It wasn't that Deanna was heartless and couldn't see Lance's goodness. But without uncovering the truth behind her mother's death, she couldn't wholeheartedly accept Lance. Even though she knew Lance was also a victim of the incident five years ago, she couldn't get past her mother's death.
Deanna stood in the hallway for a while, calming herself before heading downstairs.
Downstairs, the two little ones were sitting on the sofa, whispering to each other.
"Brother, do you think Mommy and Uncle are together now?"
"They should be, they've kissed twice already."
Gregory blinked his eyes in response, thinking that if they weren't together by now, it would be quite irresponsible.
As they spoke, they saw their mommy coming down and quickly sat up straight with bright smiles.
"Mommy, you're down. Where's Uncle?"
Chloe stretched her neck to look behind Deanna but didn't see Lance.
Seeing this, Deanna said in her usual tone, "Your uncle will be down in a moment."
Sure enough, within a few minutes, Lance appeared on the stairs. The two little ones happily ran up to him.
"Uncle, are we going to Universal Studios today?"
Gregory looked up expectantly.
Lance nodded calmly, "That's right. After breakfast, we'll head out."
Hearing this, the two little ones cheered and ran towards the dining room.
Later, after breakfast, they set off. During the trip, Deanna acted as if nothing had happened and conversed normally with Lance. But if one observed closely, they would notice she kept a certain distance from him. Lance noticed too and felt helpless but didn't regret it. He had decided to take things slowly but still wanted Deanna to understand his stance.
Two hours later, they arrived at Universal Studios. The place was crowded with people and surrounded by giant robots and monsters from movies. Gregory was thrilled seeing those robots.
"That's Iron Man! So cool! And that one is Venom from Marvel!"
"It's Venom," Lance corrected with a smile as Gregory struggled to remember the name.
Gregory beamed at him, "Uncle, do you watch Marvel too?"
"I've seen some."
In truth, Lance had only learned about them because Gregory liked such movies. Gregory didn't know this and thought his uncle shared his interests, eagerly chatting away.
"Uncle, which character do you like most in these movies?"
"Who do you like most?"
Lance responded with a question instead of answering directly.
The little guy didn't notice anything odd and replied with a smile, "I like Iron Man the most!"
As they spoke, they reached Iron Man's exhibit. Someone was interacting with Iron Man up close. The character greeted people humorously, making the crowd laugh out loud. Gregory watched with longing eyes.
Lance looked down and asked softly, "Do you want to go up there?"
"Can I?"
Gregory's eyes lit up instantly.
Lance nodded, "Of course you can. I'll carry you over."
With that, he bent down to pick up the little guy. Deanna quickly stepped forward to stop him, "Let him walk by himself; be careful of your wound."
"Don't worry; I'm fine."
Lance said as he took Gregory over to meet Iron Man. From afar, Deanna could hear Gregory's excited voice. Moments later, she saw them walking back slowly. She also noticed that Gregory now had two small Iron Man figures in his hands-exquisitely crafted and equipped with smart voice features.
"What's this?"
Deanna asked Lance curiously.
Lance smiled and said, "These are souvenirs. Chloe has one too."
He handed the other smart robot from Gregory's hand to Chloe. Gregory wriggled off Lance's arms and went over to his sister's side with a smile, "Sister, I'll show you how to play with it. Here's the switch."
Watching the two little ones engrossed in their new toys, Deanna didn't say anything further. After all, Lance was their father; buying toys for them was only natural.
Thus, the family continued walking and playing together. However, for some reason, the atmosphere wasn't as good as it had been yesterday. The two little ones were so absorbed in their robots that they didn't notice anything unusual.
Over the next two days, Lance took Deanna and the children to many other places for fun. He also bought many things for them during this time. Initially reluctant to accept them, Deanna eventually gave in under Lance's insistence.
After two days of fun-filled activities, they finally embarked on their journey back home. Upon landing at the airport, Xavier had already arranged for a special car to pick them up.
Once in the car, Deanna thought Lance would first drop her and the children off at home but soon realized they weren't heading in that direction. She frowned slightly and turned to ask Lance,
"Where are we going?"
"We're going back to Hencard Villa because we're not sure if the Valencia father and son are still in the country yet. Just to be safe, you'll stay at Hencard Villa for a couple of days until we confirm there's no danger."
Lance explained his plan honestly.