Curse the real world adn writer's block!!!!! That's why this took so long to get posted, I swear!!!
Nicodemus Disclaimer: At long last, we have a winner in the naming contest. the winner is: roguehobbit!!!! Please email Tainz at dragonsinger2@hotmail.com to collect your prize. Tainz can't send it to you without your email addy. By the way, Tainz owns nothing you recognise!!!
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The phone rang at 7:00 Monday morning, much to the annoyance of Kurt and Rogue. Rogue picked up the phone next to her bed and Kurt's head popped up over the footboard to watch. He still hadn't gotten through an entire night in his own room and the air mattress was still on Rogue's bedroom floor.
"Hello?" Rogue mumbled into the receiver.
Melissa's voice answered loudly enough that Kurt could hear it clearly. "Emily? I have a problem. The pipes burst at Anna and Michaels' school last night and there's no heat, so the school's closed. The babysitter's overbooked and can't take them. Luke left on a business trip at 4 this morning and I have a presentation to make on that mall I designed. I can't postpone it. Can you look after them?" The speed at which she spoke would have put every phone-addicted teenage girl on the planet to shame.
Rogue's eyes opened a little wider. "Ah can't. Ah'm goin' back to work startin' today, remember?"
"Crap," Melissa said. "What am I going to do? The only people that would even consider taking Michael are the Sloanes, your neighbours on the other side. And you know I won't send any of my children there. Who knows what she'd do to them if they mentioned that Julia was a mutant."
Kurt's head tilted to one side. "Vould she let me look after them? I am sure that I could."
"Hang on a sec, we might have an idea," rogue said, then covered the phone reciever with her hand. "Are you sure? Michael's a handful and... What if you got scared? You can't even sleep on your own."
Kurt nodded. "I know. But I only get scared when it's quiet or I'm alone in a strange place or when it's dark. I don't think that Anna and Michael will let it be quiet or leave me alone and someone else will be home before dark. I can cook and keep an eye on kids. How hard can it be?"
Rogue snorted. "Harder than it sounds. You gotta watch Michael constantly and Anna is a huge distraction."
"I can manage," he said.
Rogue thought for a minute, then uncovered the phone receiver. "Melissa, would ya let Kurt look after them?"
There was dead silence for about thirty seconds. "Okay. Tell him I'll bring them over about 8:30?"
"Ah will. Bye."
Rogue hung up the phone.
***
Rogue had been gone for half an hour and Kurt had the tv on loudly, watching cartoons when the doorbell rang. It made him jump, but he quickly remembered where he was and what was going on. He answered the door, admitting Anna, Michael and Mellissa, who was carrying Julia.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" Melissa asked.
"Ja."
"Julia will be at the babysitter's. She's been booked there for weeks. Don't worry about it," Melissa said, noticing the look Kurt gave the youngest child. He was a little scared of her.
"Okay."
"You can't let Michael eat anything with red dye in it. I already gave him his medication, so you won't have to deal with that. It'll kick in in a few minutes. Anna doesn't have any allergies. If they get too hyper, you can take them to the park on the corner. Anna knows the way. Ummm... If you have any problems, my phone number's on the fridge, on the emergency list. I helped Emily make it up. Any questions?"
Kurt blinked, processing all the information. "It's Michael that's allergic to red dye, right?"
"Yes."
"Have they had breakfast?"
"Yes. They'll probably be hungry again soon, though." She put a backpack on the floor. "There are some extra clothes for Michael in there if he gets dirty. I should be back around 2."
Kurt nodded. "I think that I have got it."
"Great. Thank you so much." Melissa smiled slightly. "You're a real life saver."
"No problem," he replied.
Melissa dashed out the door with Julia and Kurt turned to find the other two children... missing.
Good one, he thought. You aren't even watching them ten seconds and you've already lost them.
"Anna? Michael?" he called.
There was no response and he headed towards the living room. They weren't there. He looked in the kitchen. Anna was standing on the counter handing a box of Cheerios to her brother. Kurt heaved a sigh of relief, then teleported over near Anna and lifted her off the counter. She shreiked in his ear.
"If you vere hungry, you only had to ask." Kurt put Anna on the floor.
"Sorry," Anna replied.
Kurt turned, and again, Michael was missing.
