Notes from CC: Yes! Protective Jubes is FUN to play with bc you KNOW she would at least try to watch out for him. After all she's seen him go through with Mariko, and that hot minute when Silver Fox returned, and all the ladies here and there … and that nasty little Viper marriage …. She has a RIGHT to be protective. And Scott still needs to be shaken up from time to time. It's healthy. ;)

From robbie: Kate says it's fun to be enthusiastic about this whole thing because Logan has been teasing her for so long that she has ammunition now. And she's not about to give that up anytime soon :P

Chapter 14 "Lies By Omission"

Warbird felt her lip curling back into a sneer when she saw the little firecracker heading upstairs with a full tray of food — leftovers from the dinner everyone else had enjoyed while the so-called warrior of the Kree languished in bed.

She'd heard the rumors, though even she couldn't hope that the worst of what the students were saying was true, that he was dying. He was a thorn in her side; she couldn't be rid of him that easily. She wasn't that lucky. But from what she had seen, at least some of the rumors were true — he was weak, ill-used. Had this been any other world, he wouldn't be a problem anymore to her. No one would weep for him if Warbird simply dispatched him.

But here, infuriatingly, he had allies. Even, somehow, a lover with the X-Men. How he had managed this was still beyond her understanding, and as Warbird watched Jubilee head upstairs with her tray, she found she simply couldn't keep her thoughts to herself any longer.

"Playing nursemaid again, I see," she said, not bothering to hide the sneer as she caught up to Jubilee.

Jubilee shot her a deep glare. "What — jealous you can't get the same attention from Bobby?" she shot back.

Warbird stopped and fell into a glare that matched hers. "I would never degrade myself to need such attention. I am not so weak."

Jubilee's eyes flashed, and she drew herself up to her full height — which was, admittedly, much shorter than Warbird — as she put a finger in the Shi'ar fighter's face. "Why don't you keep your nose out?" she challenged, sparks flying from the fingertip of the index finger in Warbird's face.

For a long moment, Warbird just met Jubilee's glare with her own before she simply shook her head with a dark chuckle. "Fine. Waste your time then. Waste your efforts and your resources — but when he leaves again, don't expect any pity." With that, she spun on her heel and stalked away, nose in the air.

The color rose up in Jubilee's cheeks, and without really meaning to, a small plasmoid launched that caught up in Warbird's feathers as Jubilee turned on her heel and walked off.

It was early morning, and Kate was absolutely dead to the world when three bamfs pounced on her all at once with insistent chattering as another two forcibly picked her head up off the pillow and jammed a headband crookedly on her head.

"What — what's going on?" Kate slurred out, still half asleep as she had a face full of one bamf who had grabbed her on either side of her face and was chattering slower than the others to try and get her to understand him. "It's too early for this," she groaned, trying to escape, but they simply wouldn't let her.

"Kurt!" she said, trying to more or less call for backup, but his side of the bed was empty — he must have already gone down to breakfast. "Oh, I've been abandoned," she muttered as the chattering got more insistent. She turned her attention to the bamf in her face. "I can't understand you. It's too early. Why. Why did you wake me up this early?"

The bamf let out a loud sigh of frustration, and a moment later, she found herself in the kitchen, still in her pajamas with her hair askew and the headband tangled in her bedhead, though the bamfs had tried to tame it. They had taken her straight to the coffee, and two of them were already pouring her a cup, while another one pushed the new brand out further on the counter and pointed at it with insistent chattering.

"Who the heck switched coffee on me?" Kate asked in disbelief as the bamf just nodded triumphantly at finally being understood.

"If you hate it, I'll just keep it in my room," K said distractedly over the paper she was reading next to Logan. "But it's really, ridiculously smooth."

Kate turned to face K in disbelief only to see that two of the bamfs were hovering just above K and Logan's heads and just pointing with wide eyes at the two of them sharing a newspaper and sitting comfortably close together. For all the hubbub that Jubilee and Scott had raised, it looked like Logan and K had come to some kind of an understanding — if how close they were to each other was an indicator.

