A/N - Hey there! those details are pretty darn true to character. All of 'em I think. (and big hugs for such a sweet complement) I do love me some character growth, too - it's a big thing. But also ... behold ... the awkwardness that follows such beauty. BEHOLD.


Chapter 29: After Genosha


K had watched as the door closed behind Jan, and as soon as she was alone in the room, she took a moment to spin on her toes slowly, taking the whole place in. it was a large room with tall ceilings and a window that looked out into an almost grotto-like garden even in the middle of the city like it was. It was a peaceful and quiet setting … which was exactly the kind of thing she needed to slowly start to remember more of what had happened on Genosha.

She could see flashes of it in her mind's eye – the bombs and missiles when they first started to fall, were of course, the most dominant image. She knew Pietro had taken her off her feet. She knew she'd watched as people screamed and panicked. But after that … she couldn't remember what had happened. Not really. Clearly the Avengers had shown up. But that part of the fight was just … blank. Which meant she'd been hurt pretty badly if she couldn't remember it.

She made her way over to the window to look out at the garden. She pulled her hair over one shoulder and began to fiddle with the ends as she tried to remember what she'd misplaced of the battle, but all she could remember was the bombs. And the terror. So by the time that Tony got there -acting the part of cute waiter, just as Jan had said – K was almost holding her breath.

She turned when she caught his scent – which was only a second or two before he'd stepped in the door. "You caught me again," K said as Tony set down the tray, which of course had a large bottle of water. "You guys are totally screwing my average."

"We didn't exactly catch you," Tony replied with a crooked smirk that faltered almost immediately.

"Then I must have gotten hit harder than I thought," she replied a little quieter.

"You okay? 'Cause honey - I saw what happened to you on Genosha."

"You're being dramatic." K shrugged half-heartedly as he came closer. "I'm fine, probably. I don't remember seeing you there. Or any of the other Avengers. Though clearly ..." she gestured around herself and let the sentiment fall. Tony frowned at that, and pulled her into a tight embrace that she almost pulled back from if it wasn't the fact that she could scent out exactly how stressed out he was.

"Are you okay?" K asked, simply putting her arms around him and settling in. "I get beat up often enough. It's not that unusual, really." When he didn't let up, she clarified with the slight shake back in her voice. "I mean … yeah, that was the first bombing I've been in ..."

But that only got him to let out a breath and readjust his grip to hold her a little tighter. "I'm fine," Tony said as K frowned slightly at his reaction and honestly snuggled into him better. She relaxed into him before he pulled back enough to steal a kiss. "I don't know what the right thing to do here is," Tony admitted. "Do I tell you what happened? Or am I supposed to wait for it to come back to you – let you watch the footage ..." He was holding her head in his hands, clearly looking for more than simple direction. "I just don't know how to handle it when the girlfriend's got herself in the line of fire and getting herself beat to hell and back."

K covered his hands with hers and tried for a little smile, not having expected him to react like … whatever this was. "If I hit my head, or something, it'll come back," she promised before she popped up on her toes to try sneaking a kiss herself. "And it'll hurt less when it does if you just let it happen on its own."

"This is so much more than a bumped head, and what does that mean, 'it'll hurt less'?"

"It means that memories making connections hurt sometimes," she explained as the two of them seemed to relax a little more - his hands moved to her waist as she put hers around the back of his neck. "And if I try to force it or jog my memory, it hurts more. So … whatever it was that happened, it'll come back in time."

"So like what … years? Decades?" Tony asked, obviously curious and concerned all at once.

"A few days if it was bad," she replied. "Never if it was severe - but that's usually hand in hand with a traumatic brain injury … removal of tissue .."

Tony's eyebrows shot up at that, and it took him all of half a second before he blurted out what he was thinking. "There's nothing like that in your files."

K bit her lip and shook her head slowly. "A lot of my files were destroyed when Magneto broke me out," she pointed out. "Unless you know how to get into any copies."

"If they exist, I'll find them," Tony said, then paused. "Tissue removal?"

K nodded as she let go of him and took a seat on the bed- clearly dizzy. "For when I was very very non-compliant."

"I hate that word."

"Yeah, not a big fan myself," K agreed, drawing her feet up to sit cross-legged. Her focus darted toward the door - which was enough of a cue for Tony to straighten up and maintain a more professional space before Steve came in.

