"So." Said Jade as she and Taris sat down on the couch in the living room of the mansion.
"So what?" Taris was thinking very deeply, mostly about Jubilee.
"So what's going on between you and Jubilee?" Taris nearly spat out the lemonade he was slurping down thirstly.
"What makes you so sure I'm not just a friend?"
"Well for one, you were so totally freaked out over the fact that she was deathly sick, two, 'cause I'm telepathic as well, and three 'cause Remy told me." Jade smiled at her brother's guilty face.
"Hey! At least I'm not dating a merc!" Jade's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, you're gonna pay for that." She dove at Taris, trying to avoid her he rolled off the couch. Jade crouched on the arm of the couch, fangs bared, she growled.
"Now you're just taking advantage of our heritage." She grinned wide.
"You betcha." No longer playing defense Taris grabbed Jade by the ankle and yanked her to the floor. They then started rolling around on the floor, both trying to make the other surrender. Pinning Jade to the floor, Taris grinned ferally.
"So, tell me more about this merc you're hanging with now." Jade smirked at her brother.
"Well, when he first took me along, we fought just about all the time. After a while, we gained an unspoken agreement, he dosn't make me kill, I don't put glue on his knives and stick them to his underwear. No that I did of course." Taris might've believed her if she wasn't grinning like the cheshire cat after flipping the queen's skirts.
"I always knew you were rotten." Taris and Jade shared a good laugh, but he soon forced her to resume her story.
"Then once we were on a mission, just a simple one, take out this scientist guy. So we of course slipped in there he killed the scientist, I cleaned up the mess. Well we later found out the scientist had spilled a lethal poison on JJ. Soon enough he got real sick, he was puking like crazy, foaming at the mouth. Ugh, it was a mess." Jade took a deep breath, memories of those long nights waiting for him to heal flooding her. Taking another deep breath she resumed her story. "Finding the antidote was a long and hard process, it took him a long time for him to heal after the antidote was applied too."
"Sounds like a rough situation." Taris commented. Jade snorted.
"Ya think?" Just then Bobby came dashing into the room, pausing only to give Taris and Jade a funny look before running like the devil himself was chasing him into the closet.
"I'm not here." The skinny blonde boy whispered to them as he shut the closet door. The siblings shared an amused glance before standing. A momment later a very mad looking Rogue stormed in.
"ROBERT!" She screeched in rage. "Where are ya, ya no good popsicle!" Rogue began to lift up furniture expecting him to be under them, oblivious to the laughing brother and sister in the room. After pulling the tv out of it's place, she finally growled in frustration and turned to Taris and Jade.
"Have y'all by any chance seen Icecube?" Her voice was strained from screaming at Bobby.
"Sorry Rogue, he's not here." Taris tapped into his sister's mind telepathically.
"Are you nuts!" He yelled into her head. Involuntarily, Jade winced. Rogue cocked an eyebrow in suspicion at the wince.
"It's that time of the month," Came the red headed youth's quick response. "you know, cramps." Rogue didn't look too convinced but allowed her to get by, she was a girl and cramps were painful.
"Could you not yell?" She pleaded to her brother.
"Did he at least pass through heah?" Rogue drawled.
"No."
"Yes." The twins said in unison. Rogue crossed her arms and cocked her eyebrow again.
"Jade!" Taris screamed at her telepathically. "Let me deal with this."
"Fine."
"Well?" Queried the momentarily forgotten auburn haired souther belle.
"He was here, but he passed through." Jade hastily explained. "He mumbled something about danger room and outa here." She could feel Taris' frustration and anger growing. Just then a breath was let out from the closet. Rogue walked over and yanked it open. A very happy Rogue pulled a very unhappy Iceman from the the closet by the ear.
"Ow, Rogue, ow, nice to, ow, see you." He uttered, his voice resembled a baby's squeak toy. She turned to Taris and Jade and smiled.
