Greeting from The Lady Mage!
Another shorter chapter, but it's easier for me to chunk it up this way it seems. There's a ton of expletives in this one- pardon the crass nature of argument. Anyway... yeah, hope you enjoy. Thanks!
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah, if I owned it I wouldn't be this damn broke.
FERITY: (fehr-ih-tee) - noun - 1. The state of being wild or untamed. 2. Savagery; ferocity.
"Ou etes-vous?" Zoe didn't bother to hide the growing desperation in her voice, nor did she try to hide the tears that finally began to spill from her eyes. Curling up against her headboard in her room, Sari wrapped up in her arms, the pretty feral pulled her knees up in an unnecessary attempt to shield herself. (Where are you?)
He paused on the other end, and she could hear him shift his phone to his other ear. "Je suis a Albany." he answered, his voice gruff. "Pourquoi?" (I'm in Albany. Why?)
"Why are you back in New York? You had one job then said you'd stay in Canada!" She fought back the growl in her throat. "You're going to get your big blonde ass caught!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you getting shot, arrested, or killed!"
"Why would I be shot or arrested or killed?" He slammed a truck door, hard, in the background.
"For being a cocky son of a bitch that doesn't realize how his actions affect others!"
"Fuckin' what?"
"You were seen. Your ass was on the seven o'clock news. They've spotted you- now they knew for a fact you are still alive!"
"What news?" he growled, his voice agitated.
"The fucking news-news, Vic!" she hissed, choking back a sob. "They saw you in some gas station, and-"
"Mother fuck." he cut her off. "Zee, I don't have the time for this right now. I'm in the middle of something."
"I don't care! You have to be more careful!"
She heard him snort. "Listen, Zee, I've been doing this shit for years. If I haven't been caught yet, I won't be."
The redhead growled. "And if you are?"
"And what if the sky falls tomorrow?" he snorted.
"Asshole." She stood from her spot on the bed. "Nice attitude you have there."
"Hey, now listen up, girlie-"
"No, you listen!" She cut him off. "You ever stop to think 'Oh, hey, Zee is still out there waiting for me?'" She slunk into the rocking chair. "And what of Sari?"
"What about Sari?" he snarled into the phone.
"God damnit, Vic- it's not just you anymore! You have a mate and a cub, too!"
"I don't need this shit right now, Zee!" Another door slamming. "I'm in the middle of a fucking job!"
"You don't need this shit?" She almost cracked her phone in her hand. "What the fuck- you think I do? I'm stuck in West Chester with Sari- without you! Eric's in jail, Warts is fucking dead, and you've abandoned me with the fucking X-Men?!"
"... I don't have time for this bullshit. Bye."
(*click*)
The feral yanked the phone from her ear as though it had bitten her. He'd hung up on her? "That fucker!" she hissed.
A soft knock on the door drew her attention. Ororo poked her head in cautiously, and offered the feral a worried smile. "Are you okay?" She slipped inside, leaving the door open a few inches behind her.
"Fucker hung up on me." Zee tried to quell the angry fire behind her eyes, rocking her and the cub in her chair. She quickly redialed Victor's number, settling the phone on speaker onto the side table so she could situate the cub more comfortably in her lap.
"Hung up on you?"
"The jerk." dead-panned Jean from the hallway, following the wind-rider into the room.
"Get lost, telekine!" hissed the feral. "It's none of your business."
"If you are talking to a known terrorist on the phone, then it becomes our business." Scott's voice came from the hallway.
"Kiss my ass, you prick!"
The teacher slash team leader pushed past Jean, coming to the room with his finger pointed in Zoe's direction. "Now you see here, Zosia." he began, his voice agitated. "I am sick and tired of this-"
"Fuck you, Scott." Zoe let out a low, warning growl. That Scott wouldn't understand its implications meant little to her- neither did the little click on her phone when Victor picked up his phone.
"I think what we have here is a mis-communication. You are-" Scott took three steps in Zoe's direction.
Ororo had to good sense to back away. "Zee, don't."
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Victor's voice came from the phone on the side table. His voice was loud, authoritative, pissed.
Scott ignored it. "Just because the Professor lets you run wild without having to-"
"Motherfucker, one more step this way is going to land you in the city morgue!" Zoe's growl increased tenfold, the sound from her throat mimicking her mate's.
