Chapter 2: "Welcome to the Club"

The group of rescuers all more or less settled in for the flight back to Westchester after tearing up the Weapon X facility — until Logan very suddenly woke up with a start and half scrambled toward the wall of the jet. It took him a moment to realize where he was before he covered his face with his hands and quietly asked how bad it was.

"Not to worry — everyone here has already seen you naked," Kurt assured him with a reassuring smile. "Except Billy, I believe."

"Welcome to the club, kid," Logan teased lightly.

"There's a club?" Billy asked with half a smirk.

"Yeah, pretty much everyone that walks through the front door," Alex laughed.

"That's not a club. That's a support group," Billy said, the smirk widening as he offered Logan one of the blankets Steve had asked him to get.

"Well, the other one is a bit easier on the eyes anyhow," Alex added.

"Speak for yourself," Billy said, the smirk turning into a real smile now.

"Well, if that's your thing — welcome to the support group."

Kurt couldn't help but smirk at both of them before he put a hand on Logan's shoulder and carefully handed him back K's engagement ring. "Don't worry," he said in a low tone. "We arrived before they could… start anything."

He let out a long breath and nodded. "Small miracles."

Kurt nodded his agreement before he tipped his head at Colcord and added, "And the director brought back a souvenir."

"Might want to get your money back on that one, Nick," Logan said. "Just a piece of trash."

"I'm sure SHIELD knows how to take out the trash — and if they don't, I sure do," Steve said with a little raised eyebrow look Logan's way. "But there's still a few questions, apparently. Like what you guys were doing in Ontario instead of somewhere further west."

"Funded solely by the Canadian government now," Logan said as he tried to get comfortable. "Why stick to the western half when you got a whole country to pick from? Probably have places in every province."

"Gonna have to talk with the Hudsons," Fury muttered almost to himself.

"What for?" Logan asked. "Not like they tell Mac a damn thing. Gotta keep him in the dark so he can keep plausible deniability and look like a hero. Besides, he probably wouldn't stick with it if he knew they were still doin' this crap. Not that he'd listen to me about it."

"Wasn't expecting them to — but if he and Heather kept an eye out, or even half an eye—" Fury just shook his head.

"You don't think they've tried?" Logan asked. "They didn't know what was going on when they did their tests and crap on me — or anyone else, for that matter. He's not high enough of a pay grade to hear anything, and he's too much of a company man to make too many waves."

As Fury and Logan were going back and forth, Lorna had noticed that K's eyes were open — though that was the only indication that she was even awake, as she hadn't moved a muscle even the slightest. Very carefully, Lorna reached over to grab a blanket from Billy's supply and offer it to K. "It's alright," she said with a small smile. "You're on the blackbird with the X-Men and friends."

"I gathered as much," K replied quietly before she sat up slowly and took the blanket to wrap around her middle. "Anyone else get caught up in the yuck?"

Billy made a face but gestured to his now-clean clothes. "Just you and Logan, but I took a bath in that stuff when you got out."

"Sorry," she said. "It's nasty, slimy stuff."

"It tastes weird," Billy agreed, making a horrible face.

"Tell me about it," she deadpanned. "I take it there are no clothes to speak of? Or do we get to do the strut of shame?"

"Oh." Billy looked a bit wide-eyed. "Hold on, let me just…" He held out a glowing hand for a second. "Wearingyouruniform wearingyouruniform wearingyouruniform," he chanted a few times before K was dressed comfortably in an X-Men uniform and no longer covered in slime, and he broke into a little grin.

She gave him a smile and crossed over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, sweet darling boy. I was freezing."

He looked a bit pink as he nodded. "Yeah ... should've thought of that sooner. It's an easy spell."

"It's cold once you're out of the goop, that's all," she told him as she met Logan's gaze for a moment while he continued his chat with Fury.

"That's why Cap sent me for blankets," Billy said, still a little pink.

"Then you're not the only one that didn't think of clothes," she said as she gave Steve a raised eyebrow look.

Steve shrugged openly. "I don't know what the X-Men stash on their jet."

"Everyone says you're a gentleman," K said with a little smirk as she looked him over. "But even Logan's given me the shirt off his back on occasions like this. Mister. Didn't know it was red, white, blue, and nudes."

"You're welcome to my shirt the next time there aren't blankets available," he told her with a small smile.

"I'll hold you to it," she warned. "Not the first time. Likely not the last."

