Chapter 8: What Being Human Is All About

"No."

"Violette, could you just-"

"There's no way in hell I'm supporting you in this, Kurt Wagner" She should probably swallow her pride and tell him it was okay to want to reconnect with his mother, but she had a hard week and this was giving her a headache. "She's a psychotic bitch."

"She's my mother."

"Hardly and only through biology" The words were harsh but true and they both knew it. Still, they seemed to fall on deaf ears. Violette sighed, feeling defeated. "Rogue won't agree."

"I know" He sat on her bed, his whole posture deflating. "But still, I need to try. I want to try."

"You're crazy" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his forehead, before resting her chin on the crown of his head. "I love you, you know?"

"I love you too" Kurt's arms wrapped around her middle, tugging her closer towards him, his nose bumping into her collarbone. "So please, just let me do it."

"I'm not your mother" And neither is she. "You don't need my permission."

"No."

"Rogue-"

"I said no."

Kurt sighed, sitting next to her on her bed. He bumped her knee with his, but she just scooted away.

"Please, Anna-"

"Don't you dare guilt trip me with my given name" But he already saw her shoulders slump.

"It's because I love you. I don't want you to regret not doing it later on in your life" He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. "We're siblings and I want you to be happy."

"The only thing that woman can bring me is misery, Kurt" The conversation was visibly over. Kurt stood up, his hand lingering on her shoulder. He slowly made his way out. "And I love you too, little brother."

He felt a small smile make its way onto his face. Maybe not all was lost.

The worst part about her problems with Kurt was that the closest thing among X-Men that she could call her best friend was Ray, and he was taking the whole UCLA and Senior Year thing incredibly seriously. Violette found him in the Institute's library, head first in a book about evolution.

She was about to open her mouth when Ray told her that he was sorry but he was way too busy for anything. She pouted and went off to find her next victim.

It's weird what an afternoon in a super villain's kitchen can do. For example, help form a weird friendship.

"He's an idiot."

"I know."

"Have you told him though, Violette?"

"Stop it with the overly-French pronunciation of my name, Remy" She rolled her eyes, landing another punch to the bag Remy was holding tightly. "He's going to get hurt and so will your girlfriend."

"Merde, she's not my girlfriend!" He pushed the bag away from his body and Violette jumped out of the way at the last minute as it swung widely. "Je suis désolé."

"It's okay" She began to take off her gloves, trying not to show how much it scared her. "Do you want to talk about it, or…?"

"Rogue isn't up for it" Remy sighed, scratching his head. "Said somethin' 'bout touchin' and my Cajun hands not bein' able to stop themselves and how it was better off this way."

"Ouch" Violette sat down on the bench, patting the space next to her. "And you actually like her."

"Oui" Remy sat beside her, leaning his head on her shoulder. "What should I do, Violette?"

"First, you stop mopping" She pushed his head away. "Especially on another girl's shoulder. Second of all, you talk some sense into her. She's into you, you're into her, skin-on-skin contact isn't everything. And third, are you really still smoking?"

"I'm sorry you can't, Violette."

"No, stop it, I'm supposed to be happy about not getting cancer."

"Remy'll try to air out from now on."

"See, you can be sweet when you put your mind into it" Violette stood up, picking up her bottle of water and taking a sip. "You just need to show her that."

"I did, many times" He took advantage of the empty bench and laid down on it, his hands covering his face. "The worst part, mon ami? It's not like she didn't flirt back."

"The only advice I can give you is to stay strong, Remy" She patted his shoulder and headed for the showers.

'Speaking of the devil' She thought as Rogue walked out of the elevator and jogged over

"Whatever he did, I didn't have anything to do with it."

"What?" The goth blinked a couple of times, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Sorry, thought you were about to blame me for something Gambit did."

"Why would Ah?"

"We're kind of friends I think" She shrugged, taking another sip from her bottle. "And he's not above blaming shit on others."

"Whatever" Rogue shook her head as if to clear her mind. "Ah need your help."

"Are you sure stalking is the best idea?"

"It's always the best idea" Rogue huffed, looking at the device in her hand. The small dot representing Kurt was moving steadily west.

"Yeah, no wonder Remy's into you" Violette said to herself, feeling weird behind the X-van's steering wheel. "Well, the bad news is that the road's ending."

They were basically in the middle of the woods.

"Good, cause he stopped moving" Rogue got out of the car and Violette followed her suit, running after her. "We'll keep tracking him on foot."

