Author's Note: Wow, chapter 15, I'm on a roll. My manager (iguana) tells me I've been added to a few more favorites lists, so as you can probably guess, That's pretty freaking cool. I decided to take it easy over Thanksgiving, so I wrote up a chapter that was mostley the X-Men goofing off. I know it doesn't really advance the plot very much, but I think it got some good characterizations in, and it was fun to write. I hope it will be fun to read as well. I have a pretty good idea where my next few chapters are going, so with any luck I may even get more written tonight. Anyway, On With The Bonny Show!!

Lazy Saturday

"I still don't see why I'm up here," Bobby complained.

"Because mansion security is my job and you're the only one that can work out here in this cold without freezing to death," Logan said. "Now hand me that ten gage red wire."

Bobby shifted in his position atop the mansion's perimeter wall and pulled a coil of red wire from their tool box.

"Yeah, sure, but why not Storm? She could have just raised the temperature and it wouldn't be a problem?" Bobby answered.

"You're better with electronics than she is. Hook in that capacitor." Logan said

It was true, next to Kitty and Hank, Bobby was probably the best electrical guy they had. Logan always found it odd that a guy who was effectively water most of the time was so good with electrical work, but the fact remained.

"So what do you think about this new guy?" Bobby asked.

"I think it's none of our business," Logan said, soldering the red wire in place.

"Yeah, sure. But what about Kitty?" Bobby pressed further.

Logan stopped for a second and looked at Bobby.

"Look Icecube, I know you don't like the kid, and I know why," Logan said. "And maybe some of your concerns are valid. The fact is, the Professor knows what he's doin'. This kid needs help and we can give it to him. After gettin' a look at that cult, I think maybe he can give us a hand too. Now hand me the wire cutters."

"You should tighten the angle on dat motion sensor der," a voice came from the ground below Logan and Bobby.

Logan looked down and saw Gambit standing knee deep in the snow, scrutinizing their handiwork.

"You think you could get by it?" Logan asked.

"You've got about a foot and a half not covered between the post and dat tree over there. It's your science project though," Gambit answered, pulling himself up to the wall, not bothering with the ladder. Logan nodded at Bobby who reached over and nudged the sensor about and inch to the left then tightened down its adjustment screw. Gambit nodded his approval.

"You see anything else?" Bobby asked.

"The boathouse roof's got a blind spot on your cameras you might want to fix. Dat's 'bout it though," Gambit said, looking over the hardware Logan had just installed in the walls security.

"How do you know that?" Bobby asked.

"Cause he's Gambit," Logan said. "What I've heard, he knows this stuff better than anybody. 'Sides me." He grinned his toothy grin. "How long you been workin' for the professor?"

Gambit just shook his head and grinned. His was more of a Cheshire cat smile than Logan's Wolf like one.. "Can't tell ya. Client confidentiality. How long you been?"

"I don't work for Xavier", Logan said, putting the cover back on the security access panel. "I'm here 'cause I like what he's doin'."

Bobby gathered up their tools and slid down the ladder, looking up at the master thief and the master-whatever it was Logan was a master of.

"And just what could make the toughest agent Shield or the CIA ever had come work for de spandex club?" Gambit asked, standing up on the wall and surveying the mansion grounds. "I heard you weren't into de whole team thing."

"I like a challenge," Logan said, standing up as well. "Seems I remember you did your share of government too. You still work for the highest bidder, or is there some other reason your skulkin' for Xavier?"

Gambit smiled. "I like a challenge too."

Bobby watched the exchange from the ground with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. It was a lot like two gamecocks circling, strutting, and sizing up the competition. Had he not been trained with the X-men, he might have missed the next, silent, exchange. Logan raised his eyebrow, and Gambit's smile grew. Out of nowhere a telescoping bo staff appeared in his hand. Bobby took a step back.

There was no more batting of the ball. Wolverine lunged at Gambit, his claws extending as he moved. In the same motion, Gambit dove off the wall to the inside of its perimeter, blocking Wolverine's claw attack. He hit the ground and rolled, coming up facing his opponent. Wolverine hadn't slowed at all with Gambit's defense. He changed directions smoothly, again coming at the cajun. Bobby quickly side stepped out of the way again, this excitement and nervousness growing.

