This story is mine. Really, all mine. Well, all the characters belong to Marvel, but please don't sue me, it wouldn't be worth it. Special thanks to Luba for the beta read and to everyone who e-mails their encouragement!
Just a Couple of Kids, after all… Chapter 9Bobby stumbled into the kitchen, , wearing a bathrobe and a pair of Mickey Mouse boxers, and ignoring the chuckles of his friends in a single-minded quest to locate the coffee maker. He'd only slept for a couple of hours before being woken by pounding outside his window. Apparently, Warren had taken Kurt's comments to heart and gotten the workmen in to perform the mansion repairs. He only wished that either Warren had sulked a bit longer or the carpenter's union insisted on not working before noon.
"Late night, Bobster?" crooned Rogue. She pretended to cringe as he glared in her direction, then laughed as she spooned more Frosted Flakes into her mouth. Swallowing, she added, "Come on – it wasn't that late when I caught you and Kit sneaking in."
"Yeah, but we went back to work after that," he mumbled, just managing to avoid pouring coffee on his hand rather than into his cup. He considered making a break for it back to his room, but decided that a) he'd probably spill the coffee, b) he'd probably need more after this cup anyway, and c) he might as well get this over with. Apparently Rogue had been gossiping already.
"Not to be believed, mon ami – you took the lovely lady out, brought her back, and spent the rest of the night in computer central?" Remy chuckled. "I'm thinkin' we gotta have a talk about your romantic technique, no?"
"Yeah, yeah, bring it on – anyone else?" Bobby answered, getting up to refill his cup. The coffee, he decided, was just not working fast enough.
"Yeah – what're you doing out with my Kit anyway?" growled Logan menacingly. Bobby blinked twice – it showed just how tired he was that he hadn't even seen Logan sitting at the table just beyond Rogue.
"Umm, I, well, that is…" His stream of lack-of-consciousness was cut off when he realized that Logan was laughing, and had stood up. "Here it comes," he thought, prepared to be picked up by his shirt collar at the very least, and was shocked when Logan clapped him on the shoulder instead.
"Couldn't resist, Drake. Awake now?"
"Umm, yeah." Bobby replied, realizing he was. Maybe he should market Logan as an alternative to coffee…
"Good. Saw the sign you put on Kit's door. Maybe you're not so bad after all. Of course, you know if you hurt her, I'm gonna hafta kill you."
"I'd kinda figured that. So, it's ok with you?" he asked gingerly. Logan being the closest thing to a father figure Kitty had here, it would probably be best to check.
"Shows class that you ask, kid, but Kit's a grown woman. I've got no say in who she goes out with."
"Yeah, right, Wolvie – that's why you threatened Angelo's life if he came on to me, right?" Jubilee said, walking into the room and tossing down her duffel bag. Bobby was surprised to see her; he'd heard she was modeling in SoCal, but no one looked more surprised than Logan.
"I said Kit was a grown woman, not you. What're you doin' here anyway? I told you…"
"And I told you I'd see ya later. It's later, right?" Jubilee asked, then turned to Bobby with a grin. "What's this? You and KittyCat? I thought you were waiting for me, Icicle!"
"Nah – how could I go out with anyone who could top my pranks?" he asked in the same vein. "I'm just too old to keep up with you."
"Yeah, well, I figured you'd still be available when I started slowing down – say, a decade or two," Jubilee replied, walking over to the frig and peering inside. "What, nothing with caffeine? Who's been doing the shopping, Jean? I NEED some caffeine, people! Here I spend all night on a bus, and you don't even have anything decent to drink? Do you at least have Sugar Bombs?" she added, turning to Bobby.
"As if I'd tell you after that comment! You can check, but I think Hank finished them up yesterday," he replied, sitting back down at the table.
"Man!" As Jubilee began to rummage through the cabinets, Bobby looked back at Logan. He didn't look any better than he had the day before, and Bobby made a mental note to remember to ask someone what was going on there. He wasn't going to take the chance of breaking a tentative truce to ask Logan himself.
"Ah, Robert, I was just searching for you. I saw the communiqué you left on Kitty's door, and assuming you to be the genius's apprentice referred to thereon, I was hoping you would be able to apprise me of the current status of our recent digital invasion," said Beast, walking through the door.
Bobby quickly gulped the rest of his coffee, and said, "Sure. What do you want to know?"
"You'd better wait and ask Kitty, Hank, assuming they made any progress at all. Which I doubt, as they were at Harry's until the wee hours of the morning. That's showing responsibility, right Bobby?" asked Warren, who had followed Hank in. Bobby sighed. He SO did not need this this morning.
"Anyway, what's he going to be able to tell you? He doesn't understand any of it – he's just chasing after Kitty's skirt." Bobby could almost feel his blood pressure rising, and he turned to face Warren.
"Warren?" He heard himself saying.
"Yes?"
"Let me ask you a question - how many computers are part of the mansion's computer system?"
"How should I know?" Warren replied, but as he opened his mouth to continue, Bobby cut him off.
