On the Verge of Happiness

Disclaimer: I have yet to turn into Stan Lee, you do the math.

A/n: Well hell, I started this umm…I don't know when, but I've been having some major writers block, so that's one of the reasons I've been MIA since like, May. And uh, I know I need to update Dare and uh, well, bleh.

Chapter 1

"Guess who's back?" Tabby shouted as she kicked the front door of the Brotherhood house open and walked in like she owned the place.

Lance, who had just walked out of the kitchen, stopped dead in his tracks and flat-out stared at her as she entered the living room. Fred and Toad both looked up from the TV to stare at the girl as well.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not polite to stare?" Tabby asked, winking at Lance before tossing her bag aside and plopping down on one of the chairs. "Ooh, I love this movie!" She exclaimed, picking up the discarded movie case.

"Tabby, what are you doing here?" Lance asked after he found his voice again.

"I'm moving in, of course." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Get kicked out of Xavier's again, yo?" Toad snickered.

"Nah, I just realized you guys are a lot more fun to live with."

"Of course we're more fun." Pietro said, appearing out of nowhere with about fifteen boxes of pizza. He placed the pizzas on the table before doing a double take. "Tabby? Why are you here?"

"Do you want me to leave, Speedy?" She asked, standing up and walking over to him.

"No you can stay." He said, opening a box of pizza and putting a few slices on a plate. "Have some pizza." He nodded toward the pizza boxes and Tabby sighed, getting a plate and taking a few slices as well.

"Yo, I'm not sure Wanda's going to be ok with this." Toad whispered to Lance, nodding toward Tabby who just left the room.

"I honestly don't think Wanda will care. Unless Tabby does something stupid that pisses her off, that is." Lance said before sitting down on the love seat.

Just then, Wanda walked in and everyone became very quiet. She glared at them all as if they'd done something, which wouldn't really surprise her, before getting some pizza for herself. And after sending one more glare toward her brother, she turned to leave the room; but not before almost colliding with Tabitha.

"Who are you?" Wanda asked, glaring at the girl now.

"Names Tabitha." She said, taking Wanda's hand and shaking it. "And you're Pietro's sister, right?"

"Wanda." She growled, shooting a look at her brother who pointedly ignored it.

"That's it! Well, nice to meet you Wanda." Tabby said, sitting down beside Lance. Wanda didn't know what to say, so she just turned and left the room. "She seems nice." Tabby said, taking a bite of her pizza; everyone in the room just stared at her as if she were crazy.

"Let's watch a movie." Lance suggested, going over to their collection. "Uh, whose turn is it to pick?"

"Mine." Fred said from the couch. "And I wanna watch Forrest Gump."

Lance sighed and grabbed the movie from the shelf and popped it into the VCR. He then got another slice of pizza and sat down in the chair Pietro had previously been in.

"I was sitting there." Pietro said after coming back a minute later.

"I don't care. Go sit by Tabby." Pietro narrowed his eyes at Lance, who was ignoring him.

"Come on, Speedy, I don't bite." Tabby laughed; Pietro rolled his eyes and sat down beside her.

They watched the movie in silence for the most part, a few comments here and there. Then it got quiet, mostly because Tabby had fallen asleep. Lance smirked as he glanced over at the love seat where Tabby was asleep with her head on Pietro's lap. Pietro noticed Lance's smirk and glared at him, causing Lance to laugh.

"Oh, this is too good to just pass up." Lance said, standing up and leaving the room, only to return a few minutes later with a camera. He began taking pictures of the two; Pietro was glaring at him in most of them.

The movie went off and Toad and Fred left the room. Lance was trying to pick up the living room a bit, tossing out the pizza boxes and paper plates. Pietro was having difficulties standing up without waking Tabby. Lance frowned and walked over to his friend.

"You're going to have to carry her up to a spare room."

"Yeah, yeah." Pietro said, picking Tabby up with little effort. "Which room should I put her in?"

"The room across from mine is empty, just put her in there." Lance said distractedly, picking up the last pizza box and taking it into the kitchen.

Pietro carried Tabby upstairs and laid her down on the bed, covering her up. He reached down and moved a strand of hair behind her ear, causing her to flinch. Pulling away immediately, he took a better look at her eye and the side of her face. He lightly touched it again, causing her to whimper in pain. Narrowing his eyes, Pietro quickly closed the door and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Tabby, wake up." He said, a bit more forceful than he meant.

"Five more minutes." She mumbled, rolling over on her side. Pietro put his hand on her shoulder and forced her back onto her back; she cried out a little before biting her lip and opening her eyes.

"What the hell, Pietro?" She shouted, sitting up so she was eye level with him. He glanced at her hand, which was holding her shoulder; she followed his eyes curiously. Then her eyes widened as he pulled her sweater off, leaving her thankful she was wearing a tank top. "You perv!" She moved to slap him but he grabbed her arm, causing her to whimper again. He let go as she took her wrist in her other hand.

"Who did this to you?" Pietro asked, anger evident in his voice as he looked at her arms, which were covered in bruises.

"Why do you care?" She asked, just as angrily, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

"Who did this to you?" He asked again, softer this time.

"It doesn't matter." She said quietly after a moment of silence.

"It does matter!" Pietro shouted. "Because I'm going to kill the bastard."

