Hello all! I'm reeeeeaaally sorry about how long it took me to get around
to writing this. I've been pretty busy lately. I'll definitely try to
keep updates more frequent from now on. Oh – and you were right,
YourAngelStandingBy, I did mean Piotr when I wrote Pietro. That's what
happens when you do most of your writing after 3am. Not that that little
mistake would deter me from writing after 3am, of course. (
Bobby had stayed awake for hours, agonizing over last night's encounter with Jubilee. He wondered if she was all right. He wondered about what caused her episode. And, most importantly, he wondered if she would remember resting her cheek on the patch of ice hidden underneath his shirt. If she remembered the cold underneath on his chest, would she recognize it for what it was - second mutation, eating away at him. Or would she just attribute the feeling to her state at the time?
He'd fallen asleep with these questions still running through his head just as the sun was beginning to rise. When his alarm woke him up, not too much later, the questions were still there. Although groggy and tired, Bobby knew that he wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. Day. Whatever. Although he really wasn't in the mood for it, Bobby decided to go ahead with his morning workout. Maybe that would help him clear his head.
He stopped in the kitchen to make coffee. No one else was downstairs. Bobby decided that that was probably a good thing once he opened the cupboard and was confronted by the results of the previous day's shopping extravaganza. He finished his coffee hurriedly and made his way towards the basement.
His workout was uneventful, though it did little to clear his mind of his worries. With an angry sigh, he proceeded to shut down the Danger Room equipment and began to make his way back to his room. On the way upstairs, he heard unhappy voices coming from the kitchen. Bracing himself, he opened the basement door. It seemed as though all of the teams were gathered in the kitchen, bickering and complaining amongst themselves. From what he caught as he tried to slink by quietly, they were none to happy with his grocery decisions. Normally, the sight of Scott waving around 5 lb bags of onions would have made him snicker, but today, he barely noticed. Despite his rotten mood, some rational part of him decided that it would be in his best interest to stay out of the reaches of his teammates until they calmed down.
When Bobby reached his room, he headed straight for his bed, collapsing onto the mattress. Tired after his workout and mentally exhausted from his worrying, he fell asleep almost immediately.
He was awoken by a beeping sound. He sat up in bed, disorientated. His initial reaction was confusion – why was he sleeping in the middle of the day? He vaguely remembered lying down and came to the obvious conclusion that he had fallen asleep. But that didn't explain the beeping noise. He glanced towards his alarm clock, but quickly discerned that the sound was not coming from that direction. It sounded like it came from outside. He slowly got up and made his way towards the window. A van was reversing out of the mansion's front gate. The side of the van had "Patsy's Floral Creations" painted on in huge, curvy letters. Bobby's first thought was: Why's he reversing, it's a circular driveway? His second was: Who ordered flowers?
Movement to his right caught his eye. Turning towards that direction, he saw uniformed men arranging white lawn furniture.
Oh, right. The wedding.
Somehow, he'd forgotten that it was tomorrow.
Wait, if the wedding was tomorrow, that meant that the bachelor party was today.
What time was it again?
Bobby looked at his wristwatch, which read 4:30pm, and he was hit with the overwhelming realization that he had slept for most of the day. The party wasn't for a few hours, though. That gave him plenty of time.
Whew.
Not that he really wanted to go. But he was going to make an appearance. He wanted to prove that he was in no way bitter about Lorna and Alex's union. He had no idea why everyone assumed he was. Him? Robert Drake? Bitter? He didn't know the meaning of the word.
Glancing downward, he found that his strong grip on the windowsill had turned his knuckles white. He released the sill from his grasp. Nope, he thought with a frown, not bitter at all.
He was about to turn away from the window when laughter and voices caught his attention. A contingent of X-men was on their way out. He saw Scott and Hank, along with a couple of others who'd flown in for the ceremony, standing in the driveway. The men seemed extremely excited. Soon, Warren pulled up in his gigantic, Limited Edition SUV. Everyone piled in and the vehicle sped towards the gate.
Apparently, people were heading over early.
With nothing else to do, Bobby decided to follow suit.
He pulled a pair of clean clothes from his closet and proceeded to change. As he was putting on his shirt, the door banged open. The sound made Bobby jump, and the temperature in the room lowered by several degrees.
"What the hell were you thinking?" said a very angry voice.
