Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Thank you blue_lioness, onewing and Desiree for your reviews. Glad to hear that the Twinkie sundaes were a big success as your last party, Desiree. Please enjoy and review.

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“Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the President’s Holiday Celebration?” he asks, handing her the invitation.

“So, taking me out to lunch and giving me flowers were just to soften me up, was it?” she teases after quickly reading the card in her hand.

“If I was trying to soften you up, I would have taken you out to dinner and gotten a few drinks in you first,” he replies, a smile on his blue lips. “Of course, come to think of it, if I did get you drunk than you could just say later that you don’t recall agreeing to go.”

“Getting me drunk wouldn’t do you any good any ways, all I do is giggle,” she points out as she reaches into her purse and pulls out her PDA. “Let me check my calendar. Ok, I’m supposed to go down to my parent’s the day before this little shindig, but I can delay that by a couple of days. If I take the train down to DC Friday night and then take the train Sunday morning to my parent’s place, it should work out fine. Of course my mom will be sure my immortal soul will never recover with me missing church, but I can deal.”

“Since I’ll be driving down anyways, I wouldn’t mind giving you a ride that Friday,” he offers.

“Ok, that’ll would be fine,” she agrees with a nod as she starts to make changes to her calendar. “What about a hotel? Any you recommend?”

“I’ll take care of the hotel,” he replies and she goes perfectly still. “I will, of course, book separate rooms for the both of us.”

“Ok, that’ll be good,” she says in relief, but a little part of her is disappointed. “I’ll have to go shopping for a dress. That’ll make Doug’s day when he finds out.”

“I was unaware that you didn’t have a dress,” he says. “I’d be willing to pay for it.”

“That’s very sweet of you, but I think I can manage,” she responds with a smile for him. “Besides, if Doug found out that you were paying for it, I’d find myself being dragged off to have a dress custom made. It’s saner and cheaper to just let me pay for it.”

“He wouldn’t really…?” he starts.

“In a heartbeat,” she chuckles. “The man’s almost as crazy as my family, especially when it comes to clothes shopping. You should see his closet.”

“Clothes horse?” he inquires, eyebrows raised.

“A herd’s worth,” she snickers and he laughs. “He has a two bedroom apartment for the closet space.”

“Does this mean you’ll be my date?” he questions, realizing that she hasn’t really given an answer.

“I’d be delighted to go with you,” she answers with a smile and then a frown creases her brow. “Is there any way to find out if James is going?”

“I can ask around, but even if he is, I will make certain the cad behaves himself,” he states firmly. “If not, I’m sure I can figure out a way to be rid of the lowly cur.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble,” she replies.

“Trust me, it’ll be my pleasure and the consequences be damned,” he responds as he takes her hand in his and kisses the back of it. “Anything for my beautiful lady.”

She can feel her cheeks starting to heat up as well as other areas of her body as he stares intently at her. Luckily, the server arrives just in time to save her dignity and quite possibly her sanity with the arrival of their lunches. He reluctantly releases her hand as the plates are put down before them and they pick up their utensils.

“I must say, my dear, I was most impressed with your performance this morning,” he tells her after they’ve taken a few bites.

“Excuse me?” she asks in bewilderment. “What performance?”

“Your, ah, ‘interview’ with Trish,” he answers. “Since you’re wearing the same outfit as the one in the video, I’m assuming it was filmed this morning.”

“How did you know about that?” she questions, her heart starting to pound in terror. “I didn’t think The Star Report comes on until later this evening.”

“Oh, it doesn’t,” he assures her. “However, the raw footage is up on youtube already.”

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” she moans as she puts down her fork and closes her eyes. “If my mother ever sees that, I’m as good as dead.”

“Because you’re dating me?” he inquires, preparing for the worse.

“Because I didn’t tell her about you,” she replies, opening her eyes and looking affectionately at him. “Don’t forget, my family is insane.”

“I still want to meet them,” he reminds her.

“I know,” she sighs while she picks her fork up. “And I one level, I want you to meet them. But on another, I remember how they were when I brought Doug home. I’d hate to think what would happen if they found out you were the real deal.”

“Perhaps they learned their lesson when you brought home Doug,” he suggests.

“Maybe, but I doubt it,” she grumbles. “They’re a bunch of crazy people.”

“So you keep saying,” he chuckles as he resumes eating.

“I wonder how the video got onto youtube,” she muses a few minutes later.

“I don’t know, but I can pretty much guarantee that Trish didn’t do it,” he replies. “She had so much egg on her face she probably could have made an omelet.”

“Vile woman,” she growls. “What did you see in her?”

