Sorry for the lack of updates these last few months, haunted house in october, and nanowrimo in november. Which to my pleasure I completed! So I thought I'd send a treat to my good readers.

Shout outs!

Dontgottaclue88: I just had to do it. Storm and Hank won't be around forever right? Someone in the next generation of X has to know how to fly that thing.

salexl: Thank you for the complements! Rael is sort of one of my favorites too, but I try to love all of them equally.

Unnamed Guest: Well if I told you something was up with Prod then that would ruin the plot, but I will say we will be seeing quite a bit of him and Midas in the rest of the story!

ShadowAddict: Awww thanks so much for reading over and over again. I can't be the best on this site, I've read plenty that are great too, but thanks for the compliment

Chapter 57

When Rune got her into the kitchen he tied a blindfold around her eyes. She restrained herself from getting a look at everything through shadows and let him lead her. She did her best to keep a smile on, albeit it likely looked a little forced and Rune would likely be the first one to notice something was wrong. But there wasn't anything that he could do to change what Prod had done or said so she decided to keep it to herself.

She dismissed all thoughts of Prod at the sound of Cat yelling orders for everyone to go to the big dance room and to hide cause Naomi was coming. She kept herself from laughing and Rune chuckled and continued down the hall. "She doesn't know about subtlety does she?" He said quietly. Maybe he hadn't noticed anything.

The doors opened and the blindfold was removed.

"Surprise!" Everyone yelled, coming out from behind the piano, a pair of long tables and a large number of chairs, Naomi was surprised at the number of people who were present. It looked like most of the students she'd met were there, to her dismay that meant Chameleon, and Prod. The two of them were chatting by a large punch bowl, Prod glanced up at her and smirked. Naomi made sure her defenses were up. Cat came plowing into her legs.

"Where you surprised?" She asked, her arms wrapped her arms around just above Naomi's knees, she was looking up with just joy and expectation in her eyes that Naomi smiled back and dropped to the girls level.

"Yes, I was." She petted the child's hair and swept her up into a hug, "Did you do all of this?" She asked motioning to the decorations of white, black, and bright green streamers hanging over the ceiling, the glimmering crystals that were reflecting rainbows across the walls, and a large number of flowers spread around the room. The table laden with food and a very large two tiered cake.

"No, I couldn't do it all, but Storm, and Rael, and Prism, and Midas, and the fuzzy blue man helped me with it all. Oh, and Ivy, she brought the flowers in." Cat said proudly, she squirmed out of her arms and pulled her toward the table, "I wasn't sure what you'd like, but Rune said you liked strawberries in chocolate so we made some!" The girl picked two of the biggest strawberries on the plate and handed one to Naomi. "Happy Birthday!" Cat held out her strawberry like a glass waiting to be toasted.

Smiling softly Naomi tapped her strawberry against the little shapeshifter's, "You are very smart Cat, thank you for this wonderful party." She took a bite of the fruit and turned to ask Rune a question, only to find that he was gone. She looked around and found him talking with Hart, off by themselves. Naomi's pant leg was tugged on and Cat began to lead her down the rest of the table telling her about all of the contents, "Its a chocolate cake with a creamy frosting, Storm and I made it this morning. We're gonna put candles on it later for you, but I think that its going to taste delicious, cause anything with chocolate is good."

"Happy late birthdays." Midas said while approaching, he held out a box for her. Naomi smiled and went to take it, but Cathrine snatched it first and held it tight.

"Her presents aren't till later," She said stubbornly, "I'll go put this with the other ones." And the child skipped away happily at the success of her party so far.

Midas sighed stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Remind me never to go against traditions when that lil' one is in charge." He shrugged, "Ah well, not like it was anything real special." He looked her over, "You alright, you look a bit out of sorts."

"It's nothing," she replied quickly, Naomi had seen Prod looking in her direction again, she quickly turned away, "Is it common for Prod to just invade people's minds without asking?"

"Ah," Midas looked at the ground and rubbed at the back of his head, "Its a nasty habit o' his. Prod likes to see how long it takes for people t' notice he's in their brains. I've tried to get him to stop but he's a stubborn one that is." He was looking toward Prod now, "I'll see if I can get 'im to lay off ya and ev'ryone else too. I've noticed him playin' with others too."

"Nightmare thinks he's slimy."

Midas laughed, "Yeah I guess he is sometimes, always wants his way. Well," He held out a hand and Naomi took it, to her surprise he lifted it up and kissed the back of her hand. "I'll be off then, get Prod out of here for you so you can enjoy you party. Happy Birthday, Naomi." Then he was gone.

And Rune was there, "What was that about?" He asked seriously.

"He was just wishing me a happy birthday is all." She replied and smiled, "I hear you are the beneficiary of the strawberries."

Rune grinned and flushed slightly, "Well, yeah..." Music came floating through the crowded room, Naomi leaned over to see who it was, Flicker was sitting with his fingers dancing over the keys, he noticed her gaze and stumbled over a few notes before continuing, of course he did this when ever he noticed a girl watching him. Flicker was doing his best to keep his eyes on the music and the keys. "Come on, dance with me."

Naomi laughed, "Last time we tried to dance it didn't turn out too well."

"There's no Pyro to interrupt this time." He led her into the middle of the floor, most everyone had cleared the central area, the ones who hadn't were slowly rocking back and forth in each others arms. Circuit and Curse were two of them out on the floor, her head was resting on Circuit's chest and was smiling contently. Naomi smirked slightly at this sight then turned back to Rune and wrapped her arms around his neck while his arms went around her waist. "Don't go disappearing on me alright?"

Naomi laughed and leaned her head back as they started moving like the others in the room, she let her shadow skin drop leaving her ebony appearance, it glimmered and danced with its own light, she was blissfully happy. But she kept checking her mental defenses just in case. She eventually was in the same position as Curse, with her head on Rune's chest, she could hear his heart beating. The song was over all too soon.

Cat announced it was time to sing and cut the cake, "Cause Storm said we have to get to bed soon." Everyone laughed, then Naomi made her way up to the cake, now alight with what she could guess was several dozen candles, apparently Cat didn't think sixteen were enough. They sang, she blew them out in three breaths, they ate cake.

Once there wasn't a slice left of the chocolate dessert they began to disperse, some helping to clean up, others off to bed. Summer break started in two days, some were leaving tomorrow. Naomi helped to take leftovers to the kitchen. On one trip she heard talking by the stairs and had to pause when she though she heard her name.

"...can't do this."

"We can't back out now." Prod's voice sent chills down her spine. "One way or another it'll get done, I'll do it alone if I must." Then the sound of footsteps retreating and it was gone.

She went quickly to the kitchen, Hart was standing eating strawberries but paused. "Rune was right, what's wrong?"

Naomi sighed, "Its nothing, I just get the feeling that there's something wrong with Prod."

"He does give off an energy that he's hiding something," Hart replied, taking a eclair off the plate in her hand before she could put them in the fridge. "But as he's a telepath I can't do much about making him feel any different. He knows when I'm at something. But I'll keep an eye on him if that will make you feel better."

She nodded, "Thanks, I'm exhausted." Naomi could just hear her bed calling, she left Hart to his raiding of the desserts and found comfort and warmth between the covers of her bed.