Chapter 20 - Off-Kilter Demiurge

The family and closest friends were on a tight rotation for long enough that by the time James' mind was nearly back to normal, parts of the mansion were finished well enough that the team could move back in, though the wing that the students would once again occupy was still going through severe work. They'd only been back to Graymalkin Lane for a couple days when Kurt happened to be on watch in Hank's new lab when James finally started to stir. He was healed enough to wake up at least a little, though it was clear that, from the moment James started to open his eyes, he was confused. The monitors all ticked up, and he looked around the room with a frown.

Kurt put a hand on James's arm. "It's alright. You're safe," he said soothingly. "You're in the medical wing but safe nonetheless."

James stared at him for a long moment before he very lightly shook his head and closed his eyes again, trying to shut Kurt out.

But Kurt had known Logan long enough to recognize the signs and simply wasn't going to let it rest. He patted James's arm gently as he continued, "All three of the other Horsemen are safe. They're with their families. Apocalypse is dead, and any influence he had over you is gone. It's just a memory, James. Nothing more."

James stubbornly kept his eyes closed and shook his head again, but he refused to trust himself enough to speak. There was too much he didn't know about what had happened after he'd passed out, but he did not expect to wake up. At all. Not to mention the fact that, like every other time that he'd disappointed Apocalypse … he felt as if he could scarcely draw in a breath for the weight in his chest.

"Bobby is fine," Kurt said. "And the mansion is being rebuilt. Most of the residential areas and the most important things - the Danger Room, for example - are well on the way to being repaired. And your parents are fine. I'm sure they're looking forward to seeing you awake; they're in here every day."

At that, James opened his eyes and stared at Kurt in disbelief. He remembered trying to kill Elin - and the fact that he'd considered it simply as a method to get his father to attack him. There was no way that his parents would be alright with him.

"Oh, yes," Kurt said, nodding seriously. "Annie is going to do the same with you as she did with them - insist on feeding you." He leaned forward with both eyebrows raised. "She has made it her mission."

James took a closer look at the monitors and leads and started simply taking all of them off, not tossing them or doing anything overly dramatic, simply dropping them as he peeled them off. But when he pulled out his IV before Kurt could stop him, he had to just stare when, instead of a quick bloom of blood that would be quickly wiped onto the sheets or scrubbed away in the sink a moment later, the bleeding didn't seem to want to stop. It was as if he'd never actually seen someone bleed before, and he sat, transfixed, as the blood quickly slipped from the crook of his arm and soaked into the sheet.

"James, please," Kurt said gently as he tried to stop the bleeding. When James was still staring, Kurt hit the call button for Hank. "Your body has been through a terrible strain, even for one as gifted as you. Your healing has been overtaxed, and you're not fully healed." As he spoke, Hank arrived, his eyebrows raised when he saw the state of things.

Hank crossed the span in a blink and pushed James back flat with one gentle hand, though the motion hadn't drawn James' attention at all, and Hank was already preparing to start evaluating his cognitive ability if he continued to react like this. It was entirely possible that the brain surgery had done lasting damage on top of the psychic damage… and that wouldn't help anyone. "You're in no state to leave yet," he said as he pressed some gauze to the crook of James' elbow to get the bleeding to stop.

James didn't fight him as he replaced most of the leads, but he also was careful not to say anything, either. When Hank returned a few moments later after discarding some of the bloodied supplies, he gently pulled James up to remove the bandages on his head and to check the incision site from Strange's surgery, muttering to himself on the progress of his healing.

"I'll be back," Kurt promised before he simply disappeared to get Logan and K, reappearing a few minutes later just as Hank was finishing up his examination so that they could see for themselves that their son was finally awake.

Logan let out a sigh of relief as James looked almost nervous at their reactions, and a moment later, K had made her way over and sat down facing him on his bed. Then, she pulled him over for a gentle sort of hug that did not have the desired effect at all when James just seemed to crumble in on himself, loosely holding on to her as he buried his face in her sholder.

It was a lot for him to process. There was grief, of course. Though for James it was mostly for Vanessa and for everything that he'd done while he was doing Apocalypse's bidding. There was a crushing amount of guilt for all the same reasons and for the simple fact that if he hadn't done as he'd been told, then the others wouldn't have been drawn into it as well. And the whole fiasco would have been much harder for Apocalypse to pull off. And that wasn't even figuring in all the killing of perfectly innocent people that he'd done. Or all of the cyber espionage. He barely heard Hank's explanation of all that had happened medically. He just couldn't focus on it. All he knew was that, on top of all of the horrible things he'd done, he'd managed to break his healing. As if that was something he even knew could be done. He felt like the ultimate failure.

