"So you really are a teacher," Lucy's voice pierced the silent classroom, jolting Jean out of her paper correcting frenzy. It was 4:45, and all the students had been out of their last classes for an hour and fifteen minutes. The classroom wing of the mansion had been clear for a while now and the sudden sound made Jean to jumped in her seat.
"God you scared me," said Jean, straightening the stack of short essays on her desk.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," Lucy smiled from where she leant against the doorway. A white wife beater clung to her tan, curvy torso. A pair of formfitting jeans outlined her hips and toned thighs. She looked a lot different with all the black tactical gear, guns and X-leathers stripped away, and Jean was a little ashamed that she was noticing this. She wasn't exactly sure how old Lucy was, but she was sure that something about the attraction between them was inappropriate.
"It's ok," Jean said, busying herself with her briefcase. She looked up and noticed that Lucy's gaze was fixed on her. "Lucy, are you…"
"I'm good, I promise," said Lucy, standing up straight and holding her hands up in front of her chest. "Sorry about earlier…" she added after a pause.
"It's ok, we should have been more careful," Jean said, standing up. She stopped in her tracks when she realized Lucy was staring intently at the space above her desk.
"When it kicks it…I can't think about anything but the hunger…it hurts, it really hurts," Lucy said slowly.
"The hunger?" Jean asked, setting her packed case down on the table. She pulled Lucy's file from the side pocket and sat down again. "You mean for blood?" "Jean asked as she scribbled notes in Lucy's file.
"Yes," Lucy whispered. "It burns until I get it,"
"I'm sorry," Jean said as she looked up from her notes.
"But that part I can control," Lucy continued. "It's the other hunger I can't control," she whispered softly.
"The other hunger?" Jean asked, pencil hovering over her paper.
"The hunger for someone under my fingertips, for a warm neck…" Lucy said, eyes closed as she hung her head. Jean watched as the younger woman's chest rise and fall as she exhaled silently.
"Were you going to bite me or…" Jean asked hesitantly.
"I don't know... At the moment, I felt like doing everything to you," Lucy admitted. "Don't worry, Professor X promised that we wouldn't be doing those kinds of tests again, and I promise not to get too fresh with you," Lucy smirked as she noticed the pensive look on Zhen's face.
"So, Zhen wasn't lying when she warned me and Storm about your problem with crossing the line with your superiors," Jean said, amused.
"You're my superior? I thought I was just going to stay here and learn, mutant stuff?" Lucy said.
"That would make me your teacher," Jean smiled.
"And colleague," Storm added as she appeared in the doorway.
"What?" Jean and Lucy said in unison.
"She's going to be your teaching assistant. The Professor thought we should give her a harmless job since she's already graduated from college and won't be taking any of our real classes," Storm said.
"Oh," Jean said, staring at Storm.
"Zhen told me that you're fluent in quite a few languages, would you mind tutoring some of our ESL students as well as some of our foreign language students?" Storm asked Lucy.
"Sure, no problem, but my Farsi kind of sucks, just warning you," Lucy said.
Later that night…
Storm opened the doors to the medical lab to find Jean scribbling furiously in a notebook. She glanced at her watch and sighed. It was 12:13.
"Why am I not surprised to see you still down here?" Storm asked as she pulled a chair up besides Jean.
"What? Oh, I'm just finishing Lucy's file…and I just needed to get away from Scott for a while. He's just been asking me so many questions about this weekend " Jean said.
"You mean about Lucy," Storm stated.
"You're not going to go off about how it's a bad idea that she's here are you?" Jean sighed.
"No, no. I was a little worried at first, but that's mostly because she almost ate you the first time I met her," Storm said. "I had a good talk with Zhen, and, even the professor thinks that she's ok," she added.
"Storm, I feel like, out of everyone here, I should be the one who's wary about her, I mean, I was the one she attacked twice, but, for some reason, I'm not afraid of her at all," Jean sighed. "Scott's been fighting with me about this," she admitted.
"Well, you have a good head on your shoulders. Follow your instincts, you're usually right about people," Storm said.
"Thanks," Jean smiled tiredly.
