Stop Grinning, Kurt

Most of those still at the mansion were set up to watch movies for the remainder of the evening after Annie's amazing dinner — and dinner conversation. But K very quietly and gracefully slipped by them and up to her room. When she got to the top of the stairs, she had to laugh a bit to herself at the boisterous teasing and joking going on downstairs. Kurt had been a wonderful buffer against Annie, and she'd appreciated every moment that he gently diverted Annie from one wedding's chatter to the next.

But now? K had more than enough of being around everyone and decided that it was a good idea to simply go to bed a bit early. She slipped into the flannel shirt that Logan had left behind for her and smiled to herself as she buried her nose in the collar of the shirt and climbed into bed.

She took her time trying to relax, but once she was snuggled in right and the blanket was up to her nose, she started to drift off quickly. She could hear voices outside in the hall, but she couldn't concentrate hard enough to pay attention to what was said or who was talking.

She was right on the brink of slipping off when her whole world tilted sideways, and she wasn't entirely sure if she was out of the woods or not when it came to her stomach threatening a revolt. She shot up with a muttered 'oh crap' and put her arm out to support herself as she took a few quick, shallow breaths and closed her eyes shut tightly while she waited for the spinning to just ... stop.

It quickly became apparent who had been talking outside her door earlier when it opened. Kurt had his head tipped to one side with a look of obvious concern before he ran over to support her so she didn't have to hold herself up. "Was is los?" he asked with a deep frown.

K shook her head, her eyes still closed tightly, though she did lean on him. "Nothing. It's nothing," she said quickly. "Sometimes I feel like I'm about to go into orbit when I fall asleep. That's all."

"Does this happen often?" he asked in concern.

"No, not often. It's fine, really," she tried to convince him with a tiny little smile. "See? Still earthbound."

"Yes, I see that," he said, shaking his head at her, though he didn't take his gaze from her or change his tone in the least. "Do you need anything? Maybe Hank can prescribe you something if it's a recurring issue."

"No," she said with a frown. "No ... that won't work. Drugs? Come on, Kurt. I burn them out. Nothing to be done about it."

"I thought perhaps it might help if the healing hasn't influenced the dizziness… Then do you need a bowl?" he offered, still clearly concerned and looking for any way to be helpful. "You look a bit pale."

"It's an inner ear thing. Healing has nothing to do with it if I take a head shot." She sat up a bit, then chuckled as she laid down flat again, snuggling into bed. "No, I'll be fine, sweet lil' blue Elf. I just ... can't go to sleep yet." She snatched Logan's pillow and propped herself up just a bit with it as she gave Kurt a little smile.

Kurt nodded with a little frown but didn't move, watching her with his head tipped to one side and one eyebrow raised. "Is this a recent issue?" he asked slowly. "I don't remember you having problems in any of our trips."

"You … were preoccupied on our previous trips," K replied carefully, though she kept her smile in place. "And I don't recall having you in my bedroom to see me fall asleep. Besides, I was much more tired — healing from actual injuries, too.."

"Well, Logan isn't here to help, but if there's anything I can do," he offered.

"If you insist, it wouldn't hurt for you to talk for a little while to keep me up?"

He nodded, though he still had his head tipped to one side like he was studying her. "Alright. What would you like to talk about?" he asked. "I should tell you I promised Logan to save the most embarrassing stories for him to tell himself."

"Spoilsport," she teased with an easy grin. "Just — anything really. Tell me something I don't know."

Kurt leaned back and thought about it for a moment before he had to grin. "Well, I'm not sure how much Logan has told you about his 'return from the dead' recently, but I'm sure you'd be interested in the space pirates portion of that adventure."

"He glossed over that bit," she said as she turned onto her side to listen to his story. "Said there was a buncha idiots in space that needed their asses handed to them."

"Well, that sums it up succinctly," Kurt laughed. "Noh was there too — that's actually the first time I met him. This was before he was dating Jubilee, of course."

"Naturally," she replied.

"Actually," Kurt said with a bit of an impish smile. "I think at the time he was still … interested in Kate, really."

