Galatea

Galatea Chapter Twenty Three (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta... *GLOMP * from everyone at Gaia! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena get all my Zulu coconuts for archiving/hosting. *G* I think I lost ProPhile somewhere...anyone seen a smutmuse laying around? Morgan, did they eat you alive? Readers/Reviewers: All pagany no sleep make Nemain something something... So excuse any weirdness in this chapter...


Scott eased out of bed as quietly as possible. It was just before dawn on Sunday morning and he had no idea what had made Jean stay up so late with the girls, but he did not want to be the one to wake her so early. There had been mass quantities of ice cream consumed in their kitchen the night before and he had the sneaking suspicion someone had a voodoo doll out, but judging from what he had heard Kurt bemoaning to Todd, it boiled down to widespread self esteem issues. Putting it out of his mind for the moment, he grabbed his jeans and a clean shirt and hurried downstairs to dress rather than risk waking Jean. His meeting was to be at eight in Riverside and he did not want to be late. He hated having to drive so far to do this but since Bobby had mentioned seeing him and Lisa... Scott shuddered with the knowledge of what Jean could do to someone she felt had hurt her in some way. He was not sure if she would be more angry at him or Lisa before she let him explain, but he did not want to chance some sort of psychic manipulation on her part, out of spite or worse. He thought he heard her stirring so he slipped out of the back door and left it unlocked, nearly running across the lawn to the garage. Not even Logan was about yet and Scott breathed a sigh of relief. He had made sure the night before to park nearest the garage door so he would not have to waste time maneuvering around the others; he wished for one moment that he had Kitty's powers so he would not have to chance the garage door, but he gritted his teeth and hit the button, pulling out almost before he had clearance. He was so intent on getting out unseen that he almost missed the startlingly haunted-looking figure walking up the side of the long drive.
"Storm!" Scott hit the brakes so hard that the entire car bounced on it's shocks. "Are you okay?"
She blinked at him and rubbed at her arms absently, not really feeling the cold. "Fine," she murmured. "I'm fine..."
Scott narrowed his eyes, trying to ignore the bite in the air as he leaned out of the car window. "The girls were looking for you last night..."
"I had somewhere to be," she said quietly. "I'll see you later..."
The wind was picking up decidedly. Tiny particles of ice stung Scott's skin and adhered to his glasses as he regarded the older woman. "Storm..."
"Good bye, Scott," she muttered, turning away to walk back up the drive. Her hair hung limply as if damp and her clothes were visibly soiled.
He sighed and glanced at his watch. _It'll take me ten minutes and I'll only be cutting it a little close... _ He slid into reverse and backed up until he was even with Storm. "Need me to get Logan?"
"No," she snapped, eyes crackling.
Scott blinked in surprise and a little fear. "Um...Emma then?"
"Not her..." She seemed defeated somehow, almost child like.
"Want to...um...want to come to Riverside with me? I have to meet someone but..."
Storm looked up at the house and stared for a long moment. Her face went from sad to bland to determined. "Yes. I don't want to go in there," she said so quietly he almost did not hear her.
Outside, the wind began to pick up even more, making the trees whip and bend like they were toys. Inside, Storm turned the heater up and pointed the vents towards her. "Um..."
"Drive," she sighed. "Just drive."

Lance yawned and stirred in Amara's bed, not quite asleep but not quite awake. She had been disturbingly silent all day and all evening, speaking few words and responding to even fewer. He had only the faintest notion of what was wrong and that had come third hand from Kurt who had heard it from Kitty. When he asked Amara about it, she frowned and glared and held out her hairbrush by way of distraction. When he tried to get up, her arm tightened around his chest and he sighed. It had been one of the rare nights of bed sharing that did not involve sex or anything beyond a few kisses and cuddling. He was, in a gla glad. She had been acting so off lately that he was half afraid he was the problem. She snuffled softly and murmured something in Nova Roman before falling more deeply asleep.
"Amara?"
"Mmmm..."
He shifted slightly, easing just a little out of her grasp. He had to go to the bathroom urgently and she was making it damned difficult to mmoremore than an inch at a time without waking her. Lance was quickly deciding to just move and let her get over being woken up but she muttered and rolled over, curling onto her right side and leaving him free. He seized the moment and lurched to his feet, hurrying to the bathroom before she moved to reach for him again. The thick sheaf of papers on her desk gave him pause as he returned to the bedroom. _What the...? _ He eyed her warily, sure of her reaction should she catch him rifling through her things, and picked up the first several pieces of paper. Flipping through them quickly, the realization for her mood of the past two days hit him like a ton of bricks. _They want to deport her? To where? _ He felt bile and panic rise in his throat as he arranged the papers as he had found them and returned to the bed to lay next to her. She rolled towards him automatically and sighed, tucking her head under his chin. "No one is going to take you anywhere, I promise," he whispered against her hair.
"Two please," she muttered.
"Huh?" He blinked and realized she was talking in her sleep. "Well, it's in English," he sighed. "That's a start..."

A/N Next up, Kurtty. Yay!