Not Myself
By Princess Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
"Wow." Neal muttered as Christy waited for Sage to retake her seat. The woman was moving with her typical grace and didn't acknowledge any of the strange glances they were getting. It took an effort for Christy to not grin either from her finding the searching looks funny or the fact that she was still a bit excited about that kiss and Sage's mysterious retreat was intriguing.
"Did you want something else to drink?" Christy asked before moving to sit down. It looked like Sage's latest glass was low.
"No, I'm fine." Sage smiled at her and Christy moved to sit beside her. "I noticed you've been drinking a bit tonight." They ignored the others obviously wanting their attention.
"My alcohol tolerance used to suck, but not anymore." Christy reached out for her half full glass. She gave Sage a tender smile before drinking, fully aware of the audience.
"That was some dance you two did." Neal tried yet again to talk with them. Christy glanced at Sage for her cue on what to do. Were they going to ignore the others much longer? They could have more fun with them if they at least acknowledged them.
"Yes, I don't dance often, but you were a great partner. Thank you." Sage smiled at her.
"No problem. Anytime you feel like dancing you just let me know." Christy had to take a sip to cover up her wicked smile.
"Ah thought security was gonna escort you out for causing such a scene." Rogue was still looking from one of them to the other with a bit of awe.
"We were just dancing." Sage took a sip of her nearly empty glass and the hidden smirk that only Christy could see because she sat next to her was a bit sexy. Christy felt a bit of a blush on her cheeks as the attention continued.
"So, Christy." Betsy was grinning a bit too wickedly. Christy was learning to worry when Betsy looked like that. "Are you feeling up to dancing with me now?" The look in her eye was a challenge and her boyfriend's soft gasp was the first response.
Christy felt a wave of nervousness at this latest game and glanced at Sage as if looking for a rescue. "Go ahead and dance. I need a break anyhow."
Christy looked back up at Betsy's almost predatory look. "I need a break too. Sorry." Honestly she wasn't sure what Betsy was after and the woman's boyfriend was right here. Christy wasn't feeling that brave. Under the cover of the table she smacked Sage's knee lightly to let her know she didn't like being thrown to the wolves like that.
"Why won't you dance with me?" Betsy pretended to be hurt, but it was clearly an act.
"You're scary." Christy grinned at her while she told the truth. From what she'd read about Betsy going out on that dance floor with her could be dangerous. She might be trying to out do Sage.
"Oh, well then." Sage grinned at her. "I could use another drink after all." She held up the empty glass.
********
"Scary?" Rogue chuckled as she watched Christy go to get Sage another drink. "She's got you pegged Betsy." She then grinned and stared at Sage. "What was that about?" That dance was one of the hottest she'd ever seen.
"Just dancing." Sage said but the grin said it all. "Did you all like the show?"
"I would have to say… Yes." Neal was nodded empathetically until Betsy playfully hit him in the chest.
"I didn't know you could dance like that sugah." Rogue had a new respect for their relatively new teammate. There was more to Sage than they knew.
"Yes, Sage… you've been keeping secrets from us." Ororo smiled. "And all this time I thought you were too shy to dance."
********
"Hot dance you did." The bartender smiled and didn't charge her for the drinks. "You're girlfriend?" His eyes traveled back to Christy's table.
"Just a friend." Christy took the drinks and turned to leave. "Thanks." She was never comfortable with men buying her drinks and normally refused, but he was the bartender. He looked a little more surprised at that answer than he would have been if she'd said Sage was her lover. Probably because of that kiss. Friends don't kiss like that, or if they did Christy had the wrong friends in the past.
********
"What was with that kiss?" Ororo leaned closer and stared at Sage with a smirk on her lips. This was very good teasing material.
Sage glanced over at Christy and then back. "It was payment for the dance." But Ororo could see a mischievous gleam in Sage's eyes. "She's a little into bartering."
"To me it looks like she's a little into you." Betsy added.
"You are all making more of this than is really there." Sage sighed. "It was just a dance."
"No that was far from just a dance." Ororo smirked. Sage wasn't even looking flustered by the teasing, which took some of the fun out of it. "Would you mind if I asked her to dance?" Ororo asked, and watched for any hint of jealousy.
"Go right ahead." Sage grinned at her. "But be prepared to pay with a kiss."
