Kitty frowned in her sleep as she felt something brush her forehead. Opening her eyes, she realised that Jubilee's hand was now resting on her hair, almost like she was giving her blessing.
"Jubilee?" She murmured muzzily, moving carefully so as not to dislodge the hand too forcefully. Reaching out with her other hand, she grabbed Logan by the arm and shook him. "Jubilee, are you awake? Jubes?"
"Whut?" Logan shot awake and thrust Kitty out of his way, making her stumble back towards the wall.
"Logan, she woke up." Kitty murmured, rubbing her now tender wrist, bruised from his impatience. "Her hand was on the top of my head. That mean's she's getting better, right?"
Logan ignored her, leaning over the bed. "Jubes, baby, come on. Open your eyes for me."
But there was nothing. No movement to indicate that Jubilee was alive in there, let alone awake. The machines scattered around the bedside continued to beep, as they had since she had been wheeled out of the operating room, two very worried doctors by her side.
"Katchen, you need to rest." Kurt murmured from the doorway, holding out his hand to her. "Jean is getting worried about you, and you were injured too."
Kitty looked back at the bedside reluctantly, but allowed him to pull her from the room. When she got outside, she realised that the long corridor in the SHIELD command ship was littered with people either standing or sitting on the floor, all staring quietly at the room she had just come out of. All were waiting to hear of news.
"I think she woke up." Kitty murmured, stopping by Bobby and putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his eyes hopeful.
"Did she say anything?"
Wordlessly, Kitty shook her head. "No. I was asleep. She'd put her hand on my head. I don't know. It 's a good sign, right?"
Bobby gripped her hand tightly and nodded, instinctively knowing that Kitty needed to hear it from someone. "It's a good sign Kitty. Go get some sleep."
When she had disappeared down the corridor, he looked around at the others, daring them to contradict him. The only one that would meet his eyes was Hellboy, an unlit cigar in his hand. His face was expressionless, but he jerked his head towards the viewing platform at the end of the hall.
The wind whipped at their faces and clothes as they looked down at the clouds far below. Hellboy leant on the railing and stared out.
"Kid-"
"I know, Hellboy."
"But-"
"She needs to hear that right now. She needs to know she didn't kill her."
"But the kid was dead. You said so yourself. You had to give her mouth to mouth. She died three times on the table. And you heard what Hank said."
"Hank's been known to be wrong!" Bobby's fist crashed down on the metal, and Hellboy was surprised to see the metal dimple beneath the suddenly iced-up fist.
"That is true." He admitted carefully, puffing on the cigar. "But it's hard for someone to survive when they've been hurt that bad. I must admit though, Kitty wasn't strong enough to have done all that. I guess you are right...she didn't kill her. But she had a pretty part in helping kill the kid."
"She's not dead yet! Jubes is a fighter. She'll fight this." Bobby repeated stubbornly, ignoring the wetness on his cheeks.
"She'll fight it till the bitter end. Just prepare yourself, Bobby. That's all I'm saying."
Bobby's hands tightened on the railing and he bowed his head. The giant red demon stepped back and let the youngster battle with his feelings, keeping a silent watch.
Three floors above them, Nick Fury watched them silently, the fingers of one hand tapping against the railing of his command post.
"What did Hank say?"
Scott looked at him finally, coming to stand beside him with his arms folded.
"If she makes it through the night, she should have a chance. Please god she does." Scott admitted. "Do we even know how she was taken?"
Fury turned his back on the large sloped window and looked around the half-empty room, letting his eyes rest on each soldier manning it's station. "I'm trying to contact the guys I had tailing her. They should have reported it, Goddamnit!" He thumped the railing with his fist and glared at Scott. "We should have known she was gone minutes after she was taken! Those bastards weren't doing their jobs, Summers…she was hurting before Kitty managed to lay a single touch on her. But who is to say which was the killing blow? Was it Kitty, or was Jubilee doomed before-"
"She's not dead yet!" Scott snapped to his feet and grabbed Fury by the collar. Across the room, Reed Richards slowly stood along with several other men, SHELD and mutant alike. Tension was thick in the air, and Reed watched nervously as several soldiers placed their hands on their side-arms.
"Easy, there." He murmured, putting his hands between both of them and gently prising Scott's hands from Fury's clothing.
"If we had gone when I had said, this wouldn't be happening!" Scott protested, the ruby strip on his visor glowing angrily. "One day extra you asked – one day extra that means one of our people is lying in a hospital bed. And another thinks she's killed her. God, Fury! You knew that to delay would cause extra lives to be lost-"
"SCOTT!" Reed barked out. "Go outside. Now!"
"You are not my-"
"Scott, come with me." Scott jumped a mile when his wife's voice came from by his shoulder. When had she come in? Reed nodded gratefully as she tugged at his arm and drew him away, and once the chief instigator had left, the other soldiers in the room relaxed, taking their hands from their weapons and going back to their posts.
"It wasn't my fault." Fury murmured to no one in particular. "My superiors wouldn't let me…this isn't my fault." He watched Reed give him a worried look before returning to the machine he had been examining and then turned to look out the window once more. In the silence, he whispered to himself, "This is my fault."
OOOoooOOO
"Scott, leave Nick alone." Jean cornered him out in the corridor, trying to get him to look at her.
"I…leave me alone, Jean. You weren't there. You don't know."
Jean looked at him in astonishment, unsure she had heard what he had just said properly. "Excuse me, Scott? But did you just say I wasn't there? So, that wasn't me giving her CPR? That wasn't me and Bobby keeping her alive on the killing floor?"
"That's not what I meant!" He protested, calming down when he saw the dangerous glint in her eyes. "I didn't mean that. Or then. I meant when Fury was asking his superiors to let him assist us take down the Camarian's. He didn't fight for it. It was just another mission to him."
"Because he knew Logan and Kitty could take care of themselves." Jean added. Scott nodded. "It's not his fault that he didn't know Jubilee was in there. None of us knew."
"We should have." Scott crossed his arms again, his jaw set. "We should have known she was missing. We knew Logan and Kitty were gone less than 12 hours after they were taken. We would never have known that she was gone, or who had taken her. Would we?"
Jean paused before answering. She didn't want to say it, but he was right. "No. We probably wouldn't have known until it was time for her to come home for the summer."
"Jean…she is one of ours…one of our family. And we just let her go."
Once more, Jean kept her own council. On one hand, she was afraid to speak, in case she just made things worse. And on the other hand, he was voicing the argument that had been going on in her brain since the moment the core men had taken her out of the OR.
"Fury had men watching her." She murmured finally, keeping her eyes on his chest, afraid to look at his face.
"Fat lot of good that did. Look where she is now." He whispered softly, taking a deep breath and rubbing his face. Pressing his lips tightly together, he shook his head and pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her in a comforting hug. "If she…when she gets better, Jean, she isn't leaving the damned mansion again. She can do distance learning. Hank can tutor her. But she isn't leaving our sight."
Jean raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Scott…you'd kick her out within a week. She'd drive you crazy."
Scott chuckled and nodded. "True…but at least we'd know she was safe…"
