A/N: Do you remember me? Wow. I'm surprised. After all, it took me…six
months? to write this chapter… I'm very sorry for that. I got a (small)
idea for a chapter during summer break, but then I got so many other ideas
so I didn't manage to write on ANY of my stories! I HATE writer's block!
*growls while advancing on the Writer's Block with a baseball bat*
Also a very big thanks to Moonchild DJ for beta-reading this for me!
1.1 Out of the Past
1.2 Chapter Four: Shopping with the Mall Rat
Jubilee hummed softly to herself as she went through the drawers in her old room at the Mansion. She picked up a pink calf-length skirt, and held it to her, looking in the full-length mirror.
"Nope," she said to herself and threw it in the rising pile of discarded clothes in one corner. She looked at a pair of dark blue jeans, considered it, then pulled them on. She couldn't get the top-most button shut.
When did I ever get hips? she wondered, pulling the jeans off again and throwing in the 'discard pile'. Oh, yeah. I've gone a year in college. Guess I fattened up while studying. She studied herself in the mirror. Not a single drop of fat in sight. Or maybe not. Her eyes drifted around the room, and landed on the poster of Spice Girls. Yuck. I can't believe I actually listened to that. 'Girl Power' my ass. I've been away too long. She smiled a little, both sad and happy. But now I'm back. Jubes the Firecracker will ride again!
Just then, someone knocked on the door. She put on a dressing robe and opened it.
"Can I come in?" Logan asked. His eyes was darting around the corridor, as if he was expecting someone to punch down on him any minute.
"Uh, yeah, sure," Jubilee said. Wolverine quickly went into her room and sat down. He sniffed the air suspiciously
- as if he had to make sure we were the only ones here –
and visibly relaxed. He reached into his inner pocket and produced a box of highly illegal Cuban cigars. He – after sniffing the air once again – lit it.
What the-! He bursts into my room just to smoke?!
"Wolvie, what are you-" She stopped at his motion to be silent. He puffed on the cigar a little to make it burn, and inhaled deeply.
"Ahhhh," he said and blew out slowly. Jubilee looked at him, her hands on her hips.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?" He looked up at her. She merely raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "She's killin' me, Jubes," he said. "She won't let me smoke."
"Who?" Jubilee asked, puzzled.
"Sara. Whenever she finds me smokin', she confiscates my cigars. Won't give 'em back." He took a pull on the cigar, and sighed contently. "At least that damn teenager didn't find these babies." He patted the box of Cuban cigars affectionately.
"Wolvie...the 'damn teenager' is your little sister."
"Yeah," Logan sighed. He gave her a side-look. "Ya will keep tight on this, won't ya, Jubes? I've had ta keep ta lollipops fer four weeks." Jubilee let out a little giggle at the mental image. He growled at her.
"Aw, I'm sorry," she said, patting him on the head. If anyone else had done that, they would have found themselves encountering an adamantium-hardened fist. At least that hasn't changed, Jubilee thought. "So, how did you get yourself in this fix?"
Logan grimaced, and stomped his cigar-end out. "I guess she wanted to be even fer me tryin' ta throw her clothes out the window."
"You what?!"
"What's so wrong with that? Have ya seen her wardrobe?" He didn't wait for Jubilee's answer. "It's all black. Black army boots. Black jeans and leather pants. Black tops, sweaters, leather jacket-"
"Okay, I get the idea. So what? A lot of people dress all in black." Wolverine growled again. "...Okay, so they're usually either depressive, mourning or members of the gothic community."
"Ya forgot the bikers."
"Okay, the bikers – and some punks while you're at it – too. So what's so bad about that?"
"I don't like it."
"You used to say my style was hurting your eyes," Jubilee pointed out.
"Yeah, but..." Logan almost slammed his fist in the wall in frustration. Jubilee was glad he didn't – she didn't want a hole in her wall.
She sighed. Oh, hell. Why not? "Looks like I have to save your sorry ass once again, doesn't it, Wolvster?"
***
"Computer, end program."
Sara looked up at the Control Room where the Professor, Scott Summers and Hank McCoy had been watching, and grinned at them. Xavier motioned for her to come up, and she obliged.
"So what did ya think?" she asked, catching the towel Beast threw at her.
"I must say you have gained a great control of your powers, regarding your age."
"Why, thank you, Hank."
"Say, where did you learn hand-to-hand combat? I thought the women had to do the household work and only that in the old times."