His heart stopped and his gaze was quickly direct towards the door to his room, where a furious looking Jubilee stood. At the sight of her, a well of emotions built up inside him. There was relief that she was feeling better, guilt for not checking on her, confusion in regards to what he had done to earn her ire, as well as several other sentiments that he didn't recognize and didn't feel like analyzing. All of those were quickly replaced by fear when he realized that, had Jubilee made her entrance a moment sooner, she would have walked in on him changing. Even worse, she would have had a good view of the ice marring his chest.
"Can't you knock?" he yelled back at her, his fear giving way to a defensive anger.
Whatever response she had been expecting, that wasn't it. She seemed taken aback at first, and then her eyes filled with an angry determination.
"Can't you keep your mouth shut?" she countered loudly. "You had no right to tell Hank about what happened last night. Why'd you worry him like that?"
"Wait – what?!" Bobby stuttered, "You're mad about that? Listen, you asked me not to take you to the Med lab, and I didn't. You didn't say anything about keeping my mouth shut!"
"It was implied."
"No, it wasn't!"
"Maybe you were just too block-headed to pick up on it!" Jubilee shouted back. Perhaps realizing that she was shouting, she lowered her voice, though it was obvious that she was still upset with him. "You shouldn't have told Hank. Why'd you worry him like that?" she repeated.
"Why'd you worry me like that?" he replied.
Jubilee's resolve seemed to waiver momentarily, but her tone was still harsh as she responded, "I don't need you to worry about me! You have no business worrying about me! Why don't you worry about yourself first?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Figure it out. And, while you're at it, why don't you figure out how to keep your nose out of other people's business".
"Well, if we're on that subject, why don't you figure out what you're really so upset about. I'm tired of being the target of your temper and I'm tired of your unfair scrutiny of my actions and I'm tired of having to justify my every move. I told Hank because I wanted to. It's not like you swore me to secrecy," Bobby growled, walking towards the door. Jubilee stood her ground, staring at him defiantly. "I've got enough going on right now. I don't need you barging in here with your misplaced accusations," he continued as he reached her. With a quick movement, he reached for the door and proceeded to shut it. Jubilee barely managed to jump backwards in order to avoid having the door literally slam into her face.
"And stay out!" he shouted.
That was close, that was close, that was so close. A few seconds earlier and she would have seen the ice. He took several deep breaths and waited for his rapidly beating heart to slow down. He was safe, his secret was safe. It didn't look like she had remembered. He'd gotten rid of her, he'd –
Just slammed his door into her face.
His breath caught as he realized what he'd done and what he'd said. Maybe his heart was nothing but ice after all. Block headed and ice hearted. What else could explain how cold he'd just been to her? He leaned his head against his door, wishing he could take back his words. He'd quite possibly ruined a friendship to protect his secret. Was it worth it? he wondered, and was not surprised when he did not receive a reply.
Bobby stood in that position for several minutes, with his headed rested against the door, lost in self-recrimination. He would probably have maintained the stance for several more had he not heard a noise on the other side of the door. His ears strained to catch the sound again, but the effort was not rewarded. There was always the chance that he was mistaken - after all, he didn't have enhanced hearing like Logan. But he could have sworn that he had heard a quiet sob.
His hand reached for the doorknob. Taking a deep breath to strengthen his resolve, Bobby opened the door a crack.
"Hello," he called out softly, glancing down the hall. "Anyone there?" After a pause, he added, "Jubilee?"
The hallway was empty. His guess was that most of the team had already left for the party. Bobby took one more look around him, and then closed the door.
Why don't you figure out what you're really so upset about, Bobby had told her, shortly before slamming the door in her face. What am I upset about, she asked herself.
Bobby told Hank about her fainting last night. He'd worried Hank, and now the good doctor was going to be watching her like a hawk.
Did you ask him not to tell, asked a small voice.
Yes! Well, no, she thought in response. She had asked that Bobby not take her to the Med lab. Anyone could have figured out that she didn't want Hank to know.
Anyone, asked the voice.
Of course.
Well, obviously Bobby didn't catch on, nagged her inner self.
That's cause Bobby's a butthead, she replied lamely.
Alright. So I'm mad at Bobby for doing something that I didn't quite tell him he wasn't supposed to do.
So, shouldn't you be mad at yourself.
She had no response. Instead, she felt unbidden tears begin to form. Jubilee blinked rapidly, trying to hold them back. She wondered what was wrong with her. Why was she crying again? It seemed like that was all she had done since her return from the beyond. She'd cried more in the short time since she'd been resurrected than she had during the entire time she had lived in Los Angelos.
