DISCLAIMER: in first part.
A Laying On Of Hands: Part Six
by Cascade
"Good," Scott offered from his place near the wall.
Dana gasped for breath. She looked down at the unconscious form slumped on the ground. He'd managed to get a lucky punch to her stomach before he went down. She glanced over at Scott. "Good?" she asked, not really sure she'd heard him right.
"Well, not great... but at least you're the winner this time, right?"
"So do I get to go at this again?"
"I think you've had just about all you can take." He examined her with his eyes. Even the safeties hadn't been able to prevent her from getting knocked around a bit. Floor burns stood out on her legs and a few bruises were starting to form. He shook his head. "When you hit the ground, you hit it hard."
"So I get to go?"
He handed her a towel. "You're free to go."
She snatched it from his hand, and made her way to the door.
"Same time, same place tomorrow," he called after her.
She raised her hand and waved in acknowledgement.
Dana sat at the dinner table exhausted. Her hair was wet from the shower. She silently cursed Hank for his dietary guidelines. She wanted to go to bed, but she had to eat something first. She put her head down on the table and closed her eyes.
"Petite... Can' have y' nappin' when y' should be eatin'." Remy touched her shoulder.
"Lemme alone." She mumbled.
"Y' wouldn' wan' Gambit t' get in trouble, would y' chere? 'Sides, if Gambit don' wake y' up then Logan gets t'."
"I'm up!" She raised her head quickly.
Remy offered her a hand up from her chair. She took it, got up and crossed to the refrigerator. She did a mental inventory of what she'd eaten lately.
"Looks like it's peanut butter and jelly for me tonight," she said as she reached for the jelly.
"Dinner be served soon," Remy said.
"I can't wait that long. I'll fall asleep at the table."
"You up, kid?" Logan came into the kitchen.
"Barely, but I think it qualifies."
"Y' not trust Gambit t' wake her up?" Remy raised an eyebrow at Logan.
"Just checkin', Gumbo."
Dana carried the sandwich to the table on a plate and sat down. She let her head sag to the table.
"None o' dat, chere," Gambit warned her.
"I know, I know." She lifted her head and began to eat the sandwich.
"Gambit 'member his first day o' the Danger Room." He took a seat across the table from Dana and sighed, remembering. "'Course, nobody force Gambit to eat afterward... Gambit just went to bed."
Dana glared at him. "Thank you for reminding me that I could be in bed right now if I was anyone else."
Logan leaned up against the wall, arms crossed. "Cyke gonna make you go tomorrow too?"
Dana nodded forlornly. "Has anyone ever died in the Danger Room while the safeties were on?" she asked.
Logan and Remy shook their heads in unison.
"Great... Then I'll be the first."
The alarm woke her the next morning with its usual abruptness. She felt less tired, but she was stiff and sore.
She dressed and headed downstairs to breakfast.
Logan and Ororo had made a hearty, but traditional breakfast of eggs, hash browns, bacon and toast and some healthier alternatives for those who were concerned about cholesterol and fat. Everyone sat around the table eating. Light banter was exchanged.
"Hey, Logan, you shred these yourself?" Bobby Drake asked, indicating the potatoes.
Logan was in a good mood. He smiled as his claws extended from one hand.
Bobby nodded. "You did a good job, they're tasty."
Hank caught Dana's eye. She looked at him looking at the food she'd heaped on her plate: cholesterol laden eggs, greasy bacon and hash browns covered in ketchup. She smiled at him and took a large bite.
"Dana, don't you think that eating these," He indicated the turkey bacon and the egg substitutes. "would be better for you?"
Dana was about to respond with something about how he was going to take all the joy out of food for her, but Logan beat her to it.
"Aww, come on Hank, don'tcha like my cookin'? Let her eat what she wants. She's gonna be workin' with Cyke all this afternoon." Logan spoke up from his seat beside Dana.
Hank nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"Bless you!" Dana whispered to Logan.
He favored her with a smile. "I been eatin' this stuff and worse for years. I don't think it'll mess up your diet that bad."
"But then, of course, you have a healing factor and I don't... At least not a personal one," she added, an eyebrow raised.
Logan shrugged off the comment.
"So Scott's puttin' ya through the wringer again today?" Sam asked from the other side of her.
Dana nodded.
"Ya gonna need all the energy ya can get." Sam sympathized.
"Dana, can I talk to you?" the professor asked her.
