Chapter 17: "A Little Bit of Fooling Around"

Although Charlie had been spending a great deal of her time looking out for Cody, Gerry had put his foot down and insisted that she needed to take some time for herself. And since Kari and her cute little boyfriend had extra tickets to a Broadway play, Gerry had set it up for them to make a day of it and even grab food afterward.

And he knew it was a good idea when Charlie relaxed halfway through The Little Mermaid and rested her head on his shoulder.

He loved it too, mostly because it was cool to watch the illusions that the stage crew made to make it look like the actors were swimming. The hidden skates, the moving boards, the lighting tricks all made it look like an underwater play, and he honestly enjoyed it.

He was also keeping an eye on Kari and Tim. He really wasn't too worried about them, simply because this guy had been incredibly shy and because he knew Kari knew how to take care of herself. But still, he thought it was his duty as the oldest Hawk to look out for her.

He did notice that the two of them were curled up together and that Tim had his hand on her leg, but he also noticed that her tail wasn't wrapped around Tim's wrist or ankle.

Gerry raised an eyebrow but filed that away for the moment. Charlie would probably step in if it kept going too long, but he didn't need empathy to know that Kari wasn't as interested as Tim was. Gerry was, after all, trained by his mom and dad to notice everything. And Kari's body language and tail told him all he needed to know.

Still, he could also see the honest enjoyment on her face, so she was having fun. And she was still a kid, so it wasn't something worth stepping into yet.

Charlie rested her chin on Gerry's shoulder during the intermission while Tim and Kari were gone to get some chocolate. "Thanks. I needed to get out — you were right."

"I usually am," he couldn't help but tease her as he turned back to face her and kissed her.

"And you're looking out for your little cousin too," Charlie giggled.

"Hey, I can multitask," Gerry defended.

Charlie laughed and nodded. "Don't step in, alright? This isn't too imbalanced. She does like him, really."

"A little bit, maybe."

"Sometimes things start with a 'little bit'."

"Yeah, I know," Gerry said, shaking his head. "And she's having fun and all that. I'm just watching out to make sure-"

Charlie leaned over and stole a kiss to cut him off. "You're such a good big brother."

"And you're a good big sister," he said. "Cody loves being around you; it's obvious."

"He thought I was dead," Charlie pointed out.

"Yeah, and now you're giving him hugs all the time and doing your very best to protect him from his own guilty conscience," Gerry said. He kissed her cheek. "It's one of those things I love about you."

Charlie smiled at him and stole a longer, proper kiss. "Love you too, Gerry."

"You got a minute, Charlie?" James said after he'd knocked on the music room door. "I know you weren't looking for it, but …" He held up his closed fist and took a step toward Charlie.

Charlie looked up at him from the piano and smiled his way. "Hey, James, what's up?"

"Artificial emotion transfer."

Charlie's eyebrows shot up. "I… what?"

He let out a breath and let his shoulders drop. "I was watching Cody around … everyone, and it seemed really obvious that everyone's been skirting around him. I've been trying to figure out how to make it easier for him, and I thought … it might help people to be a little more in tune if they could walk a mile, so to speak."

Charlie's eyebrows shot up before she simply pulled James into a hug. "That would be amazing," she said. "He's still having a hard time telling people anything, and he gets so… he gets upset at things that seem so trivial."

"Might help Jana too," he added quietly.

Charlie nodded at that. "It might. She's just… she's very confused."

James nodded. "Yeah" He gestured to the little device. "There it is, anyhow."

Charlie smiled at him as she took the device in her hand. "How does this work? Do I have to be holding it with someone? Physical contact?"

"Control is on the side, like the others. But this one … You can wear it and then, if you can focus on one person ... " He showed her the little design on it that was a subtle directional nod. "Theoretically, you can channel it so that the person on your right projects to someone on your left."

"Got it," Charlie said. "And I'm the middle man, so to speak."

"I prefer 'moderator'."

Charlie smiled and then hugged him again. "Would you like to come with me when I try it out? We could find Kade and give you a little injection of troublemaking — like you need it," she teased.

He winced. "I wouldn't want to project out to anyone if my direction's backwards."