"You're up," Steve said, though there wasn't any warmth to the statement. "K, I'm going to need to hear from you how the attack on Genosha went down. As I understand it, you and Pietro weren't side by side for most of it."

"I don't really remember all of it," K said, letting her shoulders relax. "But if it hasn't been more than a few days, then it won't be long before it comes back."

"Even with the damage they did to you?" Steve said. "Kind of impressive."

"I ... " K paused, her eyes narrowed slightly. "...what kind of damage?" Tony took a step toward K, one hand out to try to stop it but Steve was obviously far too curious and the question was answered before Tony had a chance.

"The double tap to the back of your head for starters," Steve said, shaking his head slowly. "You were shot up pretty badly."

K's lips parted and she let out a little 'oh' before she glanced over at Tony - and back to Steve, who had picked up the tray to bring all the way to her. "I don't … remember that."

"When I got to you, you weren't breathing," Steve said gently, his eyebrows raised and honestly looking more relieved than she was prepared to see from him. "I'm glad to see you doing so well so fast. I know Dr. McCoy said you'd be quick … but still … wow."

"Well you know, nothing to harm up there, right?" K said softly, though she had shifted so that she had her arms around her knees. It was plainly clear that she was trying to look smaller, though it was also clear it was a subconscious move.

"You should probably eat something," Steve prompted, though K shook her head at that.

"I'm not hungry right now, thanks. I need a minute to get my bearings."

Steve smirked. "Yeah, it must be different than how Wolverine heals. He barely breaks stride to eat."

"He's got more experience taking heavy fire than I do," K pointed out. "I'm just … tired."

"I'm sure you'll feel better if you refuel before you go back to sleep," Steve said, as he held out the water and waited until she took it. "At least drink some water."

"It always takes me some time to get my bearings after getting hurt like that," K admitted. "I will. I promise, but I need to let my system reset a little." She rested her hand over her stomach. "I'm a little dizzy from everything."

"And that will improve when you have some water at least," Hank said as he joined the three of them with a kind smile. "You lost a lot of blood. You won't be able to make more until you take in some water."

Steve and Tony both turned toward Hank as he approached, so they missed the look K had given him. "I appreciate the medical advice," K said, "But I'm a little more familiar with my body than you are. So when I tell you I need to wait until things level out, I need to wait. I'm not a fan of throwing up because I went too fast on the recovery end."

"Then perhaps it would be wise to get a saline IV set up for you," Hank said even as K shook her head. "It will only take a minute, and then you can get on the road to healing faster, and we can figure out how best to handle our respective situations."

"There's not much to discuss, doc," K said. "I have to go back to Avalon."

"Yeah, but my scanners found a tracker in your upper arm. It was removed and left on Genosha, so you might have a little more time on your hands," Tony said. "Where we can sit down and come up with a better plan to get you away from the crazy dictator."

"So it's a solid thing then?" Steve said, perking up slightly as he smiled at K. "We're bringing you here."

"She has concerns," Tony said, crossing his arms and looking much more businesslike, which had K entirely entertained with him. "Legitimate concerns." He took a moment to very quickly outline the details on how Magneto found her - and continued to find her as K rested her chin in the palm of her hand and watched him. It was entertainment for her, but also a very effective way of reminding them both that this wasn't exactly the same as Wolverine's situation with Magneto.

"Yeah, the metal's the same, but he looks at her like a trusted advisor. She knows things that clearly, even his own kids didn't know, so the chances of him taking her apparent death at face value once he goes lookin' for that tracker are next to nothing." He took a deep breath and turned toward K, uncrossing his arms as he took a few steps closer. "I've been working on a better block to keep him from 'seeing' you using the metal," Tony admitted to her. "Wolverine's been helping me test it. But it's nowhere near ready, and honestly, I don't know if it would work against Magneto. His power scope is just ... "

"He's too powerful," K said, nodding. "It's okay. You can admit it. I know."

"No, I won't admit it yet," Tony said, smirking at her. "I'm still going to keep working on it."

"You do want out of there, don't you?" Steve asked, though it was hard for K to give him the proper attention when she liked the way Tony was smirking.

"Yeah, of course," she said almost distractedly. "But you don't have a way to do that, and my insistence that the Avengers are off the table with him won't stand forever if I keep showing up in your custody."