What's more, he could remember attacking his parents. And fighting and nearly killing his sister. And killing all of those people at the West Coast Avengers … attacking Tony in the tower … literally everything he had tried to make good on had been undone. And he was more than a little resentful that Rachel hadn't done as he'd asked while he was in the flames and killed him.

But he was still smart enough not to say any of that out loud, and for the moment, he let himself be wrapped up in the nightmares of his own self torture as his parents tried to comfort him. He just couldn't see how anything could ever be okay again.

Kari had appeared in the lab in a poof of pink. She wasn't actually on the roster of people who were set to watch out for James, but she knew from her father that everyone was concerned about his state. And seeing her dad look so down after visiting with James… she just had to see him for herself.

Logan was there with James at the moment, though he didn't seem to mind when Kari teleported to be right next to James, her eyes wide and her tail slowly swaying as she looked over her best friend. He had his eyes closed, and his head was turned away from the door. Kari glanced up at Logan. "Is he sleeping?" she asked with a small frown.

"No," Logan said. "But I wouldn't expect much conversation either."

Kari frowned at that and nodded slowly before she pulled a chair over to simply sit on the other side of James from Logan and rested her hand on top of his. "I'm so sorry you're hurting," she said quietly. "But I'm really glad you're back. I missed you."

James didn't respond at all, and he didn't move a muscle or register that she was trying to get him to do … anything. Still, Logan caught her gaze and nodded to her, trying to encourage her to not let him ignore her.

Kari glanced toward Logan and nodded slowly, taking in a deep breath and letting it out all at once. "You, um, you missed the part where my impatient sister announced to everyone that she's having a baby," she said with a small smile. "So I'm going to be an aunt. And I'll probably need your advice on the whole… niece or nephew thing. Wasn't really expecting it so soon…" When James continued to ignore her, Kari let her shoulders drop a bit and then bit her lip.

"We don't have the art room rebuilt yet, but I think I'll do a few pencil drawings to show you," she said. "It's not quite the same as a full painting, but I think it'll better capture the feelings everyone has… Charlie hugging Cable maybe. Those two are so sweet; he's a good big brother, really…"

While Kari was trying to get James to react, Logan got up and left them alone for a moment, hoping that clearing the room and leaving it to the two of them might help. But when he came back, and there was no change, he waited outside to catch Kari before she left. He didn't say anything as he pressed a piece of paper into her hand instructing her to get James' hard drives and copy them. 'He'll wreck them, and then he'll regret it' was all he'd added to the instruction.

Kari glanced down at the instructions and frowned harder for a moment. "I'll get all of it," she promised him softly before she simply threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

Logan wrapped her up tightly for a good long time and kissed the side of her head before he let her go.

Kari didn't quite get out the door, however, before she met someone else coming to visit James; Chloe was hanging in the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself as she watched James.

"Hi," she said softly, though it wasn't immediately clear who she was trying to address. "I was… I just… I wanted to check…"

"He's not saying anything right now," Kari said with disappointment ringing in her tone.

"Yeah. Well. Dad isn't really either. Loss does that," Chloe said in a bare whisper, though she was staring at James as if she could will him into being okay. "Can I…?" She didn't ask for more permission than the fact that no one stopped her as she got closer to James, who was ignoring her as he'd done with Kari. She still had her arms crossed over her chest and a tight hold on her elbows, and she was biting her lip as she tried to come up with something to say. This was so hard. He had always been the one that had supported her and encouraged her. She'd never seen him anywhere close to this … and she didn't know if anyone had told him about Cody yet. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized that. The two of them had been close, too.

Finally, she settled on, "I'm - I'm really sorry all this happened. I wish I could fix it."

When James didn't say anything or even acknowledge that she was there, Kari sighed and reached out to take Chloe's hand. "Come on," she said.

Chloe frowned, not quite ready to leave. "I just…"

Kari nodded. "I know." She pulled the note Logan had written her out of her pocket and surreptitiously showed it to Chloe - and that finally got Chloe to step back and settle her shoulders with a quiet nod of agreement.

