Silent Adoration
By Didi
Disclaimer: The usual spiel about not owning any of the characters, setting, and other wonderful things associated with the X-Men comics. Don't sue because you're not going to get any money cause I have none. Thank for taking the three seconds to read this useless paragraph that most people, myself included, usually skips.
Summary: The X-Men react to Northstars's friendship with Jubilee. And Northstar deals with his own reactions.
Rating: PG-13 but honestly it should be PG.
Author's Note: This whole Northstar/Jubilee series seems to be turning into a running series tentatively named "Silence." Whether it's any good is up to you but I'm having loads of fun exercising some of these running frustrations of the lack of activities that the Marvel people have been giving these two characters, among other favorites.
Second Author's Note: This story will definitely follow up "Silent Thanks," my semi Christmas one. There are some references to that particular story so it might help if you read it… and the other "Silent" stories if you have the time. But this can still be enjoyed without reading the other stuff.
Timeline: Let's assume that I'm not messing too much canon here. And we'll place this before the untimely 'death' of Jean Gray-Summer. . . again.
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"You're going to what?" Scott Summer blinked though no one saw it, and had a moment of complete blankness as he continued to stare as Jean-Paul Beaubier calmly poured creamer into his morning coffee while the rest of the team tried to pick their jaws up and off the floor.
The smell of vanilla bean coffee whiffed through the cozy kitchen on the third floor of the Xavier Mansion. Scott had decided it would be wiser and more efficient if the active members of the X-Men were to reside in one area only instead of spread across the school as was their former habit. That decision had followed three weeks of grumbling for those that had to move into new rooms settled into their new abode. But so far, it appeared to be working well. Until this morning when a few of the active members of the X-Men had gathered there for their morning rituals and Jean-Paul decided to ambush them with a little expected news.
"I'm taking Jubilee to the Bahamas," Jean-Paul repeated calmly then had to spit the coffee back into its cup. An unpleasant taste permeated the usually revitalizing morning beverage. "What is wrong with this thing?"
"Why are you taking Jubilee to the Bahamas?" Bobby Drake demanded, looking less stunned now then he had been a minute before but definitely more outraged. "What the hell are you doing taking her anyways?"
"I think the creamer has gone bad," Kurt Wagner informed him in regards to the disgusting coffee Jean-Paul had attempted to consume. But the look in his eyes was more for what he thought of as an inappropriate situation that he was just now being informed of.
"Thank for the warning after the fact," he replied sorely and pour the content down the sink. "And for your information, I'm taking her because I promised her somewhere with a bit of warmth. I wish her to have a happy birthday," he turned to regard the cluster of men in the room and voiced the thought that's been running through his mind for the past week. "Or has it escaped your notice that it's her birthday?"
"Of course not," Bobby snapped back irritably because he had forgotten that it was Jubilation's birthday. Well, to be completely honest, he simply didn't know when her birthday was. And with Logan currently away, he was the next closest person from the old team that. . . Well hell, he should have been paying more attention to such matters. They were important to girls... to friends. "It's just that with everything that's gone on and…"
Jean-Paul raised one brow inquiringly but said nothing then turned to pour himself another mug of coffee to get his morning going. He still had much to do before his flight tomorrow. Between his obligations to his personal holdings, the X-Men and the occasional mindless movie nights with Jubilee that he was growing strangely accustom to, there were arrangements to be made for this trip. And despite his growing concerns on how the rest of his new teammates would react to his taking off with their young friend he had not been swayed from keeping his promise to the annoyingly endearing enfant. He was however human enough to procrastinate on telling the rest of the team even after agreeing to be the one to do so.
Fortified by the java, "Well then you should be glad that someone else took charge of seeing that the child received something a little more than the morning 'Happy Birthday' with her cocoa." Jean-Paul looked about the room with false smugness and read the various reactions on the X-Men's faces.
Warren clamped a quick on Bobby's shoulder before his best friend could fly off the handle over the deeply cutting sarcasm from the new guy though he himself would have loved to wipe that smirk off the Canadian's face. Taking a breath to rein in his own temper, "Jean-Paul, please understand that we are just slightly taken back by this news. I for one was never aware that you and Jubilee had become… " a small wrinkle appeared between his brows as his mind went to a rather unpleasant place. "Friend?"
