Really, I AM Dying!

(A/N: Part 3 of the "I'm Dying" saga at last! This marks a return to the humor of the first part. No ice cream though.)

(Disclaimer: ah, come on, you know I don't own them. Except Brenda, that is.)

The police were taking Marco Sandoval, bio-terrorist, away when the X-Men showed up at the Brotherhood house.

"Looks like we missed the party." Cyclops observed.

"Not to worry, we nailed the son of a--" Toad started to say, before a moan interrupted him.
Brenda was slumped against the wall, clutching her head in agony.

Everyone rushed to Brenda's side . . . .

"What's wrong with her?" Toad asked.
Storm placed her hand under the girl's chin and lifted her head. She saw something that alarmed her . . .

"We've got to get her out of here."

"What is it? What's wrong with her?"

"She's been infected . . ."

"With what?" Lance asked. "That's not Virus 10. Those spots are all wrong. It looks more like . . ."

"Measles?" Fred grimaced. "Ewwwwwww!"

"In the house," Storm directed them. "Everyone. This disease is very contagious, so as of now we're all under quarantine."
That was not good.

"Boss Lady ain't gonna like that, yo." said Toad.
"Neither vill the Professor." added Nightcrawler.

They brought Brenda inside and put her in the spare room. Then some phone calls were made.

Jean Grey took the call over at the Institute. "Is everything all right?" she asked. "That man didn't hurt anyone, did he?"

"No, but Brenda appears to be infected with measles...."

"What?"
"We're going to have to stay here at least until the doctor comes, perhaps longer."

"Uh oh..."

It had been less than five minutes, and already the tensions were beginning to build.
"Nobody touches my stuff, you hear? Nobody!"

"Chill, Toad."

"Yeah, like, who'd want to touch your slimy stuff anyway?" Kitty said.

At the Institute, Xavier wondered whether or not to call Brenda's grandmother and give her the news. He didn't want to unnecessarily panic her, but on the other hand, this was a serious disease, and might have long-term consequences.

So he picked up the phone . . . and got the answering machine.

He was starting to leave a message when someone picked up the phone on the other end. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Ellis? I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news . . ."

"What is it?" Brenda's grandmother was instantly nervous.

"Oh, it's not that bad. But I thought you should know anyway. It seems Brenda has the measles."

"Good heavens..."

"She's at a friend's house right now ."

"Thank goodness for that."

"I'll see if I can have her call you as soon as possible."

Back at the Brotherhood's house, things were getting a little out of hand.
Make that a lot out of hand.

"Hey, Toad, give that back!"
"No way! I saw it first, yo!"

CRASH!

"Knock it off!" Lance ordered, pulling Toad away from Spyke.
"What's with you two?" Rogue sighed, holding Spyke back.

"He took something of mine, and I want it back!"

"No, I took back something of mine, yo!"

"Hand it over, whatever it is."

"Yeah, I'm hungry." Blob moaned. "I can't eat with you guys yellin'."

"Better go easy on the food," Lance said. "It's gotta feed twice as many people now, and we can't go out and buy more."
"We can't?"
"Duh! That's what quarantine means!"

Kitty started exploring their refrigerator. "Eeeewwwww! This stuff is, like, green!"

Toad blushed. "Sorry. Been a while since we cleaned it out."

"It doesn't look like there's anything in here worth eating!"

"Great." Cyclops groaned.

There were some loud banging noises from the next room. "Uh oh."

"Oh, relax, guys. It's just the heater dying again."

Storm didn't like the sound of that . . . . "Is this something that's easy to fix?"
"Heck, no!" Toad said. "Sometimes we gotta kick it four or five times before it does anything. Last month it died and the guy was forever getting out here to fix it . . ."

Kitty didn't like the sound of that either.

"Great," Scott said. "It's like Survivor without the island."
"Or the bikinis," Pietro pointed out.

"On the bright side, there's no bugs either." Storm pointed out.

"Aw, geez, how's a guy supposed to eat around here?" Toad complained.

This was not good. In fact, the word "disaster" came to Ororo's mind frequently as she waited for the doctor to call her back.