A/N - special love and thanks to Practically An Avenger for the marathon spree. We ADORE your reviews, my friend. Keep 'em coming.

Chapter 28 - Rocky Waters

America was starting to notice a pattern, and as much as she hated to admit it, this pattern was not favorable to her campaign to get a little more traction with Kate.

She didn't think Kate was aware of the fact that she'd given herself away with the casual mention that Nate had broken up with his idiot girlfriend, but things had definitely changed since then. Kate wanted to go to more group activities. She was finding reasons to hang out with the Summers family more. Which had been fine when they were double-dating with James, but they'd yet to go out just the two of them in ages, and America was starting to get the hint.

So she dropped in on Kate at the tower, smirking to herself when Kate's immediate reaction was to break into a grin, rush over, and kiss her. That was the great part about Kate; she wore her heart on her sleeve. So, the fact that she was in love with someone else was obvious – but what was also obvious was that Kate liked America, too.

But America didn't like to be anyone's second choice, no matter how gorgeous the girl.

She caught Kate and spun her around in a kiss before she set her down again and met her gaze with a crooked but tired smile. "How's the Westchester club?"

"Doing alright," Kate said in a sigh. "Nate's still convinced James is their dad's favorite, which is crap, because he doesn't remember seeing Scott going to every sports game of his with the Proud Dad Look, but hey, that's the usual drama with them, really."

America smiled more broadly, leaning against the gate to the tower with a quiet laugh. "Already practicing to get in good with the in-laws, huh?"

Kate turned a brilliant color that America wished she'd put on her face for a different reason. "What are you – we're not even old enough-"

"Be real, Princess," America said, unable to stop herself from cupping Kate's waist as she shifted closer, "you're still hung up on the idiot. And now that he's single, you're practically tripping over yourself wishing you were dating him."

Kate's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "America-"

"Hey, I don't play second-best," America said. "I'll still be here for you. I mean, you're the best friend I've got in this crummy city, and someone's got to be there in case this whole thing with the idiot blows up in your face, right?" She grinned crookedly. "But you and I aren't going to get off the ground – not figuratively, anyway – until you figure out what's going on with you and him. So go figure it out. If he hurts you, I'll pound him and then kiss you until you forget all about him, deal?"

Kate stared at America for a long time before she let out a noise from the back of her throat and then flung her arms around America to pull her into a tight hug. "You are just – just – so amazing, you know that? And I really do like you – you know that too, right?"

America smirked and gestured to herself with one hand. "What's not to like?"

Kate laughed and hugged her tighter, then pulled her into a long kiss that America absolutely wasn't going to stop until Kate pulled back. "So… we can still totally hang out all the time and make fun of stupid people, right?"

"Like I said: I'm not going anywhere, Princess," America chuckled. "You just figure yourself out. I know what I want; you gotta do the same."

Kate shook her head and kissed her cheek. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"Hey, you're a fierce, gorgeous, slightly-confused, confident princess with the arms of an archer and the heart of a lover. Like I wasn't going to pick you up."

"And you're a powerful force of nature who loves as deeply as she kicks through reality," Kate said, blushing bright red. "If we're not at least best friends, what's even the point of the universe letting two of the most amazing girls on the planet meet up?"

America smiled as she put her other hand on Kate's waist. "How opposed are you to a break-up makeout? Because I gotta say, Princess, you're making it hard to be mature and let you figure out your feelings when I'd rather just fly off with you and show you the best time you've ever had."

"Not even a little bit opposed," Kate said, her eyes glittering with the kind of excitement that always had America thrilled.

And with that kind of open invitation just sitting there, America wasn't going to squander the opportunity. So, she pulled Kate into a kiss long enough that they were pressed into each other, and then she took them to the sky for some privacy.

The holidays passed in a daze, like they so often did. Juggling everyone's schedules got slightly easier with the big break at the end of December, but everyone's family obligations ended up making fun things like dating or going out as a group next to impossible. And when the Summers disappeared to who-knows-where to meet up with the other Summers clan, that just meant that they were more unreachable for a longer stretch. Which made it seem to those that wanted to spend time with them as if they were on an even harsher lockdown than usual.

