disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of Marvel. Except for Jenny, Liese, and Zelig who are mine (and in Liese's case Elizabeth Robbins).

Vacation
by Dizi

The salty air, the warm sunshine, birds flying over head, soft sand, and lots of peace and quiet. Jenny decided the beach was the most wonderful place on Earth. There were other benefits as well, mainly her husband running around in a little bitty speedo. Life was good and vacation was better.

With a contented sigh, she snuggled up against the length of Kurt's body on the blanket spread over the sand. "It's so nice of Warren to let us stay at his place. I couldn't believe it when he said it was alright to bring the kids here."

"Having a friend with a private beach is good, ja? I am not sure he realized ve meant to bring Marcus and Rashaun as vell." He added dryly.

"But he didn't object when he found out. We couldn't just leave them behind. School doesn't start for another three weeks. It wouldn't have been right to have them stay there so soon because we wanted to go on vacation. What would they have thought?"

"Do not vorry, liebchen. Warren understood."

"Speaking of the boys. What are they doing?" She raised her head to look in the direction they were going in when she layed down.

"Trying to get Rashaun in ze vater. Ze ocean makes him nervous." Kurt grimaced. Rashaun was a cityboy through and through. He'd made progress but just being off the streets of New York City make him nervous.

"Maybe it would be better for him to go with Liese." Jenny suggested.

"Have a girl teach him to swim?" Kurt mocked. "His pride vould not take zat. Zhey are fine. It is not ze boys you are vorried about."

"Maybe she's too young to be out there on her own. She's only five." She stared out over the water where her little girl went as soon as she could.

"Exactly. She is five. Ze communicator has a range of thirty miles. Liese cannot get too far out on her own. Ve chose ze beach for her. Ve cannot keep her on ze sand vhen zhere is ze ocean right zhere, and none of us swim vell enough to keep up vith her."

"You're right. I know you're right. But she's my little girl and I can't help it." Her brow cleared. "Sooner or later she'll get hungry for those hot dogs we promised her. She'll be back then, I know."

"You see?" Kurt patted her arm. "Do not vorry. She is having ze time of her life."

Though young, Liese was ever mindful of her father's many gentle warnings to keep the very grown up comm-badge on her person. Her Uncle Hank had worked very hard to make it. He had explained that it would work in the salt water, allowed for a wider range than usual, and when activated would show her the way to her parents. She didn't really understand what all that meant but they showed her how to activate it and find her way home if she got scared. All that just for her, because she was special.

She quickly decided she loved the ocean. Liese was born to be in the water - with her gills and webbed feet and hands, that was literal. The lake on school grounds was nice but it was nothing compared to this. The lake had no currents and not nearly so much life. She had never seen so many different kinds of fish.

She also had never had the chance to swim so far without having to turn back.

And swim she did. The freedom of the ocean gave her the opportunity to find out just how fast she could go as she followed schools of fish further than she realized. Helped by those currents she fell in love with, it was much faster than she or her parents could have known. That speed caused her to go a much greater distance.

She couldn't have known that she had gone outside the range of the communicator within forty-five minutes of getting in the water.

She was just having fun.

"Don't tell me to 'stay calm'!" Jenny shouted. "She left at noon and it's now seven o'clock! My daughter is lost in the damn ocean! It's not the time to be calm!"

Kurt didn't have anything good to say to that. He was worried too. Terrified, to be honest. As Jenny had been solid as a rock in the beginning while he panicked, it was understood that it was now her turn.

It was possible she hadn't understood the situation right away. Kurt knew how the special communicators worked better than she did and how much Hank had tested the devices to be sure they wouldn't fail. It was supposed to show the direction Liese was in. When it didn't, he had started frantically teleporting up and down the coastline hoping to catch the signal.

While he did, Jenny watched the boys and called the mansion. Scott, Jean, Logan, and Hank's arrival within less than an hour told her how serious it was. If she hadn't been taking care of the boys, she would have broken down sooner. Now the boys had been sent to their room, she felt free to let loose.