Gambit, instead of going to his bo staff, flared a handful of charged cards into Wolverine's face. Wolverine was ready for this however, and dodged under them. By the time he got to where Gambit was standing though, the tall slender thief was was ten feet away, tossing more cards at the berzerker. The smile he had on his face when they were talking never faded as he and Wolverine danced around, slashing, exploding, and dodging each others assaults.

For a moment, Bobby thought Wolverine had won the advantage. Gambit dodged a claw attack to this left, forcing him away from the wall and further into the open front lawn of the mansion. Wolverine and Gambit both knew this was Gambit's weaker area. The cajun recovered quickly however, not allowing Wolverine within ten feet of him as he back peddled and somersaulted closer to the house.

Wolverine got in a good slash before Gambit reached cover. His right claw moved under Gambit's staff and punched a hole in the taller mans long trench coat. He smiled. "That's one fer me cajun,"

Two steps later however, Gambit had the advantage as he was standing on the front porch of the house and Wolverine was two feet below him on the ground. He reached into the bushes and grabbed a handful of frozen branches,charging them and tossing them at Wolverine's head, forcing the shorter man to duck. At the same time, Gambits staff reached in and slammed into Wolverine's jaw. It was a glancing blow, the X-Man seeing it coming and moving enough to offset most of its power.

"Even score," Gambit said, bumping the doorbell buzzer. Wolverine charged again, Gambit backing right up against the door and fighting the man off with deflecting parrys with his staff. Bobby had followed the entire match a little ways away and now thought Gambit was beat. Just when he was sure Wolverine would force Gambit to yield, the door behind the man opened, revealing a very surprised Scott Summers.

"What the hell!?" Scott said as Gambit slid by him.

"Pardon, sir, it's not the Avon Lady," Gambit said.

"Head's up Slim, comin' through," Wolverine said, charging through the door.

Gambit was waiting on the other side, having already charged a table lamp and heaving it at Wolverine. Ducking under, Wolverine came back with a slash that ripped apart the table from which the lamp had come.

The fight continued, down the hall toward the rec room. Bobby and now Scott trailed close behind. Bobby's nervousness had increased tenfold as Scott shouted at him, Logan and Gambit at the same time.

"Bobby, what the hell is going on? How could you-"

"Not me Scott, I tried, but I couldn't stop them. They just started sparring outside. I think maybe we should-"

Whatever Bobby was going to suggest was cut off by a crash from the rec room. The two hurried in and saw Gambit leap over the pool table, Wolverine slashing charged pool balls out of the way. Gambit disappeared into the kitchen and Wolverine chased after him. By now Ororo, Rogue, Kitty, and Nightcrawler had joined the crowd of onlookers. They all heard a scream from the kitchen.

"Gambit! Logan, what the hell are you doing!?" Jean shouted. "Gambit, if you ruin that roast I'll-"

Bobby and Scott looked at each other and took off for the kitchen. Inside they found Gambit on one side of the kitchen table, hanging upside down in midair, grinning like a maniac, and Wolverine on the other side, also upside down, with a confused look on his face as he looked at a glowing pot-roast skewered on the end of his claw. Jean stood between the two, holding them both psionically. Where Logan and Gambit looked amused, Jean looked ready to kill them both. The roast exploded on Wolverine's claw, sending bits of beef all over the room.

"Draw?" Gambit said through his smile.

"Forget it cajun. Jean one this round." Logan said, pulling what was left of the pot-roast off his claw and placing it as best he could in his awkward position back on its plate.

"You're damn right I did," Jean said, fuming. "And if you two want to live for round two you'll clean up and recook dinner! Scott!"

Even though he'd had nothing to do with the sparring match, Scott wanted badly to hide. This would not end well for any of them.

