(A/N): I have so much fun with chapter titles, and you know this. It's like... it's like a twitch :P And I totally agree; Scotty needed the cookie. He usually gets stuck with cleanup duty, but let's be real here. Of COURSE those two would get along. Cute little orphan runaways who are trying to find a new family for themselves? Oh yeah. Jean saw that opening and RAN WITH IT.

Chapter 8: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

The next day at breakfast, Scott was still in an excellent mood. He'd already gotten to cheer Kurt up tremendously letting him know that if he wanted to bond with Clint, he just had to mention that he'd grown up with the circus. And now, he was sure that he could at least talk to K and see if he could get an evaluation after the way she had seemed to open up a little more on seeing Clint and scott getting along.

And beyond that, Jean was right — she had been in the files, and they did need to know what she was capable of.

He waited until Clint had dashed off with Storm before he sat down beside K and gave her a small smile. "So," he said. "I was hoping to gauge a little better what it is that you can do. It's something we do with everyone —an evaluation of your powers, training… might help us know how we can help with the people after you, too."

She listened patiently to him as he spoke, and when he was finished, she shook her head lightly. "No thank you," she almost sang out.

"We're not asking you to join the team," he clarified. "It's an eval, not anything more."

"I know," she said in a very reasonable tone. "But that's kind of the fast route to a panic attack, and I'd rather not."

That did get Scott to pause, and his eyebrows were high as he considered it. "Don't like being watched?"

"That's part of it, sure," K replied. "But … I've seen the room you'd use. And I have to give you a hard no."

Scott shook his head. He could understand wanting to avoid a panic attack; he really could. But there were ways to work around that, he was sure. "It doesn't always look like that. We have hard light; if that's the problem, you can walk into a simulation instead of starting in the empty room."

K shook her head once more. "Scott, I'm sure it's very impressive, but the truth is, I don't tap into any of that unless I have to."

Scott frowned. "You don't have to hide it, you know. That's part of what we're doing here-"

"I know," she said, still keeping an even tone. "But I'm telling you: that's not a great idea. For me."

"We're just trying to learn more — how to help you, what you're dealing with from the department…"

"I'm pretty sure you already know," K replied. "They're hunting me, and I've been trying to make that hard on them."

"Yeah, we've dealt with that," Scott said with a nod. "But you have to admit — all that programming is easier to deal with when you have help, and it's easier to help with more information."

"Honestly, I've never really had any help," she countered. "If I don't use any of it, it feels further away."

"That's a recipe for disaster when you do use it," Scott pointed out.

"I don't have the same hangups, Scott," K replied frankly.

Scott let out a long sigh. "It's also easier for us if we know what you can do… to be honest, it's about security as well. I know you know how important that is; you did your research on us."

She tipped her head his way and frowned deeply for a long moment. "I don't know how long we'll be around. Let me at least think about it. That's … you don't know what kind of a problem that is."

Scott nodded. "That's fair," he said at last. After all, he wouldn't be able to get a decent evaluation if he forced her into a situation that would panic her that hard.

He still needed to get an evaluation, of course. He just had to figure out how to approach it. After all, as K had pointed out: the X-Men were supposed to be good at dealing with victims of trauma. And despite the focus on Clint, that applied to K as well.

He wanted to practice what he preached, after all.

While Scott knew that it had been a real victory to get K even considering the evaluation, the professor wanted him to keep trying. The professor wanted to see what she could do — and Logan wanted to see what kind of programming she was fighting.

"She's considering it," Scott pointed out when Logan brought it up again — after Charles had hammered home that they needed to test her. Again. "She was honest about the concerns — and after all the work Jean put in to win their trust…"

"Come on, Slim. At the rate we're goin', that's never gonna happen, and you know it," Logan argued. "Name one time you didn't push anyone else into an eval in the first few days."

"Right, because forcing her into anything is a better idea," Scott said dryly.

"She's got you trained up pretty quick, doesn't she?" he shot back.

Scott turned to glare at Logan. "The whole point," he said, "is that we want her to trust us. And I'm not going to further traumatize a traumatized person. You know she was right — we're supposed to know how to deal with these situations."

"See … and I thought the whole point was to assess what kind of risk the woman carries," Logan said. "She's not going to trust anyone here anyhow." He shook his head, a plan already formulating. "If Weapon X is hunting her that hard, don't you want to know why?"

"No, Logan, I just like sitting back and living in ignorance," Scott said dryly.

Logan let out a little scoff. "We gotta bait her into it."

"She's not going to rise to any bait if she knows we're evaluating her."

