A/N - Hello! And surprise! Welcome to the *new* volume 4 of the 906 universe where I shall be showing exactly how the kids grew up surrounded by their family and friends, and of course ... what Howlett family would be complete without their built in besties for life? In celebration of how far these boys have come (or have they) let's peek in ... this is just a few months after the end of 'Feral Family Affairs' ended, so if you've read that far, you're good to go. If not, please start with 'Surprise for A Feral' then 'Natural Feral Behaviors' then 'Feral Family Affairs' to catch up. It's a lot, but you really don't want to miss it!

So. Welcome to "Following Instincts".


Chapter 1: Summer Break


Jean had just kissed Scott for a short farewell after coffee had ended and the two had parted company for the morning. He didn't have classes yet, as class hadn't yet started at Xaviers, but he'd promised to help Charles prepare for the upcoming semester as always, so that left Mrs. Summers to take a little time to herself while Rachel stared up at her giving her the biggest, roundest puppy dog eyes that nature had ever created.

She'd been like this for weeks now - ever since Logan and K had scooped up their little trio of trouble and disappeared to who knows where. It was never any problem for Rachel to find something to do when the Howlett kids were there. It seemed that all three of them loved her just as much as she loved them. So when they were gone, Rachel definitely felt left out. Even if she did have little Michael Rasputin to play with most of the time. But there wasn't much Jean could do about it that she wasn't already doing.

The two of them had gone to the movies, been swimming almost every day … she'd taken Rachel to ride the ponies that K had picked out for the kids though that might have been a bad idea since Rachel kept staring at the little pony the twins used and looking sad with little sighs.

So when little James rocketed into the kitchen ahead of the rest of the family - grinning and out of breath, Rachel beat Jean to the punch when she let out a little squeal of delight and rushed over to give him a hug. The two of them were giggling hard- especially when Rachel accidentally toppled James over. Rose caught up mistaking the hug for a dogpile on James. Which it exactly what it turned into..

Jean readjusted how she was seated and turned to watch as Abbey came in much quieter and calmer, though she was still skipping with her little pigtails swinging until she climbed up on Jean's lap and gave her a hug.

"Hi Auntie Jeannie," Abbey said, curling up with her.

"Hi, little sweetpea," Jean replied, snuggling up. Abbey had always been a unifying force for the whole of the mansion from the day she was born, and no one in the mansion could argue that fact. "Did you have fun on vacation?"

"Uh huh," Abbey said before she slipped back down and headed over to steal an apple from the bowl of fruit nearby.

Jean was watching her, smiling to herself when before she could even lift her gaze to greet K - the little feral stopped dead in her tracks and had dropped her coffee mug - shattering it on the hardwood floor. Jean looked up in alarm - she couldn't recall K dropping anything like that in the time that she'd known her … but here she was, one hand over her mouth in what Jean thought was horror as she stared at Jean … and looked as if she might just cry. Which only had Jean that much more alarmed. "K-"

"Oh my God," K said, cutting her off with a shaking, quiet voice, approaching slowly, though a moment later, Jean had to frown when she saw that K was smiling as she dropped her hand away from her mouth. "Oh my God."

"What is wrong with you?" Jean said, frowning at her deeply.

"Nothing!" K said, wide eyed as she dropped her jacket across the back of one of the dining room chairs and then half-tossed her key onto the table … as she made the last few steps closer to wrap her arms around Jean in a tight hug. "Nothing is wrong at all."

"Then why are you -"

"You need to go see Hank," K said, pulling back from the hug just enough to look Jean in the face. "Unless you've talked to him already."

"What … " Jean's eyes went wide as she stared back at K - and a moment later, she dove into K's mind to double check her suspicions. "Oh my God."

"That's what I said!" K laughed then pulled a still very shellshocked Jean back into a tight hug. "Go … talk to Hank. I'll keep an eye on Rachel."

"Yes. I just … I mean … oh ... " her smile fell as she turned to look down the hallway. "Scott's with Charles."

"I'm sure he'll meet you down there before you know it."

"But they were planning-"

Crash!

The doors to Charles' office banged open as Scott burst out of it, already running down the hall to where Jean and K stood - wide eyed under the red lenses, but still unable to stop the grin he'd been trying to keep in check since Jean had quit projecting images of Rachel kissing James on the cheek. "Are you sure?" Scott asked in a breath.

"You doubt me?" K challenged. "Go. Find out from him if you need to hear it that way to believe it."

The two Summers shared a look, and Scott tipped his head as he caught her line of thinking. "Jean, you don't need to-"

"Yes I do," she said, picking both of them up telekinetically, though as soon as they were off the ground, Scott pulled her over to put his arms around her as she levitated them much faster than they'd have walked down to the elevator.