Jean-Paul rolled his eyes and took his coffee black. He knew this would come up to hit him. "This isn't a reenactment of Lolita if that's what your concerns are about," his lips curled at the blushes that came to several faces, including the furry Kurt. He wasn't the least bit surprised that none of them even knew about his recently developed 'friendship,' if he could use that word, with the Sparkler. "Besides which, I am perhaps the only one in this room that no one need to have any concern over. I don't go to bed with women much less bubbly brats."
"If you have no fondness for her, why are you taking her on vacation with you?" Scott wanted to know, his arm crossed over his chest in a very stern fatherly manner. He took his position as leader serious, and that included having to watch out for the emotional and psychological well being of his people.
"I'm not taking her on vacation with me," that would indicate some kind of affection which he was still unwilling to admit to. "I'm simply going with her." In fact, Jubilee had been the one to suggest he come along when Jean-Paul had offered her a little sun and sand in place of visiting the family of a deceased comrade for her birthday. It had touched him when she had informed him of her plans for her birthday; not thinking of herself but of what little comfort she might have brought the family. Since he had been expecting an interrogation, he leaned one hip against he breakfast table and shrugged. "It appeared to be a good idea at the time."
Kurt ran one hand over his chin, his frown deepened to crinkle his handsome face. "And Jubilee agreed to go?"
Obviously the man did not know women, or teenage girls to be precise, very well. "Free trip to the Bahamas? What do you think?"
Waving that away, "Jubilee knows that if she ever wants to leave town for some R&R, all she had to do was tell me and I would gladly arrange it," Warren informed him.
"Does she know that?" Jean-Paul asked just for his own edification. From what he's observed of the X-Men, most tend to take the openness of friendship rather for granted. Having few close to him, he always made it clear what he expected of his friends and what he was willing to reciprocate.
"What does that mean?" Bobby wanted to know, not liking this line of thought. He had never truly considered just what role on the team Jubilee may have perceived herself to be stepping back into on her return. Or where she stood with her friends. But damn it, this was Jubilee they were talking about. Their little Jubilee.
Not the least bit impressed by this show of defensiveness, "Does she know that she can simply ask?"
Scott's displeasure with the question was apparent by the tightness of his voice. "Jubilee knows that she's family. She can ask for whatever it is she wants and know that we would do our best to accommodate her."
"In other words you just assume that she'd know," Jean-Paul smirked and watched the discomfort on the men's faces. "Typical."
This time, Warren's hand wasn't fast enough to keep Bobby from surging to his feet but years of polite society kept him from going for the arrogant bastard's throat. . . just barely as Kurt suddenly appeared between the two men. "What does that mean?"
"You're a smart boy. Apply yourself to the problem and sooner or later you'll figure it out. If not, living in ignorance seemed to have worked for you all these years." Jean-Paul replied and searched the countertop for something that didn't resemble a toothache for breakfast. Several boxes of Sugarbombs littered the countertop. Jubilee must have gone grocery shopping with someone again. For reasons he was beginning to pick up on, he appeared to be the only one that is able to say no the girl… on occasion. And those occasions appeared to be becoming fewer and fewer by the days, or maybe it was by the movies. The numerous movie nights Jubilee's forced him to sit through which sometimes produced insightful conversations gave him new appreciation for the girl's resilience. Life has hardly been a walk in the park for someone with so few years behind her.
Kurt had to help Warren keep Bobby from going for Jean-Paul's throat this time when the Canadian turned his back. Pushing Bobby back into his seat, Kurt and Scott both gave the impulsive Iceman a stern look before turning back to the issue at hand. "When did you decide this?"
"What? To go to the Bahamas? Just before Christmas," he answered, putting bread into the toaster. He recalled someone mentioning that the toaster tended to burn toast but made perfect bagels. He enjoyed his toast lightly golden not blackened.
"And you wait until the day before to tell us?" Bobby scoffed then received a warning squeeze on the shoulder from Warren.
The golden-haired Angel flexed his wings unconsciously in reaction to his own upset. It hurt that Jubilee had turned to Jean-Paul rather than himself for something… anything. She barely knew that guy and yet she turned to him when she needed to get away. "And when had you planned on informing us?"
"I'm informing you now."
"Hours before you are to leave," Scott growled in an imitation of Logan that Jubilee would have found amusing. "And if we had disagreed with you?"
Jean-Paul merely smiled arrogantly. "Then you get to disappoint the child," and since that was unlikely to happen, he merely continued to wear the smug look and reached over to pop the toast up before it burnt.
This time, Warren almost went for his throat.
