"Maybe it was just a dream this time, Jimmy, I don't know." Andi tried to reassure her brother, but it wasn't working too well, and she couldn't entirely blame him with what he'd described.

"It was too real for that, Andrea, I could feel it all happening around me."

"Well, I'm telling you, I can't see that happening. The whole point of all this is to defend ourselves, we're trying to prevent people from being killed. I've got strict orders. Our mutations are saved for when all else fails, the whole vision just doesn't add up."

"Well, in my vision people were dying, all else did fail, and you weren't giving orders, Wildcat was."

"That's not possible, Jimmy, I'd never let Wildcat take over like that and she doesn't have a voice of her own. You know it doesn't work like that."

"How do we know that? You've never let her go completely enough to test it out." Andi didn't answer. "Have you?" He added warily.

"It doesn't work like that." She said gruffly. "Just trust me, alright? You had a bad dream, it happens."

"I hope your right." Jim spat. "If you're not, half a Chicago is going to be destroyed and a lot of people are going to die fighting over one man's stupidity. Think about that, Andrea."

One man's stupidity? She had no idea what that meant, but before she could ask, he was gone.

The twins were nine years old when Jimmy, finally, told Marie and Logan about his mutation. Well, showed them more than told them. Marie's thoughts were what prompted him to spill the beans. She and Logan were preparing to go on another mission for their mystery boss, and she was silently cursing the man whose name they didn't even know because this was the second time in the space of a month that he'd called them. She'd been so preoccupied that her little man startled her when she turned around and he was standing in the doorway.

"James!" She scolded, somewhat playfully, after she got her bearings. "Yah scared me! That's not easy to do, yah know."

"I'm sorry, Mama." He said quietly. He was always quiet, and didn't talk much at all unless his sister was around, but of course Marie knew immediately that something was wrong.

"What's wrong, baby?"

He didn't answer immediately, and he looked rather flummoxed. The expression on his face would've been adorable if not for that fact that Marie had a feeling it was something very serious that was bothering him. Before she could do anything about it, though, he was barreling across the room to throw his arms around her middle.

'Say no!' His voice echoed in her mind, louder and clearer than even she'd ever heard it, but his lips never moved.

"Jimmy?" She gasped.

'Tell the man no!' He repeated telepathically, demanding.

"It's – it's not that simple, but sweetheart, how long have yah –"

'Why not!' He cut her off.

"Because it – just isn't. Logan! Come in here!"

Logan appeared in the doorway in a matter of seconds, looking worried by her tone. He looked down at Jimmy, still clinging tight to her middle, then up at Marie, bewildered. "What's wrong?"

Marie gently pulled away from her son and then turned him with hands on his shoulders to face Logan. "Can yah do it for Daddy, too?"

A moment passed, and Logan grew more confused. "Do what?"

"He was talkin to me just now – Logan, Ah think he read my mind."

'I didn't mean to!' His voice erupted in her mind again, frightened now. Judging by the expression on Logan's face, he'd heard this time too. 'You were so loud, sometimes I hear when I don't want to. I can't help it!'

"Hey." Logan came forward to kneel down in front Jimmy. "It's alright, little man, we ain't mad. Just tell us what you heard, ok?"

Jimmy nodded and wiped a tear off his cheek before speaking aloud in his quiet voice. "Mama's angry at this – this man cause he takes you guys away so much. She doesn't wanna go cause he makes you do all this awful stuff."

Logan locked eyes with Marie and they had a quick, silent conversation using their link. "Listen." He said when he finally looked back to Jimmy. "You trust me and your Mama, right?" Jimmy nodded, and Logan plowed on. "Good, good. I need you to just trust us right now, ok? We'd say no in a heartbeat if we could. But this man –," Marie scolded him through their link, but Logan had a feeling their little Jimmy was a lot stronger than she was giving him credit for, she babied the kids too much, "he could do some pretty awful things if we don't listen. You know how much we love you and your sister, right." Another nod from Jimmy. "We don't want – well, it's just best if we do what he says. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Jimmy replied in that tiny voice of his, but there was a very grown up amount of understanding reflected in his brown eyes. Something told Logan he understood a little too well. "He said he'd hurt me and Andi, didn't he? That's why you do what he says."

