To Cheyy: Thank you for your kind words! I'm so glad that you're enjoying it. I enjoy writing it! I think that part of the enjoyment though stems from knowing that getting Allison's story out means that eventually I get to share one of my most treasured characters of all someday.

FYI:
I do not own the X-men. However, I do own Allison. And at my most delirious, I would like to claim that I own Deadpool too. I guess comics will just have to do. But since Deadpool breaks the fourth wall on a regular basis, does this mean that he knows I own him?

Chapter 5: Water also has a Freezing Point

As the alarm clock continued its insistant beeping, Allison rolled over and attempted to press her face deeper into the pillow. She batted off what she believed to be her mother shaking her shoulder and was instead greeted by a British alto voice. "Luv, it's time to get up. We've got a training session."

Allison opened just one eye and found herself looking at someone who didn't even vaguely resemble her mother. In her surprise, she rolled over and fell out of the bed and onto the floor, her feet still tangled in the sheets. Her roommate just laughed at her struggle. "It's too fucking early," Allison griped. "I've never gotten up this early before in my life. Not even for football." She kicked fiercely but her legs refused to come free. "God damn it! Someone cut these things off!" Betsy finally took pity and walked over and gently tugged on one of the sheets that caused the rest to easily fall away. "Thanks," Allison muttered getting up to her unsteady feet.

She crossed the room to gather her uniform and slowly began to pull it on. It surprised her that it stretched to fit her and she walked over to admire herself in the mirror. She turned slowly taking in her appearance and after a moment, she loosened the belt by three notches so that it hung loosely off her hips. She smiled at her less militaristic look and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She frowned at her green eyes, wishing that they would cooperate and turn blue to match her uniform, and they did but only for a second. She let out a small sigh of frustration and turned to her roommate. "How do I look?"

"Bloody awesome," Betsy said grinning. "You ready luv?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Allison answered shaking her head. But she let Betsy lead her into the depths of the institute until they were somewhere deep underground. Allison was too tired to pay much attention as to where she was being taken.

They entered a large dome-like room and Allison's head swiveled all around in amazement. It was approximately three stories high and looked like half a sphere. Standing in a cluster was a large group of the students with Logan. "You two are late," Logan growled as he tapped his foot impatiently. Although he didn't wear a watch he tapped his wrist to make his point.

"It's my fault, luv. I woke her up late," Betsy said apologetically and a couple of the other students snickered.

Allison's eyes flickered over the group as she tried to remember everyone's names from dinner the night before. There was Scott and Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Piotr, Amara, Ray, Bobby, Jubilee, and Roberto. Her eyes finally met the gaze of Sam and she blushed slightly when she realized he was appreciatively taking in her appearance. She wasn't at all used to anyone checking her out. Ray also caught Sam's gaze and elbowed him in the ribs while trying to keep his chuckle low. Ray then waggled his own eyebrows at Allison and feigned a wolf whistle.

"Right…today we're doing the labyrinth simulation. Work together as a team and get through it as quickly as you can. Sooner you're out, the sooner you can do your own things." Logan then walked out of the room and the door closed solidly behind him.

Scott immediately launched himself into leader mode as the room began to change around them. "Kurt and Kitty, I want the two of you to scout ahead. Amara and Ray, hang back and cover out backs…" Allison was deeply unsettled as walls began to rise up and if some of the students hadn't quickly stepped forward into a tighter cluster, they would have been cut off from the group.

Bobby snickered when he saw the concern on Allison's face. To them, this was a relatively basic training. Sure there would be a few obstacles through the labrynth, but nothing too terrible. "Don't worry, we'll make sure you get out in one piece," he said as he clapped a hand down on Allison's shoulder. He hadn't even been looking at her when he did it because he was making too much of a point to look at Sam as he smirked. He knew that Sam had taken a liking to her and wanted to get his digs in where he could. However the expression on Sam's face caused Bobby to frown, then to wrinkle his brow in confusion before finally looking to his side to see that Allison had been replaced by an ice statuette. "Oh shit..."

"What'd ya do to her?" Sam sputtered, his eyes still wide as saucers as he stared at Allison's pale blue and slightly sparkling appearance. She was entirely composed of crystalline ice and Sam was able to see through her to see Bobby who was backpedaling away. Not even Bobby in his ice form was like this. Bobby instead looked as though he were covered in a heavy layer of ice armor but was still very much human inside of it. Whereas Allison was now pure ice and it was somewhat perturbing to think that there were no organs or at least none that could be seen.

"I d-didn't do anything," Bobby stammered as he quickly pulled away to stare for himself. "I just put my hand on her shoulder. I swear I didn't do this on purpose." He looked to his best friend for affirmation but got none as Sam remained silent after his initial shock. "You believe me, right?"

