Ok, I know I told some of you that I mentioned more names in this chapter …. heh, sorry- tis the next chapter, for sure. However, for reference I'll go ahead and remind you all who's who.
Kitty is Shadowcat; Liz is Psylocke (I realize she has a different nick-name in "real" life); Peter is Colossus; Theresa is Siryn; and Bobby is Iceman.
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"I thought you said I could help!" Jubilee yelled across the lawn.
"Yes, but don't you have a class right now?"
"I have a study hall and Scott said it was alright if I came and helped."
"Well ok. All of these bags are the yard decorations. Umm, if you don't mind, I'll leave you to decorate the yard. I'd like to get most of the decorations put up inside before my next class."
"Sure!"
Nanny rushed up to the front porch and grabbed a few things out of the bags and headed inside. She put up some spider webs and glow-in-the-dark spiders all over the inside of the front door. She hung a laughing skull's head on the Professor's door that was activated by a motion censor and a groaning headstone on the wall between the kitchen and the living room. Peel-and-stick witch and spider window stickers were placed all over the front windows and a few on the windows in the Professor's office/class room. Nanny hung construction paper bats that her first art class made, up in the dorm room hallways and a few on the fridge. She was halfway done when the bell rang, and Jubilee and Nanny had to return to class.
"Nanny, the decorations look awesome!" Kitty complimented as she took her seat in the art room.
"Have you seen the front yard?" Theresa asked.
"The front yard?" Peter asked. "You're really going all out."
"I decorated the front," Jubilee bragged.
"You did a nice job," Nanny said as she passed out some white construction paper. "Ok, I want everyone to make a ghost and write you're name on the front. I'm going to post them all over just like the bats. And, if there's a bigger Halloween decoration project you all want to work on, it will be extra credit. However, it must be a class project, and I must approve it before you begin. Today is kind of an easy day since I'm so busy."
…
After her second art class, Nanny hung the ghosts up in the living room and even a few in the elevator. At lunch, Nanny took a mug of Storm's miracle tea to her room and soaked her bruise in a nice, warm bath and listened to some country music. After her lunch and bath, Nanny got right back to decorating. The Professor and Jean arrived during this time, and Logan had gone down to help carry luggage or whatever else they might need help with.
Logan, the Professor, and Jean came up from the jet room, into the hallway that Nanny was decorating. She was draping the front doorway in black fabric and hanging skeleton figures on the wall facing the front door. A chair from the kitchen leaned against the wall next to the front door, and a foot above the chair the group saw a pair of dangling bare feet. Even with the chair Nanny couldn't reach the ceiling to pin the cloth in place. Nanny hung onto the top of the door trying to position the cloth just right and hold it there long enough to pin it up. Logan walked carefully up to where she was and Jean and the Professor slipped silently out.
"What's it for?"
Nanny grimaced as she used all of her force to push the pin through the fabric and into the ceiling. She brought herself down to the chair, but her one foot missed the chair and Logan caught her arm. Nanny blushed and stepped down.
"What's it for?" She asked, looking at it. "Well, I suppose it isn't very obvious. And it doesn't exactly have a 'function,' per say. Supposing we get trick-or-treaters this year, the cloth will simply help make the front door look more ominous. And I mentioned all of this Halloween stuff to Storm this morning, and she volunteered to pass out candy- which will be great. Her white hair against the black cloth will have a great effect."
"Hmm." Logan nodded.
"Oh," Nanny giggled. "You've got to come see the other decorations." Nanny took him on a small tour explaining all of the decorations down the hall to the very end where there was a carpet on the floor- an ordinary carpet with a device placed underneath it so that when you stepped on it, it would make a howling noise. Nanny purposely stepped over the middle of the carpet and opened the door, but Logan stepped on the device as he followed her. He wasn't easily scared, and unfortunately for Nanny's sake, he wasn't easily amused. Everything- the holiday and the decorations seemed so superfluous to him. Nanny rambled on as she continued towards the stairs, but Logan heard nothing. What was exciting to him about the whole ordeal was seeing Nanny so alive. When she turned around to face him, she could tell he had only been watching her. She blushed and the words somehow lost their way to her mouth. It seemed too that the air had lost its way to her lungs.
Logan moved forward and clutched Nanny's waist tight, pulling them tight against each other, and kissed her. She winced and pulled away. Logan lifted up her shirt an inch or two so he could see her bruise. It was no longer a faded yellow-brown; it was black and blue all over, again.
Logan leaned one arm against the wall and the other still clutched Nanny's waist. Nanny put her arms around Logan and he pressed against her. Classes were still in session so they were relatively safe from being interrupted.
…
"How was Logan's class," Storm asked Nanny in the afternoon. Storm was yet clueless about the other night.
"I sat out today."
"Your bruises are that bad?" She asked stirring the tea she was making for Nanny.
Nanny lifted up her shirt and tugged her pants down a little. Her bruise extended from her right side, to her mid back, and from a few inches below her hip to a few inches above her belly button.
"Wow. Shouldn't it have begun to heal by now?"
"Oh it looked much better yesterday, but then Logan and I fought in the Danger Room last night."
"Ya, that would do it."
"And the first batch of tea you made today really helped. It wasn't until I was finishing the decorations that it wore off."
"Well here's another glass. The pitcher is in the fridge, so when it wares off again, you can grab some more."
