Hi again! Guess what? This story is very rapidly reaching completion! There will only be maybe two, at the very most three more chapters after this one, then it's done! I have done some sketches and drawings, and if my husband can get the scanner working, I want to create a website upon which to post this story and the drawings. I'm just curious if anyone would be interested if I did this. Please let me know. Anyways, on with the story!

## - represents thoughts


CHAPTER 20:

"I hate him," Hank said to himself. He was sitting in his favourite tree on the mansion's grounds, a half-decapitated daisy in his large, furry hands. "I hate him not," he continued, removing another petal. #Yes indeed, at times I hate him. And times like this make me hate him even more because I cannot justifiably do so.# "I hate him," he repeated. Now there was only one petal left. "I hate him not." He tossed the stem away and sighed deeply.

#It is said that when you understand someone, you cannot help but love them a little, because that very knowledge robs you of the innocence to hate blindly. I did not know what they meant until now. This seems to serve as just another example among many of how ignorance often IS bliss. I am now faced with yet another quandary, and that is how do I explain to Tyger that we are too rough and tough for her to play with? And that our fearless leader, albeit not without some just cause, is afraid she will become injured if she plays with us? Argh, what a tangle!#

He paused in his thoughts to readjust his position on the branch.

#The worst of it is, it would be infinitely easier to be bothered by his opinion of the situation IF I did not feel it was in some real sense true! As well as she fought in the Danger Room, I shudder to think what a pretty mess we would leave behind if someone like Juggernaut had gotten hold of her. In an unfortunately real sense, she is physically incapable of fighting with us. But how the hell do I tell her that? Think, Hank! Think...think...think...#

"YIPES!!!"

A gentle hand had touched his shoulder and he jumped in surprise, nearly falling off his branch. He turned to see Tyger clinging to the tree trunk.

"Did I sstarrtle you? I'm ssorry," she said with an expression on her face that looked so very innocent it was suspicious.

"No, you did not," he lied, a wry smile on his face. "I merely acted startled so as to lull you in the false sense of accomplishment at having frightened me out of my wits when you, in fact, had not."

She nodded at him with an expression that said, "Yeah, riiiiight." Then she climbed up higher until her face was level with his and planted a warm kiss on his lips. He happily returned it.

After a few moments, Tyger pulled away. "I've been looking forr you," she commented.

"You have? And for what purpose?" Hank mused, putting a thoughtful finger to his chin. "Wait! I have the answer!" he exclaimed with an air of having just made a major discovery. "You have grown so accustomed to my irresistible charm that you simply cannot bear my absence for more than a few moments! I am deeply humbled!"

Tyger scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out at him. He chuckled.

"All inanity aside, my dear, what is it that you want of me?" he inquired.

Her expression turned serious. "Jean has been teaching me how to ssense other people's emotionss, how to ssingle them out."

"Ah, excellent! And how are you faring in that endeavour?"

She furrowed her brows. "Well, I'm not that good at it. I can only pick up on the rreally strong ones."

He smiled encouragingly. "As with any new skill, it will take much practice before you will become adept at it."

She nodded sagely. "I know. Jean ssaid it's like being in a big crrowd. Therre is sso much backgrround noise that it's hard to pick out a ssingle voice to have a converssation. I have to learrn how to ssingle out emotions frrom the backgrround noise. But that isn't what I wanted to assk you about."

Hank could tell from the look on her face that whatever it was she wanted to talk about had her very concerned. He made himself comfortable once more on the branch and indicated for her to come up and sit with him.

She looked at the free spot on the branch beside him, snorted softly, then crawled into his lap instead. Hank grinned and voiced not a word of protest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Now then, what is it exactly that you wished to ask me?"

Tyger nuzzled into him, and tried to explain. She told him how she had been picking up traces of emotions from Jean and Scott. From Jean, she had been sensing embarrassment, and Tyger couldn't explain why. As for Scott, all she could get was a sense of resignation, of weariness and that was enough unlike Scott to give her pause since he normally seemed to be a source of boundless energy. Tyger couldn't understand how any of this could possibly involve her, but since she always seemed to be the cause of trouble, she just naturally assumed that it was her fault. Somehow. Right now she was hoping that Hank could explain that specific 'somehow'.

Hank smiled a sympathetic smile when she told him it JUST HAD to be her fault, and reassured her that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"The blame lies with me, I fear," he said.

She looked up at him, a look of disbelief on her face. "How?" she asked.

Hank sighed deeply. #'How' is the correct word, my dear. 'How' do I tell you? I haven't had time to piece together the proper words, let alone compose my speech...hmmmm....maybe it is better that way. That last time I rehearsed a speech for you, it ended in utter disaster.#

"Hank?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and noticed Tyger was staring at him intently, having been waiting for an answer.

"Ah, yes. Why is it MY fault? Well, you see, my love, it is like this. There was an altercation...altercation? No. A brief dispute? NO. A brief discussion? Yes, a brief discussion between myself and Scott. No, nothing to worry your pretty head over!" he added when he saw her ears droop.

"Disscussion?"

"Yes, a discussion. A minor debate whose subject was, and I mean this as being entirely coincidental, one certain orange and blacked-striped feline..."

Her ears drooped even more. "Sso it IS my fault they arre upsset."

"No, no! Tyger, I have already indicated that you are most certainly not the cause of the emotional turbulence!"

She cocked her head. "Sso...what you arre ssaying then is that the arrgument was about me, but not about me?"

