1. Default Chapter

So here it is. The first chapter of my second story involving Mattie. If you haven't read my first story please find it. It's call You Can't Run On Ice and it introduces you to Mattie. All of you who already know her then come on in. Don't forget to tell me what you think

I don't own the X-Men, just Mattie

**Forgotten World**

**Best Laid Plans**

Mattie sat in the cinema trying to care about the one dimensional characters as they made their way through the predictable plot. Bobby sat on her right, his fingers lazily tracing circles on the back on her neck. That wasn't helping her to concentrate on the film either. To her left sat Paige, arms crossed, her face set in a determined scowl. She was not going to even entertain the idea of being interested in the film. Looking down the row to her right Mattie could see Sam next to Bobby, Tabitha, Jubilee and Ray at the end. She leaned back in her seat with a sigh, Bobby gave her neck a gentle squeeze and started to massage it.

It had all started out so well. She and Paige had planned and plotted and finally come up with a scheme. They had had quite enough of Sam and Jubilee. It was obvious to anyone that the two of them had feelings for each other. But if Paige had been slow about coming forward with her feelings about Ray then she had nothing on her brother. Sam had flat refused to even own up to the idea that he liked Jubilee. So Paige and Mattie had turned on Jubilee. But she was wise to their matchmaking and had given them nothing.

So Paige, Mattie and their respective boyfriends had gone to see a film, and they'd dragged Sam and Jubes along with them. Tabby had gate-crashed.

That had been the first hiccup in the plan. Tabby had been in the Mall and had decided to join them. Mattie couldn't very well tell her that she wasn't welcome. Not without explaining, in front of Sam and Jubes, exactly why.

The second thing to go wrong was choosing the film. Paige had wanted to see the latest action film, while Ray had demanded to see the horror film that everyone was raving about.

Hands on hips Paige had shouted him down. "No one wants to see that."

"I do." He retorted.

"Yes, Ray. And there are other people here. Not just you."

"Oh and I suppose everyone wants to see _your_ choice?"

"Horror films are so lame." Paige told him, dodging the question. "What is the point in trying to scare yourself."

"While action films are just fantastic." Ray sneered back. "Cause you can never tell the plot. I mean, the hero is never going to save the world in the nick of time, is he!"

"Oh yeah. Well at least you don't have to sit there trying to work out which character's going to die next!"

In the end they had opted for a romantic comedy, that wasn't particularly romantic or particularly funny.

Paige and Ray were mad with each other and had sat at either ends of the row, totally discharging the carefully designed seating plan that the two girls had worked out. Positioning herself at the edge of the group, Paige had grabbed hold of Mattie and used her as a buffer against Ray. Bobby had claimed the seat next to her. Sam had filed into the row, with Jubilee following him. Tabitha had clambered over the seat to steal the seat next to Sam, grabbing a handful of his popcorn and kissing him on the cheek as she did so. Jubes and Ray had sat on the end.

Mattie sighed. It should not be this hard.

X

Leaving the cinema they decided to go and have some food. The food court was buzzing with people talking about films that they had just seen, or were going to see. Bobby, Sam and Jubilee went to grab a table. Mattie joined the long queue with the silent Paige, the grumpy Ray and the suitably oblivious Tabitha.

Ray and Paige stood together staring ahead, not talking. Tabby stood with Mattie.

"This is _so_ mature of you Paige." Ray muttered to her.

"Mattie? Did you hear anything?" Paige asked. "I thought I did, but it was probably just hot air."

"What's their problem?" Tabitha asked, throwing a careless glance at Paige and Ray. As Ray growled and turned his back on Paige. "Isn't it time that they got over it already?"

Mattie nodded. Paige and Ray's arguments never lasted longer than a couple of hours. She shrugged. "It'll blow over."

"Can't believe we sat through that film though." Tabby commented. "Was that lame or what?"

"Pretty poor."

"You guys should have chosen something else. It was a little bit obvious."

Mattie looked at her. "Obvious?"

"Oh come on." Tabitha grinned at her. "I know what the two of you were planning. You're little triple date thing."

"You knew?"

"Duh! I'm not stupid you know. Anyone could see what you're up to."

Mattie frowned. "Then why sabotage it? Why join us? Why sit next to Sam I mean, you stole Jube's seat."

"Well of course I did." Tabby laughed. "He had the popcorn. And as for joining you guys. Hell, I was bored. What else was I gonna do tonight?"

"But… All that flirting with Sam. You were practically sitting in his lap at one point."

Tabby nodded. "I know. He is so easy to embarrass. It's so cute."

"Tabby!" Mattie glared at her.

"Oh lighten up." Tabitha told her. "It's not like I was sitting on your boyfriend. Although…" She looked over to where Bobby and the others were sitting. "Icicle's looking pretty damn fine these days." She grinned at Mattie. "I'll help them hold down the table."

"Tabby." Mattie growled.

But Tabitha just flashed a grin over her shoulder and headed for the table. Mattie watched her as she sat herself down on Bobby's lap. Bobby's eyes widened it surprise and Mattie saw him point to the four other chairs that surrounded the table. Tabby said something that made Bobby laugh out loud.

Mattie ground her teeth together. Tabby was bored and she was only flirting with Bobby to wind Mattie up. But that didn't make it any easier to watch.

Tabby slipped her arm around Bobby's neck, whatever she was saying it made Bobby grin and Sam blush. Jubes looked nervously in Mattie's direction.

"I'll be right back." Mattie told the still silent Paige and Ray. Neither of them responded to her.

Making her way through the tables Mattie came to stand beside Bobby, her hands on her hips.

Bobby looked up at her pleadingly. "Hey Mats."

Mattie eyed him briefly before turning her glare on Tabby. "Tabitha Smith, if you don't remove yourself from my boyfriend, I will."

"Oh relax, Chase." Tabby got to her feet grinning. "Ice's way too into you. It's not even worth trying."

She looked over at Paige and Ray who were staring in opposite directions, still pointedly ignoring each other in the queue. "That's more like it."

Before anyone could stop her she had made her way back to the line. She leaned on Ray's shoulder and grinned up at him. She said something that made Ray grin back at her. Paige's head snapped round, as she glared at Tabby.

"What is she doing?" Mattie asked.

Bobby clamped a hand round her wrist. "Do not get involved." He cautioned her. "This is not gonna be pretty."

Paige said something to Ray, he retorted angrily.

Tabitha backed Ray up.

"She didn't." Jubilee murmured, burying her head in her heads.

It was an unwritten law that no one got themselves involved in one of Paige and Ray's fights. The fall out was too bad.

"Has she got a death wish?" Sam asked, watching his sisters face darken with furry.

But before Paige could speak Ray threw her a parting comment and stalked off with Tabby on his arm.

"Tell me that did not just happen." Mattie begged.

"Excuse me." Sam muttered getting out of his chair and heading Paige off as she started after Tabitha and Ray.

"You know I really think that we need to find Tabs a hobby." Mattie said as she sank into her chair.

"Looks to me like she already has one." Bobby said.

"Causing trouble is not a hobby." Jubilee told him, watching as Sam cajoled his sister over to the table. Paige still looked murderous and kept casting furious glances in the direction that Tabby and Ray had gone.

"It is the way Tabby does it." Bobby told her.

X

When they got home, Ray and Tabby weren't back.

Paige headed straight up to her room. Mattie followed her up, but had the door slammed in her face.

"I'll come back later then." She called through the door.

Bobby looked up as Mattie entered the Rec room shaking her head. "I would not want to be in Tabby's shoes right now."

Bobby grinned and made room for her on the sofa next to him.

"How 'bout my shoes?" He asked. "Am I in trouble too?"

Mattie grinned at him. "Na. I'll let you off on account of good looks."

Bobby grinned back at her. "I'm not going to argue with that." He leaned forward to kiss her, then threw himself back against the sofa again. "Do you have to go away?"

Mattie sighed. "Yes. I told you. They are my friends. My friends from back home. My friends who I never see."

"But that means I wont be able to see you." Bobby protested.

"Yeah, cause the fact that we live in the same house, go to the same school and spend all our free time together. That's not enough for you."

"No." Bobby told her, lunging forward and gabbing hold of her. "You're mine, all mine! And I refuse to share you with anyone."

"Idiot." Mattie told him pushing him off her.

"But a good looking idiot."

"Oh of course."

Bobby screwed up his face into a frown. "But the whole holiday, Mats?"

"It's only three weeks." She told him. "Not three years!"

"Every second that I'm away from your feels like a year." He told her.

"Oh yuck!" Rahne muttered from where she sat.

Jamie was making puking motions.

Roberto looked equally nauseated. "Take him away would you."

Mattie grinned apologetically and got up. Bobby trailed after as she headed into the kitchen.

"Are you really upset with me?" She asked.

Bobby shrugged and grinned at her. "You're all right. I'm only messing with you. I'd forgotten that you were going, that's all. And I figured we could grab some alone time this holiday."

Mattie smiled at him. "Sorry."

"No worries." Bobby told her. "I'll have more time to hang out with the guys." He glanced slyly at her. "And Tabby with be here."

Mattie glared at him. "Not funny."

Bobby struggled to keep a straight face.

"Robert Drake." Mattie said glaring at him.

"Yes? Matilda Drew?"

"Regarding your actions this evening, while I am willing to forgive them, I am not ready for you make jokes about it." She turned her back on him, trying hard not to let her shoulders shake as she quashed her giggles.

"Mats?" Bobby stepped up behind her and taking her by the shoulders turned her to face him. "Are you trying not to smile?"

Mattie pressed her lips together in a desperate attempt not to laugh.

Bobby grinned at her. "You're really bad at that you know."

Mattie opened her mouth to reply, but Bobby cut her off by kissing her.

Mattie pulled away. "Stop doing that! You can't keep winning the argument just by kissing me! It's not…"

Bobby recaptured her lips and Mattie kissed him back. She was going to take him to task about this. Right after she finished kissing him.

X

All the students entered the Danger room with baited breath, the next morning. News travelled fast. They all knew that Tabby and Ray had arrived back so late that Logan had grounded both of them.

Paige was positively seething. Ray had the decency to look sheepish. Sam had a watchful eye on his sister and a disapproving frown for Ray. Mattie had listened to Paige's rant for most of the night and all of this morning. Bobby was eyeing Sam and Ray carefully.

Tabitha looked totally unconcerned by the whole affair.

Logan may claim not to care about the details of what was going on with the students. But he was not stupid. He carefully selected groups that separated Paige, Ray and Tabby.

X

The eruption finally came when they arrived home from school. Ray approached Paige as they entered the Institute.

"Paige?"

"What!" She snapped at him.

The others started to edge out the way. If this followed the normal pattern of a Paige and Ray argument they would be able to hear it where ever they were. And none of them wanted to be caught in the cross fire.

"Paige, nothing happened."

"I'm sure I don't care." She told him frostily.

"Paige you know I'm crazy about you." Ray told her.

"No. I don't know that, Ray." Paige glared at him, her eyes blazing. "And you sure as hell have a strange way of showing it!"

"You drive me insane!" Ray yelled at her. "You make me so mad that I don't know what to do. But I still want to be with you. I'd have to be crazy about you to feel like that."

"_I_ drive _you_ mad!" Paige replied hotly.

In the kitchen Kitty handed out a round of drinks. The Rec room had been considered the first place the two of them would head after making it through the front door. So they were hiding out in the kitchen.

"How long do you reckon they'll go at it?" Rouge asked. "Ah've got work to do. And Ah can't do it with the two of them yelling like that."

"Got me." Amara shrugged. "They're pretty worked up."

"It'll blow over."

As one the group turned to glare at Tabby.

"You know this is all your fault." Jubilee told her.

Tabby waved this comment away. "It'll be fine."

"How can you say that." Amara looked upset. "Tabby, you know how Ray and Paige feel about each other. I can't believe you came between them like that."

"Sorry princess, but I didn't 'come between them'." Tabitha replied.

"Yeah you did." Mattie said before she could stop herself.

"Ray and I just wanted to go see that horror flick." Tabby said. "It was totally harmless. If Paige has got herself all worked up then that is her problem not mine."