"Yeah." Logan sighed. "Yeah, that's why."

Jimmy gave Marie another hug, and then gave one to Logan before running off, presumably to find his sister.

"What?" Logan asked as Marie continued to glare at him. She only shook her head and went back to packing her bag.

…

They didn't go to Ms. Georgia's this time. Their cousin Vicky was in town, and remembering that the kids seemed to like her, she volunteered to stay with them. She taught them how to play a card game, took them into town for dinner at the diner – apple pie included –, and let them stay up late watching action movies a little more violent than their mama would've probably approved of.

"I wish you were our big sister." Andi said sleepily as she curled up to the older girl. "Then you could stay with us all the time."

Vicky ran a hand through her baby cousins unruly brunette hair. "Tell yah what." She said softly. "We'll have yah Daddy call me next time they leave and we'll see if Ah can come."

"Really?" Andi asked, looking up with her hazel eyes.

"Really." Vicky smiled.

"Yay!" Andi exclaimed, excited by the idea, before yawning hugely. Jimmy did the same seconds later.

Vicky chuckled. "Alright. Time for bed."

…

Mama and Daddy weren't getting along so well anymore, and Jimmy was convinced it was his fault, if only just a little bit. It had started right around the time he finally got up the courage to tell them about what he'd been able to do for as long as he could remember, and ever since Mama had seemed unhappy and Daddy didn't seem to know how to fix it and it made them grumpy with each other and Jimmy worried that it was because of him. That maybe, somehow, if he'd never said anything everything would still be ok.

He and Andi were going to be ten in a week. They were supposed to invite friends over for a party, but the only other friends they'd had, another set of twins, had moved away. He always had his nose in a book, and she was so tiny – thin and fragile and quiet. The other kids teased them, and even those that didn't knew better than to make friends with them because of it. And the worst part of it all was they were both afraid to tell their parents. Mama and Daddy seemed to have other things to worry about.

'We have to tell them something. I mean, won't they wonder why if we don't invite anybody?' They were outside, playing with Fang, the wolf-dog that had been their pet for forever. He was still pretty lively for all that he was getting pretty old. Jimmy spoke to Andi using his gift; they were so used to talking using their strange connection, it was more natural for them than talking out loud.

'I dunno.' She tossed a tennis ball across the lawn and watched as Fang bounded off to catch it. 'I mean, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have to leave.'

'Uhm, lucky? They're always gone. I don't want them to leave again.' Jimmy called Fang back and the wolf-dog trotted back to him, placing the ball at his feet and sitting in the snow, panting.

'Well, neither do I. It's just that we won't have to tell them if they do. It'd be easier that way.' Andi came up and scratched the old dog behind the ears. Fang responded by giving her hand an affectionate lick.

'I don't know. Maybe we should tell them.'

'Why? What are they gonna do about it?' She scowled at him, mirroring their Daddy for a strange moment.

'Well – maybe they could talk to our teacher or something.'

'Nah, she's London's mom, remember? That'd make it worse.'

'Oh. Right.' Jimmy kicked at the snow their legs were half buried in. 'Well, even if they can't do anything, we'll have to explain why no one's coming to the party.'

'Ok, you do that.' Andi told him. Jimmy rolled his eyes and threw a snow ball at her.

…

"What do yah mean, the other kids hate yah?" Marie asked, shocked, as the twins fidgeted uncomfortably, standing before her. "Why on earth would they?"

"We don't know." Jimmy said quietly. "They just – do."

"Cause Jimmy's such a geek!" Andi blurted, rather abruptly, causing Jimmy to turn to her angrily.

"It's not my fault!" He sounded offended. "Maybe if you weren't such a tomboy!"

"Maybe if you acted like a boy instead of reading all the time!"

