Authors note: Oh, I hate ending stories. I thought about ending it at that last chapter, but i had allready written this one and bits of it made me laugh so...this is the last chapter! I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

Chapter Thirty-six: Flown

P.O.V: Ororo Munroe / Storm

I knew John would leave again. We all knew John would leave again...even Bobby. John hated it here – he hated the rules and he hated the curfews. He hated that every time he set foot outside his bedroom he bumped into someone, most likely someone who didn't trust him. He hated living under the same roof as Marie, who continued to make life as difficult for him as she possibly could. I tried to speak to her, but I guess hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Most of all, he hated that people treated Bobby differently for being with him, especially his parents. And so one day he decided it was in everyone's best interests that he simply leave.

But I guess he hated being gone even more.

He returned after just ten days. Myself, Hank, Logan, Marie, Piotr, Warren and Bobby had been sitting in the TV room late one night having just had an informal chat about school business, when we had heard a familiar clicking noise coming from the doorway. And there he was, leaning against the doorframe, one hand raised in a cautious wave as the other played with his lighter, a slightly nervous smile playing at his lips as his eyes settled on Bobby. I just smiled. Hank looked confused (perhaps I forgot to tell him John left?). Logan smirked. Piotr grinned, counting off the days on his fingers as Warren sighed and delved into his pocket, handing Piotr a twenty dollar bill. Marie scowled. All this as Bobby leapt to his feet and grabbed John's hand, dragging him out the room. No one saw them until the next day, and it was as though nothing had happened.

They're still together, although to the casual observer, you may never know. They're very discreet while in company. Occasionally, you'll catch a fleeting glance between the two, or find them leaning just that little too close together for your average guys, or very occasionally, you may find them curled up together in front of the TV late at night when they are sure all the kids are in bed.

John's been helping Bobby take some lectures. The two of them work well together, with Bobby being the patient educator and John being the one the kids are too afraid to act up in front of. They have the best attended and disciplined classes in the mansion. John's also very good with the more...troubled...kids in the school. Whether they want his help or not, he always seems to get in there before they can cause any serious trouble and calm them down. I guess he can just identify with them better than we can. He knows just how far he can push them, he knows when to be authoritative and when to back off. Take the pyrokinetic who arrived a few months ago. Roughly the same age as John when he had first come to the mansion, this kid had immediately picked a fight with John upon seeing him flick open his lighter.

"Can you not create your own fire? I can," the kid had scoffed. Two days later, he emerged sheepishly from a danger room session with John, who sent him away with the words;

"Without control, power means fuck all."

Ok. So his style is unconventional, but with some of these kids it works. That's how he came to help me take classes on power control. He has some truly horrific tales of when he's lost control of his emotions and therefore his powers. I don't know if they're at all true and I don't intend to ask. All I know is it works. The kids listen. If only we'd had a teacher like him when he was a student...

Although completely integrated into school life (just don't ever refer to him as being one of the teachers), John still refuses to train with us in the danger room, preferring to go in alone or taking some of the younger kids in for a light practice session. It took a very long time before he agreed to go in just with Bobby, and the damn danger room had randomly simulated a torn down bridge with burning cars flying all over the place. You'd have thought we'd programmed in Alcatraz. It was another couple of weeks before Bobby persuaded John to go back in with him again.

Thankfully things were quiet on the anti-mutant front. Our only concern really has been the ongoing rallies, still concerning the punishment – or lack thereof – of the mutant terrorists. We often attended these rallies, just to keep an eye on them, but we never encountered any problems. We even bumped into a couple of old friends at one of them...

I had travelled to the latest rally with Hank, Warren and – against my wishes – Bobby. John had agreed with me when I had suggested Bobby maybe stay behind.

"You do realise these people are screaming for my head?" he had mumbled. "Most of them want your boyfriend to get the chair."

"Don't worry, I'll try and not get too mad at them," Bobby had smiled and boarded the jet anyway.

