019.

"ALRIGHT KIDS, LET'S GET ON THE BUS. NOW!"

It was one of those days where the kids were able to get out of the school and off into the real world. Because it was one of those days, the kids were not paying attention to any of the orders given out by the teachers and . They were all buzzing with excitement. They raced around the lawn, giggling and squealing about venturing off into the city and what they were going to buy for the dance.

Another defeaning yell by Logan got the students' attention. One look at Logan's tired and annoyed face had them racing onto the bus. Hayley stood next to the door, counting off the kids. She smiled when she saw Logan approaching her, a disgruntled look on his face. This was his two least favorite things- shopping and kids.

"Ready to spend hours with these rascals?" Hayley teased.

He growled. "Yeah yeah. Are you ready?"

"Ready for anything, Logan."

"Where's Storm at?" Warren asked.

"No idea," Bobby said, looking at his watch. "We're running behind which isn't exactly Storm behavior."

"Sorry to be late, everyone. Had some things to work out."

Remy came running out with a grin on his face. He put on his fedora and clasped his hands together. "So. Are we all ready to go?"

"Where's Storm?" Bobby asked, a hard look on his face. He obviously was not hiding his true feelings about Remy being there.

"Stormy's a little busy with the decorations so she sent Remy to go on this little field trips. Besides, Remy's gotta do a little shoppin' too." He looked over at Hayley and winked.

Kitty stepped forward, attempting to divert Remy's attention away from Hayley. "I'd be more than happy to help you shop, Remy."

"Thanks Pussycat," Remy said dryly, uninterested in her offer, "but I think we should be helpin' the kids find their clothes. And you don't get to call me Remy."

Hayley bit down on her tongue and forced herself to look away at the shocked look on Kitty's face after getting rejected by Remy.

"Alright, let's get on the bus and get the hell outta here."

Logan's eyes narrowed when he saw Remy. He walked swiftly over. "What are you doing here, Cajun?"

"I'm leadin' this little field trip. Storm got caught up with other things." With a pat on Logan's shoulders, Remy walked past him and followed the other teachers onto the bus.

Logan grumbled. Hayley giggled and pinched him in the arm. "Relax, Logan. It's just a field trip. What do you think is going to happen?"

"Just cause that Cajun's your boyfriend now doesn't mean I think he's fit to be a leader."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Just get on inside and help with the decorations, will ya pup? Everything will be fine."

Logan glared at her but walked away. She watched him go inside, giggling at how peeved he seemed about Remy coming along on the field trip.

"Ah, petite? We gotta get going so if you could get yourself in this bus and in the seat next to Remy, that would be great."

She turned around to see Remy leaning out of the bus door. With a shy smile, she hurried to the bus.

Warren started up the engine and the bus started pulling out of the driveway and into the streets. Hayley made her way to the back, passing by Kitty's death stares. The students were giggling and talking to each other, all of them excited for the dance. She smiled at each one of them but her biggest smile was for the Cajun man seated in the very last seat.

"About time you made it back here, cherie," he said with a sly grin.

Hayley giggled, sitting down next to him. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach.

Hayley and Remy hadn't been able to spend too much time together. Their schedules were suddenly packed, thanks to the dance that was coming up tomorrow, their trainings in the Danger Room and their T.A schedules. There was time after the day was over and the kids were in bed but they would be too tired to even speak with one another.

Today would be one of the first times that they would be able to spend some time together.

"How you feelin' mi amor?" he asked softly.

"Good. Tired."

Remy chuckled. "Yeah, I saw you play some football yesterday. Got some mean streak in you, petite."

"Hey, gotta win it for the team," Hayley joked. "What about you?"

"Doin' better now," he said with a wink.

"Good." She stood up and took a good look around the bus to make sure the students weren't being too rowdy. When she sat back down, Remy threw his arm around her shoulders, bringing her head down to his own shoulder. She laughed and relaxed as he stroked her hair gently.

"So what does Wolfy say about us?" he asked.

Hayley pulled away from him and grinned. "That if you hurt me then you'll get your heads and balls sliced off. He'll probably talk to you soon about our.. relationship." The word seemed so foreign to her.

He laughed. "Ah, the relationship talk." He shifted in his seat. "Remy never had one of those."

"Just be nice and don't smart talk him like you usually do," she instructed. "Basically, don't be yourself."

