Unsurprisingly, the cheeriness of the holiday season did not infect Thea. Kitty wrapped herself up in the holiday spirit and was in a buying frenzy. She asked Thea to accompany her to the nearby mall. Thea only agreed because going meant she got to drive one of the mansion's sports cars to the mall.
"Don't you want to buy something for Warren? For me?" Kitty asked as they walked around the mall that had sparkling lights, fake fluffy snow, Christmas trees, and fat Santa Clauses everywhere.
Thea laughed. "I already have your gift," she said. "And as for Warren…what can you buy the guy who has enough money to buy anything for himself?"
"It's the thought that matters, though, right?" Kitty said encouragingly as they looked through yet another clothing store. Kitty wanted to buy Marie a warm, light-colored sweater to offset all the dark colors she usually wore.
Thea shrugged as she picked unenthusiastically through the sales rack of tops. "I suppose. But I'm pretty broke, so I really can't buy anything that won't be tacky. I thought about making something, but I have no artistic skills beyond cutting clothes up. And, so now I'm stuck," she explained.
"You really did think this through," Kitty said with a smirk.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Thea asked, a defensive note in her tone.
"In the past two Christmases, you have never thought about what to give someone," Kitty said. "Besides me," she added loftily.
Thea laughed. "You feeling like your position in my life is threatened?"
"Oh no," Kitty said. She held up a mint green sweater and then made a face. "I can't see Marie in that." She placed it unceremoniously back onto the display. "My position in your life does not include sexual tension and eventual hooking up, so I am feeling very unthreatened," Kitty said with a huge smile.
"What?" Thea said loudly. A few other customers looked up from their bargain hunting to see what the commotion was, but seeing nothing special, they quickly resumed their shopping. They only had a few days until Christmas, so there was no time to waste staring at a loud girl.
"Oh please, we are not having a repeat of the 'Thea likes Warren but is too afraid to even admit the existence of a Thea-and-Warren' conversation," Kitty said, now examining a light blue sweater. "I like this color," she mumbled.
Thea ignored Kitty's feigned preoccupation with the sweater. "I don't like Warren, not in the way you're implying. And there will be no hooking up," she stated assertively.
"But you can't deny the sexual tension," Kitty pointed out.
Okay, fine, she couldn't, but that didn't mean anything. "There's sexual tension between you and Peter," Thea countered. She had seen how the two looked at each other, there was no denying it.
"Yeah, but I know I like him," Kitty pointed out.
Thea's eyes noticeably enlarged. "When did this happen?" she asked.
Kitty usually ran through her room to tell her about her crushes or, more recently, about her angsty thoughts regarding her unrequited feelings towards Bobby. Although Thea knew that Kitty was getting over Bobby, she had no idea that Kitty had developed feelings for Peter.
"Maybe a week ago," Kitty said. "He's so nice, Thea. Does all that gentlemanly stuff like opening doors and pulling out chairs. We went out to dinner and he paid for me."
"Wait, what? When did you guys go on a date? Why didn't you tell me? Where was I?" Thea asked, each question getting louder than the last.
Kitty smiled at her friend's concern. "You've been a bit busy with Warren. You spend like every possible moment with him, so we really haven't been able to talk about stuff. We went on the date three days ago, but we didn't call it a date. It was more casual than that, but Thea, seriously, I like him."
"What about Bobby?"
Kitty shrugged. "Bobby's great, amazing actually, but it's not meant to work out. I know that. And this thing with Peter, if I can even call it a thing, it's just so…great," Kitty said.
"So you don't know if Peter likes you?"
"I think he does, but he hasn't said anything," Kitty explained.
Thea breathed in and out. "Wow. I totally missed out on that entire event," she said.
Kitty shrugged. "It's okay. Warren's awesome and you should spend time with him."
"But not to the point that I miss out on stuff in your life, Kit. I mean, c'mon, you had a date with Peter and I didn't know about it! I mean, God, it's like I'm spending my time as though I'm in a relationship without all the physical benefits," Thea said, disgusted with herself.
