GothickStrawberry – (hugs gothickstrawberry back) You got talent! The whole Davis and Mattie thing even had me worried for a while. But it's all okay now. And he did kinda give her a taking to that she needed. So well done Davis. I really like Davis and I'm feeling a little bit guilty for making you all hate him. I'll have to make him be super duper nice from now on. (maybe)
Matt –It's official. I love you! I was so so so worried about that line. I was like 'no ones going to get it, no one will like it, they'll think I'm trying to convert them to religion and stuff.' The trouble with going to two Christian schools, I know all this bible stuff. And I was really nervous about it. And you mentioned it in your review! So thank you thank you thank you.
Agent G – Yeah this is a different town. It's close to Mattie's home town, but not that close. The girls chose to go there for their holiday so that it was kinda getting away from it all. And not much travelling expense.
ViciousAssassin – Bobby finding Mattie and Davis kissing? Interesting idea. I kinda have an idea for that already. We'll just have to see how it goes.
And now let's have a round of applause for Mattie's body, for knowing that she loves Bobby. You just gotta love that snowball.
Explanations
Mattie lay on the bed, reading her book. She'd read the same page eight times. Downstairs she could hear the rumble of voices as Bekki and Davis told their parents that she was a mutant.
They'd decided that it was best for Mattie to sit this conversation out. They hadn't said it, but Mattie knew that the twins were worried about their parent's reactions. She was worried too. She liked the Masters. They were good people. But how would they react to having a mutant sheltering under their roof?
She had heard the voices rise and fall. Now there was just a low murmuring. She didn't know if that was a good thing or bad.
Abruptly there was a knock at the door. She looked up, expecting to see either Bekki or Davis.
Mel opened the door and entered, followed by Bill.
Mattie sat up, instantly alert and watchful. She swallowed nervously. "Hi."
Mel smiled warmly at her. "How are you feeling?"
Still wary, Mattie gave her a smile. "You mean after finding out that I'm a freak of nature? Surprisingly okay. I mean, this can't have been the first time that my power manifested itself. Cause I instinctively knew how to use it. So that means that I was definitely using it before I became amnesia girl. And I'm babbling now…" She trailed off.
She saw Bill nudge Mel and mouth 'manifested' at her with both his eyebrows raised. He turned his grin on Mattie and winked at her.
Despite her nerves Mattie giggled at Bill's teasing.
Mel was running her eyes over Mattie in fascination, her curious doctor's mind already at work.
Mattie took a breath. "I'm sorry that I've landed all this on you. I can leave."
"Not to put to fine a point on it. But, where would you go?" Bill asked.
Mattie shrugged. "I… I guess I hadn't got that far. But I will go. I know this changes things."
"Nothing changes." Bill told her. "Except that I have renewed respect for my children. They are being extremely grown-up about all this. And demonstrating a tolerance that few adults I know posses."
Mel smiled and nodded her agreement. "Please don't feel that you have to leave us. We're all the same on the inside." She frowned slightly. "At least I think we are. Hmm, interesting."
Bekki bounced through the door and rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her; she's going into mad scientist mode. If she asks to dissect you, just say no."
Mattie grinned.
Mel glared at her daughter. "Bekki!"
"Well you were." Bekki retorted. "You can't fool me, Mom." She turned to Mattie. "They've told you that you're not going anywhere, right?"
Mattie nodded. Talk about luck. I'm not sure that I trust mutants and I am one. How she'd managed to find others willing to trust her was beyond her.
XBobby looked at the scrap of paper in his hand. Looked at the map, then looked up and the house again.
This was the right address. This was the right house, according to the map. So why was no one answering?
He knocked on the door again and rang the bell. Now he was really starting to worry. No word from Mattie. No answer to his knocking. Where was she?
Turning he made his way back to his car. He sighed. "What now?"
Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he rang the number for the Institute.
"Ja?" He heard Kurt pick up.
"Kurt! Perfect! Listen I need you to go by my room and grab Mattie's address off my notice board."
"Why?" Kurt asked puzzled.
"I'll explain later." Bobby told him. "Just get it!"
"Okay, okay. Hold on."
Bobby could have sworn that he heard the bamf of Kurt's teleportation.
"Okay. I got it." Kurt told him.
"Great." Bobby scrabbled around in his glove box for a pen and paper. "Read it out to me."
XHalf an hour later he found himself standing outside Mattie's house.
Come on Drake. He psyched himself up. You've faced Magneto; you've faced Logan on a bad day. You can do this.
He really couldn't. Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door before he lost his nerve.
It was answered by a man with dark hair and with a pair of familiar green eyes. This had to be Mattie's dad.
"Can I help you?"
"Mr Drew?" Bobby asked.
The man nodded. "Yes."
"Is Mattie here?"
Bobby saw Mr Drew stiffen.
"No she is not." He narrowed his eyes at Bobby, clearly not liking what he saw. "What do you want with my daughter?"
"My name is Bobby Drake." Bobby held out his hand. "I'm at the Xavier Institute with you daughter."
"Bobby?" Mr Drew shook his hand, frowning over the name that he clearly recognised. "Bobby?"
"I'm Mattie's boyfriend." Bobby said.