Kate blinked at them for a moment before she nodded at the bamfs and looked past them at Kurt, who was sitting at the table with his own mug and a very obvious smirk.

"Your little demons decided they couldn't wait for me this morning," Kate accused him.

"You know what my favorite part is?" Kurt said to her with a grin, obviously in high spirits. "When you're in a good mood, they're our little friends, but when they wake you too early, they're my little demons."

She let out a little huff and pulled the headband out of her still tangled hair to stuff it in her pocket. "They woke me up before coffee. To talk... about coffee. Honestly." She shook her head at the bamfs that were making presentation hands at the cup of coffee they'd poured her.

"Es tut mir leid, Schatz," he said with a grin. "They know you love it."

She just snorted quietly and took the cup the bamfs had made, ruffling their hair with one hand before she took a sip and raised her eyebrows over the top of her coffee at K as she had to admit K was right — this stuff was good. "Okay. Fashion designer and coffee connoisseur."

"I've been drinking coffee since I was five," K said without looking up. "You become an expert after a while."

"Apparently." Kate smirked and took a quick look at the brand name on the yellow bag so she could make a mental note to buy more. She looked back at K, who still had a bamf floating over her head with insistently wide eyes, and she just had to chuckle. "How long you been up?"

"Few hours," K replied. "I get up with the sun." She finally looked up at Kate. "That is the second pot."

"I am not waking up that early, even to get the first pot," Kate countered with an exaggerated yawn.

"The point is that you don't have to — the first pot is going to be gone long before you get up," K teased. "Even if I don't have help."

"Well, it's a good thing I have my own coffee maker in my office," Kate said philosophically.

"I'll be by to say hello," she told her. "I'm an all-day, half-the-night coffee drinker."

"You're a thief," Kate countered with a little laugh as she slid into the seat next to Kurt and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Not very often," K teased with an incredibly troublemaking look on her face.

Kate stuck her tongue out at K and just leaned her head on Kurt's shoulder. "I'm just lucky it's cold enough I was wearing pajamas when they came to get me," she whispered to him.

"It wouldn't have bothered our coffee friends," Kurt replied. "Might even have started a trend." He gave her a wide grin and kissed the top of her head. "Next time perhaps."

"You first," she teased.

"I just might," he countered.

She just laughed and pulled her arm through his, content to almost fall back asleep on his shoulder now that she'd seen the 'news' the bamfs were so insistent on. "Careful making promises like that around your little demons."

"As if I need our little friends to make good on promises like that," Kurt said with a low growl.

She tipped her head up to look at him with an impish grin. "Oh, I dunno. They beat you to the punch kissing me," she teased. "Seems to me like you're just slow on the uptake."

"If you wanna see his naked, blue, furry ass, take it upstairs," Logan grumbled. "We won't complain, but you do that crap down here and you're gonna have Summerses all over you."

"I was upstairs," Kate said, now turning the force of her impish grin on Logan. "And shame on you giving K ideas."

"But it's a good idea," K said, looking completely innocent with wide eyes.

Kate just giggled. "I don't need your help to corrupt my Elf, thank you very much," she said with mock seriousness before she leaned forward and added in a whisper, "He's a good Catholic boy."

"Oh, who said I was talking about your Elf?" K asked sitting up a lot straighter and leaning forward with a wicked grin. "But Catholic boys ….those … are so much fun to play with. I used to really like breaking them."

Kate gasped in mock horror. "I would never break my sweet, innocent, beautiful—"

"Oh, but you should. It's wonderful."

Kurt looked between them and let out a resigned sigh. "I don't think I even need to be present for this conversation."

"But you wanna be, don't you?" K teased. "Grab your rosary. I'll wait."

Kate shook her finger at K with a little tut. "No, no. Mine. I'm very possessive, I'll have you know."

