This disclaimer will appear every four chapters:

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the X-Men except a bunch of comics book- bought and paid for, mind you. I wouldn't advise sueing since I never have money; I ain't even got a job, imagine that. Unrecognizable characters belong to one of the following people: myself, Takamo, or another friend (she knows who she is and her name changes entirely too much to keep it straight).

Chapter Four: Julius Homecoming

"I don't know how to plan a wedding, Angel. What am I supposed to do? I have no clue what to do and it's MY WEDDING."

"Number one? Breathe," Natasha commanded without looking up from her magazine.

Angel frowned, turning a page in the book of colors she was looking through then stirring her lunch without eating it. She hadn't touched the food that Rogue had brought over when she and Storm had come to help with the over-reacting Tara.

"I'm getting married and have no clue what to do. Rogue, you have to help me. You've done this before, with Remy, and I'm new to this whole thing. Help me!" Tara said, sounding desperate as she stared at the many books.

Rogue sighed. "Ya friend's right. Ya need to breathe, sugah."

"Okay, breathing." Tara took several deep breathes, obviously remembering the meditation Hank had taught them when they were younger. It was around the time they recieved their mutations, something about tension, but they both still used it from time to time.

"Good girl. What color do ya want your dress?" Rogue asked, coming around to stand behind her. She cast a quick look outside where Nanaki was giving a lecture to David and Santiago. Something about traffic and water hoses; no one dared question or even interrupt.

"I don't want white 'cause I'm green...anyway, that's like a color for first weddings or something, right?"

"Or something," Storm agreed before returning to her book of flowers.

Angel rolled her eyes and tried to eat even a few bites of the gumbo Remy had sent. She managed to get down about half the bowl then gave an excuse, retreating first into the bathroom to brush her teeth then into the living room with a book of color possibilities; she lowered the tv so there was barely any sound then read through the book.

"What's the difference in Blush and Bashful...or Passionate Pink?" she questioned after a few moments, looking up from the book to find Tara attemping more deep breathing excercises. "It doesn't seem like that big a deal."

"Compare 'em. One's darker then the other or one's lighter. Trust me, there's a difference."

"How would you know? Have you been married before, Storm?"

Storm shook her head. "I just know how to tell the difference in paint."

"Oh." Tara frowned then returned to her book. She pointed to random pages, mumbling something under her breathe that sounded vaguely familiar.

Something like a car or a motorcycle stopping came from outside followed by the echo of Nanaki's voice. There was a second voice then a shout that sounded like David or Santiago.

"What day is it?" Angel suddenly asked, lifting her head from the book.

"Thursday. What's wrong, hon?"

Juilus. He's back. Her hand automatically went to her stomache as if to comfort her baby. It remained there even after she'd stood and dumped her book onto the table.

Natasha looked, grinning. "Baby mama drama. Where's your video camera, Tara? This is MTV stuff," she said, starting to get up.

"Tasha!"

"Hey, Rogue, Storm, Tara, Natasha. Angel, why are there so many people here?" Juilus asked after coming in and dropping his keys onto a nearby counter. He gave the books of colors, flowers, and dresses an odd look then crossed the room to stop just in front of her. "You look like you haven't slept in weeks."

She shrugged, giving him a hug but turning her head to the side when he tried to kiss her. She noticed Nanaki had come inside with Santiago and David, trailing behind with Game Boys, again. She shook her head in a sign that they shouldn't say anything.

"We need to talk, Juilus," Angel said, pushing away from him and putting distance between them. She frowned then looked at Nanaki for guidance; another nod and she made her announcement. "We're going to have a kid."

"You adopted a kid while I was gone?" He looked shocked.

"Julius!"

"We're going to baby-sit the demon spawn again?"

"I'm pregnant, Juilus," she mumbled then waited for his reaction, continuing to rest her hand against her stomache. She felt sick again but it wasn't from the baby.

Juilus' expression changed into something between disbelief and confusion. "Is it mine?" he asked with a glance down at her stomache. She hadn't even started to show.

"Julius!" This time it wasn't her, but everyone else present except Nanaki whose eyes had gone red and was smirking. Angel stared at him a minute then walked out of the room; her bedroom door, or someone else's, slammed shut after a few moments.

"Very nice, baby daddy." Celesta smirked.

Santiago just frowned at her a moment then shook his head. "Mom, you're getting weirder. Can David and I go play now?" he asked, giving his mother a look like she had turned into a snake or something.

"I'm not your mother. Go play in traffic, you little monster."

"Hey, Celesta."

Two and a half hours later

"Angel, baby, open the door." Julius Kanteon kicked the wall across from him when something else hit the door and shattered. He'd been sitting outside the door trying to cajole her out of the bedroom with no result; the times he'd forced his way in had resulted in him getting thrown across the room or something similar. "I'm sorry. I didn't think, Angel..."