She paused and frowned his way for a moment before she nodded. "Alright," she said. "I'll hook up Mom and Cody. I know she would like to know what he's feeling, and if it goes the other way, Cody just gets a dose of love and hope."

James nodded at that. "Just let me know if it doesn't work right. This ought to be the right step toward you being able to search. Individually."

"That would be great," Charlie agreed. "Keep all my friends and family out of trouble."

"I know this isn't what we talked about, but …" He shook his head. "I'll figure it out."

"You're a genius, James. I know you'll get there."

"Not that much of a genius," James argued. "But… one step at a time."

Charlie smiled and popped over to kiss James' cheek before she practically skipped out to go find Cody.

As she'd expected, he was with their mom. Annie had roped him into helping with dinner — though she was trying to ask in a way that he could turn her down since K had pointed out the difficulty he had with saying 'no' — especially to people in his family. But even the rest of the family could hardly say no to Annie, so there he was, helping with the bread dough.

"Can I borrow you both for just a minute?" Charlie asked with a smile as she got into the kitchen,

Annie turned her way with a smile. "Of course you can, sweetie."

Charlie smiled a little wider and held up James' device. "James whipped this up for me," she explained. "It… basically, it's a way for me to conduct emotions from one person to the next."

"Really?" Annie's eyebrows shot up, but Cody was already shaking his head.

"Charlie, you already have to listen to me all the time," he pointed out.

Charlie let out a sigh before she skipped over to her much taller little brother and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Yes, but other people don't understand it. And I know it's hard to explain why you shut down when you slept in yesterday. I'm just trying to help you communicate." She took a deep breath. "Jana too."

Cody looked down at the ground at that, his eyebrows drawn together. "Okay."

Annie's shoulders dropped as she watched Cody, then glanced over at Charlie. "Let's try it," she said.

Charlie nodded and arranged the two of them on either side of her before she turned toward Cody. "Let's start with a transfer from Mom, huh?" she said before she turned toward Annie. "Can you just… just think about Cody and how much you love him, okay?"

Annie beamed at her daughter and nodded, holding Charlie's hand and giving her a little squeeze before she closed her eyes and concentrated.

But while Cody was watching Annie, Charlie was watching Cody until he couldn't help but smile when the emotional transfer hit him. The smile just kept growing until, finally, he simply stepped forward and scooped Annie into a long, tight hug.

Jana still felt a little awkward around Remy, though she was getting more and more used to him. He didn't seem to be quite sure how to react to her, either — especially when she still had days when even making the decision to get up felt like a battle. But once she'd agreed to let him teach her how to pick locks, they seemed to have come to a little more of an understanding.

Part of the trouble was the simple fact that Remy had no idea whatsoever how to break the ice with her. Not with a lifetime of missed opportunities that Remy didn't even know he was missing until she went missing. And he wasn't about to bring up anything about Sinister if he could help it. Which left them exactly jack and squat to talk about.

Finally, Jana set down the tools. "I know you want to talk to me, but you're projecting everything you don't want to say," she said. She tapped her head. "It's an interesting contrast with the calm feeling you're putting out when you're thoughts are sort of … lost."

"Don' know quite where to start," Remy admitted.

Jana nodded. "I guess we could start with… I don't suppose you know who my mom is?"

"She wasn't no thief," Remy said with a little smile.

"Well, that makes one member of the family," Jana said, gesturing at the tools.

"She was a detective," Remy said, still smiling. "And a darn good one to figure out how to catch me."

Jana looked up at that. "She caught you?"

"Well, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," Remy said low. "She figured out how. Didn' say she did it."

At that, Jana actually smiled. "She did, though. Maybe not in cuffs, but she did."

"She was a charmer," Remy said with a grin.

Jana smiled again at that. "Well, I'm not. So I must have missed something somewhere between you two."

He leaned toward her. "You just ain't had the time to use it, petit."

She smiled as she ran her hand through her now-short hair. "When I was — when I was here, Scott said I was a natural leader. Not exactly charming, but…"

"It's in de same ballpark," Remy said.

"Well… do you know what happened to her?" Jana asked. "My mom, I mean."