In a poof of pink, the girls reappeared together where most of the things from the mansion had been set aside - everything that had been salvaged from their home. Most of it had already been sorted by families so that everyone would have their things when they returned, so James' things weren't too difficult to find.

Kari crouched down and picked up one of the drives to hand it to Chloe before she started searching for another. "It's actually good timing you came when you did," she said. Her voice held a slight warble, giving away how upset she was on James' behalf. "If he looks for these, he'll probably go right to my art studio. Or to Charlie. You're the better bet for keeping them hidden and safe."

Chloe nodded wordlessly, still processing how broken down James had been as Kari sifted. "I can do that, yeah," she said. "Least I can do."

Kari scrunched her nose up. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm surprised you're even trying to help. I was a puddle after the bamf died, and you lost your brother."

Chloe sighed. "I just… want to fix this."

"We all do."

"Yeah, no, I know, it's just…" Chloe puffed her breath through her cheeks. "Never mind."

Kari went to her side and then wrapped her in a hug. "I know," she said quietly - and didn't let Chloe out of her hug, either. She'd been friends with the Summers family too long not to know that sometimes, when they were that caught in their own thoughts, a hug was the only thing that worked.

Besides, a hug always made her feel better, too.

Then, when both of them were feeling a little steadier, they got back to work.

There was, of course, one more person who had been affected by Apocalypse who still needed to recover from the effects - and that was Billy.

While his powers had stopped going haywire, that didn't mean that Billy was all there. Even if he had been sedated, his dreams while he was out had been the same thing he'd been seeing before: hundreds of realities in which everyone he loved was suffering, dying.

Having Teddy there was a real help, but there were still moments when he was obviously not in the right reality - not because he was focused on the wrong reality in his powers, but because, quite frankly, Apocalypse had driven him to the brink of insanity, and he was toying with the edge.

Teddy had caught him a few times as he headed off to deal with threats that weren't there, and he'd had to pull Billy back, kissing him hard as he promised over and over again that he was safe and that he was home and that nothing was going to go wrong.

Of course, Teddy didn't always catch him - sometimes, he was asleep or even ducking outside for just a few minutes. And then he had to rush to catch up to Billy before he could go fight off a dictator Maria Hill or rescue Logan from Weapon X - when obviously, those things weren't happening in this reality.

That was the problem - Billy finally had the chance to do something about the realities that he had been seeing, and it seemed like the experience had made him determined to prevent this reality from becoming like the others that he'd seen.

K had managed to catch Billy when he was going through one of these moments - but naturally, she had John with her, which only made it harder for her to throw herself in his path and talk him down. But she wasn't about to let one of her boys go off on a tangent if she could help him. "Hey, come on, shooting star," K told him, taking a hold of his wrist with one hand, since John was occupying her other arm. "I need you here with me for just a minute."

"I need… I have to stop Sabretooth," Billy said distractedly.

"I will help you, I swear," she promised. "But if I'm going to bleed him out, you need to keep John away from him."

Billy blinked at her for a moment and then looked down at John as if he hadn't noticed the baby there before. He smiled lightly at the little guy and then looked up at K, the stars in his eyes a little more garbled than usual but still there. "He - he's coming after your daughter," Billy said, clearly worried.

"Well, that's a very bad life choice for him, isn't it?"

"I won't let him," Billy swore.

"Alright, but you should hold John first," K said, gently handing him the little boy, who immediately leaned in to give Billy a sloppy, wet baby kiss.

Billy smiled down at the little boy and pulled him into a tight hug. "Yes, hello, love you too," he said with a smile before he started to tickle the little guy. The galaxies in his eyes resettled a bit with a task in this timeline that he could focus on. Particularly one that involved a belly laughing little boy.

"Such a wonderful big brother," K said before she popped up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

He smiled at her lightly. "He's so amazing, K. Really. You did good."

"I had some great material to work with," she shot back.

He nodded to himself, though the smile turned into a frown as he kept nodding. "Yeah… material," he said before he handed John back to K. "I have to go. Really. I know what I said before, but I-"

"Please," she said. "If I can go kick some big, ugly backside with you, I would so love to do it."

He glanced at her for a second, frowned, and simply disappeared in a flash of light.

"Ugh, overly dramatic little punk," she muttered to John, who just dropped his head heavily on her shoulder. She was taking him up to Kate, who was looking for a play time with the little one so K could sit with James, who was not acting like himself at all. She didn't think too much on it as she headed off to get back to what she was doing, trusting that Billy would eventually find his way home to Teddy.

