The morning of the 16th of December was surprisingly peaceful, despite the nearly constant chaos the week before. From run-of-the-mill missions, dealing with the few mutants that call themselves ‘the Brotherhood’ and just the general storm of mess that school breaks bring. Charles had awoken refreshed, met Ororo in the kitchen to begin making breakfast for the other residents, and took a moment to admire the freshly fallen snow covering the expansive grounds of his home. The quiet sounds of the other adult scoffing at the weather report combined with the sizzling of the pans on the stove top created a cozy atmosphere that seemed almost fragile.
And of course, living with a bunch of mutant teenagers, that peace is too easily broken. A scream pierced the air, and in a split second Ororo was flying up the stairs with Charles a distance behind her. A million thoughts raced through their heads: the scream came from the third floor, in the hall to the right of the staircase.
Jamie’s room.
However, instead of an intruder like Charles had assumed, they were met with the sight of the two siblings that lived on that floor rolling around, almost violently fighting each other. Violent was a misnomer- Victor was laughing, he was quick in rolling away to avoid his little sister’s claws and punches, occasionally swiping her across the cheek or tossing her back into her room, where Jamie would jump right back out of. Speaking of Jamie, the girl was drenched. Whenever she pounced or tried to kick Victor in the stomach, droplets of water would come flying off of her. The hall filled more and more with snarls and growls and laughter until Rogue’s door opened to reveal the very grumpy, very annoyed 18 year old and her still half-asleep boyfriend.
“You lot better knock it off or ah swear to God!” That seemed to do the trick, as Victor, who had just gotten Jamie into a headlock, paused. Jamie continued to try to bite and kick her brother, to no avail, but quit growling and yelling.
“Yes, thank you, Rogue,” Charles said adjusting the kitchen towel that lay across his lap, “I, too, would appreciate an explanation. And for the two of you to stop making a mess of my hallway so early in the morning.” They didn’t stop, but as they continued to struggle against each other, Jamie yelled out,
“MOTHERFUCKER IL M’A VERSÉ DE L’EAU!” Charles rubbed his forehead in attempt to combat the forming headache,
“Language, please. I don’t speak French, so if you’d please explain calmly in English, I would be grateful. Victor- let go of her. Jamie- stop!” The two siblings both looked at him, before Jamie huffed and raised a pointed figure to the significantly taller boy.
“He poured water all over me! All over my bed! He’s lucky I don’t-”
“It’s pay back! Last time it was my birthday, 1960, you dumped me in the lake! This was completely fair!”
“Victor has a point, mon petit-”
“Stay out of it, Cajun!”
“Enough!” Ororo said with the effect of thunder, quickly shutting everyone down, “Victor, please do not pour water on anyone, especially when they are sleeping. Jamie, please do not fight your-”
“It’s yer birthday?” Rogue asked the younger girl, who was wiping stray water droplets out of her eyes. She shrugged,
“probably.”
“It is,” Victor nodded, “December 16th, 1883. Runt’s finally…what, 141? Damn, you’re old.”
“You’re literally 6 years older than me! I’d rather be 141 than 147! You’re 3 years away from being 150!” Jamie yelled angrily, clenching her fists and letting her claws slip out. Ororo very quickly put herself between the two, letting the taller lean cockily against the wall and the younger stand next to Charles.
‘Darling, why don’t you go dry off. Breakfast will be ready soon, we can decide what you would like to do today that doesn’t involve getting into a scuffle with your brother.” The girl nodded and let out a sigh through her nose before storming into her room and almost slamming the door shut. The quiet click of the lock sliding into place echoed through the hallway.
The man in the wheelchair ran a hand down his tired face. He’d be lucky if he didn’t go bald in the next few years.
‘Why must you antagonize her?” Victor shrugged and headed down the hall,
“Why not?”
Breakfast, compared to the recent event, was easily finished up and placed on the long dining room table, where the rest of the group, either unaware or unbothered by the noise so early in the morning, sat. Logan, now with mostly dry hair and dry clothes, sat glaring across from her brother. Charles couldn’t see any fighting above the table, but knowing them, they were probably exchanging kicks underneath.
