A/N - No. I didn't forget this one. I'm just ... trying to gather up all the strings to yank people around better. I think ... I may have a handful.


Chapter 14 - Every Betrayal Is First Rooted In Trust


As it turned out, Scott found out about K's mission with Steve, Tony, and a handful of Avengers not from one of the ferals, though Logan knew exactly what was happening, but from a morning news broadcast. He had slept poorly after a fitful night with Rachel, who just didn't seem interested in sleep, so Scott had been the one to volunteer to let Jean sleep. While Scott was slowly adjusting his coffee the way he liked it, he listened to the news about the Avengers. As usual.

As it turned out, the Avengers had broken up a nasty sect of Hydra that had been involved with torturing mutants, and though Scott was honestly glad to see the Avengers involved with helping mutants, he was more than a little taken aback when for the broadcast, instead of being tucked away in the back, or off camera entirely as was K's normal modus operandi, she was front and near center, nestled between Tony and Steve like that was always her place.

In spite of the topic of discussion, Scott found himself propping his head up with his palm, leaning forward on his elbow as he watched the broadcast and utterly distracted by how solidly K was backing up the Avengers. The only thing that distracted him from that though, was Logan walking into the kitchen with his kids.

"Hey," Scott said, barely looking toward Logan, "Did you see that your wife is making headlines with the Avengers?"

Logan looked up and smirked crookedly. "Surprised it took 'er this long. She's lookin' good an' whippin' em into shape," he said - and the kids looked perfectly proud of their mom with their Avenger 'uncles'. "She'll be runnin' it in no time."

"Not the point, Logan," Scott said with a small measure of heat. "I thought she was all about keeping her low profile."

"She is." Logan raised his mug as a means of gesturing to the screen as he took in the minutae details of the body language in play on screen. Yes, she was front and center between Tony and Cap, but it was plain as day to Logan that she didn't want to be there. And it was just as easy to see that Tony was the culprit - and considering the escalating flirtations that Stark had been throwing her way, he didn't feel badly one bit that he was about to acquire a limp. But, it was possible that Scott simply hadn't seen it. That, or he was wrapped up in his own head and his own issues so much that he wasn't taking everything into consideration.

Logan watched Scott fidget - he was rubbing his thumb against the side of his index finger at the first knuckle. And when he wasn't doing that, he was flexing and unflexing his jaw - a sure a sign of trouble as black clouds were of rain. "You know that's on Stark. She'll make him pay for it later. It'll be fine. Never caused much trouble for me to show up with Cap. Don't worry about it."

For just a moment, Scott honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing. He opened his mouth to say something twice, but forced himself not to. Barely another moment later, he was doing his best to keep from tearing into Logan since this …not only was it absolutely wrong - the publicity from the Avengers had caused so many problems for Logan - but this was so far beyond a simple misunderstanding between teams… this was insane.

What's more, K had never allowed Scott to pull her into the front of things when the cameras were on, even when she'd been the lead on saving kids. Even when there was no possible way that her involvement could have been misconstrued in any way. But she'd go along with freakin' Tony Stark?

The same Tony Stark that had been advocating for mutant registration? Scott couldn't even begin to process it. And he didn't trust Tony any farther than he could throw him. Especially for how close he was sticking to K - a listed living weapon.

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor as one of the twins pulled the chair from the table was enough to remind Scott that the kids were still there. And he refused to fight in front of them if there was any way to avoid it. So instead, he simply turned and left because had he stayed one more minute in the same room with Logan, who didn't get that his wife had just sold out the X-Men entirely, he was absolutely going to lose his cool in ways he never had before. This … if the team didn't rely on them so much-

Scott, Jean projected to him. She'd seen where his thoughts were headed. I can't believe that K of all people, would turn her loyalty fully to the Avengers so easily. Let me talk to her.

You'll be wasting your breath, Scott replied. It's pretty clear they're leaving. No reason to fight over it. If they don't want to be here, then it's time.

Jean let out a sigh, entirely disappointed in his viewpoint, even though she could understand exactly where he was coming from. I don't think that's true, Scott. There's got to be something we don't know. You know it's not that simple.

Maybe it should be. Get it over with. Pretty clear they don't want to be here anymore anyhow. They've done their best to avoid the team here entirely and she's playing soft ball with that sonofabitch Stark.

I know we're not getting the whole story, sweetheart. We can't be.

Of course we're not. Why would they tell us everything? They hardly tell us anything.

