Chapter 18: "Okay, This Looks- BAMF"

Jana was starting to wonder if she would be able to pull off tattoos with her healing abilities.

She'd been trying to tan, but that hadn't worked at all. Even a blush of a sunburn healed within seconds, no matter how long she stayed out there. But maybe she could find some kind of ink…

She examined her reflection in the mirror. She liked the electric blue color her hair was now - and the piercings that went up and down her ears. As long as she left those in, they wouldn't heal, and she'd made sure they were all studs so they wouldn't tug in a fight when she sparred with Remy.

She'd forgotten how much she liked training, but sparring with Remy brought it all rushing back to her. The hours that she'd poured into trying to become an X-Man, studying tactics with Scott and practicing every dirty trick she could convince Logan and K to teach her…

She was surprised by how much she wanted to go back to that. She wanted to go back to the team she worked so hard to get on.

But she knew that wasn't possible just then. Not when there were still days that she forgot she was the one in charge of her body. Not when she still froze up when she saw anyone that Sinister had hurt while he was in her body.

Jana shook her head and went back to her reflection. She put on some bright blue lipstick, a darker shade than her hair.… maybe she could find a way to tattoo freckles or something. If that would even work with healing.

She shook her head to herself. Well, this was as different as it was going to get, with jeans and a violet printed tee shirt. So, she ran a hand through her blue hair one last time and headed to sneak into the kitchen. She knew Rachel wanted her to try to integrate more, but she also knew that she wasn't the only one who had to get used to her reintegration. So she tried to at least let everyone else eat first.

She wasn't exactly expecting K to still be there, since K was usually one of the first ones there and gone. But it looked like John had set the pace that morning - he still looked tired and a little squirmy and sniffly. It must have been a summer cold.

"Morning," K called out. "Welcome to brunch."

Jana nodded her way. "Good morning," she said. "Long night?"

"Bad combo of couldn't fall asleep and then couldn't get comfortable," K said, nodding.

Jana made a sympathetic noise. "Sorry to hear it," she said as she grabbed some cereal.

"All of them seemed to be really good at catching every single cold that circulated — well. Until a certain age anyhow." K shrugged. "Kinda balances out."

Jana nodded thoughtfully as she sat down. "I wanted to ask you about that, actually — the healing." She gestured to her pale skin. "I can't tan at all, but I thought… maybe a tattoo? Something to make me look less vampiric."

"Alright," K said, nodding. "Well … that … will depend a lot on what degree of healing you have and ... " She paused and narrowed her eyes at her. "What kind of tattoo are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure," Jana said. "Honestly, maybe something as simple as tattooing freckles?"

"It's possible," K said. "Freckles would be pretty simple - you can put those on with makeup. But if you wanted ink … it is possible."

Jana nodded. "I think I'd like something that won't wash off."

K nodded again. "Then you'll just have to ask Akihiro when he comes by," she said. "He could tell you."

"Ooh, right. He's got that…" She gestured to her arm.

K nodded. "And I'd guess his healing is a little more advanced than what you've got. No offense."

"None taken," Jana said. "I didn't want it anyway."

"Funny, that seems to be the one everyone wants," K said. "Joining us for brunch?"

"Yes, it looks like it," Jana said with a nod.

"No tea," K said with a little smirk. "Oh darn."

"I'd be more surprised if you weren't projecting that you're hiding it from me and Cody," Jana said with a smirk as she poured herself some orange juice.

"I'm not hiding it. There's green tea in the cabinet. Help yourself."

"That's not what we drink," Jana said, shaking her head. "Drank."

"Maybe it should be," K said. "It's supposed to be spiritually centering. The green."

"Maybe I'll try it then," Jana said.

"Ask Akihiro about it when you get tattoo advice. He'll want to spend half his time here in a tea house anyhow. Get some matcha."

Jana nodded to herself, though she didn't really comment on it as she simply ate her cereal. She did, however, look up when the door opened — and froze with the spoon halfway to her mouth when she saw Cody in the doorway, also frozen when he saw her.

K watched the two of them for a moment, and it seemed like John could tell something was terribly off too. "Hi," John sang out, watching Cody.

But Cody didn't really move or acknowledge John at all, very nearly holding his breath, and Jana found herself at a loss for what to say to him to reassure him that she wasn't Sinister anymore.

"Hey," K said, sure that she couldn't leave John behind while she tried to help Cody; that would probably freak him out pretty badly. "Want me to whip something up for you?" While she spoke, she was projecting as hard as she could: Not the same person. Look at her. Have you ever seen Sinister do anything but dried toast and the blood of his enemies? Girl has Sugar Bombs for chrissakes.

Cody finally blinked and glanced K's way for just a second before he lightly shook his head. I… I should go.

You don't have to — and you'll need to face each other sooner or later, K projected. But … if you do run … I'll find you later.

