Domino followed Hank into Harry's Hideaway. "Doctor McCoy, it's good to see you. You haven't been around in awhile."

"Oh, you know how it is, Harry. It's hard to get a way sometimes. Harry, I'd like you to meet an associate of mine, Miss Bonaventure." Hank winked at Domino, but she rolled her eyes and held out her hand. Harry shook it. "This is Harry the proprietor of this fine established descended from a long line of Harrys."

"Good to know you." Harry smiled warmly at her.

"Harry, my lovely companion has come in search of sustenance. The bovine variety to be specific."

"Great, Doc. Your usual booth is empty. I'll send Molly right over."

Hank led Domino to the booth. Soon after sitting down a waitress came over. "Hey, Doctor McCoy, been a while. I guess I can see why," she said eying Domino.

"Quite the opposite, I assure you, Molly. Don't you read the scandal sheets?"

"Don't tell me you're really gay."

"Why not?"

"Because I've known you since you started up at Xavier's, that's why. I've seen you and your buddies right here day in day out for- how many years is it now?"

"Far too many to count, Molly."

"Anyway, I don't believe it." she shook her head in irritation. "What can I get for you?"

"A bottle of Jack Daniel's, two glasses- " Domino looked over at Hank. "You like ice?"

"I suppose."

"And some ice," she continued. "And two rib eyes, one medium rare and the other?"

"The same," Hank responded . "Thanks, Molly."

"So what is all this gay shit anyway?"

Hank glared at her. "Domino, I have been very indulgent with you so far tonight, but frankly that is none of your business."

"Hold on a fucking second, McCoy. I have never liked you or any of your other holier-than-thou X-Men buddies. And I know none of you have ever liked me. I tolerate you for the same reason you tolerate me- Nate. Hell, they didn't even like him until they found out he was Cyclops' son. But that's beside the point. I'm trying to do a rare good deed here. Damn it, McCoy, the Summers' don't have the market on angst cornered. I know you're hurting, none of your "friends" want to see that, because they always rely on you to be strong for them. Maybe because I'm on the outside I see it and for some stupid-ass reason I like to help you."

"Domino, I appreciate the sentiment, but you really wouldn't understand what I've been going through."

"Oh, yeah. Let's see here now. My looks brand me a mutant. I got kidnapped by the son of the man I loved and replaced for a year by an imposter and the man I loved couldn't even tell the difference, despite the fact we had a psi-link. And I won't even go into what that bastard son did to me. And that's just for starters. My powers have been fucked with by Prime Sentinels. I've been possessed by aliens and forced to kill people. I've been killed and come back to life because some weird thing attached itself to me. The kids that I trained and thought of as my own left me to follow some sneaky English Nick Fury wanna-be. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, the man I loved left me and the rest of his team behind to die. How 'bout them apples?"

"Some are frightfully disturbingly familiar. I hadn't realized."

"And here you just thought I was some chick with guns who was the occasional bedmate for the sainted Cyclops' son. I know a thing or two about being hurt."

************************************************************************************

After 2 bottles of Jack Daniel's, 2 ½ bottles of merlot…

"I think I really did love her. I know I did. I thought she really loved me. We'd been through so much. I was stupid and normal looking, then I was smart and blue. We saved the Shi'ar Empire together. We'd been through so much- uh- stuff. I figured we could work through the feline thing too- eventually. But no, she had to tell the whole damn world I said I was gay. Even then, things could've worked out eventually. But, now? I want to be there for her but I'm afraid. I don't want to give my heart away again. It always comes back to me in shreds. I'm afraid of her"

*************************************************************************************

After 2 bottles of Jack Daniel's, 3 bottles of merlot, 1 bottle of Jaegermeister…

"I've been in love with Nate since the first time we met. I didn't know it then. We used to argue like crazy. We still do. He is everything I ever wanted in a man. He's the only man I ever knew who could beat me at everything. With him I can afford to be helpless once in a while. We've been through so much shit. I thought I lost him a thousand times over. We've both hurt each a lot. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. He's changed now. I still love him but, I don't even really know him anymore. I'm afraid of him."

**************************************************************************************

After 2 bottles of Jack Daniel's, 3 bottles of merlot, 1 bottle of Jaegermeister, 6 Jell-O-shots…

"This is for a special little lady out there." Hank winked at her from the stage and began to sing, "They call you lady luck but there is room for doubt. At times you have a very unladylike way of running out…"

"Great. Another Sinatra fan."

**********************************************************************************

After 2 bottles of Jack Daniel's, 3 bottles of merlot, 2 bottles of Jaegermeister, 10 Jell-O-shots…

"This for my special beast." Domino winked at Hank and began to sing, "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…."

"Oh, like I haven't heard that before."

*********************************************************************************

After 2 bottles of Jack Daniel's, 3 bottles of merlot, 2 bottles of Jaegermeister, 14 Jell-O-shots, 4 martinis, 2 Long Island Ice-teas to-go and a harrowing DUI waiting to happen played out to the Top Gun soundtrack…

Domino and Hank fell out of the luckily still intact T-bird. They attempted to stumble up the stairs into the house, but fell down them instead.

"Hank? What did she do to you?' Bobby asked peering down at him.

"The very lovely Lady Luck has introduced me to my new best friend. A Mr. Jack Daniel. Are you familiar with him? If not you most certainly should be. And then we had those scrumptious little purple and blue jiggly things. What were they called, Lucky?"

"Jell-O shots. They were fabulous weren't they?"

"I'm terrified. I'm mentally scarred actually. What have you done to him?!"

Domino pulled out a gun and pointed it at Bobby. "Go away."

Hank squinted up at Bobby, "Bobby, you aren't Multiple Man. Why are there two of you?"

