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The Hangover
by
Gax



The Don't-Sue-Me-Bit: All of it belongs to Marvel, with the exception of Cody, who has set up a Barcalounger (tm) in the living room of my soul, and is settling in with a beer to watch South Park (tm)---which also does not belong to me, and isn't even in this story, anyway.

Background: Outside of any continuity. I just wanted to use Cyclops, Jean, Prof. X, Storm, Nightcrawler, and of course, Wolverine. And not necessarily in that order.

Note: This is the second piece of fanfic I've ever shared with the 'net. Feedback and criticism is begged for, flames will be blithely disregarded. Please refrain from throwing rotten fruit.




Breakfast the next day was not the picture of familial harmony.

No one had slept well.

Ororo's fork poked at her poached eggs until they were a runny yellow mess. She pushed the plate away, uneaten, and poured herself a second cup of strong coffee. Her dreams had been so odd. She couldn't even remember exactly what they were about, but had woken with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something between fear and excitement, as when she was a young girl in Cairo, ducking around corners, dodging the police in a big game of hide-and-seek, rushing away with a stolen prize clutched in her hand. Exhilaration had streaked through her veins, and she had woken to the sound of herself laughing.

Jean didn't look happy. Not at all. She was spearing pieces of her fruit salad on the end of her fork as like she was trying to punish them. She wasn't saying much of anything, and was ignoring Scott, who sat beside her like a contrite child, listlessly stirring his oatmeal. Even with his sunglasses on, dark circles were visible beneath his eyes.

Even the usually buoyant and cheerful Kurt was quiet. He nibbled absentmindedly at his toast, gazing out the bay window that looked onto the sunlit lawn, his tail flicking back and forth like an agitated cat. Beside him, Piotr was gobbling down his usual staggering amount of breakfast, but without his usual vigor.

Logan ambled in, looking more surly and disheveled than he did on an average morning, and poured himself some coffee before taking a seat. Not that it would do much good. His body absorbed caffeine like any other poison, and it didn't have much of an effect on him. He wasn't a morning person, and his mood seemed especially dark today. He piled his plate with waffles, ham, potatoes, and eggs, hoping elevated blood sugar might take off the edge. "Elf, pass the syrup, would ya?"

Kurt shook himself out of his reverie, hooked the syrup pitcher with his tail, and passed it over.

As Logan was liberally dousing his waffles, Professor Xavier entered the room. "Good morning, everyone." He was greeted by assorted murmurs and grunts. "I have some news. We have a new houseguest, a Ms. Cody Latrans. She will be staying with us for a while so that her powers can be studied."

Ororo put down her coffee. "So she's a mutant, then?"

The Professor rubbed his forehead. "We're not exactly certain of that, but she does possess some...unique abilities."

Jean looked up, her green eyes smoldering, but her voice all business. "How much does she know about us, what we do here?"

"At this point, only that this is a school for mutants. She is not aware of the existence of the X-Men, though I'm sure she has made the intuitive leap that anyone on the grounds is probably also a mutant."

"What're ex-Men?" Cody yawned in the doorway, stretching her long arms, and not bothering to cover her mouth. "Guys who used to be men, but aren't anymore?"

Ororo snickered uncharacteristically, then composed herself, thinking she must be punch-drunk from lack of sleep. Piotr wiped his mouth and grinned. Logan glowered at his plate. Jean seethed. Scott swallowed. A broad smile broke across Kurt's face. "Guten Morgen, Cody."

Cody smiled back, sweeping a torrent of chestnut hair back from her face. "'Mornin', Kurt."

"Ms. Latrans, allow me to introduce my staff." Said the Professor. "You've already met Scott, Piotr, Kurt, and Logan. This is Dr. Jean Grey." He indicated the red-haired woman at the end of the table next to the preppy guy with the sunglasses. She was supermodel gorgeous, or would have been, Cody thought, if it wasn't for the seething hatred all over her face. To her credit, she seemed to be trying to hide it, which would have made it less obvious to anyone without Cody's vision. She guessed Jean and Scott were an item, and his girlfriend was none to happy that he had been stuffing twenties into a stripper's g-string the night before. Especially now that the stripper was standing right in front of her. Oh, this was going to get interesting.

