Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution.

Chapter Twenty-Three – Hello and Goodbye

August 1997

The next morning, Kitty made her way back to the Institute, feeling very grateful for Wolverine's road-trip; she knew that some scents lingered no matter how many showers were taken. She also had a renewed respect for the fear Pietro held for his sister; he hadn't made one comment all morning, despite the fact that she knew that he knew what had transpired between her and Lance the previous night. She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her at the memory and fought to wipe the giddy smile off her face before she got home.

As she neared the Institute, a cab passed her and pulled up outside the gates. She slowed her pace warily, seeing the passenger side open.

But, a second later, the grin was back, this time for a different reason, and she sped up again. "Oh my God!"

Jubilee spun around. "Kitty!"

"Hi!" Kitty stopped just in front of her and hugged her tightly. "We missed you so much! Bobby has been going mad! It took him two months before he pulled a proper prank again and Jean spent three hours yelling for you to get down there as well so she could tell you both off."

Jubilee laughed. "You're kidding."

"I wish." Kitty smirked. "You're back? I mean, really back?"

"I'm really back." Jubilee confirmed. "Bobby sent me a letter about tall, bad and ugly and I talked Mom into letting me come back; she checked with Professor X last night." She leaned into the cab and handed the driver the money. "Thanks."

Kitty helped Jubilee pick up her bags, not paying attention to the cab pulling away. "So Bobby tells you that we're all risking our lives to save humanity and your mom decides to send you back?"

"Only as long as I stay here when you go out." Jubilee amended. "Which is annoying, but worth it."

"Oh, absolutely." Kitty typed in the security code and pressed her thumb against the scanner, praying that it would work. "I think anything would be worth it."

"So what are you doing out here this early?" Jubilee asked. "You're not in uniform; it can't be part of a training exercise."

"The security went on the glitch last night and locked me out." Kitty explained. "I stayed with the Brotherhood."

"Really?" Jubilee asked, stretching the word out. "That must have been fun."

Kitty laughed. "Oh, I missed you jumping to conclusions!

"I'm not jumping to conclusions." Jubilee protested. "You look like you slept with a coat-hanger in your mouth. I'd wipe that smile off your face before Scott sees you. Or Wolverine, for that matter."

"Wolverine's on a road-trip." Kitty told her. "And Scott thinks Lance and I broke up the day you left."

"I didn't know you were dating back then." Jubilee commented. "Amara said you weren't."

"We weren't." Kitty shrugged. "But Scott assumed we were. So he thinks we broke up when we actually … got together." She shook her head. "I'll tell you later. Bobby's at the summerhouse."

"How'd you know?" Jubilee asked, checking her watch. "Shouldn't he be training? Unless he got locked out as well?"

"Why would he be training?" Kitty asked, checking the time. "It's our slot."

"He said he'd been taking Spyke's place in your team." Jubilee explained.

Kitty smirked. "Well, that's a bit of exaggeration on his part. When we need him, yeah. But he's still the leader of the New Mutants, so he's running their sessions."

"He's running our sessions?" Jubilee asked in surprise. "He never mentioned that."

Kitty shrugged. "Don't ask me. Leave your bags here and go and find him; I'll take them inside. He's always at the summerhouse around now; says it helps him to think."

"Bobby, thinking?" Jubilee raised an eyebrow. "There's a scary thought."

Kitty had been completely right, Jubilee saw as she approached the small structure. Her best friend was leaning on the fence, gazing out across the ocean.

Her jog slowed to a walk and then a full stop, but he acted before she could.

With a frustrated groan, Bobby buried his face in his hands. "God, Jubes; how am I supposed to do this without you?"

Jubilee took a deep breath. "Who says you have to?"

There was a pause, then Bobby turned to face her, brown eyes drinking in the sight of her. He took a few steps forward, then stopped. "I'm dreaming again." He whispered.

Jubilee flushed slightly. "You dream about me a lot?"

"All the time." Bobby admitted.

Jubilee smiled coyly. "So how do these dreams usually go?"

The tips of Bobby's ears turned pink, but he answered regardless. "Well, you put your arms around me and tell me that you love me and that you're not leaving again and then … I wake up."

