Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
When she had thought almost in jest to have an intervention it had been for very different reasons, but now as she sat on the tires watching Jubilee tell Kitty just how she was going to learn to hate drum brakes, Marie knew she hadn't been wrong for seeking help. They all came ready, a side door shut and the garage door pulled down, the girl she had hardly known herself looking up in question after trying to show Kitty how to fit the one spring right where it needed to be.
"Yo, hey Theresa, and uh hiya...uh... Layla isn't it?" Jubilee said over her shoulder before going back to her lesson.
Marie found herself staring at a spot on the floor, some stubborn oil stain that hadn't come up. With a glance to both she saw Theresa leaning against the garage door and Layla against the side door, any exits cut off. It hurt her to have to do this, feeling a touch an outsider after so long away, but after a morning spent with Pete and the night before she just couldn't let it stand. Kitty was her linchpin, knowing Jubilee had sworn to help her put her car back together and show her along the way.
Lunch at the carriage house hadn't been anything they had thought when she had called them, but with Abby off with Pete and Illyana down by the lake then it was a time to talk frankly. Thinking the night before it had been a one time thing, hearing the truth from Pete had been a sobering moment for herself that she had revealed to everyone else. Promises were made, and walking away she had found the strength to confront someone she wanted to call a friend about needlessly suffering.
Easing the tool out of Jubilee's hand, Kitty gently guided her away from the car leaving her confused. Slipping from her seat on the stack of tires, Marie walked up to the pair and rallied and readied herself to start.
"Some of us have a few things we'd like to say to you Lee." Kitty said, sharing a look with Marie who gave a thankful nod.
"We'd like for you to hear what we have to say first, please..." Marie started, Jubilee just still clearly looking baffled.
"O...kay?" Jubilee said slowly.
"It has to do with what we saw last night, and everything before it. Last night I saw a friend of mine, and someone I'd liked to call a friend, just sitting in a bar lookin' about as sweet as ya could be. Right up until someone tried to get between you two." Marie explained, a sigh in reply from Jubilee then.
"We know you're some rough and tumble mechanic Lee, but that doesn't mean you have to stand that kind of treatment. Marie told us what Pete told her, you might not like what I'm about to say, but if you're scared we can all go down with you to the station..." Kitty said taking her turn, Jubilee just crossing her arms and looking to the ceiling for a moment.
Watching Theresa walk up next, Marie saw the Irish lass reach out and hug Jubilee long, the greasy one of the pair giving a light tap of her head to the other.
"I know you and Pete give each other a lot of space, leave a lot to trust...but he loves you Lee. I know it hurts him to see you do this to yourself. We'll all be there for you, but you have to trust us now to help you make that first step." Theresa said with her arms still wrapped about her friend.
"I might not know you, but like Marie said...I'd like to. You got no idea how worried we were when my car broke down on that back road, my little girl in the back going through what she's going through. You helped me and my baby and my best friend, I want to help you now." Layla said, her own turn come.
Jubilee looked between them all, shaking her head and taking a ragged breath. Opening her mouth, clearly looking for words, Kitty cut her off with a finger and a sharp 'Ah!', the girl just sighing in reply after leveling her sometime rival a glare.
"I know that look, that's you about to tell me where to go and how to get there. It's four to one, if we have to wrestle you into Layla's car we will." Kitty challenged.
In a moment of clear defeat to the odds, Jubilee started walking off to the garage door to slam a fist into the opener. Between the rattle and shake of the garage door, a new noise joined it, one Marie herself thought sounded like a car horn just like the one in an old television show, the cry of the General Lee. With them all around Jubilee for support, they looked to see a beat up old mustang in the drive with a man stepping out. Dressed in his civvies, it was Fred with a folder in hand smiling graciously to them all.
"Here I was just about to go lookin' for Miss Lee, I got that paperwork for what you asked for." Fred said as he ambled up.
All the gathered women looked from Fred to Jubilee, surprise and shock writ on their faces. Standing with them, Jubilee signed them all right where she was asked, Fred taking notes and writing in the assorted fields himself. Clapping the folder shut, he walked back off to his car and tossed it in on the side seat.
"Wait...did you just?" Kitty asked of her friend in the relative private of the moment.
"Yeah, I was going to tell you all but I couldn't get a word in edge wise." Jubilee said quietly, taken up in a hug between them all.
"Well, I'll leave you ladies to that. Maybe if you have a moment Miss Lee, you could have a listen to my car, it's been misbehaving." Fred remarked, taking a long walk on down the drive to give them some time alone.