"Apparently, there's a support group," Billy added helpfully.

"I'm not traumatized by naked," K replied. "Unless it's a special case. I can think of a few people I never ever wanna see in their birthday suits."

"Let's ... let's not play that game," Billy suggested.

"Agreed," K said as she crossed over to cuddle up with Logan, who made a point to pull her in tightly before he replaced the ring that Colcord had removed. She frowned for a second on seeing that it had been gone but turned to give him a kiss for it before settling into his chest with his arms wrapped around her. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Apparently, the program doesn't approve," Logan told her. She wrinkled her nose and turned to give him another kiss along his jaw.

"Well, screw them," she muttered half to herself.

It didn't take nearly as long for them to get back to the mansion as it had taken them to get to the facility — since this time they knew where they were going, after all. And of course, when they arrived, Hank was waiting for them with his arms crossed and a look of concern as he insisted that everyone get a thorough once-over — including Fury, which was quite the entertaining stare-down.

Hank hadn't even finished going over everyone on the rescue team when some of their friends started to trickle in — and Noh practically tackled K on her way out the door to escape more time around medical equipment as he swept her into a hug.

"I'm sorry they took you," he told her sincerely as he put her back down. "I'm already trying to find the holes in my security system to fix them — I'm sure Scott will help me."

"It happens," she told him before she gave him a quick, tight hug. "Those guys — all they do is chase us down."

"And all I do is fight the likes of them. It shouldn't have happened." He gave her another little squeeze before he added, with a smirk. "And yes, I realize that is a cardinal rule of time travel. Allow me my moment of Terran-like emotion on your behalf."

She gave him a little smile and popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "I love you too."

He grinned at her brightly before he swept over to talk to Scott about upgrading the security systems even as Jubilee was attacking Logan with a hug and Kate was already sliding into Kurt's orbit with an interested look as, to her surprise, Kurt seemed to have reached something of an understanding with Fury, though she couldn't possibly even begin to decipher the nonverbal communication going on there.

As soon as it was clear that Hank was occupied with most of those that had gone on the rescue mission, Logan and K slipped out and zipped up the stairs, in a rush to wash up after the slime bath they were floating in.

"They okay?" Kate asked Kurt quietly once they were out of earshot, and he nodded.

"We got there in time to prevent anything," he told her. "And we even brought home the director of the program." He tipped his head toward Fury. "The director of SHIELD is eager to have a private chat with him," he added with a soft smirk.

"Director to director," Kate said, shaking her head with a smirk to match before she kissed his cheek. "You doing okay?" she asked in a softer whisper that she was sure only Kurt — and maybe Noh — could hear.

"I will be once we're done with the talk," Kurt replied smoothly.

Kate raised her eyebrows at that and leaned into him a bit more. "He must really have ticked you off," she said. "Should I be mad on your behalf?"

"He pushed a few buttons that he should not have," Kurt said with a little smirk. "I intend to return the favor."

Kate shook her head for a moment and kissed his cheek again. "If you say so," she said, then broke into a bit of a teasing grin. "I guess you have to let out the evil demon every once in awhile. At least this is constructive." With that, she simply stood and grabbed Billy by the hand. "I'll just ... clear the room for you," she said with a significant wink Kurt's way as she pulled her friend along with promises of updates on gossip.

Once the three men were alone to question Colcord — with Rachel there to fill in any gaps — Hank simply dropped the shades to cover the windows to the hall and locked the doors of the lab behind him on his way out, blatantly ignoring anything that was going on between them.

….

It was hours later before Kurt headed back upstairs — past the urgent, low murmurs in Logan's room where the two little ferals were no doubt hashing out what had gone on — tired and dealing with the aftereffects of an adrenaline crash now that Colcord was no longer an issue. Kate was awake when he got into the room, and he gave her a weak, tired smile.

She looked concerned for a second before she pulled back the covers for him to climb in beside her, and she snuggled right into him. "You doing okay? Really?" she asked him softly as she started to kiss the line of his jaw.

"Much better now, thank you," Kurt replied as he returned the favor. "I've done my best to stop evil — though I had to let a little out myself to do so."

She pulled him a bit tighter at that as she shook her head at him. "You're the picture of perfection, Engelchen."

He chuckled at that and kissed her tenderly. "I'm quite sure that isn't accurate today."

She thought about it for a moment. "But you saved Logan and K, and you stopped the bad guys, right?" she asked softly.