"Not any you're laying out," Logan said dryly.

Scott just shook his head at that headed down the hall the opposite direction to catch up with Jean. He was tired of having this same argument, and besides that, he would rather catch up with Jean in a good mood after teaching Clint than deal with Logan.

Clint was once again outside with Sicem — playing fetch with a tennis ball — when there was a now-familiar bamf behind him. When he turned around, Kurt was hanging out of a tree upside down with a grin. "Hallo, young man."

"Hi, Kurt," Clint said, giving him a little wave as he wrestled the tennis ball away from Sicem.

"I won't waste your time … a little red-eyed bird told me that you had an interest in the circus." Kurt was grinning wider already. "And it just so happens … that I grew up in the circus."

Clint glanced up at him, his eyebrows high. "No kidding?"

"I was an acrobat," Kurt replied, gesturing grandly with one hand. "But I had a knack for many things, of course."

"My brother is training to be a weapons master," Clint said. He leaned forward a bit. "But he has a crush on an acrobat. It's real obvious."

"I'm not surprised," Kurt said in an almost aloof tone before he flipped out of the tree and landed into a deep bow. "It's unavoidable, really."

Clint smirked at that. "Yeah, I can tell you're an acrobat 'cause you're real showy."

"I am also the drama teacher here," Kurt laughed.

"Yeah, Kitty said you did that," Clint said. "So, how come you're not being an acrobat now? You look like you're real good."

"Because I've found that being a hero is much more fun," Kurt replied. "And I still get to perform amazing feats of daring and intrigue."

"I guess that's a good reason," Clint agreed. He tipped his head as he considered Kurt. "I was gonna run away to the circus, y'know. 'Cause that's what me and Barney decided to do."

"And you found a better fit with your lovely mother," Kurt said, nodding.

Clint nodded. "Yeah. She even helped me and Barney learn how to throw knives and shoot a bow and arrow!"

Kurt paused at that and smiled his way again. "Oh, did she? Was she a performer as well?"

Clint giggled. "No, she said she's not gonna wear a sparkly bathing suit," he said. "She just knows lots of stuff. Lots of cool stuff. She even got me some purple arrows 'cause they're my favorite color!"

"Perhaps she simply doesn't want to wear a sparkly bathing suit anymore," Kurt teased.

Clint wrinkled up his nose. "Yeah, no," he said.

"You never know," Kurt said, shrugging. "It might be that she had a top hat — or a gypsy dress …"

"That's weird," Clint said, shaking his head. "No way."

"Ah, but did you ask her if she had?" Kurt was doing a fine job of not laughing. "You could have one of the great circus acts of all time teaching you how to get your dog to play dead."

Clint rolled his eyes at that. "Pretty sure you're wrong, but you can be wrong all by yourself and not drag me into it, okay?"

"I'm just having a bit of fun," Kurt laughed.

Clint shrugged, but he did shoot Kurt a little smile all the same. "Yeah, well… you're a circus guy. That's what you do — you have lots of fun. I always have fun when I go see my brother… well, now anyway. Now that his stupid ex-teacher is gone."

"Ah, bad teachers are rampant in the circus," Kurt agreed.

"He hit my brother," Clint said frankly.

Kurt paused. "We should probably find him and deal with him then," Kurt decided. "Where can I find this … person?"

Clint grinned, clearly catching Kurt's thought process. "My mom already beat you to it," he said. "He tried to threaten me and her and he beat up Barney, so she decided he needed to be dead."

Kurt's smile slipped away at that. "That sounds a bit like an overreaction."

Clint let out a dismissive sound. "Yeah, okay. You can think that. But you're wrong."

"I suppose it's not my place to pass judgement," Kurt replied almost serenely.

"He beat up Barney so bad he was hiding in his trailer and real laid up," Clint said, trying to impress upon Kurt how bad it had been — and exactly why his mom had done what she had.

Kurt let out a breath and leaned back, nodding slowly. "Then I certainly understand why your mother reacted as she did."

Clint nodded. "My mom's a hero. Maybe she ain't got a uniform like you guys do, but she saved me and Barney, and she looks out for people so… there."

"That sounds like a hero to me," Kurt agreed.

Clint nodded to himself and then smiled a little more when Sicem returned with the ball for him to throw again. He was quiet for a long moment before he glanced up at Kurt again. "Storm says you're real nice," he said.

"I do my best," Kurt replied gently.

"Okay, well… good, because… because I like the people here and I don't wanna live around mean people," Clint said.

"I believe you'll find no one here is mean," Kurt said. "A few are harder to get to know, but no one is mean."