"Logan is searching nearby areas for her scent, Scott is out in a boat trying to get ze signal, and Hank is attempting to make a device with greater range and sensitivity. Ve are doing all ve can." He tried to reassure her.

"I don't care! This was your idea!" she screamed. "She's out there all alone! Just find my baby!"

Refraining from saying it had been their idea and he loved Liese just as much as she did, Kurt simply nodded and teleported to the beach to ask Jean about Scott's progress.

Unknown to those looking for her, Liese wasn't alone. There was a boy with her.

At first she was confused. No one had ever told her there were people living in the ocean. He didn't talk like she or anyone she knew did. After many tries to both of their delight, she could talk in the same way, but not the same language. So they still couldn't understand each other.

Neither minded. He seemed fascinated by her green skin and compared it to his blue often. She found it funny to meet someone with blue skin but no fur like Uncle Hank or her daddy. They held up their hands and feet seeing both the differences and how much they were the same. He was much more nervous than she was because he had never seen anyone who looked different. For her, the amazing thing was how much alike they were. Words weren't needed.

Or they weren't needed then. About the time Liese became hungry and activated the com-badge, she learned the importance of words. That lesson was learned when she found she couldn't find her way back.

Her newfound friend did what any child would do at her distress. He took her to his parents.

It was clear they did not know what to make of her. At thier child's pleading and the girl's wailing, they did their best. They held her as she cried, trying to sooth her. They offered her food and became confused when she cried harder. No matter how they tried they couldn't console her.

Liese thought they were nice, but they weren't her mommy and daddy. Her parents knew she couldn't eat her fish friends. She was tired and hungry and she wanted to go home. Why wouldn't they take her home? Why couldn't they understand?

She liked the ocean, she really did, but she just wasn't having fun anymore.

Alone after Kurt left, Jenny collapsed onto the couch in the spacious livingroom of Warren's beach house, letting the tears flow. She knew she'd been unfair to Kurt. It was just another reason to cry.

Liese had been so excited by the trip, she hadn't had the heart to try to hold her back. Her daughter was a lonely little girl whose main friends were the fish in the lake. They had brought in girls to their home before, not just boys, but they were always older. There were children Liese's age on their block but their parents kept them away from the Wagner household as though they were afraid her being a mutant was contagious - Jenny had always thought it was a good thing they didn't know she was the only normal human living there.

With everyone assuring her the com-badges would give Liese freedom in the water without them having to worry, she had pushed aside what she considered normal motherly concerns. Now, she couldn't remember ever feeling so helpless in relation to her children. There wasn't even anything she could do to help.

Maybe she needed someone to talk to. If you knew superheros, weren't they the best ones to call when you needed help? But she already had the X-Men and they were looking. She needed someone to talk to that wasn't personally involved. Someone close enough to the superhero community that she wouldn't feel out of place talking to them. Someone who might possibly understand.

Her head snapped up. Jenny did know someone like that! He had lived through enough crises with his group that he might know exactly what to do. Or what to say, anyway.

Wiping her eyes, Jenny got out the little address book she kept in her purse. She dialed the number quickly before she changed her mind about involving him.

At the sound of his kind voice, Jenny burst into tears again. "Oh, Jarvis, my baby is lost!"

Edwin Jarvis had recognized a kindred spirit in Jenny when she had lived with the X-Men years before. Learning of her position by means of which he had never explained to her, he had sent the first email that had begun their communications. They had often worried together about the men and women they considered in their charge. Even he, who had been doing it for much longer, sometimes needed someone to talk to. Now, when Jenny needed help, he was quite willing to do all he could.

In calling him, Jenny set off a chain of events she didn't know she had the power to do. Jarvis knew everyone and everyone knew Jarvis. The superhero community was small and exclusive, but they didn't often ask each other for help. Jarvis didn't feel their constraints.

He knew the best one to request assistance of in this situation was Namor the Submariner. However, he also knew Namor was currently out of touch. He had to settle for leaving a message with his company for him.

