M o t i v a t i o n

Chapter 3


Laura wasn't going to lie, this was one hell of a birthday party. Some of the guys were in the pool, swimming. Wanda offered to let the girls use some of her swimsuits, and Laura found herself to be the only one saying no to the offer. Wanda could short Rogue's powers for a while, but the pair would have to be near each other at all times and she would have to take a break later on. From her spot on the small porch, she could see that Rogue was enjoying her time, even though she was still wary about touching someone. She jumped when Remy snuck up on her.

Laura chose to relax with Fred and Toad. All three of them were enjoying themselves well enough eating and talking about random things. She had to request Fred to be in between all three of them, and he agreed, as long as Laura remained closest to the rest of the crowd messing around in the pool. At first, Laura assumed it was simply for Toad, in case he managed to bypass Fred so he could bug Laura, but the more she thought of it, it seemed that it may not be the case.

"I get to go to Texas soon," Fred said, "I hated working there, but it's home." He shrugged and Laura smiled, not able to understand that statement, but to just to be polite. As nice as he seemed now, Laura had heard the story of when he kidnapped Jean. Sweet as he may be, he was still a potential threat. She glanced at the guys in the pool, playing and enjoying themselves. They all were. But she could play nice. And she would.

"I was in Texas once," Laura told the two, twirling her spoon around a small bowl of tzatziki. Pietro had told her that it was mainly used as a dip, but she liked it like this. He added mint to it. She really liked mint.

"Really? What part?"

"Around Marion," she told him, "I was heading to Louisiana for work."

It wasn't a lie; she did head there for work. But that was when she was with H.Y.D.R.A. A family of four, all adult. The oldest was a future owner of some big fortune. The order was to kill all four. Just in case.

"Really," came a voice from behind her, interested, "have you ever been to Caddo Lake?"

Laura looked at the man as he rubbed a towel against his hair. She almost forgot that Gambit – Remy – was from Louisiana. And she realized what an absurd thought that was.

"I have," she nodded, "I didn't stay for long though. And it was at night."

The youngest of that family had tried to run. He tripped and fell into the lake. The trigger scent laced on his body was lost in the tide.

But so was he.

"Yo, remember when we saw Big Foot," Toad said. Laura blinked, having forgotten about Toad.

"Please," Remy rolled his eyes, "Prolly ol' Sabertooth lurkin' through the trees."

The guys laughed, as Laura took a bit of the tzatziki. She would have to talk to Pietro about getting regular supplies of this. She took another spoonful, looking over the Cajun's shoulder at the rest of the people coming out. John had a strange expression on his face, while both Maximoff twins had matching grins on their faces. Lance and Kitty were lagging behind, peaceful grins on their faces. It was then that Laura felt a strong amount of jealousy for them.

Kitty had always been talking about Lance. How much she loved him, how much he loved her. What funny thing Lance did or said on a certain day. At first it was cute; she hadn't seen a person with that much bubbly energy since Kiden, and she honestly missed it. Then it was annoying; as much as she loved seeing the X-Girl smile and laugh, she wished she had other reasons for that happiness. After that, she stop caring; Kitty was happy. And having a happy Kitty was better than a depressed one.

This would be the first time she had actually saw the two together. And she saw that even if she didn't see the love, she did see the compassion, the attraction, and the warmth. And call her selfish, she wished that she could have that.

"Hey," came Pietro, taking a towel from a nearby chair, "do you guys want to bring this in or are you okay outside?"

"It's gettin' dark, yo," Toad answered, "don't want no creepers comin' from the woods."

Laura smiled and stood up. She had one hand holding her little bowl of tzatiziki, with the other pushing stray strands out of her face.

"Need me to bring anything in?"

Pietro looked at her and shook his head. He gave her a smirk and zipped off. A gust of wind flew by her and she gave a surprised look at the twin, not expecting him to run off like that. Wanda rolled her eyes, obviously accustomed to Pietro's behavior.

"Showoff."

