Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Thank you blue_lioness, Vixey, amh, Arden and Christina for your reviews. I need to work on my other stories, so there will probably be a bit of a wait for the next chapter.

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The first rays of sunlight dance across her face and she moans, realizing that she forgot to close the blackout curtains the night before. She turns over, pulling the covers over her head as she does so and stops when she rolls on top of something. She pulls out the foreign object and it takes her a second to recognize Blue. With a smile, she cuddles with the blue fur ball under the blankets and starts to drift back into dreamland where another blue fur ball awaits her.

RIIIIIINNGGGG!

Who in the world would be calling her this early in the morning?

RIIIIIINNGGGG!

She cracks open an eye and peeks out from under the bedding at the clock.

RIIIIIINNGGGG!

With a groan, her hand sneaks out from under the covers and retrieves the phone from the nightstand.

“‘ello?” she mumbles sleepily.

“Good morning, Miss Simon,” the security guard greets way too cheerfully. “There’s a Mr. Jacobson and a Miss Meadows here to see you. They have coffee and donuts.”

“Krispy Kream?” she asks.

“That’s what the box says,” he answers.

“Fine, send them up,” she grumbles and then hangs up the phone, snuggling back under the covers figuring she’s got a couple of minutes of more sleep before she has to get up.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Muttering a few expletives that would surely have her mother running for a bar of soap, Amanda throws back the covers and stumbles out of bed. She gets to the front door just as the banging starts again. She unlocks the door and then turns around, headed to the bathroom, ignoring the sound of the door opening behind her.

While she’s in the bathroom, she can hear her ‘guests’ moving around her apartment and she knows they’re checking her bedroom for any additional bodies in her home. A few minutes later she emerges and finds them sitting at the kitchen table with the box of donuts already open, a couple of donuts already missing and plates set up for all of them. She eyes the coffee cups and an eyebrow rises higher than the other.

“Four cups of coffee?” she questions as she takes her cup and sniffs. “Were you expecting someone else or are one of you looking to be extra jittery this morning?”

“Oh, uh, that, well, we thought that maybe Audrey wasn’t feeling up to driving last night and crashed on your couch,” Doug hastily replies with a smile that can’t possibly be innocent.

“Bullshit,” she shoots back while she takes her seat and starts adding fake sugar to her drink. “You two were hoping to catch me with a certain ambassador in my bed.”

“Well, can you blame us?” Maggie demands. “It’s about time you actually found a guy that sets your nether regions to tingling.”

“He doesn’t set my ‘nether regions to tingling’ and even if he did, it wouldn’t be any of your business,” Amanda growls, scowling at the other woman.

“So, did you finally get your first kiss?” Doug hastily asks before a catfight breaks out.

“No thanks to you, yes, he finally kissed me,” Amanda grumbles, starting to sip her coffee now that it’s cool enough to drink.

“So, what happened after that?” he excitedly inquires, coffee and donuts forgotten.

“We talked, I walked into the door jamb and then I went inside,” she states as she selects a donut from the box.

“What did you talk about?” he grills, just about going crazy with curiosity, but knowing to not get too pushy.

“Our families mostly,” she answers calmly before taking her first bite.

“Ok, stop teasing, just tell us what happened,” Maggie demands irritably, winning a full blown glare from Amanda.

“It’s none of your business,” Amanda states before standing up and heading for her bedroom, coffee and donut left sitting on the table.

“Great going,” Doug hisses as soon as they hear the bedroom door nearly slammed shut. “What did I tell you? Keep your mouth shut and I’ll get her to talk. But no, you just had to say something. I told you that she wouldn’t be sleeping with him yet, but you just had to get that fourth cup of coffee.”

“And what if she had invited him up?” Maggie growls back.

“Then we wouldn’t have even gotten to the elevators,” he shoots back. “I swear, Mags, you really need to learn this little thing called tact.”

“She could just tell us what happened,” she snaps.

“You know as well as I do that she’s not as ‘liberal’ talking about her love life as you are,” he points out. “Listen, I’m going to try and calm her down. Why don’t you get going?”

“Because I don’t want to,” she replies, sitting back in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest.

“You plan on apologizing to her for your behavior?” he asks.

“No,” she huffs. “Why should I?”

“Because it was rude,” he replies. “If you want to save this friendship with Amanda, I suggest you make yourself scarce until she’s ready to talk to you again.”

