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Title:
Rule Number Eight: Two's Company, Three's a Crowd
Author:
Terri
E-mail:
xgrrl26@yahoo.com
Rating:
PG-13
Disclaimer:
Jules is mine, and everyone else isn't. Heh. I got the best one ;)
Archive:
WFRA, Mutual Admiration, Peep Hut-everyone else, please ask and I will gladly
say yes.
Feedback:
Please! Pretty please with a cherry on top? Good, bad, and ugly
welcome.
Summary:
Sequel to Nothing Good Can Come of This..Logan and Rogue spend some time communing
with nature, and run across a surprise.
Comments:
This one turned out to have more foof than action, and, frankly, I blame Keli.
She's stalling on giving the OK to the NC-17 Hank lovin' in the Hank in Love
series, and I've been wanting to write DaddyHank for a while. I've also
been wanting to use a plot bunny that Mels gave me a while back about Logan
and Marie taking a walk and coming up on a baby in the woods. Hence,
part eight is foofier than anticipated, Hank gets a bigger part in this series,
and we all have to wait for Keli to agree to the lovin' in the other one ;)
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Nice drive
over to Mount Carleton Provincial Park from Calais. I can tell Marie's
feelin' better now that we're out here, where everythin's real quiet and it's
just me and her. She's been gettin' lotsa painting done, too.
She don't really like the two she made so far-well, she says they're good
and they'll sell, but they're paintings that came outta what happened in
that lab. I think paintin' it out is helpin' her some, even though
she cries a little when she paints.
I kinda
like watchin' her paint, and I'm glad she don't seem to mind me hoverin' over
her a little. We've been close these past coupla days-real close.
Sucks that everythin' bad happened, but it did bring us closer together.
I think now, she knows-really, really *knows* that I love her and am gonna
take care of her. I've been thinkin' about tryin' to convince her to
touch me again to see if that'll heal up the rest of her leg. She said
she don't mind havin' me in her head, and I bet even if it didn't take away
that scar, it'd fix the insides a little. She looks like she's just
about done cleanin' up from paintin', so maybe I'll ask her once we get back
in the Jeep for the night. It's been quiet out here, it should be OK if I'm
out for a little while.
Plus, I
had a good hunt today. Got a deer. That's gonna provide enough
meat for us for a while. Might even try to dry some out and take it
along. Don't really know how to do that, but it'll just go to waste
otherwise, so why not give it a go. Got rid of the skins - Marie said
to bury the carcass and stuff so we don't get in trouble for poachin' since
it ain't deer season yet, so I did-but we got a lotta meat outta that deer.
And it makes me feel useful-at least I'm providin' some food for us.
Even if it ain't money, it's somethin'.
To tell
the truth, I kinda like huntin'. Glad it don't freak Marie out to see
me with do that-sniffin' and chasin' and stabbin' the animals with my claws.
Feels so natural to me, so right. Chasin' that deer was a lotta fun-it
was fast and darted all over the damn place. But I was faster, and
now we got food.
"Hey darlin',
need any help?"
"No, I think
I got it. How's the fire coming?"
"Good."
That's another thing I like-we didn't do it too much before, makin' a fire,
but it's nice. Gets a little chilly late at night up here even though it's
still summer. I like makin' the fire that keeps us warm and cookin'
the meat I caught over it. Fire keeps the wild animals away too, just
in case the smell of cookin' meat gives 'em any ideas. "You done with
that one or does it need some more work?" I never try to guess at that.
I don't know enough about art stuff to know when it's done or not.
I like all the paintin' she does, but I'm no expert in it.
"I think
I'm done." She always gives it that kinda look at the end, when she pronounces
it done. The kinda look that says 'I'm finished but it ain't perfect.'
Must be pretty damn good, though, 'cause they sure as hell sell OK, and even
I know that's hard to do. "And anyway, I'm hungry." I think she
likes me huntin' and cookin' too. "You know, I think I'll take a little
break before starting up on the fourth one. Maybe take a day off, what
do you think?"
"Sure."
