Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution.

Chapter Twenty Two – Comfort

August 1997

California was miles away from New York in more ways than one. Jubilee had spent her summer vacation on the beach, blissfully unaware of the growing dangers threatening her former team-mates. She had just about settled back into her old life with one exception: living with Wolverine had taken its toll on her paranoia and she judged every new situation with the precision and mindset of an X-Man.

Even the daily news had more meaning to her now, especially the situation in Mexico; archaeologists had discovered that an ancient pyramid had been surrounded by a strange globe.

Not wanting her to worry, and knowing that she was the only person her age that was worried, her mother had stopped her watching the news report, but she had seen enough to set her mind spinning.

Was it something to do with Magneto?

Was it to do with that guy who had possessed Jean and Kitty?

If she'd kept watching, would she have seen everyone again?

Would she have seen him?

Jubilee still heard from the X-Men every now and then, but only Kitty, Amara and Bobby emailed her regularly; Kitty every month or so, Amara once a week and Bobby every night, without fail.

Most of his emails were quite short, just a quick message to say hi and check that she was okay, but every now and then they'd be a bit longer, telling her about some prank that had been pulled or how nauseating Scott and Jean were together (as much as she missed everyone, she didn't envy him having to put up with that). He never talked about training sessions or the X-Men so to speak, but he had told her a few months ago that Evan had left the mansion to join the Morlocks – whom she vaguely remembered from the little she knew about Ray – and he was starting to fill the space he'd left in the main team.

Not that she was surprised by that little development; Bobby was really the only choice to fill it, unless they went with Gambit or Pyro, but she knew that putting either one on the same team as Cyclops was asking for trouble.

As her thoughts came full-circle and settled back on what could be happening in Mexico, Jubilee arrived home from a day at the beach with her … friends, if she could even call them that any more; they were nice enough, but she hadn't realised how shallow they all were and – she supposed – how shallow she used to be. She dropped her beach-bag on the kitchen table with a sigh, pulling her sunglasses off.

"Good day?" Her mother asked from the sink.

"Sun, surf and hot guys." Jubilee listed. "What's not good about it?"

The fact that none of those guys was Bobby. Her head responded as her mother laughed. "I suppose it was a stupid question when you put it like that. You have mail."

"Oh." Jubilee frowned. "I thought I turned my laptop off when I went out."

Her mother chuckled again. "Actual mail, dear." She nodded to the freezer. "On the top."

"Thanks." Jubilee reached up and pulled the envelope down, seeing her name and address written neatly on the front. "That's odd."

"What is?"

Jubilee glanced up, realising that she'd expressed her confusion out loud. "It's Bobby's handwriting. He emails me every day; why's he writing me a letter?"

Her mother shrugged in response, handing her the letter opener. Slitting open the envelope, Jubilee pulled out the letter, unfolding it gingerly, seeing the same handwriting covering the page. Her eyes travelled over the words and she sank into the nearest chair, feeling her knees grow weak as the truth and emotions behind them hit her.

Dear Jubilee,

I know what you're thinking. Why am I writing to you when an email would be ten times faster? I'm right, aren't I? I always said I knew you too well. But, to answer your question, this didn't seem like the sort of thing I could put in an email. I'm sure, by now, you've realised that I've been sparing you all the gory details of what's been happening, but it's time you knew the truth, so here goes …

You remember Mesmero? He was the telepath who possessed Jean and the others to steal those rings. It turned out that those rings worked together to make a key that opened the first of three doors guarding an ancient mutant called Apocalypse. About six months ago, Mesmero managed to get his hands on the second key and duped Magneto into destroying it, which opened the second door. About a week ago, we flew out to Egypt to stop the third door opening, but we were too late. He's out, Jubes, and he's planning on turning humans into mutants.

Professor Xavier recons that only about 3% of humanity will survive at the end of it all. We don't know when and we don't know how, but we will do everything in our power to stop him.

Thing is, I'm scared, Jubes. The odds of us coming back alive … they're not good. This guy knocked us all cold and he'd been imprisoned for five thousand years. That globe in Mexico? I don't know if you saw it on the news, but Magneto's gone AWOL ever since Apocalypse made him vanish in that big ball of light. Professor X thinks he's probably dead. And this is Magneto we're talking about here! If this guy can do that to him, just imagine what he's gonna do to us!

On second thought, don't; I have been and it's not a nice picture.

I guess I'm writing to say goodbye, though I wish I didn't have to. I know you're planning on coming back as soon as you turn 18, but it will happen before then, so I won't get the chance to do this in person, however much I wish I could see your face one more time. When you left, I told you I would miss you. That wasn't what I'd been about to say; you knew that, I could see it in your eyes. But did you know that I was trying to tell you that I love you? Probably not; you'd have said something by now, even if it was just to say that we're just good friends and always will be and that I will forever have to pretend.

But right now, that no longer matters, because 'always' isn't as long as I thought it would be and 'forever' is no longer in my reach.

All I can do is ask you to remember that I have loved you since the moment I met you and I will continue to do so until the end. It is you I am fighting for and it is you I will die for.

Love always,

Bobby

"Mom …" Jubilee was painfully aware of the tears pouring down her cheeks and did nothing to try to stop them.

"Jubilee, what's the matter, dear?" Her mother wiped her hands hurriedly on a tea-towel and wrapped an arm around her, prying the letter from her hands and reading it quickly. "Oh my …"

A few tears escaped her own eyes as the letter fluttered to the ground. Jubilee leaned into her mother's embrace, heaving sobs overtaking her. She didn't bother explaining why she was upset; anyone with half a brain could tell that from the letter.

She needed to do something.

She needed to get home.

"Rogue?"

Someone else knocked on the door for the fortieth time that day and Rogue ignored it once again, despite the familiar voice.

