Chapter 27 - Open. Up.
The lab was stock still after Hank had told - and shown K proof that she had twins on the way, and it was Scott to break the silence. "That's … amazing," he said with a grin that he couldn't stop - he gave Jean a quick squeeze and both of them made their way over to give her a hug. Not that she was paying much attention as they took turns wrapping her up.
She was just a little too taken aback by discovering two little ones on the way instead of one.
"Are you okay?" Jean asked quietly.
"Yeah. Of course," K said automatically. "I just ... " She let out a breath and leaned back. "Logan's going to be out of class soon. I need to … I need to talk to him."
Jean bit her lip and glanced at Scott, who nodded. "Let me know if you need help," she said.
"I've got it," K promised. "Just … give me a few minutes to settle down and I'll … figure out how to tell him."
The Summers' left her alone with Hank for a moment so she could gather herself, and of course, Hank didn't waste any time in trying to raise her spirits. "He'll be thrilled," he promised in a low tone. "But I'm afraid I will likely need to monitor you more closely. There are a lot of risks that come with twins."
"Of course there are," K said in a soft tone. "If I just let Jean drag me with her, will that be enough?"
"Very likely," Hank chuckled before he rested his hand on her wrist. "Take your time. You know you're welcome here as long as you like."
K took her sweet time finding Logan. She knew where he would be. And she knew that Scott and Jean were likely already snuggling up with Abbey in a quiet celebration. But she also needed to just … think. For a moment. So - instead of going right to him, she headed to the barn and spent some time grooming a few horses. It was relaxing to her and helped her to unwind, and it gave her the opportunity to try and begin coming to terms with the idea of two newborns.
Of course, it was almost expected then when the blackbird took off halfway through the second horse. "Oh, that's convenient," she said as she watched the jet leave. "Thank you whoever you are for giving me more time to overthink this."
She dropped the brush in her hand into the bucket and then put the horse away before she headed up to the boathouse to wash up and figure out how to even … tell him.
When Logan got back from his mission, he was in a mood. Nothing about the pick up run had gone as they'd wanted. He'd gotten shot several times, the kid was hurt by the 'authorities' and he spent most of the trip back to Westchester rendering first aid while trying to not growl at the sensation of bullets working their own way out of his body.
So he did what he thought he needed to do to clear his head and work out a little frustration while the junior team was in the Danger room - and headed to the garage. He was bound and determined to at least take his afternoon off in the garage. His scoot needed some attention, particularly after one of the older students 'borrowed' it on a dare. He was digging through the box full of spare parts for his Harley - and only getting more irritated when he couldn't find what he was looking for.
It barely registered that something was up when K came into the garage, and made her way over to lean on the saddle of her Harley, watching him as he kept looking. He kissed her in passing, still searching and very distracted, wondering where he went wrong in putting the fear of God into those kids.
"So, do you want to see the pictures?" K asked as Logan looked like he was getting more irritated that he couldn't lay his hands on the elusive hunk of chrome that he'd taken off for a repair a few weeks earlier.
"Yeah - did you do that today?" he asked pausing to look her way in surprise.
"It wasn't exactly a scheduled thing - I went with Jean, she insisted I get worked over so she wouldn't be alone in it," K said, shrugging.
Logan smirked. "Yeah. I heard. Little girl. That'll be fun for everyone. Hope she looks like her mom." He shuddered and made a face at the idea of a more feminine Scott and went right back to looking. "Everything okay? I'll be right there … I just … I gotta find that damn battery cover before I forget where I've already looked," he said sounding distracted as he rushed to the tool cabinet, wondering if he set it there for safe keeping.
"I'm guessing the pick-up wasn't all that great?" K asked, and Logan paused at the bench where he was searching, tipping his head slightly.
"Yeah, you could say that. Kid's in the med bay probably gonna be there for a little while, too," Logan replied.
K let out a little hum and looked to her feet as she wondered how long she could drag this out. This was a little different than with Abbey. For more reasons than the fact that there were two. There had been such a concern in her head about paternal proof - until Hank went through and showed her precisely where she was and how there was no way - NO WAY that the little ones couldn't be Logan's. Though even then, she wouldn't relax until he promised to run a DNA test when she was a little further along. "I can catch you later if you want some privacy," K said, not really sure she wanted to talk about all this anyhow.
"No, don't go anywhere," Logan said. "I'm just ... hang on, darlin', I have one more place to look. And I wanna hear know you're alright." He slammed a drawer and turned her way with a smile that had her smirking back at him as he moved to the top shelf of the cabinet.
"So … you're still happy about this, right?"
