Chapter 25

"It's kinda tradition," he told her as they walked down the street, "me and dad watch all our favorite Golden Girls episodes, the owner of Costa Azure always has an extra chef dedicated to cooking our chimichungas, and this year," he paused, a smile forming on his lips, "I can say Merry Christmas, Dad, and actually mean it."

"I'm happy for you, John," and she was, it was good that he had a healthy relationship with his father, it went a long way to repairing the damage from his sperm donor.

But, she missed him, seriously missed him, not that she would ever voice such thoughts out loud. They didn't get to spend nearly enough time together and she hated to admit that this was starting to bother her. She was getting ridiculous thoughts that maybe he would move on like her father thought he might. Already he talked about this woman, Kate, far too often than Wanda liked, a fact that she chided herself for.

Wanda wasn't that kind of girl, not clutchy or clingy, wasn't going to start making demands on him, nope, that was for girls who didn't trust their man. Wanda trusted John, knew he wouldn't cheat on her… however, would he end their relationship before he had a chance to… that was entirely plausible.

They reached their destination and she shuffled away all her misgivings and worries.

Their former classmate Piotr went to art school right out of Xavier's and while he had only spent one semester at the school he already had his first showing over the Winter break. He was asked to be one of the side exhibits that flanked a well known artist. Basically the equivalent of being the opening act of a band.

Of course, Kitty had to tell everyone when she found out, hoping to get as many people there to see Piotr's art as possible. As Wanda had seen his artwork and known it to be quite nice, plus it was a good reason to get out of the house over the holiday, she decided to go and John was available before he went to California. It was a win-win situation.

"Art is so subjective you know," John frowned as they took a tour of the main exhibit of what was being described as 'retro-impressionist' paintings, "and not just painting, but writing, music. You have trends where one style is more popular than another… but if you get in at the right time you can literally throw paint on a canvas, call it art, and then you become a house hold name."

"Pollock?" Wanda asked if she was referring to that particular artist.

"You just proved my point," they moved to the next piece of art, "I'm not saying that his stuff isn't art, but would he have been famous if he tried that at any other time? Van Gogh didn't become famous until after he died. Poe died penniless. King and Rowling were rejected time and again. Makes you wonder just how much is out there that never gets shared with the world simply because they didn't time it right and were ignored."

Wanda watched her boyfriend carefully has he rambled on, he did make some sense but she gathered there was something more there, "King and Rowling kept trying and see where it got them, as for Poe, that was mostly his own fault."

"Yeah," he sighed, shaking his head.

She was going to say something when they both stopped, looked at each other, then back to what had captured their attention.

"Remy?" John called out.

"Hhmm?" the man lifted his head from where it was buried against a woman's neck and ample bosom. "Oh, hey, Pyro, Wanda, what you doing here?"

"To see Piotr's exhibit," Wanda gestured over to the side room which they hadn't gotten to yet, she then got a better look of the woman, tall, lean, and beautiful with long white hair like Miss Munroe's but with creamy white skin.

"The big guy is showing his art?" Remy blinked then put his hand to his head, "of course, P. Rasputin, how did I miss that?"

"You were occupied?" John offered, gesturing not so subtly to Remy's date.

"Felicia Hardy," she offered her hand.

"Felicia," Remy continued introductions as they all shook, "this is one of my best friends, Saint-John, though I like to call him Pyro, and this is his girlfriend, Wanda."

"Oh," recognition came over the woman's face, "Remy has talked about you two, especially you," her eyes turned to John, "I have you to thank for meeting Remy."

"You do?" John frowned.

"You gave him the idea of the Sneaker business," Felicia said questionably, "did you not?"

"Oh, well yeah, I did that," John chuckled.

"Some jobs are two-man, or, one man, one woman," Remy winked at Felicia, "meet my new business partner."

"Mixing business and pleasure?" Wanda said dryly.

"Why not?" Felicia smirked. "It certainly makes business a lot less… dull."

"I bet," she tried not to frown. In reality, she was torn, she knew how much Marie liked Remy but the man needed to learn how to exist on his own before they ever had a chance to get back together. However, she wasn't sure this relationship he had with Felicia counted for or against him moving on and becoming his own man.

It was mostly the idea that Remy was running around having casual sex while Marie hadn't even gone nearly as far with Joseph as she had with Remy that bothered Wanda. It was almost like he was cheating on her, which he technically wasn't.

With a mental sigh she tried to just push it all away. Her own relationship was too damn hard to figure out, she didn't need to invest in her friend's problems as well. She could be like Kitty and get involved and try to do a whole bunch of crap… but that wasn't her. Wanda would help Marie if she asked but otherwise she was staying out of it.

"Well, uh," John was obviously feeling a little awkward about the situation too, "we should finish looking at the exhibit."

"We started from the other side," Remy pointed out that they weren't even halfway through yet, obviously sidelined by other endeavors. "Have you seen Piotr's stuff yet?"

"We're going there next," he told him.

"Okay," Remy nodded, "we'll finish our round and meet you in there, maybe we can all go out for coffee or something afterwards?"

"Sounds like fun," Felicia agreed.

