A/N - Practically An Avenger - you rock. thank you for the kind review! Now, it's soppy and wet where I am ... and I'm pretty sure it's the same for robbiepoo2341, so ... hope you're dry and cozy on this soggy spring day! Enjoy!

Chapter 111- Just A Little Bit Of History Repeating

Annie had been through breakups before, but she couldn't wrap her head around what had happened between her and Scott - and it was driving her to distraction.

Every time she thought about going back to his place, trying to fix what she'd inexplicably broken, something stopped her. She couldn't put words to the sensation, but it was almost like a panic attack every time she got even close to putting a plan like that into action. She couldn't even call him. She couldn't text, email… nothing. Nothing was working. Every time she wanted to reach out to him, she felt like she was going to fall apart on the spot.

But she desperately knew something was wrong. Something had happened. Scott hadn't done anything wrong, and this wasn't at all what she had planned. She wanted to ask Craig what on earth could be causing her to have sudden panic attacks, but she couldn't get the words in her mouth. She just kept ending up crying on her brother instead of explaining herself - and while he was always willing to be her shoulder to cry on, she didn't think this was at all helpful, either.

Her sister, Evie, had tried talking to her, but Annie couldn't explain herself either. Anton had tried, too, because he'd always gone out of his way to make sure Annie felt safe around him. And usually, if she couldn't get through to her family in a way they'd understand, Anton could say the right thing to put words to whatever problem Annie was having.

But not even he understood. Because it didn't make sense.

Annie knew she needed more help than her family was able to give, though she did appreciate that both of her nieces had brought her some of their own baking attempts to make her feel better. Leslie Ann's was obviously more polished than Mary Beth's, since she was fourteen and starting to get pretty good at her own recipes, but there was something sweet about a ten-year-old's handwriting on a homemade cake.

Still, something more was going on. And Annie had to wonder if she'd be able to get some help if she thought of it as going to superheroes to ask them to solve a mystery rather than approaching Scott's friends and family.

It was a Hail Mary, really, because she felt like she was losing her mind. Every once in a while, one of Scott's kids would reach out, and she wanted so badly to tell them she wanted to be part of their family. She especially wanted to respond to James. She'd told him that she wanted to marry Scott one day, so she understood entirely why he checked in on her. And she didn't have answers for him. She didn't know why she couldn't even text him to tell him "I don't know what's happening to me."

But maybe all she had to do was get herself to Nate. Nate, who had known that she and Scott would work well together. Nate, who had sent her an email checking in on her as soon as he heard. Nate, who was a telepath, who would hear her panic and despair and at least know that there was a more serious problem than a breakup.

Because the truth was, this wasn't even just about Scott - though that was a big part of it. Before the breakup, Scott had told her that Storm wanted her on the faculty. Annie wanted so badly to follow up on that. She had made all these plans for her future, and she felt like she couldn't move forward in her own life until she understood this issue.

So, she gathered herself up and got into her car, gripping her steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She forced herself through every turn until she couldn't force any more turns, pulling over at the front of their neighborhood and already crying hard enough to make her breath catch.

It should not have been this hard just to ask Nate for help.

She held her breath and gathered herself, kicking her car door open in an attempt to force herself into action. She managed to get out of the car and to head down the street, but long before she was anywhere near Scott's house, she simply broke down, covering her face with one hand, trying not to make a scene.

This wasn't working.

She bit her lip and turned around, almost stumbling to her car. And once the car door was closed, she rested her head on the steering wheel, letting her shoulders slump. This… this felt like what going insane felt like, she was pretty sure.

The young team of X-Men had just gotten their newly designed suits from Jan … with a few upgrades Tony and James had come up with to protect all of them … namely, bulletproof panels and stab-proof fabric that were light enough that they could barely tell there was a difference at all between the feel of the new and the old - but the upgrade was necessary with the more aggressive reactions from groups dedicated to destroying mutants. And Scott hadn't forgotten how many times his team had been shot or worse, so seeing how easily Tony had pushed for better protection was a relief.

They hadn't had occasion to wear the new duds yet. Not when most of the things the kids were doing was Avengers' related, anyhow. That was a different uniform all together - and often, because of the threats that had been leveled at James in particular, he found himself in his armor with the fliers more often than not. So James was just waiting for a decent X-Men mission. The armor was alright … but he preferred to be up more close and personal than the Avengers liked to allow him to be. And he wasn't a big fan of how little he could move in the armor.

For every mission James went on while Billy was in Genosha, which was most of them, he'd get a text or phone call where Billy let him know that he'd been spotted, then relayed his critique of their photography and reporting, good or bad.

As for the rest of his free time, James had tried - several times - to reach out to Annie. Failing that, he'd sent her and her family dinner, sweets - or anything else he could think of to let her know she was being thought of. But the truth was that Scott had arranged the college tours in a manner that made it difficult for James to catch Annie when she wasn't already busy, which James was highly suspicious of. He'd gotten into the habit of checking in with Doc Hale at least with a text, trying to get an idea of what was happening when he knew Annie was not okay. But he was starting to wonder if that had made things harder for her, even with Craig telling him it was deeply appreciated, all around.

The worst part was knowing that his father was barely coping - and only coping as much as he was because he was wrapped up in the college tours and fielding all the details for those trips. But it wasn't coping with anything that really mattered. At least, in James' eyes.

So, in the little bit of downtime James had that day, he was helping at the school in Westchester. Nothing major, just making the lists of supplies that needed to be replenished in the science department. It was a favor to Hank, who was a little overwhelmed processing the new kids coming in every day - and since Rachel and Kitty were overseeing the construction crew building another new residential wing, there weren't a lot of options on who knew enough about the labs to re-order Hank's biology and genetics lab supplies. And James liked to poke around in there anyhow and read what Hank had theorized since the last time James had spent time in Hank's genome lab, even if Hank simply took it to be polite interest.

