Notes: Well, now that the tour is over, it's time to get moving forward on some other projects and plans that SHIELD has in store. And it's also time to mess with Skye because, come on. That's just fun.

Chapter 37: "Capitol Girls"

January 17

Tahiti Wing

Kurt and Peter were the only ones left in the medical wing, as everyone who wasn't injured was training — and Clint had gone off with Bobbi — so they were just chatting easily, Kurt retelling the story of how he ended up there in the first place, with more embellishments with each new retelling, when Sin arrived with an arm crooked full of newspapers.

"So," she said with her chin tipped up so she could look down her nose at them both a bit. "I brought you some reading material. Your story is getting more and more worn out every time you tell it."

"It's a good story," Kurt defended with a small smirk.

"Yeah, it's easy for him to make stuff up since he was unconscious for, like, ninety-percent of it," Peter joked.

"Right, well... I thought since no one has given you anything new, you might want to read up on your friend." She dropped the stack of papers in his lap. "It looks like they're having a ball making up stories of their own."

Kurt glanced down at the picture on the story she'd earmarked for him — of Logan and a very pretty blonde woman — and started to frown as he read on about his friend's supposed torrid affairs and decadent, cheating lifestyle. "This... " He shook his head and looked up at Sin. "Thank you for bringing this to me."

"Thanks for not letting me get caught," she replied. "I don't think I could stand having to be stuck in here with you two longer than I already was."

Kurt nodded her way. "Next time I'll try to give you a little better warning — and not get caught myself, ja?"

"Please," she agreed before she simply left the two boys alone again.

"I wanna see," Peter said, reaching out with his hands and making grabby motions until Kurt tossed him one of the newspapers, and he let out a low whistle. "That… that is very, very wrong. Where are they getting their journalistic degrees?" He was clearly trying to cheer Kurt up as he said, "And they spelled his last name wrong. Clearly, they are hacks."

"I just don't understand it," Kurt said at last, shaking his head. "Where are they getting these pictures from in the first place?"

"Not like we don't know he's Mr. Snuggles," Peter said, still trying to keep the mood light. "He's just… making friends. And they're running the wrong way with it. Clearly."

Kurt smirked over at Peter and just had to shake his head for a moment before he looked back down at the article. "They're trying to play to the same story they told in our Games," he said quietly.

"Yeah… you told me about that," Peter said before he made a pfft noise, blowing air through his lips. "I'm telling you, Kurt, they're hacks. Anybody with eyes could see Kate was giving you heart eyes — I mean. I mean, really heart eyes. Her pupils turned into hearts, Kurt. Actual hearts."

Kurt chuckled at that and tossed Peter the paper when he was finished reading through it, looking through a few more headlines and pictures. "He looks miserable," Kurt said with a frown. "If he was making friends, he would be smiling."

"So, ask Bobbi what happened for real," Peter said with a shrug. "I mean, we have an eyewitness ready-made, right? Or… do you not want to get between the guy-Hawk and his bird-girl? Which, by the way, I didn't know was a thing?"

"We can just ... catch her at mealtime, I think," Kurt said. "I'm sure she'll tell us if we ask."

"That's if our resident den mother and secret vampire lets us have co-ed mealtimes," Peter pointed out, a little put-out when he thought about it before he brightened. "Think Charles would know?"

Claire, of course, was watching out of the corner of her eye as Peter got more vocal about his theories on what they could do and who they needed to go through to do it. "Go," she said to Peter. "Nothing is keeping you here anymore. All your bloodwork is clean. But your friend has to stay a few more days."

"Freedom!" Peter declared with a grin, and a fist pump to match, as he stood up on the bed. "Don't you worry, Kurt — I'll go investigate. You just stay right here and wait for your princess to come visit you, and I'll handle the case of ol' Logan the Sourpuss."

As Peter skipped out of the medical bay, Claire made her way over to Kurt and picked up one of the papers, shaking her head. "These people ... they pick out the story they want and make everything else wrap around that. Don't let it get to you."

"I'm more concerned that it'll get to him," he said honestly.

"What do you think he can do about it?" Claire asked, crossing her arms and moving the papers so she could sit down on his bed to chat with him. "He's being watched. All the time."