To the worry of the group at large, though, Billy remained MIA for the rest of the day and didn't show up again until the next morning, simply reappearing in the middle of K and Logan's room before the sun came up. He was curled around a little girl who was maybe three years old and looking much worse for the wear, with claw marks down his arms and side.

"What the hell happened to you?" Logan asked as he got out of bed in a rush and pulled on some jeans as he made his way over to the two of them. "Who's this?" It was apparent that Logan caught a whiff of the scent all over Billy and the little girl when he almost leaned back away from him. "Wiccan?"

"I - I couldn't just… she's K's," Billy tried to explain, still wrapped tightly around the little girl, who was clinging to his cape.

Logan stared at him flatly. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"The Department - they made her," Billy said. He winced as he pulled at the claw marks and then shook his head. "Not this reality. But I couldn't just stand by when I saw it…"

Logan stood up and headed over to get some clean towels to at least start to clean him up and stop the bleeding, though when he popped a claw to clear the fabric that was embedded into Billy's side out of the way, the little one flinched. "Don't move," he told Billy as he started to remove the fabric. He was putting pressure on the injuries and clearing up the blood to see how bad it was, only glancing up at Billy with a severe expression now and again as he worked.

Billy almost held his breath as Logan triaged him before he looked over to K. "That reality - you died to protect her, and I couldn't let him kill her too."

"Proof that not every world has the chance to be perfect," she said as she made her way over to help with more fresh linens. She set the fabric down and then let out a sigh as she put a pillow under Billy's head. "You can't go picking fights in other realities without me just because of something little like that."

Billy let out a sigh. "I used to know when I could and couldn't interfere," he muttered.

"And you'll get a handle on that again," K promised. "You just spent too much time unable to do anything. Think of what would happen if you'd been born like Scott. Your head would have exploded by the time you woke up from all that mess." She turned to see the little girl peeking out from Billy's cape. "So, you didn't answer my husband. I'm sure you were distracted with him being fresh from bed, shirtless, and cutting your uniform off; but that's just bad focus, sweetie. Who is this?"

"This is…" Billy smiled then glanced down at the little girl. "This is Lily. At least, that's what I've been calling her. She might not have had a name; I didn't get to ask the other K…"

K stepped around Logan and gave the little girl a smile. "Hej, flicka. Vad heter du?"

The little girl looked uncertain and glanced over at Logan for a moment before she shook her head hard. "One seben nine," she said clearly, holding onto Billy's cape with one hand.

K turned toward Logan and hit him in the chest with the back of her hand. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," he said in a scoff. "Outside of keepin' your space boy from bleedin' out."

K gave the little girl a small smile. "Nej, flicka. Vad heter du?" she tapped her chest and then reached over to gently touch her nose.

She pulled the cape up nearly to her eyes and barely whispered out "Jenny."

K nodded and then touched her nose again. "This is a new world. How about a new name?"

The little girl glanced over at Billy. "I like his name," she said very slowly.

"You like Billy or you like that he calls you Lily?" K asked, offering her a hand.

She nodded quietly. "I wike Billy. I wike his name for me- wike Liwy."

"I… was trying to come up with a short version of yours," Billy admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Okay then," K said with a nod. "It's the same. Lilja is Lily in Swedish."

"Hit it on the head, then," Billy said, leaning back a bit and closing his eyes, clearly worn down from the fight in the other dimension.

"Hey, you're not gonna pass out in here," Logan said, taking the cape off of Billy's shoulders for Lily to hold on to as he scooped Billy up. "Come on, you're going to the lab."

Billy didn't argue that in the least, but Lily tugged on K's hand with wide eyes, shaking her head 'no'.

"Logan won't hurt him," K promised.

"No labs," Lily said, her eyes even wider.

She nodded and held her arms out for her to come closer. "Not that kind of a lab, I promise. This has good doctors that won't hurt. Nothing like the place you know." She looked over her shoulder before she picked up the little girl and headed to the next room, where Sadie and Malin were waking up. "Can you two keep an eye on John? I have to step out and see Hank for a minute." Of course, the girls didn't argue it, and K headed out in Logan's wake. "We'll catch up to them in no time, and if Logan still scares you, you can hit him. He won't mind."

Lily frowned at that and hung onto K's shirt at the collar as they headed downstairs, to where Teddy was looking clearly relieved - but also clearly worried - when Logan arrived with Billy.