"Except Mr. Professor Xavier. He wants to get in my mom's head," Clint said.

"He wants her to talk to him and tell him what she's been through," Kurt replied before he gave Clint a troublemaking smile. "And she's not the first one to tell him to get a new hobby either."

"Yeah? Who beat her?" Clint asked, honestly interested.

"Some of the students have been less than open," Kurt answered. "And a few of our friends that come and go …"

"I don't think I'd like someone in my head," Clint said. "Miss Jean has been real nice about not peeking — even though I know she could."

"They try not to," Kurt said. "Though I'm sure it's very hard for them to keep to themselves."

"I think she peeks sometimes on accident, because sometimes she responds to things I ain't said yet," Clint said with a troublemaking smile.

Kurt let out a solid laugh. "Yes. She absolutely does and doesn't realize she's doing it at all."

"Yeah, and she talks to Scott all the time in her head. I can tell 'cause Mom told me how to tell when people are talking in their heads and their expressions change."

"Your mom knows a lot," Kurt said, a little surprised at that.

"She's real smart," Clint said.

Kurt was still smiling at him as they headed toward the house. "I think we can find something to snack on inside — and then perhaps I can show you how to do a backflip."

Clint's jaw dropped as he spun to face Kurt. "Would you please?" he blurted out.

Kurt couldn't help but grin wider at that. "Of course! It would be an honor." To accent it, he finished with another deep, sweeping bow before he teleported to Clint's other side.

Clint couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, but I can't do that thing with the smoke so you have to teach me normal."

"Oh, I suppose I can keep it normal," Kurt teased.

"I don't think you can," Clint said, one hand on his hip. "I think you're too dramatic and an acrobat and you can't not show off."

Kurt paused and tipped his chin up, drawing himself to his full height. "That … is entirely accurate." He broke until a grin and dropped the dramatic look. "But … I can still teach you how to backflip."

"Good, 'cause I wanna learn how to do that and then I can show Barney," Clint said with a grin. "He'll be real impressed."

"Then let's impress him," Kurt agreed.

In the meantime, Logan had started up on his plan to try to get K to fight. She'd refused and shot down every single request for an evaluation, spar, game — anything that would even remotely make it sound like they wanted her to show off what she knew was met with a kind but flat 'no'.

So he tried a different angle — and this one was mercifully far outside of the reaches of the Danger Room, so the rules were a little bit different. She knew she wasn't being recorded and watched when Logan followed her on her way out toward the woods, playfully goading her until it was clear that just wasn't going to cut it.

But then he finally hit paydirt. "How are you going to keep them from coming after you unless you tell us what the hell it is that they want you for?" Logan had said in an easy, relaxed tone that got her to stop dead in her tracks and turn his way with a glare.

"You don't wanna know," K told him and turned to keep walking, determined to avoid him.

He tried another track: "Next time they catch up to you, you know that kid's a goner, right? You made a connection with someone. They won't let that stand."

She growled low in an unintentional warning as she spun on her heel to face him. "Back off. Or I'll show you," she warned.

But that only got a smirk out of him and he rushed a few quick steps to catch up to her. "Somehow, I doubt it."

In a flash, she'd landed her first hit, and instead of the crunch of bone that Logan was used to hearing when someone sucker punched him, it was a solid hit — quickly followed up with a knee to his stomach and an elbow to the back of his head. She swept his feet out from under him and stopped as she crouched over him — one arm drawn back in a manner that had Logan looking up at her in confusion.

She didn't have any weapons that he could see, but she was moving as if she was going to take his head off. Her lip curled back in a snarl, and she punched him hard in the throat. "You asked," she said, still growling, before she jumped back from him and took off into the trees.

In a moment, he was on his feet — ticked off and ready to clear the air with her. But she was faster than he was, so it took a little while before he finally caught up. When he did, she turned to meet him, and the fight started in earnest.

She wasn't anywhere near as strong as he was, but her hits were heavy. Heavier than they should have been. And she wasn't playing fair at all. He, on the other hand, tried to be nice about it — as nice as he could be — but after the second time she managed to land a solid groin shot, he'd had enough.

With a growl of his own, he started to bring up his 'A' game. She held him back well enough, though he was backing her up with every blow. When she tried to dodge one of his strikes, he grabbed a hold of her wrist on the counter move, and in an instant, he had her wrapped up in a pin that she couldn't even move more than to breathe in.

She pulled to get an arm back, but he wasn't letting her budge as he took a moment to catch his breath. "Stop it."