"Either he'll think we have an axe to grind with you or that you're passing us intel," Tony said, nodding his agreement. "Which … you kind of are."

"I am," she agreed as she finally cracked open the bottle of water and took a drink.

"Well, if you're going to get started with some water and a bit to eat, then I'd like to have a word with the good captain," Hank said before he turned toward Tony with a troublemaking sparkle in his eyes. "I'd rather she wasn't left alone, so would you mind, terribly?"

"I think we'll be okay here," Tony said with a nod that turned into a full out grin when the others were gone.

"You want to get caught, Mr. Stark," K accused, returning the smile.

"I wouldn't mind," he said as he took a seat facing her. "But if I caught half of what McCoy was saying, then for once, you need to rebuild your energy."

"But this might be your only chance to wear me out," she teased, which of course had him chuckling to himself before he leaned over and stole a long kiss.

"They're not wrong. We need to make sure you can do what you want without Magneto breathing down your neck," Tony said as he got himself comfortable, stretching out next to her and gently pushing the tray toward her again. "Still dizzy or was that your subtle 'back off' to McCoy?"

"Little bit of both," she replied before she picked up the tray to move it out of the way, setting it on the bedside table before Tony slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her over.

"Door's closed, I think Dr. Beast knows what's up," Tony said before the two of them got half-tangled up. It didn't last too long though, and K broke the kiss and pushed at his shoulders slightly when she heard someone coming closer, though Tony was grinning at her. They got separated and were barely sitting up when the door opened and little Kurt came in with Logan.

The little boy was positively elated as he rushed over and wrapped himself around K's middle while Tony sat up, smirking as he watched the little Elf snuggle up. "You're at the wrong house," Kurt said, half muffled in K's shoulder.

"Not yet, I'm not," she said. "I have some nasty people after me and they can't know where you kids are." She had her eyes closed as she smirked, enjoying the hug she was getting as much as Kurt was.

Logan's first impression of the whole scene had him narrowing his eyes. But it was crystal clear to him what had been broken up. If the scents in the air wasn't enough - the fact that Tony was perfectly relaxed next to her spoke volumes on how close the two of them had to be. He cleared his throat to catch their attention. "I'm gonna go grab some coffee. You alright here?"

"Yes, fine!" Kurt called out, beaming up at Logan and missing the expression on his face entirely.

"Are you coming back?" K asked, resting her cheek on top of Kurt's head. "Because I could use some coffee if you don't mind too terribly."

Logan looked between her and Kurt, and though he was perfectly ready to tell her 'no', Tony clarified things. "You'll have to eventually, though if you don't want to bring coffee down, I can have Jarvis take care of that," Tony said almost frowning at Logan's reaction. "She's supposed to stay in this room. So unless you're dropping Kurt off for good …"

"You stayin'?" Logan asked K, totally ignoring Tony as he watched her.

"No," she replied, holding his gaze. "I can't."

Logan huffed and crossed his arms, clearly conveying that he didn't buy it, which had K holding his gaze evenly. At least until Kurt loosened his grip on her and peeked up with a grin. "I'm just glad to see you, even if I had to find you in America."

K smiled at him then wrapped him up all over again, going so far as to kiss his temple. "I'm glad you did, but I still have work to do."

"Ja, ja. All the adults do. But the others take time to see us. You need to do that too," Kurt said. "Even if you do send good presents."

"Did you get the one from Transylvania?" K asked, which had the two of them chatting as Logan went to get himself some coffee.


The visit with K had been exactly what Kurt needed, and by the time they got back to Westchester, Kurt was in high spirits, though Logan decidedly was not. He watched Kurt head off to find the other kids, but once Logan was finally away from the kid, he was in an absolute snarly mood.

He ground his teeth for a moment before he headed for the garage where he could at least drink alone. Or so he thought.

Logan was halfway into a bottle of whiskey with the radio going low in the background as he worked on his motorcycle. There really wasn't anything wrong with it, but he really wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone either. And for the first time in a long while, he was in no mood when Jean came out to see him.

"You're projecting again," she said with a frown, watching him warily.

"I can leave."

"No, that's … don't do that. Kurt would be crushed and Peter would wilt away to nothing."

