Chapter 13 - Brotherly Love

That weekend, Jana had decided to drop by Daken's apartment. Not because she'd gotten curious and done a little snooping and saw that he was living in New York and his detective ex was not, no. And she definitely wasn't wearing designer slacks and a nice shirt because she was pretty sure he wasn't dating anyone anymore. Nope.

No, she was definitely there because she was tired of eating spicy foods all the time because of Krissy's cravings. That was definitely what was happening here.

It wasn't too unbelievable, either. They'd gone to dinner a few times, though Jana had always been a bit… well, she wanted to say that she was trying to hold herself back, but the truth was that if he'd wanted to cheat on his lady, she wouldn't have said no, and she was already lying to herself enough as it was, so she should try to limit herself.

A lot of her reasoning and rationalization just disappeared, though, when Daken answered the door and she just decided to throw away the excuses and go ahead and kiss him in the doorway. Just because she knew none of the excuses would work anyway.

And true to form, when she kissed him — like that, with no warning — Daken simply rolled with it. Not that it helped any of the actual reasons that Jana had for dropping by. That all had to wait for a while.

Eventually, when they got around to something as pedestrian as talking, he surprised her too, with the level of actual empathy he let slip when the conversation meandered its way around to the latest happenings at the Institute that he didn't know about, the biggest news, of course, being his half-brother's reckless 'test' and all the fallout from it.

"And you know the eggheads don't have much psychic training, so the projecting that goes on when they get together and gossip is astounding," Jana said, shaking her head as she leaned back against Daken, perfectly content curled up under his arm, her legs covered by his sleek sheets.

Daken was frowning to himself as he thought it over. "Why would he be that idiotic? I thought he was supposed to be the smart one?"

"You're thinking of intelligence, but there seems to be a lack of common sense in the air in labs," Jana said, shaking her head. "Not a fan, personally, and this just confirms it."

"I'm well aware of your thoughts on laboratories," Daken said dryly. "I thought they'd covered this with him already, though. When he tested some … other device on himself."

"He seems to think it doesn't matter as long as it worked. At least, that's what I'm gathering from everyone's interactions with him," Jana said with a sigh.

Daken let out a heavy sigh of his own. "I just got settled into this place."

Jana frowned and picked up her head to look at him better. "You're not leaving?"

"They can't keep him tied up forever," Daken pointed out. "And if the general consensus is that he's wrong, even if he's partly right, he'll disappear. And in this kind of climate, he does not need to disappear."

"You think you'll have to go after him," Jana said, biting her lip as she watched him.

"Someone will have to keep track of him," Daken said as he relaxed back into his pillow.

"Well, you don't have to do that if he doesn't leave," Jana reasoned.

He smirked at her. "He's been wanting to go for a while, I'm sure," he said. "This is a gift-wrapped excuse."

"It's maddening," Jana said, shaking her head. "Tony Stark wants him to take over the research department, Cyclops and Wolverine want him on the team, and no one has figured out how to tell him they want him around."

He propped himself up slightly to look at her better. "And none of them are smart enough to say as much." He let out a scoff. "No wonder he's ready to bolt."

Jana let out a long sigh. "That makes it harder."

"What they have told him they've probably wrapped up in guilt trips about what impact it has on everyone else." He shook his head. "He's not even thirty yet. I don't think he'll listen to anyone as long as they're treating him like a child." Daken couldn't help but laugh again. "Which is especially idiotic when you consider how long they've treated him like an adult otherwise."

"I think all logic goes out the window with this one, considering what he tried to pull after Apocalypse," Jana said, leaning back. "They panic. So quickly."

Daken raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that his parents never tried to do themselves in? Please."

"I know they did, and so do several of the panicking X-Men I live with — which is how I know it."

"They know — or at least suspect — that kind of behavior can be passed down. How is it that shocking?"

Jana sighed. "They're not surprised. They're reacting. You can look at it from the outside, but back there, it's all emotions and fear."

"They're only going to push him into proving them right."

"Well, if you have all the answers, why not avoid abandoning this place?" She looked around the room. "I like it."

He burst out laughing and took a moment to kiss the sense out of her. "Oh, you're funny. As if they'd let me within a mile of him right now."

Jana smirked. "Oh, I bet I could get you in."

"Given enough time, I could get myself in fine," he pointed out.

"Fine, I guess, if I want speed, I have to do it myself," she said.

He leaned over with a smirk and kissed her again. "Best of luck."

"I didn't say I'd go right now," she said with an easy smile.

