Title: Rebuilding Burned Bridges (Part 6/9)
Pairing: Bobby/St John
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Years after the events of Alkali Lake and Alcatraz, St John finds that you cannot burn all your bridges without rebuilding some. This part: Tales about a so-called cure; surprise unions.

Rebuilding Burned Bridges

AuntieEm (05:10 PM) :
Are you being a good little boy?
Ice24 (05:10 PM) :
You knew something would happen.
AuntieEm (05:10 PM) :
I always know. I am omniscient.
Ice24 (05:10 PM) :
You gave him the address.
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
He didn't believe me when I told him
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
Erica's gone mad
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
I wanted him to have a way out.
Ice24 (05:11 PM) :
Do they know?
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
That he went soft on them?
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
Sure.
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
That he did a runner?
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
They suspect.
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
That he's with you?
AuntieEm (05:11 PM) :
No.
Ice24 (05:11 PM) :
What would they do?
AuntieEm (05:12 PM) :
Oh, little ice cube
AuntieEm (05:12 PM) :
They're waiting for now
AuntieEm (05:12 PM) :
They can't risk leaving the safe houses
AuntieEm (05:12 PM) :
before the deadline
AuntieEm (05:12 PM) :
If Johnny-boy doesn't show up
AuntieEm (05:12 PM) :
They'll know for sure in two day's time
Ice24 (05:13 PM) :
What will they do?
AuntieEm (05:13 PM) :
I am brilliant and omniscient.
AuntieEm (05:13 PM) :
When I know, I'll tell you.

xx

In a few day's time, Bobby will tell St John about the one time he injected himself with what the authorities don't really know anything about and thus still falsely describe as "the cure".

"I tried it once", he will say, and St John will stare at him with a mixture of disbelief and contempt. Bobby will be quick to add "not to really get rid of my powers," and upon St John's glare "minimal dose, it only lasted for a week." And St John will be extremely annoyed at the thought of Iceman even considering such a thing, but he'll nevertheless be amenable to listening to what follows Bobby's "I was curious".

"It was strange," Bobby will say, once he's certain St John won't throw a fit. "Once I got past the urge to puke my guts out - and man, watching Stels do that for years did so not prepare me for how awful that felt - there wasn't really anything I missed, at first. It was kinda fun to feel temperature changes on such different levels, to pick out clothes because they were warm and not because wearing shorts in winter looks weird. And Kitty dragged me on a skating ring cause she was convinced she'd beat me in a race if I was powerless."

He'll flash a grin that later will leave a tingle somewhere in St John at the recollection. "She - was - wroong," he'll sing-song gleefully, "I've got slightly better control when I make them myself and I feel more secure when I know the ice can't break, but ice or no, I'm a Goood on skates."

And St John will smirk at the cushion Bobby will have frozen in his excitement and chuckle, just a little, in spite of himself.

"But then I wanted to cool down a room and some such things, little things I do all the time and never notice, and I couldn't. Rogue kept telling me to stop whinging, as if she's any better before she needs her gloves back, but by the fifth day, it was driving me mad."

St John will try not to think of Magneto and how the X-Men forced him to go without his powers for months, but he'll still wonder how much of his own current position has been caused by that act.

Bobby will guess the direction of St John's thoughts, but he'll refuse to feel guilty about what they did in the heat of battle to save innocent people's lives. He'll finish his tale by saying "So now I know that if anyone ever discovers a "cure" that's permanent, I'll be dead before they make me take it. Still, it helped me understand Stels a bit, so all in all, it was a worthwhile experiment."

And St John will snort, and convey to Bobby quite clearly that in his opinion, willingly depriving oneself of one's power is very very stupid, but all the same, he'll have lost some of his apprehension about the two syringes stacked at the back of Bobby's fridge.

xx

Bobby -

In case Storm didn't tell you, in that hospital the Brotherhood burned down - they'd made some progress in ground research to eventually suppress the X-gene through genetic manipulation. The authorities aren't really talkative right now (of course, they still expect us to save them) except when they're making demands (seriously, the last who was here, I seriously thought Colossus would punch him.) We're convinced, though, that this isn't the only place they've conducted this kind of research (when is it ever?), and if the Brotherhood knows where, there will be more attacks (which would be much easier to prevent if… aargh!).
I know you said you need to stay on campus with your new friends, but I wish you'd at least come in for some training sessions (come on, at least a few simulations?). Piotr has gotten it into his head, though, that they'll need a few weeks to regroup now that Pyrojohn's left. (If he really left, where do you think he is now?) Hopefully, that will make those top notches calm down a bit, cause if they keep going like this, we might need to find Jimmy another safe place or there'll be serious bloodshed.

- Rogue.

tbc