"Hmm, I'm sure they aren't the only dreams." Jubilee commented, walking the rest of the way to wrap her arms around his neck lightly. "Well, I do love you." She raked her fingers through his hair, trying to flatten it a little. "And I'm never leaving again." Leaning forwards, she pressed her lips to his lightly. "And you're not dreaming."

Bobby gaped at her for a split-second, then spun them so her back was against the railing instead of his. "How are you back?"

"The letter …" Jubilee felt her throat seize up and fought to regain control of her emotions, tears springing to her eyes without warning. "It scared me. It must have scared Mom too, because she phoned Professor X straight away. But I have to stay here while you go and save the world."

"Thank God." Bobby breathed, before kissing her again desperately.

Her hands threaded into his hair, using it to pull herself closer to him. His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her close, much to her relief, because she felt as though her legs would give way at any second.

Gently, Bobby pulled away and dropped a kiss on her forehead, before pulling her into a hug. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." Jubilee took a deep breath, breathing in his familiar scent, sort of a cross between cinnamon and spiced fruit and something else that she never could place, but that was just completely … Bobby. "I love you so much."

"I love you." Bobby kissed her briefly and pulled back just slightly to brush the hair from her face. "I need a second-in-command; you up for the job?"

"Sure." Jubilee agreed. "You need a girlfriend too while we're at it?"

"Well …" Bobby took advantage of their current position and kissed her again. "I kind of assumed …"

"Never assume, Bobby." Jubilee interrupted with a smirk. "It makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."

"I happen to think you've got a lovely ass." Bobby told her with a wink.

Jubilee blushed. "Thank you. I think."

"Oh, it was a compliment." Bobby ran his hands down her arms and took her hand. "Come on."

"Where?" Jubilee asked.

Bobby flashed her a grin. "Well, I've got to introduce the rest of the team to my beautiful girlfriend, don't I?"

"Oh, yeah." Jubilee fell into step beside him. "So how is everyone?"

"Well, aside from the whole 'end-of-the-world' thing, they're all pretty good. Evan's living with the Morlocks, Gambit and Rogue are dating, Wolverine's got a clone no one knew about and Scott and Jean are so nauseating that they make entire groups of people want to vomit just by smiling at each other." Bobby listed. "But you knew all that anyway."

"All except for the clone thing." Jubilee nodded. "What was all that about?"

Bobby shook his head. "Don't ask, Jubes. Just don't ask."

January 1998

Several months passed. Thanksgiving … Christmas… New Year…

To the inhabitants of the Institute, they seemed like a dream, a temporary break from reality. The X-Men trained harder, faster, preparing for the hell that was coming. With Jubilee at his side, Bobby seemed more focused, if that were possible, not that any of his team were complaining, at least for the moment.

One cold January morning, Remy and Rogue sat in her room, enjoying a rare moment of peace, when neither of them had a training session and it was cold enough outside that no one had come to drag one or the other out for some form of sports relief.

After a few minutes in silence, Rogue lifted her head from his shoulder, shaking off the weariness of that morning's session. "What's wrong?"

Remy looked slightly startled by the abrupt question. "Huh?"

Rogue smiled. "You're tense, mon amour. What's wrong?"

Remy sighed. "Okay. Y' remember how I told y' that there were other circumstances that led t' my departure from N'Orleans?"

Rogue thought back, remembering their candid conversation in the dank cell in Magneto's former headquarters. "Yes."

"When I was eight, I met a girl named Belladonna Boudreaux." Remy told her quietly. "She became my best friend, my sister in many respects. Unfortunately, she was the daughter of the Assassins' Guild, sworn enemies of mon père. When our fathers found out, we thought they'd be furious, but instead, they arranged for us to marry, in an attempt to stop the fighting between our families. As much as we wanted the war to stop and as much as we cared for one another, neither of us wanted to become trapped, so we agreed that I should leave. I was already having some trouble with my family and she would never have survived on her own …"

"An assassin?" Rogue interrupted. "Wouldn't have survived on her own?"

Remy grinned weakly. "Well, not as well as moi."

Rogue exhaled slowly. "Wow. So what's the problem?"

Without a word, Remy handed her a letter that seemed to have been read many times over and she scanned it quickly.

Remy,

I don't know if this will reach you or not; I saw this school on the news and I can only hope that they know of your whereabouts or, failing that, read this and act themselves.

The fighting between our families has gotten worse; Papa used your disappearance as an excuse and he will not listen to reason. He has made an agreement with the Rippers to help in the fight and you know them; they won't help for nothing.

