Fighting Fire with Kindling
By kiragecko
Part 3
The bar isn't what Jean expected. He's been taking her to the sleaziest places he can find - in the hope of scaring her away, perhaps - but they aren't that bad. There's depression in the air and she's never been hit on so many times in her life but the press of humanity and cheesy old music is kind of fun. A song starts up that she might have heard, long ago, and she pulls Logan on to the dance floor. People cheer. She laughs and they dance. Later, when people are so drunk that they don't understand the word 'no' there will be a fight. She's just been watching Logan so far but this evening thinks she'll join in. Why should he get all the fun? Why should she do the right, responsible thing all the time? This is an adventure and she's going to ride it out until the end
No one's quite sure what happened but Jean's missing, Scott seems miserable, and Emma seems terribly amused. Nasty gossip is spread but she doesn't seem to notice. Scott stops most of it, anyways. Jean's fine, apparently, but he won't say where she is. Who won? Emma? How
The date spawned several successors. One involved her usual mode of attire. It, as he had warned, contained long periods without conversation, or with very inferior conversation. It didn't give her as much pleasure as she'd expected. The next one had been respectable again.
Being respectable was uncomfortable for Emma. People looked at her wrong. Service was slower and the undercurrents were different. When one of her waiters actually drooled at ANOTHER WOMAN while serving Emma, she had to fight very hard not to lobotomize him. Bobby distracted her with a very complicated dirty joke involving brown haired women (of which her competitor had been) which Emma was sure he'd made up on the spot. It worked, though. By the time she'd figured out why he had a nasty smirk on his face the lady was in the washroom and the waiter was gone. He did not receive a smile for his work but the waiter made it through the evening unscathed (though a version of the joke was burned into his unconscious so deeply he could never look at women of certain appearances comfortably again.)
All together, they were getting along well.
They make it to North Dakota before the first fight. Neither holds back. Logan goes north. Jean goes west. Hatred is deep and forgiveness isn't going to happen.
It takes a good deal of self control not to correct the morally challenged idiot giving advice to impressionable teens in front of him. Bobby succeeds manfully. He knows she firmly believes in enlightened self interest. He knows she cares nothing about the dream. It's okay as long as she isn't messing up kids with that poison. He bites his lip and turns away.
They make up a week later. The love is as hot as the hate was. They promise never to fight again. They actually think they will succeed.
Emma watches the two of them talk. While in diamond form she can't burn people's brains to ashes. This is good. If she hears one more self deprecating remark that his companion doesn't disagree with she will be needing this diamond form to stay out of jail.
By the third fight they realize this isn't going to be all sunshine and lollypops. They're both too hot headed. They both say exactly what they think and think they think exactly what they say. Jean questions whether this is what she wants. Stability is many people's highest goal. She's never thought much of it but now she knows what she was taking for granted. Logan doesn't trust her yet. He waits for it to end. It's her choice. He won't say a thing.
He kissed her. She feels like a school girl, which is ridiculous. She's kissed countless men. It never means anything. But he kissed her!
She can't help smiling. People are looking. But he kissed her! She smiles at Kitty and keeps walking. Blow the little tart's brain. It will do her good to have things run counter to her expectations. Anyways, she can't hate Kitty. Never did. He kissed her! Kitty was basically one of her students. But for a quirk of fate she would have been. No, she doesn't hate Kitty. She's not sure if she hates anyone. He kissed her and he didn't want anything in return. He just kissed her.
She takes a break to think things over. Logan actually laughs when she does. He heads back to his cabin and airs it out, goes hunting and restocks the non perishables. Mostly he waits for her goodbye. She thinks of going back to the mansion but isn't sure if she'll leave again. Anyways, if she moves back there he won't have anywhere to go. She heads for her parents.
The rubble has been cleared away and there are no bodies or blood, so it doesn't look as bad as the night the Shi'ar came for Rachel. She wasn't prepared for a hole where her house used to be, though. She knows what must have happened. You only do this if you have death in mind. She cries. Her heart rips in pieces yet again. First her sister, now her parents. Always because of her.