"I'm going to put a bell on your neck, I swear," Teddy said as Logan laid Billy down on a gurney. Tyler had been sleeping in most mornings lately, and no one wanted to wake him after all he'd been through. So Hank was the one on deck to help.

"He just showed up in our room," Logan said. "Did what I could to control the bleeding."

"Why is he even bleeding?" Teddy asked, looking ready to start pacing.

"If I'm going by scent, I'd guess he jumped into a reality that still had a Sabretooth," Logan said.

"What?" Teddy turned to face Billy with a look of pure incredulity. "You can't do things like that, Billy!"

"He had a good reason," Logan defended, both hands up. "Though he hasn't told the whole story yet. Let him get a breath."

Billy gave Logan a little smile as he leaned back and let Hank fuss over him a bit - though a lot of the wind did leave Teddy's sails when K arrived a short time later with Lily in her arms. "That's what he left for?" he asked quietly, his expression softening significantly.

"I couldn't let her die," Billy said softly. "I saw a world where the Department … they wanted to make better weapons. They took K and-" He paused and looked K's way. "Well, they took you and Sabretooth and thought that was a great match."

"I may need to go to this reality to kill some people," Logan muttered.

Billy nodded at that. "That version of K got out with the girl, but they sent Creed after her - and he was only supposed to bring back the girl, not K." He paused. "He was going to kill her anyway, because of all the trouble she was causing him."

"Sounds about right," K agreed. "Probably had issues with her not being a boy too. Jackass."

"And I just… if I hadn't interfered, she'd be dead, and there's no reason she should be."

K put her hand on Lily's head and let her snuggle in a little better. "I can't blame you for trying to help her."

"Me neither," Teddy said, rubbing Billy's shoulder with one hand and an affectionate smile. "But sweetheart, we need to work out a better system, because you can't just disappear on us without telling anyone - or taking someone with you."

Logan took a step forward and grabbed on to Billy's other arm. "And the next time you get it in your head you want to head out to fight Sabretooth, of all people, come get me."

"You - weren't - exactly…" Billy let out a breath.

"What."

"You weren't exactly on the side of the angels over there," Billy said.

Logan let out a breath and tipped his head down. "Well, I guess that would have made it that much easier to get close to him, wouldn't it?"

Billy nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll… I'll bring someone with me."

"Someone who knows this reality," Teddy said. "Not someone in another reality. You need to know where to come back to - and one of us can tell you if you're going after someone who's already dead or something."

"I probably shouldn't be interfering at all," Billy said with a sigh, leaning over to rest his head on Teddy's shoulder.

"You're trying to help," Teddy said gently before he brushed Billy's hair out of his eyes. "It's part of why I love you. So please don't stop being a hero."

Billy couldn't help but smile at that. "Okay, when you put it like that…"

Teddy just chuckled and leaned in to kiss him. "We'll get through this. You'll get used to having your feet on solid ground here, and we'll get through this, okay?"

"Love you too, Teddy."

As the boys talked, K waved Logan over to introduce him to the little girl. "This one - this one right here, with me? He's one of the good guys." She reached out and took his hand to hold up for little Lily to see. "That ring says he's mine. He would never hurt a little girl. Ever."

"Weally?" Lily asked, scrunching up her nose.

K nodded her head. "All mine." Logan had to smirk, but he held his hand still so Lily could take a look if she wanted to

The little girl leaned over carefully to examine Logan's ring, tracing her fingers over it lightly. Finally, she looked up at Logan and shyly smiled before hiding again in K's shoulder.

"See?" K said softly. "I told you he wouldn't hurt you."

Lily nodded and then wrapped her arms around K in a hug. "O-tay."

"Do you want to go back upstairs and get cleaned up? I'm sure the girls can find you some nicer clothes while Billy gets back in one piece," K offered.

"Girws wike me?" Lily asked with wide eyes.

"Our girls," Logan said in a warm rumble. "They're a little older than you."

Lily chewed on her shirt drawn up to nearly her nose as she thought about it before she nodded. "Otay, Mama."

"Of course it is," K told her, tipping her head toward the little blonde. "Billy - I'm sorry. But I'm telling Annie about you on my way up. There will be no dimension you can hide before she feeds you. So don't try to run."

"We'll get her cleaned up," Logan said with one hand on K's back as he addressed Billy and Teddy. "And then we'll figure out what's next."

