disclaimer: All recognizable characters are owned by Marvel, except Jenny who is MINE! (though I have been known to share if you ask nicely.) I expect to make no money off this fic. Dammit.

Human and the Demon
by Dizi

Chapter 10

"You're doing that smiling thing again." Harry growled.

Jenny's smile became bigger. "Am I?"

"Have I said how damn irritating it is?" he grumbled with a twinkle in his eye.

"Why yes, I believe you have." The corner of Jenny's lips twitched.

"Yer guy's coming by again tonight?" Harry asked innocently. "He ain't missed a night in the two weeks since the storm."

"If he knows what's good for him, he'll be here." she muttered.

"Got him 'round your finger, huh?" he grunted. "How long ya gonna keep him jumping?"

Jenny's smile was decidedly smug. "Oh, until it's not fun anymore."

"You're a hard one, girl. I'd drop a gal that kept me jumpin' like that."

"You drop them all. You don't want to keep someone and wouldn't know what to do if you decided you did." Jenny glanced up from the mail she was sorting. "Why am I doing this again? You're the owner."

"Because you're good at it and ya know I don't wanna. Quit changing the subject." Harry shook his head. "How'd you get this hard?"

"I don't like sorting mail either and Kurt's not suffering at all. If he complained or had to be somewhere, I wouldn't get upset and he knows it." Jenny defended herself. "And hmm, let me think, they say the people you're around the most influence your personality. I seem to spend most of my time with you and Logan, who are probably the two meanest people I ever met." She rolled her eyes as Harry tried not to preen. "I also hang with Remy, who's the biggest tease that ever lived. I guess the only one not influencing my personality at this point is Hank, which is a shame cause he's the nicest person I know, besides Kurt, of course."

"You're right its a real shame." He smirked. "Hey, what's the big black guy with the tatoo on his face do for ya?"

"Bishop? He gives me the know how to put up with all of you." Jenny laughed. "Oh, and I'll be a little late tomorrow. Johnny called and wants some help at the shelter."

"Wish you'd stop going to that place." Harry muttered. "It ain't safe."

"You sound like Logan. It's at a church, and you donate to them too."

"So? And don't say that so loud. I got a rep." A frown crossed his face. "Hey, you're wrinkling the sheets with your guy now, right?"

Her eyes were dancing. "You want the details?"

"You gonna give 'em?" Harry arched a brow.

"Let's just say he has a tail and knows how to use it." Jenny smiled, arching a brow back.

"Huh. He's a man so that ain't a secret." Harry narrowed his eyes at her.

"Didn't mean that tail." Her smile got bigger as his eyes widened.

Harry wagged his eyebrows at her. "Well, well. Finally, your guy's doing something right. Just hope he don't get all funny with ya."

Jenny frowned, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Every other girl in here leaves once she finds a man. They never like their woman working here and tell 'em to quit." he scratched his head thoughtfully. "Not sure why. Only waitress ever been hurt is you. That don't count, he didn't even buy a drink so wasn't really even a customer."

"No, it won't be a problem." Jenny said firmly. "And Notheis was definitely an extenuating circumstance."

"What, he's not possessive? Maybe he don't care as much as I thought then. And see all them big words? The smart guy's influencing you too."

"Because if he tries to tell me to leave, he'll have the chance to take it back or hit the road himself." Jenny answered. "And I already knew the big words."

Harry blinked at her. "Ya like me that much?"

"Love ya." she said dryly. "But I love control of my life more than anything else. Now if he want's to sit back and discuss it, fine, but I won't be dictated to. We don't just 'wrinkle the sheets', we talk. About everything it seems like. If he wants to talk about me working here, we will. If we have that discussion, I'm confident of what the outcome will be. I don't think it'll happen though, he knows how I feel about this place."

"I think we taught you good." He started to walk off.

Jenny snorted, and he stopped. "Relationship 101 from a couple old brawlers and a playboy. I don't know how he puts up with me."

"That's cause you're not a man. If I were twenty," Harry looked her up and down, "no, make that fifteen years younger, I'd act on some of those thoughts about you. And I'd figure out how to keep ya."

"Why, Harry, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Jenny gushed and fluttered her lashes at him.