"Yeah, that's … I still think that's weird. The friends with the ex thing," K said a bit quieter.

Kurt had to smirk at that, though when he saw K starting to relax and lose a bit of steam, he tilted his head again, a little frown on his face until she frowned for just an instant then bolted upright, clearly feeling horrible again. "Are you sure you don't want… something to help?" he asked again as he helped her stay relatively upright.

"No — nothing works," she said. "I'm just — I need to sleep, and I can't fall asleep without that happening."

He still looked concerned, though the frown was slipping into an unreadable expression as he looked her over. "Well, as long as you need me to stay, I can keep telling stories. But I'm sorry you feel so horrible."

"I'm just dizzy, really," she defended.

He tried to reign in the smile at that as he nodded. "Yes, I can see that."

She cracked one eye open at him and let out a sigh as she tipped her head back. "Please don't."

"Don't what?" he asked, slipping back into a bit of concern.

"Don't … do … the grinning at me thing." She ran her hand through her hair. "I'm not up to it."

"I'll try very hard to stop," he said, though he was still smiling. "But I hope you know, when you're no longer dizzy, I may just have to hug you."

"You have ruined my sneak entirely," she told him.

"I seem to have that effect on both you and Logan," he teased. "Years of practice, apparently."

"So," K said as she took his arm and leaned against his shoulder. "Try to act surprised when Logan lets it slip, would you? You're top of the list anyhow. Seeing as he's got another job for you."

The grin threatened to split Kurt's face as he gave up trying to contain it, though he did manage a diplomatic, "Well, I am the drama teacher. I should be able to pull that off."

"If you smile any wider, your head is going to split in half," she teased. "But ... here's the thing. Training. I can still work. For a while anyhow."

"On training," Kurt said with a little look. "With the safety protocols in place."

"They were running today," K defended. "Your godbaby is safe."

Kurt grinned delightedly at that. "Well, now your earlier lie about my being in cahoots with Logan might just be truth," he teased.

"Honestly," she grumbled. "Super duper protected right now."

"I'm afraid we just can't help it," Kurt said, still grinning, though he paused and leaned forward with a little smile. "But you know — if he becomes too unreasonable, I'm sure I could talk to Logan, if you need it."

"I need it," she said seriously. "If it's this ridiculous now, he's going to be insane before it's over."

"And I'll do my very best to keep him from insanity," Kurt promised before he couldn't contain it anymore and wrapped her up in a hug.

"Keep it to yourself, please," she said. "For a little while longer anyhow."

"If I could figure it out, you know the rest of the team won't be far behind," he said. "But it's not my secret to tell, wonderful as it is."

"You only figured it out by coming in here and seeing me falling off the planet," she pointed out. "No one comes in here."

He looked a bit sheepish. "The door was open, and the bamfs wanted to play. Honestly, I was just trying to keep them from bothering you."

"The bamfs opened the door, I'm sure," she said with a little smirk. "That one is a little punk that's been trying to drag you up here for the past week." She gave her little friend a dirty look, and he simply giggled at her, holding up his fingers behind his head as if they were horns — as if she needed the reminder that he was a little demon in the first place. "I will cut you if you don't knock it off, fella," she warned him.

The little guy giggled delightedly with a little 'bamf' as he crawled over to pat her hand gently and look between Kurt and K with a triumphant sort of grin.

"They are so much like you, it's painful," K told him evenly, though Kurt simply laughed at that and gave her another delighted hug.

….

The ninjas had struck in the middle of the night while Noh was on watch. They burst through the door and windows at the same time — filling the air with smoke and throwing stars as they began their assault.

Logan and Daken, by some miracle, simply fell into step together — and though their styles were vastly different, they seemed to be a good complement for each other as they started cutting through ninjas together.

In the close quarters of the hotel suite, Jubilee and Kate were showing off more hand-to-hand training than explosions and arrows simply because it was easier and less likely to bring a wall down on them or something. The two of them had been through enough training with each other — and sometimes Natasha and K — that they had an easy rhythm going as well as they fought practically back to back at times.

