A/N: "Suzette" belongs to me and is dedicated to my wonderful laptop, Suzette, who is more like an actual person to me now, we've spent so many hours together, working late into the night. Eternal thanks. lol.
Chapter 12:
Beth woke with a start from her nightmare and took a deep breath. Her eyes acclimatised to the darkness of the night around her and she reached for Isabelle. Who wasn't there. Her heart stopped and panic gripped her in its sickening fist. She sat bolt upright, hearing her pulse thudding loudly in her ears above the silence of the night.
Then as she woke up completely, she realised where she was. She was in her room at the Xavier Mansion and Isabelle was safe, just a few metres away in her new cot. After she had reassured herself her daughter actually was safe and sound, fast asleep in her cot; she lay back in bed, closing her eyes, willing herself to calm down, her heartbeat to return to normal. But as adrenaline coursed through her system, she couldn't sleep again. She sat up and watched her precious child sleeping, as thoughts tumbled around her tired brain. It had been only a week since she and Jean had bought the new cot but she had completely lost count of how many times she had awoken in the night, panicking for her baby's safety. She hardly slept some nights. It's only been a week, she told herself, it will get better. You're just not used to it yet. But as she watched the dawn spread its first rays across the room, she found herself wondering if that was just wishful thinking.
Beth eventually got a little more sleep before Isabelle decided it was time to get up. It wasn't until late morning that Beth got a moment to herself when Isabelle decided to take a nap. She hooked a baby monitor to her belt and headed downstairs to join break-time at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children, or 'recess' as Beth had discovered they called it. At present the student body was enjoying a rare day of pale sunshine and mild weather, the first of the year. The kitchen was serving as staff-room to the poor mutants frazzled from a hard morning's work, wrangling the intellects of the next generation. As Beth reached where Bobby stood, next to the all-important coffee pot, the central point of the kitchen, that all adults gravitated towards, Jean reached it too. She looked up with a smile to greet her young friend but it faded at what she saw in Beth's face.
"Don't ask." Beth told her.
"I'm going to anyway. You look exhausted. Are you sleeping, at all?"
"Yes." Beth replied, a little defensively. "Just not for long." She admitted. She looked at Jean's face, stubborn and demanding she expand on her comment and confessed "I keep waking in the night and panicking because Izzy's not there. Then I can't get back to sleep. It's no big deal, I just need to get used to her having her own bed is all. Maybe going home will help."
"Oh? You made up your mind?" Jean asked interestedly
"Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention it earlier."
"Excellent! Look out England, here comes the Bobbster!" Bobby crowed. Jean and Beth giggled.
"'Look out' is right. What have we done, inflicting him on the entire country?" Jean joked
"Think less 'entire country', more 'tiny little country town in the middle of nowhere' and you'll be closer to the truth." Beth informed them. Bobby looked slightly crestfallen
"Middle of… nowhere?"
"Well, perhaps I exaggerate. There's a bigger town only half an hour away and it has pretty much everything, cinemas, shopping malls, you get the gist." Beth conceded. Bobby looked relieved. Jean looked at him and shook her head, smiling.
"Good, for a minute there you had me worrying we were leaving civilisation as we know it." Bobby said dramatically, his hand clutched to his heart.
"Meaning, farm tracks his rust-bucket couldn't cope with." Beth teased
"Hey! Suzette is vintage! And she doesn't like being referred to as 'the rust-bucket'" he defended his car.
"Yeah she's vintage. If vintage means scrapheap-chic." Beth teased sweetly. He mock-glared and she smiled nicely and lifted her coffee cup to drink. But as she discovered, it is impossible to drink a liquid that has been frozen solid.
"BOBBY!" she exclaimed and swatted him. He leapt backwards to avoid further violence towards his person, crowing
"Ha ha-ha-ha ha-ha-har! The almighty Iceman strikes again!"
"Well the almighty Beth will strike again, as in strike you, if you don't unfreeze this right now!" she threatened. He smiled sweetly
"Sorry, no can do." He didn't sound sorry in the slightest.