"I'm sorry to drop in on your morning like this," Billy said with a little smirk.

"No you're not," Logan called back, which just had Billy chuckling to himself as Teddy grinned at him and kissed him again, glad to see his husband in high spirits.

The two Howletts headed upstairs with the little girl, and K helped her to get cleaned up and changed into some old clothes of the girls', though she did note that Lily never strayed far from K and was always within grabbing distance of her clothes, leg, arm … whatever she could hold onto.

Logan crouched down to her level once she'd gotten startled at one of the construction noises and waited for her to meet his gaze. "Did Sabretooth scare you?" he asked quietly.

Lily hid a little more behind K before she nodded very softly. "Uh-huh."

"Would you feel any better if I told you that we don't have one here?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up. "Weally?"

"Really," Logan said with a nod.

"O-tay," she said, starting to smile a little. "Das good. I wike dis world."

Logan gave her a little smile. "Good. Are you hungry?"

She nodded lightly. "Uh-huh."

"Then you're really going to like Miss Annie, little darlin'," he told her before he stood up and offered her his hand - not in place of K, but in addition to, so that she was holding onto both of them tightly as they made their way downstairs.

As expected, Annie was making breakfast and keeping herself busy, though she stopped when she saw the little girl between Logan and K. "Who's this little angel?" she asked with a warm smile.

"Lily," K said looking down to the little girl who couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Well, hello, Lily. I'm Annie," Annie said, crouching down to her level.

Lily looked up at K with wide eyes. "Das - das who you - das who Wogan said I'd wike!"

"Everyone likes Annie, or they're just not good people," K told her.

Annie couldn't help but smile at that, especially when Lily gave her a shy smile. "Would you like some pancakes, Lily? I've been making some with chocolate chips in them if you like chocolate."

Lily glanced up at K. who smiled her encouragement. "O-tay," she said quietly, letting K help her up to a seat at the table - and then dove into the pancakes with abandon after the first bite, smiling and sticky within minutes.

Logan had left the two girls, only to return with coffee for himself and K, and Lily's milk, making sure both of them were set up before he sat down next to K.

"O...kay," Scott said from the doorway as he made his appearance, both eyebrows raised as he gently rolled forward. "Where did you find this one?"

"She just showed up in our room, Slim," Logan said as he raised his mug.

Scott turned Logan's way, smirked, and shook his head. "No, really."

"Really," Logan said. "She came with Wiccan, who set the tone for a very weird kind of morning."

"Oh, he's back, then," Scott said, sounding relieved. "Hulkling's been beside himself since yesterday."

"It's all Billy's fault for going galavanting without me," K said, then tipped her cup back.

"I wike Biwy," Lily said quietly. "I wike Miss Annie, too." She looked up at K. "Can I have more, Mama?"

"Of course," K said with a nod, and before K could move, Logan got up and took the little one's plate to the kitchen.

Scott raised an eyebrow K's way. "What's the story here?"

"Alternate reality, she's my daughter."

Scott looked between K and Logan for a moment. "Alright. So where's Logan?"

"Not the daddy," K said.

"I do know a little about genetics," Scott said. "What, did you actually marry Clint in another world?"

"Oh, that would have been so much better," Logan said in a dry tone as he passed Scott by and gave Lily her a second helping of chocolate chip pancakes. "She's a Creed."

"Ah." Scott nodded once and then leaned forward. "So. What's your plan?"

"We haven't gotten that far yet," K admitted. "We were kind of focused on making sure she was okay before we came up with anything like a plan."

"And we're not moving forward on anything without Billy involved," Logan added. "Seeing as he named her."

"Got it," Scott said with a nod. He looked toward Lily with a warm smile. "Well, in the meantime, we'll make sure she's comfortable here."

K leaned closer to Lily and whispered in her ear so quietly only she and Logan could hear her. "Do you know who Cyclops is?"

Lily pursed her lips and shook her head. "I heaw-ded dem - I heaw-ded dem talknin' bout a Cycwops."

"Good or bad?"

"Samertoof didn' wike him," Lily said, shaking her head so her soft curls bounced.

"Damn," Logan said, shaking his head before he pointed to Scott. "That's him."

Lily's eyebrows shot up before she gave Scott a shy smile. "Oh! Hi, I'm Liwy."

Scott smiled at that. "You can call me Scott."

"He belongs to Annie," K said loud enough that Scott could hear her. "And he likes it that way."

