A/N: Chapter 2 is up- better late than never I suppose. And to make up for delay, this one has Tabby in it. As always, reviews welcomed!
Chapter 2: Morning After The Night Before
The Medical Ward, Xavier Institute
True to form, Hank had risen, eaten and started his work in the laboratory before most of the other occupants had even woken up. As he knuckled into the laboratory, a familiar scent reached his nose. His senses were nothing on Logan's, but they were a massive step up from most, and Rahne's was one smell he had got very familiar with, and used to, in recent times. He wondered if she had got up even earlier than he had, or had she somehow managed to sneak in after hours? Either way, it showed impressive determination. Unfortunately he was not fully awake or his ears would have picked up the strange noise sooner. As it was, it took him some time to identify it- an odd, muffled snuffling noise. It was only when he got closer that he recognised it as someone trying very hard not to cry, as it transpired a red-haired Scottish someone. Rahne had her back turned to him and as he reached out a soothing hand she twisted slightly to make sure he could not see her face.
"Rahne? What's wrong?" He asked gently. Her only response was a choked noise and a piece of paper thrust towards him. He took it and quickly read it over. Unfortunately tears had blotched the writing in places but he recognised the handwriting as Jamie's. As he scanned it he soon realised the detail that had been bugging him even before Rahne's misery had distracted him- a distinct lack of movement from Jamie's bed. He tugged at the sheets and had his suspicions confirmed- they had been arranged to give the impression of a body that was no longer there. He was not quite sure exactly what he should do next. Sobbing teenage girls could not be solved with an equation.
*Professor, I think you should come to the laboratory as soon as possible,* he called telepathically. *Oh and maybe Ororo too... I think she might be needed.* The African woman was a maternal and comforting figure, much more useful and experienced in situations like this. It only took a few moments before they entered the laboratory. Xavier's eyes narrowed as he noticed Jamie's absence immediately, but Ororo had only got eyes for Rahne and she hugged the Scottish girl as warmly as possible and started whispering comforts into her ears.
"How long as he been gone?" Xavier got straight to the point. Ororo did hear that and looked around in surprise.
"Gone? Who's gone?"
"J-J-Jamie!" Rahne spluttered. "He's gone and he d-didn't even say g-g-goodbye..."
"Hush now, come on Rahne," Ororo said gently. "Let's not get too upset before we know what's happened exactly..."
"But he's gone," Rahne whispered miserably.
"We'll find him, and we'll bring him back," Ororo assured her. "He'll be okay, we'll sort it out."
Logan had also appeared, sensing something wrong from the way Ororo and the Professor had exited so quickly. He stomped into the room, only doing the smallest of double-takes as he saw Rahne crying. He was no more comfortable with emotional kids than Hank, but it seemed that Ororo had the situation relatively in control. "What's the problem, Chuck?"
"Jamie left in the night," Xavier said gravely. "At the moment, that's all we know. We don't know where he's going or what he's looking for, if anything."
"Stupid kid, he's in no condition to go wandering off on his own," Logan growled. "In that kinda state I don't know how he's going to look out for himself."
That prompted Rahne to start sniffling again, but Ororo hugged her comfortingly while shooting a disapproving glare over her head towards Logan, who had the grace to look abashed.
"I'm just saying he might not-" he began but Ororo's glower intensified and he took the hint. Very few people could shut the Wolverine up midsentence but Ororo was one of them, and with good reason. Logan subsided but not without grumbling to himself. "Alright, alright, I was just saying... no need for that kinda-"
"Logan?" Xavier interrupted his little tirade. Logan stopped and looked over at the Professor, who gave further instructions. "I think it's best if this doesn't reach the others until we know what's going on... can you try and find a way to keep them occupied?"
"What kind of occupation are you thinking of?" Logan said, smirking.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something," Xavier said, smiling himself. He knew that Logan had recently come up with a new Danger Room sequence he was particularly proud of and anxious to test. Besides, not only would it keep the other students busy it would do them good to stay alert; there hadn't been many incidents recently but that didn't mean they shouldn't be prepared.
Half an hour later, the Danger Room
Tabitha Smith made her way out of the changing room, grumbling to herself under her breath. Logan's tutelage had always tended to the style of 'the school of hard knocks' but the Canadian mutant had outdone himself with that last program. Tabby was particularly sore about it, in more ways than one. She had been doing very well, and been feeling particularly pleased with herself when with a strategic time-bomb she had managed to take out a claw about to capture strait-laced Scott 'Boy Scout' Summers as she thought of him. She had just enough time to contemplate the gloating rights when a laser beam had hit her right in the stomach and blasted her against all. In the shower afterwards she had not been impressed to find a bruise covering half her back and making it painful to move.
