Notes from CC: No. That would be presumptuous to assume much on what you know so far about K in this universe. If you recall, K was on the run in this universe too - however she's had some slightly different life experiences up to this point, and frankly, I'm not letting Creed play with her anywhere NEAR as much as he does in the 906.
As far as Logan's reactions - Wolvie - is no fool. And quite paranoid. So he's going to be a little bit cautious with a woman that goes by a letter. (something he should have been more cautious about in the 906 but hey. Different circumstances and I had things to get done, damnit.) But - I promise, it won't be nearly as … twisted as I originally wrote her up. Streamlining, ladies. It's a thing. MOST of the same experiences - slightly different order.
Notes from robbie: Yeah, everything here is alternate universe. Sure, we're stealing K from the 906, but obviously, this is not the 906 universe. (For one thing, that universe has Kate meeting the two of them at a totally different time in their lives…) Don't worry; everything will be explained so even people who aren't familiar with the 906 (...*raises hand* *got the crib notes from CC* *not entirely caught up* *because CC says I should not read darkness because I am 'made of sunshine'*) are able to follow this story. Don't worry. We know what we're doing, and we promise everything will be addressed.
But it's not the same Logan/K in the 714 as in the 906. Slightly different lived experiences mean slightly different reactions. That's how it is in all AUs, really. You can check out our 867 on the TeamAwesomeLives account for EVEN MORE ALTERNATE characters because… that's even different...er. :D **shameless plug**
Chapter 13: "Knight in Shining Armor"
A very short time after the little group poofed out of the Danger Room, Jubilee made her way upstairs to find Scott, and she looked beyond irritated when she knocked on the open door at his office and just folded her arms.
"Your little stray just dragged off the three troublemakers," Jubilee said with a deep frown.
"Dragged them off where?" Scott asked quickly, already settling into a frown of his own.
"From the sounds of it, to Kate's — family's — I don't know? They were talking about horseback riding."
Scott settled into a glare and tipped his head Jubilee's way before he stood up and swore under his breath. "I thought it was clear she shouldn't go anywhere until we were sure Sabretooth had given up on her."
"Or we figured out who the heck she even was," Jubilee added.
Scott frowned deeper at that and paused to look her way. "Whose idea was the trip?" he asked.
"Kate offered?" she said with a frown. "But apparently it was after something K had said to her."
"Did any of them have their comms?" Scott asked.
"I … really don't know," Jubilee said. "I didn't exactly pat them down on the way in."
"Let's find out," Scott suggested. He tried Logan first, not because he thought Logan would pick up but just to get it out of the way so he could say he tried, before he called Kate — who didn't answer either. But he finally got an answer when he called Kurt, and immediately, he heard the shrieks of laughter on the other end at whatever it was those four were up to. "What are you guys doing?" Scott half-shouted into the comm over the noise.
"We thought K could use a little fresh air," Kurt replied over the sound of Kate's delighted laughter. "We're horseback riding … just a few little games. I've got the bamfs looking out for any sign of trouble, and we'll 'port right back if we see so much as a tracksuit."
"That's not my only concern, Kurt," Scott said almost wearily. "We have no idea who the heck this woman is."
"That's not exactly a unique situation," Kurt pointed out.
"It kind of is," Scott argued. "You haven't seen the lack of any kind of intel on this girl. And I've been digging."
"Well, whoever she is, Kate seems to love her," Kurt said with a laugh as Kate's giggles filled the comms for a moment. "And she's not the only one. She seems to fit in — we can figure the rest out as we go. Have a little faith." With that, the comm went silent just seconds after they could hear Kate declare that it was 'our turn.'
Scott just stared at the comm for a moment after it went dead. "Any luck on either front?" he said finally as he looked up at Jubilee again.
"Not really, no," Jubes said. "Got my computer shut down on both searches. Again. Big Virus warning."
"The same one?" Scott asked thoughtfully. "Both SHIELD viruses, I mean?"
"Yeah, looks like," Jubilee replied easily.
"Well, that's more than we had before. At least for K — we know who's keeping us out anyway," Scott said, then let out a heavy sigh. "If Logan wasn't out… doing whatever he's doing, I'd ask him to talk to Fury about this."
"They are coming back, right?" Jubilee asked. "Because I have words."
Scott smirked her way. "Oh, they're coming back. And I've got words too."
