Kate sat down heavily at the kitchen table, still very much not awake even after sleeping in and just staring into her coffee mug for a long moment as she willed herself to wake up a little faster. She'd just started to take her first sip when Kurt came to sit beside her, smirking a bit to himself at how tired she was as he wrapped his tail around her waist and scooted a little closer to put an arm around her shoulders as well and kiss the top of her head.

She wasn't really paying attention as Bobby came in and, as usual, turned up the volume on the TV to catch the news — until she heard her own name on the broadcast.

She looked up in surprise as the news report talked about her new hate speech policy — with the headline flashing under the screen reading: "Pro-Mutant Bias at Bishop Headquarters?"

Bobby glanced over at her surprised expression and tried to say, "Hey, you knew this might—"

But Kate shushed him as she glared up at the TV screen, the glare only deepening as J. Jonah Jameson came on to share his "informed opinion."

"Do you honestly think it's a coincidence that Ms. Bishop has been seen with these terrorists more and more frequently just before these so-called 'policy changes' were announced?" he was arguing, looking positively livid, as usual. "Are we really going to let one of the biggest publishers in the world be run into the ground by a little girl who doesn't know better than to stay out of trouble? She should be on the party circuit, not censoring solid American authors!"

Kurt looked over at Kate and frowned at the expression of pure fury on her face. "Kate—"

But she shushed him, too, waving her hand at him, the coffee completely forgotten as she just got angrier and angrier. Jameson just kept ranting about the state of the publishing industry, and about her version of "censorship," claiming that this was "just another example of these terrorists trying to silence our right to free speech" and other such things.

He was winding down when he got to the real kicker, though. "Now, I'm not saying it's not understandable," he told the anchor on the panel. "All of us at her age have made questionable decisions — and it doesn't help that this impressionable young woman is apparently dating a much older mutant, nearly twice her age. No doubt he took that little girl to that school of theirs and filled her head with all sorts of half-truths and indoctrination." He twisted his mustache for a moment. "But youthful mistakes shouldn't be acted out to crush the public's right to know the truth about this mutant menace!"

Kate switched off the TV as soon as JJ was done ranting. "I'm going to destroy him," she said through her teeth before she stalked upstairs, leaving the coffee cup behind as both Bobby and Kurt shared a look over the table.

Peter Parker's door was unlocked, but he was still sound asleep, and it was hard to tell where he was in the mass of blankets and pillows until Kate spotted a foot sticking out from underneath the covers and just grabbed and pulled. He let out a surprised yelp as he toppled out of bed, and once she knew he was awake, she put a finger in his face. "I'm going to destroy Jameson, and you're going to help me," she informed him.

"O-Okay, what's happening?" he asked, still waking up and wide-eyed and a little bit panicked at the rude awakening.

"You were right about him coming for me earlier rather than later. So you know how he works. Help me wipe the floor with him," she said as she grabbed him by the hand to pull him to his feet. "Come downstairs. I'll show you the crap he's saying."

"Can I just—"

"You and your Avenger jammies are coming whether you want to or not," she informed him, still pulling on his arm, and he let out a long sigh and just let her drag him downstairs, where Bobby and Kurt were still in the kitchen — though they had moved on to smirking as Kate dragged Spiderman down.

The TV wasn't playing the Jameson panel at the moment, instead focusing on some news about the latest stock market numbers, and Kate ordered Pete to sit at the table as she filled him in on what was going on in a clipped, half-snarling tone.

Peter looked her over for a moment and then shook his head. "Well, first of all, if you go in all mad like this? Yeah, no. That's not going to work for you. He'll just say it proves your dangerous or unhinged or emotional or something."

"All three of those words describe him," Kate pointed out.

"Yeah, that's not really the point?" Peter shook his head at her. "I mean, really, the only thing you can do is prove him wrong. Show the facts? He'll totally ignore them, but maybe other people will listen. I mean, you're not a spider-suited menace after all," he said with a rueful grin.