"Yeah, well, don't get too excited. I'd mess it up just like you said, but you'd have a good time." He winked at her and started for the storeroom again. "Be late tomorrow you said?"

"Yeah." Jenny went back to the mail.

"See me before ya go. I got some things they can have."

Jenny tried to hide her smile, almost succeeding until he grumbled about it, then her laughter rang out.

When Jenny got out of the taxi at the shelter, Johnny was right there to meet her.

"I don't get it." Jenny frowned as they walked into the small building. "There's hardly anyone here, why do you need help?"

"It's not that kind of help." Johnny explained as he took her to an office. "There's a woman here who I think might be really and she's pregnant. She won't talk to me and I was hoping she'd talk to you."

"Talk about what?" Jenny demanded. "If she's sick and pregnant then she needs medical help, not someone to talk to."

"Except that she doesn't admit she's sick and I have to have her cooperation. I can't make her get help." Johnny shook his head. "They have to say they need help and then I can offer it. She hardly says anything at all."

"So if she passes out you can't call an ambulance because she didn't ask for help? C'mon Johnny, what do you want from me?"

He just looked at her and waited.

"Shit." Jenny shook her head angrily. "Why didn't you just say she's a mutant? How bad?"

"First, I don't care what she is. She could be one of those Atlantean people Namor's from, doesn't matter. Second, very bad. Her skin is light red, she has dingy white hair and pointed ears. If you see her, you'll know her, and everyone knows she's a mutant. There's no way for her to blend and she can't go to a good doctor, not just because she's a mutant but because she's homeless and poor. I think she's real sick." Johnny's voice was full of heartache for the woman. He tended to get too involved with the people at the shelter. He and Jenny both knew there had to be some space or you couldn't survive running a facility of this nature.

"I can't promise anything and you know it." Jenny felt the weight of responsibility looming over her. If she said she would help the woman she knew she would do all she could. She just wasn't sure if she was ready to make a commitment of that nature. She'd been hurt too many times, long before she started coming here, long before Johnny. "Let me talk to her, and we'll see what we can do."

"That's all I want." Johnny spread his large hands out in an innocent pose.

"Yeah, right."

Together they went to the main building, but were unable to locate the woman. They looked and asked around but no one seemed to know where she went. So they looked some more until Jenny decided it was enough and she had to go to work.

Johnny seemed upset but Jenny just shook her head. "This is the only shelter that will let her in. She'll be back."

As she left, she frowned at a group standing in the yard. A couple looked familiar but she couldn't remember where she'd seen them. Jenny knew it wasn't from here. She had noticed them earlier but hadn't paid attention to them but now... they had caught her eye and something in the back of her mind told her it was important but she just couldn't remember. She fretted about it in the taxi all the way to Harry's Bar.

She hadn't noticed that they had been looking at her too, nor did she notice the car that followed her.

Watching the evening news with Logan, Kurt was just waiting for time to pass. Harry's closed at two in the morning and Jenny usually wasn't ready to leave until close to three, so he had plenty of time and was even contemplating taking a nap as late nights and early mornings were not a good combination.

"In other news, a local church and homeless shelter was firebombed tonight. Many of the people seeking assistance, including a large number of mutants, were killed or wounded. Among the wounded was the priest of St. Francis Catholic Church, Father John Riley. The church's parishioners request prayers and assistance in rebuilding. Father John Riley is currently listed as being in stable condition..."

"Ain't that the place Jenny goes to?" Logan demanded.

Kurt was already going to the phone. "Ja, ze priest is ze Johnny zat she talks about. I vill call and get more information for her. She vill be very upset. Ze shelter is important to her."

"Wings and Chuck donate a buncha money to it and ain't gonna be happy either." Logan growled.

"Zey do?" Kurt paused in the act of calling the hospital.

"Yeah, when Jenny told 'em 'bout all the homeless people who're mutants they wanted to do somethin'. Then Jenny started lookin' inta volunteerin' at a shelter an' couldn't find one that took in mutants. So they bribed the priest inta doin' it by fixin' up the church and payin' fer lotsa stuff they said they needed. Then after Jenny started workin' there she said how the priest let the mutants in but treated 'em bad. So they talked ta someone and got someone else transferred in." Logan's eyes were still on the screen taking in all the details of the report on the firebombing. "Think Wings did mosta it. He seemed ta take it personal that he gives all kinds a money ta charity but didn't know 'bout the homeless mutants out there an' none a his money had been goin' ta them. Has a connection of some kind to a Cardinal or somthin' too."

