Disclaimer: XME is still not mine. Darcy is though.

Melt Me

Chapter Three: Deep Ocean Smile

***

Masters House, Oahu, 8:00 pm.

Having grown up in a small town, Darcy was used to the fact that everyone knew everything about everyone else. It was just the way small towns were run. It was impossible to just melt into anonymity for anyone, but especially for the right Reverend Hollis Harper's lovely daughter Darcy.

She was popular. She was arguably the most beautiful girl in the school. She was captain of the swim team and expected to make all-state by her senior year. She was on the honor roll. Every aspect of her life was known and commented on by the town's gossips. When Jackson Meyer, the captain of the Varsity football team – even a small town like Dry Bluff took their football seriously – had asked Darcy to his senior prom, and she only a sophomore at the time. Dry Bluff had been a buzz with talking about it for weeks, making Darcy feel like a bug in a jar.

Sort of like how she felt meeting the students of the Xavier Institute.

Dry Bluff didn't have mutants. Mutants were something that happened in big cities, a blight on God's humanity according to her father, something that should be shunned and degraded, and never, ever, discussed.

For that reason, Darcy was completely caught off guard by the eager friendly faces of Amara, Jamie, Sam, Roberto, and Ray that had surrounded her on the beach mere moments after their arrival at the Masters House for the party. They had rapid fired questions at her so fast she couldn't even respond before someone else asked her something. It was overwhelming.

They had seemed to want to know everything about her, especially what her powers were. And here Darcy had thought that she was supposed to be asking them questions.

The beach the Masters family's house backed up to was relatively private and secluded for Oahu, but still Darcy stared openmouthed as Amara Aquilla lit the pile of pallets and logs that filled the fire ring she and Alex had made by boldly throwing a ball of fire into it. Never wanting to be outdone, Roberto da Costa had then transformed before her very eyes, his body seeming to absorb the setting sun until he was cloaked in black and surrounded by fire.

Amara and Roberto's demonstration had prompted Ray Crisp to put on an electrical lightshow for her, blue arcs of lightning dancing over the bonfire in the setting sun. She looked to either side of her to meet four copies of Jamie Madrox's blue eyes smiling back at her adoringly.

"I can propel myself through the air really fast," Sam Guthrie told her in a softly accented drawl when she turned to him. "I'll show you some other time when there's more room to move," he said with a lopsided grin.

"So what can you do?" One Jamie asked her, the other three resting their chins on their hands as they smiled at her.

"Um…" Darcy stalled, looking up toward the brightly lit house helplessly, looking for Alex to come and rescue her, but he was deep in conversation with his brother. "Can I show you later?" she answered lamely.

"Do you think you'll join the Institute?" Amara asked her, sitting down on the log beside Darcy after she shoved one of Jamie's "clones" out of the way.

"I, uh…don't know," Darcy told her honestly, completely shaken to her foundation by these people her own age that were so accepting and matter of fact about their powers that they showed them openly on a semi-private beach. This time last year the biggest question in her life had been whether she should take Spanish or French as an elective her Junior year. Now, her whole world was upside down and she wasn't the person she'd been. She was a mutant, contemplating traveling across the country to live and train with other mutants. It boggled her mind.

On the other side of the bonfire, Ray and Roberto were getting into a heated discussion that seemed to want to escalate into a full-blown fight. Darcy glanced over nervously, but Amara seemed unconcerned. "Ignore them, they do this all the time. It's the way they communicate, being stubborn pig-headed males," Amara said matter of factly. Jamie snorted with laughter behind his hand.

"What did you say?" Roberto demanded loudly from the other side of the fire.

"I SAID…" Amara repeated stridently, fisting her hands on her slim hips.

With that all pandemonium seemed to cut loose. Roberto and Amara arguing loudly in a language Darcy was unfamiliar with. Sam smiling at her shyly as he beat a tattoo on his knees like they were a drum kit. And in the middle of it all there suddenly seemed to be a lot of round glowing embers on the ground around the bonfire.