"Let. Me. Go."

"Not until you cool off," Logan replied, not bothered at all when she still tried to struggle her way out of his grip.

It wasn't until a solid ten minutes later that he even considered letting her up, and the instant that he did, she cracked him a solid one across the face, looking totally thunderous, before she met his gaze and darted off again at a dead run.

Clint was in a good mood as he made his way to the kitchen so he could sneak something to eat — he was still getting used to the fact that there was so much food and that it was there all the time. He had finished his Hardy Boys book, and he was getting faster at reading with Storm, and that was a huge deal to him. He had done it himself. A whole book. And he was starting another one tomorrow!

But he paused when he heard one of the older students, Kitty, talking about Logan and K's fight.

"She took him down," Kitty whispered to a wide-eyed Kurt. "I mean down."

Clint couldn't help but grin as he leaned in a little closer to listen in, sure that it was going to be a tale of how his mom had wiped the floor with someone.

Kurt was shaking his head. "You must have seen wrong."

"No, really. They were down near the lake when it happened, and I watched it with the rest of Scott's class out the window," Kitty said, her own eyes wide before she broke into a grin. "I mean, of course Logan gave it back and took her down, but you should have seen it, Kurt. She can fight."

"Someone to give our friend a run for his money," Kurt said. He was smiling thoughtfully, though when Clint accidentally dropped the bag of potato chips he had snuck from the pantry, he looked up and smiled warmly Clint's way. "Hello, Clint."

Clint quickly snatched up the bag of chips. "Hi," he said.

"Have you been enjoying your lessons with Storm?" Kurt asked.

"Uh-huh," Clint said. He looked around the room. "I… umm. Where … have you seen my mom? I wanted to talk to her."

Kitty and Kurt glanced at each other. "Last I saw her, she was talking with Professor X," Kitty explained.

Clint nodded and didn't hesitate to take off running down the hall until he got to Charles' office and didn't knock before he simply barged in — and then all but screeched to a halt. Not only was Logan there too but neither of them looked like they'd been fighting — though that didn't mean they hadn't been, and he knew it.

K lifted an arm to invite him over to her, and he didn't hesitate to rush over and wrap his arms around her and hold on. "You okay?" K asked.

Clint looked up at her carefully. You hurt? he signed out.

She shook her head lightly and gave him a little squeeze.

I don't want to stay here, he signed and then hugged her.

I think we have to for a while, she signed back.

Why? he asked, wide-eyed.

She drew in a deep breath and tried to find a way to explain it easily. To keep worse things from happening.

I won't let him follow us, Clint signed back.

She shook her head. No. To protect them — and him.

You don't have to protect him or anybody, Clint said.

You don't want them to get a hold of him. She gave him a little kiss and a smile.

Clint let out a little sigh and hugged her. "Okay, but if he touches you again, I'm gonna stick him with my knife," he whispered.

She gave him a crooked smile. "I already slapped the taste out of his mouth."

"Good," he said, latching on a little harder underneath her arm.

"Logan, if you wouldn't mind," Charles said softly. It was obvious, after all, that there was no way he could talk to either of the newcomers at the moment. All of the X-Men had seen the extremely protective relationship in play, and with Clint as upset as he was, there was no way to get through to them until the situation calmed down a bit.

Logan glanced up at Charles for a moment, then looked over to Clint and to K, who was pointedly not looking his way, before he let out a breath, nodded and left the office without another word.

It didn't escape Charles' notice that Clint had visibly relaxed when Logan left the room, and he knew he had to step in before the distrust solidified any further. "Clint," he said quietly, "you know that Logan wasn't trying to hurt your mother, don't you? He was only practicing, the same way our team trains in the Danger Room and fight each other to get better."

"It's true," K said gently. "He was doing his best to keep me from beating him into the dirt."

"Kitty said he beat you," Clint said without moving even an inch away from her.

K gave him a little smile. "He stopped me. But he didn't hit me."

Clint watched K for a moment and then bit his lip. "Okay," he said slowly. "But … but I don't like it."

"Clint, it's fine, I promise. And not like 'it's fine until I crack him one' … it's really fine."

Clint let his shoulders drop as he watched her closely. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure, and I'm calm," K replied.

"And if you change your mind?"

"Then we're gone," she promised.

Clint relaxed substantially at that and then straightened up. "Well… well, good, because I'm gonna start another Hardy Boys book tomorrow, and I kinda like it here."

"We'll stay as long as it works for everyone," K said.

Clint nodded and snuggled into her side for a moment and then kissed her cheek before he dashed off again.