Rowdy clumped his way out of the elevator around 7:00 that night after spending part of his morning and all of the afternoon in the infirmary. Hank had re-bandaged his knee and subjected him to a battery of mental and nervous system tests and tox screens. Following that, Professor Xavier had come down and "talked" to him for the remainder to daylight hours. The professor's talking had really been a very directed conversation about Rowdy's hallucinations and a renewed effort to get him to open up about his past. Where he had found his first conversation with Xavier, the one in his office, interesting and even enjoyable, this time Rowdy hadn't felt up to any deep philosophical thinking. Eventually Xavier had given up, or more likely, Rowdy thought, decided enough seeds had been planted for a later date. Even when he thought he hadn't been answering questions Rowdy felt Xavier had garnered a better understanding of his thoughts then before. It was strange. The man seemed to look into your head even when you gave him nothing.

"Probably made his fortune playing poker," Rowdy thought as he moved towards the rec room.. "Of course he is as he put it, 'the worlds most powerful telepath. Probably knows more about what going on in your head than you do."

As he entered the rec room, Rowdy suddenly, involuntarily, lurched to his right just in time to avoid being hit by a cue ball being throw from across the room.

"I think that's the last of them Sco- Oh, shoot, sorry about that!" Bobby said from his spot by the television. By the pool table Scott caught the thrown ball and placed it in the rack.

"Are you alright Rowdy?" Scott asked, immediately moving to help the young man to his feet.

"Yeah, I think so," Rowdy said, turning on his crutch to Bobby. "Fucking hell man, do you really want to kill me, or are you really just that stupid?

"Really, I'm sorry," Bobby said. "We were just cleaning up after the fight and I guess I got a little carried away."

"Yeah, no kiddin'" Rowdy said. "What fight?" he asked Scott.

"Well, it seems Logan and Gambit decided the danger room session this morning and the football game weren't enough of a workout and thought it would be a good idea to have a sparing match in the house."

Rowdy looked around and surveyed the damage. Most of it seemed to be cleaned up, but there were definite signs of the earlier scuffle.

"I take it it's safe now? Barring more pool equipment?" Rowdy said.

"Just don't go in the kitchen," Scott said. "That was some dodge there getting under that cue ball. Where'd you learn to react like that?"

"Prep school," Rowdy said dismissively. "Listen It's been a long day. How bout we just pop a beer and don't talk." As he said this, he made his way to the mini bar in the corner. Opening the refrigerator he pulled out a Bud Light and tossed it to Scott. Before grabbing one for himself however he noticed a bottle of Scotch on the shelf. Grabbing the bottle and a glass with three cubes of ice he turned towards the couch. Scott had caught the beer and looked like he was going to say something before Bobby cut in.

"Hey, don't I get one?" Bobby said.

"Nope," Rowdy said at the same time Scott said "no."

"The only reason I'm letting you is because school hasn't started back and Hank said we should probably wean you off of alcohol. It seems he thinks you may have built up a physical addiction."

"Glad to hear it," Rowdy said, not really listening as he eased himself down to the couch. "What day is it?"

"Still Saturday," Scott said

"Great," Rowdy said, pouring himself a glass of Scotch. "Bowl game on?"

Scott sat down in a recliner and tossed Rowdy the TV remote.

"No, but I recorded the New Mexico Bowl last week. I still haven't had a chance to watch it yet."

Rowdy sipped at his drink and stared at the not quite standard remote.

"Yeah, you better do it. I'm scared I'll launch a missile at Russia." He tossed it back to Scott.

By now Bobby had grabbed his own beer from the refrigerator, figuring nobody would say anything since Rowdy and Scott were both drinking. He watched them from his spot at the back of the room. Aside from his one comment about the cue ball, Rowdy had largely ignored him. This didn't bother him at all, but Scott seemed to have followed suit, and if there was one thing Bobby didn't like, it was to be ignored. He had always looked up to Scott. Even though the X-men leader didn't care for his clowning around and always seemed to be pushing him to try harder at what ever he was doing, Bobby had felt he was something of Scott's protege. All of a sudden it seemed like-

Bobby stopped himself. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't jealous. That would be stupid. Rowdy was just some drunken delinquent they had taken in. Disgusted with himself, Bobby set down his unopened beer and wondered into the kitchen.

"You t'ink she ever calm down?" Gambit asked with a grin that Bobby swore hadn't left his face since the sparing match began on the front lawn.