"Oh boy," Jamie muttered next to Darcy right before he jumped on top of her, pushing her back off the log and into the soft sand. Darcy sputtered, trying to free herself from underneath several Jamie's, one of whom she didn't know well enough for this kind of thing when several small explosions around the bonfire sent a swath of sand to rain down on top of them.

"I'm here!" a female voice caroled, "time to get the party started!"

"Dangit, Boom-Boom, you almost set my hair on fire again!" Sam yelled, the others chorusing in their complaints about her entrance.

Jamie helped Darcy up, smiling apologetically for jumping on her, while Darcy attempted to brush the sand off her face and out of her hair.

"Why, Jamie…" the mysterious Boom-Boom crooned, "you'll never get anywhere if you have to wrestle them into submission." Boom-Boom laughed, and then caught sight of Darcy. "Looky here, a newbie."

Darcy spit the blue strand of her hair out of her mouth and tried not to glare at the blonde girl in front of her. So far her first impression of Boom-Boom wasn't a favorable one.

"Tabby, this is Darcy. She's thinking about coming back to the Institute with us," Amara said quickly. Jumping in to defuse the sudden tension. "Darcy Harper, I'd like you to meet Tabitha Smith."

Tabitha gave the dark haired girl in front of her a thorough once over and then smiled widely, like Darcy had passed some unknown inspection. "Call me, Tabby…or Boom-Boom, whichever you prefer," Tabby said, sticking her hand out to shake Darcy's. Despite her initial hesitation, Tabitha's sudden friendliness put Darcy at ease and she smiled back shyly, shaking the blonde's hand.

"Very nice to meet you," Darcy said. Tabby stuck her hands in the back pockets of her shorts and grinned.

"Sorry about my little entrance, I wouldn't have done it if I'd known you were sitting right there."

"How about apologizing to us then, Boom-Boom?" Ray yelled, still brushing himself off. Tabitha shrugged.

"Don't be such a big baby…"

"So, Tabby, what happened to you and Bobby? Where have you guys been all day?" Amara asked.

"Yeah! You guys ditched us at the Botanical Gardens and we had to take the shuttlebus back. The bus! You ever ride the bus with Mr. McCoy?" Ray asked darkly, folding his arms across his broad chest.

"Nope," Tabitha said airily, like she could care less.

"Well, I wouldn't recommend it. It's not exactly a 'low profile' experience," Roberto snorted.

"Where is Bobby?" Sam asked in his soft drawl. Tabitha jerked her thumb toward the house.

"Ice-B is up there getting a new one chewed by Scott and Mr. McCoy," Tabby laughed. "They were on him like white on rice."

"Poor Bobby," Amara said.

"Who is Bobby?" Darcy asked Amara quietly. Amara leaned in closer as Tabby turned on the boom box she'd carried down to the beach with her, the loud music blasting out of the speakers.

"Bobby is another of the Institute's students and an official member of the X-men. He can project extreme cold and make ice." Amara told her.

Ice. Like the ice that had coated the side of the black jet in the shape of a heart the night before? Was he the pilot she'd flirted shamelessly with? How embarrassing! Darcy felt heat creep up her cheeks. The Reverend's daughter would never have done anything like that, flirting with a total stranger, but she'd felt so free and anonymous out there in the sea, it had seemed harmless. She hoped he wouldn't recognize her; she wouldn't be able to stand the mortification.

She shot to her feet abruptly. "I-I…think I'll go get something to drink," Darcy explained, answering Amara's questioning look. The other girl smiled and nodded before turning back to watch Boom-Boom dance wildly around the fire like a pagan.

Darcy took a couple of minutes in the cool dark kitchen to compose herself, looking out the window over the sink at the party. The sun had finally set, cloaking the beach in darkness beyond the blazing pyre. Darcy watched as the teens danced around the fire, Tabitha's irrepressible personality rubbing off on the others. And Amara kept adding to the blaze, making it climb higher and higher into the sky.