He'd almost finished the restocking order when Kitty phased through the wall almost under his nose. "Look alive, Wolverine - we have a mission."

"Now?"

"Now." Kitty took a hold of James' arm as he dropped his list on the counter and she phased him through the floor. "Massachusetts Academy just called in an SOS."

"Okay…"

"And your dad told me to grab everyone who was available. It sounds bad."

James nodded to himself, though he wasn't sure what kind of trouble they might have. Without any argument, he broke away from Kitty once they were on the right floor and ran to the locker room to change.

As it was, his brother, Dad, Bobby, and Hank were already there, though Nate wasn't any further ahead than James was.

"We'll brief in the air," Scott said to his sons. "I'll prep the blackbird - Nate, make sure you get the secondary moving."

"What? Why are we taking two jets?" Nate asked with a frown as he and his brother rushed to get dressed.

"Sounds like we might have casualties to deal with." Scott gave the boys a grim look before he headed off at a near run, leaving James and Nate to stare at each other for a moment before rushing faster to get there and get help to whoever was hurt.

When they got to the hangar, Scott called for James to join him. "I want you on this team," Scott called out. "If we have people buried, I might need to lean on your senses to pinpoint them."

Rachel was already standing behind Scott, ready to go and looking serious, so James didn't argue as he rushed to climb on board.

Across the hangar, Nate was doing a quick checklist while Hank and Forge loaded up with medical supplies. Mia dove in to help by teleporting extra gear to them as some of the preliminary news reports started showing the damage on live television.

"Tyler," James shouted from the door of the jet as Scott started the ignition sequence. "Come on. You're with us."

The tall blond looked up half alarmed … he'd been behind the scenes at the Avengers, and had started helping at the school since Hank had gotten so swamped, but this? Totally out of his comfort zone. On the other hand, it was exactly what he wanted to do … help people in need, so without more than a moment to grab a case of water, Tyler ran to join Scott's group with the first wave.

There was amazingly little that Scott had to give his team on what they were walking into, but he was more tense than James had seen in a long time. He didn't have long to wait and see why, either.

The Massachusetts Academy was in shambles. Emergency services were en route, but they were slow to respond, and had already wasted too much time getting to the mutant-only school. Large parts of the buildings were caved in, and the insides of the building were strewn in the rubble with papers rolling across the sweeping lawn in the breeze. As soon as they were on the ground with the doors to the jet open, James could hear crying from several people inside - hopeless, muted shouts for help, senseless screams, sobbing, and whimpering.

"James, I need you to do a sweep before we go in - you're looking for secondary explosives, anything that didn't detonate. After it's cleared, we'll start taking stock of what we can move and what we can't to help those that are trapped. Got it?" Scott took a moment to look at each of them and get an affirmation before James broke into a run with Tyler closest behind him.

"You know what you're looking for?" Tyler asked once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah, I know the finished products and the possible ingredients to home cook something," James answered, though it was clear by the almost breathy tone that he was more focused on hound-dogging for the time being.

The two of them took a lap around the grounds, then James radioed to Scott to let him know where the worst of their troubles were as he began to circle inward, carefully climbing over the rubble and listening for people trapped. He had to be careful of where he walked in case the rubble shifted - and he had no idea how many people were in there, what the original layout of the place was … none of it. Which only made it that much harder.

The smoke and dust closer to the section of the building that wasn't destroyed yet made it hard to breathe, let alone look for bombs, so James took his time looking for people and problems.

Most of the people he was finding were already dead, but those that weren't seemed to be alright … just trapped with non-life threatening injuries. He paused to calm them down as he searched, radioing to the rest of the team where they were and what condition they were in. He could hear Nate's jet coming in, so there would be a lot more TK power to move things - and a ton more medical help.

A glance over his shoulder showed him that Tyler was keeping up - and he wasn't wasting his energy on more than scans for most of those that the two of them had found. Beyond him, Rachel and Scott were digging people out and triaging them.

James took a deep breath through his nose and blew it out through his lips as he turned to listen for more. They needed to find a living, conscious staff member. But so far, the adults he'd found were all either dead or unresponsive. He bit his lip and reached out to Rachel. Hey. Even I'm having flashbacks right now. Keep Dad close, huh?

Yeah, no kidding. He's got a high functioning level of sheer panic going on below his work face.

Ah yes. The family motto. Fake it till you break it, James teased as he turned a corner to find a whole new section that was caved in that had been hidden from an in-tact wall. You saw my path … I'm going in the building. Found a new section that's trashed. Smells like … gymnasium, maybe? See if one of these people can share the layout of this place, huh? That might help me if he can share a little. Finding my way with my nose is a little rough.

On it, Rachel said as she crouched down next to one of the less injured students. Within a few moments, the whole team had a better idea of what the building should have been like, as well as an estimation on the number of students that were there, still.

As luck would have it, most of those that would have been in the area the bomb went off were on college tours with various staff members, which meant that most of those that James were finding were the remainder of the Academy's teaching staff.

Part of the building had shifted straight down - collapsing the first floor into the basement halfway, and James looked at the unstable section of building with caution, hoping no one was down there. But his luck wasn't that good.

He saw a shock of bloody hair - he couldn't tell the actual color at first, and the smell of blood was a little overwhelming as he looked into the half-collapsed room. The woman in question was under a bookshelf that had overturned. Glass crunched underfoot as he carefully slipped down into the room. He could see shards in her hair even from where he was - and she was starting to come around, reaching for her head.

"Woah, you don't want to do that," James said as he carefully rushed across the rubble to stop her from touching anything. He took a hold of her hand to stop her and she turned his way with a foggy expression. "I'm going to get you to a medic. Don't touch anything."

