Chapter 13
Satisfied Mind
or
Yuletide
On the night of Christmas Eve the tables in the cafeteria were pushed to the sides to make room for the large Christmas tree that had been standing in the corner. Once everyone in the mansion had gathered the lights on the tree were lit and the teachers all helped pouring and dealing out hot cocoa and mulled cider.
They all sat down by the tables and benches surrounding the tree. There was a pleasant, calm spirit among the older residents - and an eager, childish one among the younger.
The children all gathered in groups, sipping their hot drinks and frantically discussing the coming morning. It reminded Stephanie of her childhood and the warmth of family, and even though the memories were lined with sadness she was glad.
She sat with the junior X-men, everyone spilling clues about their Secret Santa gifts and who they were giving them to. From what she gathered most of them were lying immensely.
Colossus was making joke after joke – every single one with the theme of spiking the cider – and even Storm, who was sitting close by, hid a smile behind her hand after one of them.
Stephanie could see Sandra – the color morphing girl - sitting with her friends almost across the room. She was frantically staring at Toad – and looking away as soon as his eyes went anywhere near her direction. She obviously hadn't let go of her crush quite yet.
Stephanie moved her gaze to the victim of Sandra's crush, who was sitting a few tables away with Wolverine and Kurt. Toad was looking straight at her. The corners of his mouth rose a quarter of an inch and he nodded, and as she nodded back she felt something flutter in her stomach.
Fuck, she thought.
Soon the snow-covered garden outside of the large windows grew dark with shadows and the children's voices lowered, sometimes interrupted by yawns. Storm was the one to stand up and announce that all minors would be going to bed. The older children complained a lot, but soon they all had left.
The adults all rose to leave and Stephanie – after some confusion – followed together with Rogue and Jubilee.
"Where are we going?" she asked Rogue, whispering because she wasn't sure if she was supposed to know or not.
Rogue looked ecstatic.
"The Library!"
Jubilee caught up with them and nodded, smiling expectantly.
"What happens in the library?" Stephanie asked.
"We're not really sure," Rogue said, "something with alcohol."
"It's the first year we're allowed," Jubilee continued, "you know how strict Storm is with underage drinking."
They all walked in a slow pace towards the library. It was a part of the mansion that had been preserved in an old fashion, the towering bookshelves antique and filled with dusty classics rather than bestsellers.
The furniture was, much like the bookshelves, expensive- and antique-looking, with dark, polished wood and upholstered leather seats.
The junior X-men who were there for the first time stood silently in the doorway, not really sure on what they were doing there. The others strolled over the thick carpet, poured themselves whiskey and cognac from a small table and sat down by the small fireplace or by the two-story windows overlooking the dark, snowy landscape outside.
"What do we do now?" Stephanie asked Colossus, whom she'd never seen more uncertain before.
She was sure he didn't have a proper answer, but all the others wore the exact same look, so she figured it didn't matter who she asked.
"No idea! I've never come this far."
Storm looked up from where she was, pouring herself Calvados into a crystal cognac glass.
"Come on then," she said with a smile, "there's eggnog. Really, Piotr, I imagined you to be rushing in here after all these years."
They all walked in slowly, carefully. Rogue was the first to pour herself a drink. She sipped on it.
"I feel so grown-up right now," she said with amazement.
"Sh, you're ruining it!" Jubilee hissed.
It didn't take long until they were all seated in the comfortable chairs and sofas, talking and laughing together with the other adults.
"You never did tell us what happened this morning, Logan," Cyclops suddenly said.
Wolverine, who was puffing a cigar, raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
Cyclops let out a laugh.
"I mean when you came stumbling through the doors looking like a train-wreck."
"Oh," he said, taking a drag on his cigar and slowly blowing out the smoke, "well, I ran my bike into a wall."
Colossus gave out a snort of a laugh, which he then tried to hide with a cough.
"You did what?" Storm gasped.
Cyclops waved her off.
"Oh, relax, Ororo. Can't you tell he's fine?"
