Having Logan and Scott together in the same state was asking for trouble. Hell, having them in the same country was a mistake. Marie knew this, but sometimes it wasn’t possible to keep the pair apart. Alexandra’s christening was one of those instances. So far, Marie had to say that Logan and Scott were behaving themselves better than normal. No one had been seriously injured... at least not by the other person. Of course, their last meeting didn’t really count. Logan had been in the hospital the last time he and Scott had seen each other so neither had done anything drastic.
“Do you think Scooter would melt if I doused him with holy water?” Logan murmured as he massaged the sweet smelling shampoo into Marie’s scalp.
Smirking, Marie swatted at Logan absently and leaned back against his chest. “No, mah brother will not melt. He’s not a vampire. All ya’ll do is waste some holy water.”
“Can I still try?”
Marie wound her arms about Logan’s neck, pulling him even closer. Dropping her head onto his shoulder, Marie tilted her head in order to press a kiss against the underside of his jaw. “Yer impossible, sugah. Not that I don’t imagine Scooter’s plottin’ things t’ do t’ ya.”
“Like Scooter could pull anything off,” Logan snorted, slipping his arms around Marie’s waist. “Are you positive that you and Kurt and related to him?”
“Yes, Ah’m sure. Now get back t’ washin’ mah hair,” Marie said, shimmying against Logan causing him to moan.
“Oh that’s no fair, darlin’,” Logan whimpered, clutching at her hips.
Marie giggled and pressed her bottom harder against his groin. That brought a loud groan from Logan’s lips and he squeezed her hips tightly. Sighing loudly, Marie relaxed against Logan. She positively adored the feel of Logan’s hands on her skin. After everything that had happened six months before, just having him hold her in his arms was a joy to Marie. The feel of his arms winding about her neck as his fingers sunk into her hair was definitely one of her favourites.
“Ga ga ba da!”
At the sound of Alexandra’s loud cries, Marie could see Logan rolling his eyes even though she had her back to him. He practically wilted, dropping his head onto her shoulder. It was a long standing joke between them that Alexandra had inherited Ron’s annoying sense of timing. Alexandra liked to make herself known when they were going to have sex.
“Do you wanna go get her or should I?” Logan mumbled against Marie’s shoulder.
“How ‘bout Ah go get Alex an’ bring her in here. She always likes havin’ showers with us,” Marie suggested, pulling away from Logan and turning around to wrap her arms about his neck. “So Ah suggest ya turn on the cold water an’ take care o’ yer little problem.”
“Well it’s your fault,” Logan reminded her, brushing his lips against her forehead. “You’re a very evil woman, darlin’.”
Marie did a little shimmy before climbing out of the shower. “It’s not mah fault ya can’t resist may body.... Ah’ll be back in a few minutes with Alex.”
As she pulled a fluffy blue towel off the rack, Marie heard Logan give a quiet gasp and knew that the cold water had been turned on. One day she was going to have a talk with Alexandra about her bizarre sense of timing. Marie was by no means complaining about the slight lull in their sex life. Marie’s only problem with it was Logan’s constant need for a cold shower.
“Hey there, angelface. Were ya feeling left out?” Marie cooed as she stepped from the bathroom and into their bedroom.
Alexandra grinned broadly and lifted her arms towards Marie. “Ma!”
“Good mornin’ t’ ya too, Alex,” Marie said as she lifted the little girl out of the crib. Balancing Alexandra on her hip, Marie walked over to the bed and set the infant on her back. She wasn’t the least bit surprised when Alexandra rolled onto her stomach as soon as she put her down.
Wanting to get back to Logan as soon as possible, Marie hurriedly got Alexandra out of her pajamas and diaper so that she would be ready for a shower. It hadn’t taken them very long to discover that Alexandra loved the water. She positively thrived in it, kicking and splashing like there was no tomorrow. So every morning either Marie or Logan would take her into the shower with them.
“Pa ga!” Alexandra chirped, squirming as Marie went to toss out the used diaper.
“Slow down, kiddo, we’re almost ready,” Marie assured her as she readjusted the towel wrapped around her body. Jogging back over to the bed she picked up her squirming daughter then made her way over to the bathroom.
“That you, darlin’?” Logan called as Marie opened the bathroom door.
“No, it’s Scooter!” Marie called back, shifting Alexandra slightly so that she could remove her towel. “Who did ya think it was?”
Logan opened the shower curtain and scooped a grinning Alexandra out of Marie’s arms. “After the time Ron walked in on us I like to make sure that it’s you.” With a broad smile on his face, Logan turned his full attention to his daughter. “You know, squirt, one day I’m gonna bring you in the shower with me when I have to turn the cold water on.”
