Chapter 13- Secret's Out

Betsy and Rachel were just finishing up their lesson with the tall grandfather clock slowly marking time with its soft tick-tock in the drawing room at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and Rachel was making good, solid progress. Enough so that they were working not only on how to stop her from hearing every thought around her, but how to gently reach out - since it was such a natural thing for telepaths to do anyhow, and it was an excellent way to know when it was time to get out of any given area should trouble arise.

The two telepaths were sitting peacefully with some classical music playing in the background as Ororo looked over some English papers across the hall in her office when, very suddenly, Rachel's head popped up and she let out a gasp - about half a second before Betsy reached over to her and physically covered her mouth, blocking her from Ororo's view. Shhhhhhh, Betsy projected. I heard it too. Stop.

But he's gonna ask Mia-

I know. You have to play it cool. Consider this a lesson in keeping secrets. We have to keep everyone's secrets.

Like how Warren misses the X-Men so badly?

Yes, Betsy said, though her smile dropped, knowing how much isolation was devastating the man she loved. Like that.

That's the biggest secret with everyone, Rachel told her. You all miss it. You too. And you miss Bobby and Kitty and everyone on Genosha.

I do, she agreed. Because we were doing so much good. And it's hard to turn away from that when it's so desperately needed.

What about Dr. Blue? He's an Avenger now.

He misses it too, but he was an Avenger then, Betsy told her. So was Logan. But the X-Men were different. It was more like a family than a team.

Rachel nodded, though she kept her thoughts to herself as she watched Forge carrying Mia on his shoulders. She was sure that all of the adults had been happier when they were X-Men, her dad included. And it was hard to reconcile the way Betsy was teaching her to use her powers and not to give in to fear when everyone's thoughts were tainted with anxious nerves and spiraling in 'what if's.

But for the moment, she didn't bring it up - especially when there was so much excitement to be had watching Forge talk to Mia… and then watching Mia light up like a Christmas tree and throw her arms around Forge's neck.

...and then immediately take off running, shouting "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" with Forge behind her trying frantically to stop her before she could upstage him. Though he was laughing the whole time, so he wasn't too put out by her reaction, either.

But it did mean that everyone within the reach of Mia's voice knew what had happened when Mia caught up to Ororo, wrapped herself around her mother's leg - and then Forge cut in with, "I asked her if it would be okay if I proposed, and I guess she's trying to beat me to it." He smiled at Mia and shook his head. "Dramatic little goddess."

Ororo looked surprised and then broke into a wide smile as she waved Forge over so she could kiss him while her legs were still trapped by a happy five-year-old. "I'm glad you know you would be marrying both of us," she teased before she looked down at Mia and rested her hand on top of her flyaway white hair. "It appears as though you have permission to ask, Maker."

Forge grinned and kept a light hold on her hand as he sunk to one knee and produced a box from his pocket as he asked her properly - and Ororo mildly inclined her head with a soft 'yes' that was befitting her royal title from the African plains.

Betsy, we gotta tell Dad, Rachel projected as the soon-to-be family settled into a solid hug.

Do you want to call him, or do you want to join me and reach out for him? Betsy asked.

Rachel faltered. Will it scare him if I'm in his head?

I can reach out first to test the waters, if you like.

Yeah, I think he's still worried.

Betsy smiled at her for that. You're not nearly as fiery as you think. But I'll go first. She squeezed Rachel's hand before she focused on Scott and gently reached out to call for him. Do you have a moment, Scott? she projected, since once she knew what someone's mental signature was - it wasn't easy for her to forget.

Scott startled, and Betsy could hear the worry in his mind. Is something wrong? He asked, sounding almost like he had been expecting - and dreading - news.

Not at all, she replied. I was going to have Rachel reach out, but she was afraid to try it unless you were prepared for it.

No, that's - yeah, I'm fine.

Take a moment to compose yourself and I'll guide her, Betsy said. She's doing wonderfully.

Of course she is. She's her mother's daughter.

And very much like her father, as well, Betsy corrected, though when it was clear that Scott was settling out with the unavoidable pride of how well Rachel was learning already, she gave him one last, gentle warning before she guided Rachel so she could reach out to her father.

Hi, Dad.

Scott's grin was obvious even this far away. Hey, Rachel. You're already running circles around everyone there, huh?

I'm working hard, Rachel promised.

I know you are, Scott said.

I wanted to tell you something really cool, though, Rachel said.

You're too young to date.

Dad!

You're only eleven…

Oh my gosh, Dad. Rachel shook her head, but she couldn't stop her smile. He was obviously doing a lot better than he was before if he was making jokes, and she was glad to hear it. She had been worried, because moves always turned him into a pile of nerves, especially when those moves included him being forced to ask others to watch the kids so he could plant misleading trails elsewhere. I wanted to tell you that Ororo and Forge are engaged!

