A/N - If you haven't seen it yet, there is a little sidefic going on RIGHT NOW to pair with this story - it's called 'Adventures With Cable' and takes place not too terribly long after James is born. It is updating DAILY so this story doesn't get too far ahead of it before that part it told. Take a peek!

Chapter 6: Privacy Concerns

Now that little James was here and K was no longer in her pre-baby state of "touch me and you die", Kate cornered the two ferals one afternoon to get something straight.

"Listen, I love watching JJ squirm as much as anybody, but he's practically begging me to get you guys to talk to him, and it's just getting sad," Kate said.

"Humility hurts on someone like him," Logan said, unconcerned as James slept on his chest.

"Yeah, but I want to move on from watching him squirm to lording it over him that he works for me now," Kate pointed out.

"And you think it'll be a best seller," he replied dryly.

"I do," Kate said. "But I won't do it without you."

"That's not a great argument to make," he said. "Already ticked off it's out there as much as it is."

"I think it makes you even scarier," Kate assured him with a winning smile.

"Maybe I don't need to be scarier," he countered with a look.

She let out a long sigh and shook out her hair. "Look. Other people are already running with the story because a lot of it is public now. I just want to put out the truth — that's all I've ever wanted to do, okay?"

"How'd this happen again?" he muttered under his breath.

"It happened because stupid politics," Kate reminded him.

"Right. That's what it was," he grumbled.

She fixed him with a look. "Are you going to be a big baby about this?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I am," he answered, straight-faced.

"Then at least be a big baby at JJ and not me," she half-pleaded with him. "Come on. Please?"

"Are you gonna keep whining and begging if I don't?" Logan asked.

"Probably," she said. She looked him over and then let out a breath. "Logan, I'm not trying to make a buck off your story. I'm not trying to do that to you. I just want people to know the truth without the stupid bias you know the other guys are spinning."

"If we go through with this … no one around here ever — ever — gets to bitch about the bad press on them again. Ever."

"I can't control everyone else, but I'll smack them if they do," Kate promised. "Please. Please just let me make sure the record is right. I don't want you guys to get painted the wrong way because of the information we put out there."

The two little ferals shared a look for a long moment before finally, he nodded once. "I'll listen to him. He lies or pisses me off — that's it."

K leveled a finger her way. "And Kurt has to play with the little ones while we're dealing with the neck-deep stupid."

Kate nodded a few times and let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Great. I'll call him up," she said, clapping her hands together. "You know Kurt will be more than happy to bathe in the glitter for a while anyway. Let's go."

The meeting that Kate set up was clearly not on JJ's terms. She made him come to her home office, since that would already make him uncomfortable, and when he arrived, both ferals were already there and waiting for him as he sat down in the chair that Kate usually reserved for authors who came to visit.

He had on his best business expression, though, and it looked like he was actively making an effort to look pleasant, strange as the look was on his face. "Thank you for finally agreeing to meet with me," he told both of them. "This shouldn't take long. I just need your signatures and I'll get out of your hair."

Both of them stared at him, waiting for more, neither making a move to sign anything at all.

JJ cleared his throat a bit and reached down to his briefcase to pull out the documents he needed. "This is everything you need. If you'll just sign it, I've already got everything written up, more or less. You can read over it before it goes to press — Mrs. Bishop-Wagner already suggested that."

"I'll read over the manuscript before I sign anything," Logan said.

"Gotta have Murdock read the contracts over for us first, too," K added.

JJ paused, a muscle at the edge of his jaw working, but he finally nodded. "I have a drive with the complete manuscript — but you have to agree to keep it in this office. I don't want leaks," he insisted.

"Leaks? As if we don't know what happened?" K challenged. "If you're reporting on the program — and us — nothing there will be much of a shock, and certainly not anything we care to share with anyone. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this talk. At all."

"Even so, I want to take precautions," he said firmly. "The manuscript stays here. You can make comments and request changes, but it stays where I'm sure none of your students can accidentally—"

"I can make changes or you can do it without our names or likenesses," Logan interrupted. "And it doesn't go to print until I okay the final cut."

JJ swallowed, clearly trying to cut back a comment. "Fine. But I want that in writing."

"Don't worry about that," Logan said. "I wouldn't do a damn thing with you unless it was wrapped up nice and tight on paper first."

"Then I'll expect your changes — and the signed papers — as soon as you've finished reading it."

"You'll get our revised papers from Murdock when he gets around to it," Logan said. "Keep your manuscript until then. In case you might want to change something that'll never make the cut anyhow."

"Fine." JJ glared at him for a moment, though he was obviously trying to soften it. "Fine. Anything else?"

"I'll let you know," Logan told him. "Through Murdock."

"Fine." JJ stood up and took his briefcase in one hand. "I'll be in touch with Murdock then. Thank you for finally meeting with me," he said as politely as the steadily growing purple color would allow.

"John," K called out as he reached the door. "The next time you say 'finally' to me like that, I'm going to slap you. Finally."

