Title: All My Children, Holy Crap! (part two)
Author: W6C
Email: wolverine6claws@yahoo.com
Pairing: None really, but a couple inferred or alluded to
Rating: PG-13, some light language
Summary: Logan's children come to the mansion for a visit. An obviously AU story that includes all of Logan's children from every AU I could think of.
Disclaimer: Marvel owns them all. I make no profit on this story. It's just for fun.
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By the time rooms for the children had been located and assigned, it was time to get them tucked in for the night and that was accomplished only with the help of nearly every member of the X-Men team. Jean and Scott had offered to tuck in the younger girls and went through the traditional saying of prayers. Hank had reminded them carefully that Wolverine may balk harshly at such a thing, but Jean shrugged him off since Logan was busy putting his sons to their beds with the assistance of Charles, Kurt and Bobby and “what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him”.
Although, over the years Logan’s friendship with Nightcrawler had loosened up Wolverine’s strict denial of a loving deity, one could never be sure just how loose that perspective had gotten. Best to err on the side of caution, McCoy urged, when it comes to a parent and their beliefs being crossed in order to teach something different to their children without their consent. Jean however was certain that Logan wouldn’t mind bedtime prayers, so she and Scott would make sure Jade, Marie, and Kendall were bathed and dressed in soft, warm pajamas as they knelt beside Jade’s bed.
The bedtime routine the first two nights consisted of an hour of bedtime stories, lots of giggles and hugs and the prayers put an end to the evening. After tucking the girls in, Scott and Jean would wish them sweet dreams, mention something about bedbugs not biting and would slowly close the door amidst tiny voices whispering back to them ‘g’night’.
Down the hall, the scene was a bit different and not as warm and peaceful. Daken and Scotty were throwing pillows at each other and trash talking who was better in a real fight. Brian sat on his bed, watching the two rowdy ones like they were bugs under glass. Erista had pulled all the covers off his bed and piled them up near the headboard in a similar fashion to his bed of plant fronds and moss from the jungle he called home.
Bobby walked in with Kurt and both stopped in surprise to look around the room; the furniture was out of place, the beds had been moved in a cock-eyed manner, and there were dirty clothes strewn on the floor.
“Hey! You guys need to pick this stuff up,” Bobby told them, having to raise his voice a little to be heard over the two teenagers jumping around from bed to bed.
“He did it,” Scotty told them, pointing at Daken who spun around and bounced over to his bed and tackled him on the spot.
“Did not,” he replied as he pushed Scotty’s face into the pillow.
“Did too,” the smaller boy rebutted and wrestled his way free to push Daken off the side of the bed with a thud.
“Boys! You must stop this and get ready for bed,” Kurt called out, trying to get their attention.
“We ARE ready!” Daken called out with a big smile as he popped up as if he was on a springboard. He dove at Scotty and the two boys tumbled over the opposite side of the bed in a tangle of pillows and blankets they dragged to the floor with them.
Bobby went to the bathroom door and balked at the sight inside the little room. The mirror and faucet assemblies were covered with steamy fog, the toothpaste tube had been squished to a tortured death, wet towels tossed over all the racks and fixtures, water pooled on the floor and the rug was soaking wet and left lying on the tile.
He quickly scooped up the rug and wrung it out over the tub, which was still coated in thick suds and the drain gurgled its own complaint as it dealt with the dirty brown water escaped the porcelain prison. He draped the wet rug over the side of the tub and scooped up half a dozen wet towels and dropped them in the hamper, pushing it back into the corner near the door where it belonged.
Charles and Logan could hear the commotion as they walked down the hall toward the children’s rooms. The two men shared a glance and five more long strides brought them up to the doorway.
“Stop!” Scotty suggested to Daken in a hushed but desperate tone when he saw his father appear framed in the doorway. “Dak-ennnn,” he groaned as he was pile-driven off the bed by his more feral half-brother’s flying tackle.
