X-Men-First Class: Rise or Fall
Chapter Ninety Four
Author's Word: Thank you all for the reviews and PMs. Now, I'm sending out another prayer request for me and mine. Any and all good thoughts will help through the days to come. On a lighter note, ever notice that if you combine Charles and Emma you get Chem? (Guess what that's short for). Logan and Kayla leaves you with Lola. Sean and Maya is of course Seana. But if you don't know what Hank and Raven equal, you really haven't been paying attention. Have fun with couple names (Rise or Fall couples, not "fantasy" couples). Please enjoy and review!
As the trio of males headed for the student union, they found it difficult to enter due to the high volume already present within.
Jam looked around in wonder. "What is with all these girls? You'd think there was a two-for-one sale in here."
When they found a space to maneuver through, Leon pointed forward. "I believe there lies your answer."
Raven sat at a table next to Amy, holding the latter's small son.
Jam shook his head. "Just like a woman. See a baby and they lose all control. You don't see us acting like…" He trailed as Alex stepped forward.
"Hey, dude." He squatted to the bitty one's level. "What's your name?"
Amy waved his little arm and introduced, "This is Jason Gregory Oliver Jr. He just made one."
"We stopped by to say hello to Mommy," her husband, the Senior Jason, said. "Next thing you know we're swarmed."
Raven gave him another squeeze. "He is completely perfect, you guys."
"He's bad," Jason countered.
Amy gave him a poke. "He is not."
Alex looked to the parents. "May I?"
"If you can pry him away from your sister," Amy said only half-kidding.
Raven pouted slightly but handed him over. "Fine."
Alex stood with the child, holding him with absolute delicacy. He smiled when he comfortably leaned forward on him, seizing fistfuls of Alex's shirt.
At the look of complete adoration the other women gave to the blonde, Jam piped up, "Yeah, kids are great. Can't wait to have some."
Leon said, "I don't know. They're big grownup responsibility stuff. I haven't even had the chance to vote yet."
"Ames, we need to get going," Jason mentioned.
"Okay." Amy took the baby from Alex and latched him back into his stroller. "Bye, sweetie. Mommy will see you right after school." She then got up to give Jason a quick kiss.
He reminded her, "Don't forget my mom's cooking tonight." She nodded and he pushed the stroller forward. "Say bye to Mommy."
As they rolled out, an entranced path of females trailed them.
"I miss them already," Amy said longingly.
"I know," Raven quietly concurred. "Come on. Let's get to class." They started out. "Bye, boys."
"You guys want to use my dorm for studying tonight?" Leon offered out as they approached the food counter.
"What exactly happened to your roommate?" Alex asked.
"Did you kill him?" Jam asserted. "You know you can tell us."
Leon responded, "No, but the thought heavily crossed my mind due to the number of times he cried at night. Severe homesickness."
"That's square, but something you don't have to deal with," Alex pointed out. "Your dad did come out here with you."
"Yeah, I know. So, my room?"
Alex and Jam agreed and the three collected their orders before departing ways.
IIIIIII
Dark slacks zipped up, Logan slipped his black short sleeve shirt on next. He sat on the edge of the bed to get his shoes on and noticed when a pair of heels attached to very familiar legs departed from the bathroom. He carried his gaze up, finding Kayla in a purple V-neck dress that cropped off just above her knees.
Logan let loose his initial response. "Damn."
Kayla gave him a look. "Good or bad?"
Unsure of what to say, he only repeated, "Damn." He stood, going to her. "Got so used to seein' you in them teacher treads, I forgot all about these legs. And this hair." His fingers ran through her long dark strands.
Kayla arched her head back when he went to kiss her. "Stop it. I'm fat."
"You better hush." He wrapped strong arms around her, taking over her lips with his.
She moaned happily until she nuzzled against his cheek. "You know I hate when you shave. I need a little stubble."
He said, "It'd probably look better on you than me. Don't worry. I'll be all-natural again by mornin'."
Kayla went over to get her sheer black shawl. "Is that the cologne Cody got you last Christmas?"
"Figured ya can use it to find me in these clubs." He came up to help wrap her into the garment. "It's ten times stronger than a smoke signal. Ready?"
Giving his ring finger a kiss, Kayla joined hands with him.