"Yes, the bad guys that were going to brainwash them and do terrible things both with and to them both," he agreed with a nod. "But I was not entirely forthcoming in how I did so."

She kissed him tenderly rather than responding for a moment before she finally let him go so he could tell his story. "Well, I'm sure they deserved whatever you did," she said.

"Director Fury was the good cop," Kurt told her frankly.

She looked honestly confused and surprised by that and even pulled back slightly so she could see his face better to see that he was entirely serious. "That… what?"

"He wasn't expecting it anymore than I," Kurt assured her. "The man's answers were just ... infuriating." He wrinkled up his nose as he tried to put it behind him. "He said they had a right to get their investment back on them. Forget that neither of them signed up for their stupid program."

Kate frowned hard at that, both of her lips pursed as she let out a little noise of disdain. "Ugh. Yeah. Bad guys who treat people like… like anything but people…"

"He took her engagement ring too," Kurt said with a clear frown.

"He did not." Kate picked her head up to look at him properly, her eyes wide and clearly flashing with anger. "That's — that's just straight up wrong."

"What kind of message does that send?" Kurt asked with one eyebrow raised. "How should I have taken that other than how I did — which was asking for someone to teach him a lesson?"

"I'm the wrong person to ask, sweetheart," Kate said, still a bit wide-eyed, though she was settling into a glare. "Because if someone tried to take your ring? They'd lose something precious to them. But …" She gestured to herself with an unapologetic look. "Territorial." She shook her head as she leaned back against him, still frowning. "That's just… that's just wrong. And controlling. And evil."

"That was what I surmised," he agreed.

"And it's none of his business anyway," Kate said, gaining steam. "I don't care who he works for or what titles he has. It's just… none of his business."

"He doesn't have it anymore, and he'll never treat anyone like that again," Kurt promised. "Director Fury and I saw to that — while Cap watched the door."

She raised an eyebrow. "Now there's a set of people I never want to make angry ever," she said softly as she snuggled into him.

"Scott gave us the greenlight, too," Kurt told her. "He was furious when he found out what the man's plan was for them."

"I was going to ask," she admitted. She kissed his jaw and then snuggled in a little deeper. "Are you doing alright? That's… heavy."

"I'm thankful that we don't have that particular hurdle to deal with ourselves," Kurt said as he let out a deep breath and squeezed her tighter.

"You and me both," she replied before she started back up with the kisses — more than content to forget what had happened, at least for the moment, and focus on something a little sweeter.

….

Naturally, after such a mess and a required rescue, K was a little nervous in the days immediately after the Weapon X attack. It took a few days, but finally, she made her way to go talk to Rachel.

It wasn't that she was surprised or particularly shaken by what had very nearly come about — it was that she couldn't remember anything after the gas attack beyond a few moments of paralyzation while the doctors put the IVs in her arms. And she was understandably concerned that this pairing was going to be more trouble than she'd initially believed.

But when Rachel took the time to peek into her memories of the events, she was frustrated to hear some of what the scientists were saying — though the memories of the words were of course a bit foggy. "They wanted to reboot and reprogram," Rachel said, "Though I'm sure that Logan told you as much already." She let out a sigh and looked the little woman over. "The thing is … from what I got out of the director … they don't have a system or a method in place that could long-term control you any better than they had before."

K frowned at that and tipped her head to the side. "Well. That … could be good. I mean. Tossed it before, right? Did it once, can be done again."

But Rachel shook her head. "They have something in development. Untested. So far. I think, if my scan was accurate, that the plan was to just hide the two of you away in stasis until they had more promising results."

"Why the hell would they do that now, though?" K asked. "Why not wait until our guard is down and they have their tech?"

Rachel shook her head and gave her a look. "Believe me. You don't want to know what they had in their minds for that. It would not have been pleasant. Just … Logan and Fury know what was going on. And what was planned. It won't. Happen. Don't let them get to you."

K narrowed her eyes slightly and stuck a finger in Rachel's face. "I don't like that all these people know and I don't. But … considering all the other concerns I have right now, I'm gonna let it slide." She paused and gave Rachel one more look before she turned and headed off to interrogate Logan. If he knew, then he was going to spill one way or another.

….

In the weeks after Weapon X had invaded the mansion, it was clear that both Scott and Noh were determined to step up security measures, and it was rare to see either Noh without Forge or Scott without a look in his newly-uncovered eyes that the rest of the team was quickly learning to identify as his 'concerned' expression.