Charles watched the antics with an even expression but amusement gleaned in his blue eyes. Wolverine’s eyebrows screwed up and his tongue made a click that made Kurt and Bobby spin around.
“We tried to get them to settle down,” Bobby offered, kicking a pair of crumpled up jeans under a bed.
“It’s all right, Robert,” Xavier said. “Gentlemen, if you would, please. It is time for everyone to settle down. Tomorrow is another day ---“
His calm tone and poised demeanor went completely unnoticed by the rowdier of the male offspring. Charles sighed and glanced at Logan who was already taking a deep breath with the apparent plan of letting it out loudly.
“Knock it off!!!” Wolverine bellowed, but the shout had no anger in its tone. It was more for effect and to get their attention.
Silence fell upon the room and nobody so much as breathed. A few seconds later there was the sound of fabric rustling softly and then the tops of two heads appeared followed by two sets of wide eyes peering over the side of the bed.
Logan turned his head to see the quieter one, Brian, staring at him much like Hank does when waiting to scold him for being rowdy himself. Logan simply grinned at the boy before turning back to the other two who were now climbing onto the bed. Still they pushed at each other and blamed the other for getting them yelled at. Logan grit his teeth to try to keep from grinning, he couldn’t help it though.
“Bed… now… both of you. All of you,” he corrected, including Erista and Brian.
Once Scotty and Daken had disentangled from each other and dropped into their own beds to do as they were told, Logan reached over to snap the light off.
“No talking,” he instructed.
“Yes, sir,” Daken answered.
“No noise.”
“G’night, Pa,” Scotty replied as a peace offering.
“G’night,” Logan wished them all as the professor backed away from the door so he could close it. Immediately, from the other side of the door he could hear whispering. “I can hear you,” Logan reprimanded. He listened… silence. Then he heard Scotty whisper “told you”. Logan smiled and so did Charles before the two men left the floor in peace.
The next morning found most of the kids dispersed in their own fun activities. Logan’s teen-aged daughters were off to the mall for a day of shopping with Rogue and Kitty. The boys were outside playing a light form of tackle football while Hank supervised the activity. The whistle he blew every few minutes to indicate a foul play or simply to pause the play to lightly scold for a tricky play made by any one of the rambunctious boys could be heard by those inside the library just yards away from the playing field.
Jade, age six, was a little too young to go to the mall for a day of shopping with the older girls and yet too young to follow Erista and Marie around, so she had followed the sound of someone typing on a keyboard to find her daddy working on a laptop.
“Hi, Daddy,” she’d greeted as she entered.
“Hey there, li’l darlin’,” Logan replied and finished the sentence he was working on. He turned toward her and watched her meander into the room, looking at the floor and turning her head side to side as she let her eyes follow the tapestry design on the Persian rug beneath his feet. “What’re you up to today?” he asked.
Jade shrugged and made a soft mewling sound; not quite a whinge, but a sound of uncertainty. “Nnnn… I don’t know. Everyone is doing something.”
“Why aren’t you doin’ somethin’?” he asked. When she wandered over to the couch near the windows and slowly climbed up on it to peer out the window at the sounds of voices outside, Logan turned back to his work.
“What are you doing, Daddy?” she asked when the sound of the keys clicked behind her.
“I’m workin’ on a mission report. The professor asked me to finish it… actually he had to remind me about it after… well after everythin’ that’s been goin’ on lately,” he shared with her.
“What’s been going on lately?” the six year old asked, nearly pressing her nose to the glass and seemingly only half listening.
“Ya’ know… you an’ your brothers and sisters all showin’ up at the same time…” he told her, glancing over the monitor of his laptop toward her as he worked.
“Yeah,” she nodded……… “Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“How come we all came here to stay with you?"
“I’m not sure, darlin’… I think to keep you safe,” he mentioned as he checked his hand written notes to his right.
“Oh,” Jade remarked……. “Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“To keep us safe from what?”