Cody smiled at her. "Hello."

"Hello." Jean smiled back, but her voice was like ice.

"And this is Ororo Munroe." Xavier directed her attention to the woman at his left. She was as beautiful as Jean Gray, but her African features were far more exotic, her dark skin contrasted by a mane of platinum hair that fell her waist. There was curiosity in her eyes, and unlike Red, her smile was warm and genuine, if a little tired.

Cody reached over and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Said Ororo.

"We can begin the testing tomorrow." Said Xavier. "For today, just become acclimated to your new surroundings. After breakfast, one of the staff will acquaint you with the grounds and the facilities."

"I'd be glad to." Kurt piped up suddenly.

"Try bein' a little more obvious, elf." Logan mumbled under his breath.

"Very good. Well, if you will excuse me, I have some papers to grade." Said the Professor, edging his chair toward the door. "Ms. Latrans, make yourself at home."

Cody sat down next to Ororo, unfolding a napkin into her lap before she commenced filling her plate. Piling on a heap of ham, bacon, and sausage, she added a spoonful of eggs for garnish. She poured a tall glass of milk and a cup of coffee, adding enough sugar to the latter to kill a diabetic. After a generous application of Tabasco sauce, she proceeded to devour the entire mess like she hadn't eaten in days.

Jean excused herself and swept out of the room like a chill wind. Scott followed.

Cody looked up from her now-empty plate. "I don't think she likes me much."

Ororo had to agree, but decided to change the subject. "So, Ms. Latransã"

"Call me Cody." She said.

Ororo smiled. "Where are you from, Cody?"

"Here and there. Mostly the southwest." She said. "I was born in New Mexico. What about you? By your accent, I'm guessing North Africa."

"Yes." Said Ororo, pleasantly surprised. "I spent much of my childhood in Cairo. You have a good ear."

Cody shrugged. "I just pay attention."

"So, how did you meet the others?"

"Stripping." Said Cody.

Piotr's fork clattered to his plate. Kurt's indigo cheeks turned bright purple. A gulp of hot coffee stopped midway down Logan's throat.

Ororo's eyes widened. "Excuse me?" She was sure she couldn't have heard right. Either that or their new guest was having her on.

"I'm a stripper." She dropped seven cubes of sugar into her empty cup and poured coffee over them. "Just for fun now and then, or when I'm broke. Anyway, last night, the guys came into the club where I was working." Cody stirred her coffee syrup before continuing. "Then there was this fight, and we ended up helping each other out." She winked at Kurt. "It was all fun and games until the cops showed up. Logan, Piotr, and I wound up in the cooler. Then your boss, the Professor, bailed me out, in exchange for getting to study me.

"So, now, I'm here."

Looking around the room, Ororo saw Piotr's face turn bright red as he stared fixedly at his plate, Kurt's cheeks turn even darker purple as he dropped his fork, and Logan scowling into his coffee. So it was true.

She threw her head back and laughed.

Piotr stood up. "I have a painting I need to work on." He said hastily. "I'll be in my studio if anyone needs me." Before rushing out of the room, he stopped to shake Cody's hand, remnants of a goofy grin fluttering at the edges of his mouth. "Welcome, Cody. It's good to see you again."

Cody looked into his eyes, blue as a glacier, but not at all cold. There was no guile in him, just a little embarrassment, and more than a little curiosity. No desire to get into her pants. A good, solid fellow. "Thanks, Pete."

"I'll be in the Danger Room." Logan grunted, then trudged out the door.

"Danger Room?" Cody arched an eyebrow. "This place is more interesting than I thought."