Anna noticed the look of fear on Kurt's face. "It's okay. We were just getting our Cheerios so we could go watch cartoons. Aunt Emily doesn't even like Cheerios, but she says they're better for us to snack on than chips, so she buys them for us to have when we're watching tv." The little girl pointed to the kitchen door. "He'll be in there watching whatever's on the tv. He's probably waiting for me to go change the channel for him and find something he likes."
Kurt relaxed and they went to the living room. Sure enough, Michael was curled up on the couch watching The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, which Kurt had found in Rogue's DVD collection.
"What cartoon's that?" Anna asked, wrinkling her nose.
Kurt was shocked. "You mean... You don't know Sylvester?" He launched into a fast explanation of the various characters.
They ended up watching about five episodes, then Michael started running around the room, bouncing on furniture. "Park! Park! Wanna go to Park, Stitch!" he chanted.
Kurt sighed. "Get your things on to go outside, then."
Michael whooped and hollered as he ran for the front hall. Kurt helped the boy with his gloves and boots and jacket, then Kurt pulled on the full length black trenchcoat he and Rogue ahd bought the other day. Even if mutants were accepted now, Kurt didn't feel completely comfortable showing off his tail and colouration. He pulled on his own gloves and a baseball cap and the three of them headed outside.
He made the children hold his hands and Anna all but dragged him down the sidewalk. Finally, they came to a street corner and, across the street, there was a huge playground. They crossed and then he let go of the children. They immediately ran to the highest climber.
Kurt walked all the way around the play area until he found a bench where no part of the playground was out of his view. A woman was sitting there, too, watching three children of her own. As he watched, he became aware that the new kids knew Anna and Michael and they were careful to include Michael in their games.
The woman turned to him. "Are you a friend of Melissa and Luke, or of Emily?"
He kept his face turned down so that the peak of the cap covered his blue skin. "I'm Emily's brother."
"Oh! I didn't realise she had a brother. I'm Janet Webster."
Kurt reached out a hand to shake hers. "I'm Kurt Wagner."
"You're from Germany? Or is it Austria?"
"Germany. I'm staying vith Emily."
Janet nodded, grinning. "How interesting!"
Kurt smiled back, even though she couldn't see it. Anna called to him and he rushed over, fearing that she or Michael had been injured. As he ran, his hat blew off.
"Vhat's wrong?" he asked as he arrived. "Are you hurt?"
Anna looked disapointed. "I was hoping you'd telephone over. Mitchell and Jenny and Kris don't believe me that you can telephone." She pointed at each child as she said their name.
Kurt was puzzled for a moment. "Telephone?"
"You know, the smelly smoke thing."
"It's teleport, Anna, and I don't do that in public. It scares people."
He noticed that Mitchell and Kris, the two new boys, were gawking frightenedly at him. "Vhat's wrong?"
Kris, the oldest, stuttered. "You... You... You're a devil!"
Kurt shook his head. "Nein. I'm a mutant."
Janet appeared at Kurt's elbow at this point. "What are you doing!?! Scaring poor defenseless children?"
"I'm sorry, fraulein. I didn't mean to." Kurt hung his head.
Janet searched his face harshly. "I believe that, but you still should have warned them. You have to be careful."
Kurt shrugged. "I thought Anna or Michael was hurt."
She sniffed. "I want you to please stay away from my children."
Kurt nodded. "I'll take Anna and Michael home."
"No, you can stay. I'll take my kids."
A sinking hole seemed to appear in Kurt's stomach. She was being polite about it, but it was fairly obvious that Janet didn't like him. He hated his mutation. It was what made her fear him. He knew it. A piece of legislature couldn't change people's feelings about mutants.
The three children and their mother walked away, mother comforting two frightened little boys. The little girl, however, looked back over her shoulder and grinned at her friends and their babysitter.
Kurt played on the climbers and swings with Anna and Michael for about an hour, then they headed home to get lunch. He hadn't wanted to play, but he felt bad for scaring off their friends. When they got home, he put on another Bugs Bunny and Tweety cartoon and then made macaroni.
Michael and Anna successfully redecorated half the kitchen with theirs after Michael dropped some on the edge of his chair and discovered that macaroni would stick to things. Kurt gave Michael his spare clothes and put Michael in the bathroom to change. After a few minutes, Michael came back out with his shirt on backwards, but he was so proud of having dressed himself that Kurt let him leave it that way.