Tabby was quiet; she wouldn't even look at him. Tears threatened to fall and she was trying and failing to hold them back. Pietro took her hand in his and she looked up at him, shocked.

"Was it your father?" He asked softly, staring into her eyes with an emotion she couldn't quite place.

"I should've known better" She whispered, allowing a tear to fall. "I should've known he'd never change."

"It's ok Tabby, you don't have to tell me what happened." Pietro said, pulling her to him and holding her close; she finally broke down and cried.

"I didn't know she was sick." She sobbed, clinging to his shirt. "He started drinking again like he did when I was little. Then he hit me and yelled at me, blaming me for what was happening to her." Pietro tightened his grip on her as her voice broke again. "Then…then she…she didn't get better this time, Pie."

Pietro didn't know what to say. He had never seen Tabitha this way before. She was always out there, doing something crazy and living life to the fullest. But for her to be crying in his arms, her spirit broken…It scared him.

"She died two days ago and I've never seen my dad so angry. I didn't know what to do, so I ran."

"He won't hurt you here." Pietro said, placing his hand under her chin and making her look at him. "I promise." Tabby leaned her head against his shoulder again and closed her eyes.

"Don't leave." She whispered, almost pleadingly.

"I'm not going anywhere." He assured her, pulling the blanket back and laying down. Tabitha lay down as well, resting her head on his shoulder as he covered her with the blanket as well. He held her close as they both drifted off to sleep.

Morning

Lance walked into the kitchen around seven to find Fred making pancakes, among other things, while Toad sat at the table watching a fly. He shook his head and walked over to the fridge, opening it up and taking out a can of soda. As he opened it, Wanda walked in. She shoved him out of the way and grabbed an orange before taking a seat across the table from Toad, who was still watching his prey.

"Has anyone seen Pietro this morning?" Lance asked, sitting down beside Wanda.

"Nope." Fred said, since the other two didn't answer; one just didn't care and the other had just caught his breakfast.

"Ugh, do you have to do that in front of me?" Lance asked disgusted, standing up and leaving the room. "I'm going to go find Pietro so he doesn't make us late for school yet again."

"You might wanna make sure Tabby's up as well." Fred said, sitting down with a stack of food piled on his plate.

"Oh yeah, I forgot she was back." He mumbled to himself as he made his way upstairs, stopping in front of Pietro's door; he knocked twice. "Pietro, get up." He shouted; there was no answer. Lance opened the door and peeked inside. "Where is that idiot?" He sighed before heading down the hall, pausing in front of the once spare room. "Oh well, I'll just check on Tabby first." He knocked on her door. "Tabby?" There was no answer here as well. He grumbled and tried the door, opening it. However, he wasn't prepared for what he was about to see.

Lance just stared at the scene before him. Pietro was in bed with Tabby. Okay Lance, just back out slowly. He tried to do just that, but he tripped over a cord causing a lamp to fall to the ground and break. He froze.

Pietro rubbed his eyes and glanced around the room. Sitting up he saw Lance just standing there, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. Pietro was about to ask Lance what his problem was when he realized where he was, who was in bed beside him, and what it must look like from Lance's point of view.

"Ok, first of all you have the wrong idea! Nothing happened." Pietro said quickly, standing up. Lance noticed the clothes and sighed in relief.

"Pietro what the hell were you thinking?" Lance shouted, causing Tabby to stir.

"It's none of your business." Pietro shot back.

"Fine!" Lance turned on Tabby who had pulled the blankets around her before standing up. "Tabby, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Leave her out of it." Pietro shouted, getting in Lance's face.

"Lance, it's really not what you think." Tabby said, walking over to stand between the boys.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why shouldn't you?" She snapped back, glaring at him. Lance didn't know what to say, he just stood there looking between the two of them.

"This isn't over." He said, turning and leaving the room. "I'm leaving in twenty minutes, so be ready."

"Stupid prick." Pietro muttered once Lance was out of the room. Slamming the door, he turned back to Tabby who had thrown the blanket back onto the bed and was now rummaging through her bag looking for something to wear for the day.

As Pietro stood there, he tried to come up with a reason for why he had stood up for Tabitha like he had. Normally he would care less if one of the guys thought he'd slept with her…but something was different this time. Was it because of what she'd told him the night before, about everything she'd been through in the past week? Or was it something else? Was it possible that he had feelings for Tabitha…?

"Pietro?" Tabby questioned, standing in front of him, a look of what was quite possibly concern etched on her face. "You kinda zoned out on me there, you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah…yeah, 'm fine." He muttered, eyes traveling to her arms that she'd yet to cover up. In the light he could make out the bruises better, which merely caused his frown to deepen. "I'm gonna go get ready for school. You goin' today?"

"I…I don't think so." She answered, turning her back on him and grabbing the hoodie she'd tossed onto the bed a moment earlier. Tabby slowly pulled it on over her head before turning back to Pietro. "You better hurry, don't wanna be late."

"Please, I'm never late." Pietro replied smugly, but he still didn't make any move to leave. "Do you want me to stay with you today?" He asked her quietly; she merely grinned at him.

"Don't worry 'bout me, Speedy. I'll be fine."

For some reason, he doubted that.

A/n: Definitely going to be long gaps in these updates, because I haven't even started to write the next chapter. But…I found this and was like, eh, might as well. So here it is. Review please?