Wolverine – Logan, his real name was Logan – was being trouble from the beginning. A lot of trouble. While, just as hoped, he did agree to stay at the Mutant High until the Professor could figure out why Magneto was interested in him, that was as far as his will to cooperate went.
What Jean soon found out about the guy made it clear to everyone that he had a whole lot of issues different from a peacekeeping mission. A healing factor basically without limits was actually the pleasant part of Logan's characteristics. His entire skeleton was covered with an indestructible metal alloy; Jean called it adamantium. It looked like that procedure had been done years ago – and in the process, Logan must have lost his memory. Since then, he'd been roaming the country aimlessly, searching for the life he'd lost.
He was a born lone wolf. The only people he was talking to were Marie and Jean. The others were regarded with a quick nod at most, or occasionally one of these scanning, hungry stares that made Katja feel like she was standing naked in front of the man each time. Or part of his menu. Probably both.
By the time Logan started flirting with Jean completely unashamed, ignoring Scott's irritated glances from afar, Scott would no longer let the two of them out of his sight. Whenever Katja went to see Jean that day to sort something regarding Marie out, that grumpy other mutant was somewhere nearby. In the hallway after class, later in the lab, looking at his test results. In the garden, having a conversation over a cigar, or, in Jean's case, a cup of tea.
And each time, the two of them went silent when one approached them. Jean's smile looked more and more nervous.
The tension was unbearable, the first day testing everyone's nerves.
Since, naturally, there were no classes on the Sunday after that, Katja fled to Xavier's administration office early, to escape the charged atmosphere that, for a change, not her powers were responsible for. Even though after yesterday's adventure, this temporary job did no longer seem too exciting, a promise was a promise.
And in some way, it was reassuring, realizing that even in the weird world of mutants, some things weren't all that different. Like the fact that management immediately fell into utter chaos when the senior clerk was absent. After Katja had opened what felt like two weeks' worth of mail and assigned it to the people who would hopefully be able to do something with it, she took a first folder with letters ready to be signed straight to Jean's office. The city's largest pharmaceutical company had been waiting for the countersignature of this one drug shipment approximately since Clinton's last term; besides, one very stubborn caller had just convinced Katja that she would have to take Jean's attention from her current favorite patient for a few minutes.
Katja really did her best not to look too closely once she'd located the patient room where the only two people currently in the sick bay were staying, but she was beginning to wonder how many examinations there were that had to be done half-naked. Or maybe the newest resident of Mutant High was just allergic to shirts.
"You just couldn't leave it alone, could you?" Jean didn't look particularly thrilled that Katja had already thrown herself back into busyness instead of taking it easy as she had been advised. But especially after that little trip yesterday, Katja could no longer take such concerns quite so seriously.
"If I have to listen to myself think any longer, that'll only end with more scorched earth."
Shrugging, Katja held out the folder and a pen to her friend. "Besides, someone named McCoy called upstairs since he couldn't reach you here. He's asking you to stop by his place with Marie first before you send her bloodwork to U.G.E.R.. Whatever that's supposed to mean."
From the corner where a certain mutant was lounging on a diagnostic stretcher with his legs crossed, a growl not unlike the one Logan had threatened Jean with yesterday promptly sounded.
"Hey, don't kill the messenger." Katja raised her hand defensively. Her shoulders tightened instinctively when her eyes briefly met Logan's and the suspicious glint in them made her automatically wonder if anything had escaped her regarding this strange call.
"It's okay, Logan." Katja wondered if Jean even noticed how easily her serene, soft tone toward her patient helped his ruffled hackles settle instantly. It was truly amazing, the impact she was having on this semi-wild guy after just a few hours.
"Hank is one of us. He would never endanger a mutant on our side. Still, I say we give Marie a few more days before we send her on a big lab tour. I'm afraid nothing particularly helpful to her will come from that anyway. I'll let Hank know, Flashwind, thanks."
Right. Charles had already warned Marie yesterday that there was probably not a lot any doctor could do to help her. This disappointment could very well wait a little longer. About that, she certainly agreed with Logan. Nevertheless, the urge to get away from his presence grew stronger by the second.