"Come on, you should get to bed, you have a big day tomorrow, you have to introduce your new TA to your students," Storm said, standing up.
"Shit, I forgot about that," Jean sighed, allowing Storm to pull her to her feet.
"Its ok, I'll help you write the speech," Storm said as she took Jean by her shoulders and began pushing her out of the med lab. "Boys and girls, I'd like you to meet Lucy, our new vampire TA, don't provoke her or not only will you get bad grades, she'll bite you," Storm said in a serious voice.
"Ororo, you better not even mention the word vampire tomorrow or I'll," Jean threatened.
"Or you'll what?" Storm challenged with grin.
"I'll…I won't help you pick your fruits anymore, goodbye telekinesis, hello ladders and long fruit picking poles," Jean said.
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh I would!"
The next morning…
"I wonder where Ms Grey is," Kitty whispered to Peter.
"I saw her talking to this girl outside," Peter said flicking his eyes to the door.
"Have you guys seen our new TA?" Jubilee asked as she slid into the open seat next to Kitty.
"TA? Since when do we have TA's?" Kitty asked. Her eyes flickered to the door as the knob turned.
"Good morning, sorry I'm late, but I have someone to introduce to you," Jean said as she entered the room looking a little less composed than she usually did. "Every one, this is Lucy our new TA," she said as she looked at the doorway.
"Hi," Lucy said as she awkwardly waved at the class.
"She does not look like TA material," Kitty whispered to Peter who shook his head in agreement.
"I'm just going to uh, watch," Lucy whispered to Jean before ducking to the back of the room and sinking into an open seat.
"Okay, let's go to page 457, can anyone tell me about what we read last night?" Jean's voice floated through the class room as the sound of flipping and thudding text books filled the room.
A folded piece of paper landed on Lucy's desk within minutes of her sitting down. Lucy's eyes shot up from the desk and scanned the room. Kitty smiled and gestured for her to read the note. Lucy cautiously opened the open, her eyes flew over the words.
'Hey Lucy, I'm Kitty, the buff guy to my right is Peter and the girl behind me is Jubilee. How come you're a TA and not a student?' was scribbled in pencil.
Lucy smiled to herself as she pulled out a pen from her pocket. As she began to write back Jean's voice floated into her head.
'I hope you're not passing notes in my class, TA," Jean warned.
Lucy smiled to herself again when she noticed that she could 'hear' a smile in Jean's voice even though it was a thought.
'What happens if I am?' Lucy thought back as she continued to write on the paper.
'Detention,' was the reply. Lucy looked up and was amazed when she realized Jean had been writing on the board during their entire conversation.
'Damn her concentration is good' Lucy thought to herself.
'I heard that' Jean thought, her hand never leaving the board.
'Are you listening to all my thoughts?' Lucy asked.
'No, that last one was on mistake,' Jean replied.
'Ok, read my mind now,' Lucy thought with an audible snicker.
'I'd really rather not,' Jean thought.
'Why? You think I can break your focus?' Lucy smirked.
"Ok class, since we're all pretty good with this week's material let's spend the last thirty minutes of class doing a social exercise," Jean said as she put her white board marker down. This rustled many students into sitting up straight. "I want everyone to take out a piece of paper and write their names, mutant abilities and goals for their next danger room visit, when you're done, pass them to Lucy. She and I will be scheduling group exercises with you in the next week or so," Jean said to the murmurs of excitement flowing through the room. "Yes Kitty?" Jean said as Kitty's hand shot up.
"Do we get to choose our partners?" Kitty asked.
"Well, since, Lucy is going to help us with a scenario we're not familiar with at the academy, she'll be choosing the groups," Jean said as she watched Lucy struggle with the mountain of loose leaf papers accumulating on her desk.
"Put us together!" Kitty whispered loudly as she pointed to herself then Peter rapidly.
"Ok, so has everyone given their information to Lucy?" Jean asked the room. Students all grunted and nodded. "Class dismissed then, I hope you use the free time to get started on your quiz next week," Jean said.
"Ms. Grey," Kitty said as she stopped at Jean's desk.
"Yes Kitty?" Jean responded with a tired but genuine smile.
