Author's Note: Say goodbye to Taylor...last flashback...
Chapter Twenty-two: Return to Alkali Lake: Part II
John twitched slightly, slowly becoming aware of being uncomfortable. Wearily he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly at his unfamiliar surroundings.
"Morning."
John frowned and looked across to see Jamie sitting on the bench opposite him in the helicopter. Sitting up, he looked down at the blanket covering him and then to outside where early morning sunlight spilled over a fresh blanket of snow.
"Morning..." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Jamie laughed softly.
"You were out of it last night so I just set up and left you to sleep."
"You should have woken me," John pulled the blanket tighter around him, frowning as he remembered that he had not fallen asleep with the blanket anywhere near him. He looked up at the other mutant who shrugged.
"You were shivering," he replied casually. "Besides, it's not like I had to lift a finger myself. Technically."
John couldn't help but smile slightly as he bowed his head. He took a deep breath and looked up again only to find the other mutant gone. He frowned and stood up, dropping the blanket and instantly regretting it as the cold air from outside hit him. Quickly he grabbed another jacket and pulled it onto his body. Sighing heavily he made his way out into the snow, narrowing his eyes at the glare of the bright sun shining off the fresh white powder.
"So...any sign of activity?" he asked as Jamie fiddled about with the probes and small satellite dishes just outside the helicopter that were scanning the entire lake and surrounding area.
"No, not yet," the multiplying mutant replied. "We're going to have to go and have a closer look though. You know which direction we're going in?"
John scowled and looked out at the glistening water of the lake.
"No, not really," he muttered. It all the looked the same – just one big patch of water surrounded by stupid white snow. Jamie sighed heavily as the fire mutant stared off into space.
"I'll go check Mystique's instructions again then," he wandered back to the helicopter. John glanced over at the other mutant but quickly returned his attention to the water, crossing his arms as a wind picked up and blew some loose snow in his direction. This was the last place on earth the fire mutant wanted to be...
x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x
Ororo paced back and forth her office, anxiously waiting for Piotr and Bobby to arrive. Finally there was a knock on the door and Piotr eased his way in.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologised, rubbing his temples wearily. Ororo frowned.
"What's wrong? Where's Bobby?"
"He's with Marie," Piotr sighed. "The girls are sick."
Ororo's frown deepened. This was all they needed.
"What do you mean the girls are sick?"
"They had a girly night last night – must have been something they ate," Piotr shrugged helplessly. "All the older girls are puking their guts up."
"Oh this is all we need," she shook her head. "I must go to this meeting with the professor, Hank's in Washington, Warren's visiting his father and..."
Piotr laughed softly.
"Me and Bobby will hold the fort here," he smiled. "It'll take no time to get to Alkali Lake in the jet. We'll just go in the evening when you get back."
Ororo gave a small laugh herself.
"Ok," she nodded, taking a deep breath. "You're right. What's a few extra hours...?"
x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x
"Just admit that I'm better than you," John laughed. Taylor scowled and leant forward, as if to make his car on the screen go faster.
"Never..." Taylor threw his controller to the side as once again the younger boy beat him across the finishing line. John smiled meekly and reached into his pocket, pulling out two cigarettes. He held one out to Taylor who laughed and accepted the cigarette, putting it to his lips as he searched his pockets for a lighter.
"Oh yeah...someone stole my lighter, didn't they?" he turned and looked pointedly at John. John bit his lip and turned away, reaching over to the side table for a beer to hide the flush creeping up his cheeks. They hadn't talked about that incident yet, and John wasn't entirely sure he wanted to...
"You should be more careful with your stuff then shouldn't you?" he managed to reply lightly, reaching into his pocket to produce the shark tooth Zippo. Taylor raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smirk pulling at his lips as John lit his cigarette for him.
"Whatever..." the older boy grabbed the lighter from John as he went to light his, raising it high above his head as he inhaled deeply from his own cigarette. "You were saying?"