"Sure," John glanced at Wanda who gave a shrug, "why not."

"See you in a few then," Remy smiled and the couple moved past to the next piece of art work.

"Wow," John said in a droll way, "when the boy rebounds, he sure does rebound."

"I don't want to talk about it," she rubbed her forehead as they walked to the next display, "and Marie never has to know about this."

"Agreed."

…

As awkward as it was, John welcomed the distraction of Remy who obviously went out and got laid as he said he would. This meant he didn't have to dwell on other things. Seeing someone be successful in their art always made him a bit depressed. He'd walk into a bookstore and feel so melancholy.

He'd see a book and think 'no way I could ever be that good'. He'd see another and think 'if this is the trash that gets published, I'll never make it'.

The art show wasn't nearly as bad seeing as he couldn't draw stick figures to save his life, but then he thought of the multi-talented people who could draw and write, like many of his favorite web comics. The more and more he thought of the success of other people the more and more he came to the conclusion that he would never gain that kind of fame… unless maybe he happened to be at the right place at the right time.

"This one is really good," Wanda commented as they viewed one of the first paintings in Piotr's exhibit, it was a pseudo-impressionist painting of a sunset. "I like the colors."

"There's a lot of red in it," John chuckled and she smirked at him.

"Wanda, Saint-John," a familiar accented voice came up beside them. "Good of you to come."

"Piotr," Wanda nodded to the man, "after what you did in art class I have to admit, I was interested to see what you've been doing."

"Ah, of course," he smiled at them knowingly, "and Kitty would not stop bugging you through mid-finales week."

"A few threats may have been made," she chuckled.

"My Katya does get excited," he said almost apologetically. "You enjoying yourselves though, no?"

"We are, mate," John assured him, "got some quality work here."

"Thank you," he blushed, then cleared his throat, "well, enjoy the rest of the exhibit, I'm sure you want to catch up with your friend."

"Our friend," John frowned, "did Remy beat us in here?"

"Remy?" a question etched across the Russian's face, "I speak of Marie, she came by earlier," he looked around then pointed towards the end of the exhibit, "there she is."

Sure enough, looking at the second to last painting was Marie and her new beau Joseph.

"Well, I will leave you," Piotr bowed away to meet Scott and Jean who had just walked through the entrance.

Wanda and John spent a good minute looking at their friend who never seemed to notice them as she was so engrained in a conversation with her boyfriend.

"What should we do?" John finally asked.

"I don't know," Wanda chewed her lip, "I don't want to get involved in their relationship drama but I don't know if not doing anything and letting them run into each other would be just as much meddling as cutting Remy off before he comes in here."

"They're almost done," John pointed out," maybe they'll leave before Remy shows, he could be finding himself occupied again."

"Yes…" his girlfriend gave a little chuckle, "are you as morbidly interested in seeing what would happen if the two groups did meet?"

"Yes," he didn't even have to think about it… this was epic storybook drama right here in the making.

Things turned interesting in that after Jean and Scott were greeted by Piotr, they moved on to start the exhibit from the other side, promptly running into Marie and Joseph and they struck up a conversation. They'd probably be there for a bit.

"Ignorance is bliss?" he offered.

"I can get behind that," she nodded and they proceeded to the next painting, all the while keeping their eye on Marie and the other entrance from the main room.

They didn't have to wait too terribly long as about four paintings later, Remy and Felicia came through the entrance from the main exhibit, laughing loudly and generally enjoying themselves. So enwrapped with each other, Remy didn't seem to notice Marie standing off to the side with Joseph, Jean and Scott.

Of course, everyone noticed the noisy couple.

Piotr, either being brave, or more likely oblivious, walked up to Remy and greeted him. John and Wanda were too far away to hear exactly what was said but the few words and general gestures spoke of a similar conversation as they had had with the Russian. John subconsciously took a step back in order to get both Remy and Marie in his peripheral vision, not wanting to miss a thing.

Remy seemed to have noticed Marie over Piotr's shoulder as there was a slight, almost unnoticeable pause in his demeanor.

Marie turned back to Jean and Scott, said something, and then headed for the door, Joseph in tow.

"Aw," Wanda frowned, "that was anti-climatic."

"It did lack an expectant amount of fireworks," he nodded and then he got a little hopeful as Jean and Scott headed towards the group.

With a glance, the two agreed that it was safe to approach and that they really wanted to hear what was going to be said.

"Felicia," Remy said, "these are more former classmates from Xavier's, Boy Scout and Prom Queen."

Scott rolled his eyes, at least John assumed so, it was hard to tell with the man wearing those stupid sunglasses. "Scott Summers," he politely offered his hand.

"Jean Grey," the redhead also introduced herself.

Then Kitty showed up with coffee, she had made a run for her and Piotr, leaving Felicia to remark that it was turning into one big High School Reunion for Remy. Several words were passed as small talk was made, Scott explaining that he decided to go to John Hopkins after all as he didn't get into Yale. Remy then explained in a roundabout way what he and Felicia did for a living, or was starting to. Apparently they only had a few clients at the moment, but with the payout being fairly big, that would work for now as they built a reputation.

