June 15, Seattle - More Mothers-in-Law Should Be This Cool

[Rick Ferguson]

It was around 11 PM local time, and since Marcus was still getting over jet lag, he had been asleep up in his old bedroom for an hour already. His father had retired for the evening as well, which left Rick and Mrs. Kingston alone in the kitchen. She set a hot mug down in front of Rick.

"Ahh, thanks, Mrs. K," Rick said after taking a cautious sip of the chamomile tea.

[Marcus Kingston]

"Don't mention it. You're my favorite future son-in-law, after all," she said with a smile, taking a seat on the other end of the kitchen table. "So, how's school going?"

[Rick Ferguson]

"It's going well. The workload this last year was pretty heavy as a whole, so it's really nice to be off for a bit. Of course, not all of that was just classwork."

[Marcus Kingston]

"Mmm, right. I know that being in the X-Men is stressful."

[Rick Ferguson]

"Eh, that always comes in bursts. We have some lulls that can last for a while, and then, bam!, saving the world. Or at least out own hides, as the case may be." He took another long sip of the tea. "Recently, there was just the universe-without-morals saga. Oh yeah, and the World Cup hostage crisis. And that incident at the British Museum."

[Marcus Kingston]

"'Dimension-without-morals?' Don't tell me that you two had to relive the future where everything had gone to hell again."

[Rick Ferguson]

"No, this was a bit different. More like jumping sideways a few times rather than leaping forward, dimensionally-speaking. And Marcus didn't join in on that little bit of fun. Along with that, I'm still trying to get the school paper idea going."

[Marcus Kingston]

"And you're still planning on adopting that girl from Italy. Right?

[Rick Ferguson]

"Well, yeah. That'll be the last thing that we go and do before summer's over."

[Marcus Kingston]

"I see." She took a sip of her own tea. "Don't you think you might be getting a little too ambitious, taking on all of these responsibilities at once?

[Rick Ferguson]

"Well, I know it's a lot to juggle, but we've done well so far," Rick replied, suddenly not sounding too sure.

[Marcus Kingston]

"I know you have. Really, I do. But having a kid changes things." She looked down at the tea, staring into it. "Marcus told me some things about that future. And about the woman that the girl you're about to adopt grew up to be."

[Rick Ferguson]

"But we prevented that future from happening! That's what made her turn out the way she did!"

[Marcus Kingston]

"It seems to me that what made her turn out the way she did was that no one cared for her. No one took any time for her, until it was too late." She looked up to Rick, and it would seem to him that the lines in her face looked deeper, more defined. "I know that what you do already is important. I know that you try to make the world an easier place for people like us to live," she said, as she removed a spoon from her cup of tea. It glowed momentarily, then extended to twice its length. "But once you've taken a child into your care, they should be the priority."

[Rick Ferguson]

Rick looked down, staring a hole through the kitchen table.

[Marcus Kingston]

"I'm not trying to burst your bubble, Rick. You just really need to think about these things. For that matter, if you're going to adopt, don't you need to go ahead and, you know, tie the knot?"

[Rick Ferguson]

"Yeah, I guess so. It'd be better to do it sooner rather than later for the baby's sake. I've been trying to put back some money for it."

[Marcus Kingston]

She just smiled. "You know that I can help with that, right?"

[Rick Ferguson]

"Well...I didn't want to ask. Especially since I figured that Mr. Kingston would object."

[Marcus Kingston]

"Oh, please. First of all, you don't have to call him by his last name. Second, most of our money is mine, not his, so he has no room to complain anyway. Third, he's going to feel like a real ass about how he's acted towards you and Marcus concerning your relationship in a decade or two, anyway. Especially once he gets a granddaughter out of the deal."

[Rick Ferguson]

"A blue, definitely not-normal-looking granddaughter."

[Marcus Kingston]

"He married a freak. He won't mind having a granddaughter who's one too," she said, smiling faintly, returning her spoon to normal size with another flash of energy. She stirred her tea again and took another long sip.

[Rick Ferguson]

Rick just smiled a bit.

"Thanks. For everything."

[Marcus Kingston]

"Ask anyone who knows me; my advice is free." She grinned back and take one last, long sip of her tea.

"Well, I think this stuff is starting to work. I'm going to head to bed. Sleep well, and...sleep on what I said, okay?"

[Rick Ferguson]

"I will. Goodnight."

He headed up to Marcus's room a few minutes later, weighing a lot of possibilities in his mind.