Author's note:
Thanks a lot for all the reviews that you guys left on the last chapter! : ) It makes me happy to see that so many still care and like to read this story. : )
This is a filler chapter!
Changes Sequel – III. War + Epilogue – Epilogue Part 27
"That's stupid."
"Why?"
"Because it is."
"That's no reason."
"What?"
"Well… Because it is. That's no reason."
"It is to me."
"Yeah. Because you're a woman."
"That's a low blow."
"Pray tell me why?"
"Well…"
"Yeah?"
"Because it's…"
"What?"
"Sexist!"
"Sexist?!"
"Yeah. Sexist."
"Why?!"
"Because it is."
"See? You did it again."
"What?"
"Because it is. That's no reason!"
"It is."
"As I said. Women…"
"Well then give me a reason!"
"I did."
"When?"
"Before you said it was stupid. And just for the record: it's not!"
"It so is."
"Why? And no because now. I want a solid reason!"
"Because season 6 of The X-Files was the best!"
"Nope. Season 5!"
"No!"
"Yeah!"
"And why is that according to you?"
"Best episodes ever!"
"I only say one word: Arcadia! Stop laughing! What's so funny?!"
"Just admit it. You want to play house."
"No?! Sexist!"
"Season 5 was the best. All I say is: Detour!"
"See? Sexist. You like it because you would totally take advantage of any girl being stuck with you in that wood."
"Of course. A shared sleeping bag? Naked? I'm in."
"You so need to get laid…"
"Just did."
"Pervert."
Jake smirked cheekily and laughed shortly afterwards. "Still season 5 is the best and all of your arguments are invalid."
Jubilee huffed and crossed her arms. "Yeah, right. Says the guy."
"Exactly!" He smirked and fished for his trousers on the ground.
She watched him getting dressed and sighed. "You're really heading back tomorrow?" she asked, sat up and hugged her legs.
"Yep," Jake said and pulled the shirt over his head. He looked back at her. "We've already stayed too long anyway. We don't belong here."
"I know," Jubilee said and rested her head on her arms, still watching him. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." He shrugged and sat back down on the bed, his golden eyes meeting her almost black ones.
"In your time…," Jubilee began and turned her head further into his direction. "Am I with anyone?"
Jake shook his head. "No. It's just you and your kid for…" He thought hard. "…for as long as I remember actually."
Jubilee huffed. "Great. Alone and miserable for the rest of my life then…," she muttered and suddenly frowned. "Hold on. My kid?!"
Jake closed his eyes tightly and groaned. "God dammit, learn to shut up," he scolded himself, but she was already on him and holding on to his arm.
"I've got a kid?!"
He sighed. "Yes…. Shogo. He's 18 in my time." Jake looked at her and began waving his hand in front of her eyes since she was staring at him in utter shock. "You still there?" he asked and she nodded.
"18 in 2040… ," Jubilee said to herself and began to frown. "When was he born?"
"Jubilee…," Jake began with a sigh. "I'm actually not allowed to tell you."
"When?"
He looked at her in silence for a while. He soon had to realize, however, that she was determined to get to know the facts. "August."
"August what?" she pressed, staring at him intently.
Jake heaved a deep breath. "2022," he finally said and she was staring at him once more, her mouth agape. When she turned pale and started shaking he reached out to touch her arm. "You okay?" He watched her jumping out of bed and getting dressed quickly before she ran for the door.
"I…I gotta check up on something," she stuttered and left, leaving him to stare at the door.
Jake shrugged and got up again. "Yeah, fine. Whatever…," he muttered and left the room next. On his way back to his room he came past the gym and heard noises from within. Curiously, he checked the inside and saw Jack and Laura sparring together. He watched them for a while before his eyes caught the door to the men's shower. He looked back at Jack, again at the door and smirked devilishly.