Gazes started to swivel towards Scott expectantly but Sam's never left Allison. Maybe he was expecting her to be able to move the way that Bobby would but their powers were different. He was even hoping that Logan might come back even though he wasn't sure what good that would do. Finally, after what Sam thought was an eternity, Scott spoke. "Magma, see if you can't warm her up. Gently though," he warned.

Amara nodded as she stepped to the front of the cluster that had formed around Allison's frozen form. She waved everyone off before taking on her flaming form and everyone slowly backed away even further as Amara slowly stepped towards Allison until she was about a foot away. At first, Allison became more opaque and then the color slowly returned to Allison's face. The group let out a sigh of relief as it looked like she was beginning to move as he shoulders relaxed and her hands unclenched.

But Sam realized that her eyes still had not opened and that she was actually falling. He skidded in on his knees behind Allison, catching her as she fell in his arms and held back the grunt when he realized that she weighed a decent amount more than some of the other girls on the team. He stood shakily after a moment and turned to look at Scott and made a slight nod towards the labrynth. Any day now, he thought.

A part of Sam was frustrated that he was now more or less incapacitated for the training, granted there was nothing he could do that someone else couldn't in the labyrinth. Not unless being a human pinball counted for something. The first few steps were the most difficult but he shifted her weight a little and found it got easier.

"Look man, I'm really sorry," Bobby apologized for the fiftieth time as they continued to walk. Sam cast him a sideways glance but said nothing in return. "I really, really didn't do it on purpose. I was just...messing around."

"Bobby, jus' shut up," Sam hissed.

This had the opposite effect though. "Look, I totally respect that you like her, but she's gonna hate me now."

"She ain't gonna hate you. Confused, most definitely. But Ah doubt she'll hate ya," Sam responded as he paused to shift her weight in his arms once more. Her head was now resting against his shoulder and looked down into her slightly paled face and sighed.

"I'd still really appreciate it if you could talk to your girlfriend though and tell her I didn't mean anything by it."

"Bobby, she ain't my girlfriend!" Sam huffed causing half the team to stop and look back at them. Sam's cheeks instantly burned bright red and he hastened his pace a little. "Ah've known her for as long as you have-two days," Sam hissed once everyone had returned their focus to a pair of laser guns. "How could she possibly be mah girlfriend."

"She likes you, you like her?" Bobby asked. "I mean, it's pretty obvious."

If Sam's hands wouldn't have been full, he would have slugged Bobby for all he was worth. He didn't care how much trouble he would have gotten into for starting a fight in the middle of training.

But instead, Allison's eyes were fluttering open and she blinked up at him in surprise. "I'm not doing very well at this training thing, am I?"

Sam nearly laughed but instead shook his head as he smiled. "Not exactly yo' fault."

Bobby shoved his face over Sam's shoulder and gave her a chagrined look. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Are ya tryin' ta freeze her again?" Sam muttered nudging Bobby back as best he could.

Allison's confused gaze just passed from one boy to another. "I don't think I understand."

"Apparently yo' abilities and Bobby's don' mix well," Sam said after a moment's thought. "He touched ya, and ya intantly froze."

"That sounds bad," she agreed before looking up to Bobby. "I'm sorry too. The proffessor can f igure something out, right?" Bobby shrugged in response but looked to be relieved as she so easily absolved him of any guilt. Gently, Allison tapped Sam on the shoulder and met his gaze. "I might be able to walk. I know I can't be that easy to carry." She was blushing pretty good considering that not terribly long ago she'd been frozen solid. She kept thinking about the few times that Mark had tried to carry her over his shoulder or something and had made such a big deal about her weight. She knew she wasn't fat at all, but nonetheless she was uncomfortably aware that her active lifestyle meant that she had more muscle bulk than most high school girls.

Sam hesitantly put her down on her own feet and she wavered. Instinctively, Bobby went to help catch her before awkwardly halting himself. Sam did catch her though and pulled her in so that she was leaning on his shoulder. If possible, Allison blushed harder to find herself in his arms again. She slowly pushed herself upright and took a few wobbly steps before getting the hang of it again. They walked in silence behind the rest of the group and eventually Bobby moved up further to start helping with the various obstacles. "Ah didn' think ya were that heavy," Sam said trying to break the awkward silence but if anything, made it worse.

Allison just scratched the back of her head and let out a long puff of air. "Thanks," she said quietly. "For everything. "You didn't have to help me like that. I appreciate it."

"Yo' welcome," Sam answered smiling. "Besides, any one of us woulda done it. We're a team."

She glanced sideways at him and nodded. "Right. I knew that."

Sam was just wondering if he'd managed to say something wrong when she abruptly pushed him away. He landed sprawled on his back to watch as she dissipated before his eyes. A laser fired directly where they'd been standing. Abruptly, he was lifted from his shoulders and he looked back to see Allison behind him. He found his feet and immediately rocketed himself at the laser gun, he bounced off the wall after destroying the gun and landed roughly on the ground where she ran over and helped him back to his feet again. "You okay?" he asked getting up and rubbing his head.

