Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or the X Men. Evie is my character.

/Personal thoughts/

~~telepathic communications~~

Chapter 5

Later that evening after all the younger children were in bed, the two teams gathered for drinks and a movie. The evening was pleasant and yet, Shalimar was beginning to feel a little closed in. The room was large but there were a lot of people. "I think I need to take a walk," she whispered to Brennan.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I just need some air."

"Ok, be careful." Brennan leaned down and kissed her lips.

Outside the air was dry and cool, as evening began to turn to night. The spring sky was clear as a million stars peeked through the black curtain above. Shalimar stepped out onto the porch and took a deep breath as she tried to allow the feral in her to relax. That breath brought quite the opposite affect. He was there, …somewhere. She could smell him, natural and wild. Her eyes turned golden as she consciously maintained a casual posture and walked out to the gardens. Suddenly she stopped. There it was again. /He's growling at me; low and soft. What's his game?/ Then, just as natural as his, she released one of her own, still low but not at all soft.

Out of the shadows she heard him. "Why ya on the defensive, Darlin'? I'm not gonna hurt ya." Logan's form slowly separated from the dark recesses in front of her.

Shalimar just stood there, again staring back. She smelled no malice on him and he was, for all intents, an X-Man, so feeling relatively safe she let her eyes return to their rich brown color.

"You have beautiful eyes," he told her.

"Thank you."

Logan lifted his eyes to look back toward the mansion. Brennan was standing in front of one of the full length picture windows of the rec room. "He's watchin' us, you know."

"Is he?" Shalimar didn't need to turn to know it was Brennan, he was referring to. Keeping her composure, she was pleased that Logan was interested enough to notice.

"I heard you two have a thing goin'. Is that right?" Logan smiled slyly.

"It's more than just a thing."

"Really?" Logan could sense her sincerity and the pure truth of what she was saying, but he felt he just had to push a little. "So if he loves you so much, why isn't he dashing out here to rescue you from the big bad wolf?" Logan smiled mischievously.

Shalimar was amused by his confident demeanor and shifted to relax her weight on one leg and fold her arms across her body. "Well,…that's because he knows that I can take care of myself…and…you haven't done anything yet." She smiled back defiantly. "If you were to…try something, he would light you up like Times Square."

Logan let out a short chuckle as he considered the dynamics of a lightning bolt coursing across an adamantium skeleton. His attitude lightened considerably. "Ok, you win. I'll stop hittin' on you, Darlin', though you ARE a doll."

Shalimar smiled, half in appreciation for the compliment and half in celebration of her apparent victory. "Thank you."

"Jubes told me you were taken, but I wanted to hear it for myself."

There was a momentary silence between them until Logan, looking past her again to the mansion, tall and silhouetted against the night sky, spoke up. "You had to get out because of the crowd, didn't you?"

Shalimar couldn't help but feel that the question wasn't as much inquiry as it was empathy. She hesitated for only a moment before she answered. "Yeah," she confessed, "I can only take so much, especially at night. Sometimes I think if I don't get outside, I'll go crazy." They began to walk slowly along the path that led around the garden.

Brennan stood at the window, silently watching. He knew and trusted Shalimar's love for him, but knew almost nothing about this guy. In his preoccupation with the garden below, he failed to notice the slender figure that approached to join him at the window.

"It's ok, Brennan, don't worry." Ororo came up beside him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "He's not putting the moves on her…anymore."

"What do you mean?" Brennan looked at the striking woman he had come to know and respect during their last visit.

"He was,…before. I'm sure there was a…feral attraction. I anticipated it when I found out you were coming. But I also knew she wouldn't succumb to it. She, evidently, just shot him down." Ororo's voice was low and sure.

"How do you know that?" Brennan began to see a quiet sorrow in her face as she looked out at the couple in the yard.

Trying to control the voice that seemed determined to be the traitor to her nonchalant cause, she looked down and replied, "Because…that's the way he looks…when he's talking to me."