Ororo glanced at her watch. "I'd love to talk, but I'm running late. Why don't you meet me for lunch, here, around one o'clock?"

"Sounds great. See ya then."

* * * *


Showing her around the house took awhile in and of itself. She'd never been in a house this big.

As soon as Kurt opened the door, Cody was outside lighting a cigarette. She sucked down a sweet lungful of burning tobacco, sighing blissfully as she exhaled a noxious cloud. First smoke of the day. One of life's true joys.

"Ach! Those things will kill you." She turned to see Kurt frowning at her in good-natured, if self-righteous, concern.

"Yeah, but if I don't smoke, I'll kill other people." Cody grinned. "So, really, I'm doing it for the greater good."

He laughed, shaking his head bemusedly. "That sounds like something Logan would say."

"Comparing me to Logan is not the way to endear yourself, liebchen."

"You speak German?"

"Nah. Just watched a lot of Marlena Dietrich movies growing up."

"That's almost as good." Late morning sun glinted off dark, tussled hair, setting it gleaming like the wing of a crow. His yellow eyes, indigo skin, and spade-tipped tail didn't make him any less the biscuit. In fact, she thought, they do make one ponder the possibilities.

As she pondered further, he led her about the grounds. The house itself was huge, taking up damn near a city block's worth of space in the middle of Westchester County. Real estate like this doesn't come cheap. Especially when it's banked by Sherwood Forest and has a pool big enough to play water polo inãwith real horses. "The Professor must be loaded."

They crested a short rise, coming upon a massive, gnarled oak tree. "This is my favorite place." Said Kurt reverently. "I come here whenever I get the chance."

Cody put her palm to the trunk, feeling the spirit inside surge up to meet her hand. It was old. Older than her, older than Xavier's great house, older than New York itself. She greeted it respectfully, as was its due, and asked it a question.

"Cody, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Shhhh." She said gently, putting a finger to her lips. "I'm waiting for her to answer."

"Answer? Trees don't talk." Kurt told her with the same tone he might tell a child that they were too old to believe in the Easter Bunny.

"They do if you speak tree."

After a long moment, she nodded. "She says we can climb her."

"She?" Kurt had never been aware the cling he routinely climbed all over was female.

Cody leapt up to a low-hanging bough, swinging herself up and onto it with tomboyish grace. Not to be outdone, Kurt somersaulted upward onto a branch across from her, settling comfortably against the bole like an oversized blue marten.

"So, what was it you were gonna ask me?"

"Last night, in the bar, how did you know what I looked like?"

"You mean before your little gadget gave out?"

He nodded.

"I have a knack for seeing things that people try to hide."

"A 'knack'?" he asked quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated. It only really works if someone covers something up, tries to make it look like something else. You were trying so hard to cover up what you looked like, it shined right through to me." Hooking her ankles around the bough, she stretched out to her full length, and rested her chin on her folded hands. "So, what was a gentleman like you doing in a stripclub, anyway? You don't seem the type."

That purple blush again. "We lost a bet to Logan."

"That somehow doesn't surprise me." He really was a fine piece of manflesh. Aristocratic features, sharp canines, and the body of an Olympic gymnast. Not to mention the staggering flexibility she'd seen him display the night before. That tail opened up a whole world of possibilities. She had a powerful desire to turn on the old coyote charm, assault him with pheromones, and pounce. With the way she'd caught him looking at her, she could probably skip the charm.

So why not?

He was just so damn sweet, so genuine. Cody couldn't remember the last time she'd met a truly nice guy. Of course, the path she was on wasn't exactly made for intersecting with nice guys. And though there was plenty to be said for indulging raw animal lust, one look at him told her that going there wouldn't be worth the world of hurt she'd leave him in when it was said and done.

Of course, that didn't preclude sharpening her flirting skills. Fixing him with eyes of smoked gold, she asked, "Why does a handsome guy like you want to hide the way he looks?"