"Ummm… I dunno, babygirl,” Logan answered truthfully as he too seemed to be only half-focused on their conversation.
“Oh. ------ Daddy?”
“Yeh?”
“Who would want us not safe?”
“A lot of people, I guess,” he replied, not thinking.
Jade turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder. “A lot of people want to hurt us?”
“Apparently somebody does…” he muttered as he worked.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, Jade.”
“Does a bad man want to hurt me?”
Logan looked up from his work, his eyes finding hers across the room. He sat back with a long sigh and scowled at himself.
“No, baby. No bad men want to hurt you. Some want to hurt me… and they think they can do that by…” Logan stopped and chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “No, baby, no bad men want to hurt you. And no bad men would ever hurt you. I’ll make sure of that.”
Jade smiled at him. “Cuz you’re a superhero… like Mama said?”
“Yeah,” Logan crooked a grin at his young daughter. “Cuz I’m a superhero like your mama said.”
Jade smiled at him, “I knew it.” Then she turned around again to watch the boys outside on the grass. They were shouting and pushing and falling down and Dr. McCoy; who looked to Jade like a big blue teddy bear, would blow his orange whistle and they’d all get up and start all over again.
"Daddy?"
Logan grunted, almost deaf now to her calling.
"Can I go outside and play with the boys?"
Logan glanced over at her as she leaned against the window sill on one elbow standing on the couch to see outside. His eyes danced from her back to the monitor and again to her, but his fingers never stopped tapping the keys.
"You don't wanna play with the boys, darlin'."
"Why not?" she asked.
“Well,” Logan replied, taking a moment to think of a good answer for her, "Cuz they're too rough."
“Oh,” Jade answered. She fell silent for a moment; thinking, then she brightened with a smile and said cheerfully, "If I can find a smooth one... can I play with him?"
Logan balked at the question and nearly fell out of his chair. “What? No!”
“Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “Jeeeez.”
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Jean had stopped outside the door as she passed by a few minutes before. When she’d heard the voices inside the library she had peered in to see Logan in the room alone with his younger daughter. She’d decided to listen in when Jade began to question her father.
She didn’t relish eavesdropping but her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she worried briefly as Logan spoke of people wanting to hurt the children but she hadn’t interfered. She smiled though as Wolverine realized by himself that his words had caused a sense of fear in the child. He recovered well and reassured his daughter that she was safe with him.
Jean had to hurry away though as she nearly laughed out loud when Jade’s final question caused Logan to nearly fall out of his seat and bark a reply back at her. The child, not even ruffled by her father’s exclamation was priceless and showed her a glimpse of what kind of relationship the children had with their father, even in other realities. Logan certainly had his hands full, but the entire situation was having a great effect on him and on all the X-Men, including Scott. Even Kitty and Rogue were enjoying the extra company with Kirika, Rina and Laura and Amiko around to do so many girl things with.
________________________________________
Later that afternoon, Logan was working just outside the garage on his bike, replacing a few parts and taking time to polish whatever parts he had soiled with greasy hands once the specific task was completed. He had tunes playing softly from the boom box on the floor behind him and a stogie clamped between his teeth. It was a great day, the sun shining bright, the temperature not too hot, a light breeze keeping things comfortable. It was a good day.
He paused a moment when the sound of excited voices and laughter rolled over the small knoll and he smiled to himself. He could pick out the voices of some of his kids in that group and it warmed Logan’s spirit to know his many children were fitting in so well at the mansion “ in his life. He’d always wanted a family. It was a goal seemingly out of reach in this particular life, but one he’d apparently been able to achieve somewhere in the universe. He grinned around the stump and puffed on it, sending a cloud of aromatic smoke to billow up around his head before dissipating.
His blue eyes followed the tops of heads as they appeared many yards away on the down slope of the side yard. The kids were enjoying the day outside doing gods-know-what. They were shouting and laughing and that’s all that mattered; they were safe and having a good time. Their ability to roll with the punches made Wolverine proud; even separated from their mothers the children seemed plenty comfortable being in their father’s custody alone. Logan hoped that spoke well of him.