IIIIIII
Frank came into Erik's doorway in time to see the man finish buttoning his last sleeve cuff. The boy came in and grabbed the lint brush off the dresser and began going over Erik's pants.
The metal wielder glanced down at him. "Boychick and personal valet. Aren't I fortunate?"
"It's so great that my mom's going out with you— you guys," he quickly amended. "She never gets to have any fun."
"I know." A fact Erik did not care for. "This evening will be good for her."
Frank took a seat on Erik's bed. "I'm really glad you like her so much."
"She makes it simple." Erik turned and knelt before the child. "Are we going to behave tonight?"
"I will." Frank smirked. "No tellin' about you." Erik then took the liberty of tickling him and the boy laid back in wild laughter. "Erik!"
IIIIIII
Entering into the woods behind the house, Hank gazed up at Victor readjusting one of the security cameras they'd installed there.
"Malfunction?" the young scientist called up.
Victor finished and leapt down before him. "Lousy angle." Hank nodded. "So, you comin' on this little outin' or what?"
"We thought about it, but Raven and I are just going to spend some time alone tonight," he told him. "We don't get to do that as often as we once did."
"Hm. Seems ya never have a problem goin' out with the teen scene," Victor observed. "Don't exactly see ya hangin' around much outside of meetings, either."
Hank folded his arms. "This from the man who is either in his loft, the security room, or out here watching the kids play. You know how it is. There's significantly less pressure within a younger crowd."
"With drinkin'?"
Nodding, Hank then asked, "Come to think of it, why don't you like to drink?"
Victor replied knowingly, "Same reason as you. It's all about control. Logan can booze it up all day and he'll be fine."
"That isn't the only reason," Hank admitted. "I watched my parents and older relatives drink frequently. I know it's supposed to have a certain sophistication associated with it, but it just doesn't appeal to me."
Victor stated, "Overrated as sex."
Hank blinked at that. "Would now be a good time to discuss your…?"
"I need to finish gettin' ready for this thing." Victor started for the house.
Hank concluded, "Wife."
IIIIIII
"Have you ever noticed how supreme Sean is?"
Becky glanced up from pouring the chopped walnuts into the mixing bowl. "Huh?"
"You know." Jasmine tried to find words for it. "He's so with it. He's smart and funny and responsible and kind; so sweet and soft-spoken. And he's really good looking."
"He is cute," Becky agreed. "Way more handsome than Alex."
"Alex is cute, too," Jasmine insisted. "But Sean is tall with amazing eyes. Then there's Hank who's just…"
"Perfect!" they exclaimed in unison.
"Ah, thank you, lassies." Trick came in then, wearing his chosen evening attire of pants with a maroon collared shirt. "I tried my best."
Jasmine smiled at him. "You look good, Daddy."
"You sure do," Becky added.
"Your words come from the angels." Trick went to place an arm around both of them. "I best be off. Have fun now." He started out then looked back. "And you two know better. If you're going to make all that fudge, at least throw some vanilla ice cream on top to balance it." He left out of the kitchen.
Becky diligently went to the freezer to retrieve the ice cream while Jasmine transferred the fudge over into a baking dish.
IIIIIII
Looking up from trying to get his weekend homework out of the way, Sean smiled at the sight of Charles and Emma entering the living room.
"Hey." He got up and went to kiss Emma's cheek. "You're beautiful."
"Thank you, my love." She squeezed his arm. "How are you holding up without Maya?"
"It's blink-and-you-miss-it for her mom to have a night off so I understand," the teenager said.
"We won't be in late from the city," Charles told him. "I left the phone numbers of where we'll be should anything arise and Hank is only a communicator away."
"Got it," Sean nodded. "Don't worry."
"Have a good time." Emma took Charles' arm as they made their way to the front door.
Sean locked up then returned to the living room to watch them make it safely towards the garage.
He then turned around and called out, "Who wants pizza?"
IIIIIII
Kayla, Logan, and Victor had arrived outside the garage first and soon Trick, Erik, Charles, and Emma joined them.
"So we takin' two cars or what?" Logan put forth.
"This way, please." Charles led the way inside the garage all the way to the back end.
"Feast your eyes," Erik removed a sheet off one hidden vehicle, "on the X-Van."