But … the start of the new semester was met with bright cheer for May Parker at the very least. She was lucky in that her powers were almost entirely physical, so learning how to hold back wasn't super hard for her to do. Not overreacting to spider senses was a totally different story, but she had gotten her reactions down to a much more reasonable response than the full on Parker startle that she'd been doing when it had first manifested.

She still wasn't quite ready to return to public school, but she was pretty certain that she was ahead of Nate Summers, anyhow. A fact that she loved to flaunt to Nate at every single opportunity. And the fact that her father had agreed to let her join the Avengers when she was old enough - and if she was cleared by those 'in the know when the time comes' had her on cloud nine. She had permission to be a hero - just like her dad! And she wanted to not only share the joy, but do a little preemptive recruiting too. And she knew just the newly un-grounded, freshly back to the city guy she wanted in on it. He needed the boost, after all.

Especially since he'd gone from being tons of fun to almost dreary- and he flat out refused to break any of the security protocols in place. It was bad enough that even Black Widow seemed downtrodden that James hadn't even tried to push. And he had put zero thought into returning to the prank war with Tony, either. It was obvious to May, at least, that her guy was depressed. And she was pretty sure she needed to do something about the nasty case of Stockholm syndrome he came back with after spending a couple weeks in the woods alone with his dad. He hadn't even wanted to do anything for his birthday after he spent it in the woods, either. And since they'd disappeared not long after their return for Christmas, May had plenty of time to dream up ways to pull him out of his funk.

Stranger still, her father had even agreed that James wasn't acting like he should - far too serious, and as Peter Parker had said - 'in extreme danger of becoming entirely too grumpy' at the rate he was going. All the adults had had the same basic reaction to the mess that went down around Cassie Lang. Shock had been quickly followed by equal parts fear for James' safety and pride in his actions, though most of the adults were being fairly quiet on the details on why. At least, they were … then May caught her father calling James 'a kinder, gentler, less stabby Wolverine' and she found herself getting lost in the idea of them joining the team together.

Her father had pictures of himself and James' dad on his desk at home from when they were Avengers, and she started doodling all of their hypothetical team … She was supposed to be working on her homework, but watching James working so intently on upgrading her dad's webshooters had gotten her mind wandering. She saw herself as Spider-Girl, Kate as the Purple Widow, Cassie as Ant-girl, Dani Cage dressed like her parents in leather gear and flat refusing to use a code name of any kind, and James as their new Wolverine … though she was playing with the name and the costume. Yellow and Red were too jarring next to each other, after all.

"Maybe blue," she said to herself as she continued to doodle, which was enough to draw James' attention.

He looked up at her, frowning when he saw the almost vacant expression on her face, so he set his tools down and decided to sneak over to see what it was that had her so distracted. She didn't know he was there until he was nearly on top of her, and then she startled so badly, she dropped her notebook that she'd been doodling in. James laughed - finally wearing a broad smile on his face as she started to berate him for scaring her, though that fell to the wayside when James' smile slipped.

He'd picked up the notebook for her and was staring at the drawings she had - the little codenames for most of their friends - some of them scratched out several times and re-written slightly differently from dozens of childhood conversations born of daydreams and wishful thinking. "What's this?" James asked, though he was watching her as he asked.

"Oh, just a few ideas. Watching you go all … rawr on that idiot with Cassie got me thinking."

"About what?" James asked. "Being Avengers?"

"Well … yeah."

"No," James said before he dropped the notebook on the couch and started back for his workbench. "Not unless you know another James that you're putting in that costume."

"They're not costumes, they're uniforms," May said before she hopped over the back of the couch and followed him. "And you need the right uniform for the job."

James shook his head as he got back to work. "Pretty sure I've already set myself up with a job if I want it. Right here, in the lab that Stark built for me."

"Yes. Exactly! Tony would love to have you on the team!"

James set his tools down and held her gaze seriously. "No, May. That's never gonna happen."

"But you're already so good at it!"

James was shaking his head and the set of his mouth was grim. "Forget it, Mayday," James said in a tone she'd never heard him use before.

"But … what harm would it do? You are good at this, James! Think about it! Anyone with the powers you have should use them to help people. Otherwise you're not doing everything you can to stop idiots like the ones that went after Cassie."

