Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Well, what do you know? I managed to finish this chapter before my trip to St. Louis where I will spend about a week with my in-laws. Pity me. As always, thanks to Reed McCoy and brier for your reviews.

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“Aunt Amy?” a quiet voice calls from the door.

“Hey, kiddo, how are you feeling?” Amanda asks upon turning and seeing Paul standing in her bedroom doorway.

“Better now that I’ve escaped Mom,” he tells her, edging into her room.

“Let me guess, she’s being her overprotective self again,” she chuckles as she waves him the rest of the way.

“She’s driving me crazy,” he grumbles as he mostly shuts the door behind him. “She was trying to feed me my lunch like my arms were broken or something.”

“She’s just worried about you,” she tells him as she goes back to her unpacking. “You’re her son and she’s the worrying type.”

“So I over did it a bit,” he mutters as he plops down onto her bed. “It’s not like she’s never over done it before.”

“True,” she agrees while she carefully pulls her sweaters from the bag. “And you should have seen the way your grandmother doted over her when she did. Of course she loved it while it seems to be driving you buggy.”

“You can say that again,” he moans as he flops back onto her bed and stares at the ceiling.

“Thank you for doing whatever it is that you did,” she quietly says as she sits on the bed next to him. “It means a lot to me.”

“What about Hank?” he asks, looking over at her.

“He doesn’t know,” she answers. “Your mother doesn’t want him to.”

“Why not?” he questions, propping himself up onto his elbows. “It’s not like he’s going to freak out if he knew.”

“It’s your mother’s prerogative not to tell him and I will not fight her over this,” she replies, shaking her head.

“It’s her what?” he inquires, confused by the term.

“It means it’s her special right to tell whomever she wants about your abilities,” she tells him.

“Then I guess it’s my prerogawhatsit to let him know,” he says with a sly look on his face.

“It’s prerogative and don’t you dare,” she warns.

“Why not?” he demands, sitting up to stare at her. “Why shouldn’t I tell him?”

“Well, for one, just because you tell him doesn’t mean he’ll do anything about it,” she answers. “For another, your mother will throw a huge hissy fit.”

“And then she’ll blame you and be mad at you again,” he grumbles.

“Oh please,” she scoffs. “Call me when your mother isn’t mad at me for something. I’m just not interested in Hank witnessing your mother at her finest. Remember what happens when she really loses it.”

“Yeah, I know, but that leaves me wondering about something,” he says.

“What’s that?” she asks.

“Why is she hiding her eyes from Hank?” he inquires. “Is she afraid that he’ll drag her off to be an X-Man?”

“I’m not sure what your mother’s reasoning is for hiding what she is, but I can tell you that she’d never be accepted as an X-Man,” she answers.

“Why’s that?” he questions. “I’d think having a black panther on their side would be a good thing.”

“What does your mother have to do before she changes into a black panther?” she inquires.

“Oh, right,” he says with an embarrassed grin.

“Yeah,” she chuckles. “It’d be a bit distracting to have one their team mates go running off to hide behind a bush so she can strip off all of her clothes and jewelry before transforming.”

“Considering Mom won’t come out of the bathroom after a shower until she’s completely dressed, I have a hard time imagining her stripping behind a bush,” he snickers.

“Exactly,” she agrees with a smile. “Just be patient, I’m sure someday soon you’re mom will realize that the best place for you is Xavier’s.”

“But I want to go now!” he nearly whines. “Mom went, why can’t I?”

“You’re mom was fourteen when she went and she was only there for a couple of years,” she tells him. “As soon as they were sure she could control her powers, she came home. Just give your mom a bit more time to get used to the idea. I’m sure after today’s exhibition of your powers; she might be a bit more willing to seriously consider it.”

“I hope so,” he grumbles. “I’m tired of being home schooled. I don’t get to spend any time with kids my own age except for when we go to church.”

