By the time that Logan and Jubilee returned from their sojourn to her apartment, the sun was already setting. Jubilee, as usual, had not noticed the progression of time, and Logan wasn't about to point it out to her. He planned to stay with her until the plane departed tomorrow, morning, if she needed it. Sparing a glance at his young companion, he saw her stifle a yawn. Moments later, she yawned again, this time making no effort to hide it. Logan smiled a rare smile. His girl had had a long day. It stood to reason that she was tired. A nice long rest was just what she needed, he decided. The conversation between them had stilled, mostly, he now realized, due to Jubilee's fatigue.
"You know, Wolvie," Jubilee said suddenly, breaking the silence as they arrived at the elevator. "I didn't realize how tired I was". It was uncanny how the she had tuned into what he was thinking.
He smiled. "You've had a long day, darlin'," he responded.
"Yeah," she responded quietly, getting into the elevator, "I guess so. I think I'm just going to go straight to sleep when I get upstairs".
"There's an idea," he told her, while eying a man occupying the elevator with him. The man, a middle aged guy dressed in a polo shirt and shorts, couldn't stop himself from staring at Logan and Jubilee. From the look he was giving them, it was clear to Logan that he was trying to figure out the relationship between them. Logan felt anger rising, but forced himself to calm down. The guy might be a sleaze, but he hadn't done anything to warrant getting skewered at the end of six adamantium claws – well, nothing that Logan knew of, at any rate. Plus, Logan was with Jubilee, who'd had enough excitement for one day. She didn't need anything more to deal with. So Logan just settled with giving the guy a look. One of his patented "keep it up and you'll be mopping your guts up with a towel" looks. The guy started to look nervous. His head, as bald as Xavier's, began to glisten with beads of sweat.
"Yeah, I think I'll be out as soon as my head hits the pillow," continued Jubilee, unaware of Logan's divided attention.
"Good. That'll be good for you," he responded automatically, not taking his eyes off of the bald man. Baldy, meanwhile, began to look around, focusing his gaze anywhere but towards Logan. However, Logan could tell, by the man's shallow breath and ever increasing heart rate, not to mention the scents he was catching, that the man knew that Logan's gaze had not been turned away.
The elevator opened on floor number eight, although Logan had observed him hit the button for floor fifteen, the bald man made a hasty retreat.
"What time are we leaving tomorrow?" asked Jubilee, who had yet to notice anything unusual.
"Scotty boy wants us to be back at the mansion by three. Think we were planning on taking off at about eleven".
"So I can sleep in?" she asked.
"As long as you need to," he replied. The elevator doors opened on floor number twelve, where Jubilee's room was located, and the duo exited. When they reached her door, they hesitated.
"Do you want me to come in?" asked Logan after a minute of silence.
Jubilee paused to consider this. Finally, she responded, "Nah, I'll be good. You go enjoy your last night in LA."
"You sure? I'll stay, if you want," he offered, one last time.
"I'm sure," she smiled. "I'll see you later, okay?" Jubilee leaned over and hugged him. "Thanks. You know. For today."
"Yeah, no problem," he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead, then releasing her. "You have a good night, darlin'," he said, turning toward the elevator.
"Yeah, you too," she said as she opened the door to her room and went in. The words were mumbled and almost inaudible, but she knew that his sharp hearing would pick them up. "Good night," she said, closing the door behind her. Moments later, she heard the elevator beep, signaling its arrival on her floor.
Jubilee looked around her empty room. The hotel cleaning service had hit the room while she was out. There were new towels in her bathroom, topped off with new hotel sized bottles of shampoo and bars of soap. There was a new bag of complimentary hotel coffee next to the coffee maker on the table. But what really caught Jubilee's attention were the newly made beds. Of course, Paige had not spent last night in their room. She had returned to shower and prepare herself for the funeral just as Jubilee was gathering the energy to get out of bed. Judging by the untouched cleanliness of the room, Paige had not returned. Jubilee surmised that she was spending the night in Warren's room. Again.