The others shook their heads. Tabby's warped sense of right and wrong had caused clashes in the past. Trouble was that she was such fun to have around that people usually forgave her for anything she did.

"Hear that?" Kurt asked.

"Hear what?" Jamie asked.

"Exactly." Kurt told him with a grin. "I think the war is over."

"Yeah, but who won?" Bobby asked.

Scott stalked into the kitchen and dumped his bag and his pile of books on the table. "Can someone please tell Paige and Ray that the Rec room is not their personal make out room."

Sam groaned. "I hate when they make up. I shouldn't have to watch."

"I'd call it a draw." Roberto said as the others headed out the kitchen.


	2. Nothing to Wear

Second chapter. Tee hee, I just get so exciting writing this story.

I don't own the X-Men, just Mattie

**Nothing to Wear**

Despite her claims that she had nothing to do with it, Tabitha was careful not to go anywhere Ray or Paige over the following week. Paige had made her feelings about Tabby quite clear. And while everyone knew that it would blow over in a few days. It was best not to get between Paige and her target when she was mad.

School had broken up for the holidays and they were all too excited to care much about inner rivalries. Most of the Institute had some sort of plan about how to use up their free time. With doing nothing coming fairly high up the list.

X

Mattie was in her room trying to think what to pack. She was going to be gone for three weeks. But, looking at the list of things that Tara had planned for them all, sunbathing and shopping were going to be the most strenuous activities.

She'd have to get up early to do some exercise and practising or she'd suffer big time when she got back. Danger room training was hard enough without being three weeks behind and out of shape to boot.

"What do I take?" She asked Paige for the hundredth time.

Paige shrugged in reply. "Mattie they're _your_ fiends. It's _your_ holiday. Don't you think that you are the one who should be answering that question."

"But I don't know what to wear." Mattie moaned. She glanced across the room to Jubilee and Amara who she had begged to help her pack.

Amara shrugged as well.

Jubes was more proactive. "Alright let me at that jeans store you call a wardrobe."

Mattie rolled her eyes. "I have told you guys. Denim is hard wearing and looks good with anything. What else would I want?"

"Mattie your whole wardrobe consists of jeans and T-shirts." Amara told her. "Don't you think that you should occasionally wear something else?"

Jubilee had been counting. "…7, 8, 9, the pair you're wearing, 11, oh and here's one more. Mattie how can you possibly own 12 pairs of jeans!"

"They're all different." Mattie protested.

Jubes held up two pairs of identical jeans.

"Except them." Mattie conceded. "They were on sale and I liked them so much I bought two."

"She's hopeless!" Paige cried.

"You're only allowed to take four pairs." Amara told Mattie sternly.

"Mattie's face fell. "Eight."

"Four."

"Six?"

"Four. Ask me once more and I'll drop it down to three." Amara told her.

Mattie shut up. She sighed and turned her attention on her jeans, trying to figure out which ones she wanted to take.

"So is Bobby taking you?" Jubes asked as she kept a watchful eye on Mattie's packing.

"He can't. He's going out with the guys. They've been planning it for weeks. But he's going to drive down and pick me up."

"You two are so cute." Amara said. "Must be nice to have a boyfriend who wants to drive all that way to fetch you."

"It's only a few hours, Amara. Not the end of the world." Paige told her, throwing a pillow at her.

Amara fielded the pillow and hugged it to her. "I'm just saying it's nice."

Paige rolled her eyes. "So." She demanded. "Have you got enough money?"

"I got it out last week." Mattie told her.

"Credit card?" Jubilee asked.

Mattie shook her head. "I'm not taking that. I've got enough, and my dad gave me some too. There's not way that I can spend it all."

"What about emergencies?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, like that little black dress you just have to have." Jubes added.

"Or in your case a pair of jeans." Amara put in.

Mattie ignored them. "I've got the number of my account. If I need to I can take out some more."

She turned back to the far more pressing task of choosing outfits.

Amara lounged on Mattie's bed. "Three weeks holiday."

"About time." Jubilee muttered. "It seems ages since Christmas."

The others all nodded their agreement.

"Have you heard about the parties that are going on?" Amara asked. "We could be out every night if they all happen."

"They never do." Paige told her. "Every one says their going to have a party. But then their parents get wind of it and its just one more party down the drain."

"It would be cool if we could have one here." Amara sigh wistfully.

"Yeah, cause the last one went so well." Jubes said with a grin.

"Well, not all of our parties are planned as a diversion by Mystic." Paige said rolling her eyes.

Mattie grinned. She'd heard the story of the party the students had thrown in the Professor's absence. Too bad she'd missed it. Sounded like a blast.

"Well I bet there are still a decent number of gatherings going on." Amara said, sticking doggedly to her point.

"What's up, Amara?" Jubes teased her. "You think you're going to meet Prince Charming at a house party?"

Amara blushed and looked away. "It's possible."

"People do meet at parties." Mattie stepped in to save Amara further embarrassment. "Right Paige?"

Paige just grinned.

"Too bad your going away." Amara told Mattie.

"Yeah." Paige added. "What am I going to do with out my roomy?"

"Come on guys. Not you too." Mattie sighed. "I have to go. They girls have been begging to see me. And I should be thanking them really. I mean, they know all about me being a mutant and all. They've been fighting my corner back home."

The other girls nodded. Finding people who didn't hate mutants on sight was hard, if Mattie's friends had stood by her then they deserved a medal.

"Just don't do anything to exciting while I'm away." Mattie told them with a grin.

The girls all promised.

"Hey, is this a private party or can anyone join?" Bobby asked sticking his head round the door.

"Just packing." Mattie said, beckoning him in. Ray followed him in and settled himself down next to Paige. He had been very careful to behave himself around her at the moment. Paige had told Mattie that she was secretly looking forward to their next argument, that it made her nervous him being this considerate to her.

"We were attempting to get your girlfriend to wear something other that denim." Jubilee told him.

Mattie grumbled her as she continued to root through her clothes.

"Honestly. If you took away your jeans there would be nothing left for you to wear." Amara told her, taking out the fifth pair of jeans that Mattie had been attempting to slip into her bag.

Bobby perked up. "That sounds like an interesting experiment. Care to try it Mats."

Mattie treated him to a bored look.

"Just a thought." Bobby said, stretching out on her bed. "One I'll be taking to bed with me tonight."

"Eeeww. Bobby!" Amara cried, throwing the pillow at him.

X

Bobby dropped Mattie off at the bus station the next morning.

"See you when I pick you up." He murmured as he hugged her goodbye.

"You don't have to. I can just get the bus." Mattie told him.

Bobby shook his head. "I want to. I'm going to miss you like crazy."

"Well, I was thinking…" Mattie gave him a nervous smile. "If you wanted to come down a couple of days early…"

Bobby grinned at her. "And crash you're girlie holiday?"

Mattie shrugged.

Bobby's grin widened. "Me in a house-full of girls. I'm liking this idea."

Mattie fought to keep the grin off her face. "Hey. Earth to Playboy Mansion."

"Sorry." Bobby couldn't keep his 'cat got the cream' grin of his face. He swept Mattie off her feet. "So does that mean that I get you all to myself in a free house." He kissed her. "Whatever would we do to pass the time?"

Mattie kissed him back. "I'm sure that we could come up with something."

X

Mattie got off the bus with a smile on her face. She was home. Okay, so about an hour away from home really. But she knew this town, she and Dad had come here on day trips. She was planning to visit him while she was here. He'd told her to enjoy her holiday with her friends. But she knew that he really wanted to see her. Being here was just too perfect an opportunity to pass up. She planned on turning up early one morning to make him breakfast like she did on his birthday and fathers day. It would be great to surprise him like that.

She glanced down at the address that Tara had written out for her, then at the map she'd brought with her. Still away to go.

Glancing around to make sure that no one was watching her she started to run. No need to wait around for buses of to pay out for taxies when you'd been clocked at eighty miles per hour. Mr McCoy had been quite impressed with her latest attempt. It had been pushing it, but Mattie was sure that she could do better. At the very least she had to make it to eighty-eight. Just to see if she went back in time. Maybe if she could get Mr McCoy or Forge to whip up a flux capacitor in their spare time.

X

Keeping off the main paths Mattie made good time and soon arrived at the house that she and the five other girls were renting for the holiday. She made her way to the front door and rang the bell.

Nothing happened. She tired again. She heard the ringing, but no one appeared to open the door.

Was she the first person here? She was sure that Tara had said that she and Niki would be the firsts ones to get there. So where were they? Sleeping? Playing their music too loud? Sunbathing? Sunbathing!

Glancing nervously up and down the street Mattie vaulted over the fence. Danger room training coming in handy again. She just hopped that an over zealous neighbour didn't report her as a burglar.

She made her way round to the back of the house. "Tara? Niki? Jenny? Lisa, Natalie? Tara?

There was no sign of the girls. Peering through the window into the house she noticed that it seemed empty. Where were the girls? Maybe she was the first one here. They could have got caught in traffic. Mattie had been able to avoid that little problem.

She rounded the side of the building and caught sight of a figure by the door. Finally, maybe he had a key to this place. Mattie could open it up and be ready for when the others got there. Plus it meant she could bag the best room. With that thought in mind she headed over to him.

The man took a step back and rammed his shoulder hard against the door. He backed up and shouldered the door again. She heard the crunch as the door started to give. Mattie stopped dead in her tracks. Okay, so not the owner of this property. Was she really joking about burglars a moment ago?

She must have made a noise as the man looked up suddenly. He snarled at her and started towards her.

"I am so out of here." With a burst of speed Mattie tore back to where she had clambered over the fence. The man was shouting behind her. Mattie paid him no mind. There was no way he was going to catch her.

She grabbed hold of the fence, pulling herself up. The man was still shouting behind her. Swinging her leg over the fence Mattie felt a hand grabbed hold of her leg.

_What! _

Still perch on the fence, Mattie looked down. A second man had hold of her leg. _Stupid_. She cursed herself. _Of course there would be a second man_. The man tightened his grip on her leg and started pulling back towards him.

Mattie drew up her leg and kicked down at him, catching him squarely on the nose. The man let her go with a cry of pain. Grabbing the opportunity to escape Mattie leapt down. At the last possible moment she felt someone clutch at her foot.

It threw off her landing and Mattie hit the pavement. Hard. Her head bounced on the road and she saw stars. She could taste blood in her mouth, the world was spinning and she felt sick. Her view was becoming obscured, it was almost a relief when the blackness engulfed her.


	3. What's in a Name?

What's gonna happen! I already know and I'm excited.

I don't own the X-Men, just Mattie

**What's In A Name?**

The moment she woke her brain demanded three questions of her. Who am I? Where am I? What's going on?

She stumbled a the first hurdle.

_Who am I?_

She opened her eyes. She was a living room, lying on a sofa. Nothing looked familiar.

_Where am I? _

She could hear voices in another room. So there were other people here. Where ever here was.

_What is going on?_

She sat up, and instantly lay back down again, groaning in pain.

"Don't get up just yet. You've had a nasty bash to your head." A calm voice told her.

"Bet it hurts like hell." Another voice added.

"Davis!" The first voice snapped.

She opened her eyes and two faces swam into focus in front of her. One was a woman with dark black hair pulled back from her face. The other was a boy with shocking blonde hair sticking up from his head.

"Hi?" She tried.

"How do you feel?" The woman asked her.

She thought. "Fine as long as I don't move."

The woman nodded.

"So? What were you doing out on the road?" The boy asked.

"I…" She frowned, racking her brains for the answer to his question. "I…"

"Davis." The woman scolded. "Don't just blurt out questions like that."

"Well you want to know to." Davis replied. "It's no good trying the good doctor bit on me Mother, I know you to well."

His mother scowled at him, before turning her attention back to her.

She shook her head. "Look I'd love to answer you're questions, but do you think you could answer one for me first."

Davis and his mother nodded.

"What's my name?"

"Huh?" Davis screwed up his face in confusion. "Don't you know?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know anything." She struggled to keep the hysterical note out of her voice.

"It's all right. It's okay." The woman told her, slipping an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know who I am." She wailed, panic rising within her and tears pricking at her eyes.