Good for them, Scott said, sounding honestly pleased. I knew they were getting more serious.

It's so cute, Rachel said. You should come congratulate them.

I'll bring them something when I come get you for the weekend.

Okay, but you're missing out on the hugs.

You really just want me there, don't you?

Yes, please!

Okay, let me tell the boys I have places to be, Scott said, and Rachel grinned before she turned back to Betsy and hugged her.

"He's gonna come over," Rachel said.

"Oh good," Betsy said as she wrapped her up in a tight hug. "I'll bet it felt good to tell him how you feel, didn't it?"

Rachel nodded. "It's so much easier to talk to him like that."

"It really is," Betsy agreed. "He's always been easier to talk to like that."

"Which is weird because he was so scared about it when I did it for the first time," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"It will get easier," Betsy said.

Rachel nodded and then glanced toward where Ororo and Forge were wrapped up with Mia. She grinned and then rushed over. "I told my dad!" she told Ororo happily. "He's going to come and celebrate with you!"

"You did?" Ororo asked, smiling at her. "That's wonderful, Rachel. You're learning so quickly!"

"Betsy says I've got a lot of power. I just have to use it right," Rachel explained before she gave Ororo a hug. "Thanks for letting me learn here."

"We're tickled to have you, Rachel," Ororo promised. "For as long as you'd like."

"I want to see you get married," Rachel said, her eyes wide.

"Of course you're all invited to the wedding," Ororo said.

"Oh good, because I want my friends to see me get a dad," Mia said, snuggling into Forge's non-metallic shoulder.

Rachel smiled at that, though she hadn't meant to project to Betsy that, Maybe my dad will find a mom for my brothers.

Betsy was well-practiced in keeping her reactions to herself, but that was more than enough to tug at her heartstrings. She knew that Scott hadn't allowed himself to move on from the tragedy that had destroyed the X-Men, but with Rachel's infectious hope, she found herself wishing for Scott to find someone for them too.

Thankfully for her, Mia was already running around as soon as Forge set her down so she could tell everyone about her mom and her Forge getting married, so the mood didn't stay down too long.

Jan was tickled that she'd already gotten another shot at babysitting, even if it was just for a few hours. She got to watch Bruce Banner and James making friends, she got to watch Nate get totally into a football game on TV to the point that he didn't realize he was standing on the couch, and when Scott got back from Westchester, she saw him grinning - and that was a rare enough sight it had her grinning too.

"The boys didn't give you any trouble?" Scott asked as he locked the door behind him, a habit at this point even if the apartment was way well-protected, in Jan's opinion.

"Of course not," Jan said. "We even ordered buffalo wings and pizza for the football game. Total necessity."

"You're spoiling them," Scott said with a smirk.

"What? No way," she said with a wave. "Besides, it was Nate's idea to try something new."

"Wait, you got Nate trying something new?"

"Nope," she said, shaking her head. "It was his idea. I just went along with it."

Scott grinned a little wider. "Well, look at that."

"He loved it, too," Jan said, bouncing in place. "Different-flavored wings. Devoured them."

"Well, he might be hitting a growth spurt, then. Did the same thing a couple years ago and shot up several inches at once." Scott grinned. "He's going to be tall."

"I wouldn't bet against that for anything," she said. "I'm just surprised how James keeps growing."

"Me too. I can barely keep up with these kids. Rachel grew out of all her clothes, and then James hit a growth spurt, and now Nate…"

"You know, Scott," Jan said as casually as she could, failing spectacularly at doing so while she stared at her nails. "I do have an in for that kind of thing. It's kind of low-key a huge hobby of mine."

"What, tracking growth spurts?" Scott teased.

"Yes. Yes that exactly," she said with a nod, her head held high. "Especially since it means new clothes."

"We probably should change clothes anyway. We've been going with jeans and plain shirts - small town wear…"

"That's pretty classic, though," Jan said. "Even here in the city. I can update you guys a little bit, but I wouldn't want to alter your style too much."

"Yeah, nothing too flashy," Scott agreed. "And James doesn't like anything with a high collar. He says it feels like it's choking him."

"Pretty common complaint," Jan said as she made her way over to the kitchen table - and pulled out a notebook to start sketching. "Favorite colors?"

"The boys like blue," Scott said. "Rachel prefers green."

"And you?"

"Oh, I'll wear anything," Scott said with a shrug.

"Well sure, and you'd do well in just about any color … maybe not orange, but …."

Scott shrugged. "Hey, for a few years, it was nice to have a range of color options. Everything was red for a long time, Jan. Since I was a kid. So I just wear whatever is comfortable."

"That had to be wild," Jan said, sketching away.

