All Previous Disclaimers Apply.
"Logan's fine. Everyone's fine. No one even has a scratch!" Jubilee called out as she threw open the doors to Steve's classroom without knocking. Not that she ever did to begin with, but she didn't normally announce herself so dramatically or loudly. Steve looked up from the reading he was giving the class from "Testament of Youth" and cocked an eyebrow at the young woman who was just coming to the realization that she'd interrupted a full class right in the middle of the lesson. Steve smiled at her to let her know that all was forgiven before marking where he'd stopped and snapping the book closed.
"Afternoon, Jubilee," He said pleasantly, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
Jubilee flushed a little, but didn't lower her head, not that he'd expected her to in front of the younger kids who both of them knew looked up to her, "Yeah, uh, Wolverine was just on the horn. Asked you to meet him in the hangar when the Blackbird gets in. He told me to tell you that no one's hurt, but he really needs you to be there when the bird touches down."
"Okay." Steve tried to control his suddenly racing heart by taking a deep breath and reminding himself that James told Jubilee to make sure he knew that no one was hurt. He didn't know what was going on, but fair bet that if his husband was asking for him it was something important.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you all have your topic assignments for your World War One presentations. I want you all to research for an hour, work in groups if you'd like, but a solid hour, got it? You can work here or in the library. You give me a solid hour and you're free for the day. You don't give me a solid hour and I'll know it." He looked at them all, looking up at him earnestly and smiled. He'd never tell them that the only reason he knew when they didn't do as he asked was because they always looked so damn guilty, "We'll read more from Ms. Brittain next class."
"You look tired, sweetheart," He commented quietly as he and Jubilee rode down to the lower levels in the reinforced elevator.
The beautiful young woman Logan had taken on as pup as surely as Steve had taken Kurt on as his, making them all family, looked up at Steve with a weary smile, "It's just trying to get ready to test out of the first year bullsh…crap classes on top of trying to take on more responsibility with the X-Men to prove that I can be a mature asset in the field…"
"You're taking on so much, Jubilation," Steve pulled her into a one armed hug and kissed the top of her head when she snuggled into him, "Make sure you take some time for yourself, too. And no more all-nighters followed directly by mission monitor duty, okay? No use putting in all the work if you're just going to burn yourself out doing it, okay?"
"Mmm," She snuggled a little more, "Okay, Pops."
He chuckled and wrapped his arm more securely around her, knowing she was more than half asleep leaning against him. She'd become much more trusting and physically affectionate since he and James had made it official just a couple of months previous. It wasn't that she hadn't been kind or sweet before, but since she and Kurt had stood up with him and James at their request as the professor married them it was like she'd decided that it was okay to be affectionate as well. Thinking back on his wedding day made him smile and he snuggled her a little more tightly.
After months of dancing around what they knew was inevitable as they worked toward a much healthier relationship he and James had finally come to the conclusion as they lay in bed after a robust round of lovemaking that it was time. There was no big proposal, no ridiculous plans to be made. Steve simply said that he thought that it was time and James agreed. They set a date in the late summer before the leaves could start to change, asked all of their friends to endeavor to have the afternoon free, agreed to meet with Tony's tailor for a couple of new suits, and asked a few select people to stand with them. Jubilee and Hank with James and Kurt and Bucky with Steve. They hadn't even set up chairs, just had Charles marry them in a simple ten-minute ceremony under their favorite tree on the grounds with their friends surrounding them and made their way to the large back patio where they cooked on the grills, used the exterior sound system to play a variety of music, and let Tony pay for and bring in entirely too much alcohol. They'd also taken him up on his offer to take a long weekend at his rebuilt Malibu mansion and the three glorious days there had been enough of a honeymoon for both of them.
Then it had been back to the everyday insanity of the mansion that they both loved. Steve had started his training for those in the mansion who needed to learn about the defensive fighting, James continued his work with the X-Men. Sometimes Steve would lend his tactical mind to one of their missions, but only when they didn't have a lot of credible intelligence. This last mission had been one that he'd helped plan because they'd had almost no intel and that had been worrying from the moment he'd sent James off with a kiss. None of them had known what the team was walking into. All they'd known was that Charles had heard a mutant cry out for help mentally and he'd been able to use Cerebro to pinpoint his location before he'd been silenced. As much as Charles hadn't wanted to put his people in danger he hadn't been able to simply ignore the cry for help. Steve was glad to know that all of their people were fine, that no one was coming back injured, but knowing that James wanted him as soon as the plane touched down was still a bit worrying. He sat on a couple of empty cargo crates with Jubilee half on his lap and still half asleep in the hanger for nearly twenty minutes before the bay doors began to open.