She stared at him as he moved the bookshelf, and when she was freed, she let out a cry of pain. James looked over as she held her leg near the ankle, which was facing entirely the wrong way. But that was also when he realized who it was. The bloodstained but otherwise perfectly white pant-suit was the clincher, and for a second, he wasn't sure what to do. If it had been anyone but Emma Frost …

"This shouldn't have happened," she said airily.

James blinked out of his shock as she whimpered with one hand to her forehead, wincing in pain. "Woah. Hold on, I've got you," James said as he simply scooped her up to carry her out. She let out a cry of pain as soon as he had her in his arms, and he gave her a moment to readjust while he tried to figure out how to get out from where they were.

"My head is killing me," Emma said, her eyes closed, though she seemed perfectly content to be carried, so James considered their options. On one hand, they could try to go to the ledge he'd climbed down on. He'd have to put her up there, then pull himself up … or climb deeper through the rubble toward the basement as a way out, which felt entirely wrong to him.

"We've got medical help on the lawn," James said as he started toward the ledge. "I saw the ankle - you have any other injuries I should know about?"

"Just what I'm sure is a concussion," Emma drawled out. "I got hit with the first explosion. I didn't have time to shift to diamond, and I can't now, either." She hissed in pain and leaned into him, which had James slightly more tensed. "Thank you for getting me out of there, Logan."

James blinked, staring straight ahead as Emma continued.

"I like this new uniform," she said, running a finger along the stripe at his shoulder. "Does the whole team have some iteration of this?"

"More or less," James said, unsure of how to proceed with this severe of a head injury on a telepath of her caliber.

"I look wretched, don't I?" Emma asked, sounding honestly distressed and taking on a tone James hadn't heard from her before. Her usual self confident air was gone entirely.

"Bout as good as can be expected from a bombing," James said, then held his breath when Emma laughed. He thought about reaching out to Rachel, but he wasn't entirely sure that Emma wouldn't pick up on it if he did.

They were almost to the ledge that would lead them to the cleared section that Tyler was working when the building around them started to destabilize and Emma held on to him a little tighter. The whole structure slipped first a few inches, then, James watched the level of the ground shoot up another foot as they sunk deeper. But miraculously, the building didn't crumble on top of them. "We have to take a different path out," she told him. "This room is reinforced but it was hit directly."

"I don't know my way around that well," James said, looking for clues in the architecture on what was going to go next.

Emma let out a hollow laugh. "I know this place like the back of my hand. I designed it, after all. Even in this state, I can get us out." She reached up to tap his forehead. "Let me in, I'll show you where to go."

"Ah, no."

She drew back slightly looking honestly hurt. "Logan, this is the quickest way - you know it is. What's wrong with you today?"

He faltered for a second simply because he was struggling with the idea that his biological father had let this witch into his head, and the fact that she was traumatized enough that she thought he was Logan. "You have massive head trauma," James finally said before he'd realized what he was saying. "I'm not letting you trash me on accident."

She hummed as he picked a new route without her input. "I suppose you're not entirely wrong. I doubt I could do you any real harm, however." She narrowed her eyes and pointed to a different passageway than where James was looking. "That hall is reinforced, too. Even if the whole school comes down, we'll be safe there."

With a sigh, James followed her instructions, careful not to jostle her when any misstep had her crying out. It took them a few minutes, but they climbed down into the near black basement. He couldn't smell anything in there for all the dust, but he didn't want to chance major injury on either of them climbing out on that ledge now that the opening there was likely something he wouldn't be able to shimmy through anyhow. He looked over his shoulder toward where they'd climbed down, then started to walk away from it - deeper into the darkness. They hadn't quite gotten to the end of that short hallway when there was a low rumble and the building behind them collapsed, sealing up the way they'd come in.

He'd shielded her as best he could from the flying debris and dust, but when he opened his eyes, even with his vision, he could barely see where they were, let alone where they could go. Very suddenly, he understood Ororo's aversion to small, cramped spaces.

James shifted how he was holding Emma to try and use his comm - but when he hit the button, all he got was static.

"This entire basement is shielded from radios," Emma said with a cough as she patted his shoulder, then shifted a little closer with her arms around his neck. When she spoke, it was at a whisper, too close to his ear. "I hate to say it, but loathe as you are to allow it, the fastest way to get us out of here is to let me into your mind. Just a little mindshare would be enough for me to give you better direction so we can leave."

He was fully prepared to tell her no - again - when another low rumble echoed around them and James found himself questioning the integrity of the basement. She'd said it was reinforced, but considering the condition of the last room they were in … that had collapsed, he wasn't very trusting of her judgment on that, either. "Miss Frost -"

"You know I'm right."

James bit his lip as once again, he readjusted how he was carrying her in an attempt to get back to how she'd been situated before - though she wasn't allowing that, either. When he turned his head slightly, he barely had room to do so with how close to him she was, looking pitiful and almost wide-eyed as she frowned, searching his face. James closed his eyes to try and reach out to Rachel or Nate.

"The shielding extends to telepaths as well, I'm afraid," Emma said, sounding rueful, and though James couldn't see it in the dust and the dark, she was starting to smile. "I'm sorry but your team won't hear you down here. I have several telepaths here that like to cheat."

Rubble falling onto James' shoulders that had Emma tucking into him tighter was the final straw though. He did not want to end up crushed to death with Emma Frost half wrapped around him. "Okay," James said in a breath, and Emma smiled wider as she looked over his shoulder then reached up to rest one hand at his temple.

He'd barely let his shields slip the slightest bit when Emma rushed into his head - cold, hard, calculating, and icy enough that it was just as strong as a physical assault. He had to lean against the wall to keep from passing out as she rushed his mind, still trying to keep her from being hurt. But now, when he wasn't aware enough to pay attention, Emma suddenly showed no whisper of head trauma now that she had a clear path into his mind.

As for Scott, he was only keeping it together as well as he was because he had a job to do. He knew that the students and teachers in the school needed his help, and he couldn't fall apart on them. Not when there were survivors.

