(Disclaimer: X-Men are owned by Marvel and Kids WB. What About Bob is owned by Touchstone Pictures. The vacation cabin is based on the one I'm staying in, probably as you read this.)
(A/N: this sort of takes off from my story Mindshadow, in case you were wondering who Brenda was. It's a funny little idea I had while writing and watching the movie.)
Summer vacation had finally come, and the kids at the Xavier Institute were going on vacation.
"It's way up in the wilds of New Hampshire," Logan said.
"Close enough to town so we can go get supplies," Ororo added, "but it's an isolated area, so we don't have to worry too much about being careful."
They
"Will there be room for all of us?" Jean asked.
"There's two bedrooms on the first floor and two on the second. Plus the sofa bed. We'll sort it out when we get there."
"Sounds like fun," they all agreed. They went to get packed for a week of sun, swimming, and hiking up in the woods.
"One more thing," Logan called out to them. "Don't tell anyone where we're going."
"Like, why?" Kitty asked.
"We don't want the wrong people knowing where we are. The woods ain't big enough for us and the Brotherhood."
"You're going away?" Todd whined.
It was Friday afternoon, and Brenda had met him as usual in the ice cream shop. They weren't "going out", she insisted, just meeting as friends.
"We all are," she told him. "For a week."
"A week! I won't see you for a week?"
"I think you'll manage. You can get Thief of Time back to me when we come home."
He held the book in his lap, his hands twitching anxiously. "Where are you going?"
"I can't tell you."
"Not even a hint?"
"No," she insisted. "We don't want any trouble from your friends."
"I won't tell them, I promise."
Brenda smiled ruefully. It wouldn't take much for Lance or Pietro to get the location out of him, once they knew he knew. "I can't."
"Can you write me a letter or something?"
"I'll call you. From a pay phone."
"Awwwww . . . "
"Todd, we have rules. I have to obey those rules. I can't tell you where we're going."
She got up from the table. "I have to go next door for a second to talk to Nick. I'll be right back."
Nick, huh? Her friend from the bookstore? She was probably gonna tell him. That wasn't fair, Todd thought. She tells him but not me, and I . . . like her.
He followed her inside, trying to keep from thinking about her. She was a telepath, after all. She probably knew he was there. Maybe he could say she forgot her purse, or something . . . .
He saw her give Nick a piece of paper with writing on it. Ah HAH! She was giving him the address! Well, he'd show her that he—
Oh no! She was coming this way!
He flattened himself against the Harry Potter display, trying to look like he was browsing. She walked right by him without noticing.
He went to the counter and said, "Where's she going?"
Nick looked down at him. "Oh, hello, Todd. She didn't tell you?"
"Nah. Said she couldn't. I mean, she meant to, but I guess she forgot. Can I see?" He reached for the piece of paper, but Nick snatched it away.
"Hold on. If she didn't want you to have it, there must be a reason."
"Yeah, I told you, she forgot." He tried to grab for the paper again, but Nick held it out of his reach.
"I don't think so."
"Yeah, well think again." Todd snagged the piece of paper out of Nick's hand with his long, sticky tongue. Then he hopped out of the shop as fast as he could, hoping he wouldn't run into Brenda on the way.
When he got home, he started packing his bag.
The drive up to New Hampshire was fairly long and uneventful, save for four fast-food stops and Evan's obsessive need to photograph every interesting rock they saw along the way.
"We're gonna be here for a week!" Logan growled. "We'll go sightseeing another day! Now come on, we have to be there by two!"
Finally they pulled off the highway, onto a dirt road which led up a hill to their cabin. They parked in front and the boys headed straight for the water, stripping off their shirts as they went.
"Hold on!" Jean called. "We have to unload first!"
Grumbling, they returned to the cabin.
By the time the stuff was all out of both cars, they had decided on room assignments.
Jean and Brenda would take the big bedroom on the first floor, and Ororo would have the smaller one. Upstairs, the three boys would share the room with the double beds, and Rogue and Kitty ended up in the small bedroom with the trundle bed. Logan took the sofa bed.
"Now for the rules," Logan said.
The kids groaned.
"No wet towels on the floor. No eating upstairs. No food left on the porch—we aren't running a wildlife preserve. Always tell someone if you're going out for a walk or whatever. And keep the showers down to less than half an hour."
Everybody looked at Kurt, who shrugged. " I have to put conditioner on my whole body. It takes a while."
"Enough with the rules!" Evan exclaimed. "Everybody in the water!"
"No! Absolutely NOT!"
Todd looked down and shifted his feet. He hadn't really expected Lance to agree to drive him to New Hampshire, but geez, you'd think the guy could be nicer about it.
"Please?"
"I am not," Lance said slowly, "driving all the way to frickin' New Hampshire just so you can go see your girlfriend!"
