notes:

From robbie: JD - Yes, I loved bringing Clint into the story. He was my first Marvel love, and actually, I wasn't a big Kate fan because… Clint. Clint was my Hawkeye. And then I'm not entirely sure what happened but somehow I fell into a vortex of Kate love? And here I am now… Not even sorry. I love my hawks. Both of them. *clutches them both to her chest and kisses their heads*

And to KJAX89 - CC gets a lot of the credit for the hilarious bamfs. I do a lot of just making sure they're in the background and not forgotten, but 9 times out of 10 when I'm laughing out loud at them? Totally her. The sitting on their stomachs with theirs heads in their hands? Totally her idea.

Anyway… y'all. SPACE PIRATES. I'mma stop talking now so you can have space pirates :)

From CC: SPACE PIRATES! And also. Thanks for reading guys - and reviewing - and generally being awesome. I really don't have much to say as the story kinda sorta … well. It speaks for itself! Today's recommended read is from a friend who has kindly shared his characters with me. KJAX89's 'X-Force: Feral' introduces a fun mutant mutate combo that crosses into my 906 writings, and naturally. I am a little partial.

Also - little note to those looking for a new chapter in the 'Feral 906' series - watch your alerts. Polishin' up a bit over the next day or two.

Space Pirates, Kurt!

Once they were ready to leave New York, with Logan now in clothes that fit—and a spare uniform that he'd picked up from behind some bar—and Kate packing more of her own clothes instead of Storm-borrowed ones, they headed to the airport for another little hop toward Los Angeles.

As soon as they'd boarded, Logan set his box with the beat up old yellow and black contents next to him and kicked back, hat tipped down over his face as he was more than ready to just go back to sleep for a while with a bamf leaning against him, copying his every move, and another trying to curl into the space under his arm to go to sleep with him, exaggerated little yawns and stretches thrown all over the place to prove the little guy was actually tired and not just snuggling for the sake of it.

Kate and Kurt followed Logan's lead and just relaxed, her head on Kurt's shoulder as the plane took off as she grabbed up one of his hands as well to run her thumb over his knuckles and just snuggle in.

"So do you have any ties in Los Angeles that I should be aware of?" Kurt asked with a sidelong glance once they were nice and comfortable.

She looked up to meet his gaze and then shook her head. "Just the cutest married couple in the world who let me live with them, and a grumpy cop who secretly loves me," she said with a little grin. "If we run into my friends, their cat is, like, the Hitler of cats, though—so watch out."

"I appreciate the warning," Kurt said with a little smirk before he nestled in, his face half buried in her hair and his tail snaked up to wrap partway around her leg.

The flight was well underway, and Kate was snuggled up with Kurt, the two of them nearly following Logan's example and half drifting off to sleep when the entire plane seemed to come to a rather abrupt stop. Kurt looked from Kate to Logan—to the dozen or so bamfs that had rolled down the aisle—before he looked out the window to see that they were more or less frozen in place.

"How do you stop mid air and not fall too?" Kurt asked as Logan stood up and started walking to the front of the jet.

"Don't ask that out loud or we just might stop defying gravity," Kate warned as she peeked past him to the window.

"I can 'port us out of here," Kurt offered. But moments later, Logan returned with a very unamused expression on his face.

"We're going up," Logan announced, though he looked as if he was searching for a way to escape that didn't involve cutting a hole in the side and jumping out without a chute.

"Elevator style?" Kate raised both eyebrows. Logan just nodded slowly.

"We get out of here now and they'll probably drop the plane and kill the pilot," Logan said. "Unless you wanna try and get him out first?" Kurt nodded his head and sent a bamf up to the pilot. When the little guy returned a few moments later, nodding, Kurt waved both of his companions toward him so they could do the same—but…. it didn't work.

Logan was watching the horizon line fading into something darker than blue sky. "Anytime, bud."

"I can't—" Kurt shook his head. "It's not working."

"That can't be good." Kate said with a frown as she looked up at Kurt.

"Not like you to have performance issues, Elf," Logan deadpanned, and after a moment of irritation, Kurt chuckled to himself.

"I suppose you just couldn't resist that one?" he said with a growing smirk.