In less time than could be believed, Hank McCoy had help improving and duplicating his technology in the form of Hank Pym and Reed Richards. The duplicates were sent out with various Avengers and the remaining members of the Fantastic Four in other vehicles out on the sea alongside Scott and the rest of the X-Men who had since arrived. Later, those duplicates were replaced with the improvements.

At Jarvis's influence, the majority of the superheros on the east coast were looking for Jenny's lost little girl.

It had taken a long time for the ocean-dwellers to calm Liese down at all. They had finally gotten her to eat some seaweed with the help of their son. The next problem was finding out what to do with her.

Their hearts had softened towards her but they couldn't see just keeping her. She was simply too alien for them. Their people didn't take well to outsiders of their own species. They didn't even know what species she was. Complications of this nature, in their opinion, was why they had leaders. Though they felt a measure of guilt for it, they turned her over to the head of their tribe.

The tribe leader had the same opinions they did. He didn't spend enough time with her for his heart to soften, but almost immediately sent her on to those appointed to deal with things not related to everyday life. That was why they had a Counsel of Elders, a Chancellor, and - when they chose to acknowledge him or vice versa - a Prince. By his point of view, the tribe leader was not shunting responsibility away from himself but to those best suited for it. He was in fact doing what he thought was best for the strange child.

He was in no way being cruel in sending Liese in the opposite direction from those looking for her.

Unwilling to face the activity on the beach, Jenny stayed inside for a long time. Lost in her despair, she might have stayed on the couch until someone was brave enough to bring word of their progress. But she had forgotten the boys.

Rashaun hadn't wanted to leave the bedroom, but Marcus had insisted as his stomach was growling. Due to previous children hoarding food, the Wagner's had rules against getting into the refrigerator without permission. Neither boy had really wanted to disturb Jenny though. They weren't scared of her per se, but had never been this close to a crisis. Zelig, by reason of being her son, was chosen as their spokesman.

"Mom?" He approached her cautiously with the other two a safe distance away. "We're hungry. You don't have to cook or anything. We can have sandwiches."

Staring at him blankly, it took Jenny a moment to take in what he said. Moving faster than he had ever seen her do before, she suddenly had her arms around him in a fierce hug.

Crushed against her, he whispered while hugging her back, "They'll find her, Mom. I know they will."

Letting go, Jenny smiled, surprised she could. "Yes, they will. And you don't have to make your own dinner. "

Thinking of all the people outside looking for her daughter, she found she had something to do, which was something she had desperately needed. Jenny made sandwiches by the dozen. Leaving the boys inside after denying their request to help - she felt the need to know exactly where they were - she went outside to deliver her offerings.

The food was gratefully accepted by all, but she didn't see the person she was looking for. At first, she hadn't realized she was looking for him. Her husband was nowhere to be seen and she couldn't blame him for avoiding her. Unable to be still, she wandered up and down the beach, trying to stay out of everyone's way yet not wanting to go back inside after the food was gone.

In fact, Kurt wasn't avoiding her at all. He didn't know she'd come outside.

By the time more help had arrived, he had exhausted himself by again teleporting uselessly up and down the coast. His worry had eventually made him a hindrance to the efforts of the others. As an X-Man, Kurt had been on many missions, but one of his children had never been the focus of one and he wasn't handling it well. Finally, he had gone off to a dark and lonely outcropping of rocks. There he stared over the water and prayed.

That was where Jenny found him. Upon getting within a few feet of him, she stopped, hesitating. She knew he would forgive her, that was his way. But she didn't think she deserved immediate forgiveness right now.

With an instinct born of almost twelve years of marriage, he knew she was there. Not saying a word, Kurt held a hand out to her. Doubts gone, Jenny instantly took it. They needed each other.

As he pulled her down beside him and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she said simply, "I'm sorry."

Feeling more hopeful than he had since he realized Liese was missing, Kurt responded in kind, "I know."

About a dozen yards back, Logan nodded to himself and continued to watch over them.

Of all the assistance he provided, Edwin Jarvis's first act was his most effective. Only it wasn't Namor who received the information. Knowing he frequently wasn't available, there were contingencies in place in his company for such events. Any messages labeled important were passed on to the one person he most trusted: his cousin Kymeara, previously known as Namorita.

