When Scott Met Annie

Chapter 13: Meet the Family

When Sunday arrived, Scott found that he was strangely nervous as he ducked into Annie's car and she drove the few miles between her house and Anton's. He'd already met Anton and played Boggle with Rachel, but this was different. He doubted either Rachel or Anton was blind enough to think that he and Annie hadn't grown as close as they had, so the dynamic had changed.

He thought he was ready for that. He'd done it before, a little, with Jean.

But he was completely caught off guard when, instead of being greeted by Anton's nearly accusatory glare when they arrived, Rachel was the one to greet them, with an adorable baby girl, a little over a year old, on her hip.

"'Bout time y'all got here," Rachel said with a wide and teasing grin as Annie rushed to hug her big sister, and a little girl of about five or six peered out from around Rachel's legs, shyly hiding but still apparently determined to be part of the greeting party.

"Leslie Ann, this is Scott," Annie told the little girl, who studied Scott from around her mother's knees with a look that clearly said she didn't know what to make of him.

He crouched down to her level and waved, and she waved shyly back at him, though it was clear she wasn't coming out from behind Rachel anytime soon. "Nice to meet you."

She giggled and hid behind Rachel again, and her mother let out an exasperated sigh. "She's usually not very shy," she said.

"It's fine," he promised as he straightened up and followed Annie through the door into Rachel and Anton's home. He was, after all, more or less used to that. He wasn't sure if it was being an X-Man or if it was the glasses, but — yeah, he was used to it.

For her part, Annie swept in like she owned the place, heading right to the kitchen with her sister as, in the space of just a few moments, she had little baby Mary Beth on her hip and was already helping to get everything set out to make dinner. It was obvious that she had done this a thousand times, coming in and making herself at home, and Scott couldn't help but smile watching the two sisters chat back and forth as they passed each other seasonings, pans, and took turns holding Mary Beth.

"Nothin' can stop the Hale sisters when they get together," Anton said as he stepped out of the living room and tipped his head at Scott to indicate that he should follow him. "If you stick around long enough to see all three of 'em in one place..." He shook his head and let the smirk speak for the rest of the sentence.

Scott couldn't help but laugh as he looked over his shoulder to where Annie and Rachel were both already falling into deeper accents, seeming to feed off of each other. But it was clear that they loved every second around each other, and it was impossible not to smile watching them both. "I think it's great," he said.

Anton didn't say anything except to raise an eyebrow at Scott before he gestured for Scott to join him and offered him a beer. "You got any family?" Anton asked as he leaned back on the couch.

"Not like this," Scott said. He knew that Anton was fishing for information and didn't exactly mind — Jean's family had been the same way, though it had been easier then... Jean could tell them so much more so much faster than Annie could. And it wasn't like Annie knew much in the first place; she pointedly didn't ask about anything related to the X-Men — well, usually.

"Not close?" Anton asked.

Scott almost smirked. "Not really," he said. He cracked open the beer Anton had given him. "And you?"

"Dad was in the Army," Anton said. He tipped his head toward the door to the kitchen. "That's how I met Rachel. Pair of Army brats."

"Yeah, I get that," Scott said with a little nod.