Standard disclaimers apply...
Just Lucky, I Guess 15/?
Nathan jerked away from her as if burned. Jumping to his feet, he
stammered "Ororo! Hello! Uh...uh...no, of course not. Hank just left-"
He glanced casually between the two women and wished he hadn't. The
expressions on both of their faces had been known to make lesser men
soil themselves.
Domino sighed, eyes hooded with disapointment and anger. 'Damn,
Nate, I thought the past few days would have taught you to stand your
ground one way or the other. After what we just went through, you're
still playing games? Alright.' She clamped her jaw in resignation.
'If that's the way you wanna play it, fine.'
Ororo stood imperiously, arms crossed over her chest, clutching
two unfortunate envelopes tightly in one clenched fist. "I see," she
muttered darkly. "I wished to speak to him about some business, but
perhaps it can wait until another time." She didn't even bother to
look at Domino, just focused a cold stare on Nathan who was 'casually'
picking at his fingernails, studiously avoiding both of their gazes.
Domino interupted with a loud snort. "Well," she grinned
humorlessly. "I don't know about you two, but I'm getting a little
tired of this shit." Ororo blinked in surprise at her abrupt tone but
Cable stood stock still, mentally whimpering 'Oh please Dom, not now,
you're too tired, I'm too tired, oh let's don't get into this right now
please. Please- Apocalypse, Stryfe, anybody, please! you can have me,
you can have me, no struggle, just come get me out of here. now.
please.'
At their stunned expressions she raised a wry eyebrow "Oh,
come now, Storm- and you, too, Nate. We're all adults, we can discuss
this thing civilly."
Storm cocked her head, regarding the other woman in a new light.
'Obviously she realizes what's going on between myself and Nathan and
is
stepping out of the way- I hadn't given her credit for that much
intelligence.' "You're absolutely right," she smiled graciously.
"We should discuss this." Nathan gulped, trying to regain some
semblance
of composure. Domino just smiled a wicked grin.
"Good! I knew you'd agree with me. This situation has gone on long
enough." Domino bit back an annoyed grin, immensely enjoying Nathan's
discomfiture. 'As if he thinks I'd ever be tacky enough to actually
*discuss* this with them. Shit. This is too easy.'
She let loose an annoyed tirade, all the while shaking her head
in disgust actually aimed at them, not at the seeming subject of her
rant. "You're so right, Storm. Hank *should* be in here. Anytime
someone has business with him, by all rights they should be able to
find him here, but nope, he's *never* around. He has responsibilites,
dammit! I'm tired of him shirking them- somebody needs to say
something to him about it. I nominate myself."
Nodding sharply to punctuate her ire, she jumped down from
the table and was surprised to find that her knees buckled slightly out
from under her. Nathan stretched out an anxious hand to steady her, but
she batted it away. He looked at her, emotions etched clearly across
his
face. He realized what she'd just done but was far too worried about
her
to call her on it. She sighed, and suddenly felt about twenty years
older. 'I'm getting too old for this shit, and I never liked it much
in the first place.'
In a slightly more subdued done, she promised "I'm fine, Nate. I'm
just gonna go find that lazy Hank and give him a piece of my mind. You
kids stay here and clean up. Just look at how cluttered he leaves the
place!" She sighed loudly, too loudly, and in a sarcastic tone
muttered in a voice just low enough for him to hear "Thanks for all
your help, Nate, really. Nice to know I can count on you when it
matters." Haughtily lifting her chin in the air, she brushed past the
confused Ororo without stopping.
Nathan just stared at the departing Domino, concern and anger
warring on his face. "Dom. Come back here, please...you're not
recovered
enough yet to go off by yourself."
Ororo tilted her head in confusion. 'Recovered? From what? The
woman has clearly lost her mind.' In the voice she had used as a
goddess
to provoke obedience from her worshippers in Kenya, she commanded
"Surely you're joking- come back here and explain yourself."
Domino stopped shortly and leaned against the door frame in a
langorous pose. She raised an amused eyebrow and responded in precisely
the same arrogant tone Storm had used. "No, I'm not joking, and don't
call me Shirley. Sorry, your goddessip, no can-do. I'm not one of
your lackies you can order around however you choose." She
leveled a poisonous gaze at Nathan and in a mocking drawl growled
"Asshole," then pivoted sharply out of the room.
When she'd gone Ororo turned to him and asked in a stunned voice
"Did you hear that? Who does that woman think she is? And just *what*
is
going on here, Nathan?"