Jean's eyes darted back and forth between her two oldest sons during lunch time. Something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what. Jake was sitting opposite of Jack, chewing on his vegan sandwich with a clearly visible smirk on his lips, eyes on his brother, whereas Jack was acting all innocently and looked back at him. She wondered, though, why Jack's hair was suddenly so short. Laura, Lily and Rachel seemed to have noticed too and asked him about it, but Jack only shrugged and went on eating. Jake's smirk suddenly vanished and he looked suspicious. His eyes slowly began to dart around the room in search for something. Jean, however, couldn't figure out what. Her eyes followed his and she was sure she had seen Jack smirking for a very brief moment, his smirk gone and the innocent look back as soon as Jake looked at him again. Jake then grabbed the bottle to his left and sipped on it, his eyes now looking at his brother suspiciously. He dropped the bottle back to the table and froze, eyes on his hand that was still holding the bottle, then on Jack and back on the bottle. "You didn't!" Jake snarled.
"Oh, I so did, baby bro. I so did!" Jack smirked and held up a small tube of superglue.
"You did what?" Lily asked and Jake held up his hand, the bottle glued to it. "Oh, Jack. C'mon!"
"I'l kill you!" Jake said matter-of-factly, face stern and his golden eyes blazing. "With a spoon!"
"Why on earth would you do that?!" Jamie asked and was already checking out his brother's hand.
"Why? Because that ass over there put red food paint in my shampoo! I had to shave my head!" Jack said and pointed at Jake, who was snickering.
"And I got a nice picture of that moment!"
"You didn't!" Jack said.
"Oh, I so did!" Jake replied, wiggling his cellphone with his free hand.
"I'll kill you!"
"Get in line. I'll kill you first," he said and put his phone back into his pocket.
"Both of you are so stupid," Jamie muttered and used his powers to get rid of the glue on the hand in the hand before he placed the bottle back on the table.
Jack huffed. "Hello? Red food color in my hair?! How about a little sympathy?"
Lily and Laura exchanged a look. "For you? No!" the latter said and went on eating her sandwich.
Jake hopped off his stool to go and wash his hands, whereas Jack grumbled something under his breath.
"I think the shorter hair suits you better…," Rachel suddenly said after looking at her brother for a while. "Still no excuse for being stupid."
"Kids…," Logan huffed.
"Oh, Laura?" Kitty asked and the woman met her eyes. "What's your occupation actually?"
"Security at the Stark tower," Laura said.
"Kicking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ass," Jake smirked and high-fived his sister after entering the kitchen again.
"Yer working for Tony?" Logan asked and cocked an eyebrow at her.
"More or less. I can pretty much do my own thing," Laura shrugged and frowned as she noticed Jack's look that he gave his younger brother. She sighed. "What is it now?"
"I don't know. He looks suspicious," Jake shrugged innocently.
"What did you do this time?" Jack growled.
"Nothing?" Jake said, looking like innocence itself.
"Yeah right." Jack got up and left the room, following the scent of his brother from before.
Jamie sighed. "What did you do?" he asked, knowing full well that Jake did something, which became even more obvious after a shiteating-smirk became visible on his lips. Not long after that they heard Jack yelp and barking for his brother next.
"That's my cue to leave," Jake quickly said and headed out the room and into the garden.
He was barely gone before Jack entered the room, covered in pink food-color, feathers and what looked like little glitter-hearts.
"Where is he?!" he growled and searched the room, narrowing his eyes at the laughter that met him. "I'll kill him. This time for real." His hand wiped over his face and he snarled at the pink, sticky mass on his hands afterwards. Muttering curses under his breath, he headed for the shower for the third time that day; his mind already plotting revenge.
Jean and Logan exchanged a look. Lily waved off when she noticed it. "You'll have fun with these two. The love to prank each other and did it quite often in the past years."
"Great…," Logan grunted and sighed. "When it happens they'll be your kids!"
"You wish!" Jean returned the favor. "So we'll have our hands full, huh?"
"Oh yeah…," Laura nodded.
