FYI: I don't own the X-Men. Unless owning a copy of the comic book counts? Does it? Really? No? Damn. Fine! I own Allison. Take that Marvel!

Authors Note: There's just something about making a fluff sandwich that's oh, so delicious. Especially when it comes with a side of foreshadowing. I mean, they're super low calorie compared to potato chips!

Chapter 15: Phone Calls, Dates, and Dangers (in no particular order)

Sinister smirked, his pointed teeth showing between thin lips and Mystique forced herself to not react to his childish fear tactics. "We need to test her. Both of them really. I need you to create an opportunity to test my theory."

"What about Summers? And Grey?" Mystique questioned and Sinister stood quickly and stepped back slightly as he approached.

"For now, we forget them. Our opportunity on these other two may be limited. I need to act before either becomes too dedicated to the X-Men. It would be much easier if they come to me willingly."

"Of course," Mystique agreed as she bowed and walked away. The wheels were already turning in her head as to how she would fulfill the promise she'd made. She'd been watching them from a distance now for a little while. Both targets seemed quite happy to stay at the institute and showed no inclination of leaving anytime soon. There weren't even any chinks in their friendships or relationships that she could use as a wedge to drive them away in the next pair of open arms that offered sanctuary.

The other problem she faced was actually getting these particular mutants out into the field. Xavier had them in a reserve team and she would have to time it perfectly with another threat in order to get both teams out at once and to get the team she wanted.

But it made her curious to see if Sinister would be right about this other pair or mutants that he swore held far more promise than Summers and Grey. Mystique had already seen just a small amount of Grey's enormous powers so she was finding it hard to believe that another mutant would be able to dwarf her.

But Sinister wholeheartedly believed that they both had the potential to be Omega level mutants as well as possibly Externals. It was the lure of the latter that drew him most and if that were true, then it would certainly make them far more valuable. Especially if Sinister could successfully use their DNA to make even more powerful mutants.

Allison had just managed to shoo Kitty off as she was finishing up getting ready for her date night with Sam. He'd refused to tell her what he'd planned and Kitty had insisted that if she dressed well enough that it wouldn't matter what he did have in mind. It didn't matter to Kitty that they were seventeen and that Allison would be lucky if Sam had enough foresight to plan both dinner and a movie. She also thought that Kitty just enjoyed taking every opportunity she could to dress Allison up considering that Kitty had made nightly visits a ritual in order to take a peek at what she'd laid out to wear to school the next morning.

Allison stood in front of the bathroom sink and started to scrub off all the makeup she deemed to be in excess and then had to start reapplying some of the basics like foundation in order to even out her skin tone since the washing had made it raw and red. She sighed as she set aside the foundation brush which she'd just been properly instructed on the proper use of and looked up into the mirror. She was pleased to see that she didn't look all that much different than she would on any other day. She hated how dressing up usually translated into looking like someone else.

Her cell phone began to ring as she was about to let her hair back down so that she could throw it into a simple ponytail instead of the half up, half down hair-do that Kitty had constructed from her curls. She turned leaving the bathroom as she flicked off the light and grabbed up her cell from her bed before flopping down as she flipped open the phone to see that it was her mom who was calling. It was strange that she'd call on a Saturday night when normally she only called on the weeknights so as to avoid interrupting Allison's weekend plans. "Hey."

"Sweetie? It's Mom."

"I know. It's called caller ID," Allison teased as she rolled her eyes. Her mother was still getting adjusted to changing technology.

"Please, be serious. It's important."

Allison bolted straight up in bed as she switched the hand holding the phone. "Is it Gram? Is she okay? I'll get in the truck right now. I could be there in like six hours. Which hospital is she in?" The words came tumbling out as Allison's fear was realized.

"It's not your grandmother...exactly," came the reply after Allison paused for a breath.

"Then what is it exactly?"

"Your father went to see her today. We've moved since he was last in contact so he only knew where to find your grandmother."

Allison leaned back against the headboard of her bed and groaned softly. "Did anything happen? Did he hurt her? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," came the far too abrupt answer. Allison knew her mother far too well to know when she was attempting to hide something.

"Are you okay?" Allison asked.

"I'll be fine. It's just a bruise."