Kitty laughed. "You are. I mean, girlfriends have this conversation we're having right now when one of them is in a relationship. Imagine what will happen when you and Warren actually do get together," she commented.
"What? No, not happening. What's going to happen is that I'm going to spend less time with him," Thea said adamantly.
The scary thing was that Thea hadn't even realized that she was spending so much time with Warren to the exclusion of quality time with Kitty. Ever since the fight and subsequent talk, her relationship with Warren had improved dramatically. Warren no longer pressed her for information about her past, and she no longer felt the pressure to tell him things. It was like this huge weight had vanished from their relationship, and they were now able to just hang out and learn the little things about each other freely. The feeling was nice and perhaps a bit addicting.
"No, instead you should just jump him already," Kitty said, alluding to the story Thea had told her about Warren's sex blunder.
Thea laughed. "No."
"You don't want to?" Kitty asked skeptically.
She'd be lying is she said she hadn't thought about their relationship going to a higher level. It was a thought bound to occur when you were close friends with a guy, right? But thoughts did not necessarily translate into wants. Did she want their relationship to go further? Hell no. Too many complications would follow. Any physical encounter would imply a real boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and Thea was in no position to give Warren the kind of relationship he deserved – a functional one.
"Awfully quiet," Kitty commented.
Thea snapped out of her thoughts. "I don't want to," she said. "I'd make an awful girlfriend."
"Girlfriend? I was just talking about something to, you know, get rid of the sexual tension between you two," Kitty said.
Thea gave Kitty a skeptical look. "It couldn't be a fuck and fly type of thing, Kit. You know I'm not like that," Thea said bluntly.
"What about a really long make-out session?" Kitty asked.
Thea laughed. "No, not happening. Once you cross that friendship line, there's no going back. It's always awkward and I don't want to deal with that."
"You do realize that this conversation proves you like the guy, right? I know you well enough to know you wouldn't even entertain thoughts about doing anything physical if you didn't even like the guy," Kitty pointed out rather smugly.
Thea was about to retort, but she knew that Kitty had a point. Perhaps she did harbor slightly more than friendly feelings towards Warren, but that didn't change anything. It wasn't as though she was yearning for him to have similar feelings towards her. And it certainly wasn't as though she would act on these little feelings, if it turned out she actually had them.
"Whatever," Thea mumbled.
Kitty smiled widely and continued shopping.
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"So I was planning on visiting my dad today," Warren said as he helped Thea cook Christmas Eve lunch for the students who were staying at the mansion for the holidays.
Thea could actually feel the blood draining from her face. She had no idea that was actually possible.
"Oh?" she replied, trying to keep her voice level.
"Yeah. I haven't seen him since Alcatraz and we really haven't spoken about things. And since it's the holidays, I figured I should, you know, see him. He's family," Warren said, a mixture of hope and skepticism in his voice.
"Well, that's really good of you," Thea said.
"I was thinking I'd go there today, fly back tonight, and then spend Christmas day here," Warren explained.
"Is that too much flying in such a short time?" she asked, as she stirred the split pea soup she was making.
Warren tossed the carrots he had chopped into the pot. "No, I'll be fine. I wanted to ask, though, if you'd come with me."
Thea lost grip of the spoon she was using to stir the soup, and it sank into the warm liquid. She preoccupied herself with fishing it out while thinking of a good excuse to give Warren to explain politely that there was no way in hell she was going with him. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a good excuse. So, she settled on stalling.
"Why do you want me to come?" she asked, moving to the sink to wash the spoon. She was concerned her face would show her fear, so she kept her head low.
"Well, Dad hasn't met anyone from my new life. And I thought that if he was going to meet just one person, you'd be that person he should meet."
Thea felt herself blushing despite the awkward position Warren had unknowingly put her in. "That's really sweet, Warren, but I can't."
