Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing....sigh...so don't sue.
A/N: Well here it is, hope you enjoy it. Warnings for mild language. Please read and review, comments are always craved and throughly enjoyed. :)
Surprise Packages
By: Parodys
Christmas day at the mansion was one of the few quiet days of the year, where everyone could relax and just enjoy each other's company. All of the teams had arrived earlier that afternoon, with the exception of the youngest members who had yet to show up. Laughing and joking, Charles smiled at his brood roasting marshmallows in the fireplace and dancing to the music that was being played throughout the house. It had been a sad year, with Scott's death, Everett's and his beloved Moira's passing but he had hope for the new year and what it would bring. He hadn't got that far without hope. The telephone rang sharply, and he rolled out into the hallway to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Charles is that you? This is Emma." Her voice shook slightly.
"What's wrong? Has something happened?"
"Jubilee was attacked by Sabertooth this morning..."the sounds in the room faded as Emma told him what happened earlier that day. Waving a hand to quiet the room, he listened closely nodding occasionally.
"I'll let them know. Are you sure everything is in hand?"
"Yes, we've checked her thoroughly. Physically she'll be fine. Mentally will be another matter."
"We'll deal with it when it comes. Send her our love." Xavier hung up the phone and looked at his team that had gathered around him. It was one of the hardest things he had to do, looking Wolverine in the eye and telling him that Jubilee had been hurt by Sabertooth.
"No!" Growling, Wolverine ran outside and jumped on his Harley. Within moments his bike was lost in the swirling snow as he disappeared into the howling storm. He was going to his Jubilee.
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Jubilee rubbed her eyes tiredly, looking around the infirmary where she had been cooped up the past two days. She had been poked and prodded, until Sean and Emma had been satisfied that she was okay. Now, they kept on telling her to rest and not to worry. So she was sitting on the bed with nothing to do, and the team kept on acting weird around her. Plus she itched. Everywhere. It reminded her of the time she had chicken pox, only about three times as bad. Emma told her it was just her body adjusting to her newly expanded powers (of which no one wanted to tell her about) and that it would go away in a few days.
"Hey Jubes! Mind if I visit yah?" Paige walked in, carrying various goodies. "I brought some stuff cause I figured you'd be bored. Here." Mad magazines, candy, a stuffed teddy bear, a gameboy and other things made for a very happy Jubilee. "The others want to come down to, if it's all right."
"Sure thing. Thanks Hayseed, the more the better." Scooting over in the bed, Jubilee made room for Paige who hopped up next to her. Casting a meaningful glare at Sean,
"Any word as to when I'll be let out from Dr. Frankenstein's clutches?"
"Right now if you wish. I brought some clothes down for you to change into." Emma came in holding a bundle of clothing. "There's no need to for you to stay down here. Although we will need to have a Danger Room session soon to test the extent of your capabilities. Get dressed and we'll help you upstairs. Come, Sean." Dragging the Irish man outside, the two waited outside for her to get dressed.
Several minutes later, Jubilee bounced into the living room excited to be out of the infirmary. Pausing mid-bounce, she halted at the door struck by the room that had been done up with Christmas decorations and the tree with presents under it. "Wow."
"Hey Jubes! We decided that since you missed Christmas, we decided to have it a few days late." Ange grabbed her hand and sat her down on the couch in front of the tree. "and we didn't even open any presents without you."
Laughing gleefully Jubilee dived into the presents and soon wrapping paper, ribbons and bows were flying everywhere. Hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows was made, Emma's gift to the team, a massive tv/stereo soundsystem, was blasting music, and for that brief moment of stolen time, the bad guys faded into the background and the patch of bloodied snow was forgotten.
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Later that week....
Wolverine sauntered up to the school building, a bag in hand having just ridden from Weschester in the grips of a blizzard so he could check out what was happening with 'the Jubilee situation' as they were starting to call it. Cocking his head to the side, he heard faint chords of Limp Bizkit were being played, when the windows on the top floor of the building exploded outwards, sending shards of glass everywhere. Sprinting to the door, he rammed on the wood to get someone to open the locked door. Sirens wailed inside the house as smoke began to filter through the cracks in the door. he was about ready to break down the door, when Emma opened it calmly.
"What the hell's going on?" growling he stalked inside, dropping his bag on the floor.
Pressing a remote, the sirens stopped and Emma looked upstairs as she started opening windows. "Jubilee is what's going on. She's had a bit of trouble controlling her new powers."
"How much trouble?"
Emma sighed, brushing some ashes off of her white suit. "Let's just say that we've had to replace the upstairs windows once, no now two times, the downstairs once, several doors and almost all of the electrical equipment we have." Glancing upstairs, she looked at the smoke coming from upstairs. "And Angelo's CD player, the last remaining one in the house I believe."
"Where is she? I want to see her. Is she okay? I heard a little bit about what happened. Chuck didn't get a chance to tell me all of it." Nervously popping his claws in and out, he absently picked at the table in the foyer.
"She's better than that antique you're destroying." Sliding the object out of his reach, she motioned for him to follow her. "We had security cameras running when it happened two days ago." Emma led him downstairs to the council room where she slipped a CD into the console. Before pressing start, she peered at him intently. "You should know that this isn't pretty, we found her for all intents and purposes dead. Be prepared for the worst."
Nodding, Wolverine clenched his fists. "I can handle it, Frost. Show me the tape."
"Fine." She started the security tape, where it began with Sabertooth emerging from the trees.
"Him!" The word was hissed between clenched teeth. Not blinking, his eyes never left the screen, not even after Sabertooth had started slashing her body. Trembling with fury he sat through the rest of it, his eyes going wide at the site of Jubilee launching herself at Sabertooth, and the ensuing explosion. Several minutes later it ended, and the CD popped out of the drive. Taking the silver disc in his hand, Wolverine fingered the smooth disc.