"Sure." She'd been helping to clear the table. She wiped her hands on the back of her jeans and followed him to his study. She took a seat.
"What do you remember about the night you healed Rogue?"
She shrugged. "I fell asleep while I was watching a movie, and when I woke up I felt... pulled somewhere. At first I thought you or Jean was messing with my head, but you didn't respond when I asked. I felt this feeling of grief. It wasn't my own, so I left my room and let myself be pulled. I ended up in the medlab."
"And how did you know how to heal her?"
"I dunno, I just did what I thought I should do. I was kinda in a daze."
Xavier nodded. Instinct often took over when mutants were first dealing with their powers.
"How did you block Rogue from absorbing your powers?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you think you could separate your powers? Could you block mutant powers without having to heal someone?"
She shrugged again. "I could always try."
The book hovered about three feet off the ground. It wasn't hard for Jean to do.
Dana glanced at the professor. He nodded for her to proceed. She took a breath and then placed her fingers on Jean's temples. She concentrated on blocking the power she could imagine flowing from Jean to the book. Nothing happened.
#You should try to relax a little more,# the professor suggested.
Dana nodded, letting her shoulders drop a little before trying again. Nothing.
#You're still a little tense.#
Dana sighed. She visualized down to the cellular level. She imagined she could see the X-factor on a gene. She imagined putting a wall between it and the rest of the cell.
#Dana, you're trying too hard.#
"I'M RELAXED!" Dana shouted in frustration.
The book slammed to the ground. Dana jumped back from Jean in surprise. As soon as Dana moved away the book floated back up.
The professor looked at her, eyes wide.
Dana just laughed.
Repeating Dana's use of power proved difficult. She was only able to use her powers to block other mutant powers during an emotional surge.
The professor had to get her really angry before she made the book drop again. He was convinced, however, that that was not the only way she could access them. She just needed more practice. One day was hardly sufficient.
On the plus side, Dana seemed not to become weak afterwards as she did when she healed people.
Dana checked her watch. "Ooh, I gotta go. The Danger Room calls." She smiled weakly. At the professor's nod of acknowledgement she jogged out of the study.
"Hi Scott." Dana said unenthusiastically.
"What, Dana? Aren't you excited?" Scott asked, humor touching his features.
"Oh very." She replied in a tone indicating she was not.
She glanced up in the booth and saw Ororo behind the controls. Dana waved to her in greeting.
"O. K. Let's get this over with." Dana strode over to the battle area. A new opponent appeared. This one was a woman, strong looking, but less compact than the man had been. This woman was built very similarly to Dana. She was tall, with a swimmer's body. Dana suspected that her fighting style would be similar to her opponents.
The tall woman stirred into motion. She quickly lunged. Dana jumped back out of the way, more out of shock than conditioning. Dana had been wrong. This woman was much faster than Dana. The first few minutes of the fight, Dana had to fight to keep up. Slowly, she recovered and gained the upper hand. With a final punch she sent her opponent to the ground.
The simulation stopped. Scott strode over from the wall.
"Why did you start off so badly?" he asked.
"I didn't think she'd be that fast."
"You underestimated her?" Scott waited for her to nod in agreement.
"O. K. From now on you're not going to do that. I don't care if they're 80, overweight, and carrying an oxygen tank. You treat them as if they are trained fighters, and if you've fought them before you treat them as if they were sandbagging the first time," he paused. "If I see you doing that again I'm gonna make sure you get beat, bad."
She nodded, chastised.
"Now. Lesson learned. Go at her again," he motioned up to the control booth to make her opponent just a little better next time, just to be sure she remembered.
She showered off and found Sam waiting for her when she got back to her room. She was tired, but it wasn't quite as bad as it was yesterday.
"Feelin' better today?" he asked. She nodded, and opened the door to her room.
"Ya up for a walk?" He leaned against the doorway, and watched her put her things away.
She thought about it. Had anyone else asked, she would have said no, but it was Sam....
"Sure," she smiled at him, and followed him out of the house.
They walked along an avenue of maple trees, the leaves had turned yellow, and some were drifting gently to the ground around them. Dana was quiet, marveling at the beauty of the changing colors. Her hands swung at her sides as she strolled next to him.
His hand brushed hers. It brushed again and then it took a firm hold of hers. She suddenly had a hard time focusing on the trees. A tingling sensation made its way down her spine and then came back up. She was amazed that she was still standing. She concentrated very hard on taking normal steps. She hoped that she was breathing. She didn't have the faculties to check at the moment.
