I Thought You Were Different: Part 6

Mongrels

Ten years later

"Wake up, doll."

"No. I don't want to."

Steve rolled over with a lazy smile on his face, turning to face you but the morning sun was coming in through the curtains at just the perfect angle to catch his eyes and make him retreat onto his back with a groan. "I know," he yawned, "neither do I, but vacation can't last forever."

"Says who?" you challenged, finally rolling onto your side and towards his direction.

"Your dad."

"He's not the boss of me."

"Ha!" he scoffed loudly enough to make you jump. "You could've fooled me! I've been around both of you enough years now to know that you just lied right to my face." Steve pushed himself up onto his elbows, letting out a small wince of either pain or disgust at having to move from such a comfortable place. Even with his slower aging process, he was beginning to feel a few of his hundred-plus years, and he hated that you were quick to catch onto it. You aged slower as well, but you just seemed better at hiding it. Either that, or you really were stronger than he was. "Seriously, up. We need to get back for Ant's big day. It's his first trial run without Tony."

"Fine," you finally relented, swinging your legs off the side of the bed with a long stretch, "is Grant or Brooke stopping by? It's been forever since we've had the three of them together at the same time."

Steve shook his head, hanging it down solemnly at the reminiscence of his family as it once was; when they were all together and under the same roof, with the laughter of childhood filling the halls of the compound. Sure, there were other kids doing that very thing right now, but it wasn't the same. The sound of his children completed him like none other could. "I think Grant's out with the Four today. Now that Johnny's retiring, Grant is taking his spot full-time. Wade had a meeting with Brooke and Wanda last week to talk about how training was going with the younger kids, so I think they'll be by with an update for us. Wade seemed a little more stressed out the last time I saw him."

"More than usual?"

"Amazingly, yes. I think his willingness to take this on is fading fast." Steve pushed himself up to stand as you did, but he was purposeful to grab his clothes and head to the bathroom without so much as making eye contact with you, keeping his body turned so that it wouldn't even be an option.

"You're getting yourself ready to take over, aren't you?" you asked pointedly.

"Someone should," he answered plainly. "Tony is busy with Ant enough as it is, Wanda's trying to pass everything she knows to Brooke, and I know that Storm keeps a close watch on Grant even though he's out of the game. So, since everyone else is watching my kids, I'll watch the rest. It probably means that I'll need to spend a few weeks out at the school, though."

"I wonder how Becca is doing at Xavier's? She was only going to stay for a week to try it out and she's been gone a month. Have Sam and Buck decided if they're going to send her? It would probably be best if they kept all the kids together just to make it easier on them."

"No, not yet," Steve sighed. You could see that he was disappointed, but he had no right to push his friends in the care of their own child. The girl was getting stronger in her skills of metal manipulation, but with no one of the same power to help her hone it, Steve worried that his niece would be at risk for getting out of control, and making herself known to those who might be waiting for just the right time to take advantage of it.

"Maybe we should talk to them-"

"I think they're getting ganged up on by everyone else enough already. The other three kids are already a team in their own right, and I'm almost afraid of what they'll become when they really put their minds to it. If we add Becca to the mix, they could make Earth's Mightiest Heroes look like a retirement home gang of has-beens."