"Where did you even get that?"

"Ah looted through mission equipment" Keeping up with Rouge was a struggle. Violette had no idea how she walked so fast, maybe X Men training was just that much superior to New Mutants'. "Come on Violette, who knows what she might have set up!"

"A humble but sincere opportunity to reconnect with her child?" While she hated Mystique, Violette wasn't going to immediately assume the wors when it came to her intentions with Kurt. After all, it was her and the Brotherhood who ruined her efforts the last time.

"You can't possibly believe that!" Rogue walked towards the nearest clearing and froze. Violette trotted over and sighed.

In the middle of the clearing stood a humble lake house with a black SUV parked next to it. Violette peaked at the monitor of the tracking device and sure enough, it seemed like Kurt was inside.

"Somehow, I do."

It was the weekend. There was no way she was doing anything that important - he knew first hand that she liked to do her homework right after it was assigned, which freed up her weekends. So she was free. On a weekend.

'Seriously Jamie, there's no reason to overthink this so much.'

Except that maybe there was. Because it's not like she gave him any signals after Valentine's Day or something.

'She had no idea what the date meant.'

So maybe he was overthinking it.

She was sitting on the sofa with Tabby and Piotr, the older girl explaining Big Brother to them as they watched season 3 reruns.

"And Americans just watch it?" Piotr seemed clearly confused why they would do that.

"Not only them, big guy" Tabby smirked, putting her hand on his thigh. Laura seemed a bit uncomfortable, so Jamie didn't feel that bad about taking her aside. "A big chunk of the world does."

"Laura?" The girl snapped her head in his direction, but he got used to that by now. She just reacted very fast compared to other people. She wasn't pissed. At least he hoped so. "Uhm, can we talk for a second?"

Tabby smirked knowingly and even Piotr gave him an encouraging smile.

"Okay" Laura didn't move from her seat, just raised her eyebrow in waiting.

"Uhm, alone?"

She looked at the remaining two on the couch and when they didn't protest, she got off the couch and followed him to the kitchen.

"Do you maybe want to go see a movie today?" He said it way too fast. That's not how it was supposed to go.

"In an actual theater?" Her eyes lit up and he was reminded how cool those things had to seem to someone who wasn't used to them. "Yeah."

"Great" His voice cracked. Oh no, his voice cracked. "The only thing I remember they're playing is a rom-com though, we can see if there's anything-"

"What's a rom-com?"

Kurt shifted uncomfortably in the chair, wiping his hands on his pants. He thought that the beginning would be awkward, but actually sitting down with his mother and her girlfriend - something he didn't expect to find out today - to eat dinner was worse.

"I hope you like curry, Kurt" His mother walked in from the kitchen with a heaping bowl of rice in one hand and a tureen in the other. She placed both of them in the middle of the table and started filling up his plate.

"Uhm, sure, thank you" He smiled unsurely at the woman, taking his plate back from her.

They were about to start eating when somebody knocked on the door.

His mother quickly turned into her Principal Darkholme disguise and motioned for Kurt to do the same as she walked over to open it. Irene smiled warmly and as soon as Mystique opened the door, Kurt's jaw hit the floor.

"Uhm, hello Mystique" Violette uncertainly waved her hand. He could clearly see Rogue standing behind her, looking sheepish. "Kurt. A lady I don't know. Would you all believe us if we told you that we just randomly got lost in these woods or not?"

Jamie wasn't sure why Laura chose to see the rom-com after he explained what it was. And it wasn't like How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days sounded like an amazing movie with an incredible premise.

"So" He kicked a small rock that happened to be in his way. "What did you think?"

"It was enjoyable, I guess" She munched on the remaining popcorn. Somehow Jamie couldn't stomach anything during the movie, so their purchase of an extra large seemed a bit silly in hindsight. "Not my kind of a thing, I think. You?"

"Same here" He scrambled for anything that could save their outing. "Uhm, wanna check out the swings in this park?"

Laura seemed to be thinking about something very hard before she gave him a tentative yes. He wasn't really one to push people, so he just lead her to the playground. They sat next to each other and softly swung, watching people pass them by.

"Thank you" Jamie almost fell off his swing when he heard her break the silence. "For taking me out of the mansion. No one else tries to."

"Thanks for agreeing to hang out with me" Now's your chance dude. "Uhm, I really like you, Laura."