Something flashed in Storm's eyes. Stephanie, who had been sitting between Colossus and Jubilee in a sofa, sipping eggnog, looked out through the window and wondered if the rumble of thunder had been only in her imagination.
"It's not him I care about. What wall did you run it into?"
Wolverine cleared his throat and muttered something inaudible.
"What did you say? You tell me right now; was it a wall on this property?"
"Relax, Ororo," the professor suddenly said from a table by the fire where he and Kurt had been playing chess, "the wall is fine. We'll reinforce it after the holidays."
"Reinforce it?! Logan, how the hell-"
"Excellent question Ororo," Cyclops interrupted smoothly, "how exactly did this happen?"
Wolverine looked sullen. Toad, who had been sitting silently in the chair beside him during the whole conversation, suddenly snatched Wolverine's empty glass from the coffee table.
"Like me t' give ye a refill there, mate?" he asked, rising to his feet a bit too quickly.
"It's thanks to this idiot," Wolverine muttered, glaring at Toad.
"In my defense," Toad said from the drinks table where he was pouring scotch, "ye did say ye wanted it t' go fast."
"I did say fast. I didn't tell you to put a fucking jet motor in there."
Toad put the glass in Wolverine's outstretched hand.
"And I did apologize, didn' I? 'Sides ye're fine now mate, all tha' matters."
Wolverine snorted.
"Of course I'm fine. I'm fucking indestructible."
"What. About. The. Wall?" Ororo said, dangerously slow.
The both of them went silent as the heavens outside rumbled.
"'s his fault, really. Shouldn' 'ave steered right into it, ye know?" Toad finally said.
Wolverine gave him a murderous look.
"Relax, Ororo," the professor said without lifting his eyes from the game, "it's taken care of. Have some more to drink."
"I'll be damned if I don't," Ororo hissed.
Jubilee leaned into Rogue and with wide eyes whispered, loud enough for Stephanie to hear;
"The Library is awesome."
The rest of the evening passed in a pleasant mood. As the night grew late people started leaving for bed.
Stephanie got up with Jubilee and Rogue, and they parted ways outside. Toad caught up with her moments after.
"Ye mind if I walk with you?" he asked.
Stephanie smiled as they started walking together towards the east wing.
"Of course not. I don't think you've ever asked permission before?"
He shrugged, yellow eyes looking away for a moment before catching hers once more.
"Didn' really 'ave any important matter o' some sort t' discuss this time, did I?"
She laughed.
"I guess it's a good thing - those matters rarely are of any good kind."
He nodded at this. They walked back to the east wing in light conversation, and to Stephanie's surprise it didn't feel awkward at all.
Stephanie woke up on Christmas Day with a particular feeling of Christmas in her stomach.
She couldn't help thinking of the upcoming day with anticipation, the day before had felt more real than any Christmas celebration she'd experienced – even when she'd been a child celebrating with her family. Somehow the traditions and the feeling of solidarity had really gotten to her.
She pulled on the most comfortable clothes she could find – her worn-out pajama pants, an oversized knitted sweater and a thick pair of woolen socks. She strolled out into the living area and decided to start off the day with some hot chocolate.
She was overjoyed to find actual dark chocolate in a supply closet – this meant she wouldn't have to use cocoa, and she really liked the other kind better. She hummed as she put a saucepan of milk on the stove and started chopping up the chocolate.
"Mornin'," Stephanie heard from Toads room.
She turned her head to see him standing in his doorway, yawning.
"And a Happy New Year," she replied, saluting with her knife.
Toad flinched.
"'s too bloody early for weaponry."
Stephanie looked at the knife in surprise, and then back at the tense Toad. She could actually see his muscles relax when she lowered it.
"Right. I'm making some hot chocolate. You want any?"
The mutant slid onto one of the kitchen stools and nodded.
"Ye're perky this mornin'?"
Stephanie used her knife to push the chopped chocolate from the cutting board into the saucepan.
"I'm really feeling the whole Christmas deal this year." She started whisking. "Oh, I left your present under the Christmas tree," she added.