"JP!" the voice carried into the room before the sound of running feet and the girl herself appeared through the door at a dead run. Jubilee launched herself onto the back of the man known more popularly at Northstar. Her bright laughter as she pressed a kiss on his neck before he could react elicited a few reluctant smiles from the room. It reminded them of better days when life had been much simpler and sweeter.
"Get off, Enfant!" he commanded as he shook her off and almost dropped his breakfast. He had been expecting the small attack upon himself, having seen her do the same routine several times before upon her beloved Wolverine, and had managed to brace himself in time to stay on his feet. It was also fortunate she was such a lightweight. "And must you call me that?" he asked without any heat. The fact that she was exhibiting such familiar actions with him almost made up for the fact that the others were grilling him like an outsider once more.
"Yes," she replied cheerfully as she hopped off his back and stood with her hand clasped before her, her eyes reflecting her obvious anticipation for her upcoming birthday trip. If she were any more pumped up on adrenaline, she'd be floating to the Bahamas. "Can I borrow your car?"
"No," he answered and scowled at her. It was rather difficult to be angry with her when she was bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet, her face aglow with happiness. It was the first time he's seen her in such a good mood since he's joined the X-Men.
"Please?" batting her long lashes.
One arrogant brow lifted. "Is that supposed to sway me into allowing you behind the wheel of a car that probably cost more than you will make this lifetime?"
Jubilee nodded her head enthusiastically and answered honestly, "Yes."
Lips twitched as he shook his head. "No."
"Why do you need a car, Jubes?" Bobby asked even as he tossed her his keys.
Catching the heavy ring that jingled in her hands for a moment, she glanced at it before tossing it back at him. "I can't drive stick but thanks though," then turned back to looked expectedly at Jean-Paul, who shook his head at her again.
"Why do you need a car, Jubilation?" Scott asked as well, patting his pockets and made a mental note to himself to make a car available for her in the future. Damn, he left his keys on his dresser and he drove a stick as well.
"Here," Warren handed her his keys.
"You drive a Hummer; I can't even get into one of those monstrosities much less drive it." She wrinkled her nose at him.
Scott crossed big SUV's off the mental list of possible cars to get. A girl should have a car, especially living in a place where bad guys come knocking often. She needs to be able to leave in a hurry. "Reason for the car again?" he asked, wondering if his wife may have some suggestions as to what would be appropriate.
"I need a new bathing suit," she informed him then reached over and brushed an errant lock of hair that had fallen across Jean-Paul's forehead during her entrance before he could duck to avoid it. "And shorts and sandals."
"Why?" Jean-Paul asked batting her hand away when she attempted to adjust the silver medallion he wore on a chain; a gift from his sister several years ago as a thank you for agreeing to join Alpha Flight for her sake if not his own.
"Because I have no beach clothes, mine are..." lighting fast of something flickered in her eyes and was gone before it could be fully registered, "gone."
That barely-there hint of pause was enough. It was more than enough for everyone in the room though she probably didn't even realize she did it. Every worldly possession Jubilation Lee ever owned were the unfortunate victims of a heartless world that hated her for what she was. They can only be thankful that a miracle had saved Jubilee from joining her mementos in the hereafter.
Making a mental note to check with Emma Frost on what the girl was given as allowance, Jean-Paul sighed with reluctance and dug his keys out of his pocket. She'd only nag until she got what she wanted anyways, saves him a headache if he just gave in sooner rather than later. "Drive the Beemer and don't crash."
"I'll try not to," snatching the keys out his hand and giving him a quick hug before he could avoid it. She glanced down at the keychain and grinned at the small round disc attached to the keys. A gift she had given him for Christmas. For a moment, Jean-Paul was afraid she would mention in it but she was wiser than he believed her to be. She said nothing. "Oh and should I be picking up anything for you?" her eyes did a quick glanced over and lingered a heartbeat longer than necessary over his hips. "Like red Speedos or something?"
"No," he answered firmly and picked up his coffee again. The child was impossible; utterly and irresistibly impossible. But he felt more alive in her presence than. . . it almost felt like being with Jean-Marie once more before… before life interrupted; a bright light in an otherwise dark world. And as with his beloved sister, he couldn't help but fear for this innocent being as well. "Jubilee?"
"Yes?" she answered distractedly, looking down at the keys in her hand and running the flat of her thumb over the key chain charm.
"Money?" because he was concerned and hated to admit it.
"I snatched Emma's plastic," her eyes twinkling wickedly as she skipped to the door. "She won't even know until the statement comes," then disappeared with a little kick as she took off.