"It wasn't because of you."
Rachel is here. She must have mentally cried out.
"They were after me. If two people can become the Phoenix then any number can, right?"
Oh Rachel. Oh, you poor, poor girl. I'm so sorry.
"They're all gone. Every trace of family you ever had. I… I didn't even know them."
Come here child. Sit with me. We'll cry together.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm so sorry. I don't know what I did. I just don't know why they did this. I didn't even know them. I didn't even know them."
I know. You've never had a family, have you? You need a family.
She smiled at him as he came into the kitchen and Bobby did the automatic reply. He back peddled and put his hand to his heart, melodramatic shock already on his face.
"Sorry. Habit."
"You have as many bad habits as I do."
"Probably more. Yours just involve nakedness and so are more entertaining."
They're being stared at but he understands what the smile meant. It meant 'I'm tired of hiding.' It meant 'talk to me.' It meant 'I'm not Ororo, I'm not going to take no for an answer.' So he smiles back and sits down across from her. Far enough away she can't play footsy because then he couldn't talk and people would think SHE was seducing HIM.
"Anything good to eat?"
"Please tell me you eat less sugar for breakfast than Jubilee."
"I can tell you this. In fact, the strangest thing I do for breakfast is eat my bacon and sausages cold."
"So they don't need to be cooked."
"Are you trying to poison me, Emma?"
"That would limit conversational opportunities, wouldn't it?"
Banter continues. He watches the crowd. Rogue seems oblivious. Kitty looks absolutely lost. Rachel seems to have a clue - he's not sure what she thinks. Her reaction will be interesting. Remy looks disgusted. Poor Bobby, he's thinking. The simple kid doesn't know he's being played. Bobby snorts. Emma raises an eyebrow.
"Just enjoying life, Emma. Aren't people fascinating?"
Words slip into his mind. It's not invasive, more like warm syrup - sliding through cracks and catching you unawares.
-Gambit's mind IS rather putrid, isn't it? Watching Rachel squirm is fun, too. I can't wait to listen to Kitty and her gossip after.-
-They'll want to rescue me. Remember, this was your idea.-
-Of course. I can only handle so long of people being civil to me. It grates on my nerves.-
-Wouldn't mind a break from the condescension, but what the heck, let's crank it up again.-
-Let the fun begin.-
He grins at Kitty. She saw the mind speak. She gives him a look of disbelief. He laughs, grabs a few more strips of cold bacon and heads off for a Danger Room session. He might as well get in shape, he's going to need to go there and cool down frequently from now on.
"So, what do you think Jubilee will say?"
They're laying in a field near the cabin, letting the warmth soak through their bones. Logan stretches.
"Prob'ly laugh at me."
"Laugh?"
"Yeah. First thing she'll say is 'How d'you know you ain't dreamin'?' Then she'll laugh when she realizes that's what I thought it was. Give me a hug and say 'Finally, dude.' Then she'll probably laugh again.
"How 'bout Rachel? I know Nate's gonna come after me with more guns then the body can humanly hold, but what'll Rachel think?"
"Nathan won't do that!"
"Hmm?"
"He doesn't hate you any more. You guys worked that out, didn't you?"
"Killed his kid. Yah don't work that out. An' he respects Scott."
"He also knows that Scott found someone else. Divorce is hard of children but they're grown ups."
"With the Phoenix Force and big guns."
"My children will not touch you because they really don't want to see what the Phoenix can do when it's angry."
"Don't think Rachel looks that far ahead."
"SHE'S WHAT?!"
"Rachel?"
"IT'S BAD ENOUGH WHAT SHE DID TO MY DAD BUT THIS IS SICK!"
"Rachel? Hello? Best friend talking. You listening?"
"YOU AREN'T DEFENDING EMMA FROST."
"Never. Can you start talking normal again, please? You're hurting my ears."