"Stupid Scott, stupid Badger, why'd I come back here again?" she asked herself. "Should have stuck with the Brotherhood, they had the right idea, none of this stuff... why'd I leave them again?" She knew the answer to that one was that they were lead by a shapeshifting sociopath in the name of a megalomaniac, and there was the tiny matter of the house being demolished as a safety hazard, but she thought even that was preferable to these damn Danger Room sessions. She scuffed her foot moodily and kept up her little litany, only stopping when she heard what sounded like someone crying. She realised she had made it back to the girls' rooms, more specifically that Rahne was sharing with the Institute's newest member, Danielle Moonstar. She could not tell which of them it was, but with uncharacteristic courtesy she knocked before barging in. Of course, she didn't actually wait for an answer, but even so it was more than she'd usually bother with.
"Hey, what's the matter, sis?" she asked. She could see now it was Rahne, lying on the bed face down. "This is not like you at all."
"G'way," Rahne said into the pillow with her voice muffled.
"Sorry Rahney, no can do," Tabby said. "If one of my friends is crying, it's my duty to get 'em smiling again- so spill girlfriend, what's got you so upset?"
"It's Jamie," Rahne said. She still didn't look at Tabby but knew from experience that the enthusiastic blonde would not leave her alone until she got an answer. Tabby was now very curious indeed; Xavier had been deliberately vague about what exactly had happened to Jamie, and why, but all the New Mutants had visited their unofficial little brother. It had come as something of a surprise to find he was now older than any of them, but he was still a good friend and seeing him so beaten up had not been pleasant.
"Yeah, not nice seeing him like that," Tabby said sympathetically. "Although I got to admit, he's kinda hunky now he's all grown up..."
That only drew a fresh sob from Rahne and Tabby realised that was probably not the best thing to say. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologised quickly. "Don't worry, girl, he's all yours. I'm just admiring the view." That seemed to make things even worse and Tabby began to get genuinely worried. Rahne was known for her optimism and faith that things would work out, so it had to be something pretty bad if it kept her feeling so dejected.
"He's gone," Rahne explained, sniffing miserably. "When I woke up in- I mean, when I went in this morning, he was just gone, he didn't even say goodbye..."
"What a jerk," Tabby said, hoping to show solidarity. The attempt seemed to work slightly better than her previous efforts as it did get a smile out of Rahne, albeit a weak and watery one.
"I s'pose," she admitted. "Didn't even say anything, just left me this note..."
"A note, huh? Pass it over will ya, I want a read." Tabby took the note and scanned it quickly. She had been expecting no more than a simple 'I don't think this is working, I'm sorry, we're through'- although that probably said more about her dating experience and poor choice in boys than anything. She certainly hadn't expected a clearly heartfelt effort like this. No-one had ever written her a love letter before. Then again, she could not honestly say she had ever felt the depth of emotion that had gone into the letter. Rahne and Jamie's mutual attraction had been obvious to everyone and a source of much teasing, but Tabby for one had never guessed there had been any more to it than puppy love.
"Tabby? Are you in there?" a voice called from outside. It was Amara, who had clearly noticed Tabby's sudden absence and gone looking for her friend. Tabby debated whether to invite the other girl in or not; on the one hand, sisterly solidarity would probably mean a lot to Rahne, but on the other hand, the Scottish girl probably wouldn't appreciate everyone seeing her in her current state.
"Yeah, I'm here. Just helping Rahne out a little."
Amara entered cautiously and made her way over to where Tabby was sitting on Rahne's bed. She was about to ask Rahne what the matter was but Tabby silenced her with a look. Rahne was probably feeling miserable enough without having to explain herself again. Tabby looked meaningfully towards the door and Amara quickly made her way out, sensing this was not a conversation to be held right here. Tabby followed quickly, pausing only for a few words of encouragement to Rahne.
"You just stay here til you feel better, okay? I'll make sure that jerk gets what's coming to him."
"Okay," Rahne whispered. "But could you not tell anyone about this? I don't want them to think I'm being stupid..."
"Don't worry about that, Rahne, just leave it to me. No-one's going to be bothering you on my watch," Tabby assured her. Rahne just nodded and rolled onto her back on the bed, reading the note Jamie had left for about the sixteenth time. Tabby was just closing the door when she heard Rahne calling softly.
"Tabby?"
"Yeah?"