"He's never liked attention," Kurt said with a sigh. "Watching him all the time isn't going to help that."

"Then, maybe you can hope that one of his new friends is good company," she said with a little smirk.

"That's what I'd like to ask Bobbi," Kurt admitted. "I just want to know that he has someone while we're… stuck here." He gave Claire a tight smile. "It's hard to know we can't do anything to help — or that we're not allowed when we could."

She gave him a sad sort of smile and leaned in a bit. "Give it time," she said. "I'll bet you might be surprised what you can do once they trust you three a little bit more."

"Trust is a two-way street, Claire," he pointed out.

"Hey," she said, raising both hands in defense. "Don't gotta tell me. I'm on your side, kiddo."

Kurt let out a sigh and gave her a tired sort of smile. "I know, I'm sorry," he said. "I don't mean to take it out on you, or Matt, or Charles — or anyone else."

"It's fine; we know you're all tired of being cooped up most of the time. It's not fair what you're putting up with. But it will get better." She looked toward Essex's door for a moment. "And honestly, you weren't drugged. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to cut you loose tomorrow if you can pass all your tests."

"That would be lovely," Kurt said with a smile. "I'm getting tired of being poked and prodded, to be honest."

She patted his knee and got up to leave him to rest again, even if he didn't think he needed it.

Charles Xavier's Tahiti Office

Charles was just putting a few new books on the shelf in his office that Moira had given him for Christmas that he was sure that Kurt would enjoy reading, unpacking and settling back into the Tahiti Wing after a longer victory tour than he had expected. He looked at the last one he'd placed on the shelf and decided that he could wait to read it — and picked it up to take down to Kurt, knowing that the boy was in the medical bay and likely in need of something to do.

He was halfway down the hall when he heard a little giggle from the rec room nearest the training center and had to stop, backtrack, and see who was going to be screeched at by Essex next.

"Miss Morse," Charles said, not bothering to hide the shock in his tone when he saw the two blondes tangled in each other and the couch cushions. "I didn't think you'd be participating in … well... nothing like this."

Both Bobbi and Clint had scrambled apart from each other on hearing him enter, and Bobbi was trying to flatten her hair and pull down her shirt to a proper length as Clint just looked very, very red. "Oh, it's you, Charles," Bobbi said, sounding relieved and slightly breathless. "Welcome back."

He smiled her way and with a nod wished them both a good evening as he went back to find Kurt. He wouldn't say anything, and Bobbi was old enough to make her own decisions. He was simply… surprised not only that she was pursuing a romance considering the state of things but also that it was with Clint, who he had thought was still under the spell of the frustratingly stubborn Miss Romanoff.

He thought about this newest development all the way down to the medical bay, and no one stopped him on his trek there. When he arrived, though, it was almost like Kurt was waiting for him — he couldn't have known that Kurt had expected Peter to bring Charles there.

"How is Logan?" Kurt asked before Charles had even come to a stop beside him.

Charles let out a breath and let his shoulders slump. That was not exactly the conversation he had intended to start up. "He's had a hard couple of weeks, to be honest," Charles admitted.

"Tony recorded the broadcasts," Kurt told him frankly. "We've all seen… well. What the Capitol showed, at any rate."

"They didn't show much," Charles said.

"That doesn't exactly surprise me, or make this any better," Kurt said. "Considering their track record with him." He paused and then reached over to the table beside his bed. "Sin brought some newspapers for me to read," he said as he turned the paper over in his hand to show Charles the headlines. "This is not like him. What's really going on out there, Charles?"

He took a glance at the papers in question and tried to very carefully phrase his next words. "I'm assuming that every paper shows a different woman," Charles said. "Most of those are entirely out of context, I assure you."

"I assumed as much for myself," Kurt said. "This isn't him."

"And as usual, they missed the real story entirely," Charles promised, shaking his head slowly. "Logan ... doesn't react like most people to stress."

"So what was the real story?" Kurt asked.

"The real story was one of decades of victimization that your friend put a temporary end to on his third day there," Charles said with a little smile that only lasted until his next thought. "Of course — it will be back to business as usual before long, but for now, he's saved all of the victors a massive amount of headaches."