"Shhhhhh." The woman rocked her gently back and forth. "I think you've got amnesia sweetheart. Don't panic. You're okay."

"But… But…" She was too choked up to continue.

"Mattie." Davis said suddenly.

She looked up at him in mild confusion. "What?"

"That's what's written on your necklace." Davis told her, pointing at her neck. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's your name. Silly name for a girl mind you."

She reached up and felt the beads round her neck. _Mattie? _She tried it out. _Why not._ It was better than nothing. Okay. So she had a name. She still didn't know where she was, who these people were or what she was doing here.

"Do I know you?" She asked hesitantly.

Davis shook his head. "Never laid eyes on you before."

"Oh." The woman shook herself. "What was I thinking. My name is Doctor Masters, but you can call me Mel. This is my son Davis."

Davis grinned at her and gave a small wave.

Mattie smiled awkwardly. "Mattie. I guess."

"So I guess asking you how you came to be here is going to get us nowhere." Davis said.

Mattie shrugged. "I wish I knew." She frowned in concentration. "I don't suppose I had a nice big folder with _This Is You Life_ written on it did I?"

Davis laughed.

Mel shook her head. "No sorry. We did look. In case you have a medical condition or anything. But other than yourself, we found nothing."

Mattie sighed and leaned back against the sofa, the pounding in her head was beginning to subside. "Why can't I remember anything." She muttered. At the very edge of her conscience she could feel something, like a tune that you know but can't place.

"Don't try and force it." Mel told her. "It will come back in it's own time. Most likely you'll see something and snap, it will come flooding back to you."

"Now would be good." Mattie muttered.

Mel smiled at her. "Well at least you haven't forgotten your sense of humour."

Mattie gave a wan smile.

"Do you like beef casserole?" Mel asked as she got up and headed out the room.

Mattie opened her mouth to reply and then shut it again.

"Mom!" Davis howled. "Talk about dumb question."

X

Mattie joined the Masters for dinner, before Mel had to go to work. Mr Masters or Bill as he told her to call him, had arrived back with his daughter Bekki who had bright pink hair.

"Now, Mattie. I've made up the bed in the spare room." Mel told her as she stood in the hallway. "Make sure you get some rest please. And don't let the twins bother you."

"Mom!"

Mattie heard Davis and Bekki yell. She smiled at Mel. "I'll do my best."

She made her way into the living room where Bekki and Davis sat watching _Friends_.

_One point. You know what _Friends_ is. Bonus point because you know it's a repeat._

She sat down and stared blankly at the TV. The twins seemed to be about her age. Not that she had any real idea what age she was. She'd stood in the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. Brown hair that down just past her shoulders, green eyes. Ears pierced, but no nose ring or eyebrow piercing. She'd had a quick look for tattoos and hadn't found any. It was her body. Her body and she didn't recognise it at all.

Bekki turned to face her. "So what do you remember."

"Yeah, real subtle Bek." Davis said nudging his sister.

Bekki ignored him.

Mattie frowned. "I don't know."

Bekki rolled her eyes. "Okay. Quiz time." She looked around her then back at Mattie.

"Who's the funny one in _Friends_?"

"Chandler."

"Gwen Stefani plays in which band?"

"No Doubt."

"Harry Potter is?"

"A wizard, or a book."

"Dolphins? Mammals or fish?"

"Mammals."

"Sarah Michelle Geller is best know for?"

"_Buffy the Vampire Slayer_."

"Which is? Good, bad, indifferent?"

"Good."

"Dogs or cats?"

"Dogs."

"Twelve times twelve is?"

"One hundred and forty four."

Bekki leaned back in her chair. "Interesting."

Davis raised his eyebrows. "What is? You have just asked the most random set of questions that I've ever heard of."

"They are not random, dearest brother." Bekki told him. "Just because you can not see the logical thought that resides within them."

"Bek you're talking bull shit again." Davis said

"Davis!" Bill called from the other room.

"Sorry, Dad." Davis yelled back. He grinned at Mattie. "Teachers hearing."

Mattie nodded. She was going to have to agree with Davis on this one. Bekki's questions had only managed to further confuse her. How could she quote whole scenes of _Buffy_ yet not know her own surname?

Bekki grinned at Mattie. "Sorry. I don't mean to upset you or anything."

Mattie shook her head. "You didn't. Maybe you could spring some more of those quizzes on me. Find out what I _do_ know."

Bekki nodded in agreement and smiled knowingly at her brother. "See. She knows genius when she sees it."

Davis rolled his eyes at Bekki and turned to Mattie. "So, tomorrow, do you want to go out to where we found you? See if anything there sparks off a memory?"

"Where we found you?" Bekki exclaimed. "Make her sound like a lost puppy or something why don't you. Well done Mr Sensitive."

"Well how else should I put it? And I think that you're fantastic round of questions has already cleared the way of any sensitivity."

"My questions were thought up with great care and attention."

"Yes, because the most important thing to remember is if you enjoy _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. Not say, who the President is."

"_Buffy_ is an amazing show."

"The quality of the show was never in question. Just the quality of your questions."

Mattie got up and went to the kitchen to grab a drink. Bill was already in there.

"Those two driving you insane yet?" He asked.

Mattie looked back at the twins who were still arguing. She shook her head. "Not really. Maybe I have brothers and sisters." She frowned. "It feels normal."

X

Mattie lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. She liked the Masters. Bill and Mel were fun to be with, hardly like parents at all. Not that she really had anything to compare them to. Did she have parents? Were they nice? Did they beat her on regular occasions? Did she have any brothers or sisters? She had the feeling she did, but she didn't know why. Was it possible that she was one half of a twin? Surely she'd know if she was. Weren't they meant to have some sort of twin sense? Was her other half out there even now, searching everywhere for her? Desperate about her? Was there no one there? No one at home? No one to care where she was or what she was up to? Was she married? There was a scary thought. Married with children. Who were worried about her.

She sighed and rolled over, trying to get some sleep. She had told Mel that she would go to bed early. But Bekki and Davis had got her involved in their play station game and she'd been there most of the night. The twins were full of energy and seemed happiest when they were squabbling about something. And that felt normal. To have people around her bickering about something. It felt… Right. She got the feeling that she was normally involved in the petty fights. At the edge of her mind she could feel the bubble of a memory. She reached for it and it floated away again.

She sighed in frustration, balling and un-balling her fists. She had nearly had it that time, she was sure of it.

Maybe where she saw where Davis and Mel had found her. Perhaps she'd just hit her head right outside her house. She'd see it, remember it and then she would suddenly remember her life again.

X

The next day, led by the twins, Mattie made her way along the street.

"Here?" She asked Davis.

He shook his head and moved her up to the next house. "Right here. Just outside this one. But there's no one in. We knocked when we found you."

"We could try again." Bekki said.

Mattie nodded and made her way to the front door. She rang the doorbell. There was no answer. So this wasn't her home then. Unless she lived here by herself. What if she did? What if this was her house and she was the only one with a key to it. Where was that key now?

"No luck?" Bekki asked as Mattie headed back to them.

"We can try again later." Davis offered.

"You can stay with us anyway." Bekki told her. "Mom said you can stay as long as you need to."

Mattie gave her a warm smile. "Thanks. I don't want to cause any hassle, but… I literally have nowhere else to go."

Bekki grinned at her. "Hospitality is us. If you can put up with that over there, you can put up with anything."

"Don't mind my baby sister." Davis replied. "She's just bitter that I am the chosen first born. So sad when jealously causes such rot."

"Only by 36 minutes." Bekki told him. "I don't consider that much of a head start."

"Ah, it's enough for me." Davis told her, patting her on the head.

"Do you two ever stop?" Mattie asked. "Or do you just enjoy the sound of your own voices?"

The twins exchanged glances.

"She might be extracting the Michael from us." Davis said.

"She's taking the piss." Bekki told him.

Mattie just grinned at them.

The twins linked arms with her and marched down the road.

"Where are we going?" Mattie asked.

"To see the sights." Bekki told her. "Maybe something in this delightful little backwater that we like to call home, will jog your memory."


	4. Trip Down Memory Lane

Hey guys. Been a while but I'm back now and I brought T-Shirts for everybody! I was on a really down kick. Like, I suck and there are much better writers out there, why should I bother, I'm so bad… It went on and on and on. But then I was like, get over it. So I did. And now I'm just writing cause I like it. And if you all hate me then I don't care. So there. (little voice 'please don't hate me)

**Agent G** – the guys at the house had nothing to do with Mattie. They were just random thugs who thought they'd do a spot of breaking and entering. And did Mattie ever pick the wrong time. Man her and her timing!

**Matt **– Extracting the Michael is the long form of taking the Mick. Taking extracting. Mick Michael. Mattie is taking the piss. ;o)

**Vicious Assassin** – I know. Poor old Mattie. But what has happened to her friends? I know I know I know… But I'm not going to tell you. Not just yet anyway.

**Lulai** – I have the same problem. Lucky me I know quite a bit about the X-Men in the comic universe. And I've read loads and loads of X-Men Evo fan fictions and pretty much picked it up from there. Hurry up and write more about Fiona!

**GothickStrawberry **– I hope the rest of the story fulfils your expectations.

**Redangels –** Frown all you want. But I know the rest of the story, I know the rest of the story, I know the rest of the story. does a little war dance

I'll tell you eventually, you know I will. But not here. You have to keep on reading.

I don't own the X-Men, just Mattie

**Trip Down Memory Lane**

Mattie looked around her as Bekki dragged her determinedly through the mall.

She had been staying with the Masters family for just over a week now. And she was no closer to knowing who she was. She was no closer to know if Mattie was even her name. What if it was the name of her boyfriend or something?

They'd had taken her to the hospital for a check up, where they had simply repeated what Mel had already told her. Her memory would most likely return of its own accord and she shouldn't try to force it.

Mel had insisted on buying Mattie some clothes. So far she had been borrowing some of Bekki's things. But Bekki was a full head taller than Mattie. Mattie had mentioned the possibility that she might be from a race of pigmy's. Besides that, Bekki's taste in clothes was obscure to say the least.

Today she was wearing green cut off leggings with an orange shirt over a pink tube top. She looked great. Sadly, Mattie, dressing in blue, yellow and purple couldn't pull it off in the same way.

She let Bekki drag her into the closest store, promising herself that she would repay the Masters just as soon as she had the money to do so. Who knew, maybe she was some totally filthy rich person.

Bekki had already bought her several outfits, and seemed determined to keep on spending. She held various tops up against Mattie to see how they looked, and then became distracted with clothes for herself.

Mattie wandered off on her own, looking at the range of clothing and wondering if she owned any of it already. If she was rich then maybe she never bought of the rack. On the other hand she might be dirt poor and make her own.

"Mattie!" She heard Bekki exclaimed behind her. "That is like the tenth time! Every store we go into you head towards the jeans."

"Don't you start on me too." Mattie sighed.

Bekki grabbed hold of her and whirled her round. "Who else said that to you?" She demanded staring hard at Mattie.

"I…" Mattie clutched at the memory and it floated out of her reach. "Damn it! I had it!"

Bekki sighed and let go of Mattie's shoulders.

"Damn it!" Mattie kicked the wall in frustration. "It was right there. I was so close!"

X

They gave up on the shopping after that. Mattie was in no mood to concentrate on anything.

They met up with Davis in the food court.

Bekki bounced up to her brother and grabbed a handful of his fries. "Mattie had a memory." She told him.

Davis looked up at Mattie. "Really? What of?"

Mattie shrugged as she slipped into a seat. "Nothing much, Bekki was teasing me about my love of jeans and it reminded me of someone saying something similar."

Davis raised an eyebrow. "Cool. So?"

Mattie shrugged again. "So nothing, that's it. It vanished the moment that I realised what it was." She sighed and then looked at Davis. "How'd you get on? You get anything?"

Davis shook his head. "No money. Not if I want to go and see Green Day when they tour here."

Mattie mad a mental note that she knew who Green Day were and liked them.

"I was just doing window shopping for our birthday." Davis continued.

Bekki looked up. "Yeah. That's only a few months off now. Seen anything you like?"

Davis nodded. "Couple of things that I nearly bought. If I had the funds of course."