"Yeah, sooner of later," Bobby smiled, tossing his empty beer can aside and grabbing another off the six pack beside him.

"T'ink she ever let us back in the kitchen?" Gambit said.

"Probably not till after Christmas," Bobby said. "Are you going to be here?"

"Naa," Gambit said. "Got things to do."

"For Professor Xavier?" Bobby asked.

"Maybe," Gambit said. "what the deal with the skunk haired beauty?"

Bobby niticed the abrupt change in topic but ingored it. "You mean Rogue? What do you mean?"

"Well, one minute she blessin' me out, the next laughin' about that spaghetti thing,"

"Well, she's kind of got a fas tember," Bobby said, noticing a slight slur in his speech. "You really like her?"

"Don't you?" Gambit asked.

"Well yeah, of courss. But she's like ma sister. I mean do you like, like like her." Even in his increasingly inebriated state he knew how stupid that sounded. All of a sudden it was like he was back in middle school talking to his best friend Dave about cheerleaders.

"Well, like of course, she like totally awesome," Gambit said in a bad valley girl impression. It was tough to do with his deep south drawl.

"Really, if you do like her, then you'd better back off." Bobby said. "Rogue doesn't like people hitting on her. she thinks you're getting her hopes up for nothing."

"I never been accused of doing not'ing with a lady before," Gambit said.

"Yeah but you know about her mutation, right?" Bobby wasn't sure just how much Gambit knew about the X-Men, but he gathered it was a lot.

"O' course. It's just a little more challenge. I like a challenge."

"You just met her," Bobby said.

"Oui. I know what I like when I find it. Don' take much. She fights, she's got spirit, she's beautiful. What more could a guy want? 'Sides, that don't seem to stop them other two kids."

"What?" Bobby didn't quite follow.

"Rowdy and Kitty," Gambit's smile grew. "Sparks be flyin' there,"

Bobby threw his empty beer can off the roof and reached for another.

"He'll be gone soon," Bobby said. "That drunken punk's juss here till he's healed."

"Jealous much?" Gambit asked.

"What? Of course not, I just-" Bobby didn't know how to finish. He was jealous. That's why he was on the rooftop with Gambit wishing he was was still in the kitchen with Kitty and Jean. That's why he felt like a jerk every time he was in same room with her and Rowdy.

"That why your're up here freezin' your frozen ass off qith me, 'stead of watchin' Monty Python wit' her like yall'd planned?" Cause you not jealous?" Gambit said, watching the boat house off in the distance, across the snowy lawn.

Bobby didn't have anything to say, he just took another sip from his beer can and glanced at his watch. It was after eleven which meant they had been drinking beer on the roof for three hours. After he and Gambit had decided the spaghetti they were making to replace the pot roast could only be tested "the real italian way" by throwing it against the wall, Jean had relieved them of their cook duties.

"Come on," Gambit said suddenly, sliding off the side of the roof.

"What? What the hell are you-"

"Just come on," Gambit whispered from below. "And be quiet, he'll hear us."

Bobby transitioned to his ice form and quickly froze a column of ice to the side of the roof and slid down it.

"Who'll hear uss?" Bobby asked, still slurring his words.

"De guy dat jus' jumped the fence," Gambit whispered back, his accent thickening. He dashed into the bushes a short distance way.

Ok, that's it for now. I think I left a nice lead in to next chapter. By the way, I've been trying to nail down an exact time line for this whole thing, and here's what I've got. The New Mexico Bowl is generally played in early to mid December, so I figure it's Christmas break, that's why no students at the school. As for ages, as we know Rowdy is around twenty, though he probably lied a little about his age. he could be closer to 19. Nightcrawler is the oldest of the "kids" at 19. Next is Rogue and Bobby who are both 18 and seniors, or the closest thing the Xavier Instituite has to seniors. Kitty I figure is the youngest at around 16 or 17. Hank, Scott, Jean and Ororo are all teachers at the school. Let me know if you think these ages are about right. As always, thanks for reading, and please review. I'm a complement whore. I also appreciate constructive critisizem (yes, you can even critisize when I misspell critisizem). It's amazing. I was an english major in college but can't spell worth a flip.