There was a knock on his door that startled him. It could have been due to the fact that it was an actual knock as opposed to some other blatant disregard to his privacy, but that wasn't it. It was her. He knew it. Why she would come to HIS door, he didn't know. Maybe he had just imagined it. Right when he had convinced himself that it wasn't real, he heard her tentative tapping from the other side of his door again, right before it opened.

"Toad?" Wanda asked as she entered. Todd sat up in his bed, but didn't offer up any of the pet names he'd given her out of sheer surprise at her presence here. She was HERE, in his room…..WILLINGLY. Before he could even process that thought she had one knee on either side of him and pushed him up against the wall behind his bed.

"Wanda?" he finally asked as her face grew near to his. This wasn't like her at all. She's be more willing to hex the hell outta him before touch him. What was going on? She shook her head as a reply, and grew even nearer. Like a ton of bricks, it all hit him, just like it had before: That sweetly spiced aroma that hung about her like an intoxicating drug, making his brain numb to any logic. The sound of her breathing, her heart, perfectly matching his as they raced in unison. Slowly she closed the gap between them, pushing her soft red lips against his which made something inside him feel like it was imploding. It was perfect, just like at that lodge up in the mountains, only this time she knew it was him. That made it even better.

He felt rather than observed her pulling the black buttons of her red top apart to slide it to the floor. She choose to sit back then, still wearing a black lacey bra, and looked deeply into his eyes. He didn't dare say one word, for fear of ruining the moment. Instead he waited for her to talk, and he didn't have to wait long.

"Tell me what I need to hear Toad," she asked him gently, pulling her hands away from behind his neck before he could even respond. "I need to hear you say it."

"I love you Wanda," he replied fervently and without hesitation. "You know I do. Everyone knows I do. I love you more than anything or anyone in this world." But she was shaking her head and pulling away. "Wait, don't go," he begged, putting a hand out as she retreated, leaving everything behind, even her shirt. "Why?" he managed to ask, just as she put her hand on the handle to exit. She paused there, and looked over her shoulder at him.

"You know why. It's not enough. It's never been enough. And it never will be. So stop dreaming."

With a jolt I woke up from my dream, sitting up in the same room that had been the main scene just moment before. Wanda wasn't there, and she never had been. With a long sigh I put a hand to my head and closed my eyes as I laid back down.

"Still dreamin' 'bout her?" a soft voice asked from my right, closest to the wall. It didn't startle me, I knew she was there.

"It had been so long, yo. Why now? I thought I was getting' better. 'N they almost never come when I'm with you." I felt her hand slide across my chest and embrace the shoulder farthest away from her in a kind of hug.

"I'm sorry Slick," Tabby whispered to me as she kissed my check. I opened my eyes to her blue ones, full of sadness.

"I didn't mean to wake you up or anything, yo. I'm sorry if I-" but she stopped me by shaking her head.

"I was already up. I gotta get back before anyone notices that I never came home." I looked to the window at the top of my wall, right near the base of the house, and saw that it was still dark out.

"What time is it?" I asked her while stretching, and she smiled gently at me before easing herself over me and off the bed.

"'Bout 5 am. Go back to sleep, 'n I'll see ya at school." She gave me another quick kiss after she'd quickly dressed and headed for the door.

"Hey Tabbs?" I called after her sleepily.

"Hm?"

"Do you still have dreams about him?" She stopped all movement for a while, but didn't look back. In a voice so quiet that no one else would have herd it, she replied.

"All the time." Then with that she squeezed herself outta the door and on her way back to the X mansion.

Tabby and I had kinda been thrown together through chance or something like that, not sure what I'd call it. Neither of us ever woulda thought that we woulda ended up here. It was just one party that Kitty threw at the mansion when the opportunity arose. I don't know why Lance talked me into going, I guess because he didn't wanna be alone. After ten seconds there, he ditched me to drool over Kitty, who wasn't even giving him the time of day at that point. She was too busy gawking over Blue Boy. After one eyeful of that, I grabbed a drink and went outside to sit on the porch. I wasn't alone long.

The door busted open and almost cracked me in the head, but Tabby didn't notice; she was pissed. She had an entire bottle in one hand and an empty cup in the other, and totally ignored me as she plopped herself down, ripped the top off the bottle and poured. It was only after her second glass that she offered me a drink. I wasn't totally stupid, I knew what had happened. Almost everyone knew that she was in love with that jackass Nightcrawler, and with Kitty all over him like I'd seen seconds ago, I could only guess that Kurt wasn't exactly smitten over Tabitha.

