Lyrissa's Sparkles II

It took a full month for Jazz, Andrew, and Box to cut down on teasing Lyrissa about sleeping with Logan. Jean had to explain to Allie why she wasn’t going to have a baby, which was difficult for considering she was trying to explain “protection” to a six year old, and had made a point to stay away from details. Kiera, being the hopeless romantic she was, thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world that she was able to be so close to someone like that. Max, Dante, and Jamie had different opinions, and made it very clear how disgusting the whole thing was. Marvin still hadn’t recovered from almost seeing them, and was still unable to look Logan in the face; that meant weight, combat, and fitness training was done.

Lyrissa was currently in the middle of trying to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with one hand, since her wrist was broken. What was terrible was she had broken her right wrist, and was right handed. “Ya need some help there Darlin’?” Logan asked, wrapping his arms around her from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. “I got it, but thanks.” She sighed, twisting out of his grasp and going back to her challenging task.

“Ya sure about that?”

“You’ve been helping me do everything since we fell out of that tree. I’m not crippled, Logan.”

“I know that. But ya ain’t gotta prove anythin’ by refusing help every time someone offers it.”

“I’m not trying to prove anything! I’m hungry, so I’m making me a sandwich.”

“Well, I’m hungry too and don’t feel like waitin’ on ya. You mind if I make one real quick?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” She sighed, and stepped aside, surrendering the butter knife. He made his sandwich, and then took the quarter-finished sandwich out of Lyrissa’s hand, and replaced it with the one he jus made. “There, now eat it.” he smirked as he put the food away. “You’re such a smart ass Logan, you really are. A sneaky, conniving, smart ass.” She sighed, unable to hide how amused she was. “Only do it ‘cause I love ya.” He shrugged, and pulled her into a one armed hug, being careful not to hurt her wrist.

She ate the sandwich, knowing all too well that she probably wouldn’t have been able to make her own. She slightly resented Logan for his healing factor. She had several memories where something happened to both of them, and she ended up in the infirmary for it. At the same time, she loved his healing factor, because that meant she could beat on him all she wanted in the Danger Room, and not have to feel bad for it.

“Hey Sparkles, can I talk to you about something?” Jazz asked awkwardly as she joined them. “Sure thing Jazz, what about?” she asked. “Uhm… things?” that was Logan’s cue to let her go deal with girl problems. He had to admit he’d learned a lot about kids, and women in the time Lyrissa had moved back into the mansion; most of it he wished he hadn’t learned about at all though.

Lyrissa teleported Jazz and herself up to her room, and soundproofed it with the shadows; a new trick she learned that week. “Okay, so what’s up Jazzy?” she asked, flopping onto her bed and hanging upside down over the edge.

“Uhm… well I was kind of wondering… when did you and Wolverine first kiss?”

Lyrissa sat up and thought for a while. “Well, our first ‘kiss’ was when we got back after that fight with the Michaels Brothers at the mall. He was helping clean up some of my cuts and bruises in my room and I don’t know how or why, but we kissed. It was only for a second, maybe less though. I’d say our first real kiss was that night after dinner, when Jamie brought it up. We trained for a while in the Danger Room on a setting that was a little too big for me at the time, and he saved me from getting pummeled by a pendulum, and we ended up kissing.”

“Were you two together already?”

“Why?”

“I’m just wondering, okay?”

“I think we were… I remember our first kiss, but I don’t remember if we were together, together or not. It was this weird ‘are we or aren’t we’ thing going on for a while. Now what’s this about? And don’t make me get Jean to go all telepathic on you.”

“Well, and you have to promise not to make fun of this, me and Andrew… we were just hanging out and,”

“And you two kissed?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, you didn’t show me the same consideration last week, but I’m not going to tease you for it. Do you like him?”

“Yeah, you know that already.”

“Jazz, I mean do you really like him? Would you go any farther than kissing?”

Jazz was quiet for a while, and Lyrissa already knew the answer. Even though Jazz was like a kid sister to her, she still had somewhat of a motherly relationship with her as well, and as awkward as it was about to be, had to have that talk about safety with her. She was almost an adult, and so was Andrew, if they were going to do it, they were going to do it whether or not Lyrissa, Xavier, or anyone else in the mansion approved; they may as well be doing it responsibly.