Jake had jogged over to the boathouse, checking if Jack was following him before he sat down on the pier with a sigh and crossed his legs. His eyes looked at the snow covered lake that was glistering due to the sun. He wondered if the future was the same old again. If he was honest to himself he was tired of jumping back and forth in time, but at the same time he felt scared of returning home. Before Jamie and his mother had changed the outcome of his illness he had come to terms with dying and not having a future. Now, however, he could do whatever the hell he wanted. The only problem was he didn't know what he wanted out of life. What if his future-self had already learned something or even worse decided to go to college? What if he was in the middle of exams and didn't know shit? A heavy sigh escaped his lips and he pulled his legs close, hugging them. It was then that he noticed he wasn't alone and his head jerked aside. Behind him, to his far right sat Jubilee, arms hugging her legs and she was watching him with red, puffy eyes. "For how long are you already sitting there?" he asked since he hadn't seen her at dinner at all and got up to join her. It was then that he noticed she was sobbing silently. "Jubes," he sighed and went to his knees to be on eyelevel with her, "I have to go back."
"It's not that," she sobbed.
"But?"
"I'm pregnant!"
He was speechless and she was sobbing aloud now. "You didn't know?" he asked and she looked up, eyes and face puffy.
"No?!" she snapped and wiped her face. "How come you know?"
"Time traveler? I know when Shogo was born and I did my math." He shrugged.
"Good for you. I'm not a time traveler and this sucks!" she cried and continued sobbing into her knees.
Jake sighed and sat down on the cold ground, his back to the cabin behind him. "You'll be fine," he tried to assure her, but her sobbing increased. "Look, your kid is awesome. He's smart, he's not socially awkward and everyone likes him."
"And I'm lonely and miserable," she mumbled into her arms and he huffed.
"No?! You are happy and you love him more than anything else." He reached out to take her hand and drew soothing circles on the back of it. "I'm not kidding!"
Her sobbing decreased and soon turned into sniffling. "Really?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Shogo's a great guy. And you'll do fine." He watched her turning her head and smiled at her. "See? That's better." He reached out and put a strand of black hair behind her ear. "And you look still cute with squishy face." He chuckled when she punched his arm. They sat together in silence for a while, but soon he started to freeze. Jumping to his feet, Jake pulled her up and took her hand. "C'mon. Let's walk a bit or the little bean will turn into a popsicle." He held up his arm and let her snuggled into his side, hugging her close while they walked in silence through the snow covered garden. "So… Who's the dad?" Jake asked after a long moment of silence and noticing her desperate and unhappy look once more.
"An asshole…," Jubilee muttered and tears began to fall once more.
He stopped her, but kept his arms around her since he noticed her shivering due to the cold. "That bad?" he asked and she snorted before her face turned into a mask of pain and she began to sob into his chest. Not knowing what else to do for the moment he hugged her close.
After a long moment of just standing around he led her back to the mansion and entered through the back door, letting her go in first. Jake had barely stepped through the door as someone grabbed him and slammed him backwards into the wall.
"Goddamn it, Jack. It was a joke!" Jake snapped but frowned as he noticed that it wasn't his brother at all that was currently staring at him in fury. "What do you want?" he asked and ducked as Bobby's fist aimed for his head. Using his training, Jake quickly freed himself and brought a distance between them.
"What's gotten into ya, Bobby?!" Logan demanded to know and got between them, shielding his son from the enraged man.
Fighting against Piotr's strong grip, Bobby gritted his teeth, furious. "What gave you the right to kiss my wife?!" he barked at Jake, who remained calm, crossed his arms and tilted his head in confusion.
"Your wife?!" he asked and his eyes found Jubilee, who was staring at Bobby. "I think you forgot to mention a little important detail," he said into her direction and her eyes met his.
"See? I told you!" Kitty said to Rogue and crossed her arms.
Bobby's eyes found Jubilee's. "You slept with him?!"
"Oh my God…," Rachel groaned.
