By: Didi
Disclaimer: Marvel and all those wonderful people that own and control Marvel retain the rights to all recognized characters of the following story you are about to attempt to read. This writer, with her many useless hours of writing, does not make any money off of this story or anything else for that matter. Please do not sue… I know a couple of real good lawyers; none that I can afford mind you, but at least I know where to find them… it's a start.Summary: Who goes out and checks out unknown things that goes bump in the night? Members of the X-Family with insomnia, that's who.
Author's Note: Okay, I suppose you can call this the next installment of the Jubilee/Northstar series I seemed to have started for no apparent reason. You know, I told myself that I won't write another one of these but the characters wouldn't let me go. I apologize now for boring you with the endless drivel. Enjoy it if you can, boo it if you must, ignore me if you want to.
Oh, and I can't speak French so you'll have to excuse the horrible French that I've injected into this story. Feel free to throw tomatoes, but only sun ripened ones, no rotten ones please.
Rating: PG-13. I hope that's high enough.
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The stupid hound that was about two miles down the road from Xavier's Institution for Higher Education was barking… again… for the fifth night in a roll. One would assume that the poor dog would have lost its voice by now as any normal human would… if the dog was human that is. But no, it was barking again and was most likely not going to stop until daybreak, as was its custom for the past five nights.
Sighing resignedly, Jubilee got up and opened the window. She couldn't explain to Paige, who would not appreciate being woken up yet again for the fifth night only to hear nothing but crickets, why she was hearing it from this distance, but she knew in her heart that the dog was barking again.
Why?
Who knows?
The wind was chilly, just enough to make her shiver and wish for a robe that she knew once she bought was never going to be worn. But the freshness of the night was sweet enough to make her suffer through the cold and simply sit there and enjoy the peace … and the continual barking of the dog. She really wished she knew why that poor dog was so very upset.
Grabbing a sweater duster from the coat tree by the closest that she knew was Paige's, Jubilee opened the door to the room shared with her best friend and made her way down the long hallway of the residence wing. The current enrolled students lived in the dorms, the next wing, while the teachers and current X-Men member resided in the old residence hall, newly renovated after the attack by Prime Sentinels.
Paddling barefooted to the kitchen, she was startled to find Jean-Paul Beaubier sitting at the breakfast table with spreading strawberry preserves on a piece of soft white bread. The subtle whiff of Swiss Mocha announced the arrival of the much promised espresso machine. "Bonsoir, Enfant. Can't you sleep?" he asked not looking up from the large book in his lap that was attempting to read and spread jam at the same time.
"I can ask you the same question," she replied, pulling out a bowl from the cabinet. Searching around for a spoon, it's been a while since she resided here; she pulled Sugar Bombs from another shelf.
"Third drawer to your right," he instructed softly.
"Thanks," finding an array of spoons of difference sizes that she had no idea what most were for. Grabbing the biggest one there that could fit into her mouth, she sat down before realizing that she forgot milk. "Oh damn it."
"There's nothing but soy left. I believe your Dr. Drake raided the ice box earlier."
Making a face, Jubilee shrugged and grabbed the soymilk. "Remind me to put a note on his computer telling him to restock and itching powder in his underwear drawer." She hated soymilk; really, really, hated it.
"I'll do that," he replied distracted, flipping the page of his book.
Chewing on tooth-achingly sweet cereal, Jubilee sat silently at the table and listened to the howling of the dog some more.
Another three minute passed without a word before Jean-Paul, usually the one to become irritated by the interruptions of his peaceful times finally looked up and watched the frown over the girl's brow. "What's the matter?"
Without pausing in her chewing, "Doesn't it bother you?"
He paused and looked around, not sure what she's talking about. "Excusez-moi?"
"The barking."
He listened to the soft chirping of crickets on the grounds. Other than the occasion snoring that one might hear when passing through the corridors, or in his room as was in his case since he resided next to Hank McCoy, there was no more noises of the night. "What barking?"
"Oh god, not you too." Jubilee resisted the urge to bang her head against the table. "What is with this!"
Jean-Paul closed his book, the one he's been attempting to read for the past month but never seem to find enough time to par rouse through a few pages at a time. Jubilee may be prone to fits of overwhelmingly exuberate enthusiasms and annoyingly endless chatters of the most mundane issues, e.g. the argument this morning with Bobby Drake on the plausibility of mermaids in this universe, but she was not one to create sensation where there was none. She wasn't paranoid, just cautious with good reasons. She does not go looking for trouble; trouble has absolutely no problem finding her. And Jean-Paul has learned from others on the team not to ignore her when she seeks attention.