I have become a bargaining tool; their son, Julien, is my new intended. I do not wish to be trapped in a loveless marriage with either of you, but you, at least, would treat me with respect.

I estimate five hours after the wedding before he kills me (I hope) and that's only if I survive whatever happens to me first.

I'm not asking you to come back and marry me, since we both know that won't solve anything, but I need help. Please come home.

Love,

Bella

"Oh my God …" Rogue murmured. "You have to go and help her!"

"How?!" Remy asked. "I am one person! The X-Men are needed here and I …" He trailed off. "I have an idea. But Apocalypse …"

"We'll be fine." Rogue cut him off. "She needs help."

"Alright." Remy relented. "I'll go and tell the Professor I'm leaving."

"Okay." Rogue smirked. "But I want a proper goodbye before you leave."

With a grin, Remy kissed her and hurried down to find the Professor, reinforcing his mental shields as he went; those were the kind of thoughts he definitely didn't want publicised.

"You're leaving?" Amara repeated.

John flinched. "Yes."

"Why?" Amara demanded. "Why? I just…Why?"

John sighed and sat her down. "Amara, Magneto's gone. And a vital piece of information went with him. When Colossus joined Magneto, he brought his four-year-old sister, Illyana, with him. Illyana was sick, desperately sick. Piotr begged Magneto to help her. And Magneto did; put her in a hospital. Problem is, no one knows where that hospital is, if she's even in one. Piotr's looking, but the world's a big place and she could be anywhere. She could die in the time it takes him to find her." He sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "I have to help him look, Amara. I can't just sit back and do nothing."

During this, Amara's expression had softened. "Okay."

"Okay?" John repeated in disbelief. "That's it? No arguments?"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" Amara asked. "Go and find her; I'm with you all the way on this point."

"You are?" John spun her around and kissed her. "Thank you, Amara; I knew you'd understand."

"On one condition." Amara added. "If you get back and we're out fighting Apocalypse, you stay here, got it? Someone needs to back Jubes up if we lose and the rest of the world decides to lynch the rest of us."

"But…" John sighed and pulled her closer. "Okay. But if it does happen before I get back, be careful."

"When am I not?" Amara met his kiss for a few minutes. "And you're coming back, right?"

"How could I do anything but?" John brushed the hair from her face. "You're my life, Amara. I couldn't even fathom living without you. Remember what happened last time?"

Amara nodded, not able to stop the smile spreading across her face. "Vividly." Somehow, having got them rooms in a hotel, Tabby had managed to swap the rooms, so that she and John were in the same one. Amara didn't know how Tabitha managed it…nor did she really care.

John returned the smile and kissed her one last time, before reluctantly pulling away and leaving to find Professor Xavier.

A few hours later, she stood next to Rogue at the window, watching two figures slowly walk away from the Institute.

"They're going the wrong way." She murmured. "They should be here."

"I know." Rogue sighed. "But they're needed out there. You know that." She blew a soft kiss after them. "Seras sûr, mon amour."

By March, Amara had only had a few phone calls from John; seeing as Piotr was searching Russia, he was starting in Australia and there weren't many opportunities to get to a phone. On the other hand, Remy was perfectly capable of phoning them, but it was too dangerous, both for him and for the X-Men.

Rogue and Amara began to spend increasing amounts of time in each other's company, since both found that the other was the only person who understood what they were going through; even Kitty spoke to Lance on a daily basis, if not more often.

One morning, Amara noticed that Rogue was quieter than normal and cornered her out by the summer-house. "Alright, what's wrong?"

Rogue sighed. "That obvious, huh?"

Amara nodded. "Spill."

Rogue leaned against the railing. "Amara, what would you do if you thought you'd done something really, really stupid?"

"I'd try and fix it." Amara cocked her head, trying to read her expression. "Unless this is something that can't be fixed?"

"Not easily." Rogue bit her lip. "I think I'm pregnant."

AN: Uh oh. Yes, I know that Julien and Belladonna were brother and sister in the comics, but apparently the powers that be at WB decided that the 'Assassins' Guild' was too frightening for the ickle kiddies who might watch XME and replaced them with the Rippers. So, since Bella's in the Assassins and Julien's in the Rippers, they're not brother and sister. Review please!