"They do get rather carried away at times, but they're good kids," a voice came out of the darkness behind her. Darcy jumped and turned, startled that she'd been snuck up on. "I'm sorry I startled you. I came to introduce myself, I'm Hank McCoy, one of the instructors at the Xavier Institute."

Darcy's eyes widened and widened, until it seemed they would fall out of her skull as she stared at the man who moved forward out of the shadows. Extending his huge hand to shake hers and smiling, yet all Darcy could see was that he was big, blue and furry. His smile exposing some large and decidedly pointy looking canines.

"Eep!" Darcy squeaked, cramming herself back against the sink in fright, even as her brain was processing that he said he was an instructor at the Institute, her sheltered upbringing was taking over.

Hank held out his hands, palms forward in a soothing motion, making shushing noises at the frightened girl, but Darcy's brain had reached its limit for the day and she bolted, to the side and around the big furry man. Her bare arm brushed his as she ran past and all she could think was that his fur was soft, even as blind panic propelled her out the door and down the beach.

"Nice to meet you, too," Hank sighed. Turning to rejoin the others at the party.

Darcy ran, past the ring of light thrown by the bonfire and into the darkness as she angled away from the house and toward the sea. She really needed to feel the water, to let the rhythm of the sea infuse her with its strength.

She stepped onto the backwash of the surf, her mutant powers allowing her to manipulate the surface tension so she walked on the waves like a water strider, her feet bending the surface of the water, but not breaking it.

The moon, a day past full, was rising over the sea making the water glitter and sparkle. Darcy took several deep breaths, forcing her frazzled nerves to settle. Breathing in the scent of the sea, she could feel the surf breaking out over the reef like a second pulse. The sea was alive to her in ways that water in a bucket never could be, there was a deeper dimension to the ocean, a more ready power. Perhaps that was why it was so much easier to manipulate.

She glanced down and saw that she had transformed again, she looked as if made of liquid. She wasn't transparent, but she certainly wasn't solid anymore either. She didn't know yet what triggered the transformation – she wish she did – if nothing else so she could be certain it would never happen again. It had caused her nothing but trouble so far.

Darcy stared out to sea, debating going for a ride on the waves, to go so far out there was nothing but she and the sea again, but she knew she should get back to the party. And, she realized with a cringe of chagrin, she owed someone an apology, now that she had calmed down. She was turning back toward the beach when a voice stopped her.

"Don't move, I'm almost done…"

"Whu--?" Darcy asked confused, spinning in place to look behind her. As she did what she saw surprised her so much she broke her concentration, and the surface tension of the water as she dropped with a startled yelp into the hip deep backwash like a rock.

Her mouth fell open as she looked up to see…herself. There at the water's edge, sparkling in the moonlight was an ice sculpture of a girl poised at the crest of a wave. The face was just a suggestion, but everything else was amazingly duplicated in the solid ice. She couldn't look away from the crystalline surface as it caught the ambient light.

So taken was she with this amazing sight that she gave little thought for a moment to it's creator as she walked dreamily out of the surf.

"Like Venus rising…" he murmured, and the sound of his voice snapped her out of her daze and she fixed her gaze on the young man before her at last.

He was good looking, she could tell that immediately, even in the dim light. His hair and eyes were dark; his build that of a baseball player, lean and muscled, and when he smiled at her she could see a hint of the devil in his eyes.

"Did you…make this?" she stammered, tearing her eyes away from the handsome young man before her to look up at the ice maiden again.

"Yeah, I was just getting to the face when you turned…" he replied.

She was about to ask how, and then realized that she already knew. "Are you…?" she asked, blushing in the dark.

"Bobby Drake," he said, and her heart skipped a little.

I'm Darcy, Darcy Harper," she said lamely.

"I'm glad to finally meet you, face to face." His teeth flashed white at her as he smiled, and her consternation grew.

"Face to face?" she repeated weakly, so much for her hope that he wouldn't recognize or remember her. Rather than answer, Bobby kept smiling and held his hand out. As she watched, ice seemed to envelop and shoot from his hand, glowing eerily. Darcy stared in open amazement as he formed a small replica of the jet she'd seen the night before.