Bobby cleared his throat, “so…it’s your birthday?” Jamie nodded, looking down at her plate,
“I guess.” Jubilee perked up and shook her friend,
“We gotta go do something! We should go to the mall-”
“No.”
“-Or the movies-”
“No.”
“Or the-” Storm interrupted with a hand placed on the girl’s shoulder.
“I think we should let Jamie decide what she wants to do, it is her birthday, after all.” Jubilee nodded, going back to picking at her plate.
“You’re right, it’s just- when was the last time you had a birthday party?” Jamie thought for a moment before shrugging and looking at Victor. He swallowed his bite and replied,
“Winter of 1890? That’s the last one that the Howlett’s had for you, it was your 7th. ‘Course, you were too sick to really do anything, but that’s not new. We had cake in 1975, but that doesn’t count.”
“Well, what would you like to do today?” Charles asked her. She thought for a moment, uncomfortable with so many eyes on her,
“Can we just…go out to eat somewhere? Like for lunch? I don’t really feel like doing anything specific.” The group nodded and Jean started recommending places to go and things to see.
Soon the group were all dressed up and ready for their excursion, winter coats and stocking caps, mittens and face masks (mainly for Kurt), and were ready to head off. Ororo took Rogue with her, leaving Charles, Victor, Remy, and Hank to set up for that night’s dinner and festivities. The two cat-like mutants were put in charge of decorating while Charles and Remy got to work baking a couple cakes, preparing dinner, and making final touches. Jamie hadn’t been there as long as some of the kids, but she was no less a part of their little family, and would be treated as such. Once the two were done with decorations Hank had gone to do whatever Hank does during the day, and Victor had gone into the kitchen.
“Can Remy ask you a question, friend?” Victor nodded, leaning against the island with his arms crossed.
“How’d y’all survive out there, in the wilderness?”
“We mainly hunted. I’d catch wolves, deer, elk, you name it. Jamie started with berries, nuts, a bird every now and then. Then I taught her to hunt after rabbits, foxes, river fish.” His eyes got a far away look for a moment before he chuckled,
“Every now and then we’d wander into town, if it got too cold or we needed something we couldn’t get out there. People always ate up the “orphan siblings living on the street” schtick. Sometimes the couples would have kids around Jamie’s age, so I'd drop her off at the park and-” he cut himself off.
“And?” Remy said, his full attention on Victor. The sandy-blonde shook his head,
“I’ve done things I’m not proud of. Hurt people. Some of it was survival, a need to keep her safe and us fed…but some of it wasn’t, y’know?” Remy nodded his head.
“Yeah, I do know. It’s real easy to get roped into living a certain way, doing things to keep yourself on the right track. Remy ‘ere was a thief for the longest time, wish I hadn’t but…c’est la vie, right? I’m sorry ya’ had to go through that.” Victor shrugged, looking off in the distance, because if he faced the other man he didn’t know if the need to lash out would surface. He never was good at dealing with emotions. He shook his head and focused on the vegetables he was cutting up instead. Today was about Jamie Howlett/Logan. And it was going to be a good birthday.
Dinner was a success. Stories were passed around, the group sang happy birthday (with a special rendition of Alles Gut Zum Geburtstag from Kurt) to a very red-faced Jamie. It was a damn good cake, Victor had to hand it to Charles. Somebody in the chaos of cleanup had decided to declare that they all needed to go outside and play in the snow, Victor suspected it was Bobby, and he was surprised that Jamie had jumped at the opportunity. Of course, he figured she was tired of being cooped up inside, much like how Victor was.
He’d been pelted at least 10 times, which didn’t surprise him as he was by far the easiest target coming in at around 7’2. Although, he suspected that at least 6 of those had come from his little sister. It’s so on. He thought, you don’t know what you’ve signed up for. He dove behind one of the barricades Bobby had created and gathered ass much snow as he could into a giant snowball. He picked it up, aimed at his unsuspecting sister, and-
BAM!
It hit her right in the face, nearly knocking her over. Bits of snow went flying around her in an explosion of powdery clumps and her look of shock left Victor wheezing on the ground with laughter.
“Charles?” Ororo said, handing him one of the polaroids she had just taken,
“Oh,” he breathed out a chuckle, “you should put that one on her door.”