Instinctively, Brennan put his arm around her shoulders and silently let her know he understood. "Come on, I'll buy you a drink." She smiled and let him lead her away from the window.

Logan and Shalimar talked over their curiosities in each other until the path led them back to the front porch. "Chuck said you held up against Rogue. That's pretty impressive, Darlin', but what are you like in the wild?"

Shalimar furrowed her brow and scowled, "What do you mean?"

"How well do you hunt?" Logan looked at her and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

Smiling and confident, Shal asked, "Now how can I answer that?"

"Show me," Logan glared.

"What?"

"Danger room, tomorrow morning," he said daring her to refuse.

Seeing the challenge, she wasn't about to let him see her back down. "I'll be there but I'm not going to fight you. Create an odd number of opponents and we'll see who finds more prey." Her bold confidence only served to temper his intrigue.

"You got it, Darlin'. Now let's go in and find your man before I get struck." Logan put his arm out for her to take as he led her back into the mansion.

Sunday

Logan and Shalimar made plans to meet in the danger room at 10 AM News quickly spread about their challenge and soon the observation lounge was full of people. Brennan stood at one corner against the rectangular plate window, with Emma, Evie and Jesse. Ororo stood in the opposite corner. Next to her were Jubilee, Jean and Scott. Hank, Shalimar and Logan stood in the massive chamber below having an inaudible exchange. After several minutes Hank turned and left the hall to reappear seconds later in the large port of the control module. The parameters of the exercise having been laid out, he was visible through the pane making adjustments and entering data into the simulator's computer. In a sudden flash of light the vacant coliseum birthed a dense jungle scene. Shalimar and Logan, opposing one another in a small central clearing, eyed each other challengingly for the briefest moment then leapt off in opposite directions, disappearing from view into the thick terrain.

After an hour of catching glimpses of the rivals darting around obstacles and knocking out holographic opponents, Jubilee looked to one of the small statistical terminals situated below the windows on the observation deck. Excitedly she announced that they had evenly eliminated 16 of the 21 opponents programmed for the simulation. Friendly rivalry and banter had begun about a half hour into the contest. Brennan and Ororo were the only two not really participating. They occasionally exchanged glances but remained mostly silent as they watched.

"Look!" Jubilee shouted as everyone saw she was pointing to Wolverine about to get pounced on by an angry looking combatant perched on a branch above his head. As the man sprang forward, Wolverine, with graceful agility turned and skewered the man, throwing him aside in one smooth move.

Fifteen minutes later there remained only the last, tie breaking opponent. He had been stalking Shalimar, who had now come back into the clearing. She had been keeping count and knew one more would put her over the top. Sensing his approach she began to run and suddenly caught her foot on a protruding root.

Everyone in the observation lounge gasped in unison. Brennan couldn't believe what he had just seen.

"No way," yelled Jesse.

Shalimar immediately rolled onto her back and instinctively raised an arm to protect her face as she saw the assailant already airborne and about to land on her.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Logan lunged and jumped over Shalimar, taking with him the opponent who landed under his claws, flat on the ground.

Not feeling attacked; Shalimar looked around and spotted Logan lifting himself from on top of the man. Hearing the bell ring to indicate the end of the match and knowing she had just lost, she immediately sprung and tackled the unprepared Logan.

He landed on his back with a thud. When he shook the daze out of his head, he found a proudly smiling Shalimar perched in a straddle across his chest. "I thought you didn't want to fight me, Darlin'?"

"I didn't but since you won, I had to get you somehow. Our teams are watching. You wouldn't want me completely ashamed, would you?"

"Of course not, I'm too much of a gentleman for that." He snickered as she got off him.

"Besides," she said throwing out a hand to help him up, "I took down the MOST DANGEROUS opponent in the game, so I'm counting it eleven all." She winked at him and smiled with a mischievous grin.

Now standing in an empty danger room, he pulled her into a friendly hug. Her eyes widened as he whispered, "I know you tripped on purpose," and they walked out to meet their friends in silence.