"Tell me what you see?"
"I'm not seeing anything that…"
"Jubilee, you want my help you will do as I say."
"Who says that I want your help?" she demanded, biting into the Sugar Bomb with more force than necessary. Her dentist would have a fit if they could see her now.
He raised a winged brow at her. "You're here at," glancing at his gold face watch, "One in the morning eating disgustingly unhealthy junk and talking about being disturbed by a non-existent dog."
Glowering at him, "He is not non-existent. He's about two miles away."
"Two miles away."
"Yes."
"Two miles away."
"I'm sorry is there an echo in here?"
"Two miles away."
"Okay Jean-Paul, you're beginning to annoy me."
He rubbed his hand over his face and latched onto his patience. Since their first encounter, on a quiet night that turned into a movie-thon that left him deaf for two days due to all the screaming teens, he had done a fair amount of research on the child, including her files here at the institution. There was nothing in her profile that suggest enhance senses.
"You were not by any chance watching 'The Hound of Baskerville' this evening, were you?" the look she answered with was more than enough to have him sighing. "Right, silly question." He's seen her taste in movie; they all had the educational value of watching grass grown. "Tell me something, Enfant; do you truly believe that you are hearing the barking of a dog that is residing two miles away? Or is this just a…"
"Yes," she said firmly. Her eyes reflected her conviction.
That settled it. "Get dressed."
"What?"
"Get dressed," he repeated getting up and setting his book down.
Jubilee stared at him. "What for? And why are you reading what ever that is?"
"It's Key's theories on economic..." she was giving him a look so blank that he felt idiotic for even trying. "Never mind. Just get dressed."
She allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "Where are we going?"
"To see your dog."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know," shrugging.
Giving him a look that was both scathing and amused, a feat he wasn't sure how she managed to accomplish, she stuck her tongue out at him. "You just want to prove me wrong."
"I just want some peace and quiet to read my book," he replied, giving her a gentle shove. "If that means that I have to drive you two miles down the road to clear whatever mysteries that is currently plaguing you, then we might as well do so now rather than later so that I am return to my book sooner."
"Why can't you just fly us?" she asked, digging her feet as he prodded her along toward the residence.
"Because unlike the rest of this team," he replied, giving her another push. "I do not enjoy always publicly displaying the fact that I'm a mutant hero."
"But you've got no problems publicly telling people that you like boys?" she asked sweetly.
"Men," he correctly easily, use to her teasing. "I like men. Boys, I have absolutely no interest in."
"Really?" with forged mild curiosity, "Cause I've seen the way you look at Bobby. And believe me he is a boy if I ever saw one."
Jean-Paul wondered if he was blushing. Not only was it embarrassing to have one's interesting so apparently, it was even more so when it was young Jubilation that notices. But she's been so unflaggingly honest with him; he couldn't quite bring himself to lie to her. So he tried to wiggle around the problem. "The immaturity capability of a person does not eliminate the fact that he's man with a little hair on his chest."
Jubilee made a face. "Yuck, Bobby's got hair on his chest?"
He gave her another push toward her room. "It's a figure of speech, Enfant."
"Well next time, don't say it."
"You are such a child."
Not offended at all by the condescending look she was receiving as he gave her another shove toward her quarters. "And you're barking up the wrong tree if you're looking at Bobby." She had to warn him, just had to. Getting one's heart broken was not a fun thing to do, homo, hetero or anything else in between.
"Don't I know it," he muttered, wishing not for the first time that Dr. Drakes were anything but unflappably hetero. "Relax; I fully comprehend the impossibility of having a relationship with a man that chases after anything in a skirt."
Jubilee laughed and chose not to defend her dear Bobby. Besides, Jean-Paul had said it with mildly irritated affection.
"And don't go spreading it all over the school," he warned sternly, giving her shoulder another prod as they near her room. "I hardly need the added publicity."
"You're secret is safe with me," she promised, making an X over her heart. She smiled sweetly at him as they came to her door. "I can help you find a nice man to be with," she offered helpfully.
"The idea of your playing matchmaker for me is likely to give me nightmares for months to come," he replied with a grime face as she giggled. "Get dressed, Brat."
"Sure, slowpoke," opening the door to her room.
"What?" startled by the name.
"See you in ten," and closed the door firmly in his face.
To Jean-Paul's infinite relief, true to her words, Jubilee was flying down the stairs at an alarming speed ten minutes later. Afraid that she was going to smash her nose on the marble tiles decorating the school's entrance way, he reached out and prepared to catch the ridiculous child. Surprising him, she stopped an inch short of his arms.
