Log [Hank, Alison] Coffee, truffles and hugs! Oh my!

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Set the day after the return from Muir and the gifting of a snowball catapult to Miles - Hank catches up with Alison to give her the chocolate he promised her. They talk a bit about Miles, parenthood, and coffee.



Once dried and tidy again after a morning frolic in the snow with Miles... who was really getting good with that catapult... Hank pulled out the package of chocolatey guilt he'd set aside for Alison, and went looking for her. Since she hadn't come to find him and give him that hug, well, he'd have to go find her.
 
He found her... as he'd suspected he would... with Miles. Actually, she was just sneaking out of Miles' room with that he's-asleep tiptoe that mothers were so good at. "Did I tire him out?" he said softly, smiling at her. "Already?"

"He's still in 'trying to pack everything in one moment' mode," she murmured, closing the door behind her after one last glance inside the room. "Just a small nap. He'll be running about again in an hour or so, leaving chaos in his wake. We did have a talk about making sure he wasn't ambushing anyone and everyone though." She grinned, just a bit. Miles was looking forward, she could tell, to being ambushed in return by someone.

"So far everyone's been good sports about it. They're glad he's having a good time." Hank smiled at her. "And I," he added reproachfully, "was promised a hug as soon as you got home. And did I get one? I did not!"

"Ha!" She grinned and flung her arms around him, indulging in a hug that was akin to hugging a giant teddy bear that hugged back. "Present was perfect. He loves it, and it's making other people have fun too. Anyone ever tell you you're brilliant?"

"All the time, but I never tire of hearing it again." He returned the hug, beaming. "And soooomeone forgot to come down and collect her chocolate. So I thought, well, she probably doesn't want it..." He blatantly hid the package behind his back, grinning. "So I ate it. It's gone now."

She knew the look only too well - and played the game, of course. Eyes widening, Alison stared at him with a stricken expression. "You... ate all my chocolate?" There was a glimmer in her eyes. "But... you said it was mine!"

"But I didn't get my hug. I was sad and lonely and forgotten!" Hank couldn't hold it, though, and laughed, giving her another hug. That expression was just way too adorable. "But I think there might be a LITTLE left," he conceded, offering her the package.

"Just a little?" The lower lip quivered at that, though Alison was quick to accept the package in a 'must protect this' sort of way. Carefully she peeked inside, then paused to gape properly - and very authentically so. "My, that's a lot of chocolate." Hank's sense of proportions were not the same as other people. It was a fun thing too.

"Well, I was feeling very sorry." He smiled down at her. "And I realized how much I'd missed you. Miles has a bag of M&Ms somewhere, which I thought he'd appreciate more than something quite that rich... although he'll probably coax some out of you anyway. He's quite irresistible, isn't he?"

"Aaah. So that's where the handful I found on my night table came from this morning." Alison grinned a bit - she'd already suspected, but it was good to have confirmation. "He's still in full sharing the food mode. Any food." She sighed a bit, though not sadly so, and continued matter of fact. "Don't think that'll ever change."

"Indeed." Hank smiled a little wistfully. "You're lucky, you know, that I wasn't around when you found him, or I would have tried to steal him for myself. You know how much I always wanted children, and... well. It's not likely now. But at least I get to borrow him sometimes."

Alison reserved judgment on the not likely and cheerfully consigned Trish Trilby to the last pit of hell in the back of her mind. Several times over. With many stops in every other hell in existence on the way there, to boot. "Well, it's not like Miles doesn't adore you," she pointed out. The little boy did not lack for uncles and aunts in the mansion, which was a fact. Hank would make a good father, one day. She had no doubt about that.

"It's mutual." Hank smiled. "He's an adorable little fellow. And if you ever need to be away for a day or two, you know I'd love to borrow him... although getting him back might be more of a struggle." He knew Miles didn't like being apart from his Mama, but it did have to happen occasionally... and he thought Miles would feel reasonably safe with him. He knew where all Hank's secret hiding places for treats, were, and sometimes Hank would find little additions in there, which generally made him a little sniffly.

"I'll bump you up to first on the list of volunteers," Alison winked at him, sometimes still boggled by own readily people were willing to help with Miles - and yet at the same time not. It was Miles and that explained it all. She'd been near paranoid (ok, entirely paranoid) about leaving Miles out of her sight since the incident at the Mall with Magneto, but if he stayed at the mansion with Hank... and everyone else that was here. She could do that, she thought.

"Good!" Hank beamed. He loved spending time with Miles. "Besides," he added, grinning, "I think everyone else wants to roll him in the snow just now. Although the way he giggles and hardly tries to run away tends to soften people towards him. He's so happy to play." He gave her another quick hug. "And I'll tell you what," he offered. "Since I've temporarily drained your son of energy, how about I make you a cup of coffee to make up for it? So you're ready for him when he awakens."

"His way to Make Things Right. I'm just glad that right now, it also involves him being a little boy and nothing more." She leaned into the hug without a second thought, and granted him a look of clear devotion at his offer. She'd been drinking mint tea far more than anything else of late, having developed a fondness for it she hadn't yet admitted to her usual fellows in coffee addictedness - but right now, it sounded like a divine idea. "Do we have something on hand that equals Ororo's stuff?"

"I brought home some good stuff along with the chocolate." Hank grinned. "I will let you have some if you give me a truffle or two." Not that he hadn't gotten chocolate for himself as well, but it was always more fun if you wheedled it out of someone else.

"Oooh. Well, if you put it that way," she said with mock exaggeration, though the smile she gave him said the entire story. "Wonder what happens if we add a truffle to the coffee," Alison wondered, knowing only too well what reaction that would draw.

Hank grinned speculatively. That sounded positively delightful... "There's only one way to find out!" he said, drawing her arm through his. Though the romantic part of their history was long over, they both enjoyed a little teasing flirting now and then. "Through scientific experimentation... possibly more than once."

"And taste testing of the truffles first," Alison added gravely, falling into step with him, stride lengthening by reflex so he wouldn't have to shuffle, as they walked down the hallway. "Good thing there are many truffles."

"Many indeed. And some solid chocolate too." He grinned down at her. "I THINK there might even be a few chocolate cherries in there somewhere." He patted her hand as it rested on his arm. "And since I'm not tired of saying it yet," he said softly, "it's very good to see you really well again."

Alison smiled at them as the hit the top of the stairs and stated to make their way down, feeling the lack of pain in every motion, the brush of air against her skin as nothing more than normal. "It's good to be well again," she replied simply.