She's not my girlfriend! Todd thought, but he said nothing.
"Mystique left me in charge for a reason," Lance continued. "What's she gonna say when she gets back and finds out we've all gone to New Hampshire after some X-Geek girl?"
"So I'll go by myself!" Todd said.
"What're you gonna do, walk?"
"I'll take the bus!"
"And then what? Get off the bus, stand out in the woods, and holler her name? Like the guy in that movie we saw last night?"
The movie was where he'd probably gotten the idea. Well, so what? If that Bob guy, with all his problems, could get on a bus and go to New Hampshire, well then so could he! He'd show them!
"I'm going and you can't stop me!" Todd grabbed his knapsack and stomped out the door.
He returned in a second. "Uh, where's the bus station?"
It was right around dinnertime, when the burgers were on the grill and the picnic table was being set for an informal dinner, that the phone rang.
Logan had wanted to disconnect the cabin's phone line, but Brenda had persuaded him to keep it open in case Nick called. Which was what he was doing now.
"Hey, love," he said. "I got the package in the afternoon
post. I'll send it right off to you Express Mail on Monday. If you don't get it
by Wednesday, give me a call."
"Thanks, Nick, you're a doll," she said.
"Oh, by the way, that friend of yours was here."
"What friend?"
"That Todd fellow. He wanted your address where you're staying."
Brenda felt a sick sense of doom in the pit of her stomach. "You didn't give it to him?"
"No, of course not."
"Thank goodness."
"He snatched it right out of my hand."
"Oh no!" Brenda cried out. Now she was in trouble.
Well, maybe not. Maybe he wouldn't come all the way up there. It was such a long way . . .
There was a tap at the front door.
"Oh, Mother Mary," she murmured.
It was him.
"I'll have to call you back, Nick, okay? Bye." She hurriedly put the phone down and went to get the door before anyone else noticed they had company.
He was just standing there on the doorstep, a bag slung over his shoulder, dusty from the long walk.
"Todd, what are you doing here?" She stepped outside and closed the door after her.
"Hey, what kind of welcome is that? I came all the way here just to see you!"
"You weren't supposed to come here! If anyone sees you . . ."
"No one's gonna see me!"
"What the heck is Swamp Breath doin' here?"
They looked up. Rogue was leaning against the screen of the upstairs window.
Todd waved at her.
"Oh, now you've done it," Brenda sighed.
"Me? She's the one who yelled at the top of her lungs!"
The shouts brought everyone up from the back yard. When they saw Toad standing there with Brenda, they stopped in shock.
Then Logan stepped forward.
"Everyone inside. Family conference."
Todd started to follow him in, but Logan held up a hand. "Not you. You wait out here."
The door closed.
Todd flicked his tongue at the flies buzzing around him and wished he hadn't come.
"What were you thinking?"
Brenda explained, "I had to give Nick the address because he was sending something here. It was supposed to be a surprise." She looked up at Logan. "Happy birthday."
"You got me a present?"
"We were . . . going to take you out Thursday night," she said.
Logan looked stunned. No one had given him birthday presents in a long time. Then he remembered why they were here. "Well, you still shouldn't have given out the address. Now look what's happened."
"I'm sorry. I had no idea he'd come all the way here on his own!"
"So, like, what do we do with him?" Kitty asked.
Logan thought about it. "He's not staying here. We don't have the room."
"Good riddance," Rogue grumbled.
"So what, we just give him some money and put him back on the bus?" Brenda asked. "Just throw him out like so much garbage?"
Everyone stared at her like she was insane.
"Would it really kill any of you to let him visit for a little while? Just for the day, then. We'll put him on the evening bus, and all is well."
"The next one," Logan said. "He can stay till the next bus leaves, then he's outta here."
"All right, then." She went to let him in.
"We've decided," Ororo said, "that you can stay here until the next bus comes in. But then you have to be on it."
Todd blinked. "And how long is that?"
"I'm gonna go find out." Logan went to call the bus company.
"So I can stay?"
"For a while, anyway," Brenda said. "We were just about to eat. I think there's enough for one more."
"Great, I'm starving."
Logan came back, his face glum. "Next bus back to New York isn't till ten o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow?"
Everyone looked around at each other.
"He's not sleeping in my bed," Evan said.
"He sure as hell ain't sleeping in mine," Rogue added.
"He can sleep on the porch!" Logan growled. He wasn't any happier about the situation than the rest of them. "Let's just hope his friends don't come looking for him."
"Go get him?" Lance asked weakly.
Mystique just glowered at him. "How could you let him go off by himself?"
"I tried to talk him out of it . . ."
"You should have tried harder!"
"Oh, so it's my fault!"
"No," Mystique said. "I'm holding all of you responsible. If you don't bring him back by tomorrow night, you're all grounded for a week."