All that Alexandra did was grin and press her hands to Logan’s cheeks.
Climbing into the shower, Marie closed the curtain then moved to reach Alexandra’s bottle of baby shampoo. After all, today was her christening so she needed to look perfect. After waiting for Logan to cup some of the warm water over their daughter’s head, Marie began to lather in the sweet smelling shampoo, delighting in Alexandra’s happy cries.
“You’ve got one set of vocal cords there, squirt,” Logan informed the infant, turning her slightly so that Marie could reach Alexandra’s hair. “Must take after your mother.”
Marie smirked at Logan over their daughter’s shoulder. “Ya’d better watch it, buddy. Ah have it in mah power ta make yer life a livin’ hell long as we’re here.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me, sugah,” Marie taunted, grinning evilly at him.
Logan grinned down at Alexandra and bounced her on his hip a little bit. “Your momma is luck I love her so much or else I just might have to take her up on her offer.”
Placing a hand above his daughter’s eyes, Logan tilted her back slightly so that Marie could wash the shampoo from her dark hair. Not aware of why Logan was covering her eyes, Alexandra grabbed for his hand, trying to pull it into her line of sight.
“I wouldn’t do that, Alex,” Logan warmed, keeping his hand in place as a protective visor. “You’ll get soap in your eyes if I move my hand.”
Alexandra just grinned at him gave him a wide grin and continued pulling at his hand.
Marie could help but grin at the pair. They were like two peas in a pod. No matter what all the baby books said about the father feeling left out during the early stages of the child’s life, that was most certainly not the case in their family. Logan had played as big a role in Alexandra’s life as Marie had, his damaged right should hindering him only slightly for the first few months. The only real problem Logan had been faced with was actually picking her up. His balance had been off and the first few times Logan had tried to pick Alexandra up from her crib had resulted in him nearly toppling over. After that first few attempts, Marie had made Logan promise not to do it any longer. Instead, Marie would pick Alexandra up and hand her to Logan until he had regained the use of his right arm.
Now that his shoulder was healing, Logan picked their daughter up as often as he could. He wasn’t quite to the point where he could lift Alexandra over his head, but he could pick her up and Marie had walked in on Logan dancing around the living room with Alexandra to one of Logan’s classic rock favourites. If the grins were anything to go by, Alexandra loved dancing with her Daddy.
“All clear,” Marie called once she rinsed the last of the shampoo from Alexandra’s hair. “An’ since the two o’ us have already had our shower, Ah think we’re all finished in here.”
A short while later the trio made their way downstairs dressed for the ceremony. Marie was wearing a pale green tank dress that stopped just shy of her knees. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a mass of curls, the two bleached streaks framing her face. Knowing that it would be hard enough to get Logan into a tux for the wedding, Marie was thrilled to see him in a pair of khakis and a beige button down shirt. The one place Logan drew the line was at wearing a tie. Said it made him look too much like Scooter.
Of them all, Alexandra was the most elegantly dressed. She was wearing the exact same garment that Marie, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother had worn for their own christenings. The dress was made of white silk and there were small crosses and lilies embroidered into the fabric with thread that was almost the exact same colour as the gown. The little girl put up a big stink, pouting and constantly moving about to impede Marie’s efforts. In the end, Marie won out and Alexandra ended up in the dress.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Marie glanced up at the sound of Logan’s voice, unable to contain a grin at the sight before her.
“Oh come in, Logan, don’t be such a baby,” Madison taunted from the other side of the living room.
Logan shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest. “It ain’t happening, Mad.”
“Logan--”
“No! I ain’t gettin’ my picture taken!” Logan protested. “I agreed to get dressed up, but no one said anything about having my picture taken. Especially not by my camera crazy sister.”
Madison merely rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Logan. If either of us is crazy, that would be you, brother dear. Now quit squawking and put your arm around Marie’s shoulders so I can get a picture of the three of you.”
With much grumbling and whining, Logan consented to Madison taking a picture of them. He even went as far as to smile if Marie interpreted the snickers from Ron and Kurt correctly.
“Oh quit sulkin’,” Marie chided, jabbing Logan in the stomach with her elbow. “There’ll be a lot more pictures ‘fore the day is over.”
Logan moaned, dropping his head down onto Marie’s shoulder. The flashbulb on Madison’s camera went off then, much to Marie’s amusement and Logan’s annoyance. By the time they left for the church half an hour later, there had been several rolls of film used both by Madison and Daniel. Marie, Logan and Alexandra had posed in the living room, the front lawn and on the expansive porch that wrapped around the house. There had also been separate pictures taken of Alexandra with Madison, Ron and Kurt who were to be Alexandra’s Godparents. Jubilee was the original Godmother, but she and her new boyfriend Remy had moved down to New Orleans and she hadn’t been able to make it for the ceremony.
