Chapter 11: "Now What?"

While everyone else had gone to the opera house, Kate found herself with all the teenagers, the youngest of which was Zoe Barton, who was barely thirteen, skinny, and had a splash of freckles across her nose — and she only seemed to acquire more freckles as she tried to shapeshift back into her usual self.

The girl was thrilled to pieces to have Kate around, but for Kate, for the first time, she really had no idea what to do. In her own time, Zoe was just a heartbeat on a monitor — Clint and Natasha hadn't even found out the gender yet. And some part of Kate was just… half-guilty about knowing this big of a secret before her parents did.

But thankfully, Zoe seemed to be well enough distracted trying to get a better handle on her powers as Krissy gently tried to help her with whispered encouragements in the corner. Krissy had been forced to learn quickly — and the hard way — how to get control fast, and she seemed to have taken her fellow Hawk-family member under her wing.

Gerry, on the other hand, really hadn't changed much at all. Just looking at him, Kate could see the grinning little blonde boy she was so used to — though maybe with a few more freckles and with long, gangly legs. He was old enough now that he would have been close to graduation in another life, looking forward to college and probably joining either the Avengers or the X-Men, whichever team he decided to choose.

He and Charlie hadn't moved since he arrived, either. Almost from the second he sat down next to her, she'd just latched onto him — and Kate could tell it was doing her some real good. She was smiling and laughing with the rest of the kids as Gerry did his best to distract from all the things Daken had laid out for them by putting on a spectacular light show.

Gerry's powers weren't quite like Jubilee's — all colors and fireworks and explosions. Instead, he worked with the light itself, in little flashes and twinkles like starlight as he dimmed the lights without so much as a move toward the light switch so that everyone could see the show better.

At some point during the show — Kate wasn't sure when — both Zoe and Krissy had found their way over to where she was and curled up on either side of her, and again, she was struck by just how badly she wanted to take these battle-worn teenagers home with her. She knew she couldn't, though, so she just cuddled them as best she could in the meantime.

They had all fallen into easy conversation, trading stories — since Zoe and Gerry hadn't seen the others in a while and wanted to know everything that had happened since the younger versions of their Aunt Katie and Uncle Kurt had arrived — when both Elin and Sying seemed to pick their heads up, obviously hearing something that the others couldn't. Elin gave Sying a glare, silently warning him to stay put and keep watch, before she got up and left the little group to investigate.

But, even so — it was Charlie who let out a little whisper of a sigh as she said, "Oh, they're back."

Chance glanced at his sister, one eyebrow quirked up. "Uh ... who's here?" he asked carefully, and Kate noticed that he had pulled back one hand so he could grab one of his guns if he needed to.

Charlie was leaning heavily against Gerry now. "I can't tell… everyone's emotions are so strong," she whispered out. "But ... relief. It's all over them." She opened one eye to look at her brother. "They're all so tired."

The other kids glanced at each other. "Relief?" Krissy repeated, her tail swishing around behind her. She still looked a bit… cautious.

But Charlie had closed her eyes again, concentrating on the emotions she could feel beyond them. A slow smile started at the corner of her mouth that turned into a giggle. "Oh," she whispered. "Wow. That's ... I haven't felt joy that strong in a long time."

That had the other kids clambering to their feet as curiosity won out over everything else, and they all but tumbled out of the door and into the hall to see just what was going on, half scared to hope that "relief" and "joy" meant what they thought it meant.

The adults that were filing into the church all looked tired and simply worn out, but every single one of them was grinning, taking any kids that were close enough to them in warm hugs. Clint lifted Zoe up in a spin, and Krissy all but tackled her dad when she saw that he was still there — still alive and okay after the fight, even if he looked like he was still half in shock.

But it was quickly apparent, even as the very quiet and relieved celebrations started up, what the joy was that Charlie had felt as the kids and Kate spotted, beyond everyone else and practically at the entrance to the church, the little family of ferals. They looked to have simply melted into the floor right at the spot where Elin met them, and they were huddled in such a warm hug that they probably could have stayed there for a year and been totally fine.

Kate, meanwhile, made her way through the groups of very relieved adults and kids — past where Tyler had Chance in a grinning bear hug — to find her Kurt to simply wrap him up in a hug of her own and pull him to her for a long kiss. "Glad to see you didn't get yourself stabbed again," she whispered to him — not just because she was standing on her toes to whisper in his ear but because it almost seemed too loud to say anything in a louder tone than a whisper in the quiet church where everyone around them was just melting into tired relief. She played with the torn edges of his uniform, which seemed even more tattered than before. "Or maybe not. What happened?"

