xp_logs | Jan and Kurt

Coming across Kurt in the gym, Jan and Kurt talk about Kurt's father and his family.

Jan pushed open the door to the gym. While she preferred to stay tiny while on missions and generally relied on zapping her opponents rather than physical strength, she did need to stay in shape. Humming to herself, as she usually did, Jan caught sight of someone else already in the gym. "Oh, hey, Kurt."

"Good afternoon, Jan", he returned with a slightly tired smile - he had only just got back after a long-haul flight, after all. "Do not mind me - I was almost finished."

"OK, sure." Jan frowned slightly, a rare occurrence for her. "So, um... what ended up happening with your father?"

He blinked at her at that, not sure what she was asking. "Before or after I came back to America?"

"Well, you know, you said something had to be done about him, right?" Jan wasn't one for tact. "Was it?"

"...it has only been two days", was the bemused response. "Doing him physical harm would serve no purpose, but other things will take longer."

Jan nodded. "OK. I mean, I know you told Laurie you wouldn't hurt him, well, physically at least, I guess, but... people were worried about you, you know?"

"And I will not hurt him physically", Kurt assured her. "Or any member of his family, which is more than he would do for me."

"Aren't members of his family members of your family, too?" Jan asked, confused.

"No", Kurt said decisively, shaking his head. "Until last year, I had never had any contact with the man, except perhaps as a newborn."

"Well, ok, but still... they're not him, right? They're not all nasty and stupid like he is, are they? They're still related to you, even if you don't know them," Jan pointed out.

"I have no idea what they are like", he admitted. "But I know what role nurture plays. I will look into the public face of his family as well, just to be sure."

Jan shrugged. "I think you might want to find that out before you judge them as being horrible people. You never know. They might not be like him at all. Maybe they think he's a horrid man, too, just like you do."

"And what gave you the impression I was judging them as such?" he asked quietly.

"Um... you just said 'I know what role nurture plays'," Jan quoted. "What else would you mean?"

"That being his children, raised by him, they are more likely to agree with his values than not", Kurt answered, face carefully blank. "I did also say that I would look into them."

Jan nodded. "Don't be too shocked if they turn out to be really nice people, OK?"

"If they are", he said with a faint smile, "I will be more than pleased to acknowledge it."

Jan smiled more than a faint smile at that, which was a much more natural look for her to have than the serious one she'd been wearing so-far during this conversation.