Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Thank you blue_lioness and Vixey (YEAH! A new reviewer) for your reviews. They mean a lot to me. I still have my other stories on hold and I really want to get to them, but for whatever reason, my muse is completely insane about me writing this story though. Please leave a review.

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“Where is it?” Cathy demands, grabbing Amanda’s arm before they step into the church.

“Where’s what?” Amanda asks in confusion as people push past them to get into the building.

“Your cell phone,” Cathy clarifies. “Where is it?”

“It’s in my purse,” Amanda answers.

“Have you turned it off?” Cathy questions suspiciously.

“I’ve turned the ringer off,” Amanda replies evasively.

“That isn’t what I asked,” Cathy hisses. “Turn that blasted thing off.”

“Mom, the ringer is off, it’s not going to bother anyone,” Amanda assures her.

“You will not have that thing on while in the Lord’s House,” Cathy growls.

“I’m expecting a rather important call,” Amanda tells her.

“I don’t care if you’re expecting a call from the President of the United States,” Cathy snaps. “You turn that nasty little thing off or so help me I’ll toss it into the Baptismal Fount.”

Amanda looks into her mother’s eyes and the lawyer just knows that this is one argument she’s not going to win. With a resigned sigh, she fishes her phone out of her purse and turns it off. Before she can drop it back into her bag, Cathy grabs it out of her hand and puts it in her own sizable purse while Amanda stands there with her mouth hanging open in shock.

“Just so you don’t get any funny ideas during the service,” Cathy tells her before turning and marching into the chapel.

Amanda stands there so completely stunned she’s not sure she can even string two words together. A few minutes later, Annie returns from dropping the kids off at Sunday school, gently takes her sister’s arm and steers her into the church.

“She took my cell phone,” Amanda whimpers as Annie leads her down the aisle.

“There, there, dear, it’ll be alright,” Annie consoles as she pats her sister’s arm.

“She took my cell phone,” Amanda repeats, still dazed.

“Yes, you already said that,” Annie reminds her.

“She took my cell phone,” Amanda echoes again just unable to bend her mind around being without her electronic leash.

“Obsessed much?” Annie teases as she pushes Amanda into a pew and sits down next to her.

Amanda glares at Annie for a moment and then falls into a sullen silence just as the priest takes the pulpit.

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“Still no luck?” Hank asks as he steps back into the recovery room.

“No, I’m still just getting her voice mail,” Serena sadly replies as she lies the cordless phone down on the table next to her bed.

“She may be somewhere that doesn’t have cell phone reception,” he suggests as he sits on the bed next to hers.

“If she was expecting a call from me then why would she go there?” she grumbles sullenly.

“She might not have had a choice,” he replies. “Why don’t you work on your homework while you wait for her return call?”

“I don’t see why,” she mumbles to herself. “Not like I’m going to stay here.”

“And where would you go?” he questions with a curious tilt to his head.

“My grandparents,” she tells him. “At least I know they still love me.”

“Ah,” he responds and leaves it at that. “None the less, you should continue your studies here until you transfer to your new school. After all, you don’t want to be behind your new classmates”

“Fine,” she grumbles as she pulls her books and notebooks towards her.

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“Ok, service is over, we’ve socialized with all of your church friends and you’ve introduced me to every single unattached male that’s over the age of twenty-one,” Amanda states as she gets into her parent’s car. “May I now please have my phone?”

“No,” Cathy answers simply, but firmly. “I’m not going to listen to you talk on the phone all the way home.”

“Mom,” Amanda nearly growls.

“Don’t you use that tone with me, young lady,” Cathy shoots back. “It’s very rude to ignore the people you’re riding in a car with. You’ll get it back when we get home.”

“I am expecting a very important phone call,” Amanda reminds her mother.

“I’m sure whoever it is will understand,” Cathy replies. “You’ll just have to wait until we get home.”

“ARG!” Amanda cries out in frustration.

After banging her head against the head rest in frustration a few times, she crosses her arms over her chest, slouches down in her seat and sulks.

“I thought you just turned thirty, not three,” Cathy states a bit snappishly.

“Serena ran away from the school yesterday,” Amanda says while staring out the window, watching the scenery going by. “The police picked her up hitchhiking. Other than that, I don’t know how she’s doing. I asked Miss Munroe to have her call me. I know she’s angry at everyone at the school. I don’t need her being mad at me too.”

“Oh, she’ll get over it,” Cathy states confidently.

“Somehow, I didn’t think you’d understand,” Amanda mutters to herself.

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Serena throws the cordless phone across the room and onto another bed in frustration.

“What’d it ever do to you?” a deep voice growls and she jumps where she’s sitting, quickly turning to see a rather displeased Wolverine in the doorway.

“Oh, Mr. Logan,” she mutters. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“You’ll only hear me coming if I want you too,” he tells her. “So what’s with tossing the phone around?”