This time, however, it did her no good; a second later, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Remy closed it behind him, ignoring her glare.

"When someone doesn't open the door, Gambit, it usually means 'go away', not 'pick the lock and come in'." She said icily.

Pulling over the desk chair, Remy sat down and fixed her with a look. "Why are y' avoiding everyone?"

"I'm not avoiding everyone." Rogue muttered.

"Rogue …"

"Anna." Rogue interrupted.

Remy blinked at her, a little startled by the change in subject. "Huh?"

"Anna." Rogue repeated. "That's my real name. She was the one who started calling me 'Rogue'."

"Mystique?" Remy guessed; he took the darkening of her eyes as confirmation. "Okay, then, Anna … y' know none of this was y'r fault."

Her lips quirked into a humourless smile. "I know. It was her. Again. Why does she do this? What did I do to her?"

Remy sighed and pulled her into his arms. "I don't know, mon chere. I jus' don't know."

"Kitty? Kitty? Kitty?"

Kitty blinked and shook her head. "Where am I?"

Wanda pushed a steaming mug of coffee into her hands. "You're at the Boarding House. You seemed a bit out of it when you knocked on the door."

"I was. I didn't even register getting here." Kitty took a sip. "Drink of the gods, this stuff. Lance here?"

"They'll be back…" Wanda broke off as the front door opened.

"Kitty?" Lance asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to tell you…" Kitty broke off, unsure how to word it. "Professor Xavier…he thinks that Magneto is…"

"Dead." Pietro finished shortly. "We know. We were ready for it."

Wanda nodded. "It is hard, Kitty." She admitted as if reading her mind. "He may have been a bastard, but he was our father. I think even Mom's taking it hard."

"It's understandable." Lance told her.

"It's not just that." Kitty looked up. "Mystique's gone too. There was an accident involving her and a cliff." She paused. "At least, I assume it was an accident, but Kurt and Rogue were the only two there and they're not telling."

Lance took a moment to digest this. "Would you think any less of me if I told you that I really don't care?"

"No." Kitty took another drink of coffee and looked around. "I love what you've done with the place."

"Yeah, Mom took one look at it and freaked." Wanda admitted. "It took the boys ages to accept it, but I keep telling them…"

"Family's not charity." Tabby finished, standing behind Kitty's chair and hugging her. "Hey."

"Hey." Kitty tilted her head back to look at her. "Putting up with this lot alright?"

"Well, it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it." Tabby joked, reaching over to Pietro's head.

Pietro ducked away from her hand. "Not the hair!" He looked at Kitty. "We were gonna grab a movie; you coming?"

"Thanks, but I'm not really in a 'movie' kind of place right now." Kitty admitted.

"I'm gonna pass too, guys, I think." Lance added.

"But…" Todd began.

Pietro clapped a hand over his mouth. "Good idea, Lance; see you!" They were gone in a gust of wind.

Tabby rolled her eyes. "Boys. Come on, Wanda, Fred; better go protect Speedy from the normies."

"Knowing Pietro, it'll be the other way round." Wanda commented, following her.

Kitty raised an eyebrow as the door closed. "Are you really not up to it or does this have something to do with the fact that we're now alone in an empty house?"

Lance smirked and pulled her to her feet. "You know me too well." He leaned in, but pulled away just before their lips met. "So why are you really here?"

"To tell you about Magneto and Mystique." Kitty replied easily.

"No, because I heard you ask for me." Lance told her, kissing her nose. "If that were true, you'd have been asking for Pietro."

Kitty sighed. "I'm just…I'm scared, Lance. I don't like not being in control and I've got no control over this."

"Yeah, you do." Lance told her, kissing her forehead and down her face. "You could tell me to piss off."

"Not this." Kitty let her head fall back as he started kissing her neck. "The…The whole…If you want a straight answer, you're going to have to stop doing that."

"Hmm, what a dilemma…" Lance's words vibrated against her skin and she bit back a moan. "I do want to know what's wrong, but you always taste so delicious."

"What's the time?" Kitty gasped. "Curfew's eleven."

"It's only nine." Lance nipped at her collar-bone. "We're alright. What's that noise?"

"That's my phone." Kitty pulled away and checked the number, fully intending to ignore the call, but groaned. "It's the Institute; if I don't answer it…" She shuddered. "Hello? Hey, Scott. Really? Oh, that's awful. Yes, that's fine. No, of course not. What do you take me for? See you tomorrow. Bye." She hung up. "Guess what?"

"Summers changed his mind about me and gave you permission to stay here tonight?" Lance guessed wildly.

"Not quite." Kitty smirked. "But you're close. Apparently, the computer system's on the glitch and I'm locked out. So I need a place to stay tonight. Do you mind?"

"Mind?" Lance repeated.

Kitty looked innocent. "Yeah, I mean, if it's too much trouble, I'm sure I can find someone to…" She was cut off by a passionate kiss as Lance pulled her into his arms. Reluctantly, Kitty broke the kiss and leaned up to whisper, "I think we need somewhere a little more comfortable."

Several hours later, the rest of the Brotherhood returned to find a note on the table explaining the problem with the Mansion's security.

Pietro and Wanda seemed to read each other's minds and distracted the others enough to get everyone to bed without waking Lance to tell him about the movie, which Wanda had to admit had been very good, despite it not being her first choice.

Once everyone was in for the night, the twins exchanged a glance. "Should we…?" Pietro asked, nodding at the closed door.

"Let me." Wanda knocked lightly, before pushing the door open. The room was dark and quiet, but she could still make out two people asleep and smiled, pulling the door shut.

"Well?" Pietro prompted.

Wanda smirked. "Life just got interesting around here."

AN: If anyone's interested in what happened between Lance and Kitty, check out my oneshot 'Home Alone'. And review please!