Cody didn't move from where he was in the doorway, at least not until Jana finally cleared her throat and tried to say something. "Cody, I—" But when he halfway winced away from her, she fell silent — and then she was the one to leave, very quickly, just leaving her breakfast behind in favor of putting distance between them.

"Cody," K said gently. "You know I'd never let Sinister in the same room as John, right?"

Cody swallowed and let go of the doorway — which, K noted, now had his fingerprints in it. He nodded lightly. I know.

"And you know I'd never allow Sinister to be in the same room as you, right?"

She…

Was possessed. I know you're fighting the reaction, and you're doing well, believe it or not. But … if it helps, I will show you what Sinister really looked like. The scent is entirely different.

Cody nodded slowly. If you say so.

K patted the chair nearest to her. "I'll let you look beyond the surface thoughts if you need to see it."

At that, Cody lightly shook his head. I don't want to see Sinister.

I understand that. I just need you to understand — and I'm sure you do — that Jana has been a victim this whole time. HE used to be well over six feet tall and stronger than a damn ox.

Cody still hadn't really left the doorway. Like me, he said, even his mental voice quieter than usual. Chloe… Chloe has vague flashes of memory from when she worked with Sinister and she … she thinks she was helping him… helping him with the beginning stages of building a body. For himself. Based … based on me.

"Yes, and she's been blaming herself just as badly as everyone else around here," K said gently. Don't … think about what could have happened. Please. You'll kill yourself with what ifs.

He finally let his shoulders drop a bit as he slowly moved to sit down beside her. I can't help it.

As soon as he was seated, she turned to pull him into a hug. "You are safe here. And I would tear myself into pieces to make sure it stays that way."

Cody nodded before he leaned into the hug and practically melted into her shoulder. He could remember pretty clearly how true that was. The retelling that Chance had given him of the shooting range incident in which K had cut into herself to save Chance's life was hard to forget, even as a secondhand story. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.

You don't have to be sorry. You've only known her when she wasn't herself. Of course she freaks you out.

I thought — I was late to breakfast and I'm not supposed to break the schedule and I thought—

You set your own schedule now. If you want to sleep until noon and have spaghetti for breakfast at 1:30, do it.

Cody nodded at that and simply held on a little tighter until he could at least get a handle on the honest fear he'd just been feeling. K let him stay there, too, until his breathing started to even out.

"I'm not going to rush you, sweetheart. But you have to know she's fighting that same schedule — but from a different angle. She had no control over her own body and no way to fight. She couldn't sneak. Or cheat. Or work around it either."

Cody nodded. "I know," he said. "I know. I just… panicked."

"You're doing great," K promised. "And you're allowed to panic, like I'm allowed to hug the snot out of you afterward."

Cody nodded again but still hadn't picked his head up. "I like the blue hair," he said. "That — that's fun."

"She asked about tattoos," K said with a little smile. "I think she's trying to go as far away from uptight Brit as possible."

Cody finally took a deep breath and sat up to look at her. "Is she … okay?"

"She was just as scared as you were," K told him.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"Don't be," K said, shaking her head. "Grab some food. Breathe. I'll hunt her down when I'm done feeding John. He's a little sniffly."

Cody ducked his head down to look at John and gave him a little smile. "That's too bad."

The little guy smiled up at him and started waving with one hand. "Hi."

Cody waved right back at him. "Hey, John. Good morning." He seemed to set his shoulders as he got up to get some food. "Thanks, K," he said quietly.

"Any time, kiddo. That's what I'm here for, right?"

He smirked at that and nodded. "Right."

With his brother and sisters all tied up in romances, Kade was taking full advantage of the fact that this meant he had the bamfs more or less to himself to play pranks and have some fun that didn't involve kissing people.

Of course, for the moment, he was hiding up on the roof away from Chloe, who had not been happy about the fact that he'd basically turned her entire room into a death trap of LEGOs and other toys he could find with edges.

And full cups of water…

And maybe a few airhorns attached to the toys that went off when she tried to pick them up…

So, Chloe wasn't exactly happy with him, but that was why he worked with the bamfs. They'd gotten him up to the roof and then promised to poof around a few other places to throw her off the trail.

But Chloe was smarter than that and knew pretty much exactly where to go — all of the Wagners liked the rooftops.

"Hey!" she shouted angrily his way.

Kade startled when he heard her call out to him and took a step back — and then lost his footing.

"Oh, crap!" he shouted as he went tumbling over the rooftop, flailing to try and keep his grip. And then, a second later, he hit the pool — which was nowhere near where he had been falling.

Kate and Jubilee had been out at the pool when Kade fell into it — so they saw what he didn't, which was that the smoke wasn't the blue bamf smoke but a maroon color, like his fur.