"Yer right there, Scott," Sara said. "But I've picked up some tricks here an' there. Not that I'm any good at it yet."
"Well, we'll fix that soon enough," Charles replied. "Have you thought about a code name?"
"Why, Charlie darlin'," Sara said and grinned at his obvious shock at the nick name, "I thought 'Chameleon' was obvious."
"...Right. You'll have to get a uniform, too, soon, Chameleon."
"Does that mean I'm on the team?"
I would certainly think so. Charles mentally winked at her.
"Well, I'll see ya guys later in trainin'," Sara said, giving the three men a brilliant smile. "Later then, Red Beam, BB. I'm off to the shower."
"BB?"
"Blue Butt."
The two X-men and their mentor were silent for a whole minute after she was gone. Scott waited a long moment before breaking the silence.
"What is it about the Logans and nick names?"
***
Sara was just drying her hair when someone knocked on her door. She secured her bathrobe and went out of the bathroom. "Come in," she called.
"Hi," Jubilee said. "I was just wondering...would you like to go shopping with me?"
Sara was taken by complete surprise. "Huh?" she asked 'intelligently'.
"Do you want to go shopping with me," Jubilee repeated. "It seems I need some new clothes, and I just wondered..."
"Wolvie asked ya ta do this, right?" It was more like a statement than a question.
"Um, yeah," Jubilee confessed. "He's getting a bit sick of this "no cigars"- diet..."
"Some diet," Sara snorted. "But it's only because he always pesters me about my clothes, y'know."
"Yeah, I got that impression."
"Oh, why not. At least ya can try an' find some clothes both Logan and I like," Sara sighed. "But let me warn ya: It won't be easy."
"Don't worry," Jubilee, the ex-mall rat, said and grinned. "I'll find something. Oh, and I do need some stuff myself."
"Right. Where and when?"
"The kitchen, thirty minutes?"
"Fine by me. D'ya drive or do we take my bike?"
"What kinda bike?" Jubilee asked suspiciously.
"Harley."
"We take the bike."
***
"Sara, have you found one garment you like yet?" Jubilee asked, her hands on her hips and a resigned look on her face.
"Well, there's those really great pants with the camouflage pattern that ya didn't want me ta buy," Sara said.
"Wolvie wouldn't like them."
"Why not?"
"You do know about Weapon X, right?" Jubilee asked.
"Oh, shoot, I forgot about that."
"See? You always have to take something in consideration when you're handling something to do with Wolvie." Jubilee looked around the store. "Come on," she said, "let's go to another shop. We won't find anything more in this one."
"Ya mean yer not goin' ta find anythin' more in this one," Sara replied, glancing with a raised eyebrow at the four shopping bags Jubilee was carrying.
"It's not like I've bought everything in this one," Jubilee said, feeling a bit self-conscious.
"No, half the stuff ya bought in the other six shops we've been to."
"You know, now that I think of it you can carry some of the bags."
"Aw, Jubes!"
"Do you have any bags?"
"All right, all right, I'll carry yer stinkin' bags." Sara mock-glared at Jubilee, who grinned back.
"Let's go try this shop!" she said enthusiastically. Sara groaned and followed the shop-o-maniac.
***
It took two more hours of shopping before Sara found something she liked. She positively dragged Jubilee by the arm over to a stand.
"What about this one?" she asked hopefully.
"Sara," Jubilee said in an exasperated tone, "those are men's pants."
"So?" Sara said, getting that stubborn look that everyone in the mansion had learned to fear – not necessarily when she arrived. "There's lots of girls goin' around with trousers for men."
"I dunno about the colour…" Jubilee said dubiously.
"Oh, come on," Sara said, grabbing some pants of the right size and heading to the fitting room. "He has to survive army-green, right? After all, he hasn't complained about my boots."
"Yeah, yeah," Jubilee said, giving up. "But that reminds me of something. You have to get some new shoes."
***
"Sit there," Jubilee ordered. "I'm going to find some pairs you can look at." Sara sighed and obliged, sitting down on a bench with leather upholstery. She looked around the shoe store and wrinkled her nose. She had never really liked shopping for shoes – they were either too narrow, too expensive, had horrible colours, didn't have her size or had simply too high heels. She liked her army boots. They didn't leak, gave an impression of authority and had this nice steel cap on the toes that was really handy if she got pissed at someone.
She was pulled out of her musings by Jubilee returning, her head barely peeking up over the pile of shoes she was carrying. "There!" she said with a satisfied air. "Maybe you'll find something you like now."