“She’s a very pleasant woman, or at least she was in the early part of our relationship,” he answers. “Though she did seem to enjoy gossip and rumors a bit more than I thought healthy, but she was able to make a career out of it. I guess she took what I felt was a weakness and made it into a strength.”

“I hardly think ambushing people and asking them embarrassing questions is a strength,” she nearly snarls.

“And yet you handled yourself beautifully,” he reminds her.

“I’m a lawyer, it’s my job to be able to think quickly on my feet,” she points out irritably.

“Perhaps a change of subject is in order,” he suggests. “The current one seems to be upsetting you.”

“Ok,” she agrees. “What do you want to talk about? Religion? Politics?”

“Ice cream toppings,” he replies with a smile.

“Uhg,” she groans. “You sure you don’t want to talk about politics?”

“Positive,” he grins. “Where in the world did you and Doug come up with those interesting terms for ice cream toppings?”

“Religion?” she suggests hopefully.

“Ice cream toppings.”

“Weather?”

“Ice cream toppings.”

“Sports?”

“Ice cream toppings.”

“Damn, you’re as stubborn as I am,” she grumbles.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he chuckles. “Now, please, my dear, do tell.”

She lets out a sigh and her shoulders sag in defeat, but she stays quiet for a few moments as she gathers her thoughts.

“Shortly after I turned twenty-one, Doug took me out to dinner,” she starts to tell him, staring at her food instead of looking at him, pushing it around her plate. “Afterwards we ended up at his apartment.”

“It’s a good thing I know Doug is gay or I would be concerned about his true intentions,” he murmurs and that earns him a glance out of the corner of her eye.

“At any rate, it turns out Doug’s real reason for inviting me over was to get me drunk,” she continues, looking back at her lunch. “He felt I hadn’t truly experienced alcohol until I had puked my guts out.”

“Oh dear,” he mutters.

“So, here we are, at his apartment, drinking shots of tequila and eating sundaes and that’s when I find out that when I’m drunk I will giggle at anything, no matter how absurd,” she states, her cheeks turning a lovely shade of red. “We had the toppings all lined up and I commented how his caramel sauce looked like cod liver oil and he pointed out that the dark chocolate topping I had looked like tar. Well, things disintegrated from there and every time one of us would suggest what one of the toppings looked like, we’d both start laughing. God, I was laughing so hard I was crying.”

“So, did you get sick?” he asks out of morbid curiosity.

“Sweet Jesus, did I throw up,” she moans at the memory. “At one point I was expecting my socks to come up.”

“You must have had one doozy of a hangover the next day,” he laughs.

“Dear God, the pain was unbelievable,” she groans. “To make matters worse, I had class the next day.”

“Oh no,” he moans in sympathy, trying not to laugh.

“The law professor I had first thing in the morning had a gavel on his desk,” she says. “When he wanted to drive a point home, he would bang it on his desk and if someone was dozing off in class, well, let’s just say the school didn’t tend to give his classroom any new desks unless they had to. He took great delight in tormenting me that morning.”

“I can’t imagine Doug was in any better condition,” he states.

“Oh, but Doug is a couple years older than me and had experience with pacing himself,” she tells him. “The snot had one shot to my every two.”

“The cad,” he huffs, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

“I told him if he ever brought a bottle of tequila near me again, he was going to need an urologist to get the worm out,” she growls playfully and he can feel Beast stir in response.

“I certainly hope he heeded your warning,” he chuckles.

“He has, but that’s a night I won’t soon forget,” she replies. “No matter how hard I try.”

He can’t help but laugh and she snickers along with him despite how red her cheeks are. There’s a comfortable lull in the conversation as they go back to eating their lunches. A short time later she’s pushing her plate away while he takes his final bite and quickly thinks of something else to talk about.

“Have you heard from Serena lately?” he asks.

“Yeah, I got an email from her the other day,” she answers. “She’s doing well, her classes are going much better than they were back at her old school and she’s getting along better with the other kids. The latest gossip is that Rogue and Bobby have officially broken up, Ororo and Kurt are an official couple as they were caught kissing in Ororo’s rose garden and Kitty is still grounded for life for doing something with Logan and a bird. I’m not entirely sure what that’s all about and I’m not sure I want to know. Oh, and a new boy came in the day after Thanksgiving that she thinks is really cute.”

“Aah, for the carefree days of youth,” he chuckles.

“There were advantages to it, but I wouldn’t want to go through that again,” she replies.

“Why not?” he asks. “No real responsibilities, you got free room and board, no taxes to pay, no rent due…”

“Acne, puberty, boys being immature idiots to get your attention and the boy who you wish would notice you was always interested in either your best friend or your sister,” she counters.

“Ouch,” he grimaces. “I take it you experienced that first hand.”