"Hey!" John laughed and reached up for the lighter, but the other boy was much taller than he. Cursing, he clambered to his knees to give himself the extra height he needed but found himself collapsing back down as Taylor hooked his arm around his waist, pulling him into a deep, passionate kiss. John barely had time to think before he eagerly responded, dropping his cigarette as he slipped his hands around Taylor's neck. Taylor too abandoned his cigarette, dumping it in the nearest beer bottle, shifting his body to position the smaller boy to sit comfortably on his lap. Neither heard the thuds of the younger boys father climbing the stairs, returning early from work.
"JOHN!"
John let out a startled cry as he felt his father grab his shoulder, hauling him roughly away from Taylor. He stumbled backwards, losing his footing amongst the stacks of abandoned games, controllers and beer bottles. A sharp pain ripped through the back of his head as he collapsed to the floor via the table.
"John!" he faintly heard Taylor's voice and the sound of a scuffle. "What the f..."
His voice faded out as blackness surrounded John, but the younger boy could still vaguely make out his father's voice, angry and disgusted, calling him and Taylor every name under the sun...
"Hey...you ok?" Jamie's soft voice tore John from his thoughts. The older mutant tentatively placed an arm on the younger's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?"
"No," John replied bluntly, pulling his arm away sharply and wandering away. Jamie inhaled sharply.
Of course he doesn't want to speak to you – why the fuck would he?
Why the fuck would you want him to? We're not a fucking psychiatrist.
...evil people...
Oh come on! It's obvious he's pining over his precious ice mutant.
No he's not!
Bet he is...
No!
So, we're at the place where he finally decided to leave him and he's daydreaming about...
Oh shut up.
John frowned thoughtfully as he stood at the edge of the lake, one hand continuously throwing his lighter up in the air and catching it again as the other rubbed the scar on the back of his neck. He glanced over his shoulder and watched as Jamie ran another scan. It appeared that the old base had been used recently after all but had since again been abandoned. John sighed heavily and returned his attention to the water, still throwing his lighter up and catching it. Finally, he caught the lighter and looked down at it. A slight smile played at his lips as he remembered waking up late that night all alone in the hospital, but with that lighter tucked into his hand. He'd never been a day without it since – aside from in the hospital following Alcatraz. He let out a small sigh as he considered how often Mystique had told him to get rid of it. You have to let go of the past she kept telling him. She had stolen it once or twice, pretending to have thrown it away herself, but she always gave it back to him. She would never actually get rid of it. The shapeshifter knew all too well that for one, it was something the fire mutant would have to do on his own, and for two, she knew better than anyone that letting go isn't always that easy...
Suddenly, the fire mutant pulled his arm back and launched the shark tooth Zippo into the lake. He bit his lip as he saw a small splash, little ripples spreading out before the water quickly stilled again.
"See you in hell Taylor..." he muttered, closing his eyes briefly before turning his attention back to the mutant behind him. He frowned slightly as he found Jamie just sitting in the snow, head bowed, his scans finished for now. The fire mutant shook his head at himself. He thought of all the times he had wanted for Bobby to notice when he was feeling down, to notice when he was upset, to notice when he needed to just talk. But Bobby never noticed. And now here he was, pushing away someone who did care enough to notice. Slowly a smile spread over John's face as he reached down into the snow, cringing at the cold as he rolled a snowball and threw it at the other mutant. Jamie looked up startled to find John grinning back at him. The fire mutant reached down and made another snowball, raising it up challengingly. Jamie frowned slightly, unsure of the fire mutant's change in mood but nonetheless he too rolled a snowball, duplicating as he did so. John's smile faded as he suddenly realised that he had left his wrist lighters back at the helicopter. He let out a small cry as he dived out of the way of the barrage of snow flying in his direction. "Hey! That's cheating!"
"And?" the original laughed, easily ducking the solitary snowball the pyrokinetic threw at him.
"Jamie!"
The multiplying mutant just laughed again as the fire mutant ran away from his duplicates. His eyes widened slightly as John suddenly ducked behind him, grabbing his waist to use him as a shield against the snowballs flying towards them. With a small laugh, Jamie brushed the snow from his front and pulled his duplicates back in, turning to face the smaller mutant. John grinned up at him mischievously, his hands still loosely on Jamie's waist. The older mutant gulped slightly at having the pyrokinetic so close, but he kept his face calm.
