Surprise!

Blaze sat at her vanity, slowly brushing her hair free of tangles after her long hot shower. Only her thoughts weren't on her hair, but on two men constantly fighting in her mind. 'What's with me lately?' she pondered. She loved the attention that Spenser gave her, but she loved the way that Logan looked at her and was "real" with her. He never lied. He was interested into what she had to say. Why couldn't she have both? Oh, yeah. Because that's only in a fantasy world. Right. Flux and Bobby left a few hours ago to go to god knows where. She didn't expect them for the rest of the day. If she knew Flux, she would find some thing of interest to do on her birthday. Earlier, they had made plans that after the party, they would head out to a bar and have a few drinks. She was counting down the hours. There was a slight knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah? Who is it?"

"Who do you think?"

"Spenser?"

"Yeah. The Professor told me you were up here. Is it okay if I come in?"

Blaze looked down at herself. She was only in a towel. "Uh, give me a second!" She jumped up and ran into her closet and randomly grabbed some clothes. "Okay! You can come in now." She yelled as she shoved the shirt over her head just as he stepped in.

"Hm… now that's an interesting outfit if I say so myself." He smirked as he walked towards her to give her a kiss.

"What do you mean?" she asked acting offended. Only then did she really look at to what she was wearing. She had on a pair of pink cord pants with a light blue long sleeve shirt under a tie-dyed t-shirt with a peace frog on the front. "Oh, well…um…I'm starting a new fad. What do you think?"

"Well since its May and about eighty degrees outside, I don't think you need the long sleeves and I think the cords are a bit much as well with the weather. Now for the shirt, I think you should retire it and show your kids someday history and leave it be at that." He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. "You randomly chose clothes again didn't you?"

"What?! I don't know what you are talking about." She looked away from his gaze. "Ugh! Yes! I just got out of the shower a few minutes ago…Give me a break!" she pouted as she rested her forehead on his chest.

He chuckled again and lifted her chin with his finger and planted a sweet simple kiss on her lips. "You're so cute when you pout."

"Is that the only thing you like about me?" she asked sweetly and innocently.

"Hm… yeah I think so…" She scoffed and slapped his arm playfully.

"Fine, then. You can get out. I don't need you here, so go." She pointed towards the door and headed back to her closet to get some real clothes. She shut the door behind her but left it cracked just enough to let him see her lift her arms and strip off her shirts. He stepped closer and watched her unbutton and unzip her cords but stopped and turned to him. "Like what you see or do you still I'm cute only when I pout?" she asked as she opened the door a little bit more and tugged on his shirt and pulled him into the closet, shutting the door closed behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pushed her against the wall, losing herself into his kiss. His hands planted on her hips, he broke away from hers and she gave a whimper of discontentment.

"By the way, Happy Birthday." He whispered before he lowered his head again and locked his lips with hers again. He ran his tongue across her lips, asking for access, praying not to be denied. She opened her lips a little and he slid his tongue in, wanting to discover everything about her. His hands started to raise themselves, settling on her breasts as he kneaded them as one of her hands ran through his hair while the other lowered to grope his ass. She soon realized that she was half naked while he was still fully clothed. She began to unbutton his shirt but started to fumble with them and became frustrated. So she ripped the shirt apart, popping off almost all of the buttons in the process. He looked down to assess the damage. Nothing a needle and thread can't fix, but would it be worth it? 'No,' he decided. Screw the shirt. Looking back at his vixen, he saw the lust in her eyes and knew what he had to do. "Are you sure? Once I start, I can't guarantee that I'll stop." He looked her straight in her eyes, looking down into her soul. "You have to want this," he whispered. She nodded her head and pulled his head down for another kiss.

Ring ring!!!

"What the hell!" Spenser reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone. 'Work' it read. "No, today is my day off!" Giving out an apologetic sigh as he looked at Blaze while he flipped his cell open. "Hello. Hi mom. What? No, what happened to Roger? Yeah, I am actually kind of busy. Why can't Aaron go in? Ugh, fine, you win. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Alright, bye." He slammed his cell closed and ran a finger down her jaw to her chin. "I'm sorry babe but I have to go in. I'll hold on to this moment till the moment we can continue." He smiled and gave her a peck on the lips before he picked his shirt up off the floor and walked out of the closet. Her heart was racing.