As Kate just glared over the whole situation, Logan came in for coffee and just took a seat next to Kurt to watch the show and catch up. "What's got her twisted?" he half-whispered to Kurt.

"She's now the subject of a public smear campaign by JJ," Kurt answered, though neither of them had taken their eyes off of Kate. "He's saying that I influenced her somehow."

"Yeah, you're real trouble all right," Logan agreed, to which the two of them started to chuckle a bit under their breath.

"He's making it out like I'm some stupid kid," Kate complained to Peter. "If I hit him on-air, will that prove him right? Because I really want to. Really badly. For bringing Kurt into this — that should be totally off limits."

"You can't attack him physically," Logan told her, breaking into her rant at last as it was clear she was really working herself up. "Not on air — not anywhere else. JJ's probably got cameras on him 24/7."

She picked her head up and glanced his way with narrowed eyes before what he'd said sank in and she sighed out a breath. "Yeah, I know. But it would sure make me feel better."

"You want to feel better? Beat him at his own game. Annihilate him on the air."

"That's the plan," Kate said with a nod Peter's way. "I just wasn't expecting it this soon is all. And from the direction he came."

"You can't be asking Peter for help," Logan said with a genuine laugh. "He's never been able to do much to JJ."

"Sad but true," Peter sighed dramatically. "Though my impersonation of him gets better every year."

Logan turned to Bobby. "You got it on tape? I wanna see it."

Bobby look between Kate and Logan for a moment before he just shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I got it on tape. Hold on." He clicked through the DVR for a minute and queued it up for them, skipping around the broadcast until he got to the start of JJ's ranting so Logan could hear the whole thing.

Listening to it the second time, Kate got mad quicker, soaking in every tiny thing that the old editor had to say as Logan leaned on the counter with his chin resting on his palm listening until it was entirely over before Bobby clicked it off. For a while, he just sat there, considering things with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"See?" Peter said. "He's not easy to argue with."

"What is this mutant menace garbage about?" Logan asked as he turned to Kate. "There're only a handful left. We've all been forced to register. How is that a menace?"

"It's coming up on an election year. You're always a menace in election years," Kate said with a sigh. She rubbed her temples and looked irritated.

"He gave you a few clues," Logan said. "On how to take him down anyhow." He looked Kate's way with a little smirk. "That whole bit about making mistakes at that age. What did he do when he was younger? When did he turn editor for the Bugle, and what big mistake did he make? Had to be one."

Kate looked up at Logan with the beginnings of a smirk. "Good point," she said thoughtfully. "Youthful indiscretions, JJ. So damaging."

"Youthful indiscretions from that long ago gotta be public record," Logan pointed out. "Criminal record? Torrid affair? Gotta be something. You don't get to be that big of a prick without personal experience being a jerk."

Kate grinned at that for a moment before a new thought occurred to her, and her shoulders slumped the slightest. "But I'm not going to beat him by digging up his ex-lover from a hundred years ago," she pointed out. "Even if he did go after my lover boy."

Logan couldn't help but smirk for a moment at Kate's frustration over JJ coming after Kurt, though he shook his head patiently. "No. No, that's not what I was thinking," he admitted. "You gotta phrase it like a compliment. 'Even the best editors have a rocky start — like you -' yadda yadda. Point out that you're ahead of him by this point. If his history is any indicator, I'll bet he blew off one of the basics of reporting — like fact checking?"

"Yeah, I don't think JJ's ever heard of that," Peter said with a smirk.

Logan just nodded his head to that. "Then you get to go in with actual facts. Discredit his claims and find out if he's got any mutants on payroll at the Bugle if he's worried about equal time."

Kate nodded with the beginnings of a little grin. "I like the way you boys think."

"It's an election year, right?" Logan said. "Folks are usually real tweaked about equal opportunity. You can even represent yourself as one of the few non-mutants in employ here."

At that, Kate giggled gleefully before she put on a business-like expression. "Mr. Jameson, I think if the mutants you're so worried about can give me equal employment opportunities, such an upstanding citizen as yourself can be bothered to make the effort." She batted her eyelashes for good measure and broke into a wide grin.