James could feel his temper rising faster than he wanted to admit. And he had yet to get upset with May. "You think I haven't thought about that already?" James snapped. "There's more going on than just stepping up for those in trouble, May. I can't look at things the same way you do. Your family's motto doesn't apply the same way to me and my family."

"Yes it does!" May threw her hands in the air and let out a groan of frustration. "I get being anxious, but James, you know you could try it out and if you didn't like it, you don't have to stay with the team! It's not like you'd be the first one to decide it wasn't for them!"

"You don't get it," James shot back, his work on the webshooters forgotten. "You could try it and back off. Kate and Cassie could, but I cant."

"Is this all because of the whole mutant thing your family's so paranoid about?" May challenged, hands on her hips and obviously ready to fight. "Hank is a mutant and he's been on the team for forever! And he's physically mutated, too! You don't have that to worry about!"

James stared back at her for a long while, then grudgingly went back to finish the adjustments he had been making before he said something he'd regret. "It's not just the mutant thing, May. I know I told you about some of the crap that follows us. You know about the security Natasha and Tony have in place. You know it's not just the mutant thing."

"But if you were an Avenger-"

"No," James growled out, slamming one hand on the bench. "That stupid badge doesn't solve anything. If it did, do you think I'd still be under lockdown in their tower?" His tools clattered on the ground and the two of them glared at each other for a long moment before May huffed and grabbed her backpack.

"I'm going to finish studying where people are more reasonable and not so delusional."

"Good. Tell your Dad I'm almost done with his gear," James called back - still ticked off, and not willing to even think about cooling off. He'd purposely not been overly descriptive with May about the trouble he could be in if he was caught, but he also knew that he'd told her that people who used mutants as weapons would want him given even a miniscule chance … and now he could see that she thought he was just paranoid.

She didn't get it. At all. And it was clear that it wasn't a matter of not knowing. It was a matter of not being able to grasp what it was that not only her mutant friends were dealing with, but her boyfriend, in particular. And he honestly couldn't wrap his head around how she didn't believe him that there was a major issue. It had him ready to pick a fight. Especially after he'd spent so much time at his mothers cottage breathing in scents that had to have been all that was left of his parents. So yes. James was a little touchy about how much people like those running the weapons groups had cost his family.

So while May flounced off, tossing her hair over her shoulder, James nearly broke a tooth as he tried to swallow the growl down and got back to work picking up his discarded tools and then going back to the webshooters.

May, however, ended up going right to her father, who looked irritated at the way May was throwing things around and huffing to herself. "What's wrong today, sweetheart?" Peter asked - earning himself a deadly scowl from his daughter before she dropped her backpack - and then launched into a detailed retelling of what had just happened in the lab from her point of view. Which was a lot less flattering of an opinion than what had actually happened.

"I don't understand how someone who's been training and working for so long can't understand why they need to go be a hero! He doesn't even try and he does it!"

"May, sweetheart, it's not that simple," Peter said, not understanding how it was that he was defending her boyfriend to her.

"I swear, Dad, if you say it's the whole mutant thing I'm going to scream."

"It's not! Well it is. But it's not - you know what? It's just … it's not as simple as you think, okay? It's not just the mutant thing."

"But you always said that we have to live up to our responsibility - and that means that if you can protect someone and stop bad things from happening, you need to! Great power comes with great responsibility - thats like … our family crest!"

Peter blew out a breath and ran his hand through his already messy hair. "Sit down, May," he said, then took her hands in his as he tried to keep their conversation somewhat private. "I know it's hard to understand, but James keeping out of things and laying low is being responsible. For him."

"Dad."

"No, hear me out. His parents - both of them - they were used by people to do horrible things. And even though the Phoenix destroyed the labs and the research centers and … pretty much everyone involved that she could … the idea behind it didn't go away. James is making the right move by staying off the radar. If they got a hold of him …"

"They won't."