And Noh was simply in his element, actually grinning as he ran along the walls and fired at the incoming ninjas, standing outside the windows at a slant to take on the ninjas that were still incoming.

So Noh had been running back and forth across the windows, firing on ninjas left and right as he and the little team cleared them out when the ninjas — desperate to end the fight on an upswing — simply shot out all the windows anywhere near Noh all at once. Just like that, the little Kree warrior found himself without an anchor to hold himself to the building.

But he didn't fall far. He'd really only gotten less than a handful of feet when someone grabbed his ankle and hoisted him into the hotel room without a word.

He blinked in surprise when he saw that it was Daken. His former Dark Avengers teammate didn't do anything to acknowledge what had happened as he had already jumped right back into the fight as soon as Noh was back in the building. Noh wasn't about to draw attention to having been rescued by Daken, so he also dove back into the fight, shaking his head to himself.

The battle didn't last much longer after that before the small group of ninjas retreated back into the shadows without any further conflict — completely unable to make any headway against the well-prepared group.

"Ready to chase 'em?" Logan asked Daken, though he didn't exactly specify who he was speaking to as he glared out the window and down toward the sidewalk. Daken, of course, simply nodded, and the two of them slipped off together for the others to try and follow.

"See, I actually like these world tours," Kate said to Jubilee as the two girls ran after their teammates. "I get to shoot ninjas."

"Yeah, well, it's easier when he's not running with another feral," Jubilee half grumbled. "Freakin' growly language all their own."

"You mean it's not like bamf-speak? I'll never learn it?" Kate couldn't resist teasing.

"I don't know," Jubilee said with a bit of a tilt to her head. "I mean. It could be..." She ran through an entire library of different growls, which only got Daken to turn and stare at her for a second as if she'd completely lost her mind before he turned back toward his father with a shake of his head. "See? It worked."

Kate was chuckling to herself at that. "Yes. I think you just told him his refrigerator is running."

"No, I told him to get a haircut," she laughed.

"Ah, that explains the look he was giving you," Kate giggled.

"The whole family is sensitive about their hair," Jubilee stage whispered.

Noh just turned to Jubilee with a single raised eyebrow and a grin. "You should have seen it when we were teammates," he said in a stage whisper. "I believed I was under attack when first we met."

"How so?" Jubilee giggled.

"I believe his hair might have been taller than his father," Noh said, completely straightfaced.

"Do you have any pictures?" Jubilee was on the verge of tears, the mental image more than she could handle.

"I didn't keep any mementos from that horrendous team, but I'm sure you can find footage if you ask Santa Stark. We were using his building at the time."

"I don't know if Santa Stark would cooperate with me," Jubilee said. "Not that I'm complaining. I suppose I could ask K to do it if Kate isn't up to it."

"What, and miss the chance to see Tony's face when we ask for the mullet-mohawk pictures?" Kate grinned. "Not on your life."

Logan shushed them from over his shoulder as they came up on where the ninjas were converging. "We can clean 'em out right now if you guys can keep it together," Logan said with a scowl that Daken matched nearly perfectly as the three of them came up to the two ferals.

"What, you think I can't multitask?" Kate reached behind her to twirl an arrow in her hands. "I'll take down more ninjas than you and plot the rise of the mullet-mohawk extravaganza," she added Daken's way.

"You are completely delusional," Daken replied. "Body count starts now," he added with a smirk as he dove over the edge of the building and into the gathered ninjas.

"You're gonna need that head start," she half-shouted after him as she started shooting and the others dove in as well.

Daken and Kate were both doing incredibly well until Jubilee dove in. She was standing on top of a car, blowing a giant pink bubble, when she let loose a massive plasmoid that Daken had to drop flat to the ground to miss.

In a massive shower of sparks and blinding light, a large portion of the ninjas simply disintegrated. "Catch up now," Jubilee called out brightly as she cracked her gum and skipped off the car.

"I like a good challenge!" Kate shouted back, laughing as she pulled out a few explosives and fired several at once to topple a half-crumbling building as well. She tipped her head with a grin. "Not sure how many that was, but I think it was a lot."

