Author's Note: Something I forgot in the last chapter….Credit goes to Abby for the cute ending scene between Anorra and Piotr. This chapter's shorter than the last one, mainly because I realized I don't have to write out every single little thing that happens during the day. And because I'm tired and have finished writing for the night. Yes. This time, flamers will be sent to Paesha, who will glare them into submission with her angry unibrow and then engorf them with her chest. That is all.
Chapter Six
The sound of knocking startled Piotr out of a half-sleep and he blinked, glancing over at Anorra before standing to answer the door.
"There y….um." Cassandra started, then trailed off, her eyes widening as she saw Piotr.
"Is there, um, a reason why you're in Anorra's room, Pete?" Samantha asked.
Piotr blushed slightly, glancing away for a moment before he looked back at the two of them. "Yes. Anorra was injured more than she let on yesterday. I took her to the medical area late last night."
Samantha's amused smile faded. "What? Is she okay?"
Piotr nodded. "She is fine. Resting. I stayed with her to make sure."
"I'll stay with you." Samantha said, starting for the door.
Cassandra stopped her. "Anorra probably doesn't need more people hovering around her, Sam."
"But…" Samantha started.
"Besides, I'm sure Piotr will do a wonderful job watching out for her." Cassandra said.
"Oh." Samantha said, realizing what she meant. "Okay, you're right."
"Good." Cassandra said, satisfied. "We'll come back after breakfast, Pete."
"Gimme a minute, Cass, I'll see you down there." Samantha told her.
Piotr blinked at Samantha as she turned back at him after Cassandra started off.
"Anorra's one of my best friends, Piotr." Samantha said quietly. "She's really important to me, to us. So take good care of her, okay?"
Piotr looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "I will." He promised.
She smiled, then stood up on her tip-toes to give him a hug. "Thanks, Pete. I had a feeling I could count on you."
He hugged her back, somewhat awkwardly, although he could tell the sentiment was entirely unromantic, which made him feel more at ease. Piotr was reminded of Illyana for a moment.
"I will see you later, Samantha." Piotr told her when she let go.
"Sam." She said, then waved. "We'll bring you guys back some food."
Piotr closed the door after her, then returned to Anorra's bedside. His eyes lingered on her face as he thought about what a wonderful person she must be to inspire the kind of love her friends had for her. Piotr had been a little taken with her from the moment he first saw her beautiful silver skin, so like his and yet so different. He wasn't sure if she liked him, though. He had seen the way she acted with her friends, so much more cheerful and at ease than she was with him. But he had only known her a few days, so perhaps that was the problem. Or maybe it was his fault. Piotr had never been very eloquent around women, especially not when he was starting to develop feelings for them.
He remained like that for a fairly long time, just looking at her. Some of her silvery hair had fallen across her face, so he reached out to gently brush the strands aside. The tips of his fingers lingered on her scales for a moment as he marveled at how they felt beneath his skin. The feeling was a good one, and it was one he could see himself wanting quite often.
The touch must have woken her, though, as she began stirring. Piotr withdrew his hand and watched her blue eyes open, blink, and then finally focus on him. She smiled at him in that moment after she had left sleep but before she had entirely woken up, looking happy to see him. Piotr smiled back, gazing tenderly at her. Then the moment broke and she blinked again, looking at him in confusion.
"Are you all right?" Piotr asked.
"I feel fine. Good. Better." Anorra said, then frowned. "Uhh…why are you, um, in my room?"
Piotr's smile faded a bit. "How much of last night do you remember?"
Anorra considered that. "Umm….We met in the hall….And then a fuzzy blue guy, but he didn't have a tail…Did Kurt cut off his tail?"
Samantha had apparently walked in on the last part of that comment, since she was suddenly next to them asking, "What? Kurt cut off his tail?"
Piotr laughed softly. "No. That was Beast, Anorra, he is the resident scientist."
Samantha calmed down, then handed Piotr a paper plate covered with various breakfast items. "Told you I'd bring you some food."
"Thank you, Sam." Piotr said, accepting the plate.
Samantha nodded and turned to Anorra. "How are you feeling, sweetie? I can't believe you didn't tell us you were so hurt that you needed medical attention."
"I didn't think I did." Anorra replied. "I thought I wasn't hurt that bad." The smell of Piotr's food was making her a bit hungry, so she asked hopefully, "Did you bring me anything?"
"Cassandra's got yours." Samantha said. "She, Zephyr, and Rachel should be up here in a minute. I think Bobby and Rogue are coming, too. Maybe Warren, he was eating with us. Oh, and Gambit. He invaded our table. I think Rogue might chase him away, now."
