Re: 20 Minutes Later
"Like a fucking window cleaned by Troy's dope-ass-genie," Ronan answered with only a light dusting of sarcasm on his words. The 'talk' with Jon irritated him, but Mars could hardly fault Forge for being protective. "Anything else?" Mars wasn't sure exactly what Forge wanted to fucking say.
"Yeah. Starting tomorrow, I own you." Jon's fingers jabbed at the control pad and the elevator door hissed open. "I'm taking you off of leave, you'll report to me tomorrow morning." He entered the elevator, turned and waited for Ronan to follow.
Ronan blinked. Alright. Jon was a hands-on parent. Mars could dig. It was exactly what he needed, because Kiernan was already nanny-ing him to within an inch of his life. "Just promise me at least once we'll play catch." The Irishman answered, then stepped into the elevator.
Downstairs, Ronan appeared in the examine room. Eva, Maria, and Faolan were all there - a bit worse for wear. Though, Ronan doubted he looked much better - especially after his silent elevator ride with his new owner Forge. Faolan, though. He was more beautiful than he'd imagined - he could immediately see both branches of his family tree in him, and the look on the boy's face was enough to send Mars into orbit. Faolan ran to him, Ronan dropped to one knee and wrapped his arms around the lad, at least seventeen times. Ronan squeezed Faolan so tightly that water had begun to leak from the older mutant's eyes. he fucking hated it when that happened. Okami's wolf appeared, or simply returned, and circled the pair several times before passing straight through Ronan. It was a telepathic download of sorts and gave Ronan an insight into everything he needed to know. "Fway..." That's what he'd called him.
Ronan glanced up to see Eva's still flushed face, her makeup wrecked in the most adorable way... And all he could do was hold the boy even closer to him. "It's my son." He said to Zap, "It's our son." He wanted to talk to Maria, he wanted to find out everything he could about alternate Ronan and how the other man managed to do what he'd wanted to. Mars needed to crack the code, he couldn't lose this. But Ronan was in no condition for a second introduction. Not when Fway remained in his arms.
Jon had entered the room a second after Ronan, and now side-stepped the father-son exchange. He found Maria again, who had yet to let her daughter go. "He's an asshole, but he'll do." Jon said of Ronan, more confidence in his abilities than Ronan's - at the moment. "When you're ready..." He whispered to Maria, "I've got a place you can get some rest." She may have been older and technically a different person - he could still see the exhaustion in her eyes. "It's safe, and there's room for Minor." He smirked, then reached his arm out for Eva. "You okay, babygirl?"