Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Thank you blue_lioness, onewing and Arden Skysender (X2) for your reviews. I still have three other stories to work on, so it may be a little while before I update again. But don’t worry, my muse obsessed with this story, so you probably won’t have to wait long.

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She wakes to the sound of her door clicking shut and voices out in the hallway. She’s disoriented for several moments before she realizes where she is and then she fumbles with the light, blinking at the sudden brightness. She tries to recall her last memory and when she does, she moans with embarrassment. He must think that she thinks he’s a bore since she fell asleep on the way back.

She takes stock of her situation and finds that except for her shoes, she’s still fully dressed and nothing feels out of place. A quick glance at the clock shows that it’s about half past twelve so she hasn’t been out that long. With a tired groan, she throws off the blanket covering her and goes to take a shower. She refuses to permanently stain their sheets with all of the makeup that she’s wearing, not to mention the fact that she can practically feel her pours clogging up. Besides, she’s not interested in spending a month on laundry duty like Jubilee, especially for this place.

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“Ya know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that you hit a homerun on the first date,” a gruff voice chuckles as Hank closes Amanda’s door.

“Good evening, Logan,” Hank greets, refusing to dignify Logan’s comment with a response.

“Only problem is, I don’t smell any sex on you,” Logan continues to tease from his spot leaning against the wall near his door while Hank heads for his own room. “In fact, I’m not sure you even made it to first base.”

“Good night, Logan,” Hank says as he closes his door.

He doesn’t move away from the door until he hears Logan return to his own room. With a sigh that’s part aggravation and part depression, he starts to get ready for bed. About midway through undressing he realizes he hears water running in Amanda’s room. He sits on the edge of his bed, staring at the conjoining wall for a few moments and then drops his face into his hands as he tries to get his libido under control while thoughts of a wet and naked Amanda in the room next door run rampant in his head.

Mate, a quiet voice whispers in his mind and nearly causes him to fall off of the bed.

He concentrates and tries to feel the tattle tell signs of a telepath touching his mind. The only telepaths he’s known are both dead and there’s no reason for an unknown telepathic mutant to contact him. He begins to wonder if one of the students might be a telepath and is playing a joke on him.

Mate, the voice hisses again and with a sinking feeling he realizes the voice doesn’t come from without, but from within.

For whatever reason, his primal self, The Beast, is talking to him for the first time that he can recall. Usually it only growls, howls, hisses and roars in anger and frustration when Hank refuses to give in to his most basic urges, especially when it feels that something or someone needs to be pummeled. Of course, that’s been pompous ambassadors of late, but that doesn’t change the fact that The Beast is talking to him now.

Mate, it whines and Hank has a pretty good idea what it’s going on about.

“If she is willing,” he tells it. “But we must take it slow.”

Mate, it growls not the least bit happy with his answer.

“If we rush this, we’ll scare her away,” he warns. “Then there will be no mate.”

The Beast grumbles and hisses a few times but eventually settles down. Hank lets out a sigh of relief and goes to finish getting ready for bed. It’s not until he turns off his light that he realizes that Amanda has finished her shower.

He tries to relax and get some rest, but the thought of her sleeping in who knows how little clothing, if she’s wearing clothing at all, in the very next room makes it hard to let the tension go. It doesn’t help that The Beast is doing the mental equivalent of pacing in its cage occasionally growling at him. He’s well practiced at ignoring The Beast, so he pays no attention to it. He starts to meditate in order to convince his body to a calmer state when he hears Amanda’s whimpers of fear.

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She’s back at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum standing in the middle of the empty dance floor wearing that horrible dress again. She tries to run but it’s like the material of the dress is made of lead now. It’s so heavy that she can’t even move a step and there’s no place to hide even if she could. She knows that He is coming and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. There’s no way to run and there’s no way to fight. She’s paralyzed with fear, her heart pounding against her ribs and all she can do is whimper like a terrified animal.

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Hank is up and out of his bed in a heartbeat. He flies out of his room and into Amanda’s at a speed that defies logic. He bursts through the door, not bothering to knock first and quickly looks around for an intruder. He flares his nostrils and takes a deep breath but only the smells of Amanda, and faintly Serena, Kitty and Jubilee are present.

