Part 2

Nearly an hour later, they were still waiting for the test results. Mystique wouldn't have minded so much if her pager hadn't gone off every 30 seconds. She ignored it, knowing it was Toad seeking attention.
Finally the doctor came out and addressed the group.

"Well?" Lance demanded.

"We're going to have to keep him overnight for observation. But we've started him on antibiotics, so he should be all right."

"Observation?"

"Once the antibiotics start working, he'll be okay. I'll give you all the details when he's ready to go home."
"Can we see him?" Mystique asked.
"Not just yet."

"Why not?" Fred demanded.

"I'm not sure he's up to it yet. He's very weak. If you hadn't brought him in when you did . . ."
"What?" Lance asked.

"Pietro might be dead now..."Mystique and the others were horrified to hear that...

"I didn't realize it was that serious," Mystique said. She felt guilty for not noticing something so important.
"If left untreated, it is."
"He never said a word to any of us about being sick. Why would he keep it a secret like that?"

"He wanted to," Lance said," but somebody wouldn't give him the chance..."

As if on cue, Mystique's pager went off again.
"Excuse me," she said to a passing nurse. "Could you please flush this down the toilet?"

The nurse looked at her strangely.

"Or take it out to the parking lot and run it over with your car, or something."
I am going to KILL him! she thought. But that was if they ever got out of here.

"Hey!"Toad moaned in protest back at the house." Don't cut me off like that! I need my ice cream!" He started dialing Mystique's cell phone number again....

Now her phone was ringing.
I'm going to kill him, she thought again. Right now! I'm going to get in my car, drive home, and kill him with my bare--
The doctor was looking at her expectantly.
"I'm sorry?" she said.
"I said you can go in now."

"Thank you." Mystique sighed in relief.

Pietro looked so small lying in the hospital bed, tubes sticking out of him. Again Mystique wondered how she could have missed something so serious, when it was obvious to anyone with eyes.
And the first words out of his mouth were, "How's Todd?"

"We left him back at the house." Lance said. "He's fine."
"Oh. Good."
"Listen, your father's here . . ."
"You called him?" Pietro tried to sit up, but he was too weak.

"Yeah."

"Why?"
Lance shrugged. "Cause I knew you needed help. I figured maybe he could talk some sense into you."

"Hey!"

"How long were you going to go on pretending everything was okay? We might have found you dead in bed tomorrow morning!"

"Well, I..."

"Never mind. It's not important now."
The two boys just looked at each other for a long time.

Back at the house, Toad would not give up!
He called the hospital and had Mystique paged. She took forever to come to the phone for some reason.
"WHAT?" she demanded.
"Do you think, on your way home, you could get some--"
She hung up on him.
He called back.

Toad called again...

This time, she didn't pick up. She was so annoyed with him she couldn't think! She stalked the hospital corridors, having an angry conversation with . . . herself.
"You only think of yourself, don't you? Oh, yes! The world will end if you don't get your @#$% ice cream! Never mind that someone may really be dying! Why do you have to make such a big thing out of everything?"

People gave her strange looks. She ignored them.

Finally Lance told her she could go in now.
She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Pietro?"

He looked up as she came in.
"I'm sorry about--"
"No, I'm sorry," she said. "I should have been paying more attention to what was going on. "
"I should have told you."
"I think you tried, but I didn't want to listen."
They looked at each other a long moment.

Unfortunately, the moment was disrupted by yet another call from Toad...

"That's it!"

"Want me to kill Toad?" Lance asked her.

"Don't tempt me."
I should just throw him out, she thought. I took pity on him and took him in, and I could send him back where I found him like THAT!
"Are you okay?" Pietro asked her.
"I'm just having a few homicidal feelings toward a certain amphibian pest, but don't let that bother you."

"Homicidal?"

"I'm trying to decide if it's worth killing Toad or not."

"Why not just hand him over to the X-Geeks?"

"Because . . ." Actually, she couldn't think of a reason.

For the rest of the night, her phone didn't ring. Earlier, she might have found that peaceful; now it was eerie.

Toad, meanwhile, anxiously paced around the house waiting for his ice cream. He couldn't understand why Mystique had blown up at him like that....

Then he noticed one of the windows was open.
Had it been open before? He didn't think so, but he hadn't been paying attention before--
A dark shadow jumped out at him and grabbed him.

He counterattacked and... the shadow knocked him out.

By the time Mystique and the other boys came home, the house was empty.

(Ooh, cliffhanger! Not to worry, Chris and I are working very hard on Part 3! See you soon!)