At that, Kurt couldn't help but smile. "Now, that sounds more like the Logan I know," he said, tossing aside the newspapers. "Is that why Bobbi came back in such a good mood?"

"It is," he said with a nod. "The younger victors celebrated harder the last night than I've ever seen them do in the past."

"I guess I just don't understand why the Capitol is still trying to break the victors they have," Kurt said with a bit of a frown. "If that's true, and they've been victimized for so long… why?"

"The unintended consequence of the Games system they have in place is quite simply that the victors — particularly the more recent ones — have the public's full backing. There's power in that. Power that the Capitol can't really afford to simply hand over. So they find ways to control the victors." He leaned in closer to Kurt still. "No one — no one expected him to do what he did."

"Is he alright?" Kurt asked. "If he's upset the balance of power over there…"

"Your friend walks a fine line," Charles said. "He's back in Seven now. But he seemed relieved once that particular drama was handed to the royals."

Kurt just shook his head for a moment and let out a breath of a laugh. "Logan… what are you getting yourself into?" he muttered, half to himself.

"None of us — or them — really knows," Charles admitted.

"I wish I could be there to help him," Kurt told him honestly.

"I have the distinct feeling that if you were, he wouldn't tell you what he was up to," Charles said. "He didn't tell a soul until we'd all figured out what he'd done after the fact."

Kurt thought about it for a moment, and he just had to shake his head. "Well, I'll just be glad when we get the ball rolling."

"It may be sooner than you think," Charles said. "An unintended shockwave of Logan's little stunt is that the entire Royal family seems to be a bit more distracted than usual."

"Great," Kurt said, leaning forward with his hands clasped together in front of him. "Let's move, then. The sooner the better. I don't like all these secrets, especially when Logan is out there putting himself in danger and we're hidden here fighting curfew rules. It seems rather lopsided, don't you think?"

"Believe it or not, he was fighting a curfew rule of his own," Charles laughed. "In a manner of speaking."

"That's one strict curfew if the royals are involved."

"You have no idea," Charles replied. He cleared his throat as he straightened up "Now, I've brought you something to pass the time that's less inflammatory than the news." He very gently pushed a copy of Tom Sawyer Kurt's way.

Kurt brightened up a bit at that. "Danke," he said with a widening smile as he took the book in his hands. "With everyone in training, it gets a bit dull here, especially now that Peter's been released — and Clint isn't here anymore either, even if he hasn't been released officially," he added with a bit of laughter in his eyes.

"You are welcome to whatever I have on my shelf," Charles said with a kind smile.

"Thank you — really," Kurt said. "And… it's good to have you back. You've been sorely missed. And it's nice to hear what's going on outside of these walls"

"This entire tour was incredibly long," Charles said. "But the long and short of it is that I believe your friend has every intention to do right."

"I could have told you that in the first place," Kurt replied.

"Yes, but all that time alone in Seven wasn't good for him," Charles said.

"Another reason to hurry the revolution along," Kurt said. "And get his friends back to him." He let out a weary sigh, tapping the book against his knee. "I don't know what you've heard about the missions that we ran, but not all of them were very successful, so it's good to know at least with Logan there was some forward motion."

"Director Fury is taking a personal interest at this point," Charles told him. "So perhaps, if all goes well, we can see a quicker pace."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Kurt asked openly. "I'm not entirely sure."

"Probably a bit of both," Charles admitted.

Kurt nodded thoughtfully and then set the book on his table. "It really is good to have you back," he said warmly. "And thank you for the book — I'll return it as soon as I'm done."

"Take your time."

January 18

District Seven

Skye awoke with a start when there was, very suddenly, a very small face inches from hers, almost nose-to-nose as a tiny blonde girl half shouted, "What are you doing here?"

It was such a shock that for a second, Skye just blinked at her, completely taken off her guard, before she tried to shift out from underneath her almost unblinking gaze. "I'm staying here for a little while.""

"For how long?"

"A couple weeks," Skye replied, still trying to get out from under the little girl.

"Whyyyy are you here?"