"Kiss who, you or her?" Ororo finally flustered Sage a little. The woman was saved from more teasing by Christy's reappearance.
"Here you go." Christy handed Sage another drink. It was sheer playfulness that had Ororo standing up before Christy could sit back down.
"I believe I told you before we came here that you'd be dancing with me at least once." Ororo took Christy's hand and smirked at the surprise on her face. This one would be more satisfying to tease.
********
Christy found herself dragged out to the dance floor far more often after her dance with Sage, but Sage didn't dance with her again. The dark haired woman just watched from their booth as Rogue, Storm, or Betsy dragged her away. At least Betsy hadn't been as bad as Christy thought she'd be. After last call they all returned to the booth.
"Christy, you really should be tired out from all the dancing now." Betsy smirked at her and brushed past her on the way back to her seat next to her boyfriend. It was true, she should be tired from all the dancing, but she wasn't. She felt wired. She didn't know when she'd had this much fun before. To have these women dance with her was incredible and so beyond any dreams she might have had in her own world. Still she did her best to not appear star struck.
"I'm fine." She smiled and took her seat next to Sage. A few of the X-men looked a bit tipsy, but in spite of all the drinks Christy had given Sage, she looked relatively sober. Christy couldn't even tell that Bishop had been drinking, he was still cool and quietly observing her.
"I say we go find an all night diner and get something to eat. The food here isn't that good." Neal spoke and Christy fought the urge to look at her watch. It was late, and from the sound of it she wasn't going to get to sleep before dawn.
********
Sage sat up a little straighter when the van went through the mansion gates. Home. She could really use some sleep now. From the look of it they all could. The last half of the ride home had been quiet as the exhaustion hit them. They wouldn't have normally stayed out that late, but since they had Christy they made the night last as long as possible. Ororo and the others had quizzed the woman subtly all night about her past, or the less painful parts of it while trying to get a sense of Christy's character and trustworthiness. All that work showed that Christy wasn't trying to hold back on that part of her life, which relieved everyone a little.
Christy started to sit up a bit and pulled her head off the van window. "I had fun." She addressed them all, but Sage noticed Christy's eyes stayed on her the longest. "Seattle isn't as interesting a city, but if you guys ever come that way…"
"We will stop by." Ororo spoke softly with no hint of reservation about it.
"I should get you my address and phone number." Christy spoke more quickly. "I might not see you before you leave."
Sage smiled at her. "I have paper and a pen here." She didn't bother volunteering the fact that Christy could have just told her and Sage would never, ever forget it. That was a part of her power. This gave her a glimpse of Christy's handwriting in case that ever became useful and kept her powers a secret. They'd all agreed that for now Christy would just be allowed to know about the telepathy, and whatever she might have observed during their dance.
Bishop still had a few reservations about the woman, due more to the other teams secrecy than to anything Christy had done. They all knew Christy had some darkness in her past, but the fact that they didn't know exactly what it was concerned a few people. Still they didn't interrogate. Ororo believed that they all would get more from Christy if they didn't all go after the same information. It also relaxed Christy enough to answer other questions that she may not have otherwise. The revelation about Shelley was a good example of that.
Christy gave her the paper she'd written on and Sage glanced at it, committing it to memory. The abundance of emails and phone numbers made her smile just a little. Apparently Christy was really hoping to hear from them again. "I gave you my… mom's number in case something goes wrong and you can't reach me, but she doesn't know… anything and I'd like to keep it that way." The hesitation in calling the woman her mom might have slipped by most people, but Sage caught it. "It's a last resort. I almost never visit her, but my cell phone doesn't have good reception when I'm there."
"You live nearby your mother. Why don't you visit her more?" Neal was a bit more family oriented and this obviously puzzled him.
Christy turned to look at him. "I buried my mother. She just looks like her. She's different. It's just… hard seeing her."
"Oh," Neal looked contrite. "I'm sorry. I forgot about that."
"It's okay. I forget sometimes too. That's why I don't visit as much." Christy gave Neal a sad smile.
They got out of the van and then Bishop moved to take it to the garage. Sage started to trail after the others but stopped when Christy stopped to stare up at the sky.
"Hey, Christy." Betsy called out towards them. "You can keep the clothes. They look good on you."
"Thanks Betsy."
"Not the shoes sugah." Rogue added quickly. "Ah love those shoes."
