Falling Stars
I don't own the Brotherhood or the X-Men and hope to God Marvel is nice to people who play in their playground…
Yes another Victor Creed fic…he's still living in my brain…
Chapter 4
The snow stopped sometime in the night. The roof was groaning a little from the weight but was still holding. He lay there, her body spooned against his chest, the room was warm, and he was warmer covered with the blankets, and her body against his. He didn't want to move, but the snow wasn't going to wait. He tried to slip out of bed without waking her.
"Victor."
"Go back to sleep. I'm gonna throw a log on the fire and start tryin ta dig us out of this mess."
"Want me to start some coffee and something for breakfast?"
"If you want, I ain't hungry yet."
"You will be after shoveling snow."
"Woman…quit your fussin." He growled at her. He was disappointed when she did. He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't need a frail fussing over him anyway. He went into the bathroom, then back out to the front room. She was in the kitchen, hot coffee started on the stove, breakfast started, and a smile on her face.
He grumbled at her, and went to the door. His duster was hanging on a hook on the fire place and he knew he hadn't put it there. It would be nice and warm to put on, and he almost let out a little moan of pleasure as he slipped his arms into it. Going out in that snow was NOT something he wanted to do.
He opened the front door, and looked out. It was still overcast, which was probably a good thing, snow blind was not something he wanted to worry about this morning. He had a shovel on the porch, but wanted to get a good look at what things looked like. He climbed up onto the roof and looked around. The storm must have blown in from the south; the entire back of the house was one huge drift. The front wasn't as bad, and clearing the chopper wouldn't be as bad as he thought. It was halfway clear now; the wind had done half his work for him.
He thought about where his snowshoes were. If he could get to the chopper there might be enough fuel left to clear the front yard with the downdraft, save him the work. He thought they might be in the bedroom closet. He started to drop back down onto the porch when he heard the sound of a chopper. He looked around, spotting a small, unmarked bird flying his direction. He ducked down, and then noticed the front light was flashing…flashing the signal, the one they had arranged if they got separated. He stood and waved to the bird, signaling the pilot to hover over the yard of the cabin. He ducked back down, and into the house.
"Omi, we got guests…throw on some extra food." He said, as the chopper got louder. He leaned against the door, to prevent it being blown inward as the downdraft cleared the yard. When the blades stopped turning and he could open the door, he looked out, cautiously. The drifts were down to a manageable level, and their chopper was cleared. He stood there, waiting for the pilot to climb out.
"Hey, you left me there, you big dumbass…" The green skinned mutant shouted as he climbed out of the bird.
He held in the grin as Mortimer gave him hell. He was actually glad to see the green Toad.
"I had ta find another bird, get a GPS tracker to track our bird and you had to drag me out in the middle of this frozen wasteland. What the fuck were you thinking?" He stomped up onto the porch.
"Mort…I waited, you didn't show, and I had…things ta take care of." He stood on the porch, arms crossed, waiting to see if Mort was going to cause problems or not.
"Well she better be a looker…" Mort teased; and then his jaw dropped as Victor heard the door open behind him.
"How many am I cooking for? And the coffee is ready…nice job…didn't know you could dig that fast, Victor."
"Get back inside, Woman." He snarled over his shoulder.
"Hi, I'm Naomi, ignore the snarling grouch." She said, slipping past him, holding out her hand to Mort.
"Naomi. Mortimer. Nice ta meet ya." Mort took her hand and shook it.
"I am afraid its corned beef and canned potatoes for breakfast…if you are hungry?"
"Starved."
She grinned at the toad, and he felt a tightening in his chest. Mort better keep his fucking hands to himself.
He growled as she went back inside, and grabbed Toad's arm as he went by.
"Hands off. She's mine."
"Ain't that up ta her?"
"NO!"
"Mr. Possessive, that's cute…and she is a looker. I can ALMOST forgive you for leaving me."
"Ass."
"Jerk."
They walked into the cabin, the smell of corned beef hash greeting them.
"So, how much fuel is in that thing, we need some supplies."
"Enough to make a run to town, later…has cargo pods too, as long as you don't need too much."
"Good, we need some food, more fuel for our chopper, and some supplies to shore up the roof."
"Sounds like a plan…so is she a good cook."
"Yeah…as I said, hands off."
"Right, got it…but, - well – until I hear from Myst or Magnet Head, I ain't got anyplace else ta go, and want ta make sure I can at least eat well."
"Eating is fine…the rest, is mine."
"Tooth, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you actually cared." He said as he went into the kitchen. Victor suppressed a cringe. Omi would learn to take Mort with a grain of salt, she'd have to.
"Omi, Mort and I are going into town later for supplies. There's fuel in his chopper for a run. I want ta try ta get the roof cleared and repaired while there is a break in the weather."
"Could you pick me up some laundry soap, so I can get some things cleaned up? I am not too worried about water with the snow." She said as she heaped two plates and handed them to the men. Victor took his and grabbed a fork and sat on the bench at the table. Mortimer took his as well. She fixed herself a plate and sat next to Victor. He gave her a nod, and continued eating.
"So, where're ya from?" Mort asked around a mouthful of food.
"New York." She replied.
"What do you do?"
"I am…was a secretary."
"No, I meant what do you … DO?"
"I don't understand."
"She's normal, Mort."
"NORMAL!"
He growled at the Toad. "Yeah…got a problem with it?"
"Not if you don't."
"Good."
"Boss might…"
"Boss can kiss my ass. My personal life ain't none of his business."