While Lyrissa and Jazz had the biggest girl talk of their lives, Andrew was having a similar talk with Rogue. “Sugar, if ya like the girl, I don’t see a problem with it.” She laughed lightly, watching him fidget awkwardly in his chair.

“It’s not that easy! I mean, the rules, and the code, and… what if she doesn’t like me like that? I mean I kissed Her. Then she just ran off.”

“I bet ya just embarrassed her a little, that’s all. Ya gotta remember girls ain’t the same as you boys. Besides, if yer her first boyfriend, she ain’t gonna just come on up and jump in like that. Give her time sweetie, she’ll come around.”

“Yeah but,”

“No buts about it, did ya ask me for help or not?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Then listen to me on it. She’ll come around, she just needs some time, ice cream, chocolate, a girly movie, and knowing her, some hot fudge.” She laughed.

“Why all that stuff?”

“Because she’s a girl Sugar!”

Andrew left to ask Jean more questions about how the female mind worked, while Jazz and Lyrissa embarrassed themselves in conversation, and the other kids planned their greatest stunt, and even managed to get Scott in on it. “So here’s how it’s going down. We get Jazz and Andrew together, you and Jean, and Sparkles and Wolverine, and you all go on this big romantic retreat thing right? Jazz and Andrew see that they really are in love, and get together, stop teasing Sparkles, and you all get to get away and have time together!” Max explained. “How much do you have planned for this?” he asked cautiously. “A lot. We found this place that’s super nice. Rose petals on the beds, hot tubs, steam rooms, a hot spring inside a cave… and we already talked to Professor-X and he said he’d pay for it!” Kiera beamed. “Look, Sparkles still needs a good break, without the Michaels Brothers trying to get in her pants, Wolverine needs a break from… whatever it is that bugs him out, Jazz and Andrew need to just admit they like each other already, and when was the last time you and Miss Grey had some time together?” Dante questioned. He nodded his agreement and went to pack, since they planned it to be a surprise for the women, and Max and Dante went to bring their plan to Wolverine’s attention, while Box and Jamie went to bring it up to Andrew.

By the next morning, Lyrissa and Logan were in his jeep, Jean and Scott were in his car, and Andrew and Jazz were in the rattletrap of a car that he had bought for himself, following each other down the highway to a surprise location. Xavier was keeping track of Jean the entire trip, to keep her from using her powers to figure out the surprise; every time she tried to read Scott’s mind, he blocked her and gave her a headache, until she stopped.

It took the entire day to pull up to the retreat, but it was worth it to all the guys to see their girls’ excited reactions. Andrew even got a kiss on the cheek from Jazz! Scott handled the reservations and everyone checked in. Each couple had their own rooms, which were all twice the size of the rooms they had back home, and each of them were decorated the way any of the women would have imagined a perfect romantic getaway to be.

“This is… wow Logan.” Lyrissa breathed as she stood in the middle of their room, looking around in awe. “It is pretty nice, ain’t it?” he nodded; he wasn’t expecting it to be that nice. “Whose idea was it?” she smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him so close their noses were touching; she had to stand on the tips of her toes to achieve that though.

“Ya really wanna know?”

“Yeah.”

“Max, Kiera, Jamie, Dante, and Box.”

“You’re kidding! They suggested this?”

“Nah, they planned this. Came up with the idea, brought it up to us, then went to the Professor to get it put together. All I had to do was pack, drive, and keep you from finding’ out.” He grinned. “Hmm, they may actually be growing up.” She laughed. “Wouldn’t count on it.” he smirked before ending their conversation with a kiss.

While the other couples were enjoying their time together, Andrew and Jazz were sitting awkwardly on the bed, watching Full House reruns. “They think they have it so crazy… what do they have, three, four kids?” Andrew commented as he sat on the farthest edge from Jazz, and she did the same for him. “I don’t know, I guess for the size of the house it’s full? They do have the uncles living there.” She shrugged quietly.

“But it’s not like they have four girls, six boys, four ‘uncles’ four ‘aunts’ and the grandfather-like house leader living there.” He laughed.

“Yeah, and they’re not learning to use their ‘talents’ and shorting things out, blowing stuff up, learning to fight, and now learning to drive.” She agreed, lessening the awkward atmosphere.