"I guess I'll get back to the phone then."
"I probably can't stop you, can I? Wait a second, there's something on your ..." With the help of her gift, Jean retrieved a small tube of ointment from a medicine cabinet and spread it as nimbly as cautiously on the side of Katja's neck, where by now, in addition to a few unpleasant bruises, slight pain from minor inflammation had spread."
With a weak grin, she nodded down at Katja's black business jumpsuit, one of those things freshly purchased the day before yesterday. "Maybe that job actually isn't the worst. You know, I do like that look on you better than the traces of something you shouldn't even have been a part of yet."
"Not you, too." Katja rolled her eyes a little and quickly stepped back as soon as the cooling gel had brought the planned relief, one she could just as easily have lived without though. "That was just a really good ad for some nail salon. I should ask Mystique where she got those things. They're effective weapons all by themselves."
"Not until she sticks poison capsules on the underside. If you wish to be in a coma for two days like me a couple of years ago, knock yourself out."
Jean gently squeezed Katja's shoulder as she drew in a startled breath. "You won't see her again that soon, I hope. Just slow down a little, Flashwind. Please?"
"I'm no longer sure I can do that," Katja replied after a long moment of silence. Jean would probably have seen through a lie faster than anyone else in the house.
With a sad smile, Jean went back to her patient. "I know."
After this not entirely pleasant encounter, completely lost in thought, Katja, of course, promptly almost ran into Scott outside the sick bay then, had he not dodged her thanks to the usual safe distance he kept from others and those damn well-trained reflexes.
Her contrite apology got stuck halfway in her throat when she looked up, embarrassed, and was suddenly being regarded with that certain smile again in that terribly charming way that made her all feel dizzy every time.
"It's me who should apologize, about yesterday. I shouldn't have got so loud after you tried to help us, no matter how stupid that was."
"It's alright. It's gonna take me a while to learn about following military orders, I'm afraid."
Katja stared down at the thin register folder she carried in front of her like a shield in concentration; that was easier, despite a certain pair of opaque sunglasses than dealing with Scott's gaze.
A discreet touch on her arm, slow enough to avoid if she hadn't wanted it, only made her knees buckle even more.
"Seriously. I'm not taking this for granted. If you keep this up, you might indeed be a useful addition to our team one day. You've already got the essentials for that in you. Thank you, Flashwind."
After a fleeting kiss on her cheek, somewhere near the corner of her mouth, the guy disappeared into the infirmary, suspiciously hurried after a kind of gesture that had definitely not been all that harmless anymore.
Great. What was that supposed to mean again? Interest, from his side, too? But why did he keep on circling Jean and Logan with bared teeth then?
Katja couldn't make any sense of it, but ignoring the whole thing was becoming more difficult by the minute.
At noon, Marie and Katja fled from the still icy atmosphere to the far-off corner of the garden with their physics books. While Logan was quite reluctant to let Marie out of his sight for long, she managed to convince him that nothing could happen to her as long as she stayed inside the mansion.
"He's really worried, isn't he?" A long overhand pull-up brought Katja onto one of the broad branches of a decades-old oak tree just by the garden wall before she reached her hand out to Marie to pull her up.
The girl's surprised, delighted smile at this completely natural gesture had her squeeze Marie's hand affirmatively right again. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Marie was wearing her gloves. And even if those should tear at some point: A brief touch from the teenager didn't mean instant death.
A few days in already, Katja knew how it felt to be avoided because of her mutation, and that had been a very memorable lesson.
"I like him." There was an admiring glistening in Marie's pretty dark brown eyes. Settling on a branch across from Katja, she leaned back against the trunk, allowing the sun on her far too pale face with a slight smile. The peace and quiet of the last few hours were clearly doing her good after being on the run for so long run. "He's helped me a lot. It feels like I know him pretty well already."
"Try not to fall in love, though," Katja warned her carefully.
"Look who's talking."
Katja instantly tried it with a dismissive expression, though she was pretty sure Marie was having her own thoughts on that stupid scene after the fight yesterday.
"Me, I just almost fried my ex-boyfriend. I've had my share. All I'm trying to say is ... Logan looks like someone who likes to play. He'll just break your heart."