"Zee!"
The redheaded feral ignored her mate's voice from the speakerphone on the table, her eyes bleeding black as she glared at the brown-haired man trying to scold her. He'd stopped his advancement as soon as her eyes had changed. 'Funny,' she thought, 'Perhaps he has learned something.' She could smell his anger, and it only added to her own. "You knew where I came from. You were there when he dumped me off here! SO DON'T BE SO FUCKING SURPRISED that I TALK to him when HE- like it or NOT- is my fucking MATE." Casually to the untrained eye, but calculating to the observant, the feral stood from her rocking chair and laid Sari in her bassinet without breaking her eyes from the fearless leader. "And like I've said before, asshole- I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT."
"Mate, husband, whatever- I don't care! This is still a school!" Scott snapped, "There are children here we have to protect! There is no room here for Sabretooth!"
"I DON'T WANT A FUCKING ROOM, ONE-EYE! WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK IS GOING ON OVER THERE?"
"You shut up!" Scott said in the direction of the desk. He looked back at Zoe. "You need to calm down- NOW. There is too much-"
"HEY, YOU BETTER BACK THE FUCK UP, MOTHERFUCKER!" Victor yelled across the phone. Another slam, glass shattered.
"Oh, now you fucking care?" hissed Zoe. In the bassinet, Sari began to cry again, afraid of the loud voices.
"God damnit, Zee!"
"Shut up, Vic!"
Jean, in a moment of clarity, grabbed Scott by the arm and gave it a tug towards the door. "Come on." she said to him. "We should be downstairs with the children."
"Hey, you don't tell me to shut up, Zosia Creed!"
"I'll tell you whatever the fuck I like, Victor Thomas William! FICK DICH!"
"Why don't you shut the FUCK up and feed the fucking cub so she'll shut up?"
"Why don't you shut the FUCK up and keep your hairy ass off the damned TV?!"
"I told you not to worry about that shit."
"If you think I don't sit here worrying about you ass then I've been sleeping with the wrong feral for that last two years!"
"Fuckin' WHAT?" Victor snarled. "I'm not gonna sit here and yell with you, Zee! You go take care of your fucking cub- I'll go take care of my own shit!"
(*click*)
Zoe half-roared. "Did he just hang up on me again? Fucking ass!" She snatched her phone up, ignoring Jean pulling Scott from her room. "That fucking tom is DEAD! I'm gonna NEUTER that son of a bitch!" She tossed her phone on the bed. When she turned back to Sari's bassinet, Ororo was pulling the baby into her arms, comforting the crying cub.
"Sari, you poor thing." Ororo murmured, cradling then cub in her arms.
*-Ride- Dirty, sweet, and filthy- Ride- Beat your hands on me-*
The feral snarled, grabbing her phone back from the bed and holding it to her ear with a clicking of claws. "What?"
"And another thing, bitch," Victor snarled. "I didn't abandon your ass anywhere! I did what YOU wanted me to do and that was listen to your fucking BUCKETHEAD FATHER!"
"You obviously weren't listening to me or you would have known I didn't care what Eric wanted- I wanted to be with you!" she hissed back into her phone. "All the fucking money in the world and you dump me off here? You couldn't have given me the keys to the penthouse?!"
"It's too dangerous! It'll only be so long before all that shit is traced back to me and you'd have been found there. Is that what you want?"
"No! What I want is to get past all this fucking madness!" Zoe paced the floor at the foot of the bed. "I'm sick of blindly following you- I'm sick of blindly following Eric! Where has it landed me? Why couldn't Sari and I have stayed anywhere in the city while you were out playing hide and go fuck yourself with the FBI?"
"You and Eric chose this-"
"NO, you didn't want to think for yourself so you just fell in line behind Eric. Good riddance to all your fucking burdens- so glad to be of service."
"Burdens? What the fuck do you think you are to me?"
"Apparently not as much as I once thought."
"You think you're so smart- that you know everything there is to know. Girl, you don't know jack fucking SHIT! You've been so sheltered by Eric and Mystique that you wouldn't know the real world if it spit in your face! I've been there and done that! This ain't my first rodeo- I've been running since I was a boy, and I ain't plannin' on stoppin' anytime fuckin' soon!" Victor spat, his voice venom. "For over a hundred fucking years I've done this shit and had no problems- until NOW!"