"I'm teaching Logan about…. Um. Numbers and computers and stuff," she said, wondering just how much she was supposed to tell little kids who stuck their nose into things like this.

The girl wrinkled up her nose and gave Skye a witheringly dirty look. "You don't look like a teacher."

"I'm not usually," Skye agreed. "But Logan's pretty special, so he gets special teachers."

"Is that how you say 'stupid' nicer?" The little blonde looked totally suspicious of Skye, clearly eyeing her up and down.

"No," Skye said quickly. "Actually, Logan's really smart. He totally gets it when I show him stuff."

The girl narrowed her eyes further. "I think you like him."

"What?" Skye tried to arrange her face in what she assumed would be the most shocked by this accusation. "Why? What… what makes you say something like that?"

"Your face turned red," she said before she finally started to laugh a little bit. "What's your name little Miss fake-teacher?"

"My name's Skye," she said as she got out from under the covers and tried to find something decent to wear. "What's your name? And how'd you get in here anyway?"

"I'm Elsie," she said with a giggle before she just turned tail and rushed out of the room rather than answer anymore questions. A few moments later, Skye could hear Logan asking almost exactly the same question and being answered with peals of laughter from clearly more than just Elsie.

"What the heck is even going on here?" Skye muttered to herself as she quickly got dressed and headed out to go see the show.

When she stepped out of the room, she saw that Logan hadn't quite gotten his flannel on while three little kids pulled at his limbs for him to join them downstairs. He quickly gave up the idea of getting dressed first before he picked up one that had hugged him around the knees and just started to walk, dragging the other two behind him. "How did you get in here?" he asked. "I thought you little punks weren't hiding here while I'm in town."

"We wanted to say 'hi'," one of the smaller ones said, giggling upside down over his shoulder as he tickled her.

"So…. how do you guys know Logan?" Skye couldn't help asking, trying to wrap her brain around what the heck she was even seeing. He glanced her way then quickly shook his head trying to find the right way to explain it, but one of the girls got there first.

"He lets us hide here when he's gone," the upside down girl said, grinning widely.

"And he's nice." Elsie said. "He helps us out. A lot."

"They're delusional," Logan replied, half glancing toward Skye again and trying not to show how irritated he was with the entire set up at that second as he dealt with the mini mob.

"They're adorable," Skye countered, grinning as she watched the kids dragging Logan down — or trying to, anyway. "Where did you find them?"

"No! We found him!" Elsie argued. "Kinda."

"They're from the orphanage," Logan told her, finally trying to take control of the direction of things since the girls were not helping … at all. "They're the perfect example on why not to feed strays." At that, he started to tickle the upside down kid until she was squealing and breathless — and perfectly safe to drop onto the couch downstairs.

Skye watched the whole thing in something like disbelief — and pure amusement. "I feel like this explains so much. And leaves me with so many more questions," she muttered.

"Doesn't it though?" he agreed through his teeth, tickling the other two with a fake growl until they too, were breathless and grinning on the couch with Logan after he'd let them pull him down to sit with them. "Give me ten minutes, and I'll have coffee."

"I can do it," she offered. "You're clearly busy."

"They just stopped in to warm up and say hello," Logan said as Elsie nodded alongside him as he finally got around to buttoning up his shirt.

Elsie waved at her for her to come over too. "Are you ticklish too?"

"Ummm." Skye just turned very, very red, completely unsure what to do with that question.

"Don't answer that," Logan said with a little smile as he pulled Elsie closer to work her over again. "She's just tryin' to stir up trouble."

"That also explains why she likes it here," Skye joked lightly as she headed for the kitchen to get the coffee started, deciding that was safer than whatever the heck was going on with the newest victor and the small swarm of tiny girls.

It wasn't too long though before Elsie and the other little girls came barreling into the kitchen to attack Skye with a hug and then turn right around and run back out — the back door slamming behind them on their way.

"Don't worry," Logan called out as he hit the kitchen in their wake, going to one of the cabinets for a pair of mugs for the coffee. "They'll tell the others not to drop in. We don't need them spreading around your numbers story any further than Heather."

"Yeah, that… that was the best I could come up with to a six-year-old interrogator while I was still waking up. Sorry," she said, a little embarrassed now.