He made a face. "Damn, I don't know if I can do that. Maybe I'll get him in a good mood and just be charmin' Gambit." His red eyes flashed for a split second.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Please, you're going to need more than those pretty red eyes to win the pup over." She let out a yawn, stretching out her sore arms.

"Get some sleep, cherie. The bus ride is a couple hours long."

She shook her head. "Gotta keep an eye on the kids."

"Don't worry about the kids. Remy's got them under control."

She rolled her eyes again. "Sure." But her eyes begged to be closed and without any hesitation, she rested her head back onto Remy's shoulder and closed her eyes. It was only going to be a short nap.

"Wake me up in 30 minutes."

"Fuck you," Hayley growled, her eyes straining against the sun.

Remy chuckled. "Well, if you really want to.. though I've never done it at a mall." He let out a groan when Hayley's small fist connected with his arm. "Alright, alright, cherie." He chuckled again. "Remind me to never wake you up. Didn't think you'd be this feisty after a good nap."

She rolled her eyes. "I told you to wake me up in 30 minutes."

"Why 30?"

"Because 30 minutes is a good amount of time for a nap. It energizes you quick. Anything over makes you all groggy when you wake up," she informed him.

Remy nodded. "Yeah... Remy knows now."

They rounded the kids up and split into groups. Hayley hid her smile when Remy decided to team up with Logan and handle a wild group of boys who would much rather go off to the video game store than try on suits. The look on Logan's face was priceless and she giggled softly to herself, only to stop when he shot a death look at her. She mockingly flashed him a thumbs up before leaving with Jubilee and their group of girls.

"Oh how I remember being 13," Hayley joked as she handed one of the girls another dress for her to try on. It was her eighth time into the dressing room.

Jubilee giggled. "Hey, it's a rough year for us!" She leaned against the wall with a mischevious smirk on her face. "So, you going with Gambit?"

"I don't know. You going with Warren?" she shot back.

The small Asian stuck her tongue out.

"So, how old are you again?"

Jubilee chuckled and held up the dress that she had found, sighing lovingly. "Why don't you go find a dress? I can keep an eye on these girls."

"You sure?" Hayley asked, looking over at the doors. She could see the pile of dresses starting to poke out from underneath the door.

"Just go! You haven't gotten much time."

She laughed and decided to walk off on her own for a little while. She walked around the mall, sifting through the dresses. Her eyes fell upon a dress and immediately she knew this was the one. A beautiful dark shade of gold, strapless and length ending just above the knee. Small diamonds embroidered around the top of the dress. She was in love.

"Mmm, is this the dress you gon be wearing?"

Hayley jumped slightly but realized it was only Remy. Turning around, she smiled, holding the dress up to her body. "What do you think?"

Remy's lips curved upwards. He looked around and back at her with a sly look on his face. Hayley raised an eyebrow.

"What are you-,"

He grabbed the dress and tossed it to the ground. Before she could protest, he grabbed her hands and brought her close to his body. With one hand entwined with his and the other on his shoulder, they started to sway from side to side. Hayley sighed, looking up at Remy. He looked down at her, a smile.. a genuine smile plastered on his face.

She thanked her lucky stars that no one went shopping on a Wednesday morning.

"Slow dancing to 'Sex On Fire'. Nice," she commented.

Remy winked. "Just the way I like it," he said in a low sultry voice.

She giggled softly. "So, have you picked out what you're going to wear?"

"Doesn't matter what I wear- you're still gonna look better than me," he said with a chuckle.

Hayley made a face. "Whatever."

"It's true, cherie. So you gon save a dance for me?"

She flashed him a coy smile of her own. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Remy placed a hand over his chest, pretending to be wounded. "That hurts, beb."

Hayley laughed and threw her arms around him. "Be a man and suck it up." She withdrew her arms and picked up the dress from the ground. "You go off and find something nice to wear and I'm going to try this on."

"Need some help zipping up the dress, cherie? Remy can help- he's pretty good at zipping things up. Especially down."

She rolled her eyes but laughed at the joke. "I think Remy needs to go back and make sure his group of boys are doing okay picking out suits." She grabbed him by the collar however and kissed his lips. He let out a low moan and placed his hands on her hips.

"Mmm, I like where this is going," he growled.