"Yeah, see if you have any mutants on payroll already at your company too," Bobby said. "I'll bet you don't."

"Not when Dad was running things," Kate agreed.

"So for now," Logan said. "How can he accuse you of being pro-mutant with not one in your company?"

"He's going to bring in a very cute blue mutant if he can't find anything else," Kate said, the smirk slipping the slightest as she looked over at Kurt. "Which ... is when I want to destroy him most."

"Well, when you want to strangle him," Logan advised, "try to smile instead. Doesn't work for me because I growl. But it sure did the trick for Charlie."

Kate sighed out a long breath and then nodded. "Yeah. That works in stupid business dinners too." She just smirked a little bit. "Plus, the visual works in our favor. Old man yelling at a cute little girl. Shameful."

"Hateful," Logan corrected. "And sexist."

"So very much," Kate agreed. The smirk had widened into a genuine smile. "What do you think, Pete?"

"I think you should bring a coach with you when you deal with him," Peter advised. "One that isn't in a red, webbed mask."

"You're still welcome to come and watch the show and not sit in the coach's chair," she promised.

"No, no," Peter replied, shaking his head. "I still have to work with the guy from time to time."

"Then who do you suggest? I don't think I can bring Kurt without a whole new set of issues," Kate said. "And Logan would growl at him."

"Not in your best interests to be seen with me anyhow," Logan agreed. "But Bobby's pretty on top of the news. Knows which way the winds are blowin'."

Kate turned to Bobby with a sweet smile. "Pretty please?" she asked and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Um - sure?" he replied with a shrug.

"Excellent." She clapped her hands together and rubbed them. "I'm going to wipe the floor with his mustache." She took a deep drink of her coffee and just grinned at the three men for a while as the TV moved on to other news reports and the rest of the X-Men slowly came down to breakfast — pushing the conversation elsewhere.

Still, Kate had been unusually quiet through much of breakfast, and it was clear that she was plotting and planning in her head long after she and Kurt left the others to go for a bit of a walk together in the freshly fallen snow.

"You shouldn't let him get you so twisted up," Kurt said at last, his gaze on her expression as Kate was still clearly glaring about the whole thing.

She just waved at him with the hand that wasn't holding his. "I wouldn't usually. I've got thick skin, really. It's just..."

"Yes, he does seem to have a knack for getting under people's skin," Kurt supplied for her before he squeezed her hand reassuringly and then pulled her under his chin for a long, tight hug. "But you shouldn't let him do that to you, no matter how adorable you look when you're on the warpath."

"Well, if he was just coming after me..." Kate shook her head and just glared for a moment before she looked up at Kurt. "That was dirty, coming after you — like you have any say in my company or like ... like you're brainwashing me or whatever. That's just wrong."

"I'm used to it," Kurt said. "Well. Not this specifically, but ... the negativity."

"Well, he's wrong, and I'm going to call him out on it," Kate insisted stubbornly. "You're, like, the nicest guy in the universe — and he's totally exaggerating. About everything. I mean — sure there's an age gap but it's not that bad!"

Kurt kind of paused and just held his breath for a moment. "He's not exaggerating," he said finally.

Kate raised both eyebrows and took a slight step back to look him over. "No, I'm pretty sure I can do the math. You're in your thirties, so — I mean, it's a little weird of a gap, but—"

"I may have fudged the numbers a bit."

"A bit?" she repeated with one eyebrow arched high. "You told me you were thirty-seven!"

He paused for a long moment and looked properly sheepish. "That's ... because forty-seven sounds so old."

She gaped at him for a long moment before she just smacked him in the arm. "You doofus!" she half-shouted. "You can tell me about your evil dad from practically day one but you lie about your age when you still look like you're in your twenties!"

He had no defense but to shrug a bit and look properly disappointed in himself.

"Oh, we are not done talking about this," she promised him as she stuck a purple-gloved finger in his face. "This — this is a thing now. I have been doing my old man jokes all wrong. There is so much more material now."