He sighed. "That's just Dom, Ororo." His lips twitched in a
small tension-relieving smile. It felt so good that he leaned his head
back and let out a chuckle that soon turned into a full-throated laugh.
She was back and she was alright- didn't matter that she was furious
with him. It was hardly the first time, and he knew she'd get over it.
Ororo's irritation deepened. "I don't understand. Is the woman
insane?" Nate sobered slightly. "No," he replied matter-of-factly "
No, thank God she's not." At Ororo's quizzical expression he just shook
his head, a tiny smile still plastered on his face. "Never mind. Now
what did you want to see Hank about?"
As soon as she turned the corner and was out of ear-shot Domino
sagged, clutching onto a nearby beam to steady herself. Gasping
slightly, she made it to the elevator and took the easy way upstairs.
'Damn, I feel like shit.' Her heart pounded and her whole body felt
leaden, but she somehow made it to the X-Force wing. As she staggered
down the fortunatly empty hall to her room, she grinned 'But they
don't know that. Assholes.' She crawled in her bed and fell almost
immediately into a deep, blessedly dreamless slumber.
After listening to a litany of woes consisting mainly of the evils
of Pete Wisdom interspersed with imprecations against Domino, Nate had
almost had enough. He'd let Ororo bitch about Dom for a minute or two
to release her frustration at Dom's toying with them, but damn if she
wasn't going overboard- and Pete? Ororo had never met Pete, she'd told
him that herself when she told him why she needed to speak with Hank.
He'd wisely kept his own connections with Wisdom quiet, but thought
that if she didn't shut up soon he'd have to break down and tell her
what he knew. Why in the world did she hate him so much? As she
complained, he straightened up the med-lab. Though it would take
Hank's input to rearrange everything back in its proper postition he
consoled himself with the fact that at least it now looked functional.
He swept up a small pile of glass then examined his handiwork. 'There-
that's better.' To his surprise, she was still talking- he'd tuned her
out several minutes ago when he'd started. He sighed 'Enough.'
He drew in a deep breath and interjected "Ororo, I know you probably
don't want to hear this, but I have to tell you- you're not giving
Pete a fair chance. I've known him for a long time- a damn long time-
and I owe him a hell of a lot." Remembering one particular night in
Genosha when he'd been detained too long and Dom had paid the price,
he nodded emphatically "A hell of a lot. I think if you'd actually
meet the man yourself and spend some time with him you'd know what I
mean." Genosha- hell, he'd actually forgotten about that. If Pete
hadn't come when he did...Nathan refused to let himself go down that
path. If he started thinking about the could haves and might have
beens over the years he'd be in worse shape than Dom had been earlier
that day, and he didn't think she was in the mood to help snap him out
of it just then.
Lost in thought, he missed Ororo's next comment. "I'm sorry," he
apologized "I was thinking about something else...what did you say?"
She snapped "I *said* that I have already made my decision, thank
you. I know very well what kind of man my Kitten needs, and it is
certainly not that Wisdom person! She and Piotyr are fated to be
together, and the sooner everyone realizes it the better." She
self-righteously poked the now rolled up letter in his chest for
emphasis. "And why did you not tell me that you know this Wisdom ?
Does he have something else to hide?"
That did it- he'd had enough. Nathan's left eye blazed "You
have
the right to think whatever you want to, Storm. I didn't tell you at
first because a lot of what we've done in the past hasn't been pretty.
Some of us are carrying around a whole lotta shit that we'd just as
soon not be reminded of!" He thought of Dom less than an hour ago,
cscreaming in anguish at the darkness within her, and a vein stood out
on his neck. He took a deep breath and continued. "I'm telling you
this- without Pete neither me nor Dom would be here right now! I'm
tired of you
bitching about him without even knowing the man, so until you meet him
for yourself I don't want to hear you say another word against him, or
Dom,too, for that matter! Do you understand me?" Years of command
authority rang through his voice, but she jerked her chin up in
defiant anger.
She glared at him "I do not have to listen to this, Nathan. If you
see Henry please tell him that I wish to speak with him. Good day."
With a swish of silver hair she was gone. He swore under his breath,
waited a few minutes to make sure that she'd left, then stormed out of
the corridor up to his room where hopefully he couldn't piss anybody
else off.
To be cont'd
- DuAnn!
************************************************************************
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as
the
world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
-John 14:27
************************************************************************
_____________________________________________________________________
Sent by RocketMail. Get your free e-mail at http://www.rocketmail.com
(
geocities.com/soho/studios) (
geocities.com/soho)