Mattie looked puzzled. "You buy your own presents."

Bekki grinned at her. "Of course. How else do we make sure we get the right thing? I buy mine. Davis buys his. Then we give them to each other to wrap. Come our birthday we know we're going to be getting at least one present we want."

Mattie laughed. "Okay, I know I'm memory loss girl, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it's done."

"It's how it should be done." Bekki told her.

"We're planning to launch the idea in a few years time." Davis told her with a grin.

"Hello gang." A voice interrupted them.

Mattie looked up to see a tall, well built, blonde guy staring at them. His friends stood just behind him.

"Williams." Davis replied frostily.

"Masters." The guy responded. "Bek." He winked at her, she glared back at him. "And you." He grinned at Mattie. "I don't think I know you."

"Lucky her." Davis muttered.

Williams ignored him and held out his hand to Mattie. "I'm Ben Williams."

Mattie shook his hand. "Mattie."

"Cute name for a chick." Ben told her, holding onto her hand, despite Mattie's subtle attempts to claim it back.

"Come on, let's go." Bekki said getting to her feet.

"Beks, leaving so soon." Ben whined. "And I haven't even got to know your friend."

Mattie sized Ben up. Jock, who thought that he ruled the world. Davis clearly had problems with him, and Bekki was keen to make an exit.

"Some other time." She said finally managing to pull her hand out of his.

"Sure." He replied, watching her as she followed Davis and Bekki out of the food court.

"He is such a jerk." Bekki was saying as Mattie caught up with them. "Just because he's popular in school he thinks he's Gods gift."

Davis nodded his agreement. "I can't wait for him to graduate and realise that being good at basket ball means nothing outside of school."

"Unless you go pro." Mattie felt compelled to point out.

Davis and Bekki exchanged glances. "Na!"

They headed to the cinema to waste some time watching a film. Mattie settled back into her chair in the darkness and pretended that she knew exactly who she was.

X

After the film Mattie and the twins decided to walk home. The late afternoon bus service was running one an hour. And they couldn't be bothered to wait that long.

"Besides." Bekki added. "It's not like it's far or anything."

"Nothing is far in this town." Davis grumbled.

"Nothing to do, nothing to see." Bekki moaned.

They rounded the corned and found Ben Williams and his mates loitering there.

"We meet again." Ben cried, springing to his feet and giving a wide grin to both Mattie and Bekki. "Just couldn't bear to be parted from me, hu girls?"

"Right." Mattie groaned rolling her eyes.

"Let's go." Davis said walking past Ben as if he wasn't there.

"Hey now, hang on." Ben grabbed hold of Bekki's arm and pulling her up short. "Don't go."

"Hey!" Bekki tried to pull free from Ben.

Davis turned with a snarl. "Let go of my sister."

"Or you'll do what?" Ben asked, dropping Bekki's arm and squaring up to Davis.

Davis narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Come on Masters, let's see what you got."

"You okay?" Mattie asked Bekki.

Bekki nodded. "We have to stop Davis doing something stupid."

Mattie nodded in agreement.

"Just give me an excuse." Davis growled.

"For what?" Ben taunted. "For me to land you on your arse?"

Davis glared at him.

"Davis." Bekki called to him. "Come on lets go."

Davis ignored her.

"Davis, please." Bekki pleaded.

"Davis." Mattie stood with her hands on her hips, like she was reprimanding a small child. "He's not worth it and I want to go home."

Ben turned to glare at her. "Don't make me change my policy on hitting girls."

Mattie flashed him a brilliant smile.

Davis looked back at Bekki and Mattie, trying not to laugh.

"Please." Bekki bit her lip. She did not want to see her brother getting in some stupid fight.

Davis nodded at the girls and relaxed.

Ben chose that moment to land a heavy fist in his face.

Davis staggered under the unexpected blow.

"Davis!" Bekki ran to her twin's side.

"Never lower you guard." Ben chastised Davis, laughing about his victory. The other boys cheered him on. Ben turned to bow to his cheering friends. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and was met with Mattie's right cross.

"Not fair." She told him, as he cradled his face in his hands.

"You hit me!" Ben spluttered angrily, eyeing her warily.

Mattie blew on her knuckles, as though they were a smoking gun. "Yeah."

Mentally she was evaluating Ben, guessing at his strength, the force he could put behind a blow. What were his weaknesses? Where was his power? What would she have to deal with?

"You wanna go?" Davis asked her, slipping into a boxing crouch.

Mattie treated him to a withering smile, she wasn't sure why, but she felt supremely confident. And what was all this stuff in her head? Like the knowledge that Ben favoured his left side, his right was wide open. If she was to step here, and then strike him there… She knew that she could easily win this.

"Davis, you having girls fight your battles now?" Ben called scathingly over the Davis who was holding a hand to his face.

Two steps to the side; position yourself; make sure you weight it on the right foot… Mattie swept Ben's legs out from under him and smiled sweetly down at him as he blinked up at her.

"Honey, this girl is kicking your arse."

The other boys were up now. No longer lounging back and watching.

"Mattie." Bekki called. "Let's go."

Mattie shrugged and nodded. She made her way over to the twins.

"You okay?" She asked Davis. "Hurt?"

He nodded. "Mainly my pride."

Mattie grinned at him. "Best thing to hurt, less obvious bruising."

Someone had told her that once. She reached for the memory and felt it slip though her grasp. Damn it! She was so close.

"Look out!"

She was already reacting before she heard Davis' shout. Ben's punch swung harmlessly past her.

"Didn't I already beat you once?" She asked whirling to face him.

Ben grinned nastily at her. "I _am _going to have to change my policy on hitting girls."

"I feel honoured." Mattie told him, eyeing up the other boys. It was uncanny how she could tell these things. He was to slow; he might have a decent cross on him; that one was fast… How come she could look at a group of boys as see that? Where had she learnt this?

"You've got a smart mouth, you know that." Ben told her.

Mattie grinned. "That's not all I've got." She raised an eyebrow as Ben made an inarticulate noise and charged at her.

Whirling, spinning, and ducking. She avoided and blocked the blows more than attacking. She let the boys do their own fighting. They were uncoordinated and more likely to strike each other than her. Eventually they figured out her tactic and started to watch out for each other. Mattie traded them blow for blow. It was easy, it was like dancing, she didn't even have to concentrate that much, it was just so easy to block them, to react, to defend herself; they all seemed to be so slow. She kept going until, groaning from various bruises, the boys backed off.

Ben glared at her. "This isn't over."

Mattie blew him a kiss as he headed after his mates.

Act tough. Act tough and they won't see how much you're shaking inside. She crossed her arms over her stomach which was doing barrel rolls. Where did she learn that? How did she learn that? Was she violent all the time? What if she was some kind of criminal?

She looked over to Bekki and Davis who where staring at her.

"Mattie..?" Bekki started.

Davis cut her off. "What the fuck was that?"

"I… I don't know." Mattie threw her hands up in despair. "I can't just have amnesia, oh no! I have to have all Street Fighter moves to go with it!" She paced back and forth angrily. "It's like something out of the Bourne Identity! Which I do remember by the way."

Bekki grinned at Mattie. "It was pretty cool when you pounded on him like that."

Mattie hesitantly looked up at her. They didn't think she was a violent psychopath? Some jumped up homicidal killer?

"Let's get home." Davis said, throwing an arm around Mattie and the other one round Bekki. "And no mentioning this to Mon and Dad."

X

Bekki knocked on Davis' door and walked in.

"Hey!" Davis eyed her angrily. "Knock, then wait, then enter."

Bekki waved his comment away. "Whatever." She sat down on his bed. "So?"

"So what?"

"What do you think? About today?"

"The fight?" Davis asked.

Bekki rolled her eyes at him. "Of course the fight." She looked up and eyed him steadily. "You ever seen anyone fight like that?"

"Outside of the TV?" Davis shook his head. "Never. She was amazing."

Bekki nodded. "Where do you think she picked that up from?"

Davis shrugged. "She was pretty freaked though."

On the way home Mattie had ventured several guesses to where she had learnt her fighting skills. They ranged from prison to terrorists. She was taking a dim view on her abilities. The twins had seen how scared she was, and how she was trying to hide it.

"Should we be?" Bekki asked

Davis met her gaze. "Are you?"

Bekki paused for a moment then shook her head. "I trust her."

Davis nodded. "I wish we could think of a way to help her."

"You really like her, hu?"

"Course."

Bekki grinned at her big brother. "No, I mean _really _like her."

Davis frowned. "No I don't."

"Yeah you do." Bekki told him. "I can see it you know."

"Wouldn't matter if I did, anyway." Davis said, ignoring his sisters knowing smile. "She's probably got a boyfriend already."

"You don't know that." Bekki told him.

"Come on Beks. She's gorgeous. Of course she's got a boyfriend."

Bekki leapt to her feet. "I knew you liked her! You think she's gorgeous, you wanna date her, hug her and kiss her."

"Out!" Davis pointed at the door.

Bekki grinned at him as she left.


	5. Finding Out

And I'm back in the game! Thanks for the reviews gang. It feels so good to be writing again. Thank god I got over my writers block! I hate when that happens.

**Matt** – Davis likes Mattie, I never said anything about her feelings towards him. But yeah, she would be pretty upset with herself if anything happened between her and Davis. But will it?

**Vicious Assassin – **I really like the way that Bekki and Davis chat to each other. When ever I write siblings they always come out like that. Kinda teasing each other but loving each other really. Kinda how I am with my brother and sister I guess. (Shhh don't tell them I said that!) I'm glad you liked the fight scene, it was so hard to write, but I think I managed to describe it the way I wanted in the end. Davis and Mattie in a relationship? We'll have to see.

**Redangels – **I know. And don't you just love that film? So good! I'm trying hard not to make this too much like that. But I kinda felt, credit where credit's due.

**Finding Out**

Bobby sat throwing a tennis ball at the wall in the Rec room. _Why hasn't she called?_

Ray looked over from where he sat with Paige on the sofa. He exchanged looks with Sam. The two of them had been taking it in turns to rescue Bobby from his fits of gloom and doom.

Sam raised a hand. "I got it." Got up and headed over the Bobby.

"You okay, Man?"

Bobby looked up at Sam, gave him a look that said it all, and went back to throwing and catching the tennis ball.

Sam just waited.

"Why hasn't she called?" Bobby asked at last.

Sam sighed, here we go again.

"I don't want to be all needy." Bobby continued. "But really, would one phone call really be that much to ask?"

"She'll call you." Sam told him.

"When?" Bobby asked.

Sam shrugged. "At least you know she's having a good time, right?"

X

"I don't like this."

Mattie stood with her arms cross glaring at Bekki.

"Mattie you are going out." Bekki told her, glaring back at her. "Forcing isolation on yourself is not the way to handle this."

Mattie had spent three days in the house. Scared to leave in case she attacked someone. Maybe she was a hired assassin. Maybe she had a history of violence. Maybe she was an army sleeper agent. One wrong word and she would go on a major killing spree.

Bekki wasn't taking no for an answer. "We are going out." She told Mattie firmly. "We are going to AD and we are going to have a good time."

"AD?" Mattie asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Angels and Demons." Bekki filled her in. "It's a club, they play good music. The name is kind of on the lame side. So mostly we just call it AD."

"A club?"

Bekki grinned at her. "Yes, a club, music, dancing, fun."

Mattie opened her mouth to protest.

"And don't tell me that you don't dance, because I saw you throwing yourself round the room to my No Doubt CD the other day."

Mattie shut her mouth.

Bekki grinned again as she headed out the door. "You've got two hours to get ready."

Mattie stood sulking for a while. She really did want to go out. She was climbing the walls in the house. But what if she hurt someone? How could she live with herself? She hadn't mentioned to the twins that she did fifty press-ups every morning. She didn't know why, she just did it. After the fight with Ben and the other boys she had started adding kick boxing to her daily ritual. Her brain might not know who she was, but her body knew what it needed to stay in shape.