Kade popped back up out of the water, shaking out his fur and wiping his eyes. "Woah," he said, looking around at the water.

"What were you doing anyhow?" Jubilee asked with one eye closed and her head tipped to the side.

"Oh, I — I fell off the roof," Kade admitted as he swam to the ladder, looking around for the bamf he was sure had rescued him.

"Uh huh, why?"

"Chloe startled me," Kade admitted.

"Chloe doesn't go around startling people," Kate pointed out with a smirk.

Jubilee held one hand up as if she was hiding what she was saying. "I think we're not getting the whole story for some reason. I can just … look."

Kate chuckled and shook her head as she went to hand the dripping boy a towel. "You know you 'ported, right?" she told Kade.

Kade stopped and stared at Kate, then narrowed his eyes. "Nu-uh. I think I'd know something like that," he said, shaking his head.

"Most Hawkeye response ever," Jubilee cackled.

Kate couldn't help but laugh as well as she pulled her younger boy into a hug. "I know you're used to 'porting with the bamfs, but no, you absolutely did it on your own."

Kade's eyebrows shot up as he looked up at Kate, and then he broke into a grin. "Cool!" he said, then immediately scrunched up his face as he obviously tried to do it on purpose.

"So … if Chloe startled him …." Jubilee had one finger at her chin.

"It really should have been Malin. I can't even tease K about this one," Kate giggled.

"As I understand it, you're trying to blame Sadie for the next step with Kaleb," Jubilee said quietly and then fell apart giggling.

Kate let out a gasp of a laugh and reached over to hit her friend in the arm. "That's my little boy you're talking about!"

"I'm sorry, it's just the first time that I can recall the girl being the villain in a dual deflowering." She tried to keep a straight face, but it just wasn't going to happen, and instead, it was all Jubilee could do to keep from falling out of her chair. "So … big bad Chloe …"

Kate reached over to push Jubilee in the shoulder, though she didn't have to say anything when Kade was making gagging noises. "That is so gross!"

Kate grinned and ruffled his hair. "Yes, baby, it absolutely is. You're so right."

"Oh, that'll last like … ten minutes," Jubilee scoffed.

Kade wrinkled his nose at her and then stuck out his tongue. "Nu-uh. I'm not gonna get all gooey over a girl like Kaleb does."

Kate grinned. "Atta boy," she said, ruffling his hair again.

"A boy then?" Jubilee asked, chin up and perfectly straight faced.

"I don't want to kiss anyone," Kade said. "It gets in the way of makin' trouble!"

"Yeah, I'm sure there are NO grown ups to disprove that theory," Jubilee said seriously.

"Kaleb just wants to kiss all the time," Kade said, still making a face.

"Kaleb is Kaleb," Kate said, shaking her head. "You should just be Kade."

"Okay," Kade said, scrunching up his face again as he tried to teleport. "Ugh. How long does this take?" he asked.

Kate laughed and pulled her arm around Kade's shoulders. "Come on. Let's go talk to your father. He'll want to help you get the hang of it."

"I don't want lessons," Kade said, making a face again. "It's still summer! I don't want to have to do school stuff!"

"This isn't school stuff," Kate argued. "And 'porting is fun!"

"Not if it's a lesson."

Kate rolled her eyes and simply grabbed Kade by the arm. "Well, that's too bad, Kade. I'm your mother, and I say you're going to practice."

Kade was pulling ridiculous faces all the way back to the mansion — both because he didn't want to go and because he was trying to teleport on his own so he could go back to playing with the bamfs. "Mo-o-o-o-m."

As it turned out, Kurt was with Logan — the two of them were shooting pool and smoking and drinking and generally low-key causing trouble with a few bets between them when Kate caught up to them.

"Lookit that, saved by the wife," Logan muttered. "Why is it she always shows up when you're losin' so bad?"

"I have amazing timing," Kate said with a smile. "But believe it or not, I'm not just here to be a white knight."

"What's going on, Vogelchen?" Kurt asked with a wide grin.

Kate gestured to Kade. "Kade needs 'porting lessons," she explained. "He wound up in the pool today on his first 'port."

"Who was he kissing?" Kurt asked, laughing already. "Seeing as that seems to be what does it."

Kade made a face at his dad. "I was not kissing anyone!" he insisted with his arms crossed. "I don't kiss people. That's Kaleb's thing."

"He fell off the roof when Chloe found him after he spent all day teasing her," Kate explained.

Both men stared at him for just a moment, but after a beat or two, Logan simply fell apart laughing, and Kurt wasn't far behind him. "Those are your genes at play! Falling off of a roof! Where did that come from?" Kurt teased.

Kate couldn't help but shake her head at him when he was so clearly entertained. "Well, the other one is pure you. I had to get one too."

"That fell off the roof when he 'ported," Kurt said, smiling wider.