There was silence in the kitchen as a squeal of joy erupted somewhere down the hall. It would appear that Jubilation had a shopping companion in the form of Paige Guthrie, a.k.a. Husk. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that those two would be putting a huge dent into Emma Frost's account, not that the White Queen would mind as long as the girls choice to dress appropriately. But what the former Hellfire Club member's definition of appropriate is anyone's guess.
Kurt's tail made swishing sounds as he watched Jean-Paul carry his coffee and toast to the table, grab the financial section of the paper from where Warren had set it down and calmly had breakfast while ignoring the collective stares from the rest of the X-Men team now that Jubilation had inadvertently stated her position and given the rest of the team more reasons to question Jean-Paul. The Canadian was awfully calm for someone that was very likely to have his entrails used as jump rope soon if he didn't convince three of the original members of the X-Men family that he wasn't out to corrupt their youngest team member. "Mein Freund, when exactly is it that you became Logan to Jubilee?" for clearly the man had the same father/daughter or uncle/niece relationship that Jubilee enjoyed with the man better known as Wolverine.
"Bite your tongue, Wagner," Jean-Paul retorted without any heat as he took note of the drop in the internet stocks once more. The flocculating cycles in the stocks were driving his accountants crazy; it was a phone call every other day about buying or selling stocks, he was almost tempted to fire the lot of them. "It's an insult to be compared to that flannel-wearing, beer-guzzling, hat-wearing, hairy, tasteless ape."
"Is it the physical comparison you object to or his relationship with the little one?" Kurt wanted to know, silencing Bobby with a wave of his hand.
Not feeling that the question merited a response, Jean-Paul merely made a non-committed noise and continued reading the news. The rest of the team could speculate and question all they like but it didn't mean he had to answer. Besides which, he wasn't all together sure how to term his 'relationship' with the annoying brat that just made off with one of his beloved cars. He had sworn he would never lend his car to another soul after Heather crashed it. But he could hardly leave the girl stranded without a way to purchase what she needed for her own birthday trip, what kind of man would that make him? Then again, he was still not all together sure why he had offered to finance this trip in the first place, or why he had agreed to go with her.
"And when exactly is it that you decided you needed a sidekick?" Warren growled annoyed with this whole conversation. He was most assuredly not enjoying this. Jubilee has always been the youngest of this team and he has always seen her as the younger sister he didn't have.
Her unflagging love of life and her youthful exuberance always gave Warren a reason to smile in the morning, even at the worse possible days. It reassured him to see her, fresh and bright with life, and gave him hope that the world isn't such an ugly place after all and he was fighting to keep it that way. Plus there was the fact that she wasn't afraid of anything, not even his own gloomy temper during his darkest of hours. She called it like it was and never pitied him when his world seemed to have ended. When Apocalypse ripped out his soul, she slapped him across the face with her unrelenting tongue and told him to go steal it back. For as long has he shall live, he'll never forget that hug the day she left the mansion to start her own life without the X-Men. She gave him his due and then gave him hope. He may have saved her life with his blood, but it was only a partial repayment of her saving his so long ago. She was the heart of the X-Men.
And now someone was trying to steal her from them.
"What the hell are you doing, Jean-Paul?" Bobby demanded hotly. "Cause if this is some game that you're playing and trying to mess with Jube's head, you're not going to have to wait until Logan decides to separate your head from your shoulders, I will be more than happy to…"
"Bobby, enough," Scott warned and crossed his arm. And though he reprimanded his friend, Cyclopes looked even less inclined to approve of this friendship between their youngest and the new addition than the other three combined. Perhaps it was because he was the only one among them that was a father. "Jean-Paul…"
The newspaper hit the table with a loud clatter as annoyed icy blue eyes streaked up. "Why is it so difficult for the rest of you to accept that the Jubilation you knew may have friends outside your exclusive little club? And that she may want to turn to me instead of one of you? It's not as if you've paid much attention to her other than the necessary amount when she first returned," he paused for a moment, a little startled at that that thought. He hadn't even realized that the thought had been festering. But now it was out there.
"What the hell does that mean?" Warren snapped as he surged to his feet. He didn't like it, didn't want to hear it; especially not from the usually self-absorbed Jean-Paul.