She yelled something in muffled Spanish through the door. At least, he thought it was Spanish.

"How far along are you, baby?" he asked, listening for the sound of something shattering against the door or the lock clicking. Neither came. "I'm sorry about before. You just suprised me. I didn't expect to come back from Canada and find out I'd fathered a child. How far along are you?"

"Somewhere around six weeks. Is it yours now, Julius?" she asked through the door but, thankfully didn't throw anything else at it.

I'm never going to live down the is it mine crack. She's not going to kill me but she's going to make me regret it. Our poor kid's going to be a wreck.

"Yeah, Angel. It's mine."

There was no answer.

"Angel? Baby? Angel..."

"You're doing it wrong, Julius. Here's a thought, okay?" Nanaki reached out and knocked on the door, waiting a few minutes. "Angel, it's Nanaki. He's gone now."

Julius scrambled to his feet seconds before the door opened. She came out, hugging the stuffed dog he'd given her about a month before; it was out of a vending machine for a quarter, but anyone else would think it was worth a million dollars. She slept with it and hugged it when she was upset.

"You lied me. Nanaki lied to me."

"It's not the first time, Angel. You and Julius need to talk," Nanaki said, giving her a smile. Her expressioin quickly turned into a frown. "And I have to go help the others keep Tara from hypervenilating."

"Why's Tara hypervenilating?" Julius asked, looking confused before returning his attention to her.

"She's getting married. Landon proposed, about time, too."

He nodded. "Don't you have to go to a doctor or something for him to tell you your pregnant? I read that somewhere," he said, trying to think back to what he'd read from somewhere. It was a magazine that he'd found in Apocalypse's place about parenting; a scary thought when one considered the guy's appearance.

"Home pregnancy test, sweetie. It's simpler then you think, but if I need to prove it, I'll get an appointment to see someone." Angel scowled then tossed her animal back into her bedroom. "If you'll excuse me, I have a wedding to help plan, Kanteon," she said, returning to the use of his last name as she walked past him and back into the living room.

If there's nine months of this temper and these mood swings, I'm moving to Australia or going back to Canada. They'll be no living with her until this kid's born. Another thought struck him. My father. I'm going to have to tell him she's pregnant and he doesn't even know she exists beyond 'a girl I'm seeing'.

Julius walked back into the living room, trying to ignore the glares he was recieving from several different people. Nanaki and Natasha were the only ones that looked amused except Nanaki's expression appeared slightly more murderous.

"Angel, we kind of have a problem," he said, coming up behind her and trying to ignore the expectant looks from the others. Tara was the only one that hadn't looked at him but she appeared to be in an almost catonic state of breathing and humming to herself.

"And what would that problem be?"

"We have to go to Canada and tell my father..."

"And cut. Thanks, you guys. I'm just going to go send this in to MTV and get you guys on that show about baby mama drama. It's like real life or somethin'. Thanks, guys." Natasha popped the tape out of the recorder and clicked it off, returning it to itself.

Julius started to object but stopped when Nanaki took the tape and shoved the blades on one hand through it. She waited a moment then pulled them back, dragging a mesh of tape with it then dumping it into the garbage.

"I knew there was a reason I liked her," he mumbled to himself, forgetting about his father for the moment.

Nanaki glanced at him with one eyebrow raised and a smirk. "Too bad the feeling's not a returned one, huh? I think we need to go have a talk, Julius. A very long, very animated discussion about your pregnant girlfriend and future kid..."

X-Mansion (Kitchen Poker Game)

"Remy don' get it, homme. I t'ought we raised de petites better den dat," Remy said, picking up his beer and taking another drink before slapping his cards down on the table. "De Royal Flush."

Logan shook his head, downing the last of his beer. "Maybe we should have given 'em more safe sex talks?" he offered after laying his own cards down and comparing them all around. He scowled after a moment and retrieved another beer from the bucket near his feet. "Cajun won."

"Of course Remy won. The safe sex talks probably wouldn't have changed much except maybe kept Angel unpregnant, but then again.."

Scott and Bobby chimed in with Hank to finish the sentence. "No birth control method is 100% accurate."

"Abstience be 100% accurate," Remy muttered, darkly then pulled over his tokens. "Remy knew his ange would be a problem after de Ryan incident. De boy probably didn' even have a tattoo."

Hank shook his head. "How many of you were actually practicing abstience at their age or a little younger?" he asked, taking the freshly shuffled cards from Remy and beginning to deal them around the table. He waited for an answer.

Scott raised his hand then looked around with a shrug. "I was a good kid."

"More like a fairy. Remy's currently practicing abstience," he announced after picking up his cards and fanning them out. He got a beer from the bucket and opened it, taking a drink.

"I can't remember being their age, but I'm very aware that I've hardly practiced abstience," Logan replied, trading in three cards for a different set of three. He stared at them a minute then scowled.