Kate just shook her head again before she slipped over to him and kissed him quickly. "And you're not getting up to trouble at all, I'm sure," she teased. "That's definitely not whiskey on your breath."

Both Logan and Kurt started to shake their heads, and Kurt answered with a low, drawn out "Noooo, nope."

Kate laughed at that and kissed Kurt again before she waved Kade over. "He says he doesn't want lessons," she told Kurt. "I told him he has to learn."

Kurt nodded his head seriously. "Yes. he does need to learn." He kept nodding, and Logan snapped Kate's way.

"Hey, take his cue so he can pretend to be an adult," Logan said. "Finish his game."

Kate laughed as she stood on her toes to kiss Kurt until he didn't even put up a fight when she snatched his cue — and then, she twirled the cue in her hands. "Ooh, Kurt, wow, you were losing." She grinned up at Logan. "You got him drunk and took advantage. That's my job."

"Softened him up for you," Logan said with a smirk.

"And I thank you very much," she said as she lined up a shot and sank the ball Kurt had been trying to get.

"Now it's a game at least," Logan said as Kate shooed Kurt to go talk with Kade.

And while Kate was playing with Logan, Kade wrinkled up his nose at his dad. "It's the summer," he complained. "We only have a week and a half 'til school. I don't want to do school things until school starts!"

"It's not school," Kurt said patiently. "It's a path to better troublemaking," he said much quieter.

Kade looked up at Kurt with his head tipped to the side. "I'm trying to 'port. I just want to do it. I don't want to have to practice."

Kurt smiled and put his arm across Kade's shoulders then 'ported both of them across the grounds where no one was anywhere near them. "You will do it, but you have to practice. A little."

Kade watched Kurt for a long moment. "Is it going to be as fun as archery practice? Because if there are explosive targets, it's fun. But I've seen Kaleb learn and it just looks like a lot of sitting and concentrating to me."

"Kaleb was doing a lot of sitting and concentrating because he was using the girls to teleport," Kurt pointed out.

"Well, I don't want to get scared into 'porting, either," Kade said.

"Then we need to teach you how to do it right," Kurt said with a grin. "Then you can cause trouble and get away with it a lot better. Just think of the pranks you can pull on Chloe if you can disappear out of the room without the bamfs?"

"Not just Chloe," Kade clarified.

"I should hope not," Kurt said drawing himself up a bit more than he usually would have - just because he was a bit tipsy. "She's much too old for you."

Kade rolled his eyes. "Papa, I'm not kissing anyone. I already said that. I'm not like Kaleb. That's boring."

"Your Mama will be glad to hear that," Kurt said. "But it doesn't change things. You still need to learn how to get away."

Kade let out all his breath in a rush. "O-kay," he said. "But only because it's for trouble."

"Yes, well … I'm sure that because you got busted causing trouble, you'll need to spend a week cleaning up the labs."

"Hey-y-y-y-y," Kade said, looking totally put out.

Kurt leaned down just enough to match his eye level. "Did you tell Chloe what happened or are you working toward giving her a heart attack?"

"Oh, I - I didn't tell her, but that's because I dropped in the pool and Mom caught me that way," Kade admitted, losing a little of his bluster.

Kurt smiled a little wider and nodded his head. "We should find her before she riles the rest of the Summerses."

"Can't we let her rile them?" Kade asked with his head tipped to the side. "Just a little bit?"

He chuckled and put his hand on Kade's shoulder before they teleported off in search of Chloe.

When they did find Chloe, she was talking to Cody and in the middle of asking him if he could look for Kade telepathically when she heard the bamf and spun around to face Kurt with wide eyes — right up until she saw that Kade was with him.

"Kade!" She rushed over to wrap him in a hug. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Kade couldn't quite duck the hug, so he let her hug him and then grinned up at her and patted her cheek. "It's okay. I 'ported into the pool."

"You — what?"

"I. Ported. Into. The. Pool." Kade rapped lightly on her forehead with his knuckles. "Hello? Anyone home in there?"

Chloe pushed away his hand. "Since when have you been porting?"

"Since just now," he said. "Pretty cool, right?"

By that point, Cody was trying to hide the fact that he was chuckling behind his hand. "Looks like he's just fine, Chloe," he said quietly.

She spun around to point at him, but the fact that he was laughing was hard to argue with, considering how rare it was still. "You — you're all such boys."

"Yep," Kade said, nodding seriously before he gave her an actual hug. "Sorry I scared you."

Chloe shook her head as she returned the hug. "Yeah. Well. Okay, congratulations on 'porting." She let him go and then shoved him hard in the shoulder. "And that's for booby-trapping my room."

Kurt nodded at that and put a hand on Kade's shoulder again. "Speaking of which…"

Kade pulled a horrible face. "I said I was sorry…" But they had already teleported to the lab before the sentence was through.