"Then I have to tell you, you have the weirdest bedroom talk."

"You're the one who got stuck on James," she pointed out. "I was just saying what was going on."

"And you're the one that brought it up," he countered. "Mental comparisons?"

She made a face and shook her head, leaning over to kiss him hard. "I think we do better when there's no talking."

When Jana arrived to the lab, nothing had changed with James, really. He was still the same, being watched and clearly frustrated by the lack of trust around him, though that gave way to a totally different expression when she came to sit down beside him and he caught her scent right.

"Okay, I take it back, I want to die now."

"You're hilarious," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Is there something you wanted outside of deeply scarring mental torture?"

Jana let out a sigh. "An end to the headaches," she said. "If Charlie was here, she'd be going nuts at the total lack of communication going on around here."

"Then it's a good thing she's not here," James said. "If you're having trouble turning it off, go ask for help."

She rolled her eyes. "No, I thought I'd go to the source," she said. "I'll hit the rest of the eggheads later, because they're the ones giving me actual headaches, but since you're the topic they're all gossiping about, I should tell you they're all frustrated because it worked, so they can't even impress upon you the dangers. So. That's fun."

He rolled his eyes at her. "I knew the dangers. I made the damn list of what could go wrong," James said.

"Yeah, but, see, I don't think you did," Jana said. "Because I've been listening to freaked out adults all day. Tony in particular thinks he's lost his legacy because he was planning to hand it over to you, and now you're all…" She gestured to him. "The screaming, James. In his head. It's intense."

James stared back at her as if she'd completely lost her mind. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I know. You'd think he would have told you by now, especially with how pleased he is with you and Howard getting along…"

"No," James said, shaking his head. "That's ridiculous."

"You calling me a liar?" Jana asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I could call you a few things," James said. "But that? That's complete and utter fiction."

"Is not," Jana said. She leaned back in her seat and propped up her feet as she said it.

"How incredibly mature."

"Don't really care," Jana said.

"Well, could you smother me while you're not caring? I can't handle the smell."

"He's the one who said he could understand why you'd want to leave," Jana said, leaning further back still and perfectly relaxed.

"What." James was glaring at her hard. "What are you trying to pull here?"

"I'm not," Jana said. "Everything I've said has been the truth, so you can cut the glare, because your brother does it better."

"You can stop all comparisons with my brother right here and now, because I really don't want to hear it. At all."

Jana shrugged. "Alright. But he was the one who sympathized with being treated like a child. And he was the one to figure out how long you've been ready to run. He said it made perfect sense."

James stared back at her and shook his head slowly after a moment. "He hates me."

"He really doesn't, but I can see why you'd think that," Jana said. "Dislikes would be the better word."

"He's never missed the chance to kick me," James said. "It's hate."

She chewed on her bottom lip for a long moment before she leaned forward. "When I told him you were tied up, he said he was going to have to look out for you when you ran away, considering the climate." She met his gaze. "And if you tell him I told you that, I will personally make sure that you never, ever see me coming."

"Don't worry," James said. "His only concern would be that someone'd get a hold of an already suped-up feral. It's not personal."

Jana rolled her eyes. "Right. Well. I just came here to let you know: the old men around here suck at communicating. They're mad it worked, because they think you'll do it again because you got away with it. And Tony is mad because he thinks of you as a second son and doesn't want to lose you, but I'm sure you've already heard that part at least."

"That's crap," James said.

"Yeah? Prove it," Jana said with her chin thrust out. "Next time you talk to Tony, prove me wrong. Tell him you're coming back to the lab and see if he doesn't literally leap for joy and offer you the company."

"He doesn't want me back," James said evenly.

"She's not lying, and she's not wrong," Tyler said from the other side of the lab.

James looked over at Tyler and let out a slow breath. "About what?"

"All of it," Tyler said. "She hasn't lied about a single thing, and I've heard Stark and Richards going a few rounds over the whole thing. She's not lying. You just can't hear it over the scent of your half brother."

"It's pretty thick."

"Yeah, it is," Tyler agreed. "But she's not lying."

"Really doesn't help me, Ty," James said.

"Yeah, doesn't it suck to admit someone else knows something?" Tyler said dryly.

"Not what I meant," James half-sang back.

"Say what you mean, little Howlett!" Tyler sang back.

"I can't do it," James said. "I don't have the room to screw up."

"Everybody screws up, James," Tyler said.

James held up his wrists as much as he could. "And everyone gets this kind of reaction?"