"That's right he does," Annie said with a smirk.

Scott chuckled at that, though he didn't say anything, because just then, Billy found his way back upstairs with Teddy - bandaged but looking much better.

"Oh, honey, no one should do that much of a Hawkeye impersonation," Annie said, rushing to fill up a couple plates for both of them.

"Kate will say it's the highest form of flattery," Billy joked before he sat down by K and Lily with a smile.

"Kate has permanent head trauma," Logan muttered.

"Did you get fix'd-ed?" Lily asked Billy with her eyes wide.

Billy grinned at her and nodded. "Sure did," he said, showing her the wrappings on his arms. "What do you think - should I have asked for something in green so I can match my husband?" he asked, gesturing to Teddy.

Lily giggled and covered her mouth with both hands. "Das silly."

"Yeah, but I'd look good in it," Billy said, and Lily giggled again.

It wasn't too long before the others in the mansion began to trickle down. Sadie and Malin were with Elin and Chance - who had come in to snatch up John - but the three feral girls knew enough not to question when there was such a small kid half attached to their mother.

"So that's what you'd look like blonde," Chance teased Elin quietly.

"Looks like," she agreed before they took a seat with John and then gave Lily a little smile.

Of course, Lily was wary of all of the newcomers and was hiding in K's shoulder as people came down to breakfast until, finally, she muttered to K, "I wanna go. I don' wike dis."

"This is just our family," K told her.

"Dat's a lot," she muttered.

"There are," K agreed. "We like kids around here."

Lily held onto K's shirt and nodded slowly. "Okay. Dat's a lot."

K looked over to Billy. "When you're ready, she's getting a little overwhelmed, and we should sit down and figure this out before the bamfs show up."

Billy nodded and simply reached over, and the three of them found themselves in the living room - thankfully devoid of smoke or dizziness for K, with Lily giggling to herself.

"I like Billy's magic twicks," she told K quietly.

"He's very good," K agreed before she looked up at Billy. "So. What's the plan?"

Billy gestured for the girls to sit down on the couch. "I didn't really have one other than stopping her from being killed," he admitted. "That's… why I came to you."

"Well, it was a good plan," K said. "So now, here we are. Best case scenario, what do you want to see, Billy? I can tell you right now, Logan will do whatever I want in this."

"You're her mom," Billy said. "It's up to you - I just want her to be safe and happy." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I know with James and everything, it's the worst possible time to drop something like this in your lap, and I'd understand if you're frustrated…"

"Logan would tell you there is no such thing as a worst possible time to get a kid out of danger," K told him.

"I tend to agree," Billy said. "I just meant… if you're too busy, Teddy and I can take her. I mean… I know I'm not all there, but … we'll figure it out."

"That might not be a bad idea on a supplementary basis at the very least anyhow." K turned to Lily. "What do you want to do? Do you want to stay with me, or would you rather go with magic pants with the stars in his eyes? Or … do you want to do both?"

Lily looked wide-eyed. "Do I haveta say bye-bye?"

"Nope," K said, shaking her head slowly. "Billy and Teddy are here most of the time, and I'm here with Logan and our kids."

Billy nodded. "We're moving into a suite," he said. "Teddy and I thought that would be better." He waved a hand in front of his eyes. "All things considered."

"I can make Scott put you close to us," K said. "Across the hall."

Billy nodded at that. "Would that be okay, Lily? If I was across the hall from your mom?"

Lily sized him up with her nose scrunched up. "Is dere lots of people?"

Billy smirked and shook his head. "Teddy and I have a little boy and a little girl, but they're much older than you. It's mostly just me and Teddy."

"And I have Logan, Sadie, Malin, and John with me," K said. "The others have their own rooms in the school."

Lily looked between Billy and K for a long time, her foot jiggling. "I don' know…"

"You can start with us if you like - and go back and forth too," K said.

"I wanna do dat," Lily said, letting her shoulders drop with relief. "Can I pwease?"

Billy smirked at K. "Joint custody?"

"Looks like," K said, nodding. "And you know - of course - you're both Godfather. Kate for mom?"

Billy grinned outright. "I love it."

Lily looked between the two of them before she climbed over to Billy and gave him a hug. "Can I go to your woom?" she asked.

Billy ruffled her hair. "After we put all our stuff in across the hall, okay?"

"Otay," she agreed, then simply melted into Billy's shoulder, letting Billy snuggle her while she was worn out from all of the excitement.