He all but breaks the lamp turning it on and finds that she’s alone in her bed. She’s asleep but her eyes are squeezed shut, there are beads of sweat on her brow and upper lip and the bed clothes have twisted around her body so that she can barely move. She lets out another whimper and he takes another deep breath to calm his nerves as The Beast howls to be released.

“What’s goin’ on?” Logan demands as he charges into the room, claws already out.

“Calm yourself, boy, she’s just having a nightmare,” Hank assures Logan as he sits on the edge of the bed and gently shakes her. “Amanda, wake up. You’re having a nightmare. Wake up.”

With a sudden gasp for air she sits up as if she’s been shocked, her eyes wide with terror. She’s breathing heavily as she looks wildly around the room, her body visible trembling. She lets out a gasping sob and he pulls her towards himself. She latches onto him as if her life depends on it and starts crying into his fur. He looks over towards the door and sees it quietly closing.

He spends the next several minutes rocking her, stroking her shower dampened hair and talking soothingly to her. The Beast surprises Hank again as it whimpers in sympathy to her unhappiness. Ignoring The Beast for the moment, he concentrates on calming her down. Eventually the tears dry up, the trembling stops and she just sits there with her arms still firmly wrapped around his middle.

“Amanda?” he quietly calls after several minute of silence.

“I’m sorry if I woke you,” she whispers into his chest.

“I wasn’t asleep,” he assures her as he continues to hold her close.

“I got you wet,” she says unhappily.

“That’s alright, I needed a bath,” he tells her and he gets the desired result as she weakly chuckles. “Are you alright?”

“I am now,” she answers as her grip begins to loosen. “Thank you for waking me up.”

“I told you I’d keep you safe,” he reminds her and he resists the urge to nuzzle her hair.

“I didn’t realize that extended into my dreams,” she replies as she finally sits back and looks at him with red rimmed eyes.

“Whenever and wherever you need me, I’ll be there,” he states as he gently brushes a few strands of hair out of her face. “Just think of me as your knight in shining blue fur.”

She looks at him funny for a moment before giving him a small smile. He smiles back as he pulls the sheets and blankets loose from her body, thanking the stars above that she wore pajamas that keep her warm and fully covered. He doesn’t care to think how The Beast would be acting if she wore something revealing. As it is, it’s practically purring at the sight of her without a bra on and those round globes of flesh jiggling with her every move. He stands and then he tucks her back into bed once she’s lain down again.

“Would you like to talk about it?” he inquires.

“No, thank you,” she replies with a shudder.

“Would you like me to stay until you’ve fallen asleep again?” he asks, reluctant to leave.

“No, I should be fine now, thank you,” she answers as she squirms around until she’s comfortable.

“Than I shall let you get back to sleep,” he tells her while he opens the door.

“Ok, thanks,” she yawns as her eyes drift close.

“Good night,” he says as he turns off the light.

“Night,” she mumbles, already starting to drift off.

He softly closes the door behind him and returns to his own room, absently touching the wet spot of fur on his chest. He looks down at it and he can see his legs. He thanks his lucky stars again for having the forethought to have put on a pair of sleeping pants for a change instead of sleeping in his boxers like he normally does.

Mate, The Beast demands, very unhappy about leaving her.

“Slowly, Beast,” he reminds it. “Too fast and we’ll scare her away.”

There’s some grumbling, but other than that, The Beast stays silent. Grateful for that, Hank crawls back into his own bed. He’s surprised by how much more relaxed he is this time and within a few minutes, he’s sound asleep.

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She’s standing in the middle of the dance floor at the Space and Air Museum again, still wearing that dress. She looks over her shoulder and sees James on the edge of the dance floor with a smug look on his face as he starts to head for her. Before he can get more than a few steps and she can start to panic, Hank appears behind James, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. Hank tosses the slime ball aside as if he was nothing more than a rag doll.

She barely notices as James hits a wall and shatters into a million pieces as if he’s made of glass. Her focus is completely on Hank and the fact that he’s only wearing drawstring pants typically used for sleeping in, though the fact that his fur seems to have taken on a rather surreal glow to it hasn’t escaped her notice. He steps up behind her and reaches for the zipper on the back of the dress.

