Jubilation Lee walked around the table once before leaning foreward to carefully turn the dial on the old radio sitting on the worn table, not straitening until she found a station worthy of old country music. She flashed one of her trademark grins at her friend at the couch, still inwardly suprised that he showed up only moments after she did.

Remy LeBeau smiled back at the woman standing beside the table. He had to admit to himself- even though he hadn't seen the girl in almost ten years, it had been good to her. Her body, once seemingly stuck in child-like proportions no matter once her age, had filled out into drop-dead curves that would of made even the most shapely of the X-women jealous. Her eyes still held that sharpness of icey-blue, an apparent defect from her mutation, and her beautiful face still held the same mischevious look. She'd grown her hair long, jet-black melting around her shoulders and spilling around the middle of her back. Instead of the old neon clothing, she'd seemed to trad her style for that of black leather biker outfits. He hoped it wasn't a permantent change, but then again, he hadn't seen her in so long...

Jubilee had decided that the years had been kind to her old "uncle", the years seemed to barely touch him. His face had slight creases, tiny barely-visible lines danced around the edges of his eyes and mouth. His hair was the same length as Jubilee remembered, though a touch lighter than it once was. His scarlet eyes still remained the same, though, and she was sure they hadn't lost even a touch of sharpness. His trenchcoat was new, she noted, though in the same style it once was.

She grabbed two beers from the fridge and tossed one to him, sitting her own bottle next to the kitchen sink after twisting it open with one bare hand and taking a very unlady-like swig. Earlier, she had dragged the large mirror from the main bedroom and sat it on the counter, and now bit her lip as she stared into it thoughtfully.

"The reflection's changed a bit, eh, Petité?"

Jubilee snapped from her thoughts, chuckling lightly. "Can't deny that, Cajiun. Guess I never really noticed it until now."

He nodded as he took a drink of his own bottle, swallowing slowly before tilting his head at her, "Remy t'ink he'd like it, non?"

"I can only hope so," she sighed with a whisp of saddness, knowing exactly what 'he' Gambit was referring to. Quickly, she swept up her beer and walked over to the large front window, crossing her arms across her chest, "I wonder when Ang'll be back, he should be here any minute now."

Remy winced slightly, "Dat boy been treatin' ya' good, Petité? 'Cause Remy'll kill 'em for every un-opened door standing in front of ya'..."

"Puh-LEASE," she flashed another one of her famous grins at him. "As if. Ang an' I are just best friends, Rem, honestly. He's been the only one with me these past.... years.... Geez, it's been years, Gumbo. Hard ta' beleive I've been gone that long, ya' know?"

"Not as hard as you'd think," he muttered under his breath along with a classic, "merdé", granting himself a ccouple more gulps of beer before he raised his voice back to hearing level. "So dis' boy been wit' you ever since Gen X went apart?"

"Uh-huh," she turned towards him, leaning against the window sill. "We've been mainly in Cali, though more recently we spent some time in the midwest."

"Starsmore's been a little more den worried 'bout you two. Leavin' wit' no letter of address or nothin' and whatnot."

She grinned lop-sidedly at him, "Ya' know the ole' Proffessor could of found us if we were needed. 'Sides, I learned my great disappearing trick from you an'....."

Rather than have to continue and remember why she was here in the first place, the sound of a rather loud Harley could be heard pulling up the moutian road. Grateful for the distraction, Jubilee opened the door, despite the near-bitter Canadian cold that swept over her and through the small cabin.

Remy didn't bother telling her that Logan, her adopted father that everyone thought had washed his hands of the girl, had Angelo report to him once every two weeks and was to call him anytime of the day if they ran into serious trouble. He also didn't bother telling her that he also had other people keep tabs on her from time to time, having someone watch her all the time, just incase the death threat didn't work on the grey-colored skin-stretching boy.

In fact, Remy had been given the job of watching after her, he guessed, keeping tabs on her exactly the way Wolverine did. For the past nine months, Logan had been missing. Their last mission had taken them to the Shi'iar worlds again, and as far as anyone knew, the infamous clawed wildman hadn't returned. He didn't even keep contact with Angelo, which made him call Gambit immediately- after he realized that Wolverine's cell phone wasn't working anymore. Llandra had stressed that every X-man had been teleported back on earth, but no-one, not even the strongest minds like Proffessor Xavier, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, ect. ......No-one could detect his prensence on the planet. He was seperated during the mission, yes, but no one could say that he was alive. The normally optimistic telepaths seemed to cast that hope was lost.

Angelo followed Jubilee inside, having been gone for a large majority of the day after Jubilee sent him out to buy "supplies" and pick up some "package" from the local postal office. Both were carrying two full grocery bags, causing Remy to marvel at how he had fit them all on the bike without crushing them.

Then again, he must of been used to it, riding with the Sparkler.

They dumped the bags onto the table, and Jubilee picked up a pair of scissors she'd left lying on the counter and handed them to Angelo.

"You sure you want to do this, Jublicita?" he seemed to ask almost saddly, glancing at the Cajiun lounging on the couch.

She said nothing, only handed him the scissors and sat down in the chair. Remy said nothing but did have to hold back a wince as he saw Angelo carefully braid her long silky hair and tie it off with two rubber bands- one at the top, one at the bottom. He couldn't hold back his wince when he saw him put the scissors to the top of the braid and swiftly cut it off. He couldn't beleive that after that, she took the scissors from him and proceeded to cut her hair short- exactly like it was when she was thirteen, and though it seemed to take a few years off her, it made her look more like Jubilee- like his Jubilee, like Logan's Jubilee, like the Jubilee he remembered- still a beautiful woman, just now.... now she was Jubilee.

She brushed her shoulders free of the last strands of cut hair, dareing another grin at Remy. She then pulled a small bottle of hair gel from one of the bags and poured a little into her hands- then rubbed her hands together and ran her fingers through her hair, spiking it slightly.

When she was finally satisfied with the look, she rinsed her hands off in the sink and proceeded to grab her beer and dropped next to Remy on the couch. Angelo grabbed a beer from the fridge and pulled up a chair and sat down so that when he leaned forward, he could rest his elbows on the back of it. They sat there and listened to the tail-end of "He didn't have to be" by Brad Paisely.

Lookin' back all I can say About all the things he did for me Is I hope I'm at least half the dad That he didn't have to be

"To the the grumpiest ole' Canadian who ever lived, Wolverine," Angelo said as he opened his beer and held it towards the other two.

"Ta' da' Wolverine, Terror of dé X-Men," Remy said, clanking his bottle to Angelo's.

".....To Wolvie," Jubilee said softly, clicking her bottle to the others'.

Yeah, I hope I'm at least half the dad That he didn't have to be

The three drank in silence,an honorable good-bye if one was ever needed, remembering their own pasts with the man.

Because he didn't have to be You know he didn't have to be

Far in the Canadian wilderness, one man who'd once again lost his life and memories, smiled to himself for some unknown reason, having to resist the urge to wipe a proud tear from his eye.

~*~ Love and Sparkles Lasting in the Sky ~*~

~*~ Katsama ~*~