"I know, I just ... look at his expression. And I said I used to like breaking them," K said with a little laugh as she leaned back in her chair, which Logan was resting his arm along the back of. "It's just way too easy when you bring in props, though."

Kurt's tail was switching in the air behind him as he looked between the two of them, and Kate had to laugh before she just kissed his cheek in a clear apology.

"I'm sorry, sweet little blue Elf," K said earnestly. "I promise that in spite of any teasing I may subject you to, I would never ever follow through on the possible sexual harassment stuff. Okay? We good?"

He let out a sigh as he looked to K — and then to Logan. "And I thought I had my hands full just with my best friend. Now ... there are three of you."

"If it eases the pain, they're gonna get it too," K promised. "You know. As long as I'm around anyhow."

"Oh, you have to at least stick around for the Halloween party next week," Kate said earnestly. "I put one together last year, and it was beautiful. This year? This year, I have plans again."

"It's been a while since I've been to a Halloween party," K said with a nod. "And I guess it's not that far off."

"Great!" Kate beamed at her and seemed to be considering options. "You know, with Sabretooth all locked up, we should totally get some shopping done. I've got my costume... "

"I need some shopping anyhow," K said as she glanced down. "I mean. I'm fine cleaning out your t-shirts, but come on."

That had one of the bamfs giggling madly before another two of them teleported over to perch on her shoulders, both of them holding cups of coffee that simply looked to be too big for them before they both tumbled over into her lap, coffee and all, giggling madly the entire time.

K sucked in a quick breath as the coffee hit her and crossed her arms over her chest for a second before she glared down at the little imps. "That … just illustrated my point."

The two bamfs who had fallen over didn't look sorry at all as they were still giggling, but the first one grabbed up a couple napkins and very seriously patted at the smallest spot on her jeans — the shirt all but soaked.

"Thank you," she said through her teeth, glaring down at them. "That ... you're really not supposed to use hot coffee for a wet tee shirt contest. Thanks."

That had the two troublemaking bamfs giggling all over again and teleporting over to start filling up cups full of water at the sink.

"They better be rinsing those mugs, or I'm going to skin them alive," K warned with a little growl that had Logan chuckling as he took off his flannel shirt and offered it to her.

"That ought to help for a little bit anyhow," he told her. She gave him a sideways smile but quickly let him slip it over her shoulders before she wrapped it around herself with a little 'thank you'.

Kurt shook his head at the bamfs and pointed a finger at the two at the sink to utter a string of threatening-sounding German before he turned to K. "They're usually slightly better behaved than this," he promised her with a bit of a smirk.

"Why do I not believe you?" K asked with a smirk of her own.

"Because a) they're little demons and b) so is he," Kate said, still nestled into Kurt's shoulder.

"And he's lying through his teeth," Logan rumbled.

K looked his way and nodded her head. "Yep. that's it," she agreed.

Kurt shrugged lightly. "Maybe I just try to give them the benefit of the doubt," he teased. "They are marginally more civilized than they were when we first met."

K leaned over to Logan with a significant expression on her face. "Catholic. Always wanna believe they can fix it."

He just chuckled a bit under his breath and nodded as the two of them went back to the now slightly soggy newspaper, though it didn't pass either Kurt or Kate's notice that Logan had much more overtly put his arm around K and that she had definitely leaned into him while they read together. It was downright cozy, really.

The group of them had fallen into almost a comfortable silence for a moment before they were joined by Annie, who looked suspiciously at the bamfs at the sink. "Oh, are you cleaning up after yourselves now?" she asked pointedly.

"They are now," Kate said under her breath, smirking.

Annie just shook her head at the bamfs and then nodded a greeting to the others as she made herself some sweet tea to start the morning. She sat down at the table and had to smile at Kate and Kurt, especially when Kate was clearly content to fall nearly back asleep right there at the table, still on her first cup of coffee. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked.

"His fault," Kate said, tapping Kurt in the chest without bothering to open her eyes all the way.

