Author's Note: Agh! I have nine weeks to finish this before it's taken me a year again! And I still have at least six chapters. Better get a move on. Now, I don't want to get too hung up on the Brotherhood/X-Men side of things just to warn you but I'll maybe get some stuff in.

A Little Complication

Chapter 54: Starting Anew

Bobby turned his head into the pillow to stifle the yawn escaping his lips. He wasn't sure exactly when he'd finally fallen asleep but he knew it had been late – he'd been too scared to close his eyes lest the fire mutant lying next to him disappeared. He hadn't however, and a warm smile pulled on Bobby's lips as he just lay and watched John sleep, settled by the gentle rise and fall of the pyrokinetic's chest and the peaceful, almost innocent look on his face. Bobby couldn't help but let a quiet laugh slip from his lips at the thought but his smile faded into a frown as his eyes drifted down to the bandages still strapped around the fire mutant's bare torso. Reaching out slowly he ran his fingers lightly down John's bare side, barely even touching the skin, down over the bandages, tentatively circling over the area he knew the bullet had blasted into John's body…

"Ow."

Bobby's hand flew back, an apology racing to his lips as he sat up concernedly but the apology turned into a relieved smile as he looked at John and found the pyrokinetic smirking back at him.

"Dick…" the ice mutant laughed softly, settling back down, facing the fire mutant. John rolled leisurely onto his side to look back at Bobby, his smirk turning into a more sheepish grin.

"Hi."

Bobby chuckled quietly, his icy blue eyes sparkling.

"Hi," he smiled, leaning forward and capturing the warm lips in front of him, cupping his hand gently over the fire mutant's cheek before running his fingers through his floppy blonde hair. "Sleep well?"

John shrugged casually, dropping his gaze to Bobby's chest, running his warm fingers lightly over the bare skin.

"Slept ok…" he replied simply but he couldn't hide the contented smile pulling on his lips.

"Good," Bobby grinned and pulled the other mutant closer, running his hands over his back, a short silence falling over the two.

"So…what now?"

Bobby frowned slightly at the quiet voice.

"What do you mean?" he pulled away slightly, tilting John's head up to look at him. The fire mutant shifted a little uneasily.

"Well…it's not gonna be long before I'm back on my feet and Mystique's gonna have me running about again doing…well you know," he gave another shrug. Bobby bit his bottom lip, dropping his head slightly in an understanding nature.

"Look…I know it's not gonna be easy but we'll just…we'll work through it," he looked back up determinedly. "I'm pretty much moved in here now so you can come round as often as you like and you have my cell phone number now so…" he smiled as the fire mutant glanced up at him. "I guess we just hang out and see how things go."

John smiled and nodded.

"Sounds good."

Bobby laughed softly and pulled the pyrokinetic into a tender kiss.

"You don't have to be back at the base anytime soon, do you?" he asked quietly as they parted.

"No…" John grinned and pulled himself carefully on top of the ice mutant. "Do you need to be back at the mansion anytime soon?"

"Nope…" Bobby smiled back, gently tracing his fingers over John's back. "No rush…"

x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x

Bobby wandered absently over to the window, pulling back the curtain slightly to look out over the grounds below. His lips curled up into a smile as a shiny red sports car pulled in and disappeared under the building to the car parking spaces below. Quickly he made his way to the door, resting his finger on the entry button, pressing it as soon as the buzzer rang. Opening the front door he offered the fire mutant stepping out of the lift a warm smile.

"Hi."

"Hey…" John returned the smile, following the ice mutant into the apartment, the door shutting behind them. "You answe…"

The fire mutant was cut off by icy cold lips as he found himself suddenly wrapped up in Bobby's arms. John arched an eyebrow as the two parted.

"I missed you," Bobby smiled sheepishly, keeping his arms firmly around the smaller mutant's waist. John laughed quietly.

"It's been four days," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," Bobby shrugged slightly, loosening his hold a little to lead John into the lounge.

"And you've called me every night."

"I like hearing your voice," Bobby replied simply, sitting down on the sofa, pulling John down with him.

"And you've texted every afternoon."

Bobby laughed quietly.

"Do you want me to ignore you for a few days?"

John too laughed, resting his head on Bobby's shoulder.

"I never said that."

"Besides…" Bobby pouted slightly. "You were late."