"Oh, how come?" he asked, obviously disappointed.
Because there's no way in hell I'm ever going near your father ever again, she thought. "Because I hate Christmas and I make poor company during the holidays, honestly. I suck at the schmoosing and small talk, and I wouldn't want my first impression to your father to be of this awful girl who shouldn't be anywhere near his son," she said.
"He wouldn't think that," Warren said adamantly.
Oh, yes he would. "No, really Warren, I can't go," Thea replied in a tone that implied finality on the topic.
Warren looked like he wanted to ask the real reason why, but decided not to. It seemed like he realized she just didn't want to tell him, and he was respecting that. Thea was relieved.
"Okay," Warren conceded. "Maybe next time?"
"We'll see," she replied vaguely.
Thea was flattered that he wanted his billionaire father to meet her, and she wished she could promise him that she would meet him. But she couldn't. She then realized that if Warren wanted her to meet his dad, eventually she would need to come clean about her past regarding his father. Warren was an adamant person, and he would continue to ask her to meet his dad. He might even bring his dad to the mansion, and Thea would be trapped into seeing that man again. And then what? Complete disaster. She pushed those thoughts aside. She would deal with that if and when the time came.
Warren left an hour later. Kitty and Peter were off one another pseudo date to an ice rink, and Thea was left to her own devices. She knew exactly what she wanted to do.
She went to her room, picked up the phone, and dialed the long sequence of numbers she had memorized. With the time difference, it was already Christmas morning over there.
It rang just a few times before a female voice said calmly, "Hello?"
"Hi, Mommy. Merry Christmas," Thea said, smiling gleefully at hearing her mother's voice.
"Baby! It's so good to hear from you! Hold on," her mother said.
Soon Thea heard a click and another familiar voice on the phone.
"Hi, Sweetheart," the deep rumbling voice said.
"Daddy! Hi," Thea gushed.
She would never let anyone know, but yes, she addressed her mother and father as Mommy and Daddy. It was an ode to her carefree childhood that she had no desire to stop.
She wished she was with them now so she could just talk to her parents face-to-face. She hadn't seen him in such a long time, and she missed them so much. Their images in her brain had not changed in the past two years, but she was certain they had. There was now this wide gap between her parents and her that was just getting wider and wider with time. But she rather they were far away from her and safe than nearby and in constant fear of Dr. Warren Worthington finding them.
"How are you doing? We haven't heard from you in a while," Thea's mother said.
"I know. I'm sorry. Things have gone to hell here," Thea said.
"We saw that fiasco at Alcatraz on the internet news. You weren't involved with that, were you?" her father asked concernedly.
"No, Daddy. I purposely didn't go because it was Worthington Labs."
"Good," her father replied.
"How is everything at the mansion?" her mother asked.
"Good. I've just finished teaching an Ethics class that Professor X had been teaching. It went really well, and Storm asked me to teach it again after the Winter holiday."
"Oh, that's great, sweetheart. It's good to keep that brain of yours working," her mother said.
Thea laughed. "Yeah. How's the weather over there?"
"Hot. You'd think after two years of living here we'd get used to the Decembers being hot and the Junes being cold, but it still needs adjusting to. But everything's quite nice. We'll probably take a weekend trip to Stradbroke after the New Year," her father said.
"That sounds great," Thea supported.
"How's Kitty? Have you met any new people?" her mothers asked.
Thea laughed. "Kitty's alright. She was so hung up on Bobby for a long time, but now she's interested in this guy named Peter. He's also known as Colossus because his body turns into steel," Thea explained.
"Wow, well, she sure likes guys who can change their consistencies," her father commented.
Thea laughed. "I never thought of it that way, but you're right."
"But have you made any new friends?" her mom pressed.
Thea hesitated before deciding to come clean. "Yeah, actually."
"Who?"
"Warren Worthington III," Thea replied. She held her breath as she waited for the reply.