Jean sighed, knowing full well she wasn't going to be able to talk him down when he was this angry. Not by working purely telepathically, anyhow. I'll meet you at our usual spot.

No, I'm fine, Jean. Really. I just … need to reach out and see who I can get to cover for them when they end up disappearing again. You know it's coming and my hands are full as it is with the wave of new students. We don't have the staff to handle them playing these kinds of games.

You don't know that they're leaving, Scott.

Of course I do. That's what he does every time, Jean. He waits until he's most relied on then he disappears. Well, I'm not waiting for him to pull the rug out from under us this time. I'll be ready with someone to cover the gaps.

You don't know that you'll need that, Scott.

Jean. I know you consider Logan a friend and that you get along well enough with K. I also know Rachel loves Abbey and the twins, but we know how this always ends. I don't have the energy to argue it or the sway to stop it. All I can do is figure out how to fix it.

Which I think can be done by talking to the two of them.

Well, you can deal with Logan because I want to send him through a wall. Let me know when K gets done posing with Iron Man for the tabloids and decides to lower herself to talk to us.


Meanwhile, Logan was a little busy himself - not just with the kids, but with everything else on his mind. The kids were great. Abbey had a tendency to try and help with James and Rose, even if the three of them ended up more messy than if she hadn't tried to help.

What was bothering Logan was how pushy Cap had gotten, and how good he'd suddenly become at manipulating everyone around him into doing what he wanted. Sure, Steve was great at getting results, but he always made you feel like it was the right thing to do - not … this kind of almost strong-armed pressure.

Logan was still saying no to any meaningful long-term help with the Avenger's Academy. He just didn't have enough hours in the day or days in the week to make that happen, and as it was, he owed K more than a quick weekend to make up for all of his time being tied up with the Avengers.

Which made him realize how quiet it had been lately in regards to the usual kind of trouble Logan drew down on himself.

When Kurt came in a short while later, Logan wasn't prepared to talk to his 'best friend' … not after the falling out they'd had. He wasn't going to ask him for help, and he wasn't going to make a thing out of it … so he found himself a little conflicted when James and Abbey beat both men to the punch and greeted Kurt with warm, cheerful smiles and launched themselves at him for a hug as Rose climbed down from her chair to do the same.

"It's nice to know someone in your family will say hello properly," Kurt said as James hit him around the neck with a bear hug that nearly took his breath away. "Maybe one of these days your father will let you join me for story time again."

The chorus of giggles rose up quickly with the twins chanting 'now, now, now' fast enough and loudly enough that not only did Logan not get a chance to say anything before Abbey was running for the books - but Rachel had rushed in ahead of Jean to join in the fun.

Kurt didn't ask permission - he rarely did anyhow, but with the four kids dangling off of him or bringing him books to read, it was clear to the Fuzzy Elf at least that there was no alternative option. His protests to wait were overpowered by the children as they pulled and climbed on him … until Kurt let out a harsh word in German and teleported the whole group of them to the play room … and giggles erupted down the hall like a crash of water.

Jean was caught up in the fun of it, still smiling at the kids when she realized Logan was leaving her in the dust. "Hey, I was hoping we could have a word, mister."

"Nothin' you need to say, Jeannie," Logan said over his shoulder. "And I gotta look into somethin' real quick."

"Is that something anything to do with why your wife is falling into step with the Avengers?"

"Nah," Logan called back, already surprisingly far ahead of her. "Just the usual trouble. Don't think she's had time to check her own reports."

Jean frowned at that though. "What are you thinking?"

"That the chances of someone not pitching a bitch over her makin' headlines with Avengers is next to nothin'."

"That might be what Scott was so upset about, you know…."

"There's a whole lot that Slim's upset about. All the time. I can't keep up with it an' I'm pretty sure that bingo card's full anyhow."

Jean let her shoulders drop as she rushed to catch up - skipping over the normal routine to fly after him. "That's not fair, Logan."

"Very little is, darlin'."

"He's just-"

"Jeannie, you gotta quit makin' excuses for him. I'm not askin' for one anyhow."

"I make excuses for you, too, you know," she defended - a blush rising up on her cheeks.

"And I never asked you to do that either," Logan said, turning to hold her gaze for a moment, but if she was expecting to see a more calm, teasing response from him, she was mistaken.

Jean blinked at him for a long moment as realization set in … just about the time that he read through some of the coded intelligence at K's laptop. "Logan. You can't just … what is that?"

"Not sure," Logan admitted as he looked through the different feeds. "Buzz seems to be pickin' up though. Haven't seen why. No new interested parties, doesn't look like they have the kids on their pick up list. Which …" Logan sighed heavily. "That's a relief."