"Um, I could just go around an' look for myself, y'know," Sara said, looking at the heap of shoes.
"Don't you dare," Jubilee almost growled.
"Okay, sorry I asked."
"You wouldn't even find one pair, anyway."
"Ya got a point." Sara picked up a pair of high-heeled, pink shoes. "Nope," she said, putting them to the side of the bench.
"You haven't even tried them!" Jubilee protested.
"I'm not colour-blind, ya know. I've got some taste."
"They weren't that bad."
"Yes they were." Sara looked at another pair of high-heeled shoes, this time light blue. "Nope."
"If you're not taking them, I will," Jubilee warned.
"Suit yerself. I ain't got any time ta wobble around on those heels."
"Say that to Storm."
"At least she can fly."
"Yeah…"
***
There were two quite exhausted young girls that finally made it back to the mansion after six hours of shopping.
"Oh, there you are," Storm smiled, greeting them at the door. "I was wondering when you two would show up. I'll heat some food for you."
"Thanks, 'Ro," Jubilee said, smiling tiredly at the other woman. They followed her into the kitchen, and sat down at the table.
"So, did you find anything nice?" Ororo asked as she put half a pizza in the oven for warming.
"What does it look like?" Sara said sarcastically, nodding to the many shopping bags on the table.
"Ah," Ororo smiled again, "what I meant was: Did you find anything nice?"
"Yeah." Sara returned the smile. "Those two bags are mine."
"Hey!" Jubilee protested. "I'm not that bad, y'know!"
"Oh, so those other eight bags aren't yours? Sorry, Jubilee. My mistake."
"Yeah, yeah, they're mine," Jubilee grumbled. "And there's only seven."
"I apologize," Storm said, a smile crossing her lips. Sara snickered. Jubilee sighed.
"I have improved, y'know," she said. "I only bought so much because the Prof' said he was paying."
"Ah," Storm said. "Did he know that you would be buying stuff, too?"
Jubilee frowned a little before smiling. "Now that I think about it, he probably thought that Sara would do most of the shopping…" She laughed. "Imagine his face when he sees the bill!"
The two other women looked at her in surprise. Then they too pictured Charles Xavier's face, and burst into laughter.
A/N: I hope you liked it. I wasn't quite satisfied with it, but I'm fighting the writer's block here…
Also a very big thanks to Moonchild DJ for beta-reading this for me!
1.1 Out of the Past
1.2 Chapter Four: Shopping with the Mall Rat
Jubilee hummed softly to herself as she went through the drawers in her old room at the Mansion. She picked up a pink calf-length skirt, and held it to her, looking in the full-length mirror.
"Nope," she said to herself and threw it in the rising pile of discarded clothes in one corner. She looked at a pair of dark blue jeans, considered it, then pulled them on. She couldn't get the top-most button shut.
When did I ever get hips? she wondered, pulling the jeans off again and throwing in the 'discard pile'. Oh, yeah. I've gone a year in college. Guess I fattened up while studying. She studied herself in the mirror. Not a single drop of fat in sight. Or maybe not. Her eyes drifted around the room, and landed on the poster of Spice Girls. Yuck. I can't believe I actually listened to that. 'Girl Power' my ass. I've been away too long. She smiled a little, both sad and happy. But now I'm back. Jubes the Firecracker will ride again!
Just then, someone knocked on the door. She put on a dressing robe and opened it.
"Can I come in?" Logan asked. His eyes was darting around the corridor, as if he was expecting someone to punch down on him any minute.
"Uh, yeah, sure," Jubilee said. Wolverine quickly went into her room and sat down. He sniffed the air suspiciously
- as if he had to make sure we were the only ones here –
and visibly relaxed. He reached into his inner pocket and produced a box of highly illegal Cuban cigars. He – after sniffing the air once again – lit it.
What the-! He bursts into my room just to smoke?!
"Wolvie, what are you-" She stopped at his motion to be silent. He puffed on the cigar a little to make it burn, and inhaled deeply.
"Ahhhh," he said and blew out slowly. Jubilee looked at him, her hands on her hips.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?" He looked up at her. She merely raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "She's killin' me, Jubes," he said. "She won't let me smoke."
"Who?" Jubilee asked, puzzled.