"So then everything is my fault then." Zoe could feel her incisors lengthening and her claws growing sharper. "Life was just great until you met me, huh?"
"YES!" he yelled. "I didn't have to worry about anything else because fuck everything else! I should have left you in the woods in that fucking TREE!"
"Well I'm glad to see I've been such an affliction on you." Her voice mimicked her sister's- her voice half human and half panther-ess roar.
"Whatever, bitch."
(*click*)
The little blue phone was again tossed on the bed, and the feral ignored when it bounced off somewhere behind the nightstand. The feral, not fully in control of herself, continued to pace for a few seconds, trying to blink back the blackness of her eyes. The hairs along her forearms and on the nape of her neck refused to lay back down, and the muscles in her arms and thighs twitched, begging for something to do.
"Are you going to be okay?" Ororo asked cautiously, watching the feral try to calm down.
"No." Zee half-hissed, glaring towards the window. "I have to get out of here." Her claws extended to the point of pain, she rushed to the window, throwing it open.
"Wait- what are you-" Ororo watched the girl step onto the snowy window ledge. "Zee!"
"I'll be back." said the feral, gracefully jumping to the ground below.
The wind-rider watched out the window as the feral zipped across the grand lawn, leaving only a handful of footprints in the snow, before scaling the wall and disappearing on the other side.
Sari had taken a good ten minutes to calm. Ororo had changed the baby's diaper and settled her into a soft, warm sleeper for the evening before taking her back downstairs to find Charles. With the sleepy cub cradled in her arms in Zoe's sling, the wind-rider quietly slipped down the stairs. At the first floor landing, Charles was waiting for her, his arms rested across his lap, and his eyes seeming very far away.
"Professor?" She slowed to a stop next to him.
"Yes?" Charles's eyes refocused, turning up to look at the dark-skinned mutant in front of him. "Oh, yes, Ororo." He gave her a small smile. "Playing Nanny today are we?"
"Zoe jumped out the window." said Ororo. "And hopped the fence."
"Yes, she's not far from here. I've been keeping a bit of a tab on her." The professor touched his fingers to his temples. "She's quite upset, and taking it out on the local wildlife about a mile from here."
"Poor wildlife." mused the wind-rider.
"Better the wildlife than the mansion or the children." returned the professor. "Which is quite possible with that one."
"Do you really think she would hurt the children? Even with one of her own?" Ororo asked, taking a seat on the second stair, putting herself level with Charles.
"Perhaps not on purpose." Charles gave her a warm smile. "Ferals- especially those like Zosia or Sabretooth- or even Logan sometimes- have wild personalities, and even wilder tempers. It just depends on how well they can reign in the animal brain to let the human side weigh in." He reached out and give Ororo's shoulder a fatherly pat. "You and Zosia have seemed to bond very well over the past month or so. Surely you've picked up on this."
She only nodded once. "A little bit, I suppose. It's still a tad bit strange, really." She settled Sari so that the baby was sitting leaned in her lap. "I don't know how in the world I understand that overgrown kitten... I just do. She can look at me or make some offhanded gesture and I know exactly what she wants or is asking... The other day she halfway grunted at me and I knew whether or not she needed Sari's pacifier or her blanket."
Charles chuckled softly. "Well, your mutation isn't too terribly far off from ferals." He explained. "You have control of the weather- the one thing on this planet that is wild and untamed- yet you can make the sun shine or the rain pour at your bidding. Being one with nature doesn't only mean being one with the clouds."
Comfortable in her surrogate mother's lap, Sari let out a sleepy yawn, her brown eyes slipping closed. Ororo resettled her, pulling her fur sling around the cub to keep her warm.
"You're worried about Zosia." Charles said, holding out his arms to the cub. "She will be back in a few moments. Why don't you go wait for her out the backdoor? She wants to speak with you."
"Okay." said Ororo, gently settling the cub into Charles's arms. "I am a little worried."
"Oh, you're heavy for your size." said the professor to the baby as he cradled her in his arms. "Or has it been that long since I've held a baby, hmm?" Sari answered him with another yawn, slipping into sleep with a soft contented purr.