Some of the old JJ came back as he looked her way. "Threatening physical assault, Lilja?"

"Threatening you like I know your mother used to when you were a kid, that's all. Manners. I know a woman in that time never would have let their only son act like you do now."

He just stiffened, glared, and looked like he put his every effort into not snapping back at her as he spun on his heel and made a very quick retreat down the hallway.

Jana and the other two kids had a hard time getting anywhere on the picture front. Part of it was simply that they weren't sure how to snap a picture without getting questioned on it or getting noticed, and part of it was the strict no-phones policy both of the Howletts had for their classes.

So it was really just a stroke of luck when Jana came down to breakfast early that morning to put some finishing touches on her math homework — she was pretty sure she had question #5 wrong entirely — that she basically stumbled right into the middle of the entire Wagner clan and the entire Howlett clan.

It was sort of automatic, really, when she quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of all seven of them clustered at the other end of the kitchen as Kate and Kurt had their bags packed and seemed to be on their way out.

"Are you sure you can handle watching her for us?" Kate was asking. "Even with the new little one?"

"Are you trying to insult me?" Logan asked.

"I just mean … I know I wanted to spend a little more time with Kurt after Cable borrowed me and K for a little while…"

"The right Kurt," K put in with a smirk.

Kate nodded. "And besides, he's so little, and you'll want to spend time with him, especially after going so long apart, and—"

"He sleeps most of the time," Logan said. "And the girls play together whether you're here or not. It'll be fine."

K nodded her agreement as James slept on her shoulder, and she gave them a scooting wave as they urged them to get moving. "Hurry up and go — we know you two need privacy to make the glitter set in right."

"Would be fitting," Kate said with a sort of smirk. "I mean, two years ago, the glitter was for Krissy."

"As long as you have another one before I do, that's fine," K told her.

"What about Scott and Annie?" Kurt teased gently. "You know they've been trying as well."

"And for longer than us," Kate agreed.

"Yeah, but you know how it goes, right? It'll happen when they're ready to show up — not the other way around," K said, then paused and made a face. "And I'm slipping into paranoid already."

"Don't I know it," Kate said with a little laugh before she gave K a kiss on the cheek. "If you feel that paranoid, try to give your excess glitter to me or Annie," she teased.

"Take it — take all of it," she said with a wave. "We barely decided to get started when we got him — apparently, I have enough to spare."

"You're talking to the mother of a honeymoon baby," Kate teased right back.

"And you're talking to the mother of the 'Yeah, you were only engaged' baby."

Kate grinned at that and laughed as Kurt wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her to him. "We'll see you both next week," he told Logan and K with an impish smile.

"Yep, don't come back until you're done," he teased.

"In that case, see you much later," Kate countered.

"No worries — we'll have Krissy swearing in eight languages by the time you get back," Logan promised.

Kurt chuckled and shook his head at Logan. "You'll call us if anything comes up?" he said.

"Only if it's the end of the world," Logan replied. "We still get to introduce Barton to his little not- birthday buddy."

"He'll be so sad. I hope you make sure he gets plenty of baby snuggles," Kate laughed.

"We'll get pictures for you," K promised. "Of just that moment where he turns into purple goo."

"He's just… I love him," Kate laughed, shaking her head at the mental image before Kurt smiled at the rest of the group and, tired of waiting, teleported them both off to their anniversary getaway.

Jana had been quietly watching the entire interaction, so she didn't notice at all that Scott had come up behind her until he said, "You can say hello. They won't bite." She turned to find that he was smirking at her and tried very quickly to straighten up and act like she hadn't been eavesdropping.

"I just ... I didn't want to interrupt," she said quickly.

"Well, you're not interrupting now." Scott looked up at Logan and K and waved their way. "You two met Jana yet? She's one of our newest. Kurt found her and a couple boys a few weeks ago."

"Saw her in class," Logan said with a nod. "But that's about it. Where'd you come from, kid?"

"I'm from Queens," she said with her hands shoved deep in her pockets.

The two little ferals shared a look as Scott came over to pick up James. "No, really," K said. "Where are you from?"

Jana startled a bit at that and shoved her hands deeper. "Queens," she repeated. "But… recently. I'm from ... all over, I guess."

K chuckled a bit and shot Logan a glance. "Hey. I get it. But no reason to be ashamed. Come on. Original location. Can't be that bad." She tipped her head toward Logan. "This one's Canadian, and we still keep him around." Logan shook his head and let out an almost inaudible growl as he turned to look at K, who was trying very hard not to smile at him before she leaned in and gave him a kiss.

"I'm just ... I don't really claim anywhere," Jana muttered.

"I could torture it out of you if I wanted to," K told her, her smile not having slipped in the least.

Jana looked suddenly very uncomfortable as she shifted under K's gaze. "I'm — I'm from Detroit," she mumbled quickly.

