Following Instincts

Something In The Air

Rachel had never been to her father's cabin in Alaska ... until now. The entire short flight from Anchorage into the bush had been one awe inspiring moment after another. The mountains. The trees. The thick fog hanging over all of it ... and the water landing they had with the pontoon plane had her gasping with delight and smiling widely - a point that had Scott grinning wider to himself with each more delighted noise she made.

The dock led to a rocky shoreline that gave way to thick brush right off the dock and the vast feeling of the place had Rachel clinging to her parents as she stared around her.

"What do you think, sweetheart?" Scott asked as he crouched down next to her. Already the weather was shifting from the short fall Alaska was famous for to winter, though it wasn't quite time for that yet.

"Wow," Rachel replied, wide eyed, which only had Scott smiling wider. He was right. They needed this time alone just the three of them. It would be the only chance they really got before the baby came - so, against his better judgement, he took Rachel's hand in one of his and stared at the comm in his other hand. Ever since he'd been a teenager he'd been in close contact with the X-Men in one capacity or another, but now? He needed to put his priorities in order. With a frown, he turned the comm off for the first time in years and shoved it into his pocket. It felt less like an emergency call and more like a tether. And what did he really need it for anyhow? His wife was the most powerful telepath in the world. She could reach out for help if they needed it. But the big help they needed now was to simply spend time together.

Rachel grinned at him and tried to contain her squeals of delight when she spotted a bear on the other side of the lake. Scott crouched down behind her, one hand around her waist and the other pointing to the animal as he started to explain how things worked there with Jean grninning wider with every word that Rachel was enraptured with.

By the time they got dinner settled, Scott was ready to actually enjoy his time with them. Every minute of it.

Maddeningly, in New York, almost as soon as the Summers family was gone, the pressure from the Avengers lifted slightly. Construction was well under way, though the school obviously wasn't going to be ready to start until mid-school year at best. Much of the Avenger's as a team had started signing up for the classes they wanted to teach. Which only included a couple of weekends for Logan and K to pitch in for a crash course in self defense.

Which was frustrating for Logan. Not because he wanted to help there more, but because he had little to do in the wake of the Summers family exodus than to simply stew on everything Scott had said.

"I'm not so sure that I like the look you're wearing," Kurt said as he took the creeper next to Logan in the garage and opened a beer bottle for himself. He took a long drink as Logan watched him, then frowned when it was clear that Logan wasn't denying anything or even reaching for a beer to drink himself. "What's going on?"

"Nothin'," Logan said, shaking his head before he got back to work quite suddenly.

"Logan ..."

"Let it go, Elf. It's not important."

Kurt frowned then sat back watching his best friend and drinking Logan's beer for him. He made no effort to hide what he was doing, and no attempt to cover that he was concerned. "Is this because of Scott?"

"No," Logan said, resolutely pushing it off. "Just rethinkin' my involvement."

Kurt narrowed his eyes. "... in every team but ours, you mean." When Logan didn't answer Kurt leaned toward him. "We're not going to watch you cavort with Avengers rather than us are you? Because I must tell you, mein Freund, if you've talked your lovely wife into joining you with the Avengers only to utterly abandon us for those ... showboating glory hogs, we may have to cross swords."