He laughed when Jubilee snorted inelegantly as she woke completely and stood with her by his side before the plane opened up and the team began to disembark using the cargo ramp. Ororo gave him a cryptic smile that was echoed by Remy's equally cryptic smirk. Rogue made an unintelligible squeal when she spotted him. Jean ignored him completely while her husband nodded to him in acknowledgement. Before James could disembark Hand had made his way over to Steve.
"He wanted to introduce you to them before he tried to get them out of the plane. They've been clinging to him since…well, I'll allow your husband to tell you the story. Try to make yourself seem smaller, less threatening? They're very skittish."
"What?" He wanted to ask more, but Hank pushed him toward the Blackbird before pulling Jubilee along behind him despite the way she was complaining that she wanted to know what was going on.
As he walked up the ramp his sensitive ears caught something he hadn't heard in years, not since the night after Bucky had fallen from the train and James was trying everything he could to calm the despair Steve was feeling. James was singing. His voice would never win awards, it was scratchy and deep, almost off-key, but to Steve it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever heard. He crouched down when he spotted James sitting against the wall, huddled between the metal and one of the seats. He wasn't sure, at first, what he was seeing, until James shifted a little and he noticed two very small little ones huddled together next to his husband's strong form. James didn't stop singing, in fact sang a little louder when the girls huddled together with small whimpers of fear. Instinctively, stopped, then sat on his backside, curling his shoulders in to make himself seem smaller. It only took him a moment to recognize the song James was singing and join him quietly, even putting in a bit of harmony.
Slowly, the little ones began to relax and Steve took the time to observe them. Two little girls, he realized first, nearly identical twins from the looks of them. They were gorgeous little things, somewhere between two and four if he had to guess. One had pure white hair and golden eyes, the other had pitch black hair and crystal blue eyes. When one of the little girls pushed her hair behind her ear he noticed they were curved in an elfin fashion. He took a second look and noticed their clothes, or lack thereof. They were both in a pair of stained panties and tank tops that had seen better days. No socks or shoes despite the fact that the weather was beginning to turn cold.
"Okay, little ones," James said gently when the song was over, "This is my husband, Steve. I told you about Steve. I brought you home so that we can both protect you. That's all we want to do. Protect you. No one here is going to hurt you. No one's ever going to hurt you again. Can Steve come a little closer?"
It took nearly an hour before Steve was allowed to sit next to James, nearly another hour before one of the little girls trusted him enough to reach out and touch him. After that it was a fairly short time before Steve was holding one little girl in his arms while James held the other, though the sisters continued to hold hands between them.
"He was keeping them as pets," James said quietly when the girls had fallen asleep, "Sick bastard sought out mutants he thought were beautiful and bred them for their looks, keeping them like they were in some sort of sick zoo. Once they started showing signs of manifesting powers other than their beauty he had them killed. That's what happened to the poor kid Chuck heard. He was manifesting telepathy. Guy had him killed before we go there. When we showed up he started…God...he was force-feeding them poison. They weren't the only ones left, but near enough to it. I got them out of an oversized birdcage and I just couldn't…they were crying and looking up at me with those eyes and they smelled like mine, like ours, and …I couldn't just leave them there, even though some mutant-friendly volunteers were coming for the rest. I…I had to bring them home, Steve. I…"
Steve smiled at his husband's ramblings, knowing how deep and beautiful a heart the gruff exterior hid.
"James…" He pressed a kiss to husband's mouth, then pressed their foreheads together when one of the girls let out a little sigh, "You did the right thing." He looked down at their little girls in their arms and felt his heart swell to accommodate the love he was already feeling for them, a love he knew would only grow.
"You brought our girls home," he liked how the sound of it felt in his mouth before he kissed James again, "It was definitely the right thing."