A/N - hello, hello. we're back with more. Told you we'd do it eventually, and here we are. If you're behind on what the futz this ginormous story is, please check out my profile for reading order and more info. This is still a shared work with robbiepoo2341 and we play tennis with the volumes - meaning one is here, the next is on her profile, etc., etc. Enjoy! -CC

Chapter 1: "Howard's Flirting"

It was the very last performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Sadie was honestly sad to see the end of the run. She'd given her very best for every show, but the last one just seemed to be a little more all the way through. When it was over, she'd really felt she'd done all she could. The reviews had been positive, though she'd done her best to ignore them until the whole run was nearly over. She also knew that Howard had made a point to go to nearly every performance, and frankly, she was taking the positive news with a grain of salt.

Of course, she was convinced that Natasha had been a much better litmus, and for the shows that Natasha had attended, she had to be careful not to look her way too much just for the expression on her face betraying what she thought.

But the final show had been positively packed, and her entire family had shown up — along with the extended group of X-Men. When the curtain finally fell and the bows were over, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and she was honestly ready to drop where she stood.

Of course, Kaleb had an advantage over the others who had come to see her final show in that he had no qualms about teleporting backstage to wrap her up in a kiss as soon as she was off the stage, pulling her off her feet in a spinning hug. "I told you you'd be amazing!"

She had her arms wrapped around his neck and was laughing into the spinning hug. "It's so different, though," she said before she kissed him right back. "And bittersweet."

"On to the next star role," Kaleb told her. "Taking the world of dance by storm."

Of course, by that time, the rest of the family had made their way back for a quick round of hugs and kisses before they trickled out — and Kate had, of course, managed to pull together a celebration for the whole crew once they all got back to the house. But Sadie had to get out of costume first. "I need to change," she said to Kaleb. "Can you wait for me?"

"Oh, I suppose," he said, making it clear that this was an imposition before he stole another kiss.

She grinned at him and shook her head as she headed to the dressing room. "I may need to bribe the bamfs to get the flowers home," she said. "I think everyone sent some."

"Oh, I'll tell them to do it as a favor to me," Kaleb said. "They can't resist helping us elflings, and Kari and I are their favorites." He gestured to himself. "Blue."

"Of course you're their favorites," she said before she blew him a kiss and stepped in to change, leaving Kaleb to wait for a few minutes. The other dancers that she'd made friendly with wanted to congratulate each other too, after all.

Of course, he hadn't been waiting too long before he saw Howard there with a bouquet of white roses, and he narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Just offering my congratulations on an amazing run," Howard replied with a troublemaking smirk. "That's still allowed, isn't it?"

"I know what you're up to, and it's not right," Kaleb said, his eyes narrowed and his tail switching behind him.

"I'm just bringing her flowers," Howard said. "Relax, big blue."

"You're courting a girl who's already spoken for," Kaleb said.

"Oh, are you engaged now?" He asked. "Because if that's the case, then I still offer my apologies for trying to congratulate a good friend on a wonderful run."

Kaleb kept his eyes narrowed. "You're full of it, Stark," he said in a low growl, though he tried hard to stow it when Sadie came out of the dressing room at last to see the two of them standing there like that. He remembered how she'd reacted when Howard had first found out they were dating and didn't want to be accused of being a caveman like Howard had been.

Kaleb glanced over at Sadie and then offered her a smile. "Howard, the bamfs are taking care of the flowers. Find one of them and they'll deliver them back home," he said before he simply snagged her around the waist and then teleported off with her before Sadie could do more than wave Howard's way with the tips of her fingers.

When they reappeared in Westchester, she got the jump on him and kissed him before the smoke cleared. "Thank you for waiting for me."

"But for the criminal charges that would follow me if I stuck with you in the changing room," he said airily, though the kiss had him grinning.

"Criminal," she said, shaking her head. "That only makes me hope the next one I try out for is a pirate musical."

"If it is, I will try out with you," he said with a smirk. "They need pirates in the rigging, I'm sure."

"They do — and you'd be sure to land the lead role as scallywag."

"Only if you're my romantic interest. It would be too weird to have someone else between us," he said.

"Tell me about it. That was the hard part of this last one ... " Sadie shook her head at that. "Luckily, though, Oberon was more interested in Puck than in me."

Kaleb had to laugh at that. "Well, that's at least one person I don't have to be jealous of."