Hours later, there was still no sign of the four of them, and Scott just looked more irritated with every passing hour. He was glaring at the clock. And the comms. And grumbling low to himself every time he thought about what reckless stupid thing they could possibly be doing on horseback — if that was actually what they were doing.
He wasn't alone, either. Jubilee had been pacing too — and somehow, she'd found a way to chew her bubblegum aggressively. She had moved on to texting — not only Logan, Kate, and Kurt, but Noh too — who still hadn't made an appearance. She was getting awfully sick and tired of being left out of the loop by everyone. It sucked when the X-Men did it to her as a teenager, and it sucked even more as an adult when it wasn't the X-Men in general but her stupid fuzz-faced mentor and idiot gorgeous boyfriend.
If he just wasn't so … him she'd probably have dropped him by now. But she knew someone was taking advantage. And that put them in her crosshairs more than Noh. If she could get to them.
It was a little past sunset when the four wayward mansion residents teleported back onto the grounds, grinning and in high spirits, though K looked a bit dizzy as Logan held her up and Kurt apologized profusely — though all were still grinning widely as Jubilee burst out the front doors looking furious, with Scott not far behind.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Jubilee half shouted. "You don't know who the heck this ... person is! She could be one of the bad guys!"
K had just blinked her way, though she didn't let go of Logan — and he didn't look the least bit amused by Jubilee's greeting. "Jubes, back off," Logan said as the tone of the group seemed to drop a notch.
"And that right there — is about all the proof I need," Jubilee shouted at him finally. "Fits along with the rest of your record." Logan looked instantly pissed off, but before he could say a word, she spun on K. "Where the heck did you come from anyhow? Who are you working for that has freakin' Sabretooth looking for you?"
K just let go of Logan's arm and turned Jubes' way, though he didn't take his hand off of her waist. "That would fall into 'None of your business' on the first — and I was working in a bar until very recently for the second. Any other answer doesn't work out too well for anyone. Now, as far as Creed goes? He's a grade 'A' creep. I thought you knew that."
"We can't help if we don't know what we're up against," Scott pointed out with a deep frown. "And we definitely can't help if you guys run off without telling anyone where you're going!" he added, glaring at the three X-Men in the group.
K looked over at the three of them then back to Scott, unconsciously stepping in front of the three of them slightly. "Not their fault, I talked them into it. They were trying to be a good welcoming committee. I took advantage."
"You so did not," Kate said, pointing a finger at K.
K pointed at her own face. "Nefarious intent." She pointed to Kate. "Sunshine and butterflies. So ...unless your extensive searching has found otherwise? That's the explanation they want to hear anyhow."
"Why don't you try the truth instead of an easy out?" Scott asked, crossing his arms.
"You're very cute when you're mad," K said before she gave him a very sad smile. "But no one wants the truth, and the easy out would be to just walk," she replied.
Scott had just taken a deep breath and looked like he was about to argue the point when, very suddenly, the alarms went off to indicate a proximity alert.
"What is that all about?" K asked as she took a step back and bumped into Logan, who obviously hadn't moved an inch.
"Uninvited company," Logan replied quietly over her shoulder as the alarms continued.
"Remember the part about saving people and fighting bad guys?" Kate grinned K's way. "So — sorry, but the parade of boys is over. For now. Now we move on to action poses."
"Criminal," she muttered quietly. "Do they have to action pose? That's just … no."
"Depends on how you fight." Kate mimed her bow and arrow. "I hold mine for a bit."
"I'm not much of a fighter," K said with a little smirk Kate's way.
Kate just chortled and looked Kurt's way. "What do you think, Sir Wagner? Shall you and I stick with the damsel in distress here who absolutely can't fight Logan in a heartbeat?"
"Defenseless," K agreed as she bent down to tie her shoes again, though while she was doing so, she gently touched her ankle, where Kate could clearly see she had to have a dagger hidden, though she didn't take it out.
"Have no fear," Kurt said with a sweeping bow. "We X-Men know how to rescue defenseless damsels."
"Forgive me if I wait to see which one of you is my hero," K replied with a little laugh as she got to her feet. For someone who claimed not to be a fighter, she looked ready to go.
"Oh, it's definitely Kurt. He's the dashing hero always," Kate said without hesitation.