I've just been goin' along with whatever she thinks pretty much. She
knows what she needs to do to get herself through this. And she-hey-hey-I
heard somethin'.
"Logan?"
She caught my head pickin' up and she sees me sniffin'. Haven't had
too much company out here. Rangers have been by twice, and the occasional
animal or two, but that's it. I've been keepin' a close lookout for
any sounds or smells that might mean somethin'. Gotta keep us safe.
But I don't think-smells and sounds animal, not human.
"Somethin's
out there. Sounds like-sounds like a small animal, but I'll go check
it out. You stay right here by the fire." Animals won't come
up close to it if that's what it is out there.
"OK.
Talk to me." She gets a little worried when I go outta her sight and
wants me to check in and say somethin' every now and then.
"OK."
I don't see anythin', but it didn't sound as big as a deer or-there.
There ya are. Two little yellow eyes peekin' out from the underbrush.
Ha. Gotcha.
"Grrrr."
Maybe warnin' it away some will do the trick.
"Nnooooo.."
Hey-that was a word-that's-that's no animal. Sure as shit smells like
one, though. What the hell is that? Was that-is it blue?
What the hell?
"C'mere."
Oh, no, ya don't. No scamperin' away. I'm bigger and faster and-gotcha!
Hey-it's-it looks like a little miniature version of that blue guy we saw
in Westchester. Huh. "Hey, it's OK. I ain't gonna hurt
ya, little guy." Squirmin' like crazy.
"Logan?"
That's Marie, wonderin' what all the commotion is. Well, easier to
show her than tell her.
"Comin'.
It's OK, don't worry. Caught a little one." Stopped squirmin' so much
now. Little guy smells like he's been livin' out in the woods for a
while. Wonder if-I wonder if he escaped one of the labs or somethin'.
He's got one of those plastic bracelet thingies on him. Damn.
That's just-experimentin' on grown ups is bad enough, but little kids?
And how the hell did that blue guy let his kid get nabbed for christsakes?
You gotta keep an eye on what's yours, dammit.
"Oh!"
She sees us now. "Oh my goodness-Logan-that's-he looks just like Hank!"
That's the
blue guy's name. "Yeah. Smells like he's been runnin' around
out here for a while."
"Oh my God-that's-that's
so weird." She's lookin' at him and he's sizin' her up too. "Hey,
little guy, do you have a name?" Oh-oh. More squirmin'.
"Don't be scared, it's OK. It's OK. We're not going to hurt you.
Do you have a name?"
"Marie, there's
a-look at his arm, there's a thing on there." I can't read it, but she
can and maybe it has his name on it. "Careful, though-he's got claws."
One's diggin' into me right now, as a matter of fact.
"It's OK.
It's OK. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to know your
name." Good, she is bein' real careful. Don't want him to claw
her or nothin'. "Hmm. Just a lot of numbers and 'Jules.'
Is your name Jules?" Slow noddin' there. Well, good, at least
we're makin' some progress. "It's nice to meet you, Jules. I'm
Marie and this is Logan. Would you like to have something to eat with
us?"
Heh.
His growlin' stomach's answerin' that one for him. "I'm gonna put ya
down then. Don't go nowhere, and we'll feed ya."
"Logan, how
old do you think he is?" Jules is fascinated by Marie-he's starin'
at her. Well, good. Probably means he ain't so scared of us.
Don't smell so scared now. "Three?"
"Dunno.
Dunno anythin' 'bout kids."
"You know,
he-he probably came from one of the labs."
"Yeah.
Thought so too." Meat's almost done, so we'll be eatin' here in a minute.
His stomach's still goin'.
"How awful."
"Yeah.
Why didn't what's-his-name look out for his kid? How'd he let him get
nabbed, huh?" That just pisses me off a lot for some reason, every
single time I think about it.
"Maybe-maybe
he couldn't find him or thought he was dead or something, I don't know.
But we've got to call them, we've got to let them know we found him."
"I dunno"
I don't like the idea of tellin' 'em where we are. I don't especially
care to see any of 'em ever again.