"No, no," Kurt said shaking his head. "They have minds of their own."

"Still gonna blame you, sweetheart," she said tiredly. "Because then you have to make it up to me."

"In that case, I take full responsibility," Kurt replied as he tipped his head down to hers.

"See? All your fault," Kate said, grinning as she kissed him.

"And I thought that my tea was sweet," Annie said with a little shake of her head. "You gotta stop that. There are children present."

"Little demons don't count," Kate said without taking her eyes off of Kurt.

K shook her head as she got up, still holding the flannel shut as she went for a refill. "Then should I blame you for the unscheduled coffee shower?"

"No, that was all them. He's only making things up to me," Kate said as she finally shot a smirk K's way and then pointed lazily at her own face. "Possessive," she added in a teasing whisper.

"Oh, well I wasn't going to kiss him for it," K replied. "And I'm pretty sure the term is 'territorial', which ... I get it."

"Heaven help whoever that is," Kate teased. "They'll never make friends again."

"Why would they want to?" K asked as she looked down at her shirt and shook her head. "Ridiculous. I was already awake."

"Shopping later," Kate promised. "We still need to get you a costume — which reminds me." She turned a little more from Kurt so she could face Annie. "Alright, I've got a proposal for you, so you're not Annie anymore. You're Mrs. Boss."

"Mrs. Boss Lady," K added.

"Yes that." Kate grinned at K and then looked back to Annie. "So, Mrs. Boss Lady — I'm throwing an epic Halloween bash at the mansion ... unless you or Scott had plans for the mansion?" she asked carefully. "I mean — we threw one last year, and the students and staff loved it."

"Those that went," Kurt said with a significant look Logan's way.

Annie looked between Kate and Kurt with a bemused smile. "I just thought we were decorating for trick-or-treaters," she said. "Scott told me about Storm's… mood lighting."

"Well, yeah, the kids can still come get candy. We keep a rotation on who gives it out," Kate assured her. "But, seriously. Costumes. Dancing. Apple cider!" She grinned widely. "You should totally do a couple's costume with the boss man. Please. Please."

"I love that idea," Annie said with a little laugh. "But I'm not sure what would be appropriate."

Kate shot a look at Logan and said, without looking at Annie, "I bet I could get his hair to do that. Give him some mutton chops…. Some tiger stripes…"

Annie giggled at the mental image and shook her head. "And what would I go as?"

"The teddy bear," Kate said without hesitation.

Logan just half dropped his mug on the table as he let out a sigh at Kate. "You are ridiculous."

She beamed at him and put her fingers up on either side of her head. "What can I say? The half-demon boyfriend is rubbing off on me."

"Careful, that's how you get little demons," Logan said pointedly, which had Kurt shooting him a look.

"Okay, quit torturing him — you're going to need to figure something out for me," K said as she bumped Kate's shoulder with hers. "That — that's too easy."

"He really is," Kate agreed with a giggle before she turned to look K over with an appraising look. "Hmm. Cowgirl would be too easy. We need something bolder."

"She could always come as the damsel in distress," Kurt said with a subdued smirk. "I'm sure there are princess costumes to spare."

"Princess? Oh … no no no," K said shaking her head.

"Too bold," Kate teased. "She should be a dragon."

"I may or may not know how to breathe fire," K replied as she took a sip and headed back to her seat.

Kate giggled. "You could always be your own knight in shining armor," she teased.

"A loser in aluminum foil? No, I don't think so. Let's just find something that's not totally awful and/or totally slutty and call it a day."

"Okay, but that just means we'll be wading through Captain Marvel costumes all day," Kate said with a serious expression. "It's like the shops forgot there's more than one of us ladies."

"Interesting conundrum," K said with a slow nod. "We may have to improvise."

Kate leaned forward with a twinkle in her eye. "Wait 'til you see mine. I'm getting my reality-altering friend to do it."

"I don't suppose he could come up with something for me to wear? Something reality defying."

