DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. Except for Anna MArie and Josh and their friends. But the ones that everyone already knows without me having to give a lot of intro... them, I don't own.
The meeting with her boss had gone quite well, they had agreed for her to continue her research from Westchester, with Dr. McCoy continuing his research alongside of her. After saying goodbye to Rob and Gina and inviting them to spend a weekend at the mansion sometime soon, the four X-Men got into their respective vehicles and began the long drive back to the Institute.
"Merde! Slow down! You drive like a crazy woman!"
Rogue just smiled. "Love ya too, sweety."
"Non, don' take it dat way, it's just... Remy wants t' live!"
Grinning, she pressed down harder on the accelerator and laughed manically as Remy gripped the seat.
A few miles back, Josh was driving far too slow for Marie's liking.
"Why won't you just step on the gas a little more?"
He checked all of the mirrors carefully before easing into the other lane, the turn signal clicking as he did.
"Oh, come on... There's no one on the road!"
"Better safe than sorry."
"God, Josh, who taught you how to drive!"
"My dad."
"Figures." She crossed her arms and leaned back, before reaching up to open the sunroof. "I think I'll go check up on my folks." She unbuckled her seatbelt.
"What, you're going to just jump out of the top of the car?"
"Um... duh!" She poked him on the side of the head, before leaping out and landing on the hood of the car. She sat down, cross-legged, and waved before launching herself forward, passing the few cars that were on the road with ease.
The machines made a whirring noise and stopped, some of them incredibly beat up. A familiar voice came over the intercom.
"Good workout, guys. Anna Marie, Josh. Please report to the control room before changing."
Their teammates bid them farewell and dragged themselves off to the locker rooms.
"Ugh, Joshy...you reek." Anna Marie hit him with her tattered jacket, and he stumbled, partly as a joke and partly because she had actually hit him hard.
"Yeah, well you always smell, so you would know."
She glared at him for a full ten seconds before breaking out into laughter. "You're right. I do smell."
"Then we agree."
"Yeah. And the reason is because I've been spending too much time in your room."
"Ouch. That hurt."
"Good." She leaned in and kissed him, breaking off the kiss only after someone nearby cleared their throat.
"This is touching, really, but I don't have all day."
"Sorry, Uncle Logan." They followed him up the stairs to the control room. As he scanned his hand to get access, he turned to them.
"And believe me, you both stink."
They exchanged a smile and climbed the rest of the stairs, stepping into a packed control room.
"Wow... is there any reason that the whole senior team is here?" Anna Marie scanned the room, taking in all of the familiar faces. She had grown up with them, grown up under their care. They had always been there for her, through the entire time travel ordeal, whether she was Anna, Marie, or both.
"Yes, there is." The Professor wheeled to the front of the crowd, having finished shutting down the danger room. "It has been decided that your team is growing too large. The range of skills on the team is too varied for it to be practical in combat. We are splitting you up. The silver team will be a part of the senior team, joining the gold and blue teams that are already in existence. It has been decided that, based on your almost inhuman amount of experience on the X-teams, Anna Marie, you will be the field leader. Joshua will be second in command."
Anna Marie's eyes grew wide. "no! no! no! no! no! NO! NO! Have you all gone NUTS! I just got back from being sent back in time, while simultaneously growing up with myself as my aunt for some reason that we still don't know, and you want me to be the boss! That's totally bogus. There are team members who are way more qualified!"(1)
Rogue stifled a laugh and Josh answered Marie. "This isn't a casual decision. The team talked about it. These are our lives we're putting into your hands. We wouldn't do it if we didn't believe you could handle the responsibility."
Logan stepped up from where he had been leaning against the wall. "No law says you have to accept. You can tell us you haven't got the moxie, or the smarts, or the guts. But you'd be a liar."
Anna Marie looked around the room. By then, the rest of her team had finished up in the locker room and joined the crowd in the small booth, not wanting to miss a single minute of the conversation. "So... what do I do now?"
Gambit spoke up from the back of the room, where he had been standing silently. "You take de job you've earned. You lead."
Anna Marie smiled. "You're all serious, aren't you?"
"Never more serious, hon." Rogue nodded sincerely.
"Fine, I'll do it. But there has to be something else. You wouldn't all be here if there wasn't. And you." She pointed at Jean. "You wouldn't be so quiet."
Rogue laughed. "Jeannie... your poker face needs some work."
"I'm sorry..." Jean's voice was wavering. "I'm just so..."
"So what?" Anna Marie raised an eyebrow. Something was going on.
Beside her, Josh cleared his throat. She looked at him, and Jean let out a squeak, followed by an "ouch" as Rogue elbowed her hard to get her to shut up, and the whole room got quiet as they waited for Josh to speak. After a few moments of complete silence, Josh's face fell and Anna Marie laughed out loud.
"I was kidding, of course I will."
