Author's Note: Damn am I evil. I love this chapter. And the next one. And the ones after that. Heeheehee. Remember I love you guys?

Chapter Fourteen

Rachel was trying to sleep, she really was. She knew it was long past midnight, and she had to wake up early the next morning to teach a tennis class to some of the younger kids, but she just couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't that she was worried about anything. She was actually pretty content right then. There wasn't much to keep her awake. She just really wasn't tired. With a sigh, she gave up, rolling out of bed and pulling on a sweatshirt. Winter was approaching, making the nights cold enough that she wasn't quite comfortable walking around the mansion in pajama bottoms and a tank-top. She slid her feet into her favorite slippers and padded downstairs, hoping maybe a midnight snack would help her get to sleep.

Probably not, but Rachel wanted one anyways. Maybe she could find Anorra's stash of peach rings and just hope she wouldn't notice that a few were missing. Then again, maybe not. Anorra had some weird way of knowing whenever someone raided her candy stash. Rachel was pretty sure Anorra counted how much candy she had left every time she hid it. Especially now that they had moved into a mansion with dozens of teenagers and little kids. All of whom had mutant powers. One of them might even have the power to find hidden candy. That would just be awesome.

Rachel grinned to herself as she turned the corner into the kitchen. Her smile widened as she saw Bobby sitting at the kitchen counter, eating out of an ice cream carton. He was wearing sweats and a sweatshirt, which didn't give Rachel any clues as to whether he had tried to go to bed or was just staying up after working out.

"Hey Bobby." She greeted.

He glanced up and smiled at her. "Hi Rach. What's up?"

"Couldn't sleep." She said, sliding into a seat across from him.

"Me neither." He offered her the carton. "You want some?"

Rachel considered, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" She found a spoon and dug into the carton. "You do this a lot?"

He nodded. "Whenever I can't sleep. Lots of people come down here at night, so it's a good place to get some company."

"Guess more people are fans of the midnight snack than I thought." She said.

Bobby grinned. "Guess so. I'm glad it was you tonight, though."

Rachel blushed slightly. "Well, if I can't sleep, you're not exactly the worst company, either. Although it'd be better if tennis was on."

"I think it would be better for you if you were actually at the tennis game." Bobby said.

She smiled, her eyes glazing over slightly. "Yeah. You think I could talk Kurt into teleporting me to Wimbledon this year?"

"If he could teleport that for, he probably would take you." He said. "Although I'm sure if you asked the Professor, he'd let you go. Maybe you could take your tennis students there on a field trip."

Rachel's eyes lit up. "I love the way you think, Bobby. That's the most brilliant idea I've ever heard."

Bobby smiled, looking vaguely pleased with himself. "Always glad to be of service."

They ate in silence for a little while, until Rachel commented, "You know, this makes this pretty much every night that we've run into each other."

"You're right." Bobby agreed. "But at least this time we're fully clothed." He paused, then added with a grin, "You know, you still haven't taken me up on the offer of another sleep over."

Rachel blushed darkly. "Um. I, um…Bobby, I…"

Bobby's grin faded a bit. "Look, Rach, I'm going to be honest with you. I like you. A lot. I just…There's something about you, that makes me feel really comfortable. Like I've known you a lot longer than I really have. Or something stupid like that. But, anyway, the point is that I like you. But if you don't like me, that's okay. Just tell me."

Rachel shifted her weight slightly. She wasn't any good at this. The whole boyfriend girlfriend thing still sort of freaked her out. She wasn't a big fan of commitment. It was fine when they were just friends, with occasional flirting, but now… "I like you, too, Bobby. I really do. Honestly, you're really only below tennis and food on my list of likes…."

Bobby grinned, looking pleased. "Well, I knew I wouldn't beat tennis. And it's hard to be above food. So I come out pretty good, don't I?"

Rachel grinned back, giving a slight snicker. "You do come out good." Oh, it was a good thing her friends weren't there. They'd totally pick apart that comment. She then sobered slightly, though. "I'm just…not ready for anything right now. I mean, I'm only eighteen and I've only known you for about a month…"

Bobby held up his hand. "No worries. It's okay, Rach, it is. Just forget I said anything."

