disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men, Marvel does. I do not expect any monetary benefit from this work of fiction which is intended for entertainment purposes only.

Ordinary People
by Dizi

Chapter 4: Day Off

"Um, Bobby, who is it that's asleep in your room?" Jean asked, not really sure she wanted to know, but he had never been one they had to watch for things like that.

He grinned at her happier than he'd been for awhile. Since the last failed date attempt to be exact. "I kidnapped Maggie."

Her eyes widened. "And incarcerated her in your bed?"

"She was tired." Bobby gave her an innocent look and she wasn't sure what to think of that one.

"Uh-huh. Does this count as your first date then?" And did she really want to know at this point? Jean asked herself. But she did because she liked seeing the fun and mischievous side of him without anyone screaming, and had thought he needed a girlfriend for a long time now.

"Hopefully, that'll come later."

"Uh-huh." she repeated. "Well, I think she's starting to wake up."

"Hmm, not sure if that's a good thing, she's so tired. Do you know if Scott's in his office?"

"Yes, he is." She answered, not sure what one had to do with the other.

"Thanks. See ya!" Bobby rushed past with her shaking her head at him. She hoped she remembered this next time she thought he was lonely and needed a girlfriend.

Bobby knocked sharply on the office door, entering when Scott called out a greeting. "Hi. Can I get you to do me a favor? Well, it's for Maggie actually."

"What kind of favor?" Scott put down his pen and pushed away his stack of paperwork, grateful for the interruption.

"Her car broke down yesterday, would you look at it for her? Unless you want to go back to your papers there." He hinted, knowing his leader's response. They joked that when he got fed up with paperwork, Scott came up with missions to get out of it.

"You know me, happy to help." Scott pushed the stack further away.

"Thought you might feel that way." Bobby turned back to the door. "Soon as she's awake, I'll get the keys."

"Let me know when." He reluctantly pulled the stack back to it's original position. "And Bobby? See if you can make it soon."

"Gotcha." Bobby shut the door behind him, then he ran up the stairs to his room. Breathing hard, he paused to catch his breath before knocking softly on his own door. There was no answer, but he hadn't really expected one considering how tired she was, but then again Jean had said she was waking up. Just to be sure, he turned the doorknob slowly trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Dere a boogeyman in your room?" came a voice from behind him.

Surprised, Bobby jerked, kicked the door, and fumbled to close it, all the while loudly going, "Sssshhhhh!"

Full of amusement, Remy watched with a half smile. "Tryin' to hide somet'ing, mon ami? Or would dat be somebody?"

His heart still pounding, Bobby leaned against the wall. "I'm not hiding anything. Maggie's sleeping."

"Movin' fast. Remy t'ink you learn some t'ings from him, non?" Smile widening, he raised a knowing brow.

"Non - I mean, no... I mean..." He blew out his breath, getting his thoughts in order. "Maggie got off work so tired she was practically - well, literally - asleep on her feet, so I put her to bed."

"Ah," Remy shook his head mournfully, as if disappointed in him. "She wake-up, you take her some place nice, n'est ce pas? You show her she special, treat her nice, den you in de bed wit' her 'stead sneakin' in."

"I wasn't sneaking." Bobby protested. "I was just checking on her."

"Um-hmm, you t'ink 'bout what Remy said." He walked down the hall to the stairs, still shaking his head.

This time Bobby looked around cautiously before he again opened the door. He peeked inside, then went to kneel beside the bed when he saw Maggie's eyes were open.

"Hi," he whispered, not sure why. "Are you ready to get up?"

Maggie didn't answer. She was lying completely still, covers up to her chin barely leaving her face visible, her fine straight hair was spread out over the pillow, and her eyes were open but also still. She didn't even blink when he spoke, causing Bobby to wonder if she was actually awake. He vaguely recalled hearing once that some people slept with their eyes open.

"Are you hungry?" he persisted hesitantly, still whispering. "I still have the lasagna put aside for you."

That got her attention. Her hands shaking, she pushed the blanket aside to sit on the side of the bed, though she continued not to speak and was shaking uncontrollably.

"Are you alright?" He knew she was sleepy but this seemed a bit of an extreme reaction. "If you want to sleep some more, it's fine."

"C-cold," Maggie mumbled, rubbing her hands on her arms.

In horror, Bobby realized he hadn't turned off the air-conditioning. Comfortable in much lower temperatures than others, he had an industrial sized unit for his room alone which he used almost year around and hadn't thought once to turn it off. Very few people even visited his room, much less stayed inside for long. He'd never considered the temperature might be the reason.

Quickly, he went to his dresser, pulling out a sweatshirt. "I'm so sorry, Maggie. Let's get this on you, it'll help and it's much warmer in the rest of the school."

He put it over her head and helped her put her shaking hands through the arms, then brushed the front parts of her hair with the blue streaks over her ears as she normally kept it.