"I'll make sure you get them back." Christy glanced at Rogue. "Thanks for letting me borrow them."
Christy just gave the sky another glance before following them all inside.
********
"She might still be sleeping. She could have been out all night." Erik said without thinking about it when they sat down for lunch, but the wave of anxiety from Annie made him sigh. He would be grateful when they all took their shielding class. It was something that all new students got, and they'd be starting it soon. It was just a few nights to give them the basics and his friends wouldn't hit him with emotions so carelessly. The other students here didn't do that to him.
"Yeah, Christy never gets to go out with people her own age." Jon added and Erik could tell that wasn't helpful. "Maybe she has a hangover."
"Actually I can't get hangovers." Christy's sudden arrival from behind them startled all of them at the table. "Gotta love that mutation, because I sure know I earned one last night with all the drinks I had."
********
Christy felt like she should say something to Annie while she sat there having lunch with them, but she stayed quiet. Annie still had more classes to take and pushing the girl now wouldn't make those classes easier. Annie was quiet, a bit withdrawn, and tense when the others asked Christy about her night out. Christy wasn't even giving very detailed answers and definitely kept the strange whatever that had gone on between her and Sage out of the conversation.
"You having dinner with us tonight?" Jessi asked and Christy almost sighed.
"No, I'm going out and then I have work to do."
"Going out? Again?" Annie finally spoke and everyone seemed a bit tense. Erik gave Christy a look that let her know her second in command wasn't thrilled. She could already tell though.
"I'll make it up to you guys on Saturday." Christy felt like a bad parent at that moment, and she wasn't even a parent. She'd never once considered turning Emma down, but this was two nights in a row that the kids barely saw her and she wasn't going to be in town much longer.
"Sure." Jessi glanced at her watch. "We gotta get going."
"Okay, see you later." Christy felt a bit like an outsider now. She just watched her kids leave for class and continued to sip at her drink. The other students in the cafeteria were slowly trickling out as well.
"Well, Ms. Taylor." Hank's voice sounded friendly and Christy tried to push some of her melancholy away before she turned to see him. "I believe I have some free time to do more testing right now. Do you?"
"Sure, why not." Christy got up to follow him. She'd been wondering what she'd do with herself. Sage and the others were getting ready to follow a few leads the Xmen got from the man Christy captured, and Emma was in class and then meetings for a while after that.
********
"Don't you have a meeting to go to?" Christy asked as jogged on the treadmill. He was trying to find her limits and really it was boredom that was getting her before exhaustion. The monitors he had attached to her were irritating as well. At least he'd turned off the heart monitor's volume after the first time it startled her by flatlining and resulted in a pounding beat for a while.
"Oh, you must mean the one that Emma is in." He smiled while jotting down some notes. "My research excuses me from most of those meeting, and I must admit." He glanced up at her. "The timing of this exam was premeditated to avoid it."
"Sneaky." Christy reached out for the water he'd permitted her to have on the treadmill for when she needed it. "Not bad."
"I do try."
********
Hank knew that Emma wanted to be the one to break the news about what Christy's powers were to the woman so he didn't ask about the way she reacted to death during his exam even though he wanted to. It was a unique power and he was definitely curious. Were there other powers related to that one? What was it she really reacted to when people died, was it the human soul? Was she able to prove that it existed?
"Well I believe we have done enough." He glanced at his notes and then back at her. He found that lying to her or misleading her during tests got the best results. She was stronger, had more endurance, and reacted faster when she believed that what she was doing was well within normal parameters. Once he became too interested in the results or indicated it was reaching an unusual level it seemed to plateau. Christy could run longer and faster than Scott, and while that wasn't Scott's mutation he was a fit male trained for these things, where Christy's training didn't seem to cover that. She was stronger than many of the X-women that didn't have enhanced strength. Her reaction time was similiarly just a bit above par, but all these only showed up when he didn't let her know she was doing well. Christy was holding herself back without even realizing it. It would be truly interesting to see what she became capable of with the right type of training. No one had mentioned her potential shapeshifting ability to her either. It was most likely related to her performance on these tests.
"Good." Christy glanced at the clock. "Maybe I can recover before I go out with Emma."
Hank's eyebrow rose. "You have a date with our Ms. Frost?" He couldn't help but asking. The White Queen had been unusually attentive with Christy's care, but he'd assumed it was because of the potential Christy had as an ally or an enemy with the knowledge she possessed.