"Sorry. But I was JUST talking to my mom and she's not getting back together with my dad and she doesn't know when she's coming home and why isn't she coming back and LOOK at my dad, he's barely holding together and if she came back she'd see that and the LAST thing I want to think about is the stupid woman who SEDUCED MY DAD AND RUINED EVERYTHING!"
"So?"
"Five 'you know what you're doing?', two 'you DO realize this is the White Queen, right?', and a 'you're really stupid, you know that?' How about you?"
"Icy silence and one look of such perfect disgust I almost clapped. I have to figure out how to do it."
"Now what? Last time something like this happened I tried to explain myself and cemented everyone's opinion of me as an idiot."
"Never explain yourself."
"Yes, but you live in clouds of frosty hatred. I have enough ice to deal with."
"You're the one who invited me on a date."
"A SECRET date. So that people didn't do this."
"Regretting our relationship?"
"Come on! You know I just like to complain. This is more attention then I've received since people realized I couldn't change from ice."
"They really DO only notice you to feel sorry for you, don't they?"
"Jean was better then that, but yeah, mostly."
"Not another Jean worshipper."
"Second best friend, confidant, and maker of the best hot chocolate the world has ever seen. She raised me, Emma."
"Don't sicken me and make me feel old at the same time, please."
He promised her he'd always come back. He promised her he'd love her forever. He promised her to be faithful. He promised her to love her long after death parted them because neither of them could truly die. He promised her these things in front of a minister. She promised them back. Their hearts were one, their joy was great, but they'd already had their honeymoon. Now they had to return to the real world.
She laughed. Jean couldn't help laughing as well.
"Finally, dude. Couldn't you have sped up the honeymoon a little? Some of us are back home feeling guilty for acting like jerks and then you guys are off staring into each other's eyes in paradise."
"Sorry, Jubes."
"Better be. Congratulations, Jean. What's your last name?"
"Howlett, actually. Grey-Howlett."
"Dude! Don't tell me you found out your last name and never told me!"
"M-Day. Remembered everythin'."
"I am such a jerk. I was yelling at you while you were getting ready to spill! You were going to spill, right? Right? Don't smirk like that - your last name's Howlett. What first name are you hobbled with?"
"Not tellin'."
"James."
"Red!"
"James!"
"Now yah done it."
"James Howlett! You sound like you're from a horror film!"
Jean leaned against the wall and watched. Whenever she or Scott were around their kids they felt guilty and Rachel or Nathan felt uncomfortable. She liked watching Logan and Jubilee simply enjoy each other.
"Think of it this way, Rachel. Now you don't have to worry about Scott and Emma dating anymore."
"Bobby!"
"What, it's true. Now that she's gotten her claws into me Scott's pretty much safe."
"You don't know what she's going to do to you! Look at what she did to my dad!"
"That might have had something to do with him promising to love her forever and then dumping her at the first opportunity."
Not quite as scary as Dark Phoenix. Pretty close, though.
"You know what? I think I'm going to leave now. Please don't turn my brain into mush. I think I'd be a lot happier if you didn't glow like that."
"Does this mean I'm related to Cable?"
"Depends how yer related to me."
Jubilee narrowed her eyes. It was a low blow.
"Oh, come on, Wolvy! You can't expect me to stop calling you partner now. You'll confuse everyone!"
"Then, no."
Jerk. He went and got married and didn't even let her play bridesmaid and now he was trying to mess up all the carefully unsaid beliefs their relationship was built on! Still…
"Hmm. I might have to sacrifice a couple principles. I really want to see the expression Cable would have if I told him I was his new sister."
They arrived back at the Mansion in the evening. . The first motorcycle roared into the garage and the second spun onto the grass - Jubilee wasn't going to miss a second of the fun. She watched a curious crowd gather and grinned at anyone who looked her way. There was a good tree to lean against and she managed a very dramatically casual sprawl - difficult for someone who didn't break five feet no matter how hard she argued otherwise. Bobby sauntered up.