With the cub safely in Charles's arms, Ororo quietly made her way to the back door, walking out onto the back patio. The children had swept the snow from the granite tiles earlier in the day, using the snow for snowball fights and to build the line of little snowmen standing watch over the back gardens. A fresh dusting of the white fluff had spoiled the students' efforts, adding a few inches in height to every surface outside. Ororo walked to the edge of the patio, her arms crossed over her abdomen against the cold. She didn't bother to grab a coat or shoes, nor did she pull down her scrunched up shirt sleeves. Cold didn't really bother her much anymore.
Across the courtyard, a dark figure dropped down from the cinder block wall surrounding the school. Standing from their crouch, the figure silently stalked up to the school, stopping just outside of the range of light from the single porch light above the back door. "...Hey."
"Feel better?" Ororo asked softly.
Zoe stepped into the light. She was covered head to toe in blood, dried and frozen to her skin and clothes. Chunks of gore hung in her curly hair and clung between her fingers. "Oui. Un peu." she answered quietly, crossing her arms self-consciously around her chest. "I, uh... just want to apologize for my... outburst." She met Ororo's eyes, walking up to the woman. "I know this is a school. Je suis... I'm sorry for my language... And I'm sorry I took off like that."
Ororo only shook her head with a soft, forgiving grunt. "Aren't you freezing to death?"
"Death? No. Freezing my ass off? Yes." returned the feral. "Blood is hot when you spill it but it cools terribly quickly."
"What are you covered in?"
"Deer- two doe."
"Yuck." Ororo crinkled her nose.
"Yeah, I need a hell of a bath." Zosia held her hands out in front of her for examination. "Where is Sari?"
"The professor has her. She's asleep." Ororo looked at the bloody, muddy footprints the feral left in her wake. "Hold on- you're going to have to leave your shoes down here." Zosia looked down at the path she'd made with a mumbled curse, pulling her shoes off and setting them by the back door.
The brown paper sack in his lap was bleeding grease. The warm, slick feeling was beginning to soak through his jeans where it perched. He was too pissed off to care at that point, trying to drive to his motel without speeding and attracting law enforcement while slopping down a few grease-ball cheeseburgers and fries. Swallowing the last bite of his second burger, he let out a snarl.
"Fucking bitch fucking distracting me..." he growled aloud to himself, "It's not like I fucking smiled for the fucking birdie! I would have gutted anyone trying to take a pic of my mug, fuck-you very much!" He blew a strand of hair out of his face. "Not like I'm the fuckin Bluebutt- I been doin' this shit for the better part of the last century! Shit isn't kid's play!"
"At least you had the good sense to hide Zee and the baby away." Mystique had said to him on the phone earlier that day. He'd been eating breakfast when she had called. "Instead of gallivanting off across the countryside with them in tow."
"I ain't that stupid, Myst." he had growled back.
"I can almost see that."
"What the fuck do you want, ya yappy blue broad? Ya don't sound like ya called up here just ta chit-chat."
"Well sufferin' succotash, Vic." she'd purred over the phone, using an obvious lisp to mock his pissed off accent.
"What'daya want?"
"I came across some paperwork about Eric." she answered, serious. "I think I know where he is, and I want you to help me get him out."
He snorted. "How?"
"Look, can you meet me? I told that fuckin' cow I was on a business trip. I'm in Albany."
"I don't know... What do you think we're gonna do?"
"I don't know, Snagglepuss- that's why I'm askin! Can you come or not?"
He smirked. "Well, not if you're garbed up like that bastard, Kelley. And I don't think Zee would approve."
"Victor, I'm being serious."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do."
At the thought of his mate, he almost smiled. Yeah, he loved Zosia- as much as he could, really. He also loved the cub. It surprised him sometimes, really, that he was capable of such a thing after all the shit his parents had put him through so very long ago. He shook the memories from his head before they could manifest. Just because he loved Zee did not mean she could yell at him. He was the man of this operation and she had never been given any reason to doubt him! Hell, no!
'Damn, she sounded real upset...'
He grabbed his phone with his greasy fingers, not caring to sully the expensive electronic. His fingers dialed Zee's phone number without him having to look, but his thumb paused over the send button.
