9
Nothing could possibly disturb the peace of a morning relaxing in the grounds, sun still warm even now that September was creeping by. Jean resting her head on Peter's chest, his arm around her, his other hand holding a book. Both feeling drowsy and almost disgustingly relaxed. The rest of school had noticed, of course, that the pair who had previously just been pupil and teacher were now way more, couldn't help but see it in the way their hands were rarely parted, the way they leaned their heads together in class. The way they would say with a smile what others would take whole paragraphs to convey. Most had been happy for them – to see the quiet, bookish girl and the shy, nervy boy finding peace in one another's company. A few had cursed missing their chance, though Peter would never have believed that even in the state he'd been when he arrived, a few of the girls at the school had been sighing over him ever since he enrolled.
In a matter of microseconds, the undisturbable peace had been shattered, Jean letting out a shocked little scream as something had thumped down on Peter's lap, sending the book flying and Jean pulling away in a hurry, pushing away her disarranged hair to find that it had been not something, but someone. A slender, green haired girl of about thirteen who had wrapped her arms around Peter's neck and was squeezing him until he had thumped on her back, starting to lose oxygen.
"And what the hell are you doing here, Roadrunner?" he laughed. The girl didn't move off his lap, just grinned and exclaimed
"Meep-Meep!"
"Cute," he deadpanned, "But seriously, shouldn't you be in school?"
"Omigawd how boring is school though?!" the girl rolled her eyes, seemed at last to notice Jean, and stuck out a hand, chirruping "Hi! I'm Lorna! Somehow this miserable Goth is my big brother, who the heck are you?"
"I'm Jean…" she said, couldn't help smiling as the little hand pumped her furiously. She shook it out when Lorna dropped it, the girl had some grip, "Peter is my pupil here"
"Ooooooohhhhhhhh so *you're* Jean!" she girl said, dark eyes widening in understanding, a naughty grin spreading across her face
"Lorna…." Peter growled in warning. She paid no mind
"He is just nuts over you, you know" Lorna stage-whispered to Jean, "Like, really, he – OW!"
She gave Peter a look as he tugged hard on her hair. Finally got up off his lap and allowed him to rise to his feet, offering Jean a hand to come with him. To her surprised, Lorna had grabbed a hand from each of them and began pulling them behind her at a fast clip as she had begun walking toward the Academy, chattering rapidly as she went
"So I was sat in history class thinking I wonder what could be more interesting than sitting here listing to Ms Thomson go on and on and ON about stuff that happened about a billion years ago and I thought I know! I could go see my big bro over in Westchester! I bet he'd be really glad to see me, and I could even take him some Twinkies 'cause I'm not sure if they even have them on this coast but I ate them, I'm sorry, but I was kinda hungry, sure you understand and it turns out they DO have them anyway so I got some more but I ate those too, sorry, and –"
"Whoah… hold on – don't you live in Washington?" Jean asked, "How did you get here?"
"She ran" Peter said wearily, rubbed his eyes with his free hand. Jean gave him a disbelieving look, "No, really"
"Yeah took about three quarters of an hour, but I was going kinda easy could have done it faster but –"
"Hey, Roadrunner? Could you maybe tone it down a little?"
She grinned again, dropped their hands and in a flash had wrapped both her arms and legs around Peter's body, resting her head on his shoulder and sighing happily
"I miss you sooooooo much, you know" she said. Planted a kiss on his cheek before jumping down and continuing to march them both forward. "Is it better here for you? Mom says you were going to Juvie if you didn't come here"
"Reform School, actually. But yes" he glanced at Jean, smiled happily himself, "It's lots better. How's Mom and Wanda?"
"They miss you too, they – Oh. My. Word is that where you two live?! This is AMAZING!"
In a flash they had been stood alone, the strong breeze left in Lorna's wake dying down. Peter gave Jean an apologetic look.
"So, that's my little sister. Uncontrollable cake-seeking missile that she is, I love her very much. Hey Jean? Are you alright?"
The girl looked pale, a little nauseated, rubbing her temple. Nodded gently and groaned
"Fine… I just… I never met a speedster before. Her mind's like a tornado, I'm just a little disoriented, I'll be okay in a minute"
"She has that effect on people," Peter told her, gently put an arm around her waist to walk her in, "I'd say you'll get used to her, but you never really do"
"I'm so glad you aren't like that" Jean sighed.
"I know, right? Just imagine what a walking disaster I'd be with all that energy. And I don't even like Twinkies"
"Maybe you would, if you were like Lorna?" she chided, accompanied him to find out where his errant sibling had raced off to and make sure she wasn't in any trouble. In all honestly, Peter knew that he had very little hope of finding Lorna before she found trouble, but as it had transpired, trouble had very swiftly found him. Turning a corner, seeking his sister, he had instead come face to face with Erik. With nowhere to turn and no way to pretend he hadn't seen him, Peter had dropped his eyes to the ground and mumbled
"Morning, Dad"
"Good morning, Peter. Miss Grey." Erik intoned, "Perhaps I'm seeing things, but is your insane little sister in the building?"
"Ummm, yeah… she's.."
"Speak up, boy"
"She came to visit" Peter said, more clearly though without raising his eyes from the floor, "She ran off, we were looking for her"
"And helloooooooo Daddy!" Lorna crowed, weaving elegantly around Erik to stand between himself and Peter, coming from out of nowhere as she always did, "How's things? Your entry for Absentee Father of The Year going well?"
"You don't amuse me, Lorna"
"Guess it must be, since Peter never mentions you like At All when he calls. Which he does, incidentally, like about five hundred times more often than you do"
"Lorna…" Peter said quietly, nervously, "Thin ice, sis…."
"So you wanna take us out?" she said brightly, "I'm starving, and Peter's always hungry, c'mon let's go. It'll be Quality Bonding Time"
"I have work to do," Erik replied stonily, "Amuse yourselves. Have a nice visit"
"Hey, hey! Whoah there!" Lorna had zipped in front of him as he turned, grabbed a handful of his jacket to pull him back around. Jean marvelled at how strong the girl must be, "I just came all the way across the country, at least partly to see you, and you're just gonna flounce off on me? Nice, Dad. Very caring"
Peter saw Erik's face cloud angrily, saw him raise a hand. Knew Lorna could move fast enough to avoid him but nonetheless stretched out one hand and pushed. A poker jumped from a nearby fireplace and wrapped itself tightly around Erik's raised arm, embedding itself in the wood-panelled wall and leaving him firmly stuck. The man gazed in disbelief at his son, finally having raised his eyes and glaring with a ferocity that matched his own.
"Don't you ever raise a hand to her again" he said softly, "Or to Mom, or Wanda, or me"
"Or you'll do what?" Erik spat, "Cry? Hide in your room?"
The twisted fire-poker squealed as it wrapped a little tighter, Erik winced satisfyingly.
"No. I'll just make sure you never get to be our father even on those rare occasions you feel like it" Peter told him evenly, "You do realise you can pull yourself out of that, right?"
Peter froze as the poker unbent itself with a screech of protesting metal, saw it spear out toward him and closed his eyes. When nothing happened, he had opened them to find both Lorna and Jean standing in front of him. Lorna was holding the poker, tapped it once against her hand before she had thrown it onto the carpet at her father's feet, turned and said quietly.
"Let's go. I'm hungry"
Jean had turned with her, took Peter's arm. None of the three had looked back.
"I see Dad's still a huge jerk" Lorna muttered once they were out of earshot, "Nice moves though, Bro, I think you had him worried"
"Lorna," he sighed, "You really need to not wind him up like that. I know you can dodge and all, but when you make him mad, the rest of us get it too"
"I know, I know…." The girl said, grabbed both of their hands again as she had spotted a burger joint, "But he's such a…. argh, I don't even have a word! But he totally is one! A HUGE one!"