Unimpressed by Bobby's attempts to punch him, Jake huffed. "So what. We're all adults here and she didn't say anything about being married."
"We're not married anymore in my eyes," Jubilee suddenly said, face dark and voice angry.
"What?!" Bobby said and met her gaze.
"I saw you, Bobby!"
"I don't know what you…"
"I saw you fucking Dazzler in Scott's office! So don't you dare play innocent now. Why do you think I kicked you out?!" Jubilee shouted and the room went silent.
Jake cocked an eyebrow at Bobby. "Cheating on your wife? That's low, dude!"
"It was a mistake…," Bobby muttered and Jubilee huffed.
"Well, this wasn't," she snapped and turned on her heels to leave the room, but not before she gave Jake another look. "You coming?"
"Eh…yeah?" he shrugged and followed her, leaving Bobby at the mercy of a very pissed looking Logan.
"Outside. Now!" was all he said before he dragged Bobby into the garden.
"I can't believe him," Rogue said with a shake of her head and watched Logan, who was clearly angry, snapping at Bobby.
"If he cheated on her, he deserves this. Logan warned him on their wedding day not to hurt her or he would eat him alive," Kitty shrugged. "Plus, I told you!"
"I know, I know. You were right about them."
"You knew they had a thing?!" Lily asked.
"If you didn't notice, you were clearly blind. That was so obvious," Kitty said.
Rachel sighed. "We're still heading home today." She touched the side of her head briefly. "But damn, she's really upset…"
Laura huffed. "If Alex cheated on you…"
"I'd grill him alive," Rachel said but shook her head. "No, she's upset about something else…"
In her room, Jubilee was sobbing into her pillow while Jake lounged on the side of her bed. "So, spill. The asshole is Bobby and he knocked you up?"
"No. Asshole, yes. But no."
Jake cocked an eyebrow at her. "Did anyone ever tell you, you've got a way with words?"
She sniffed and rolled onto her side, hugging her pillow. "I wasn't sure until now that anything happened…"
"Were you high or drunk? How can you not know if you had sex or not and that unprotected?" Jake asked and crossed his arms.
"Because I don't remember!" Jubilee cried and hugged her pillow tight while tears were streaming down her face. "That asshole must have done something to me. I don't remember."
"I'm not following you here…"
She heaved a deep breath and sat up. "I thought Bobby was out late and couldn't sleep. So I sat in the kitchen and drank some milk as…"
"As what?" Jake asked after she remained silent.
"As Daken entered the kitchen…"
He froze and looked at her incredulously. "Ni-chan wouldn't do this to you!"
"Not he. That other version. That psycho from another reality that your mother accidentally pulled into our world."
"Oh, that bastard!" He nodded before the words began to make sense and he couldn't help but gag. "You fucked him?!"
"Could you shut up and listen?!" Jubilee snapped and he quickly raised his hands.
"If you start with mood swings that early," he said and whistled, "then I'm glad I'm not here for the ride!" When he noticed her glare he cleared his throat. "What I meant to say was: please, continue."
She rolled her eyes. "He came inside and asked why I was sitting all by myself looking depressed while my husband enjoyed himself. I thought he was talking about Bobby going out, so I told him to mind his damn business. Daken said something like…oh, so you don't mind that he fucks someone else?. I didn't believe him, so he…showed me."
"Damn…"
Jubilee hugged her legs. "I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought we were happy, but all of a sudden it made sense why he spent so much alonetime recently. Daken just snickered and all of a sudden I began to feel very…warm. And dizzy. And the next thing I know is that I woke up in my bed, covered in bruises and a major headache. I don't know what happened. I can't remember a thing." Her voice broke and she hugged her legs closer to her body.