"I really, really couldn't," Logan replied quietly before he popped a claw experimentally then frowned when the blood didn't stop. "And we have our explanation too." He looked up at Kurt and tipped his head as he walked over and picked his box up again, pressing part of his t-shirt to the bleeding spot on his hand. "Dampener field," he explained Kate's way, since likely this was something she simply wouldn't have encountered before. "Stops mutant abilities."

She quirked an eyebrow and then nodded. "Well I'll just have to carry you boys then," she said with a soft smirk as she shouldered a quiver and twirled one of her arrows in her fingers to emphasize the point. "Doesn't bother me."

"Not likely," Logan countered. "I've never let a little thing like no healing slow me down."

"Just don't die," she shot back. "And let me shoot the mean ones." She mimed shooting a bow and arrow and shot him a little smirk.

"We'll see how it goes. I don't strictly need to use the claws," Logan said. "Probably depend on if what we come across can be shot with those little sticks of yours."

She rolled her eyes his way. "I'll find something else to use if that's the case. Or shove the little sticks instead of shooting them into gooey places." With a little laugh, she added, "I don't strictly need to use the bow."

"Good. Make all of this a helluva lot more fun," Logan replied. "So—is this a normal for you thing or should we expect you to blame it on X-Men weirdness? Again."

She snorted out a laugh. "No, no. The space thing is just about par for the course. There were a few months I didn't even touch Earth about a year ago," she admitted.

"Then we'll just have to wait and see who wants to see us—unless…. Logan, do you still owe that casino money?" Kurt said, but Logan shook his head.

"Don't know what you're talking about. I was winning," he countered.

Since the three of them didn't exactly have an exit, they more or less settled in, half ready for a fight at any moment as they watched the windows.

The deep black outside the plane changed to more solid browns and reds as whoever had snatched the plane pulled them inside, and when at last they stopped moving, a loud and confident voice called out, "You're surrounded. Come out now—and don't try anything stupid."

"Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black to me," Logan muttered to Kurt. "I don't feel too compliant—what about you?" Kurt looked serious as he weighed out what best to do.

"If we don't come out, they'll come in," Kurt reasoned. "How about we comply for now and fight them later?" He turned to Kate for her take on things. "Unless that's someone you know out there? The voice is unfamiliar to me."

Kate shook her head. "Doesn't ring any bells. If it was someone I knew, there would probably be music."

"Intergalactic dance party?" Kurt asked with a growing smile.

"You have no idea," she said, with a smile to match.

"Then we should probably temporarily surrender," Kurt replied before tipping his head toward Logan. "We'll go first."

For just a second, a flash of irritation lit her expression, and she cocked a hip to one side. "We'll go together," she corrected him.

He tipped his head down—nearly to his chest—and picked her hand up to his lips. "Of course, my mistake; forgive me for my old-fashioned moment of rudeness."

In a second, she was completely disarmed, the flash of irritation gone as she just laughed quietly and shook her head at him. "You make it very hard to stay mad," she half-complained. "Completely unfair."

He just smiled back at her and pulled her arm through his before he covered her hand with his own. "Together then?"

Logan shook his head at the both of them and just opened the door, hopping out before they could catch up to him. By the time they got to the opened door, the sounds of energy weapons firing up was ringing in their ears along with many shouts from their captors.

Kurt looked out with a frown as most of those various aliens and crewmen had their guns leveled at Logan, who, of course, had just crossed his arms at the threat and looked completely unamused.

"They're not friendly," Logan called out over his shoulder to Kurt and Kate.

"Yeah, we see that!" Kate called back as she and Kurt also stepped out cautiously into the group.

"Put your hands up!" one of the crewmen nearest Logan shouted.

"You put your hands up!" Logan barked back, glaring. "Keep sticking that thing in my face like that and I'll shove it right up your—"

"Logan, don't!" Kurt half shouted.

Logan turned to look at him before he turned back to the guy with the gun and stuck one finger at him. "Back off, junior."

The other two slipped up to where Logan was as Kurt just frowned his friend's way. "Do not provoke the men with guns, Logan. Not until later, at least."

"You're getting to be a real killjoy in your elder years, Elf," Logan countered. "But - as long as something happens later. Okay."