"The demons are on the run," Kurt said softly. "And Azazel is dead."

"Good." She very gently kissed his cheek and then held onto him for a moment, looking over his shoulder in the hug at the others in various stages of dealing with everything that had happened. "So… now what do we do?" she whispered even quieter than before.

"I don't know," Kurt admitted. "Usually, when we've done what we need to do, Gateway appears and picks us up again."

She nooded, still half watching everyone else. "Well, I don't see him," she said at last.

Kurt let out a bit of a chuckle. "It's not usually an instantaneous thing. We should stay together and wait."

"And make sure this bunch takes care of themselves," she agreed with a sigh. "At the risk of sounding like Annie again, they need food. And sleep."

"I believe that's exactly what we're supposed to do," Kurt agreed.

Kate sat back down on the balls of her feet for a moment, looking up at her Kurt. "I'm starting with you, then," she decided as she took both of his hands in hers and started to pull him back toward the rooms. "Because you look… tired. I guess killing your dad takes it out of you… you okay?"

"Better than my older self," Kurt said with a sigh. "He was the one to finish the job."

She frowned at that and looked past him to where the older Nightcrawler was simply curled around Krissy, the two of them apparently following the ferals' lead. "That sucks ... but also, good for him," she muttered out, still holding both of Kurt's hands in her own. "I'll make sure he eats and sleeps and … you know. Does something besides melting into Krissy."

"It might be best to let him process for the moment," Kurt said.

"Right, I just mean… eventually, they're going to have to get up from the floor."

"Yes, but they'll need to heal, and at the risk of driving you into my older self's arms ... you shouldn't cook for them."

She let out half of a disbelieving chuckle. "Are you jealous of yourself?" she couldn't help but tease.

"I could never be jealous of another," he replied with a grin.

Her eyes twinkled the slightest as she kissed his cheek. "That's too bad. You're cute when you're all flustered," she teased him.

"So fluster me," he replied low.

She laughed delightedly and draped her arms over his shoulders. "Find us some privacy, and I'll do more than that." Kurt grinned impishly, and the two of them teleported away — as anyone in the church who was paying even half an ounce of attention to them shook their heads at how much that hadn't changed.

Just about everyone in the little church had slept in — deeply — after everything that had happened. There was still work to be done, eventually, of course — chasing out the last of the demons and starting to rebuild. But for the moment, the church was quiet, and there was even a little cleansing rainfall for the first time in years.

The sound of the rain pattering against the roof and the walls just contributed to the lazy feeling that morning, though Kate was surprised to see that, besides Chance — who was up looking out for Charlie still — she was the first one up and about and looking for something to eat.

She stepped out of the church for a quick moment to chat with the bamfs, who of course immediately descended on her with chattering and hugs and snuggles and were more than happy to help her find anything she wanted — with no less than three of them producing scrounged coffee before she even asked.

She spent the better part of her morning playing with the bamfs before she finally made her way back inside, where some of the others were starting to stir as well. Natasha had pulled Noh and Daken into a quiet corner to discuss the best way to move forward and start getting things back to normal. They still had work to do — killing Azazel didn't mean his armies were gone or that the creatures of Hell were going to give up their hold on heaven and earth, but it would make their job easier — and from the sound of things, the three of them were already discussing ways to make some headway without involving the ferals or the older Nightcrawler until they were well and truly recovered from everything that had happened. Kate had to smile when her Kurt slipped almost seamlessly into the group with a few ideas of his own as to the best ways to start their campaign to save heaven in particular — speaking from experience — and she very quietly slipped out of the room with coffee and breakfast to go find Krissy and her father.

She wasn't surprised at all to find the two of them still curled up together, and she had decided to leave the coffee and food for them to get to when they woke up, but the smell of the coffee had Krissy stirring the slightest — and as Kate paused in the doorway, she also realized that the Nightcrawler was awake and looked like he had been for some time.

"You guys okay?" Kate asked quietly, not sure exactly what to do. Kurt had said everyone needed to heal, but ... all she could think of was pancakes and coffee, really. That and hanging out with friends and family had always been more than enough for her and her friends — though they'd never faced anything like this.

"We will be," Nightcrawler said quietly.