"They silly," Rachel said, giggling with one hand over her mouth before James tackled her with a kiss - kicking off a fresh peal of laughter among the under five crowd.

"Probably where you got it from, sunshine," K said as she watched the little ones playing and laughing on the floor.

Jean and Scott made their way to the lab- excited and anxious all at once. The two of them had been trying for Summers baby number two as soon as Jean had healed up all the way from Rachel … and though it had been a couple years, they hadn't been too stressed out about it just because they'd discussed it so often … the plan was in place. Try for a second, and if nothing works - adoption. There were plenty of mutant kids that needed homes and parents, after all. But Jean had quit keeping track of everything. Rachel was at an age where she needed a lot of attention, and when the other kids were around, Jean was more than happy to step in and step up as main babysitter. Which meant she just didn't have time to wonder if the time was right or not.

So if K was right - and if they'd managed to get pregnant on their own without watching the calendar or finding out from one of the ferals that it was time to get going … the two Summers shared a look before they pushed open the lab doors - grinning widely at each other.

"She wouldn't joke about this, right?" Scott asked, his hand on the door.

"K? Never," Jean promised.

"Didn't think so, but still …"

Jean stepped closer and popped up on her toes to steal a kiss - that became a lot more heated and lasted a whole lot longer than what she'd anticpated. Mr. Summers -

Mrs. Summers …

Let's go find out about baby Summers.

Scott grinned wider and the two of them stepped in to see Hank, who was hanging upside down from the ceiling - his computer going on one screen and a stack of notes half scattered across his desk as Mozart played at a soft tone in the background. "Oh my stars," Hank said before he smiled at the two of them from his upside down perch. "What brings two of my favorite people to my humble abode on this fine morning?"

"I need you to run a test, Hank," Jean said - and with a flourish, Hank dropped from the ceiling, flipping halfway through to land on his feet.

He straightened himself up importantly and adjusted the lapels on his lab coat as he cleared his throat. "So you're stepping into the possibility of intervention, then?" Hank asked.

Jean frowned and Scott tipped his head slightly - clearly there was a crossed wire between them. "I think … we're not on the same page," Scott said.

"No, Hank, I need a blood test. I just saw K -"

"And you're seeing where you are in your cycle, yes, smart to double check. She may have just been pushing you to fool around seeing as Logan's still at the tower with Captain Rogers."

"Wait, what?" Scott said, as Jean stepped forward. She did not want baby news to be railroaded by Scott's concerns over Logan and his infidelitous team loyalties.

"No, Hank … Henry," Jean said, defusing Scott and redirecting a concerned looking Beast. "She told me I needed to get checked to see how far I already am."

Hank stared at her for a moment then gently set his glasses on the bridge of his nose as if he needed to see her better to do the job she'd asked him for. "It must be early," Hank said quietly, brushing by Scott entirely to gently take Jean's arm and guide her to take a seat. "Because I can't smell any change at all."

Jean's heart leapt into her throat. There were a few reasons that Hank couldn't smell it. For one, she might not be long enough into it for him to be able to catch it - Logan and K far outstripped him in that area, after all. But it could also be that she'd been pregnant for a few weeks and lost it - and the possibility had Jean's heart racing. "Can you please confirm that she's right? Please, Hank."

"Of course," he replied, turning to gather the supplies to run a few tests.

Scott had gotten the whiplash from that little scenario hard. He'd been fighting with Logan for months now about how much time he was spending with the Avengers - and as much as Scott wanted to be a father and a family man, he couldn't do that properly without someone he trusted to step up and help more with their team. So Logan spending more time with Captain Rogers was honestly cause for alarm. Especially if K was right and Jean was pregnant.

He pushed his already growing stress down, his jaw locked down tightly already. If that's what it was going to be - so be it. He couldn't let Logan get to him. This … this was what Scott had wanted his whole life, long before he even met Charles Xavier. A family - his family. And he wasn't about to shelve that for anything. He reached over to take Jean's hand, then kissed the back of it, smiling at her while Hank started running the blood tests. This was more important than everything else.

Jean was anxious and she gripped onto Scott's hand like a lifeline, and though they knew the first test Hank was running was going to be a quick one, his declaration of 'Congratulations' still felt muted when it was followed up by "I'd like for you to come back tomorrow so I can compare the levels of hormone in your bloodstream."

"So there's no way to tell for sure yet, is there?" Jean asked, holding her breath as her shoulders drifted closer to her ears.

"You're not very far into it," Hank said. "So I think the best way to know for sure will be to check the levels." He gestured to the vials in the rack. "I won't have the results on your levels now, but if I test you tomorrow at close to the same time, they should double or more."