Kurt raised an eyebrow and leaned a bit closer to Logan with a small smirk. "I'm not nearly as old as you are—and besides, I am a paragon of youth and energy. Just ask my lovely lady friend—who would like very much not to be shot, I believe."

"For the sake of your love life, I'll let it slide for now," Logan countered. "And you'd be lucky to look as good as I do at my age."

From the center of the line of crewmen, a little brunette pushed her way past them. "Kurt! I've been looking for you!" She wasn't exactly smiling, and she looked as if she was focused solely on Kurt, going so far as to partly turn herself away from even looking at Logan—who looked thoroughly confused by the fact that she was ignoring him.

"Come on, we have some issues that we could use help with—from someone with your skills," She broke into an actual grin as she pulled him forward by the hand, with Kate close behind and sticking close to Kurt with a confused sort of frown.

"I thought they weren't friendly?" Kate asked, brows furrowed as she watched the smiling brunette pull Kurt along.

Kurt just shrugged but spared Logan a look as he just seemed to look more irritated somehow as he shrugged off one of the crewmen and followed behind the pack. "This is an old friend of ours," Kurt said gently.

"Old friend of yours, Kurt," Kitty clarified before she offered her hand to Kate. "Kitty Pryde. Nice to meet you."

Kate took a second to look around at the two of them—and Logan—with a slightly confused look before she just sighed and shrugged and took Kitty's hand. "Kate Bishop. New friend of theirs."

She frowned a bit and nodded. "Well. Now we're acquainted."

"I'd say that most of my old friends don't say hello with kidnapping, but—that's only half-true," Kate said, looking around at the crew, still a bit hesitant, considering how they'd arrived.

"It's a hazard in this business," Kitty agreed. "But—we need a swordsman. We have... issues." She smiled at Kate brilliantly. "Do you know how to duel too? An extra sword would be great."

"Fencing lessons since I was in middle school," Kate said with a growing smile. "And if you have a plasma bow? I can take care of the 'issues' myself. We won't even need the boys."

"I'm sure we can find something for you," Kitty said with a laugh.

"If you need an extra sword, I'm sure Logan can help too," Kurt said quietly, glancing over his shoulder at his friend.

"No, that's... we don't need him for this," Kitty said quickly.

"Then drop me the hell off somewhere," Logan growled out, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We don't have time, you'll have to just... wait," Kitty said with a clearly dismissive wave his direction. "If we could have just picked up Kurt, we would have... I had no idea … well, It doesn't matter."

"What is your problem, half-pint?" Logan spit out suddenly. At hearing the name, she spun on him and stuck her finger in his face.

"You don't get to call me that," she half snarled. "That's not your name to use." Logan just let out a breath and met her angry gaze, but neither of them was backing down.

"It's the name he has used for years, Katzchen," Kurt said in a soft voice. "Why should he stop now?"

"Because the man that used that name is dead; this isn't him." Her hot tone hadn't slipped and she looked mad enough to spit nails.

"This is the real Logan," Kurt said. "I swear to it. No clone or shapeshifter—he is ours."

At that, Kitty's anger slipped, but she seemed to go a bit pale as she looked quickly between the two of them. "No." She shook her head. "No, because if he's back from the dead—no."

"I would not lie to you in this matter—ever," Kurt said firmly.

But Kitty wouldn't hear it anyhow. She shook her head seriously. "No," she said before she looked up at Logan. "Just keep away from me." He just stared back at her and nodded his head before he mouthed out a nearly silent 'fine'. He looked to Kurt and simply stepped back, looking for a place to just keep out of the way.

"So… this… should we find a swordfight, then?" Kate offered at last, looking between the three of them with a clear expression of shock and confusion and just trying to find a way to help. "Or… would it help if I told you Fury hugged him, so he's definitely the real one?"

"No, that actually doesn't help me at all," Kitty said in a clipped tone. "Let's just—let's get to the bridge so I can fill you two in on what we're up to."

Kate looked to Kurt and caught the slight frown on his face before he nodded Kitty's way and swept out an arm with a more Kurt-esque smile like she was used to seeing. "Yes, let's find out what it is you brought us here to do," he said with a little bow.