“Most of the students at Xavier’s are teenagers,” she warns. “You might find yourself just as lonely and to add to it, you won’t be at home any more.”

“I guess you’re right,” he sighs, disheartened.

“I didn’t mean to burst your bubble, but I didn’t want you getting your hopes up just because Hank’s here,” she says as she gets up and starts pulling more clothes out of her bags.

“Can I ask you something?” he asks after watching for a minute.

“Sure,” she answers.

“You really like Hank, don’t you?” he questions, rolling over onto his stomach.

“Of course I like Hank,” she laughs. “I’m not about to date a guy I can’t stand.”

“Are you going to marry Hank?” he inquires and she stops dead, her folded socks sitting in her hands just waiting to be placed in the open drawer beneath them.

“Um…uh…it’s a little early to be asking that,” she stammers, her cheeks heating up. “We’ve only known each other for a couple of months.”

“So?” he counters. “Dad said that he knew from the moment he met Mom that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.”

“It doesn’t happen that way for everybody,” she tells him as she finally puts her socks away. “Your grandparents were friends for a very long time before they started to even date. Let’s give this relationship a little time before we start sending out the wedding invitations, ok?”

“Ok,” he chuckles and the bedroom door silently swings open.

“There you are,” Annie says in exasperation. “What are you doing in here?”

“He’s keeping me company,” Amanda tells her as she picks up her now empty suitcase and tosses it in the closet.

“You dragged him out of bed so he could keep you company?” Annie demands.

“One would think that with the way you jump to conclusions you’d be in much better shape,” Amanda shoots back.

“She didn’t drag me out of bed, I got out on my own,” Paul puts in.

“Then you can get yourself right back in,” Annie states, pointing back down the hall towards his room.

“I don’t want to go back to bed,” Paul argues, getting a very determined look on his face.

“Annie, unless you’re looking to attract Hank’s attention and bring him in here, then I suggest you let it go,” Amanda quietly interjects before Annie can start arguing with her son.

“Are you trying to tell me how to raise my kids?” Annie demands.

“No, I’m warning you that Hank has very sensitive hearing and if you start yelling at Paul, Hank’s going to come up here and investigate,” Amanda softly tells her as she plugs her laptop into its power cord and opens it up. “Since you have made it perfectly clear that you’re not interested in letting Hank know what you and Paul are, I strongly recommend that you just chill out.”

“I can’t wait until you have kids so I can undermine your authority,” Annie growls.

“This has nothing to do with undermining authority,” Amanda calmly replies while she sits down at her desk. “Take a look at your son and tell me he isn’t about to fight you tooth and nail about getting back into bed.”

Annie looks at Paul and the boy stares back at his mother, unflinching.

“I can’t wait for you to have kids so I can completely undermine your authority the way you have mine,” Annie snarls before turning and storming out of the room.

There’s a collective sigh of relief from the two remaining people in the room as Amanda logs into her email account.

“Man, Mom’s crankier than normal,” he mumbles as he flops back on the bed again. “She’s been like that ever since last night. I wonder what her problem is.”

“She’s not a big fan of strangers and I arrived last night with a famous stranger,” she answers while she starts to go through and delete all of the spam and junk mail from her folder. “I have a feeling that she’s going to be stressed out the entire time we’re here. You’re best bet is to just stay out of her way as much as possible.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” he grumbles. “You’re not her kid that she gets to boss around.”

“No, I’m her sister whom she delighted in tormenting while we were growing up,” she responds. “I’ve got sixteen years to your nine, so don’t even get me started.”

“The way Mom tells it, you were the one always picking on her,” he says.

“Well, it usually worked as she would tell Mom that I did something wrong, I’d get punished and then I’d get back at her and then she’d go tell Mom,” she replies, looking over her shoulder at him. “It got to be a rather vicious circle after a while.”

“Bet you loved it when Mom was at Xavier’s,” he muses.

