Author's Notes: Another chapter focusing more on personal issues between Al, Amy and Rogue a little bit; but then again the action with Red Skull is rapidly approaching and these fun times are necessary to aid our heroes with winding down a little bit after that big fight with the B.A.Ts at the beginning of the story. Especially the main hero who deserves a little something before what is to come... Trust me, you'll like it.
The usual disclaimers apply and all that jazz, I hope some of you people R&R because this puppy won't be updated very often in the near future, what with the end rapidly approaching us. (Chuckles) I've got some plans too; just wait until you see what happens in the next exciting tale, I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say you Spider-Man fans are in for a real treat. But enough about part three of Crisis on Earth 929, it is time to focus on part two; enjoy.
After lunch Amy chose to go back to coloring; she brought her crayons and coloring book to the den and set herself up on the floor, I sat down in a different chair this time and watched her as I simply enjoyed having her here. And for the fiftieth time or so since Roma got this whole visiting deal approved I thanked God that I could at least cherish these moments; Amy however still hadn't fully opened our telepathic link and that was driving me insane with curiosity.
"Amy; I've just got to know, why haven't you opened your link with me?" I wondered aloud incapable of keeping it bottled up any longer; Amy froze as she colored and lowered her head in sorrow.
"I don't want to experience what happened last time we separated Daddy." She admitted in a soft weepy tone; I nodded in understanding and let out a silent sigh of fond remembrance at how it used to be between us.
"Thank you." I returned with a light laugh. "My curiosity has been nagging me since you got here." I admitted with another chuckle.
"That's ok Daddy." She stated turning to smile winningly up at me; I shook my head in silent wonder and allowed her to return to her coloring, with no T-V in here it was certainly boring and quiet. Perhaps I should have chosen the living room instead; or maybe I could just use my impressive cognitive functions to create something to pass the time in my head?
"Dere you are Mon Ami." Remy's voice suddenly cut in as he stood in the doorway with Betsy, Jean, Scott and Ororo. "We been lookin' everywhere for you." He added leading the others in; Amy glanced up curiously, but shrugged a few seconds later and resumed her coloring happily humming to herself.
"Looking for me?" I wondered. "Not for another round of twenty questions?" I exclaimed with alarm; Remy chuckled and shook his head.
"Nothin' like dat." He returned with a chuckle.
"We just thought you two were being alone too much." Ororo chimed in with a smile. "We're here to invite you out back for a bit of a swim." She explained; it was then that I noticed most of the group was wearing swimming attire, Amy's ears perked up at that and leapt back to her feet whirling to face me.
"They have a pool here?" She demanded with a pout. "You never showed me that."
"Er, yes, well I thought you wouldn't like it since we never did get to finish those swimming lessons." I countered nervously rubbing the back of my neck.
"Just because you can't swim doesn't mean I never got the lessons." Amy retorted with a pout. "Aunt Serenity saw to it that I would get everything I needed, she said she owed you for that much."
"Can't swim?" Betsy wondered eyeing me with a quirked eyebrow.
"It's a long story." I exclaimed with a sigh.
"Don't be ridiculous Daddy; it's really quite simple…" Amy growled as my hand quickly slapped over her mouth; not a very polite thing to do I know, but in my desperation I hadn't thought everything through. Which explains why I was yowling in pain the next moment waving my hand; I glanced at her incredulously while she shot me an indignant look. "Serves you right Daddy." She huffed whirling and picking up her things. "I'll go get changed into my swimsuit, we'll be out in a moment." She stated to the X-Men accepting their invitation for the both of us; I was still shaking my hand, the kid's teeth were very sharp and she'd punctured flesh and bone.
"Dat must have smart." Remy observed with a chuckle.
"Why the big secret?" Jean pried furrowing her brow slightly to avoid from breaking out into a smile.
"I don't like admitting to weakness." I supplied sighing in relief as the wound healed at last; Scott quirked an eyebrow at that and Betsy chuckled.
"Isn't admitting to that a weakness?" She wondered with a sly smirk and a twinkle in her eyes.
"Point taken." I conceded moving to the exit. "Still I don't have any clothing of my own yet; in all the crazy excitement this week has offered I've yet to get into town for a much needed supply run." I reminded; Jean accepted this explanation with a slight nod and shoved Scott over to stand beside me.