But, God help him, all he could see as he looked around was the rubble in Westchester, the way an entire section had fallen apart in a completely different way from the rest because of Jubilee, the smell of blood, the random personal objects that had fallen into their paths as they searched. The broken toys. The bag of chips he'd stepped on. He could hear that crunch with every step he took.

He knew Rachel was sticking close to him for a reason, but he also looked toward the other senior X-Men. Kitty looked as pale as death, and Bobby was completely silent. Forge was sticking as close to Ororo - who looked sick - as Rachel was to Scott. Hank had kept his bedside manner, but Scott knew that was only in place because the survivors so badly needed him.

"They must have targeted it because they knew the Avengers are backing our school," Rachel said quietly, trying to draw him into a conversation that was more work-focused than focused on the tragedy around them.

"Yeah," Scott said in a breath. "Yeah, our school got leveled a few times."

"I've heard the stories," Rachel said, stepping closer to him. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," he said, knowing he couldn't lie to her.

"Yeah, dumb question." She bit her lip. "Anything I can do?"

He shook his head tightly. "Let's just get these people to help."

James could barely breathe in the dark, dusty basement, and he had no idea how he'd gotten from where he'd started to the crack of light that lit the stairs ahead. He felt cold, and his head ached as if he'd been drinking a slushie too fast.

"Almost there, darling," Emma said, and James blinked a few times as he caught his breath and turned her way looking confused, even as Emma coached him through. "You've saved us both. We just need to get up into the light."

James looked around them, drawing in a breath of almost-clean air, trying to place where he was. All he knew for sure was that he was trying to get Emma out. Everything from picking her up in her ruined office until they got to the foot of the stairs was a blur of darkness, cold, and sharp pain at the front of his head as he carried her up the stairs. Once they reached the top and found their way around some half-suspended wreckage, he could see Hank and Tyler working ahead, so with precious little more urging him, he stumbled toward them with Emma holding on to him tightly.

"Hey, there you are," Tyler said, waving him over.

James turned toward Tyler and closed the distance quickly enough, though he didn't have one quip or smart alec remark as he did so.

Tyler let out a low whistle. "Alright, we've got her," he said. "Did you find anyone else?"

"What? No. Wait. Yeah, ah … I flagged all of them - I've got the numbers for you," James said, almost frowning to himself at that much, too. He couldn't remember getting that information, but he knew it all the same. He thumbed over his shoulder. "I'll just … tell Ororo - she's keeping track, right?"

"Ah, no … that'd be your dad."

"Right. Still not used to that," James said, looking entirely confused as he turned toward the rest of the team. He stood there for a second as he got his bearings. He knew he needed to get that information to his dad, but … something felt off, and instead of doing what he should do, he started to take stock himself, trying to remember what had happened in that basement or how he knew what he did. But that only had his head hurting more.

"Hey, you okay?" Tyler asked gently when he could see how off kilter James was. "I can scan you too."

"I ..I just got a little turned around," James said, frowning at his own words when they didn't feel like his.

Tyler didn't look as if he quite believed it, but since he couldn't sense a lie, he shrugged. "Okay. But if you're still disoriented, we might want to check and make sure nothing's wrong."

James turned to watch him for a moment with a flare of defiance in the center of his chest, though his head hurt worse than before. "You know what? Okay. Sure."

Tyler held out a hand, and when James stepped over, he took a hold of his arm and did a quick scan, then frowned. "James, you're fine. Not surprising, but… I don't know."

The headache had shifted from the front of his head to behind his eyes, and one hand went up to shade his eyes as Tyler held on to his arm. "So maybe … the collapse? That was me."

"Ah." Tyler nodded. "Probably healed head trauma. Memories should come back soon, then."

James' hand went to the back of his head, but that didn't even feel like the right reaction because he couldn't remember getting hit by anything - and aside from the dust, he knew he wasn't bad enough off to have cracked his head. He just felt so off.

"James!" Scott jogged over to where they were, frowning over the scene. "What's the story? Who all have you found?"

"I … don't know all their names. Ah, last one I found was Emma Frost," he admitted. "She gave me the numbers … and I'm trying to remember who I found where… I can run back through, but it looks like most of them are accounted for and upright."

"Okay," Scott said, nodding to himself as he looked around. He glanced Emma's way, frowned, and then let out a breath as he turned back toward James and put a hand on the side of his neck to draw his attention fully. "I need you to work with Cable to get the last of anyone you found. Right now, it looks like the death toll is seven, and I'm trying hard not to let it reach eight."

"Sure," James agreed, then gave Scott a word of warning, even going so far as to turn them both away from her for privacy's sake. "Um … she's weepy -she's got a broken ankle and major head trauma." James seemed to sound a little more like himself, even with the headache going strong. "She called me Logan a couple times."

Both of Scott's eyebrows shot up, and he turned Emma's way before he looked back at James. "That bad, huh?"

"I know. It's my own damn fault for switching to yellow and looking like him."

"No, I like the uniform," Scott assured him. "She'll probably be mortified later. She didn't even like Logan, and here she is thinking he rescued her."

James tipped his head slightly, but didn't want to bring up how pushy or touchy she had been. "Sure didn't seem like she had a real problem with him."

"Oh, they got along in a pinch, but she was always happier when he wasn't around," Scott admitted. "He didn't have a problem telling her when she was wrong, and you can imagine how that made her hate him."

"Sure, but, well … she cried on me, so …"

"I'll talk to her," Scott said. "If she's having trouble placing who's who, might as well give her someone she knows. Besides, Hank and Tyler have more pressing cases to attend to."

"Right. Good luck with that," James said as he turned to leave and find Nate.

Scott let out a long breath and then turned his attention to Emma, who was resting apart from the others with one hand propping up her head. He stepped over some of the rubble and then sat down close by, watching her steadily. "Any idea who did this?" he asked her.