"Ah." Mr Drew nodded, looking Bobby up and down again. He was clearly not satisfied with what he saw. Then he looked concerned. "Don't you know where she is?"
"I know where she's meant to be." Bobby told him.
Mr Drew looked alarmed, then stepped aside waving Bobby in. "Come in."
Bobby walked into the living room, where Mr Drew took a seat and motioned for him to take one too.
"I thought that Mattie was staying with friends from school." Mr Drew said.
Bobby nodded. "That's what I thought. But I haven't heard from her in two weeks and just now I went to the address she said she was staying at and there's no one there."
Mr Drew looked more and more alarmed.
"I was hoping that she'd called you." Bobby said
Mr Drew shook his head. "I thought it was odd that she hadn't rung me. We usually talk once a week. But sometimes it can be longer." He eyed Bobby resentfully.
Bobby tired not to notice.
"And you say there is no one at the house?" Mr Drew continued.
Bobby shook his head. "Do you have a number for her? Someway we could get hold of her?"
Mr Drew got up and headed into the kitchen, he returned with an address book. "I haven't got around to updating this thing yet. There are numbers of her friends in here." He frowned. "But I'm not sure which ones she went on holiday with."
Bobby nodded. He was willing to bet many of the names in that book now wanted nothing to do with Mattie; the stigma of being a mutant ran deep.
The phone rang and they stared at each other. Mr Drew hurried out into the hall to answer it.
Bobby sat on the sofa, listening intently. He could tell it wasn't Mattie on the phone. Instead he turned his attention to the address book.
She mentioned a Tara. Bobby thought, opening the book and flicking through it. Mattie had been very scathing of Tara's list of activities. Claiming that she'd be suffering in the Danger room for weeks after all the inactivity.
Mr Drew was still on the phone, talking to who ever it was.
Bobby found Tara's name. At least he hoped it was her. Mattie might have had a dozen friends called Tara. On the other hand it wasn't the most popular name. He was willing to chance it.
He pulled out his cell and dialled the number.
"Hello." A male voice answered
"Can I speak to Tara please?" Bobby asked
"Sure." The guy grunted. "Tara! I'm not your bloody answering service."
"Whatever!" Bobby heard a girl shout. "Hey?"
"Hi." Bobby stumbled suddenly not sure how to start. Have you seen my girlfriend? "I'm Mattie Drew's boyfriend. I just went to the house you guys were staying in and no one's there."
"What?" Tara asked her voice light and bubbly. Ray would have said ditzy. "Oh you mean where we were having our holiday thing. Yeah that didn't work out."
"What?"
"It was, like totally not working. So we had to cancel. I emailed Mattie to let her know. She didn't tell you?"
"Mattie knew that you weren't going to be there?"
"Yeah, I emailed her. And I'm pretty sure that I left her a message." Tara told him.
"So she might not have known."
"Well, you know, none of us went. So… you know. I'm sure that she would have figured it out."
Bobby's brain was racing. Mattie had not known that the holiday was cancelled. But if she got to the house and there was no one there, why hadn't she called. Why hadn't she gone home, or back to the Institute? Where was she now?
"Why are you calling me anyway?" Tara asked. "What happened? Did you two have a fight or something?"
"Just checking something." Bobby told her and hung up.
He was past worried now, he was in full blown panic. Mattie must have arrived at the house to find it empty. No girls. So? What would she have done next? Why had they not heard from her in two weeks? She had to have been staying somewhere. But where?
Mr Drew walked back in the room.
"The holiday was cancelled." Bobby told him. "There was no one at the house."
"So where is she?" Mr Drew asked.
"That's what I want to know." Bobby replied.
X
Ben glared at his mate. "You're sure?"
Aaron nodded emphatically. "Dave's little brother saw it all."
Ben transferred his glare to Dave. Dave was to busy opening a bottle of beer to notice
Aaron continued: "He says that the Masters and that girl were on the field and she was running."
Ben rolled his eyes. The other boys grinned dutifully.
Aaron shook his head. "No, I mean running. Running too fast to be human. He says she crossed the field twice in like nothing."
"Mutant." Ben murmured the word as though turning it over for consideration.
"Yeah." Aaron nodded. "A stinking mutant in our town."
"Fucking muties!" Trey spat on the ground to demonstrate his point.
"I knew there was something off about that girl." Ben said. "No girl fights like that. No girl beats me in a fight."
"Yeah, stupid mutie girl." Wayne grunted. "Should have known she was a mutant, way she kicked your arse."
"She didn't!" Ben roared, rounding on him angrily. "I don't beat on girls. I let her win."
The others exchanged glances and mentally rewrote history. It was best to just nod and agree with Ben.
"Still, we should have guessed." Trey said. "No girl can take on all of us like that."
The other boys nodded in agreement
Aaron nodded again. "So what are we going to do?"
"What do you think?" Ben asked them. "I think that we should take care of this little infestation."
The other boys grinned.
"We know where she's staying. We know who she's hanging out with." He scoffed. "Her choice in friends should have been enough of a clue!"
Again the boys laughed dutifully.
"So lets pay are resident mutie lovers a visit. Right boys?"