She led them to the bridge without looking back or clarifying what was going on - not until they finally got there and she steeled herself to look up again. She let out a little sigh and relaxed substantially when she saw that Logan hadn't followed.

"OK, guys. We have problems—and you, my favorite fuzzy blue elf, are the perfect man for the job, because—space pirates." She grinned at him suddenly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Swashbuckling, Kurt! Pirates! In space!" She did a quick twirl with her arms extended, grinning widely at the idea.

He broke into a wide grin himself at that. "My favorite kind of problems," he said.

"Right, well—it's a problem anyhow," Kitty said, still grinning as she pulled him forward by the hand again. "Have you met Star Lord yet?"

The way she was half-giggling had Kurt frowning a bit, and when they got up to the captain's chair, the man turned and rose to meet them with a crooked grin on his face that Kurt instantly did not like.

"Kurt, this is Peter Quill," Kitty said with a bounce.

"How do you do," Kurt replied before he simply couldn't stop himself. "You certainly seem to have a thing for men named 'Peter'." Kitty stopped short for a moment and glared at him before recovering her composure.

"Not my fault it works out that way," Kitty defended with a wave. Quill offered his hand and Kurt put on his most polite false smile as he crushed Quill's hand in the shake, eyes flashing.

"I didn't realize you'd left Scott's little group of traitors," Kurt said conversationally, addressing Kitty instead of the man in front of him. "If you wanted somewhere to go, you know Storm and I would have found a place for you at the school."

"It's not like that," Kitty said with a shake of her head and a little frown on her features. "But if you don't want to help -"

"Oh, no, it's fine," Kurt said with a wave. "I'm happy to help, of course. I'm just not so sure I like my little katzchen with a scoundrel." She gave him a tight smile with her arms crossed that Kate thought looked an awful lot like something a teenager would do.

"Right, because it takes one to know one, right?" The two of them glared at each other for a moment before, at the same time, they both cracked a smile and a few seconds later, they were hugging and laughing. "Such a big brother," Kitty giggled. "Come on—look at what Peter has for us." she pointed to a screen where there were very familiar scenes of charred cities and large sections of planets wiped clean by fire.

"Someone made a phoenix-like weapon," Quill said as he looked at the two newcomers. "Corsair has it and we gotta get it away from him."

"That does not sound good on either count," Kurt said, frowning at the scenes, one hand on his chin and the other behind his back as he leaned over the screen. "Where did such a thing come from?"

"The Kree were developing it," Quill explained as he brought up what looked like Kree documentation of their scientists working. "But one of their own made off with it before it could be finished." He gestured at the screens again as Kate peered a bit closer. "But it looks finished and operational now."

"So - what's the plan, and what makes you think you're qualified for the job?" Kurt asked, his tail twitching behind him as he took a more offensive looking stance—arms crossed, chest puffed out and looking down his nose at him.

"Kurt!" Kitty spit out. "He's with the Guardians of the Galaxy. It's like—his job." But Kurt didn't look the least bit apologetic.

"We going now to meet up with the guy who originally stole the thing from the Kree. He knows how to track it down," Quill explained, shrugging off the jibe with a crooked grin. "And then—that's where you come in, apparently. Kitty says you're the man to go to when it comes to stealing from pirates."

"If this weapon does what they intend it to do, it will likely not be so simple," Kurt said with a deep frown. He glanced Kitty's way. "Are you sure you don't want to ask Logan's help in this?"

"If that was actually Logan... maybe. If I had to," Kitty replied with her arms crossed. "But this whole thing just stinks of ... clone or … Skrull … or … something."

"Katzchen," Kurt said cajolingly. "He is back. Cable brought him back to us from wherever it is he disappeared to. It was another Logan, an alternate one—that is who we lost."

"Well—when?" She demanded. "When were they switched to start with?"

Kurt paused, blinked for a moment, and then shook his head. "You know, I have not thought to ask him that."

"Don't you think that's a good idea?" Kitty hissed out. "To know how long we had the wrong one?"

"You are entirely right. I should have asked him that days ago when he first returned to us," Kurt said. He shook his head and smiled ruefully. "To be honest, I was more relieved he was back than concerned with the salient details. Forgive my oversight."