Allison let loose a growl that would have made even Logan proud as she clenched her free hand into a fist. "I hope you called the cops on him," she muttered. She remembered that when she was little her father would get drunk and beat her mother on occasion. It's why her mother had left him and taken Allison to move to Pennsylvania and be closer to her grandparents. Allison had been fortunate that he'd never laid a hand on her, but her mother wasn't going to take that chance.

"We didn't get a chance," her mother sighed on the far end. "He left town again pretty quickly."

"Why was he even there?" Allison asked running a hand back over her hair and was slightly startled when there was a knock on her bedroom door. She didn't answer it though as she waited for her mother's reply.

"He was looking for you, Sweetie. Apparently he got it in his head that he wanted to visit you."

"You didn't tell him where I was, did you?" she asked as the door opened and Sam hesitantly stuck his head inside and was surprised to see her sitting on her bed talking on the phone. He'd expected to find the room either empty or Kitty unconscious and tied up after a botched attempt to control Allison's wardrobe for the evening.

"No. But your grandmother found a pamphlet for your school lying out on the table after we cleaned up a little. He might have seen it too."

"Shit..."

"I didn't raise you to talk like that, young lady."

"Now's really not the time for a commentary on my choice of language," Allison muttered as she waved Sam inside the room and he came in closing the door quietly behind him.

"Promise me you'll be careful."

"I'm always careful, Mom," Allison said exuding more confidence than she felt at the moment. Sam sat down on the end of her bed and was watching her carefully as she finished her conversation. "Look, I've got to go, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Sweetie."

Allison smiled softly as she closed the phone and laid it aside. "Hey," she said turning her attention to Sam who was still watching her curiously. He was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans with a light colored t-shirt and a long sleeve button up over that. Allison was surprised most of all by the fact that he'd apparently gotten a haircut since she'd seen him this morning. It was still long, but now hung about his ears and the shorter length resulted in it looking like a mess of loose curls. If it wasn't for the fact that she was pretty well distracted, she would have wanted to reach forward and touch it. Seeing him certainly helped to brighten her mood but she was coming off quite the damper.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"You always so nosy?" She pushed herself up to sit a little straighter before leaning in towards him slightly.

He didn't budge though as he continued to watch her, his eyes flickering over her as he took her in, reading her body language and noting that she was actually nervous despite the confidence she was trying put on. "Only when it sounds like somethin's wrong. An' that sounded like trouble."

"What gave it away?"

"Cursin' at yo' mom an' promisin' ta be careful in earnest. It ain't like ya."

"I'll keep that in mind for the future when I'm trying to be more deceptive," she sighed before leaning back into the pillows.

"Ya wanna tell meh 'bout it?" he asked as he shifted so that he was turned to face her better.

She rolled over onto her side, propping her head up as she stared at the wall to avoid his gaze. "I need you to promise me something first," she said glancing up at him. "Promise me that what I tell you won't leave this room. You'll never bring it up again and you won't breathe a word of it to anyone." He nodded in agreement and she took a deep breath. "My mom was calling to warn me that my dad may or may not decide to show up for some visitation time after all these years of not hearing a word from him. I told you before, he's a drunk. I'm just frustrated right now because he gets these whims in his head and acts on them like an idiot."

She sat up finally and swung her legs out over the side of the bed before pressing her hands to her knees as she leaned forward, hesitating for a moment. "Just remember, you promised not to mention this to anyone."

"Sure," Sam said slowly as he watched her stand up and blinked in surprise at her appearance. He hadn't been able to get a full appreciation of what she was wearing while she'd been sitting on the bed but now he could see that she was wearing a denim mini skirt with ankle boots and a pale blue top with a square neckline. Over top, she was wearing a three-quarter length sleeve jacket in cream colored leather that fell past the skirt in length and was vaguely styled like a duster. It took most of his will power to not wolf whistle but he did smirk as he imagined how Ray would react to Allison's long legs on display like this. "Do ya, uh, still wanna go out? We don' have ta," he managed to spit out without sounding too foolish as he did his best to keep his gaze above her neck as he looked up at her.

She turned her focus back to him and smiled as she nodded. "I would very much like to get out of here and get my mind on something, anything else."

He stood up and crossed the room, holding open the door for her. She gave him a nervous smile as she passed through the doorway and he jogged to catch back up to her as he let the door swing shut by itself. "So Ah know it's impossible ta surprise ya if yo' drivin', so Ah figured Ah'd tell ya ahead'a time what Ah had in mind fo' the night."