Rachel nodded, but it wasn't likely that she was going to. "All right. I'm, um, going to try and get some sleep, okay? I'll see you tomorrow." She headed up to her room, although she knew she wasn't likely to be falling asleep any time soon. She still wasn't tired, and now she had something to worry about.

Bobby let out a sigh as she left and jabbed his spoon into the ice cream, letting it sit there. He stared at it for a long time, poking at it occasionally, until a slight chuckle announced the arrival of someone else in the kitchen.

"Gambit thinks the ice cream is dead, mon ami." Gambit commented, sitting down in the chair that Rachel had recently left. He was fully dressed, but Bobby didn't have a chance to ask him where he had been before Gambit asked, "What's the matter?"

"Rachel." Bobby said. "I like her, and she says she likes me, but she won't do anything about it."

Gambit shook his head. "Women. Gambit will never understand them."

"Yeah." Bobby agreed. "Women kinda suck."

Gambit chuckled. "Gambit agrees with you there. And it's not always the good kind of sucking, either."

Bobby laughed, then shook his head. "I guess it's not the end of the world. I'll just give her some space."

"I can talk to her, if you want." Gambit offered. "Rachel and Gambit, we get along. She is a great girl."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah. She is. Which makes it suck even more. But, you know, I'd appreciate that. If you think it will help."

"It's worth trying." Gambit said. "Besides, we've talked about you before."

Bobby blinked. "You have?"

"Sure." Gambit said. "Gambit told you we get along."

Bobby hesitated, then asked, "What'd she say?"

"That she wants you." Gambit said, then frowned. "Or something along those lines. Gambit may be paraphrasing a little. But the meaning was there."

Bobby sighed. "So then what's wrong?"

Gambit shrugged. "Hell if Gambit knows."

"Maybe I should talk to one of the girls." Bobby said. "They'd probably understand better."

"True." Gambit agreed. "Women are better at things like that."

The kitchen floorboards creaked slightly, then, although no one else entered the room. Suspicious, Bobby and Gambit stood up, instinctively bringing up their guards. Before either of them could do anything, though, something leaped out of the shadows and tackled Gambit. Bobby jumped over and grabbed hold of the thing, trying to pull it off of Gambit. It was like pulling at molasses, and Bobby couldn't get a good hold on it. He struggled to pull his hands free, but they were stuck fast. The two young men spent a few terse seconds struggling with the thing, and then it sucked them under. They disappeared without a trace, leaving the kitchen empty save for a slowly melting carton of ice cream.

Anorra gave a sleepy yawn as she walked back to her room. She was still wearing her clothes from Monday, despite the fact that it was technically Tuesday. She and Piotr had gone on a walk around the school grounds. They hadn't really spoken much, but even the silence between them had been comfortable. Anorra was trying to get over her shyness, she really was. She had promised him that she would, after all. And she wanted to. She really liked Piotr. She just really wasn't used to being around people.

She had spent so much time on her own. She aged so much slower than everyone else, so although she had the mentality of someone who was twenty-ish, she had actually been alive for about sixty years. It was only for the last twenty years or so that she had come out of the woods and began socializing with people. She had spent most of that time in foster homes, living with anyone who would take her in despite her appearance. Anorra didn't have any real friends until she met the other girls a few years ago.

Even then, she had never been in a relationship before. So she didn't exactly know what to do with this. Anorra had had a few crushes before, but nothing like this. She had never felt about anyone the way she felt about Piotr. And it made her a bit nervous. Around him, and just nervous in general. When she was with him, she just felt safe. Which was sort of contradictory, since she still couldn't keep herself from stuttering or mumbling when trying to talk to him.

She had time, though. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt like she had a home. And she wasn't going to be leaving it any time soon. Which meant she had plenty of time to get over her shyness. Really, she did.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she spotted Rachel coming from the kitchen, looking troubled. Anorra paused at the foot of the stairs, offering Rachel a smile.

"What's up, Rach?" Anorra asked.