"The usual suspects, I suppose," she said, barely looking his way. "There was no warning ahead of time. No escalation of threats."

Scott frowned at that. "Then someone is either making a statement or has a vendetta."

"That doesn't exactly narrow the list, darling."

"Just thinking out loud," Scott replied. "I'll look into it once we've gotten everyone to medical attention. We're sending some of your staff and students to Westchester and a few to Avengers Tower. Frankly, we have too many casualties for just Hank and Tyler," he told her.

"On the chance that this was personal, can I request that you publicly take me away from Xavier's?" Emma said. "The first explosion was just outside of my office. I don't want to drag that kind of attention there."

Scott raised both eyebrows but nodded. "Good call. I can get in a different transport so it's clear which direction you're going."

It wasn't long before Nate and James returned with one of Emma's favorite students between them. And she was trying not to smile at Emma in spite of her injuries.

"Is that everyone?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," James said. "Most of them were with other staff doing college tours."

"Thank God for that," Scott said. He tipped his head Emma's way as he leveled with his sons. "The first explosion was near her office, so it might have been targeted. I'll stick around with her long enough for her to be seen going with the Avengers so no one sets their sights on the school, but I need you to get everyone else shipped off."

"From how she was positioned when I found her, they probably thought she was killed," James said. "I'll help you. I know what her mental state was to start. I can tell you if she's slipping or improving."

Scott nodded. "Probably a good idea," he said, then turned Emma's way. "Somehow, I'm not surprised you managed to find a way to turn surviving a bombing into a production," he said with a dry smirk.

She let out an insulted scoff from the back of her throat. "Scott. Really."

Scott gestured broadly with both hands but didn't say anything else.

"Can I stay with Miss Frost?" the girl between James and Nate asked.

"Of course you can," Scott promised. "We're getting her to medical attention too; you can be with the group that goes to the Avengers." He gestured for her to join them and she let go of Nate to turn and hold onto James a little tighter, smiling up at him. "Nate, I need those jets in the air fast - some of those cases can't wait."

Nate stared at his dad, unable to articulate exactly what he was thinking beyond that stare, because, well, nothing about this felt right. At all. And he didn't even know where to start to point that out.

And yet, the frustrating part was that Scott was right, too; they needed to get the most critical cases to care. James was there and always had their dad's back, so he let out a scoff and took off, already reaching out to Rachel to let her know something was going on.

Of course, with nothing to do but wait on the jets to be loaded - and in the case of the small group with Emma, wait until they were seen getting a Quinjet lift - that also meant that Scott was now sitting in the rubble of a school, and despite the fact that Emma and one of her students was there, he could feel his shoulders start to drop. Without something to do, it was starting to hit him harder, so that he really wasn't thinking of much but how Jubilee's plasmoids had left a smell like ozone and gunpowder hanging in the air or how Graydon Creed's footsteps had sounded as he walked over a picture frame on his way to make his demands.

"Am I going to need to copilot?" James asked in an attempt to draw Scott out of his head.

"Jan's the one bringing the Quinjet, so…"

"I know. You usually copilot for her. I'm asking if you're up to it."

Scott let out a breath, staring at his hands.

"I can't carry you in unless I make trips if that's how it's going to be, dad."

Scott scoffed. "I'm fine," he said.

"Lookin' a little like you need a burger."

"I'll feel better when we get out of here," Scott said in a low tone meant only for James.

"Same," James agreed softly, though he didn't push the girl away that was cozying up and even going so far as to rest her head on his chest.

Scott nodded and then cleared his throat. "Probably safer if you copilot, though. I'll watch these two."

"Can I help?" the girl leaning on James asked, wide eyed and trying to rein her grin back.

"You got a pilot's license?" James asked, facing her fully and keeping his expression mostly neutral, though Scott was at least amused at that.

"No…"

"Then, no," James replied easily and she pouted.

Scott chuckled. "You're concussed," he pointed out, and she smiled crookedly but didn't push it, and instead, she shifted to snuggle in and rest her head on James' chest again, wrapping herself halfway around him- disregarding how uninterested he looked, though he hadn't reacted like he usually did - there was no stiff back or tense expression.

When the quinjet showed up with Jan at the helm, Scott started to direct traffic. James gently helped the girl that was latched on to him make it to the jet and safely buckled her in before he sat down in the copilot chair next to Jan.

"I heard there were deaths," Jan said to him quietly, though her concern shifted right to worry when he saw Scott carrying Emma into the jet. "What …"

"Yeah, they lost seven," James said. "Three were students, the others were staff members. A couple teachers and the other two were support." He was focused on the panel in front of him and seemed to have missed that Scott was carrying Emma Frost.

Jan frowned as she looked between the two X-Men. "James … are you okay?"

"Yeah, just … it was a lot," James said - which was enough to get Jan to relax as far as he was concerned.

"Is … is your dad okay?" she asked gently.

"Yeah." At that, James turned to look, watching his father sit down across the aisle from Emma and her student. "I think he's having some pretty heavy flashbacks, that's all. Doing better than I thought, honestly."

Jan kept her tongue while they got into the air, but kept an eye on both James and Scott since neither of them was acting quite normally. It wasn't until they landed and the guys got the jet unloaded that Jan took a hold of James' arm. "Hey. I thought you were the president of the anti-Emma club. What's going on? You are way too relaxed about her being so close to your dad right now."

James looked a little lost as he gestured almost tiredly. "She was hurt, Jan. I don't know what to tell you. I'm not happy she's here, but it's not like we can just … let her die because it's Emma."

Jan scrunched her nose up at that. "Well no, that's not what I was saying. She doesn't look that bad off though-"

"I pulled her out of the wreckage myself," James told her with his eyebrows raised. "And if I hadn't gotten her out when I did, she would have been crushed. I'm just … trying to wrap my head around that."

