AN: Okay, guys, I am SOOOO SORRY for how long this has taken to post! The thing is, I'm still stuck on what to do with Bunny, and the Riddick-Plot-bunny still has me in a choke-hold! Then there's 'Into Their World' which I haven't updated in MONTHS. Compared to that, a 24 days waiting-period isn't that bad.

CHAPTER

Occupations Part 2

CASSIE:

She lay there for a little while longer, stroking Roddys hair and thinking, before she shook herself and disentangled herself from the little mutant, trying to rise up off of the mattress without making too much noise.

Her thoughts were swirling around in her head like a witches brew, and if there was any way she was going to be able to face the two feral brothers when they came to 'talk' to her about her job, she was going to need to have a good argument. This required the necessity of pen and paper, which always made things easier to work out for her.

Taking her slow, sweet time (no need to trip and wake everyone up) Cassie made her way over to Clarisses desk and opened it, searching for pen and paper. "I have GOT to get some of my stuff here." She muttered quietly to herself then winced when Clarisse turned over in her bed.

Moving with the speed of molasses she rifled through the desks contents till she came up with a pencil and paper and tried to sit at the desk quietly. . . . . of course, the rolly chair WOULD decide to squeak like a mouse being fried alive.

She winced and looked around. Thankfully, no-one seemed to wake at the chairs dying gasps….

"Ma?"

`Oops, spoke too soon.` she thought to herself, looking over in the dark to see little Roddy sitting up and rubbing his eyes in a tired manner.

"What are you doing?"

"Go back to bed, sweetheart." She whispered back. "Everything's okay. I'm just going to write some things down."

She sighed inwardly when the little blue-skinned mutant rose up off the mattress and began to make his way over to her with a grace she could only dream of having. The darn kid didn't even make the floor squeak!

"What are you going to write down?"

When Roddy reached her chair, she gave up the hope of getting him back to sleep and pulled him up into her lap.

"I just have some decisions I have to make, and I need to write things to down to help me make the right ones." She explained, kissing his head gently.

"Like what kind of decisions?" Roddy asked.

She leaned forward and rubbed her cheek against his. "Nothing you need to worry about. Now why don't you try to go back to sleep, hm?"

"I can help you." Roddy said mid-yawn and she smiled, automatically beginning to rock him back and forth. That stopped quickly, however, when it made the chair begin to squeak.

"You can help me with it tomorrow," she compromised. "Right now you need to sleep."

"I bet Pa would say the same thing about you." Roddy countered.

She sighed. "Yes, well, we're not going to tell him anything about this, okay?"

Roddy looked both flabbergasted and a little annoyed. "You mean we're going to LIE!?"

Cassie literally hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Shh! You don't want to wake the others, hon." Then she paused, shoulders drooping. She couldn't ask Roddy to lie for her, or to keep something from Victor. It wasn't right. "No, you're right, Roddy. We can't lie. Lying's wrong. You can tell him if you want, but he'll find out about it soon enough when he gets back. Now, go back to sleep and let me think."

She turned on the desk lamp (which, thankfully, had settings so she could make the lighting dim) and set it to it's lowest light, casting a dull orange glow across the desk. Then, grabbing the pencil with her right hand, she proceeded to write in capital letters ontop of the paper;

THINGS TO RESOLVE

Below this, she made two bullet-points.

STAYING AT THE MANSION: Pros and Cons

WORKING: Reasons To Work

She pressed the end of the pencil up against her lips then began to nibble at it a little, thinking before she wrote again;

STAYING AT THE MANSION:

PROS:

LOTS of room

No bills

She nibbled at her pencil again, speaking to herself. "But then there's the whole privacy deal…" Okay, that would DEFINITELY go under the CON section, which did. Making a frustrated noise, she continued with her list.

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BOBBY DRAKE

Bobby Drake, the 'Ice-Man' lay on his bed, hands folded behind his head, staring at the top bunk.

Inside the brilliant teens mind, worry was beginning to churn and bubble…..but, as it usually was now-a-days, worry was eclipsed by anger, a deep and burning fury that was able to chase out any good sense.

Bobby was remembering what the 'Sabretooth' had said in the classroom that day.

~flashback~

"…I've lived through more wars than you've even read about, lived off the land and traveled wilds you've only seen on National Geographic. I'm here to make sure you cubs are safe and you'd best get used to it. I'M the alpha here now….."

~end flashback~

Bobby let out a little snarl of his own and turned over on his side, grumbling to himself. "Who does he think he is!? I'm an X-man, I'm not a child anymore! I can't believe Professor Xavier is just letting him roll everyone over like this!"

Above him, his room-mate Mike groaned. "Can't you keep it down, Bobby, I'm trying to sleep here!"

Bobby scowled at the top bunk but kept his voice amiable. "Yeah, sorry man….."

He then turned and dug under his pillow to pull out his cell-phone, checking for messages. When he saw he had one he beamed, clicking on the 'open-message' option.

FROM: 007blue

TO: icemandrake

I've got it.

Bobby let out a triumphant smile.

Well, maybe things were looking up after all. The teenaged mutant swung his feet over the bed and quietly padded towards the door. It was time to see the Professor.

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