He shook his head lightly, though he didn't look as if he was very optimistic, considering that Jana said she was an orphan. "No, but I kin give you her name. Didn't have de heart to look into it."

"You didn't say anything when I was a kid," Jana said. "When I was thirteen… joining the team…"

"Couldn't see it till you was grown," Remy said. "Then I didn't know until ol Hank came up wit his theory."

"Well, he was right," Jana said. "That's why Sinister did what he did." She frowned and shook her head. "I know you're not happy with what Billy said about us being family with Scott…"

He shrugged lightly. "He was always a lil' too uptight fo' my taste. But there ain't a ting wrong wit' him."

Jana flushed a bit as she looked down at her hands. "I don't really have much from when I was growing up here, but he was my hero when I was a kid."

"Oh, he had mellowed by that time," Remy assured her.

Jana nodded. "I guess so," she said. She looked up at him. "And now, I guess, I take after my mom. I was pretty good at strategy and surveillance - back when I was an X-Man."

"It'll come back," Remy assured her.

"I don't know that I should be an X-Man," Jana said, turning the tools around and around in her hands. "The team I used to be on is scattered across the country, and the kids on the team now were tortured and almost killed at my hands. Not exactly something people can get past."

"Then it's a good thing that most of the senior team been there done that."

"Rachel told me," Jana said. "But I — I still don't know. The only things I have left of my old life are the fact that K still teases me about being from Detroit." She looked up at Remy openly, knowing that he was projecting calm to her to help her open up but not really caring. "My best friend is married and my old boyfriend found someone else. My old teammates are all married off having their own lives. Even the house looks different. My childhood hero had a heart attack and isn't on the team anymore because I — he kidnapped Cody—"

"What are you talkin' about?" Remy said with a frown. "Scott still on de team, first of all. Your best friend still your friend and loves you. And you can do better'n dat smelly ol' basketball fool."

Jana watched him for a long moment and then let out a breath. "It's just not the life I left. That's what I meant."

"You can't go back to there. You gotta just make your own path now."

"That's what I was doing," Jana pointed out. "I made it all the way to the senior team for one great moment, and now it's ten years later and I'm walking around in what feels like someone else's body."

"That'll change — but you'd do better usin' your body. Go do something. You been doin' nothing but hidin in a lab — or he was. You prolly couldn't even beat the tracksuit program. Yet."

Jana couldn't help but smile at that. "Elin did suggest getting a tan," she said, then slowly looked up at him. "Maybe…" She took a deep breath. "Maybe I should do that."

"Maybe you need to go on down wit' me and see if you can not hurt yourself wit' a bo staff."

Jana smiled at that and nodded. "And after that… "

"We have Gerry turn de lights up if it's too late for you to lay out," Remy said.

She couldn't help but laugh. "Alright. That actually does sound like fun." She took a deep breath. "And then maybe … when Rachel says it's alright… you could show me around New Orleans."

"Oh, that's gon' be required."

"After I can beat the tracksuits with a bo staff," Jana said with a small smirk.

"One step at a time," Remy chuckled before he offered her a hand up.

"I'm starting to think I'm not very patient," Jana said with a little smile.

"Now that you prolly got from me."

Kaleb and Sadie had been spending the summer taking advantage of their amazing combination of powers to keep from getting caught causing trouble together. Sadie had the nose and ears to know when someone was coming, and Kaleb had the teleporting powers to get them out before anyone spotted them.

It was so much more trouble than anything they'd been pulling individually. And their parents were well aware of exactly that.

But that evening, they weren't up to too much trouble. They were in the movie room watching Princess of Thieves — or, well, that was the movie playing on the screen. They weren't actually watching it but were wrapped up in a serious kiss on the couch.

Kate frowned a bit to herself when she saw it and knocked on the doorframe. "Do you kids want any popcorn or something?" she called out — mostly just to let them know that she was there, not that she thought Sadie didn't know.

"No thank you," Sadie sang out.

"We're fine, Mom," Kaleb said, not moving any further away from Sadie.

And when Kate couldn't really come up with any reason to stick around that wasn't just being a nosy mom, she let out a breath and headed down the hallway, her eyes narrowed when she heard a little laugh and gasp behind her from the movie room.