"You do stuff like that all the time," Jan pointed out.

"I know," James said. "It's just a little different I guess when it's someone I know. More different when I don't like them."

"Aww, it's tough being a hero," Jan said as she brushed a lock of hair out of his face. "You're doing great, sweetie. This is the hardest part … helping people you'd rather not." She pulled him into a long, tight hug. "Why don't you take a little break while our medical people look these guys over? Wash off that blood, get changed into something more comfy - I have a new hoodie for you, if you're interested."

"Thanks, Jan," James said before he gave her one more quick squeeze.

"I'm sure Jarvis has snacks at least if you need a little bite."

"He always does," James agreed, then slowly headed off to do as she'd suggested. Maybe that was part of the problem - the fact that he had so much of her blood on him and her scent was a overwhelming.

Once he got under the hot water, though, it was all he could do to just lean against the wall and let it pour over him. Something about that whole mission left him feeling cold - and he rarely felt cold regardless of where he was.

Considering the context, and the fact that he knew that he was having mild flashbacks, James didn't think too much about it as he finally pushed himself to clean up, dry off, and get dressed … even if he ended up putting on an extra layer under his hoodie. The air conditioning just seemed to feel too cold for some reason.

When James got back to the kitchen, Nate and Rachel were sharing a look and clearly having a heated telepathic discussion. He paused, looked between them, then stepped around Nate to grab a bite to eat without stirring that pot up if he could avoid it.

Nate tapped James' shoulder. "You want in this chat? We'll pull you in if you work with me."

"No thanks," James said, shaking his head lightly. "You two look like you're solving all the world's problems."

"We might be," Nate defended. "But it'd be easier if you helped."

"What's the story?" James asked between chips.

"Are you kidding me?" Rachel said, halfway glaring at him. "The story is how dad's trying to take care of that dried up old buzzard."

James blinked at both of them for a moment. "You do get that there are extenuating circumstances here, right?"

"Don't look at us like we're stupid," Nate said. "It's one thing to rescue her and something else entirely to do…. That." When James frowned at him, Nate gestured toward where the rescues were. "Go look for yourself."

"I think you're blowing it out of proportion," James replied calmly, then went back to eating while his siblings stared at him in disbelief.

Of course, that was right about when Scott came around the corner looking for a cup of coffee and a moment to clear his head considering how at odds he was with everything that was going on around them. He stopped when he saw all three of them gathered up and let out a slow, measured breath. "How are you guys holding up?" he asked - obviously concerned, considering all they'd just seen.

"Worried about you, mostly," Rachel said, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Rach, I'm fine," Scott said softly. "I'm always fine."

"Then so are we. Next question," Nate said. "What … is even going on?"

"Trying to pin that down right now, actually," Scott said. "It might have been targeted, so I asked Stark to-"

"No. No, I mean what … why are you stepping in for Emma Frost?"

Scott turned his whole body Nate's way. "You mean why am I trying to help someone who just lost friends and students after her school was leveled?" he asked incredulously.

"I mean, why does it have to be you?" Nate countered.

"Who else, exactly, would you suggest?" Scott said. "Who do you know that has watched a school they ran fall into rubble, pulled themselves through, and had to live with the guilt afterward?"

Nate tipped his chin up. "Ororo."

"She's helping the students for the same reason," Scott pointed out. "They need her."

"The concern here is that Emma doesn't want in Ororo's pants," Rachel said. "So less of a conflict of interest. For her. Not you."

Scott let out a breath, leaning against the wall. "Look," he said quietly, "you're right. I'm not okay right now - and that means I need Ororo with the students. If I screw up trying to help Emma, it's not a kid who gets hurt."

"I will go to the students," Rachel offered. "So will Nate. Peers would be just as good." She couldn't help but try to tease and get James to join in, either. "Not James. Too many little fans."

Scott glanced at James, smirked, then shook his head. "I promise, Rach; it's fine. I just know too well what she's going through."

"If it was one of us with a predatory ex, you'd try to protect us, too," Rachel argued.

"Rachel, I love you, but you're not giving me any credit here," Scott said.

"I know that you're more worried about her being vulnerable than you are worried about yourself," she countered.

"Obviously!" Scott shot back, frustrated. "It just happened to her. Do you have any idea what it's like to sit in that aftermath?"

"You're dealing with major flashbacks," Rachel said, then tipped her chin up. "And yes, I do remember."

Scott caught his breath and then let his shoulders drop. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't mean to … of course you're right. You should work with Ororo and the students."

"I'd rather you worked with the students, Dad," Rachel said. "You're good with them. So good!"

"Thanks, sweetheart," Scott said. He smiled softly and then dragged a hand down his face. "I'm sorry. I'm just… having a hard time. I just wanted to get some coffee and sit alone for a while."

"Which is exactly why we want you out of there," Nate said.

"I'm literally just going to be over here with my coffee - and when she's with it enough to answer some questions, I'm going to chase down some leads on vendettas. That's it."

"Let someone else ask the questions," Rachel insisted.

"This is the only thing I can do!" Scott shot back, finally raising his voice. "Don't you get that?"

"Don't you get the risk you're taking?" Rachel countered, matching him.

"You're the one that wanted me back in the uniform, right?" Scott shot back. "Did you think I was just going to play it halfway?"

"Yes! I wanted you back with the team, not risking your stability over Emma freaking Frost."

"And I'm aware this whole situation is tenuous at best, but this is what I can do."

"Obviously not aware enough," Nate said under his breath, but loud enough to be heard all the same.

Through the whole outburst between the three of them, James had kept quiet, and kept out of it, very much like most of the family arguments had gone while the kids were growing up. And right when it could have really gone either way, Rachel turned to James, frustrated and looking for back up.