They went on and on, back and forth in a very ten year old manner. Marie just watched, a little startled. Logan made his way into the room.

"Alright, you two." Marie said when the shouting match dissolved into nothing but name calling, but they ignored her.

"Hey!" Logan growled, loud and clear, and now they both stopped abruptly. "That's enough."

"Yes, sir." They murmured in unison.

"Now. I know you're probably getting sick of these bullies, but blaming each other's not gonna solve anything, alright?"

They nodded. Marie stood up from the couch and headed toward the kitchen, where her phone was sitting on the counter. "Ah'll call their teacher, she's a very nice lady, Ah'm sure if we tell her –"

"No!" The twins shouted, causing Marie to freeze with the phone in her hand, one eyebrow raised in a mirror of her husband's expression.

"Well, why not?"

"Because…" Jimmy didn't seem to know what to say.

"'Cause London hates us most of all and she's her mom!" Andi took over. "If you tell her, she'll get in trouble and things'll just get worse!"

Marie and Logan exchanged looks.

"Well, what then, babygirl? We have to do somethin."

"No we don't." Andi said. "I mean, we're ok. We only told you so you'd know why nobody's coming to our party."

"Yeah." Jimmy agreed hesitantly.

"Come on, now." Marie said, her heart breaking. "There must be somethin we can…"

'Marie. Leave it alone.' Logan told her gently through their link.

'But – but we can't just leave them to…'

'I don't like it either, but if they say their alright, their alright. We won't always be around to save them, remember? I think they can handle a couple of schoolyard bullies.'

Marie's answering glare was so cold it could've made Hell itself freeze over.

…

They weren't sure what they had missed, but things between their parents had been so – off the past few months that Jimmy and Andi knew enough to retreat to their rooms before the argument started. And boy, could Mama and Daddy argue. They were always quiet about it, speaking in hushed but distressed voices, as if trying desperately to make sure Andi and Jimmy didn't hear. Andi heard snippets sometimes. Something about the missions Mama and Daddy always went on. About how she and Jimmy needed to learn how to figure things out on their own.

Daddy made it sound, sometimes, like he and Mama weren't going to be around forever. Sometimes the idea made Andi angry. Mostly, it just terrified her. Mama and Daddy were in and out enough as it was. Why would they leave for good? Didn't they like her and Jimmy? Andi didn't understand. Jimmy did, he'd tell her sometimes not to be angry at Mama and Daddy, but he said it wasn't for him to explain.

He had a tendency to sound like a grown up sometimes. He was too smart. It bugged her to no end.

Her Mama growled something at her Daddy, and then footsteps stomped across the floor before the front door slammed. Andi fell asleep that night wondering which one had left, too afraid to open her door and go see.

"I didn't sign up for this, being trained by a girl. It's bad enough we gotta fight with them."

"I don't know, man, I mean I can think of worse things. You saw her out there. She seems to know what she's doing."

"Come on, that guy was a pansy, of course she kicked his ass. Watch her pick you or me out, she'd never last five seconds."

"You gonna volunteer? I'd take that bet. Besides, even if you had a point, at least she's, you know, not too hard on the eyes."

"Yeah, sure, if you like 'em butch as hell. How much you wanna bet she's on the same team as us, if you know what I mean."

"Hey, come on man, she is our Captain. Have a little respect."

Andi wanted desperately to reveal herself and break the jerks nose – or maybe do worse. The President had warned her that kind of talk still circled around, that it was inevitable, but that didn't make it any less frustrating to catch. Rewind a few months, and she might very well have given into her current urge, but things were different now. She was their CO and that meant she had to be more responsible than that. Besides, fighting first and asking questions later was an extremely unladylike thing to do, and she found herself bothered by their last statements. Maybe it was because she had been known to go both ways and she didn't like that the one jerk had pegged her so well. Or maybe it was that she couldn't help wondering if Junior had ever had to put up with hearing things like that. He'd never said anything about it, but he had tried things on occasion – buying her dresses or perfume or jewelry or offering to send her off for a spa day with the other girls at the mansion. Was he embarrassed by her sometimes? Trying to soften her up so people wouldn't talk so much? It had never occurred to her before. She'd just figured she was a different kind of girl than he was entirely used to dealing with.