"Still behind," Daken called out as he spun through the ninjas and used their weapons against them.

"Oh, just you wait," Kate replied with a little laugh before she grabbed her sword to start dealing damage a bit faster. "If I had the dual wield down, you'd be eating my dust."

"Next time, we should both bring a pair," he called back.

"You are so on." She grinned his way and, just to show off, flipped the sword over in one hand to stab a ninja behind her before she used the guy as leverage and flipped over him so that two throwing stars hit the ninja instead of her.

Daken just grinned her way and started strictly using the ninja's weapons on their own ranks. If he got a hold of a sword, he'd send it through the man holding it and leave it there, moving on to the next weapon.

Logan wasn't paying attention to the little games being played, though — he was looking for the man in charge, solely focused on a point far in the distance as he cut through men left and right as if they weren't even there.

Noh tore his attention away from the girls and Daken when he noticed that Logan was headed in a new direction and let out a breath, deciding that it would likely be better if he made sure Logan wasn't separated, so he sped over to where Logan was quickly, simply following the trail Logan had already cut for him.

"I take it you're not interested in playing games?" he said with his head to one side. "Or have you found something more engaging?"

"Not even a little bit interested in games," Logan growled out. "I have things to do that don't involve tinkerin' around with these idiots."

"You mean the ninjas, not our teammates," Noh said with a small smirk before he tipped his head for Logan to lead the way. "Perhaps we can end the fight and the games a bit sooner, then?"

"See the guy up there that just seems to be watching in the shadows?" Logan asked as the two of them fought their way forward. "I don't want him dead. Yet."

"Then let's make sure we get to him before the others catch up with their games," Noh suggested with a smirk as he poured on a bit more speed.

"That's the plan," he agreed. "I doubt Kate knows about these guys — but you can bet Daken and Jubes do."

Noh tipped his head for just a second. "Anything I should know?"

"If he thinks he'll be caught, he'll kill himself."

"Well then, we'll simply have to be faster than he is," Noh said with a determined sort of nod.

With that, Logan drove forward in a rush, ducking past ninjas and fighting hard, with Noh beside him shooting through and kicking through anyone he didn't get to. Finally, he managed to grab the ninja master and restrain him. But as soon as that happened, the ninjas that had not been subdued or killed all began to pull out bows and arrows that did not have throwing stars. In a heartbeat, their focus was on Logan and their master — shooting all their arrows and stars at the two of them. Logan turned his back, trying to safeguard the ninja master as the arrows rained down.

Noh had also switched his focus, going from fighting at Logan's side to trying to snatch as many arrows and throwing stars out of the air as he could to prevent several of them from hitting home. He could also hear a very annoyed Kate shouting at the ninjas that archery was her shtick as the other three saw what was going on and moved to help as well, though by the time they'd arrived, Logan had several arrows in him, and Noh had accumulated a few as well.

When the rest of them caught up to Noh and Logan, Logan gave Daken a nod, and the two of them dragged the ninja master off to a more secured area before they began to question him in low, angry Japanese. At first, he didn't respond to them other than to shout back foul insults — all things that Jubilee knew the translations for — but not much else.

Until the two of them started tag-teaming the guy on torture methods — one working him over while the other questioned. When the ninja master finally started to answer, the two ferals would share a look, as if to see if the other believed him before continuing on.

When they were apparently done, Logan released the man, and Daken cut him down before the pair of them made their way back to the group, speaking low to each other. "We've hit a dead end for now," Daken admitted to the gathered trio. "But I now have a few names and aliases to work through. So … thank you."

"A victorious battle, but the war wages on," Noh said with a shrug.

"He means 'you're welcome,'" Kate said, smirking as she tipped her head Daken's way.

"I appreciate the translation," Daken said with what almost looked like a friendly expression. "You're by far a more interesting archer to work with over that idiot in New York."

"I'm the best Hawkeye," Kate said with a shrug and a smirk. "But the other one's not an idiot. Not totally, anyway."

"In my working experience, that is entirely true," he agreed. "You being the best Hawkeye. Sadly. I have yet to try out the third."