She seemed to contemplate what his words meant for a very long time. He had no idea that he could feel this warm in this chilly March air.

"I like you too."

Maybe it wasn't what he meant. It didn't matter. Because her smile at that moment was worth her not getting just how deeply he felt about her.

Logan lit up his cigar, looking through the files Fury sent him concerning the Hellfire Club. They were few and mostly empty, with as little as three confirmed names and no aliases.

Two of them, Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost didn't ring any bells. The blonde woman wearing all white looked like any generic Los Angeles beauty he's ever seen. There were no pictures connected to the man.

The third name however complicated things. Very much so.

In black, bold letters, 'Emmanuel DaCosta' drew his eyes back to the page.

Except for the pictures of Frost, everything else in the files concerns DaCosta, down to the last sentence on page 4.

His youngest son, Roberto DaCosta (alias: SUNSPOT), is currently enrolled in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. (Suspected member).

Logan sighed, knowing that sooner rather than later he had to bring these to Chuck's office and talk to him about it. That he should encourage Charles to dig through the boy's mind, despite not believing that he had anything to do with the club.

He grabbed the papers and started to make his way to the elevator, dreading what was about to take place.

After that fiasco, Jamie turned to the only person he knew could help him.

"Give me a break, garçon."

"Remy, this time it's not French."

"I know."

The man was lying face down on his bed, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in. Gambit's room was impeccable and appeared completely untouched as if a trace of him being in his own room would somehow stain his reputation. Jamie let himself in and refused to move from his spot on the carpet.

"She had no idea that I really like her and now I don't know how to explain it to her."

"What really liking means or that she had no idea?"

"Oh ha, ha, very funny."

Remy sighed and sat up, patting the space next to him. Jamie sat on the covers and waited for Remy to tell him something helpful.

"Give her some time, mon ami" He put his hand on Jamie's shoulder, squeezing. "Also, you've got any idea how to make Rogue change her mind?"

"Impossible" Jamie shook his head. "She'll either change her opinion on her own or never."

"Merde" Remy turned his back to Jamie and went back to suffocating himself among the covers. "Wake me up if she ever does."

Kurt didn't buy it.

"Why would you do that?" He insisted on driving the van with the girls both seating in the back seat. Maybe he learned that trick from Ororo, cause nothing made her feel more stupid than his eyes boring into her from the rearview mirror. "You don't want to contact her and I respect that, Rogue. I don't understand why you can't respect my decision to stay in touch with our mother. And you" His eyes moved back to Violette. "You're unbelievable. It doesn't concern you at all."

"If it concerns you, then it does" She tried to make herself smaller, hoping it would make her disappear from the mirror's range. "I can't let you get hurt."

"Same here" Rogue chimed in, resting her forehead on the surface of the cool window.

"Why won't you two treat me like an equal!" The van screeched to a holt and Kur turned to face them. "I'm not Jamie, stop treating me like I'm a child!"

That outburst completely shut Violette up. She closed her mouth and sat back, feeling as if he just punched her in the gut.

The remainder of the car drive was in complete silence, with Kurt slamming the door as soon as he got out of the car and porting to his room.

"Damn his flair for dramatics, he's going to wreck this car one day" Violette tried to lighten the mood, but Rogue didn't move an inch.

"Do you think he's gonna go back to hatin' me?"

"No" Violette put what she hoped to be a reassuring hand on the goth girl's shoulder. "He's probably mostly mad at me."

Rogue nodded and squeezed her hand with her own gloved one before exiting the van, leaving Violette alone in the garage. As soon as she walked out, Violette felt hot tears fall down her cheeks.

"Mon amour?" It was terrible, hearing these words leave his lips and knowing they could never truly have that. Not in the way both of them wanted. "Are you okay?"

"Ah'm not sure" She was standing in his doorway, her feet dragging her to his room without her conscious decision to do so.

"Rogue, did something happen?" He got off the bed and walked towards her, his height towering over her frame per usual.

She got so used to him being there when she was sad. When she felt like she screwed up and hurt Kurt. When the world seemed to be collapsing and closing in on her. She took a step forward and buried her face in his black T-shirt, her arms wrapping around his fully covered waist. She was awfully aware of her uncovered shoulders when he let his own arms circle around her, his hands touching the fabric on the small of her back.

"Oh, cherie" He sighed when she started to delicately shake with silent sobs. "You're really confusing this ol' Cajun heart of mine."