April 8, 2010
Just popped into my head tonight. Watching Law & Order SVU and other crime dramas will do that.
Continued on April 12, 13, 17, and 18, 2010
Originally based on a daydream I had while thinking about a friend's family. After uploading Logan's Eyes, I came back to this and was inspired.
Humor-ish family seriousness and romance, set after X23 joins the crew.
Notes: The characters you recognize are not mine. The storyline, on the other hand, kind of is.
Was going to be first-person, but it wasn't working for me. So now it kind of jumps from focusing on one person to a different one… and getting a certain couple together… Lol!
"Wolverine," she stressed the codename, gripping his wrist and practically glaring at him to calm him down. "I'm fine. It's your foster-daughter who needs help."
Kitty nodded to the younger girl a few feet away who was clutching her arm and holding back tears, completely opposite of her upbringing and training.
Logan frowned, eyes narrowing in curiosity and concern, but he moved to Laura's side anyway, picking her up and rushing her to the porch, where Hank waited calmly.
After transferring the girl to his colleague's arms, Logan went back to Shadowcat, concern evident.
"You're not fine," he stated factually, giving the girl a look that dared her to object.
Kitty dared.
"I'm fine," she insisted, standing.
Or, trying to.
She was barely able to move her foot, let alone stand up.
The pain shooting up her left leg was white-hot, like nothing she'd ever felt before. Kitty winced and held back tears as she glanced up at the frowning man standing over her.
He gave her the I Told You So look, sliding one arm under her legs and the other around her back before he picked her up.
"One of these days, Half-pint, you're gonna snap your neck doin' that," Wolverine grumbled.
The "that" to which Kitty's mentor was referring was a feat she thought she'd perfected: jumping out of the tree in the front yard and phasing through the ground to avoid breaking bones.
It had been kind of an accident to begin with: Kitty had been startled by Scott starting the convertible—this time, thankfully, sans laptop—but that was just the beginning. Kurt had 'ported up next to her, a very realistic-looking tarantula in his hand. That had made her jump (or rather, fall) from her perch and, in order to avoid crippling herself, Kitty had phased through the trunk of the tree and into the ground, coming back up a few feet away.
From then on, it had been a much quicker—and slightly safer—way of getting out of the tree; it became habit.
Shadowcat always been successful at it—until today.
Today, while lounging in the afternoon sunlight with a book, she'd been startled by Bobby and Sam chasing Jubilee around the yard, yelling about something Kitty couldn't understand.
Their sudden appearance and the loud bang that sounded as Jubilee retaliated by throwing a few fireworks at the boys' feet caused Kitty to fall out of the tree.
She would have landed all right had Laura not been in the way.
Kitty had crashed into Laura (thankfully only twisting the younger girl's arm in the process), but was unable to phase, and landed wrong on her ankle. The crunch had seemed to echo in her ears, and the pain took a moment to register.
Now, as Logan carried her hurriedly through the front door and toward the elevator, she almost regretted her decision to hang out outside this morning.
"Laura's only problem is a sprained wrist. Your ankle is probably broken," the gruff instructor informed her quietly. "Why would you be concerned about her injury over yours?"
"She's your family," Kitty replied softly, watching his expression change.
"So are you," he answered firmly. "Laura may be my clone, but you're just as important to me as she is."
Kitty didn't get a chance to reply: they had reached the infirmary and Logan cleared his throat, indicating that the conversation was over.
He set her down on an open bed, careful to keep her leg level, and looked at Beast.
"What do you think? Broken?"
"I would say so," Mr. McCoy agreed. "I'd do an x-ray to confirm, but the way the leg is swelling…" He grunted uncharacteristically, continuing, "Well, it's rather obvious. You may want to stay out of trees for a while, Kitty. Potentially forever."
"Can you make the pain go away?" Kitty asked, the tears finally brimming over.
Hank nodded. "Yes, I think I can make the pain go away."
He did an x-ray anyway to be sure he knew where the problem was. They heard him mumble something about a "closed fracture" before bustling about the room, preparing a cast after giving Kitty some sort of medicated injection to dull the pain some.
When the cast had been fitted, Logan picked Kitty up once more and made his way upstairs, again opting for the elevator instead of the stairs.
They were both silent until the elevator stopped and the doors opened, and even then all Wolverine asked was, "Where to?"
Kitty scrunched up her face in decision-making-mode, unsure, and finally half-decided, "Common room?"
Logan nodded almost imperceptibly and headed that direction, setting Kitty down on the couch as several of the students looked on.
Sam and Bobby walked up to her tentatively, their faces both sympathetic and fearful.