Sighing dramatically, he said "I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to fight off the stampede of girls that would come running my way." He flashed that heart-stopping grin again, and Cody felt her resolve pulled taut.

This wasn't going to be easy.

"There was something else I was wondering about." Kurt twiddled his tail, hesitating a moment, before he continued. He didn't want what he was going to say to come off as insulting, but he had to ask all the same. "You seem to be such an intelligent woman, and an exceptional dancer."

"Aw, shucks," Cody batted her eyelashes, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "You're gonna make me blush."

"It's just that you could be anything you want. Why do you choose to be a stripper?"

"Because I'm good at it." She said simply. "And it's way more fun than being a nuclear physicist or a diplomat or something. Not to mention that the pay is great and I can set my own hours."

"When you put it that way, it does make a lot of sense."

"You should consider it. They'd just eat you up with a spoon at Chippendales."

"Ah, Cody, you are going to make me blush."

"Too late." The shadow cast by the oak was growing a little longer, and she cast a glance at the sun. "I'm supposed to meet Ororo for lunch. We better head back."

They dropped from the tree and strolled back across the lawn, their already leisurely pace growing slower the closer they got to the house. A companionable, if slightly tense silence hung between them, and she wondered if he was thinking about her. What am I, in the eight grade? When did I start going all gooey schoolgirl?

Kurt was, in fact, thinking about her, wondering if she was thinking about him. She wasn't like anyone he'd ever met, certainly not any woman. And certainly not like any woman he'd ever been attracted to. His tastes usually ran toward more wholesome, and truth be told, more buxom women. Bright-eyed, curvaceous, demure damsels in distress were more his style. But there was something about Cody, with her rangy figure and her crooked nose, the way she said whatever was on her mind no matter what anyone else thought. Skirting the edge of good and dangling over bad, defining her was a slippery slope at best, and figuring her out was impossible. Despite the fact that he'd seen her with almost nothing on, she was still mysterious to him.

The quiet was beginning to get to her.

"So, let me ask you something." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "How did you pull that disappearing act last night?"

"I have a natural talent for teleportation."

"You mean you can just vanish from one place and appear in another? 'Poof?'"

"More like 'bamf.'"

"'Bamf?'"

Ororo was coming up the walkway as they arrived at the door. Looking at the way they stood there--together, yet apart, smiling but avoiding one another's eyes--the attraction between the two was apparent. Kurt was like a schoolboy, hands in his pockets, tracing his toe over the brickwork on the porch, while Cody leaned casually against the doorframe, toying absently with her hair.

Who was this woman? she wondered. In less than twenty-four hours, Cody had Jean despising her, Piotr and Scott in an almost constant state of embarrassment, Logan completely on edge, and Kurt behaving like a shy teenager. There seemed to be no middle ground in the feelings she evoked in people. In a small, tight-knit group like the X-Men, that kind of personality would leave some changes in its wake.

A warm little breeze curled out of nowhere. Ororo smiled. Everything changes. You know that better than anyone. The effect she will have on people will depend on how they respond to her. She would have to trust her friends. They were adults, and capable of making their own decisions.

But things were certainly more intriguing than they had been in a long time.

"Afternoon, Kurt." Their postures shifted almost guiltily at her approach. "Cody."

They stood a little farther apart, Kurt's arms now folded across his chest , and Cody's hands shoved into the front pockets of her jeans.

"Guten tag, Ororo." Kurt smiled a little too broadly.

"Hey." Cody said a little too brightly.

No one seemed to know what to say for a second, and Cody and Kurt couldn't seem to decide whether to look at each or look away. Finally, Ororo broke the silence. "So, Cody, lunch, then?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Sounds great."

Kurt looked at his watch. "Ach! I lost track of time. I'm due at the church in half an hour."

Cody raised an eyebrow. "I hope your not getting' married in that." She nodded at his jeans and tee shirt.