When he came back, Laura realized that the tables have been cleared off. A glance inside would tell her that all food and drinks were in the kitchen. Everyone started filing in, leaving Pietro and Laura outside alone. She was irritated with herself at showing such surprise at Pietro's powers, she had met other speedsters, but she wasn't going to lie, none of them had anything on Pietro.

She looked Pietro in the face, and realized that he was quite proud at her reaction. His hair and skin must have dried off while he was running because she didn't see a drop on him. And for quite a lanky man, Pietro had muscles on him. She blinked, looking down when she realized that she had to an extent been checking him out. She saw no shame in it (not like she would act on it), but she had been told a number of times that her staring at a person was quite... unnerving to say the least.

She frowned, did she look as threatening as she was?

The sound of movement brought her attention back to the person in front of her. Her focus. She blinked, irritated with herself at being so out of it lately before holding her bowl up at him. Pietro looked down at the bowl, wondering what exactly she wanted. Times like this, Laura wished for Jean's powers, communicating was much easier and efficient.

"Do you have more? Tzatiziki, I mean."

Pietro looked up at her, his eyes a bit glazed over. Then he blinked, nodded and told her that he did. He let his hand move to the small of her back as he led her inside. Laura didn't need her great eyesight to know that it was Kitty who just just fazed through the wall. For such a great power like hers, she would expect her spy skills to be better. A glance at Pietro showed that he was thinking the same thing as well.

There was laughter on the other side before it abruptly stopped. Laura figured that Kitty told them what she saw and they found something funny about it, before they realized that the pair could hear them. She tilted her head in confusion. What was so strange about what happened outside?

OoOoO

Rogue and Remy was the first two to go. Kitty didn't want to leave so soon and Laura wasn't leaving until Kitty did. So Rogue volunteered to go and tell one of the adults that the two would be arriving late. Laura noticed with a small amount of amusement that Remy immediately trailed after.

So Kitty and Lance went back to his room to talk. Laura crinkled her nose in slight disgust. She didn't care about about what they did up there, but... she could hear them. Fred looked at her with a slight look of understanding.

Laura tried to distract herself by observing the others.

Wanda was being hit on by both Todd and John. She watched as Wanda backed further into the couch, trying not to use her powers to attack them. Laura wondered if she should go over and help her, or if this was all an act and they were just playing around. She really didn't know when it came to these types of social situations. Laura turned away, looking for something else to do. Wanda was strong, if she wanted the two to leave her alone, then she would do it without any assistance.

Her eyes wandered for a moment until she saw Pietro moving around in the kitchen. She glanced at Fred, who was relaxing while watching some Powerpuff Girls knock-off, then headed to the kitchen. Pietro was packing up some of the food when she arrived and he looked up at her with a grin when she arrived.

"Let me guess," he said, "the two lovebirds are upstairs 'talking', right?"

Laura blinked, then nodded. Pietro lead her to the table and sat her down.

"Then I guess that means that I'll be the one entertaining you for now."

Laura looked at Pietro, smiling at the obvious innuendo then gave a reply of her own.

"I really doubt that you're capable of entertaining me."

Pietro gave her something of a sultry look.

"Gonna have to change that then."

OoOoO

Kofta was really just big meatballs with eggs and curry mixed in it. It was a little to messy for Laura's tastes, but they were amazing. Laura wanted to say that it was simply that she liked this type of stuff so she could avoid complimenting the grinning man sitting beside her. But she knew for a fact that he was just that great of a cook, because she never tasted anything like this.

Pietro was watching her with some type of weird fascination. Usually, Laura would be bothered by the staring, but there was nothing too clinical about the way he looked at her. He simply just wanted to look at her. Laura was curious about why he wasn't eating. The man's metabolism made sure that he had to eat just as much as her to retain all of that energy. Laura took supplements along with her food to get enough of the proper stuff in her diet, curtsey of Xavier, but she was curious about Pietro. Did he have to take anything for his mutation?

Laura reached over to take a tissue but her hand was stopped by Pietro.

"What?"

"You're seriously not going to just wipe all of that sauce off, are you?"

"What? Shouldn't I?"