Marie grimaced defiantly. "You don't even know him. He's been the first person to be good to me in weeks. All I know is that I like him."
Katja decided to rather open her book instead to at least try and hammer that dry matter into her head. This was probably a rather unpleasant experience that she had to let Marie have for herself. And after all, she had her own issues regarding certain relationships to sort out.
Some that she'd been brooding about far too much already. Especially with the last wounds, Fabian was responsible for not even having begun to heal ...
Given that there was once more a threatening dark cloud gathering right above that tree, Katja was very relieved when they were joined by Bobby soon, who was much better suited for doing some learning with Marie anyway. She herself was and remained a hopeless case when it came to STEM.
Besides, she desperately needed distraction from all this chaos. And preferably somewhere where she would definitely not risk meeting a certain team leader as she would have in the stables or the gym.
'What's your game? I know your business but I don't know your name ...'
"Crap, damnit ..." Katja stopped in frustration. She had managed to forget half of the figures she'd once been taught by her very own personal dance instructor. It was depressing. Besides, idle practice without a partner was exhausting and not exactly effective.
Giving up was not an option though, she had never been fond of that. Annoyed, she restarted her favorite CD from that small collection next to a somewhat outdated stereo.
"If you keep on being such a pit bull about training, too, I better watch my bones."
Katja froze, only now realizing she wasn't half as alone as she'd thought.
Scott was leaning comfortably in the doorway of the almost completely empty but thoroughly mirrored room right under the roof that Katja had discovered here earlier, aimlessly walking through the house.
"Anyone ever taught you how to knock?" Her irritation was real, especially because she looked like a drowned rat. Her hair, in sweaty strands, stuck to her shirt, which didn't even begin to match that miniskirt she'd dug out of her closet earlier so she could see her legs better in the mirrors.
"I did. You didn't hear me." Scott just grinned. "Looks good what you're doing there. Want some company?"
"Anything special you had in mind?" Confused, Katja tied her hair into a firm braid so at least she didn't look like she'd just fallen out of bed.
"Well, what do you think?" Scott was clearly enjoying her surprise.
"Charles likes to offer the students alternatives to indoor sports. And even on the team, you get sick of pure combat training two months in. Dancing, just like horseback riding, has proven to be a proper diversion over the years. Dealing with horses teaches you patience quickly, and how not to be an asshole unless you have a thing for hoof prints in your face. And dancing means endurance, agility, and coordination. Once Jean and I started to combine the whole thing with acrobatics, it really started to be fun. We've had additional coaching on our own for years. Tell me you can do the Mambo, and this day won't suck half as much. Jean sadly stopped enjoying all this a while ago."
"Mambo? A little?" Katja tried her best to sound noncommittal. She hadn't expected someone in this mansion of all places to share a hobby that had stopped being cool for young people, especially in the last couple of years. And the more athletic side of dancing had always been one of the best things about Rock 'n' Roll, even though her former dance partner, being a ballroom and Latin purist, hadn't been a fan. She probably would have been happy to get such an offer to improve her skills in that regard if it hadn't come from this guy of all people.
"Are you looking for an escape too?" She didn't miss how pale Scott looked, how tired his posture was compared to his usual stiff stance. Not even those chunky sunglasses could hide the circles under his eyes. It had to be getting to you when your own girlfriend was so clearly attracting another man's attention.
And though no one said it out loud, out of friendship, out of respect, out of compassion ... It was becoming increasingly clear that Logan's attempts to get closer to Jean were not only one-sided.
"Jean and I have agreed that we better stay away from each other until tomorrow. This whole thing is pretty stressful, and that's the last thing she needs when she's supposed to create a full file in a minimum of time." Scott was trying to keep his tone neutral, but you could clearly hear how much he cared.
Had Katja really thought there was any chance, even for a moment? She called herself stupid and suppressed the tinge of disappointment in her heart.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's okay. This isn't the first time, work is more important than anything else for one of us. So, what do you say?"
Scott strolled over to the stereo, briefly browsing the CDs, and finally put on 'Mambo No. 5'. "I've been itching to try my choreographies with someone who doesn't need to force themselves, with a face as if their life was at stake."