"He used his pheromones on you," Jake said matter-of-factly. "If Ni-chan pushes them to their maximum he could actually kill you. He, however, wouldn't misuse them like that. What Daken did was date-rape. Just…without the date." He reached out to hug her shoulder as she began to sob once more. "It wasn't your fault. Those pheromones turn you into a puppet. If you are not immune to that power, he can do whatever he wants with you and you'd do it willingly." He let her hug his middle and cry into his chest. "Listen, it sucks that you got knocked up. But you really, really love that kid!"
"I can't do this alone…"
"You are not alone. You've got friends and they'll help you," Jake assured her. "And he'll turn into a great person!"
She heaved a deep breath and held on to him before a memory crossed her mind. "Daken said something that I remember though."
"What?"
"I'll ruin you for Logan, bitch," she said and wiped her face.
"And that makes sense because?"
"Because Logan always treated Kitty, Rogue and me like daughters and Daken absolutely hates Logan," she shrugged and sniffed.
"That's…," Jake began, looking for the right words, "insanely messed up." There was a knock on the door that made him look up. It was Jack that opened the door, hair looking normal but short again.
"It's time."
Jake nodded and got off the bed. "Well, those dickheads need me to get back home. I gotta go." He smiled awkwardly and Jubilee sighed.
"This sucks," she sniffed and hugged him good-bye. "I'll stay in here. Don't feel like meeting the crowd right now. Bye, Jack." She waved and Jack nodded, watching the scene with suspicion.
"Remember," Jake said when he let go of her, "you'll be fine. Okay?"
She nodded and stepped back. "Take care of yourself."
"I might pop in for a visit or two," he said while walking backwards toward the door. "Can't stand seeing his ugly face every day," he added with a nod at Jack.
"Then you should consider taking down your mirror," Jack returned the favor.
"The one with the life-sized picture of you? Yeah, I might do that," Jake replied and snickered as Jack couldn't come up with another side blow so fast. "You're getting old. Face it, jerk."
"Prick!" Jack called after him and followed him to the outside where the others were already waiting for them.
After a long good-bye and many hugs the group touched Jake who brought them back to the year 2040. After they had landed in the garden they remained on the same spot and didn't dare to move.
"Looks…normal," Lily said while her eyes looked around the garden. She couldn't see anything abnormal though. "Come on. Let's go check the inside."
Together they walked through the thick snow and towards the mansion. Snow was still falling from the sky and Jack blinked against a flake that landed on his eyelid. It was cold. The air biting against their skin. "Which date did you send us back to?" he asked and looked at his brother.
"December 24," Jake replied.
"We already had Christmas," Laura commented.
Jake grinned. "C'mon! Twice as many presents? Awesome!"
Jack groaned and rolled his eyes playfully. "Who said you'll get anything?"
"Of course I will! I'm popular."
"Yeah. Sure," Laura said and exchanged a look with her sisters.
They had barely entered the mansion through the backdoor when something coughed Jamie's attention. Smiling happily, he knelt down and caught the little whirlwind that threw himself at him.
"Daddy!" Joshua cried out happily and wrapped his tiny arms around his father's neck.
"Hey, Peanut," Jamie said and kissed his son's cheek, pulling him into a tight hug. "I missed you so much. You ok?"
Joshua nodded, playing with his father's jacket. "Yeah." He looked at the group behind his father and beamed. "Hi, Uncle J!"
"Hi, monkey," Jake smirked and held up his hand for Joshua to high-five it before he took him from Jamie and placed him on his shoulders.
"What about me?" Jack asked, but Joshua was completely focused on Jake and giggling when his uncle bounced him around.
"I'm the cool-uncle. You are just….plain old boring you," Jake snickered and went on bouncing his nephew around.
"You know what he's like when Jake's around," Jamie shrugged apologetically but smiled at the happy and joyful laughs his son made. Maybe they were lucky and their timeline was fine again. Determined to find out he beckoned the group to follow him.
Sorry for the long wait. My schedule is crazy at the moment. This was just a filler chapter (and gave me headaches thanks to a major writer's block after page 7). Thanks to all the nice reviews! I really appreciate them. : ) Let me know what you think! Take care!