"That's really a waste," he replied, shaking his head. Laura frowned.

"What should I do then?"

"Lick the sauce off. Anything you don't get will be washed off later."

Laura looked at her fingers. Was he serious?

She threw caution to the wind and took his advice. She grinned; the taste of the sauce was the best part of the Kofta. Pietro gave out an amused laugh when she pulled her fingers away.

Pietro arched an eyebrow at her and Laura blinked, not knowing what he was trying to convey. He reached over and slid his thumb on the side of her mouth. The sauce was on his finger. Laura stared at it for a second before taking his thumb into her mouth.

Pietro's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened, shocked. Laura noted that he didn't pull away though. She flicked her tongue, tasting the semi spicy sauce on his thumb. Pietro closed his eyes and she could see his whole body tense in the sensation.

Laura pulled away, seeing Pietro shiver as he let his hand drop to his lap. She wondered if his fingers were sensitive. He opened his eyes and looked at her, his eyes were dilated. She recognized that reaction from her last profession. She bit her lip, wanting to ask if he was okay, but afraid of that he might expect more from her. She didn't have to make that choice though.

A crash was heard from the living room and Pietro turned his attention to the living room.

"Aww snookums, I knew you loved me!"

Then a loud thump followed by the sound of Wanda's disgusted snarl.

Both Laura and Pietro went out to observe. She could see from the other opening that Kitty and Lance came down to see the commotion as well. With a small amount of amusement, Laura noticed that Freddy was sleeping.

Wanda stomped past Lance and Kitty and up to her room. The sound of a door slamming was heard overhead by all. Laura flinched a bit at the sound. Kitty looked at Laura.

"I guess we should go, huh?"

OoOoO

Laura told Kitty everything as they were walking home. Kitty had stayed silent for a while before speaking.

"Uh, well. I don't know what to say," she admitted, "the thought of Pietro as a... ugh sexual being, is disturbing to me."

"Why," Laura asked, "he's aesthetically appealing, and he's a great cook..."

"So... you want him for more than sex?"

"No," she shook her head, mentally berating herself for letting herself fall for that one, Kitty was sure to be spreading this one around the mansion, "I don't know. I'm curious."

"Curious," Kitty repeated.

Laura nodded.

"I don't know what to say, really. You have my blessing, if you want to do anything with him, but I'm gonna warn you that he's not boyfriend material."

Laura nodded again, biting her tongue to keep from saying that she wasn't looking for a boyfriend.

"I don't want him sexually," Laura said, voice firm.

"Didn't say you did."

"You implyed it."

"Well whether you do, or don't, it's really up to you."

"I don't want him period," she told her. But now that the thought was planted in her head, she kind of did.

"Course you don't."

Laura frowned.

"I don't."

They were almost at the mansion now.

"Well, then you'll be okay with seeing him tomorrow, right. Mr. Logan will only let me see Lance if I'm with someone responsible."

"You saw him today," Laura pointed out.

"But it was Ororo who sent you to get me, right?"

Laura nodded.

"So please, just for tomorrow?"

Laura looked at Kitty before she sighed and gave her a nod.

"Take a shower before you see Logan," Laura advised, "otherwise you won't be going anywhere for a few months."


A/N: O hai new readers! Glad to have ya join me! And at the best part too!

NGL, writing from Laura's perspective is damn hard, that's why this chapter took forever to come out. I think that due to her upbringing and abuse (as pointed out in the comics, which is what I'm going to kinda base her character off of a bit. 'Cause I like the thought of her meeting Dare Devil and Captain America), that Laura has a few issues to deal with, but bringing them to the surface, without making things seem forced or too awkward and still have some type of romance is a hell of a challenge. I just hope I did well for this chapter.

And yeah, my brother was at Caddo Lake. He claims he saw Big Foot. I keep telling him it was dad and his stupid fur coat (he thinks it's ~pimpin'~ when he wears it)... but noo. "It's Big Foot!"

P.S. I released a new story... Strange Overtones. I would totally appreciate it if you guys read it. Please?