"What, is there just going to be a party in my room now?" Anorra muttered.
"Cass and I told them about you and everyone was worried." Samantha told her. "Well, except maybe Warren and Gambit. 'Cause they don't know you and everything."
"We have food!" Cassandra announced, kicking open the door.
Everyone Samantha had mentioned filed into the room, their expressions in varying stages of concern.
"And the best of company, petite." Gambit said, giving her a grin.
"You better not be talking about yourself, swamp rat." Rogue told him.
"How're you doing, Anorra?' Zephyr asked.
"If anyone else asks me that, I'm going to hit them." Anorra said, mostly joking. "I'm fine."
"Thanks to Piotr. You're supposed to be the smart one, you know. Sam and Rachel are the ones who are stubborn idiots." Cassandra said.
"Hey!" Rachel protested. "I'm not an idiot."
The chatter continued for awhile until Anorra rolled her eyes.
"If you all are going to invade my room, you could at least give me some of the food you claim to have." She commented, sitting up.
Apparently she had forgotten that she wasn't wearing anything. Or just didn't realize it, since she didn't really seem to remember much of last night. Whatever the case, as soon as her covers fell off, her bare chest was revealed to the room. There was a long silence, then all of the men blushed and looked away.
Except for Gambit, who looked ready to say something until Samantha informed him, "No, Gambit. You being undressed would not make anything better."
Gambit grinned. "How you know what Gambit was going to say, petite?"
"Zephyr told us what happened." Cassandra said, handing Anorra a shirt that she had fished out of the silver woman's closet.
Anorra put it on, blushing darkly and still not saying anything.
"Okay, boys, all better." Cassandra said. "You can turn around now."
Rogue grinned. "You know, before y'all came here things weren't nearly this exciting."
"Gambit make everything better, chere." Gambit agreed.
Rogue glared at him. "Not you."
Bobby eyed Gambit for a moment, but then turned to Rachel. "She's right. I've run into you three times in the middle of the night. Which is, like, three times more than I've run into people before."
"Wait, you guys ran into each other last night?" Samantha demanded. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Rachel blushed. "Because I knew you guys wouldn't shut up."
"Blarg!" Anorra finally shouted. "Get the fuck out of my room!" She paused, then looked at Piotr. "Except you. You can stay."
"Fine. We know when we're not loved." Cassandra said, mock-pouting.
"Sorry, Anorra." Zephyr said. "We'll leave you alone now. We just wanted to check on you."
They said their good-byes, although Warren's was faint and almost squeaky, then trickled out of the room, leaving Anorra and Piotr alone once more.
Rachel was actually sort of glad she had detention right now. It would prevent her friends from teasing her now that they had found out about the fact that she had run into Bobby again last night. It was getting a bit silly now. Rachel had even gone to take a shower at about ten pm, four or five hours before they usually ran into each other. Apparently he had gotten the same idea, though, because he had walked out of his room in a towel the same time as she had.
Well, hopefully, by the time her detention was finished, they would have forgotten about it. Somehow she doubted it, though. Her friends never seemed to forget embarrassing incidents. Unfortunately.
Rachel had gotten a sort of revenge, though, at least on Samantha. The two of them had met outside of Classroom A, then had been told what their detention assignments were. Samantha had a Danger Room session with Logan, but Rachel had just ended up having to help Gambit clean out his new office. When they had gotten there, Gambit took a look around, then just cleared out a few things before declaring it good enough. Now they were just lounging in his office, drinking sodas and chatting about nothing in particular.
"Easiest detention ever, non?" Gambit asked. "What you and Sam do to make the Professor angry with you?"
"I have no idea." Rachel said. "I'm not even sure how we got detention in the first place, since we're not students."
"You must have done something really bad, then. Shame you don't remember what it was, Gambit would've liked to know." He said, winking at her.
Rachel blushed. "Honestly, I haven't done anything. Not bad anyway, just some embarrassing stuff. It's probably Sam's fault. It usually is."
Gambit laughed. "Sam, she is a trouble maker?"
"Sometimes. She and Cassandra are the most hyper-active of the group. It's not really a good idea to leave them alone together." Rachel said, then grinned. "Sometimes I'm just as bad, though."
Gambit grinned. "You let Gambit join in your fun, non? He can show you a thing or two."
"Don't tell Sam or Cass that." Rachel said. "They'll take it completely the wrong way."