But she did want out of this house. It was driving her crazy. She got the feeling that she was not someone who could just sit around doing nothing for days on end. She wanted to be up and doing things. _What things?_ She asked herself, immediately starting to worry again. What was it that she normally did? Kill people? Collect loan money? Handle mobsters? Help people? That didn't sound very likely. She was too young to be in the FBI or the CIA or the police. So it looked like she was juvenile delinquent material. Great. _Can't wait for that memory to come back_.

"Mattie!" Bekki yelled up the stairs at her. "Get moving!"

In the meantime. It looked like she was going dancing.

X

"How can she do it?" Bekki asked, flopping into the seat next to Davis.

Davis shrugged, watching Mattie.

The three of them had met up with some of Bekki and Davis' mates at AD. Bekki had introduced Mattie as one of her friends down to visit. Mattie had thrown herself into the dancing, and hadn't left the dance floor.

"I'm tired just watching her." Sally added, grinning at Bekki.

Bekki nodded in agreement. Mattie looked like she could dance all night, she danced well, and she wasn't short of admirers. Which went a long way to explaining Davis' scowl and dark looks.

"You could go and dance too." She suggested quietly.

Davis shook his head. Not even bothering to turn to her.

Bekki sighed, her brothers crushes were his own problem. She grinned at Sally. "Dance?"

Sally grinned back. "You know it!"

Davis watched them go. He wished he could get up and dance. He did normally. But having Mattie around made him self-conscience. He worried about what she would think about his dancing. In the end he had just decided to sit it out.

He scowled at himself. This was ridiculous. Mattie was great. She made him laugh, she was great fun to be around, when she wasn't worrying. She was really scared about who she was. He had tried to explain to her that she might just have taken kickboxing lessons. But she wouldn't have any of it. She seemed convinced that she was some hired gun or something equally terrible. This might explain her lack of memories in that last few days. Before the fight she had been remembering things almost daily. Now, nothing for days. She wasn't trying to remember.

Davis shook his head. He was sure that Mattie hadn't been a killer or anything of the sort. She just couldn't have been.

X

They arrived home late. Giggling and laughing. Bill gave them a grin as he headed up the stairs. Not that he had been waiting up for them or anything. The twins teased him.

Mattie smiled. It was nice to know that Mel and Bill were looking out for them.

Still to hyper to sleep they decided to chill out by watching some _Buffy_. In honour of Mattie they chose _Tubular Rasa. _

"I wish my amnesia was down to magic." Mattie sighed from where they sat on the floor, surrounded by all the junk food that they could find.

"Yeah, but at least you didn't name yourself Joan." Davis pointed out, through a mouthful of Doritos.

"Man's got a point." Bekki said.

"Good point, very good point." Mattie agreed giving him a high five.

X

None of them surfaced until after twelve the next day. Davis was up first. He arrived back home as Bekki and Mattie were eating their breakfast like it was going out of fashion.

"Wow!" Bekki held up her hand as if to ward off the glare of Davis' hair. He had re-dyed it. So it was an even brighter blonde that before. "I'm going to need sunglasses around you."

Davis gave her a dry look. "Funny."

"Thank you." Bekki replied straightening under his praise.

"Plans for the day?" Mattie asked.

"Oh?" Bekki asked. "Has little miss stay home decided to venture out?"

Mattie glared at her over her cereal.

"I'm not going to the Mall." Davis said falling into a chair.

Bekki screwed up her face in concentration.

"I love when she does that." Davis muttered to Mattie. "You can almost hear the cogs if you listen hard enough."

A pop tart hit him square in the chest.

"Score!" Davis bit into it happily.

X

In the end they decided on a game of Baseball. With bat, ball and catchers mitt, they headed down the road to the field.

The main pitch was being used by the local school little league, but the rest of the field was free.

Davis set himself up as pitcher, while Mattie took the bat. Bekki groaned about being the catcher, complaining that she'd be the one doing all the running.

They took it in turn to play each position, playing long after the little league had headed home.

"Couple more swings and I'm ready to head home." Davis said squinting into the setting sun, as Bekki shifted her position and let the ball fly.

He cracked the bat against the ball and saw it go soaring off into the distance. Mattie rolled her eyes and took off after the ball. "I got it!"

Keeping her focus on the ball she raced down the field. She was going to catch it. If it rolled too far it would end up in the ditch, just before the fence at the bottom of the field. A ditch complete with brambles. She had already scratched her legs five times; she was not going for six.

Chasing after the ball she leapt up and snatched it out of the air. She turned and waved it triumphantly at the twins.

Bekki stepped closer to Davis. "Did you just see what I just saw?" She asked nervously.

"You mean did I just see Mattie run faster than humanly possible?" Davis asked back. "Yeah. I saw."

"Oh." Bekki said. "Good."

Mattie jogged up to them. "Caught it. No more bramble scratches for me."

Bekki forced a grin onto her face.

Mattie frowned at her. "Beks? What's up?"

"Hu?" Bekki managed a better smile. "Nothing."

"Mattie, do me a favour." Davis said, taking the ball from her. "Fetch this for me." And with that he hoisted the ball into the air, swung the bat and sent it flying across the field.

Mattie gave him a puzzled look then took off after the ball. What that hell was that about anyway? Making her run for no reason? Shaking her head she increased her speed, straining to catch up with the ball. Watching it arch across the sky she realised she was level with it. Way to go her, pretty fast! She kept going and came to the sudden realisation that she was now in front of the ball. Out in front of it. Out distancing it. Faster than it.

"What the?" She stopped. Watched the ball come flying towards her, reached out and snapped it out of the air.

Turning she looked back at the twins. They were staring back at her. Carefully and slowly she walked back to them.

"You guys saw that?"

They nodded.

"I was ahead of the ball."

Again they nodded.

"That's not possible."

Again a nod.

"That's not _humanly_ possible."

This time the twins just watched her.

Mattie paused, taking deep calming breaths. "So that would make me… not human?"

"Mattie" Bekki started, but Mattie cut her off.

"And if I'm not human, that would make me a mutant right?"

"Mattie" Davis tried.

"No!" Mattie held up a hand to silence him. "I'm right. No one human can run like that." She looked at the end of the field, to the fence that surrounded it. "I bet no human could do this."

In a blur she was gone. A coloured streak heading to the far end of the field. The blur turned into Mattie at the far end of the field. They saw her hit the fence with the flat of her hand. She was halfway back across the field before they heard the slap of her hand on the fence.

She came to a stop back in front of them again.

"So." Mattie carried on in a steady voice that was belied by the tears forming in her eyes. "I think we've established something here." She clenched her fists, forcing herself to continue. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I'm a…" Taking another deep breath she forced herself to say it. "I'm a mutant." She gave the twins a wild smile. "Like my life wasn't fucked up enough already!"

"Mattie." Bekki stepped up to her.

"Don't touch me!" Mattie stepped back. "Just don't…"

Bekki gave her a look and then suddenly lunged. Mattie found herself wrapped in a protective hug. Bekki gave her a tight squeeze. "It's going to be okay." She whispered in Mattie's ear.

"How?" Mattie mumbled back, the tears that he been threatening, finally starting to spill.

"Because it will." Bekki told her. "Let's go home. Okay?"

Mattie nodded, wiping her eyes and allowing Bekki to lead her back to the house. Davis stepped up to walk along side her; he put an arm around Mattie, who was shaking.

X

Back at the house Bekki pushed Mattie into a chair and told her to stay there. The twins had an urgent meeting in the kitchen.

"So?" Davis hissed.

"So what?" Bekki shot back. "First she shows up with no memory, then the fighting, now this." She shook her head. "I'd be going crazy if I were her."

Davis nodded in agreement. "You okay with this?"

"The mutant thing?" Bekki shrugged. "I guess I have to be. She's our friend. I know we've known her less than two weeks but she's still our friend. And she needs our help."

In the living room, Mattie had pulled herself into a ball, she couldn't think, couldn't process thoughts. She just sat, shaking.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

AN. Okay, so I'm hoping that I got all the Baseball stuff right. I'm English and really have no idea what I'm talking about. So if there is anything totally totally wrong then please let me know so that I can change it. I'm hoping that I got it right, it's just like cricket right! ;o)


	6. Reactions

Hello there gang.

**Matt – **Thanks for the help with the Baseball stuff. I am reading your story. And man do you have a load of new chapters! I forget to read for like a week and you put up 15 or something crazy like that. Love Mally though, so I can't wait to find out what's gonna happen. I promise to review soon. I was reading your story at work (very bad) and so I couldn't. But I will soon. And it will be all good.

**GothickStrawberry** – Bad feelings over Mattie and Davis? Yeah I can relate. I want to just shake her and tell her about Bobby and how great he is. But that's not how the story goes.

**Agent G – **This town is close but not that close to Mattie's home town, so not everyone would have heard about her amazing speed abilities. And Bekki and Davis certainly had no idea who she was. Glad you thought it was the right time for her powers to show up. Mattie has to concentrate on her speed, like Kitty concentrates on her phasing. So it wouldn't show up until she was trying to run. Poor Mattie, she's really suffering at the moment.

**Reactions **

When Mattie woke it was dark. She lay in bed and knew she was in the wrong room. The window was in the wrong place, and the bed faced the wrong way. _So how should it look?_ She asked herself. The memory slipped away like a dream.

She lay in bed in the dark. She vaguely remembered Bekki putting her to bed. She wouldn't have thought that she could sleep, but her body had obviously had other ideas. Now she was awake, and her brain was racing again. Round and round and round and round. What was she? Who was she?

She got up. She wasn't going to get back to sleep so lying here torturing herself wasn't going to do any good.

She headed down to kitchen and made herself hot chocolate, being a quiet as she could.

A footstep behind her made her jump.

Davis grinned at her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Did I wake you?"

He shook his head. "Couldn't sleep. Heard you get up."

Mattie nodded and sat down at the breakfast bar. Davis seated himself across from her.

"Want to talk about it?"

Mattie shook her head, her grip on the mug tightening.

"Okay." Davis held up his hand to placate her. "We don't have to."

Mattie nodded. "I just… don't." She said.

Davis nodded.

They sat in silence.

"It's just not fair!" Mattie burst out, like she couldn't contain it any more.

Davis regarded her steadily.

"I mean what did I ever do to deserve this?" Mattie asked, her worlds spilling out of her now. "Was I some terrible person in another life? Did I cause death and destruction wherever I went? What? What did I do to deserve this? Am I being punished? Cause I've had it. I can't take anymore of it. I'll go mad!"

She jumped off her stool and started to pace back and forth. "If I have to be some inhuman mutant terrorist then so be it. But at least give me my memories back. Let me remember something, anything. Just a glimpse of my life. I can't have been evil for ever. There must be something there. Some good thing that I did."

Her pacing became more frenzied, she raked her hand threw her hair, her voice throbbing with distress. "Maybe I helped an old lady across the street. Maybe I stopped a kitten from drowning." Her voice wavered as she fought her hysterics. "Thought that a rainbow looked pretty! Something! Anything!"

"Mattie." Davis stood up, standing in her way and blocking her path.

Mattie ploughed into him. She stared up at his face, her own face frantic with worry. "Something, Davis. I must have done something that wasn't maiming or killing."

"Mattie, I don't believe that you could hurt anyone."

Mattie stepped past him to begin pacing again. "How can you say that? You saw what I did to Ben and the others. You don't think I'm fully capable of putting them in a hospital?"

"Yes, but so am I." Davis watched her pace. "I could take a gun and kill people. That doesn't mean that I will."

Mattie shook her head. "That's not the same. I hurt those boys. Me, I did that."

"And Ben hurt me." Davis pointed out. "Does that make him a killer? Does that make him a monster? A jumped up bully, yes. But a killer? No."

"And what about me being a mutant?" She fired at him. "You going to explain that one away as well? You've seen the news, same as me. They're terrorists. They hurt and kill people."

Davis shook his head. "I think that people are what people make them. If you treat people like animals, then of course they are going to turn around and bite you."

"So I'm an animal now?"

"You know that is not what I meant."

Mattie stopped pacing for a second to meet his eye. "I don't care how you wrap it up in pretty wording. You can't change the facts."

"No I can't." Davis agreed with her. "The fact is that you are an astonishing young woman with amazing gifts, and I'm not just talking about the ones you demonstrated today."

Mattie made an exasperated noise.