"No, sometimes they get strapped down and have Sinister shoved in their heads," Jana said dryly.

"Sorry, I didn't have Sinister in my head," James said. "But I did have Apocalypse crammed in there."

"Yeah, and mine was because I worked for him first on my own," Jana said. "There are consequences to screwing up. You move on. Or I'd still be a vegetable."

"Hard to move on when I'm not allowed," James said.

"Hey, I'd let you out right now if I thought you weren't gonna run the first chance you got," Tyler said easily. "But listening to you now, all I can hear is that you think there's a standard of excellence for you and one for everyone else, and that's just gonna put you right back here the next time you make a mistake at that rate." Tyler shook his head. "Which I really, really don't want to do, man."

"Unless I just go," James pointed out. "No one to give a damn if I screw up. No problem."

"Yeah, and that right there is why you're here," Tyler said. "You got about twenty people all telling you the opposite, and you're gonna sit here and tell me that no one would care? Bull."

"I'm not saying they wouldn't care. I'm saying it wouldn't bug them as much. They'd get over it."

"And the part where Tony's planning his future around you and you've got a family full of people who care about you regardless of mistakes just sailed over your head," Tyler said. "You need to listen."

"Tony … has to have a dozen plans lined up. I'm sure that's low on the list," James said evenly.

"Well, damn, that was an impressive bit of gymnastics trying to find a way out of thinking something positive about yourself," Tyler said.

"What do you want me to say?" James asked. "Tell me what you need to hear."

"How about you hear what everyone else has been saying?" Tyler said. "The whole reason you're here is that you think you're so useless no one will miss you when you're gone; I don't care if that's running away or otherwise. Until you can tell me — and make me believe it — that you actually care whether or not you live or die and can make me believe that you're not going to walk away from this massive army of people who care about you, you're staying right there."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" James asked.

"Start by listening to the truth without trying to bend your head over so far you're seeing out of your ass."

James gave him a dry look. "For shame, Tyler."

"Uh-huh. That's my problem. Yours is that you're so convinced you're a screw-up you've already got one foot out the door."

"That's because I am," James said patiently. "Ask anyone here."

"Yeah, I've been listening. To them talking about all your potential and how much they want you around and can't stand to see you throw it away — even if dying wasn't your goal." Tyler shook his head. "I told you nothing Jana said was a lie, but sure, you can dismiss that if you want to. But you'll stay right there."

James settled back, more or less resigned to whatever it was, and honestly just settling into the mindset to leave once everyone settled out.

"Well," Tyler said, shaking his head as he got to his feet. "I gave you clearly defined parameters, but thanks for playing. I'll be here all year," he added over his shoulder as he headed off, clearly washing his hands of the conversation for the moment and on to other things.

Which just left Jana frustrated. "Well, great. Now he's going to sell his place, and I liked it there," she muttered as she too got up to go.

James stared after her for a moment. "He doesn't have to sell anything."

"He already said he would so he doesn't have to manage upkeep on it while he's chasing you."

"Tell him to knock it off," James growled out.

Jana gestured at him. "Yes. Because I clearly have persuasive powers over you boys."

"Well not me, no," James said, giving her a look. "But I'm pretty sure you can work with the other one." He shook his head quickly. "I don't want to screw with anyone's plans for themselves. Any of the other stuff … no one's talked to me about it, so I'm not nearly as concerned."

"That was why I came here, to tell you about the plans the idiots have that they apparently aren't telling you, but you turned it into 'no one likes me, everyone hates me, I'm gonna go eat worms'."

"Okay, you can just stop that," James said. "That's not what I was getting at. I'm not that blind, okay?"

"Well, that's not what you communicate to everyone around you," she said. "What you're telling them, through words and actions, is that you don't think you're worth caring about and that you think they'd be better off without you. Which is more or less what I said, but in song."

"That's your own fault for singing," James said.

"Uh-huh. And the rest of what I said goes unresponded to. Thus, the problem we have," Jana said, gesturing to him.

"I don't believe that. I took a calculated risk," James said. "No, I didn't consult anyone. But the timing was impulsive. That's so out of line for someone my age. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Right now? The fact that you said that sarcastically instead of realistically," she said. "You're allowed to make mistakes, which you think you aren't."

"Clearly, I'm not, though," James said.

"Well, you're not allowed to make possibly deadly mistakes. There's a limit," Jana said, rolling her eyes.

"I've been shot in the head twice," James said. "No one blinks an eye."

