catch the football their now dry father was tossing on the lawn. Her little daughter was playing peacefully on the front porch beside her mother with a set of drawing pencils.
Not every day was like this. There were times when Logan and Ororo fought until there were holes in the wall and scorch marks on the lawn. Some days were spent in complete frustration as five stubborn people tried to occupy the same space.
In a decade, Ororo had learned many things. She was taught unbreakable love as she fought to keep Logan from succumbing to the heartache of Sinister’s abuse of him. She held his hand while they traveled from the horrors of their past and looked to the future.
They built a home, raised a family, remained together where so many others failed. Frequent trips to New York kept them abreast of what was happening in their family there. They often joined the X-Men for missions, or had until the children were born.
Smiling fondly from the rocking chair Logan made for her years ago, she watched as Logan tackled his sons. They would all be dirty again, but that was a part of life. Her boys were helpless from laughter by the time their father was finished tickling them. He came out from the battle victorious, holding the ball and doing a dance that made her laugh.
While they carved out a life for themselves, away from the mutant fight, others had drifted away. Rogue had left the X-Men following a break-up with Iceman. She was in Georgia, last Ororo heard. The girl stopped calling a year after she left. As Ororo had once done, she simply faded away.
Kitty Pryde was married and on her way to Alaska even as Ororo thought about her. Peter, her colossal husband was as devoted to her as Logan was to Ororo.
The X-Men still lived in Westchester, under the gentle guidance of Xavier. Betsy and Warren, who still lived for the dream, led the team now. Nothing had been too shattered by the departure of Storm and Wolverine.
Ororo’s eyes found her husband again, watching with a laugh as he shouted out a play-by-play of their impromptu football game. She had known he would be a good father, even when he constantly fretted before they were born. Her Wolverine was a pack creature by nature, carefully integrating the little ones by instinct alone.
He was not as strict as she would have liked at times, but every night she was happy he had fathered their three hellions.
Hearing a truck pulling up on the tree-lined drive, Ororo stood. Both boys shouted in glee, dancing in place as the Gates family appeared with their guests.
No sooner had the truck stopped than five little boys tumbled out of it. Mary and Kenny’s sons “ Michael, Gabriel, Timothy, Trevor, and William “ jumped from the vehicle and bolted for Ororo’s boys. All seven of them picked up the football game, though Logan approached Kenny with a welcoming smile.
Mary opened the back door of their truck, helping a petite brunette out. Peter waved at Ororo when he hopped out of the truck bed.
“There you are!” She called as she quickly came down the stairs. “I was wondering if I should start dinner soon.”
“I fed the hell-beasts,” impish Mary said of her sons. “But they’ll probably eat anyway.”
“Of course they will,” Ororo hugged her friend before turning to the younger woman.
“My little Kitten!”
“Hiya, ‘Roro,” the young woman said with a smile. Ororo leaned to give her a hug, noticing that her abdomen was already beginning to swell.
“Isn’t she just adorable?” Mary gushed as both women rubbed the distended tummy. Kitty was glowing.
“I’m so happy for you,” Ororo said, kissing her friend’s cheek.
It still hurt. Every time Ororo had to watch one of her friends carry a child within their bodies, it twisted the knife imbedded in her heart. She had three beautiful, if willful, children of her own, but she would never know what it was like to have life inside of her.
As though sensing this, her friends caught her in a bone-crushing embrace.
That, as usual, made her forget all about it.
Logan appeared with Peter a moment later. Kenny was bellowing at his over-active sons.
“There’s my Kitten,” Wolverine greeted, hugging her gently. “Got a gift fer ya.”
Ororo greeted Peter with a warm hug as the others followed Logan toward his workshop-garage. He opened the door easily, telling Mary to cover Kitty’s eyes. When Ororo turned to watch them all, she noticed Mary bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement.
Everyone had waited with bated breath for Kitty to become a mother. A long string of problems from damaged Fallopian tubes “ doctors chalked this up to her being tossed against walls for a living “ to incompatible genes plagued her young friends. Ororo had received hundreds of middle-of-the-night phone calls to ease her former pupil’s pain.
Kitty and Peter had not even revealed her pregnancy until well into the second trimester. They were taking no chances.
Logan quickly yanked a soft blue cover from the present he had made for Kitty. The girl covered her mouth with both hands, instantly tearing up. Glancing at Peter, Ororo noticed he was touched by the gesture as well.
In the garage was a hand-made, beautifully crafted cradle. Ororo knew that Logan lovingly worked on it for weeks, preparing it for the visit. It was elegant and simple, like most of his work. Ororo smiled at the rounded bars and carved designs on the ends. It was one of his better pieces, which she felt was saying a lot.
True to his nature, he had painted it a soft yellow, fit for a boy or a girl. Ororo gifted him with a loving smile, which made him blush slightly. It would never cease to amuse her that he still adored her praise to the point of humility.
When everyone rushed in to admire Kitty’s gift, their eyes remained locked together across the space between their bodies.
She loved him more every day. All of her fears, hopes, dreams, everything was wrapped into that man in the garage. Ororo glanced to the children, then back to him.
Life was serene, peaceful, exactly what she wanted. He had given her that. The Wolverine.
Somewhere in heaven, Jean had to be laughing her ass off.
~**~
Well into the night, though the light had only just skittered away, Henry heard music coming from his parents’ bedroom. He grinned in the darkness, turning over to whistle for his brother lowly.
Jimmy popped his head up, still half asleep. “What?”
“Dad and Mama are at it again.”