"Absolutely," he replied. "No reason not to be."
"Would you be more or less happy if I told you there were two?" K said very quietly, not sure that she wanted to tell him while he was busy anyhow.
The shelf gave way, dropping half it's contents on him as he flinched at hearing her question, showering him in heavy chunks of various car and motorcycle parts, even dropping a starter on his foot. He leapt back on one foot, staring at her for a moment before he limped over to her with his hand out for the pictures which K promptly gave to him, folded over just like she had when it was Abbey.
He stared at the blurry pictures, flipping through them with a little crooked smile that seemed to get more pronounced with every photo. "Oh, and Hank's test checked out a whole lot of things. They're healthy. Strong. And we'll find out what's what when he does the next round of tests, so … there ya go," she finished at just over a whisper, with her chin nearly touching her chest and her hair obscuring her face.
Logan reached over to take her hand and then pulled her to her feet and pulled her close for a very involved kiss that seemed to go on for a bit longer than was polite. "You just keep surprising me, woman."
"Me? No, this was all you, mister. I had nothing to do with it," she replied as he chuckled into her hair while he kept a tight grip on her.
"Uh huh. Keep tellin' yourself that," he replied, more than content just to hold onto her for the time being. "You ready to tell Abbey she's not gonna be an only child yet?"
"Yeah - seems like it's high time."
The bike was understandingly abandoned as the two of them headed out of the garage to find Abbey. It was no big shock to find that she was curled up between Scott and Jean babbling to them about their baby and giggling madly whenever the little one kicked.
Jean beamed at them when they stepped into the room and then gave Abbey a one armed hug and a kiss on the side of the head before she wriggled down to rush over to her parents. She was opening and closing her hands toward her father so he would pick her up - and as soon as he did, she leaned toward him until their foreheads were touching and started babbling about the baby.
"Thanks for watching her," K said to the couple - and Scott was back to his almost one-sided smirk as he got to his feet.
"Our pleasure," he said. "Besides - it's good practice, right?"
"Well … yeah. For a one year old," K replied, shaking her head as Scott paused near the little family and couldn't help but smile.
"Congratulations," he said - again.
"You too," Logan replied as Abbey snuggled into his neck and Jean pulled on Scott's arm to leave the Howletts alone.
Logan shifted to let Abbey ride on his shoulders as the three of them headed to the boat house. They took their time getting her settled in - and when she seemed to have lost some of the over-excitement that went hand in hand with playing with Jean and Scott, Logan let her climb up into his lap and snuggle in.
K took up the spot right next to Logan and leaned her head on his shoulder so she was looking Abbey almost in the eyes. "We have some news for you, sunshine," she said quietly, which got Abbey to sit up and smile at her.
But K found herself stuck and Logan simply took over. "Do you still want to be a big sister?" Logan asked, and Abbey grinned up at him.
"Yep."
"Well - you're gonna get two babies soon," K finished, a little shake to her voice. But Abbey giggled and slid over to her mother and kissed her square on the mouth.
"That was my reaction too, punkin'," Logan chuckled as Abby said cheered. He had to laugh though when Abbey's next move was to scoot down and start pushing her mother's shirt up.
"In dere?" she asked, patting K's stomach. "Like Jeannie?"
"Yes, sweetheart," K said with a little smile before Abbey snuggled in with her head in K's lap, patting her mother's leg.
"I think she'll be fine," Logan said.
"Yeah, well. I think Scott and Jeannie already prepared her," K told him. "With theirs - not ours."
For the next few days in the week leading up to Kurt's birthday, Kurt was sure to steal Abbey every time that K and Jean wanted to work together - both alone and with Charles. Scott was more than happy to step in, too - especially if Kurt had to teach a class, but with everything that Scott knew, he ended up alternating between hovering and skirting around K and Logan both - not trying to avoid them, just … it was clear he wanted to do something in a situation that didn't call for that kind of response. And it was clear that he simply didn't know what he could do to help.
More than once when Scott would sit by K, he'd look as if he was bracing himself and then … he would just … place his hand on her arm and give it a little squeeze. Of course, he hadn't told her what precisely it was that was bothering him, but her reaction seemed to be what he needed when she simply covered his hand with hers and patted it.
Jean's work with Charles was clearly draining - and the two women were spending more and more time simply trying to take care of the other. But it didn't stop the dreams from happening. Or from Jean projecting them out either. And every time it happened, Jean felt awful when Scott got hit with it.
Just by watching Scott in the morning, Logan had easily figured out what was going on, and he'd watched Scott out of the corner of his eye one morning as he tried to pretend like he wasn't bothered. When Scott left for class, Logan turned to the two women with a completely serious expression. "You gotta get him out of this loop or over the speed bump," he said to the two of them.