She was still feeling rather grumpy about the whole thing when she got down to one of the training rooms where she was supposed to be practicing fencing with Kurt for some alone time together — and she didn't even let him get in a word edgewise before she leveled a finger his way. "Your genes, Kurt."

"What's wrong with my genes?" Kurt asked, tipping his head to one side. "I thought you were fond of them." He flashed her a toothy smile and teleported closer to her.

"Your son is in the movie room with Sadie Howlett. Giggling."

"Giggling isn't bad," Kurt said with a shrug.

"They've been kissing. All over the place. In little secret corners — and 'porting away before they can get caught getting up to trouble."

He started to chuckle at that. "What did you expect from a dashing young man and his lovely friend?"

"Kurt… Kurt! This is my oldest son!"

"And as I understand it, he's involved with someone that carries hug magnet genes. It's out of my hands." He was grinning a bit too widely at his own little joke.

Kate drew herself up, but she really didn't have anything to argue with when he was going to bring in her own jokes. "You are… ugh!"

"Vogelchen," he said, pulling her closer by the hand. "Have they done anything to be in trouble?"

"I don't know that for sure, but I just know — I just know that's what the two of them are — ugh!" Kate threw up the hand he wasn't holding.

Kurt was smiling at her crookedly. "Do you think that her parents are sleeping on the job?"

"No, obviously, but I just…"

"You just want to have a discussion with Logan and K about their vicious ballerina daughter toying with sweet Kaleb's virtue?"

"You know what, yes!" Kate said. "Sure! Why not?"

He couldn't help but laugh at that, but with a little nod, he pulled her tightly to him and teleported up to where he knew K and Logan were spending a moment alone themselves. "I hate to interrupt - but we have serious concerns."

"What now?" Logan said, sounding entirely put upon from where he had obviously been kissing K.

Kate pushed against Kurt with a look of pure betrayal. "I was being facetious you — you—" But Kurt was grinning wickedly and thoroughly enjoying all of it. She let out a frustrated sound and then turned to Logan and K. "Kaleb and Sadie are trouble," she said.

"That's not really a newsflash," Logan said dryly.

"No, but when this one gets all twisted up over his little girls dating, it's normal. When I get twisted up over my boys getting more serious and growing up, he takes me here to laugh at me," Kate said, glaring up at Kurt.

"He's old-fashioned that way," K said with a smirk. "How sweet."

"Oh, is that what they call it?" Kate said without dropping her glare Kurt's way.

"You do know that if it gets more serious than the little make-out sessions that I'll step in, right?" Logan said.

Kate waved her hand at Logan. "Logan, this is not about your quest to stab my son, but we will talk about that later."

"I'm not on a quest to stab your son," he said with a laugh.

"You will be if it gets more serious," she said, finally turning his way. "Should I be worried?"

"How old do you think Elin was?" Logan said. "Or James?"

"I know when they were about fifteen Krissy was freaking out about Elin. James…" She glanced up at Kurt. "I'd say when he and Vanessa started getting serious."

"And how many stab wounds did you count?" K asked.

Kate waved her hand. "I know, I know. But he's my oldest son!"

"As long as they're not being idiots, if you try to step in the middle, they'll just. Get. worse," Logan said. "Come on. I'm sure you never rebelled as a teenager. No flings with idiots or aliens, right?"

"This isn't about — you're terrible, you know that?"

"I know I had a few wicked flings," K said, nodding. "Logan and Kurt too, I'm sure."

"Yes, absolutely," Kurt agreed.

Kate let out her breath and shook her head, turning back to Kurt. "You," she said, "are evil. You can't just … bring me here so they can defuse me for you when this is about your genes."

"I thought it was about the evil ballerina hug magnet," Kurt said with a perfectly concerned expression.

Kate let out a noise of frustration before she just pulled him down to kiss him hard. "Just shut up you — you demon."

Kurt broke into a laugh and swept her up only to grin at Logan and K. "Sorry to interrupt."

"Text next time," Logan called out before Kurt and Kate disappeared in a swirl of smoke.