“Not that anyone cares around here, but Amanda told me to call her and she’s not answering,” she answers snippily.

“What makes you think no one cares around here?” he asks as he leans against the door jam, a frown on his face.

“The fact that no one will talk to me,” she replies testily, matching him scowl for scowl and her voice growing progressively louder. “The fact that if I lose control of my power I get punished for it, the fact that my supposed ‘friends’ act like I don’t even exist or the fact that it wasn’t until Amanda called here yesterday that anyone noticed I was missing!”

“Well, you’ve got people’s attention now,” he points out quietly.

“Yeah, all I have to do is run away and then suddenly I exist again,” she snaps, her arms crossing over her chest. “What happens in a couple weeks when people start to forget? Do I suddenly become invisible again? What will I have to do to get their attention again? Kill someone?”

“Don’t even joke about that, kid,” he snarls.

“I wasn’t,” she growls. “Not like you care either. All anyone did was sit around and wait for the police to pick me up.”

“Is that what you think?” he demands. “That all we did was sit on our asses and twiddle our thumbs? Because I’ve got news for you, kid, you’re dead wrong.”

“Oh, I’m sure a token search was done, but nothing too straining,” she snorts. “After all, they wouldn’t want to cut into their time fawning over Rogue.”

“Leave Rogue out of this,” he warns with a growl.

“Why?” she demands. “It’s because of her my life has gone straight to hell. Everything was fine until she came here.”

“Rogue belongs here,” he snarls, pushing himself away from the wall and standing in a threatening stance with his fists balled at his sides.

“And I don’t,” she snaps back. “I belong with my grandparents. At least I know they care for me.”

“Let me ask you something, kid,” he starts, barely keeping himself under control. “When was the last time you talked to your grandparents?”

“I don’t know, I don’t remember,” she replies a bit confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Did they come to your trial?” he continues, ignoring her question. “Did they come and get you when your parents kicked you out? Did they visit you or call you while you were in jail?”

“No, but…,” she tries to answer.

“Have they called or visited since you got here?” he keeps interrogating. “Have they given you any reason at all to believe that they give a damn about you?”

“DON’T SAY THAT!” she screams at him, hot angry tears pouring down her face. “YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! THEY LOVE ME! I KNOW THEY DO!”

“They have a funny way of showing it!” he yells back.

“SHUT UP!” she shrieks as the power surges through her body.

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A half an hour later, they’re pulling up to the house and Amanda is out of the car as soon as it stops moving. Mike and Annie arrive a few seconds later and as soon as their car is turned off, the kids come pouring out of the vehicle. Annie joins her kids as they wait on the front porch waiting for the front door to be opened.

“May I please have my phone back now?” Amanda nearly demands of her mother.

“Oh, all right,” Cathy says in exasperation and opens her large purse, pulling out her keys first. “Why don’t you go open the door while I look for it?”

Amanda gives a frustrated sigh as she takes the house keys from her mother, stalks ups the front steps, opens the front door and marches into the house with Annie on her heels.

“SURPRISE!” over thirty people scream at the top of their lungs.

“Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Amanda shouts as she all but jumps out of her skin and all of the people in the house start laughing and cheering.

“Happy birthday,” various people yell as she and Annie are dragged the rest of the way into the house.

Amanda quickly turns around to look at Annie and sees that she’s wearing contact lenses that make her eyes look normal. With a sigh of relief, Amanda turns back to the various friends and relations greeting her, some whom she hasn’t seen in years and almost forgets about her mother holding her cell phone hostage. In the back of her mind is the nagging reminder that she needs to find out if Serena called and she knows there’s no way she’s going to convince her mother to give her back the phone with all these people here.

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“Tell me something, boy,” Hank says through gritted teeth, holding on to his ire by a tenuous thread. “Was there a particular reason you felt it necessary to ‘redecorate’ the infirmary?”

“Stick it, furball,” Logan growls back as he picks himself up off the floor, dusts himself off and leaves.

With a sigh of frustration, Hank looks around at the damage. The doorway between the examination/treatment room and the recovery room is now about three times bigger than it was before and the beds closest to the door are now going to need to be replaced as well as the bedding. He’s just thankful that the angle of Serena’s blast left the machinery relatively unscathed and with a resigned sigh, he heads for the recovery room. Carefully stepping over the rubble, he walks in and finds Kurt comforting the distraught girl.

“Zere, zere, liebchen, it iz alright,” the other blue mutant quietly whispers to the nearly hysterical girl.

Serena doesn’t answer but continues to cry uncontrollably in the demonic looking mutant’s arms. Hank wants to kick himself for having to go get a Twinkie fix, leaving her unprotected for those few minutes. It was probably what Logan was waiting for and he lets out a soft growl as he looks at the carnage left behind. A second later Storm and several other X-Men come charging into the room.