Kymeara received notice of the emergency fairly quickly. The time it took to get to her Atlantean home was not quick. Understanding the danger the child was in, she bypassed joining her peers to go straight there.

It was her hope Namor would be close by the city. Kymeara had no illusions about her role in the undersea society. Men ruled. A strong female, which she was, had been known to rise in power in the past, but she had followed the human side of her ancestry too much for that to be true for her. She would have to request aid of the Counsel of Elders and the Chancellor for the search. Namor, though Prince in name only, had more influence with them than she did and they were more likely to help if he asked in his commanding and arrogant way. She had no illusions about him either.

Ten minutes after her arrival, Kymeara was pacing in a private meeting room adjoining the large majestic Counsel Chamber. No one seemed to know Namor's whereabouts, and the Counsel and the Chancellor were busy with a matter they were unwilling to put aside for her.

She tried not to think about the poor lost little girl. The ocean was a very large place with many hidden dangers, as those who lived there knew very well. Someone who didn't know, a five-year-old... Imagining all the things that could happen turned her stomach.

A child crying in the other room didn't help her stay focused on the problem. She needed to think about how to find her, not the other possibilities. The sounds were a huge distraction. Hearing this little girl scream for her parents make her think of the other one doing the same. She didn't need to hear how hungry she was and how she couldn't sleep without her daddy tucking her in.

Suddenly, Kymeara stopped her pacing, standing utterly still. Her eyes went wide as she strained to listen to the words being said above the babble of men's voices. She almost couldn't take it in. It wasn't what was being said but how. The child in the Counsel Chamber was speaking English! In the Atlantean manner, but still English!

Striding to the double doors, she flung them open. Ignoring indignant protests, she pushed through the gathered men surrounding the girl. Kneeling in front of a green-skinned, red-haired, amber-eyed child, she knew she was seeing the little girl the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men were searching so earnestly for.

Softly, in the most gentle tone she had ever used, she said, "Liese?"

The force with which Liese threw herself into her arms almost made Kymeara fall backward. The hope in the young voice almost broke her heart. "Will you take me to my mommy and daddy?"

They left holding hands and the Counsel of Elders along with the Chancellor sighed in relief.

Still tucked against Kurt's side where she had spent the rest of the night, Jenny had fallen asleep. The first rays of sunlight were coming over the horizon when com-badges went off everywhere. The one attached to Kurt's shirt woke her up.

Someone had informed the boys - or they had seen the changes in demeanor from the large windows of the beach house - and joined Jenny and Kurt at the 'command center' on the beach.

The boat assigned to Gambit, Hawkeye, and the Invisible Woman was speeding towards the coast. As soon as it was in sight Kurt grabbed Jenny by the waist and teleported them onto it. Liese was in their arms within seconds, Kymeara receiving tearful thanks.

Thumb in her mouth, her father's tail clutched in her hand as when she was a babe, and her mother's arms around her, Liese slept through Jenny and Kurt thanking all for their help. She slept through the many people touching her and exclaiming how happy they were to have her back with her family. She slept through the demobilization as they all went to their individual homes to get some sleep.

Liese was unaware of her parents bringing her to their own bed because they didn't want to let her go, or of the boys looking in on them from time to time for reassurance. She slept until two in the afternoon when she woke up hungry and asked for her promised hot dogs.

But when she was rested and her stomach full, Liese made the mistake of asking when she could go back into the ocean.

Jenny and Kurt exchanged horrified looks. They promptly declared the vacation was over. They were on their way home by four.

Two weeks went by as the Wagner home went back to normal. Marcus, Rashaun, and Zelig prepared to start school at Xavier's. Jenny and Kurt decided to devote a few years strictly to Liese and didn't make arrangements to bring in more children as they usually would have.

Liese sulked over being homebound the whole time.

Going back to work, Jenny declared to Harry it was less stressful there than on vacation.