"He's your dashing hero, sure," K said. "And you're adorable together."
The alarms continued as the gathered group watched the trees around them, just waiting for trouble. When Victor Creed finally stepped out of the treeline, he had his hands easily visible, and he was walking at a normal, easy rate, though even when he was doing his best to appear relaxed, it just wasn't very convincing. "I just want to talk," Creed called out, stopping where he knew he would be out of range of most of them. Logan was growling low, and K took just a moment to glance at him as he stepped around her, obviously blocking her from Creed's view.
Scott gave K a hard look and pointed her way before he took a few steps toward Victor. "You — stay back. You don't need to be anywhere near this." K just looked back at him with wide eyes and nodded — though it was easily clear she was humoring him. "Unless you're turning yourself over, Creed, we have nothing to talk about," Scott called out.
"Why don't you do both of us a favor and just hand the girl over. She doesn't belong to you, and I'll get her out of your hair for good," Creed said easily, as if it was a perfectly reasonable request. "Speakin' from experience, she's more trouble than she's worth."
K let out a noise of disbelief at Creed's assessment that almost had Scott turning her way, though he missed whatever it was that she had muttered low. "I think we both know that isn't going to happen," Scott said with a glare.
"Listen, I know you like trying to save the world and rehab the hopeless cases — but why don't you get real, Summers?" Creed said — though his reasonable tone had slipped back to demanding. "We all know I'm not gonna leave you alone until I get what I came for."
"The answer's still no," Scott said stubbornly. "Even if we can't help her? The last thing we'd do is hand her over to you."
"Have it your way," Creed answered with a growl. He was crouched low and clearly poised to strike when a streak of black, white, and green simply bowled him over faster than any of them could react — and Noh was on top of him in an instant, kneeling on his chest to get a good grip to just start wailing on him while he had the element of surprise, though it didn't take Creed long to recover and to give it right back to Noh with a growl.
Logan rushed forward with K right behind him — a glare on her face even as Scott tried to yell at her to stay back. "You're unarmed," he shouted as he tried, and failed, to grab her arm —which earned a snort from her. Scott had blasted Creed as soon as Noh was clear, but before he could take another shot, Logan got there, claws out and swinging with a snarl.
The rest of the group sort of hung back as the two of them got started, unable to take a clear shot without hitting Logan. Scott finally caught up with and yanked K backward a few steps. "Get back," he barked at her. "Just go back and let us do our jobs!"
"Of course, of course," K promised, though she had crouched down and was looking up at him like it was a coincidence.
Scott turned toward Kurt and Kate and had just opened his mouth to ask Kurt to grab her when K pulled out the dagger at her ankle. "Just — in a minute or two," she swore before she slipped away from Scott again and zipped into the fray.
She found a way to dodge around the two men as they fought — avoiding the claws and snarls without so much as a raised eyebrow until she got around to pop up behind Creed. She stayed back a step or two from him, waiting for Logan to make a move that would make sure he was out of her path before she shifted the grip on her dagger and rushed in to jam it down into Creed's back, twist hard, and then snap the blade — nearly at his spine, where there was no way he'd be able to reach it without help.
She shifted the grip again so that what little edge was left faced the outside of her hand, and she dodged back again, slipping right between his legs as he rushed her — only for K to slash him by the knee as she moved to pop up and run again — nearly dancing out of his reach while the damage from the stab and all of Logan's slashes began to catch up to him.
She kept the broken knife hilt in her hand and her eyes on the fight as she just backed away from it slowly, her hands up at shoulder level. "That's what you get for sucker punching me, jackass," K called out to him, earning herself a snarl, and Logan engaged with him again to stop his charge her way.
As soon as K was clear, Noh zipped into the space she'd occupied, following her cue with his own sharp nails to dig deeper lines into Creed where she'd gotten started as he and Logan just tried to tear Creed apart.
Scott grabbed K by the arm and pulled her back, one eye on the fight, and angry beyond words with the little woman. Kurt appeared next to them in a plume of smoke and very gently took K out of Scott's grip, which seemed to be what Scott needed as he nodded once and Kurt teleported her over to Kate.
When the fight seemed to be slowing, K tipped her head Kate's way. "So which one is my knight in shining armor again? I lost track."
Kurt just smirked. "I think we've been outdone, Vögelchen," he said to Kate, and he didn't look the least bit upset about it.