His twin smiled slyly. “Have to get Jeannie-Bean or she’ll never forgive us.”
They both nodded. Together, in their Power Rangers pajamas, they crept out of their room. It was no secret in the Munroe family that Dad and Mama were mutants. From their earliest memory, the three siblings had known all about mutants. Mama controlled the weather. Dad was kind of like a wolf with really nifty claws.
It sort of made the “My Dad can beat your Dad” arguments at school moot. Everyone in the area knew about the Munroes. No one really cared. All the anti-mutant stuff Mama talked about when she thought they were asleep never reached Henry, Alaska.
Jimmy said, all the time, that he believed Mama and Daddy moved here to keep them away from the fighting. Henry didn’t mind, he liked Alaska.
Didn’t hurt that Mama could always make it rain for them to play in and even when bears wandered onto the property, Daddy was quick to dispatch them without getting hurt. All three children were safe, which made them happy. But they had to be careful about creeping around at night. Dad could hear anything.
The duo crept past the guest room, where Aunt Kit-Kat and Uncle Petey were sleeping. Mama said Aunt Kit-Kat was going to be a mommy now, too. Henry wasn’t sure what that meant for him, but he thought more kids might be fun.
Jean’s door was open a little “ she was still afraid of the dark “ so the boys entered without a sound. Her room was way too girly for her brothers, and they made disgusted faces in unison. But she wasn’t so bad as little sisters went. She always told on her brothers and Dad when they did something Mama wouldn’t like, but other than that, she was fine.
“Jeannie-Bean,” Jimmy said, prodding her gently.
Her big blue eyes barely opened. “What?”
They shushed her loud whine by covering her mouth. They all froze, listening for sounds that they had alerted Dad to their awake-ness.
“They’re dancin’,” Jimmy explained when Henry said it was clear.
Their little sister squealed soundlessly. Together, the three of them slipped out of Jean’s room. Quiet as a mouse, they went to Mama and Daddy’s bedroom. There, with heads squashed in the door, they could see their parents in the moonlight.
Dad had built a nice porch from their bedroom, so he could dance with Mama in the nighttime. Henry smiled when he saw his father holding his mother close. They were moving slowly in a circle, talking too quietly for the children to hear.
It couldn’t have been anything bad, though. Mama was chuckling real soft, like she always did when Dad whispered in her ear. Dad was smiling at her like she made the stars all for him. Henry felt his heart beat a little faster as they danced.
He wouldn’t tell anyone, but he thought his parents were the most beautiful people in the world. So beautiful, in fact, that he didn’t care that Mama had blue eyes and he didn’t.
Lots of kids at school said their mommies and daddies always yelled. Sure, the Munroes could yell with the best of them. Sometimes there was growling, swearing, and thunder, too. But they always made up real fast. Cause, they’re family. Family is forever.
No one ever said that their mama and daddy danced at nighttime. Henry’s did, though. He didn’t know exactly what love was, but he was pretty sure Mama and Dad were covered in it. Nothing ever came between them. He didn’t think anything in the world could.
Not even God.
“Mama’s awful pretty,” Jean said in a soft whisper.
“Yeah, she is,” Jimmy agreed, patting his baby sister on the head. “Dad’s like a superhero, though.”
“Yeah, he should have his own comic book.” Henry decided. Jimmy did have awful good ideas sometimes.
“Mama has to be in it, too!” Jeannie chimed in, beaming at them. She looked a lot like Mama.
“You gonna draw it?” Jim asked, looking excited.
“Yeah!” She giggled a little. “You two wanna write all the words?”
Both boys nodded eagerly. His brother and sister were pretty neat, Henry decided. He was sorry for saying he wanted a new brother. No other brother in the world could be as cool as Jim. Henry didn’t have to say sorry, though. Jimmy always knew when he was sorry.
They watched their parents dance until Jeannie fell asleep. Her brothers carried her into the other room, thinking how slick they were to peek in on their parents and not get caught. Once their sister was in bed, they tucked themselves in, talking about their new comic book until they fell asleep.
~**~
Outside, Ororo hummed with the music, noticing how her husband was concentrating on something.
“They went back ta bed,” he said softly, shifting to hold her closer.
“Will they ever realize we know they come to watch?” She questioned him, kissing his lips quickly before he could reply.
“Sure,” Logan flashed her a toothy grin. “Bout the time we’ve got grandkids their age an’ they realize we knew every move they were gonna make before they made it.”
Ororo giggled soundlessly, wrapping both arms around his neck. “What were they talking about?”
“Us,” he kissed her this time, lingering for several seconds. “They’re makin’ a comic book bout us.”
Her shoulders shook with laughter. “No!”
“Upon my life,” he held his right hand up.
They fell silent for a long moment, swaying together in the warm summer evening. Logan inhaled deeply, making her smile widen. She hoped, that in another ten years, even twenty, that they would still find time to do this. At times, whenever things got rough, all Logan had to do was dance with her until they were exhausted. Her worries would fall away.
Other times, they merely came out to be together, alone. It wasn’t an easy job finding time to just be a couple in love, but he always managed to sweep her off her feet. The very idea that the children enjoyed watching them was a recent pleasure. Ororo wanted her children to find the sort of love she had.
The forever kind.
“’Ro?” Logan’s voice was soft, almost lazy.
“Mm?”
“I love ya. I’m gonna love ya a good, long time.”
She grinned against his shoulder. “I love you, back.”
They stayed that way, under the misty moon, on the back porch of the home they had built until night gave way to day. He held her in his arms, as he had every day of the last ten years, until the Northern Lights began to fade.