Jean was frowning. "But they still want you. And your wife…"

"Yah, well … the sky is blue an' water's wet. That'd be more surprising if they didn't want us."

Obviously, Jean could see that this presented a different problem … one that Logan and K both had warned of - and had been losing sleep over for the past several years. But when she shared the thought with Scott, she hadn't expected Scott's mental response to be open, sailor worthy swearing, or a bitter edge lining his mental voice. And she didn't know how to slow him down. Especially when Logan wasn't letting her into his mind, either. "Tell me what you know," Jean said to Logan as she pulled up a chair next to him.

"Slim listenin' in?" Logan asked without looking up from his work.

"Of course he is," Jean said, though that had Logan's hands pausing over the keys. "He needs to know the risk level for the scho-"

"I know. Believe me, I know," Logan said with a growl. "Don't mean I gotta like it."

Jean scoffed, but settled in all the same - trying not to let Scott's fuming mood push her the same way.


One minute, K was walking off of a press conference stage - sandwiched between Tony and Steve in what had to be a spot that flocks of fans and admirers would have killed for … and the next, she was earnestly trying to figure out how she'd gotten from the tower … to pulling into the driveway in Westchester..

It was late, so she wasn't surprised when no one was sitting by the door waiting. It was incredibly pleasant, however to find Logan half-asleep with the twins curled up on him in their suite. She smiled crookedly and made her way over to steal a kiss, then picked up James to put him back to bed while Logan carefully stood up with Rose to do the same.

The twins still preferred to be together, and unless they were both with either mom or dad, they would push to be with each other. As soon as both James and Rose were settled in - and snuggling each other, Logan pulled K over to him by her waist to say a very warm and welcoming hello that drifted back into their bedroom.

"Did you miss me?" K teased between kisses, though he only pulled her in a little tighter and shooshed her as they got more involved. "Missed you too."

It took them a while before words were actually spoken again, and then it was only as they wer both starting to drift off to sleep, curled into each other. "How'd the mission really go?" Logan asked quietly, his eyes closed.

"Honestly, it seemed to be fine," K replied, shifting to curl in a little better. "We got the bad guys, Steven got to throw his weight around-"

"Steven, huh? Sounds like someone's in trouble."

"Halfway to trouble. He'll get middle named when he's in trouble."

Logan chuckled at that and kissed her forehead. "Don't let the Summerses know your middle name then. They'll wear it out."

"You can tell them it's 'Your Excellency'," K said sleepily, unbothered by whatever it was that had the Summerses worked up. She was getting a little tired of trying to play middle man for them - trying to keep the peace when the guys so clearly wanted to fight. She was almost hoping to see a lion fight - but at that, K blinked her eyes open. That … that wasn't at all how she'd felt in the past. And there was no reason for the shift, outside of the obviously rising tensions. But that part … it didn't line up. Last she knew from Jean things with the Summers family was actually going great. The pregnancy was on track, baby was getting five star reviews from Henry for how gifted it was already - Jean had already let slip that she could hear the little one's mental signature, though it was quiet and not fully formed.

Scott should have been on cloud nine. Or as close to it as he could manage. His wife and children were healthy and thriving. The school was running like a well oiled sewing machine - even when she or Logan had been forced to deal with other things. Hell, it was running well even when Henry had also been recruited along with them .

Hydra was on the ropes. There was only a bare whisper from Weapon X last she'd checked.

K sat bolt upright at the thought, realizing all at once that she hadn't been looking at that when she'd been so preoccupied with everything else. She started to pull the blanket back, but Logan's arm squeezed around her middle to hold her still. "I haven't been checking my data stream," she said sleepily.

"I have. We can go over it in the morning. Right now, you're better off just stayin' where you are," Logan rumbled, then pulled her in tightly just to make his point clearer.

"I just want to know how bad it is-"

"They're not sure what to do with you now that you're an Avenger. They haven't been able to figure that out with me in a long time. You're fine for tonight. We'll look at it tomorrow."

"Anyone else know what the deal is?"

"No. I'm not in a sharin' mood."

"Which is why I need to stay."

"Now you're gettin' it."

Against her better judgment, K let Logan pull her back and curled into him. This … was a lot more pleasant than worrying about anything, and she found herself leaning into his scent - with the scent of sunshine still clinging to his skin on top of everything else. He was right, she was pretty sure. They could look at intel later. Right now, taking the time to just be was more important.