Domino drew another gun. " I have two guns. One for each of you."

"Caaabbbllleee!" Bobby started bellowing.

"Quiet down, Drake. Don't wake the house. I'm right here." Nathan pushed Bobby out of the way and glared down at Hank and Domino.

"Uh-oh, Lucky. I think we're in trouble."

Nathan raised an eyebrow, "Should I be jealous?"

"Unfortunately , Nate, Hank is quite the gentleman," she said as she holstered her weapons.

"I see." Nathan pulled her to her feet. She fell unsteadily into his arms and grinned up at him. "'Take me to bed or lose me forever.'"

"Days of Thunder," Hank shouted.

"Top Gun, actually," Bobby responded.

Nathan sighed. She couldn't possibly make it into the house under her own power. He slung her over his shoulder. He turned to Bobby, "Can you handle him?"

"I thinks so."

Nathan started to walk back into the mansion. Hank called after them. "Good Night, Lucky!"

Domino lifted her head slightly and then waved back. "Good Night, Fuzzy Wuzzy!"

Bobby looked down at Hank. "Fuzzy Wuzzy?"

"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy has no hair."

"You're never going to live that down."

*************************************************************************************

"Nathan, if you say one fucking word, I'm going to beat your ass. And you know I can," Domino collapsed in a chair at the kitchen table. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head and hid her face in her folded arms.

Nathan just grinned to himself, but didn't say a word. She might not be capable of much now but he knew from unfortunate experience that, she would take it out on him later. So Nathan quietly finished making his sandwich . He sat down across from her at the table to eat his lunch and read Newsweek. A little while later Domino abruptly sat up, pushed her chair back and stalked over to the cupboard . She pulled out a glass and set it purposefully on the counter. Then she began pulling various strange substances from the refrigerator and mixed them together in her glass.

"Darlin', what the hell did ya do to Beast?" Logan said wandering into the kitchen. He glanced at her. "You don't look so hot."

"That's not a very nice thing to say to a lady."

"Ya ain't no lady, Bea."

"How would you like me to test out that healing factor, old man?"

Nathan cleared his throat. " Uh, Logan, are you ready to go?"

Domino turned to Nathan. "Where in the hell are the two of you going together?"

"We're going to check out Trish Tilby's apartment to see if we can figure out who attacked her."

Domino nodded and gulped down her concoction in one shot. "You two behave."

"You might want to fix Hank one of those. He's ain't used to drinkin' with the likes of you."

****************************************************************************************

"What's this?" Hank asked looking at the glass warily.

"A Prairie Oyster. It'll help with your hangover."

"I don't think I want to know what's in this thing, but at this point in time point in time I'm willing to try anything."

Hank quickly emptied his glass and collapsed back on the bed. "To be uncharacteristically crude, I feel like shit."

****************************************************************************************

"Nate, there's somethin' ya should know."

"What, that you slept with Dom?"

"She told ya?"

"No, we are psi-linked, you know. I find out things I neither one of us want me to know sometimes, whether I want to or not."

"It was just a fling."

"I know," Nathan said picking up a picture of Trish with Hank. "Actually, I'd be more afraid of Dom falling for someone like McCoy than you."

"How do ya figure?"

"Well, as much as I hate to admit this, you and I are a lot alike. And Dom knows we're not the best of friends and that it would probably really piss me of that she slept with you."

"We didn't really sleep."

"Logan, I'm trying to be mature about this."

"First time for everything I guess."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Domino and Beast have a lot more in common than anyone might suspect. Besides as far as I've been able to learn her husband was something of an intellectual."

"Milo? Yeah, he was."

"You knew him?"

"Yeah. You might be right. Bea might be lookin' for a change from all the macho shit. You better watch out, Nate. That blue furred bastard can be more charmin' than Gambit when he wants to be. And you ain't exactly done right by her."

"I know and I think that's what scares me." Nathan sighed and put down the picture and changed the subject. "I was right her attackers were being shielded. There's no physic residue other than Tilby's and nothing really coherent from her. Just pain. You picking up anything, Logan?"

"No, it's too clean. They must be government people."

"SHIELD, maybe?"

"Nah, not their style, just beatin' the tar out of her, they would've just taken her out clean. Could be a rogue faction, I guess. Maybe she found out something somebody didn't want gettin' out."

"Think they were just trying to scare her?"

"I dunno. They went overboard then. This is gettin' fuckin' weird." Logan said looking around the trashed apartment. " Found somethin'?"

"Her journal." Nathan flipped through it, skimming through several entries. "Hmmm. Maybe we should let Hank read this. What's wrong?" he glanced at Logan who stood there listening intently.

"Smell somethin' strange."

"Doctor McCoy is-" Domino paused considering what to tell these kids. "Feeling a bit under the weather-"

"We heard you got him drunk," a girl with insect- like wings interrupted.

"You could say that."

******************************************************************************************

"Hank, you look like shit."

"Thanks, Logan, my self-esteem wasn't low enough as it is," Hank responded dryly.

"We brought you another patient." Nathan deposited a fluffy white cat in his lap. "We found him locked in Tilby's laundry room."

The cat sniffed suspiciously at Hank but seemed to find him no threat and began rubbing on him begging for attention. Hank examined his collar. " 'Bones'? My, what a wit Miss Tilby has." Hank turned his attention back to Logan and Nathan. "So were you able to gain any more information about Trish's assailants?"

"Not really," Nathan told him. "Logan seems to think they were government ops. Maybe rogues."

"I see and why would they be after her? At in any rate, if they wanted her dead why not just put a bullet in her pretty little head. Why pummel her?"

"We thought you might tell us that."

"We found her journal an' seein' how you two used ta be so tight we thought you should be the one to read it."

"I see."