"Ah, well hope you enjoyed the ride." Hayley pulled away with another kiss on the cheek and winked at him. He winked back and reluctantly walked away from her. She giggled when she heard him calling out the names of his kids, obviously lost. As she walked back to the room, her hands smoothed out her hair, making sure she looked presentable. Jubilee wouldn't stop with the questions.

Hayley walked back to the dressing room when a chill suddenly went down her spine. There was something wrong. She quickened her pace. "Fuck this," she muttered and broke out into a run towards the dressing room.

Jubilee and the three girls stood outside the dressing room, huddled together with frightened expressions on their faces. "What's going on?" Hayley said quickly.

Jubilee nodded towards one of the girls- Amy. "She's picking up other mutants. Not the other kids but someone else." She bit her lip. "She was in the dressing room when she just flipped out. It's something bad, Hayls."

Amy looked pale, sweat down her face. She was slumped against the wall, shaking uncontrollably. The other girls were sitting next to her, holding her hands and patting her back. Hayley knelt before her, patting her knee. "You okay, Aims?"

Amy shook her head.

"Could you tell me what you're feeling? Can you pinpoint what kind of powers this mutant has?"

The poor girl shut her eyes, whimpering. "They're, they're here.. here in the mall," she said softly. "Two of them... two of them are Level 4..." she inhaled deeply, "... one can change into anything... like, other people.. and the other.. the other controls metal-,"

"FUCK."

Hayley stood up and looked at Jubilee, sharing the same shocked look.

"What do we do? Do you think the others know?" Jubilee hissed.

Hayley shook her head. "I don't know... probably not. Maybe Logan if he's picking their scent up." She ran her hand through her hair, trying to think. She needed to act and act fast. There had to be some way to alert the others.

"What's going on?" asked one of the girls.

"Shit," she muttered. Her first priority were these girls. She needed to get them out of harm's way.

"Okay," Hayley said. "Okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to get out of this mall and get you guys on the bus. That's what we're going to do right now and then we'll decide from there. We have to move quickly, okay girls?"

The three girls nodded their heads but their faces said otherwise. They looked scared straight.

"Hold hands. Stay low. Move fast."

They ran. They ran as fast as they could. Hayley could hear the girls holding back their tears. She hissed, hating that these kids were being put in the situation that they were in. She could see the escalators that were going down just before her.

We're there.. we're almost there she thought to herself.

"Quick, get on," Hayley said, stopping. Jubilee went first, then the three girls. She hopped on behind Amy, running down as fast as she could.

Suddenly Amy stopped in her tracks. "Amy! What's going on? C'mon, we gotta move!"

"They're here!" she screamed.

The escalators halted. Hayley could feel the ground shaking under her feet. To her horror, the metal started to unhinge from the walls, magically creating a barrier around them, giving them no chance of escape. The girls started to scream and cry loudly.

"Girls, move! Now!" Hayley bellowed. "Jubilee, blast that shit and get them out of here!"

Jubilee nodded. She threw her hands towards the metal wall. The electricity blasted through the metal, creating an opening for them.

"Go!" Hayley yelled, pushing the girls. The girls ran out as fast as they could.

"What about you?" Jubilee asked.

"Don't worry about me, just get the girls safe!" she yelled back.

There were loud screams coming from around the corner. Hayley's heart dropped as she and Jubilee ran through the hole and turned the corner.

Her eyes narrowed at the blue figure before her. Her hands were wrapped around the three girls, holding them tight. The woman's yellow eyes fell upon Hayley and Jubilee, her mouth forming a vicious smile.

"Long time no see."

"Let those girls go, Mystique," Jubilee ordered.

Mystique made no response but stood her ground.

"Fuck this." Hayley threw up her hand towards Mystique. The blue woman was sent flying all the way through the wall, dust rising up from where she made impact with the wall. "Stupid bitch," she muttered.

"Now, now. That's not the kind of language young ladies such as yourselves should speak."

Hayley's skin went cold. She turned around, her hands clenched into fists. Her green eyes widened in shock and anger as she saw the man wanted for ruining many lives and relationships, including her own. The man who created chaos and havoc amongst mutants and humans. The man who started a war that would ultimately bring the end of humankind. The man that the X-Men were determined to defeat.

Magneto.

I think I've finally got some inspiration back to continue the story. I'm sorry that I've kept you waiting. Thanks for being patient.

This story needs a little more action now... soooo here it is. Magneto's back and you know no one's gonna be happy about that. Will Remy and Hayley get to have that dance? Stay tuned.