"Why the fuck am I calling her?" he hissed to himself. "I told her I was busy, but she just kept on fuckin' yellin'... Nag, nag, nag, nag, nag, nag, nag!... Well, fuck, that's not really true..." He set his jaw. "Bitch." He tucked the phone back in his pocket. Another block down he pulled it back out to check for messages. Nothing. He tucked it away again. This time it stayed for a full ten seconds. "God-fucking-damnit!" He punched in her number again and pushed send. "I'm calling for the fuckin' cub! Not for her! For Sari!" he groused aloud. "Nothing wrong with that!"
Back in her room, showered and dressed in fuzzy, lavender, fleece pajama bottoms and a soft white tee, Zoe sat, drained, on the bed. She was wide awake, but felt so sleepy inside. Her heckles wouldn't settle back down, leaving her on edge. She pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her arms across them, watching Ororo rock Sari in the rocking chair.
"Are you going to be alright?" asked the wind-rider, watching the feral stew.
"Yeah." murmured the mother. "I'll be fine." She let out a tired sigh, holding back tears. "It's just... he's never yelled at me like that before."
Ororo smiled. "You've never fought before? Ever? In two years?"
"We've fought, but... Not like this- yelling across the phone. He was really angry." She frowned. "I was only worried about him, 'Ro."
"I know." Ororo said softly. "But that's men sometimes- they just don't understand."
"We haven't fought since before Sari was born. Even then we didn't really yell to argue- just kind of to get the point across."
"I don't really picture Sabretooth as a sit down and talk about it kind of guy."
"Oh, we fought- tooth and claw." The girl scowled. "If we disagreed, we'd go to the training room or outside and fight it out. He never really hurt me, though with him being larger than me he did win a lot- the fights, not necessarily the arguments. Even he can admit when he is wrong.. but I got my wishes granted in other ways."
"I said YES!"
Zosia ducked to the floor before Victor's big hand swept across the patch of air her head had been occupying. She tucked into a roll, fitting through the space between his legs. Behind him, she hopped up, jumping onto his back, using his belt and shoulder as ladder rungs. She launched herself up into the rafters above him, catching hold of a metal bar to pull herself up. "I SAID NO!" she yelled back down to him, settling on the beam with a smirk.
The large area Eric had hollowed out for his Brotherhood to 'train' in was poorly equipped with only a few floor mats, three worn and patched punching bags, and a set of uneven bars. The two mated ferals were knee-deep in an argument that was not about to be easily resolved- at least, not with their feral egos. Long ago they had come to an unspoken agreement: If it can't be talked out, it will be fought out. That way it would drain their aggression, and they could better settle the issue at hand without a cloud of anger hanging over them.
He looked up at her above him, his face as unreadable as ever. "God damnit, Zee, I said YES!" After a few seconds, he sprang up into the air, grabbing onto the beam beside her before flipping himself up onto it.
"Fuck you! I said no!" Before he was settled, Zosia had ran her way down the beam before dropping down onto one of the tattered punching bags. When she turned around, Victor was right behind her. His big, strong arms clamped around her, pinning her own arms to her sides.
"What the hell has gotten into you, Zee?" he growled, his head ducked down to hiss in her ear. "You usually like that sort of shit!"
"I said no, Vic! I don't want to go!" She wriggled once, but knew she'd find no leverage. She gave him a displeased pout before digging her claws into the material of his pants, cutting through and piercing into the flesh of his thighs. She smirked as he released her arms to grab her wrists, holding them together against the small of her back.
There came a soft knock on the door, followed by Marie opening the door and sticking her head in. "Zoe?"
"Yes?" Zoe gave the girl a small smile to ease her. She didn't want the teen to think she was angry with her.
"Is it.. did you.. um.."
Jubes opened the door the rest of the way, pushing Marie inside with her. "Man, we could hear you yelling from downstairs. What's wrong?"
"I told you, Mallrat, we saw Sari's dad on the television." Marie said to her, scowling at the bold teenager.
"Well come on in." Ororo said with a soft chuckle. The Asian teen settled down on the floor next to the rocking chair. With a roll of her eyes, Marie pushed the door shut behind her, then took her place on the very end of Zoe's bed.
"Little bitch." he grumbled, glaring down at her.