"Turns out the princess was a dragon the whole time," Kate agreed with a teasing smile K's way.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," K replied as she finally dropped the broken knife and scrubbed the blood off onto her jeans. "I just ... gave an assist."
"Small dragon then," Kate said. "The friendly, loveable kind."
"Didn't you catch the crib notes?" K asked. "I am definitely not loveable."
"Right. And I'm not wearing purple," Kate countered. "Sorry, but I don't make the rules."
As the three of them traded jabs, Noh and Logan were doing some serious damage to Creed, but it was a double blow — from opposite sides of Creed's chest — that sent the monster down and out, with Logan's claws centimeters from Noh's face and Noh's hand deep in Creed's back.
"Is that a tie?" K asked in a stage whisper. "I think that's a tie. I know the blonde lost. Terribly."
Creed fell between Logan and Noh as they both removed their claws and hands respectively, and it took Noh a second to blink out of fight mode and look toward Logan. "Thank you," he said in more or a less a gasp.
Logan frowned but nodded his head as he watched Noh. "You alright, kid?"
"My legs are still sore after the last time I tangled with Sabretooth," Noh said with an attempt at a smirk, though he swayed slightly.
"You need to go see Hank," Logan said, a bit concerned as he offered Noh a hand — like it or not.
"I'll do just that after we take this monstrosity into custody," Noh promised.
"Yeah, we," Logan told him.
Noh took a second to look at him. "He won't be going into your custody, my friend."
"I didn't say he was coming into the mansion. Don't want him in there," Logan agreed. "But I'm going with you."
"I can lift twelve times what other Kree can," Noh tried to argue.
"You can't lift yourself right now,' Logan shot back. "Shut up and take the help. I don't give a damn where he ends up as long as he's not bothering us."
Noh thought about it for a long moment and then nodded. "Alright. Then let's get going before he wakes up again. Fighting him again at this stage would be… difficult."
"He's not waking up anytime soon," K offered from the sidelines. "Don't worry."
"What makes you so sure?" Kate asked in surprise.
K tipped her chin up for a second at Creed's barely breathing body. "I snapped off a carbonadium dagger in his back. Just because he irritates me. A little." She kicked the hilt that she'd dropped earlier. "See? Snap. Probably some in his knee too."
"What on earth were you doing walking around with a carbonadium dagger anyway?" Scott asked, not even coming close to hiding the note of alarm in his voice.
"A girl needs to have a little equalizer," K replied.
"Like mace but for Big Ugly Creeps," Kate offered.
"Exactly. I didn't have room to carry a Mack truck, so the dagger had to do." She turned to face Kate and Kurt. "Those are actually pretty cheap to pick up. Russian military surplus if you know the right place to shop."
"And here I've been wasting all my time getting scarves and tee shirts," Kate said dryly.
"Clothes are overrated," K whispered.
"Why don't I believe that you had that just for Creed?" Jubilee said with her arms crossed. "There aren't that many mutants with healing abilities." K just flat ignored her poorly-veiled insinuation as Jubilee turned to Noh and Logan.
"Are you coming back?" she asked.
"After I finish making sure this one is locked away," Noh said carefully, "I will try to get back quickly."
She glanced over at Logan who simply nodded very discreetly. "Alright," Jubilee said before she stepped up and gave him a quick kiss. "If you have any trouble, I'll be on your six."
He kissed her right back, very tenderly, before he pulled back and nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less." He kissed her cheek. "I'll see you soon — I love you," he whispered in her ear.
"Love you too," she replied just as quietly. "Be safe so I don't have to tiptoe for weeks."
"Anything you ask," he said before he took a step back and looked to Logan.
"I've got my comm," Logan said to Scott. "It's on and everything, Dad. See you soon."
"Yes," Scott said with a little glare. "You both will," he added, looking more K's way than Logan's.
"I'm … right here if you wanna go," K offered, ankles crossed and hands in her pockets.
"So you want to tell me what's got Sabretooth on your tail?" he shot back. "That'd be a change."
"We covered that. Giant creep, no manners. Doesn't take 'No, please die' for an answer," she replied.
"There are some serious gaps in that answer," Scott said, arms crossed.