"How do you do that?" Darcy breathed; she was completely blown away by his ability. Especially remembering how she had struggled earlier just to form a simple sphere from water in a bucket, and here Bobby could make complicated objects effortlessly.

"I'm a mutant, like you are. I just project cold and freeze the air or water around me, that's why they call me the Iceman," he told her grinning, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his shorts as he looked over his handiwork briefly.

She reached out and touched the slick ice tentatively. She understood that his mutant power allowed him to make ice out of thin air or water, but she was still astonished at the complexity of the objects he formed. Could she learn to do that?

"How do you…shape it so?" she asked, turning back to him. His dark hair fell over his forehead boyishly and his dark eyes shone in the moonlight. He was almost as breathtaking to her as his sculptures.

Bobby shrugged. "I just picture what I want it to look like in my mind, and that's the way it comes out. Can't you do the same with water? Form shapes?"

Darcy shook her head. "No, not really. Well, I'm not sure…I might, I guess. I made a sphere today…" she babbled. She didn't have to worry about being embarrassed about her behavior the night before; she was doing a splendid job of embarrassing herself right now. Bobby stood there patiently. "I don't really know how to use my powers."

"Really? You seemed totally in control last night, that wave was huge."

Darcy blushed again, at once both strangely nervous and excited. Not just because Bobby was really good looking – even better than her imagination had painted from the glimpses she'd seen of him in the jet – but because he had the one thing over his powers that she didn't…control.

"When I'm in the sea, I don't even have to try…I think 'wave' and there is one." Darcy tried to explain. Bobby nudged her with his elbow lightly, smiling mischievously.

"Surfers must follow you everywhere," he joked. Darcy chuckled.

"Just Alex. But he won't let me do any really big ones, afraid I'll show him up on them I bet."

"You surf?" Bobby asked, then smacked himself on the forehead. "Dumb question, Drake." Darcy giggled.

"I can ride waves the conventional way too, yes. Alex taught me how when I came here."

"You didn't surf at home?" Bobby asked her.

Darcy tucked the blue strand of her hair behind her ear as she sobered. "I'm from Iowa," she explained. "Do you surf?" she asked him, eager to change the subject and keep the conversation rolling.

Bobby shook his head. "Only on ice. I'm from Boston."

Darcy tipped her head to the side as she smiled at him. "I'm guessing you're more of a 'winter sports' kind of guy," she said.

Bobby's eyes were locked on her face like she'd suddenly turned liquid again or something and she glanced down to make sure, but she was still plain old solid Darcy.

"Something like that," Bobby said quietly. Something in his voice making her stomach flutter. She'd felt this before, attraction, but never this strong, this soon. She swallowed nervously.

"Bobby! Where did you go?"

"Hey, Iceman?"

"Bobby-Pop, come dance with me already!"

A chorus of voices called from nearby. Darcy recognizing the last as coming from Tabitha and she turned toward the fire farther down the beach. His friends must be looking for him to join the party and she was slightly disappointed that their conversation would end.

"Come on," Bobby said suddenly and grabbed her hand, towing Darcy after him as he ran down the beach away from the party. Farther into the darkness until the bonfire was out of sight around the curve of the beach.

"Where are we going?" Darcy gasped, trying to keep her seawater soaked shorts from chafing her as she kept up with him. Bobby slowed once they were well out of hearing and eyesight of his nosy friends, but he didn't let go of her hand.

"Nowhere. I just…wanted more time to get to know you first…alone."

"Oh," she breathed.

Darcy glanced up, wishing it were lighter. Not just so that she could see if he was blushing like she suspected he was, but she was curious to know what color hair and eyes he had. She couldn't tell in the bluish moonlight. She squeezed his fingers lightly, and he looked over and smiled at her.

"Your friends are…nice," Darcy said, when they had strolled along in silence for a few minutes. It seemed lame to say so, but she had no idea what to say to the handsome young man beside her. True, she'd been one of the most popular girls in her school, but none of the farm boy football players had ever made her heart race this fast.

