Author's Note:  Ok, it's the long awaited conclusion to "The Journal of Bobby Drake."  I apologize for having abandoned it; I always swore I would never do that, and, as you can see, it haunted me until I could give Bobby some closure. 

From the Journal of Bobby Drake, aka the Iceman

7th Entry

I did it!

I'm back at the mansion now, writing this, back in my mostly-flesh-and-blood form, which is good enough for me.  At least for the moment.

Don't get me wrong – as secondary mutations go, mine still sucks.  I don't doubt that, eventually, I'll be completely ice, and unable to change back.  And I'm not looking forward to that.

But for once, at least, the Iceman saved the day.

But let me fill you in…

If you recall from my last entry (which come to think of it I never did get to write down, so you probably don't remember it), I had just decided to find a few stray water molecules and rebuild myself from the ground up.  Or the neck down.  Or whatever. 

Unfortunately, my sense of heroism lasted only as long as it took to find out there were no spare water molecules.  Goddamned (hah, I made a pun!) stupid alternate dimension. 

You know, I wonder what they do for water there?  Kurt said he had something to drink…

But that's not important; I'm not planning on booking my next vacation there or anything.  Azazel's evil minions came back for me.  Why they just didn't bring me along in the first place I have no idea, but hey, when they found me I was pretty glad to see them.  The idea of spending a lifetime as a conscious, frozen head in the middle of nowhere was pretty unattractive.

Then they threw me in a cell with Alex et al, and fairly soon the middle of nowhere sounded pretty attractive.

Can you believe it?  The guy was actually holding up my head and making stupid Hamlet jokes.  Which didn't put me in the best of moods, not that I was anyway.  I mean, I was an ice head with a headache, who'd been fallen on by an alleged angel.  As days go, it wasn't one of my best.  So I start mentally compiling a list of things Alex Summers has to answer for, and Annie's kid goes ahead and tells on me.

Now, it wasn't bad enough that Alex was playing with my head.  Well, first, it's bad enough that I was just a head to begin with – gotta mention that to start off, it establishes a baseline.  But, that specified, I would have been much happier in Paige's lap than in Alex's hand, listening to him parody Shakespeare.  But then he starts ranting at me, on the basis of what Carter told him – the kid's a snoop – and offers me any spare liquid he has in his body so I can put myself together and fight it out, Man to ICE-Man.  Asshole.  I mean, seriously. 

Of course, once I gave it some thought beyond "this guy is a major asshole", it wasn't a half bad idea.

I mean, I pretty much filter water when I use it, anyway.  It's easy enough, for me, to make the other stuff that's mixed up with it drop away, so what's left is essentially distilled.  So why NOT get what I needed from Alex, or anyone else who would volunteer?

Note to Self:  Plot revenge on Jubilee for volunteering Paige.  Take the kid down when she's crucified, and where's the appreciation, anyway?  No gratitude.

But I didn't have to use my teammates, as it turned out.  Got the water from the bad guy – or girl, as the case may be – who came in to take us out instead.  She's a bit dry, now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not real proud of draining her, and I don't think I really meant to.  She was attacking Paige and Carter, and I just reacted.  But…it worked.  And there's a lot to be said for that, especially since:  a) I saved Paige and Carter's butts, and b) I got a body out of it. 

But that wasn't the best part.  Damn good, but not the best.

No, the best came a bit later, when I ice slided nearly everyone out of Azazel's dimension.  And right there, with me still in my ice form, Annie kissed me.

No, don't go jumping to conclusions – I'm not.  I know it was just gratitude on her part.  But…she kissed me.  I was frozen, and she kissed me.

I never thought anyone would do that.

And, to top it all off, she did it right in front of Alex.  Talk about a bonus.

So, I'm undergoing a secondary mutation.  That sucks, no matter how you look at it.  My friends are, for the most part, oblivious jerks most of the time.  I may forgive them, eventually.  Well, probably not Alex, but the others are a possibility.  And I spent a couple of days bodiless, being carried around by the aforementioned teammates.  Also not the highlight of my life to date.

But, when all's said and done…sometimes it's still ok to be me. 

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Secondary Author's Note with a Shameless Plug:  If you like Iceman, check out the Fallen Angels series by Beaubier and me under our joint account of "fallenxangels".  And, as always, your reviews are important!  So please, click on the link on the bottom and let me know what you think!  And, thanks to everyone who kept demanding new chapters to what was supposed to be a one-shot!