Subject: [OTL]: When We Were Very Young: The Good Days
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 07:47:00 -0800
From: Trumpetlee@aol.com

Disclaimer: Either it was Alicia McKenzie who came up with Cable's
fascination for snow, or it was in the comics. I'm not sure which. If it was
Alicia's, then I'm using Alicia's idea, and it's hers, and not mine, but it
was cool! If it's Marvel's, then it's Marvel's and not mine. If I'm
completely off base, and it's someone else's, it's someone else's. But it's
not mine. None of the characters except Bethie are mine. They're Marvels!
Note: I decided to extend this series out of Maximum-X, and do this one,
cause I wanted to :)

When We Were Very Young: The Good Days
:Lee Tybird

    "Hey Dom... Dom, wake up."
    "Nate, go back to sleep."
    "But... it's snowing... It's Tyler's first snow!"
    Domino sat up, and looked at the rare grin on her husband's face. She
sighed, and hit the pillow again. "Go back to sleep. The reports said that
it's gonna go on all day."
    "Aren't you even the least bit excited? It's his first snow!"
    "I'm tired, Nate. I'd be really excited if it was about noon, but it's
six in the morning. I'm tired."
    Nate sighed. "How can you sleep?"
    "Like this..." with that, Domino drifted back to sleep.
    Nate knew that if he tried to wake her up again, he'd most likely be shot.
So, he got up out of the bed at Xavier's school in Westchester, New York, and
went for a walk down the halls. He peeked into his daughter's room, and found
her sleeping. It was one thing to wake up your wife, but he couldn't bring
himself to wake up Bethie. Bethany Madelyn Summers. Except for the gray-blue
eyes, she looked like her mother, with incredibly pale skin, and jet-black
hair. She looked so cute when she was sleeping. Which was more than Nate could
say for the ten-year-old when she was awake, always wanting to play with the
family guns.
    He walked more, into the kitchen, through the connecting hall to Max-X's
dorms, and came to his younger sister's room. She was also asleep. He was
tempted to wake her up, knowing that she loved snow, and would be more than
willing to join him outside, but as he looked over her room, he saw pre-
calculus, and history books still open, and realized that Rachel had most
likely fallen asleep while trying to do homework, so he scratched that idea.
    He walked out of the dorms, through the connecting hallway to the main
mansion, and walked up to his son's room. Interestingly enough, Tyler Samuel
Summers was standing in his crib, looking at his father with a somewhat
serious expression. Tyler was one. He had blond hair, and amethyst eyes. He
was a somewhat peculiar looking, but very cute, baby.
    "Hey, there."
    "Da?"
    "I know it didn't snow at all last year, cause we were in California, but
it's snowing now," Nate smirked. "Wanna see?"
    Two sides were talking to Nathan at the same time. His fighter side, or
Cable, was asking him what the hell he was doing talking to a one-year-old
who could really only say the words "Da," "Ma," "food," "No," and, to
everyone's exasperation, the occasional "Flonq."
    The other side was the father side. It was telling him to pick up his
son, and take him to the window to show him the snow.
    So, he did. Nate walked over, lifted his son up, and carried him to the
window.  "See that? That's snow. It falls in little tiny flakes, and for
some odd reason, they're all different. Sorta like people."
    He stared at his son, who was looking up at him.
    "Sna?"
    "No, snow. Sssssnooooow."
    "Soooooooow."
    "Snow."
    "Sna!"
    Nate smirked in defeat. "You wanna go out?"
    Tyler squealed and smiled. "Out!"
    "Shh," Nate said. "If your mom wakes up, I'm dead."
    Nate got Tyler's coat out of the closet, and put it on him, along with a
hat, boots, and gloves. He carried Tyler downstairs, and grabbed his own
winter gear. Nate opened the door, and stepped outside, into the snow.
    "Brrrrrr."
    "Yeah, it is cold, isn't it?"
    "Cole'"
    Nate bent down, and picked up some snow. "This is snow." He held it
closer to his son's face, and Tyler took some in his hands.
    First, Tyler tasted it. After that, he put some on his father's nose.
    "Okay," Nate said in confusion. "I'm not quite sure why you did that."
He picked up more snow, and put some on Tyler's face. They both laughed a
little.
    Nate then had a thought. Why was he still holding Tyler? He shrugged,
and put him down in the snow. Tyler carefully got to his feet, and took some
wobbly strides in the snow, occasionally flailing his arms and laughing.
Tyler picked up some snow, walked back to his father, and dropped it on his
boot.
    Nate looked down at Tyler. "Oh, yeah?" He picked up some snow, and
sprinkled it on Tyler's head. 'Today," Nate thought. 'Is definitely going to
be a good day.'