"Tooth, you and personal life are not two things I think of in the same sentence."
"Fuck you, Toad."
He finished his plate and handed it to Omi. She set it next to hers and went back to eating.
"Good breakfast." Mort said stretching as he stood up.
"You have dishes, frog boy."
"WHAT!"
"I need ta talk ta Omi…get it cleaned up before we leave."
He gripped her elbow and led her out of the kitchen.
"Be careful around Toad, he's ok, but a pain in my ass, and can get too handsy with the frails. If he gives you any problems let me know." He gave a low growl. "I'll gut him."
"He seems nice." She said, but he frowned at her.
"I'm serious, Omi, I don't want him thinkin he can grab ya or somethin. You are MINE!"
"That's sweet, but I CAN take care of myself, I did live in New York city my entire life."
"OMI!"
"Vic, I'll be fine."
He pulled her roughly against his chest. "Just stay in the cabin while we are gone. The yard is clear, but the rest of the forest ain't and you could get lost out there. I don't want ta have ta waste time tryin ta find ya."
"Does that mean you'd waste time…instead of finding me when the snow melted?"
"DAMN it woman." He tightened his arms around her. He would never tell her just how much that thought gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Toad was shrugging back into his parka. "Damn, I hate goin back out there. It's nice and warm in here. I HATE the cold."
"I'll keep it warm."
"I am sure you do…you are just lucky I'm a sound sleeper. Don't have ta worry about waking me up."
"SHUT UP!" He growled at the green mutant.
"Fine! Let's go stock this place up. I want to get back and get warm." Victor followed Mort to the chopper.
XXXXXXXXXX
She went into the kitchen; Mortimer had washed up all the dishes. She gathered up all the dry dishes and put them on the shelves above the stove. She stoked up the fire in the stove and banked it with a couple larger logs to keep the pipe clear and went back into the living room. She went through and pulled all the drop cloths of the rest of the furniture and folded them neatly. There was a small closet near the door and she piled them inside. She thought about dusting but there wouldn't be any use until after the roof was fixed.
She went through the closets. She found a couple pairs of snowshoes, and an old handmade bow. She remembered her lessons hunting with her dad and pulled down the bow and arrows. If nothing else she could get it in shape, and it would give her something to do while the men were gone.
The wood needed oiled, the string was actually in good shape, it had been packed in an oiled pouch and stayed flexible and strong. The arrows weren't in bad shape, handmade with feather fletching; there were enough heavy pieces of plastic in the food packaging that she could make plastic fletching for them. By the time the chopper landed in the front yard she had the bow at least where she could string and draw it. She put it up and went out to help unload the supplies. They had dropped a pallet of shingles and plywood under the chopper, the blades finally stopped spinning and she went to help unload the cargo pods.
"Omi get back in the house."
"Vic, I'm fine. I can help."
"Omi, we are going to clear the roof with the choppers, I need ya back inside ta let me know when the tarps start moving. Here's a radio."
"Oh."
"Damn it, woman, I got the fuckin point. You are gonna help, so do what you are fuckin told and quit arguin."
"Fine!" She went back into the house. She heard both helicopters spin up and then the house started to shake.
"Vic, the tarp over the kitchen is showing light…and the bathroom."
A few seconds later the tarp over the back bedroom flew off. "BACK OFF…the back room is uncovered." She heard the helicopters land, and a few minutes later both men came back into the house.
"Ok, at least we can SEE what needs ta be done. Grab a hammer, Toad. We got a roof ta fix."
"Righto." They both went back outside.
"Omi…in the cargo pod…I picked up some roasted chickens, already cooked. Thought we'd be easy for dinner. If you want ta throw somethin together with them, Mort and I are going to be on the roof the rest of the afternoon. We need ta get this fixed. There's another big storm heading this way, according to the radio in town." He climbed up onto the roof of the porch. She went out to the cargo pods on the smaller chopper.
Two roasted chickens, and plenty of groceries. She started unloading them. He even remembered laundry soap and eggs. She finished putting the groceries away and went out the back door. The drift was gone…she was going to have to go looking for snow to melt. She found a clean drift not far from the back of the house and filled the two metal buckets from the kitchen. Laundry was going to be a priority. Victor had only packed her two outfits and with wearing clothing all day and all night to keep warm, she was going to need to keep things clean. She hauled the buckets back and set them both on top of the stove to melt.
She heard the hammers working on the roof, the tarp over the kitchen was pulled back and a green face looked down at her.
"What's cookin?"
"Laundry." She grinned up at him.
"That reminds me, left cargo pod, Vic picked up some things for ya."
"Thanks."
She waited for the water to melt, and heat up. Vic had some things that needed washed, there was a small pile in the bathroom of dirty laundry, and she washed it all up, including towels. She found a piece of rope and hung a drying line near the fireplace in the living room.
She could hear teasing conversation going on above her and for the first time since they had arrived at the cabin, she could tell Vic was relaxing. She was beginning to wonder if he was regretting bringing her out here.
She went out to the chopper after finishing hanging the laundry to dry, inside the left cargo pod were bags. She took them inside, and started to unload what was inside. There were jeans and bags of T-shirts for Mortimer, some new clothes for Vic and … several bags with new things for her, including a dress…why the hell was she going to need a dress out here. There was three new pair of jeans some sweaters and new underwear as well. In another bag were sleep things, pants and T shirts, so she didn't have to wear the same day clothes at night. He even bought warm socks because he knew her feet got cold. She smiled. Maybe he wasn't regretting it after all.