There was an underlying level of tension that Kitty was oblivious to. Finally, it was Jean to broach the elephant in the room, "Piotr, Marie had to go but she wanted us to tell you that she really enjoyed your work, definitely email her when your next showing is."

Felicia was quicker than she looked and must have noticed the air change at the mention of the woman, "Marie?"

Remy started to say something and John could see the wheels turning in his head, John knew he'd pay for this later but the prankster in him hadn't had a chance to have any fun lately, "Remy's ex-girlfriend. Not the ex-fiancée though. Don't want to get those two confused."

Oh yeah, he was definitely going to pay for that later but the look on Remy's face was priceless as John dropped that bomb and Felicia, for her part, seemed to revel in it. "Oh, the ex-girlfriend," she purred the word as if she was a cat, "how interesting. Would have liked to have met her."

At that point everyone found a convenient excuse to be somewhere else.

"So," John grinned at Remy as Felicia and Wanda moved on to look at a painting, "we going out for coffee still?"

"Sure," his friend replied with a straight face, "how else am I gonna poison you for a) not warning me about Marie and b) telling Felicia about her!"

"Okay," he continued to grin, "but remember, no cyanide, I don't care for almonds."

Remy stared at him like he was crazy, then shook his head and moved towards the girls.

"Arsenic is good," John added helpfully, "and Ricin, though that can take a bit to kick in…"

…

Coffee with Remy and Felicia was interesting. The white haired beauty was pretty smart, not a bimbo at all, which made it harder not to like her.

Again, Wanda didn't know if she should be glad Remy and Marie had both moved on, this way her two friends weren't in what could potentially be a volatile relationship… but at the same time the two seemed to be made for each other.

Yeah, she was seriously not caring for relationship drama… at all…

"We should get going," John looked at his watch.

"Still early, mon ami," Remy was in much better spirits now.

"To you, maybe," Wanda frowned, "but father wants me back by two a.m. and it's over an hour drive."

"That's rough," Felicia gave her a sympathetic smile.

After saying goodnight, John and Wada got into his jeep and made the long drive back to Salem Center.

"You crashing at Marie's again?" Wanda asked as they hit the highway.

"Yeah," he nodded, "but I think I might need to look into other arrangements, might be wearing out my welcome."

"Oh?" she frowned.

"Well," he laughed nervously, "I think Coach forgot last time I was coming over… he and Miss Munroe walked in doing something I really didn't need to see."

Wanda let out a laugh then covered her mouth, "That's horrible."

"Yeah," John shook his head and then got his eyes back on the road, "so I'll either get a hotel or leave earlier, you know, the drive isn't too bad now that I've gotten used to it."

"I don't want you to put yourself in a position to get yourself hurt," she frowned.

"Don't worry," she threw her a reassuring grin, "I won't ever drive if I feel I can't make it."

"Good," that did make her more relieved.

They continued on with small talk for the drive. The conversation turned to school and related topics. Eventually John started to talk about his work on the paper, how it was coming along really well. As he spoke, every other sentence or so included commentary on his Assistant Editor, Kate. He spoke of her highly as a talented individual who was giving him pointers and general help.

It really was beneath Wanda to be jealous, it was such a tawdry emotion.

However, it annoyed her to no end as she thought of all the time this Kate was getting to spend with John was time Wanda didn't. It was ridiculous though, John showed no signs that he was interested in Kate at all that way, nor that he had any less interest in Wanda, and of course, Wanda was the only person he let get really close to him. John, for all purposes, was hers, and she was his.

So why did she have this gut gnawing feeling she had to remind John of this?

"We made good time," she said as they entered the town, "want to park for a bit?"

"A plan with no drawbacks," he grinned at her and a few minutes later pulled into their regular spot.

He left the engine running because it was too cold not to have the heater going but he put the jeep's emergency brake on. Once the vehicle was secure, they turned to each other and kissed softly, easing into touching for John's sake. Her hands now by instinct went to his sides to grip his shirt as he grew bolder and ran circles up her torso. Wanda moaned into his lips as he caressed her breasts, giving them a few good squeezes before moving away again.

Wanda sat up and a wicked smile formed on her lips as an idea came to her, it was time to move things just a little further.

"Wanda?" John questioned as her hands went to the top button of her blouse.

She grinned and continued to undo her shirt, her boyfriend's eyes wide as she revealed her modest but lacy bra. However, this showed no more than her bikini did and she really wanted to give him something he could remember. Reaching around she deftly took care of the catch which was amazing as she started to feel a little nervous, hands shaking. Slowly and shyly she pulled the straps down and revealed herself to him.

"Merry Christmas," she blushed.

John worked his jaw as if he was going to say something but instead timidly reached forward and touched her. There was a reverence in his touch that she adored and her lips where on his again, this time much more hungry. He caressed her as she kissed him, two hormonal teenagers making out and fogging up the windows.

RING

Reluctantly, Wanda pulled away and grabbed her phone, her ten minute warning alarm going off, they'd have to start heading back.

John kissed her again, that goofy grin on his face. "Best. Gift. Ever."