"Jamie hid the car keys!" the fire mutant replied. "Well…the keys for the nice cars."

Bobby shook his head with a smile but his expression grew more serious.

"Is everything ok? I mean…" Bobby ran his fingers lightly over John's chest. "You know, with Jamie…and Mystique and…the Brotherhood…"

"Everything's fine," John interrupted quickly. "Jamie's cool. Mystique just rolled her eyes and told me to be careful and Magneto's busy running about with…" the fire mutant tilted his head back and arched an eyebrow at Bobby. "Magneto's busy."

Bobby smiled faintly.

"I won't ask what he's busy with," he took a quick, deep breath. "No work talk eh?"

"No work talk," John confirmed. Bobby sighed quietly, his fingers tracing down over John's side, feeling the bandages through the fire mutant's top.

"How's it feeling?"

"Still tender," John cringed slightly. "I had a training session with Jamie earlier and it did hurt."

Bobby frowned concernedly.

"Perhaps you should let Hank have a look at it again?"

"No, it's fine, it's just bruised," he shrugged. Bobby arched an eyebrow, not entirely convinced but he didn't argue.

"Well I'm sure he'd have a look at it if you needed it."

John tilted his head back again to look at the ice mutant.

"I'll bear that in mind," he assured Bobby. "So…what you been up to…"

x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x

"Aye! Ya, da!"

"Uh, uh…" Bobby nodded, taking the toy that Abi handed out to him, laughing quietly as she threw herself round and crawled across to the toy box in the corner. He looked around his lounge in bemusement. Abi had only been round for half an hour and already it looked like a tornado had torn through his apartment…

"Ya!"

The ice mutant laughed again as yet another toy was thrust in his direction. Shaking his head he sat down and scooped his daughter up into his arms, earning a delighted laugh from the youngster.

"What's this?" he took a gentle hold of Abi's hand as she waved the toy about. "Oh it's your rabbit."

"Ba, la, dwooo…" Abi fixed her eyes on her father's, grinning widely. Without warning the little girl pulled herself forward and planted a sloppy kiss on his lips. Dropping the rabbit on Bobby's lap she clapped happily and wriggled out of his loose hold to crawl across the floor again. Bobby just laughed and sat and watched as Abi delved through her toy box. Both turned to look as the ice mutant's cell phone started to ring. Bobby reached out for the phone as Abi's eyes turned on him questioningly. A smile spread over Bobby's lips as he saw the name flashing up on the screen. He turned the smile to Abi as he quickly answered the call.

"Hi!"

"Hey…" John replied. "How's things?"

"Good…" Bobby held out his arm as Abi crawled back to him, looking up at him questioningly. "What you up to?"

"Not much. I was thinking about maybe heading round."

Bobby's smile faded slightly as he looked down at the icy blue eyes looking back up at him.

"That would be great but…well…" he bit his bottom lip. "I have Abi for the evening."

"Oh," the fire mutant replied dejectedly. "Another night then."

Bobby frowned slightly.

"You can still come round?" he said hopefully.

"No, it's ok. You spend time with Abi," John's tone had picked up slightly. "You were just saying the other day that you don't see her as much as you'd like."

Bobby smiled faintly as he tickled Abi's stomach.

"I don't see you as much as I'd like either," the ice mutant pointed out. "I don't have her for the whole night, you could always come round after I drop her off?"

"Bobby it's a school night," John pointed out with just a hint of mischief in his voice. "I'll come round and you'll be heading straight to bed. I'll just come round tomorrow evening."

Bobby sighed quietly.

"Ok," he said in a more upbeat tone, not wanting to push the fire mutant or upset Abi by getting into an argument. "I'll see you tomorrow night then."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow. You and Abi have fun."

"Oh we will," Bobby forced a smile as Abi clambered over his lap. "Bye Johnny."

"Don't call me Johnny," the fire mutant tried to sound stern but it didn't really sound as strict as it should. "Night Bobby."

"Goodnight…" Bobby sighed and hung up the phone.

"Ah? Ba, la?"

The ice mutant looked down and smiled as Abi looked up at him curiously.

"That was Johnny," he picked her up and held her against his chest. "Daddy's boyfriend," Bobby tucked some of the little girl's curly blonde hair behind her ear. "You remember me talking about him don't you? You and Johnny are the two most important people in the world to me. Maybe one day you'll actually get to meet him…"