The decked out silver and black car looked like an enlarged hummer. It appeared as if nothing short of an army tank could demolish it and the interior provided four rows of seating with enough room for ten.
"Good God, men," Trick reacted. "Where have you been hiding this?"
"One of Hank's little projects," Erik explained.
Charles added, "Though Alex and Sean originally wanted to call it the Mag-Mobile."
Erik only shook his head.
Charles produced the keys. "Who wants to drive?"
Trick started to make a move, only to nearly be trampled by Logan.
"I am so tryin' this thing out," he declared.
Victor smacked his hand, snatching the key away. "Forget it, Runt. I'm designated driver around here."
Logan glared at him and snarled. "Give it…" When his brother only held the key out of reach, Logan growled and jumped at him.
"Here we go," Kayla commented when the matter soon evolved into a mini wrestling match.
Magnetically summoning the key into his own hand, Erik declared, "I'm driving. Victor can drive back."
While Victor brushed him off in triumph, Logan slouched angrily.
Charles gave him a pat on the back. If it helps at all, I was rooting for you.
…Maybe a little, Logan admitted.
IIIIIII
Turning the next page in his Economics text, Leon threw out, "So where's Raven tonight?"
"Out with the husband." Alex sat at one of the desk, feet propped up on it as he went over the contents of his notebook. "Pretty glad honestly."
Leon looked his way. "You two fighting?"
"No. Nothing like that. She and Hank just like to take turns breathing down my neck since they found out I have this… thing."
Leon found that all too vague. "Thing?"
Alex shook his head. "Forget it."
Sitting up on his bed, Leon said, "I'm not your arch nemesis, Alex. If you tell me of your kryptonite, I won't try to exploit it."
Alex sighed before telling him, "I have high blood pressure."
"Hm. That would explain how you've suddenly swapped French fries for salads lately," Leon noted. "It's not serious, is it?"
"The way they act you'd think I was terminally ill."
Leon decided to change topics to something else he'd been curious about it. "You want kids someday, don't you?"
Alex spoke more positively now. "You have no idea."
Jam reentered the room. "No idea about what?" He retook his place on the spare bed.
"Alex wants kids," Leon explained.
Jam scoffed. "I could've told you that. He lives to play daddy."
Alex looked at him. "What's that mean?"
"Dude, you just finished fussing at me for going back out to the vending machine," Jam brought up.
"You have a huge test on Monday," Alex emphasized. "And you've been getting behind on homework. How do you get distracted so easily?"
Jam pointed at him and looked at Leon. "See what I mean?"
The Japanese boy had to laugh. "He does have a point, Alex."
"Fine," Alex shrugged indifferently. "You can both wind up scraping gum off park benches for a living. See if I care."
"No, man, it's cool," Jam insisted. "Seriously. Y'all are the kinds of friends I need to make here. Otherwise my real dad will come up here and break both my real legs."
"Jamal's right, Alex," Leon said. "It's good having you here. You ever thought about moving on campus?"
"Can't do that," Alex replied immediately. "I have to help take care of my brothers."
Leon glanced back at the text. "They're fortunate…"
"What?" Alex looked over.
"Fortune," Leon said louder. "Going over the vocab for Dugray's class."
Alex nodded then resumed his own reading.
IIIIIII
Illumination from the moon lighting up the park, the married couple sat out on their picnic blanket with a great spread between them. They tossed pieces of bread to some visiting swans in the nearby pond.
"This is a bit of an anniversary for us," Hank brought up.
Raven faced him. "Shakespeare. Right here."
"One year this weekend. I'm still so glad you said yes."
Raven smirked at him. "I'm so glad my brother went easy on you for beating up Alex."
"I could barely stand that kid sometimes," Hank further recalled. "Or Erik."
"I can still barely stand Erik."
"You love him," Hank countered knowingly.
"Not as much as I love present company." Raven leaned forward, kissing him.
"What's wrong?" Hank frowned when she suddenly pulled back.
She held up her now purple hand. "I pie-ified myself."
"No, no, no." Hank stopped her from using a napkin then began to lick the filling off the appendage himself.
Raven felt something spark within her at the act.
Hank's eyes soon returned to her. "Cold?"
"Freezing."