Kate grinned. "You know, I bet he could. We should invite him along for our shopping trip."

"Your call," K replied. "I'm just … kind of along for the ride for now."

"You really don't have to go all-out if you don't want to," Annie assured K. "You can always just borrow something of ours if you like. I'll probably steal my sister's costume. She and Anton were Robin Hood and Maid Marian last year."

K stopped and looked up at Annie over her mug, just frozen for a moment. "You're … so he's going to go as Robin Hood?"

"Why not?" Annie shrugged lightly. "Green's not a bad color on him."

K just smirked and glanced up at Kate, who was clearly trying oh-so-hard not to laugh hysterically. "Yes. I approve of this plan of action."

"While we're shopping, I'll buy you a camera," Kate snickered.

"Who's going shopping?" Jubilee asked as she and Noh entered the kitchen, apparently joined at the hip as Jubilee had him by the hand and didn't seem to be about to let go. Ever.

Not that Noh was of any different mind — he was supposed to be resting, but even with orders to stay in bed, he wanted to come with Jubilee to breakfast and spend as much time with her as possible.

Jubilee looked around the assembled group with a smile that turned quickly into a glare when she saw K and Logan sharing the newspaper — and apparently sharing clothes.

"K needs a Halloween costume," Kate explained with a shrug and a smile.

"Is she going to be around for that long?" Jubilee asked with her chin tipped up a bit. Logan just glanced up at her with a look but didn't say anything, while K seemed to feign deafness suddenly.

"Even if she finds a different home, I would hope any of our friends would feel invited to come to the party despite the distance," Noh said politely. "It was a lovely evening last year. I certainly enjoyed myself," he said with a winning smirk Jubilee's way.

She let out a breath and gave him a tight smile. "Totally different situation, sweetheart."

"But the same party, yes? Have you found a DJ?" Noh asked Kate's way, and when Kate just smirked at him, he grinned. "I would like to volunteer my services."

"Like I'd ask anyone else before you," Kate said with a snort that just had Noh grinning wider as he started to make pancakes at the stove.

"Are the two of you going to wear a costume together?" K asked Jubilee, clearly ignoring the younger woman's irritation in favor of an attempt to be nice.

"Jubilee has been bringing me things to read while she has forced me into resting," Noh said matter-of-factly. "And I've been quite enjoying the collected works from Calvin and Hobbes."

K brightened up a bit. "So you're going as Calvin and Hobbes? That's adorable."

"Well," Noh said with a smirk. "Jubilee thought it would be… funnier if she was Spaceman Spiff."

K grinned widely and laughed outright. "Oh yes, much, much better."

He flipped the pancake without looking at it. "She has wonderful ideas, my Jubilee."

"I'm sure she does," K replied. "Or at least — so I've heard." She glanced at Logan with a smirk.

"If you stay for any length of time, I am sure she will dazzle you," Noh said sincerely.

"Then I'll have to wait around for that," K said, trying to tease Jubilee and not irritate her. "Likely it'll be a looooong time."

"No, no," Noh said, missing the subtle interactions between the two of them as he was more concerned with leaning his chin on Jubilee's shoulder as he hugged her from behind before he went back to his pancakes. "She is always dazzling."

"More for some than others," K said as she got up and crossed the room to put her mug away. "See you around." She looked at the little firecracker as she said it and just headed out of the room.

Jubilee watched her go before she turned to look at Logan then crossed the room to sit down right next to him. "Aren't you cold without your flannel shirt?"

Logan just gave her a little smirk and shook his head before pointedly going to the last section of the paper. "Tee shirt is fine for now. Besides, I'm just about done here," he warned. "I will have to go get a new flannel."

Jubilee nodded and sat on her hands, trying to think of how to get the answers she needed. considering that much of what she needed to know, she'd already figured out on her own. But the second band was still a mystery. As was how it worked. If it was a control mechanism, which she was pretty sure it was. He seemed a little… on edge about it, and while she wasn't willing to invade his privacy by looking in his head (though she could if she wanted to, if she really worked at it, if she thought it was really that bad, as a last resort), she could sort of… sense it. Generally speaking.