Knowing perfectly well what he had been thinking and intending, she grinned at him and asked, "Did you want a hug?"
He scowled at her.
Giggling with delight, "You're so predictable," then hugged him briefly before walking to the front door.
Wondering how he was supposed to survive with his sanity living in the same house with her, he followed silently with a mild since of disorientation. The girl's mind races along at a speed that could possibly rival his mutant powers. But since it was nothing new when in her company, he ignored it a folded himself into the sleek two-door sporty little thing.
Wiggling to get comfortable, Jubilee rolled the windows down as Jean-Paul took a moment of joy at the purring of the eight-cylinder engine. A small parting gift from a CEO that wanted help putting together a financing package to expand his company; he had fond memories of the multi-million dollar deal and the man that wanted it. In the end, he was most assuredly better off keeping the car rather than try to take over the company he had help to expand. There was nothing like riding a fine tuned machine to make a man feel like a man. And deals can be brokered every day.
Jubilee tilted her head and saw what could be as close to joy as she's ever going to see on the Canadian's face. It amused her to know end that it was a car that brought the emotion. She never understood this thing about boys and their toys. "How come big guys always have to buy these teeny tiny little cars?"
"It's a guy thing," he replied with a shrug, shifting gears.
"Even for you?" she asked curiously.
Because she asked so guilelessly, he was convinced that she meant no harm by it. In fact, most of what she does when not teasing, was done with the kind of sweet innocence that Jean-Paul really had to wonder how she managed to last this long in the world… especially in the dangerous environment of the X-Men. Not that she's come out unscathed. "I am still a man with all the failings of one."
"Nice to know that you have some."
He reluctantly smiled. "Pardonez moi, but may I inquire as to exactly what you plan on doing once you've located this illusive beast?"
"Hank would take offense in your calling a canine by his codename," she replied as they pulled up to the security gate. "And for your information, I have a plan."
"And what plan would that be?" Rolling down the window, he punched in his code. Rolling through the gate, "Which way?"
She closed her eyes and listened to the long howls that drifted over the roar of the engine. "That way," pointing west.
Turning the wheel to the pave road, he drove with the same way he walks, at lightning speed. "And the plan?"
"I'll think of one when we get there," she answered with a smile. "I think better on my feet."
"Great," he muttered dryly. "Just great."
"Relax, you're always so tense."
"Relax, the little one says," he muttered as he shifted gears and streaked down the deserted road. "I'm sitting in a car that is more than likely to get me a speeding ticket from some local hick that wishes to pump as much money out of me as possible, with a child that has been a rather dangerous thorn to my side, at one in the morning without informing anyone of my intentions, riding off to see some dog that I am still unsure existence anywhere on this reality and the enfant tells me to relax." He turned and glared at her. "Exactly what part of this is supposed to relax me, especially if your Mr. Logan wakes to find you missing?"
"Well, you can start your relaxation process by driving at a speed that won't make people suspect that you've just kidnapped me and is about to do unspeakable things to my nimble little body."
That was a definite distraction. "What?"
"Sorry, I've been reading some of Paige's romance novels." She laughed and didn't look the least bit sorry as she stuck her head out the window to feel the chilly night air. "But seriously JP, you need to slow down. I can't hear anything but air passing through."
"Through what? Your ears or the car?" he asked as his decelerated slowly. "And don't call me 'JP.'"
"Why not?"
"That's not my name."
"J for Jean; P for Paul. JP. What's the problem?" she asked inquisitively.
He sighed and decided to reframe from lecturing her about proper show of respect for one's elders. It would only go in one ear and out the other. It was be a complete waste for breath, besides which, Jubilee will do as she pleases no matter what he says. "You still hear it?"
"We're getting closer but…"
"But?"
"He sounds weaker," the concern on her face for the animal was both exasperating and endearing. She stared off into the distance, clearly disturbed. "Like he's getting tired or something."
"Is this normal?"
"No," she shook her head and pulled herself into the car to look at him. "Usually he goes all night and doesn't stop until daybreak."
"Daybreak?" he shifted into a lower gear and turned to stare at her. "Just how long have you been listening to this dog's barking at night?"
"This would be the fifth night."
He nodded to himself. "Well, that explains it."
"Explains what?"
"Why you've been cranky all week. Sleep deprivation."
She gapped at him. "I have not been cranky!"
"Yes you have, even Mr. Drake has mentioned it and he's usually the least observant of the X-Men." He didn't mention that he had been the one to suggest Jean take a quick walk through the little one's head to find out what has been troubling the youngster. "Mr. Summers has been making excuses for your abominable behavior for days now."