"It was," Scott agreed. "Jean was powerful enough at her height that she could turn it off a few times, but never long-term."

"That's kind of amazing," Jan said, glancing up at him for a second before she pulled over some colored pencils that the kids had nearby, already diving in to the colors - including the palettes she was making for each one of them.

Scott looked over her shoulder with one eyebrow raised. "I didn't realize 'plainclothes' was so involved."

"Well … you know how it is," she said. "Something you love doing … it's easy to get carried away. Besides … collarless overshirt? That's totally not something to find off the rack right now, but it would be so comfortable."

"I'll defer to the expert, then," Scott smirked.

Jan smiled and handed him the first set of sketches and the color keys for each member of the family, already diving in to what was clearly for Rachel - if the hair on her little model was any indicator. Even if the style on the hair was more elaborate than what Rachel wore. Ever. "Little girls need at least one dress," she said.

"Rachel's not a big - she hates dresses," Scott said.

"Really?" Jan said, blinking up at him. "Well … maybe I'll just show it to her and ask first."

"She says they get in the way of keeping up with her brothers," Scott explained. "And she'd rather wear shorts and a tee shirt."

"Oh, well that might be a style thing, but maybe she could go for one that's actually shorts but looks like a dress. Stylish and easy to kick all the boys' butts."

"There you go," Scott said, nodding along.

Jan was smiling and humming to herself as she kept going - lots of pretty shades of blended greens with highlights here and there of gold or blue. Clearly, she was enjoying coming up with things for Rachel.

But the boys color schemes were wildly different - even with 'blue' as a basis for both. Nate's color swatches leaned to a darker blue with notes on the margins to add in bits of silver for accents, and she created a plaid for him that was mostly white - with shades of blue making up the checkers that would complement his eyes perfectly.

James' things were a different cut than what she had in mind for Nate - since the boys were built differently and she wanted to make sure they both had something that was clearly their own. But his blues were closer to a caribbean blue than Nate's dark ones, and Scott watched as she hesitated on her accent color for him before she went with an almost vibrant shade of violet, working those colors into a different pattern of plaid too - with white and black.

"Okay," Jan said, leaning back. "I think that's a good start."

"You're going to have a whole closet for them by the time I turn around, aren't you?"

"Maay-be," she sang out. "Throw in a few hoodies and they'll be set, I think."

Scott smirked as he leaned back and grabbed a slice of pizza for himself. "You really don't have to go all out," he said.

"If I went all out, I'd have tuxedoes and long dresses picked out," Jan said with a wave.

"They'd hate that," Scott chuckled.

"See? I restrained myself," she said, nodding to herself.

Scott laughed. "Well, I guess it's a good thing we moved out here. You'd be lost without them to spoil."

"I so would."

Scott smirked, but before he could say anything else, his phone went off with an alert, and he looked like he nearly came out of his skin as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket.

"What the heck is that?" Jan asked, startled by the sound.

"Perimeter alert," Scott said tersely.

Jan was on her feet in an instant, looking like she was ready to fight. "Where?"

"The cabin," he said. "We just moved out…" He was watching the video feed with wide eyes as it showed several black-clad soldiers bursting into the house with guns drawn.

"Oh. That's … I mean, that's good you're out, right?"

"How did they find us, though?" Scott asked, running a hand through his hair. "We've been lying low. We've been careful."

"I don't know how they ever found you to begin with - let alone at a place that no one knows exists." She leaned over his shoulder to watch the video with one hand drifting up to cover her mouth.

"Yeah." Scott shook his head before he snapped out of it enough to call up Natasha. "Did you get the alert?" he asked without saying hello. "By the look of the guys on surveillance, they're either MRD or government-issue."

"I'm pretty sure MRD doesn't have that caliber of weaponry right now," Natasha said in a clipped tone.

"Then this is government-run," Scott said. "I thought Jean burned out the department. What's this?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Natasha said. "Stay close. Go to the tower if you're concerned. And I'd say stick close to Bruce."

"He just left, but I'll call him back," Scott said.

"Good. I'll send Clint over," she said. "And I'll call Storm and let her know."

"Tell her to be on alert. I don't know how they found us, and if it was Rachel…"

"That's the plan," Natasha said. "Raise the alarm." Before the call was over, Clint was knocking on the door, since as it turned out, Natasha had been home, so sending Clint over had been a simple matter of saying out loud that she was doing it and glaring at her husband until he moved.

Clint waved, with Katie on his shoulders. "Hi. I'm here to play backup to the Hulk. Which is superfluous."

