A/N - these guys would freak the frak out if they didn't have Sammy keeping them in line. But ... your Summersy pacing is probably on the money. (it often is.)

Chapter Seven: Genetic Predisposition

The X-Men and their Starjammer hosts were nearly back to Earth when the planets aligned for a short time. Scott and Jean were up for air at the same time Logan and K were. And while Jean was definitely enjoying herself, when she saw Logan, she redirected to grab his arm, her expression falling into something a lot more serious than anything she'd worn in the last few days. "Can I talk to you?"

"Always," Logan said, almost distractedly. "What's up?"

"I just… thank you for getting me out," she said in a breath. "I didn't mean to burn you… I thought I had it under control with Scott helping me, and then I didn't..."

"Don't worry about it," Logan said with a wave. "Better me than one of the others."

"I'm glad you're healed, but I do want to apologize," Jean insisted. "I know that had to hurt; Scott told me how that works."

"Yeah?" Logan said, looking her way with a frown. "What'd he tell you?"

"That it still hurts even if you heal from it," she said. "I don't know if he told me in as many words, but he had projected so much after everything that happened with Sinister and Creed and the department that it's very clear in my mind."

"You don't really wanna worry about that, Jeannie."

"Of course I do," she said. "Just because I'm not officially part of your family doesn't mean I don't care about you!"

Logan let out a weary sigh. "What do you want me to say, Red?"

"I don't know. I just … I'm sorry I hurt you. It wasn't directed at you, and I just wanted you to know I didn't mean to get you hurt. I'd never do that - to you or anyone on the team!"

"Don't let it bug you," Logan told her. "I get nailed all the time. Pretty sure that's just what I do. It's fine. You're out ... Scott's happy … it doesn't matter right now."

"Yes, well, I just … don't want you to think … down the line, you know, when Scott ... well, I don't want you to think I hate you when ... well, yes."

"Nobody really needs to bother themselves with what I think, kiddo. Let it go."

"But that's just …" Jean paused, bit her lip, and then flung her arms around Logan in a hug. "Thanks. I already think of you as family, so… thanks." With that, she gave Logan a little smile and headed off to find Scott again, not at all surprised that he was wrapped up in Sam, with K smiling at both of them as they played together.

"That's one of my favorite looks," Jean said as she slid in to sit next to Scott.

"What, 'baby hog'?" Alex asked, shaking his head. "Yeah. It's something, alright."

"You had almost a month with my sister to yourself," Scott shot back. "My turn."

"See?" Alex gestured at Scott. "Baby hog."

"You can play with her too," K offered, her arms wrapped tight around her own middle.

"Yeah, when Scott's not around," Alex teased, though Scott elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shut up, Alex."

"He really didn't get much time with her," K said to Alex. "Not since we met up again."

"Yeah, okay, but what kind of brother would I be if I didn't razz him?" Alex pointed out. "Think of it as defending Jean from that face he's making until they're at least, like, twenty. I'm a good friend!"

"I'm very sure Jean gets high from seeing that face," K pointed out.

"Maybe," Jean said with a smirk that turned Scott a light pink and had Alex shaking his head.

"Okay, but I get to be godfather," he said, pointing between Scott and Jean. "This is law."

"You're the uncle," Kurt said, looking positively insulted. "That's enough for you, baby hog."

"It's genetic; he can't help it," Scott said straight-faced.

Alex dragged his hand over his face and let out a groan. "Done in by my own insult."

"Find something more insulting," Jean suggested with a smirk.

"It should be insulting, considering your age," Corsair cut in, finally having heard enough.

"Hey, Scott's almost twenty," Alex pointed out. "He's the walking danger zone!"

"Is not danger zone if you like it," Piotr added from across the way. "And clearly, he likes it."

"It is a danger zone if he goes out of order," Kurt teased, his tail swaying behind him as he rested his chin on his hands. "So, when should we expect the ceremony? Since you are in such a hurry…"

Scott turned a little redder, especially when Jean was no help. Instead of defending him, she was sedately smiling at him and clearly letting him answer that. "We… ah…"

Jean smirked a little harder. When you get around to it, she teased.