"Mattie, you are smart, and clever and funny, and fantastically talented."

"And that all counts for shit, cause I'm a freak. Fact."

"Alright you want facts." Davis shot back at her. "Fact one, you lost your memory. Fact two, you can fight. Fact three, you are a mutant. Fact four, you have never once threatened either myself, Bekki, or either of my parents. Fact five, you have actually defended Bekki and myself. Fact six, you have had ample opportunity to harm people around you and you have never shown the slightest inclination to do so. So cut out all this bull shit about being a killer. Because I am getting sick and tired of hearing about it!"

Mattie whirled to fact him, her eyes blazing. "What do you know? You can't tell me how to feel, or what I should do! I'm scared. I'm fucking terrified! And all you can do is tell me to get over it!" She glared at him. "Well screw you!"

She marched out the kitchen and Davis stepped in front of her, blocking her exit.

She looked up at him, anger and hatred clearly evident in her eyes. "Get. Out. My. Way."

"Make me."

"I could put you in a hospital in a second!"

"Do it then." Davis stood unmoving, watching her steadily. "You think you're a killer? Prove it."

Mattie's jaw clenched. "Don't tempt me."

"Consider me Satan." Davis replied.

"Just move!" Mattie wailed, collapsing against his chest with a cry of frustration, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Davis wrapped his arms protectively around her, stroking her hair gently. "Shhhh, it's alright, it's okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Mattie clung to him like a child, pouring out all her pent up feelings in one go.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Davis told her over and over again. Inside he was elated. He'd pushed Mattie just as far as he could and she'd snapped. And she hadn't lashed out. She hadn't struck him. If this didn't prove she wasn't violent then he didn't know what did.

Mattie sobbed into his shirt; he could feel her hot tears soaking his shirt. She was shaking again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He told her. Dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

She sniffed and looked up at him with teary eyes. She swallowed and gave him a watery smile.

Before he knew what he was doing Davis had planted a kiss on her forehead.

Mattie's eyes flew up to meet his. She froze in his arms.

"Sorry." Davis let her go and stepped away from her. "I couldn't help myself."

Mattie nodded, rubbing the spot where he'd kissed her. "Thank you." She said at last. "For talking to me. I needed that."

Davis nodded. "Anytime."

"I'd better get back to bed." Mattie said, making her way across the room. At the door she looked back at him. Davis smiled at her and Mattie gave him a half smile in return.

Davis watched her as she moved out of sight.

"Fuck!"

X

Bekki tore out the house grabbing her brother on route.

"Bekki! What are you doing?" Davis demanded as he found himself in the back garden.

"Using my head. Which is a lot more than can be said for you." She snapped back at him. "Mattie's in the shower so we've got about ten minuets to talk this through."

"Talk what through? Bekki what is going on?"

"We need to talk about Mattie."

"What about Mattie?"

Bekki stared at him as though he was stupid. "Maybe I was the only one who saw that little demonstration yesterday then."

"Bek, we talked about this." Davis said. "Mattie needs us."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Bekki glared at him. "Think with your brain rather than another part of your anatomy would you!"

Davis blushed and grinned.

"This is not funny! I'm serious! We need to think this through."

"Think what through? Bekki you're not making any sense."

"She's a mutant. And there are entire crack squadrons of government agents, just spending their time hunting mutants. And do you know what happens to people who harbour mutants?"

Davis didn't reply.

"Well they don't get a great big reward!" Bekki told him.

"So what? You want to throw her out onto the streets?"

"Of course not!" Bekki replied. "I'm just saying that we need to be damn sure what we are getting ourselves involved in. This is serious, Davis."

Davis nodded his agreement.

"We need to tell Mom and Dad and we need to be sure that we all know what we're doing."

"What are we doing?" Davis asked her.

"Helping out our friend of course." Bekki told him, heading back into the house.

X

Mattie sat in her room thinking. Davis had kissed her. Not on the lips or anything. But it was a definite kiss. One with feelings behind it. And now she had to work out how she felt about that. How she felt about him. Except that she couldn't. She liked Davis, he and his family had been good to her. And she certainly didn't find him ugly. But when he'd kissed her, she had felt such a strong feeling in her gut. Her body had reacted so badly.

She was slowly coming to trust her body. Her mind might not know what was going on, but you couldn't get anything past her body. It was screaming at her to wake up and get a grip on her life. And she was trying.

So when her gut told her in no uncertain terms that Davis kissing her was bad, she believed it. She just wished that she knew what it meant.

X

"Hey, man. We're going to shoot some hoops, you in?" Sam asked swinging open the door to his and Bobby's room.

Bobby was throwing things into a backpack.

"What ya doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm going to see Mattie." Bobby told him, not looking up from his packing.

"Okay." Sam watched him. "And you think this is the right move?"

"She said to come down a couple of days early." Bobby said. "So I am."

"And by a couple of days, she meant two weeks into her holiday?"

"Couple of days early." Bobby repeated.

"And you don't think that the two of you could use the alone time?" Sam asked. "I mean, you do kinda live in each others pockets."

"She'll want to see me." Bobby said.

Sam wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.

"Why don't you call her first? Check that this is okay."

"I can't." Bobby told him. "I don't have the number. If I did I'd have called her by now."

"Bobby, what if she's just having a good time hanging with the girls? You really want to go and mess that up?"

Bobby suddenly looked up and fixed his gaze on Sam. "I'm worried, okay Sam. I just want to know that she's okay. If I get there and she's fine then I'll leave. But I just have this feeling that something is wrong, and I can't leave it for another week."

Sam regarded him for a while. "Okay then. What you going to say to the Professor?"

"That Mattie asked me to go and join her." Bobby told him. "It's the truth."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "It is odd that she hasn't called you."

Bobby stared out the window, and then shouldered his backpack. "I just want to know that she's safe."


	7. Explanations

**GothickStrawberry** – (hugs gothickstrawberry back) You got talent! The whole Davis and Mattie thing even had me worried for a while. But it's all okay now. And he did kinda give her a taking to that she needed. So well done Davis. I really like Davis and I'm feeling a little bit guilty for making you all hate him. I'll have to make him be super duper nice from now on. (maybe)

**Matt –**It's official. I love you! I was so so so worried about that line. I was like 'no ones going to get it, no one will like it, they'll think I'm trying to convert them to religion and stuff.' The trouble with going to two Christian schools, I know all this bible stuff. And I was really nervous about it. And you mentioned it in your review! So thank you thank you thank you.

**Agent G** – Yeah this is a different town. It's close to Mattie's home town, but not that close. The girls chose to go there for their holiday so that it was kinda getting away from it all. And not much travelling expense.

**ViciousAssassin – **Bobby finding Mattie and Davis kissing? Interesting idea. I kinda have an idea for that already. We'll just have to see how it goes.

And now let's have a round of applause for Mattie's body, for knowing that she loves Bobby. You just gotta love that snowball.

**Explanations**

Mattie lay on the bed, reading her book. She'd read the same page eight times. Downstairs she could hear the rumble of voices as Bekki and Davis told their parents that she was a mutant.

They'd decided that it was best for Mattie to sit this conversation out. They hadn't said it, but Mattie knew that the twins were worried about their parent's reactions. She was worried too. She liked the Masters. They were good people. But how would they react to having a mutant sheltering under their roof?

She had heard the voices rise and fall. Now there was just a low murmuring. She didn't know if that was a good thing or bad.

Abruptly there was a knock at the door. She looked up, expecting to see either Bekki or Davis.

Mel opened the door and entered, followed by Bill.

Mattie sat up, instantly alert and watchful. She swallowed nervously. "Hi."

Mel smiled warmly at her. "How are you feeling?"

Still wary, Mattie gave her a smile. "You mean after finding out that I'm a freak of nature? Surprisingly okay. I mean, this can't have been the first time that my power manifested itself. Cause I instinctively knew how to use it. So that means that I was definitely using it before I became amnesia girl. And I'm babbling now…" She trailed off.

She saw Bill nudge Mel and mouth 'manifested' at her with both his eyebrows raised. He turned his grin on Mattie and winked at her.

Despite her nerves Mattie giggled at Bill's teasing.

Mel was running her eyes over Mattie in fascination, her curious doctor's mind already at work.

Mattie took a breath. "I'm sorry that I've landed all this on you. I can leave."

"Not to put to fine a point on it. But, where would you go?" Bill asked.

Mattie shrugged. "I… I guess I hadn't got that far. But I will go. I know this changes things."

"Nothing changes." Bill told her. "Except that I have renewed respect for my children. They are being extremely grown-up about all this. And demonstrating a tolerance that few adults I know posses."

Mel smiled and nodded her agreement. "Please don't feel that you have to leave us. We're all the same on the inside." She frowned slightly. "At least I think we are. Hmm, interesting."

Bekki bounced through the door and rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her; she's going into mad scientist mode. If she asks to dissect you, just say no."

Mattie grinned.

Mel glared at her daughter. "Bekki!"

"Well you were." Bekki retorted. "You can't fool me, Mom." She turned to Mattie. "They've told you that you're not going anywhere, right?"

Mattie nodded. Talk about luck. _I'm not sure that I trust mutants and I am one._ How she'd managed to find others willing to trust her was beyond her.

X 

Bobby looked at the scrap of paper in his hand. Looked at the map, then looked up and the house again.

This was the right address. This was the right house, according to the map. So why was no one answering?

He knocked on the door again and rang the bell. Now he was really starting to worry. No word from Mattie. No answer to his knocking. Where was she?

Turning he made his way back to his car. He sighed. "What now?"

Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he rang the number for the Institute.

"Ja?" He heard Kurt pick up.

"Kurt! Perfect! Listen I need you to go by my room and grab Mattie's address off my notice board."

"Why?" Kurt asked puzzled.

"I'll explain later." Bobby told him. "Just get it!"

"Okay, okay. Hold on."

Bobby could have sworn that he heard the bamf of Kurt's teleportation.

"Okay. I got it." Kurt told him.

"Great." Bobby scrabbled around in his glove box for a pen and paper. "Read it out to me."

X 

Half an hour later he found himself standing outside Mattie's house.

_Come on Drake. _He psyched himself up. _You've faced Magneto; you've faced Logan on a bad day. You can do this._

He really couldn't. Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door before he lost his nerve.

It was answered by a man with dark hair and with a pair of familiar green eyes. This had to be Mattie's dad.

"Can I help you?"

"Mr Drew?" Bobby asked.

The man nodded. "Yes."

"Is Mattie here?"

Bobby saw Mr Drew stiffen.

"No she is not." He narrowed his eyes at Bobby, clearly not liking what he saw. "What do you want with my daughter?"

"My name is Bobby Drake." Bobby held out his hand. "I'm at the Xavier Institute with you daughter."

"Bobby?" Mr Drew shook his hand, frowning over the name that he clearly recognised. "Bobby?"

"I'm Mattie's boyfriend." Bobby said.

"Ah." Mr Drew nodded, looking Bobby up and down again. He was clearly not satisfied with what he saw. Then he looked concerned. "Don't you know where she is?"

"I know where she's meant to be." Bobby told him.

Mr Drew looked alarmed, then stepped aside waving Bobby in. "Come in."

Bobby walked into the living room, where Mr Drew took a seat and motioned for him to take one too.

"I thought that Mattie was staying with friends from school." Mr Drew said.

Bobby nodded. "That's what I thought. But I haven't heard from her in two weeks and just now I went to the address she said she was staying at and there's no one there."

Mr Drew looked more and more alarmed.

"I was hoping that she'd called you." Bobby said

Mr Drew shook his head. "I thought it was odd that she hadn't rung me. We usually talk once a week. But sometimes it can be longer." He eyed Bobby resentfully.

Bobby tired not to notice.

"And you say there is no one at the house?" Mr Drew continued.

Bobby shook his head. "Do you have a number for her? Someway we could get hold of her?"

Mr Drew got up and headed into the kitchen, he returned with an address book. "I haven't got around to updating this thing yet. There are numbers of her friends in here." He frowned. "But I'm not sure which ones she went on holiday with."

Bobby nodded. He was willing to bet many of the names in that book now wanted nothing to do with Mattie; the stigma of being a mutant ran deep.