Rogue and Remy spent most of the day in her room. She was beginning to get very nervous about the prospect of the whole procedure. Her pacing began to wear on her carpet as well as her beau.

"Chere, you makin' Remy tired watchin' you do dat."

"But Ah'm so nervous. What if the tests show it won't work? What if the tests are ok but then when it's over it doesn't work? What if…"

"Stop, Chere!" He got up, stepped in her path and grabbed her arms. "You're goin' to make yourself so tired you won' be able to have de procedure done. Now come and sit wid me."

She sat next to him on the bed. "Remy, …Ah'm scared."

"I know, Chere. I'm afraid fo' you, too. I know dat Hank and Adam won' do anyting if dey don' believe it'll work. I trust dem and you have to trust dem, too."

"You're raight, Ah know. Will ya stay with me while they work?"

"Remy's not goin' to leave you, not fo' a minute. Now lay back and take a nap befo' dinner. Won' do fo' you to be all tired out in da mornin'."

Hank, Adam and Charles spent the afternoon going over procedure and finalizing preparations for the tests. The tests themselves might take a few days and the actual procedure and recovery would take a little longer.

In the evening everyone was feeling the anxiety in the air. They were all worried for Marie but excited for her to have the chance to actually be touched again. Emma, feeling all the emotions, including her own, all too intensely, unexpectedly fell back into a chair and put her hands to her head.

Jesse was in front of her on his knees instantly, "Emma, are you ok?"

Jean knowing immediately that something was wrong, stopped mid sentence in her conversation with Evie and went to help. Everyone soon followed and Emma became the center of attention.

She didn't answer right away. She could do nothing but hold her head in both hands and bend to lean forward on Jesse's shoulder. Worry began to cover his face as he looked to find Adam coming up to them through the crowd.

"Emma, Baby, it's ok. Can you hear me?" Jesse tried to reach her again, only greeted by silence. He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back in her chair to look into her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut as if in pain.

Adam knelt beside Jesse and touched her face gently. "Emma, focus. Open your eyes." His commanding voice reached her as he saw her relax slightly and begin to respond.

Slowly, she found her voice and shakily began to speak as she realized all eyes were now on her. "I'm ok. I'm sorry. It was just more than I expected."

"What was more than you expected?" Jean inquired still obviously worried.

"I began to feel some stray emotions: curiosity and worry. Then I felt fear but I couldn't pinpoint it so I relaxed my shields a little to be able to focus. Suddenly all the anxiety in the mansion seemed to hit me at one time." She stopped to take a deep breath. "The fear came from the children."

Scott, Logan, Remy and Brennan were already moving toward the door, fearing the safety of the little ones upstairs.

"No, wait!" Jean's strong voice stopped them in their tracks. "They're safe."

Having full trust in Jean, they all returned to their places.

Emma looked up at Marie. "The older ones who know about the procedure are afraid for you. They love you very much." Looking to Adam in further explanation, "They must have been talking about it and I caught the wave."

Ororo moved to Marie and put a caring arm around her shoulders. "Everyone is anxious to have you be able to touch us without worry of injury. I don't need to be a telepath or telempath," she smiled at Emma, "to sense the excess energy flowing around here."

Getting an idea, Emma spoke out. "You know, when we're feeling particularly stressed back home, we take a few hours and go to a club. Dancing helps us work out some energies."

Quickly picking up the hint and fully agreeing, Jean offered, "That's a great idea." Turning to Scott she said, "Let's take them to that new club that opened on King's Highway. It would be a lot of fun."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Jesse was still not convinced.

"Yeah, Jess, I'm fine. It was just like a momentary overload. Dancing will relax me." Her smile reassured him.

No one needed too much persuasion and soon they were off. Adam and Evie chose to remain for what would now be a quiet evening. Charles, very much like Adam, went back to his office to work. Hank wanted one more look at the notes before tomorrow and headed back down to his lab.

TBC