"Zat is incredible. Jenny did not say any of zis." Kurt had the phone to his ear and was waiting for an answer.

"Don't think they told her. Didn't do it fer her but fer them people." Logan sat up straight and pointed at the screen before letting out a curse. "There it is." he growled. "See the grafitti? It was FOH. We gotta get Cyke an' the others so we can get on this right away."

"I'm sure Warren will want to pay to have the shelter rebuilt when he and Betsy return from their vacation." Charles said, looking around the room at the gathered X-Men. "You looked into Father Riley's condition, Kurt?"

"Ze news report said zat he is in stable condition and ze nurse confirmed it. Zey vould not give any other information." Kurt said sadly, wanting to give Jenny more than that.

"If we hurry we might be able to get evidence the FOH was behind the firebombing." Scott mused, his mind already racing and planning the operation. "We'll start at their local headquarters and go from there. Bishop is already getting some equipment together. Jean will keep everyone coordinated. Gambit, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler, you go in and see what information you can get. Storm, Iceman, Rogue, and I will be in the Blackbird as backup."

Everyone nodded and filed out to the waiting aircraft.

As an after thought, Scott added as they boarded the plane. "Let's all be extra careful, remember Hank's not here to patch us up. It'll be a few more days before he and Kitty are back from Muir."

The three divided up the building. Gambit made his way to the offices and searched files and computers. Meanwhile Nightcrawler blended with the shadows in the main room and Wolverine lurked in the outskirts of the building, both listening for information during the revelries - the Friends of Humanity were celebrating their victory in blowing up a church and homeless shelter.

They returned to the others two hours later to report their findings.

"Ze members spoke freely of hafing destroyed ze shelter. Ze police should haf no problem getting one of zem to admit it. Zey are more zen villing to brag." Kurt reported.

"They're involved in somethin' else too." Logan advised. "Some project that's hush-hush. I got the feelin' not all of 'em know 'bout it. They expect ta get somethin' they need fer it in the next couple days. It's big but the guards didn't seem ta know or weren't talkin' 'bout what it was or where it's happening. It's definitely somewhere's else though. Gonna have ta track down where."

"Sounds like you have some time, but get on it quickly. Whatever they're up to, we don't want it to go down." Scott looked to Remy. "What did you find?"

"Remy find lots of t'ings. Dey have blueprints of de shelter and de church in dey files." Reaching into a pocket Remy pulled out a disk. "Dis might be important, but Remy don' know what it is. Has medical stuff and we need Hank for dat." Remy's face turned grim. "Dey have picture of Jenny in dey files under Grenislavich. Don' say what dey want wit' her but can't be good, non?"

"Vhat could zey vant vith Jenny?" Kurt asked in surprise. "Because of ze shelter? She goes zere often."

"It does not matter. We should not take any chances that their interest is only in the shelter." Ororo stated what they were all thinking.

Scott made a quick decision. "Kurt, are you supposed to meet her tonight?"

"Ja, I am to stay at her house." he confirmed.

"How about Bishop goes with you and you bring her to the mansion until we find out what's going on." Scott suggested. "Whatever they want, it can't be good and the X-Men take care of their friends."

"Remy goin' too. He have a baaaaad feeling 'bout dis."

Red on black eyes met yellow, and Kurt nodded. If nothing else he may need help talking Jenny into leaving her house.

At closing time, Jenny pushed the last of the stragglers out the door and Harry flipped the switch to turn out the light to the sign outside, indicating they were closed. After confirming the next days schedule with them, she let the wait staff go home. Then Harry cleaned and started restocking the bar while Jenny wiped down the rest of the tables.

Just like usual.

Jenny was in the office getting the bank bags for the morning deposit when she heard the door open and frowned.

Hearing Harry bellow in rage, she ran out to find the bar filled with men and Harry swinging his fists.