She growled, irritated, and dumped her cup on the side, reaching for another mug and filling it with the dark aromatic Elixir of Life. She glared at Bobby as she added milk and sugar to her second cup. He in turn gave her his most-charming, cheesiest grin. Jean shook her head at the pair, laughing quietly. Just then the sound of an explosion filtered in from outside and turning, they saw two students embroiled in a struggle, their powers actually more of a hindrance than a help. Jean's face set.
"Excuse me." She said as she went outside. They watched through the window as she worked her way between the students in the courtyard to break up the fight and deal with the boys.
"Ooh, they gon' get it!" A southern voice sang behind the two of them. They turned to see their friend join them.
"Course, Bobby knows bettah than anyone what Jean's like when she's mad." Rogue teased, and turned to Beth "Ya wouldn't believe some o' thah things he's done."
"I don't believe some of the things he's done and I've been witness to most of them!" Warren joined the conversation. Bobby responded by sticking his tongue out. Warren slapped a hand to his heart, as if mortally wounded.
"Oh the maturity of it all!" he exclaimed before turning to Beth
"So did you girls enjoy your film yesterday?"
"Yes, we did indeed." Beth replied, colouring a little and smiling. "What did you get up to?" she enquired politely.
"Not much, just training." came the nonchalant reply.
"Funny kind of training!" Bobby teased, "You sat on your ass all day!" Warren gave him a warning look and Bobby returned a puzzled one, but shut up all the same.
"So what kind of films do you like? Just chick-flicks or are your tastes slightly wider than our dear Rogue's?" Warren changed the subject, turning back to Beth
"Watch it Flyboy!" Rogue responded warningly. Beth almost giggled
"Well actually I studied Film for a while, I'm quite into it. And that does involve watching a variety of genres, even ones I don't enjoy."
"Such as?"
"Horror. War. Everything else I pretty much like, but those are just too nasty for me. Not too keen on gruesome stuff either. Makes me a terrible film student, I'm lucky it's just a hobby." She joked
"What do you think of Foreign films?" Warren asked, paying a lot of attention to Beth. Rogue moved towards Bobby and muttered under her breath
"Is it jess' me or is he bein' totally obvious?"
"He definitely wants in her pants." Bobby agreed "She doesn't seem to notice how, sleazily blatant, he's being." He moved slightly, away from Warren and Beth and Rogue leaned a little in the same direction.
"Ah know! Ah'm not sure Ah can believe she don't realise."
"How is that possible?" Bobby wondered
"Well, Ah know she hasn't had any real male attention since Isabelle's father. That's like over a year. Maybe, Ah dunno, she's gotten un-used ta it?"
"But still, come on, he's being way obvious!" Bobby argued under his breath. Rogue shrugged.
"… independent cinema's doing a foreign film series, you know a movie from a different director each week." Warren was saying
"And, well next weekend, it's Pedro Almodovar-"
"You're kidding! Really? Oh my gosh, he's one of my favourite directors!" Beth enthused
"Oh? Well, I was thinking we could maybe do something, so, d'ya wanna go together?"Warren asked smoothly.
"Urm, sure. Sounds good to me!" Beth agreed with a smile, albeit a slightly hesitant one.
"Cool. It's a date." Warren winked, before he left, his wings rustling majestically as he moved.
The three of them stood there, stunned, for a second before Beth broke the silence
"When he said, 'It's a date.' Did he mean…?"
"Oh boy yah." Bobby supplied, whilst Rogue nodded in agreement. Beth took a deep breath
"Right." She said, in a slightly breathless tone of voice. "I may go check on Izzy. Or maybe just sit down." She raised a hand in farewell as she excused herself. Rogue dashed after her
"Hey Beth? Are ya okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Perfectly fine. Just a little… overwhelmed."
"D'ya actually wanna date Warren?"
"Yes, it should be fun, and he seems lovely. It's just a little, overwhelming. It's been over a year and a half since I went on a date, I guess I'm just a little thrown. I'll be fine. See you later." But even as she spoke she sounded a little dazed. Rogue nodded and returned to the kitchen, still concerned, as Beth headed up the stairs again.