"If they do find him again... make sure they leave him in one piece. I want a chance at him myself."
"No problemo." Tabby smiled to herself. Rahne was far from okay, but it seemed she was at least making a start.
"So what happened to upset Rahne so much?" Amara asked as soon as the door closed.
"Tell you in a bit," Tabby said. "First, I want you to find all the others and get them to meet up, okay?"
"That doesn't seem... right," Amara said. It wasn't the exact word she had been looking for but she couldn't quite put her true feelings into words. It just didn't sit right with her that Tabby was about to explain everything in front of everyone, no doubt starting dozens of rumours, without Rahne being there. Tabby must have sensed what her friend was thinking as she hastened to qualify her actions.
"Mara, the guy just upped and left the Institute in the middle of the night, no-one knows where he's gone," she explained. "It's not like the Prof and the others will keep that a big secret, there's no way they could. I just want to make sure that they all know if anyone teases Rahne or jokes about it I will personally stick a time-bomb somewhere really personal."
"Normally you'd be the first in line to make a joke," Amara observed. It was one of the things that she liked about the blonde mutant- where Amara was still not truly free of her formalised upbringing and rituals, there did not appear to be any situation or any person Tabby respected enough not to joke about.
"You didn't see her when I first found her," Tabby said sadly. "She was really, really upset. The worst thing that could happen would be for Ray or Bobby to come up with one of their apparently witty jokes..."
"Yeah, I can see that," Amara conceded. Bobby and Ray had appointed themselves official pranksters of the Institute but as teenage boys their jokes all tended to be crass, crude and as subtle as a malfunctioning Sentinel. Admittedly Tabby's sense of humour was not exactly refined but she did at least know what lines not to cross. Now in agreement, the two girls separated to find their friends and make sure the situation was explained.
The senior team on the other hand had been called together almost as soon as the training session had finished. Despite their greater experience they had taken their share of knocks trying to complete Logan's little experiment and even Scott was hobbling slightly as he entered. Kurt was the last to arrive, bamf-ing into the room.
"Man, I can't even move my tail anymore," he complained. He was massaging the injured appendage softly, trying to get it to look anything other than limp and lifeless.
"Quit complaining elf, it wasn't that bad," Logan said. He had decided the lesson would be improved by an interactive element and had taken part himself. So what if he had known was coming? He still got hit, and he wasn't even that sore.
"Says the man with the healing factor," Kurt grumbled under his breath. Fortunately he was spared Logan's response when Hank and Professor Xavier entered the room with matching grave expressions. The X-Men quickly stopped their bickering and complaints in favour of listening to their mentor.
"What's the problem, Professor?" Scott had instantly gone into leader-mode. Even after a punishing session in the Danger Room he was already prepared and totally willing to go out on an official mission too. In a way, it was quite impressive. In other ways, it was extremely annoying. However, he was the leader of the team and it was his example they would have to follow.
"Jamie left the Institute last night," Xavier explained. "Unfortunately, we don't yet know where he went, or if he is looking for someone or somewhere in particular. He's still not fully recovered from what happened and I don't think it's safe for him to be on his own without someone to watch out for him."
"And you want us to try and find him?" Scott surmised. "Has Cerebro turned anything up yet?"
"Unfortunately not," Xavier admitted. "Cerebro senses mutant powers being used more than the mutants themselves- and even if Jamie did use his powers, in light of recent events there's a good chance that his power... signature will not be the same."
"So we don't know where he's gone, and we don't have any way to find out where he's going, is that right?" Kurt summarised.
"That's basically correct, yes," Xavier admitted. "But I think I can guess where he might be going."
Hank looked surprised by that; Xavier hadn't mentioned that when they had begun their initial searches. On the other hand, they hadn't really gone very far before Xavier decided to call the others in and get them involved, so it was possible the Professor had only just come up with his new theory.
"When I tried to read Jamie's mind and discover what happened to him, almost all his thoughts were based on here, the Institute," Xavier said. "But then things started to take an unexpected turn, and an unfortunate one."
"What happened?" Kitty asked curiously. "Was it bad?"
"What happened is Jamie's business," Xavier said firmly. "If he ever wants to talk about it, then it will be his choice. It's not my place to discuss it- or yours to try and find out."
"So pretty bad then?" Kurt guessed. He knew if Xavier was so adamant about keeping secrecy, then he must be worried about it, and it took something special to worry the Professor. A warning hand fell on his shoulder.