"At this point, for a lot of dances, I know barely more than the basic step," Katja curbed his enthusiasm, in a lame attempt to avoid the inevitable.
"Would you like to be able to know more?" Scott eyed her with his head tilted, still kneeling next to the stereo, so that Katja instinctively began to tug at her skirt, which suddenly seemed far too short. "I think I can show you. Like I said, in this house, every once in a while you're happy, getting up to something different than chasing students around clay courts every day."
Scott being her regular dance instructor? Sure. Great idea. Katja's latent masochistic tendencies definitely had their limits. Not to mention, Jean would certainly be anything but thrilled. At least, that was what her rational mind whispered to her.
Unfortunately, her heart answered before she had finished thinking about it. "I'd love to."
"Well, then." Straightening up, Scott pulled her close so quickly that Katja almost tripped and her cheeks instantly burned.
"Careful. A dramatic Drop is something we'll try out later." That son of a bitch knew exactly what was going on …
But it was too late to say no now. So Katja rearranged her legs and slightly bent the left one. "Ready to go."
"Don't get hasty. With how tense you are, this is not going to work. Straighten up. Shoulders back ... Keep your head up, nothing to see down there. Will you stay on your toes? It's my job to do the leading here, by the way."
Apparently, romance really was dead. Katja felt like taking her very first dance lesson, and with a rather dominant and unkind teacher by her side instead of her father's loving laughter in her ear. But she had to admit, the strict commands did help. Little by little, she remembered what she had once been taught as a teenager. She did indeed not even have to look at her legs anymore. Well, Scott did lead exceptionally well ...
This time, Katja managed to return his smile, in spite of the pain in her stupid heart. That probably made it official ... This man had put a damn spell on her.
"Your steps are good." Scott brought himself to reward her with unexpected praise. "But you're being too technical. Mambo isn't just one step to the front and one to the side. You need to let the music carry you. We can put on something else if that helps. Was that Roxette I just heard? I'm usually more used to constant techno or metal exposure in this house."
"Not from my room you will. I've always been more of a rock and ballad girl." Katja shuddered demonstratively, but joking about this particular subject was difficult for her, even more than a year later.
"My father was a choreographer. He and I used to dance a lot to Roxette. He worked with them on a piece for a concert in Germany once. He liked to rant about how little talent they had for moving on stage." Her chuckle sounded strained, she heard it herself. "At his funeral, we put on a couple of their ballads. I think he liked that." Maybe it was because of how damn far away she was being from her last family member right now: Suddenly it hurt again, a lot. Scott's discreet squeeze of her waist did her good and encouraged her to keep talking.
"A while ago, I got to talk to them about him backstage at a concert. They actually remembered him. That helped a little bit. That was pretty exceptional, being so lucky that day. Doesn't happen that often." Embarrassed, she shook another slipped strand of hair back from her forehead that, hoping Scott wouldn't give too much importance to the last half-sentence. Her interest in a soul striptease in front of him was pretty low. The times when she had always thought the worst of herself, she finally had to learn how to leave behind.
Fortunately, her dance partner just looked up towards the large mosaic window under the roof beams, sighing almost silently while they kept on practicing basic steps. Clearly, his thoughts rested in the past as well.
"That kind of experience is quite the helpful endorphin storage. On shitty days, you can at least hold on to memories like that for a while. For people like us, that's especially crucial."
There was deep melancholy in Scott's smile that Katja found to be prettier by the minute. And that unfathomable gaze that now seemed to be directed straight at her again, without her being able to return it ... Why did he have to look at her like that? Did he not understand that this only furthered this growing unhealthy interest of hers?
And why the hell did Katja not just look away if it bothered her so much? Or told him to stop? Why was she enjoying it instead, too, these minutes of ever more harmonic movements with this man that had their bodies snuggle up close – all by accident, of course – again and again? Why was she smiling back at him shyly instead of telling Scott to better look out for his partner? Suddenly, Katja understood Marie's crush on Logan a lot better. If they kept this up, she was about to create a whole new drop move all her own, throwing herself at Scott more or less deliberately because her knees would buckle if the guy stared at her like that any longer.