"Oh, are my claws that sharp, my love?" she asked, feigning innocence. With her hands behind her back, she had more freedom of movement, and she pressed her body flush with his. His hands tightened around her wrists, cutting off the circulation. She only smirked, throwing one leg around his and grinding her hips against his thigh. Her movements had done what she wanted it to- his hands had loosened just the tiniest bit. She repeated her actions, purring ever-so softly. "Victor.." she murmured. "Please.. stay here?"
"Temptress." he growled.
"Come on.. stay here with me.. don't go?" she whispered breathily. After a few seconds, his grip was loose enough for her to escape from- and she did, twisting out of his grasp. With a strong swipe of her claws to the side of his knee, she crippled him just long enough to get across the room.
"What in the world are you two talking about?" asked Jubilee.
"Fighting." answered the wind-rider.
"About the last time Victor and I actually fought- before Sari was born." Zoe smirked.
The smaller feral could hear his growl behind her, the low, gutteral noise reverberating down her spine. She hopped up onto the uneven bars, sitting on the lowest one to wait for him. He was mad now, but he was a better lover when he was pissed off. Perhaps she was, too, when she was particularly in a mad passion. Maybe that was why he teased her so much. The larger feral seemed to like it when she was mad, frustrated, and demanding and he was the face of cool confidence.
"Okay, nope- stop!" Marie covered her ears with her hands. "I know where you're going with this and I don't wanna know!"
"You take your chances coming in here." Zoe laughed with a smirk. "I don't dumb down for you girls. You're old enough to understand, and old enough to learn how to manipulate the men in your life."
Jubilee giggled. "All right! Finally, a class I can get in to!"
Victor stalked up to her, his bare feet making loud slapping sounds on the cool rock floor. Within two feet of her, he recaptured her hands, but held them in place against the bar she sat perched on. "Vixen." he growled, leaning down to the skin of her neck, nipping along where it met her shoulder.
Jubilee gasped, eyes wide. "He bit you?!"
"Honey, we're ferals. Biting isn't always a bad thing." She tucked her hair back behind her ear, and leaned down to where the girl could see. Victor's fangs had made two perfect pocks and a line on her flesh where his teeth had met her skin so long ago. "How do you think we mark one another?"
"I don't know- wedding rings are nice." Marie teased. "Probably a lot less painful, too."
The redhead lifted the ring still attached to her tags. "I have one of those, too. Just not the certificate that goes with it." She smirked again. "But it doesn't really hurt so much when he bites me."
"Doesn't hurt?"
"Totally different sensation."
Her purr was real this time, leaning her head to give him better access to her neck. "Beast." she murmured back, sliding her eyes closed as his tongue lapped up the blood he'd spilled.
He pushed his body against her's, his chest against her chest, evened out by her perch on the bar. "Bitch." he repeated in a soft growl.
She only smirked again, sinking her fangs deep into his neck. He made a noise that was half purr, half growl, and she smiled against his skin. 'Should I go to make him happy?'
"Where did he want you to go?" asked Ororo, shifting a sleeping Sari up onto her shoulder.
"Hunting?" offered Marie.
"No, we went hunting every couple of days- he never had to beg me to go hunting." Zoe said, crossing her legs. "Myst had talked him into taking me into town. Fueled the jet up and everything." She sighed. "Told me later that he'd wanted to go out to eat somewhere nice, just enjoy ourselves without having to think about all this mutant war... without having to worry about anything else. Just us." The feral sighed again. "Almost wish we'd gone, but I wasn't feeling well, and I didn't know how to tell him."
"Not feeling well? I thought you didn't get-" Ororo smiled, a little smug. "You were pregnant."
"Hold the phone- you were pregnant and he was fighting with you?" Marie's eyes widened.
"He didn't know. I hadn't told him yet." shrugged the feral. "She wasn't very far in the making then- I certainly wasn't showing much yet, so he hadn't figured it out on his own."
"He didn't smell it?" The skunk-haired teen asked, laying on her belly across the end of the bed.
"Sari smells like a mix of us." explained Zoe. "Like a little Victor and a little Zosia, stirred up together. The only difference between how I smelled to him pregnant as opposed to not was.. oh, how did he put it?.. I believe he said it smelled sweeter somehow. Kind of like in heat but without being in heat. I don't know how to explain it."
"TMI." Jubilee giggled.
"Pardun?"
"The whole heat thing. That's weird!" Jubilee said with a giggle.