Jubilee was still considering her options when Kate, who was finally on her second cup of coffee and starting to actually join wakefulness, noticed the little black bands peeking out from underneath Noh's shirt. "Didn't think you were a fan of jewelry," she teased Noh's way, pointing with her cup at the bands. "Present from Jubes? You two going steady now?"

Noh looked surprised for a moment and pulled his sleeve almost automatically before he just shrugged at her. "No, they weren't from Jubilee," he said.

"Oh, Jubes, you — you're in trouble," Kate teased. "He's getting jewelry from other people."

"You are entirely misinterpreting their purpose," Noh said dryly as he sat down with his overly large stack of pancakes. He slipped the Kree band off his arm and handed it to Kate with a little smile. "The psionic bands sense distress — emotional and physical — and produce comforting hums and warmth," he explained, letting her hold the band before he placed his hand on it to get it to hum for her.

As Kate looked it over, Jubilee looked up at him. "Can I see the other one? That's kind of cool."

He smiled at her. "It's a present from Hala — of course it's cool," he said matter-of-factly. "I can show you the same trick when Kate is finished examining it."

"But you don't wanna share the other one? What's up with that? You have another girl I should know about?" Jubilee teased as lightly as she could with a little smirk.

He laughed and shook his head. "How could I possibly look at any other woman but you?" he asked, sidestepping the question entirely.

"Evasive," she said as she looked up at him with a smile, though there was fire in her eyes.

"I assure you — I'm being entirely truthful," Noh said. He leaned over and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss on her forehead. "You are the only woman in my life that matters — and I've never once been unfaithful to you," he added seriously.

Logan tipped his head to the side a bit, his eyes narrowed, but he very discreetly nodded once, very slowly.

"Oh, I know," Jubilee said with a smirk. "But it is nice to hear anyhow." She was biting the inside of her cheek, trying to figure out how to get to the band again — but there was no good way for her to bring it up and not make it completely obvious.

Kate watched the two of them for a moment and then handed the Kree band to Noh. "Guess you need it after fighting Sabretooth, huh?" she asked. "Do they help with the healing?"

"No," Noh admitted. He turned the band in his hand before he handed it to Jubes. "But it's like — what you have on Earth? A teddy bear?" He had to smirk the slightest bit as he let his gaze slide fo Logan. "But far more advanced."

"Tech doesn't meet up with an actual person though," Logan rumbled, though he didn't look up. "Not sure why you'd need it when you have Jubes. Let alone two."

"This is entirely true," Noh agreed and kissed Jubilee's cheek. "I much prefer her company to any present from home."

Logan let out a sigh and nodded openly, and though the timing was clear to Jubes, it was easily interpreted as agreeing with Noh. "Good answer, cockroach."

Noh met his gaze for a moment, though his jaw was a bit tighter and he looked slightly upset. "It's an honest one," he said simply.

Logan leaned forward just a hair. "I know," Logan replied, nodding his head and sounding perfectly in agreement. "How 'bout another one? If they only do their thing when there's distress, what the hell've you got to be distressed about?"

Noh let out a weary-sounding sigh. "The same thing that has plagued me since I was first stranded on this planet, I'm afraid. Your world, for all its wonder, is filled also with evil, and I find it hard to stay afloat at times." He gently folded his hands in front of himself as he seemed to be examining his hands while he thought over his answer. "I pledged my life to protect this world. But it's a task I did not realize I had also pledged my heart to until very recently."

Logan just glared at him for a moment. "And Jubilation?"

Noh looked surprised before he glanced over at Jubilee and let out a long breath. "I assure you — I will never lie about my feelings for her. She is the reason I am trying so hard to survive the tides of this world."

"I know that too," Logan replied with a little smirk. "You haven't lied once about how you feel about her."

