Chapter Twelve

As one battle ends, another begins

Bobby sighed heavily as they arrived at the mansion before handing his credit card to the cab driver. There were salesmen everywhere, some sitting off to the side, soaked through with water and muttering to themselves, but most pressing against the gates. Logan must have been watching the shopping channels again, Bobby assumed.

Piotr was already out of the cab and walking calmly through the crowd patiently repeating over and over again. "No thank you, we aren't interested. Please move along." As he sprayed salesmen with the water bottle he always kept in his flight bag for these situations.

Within an hour they had cleared the area in front of the school and were let inside. Wanda and Kitty asked what had happened, while Jubilee was just grateful her husband had arrived before Logan was broke (again). Logan, meanwhile, was unaware of how bad the threat had been and was busy with the monthly budget in his office.

Soon enough it was decided that no one would mention to Logan that Wade and John were once more unsupervised, instead Bobby and Piotr would take a second car and try to find the boys on their own. Kurt had called a little while ago, to tell Kitty that his sister was expecting the boys sometime in the next few hours, so if they left now, they should hopefully be able to catch up.

Everyone assured Bobby that if the salesmen were to return they could handle it, so the guys were on the road just before dinner time to everyone's relief. Hopefully this latest crisis would soon be resolved. Piotr had called John's phone which had gone right to voicemail, and left a message telling them where to go. With any luck, John would actually listen to the message and as long as Wade didn't decide it was another elf plot they could all meet up by tomorrow morning.

~o~O~o~

Jamie was tired, angry, hungry, and he was pretty sure his phone was broken. He was also now walking down the side of a pretty scary road with Julian driving slowly behind him begging him to get back into the car.

"No. Not until you agree to go back to New Orleans so we can finally talk to Gambit." Jamie called over his shoulder.

After the parking garage Julian had decided that New Orleans was too dangerous, Gambit would never have gone there anyway, and that river boats should be a good place to look. Jamie had protested this theory, but Julian had driven straight out of the city.

Just on the outskirts of the city Julian had stopped for gas which is when Jamie decided to walk off. He was sick of all of this, he just wanted to warn Gambit and Rogue and call for a ride home so he could tell the X-men what had happened and finish his garden gnome project.

Julian finally agreed to look one last time in the city if Jamie got back in the car. Not because he believed Jamie that they would have better luck here but because he was worried Jamie was going to do something crazy, like call Logan or confront a salesman, or call Logan.

"I don't get why you're so convinced we'll find them here anyway. I keep telling you Jamie, I remember, Gambit hated his family. They made him crazy. No way would he come here."

"He said as they were leaving he was coming here. One. Two, Rogue told me they were here." Jamie said with a frown as he tried to turn his phone on once more.

" When was that? No one's even heard from them since they left!"

"I've been trying to tell you for weeks Julian! I talk to Rogue all the time. She's on my Facebook." Jamie replied.

"What? And this is the first I'm hearing about it?! What kind of friend are you that you don't tell me that you know where to find who I need to talk to? DO you know how much trouble we could have avoided if you had just told me to begin with that you knew where they were? What's wrong with you?"

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR DAYS! WEEKS! I'VE TRIED OVER AND OVER AGAIN TO TELL YOU! YOU NEVER LISTEN! AT LEAST EIGHT DIFFERENT PEOPLE INCLUDING ME KNOW EXACTLY WHERE TO FIND THEM! LOGAN KNOWS WHERE TO FIND THEM! IF YOU HAD EVER BOTHERED EVEN ONCE TO OPEN THE BOOK YOU WOULD KNOW WHERE TO FIND THEM BECAUSE IT'S LISTED IN THE 'FORMER MEMBERS WHO WILL BE BACK AFTER THEIR VACATIONS' DIRECTORY! YOU NEVER PAY ATTENTION TO ANYONE AND THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T KNOW THAT 74 TIMES 1 IS 74. OR THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE 21 CENTURY NOT THE 20TH. OR THAT IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MARRY LAURA ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ASK HER BECAUSE SHE'S A FREAKIN ADULT AND DOESN'T NEED OR WANT LOGAN'S APPROVAL." Jamie screamed.

"I DON'T WANT LOGAN MAD AT ME OKAY? I'M NOT GOING TO BE THE REASON LOGAN AND LAURA FIGHT. HOW IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND? AND THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WHO CAN TELL ME HOW TO MAKE LOGAN OKAY WITH IT IS GAMBIT, SO I'VE TRAVELED ALL OVER THE FREAKIN COUNTRY, GOTTEN NEARLY KILLED SIX TIMES, SURVIVED ON COFFEE FOR A FREAKIN WEEK, AND PUT UP WITH YOUR CONSTANT TEXTING JUST SO I CAN FIND OUT AND FINALLY BE HAPPY AND NOW YOU TELL ME THAT IT WASN'T A NECESSARY TRIP? DON'T YOU THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO MENTION THAT BEFORE NOW?"

"O.M.G. I DID! OVER AND OVER, BUT YOU IGNORED ME! Thurn left here. JUST LIKE ALWAYS! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ANYONE JULIAN AND THAT YOUR REAL PROBLEM! Right here at the next intersection. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU CAN'T GET ALONG WITH LOGAN? THE REAL REASON WHY? BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST LIKE HIM! Third house on the left. "

"I see. Well if you're so convinced I'm so much like Logan, why are you even here?" said Julian as he parked the car.

"Because." Said Jamie as he climbed out of the car. "You're my friend, and I have to keep you safe."

~o~O~o~

Night had fallen by the time everyone at the school had completely calmed down from the earlier scare. Throughout the evening one of the teachers would casually walk out to the fence to make sure no new salesmen had appeared, but aside from two who were quickly sent away right around dinnertime none had appeared. It was strange that they had given up so easily, but they decided to just be grateful and not question it.

It didn't occur to anyone, because Logan was unaware of the latest threat and Wade was somewhere in Alabama getting into a fight with a rather tall woman over some pizza, that if the salesmen had given up this easily that meant they had found a different target. If Logan or Wade had been available to help, they may have prevented what came next, but no one wanted to tell Logan what went on this morning. Wanda had convinced him that it had been a drill, which pleased him to think the others were taking these things seriously.

Whatever their reasoning, everyone went to bed with untroubled minds, unaware that in just a few hours they would be getting the worst news in years.