"Not if he's wrapped up in Scrabble with James," Jan sang out, even if her tone didn't quite match what she was going for. Especially with James and Nate watching the adults in a very solemn and silent manner, wondering if they were going to have to split up and hide again - even if Scott was doing his level best not to do that anymore when he could see the toll it took on them and could see that the kids were old enough to follow his security protocols anyway. "He got distracted."

Clint grinned. "You know what's more fun? Scrabble with the Hulk."

"I'm super curious if James can charm him too," Jan said, forcing the smile a little before she turned to Scott. "They were trying to do Scrabble with only the names of the elements."

"Of course they were," Scott said dryly before he turned to Clint. "What does Natasha know?"

"Right now? Someone's going to bleed." Clint shrugged as he set Katie down. "She's got Stark on the satellite to see where they came from and who sent them."

"The Avengers said they'd be watching for groups like this," Scott said, one eyebrow raised.

"And they have been," Clint said. "But if this is a government op, it's new and tiny."

"It's about to be extinct," Scott said.

"Pretty much," Jan agreed.

Scott paced a small path, running his hand through his hair, but once Bruce returned looking ready for a fight before he settled in with James, and Nate and Katie were trying to one-up each other on who could jump the highest, Scott had to sit down, feeling more useless than he had in a long while.

"Captain America's in the news," Natasha said with a dry smile as she sat down by Steve. "You're making headlines."

"Shouldn't have to," Steve replied, sounding irritated still, even after he'd chewed out a few Senators that he knew were behind the little group that had triggered Natasha's alarms. "This kind of thing is supposed to be over."

"We pushed it underground, Steve." Natasha sighed. "It's just what happens with evil like this."

"We still don't know for sure who they were after, though, and this isn't going to help Scott relax with those kids."

"I looked into it, actually," she said.

Steve turned her way, obviously waiting to hear what she'd found. "And?"

"School nurse," she said tightly. "She's the one who tipped off the MRD, and the government took over."

"Which one were they looking for, Tasha?"

"All three of them," Natasha said. "She tested for the X-gene when the kids had chickenpox."

Steve swore outright and started to pace, his hands on his hips while he had nothing useful to do with them. "She had no right to test them-"

"Steve, if you don't think she regrets her every life decision after I interrogated her, you don't know me that well," Natasha said darkly.

"What got her attention?"

"It was Rachel, actually," Natasha said. "She looks so much like her mother, and you know the X-Men who died had their faces all over the news after what happened."

"And the fact that James looks like Logan but is with them …"

"Right. She knew he was adopted, but the family resemblances were too much to ignore once she got on the right track." Natasha shook her head. "It's a good thing James is working with tutors and Rachel's in Westchester - or the kids would have been in the middle of it when those men came in."

"No kidding." Steve let out a relieved breath as he thought of what might come of those kids should someone unscrupulous get a hold of them. "James and Rachel won't be able to run from that. They're both already spitting images."

"Nate looks like Scott too, but his face wasn't blasted all over the national news, and the visor…" Natasha shook her head. "I'm going to keep an eye on Nate's school anyway."

"He'll be starting in a new school here, won't he?" Steve said. "Maybe they can register under a different last name."

"He'll be going to Katie's school. And the last time I talked to Scott, he suggested his mother's maiden name. No one knows what that is, publicly."

"Suggest it again," Steve said.

"I'm going to pull some strings on the school nurse, too," Natasha said.

"I'd like to get her license revoked," Steve said. "Breaking patient confidentiality? At least."

"By the time I'm done with her, she won't be able to get more than a part-time waitressing gig."

"Good," Steve said. "We need to update Scott. He's probably pulling his hair out by now."

"Might do him some good on his undercover work," Natasha said dryly.

"I'm sure that's what he wants to hear," Steve said just as dryly before he tossed Natasha the keys.

"I don't know if this is the right move," Scott told Natasha as he paced. The kids had gone to bed, though he wasn't sure if they were sleeping after all the tension and nerves that had sparked up earlier with the raid.

"You have to be somewhere, Scott, and considering how close they got, I think you're better off to be near us. Tactically speaking," Natasha said - her tone perfectly business-like as she watched him pace.

"You know I don't trust being so close to a team-"

"And it's a good thing that you'll still be far-removed from said team," Natasha pointed out. "They don't come here. Only Clint and I do. And Stark is sending his very latest in surveillance and defense to reinforce the building. You'll be safe here. I swear it."

Scott stopped and turned her way, the anxiety clear in the lines at the corners of his eyes. "If there's even a whisper of trouble-"

"I'll fly you to one of her places if the need arises."

Scott thought about it for a moment, then nodded to himself, running his hands through his hair when it was clear he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. "They need the best Stark has to offer. I'm talking about the caliber he uses for himself."

"Absolutely," Natasha agreed. "He already swore to do that much and more."

Scott nodded, his hands on his hips. "Okay. Okay. That … alright."