"Sara. Whenever she finds me smokin', she confiscates my cigars. Won't give 'em back." He took a pull on the cigar, and sighed contently. "At least that damn teenager didn't find these babies." He patted the box of Cuban cigars affectionately.
"Wolvie...the 'damn teenager' is your little sister."
"Yeah," Logan sighed. He gave her a side-look. "Ya will keep tight on this, won't ya, Jubes? I've had ta keep ta lollipops fer four weeks." Jubilee let out a little giggle at the mental image. He growled at her.
"Aw, I'm sorry," she said, patting him on the head. If anyone else had done that, they would have found themselves encountering an adamantium-hardened fist. At least that hasn't changed, Jubilee thought. "So, how did you get yourself in this fix?"
Logan grimaced, and stomped his cigar-end out. "I guess she wanted to be even fer me tryin' ta throw her clothes out the window."
"You what?!"
"What's so wrong with that? Have ya seen her wardrobe?" He didn't wait for Jubilee's answer. "It's all black. Black army boots. Black jeans and leather pants. Black tops, sweaters, leather jacket-"
"Okay, I get the idea. So what? A lot of people dress all in black." Wolverine growled again. "...Okay, so they're usually either depressive, mourning or members of the gothic community."
"Ya forgot the bikers."
"Okay, the bikers – and some punks while you're at it – too. So what's so bad about that?"
"I don't like it."
"You used to say my style was hurting your eyes," Jubilee pointed out.
"Yeah, but..." Logan almost slammed his fist in the wall in frustration. Jubilee was glad he didn't – she didn't want a hole in her wall.
She sighed. Oh, hell. Why not? "Looks like I have to save your sorry ass once again, doesn't it, Wolvster?"
***
"Computer, end program."
Sara looked up at the Control Room where the Professor, Scott Summers and Hank McCoy had been watching, and grinned at them. Xavier motioned for her to come up, and she obliged.
"So what did ya think?" she asked, catching the towel Beast threw at her.
"I must say you have gained a great control of your powers, regarding your age."
"Why, thank you, Hank."
"Say, where did you learn hand-to-hand combat? I thought the women had to do the household work and only that in the old times."
"Yer right there, Scott," Sara said. "But I've picked up some tricks here an' there. Not that I'm any good at it yet."
"Well, we'll fix that soon enough," Charles replied. "Have you thought about a code name?"
"Why, Charlie darlin'," Sara said and grinned at his obvious shock at the nick name, "I thought 'Chameleon' was obvious."
"...Right. You'll have to get a uniform, too, soon, Chameleon."
"Does that mean I'm on the team?"
I would certainly think so. Charles mentally winked at her.
"Well, I'll see ya guys later in trainin'," Sara said, giving the three men a brilliant smile. "Later then, Red Beam, BB. I'm off to the shower."
"BB?"
"Blue Butt."
The two X-men and their mentor were silent for a whole minute after she was gone. Scott waited a long moment before breaking the silence.
"What is it about the Logans and nick names?"
***
Sara was just drying her hair when someone knocked on her door. She secured her bathrobe and went out of the bathroom. "Come in," she called.
"Hi," Jubilee said. "I was just wondering...would you like to go shopping with me?"
Sara was taken by complete surprise. "Huh?" she asked 'intelligently'.
"Do you want to go shopping with me," Jubilee repeated. "It seems I need some new clothes, and I just wondered..."
"Wolvie asked ya ta do this, right?" It was more like a statement than a question.
"Um, yeah," Jubilee confessed. "He's getting a bit sick of this "no cigars"- diet..."
"Some diet," Sara snorted. "But it's only because he always pesters me about my clothes, y'know."
"Yeah, I got that impression."
"Oh, why not. At least ya can try an' find some clothes both Logan and I like," Sara sighed. "But let me warn ya: It won't be easy."
"Don't worry," Jubilee, the ex-mall rat, said and grinned. "I'll find something. Oh, and I do need some stuff myself."
"Right. Where and when?"
"The kitchen, thirty minutes?"
"Fine by me. D'ya drive or do we take my bike?"
"What kinda bike?" Jubilee asked suspiciously.
"Harley."
"We take the bike."
***
"Sara, have you found one garment you like yet?" Jubilee asked, her hands on her hips and a resigned look on her face.
"Well, there's those really great pants with the camouflage pattern that ya didn't want me ta buy," Sara said.
"Wolvie wouldn't like them."
"Why not?"
"You do know about Weapon X, right?" Jubilee asked.
"Oh, shoot, I forgot about that."