“It was nice not to be getting in trouble all of the time, but I’m a social person so it was pretty boring most of the time,” she tells him, turning back to her computer.

“Can I hang out in here for a while?” he asks after a minute of silence.

“Sure, but I’m reading my email right now, so I’m not going to be very good company,” she answers.

“That’s ok,” he assures her as he flips back onto his back. “As long as you don’t try tucking me into bed and reading Winnie-the-Pooh stories to me, I’m good.”

“She didn’t really…?” she starts, once again turning her attention back to her nephew.

“She did,” he answers as he gets comfortable on her bed.

She chuckles, shakes her head and then turns her gaze back to her computer screen.

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To: LawyerGirl
From: NotGuilty1
Subject: I DID IT!

Hi Amanda,

I DID IT! I passed my driver’s license test on the second try! I am officially able to drive myself to the mall!!! At least I would be if Miss Munroe didn’t insist that I take at least one adult with me. But that’s ok, Rogue and Kitty are both over eighteen and they don’t mind going to the mall with me.

Well, Kitty wouldn’t mind if she wasn’t still grounded. She got caught trying to add starch to all of Mr. Logan’s laundry the other week so now she’s his personal slave. Miss Munroe calls her his assistant, Kitty calls herself his slave. Mr. Logan is loving every minute of it too and poor Kitty is barely getting any sleep between classes, homework and helping Mr. Logan out.

She’s now taking classes over at the local college and is looking to get her teaching credentials so she can teach computer science here. Rogue, Peter and Bobby are all doing it too. Rogue is going to become our geography teacher, Peter will do social studies and Bobby will do history.

It’ll be great to have more teachers since Miss Munroe is taking up most of the slack and it’s really stressing her out. If her hair wasn’t already white, it’d be turning it. Mr. Wagner and Mr. Worthington are doing what they can, but they’re just teaching out of the books and don’t really know what they’re doing.

In more good news, I’m finally getting a handle on my powers. I still have to think about that horrible night to get my powers to work, but at least Miss Munroe doesn’t have to run the video of it any more. I’m getting pretty good at making it work on command. Miss Munroe is hoping that it’ll be possible for me to control my powers enough that I can give anywhere a gentle push to a full out blast, but that’s wishful thinking as far as I’m concerned. At least I know I’m not completely hopeless.

Oh, Miss Munroe and Mr. Wagner are finally going to go out on their first date after Christmas. Mr. Wagner is planning on taking her out someplace really nice and Jubilee can’t talk about anything else right now. I asked if Mr. Wagner’s blue skin was going to be a problem and she said that not to worry about it, they’ve got it covered.

Turns out that new guy I told you about likes Jubilee, so they’re now an official couple. I’m not having a lot of luck with guys, but at least I don’t have to hide who I am any more like I did when I lived with my mom and that man she calls a husband. Oh well, at least I can drown my sorrows in marshmallows and hot cocoa.

Speaking of Christmas, you should see this place! They’ve got the biggest tree I’ve ever seen in the library and the place smells like pine. There are decorations everywhere and someone’s been hanging mistletoe all over the place. At least they were until Mr. Logan tore them all down after he got ambushed and got so many kisses that his face was covered in lipstick. I’m pretty sure that was Kitty’s idea, but nobody has any proof.

Kitty’s Jewish so there’s a menorah here too. It’s been pretty cool learning about Chanukah and what the menorah means.

Everyone who celebrates Christmas has a secret Santa and I’ve got some kid named Kenny. I’m not even sure who he is. I’ve been trying to figure out who has me, but right now I haven’t got a clue.

Well, I’ve got to go now. Tell Hank I said ‘hi’ whenever you see him next.

Hugs,

Serena

PS – I saw the pictures of you from the White House party you went to. WOW! Everyone agrees that your dress was absolutely gorgeous and Hank looks like he doesn’t know what hit him.

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To: NotGuilty1
From: LawyerGirl
Subject: Re: I DID IT!