It was on her second day off after their return that Kurt took all four children to the mansion. He felt Jenny needed some time alone - which he himself would get with his teammates looking after the children. The three boys were excited so they could claim their rooms and Liese was just happy to be in water that wasn't in a kiddie pool or bathtub, even if the last was very small in comparison to where she really wanted to be.

So Jenny was alone when a limousine pulled up in front of her house. With her music blaring, she didn't at first hear the ringing of the doorbell. Once she did and saw the car outside, she didn't hurry thinking it was Warren.

Seeing it wasn't, her friendly smile faded under his disapproval. Jenny didn't know him well, having only meeting him briefly at her wedding, but she recognized Namor immediately. He wasn't happy.

"Do you have any idea the danger your daughter was in?" He demanded. "Do you think the ocean is a playground?"

"No - I mean, yes." she stammered. Horrible images flashed through her mind helped by the oceanographic documentaries Liese had been watching recently instead of cartoons. "I-I do know it's dangerous and I don't think it's a playground."

"Yet you allowed your child to treat it as such. You did not teach her of these dangers nor the basics of getting around in the sea environment." He said disdainfully. "Did you believe she would just know these things?"

"No, we didn't think she would-" she protested.

"That is obvious." Namor scorned her attempted defense. "You have a special child born to be in two worlds and you have denied her one of them."

"We haven't denied her anything!" Jenny was becoming angry. "We intend to keep her home until-"

"That is the last thing you should do!" He exploded. "Now you deny her destiny! She is a living bridge between human and mer! You found a way to contact us when her life was in danger but did not bother to do so for her way of life. This is unacceptable."

She stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I have spoken to my cousin and all those who met your daughter. We have come to the conclusion that as you are not able to teach her the things she needs to learn then we will endeavor to do so. As time permits, Kymeara and I will teach her the Atlantean language. In time as we are able and Liese's schooling permits, we will take her to our home so she can learn other aspects of our way of life. I am taking her under my wing and she will learn what no other airbreather has before. Here are mine and Kymeara's cards." Namor held out two business cards and waited for Jenny to take them. "We expect to hear from you to arrange times for your daughter's lessons."

Jenny stared at the cards as he swept from her home. She wasn't sure if she liked him but acknowledged to herself - even as she determined she never would to him - that he might have a point. And he was willing to put himself out for Liese. She could accept a lot for that reason.

Before the limousine was out of sight of the house, Jenny was talking to Kymeara. She already knew she liked her.

Someday Liese might be able to see her little friend from the ocean again. Maybe next time they would have a real conversation.

note:
A couple people asked about the age difference between Zelig and Liese. There is about seven years difference between them.

This story came about quite a while ago through IM's between Elizabeth Robbins and I. It's not quite how we first talked about it (the other version was pretty funny) but I feel this way has a seriousness about it that the topic deserves. I really tried to make it funny and there are elements of humor but someone's child being lost is too serious for it to really be funny and I just couldn't do it that way. I give her at least (probably more) half credit for this one. Not to mention that she came up with Liese in the first place. We even picked out her name together.

For any Namor and Namorita fans out there, I have to apologize for any details I may have gotten wrong. It's been a very long time since I read 'The New Warriors' and Namor books. I did take a few liberties but while researching Atlantis and the Atlanteans I think I got a good feel for them. Most of that research, by the way, came from It's a wonderful source and very informative if anyone is interested. I did not mention the name of Namor's company because I couldn't remember it and couldn't find a reference naming it. Sorry. It seems to be seen as a small footnote of his history whereas I thought of it as a major turning point for him. As for Namorita, of all her incarnations I have always like Kymeara best so use that one. I know she's no longer blue, but I don't really care. That's how I think of her because she was still blue when I stopped buying the books for financial reasons.

As you can see, I decided to work in that Jenny and Kurt were taking in other children. I deliberately didn't go into too much detail about Marcus and Rashaun because I tend to get attached to characters I do that with. Look at Lacy. She was originally supposed to just leave the baby with them and have a minor role but she just grew. Kinda like Jenny did originally. So there won't be anymore on Marcus and Rashaun.

There is only one more to "Demon's Kind" and it's long like this one is. I expect to post it next week about the same time.

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi