nextgenerationmarvel | Growing up Logan.

Emily squinted at her brother. That didn't sound too hard! And she wasn't big enough to hurt him if she hit him, so she wouldn't have to feel bad if she did.

"Okay!" She pulled her arm back and swung at his hand with a balled up fist.

At the very last second, the hand moved and her fist sailed harmlessly above it. "Ooops, I think you missed!" He gave her an aw shucks! look. "Try again."

"Hey!" She pouted at him a second and then held her fist up again. "I'm gonna get it this time!" She pulled her fist back a little further this time and gave it another swing.

"Bad guys don't stand still, Emmy Bear." He let her tag him and grabbed onto her little fist. "When you're small, it's easy to be quick like skeeter. A little bite here," he poked her knee with his free hand, "a little bite there," he poked her tummy, "and get the bad guys all mixed up."

Emily giggled and squealed when he poked her. She was ticklish! She twisted and squirmed to get away. "I'm fast! I can run fastest at school on the playground."

"I bet you are," he said admiringly. He let her go and settled down on the mat to pat it. "Come on, we have to do our exercises. I need five push ups from you and then you can sit on my back while I do mine."

"Okay, Misha." Emily grinned at him and moved to get into push up position. She didn't really like it, but Daddy and Misha both said it was important and she was getting better at it, anyway. Five wasn't so bad.

She counted them out like she was taught, huffing a little by the time she got to five. Then she sat down and beamed at her brother. "I did it!"

"You did!" He grinned back at her. She was just so cute. Integrating her into his daily workouts hadn't been that hard. Dad wanted her started on a training schedule and Misha put a lot of effort into making it as fun as possible.

He stretched out to do his own push ups. Balanced on his hands and toes, he gestured with his head. "Climb on and count off for me. Two hundred today. Can you count that high?

"Uh huh. I know all my numbers." She moved over and climbed onto his back, sitting on his back and grinning. Like a pony ride! That's what big brothers were for, right? "Ready!"

"I hope so, because I only want to do two hundred. Not two hundred and one." He shook himself to see if she was holding on tight. The added weight would force him to focus on what he was doing. He lowered himself to the ground and pushed up. "Count."

Emily giggled when he shook, but she didn't fall off. She was holding on tight. Then he started his push ups and she counted off just like she was supposed to. "One, two, three..." He was fast!

Fast and even. Once he heard her say two hundred, he fell flat on the mats. "You're a slave driver! I think you said twenty-five four times!"

"Nuh uh!" She rolled off him and toppled over to lay beside him and grinned. Her feet bounced against the mat lightly. "Only three times."

"I knew it!" He heaved a sign and rolled over onto his back. One more exercise for lots of counting, and then the fun stuff. "Stop being lazy and sit on my feet. A hundred sit-ups and then we dance."

"I'm not lazy! You're lazy!" She gave him a mock pout and pretended to stomp around to where his feet were planted. Then she sat down on them and propped her chin up on his knee to stick out her tongue at him. "So there!"

"Me lazy? I did all those push-ups. You got to ride your way through them." He bumped her nose with his when he sat up. "C'mon, count for me. And don't you dare repeat any number."

She giggled at the nose bump and nodded, starting her count. She liked helping Misha with his exercised. It was fun and he was silly. And maybe it was nice to have him all to herself a little bit, since he had kids of his own now and lots of stuff to do.

In Misha's opinion, there was time for everything if you managed it right. He frequently ran out of time at the wrong moments, but he figured he got points for trying. If Dad could do it, so could he.

Of course, he had Hana to help keep him on track.

He neared the end of his hundred, fixing her with an evil eye that looked more like he had a facial tic. If she added any numbers to his count he was going to tickle her....

That look made her laugh. Misha made the best silly faces. She tried to match it as she kept count and maaaaybe counted ninety-eight twice...

As soon as he hit one hundred, he grabbed her and tickled her belly. "Think that's funny, do you?" he demanded in his best grouchy voice. "I think you need to give me ten sit ups. And I'm gonna count ten fifty zillion times!"

Emily shrieked and squirmed, laughing as she tried (not very hard) to get away from the tickle monster. Yes, as a matter of fact. She did think that was funny!

"You can't count to ten fifty zillion times! We'd be here foreeeeever." She stuck her tongue out at him, still giggling.

"Sure I can, but I'd count too fast for you to catch up." He tickled her while he moved her into position to do situps. He held her feet with one hand. "C'mon, kiddo. We can't dance until we're done."

"Oh-kaaaay." She gave him a mock pout. She settled back and started her sit ups like he told her. This was her least favorite exercise, so it was better to get it over with quickly.

He counted carefully, then repeated twenty twice just to tease her.

He helped her up when it was over and set her on her feet. "Ready to dance?" He'd never try dancing on the boys to get them interested in exercising. It wouldn't have worked, but with Emily it was already something she liked to do.

Emily giggled when he doubled the twenty. That was her job!

She hopped to her feet and gave him a big grin. All the push ups and sit ups were okay, but she really liked when they got to dance. That was her favorite exercise. "I'm ready! What kinda dancing are we gonna do today?"