Kate thought about it for a second and then made a face. "Oh no. No, Bullseye is not — he does not count. No, no."

He just smiled at her. "Believe me, I know."

"Then — we are done here, yes?" Noh broke in, looking to Logan.

"For now, yeah," Logan said with a nod.

"Then I think I'd like to go back home," Noh said as he pulled an arm around Jubilee.

"You and me both," Logan agreed before he tipped his head to Daken and the little group headed back to the blackbird.

…..

The residents of the mansion that hadn't gone to Madripoor were already down at coffee by the time the others arrived. K kept glancing Kurt's way, but true to his word, he looked serenely uninterested in revealing her secret just yet, hiding the little smile behind his coffee whenever he couldn't quite stop it.

"Oh, darn," K grumbled a bit when Logan came over to give her a quick kiss and join her for coffee. "I had a training session today."

"Plans change," Logan muttered in response, smirking a bit to himself as he nuzzled into her hair.

"You can run a sim with me," Kate offered as she slipped in next to Kurt and kissed him gently in greeting.

"I had plans with Scott," K said airly. "We were having fun."

"Can I play too? I love playing with the boss man," Kate said with a grin. "It's like — a total unicorn when he loosens up and has fun. I gotta be there."

"Didn't you just get back from fighting ninjas?" Kurt pointed out with a little smirk as he pushed her a cup of coffee.

"Yes, and if anyone asks, I definitely had more ninjas down than anybody else," she said, grinning.

"Lies," Logan said. "Dirty, dirty lies — but not bad for a new ninja killer."

"Not bad, he says." Kate looked up at Kurt with a little smirk, though it was clear the compliment had her pleased. "I was excellent."

"I'm sure you were," Kurt replied as he kissed the top of her head with an unrestrained smile.

The group couldn't miss when Annie and Scott arrived for breakfast because Annie broke out into a huge grin and made it a point to hug the newly returned teammates. "It's good to see you all back without major medical intervention," she teased Logan in particular.

"I already pulled all the arrows out on the jet," Logan replied.

"Did you make Kate angry again?" Scott asked with a smirk as he poured his coffee.

"Nah, just a few dozen ninjas," Logan said as he picked up his coffee mug. "They got over it. Kinda."

"I think it helped when we knocked some sense into them," Kate said with a grin Jubilee's way.

"Was that before or after Jubes blew your numbers?" Logan asked. "Gettin' old. I forget."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, so maybe Jubes won. But I was a close second."

"Third," he corrected. "I still won."

"Are you counting the head guy as multiple?"

"One."

"Right." She rolled her eyes and looked past him to K. "So, what's the plan?"

"Kate wants to join us later," K said to Scott.

"Kate can go in your place," Logan added.

Scott raised both eyebrows at that. "Actually, the program is for K," he pointed out.

"It really is," K agreed. "Kurt runs it, Scott helps me. It's pretty laid back, actually."

"Sounds fun. Throw in a few more bad guys, and I'll work on my hand to hand," Kate said, leaning back with her arms behind her head.

But Logan was shaking his head. "Nope. I have plans with this one," he said. "Pick another player." K turned and gave Kurt a look as if to say 'see?'

"You know, Logan, it's really only half an hour," Kurt said softly. "And I think Scott and K are starting to build a good rhythm." He gave Logan a bit of a look himself.

"C'mon, Logan. Don't you know how to share?" Kate teased.

"No," he replied frankly.

"We'll figure it out before the session," Kurt said diplomatically. "We have a few hours anyhow."

"Enough time to get in a little shut eye," Kate said with a contented sigh. "That's not a half bad idea."

"Why don't you go ahead, and I'll catch up," Kurt said before he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "I need to slap some sense into my best friend."

She smirked at him and nodded. "Well I won't stand in the way of that." She kissed his cheek and grinned impishly. "I'll just get a quick cat nap in. You can wake me up when you're done." With that, she kissed him gently again and headed upstairs, which left Kurt free to catch up to his best friend.

