Bellwether

Bellwether Chapter Seventeen

Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *happy new book
dance * THANK YOU! J InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and Greywolf
are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  J ProPhile: Good luck! style='font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:
Wingdings'>J
Morgan: *poke * You around?style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Readers/Reviewers: Thank you for reading and
reviewing as you can! Updating will be a bit sporadic this week (i.e. one day class=GramE>off ) so I can FINALLY finish this huge indfic
project!  OH! Before I
forget, hee hee, smut next
chapter. Smutty smut smut…

            “Remy…”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Jubilee stopped short in the hallway, her
backpack clutched to her chest.  It was
empty, her school books in a messy pile on her bed, pencils and pens mingled
with gum wrappers and the random detritus that always seems to show up in the
bottom of book bags and pencil cases. 
She was going to let Kitty borrow it, enforce the ‘pack light’ rule, but
Remy was in the way.  She could push past
him, she thought, or just demand that he move. 
After his note earlier and their aborted chat…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She did not get the chance to do either
one.  He stepped aside and sketched class=GramE>her a half-bow, smiling wryly as his gaze swept over her.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She took two steps towards him, moving to
pass him, then stopped in her tracks.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “What did you mean?”

            “Pardon, ma
belle?” he murmured, straightening from his bow and raising a quizzical brow.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “I said nothing…”

            “In your
note,” she began, then sighed.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Oh, never mind.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She tightened her grip on the bag and marched
past him, heading resolutely for Kitty’s door and the sounds of her friend
slamming drawers and talking ostensibly to herself.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

            class=GramE>“Jubilation.”  His
voice was soft in the dimly lit hall, rich as wood smoke and warm, making her
toes curl with the memory of his breath so close to her ear, skimming her flesh
as he murmured her name in the night.  “I
have to leave, ma belle.  I got duties to
see to.”  He took a step towards her and
she did not turn to face him.  On a
barely breathed sigh, he shook his head and tucked his hands into his pocket,
refusing to reach for her.  “You don’t
understand why, Jubilee… they my family. They save me from the street when I
was un enfant…”

            “I
understand family,” she whispered so softly that, for a moment, he was not
quite sure she had actually spoken.  “I
know what it means to be so tied to someone that you’d move heaven and hell
just to make sure they were okay.”  She
did turn then, her eyes bright with the sheen of unshed tears.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “I know what it feels like to lose family,
Remy.  I know what it feels like to lose
someone you love.  It’s like a huge hole
in your chest, you know?  class=GramE>A constant ice cream ache in your gut.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Quickly, she sniffed and dashed her fingers
across her cheek, refusing to let Remy offer a word or gesture of comfort.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He did not move towards her and she, deep
down inside, appreciated that.  “And you
love Belladonna.  You love her enough to
go running off like this when the Guild—the so called family that shunned you
and threatened to kill you if you ever showed your face in w:st="on">New Orleans again—snaps their fingers.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I’m not mad, Remy.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I’m not mad because I know, if someone gave
me the tiniest shred of hope that my parents, that Everett,
that anyone I loved was alive and not rotting in the ground or blown
away on the winds in ashes, I’d be crawling on my hands and knees across broken
glass to get to them.”  She paused, her
lips parted as if she was about to say something else, but the silence
stretched on for almost too long.  With a
sharp intake of breath, 
she kissed him, leaning across the short distance between them
and pressing her lips against his, a sudden and hard kiss that made his lips
ache and his eyes shut as she uttered a small noise deep in her throat,
practically shoving herself away and hurrying on to Kitty’s room.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

            “class=SpellE>Merde,” he snarled to the empty air.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Merde,
merde, Sacre bleu!”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He raked his fingers, slightly shaking,
through his already tousled hair.  He had
to hurry—he only had a handful of minutes left. 
He refused to be early for this meeting—he would look too eager.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He had played this game enough to know how
much he could bend the rules without breaking them and he was skirting dangerously
close to shattering the prime one: Never give your opponent the upper
hand.  With an unvoiced snarl in his
throat, he strode towards the stairs, taking them two at a time and almost
plowing over Saint John
and Bobby in the process. 

            class=GramE>“Hey, Remy!” Saint
John called, blinking in surprise at the gesture the
older mutant threw over his shoulders.  “Guess
someone ain’t getting any…”

            “Way to be
crude,” Bobby snorted, heading up the stairs. 
“It doesn’t all boil down to sex, you know.”

            “I know…
but the fun parts do.”  He swatted his
boyfriend on the rear, earning a glare for his efforts. “Oh, come ON!style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  They didn’t leave us here because we suck!”

            “Then why’d
they do it? It’s always the super secret special club with those guys and we’re
just sort of…there.”  He had reached the
top of the stairs and stepped aside, waiting for w:st="on">Saint John to draw even.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Do you think it’s because…um…you know…?” He
made a vague gesture, his cheeks suffusing with color.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “I mean…”

            “No, they’re
not homophobic,” Saint John
groaned.  “If ANYONE on this planet is
not homophobic, it’s them.  w:st="on">Logan might be class=SpellE>weirded out but it but he doesn’t fear it or hate it.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He leaned in close and kissed Bobby first on
one cheek, then the other, pausing just short of kissing his lips.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “We can ask them about it when they get
back.  Look at it this way… we have way
more free time without the damned Danger Room sims to
run with Logan every morning and evening.”

            “class=SpellE>Mmmm…” Bobby exhaled softly, closing the distance a little
more, not quite touching Saint John’s
lips but coming awfully close.  “What
shall we do with it?”

            w:st="on">Saint John laughed
softly.  “Come to mystyle='mso-spacerun:yes'>  room and find out…”