I don't own the X-Men. They, and any major characters in this story, belong to Marvel, though they don't deserve them. I'm making no money off of this, either - blah, blah, blah, standard disclaimer stuff.

Thanks go out to Luba for the beta read and encouragement, and to everyone who's been so great about providing feedback! 

Just a Couple of Kids, After All…

Chapter 19

"This will probably come as something of a surprise to everyone, but Logan and I are getting married," Jean announced.

The silence in the room grew even more profound, and Kitty looked around uncomfortably, trying to judge the X-Men's reactions by their faces.

Everyone looked shocked; small surprise, she'd been shocked herself when Logan pulled her and Jubilee out in the hall to tell them.  And the others didn't even know everything yet.  She reached over to grasp Bobby's hand, and he squeezed hers reassuringly.  She looked around again, and realized that the news was starting to sink in.

Rogue was leaning against Remy's shoulder with a smile on her face; trust her to be the first to welcome the news.  Remy looked almost amused; like Kitty herself, he was looking around at the others reactions and apparently finding them humorous.

Storm – well, Kitty couldn't decide what Storm was thinking.  She still looked kind of dazed.

But there was no question about Warren.  He was sitting stiffly in his chair, staring at the couple at the head of the table.  Apparently Betsy had noticed his reaction, too, because she was glaring at him.  Kitty couldn't say she blamed her.

Piotr was looking at her.  She turned her face quickly, hoping he hadn't seen her glance at him, and saw Kurt grinning at her.  She smiled back. 

"Well, that's great, Sugar!" Rogue finally said, jumping up and running over to hug them both.  "Nothin' like a wedding to liven things up!  Did y'all set a date yet?"

"Not yet," Logan replied. 

"Well, don' wait too long, Mon ami – don't want the petit fille to change her mind, no?" Remy said.  He raised Jean's hand to his lips and kissed it, much to her amusement.  "Beside, I might wan' to keep dis one myself."

"Forget it, Cajun – you're taken, remember?" Rogue joked, slapping him on the arm.

"A man can dream, no?"

"Are you planning a large wedding?" Ororo asked.  Kitty still couldn't decide how Ororo felt about the whole thing; it was almost as if she were having trouble believing it was true.

"No," Jean replied.  "We're going to keep it small – just my family and a few of our friends besides everyone here."

"Why?  I'd think you'd want to announce it to the world, Logan.  After all, you won in the end, didn't you?  Didn't take long after Scott died, either.  I'm just surprised you didn't propose at the memorial," Warren said bitterly. 

Jean opened her mouth to reply, but didn't get the opportunity as Logan dropped her hand and walked toward Warren.  "Gotta problem with it, Wings?"

"No, he doesn't," Betsy said quickly, grabbing Warren's arm and him at Warren as if daring him to contradict her.  "Congratulations, Logan," she said warmly.  And Jean," she added, nodding in her direction.  "We wish you the best, of course.  But I wonder at the timing," she added, her eyebrows raised as if waiting for an explanation.

Jean looked nervous, Kitty decided, and she had to admit to herself that she felt sorry for her.   It wasn't a question she'd want to answer in an open meeting, herself.

Kitty glanced at Jubilee, and saw her mouth the word "Now?".  After Logan had broken the news, they had quickly discussed how to defuse such a situation.  Kitty grinned and nodded.

"Well you see, we get to throw a double shower!" Jubilee said excitedly.  "Jean's pregnant, and Wolvie promised I get first dibs at baby-sitting.  He'd better be paying, though," she added, glaring mock-seriously at Logan.  "I mean, I passed the YMCA babysitting course and everything; talent like that doesn't come cheap."

Kitty could feel Bobby laughing silently next to her, and joined in.  After an initial shocked silence, most of the X-Men were laughing as well, or shaking their heads at Jubilee's outburst.   Rogue shrieked, and picked Jean up and spun her around.  Kitty was relieved to Ororo walk up to Jean and give her congratulations, and grinned when she saw Jean wince as Betsy rubbed her stomach.  Most of the men remained where they were, though she saw Kurt clasping Logan's shoulder and shaking his hand.  She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.  As she and Jubilee had hurriedly discussed outside, this could have easily gotten ugly, and Jubilee's outburst had diffused the tension before it could built.  She gave Jubes a thumbs up, and Jubilee bowed, accepting the accolade for her performance before turning to talk to Remy. 

"My protégé has come into her own," Bobby said at her side, and Kitty turned to him and smiled.

"Your protégé?  I thought she was Rogue's?  How many people brought up you sleeping in my room?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Only five, not including Jubilee herself," Kurt said, joining them.  "But they mentioned it, let's see," and Kitty saw him consult his notebook, "at least eleven times.  Not a record for this meeting, but a fairly good standing."

"What IS that?" she asked, peering over at the list.  She burst out laughing.  "Oh Kurt!  I can't believe you wrote all this down!"

"Let's see," Bobby said, looking over her shoulder.  "Aww, only five sentences starting, 'If Scott were here…" – he'd be disappointed to know that.  Nice meeting minutes, Kurt."

Kurt shrugged, a self-satisfied grin forming on his face.  "Ach, well, the actual content of the meeting was covered in the first twenty minutes.  I had to have something to do for the following two hours."

"Two hours," Kitty repeated, standing up and stretching.  "I didn't think it was ever going to end.  I feel like I've been through the Spanish Inquisition."

"You NEVER expect the Spanish Inquisition," Kurt and Bobby said in chorus, and Kitty groaned.

"Great, two Monty Python fans.  Just what I need."

"Aw, I love to feel needed, Kit," Bobby quipped, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her onto his lap, and she put her arm around his neck and bent in to kiss him. 