"I know-I
don't want to have anything ever to do with them again, but Logan-we-we have
to let him know. I mean, even if it's not Hank's son, it's some relation,
obviously. And we can't-we can't keep a child. Our lives just
aren't built for that right now."
"Why not?"
I mean, she found me and picked me up. She kept me. "There's
room in the jeep for him." She's givin' me a look. A real soft
look. I like those. But I don't quite get why she's givin' it
to me right now.
"Oh, Logan,
that's sweet. But he belongs with family. If he's been out here
for a while, he-he needs help. More help than we can give him."
"You're good
at helpin' people. You did a lot for me." True. Very true.
"And why just give the kid back to the people who fucked up and lost him
in the first place? Hell, they mighta even turned him over to those
bastards or somethin'. They locked you up."
"I know.
But I don't think-I just can't picture Hank doing something like that, turning
over somebody to be experimented on. We have to find out what
happened. We'll-we'll have dinner and then I'll call directory assistance
to get the number of that school. We'll try to talk just to Hank and
find out what happened."
"Marie, if
they fucked up-he's just a little kid, you know? I just wanna make
sure he don't end up back where he came from." I mean, look at him
now, slowly movin' over toward Marie, lookin' up at her while she talks.
He likes her. And we know for damn sure that we're not gonna fuck the
kid over, so why not hang on to him?
"I'll talk
to Hank. I'll talk to Hank and let's see, OK?"
"I guess."
If she's right that he thought the kid was dead or somethin'-if those scientist
bastards pulled some kinda trick to make him think that-maybe. Maybe
we'll give him back. If it's just that he was careless or don't give
a shit no more, we'll keep him. He ain't gonna hafta run around out
here with the wild animals and shit, we'll keep him if they don't want him.
Marie-Marie did that for me, she took me in, and we can do it again.
Like I said, there's space in the jeep.
"Hello?"
I can hear through the cell phone good enough sittin' this close to her.
Jules is in her lap-took to her pretty damn good once she started feedin'
him. Likes me too, I think.
"Uh, yes,
is this-is this Xavier's School for Gifted Youth?"
"Uh-huh.
To whom am I speaking?"
"Is that-uh,
Scott?" Marie, shootin' a glance at me-did I-oh, shit, yeah, I let
out a little growl. Didn't scare Jules none, though. He's kinda
like me, a little bit.
"Yes.
Who's this?"
"Rogue."
"Rogue!
I'm so glad to hear from you! How are you? I'm so sorry for the
misunderstanding and what happened once you-"
"Yeah.
Look, Scott, I called to talk to Hank." She knows I don't like Scott
too damn much. I don't want her talkin' to him. He's not gonna get
her. She's mine. It's her and me.
"Rogue, I
am-I really want to apologize for what happened. It's just that Jean-she
panicked a little when she saw I'd been shot and she didn't know-"
"Scott, I
don't want to talk about it. Really. Can you-can I just talk
to Hank?" Yeah, listen up. No talkin' to her. She's mine,
not yours, bub.
"Sure, sure.
Hank's downstairs. I'll buzz him. But Rogue-uh, sorry-Marie -
I want you to know that I am honestly truly sorry for how you were treated.
If I'd been conscious, I'd have never let that happen. I swear it.
I'm so sorry."
"I appreciate
you saying that, Scott, I do. Are you-are you feeling all right?"
Hey-don't-don't play into what he wants. Don't start talkin' to him.
He's just tryin' to get with you, Marie, he is.
"Good as
new."
"Good.
Good. Can you get Hank?" Yeah. Enough talkin' for you,
Scott. Just gonna put an arm around her to be sure. She-she knows
she's mine. I know that. I do. But-just to be sure.
Just gonna hold her a little. Yeah, she knows. She's smilin'
up at me, she's here with me, she's been makin' love to me, not that asshole.
She'd never, ever let him touch her body like that, no way. She's just
tryin' to be nice 'cause she feels bad 'bout him gettin' shot and all.
That's it. She don't want him, she wants me.
"Sure.