She glanced at him quickly. He was looking at her, a sparkle in his blue eyes. *His blue eyes... Holy mackerel!... He's got great eyes!*
She gave up trying to walk. She stopped, turning to him and tried to speak in a normal voice.
"What is it?" She asked, not really trusting herself to meet his eyes.
"You're beautiful," he whispered. He lifted his hand and barely brushed his fingers across her cheek. She knew she hadn't been able to suppress the shiver that had made it's way through her body.
*He's touched you before... He's seen you in your nightgown! This is no big deal.* She knew she was lying to herself. That had all been done under the guise of her best friend or surrogate brother. This was very different.
He cupped her jaw with one hand, and she really had no choice but to look at his eyes. She was instantly lost in them. She couldn't break her eyes away. She delighted in every subtle shade and nuance she found in them.
He moved his head closer, and her heart leapt to her throat when she realized what he was about to do.
She let her eyes fall closed. His hand moved to the back of her head, and his lips brushed hers.
She wrapped her arms around him, and was glad his arms were around her, because she didn't think she could stand. Numbness had spread through her legs. Her heart sped, and the pleasant tingling sensation that had been localized in her spine had made its way through her whole body. She toyed with the idea that perhaps her empathy was picking up on his emotions and intensifying the whole experience.
She didn't think about that for long, however. He pulled her closer and kissed her deeply.
She suddenly couldn't think at all.
"Ah think ya brother is gonna want ta hurt me," he said, smiling in her embrace.
They'd sat down under one of the maple trees, leaning against its trunk.
Dana raised her eyebrows questioningly. She felt slightly drunk and didn't trust herself with coherent speech yet.
"Ah know Ah'm protective of Paige... Ah think Marc'll wanna make sure Ah'm good enough for ya."
Dana paused to construct the sentence in her head before she said it.
"He wouldn't do that. He likes you."
Sam snorted. "Ya don't understand how it works. He liked me as a surrogate brother for ya. Ah think when he finds out some country hick from Kentuck's been kissin' his baby sister, he's gonna want ta rearrange my face." he smiled
"I kissed a teammate, not a 'country hick', and he better not try anything, or I'll want to hurt him. I like your face just the way it is." She trusted herself to give him a brief kiss on the cheek.
"Actually, the fact that it was a trusted teammate prob'ly makes it worse..." He smiled down at her as she rested her head against his shoulder.
Jean watched Dana with an interested eye during dinner. Nothing had changed about her outwardly, but there was something different. She followed Dana's eyes to Sam. He was glowing. Jean smiled inwardly as she watched Dana flash Sam a secretive grin.
#Did you have fun this afternoon?# Jean asked her telepathically, unable to restrain herself.
Dana glanced over in Jean's direction. *Oh, loads of it. You know how much I adore the Danger Room.*
#I meant after the Danger Room.#
Dana fought to suppress a blush, and tried to appear nonchalant.
She could hear Jean's mental laughter in her head.
Dana caught Sam's eye and inclined her head in Jean's direction.
Sam raised his eyebrows at Dana's 'She knows!' signal. He glanced down the table at Jean, who looked innocent enough sitting next to Scott.
Jean favored him with a glance.
#So, where did you and Dana go this afternoon?# Her face was neutral, but her mental voice was tinged with humor.
He didn't answer her question.
*Jean, it's not polite to talk telepathically at the table,* he responded innocently before stealing another look at Dana.
The next morning Dana woke up early. She had to help Sam with breakfast. She wasn't very good at cooking, because she had never been exposed to it. She'd always had a cook in her house. Her hesitance to cook had earned her the name 'The Microwave Queen', or more recently 'Little Miss Heat 'n' Eat'. She hated that.
She walked into the kitchen to find Sam already there, pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator. He heard her come in and planted a brief kiss on her cheek before returning to the ingredients. She blushed, and was surprised how casually he could do that. It took a major act of congress for her to get enough nerves to kiss him. One day in the woods and he'd decided that he could express his affection for her whenever he wanted. She gazed lovingly at the back of his head and sighed happily. She wished she felt that free.
He turned back to her. "Today you're going to learn how to make pancakes." He smiled, handing her a large bowl.
She prayed that today she wouldn't have one of her usual cooking disasters. There was a long history of burnt and ruined food in this kitchen that could be directly attributed to her.