We observed the rally from a safe distance. As usual it seemed peaceful enough – and the anger seemed directed purely at those mutants who had attacked humans, not at mutants in general. It was near the end that I noticed one Erik Lensherr standing in a similar position to us, lust a little further along. And standing next to him...John. Bobby saw them at the same time as I. Gesturing for Hank and Warren to stay where they were, the two of us made our way towards them.

"Iceman!" John grinned.

"Mystique," Bobby replied flatly. Erik raised an eyebrow.

"So, how is the young Pyro these days?"

"John's fine..."

"Why are you here Erik?" I interrupted.

"Same as you my dear," he replied calmly. "Just observing."

And indeed that was all they did. And it was all we heard of them. Soon enough the rallies dwindled and peace seemed to come to the mutant world.

Until today.

We were all standing – myself, Logan, Warren, Piotr, Kitty, Marie and fresh out of the danger room Bobby and John – looking at Hank expectantly, eager to know why he had gathered us all here and told us to suit up at once. Of course, we had not stopped to ask – we just did as we were told and changed, all except John, who just sat in the corner next to Bobby, no doubt just as curious.

"I have been corresponding with Magneto," Hank held up a file. "Apparently we have a new problem," Hank threw a package at John. Everyone – even Bobby – looked at the package marked Pyro suspiciously. "Sentinels. Now these are in short..." Hank continued as John ripped open the package and held up two of Magneto's wrist flame contraptions. "Giant robots with the sole intent of eradicating mutant life," John strapped the two glorified lighters quickly to his wrists. "And some military jackass has gone and commissioned a set."

"So, why doesn't Magneto just wave his hand and dismantle all these robots?" Logan asked. "I'll presume they're made of metal?"

"They are, but they have a strong magnetic field around them that interferes with Erik's power. They are however..." Hank looked to the back of the room. "Not very good with extremes of temperature."

Our ice and fire mutants exchanged amused glances, a small hiss of steam appearing between them. I shook my head with a smile.

"So, how many sentinels are we speaking about?"

"Only a handful at the moment. But we still need to get over there before he sets them loose."

"So what the hell are we waiting for then?" John asked impatiently.

"Who says you're coming?" Kitty spoke up.

"Who says I'm not? You heard what the furball said," John waved a fireball at her. "Extremes of temperature."

"You're not exactly a team player though," Marie stated as Kitty cowered back a little. "Are you Pyro."

"Look, he's not going with out me! I mean..." the hand John had just gestured at Bobby flew to his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "You all aren't going...extremes of temperature!"

I couldn't help but smile at John's flustered face.

"Kid's got a point though," Logan chipped in. "Sooner we go, sooner we get home."

"Stop calling me kid," John mumbled, clambering to his feet and grabbing Bobby's arm, dragged him in the direction of the door that would take us to the jet.

"Hey kid," Logan smirked. "Three rules..."

"No flaming innocent bystanders, no flaming X-Men and no getting in the helicopter with Magneto?" John turned to Logan and gave a mock salute. "Got it."

Logan grinned as once again John pulled Bobby towards the door.

"I like him."

I just smile.

"Hey John?" he turns to look at me. I hold up one of the spare X-Men suits.

"Fuck off," he scoffs. "Just cause you all wanna see my ass in leather," continuing his way towards the door, yelling over his shoulder; "Besides, this doesn't make me an X-Man!"

I smile and put John's suit back on its hook. Next time...

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Authors note: It's all over! NO MORE!!! This was originally only supposed to have thirteen chapters – it's almost trebled! Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed, you're all stars! Anyway, I was going to lie and say I'm going to go off and concentrate on my original stories before my friends kill me (I wrote this in about twelve weeks, I've been writing some of my original stuff for over six years!) but I have already started work on my next Pyro/Iceman multi-chapter so I'll maybe see you there! Let me give you a tiny little taster:

"I told you already, Drake," Pyro spat angrily. "You're too late!"

Bobby bowed his head away from Pyro's angry glare.

"I told you I just needed time," he said quietly.

Knowing me I'll get bored and start posting it sometime this week...