'What just happened?' It was like she was pushed to the edge of delirium and then rushed back to reality. She couldn't get her heart rate to slow down and her mind couldn't process that what she had started ended as fast as it had started. What had possessed her to become a vixen? She thought that she and Spenser were fine at where they were in their relationship, but he made it clear that he had always wanted this. 'How long has he been waiting for me to make a move?' A thousand questions flooded her mind, so much that her legs couldn't support her weight anymore, so she sank down to the floor sliding down the wall. She looked down at herself, 'yeah, I'm becoming a slut of sorts.' She sighed as a single tear ran down her face. All the men in her life seem to be always leaving her, stranding her at her most vulnerable moment. This moment just proved her point that she had before Spenser walked in. Spenser always gave her attention, but how much was in it for him? Lately, he has become more and more demanding of her time, always wanting her around him. At first, she thought that he wanted to spend more time together since they hadn't in the past. But now, with all that just went down, she couldn't help but question if he was tired of waiting and was hinting that he was ready to move forward with their relationship. The new question was, is she ready for a heavier relationship than what they have right now? She bowed her head into her hands that rested on her knees and began to sob. Why couldn't life be kind just for once?

After a few minutes of her self pity party, she picked herself up off the floor and chose some suitable clothing for the day. As she descended the stairs, she heard voices coming from by the garage door. 'What the hell is going on?' The voices didn't sound too kind but all too familiar. She stood in the shadows and listened in to her sister's problem. When she finally figured that it was probably getting too deep, she decided to step in and mediate. "Okay, y'all need to break it up because there is too much finger pointing going on. I would suggest that Hali needs to have a word with Aaron. And Bobby, you need to talk to Marie. Now go your separate ways and don't look at each other. Okay?" She looked at all four, square in the eyes. But when no one budged, she asked again, "Okay?" Finally Hali nodded and pulled Aaron's arm in the opposite direction of where Bobby and Marie stood while Marie started to pull on Bobby's arm.

"Don't." He said as he stated, walking off in the opposite direction of Hali.

Now, she was once again, in her closet wondering what the heck she was going to wear for the party that the mansion was throwing her and Hali tonight. She didn't really have anything to wear. She had three hours before the "banquet", if you will, would begin. She just got back from relaying Logan's message to the professor and was slightly depressed from seeing Logan again. They haven't spoken to each other in weeks. Seeing him again in the Danger Room stirred feelings that she had buried some weeks ago. Giving an exasperated sigh, she walked out of her room and into Hali's. She wore a somber look on her face, telling Blaze that she too was stuck somewhere between where she has been and where she could be. "I have nothing to wear for tonight." Blaze said as she took the seat next to her sister on her bed.

"I bought a tea dress today when I was with Bobby. I have another dress you could wear. Its more of a sundress. It would fit and its cute." She mumbled under her breath of depression.

"Could I see it?" Blaze asked, hoping to get her out of her rut.

"Yeah." She looked around for the appropriate bag and pulled out a cherry red sundress that reached just above her kneecaps with a square cut neckline that showed enough cleavage to make the dress more appeasing. Blaze shut the door and tried the dress on. It fit like a glove. But of course with both Blaze and Hali having the same figure and dress sizes, what ever fit Hali would surely fit Blaze.

"You look hot, sis." Hali commented on Blaze not only for the dress, but the way Blaze looked like in it. Blaze smiled, she got a response out of her sister. A small victory was won today. "You should definitely wear that tonight."

"What are you wearing?" Hali pulled another dress out but it was a royal blue tea length dress that fit to her form perfectly and commented her curves. It was slightly longer and reached just passed her kneecaps. It had off the shoulder sleeves that didn't really hold anything up, but was just for looks. "Oh my god! You look gorgeous! I can't wait for tonight. Can you?"

"I don't know."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Blaze asked out of concern, sitting next to her sister again. "Doesn't this have to do with Bobby and Aaron?" Hali barely nodded, so much the Blaze almost missed it completely. "How did the talk with Aaron go?"