"Come on, Mags." Taking Maggie's hand Bobby led her from the room. "We'll drop off your keys with Scott so he can work on your car and then get some food in you."

"My car?" Her mind was still foggy from sleep. "I thought I was going to have it towed to a garage. Isn't Scott the guy with the glasses?"

"Yeah, he's great with cars. He'll fix it for you."

"Are you sure he's cool with that?" Her feet almost stopped moving as a huge yawn overtook her.

"Trust me," Bobby said with a short laugh, unsure if it was from how adorable she looked or how much Scott was looking forward to getting out of paperwork. "He's happy to do it."

Later Maggie would thank Scott profusely for his help, but when they reached his office she just mutely dug her keys out of her pocket at Bobby's prompting and gave the approximate address of where it had stopped on her. It was Bobby who supplied the description of the car.

When they reached the kitchen, Remy was already there, having just put a pot of red beans on the stove as he was cooking dinner that night as they would need to simmer. He watched Bobby lead Maggie to the breakfast nook where she curled up on the bench, layed her folded arms on the table, and put her head on top of them. She appeared to be instantly asleep so he kept quiet, simply watching curiously.

Opening the refrigerator, Bobby took out the foil container of leftovers and put it in the oven to heat up. Seeing an open loaf of bread on the counter, he looked at it consideringly before calling out, "How about some garlic bread to go with it?"

To Remy's surprise, her head popped up immediately and she said pitifully, "Food?"

"Don't worry, baby," Bobby said gently. "I'll just let you know when it's done." At the look on Remy's face, he explained, "She's hungry."

"Oui," was the reply. "Remy see dat."

After he put the bread in the oven, Remy told him in a low voice so as not to disturb Maggie again that there was some salad in the fridge from the women's lunch which would go well with her meal. Grateful for the suggestion, Bobby got a bowl out of the cabinet and just finished filling it when Jean and Ororo came in on their way out to the pool.

Both women were surprised to see Bobby with a salad, which was definitely not part of his usual diet. At their questioning looks, he gestured to Maggie's still form. "It's for her."

"When I said I thought she was waking up, I didn't mean for you to drag her down here." Jean reproved.

"I didn't," he responded indignantly. "She was hungry and got up on her own."

"She does not appear to be hungry." Ororo said doubtfully.

"Mention food and she'll be awake." A wicked look came into his eyes and Jean almost cringed. It was the look he got when an idea for a prank came to him.

Ororo didn't see it, still studying Maggie. "As you say."

"She wake up quick at de talk of food." Remy grinned, then frowned a bit. "We be little loud, non? We be quiet for de femme?"

"Nah, we don't have to worry about it. I forgot earlier, but Maggie has four brothers and says she can sleep through anything." He pulled the hotpads from the oven door and took out the food. "This'll wake her up though."

Taking off the cover, the wonderful aroma of Italian and garlic wafted strongly throughout the kitchen. Maggie twitched, moving restlessly.

"This is gonna be funny." Bobby couldn't help saying outloud as he slid the food onto a plate and grabbed some silverware.

"Um, Bobby, whatever you're planning, maybe you should think twice." Jean cautioned. "You haven't even had a real date yet and don't want to scare her off."

"Don't worry so much, it'll be fine. You'll see." He winked at her and raised his voice. "Maggie! Lasagna! Hurry, before Ryan gets it!"

Instantly, Maggie was awake, a wild look on her face and anguish in her voice. "No! Don't let him have it!"

Jean, Ororo, and Remy all winced, waiting for the expected reaction to one of Bobby's pranks, but as he chuckled and placed the plate in front of her, all Maggie did was smile, take the fork, and prepare to dig in.

"Very sneaky, using a girl's family against her," Maggie said in approval after her second bite.

"Not to be nosey," Jean said once she'd gotten over her astonishment. "But who's Ryan?"

"My twelve-year-old brother," Maggie rolled her eyes. "He eats everything."

"Oh, I see." Though she wasn't sure she did. "We'll see you later."

The three left to give Bobby and Maggie some privacy with him waving at them on their way out.

She took a bite of the bread, licking the garlic butter from her fingers as she set it back down. "So who's the red-head?"

"That's Jean." Bobby's eyes were locked on her hands.

"Oh, Dr. Pepper Lady, gotcha. I recognized The Chocoholic and Lighter Man." Maggie took a big bite of salad. Not her favorite part of the meal but she wouldn't give it up either.

"Ororo and Remy," he laughed.

"Right."

Falling silent for a few minutes, Maggie concentrated on the meal and Bobby on watching her eat. When she was almost finished, he brought up the rest of the afternoon saying, "We could go somewhere, out or to do whatever errands you might need to do. Or..." He hesitated to continue thinking it wasn't very romantic.