"We're going to..... MACARENA!" He punched a button on the small dvd player nearby and music poured out. "Ready?"

The boys said dancing was stupid and they hated this dance a lot, but Emily thought it was fun! The music was happy and the dance was silly. Misha always made silly faces when he danced with her.

"I'm ready!" She bounced lightly on the mat, eager to get started.

It was amazing how she perked up when it came time to dance. Which is why they always danced halfway through their exercise time.

"Watch the screen on the wall and do exactly what the dancer does, okay? I changed it so sometimes it'll be fast and sometimes slow. You have to be just as slow or as fast as the dancer. Got it?" It was his way of getting her used to the slow Tai Chi movements she studied with Logan. Sometimes a little music went a long way. He'd learned that when his mostly absentee mother made one of her rare visits in his childhood and took a hand in his training.

Dancing was much more fun than boring old push ups. Those were only fun because she got to sit on Misha when he did his and miscount to make him be all growly.

"I got it." She faced the screen and watched the avatar on the screen, working to keep up with his motions. Sometimes he was fast and sometimes he was really slow, but she didn't mind. It was fun to see if she could keep up.

He let it run through twice before he shut it off and motioned her to watch him. "Play mirror with me, Emmy. Do what I do." He moved through the easy forms, waiting between each for her to get to her best effort. "You're doing great. You'll be ready for Dad when you practice with him."

Emily was sweating a little and beaming huge by the time the dance music ended. That was her absolute favorite part of exercising with Misha. When he moved on to mirror game, she watched him carefully and did her best to move like he did. It was still kind of like dancing, but a lot slower and more precise. "Daddy says I'm getting better."

"You sure are," he said encouragingly. She was improving by light years, far quicker than David had when Dad brought him home. David had been older, and Misha knew from experience with the kids brought in that the older they were, the harder it was to make every movement into muscle memory. The younger they were, the easier it was to train the motions into them. Emily was exactly at the right age. His boys were as well, though in different ways.

He brought them to an end and waited for a moment until she was standing still. "Okay, let's shake out those muscles. Then you can grab a shower and I'll make smoothies."

"Can I have strawberries in mine?" She asked as she shook out the way she'd seen Misha do it. It seemed like a silly part of the routine to her, but she didn't mind being silly.

"You sure can, if I can find any left." He let her shake for a bit before giving her a bottle of water. Smoothies were good, but she needed to stay hydrated so she wouldn't get a headache. He hated those headaches, for all of the two minutes he'd feel it. "Take this with you and drink it while you get cleaned up. Then come find in the kitchen, all right?"

"Okay." Emily gave hims a quick squeeze and a grin, then headed off to go up to her room to shower and change. It didn't take long... showers never did. It was the baths that you had to look out for.

When she appeared in the kitchen, she was clean and dressed in jeans and a Narnia t-shirt on. She plopped down in a seat and set her nearly empty water bottle on the table. "Taa daa!"

Misha put a glass with a straw in front of her and poured a pink smoothie into it. He poured the rest into another glass for Hana. "You're looking good, EmmyBear. Good workout, shiny face, big smile. Ready for the day now?"

"Uh huh. I have'ta do some homework and then I can play outside, Daddy said." She swung her feet under the chair and sipped at the smoothie. It was pink and it was tasty! "What are you gonna do today?"

"Today... let's see..." He leaned against the counter and smiled at her. "I have to get some homework done, too, and I think I'll steal Hana away for lunch. And then it'll be time for the boys' workout. Unless there's an emergency, and then you'll need to take care of the boys' workout. Think you can do that for me?"

"Hana likes it when you steal her. I know, 'cause she said." Emily grinned. Hana said that was girl talk. Since Emily only had brothers, she liked getting to do girl stuff with Hana. "And I can make the boys do their workout. I'll make them dance, too! They think it's boring..."

"They don't know the secret yet," Misha said with a nod. "My mom told me the secret. Dancing helps you fight better. It teaches you balance and grace, and that makes you better."

"Are you gonna convince them?" Emily thought dancing was fun. She wasn't really concerned about the fighting applications yet. Later on, she would be, but right now, it was just a fun reward for doing the other stuff she wasn't as fond of.

"I'm going to convince them," he assured her. "They're going to want to learn because girls like it. And it won't be long before they like girls."

She giggled and shook her head. Silly boys. Girls were the best! "Zach says girls are boring. 'Cept for Hana. Hana sings and bakes."

Misha was pretty sure Zach had said it just that way. The little scamp was pretty vocal when he didn't like something. Getting him to talk was the least of their worries when they took him in as a foster child. Jeremy was still coming out of his shell.

"Hana is special," Misha told her. "Once she knows your favorite cookie, you're a goner."

Zach talked a lot! Emily didn't mind, though. Sometimes he was funny. She liked playing with Jeremy. He was much calmer.

"Are you a goner?"

"I am such a goner," he said with a nod. "She knows all my favorites."

Emily giggled at that. There was nothing wrong with more cookies! "That's not bad. You're silly."

Growing up Logan.

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