"I … am trying," Jean defended. "He wants to fix it, okay? And he doesn't know how to do that when it's just … it's in the past. And he doesn't totally hate knowing this stuff, he just doesn't know how to process a lot of it."
"Yeah, well … do something anyhow," Logan said before he leaned over to steal a kiss from K. "I'm sure Charlie has an idea or two."
They watched him go and then K turned to Jean. "He does have an idea, doesn't he? You've had that look on your face for a week - like you want to say something to me but don't want to at the same time …"
"Well, yes," she admitted. "But I figured you wouldn't want … I mean. If it's a dream, you can't really control where it goes. Charles said we should probably do a psychic link up … have you guide us through again …"
"And what about Scott?"
"He'll have to just … process through me, I guess."
"Or wait until we're done so you can show him things."
"Well, yeah. That too," Jean admitted with a smirk. "I wouldn't show him anything that you didn't want him to see."
"Why not just let him in? Not like he can do anything but observe, right? He wanted to know more than what I've told him. He absolutely won't ask. Maybe that would give him something else to think about?" She shrugged her shoulders up and let out sigh. "Not like I have room to talk though. I don't exactly want to chat about it either."
"Yeah, you two …."
"Don't start," K warned. "You enable him all the time for your own sake."
"I do," she admitted, biting her lip. Silence fell between them before Jean looked up at K again. "How are you feeling anyhow?"
"I'm … here," K said under her breath. "Sick most of the time. Tired. My balance is already off so I can't do anything useful…."
"I meant … you were kicking yourself pretty hard. How are you handling this … all of this?"
K turned her way with a dry expression on her face. "Just … no. We're not doing this over coffee."
I know you don't want to talk, but thre is so much that you've dealt with alone … even if we know it - you need to acknowledge it.
K gave her a slow, dry look before she got to her feet and pointedly held her gaze as she picked up her mug and refused to say or think a word.
"Now you're just being stubborn," Jean said, scrunching her nose up. And when K gave her a dry look and crossed her arms, Jean couldn't not let out a frustrated huff. "Fine. Be that way." She rose to her feet and made her way over to K. "We'll be ready for you when you want to get it off your chest."
"Sure. Right after Scott does," K said with a nod. "Verbally."
Jean paused, then couldn't help but laugh. "So mean."
"You only say that when you know I'm right."
"Shut up," Jean sang out as she headed up to get ready for class, leaving K to head off with Abbey to take a little rest before they went to see Charles.
The three of them had been having tea together since K's return to the mansion, and it had once again become a relaxing part of the day. The fact that Abbey adored sitting with Charles during their tea time was just icing on the cake. But when she saw that Abbey was sitting in with Charles already - during his psychology class, Charles quickly projected to her that Abbey was fine, so she went to take a nap on her own for a change.
When she got up though not fifteen minutes after going to sleep, it was clear that she hadn't rested at all. In fact - the memory she had popping up was nothing but a reminder of how screwed up the past month and a half had been since it was all about Creed. She tried to lay there for a moment longer and rest … but it wasn't long before her foot was jiggling and the impulse to move was too much to ignore.
So she did what she always did when she was overly down and headed to the barn. No one seemed to notice what was up - and she managed to keep to herself for a few hours before Jubilee showed up early before the riding class that Logan was set to teach for her. By that time, K was in a full blown half curled up position, staring off at nothing.
Jubilee watched K warily as she made her way into the barn. "Hi, K," Jubilee said quietly, pulling out her assigned tack to clean before class started. It wasn't necessary for her to do it, but she didn't feel that she could engage a conversation with K without an excuse to be there.
K hardly acknowledged her beyond a little nod.
Jubilee frowned and kept working. It was clear to the students that something bad had happened to K, but as was the general policy - anything to do with the team wasn't generally public knowledge. Even within the school, and though Jubilee was close to Logan, he certainly wasn't going to say what was happening. Besides, Jubilee had only barely gotten Kitty to spill the big picture and she knew that K needed someone to talk to.
"You know, I know you've had a hard time and all … but your class … and Kitty and me … we all love you. You really should talk to someone about what happened. Um. While … while you were gone," Jubilee blurted out. K stopped what she was doing, and straightened up slightly, though she didn't turn toward her. "It had to be horrible," Jubilee continued quietly as K rested her chin against her knees where she was sitting on a stack of hay.
Nothing but the sound of the horses and Jubilee working echoed through the barn for a long while. "I was drugged the whole time, Jubes," K said clearly. "He had a telepath helping him."