"Not so weird as shooting fireworks from one's fingertips."
Jubilee giggled again. "Okay, it's just different then."
"Part of being feral, I suppose. At least, that's what Victor tells me." The happiness seemed to leave the feral then, and she slumped back against the headboard. "But he tells me a lot of things."
Marie met the redhead's eyes. "Don't feel too bad. All couples fight- even Miss Grey and Mr. Summers." She smiled reassuringly. "And even if he doesn't, you're always welcome in my bunk."
"Well, you're not legally married, right?" Jubilee asked. "You can just dump the idiot and then go find you someone who is nice!"
The feral held back a growl. "That.. is not an option." She huffed a sigh. "Victor isn't legally my husband, no, but biologically he is my mate. This isn't just paperwork, honey. Psychologically, pysiologically, I am linked to him."
"Linked?"
"He is mine, I am his. There is no other- no equal out there- that could step into his shoes, and I wouldn't allow anyone to try."
*beep, beep, beep*
Victor pulled the phone away from his ear, looking at it peripherally as he drove. "What the fuck?" He redialed the number and held it back against his head.
*beep, beep, beep*
"Mother-fucker." The feral hissed, pulling his phone back. "What the hell?!"
"We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try your call again. Thank you. This is a recording." *beep*
"What the hell do you mean 'cannot be completed as dialed'?! She's had that same number for the last two fuckin' years!" Victor growled at the phone, trying again.
"We're sorry, but you call cannot be comple-"
"Fuck!" Victor hissed, slamming his phone down, hard, on the truck's dash.
*beep-beep, beep-beep*
"Fuckin' now what?!" he hissed, grabbing the piece of maroon metal back.
'-PLEASE INSERT SIM-'
"Oh, you cunt!" cursed the mutant, pulling the back of the phone off to reboot the damned thing. He pulled the battery out, set it on his thigh by his bag of greasy burgers, and fiddled with his SIM card with two sharp claws, using his free elbow to keep the truck straight on the road. "Come out of there, you bitch!" he grumbled. With a little click, the SIM card popped out of the back of the phone, flying off towards the passenger side floorboard. "MOTHERFUCK!" In vain he tried to reach out and snatch it from the air, but pulled his elbow with it.
The truck swerved to the right. With a yelp and a curse, he quickly righted it, but in turn, dropped not only the phone and its back, but knocked the battery and his bag of dinner into the floorboard at his feet. He ignored the angry horns honking behind him, pulling over to the shoulder and turning off the truck. The door was slammed open, and the furious mutant stepped out, kicking soiled hamburger onto the side of the road.
"You two are stuck together like ugly on wood." breathed Rogue. She picked at the edge of the comforter. "In my head.. I can see some of it. From Magneto's memories." Her eyes slid closed as she dropped the fabric to tuck her hair behind her ears. She had pulled her gloves off a few minutes before when Ororo had slipped into the bathroom for a shower. The teen cupped her cheeks in her hands. "He saw the signs, you know. Eric did." she said. "But didn't want to believe them. Even when Mystique came to him."
"Hmm?" Zoe asked from her new perch in the rocking chair.
"The looks you used to give to Victor." offered the teen, opening her eyes. She half smied, opening her mouth to speak. Before the words could come out, there came a soft knocking on the door.
"It's Jean." the telekine said from the hallway. When the feral inside didn't immediately send her away, she cracked open the doorway. "I just wanted to check on you." she said, slipping inside.
"Where's Scooter?" Zoe asked, watching the other redhead.
"Downstairs with the children, finishing the movies up." answered Jean, walking to the bed and taking a seat on the edge near Rogue. "I made him stay downstairs." She crossed her legs, tucking her skirt around her knees.
"Good." Zoe slowed her rocking again. "I don't think I can take much more tonight."
"What?" Jubilee looked up from her trusted copy of Teen Cosmo. "More what?"
"Never you mind, child." said Zoe, standing with her sleeping daughter, gently laying the cub in her bassinet. The baby let out a soft sigh, her fists clenching and unclenching in her sleep.
"You need a hunt?" asked Marie.
"Already been, thanks." Zosia returned to the chair, curling her legs up over one arm. "I need Victor." she said softly, "To calm my nerves..."
"Are you nervous he will be caught?" asked the telekine.