"Logan back?"
"Something like that."
Jean came out first. Jubilee approved, it maximized confusion and dramatic potential. Just as the crowd was getting used to the idea of Jean in black leather on a motorcycle - and crowding around to greet her - Logan came out as well.
It took a moment for this to sink in.
Jean + motorcycle + Logan + single + long absence ?
Jean plus Logan equals something long in the making.
"So, when will we be hearing wedding bells?"
Jean held up her hand.
"You had a wedding without us?!"
"That's what I thought! I would have made a great bridesmaid, right Wolvy? It was completely unfair of them to not include us. I mean, what's a wedding without enemy attacks, alien invasions, homicidal former lovers, and psychotic groomsmen?"
Logan snickered. Jean headed off to share every sickening detail with her friends, which at the moment seemed to consist of the entire female population, minus Emma. Jubilee abandoned Bobby to visit with her former teacher.
"So how goes life in, how did you put it, 'the most virulent, petty, immature, and close minded place on earth'?"
"They've progressed back up from looking down on me to hating me again. After Scott there was a little while where they refrained from attacking me and simply enjoyed my misfortune."
"Very sporting. What'd you do to ruin it all?"
"Accepted a date with Robert."
"…"
"BOBBY!!!!! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE GOING OUT WITH MISS FROST! HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME! NO ONE TELLS ME ANYTHING, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU AND IF I DON'T GET TO BE YOUR BRIDESMAID, MISS FROST, I AM NEVER GOING TO SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!"
This last part was thrown over her shoulder as she headed off at high speeds after her former partner in crime.
Logan snickered again and, for a moment, shared a grin with Emma. Then he turned away. Just because they both liked Jubilee didn't mean they had to like each other. Anyways, Logan wasn't about to start another fight with his bride.
"You MARRIED Wolverine."
"Yes, Rachel."
"Why?"
Jean tried to think of something to say. Looking into the tortured eyes and mind of her might-have-been daughter, however, left her speechless. She simply embraced her and held her while tears finally formed. Logan was put on a backburner while Jean did what she did best. She listened.
M Day, Sentinels, her father, everyone coming back from the dead, but not her mother, never her mother, until she thought her mother wouldn't return until Rachel was gone. That Jean's death was somehow her daughter's fault in returning. They spoke again of the crater where grandma and grandpa had lived. Of how everyone had tried to make her comfortable and get to know her and they'd died.
Everyone has something they're good at. Jean listened.
"So when's the wedding day?"
"Do I look like the type to get married, Jubilee?"
"Well, you wouldn't want to be a bad example to your students, would you? Anyways, Bobby's acting so goody-goody that your gonna have to marry him to have any fun."
"Jubilee, are you giving me relationship advice? From your vast experience?"
"Just reminding you that the Icicle is stubborn."
"Please, go talk to the redhead on Logan's arm. At least you have some experience to give her."
"Miss Frost telling me to talk to Mrs. Summ - Jean? Will wonders never cease? By the way, why don't you think I have experience with Bobby?"
"Jubilee! He didn't! Not you, he didn't go out with you, did he?"
"Calm down! We're partners in crime, remember? Every time I visited the mansion you'd get irate phone calls afterwards by our victims?"
"Right. I've made such a wonderful choice."
"I am SO jealous. I've had a major crush on him for years!"
"Please, Jubilee. Stop reminding me that he's a child."
"A really cute one, though."
"Next time I'm confiding in Monet."
The sound of thrown objects awoke most of the Mansion. One of the objects was human. He destroyed two walls and the rooms behind them on his enforced trip downstairs. One of these belonged to Bobby Drake.
Emma had been five feet from his door when she heard the sound. They'd been talking, mostly. Eventually she'd realized that even in his bedroom nothing else was going to happen. She'd kissed him, let herself out, and planned how to leave. Jubilee was right, and Emma was not designed for marriage.