The phone rang and they stared at each other. Mr Drew hurried out into the hall to answer it.

Bobby sat on the sofa, listening intently. He could tell it wasn't Mattie on the phone. Instead he turned his attention to the address book.

_She mentioned a Tara_. Bobby thought, opening the book and flicking through it. Mattie had been very scathing of Tara's list of activities. Claiming that she'd be suffering in the Danger room for weeks after all the inactivity.

Mr Drew was still on the phone, talking to who ever it was.

Bobby found Tara's name. At least he hoped it was her. Mattie might have had a dozen friends called Tara. On the other hand it wasn't the most popular name. He was willing to chance it.

He pulled out his cell and dialled the number.

"Hello." A male voice answered

"Can I speak to Tara please?" Bobby asked

"Sure." The guy grunted. "Tara! I'm not your bloody answering service."

"Whatever!" Bobby heard a girl shout. "Hey?"

"Hi." Bobby stumbled suddenly not sure how to start. _Have you seen my girlfriend? _"I'm Mattie Drew's boyfriend. I just went to the house you guys were staying in and no one's there."

"What?" Tara asked her voice light and bubbly. Ray would have said ditzy. "Oh you mean where we were having our holiday thing. Yeah that didn't work out."

"What?"

"It was, like totally not working. So we had to cancel. I emailed Mattie to let her know. She didn't tell you?"

"Mattie knew that you weren't going to be there?"

"Yeah, I emailed her. And I'm pretty sure that I left her a message." Tara told him.

"So she might not have known."

"Well, you know, none of us went. So… you know. I'm sure that she would have figured it out."

Bobby's brain was racing. Mattie had _not_ known that the holiday was cancelled. But if she got to the house and there was no one there, why hadn't she called. Why hadn't she gone home, or back to the Institute? Where was she now?

"Why are you calling me anyway?" Tara asked. "What happened? Did you two have a fight or something?"

"Just checking something." Bobby told her and hung up.

He was past worried now, he was in full blown panic. Mattie must have arrived at the house to find it empty. No girls. So? What would she have done next? Why had they not heard from her in two weeks? She had to have been staying somewhere. But where?

Mr Drew walked back in the room.

"The holiday was cancelled." Bobby told him. "There was no one at the house."

"So where is she?" Mr Drew asked.

"That's what I want to know." Bobby replied.

X

Ben glared at his mate. "You're sure?"

Aaron nodded emphatically. "Dave's little brother saw it all."

Ben transferred his glare to Dave. Dave was to busy opening a bottle of beer to notice

Aaron continued: "He says that the Masters and that girl were on the field and she was running."

Ben rolled his eyes. The other boys grinned dutifully.

Aaron shook his head. "No, I mean running. Running too fast to be human. He says she crossed the field twice in like nothing."

"Mutant." Ben murmured the word as though turning it over for consideration.

"Yeah." Aaron nodded. "A stinking mutant in our town."

"Fucking muties!" Trey spat on the ground to demonstrate his point.

"I knew there was something off about that girl." Ben said. "No girl fights like that. No girl beats me in a fight."

"Yeah, stupid mutie girl." Wayne grunted. "Should have known she was a mutant, way she kicked your arse."

"She didn't!" Ben roared, rounding on him angrily. "I don't beat on girls. I let her win."

The others exchanged glances and mentally rewrote history. It was best to just nod and agree with Ben.

"Still, we should have guessed." Trey said. "No girl can take on all of us like that."

The other boys nodded in agreement

Aaron nodded again. "So what are we going to do?"

"What do you think?" Ben asked them. "I think that we should take care of this little infestation."

The other boys grinned.

"We know where she's staying. We know who she's hanging out with." He scoffed. "Her choice in friends should have been enough of a clue!"

Again the boys laughed dutifully.

"So lets pay are resident mutie lovers a visit. Right boys?"


	8. The Ice Man Cometh

Okay, okay okay. People are screaming at me. I walked in and they were like "WRITE MORE NOW!"

Hey, who am I to argue with that kinda pressure?

**Redangles – **Yeah, I want Bobby to find her too. Don't you think Mr Drew is a sweetie though? After all, Mattie is his only child. I'd be pretty protective too if I were him.

**GothikStrawberry – **Thanks for the long review, I had fun reading it. And I know what you mean about love triangles. Poor Davis, if only he wasn't so nice. Then we could hate him. But then we wouldn't care what happened to him.

**Matt – **I don't know why fathers don't like boyfriends. Maybe they remember what they were like as boyfriends and they don't want any of _that_ going on with their daughter! ;o) But I agree, Bobby should get bonus points for being Bobby.

**Agent G –** As introductions go. 'Hi, Mr Drew I've lost your daughter' is not one of the best! Poor Bobby. And thanks for the idea by the way.

**Sands – **I'm writing I'm writing! Stop shouting at me. From blank paper there springs a story. Here's the next chapter.

**The Ice Man Cometh**

Bobby crawled along the street in his car. He'd gone back to the town where Mattie was meant to be on holiday. He'd left Mr Drew, or Hal, as he had insisted that he call him, to search Mattie's home town.

He'd phoned the Institute and talked to the Professor. Xavier was going to use Cerebro to try and get a pin point on Mattie.

So for now all he could do was wait. Or failing that, he could search the streets.

X

Mattie and the Masters had finished their dinner and the twins were already deep into the fight over what film to watch. Bill and Mel had both rolled their eyes and headed to the kitchen; Mattie had been dragged in as referee.

"Mattie." Bekki said. "Would you kindly tell Davis that his choice is lame?"

Mattie turned to Davis, but he was glaring at Bekki. "You don't even know what film I've chosen yet!"

"I don't have to know." Bekki told him. "I know you, oh brother dearest. And thus I therefore I know it will be lame."

Mattie was wondering who seriously managed to get thus and therefore into their arguments.

"And your choice is superior?" Davis asked.

Bekki nodded. "Just like me!"

Davis glared at her. "Inferiority complex." He muttered.

Bekki's eyes turned dangerous. "Say that again."

Mattie failed to bite back on a giggle and both twins turned their glares on her.

With a shattering crash a brick came soaring through the window. A spray of glass showered the room.

Mattie threw herself back against the wall, while Bekki dragged Davis behind the couch.

Mel and Bill appeared in the door way.

"Is everyone okay?" Mel asked, moving to the twins and checking them over for cuts.

"Alright?" Bill asked Mattie.

She nodded.

The sound of raucous cheering could be heard from outside.

"Little mutie, little mutie, let me in." One of the voices sang out.

The laughter increased.

"Yeah! Or we'll blow the place down." Another voice shouted

"Or up." Another joined in.

This was greeted with even more laughter.

"I've had enough to this." Bill strode to the front door and wrenched it open.

The headlamps of three cars were pointing towards the front door, bathing it in light. The boys sitting in and on the cars giggled as Bill faced them down.

"I've had enough of this." Bill told them. "Get off my property or I'm calling the police."

"Come and move us." One of the boys invited.

Squinting past the glare of the lights, Mattie could see that it was Ben. _Shit!_ She'd obviously wounded more that just his face. His pride had come to make a house call.

"Come on." Ben beckoned. "Mutie lover!"

Bill made a noise deep in his throat and stepped out the house.

Mattie dashed after him. "No don't…"

Bill turned to tell her to be quiet; so he didn't see the brick that Ben lobbed at his head.

Mattie threw herself at Bill and knocked him to the ground. The brick smashed against the door frame, showering them with shrapnel.

"Bill!"

"Dad!"

Mel and the twins were with them in seconds.

"What the fuck are they playing at?" Bill roared from where he lay sprawled on the ground.

"They're not playing." Mattie told him as she got up.

And they now had three more targets.

"Get back in the house." She ordered them.

Mel nodded, shepherding the twins inside.

Mattie kept pace with Bill, backing towards the house, keeping a watchful eye on the boys. They seemed content to sit it out for the moment. Or most likely they had just run out of missiles.

"We need to call the police." She heard Mel say.

"Mom, we can't." Bekki protested. "Mattie…"

Mattie never took her eyes of the boys, they were getting restless, and they were going to try something else. And she couldn't take them like this. She might know how to defend herself, but the Masters were easy targets.

"Call the police." She told them.

"Mattie!" Bekki cried.

"Call them." Mattie repeated. She bit her lip, eyeing up the cars. How fast did one of those things go anyway?

"Mattie?"

Davis. She could tell by his voice that he knew what she was planning. He'd try to stop her.

She clenched her fists. It was now or never. She pulled her eyes away from the cars for an instant. She locked her eyes on Davis. "Call the police. Stay safe."

"No." He reached out for her, but she was already gone slamming the door after her. She trusted Mel and Bill to stop him following her.

In a second she was in front of the cars, the headlamps almost blinding. She saw the boys jump as she stopped in front of them.

Ben leaned forward to stare at her. "I knew it."

Mattie gave him a brilliant false smile. "I hope so. Cause I'd hate for you to go to all this trouble for nothing."

"Harbouring a mutant." Ben shrugged. "They got what they deserved."

Mattie cocked her head to one side. "Really."

"And you'll get yours." Ben told her.

Mattie's grin widened. "You'll have to catch me first."

In a blink she was gone. She came to a stop in the middle of the deserted road. "Huh. Three cars. One of me. I like those odds."

She raced down the road and stopped again several meters away. "Catch me if you can, boys!"

"Get her!" Ben screamed and the boys revved their engines, whooping with delight as they took off after Mattie, who was already streaking ahead of them.

The front door flew open and Davis threw himself out the house. "Mattie!"

X

Bobby thumped the steering wheel in frustration. He was never going to find her. She could be anywhere. Any state! Any country!

A localised wind whistled past his car. _Or she could run straight past me!_

He stared after the disappearing figure that he would know anywhere.

Three cars roared past him, their drivers and passengers calling and shouting to each other.

"Mats." Bobby shook his head. "I can't leave you alone for two seconds."

Now, to sort out those boys harassing his girlfriend.

X

_Great! Running for your life in a place you don't know! Good plan, Mattie! _

Cursing herself Mattie kept going. The cars were fast, and she didn't know how long she could keep this up. What if she could only run at speed for a short time? Not to mention the fact that she was in fact, lost.

But she'd had to get them away from the Masters. As tough as this was, it would have been worse with innocents in the line of fire. At least this way she only had to worry about herself. And her freaky powers that she knew nothing about and may or may not control.

She risked a glance over her shoulder. Ben's car was in the lead, she caught a glimpse of him leaning low over the steering wheel.

Getting caught was not an option. She was going to out run them, or she was going to have to turn and fight.

_Take on all of them? _She asked herself. Could she do that?

She cut left and raced down another road. Too late she spotted the dead end.

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck! _

Whirling she raced back the way she'd come. She had to get there before they did; she had to get there before they did.

Bursting out of the road she was blinded by headlamps.

Trapped!

Ben stood up to lean over the top of the windshield. "Well, well, well."

Mattie stared back at him. Could she take them? Not all of them. Not all together. She scanned the area, looking for a weak spot. Somewhere, someone she could break through.

A warm hand grabbed hold of hers. She found herself staring into a pair of brilliant blue eyes.

"Run!"

The boy took off down the road and Mattie dashed after him.

Ben roared as he saw his prey getting away. "After them!"

The boy's grip on her hand never faltered as he sprinted down the road.

"We can't get out this way." She shouted to him. "It's a dead end."

The boy looked back and grinned at her. "Not for us."

Mattie's eyes widened as she saw a layer of ice envelop his head and then the rest of his body. She found herself holding onto a hand of ice.

"Would all passengers please board now?" The boy said, continuing to grin at her as he stepped onto a pillar of ice that became a slide that soared over the houses.

Mattie wrapped both hands around the boys arm. She did not want to fall from this height. She looked back at Ben who was watching them angrily.

She knew he wasn't going to give up this easily.

The ice slide descended and Mattie let go of the boy's arm and leapt of the slide.

The boys made the slide curl round to face her and then he swept her a low bow.

"At your service milady."

Mattie backed up a step, she wasn't sure that she trusted him. He'd helped her, but he was a mutant. What if he was one of the terrorist ones that were always on the news?