"Does it matter?" Kate broke in, her head tilted to one side as she watched the entire conversation go down. "He's back. I mean—don't question it. When I got my best friend back, heaven knows I didn't ask questions, just went for ice cream."

Kitty stared at her for a minute, opened her mouth and closed it then glanced at Kurt before she finally said. "It makes a world of difference—in a lot of ways. Things that were said—" She looked like she was going to say something else but stopped short.

"Well, I guess it is different if you were living with a double," Kate admitted, shaking her head as she looked between the two X-Men, a bit surprised at how obstinate they were being. "We'll just ask him. That should clear things up. No point in just… speculating," she pointed out. A slow smile started as she just couldn't resist teasing them. "You'd think you guys would communicate better than a team of half-trained up-and-comers, but seriously."

Kurt crossed his arms to match Kitty. "Not all of us have been around each other in recent years, and frankly, we didn't have cell phones and texting when we got started."

"Literally every problem the X-Men have ever really had has been due to miscommunication," Kitty said. "Which, was actually worse when we had freakin' psychics doing mind links all the time."

"And Logan says I'm a teenager—and yet somehow my team has mastered communication better than the century of experience you guys have," Kate said, smirking to herself before she looked at Kurt. "You're lucky you're so cute because wow did you just date yourself."

He frowned and uncrossed his arms. "No."

"Yes, you really did, blue boy," she said with a wicked grin and a shake of her head before she just put her hands on her hips and cocked one hip to the side. "So we'll ask our stabby friend what's what, we'll go stop some pirates, and then ice cream. This is the plan now."

"Fine," Kitty said shortly, waving her hand at both of them. "You go talk to... whoever that is. I've got work to do here."

Kurt gave her a bit of a glare as Quill just shrugged, but it seemed Kitty just wouldn't be convinced to come with them. So, finally, Kurt just sighed and relaxed his shoulders, shaking his head as he and Kate slipped off the bridge in search of Logan.

Kate was still smirking the slightest bit as they poked around looking for the third member of their team, and she couldn't resist teasing Kurt now that she'd found a way to do it. "You went to school uphill in the snow, didn't you?" she asked with as straight a face as she could manage.

"No, I went to school at the circus," he shot back. "Uphill for trapeze only."

She grinned. "Fair enough." The smirk just widened, though, as she reached over to slip her arm through his and just flat out grin. "This was before they invented the wheel, right? Couldn't just pulley up to the thing?"

He chuckled, "No, that was Logan's era. I never needed the wheel though when I could just bamf up there."

"That's called cheating," she teased. "Skips the uphill and the snow. How ever can you complain to the kids?"

"I can always bitch about their cell phones."

She laughed and nodded, putting on a slightly deeper voice to imitate him. "Get off my lawn—and put away your phones! Get some sunlight, you scrawny kids!"

"Careful, it's catching—start talking like that and you won't be able to stop!"

She just grinned at him. "I'll add it to the list of other things I can't stop around you."

"Does this list trouble you?" he asked with mock sincerity.

"Oh, every day," she replied with just as much false seriousness.

"This is why Logan told me not to date students," he muttered under his breath with a smirk.

She stopped to stand on her toes and kiss the line of his jaw. "It's a good thing I'm not a student," she whispered back.

"This is entirely true," he replied. "If you were, I never would have considered it."

"Well, good. You should know better," she said, still kissing him. "I, on the other hand, do not."

"I'm glad you skipped that lesson," he countered before turning to kiss her properly.

She just laughed and settled back down from her toes. "We should find Logan, but you—you are so not done teaching me things," she said with a very mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

"That also is entirely true," he agreed. "I haven't even started yet."

She let out a long and loud sigh. "It's so hard to be good and actually keep him around when you say things like that," she said under her breath, just loud enough to be sure he could hear, and there was no mistaking the little smirk and twinkle in his eye when she said it.

It took another ten minutes of searching, but when they finally found Logan, he was halfway into an escape pod, working on the final stages of what it was going to take to facilitate a launch without the bridge being involved.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kurt asked with a fair bit of alarm in his voice.

"Leaving," Logan replied after he pulled himself out of the pod. "I won't stay where I'm not wanted."