Logan’s gaze shifted slightly toward the main gate at the estate’s entrance as his sensitive ears picked up the sound of the X-Men’s SUV down shifting automatically to take the slow turn up the long drive. A moment later the top of the black roof shone darkly against the surrounding green landscape and seconds later it rolled past him, the tires crunching tiny pebbles on the asphalt as the driver steered past him carefully.
The girls had gone down to the city again, to shop and walk around, have lunch, watch boys and whatever else teen-age girls needed to do that was as important to them as breathing. Once the truck was pulled into the door further down from where he sat on the ground he listened to the four doors open and then close as the occupants got out. Female voices yammering away non-stop as they gathered up their bags and boxes and shuffled them about, figuring out who owned which package. Logan grinned to himself as he wiped his hands on a mechanics’ rag.
As the young ladies exited the garage with the treasures in hand, Logan stood up and grinned at them.
“Logan!” Kitty yelled to him.
“Sounds like you girls had a great time,” he offered and his gaze fell on Kirika. She seemed so quiet and much more demure than the other girls. He wondered how she was faring with the gang of them. He didn’t draw attention to her though as she stood nearby with her eyes downcast.
“Oh, you bet we did, Sugah,” Rogue crowed. “I think we maxed out our cards.”
“Sounds like you’ll all be assigned to another economics course next year,” he teased.
“Professor Xavier said he contacted my mother,” Rina interjected out of the blue.
Logan looked to her and nodded. “Yeah, he mentioned that… I’m sure she can’t wait to meet you.”
He still couldn’t quite figure that one out. He and Elektra had been good friends for a long time, but he didn’t think he would ever feel quite that way about her. He mentally shrugged off the strangeness of that and Rina seemed to sense his awkwardness where she was concerned. It didn’t escape her notice though that Logan’s gaze kept creeping back to Kirika.
“Yeah, well… I think she’s coming in tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll be nice for you to see her again,” she offered in a strange tone.
Logan looked back to her. “Yes it will. She and I have been through a lot together. We’re… close.”
“Right,” Rina replied with a glint in her eye. “See ya’ later,” she said and nudged Rogue to move around him. The two of them walked away and Amiko stepped up to him with a smile.
“Kon’nichiwa, Logan-san,” she greeted and pressed a warm kiss to his furry cheek.
“Hey, kiddo. It’s nice to have you here,” he smiled at her.
“It’s been… interesting,” she offered back.
“That it has,” Logan agreed. “Laura… how are you doin’?” he asked X-23.
“Doin’ fine,” Laura replied with a shrug, her dark gaze never ceasing their roving the grounds as she split her attention between the group and their surroundings.
Logan looked at Kirika again and Kitty picked up his desire to want to speak to her. She reached over to snag Laura’s sleeve. “Come on, girl. You can help me put my stuff away.”
Amiko remained with her father and Kirika. She looked from one to the other; Logan unable to take his eyes off of the girl and the girl unable to look up at him. “Shall I stay?” she asked.
Logan glanced at her. “Do you think you should?”
Amiko shrugged. “That’s up to you two.” Logan looked to Kirika and Amiko turned to her as well. “Anata wa watashi no shukuhaku o go kibōdesu ka?” she asked the question of Kirika.
“Watashi wa sore ga hitsuyōda to wa omowanai,” Kirika replied softly with a slight bow to her sister.
“She says she doesn’t believe it’s necessary for me to stay,” Amiko told him.
Logan grinned at her. “I know what she said."
“Oh… right. Sorry,” Amiko offered, remembering that Logan was fluent in over twenty different languages, most assuredly Japanese was like a first language to him. He loved the people, the culture, everything… and most especially Kirika’s mother.
“I think we’ll be okay,” he told her and Amiko nodded and left the two alone.