"What exactly are we going to be doing in the Danger room?" Kitty asked with a sly smile.
"That's for Lucy and I to discuss, and you to find out when we give you your time and partners," Jean smiled. "And don't you even think about harassing your new TA," Jean added when she saw Kitty's gaze flicker to the young woman heading to the front of the room with a messy pile of papers tucked under one arm.
"Aw, I would never," Kitty cooed. "See you tomorrow Ms. Grey…by Lucy," Kitty said before disappearing into the hall.
"So, that girl is feisty isn't she?" Lucy said as she dropped the pile onto Jean's desk.
"She's also 16," Jean warned.
"No, I didn't mean, I didn't mean it like that," Lucy stuttered.
"I know, I'm just messing with you," the older woman smiled.
"Thanks. So what do you want me to do with these?" Lucy asked pointing at the papers on the desk.
"Read them, try to remember what each student can do, then meet me in the Danger Room at seven tonight," Jean said.
"Why? What are we going to do?" Lucy asked.
"That's a surprise," Jean said.
The Danger Room.
"I still don't get these," Lucy said as she walked through the doors, still fussing with the full body leather suit. She looked up and noticed that Jean and Storm were in their normal clothes in the observation deck.
"I uh, didn't tell you to suit up," Jean said as she suppressed a smile with her hand.
"Lies, you knew I was going to…"Lucy sighed as she headed up to the deck.
"Nice to know you can suit up without assistance now," Jean said as Lucy stalked into the computer filled room.
"Haha, so, what are we doing?" Lucy asked as she unzipped the upper half of the suit to reveal a white wife beater. She let the suit hang down around her waist like a mechanic's jumpsuit before dropping into a chair next to Storm.
"Let's figure that out later, why don't you run through this program as a warm up, it's nothing big," Storm said.
"What do you mean by nothing big?" Lucy asked.
"I can't tell you, that would defeat the purpose of it," Storm said.
"Fine…" Lucy trailed as she began mumbling about pre mission briefings.
"Be ready in five minutes," Storm said.
"Ok, I'll suit up," Jean said, as she head back to her room.
"Can I get a gun, please, I feel naked without mine, and I hope you know I haven't been carrying anything since I came here, not even my USP compact," Lucy said, now alone in the room with Storm.
"No, you could shoot Jean on mistake," Storm said firmly.
"Ok, first of all, I can guarantee that won't happen, second, that won't happen," Lucy said, offended.
"No, the simulation can't stop your bullets from hitting the walls," Storm said.
"Can't you program something into the simulation?" Lucy asked, glancing at the console.
"Well do you normally carry a gun everywhere you go?" Storm asked.
"Yes," Lucy replied without missing a beat.
"Like the beach or the mall?" Storm retorted.
"Well, no but," Lucy started.
"Well then there you go," Storm said.
"Ok, what about for later? If I wanted to do some target practices?" Lucy asked, leaning back in her swiveling chair.
"I have something you might find useful, but don't tell any of the students we have a firearms program on this, otherwise we'd have kids in here all day playing like the Danger Room is one giant video game…" Storm said as she reached into a cabinet and pulled out a small disk.
"I have to say, this Danger Room thing is really really trippy," Lucy said as she watched the empty room rapidly transform into a shopping mall.
"Yes, but you know from your last visit that they can cause real wounds," Jean said as she tried to ignore Lucy's stare as she watched the older woman's X-suit melt into civilian wear.
"Right, right, but friendly fire will be off, right?" Lucy asked.
"Perhaps, but let's just say no so you can take this seriously," Jean said.
"Of course, I always take things seriously," Lucy smiled. "So, what are we doing?"
"Just spending time at a mall, like some students do in their free time," Jean said.
"Right, well, I say we go to the food court I want a drink," Lucy said as she grabbed Jean's hand and started to pull the older woman towards the bustling food court.
"No, let's look at shoes," Jean said as she tugged Lucy back towards a shoe store.
"Fine…" Lucy sighed as she followed the redhead through the set of glass doors. She marveled at the welcoming beeps of the store's entrance censor. "Aren't these adorable?" Lucy exclaimed loudly. Jean turned around to find Lucy clutching a few, tiny infant shoes.