“What happened?” Storm demands. “The entire mansion shook.”

“I’m not exactly sure,” Hank sighs. “I stepped out for a few minutes and when I came back, Logan was on the floor, the wall was destroyed and Serena was crying hysterically.”

“Where’s Serena now?” Storm asks.

“She’s still in the recovery room,” Hank replies waving his hand in that direction. “Kurt’s in there with her right now. It’s probably best to leave her alone until she calms down.”

“This has got to stop,” Storm states. “She can’t just keep blowing things up like this.”

“I wouldn’t blame her on this one, Ororo,” Hank points out. “I have a feeling Logan’s been waiting until she was alone so he could have a ‘chat’ with her. He obviously go her so upset that she lost control.”

“Damn that man,” she hisses before turning towards the others standing in the doorway. “All right, everyone back upstairs.”

“What about the mess?” Kitty timidly asks.

“That will be Logan’s project when I finally catch up with him,” Storm replies as a boom of thunder can be heard even at the depths they’re at. “Now, all of you upstairs please.”

Other than an occasional whispered comment between the others, they leave quickly and quietly. Storm takes another look around at the damage done before turning back to Hank. He’s looking back into the recovery room where he can hear Kurt and Serena and it seems the girl has calmed enough to tell Kurt what happened. Storm approaches her old lover and he raises his hand in a ‘stop’ motion. She pauses and notices a look of intense concentration on his face as he listens in on the other two’s conversation. A few minutes later, he turns back to her with a sad look in his eyes.

“It seems she was trying to get to her grandparent’s home as was thought,” he quietly sighs. “Logan none to gently pointed out that her grandparents have not tried to contact her since it was revealed that she’s a mutant. Needless to say, this upset her greatly.”

“When I get my hands on that man…,” Storm softly growls, the threat of great pain left hanging in the air. “So what now?”

“For now, we leave her with Kurt,” he instructs as he turns back to the debris scattered across the floor. “She seems to be developing a bit of an attachment to him. In the mean time, I’ll at least attempt to make it possible to walk around in here and make sure none of the equipment took any damage.”

“Alright, but let me know if you need anything,” she replies as she heads for the door, stopping just as she passes him. “And, Hank, the next you need a Twinkie fix, please just call and ask someone to bring them to you.”

“What makes you think I was going for Twinkies?” he asks, trying to sound innocent.

She reaches out and wipes her finger across his bottom lip and then holds it up for him to see the tattletale smudge of Twinkie filling on the tip of her digit. He gets a very chagrined look on his face while the skin under his fur heats up.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, feeling very much like a kid whose hand has been caught in the cookie jar.

“Let someone know when you two are ready for lunch,” Storm chuckles as she heads for the exit.

“Of course, mon capitaine,” he smiles causing her to laugh at him as she licks the goo off of her finger as she exits the room.

He sadly thinks about the time when her sucking something off of her finger did more for him, but it’s over and he knows nothing can go back to the way it was. He makes a displeased sound deep in his throat as he looks at the damage and then goes to check on the machines. As he’s brushing the dust off of the machines, Nightcrawler sedately comes out of the recovery room, carefully stepping over the pieces of wall on the floor.

“How is she?” Hank asks without really looking up.

“She sleeps,” Kurt tiredly answers. “Ze teenagerz, zey take a lot out of you, ja?”

“True, teenagers can be very emotionally draining,” Hank agrees as he wipes more dust and debris to the floor. “But she seems to like you. That is a lot more than the rest of us have managed.”

“She likes my jokes,” Kurt grins before looking around at the mess. “Do you need help?”

“No, thank you, Kurt,” Hank responds pleasantly. “Would you mind checking back in on her later? I had hoped that being a third party she would have opened up to me, but I guess what she needs is someone she knows will still be here in the morning.”

“I vould be honored to help you, Herr Beast,” Kurt replies with a bow.

“Please, call me Hank,” Hank insists as Kurt straightens back up.

“It vill be my pleasure,” Kurt assures him. “Iz there anything else you need?”

“No, I just need to make sure that the machines didn’t take any damage from Logan’s foolishness,” Hank answers while wiping a large hand over one of the panels. “Please, I don’t wish to impose on any more of your Sunday. If she should awaken before you return, I’ll be sure to call.”

“As you wish,” Kurt says. “Auf wiedersehen, Hank.”

With another flourished bow, Kurt ‘bamf’s out of the infirmary and Hank lightly chuckles at the other blue mutant’s theatrics. Then he turns solemn as he thinks about the about the other man and Storm. The small smiles, the furtive glances, those used to be his until his insecurities made him throw it all away. Now he lives alone and the echoes of those empty rooms in his heart reverberate through his soul.

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mon capitaine – French, my captain

Auf wiedersehen – German, goodbye