Still holding onto her hand, Hank stood and started leading them to the car.
IIIIIII
Three coins in the fountain,
Each one seeking happiness.
Thrown by three hopeful lovers,
Which one will the fountain bless?
Trick is a marvelous singer, Charles commended.
Mmhmm. Emma rested comfortably on Charles' shoulder, swaying in tune while the male telepath took the lead.
Three hearts in the fountain,
Each heart longing for its home.
There they lie in the fountain
Somewhere in the heart of Rome.
"When was the last time we did this outside of our living room?" Kayla wondered.
"Between work and that kid constantly hoppin' around, who knows?" Logan brought her in closer. "Kayla, that house we're livin' in, if it's what ya really wanted, I would've bought ya one just like it. Ya know that."
"Stop." She looked up at him. "I know you'd give me the world at the asking."
He returned, "Ya already gave it to me, darlin'."
Which one will the fountain bless?
Which one will the fountain bless?
Erik asked the redhead, "Have I told you just how lovely you look tonight?"
"It's an old dress," Alana downplayed.
"You'd bring honor to a laundry bag." Erik dipped her shortly.
She kept an arm around his neck as he brought her up again.
Three coins in the fountain,
Through the ripples how they shine.
And just one wish will be granted,
One heart will wear a valentine.
Make it mine!
Make it mine!
Make it mine!
With the song concluded, the dancers and diners stopped to applaud and Trick took a quick bow.
Letting go of Victor's hands, the young woman took one step back. "Thank you for the dance, sir."
"You're the one that said yes," Victor reminded.
The small female smiled before departing from him to return to her own crowd.
Logan went over to his brother. "Potential?"
"She's a girl, Lo'," Victor stated. "Just a girl."
They went to regroup with the others.
IIIIIII
At the small one coming in, Sean paused cleaning to ask him, "You want something, little guy?"
"Will you make us popcorn?" Cody requested. "We're watchin' a movie 'bout some dogs."
Sean took a guess. "Lady and the Tramp?" He then muffled a laugh at the boy's reaction to the sound of that particular title.
"No. It's the one where the ugly lady takes all the puppies."
"Oh, that one," Sean nodded. He then turned from the counter towards the ringing telephone. "I'll be right there, buddy." Cody dashed out while Sean went to grab the receiver. "Xavier Institute." A smile quickly grew on his face. "Hey, I was gonna call you soon. You having fun? So are we. All the big people are out so we're pretty much stuffing ourselves." He leaned against the refrigerator. "I miss you. Pick you up around ten? 'Kay. I love you." He hung up then took notice of someone not so subtly slinking by the doorway and marched out in time to catch the particular individual. "Do I listen in on your phone calls, Cordelia?"
The brunette girl turned around to face him. "Don't be absurd. I wasn't spying. More like retching."
Sean looked at her crossly. "You want to explain just what you're problem is with my girlfriend?"
She shrugged one shoulder. "I simply fail to understand what you see in her. It can't just be that she doesn't have a problem with mutants because my father is the same way. People like that do exist you know."
"Well, let me think." Sean did not have to do so for long at all as began counting off with, "She's beautiful, intelligent, fun, caring, deep- just about everything Alex doesn't see in you." He returned to the kitchen with that.
Cordelia lingered out, her chin very close to connecting with the floor.
IIIIIII
Once they managed to obtain parking, the plethora of adults filed out of the X-Van.
Trick turned to Alana. "You remember this place?"
"Rocket House," Alana recognized. "It's been at least three years since I've been in here."
"Same," Trick concurred. He looked to the others. "You'll love it. Grand atmosphere, lots of swing music."
Charles nodded approvingly. "Sounds smashing."
"Oh, before we forget." Kayla walked over to Logan and started removing her wedding ring.
"What are you doing?" Emma wondered.
"Bein' single." Logan struggled more to remove his. "Geez woman, what'd ya do? Glue this on when I wasn't lookin'?"
Kayla looked at him coyly. "Maybe."
When he finally got his off, they kissed and handed over each other's bands to the other.
"It's a thing they do," Victor explained simply.
As they all started inside, Erik felt Alana clamp onto his arm. He relaxed and walked at a slightly slower pace behind the rest.
IIIIIII
"Get him!"