"Uh, sorry, Kitty," Bobby mumbled, his gaze dropping to the floor.
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "We didn't mean for ya to fall outta the tree. We were jus' playin' with Jubilee."
Bobby's eyes popped back up, a grin splitting his face at the memory.
Right on cue, the Queen of Fireworks stormed into the room, her hair practically on fire from the sparks flying above her head.
Quick as it had appeared, Bobby's grin faded, replaced by an expression that tried to be calm and collected but failed.
"Oh, hey, Jubes," he declared coolly, though the trained ear could tell he was stammering.
"Robert Drake," Jubilee fumed, her finger pointed accusingly just millimeters from the Ice Mutant's nose.
Bobby gulped, his body stiffening as he backed up a few steps.
"Jubilee, calm down," Sam tried, holding up his hands defensively as the Chinese-American girl stepped closer to Bobby.
"Stay out of this, Guthrie," Jubilee hissed. "You're not the one who started it."
Jubilee's advance on Bobby was halted by a strong hand yanking on the back of her shirt, pulling her backward.
"Easy, Livewire," Wolverine grunted, a slight chuckle in the command.
Kitty grinned as Jubilee's head whipped around and the girl glared at her instructor, her rage overpowering the usual urge to cower in fear.
Wolverine snorted, crossing his arms and nodding at Bobby.
"You know just as much as the rest of us do that you want to kiss the kid," he declared, giving Jubilee the same I Dare You look he'd given Kitty earlier.
The students in the room snickered as Jubilee and Bobby both blushed, avoiding eye contact with each other and the rest of their housemates.
Logan grunted, rolling his eyes as he stepped between the two red-faced Mutants and yanked them closer to each other, releasing them when they were nearly nose-to-nose.
The pair stared at each other awkwardly before Sam, who had wandered around behind Jubilee, "accidentally" pushed her forward. Jubilee flailed, her eyes wide, and Bobby put his arms out reflexively to catch her. To everyone's amusement, their arms wrapped around each other—Bobby's around Jubilee's waist and hers around his neck—and their lips met for a split second.
They jumped away from each other, faces turning deeper shades of red, as their teammates chanted, "Kiss again! Kiss again!"
Jubilee started to turn around and leave the room, but Bobby's grip on her waist tightened and he pulled her back to him, his gaze soft as he moved one hand up to Jubilee's chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his.
Jubilee's eyes were wide with uncertainty, but she closed them all the way when Bobby kissed her, much to the amusement of her friends, who cheered very loudly and energetically.
After what felt like forever for the rest of the Mansion, Bobby pulled away, sighing almost dreamily.
"'Bout time," Sam congratulated, clapping Bobby on the back.
Bobby only wrapped an arm around Jubilee's shoulders and the two headed out of the room, a chorus of teasing "Ooooh"s following them.
Wolverine flopped down next to Kitty with a grunt, his arms on the back of the couch.
"Now that that's taken care of…"
He motioned for the remote, and Kitty handed it over with a laugh.
"Who's next, Mr. Matchmaker?"
Logan ignored her, but Kitty could tell that a smile was just below the surface and that the wheels were turning in her mentor's head.
Sighing contentedly and ignoring the pain in her leg, Kitty shifted so that she was leaning against Logan's side, her head resting on his arm and her leg out in front of her on the couch. If the position bothered him, Wolverine didn't show it, instead focusing on channel surfing.
Relationship drama quota reached for the day, the Mansion quieted down for the most part—at least, as much as a house full of Mutant teenagers could quiet down.
Notes: Weird, yes—especially the ending. But I don't care. It wanted out, I tell you!
Ugh. I couldn't decide which girl to use for this—Kitty or Rogue. I've always loved Logan with both of them, but lately my brain's been focusing on Kitty, so that's who you get. Plus she worked so well with falling out of trees… Lol. =)
And reading JUBBY (Jubes/Bobby) fics over the last few days made me do it! Haha. I like the idea of "Fire and Ice," and using Kitty's prone-to-danger-ness seemed like an okay way to get them together. I dunno. Whatever.
Influences, Borrowed Ideas, and Other Random Crap:
"Grim Reminder" scene.
"Logan the Spider Slayer" by Red Witch.
JUBBY fics by both JJ Bean and MadmanTobz.
The Mayo Clinic website for leg stuff.
Logan and Kitty's relationship. Duh.
For those of you not familiar with French, "sans" mean "without."
"Livewire" seemed to fit Jubes, even if it is the name of a website. Haha.
Words: 1451
Time: Several hours over several days.
Other: I don't know if I'll continue this or not. I may leave it as a one-shot.