I don't own Bobby Drake.  I'm very tempted to kidnap him until this whole plot is resolved to my satisfaction, but for now I'll just borrow him and try to make sense of things.  Again.

The last line is borrowed straight from Uncanny X-Men #429.  I'm not entirely sure what Chuck Austen meant by it, but here's my guess. 

Thanks to everyone's who's been reading and reviewing!  For those of you who've asked, this story, such as it is, is being motivated by my frustration with the whole Uncanny sub-plot, so it'll probably keep going until I stop being frustrated.  Or until I stop getting feedback, whichever comes first ;-)

From the Journal of Bobby Drake, aka The Iceman

I've been found out.

I was hanging out in the freezer.  Ok, sounds like a strange place to kick back, but it's actually pretty comfortable, nice decor…who am I trying to fool here, anyway?  Myself?  My powers were going insane, and I figured it was the least likely place that anyone would notice any extra ice once I got things under control.  Unfortunately, the cook decided that it was also the best place to find frozen food, and wandered in.

I think I scared the shit out of her.  I suppose seeing me kind of hanging there in the middle of a block of ice would do that to someone who wasn't used to it.  Or even someone who was – it still scares me, after all.

So of course, she runs for Xavier while I defrost things enough to climb out of the freezer, and I'm hauled off to a lecture on how I should have told someone.  At least the Prof gave me a chance to put on a shirt before calling in my whole team.  WHY didn't I tell anyone? 

Instant answer, you know the routine: I didn't want anyone to know.  Partially true, I guess, it was kind of nice to pretend nothing was wrong for a little bit longer, but you'd think the Professor at least would have seen through it.  God knows I didn't say it with any conviction.

What I was dying to say, instead – Why didn't anyone notice?

I mean, damn, Warren starts bleeding on people and they heal, and people notice.  Hank turns into a kitty-cat, and people notice.  Emma Frost turns into diamonds, and people notice.  Well, hey, I noticed that one too – though she looked better in leather.  I turn to ice, and no one notices until they need hamburger.

For a minute I thought Alex was standing up for me, but I realized he was just defending Annie's not having told anyone.  Not quite the same thing, but a hell of a lot more believable, seeing as Alex and I have never exactly been best buds.  There's still that whole Lorna thing, after all.

And then what happened?  Did anyone ask if I'm ok with this?  No.  Did they rush me to the med lab so Hank could hook me up to gizmos and gadgets and say "Hmmm" a lot?  No.  Did anyone even fucking say, "Gee Bobby, we're sorry you're turning into an ice sculpture, and we promise to put you inside on hot days so you don't melt?"  No.

Instead, they send me on a mission.

Oh, it's an important one of course – I mean, they all are, right?  Kurt took off with an X-Jet, after all.  We all had to follow him to find out why.  They obviously needed someone with my special abilities – who knows if we might have to freeze anything?

Give me a break.  No one gives a damn. 

I mean, it's official now.  Before, I could just assume they were all oblivious.  Now, I know they just don't care.

If they did, they would have told me, right?

Sometimes I need to be told.