"Go, go!"
"Get him, Perdy."
"Bite 'em, Pongo!"
Scott, Becky, Frank, Jasmine, and Cody lined up on one couch chanting at the television. Joey and a silent Cordelia shared a chair off to the side of them.
Sean made his presence known with, "Who wants popcorn?"
Cordelia stood Joey then got up herself.
"Where you going, Cordy?" the short blonde asked her.
"I'm tired, Joey," she responded quietly, breezing right by the one carrying the large bowl of popcorn.
Sean made nothing of it as he went to sit between Jasmine and Cody. As she hugged his arm while Cody ate from the popcorn bowl, Sean happily settled in to join in on talking to the animated figures on the screen.
IIIIIII
When the bartender placed a colorful beverage in front of her, Kayla informed, "I didn't order this."
"It's from the gentleman." He pointed across the way at a tall dark haired male, who waved and flashed a smile.
Kayla mouthed 'thank you' as she turned away. "Not even in his wildest dreams."
Alana shook her head in amusement. "You are shameless."
"As are they," Kayla countered.
Alana looked to where a leggy female conversed with Logan. "That honestly doesn't bother you?"
Kayla replied, "We know who the other's going home with." She looked Alana up and down. "You really surprised me."
"How so?"
"With the way Frank speaks about his mother, I expected you come to flying in on wings of gold and an impossibly untarnished halo."
Alana smiled softly. "He's too much."
"You're terribly lucky." Kayla reclined against the counter a little, staring off at nothing as she spoke.
"I wouldn't go that far," Alana said distantly.
Kayla glanced her way. "I lost my little girl seven years ago. Jaycee."
Alana came back with, "Almost a year and a half. I never got to name her." After a brief silence passed through them, she asked next, "How did you— how do you cope?"
"I didn't want to at first," Kayla admitted. "She's gone, but Cody is still here and he needs me." She looked to the right. "Plus I have one other little crutch."
Logan walked up. "I hope ya don't think me too forward, ma'am, but I've come to whisk ya away."
"Yeah, sure," Kayla shrugged, linking arms with him. "Hope you don't mind fooling around behind my husband's back." She shot Alana a playful finger hush. "Shh."
The red haired woman watched them walk away.
Emma soon returned from the bathroom. "Alcohol is not the pleasure keeper it used to be."
"Tell me about it," Alana concurred, still nursing her own martini.
Over by the games, Erik got yet another bull's eye. "Pay up, gentlemen."
The numerous groans sounded from the losers as they removed fistfuls of money, complaining about the one who never seemed to lose.
Victor looked over from his pool cue as the metal wielder approached. "See ya got your own hustle."
"Mere child's play." Erik pocketed the cash. "Giving off the appearance of drunken stupidity is simplistic when dealing with those already falling over themselves."
"Yep." Victor began setting up the balls on the pool table again. "So Mrs. Tolbert…"
Erik told him, "She prefers Alana."
"I figured that much." Victor glanced over to where she spoke with Emma. "Guess Kay and Lo' ain't the only ones havin' their kicks tonight."
Erik's eyebrow went up. "What does that mean?"
"Alana's not wearin' a ring."
Initially taken aback, Erik used his keen eyes and zeroed in on that fact himself. He indeed found both the woman's hands void of any jewelry.
"Aye, you can really hold it down, Charlie boy," Trick marveled from where the two shared a table.
"You should have seen me during my time at Oxford," Charles recalled, placing his glass down. "A full yard of ale- straight down the hatch."
"The posh professor himself?" Trick sat straight up in his chair. "Oh this I must witness to believe. On me." He raised a hand to get a waiter's attention.
Charles smirked. "Are you honestly daring me, old boy?"
"The night is young, Charlie, as are we."
Considering it a moment, Charles nodded. "Alright. You have yourself a wager."
Trick placed the order and the waiter returned with it shortly.
When the extremely tall glass arrived at the table, Erik quickly started over and Victor decided to follow.
"Charles, what do you think you're doing?" Erik asked of him.
Trick chose to answer. "Living a life he's sure to remember."
"I don't think so." Erik gave the Professor a pointed look.
"Oh come now, Erik. It's all in fun," Charles urged. "That's what we're here for, is it not?"