"Well - you could always ask HIM what his motivations are. He wasn't really forward with me on that." She pointed one finger Scott's way for a second. "In fact — he didn't say more than two words to me at the bar. So. I don't have the exacting insight you're looking for."
"Then why don't we start with something you do know — like your real name," Scott countered.
"Don't use it anymore, and you won't find it anyhow," she shot back.
"I know," he said, arms still crossed. "Or I wouldn't be here asking."
She just crossed her arms and mimicked his position perfectly — even down to the disapproving look he was giving her. "I've told you what I can already." She looked down at herself for a moment. "And this would probably be more impactful if I didn't have to look up at you."
Kate laughed outright at that, which had Scott glaring her way a bit as he turned a little redder. "She's got you there, boss man," Kate giggled. "Hard to go nose-to-nose with a giant beanpole."
"A box would just ruin the effect entirely," K agreed, though she still had the locked-jaw look.
Scott just looked redder before he glared at both of them and muttered, "See me later," K's way as he turned on his heel, clearly just done with both of them.
"I will," K agreed. "Just … put a little more strut into it as you walk away."
Scott paused and just looked even madder, if that was possible, before he half stomped off.
It didn't take Logan and Noh long to drag Creed out to a spot in the woods where they were met by some SHIELD personnel with restraints and a dampening field set up in the transport to keep Creed from trying to escape — clearly not expecting the carbonadium angle but looking rather relieved that they wouldn't have to deal with a healing Sabretooth.
The two of them made their way silently back to the mansion, where a few of their friends were still waiting — Kate, Kurt, K, and Jubilee, though Jubilee was clearly trying to stay away from the newcomer.
"Ah, the gallant knights," Kurt said as soon as they were within sight — just out of the treeline.
"Sir Wolverine and his squire," Kate corrected with a smirk as K snickered alongside them and Jubilee just rolled her eyes at the three 'responsible' adults.
Kurt just grinned over at K and nudged her with his shoulder. "Aren't you forgetting something?" he teased, jerking his head toward the two approaching fighters. "This white knight should receive a token for his bravery."
K looked actually a bit taken back by the comment. "I ... hadn't thought the joke out that far," she admitted. "What kind of token do you think?" Logan just sighed on hearing the conversation — still a good walk to where the three of them were standing and waiting to tease. But at least it was entertaining.
"I don't suppose you have a handkerchief?" Kurt laughed.
"No, and I don't hand out panties either," K replied without missing a beat.
Kate just burst out a little disbelieving laugh and shook her head at K. "No, we save that for the second save," she teased.
"Third," K corrected. "I'd like to think I'm not that easy."
"Then perhaps a kiss on the temple," Kurt suggested, his smile widening slowly.
Kate smirked. "Kurt kissed my hand when we first met. So — you know. Grain of salt with him."
"So gallant," K agreed. "Like — sixty years ago."
"It's darling," Kate said with a contented little sigh that didn't match the impish grin she was giving Kurt, who was subtly sneaking his tail around her ankle.
"You two are something else," K said with a shake of her head as Logan finally reached the little group. "Alright, but if I get hit with a sexual harassment suit, I'm calling you both on the stand." Jubilee shot Kurt a glare as K took a couple quick strides and rested her hand on the one unbloodied spot on Logan's shoulder. "They are being silly. But — this was a good way to spend the evening." She gave him a quick smirk before she just kissed him square on the mouth — and he seemed to return it, which had Jubilee making a face all the way up until the kiss broke. "I don't do temples. Thanks for taking care of the smelly jerk."
Before she could catch hell from Jubilee or get a retort from Logan, she just waved them good night, fully expecting Scott to chew her out again anyhow once she got inside. As soon as she was gone, Logan shot Kate a look and he tried to cut her off at the pass. "Don't even start."
Kate drew a halo over her head. "What, me? Pick on you? Never." She grinned impishly. "Not even with so much material to work with, oh my gosh."
"If you don't say something you're going to explode, aren't you?" Logan asked, though he was already smirking.
"I can't believe you Dad'ed Scott!" Kate burst out. "You've been Dad-ing that one all night!" she added, pointing at Noh, who was just resting against a tree with a faint smile as he watched the show.
Logan just started chuckling at her. "He needs it — and Scott still needs to lighten up. Not that I'm surprised in the least."