“She should learn to just get over herself,” she grumbles.

“And you should learn to be sensitive to other people’s feelings,” he retorts.

“She shouldn’t be such a prude,” she shoots back.

“And you shouldn’t be acting like a busybody,” he counters. “Thanks for driving me over, but you really should get going now.”

“Fine, whatever,” she angrily grumbles as she grabs her purse and coat before storming out of the apartment.

With a sigh and a shake of the head, he gets up and heads towards Amanda’s bedroom, quietly knocking on the door when he gets there.

“Amanda, can I come in?” he asks.

“Yeah,” is the muffled reply.

He opens the door and finds her sitting on her bed with her back against the headboard, Blue in her arms and her curled protectively around the bear. Doug walks in and sits on the edge of the bed facing her. They sit in silence for a couple of minutes, him watching her and her refusing to meet his eyes.

“Want to talk about it?” he questions quietly.

“I feel like a slut,” she softly admits.

“You care to run that past me again?” he inquires after letting her words sink in for several seconds.

“He kissed me and then I invited him in,” she moans as she drops her head down onto her knees. “I’m a slut.”

“Ok, you invited him in, but he’s not here now,” he observes. “What happened?”

“He said ‘no’,” she quietly replies, burying her face in Blue’s fur. “What if he doesn’t really like me? What if I’m just another woman?

“Sweetie, in order to qualify to be a slut you have to have sex more than twice in a decade,” he points out. “And I have a feeling Hank McCoy isn’t like the other guys you’ve dated. I’ve watched the way he looks at you and if I’m any judge, he’s very interested in you.”

“If my parents knew I even had sex that often, calling me a slut would just be the beginning of the words they would use,” she mutters.

“I thought your parents were wannabe hippies,” he states in confusion.

“You see, that’s why they’re only wannabe hippies,” she tells him. “They’re very much against the whole ‘free love’ thing, especially when it comes to their daughters.”

“Amy, you lived with Bobbi for six months and if you want a definition of a slut, she’s it,” he states. “Hell, she’s the poster child for Sluts ‘R’ Us.”

“But I still asked him in,” she groans.

“And he said ‘no’,” he reminds her. “What would you have done if he had said ‘yes’?”

“Dear God, I don’t even want to think about it,” she whimpers.

“So, he does set your ‘nether regions to tingling’, huh?” he gently teases.

“No,” she growls. “He sets my whole body on fire. God, Doug, what am I going to do?”

“Well, you can do what you normally do and keep him at arm’s length until he gets sick of it and leaves,” he says. “Or, you can embrace the fact that you’ve found someone who treats you like you should be treated and excites you all at the same time.”

“I don’t know,” she groans. “I’m so confused.”

“Love is like that,” he states. “It’s confusing, frightening and exhilarating all at the same time.”

“It wasn’t like that for Annie,” she replies. “Or for my parents.”

“That’s them, this is you,” he points out. “No two relationships are going to be the same. Trust me, I know.”

“You still miss him?” she asks, suddenly changing the subject.

“Every second of every day,” he answers. “On plus side, at least I know I’ll be with him soon.”

“Don’t say things like that, please,” she begs, reaching out and grabbing his arm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You know that I’m on borrowed time, sweetie,” he reminds her as he pats her hand.

“But science…,” she starts.

“Hasn’t found a cure yet and the way things are going, I doubt that they’ll find one in time,” he interrupts and he can see her slipping into a deeper funk. “And now that I’ve depressed us both, let’s go get some real breakfast. I hear that there’s this great place over on 66th near where you’re moving. Might be a good idea to start checking out restaurants in that area.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbles, not really in the mood to deal with people.

“I hear they’ve got the best coffee,” he tells her.

“Their coffee is really good?” she asks, already feeling herself starting to cave.

“Very good,” he assures her.

“I guess…,” she mutters.

“Good, you get dressed and I’ll go take care of the mess in the kitchen,” he tells her as he pries her fingers off of his arm.

With that, he slips off of the bed and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. She sits there for a little longer, rubbing her face against Blue’s fur for comfort. Finally, she crawls off of the bed and goes to find some clothes for the day. By the time she comes out, the box of donuts is closed and off to the side, the plates are in the dishwasher, the now cold coffee has been poured down the drain and the cups tossed out.