Bobby frowned, staring at his cards. "I thought this was Go Fish? I never knew you could trade cards. What else has been hidden from me?"

"You're too young to know."

"It's okay, Robert. Marshmallow?" Hank held out the bag to his young friend, offering the brightly colored square-like sugar lumps. He waited until a handful had been taken and shoved into Bobby's mouth before returning them to the table beside him. "Logan, do not speak of such things around the child."

"Mon ami, de boy in his thirties! Merci!" Remy tossed his cards down and took a drink of his beer. A far away look developed in his eyes before he hugged the bear, smiling. "Remy 'member when his 'tite ange had her first drink. She was such a curious child with a pention for de alcohol," he said then looked around at them. "Do you remember?"

"I still have the scars to prove it. How did she end up in the pool, Remy?" Scott touched his arm and glared in the direction of the door, mumbling something. The only words that could be made out of it were 'revenge' and 'rogue'.

"Remy still not sure. De 'tite ange always was an odd one. I t'ink Remy's out for de night...Rogue'll kill 'im, if he loses all his money. When de femmes coming home?" Remy pushed his chair back and stood just as Kurt came into the room, in his blue form.

"Vhy are you playing Poker again?" he demanded with a quick look around at their alcohol and the remains of their poker game along with the condition of their table. His expression was not pleased.

Logan just shook his head. "You missed dinner last night and the kids' announcements. Guess what Tara is?"

Kurt thought a moment then smiled. "Engaged? I vas already avare of ze situation," he said with a brief glance around the table.

"Guess what Angel is..."

"Getting married, too?"

Scott cracked up, beginning to laugh and knocking over his glass of orange juice; his fifth of the evening. Hank shook his head and helped the poor guy out of the room, mumbling something to Robert about 'watch the 'mallows'.

"Dat would be easier, Kurt. She's pregnant."

Kurt's eyes widened, and he looked shocked. "Ze child is pregnant?"

"Can you understand why we're playing Poker and drinking now?" Logan asked, though the game had ended. He didn't comment when Bobby snatched up the bag of marshmallows and a handful of cards before fleeing the room with an unintelligent and incoherent shout.

"It can't be zat bad, Remy."

He laughed. "The bebe's Juilus'."

"Mein gott. I must go pray." Within moments, there was only a curl of smoke and the smell of sulfur where Kurt had been. None of the others spoke for a long time then Remy shook his head.

"Remy t'ink he play another few rounds..."

"Good call, Gumbo. You think the kid's told Juilus he's gonna be a father?" Logan asked once they'd gotten back into the game. He studied his cards but couldn't really figure out what to do with them. He hadn't dealt himself that good of a hand or even traded it better.

"Maybe. Can we not discuss dis? Just play de game."

"You're going to have to deal with it at some point."

"Remy know, but not right now. Remy's pretending he doesn' know any such t'ing..."

The phone rang.

Jean Grey-Summers looked up from the magazine she'd been flipping through then picked it up when it became apparant that no one else would. "Hello?"

"Let me talk to Jean."

"This is she. Who may I ask is calling?"

Ther was a sigh. "It's Tara. I don't know how to plan a wedding and the people currently helping me are causing more harm then good. Natasha won't put the video camera down. Angel and Juilus are fighting. Rogue and Storm are gushing over flowers and dresses. I never thought I'd say this, but... Jean, help me."

I could be nice and help her but then again. The monster had done a lot of things to harm my family. Jean thought back over all the stunts that had caused 'problems' for her small family. My husband was almost eaten by wolves after investigating the mysterious popping up M and Ms; my son's had so much torture from them, he's almost crazy. They have always baby-sitted for me and Angel was the one that caused most of David's problems, not Tara.

"What exactly do you need, Tara?" she asked, trying to ignore the sound of shouting in the background and cringed when something shattered.

Tara was silent a moment then there was a shout of Angel's name before she came back. "I need someone that knows what they're doing. Help me, Jean. I have no idea what I'm doing and these...people aren't helping, any."

"I'll be there in thirty minutes. Will that do?"

"Um...actually no. We're coming to the mansion. Juilus and Angel are having a shouting match..something about...Canada. She just threw a vase. Expect a crowd of us...I think it's unsafe to spend the night here. See you, Jean."

"Okay, Tara."

The phone hung up but not before Rogue was heard in the background. "Would you stop throwing the silverware?!"

Jean shook her head, resting the palm of one hand against her forehead. "These new adults are hopeless..."

Logan and Remy's voices echoed from the kitchen in some song. It seemed to be made up off the top of their heads since neither was singing the same song, but it continued at a volume that could rival the loudest tv.

"They're all hopeless." Jean shook her head then walked back into the living room, picking up her magazine. She thumbed through a moment then stopped on an article. "How to Make Your Man More Cooperative Through Manipulation. I'm already an expert at that... Hey! How to Pick Out the Perfect Lip Gloss..."