Kurt stared at him openly. "Since when?" he asked in total disbelief. "You have never let anyone chase you out. Why now? Is it because it's Kitty? Did something happen that I don't know about?"

Logan shook his head and let out a sigh. "Not that I'm aware of," he replied. "What the hell did that guy do anyhow?"

"We can find out," Kate pointed out.

"I thought he was dead," Logan muttered quietly. "Otherwise I'd kill him."

Kurt raised both eyebrows at that. "Well, let's be glad we don't have to cross that bridge—I'm sure we can figure out whatever this is," he tried to offer.

"Give me five minutes and my newfangled telephonic device and I could probably fill you in—just tell me when you switched," Kate said with a smirk, sure that it would be a simple enough matter of asking Billy or Teddy - since they were always keeping up with the superhero news and gossip.

"Wasn't too long after Kurt came back from the dead," Logan said with a shrug.

"See? Easy when you communicate," Kate said, turning to Kurt to pull her cell phone out of her pocket and tap him in the chest with it a couple of times. "And since I spent the better part of a year traveling dimensions, I have a roaming space plan on this thing. What did you do without me?"

Kurt shook his head at her with a muted laugh. "Clearly we should have used you as a resource long ago," he said, still laughing.

"What the hell difference does it make at this point?" Logan asked as he shook his head. "She doesn't want a damn thing to do with me, so—whatever it is, the damage is done."

"Kitty seemed to think it would make a difference," Kurt said. "She was insistent on that, actually - that it mattered when the switch was made."

"Why?"

"She didn't say," Kurt admitted.

"Why don't you just ask her?" Kate broke in, shaking her head hard. "You know—talk to each other? Like grown-ups?"

"Won't matter. She's made up her mind," Logan said.

"She didn't want anything to do with the other one, probably," Kate said with a bit of a glare. "This you is a hug magnet, and clearly she is missing out."

"Yeah, I caught that by the big brush-off," he shot back dryly.

She met his gaze, glared hard, and threw out her arm to point at the door, completely done trying to reason with him and just going for the direct approach. "March, mister. You're going to go talk to her."

He frowned a hair deeper and just laughed before he turned back to his preparations. "Right. That'll happen."

"Stop acting like Clint!" she huffed at him.

"Haven't tripped over my feet in longer than I can remember," Logan replied evenly.

"Too busy tripping over your own ego."

"Whatever," he said with a wave. "I know her. She won't talk to me if she's that mad."

"It's like talking to a dramatic twelve-year-old brick wall," Kate said, throwing up her hands in frustration. "I can't believe you two are playing 'no you talk first' like you're six."

Logan finally turned around and gave her his full frustration. "Look. It's over. Okay? That's it. Let it go."

She got right up in front of him and poked him in the chest with a glare. "There. Right there. Now you're the other guy I met," she said. "Fine—you want to lone wolf it? I guess we'll just have to deal with the phoenix whatever on our own."

"Good luck, that crap'll melt the flesh off your bones. Doesn't feel too good."

"You can say that at my funeral, then." She poked him again with her finger. "'Gee, real sorry she got melted. I was lone wolfing it. Oh well.'"

"I don't do public speaking," he shot back. "But I'll send flowers."

"Alright both of you stop it," Kurt said suddenly. "You're not going anywhere yet," he said pointing at Logan before he turned to Kate. "And you—go talk to Kitty. If she was going to say anything to me, she would have already, and Logan's right. She won't talk to him."

Kate looked up at him with her arms crossed and glare still firmly affixed. "Fine. One intergalactic babysitter on the futzing job," she all but spit out, mostly Logan's way.

Logan opened his mouth to say something but Kurt cut across him, "No. You don't want to talk to Kitty—then keep it to yourself for Kate when she's trying to help. Just—stop." He turned to Kate before he continued. "Please. Don't poke the old man." He walked closer and dipped his head down to draw her focus to him. "This isn't a friends thing," he said gently. "It's more like a father-daughter thing."

She looked like the wind had been punched out of her sails entirely as the glare quickly softened at the explanation, the topic of fathers still obviously a fresh hurt. "I'll talk to Kitty," she said, this time in a much more subdued tone. "Don't—don't let him leave without us. There are space pirates, and I don't want to miss out."