Kurt raised an eyebrow and looked between Logan and Noh. "Well then," he said softly, his gaze on Logan as he was clearly trying to work out what was going on. "At least we can rest easy knowing Jubilee's heart is not to be broken here."

"I didn't say I believed that," Logan replied.

"You cannot think I would ever hurt her," Noh said, sounding indignant.

"Not on purpose," Logan agreed. "Unintentionally? Oh yeah."

Noh looked entirely sincere as he leaned forward. "Then tell me how to keep from doing so," he said. "And I will do it."

Logan smirked broader and leaned forward just to keep it low. "Lies by omission are still lies." He sat back and gathered up his paper and mug to leave. "Pretty sure you can figure the rest out yourself. You're a smart little cockroach." With that, Logan simply got up and left, heading up the stairs without another word spoken.

Noh had been thinking about what Logan had said over breakfast all day, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that it had been weighing on him as he tried to sort out how best to proceed.

The truth was that he did love Jubilee. There was no other word to describe the rush of warmth he felt every time he came home to find her there. And Logan was entirely right; he shouldn't be keeping secrets from her. The problem was simply that he didn't know how to explain everything — or what would be the consequences if he did.

The truth was that he was terrified — not for himself but for her. For the threats Hill had uttered, the promises to come after Jubilee and the others. He was a Kree; he had been engineered to withstand so much. She… was warmth and fire all at once, and she was tough — but she would not survive what he had in the Cube.

And the truth was that he didn't know how to deal with that, the bone-deep terror. He'd never felt it before.

He was propped up on one elbow as he watched Jubilee brushing her hair and her teeth. When she came back to climb in beside him, he finally let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding as he lay down next to her and very quietly whispered out an, "I'm sorry, Jubilee," into her hair. "I should be showering you with such affection and attention for all the worry I've brought down on your head, and here you are tending to me instead."

She smiled at him and stole a gentle kiss. "Well, you do need a lot of looking after," she teased him lightly. "And I want to help."

"I wish you could," he told her honestly, nestling a little deeper into her hair. "I have been wracking my mind all day to find something ..." He let out a little sigh. "I confess, I don't know that I could ask anything more of you than you are doing now." He looked honestly sheepish. "I am a coward, Jubilee. I'm too afraid of what might happen, despite every moment of temporal training I have that tells me that is a ridiculous fear."

"It would be less ridiculous if you were a telepath too," she teased. "Because then you'd know what I was thinking before you got there. So I guess it's not entirely stupid. But it is stupid."

He had to chuckle at that. "I know," he agreed. "Which ... is why I'm trying to apologize. I don't know how to balance this new terror of causing you any harm with what I know to be logical — that I can't predict the future."

"I'm starting to think you're falling into everyone's little rut," she said softly, with her mouth half covered with the blanket. "I can do more than everyone gives me credit for. And I'm tougher than you think."

He smiled at her softly. "Jubilee," he said in a whisper, "I could not fall for anyone who was not a warrior. I know this about you."

"Then why do you keep acting like I'll shatter into a million pieces?" she asked, lifting her chin up.

He took in a deep breath. "Because I feel that way myself — and like it or not, Jubilee, you are not as durable as I am."

She reached up to cover his mouth with her hand. "If you ever go that far out of your way to sound like Wolvie again, I'll paff you into next Tuesday."

He was so surprised by her reaction that he let out an honest laugh. "That… was clearly not my intention," he promised. "I'm simply trying to be honest."

"And honestly, I saved his life the first time we met. Trust me. I can hack it."

He leaned in and kissed her very gently. "I do believe you can," he whispered. "It's why I love you."

She considered him for a moment, but couldn't help but smirk. "You mean … in addition to the sass and sparkles and unbelievable beauty."

"Oh yes," he agreed, smiling wider. "As well as the sense of humour, good taste in music, and amazing dance moves..."

She gave him a genuine smile and kissed him back. "Keep talking."