Maggie paused in taking the last bite. "Or?"

"We can play Dragon's Breath III." He didn't look at her while he said it. He knew it didn't sound romantic or anything like that, but he knew she liked video games and their first real conversation had been about this one when he was reading a gaming magazine one night at QuickStop. In a way then, this game was what had brought them together, which did make it romantic. A little. Kinda. Maybe. Right?

"Dragon's Breath III: World of the Gnomes?" She clarified excitedly. "I forgot all about it! We HAVE to play, there's no decision to make. I can't believe you even asked." Food gone, she started gathering the dishes so they could get a move on.

He took them from her as he did not want her to do anything on her first day off in who-knew-how-long. While washing the dishes, pro at it that he was, he said happily, "Because you're a guest, we'll get preference in the rec-room. This time anyway. Later we'll have to let it be known we want it or use a smaller TV." Putting the last dish in the drainer to dry, he proffered his arm. "Shall we?"

"Oh, indeed we shall!" She responded taking it, a twinkle in her eye. Now she'd see what he was really made of. How a man reacted when he lost to a woman said a lot.

And she intended to win.

... Interlude ...

"What do you want, Maggie?"

"That's a great way to answer the phone, Trevor. I'm supposed to talk to Mom and Josh. Would you put one of them on?"

"Nope."

"Trev!"

"Can't. They're not here. Everyone went to the store."

"Oh. Why didn't you go?"

"Because I'm seventeen and didn't feel like it."

"Gotcha."

"AND because I'm trying to beat Josh's score on DB3."

"Good luck. That's not going to happen until he gets distracted by some science thing."

"I'm still going to try."

"Isn't it great? We're playing tournament mode now."

"Killer graphics. Who ya playin' with?"

"Um... Bobby."

"Oh, the new boyfriend. He pass the test?"

"I've won three out of four games and he hasn't freaked yet."

"So it's looooove. I'll pass it along."

"... I'd rather you didn't."

"I'd rather I was an only child."

"Bye."

"Bye."

... End Interlude ...

"Yes!" Jumping up from the couch, Maggie did a victory dance. "The crowd goes wild as Maggie the defending champion wins her fifth game in a row!"

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in." But Bobby was grinning at her display and unable to put any heat in the words. "I'm getting better all the time. I'll get you yet."

"Never happen." She plopped back down on the couch beside him. "While you get better, I get better. It's a vicious cycle running in my favor."

"Ah, but you'll have to go back to work, leaving me to practice."

"Oh no! What will I do?" She put her hand to her head dramatically displaying distress before going back to normal. "Being as we'll both know the efforts you'll have to go through to beat me, I'm cool with that."

"I concede your superiority. Hey, I used a five syllable word, Hank would be proud of me." He chuckled and looked at his watch. "We've been awhile. How 'bout a snack?"

She immediately got back off the couch. "I can eat again."

He laughed and they started back to the kitchen. But on the way, Maggie felt the need to tell him something. "I have a confession to make."

"A confession, huh?" Bobby gave her a doubtful look, putting his hands on his hips.

"Well, more like a warning." She paused, then sighed. "I have a really high metabolism. I'm always hungry."

"You mean," he said slowly, a little disappointed, "I didn't do such a big thing by feeding you?"

"No! Don't ever think that!" She was clearly horrified. "I was starving. But it sometimes seems like I always am. I just get hungry. A lot."

"Sooooo," he drawled out mischievously, suddenly grasping her around the waist Bobby twirled her about, ending with Maggie leaning against one of the decorative pillars in the hall. "If I wanted to bribe you my best bet is pretty much always going to be food."

"Oh, I'm veeeerrrry bribable." Teasingly, she walked her fingers up his arm. "And not just for food."

Both were smiling but there was an underlying layer of seriousness about them. They were very aware their time was limited. It had been six weeks since they met . During that time, they had come to know each other and determined they wanted to know more. For three weeks they had tried to have a real date. Today wasn't what they had planned but was in line with their personalities and tastes.

But they were both adults possessing adult interests. Those interests had been pushed aside in favor of playtime. Playtime was over, even if the playful mood wasn't.

Staring into each other's eyes, they were aware of the silence in the hallway broken only by the sound of their breathing which seemed very loud in comparison. Slowly, Bobby lowered his head towards Maggie's.

But she thought he was taking far too long. Impatient, Maggie grabbed large handfuls of his shirt. Then she simultaneously pulled him down and lifted her face to his, closing the distance between their waiting lips.

Initiating their first kiss, Maggie proceeded to do her best to kiss him senseless.

to be continued.

note: Now wasn't that fun? Next chapter we'll finish out the day. Two weeks. Sorry, I know its hard to wait.

I am coming along on progress, on chapter 9 now. Also finished various other chapters from other stories. Busy, busy, busy, that's me.

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi