Chapter 2: Bobby

                "Come in."

                Xavier looked up as Bobby walked into his study. The younger man looked a little nervous, and Charles set down the paper he was looking at. "Uh, Charles? Can I ask you a favor?"

                Xavier's brows knitted. Rarely did Bobby sound that tentative; it must be something big. "Go ahead, Robert."

                "Um…well…you remember the small generator that was in the boathouse before you had it remodeled for Scott and Jean?"

                Xavier had to think for a moment. Yes, there had been a generator, to operate the ramp that raised and lowered boats into the water. "Yes, Bobby. What about it?"

                "Uh, well…I was wondering if I might let a…friend…of mine borrow it until the electricity comes back on in her apartment? Her landlord didn't pay the electric bill, and she has no electric. She's blind, so the lack of light doesn't really bother her, but she can't use her microwave, and she can't cook because the gas isn't on, and she hasn't got any way else to purify her water."

                Xavier's eyebrows rose higher as Bobby recited this list of ills, and blinked at the conclusion of it. "It sounds like she needs a new apartment," he said. "With a new landlord."

                "Well, she's blind, Charles," Bobby said. "She had a hard time finding a job to begin with, and she has to stick with it. But it doesn't pay that well that she can afford to move out of Hell's Kitchen."

                Xavier frowned. "Bobby, given the area that your friend lives in, do you believe that the generator will be safe? I have no problem with lending it out, as it is not currently being used, but should it become damaged or stolen she may not have the means to cover its loss, and she will likely feel guilty about it."

                Bobby sighed. "If something happens to it I will buy another one myself, Charles. But she needs it."

                Xavier pondered that a moment, looking at Bobby standing across the desk from him. The young man was serious, as he was about very few other things in the life that had nothing to do with evil mutants. Outside of his duties as one of the X-Men, Bobby tended to be very easygoing. That extended out to his relationships as well. This was one of the few times he'd seen Bobby serious about a woman. He made up his mind.

                "Very well. Your friend may borrow it until her current emergency has passed. But if it is damaged, or stolen or lost somehow, I do expect you to repair or replace it."

                Bobby let out the breath he'd been holding. "Thanks, Charles. I promise I will." He turned and was about to bounce out the door when Charles called him back. "Bobby."

                "…yes?"

                "Check with Ororo, presently in the kitchen. I am certain she knows where to find the extra water filtration system Jean purchased after the water main burst during the freeze last winter. Your friend will likely need that as well."

                ""Thanks, Charles, you're the best!" Bobby went from serious to excited all at once. Without another word he flew out the door of the study and headed for the kitchen at top speed.

                The kitchen was empty, but he knew where the water filtering stuff was. He walked into the pantry, checked the top shelf. Sure enough, it was there, right by the door gathering dust. He stretched, trying to reach it, but he didn't quite manage it. His hands wouldn't reach the shelf.

                Aiming his hands at the floor under him, he constructed an 'ice' stool under him to enable him to reach the shelf. He was pulling the box down, blowing the dust off it, when the pantry door opened and Ororo looked in. "Bobby? What in the Goddess's Name are you doing up there?"

                "Just getting the old water filtering thing down. Charles said I could let my friend borrow it until her electric goes back on and the system in her apartment building could start filtering it for her."

                "If your friend did not pay her electric bill it is her own fault, Bobby.." Ororo started, but Bobby cut her off.

                "Her utilities are supposed to be included in her rent. She paid her rent on time, but her landlord didn't forward her share of the money to the gas and electric company, so as a result, her utilities got shut off." Bobby got off the ice stool and put the box on the kitchen counter, picking up a large bucket and dumping the chunk of already-melting ice into it. He grabbed a mop, quickly mopped up the remaining water, then picked up the box and sped off with it.

                "Hey, Hank?"

                Hank turned at the sound of his lab door opening, and saw Bobby's head poking in the door. "Hello, Bobby,' he greeted the younger man cheerfully. "What brings you down to my bastion of solitude?"

                "I'm sorry to disturb you, Hank," Bobby said, not looking at all apologetic, "But I was wondering if you knew where the old generator from the boathouse was."

                Hank frowned. "In the storage shed behind the garage, I believe," he said after a moment. "What would you be requiring this particular piece of machinery for, Bobby?"

                "I got a friend who needs it."

                "Ah." Hank's monosyllable of choice conveyed understanding. "And I assume that this 'friend' of yours is female?" The pink blush creeping over Bobby's face was answer enough.

                "And what, if I may be so bold as to enquire, would she need this bit of equipment for?"

                "She lives in this really crummy apartment building near Hell's Kitchen. The utilities are supposed to be included in the rent, but her landlord didn't send on the electric company's share of the money. The electric at her building got turned off. I thought maybe the generator could provide the electric for what she needs until the stuff in her building gets turned back on."

                Hank raised an eyebrow. "What sort of girl have you gotten involved with this time, Bobby?"

                Bobby flushed. "She's a really nice girl Hank. She just can't afford to live anywhere else, since she's blind and her work as a lounge singer doesn't pay well."

                Hank raised his eyebrows at that, but refrained from further comment. Instead, he said, "I assume you asked Charles' permission?"

                "Yes." Bobby nodded emphatically. "He said yes. He also said I could take the water filtering system thingy down to her and let her use it until the electric comes back on in the building and he building's water filters can work again."

                Hank sighed. "As Charles has already said yes, I suppose I cannot say otherwise. Just be careful when you go down there to deliver your 'gift', Bobby. I would not want you to be injured."

                "Don't worry," Bobby said. 'I'm not giving you any reason to stick me with any more needles. I just had my arm shot twice yesterday."

                "They were required shots, Bobby," Hank said, giving his friend a mock frown. "Given during your yearly physical. 'An ounce of prevention'--"

                "I know, I know, I've heard it before," Bobby said, waving a hand. "You tell me that every time I have to get shots. I'll see you later." And he was gone before Hank could ask him about his 'friend'.

                Bobby ended up taking the keys to the van, since Remy and Logan had brought the pickup back empty and he wasn't about to go fill it up. With the generator rattling around on the floor of the van, he drove carefully into the city where Amy's apartment was. He locked the van up with a slightly worried look around to check that no one was going to steal it. There was no one around but a little old lady sweeping the sidewalk in front of the building, so he climbed the stairs to her apartment with a light heart, and knocked on the door. "Amy?"

                There was no answer. "Great," he muttered. "Just my luck; she isn't in." He turned to leave—and ran right into the little old lady he'd just seen out front. "Excuse me, Ma'am," he said, and tried to brush by her. She stopped him with a hand on his arm.

                "You looking for little Amy?" the woman said sharply.

                Bobby nodded. "Is she in, or do you know when she might be back, Ma'am?" The woman looked at him, narrowly, and then sighed.

                "Finally that girl bring a boy home. I worry about her. Too much alone, not good for no one."

                "What?" Bobby frowned. Was the old lady babbling?

                She put her hands on her hips. "You young people, you all alike. You no listen to an old lady. 'She old', you think. 'She don't know nothing'. Well I do," she said, poking Bobby's chest with a bony finger. 'I know Amy better than she think I know her. She deserve better than this. You good boy. You going to take her away from all this, right?"

                "Ma'am," Bobby tried to interrupt, but she cut him off.

                "You friend of Amy's, you friend of mine too. Call me Mama Tali. Amy does."

                "Mama Tali, I came here with a gift for Amy, that's all. Do you know when she'll be home?"

                The old lady snorted. "No. That no-good skunk she work for, that Andover, he come this morning, wake the poor girl up, say he need to talk to her. She leave with him in big ugly black car. Didn't say where she going. I see her in the hall, and she say, 'Mamma Tali, take care of Carl for me.' Nothing else. Haven't seen her since."

                "Carl?" Bobby blinked. Did she have a child?

                "Her cat. She not supposed to have pet in here, but he stay quiet, and I tell everybody no complain about him. She have little enough love in her life; her only comfort is Carl."

                "So Amy didn't say where she going, or when she'll be back?"

                "No. She leave with Andover in big ugly black car about four, maybe five hour ago. Not been back since. You go find her? Bring her back before something bad happen?"

                "Do you think something bad will happen to her?" Bobby's pulse quickened.

                The old lady waved her hand. "These walls, they like paper. They no keep someone else's noise out. I hear that Andover in here maybe two, three time a week, arguing with her. He say--" and she leaned in so close Bobby could smell the chili peppers on her breath, "he say she make money, lot of it, if she play with the customer after she done singing. He say she make enough money to move out of here. She say this place is not bad enough for her to sell herself to get out. She say she doing fine. But he don't listen. He keep telling her, over and over, how much she could make if she play a little with the customer when she done singing.

                "I tell her maybe she need to consider it. She need to get out of this ghetto. It not safe around here for her. Two man on top floor, I hear them talk about her all the time, what they want to do with her. At least if she do it at the club there be someone to stop it if it get rough. She can get pill to keep from getting pregnant; and she only have to do it until she can move out. She say no; but I think she thinking about it. Especially after last night, I hear her crying because bad water give her stomachache. I go in, comfort her, make her throw up bad water, then give her a little money so she can go buy bottle water from store down the street." The old lady eyed Bobby up again. "You no answer Mama Tali's question. You going to take her away from here? You going to give little Amy what she deserve, good food, clean water, safe place to sleep? Love her, take care of her? It not easy for her being blind."

                Bobby sucked in a breath. He had seen the rusty water coming from the tap; he hadn't realized that was all she had to drink. He cursed himself for being an idiot for leaving so soon. "It's going to be hard, Mama Tali," he said, sighing. "She's very proud. I don't want to hurt her feelings by implying she can't take care of herself."

                "Pride not going to do her any good if she dead," the old lady said with some asperity. "She sound like she half dying last night. She say she feel like she want to, too. Don't want her to die; she too young to die."

                "I am going to do my best to talk her into moving," Bobby said. "She can't stay here."

                "No," the old woman said. "Mama Tali going to miss her when she go, but she don't belong here. Talk to her. Tell her she has to move."

                "I will."

                Mama Tali nodded, once, shortly, and then said, "You have gift for her, you can leave with me . I give her when she come home."

                "Uh, I'm afraid I can't do that," Bobby said apologetically. "She won't be able to carry it into her apartment, and she won't be able to use it, not being able to see to install it."

                "You bring her that generator?" The woman said. Bobby jumped. She laughed, a dry, crackly laugh that sounded like crumpling paper. "I see through van window. Come. Bring up. I lend you flashlight so you can hook up to her stuff." She saw his mystified, wary look, and she laughed. "She give me spare key so I can let Carl in and out. Bring up. She be surprised when she come home and find everything work." Mama Tali chuckled to herself as she went off down the hall to her apartment. After a moment, Bobby turned and went off down the stairs to bring the generator and the water purification system up.

                It took almost a half an hour for Bobby to figure out how to hook the thing up, and bobby found himself wishing he'd asked Hank to come along. Hank would have gotten the thing hooked up already. He finally got it working, after a great deal of annoyance and swearing, and then set about hooking the purifier to her tap. After some more annoyance and swearing he did get it hooked up, and when he turned on the tap clear water flowed from the spout. Mama Tali cupped her hands under the faucet and drank, then turned to Bobby with a grin. "All clean. You taste!" He did. There was still a sharp, slightly metallic taste to the water, but at least it was clear and not brown. Whatever was left in the water shouldn't give her cramps now.

                "You good boy! Mama Tali know it when she see you!" The old lady slapped his shoulder gleefully, giggling. Bobby smiled at her glee, then went around her apartment, flicking switches. The lights worked, her refrigerator was wheezing along in its corner, and the small microwave clock blinked comfortably on its rickety table. He set the microwave clock, then checked her TV. That worked. He hesitated at the doorway to her room for a moment, but he had to see if everything worked here too. So he flicked on the light.

                A twin mattress and box spring sat against one corner, and cardboard boxes with clothes in them lined one wall. Most, he realized, were dresses for her work as a lounge singer. There was only one box of casual clothes, and one box which contained her underclothing. She had two pairs of shoes sitting beside the door, and a kitty litter box in one corner. There was a small bag of cheap cat food in the corner, and beside it, a box of books with raised bumps on the cover. Bobby recognized them as Braille books, but he couldn't read the titles. He looked around at the bare little room, comparing it with his own comfortably appointed room back at the mansion, and sighed. She was a mutant, so Charles might accept her in; but she was blind. She could call fire; but she couldn't see to aim it or use it. She might as well not have her power at all. Well, maybe he could talk to some of the shopkeepers he knew, and find her a job that paid better so she could find an apartment she could afford.

                He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that when Mama Tali tapped his shoulder he almost jumped a foot in the air. The woman was holding an enormous orange tabby with huge green eyes casually, but her eyes were worried. "Little Amy been gone almost eight hours, now. Not like her to be out like that. This supposed to be her day off; she usually stay home."

                "Eight hours?" Bobby looked at his watch. If it had been that long…suppose she had gotten lost again? Or—he swallowed hard—what if something had happened at the Starlight with her boss? The possibilities, each worse than the last, raced through his head, and he shook his head. "I'm going to look for her," he said. "Can you lock up here, keep things secure?'

                "Yes," Mama Tali said. "You go find her. Bring her back."

                Bobby took a scrap of paper from his pocket, grabbed a pen from his jacket pocket, and scribbled a number on it. "My name is Bobby. This is the phone number to the place I live. If I'm not back with Amy in four hours, at most, call there and tell them you want to speak to Henry McCoy. Tell him I went looking for her, and I'm not back. He'll know what to do."

                Mama Tali took the scrap of paper, glanced atit, and nodded, then watched him drive off with a tense, worried look on her face.