She smiled widely. "You don't have anyone to be jealous of," she said with a grin.

"Are you sure? I know you have an ardent admirer…"

"I have a couple, but you're the only one I'm kissing."

Kaleb smiled at that and kissed her for good measure. "Good, because I think I love you."

"Love you too." She bit her lip and grinned a little wider. "Well. We beat everyone back," she said.

"We did," he said with a nod. "Do you think anyone would notice if I stole away the guest of honor?"

"It's a reasonable thing for me to be fashionably late," she said with her nose in the air.

Kaleb grinned even wider and then teleported off with her to find someplace a little more private.

Since James had gotten shot at the Superior Rising rally, he'd been spending his down time in the lab working on a project that consumed most of his attention. He had to work with defensive tech and the team uniforms, and both of those things were moody at the best of times. Combining them was more than a challenge. He had been frustrated with it more times than he was willing to admit. Even though he had Chance's old uniform from Alpha Flight to reverse engineer and improve, the materials it had been made of were trash. At least compared to what he was using for the improved project — and it just wasn't operating the same.

That didn't mean he wasn't trying, but considering that the whole stupid Horsemen thing had utterly destroyed most of the progress he'd made … well. It had been a long road trying to get back to where he'd been. And of course, he'd counted it as a strike against himself when he'd been downright suicidal. It didn't help his outlook of his own ability in the least.

But he was determined to finish the new project before someone else on the team could get shot.

With the samples that had survived the destruction of the institute, he'd managed to get the body of the suits finished. But the suit wasn't really the part that was getting to him. It was the forcefield he'd been developing that would protect the head. Especially after he reviewed the video of the shot he'd taken. No one in the latest extremist groups would ever take a body shot. Not on him. Not on Chance. They were absolutely aiming to kill him — and considering that he didn't know to what degree Chance was able to heal … there was a distinct possibility that it could have worked.

But the tech was hard to reliably duplicate. And even though he'd managed to get it to work on one uniform, it wasn't working perfectly for all the others. He had. To get this. Right.

He was having another hard run of it when Howard stopped in. "You're still helping Dad, aren't you?"

James looked up and let out a little breath. "Yeah, when he tells me to show up, I usually show up," James said before he waved him over. "Are you here for Scott or are you still chasing Sadie?"

"I'm … I'm here because Dad said you were breaking things."

James nodded and pushed his little force field device toward Howard as he rubbed his eyes with one hand. "It's being moody. Don't know how else to put it." He ran a hand through his hair and crossed his arms. "There's no reason I can see that it won't duplicate, so I figure it's time to ask the technopath."

Howard frowned at that since he wasn't used to James needing his help. But considering how irritated and down on himself he clearly was, he knew he didn't need to drag it out - so he took a deep breath and picked it up. Before he was holding it for longer than a few seconds, he let out a low whistle, and his entire expression shifted. "Do you have any idea what you've got here?" Howard asked, almost wide-eyed.

James gave him a severely dry look. "No. No frikkin' clue," was the sarcastic response. "Paperweight?"

"Alright, alright," Howard said, though he was smiling now as he started to make his notations. "It's being moody because there's no set sphere," he said after he'd fiddled with it for a minute. "Is this … this is for the team, isn't it?" When James nodded, Howard let out a breath and smiled. "Yeah. I can see the intention behind it."

"What do you think?" James said. "I think I can get 'em to work with more time, but the adjustments are so…"

"I can adjust the field with a new metal alloy I've been playing with," Howard said. "Make it so it'll conform to the individual better, give them a little breathing room so the field isn't right on their skin too."

"Good," James said, letting out a breath. "That's a little more intuitive than I can make it with what I've got to work with. It's a more improved takeoff of the Alpha Flight suits — but their protection came from the cowl they wear. We can't do that and have the same impact. Everyone knows our faces, and it's the only way to show up without someone playing copycat. So, I'm trying to make it so that being out in the open doesn't turn everyone's heads into targets."

"I'm surprised you're not turning to more intuitive solutions already. What, Noh won't let you play with his tech either?" Howard teased with one eyebrow raised.

"I haven't asked, and I don't want anyone scamming it if someone loses one of my gadgets," James answered, and surprisingly, Howard simply nodded in agreement.

"Well, luckily, even if they were to get a hold of this, chances are they wouldn't be able to replicate it, seeing as it won't even replicate right for you and you came up with the thing …" Howard shook his head. "This is very cool."