"A week!" the boys protested.
"I will not have you disobeying me! Now go! Before the traffic gets too bad."
"I brought you a blanket," Brenda said.
Todd eyed it. "Thanks."
"Look, I'm sorry about all this . . ."
"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have come."
Brenda spread a plastic ground sheet out for him, and then the blanket on top of that. "Well, I'm glad you did."
He looked at her, confused.
"We never seem to get any time alone. Either your friends or mine are always hanging around. I just wish . . ."
Yes! Yes! Go on!
"I wish . . . you lived with us. Then we could see each other all the time."
Todd shook his head sadly. "I can't," he said. "It's kind of complicated."
"How?"
"I can't explain."
Out over the lake, the loons called to each other. There was the chirp of crickets and the buzzing whine of a mosquito, but otherwise all was silence.
"Well, goodnight," Brenda said. She turned to go inside.
"Wait."
"What?"
Todd reached a hand out, pulled her head closer to his, and kissed her.
It wasn't a long kiss, not more than a few seconds, and thank God that hideous tongue of his wasn't involved.
Actually . . . it felt kinda nice.
A voice behind Brenda shrieked, "Eeeewwww! Gross!"
She barely glanced over her shoulder. "Kitty, go to bed."
As the sun came up, three sweaty, tired, dusty boys made their way up the endless hill towards the cabin.
"Gaaahh! Stupid bugs!" Lance cursed, swatting around his head. "Stupid road! Stupid Toad! You are, like, so dead!"
Pietro looked back the way they had come. "How far back do you think the car is?"
"I dunno. Mile? Mile and a half? Stupid rock in the road! Now how are we gonna get home?"
Fred was too tired to talk. He was barely managing to keep up with them, and they'd stopped twice already to let him catch his breath.
"Doesn't this stupid hill ever end?"
"We're almost there." Pietro had the directions. "Bear right at the signpost, a quarter of a mile past the turnoff."
"Great. Where's the turnoff?"
"I think we passed it already."
"Stupid New Hampshire! Stupid Mystique, sending us all the way out here! Stupid blonde X-Chick!"
Finally (it felt like hours later), they reached the signpost.
"Not far now!" Pietro announced. "It's an A-frame house on the left side."
"How do you know?" Lance demanded. Fred had stopped and was checking out some blueberry bushes by the side of the road.
"I ran on ahead. That van of theirs is parked out front."
"Are they around?"
"Didn't see 'em."
"Good." Lance smiled for the first time since they had left on this fool's errand. "Maybe we can take them by surprise!"
"We're not supposed to start anything," the other boy pointed out.
"Who said we have to? Maybe they won't give him up without a fight." The prospect of a good fight made this entire trip seem worthwhile.
"Okay, but if we get in trouble, I'll tell Mystie it was all your fault. Come on, Freddy, we can pick the blueberries on the way back."
"Morning."
Rogue saw the strange apparition sitting at the breakfast table and screamed.
"Hey, nice to see you too." Todd pulled up a chair for her. "Want some cereal?"
She shook her head. "This is like some horrible dream."
"I'm not that bad! I brushed my teeth and everything!"
"I want you to leave."
Todd looked stricken. "C'mon, Roguey, what've you got against me? You were always nice to me when we lived together!"
"That's just it! I don't like being reminded of that life. I've moved on. This is my family now."
"Oh." He didn't mention what Brenda had said the night before.
Kitty came in, saw him, and shrieked, "Eeewww!" all over again.
"Ah, boy. This is gonna be a long morning. I'll just go eat on the porch." He picked up his cereal bowl and walked straight into the sliding glass doors. "Ow!"
"Are you all right?" Brenda was there. Even first thing in the morning she looked as pretty as an angel. Or was that just because he'd just hit his head?
"Yeah, I'm fine. How do you open these things?"
She flipped the latch and slid the doors open.
"Oh, great. Thanks. See ya."
"So what do we do, ring the doorbell?"
"Nah, doorbells are for losers." Lance kicked in the front door instead.
At the sound, everyone came running.
"Might have known," Scott grumbled. He shot an angry look at Todd, who shrugged.
"Hey, I didn't invite 'em."
"What do you want, Alvers?" Scott demanded.
"You know what we came for. Through you, if that's what it takes."
"Uh, how're we gonna get home if . . ."
"Shut up! Now, do we do this the easy way, or—"
"Lance, we don't have a car!"
Lance turned on his two companions in a fury. "I said shut up!"
"How did you get here without a car?" Brenda asked.
"We had a car," Pietro explained. "Mr. City Driver here ran into a big rock and wrecked it."
"They shouldn't have put a stupid rock in the middle of the road!"