"Yes! Er...no...not quite. You see, it is like this..." his mouth continued to move, but no explanation spewed forth.

Tyger was starting to feel just a little exasperated. "Sspit it out!" she told him. "You never had problems talking beforre."

"Hey!" he protested.

She smiled innocently again. "Jusst an obserrva'shun."

"Indeed," he replied, sounding indignant.

"Ssorry."

He took a deep breath and started over. "As I was saying, There was a minor disagreement between myself and Scott concerning your foray in the Danger Room."

Her eyes narrowed at the mention of that room. They narrowed even more when she recalled that Scott's interruption had nearly gotten her killed.

"Er...Tyger?...my Love? Why are you staring at me like that?" asked a nervous Hank. That narrow-eyed stare was pretty much the same look that he recalled her having when she had exited the Danger Room. Tyger snapped out of her reverie and refocused her attention on him.

"Ssorry. Keep going."

"Alright," Hank replied a little uncertainly. "As I was saying..."

"As you werre ssaying, you were arrguing with Cyclopss about me," she stated, trying to jump start his stalling explanation.

"No, not about you! Welllll...perhaps it did involve you, but only just a little."

She nodded. "Yessss, go on."

"It involved your presence...yes, your presence AND your performance in the Danger Room. You see, you did rather well for your very first scenario."

"I did?" she asked, incredulous. "I thought I sscrewed up rroyally."

"Certainly not! You did extremely well! And therein lies the problem."

She winced, feeling as if she had just been mentally slapped across the forebrain. "Huh?"

"The nature of the disagreement revolved around your physical capabilities and combat skills, which you displayed and proved to be quite efficient and effective."

"So I did okay?"

"Putting it simply, yes. The fact of the matter is, Tyger, that we have no records of previous new recruits who did as well in their first skirmish in the Danger Room as you did."

"Then jusst what is the prroblem?"

"The problem originally involved convincing Scott of your potential, and I accomplished that feat. A new problem arose, however, when he brought up a very important point which I had overlooked, and caused me to rethink all of my previous plans."

Tyger emitted a low growl of frustration. "Hank, what arre you trrying to tell me?!"

#I sincerely wish I knew.# He tried again.

"Scott explained that your powers are such that it would actually be unsafe for you to fight with us due to physical extremes."

"Fight with you?"

"Yes, as a member of the X-Men! I have been trying to convince Scott that you are perfectly qualified, but he brought up the argument that dealing with others...no, fighting alongside others is very different from fighting on your own within the Danger Room..."

"Fight with you?"

"Yes, you said that already," he pointed out matter-of-factly. "As I was saying, I..."
"Hank, have you been trrying to get Cyclopss to make me one of you guys? One of the X-Men?"

"Of course! You see, Tyger..."

"Is that what thiss whole thing is all about?" she asked as realization dawned on her.

"Yes, it is. Scott was..."

"Hank, don't take this the wrong way, but..."
"But what, my Love?"

She shot him a peevish look at having been interrupted.

#Hypocrite.#

"I don't mean any offence," she stated, her expression changing to a softer one. "But what went on in yourr blue-furrred mind that made you think I wanted to be an X-Man?"

He blinked. And blinked again. Then he blinked some more. "But...I...but...I...thought...?"

She put a finger to his lips. "Thiss is one ssituation where you DIDN'T think, Hank. Did I ever once assk if I could fight by yourr sside?"

He thought about it for a moment. Then, as her finger was still on his lips, shook his head.

"Jubess showed me ssome tapess of what you guys do. I have ssome idea of what you go up againsst. I would end up with my hide sspread acrross the floor if I went up againsst someone you guys normally fight with. Am I rright?"

He nodded.

"Is that what Cyclopss was trrying to tell you?"

He nodded again. He was at a loss for words, regardless of whether she was covering his mouth or not.

"Sso, in shorrt, the two of you have sspent the lasst couple of days arrguing about whetherr or not I should be an X-Man, when neither of you even botherred to assk me in the firsst place?"

He started to feel sheepish. "Er...perhaps that statement is correct," he offered.

She sensed his growing feeling of embarrassment. "Hank," she said, moving her hand to his cheek. "I apprre'shate what you trried to do forr me. I rreally do. But I'm jusst not cut out to be an X-Man."

Her hand strayed to gently scratch at the thick tuft of fur under his right ear.

"Cyclopss is a good leaderr, but I think maybe his commin'cation sskills are poorr. That is why everyone is upsset."

"I fear, my dear, that it would be rather hypocritical for me to comment on Scott's lack of proper communication skills considering that you and I have yet to engage in one solitary conversation that actually makes complete sense."

Tyger stuck her tongue out at him again.

"So, then," he said. "You...are not upset about what Scott said?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Why the heck would I be upsset?! Hank, I expeer'enced yourr 'beloved' Danger Room and I sstill think you'rre all nuts!"

A small voice in the back of Hank's brain goaded him to ask, 'macadamia or cashew?' but he silenced it.

"Anybody who goes in therre willingly deserves to have theirr head checked for missing pieces! Sso no, I am not botherred that he would rrefuse me X-Men sstatus 'cause Hank, I DON'T want it!"

A long moment of silence ensued. Then Hank finally spoke up. "Oh...okay, dear. Um....er...movie tonight?"

Blink. Blink. "What?"

* * *

Still to be continued. Thanks for the reviews, and remember: reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!