Jubilee rolled her eyes and gave a snort of laughter. "Now I know you're lying. Scott doesn't make excuses for himself much less others. If he's got a problem with me, he'll come to me with it."
"No, he wouldn't."
"Yes, he would."
"No, he would not."
"Yes, he would."
"Are we really going to sit here and do this all night?"
"You've got anything better to do?"
"Scores of them," he replied sarcastically. "And for your information, Scott Summer would not come to you with any problems you may or may not inadvertently cause because he is too concern for your fragile state of being."
"My what?"
"He's worried about your emotional health."
She gave him a skewed look. "Why? Do I look like I'm about to have an emotional breakdown?"
Jean-Paul had to wonder why the smart ones are always so dense at times. "In case you've forgotten, it wasn't too long ago that you died on a cross and had to bury a friend that suffered the same fate. You'll excuse the rest of your loved ones if they think you may need some time to come back from what depths of grief you may be suffering wordlessly."
The silence that it the statement caused was unnerving. It was so unsettling in fact that Jean-Paul wished he had kept his mouth shut.
With a sigh, Jubilee slumped in her seat. "I didn't know that others were so worried."
Relief that she wasn't going to fall into sobs, "Can you blame them? Your return was quite a shock over all."
"I always did know how to make an entrance," she muttered under her breath.
The dejection in her tone alarmed him. He would never freely admit it to anyone but his own silent conscious, but he enjoyed the times he's been forced to endure the little one's company. Her endless optimism almost made it possible for him to believe the unbelievable. She had a rose color view of reality that helped him understand why he keeps fighting for a better world… much like Peter.
He knew that he would probably kick himself later, "They love you. They fear for you."
"I don't want them to have to."
"But they do."
She nodded, running her fingers through her short cropped hair. "I know." She suddenly leaned out the window. "Wait, we passed it."
"What?"
"We passed it," she repeated, pulling her head back. "Turn around and slow down."
One of the things he loved about his car, the turn radius. Swinging the car around in one smooth graceful movement that brought a smile to his face, he headed back towards the… He must have really been in his own head to have missed that ruckus the first time they passed it. It sounded as if someone was trying to murder that desperately howling hound.
"Oh god," Jubilee was out of the car before Jean-Paul could make a complete stop. "You poor baby," and crashed down to her knees by the roll of wooden fence.
"Jubilee!" he called after her as he slammed out of the car. "Are you insane, child?" his heart jumped several beats as he assessed the environment. Too many dark shadows to hide in. He was sure the rest of the X-Men would find lovely use of his body parts once Wolverine was done shedding him to pieces should anything happen to his 'little darling.' He bit back the need to lecture her about her impulsive behavior. "Get away from there," pulling her back as she reached through the fence toward the continuously barking dog.
"But his hurting," she argued, shrugging him off as she reached through the fence and caressed the impossibly old basset hound who kept howling. "Look at him," she pleaded, her hand running long the flank of the dog. "Can't you see that he's in too much pain to hurt anyone?"
Jean-Paul sighed. He could see that the sounds emanating from the animal was hardly threatening, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "You don't know where the dog has been."
"He's domesticated," she pronounced, jiggling the collar with the bog shaped tag. "He's not going to hurt me."
"But you might be hurting him," he pointed. "We don't know what's wrong with the little breast."
"Don't call him that… or at least not like that," even as she withdrew her hand. "You poor thing, what's wrong?"
"We're headed home if he answers," he told her in no uncertain terms.
The dog came off of mid howl to growl at him.
Surprised, Jean-Paul raised a brow.
Jubilee gave a weak laugh and touched the wire fence.
"Hello?" a voice in the darkness called.
Tensing visibly, Jean-Paul shifted his body to put himself between Jubilation and the voice.
Poking Northstar on the calf, Jubilee called, "Hello? Anyone out there?"
A middle-age woman tying on an impossibly large sunshine yellow robe appeared suddenly from the left, behind the fence. "Hello there. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
Jean-Paul's hand reached for Jubilee's shoulders to draw her up. He'd need to pick her up if there was danger. "We were passing by and heard your dog barking. Is he all right?"
The woman sighed. "He's been like this for a while now."
Not the least afraid, Jubilee reached out and touched the old dog's head as the hound basset hound threw its head back and resumed his howling at the moon. "What's wrong with him? He sounds so sad."
Tucking a log of graying hair back, the woman smiled sadly. "Davie's probably lonely."
"He wasn't lonely last week," Jubilee pointed out.