"It's fine," he told her. "Elsie Dee is a master manipulator. Surprised Fury hasn't scooped her up for an agent."

"Not old enough yet," Skye said, though she lost a bit of her smile and cleared her throat as she thought of Fury's list of children he wanted tortured and killed in the Games just so he could use them. She cleared her throat and quickly decided to put that out of her mind. Far, far out of her mind. "Anyway… I made coffee."

"Perfect," he replied as he headed toward her with the mugs. "So what's the big plan today? I'm still a little foggy on what the hell you're doing for him or what the hell I'm supposed to be doing."

"Well, you're doing great on picking up the basics? So I've got a program that simulates some more complicated security stuff. We'll work up to the palatial stuff," she said with a shrug as she poured out the coffee for both of them. "By the end of two weeks, you'll be able to hack the royals. Well — enough to get by, anyway."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," he said dryly, staring into his cup for a while before he glanced up at her without moving his head. "And you're sure he's not crazier than Thanos?"

"Jury's still out. This is the guy whose head agent decided to hire me instead of executing me, so…" She took a long sip of coffee and tried not to look his way while he was watching her.

"So I'm in good company then."

She hid her expression in her mug for a moment. "Uh, yeah, I guess. If you can call ex-terrorists good company? At least, that's what my file says."

"Considering who you were terrorizing? Yeah." He had to smirk to himself as he thought of it. "Scary little thing, are ya?"

"I don't look it, but yeah, actually," she said with a little grin. "I could totally bankrupt you and post every secret you ever had to the whole world in about, oh, ten minutes."

"Yeah? Got anything good?" he asked.

"On you?" She shrugged. "Mostly that you're not as evil as the coverage says. And that you apparently attract small children. For some reason."

"I told you — feeding strays," he replied with a little laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that part," she said, waving her hand before she leaned in, her eyes sparkling. "But I've got some good ones on SHIELD. Which I cannot tell you now that I've been hired, but man oh man, we could start with Coulson and his red car named Lola and go through the list."

"Another time then," he said easily.

"Hey, if you keep up the way you're going, you could find out half the secrets yourself. You're good at this ... you know… for someone who's lived in the districts his whole life. No offense, you just… haven't had access to this stuff."

"Fluke thing," he said with a shrug. "Just beginner's luck."

"Nah, you're just a fast learner. That's how I was — taught myself coding and went from there, so I recognize it." She grinned at him and refilled her coffee. "Which, I'm going to be honest, is a relief, because I was really worried that Fury was going to come back in two weeks and I'd be still trying to teach you the basics, and then I might actually get executed? Who knows!" She threw up one hand for show.

"I wouldn't let him pull that," he said with a nod.

"That… is actually, legitimately a relief, I'm not gonna lie," Skye said as she got up to find something a little more substantial than coffee for breakfast. "Coulson keeps pointing out that I could always just — you know — die and stop doing the SHIELD-agent-in-danger thing. I know he's pulling my leg, but it's just not funny."

"Gets more funny when you're not worried about dying," he said before he finished off his mug and headed back to refill.

"Oh, I always worry about that. Always. I have teammates who could kill me in five seconds flat. Well… okay, I have one teammate now who could kill me that fast, but maybe Simmons could if she came up with something nasty…." She looked over at him from behind the fridge door. "Oh great, now I'm thinking about that."

"You need some self-defense lessons," he said, shaking his head at her.

"I was taking some, but they sorta got… derailed."

"From the one that was bragging on how fast he could kill you?" he asked. "It's always that guy."

"Yeah… that one," Skye said with a frown, pulling on her hair the slightest bit without realizing it. "He turned out to be a total jerk. I mean, more than just the usual kind of jerk. Just… ugh." She waved a hand at him before she reemerged from the fridge with some eggs and a carton of milk.

"I can't show you anything on SHIELD's 'official' book, but if you want a few nasty quick tricks, I'll bet you could take that guy out anyhow."

She beamed at him. "Hey, I like it! You show me some dirty fighting, and I'll show you how to screw with people's systems, and — yes. This," she gestured between them, "will be great."