"You've been awfully quiet this whole time," Rachel half shouted at James, drawing Nate and Scott's attention to their silent member.

"Yeah, well," James said, looking between the three of them before he held Rachel's gaze. "Dad's right on this one." Both his siblings gaped at him in sheer disbelief as he continued. "Neither one of you have had to deal with her, and I saw how out of it she was at the very beginning of the rescue. She's traumatized. It's professional. Right now it's nothing to be worried about."

"Are you kidding me?" Nate blustered. "After the crap she pulled with you, you're defending her?"

James shifted, glancing away from all of them. "Listen. Like it or not, she was a victim this time out. It doesn't matter what she did before. She lost her school. Kids died. How can you hold that against her?" He frowned at both of them before he pushed away from the counter and took his phone out - already texting Billy.

"Yeah, but … she's safe now, it's not …" Nate faded off and gestured openly with both arms. "What the hell?"

Scott gestured to James with one hand. "Look, I appreciate you kids looking out for me. I really do. I just…" He took a deep breath. "I know you hate her. And I know why. But I won't let her go through the same hell I did."

"She told me she couldn't shift to diamond form right now," James said- mostly for his sibling's behalf. "She's hurt. She's probably not herself anyhow."

"She was calling him Logan," Scott added. "I promise, right now I just want to make sure whoever did this doesn't get the satisfaction of wrecking the only adult those students have in their corner."

"I would have tried to reach you both telepathically earlier in the game if it wasn't for how damaged she was," James said. "I didn't know if she'd pick up on it - and I really didn't want to see what happened with a telepath of her caliber with head trauma." He gave them both a look. "Even if we don't like her, you gotta cut her some slack when she's disoriented."

Scott nodded at James, obviously deciding that was that, though he paused to kiss Rachel's cheek on his way past her to get some coffee. "Take care of yourself too, alright?" he said.

"Yeah, sure," Rachel replied, most of her steam gone when she didn't get the back up she was expecting.

Once Scott was gone and James had walked off as well, though, Rachel thought about it for a long moment, then walked down to James' lab, where James was taking a few minutes to double check that he'd gotten everything done for Tony that he'd promised to do for the week. "Are you okay?" Rachel asked gently, her tone shifted from the desperate panic on Scott's behalf from earlier. "I know you're not alright with that woman sniffing around Dad."

"Yeah, Rach, I'm fine," James said in a breath. "And no, I'm not okay with her bothering him, but this isn't even the first time Dad and I have talked about it. He's just … he's putting himself in her shoes and trying to be what he needed when it was him. I think."

"And you?"

"I … am not very useful - as you and Dad pointed out already. I also don't have any commitments in my calendar for the next week, so I'm going to Genosha," James said as he looked up to meet Rachel's gaze.

"That's it?"

"I'm waiting to see if Mia can go too," James said. "If she can, I figure we can fly there and surprise the twins at coffee - local time."

"And Dad?"

"He doesn't need me. He's got Nate and you," James pointed out. "He hasn't had anything to say to me for the past few weeks but to remind me he's proud when we go on ridiculous ass-kissing college tours."

"He hasn't had much to say to anyone since Annie broke up with him," Rachel pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," James said, frowning. "If you want to help him … maybe get him to take a session with Doc Hale, or if he refuses … try Mrs. Kaplan or … he should talk to someone after this."

"Nate's already texting Craig," Rachel admitted. "Told him about the argument just now, too." She let her shoulders drop. "He's not acting… this isn't like him."

"What are you talking about?" James said, scrunching up his nose. "This is exactly like him. In the middle of a guilt spiral."

"No, that part's…" She sighed again. "I just have a feeling, but right now, all I can get from his mind is flashbacks, so it's hard to pin it down."

"It's too fresh," James said. "He hasn't processed it. I doubt any of us have, except maybe Nate." He shrugged. "But he's quick like that, so …"

"Yeah." Rachel held her arms at her elbows. "It's just…"

"Awful, I know. Hell, I carried her out, Rach. Delusional and living in the past is not a good look on her."

"Yeah, well, my problem is I have a small firebird telling me exactly what Emma liked to do in the past, so …"

James frowned at that. "Oh, that firebird … that … is a little bit sick. Don't give it too much credit." He tipped his head to catch her focus. "Do you want distance, or can I at least hug you?"

"Hug, please," she said - and snatched him up telekinetically to bring him over faster so she could bury herself in the hug. She hadn't been lying to her dad when she admitted she was having a hard time . She was frustrated beyond belief that she couldn't tell what was a legit suspicion and what was the Phoenix trying to claw more power when she was already reeling from walking through a ruined school again. Scott wasn't the only one going right back to what had happened, though she remembered Jubilee's spectacular plasmoids as she'd tried to defend them, and she remembered screaming when the wall came down and she'd been coated in dust and rubble.

James kept a tight hold on her until she let up her grip a little bit, then he shifted to pick her up and carry her over to sit down by the window with him. "What can I do before I go?" he asked.

"It's nice to just sit for a minute," she admitted and put her head on his shoulder. "I've mentioned you're a good brother, right?" she added with a smile.

"Only thing I've heard lately is the g-rated version of what you and America have been doing across the stars, so … no."

Rachel snorted. "Okay, I'll fix that and make sure I remind you how much I love you."

"Love you too," James said. "So … let's just hide here for a little bit. You can tell Nate to join us if he's not going to get wound up and start pacing."

Rachel looked past James for a moment and then smirked. "He's conspiring with Kate. Let him be."

"Perfect," James agreed. "What could possibly go wrong with that?"

"Only everything," Rachel teased. "I think Kate's exact words were 'want me to tell my mom she has a new dummy for teaching me interrogation' so…"

"Rachel Anne, I went through a lot of trouble to pull that witch out of the wreckage. Don't let Natasha turn her into some pitiful thing that we have to tip toe around because she's permanently mentally damaged. Let her heal up first."