"That was cheating," he said quietly, gently trying to pull away, but John tightened his grip. "John..."
"What?" the fire mutant looked up at him innocently, slipping his arms under the taller mutant's leather jacket. "I'm cold."
"And?" a small smile – a hopeful smile – played at Jamie's lips. "What am I supposed to do about that?"
John smiled back sheepishly and leant forward to rest his head on Jamie's chest.
"How long till we leave?" he asked quietly.
"A couple of hours yet," Jamie laughed as the fire mutant shivered. "Mystique wants us to run a few more scans."
"I don't see the point...there's no one here," John muttered. "Go tell her I'm cold and I wanna go back now."
Jamie laughed.
"You always moan about the base being cold anyway. What's the difference?"
John shrugged, his head still buried in the taller mutant's chest.
"Fine, we'll stay in the snow," he grumbled before lifting his head, smirking up at Jamie. "But you'd better think of a good way to keep me warm."
Without warning the fire mutant jumped up into the older mutant's arms, wrapping his legs around his waist. Instinctively Jamie caught him, meeting his lips in a heated, long over due kiss.
Oh yippee, we get to be the psycho fire mutants little fuck toy again...
Oh who cares? He's hot...
Don't do it...you know how much it'll hurt after...
Who cares about after? I'm horny now...
Suddenly Jamie pulled his head away, but he kept the fire mutant securely in his arms.
"John...don't. We can't do that anymore," he frowned grudgingly, closing his eyes briefly with a slight shake of the head to clear his thoughts. John bit his lip and leant forward to gently rest his forehead against the other mutant's.
"I always hated when you left, even after that first night in the tent," he admitted quietly, smiling sheepishly as Jamie's eyes widened slightly. "I'm sorry I pushed you away when you tried to stay...I just...I was getting used to things being the way they were...and I mean you know I have issues and..."
Jamie laughed quietly as the fire mutant stumbled. With a slight shake of the head he leant forward and captured John's lips. The pyrokinetic smiled into the kiss, tightening his grip around the other mutant. For the first time since they had arrived, John forgot where he was and why he hated being there so much as finally he stopped thinking about the past and started to think ahead to what could be the future...
x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x
"Right, are we ready to go now?" Bobby sighed tiredly as he met Piotr out in the corridor.
"Ready as we'll ever be," the huge Russian grinned. "Come on, before anything else holds us up."
x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x
"Jamie..." John softly ran his fingers over the other mutant's chest. "I can't feel my ass anymore."
Jamie laughed and raised his head to look down at the fire mutant.
"Well...you are lying in the snow."
"Cause you pulled me down into it!" John pouted. "If I'm ill because of this I'm going to make your life hell."
"Ill?" Jamie raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah...ill," John shivered. "I don't do well with cold. And I'm not a good patient."
Jamie laughed and scooped the fire mutant out of the snow.
"Better get you back into the warm then," he smiled as his duplicates finished packing the equipment back into the helicopter. John wriggled about and tried to get out of the other mutant's arms.
"Jamie! Put me down!"
Jamie just laughed at the smaller mutant's feeble attempt to be bossy.
"No," he smirked. John scowled but he relaxed as Jamie leant down and kissed him softly, gently moving him to lower him feet first to the ground. "Come on," he smiled as the two parted, John's arm slipping around his waist. "Let's get the hell outa here."
John smiled, relieved, as Jamie grabbed his hand and pulled him into the back of the helicopter, a duplicate already sitting in the pilots chair starting up the rotors. Once again the fire mutant stood and looked out the back of the helicopter as he flew away from Alkali Lake, but this time there was a strong arm securely wrapped around his shoulder. A small smile played at his lips as the rotors blew the snow below around, fresh snow starting to fall also, covering their tracks and leaving no sign that they were ever there. He gave a small shake of the head and turned back into the helicopter, directing Jamie towards the seats at the side, completely unaware that in less than half an hour, a jet would land in almost the same spot they had just left...