Hold on." Heh. She leaned over to kiss my sideburns and that
made Jules giggle. First laugh we've heard outta him. He's a
good kid, you can just tell.
"Hello?
Marie?"
"Hank?"
"Yes, Scott
said that you wished to speak with me. Can I be of some assistance?"
"I hope
so. Uh, Hank, I don't really know how to break this to you gently or
anything, and I need some very honest answers from you, OK?"
"Of course."
"Do you
have a son?"
"No, no
I do not." Hmph. Don't sound like he's lyin'. Maybe Marie
was right, maybe it's not a son, maybe Jules is some kinda other relation
to him.
"I, uh,
don't mean to be indelicate, but are you absolutely sure about that?"
"One hundred
percent positive. Why-why do you ask?"
"Well, today
Logan and I came across a small child that looked, well, exactly like you."
"......................"
"Hank?"
"Sorry.
Sorry. That is, ah, quite surprising. How-how-I mean, where-"
"Hank, are
you positive he couldn't be your son, or some kind of relation to you?
He was-we think he might've come from one of the labs, escaped from one of
the mutant experiment places. He had a plastic wristband on him with
a lot of numbers and the word 'Jules.'" I'm glad she's doin' it that
way-talkin' like we ain't got him no more, we just saw him, just in case.
"From one
of the experimentation labs, you said? Where-where did you see him?"
"New Brunswick."
That's good too-don't tell 'em exactly where we are. They'd hafta search
the whole province if they come after us that way. She's smart.
Not takin' no chances.
"Oh, God."
"What?
Hank?"
"I-I was
perhaps-I was-I-I-" Damn. I can tell that the blue guy's in shock
from over here. Somethin's up, definitely.
"Hank?
Just-just take a deep breath, OK?"
"Sorry.
I-I mean to say that I was perhaps mistaken earlier. I spent-I was
captured and spent a short while in a mutant facility outside Fredericton.
I-I-they extracted biological samples from me, but we destroyed the facility
and the samples as well. Or at least I thought." Damn.
That kinda makes me feel bad for him. I mean, they coulda done that
to me too, I dunno. Could be a kid of mine out there somewhere and
I'd never know, 'cause who knows what the hell they're up to when they get
a hold of ya? Damn.
"Hank, how
long ago was that?"
"Almost-almost
four years. We destroyed the facility and we suspected that another
had been constructed nearby, but we were never able to findoh, God."
Marie's lookin' at me now, wantin' me to give a thumbs up or thumbs down
to tellin' him the whole thing, I can tell just by the look. I guess
it's thumbs up. I guess it wasn't his fault and technically, the kid
is probably genetically his. I guess it's thumbs up.
"Hank-we're
in New Brunswick, at Mount Carleton Provincial Park. We-we have Jules
with us. I think it might be a good idea for you to come out and see
him. Just you, OK?" Yeah, that's the best way. I ain't
goin' back there, neither is she, and if it's just the blue guy it might
not be too bad. Marie said he was kinda decent to her. I don't
think he freaks her out too much.
"O-OK.
I-I-will come immediately. I-Marie, thank you for-for letting me know.
I-I-"
"It's OK.
Just-come in the morning, OK? It's dark out already and we all need
some sleep. We're pretty far in, and we're camping. The rangers
know where we are. They'll be able to point you in our direction.
And Hank-just you, remember. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell
anyone else exactly where we are, all right?"
"Yes.
Yes. I will-I will arrive first thing in the morning. Marie-is
he-is he-"
"He's the
spitting image of you, that's how we knew. Blue fur, yellow eyes, claws,
everything. We think-Logan thinks that by his smell, he's been living
outside for a while. He says a few words-mostly 'no' and 'more'-that
we've heard. He seems pretty OK. He seems healthy, but you, uh,
might want to bring some medical stuff to check him out with."
"How-how
could he have escaped? Or survived on his own for very long?"
"We don't
know. I'm sorry, Hank, we just don't know. Logan just happened
to find him. We think he might've come close to our campsite because
we were cooking food. He has a healthy appetite, that's for sure."