Even as she tried to blink back her tears, a small sob escaped her lips, and she realized that a breakdown was inevitable. The last thing she needed was for someone to see her crying her eyes out. She slowly backed away from Bobby's door, before breaking out into a run in the direction of her room. As she rounded the corner, she thought that she heard a door open. The thought that someone might encounter her in her present state spurred Jubilee into running even faster.
Bobby had stayed awake for hours, agonizing over last night's encounter with Jubilee. He wondered if she was all right. He wondered about what caused her episode. And, most importantly, he wondered if she would remember resting her cheek on the patch of ice hidden underneath his shirt. If she remembered the cold underneath on his chest, would she recognize it for what it was - second mutation, eating away at him. Or would she just attribute the feeling to her state at the time?
He'd fallen asleep with these questions still running through his head just as the sun was beginning to rise. When his alarm woke him up, not too much later, the questions were still there. Although groggy and tired, Bobby knew that he wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. Day. Whatever. Although he really wasn't in the mood for it, Bobby decided to go ahead with his morning workout. Maybe that would help him clear his head.
He stopped in the kitchen to make coffee. No one else was downstairs. Bobby decided that that was probably a good thing once he opened the cupboard and was confronted by the results of the previous day's shopping extravaganza. He finished his coffee hurriedly and made his way towards the basement.
His workout was uneventful, though it did little to clear his mind of his worries. With an angry sigh, he proceeded to shut down the Danger Room equipment and began to make his way back to his room. On the way upstairs, he heard unhappy voices coming from the kitchen. Bracing himself, he opened the basement door. It seemed as though all of the teams were gathered in the kitchen, bickering and complaining amongst themselves. From what he caught as he tried to slink by quietly, they were none to happy with his grocery decisions. Normally, the sight of Scott waving around 5 lb bags of onions would have made him snicker, but today, he barely noticed. Despite his rotten mood, some rational part of him decided that it would be in his best interest to stay out of the reaches of his teammates until they calmed down.
When Bobby reached his room, he headed straight for his bed, collapsing onto the mattress. Tired after his workout and mentally exhausted from his worrying, he fell asleep almost immediately.
He was awoken by a beeping sound. He sat up in bed, disorientated. His initial reaction was confusion – why was he sleeping in the middle of the day? He vaguely remembered lying down and came to the obvious conclusion that he had fallen asleep. But that didn't explain the beeping noise. He glanced towards his alarm clock, but quickly discerned that the sound was not coming from that direction. It sounded like it came from outside. He slowly got up and made his way towards the window. A van was reversing out of the mansion's front gate. The side of the van had "Patsy's Floral Creations" painted on in huge, curvy letters. Bobby's first thought was: Why's he reversing, it's a circular driveway? His second was: Who ordered flowers?
Movement to his right caught his eye. Turning towards that direction, he saw uniformed men arranging white lawn furniture.
Oh, right. The wedding.
Somehow, he'd forgotten that it was tomorrow.
Wait, if the wedding was tomorrow, that meant that the bachelor party was today.
What time was it again?
Bobby looked at his wristwatch, which read 4:30pm, and he was hit with the overwhelming realization that he had slept for most of the day. The party wasn't for a few hours, though. That gave him plenty of time.
Whew.
Not that he really wanted to go. But he was going to make an appearance. He wanted to prove that he was in no way bitter about Lorna and Alex's union. He had no idea why everyone assumed he was. Him? Robert Drake? Bitter? He didn't know the meaning of the word.
Glancing downward, he found that his strong grip on the windowsill had turned his knuckles white. He released the sill from his grasp. Nope, he thought with a frown, not bitter at all.
He was about to turn away from the window when laughter and voices caught his attention. A contingent of X-men was on their way out. He saw Scott and Hank, along with a couple of others who'd flown in for the ceremony, standing in the driveway. The men seemed extremely excited. Soon, Warren pulled up in his gigantic, Limited Edition SUV. Everyone piled in and the vehicle sped towards the gate.
Apparently, people were heading over early.
With nothing else to do, Bobby decided to follow suit.
He pulled a pair of clean clothes from his closet and proceeded to change. As he was putting on his shirt, the door banged open. The sound made Bobby jump, and the temperature in the room lowered by several degrees.
"What the hell were you thinking?" said a very angry voice.
His heart stopped and his gaze was quickly direct towards the door to his room, where a furious looking Jubilee stood. At the sight of her, a well of emotions built up inside him. There was relief that she was feeling better, guilt for not checking on her, confusion in regards to what he had done to earn her ire, as well as several other sentiments that he didn't recognize and didn't feel like analyzing. All of those were quickly replaced by fear when he realized that, had Jubilee made her entrance a moment sooner, she would have walked in on him changing. Even worse, she would have had a good view of the ice marring his chest.