"Thirty four primary, not counting the desktop and laptop units in people's rooms and the library. How much experience do you have analyzing data for trends?"
"Now, see here Bobby…"
"That's what I thought. You know, Warren, I really don't care what you think of me. I think it would be a hell of a lot more mature of you to discuss any problems you have with me privately than to put on a show for the room, but that's your problem, not mine. What I do have a problem with is your attitude towards Kitty. You've insulted her, you've been condescending to her, and you've outright tried to humiliate her. She doesn't deserve that. She knows what she's doing, which is considerably more than you can say. Instead of butting your nose in to what you don't understand, why don't you go phone your office and pretend to run things you may actually know something about?"
"Why, you little –"
"Warren?" said Hank.
"What?"
"To put it in words you may understand, why don't you shut up and get out before you dig yourself in any deeper?"
As Warren turned and stormed out the door, Rogue let out a whoop, jumped up, and high fived Bobby.
"That's telling him, Bobby!"
"Good job, mon ami!"
"Never knew you had it in you, Icicle!" added Jubilee who, he noticed, had found a box of Sugar Bombs.
"Indeed, Robert. May I add that I have been awaiting this day for a very, very long time?" said Hank, reaching out his hand to shake Bobby's.
Logan just sat in his chair, but as Bobby looked at him, he nodded. And for the first time he could remember, Bobby knew what it felt like to be respected. He decided it was a feeling he could get used to, really quick.
He sat back down at the table, looked around at everyone, and said,
"Jubes, can you pass the Sugar Bombs? Thanks. Now Hank, you were asking about our progress…the systems have been temporarily shut down," he continued, glancing around the table, "so if you were planning to check your mail this morning, don't bother. We'll have everything back up and running later today, but we shut down until after we could have a meeting to discuss our findings…"
Standing outside the room, Kitty smiled. She'd gotten to the kitchen just after Warren began talking, and hung back, unwilling to deal with him this early in the morning. Given the results, she decided she'd made the right choice. She thought about going in now, and adding her congratulations to those of his friends, but decided not to ruin Bobby's moment by drawing attention away from him. Instead, she turned and walked back toward her room, hoping that the repairmen who enjoyed waking people up had also fixed the showers.
On the way, she stopped at the door to the Professor's office, which Jean was now using, and knocked.
"Come on in," she heard from inside, and opened the door.
"Oh, Kitty," Jean said distractedly, rummaging through some papers on her desk. "I'm sorry – I was expecting someone else. What's up? Any progress on the computer system invasion?"
"Actually, yes – I was wondering if we could get a meeting together this morning to discuss it," Kitty asked, as Jean continued to flip through papers, not even looking in her direction.
"Hmm. Given how yesterday's meeting went, I'm not sure that's a good idea. Maybe you should just fill me in, and I'll update everyone," replied Jean.
"Well, I think Bobby's clueing in some people in the kitchen, but here's the situation." Kitty explained to Jean what they had discovered, and the conclusions they had drawn. Although Jean nodded occasionally, Kitty got the impression she wasn't paying much attention to what was being said.
"Well, it sounds as if the two of you have been very busy," Jean said when she had finished. "I agree that it doesn't seem as if we're facing an immediate threat. It doesn't seem as if there's anything further we can do at this time, but I'll discuss it with the others. You'll get the systems back online?"
"That's it?" Kitty asked, flabbergasted. "Bobby and I spent all night on this. You led us to believe it was top priority. Now you're just going to sit back and wait? Aren't we going to send someone to talk to them, at least?"
Jean sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair. "Why should we?" she asked, finally looking at Kitty. "If you've judged correctly, they just wanted to determine if we were responsible for the power loss. No doubt they've discovered we weren't, so I suspect they won't be pounding down our doors. If they do, we'll deal with it then. Honestly, Kitty, we all have better things to do these days than chase after a bunch of computer hackers. Speaking of which, don't you have classes today?"
"Yeah, and I'm really prepared for them, after spending all night working on the computer systems," Kitty replied.
"Hardly all night – Warren stopped by this morning. Apparently he saw you and Bobby at Harry's last night."
"Sure, we took a break and got some air. Jean, is there a problem here? This isn't like you," Kitty said, frowning. "You've never questioned my work ethics, and it's not like you to dismiss this."
"I didn't say I was dismissing it, I said I was going to discuss it with the others," Jean replied irritably. "I am also not questioning your work ethic. I'm sure you and Bobby needed a break. I appreciate your results. I just don't think we need to pursue this further right now."
"Fine!" said Kitty, and she turned to leave. She didn't understand this at all. It was totally unlike Jean to virtually ignore either a threat or an opportunity to gain some allies. It was also, she thought, totally unlike Jean to treat her like this.
"Kitty?" Jean called, as she walked out the door.
"Yes?" Kitty replied, stopping but not turning around.
"If you see Logan…well, tell him I need to see him."
"No sweat," Kitty said, and slammed the door behind her.
What's going on with Jean? Check out "Behind Closed Doors" for the scoop.