"It's all my fault. He never would have gone after her if it hadn't been for me. All he wanted was revenge and he was...did kill her for it. God, what the hell did you let happen to her?"
Her temper flared as Wolverine started to head upstairs, "Listen to me, Logan. Do you think that I don't blame myself? She almost died under my care and by some miracle she managed to survive. You of all people should know that she is strong enough to handle herself. Jubilee did it in the X-men and she has more than proved herself with Generation X. Give the girl some credit."
"Out of my way, Frost." Roughly shoving the woman aside, Wolverine bounded up the stairs and outside. Ignoring the bitter cold, he ran towards the woods, haunted by demons only he could hear.
It wasn't hard to find the place, the stench of death was embedded in the very soil. Skidding to a halt, Wolverine just stared at the clearing, his breath coming in short, harsh gasps.
His nose flared as he gingerly walked closer, careful not to disturb the snow and all that it contained. Deep claw marks in the trees were all the evidence he needed for proof that Sabertooth had been there. Most of the ashes had been blown away but small traces of it remained and he wiped his finger in it. Bringing the ash up to his nose, his heartrate spiked as he recognized the scent. Years of hating the man, the beast and there wasn't enough left of him to make a smudge on the ground. Brushing the dust off his hands, he knelt at the indentation still left in the snow, red still coloring the once pristine whiteness.
Grabbing a fistful of frozen blood in his hand, he screamed out to the world in fury. "Goddamn you!" His vision went red as it melted in his hands, and his only thought was that once again, he had failed to protect her. snkit His claws popped out and he descended in a rampage that reduced the surrounding trees to splinters, each blow aimed at a Sabertooth he could never kill.
A soft footfall sounded behind him, and he whirled around, his blades stopping only millimeters from Jubilee's face. She stood unflinching, and reached up pushing his arm down. "It's over Wolvie."
Turning away from her, Wolverine paced the clearing. "I'm so sorry Darlin. I didn't think, it's my fault..."
"You don't control the actions of that psycho do ya? It wasn't anybody's fault what happened."
Wolverine shook his head, "I shoulda known. I shoulda been there for ya."
"Ya know, for a cool guy you're acting like a dork right now." Walking up to him, she wormed her way under his arm so that he had his arm around her. "It ain't your job to protect me anymore. I gotta do it for myself. Sides, you're here now and this is when ya need ya." Standing nose to nose with him she stared at Wolverine her bright eyes forcing down his barriers until one tear trickled down his face. Breaking, she clutched him, burrowing her head in his neck, her tears soaking his collar. Her hand clenched his shirt as she shivered violently. "Just hold me."
Picking her up in his arms, Wolverine walked back to the house. "Yeah, I'm here now. Want to talk about it?"
"I killed him. I mean I know he was a bad guy and everything but I didn't want to kill him. It was only when I knew that I was gonna...gonna...that I decided to throw everything at him. Sabertooth may have been going to kill me but I wasn't going to let him do it to the team. He didn't set off the alarms or anything so they wouldn't have known, right?" Her eyes pled with him to agree, to say yes, to stop the doubt plaguing her mind, that she had done the right thing.
"Ya did what you had to do, Jubes. It wasn't easy but you did it and I'm proud of ya. Very proud of ya." Laying her head on his chest, she said nothing, still haunted by the act she did. "Now let's get you inside 'fore you get sick."
Shrugging Jubilee grabbed a handful of snow off a tree branch, the powdery white stuff giving her an idea. "I can't feel it really. But I bet you can!" Gleefully shoving it down his collar, she laughed as he dropped her trying to get the snow out.
"Yer gonna get it kid!" Running after her, Wolverine threw a snowball at her that landed on her face. "Gotcha!"
Jubilee brushed the snow off, and hurled a handful of snow at him which he ducked. The snowball whizzed past his head and exploded in the tree behind it sending it to tree heaven. Shaking, Jubilee clutched at her hands and glanced fearfully at Wolverine who had been sent flying by the blast into the ground.
"Wolvie, you okay?"
"Yep, nothing to worry about." Shaking off the snow, he cheerfully got up and walked over to where Jubilee was standing.
"Get away from me! I almost killed you." Backing away from the man, she began to run to the house.
"Jubes, it's okay. Damn." Watching her retreating figure, he ran towards her. "Come back here." Grabbing her by the waist, he held on the furious squirming mass of teenager. "Accidents happen, and they're going to until you learn how to control your powers."
"Let go, I don't want to hurt you." Struggling she burst free, heading as fast as she could away from him. Tears blurring her vision, she kept on going until she couldn't hear him anymore. Wiping her eyes, she glanced behind her only to find that she was now about a hundred feet off the ground. "Wow." Her face turned a bright pink as the realization hit her...she could finally fly! Looking around her, a second realization kicked in; she had no idea how she did it and began to plummet to the earth "Oh, crap."
Waving her arms, she tried to remember the class Sean had taught about the mechanics of flight in mutants. There had been some basic principles involved somewhere...but when the ground is rushing up at you it's sometimes hard to think. Screaming, she pushed up with all of her might and halted the fall where she hovered about a foot off of the ground. Speechless, the team had rushed outside to see what was going on and had seen Jubilee commit another near death defying feat. Emma had collapsed on the ground in a fit of hysterics, and Sean and Wolverine looked like they were ready to faint. Poking experimentally at the foot of air beneath her, Jubilee shrugged at the rest of the team who were grinning at her.
"Anyone know how to get me down?"