Logan gave her a dry look and rolled his eyes with a growl, but that only had Jean frowning a little harder. He went back to working on his bike even as Jean watched, arms crossed. Until very suddenly she realized what had him in a mood. "What happened?" she asked, leaning against the hood of Scott's car as she watched Logan work.

"Nothin' I got any right to get irritated about," Logan said, refusing to look up at her. "Let it go, Jeannie." Jean frowned, but when she reached up to peek, Logan got to his feet, breaking her attention. "I'm not in the mood to share. Don't."

"I was just … curious …"

"Not your business, Jeannie. I'm serious. Let it go." With that, Logan tossed the mostly empty whiskey bottle into the trash can and dropped the socket wrench on the floor near the motorcycle before he strode past her to go outside alone leaving Jean wondering who exactly it was that had Logan looking that upset.

Of course, when she got inside again, she figured it out quickly enough when Kurt was in high spirits as he bounced over to her with a grin. "I got to see K today!" he informed her. "And she was glad to see me too." His chest was puffed out as he grinned up at her, and just like that, Jean was reminded of the memories Kitty had shared of the time in Japan with Logan and K.

She was listening to Kurt, but at the same time, she was looking to where Logan had disappeared. That man had the worst luck when it came to women. So now that she knew who Logan was hung up on, she just had to figure out why he was so irritated. She didn't know if K had shot him down - though Logan wasn't the type to just give up that easily. And Kurt was tickled, so she couldn't have been secretly evil this whole time.

The fact that Logan didn't want to share with her had Jean convinced that it was a little deeper hurt. And with him being stubborn, she was going to need to find out why on her own. She couldn't help but peek in on Kurt, only to be disappointed when there wasn't anything she could work with there.

She crossed her arms as she watched the kids playing. Kurt and Logan might not be able to help her, but the Avengers - when they got back together with the X-Men - would likely be more than happy to fill her in.


News of the bombing had hit Avalon slowly. Erik was careful to restrict what broadcasts were shown to his most favored and closest followers, though it was clearly a simple matter of time before he would be expected to make a statement to the world at large. Of course, all contact with Pietro wasn't expected to be functional and he didn't bother trying to reach out, though as he was preparing his remarks, Wanda made her way toward her father with a serious glare.

"Have you heard from my brother?" Wanda asked, her hands in fists at her side.

Erik glanced up at her, watching her body language - and the red haze swirling in her eyes. "There are no communications into or out of what was Genosha," Erik said as he set his notes down.

"Have you gone down there to see for yourself?" she asked, looking more upset still, since even though she'd warned Pietro, she hadn't been able to get in touch with him either.

"Of course not," Erik said, frowning slightly. "It would be the perfect opportunity for the humans to attack me."

"He's your son," Wanda said, the emotion clear in her voice. "Don't you want to know if he's alive or dead?"

"Young lady, chances are very good that we know the answer to that already. It was a dirty attack, and I'm still sifting through the information that will tell me exactly who was involved in aiding Latveria in their attack."

With a frustrated sort of sound, Wanda spun, her chest heaving. "I need to know if my brother is alive or not."

As Wanda left, to reach out to her contacts, Erik frowned down at his remarks and simply started editing. She was right, of course. It would look wrong if he referred to Pietro as anything but 'still missing'. But that should really only make the plea for action that much more stirring.

He stood up and made his way over to the feeds that were coming in - most importantly the one that was live into Genosha from NSA spy satellites and Avalon itself. The tracker that had been in Pietro's arm was still showing that it was in Genosha, but the smoke and rubble was too thick to confirm it. Erik let out an irritated sort of sound. Of course, he'd have to know for sure. And his best resource on the ground was K.

Yet, he wasn't wrong in his estimation that this would be the best time to capture someone. But he's prefer that someone less useful was captured first. Even with as resilient as K was, he knew that the right people knew how to break into her mind. And that simply wasn't something he wanted to have happen, even if it was entirely self-protective.

So instead of bringing it to her attention, or sending her searching for Pietro, Erik decided to ask Sir Vrykolakas to investigate Genosha. He was after all, the most capable at escaping should the need arise - and as far as the press went - to see what appeared to be a demon searching through the rubble might paint a different picture for those that wanted to paint mutants as evil. He just hoped that Vrykolakas was up for a bit of theatre while he searched.