"That's not really the same thing, and you know it," Jana said. "If this had gone wrong, pieces of you could still be clinging to Howard, and I don't think he'd ever recover," she said, leaning forward with a flash to her gaze. "You want to know why everyone's upset? Because that impulsive behavior could have left one of your best friends wearing your blood. Because you could have disappeared in a blink and left your family in tatters. And even if it was an impulse, you have yet to show an ounce of regret for any of it, and that makes them think you'll do it again."

"Got it," James said.

"You really don't, but thanks for lying," Jana said, turning on her heel to leave. "Believe it or not, your brother hasn't lied to me. But you know. He's the evil one," she added over her shoulder before she simply stalked off down the hall, frustrated beyond words.

Logan and Scott weren't far from the lab when Jana came stalking through, though she didn't quite get past Logan before he frowned deeply, drew back a bit, and darted forward to grab her arm. "Hold on," Logan said, eyes closed for a moment and clearly trying to process. "Wait. The hell's going on?"

"Your son is an idiot," Jana said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Logan said.

"You'd think he would listen to reason, but no, he's content to sit in that lab being an idiot forever even after I told him what everyone's thinking. Because no reason to listen to the truth, right?"

"You'll have to clue me in on what everyone's thinking, since clearly, we travel in different circles, sister."

Jana let out a frustrated breath. "Tony is freaking out thinking James will do this all over again because it worked this time, and he can't hand over his company to an idiot. And then there's the general sense of worry about James and his decisionmaking from just about everyone, especially when he so clearly is ready to leave." She gestured toward the lab. "And now I've got Akihiro making more sense of him than anyone else in the house, and he still won't listen to that either!"

Logan didn't let go of her, but again closed his eyes as if he just couldn't look at her to process. He'd been prepared for her to vent about Akihiro, not James, considering the scents. "Oh, man. We're gonna have to throw all the idiots in a room together and lock 'em in."

"I wouldn't be opposed," Jana said. "They're driving me nuts."

Logan shook his head again. "Taking a break may not be the worst thing he does," he pointed out. "One where he's not trying to be 'on'."

"Which is fine if it was a break he was considering, not running away like a pansy."

"Believe me, I know," Logan said but he couldn't just leave it alone. "What the hell were you saying about Stark?"

"He's been planning to have James take over R&D and Howard run the business so he can have SI set after he's gone."

"When the hell was he going to say something about that?" Logan asked. "Or was he waiting to see how the whole honeytrap panned out first?"

"Um, Howard and James aren't even 21 yet," Jana said. "He was waiting for that."

"Yeah, but that's the kind of thing you talk to someone about first," Logan pointed out. "You know. Make sure you're on the same damn page?"

"Don't tell me about it," Jana said. "I am just the messenger of headaches today."

Logan watched her for a moment, but he couldn't quite get the scrunched up look entirely off of his face. "Right. Since you're playin' messenger … why don't you tell Akihiro to come by, since you're so close? I think it's time we had a talk."

"Fine," she said with a sigh, finally pulling back so she could continue stalking off, though that really just had Scott looking at Logan in disbelief.

"I'm pretty sure none of that made sense," Scott said. "Daken? Really?"

"Oh yeah," Logan said, again, just shaking his head. "And that's the one thing that makes the most sense. No wonder the kid can't think straight. Probably time to hit him."

Scott shook his head at that. "Well, good luck."

"You want the other one? You two can fight over 'im."

"I'll win," Scott said easily.

"Cards are a little stacked your way, yeah."

"Fine by me. I wanted a word with Stark anyway," Scott said with a shrug. "You have the harder job."

"What else is new?"

Scott smirked. "Yes, I appreciate you taking the hard stuff in my later years."

"And your younger years … and the middle ones …"

"No, no, I said I appreciated it. You're confused."

"Oh, well, then you're just slow, even if I've been doing the hard stuff for you forever."

"No, you're just like this," Scott said. "Making you the perfect candidate to talk to the kid making your decisions."

"Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense," Logan said. "Son, I don't get it either." Still, Logan was smirking on his way toward the med bay.

"If all three of you end up leaving, I'm going to dig up that sword and find you," Scott warned with a smirk.

"You'll never find it, Scotty," Logan laughed.

"You underestimate me — and I'd have Annie's help."

"Nah, I've got you appreciatin' my doin' the hard work. You won't find it. Especially with Annie distractin' you."

Scott just shook his head at that and waved him off, more than ready to have a few words with Tony while Logan dealt with his boys.