"Can't you knock?" he yelled back at her, his fear giving way to a defensive anger.
Whatever response she had been expecting, that wasn't it. She seemed taken aback at first, and then her eyes filled with an angry determination.
"Can't you keep your mouth shut?" she countered loudly. "You had no right to tell Hank about what happened last night. Why'd you worry him like that?"
"Wait – what?!" Bobby stuttered, "You're mad about that? Listen, you asked me not to take you to the Med lab, and I didn't. You didn't say anything about keeping my mouth shut!"
"It was implied."
"No, it wasn't!"
"Maybe you were just too block-headed to pick up on it!" Jubilee shouted back. Perhaps realizing that she was shouting, she lowered her voice, though it was obvious that she was still upset with him. "You shouldn't have told Hank. Why'd you worry him like that?" she repeated.
"Why'd you worry me like that?" he replied.
Jubilee's resolve seemed to waiver momentarily, but her tone was still harsh as she responded, "I don't need you to worry about me! You have no business worrying about me! Why don't you worry about yourself first?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Figure it out. And, while you're at it, why don't you figure out how to keep your nose out of other people's business".
"Well, if we're on that subject, why don't you figure out what you're really so upset about. I'm tired of being the target of your temper and I'm tired of your unfair scrutiny of my actions and I'm tired of having to justify my every move. I told Hank because I wanted to. It's not like you swore me to secrecy," Bobby growled, walking towards the door. Jubilee stood her ground, staring at him defiantly. "I've got enough going on right now. I don't need you barging in here with your misplaced accusations," he continued as he reached her. With a quick movement, he reached for the door and proceeded to shut it. Jubilee barely managed to jump backwards in order to avoid having the door literally slam into her face.
"And stay out!" he shouted.
That was close, that was close, that was so close. A few seconds earlier and she would have seen the ice. He took several deep breaths and waited for his rapidly beating heart to slow down. He was safe, his secret was safe. It didn't look like she had remembered. He'd gotten rid of her, he'd –
Just slammed his door into her face.
His breath caught as he realized what he'd done and what he'd said. Maybe his heart was nothing but ice after all. Block headed and ice hearted. What else could explain how cold he'd just been to her? He leaned his head against his door, wishing he could take back his words. He'd quite possibly ruined a friendship to protect his secret. Was it worth it? he wondered, and was not surprised when he did not receive a reply.
Bobby stood in that position for several minutes, with his headed rested against the door, lost in self-recrimination. He would probably have maintained the stance for several more had he not heard a noise on the other side of the door. His ears strained to catch the sound again, but the effort was not rewarded. There was always the chance that he was mistaken - after all, he didn't have enhanced hearing like Logan. But he could have sworn that he had heard a quiet sob.
His hand reached for the doorknob. Taking a deep breath to strengthen his resolve, Bobby opened the door a crack.
"Hello," he called out softly, glancing down the hall. "Anyone there?" After a pause, he added, "Jubilee?"
The hallway was empty. His guess was that most of the team had already left for the party. Bobby took one more look around him, and then closed the door.
Why don't you figure out what you're really so upset about, Bobby had told her, shortly before slamming the door in her face. What am I upset about, she asked herself.
Bobby told Hank about her fainting last night. He'd worried Hank, and now the good doctor was going to be watching her like a hawk.
Did you ask him not to tell, asked a small voice.
Yes! Well, no, she thought in response. She had asked that Bobby not take her to the Med lab. Anyone could have figured out that she didn't want Hank to know.
Anyone, asked the voice.
Of course.
Well, obviously Bobby didn't catch on, nagged her inner self.
That's cause Bobby's a butthead, she replied lamely.
Alright. So I'm mad at Bobby for doing something that I didn't quite tell him he wasn't supposed to do.
So, shouldn't you be mad at yourself.
She had no response. Instead, she felt unbidden tears begin to form. Jubilee blinked rapidly, trying to hold them back. She wondered what was wrong with her. Why was she crying again? It seemed like that was all she had done since her return from the beyond. She'd cried more in the short time since she'd been resurrected than she had during the entire time she had lived in Los Angelos.
Even as she tried to blink back her tears, a small sob escaped her lips, and she realized that a breakdown was inevitable. The last thing she needed was for someone to see her crying her eyes out. She slowly backed away from Bobby's door, before breaking out into a run in the direction of her room. As she rounded the corner, she thought that she heard a door open. The thought that someone might encounter her in her present state spurred Jubilee into running even faster.