"Charles," Erik attempted to keep his voice even, "I mean it."
Sighing, Charles at last relented. "Fine."
Trick shook his head and commented lowly, "So glad I only have a sister."
The bouncer came through with Logan and Kayla in tow. "You want to claim these two? Found them Frenching in the manager's office. I don't know how they managed to pick that lock."
Kayla giggled into her hand at Logan's wink.
IIIIIII
Fingers intertwined with the one currently blanketing her body, Raven arched her head back against the left hand door of their Lincoln. When Hank finished his latest round, a pleasured utterance mumbled through her that breathed against his ear.
"One of these days we are seriously going to get arrested for indecent exposure."
"You mean I will." Hank better covered them with his jacket and the fleece throw they had back there then touched a hand to her blue cheek. "You're far too pretty." At her turning away, he grimaced deeply. "What's wrong?" He moved so that she could better snuggle against his chest, disregarding the discomfort the maneuver brought his large frame.
"Amy's family came down to school today," Raven stated.
"Your friend from class?"
She nodded. "Their little boy is so cute and people couldn't stop gawking at him. I just know they'd treat our son the same way… but they'd be staring for different reasons." Hank remained quiet, allowing her to go on. "What if we had a girl, Hank? One who looks exactly like me? Beyond our happy house, she'd have to deal with a world that sees her as anything but beautiful. Just the idea that she would have to handle that every day of her life- and worse. Part of her would always blame me for it."
"Raven," Hank spoke, "I know I've made my position on this very clear. We're still newly married, it's important for you to focus on school right now, and I mean all of those. However, my biggest concern for our future children is far more than their appearance. We don't know everything there is to know about mutation yet and what scares me is one of our children being born with a severe disfigurement. I was fortunate, but other mutants that resulted from my father's nuclear plant weren't."
Raven stroked at his chest. "I know. You were right."
He then continued with, "However, looks, illness, those are fears and possibilities that are real for every potential parent on this planet. We are not the first to simply wish that our child be healthy."
The shape-shifter's eyes yellow eyes jumped to attention. "Baby… are you saying you want kids?"
"We're a one in a billion couple, Raven." Hank enveloped her securely in his arms. "I like those odds."
She grinned, squealing into his neck.
IIIIIII
After he finished looking in on a sleeping Joey and Bounty Bunny, Charles started towards his own room. He met up with Erik outside his door.
The taller mutant asked, "Rounds all finished."
Charles responded, "It seems things went quite smoothly for Sean," then slipped into his room.
Erik went after him, hands in his pockets. "Angry with me, Lab Rat?"
Charles began removing his cufflinks and watch. "Of course not. Though you did make a bit of a fuss over something so small."
"Charles, we went through this last year," Erik reminded pointedly. "We agreed no more drinking games. Sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your new playmate."
"Don't be patronizing," Charles said sharply. "I wasn't the one who had us asked to leave. Please note how Victor doesn't take every opportunity to step on Logan's heels."
A small smirk danced along Erik's lips. "Do you want a new big brother, Charles?"
Shaking his head, Charles uttered, "Why do I bother?"
Erik caught the heated one by the arms and pulled him in, patting his back. "I only want to look out for you, young professor. You have a dignity and reputation to uphold. I'm sorry if you felt belittled in the process."
Giving in, Charles placed his head on the older man's shoulder. "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry, brother."
"I'll see you in the morning." Erik took his leave of him and went downstairs to his den.
A half an hour later, he heard the familiar revving machine pull in. Minutes after, the front door opened and closed again and Alex came to stand in the doorway.
"Hey."
Erik placed his book down. "Study well?"
"I know enough about Econ to turn yuppie overnight." Alex came in with a yawn, settling beside him on the couch. "How was your old fogey fun?"
"We had a race with our walkers then exchanged anecdotes on various denture cream flavors."
"Sounds like a party." Alex lowered until his upper laid in the metal wielder's lap. "Were you waiting up on me?"
"Is that so surprising?" Erik rubbed his back. "A promotion doesn't demote you as my boychick."
Alex said, "No way would I have taken it if that were the case," then started to drift off.
With only the sleeping noises filling the den, Erik watched the fire he'd put on dance and crackle while he provided comfort to the worn freshman.