Five years later, everything was still a mess, but thankfully, the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters has returned to their version of normal. The world was still dealing with the after math of the Phoenix Five, human mutant relations was still a mess, and they were just starting to rebuilt their relationship with the Avengers. Mutant hate was still strong, but luckily the work they’ve done has improved situations greatly.
Her relationship with Logan didn’t stay private, but it wasn’t like they were going out of their way to keep their relationship that way. Logan was a very good kisser, and with both of them having a busy schedule, sometimes sex had to be planned ahead to fit it in. Most of the time though, they’d just grab each other, find the nearest private space available and hide from the world for as long as they wanted. The media eventually found out that the former queen of Wakanda was dating the headmaster of the Jean Grey School, and a year after the Phoenix Five aftermath, Ororo used that to attempt to amend the mutant relationships in Africa.
She ended up working close with T’Challa, and thankfully, it was nothing but professionalism. They had realized that they were hardly meant to be friends, but worked very well together.
She was coming home now after another long meet with T’Challa to figure things out and map the future of the school. Working with T’Challa and the rest of the Avengers has helped their situations tremendously, but Ororo just couldn’t wait to forget about all of that to go home.
The ground was covered in snow, and if Ororo manipulated the winds just so, she was able to hear childish laughter. The first smile in hours lit up her face at the familiair noise, and she increased the speeds of her winds. The first thing she did after coming back home from Africa was drop of her suit case in her bedroom, and then she flew out of the window. Rachel had kindly told her that Logan, with the rest, had gone out in search for the perfect Christmas tree.
She was barely above the tree tops, staying as close to the earth as possible as she followed an abundance of footprints. They were all over the place, and it was clear that the gang Logan had following him were enjoying themselves. Within five minutes, she spotted them, but her mind hardly paid any notice to the people that surrounded Logan. Her daughter was sitting on top of his shoulders, and with a grace that would make any Olympic leveled gymnast green with envy, Ororo controlled the winds with such control that she was able to make it down between the trees and snatch her three year old from Logan’s shoulders without getting noticed.
The tiny girl squealed with delight before she giggled, and Ororo pressed noisy kisses against her cheek. Logan’s smile would have been infectious if Ororo wasn’t already smiling. She wasn’t sure what she had expected from him when they’d discovered that she was pregnant. It had been a major surprising, her mutation makes it nearly impossible, and so she hadn’t even thought of the possibility of being a mom. Kendall was her miracle baby girl. Logan, to almost everyone’s surprise, had been attentive to her, and even refused to allow her to join in on any missions. He was great with Kendall, but she wasn’t all that surprised. He was always good with children, whether he admitted it or not.
There was a chorus of greets from Kitty, Jubilee, Laura, and Gambit as they continued to throw snowballs at each other, while moving ahead of them to not get Kendall covered. While Ororo and Logan weren’t exactly dressed what people would consider weather appropriate, Kendall was stuffing in a pair of snow pants, a thick jacket, a hat that hid her white curls, and mittens, but her sharp brown eyes were warm and bright in the winter chill.
“Did you have a good week with Daddy?” Ororo asked Kendall, while she placed the young girl on the ground. Ororo took hold of her left hand, while Logan leaned over her head and pressed a quick kiss against Ororo’s cheek before taking Kendall’s right hand.
“I did!” She answered, looking up at her mother. “We played Hide and Seek, and Uncle Kurt would keep hiding me in place so Daddy wouldn’t find me, and Auntie Jubilee and Auntie Kitty read me bedtime stories, and Uncle Remy played dress up with me, and Daddy and I colored.” She kept going, listing at least ten more things she did with their family while Ororo had been away. Her heart ached, filled with joy, and Ororo was sure that it might burst. She had missed Kendall, but at least she hadn’t missed her first words, her first step, or her first smile.
Remy came back around towards them, while Jubilee, Kitty and Laura went ahead. Jubilee and Gambit seemed to be a great comfort to Laura. She was hesitant around Kendall, but after Jubilee had thrust a three month infant in her arms, has she started warming up to her. Ororo, and Logan too, have noticed the way Laura watched Kendall, and neither one of them could feel any safer with anyone else watching their daughter, though they would never admit that out loud, even to each other.
“One o’ dese days, uncle Gambit’s gunna show da petite ‘ow to pick a lock,” he promised Kendall, before reaching down to pick her up. Kendall giggled as Gambit threw her up into the air to catch her again.
“Ya teach her how to pick a lock, and I’ll kill ya myself, Gumbo,” Logan threatened.
“I’m the mother, it’s my job to teacher her that.” Ororo spoke over Logan, reaching to hold his hand as the followed after the quietly chatting women ahead of them.
“Ya can teach her how to pick a pocket, Stormy,” Remy answered, ignoring Logan’s threat as he caught Kendall carefully in his arms. He put Kendall on the ground again, and kneeled down to be eye to eye with the tiny girl. “Ready to find de perfect Christmas Tree?”
“Yeah!” Kendall squealed.
“Let’s go!”
Kendall ran ahead, slowly, but as fast she could. She knee reached her knees, so Kendall practically climbed over the snow, stumbling every once in a while over her winter boots. Ororo rested her head against Logan’s shoulder during their short moment of silence, until they heard the rest of the group shouting their name; Kendall’s voice the loudest and clearest among them. The couple picked up their pace, and Remy had Kendall on his shoulders while he faced a large evergreen, with Jubilee and Laura on one side and Kitty on the other.
“So, is this the tree?” Logan asked, and Kendall turned around, white hair sticking out from underneath her hat.
“Isn’t it perfect, Daddy?”
And Ororo could see his heart melt as he nodded and Kendall turned around again to face the eight foot tree. He let go of Ororo’s hand and draped his arm over her shoulder, and she leaned against him.
“Perfect.”
And Ororo had a feeling he wasn’t just talking about the tree.