"See? You always have to take something in consideration when you're handling something to do with Wolvie." Jubilee looked around the store. "Come on," she said, "let's go to another shop. We won't find anything more in this one."
"Ya mean yer not goin' ta find anythin' more in this one," Sara replied, glancing with a raised eyebrow at the four shopping bags Jubilee was carrying.
"It's not like I've bought everything in this one," Jubilee said, feeling a bit self-conscious.
"No, half the stuff ya bought in the other six shops we've been to."
"You know, now that I think of it you can carry some of the bags."
"Aw, Jubes!"
"Do you have any bags?"
"All right, all right, I'll carry yer stinkin' bags." Sara mock-glared at Jubilee, who grinned back.
"Let's go try this shop!" she said enthusiastically. Sara groaned and followed the shop-o-maniac.
***
It took two more hours of shopping before Sara found something she liked. She positively dragged Jubilee by the arm over to a stand.
"What about this one?" she asked hopefully.
"Sara," Jubilee said in an exasperated tone, "those are men's pants."
"So?" Sara said, getting that stubborn look that everyone in the mansion had learned to fear – not necessarily when she arrived. "There's lots of girls goin' around with trousers for men."
"I dunno about the colour…" Jubilee said dubiously.
"Oh, come on," Sara said, grabbing some pants of the right size and heading to the fitting room. "He has to survive army-green, right? After all, he hasn't complained about my boots."
"Yeah, yeah," Jubilee said, giving up. "But that reminds me of something. You have to get some new shoes."
***
"Sit there," Jubilee ordered. "I'm going to find some pairs you can look at." Sara sighed and obliged, sitting down on a bench with leather upholstery. She looked around the shoe store and wrinkled her nose. She had never really liked shopping for shoes – they were either too narrow, too expensive, had horrible colours, didn't have her size or had simply too high heels. She liked her army boots. They didn't leak, gave an impression of authority and had this nice steel cap on the toes that was really handy if she got pissed at someone.
She was pulled out of her musings by Jubilee returning, her head barely peeking up over the pile of shoes she was carrying. "There!" she said with a satisfied air. "Maybe you'll find something you like now."
"Um, I could just go around an' look for myself, y'know," Sara said, looking at the heap of shoes.
"Don't you dare," Jubilee almost growled.
"Okay, sorry I asked."
"You wouldn't even find one pair, anyway."
"Ya got a point." Sara picked up a pair of high-heeled, pink shoes. "Nope," she said, putting them to the side of the bench.
"You haven't even tried them!" Jubilee protested.
"I'm not colour-blind, ya know. I've got some taste."
"They weren't that bad."
"Yes they were." Sara looked at another pair of high-heeled shoes, this time light blue. "Nope."
"If you're not taking them, I will," Jubilee warned.
"Suit yerself. I ain't got any time ta wobble around on those heels."
"Say that to Storm."
"At least she can fly."
"Yeah…"
***
There were two quite exhausted young girls that finally made it back to the mansion after six hours of shopping.
"Oh, there you are," Storm smiled, greeting them at the door. "I was wondering when you two would show up. I'll heat some food for you."
"Thanks, 'Ro," Jubilee said, smiling tiredly at the other woman. They followed her into the kitchen, and sat down at the table.
"So, did you find anything nice?" Ororo asked as she put half a pizza in the oven for warming.
"What does it look like?" Sara said sarcastically, nodding to the many shopping bags on the table.
"Ah," Ororo smiled again, "what I meant was: Did you find anything nice?"
"Yeah." Sara returned the smile. "Those two bags are mine."
"Hey!" Jubilee protested. "I'm not that bad, y'know!"
"Oh, so those other eight bags aren't yours? Sorry, Jubilee. My mistake."
"Yeah, yeah, they're mine," Jubilee grumbled. "And there's only seven."
"I apologize," Storm said, a smile crossing her lips. Sara snickered. Jubilee sighed.
"I have improved, y'know," she said. "I only bought so much because the Prof' said he was paying."
"Ah," Storm said. "Did he know that you would be buying stuff, too?"
Jubilee frowned a little before smiling. "Now that I think about it, he probably thought that Sara would do most of the shopping…" She laughed. "Imagine his face when he sees the bill!"
The two other women looked at her in surprise. Then they too pictured Charles Xavier's face, and burst into laughter.
A/N: I hope you liked it. I wasn't quite satisfied with it, but I'm fighting the writer's block here…