"He sure is that" Jean agreed quietly. Peter wondered what terrible word she was filling in the blank with. For a studious girl like her, Jean had a filthy mind – as he had come to realise over the past three months. They had taken a seat and ordered, Peter watching his little sister fidget and look around her with amusement. He really had missed the little ball of energy hugely.
"Are you Peter's girlfriend yet?" she said suddenly to Jean, "I hope so, otherwise I just put my foot in it, didn't I?"
To his relief, Jean laughed, reached for his hand where it rested on the table. Gave him a bright smile
"I suppose I am" she said. He blushed – he still couldn't help that reaction, whenever he thought of his luck at having someone like her. The food had arrived quickly, Lorna tearing into a chicken sandwich about the size of her own head with enthusiasm. Paused for a second before she had started wolfing down the plateful of fries. Jean couldn't help but stare.
"Sorry…" she said, a little embarrassed, "I'm kind of a pig, I know. 'Scuse me"
"It's fine, really I just.. wow"
"High speed everything, including her metabolism," Peter smirked, "Not pretending I'm not jealous. Girl eats like a champ and never puts on an ounce"
Lorna beamed at him, licked ketchup from her fingers, paused between slurps of her shake to ask
"So really, are you seeing much of Dad?"
"We avoid each other" Peter said, stirred his juice with a straw, "Guess you can imagine why"
"Yeah he seems worse than ever. No offense if you two get on, Jean, but Dad's kind of the biggest…. The biggest going. Used to leather me until I got quick enough to dodge it, just as bad with our Mom and Peter's twin Sis, but you always got the worst of it, didn't you Bro?"
"Uh.. well…"
"It was all 'man up!' and 'why can't you?' and 'You're the man of the family!' and all that, I mean really? Isn't HE supposed to be the man of the family?!"
"Sis, please…" Peter said quietly, "Jean doesn't need to hear this"
"Why not?" the girl asked, turned those large dark eyes full-force on Jean, "It's real life, right?"
"You're very grown-up for thirteen," Jean told her. Lorna shrugged in a way eerily reminiscent of her brother, started stealing the fries he had left on his plate. He pushed it over to her.
"Guess I had to be" she said, shoved more fries in, "Easier that way."
She had stayed into the early afternoon, before regretfully telling them that she should probably get home in time for the end of school. Their mother would, in her words 'wig out' if she wasn't home at her usual time. She didn't seem overly concerned about a call from the truant officer, but she didn't want to upset their Mom. A fond hug for Jean, and another four-limbed squeeze for her brother before she had turned to go, pausing just before she did and saying
"If I forgot to mention it, Big Bro, you're looking awesome" she smiled, poked him gently in the gut, "Like, totally hench. Mom would be pleased to see you looking well, you know we always worried about you"
"Thanks Roadrunner," he smiled, leaned to kiss her softly on the cheek, "Tell her I'm feeling better too. And that I love her and Wanda"
"Can I tell her you've got a really pretty girlfriend?"
"Umm, do you have to? I'd like to –"
"Didn't hear you, gotta go fast – bye!"
She was gone in a breathtaking streak of green, Jean staring after her until she had laughed and turned to her pupil, still smiling
"She's cute. What does 'hench' mean?"
"I have no idea what half the stuff she come out with means" Peter admitted with a sigh, "But I assume it's a good thing"
"I'll ask Jubilee, she'll know"
They had barely taken two steps before Jean had paused, laid two fingers gently to her temple, Peter frowned and took her other hand
"Headache?" he asked, concerned. She shook her head, gave him a look that he couldn't quite fathom.
"Professor Xavier" she said, "He has a message. From your father. He wants you to meet him in his study"
"Great" Peter muttered, "If I'm not back in an hour, send Dr McCoy, okay?"