"You're already practicing for when he's your son-in-law, you loon," she teased, now really getting warmed up. "Don't think I didn't see you smirking when they were all whispering in each other's ears!"
"You don't know what they said," Logan said with a little smile.
"See? That look! Right there! You're all father-in-law glow over there. When're you giving him permission?" Kate asked.
"You're really on fire tonight," Logan laughed, though Kurt absolutely didn't miss the unnaturally light mood Logan was in after facing off with Sabretooth. That just — didn't happen.
"So. Much. Material." Kate was grinning ear to ear as she just shook her head at him.
"Anything else you need off your chest?" Logan asked, though he had to keep from laughing as soon as her eyes widened.
"As a matter of fact - yes," she said as she made a big show of taking a deep breath. "You gotta make an honest woman outta K now, you know? Kissing and wrestling her. Shameful!" She tutted and shook her finger at him. "Kurt and I waited until we'd at least killed ninjas together."
Logan let out a heavy sigh. "You're in an awful big hurry to marry me off. How about you go first."
She paused for just a second and then stuck her finger back out. "I was reliably informed you'd stop picking on me if I distracted you," she said haughtily.
"That doesn't work if you immediately start pushing him to marry the poor girl," Kurt told her at a mock whisper over her shoulder.
"It's not pushing. It's picking," Kate countered only slightly louder than Kurt had been. "Like I'd try to push that on either of them for real. It's just... so easy. So very, very easy."
"Get better material," Jubilee said in a flat tone with her arms crossed.
"Hey, I take what I can get with this one," Kate said with a shrug as she tipped her head Logan's way. "It's a dry, dry desert, and he's been flooding me with teasing. So you know. Little raincloud named K? I'll play for one night of shining knight teasing."
"That's all you're gonna get," Jubilee half whispered as she headed over to Noh.
"Well I guess if that's all you got, I could do a lot worse," Logan told her, frowning Jubilee's way.
Kate just grinned and ran over to kiss him on the cheek. "Oh, stop looking like that. I just like to pick." She patted his arm. "And trust me. There will be teasing, oh Sir Wolverine of the Mighty SHIELD-jet Stealers."
"Title needs some work," he told her. "And I need a shower. Unless you want Creed blood on you." He took a few steps her direction — arms spread wide ready to pay her back for all the hug magnet nonsense.
She made a face. "No, thank you," she said, shaking her head as she dodged behind Kurt, who was just chuckling at the two of them. "You go clean up nice. I'll just take my noble Elf and go… come up with a better title for you."
"Yeah, have fun defiling the sweet little Elf," Logan countered. "Think about makin' an honest demon outta him. Before he gets a reputation."
Kate just pointed at her face. "Evil purple seductress."
"So you know? Most evil seductresses don't have just one target," Logan pointed out. "Not that I'm fishing. Just thought you should know that title needs some work too."
"I am not like most ... anybody, really," Kate said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder in her most snooty impression.
"Purple little ball of sunshine," he grumbled.
"Stripey grandpa hug magnet."
"No hugs lately," Logan said, smirking again as he walked backward away from her.
"That's true. Just kisses. Step up your game, hug magnet."
"I'd consider it — if I was a hug magnet."
"Giant hug magnet," Kate corrected.
"No hugs!" Logan called back. "So you're wrong."
Kate just laughed as the door closed behind Logan, and she stood up on her toes to tell Kurt at a low whisper, "Oh, now I'm going to have to fix that."
"What's your plan, oh, Evil Purple Seductress?" Kurt said with a laugh.
Kate tipped her head to the side as her gaze slipped past Kurt, just for a moment, to the nearest bamf. "Oh, I'm sure our small army of little demons would be more than happy to fix the whole 'no hugs' situation." When he broke into a little grin at that, she just kissed him while she was still up on her toes. "But you know, first? I think I need to defend my seductress title."
"Oh, absolutely," Kurt agreed with a little laugh before he pulled her tighter for another kiss, and the two of them vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Noh and Jubilee out in the lawn alone.
Noh was still leaning heavily against the tree but smiled at Jubilee warmly as he waved her over for a hug. "See? I told you I would return quickly," he said.
She sighed and very gently put a finger in the center of his chest. "Yeah, but lately? 'Quickly' and 'soon' don't seem to mean much with you."
"And I'm truly sorry about that," Noh said earnestly as he leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead. "Let me make it up to you."