"Drop it, elf. The Professor's got his reasons, and that should be good enough," Logan said. He had plenty of experience with bad dreams and a troubled mind of his own, and although the Professor wouldn't go into detail, Logan knew personally how bad things could get.
"I'm just curious," Kurt protested.
"So where do you think he's gone?" Hank had sensed the conversation veering away and quickly tried to steer it back on track.
"It's likely that after that experience, Jamie no longer thinks of the Institute as safe," Xavier said. "That's most likely why he left, or at least partially. So the next logical place would be somewhere he did feel safe- and that is probably his home before he came here."
"Makes sense," Logan said. "Feels safe, he knows where he's going and how to get there, and if he wants to try and get his head back together, it's a pretty good place to go."
"So where was home?" Scott asked.
"New Mexico," Xavier said. Scott raised an eyebrow.
"I guess we won't have to race him back there," he said laconically. "Okay Kurt, get the jet prepped. This should be easy enough."
Later that night
Tabby had of course been amongst the first to hear about where the senior team had gone. For someone so apparently carelessly airheaded she was remarkably astute and she had long since discovered that there were very few things she could not pry out of Kurt if she tried hard enough. It had actually been a coincidence that she had run into the furry teleporter as he headed towards the hangar but it hadn't taken long after that for her to cajole him into sharing details. She had decided that this was information she would keep to herself- if the boys discovered it was anything to do with Jamie she was prepared to bet a lot of money- someone else's money, of course, but plenty of it- that one of them would be insensitive enough to pester Rahne about it, the last thing she needed right then.
As for Tabby herself, she was making use of the absence of the senior team to sneak around in the middle of the night to raid Logan's supply of alcohol. He knew that someone had found it, but could not bring it up with Xavier without admitting he had brought alcohol into the Institute 'for special occasions.' Since then Tabby had made it her sworn mission to hunt down and recover the drink wherever Logan managed to hide it. She was currently headed towards the smaller garage where Logan kept his motorcycle, separate from the other vehicles of the Institute. She would not dream of touching the bike itself- even Tabby had her limits- but as Logan's little oasis amongst the chaos of the Institute it made sense that it would be where he tried to hide his other secret pleasure.
She was sneaking past the stairs when she heard footsteps approaching the top of the stairs and quickly ducked behind the nearest cover. Unfortunately this took the form of a small antique urn on a plinth and didn't actually hide her at all, but as it turned out the newcomer was totally oblivious to Tabby's presence, and would have remained that way unless the cheerful blonde hadn't announced her presence with a whisper.
"Rahne? What are you doing?"
"I've got to get out of here," Rahne said desperately. "I don't want to have everyone asking me all the time if I'm okay, and what's happening to Jamie... even if I knew."
"Not that I blame you for wanting to get out, but believe me when I say it's much harder than you think," Tabby said sincerely. She had more experience in that kind of situation than any other student at the Institute and possessed a tough shell underneath the street-wise appearance. Rahne on the other hand was as determined and resolute as anyone Tabby knew but had never had to do something like this before.
"For me, maybe," Rahne acknowledged. "But for a wolf... and besides, if I'm going to find Jamie I'll need to use my nose anyway..."
"That's a sweet thought Rahney but I don't think even Badger could track him all the way to New Mexico," Tabby pointed out.
"He hasn't gone there," Rahne said decisively. "When I read that letter, I just... knew somehow that he's not gone home, he's gone to find out more about James."
"You know him that well?" Tabby couldn't help feeling a little sceptical but on looking at Rahne's expression she realised the Scottish shapeshifter was deadly serious. There was something about the other girl's stance and the tone of her voice that convinced Tabby Rahne really was sure about her thoughts, and more to the point Tabby realised she felt convinced too. "You really do, don't you? That's... wow. In that case I guess there's only one thing I can say."
"Yes?" Rahne was convinced that Tabby had a terrible joke or teasing comment lined up, so the blonde's next words came as something of a shock.
"You go girl!"
"You really mean that?" Rahne said, surprised.
"Hell yeah I do! I just wish I had someone who cared that much about me," Tabby said lightly.
"You will, Tabby," Rahne said sincerely. "You just have to have faith."
"And someone to watch your back," Tabby rejoined quickly. "Now scram! Go get him! I'll cover for you here."
"Thanks Tabby," Rahne said. She transformed into her wolf form and bounded away out of the doors and through the Institute grounds.
"Any time, Rahne," Tabby said. She grinned to herself. She couldn't wait to tell Amara about this, and why stop her search for Logan's bootlegged alcohol now? It seemed only fair to drink to Rahne's success.