But of course, no amount of security planning and prep could deter Annie from continuing to insist that the poolside 'meetings' were an important, necessary, even vital part of preparing for the school year, so the whole of the faculty at Xavier's found themselves sitting poolside and chatting easily one warm July afternoon as Storm went over the usual subjects — things like planning out field trips and talking about new students' needs, and so on.

Unlike last year, when Annie had announced that she would need a little time off when the twins arrived, there were no big 'announcements,' though neither K nor Kate missed the fact that their friends were giving them half-teasing looks as though they were waiting for something like that until, finally, Kate just had to stick her tongue out at Jubilee and pointed out that the closest thing they had to such an 'announcement' was the fact that she and Kurt would be holding their finals a couple weeks earlier than the other teachers during the fall semester so that they could get married in early December and be back from their honeymoon in time for Christmas and Kate's birthday.

"Besides," Kate added in an undertone to Jubilee, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're still not actually married? Pretty sure you're next on the list, Glitter Queen."

Jubilee grinned widely at Kate with an open shrug. "How come I have to always test the waters first?" she teased.

"You're just so much braver," Kate said with a smirk.

"Clearly," Jubilee replied, shaking her head as she leaned back into Noh, who was grinning at the whole thing — and clearly not at all that opposed to the idea of testing the waters, though he didn't say as much.

He looked over the top of Jubilee's head toward K with that same little grin, though he tilted his head at her quizzically. "If we are doing all our plotting and planning and calendaring, won't you tell us what date you've chosen while we're looking ahead?" he asked serenely.

K had been acting as if she was part of the furniture but finally turned her head toward Noh slightly, though she didn't bother removing her sunglasses before she spoke as she normally did. "I haven't narrowed it down quite that far yet," K admitted. "But ... if I was pressed, sometime in the fall. Probably. Down the road. Eventually. Every time someone asks, it makes me want to add a year, though."

He broke into a wide grin and nodded. "A fall wedding. I like it," he said, almost lazily. "This world has so many colors to offer at that time."

"The scents in the woods are the best then too," K said with a little smirk his way. "Dry leaves and dead ferns are wonderful."

He let out a breath of a laugh. "Again with dead plants and weddings. There must be some sort of cultural obsession."

"Well that's not so much for the wedding as it is so you can spot the bears when they're walking through the woods easier. Otherwise, you can't see them in the ferns until they stand up on their hind legs," K offered, looking totally unconcerned as she muttered under her breath, "Space cowboys are worse than city slickers for knowing reasonable things. Not surprised."

"You planning on letting bears crash your big day?" Kate teased.

"Why not? Likely cause less trouble than the guests," K laughed. "If you misbehave, I'll be forced to strip you down, cover you with honey, and leave you out there defenseless. If the bears don't find you, Kurt will."

"See, I know that's supposed to be a threat, but now I'm just laughing," Kate giggled.

"It's really not a threat at all," K replied, sitting upright away from Logan for a moment. "It's more a suggestion. Mind the leaves; they get everywhere."

Kate nodded with a pretended look of thoughtfulness. "Maybe we should practice," she said as she grinned impishly at Kurt, who matched her grin with a raised eyebrow look and a smirk of his own.

That had the conversation off of weddings for a while as the rest of the X-Men did their level best to ignore Kate and Kurt being… them... while Logan and K nonchalantly leaned against each other. Eventually, Annie got them back to a discussion somewhere close to planning for the school year, but even that didn't last long, as really, they were just planning to do what they usually did — and to swim and eat hot dogs for the meeting.

Throughout the conversation, the little bamfs had been content to just play with each other, though at some point, they had apparently gotten into a splash war. Which was fine when they were just attacking each other, but apparently, they had decided that the rest of the X-Men were too dry. The whole group of them got together for a mass cannonball to splash as many of the others as possible — teleporting over with little buckets of water to make sure they got anybody who was dry from the cannonball.

Scott was one of the unsuspecting bucket victims, and he looked distinctly unamused as he wiped the water out of his eyes and looked Kurt's way. "That reminds me — we've got the Avengers rotation this week. Think you can keep the bamfs out of the workshop this time?" he asked pointedly.

"That depends on how big of a deal Iron Man makes of it," Kurt said with a little sigh. "They are demons. And the more he complains, the more they want to make a mess."