"Thanks guys..." Jubilee said after a time, any frustration from before gone to be replaced with a look of relief.
"So..." Theresa said.
"I guess we can skip that trip to the station, and go to the restaurant we got the reservation at instead." Kitty finished.
"What?" Jubilee asked surprised.
"We thought it might take the edge off forcing you for your own good." Layla explained.
"After you help Fred we're getting you out of these coveralls too, its got a dress code." Marie added finally.
Falling on the car, the women helped as best they could as one among them listened with a critical ear to the rumble of the engine. From an upstairs window, another watched them all with pride clearly in her blue eyes. Even if they might not think it, Ororo would always think of them as her students and she knew then all the lessons they had learnt had been taken to heart.
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With the sunset painting the evening sky, the doors to the mansion opened and walking out in sensible shoes with their heels in hand the ladies couldn't help but smile at the looks they received from down the drive. There in a game of shirts verse skins, Logan and the boys paused to admire them with their two referees forgetting their post to run on up. With his jaw open, Bobby closed it after taking a playful ball to the head from Kurt. The whistles came unexpectedly from the ladies as they admired the men, Logan and Pete shirtless alike against Kurt and Bobby.
"Where you all headed off to?" Logan asked as he wandered up with the rest.
"Just out..." Marie replied, finding her breath surprisingly short just then.
Next to her Pete had wandered up, his hand's finding Jubilee's as the two leaned close for a chaste kiss. Further down Bobby was introducing himself to Layla, Abby beside him looking a touch mischievous to Illyana. Kitty found herself with Theresa, the pair just chatting with Kurt who was denying any involvement in an instance of a missing box of pudding pops despite the evidence being clearly writ on the faces of the two girls who had missed a couple spots.
"He thinks your pretty mom." Abby said in a teasing voice tone.
"Abby Delilah, if you keep this up there won't be any secret admirers left come Valentine's day!" Layla cried to her daughter, her cheeks tinted with blush.
Illyanana started first, Abby quickly joining in as they raced off, their sing song voices cut off along the line of sitting in a tree by a sudden Bamf. Peals of laughter sounded in the mansion amidst the throwing open of windows and cries for air. With a look to another the mood was set as they all joined in a laugh at the antics.
"Well, just how are you headin' on out, as I don't rightly think those dresses look any fit for a hike down the road." Logan asked of Marie.
"We were going to take Layla's car." Marie explained, Logan just looking off to the old Ford.
Reaching into his pocket, he rummaged for a while and found his key ring, passing it off with one key in particular held. Spotting the Jeep key flanked by the assorted rest, she took the offered key in hand.
"Just be sure to bring it back with a full tank of gas." Logan said, leaning in for a hug.
Shrieking and swatting at him, Marie skipped back to see him looking at her with a broad grin. With her friends joining her, they fixed him with their own look that clearly said they were more enjoying looking at his sweaty chest than having it pressed up against them in that exact moment dressed as they were.
"Alright boys, lets hit the showers. The grease monkey got gussied up so that means we got the garage free for some poker." Logan called, a wink thrown before working off.
With lingering looks and a sudden appreciation that Kurt had made off with Abby and Illyana, Marie knew she wasn't alone finding herself suddenly a little hot under the collar.
"So...he's single?" Layla asked to Kitty.
"Bobby? Yeah...there's kind of a reason for that." Kitty explained clearly not seeing it herself.
With Jubilee next to her looking at the key, Marie caught a vision of the girl she remembered from years beyond dressed in pale yellow with accents of pastel pinks and blues and greens. The squeal she gave as she snatched the key left her wondering just what car they had been loaned, watching her run off as best she could in her dress to the garage. Joining her along with the others, they saw her at the back standing next to a shrouded car with a touch of showmanship in her poise.
"My baby!" Jubilee cried as she tugged the cover off, revealing a classic Thunderbird.
Staring at the beautiful black convertible, breaths were taken in surprise at what they had been gifted to ride tonight. Throwing the keys in the air, Jubilee cried the age old claim amidst a surprising flaunt of gymnastic grace given how she was dressed, landing lightly in the passenger seat. Like a bouquet at a wedding, the rest reached for the flying keys with Theresa winning out by the luck of the Irish it seemed. Gliding down the roads with the top down and not caring what happened to their hair, the night was theirs to enjoy.
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Author's Note : A big thanks to all the favorites and follows, and a thanks to cjm184 and Reina434 for the reviews. More to come soon.