When Scott Met Annie

Chapter 15: Uncle Scott

Summer had gone by in a breeze of days spent in this "normal" routine. Scott went to work, he came home to Annie, and they would watch old movies, go on walks, or simply stay inside and curl up together.

The only notable thing to happen since Scott got the job was the graffiti on the side of the library, but that hadn't lasted. A fine beam later, and the graffiti was scraped off the surface, and no one was any wiser, so he hadn't told Annie about it.

But with the end of the summer came school, which brought with it a change in the routine as Annie prepared for a new class of Kindergarteners. She was always bubbly and warm, but to see her ahead of a new school year was something else entirely, like watching her come alive for the first time all summer.

Scott had just stepped in through the front door when Annie rushed over to greet him, jumping up to kiss him past the height difference with her arms around his shoulders and neck as he caught her around the waist and never let her feet touch the ground, pulling her in that much tighter and smiling into the kiss when she didn't seem like she was about to let up in the least.

When she finally broke to get a breath, he was still smiling. "You sure know how to say hello, Annie," he couldn't help teasing her.

She grinned up at him and swatted his arm playfully. "I'm just excited, that's all."

Scott paused as he tried to think of what might be different about that day than any other Wednesday, but aside from school starting on Monday, he simply couldn't think of anything. "Alright," he said, shaking his head to himself as he left his shoes by the front door and then scooped Annie up around the waist to repeat the performance, pulling her up to kiss him.

For a long while, they got lost in each other, her hands in his hair and his around her hips until he set her down on the counter so he could trace the curve of her jaw and get his hands tangled in her hair.

He was fairly concentrated on what he was doing, so when she took a breath, he thought it was just to breathe until she tapped him on the shoulder. "Aren't you going to ask me what for?"

He shook his head at her and kept tracing her jaw, undeterred and enjoying himself. "Alright, Annie. What's got you so excited?"

"Mom and Dad are coming up this weekend."

Scott stopped what he was doing, the revelation enough to totally derail his earlier track, though he still brushed back Annie's hair as he asked, simply, "When did this happen?"

"Oh, they usually come up every year before school starts, but they weren't sure if they were going to be able to make it this year. Mom's sister had a bad fall, and they wanted to be with her just in case," Annie explained in a rush of breath, obviously picking up on the fact that he was far less excited by the prospect than she was — though it didn't take a telepath to catch that, honestly, considering he had completely been derailed.

"That's...."

Annie watched his face carefully and reached up to cup her hand against his cheek, brushing her thumb against his cheekbone. "Oh come on, Mr. Summers. Are you telling me the big bad X-Man is afraid of meeting my parents?"

Scott let out a scoffing noise. "No."

"Good." She leaned forward on the counter and with one hand snagged him around the back of the neck so she could pull him into a kiss that was a lot more like the more involved one that he'd been trying for earlier.

Saturday morning came far too early — where did the week go? — and with it also came an earlier wake-up call than usual so that Annie could pick up her parents from the airport once they arrived in Anchorage.