Long Road Home (the_wolverine) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-09-22 17:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alice liddell, logan howlett (wolverine) |
Who: Logan, Alice and baby Kurt
When: recent
Where: Alice's
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13
Alice was starting to get tired and she knew it showed on her face. Kurt was starting to fuss more and demand more attention and her dad helped as much as he could but she was trying not to rely too much on him to take care of the baby. She had just gotten Kurt settled down to sleep after feeding him and was laying down to take a nap herself, her elephant plush over her eyes to block out the light that was coming through the cracks in her blinds, when she heard the doorbell ring. “Damnit,” she whispered to herself, getting up and going over to the bassinet, grateful to see the baby still sleeping and then headed for the door, cursing louder as it rang again just as she started to open it and saw Logan on the other side.
“I promise I wasn’t cursing because it’s you.” She said, stepping back as she waved him in.
“Eh, getting cursed at is the usual reaction,” he joked, giving her a tired smile. It wasn’t an imposition on him to ask him to help with the baby. It wasn’t like with Morrigan, where there were two parents there. She was alone, and he was half-responsible. Logan had messed up too many times in the past to not want to do what he could now.
“It was more at the doorbell. I was worried it would wake Kurt up. He’s reached the point where he’s not sleeping straight through every night anymore. I should have listened about it wasn’t going to last forever,” Alice told him with a small sigh as she led him into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. “Do you want a cup?”
“Sorry about that.” It had been a while, after all. He grinned at her, though, “Coffee sounds good, just make sure you don’t run out, because eventually you might and you’ll regret it. It ain’t gonna get any easier until he’s two, and then it gets worse in other ways.”
“Daddy’s been tracking it for us. He doesn’t want to run out of coffee in the mornings himself. And it’s in everyone’s best interest that they never see him outside the house before his first cup.” Alice told him grabbing two coffee mugs and setting them on the kitchen table. “I’ve heard about the terrible twos. I might just ship him off to you for that year if he’s really bad.” She joked.
“Once I feel better about moving him into the nursery full time I’ll start sleeping better I think. Right now...he’s so restless at night that I’m lazy and just put him in the bassinet in my room so that I don’t have to go so far to get to him when he starts.” She said, sitting down while she waited for the coffee to finish, pouring cream and sugar into her cup.
“Sounds like some other people I know,” Logan observed. Kitty before her coffee was a scary, scary thing. “Give me a few months, and I’ll have him runnin’ with the wolves in no time.”
He grinned at her like he was joking and yet…”
“Speaking of giving you some time with him...Do you want to see how it goes keeping him for a weekend sometime soon? I’ve been getting him used to bottles for when I’m not around so that wouldn’t be a problem. And I’ve got the premiere end of August for my movie. And while he was there for filming...I don’t think he’s quite ready for all of that.” Alice asked getting up as the coffee finished brewing to pour for both of them. She’d been using the pump her mom had gotten for her so it wasn’t that Kurt wasn’t getting the nutrients with each feeding.
“I’d love that,” Logan admitted. And he’d agree that the kid was a bit too young for that kind of exposure, though Alice would have a lot of questions lobbed her way.
Eventually Kurt and Kyra would have to meet. They were half-siblings after all
“So...you’ll take him that weekend?” Alice said hoping that the hopefulness in her voice didn’t come across badly. She loved their son but - she was hoping to get a weekend where she could just be a teenager and enjoy getting to say she had her first lead in a major motion picture out in theaters. “And any other time you want you can. You know that right?” She wanted them to be able to get along, to not have to get a court involved in deciding who got Kurt when. She’d been through that once already with her own parents divorcing, she’d go to hell before putting the baby through that if she could avoid it.
“I’d love it,” Logan assured her. Contrary to his gruff appearance and attitude, he loved kids. He’d missed out on too many and he wasn’t going to miss out this time. And he knew that Alice needed time to herself. “We could come up with a schedule if you’d like that, or just.. Play it by ear.”