"No, nothing like that. I told Father O'Flaherty I would help repair the roof today." He checked his belt. "And I left my image inducer back in my room. You'll have to excuse me, ladies." With a last glance at Cody, he disappeared in a flash of light and brimstone.

As the two women walked to the kitchen, Cody seemed lost in thought, a little crease between her brows as though she was worrying at something. "The two of you seem to get on well." Ororo said pleasantly.

"Me and Kurt?" Cody sighed through a bemused smile. "He's hard not to like. I'm sure he was top of his class at Charm School."

The other woman laughed. "He's quite enamored of the role of gentleman rogue. Kurt's a romantic at heart."

"And catholic, apparently. Doesn't he see a gap there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, CatholicismãChristianity in general, in my experienceãtends to clash with that kind of attitude. They're not big on fun. Or open-mindedness." Cody frowned again, pausing a bit before she continued. "And he wouldn't go without his little gadget."

"The image inducer." Ororo nodded. "He worries that his appearance would alarm other members of the parish."

They entered the kitchen, and Cody was ushered into a seat while Ororo prepared lunch at the stove. Sharp, rich, exotic smells began to fill the kitchen. When things were a bit more in hand, she poured them each a glass of iced tea and sat down while the food simmered. "Doesn't it seem odd to you that in the place most sacred to him, the place he goes for spiritual solace, he doesn't feel comfortable enough to be who he is?" Cody asked.

"That has crossed my mind, from time to time." Ororo said evenly. "I haven't spoken with him about it, though. I don't feel it's my place to judge anyone's spiritual path."

"Hmmm." That seemed fair to Cody. "Is everyone here religious?"

"No, not as such. Scott and Jean are occasional churchgoers. Protestant, I believe. Both Logan and Piotr are atheists."

"What about you?"

Ororo went over to the stove, giving the pot one last stir before taking it off the fire. "I'm not sure what I believe. I have seen too much to believe in nothing, but to me, religion is a path, a means to an end. I suppose I believe in something, but I have yet to find one path that suits me." She ladled a rich, dark stew into bowls and brought them to the table. "What do you believe, Cody?"

"I just try to keep an open mind." There was an odd, knowing look on the other woman's face. She took a huge bite of stew and her eyes widened. "My god, this is great! What the hell is it?"

Ororo gave her the convoluted seven-syllable name of the dish.

"I'm not even gonna try to pronounce that. What's in it? I can taste lamb, but other than that, I'm way out of my depth." Cody chewed happily, washing it down with big gulps of sweet tea.

The dark woman smiled and named off the ingredients, some of which were as unpronounceable as the dish itself. It was nice to have someone show some enthusiasm for her cooking. Most everyone else disdained it as too spicy, but Cody seemed to love it.

"If you cook like this all the time, I'm surprised one of them hasn't married you yet." Joked Cody, wiping the corners of her mouth.

Ororo felt a chuckle escape her throat. She makes me laugh. Why does that seem so odd? Having lived in the same house, the X-Men all knew one another well. Everyone had settled into their own groove. The safety, the routine, was a comfort, compared the crises and bigotry they dealt with on a constant basis. But, in that safety and comfort, there was a kind of unspoken complacence, and extremes of emotion had no place. Even laughter, it seemed lately.

Cody helped clean up, mopping the last of the stew out of the pan with a piece of bread, and loading the dishwasher. With a little prodding, she recounted the events leading up to the barfight in colorful detail, and soon had Ororo in stitches. "You didn't." was all she managed to say, imagining Logan with a sweaty gingham shirt stuck to his face.

"Hey," Cody finished. "That's what you get if you put your feet on the stage."

Ororo wiped her eyes. Her side hurt from laughing. After having lived and worked with her teammates for so long, she had almost ceased to view them as men. The reminder was both a little jolting, and achingly funny.

Things are definitely going to change with Cody around, she thought. They already have. I don't know how it will sort itself out in the end, but it should be very interesting.