Jean…

Yes?

Scott shook his head, already laughing to himself at the innocent expression she was wearing. Hey, when I get around to it, it'll be done right. And you shouldn't peek. I'd like to at least try to surprise you for something like that.

I think that might be fun, Jean projected back. Just this once.

You're already thinking of ways to get around that, aren't you? he teased.

I guess you'll find out, she teased right back, though the telepathic teasing was interrupted when Sam decided Scott had been quiet too long and grabbed his nose with her hand to get him to laugh.

Alex burst out laughing at that. "Have I told you how much I love your sister? Because I do."

"Kind of hard not to, isn't it?" Scott laughed, tickling Sam to accentuate the point.

Corsair shook his head at that and leaned over to K. "So, if I leave a contact line, how long before I'm a grandfather, because…" He gestured at Scott and Jean.

"He's a good boy," K said. "He'll want to be married first."

"So a year then," Corsair said, still shaking his head at Scott and Sam. "Geez, he looks just like Kat when he does that."

"Knew he had to get his good looks from somewhere."

"Hey now."

K turned his way, looking up at him with a believably innocent expression. "What?"

"Come on. He may act like Kat, but the rest is all me!"

She shook her head. "No … I don't see it. He's a good leader … handsome ..."

"You're mean-spirited; you know that?"

"No one's ever said that before," she said, again, maintaining her innocent expression. "It must just be you."

"Oh yeah, you're hilarious," Corsair said, rolling his eyes - though before he could dig himself in any deeper, an indicator flashed, and he got to his feet. "Well, that's the signal we're ready to land. Should be on solid ground in half an hour."

"Can't wait to get rid of us," K said, shaking her head. "All because of a little girl…. Probably would have tried to take another lap if she'd been a boy."

Corsair rolled his eyes again, though before he could argue, Alex stole Sam from Scott and practically skipped over to slip the little girl into Corsair's arms. "Well, Dad? Still think it's all Mom?"

For just a moment, Corsair kept up a dry look, but when Sam started to explore his face with her hands and a breathy-sounding coo, it was pretty much impossible to do anything but smile at her. "You're pure trouble," he said as he sat down with Sam.

For a long moment, Sam simply kept looking, though after she'd seen the smile Corsair gave her, she stopped what she was doing and stared at him wide-eyed. She didn't even smile when she reached up again and patted his cheek - an instant before she grabbed a hold of his mustache and started pulling.

Both Scott and Alex burst out laughing. "We should have done this weeks ago!" Alex said, one hand on Scott's shoulder as both of them chortled.

Corsair reached up and got Sam to let go of his mustache, only to kiss her fingers, which at least got a bubbly sort of smile out of her. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked, shaking his head at her. "Just like your mom."

But at that, Sam raised one eyebrow and started very quietly babbling like she was telling him a secret.

"Yeah, that's right," Corsair said after she kept going for a few minutes, nodding along and shifting his facial expressions as if they were having an in-depth conversation. "I am the best Starjammer. You're so smart."

Sam squealed and slapped him across the mouth, again grabbing for his mustache before she started giggling.

"If you want her to stop beating on you, you have to snuggle her," Alex advised through clear laughter.

"Voice of experience?" Corsair teased, though he did sweep the little girl closer in a deep snuggle anyway. She squirmed for a moment, then snuggled right in, and after a little bit, she let out a heavy sigh and started patting him with her hand on his neck, positively melting Corsair where he sat with her.

They stayed curled up like that all the way until they were back on the lawn outside of the school - and Sam had even fallen asleep, too, which had Corsair biting back his grin hard as he handed her to K while the X-Men prepared to go.

"So, I'll see you around," he said quietly.

"Making plans or expecting more trouble?" K asked, settling Sam in on her shoulder.

"There's always trouble, isn't there?" Corsair pointed out. "And I'm pretty sure there's going to be a wedding I need to attend soon anyway."

"Check in often," she said. "And we'll keep you updated." K paused and gave him one last once-over. "You sure you're okay there, big guy?"

"Always am," he said with a careless smile.

"I did tell you that lying is just wasting both of our time, right?"

"You did."

"So … what do you need here, Grampa?"

But that had Corsair laughing outright. "I can't even begin to think that way," he said. "Scott and Alex are still just… kids to me."

"They're young men," she said. "How old were you when you got married, military man? Twenty-three? Twenty-four?"

"Okay, you're not wrong. But Scott's not even twenty until the end of the summer."

"Look at the calendar again, honey."

Corsair let out a breath. "So it's not that far away. I can't have a kid who's twenty, can I? That feels old to me."

"Oh, I definitely believe it," she said, nodding seriously.

"Hey."

K grinned up at him brilliantly. "You think I'm wrong? I'll get you a decent mirror for your birthday. Maybe some hair dye ..."

"You're so cruel to me every time we get together."

"Yet you keep wanting to talk to me," K said, blinking at him. "What does that say about you?"

"Hey, I'm a scoundrel, remember? There's no accounting for that," he laughed.

"Well you know what you'll get: plenty of picking and some hard truths. So … happy to be your reality check."

"Let's try not to meet when the world's ending next, huh? I'll take a nice wedding," Corsair said, smirking as they got off the ship and he stayed on the loading platform. He paused. "And, hey, can I grab the boys in a few weeks? You're the guardian, kind of, so…"

"That's up to them," K said. "I let Scott make his own calls, but … we were planning to spend his birthday fishing for grayling."

"Great. I'll find a place close by. 'Bout time I got to know them better before they start making families of their own, right?" Corsair said. "I'll just ask if I can keep them a week past what you were planning. Just the three of us. That okay with you or am I stepping on your toes? It's sort of a weird custody relationship with Scott, even if he's grown at this point…"

"I don't have a problem with any of that," K said. "But you'll likely have Jean with you, too. She's been going with us when we get away. I'll get you the coordinates to where we'll be headed."

"O...kay then," Corsair said, then gave her a two-fingered salute and headed off to talk to the boys, leaving her smirking after him.

The group had found a warm welcome on their return to Westchester; Charles had been more than a little concerned for his little group of students. But once the dust had settled from their welcome back, it didn't take long before Logan had other things he had to deal with.

Steve and Natasha had a lead that needed to be chased down — just another redirect to keep the Room off of Natasha's back until they could find a way to end the Room permanently. But that meant that K was once again short her sweetheart for an unknown period of time.

She didn't let it get to her too much — Steve had even made a point of saying that he would have liked to have her come in Logan's place — but aside from the fact that Sam was still breastfeeding, K was pretty firm about not trusting Natasha … yet. So instead of galavanting on a quick trip, K hunkered down with Charles' students — though Charles himself was something else whenever he was around Sam. And his honest take on the little girl had K softening her stance on him.

Charles couldn't contain his concentrated look of awe at the sheer possibilities that the little girl was capable of — and that on its own was something to be seen. No matter how hard he tried to mask it, it was impossible for him to manage long-term. Something about how purely open Sam was — and would remain for some time — had Charles positively captivated. He was so genuine about it, and the Sam so clearly liked him, that K began to make a point to give Charles a little time with Sam every day. It was good for all of them, and it left K time to get to know Charles a little when she wasn't quite so … defensive about the whole telepath issue.

But once K left Charles, it was always time to take Sam somewhere quiet for her to eat … give her some tummy time … play little games … it was a little different every day, but time with Charles always transitioned to time with mom.

The two of them headed up to K and Logan's suite. K had Sam on the floor on a soft blanket while K laid on her side making little faces and playing games with her that had Sam belly laughing hard enough to hide her little face in her hands when she set her head down on the floor. When it was clear the little one had laughed more than enough and was getting tired, K stretched out and rested her head on her arm, watching over Sam and waiting for the moment that Sam would inevitably yawn hard and need to be picked up and snuggled until she fell asleep.

It was just so comfortable and warm in the room … and K was sure at that point that she was just going to hold Sam for her nap like she seemed to be doing more of while Logan was gone. She just … had to get to the point where Sam wanted to sleep.

K closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that if Sam was watching her, that was all it took for her to scoot closer and fall asleep fast. Sure enough, Sam started making little noises, and K gently reached over to pull her closer. She had her nose buried in Sam's tufty, black, fluffy hair, but when she opened her eyes … Sam was in the crib and K was still on the floor.

K was groggy and slow, but Sam was happily babbling away. K frowned and pushed herself into a sitting position, then ran her hand through her hair. It didn't make a lot of sense … but …. Nothing really seemed out of place….

"I'm coming, sweetheart," K said in a smoky tone as she got to her feet and simply went to take care of her little girl.

Of course, what K didn't know was that there had been a visitor to the mansion.

Sinister had been annoyed when the whole group of X-Men had disappeared all at once - and for a couple months, no less. So when they at last returned, he needed to see what had happened - and to make sure that his little subjects were alright.

Perhaps if he had time he'd look into the others at the school as well, or maybe he'd come back if he didn't have time. As interested as he was in this little family, the more powerful mutants Scott found, the more his interest was piqued.

Still, his primary task was to find out why they had been gone for so long and make sure that they hadn't managed to damage his good work.

It actually wasn't too difficult to find K and the little one - Samantha was, of course, a few months older than the last time he saw her, and that made such a difference in her development. Already, she had shown a curious personality with a sort of playful nature. Her mental signature was easy to find, and he only had to wait until she was starting to fall asleep to find K as well, laid out on the floor with the little girl pulled close to her chest.

He nodded to himself as he stepped in, putting K into a deeper sleep for the time being while he picked up the little girl to get reacquainted.

Samantha was, to his relief, perfectly healthy - though still too small. Her mind was sharp, too, which was good, especially if he wanted to use her. Looking through her memories, it was clear that she was getting plenty of stimulation with this group, which was, he had to admit, a compelling reason to let the family continue here as they were, even if they would get into such trouble.

He was just about to set Samantha down in her crib when he heard the door open and then turned with a smirk when he saw Scott standing there - frozen, since he couldn't outright attack with Sam there. "Oh, good - you can answer a few questions for me, my boy," Sinister said carelessly as he beckoned Scott inside.

"What are you - get out of here," Scott spluttered, transitioning to anger from shock quickly enough.

"I assure you; I won't be here much longer," Sinister said in an almost-soothing tone as he tipped Sam's head up - and the little girl giggled, earning a smirk from Sinister.

"You're damn right you won't," Scott bit out, his hands in fists at his sides.

Sinister chuckled and shook his head. "First, tell me - where did you and your little family disappear to, Scott? It's unlike you to do this kind of thing."

"Family trip," Scott said flatly, still standing in the doorway and watching Sam more than Sinister.

Sinister narrowed his eyes at that. "Stop playing games, now," he said. "You know as well as I do that I can take what I want. I'm trying to give you the chance to act of your own accord, since you seem so determined to go on without my guidance."

"It really doesn't matter to you where we were," Scott said. "Maybe we should go back, seeing as you don't know and couldn't reach us."

Sinister shook his head at that before he simply went into Scott's mind to take what he wanted, frowning and shaking his head at what he saw of their decision to go to space yet again. And with an infant, no less.

But on the other hand, what he saw of Jean's powers… He couldn't help but smile. "That does explain a few inconsistencies," he said to himself. "Of course you would find the most interesting mutants…" He shook his head and then made sure to wipe Scott's memory of the encounter and send him off to Jean before he did the same with Sam and set her in her crib and left - which was the scene when K had woken up.

When Scott got to Jean, she smirked. I thought you were going to go find Sam, she teased.

I was, and then I decided to come see you.

I'm not at all complaining - I just thought you wanted snuggles after practice.

Maybe I just decided I wanted to do that with you instead. Sam was with Mom, anyhow.

Jean smirked at that and pulled him into a long kiss. Like I said, I'm not complaining.