"When I need a break from your systems, I'll show you a few tricks then," he said with a crooked little smirk before he poured more coffee out for both of them. "And I'll do the cooking. You're supposed to be a guest so, you know. You should relax where you can. I doubt you've been this far from SHIELD since you started."

"Well, I did go on the tour, but nope, never been out on my own. Not really," she admitted, pulling on her hair again after she set down the eggs. "I'm… fairly green. Is it that obvious?"

"You're nervous," he said, pointing her way. "You're covering okay, but it's still easy to spot. Maybe I can help you work on that too. You'd be a lousy poker player."

She flushed a bit. "I don't know… how much you can help with … I mean. The biggest name I've ever been around was, like, well. Director Fury a few days ago."

"You're not counting me as a 'big' name I hope. Cause I'm nothing special — or haven't you figured that out yet?" he asked with a little scoff. "Just a bunch of BS from the Capitol."

"Actually, that's not true. But not for the reasons the Capitol says. Kinda the opposite, actually." She looked around the little house before she leaned in a bit. "I don't know a soul back where I come from that just… lets little kids stroll into their house like that. Or offers to teach people from SHIELD, especially when I know you don't really trust SHIELD. That's kind of obvious."

"You don't act like SHIELD," he defended as he worked on his coffee.

She pointed at her face. "Green agent. Former terrorist. And getting really lousy training from a guy who screwed my whole team, so… yeah. Not a real great start to SHIELD."

"So how hard did you fall for this creep then?" he asked evenly. "And how bad do you want to take him down?"

She flushed a little pink. "Oh, yeah. I'm really gonna have to work on my poker face."

He was just nodding with a crooked smirk.

"Well, I wasn't the one he, you know, more than metaphorically screwed? She's definitely taking it out on him, though," she admitted, quickly moving to pull out a few more things from the cabinets, mostly so she wouldn't have to face him for a moment or two.

"You know, I kinda got a thing for screwin' over people like that."

"Well that's great, because this guy…" She paused and bit her lip. "I really can't tell you what he did, but it was bad."

"You don't have to. I won't ask what he did." He had his chin resting in the palm of his hand as he watched her from the table.

"He did kiss me though," Skye admitted, flushing a little more before she picked up her coffee and took a seat across from him. "And I totally thought, you know, maybe… but I have really, really bad taste, apparently."

He just nodded in agreement. "Apparently. I'm guessing this falls into the 'kick 'em in the groin' kind of reaction— but … don't do that. He'll be expecting it. Act like you're gonna do that, then punch him in the throat. He'll drop his hands to protect himself, and then he'll be wide open."

"I'll do that next time I see him," she promised with a growing smile. "You know, if his pissed off ex-girlfriend hasn't finished him."

He pulled a face at that and shook his head slowly as he sat back. "Same team?"

"Yeah." She rubbed a hand over her face. "It's been a really, really weird few months."

"No shit," he said quietly, his face tipped downward as he stared at his coffee, his smile long gone.

She glanced up at him for a second and then shrugged up both shoulders. "Yeah."

"I should warn you," Logan said as he got up to start cooking for the two of them. "Tomorrow is Friday. A friend of mine is going to come over and turn this place into a zoo. If you don't want to witness it — just lock your door."

"I kinda want to see it now," she said with a little smirk, turning to watch him.

He busied himself with his back turned to her. "It's a deal I made a while back when I was being a little more stupid than I have been lately — shocker. I'm sure." He peeked up at her over his shoulder for only a second before he straightened up. "She and her husband come over to do dinner with a whole flock of kids. It's loud. Very, very loud."

"I'll hide in my room if it bothers me, but it almost sounds like fun," Skye said.

"Just warning you, since those little troublemakers that were here this morning will come looking for you."

"Then I'll just have to tickle them," she said. "It worked for you, right?"

"I think it's about the only thing that stops them," he agreed.

"See? I'm already learning self-defense. Throat punch for jerks, and tickling for little girls."

"Self def-," Logan chuckled under his breath and shook his head as she came over to hop up on the counter and watch him work. "Against the army of little girls … that's not self-defense. That's self-preservation."

She just laughed. "If you say so."