"Thanks so much Storm."
"No problem."
…
Logan lay awake in bed that night thinking about bruises. Yes, bruises. Bruises were hard for him to grasp because he rarely sustained any, and if he did, they were minor and healed within hours. Seeing Nanny so badly bruised peaked his curiosity and his guilt. She had been healing until they fought. It was that last throw that bruised her again. If he hadn't been so rough … but it was in his nature. He was rough. He was rough with his words, actions, and even through his silence. It soothed him to know that Nanny was strong enough to move on and take her pain in strides.
… …
For the next two weeks Storm was on and off the phone with hobby stores looking for the right color and design of ribbon for the tables and lattices, for the wedding and reception. She was on and off the phone with caterers and bands- playing phone tag, trying to figure out if yes, this food or song was available, or no, it was too expensive. Meanwhile, Nanny was running to thrift stores, cloth stores, and costume stores for Halloween. She spent any spare time in between grading art projects, working on her own art and a few story ideas, and taking sufficient time to rest so that her bruises and scars would finally heal.
This whole time, Jean never had another occurrence with the Phoenix and everyone had several fights in the Danger Room. Logan moved his martial arts classes up a notch and everyone showed major improvement, even Josiah.
…
"One day until Halloween, and two weeks until the wedding," Nanny yawned as she examined herself in front of the mirror, early on that Sunday morning. "My highlights are finally gone," she sighed.
She quickly tossed herself into a hot shower and threw on her sweats afterwards. It always snowed on Halloween. That was something she learned from her childhood back in Colorado. And the clouds outside were just waiting to prove her right.
"How come we can count on snow on Halloween every year, and no snow for Christmas?" She grumbled, heading down the stairs.
…
"When'd he leave?" Scott asked Jean at the kitchen table.
"Early this morning, I think."
"And he took my motorcycle for the weekend? Why can't he buy his own damn motorcycle?"
"The Professor tried to get him to take one of the cars because of the expected weather this weekend."
"Oh, great! He better not crash it."
"Calm down honey. I'm sure he and the motorcycle will be fine."
"Where, or why'd he go anyway?"
"Not sure. I just assumed it was to meet that guy from his past."
"What guy?" Nanny chimed in.
"The Professor mentioned that Logan was going to see this guy that said he knew some things about Logan's past. Now he knows about Stryker, but he still doesn't know about anything before that."
"So, he left for the weekend," Nanny asked.
"You mean he didn't say good-bye?"
"No."
"But I thought you two-"
"That's what I thought." Nanny said, pouring milk into her cereal.
"Nanny!" Colossus, Rogue, and Kitty shouted as they busted into the kitchen. "We need someone else on our team."
"For the Danger Room?"
"Ya!"
"Who's on the other team?"
"Bobby, Liz, Jubilee, and Josiah."
Nanny chuckled. 'We've got this made,' she thought. "Let me finish eating and getting changed, and I'll be down in a couple of minutes okay?"
They gave each other high fives and rushed back to the game room.
"The kids really like you," Scott commented. He washed out his coffee cup, kissed Jean on the forehead, and put up his morning paper.
"Well, I love them. And I think it might be because I'm younger. Maybe they feel like I can relate more."
"Makes sense," Jean said. She kissed Scott quickly, again, and headed to the Professor's office.
…
"So how do team fights like this work?" Nanny asked as she put on her eye piece and Peter set the atmosphere to the jungle.
"Each person in the team chooses someone on the opposite team to fight one-on-one, but we all fight at the same time. Now if during your fight you see that one of your own teammates needs help, you are allowed to either push them out of the way or hit the member of the other team. A team wins when if they're the first to get two of the other team members to surrender," Kitty explained.
"Let's go!" Bobby shouted, already dashing through the door and into the arena.
…
Logan cautiously opened the thick and heavy wooden door and took a step forward. He surveyed the sluggish group smoking over by the pool table, and the bald bar tender, drying mugs at the counter. He lit his cigar and sat at one of the small tables with his back to the corner.
"He's right over there," Logan heard the bar tender whisper. Then he heard the soft and teasing foot steps of a woman's high heels.
"Good to see ya again Wolverine."
"Good to see you too Tiger Lily." She smiled at the sound of her name escaping Logan's lips. Aurora, or Tiger Lily as everyone knew her as, wore a low cut and tight silver tank top under a black denim jacket and a pair of tight blue jeans. Her long blonde hair was curled and poked neatly out from under her jacket. She rubbed her black stiletto heals up and down Logan's leg, faintly purring.
Tiger Lily was a feral feline mutant with no external appearances to give it away. Only when her sixth sense was sparked did her pupils shrink to tiny vertical slits, and immediately return to the guise of human eyes. Her purring was rare and only saved for special occasions. All together, Tiger Lily had heightened senses, (one including the sixth sense), heightened reflexes, agility, and strength. Above all, Tiger Lily had a very high vertical jump, exceeding ten feet.
"Where's Maveric?" Logan growled.
"Strictly business then, huh?" Lily stopped purring and stopped rubbing Wolverine's leg. "I'll get you some day," she whispered to him.
Wolverine raised his eye brows at Lily to return her to the point. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Look big boy, what do you want to know?"
"I don't know. Someone told me he had vital information for me."
"Well Sugar, let's start with what I know."