"Are you serious?" Jean said, hiding a smile.
"What? You don't think baby shoes are the cutest things ever?" Lucy said. She turned a palm sized shoe over. "Damn, these are expensive! If I had a kid I'd be pissed if I had to pay seventy dollars for these little booties," Lucy said.
"You know, you really don't seem like the type to enjoy baby shoes so much," Jean smiled as she watched Lucy replace the shoes at the baby rack.
"You make it sound like I have a shoe fetish, I just think they're cute," Lucy said.
"Ok, they're cute, happy?" Jean sighed.
"Yes, now when are we going to find out what the point of this program is?" Lucy said.
"Maybe the point of this program is to see how we can react when we're not expecting anything, so, pretend like you don't know something bad is about to happen," Jean said.
"Hah, I'm always on alert!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Right, we'll see," Jean said. "Coffee?" she asked as she spotted a café.
45 minutes later.
"Jean, can I ask you a question?" Lucy asked as she stared at the woman sitting across from her.
"Am I going to regret saying yes?" Jean asked as she raised an eyebrow at Lucy from behind her Americano.
"I don't know, that depends on you," Lucy replied with a small smile.
"Ok, fine, go ahead, but I won't promise that I'll answer it," Jean said.
"Ok, I actually have two, one where the hell did these real and consumable drinks come from and two, are you really a natural redhead?" Lucy asked as she eyes flicked up at Jean's hair.
"Well one I suppose the kitchen is where our drinks came from and two yes, but it's gotten progressively redder since I was a kid," Jean said.
"Cool," Lucy said, taking a sip from her cup of shaken iced tea lemonade.
"Can I ask you a question?" Jean asked after a few moments of silence.
"Shoot," Lucy said.
"How did you end up in the IMF?" Jean asked.
"You could say I ended up in the IMF because of a girl," Lucy smiled sheepishly.
"Zhen?" Jean asked, eyebrows perked.
"Yeah," Lucy said.
"Wow, that's some devotion, I don't know if I'd follow my significant other into a job like that," Jean said.
"What? No, Zhen's not my girlfriend," Lucy said, sitting up. "It's not like that, the whole story is a little embarrassing actually," Lucy admitted. "I was doing some not so legit things, and Zhen was the one who caught me. They made me a deal, work for them or go to prison for a long long time," Lucy said.
"And you chose working for them," Jean said.
"Yeah," Lucy said.
"How did you get all the training in?" Jean asked.
"Well, I have to say I'm only alive because of Zhen. See, since I was so damn expendable to them, they basically tacked me on to Zhen and all her missions. I was literally learning on the run. It was kill or be killed, well, there's actually not too much killing, but you get the picture. If Zhen hadn't take a liking to me, she could have accidentally gotten me shot or left in a war zone, " Lucy said. "It also helped that in my old line of work I was ok with guns and hand to hand, but I'm not going to get into that because I'm not too proud of my past," Lucy said.
"Did you really plan on working with them or were you going to split as soon as you got the chance?" Jean asked.
"I was going to split at first but let's just say I had a change of heart," Lucy said.
"Can I ask what caused that change of heart?" Jean asked.
"She saved my life, and she risked hers'," Lucy said.
"It's good to know that I met you after this change of heart," Jean smiled.
"Hey now, I never said that I was that bad before I was sucked into this espionage business," Lucy grinned.
"What did you do?" Jean asked, intrigued.
"I was, a full time Gem's dealer, did a lot of business all over the world and I happened to make friends with a few people the IMF hates. I kind of got sucked into something that I really wasn't involved in and they got the wrong idea about me, not that they believed me when I told them this," Lucy said.
"Do they now?" Jean asked.
"I don't care, but I know Zhen does that's all that really matters to me now, I never got along with the up highs in the Division anyways. Why do you think I agreed to stay with you guys so quickly?" Lucy said.
"Storm says you're here to violate me further," Jean said with a smirk.