Kate nodded probably a few more times than was necessary before she pressed a steaming mug toward each of the sleepy Elves.

Nightcrawler smiled warmly at her with the nearly automatic, "Danke," in response.

"Bitte," she replied almost as automatically, then broke into a little smile. "It's half-caff, but the bamfs did their best," she added. "Maybe when things are cleaned up a little better, there will be good coffee again."

Krissy had to smirk the slightest bit at that as she took a long sip of the coffee. "Right. Because coffee is the best measurement of how well the world is doing."

Kate peered at Krissy with one eye opened wider than the other. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she teased. "Because no daughter of mine would say such a thing about coffee."

Krissy rolled her eyes but couldn't help grinning. "I guess it's just that you caught me before my first cup," she teased.

"That's better," Kate said with a decisive nod.

"We'll be down to scrounge before too long," Nightcrawler said. "We're just … taking our time to wake up for a change."

Kate smiled at that and nodded. "Don't let me rush you," she said. "I just thought you might like some coffee. Little taste of normalcy." She leaned back in her chair and saluted them both with her mug before she took a long drink and then grinned. "Next on my list is finding Pete's special creamer so this at least tastes drinkable."

"I remember that stuff," Krissy said with a small smile. "Spidey got so mad when me and Elin would steal it."

"It was his own fault for letting you taste it," Nightcrawler said quietly.

"And for leaving it out in the open where we could get to it," Krissy agreed, shaking her head and smiling wider still.

"Yes, he should know better," Kate laughed. "We've been saying since you were born that you two are troublemakers."

"Well, in all honesty, if it wasn't him, it was K giving it to them with their 'coffee'," Nightcrawler said with a sigh, unwilling to lay blame entirely on Spidey when he was unable to defend himself.

"That doesn't surprise me either," Kate said, shaking her head. "She's a rabble rouser." She finished off what was left in her mug and then tipped her head at the two of them. "There's more down the hall if you want — and probably real food too, which… you need," she added to Nightcrawler with a raised eyebrow. "I don't care if Tyler patched you up — you still need to eat to recover from all that healing."

"I am vaguely familiar with that concept," he replied with a little troublemaking smirk.

"Good — then I expect zero arguments from you," she replied with a wide, impish grin before she held out a hand to both of them to try to pull them to their feet, though Krissy just used that as a way to pull herself into a very long hug, tightly tucking herself around Kate with a little contented sigh.

When Kate did finally get back down to the kitchens, she was surprised to hear the clatter of pots and pans and to catch some amazing scents drifting out of the open door. She tipped her head to the side and stepped in... only to stop and grin when she saw Annie talking with Sying as she worked, as she often did — cooking for the crowd.

"Please tell me you at least asked before you kidnapped Annie to be our personal chef," Krissy teased Sying, who rolled his eyes at her.

"Sweetheart, he didn't need to ask," Annie replied. "He just had to tell me that there was a handful of healers here that needed somethin' to eat that was a little more fit for human consumption than what you had."

"Is my cooking really that bad?" Kate laughed.

"Bobby's made wild improvements," Sying deadpanned. "But your ability to order out is second to none."

Kate looked like she was ready to get huffy and defensive for a second before she rolled her eyes. "Hurtful," she said his way, shaking her head. "I thought for sure by now I'd be good at cooking ... I mean... Fourteen years, at least ten with Annie… tell me I at least improved a little!"

"You had other things occupyin' your attention," Annie said with a smirk. "But you did figure out how to make Southern biscuits from scratch."

"Well, breakfast food," Kate said with a smirk to match hers that had Annie laughing as she pulled a pan away from the fire and set it aside to rush over to give Kate a warm hug.

"I know it's a little selfish, but it sure is nice to see you again," Annie told her. "We all missed you."

"So I've been told," Kate said as she hugged her friend right back. "I don't mind — you know I love hugs anyway."

Elin came in a short while later, looking a bit brighter than she had been as she took a seat and watched the group with her chin in her hand next to Krissy. "How long has this been going on?" she asked her best friend.

"The hugging or the Miss Annie baking frenzy?" Krissy laughed.

"Yes," Elin replied as she leaned on Krissy's shoulder.

"Well, Sying brought Annie in this morning, apparently, and the hugging has been going on since Mom got here," Krissy reported with a little smile.

"I missed that," Elin told her as she looked up at her friend. "The smiling."