The small, half-dead tree looked bare without any decorations, but none of them had had the energy to scout the mansion for Christmas balls and tinsel, despite the big talk.
Toad went curiously to the tree, and then froze.
"'ow much did ye get me?!" he asked, disbelieving.
"What?"
Stephanie went to were Toad were standing, and then she too stopped in surprise. Her two small packages looked very poorly wrapped next two the three massive, glittering examples of wrapping craftsmanship standing beside them. She gasped.
"What is that?"
Toad looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"They're not yers?"
Stephanie shook her head no, gaping.
"Mine are the two shitty ones."
The mutant took a closer look at the smaller gifts.
"The green ones?"
Stephanie hade moved closer to one of the gifts that looked like they'd sprung from a Disney movie.
"I thought it would be funny," she said dismissively.
She kneeled next to the gift and read the fancy scribbling on the note attached to it.
Toad had picked up one of the gifts from Stephanie – the one containing whiskey - looking even more curious.
"It's from Professor Xavier!" Stephanie announced. "This one's for me." She crawled over to the other packages and read the notes.
"There's two for me and one for you," she summed up when she'd read the notes.
Toad forced his eyes from the small, green package in his hands.
"Yeah?"
Stephanie nodded eagerly.
"Let's open them!"
Her green neighbor sniffed the air, raising an eyebrow.
"There's something burning."
Stephanie smelled it too. She was up in a run.
"Crap! The chocolate!"
There was not much chocolate left to save, so they decided on brewing a pot of coffee and started unwrapping the gifts from Xavier while they waited for it to finish.
Toad received a strange pair of magnifying glasses. Stephanie suspected he was more thrilled of the gift than he made it seem, because his eyes had widened immensely when he'd opened it.
One of Stephanie's gifts contained an unbelievably thick, expensive-looking duvet that almost made her squeal with joy. The other one contained a beautiful, antique flower pot, with delicate flowers carved and sculpted all over the surface. It looked very fragile, and came with a strange note: I thought you might be able to handle one that requires a lighter touch now.
Toad seemed confused when she read it out loud, but she didn't elaborate. She wondered if the professor knew everything that went on in his mansion, and the thought almost made her blush.
Exchanging their gifts was pleasant enough. They sat on the floor in front of the plastic tree, surrounded by the glittering, crumpled wrapping paper from Xavier's gifts. Toad seemed happy about the whiskey, but mentioned that he'd actually given up smoking when he'd opened the cigars.
He still seemed utterly pleased, saying he could give them to the chimney that was Wolverine as a reconciliation gift for making him crash into a wall. This made Stephanie think that getting the cigars for himself in the end had been Wolverines plan all along when he suggested the gifts to her.
Toad had gotten Stephanie a dvd-box named "Quentin Tarantino – the ultimate collection", and he apologized for it not containing Inglorious Basterds almost before she had opened it.
It was a somewhat personal gift, and Stephanie was more touched than she'd liked. They drank their coffee, went to their separate rooms to get dressed and then headed for the cafeteria for breakfast together.
The holidays started off well and continued along the same theme. The children of the mansion were eager and a bit wild-eyed, but the teachers and adults all managed to keep them at a controllable level all through the day.
Through a hushed conversation with Rogue during Christmas dinner Stephanie found out that Xavier's Christmas gifts were a result of the once-in-a-year-dips he traditionally made into the minds of the people living in the mansion. They were all so that he could get everyone exactly what they wanted for Christmas, and it never failed. That information managed to get Stephanie very warm inside, and more than a little teary-eyed.
After dinner she managed to get a hold on Storm, and they exchanged their gifts both wearing big smiles. She'd gotten Stephanie a luxurious-smelling shower gel, and they parted ways after a quick embrace.
She stayed up late with the Juniors that night, exchanging their Secret Santa presents and watching old Christmas movies, and when she returned to the east wing Toads room was already dark.
She went to bed – completely submerged in a feeling of content - and fell asleep immediately
Okay. There you go. I'm fully aware of the lack of events in these two chapters, but I promise the shit hits the fan soon, soon. I hope you weren't too bored!