"You look like you'll fit." She murmured eyeing me with a practiced eye. "Scott go get him a spare set of yours." She ordered.
"No wait." I tried to protest, but Scott grabbed my arm and shook his head.
"Don't argue." He whispered. "Just go with it."
"The voice of experience?" I wondered smirking a little.
"Plain common sense." He returned with a grin.
"Alright fine, but I'm not getting in the water." I relented daring the others to contradict me with my tone of voice; they all adopted innocent expressions, which sent a shiver down my spine. "I'm going to regret saying that out loud." I muttered aside to Scott.
"Oh yeah." He agreed with a sympathetic look; together we left and Jean called out telepathically that they'd meet us outside, this was going to be a long afternoon.
We emerged five minutes later; I felt really dumb wearing a pair of Scotts swim trunks, for one thing he was the kind of guy who wouldn't dream of wearing the tight kind. Instead he had these big boxer like pairs; that didn't suit me at all and his taste in color co-ordination left much to be desired. Amy burst into hysterics when she saw what I was wearing and I playfully growled at her; rushing over to her in a burst of speed I scooped the child up and tossed her towards the pool, she flailed her arms about in surprise for only a moment before she tucked herself into a ball and splashed drenching Logan and his cigar thoroughly.
He shot me a glaring look and growled low in his throat, but I ignored it headed around the pool to the opposite side and took a seat in a recliner.
"Aren't cats supposed to hate the water?" Jubilee wondered as Amy rose back to the surface and giggled happily splashing about in the water and starting to backstroke towards my location.
"You'd think that, but I guess her ancestors or something outgrew it." I returned with a slight shrug.
"I see you found something that fits." Betsy observed with a grin; I nodded and let out a sigh.
"Not my idea of comfortable though." I returned with a smirk as Scott joined Jean. "I must admit though this was a good idea." I added leaning back with hands behind head and gazing up at the fluffy white clouds that floated by overhead.
"You've got quite a set of pipes." She observed reminding me of her earlier presence during my little sing along with Amy; though it couldn't really be called that.
"Yes well when you can manipulate your very vocal patterns you can get away with having a good voice; I never could sing confidently when I was plain old ordinary Al." I revealed with a chuckle. "Say where's Warren? I would have thought he'd be with you this time."
"Oh he's busy with his business and that sort of thing; I was feeling a might bored cooped up in that apartment all alone so I figured I'd stop by for a visit." She replied with a wave of dismissal; I nodded in understanding and resumed glancing up at the sky until Amy bounced onto my chest and knocked the wind out of me.
"That was fun Daddy." She exclaimed exuberantly. "Do it again." She pleaded hopping up and down in her enthusiasm; I groaned a little at the pressure she was applying to my abdomen, but quickly tossed her out over the pool a second time, albeit this time with my powers. She let out a squeal as she plunged head first into the water; this time when she surfaced she shot me a pouting glare as she hobbled back out of the pool.
"Not so rough." She chastised wincing a little as she gingerly touched her tail; it must have come down pretty hard if she injured it.
"Sorry little one, but next time don't hop on pop." I quipped with a good natured smile; Amy cocked her head to one side quizzically and I laughed heartily at my own private joke. "Earth reference; I'll teach you about it some time." I added still laughing away; Amy shrugged with a smile and dashed back to the pool.
"You certainly have a natural instinct with children." Ororo observed coming up beside us; and by us I mean Betsy, Jubilee, Illyana, Kurt and me.
"Comes with the territory." I supplied. "When you've got as big a heart as I do it's easy to be a good father."
"I suppose that's true." She conceded tilting her head a little to one side as she spied Jean and Scott heading for the pool. "It's nice to relax every once in a while." She added.
"It is indeed." I agreed lowering myself back down and closing my eyes; I let out a content sigh and instinctively knew that something was about to go down. Boy was I right; before I could even brace myself I felt very powerful arms grabbing me from behind and the next thing I knew I was flipping through the air, a brief flash of Rogues' distinctive hairstyle fluttered in the corner of my eye and then it was gone.
The water was warm; inviting even, but as soon as I vanished under the waves my splash generated I began to instinctively panic. I tried to breathe automatically and wound up sucking a lungful of water; panic flared even greater at that and I found myself flailing about trying to find my way out of the murky environment. The next thing I knew someone was dragging me out of the water sputtering and coughing and I reflexively lashed out with my right; someone caught my fist in one hand and then I snapped my eyes back open and gasped deeply of the air all around.