"It's a pretty good look on you too," Krissy replied without missing a beat, smiling wider still. "I hope you're not going to break anything smiling like that."

"I may have," she shot back. "Been so long it actually hurts."

Krissy giggled and shook her head at her friend. "Good thing you heal, then," she teased. "The rest of us will just have to power through all the smiling on our own. You know how it is when you use muscles you haven't used before."

"No, not really," Elin said in a dry tone before she smirked at Krissy and bumped her shoulder with hers.

"Come on — it hasn't been that long since you got your healing," Krissy replied, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

"No, it just feels like an eternity," Elin said in a huff.

"Yeah, it really kind of does," Krissy agreed quietly, resting her head on top of her friend's as Annie shoved two very full plates of food at both of them.

"You are growing girls. Eat," Annie directed them both.

"Yes, ma'am," they both answered in unison as they straightened up and did as they were told.

Kate grinned and leaned over to the older Nightcrawler. "Oh, she taught them well," she whispered.

"It was much easier for her to get them to toe the line once … well," Nightcrawler said, drifting off a bit. "It will be interesting to see what happens next."

"In so many ways, not just with the 'yes ma'am'ing," Kate agreed, leaning against the counter as she watched the two teenage girls fall back into companionable, chatting while they ate — as Sying got a loaded plate of his own and quietly sat on Krissy's other side.

Annie had directed Kate and Nightcrawler to sit down with their own plates chock full of food when the twins appeared — both of them. Chance was beaming like he'd won an Olympic gold and had one arm underneath Charlie, who was determined to come and eat with everyone else. Annie turned to see who else had come to join the mealtime party and very nearly dropped everything she was holding on the floor before she rushed over to wrap both of the twins up in a warm hug.

"Hi, Mom," Chance said with a grin. "Missed you too."

Annie took a step back, her eyes obviously glistening as she looked them over, cupping both of their faces in her hands as she shook her head. "You've both grown so much since I last saw you," she said softly before she let out a smile and a bit of a laugh. "Stop growing so fast. I'll have to put bricks on your heads to keep you from outstrippin' us all!"

"Just trying to catch up to Dad," Charlie replied with a grin of her own.

Annie laughed and hugged them both again. "At this rate, you'll be taller than him, and then what will he do with himself?" she teased.

"Weep," Chance replied without missing a beat.

"Probably," Annie chuckled before she grabbed both of them by the arms and ushered them toward the group. "You're both so skinny, though — let's get some food in you so you can catch up to your father," she said in an obvious attempt to hide the heavy emotion in her voice.

The twins grinned and joined the group of teenagers, this time settling on the other side of Elin, who looked up and smiled Chance's way. Charlie seemed content to drink in the happiness of the room, and Chance was still grinning like he'd personally been the one to end Azazel's reign of terror.

"How're your parents?" Chance asked in an undertone to Elin.

"Last I saw, they were wrapped around each other pretty tightly and dead asleep," she replied. "Weird as it sounds, I think they missed each other."

"Well, I can understand that, sorta," he said, tipping his head toward his sister. "I mean. I missed Charlie."

"Yeah, I just didn't think they were kept apart. It makes sense, though," Elin said as she picked at her breakfast.

"But they're together now," Chance said, starting to smirk. "And Sying would probably say that's the present state, so forget the past."

"I think … they're okay," she said. "And I'm ... kind of in a daze, I guess."

"You need anything?" Chance asked sincerely. "I mean ... I've gotten pretty good at taking care of stuff. If you need anything, I mean."

She gave him a little smile and squeezed his arm. "I'm good, thanks."

He sighed and nodded at that. "Oh, okay. Well, let me know," he said with a shy sort of smile.

"You'd be the first person I talked to," Elin promised.

"Really?" Chance asked, and immediately winced when Charlie reached over to smack him in the back of the head. "Ow. Charlie — what the heck?"

Elin glanced between the twins and raised an eyebrow as she shook her head and turned to talk to Krissy again.

But it wasn't long before the quiet conversation was broken again — this time by a much more disruptive influence. Clint came half tripping into the room with a pair of little red half-demons cackling at his ankles, holding onto his legs as he tried to get around while they were half-giggling "fall down again!"

Clint looked up to Kate when he entered and tried his very best to look like he wasn't being totally overrun by the little demon kids. "This… is probably my fault for trying to play floor monster," he tried to explain.