Kirika’s eyes lifted just enough to note Amiko’s departure then shot to Logan before dropping again.
“Chichi,” Kirika addressed him again the same way she did two days ago. Since then she seemed to find reasons to be anywhere but where he was.
“Kon'nichiwa,” Logan greeted Kirika. “Ummm… anata ga tanoshii jikan o sugosu nodesu ka?” he asked if she had a good time with the other girls.
“Hai,” Kirika nodded. “Wareware wa, kaimono to chūshoku o totta. Sore wa ii ichi-nichidatta.”
Logan smiled when he heard she’d had a good day shopping and stopping for lunch with the girls. He gestured with a sweep of his arm for her to follow him to a nearby bench set beneath a grown willow tree. She did as he asked and took a seat before he settled beside her.
He took a moment to think about how he wanted to start and then decided it would be best to just address the issue straight on. That was his way and it was also Mariko’s way, so he figured it should be Kirika’s way too.
“Anata wa, watashi ga dareda ka shitte iru koto o watashi wa kanji o ete iruga, watashi wa anata o fukai ni sa seru.” //I'm getting the feeling that you know who I am, but I make you uncomfortable.//
He began slowly and Kirika glanced at him, not denying what he said, so Logan continued. “Anata wa watashi-tachi no ma ni kusabi no yō ni aru kanji naze watashi o otsutae shitai to omoimasu ka?” //Do you want to tell me why there feels like a wedge between us?//
Kirika hesitated for a moment, averting her gaze. “Keniuchio Harada."
“Harada?” Logan blinked. The name surprised him. What did the Silver Samurai have to do with his daughter feeling awkward around him?
“Hai,” she confirmed, glancing at him.
“Harada-san wa anata to watashi to don'na kankei ga aru nodesu ka?” he asked her how the mutant samurai fit into the scene between them.
“Harada-san wa watashi no gifudesu,” she told him.
“He’s your… step-father?” Logan blinked.
“Hai,” she nodded. “He… forbids… me to speak… of you.” Logan frowned as his daughter spoke to him in his own native language.
“Your mother and I… aren’t together?” he asked.
“Īe anata wa, kanojo to kekkon suru kenri no tame ni kare o tatakatta yakuza wa, hahaoya ga anata ni sentaku shinai koto wa, kanojo no meiyo o hoji shi, tokutei shita. Anata wa... Gaijin.” //No. You fought him for the right to marry her, but the Yakuza made certain that mother could never choose you and retain her honor. You are...gaijin.//
Logan understood the honor ways of the Japanese. He also knew the Yakuza too well.
The Japanese Mafia - the Yakuza traced its earliest roots back to the familial samurai clans of ancient Japan. It was originally founded in order to protect their members from those who would oppress or exploit them. Clan Yashida was perhaps the oldest and most well known of these familial clans. The ancestral seat of Clan Yashida could still be found located in Miyago Prefecture, roughly 300 kilometers north of Toyko. Logan had visited there many times as Mariko Yashida, his one true love, was Oyabun, head of the Yakuza crime family, known as Clan Yashida.
Kirika watched her father as he fell deep into his own thoughts. The play of emotions and concern that etched his face compelled her to reach out and lay her hand atop of his. Logan blinked and looked down at her hand then looked at her and offered her a smile.
“You love her still?” she asked him, referring to her mother.
“I’ve always loved her. I will always love her,” he told her openly.
Kirika smiled at him for the first time since her arrival. She could sense his feelings for her mother were true and deep. His love for Mariko was palpable and it bridged the gap between them. She leaned toward him and Logan quickly took the cue and wrapped her in his arms. They spent the next couple of hours on the grounds, walking through the beautiful gardens and orchards and sitting beneath the cherry blossom trees. They spoke of many things, mostly of her and her mother and the memories he had of Mariko.
It turned out to be a very good day.
Nichi no saikō no.
The best of days.
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TBC'd
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