"They could," Peter said with a bit more force. "I know you think the world of him, May, but he's still a kid. His Dad was the the toughest, meanest, hardest to deal with person I ever met, but they managed to use him anyhow. James is just a kid - and I don't care how good he is, he's nowhere near what his parents were at their peak and they still got caught. If someone wanted to take that kid down … he wouldn't stand a chance." He took her by both shoulders so he could look her in the eyes more clearly. "And sweetheart, you do not want to see what happens to him if someone gets a hold of him. He's right. Don't push him into being on the team. He can still save lives and make a difference doing what he does right here, safe in the lab."

May stared at him for a long moment. "I can't believe you're on his side!"

Peter stared after her. "How is that what you took out of that statement?!"

"You don't even like him," May snapped. "And you're supposed to be on my side, Dad!"

"May, I'm not going to agree with you if you're wrong," Peter said, but that only had her looking and sounding that much more angry as she stomped away to find someone who would commiserate with her.

Which left a few people staring at the scene and Peter feeling like he had to say something. So, he quietly turned and made his way over to James' lab. He let himself in, and the instant he did, James looked up, sighed, and let his shoulders drop. But he didn't wait for Peter to get started before he spoke up.

"Timing's good," James said, hoping that Peter wouldn't try to talk to him about joining up, too. "Just wrapping this up. Should get more out of the cartridges and they can fire faster now."

"That's great," Peter replied as he came over to pick one up and try it out while James was finishing up the second one. "But not why I came in."

James carefully kept from looking up at Peter. "Alright. Go ahead. I'm listening, but if you're going to harp at me to join up, I'm gonna tell you that Tony's already offered up a few solutions that I've turned down. And my Dad's worked too hard to keep me safe just for me to turn around and give him the finger for a spandex bodysuit."

"Okay, first of all," Peter said, holding up one finger. "It's not just spandex, okay? It's reinforced with vibranium mesh and -" He stopped when he saw the dry look James was giving him. "- not the point. Fine. Secondly - and more importantly, I wasn't going to push you, and I wasn't going to lecture. As it happens … I agree with you and your Dad, okay? I just wanted you to know that May isn't getting this from me. It's all … we've tried to protect her from the bad stuff. The worst stuff, anyhow, and I know it's hard to explain how bad it can get to people outside of the loop- your father didn't ever talk about it, so I-"

"You're not telling me anything I don't know," James said. "And I'd rather not talk about my father if it's all the same to you, Mr. Parker."

Peter's eyebrows went up high and fast. "Oh. We're doing the formal thing. You must be upset then."

James dropped his gaze as he shrunk back on himself. "I'm just trying to- nevermind."

"Hey. If it makes you feel any better, I think you're doing the right thing. All the way around! It's a lot harder than anyone wants to admit when your friends and your girlfriend are pressuring you."

"I just know that it would be bad for everyone if any of those weapons programs got a hold of me or my brother and sister."

Peter began nodding his head in fervent agreement. "You're entirely right, and on behalf of the rest of the Avengers, the population of New York, and the world in general - thanks. Just … keep it small. Point those heroic tendencies like you have been - at creepy jerks who are literally begging for it. Just … don't get caught next time."

"That sounds suspiciously like something an Avenger shouldn't say."

"To … a criminal, yes, but to a little budding hero that is trying to not be turned into a mindless weapon full of razor sharp awful? Perfectly acceptable." James made a face at that and hesitated before searching for something to do. "And I made it weird again." Peter sighed. "I'll tell you one thing," he said as he picked up everything James had come up with - including the new recipe for webbing. "When it came to your Dad? Your biological dad, that is - it didn't matter how bad it looked, I knew if he was with me, we were going to get out of it somehow."

James' shoulders dropped a little more and he turned toward Peter, frowning at him. "That seems to be the repeating theme," James said in a perfectly neutral tone. "But I didn't ask."

Peter looked more disappointed than he realized. "No. I guess not. Okay. So. Good talk. I'm here if you ever feel like just quietly glowering at me or something." He skittered out of the lab, but that only left James behind trying to decide how to even process that. It wasn't like it was the first time that he'd been told he was doing things like Logan did. And James didn't mind doing things that he thought were right. But he did take issue with feeling like he had no choice in how he was reacting to people or situations, so every time someone looked pleased that he'd reacted like his parents, James retreated a little more.