"With actual monsters," Nightcrawler said.

Kate shook her head at Nightcrawler for that one and tried to help Clint. "They can't help who their father is," she said decisively as she slipped over to crouch down and try to cajole them into letting go of his legs, though they cackled at her for her efforts.

"No, mother," one of them said clearly.

"We like him," the other said.

"It's fine, Katie-Kate, I just gotta get to where I can sit down," Clint said, his arms out for balance as they pulled at him.

"No, play monster!" one of the twins insisted as his brother climbed up Clint's side to try to pull him from a higher vantage point — which was fine up until he got hold of Clint's gray-white hair and started to try to pull him down that way.

"Ow, okay. That's not allowed," Clint said, tickling the little guy to try to get him to release his hair, but while he burst into delighted giggles, he gripped harder — and that had his brother trying to climb up to so he could also get Clint's attention.

But both of them froze when a low snarl split the air and the two adult ferals stepped into the room. "Gabriel, Michael — down. Now," K growled out.

Kate raised an eyebrow at that and looked even more shocked when the twins climbed down from Clint, regarding K almost warily. "Gabriel and Michael?" Kate asked.

"Azazel didn't want to name them — but you did, so … we came up with the names that would tweak him the worst," K explained. "Turns out - the kids learned them quickly."

Kate found herself grinning at that. "I like them too," she laughed quietly.

"Well once I suggested angel names … you dropped the archery ones you were looking at," K told her.

"Sounds about right," Kate agreed as the little guys seemed to decide she was the safest bet and skipped over to where she was, while Annie regarded the tiny twins carefully before simply selecting a few biscuits and such to slide their way.

They were about to just dig in when K growled low their direction again and both of them froze before muttering out a reluctant 'thank you'. K smirked the slightest and settled in next to Logan, leaning against him as she watched the two little red boys carefully.

Kate tipped her head at K, surprised at how well the twins were behaving for her, before she said, smirking slightly, "I can't pay you for the daycare, but the bamfs did scrounge some coffee if you'll take that in trade."

"Yes," K said, her eyes brightening up a bit. "The demon king was all about tea, wouldn't you know."

"Well… it's half-caff, but that's all they could find."

"And this is still hell on earth," K deadpanned. "But still better than tea."

Krissy snorted outright at that and didn't even try to cover up for it. "Pass the biscuits, please," she said, and Sying gladly reached over to grab a few for her.

"So, what happens to these two when it's all said and done?" Kate asked as the red imps on either side of her giggled at each other as they threw bits of biscuit until a look from Logan got them to stop.

"Well," Nightcrawler said slowly. "They are children; we'll simply have to teach them properly."

"Shouldn't be too hard. You had practice with the bamfs," she teased.

"Not with those two helping me keep them in line," Nightcrawler agreed with a smile. "I take it they find you more frightening than Azazel was?" He was looking at Logan when he asked it.

"He didn't have near the control he wanted," Logan said with a shrug. "Couldn't stop the instincts from kicking in and occasionally kicking his ass. Can't predict what you don't plan."

One of the boys nodded and giggled. "Stab him!" he cackled.

K smirked his way. "He wasn't exactly nice to them either, so ... "

Kate and Kurt both frowned at that, though the other little boy looked up at Nightcrawler with a curious expression. "Big brother killed father," he reported in an almost disinterested tone.

"Yes," Nightcrawler replied frankly. "So you'll have to follow my rules now." Logan and K started to nod in agreement, sure to give the boys a united front.

The boys shared a look on hearing that, their noses scrunched up for a moment as they looked to Logan and K and then Kate, who was also nodding. "Big brother in charge," one of them said at last, as the other nodded decisively.

"That means you have to behave yourselves like K and Logan taught you," Nightcrawler told them in a stern tone. "All the time, without being asked."

But they shook their heads at that. "NO."

"Yes," Logan growled out.

They both turned toward Logan and frowned hard, arms crossed over their chests. "Why-y-y?"

"Because that's what you need to do if you want to stay with us," NIghtcrawler told them.

They both huffed out little breaths and didn't look happy about it, and for a moment, both of them honestly looked like Kate as they growled out in unison, "Fine."

"And," K said in a soothing tone. "If you behave, Annie will give you treats like you've never had before."

The boys seemed to consider this for a moment, watching Annie with narrowed eyes. "Okay," one of them said slowly.

"We try it," the other agreed.