"Ok, first of all, why does that woman hate me so much and second of all I can't violate you, if you like it," Lucy smirked back. Right as Jean opened her mouth to respond, a van screeched up next to their street side table. Three men clad in ski masks jumped out of the sliding door and advanced on the two women. The first man grabbed Jean and threw her into the van. Lucy struggled viciously in the arms of the other two but fell still when she realized Jean was already in the van.
"Let go!" Lucy screamed with faux fear.
"Shut up!" a man yelled as he forced her into the van. Lucy grunted as her head slammed into the metal interior of the van next to Jean's still body. They knocked her out in the struggle. As soon as the door slammed shut and the sound of tires squealing on pavement filled her ears, Lucy quickly flipped onto her side. The first man grunted in pain as a foot shot out and connected heavily with his jaw. An audible crack rang through the van as the other two men scrambled to get a hold on Lucy. Lucy pulled her leg back and kicked the second man square in the chest.
"Nice try," the man sneered when he caught her leg. He wrenched Lucy forward only to realized Lucy's other leg had snaked around his neck. With a firm tug, Lucy had the man in a tight choke hold.
"Get off him!" the third man shouted as he pulled a Browning hi-power out of his jacket. In a flash Lucy released the man caught in her leg lock and caught the gunman's wrists in both of her hands. "Shit!" he exclaimed as Lucy threw a shoulder into his neck, pushing him backwards. She quickly drew her elbow back and slammed it into the man's outstretched arm. The elbow joint snapped and the gun was in Lucy's hands in a second.
"Sit down," Lucy said firmly as she trained the barrel on the man still rubbing his neck from her leg lock. He sat down. Lucy spun the pistol around to get a firm grip on the handle before slamming it hard into the side of his temple. "Stop the car," Lucy commanded as she pressed the gun into the broken armed man's neck. The driver glanced into the rearview mirror.
"Do it!" the man under Lucy's gun snapped.
"Get out and open the door," Lucy said, maintaining her balance as the car screeched to a halt. "Now lie on the floor, I even get a peek of her eyes I'll put one in her spinal cord," Lucy said when the van door slid open.
"Me too right?" the man under her gun said as he staggered to the open door with broken arm clutched tightly to his chest.
"Shit, Jean," Lucy muttered as she lifted the woman into her arms. Scooting gently out of the van, Lucy glared at the two men on the floor. As soon as she got herself and Jean to a nearby bus stop the simulation dissipated around them.
"Wow, well aren't you quite capable of taking care of yourself," Jean smiled as she opened her eyes.
"Damn it, again?" Lucy sighed as she lowered the tall redhead to her feet, again.
"Well, I was a little curious about what you can do, aside from nibbling on people's necks and misuse handcuffs," Jean said as she followed the retreating younger woman into the bright hallway.
"What?" Kitty asked, eyes perked with interest.
"Kitty, what are you doing here?" Jean asked as she and Lucy came to a stop in front of the smirking student.
"Wondering why my teacher and TA are talking about nibbling on people's necks and handcuffs," Kitty said as her grin grew wider.
"That's not what I said," Jean said, glancing at Lucy. "We were just going over our Danger Room exercises for the class,"
"Right… that's what I wanted to ask you about, actually. How long do you think they're going to be, I want to know cause my best friend from back home is visiting and I need to keep her occupied if it's going to long," Kitty said, amused.
"Oh, it shouldn't be more than an 45 minutes, maybe an hour total, with the pre and post briefing," Jean said looking between Kitty and Lucy.
"Right and one more question, should we bring our own handcuffs and breath mints?" Kitty asked. "No? ok see you soon Ms. Grey! Bye Lucy!" she quickly quipped before disappearing into a wall.
"See, look what happens when you make everything sound so dirty?" Lucy smirked as she sauntered away from Jean. "Come on woman, let's write up some exercises for the kids," Lucy tossed over her shoulder at Jean.
Next up, perhaps we'll have some slightly student/TA/teacher interactions… The time jump from before the first movie to the end/shortly after the second will also be coming up soon. And reviews please! I'm writing this fic for myself, but knowing that people are actually reading will make me happy :) and perhaps update and add more chapters faster! And if anyone would like to be a beta reader please e-mail me, I haven't really been proof reading too well so sorry for the typos!.