"What makes you think Gambit didn't mean it that way?" He teased.
Rachel laughed. "Yeah, you guys will get along great. I think Cassandra likes you, too. And Zephyr, although that's probably only because of your little shower scene."
"The highlight of Gambit's day." He commented. "And it's the truth. The women, they cannot resist Gambit."
"Rogue seems to be doing a pretty good job." She said.
Gambit sighed. "Ah, yes. The only woman Gambit wants and she is not for him to take."
"I know what you mean." Rachel agreed without realizing what she was saying.
He raised an eyebrow. "There is a woman you want that you cannot have?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "No. Bobby, actually. And I don't know why I just said that."
"Ahh." Gambit nodded. "Because you and Gambit are alike. You like the man who is dating the woman that Gambit wants."
"I guess you could say that." Rachel said. "It's not really anything, though. I've only known him for a few days, so…."
Gambit shook his head. "That does not matter, petite. Sometimes, you just know."
"I don't have to fight you, Logan, do I?" Samantha asked.
"Why, kid, you scared?" Logan returned.
Samantha grinned. "No, but Cassandra might kill me if I hurt you. She likes you, apparently." She tilted her head at him. "I can sort of see why. Not in that way, though. She's welcome to that."
Logan didn't know what to do with the information that Cassandra liked him. It was sort of like finding out that Rogue had a crush on him. Except….Well, not quite as surprising, for some reason. And not as unthinkable. "You talk just as much as she does."
"I know." Samantha said. "Sorry. Tell me to shut up and I will."
"Really?" Logan asked.
"Yup." She said. "But then I tend to make with the touchy-feely."
Logan stared at her, then shook his head. He didn't want to know. "No, kid, we're not fighting. We're going to be on the same team."
"Awesome." She said. "You want me human or should I shift?"
"Whatever you're more comfortable with." Logan finished setting the Danger Room to the session they were going to do, then gestured for her to follow him into the room.
She did so, remaining human for the time being. The program started up and a forest appeared before them. It was night time and a few owls were hooting.
Samantha frowned. "I can't feel the owls."
"They're not really here, you know." Wolverine said.
"Not fair." Samantha grumbled. "Half of my power is gone."
Wolverine shushed her as they walked through the forest. Before long, they were ambushed by a large group of soldiers. Logan let out a growl and lunged at them, and Samantha did the same. There was a brief but furious battle, then all of the soldiers lay unconscious of the ground. Samantha was breathing heavily, but relatively unscratched. Wolverine hadn't even worked up a sweat.
"You did good, kid. But head's up. We're not done yet." He said.
They went through the forest for nearly an hour, fighting off anyone who attacked them. About half-way through, Samantha had changed into a large black lion and began being able to take out almost as many men as Wolverine. Not quite, though. Finally, they reached the end of the forest and the simulation ended.
"All done, Samantha." Wolverine said, then frowned. "Do you have a codename yet?"
Samantha shook her head. No. I haven't thought of one. I'm not changing back yet, because I trashed my outfit.
"You can't change with clothes?" Wolverine asked.
Nope. Only if they're skintight. She replied.
"Guess we better get you a uniform, then, kid. I'll talk to Chuck tonight." He said.
Does this mean I'm an X-man? Samantha asked, her mental voice excited.
"No, you're a kid, who just happens to dress up and play super-hero with the other kids. And some adults." He said.
I'll take that as a yes. You're not as bad as you act, you know. She said.
Wolverine narrowed his eyes. "I'm not?"
If he didn't know any better, he'd say her lion form was grinning. Nope. You're secretly a softie. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Except Cassandra. But she already knows.
Wolverine shook his head. He knew staying here was a bad idea. He didn't need a bunch of kids attaching themselves to him. And he definitely didn't need to get attached to anyone else. That never ended well. Jean had died, and he had almost gotten Rogue killed numerous times. And yet here he was. Starting to get his emotions involved.
Okay, well, I'm kinda dead. And I'm going to be even more dead after I change back. So I'm going to go upstairs and relax before my riding class. Samantha told him, stretching and heading towards the exit. Thanks for the lesson.
Zephyr knocked on Anorra's door to see if she wanted to come down to dinner. Cassandra, Rachel, Bobby, Rogue, and Gambit had already headed downstairs to grab a table, and Samantha was apparently still tired from her Danger Room session with Logan and her riding class, as she had decided to sleep through dinner. Probably so she could be awake enough to enjoy her German lesson with Kurt later in the evening.
The door opened, then, and Piotr stuck his head out.