“You’re learning to drive?”

“Yeah… Gambit was trying to teach me, but I kind of ran us off the road. Rogue took over, thinking I was just nervous and needed another girl in the car, instead of the loudmouth Cajun, but I didn’t do much better.”

“Back roads?”

“Well yeah, I don’t wanna be on those big city roads!”

“Taking the red car, with the blue door, and black back bumper?”

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s not your driving. It’s the icy roads since it’s winter in New York, and your car sucks donkey. Try it in mine next time, it’s got better tread on the tires.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Hey, you wanna go swimming?” she asked randomly after a while of silently watching television. “Sure.” He shrugged, getting up to go change. She did the same, and less than a minute later, they were playing a two-player game of Marco Polo.

“MARCO!” Andrew shouted from the shallow end, while Jazz laughed quietly from the deepest corner of the pool. “Polo!” Lyrissa laughed as she and Logan joined them in the pool. It took some convincing, but she got him to go swimming with her friends. “You playing too?” Jazz called from across the pool. “Only if there’s room, if not I’m launching myself off that high dive!” she answered with a laugh. “Launch, and then we’ll restart the game.” Andrew ordered quickly, opening his eyes and watching her get out and walk to the twenty-five foot diving tower.

Scott and Jean joined right as she got to the top, and sat down for a while, waiting. They walked to the edge of the pool, right below the diving board, and Jean sat down to put her feet in; perfect. “CANON BALL!” Lyrissa announced, and jumped off the diving board, doing two front flips before landing with a huge splash, soaking Jean and Scott both. “TEN!” Andrew laughed. “Eh, nine and a half.” Jazz shrugged. “That water’s cold.” Scott almost pouted, ringing out his shirt. Since he wasn’t planning on swimming, he didn’t change into his trunks. “Well, Scotty, that’s your problem.” She laughed, swimming over to where Logan was, and wrapping her arms around his waist.

They played Marco Polo for a while, before going into a three-way game of Chicken, after convincing Scott he wanted to get in the water. Everything went great, until Jazz’s bikini top’s ties came undone, and left her fully exposed. She yelped, crossed her arms over herself, and fell backwards off Andrew’s shoulders and into the pool. “What happened?” Logan asked blankly, since nobody had pushed her. “Nothing!” Lyrissa answered, copying Jazz and swimming over to her. Lyrissa and Jean were focused on each other, and the guys were focused on keeping them up, while Jazz and Andrew attacked from the side, so neither of the guys saw anything, but the women knew exactly what had happened.

“We can’t tie it back, it snapped from the seam.” Jean explained as they tried to get the top to stay. “Jazz, what happened?” Andrew asked worriedly as the girls huddled around her. “Hah, nothing Andrew. Go hang with the guys for a minute, okay?” Lyrissa instructed while Jean got a towel. Jazz quickly wrapped herself up and went to her room, leaving the others in the pool.

“What was that all about? Did she get hurt? Is she okay?” he asked impatiently as the other two women rejoined the men. “Chill out lover boy, she’s fine. She just had a ‘wardrobe malfunction’, that’s all.” Lyrissa laughed. The guys all nodded and left it be while Andrew relaxed a little, glad that she wasn’t injured.

A few hours later the couples were all back in their rooms getting ready for dinner, which was at a formal, five-star restaurant that was located inside the resort. Logan just wore a black shirt, and some dress pants with his black boots, which Lyrissa thought looked perfect for the occasion. Lyrissa dressed it up more, wearing a blood red gown, with a black corset around the middle, and a black bow at the back. To make the dress complete, she wore black heels with bows at the ankles, a black choker, the bracelet her mother had left her, and a black, sparkly headband with a red bow on it that made it look like she had a bow in her hair without the band.

When she walked out of the bathroom after getting ready, Logan could hardly speak. Between the way she looked, and the way she smelled, he was intoxicated. “Is it that bad, because I can change it.” She asked, since it was the first time she had put on the dress, “And I can wash off the perfume if it bothers you, I know you have sensitive smell.” She added nervously. “That ain’t why I’m starin’ at ya.” He answered, walking over to her and brushing some of her hair behind her ear, “Ya look beautiful.” He murmured before kissing her neck briefly, breathing in as much of her scent as he could before walking with her to their dinner reservations.