“I had the biggest crush on this guy from church,” she tells him as she picks her napkin up off of her lap. “I spent weeks getting to know this guy, what his likes and dislikes are and thought we were getting along great and then one day he asked me to introduce him to my sister. That was the end of that. I guess it’s kind of set up the way my relationships usually turn out.”

“Hopefully not all of your relationships,” he says as he takes her hand, kisses the back of it and then picks up his drink. “Whatever happened to the cad?”

“He’s now my brother-in-law,” she answers, getting her napkin up barely in time as he sprays his drink.

“You did that on purpose,” he accuses, eyes narrowed though there’s a smile tugging at his lips.

“I’m the evil one, remember?” she reminds him with a grin.

“You’ll pay for that,” he warns as he snatches her napkin and starts to wipe his face off.

“Be careful,” she counters, a mischievous glint in her eye. “You wouldn’t want to go to that party by yourself, would you?”

“Oh, now you are being wicked,” he chuckles low in his throat.

“Wicked, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder,” she replies as she reaches over and gently strokes some of his mane that’s fallen into his face, pushing it back in its proper place.

He easily captures that hand and places a kiss on the palm of it, sending an electric jolt right down between her legs. She takes in a sharp breath and he can see her eyes dilate. The smell of her arousal quickly causes his own body to react in kind and it’s only the arrival of their server asking if they would care for dessert that keeps him from doing anything foolish right there in the middle of the restaurant.

They both quickly decline and after the server leaves with their dirty plates, Amanda excuses herself to use the lady’s room. He watches her go, unable to tear his eyes away from the gentle sway of her hips. Once she’s out of sight, he closes his eyes and attempts to reign in his rampaging libido.

Mate, Beast purrs, urging Hank to follow her and perhaps join her in the handicap stall with the intention on relieving a different kind of pressure.

“You’re not helping,” he quietly growls at his primal self as he quickly imagines Logan in a skort again causing Beast to hiss in disapproval.

By the time she returns, the cheque has been paid and his blood has returned to its supposed to be. He graciously offers his arm and she gladly accepts it as he escorts her back to the car. All too soon, they’re standing in front of the elevators in the building that she works in.

“It’s probably best you don’t come back up,” she tells him regretfully. “I’d rather not have an episode with Mr. Steele.”

“The last thing in the world I would want is to cause trouble between you and your boss,” he replies and gently smiles. “Well, more trouble at any rate.”

“Thank you,” she says as she slips into his arms. “For lunch and the flowers.”

“You’re very welcome,” he responds.

He holds her closer as he captures her lips in a slow, languid kiss and doesn’t release her until the need for air forces him to. They stand there just holding onto each other, catching their breaths as people move around them on their way back to their jobs. When they finally separate, she looks up at him and chuckles while she reaches up and starts to rub her thumb across his lips.

“Is this form of farewell that I was previously unaware of?” he asks in amusement.

“I don’t think my lipstick really matches your skin tone,” she snickers and he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief.

“I believe you’re correct,” he agrees after wiping his mouth with the bit of cloth and observing the red stain left behind. “It doesn’t do a thing for me.”

She laughs, gives him another quick kiss and then steps away.

“I should get back to work,” she reluctantly tells him.

“As should I,” he replies as he sadly watches her go.

“Will I see you Saturday?” she asks as she steps into an elevator.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he answers.

“Good, see you then,” she calls as the elevator doors start to close.

He waves just before they shut and he stands there for several seconds after she’s gone. With a sigh that’s part contentment and part sadness, he turns and heads back to his own job with the feeling that he could take on any blowhard politician and win.

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“How is she?” he demands as the much younger man with slicked back blond hair emerges from Shade’s room.

“She’ll be alright,” Pyro assures him while they start to walk down the hallway. “She’s got some cuts and bruises, a few broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a minor concussion. The doctor gave her some pain medication, but we’re to keep an eye on her to make sure the concussion isn’t as bad as it seems.”

“Did she say anything to you or the doctor about her mission?” the older man asks.

“All she said was that she found her,” Pyro replies as they step into an office. “Magneto, is it worth going through all of this just to find someone who obviously doesn’t want to be found?”

“Whether or not she wishes to be found is of little relevance,” Magneto tells him while he takes a seat at his desk. “I need to know if her powers have returned and if they have, then she belongs with us.”

“If her reaction to Shade is any indication, I doubt Mystique feels the same way,” Pyro replies as he goes to look at the pictures pinned to the wall. “I see you’ve added a new picture to your collection. When are we going to be paying the Ambassador a visit?”

“All in due time, my dear boy, all in due time,” Magneto answers with a smirk. “I want to make sure McCoy’s welcome is extra special.”