New Teams, Old Problems

Chapter 16: Change of Leadership

The morning before Christmas, everyone in the know was at Clint's apartment. There would be a Christmas Eve party at the mansion and at Avengers Tower and in various other places, but for the moment, all six of them were working like mad trying to sift through the information they had.

Natasha hadn't taken the news of Logan leaving well at all — that much was obvious by how she had gone entirely silent and was simply throwing herself into the work with a heavy glare that had scared off the bamfs, Wade ... even Lucky was keeping his distance.

Scott had been in Clint's apartment for just about as long as Annie would let him. She still insisted that he spend at least bedtime with the twins, but beyond that... Well, Clint had promised to give him a beer or three every night and try to make him sleep, but Scott didn't know about that particular promise to Annie.

The bamfs were in full entertainment mode taking care of Krissy so that Kate and Kurt could really help dive into the files as well, and even Wade was down after hearing about the ferals leaving.

As Scott had predicted, the whole thing had made the news — the thorough sweep to prove that there were no ferals at the school and the speculative storm that followed as to where they might have gone. And it had, at the very least, meant the school was a bit safer. There was still the usual anti-mutant graffiti, some hate mail... but nothing violent.

Of course, not a one of them was sure if that made them feel any better about the situation or worse — the fact that their friends' absence was somehow making their lives easier.

But even with the political climate — not to mention the heavy December snowfall outside to match the mood — it was Christmas Eve, and Clint insisted that everyone had to go be with family starting at dinnertime. "I've got plans with Gerry and Jess and Nat — and you guys have places to be too."

So, after Clint prodded a few more times, the little group finally put bookmarks in their places and headed back home to where there was hot chocolate, a warm fire, twinkle lights ... and a few conspicuous absences.

Of course, it was also the first Christmas for the youngest in their group, so for their sake, they were all trying. There were Christmas Eve pajamas to go around for everyone, and both Krissy and Sying seemed perfectly happy in their snuggly, fuzzy, red long johns. Chance and Charlie had adorable matching green jammies too, though Chance wasn't wearing his at the moment because he wanted to fingerpaint, and his mother insisted that he not wear his Christmas jammies when he was in danger of paint splatters.

While Chance was diligently working on his masterpiece, Charlie crawled up into Kurt's lap so that she could pretend to read along as Kurt read the Nativity story in Luke, with Kate leaning on his shoulder and Krissy listening with wide eyes to her dad reading. Kurt let Charlie turn the page where it was needed, and for just a little while, it was a warm and cozy Christmas Eve.

By the end of the night, Charlie, Kate, and Krissy had all fallen asleep in a pile on Kurt, and Annie had to help him carefully get the little brunette Summers out of the cuddle pile so Annie could get her to bed. Chance, on the other hand, didn't seem to want to go to sleep, insisting that he had to finish his project, and even after he was finished, he wouldn't let anybody see it, insisting, "It's for Chwismas."

Jubilee was uncharacteristically quiet through most of the night, and when it came time to head to bed, Noh swept both her and Sying up in his arms and carried them off without a word, very quietly singing Christmas songs to both of them as Sying drifted off and Jubilee was very obviously missing her Wolvie.

As for Scott, he'd finally managed to get Chance back into his Christmas pajamas and away from his paints, and he wasn't too surprised that halfway back to their room, Chance fell asleep on his shoulder, worn out from all the playing he'd been doing. He tucked Chance in and started to slip out, but Annie caught him around the middle and more or less pulled him into bed. "It's Christmas Eve. You're going to sleep," she said in a tone that brokered no argument before she wrapped her arms around him from behind to go to sleep herself and make it more or less impossible for him to try to leave without disturbing her.