"He's a
good kid." Just thought I'd throw that in there, 'cause that's what
I bet Hank's really wonderin' about - is he any good or did they fuck him
up?
"That was
Logan." I'm gettin' the soft look from her again. "We'll see
you tomorrow, then, OK? Just you."
"All right.
And-thank you. Thank you for telling me and for-for taking care of
him. Thank you."
"You're welcome.
Bye." Off goes the cell phone. Well, I think she was right.
We were right to tell him. If that's the true story, and I kinda think
it is, we should probably at least tell him and let him see the kid and decide
if he wants him. "Whew. That was a little nerve racking."
"Yeah."
Especially her talkin' to Scott.
"But I'm
glad we told him. He deserves to know."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Hey, that was Jules. He knows another word.
"Yeah."
Marie's repeatin' it to him.
"Yeah."
Heh. He likes that. Likes bein' close to her and likes the attention.
God only knows how long it's been since he's seen people.
"Logan, we
should-we should be extra careful. If he escaped, they could be looking
for him. We should be extra careful tonight."
"Got it.
I'll keep an eye out." Don't need much sleep, and she's right.
Can't let our guard down. I'll take care of Marie plus this little
guy tonight.
"Uh, hello?"
Damn, damn-fell
asleep. Sun ain't quite up yet-what the - ?
"Hello."
Oh yeah, Hank. He said first thing in the mornin' and damned if he
didn't mean *first* thing in the mornin'. Didn't mean to fall asleep.
Didn't think I would, actually, since Marie and the kid are in back and I
stayed up front, just in case of nightmares. Look at her snuggled up
with him. No worries 'bout her skin 'cause he's got all that fur.
I think she really liked sleepin' with the little guy.
"Hello?"
Oh yeah, Hank.
"Go 'round."
Just gonna unlock the driver's side for him so he can get in too. Startin'
to rain on us a little. "Marie? Wake up, darlin', it's Hank."
"Mmmph?"
She musta been sleepin' good. Usually all this commotion woulda woken
her up already. "Hank?"
"Hello, Marie.
It is quite good to see you again. And this-this must be Jules."
Well, that's nice-he's tryin' to smile at the kid. Jules is still pretty
sleepy too, but-yeah, there it is, he's noticin'. Heh. Mouth
dropped right open.
"Ooooohhh."
Kid's surprised to see somebody that looks like him, that's for sure.
Well, there ain't too many furry blue mutants runnin' around.
"Jules, this
is our friend, Hank. Hank, meet Jules." Kid's clutchin' on to
Marie while she's tryin' to sit up. He's curious, but a little afraid,
you can tell. "Sorry. We just got up."
"My apologies
for coming so early, but I could not wait to meet Jules." Hank looks
like he likes the kid pretty good so far.
"He's a
little shy at first, but I bet he'll warm up to you." He's still hangin'
on to Marie, lookin' at Hank all wide-eyed. Cute kid. "Jules,
are you hungry? How about some breakfast?"
"Yeah, we
got some cooked meat left over and there's, uh, peanut butter and bread for
sandwiches in here somewhere."
"Hey, Logan-do
we have any of that juice left or did Jules drink it all?"
"Hmmm.
Dunno. It'd be under the folded-down seat and-shit!!" Fuckers.
Can see 'em through the trees. Not even wearin' camouflage or tryin'
to be subtle. Just standin' right out in the middle of the woods.
"What?"
"Lab guys.
Three of 'em. Start the car, Hank." And now they know I know
they're there. Fuck, they got guns. "Get down, Marie, they're
gonna shoot!"
There we
go-Hank's startin' the car and gettin' us movin'. Go, go, come on,
go.
"Nooooooo!"
Shit, poor kid's gotta be petrified. But I bet they can't hit jack
shit this far away and with us departin' at a relatively quick speed.
I caught sight of 'em while they were pretty far out.
"Hang on,
Jules!" Marie-coverin' the kid with her body, protectin' him.
They're shootin', but they haven't hit shit. Just got a coupla handguns
and-huh? I heard that one, somethin' hit the jeep, but-fuck, looks
like a little needle or somethin'. Went right through fuckin' metal.