He let out a bit of a breathy laugh. "Of course there is."

"I mean, first of all, now I need pictures of hippie Kurt. And bell-bottoms. How did you navigate those?" Kate said, taking an even further step back and holding up her hands in a square in front of her so she could 'frame' Kurt.

"Kate—" he just had to laugh outright and shake his head at the direction she'd chosen to go with this particular revelation.

"Don't get me wrong," she said a bit more seriously. "You lie to me again and I'll ... do something, I don't know. You vain little demon." She rolled her eyes up at the sky. "You're just lucky I'm madder at JJ than you right now. Forty-seven. Honestly. I could have made so many jokes on your birthday."

"And I'm sure you'll have one for every year I failed to disclose next year."

"Oh, for sure," she said, nodding seriously before she just had to laugh and grab his hand in hers. "You're not getting out of trouble that easy, mister."

"I certainly hope not," he said, giving her hand a little squeeze.

She just pulled his hand until he was closer so she could lean on him as they started to walk again. "I have to ask, though — I mean. You really do look my age. What's up with that? I'd never have even known looking at you."

"I believe it's from a combination of having a shapeshifter and a demon for parents, actually. Slowed aging process. Not like some people ... but slowed."

"So you're not going to be like Mr. Dinosaur back at the mansion and stay frustratingly ageless?"

"I doubt that," Kurt said with a dry tone. "He has far less aches and troubles than I do now."

She turned to him with a sparkle of trouble in her eyes. "Oh, have I been neglecting to take care of my old man?" she asked with just enough believable concern that she almost pulled it off. "I'll be more gentle."

"I didn't say that."

"Oh good." She stood on her toes to steal a kiss. "Come on, old man, let's go inside and warm up before your arthritis starts flaring up." When Kurt just gave her a look, she broke into delighted cackles and just threaded her arm through his with her head on his shoulder, still giggling impishly as she was already planning more ways to tease him.

It was a week before Christmas when Kate got a call from Noh, who had been at the North Pole for a while looking over Skrull tech and tracing back the signals to see if he could find other outposts to wreck the Skrulls' plans on other planets too. He'd found a few promising signals and wanted to know if they wanted to come with him and finish out the Skrulls they'd been harassing together earlier that month — and of course, most of them were definitely game.

He had invited everyone that had come to Mars, but Scott shook his head with a rueful shrug. "It's a week before Christmas," he explained. "I really need to get back home to be there when Annie's family comes. It's really important to her."

The group of X-Men shared a look, and Scott looked ready to try and defend himself further before Logan just shrugged. "No problem, Slim. You shoulda said something sooner."

For just a second, Scott looked surprised that he hadn't needed to argue the point, but then he just decided not to look the gift horse in the mouth. "I need a ride," Scott admitted with that same rueful shrug.

"Alright, grab your crap - but take a uniform with you," Logan told him. "I'm sure those little girls would love it."

At that, Scott broke into a grin. "Leslie Ann would try to wear it," he said, already grinning wider at the thought.

"So grab her some sweats or something with the logo on it," Kurt suggested with a little smile.

"Spoil those adorable future nieces of yours," Kate agreed. "They'll love it."

At that, Kurt disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later with two bamf dolls. "Less trouble than the real thing," he said as he pressed them toward Scott.

Scott beamed wider. "You really don't have to," he said even as he took the little dolls and then shook his head. "They'll never put them down."

The little group packed up, and most of the X-Men on staff found something else for Scott to bring back to the kids as well, so they had much more packing to do than they'd anticipated — not that any one of them would complain. They loaded up, with Scott beaming at the lot of them, and in under an hour, they were airborne and on their way back to Alaska.

Harry Tabeshaw didn't bother to meet them that time, telling them it was too cold for him to go out, and instead simply had a car waiting for them at the little airport. Kate was a little disappointed that she didn't get to say hello again to someone else who understood the trouble that these X-Men were, but she had to agree with his assessment of how freezing it was as she blatantly snuggled into Kurt's warm fur.