After lunch, Ororo was summoned to Professor Xavier's office, so Cody was left to wander the house. Rounding a remote corner of the first floor, her nose caught the odor of turpentine and oil paint. A moody ballad wafted softly out from under the door at the end of the hall. Curious, she knocked.

"Come in." Piotr called absently.

Cody opened the door to see him sitting before his easel in a room full of paintings. There seemed to be as much paint on his jeans as there was on the canvas in front of him. The brush, dwarfed by his enormous hand, moved with surprising grace. Huh. "Hey, Piotr."

He was so absorbed in what he was doing, her voice gave him a start. She was the last person he'd expected to see. "Hello." He said slowly, trying to summon a polite smile.

"Sorry if I spooked you." She took in the walls. All of the paintings were of landscapes. Some were obviously pictures of the grounds, but a few were of golden fields, stretching into some far horizon. "I don't want to bug you while you're working. I was just checking out the house."

"It is all right. I was just finishing." He dropped his brush fastidiously into the jar of turpentine and went to the sink to wash his hands. Kurt, and occasionally Ororo, were the only other people that ever came to his studio, and not very often. He didn't know quite how to react.

While he scrubbed the paint out from under his nails, Cody examined his work. It was soälush. The colors were bright, but not garish. Rich. Vibrant. As though he had his fingers in the pulse of the earth. There was a sensuous, almost feminine curve to the hills and mountains. And a whole lot of passion. Wow. It's always the quiet ones.

"So," Piotr said sheepishly. "What do you think?"

Cody took a step back, folding her arms and squinting. There was something else here. Right out in the open. RoundnessäsoftnessäfertilityäIt came together all of a sudden, and she snapped her fingers. "I think you need a woman."

"Wh-what?" his face went completely crimson.

"Why don't you ask Jean, or Ororo? I'm sure they'd be glad to."

"What? No! I couldn't." He said nervously. "It would be too embarrassing."

Cody made a sweeping gesture toward the wall. "Piotr, it's all right there. Look at those curves. You're painting women." The big guy looked so vulnerable and uncertain. She actually felt for him. Laying a hand on his arm, she said, "Look, the only thing you need is confidence. Luckily, instilling confidence in men happens to be my forte."

Logan hadn't been trying to listen in, but with his hearing, it was almost impossible not to. Usually, he just screened out private conversations like so much background noise. But the sound of her voice had stopped him dead in his tracks, and he found himself standing a few doors down the hallway, hanging on every word. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was she offering to----Was he accepting?

No. That couldn't be right. Her and Piotr? Not Piotr.

"If you're sure..." he heard Piotr say hesitantly.

"C'mon, Pete. It's not like taking my clothes off is a big deal for me." Cody replied. "Look, no pressure. We can get the basics out of the way today, try some different positions and see what you like. In a couple of days, you can start playing with oils."

Logan's face darkened. Damnit, who the hell was this woman? Waltzing in here, twisting an innocent guy like Piotr around her little finger. He had a good mind to go down there right now and drag her out by her hair. Piotr didn't need to have his head messed with by someã

He was halfway to the studio door when he remembered that he was wearing a towel. His hair was still wet from the shower he'd just taken after his session in the Danger Room. Yeah. They'd really take him seriously looking like this. Stalking back to his own room, something else occurred to him. Like it or not, Pete's a big boy. He can make his own decisions, even if they're bad ones. He sighed angrily as he dried his hair. But that woman. She's the worst thing for him. Hell, she's the worst thing for anybody, far as I can see. She's been around the block so many times the pavement's probably worn thin by now. Pulling the towel off his head, he caught his reflection smirking in the mirror above his dresser. 'Course, she could probably teach him a few things. A woman like that's bound to know stuff other women don't.

Logan caught himself wondering just what kind of "things" those might be. He shook his head. "I gotta stop thinkin' about this."



CHAPTERS:   1   2   3   4   5   6   7




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