She missed him so much it hurt. She wondered if he thought of her as often as she thought of him, which was just about all the time. It had been a month since their honeymoon, and they'd scarcely had time to talk. And then he'd been called back off to work on – that secret project and had started to seem awful distant for a man who'd just got married. Sometimes she wondered…

It didn't help that the conversation she'd overheard brought up old, old memories of being in school again, getting teased for the same things, always the same old things.

Shaking her head, she turned around and stalked back off towards her room. It was Sunday, and the recruits would have the evening off, which meant she could retreat as well if she wanted. Of course there were probably other things for her to be doing, but she supposed even she deserved half a break every now and then. Escaping into her quarters – a small, plain, neat space with a neatly made bunk, a small closet, and a desk – she slipped across the room to the bed, reaching down to a pull out the compartment beneath it. Moving aside a few shirts, she pulled out a bottle of whisky and a glass.

…

She decided to call him when more than half the bottle disappeared within a rather short period of time, even for her. Not very becoming of a Captain, even if it would take much more to get her as drunk as she half wished she could get away with. She wasn't entirely expecting him to answer, he worked odd hours at the lab on any given day of the week, but was still disappointed when he didn't.

And then she heard footsteps. A knock at her door. She scowled. And here she'd been hoping to be left in peace for a while. Downing what was left of the glass before her, she quickly closed the bottle and made it and the glass disappear back beneath her bed before crossing the room and opening the door. Which had a manual lock, not one of those electric ones that everyone had now. After dating Tony – a genius with a mutant talent for working with technology – she loathed the idea of things like digital locks. Too easy to hack.

"Yeah?" She asked, voice gruff, preparing herself for any number of things – none of which were what she actually got.

Standing on the other side of the door, looking somewhat bemused by her rather hostile tone and stance, was her mate. "You could at least wait until you see who it is to sound so irritable. Unless your goal is to terrify these poor kids, in which case that was a perfect way to start off a conversation. Come to think if it, that could very well be the case knowing you and how the military tends to do things, so…"

She pulled him forward by his suit jacket and gave him a hungry kiss, effectively shutting him up – and leaving him rather breathless when he broke it off. "You were rambling." She said innocently.

"And you've been drinking." He rose both eyebrows in that way that reminded her of a school teacher scolding one of his students. "Not that that is terribly out of the ordinary for you, but I should think your new job would require you to remain sober."

She rolled her eyes and pulled him into the room with her, shutting the door and locking it before turning back to him. "This is a base, and the recruits are only in training right now. They get Sunday nights off to – you know, write home and stuff."

"Write home? Literally?"

"They're not allowed technology until their done with basic. Some things never change. Haven't I ever mentioned this before?"

"I'd remember if you did."

She softened. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining." She slid her arms around his neck.

"I was waiting for you to ask. They have labs down here, on the base, functional but currently unused, and since I wasn't given much choice in being forced to work on – this project, I asked if I could be allowed this one favor. Since I haven't put up too much fuss, they agreed to move me and all I'll need down here." Well, that answered her earlier question. Apparently he had, very much so, been thinking about her too. She kissed him again when words failed her. He pulled away after a moment, searching her eyes. "Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong, or shall I begin guessing? Assuming there's a reason behind the whisky on your breath."

She thought about the conversation she'd heard, remembered the bullies from so long ago and Juniors gifts, wondered. And tried to decide if she wanted to bring it all up when she'd just got him back. The answer to that, of course, ended up being no.

"Forget it." She said instead. "You're here now, that fixes everything."

"Does it, now?" He seemed surprised.

"It does." She said, more confidently than she felt, and smiled.

Ok, so this one ended up being a little short, but the next ones super long, so there you go. :)