"I don't want to see it in production," James said.

"No. Of course not. Just the junior team or the senior team too?"

"Wouldn't hurt for both," James admitted. "I'll get a final number; we can hammer it out later. If the alloy works, I'll just get the specs on it and do it myself. But for this, I just need …" He paused to take count in his head quickly. "Four more that work right for sure. If it comes down to it, I can take the hit. Don't want to take a chance on the others."

Howard stopped and frowned James' way, clearly unhappy with his outlook. "I'll have all six for you within a week. I'll keep it off the books."

James watched him for a long moment, then shook his head slowly. "I wouldn't ask you to look at it if—"

"No, I know," Howard said. "It's one of those time-is-of-the-essence things. I get it." But Howard was still frowning after he'd packed up the prototype. "Are you sur-"

"Get what you can as soon as you can. Minimum of five. Please," James said as he turned away from Howard and went back to soldering a few relays for the suits.

"Yeah, I'll start as soon as I get back," Howard promised, though he was frowning at him as he slowly left the lab. When he'd been dating Sadie, James didn't even let him into the lab. Afterward, he was somewhat guarded … but not like this. He wanted to say something, but considering everything that had been going on, he knew James wasn't going to be forthcoming with him. And he didn't think James was ready to listen to Howard telling him truths … like how Howard looked at him like a brother anyhow, so this disregard for his own safety and possibly his mind was more than a little unsettling. Howard's hand rested around the little device in his pocket, and he started toward the door, recognizing the dismissal for what it was and not yet sure if their friendship was to a place where he could tease him again.

"Howard," James called out, looking at him only halfway over his shoulder. "I need you to stay focused on this project. I don't like the videos going out. I'm not being paranoid. This is an eventuality. If I don't find a way to stop it, someone's going to get shot that can't bounce back."

"Right. You're right," Howard said. He didn't like the heaviness in James's tone, but he understood it. "I'll have them in a couple days. One way or another."

"Thanks, Howard."

"Sure. No problem." Howard stepped out of the lab and headed for the elevator, and when he got up to the main floor, instead of trying to find and flirt with Sadie, he did exactly what he said he had come for - and went to talk to Scott with his recommendation on his replacement for Chicago.

Sadie had been practicing in the dance room when there was a familiar bamf, and she saw Kaleb in the mirror before she had even turned around all the way.

He had a brand new uniform, streamlined and form-fitting and sleek-looking, and it was obvious he was pleased with it by the way he was practically strutting over to her.

"Oh, that … is an incredibly handsome look on you," she said with a smile before she turned on her toes. "What's up with the new ensemble?"

"James made up some new uniforms for everybody," Kaleb explained, throwing his arms out wide. "It's a great look, right?"

"I thought that was more your dad's speed — or Hank's."

"Well, it usually is Mom's, but James figured out a way to basically give us Alpha Flight suits without, you know, the Alpha Flight look," Kaleb said. He spun in place. "Way less clunky, right? I hardly even feel like it's a suit."

"Definitely," she said with a laugh. "And leave it to James to make it feel like nothing's there."

Kaleb grinned, his tail twisting around behind him to sneak over and wrap around her waist. "I'm bulletproof now, except for the head and tail," he said. "I think he would like people to stop getting hit on missions. Sweet big brother that he is." He grinned. "You're so lucky."

"He really is," Sadie had to agree. "And he gets so mad when you guys come back hurt." She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. "And he hasn't even threatened you, has he?"

"Not even a little bit," Kaleb said. "But my papa raised me to be a gentleman, so why would he need to?"

"I think he favors your whole family," Sadie told him, then ran her hands over the shoulders of the uniform. "Yes. Perfectly suave."

Kaleb looked incredibly pleased with himself. "I can't wait to debut it," he said. "Obviously, I had to show you first."

"You'll all look incredible," she promised. "And honestly, it's long overdue. Those old uniforms were just … old."

"But I still looked great in them," Kaleb said with a smirk.

"Of course you did, but you outshined the others too much. Now they have a chance."

Kaleb laughed and pulled her into a long kiss for that one. "You know, for as good as the uniform looks on me? I think it will look even better on my dresser. Want to test that?"

"Only one way to know for sure," she said thoughtfully.

"Might need a little help," he said with a smirk. "It's very form-fitting."

She tipped her head to the side and took a long look. "Yes. Yes it is."