“Can we please go now?” Logan pleaded, unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt and rolling them up.
“You should be happy, Logan. This is your daughter’s christening. Try to act like you care,” Scott protested, patting Logan on the shoulder as he walked past.
Marie linked her arm through Logan’s and led him away from Scott before he did anything drastic.
“To hell with dousing him in holy water, I’m gonna fuckin’ drown him,” Logan growled under his breath as Marie steered him over to where Daniel was holding Alexandra. “Where the fuck does he get off saying that I don’t care about Alex’s christening? Fuckin’ prick!”
“Ah know he’s a prick,” Marie placated him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Scooter’s always had a stick up his ass. But that doesn’t matter. This is our day. So just do what Ah’ve been doin’ mah whole life an’ ignore him.”
Logan snorted and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “If I didn’t like Kurt so much I’d be convinced you’re adopted... so I’m just gonna stick to my theory that your parents adopted Scooter from a woman who fucked a robot and got pregnant.”
Marie smirked, barely managing to contain her laughter. It would only provoke Logan further. “Yer awful. Ya do know that, right?”
“That’s why you love me,” Logan insisted, squeezing her shoulders.
“If ya wanna believe that,” Marie murmured, snuggling into Logan’s arms.
If there was anything to be thankful for, it was that the christening went off without a hitch. Logan and Scott didn’t try to kill each other, Alexandra behaved like the little innocent she normally was when she wasn’t trying to impersonate her father. Of course, it was clearly obvious whose daughter she was when she grabbed hold of the priest’s hand as he went to dab her forehead with water.
“Alexandra Marie, ya let him go right this instant,” Marie chided, unable to keep the laughter from her voice. “He’s supposed ta put that on yer head.”
Instead of letting go of his wrist, Alexandra pulled his hand towards her mouth. With one final grin she shoved the digit with the water into her mouth and began sucking on it. Everyone burst out laughing at that which caused Alexandra to break out into a huge grin.
Aside from that it was just a common, everyday christening. Alexandra eventually consented to allowing the priest to put the water on her forehead and the whole rest of the ceremony was rather uneventful save for Kurt and Ron trying to beat each other each time they had to give some pledge or response.
The reception following the christening was held at a the bar/restaurant that Jean’s brother, Bobby, and his friend Johnny ran together. The only real problem holding a reception in an establishment run by a pair of immature twenty-something year olds was the fact that it was run by a pair of immature twenty-something year olds. Which was why it didn’t surprise her in the least when, halfway through the reception, Logan, Ron, Kurt, Bobby and Johnny went charging through, water guns a-blazing.
“Come on, Kurty, I thought you had better aim than this!” Logan shouted over his shoulder as he vaulted over a chair, skidded, and nearly toppled over before continuing on behind the bar.
“This isn’t fair! You have military training!” Kurt protested, tumbling over the same chair Logan had so easily jumped over moments before.
“But I don’t remember it so it doesn’t count!” Logan called back, hitting Ron with a blast of water.
Daniel rolled his eyes as he watched the antics. “Will you guys please grow up and put the water guns away!”
“Can’t do, Dad! This is war!” Kurt shouted, ducking to avoid a stream of water from Ron’s gun. “Wait till one of us goes down!”
Marie looked down at Alexandra, grinning at her daughter who was giggling as she watched the water fight. “An’ that, Alex, is proof that men never grow up. They just stay over-grown children their entire lives.”
“Ba!”
“That’s right, angelface, they’re bad,” Marie said with a nod of her head.
“We’re not bad, Marie, we’re just having fun!” Ron informed her as he soaked the back of Logan’s head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to continue getting your fiancée soaking wet.”
“Bite me, Ron!”
Marie pressed her face against the top of Alexandra’s head, blocking out the sight of the water war going on around her. A part of her knew that she should have been used to things like this. After all, Logan and Ron acted like this non-stop. And, as always, Madison was there on her side.
“Hopefully they’ll wear themselves out in time for their nap,” Madison said, draping her arms across Marie’s shoulders.
A loud crash followed by pained shouts from Logan and Johnny. Everyone’s eyes flew to the closet door that the pair had slid into and the pair laying sprawled on the ground in front of it. As every one watched, the door slowly began to tip forward off its hinges. Logan and Johnny looked at each other and covered their heads as it came crashing down on top of them.
Revealing Jean having sex in the closet with some guy who wasn’t Scott.
“This can’t end well....” Marie mumbled under her breath as she watched her brother’s life falling apart before their eyes.