Please enjoy,
Taunting Repartee
Chapter Sixty-Two.
Sunday morning Rogue and Kitty walked into the kitchen earlier than everyone else. It was their turn to cook breakfast.
"French toast, here we come," Kitty exclaimed.
"You know I'm cook-" Rogue started to say as they saw Jubilee sitting at the table. 'What?' Rogue asked herself shocked to see her.
"Jubilee! You're back," Kitty exclaimed happily. Jubilee glanced up from her bowl of cereal.
"Yeah," Jubilee answered quietly.
"That's so great," Kitty said. "We missed you," she said with a smile. A small smile came to Jubilee's face, but only for a moment.
"Thanks, Kitty," Jubilee said.
"When did you get back?" Kitty asked as she sat down at the table across from Jubilee.
"Yesterday night with the Professor," Jubilee answered.
"Huh? I thought Prof went to Amelia's yesterday?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow as she sat down next to Kitty.
"The orphanage?" Kitty asked concerned.
"He did," Jubilee said sadly.
'Oh no,' Rogue thought alarmed. "Is tha-" Rogue started to ask out loud.
"You okay?" Kitty asked.
"No," Jubilee answered, shaking her head sadly.
"What's wrong?" Kitty asked.
"Kitty, what do you think is wrong?" Rogue asked a little annoyed.
"W-what do yo-?" Kitty started to ask before her eyes widened. "Oh my god," Kitty exclaimed.
"Look, I don't want to talk about it," Jubilee exclaimed: as tears started to form in her eyes.
"O- okay," Kitty said: her voice apologetic.
"No one here would even understand what I'm going through anyway," Jubilee said softly. "You're all happy and just- you wouldn't get it. I just-" she said as she stood up. "You wouldn't get it," she exclaimed as she turned to leave the room. Rogue and Kitty looked at each other for a moment.
"You were at Amelia's, right?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah. Not that that's any of your business," Jubilee yelled bitterly as she kept walking.
"I used to live there too. My birth mother was murdered," Rogue said as Jubilee stopped dead in her tracks.
"Murdered," Jubilee muttered as she turned to face Rogue. "That's- that's how I lost my parents too," Jubilee whispered: tears in her eyes as she met Rogue's gaze.
"I am so sorry," Rogue said earnestly.
"I-" Jubilee stuttered crying, as Kitty ran over to her and pulled her into a hug. Rogue watched Jubilee let go and cry against Kitty.
About ten minutes later the three of them were sitting at the table again. Kitty was sitting next to Jubilee her hand on Jubilee's back rubbing slightly. Rogue sat across from them both. Jubilee had calmed down a bit, at least she wasn't crying anymore. Jubilee grabbed another tissue out of the box on the table, that Rogue had retrieved.
"I'm sure the last thing wanna do is talk about it, but if you do I'm willing to listen," Rogue said.
"Whatever you need," Kitty said strongly.
"Thanks," Jubilee said as she dried the tears on her face.
"Anytime," Kitty said.
"Seriously," Rogue added.
"Okay," Jubilee nodded. The three of them just sat there for a minute.
"And hm- I'm sorry about being a bitch to you before," Rogue said. "I was going through some shit and I took it out on you. It's not a good excuse. I'm just sorry," Rogue said.
"I did the same thing to you," Jubilee shrugged. "Sorry," she added.
"It's okay," Rogue said. "Guess we're even," she added. Jubilee let out a short laugh at that.
"What were you going through?" Jubilee asked.
"You sure you wanna hear about my problems?" Rogue asked. "I think you got more than enough stuff ta deal with right now," she said. Truth be told she didn't want to repeat it all again. Most of the others understood that by now, but she couldn't expect Jubilee to know that.
"I need to stop thinking about it," Jubilee said. Rogue could certainty understand that. "Since the Professor showed up at Ameila's yesterday- I don't know- since I moved into Ameila's- …. everyone's lost their parents there. It's just- It always there. Everyone knows. They try to put on this front- just. I don't want everyone to know about my parents, okay," she said.
"Yeah, of course," Kitty exclaimed.
"I'm the only one who used to live there," Rogue started to say. "We only put it together 'cause of that. Just make sure Prof knows that's what you want, if you haven't told him already," she said.
"I told him," Jubilee said.
"You're secret's safe with us," Rogue said.
"Yeah," Kitty said.
"Thanks," Jubilee said with a smile. "So, what were you going through," Jubilee asked again. Rogue let out a sigh.
"Since February, I was being blackmailed by Magneto," Rogue said.
"Blackmailed?" Jubilee asked her eyes widened.
"Yeah," Rogue said.
"Do you remember that day, outside of the bathroom?" Jubilee asked.
"Yeah, I remember," Rogue sighed.
"... What was that thing on your arm?" she asked cautiously.
"It was a metal ring," Rogue answered dryly.
"A what?" Kitty asked alarmed.
"Magneto was in the bathroom, wasn't he?" Jubilee asked.
"Yeah," Rogue said.
"Oh my god," Kitty exclaimed. "Rogue I-" Kitty started to say.
"It was a while ago and I'm fine. It's not a big deal anymore," Rogue said.
"...I would have yelled at me too," Jubilee said. Despite herself, Rogue smiled.
"I am sorry about that," Rogue said. Jubilee shrugged.
"Me too," Jubilee said. "When did Magneto stop blackmailing you?" she asked. "I'm guessing he stopped, right? You wouldn't be able to talk about it if he hadn't," she said.
"It was a couple of weeks ago," Rogue answered.
"How'd you get him to stop?" Jubilee asked.
"It's a long ass fucking story," Rogue said.
"I got time," Jubilee said. Rogue let out a sigh.
"A lot happened. I don't really wanna relive all of it. I'm sure you can understand that," she said. Jubilee's eyes widened for a moment.
"Hmm- yeah, of course," Jubilee said quickly. "I just- I don't know. Sorry for asking," she said as she avoided eye contact.
"Hey, hey, you got nothing to be sorry about," Rogue said quickly. "There's nothing wrong with asking," she said.
"I think I'd bite your head off if you asked me about my parents," Jubilee said.
"It's fine- I- I'll give you the cliff notes version," she said before sighing. "Max was blackmailing me and some where along the way he fell in love with me," Rogue said.
"Isn't he like really old?" Jubilee started to ask.
"Yeah," Kitty answered meekly. "We're trying like, not to dwell on that," Kitty said.
"Oh- sorr-," she started to say.
"It's fine," Rogue said quickly. "Max also really wanted to recruit me," Rogue said. "Only way he could get me to say yes to him about pretty much anything was by having my trust. He worked really hard to regain my trust. And then something really fucked up happened to me again cause I was his captive and he was sorry about it. He didn't want to hurt me. He wanted to be with me. And well, I really wanna be with him too" Rogue smiled. "So, part of his apology was a truce with the X-Men and the promise that he would never hold me against my will again," she said.
"Wow," Jubilee said.
"Yeah," Kitty muttered.
"But what if he stops wanting your trust?" Jubilee asked.
"Then, I'll deal with it. But I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon. We're really happy right now," she said.
"That's good," Jubilee said.
"Yeah," Rogue said with a smile. "Yeah, it is," she said. "Just wondering, what were you going through before back when we were both being bitches to each other," Rogue said with a slight smile.
"Huh?" Jubilee asked confused.
"You said you did the same thing to me. Took your anger about other things out on me. What was it?" she asked.
"I said that?" Jubilee asked herself. "Right, I did said that-" she muttered nervously. Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Oh- you know, it was just stupid school stuff," Jubilee answered quickly. Rogue studied her for a moment: there was fear in her eyes.
'Why is she afrai?' Rogue asked herself as Kitty asked "What kind of school stuff?"
Jubilee's eyes continued to widen in fear.
"I should start making breakfast," Rogue said as she stood up, changing the subject.
"Oh, yeah," Kitty exclaimed as Jubilee let out a small sigh in relief. "We were totally suppose to do that already," Kitty laughed. "I'll-" Kitty started to say.
"How about you get Jubilee filled in on everything else that's happened around here for the last month and I'll cook?" Rogue asked.
"Hmm- you sure?" Kitty asked.
"Yup," Rogue said as she headed over to the counter. "Jubilee, does that sound okay to you?" she asked.
"Yeah, it does. I just want to run to the bathroom first," Jubilee said.
"Go right ahead, we ain't going anywhere," Rogue said.
"Thanks," Jubilee said as she stood up. She quickly exited the room.
"That's so sad," Kitty started to say.
"Kitty, how did she look to a minute ago?" Rogue asked as she started to open cabinets and get what she would need to cook.
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked. Rogue turned to face her.
"What about the look in her eye?" Rogue asked.