"I should be asking you that!" she admonished and he grinned. "That was very cool," she admitted as she smiled in return.

"So was that disappearing act of yours. That could really come in handy."

She gave a bashful smile as they caught up with the others at the labrynth exit. However, Logan's promise that they sooner they got through the sooner they got done did not include the dozen laser cannon armed robots waiting for them. Allison once again dissipated as a round of shots were fired in their direction and Sam immediately went into action as he aimed for the heads.

Allison pulled herself together along the wall of the room and watched as her teammates tore apart the robots with enthusiasm. She was startled by the violence that even timid little Kitty seemed to take up with such glee. One of the robots seemed to notice that Allison was not in the melee and turned towards her. She saw it coming and ran at it, and at the last second she jumped up and delivered a hard kick to the robot's head causing the head to dislodge and hang awkwardly to the side. The robot powered down and Allison backed away slowly as she surveyed the scene around her again. Apparently her teammates were used to robots because they were making short work of them all. They seemed to be in various states of melting, short circuiting, falling apart and even frozen in place.

The Danger Room door opened and Logan walked in as the students naturally fell back into a group to listen to his debrief. Allison received quite a few pats on the back and shoulders including a thumbs up from Bobby. "Not bad. A little slower than normal," he noted lazily. "Good thinking on your feet early on One-Eye. Ice Cube, at least attempt to control your powers," he added raising an eyebrow in Bobby's direction and Bobby chewed his lower lip. "And I'll admit, you made a good recover, Kicks."

Allison got a gently nudge in the ribs from Betsy who winked. "That means you've done really, really well, Luv. Logan's nicknames are a rite of passage." They followed the group as they all filed out of the Danger Room towards the locker rooms greatful that training for the day was over.

"I'm like totally spending the whole day by the pool," Kitty proclaimed as she stretched her arms over her head.

"That sounds like a plan to me, Luv," Betsy agreed as she followed her through the door.

Allison hung back for a moment and spotted Sam over some of their classmates' heads. She waved and headed over to him and Bobby as they paused outside the boys' locker room. "Hey. See you topside in an hour?" she asked Sam.

Bobby shot Sam a look which was promptly ignored. "Sure...sounds good."

She grinned as she turned and ran back to the girls' locker room, waving back over her shoulder.

Bobby just punched Sam in the shoulder and started to sing loudly, "Sammy and Allison sitting in a tree..."

"Bobby, you are so pushin' it now," Sam growled as he tackled Bobby through the door and to the ground. The boys inside scattered to make room as the two started to wrestle, the entire time Bobby doing his best to keep singing.

"K...I-owww...S...Shit...I...Nhhh...G!"

Scott finally managed to grab Sam by the shoulders and haul him off. "Break it up you two! If you're going to go all at it, do it outside where you're less likely to break something."

"Gladly," Sam said through gritted teeth as he glared at Bobby who was trying to stop grinning.

He was still highly amused by Sam's refusal to admit that he liked a girl. Bobby finally snorted and shook his head. "Save your energy for the football field. You're gonna need it."

Sam paused realizing that his friend was probably right. It wasn't that hard to believe that Allison might try out for the same position as him. She also had a serious advantage over him in that she'd already played at the varsity level before. Sam just set his jaw, grabbed his things and went straight upstairs to change in his room. He suddenly didn't feel like being around all the other guys much longer.

"Like did you see Sam when Al got frozen?" Kitty asked shooting Allison a grin. Allison did her best to ignore the chatter as she ran a brush through her hair trying to make something of the knots that had mysteriously formed. "Like, he was totally worried about you."

When Allison made a break for the door, Rhane jumped into her way. "It's not every day that Sam gets a crush. How about it, Bets?"

Allison followed Rhane's gaze to Betsy who was rolling her eyes at the implication. "That wasn't a big deal, Luv. This is far more serious. He just met you yesterday."

"You people seriously need to get a life," Allison sighed as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "It's no wonder I usually tend to hang with guys more than girls." She shook her head in disbelief at the gossip and was about to head for the door when she realized that Jubilee and Amara had formed a tag team blockade.

"Come on you can't say you don't like him," Amara teased running a hand through her dark tresses.

"He actually is kinda cute, if you go for that whole rebel look," Jubilee added with a nod.

"With the jean jacket…"

"And long hair…"

"You two are too much. I'm going…" Allison said as she melted down into a puddle and reformed behind them. She wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders from behind and grinned. "Now." Finally, free she went out the door and left the girls to their giggles.

"Wow, could she have taken that any worse? You'd think we'd accused her of falling for someone like Scott," Jubilee snickered along with just about everyone else.

Jean finally came around the corner from the showers as she towel dryed her hair looking confused. "What's this about Scott?" she asked shaking out her long red hair as everyone froze.

"Nothing!" came the chorus of responses from just about everyone else in the room at the time. Jean just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her things before leaving the locker room. "She like totally has to be dying her hair!"