Notes: Yeah, CC, Clint was definitely due for a chapter of pure joy after all the crap he went through in the ones before that. Sweet boy.

Griezz - oh good, glad to know you weren't thinking I was ignoring you ;) And yeah, Jubes and Clint our sweet little orphans have a lot in common, but to be fair to Clint, his issues stem from simply not having anyone to sit down and help him learn. Sweet lil boy that he is thinks that means he's stupid. We'll fix that.

Chapter 16: The Intentions Talk Goes Both Ways

With summer in full swing and everyone in such a great mood, Scott had organized a camping trip for some of the kids at the school — not anything too big, just a camping setup out on the grounds. Clint, of course, thought it was a great idea, since he was starting to miss camping with his mom — though K wasn't chaperoning the trip, instead leaving the staff to it.

Which meant that Clint found himself with Jubilee and Kitty electing themselves as temporary babysitters — though he had a feeling it was more because they were real attached to Logan and he was kinda eating a lot of Logan's time learning how to fight Creed, so they mighta been a little jealous.

Still, the girls were great with Sicem, so Clint wasn't going to complain.

"D'you go camping a lot, or is this just because Scott's in a good baby-mood?" Clint asked the girls as they headed out with the group for the camping trip.

"We go camping every summer," Kitty replied. "And … he's in a good baby-mood."

Clint nodded at that. "Yeah, I peeked on the party, and he was on the floor laughing, which was kinda weird."

Kitty and Jubilee shared a grin. "Yeah, that like … never happens," Jubilee said. "So you know... You spotted the red-eyed unicorn, dude."

Clint shrugged. "I just got here at the right time for the baby party," he said. He glanced between the two of them before he got a more troublemaking grin on. "And Logan showed me how to play pool, so I wiped the floor with Remy, and he didn't even see it coming."

"He showed you how to play pool too?" Jubilee asked. "What's next? Lending you cigars?"

Clint rolled his eyes at that. "No way. They smell horrible."

"And they hurt," Kitty said. "Don't do that."

Clint's eyes went wide as he turned Kitty's way. "You get hurt, Kitty?" he asked seriously, his stance a familiar one that they had both seen when he was trying to look out for his mom.

Kitty shook her head quickly, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "I … stole one of his cigars from him when he was smoking it once. I was mad. Didn't listen when he told me I wouldn't like it. I got half a puff in before I was coughing my guts out."

Clint relaxed a bit when he heard it. "Oh, well, that's your fault. Barney did that when he tried one'a Dad's cigarettes."

"He didn't even yell about it either," Kitty said, frowning at the memory. "Just … patted my back while I tried not to throw up."

"Yeah, he's real nice," Clint agreed. "Which is good, 'cause if he wasn't, I wouldn't let him near my mom."

"Yeah, about that," Jubilee said, sticking her finger his way. "What's her story anyhow? She's not too friendly, you know. And I don't let just anyone around my Wolvie."

Clint looked between the two girls and then broke into a grin. "Oooh, are you two gonna do the 'intentions' talk? I tried that with Logan, and he just kinda explained he can't get drunk and stuff."

"Yeah, but ... " Jubilee started, though Kitty cut her off.

"We just don't know her," Kitty said.

Clint shrugged. "I dunno what you wanna know," he said. "She's my mom. She beat up my foster dad for hitting me, and then we ran away together, and she's been mine ever since."

"She doesn't really fit the usual," Jubilee said with her nose up. "The last one was practically a princess."

Clint narrowed his eyes at her and sniffed. "Yeah? Well it don't matter what kinda money people got if they're stupid. It matters if you got a heart, not money."

"We thought she was okay," Kitty said. "They were supposed to get married, but that … didn't work out too good."

"Too bad for her," Clint said with a shrug. "But that doesn't have nothing to do with my mom."

"Well, what's she like when she's not shutting down the professor?" Kitty asked with a smile, knowing that Clint would at least be proud of that much.

Clint grinned. "She's real nice, honest," he said. "She taught me and my brother how to throw knives and shoot bows, and she took us to a tournament and — and she took me to a rodeo, and I won first place at the sheep riding stuff!" he gushed happily.

"You rode a sheep?"

"Uh-huh," he said, grinning wider. "You gotta hold on and not get thrown off, and then you get a prize and a belt and money — and I got a whole two hundred dollars, which is more money than I ever had ever!"

Jubilee had a look on her face, but Kitty shoved her in the shoulder. "Don't pay attention to her. She's from Beverly Hills."

"I'm from Iowa," Clint said with a shrug.

"Chicago," Kitty said. "But Jubes was loaded, so you know …"

Clint rolled his eyes at that. "Well, whatever. I got that money all on my own and I worked real hard and — and—"

"I think that's awesome," Kitty said.

"But sos you know," Jubilee said, crossing her arms again. "I made my own money after my parents died. I put on shows in the mall ... fireworks …"

"Oh, you'd get along with my brother then," Clint said nodding. "He works at a circus and makes his own money doing a weapons show."

"Are we going to get to meet him?" Jubilee asked.