Was she seeing things, or was he caressing her hand ever so lightly every time he led her into a new turn? And the touch of his muscular leg against hers, for far too long, far too slowly ... If only Katja could have looked into his eyes, just for a brief moment ...
Scott led her into another Enchufla turn, a much faster one this time, and then immediately pulled her close again. Far too close on purpose, Katja was certain.
Before she could interpret any more nonsense into that, however, she was being swirled around once more. Scott's left hand was on her left thigh suddenly, the right one at her waist; she could feel him bend his knees until his head was at her waist as well to guide her and she instinctively had to put her arm around his shoulders, expecting a far more challenging figure than a few harmless spins. Apparently, that guy was really not a friend of taking things slow ...
"Body tension, split. Over my right shoulder. Don't tense up, I got you."
Before Katja could even think of protesting, she was already lifted up and had half a mind left to push herself off the ground with the necessary force as well, spreading her legs best she could without a proper warm-up when the world spun around her for a moment. Then she landed perfectly safely, leaning back against Scott breathlessly.
"No wonder your students run away from you. Is this how you usually start everyone's training?" Giggling, she looked back over her shoulder since her partner didn't seem to want to resume a basic posture immediately.
"Only when someone gives the impression they're a natural. And a damn gifted gymnast by the way." Scott seemed to find it very amusing that Katja's cheeks already had a very healthy color again; fleetingly, he grazed them. "Just for the record: I've never seen anyone pull off a Split Over like that from scratch. Especially not without both of us ending up on the ground. Why exactly did they not want you on the national team again?"
It was surely supposed to be just harmless teasing, but the memory of one of the worst days of her life so far, in her youth, promptly ended, once again, with the loud crash of thunder outside. Katja struggled to smile, as little as she felt like it, to let Scott know, it wasn't his fault. "Let's just say, the father of that other girl had more buck and better connections."
"Their loss, not yours." Scott squeezed her hand in his in front of her breastbone a little tighter for a moment, and the sky instantly cleared. "How well you've kept your shape since then, not everyone can do that. It shows a lot of discipline. You and I are going to have a lot of fun together, Flashwind."
Oh, but it was a challenge, not to think in adult-rated categories again immediately at such words when you were busy dancing with someone butt to hip. Their faces were suddenly only inches apart, they were both breathing audibly harder ...
"Scott, are you here?" The door to the studio was yanked open so abruptly that Scott and Katja didn't even have time to get some distance between them.
Ororo didn't give a comment, but Katja noticed her disapproving frown very well.
A very justified grimace. After all, Katja had just got up quite close and personal with someone off-limits. Had that really happened? Seconds later, she could hardly believe it. Now that her hormones were no longer in control of her head, a great deal of irritation stirred inside her. Mostly at herself. No matter what might be going on between Jean and Logan, she had no right to flirt with Scott, no matter how much this man fascinated her.
But Katja was also a little angry with him.
What was that kind of show he was putting on here? Was Katja supposed to comfort him about that humiliating situation with Logan? Or was he trying to take revenge on Jean?
Katja was definitely too good for that. Enough of this nonsense, right now.
"The Professor wants to do a short patrol flight," Ororo explained, almost a little too casually. "We've found new clues to Magneto's recent hiding place."
"I'll be right there."
With obvious regret, Scott cut off the sound from the stereo and turned to Katja once again. "We'll pick this up tomorrow, alright?"
"Sure," Katja confirmed, though she wasn't sure about that at all. Playing with fire like that once more? Probably better to run a few laps through the forest to cool her mind.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"Out of the question." As nice as things had just been, as soon as it was about the team, that sternness immediately crept back into Scott's voice. He still audibly hadn't stomached Katja's first encounter with the Brotherhood. "For now, you go back to training. You're not even close to being ready for attracting the wrong people's attention. We better all get down on our knees and pray tonight that you haven't already. Better get some rest, it's been a long day. We probably won't find anything anyway. Magneto knows how to hide."
With that, the two X-Men were gone.
Scott was right about one thing: Today had definitely been enough. Katja headed to her room to hopefully get at least a few hours of rest. Her right leg was already asleep when her one was still in front of the bed.