There was silence on the other end of the line until her mom said, "That Angel kid?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Thea asked.
"Well, that clip of him jumping out of the building was the most watched clip on the internet. Honey, are you sure you know what you're doing?" her mom asked.
"He's an amazing person. He's nothing like his father, that's why he escaped. His father was going to force him to take The Cure, but he just couldn't. He came to the mansion for asylum and has been here ever since," Thea said quickly.
"We're just worried about your safety," her father said. "This is thin ice."
Hearing her father say that made Thea realize how right he was. She had become so involved in the friendship she had developed with Warren that somewhere along the way she had forgotten the risk to her safety and the safety of her family.
"You're right," she conceded.
"Perhaps you should stay away from this boy," her mother advised delicately.
Stay away from Warren? In the past few months he had become a fixture in her life, and she liked that very much. Stay away? How could she possibly do that?
"Honey?"
"I don't think I can," Thea said softly.
There was a pregnant silence on the other end until her mother finally asked, "Sweetheart, do you have feelings for him?"
Thea hesitated again. "No, no, of course not," she finally said.
In her mind, her feelings were not a separate identity from the consequences of those feelings. If she did not have feelings for Warren, that meant she was safe. If she did have feelings for Warren, she was too close, and the unforeseeable consequences of such feelings outweighed Thea's desire to have those feelings.
However, Thea was working off of the assumption that she could make conscious decisions about how she felt.
"You don't sound very sure," her mother said.
Damn that motherly intuition.
"I am, really. Having feelings would be stupid and dangerous. It's just…we're close friends and I do…I care about him," she said. It was the first time she ever said the words out loud, and saying them at that point felt out of place. She realized she should be telling him those words, not her parents.
"Look, if you have more than friendly feelings for him, you should just go for it," her father said bluntly.
"Daddy…"
"No, you listen. We've been living low for two years now, and nothing's happened. Worthington got his Cure now, without you. He's made his millions, he's gotten the fame, and he's probably moved on. Don't use us as an excuse for not going after something if you want it," he said adamantly.
"If something happened to you guys…" Thea began.
"Nothing will happen if you tell that Warren-Angel kid what a bastard his father is," her father said. "If Warren is as great as you say he is, he'd make sure his father wouldn't hurt anyone else."
"Worthington doesn't deserve to walk on this earth, but he's still Warren's father. That would be making him choose between me and him," Thea said.
"It's not a hard choice," her mother pointed out.
"Some bonds are thicker than blood," her father said.
But Thea didn't know if her bond with Warren was.
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Author's Note (too long!): If the format is weird, I apologize. The editing feature on the website is not working properly. I've increased the story's rating to M for present language and for future subject matters.
Thanks for the reviews. I want to address some of the topics brought up in the reviews: When I was researching for this story, I did find out that the comic book character of Angel (when he was Archangel) recently acquired the ability to heal, but seeing as the movie did not go into Angel's transformation in Archangel and all subsequent stuff, I'm assuming that the character in the movie (and by extension the Warren I've created) is Angel, not Archangel, and thus does not have the ability to heal. I hadn't known that Archangel could heal when I started brainstorming this story, so it's a really interesting coincidence.
Also, the climax of the story will not be Thea and Warren getting together, just a warning.
And in chapter 4, when Thea commented on the wrong person dying, she was saying that instead of using the Cure on Magneto and killing Jean Grey, the X-Men should have killed Magneto (since she thought being human was a fate worse than death in Magneto's eyes) and used the Cure on Jean Grey. Granted she had no right to say such things since she wasn't there, but she never meant that Magneto should have lived as a mutant. Sorry if that was confusing.
I know there are a lot of readers out there who don't review, and I appreciate you taking the time out to read my story, but if you could drop a line and tell me what you think, that will be great. To all those who review EVERY single chapter, all I can say is: WOW, YOU ROCK MY WORLD. Please let me know what you think, I like reading your suggestions and comments a lot. Thanks!
