Unwilling Weapon

Dead Plants And Other Traditions

The morning of the wedding, the whole excitement level exploded all over again as everyone got ready for the big bash. They were to hold the ceremony outdoors under a beautiful arch that one of Annie's uncles had made himself, and as the guests filed in, the X-Men noticed that almost every one of Annie's Kindergarten kids that she'd taught had come — they even had their own little section so they could see their teacher get married, and they were all wide-eyed and star-struck on seeing the X-Men at their teacher's wedding.

Logan slipped in from walking the perimeter one last time just a few minutes before one final car pulled up to the resort, and Alex Summers got out, grinning as he just strolled right up to stand beside Scott underneath the arch as if he'd been planning it all along, while his green-haired date quietly took a seat beside Storm with a huge, beaming smile.

It was obvious from the look of surprise on Scott's face that he hadn't expected his brother to come — but that quickly turned into a huge grin as Alex just picked his brother up in a full hug and offered his congratulations and apologies for being late — "Space traffic is terrible these days, and I had to pick up a hitchhiker." With that, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the last member of the late arriving group, who despite everything seemed to be just trying to slip in unnoticed.

"You brought Dad," Scott said in almost disbelief, which just got Alex grinning wider.

"Like I'd let him miss this," Alex said casually, though it was obvious to anyone watching that both Summers boys were just about inches away from a teary reunion right there for everyone to see — though it looked like Alex was trying hard not to turn his brother into a puddle before he could even get married. "By the way. I'm ... staying. Right here." He flashed Scott a brilliant smile that Scott could only laugh at as he just half-elbowed his way past Anton to take the best man position.

Alex smiled up at Anton. "Hey. Little brother here. Thanks for keeping my spot warm."

Anton looked surprised for only a second before he burst into a booming laugh. "Sure thing, little man."

"You can only say that because you're like what — nearly seven feet tall? We're not a short family."

Anton just grinned and leaned over to whisper low to Alex, "Ask your big brother about one-on-one basketball."

"It's not nice to pick on him like that," Alex said.

"He's marryin' into my family. He better get used to the friendly ribbing," Anton chuckled.

"Good luck with that," Alex chuckled.

With all of the wedding guests now in place — including the unexpected ones — it was time for little Leslie Ann to (finally) get to make her debut as a flower girl, skipping happily down the aisle as she very precisely tried to get flowers evenly spaced ... for about the first few rows of chairs. Then she broke into a bit of a giggle and couldn't help but throw a fistful of them into Spiderman's face as she passed and saw that he was sitting on an aisle seat — and after that, it was just a lot of petal-throwing and giggles all the way down the aisle to climb up into a seat next to Iceman, who was, she told anyone who would listen, her 'date.'

Aman was right behind Leslie Ann with his very best, very practiced smile and the rings on a pillow that he was watching closely. He had the cutest look of concentration on his face as he carefully followed after Leslie Ann, nose scrunched and clearly focused, though he did get distracted when he saw Kurt and tried to wave and almost dropped the pillow.

And then, finally, out came Annie, dressed in a flowing gown with magnolias in her bouquet and embroidered on the edges of her sleeves. She was beaming ear to ear — and the smile only seemed to get even wider when she saw the look Scott had, lips slightly parted in an 'o' shape as he temporarily lost the straight-backed posture and just ... stared at her.