Rachel laughed out loud. "There you are," she said. "That's the brother I love."

"So, this firebird thing … you know where I keep the marshmallows, right?" he teased before he kissed her cheek.

Rachel smirked, raised both eyebrows, and then, just for him, held out her hand and let out just a little bit of fire at the tips of her fingers. "I've got it under control, and it's… wild how powerful it feels even for little things like this."

"Of course you do," James said with a grin.

"If it could stop trying to make me lose my fine grip on sanity, we could even get along," Rachel said, smirking.

"I think you have sanity in a choke hold already," he said.

"Since I was five, apparently. Kitty was telling me the other day that I spent most of my visit to Genosha telling people it was okay to cry. No idea whose genes those were," Rachel laughed.

"Wow." James shook his head. "Just … wow. You should probably get a license for that kind of thing … 'it's okay to cry. That'll be $250. Thanks'."

"And put Craig out of business?"

"Oh, in a heartbeat," James agreed.

"Then where would we get our Annie updates?"

"I'm working on that. I still haven't given up trying to get her to talk to me."

"Nate's planning to swing by after his college tour is up, too. He says he gets special rights because he introduced them or whatever," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"He absolutely does," James agreed. He thought about saying more, but stopped almost abruptly and settled back in, but the overall effect it had to Rachel was more like he wanted to do more, not say more.

"Hey, have fun with Billy, okay?" Rachel said, not wanting him to feel like it was all on him when he was acting so visibly bothered and needed to get away for a bit. "We've got it."

"He'll probably be too busy to do much with me, honestly," James said. "Mia and I will end up spending all our time on the beach, sending selfies to our princes."

"Mia needs that," Rachel said, smiling. "She had a rough week. Some idiot grabbed her tail when she went for a meet and greet."

James turned her way. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Umm, because Forge went full Protective Dad on the guy. Mia's still upset, obviously, but Forge put the fear of the Maker into him." Rachel chuckled. "It was amazing."

"Oh, yeah, okay. That kind of stuff just doesn't happen around me too much lately."

"You're getting a reputation for putting down creeps," Rachel pointed out with a proud smile. "It also doesn't happen around Billy, who is now known for killing people who cross lines after that leak to the press from someone in SHIELD that JJ snookered into saying too much, or Nate or Kate… it's kind of nice, actually."

"Catch up, big sis." He jostled her. "Join us …"

"Right, right. Next time, I'll terrorize a creep with fire and there will be zero creep problems on the entire eastern seaboard," she teased back.

"Woof. All that power."

"Like I said, it's wild. And fun. And a little bit addicting, but would you believe Annie's niece is the best at noticing when I'm getting too lost in it? She says the plants start complaining."

"Yeah, I believe it," James agreed. "She's a great accomplice, too."

"She keeps asking to be an X-Man, and it cracks me up every time her dad hears her say that."

"I told her she had to get the official permission slip signed by Officer Wright first. She gave me dirty looks for days."

"I told her she had to be a little older and then she should just tell her dad she's joining the team to get specialized training from you on dealing with handsy men," Rachel teased.

"Oh, that's how it is. Thanks for the bus, Rach."

"Hey, you and I both know that will actually get him to let her join the team," Rachel pointed out. "And she's good. She's too young right now, but for as good as she already is? Dad and I are both on the same page on this."

"Honestly … Kate would probably be a better teacher. I still have problems identifying when it's over a line for me. Just … everyone else."

"Yeah, but Officer Wright still loves the story of how you met, so…" Rachel smirked.

"I suppose," James said, then rested his head on Rachel and let the silence stretch out for a long moment. "You know …I promise it's not anything to do with today, but … I still think about heading off to one of Logan's cabins. To stay."

"I know," Rachel said, putting her arm around him. "I'm glad you don't listen to that urge."

"Yeah, but I think next time something stupid happens, I should go for a while."

"Take Billy. Call it a practice honeymoon." Rachel grinned his way. "I know you looked into what it would take to get married. He was projecting nonstop after that conversation. He's pretty thrilled and trying to play it off. And failing."

James smirked. "Well. We have time. What about you and America? You going to prove Dad wrong and make him cry all over himself to walk you down the aisle for her?"

"We haven't decided yet," Rachel admitted.

"Picture it, Rach."

"I know. Picturing it is why I haven't completely ruled it out," Rachel said, smiling wider.

"I'll pay for it."

"Last time America needed something truly hysterical when I was having a bad spiral? She showed me a bunch of joke dimensions and then stopped at a spa in the remote corners of space and I straight up told her if we ever got married, we'd do it there. She's completely on board with the place."

"I kinda figured you two had worked out the basic plan," James said with a nod. "You should see Nate playing house with Katie. Doting doesn't even begin to cover it. He brought her breakfast in bed for a week solid when they started crashing in Cambridge."

"He's so far gone over her," Rachel said with an affectionate smile. "He started perusing ring websites the second he turned eighteen."

"Let me know if he's short. I'll lose a few more bets."

"Warren already has you covered to throw a few bets. He lost a bet about Johnny and Bobby," Rachel laughed. "He lost spectacularly when Johnny was making breakfast at the institute to take up to Bobby's room."

"That didn't take long," James said, then settled in a little better, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. He was half cuddled up with his sister, enjoying being close to her when he suddenly realized something important. "You're warm."

"I know." Rachel took a deep breath and pushed the Phoenix back a little more. "Like I said, the Phoenix is knocking."

"No, it's not a bad thing," James said. "I got chilled. You're a little intergalactic space heater."

Rachel burst into a laugh. "Not only do I love that, but the Phoenix loves that nickname, which is hilarious to me."

"That has to be a first. I'll take it. And tell your Phoenix thanks for being so toasty."

Rachel settled in beside him too, resting her head on his and falling into silence as the two siblings just got their feet underneath them.