He seized Logan by the arm and pulled him into one of the classrooms that wasn't being used before he crossed his arms and tilted his head at his friend. "You can't simply stop her from living, Logan — no matter how much you want to protect her. To protect both of them."

"Well, that took you no time at all," Logan replied. "She's stubborn about going easy. Seems to be all or nothing — so what would you do?"

"There's a difference between going easy and being railroaded," Kurt pointed out.

"She won't go easy," he defended. "Already tried that route."

"Then ask for help," Kurt said, shaking his head. "If Scott or I had known when we were running training yesterday, don't you think we'd have gone easier?"

"And she'd have found a way to work around you," Logan replied. "That's the way it's been going."

Kurt crossed his arms. "For how long now?"

"Long enough," he said with a little shrug. "Few weeks anyhow."

Kurt tried to look thunderous, he really did, but what he did instead was wrap his best friend in a hug to warmly tell him "congratulations" before he smacked him. "Logan, you haven't even set a date," he chided him.

"I've tried. You're after the wrong one for that."

"She's going to start showing, and you won't be able to keep this secret. Figure it out," Kurt insisted.

"Not trying to keep it a secret," he said easily. "Just gotta get her to relax a little."

"You both need to relax." Kurt shook his head at Logan. "You're — you're going to be parents, Logan!" he said, somewhere between ecstatic and disbelieving.

"I'm well aware," he said with a little smile. "I was the one that told her."

Kurt couldn't help but grin back at his friend. "Congratulations, mein Freund. Really. This — this is amazing news."

"Be more amazing if I can get her to do the damn ceremony."

Kurt nodded at that. "I'd marry you two right now if you could get her to agree to it."

"I know," he said. "She keeps thinking I'm screwing with her. Or picking. Or something."

"Then convince her you're not." Kurt let out a long sigh. "You cannot just… carry on like this."

"I know," Logan swore. "I'm trying to get her to see sense. But she's just … stubborn."

"What does she need convincing of? That you love her? That you two won't be murdered at the altar? What?"

"No idea at this point. She just tells me to stop being ridiculous."

"She's right on that point. Stop being ridiculous and just marry the girl. Make an honest woman of her," Kurt said with a soft smirk.

"That isn't helpful," Logan said with one eyebrow raised. "But ... if I can get her to just agree, I'll try to relax a little more."

"That seems like a fair trade," Kurt agreed. He rested a hand on Logan's shoulder with a grin. "Can I ask — do you have a due date yet? Do you know?"

"My guess? April sometime. She's bein' kinda standoffish when it comes to Hank," Logan said.

"Yes, I noticed that," Kurt agreed before he broke into a little grin. "If it's the Twinkies that she doesn't want, I'm sure Hank can switch them out for something else."

Logan just shook his head. "She has legitimate gripes," he promised.

"Well if you say they're legitimate," Kurt said with a little smirk before he just shook his head. "I meant what I said, Logan — say the word and I'll find a way to make it happen. Just get her to say yes."

"I already made that mistake once," Logan pointed out. "Got her to say yes — missed gettin' her to say when."

"Well, that was your mistake," he agreed.

"Just try to stick to her training sessions," Logan asked. "I'll keep tryin' to convince her to get with it."

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her," Kurt promised. He paused, grinned, and added, "It seems I'm a bit protective myself."

"Oh?" Logan teased. "What brought it out?"

Kurt had to laugh. "Oh, nothing special. K just suggested something to me."

"Yeah? What was the suggestion? There have been a few."

Kurt shook his head. "Oh no. This — this is something I wouldn't assume."

"Well one of the suggestions is a given," Logan teased. "Provided you want the job."

Kurt broke into a wide grin. "You know I'd be honored."

"Good," he said with a nod. "There are a few things bein' tossed around that surprised me. That was her suggestion."

Kurt raised both eyebrows high and looked both pleased and shocked. "It was?"

"I'll wait until she decides for sure on the others before I clue you in on them." Logan gave him an unreadable smile. "Until then, maybe help me out a little to get her to just do it? Gentle suggestions maybe."

"Anything," Kurt promised.

Translations from German:

Was is los? - "What is this?" or, basically, "What's going on?"