"This," Jackie came out of the lockers, still brushing back her
long white hair, "is a ridiculous looking outfit." The black and gold
costume of the X-Men that she was wearing fit her pretty snugly, showing
off her curves.
"Probably," Lisa smiled, the tall, muscular blonde leaning up
against the wall nearby, "but Pete mentioned they're made of unstable
molecules. It won't burn up, if you ignite again."
"Thank you for reminding me," Jackie sighed, "I haven't been so
embarrassed in years."
Lisa gave her a slight smile, "It happens, believe me." She
smiled in memory, "The first time I wore the Captain Britain suit, I
managed to slam right into a roof, without a helmet."
"Ouch," Jackie made a face. They walked for a few moments until
they met Pete in the hallway, waiting with a distinctly odd look on his
face.
"Lisa, there's someone here to see you," Pete said dryly.
From just behind Pete a redheaded woman darted out. Nearly as
tall as Lisa herself, but more willowy, she moved with an almost
unearthly grace, this young woman with the delicately pointed ears.
"M'love," she exclaimed happily, and threw her arms around Lisa's neck,
kissing her vigorously on the lips, "I've missed you."
"Sorry, Llyan," Lisa smiled, "it's been a hectic couple of
days."
Pete ran a hand through his hair, looking distinctly irritable,
"Lisa, you couldn't have mentioned to me that your girlfriend is a
Sidhe?"
"Sidhe?" Jackie blinked.
"A member of the elven high court," Llyan explained to her
calmly. She bowed slightly to Pete, while still keeping a firm grip on
Lisa, "Are you the lord of this place? If so, I pledge all my talents to
this island's defense."
"I'm touched," Pete sighed. He shook his head, "C'mon, Jackie.
I've talked to Cecelia, she's all ready to run a full diagnostic on
you."
"Whee," Jackie answered dryly. "Is Cecelia one of your
teammates?"
"Not exactly," Pete answered, "Dr. Cecelia Renes was an X-Man
for a while, but before that she was an emergency room surgeon. Shortly
after Dr. Moira Mctaggart passed away, she asked Professor Xavier to be
posted out here, and he agreed."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to question anyone's competence," Jackie
sighed softly, "I'm just a bit nervous about this."
"No reason to be," a gentle voice said calmly. The
African-American woman had walked over from the medical wing to meet
them, her long white labcoat swirling around her. "I'm Cecelia."
"Hello," Jackie shook the woman's extended hand tentatively.
"I'm told you're the head mad scientist of this place?" she asked as the
three of them fell into step together.
"Something like that," Cecelia agreed.
"So what's on the schedule?" Pete asked curiously.
"Nothing too nasty," Cecelia said calmly. "We're going to take
some sensor scans, both of you running and standing still, and take a
blood sample," she explained.
"That's all?" Jackie looked relieved.
"To start with," Cecelia quickly added. "If those tests don't
give us some clues, we'll move on to something else, maybe even pass you
on to Xavier's school itself."
"Well," Jackie said as they reached the science labs themselves,
"let's get started."
Over on the other side of the small island there were fields of
barren rocks and hardy grass, the perfect place for at least one of the
Excalibur members to play. Dani Moonstar shivered slightly in the cold,
bundled up in her heavy jacket as she sat cross-legged on a flat stone.
'How are you doing, love?' Dani sent her thought out through
their mind link.
A laugh and Rahne's voice answered, 'I caught a hare.'
'You didn't eat it, did you?' Dani sounded worried.
'No, just caught it and let it go,' Rahne's voice was gently
chiding.
'Sorry,' Dani apologized. There had been a few times over the
years where the wolf side of Rahne had dominated her. It was rare, but
it was something Dani watched for in her partner.
From between the rocks the reddish furred wolf trotted out, and
Dani had to smile at her sleek beauty. Muscled, a healthy glow to her
fur, and a bounce to her step. So very different from what Rahne had
been like after Lady Moira died.
Suddenly, the wolf bounded forward, knocking Dani over onto her
back, then proceeded to lick her face. "Hey, stop that," Dani tried to
fend her off.
'I thought that you liked a hello kiss,' the amused voice
answered in her mind. The wolf backed off a bit, the body blurring
between wolf, a mix of wolf and human, and finally becoming a redheaded
young woman. "You were getting serious again," Rahne stepped forward to
put a gentle kiss on Dani's now slightly damp cheek.
"Well, that's one way of distracting me," Dani laughed as they
walked back towards the station together.
"Besides," Rahne smiled up at her, "I thought that you had
frozen yourself enough for my sake today."
"It wasn't so bad," Dani shrugged slightly in reply, "I had to
put up with much worse back at the reservation."
"It's been a long time since the reservation," Rahne put her
head on Dani's shoulder, "and personally, I'm glad you're here."
"Me, too," Dani agreed.
The two went inside, moving towards the kitchen. "I wonder how
our new arrival is doing?" Rahne asked as she prepared a cup of hot
chocolate for Dani.
"Thanks," Dani smiled as she took it in her hands. She blew on
the brown fluid, taking a sip before sighing happily. "That's good." In
reply she added, "Cecelia was checking her out, I think."
"Cecelia's good," Rahne said simply, "she should be fine." He
cheeks reddened a bit, considering the free show the English woman had
given her, "I felt so sorry for her, but.."
Dani chuckled. "It was pretty funny," she agreed.
The two headed out of the kitchen over to the common room that
was part of the residential wing. A few large couches, tables, single
chairs and even a fireplace were part of the setup. There was someone
already there, a figure curled up in one of the chairs looking out one
of the windows.
"Hi, Rachel," Rahne smiled at the redhead as she and Dani
settled down in one of the couches, setting their cups down on a nearby
table.
"Hey," Rachel waved to them casually. It looked like she was
thinking about something serious, and not particularly enjoying it very
much. The time-traveling X-man was a bit of an enigma to her teammates,
and both wondered what deep issues she might be considering. Quietly she
looked over at the two of them, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Rahne smiled.
"All right," Dani agreed, "but I can't promise I'll answer it."
"Fair enough," Rachel nodded. She sat forward in her seat,
ignoring the cup of cooling coffee that sat beside her, "Have you ever
been completely blind about something important, only to have someone
else point it out to you?"
"Yes," Rahne said crisply, even as Dani hesitated.
"Would you mind telling me about it?" Rachel asked.
Rahne's cheeks colored a bit as she confessed, "Dani's being in
love with me. I never realized, not for years."
Rachel had the oddest look on her face, so much so that Dani had
to ask, "What?"
"Something like that's happened to me recently," Rachel sighed,
"I just haven't figured out what to do about it just yet."
Back to The Excalibur Alternative Index - Back to Non-Anime Fanfiction Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction