Toby awoke several hours later and jumped over Jubilee, who subsequently woke up as well.
"Morning!" he giggled as he raced out the door. She sighed and combed her hair, then ran out after him.
"Toby, you do realize it's afternoon right?" Her sentence faded away as she entered the living room to find Blayne watching TV with Wolverine. She smiled and jumped over the back of the couch, landing right in between the two of them.
"Lucky this is me and Toby's living room or Mum would have your head," Blayne laughed. She blushed and apologized, receiving a stern glare from the man next to her.
"I taught ya better than that, Jubes."
"Sorry, Wolvie. I was just so excited to see him up and about." She slugged her mentor on the arm.
"What, you didn't think a little rat bite was going to keep me down long, did you?" Blayne joked. Gambit came in and smiled at Jubilee as Blayne proceed to tickle her, but his face became solemn as he turned to Wolverine. Jubilee saw this and stood.
"What's wrong Gambit?"
"De professor jes called. Said dere's been an accident at de mansion." Wolverine stood next to Jubilee. "Rogue's in a coma, Jean been hurt bad. Beast is…" he stopped, unable to continue.
Jubilee stepped forward, fearing the worst. "What happened to Blue, Gambit?" Her voice was quivering, and Wolverine placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her.
"Hank's dead, petite. De professor wants us home now." Wolverine wrapped his arm around Jubilee as she took in the news. Her breath quickened as her body processed the information and subsequently fell into shock. Blayne jumped up to help her, and Wolverine handed her over to him. He needed to help Gambit pack. The two men solemnly walked up the stairs while Jubilee was wrapped in a blanket and laid down on the couch. Blayne held her hand and whispered to her, told her everything was going to be okay. Wolverine and Gambit came down with all the bags as Mrs. Warner entered the room in a panic.
"What's wrong, Blayne? I felt your distress from the kitchen."
"It's Jubilee's family Mum. They need to return to America immediately." Sarah merely nodded and rushed to arrange the travel. Blayne turned to Wolverine. "Don't worry about the money. Mum insists on paying, and I'm afraid she's rather stubborn about that sort of thing." They merely nodded, and as Mrs. Warner came in to tell them everything was taken care of, Blayne picked Jubilee up with ease.
"I'll rift you to the airport. It will be quicker." In an instant, a rift appeared and the three men stepped through. They emerged in a deserted corner of the airport, and they rushed to the terminal Mrs. Warner had instructed them. The plane was just about to leave as they got Jubilee to her feet. Blayne swiftly placed a kiss on her cheek and promised her he'd call. Gambit wrote down their number and address quickly and handed it to him. Wolverine, despite his initial feelings of the lad, found himself sorry to leave him behind.
"I'll write you soon, Wolverine. And I am deeply sorry for the loss you have endured." He waved goodbye to his new friends and watched their plane depart. Poor Jubilee. First, she loses her best friend, only to get him back again little by little after trekking half way across the world. Now, one of her other friend's is dead, and two more in bad shape. I wonder what would have happened had they stayed?
He decided it did not do to dwell on such matters and promptly rifted home again. Toby wandered over to him.
"Where's Jubilee?"
Blayne knelt down, "She had to return to America, Toby. Her friends are gravely ill."
"She didn't say goodbye," tears began to well up in the toddler's eyes. "Dad didn't say goodbye either."
"Toby, you were too young to remember Dad."
"Was not! I remember him just as well as you do!" The boy stormed off crying, and slammed the door to his room. Blayne shook his head. Rather impetuous for a 4 year-old.
Several excruciating hours later, the trio landed in New York and taxied to Westchester. Jubilee burst through the mansion right into the arms of Storm. The Wind Goddess gathered the girl up and took her upstairs. She was rather much like Wolverine and hated for anyone to see her cry. Gambit flew straight to the Med Lab, followed closely by Wolverine. A few of the older students who had witnessed his tirade were surprised at seeing the man back so soon. He brushed past them all and into the lab, where Rogue was hooked up to many machines, and Jean's entire face was bandaged. Cyclops looked up and seemed almost pleased to see Wolverine.
"What happened Cyclops?" Their fearless leader was at a loss for words, and Professor Xavier spoke up.
"We were attacked. Apparently, Veroer had a band of followers, and they wanted revenge on those who killed him. We defended the students as best we could, but they're merely children, and could not offer much in the way of support. By the time I could call in reinforcements, they had already killed Hank. Jean, who was trying to prevent just that, took a blast to the face. Moira flew in and helped out, but as you can see, there's not really much we can do but wait." Gambit sunk into the chair beside Rogue's bed, and Wolverine looked over at the southern belle.
"What kinda power knocked out Rogue?"
"A mental one. Once Jean was taken out the picture, their telepath began wreaking havoc on the minds of the team." Wolverine rounded on the professor.
"Where were you?" Suddenly, Scott could take no more.
"How dare you! To ask the professor such a question! Where were you, Logan, when we needed you most?!? Off traipsing around the globe for what? A childish tantrum that not only removed you from the team, but pulled Jubilee and Gambit out the picture as well! God only knows what would have happened if you hadn't left. Hank might still be alive!"
"No!" They all turned to see Jubilee bearing down on their leader. "Don't you dare put this on Wolvie! It's my fault he's gone in the first place, so if you want to blame someone for his absence, blame me! And it's not his fault Beast is dead! It's the fault of the bastard who killed him! So before you judge our actions fearless leader, why don't you look back and wonder what you could have done to save him. Why didn't you ask Warren, or Colossus, or anyone to come and fill in while we were gone?!? Why didn't you ask somebody to take our place? You knew the risks when you let us go, so don't you dare pin this on us now!"
She had finally exhausted herself and collapsed in a nearby chair. Scott, looking thoroughly chastised, merely turned back to Jean's form and placed her hand in his. Gambit placed a kiss on Rogue's gloved hand, vowing to himself not to leave until she woke. Wolverine pulled Jubilee out of the chair and escorted her to his room, where she laid down on his bed and fell into a restless sleep. He sat on the couch, looking around, torturing himself with what would, or wouldn't, have happened if he'd stayed.