Damn. Probably some kinda drugs or tranquilizers for the little guy.
"Keep goin'-we're
gonna lose 'em." Yeah, especially if they just got tranquilizer guns.
Damn good thing Hank came real early, though. Lotta luck there.
That, plus we packed everythin' in last night 'cause it looked like rain,
so we're not leavin' nothin' behind. Whaddya know? Got lucky
for once. Maybe Jules was our good luck charm. "Hang a left after
that tree and you'll find a road. Let's get the hell outta here, huh,
Marie?"
"Did we
lose them?" Stickin' her head up just a little, still coverin' Jules.
"Yeah.
They're way the hell outta sight now. I say let's get outta here and
put some distance between us and them." Now Jules is stickin' his head
up too. Definitely scared. "That was a close one, but we're OK.
Don't worry, kid." We're gonna make it, no problem. Here comes
the main road. Doubt if they got backup or anythin'. They thought
they were just after one little escaped kid. Fuckers. "Marie
look-don't move too much but look behind ya. See that needle pokin'
in? Right on the window frame, up by the roof? That's what they
were shootin'."
"God."
She knows what that means-they wanted him alive. They wanted to do
more shit to him.
"Logan -
which way on this road?"
"Left.
Let's get outta the park. Whaddya think, Marie?"
"Yeah, let's
go. Let's go. We'll-how much gas?"
"Half a
tank." Hank's pretty calm under pressure, pretty steady.
"OK.
Let's just get some ground between us and them until we need to stop for gas.
Then we'll stop and change plates and make a plan. I'm going to-Logan,
take Jules. I'm going to move the seat back up, so we can seat belt
him in if something happens. And I need to get the map." Marie's
pretty cool under pressure too.
"Got him."
He's shakin' all over. I dunno what they did to him, but I'm startin'
to think that maybe we shoulda stayed and fought so I coulda killed all of
'em.
"Is he all
right? Was he hurt?" Hank's worried 'bout him, and I guess that's
a good sign. Probably means he likes the kid OK.
"Nah.
Just shook up." And grabbin' the hell outta my shoulders. "Hey,
don't worry. They're not gonna getcha. We're not gonna let that
happen." You know, that kinda look just breaks your heart. He's
so scared and he wantsta believe me that he's gonna be OK so much.
"We should
contact the Professor for help. We should-if there is a facility nearby,
we should have the x-men investigate." Hank's makin' some sense there-I
wouldn't wanna have any other little guys like Jules trapped in some shithole
of a lab, and since we're not there anymore, it's not really givin' any information
away to the x-men. Maybe Marie'll know what to say about all that.
She's almost done fussin' with the seat.
"Marie?"
"Give him
to me, and I'll strap him in, OK?" He's in a hurry to go back to her
too-he took to her real good.
"Marie,
the thing he said about contactin' the x-men? I know you don't wanna
have nothin' to do with them, but the lab-"
"I know."
Real shaky voice. I forget that even when she's bein' all cool-in-a-crisis
Marie, that there's some scared goin' on underneath. "I'll-let me look
for the cell phone. You're right, we should call."
"I can contact
them telepathically. The Professor-he's a very powerful telepath.
I can reach out to him with my mind and relay the situation." Huh.
Well, that's some shit. Kinda pisses me off 'cause it means he really
didn't keep his word and come alone. They coulda been seein' the whole
thing through his brain. "I will do so now, if you don't mind."
"You just
keep drivin'. We toldya to come by yourself. You didn't tell
us you were lettin' those bastards peek in at what was goin' on through your
head."
"I-I wasn't.
I-you said not to share the details with them, and I did not." Marie's
lookin' at me and I'm lookin' at her and I don't think either one of us quite
knows whether to believe that or not. "You have my word that I did
not share detailed information about your whereabouts or this situation with
them. But we must contact the Professor about the lab."
"OK."
Marie's done bucklin' Jules and she's strappin' herself in too. Jules
don't like that too much-lotta stuff in that backseat with 'em and he's too
far away from Marie, I can tell. "Logan, put your seat belt on too."
