Disclaimer: I am getting soooooo sick of these things. Okay, here goes... Marvel's characters are not mine. The story is mine. Anyone stealing it will have rabid hedghogs stuffed into their underwear. Everyone with permission to archive Maturity in B Minor may have the entirety of Happy Families with my blessing, everyone else gotta ask me first. I am not making any money. At all. Not any. Jobless. Broke. Don't bother to sue. Now, this disclaimer is going to cover all of Happy Families, bc if I have to type one out for every single story I will go bananas. One big all inclusive disclaimer. This was it. Final showing. Enjoy the story.

Storm fiddled with a small, flowering plant. "The Frost woman was wrong, of course." Her voice was as coolly imperious as ever. "There was no impropriety in Logan's relationship with Jubilee."

"A'course not." Rogue said firmly, shaking her chestnut curls. She sat in mid air, hands clasped around her knees. "You know Frosty. She gets carried away over her students sometimes, but she don't mean what she says half the time."

"You are right," Storm agreed. "She was most likely simply attempting to get a rise out of him."

"Probably." Rogue nodded. "Don't let her get to ya, Storm." The slim hands tightened their grip on green-clad knees. "Do ya think Jubilee's gonna be okay?"

"I... I do not know." Storm clenched her fists, a faint crackle of lighting surrounding them for a moment. "How could the White Queen be so careless?! Jubilee was in her care, she should have realised something was wrong and contacted us! We could have helped if we'd known!"

"Could we?" Rogue, surprisingly, shook her head. "Ah'm not so sure about that, Ororo."

Storm looked at her in open-mouthed shock. "What do you mean, Rogue? Of course we could have helped her! We are her family!"

"Ah know, but..." Rogue shook her head again. "But Ah'm not sure if it's family she needs right now." She held out her hands helplessly, sinking to the floor. Numbly, Storm followed suit, and the two women stood facing each other. Green eyes met feline blue. "Ororo, we might well have done more harm than good."

"How could we?" Storm was puzzled, and a little hurt. "We love Jubilee, but she felt that we did not. That was why she tried to harm herself. If we had brought her back and showed her how much we truly care, then she would have been all right."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Rogue reached out to take Storm's hands in her own gloved fingers." "'Ro, Ah've done the same thing that Jubilee's doin' now. And if you'd asked me then, I woulda said that I was running away from Momma, and that I hated her for not carin' about me."

Storm blinked, a slight crease forming between her brows. "And what would you say now?"

Rogue sighed. "Maybe Ah was runnin' away from Momma. But it wasn't because Ah hated her. Ah loved her, and I still do. But..." She let go of Storm's hands, and began pacing restlessly. "But Ah just wanted ta get *away*, 'Ro. Ah felt like Ah was living everyone's life but mah own and I just wanted ta get away from all the people who kept on making my decisions for me." She pleated her fingers together, biting her lip. "Ororo, what would you and the others have done if Jubilee had of come here?"

Storm frowned. "We would have taken care of her. Reassured her that we loved her, and would protect her from any such as Bastion who would do her harm."

Rogue shook her head. "You woulda wrapped her up in cotton wool and kept her from ever so much as fallin' down and skinning her knees."

"Well..." Storm shrugged. "I would not go that far, but we would certainly do our best to protect her."

"And that woulda done even more harm." Rogue twiddled her fingers, looking down at the floor. "Ah know I ain't the best at personal relationships, 'Ro, or at figurin' why people do what they do... heck, Ah can't even figure myself out, most times. But Ah'm pretty sure Ah know what Jubilee is goin' through right now, and gettin' cooped up and coddled wouldn't help any." Her green eyes were cloudy as she looked up at the taller woman. "'Ro, she *knows* we'll protect her. But after what happened with Bastion, she also knows that we won't be there all the time. She needs ta get out there and learn that she can protect *herself*."

"But... she is just a child," Storm disagreed, shaking her head. She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling chilled.

"No, she ain't." Rogue sighed. "She's fifteen years old, and she's lived more in that time than most people do in twice as long. Ah know it's hard ta accept, 'Ro, but she ain't a child anymore. It's time for us ta accept that, and start treatin' her like an adult."

"But..."

"Storm." Rogue gripped the other woman's shoulders, looking searchingly into her face. "Listen to me. You can't *fix* this. Jubilee will either come back her own woman, or she won't come back. Either way, it has to be up to her. Because Ah am telling you know, and I know this for a fact, that if you go out there and *make* her come back, then you'll just drive her away forever. She needs her freedom, Storm. She won't forgive anyone who tries ta take it away from her again. Not you, not me, not even Logan."

Storm shook her head stubbornly. "She needs us, Rogue. I know her. She is hurt, and resentful, because she feels that we no longer love her. When we prove to her that we do, then she will be all right, and everything will be as it should be."

"Storm, it ain't that easy! Ya can't just give her a pat on the head and make everything all right again, it don't work that way!" Rogue stamped her foot. "Have you heard one word Ah've said?"

"Yes, I have." Storm folded her arms. "And I will give them due consideration. But for now, if you will excuse me, I have my plants to attend to before dinner." Turning, she rose on a gust of wind which lifted her towards the highest pots. Rogue was wrong, of course. Jubilee only needed a little love and nurturing, and she would go back to being her old self. It would be difficult, of course, but Storm was determined that she would find their lost young one and then everything would be all right. Jubilee *needed* them.

She barely heard the door closing, lost in her plans. Jubilee obviously could not be trusted to Frost. It was most likely Emma's mental twisting that had put Jubilee in the state she was in. Once Jubilee was back with the X-Men, then everything would be the way it had been.

Outside, Rogue leaned against the wall, her head drooping. Storm hadn't understood. She would go after Jubilee, and cause the good Lord only knew what sort of damage. "Ah'm not much at all this," Rogue whispered a little forlornly, "and if Ah was you, Storm, Ah probably wouldn't listen to me either. But Ah'm *right* about it this time. The old Jubilee ain't comin' back, and we all gotta accept that. It's time for her to grow up, and it looks like she'll be doing it her own way, and in her own time. You gotta let her go, or you'll lose her forever... if you're lucky." Green eyes closed briefly, repudiating the images that rose before them. "Because that little gal's pretty desperate right about now, and if you go after her... it might not be her we lose."

Well, THAT didn't turn out the way I expected. Rogue's never struck me as being the emotionally intuitive sort... but then again, she HAS been through much the same thing. Anyway, I just wanted to tell the Storm fans who don't like the ostrich-type reaction I've given her, keep your feathers on. There's still lots to tell, and this is only the beginning...