Rachel jumped slightly. Apparently she hadn't noticed Anorra standing there. "Oh. Um, nothing."

Anorra raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, 'cause I believe that."

"Nothing. It's stupid." Rachel said, then shrugged. "Bobby said he liked me."

Anorra blinked at her. "Um, and that's a bad thing because…?"

"It's not." Rachel said. "Well, not really. But now I kinda have to do something about it."

"Still not seeing the bad here." Anorra said. "You like Bobby. It's obvious. You hang out with him all the time, you stare at him randomly, and you talk about him. And Bobby likes you."

"It's not that simple." Rachel said. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

Anorra shrugged. "Okay, fine. But you know the other probably won't let it drop."

"I know." Rachel said, then changed the subject. "How was your walk?"

"It was nice." Anorra said. "A little cold out, though."

"Ahhh." Rachel said with a grin. "I thought that jacket looked a little big on you."

Anorra blushed metallic pink. Piotr had caught her shivering once and had offered her his coat. Anorra had declined, but when he saw her do it again, he had shrugged out of his windbreaker and draped it over her shoulders. It was indeed too big for her, but Anorra didn't mind. It was nice and warm. And it smelled like his cologne. When they had separated for the night, both of them had forgotten the coat. In fact, Anorra had forgotten she was wearing it until right now.

"Awww." Rachel said. "He gave you his jacket. That's so cute."

"Shut it, you." Anorra grumbled. "He was just being thoughtful."

"I'm sure he was." Rachel agreed. "So that's, what, two dates today?"

"It wasn't a date!" Anorra said. "We just went for a walk."

"Uh-huh." Rachel said in a disbelieving tone. "I notice you didn't say anything about lunch."

"Hey, no fair." Anorra said. "If I don't get to talk about you and Bobby, then you don't get to talk about me and Piotr." She paused. "Let's talk about Zephyr. She's the first one to have an official boyfriend, after all."

"Hey, yeah." Rachel agreed. "We haven't teased her enough about that. We should make that our mission tomorrow."

"I like that idea. We…" Anorra trailed off, stiffening slightly.

Rachel tensed. Samantha and Anorra had above average senses, so when one of them did that, it usually meant trouble. "What is it?"

"I don't know." Anorra admitted, sounding troubled. "There's something wrong with the air. Or something."

"Should we go get Xavier?" Rachel asked, looking around to see what was wrong.

"I don't know. I think that might…." She trailed off again, letting out a little muffled scream as something grabbed Rachel from behind and began pulling her against a wall. "Rachel!" Anorra shouted, lunging to help her friend.

Anorra reached Rachel just as she began disappearing into the shadow on the wall. The scaled mutant grabbed Rachel by the arms and pulled, trying to free her. Unfortunately, the thing inside the shadow was stronger, and it gave one massive yank, sending both of them tumbling into the shadow and disappearing from sight.

No one needed sleep. Which was why Samantha had settled herself in the rec room with the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, planning on watching all of the movies before she went to bed. Besides, she didn't have anything until her Latin class the next afternoon, so she could just sleep through breakfast if she felt like it. The night was cold, and her Darth Maul boxers and black Batman tank-top just didn't cut it, so she was snuggled under her fuzzy purple blanket. She had only just started the first movie when Kurt walked into the room, fully clothed and wearing his coat.

"Hey." Samantha greeted. "Did you go out?"

"Just a brief trip to pick up some more milk. We were out." Kurt said. "What are you watching?"

"Pirates of the Caribbean." She replied.

Kurt grinned. "Do you mind if I join you? It's no Errol Flynn piece, but I'm there for any pirate film."

Samantha stared at him for a moment, then grinned. "I love you." She teased. "Have a seat. Want me to start it over?"

"Nah." He said. "It's close enough to the beginning."

Kurt plopped down on the couch, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. Samantha had been leaning against the armrest of the couch, but had straightened when he sat down. She snuggled against him instead, resting her head against his chest. He didn't particularly mind. Kurt was getting used to how touchy-feely she was, and was actually starting to like it a bit.