While Kurt cleaned up the lunch mess, Michael fell asleep on the couch. Kurt went to the big closet that contained Rogue's artwork and found Candyland. He and Anna were playing it on the living room floor when the front door slammed open and Rogue came rushing through.
"Rogue? Shouldn't you be at vork?" Kurt asked.
"I don't have time right now!" Rogue had her cellphone out as she hurried to her bedroom.
"Anna, watch Michael for a minute," Kurt said, then followed his adopted sister.
The bedroom door was open a crack and Kurt pushed it open and went in. Rogue was talking to someone on the phone.
"Ah know you got a kid and a husband to think about, but you gotta get over here now! No... No! They aren't mutants. They're not in trouble here. No... Jubilation Lee-Channing, you listen to me! They've invoked the Clause... Yeah. That's right. They're gonna force us to register... Come on! It's only an hour's drive!... No. Tell Ed to take care of Elysia. You're in danger... It's only you, me and Kurt left outta all the X-Men. Ah'm gonna need you to help train... Well, Ah can't contact Evan... Yeah, Ah'm gonna have other people comin'." Rogue ran a hand through her hair. "Jubilee, you gotta come. We agreed on this just after Ah bought this house. Good. Ah'll see you in an hour and a half."
Rogue hit the End Call button on her phone. She turned to Kurt. "Ah thought Ah told you Ah didn't have time."
"I'm not leaving until you explain what the Clause is and who they're gonna force to register." He was pretty sure he'd already figured it out, but he needed to hear it.
"The Clause was some politician's bright idea. It's an exception to the Mutant Equality Act. Basically, if a mutant terrorist group threatens the sanctity of the USA, mutants can be rounded up, registered, interned, detained, or any combination of the above. Ah only have an hour before it goes public."
"How did you find out so early?"
"They've suspended all mutants employed by the government, with pay, until further notice."
"Sheisse," Kurt muttered. "Who are the terrorists?"
"Mother dearest is in charge of them."
Kurt gasped and heard an identical gasp behind him, followed by a shuddering sob. He turned and saw Anna standing there.
"The Clause? But... Julia! I heard Mummy and Daddy talking about it awhile ago. Will they hurt Julia?"
Rogue hurried over and gave the little girl a hug. "No one's gonna hurt Julia if Ah can do anything about it. Ah won't let them. Right now, Ah gotta make some phonecalls and Ah need you and Kurt to go to the livin' room and watch over Michael."
Anna nodded. "Okay. I'll..." She burst into a fresh bout of tears.
"It's gonna be okay. Ah promise." Rogue gave Anna another hug. "Kurt, get her out of here."
Kurt teleported himself and Anna to the living room. Rogue settled down on her bed and dialed her cellphone again.
She got an answering machine that told her that Mortimer, Kevin, Jason and Gord were out. "Todd.. Ah mean... Mortimer, get your friends and get to mah house, ASAP. We got problems."
She hung up again, hoping that Todd would come in from a class and get her message soon. He had several mutant friends at the university where he was attending medical school and when Rogue had first contacted him, he'd agreed to bring them as backup, should they ever have to fight for their rights again.
Rogue dialed the phone again. She only had two more people to call. Betsy and Melissa.
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So.. yeah. Shout out time!
Danfred: Nowhere near the last of Cajun hotness.
stAte: Thanks for your review. Well, you now know that the war is almost here.
roguehobbit: You won the name the disclaimer contest!!! email me at dragonsinger2@hotmail.com. Also, Evan will be explained later, but not now.
ishandahalf: I am a Romy fan and yes, the kids' reactions were fun! I loved writing them!! Sorry about making you teary-eyed.
edanielrya: Hahaha! You think all wil be right in the world? Well, it might, but I'm not telling yet!
~*~Phoenix147~*~: I can't make any guarantees about Kurt's future well-being. Either way.
Jurt: Ummm.... Yeah. Then don't read it, bub. I will never put Rogue and Kurt together. It would be incest, since I'm playing them off each other as brother and sister.
EternalStarlight: Sorry to make you sad.
Radical Chic: Thank you soooo much for your awesome compliments!!!!!!! They made my day!
DemonRogue13: I didn't mean to make you cry!!
RogueDragon5: Thanks for your compliment. I will read Everything when I get a minute.
crazyspaceystracey: Hey!!! How you doin? I promised you I'd update today and here it is!!!!!!
Love,
Tainz
Nicodemus Discalaimer