Jubilee shrugged to herself. Having a giant sized hotel room to herself had its perks. Now Warren had to deal with Paige, Jubilee mused as she put on a pair of cotton pajama pants and an old T-shirt. No, that wasn't right. Warren and Bobby would have to deal with Paige, she corrected herself as she slid into bed. Bobby was Warren's roommate, after all.
Poor Bobby, she thought as she drifted off to sleep, for once without any difficulty.
Bobby turned over in his bed for what seemed like the millionth time that night. No matter how well he burrowed beneath the covers or hid his head under his pillow, he couldn't block out Paige and Warren. At the moment, they were sitting on Warren's bed, talking. Like they'd been doing for the past three hours, and like they'd done for a good part of last night. He supposed that it could be worse. There were lots of other things they could be doing, after all. Still, he wanted to sleep.
He turned over again, wishing that he'd brought his MP3 player, so he could at least drown them out with music. Of course, he hadn't been that smart. He heard Paige giggle loudly in response to some story that Warren had told her.
After another half hour of whispers and giggles, he'd had enough. Bobby sat up, reaching towards the nightstand for his wallet and keys.
"Bobby, are you okay?" asked Paige.
"Fine, I'm just fine. I need some air, is all," Bobby grumbled as he got out of bed.
"You're leaving?" asked Warren.
"What's it look like?" asked Bobby, "accidentally" bumping into the dresser that Paige had placed her purse on top of.
"Umm, okay. Just knock before you come back in."
Ewww, thought Bobby, making a mental point not to return to the room unless it was a dire emergency. He wasn't planning on returning until early morning anyway. The gears in his head turned as he planned revenge against Paige.
Shortly thereafter, anyone who happened to be awake could have looked out of a window facing the hotel's parking lot and seen a young man of medium height and medium build dressed in flannel pajama bottoms and a T-shirt hopping into what looked like a rental car, and driving away. Had that person kept staring out of said window, he would have observed the same man returning 15 minutes later, holding a plastic shopping bag.
Upon entering the hotel, Bobby checked the number on the plastic key card that he had taken from Paige's purse on his way out. 1209 was written on it in bold black letters. Bobby entered the elevator and pressed number 12 on the keypad. The 12th floor was deserted when he got there. Not surprising, considering the late hour. Bobby followed the arrows on the walls and made his way to room 1209, where he inserted the keycard. The light above the slot turned green, and he opened the door.
The room was dark, but Bobby refused to turn the light on, afraid that Paige's roommate, whoever that was, would wake up. Instead, he waited patiently for his eyes to adjust to the dark before he made his way towards the bathroom. Once there, he closed the door behind him and finally turned on the light. With an evil grin, he made his way towards the toilet. As quietly as he could, Bobby removed the lid that covered the tank, placing it on the floor. Then, gleefully, he opened the 20 pound bottlee of laundry detergent he had purchased. He picked up the container and proceeded to dump most of its contents into the tank before replacing its lid. Then, he dumped the remainder of the detergent into the toilet itself. He'd never pulled this particular prank before, but was hoping that, when Paige returned and flushed her toilet, a flood of suds would cascade out.
He gathered together the now empty bottle, as well as the bag that the detergent had come in, before turning off the bathroom light and opening the door. Once again, he waited until his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light before proceeding. On his way out, he noticed a bright coat draped over a chair, and finally realized who Paige's roommate was. In fact, he was angry with himself that he hadn't realized it beforehand. It made perfect sense that Jubilee would be the one rooming with Paige. Bobby felt a moment of remorse, when he realized that his prank could very well strike Jubilee instead his intended target, but he quickly dismissed the feeling. Paige was an early riser. It was likely that she'd be back before Jubilee even woke up. Plus, Jubilee was a fellow prankster. She'd understand if his prank backfired. He hoped.
He'd just made it to the door when he heard the first scream. The unexpected sound startled him, and his heart jumped. Once he'd regained his senses, he realized that Jubilee must have just woken up and seen him. However, upon turning around, he recognized that he was wrong. She was still lying in bed, as if asleep. However, she'd begun tossing and turning.
"Noooooo!" he heard her scream, "Noooooooooo!!! Don't leave me!!" Then, in a much quieter, sadder voice, she continued, "Come back!! Ange, come back!!"