"They are - they're nuts - but they're nice," Bobby chuckled. Darcy chewed her lip.

"I owe your teacher an apology, though. I was…rude." Darcy said chagrined. "I should have been more…" she trailed off.

"Diplomatic?" Bobby offered.

"I was going to say open minded. It's no excuse, but I've never seen anyone – any mutants – that didn't look…" Darcy flapped her free hand helplessly.

"Normal?"

Darcy nodded miserably. "I'm a terrible person."

"No, you aren't. Mr. McCoy's looks can be a little intimidating if you aren't ready for them. I didn't flinch when I saw him the first time, but I'd been warned. Did anyone tell you what to expect?" Bobby asked her, as he steered her toward some flat-topped rocks near the water's edge.

Darcy hopped up on the rocks with Bobby's help and they went and sat side by side at the end, the small waves breaking a foot or two below their bare feet, and she could feel the spray on her dangling toes. "No," she answered him softly when they were settled. "It's still no excuse and I do owe him an apology."

"Don't worry, he'll forgive you. It's the kind of guy he is." Bobby leaned back on his hands and looked up toward the stars, while Darcy watched him surreptitiously from the corner of her eye.

"Alex's brother asked me if I wanted to go along with the group when you go over to Maui tomorrow." Darcy mentioned casually. "Your teacher wants to take the Pipiwai Trail and hike to Waimoku Falls, I heard."

Bobby had been smiling at her, but when he heard the word "hike" his expression fell. "Hiking?" he groaned, "there's better things to do in Hawaii than hike. I can hike at home."

Darcy giggled. "Like what then? What would you rather do than hike through a bamboo forest to see a 400 foot waterfall? I hear it's really pretty."

"I dunno…I kinda wanted to go surfing while I was here. I never have before and it looks pretty fun." Bobby said, laying back on the rock and folding his arms behind his head.

"You should stay here then and learn from Alex. He's almost pro you know. Besides, Maui isn't as good for surfing." Darcy told him.

"It is if you're there," Bobby said with a grin. Darcy's smile felt frozen on her face. She didn't know quite how to respond to that. Did he only want her along so that she could make waves for him? Alex asked her occasionally to "improve" lousy surf when he needed to practice, but for the most part she tried to leave the surf alone when she could.

"We should get back to the party. Your friends will wonder where you are," Darcy said stiffly as she got up. Without waiting for Bobby she hopped down from the rock and slowly started walking back down the beach. She shouldn't be surprised that Bobby would only want her around when he went surfing so the waves would be good, it seemed to be the only thing she was good for.

"Hey, wait up," Bobby called, trotting to catch up with her. He took her hand again automatically, lacing his fingers with hers and making her heart jump up into her throat. "Did I say something to upset you?" Bobby asked, smiling at her warmly.

Darcy looked up into his dark eyes and felt like an idiot. Maybe she was reading too much into his words – it was probable, she barely knew him after all – but she was wary. Bobby seemed almost too good to be true, handsome, confident, and seemingly interested in her. There had to be a catch, there always was.

"No," Darcy sighed, looking back down at the sand.

"Do you want to go with me tomorrow?" Bobby asked her. Darcy bit her full lower lip, biting off the immediate and enthusiastic "yes!" that wanted to burst from her mouth.

"Well…there are lots of really neat pools for swimming near the Waimoku Falls, I've heard. I…kinda wanted to see them," Darcy said shyly. Bobby squeezed her fingers lightly.

"Cool. We'll do that then. We can go surf another day, maybe."

Relief bloomed in her chest, and with it some self-recrimination for her quick assumption of the worst. She didn't used to be like this. "Okay."

"Check it out," Bobby said suddenly, and pointed to the sand in front of them. A blue glow emanated from his hand and finger and a sheet of ice formed over the wet sand. Bobby stepped onto the ice and pulled Darcy along with him. "Hang on!" he warned her, and the next thing she knew they were sliding, almost flying over the beach on the ice skid Bobby was making. It reminded her of how she rode her swells.

