Chapter Text
It was the way everyone was able to sit together for dinner. Head out to the park before or after, let the girls run around a little.
Logan and Wade, Laura and Ellie, sometimes Carmelita or Al would tag along if they weren't busy. Buy a couple pizza's and go sit outside until it got dark, then sit outside some more. Watch that sun set down over town. A life they hadn't ever had, but was falling into place after all this time.
Laura would run up and ask for a hair tie and Logan would pull one off his wrist that he knew she'd be asking for. She'd pin her hair up and take off to go mess around in a tree. Her hands were fine, claws and all had grown back without a trace. Logan was more than relieved over that, but he'd still fuss over her for sticking them into the branches of the trees, just to grip on tight and show off.
Ellie was unchanged. She still talked and gawked just fine, and still convinced Laura to get into the wildest shenanigans just fine. She still sang loudly and planned widely and was tenacious as ever.
They were sure those kids would carry memories of unease- this detrimental life would follow them. But for them at least, they had someone to take care of them, and they were growing up just fine now. They had someone to love them, and people doing their upmost best to make sure they were right where they needed to be. Those kids would have their sleepovers and movie nights and the best upbringing they could muster, no matter what came and passed.
They'd have better than Logan and Wade ever had, for sure. Even if it fucking killed them.
The school took time to get back into working order. Logan had agreed to help rebuild it, but this time, far more safety measures were put into the place- mostly on his own call. Even with their biggest threat dead and gone, they knew more could always come. Thus, they'd be. prepared this time.
Logan learned about the people there, finally. The white haired woman was an easy click, like he'd known and missed her. Maybe he had. The same went for the others, so many of them were welcoming to him and he was invested in return.
At least three months of construction work happened, before the school reopened. Life pulled back around to normal- as good as it had ever been.
Wade would jump in Logan's car, or harass the faculty of the school as soon as it was up and running. Demand to know that his kid was doing good, and receiving only the very best. He tried to help out too, but most of what he did just came down to entertainment at a certain point. Practically an unofficial mascot at a certain point.
He still got himself into endless situations, but Logan was there at least to bear witness.
Regardless, they were involved now. Any possible harm to come, went through them just as much as it went through anyone. They kept their ears and eyes open, together, and would work their fucking hardest to make sure this place stayed safe.
Together. That's how it all ended, perhaps.
Slow, they all let it happen slow. It wasn't just Logan and Wade sticking together- OR just Laura and Ellie. It was easily becoming all of them, maybe a family in the works. That was a harsh word, for all of them to try and say, but maybe that would mean it all stuck together with and ease like wood-glue. A long long long time to dry but lasting longer than decay.
Birthday parties and holidays were deemed better than ever, with people to actually celebrate them. What had been minimal and pitiful for them all, became extravagant and looked forward to. Wade and Carmelita had gotten along well enough to spend months planning a surprise birthday for Ellie, and Laura was more than happy to have her own quiet festivities not all that different than their average days, only making sure her people were with her. Maybe even Wade and Logan could have birthdays of their own together.
The girls trick or treated together and traded candy at the end of the night with an impressive system to it- something Laura had never even done. They all piled into Wade's crack home for Christmas after putting up the tree together a month before. It was cleaned up and shined somehow beyond compare, and full of food that'd leave too many leftovers, which Ellie hadn't ever really had because her people were always so split apart. Even the crack neighbors took some food home, after that.
Laura and Ellie accepted their dad's being together- not before making them swear on their lives that they as children were more important, at least, and that they weren't gross about it. They'd watched enough movies to know how this went.
It was slow, they took it in strides. Maybe one day they'd move in together, get a place the girls would gush over together and fill to the brim with their marks. Maybe they'd get an ugly little dog then, that the girls would gush over too. That seemed far off. They were happy, as it was, and no one was eager for change. No one even wanted change- this was perfect, as is, just being happy, all together. Safe together, after all they'd been through.
Content to stay in the present, and keep the present safe. They couldn't ask for more.
It was the way they'd all sit together for dinner, without worry. Find a restaurant or eat at home, find out who was bad at cooking and who would be taking that over instead. Make their favorite places known, make habits they'd love to keep. Live life, simple and safe.
Past behind them- bright futures ahead.