Eventually, it dawned on him that she was dreaming, or more likely having a nightmare. He felt a deep pity for her when he realized whose name she had called out. They'd all wondered what effect Angelo's death had taken on Jubilee and how she was dealing with it. Apparently, she was not coping well, at least on a subconscious level. Bobby stood in place, unsure of what to do. He could just leave. That was the easy way out. She'd never know that he had been there and he could avoid the awkward situation of having to explain his presence in her bedroom at such a late hour. Or he could wake her up. However, if he did so, he would be caught red handed, since there weren't many places that he could stash his empty detergent container. Plus, he wasn't sure how Jubilee would respond to being awakened, nor how she would react to the knowledge that he had heard enough to make out what her nightmare was about.
"Ahhhhhh!!" she continued, tossing around harder this time. Although he still hadn't made up his mind about waking her up, Bobby found himself walking towards Jubilee's bed. As he approached, she screamed again and her entire body seemed to tremble. It was then that Bobby's worry for her surpassed any worry that he had about being caught in her room.
"Jubilee," he said softly, sitting down on the edge of her bed. He leaned forward and putting his hand on her shoulder. "Jubes, you're having a nightmare. Wake up".
She stopped tossing, and for a second, Bobby thought that he'd gotten through to her. Then she screamed again, louder this time.
"Bobby, nooooo!! Don't go!!"
"Jubes, wake up!" he said, louder this time. "I'm not going anywhere. It's okay, your dreaming. You need to wake up". He gave her shoulder a shake. Without warning, Jubilee shot up in bed, eyes wide open. The moonlight from her window reflected off of her face, and Bobby could see tears.
"What?? Where am I?" she asked, disoriented. "Bobby?" she asked, noticing him sitting next to her. "What are you doing here?"
"That's a good question," he replied. "I don't really have a good answer, but, y'know, whatever. Hey, hey, HEY!!" he shouted in surprise. Jubilee, instead of waiting for a response to her query, had put her arms around him and embraced him. He could feel her heart racing against his chest and hear the soft sobs getting caught in her throat.
"It's okay, Jubes. It was just a nightmare. Everyone gets them," he whispered, enfolding her in his arms.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry," she mumbled, still sobbing into his chest.
"You don't have to be sorry. It's okay. You can calm down. You're awake and everything is fine," he reassured her, pulling her into his lap, and resting his chin on the top of her head. The action was unplanned, but felt natural nonetheless. Soon Jubilee stopped sobbing; she just laid her head against him, trying to regain her composure. And while in that position, something occurred to her.
"Bobby, why is my cheek cold?"
He tensed, then, without warning, jumped up and backed away from her wearing a look of sheer horror. Since she had been sitting on his lap, which disappeared when he straightened, Jubilee found herself sprawled on the floor.
"Bobby, what the hell?" she asked as she picked herself off of the ground. She was bewildered and somewhat angry. Justifiably so, she thought.
"Umm..umm, it's nothing," he stuttered, badly flustered.
"Liar. You dumped me onto the floor over nothing? What are you hiding?" she demanded.
"Nothing," he said firmly, having regained some of his composure. "I just remembered, I promised Scott I'd help him with… umm… the X-jet. Yeah. I have to go. See ya." Not waiting to see if she bought his excuse, he hurried towards the door. As Jubilee watched him, she suddenly remembered another time when she'd felt cold coming off of his chest. She had been so tired that time, too tired to mention it. And she had forgotten the incident when she woke up. But now, her memory had been jogged, and she was sure that Bobby wasn't telling her something. She hated when people did that.
"Hey Bobby," she called after him angrily. He was almost at the door, but he stopped, like a deer caught in a pair of headlights, and turned towards her. His mouth opened slightly, and Jubilee was sure that he was going to ask her what she wanted. He never got the chance.
Her paffs flew from her hands, towards him. They exploded in front of him, before he even had a chance to ice up and defend himself.
"Hey," he shouted in fury. "What gives?" But then he knew. She hadn't hurt him, not even a small burn. She'd gained an impressive control over her gift in the last couple of years. An impressive control and precision. His T-shirt was gone, disintegrated by her mutant power, and he stood in front of her, bare-chested and exposed.