She hung on to the waist of Bobby's shorts as they slid along the slick ice like it was a toboggan run, curving and looping back like some crazy roller coaster. It occurred to her, as she was being towed along behind him, that his ice was nothing more than frozen water and experimentally she let go of him, expecting that she'd suddenly find the slippery ice treacherous and wind up on her ass in the sand twenty feet below. Instead she suddenly became more aware of the thin skin of water that remained on Bobby's ice and she used it, halting her progress at the apex of the big ramp Bobby was making as he raced ahead and curved left, banking back down to the ground.

Bobby stepped off his ice and looked back; obviously surprised she was no longer with him. With a smile she stepped off from the top, shooting down the slide even faster than he had, and she leaned into the turn at an almost 45° angle. It was just like surfing.

Bobby caught her under the arms when she came shooting off the end of his slide, keeping her from winding up face first in the sand with the sudden and abrupt change of texture.

"Fun," Darcy said breathlessly. Not sure if it was so much from the thrilling run down the ice, or the way Bobby still held her by the armpits. His wrists almost brushing the outer swell of her breasts, and her hands came to rest lightly against his biceps.

"Nobody has ever been able to ride my ice like that, at least not without hanging on to me," Bobby told her. Admiration was in his voice, but his eyes were what caught and held her motionless as they looked deeply into hers.

"Ice is still just water…" she said dreamily, and Bobby smiled.

The cheers and calls of the other students as they jogged down the beach toward Bobby and Darcy broke the moment and he let go of her, his palms brushing her waist as he let his hands fall.

"That was so awesome!" Amara said when she skidded to a stop beside Darcy. "We saw the whole thing! You rode that slide better than Bobby!"

"Hey!" Bobby protested, but Amara ignored him. The others gathering around Darcy as they told her how cool they thought her trick had been. And Darcy smiling and nodding as best she could as she tried keeping up with the exuberance of five teenaged mutants all vying for her attention.

"I saw that, you know…" a voice drawled in Bobby's ear as he stood outside the group and watched. Tabby looped her arm through his as she sidled up to him. "You were thinking about kissing her. How many girls can you string along at once, Frosty?" Tabby teased him. "Maybe I should help you out and make the newbie jealous…what do you think?" Tabby purred, pulling down on his arm to tug his upper body closer.

"Boom Boom, cut it out," Bobby hissed, trying to extract his arm from Tabitha's grasp before Darcy could see, but when he glanced up he saw that both Darcy and Amara were watching Tabby's little spectacle.

Darcy turned her face away and toward Amara's quickly, like she didn't want to see what was before her. "Do you know where your teacher is?" Darcy asked her. "I need to talk to him before tomorrow."

Amara smiled widely. "Sure, he's up talking to Scott. Come with me and I'll take you up there. Are you coming with us to Maui tomorrow?" Amara asked, her voice fading away as she and Darcy walked off into the darkness back toward the house. Jamie and Roberto following along behind them.

"Nice job, Tabby," Bobby grumbled, watching Darcy walk away without so much as a backwards glance at him. "When are you going to learn to stay out of my business?"

Tabitha flapped her hand at him in that insolent gesture that bugged the hell out of him. "Oh, don't be that way," she told him saucily. "I'm doing you a favor."

"A favor?" Bobby's tone one of disbelief. Tabby put a finger under his chin as she smiled at him.

"Hot and cold, Iceman. You gotta learn to play it hot and cold to keep their interest. It's a concept even you should be able to handle." Blowing him a kiss, Tabby turned and sauntered back toward the bonfire after Ray and Sam.

Shaking his head and throwing up his hands he followed them. With friends like Tabby…

***

Next chapter: Off to Maui!

AN: Reviews, even short ones would be greatly appreciated. And a very big hug and thank you goes to Rurouni Tyriel – my font of all XME knowledge – for consistently reading and putting up with my blather and incessant Bobby 'shipping. ^_^

Also! I have done two fanarts of Darcy Harper, link available on my bio page (since URL's don't want to display here…)

Until next time, keep those reviews coming!