He unzips her, slowly and sensually causing a shiver to run through her entire body and she lets out a moan. As soon as he has the dress completely open, it falls away and disappears into nothingness and she’s now standing there in the little black dress that she had worn on their date. She turns to face him and is only vaguely aware that they’re no longer at the Air and Space Museum, but back at the restaurant.

He pulls her into his arms and they dance to music that comes from nowhere and everywhere at once. Unlike when they danced earlier and he kept a proper amount of distance between their bodies, this time he pulls her flush to him. With a sigh of contentment, she rests her head against the soft fur on his chest, reveling in the warmth and his musky scent.

After dancing something shy of forever, he pulls away and she looks up into those beautiful blue eyes, completely mesmerized by them. They stand there staring at each other and he brings a hand up to gently cup her face as he leans over and rubs the tip of his nose against hers. Her breath catches in her throat while her heart hammers against her ribs and she can feel a fire starting to burn between her legs.

“Mate,” he whispers just before he tilts her head back a little and brings his face even closer to hers…

BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

“AMANDA, WAKE UP!!” Serena yells through the door.

“SWEET MARY, JOSEPH AND JESUS!” Amanda shouts as she sits bolt upright in bed, sure that her heart is about to burst out of her chest.

“That woke her up,” Kitty announces and Amanda turns to see the top half of the teenager leaning through the door.

“Do you mind?” Amanda asks irritably and Kitty just grins as she disappears back through the door.

“Come on, Amanda, open the door,” Serena whines as only a teenager can.

Grumbling, Amanda stumbles out of bed and opens the door to face four girls with eager faces. They’re too bright eyed and bushy tailed for this hour of the morning as Amanda notices that the sun is barely over the horizon. She glances at the clock and then glares at the girls.

“Why, in the name of all that is holy, are you up at this hour?” Amanda growls.

“Oh, come on, it’s already past seven,” Jubilee replies, bouncing on the balls of her feet and snapping her gum. “Be glad that we waited this long. Serena’s been up since like before six and we’re all been like dying to know how your date went with Dr. McCoy and like what you did and where you went and everything like that.”

“No one in their right mind is up at this hour on a Sunday,” Amanda states flatly, trying desperately not to snap at the girls.

“Oh, come on, Amanda, we’re dying to know how your date went last night,” Serena begs. “Please.”

Amanda makes a sound that’s somewhere between a growl and a groan before turning around and heading for the bathroom, grabbing some clothes out of her bag on the way. She leaves the bedroom door open behind her and then locks herself in the bathroom as the girls hesitantly drift into the room, not exactly sure what to do with themselves. A few minutes later, Amanda exits the bathroom dressed, her hair brushed and pulled back into a long braid and her face washed.

“So?” Serena demands.

“Coffee, now,” Amanda orders. “Only after I’ve had my coffee will I talk.”

Without another word, Kitty and Jubilee both grab one of Amanda’s arms and start pulling as Serena gets behind Amanda to push while Rogue leads the way down to the dining room. With a resigned sigh, Amanda allows herself to be dragged/pushed down the hall towards that blessed cup of java. As they make their way down the stairs, Amanda tries not to think about the pleasant dream they had interrupted.

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Hank is jarred from the most delightful dream that he’s had in a long time by the sound of loud banging and yelling. The sound of young female voices coming from the next room is all needs to know that Amanda isn’t sleeping any more either. A moment later he hears Amanda’s less than pleased voice and he knows there’s no point in trying to get back to sleep.

He briefly thinks about the dream of him and Amanda dancing on a beach and he groans. He was on the verge of finding out if she was wearing a bra with that little black dress from last night when the banging from next door jolted him awake. He goes to get up and realizes that a rather embarrassing problem has arisen.

The combination of normal early morning blood flow and a rather stimulating dream has caused a part of his anatomy to pretend that it’s a tent pole. He waits for the blood to return to where it should be, but images of her in that dress keep flashing through his mind and his body seems to have developed a mind of its own. With a disgruntled growl, he climbs out of bed and heads for the shower in hopes of finding some relief.

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It takes him over an hour to make himself presentable enough to be publicly seen and by the time he gets down to the dinning room, Amanda and the girls are long gone. With a resigned sigh he gets his breakfast and sits down to eat, casually people watching the students. He contemplates Storm’s offer again, but the hope that he might be able to do some good in the world by staying where he is is still strong enough to make him hesitate.