"A date?" Christy's voice rose just a little and she stared at him. "Oh, we're going to dinner." She then looked rather distracted.
"Well, have a nice evening. I'll be toiling away here in my dark hole trying to decipher the mysterious of your powers." He gave her a mock saintly look and then grinned. It might do Emma good to see Christy, because the blonde telepaths fascination with their fearless team leader was doomed to disaster.
********
Christy was a bit startled by the word date when talking about Emma. It was Hank that said it. Did he know something she didn't? Christy had always assumed that Emma Frost was disappointingly straight. Nothing in what she'd read indicated otherwise. She'd heard of the woman's teasing flirtation with Sean when they ran the Massachusetts school.
She tried to take a calming breath as she rode the elevator up but once again she cursed her wardrobe. Emma was a classy lady and would probably take them to a restaurant that Christy couldn't even afford a drink at where everyone knew good table manners and wore nice expensive clothes. She sighed quietly. She was getting her hopes up for nothing. There was no way a rich, intelligent woman like Emma would be asking her out on a date. Christy was always so bad at these things. She wasn't going to do what some of the guys she'd accidentally dated did and assume an attraction was there. To Emma they were just getting away to eat and talk without the interruptions.
When she got near her room she noticed someone else walking up the stairs. Was the meeting already over? She didn't have a lot of time to prepare then. "Jean?" Christy felt a bit embarrassed to be asking, but Jean was a little closer to her size and the idea hit her suddenly. "Could you help me?"
********
Jean knocked lightly before opening the door. She could hear Christy was out of the shower now and doing her hair. "I found something that might work, but you need to try it on." She called out and could hear Christy drop her brush. Jean grinned a little at startling the woman. "It would have helped if you could have told me where she's taking you."
"I didn't think to ask." Christy opened the door slowly and looked around making sure Jean was the only one there. The large towel was held with a strong grip.
"I have already seen you naked." Jean couldn't help but tease Christy. She was being so modest. "I am your doctor."
"Well until you're my lover you aren't going to see me walking around that way." Christy muttered while fishing with one hand for a pair of underwear in the drawer. She found what she wanted and waded it up in her fist. Jean was amused. She wasn't even allowed to see Christy's underwear when she wasn't in it. "I'll try these on in the bathroom." Christy said as she carefully balanced the clothes Jean handed her in the one free hand. Jean was almost tempted to use her powers to rip the towel away, but didn't. She didn't know Christy well enough to tease her like that. It's just the woman was trying so hard to not show anything it made Jean want to do something about it.
When Christy came out in the pantsuit. "I wish I'd thought about the fact that you're short like me last night." Jean moved around her making sure the outfit looked good. It was classy enough for a dinner. She was sure that Emma knew better than to take Christy to a place too far out of her comfort zone.
"I heard about that skirt." Jean grinned. Actually she had seen video footage of that outfit and was a bit impressed with what Betsy was capable of doing. There was no doubt Christy had good looks, but she didn't know what to do with it.
"Did you hear I flashed that whole team getting into the van?"
"No." Jean chuckled.
"Well, not the whole team but definitely Neal, and maybe Bishop, probably Sage." Christy was blushing but she grinned too. "Betsy did that to me on purpose and I will get even."
********
Emma took one last look at her outfit before turning off her dresser light. Not too upscale, but still nice. She was barely out of her room when she ran into Scott.
"You planning on going somewhere?" He glanced at the jacket in her hand. As team leader he tended to be a bit nosy.
"I'm taking Christy out for dinner."
He looked a bit uncomfortable. "Do you really think you should lead her on like that Emma?" She gave him an unwavering stare. Surely he wasn't thinking he could tell her not to go out with the woman. He looked a bit more uncomfortable. "It's just that she seems to really trust you and I've seen the way she looks at you some times…"
"Scott." She interrupted him. "This is really none of your business, but we are just going out to dinner." Her voice lowered. "I know I've been busy with her lately, but really… you've been busy with Jean, so you have no cause to complain."
"This isn't about us." His voice lowered as well. Emma just shook her head and started to walk away. She was convenient. She was willing to do things he didn't believe Jean was. That was the only reason he continued with her. He felt he had to lie and pretend he was a better man with his wife but he felt he could be himself with Emma. That was truly a messed up marriage, even before she started interfering in it.