"Must be a new feeling for you, Drake," Warren said as he walked up to them.  "I didn't think there was anyone so desperate," and he spared Kitty a glance, "that they'd actually admit to needing you for anything.  I don't know how you get away with it," he added, shaking his head in disbelief.  "If Scott were here –"

"Six!" Kurt announced, adding another checkmark to his notebook as Bobby laughed.

Kitty, however, wasn't amused.  The tension that had been building for the past few days, and which had come to a head during the meeting, finally broke to the surface and burst.  "What the hell is your problem, Warren?" she asked, standing up.  She noticed Bobby's hand on her arm, urging her to calm down, but she'd had enough.  Beyond Warren, she saw Piotr approaching and waved him off; the last thing she needed right now was "help" from him.

"My problem?  My problem is that the two of you don't seem to think through what you're doing.  You play at being X-Men when it suits you, without a thought to the repercussions –"

"Sounds more like you when you started X-Factor," Kitty interrupted.  "Put a lot of thought into that, didn't you?  'Let's pose as mutant hunters' – I had a friend DIE because you didn't think about the repercussions, did you know that Warren?  He was so afraid of what X-Factor would do to him if they found out he was a mutant that when someone jokingly threatened to call you he killed himself."  She was so angry she didn't even notice Warren's jaw drop, and wouldn't have cared if she had.

"That wasn't my fault, Cameron Hodge set up the whole thing," Warren blustered.  "And your boyfriend there had a part in it, too."

"I'm aware of that," Kitty said.  "I also know that you were the one who sold the idea to the team, and that you were the one who bankrolled the whole thing.  Let's face it, Warren, you're ultimately the one responsible.  So don't lecture me about responsibility, and thinking things through; I only listen to advice from people I have respect for."

"As for my abilities, which you've had such a great time bashing this week, you don't know a thing about me or what I do, so I really don't care about your opinion of them.  You obviously don't know a thing about Bobby's, either, which is pretty pathetic considering how long the two of you have known each other.  And considering the way you go around saying cruel, hateful things to people, I for one am glad I don't know you better.  Are you really that much of an asshole?  Or you just so full of yourself that you don't realize how what you say and do affect other people?  You must be – whatever my faults, I've never sat next to someone I was dating and ogled an old crush who just announced he was getting married."  Kitty was so livid she barely noticed the crowd that had gathered around, and honestly couldn't care less that they were there.  She did notice Warren's face turning an interesting shade of cranberry, and knew she'd struck home at least once. 

"Finally, I don't consider myself desperate, but don't worry; I guarantee I'll NEVER be desperate enough to ask anything of you."

"I think that's about enough," Jean interjected, pushing her way through the throng.  Kitty turned to confront her, then met Logan's eyes and took a deep breath instead.  Turning to Bobby, she said, "I think it's time we got out of here."

Bobby stood up.  "I agree," he said, then turned to face Warren.  "I have just one thing to add.  Warren, there was a time we were friends, but if you say ANYTHING like that to Kitty again, you'll answer to me for it."

"Playing the tough guy now, Bobby?" Warren asked sarcastically, his face still flushed from Kitty's outburst.  "Go for it; it sounds like the little bitch would be easily impressed.

Kitty saw Piotr step toward Warren, his hands clenched in fists, but before she could even say anything to him, movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.  She gaped in astonishment as she turned and saw Bobby's fist connect with Warren's nose.

"I warned you," Bobby said, shaking his head, then turned and walked out of the room.  Kitty gave one last glance at Warren's bleeding nose and the astonished faces of the others, then rushed out after him.

Not surprisingly, she found Bobby leaning against the wall in the hallway, shaking.

"Are you ok?" she asked him, walking up and putting her arms around him.  He returned the embrace, leaning his head against hers, and she rubbed his back, unconsciously making a reassuring humming sound that had no meaning. 

"No," he replied finally, clinging to her as if she were his last link to humanity.  "Damn it, Kitty, what went wrong?  Warren and I were friends for years.  From the X-Men, to the Champions, to the New Defenders – we've been through it all together.  Not that we were ever really close, but I never thought the day would come that I'd be punching him in the face, either."

"Because of me," Kitty said quietly.  She felt suddenly guilty.  She'd never meant to be responsible for the end of a long-lasting friendship.

"No, because of me," Bobby replied.  "Or because of him.  Both, I suppose," he said, shaking his head as he pulled away from her and sat down on the floor.  Kitty spared a glance toward the meeting room, from which she could still hear voices reassuring Warren that the bleeding was stopping, and sat down across from him.  She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, then bent over so she could look up at his face, which seemed to be focused on his crossed legs.

"What do you mean?" she asked.  "I mean, I know Warren's been a real prick lately, but –"

"No, it's been building for a while," he admitted.  "He can't seem to acknowledge that I'm not a fourteen year old snowman anymore.  And I brushed it off, because, well…"

"Because part of you didn't want to admit you weren't a fourteen year old snowman anymore?" Kitty guessed, though she didn't really think that was where he was heading.

"Partially," he admitted.  "And partially because I wasn't sure he wasn't right.  We were friends.  I mean, if your friends believe that's all there is to you, maybe it's true, right?"

"You know it isn't," she answered seriously.

"Yeah, well, I'm trying to convince myself of that.  But the constant sniping doesn't help.  And then when he turned on you – Kit, I know you can stick up for yourself, it's not that.  But damn it, he's got no business saying that shit about you.  And I hate to hear you catch the brunt of something aimed at me."

"It's ok," she replied, but he shook her hand off his shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

"No, it isn't.  And I guess the thing that's bothering me the most is that I don't feel the least bit bad about punching the asshole.  He had it coming."

They sat there for a few more minutes, neither of them saying anything, until they heard their teammates heading toward the door of the briefing room.  With silent agreement, they both stood up and quickly walked to the stairs that led back to the main living areas of the mansion.