Paper Training

Happy Birthday, Dad

"Oh, is it already that late in the day?" Annie glanced at the nearest clock and then put a placeholder in the book and slammed it shut. "Come on, Kate, let's go upstairs, then. We can munch on some popcorn while we look over the options here."

"I'm always in favor of popcorn," Kate said with a little grin as she offered her shoulder for the very, very pregnant Annie to pull herself to her feet, and the two of them headed for the elevators with little waves in Scott's direction.

The girls were pouring over bouquets again when K finally made her way into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She leaned against the counter for a moment before she decided the dangers of sitting with wedding planners were less than the dangers of falling over with a full cup of coffee.

She didn't try to be social and avoided interrupting them as she took a seat somewhat nearby and just leaned over her coffee mug with her eyes closed, breathing in the scent of it.

It was another few moments before Annie seemed to notice that K was there, and she grinned up at her. "Do you want to borrow the book when we're done?" she asked politely. "You could always use a few ideas to jumpstart things."

"No thank you, I'm good," K said easily.

"You really should at least start thinkin' about things like this," Annie said, shaking her head. "Maybe set aside some time for wedding planning after you get yourself beaten silly."

K smirked at her a little bit. "What do you think I'm doing in there?" K asked. "That is my wedding planning for now."

"How is gettin' beat to high heavens any kind of wedding planning?" Annie asked, looking slightly mortified before Kate put a hand on her arm.

"Annie," she said in a low tone. "You know how Sinister's trying to ruin your husband's life?" When Annie looked at her with wide eyes, Kate tipped her head K's way. "Well, Sabretooth would also like to make sure Logan stays miserable. This is called preventative planning."

Annie's eyes widened even more as she thought it over, then asked, almost cautiously, "Is it like that with every superhero's wedding? An archnemesis to ruin the day?"

"No," K said. "But ... that little bitch has a habit of killing the women Logan loves. It's his hobby. I'm just trying to make that insanely hard."

"Oh," Annie said quietly. She folded her hands in front of her for a moment and then let out a breath. "Then... I guess that would count as wedding planning."

"I know you're hoping for something big? But honestly, if we can ever get it together just to get it done — I don't think we can do anything 'normal'. It will be crashed," K said. "So ... another reason I'm just not looking forward to anything or putting a date on it."

"That's completely unfair," Annie said, now sounding more offended on K's behalf than anything else.

"Fair has nothing to do with it," K told her. "It is what it is. If it wasn't him, it would be someone else trying to be an ass."

"There's a long list of bad guys," Kate agreed, shaking her head.

Annie started to smile just the slightest bit as she looked over the other two women. "And you two are very good at fightin' 'em off," she said with a little smirk.

"Oh, the best," Kate agreed, laughing.

"Need work," K mumbled.

"Well, everyone does," Annie pointed out with an easy smile. "That's how you stay sharp. I mean — I might not be a superhero, but I work on my own job just as hard. I take classes in the summer, that sort of thing..."