Then the horrible sound of breaking objects had filled her ears and the door had refused to open. She turned to diamond, smashed it to bits, and tried to find him. Red fire flew past her in the hallway, screaming loud enough to wake the dead. Most of the wall had collapsed on the bed. The super-reinforced wall, complete with shards of metal and exposed electrical wire. Emma dug. There were sounds downstairs but they were meaningless. Only one thing mattered.
It occurred to her, finally, that she would die if he was not alright.
"Wha.. wha' happened?"
A voice, under the mess.
"Bobby. Keep calm. I am digging you out."
"'M in my PJ's? Why?"
"You're in bed."
"Make's sense. Who attacked?"
She stopped then. That thought hadn't crossed her mind. Rage almost made her leave the still half covered Bobby behind.
"Just a moment."
"Please, don't kill anyone, okay? You know how I've got this guilt complex? If you kill someone for knocking a wall on me I'll blame myself. You don't want to add to my self hatred, do you?"
"Shut up, Drake."
He was free. She headed downstairs. Red fire had passed her in the hallway. Someone was going to pay.
The screaming was still going on. Logan looked close to leaving and Jean was crying and yelling at the same time. Emma added a slight telepathic touch to her words. And ice - lot's of ice.
"Jean."
The redhead spun around and transferred her rage to the other telepath.
"Stay out of this, you -"
"You nearly killed Bobby. He's too injured to even come defend you."
"- self centered, st - what?"
"You nearly killed Robert Drake."
The words echoed, yet were almost a whisper. They were in their minds, their ears, perhaps their souls. She could have whispered now, nothing else was needed. There was complete silence throughout the entrance hall.
"Let's see, what did he call you? 'Second best friend, confidant, and maker of the best hot chocolate the world has ever seen.' Every one's your friend, aren't they, Jean? No matter what you do. No matter whom you hurt.
"I'm going to ask Hank to help me now. Please clean up the blood by the time we carry him down. The last thing he needs right now is to start worrying about someone else."
"I'm so sorry, Bobby."
"Don't worry about it, Jean. Walls get knocked down all the time, around here. I'm just glad Rogue's not invulnerable any more. Then it was every second day."
"I was so thoughtless. So cruel. If you had been permanently hurt…"
"I can regrow limbs! I'll be fine, don't worry about it. Now let Emma come in. She's going to break her pretty diamond fingernails soon if she doesn't stop trying to dig through her chair arms. I can hear it from here!"
"I'm sorry, Logan."
"It's 'kay, Red."
"She's right, you know. I've hurt so many people."
"So've I, darlin'. I've done the same."
"I love you, Frost. Did you know that?"
"I've implanted several nightmares into her subconscious, Bobby. She won't be sleeping for months."
"Are you trying to scare me? Go fix it."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll tell her and she'll be able to see just what scares you enough to stick it in her brain."
"I'm not a good person."
"I know. I hate when you advise the kids. I have to leave before I start fighting with you."
"I won't change."
"If I need you to change to love you then I don't actually love you."
"I hate Jean."
"I think the feeling's mutual."
"I hate Henry."
"…What?"
"He abandoned you in a time of need. I hate everyone who's ever hurt you, Robert. That leaves very few X-Men left. In my next moment of weakness I may very well try to wipe them out."
There's silence then, in the medlab. Finally, his eyes, which still surprised her by being brown and not blue, met hers.
"I'd rather you didn't. You remember the guilt complex I have… ?"
Her laughter rang through the medlab.
She couldn't leave him, no matter how much she wanted to. If he didn't give in soon, she might be forced to married him.
He couldn't stop leaving her, no matter how hard he tried. He loved her, fiercely and passionately. He couldn't, though, hold back his anger. He needed to cool off, to think. To be alone.
He revved the bike and a tiny figure ambushed him from out of the bushes. She tossed her backpack into his saddlebags and slid up behind him. She'd brought her own helmet.
Talking with the kid was easy. He'd be able to think just fine. He grinned and revved the bike again. They roared off.
He'd be back. It had been a promise.