"Shoot," she said glancing up at him sideways as they walked practically shoulder to shoulder down the hall.

"Figured we could try our hands at laser tag. There's an arena in town."

"Wouldn't that be like the Danger Room but on, you know, the easiest setting?" she asked laughing as he nodded.

"Ah figured that'd be half the fun," he said with a wink. "An' besides, it won' actually hurt ta get hit by these lasers."

She leaned in and kissed him quickly on lips and smiled. "It sounds like a blast," she said. "You're a genius."

Allison went up on the balls of her feet to hang her truck keys back up on the peg board above Logan's work bench and slowly eased herself back down. She smiled as she turned to face Sam who was still leaning back against the front fender of the truck, his hands buried in his pockets. "Thank you."

"Fo'?"

"Giving me the perfect night," she answered as they walked out of the garage and into the cool evening air.

She laughed and shook her head lightly as a thought occurred to her and Sam watched her in amusement. "What now?"

"I was just thinking. The only way this night could be any more perfect was if you kissed me goodnight on the doorstep. But that seems pretty silly when we both live here, huh?"

They paused still halfway between the garage and the front door and Sam started to chuckle too. "Ah could kiss ya outside yo' bedroom if ya wanted," he suggested brushing her hair back behind her ear.

"I think that'd be a really bad idea," she admitted blushing. "I'm not so sure I'm indoor kissing friendly. At least, not yet."

"Then 's a good thing Ah didn' mean that door," he said before quickly scooping her up in his arms and she squealed as he took off into the air. He landed them on the balcony outside her bedroom and she swallowed hard to cut of the sound of her own panicked voice as he tipped her back onto her own feet.

He laughed at her reaction as he always did and she hit his chest as she pouted and turned her back to him. "It's not funny."

"Ah'm sorry," he said wrapping his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Ah can't help it. Yo' always so serious an' brave that 's cute ta occasionally see that other side."

Shivers went down her spine at the sensation of his breath tickling at her ear and neck and she glanced at him sideways to see that he was being at least somewhat serious. He kissed the side of her neck and she closed her eyes to relish in the feeling of his warm breath and lips against her skin. He turned her easily in his arms, one hand bracing the back of her neck as he kissed her jawline, causing her head to tilt back as she sighed. "Sam?"

"Hmm?" He pulled away slowly gazing down at her as her green eyes fluttered open as she brought her head up straight again.

"If you don't kiss me soon, it's going to start raining anyway." She swallowed as she looked up into his clear blue eyes and watched the smirk grow across his face.

"If Ah've told ya once, Ah'll tell ya a million times, let it." His lips had barely connected with hers before the first drops began to fall and they increasingly grew harder and faster as their kiss went on. He slowly walked her backwards until she'd bumped into the wall and she gasped in surprise and he took the chance to deepen the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck holding him close as she ran her fingers through his now shorter hair, finding there was still plenty of length there to wind the strands around her fingers.

They parted, equally breathing hard, and she could feel his gaze piercing through her as his eyes searched her face, taking her in as small rivers of water ran down from her hairline to disappear into the collar of her shirt and jacket. She let her own gaze lower slightly as she let one of her hands slide down over his soaked shirt and admired the way that it clung to his chest. She could only imagine how her own wet clothes hung right now. She blushed as she looked up at his face again to see that he was wearing a boyish grin that clearly gave away that he'd been admiring a lot more than just her face.

The rain was beginning to ebb as they stood there, pressed against the wall, his hands on either side of her head. "G'night, beautiful" he said softly before leaning in and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Good night, my handsome prince," she replied a smile tugging up on her lips.

His eyebrows shot up in amusement as he slowly stepped back. "Ah'm a prince now?" he joked. "What happened ta bein' yo' superhero?"

"You're that too," she said stepping away from the wall and towards him before kissing him quickly. "Sweet dreams." She turned smiling back at him over her shoulder as she let herself into her bedroom through the balcony door. He could just make out her silhouette through the white curtains as she hung up her jacket and sat down at her desk and took off her boots.