"Well, he's on tour right now," Clint said. "But… me and my mom always are gonna see him at least for winter and holidays and stuff. He's got a birthday at the end of the summer." He grinned a little wider. "Mom gave him a cake and everything. We'd never had a cake for birthdays until this year!"

The two girls shared a quick glance. It was clear this wasn't quite going as they'd planned, especially when it was hard to keep up the hard line when it was so obvious Clint thought the world of his adoptive mother. "Well … that's really nice," Kitty said. "Maybe … maybe we should work on starting a fire so we can make our s'mores …"

"Oh, I'm not allowed to help with the fire," Clint said. "Mom said nothing flammable 'til I'm old enough to shoot guns."

Jubilee grinned and raised one hand, letting a few colorful sparks shoot off. "Good for us we don't even need matches!"

"Oooh, right," Clint said, nodding and smiling lightly. "I like living with all these people with powers."

"It does make some things easier," Kitty agreed. "Want to help me find more firewood while Jubes gets started?"

"Alright, yeah," Clint said, grinning up at her, and the girls couldn't help but enjoy themselves as they headed off with Clint. After all, even if they weren't sure about his mom or about her kissing Logan… they definitely liked him.

"You're not chaperoning the camping trip?" K asked when she saw Logan make his way into the kitchen an hour after Scott had left with the kids.

"Hardly my idea of camping," Logan replied as he leaned against the counter, watching her make some lemonade. "Stuff I call campin' goes a lot further north and without all the equipment."

"Ah. I can relate to that," she agreed, nodding. "So what are you planning to do with your free time with all the kids out and about?"

"Hadn't made any solid plans," Logan said. "What about you? Got somethin' planned with the girls?"

"No, definitely not," K said, shaking her head. "They're on a kick, and there is shopping — and I'm not one to shop in a crowd. I was going to just find a quiet spot here …"

He smirked crookedly at that. "Got anything against not bein' alone?"

"Depends on what you want to do." She tipped her chin up and smirked right back at him.

"I know you watch a lot of movies with Clint …"

"So …"

"We could put one on and not watch it." Logan's expression wasn't nearly as troublemaking as he was suggesting, though.

K paused and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Bold. Direct."

"No reason not to be."

"Let's get a drink or two and see where it goes," K suggested. "Maybe swap a few stories before you get the wrong idea on how this will roll."

"You're not nearly as gunshy about booze as your boy is."

"I'm not afraid of some guy beating the crap out of me when he's drunk."

"Fair. Your room or mine?" Logan asked as he pushed off the cabinetry. "I'll grab the popcorn."

"Oh. Mine. Definitely," she said. "I'll grab something cold. Meet you there." She shook her head as she made her way over to find something the two of them could split — and didn't feel the least bit bad about heading out to the garage and taking a cold six pack before she headed up to her room.

Logan had beat her there and had gotten comfortable on the couch. When she got over to him, she handed him a beer, then sat down next to him — though after the first beer, the movie and the popcorn was more or less pushed to the side as they got a little closer acquainted.

After a weekend out camping, Clint was in a great mood headed back to the institute. Kitty and Jubilee were still sort of grilling him on his mom — but he had heard from them how they both met Logan and how much Logan meant to them, so he didn't mind so much.

Actually, he just wished he could explain his mom a little better, but he didn't know more than the year they had been together.

Still, they seemed to appreciate that she had taken him to DC for King Tut and that she would build snowmen with him and that she had Barney's circus schedule so that when the bad guys left them alone for a while they could go see a show…

He hoped that the girls were a little more okay with his mom now, because it hadn't occurred to him that Logan would have kids too that needed to okay a girlfriend for him, and he didn't want anyone not to like his mom or get in the way of her being happy.

Though… it was hard to keep that attitude up when he came bounding into the suite he had with his mom to find that she and Logan were all cozy and curled up together.

"Oh." He stopped. "Ummm… hi."

"Hi, sweetheart," K said, sounding a little smoky — obviously having spent a good chunk of the night up. "How was the camping trip?"

"It was good. Jubilee can start a fire without matches," Clint said, though he was staring at them both. "You been here this whole time?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Quieter that way."

Clint tipped his head to the side before he narrowed his eyes at Logan and then let out a sigh. "Well, Kitty and Jubilee are doing the whole intentions thingy — so you know."

"Did Jubes start the fire with her sparkles, or did she actually start it without matches?" Logan asked, brushing past that revelation and not sounding too concerned about it.

"With her sparkles," Clint said.

"Cheater," he said, shaking his head.

"Well, Scott says you're s'pposed to learn to use your powers, right? I thought that was the point?" Clint pointed out.

Logan nodded. "Yeah, but I think it's good to be able to do everything without too."

"Without cheating," Clint said. "Yeah, probably smart."

"Did you have breakfast yet?" K asked Clint, though she hadn't quite gotten up yet either.

Clint nodded. "Yeah, we made some stuff over the fire," he said. "But… but I can get some for you if you want it."

"Can you just check that there's coffee?" she asked, finally getting up enough to stretch out. "Meet you down there."

Clint nodded. "Will do," he promised, dashing off and trying not to think too hard about coming home to find Logan and his mom together like that.