"Exactly the way it sounded, Wings," Jean-Paul replied with a frown as he worked it through in his own head. "You and the others, you have this bond with the child yet you don't show any sign of wanting to participate to keep that tie strong. Yes, you ride to her rescue when she needs it but does any one of you actually seek her out for no other reason but to see if she's happy? Do any of you even know what she was doing in the City of Angels? Or did you just seem she's fine and left it at that?" Jean-Paul knew he hit a mark when Kurt winced. "A relationship is a two way street, as the psychologists like to excessively point out; and so far, I've only seen it going one way. And now that someone, namely me, has come along to see to the child's daily happiness, you protest. Could it be because you can't be bothered with her life and yet do not want your place usurped? Which it has been. And now you're gearing to mount a siege to 'take back' your position. Why?" he asked with a shrug. "Perhaps you're jealous?" Just to throw that out there and see what he catches.
"Jealous?" Bobby's laugh was brittle and hollow even to his own ears. "Of you? Hardly." The words sounded so harsh yet he knew without a doubt in his own mind that they were true. He was jealous because obviously, while he was off doing his own thing, Jean-Paul had taken hold of Jubilee's affection. A generous as Jubilee is with her heart; even she had a limitation somewhere.
"You think so?" Jean-Paul asked with a raised brow of superiority.
"Jean-Paul, this isn't a zero-sum game," Scott pointed out mentally stomping upon the raising tide of guilt. Jean-Paul was right and Scott knew it. He had been neglecting Jubilee, they all have, and none of them really considered that she may find the support she needed elsewhere rather than seek out those that showed her so little when they should have been there in the first place. Perhaps… Perhaps that explained why Jubilation didn't come 'home' after the disbanding of Generation X; this could have hardly felt like 'home' with a houseful of strangers.
"Of course it isn't," Jean-Paul replied with smirk. "But I'm not the one that saw it as such," looking pointedly at each of them in turn.
Kurt acknowledged the hit with a ruthful smile. "You are right."
"He is?" Warren asked, incredulously.
"Yes," the blue-furred devil nodded his sage head and swung his tail around to scratch his chin. "We really have no right to protest. Jubilee is a big girl now and she has always been a good judge of character. And we have not been the best of 'uncles' to her of late." He nodded his head again with a sigh. "With the chaos in our lives, I, for one, am thankful that someone is watching out for her emotional well-being as well as her physical being."
"Of please," Warren scoffed. "She's young and naïve, she won't know what a bad guy looked like unless he tries to kills her."
"I think you give her too little credit, Warren," Bobby interjected reluctantly. The Jubilee he knew may have been sweet and innocent but she was also street-wise. "Years of living, being and being hunted have more than likely taught her the instinct of being cautious of strangers. She's not helpless. She'll give as good as she gets."
"But her first instinct is to trust," Scott argued a little disturbed. Trust was such a fragile thing yet so vitally important and infinitely dangerously when abused.
"And what is wrong with that?" Kurt asked, hoping upon to a chair. "Our first instincts should always be to trust."
"And when has that worked out good for us?" Warren pointed out bitterly. "Giving someone the benefit of goodness could mean life or death, especially given our chosen field. Let's not forgot how Jubilee was returned to us."
"No one is forgetting that," Bobby insisted urgently. He still had nightmares of that day, when he looked up and saw her ghostly pale face. "But she's stronger than she looked, Warren; her will to survive is stronger than most. And the powers that be obviously don't wish her gone yet or she'd be joining her friend in the great mall in the sky."
"But she did die," Scott sighed. He had thought his heart would have stopped at that moment.
"And came back," Kurt added with a shake of her head. He's guilt over that episode haunted him. "And none of us even asked her how she was doing afterwards. We were so busy chasing the 'bad guys' that we lost track of the victims."
"Gentlemen, and I use that term loosely," Jean-Paul said dryly to get their attention. "I think we're off topic now." The four looked at him annoyed. Jubilee's sense of humor must be contagious, for instead of being annoyed, he was finding this rather humorous. "My trip with Jubilation isn't up for debate. It's a fact."
"And what exactly is your relationship with Jubilee?" Bobby asked, crossing his arms. He had calmed down some, recognizing now that a part of his anger was that Jean-Paul seemed to have taken his place as Jubilee's play-pal. But seeing Jubilee so happy earlier, after weeks of sad soulful eyes, had been worth enough pride for him to step back. He may not like this 'relationship,' but he will accept it for Jubilee's sake… so long as it was as innocent as Jean-Paul was making it out to be. If it isn't…
"We are…" the term won't come to him. To say they were friend… well, he supposed they were. But to admit to a friendship with a slip of a girl, that just seemed so beyond him that even he couldn't believing it coming from his own mouth. Disgruntled over the fact that his own hardnosed reputation was coming back to bite him, Jean-Paul made a face and sat back in his chair to consider this.