"No- I'm terrified he will." Zoe smoothed her hair back out of her face. "I can't bear to watch him die, yet I wouldn't allow myself to look away... I couldn't even see him before they did it. They would capture me, too, and then who would be there for Sari?"
"They wouldn't necessarily capture you, too." Jubilee said absently, flipping through her magazine. "You aren't legally married." She paused, looked up, "What is it he's done?"
"Don't worry about it, Jubilation." Zoe said, giving the girl a reassuring smile. She looked back at Jean. "I am a mutant- I am a feral. If I go lay claim to him while he is in custody, I may as well hand them my own head."
Behind them, the bathroom door opened. Ororo slipped inside, her hair still damp, dressed in her pale pink satin lounge pants and a soft white tee. She smiled to Jean, taking her seat on the bed next to her. "What'd I miss?"
"Nothing much, mon moka." Zoe returned softly.
"Hey Zo'?" Marie looked up from the blanket again. "Why does Victor growl at you? The Eric- the parts from him . . ."
"Depends. What kind of growl?"
"Oh, kind of like a . . ." The girl tried to mimic the sound, sounding like a kitten with a cold. She blushed crimson as the others chuckled.
"Growls can be good things."
"So we've found out." Ororo commented, rolling her eyes.
"What?" Jean smirked, "Good how?"
"Young cubs in the room, telekine." Zoe smirked, shaking her head.
"She's got Victor's growl saved on her phone." Jubilee said, sounding a little guilty. "I saw it the other day."
Zoe gave her a wide-eyed look. "Little sneak!" she accused lightly, her tone more playful than sad or angry. "What were you doing with my phone?"
"Playing that song I like- that German one." answered the girl with a light blush. "It was in your sound files."
"And just what do you . . do . . with this particular sound file, Zee?" Marie asked boldly.
"Probably the same thing you do with Logan's necklace." Jubilee answered for her. She grabbed up an imaginary necklace and held it to her cheek. Letting out a sigh, she made an over-exaggerated lovey-dovey face, then breathed: "Oh, Logan . . . I miss you so . . ." She laughed then, and the feral and two teachers joined her.
"JUBES! I DO NOT!" squealed Marie. Behind her, Sari let out a sharp cry, startled awake. Her arms waved in the air above her, then came back to rest on either side of her face. "Oh! I'm sorry, Zoe!" She grabbed her gloves. "Can-can I get her?"
The feral, perched on the edge of the rocker to stand, paused. "Gloves on." she said after a second, settling back.
"Since when can Rogue hold the baby?" Jubilee asked, her voice a slight whine.
"You can hold her later, Jubilation." Zoe said, watching Marie jerk on her gloves. The girl hopped up and went to the bassinet. "Support her head- she's a wiggle-worm now."
"Okay." Marie said, lifting the five-week old up into her arms. She settled Sari in the crook of her arm, and gently bounced her as she sat back on the bed. "Oh, Sugah . . . I'm sorry I woke ya . . ."
Jubilee crawled to the end of the bed, setting up on her knees to see the crying baby. "Oh boy are you mad, huh?" Though her cries were hushed, she continued to let out her displeasure. "Give her a pacifier."
"She doesn't take a pacifier, Mallrat." Marie returned, trying to soothe the infant while everyone watched. A blush stained her cheeks. "I think she wants her Mommy."
"Maman." Zoe corrected gently, standing. She moved to the bed. When Rogue made to hand Sari to her, she shook her head. Instead, she sat beside the girl, hip to hip. "No, you've got her. Put her on your shoulder between us." she instructed softly.
"What're you doing?" Jean asked curiously, watching the interaction.
"I can't stand to hear her cry." Zoe said, watching Rogue gently put Sari on her shoulder. The cub drew her legs up beneath her, rubbing her face against the teen's shoulder as she cried and her mother watched. Putting her hand up underneath the cub's bottom, the feral let out a soft purr, just audible to the others in the room. Almost instantly, the cub hushed to listen.
"Now, if we could just teach Marie how to do that." commented Ororo.
"We could." Zoe said back around her purr. "She absorbs memories, no? She could learn it if I touched her."
"Zoe, I don't-"
-*Kiss me- K-k-kiss me- Infect me with your loving- Fill me with your poison- Touch me- T-t-touch me-*-
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