"I don't
need one."
"I know,
just-humor me, OK?"
"OK, darlin'."
Whew. Almost outta the park. "We needta look at the map."
"Right."
She forgot about that a second, but that's OK. "Which way do you think
we should go? Further into Canada?"
"Yeah."
Feels better for both of us north of the border.
"That leaves
us North and West. You pick."
"West.
Definitely West." 'Cause we're on the eastern end and there's a lotta
west out there. Plenty of places to hole up if we gotta, plenty of
room to run.
"OK, let
me find a road."
"The Professor
said that he cannot detect anyone following us. We should be in the
clear. He is sending the x-men to locate the lab and has requested
that I remain with you for the time being should there be any further mishaps.
Is that agreeable?"
"I guess
so...........Logan?"
"Yeah, OK,
but Marie and me-we make the decisions. And no, uh, telepathic stuff.
We don't wanna hook up with the x-men or let 'em know stuff about us, OK?"
I think that's right. I think that's a good way to settle it.
And you know, I kinda like that Marie looked over at me to help make that
decision. She trusted me to have a say so. I think it's 'cause
of how good I've been takin' care of her. I've been makin' pretty good
decisions so far, so she probably figures I can help her out there a little
more than I was at first. Huh. I like that.
There's a
helluva lotta less room in the jeep with four people. Especially with
two big guys like Hank and me. He wasn't too crazy 'bout us stayin'
out in a park again, but like I told him, me and Marie make the decisions.
Crossed some big river over a long bridge, and now everythin'-all the road
signs and shit-looks funny. The park sign-even Marie had trouble pronouncin'
that. But it's a park, with a campground, and I feel better out here.
"So, how
do you think we should do this?"
"Well, I
was thinkin' we'd make a fire-all the meat got cooked, but we can heat it
up some. Have some dinner and get some sleep. Maybe in the mornin'-maybe
by then, we'll hear somethin'." Hank said that the Professor would
contact him in the head when the x-men were done takin' out that lab.
Hank said that he'd probably wanna head back to Westchester with Jules.
I'll miss the little guy, that's for sure. But I've been thinkin'-maybe
one day me and Marie can make a little one together. Not now 'cause
she's right-our lives are a little too excitin' for kids. But maybe
one day..
"Sounds agreeable
to me." Hank's had a ball playin' with Jules. I think he really
does feel good about him, he feels like a dad to him even though he was kinda
done by surprise, not by Hank decidin' to have him. But he turned out
so good, despite that even, who wouldn't wanna hang on to him. I just
let Hank know, real quiet, that if he ever didn't wanna have Jules, me and
Marie'd take him back. Didn't really talk to Marie 'bout that, but
I'm pretty sure she would. "I would-I would be happy to sleep outside
if it is easier."
"No, no.
It looks like rain again tonight. I was thinking that maybe you and
Jules could take the back, Hank, and Logan and I will sleep up front?"
"Sure."
It's just for one night. I kinda won't be sad to see 'em go, though,
'cause I miss bein' in back with Marie real bad. As soon as they're
outta here, we're havin' some more sex too. Look at how she's lookin'
at me right now-she wantsta. I'm gonna give her the look back that
says I wanna do it too.
"That's very
generous of you two. I really-I cannot thank you enough for finding
Jules." Wouldya look at that? Grown man-grown, big, hairy man-gettin'
tears in his eyes. "You see, I-I never thought that I would have children
since they-they would immediately inherit my mutant characteristics.
Jules is-despite how he was made to arrive in this world-a quite welcome
addition to my life."
"Noooo.."
Aw, Jules is tellin' him not to cry. He's gettin' usedta Hank, all
right. Just climbed up in his lap, just like that.
"Sorry.
Sorry, Jules. It is all right. You and I are both going to be
all right now." Jules is huggin' him just to be sure. They make
a good dad-son picture, right there. I think-I think we did right by
both of them. I think they're gonna be OK together. And, like
I said, if they're not, well, we got room for Jules in the jeep.
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