After a couple of cups each, we were talking about how stupid love triangles were, and how much it sucked to be on the wrong end of one, like both of us were. We were both in love with people who would never give us a second glance. In a drunken stupor she had opened up and told me just about everything that had transpired between her and Kurt, how it ended and how much she still loved him. In return I told her about my deep abiding feelings for Wanda, and how she hated me so much that it hurt. Literally. There was our first…well everything. Started with a kiss, but ended up as much much more. I thought it'd only be a one-night stand that she'd regret the instant she sobered up, but somehow we bonded. A mutual agreement was made, to use each other to replace the person whom we really wanted, as a way to numb the pain of being alone, unwanted and broken.

I was dwelling on this memory as the sun continued to rise, and I knew there was no way I could go back to sleep. Might as well get up and actually be on time to school. Hey a first time for everything, right? I didn't even know why I kept going. Maybe it was for Tabby. Originally it was to see Wanda, even if only for a second during passing period, but recently she had disappeared. She used to disappear a lot like this before she had her memories swapped out, but ever since Magneto messed with them to make them a "happy family" she'd been stationary. That is, until recently. I had no idea where she was going, or why. Just that she was gone.

After getting ready, actually eating breakfast (definitely unusual for me), and heading out I realized that I still had lots of time before school started and I didn't wanna be seen hanging around early. People might get the wrong idea, ya know? So I hopped into a large tree that was a few feet from the school entrance and stretched out, leaning back against the trunk comfortably out of sight. I closed my eyes and let my hearing tell me everything I needed to. So what if I had a few extra mutant tricks up my sleeve that the Brotherhood didn't know? Sue me. A guy has ta keep SOME secrets, right?

It was through listening that I knew what was coming. "Ya gotta be KIDDIN' me, yo!" I mumbled under my breath, and opened my eyes. Here he was walking up like a fuckin' prince or something, his arm around Kitty's neck like he owned her, and her beaming up at him like he was her only reason for living. This guy made me sick. Even his accent disgusted me. I know it's not fair to him, it's not HIS fault that he's the main reason everything's fucked up. I mean think about it: If he wasn't in Kitty's life, then Kitty would be with Lance, like I could tell he so needed her to be. Then Tabby would be with her little boy blue, and she'd be happy. And me? Well, there was no hope for me any way you looked at it. But at least Lance and Tabbs would be happy. And it was Nightcrawler's fault for choosing the wrong girl. I couldn't help myself, I HAD to mess with him. I didn't care if Tabby'd give me hell for it later. Some things in life are necessary.

Like lightning, my tongue shot out the exact 11 feet and 4 inches that I knew would be needed to snagging his "watch" before I pulled it back, prize and all, and watched his furry blue self be revealed.

"Toad, you slimy vorm, give me my inducer back!" he yelled as he hunkered down and looked around to make sure that we were alone. I just laughed and stayed hidden.

"Watcha gonna do for it, Blue Boy? Hide behind your pet cat?"

"Like, ugh Toad you're so gross. Stop sliming all over everything and just, like, give it back, ok?" Kitty shot at me, which made me laugh even harder.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm sooooooo scared of you, Kitty. Even your name shows how useless you are, yo!"

"And what about me?" asked an older female voice as I was lifted against my will from the tree and brought to hover above Nightcrawler. "Give him his stuff back, Toad, and don't bother him again," Jean demanded and I frowned at her.

"I thought you couldn't be showing off your mutant powers in the open like this. Especially you, Ginger. You have a lot to lose, yo."

"We don't take kindly to threats, especially from the likes of you," chimed in a cold voice from Scott.

"Of course you'd be comin' to your girlfriend's rescue. None of you c'n ever fight on your own, yo. Cowards." Jean chose to drop me then. Hard.

"Toad, why don't ya jus' give it back? You're not doin' yahself any good," drawled Rouge who was leaning against the side of the building, her arms were crossed and one foot pushed against the brick. She'd been hanging out too much with Gambit it seemed, and was picking up some of his traits. I just grinned at her, and I swear I saw a ghost of a smile on her lips too. Since Rogue was more Tabby's friend than anyone elses, and had a certain disdain for Kitty, that usually put her closer to me than any of the other X-geek were. It was her request that finally pushed me through.

"Ah fine. You ain't worth my time anyways, yo," I told them all, and tossed Night-creeper's induced back at him before hopping off. Tabbs was gonna chew me up and spit me back out for harassing not only her beloved Kurt, but half of her team as well. Speaking of which, where was she? Those losers usually traveled in a pack, and these days Tabby ran with them. Shouldn't she have been there?

For just a heartbeat, I felt something. If Tabby skipped town, for whatever reason, I would miss her. A lot. What the hell? Ah Fuck. I might actually care about that fire ball.

A HUGE thank you to mouseagent, Moonphase 9, pointyearsrule, DarkRoguePhantom and others for the reviews! Without you, I wouldn't have had the ass kicking that I needed in order to get writing again. Sorry I've been so lazy! I'll try to make up for it. :) Again, thank you so much! Input is very much appreciated!