"They looked like her eyes," Kitty said.
'I saw it as well, Anna,' the fragment of Max said. 'The girl was frightened. She did not wish to answer that question.'
"Never mind," she said out loud to Kitty with a forced smile. She turned back to face the counter. 'It reminded me of-' she started to say.
'You and your behavior over the past few months?" he asked.
'Yeah,' she said.
So, we agree,' Max said.
'What do you think?' she asked.
'Call Joanna Cargrill,' Max suggested. 'She's been stationed at Amelia's since the night I brought you back to the institute. She should be able to give us more details.'
"Hey, Kitty?" she asked.
"Yeah," she asked.
"Would you mind going to check on Jubilee? There's no way she's okay and if she needs a shoulder to cry on-" Rogue started to say.
"I'm on it," Kitty said as she stood up.
"Oh, and could you please let everyone know that breakfast will be ready in about forty minutes," Rogue added. Kitty smiled at her before she headed out of the room. Once she was sure Kitty was out of ear-shot she pulled out her cell phone. She quickly dialed Joanna's cell phone number.
"Hi Joanna. It's the commodore. How are you?" she asked quickly.
"I'm fine," Joanna answered bluntly.
"Thank you again for letting us know that Professor Xavier was at Amelia's," she said.
"You're welcome," she said.
"I have a few questions for you. When did Jubilation Lee move into Amelia's?
"February twentieth," she answered.
"What do you know about her parent's deaths?"
"I was told it happened on February thirtieth in Beverly Hills, California. Both of her parents were shot," she answered.
"Did Jubilee ever mention living at the Xavier Institute?" she asked.
"Not to my knowledge. No one in the house seemed to be aware of it," Joanna answered.
"Who brought Jubilee to Amelia's?" she asked.
"Amelia herself."
"How did Amelia find out about Jubilee?" she asked.
"I don't know," she said as she heard Kitty, Jubilee and Kurt's voices.
"Please try to find out," Rogue ordered.
"Yes ma'am," she said.
"Thank you, Joanna," Rogue said before she hung up the phone. She quickly put the phone back in her pocket as she walked over to the refrigerator.
"Good morning, Rogue," she heard Kurt say as she opened the refrigerator door.
"Morning, Kurt," she said with a smile.
"Do you want any help?" he asked as Jubilee and Kitty sat down at the table again.
"Yeah, I would," she said with a smile. "Actually, Kurt, can you take over for just a minute? I gotta go run to the bathroom," she said.
"Yeah, sure," he smiled.
"Thanks, little brother," she said before she headed out of the room.
'I believe, we both know what question needs to be asked next,' the fragment of Magneto said.
'Yeah, yeah we both do,' Rogue thought as she pulled out her cell phone again and dialed Pietro's number.
"But Charles, why didn't Jubilee call us after they passed? She had a home here, with people who knew and cared about her. She didn't need to go to an orphanage Why didn't anyone call us?" Ororo asked. Charles sat with his staff, Ororo, Hank, and Logan in sub-level seven. He had just filled them in on what he had learned yesterday about Jubilee's parents and her short stay at Amelia's home for Wayward Children.
"I have no idea," he said baffled. "Amelia didn't know that she had lived here. Apparently, no one did. What I do know is the poor girl was very unhappy at Amelia's. She told us on the ride back here that her stay there was a constant reminder that her parents were gone. She felt alone regardless of how many people were around her. Amelia told us that Jubilee hadn't really connected with anyone while there," he said.
"But they just let you take her?" Logan asked in disbelief.
"That home was extremely overcrowded," Hank said. "Sean looked almost relieved when we gave Jubilee the choice of coming back with us," he said.
"Amelia is also going to be coming up in a week to visit Jubilee and check on her," Charles said. "Being surrounded by friends can only help Jubilee," Charles added. "But she doesn't want anyone to know about her loss," he said.
"Why?" Ororo asked.
"I believe she just wants to feel normal again. Like she did before she lost them. We'll let Jubilee tell the others at her digression and take this situation one day at a time," Charles said.
I'm kind of liking these shorter chapters. I used to have this 4000 word rule for myself before I could post a chapter. Although, that rule did help me write a lot of great stuff and made sure I reread my work enough times before posting. I think, with my current crazy work schedule shorter chapters are just the way I'm going to have to go for this year. Thank you so much to everyone who showed their support!
I hoped you all enjoyed this! Please review!?