Standard disclaimers apply.....yadda yadda yadda.
There may be naughty language and allusions here, so....
JUST LUCKY, I GUESS 8/?
He lay his head on the table, awash in drunken happiness. They
would both be observing the team during the morning session, and both
agreed that they could camoflaugue any residual inebriation from the kids.
She sat beside him, a slightly superior expression on her
face. Their mutant physiologies increased both of their respective
resistances to the effects of alcohol, so they both had to consume more to
feel the same effects. Even given the significant difference in their
weights, though, her alcohol tolerance was still considerably higher than
his and they both knew it. He'd found that out the hard way.
He sat up and put the glass to his lips. He was drunk, the alcohol
releasing ideas long suppressed, lending a dangerous cant to his
thoughts. Unbidden, jealous images of her with the other sprang to his
mind, but he tried to ignore them. He groaned under his breath. He'd
thought he'd worked through these emotions, but the liquor had
apparantly brought them all back with a vengeance.
He stared at her for a moment, and found his eyes drawn to the
pale cleavage barely hidden by her gaping robe. He swallowed, and felt
himself harden, thinking of their nights together, thinking of the
connection that evidenced itself so strongly, so intensely last night. He
let the thoughts linger for a moment, then shook his head vigourously.
'No, no, not her, it was Vanessa, not her!' His mind taunted him with the
memory of that single long-ago liason during the first days of the
Wild Pack, but he blinked that away. No sense bringing *that* up. They'd
both been so young, and in unspoken accord neither had mentioned it
since. He furrowed his brow in concentration, trying desperately to erase
the erotic images floating though his mind before she felt his hunger and
jealousy through their psi-link.
'Damn, she's flonquing gorgeous,' he thought, then forced himself
to look away from her breasts to her face, though that only helped
slightly. She looked happy as she leaned back in her chair, eyes closed, a
small smile playing on her lips. He nodded knowingly, understanding
precisely how she felt, momentarily forgetting his anger. This was right,
this was good, this was how it should be, not having to hide his dark
side, his past. He knew she felt the same. They didn't have to hide their
pasts from other. Both already knew the other's dark side, shared it.
Images of Ororo flashed guiltily through his mind, but he quickly banished
them. 'She doesn't need to know about this...I'll think about her
tommorow.'
He took a deep breath, and tried to enunciate clearly.
"Hey, Dom..."
She opened her eyes and yawned. "Yeah, Nate?" She frowned at
the empty bottle. 'Only two?' she grimaced, and stood up to look for
more. Her vision sparkled, and she abruptly sat back down again. She might
have a higher tolerance than anyone she'd ever met 'Except Logan,' she
thought wryly, but even she had her limits.
'Guess I drank more than I thought I did...gettin' out of practice.'
She turned to look at Nate, who was sitting quietly, staring at her.
"What?" She asked him, grinning "Do I have a buger on my nose or
somethin'?"
He shook his head. "Dom..I'm serioush. I needta talk to you about
something." He reached out and delicately touched her cheek. "Something
I should've said a very long time ago."
She closed her eyes. 'Aw, shit. I don't need this right now.' Her
voice shook slightly "Nathan..please..."
He traced a finger down her cheek. "So soft," he murmured, amazed
that this was the same woman he'd shared inumerable battles with. "You're
so beauti..." He realized what he was saying, and stopped shortly, unable
to meet her gaze.
She inhaled deeply. 'Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. He's drunk,
he doesn't mean this, he doesn't think about me like that anymore, he's
just drunk-' She felt a warmth suffuse her body, and found herself holding
his hand. "Nate. I..." She swallowed. 'This is it, Dom, no guts no glory.'
She put her free hand on his arm. "Nate, are you sure this is what you..."
Her voice trailed off, and she shook herself. "Why now?" she whispered,
heart pounding.
His hand closed around hers. "We never talked about what happened
in Israel." He drained his glass, then inhaled. "I think we need to."
Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah, it took the end of the universe to get
us to talk about this before." He chuckled, but her voice was serious.
"I tried to talk to you about it. You didn't want to bring it up, changed
the subject every time I tried." She removed her hand from his grasp. "You
haven't brought it up since, and It's been over a year. Why are you
worried about it now?" She asked suspiciously. 'If he found out about John
and is playing me...' She couldn't finish the thought.
He winced at the callousness of her tone. "Dom. I know, I'm sorry.
I want to talk about it now, though..."
She turned around to face him directly, all traces of contentment
gone. "YOU want to talk about it, so we will, right? YOU want the team to
do so and so, so we do it, right? No questions asked. What Cable wants,
Cable gets. Well, Nate, let me ask you something. WHY do you want to talk
about this right now?" She sat quietly, arms crossed, waiting his reply.
He met her gaze directly. 'Can't tell her the truth...don't want
her to know that I felt what I felt. If she knew I...' He clenched
his fist under the table, jealousy flaring, but calmed himself and
continued in halting tones. "Dom, please. I know we need to ... Don't you
know how I f... Shit, I don't know. I just... Isn't it just enough that
I'm ready to talk about it now, ready to find out where you stand with
me?"
She ground her teeth and replied, eyes flashing "Where I stand
with YOU? What have I ever done to make you doubt my loyalty?"
He couldn't take it anymore, images of the previous nights
betrayal racing through his mind. He grabbed her shoulder roughly.
He barked "Oh, you'd never hide anything from me, would you? Yeah,
right. Just where the hell were you last night?"
She glared at him "That's none of your damn business."
His voice whispered in her head *You're wrong. Where were you, and
just who the hell were you screwing last night? He must've been pretty
damn good to make you skip out on us like that.* She blinked, shocked at
the venom in the thought.
"Wha...Nathan, what are you..how did you..." She bit her lip until
it bled, a thin trickle of scarlet that she wiped angrily away. She hurled
back *I told you, it's none of your damn business! I don't know how you
found out, I don't care how you found out, but get this, you hypocritical
sonofabitch, I'll do what I want, when I want to, and I don't owe
anybody an explaination, especially not YOU!*
He lowered his head to his chest, ashamed. "Dom...I'm sorry... I
didn't mean to..." He put his head to his temple, headache
returned. "But I guess that isn't enough, is it?" He raised his eyes.
She took a deep breath, trying to gain a semblance of control.
Finally, she tilted her head and said in strained tones "No,
Nathan, it's not. You have no right."
He nodded contritely, but couldn't help the bitter thought that
leaked into her mind *Who was it? Was he better than me?*
Her eyes flew open, and she snarled. "I told you, NONE of your
damn business! I'm tired of this, Nathan, tired of you waiting until you
see I have a life outside this damn dream to tell me how you feel! I'm
tired of waiting until YOU'RE ready! But most of all, Nate," She whispered
"I'm tired of you condemning me AND thinking I'm stupid enough to not
even notice you're fucking Storm!"
"But...I'm not...We're just..." He raised a hand, tried to tell
her, but she cut him off. "I don't want to hear it, Nathan. We've been
friends too long for you to insult my intelligence by lying to me like
that. You've insulted me enough already." She pushed the chair away
angrily, and strode to the kitchen door.
She spun around, raising an eyebrow at his bewildered expression.
"I'll see you tommorrow at noon." Her voice took a sugary sweet tone,
and she said calmly in a cheerful voice. "And now, I'm going to bed before
I kick your fucking teeth in. Good night." With that, she was gone.
He watched her go, then put his face in his hands. 'That went
well,' he thought, then stood to leave.
To be cont'd.
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