He took a few quick steps and shot up into the air and flew over the top of the roof and landed on the balcony outside of his own room and walked inside. Bobby sat up startled that Sam came in through the wrong door and then blinked when he saw his appearance. "What the hell happened to you? Did you walk in front of an open fire hydrant or what?"

Sam shrugged as he turned his back to Bobby trying to hide the grin he couldn't manage to wipe off his face. "Nah. Nothin' like that."

"So what then? Last I checked they weren't calling for rain tonight." Bobby discarded his magazine figuring that whatever Sam was holding back on had to be far more interesting than college football predictions.

Sam peeled off his button down shirt and draped it over the edge of his laundry basket as the shirt continued to drip. If he stood still much longer, he'd have a puddle at his feet. He quickly took off his t-shirt as well and it was just as soaked. "Ah jus' had a date with Al, that's all."

"And you went swimming in the bay?" Bobby asked still intensely curious.

Sam headed towards the bathroom with a pair of pajama bottoms in hand and rolled his eyes at Bobby's question. "No." The door closed and it was a few minutes before Sam exited. He'd draped his jeans and boxers over the shower curtain rod and was coming back for his shirts to do the same.

"So, what gives?"

Sam snatched up the shirts and paused looking over at Bobby. "Can ya keep a secret?"

"It depends."

Sam let his eyes roll again as he walked back to the bathroom and flung the shirts up over the rod as well. All Bobby could hear was the sound of a wet slap as the material was slung about. Sam came back out and sat down on his bed and leaned back against the pillows before turning his head to look over at his friend. "Depends on what?"

"How juicy it is," Bobby replied smirking. "So what happened?"

"We kissed."

"You kissed?" Bobby echoed raising an eyebrow. "Were you kissing on the lawn when the sprinklers went off?"

Sam just shook his head. "When we kiss, it starts ta rain."

"Bull shit," Bobby called as he sat up and turned on his bed. "I saw her kiss that Mark guy and she didn't do shit."

Sam just shrugged in response. "Ah guess 's different with meh," he said and could feel his cheeks warming up. "She says she can't control it."

"This can't be the first time you kissed her, right? I mean, how come you're not soaking wet all the time?" Bobby asked after a few moments of thought.

"If 's quick, she's not affected by it as much. Or we make sure we're under some kind of cover-like the gazebo," Sam admitted. "Jus' don' tell Jubes 'bout this. Ah don' think Al wants ev'ryone ta know she's still tryin' ta fully control her powers."

"Well, I guess rain touch is better than zappy touch," Bobby joked. "I bet Remy would trade you places in a heartbeat." Sam just shrugged in response but realized that probably explained his nonchalance about the side effects of her abilities. Allison hadn't met Rogue yet in order to know that there were worse fates than a little rain.

Allison walked into the living room and was a little surprised by how empty it felt for a Saturday. Normally it was louder than this as everyone jockeyed for position around the television or just for a more comfortable seat in general. But half of the students were gone today on some mission for the professor to Scotland. This left Logan and McCoy home alone with the younger students who for once weren't destroying the mansion. Threat of Logan's wrath was probably enough to keep things at bay.

Sam was already in one of the understuffed armchairs, lying sideways across the arms and grinned when he saw Allison enter. He quickly spun around so that he was upright again and patted the space next to him as he did his best to make room for her on the seat. She sat down half in the chair and half on the arm until he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to sit more on his lap causing her to laugh as they shared a brief smile. "So what are you boys up to? It's scary quiet."

"We were just about to start playing with Roberto's new copy of Madden football. You want in?" Jamie asked holding up one of the Playstation controllers and Allison waved her hands.

"No thanks, hon. I'm terrible at video games," she replied before making herself slightly more comfortable but also making sure that she wasn't in Sam's line of view or inhibiting his use of the controller either.

They were just finishing the first quarter when alarms were sounded throughout the mansion and Allison found herself to be quickly lifted up and set back down on her feet as Sam freed himself. The boys were off at a run and Allison found herself frozen to the spot for a moment before Jamie's hand found hers and pulled her along. "Come on," he urged as he led her towards the elevator where the other boys were climbing in along with Amara, Jubilee, Rhane, Dani, Tabitha and Sarah.

"What's going on?" Allison asked as the elevator began to go down and feeling a tad claustrophobic for the first time. Surely the elevator had to be over capacity as she was pressed tightly against the doors such that when the reopened, she found herself stumbling out into the hallway.

"Don' know," Sam replied as he took her hand this time and led her in a different direction than she'd ever gone before for Danger Room trainings. "This is jus' protocol fo' when the alarms go off. Ev'ryone reports ta what we call the War Room." Seeing her reaction he smiled. "That's not 's real name. 'S jus' what we call it. But if the mansion were ta be under attack, we'd be safe there."

She nodded numbly as they all filed into the room and waited for Logan or McCoy to arrive and tell them what was happening. There was a low console that went around the perimeter of the circular room and in the center was a table surrounded by chairs. The chairs had been snatched up quickly and so Allison remained leaning back against the low console facing the door.

Sam gave her a warm, reassuring smile as he wrapped his hand over hers and she returned it only halfheartedly in her nervousness. When Logan walked in, he dropped her hand and stood up straighter and Allison did the same. "We just found out that there's going to be an assassination attempt on Kelly this afternoon," Logan announced bluntly and all of the students just turned and looked at one another in shock. They all knew what this meant. The regular team was out already; Logan was asking for volunteers.

"Where's it supposed ta happen?" Sam asked breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.

"The warehouse district," Logan replied calmly. "He's there to give a speech to the dock workers. Not surprisingly, the Friends of Humanity are pretty prevalent among the payroll there."

"You've got to be kidding," Amara quipped. "We're going to try and help him? He a) won't want our help and b) we'll end up getting ourselves killed in the process."

"Nobody's making you go, Princess." Despite Logan's calm and lacking just about any inflection to his voice, 'Princess' didn't sound like a title or compliment coming from him and Amara recognized that as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

"Do we even know who's behind it?" Dani asked ignoring the tension in the air that had grown up like a dark cloud around Amara.

"We don't," McCoy said as he entered the room. His usually jovial mood was gone and replaced by a sobriety that would have made the pope look like a giddy school girl. "But we can't afford taking a chance that it will be blamed on mutants. It could very well spark a war."

"None of you have to go," Logan said finally stating what everyone already seemed to know. "A few volunteers would be nice though."

Sam stepped forward and Logan's expression quirked up into a brief smile as he nodded. Dani nearly leapt to her feet followed by Bobby, Jamie, Tabitha, Roberto, Jubilee, Ray, Rhane, and Sarah. Amara reluctantly stood up as well. Allison was the only person in the room who still hadn't reacted yet as she remained in the back of the group, leaning back on the console. Of course, all of the other students standing directly blocked her from view of McCoy and Logan.

Sam glanced back to see Allison's hesitation and smiled softly at her. "'S okay," he said. "Ya can stay here. We need someone here in case the others come back."

She was just staring at him and vaguely aware that Logan was speaking again. "Jamie, Sarah sit back down," Logan growled.

"Stop treating me like a little kid," Jamie argued.

"I'm not," Logan snapped. "You're good with the computers. Almost as good as Betsy or Kitty. I need you here." Jamie pouted but he sat back down and leaned his head against his hand muttering under his breath.

"What about me?" Sarah asked meekly as she sat back down realizing that there really wasn't an argument to be had.

"You are too young," Logan sighed. "Keep Jamie company or something." Logan looked over the group of students still standing before him. "Nine. Good."

"Make that ten," Allison said stepping forward and Sam glanced sideways down at her and smiled in his surprise. "Even numbers are lucky."

Logan nodded and turned to look at Sam directly. "You're in charge, Bub. Plan your teams while you all get suited up." Dani's mouth dropped open soundlessly and she quickly snapped it shut before anyone could catch her reaction. It wasn't until Logan was halfway out the door that he added, "And Dani's second. Beast and I'll be around, but they're in charge. You keep in touch with them and listen to their commands unless Beast and I say otherwise."

It was Bobby's turn to look shocked as he turned to look at his roommate. Sam just looked like a nervous wreck that was about to fall apart at any second. "You?" Bobby said, the surprise hanging in his voice. "He picked you?"

Allison quickly reached over and squeezed Sam's hand realizing that this must be pretty high on the list of firsts for him. "You're going to be fine," Allison said encouragingly. "You've led us as a team in training lots of times."

"And so have I," Bobby pouted and Allison sighed as she glanced his way.

"And as long as I've been here, that usually doesn't end well. Maybe it's a hint."