"You can only try."
He smirked at that and leaned over even further as he simply began to kiss her neck, slowly and tenderly. "If I were not so tired, I would carry you off right now," he whispered low in her ear. "And apologize for all my faults as best I can."
"That might take some time," she teased with a smile and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his middle, though she was surprised when that had him swaying, and she pulled back with a frown.
When he saw the look on her face, he let out a breath. "I haven't started to heal yet," he explained. "Unlike Logan, I need food prior to healing, not after the fact."
"Then that's what we should get you," she said, still frowning as she much more gingerly put an arm around his waist and started to lead him back to the mansion, going in through the door to the kitchen rather than the front door.
He got started right away with anything from the pantry that he didn't have to prepare, just feeding his healing before anything else as he ate an entire box of granola bars and two bagels while Jubilee was frying eggs and sausages, knowing from experience with Logan that protein was best. Already, some of the color was starting to come back to his face, and he no longer felt like he was going to fall asleep — or simply unconscious — right there at the table.
Though that wasn't saying much — it was more a measure of how badly used his body had been for the past little while that remaining upright was a victory than anything else, and when Jubilee saw that he was wincing through the motion of getting a couple plates down from the cupboard, she frowned at him and shook her head.
"I'm getting Hank," she decided, then turned and put a finger in his chest. "And you are not going anywhere, mister."
He put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I am here to stay tonight," he promised. "I will be here when you return."
She narrowed her eyes at him, frustrated that she didn't fully believe him. "You better be," she said before she zipped off at a run, not only because she thought he needed some serious looking after from the good Dr. Fuzzy but because she didn't want to leave him alone for too long or he might do something stupid.
But Hank wasn't in his lab, like Jubilee has thought. In fact, he had come up to investigate the alarms — and he had found his way to the kitchen to have a word with the Kree fighter at their kitchen table who could hardly keep his eyes open to eat to heal his own body.
"Still pushing the envelope, are we?" Henry asked suddenly, his glare solidly focused at Noh. "Or is it that you simply wish for me to rend your arms from your body?"
Noh glanced up at Hank and looked almost resigned. "You are perfectly within your rights to do so. I certainly can't stop you," he said softly, his voice far more strained when it was just the two of them than when he was trying not to worry Jubilee. "And I confess I'm too tired to belabor the point with you in any case."
Hank let out a noise that fell somewhere between a sigh and a growl. "Then why is it that you refuse to do what's best for your own health and her peace of mind?" The anger in his glare didn't ebb in the slightest though.
Noh took in a deep breath as he clearly weighed out his next words. "To be honest, Dr. McCoy, I would love nothing more than to spend several weeks healing and giving her the undivided attention she deserves," he said. "And the more I find that I cannot do just that, the more I wonder if I should return here. It's selfish of me."
Henry paused as he listened to Noh's side of things and seemed to let out a good deal of his anger with his breath. "In all cases, I find honesty to always be the best policy," Hank said. "And for as irritating as you are getting to be to me as you push and trip on every promise you've made — If you take that choice from her, I will hunt you down."
Anything else that might have transpired between the two of them was cut short as Jubilee returned with a dramatic sigh. "Of all the times for you to be out of your lab — does it always have to be when I go looking for you?" she asked as she made her way over to give Henry a little hug with one arm. "Have you looked over my big, stupid boyfriend yet? He got into a little throwdown."
"No, he didn't mention that he needed my services," Henry replied, eyes flashing in warning as he made his way over to Noh. He started to check out the worst of the wounds, and to Noh's surprise, Henry didn't try to cause him any further injury or pain as he assessed him, though when Jubilee turned the other way and Noh started to say something, he did very quickly and discreetly manage to jam his thumb into a pressure point near his ribs. "Oops," he said in an almost airy tone. "I'm sure you'll live for now."
"Any special directions?" Jubilee asked.
"Eat up, rest, and come see me before you leave the house again if you're having trouble bouncing back too," Hank said. "Since it's clear that you can't do this alone."
Noh seemed to be a little wary of saying anything after the jab earlier, so he simply nodded his agreement to Hank's terms and then glanced Jubilee's way with a small, self-deprecating smile. "Will you join me, then?" he asked quietly.
"Of course," she said with a much warmer smile than she'd been wearing earlier. "Anything you need."