"Have you been in here all day?" Zephyr asked.
Piotr blushed slightly. "Yes. We have been talking. Anorra was not feeling up to getting out of bed, so I remained with her."
Zephyr smiled. "That's really sweet of you, Piotr. You're a good friend."
He blushed even more. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She said. "Are you guys coming down to dinner?"
Piotr shook his head. "Anorra is resting now. She is still a little tired from the medication Beast gave her."
"Okay. Tell her I said hi when she wakes up." Zephyr requested.
"I will." Piotr said. "See you later."
"Bye Pete." She said, waving as he shut the door. She then headed down the hall, looking forward to telling her friends that Piotr had stayed in Anorra's room all day.
"Zephyr?" Warren asked, catching up with her in the hall. "Hey."
"Hey, Warren!" She greeted cheerfully, pleased to see him. "You're sitting with us for dinner again, right?"
"Yeah." He replied. "I wouldn't be as entertained anywhere else."
Zephyr grinned. "See, I told you that you'd like it here."
Warren nodded, then hesitated.
"What is it?" Zephyr asked. "You can tell me."
"Well, I know we haven't known each other that long, but did you maybe want to go see a movie with me sometime?" Warren asked in one big breath.
Zephyr took a moment to figure out what he had said, then a slow smile spread over her face. She was so glad she had come here. If she hadn't, then she wouldn't have an incredibly sweet, incredibly gorgeous young man who she would love to know better asking her on a date. "I'd love that." She replied, smiling shyly at him.
His face lit up. "Really? Good. Um, great. Friday? Is that okay?"
"Sure." She agreed. "Friday sounds good. Evening?"
Warren nodded as the two of them entered the dining hall. The subject was dropped, then, as they sat down with their friends, but both of them retained a cheerful air that didn't go unnoticed.
After Samantha had woken up from her nap, she was still a bit tired, so she took a shower to try and wake herself up. Really. That was the only reason why she was showering. It had nothing to do with wanting to look nice for her German lesson. Because it was just a lesson, after all, not a date or anything. Still, though, Samantha arrived at Kurt's office a few minutes early and was feeling a bit excited.
"Guten Tag." Kurt greeted. "You are early."
"Is that okay?" Samantha asked.
Kurt nodded. "It is no problem. I have been ready for awhile. What would you like to learn tonight?"
For once, Samantha's mind was out of the gutter, since she didn't take his statement in any other way than the way it was meant. It was probably because none of her friends were with her. "I don't know. Maybe we could start with just some phrases?"
"Sounds good." Kurt agreed. "Have a seat."
Samantha sat down in a chair in front of his desk and he crouched on top of it, making her smile.
"That's so cool, how you can do that." Samantha commented. "You used to be an acrobat, right? Rogue mentioned it."
Kurt looked pleased at her compliment, then nodded. "Yes, in the circus. My mutation helps with it."
"Mine, too." She said. "I do some gymnastics. It's always been easier for me, since I have an animal mutation."
"Yes, the shapeshifting." Kurt said. "I must admit I was surprised to see a donkey in the middle of the dining hall."
She blushed slightly. "I can be random sometimes. It's how I ended up with a tattoo."
"Random is not necessarily bad." He said. "And you have a tattoo?"
"Yeah." Samantha said, pulling down her left sock to show the small tattoo of a crescent moon inside a sun on her left ankle. "Rachel and I found a tattoo parlor one day and just got them."
Kurt smiled at her. "It is lovely."
"So are yours." Samantha told him. "Angelic symbols, right? My mom has some painted in her room at home."
"She is the Catholic one, yes?" Kurt asked.
Samantha nodded. "She's Irish, so it's pretty much a given that she's Catholic." She joked.
Kurt laughed. "True. Should we move on to the German now?"
"Good idea." Samantha agreed.
They moved on to the German, then, but they didn't stay there very long before they began talking about other things again. The conversation moved back and forth from an actual German lesson to just random things they wanted to talk about, until Samantha realized it was past midnight and it was probably time to head to sleep. Especially since Kurt was teaching a class early the next morning.
"Thanks for the lesson, Kurt, I appreciate it." Samantha told him.
"I enjoyed it as well." He said. "Perhaps we can do it again sometime?"
"I'd love that. Maybe this can be a regular Monday night thing?" She asked.
Kurt smiled. "Wunderbar. I will look forward to Mondays, then."
"Me, too. Night, Kurt." Samantha said as she stood up and headed out of the door.
"Schlafen siegut." Kurt replied, then clarified, "Sleep well."