"I'll hold him down if I have to," Kurt promised.

She relaxed, uncrossed her arms, and smiled at that. "You better," she agreed before she stole a quick kiss and grinned at him. "And for future reference? You're kind of cute when you're all 'this is how it's gonna be'," she told him at a low whisper before she just laughed, spun on her heel and headed off, back the direction she and Kurt had come.

When Kate finally reached the bridge, she poked her head in with a jaunty wave, crossing over to Kitty to just grin at her. "Hey. Can we try that introductions thing again?" she asked. "Feels like there was a lot going on, and we got lost in the shuffle."

"Um... sure?" Kitty said as she turned away from the collection of screens and projections.

Kate smiled and stuck out her hand. "Alright. I'm Hawkeye. Currently sorta kinda dating Kurt? We haven't worked that out. Also currently on a world trip with him and Logan. Nice to meet you."

She smiled up until the part about the world trip, and she extended her hand with a tight smile. "Shadowcat," she said. Currently dating Star Lord - so tickled to see someone that looks like fun dating my favorite fuzzy blue elf. Or... whatever you're going to call it. And I hope you haven't had to deal with too much of that guy's baggage on your trip. Japan sucks."

"Japan got me a tropical paradise retreat with the fuzzy blue elf, so I will have to heartily disagree," Kate said with a wide smile. "And I'm used to baggage. I hang with Clint Barton and trade on his name."

"Go to Japan enough and it will suck sooner or later. Between the ninjas and - well. Everything else. It wears on a person," Kitty said before she tried for a smile and a subject change. "And Hawkeye? Really? I thought he was Ronin now."

"That didn't last too long. We share the name. It's a long story," Kate said, waving her hand. "World's big enough for two Hawkeyes anyway."

"Alright then," Kitty said with a smile as she brushed the hair out of her face. "Is there anything else you needed or just... 'hi'?"

Kate just shrugged unconcernedly. "Well, the Logans switched right after Kurt came back from the dead, but I don't suppose that interests you, does it?" she asked, her tone never slipping from the casual conversational one they'd kept up the entire time.

Kitty stared at her for just a moment and looked shocked—and then she simply deflated. "I … kinda hoped it would. But now... that just makes it my problem." She shook her head. "Are you sure it's not the same one just... not dead anymore? Because ... that .. well it would suck, but ..."

"I swear." Kate put a hand on her heart. "Look, I've been to the other one's grave, I've met a grumpy old version, and I saw the footage of Cable bringing this one back. Three of them is a handful, but this one's apparently the real thing," she added, shrugging up to her ears.

"How do they know?" Kitty asked. "That this is the real one—and not some other … variation."

"They brought in a psychic. Some white queen who turned a spectacular color when he kicked her out of his head," Kate said, grinning.

Kitty pulled a face, but couldn't help but smile. "Okay. That—they shouldn't have brought her in. I hate her." She paused and let out a breath. "He passed, though?"

"He passed. And then we stole a jet from SHIELD. It's been a crazy few days," Kate said, grinning wider. "But... I hope that helps, the knowing when it happened?"

Kitty let out a breath and shook her head. "Well—now it just sucks because he's here... and it's messed up. And he doesn't remember it—or .. I guess… he doesn't even know." She crossed her arms and uncrossed them and started pacing.

Kate watched her for a second before she took a step forward and held out a hand. "Ice cream. You clearly need ice cream."

Kitty stopped and looked at her for a moment. "You know what?" she said as a slow smile started. "That's probably the best idea I've heard all day."

Kate beamed. "Great. Let's find some—unless this place doesn't have any on board, in which case, I am so going to find an ice cream maker for you before this is over."

"Are you kidding? I can't live with these idiots up here without something from home," Kitty said. "Though the pickings are slim, and I think all I have left is just plain chocolate."

"Well, chocolate is still chocolate, even in space," Kate said. "Come on. I'm buying." With that, she didn't ask before she slipped her arm around Kitty's shoulders and threw out her other arm. "But you have to lead the way. This spaceship isn't built like the last one, and I can't for the life of me figure out the layout yet."

Kitty put her arm around Kate's waist and just nodded her head. "You got it, lady. Let's hit it."