The others were surprisingly patient as they watched him and sipped their morning coffee waiting for an answer that will hopefully not be the catalyst to ignite an all out brawl in the kitchen.
The girl was an annoyance at best and a down right menacing presence in his otherwise calm life, outside the X-Men activities that is, at worse. But even as her worse, she was surprisingly enjoyable to be around. She could laugh at the bad things, crack dreadful jokes at the worse possible times, pull off some of the most immature babblings for a teen with unexpectedly sound reasons and nag like no one with an endearment that forces one to comply with her wishes. It was most difficult to say no to the brat when he reflect back upon the fact that in her short span of life, she's had very little to be thankful for or to laugh about. And yet, she greets each day with a smile, a twinkle and the kind of exuberance of innocence that Jean-Paul could only wish for in his own sorry youth. Anyone with lesser character would have buckled under the bitter injustice of life that fates seemed to have visited upon the aptly named Jubilation.
Jubilation. Her parents must have known how what a joy she would one day become to those that were fortunate enough to share her life. Jean-Paul wasn't bashful about admitting, though only silently to himself, that she was a joy to be around. She was one of the few people that he knew existed that celebrated each day she was breathing. Perhaps it was because she's seen more deaths that were healthy of one her age and that she has learned to appreciate each day for the wonder that it is. It was difficult not to admire someone for that kind of wisdom.
Admire? Did he really admire this giggling, fashion challenged, gum popping, sugar inhaling, rollerblading child that made him watch extremely bad mindless action movies? Oh how the mighty had fallen. And yet he could not deny it either. He did admire her, as much as he loathed to even be contemplating it. He admired her strength, how she pulled herself together after facing the brutality of being crucified. He admired her loyalty; God knows you have to have the patience of a saint to put up with Logan's moods. He admired her simple ability to get up in the morning and smile. But most of all, he admire her un-miser friendship, even to those that may not deserve it.
Jean-Paul looked upon these X-Men and cannot blame them for looking upon him as an outsider on this. These men adore her for all the reasons that he himself look upon her with a friendly eye. He was the outsider in this, he wasn't with them when they found her, brought her home and created a family for her to draw strength on. Or is it that they shared the understanding that they brought Jubilee home to make a home for her because she gave them a reason to not give up. And still yet, she has drawn him into her circle of friends and family, making him part of that whole that these men were now questioning his place in.
It was Jubilee that made him feel welcome in this place. It was Jubilee that sought him out and drew him in. How can he not… adore? Yes, how can he not adore her for being simply her.
Just as the rest of the X-Men, his new family, does.
"I like her," he said softly because he did think he could bite off his tongue first before he told her. He'd never hear the end of it then. "She reminds me of Jean-Marie."
It was the sister reference that did it.
"Well then," Scott sighed and looked exceedingly pleased. "I guess we have nothing to worry about."
Jean-Paul raised a brow. "You mean the gay thing wasn't enough?"
"Nope," Scott shook his head.
Kurt laughed and dropped half burnt toast onto a plate. "I assume you'll have separate rooms."
"Of course not, how else will I remind myself why I don't enjoy females in my bed?" he replied dryly.
"You're kidding right?" Bobby asked, not quite sure.
Jean-Paul rolled his eyes and reframed from commenting at all least he embarrassed both of them.
"Where are you staying at?" Warren asked, a little reassured but not all that much. Jubilee was still their youngest and he means to see her protected.
"At the Three Palms," he replied getting up now that the interrogation was over. "I've booked one of the penthouse suites. Easy defenses that way," when the others stared, "Hey, you can never be too careful." Shrugging his shoulders, he left hoping that would be the end of that. Besides, he still had to pack.
Warren scratched his head and looked out the window at the sunny skies. "I wonder what the weather is going to be like in the Bahamas."
"Why do you care?" Bobby asked, wondering if he should give Jubilee some suntan lotion, the bottle he borrowed from her years ago.
"I'm thinking that I need a vacation as well. It's been some time where I've taken any time off to just relax and do nothing at all. Yeah, I'm definitely in need of a little change in surroundings." Warren commented casually. "Somewhere warm, sunny, sand and beach."
Scott shook his head as he headed for the door to look for his wife. "Work it out yourselves. I've got a class to teach."
Kurt looked at Bobby. Bobby looked at Kurt. The identical grins should have been frightening.
"I'll get my swim trunks."
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Why is it that none of my stories ever end the way I think they're going to end when I begin writing? This isn't how I envision this story going.