K straightened up just a bit. "Alright, mittens!" she teased. "Glad to hear we have another Michigan native. You'd have to go a lot further north for me." She leaned forward a bit. "Don't worry; being a troll is far less embarrassing than being a Canuck."

Jana smirked the slightest bit and nodded. "I didn't know you were from Michigan," she said.

"Few do," K replied before she lifted her mug to toast her. "Have a seat and relax. Scott's right. We probably won't bite."

Jana shifted uncomfortably but couldn't come up with a reason to turn them down, so she sat down with her breakfast bar, homework, and coffee — and tried not to look too guilty.

To her surprise, none of them seemed to try to engage her much, and she couldn't catch either of them looking at her, even though she felt as if they were watching. After a little while, Scott peeked over her shoulder to see what she was working on and then handed James back to Logan.

"I can help you with that if you're having trouble," he offered.

She straightened up quickly, her eyes wide. "Are you — I mean — really?" She swallowed and cleared her throat. "I mean. Thanks. That would — thanks." She just glanced back down at her homework as she turned a brilliant scarlet.

"Have fun," K said Jana's way as she and Logan once again pulled their vanishing act, leaving Jana alone with Scott to work on her math.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong," Jana said with a frown. "We're supposed to do all the odd problems so we can check our answers, but I've done this thing six times, and I'm still not getting the answer in the back of the book."

"Well, how about you start off with a fresh piece of paper? Might help you see it clearer when you can't see the answers you've erased already," Scott said as he started to rearrange her papers.

She nodded and sighed and let him push away the notebook paper she'd nearly erased a hole into and pulled out a blank sheet before she started to write out the equation she was supposed to be solving. She started to mutter the steps to herself as Scott watched over her shoulder for a moment until he spotted the problem — she had her order of operations wrong, subtracting before she divided out.

"Wait — there it is," Scott said with a little smirk. "You missed the division before the subtraction. Easy enough to do."

She stared at the sheet of paper for a moment, following where he was pointing, before she let out a groan of frustration and put her head down on the table. "You're kidding me. That was it?"

He grinned at her. "Yeah, that will sneak up on you. How about I stick around and help you finish up the rest of the assignment? I won't say a word unless you're having trouble."

She picked her head up just enough to glance at him to see if he was being serious before she sat up a little straighter and nodded. "I usually do okay in math," she said. "I guess it's just… you know. Getting close to Christmas," she muttered.

"You do look a little distracted," he said with a nod.

"I don't want to leave," she admitted, staring down at the paper instead of him.

"No family?"

"Yeah." She shifted the paper in front of her.

"Well, you don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to," he promised. "We have more than a few kids that are here year-round."

"That's okay. I do okay on my own," she said quickly. "And anyway, I gotta… yeah."

"Yeah, so did I at your age," Scott said. "But it's good to have a place to fall back on when you need a break from being on your own." He gave her a little bit of a smile. "Besides, Annie loves cooking for a crowd."

"I like Miss Annie," Jana agreed. "She and those twins and... " She looked furiously back down at her pencil. "I like this place."

"It seems to suit you well enough," Scott said with a nod. "I saw the preliminary grades for the end of this semester. You're doing well in self defense. That's no easy trick."

"I'm from Detroit," she said with a little shrug, though she looked proud to hear it. "Those kids - they don't know what's up."

"Well, Logan didn't have any notes yet for you, and that's pretty hard to come by," Scott told her.

"Wait, really?" Her head popped up as she looked at Scott. "He yells at me all the time."

Scott kind of smiled and nodded. "He yells at everyone all the time, but you blew the curve in your class. Officially 'better than average'."

She drew herself up at that and looked even prouder. "And I don't even have good powers," she said, sounding proud.

"That class in particular has nothing to do with powers," Scott told her. "And there's nothing wrong with what you have."

Jana gave him a look. "All I can do is tell you what your powers are," she said. "That's like telling you what color the sky is."

"Do you know how amazing that is?" Scott said. "Believe it or not, some mutants come here without being able to describe what they can do. You can tell them not only what they can do but what they're capable of. There are plenty of people that would love to have that ability and would abuse it horribly if given half the chance."

She scrunched up her nose and let out a scoff. "Doesn't do anything to help in a fight."

"Not offensively, no," Scott said. "But defensively, you have the potential to be a tactician — and direct others to where they should go. You could manage the whole fight. Natural leader like you? You could go places."

She brightened up a bit at that and looked more excited. "You really mean that? I mean — that I'm a leader?"

"I've seen the way you've handled those boys," Scott said with a little smirk. "And just about every other kid you come into contact with."

"Oh, that's nothing," Jana said, waving him off. "You just have to deal with stupid people is all."

"You're right — because you're not even trying. They just listen. That's … not something everyone has," he told her. "Most people have to cultivate it."

"Not you, though," she said, then looked brilliantly red. She had no idea how to talk to her hero — and no idea what to do with him complimenting her, either.

He gave her a little smirk. "Let's just work on the rest of your math for now," he said, redirecting her attention to the task at hand.