"Ah'm so sorry Al." Rogue blurted; I remembered hearing good natured laughter earlier before I wound up dunking into the pool, they'd expected this little joke to play out differently.
"Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim because you're terrified of sticking your head under water?" Jean demanded angrily from somewhere off to my left.
"If we knew dat, we never would have convinced Rogue to toss you in Mon Ami." Remy added apologetically.
"To be quite honest I thought I'd handle it differently." I admitted groggily sitting up and shaking the water from my ears. "Stupid paranoid childhood trauma, you'd think the Nanoprobes would have erased that particular foible or something." I added coughing a little more before I finally managed to calm my nerves; the others eyed me with concern, they'd only wanted to have a little fun after all.
"Relax." Amy suddenly called out as she pushed her way past Ororo and joined me in the center of this impromptu gathering. "You couldn't have hurt Daddy." She added. "Besides he deserved that, gave him a good wake up call."
"What are you talking about?" I wondered totally bewildered.
"Oh nothing Daddy, nothing at all." Amy returned with a teasing smile before she handed me Scotts' spare pair of swimming trunks. "I think you dropped something." My eyes shot open wide in embarrassment for a good twenty-five seconds before I remembered that to be on the safe side I'd put my boxers on underneath. With a sheepish grin I snatched the swimming attire back from Amy and hastily put them back on.
"I guess they weren't exactly the right size after all." I muttered sheepishly before I shook the water from my hair and returned to my lounger.
"I still think you're taking it all too hardly." Amy spoke up as the X-Men continued to mull over what just happened; she shot me a proud look and resumed her own swimming. "I would have saved him if he was ever in any danger." She continued more for the benefit of the others then for myself; I sighed and tried to go back to relaxing, but it took a good forty minutes before the X-Men stopped feeling guilty and just got back to plain old poolside fun.
"So sugah why are yah that way?" Rogue wondered sitting down beside me and eyeing me with a hint of concern still lingering.
"I'm not sure when it happened, or how." I admitted. "But I think it started when I was no more then a year old or so; my aunt was babysitting and she had to give us a bath, by us I mean my cousin and me. She filled the tub almost completely; because her daughter was used to it that way, but me… Well I was just too young, I must have slipped or something and stayed under long enough to develop a total fear of being under water." I explained with an indifferent shrug. "Never got in my way before."
"Ah really am sorry yah know." She apologized once more reaching out to squeeze my shoulder.
"Quit worrying about it." I requested smiling at her and leaning back so the sun could finish drying me off. "It's in the past." I added adopting a different tone of voice; this prompted her to laugh as she recognized what I was doing and she sat down beside me as we both watched the rest of the X-Men and Amy enjoy themselves. I caught her glancing at me from time to time out of the corner of my eye, but whenever I turned to catch her openly she always quickly averted her gaze. I was beginning to feel something, it was more then just that spark of friendship we'd started only a good four days ago or so; some part of me was starting to care for her… Maybe because I'd always had a crush on this fictional character; or at least fictional before now and being in her presence was speeding up the natural process of falling for her.
Or maybe just because I could relate to her in a way that I never thought I'd ever relate to anyone before; either way it felt good and just a little weird, I'd heard of love at first sight before. It was every romantic's perfect ideal belief and I was no exception, but in all honesty I'd never really believed it could happen to me.
"By the way you look nice." I finally complimented shooting her an appraising look; though careful not to linger too long.
"Thanks." She whispered blushing a little. "Yah do tah." She added her accent thickening a little; I got a jolt from that, her accent really did something to me especially when it was so thick like that. I smiled widely and turned back to watch as Amy succeeded in dunking Scott; I could tell he was only pretending to let her win their little duel; her presence seemed to bring out the parent in all the X-Men… Well except Jubilee and Illyana, they were acting more like kids; suddenly I happened to glance over at Logan and caught the icy glare he was shooting my way. Oh boy he's really got issues; and I thought he liked me, guess when it comes to starting something up with Rogue I get the complete third degree or whatever it's called. I thought to myself trying to pretend as if he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary; if we did pursue the whole relationship angle it certainly would prove challenging, just so long as I was here a lot longer then just a few more weeks.
To Be Continued