That had been awhile ago. They had gone through the first movie and were halfway through the second when Samantha gave a bit of a chuckle.

"What?" Kurt asked.

"It's almost one o'clock in the morning." She said. "When you fall asleep in your early class tomorrow, you should tell your students that you were up late watching pirate movies. It'll be funny."

He chuckled. "I imagine it would be. Hopefully I can manage to refrain from falling asleep, though. I doubt that would make a good impression on my students."

"Yeah, but telling them that you watch pirate movies would." She said with a grin. "It's impossible not to love pirate movies. Really, it is."

Kurt laughed. "I certainly think so, but I'm not sure everyone would agree with us."

"Oh, no." She said. "They would. Because I said so."

"And no one would dare go against something once you have spoken." He said.

She grinned. "Exactly. I always win."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I seem to recall being the winner last time we discussed winning."

Samantha frowned. "That's right. Dang it." She paused. "Oh, but I put on the pirates movie. So I win again."

He opened his mouth to reply, but then hesitated. "Do you hear that?"

She didn't respond right away, since she was already sitting up, peering around the room. "No. I don't hear anything. At all."

Kurt nodded. The movie was still playing, and they could hear each other, but all sounds outside of the room had ceased. The mansion had stopped creaking, the faint music coming from the room above this one was gone, and even the crickets outside had fallen silent. And eerie, an entirely unnatural calm had spread over the mansion.

Samantha stood up, slipping her socked feet into the black sneakers she had left under the coffee table. "Something's really not right here."

"I agree." He replied, joining her. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up as he shifted his weight, looking around. "We should go get the Professor."

A low growl, too low for normal ears to pick up, began to sound throughout the room. It took Kurt a moment to realize that the sound was coming from Samantha. He glanced back at her, the look of unease on his face mirrored in hers.

"I don't think we're alone." She said, her eyes darting about the room.

Something lunged out of the shadows, then, jumping straight at Samantha. She ducked and the thing flew over her head to disappear into another shadow.

"We're under attack." Samantha said, her voice slightly absent as most of her concentration was spent on trying to find where the shadow thing had gone.

"We must warn the others." Kurt agreed, holding out his hand to Samantha so he could teleport them out.

She reached for it, but was shoved aside by another shadow thing. She rolled, springing to her feet a little bit away from him. "Go. I'll take care of this."

He shook his head. "I'm not leaving you." Kurt raised his voice. "X-men! The mansion is under attack! Professor Xavier!" He yelled, but was only met with silence. "I don't think anyone can hear us." He told Samantha.

Samantha considered that. "Well, the animals can still hear me." She sent out a mental shout and felt them responding, rousing themselves from their sleep in order to make as much racket as possible. "We can't hear them, but they're up and making noise."

"Hopefully whatever is affecting us isn't affecting the whole mansion." Kurt said.

She paused. She hadn't thought of that. "Damn. I hope not."

They remained in silence for a moment, then Kurt began slowing inching towards her. The shadow thing lunged again, this time making Kurt jump upwards to grab onto the wall and remain there, eyes searching the room wildly.

"I think it reacts to movement." Kurt said.

"I think you're right." Samantha replied. "Maybe we can trap it? I'll lure it out and you grab it?"

"Sounds like a plan." He said, crawling across the wall until he was right above her. "Read when you are."

Samantha moved forward and the thing came out, barreling towards her. Kurt released his grip on the wall and pounced on it, pinning it to the ground.

"Nice shot." Samantha said, grinning at him.

"It was nothing." Kurt said, then let out a surprised exclamation in German as he began sinking into the shadow thing that he was holding onto.

"Kurt!" Samantha yelled, reaching for him.

She grabbed his hand and pulled, raising him a few inches out of the shadow. The shadow reacted, though, churning wildly and then raising up, sucking both of them down into it. The shadow twitched for a moment, then calmed, returning to normal. The thing stepped out of another shadow as the sound of the rest of the mansion came back into the room, filling it with loud animal calls and the sounds of people turning from irritated to concerned. It smiled, showing off rows of fanged teeth. "Six down."

TBC……..