Eyes wide, she looked at the mismatched two cautiously. "How did you know that?"
Jubilee jerked her thumb down the road. "We live that way, not too far away."
Looking down the road, the woman frowned. "But there's nothing down there except trees and…" startled, she looked at the two again. "Are you two from the school?"
Bracing himself for the screams and hysteria, Jean-Paul nodded. "Yes."
"I see," nodding softly. "I'm sorry if he's been disturbing you at the school."
Ignoring the surprise she could feel from Jean-Paul, Jubilee shook her head. "He hasn't been disturbing anyone," she lied and elbowed Jean-Paul's kneecap when he jerked his head toward her. "I was just wondering why he's been crying."
The woman nodded as if in perfect understanding. "We had to put his mate, Mitsy, to sleep last week. He's been howling every night since."
"Oh, you poor darling," Jubilee murmured softly, her hand going to the crying dog's head once more. "You must miss her terribly, don't you boy?" The dog howled again more raggedly as if in answer. She nodded her head in commiseration and rested her forehead on the fence. "I know just how you feel."
Jean-Paul sighed, wondering just how pain was still residing in that child with her unfailingly façade of cheery disposition. The others were right to worry. Turning to the sympathetic woman that watched the child with the kind of motherly expression he's seen on Jean and the others, "Why did you put down the mate, if I may inquire?"
"Mitsy was getting on in age. She was fifteen and going completely blind. It would have been cruel to let her suffer."
"And this one?"
"Davie is also fifteen," she sighed and tucked the irritating lock back again. "He's not going to last much longer."
"Why didn't you just put both of them to sleep at the same time?"
She gave him a helpless look. "Call me sentimental, I just couldn't." She glazed down at the crying dog that was taking some small comfort from Jubilee's willing hands. "But it would appear to have been a bad decision on my part."
"We do what feels right," he replied as he watched Jubilee pat the dog slowly. The night was dragging on. "Jubilation, we should leave."
Nodding her head, she sniffled but made no attempt to get up. "You know, it might be better if you let him go in the house and sleep with you. He probably won't feel so lonely out here in the dark and silence. He's use to having someone around making noises and keeping him company."
"I tried," the woman replied softly. "But he scratches to come out here and then howls all night."
"I understand," Jubilee murmured. "You don't want to be away from her, do you boy? Cause you know she's here." Pushing back the tears that threatened to make her a blubbering idiot, she nodded and gave the old hound one last pat on the head. Turning, she managed to catch the tear before it fell. "You should put him to sleep soon. He… he probably doesn't like it so quiet around here, that's probably why he keeps howling. He wants to be with his mate. It would be better… kinder." She gave her tentative smile. "And quieter for the neighborhood."
The woman nodded her head slowly with a gentle smile.
"Thank you for letting me visit with your dog." Jubilee bowed in a very Asian manner and turned to the car.
Jean-Paul nodded his own good-bye and followed her.
It was completely silent in the car as they drove back toward the mansion in more moderate speed. They could just make out the gates when she spoke.
"I don't know if it'd make me feel any better when the howling stops."
He wondered the same thing himself. "He'd be in a happier place."
"I know but… it'd be so quiet again."
"He would be at peace and with his mate."
"True," she mulled over the idea some more in her head. She took comfort to know that he would be happier. She wished she could be when the silence comes. "Are you hungry?"
Choosing not to answer directly, "What would you be in the mood for, Enfant?"
"I supposed a beer would be completely out of the question."
He slanted her a look. "You suppose correctly." They came to a stop at the gates and he turned to face her. "Well?"
She looked at him. "Do you like ice cream?"
"Again with the sugar intake." He sighed but freely admitted to himself that he probably couldn't say no to her now with her big sad eyes if she had pressed on the beer issue. "I suppose one always has room for ice cream."
"Good," she leaned over in her seat and kissed him on the cheek. "Cause you're buying."
Startled by the spontaneous show of affection, it took him a moment to react. "Of course, why didn't I guess?" Shifting gears as he pulled away from the entrance, "No flirting with the boys."
"You too… ur… men."
"Right."
"Right."
"Jean-Paul?"
"Don't."
"What?"
"You were about to say something that wasn't needed."
"How do you know?"
"Because you are not as difficult to figure out as you wish to believe."
Tilting her head, she thought it over. "Can I say it anyways?"
Jean-Paul sighed. "If you must."
"I must."
"Then go ahead."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Can I get two scoops of ice cream?"
"Don't push your luck."
Fin
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(sigh) Hopefully this will exercise what demon is pushing these stories out.