He looks out the window and realizes he has another reason to stay in New York City. He sees the girls giving Amanda a tour of the gardens despite the fact that it’s so cold enough outside that they have to bundle up and he can see their steamy breaths in the air. The only part of her that’s not covered is her face and the cold has colored her cheeks and nose bright pink which he thinks is absolutely stunning on her.

As if she can feel him staring at her, she turns and sees him watching. She flashes him a smile as she waves and he grins and waves back. Her action draws the attention of the girls and Kitty says something to make the other girls laugh and for Amanda to roll her eyes and shake her head. A second later, the girls drag her away and he stretches his neck into an odd angle to try and keep them in sight for as long as possible.

“I was going to ask if you’d thought about my offer, but I have a good guess what the answer will be,” Storm says and he nearly jumps out of his fur.

“Oh, good morning, ‘Ro,” he greets with an embarrassed smile. “I’m still thinking about it.”

“I bet you are,” she smirks before walking off.

Mate, The Beast whines. Mate! Mate! Mate! Mate! Mate!

With a quiet growl, Hank closes his eyes and silently tells The Beast to shut up. He opens his eyes again and stares at his half finished breakfast wondering if things are progressing too fast. She fascinates him, he wants to know everything about her and at the same time he wants to do things with her that are causing him to blush and a certain part of his anatomy to wake up again.

“Didn’t think breakfast was that excitin’,” a familiar voice says right behind him.

Great, just what he needs right now.

“Good morning, Logan,” Hank greets, not bothering to turn around as his blood returns to where it’s supposed to be. “Sleep well?”

“Did until the teeny bopper brigade came and got your girlfriend,” Logan grumbles, plopping down in the seat across from Hank’s uninvited.

“Yes, they were quite loud weren’t they?” Hank commiserates as he takes a sip of his lukewarm coffee.

“So, know ya didn’t get any, how far did ya get?” Logan asks with a smirk.

“That really isn’t any of your business,” Hank tells him flatly.

Mine, The Beast growls and Hank doesn’t know if he should be worried that its vocabulary just doubled.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have some packing to do,” Hank states as he gets up and clears his dishes, leaving a smirking Logan behind.

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A couple of hours later Hank finds himself in the library looking out the window onto the frost deadened lawn. However, it’s not the scenery that got his attention, but who’s out there that has him mesmerized. Serena, Kitty, Jubilee, Rogue and Amanda are out there playing with a Frisbee and he has to wonder how Amanda talked a bunch of teenage girls into that. He watches the woman intently as she runs, jumps and twists and he wonders what type of exercise program she’s using.

“Enjoying the view?” Storm asks quietly.

“It’s very pleasant,” Hank answers.

“How’d your date go?” she questions as she moves up beside him.

“I think it went quite well,” he replies.

“You going to take her out again?” she inquires.

“I don’t know,” he responds. “I didn’t have a chance to ask her last night and I haven’t been able to get near her at all today. But that’s alright; she did come here to see Serena after all, not me. How is Serena doing, by the way?”

“The antidepressants are working really well for her,” she tells him. “She’s adjusting a lot better to this life now than she was at the beginning. Though I think she still has some issues with being a ward of the school instead of a person and she still occasionally has nightmares. Fortunately, Rogue is a light sleeper so she’s able to wake Serena before anything is damaged. The only draw back is that it’s a little bit harder to get her to use her powers since we usually have to get her really angry or really scared. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out what triggers her powers soon so we don’t have to resort to drastic measures any more.”

“That’s good to hear,” he replies as he watches Serena miss the flying disk as it goes sailing over her head and has to go running after it.

“I understand that Amanda had a nightmare last night,” she casually mentions.

“Yes, she did,” he confirms.

“Any idea what was about?” she asks, looking up at him.

“No,” he answers, continuing to watch the Frisbee game going on outside. “Though I have reason to believe that…”

Before he can finish his sentence, he charges out of the room at top speed. She looks after him in confusion and then turns her gaze back out the window where she sees the girls rushing towards Amanda who’s down on her knees with her face in her hands. She doesn’t waste time wondering what happened as she follows Hank out the door as fast as she can.