Andrew gelled his shoulder length hair back, and wore a black tux with a red shirt and black tie, putting red laces in his dress shoes to punk it up a little, and sat on the bed for half an hour waiting for Jazz to get ready. When she finally came out, and he saw her, he couldn’t help himself from laughing. She was wearing a black cocktail dress, with white shoes, a white choker, and earrings, and had her hair tied up in a formal twist with white pins; Storm and Jean had helped her pick out the outfit for an opera they were all going to, but the trip was canceled after an attack by the Brotherhood.

“What?” she asked nervously, feeling more insecure by the second. “You look so different!” he answered in awe, circling around her and taking in every detail.

“Different good, or different bad?”

“Different great!” he beamed before grabbing her by the arm and leading her to dinner.

Jean and Scott had no problems or issues getting ready, although she did take longer than he did, of course. He wore a gray suit, with a dark blue tie, and black shirt, and black shoes. She wore a simple purple dress that fit snugly, and came down to her knees, left her hair down, and tossed over her left shoulder, and accessorized with silver heels, a simple silver necklace, tennis bracelet, and dangling earrings.

All three couples arrived at dinner at the same time, and were led to their table. There was a live quintet playing classical music, and very dim ambient lighting that only added to the glow of the candelabra on the table. “This place is so nice!” Jazz breathed as they sat down. “I just know I’m going to knock something over at this table.” Lyrissa muttered as she took her menu. “As long as it ain’t the candles, ya should be fine.” Logan smirked, rubbing her leg slightly before looking over his own menu. “Dude… everything looks so good, but I don’t know what it is.” Andrew laughed as he read over the menu that was made up of French, and Italian dishes. “Order what looks good, and then ask what’s in it.” Jean suggested with a smile.

Dinner went perfectly for everyone. Andrew and Jazz went and danced, Scott and Jean followed them, and Lyrissa even got Logan out there for a couple songs. At the end of their dinner event as they were all walking out the door, they heard a woman scream a shrill, high-pitched shriek, and several people start applauding. They all turned around to investigate, and saw a man on one knee, holding up a very expensive looking diamond ring, while a young blonde cried uncontrollably. “Well? What do you say?” one of the waiters asked loudly. “Y-yes! Ohmygodyes!” she sobbed as her now fiancé slid the ring onto her finger and pulled her into an excited, tearful, emotional, passionate kiss, and the entire restaurant erupted into applause.

“Okay, if I ever get engaged… please don’t let me cry like that.” Jazz laughed as they walked to their room. “You wouldn’t cry anyway, you’d laugh like crazy.” Andrew shrugged. “Why’s that?” Scott asked. “Because she laughs when she’s emotional. If she’s overloaded with happiness, she laughs like a madwoman instead of crying like that lady back there.” He explained. “I try not to, I sound like a pig-donkey.” She sighed. “Lie! Your laugh is awesome, Jazz!” he argued, making her blush as they left the group and went into their room. Lyrissa and Logan dropped off a short ways down the hall, and stayed there for the rest of the night.

Lyrissa wasted no time ditching the heels, and jewelry, and flopped onto the bed, lying on her stomach. “This is the best surprise ever, Logan.” She sighed happily. “Glad ya like it.” He nodded while taking off the uncomfortable dressy clothes, and putting on a pair of sleep pants. “Ya gonna sleep in that?” he asked, lying down next to her, and putting his arms over her shoulders.

“I’m too tired to take it off. The laces are too difficult.”

“I could help with that.”

“Without the claws? This dress isn’t cheap.”

“Yeah, without the claws.” He smirked and started untying her corset, before undoing the buttons that went down the back of her gown beneath it. Ignoring the couple of scars from getting blown up, and being trapped in those labs. “Thanks.” She smiled before going into the bathroom to put on her green nightgown; the one she had been wearing when he rescued her from Andrew’s horrible prank that day. The one she was wearing when she realized she was in love with him.

“Haven’t seen that one in a while.” He smiled as she crawled into bed beside him. “Yeah, well,” She grinned, snuggling against him and quickly drifting to sleep to the sound of his heartbeat