“Thanks Logan. I’m sure he’ll love getting to spend time with you.” Alice was starting to notice their son was definitely starting to pick who he did and didn’t like spending time with. He fussed a lot more around her older sister than he ever did around Mina was her proof of that. “I still need to get you my class schedule so we can work that out.” She said, sipping her coffee and letting out a tired sigh when she heard Kurt crying upstairs.
“I’ll be right back. Looks like naptime is over for right now. I think my favorite day with him is going to be when he starts sleeping regularly again.” She got up from the table and went up to her room, picking him up. “You were supposed to be napping.” She told him, kissing his temple softly as she turned to the bedroom door. “Daddy’s here though. You want to spend time with Daddy I know. Are you going to be a good boy?” She asked quietly, rubbing his back in the soothing way she’d learned he liked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Kurt wanted to see you too I think.” She said shifting the baby in preparation of handing him to Logan.
Logan nodded, grimacing a little. At least it was a college class schedule and not high school. That would look … bad… And he had enough guilt about Alyssa, even if he missed her terribly.
Smiling, he reached out for Kurt, obviously knowing how to hold a baby, and his expression softened.
Alice handed the baby over happily, smiling as she watched Kurt with his dad. It was nice getting to see Logan with their son and she might not ever admit this to anyone but he was one of the only people she absolutely trusted with Kurt. Even her own sister didn’t have that level of trust from her. She settled back down in her chair, wrapping her hands around her mug as she watched them. “Tyler and I are trying to work out when I can start my fitness training again now. Working around his new work schedule and the fact that I don’t want to be up and moving at 4:30 in the morning. Well not outside of the house at least so we’re probably going to schedule our sessions for afternoon or evenings.” She swallowed.
“Just keep me appraised okay?” Logan glanced up at her, grinning. He just needed to know if he needed to hire extra staff at the bar or the ranch. Because he would. As a plus side it would help people who might need jobs while giving him more free time.
“I don’t sleep much. Don’t need it. four to six hours at most.”
“I will. I also...I’ve been talking with my dad and he thinks it might be good for me to talk to someone about what happened before Kurt was born. When I got...kidnapped. He thinks it might help me get over the anxiety I have about leaving the house sometimes.” Alice told him, staring down into her coffee cup. She’d tried so hard to keep it from coming out that it had affected her as much as it had. That she still had nightmares sometimes.
“Well...Kurt will definitely be helping you come up with reasons to stay awake when he stays with you. He seems to love the hour between 2 and 3 the most. I think because there’s nothing on to keep me from paying a 120% attention to him.”
“I agree.” Logan looked over in her direction, bouncing Kurt a little in his arms. Therapy might not be something he’d ever do, but he knew it could help most people a great deal. “It ain’t wrong or weak to ask for help, Alice. There are folks that can help you through that.”
Alice looked up at him, almost in tears but she blinked them back. “I just have to figure out where to start to find one. I was thinking maybe the Network? I think I remember seeing somebody mention being a therapist on there.”
.
“It’s probably the best place to start. With the dreams and everything.” Logan came closer, careful of Kurt as he put his arm around Alice’s shoulders. “You deserve better.”
Alice allowed herself to lean into him slightly as Logan put his arm around her, almost resting her head on his shoulder. “Just promise me that you took care of the guys that did it? I mean promise me again.” She knew he had but sometimes just hearing something for a second time, being reminded that it had happened helped.
“I did, and I’d do it again,” Logan promised, holding her close. “Won’t let anything happen to you.”
Alice gave up trying to resist the temptation to lean into him as Logan pulled her close, relaxing against him with her head on his shoulder as she looked at their son on his other side. Kurt seemed so at ease with his dad holding him and she couldn’t help but smile at their little boy. Moments like this were reminders that while yeah her life might not be working out the way she’d imagined - she really wouldn’t trade any part of it now.