“Oh, good, you’re ready,” he cheerfully states with a smug look on his face. “Bring your drawings. I want to see what you’ve done this week.”

“Ok, what have you got up your sleeve?” she demands with narrowed eyes.

“My arm,” he happily answers. “Come on, let’s go. The food isn’t getting any fresher.”

Before she can object, he shoves her purse into her arms, drapes her jacket across her shoulders, grabs the satchel she keeps her pad and pencils in and herds her out the door.

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Hank stares at the blank notepad in front of him and sighs in frustration. He’s been staring at it on and off all day and still nothing comes to mind. He knows he should have been working on this stupid speech yesterday, but he couldn’t concentrate knowing that Amanda was home and he couldn’t resist seeing her again. Of course, it doesn’t help that she seems to be invading his every waking moment and his sleeping ones have been rather busy too.

Mate, Beast purrs and Hank can start feeling his blood starting to head south again.

“Stop that,” he admonishes his primal self and concentrates on Logan in a skort again.

Beast hisses in displeasure and goes back to its corner grumbling and growling all the way as his blood returns to where it’s supposed to be. With a sigh of relief, he stares at the notepad once more and taps his pen in irritation. He’s getting sick of writing speeches to a bunch of blowhards who don’t even listen, but it’s his lot in life and if he can get through to just one of them, it’ll be worth it.

RIIIIIINNGGGG!

Thankful for the distraction, he gets up to answer the phone. He doesn’t recognize the number on the caller ID, but that’s not too unusual and he picks up the phone anyways.

“Hello?” he greets.

“Hank?” a man’s voice asks.

“Yes, who is this?” Hank replies.

“Hi, it’s Doug,” Doug greets.

“Doug?” Hank inquires, a bit perplexed.

“Doug Jacobson,” Doug clarifies. “Amanda’s friend.”

“Oh, right,” Hank responds. “How are you feeling? The last I saw you, you weren’t looking to well.”

“I’m fine thanks,” Doug replies.

“Might I inquire as how you got my phone number?” Hank asks as he leans against the kitchen counter.

“Well…um…I kind of copied it off of the piece of paper Amanda has it on,” Doug admits, embarrassment evident in his voice.

“Does Amanda know that you’ve done this?” Hank questions.

“Of course not,” Doug responds. “I know I shouldn’t have done it and I know you have every right to hang up the phone after calling me several nasty names, but I really need to talk to you.”

“About what?” Hank inquires.

“Amanda and I were talking earlier and she feels really awful about last night,” Doug tells him. “As her best friend, I feel it’s my duty to try and protect her.”

“Oh really,” Hank replies, barely keeping the growl out of his voice and he can feel Beast stirring in the back of his mind.

“Listen, Amanda hasn’t had a great track record with guys and the couple of guys that she’s let get close to her really hurt her,” Doug explains. “I don’t want to see her hurt again.”

“I see,” Hank says, holding onto his anger with a firm hand.

“No, I don’t think you do,” Doug replies sadly. “Every time she’s been hurt, it’s been with relationships that took a very long to develop. She doesn’t go diving into relationships head first; she always takes her time to build a foundation. But with you, it’s been different. She’s crazy about you and that makes me happier than you can possibly imagine, but it’s also got me worried. If things between the two of you don’t work out, I’m not sure I’ll be able to help her pick up the pieces this time.”

“Ah, I think I understand now,” Hank states. “I assure you that the last thing in the world I would want to do is to cause her any pain. Women aren’t exactly beating down my door, so to find someone like her is a rare gift and I intend to treat her with the utmost care.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Doug sighs in relief. “I’ll let you go now. I’m sorry if I disturbed anything.”

“No, just trying to write another speech,” Hank admits.

“Oops, I hope didn’t disturb your train of thought,” Doug replies regretfully.

“No, I’m afraid the train hadn’t even left the station yet,” Hank chuckles. “Though, you may have given me an idea on what to write.”

“I did?” Doug asks excitedly. “Cool!”

“Indeed,” Hank laughs. “But I’m afraid I must be going now.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Doug replies quickly. “Goodnight, Hank.”

“Goodnight, Doug,” Hank responds and hangs up the phone.

Hank returns to his seat, picks up his pen and begins to compose his speech on building strong foundations for good relations.