"Good I guess. I told him that I was tired of the jealous boyfriend act and that he needed to drop it. He apologized for the way he acted. I thought we were good, but when we walked out of my room, Bobby was walking away. He turned and said he was dropping off my bags from this morning. Blaze, the look in his eyes told me that his talk didn't go as well as mine did and he got burned for it. I tried to go after him to tell him that everything would be okay, but Aaron pulled me back. I don't know what to do anymore. This morning, I had so much fun with Bobby. I didn't want it to end. I mean, it was just the two of us, acting like normal people. We weren't mutants from society for five hours and it felt great." Tears started rolling down her cheeks, splashing down on her lap. "I've never felt that free in my whole entire life." Hali looked up into Blaze's eyes and shook her head. "I don't know what I'm feeling but I can't get both Aaron and Bobby's faces out of my mind. I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do Blaze?" she questioned as she finally broke down into sobs. Blaze pulled her sister to her and stroked her hair as she held Hali.

"I don't know what you should do Hali. I'm in the same situation as you. I'm just as lost as you. But I do know that everything will be okay. Just like its always been. Just me and you. We'll make it out alright."

"But Blaze, I love them both so much. How am I supposed to choose?" Blaze didn't really have an answer for that question because she was asking herself that herself.

"I don't know babe, I don't know."

Blaze held Hali until her sobs subsided and dried up. "Come on, we need to get ready for the banquet. We both are blotchy and need to freshen up." Blaze stood up and held out her hand for her sister to take. Hali smiled weakly and nodded as she placed her hand in her sister's.

"Trust me. It'll work. Once I get rid of Aaron and get Hali for myself, Bobby will be all alone and will practically come running to you. I can't see it any other way."

"How are you so sure that Hali won't go back to Aaron? And how are you so sure that Bobby will come back to me? He hates me right now. He won't even talk to me." Marie sighed as she sat down on DJ's bed as she watched him get ready for the banquet. Every one received a banquet for their birthdays. It gave a change of scenery and was helpful to liven up the company.

"As I said, just trust me on this, okay?" Marie nodded. "You want Bobby back right?" she nodded again. "Then don't fret your pretty face over it. It will all work out in the end."

"Okay, are you ready?" Blaze asked Hali as she laced her arm through her sister's arm. Hali merely nodded and gave a smile. Blaze nodded back and opened the door to the banquet hall. Both girls stepped in and froze in their spots. The grand chandeliers were lit with soft classical music playing the background. On the far side of the room was a long table that stretched from one side of the room to the other filled up with food of all sorts. There were two chairs at the head of the eating table, which they assumed were for them. They heard an applause coming from the grand room and realized that it was the whole mansion welcoming them. They smiled and continued in further in the room. Each girl could feel different stares shooting in their way. Blaze felt the heat from Spenser, Logan while poor Hali had Aaron, Bobby, Marie, and DJ staring at her. Hali ducked behind her sister as they made their way to their chairs. The banquet would begin with a formal dinner and then would later involve dancing and mingling. At the mansion, it was important that every one knew how to dance to classical music and further learn of their etiquette. When they sat down, a waiter came by and set their drinks in front of them. Blaze looked up and noticed that the professor was sitting right next to her. He gave her a small nod of agreement and the feast began. The other team leaders were sitting at the head of the table as well as their boyfriends while the students sat on the other end of the table, including Bobby, DJ, and Marie. Hali and Blaze took this time to catch up with the other instructors and their friends. Their schedules have been contradicting to others so they have never seen everyone at the same time like this before. It was fun because they weren't talking about being a mutant or people trying to take over the segregation of the human race. They were just people sitting down for a wonderful feast, enjoying each other's company. Before anyone knew it, the dinner was finished and dessert was being served. Blaze looked over at the professor.

"Professor, are you feeling okay? You look flushed. Is something wrong?" Blaze asked in a hushed voice. Logan could hear her question and cocked his head in his direction to hear his answer.

"Something's amiss but I can't tell what it is without being in Cerebro," he said looking at her as well as Logan. "Don't worry. I'll keep a mind out for anything coming," as he reassured everyone who heard. Blaze offered a meek smile and dug into her chocolaty dessert. Finally, the meal was over and the girls could get up and stretch their legs. The music seemed to get louder and a faster pace. Both girls felt taps on their shoulders and turned to find Aaron and Spenser standing there, offering their hands.

"Care to dance with me?" Spenser asked.