"Just passin' through huh?" Jade smiled, grabbed her brother's wrist, and made a mad dash for the front door. Luckily for them Rogue was madder at Bobby than them.
Emerging into the bright sun and cool wind Jade smiled wide.
"You worry too much my brother." Taris closed his eyes and counted to ten.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you."
The first thing Jubilee noticed when she awoke again was the bright lights of the infirmary, the second was the dead weight on her lap. Looking down she saw Bobby slumped across her. He had several bruises on his shoulders she could see vaguely through the white tank top he wore. He slowly awoke and gazed at her confused first, then remembering he smiled.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." He said groggily. She smiled at her compatriot.
"I'm glad to be back. I don't mean to be rude or anything but, where's Taris?"
"He's spending some quailty time with his sister." Bobby replied.
"I didn't know he had a sister."
"Neither did I." He shrugged.
"Weird." Jubilee looked around the room, completely bored. "Isn't there something to do in this place?" She murmurred. Bobby smiled.
"Until you're outa here, you're left with books and visitors." Jubilee groaned at Bobby's answer.
"You like, have to be kidding me."
"Nope."
Taris took a deep breath, the cool wind assaulte his lungs in a pleasant way. His sister Jade copied his movements. Taris thought about all Jade had told him about her boyfriend. Then something clicked in Taris' head.
"Wait a minute, isn't this JJ charactor older than you? I mean you're only 15, and he's got to be at least 28." Taris was very confused and it showed on his face.
"He's 17." Taris' eyes widened at Jade's answer.
"A 17 year old mercenary...?"
"I know, I was confused at first too." Jade started a whole new story. "He was kicked out of his house when he was only 5, his parents didn't want him. He was adopted by a karate master soon after. He learned how to fight, fend for himself, and how to take care of those he loves. When he was around 11, his master was killed by mercenaries. Swearing his revenge, he became a mercenary and learned how to kill." Jade looked up at her brother with tears in her eyes. "He's had a hard life."
"Sounds like it. Didn't think there was that much behind his life." The redhead nodded.
"So did I until I got to know him." She smiled. "He's a great guy, I love him alot."
"I can tell." Taris smiled along with his sister. "Well, I think it's time to see if Jubes is up yet."
"Yep." With that they turned on their heels and went back into the mansion.
Jubilee snorted at Bobby's lame joke. They get lamer everyday. She smiled at her good friend. He was talking animatedly. His arms were waving around in the air, his face was lit up with a smile that went to his ears. Her eyes went to the doorway as Taris and an unfamiliar girl walked in.
"Taris!" She exclaimed, happy to see him.
"Hey Jubes," He turned to the girl next to him. "allow me to introduce my sister Jade." Jade and Jubilee smiled at eachother in greeting.
"I think I'll be leaving you guys now." Said Bobby as he got up to leave. Jubilee waved bye to Bobby and turned her full attention to the siblings before her.
"How're you feeling Jubes?" Taris questioned, looking concerned.
"I'm feeling like, almost perfecto Taris." Her smile could've brightened up the night if she stood outside. Jade giggled.
"Fantastic." Jade commented before Taris could.
"So, does Hank have any idea of what's wrong with you yet?" Taris said shooting his sister an annoyed look.
"He says it's some sort of fever thingie." Jubilee said shrugging. "He says the only reason that it got so bad is 'cause I ignored it for so long."
"You should've told me you were sick Jubes." Taris said in a concerned tone.
"Taris, she's a full grown girl... well, not really, but you're not her keeper, and sometimes a girl needs her privacy." Jade said butting in.
"Well, she should have told somebody." Taris' face looked overly sad and Jubilee couldn't help but giggle. Her face then took on a more serious look.
"Hey!" She exclaimed. "Don't talk as if I'm not here." They continued to talk for an hour longer before Hank came in and told them to give Jubilation some space to breathe. So Taris and Jade said their good byes and left the room to go spend the rest of their day thinking about their earlier activities.