"Okay, calm down." Ororo had joined the group clustered in the small hallway. "Sounds like what you need is to call a tow truck. Use the phone in the bedroom."
By this time Logan had woken up and come out to see what the noise was. When he saw, he wasn't at all pleased.
"What're they doing here?"
"Picking up their friend," Ororo explained. "Except they had a minor accident with their car, and need to call a tow truck."
"Oh, great!" He glared at Brenda. "You see what you started?"
"Calm down!" she insisted. "They'll be gone soon enough. It's not like they're moving in with us."
"Porch ain't big enough."
Lance came back and reported that the tow truck was on its way. "Guy said he could have it done by two o'clock."
"Two!" This wasn't good. "You mean we're stuck with you till two?"
Fred was rooting around in the refrigerator. "You got any waffles?"
This vacation was going from bad to worse, and the worst was yet to come.
"But you promised we could go sailing!" Kitty cried out. "We rented a boat and everything!"
"It's not big enough for all of us!" Logan insisted.
"We can't leave them here," Scott pointed out. "They'd wreck the place."
The Brotherhood boys, who were watching cartoons, paid no attention.
"Can't we drop them somewhere?" Jean asked.
"Like off a cliff?" said Rogue.
Brenda stood up and looked at all of them sternly. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves! I thought we were working to better the image of mutantkind. How can we do that if we won't treat our fellow mutants with respect?"
"They've never respected us," Scott said.
"That doesn't mean we should treat them like dirt. It never hurts to be nice, even to those who aren't nice to us."
"I don't want them to come with us!" Rogue complained.
"Maybe they won't want to. That's not the point. We should at least ask."
"Told ya they wouldn't want to come."
The boys had turned down the offer to come sailing, preferring to spend their time walking the pier at Weirs Beach. All except one.
"What about Todd?"
"He just wanted to come cause you'd be there," Rogue sniffed. "That boy has it bad for you."
"I can't believe you, like, let him kiss you!" Kitty exclaimed.
"He's not bad when he's cleaned up a bit," Brenda said.
"We'll pick you up here at quarter of two," Jean said to the Brotherhood boys.
"Fine by me," Lance said. "Sooner we get out of New Hampshire, the better."
"I guess I'll see you guys," Todd said to the others.
"Have a good time now!" Pietro said. When he was out of earshot, he whispered to the others, "Ten bucks says he pukes all over that boat of theirs. Or they throw him overboard."
"I'm sailing!"
The wind ruffled Todd's hair as he looked out over the water. He watched the shore fade back, and felt the steady rocking of the boat underneath him.
"I'm sailing!"
He had never felt so free.
"Do you really think we should have tied him to the mast?" Brenda asked, looking worried.
"He almost fell overboard," Logan said. "Wouldn't stand still. Don't worry, we'll untie him when we pull in."
"At least he's enjoying himself."
"I'M SAILING!"
"Three hundred bucks?"
Lance glowered at the guy from the garage.
"We had to replace the transmission," the guy said. "You're lucky we had one in stock and were able to do it today."
"You didn't tell me it would be three hundred bucks!" The ground started to shake ever so slightly.
"Yo, it's cool. Here." Todd handed Lance a square of plastic.
"What's this?"
"I sort of borrowed Mystique's credit card. Don't worry, we'll give it back."
The card went through—apparently she hadn't reported it stolen yet. Lance signed the slip and they all got in the car.
Well, almost all.
"I'm sorry I got you in so much trouble," Todd said to Brenda. They were around the corner from the others.
"It's all right," she said. "Just a little excitement to start off our vacation."
"I liked the boat."
"I'm glad you did."
Todd dragged his feet through the dirt. "Well . . . I guess we gotta go."
"I'll call you," she said.
He stood there, his face upturned. "What?" she asked.
"No kiss?"
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "How's that?"
"It'll do, I guess."
"Fine," she laughed. "Goodbye, Todd."
"Bye, Bren."
Lance honked the horn impatiently.
"I'm coming!"
"Well, all's well that ends well," Brenda said.
They were walking along the sidewalk toward Weirs Beach itself.
"At least those guys are gone," Rogue muttered.
"I'm really sorry about all this."
"Yeah, well you kids had better take me someplace really nice," said Logan.
"But ve can't afford—OW!" Kurt started to say, and then Kitty kicked him in the shin.
"We'll find a place," she said.
Traffic was double-parked in front of the water slides. A kid in a brown coat, wearing black sunglasses, darted out from between two cars and collided with Scott.
"Whoa! Watch it!"
"Scuse me," the boy mumbled. He kept on walking.
"Some people," Scott said. Then he anxiously felt his pockets.
"What's wrong?" Jean asked.
"My wallet's gone! That kid stole my wallet!"
Maybe the excitement's not over yet, Brenda thought, as they chased after the boy in the long coat.