"If you can get that through his thick head, then it won't be a problem," Scott replied. "I've tried to tell him exactly that, but apparently, I don't speak a language Stark understands."

Kate leaned over to K with a little grin as she said in a low tone, "Betcha we could get Tony to listen if we bother him enough."

"Without a doubt," K replied. "Though I don't think we'd have to bother him too badly. Just … make a request with the right smirk. Wear a dress. Act like you think he's cute." She made a gagging noise and shook her head. "It'd work like a charm. You should try it."

"The bothering is more fun though," Kate said, still grinning.

"The smirk is quicker," K pointed out. "Less planning, too."

"You just don't want to have any fun," Kate teased. "Party pooper. And here I was going to suggest we try and switch with the boys so we can pre-emptively bother Tony before the bamfs."

"You're with me next rotation anyhow," Logan said without picking his head up or turning her way, leaning back as far as he could in his chair and looking perfectly relaxed.

Kate looked surprised at that and turned to Logan. "I don't need babysitting," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You do, but you can't afford me for that," Logan replied.

"I dunno. Maybe if I change the job title from 'babysitter' to 'guardbody'..." She grinned impishly his way. "Seems to me you're pretty good at that. Even if I don't need it."

"Believe me, you needed that," he said as he pulled K closer to him. "That was a mission of mercy — on everyone else."

"Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes at him and then shook her head. "So what'd I do this time that you've decided to break up the team up of the century?"

"You didn't do anything, I have other crap I need to get done with Cap, and K's gonna cover the non-military side of the war while I'm gone. Or at least. Work up the notes," Logan lied smoothly. "Figured I'd save the extra hassle and switch it. Two birds with one stone and all that."

Kate let out an obvious sigh and leaned back. "Well, fine, but just this once," she allowed. "But then I need my partner in crime back so I can watch Thor turn into the best Viking god ever whenever K's around."

"How so?" Logan asked with a little frown.

"You should see them. They just go right into Swedish in front of Tony and just… smash through all the training while looking way too Viking for their own good. It's hilarious." Kate waved her hands. "I can't describe it. It needs to be experienced."

"How do I … look too Viking … what?" K asked with a little laugh.

"Review the tapes, K. It's a thing of beauty," Kate said, grinning wide.

"So he's not like that all the time? What did I do?"

"I mean, he's like that all the time, but you make it moreso," Kate admitted. "I just… It just needs to be experienced," she repeated with a little laugh.

"If you say so," K shrugged, still half chuckling to herself.

"It's my favorite part of the Avengers rotation. You know — besides getting to wipe the floor with Cap in training," Kate said with an easy smile.

"Or shoot down Tony's flirting before he can find a stride?"

"He doesn't really flirt with me as much as he does you. Something about having seen me in pigtails when I was non-magically four." Kate smiled serenely, though her eyes were sparkling with laughter.

"I still think he'd want to see you in pigtails," K told her perfectly straight-faced. "And honey."

Kate scrunched up her face and shook her head. "Yeah, no — that's for Kurt. He's territorial," she said. "So, no."

K began to grin the more Kate talked. "I'm just saying, Hawkeye. Guys have … mental images. You should be aware of that and learn to take advantage... That's all…."

"Hey, as long as they stay in their heads and I remain telepathy-free, it doesn't bother me," Kate countered. "It's when the looks and the hands start in that they start losing things that are important to them." She looked past K to Logan with a little smirk. "Been learning some pretty fun moves to deal with that kind of thing."

"From who, me or her?" he asked with a smirk. "She's got some pretty good ones for that nonsense."

"Both." Kate's smirk just widened as she added, "And you know, Kurt's pretty handy with the swords too if I wanted to get real creative."

"What, you mean you two are actually training in the Danger Room together?" Jubilee asked with wide, innocent eyes and a troublemaking smirk.

"On occasion," Kurt replied with a smirk to match hers.

"Actually, I'm getting half decent at left-handed fighting. Part of the dual wield workout," Kate said before she leaned back into Kurt a bit. "But then, I've got a pretty great teacher."

"Yes, yes you do," Kurt replied.

"And the tuition is fun to pay," Kate said with a little smirk.

"I was thinking of raising my rates," Kurt said with a smile.

Kate kissed him for a moment before she simply said, "Oh no," in her most innocent tones as she settled into him a bit more.