Josh smiled again and kissed her, as the rest of the room started to murmur.
"You asked her telepathically!" Rogue was the first to express her anger and frustration with his method. "That's not fair! You get us all worked up about it and then you..." A hand clamped down over her mouth and she looked up at Gambit, who gave her a clear signal that it was her turn to be quiet. She tore his hand away from her mouth and crossed her arms in muted defiance.
Josh looked over at her and smiled. "Sorry. I had some things to say that you didn't need to hear."
He looked over at his mother, who seemed to be in a trance. "Mom?" He poked her. "Mom? JEAN!" He closed his eyes and poked her telepathically. Nothing. "I think she passed out."
The Professor did a mind scan, before calmly suggesting, "This room should be vacated immediately."
As the door to the room closed behind the last person, a muffled explosion could be heard. Halfway down the stairs, Josh looked at Anna Marie. "I think she's taking it well."
Moments later, the door opened and Jean stepped out, her hair glowing slightly more orange than usual. "Sorry about that. I already repaired the room."
Wrapping paper hit her in the face and she looked towards the source. Not seeing anyone, she smiled and went back to unwrapping the presents. Moments later, another ball of paper came sailing through the air at her and she reached up and caught it.
"Josh, stop acting like a baby."
"I know you are but what am—ungh" He fell over and Jean smiled from across the room.
"You heard the woman."
Marie smiled and looked over at Jean. "Thanks, Jeannie."
"Anytime. Now open mine." A box floated towards her and Marie grabbed it from the air.
Even though the wedding had been a few weeks before, the presents had been set aside to be opened later. The honeymoon had to be postponed, because the Brotherhood decided to make a move. Those who decided to speculate came to the unanimous decision that the timing of the activity was probably triggered by the seating arrangements at the wedding reception. Mystique did not seem to enjoy being sandwiched between Kitty and Jubilee, something that she expressed through numerous trips to the punch bowl and frequent whispering of threats into Rogue's ear. Overall, though, the entire wedding went without any major problems. Kurt had presided over the ceremony, Bobby created a number of large ice sculptures, and Jubilee lit up the sky with a breathtaking display of fireworks, aided by Dazzler's, who came in to sing at both the ceremony and reception. Beast showed off his break dancing skills, and the night ended with Betsy and Alex getting completely smashed and singing love songs to an only slightly amused Wolverine, as Warren and Lorna watched from a distance, having decided that they didn't know the other two. Even Magneto made an appearance to congratulate the couple, prompting Trish Tilby (ever the observant reporter) to comment, "Wow, Hank... you really do know every single mutant on Earth." Anna Marie and Josh hadn't imagined it going that well, and were still trying to come to terms with the fact that they had actually gotten married.
"Well? Do you like it?"
Anna Marie looked over at Jean, then tried to recover. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like it. A lot." She smiled. "I've gotta go check on something in the lab. Be right back."
The group sighed collectively. She was spending almost as much time down there as Hank, but they'd learned to cope with it. She had been trying to figure out exactly how the little black box had been able to transport her through time, and had practically vowed not to rest until she had it figured out. She ran down to read a printout and knocked on Beast's office door.
"Hanky!"
"Anna Marie?"
"Here's the printout from the last scan. Let me know what you think I'm sort of supposed to be upstairs. Presents and stuff."
"Of course. I'll get right on it."
"Thanks!" She ran out of the lab, not wanting to keep people waiting, and Hank picked up the piece of paper and examined it.
"Hm... it seems..." He galloped over to the device and looked at the printout, comparing it to the small box. "What if it..." He pressed one of the sides, and a blinding flash enveloped the room.
He woke up groggily as a horse nearly trotted over him. Rolling under a pile of building materials, he looked around. The landscape, he recognized. But there should have been a mansion. He checked his watch, happily realizing that he was wearing an image inducer. He depressed the button and stepped out, shocked to see exactly what was going on. He approached a boy who was mixing some sort of mortar.
"Excuse me, young man. Would you mind filling me in on the specifics of this project?"
The boy tipped his hat. "Morning, sir. As far as I know, my pop says some rich man, Francis Xavier, wants himself a big house here."
"Francis Xavier, you say? Tell me, what year is it?"
"Why, it's 1807, of course."
"...My stars and garters..."
(1) Rogue says something similar in X-Men #103 (August 2000); "No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! Have you all gone NUTS! We got shot out of space three days ago. We're facin' the threat of a new species who wants all humanity exterminated. Two of our people are trapped in their stronghold. One more has disappeared off the face o' the earth! And we still got no clue how t' rescue any of them. An y' all want me t' be the boss! That's totally bogus. Sittin' round this table, there are x-men way more qualified!" Logan goes on to explain (quite similar to his, Gambit's and Josh's explanation here) that they really had thought about it, blah blah blah, and that she deserves to lead.
A/N: Well, hope you liked it! Review! Just to make me happy... please?