The human-flock was shouting at each other in the background, but his talky wake-up human was with. Beau felt better with that talky human near him. He got as close to the talky human as he could in his cage and fluffed up, ignoring the bad feeling in his chest.

"But I want to go with Beau!" Kitty was nearly in tears.

"You can't. You have to stay here with Lockheed." Rogue, exasperated, turned to Bobby. "Got him ready to go with us?"

"Of course you're a good bird. I mean, just look at those feathers. I couldn't do that." Bobby was close to the gray fluffball, murmuring nonsense to him.

"Bobby!"

A loud scary noise entered the kitchen, as well as scary smoke. Beau tried to fly away and hissed viciously, then squeaked in pain.

"Who let Lockheed hurt Beau?" Kurt looked around menacingly. Bobby was trying to soothe Beau, who was on the floor of his cage hissing, crying out, and flapping his wings hysterically.

Kitty backed away reflexively, and Rogue took a step back, herself. It was not often that Kurt lost his temper, but when he did, he was frightening.

Bobby said in a calm, soothing voice, "Kurt, if you're going to scream at people, could you please take them outside with you? Beau's kinda scared, aren't you, good boy? And we need you calm so you can go to the vet in a few minutes, right?"

The good talky human was making meaningless noises at him that sounded nice. He decided to tell the good human that he was flock.

Beau stopped hissing long enough to wolf-whistle at Bobby, bright brown eyes half-lidded, gray foot waving in the air, orange cheek patches standing out from his yellow head. Kurt turned to Beau with concern. "I am going with you. Now." Kurt took the cage gently in his hand and Bobby turned to go.

"Hold on. Who said you got to go? I made the appointment." Rogue crossed her arms.

"You stay here with Kitty. I am going with Beau." Kurt's face reflected his anger and worry, so Rogue threw her hands up into the air.

"Fine. Just make sure you take notes. Everyone's gonna want to know what happened."

"I'll drive. You sit with him." Bobby nearly ran out of the room.

********************
Lockheed was thoroughly chastened by almost everyone present at the mansion. After an hour, the X-men in general were just sitting around, waiting for news. Finally, Bobby came into the house, carrying Beau in his cage, and was swarmed by people all talking at once.

"Stop." He put Beau in his usual place. Beau looked tired and soon had his head nestled in the feathers of his back, one bright brown eye closing and opening.

"Now. The vet says he just has a bruise. But we're going to have to feed him better." He put a list of foods on the refrigerator. "If you want to help him, try making him some of these treats for every day. He also needs at least a little time alone, so don't everyone crowd around him. He's had a hard day."

He rested, warm and snug, as the talky human made noises at his flock. He liked these humans. He liked the home he'd found, though sometimes still, in his deepest dreams, he remembered his first home and flock, and wished for them.