"As well?" followed Aaron. Both girls looked at each other, smiled, and nodded their heads at their boyfriends. Soon every one followed by pairing up and dancing on the big wooden floor. Once the first few songs were over, Blaze and Hali decided to sit out the next few dances and rest. Hali went and sat down at one of the tables while Blaze went off to go get drinks. When Blaze returned, she looked worried but wanted Hali to stay at the table until she came back. "I'm just a little worried about Professor. I'm going to go check in on him. He seems to have disappeared. I'll be right back."

"Okay. Are you sure you want to go alone? Do you want me to come with you?"

Blaze shook her head, "No, I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't have too much fun without me," she said before she walked away. Blaze knew exactly where to find the professor, Cerebro. She walked into the elevator, pushed the correct floor, and waited. When the doors opened, she wasn't surprised to find that Cerebro was being occupied. She would just have to wait until he came out. But how long would that take? A few minutes, hours? Who knew? She decided that it might take sometime so she went and made herself comfortable sitting on the floor next to the door.

What seemed like hours later, she heard a door open but it wasn't to Cerebro. It was the elevator. "So there you are. Hiding from your party I see." She looked up to find Logan standing over her. "Staking out the professor?" She nodded. He returned the nod and sat down next to her.

"What brings you here?" Blaze asked under her breath, but he heard her.

"You. Your sister started to get worried, but all the boys wanted to dance with her so she sent me."

"Why didn't she send Spenser?"

He glanced at her in defense, "I don't know. You need to ask your sister about that. Maybe he didn't care enough to go looking for you. That's your problem, not mine."

"Well, whether you like it or not, you are in the problem because you came for me and not him." She couldn't hold his gaze anymore so she had to find something to concentrate on. "Why did you come? I didn't think you cared about me anymore?"

"Now why would you think that?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that we barely speak to each other anymore. I thought we had a really good relationship going there for a while but I was obviously misled." She let out a sigh and decided that her hands were all of a sudden very interesting.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh my god! Men are so dense! We use to spend a lot of time together and could even stand to be in the same room for a long time, and now you won't even speak to me and if the other enters a room, the other has to leave because the awkwardness is too strong. Now tell me that nothing is happening." Her frustration was making itself apparent and she was tired of having it pent up.

"You're right, I have been avoiding you for quite some time, but that's only because I need to think about our relationship. Well, the lack thereof. You already have a relationship with someone, your boyfriend Spenser." She locked her gaze on his. "I don't fit in that equation."

"Do you really think that's true?"

"It's the truth."

"No it's not! Do you think that's what I want? I don't! I enjoyed the time that we had."

"Let me tell you something, babe. I didn't choose this, you did when you went back to Spenser. So when you're done, let me know." He started to get up when the doors to Cerebro zipped open and the professor wheeled himself out.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Blaze replied, "for now. Is anything wrong? What did you discover in Cerebro?"

"Not much that would be help for me. I know that there is a great power building though. I've never known a power like that. I'll have to keep my eye and mind on it."

"Where is this power coming from?" Logan asked.

"Near Alkali Lake. It may be another mutant returning hoping to find answers. As I said, I'll keep a close eye on it."

'No, it couldn't be could it?' He was the only survivor of the Experiments right? Or were there more mutants out there like him, struggling to remember their past?

"Well we mustn't keep the others waiting now should we? Come, let's get back to the party. This should be a time of celebration, not of worry and depression," the professor said as he wheeled himself towards the elevator. Blaze nodded but stayed where she was. Logan turned in the elevator, "Aren't you coming to your own party?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in just a few. I need to think on some things first, though. I won't be long." She reassured Logan and the professor.

"Okay. We'll see you in a bit." The professor said just before the doors whooshed closed.

"Okay, Chuck. Tell me what's really going on."

"Logan, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You can't play mind tricks on my Chuck. Spit out the truth."

The professor just sat there for a second. "I think the growing power is Jean. She is returning as the Phoenix. She was battling with its powers right before the accident." Silence encompassed the elevator. Logan was at a loss of words. Could she really be alive? After all this time, could she really return to him?

Sorry for the short chapter but I felt I needed to get this chapter out to the readers. Please give me some kind of feed back to let me know what you think. I appreciate all responses, even flames. I don't mind them. The better chapters are soon to come, I promise. School is about to start again so I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be up.