Hi Serena,

Congratulations on getting the driver’s license. I remember when I got mine when I was sixteen; it was one of the happiest days of my life especially since it took me three tries. Something about going ten miles over the speed limit seemed to upset the guy giving me the test.

I’m glad to hear that you’re getting better control over your powers. I’m sure that’s a big relief to you and I’m very happy for you. I knew you could do it.

I’ll tell Hank you said ‘hi’ when I go downstairs. Heaven help me, but I brought him home with me for Christmas to meet my family. My mother has already gone nuts and we’ve been here for less than a day. My mother is so desperate for me to get married that I wouldn’t be surprised if she dragged me into a bridal shop to look at wedding dresses before the week is out. This is going to be the longest Christmas ever.

Well, I should get going. I’m afraid if I leave Hank alone for too long my mother will start measuring him for a tux. There’s no way I’m telling her that he already owns one.

Have a Merry Christmas and tell everyone I said ‘hi’.

Hugs,

Amanda

PS – Could you please send me the link to the site you saw those pictures on? Thanks.

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To: LawyerGirl
From: TheMoneyGuy
Subject: Fun in the sun

Hey Girlfriend!

How’s the weather up in the frozen wastelands? If I knew what the Bahamas were like when Tom was still alive, I would his dragged his gorgeous ass down here for Christmas every year. Oh the things we could have done on moonlit nights on the beach. Of course, if I thought for one second I would lose him to that idiot drunk driver, I wouldn’t have let him out of my sight!

So how did things go Saturday night? How were the post-party activities? Did he give you a Christmas present that you won’t soon forget?

Have you told your parents about Hank yet? Make sure you take pictures of their faces when you tell them, I so want to see their faces, especially that catty little beast you call a sister. How that hunky husband of hers puts up with her is beyond me, but the sex must be something else.

Well, I’ve got to go now. I’m getting a private snorkeling tour by one of the natives who has abs you could do your laundry on and hands that can engulf a cocoanut. Of course, it’s not cocoanuts that I want him to grab.

Lots of love and have a good Christmas,

Dougie

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To: TheMoneyGuy
From: LawyerGirl
Subject: Re: Fun in the sun

Hi Dougie,

It’s supposed to snow tonight which the kids are looking forward to. I am too since it doesn’t quite seem like Christmas without snow. Maybe if I’m lucky we’ll get snowed in and I won’t have to sing at church tomorrow night. Mom volunteered me. Again.

Saturday night went very well and it’s none of your business what we did after the party, but let’s just say the maid that cleaned up Hank’s room the next day had an easy job. He gave me a beautiful gold necklace with a heart shaped pendant for Christmas that I can’t wait to show you. He really liked the book I gave him. Thanks for helping me find it.

Thanks to some guy whose truck decided to stall, there was an accident on the northern train line into Ashley so I couldn’t take the train. All the flights are booked until after Christmas and the only thing the car rental agencies had were Hummers, so I didn’t have a lot of options. Well, to make a long story short, Hank drove me to my parents’ place and is giving up his nice quiet vacation up in Vermont to spend it with me and my crazy family.

I do wish I had the camera waiting for when Hank stepped out of the car. I swear Dad’s jaw was around his knees and Mom’s eyes nearly fell out of her head. Annie looked like she was ready to spit tacks and Mike was about to burst something trying to keep from laughing. The girls love him and Paul seems to like him. Even some of the cats have taken a liking to him and joined him in bed last night. Wish I could do the same.

If Hank can survive this holiday, he can survive anything, which is good because I can’t really imagine my life without him right now. And if you repeat that to anyone I will deny it even under oath. The last thing I need right now is my mother knowing that I’ve found someone I’d be willing to spend my life with. I have no idea if Hank feels the same way, so until I do know, it’s best that she doesn’t know. Ya know?

Have fun in the Bahamas and I know you’ll be careful.

All my love,

Amy