Jean nodded. "Alright. I can work with that. Twenty four hours. Great."

Honey, Scott projected, squeezing her hand. It'll be okay.

I know. Of course it will. I just …

Really want this to happen.

Yes. So much.

Scott smiled at her and then leaned over to kiss her cheek. K's watching the kids, right?

Yeah …

So we should step out for a little bit and make sure you stay relaxed and happy, right? It's best for the baby, after all.

Jean tried and failed to stop the smile. Were you keeping track, because I wasn't.

No, Scott admitted. I was just … rolling with it.

You know they were trying too -

Might explain why she was almost crying for you.

I don't think so, Jean said, looking thoughtful as they walked out of the lab and headed up to his car. Whenever she's been pregnant, she's always got a stress level going on and she actively blocks me. That wasn't what was going on.

Scott smiled to himself as he watched Jean. Her shoulders were relaxing and her whole body language had shifted to something far less tense and worried. He doubted that she realized how much she relaxed when she focused on someone else's problems. So what do you think is going on?

Jean frowned. With those two? It could be anything, really. They were gone for over a month. I know they went to spend some time with Mac and Heather Hudson-

Scott stiffened up on hearing that. Something else to add to the things Logan really didn't need to be doing just then. He still want Logan back?

Jean shrugged. K didn't make it sound like it was anything to even consider, but she did say that Claire and Abbey were getting along well enough.

Scott frowned at that. The Hudson's daughter, right? I don't think we've met her.

No. they keep her close to home. I don't thinks she's met anyone in the business outside of Alpha Flight. Well … and Logan and K, now.

Scott's frown deepened for just an instant, but he shook it off. That wasn't what he was trying to do right now. He was trying to keep her from being frustrated, not … worry about what every other damn team in North America was doing to catch Logan's attention.

He held the door to his car open for her with a crooked smile that had her blushing at him. "May I take you out to lunch, Mrs. Summers?"

"I'd be delighted, Mr. Summers," Jean replied with a grin, and for the time being at least, the two of them redirected their focus to each other for the next several hours.


K had gathered the kids up and taken them out into the backyard for a picnic, meanwhile. Rachel had been excited to see them, of course, but she missed having fun with the Howlett kids, and in no time flat, K had stretched a blanket out on the grass under the shade of one of the biggest trees on the property and the kids were setting out their fare. The kids all had their own ideas on what they wanted to do, though. Rose wanted to color and James wanted to play tag or do something a little more mobile than just sit around.

But since she was the one that was odd kid out, K let Rachel pick, and Rachel had excitedly gotten K to bring out both a pitcher of lemonade and an empty teapot and all the cups and saucers for the group of them - because she'd had plenty of tea parties with her mother when they were gone and she really wanted to share that with the Howlett kids.

Abbey knew what was going on right away and dove in to help the littler kids - even making sure that James knew to behave for the tea party part of it, and to K's entertainment, the little guy sniffled, rubbed his nose and then straightened right up as he watched the girls fussing around him.

"No, you can't help, James," Abbey said. "You gotta wait."

"Wanna help," James said, crossing his arms and scrunching halfway in on himself.

K let out a sigh, but didn't intervene. This was one problem that was pretty rampant. The little girls outnumbered the boys … and as a result, it often ended up being split on who played with who, but Rachel was constantly pulling James in to play with her, so he often got swamped by Rachel and his sisters. And stuck following their rules. Which wasn't a problem most days … but when he'd already been cooped up in the car for hours and stuck with all girls for the whole of the family vacation … it wasn't going to end well.

The tea party started out alright, but both Rachel and Abbey were insisting, as usual, that James play by their rules. And for a little guy, he was doing pretty well, though when Abbey got pushy on making him say 'please' when it wasn't even something for him, he crossed his arms and simply threw himself backward on the grass.

"Don't like this," James said and when Abbey got up and tried to push him into sitting up, he climbed to his feet and just started to run.

"James!" Abbey shouted, sounding both exasperated with her little brother and angry for not playing along.

"No!" he shouted over his shoulder, running for the barn - until K let out a shrill whistle that James knew not to argue with. He turned just as Abbey tried to reach out and grab him, but by that time both Rachel and Rose had gotten up to give chase too - which was how the three of them ended up trying to catch James.

There were lots of screams and squeals as the tea party changed into tag, which K had to chuckle at since this … was actually what James had been after since the beginning. It was just luck that it seemed to have fallen the way he wanted it to. Especially because it seemed to be so rare.

K glanced down to look at the clock on her phone, frowning to herself as the kids giggled and played. She knew Logan was being held back by Steve to talk … but for as long as it was taking, it was either very good or very bad - and she wanted to know which way things were falling.