X-Men: Unfinished Business

[Lauren]

Mystique told the old woman to hold again when she got a call on the other line. She confirmed Logan through security and then fobbed the old woman off with some bullshit excuse so by the time Logan made it upstairs, she was ready to go. When she saw him approach, she grabbed her bag and walked around the desk to meet him, but Magneto was still hanging around in the lobby and frowned.

"Excuse me, who are you and what are you doing in my building?"

"Mr Lensherr!" Mystique jumped in, knowing Logan had a temper with mutant authority and she would like to keep her job. "This is Logan, my boyfriend, he just came to pick me up for lunch,"

"Boyfriend?" Magneto raised an eyebrow at her, looking her up and down, then him up and down. Mystique nodded, taking Logan's hand and giving it a slight squeeze. "Sapien?"

"...yes," Mystique mumbled, knowing that was the wrong answer.

"So this is the father to that baby you're always babbling on about?"

"Yes, he is," She said a little more confidently. When he frowned, and continued to start at them as if they were ... well, human, Mystique frowned as well. "Is that a problem?"

"No, no not at all, just ... interesting," He gave her a smile. "Fascinating actually, absolutely fascinating. Enjoy your lunch," He waved at them dismissively before he walked away to return his daughter's phone call.

[boo radley]

Meanwhile, Jacklyn was signing out of the library, where she enjoyed working quietly. Her hair was tied up in a light bun, she wore a knee-length dress and she donned large-rimmed glasses. "Bye, Jacklyn," called an old woman from behind the desk.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Grace. I'll see you tomorrow." Jack walked for about a half hour - she wasn't rich enough to own her own car yet, and why have one when in New York? - when a man in red sunglasses flew out of the nearest bar, right in front of her feet.

"And stay out!" came the voice from inside the bar.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said the guy on the ground in front of her. He stood up and stretched. "She totally wanted it." Jacklyn looked closer - she recognized him. Scott Summers. A year above her in college. She hadn't seen him since the bio class where he left after mooning Professor Elmers.

"Excuse me," she muttered, trying to scoot out of the narrow sidewalk. Getting onto the street was suicide.

"Hey, wait," said Scott. "I know you from somewhere."

"Uh-huh," she said, walking further down, trying to get back 'home.' Home was grungy, dirty disgusting, with several rooms, all occupied by different people. The only people she ever noticed were a couple with a child; the woman was blonde, and the man liked beer. Jack thought the woman's name was Raven. That's all she knew. They lived two rooms down to her. Someday she'd move out, somewhere nice. Somewhere beautiful. Somewhere where she felt safer.

"Wait. . . college. I know you from college."

"Okay," Jack said. She could see that old place nearby.

"Wait, we didn't. . . sleep together. . . did we?" Jack gave him a look. "I'll take that as a no," he said. He looked ahead. "This is where you live?"

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" Jack asked finally.

"Um, yeah. I need somewhere to stay for tonight."

"If you're asking me to -"

"No, seriously. I'll pay you to sleep on a floor."

Jack sighed. "Fine. But be quiet, some of the people who come here are. . . you know. . ." Scott shrugged. They went into the house.

[Jacky]

"Fascinatin' huh? I'll show him 'fascinating'." Logan growled, his fists clenching. As far as he was concerned Erik Lensherr was exactly what was wrong with this world, the very personification of everything rotten. He'd gladly fix their problems the easy way - by throwing 'Magneto' out of the window from the tenth floor.

[Lauren]

"No you won't," Mystique said softly, putting her hand over his clenched fist. "I need this job," She reminded him. She couldn't afford to get fired, no matter who her boss was or how much of an asshole he was.

[Jacky]

"Yeah, well, mister Lensherr needs someone to punch his teeth out." Logan growled. He knew she was right though. She did need her job. And Magneto had all the power in this damn world - being the hotshot mutant. So with a grunt, Logan unclenched his fist and grabbed Mystique's hand, walking out of there angrily before he could change his mind.

[Lauren]

The pair of them walked through the lobby and down the ten flights of stairs, since the elevators were 'homosuperior-only'. No wonder she lost the baby weight so quickly coming up and down these stairs twice a day. "So where are we going for lunch?" Mystique asked with a slight smile, glad she got to see him during the day, even if it was just for an hour.

[Jacky]

"Your call." Logan told her, his mind more occupied with the goddamn mutant problem than with their lunch by now. There weren't enough humans to make a stand against the authorities, but Logan simply wasn't the type to give in and surrender to their rules just because they didn't stand a chance. And it pissed him off that his own girlfriend had to work for the guy that was the main problem.

[Lauren]

Mystique glanced at him as they stopped on the pavement outside the building. "Hey," She put a hand on his cheek, turning him to face him. "Don't let them bother you, or they've won," She mumbled, knowing exactly what he was thinking about. She moved her hand to the back of his neck and stole a long deep kiss. "We'll go get hotdogs from the park and have a mini picnic," Mystique decided about their lunch.

[Jacky]

"Deal," Logan agreed, to her suggestion for lunch. He couldn't say he agreed with the first thing she said.. he wasn't the type that just gave in so easy. But he wouldn't let that ruin their lunchbreak. For now, he put an arm around Mystique's shoulders as they headed to the park.

[Lauren]

They got hotdogs and beer from an old run down van in the middle of the park, the kind of place they'd probably end up having food poisoning the next day, but all the 'respectable' restaurants didn't serve sapiens. They walked across the park and sat down under the shade of a tree. Mystique leaned back against the tree as she ate her lunch. "This is nice," She smiled. "We should do this everyday ... makes work that little bit more bearable."