Jubilee just stared at her, openly worried at the many directions this could go. She didn't expect K to start quietly crying though. She rushed over to her, K nearly unintelligible when she looked at her teary eyed, deep grief on her face as Jubilee tried to console her. She didn't know what to say so she simply gave K a hug suddenly, and to her shock, K simply pulled her tighter into it and didn't let go.
"Um… listen though," Jubilee said quietly into her hair "there was nothing you could do. He tricked you. Lied to you – drugged you. It's not your fault."
K shook her head. "I should have fought him. I should have known when I couldn't smell him. I didn't even know I was gone for that long."
Jubilee shook her head before getting firm with her. "Yeah, because he had a telepath screwing with you! No. No way would you purposely do anything for that geekwad." It was clear Jubilee was upset from the tone in her voice and if not that, the fact that sparks were flying from her fingertips was enough to illustrate the point. K looked up at her and couldn't help but shake her head at her expression. Determined, her chin jutted out defiantly, her eyes flashing. "Don't even think about it. No."
"Jubes," Logan called out as he stepped inside. "What are you doin'?" His voice echoed through the barn and it was clear that he'd heard a fair share of the conversation. "She don't need anyone pushin' her." At that, K started to laugh, which only had both Logan and Jubilee looking at her as if she'd totally cracked for good this time.
It started out quiet, subdued and before long she had tears running down her face, her stomach hurting as she laughed, gasping for breath.
Logan turned to Jubes and gave her a serious glare. "Go tell Scott and the kids riding is cancelled today."
"Got it," Jubilee said just before she busted into a run for the house, leaving the two of them alone in the barn.
K was leaning on they hay heavily with one arm across her stomach as she tried to remain upright, laughing hard, her cheeks hurting though she looked like she still wanted to cry. He went to her, pulled over a bale of hay and sat down with her, his arm around her as she leaned into him, in pain from laughing so hard.
"Sweetheart, I'll get Jeannie for you," Logan said, wondering what the hell he could even do to help, but K waved it off as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Oh man. I am so incredibly stupid sometimes!" she shouted, as the waves of laughter started to ease up even as she winced. "Oh, I hurt. Ow ... damnit." She was still chuckling as she stretched away from the stitch in her side. "She's right. You're right. Everyone here is right but me. And I am so terribly wrong." Her smile faded as she stared at the hay on the floor. "I've been feeling like trash because that coyote looking sack of crap tricked me. I'm still mad because I was cheated out of a month with you and Abey for the worst damn company a girl could ask for." She looked up at him, shaking her head lightly as he tried not to smirk at her. "Now I'm just mad that I can't change it," she said looking out of the barn, shaking her head. "He screwed with my head for a month and I was so out of it, I was half thinking that you just … lost your touch all of a sudden."
Logan laughed in spite of himself, and pulled her closer still to gently kiss her on the side of the head. "Nice to know I haven't lost my touch. Very reassuring. Sweetheart, you really are a little crazy," he told her as she finally cried laughing into his shoulder.
"How can you forgive this when I can't forgive it myself?" K asked after they'd held each other for a bit. "Because honestly. You've been pretty chill and I'm losing my freakin' mind here."
He pulled her a little tighter and rested his forehead against hers with his eyes closed for a long moment. "Didn't say I wasn't mad, too. But not at you. Can't do anything to him after Jeannie nailed him. But you didn't do anything wrong. Creed and Birdy hit you with a grade A heavy duty severe whammy," Logan said as he tucked her head under his chin.
"And now we have twins coming."
"Now we have twins coming," Logan agreed.
"You're sure you're not skeeved out at him … doing … whatever he did."
"Probably just as skeeved out as you are," Logan admitted. "But he's done it before. Not this bad, but … didn't change how I felt then. Not gonna change it now. Or did you think that the whole marriage vows wouldn't hold up in this kind of scenario?"
"I was wondering," she said dryly.
"Stop. No need to wonder. You an' me? This is just what it is. He's still drooling in a cell somewhere. He's not dead yet, but as soon as he bounces back enough to know who's comin' for him? He's dead."
"Oh. How very romantic," she almost cooed, getting a laugh out of him.
"So … you're gonna talk to Charlie aren't you?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Scott needs something too. I don't want him panicking over my nightmares any more than he already is."
"So … if he agrees to the mind meld, don't focus on that. Focus on something else. Be good for both of you. You've been having worse nightmares when you realize Slim's watchin' you closer."
"Perfect," she drawled out. "I'll talk to Charles at tea. I'm sure he'll have ideas."