Without thinking twice, Jenny ran for the back exit and once outside found herself surrounded. Despite all Bishop's teaching, she could see no way to get to safety but that wouldn't stop her from trying to get away.

The cloth that covered her nose and mouth saturated with a sickly sweet scent did though.

When the three X-Men pulled up in front of Harry's, they knew right away something was wrong.

The door was standing open.

They rushed inside to find Harry holding his head and searching through papers by the phone as he shouted curses. Seeing them, he stopped and glared at them. "They took my Jenny." he growled. "And I couldn't find the number to call you."

"Damn, we knew the FOH wanted her for some reason and didn't get here fast enough. Tell us everything you can." Bishop ordered, while Kurt and Remy started cursing in tandem. "We'll find her but anything might help us get there faster."

"Didn't know they were FOH. I don't let them in here whether they can pay or not, bad for business. 'Course I didn't let them in." Harry gestured at the door and raised a fist. "I don't know what they wanted with my Jenny but I can tell you one thing, I ain't calling the police. One of them was that cop who threatened me after she was stabbed. Ya know. The stupid one that acted like she did it to herself. Don't remember his name."

"Jenny did not say anyzing about a problem vith ze police." Kurt said in confusion.

"He's no longer with the police." Bishop replied grimly. "I made sure of that, but he may hold Jenny responsible. He must be working with the FOH now, he had those tendencies from the beginning."

"Dat not good." Remy's eyes were hard. "Need to tell Wolverine. He got to find dem quick. Dat man know t'ings 'bout Jenny. He know all 'bout her past. He seen de pictures."

to be continued.

note:
Elizabeth Robbins- Of course they were bluberry! Oh my lord, the thought of what Remy would do with a tail! Hmm, wonder if he'd be able to charge a card with it...
S- No worries, there will be more fluff and fun, but its time to get serious for a little while. A little taste of action, which I had to work REALLY hard at but I think turned out rather well. The other story may get written someday but if not we'll all know the ultimate outcome.
GothikStrawberry- Worries? With me? I wouldn't do anything bad... um, well, can't say that. But IF I did ("No Place Like Home" doesn't count as I've said because Sabretoothe does NOT deserve a happy ending) it would have to be to contribute to something else. Sorry if that's not clear, but you'll see.
Jinxeh- You're not an idiot. You were supposed to laugh or I didn't do it right.
B Oots- That's it exactly! Sorry I drew it out so long but their relationship couldn't be perfect.
CaptainTish- As you could see, it did make Jenny sick but Kurt was never affected in the stories I saw, would really defeat the pupose of being able to teleport if it made him sick. As a bit of trivia, it doesn't affect Mystique either.
afreddiefan- Hang-up heard and understood. You have touched my soapbox. If you think back (realize I haven't read the newer issues, I'm stuck in the past) Kurt was always devout, but so is Ororo and Kitty and possibly others. However that didn't stop him from having an affair with his adopted sister Amanda Sefton for years. He never asked her to marry him. He has also been involved with others I believe but was with her the longest and marriage was never brought up. So, I'm not really reaching here or forgetting anything but have an actual plan based on the character which they decided to change. As I understand it, this was because of the popularity of the idea of him being a priest which was brought in from Rachel's alternate timeline, and continued through the animated series and the movie. What they forget (and I might not be remembering right here, but I think I am) is that he became a priest in that time line after his family had been killed and he had already married and had children. He turned to the priesthood in his grief. I'm not sure if Nocturne is the same one they had in that storyline or not, but the daughter looked alot like him and had his powers multiplied in that she could teleport futher and more people and I don't think it made people sick. Hope this helps. (By the way, I believe that was in the 'Day of Future Present' which I think was the annuals one year, was really cool.) Oh, and, uh, there is a Jenny story on aff but its not finished yet, in that there will be future chapters. At some point. When I get around to it. Got distracted by this one and a new story for aff. And um, well, I didn't break them up...

Sorry guys, but it really is a sore spot of mine how they changed him up that way so the book would be more like the movies when it should have been the other way around. I'll stop though because I could go on and on and on.

Next chapter: Oh no! Not the jerk policeman! The X-Men have to save Jenny! But first they have to find out where she is...

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi