The Last Night: Part One

by Kerri

The women left after lunch the next day for the summer house. Only Charlotte and Ororo were up early, the other women grumpy and nursing headaches. After passing aspirin and the coffee pot around the breakfast table, they slowly pulled themselves together and finished packing. Some of the men were going with them, not too eager to give up the opportunity to needle the 'jailbirds' about their adventure.

Logan gated to the house earlier that day with Thomas for the special 'shamen-only' rites in preparation for the bonding ceremony tomorrow evening. She wouldn't be allowed to see him until they faced each other over the fire. It seemed a lifetime away. He would be with the shamen until then.

The professor elected to come in the Blackbird in the next morning, along with Scott and Hank. Jean was disappointed Scott chose to stay, but contented herself with the fact he'd be there later. It was so beautiful here, warm fresh air, an idyllic place for a moonlit walk, but with the summer solstice rites in progress they couldn't have gone far from the house. Ororo, Rogue and Warren had already agreed to stay earth-bound until the rites were over at dusk the following evening.

Emma, Sean and the students were arriving late the next morning as well, flying into the nearest airport on one of Frost Enterprises private jets and chauffeured in by an obliging Bishop. Jubilee was reportedly 'so stoked' by the whole thing she was more excitable than usual. Thomas arranged to have her, Paige and Monet dressed as members of the Raven, following the example Charlotte had set for him in regards to family, it is who and what you make of it. Jubilee looked at Logan as her father figure, it was natural to him claimed her as his sister, providing the appropriate clothing for the three girls, figuring the teen would feel less self-conscious if her friends were also similarly dressed. A surprise for Logan and Charlotte.

Kurt, Kitty and Pete gated with them to the summer house, leaving Moira and Rahne at the mansion. Moira chose to travel with Charles and Rahne didn't want to leave her adopted mother unattended. Kitty tried to persuade Rahne to come with them, but the girl refused. To tell the truth, the un-Christian nature of the bonding disturbed her. She didn't feel completely comfortable with the idea and wanted a little more time to adjust to being 'surrounded by heathens.'

Kurt was currently in library, nearly as ecstatic over her personal collection as Hank had been. He'd found several old manuscripts of pirate tales and hadn't been seen since he arrived through the gate.

Kitty and Pete enjoyed looked around, despite Pete's tendency to open closed doors. After walking in on a Warren and Betsy in their assigned room, he tried to enter the safe room in the basement and found himself stretched out on the floor recovering from a nasty bump on the head with both Kitty and Charlotte glaring at him.

He did the only thing he could do. He got up, dusted himself off, glared back at them, and got the hell out of there.

Charlotte then engaged the bio-lock to the basement door to discourage any other curious wanderers. Then had to release it to let Remy out. The bottle in his hand indicated he'd found his way into her private cellar which wasn't shielded like the safe room. She made a mental note to do so as soon as possible.

Finding sleeping quarters for everyone coming was not as easy. The house hadn't seen a crowd like this in more than a hundred years.

Charles would be staying in the first floor guest room tomorrow night to avoid the stairs, tonight Kitty and Pete would be the occupants. Betsy and Warren, Jean and Scott, and Rogue were staying in the three available rooms upstairs. Ororo chose the greenhouse. Remy, Bobby, and Kurt were staying in the attic room where Matthew set up beds for this purpose. Her 'second son' was staying in the village.

Hank already requested one of the lower-level rooms; she suspected he wanted to be near the computer room. He was extremely interested in her electronics. She'd have to remember to program him in the system just so he could get to his room.

The guest cottage out back was ready for Moira and Rahne. The parlor and library would be dormitories for the students, with Sean and Bishop staying with the boys and Emma taking over her room tomorrow night. Nathan and Dom were attending, but refused to stay the night.

Charlotte and Logan were gating out of here after the festivities, destination unknown. Unknown to everyone but Charlotte. They were determined no one find them for at least a month and she stood a better chance of keeping the secret than Logan. Which wasn't hard, he didn't know where they were going yet. It was a gift from her to him.

After settling everyone present into their rooms Charlotte met Jean on the stairs, the other woman carrying a wrapped package.

"Scott said to be sure and give this to you today," Jean told her, clearly mystified by her husband's actions. "I don't know what it is."

Charlotte took it and gave it a gentle shake. "It's not crystal," she said with a smile. "Let's go downstairs and open it up."

In the library she opened the gift and found an unlabeled video tape. After exchanging looks with Jean, she opened the card. "'A little something to start married life, Scott.' And you have no idea?"

"Not a one."

"It wouldn't be a homemade instructional video, would it?"

Jean blushed and laughed. "Those I hide."

With a shrug, Charlotte slid it into the VCR and turned on the large screen TV. A few minutes of black, then the scene opened in a club, focusing on a group of women getting rowdy.

"Wait a minute, that's us!" Jean exclaimed. She watched herself slide one of Betsy's ten-spots into a stripper's costume, dancing along with him.

"Where did he get this?" Charlotte breathed. "Who taped this?"

"Mein Gott!"

They'd forgotten about Nightcrawler. He stood behind them staring in shock at the images of the women dancing with the strippers.

"Now we know how they found out about us in jail last night," Jean said. She began to giggle at them pushing Charlotte up on stage for the muscle contest. "You know what I want to do now?"

"Strip Scott naked, cover him in honey and stake him to an ant hill?"

"Everything but the ant hill sounds like fun. No, I think we should have a screening, complete with popcorn and guests."

"The guys haven't seen this yet, have they? Otherwise they wouldn't have come till tomorrow." They watched Rogue tuck a couple of bills in the redhead's G-string, sliding her gloved hand against his oiled skin. "I think you're right. A special screening of the latest Summers Production. After dinner?"

"Sounds good. Kurt?"

"Ja, Jean?"

"You won't tell anyone about this, will you?"

"Nein! Will I be permitted to attend your showing later?"

"Of course."

On camera Hercules was giving Emma some 'personal attention', the White Queen dangling a couple of hundreds in his face.

The two women grinned at each other. Let the fun begin.

[next part]

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