He looked up with a grin that faded as he saw her expression. "Mats? What's wrong?"

Mattie eyed him steadily.

He stepped towards her the ice that covered him, disappearing, revealing his human body underneath it. "Mats? What is it?"

"You know me. Don't you?" Mattie said carefully.

He frowned in confusion. "Know you? Of course I know you!"

Mattie stared at him; her memory was fluttering in her brain, desperate to be let out. But she didn't have the key. But this boy was part of it, she could feel it.

The boy closed the gap between them. "Mats, you have no idea--"

The blaring of a horn cut him off. They both spun, battle stances.

_He did it too_. Mattie noticed. The boy was ready to fight like she was.

"Mattie!" Davis leapt out the car.

Mattie gave a sigh of relief and dropped her guard, she started towards Davis.

"Are you alright?" Davis cupped her face then hugged her to him, glaring at the boy.

The boy glared back.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Davis asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." The boy replied his voice as icy as he himself had been just a few moments before. "Take your hands off my girlfriend."

Davis stared at him.

Mattie tried to take a breath and couldn't. _His what? _

"Your what?" She got out at last.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Davis asked him, stepping forward so he was between the boy and Mattie.

"I'm Bobby Drake and you are stopping me from getting to my girlfriend."

"Mattie, do you know this guy?" Davis demanded.

"Of course she knows me." Bobby snapped at him. "I'm not going to say it again. Take your hands off her."

The horn blared again. "Guys!" Bekki shouted. "Get in!"

Shaking her head Mattie dashed to the car, anything to get away from this moment. She slipped into the front seat; Bekki leaned over to give her a hug. Then shouted at her brother again.

Davis headed over to the car.

"Are you coming?" Bekki asked Bobby.

"No!" Davis said

"Yes." Mattie contradicted him. "Davis, he knows who I am." Mattie cut off Davis' protests.

Davis shifted along the backseat as Bobby got in.

"I'm confused." He said as Bekki pulled away with a squeal of tyres. "Don't _you_ know who you are?"

"She has amnesia." Davis grunted.

"Amnesia." Bobby breathed. "Well that explains that then."

"Explains what?" Mattie asked, turning to face him.

"Why you haven't called. Mats, we've all been worried sick about you. Your dad, the Professor, Paige, everybody."

"Oh yeah." Davis scoffed. "So worried that it's taken you over two weeks to look for her."

Mattie watched Bobby's reaction. Davis had a point.

"We didn't know you were missing." Bobby spoke solely to her, acting as though Davis didn't exist. "You were meant to be staying with some friends for the holiday. We figured you were with them."

Mattie nodded. His explanation sounded plausible. Obviously not to Davis, if his snort was anything to go by.

She looked back at Bobby; he'd pulled a cell phone out his pocket.

"Hal? Yeah, I got her. She's safe."

The voice on the other end was talking really fast. Bobby was nodding along to what was being said.

"Will do. Ran into a little bit of trouble here."

The voice rose in volume.

"Nothing we can't handle. I'll bring her just as soon as I can."

Bobby hung up the phone.

Davis was practically spitting with fury. "You'll bring her?" He asked Bobby furiously. "You're not going to 'bring her' anywhere."

Bobby turned to look at him for the first time since they'd got in the car.

"I've had just about enough to you. You have no idea what's going on here. So sit down. Shut up."

"She's not your property, you know. You can't just swoop in here and take her away from…"

"Away from what?" Bobby sneered at him. "Away from you?" He gave a laugh a Davis said nothing.

"What you thought you could put the moves on my girl?" Bobby was getting angrier.

"I wasn't like that." Davis replied hotly. "I would never… She… I…"

"What!" Bobby whirred round to face Mattie. "Mattie?"

The pain in his eyes was genuine. Whatever, whoever, else he was. Mattie could tell that he truly cared about her.

"No." She shook her head. "Nothing happened."

Bobby looked back at Davis before staring at her again.

"I swear." She told him, meeting his gaze unflinching. "It could of."

She saw the flames leap in Bobby's eyes.

"But it felt wrong. I couldn't"

Bobby stared at her, then suddenly leant forward and planted a kiss on her lips. It was over in an instant and Mattie felt her body cry out for more. Her body defiantly remembered him.

"Sorry." Bobby said, obviously reading the expression on her face as one of shock. "But I've been wanting to do that all night."

"It doesn't change the facts." Davis told him. "We don't know you. We can't let you just take Mattie away."

"I know her." Bobby told him.

"It's not going to happen." Davis roared

"Davis." Mattie glared at him. Protecting her was one thing, but now he was just being irrational

"Mattie, you can't be serious? You trust this guy?"

"Guys?" Bekki cut in. "You know what you were saying about being able to handle this."

All three of them stared out the windshield. Ben and his mates were forming an effective road block.

"Well, do you think you could start handling?" Bekki asked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Another cliff hanger. Sorry gang. Just HAD to end it there. Will write more soon I promise.


	9. Run Run

Hey gang, sorry this took so long. I always forget that you guys aren't telepaths and can't jump into my head and see what happens next. Sorry. But here we go. Next chapter. Just for you lot.

**Ancient Vampire –** hey there, glad to have you along for the ride. Glad you like the story. Bobby had to come to rescue, he's the man!

**Red Angels – **Glad you liked that line. I liked it to. And well done for spotting the 'run' moment. Poor old Davis. But you're right, he really should not try and mess up Bobby and Mattie.

**GothickStrawberry – **(Grabs GothickStrawberry's hands and jumps up and down in a circle with her. "Bobby found Mattie. Bobby found Mattie") Bobby punching Davis? Davis punching Bobby? We'll see.

**Vicious Assassin – **Sorry for the cliff-hanger. I just had to end it there. Bobby and Davis really seem to both think that they know what's right for Mattie. But does she have a mind of her own? Of course she does! This is Mattie after all.

**Matt – **Are you trying to say that Mattie is like French fries? I think she is just a little bit more important to Bobby than that. And if you saw some guy putting the moves on your girl I think you'd be angry too.

Can't wait to read your last chapter. Hurry up and post it.

**S Jo – **Glad you're happy that Bobby found Mattie. Is he just a knight in shinning armour or what?

**Ali – **Thanks for the review babes. And look, a mention just for you. I'll work on Mr Drew for you. And yes… The jeans thing. What can I do? I'm obsessed!

**Agent G – **Mattie's heart loves Bobby. Hell, my heart loves Bobby! Thanks for the pic by the way.

**Run Run**

Mattie stared out at Ben and his lackeys. She nodded purposely to herself. "Right." She reached for the door handle.

Two hands laid hold of her.

"Oh no you don't." Davis told her.

"Not this time." Bekki added.

"I have to." Mattie told them she turned her passionate gaze on both the twins.

"You are not getting out this car." Davis told her, not releasing his grip on her arm.

"Okay." Bobby sighed and leaned forward, pointedly removing Davis' hand. "Here's how this is going to work. Chase and I are going to go and engage Human Kinds Finest out there."

"Chase?" Bekki asked.

"Code names." Bobby told her, he pointed at Mattie. "Chase." Then to himself. "Iceman."

"Chase?" Mattie turned the name over in her head. It would seem to fit with her power.

"We'll take point." Bobby continued. "I need you guys to stay in the car as back up."

"Why do we have to stay?" Davis asked angrily.

Bobby sighed. "Because Davis. You are the back up." He turned his attention to Bekki, who he clearly considered to be the more intelligent of the twins. "Most likely we're going to need a fast exit. We need someone who knows the area to keep tabs on us and help us out."

Bekki nodded her agreement. Bobby flashed her a grin, then turned back to Davis. "And that won't work if you're not with the car."

Davis slumped back in his seat.

Bekki nodded again. "I've got you covered."

Bobby smiled, and then glanced over to Mattie. "Ready?"

Mattie took a deep breath, she nodded. "Ready."

X

Ben watched as Mattie and the other mutant stepped out the car. This was where it got interesting.

He grinned at the other boys. "Happy hunting lads."

X

Mattie kept an eye on Ben as she and Bobby, or Iceman, walked slowly away from the safety of the car.

"So, you really know your strategy, huh?" She murmured.

Bobby gave her a grin. "Logan's lectures must be paying off."

Something in Mattie's name gave a jump at the name. She knew him, whoever he was. She was so close to figuring it all out.

Her eyes flicked back to Ben again. If she didn't get murdered first. On the other hand, your life was meant to flash before your eyes. That was one way to get her life back. She made a face, not the way she would pick for choice.

"So what's plan?" She asked Bobby.

"Well…" Bobby bit his lip. "I thought we'd kick these guys' butts a bit. But the how and the wherefore. Yeah… I'm a bit lacking on that bit."

"What!" They were less than a car's length from Ben and now he told her he didn't have a plan.

"We'll think of something." Bobby told her, looking slightly worried as they drew closer to the cars

"You're an idiot!"

"Like lambs to the slaughter." Ben jeered at them, snapping Mattie's glare from Bobby to Ben.

"Well you know what they say." Mattie told him, a surge of adrenaline coursing through her. "Free range is best."

Grabbing hold of Bobby's shirt she took off dragging him after her. She heard whoops of excitement and the revving of engines as the boys started to give chase. Bobby was too slow. He couldn't keep up with her.

"Ice. Now." Mattie told him, letting go of his shirt.

Bobby didn't waste any time. In a few seconds there was an ice figure gliding along a slide of ice keeping pace with her.

Mattie nodded, faster, good. She increased her speed, keeping herself at a speed that Iceman could keep up with.

"Run run as fast as you can." She heard Ben's voice taunting her.

_What is with this guy and fairytales?_

"You have a plan?" Iceman asked her as they raced down the road, the distance between them and the cars holding, for the moment.

Mattie's brain was racing. Think. They were ahead at the moment. But cars didn't get tired. Humans did. _Humans did! _

"Oh, I know that look." Beside her the ice figure grinned. "What you got."

"Evening the odds." Mattie veered left, leaping the ditch and racing through the undergrowth. Iceman followed her.

Straining her ears for every sound she heard the crunch as one of the cars tried to make the ditch and failed.

_Yes! Would they follow? _

Pitching her voice to carry she yelled: "Run run as fast as you can. You can't catch me--"

A roar of defiance cut her off. Branches snapped as they came after her. Bait taken.

_Time for a little cross country. _

Glancing at Iceman she jerked her head at the ice slide. "They can follow that, right?"

Bobby nodded. "To wherever we lead them."

Mattie grinned, wolf-like in the moonlight. "Good."

X

The field was where she thought it was, just past the baseball field. Mattie remembered it from the day she and the twins were playing ball. When this whole mess got started.

The boys were still following; she'd doubled back a few times just to keep them keen.

Iceman looked about him. "Here?"

"Here." Mattie agreed.

Bobby grinned. "Time to send them home with their tails between their legs."

Heavy cursing alerted them to the entrance of Ben and the others.

Mattie froze as they appeared. She grinned wildly. "Hello boys."

Cries of fury sent her leaping into action. One boy clearly marked for his speed lumbered after her as she dashed away. Whirling to face his she blocked his blows and countered with one of her own. The boy staggered back.

Chase whirled to face her next opponent.

"Now, now." Iceman chastised. "Don't let the lady have all the fun."

The boys grinned nastily at him. "You'll get yours mutie. Don't you worry none."

"I'm not worried." Bobby told him. "I believe that's your job." And with that Iceman entered the fray.

Mattie ducked under a swing and rose to land a solid punch on her attacker. Another boy stepped up to take his place. Blocking his blows, Mattie spun for a well placed kick.

"Chase! On your left!"

She'd already clocked them before the warning. Three more, rushing her at once, trying to catch her out.

Punch, kick, duck, dodge, blow, block, spin, leap. It all made sense, it was so clear. She did this. She knew this. Memory's bubbled to the surface. If she turned like this, and let his own momentum carry him like that… She twisted in midair and landed both feet in his chest.

"Now this I remember!"

Logan telling her to she needed to be more than just speed. That she needed to defend herself when she couldn't use her speed. Rouge training her in hand to hand combat. Training her and then pushing her harder. Training sessions in a room that was so appropriately named. What was it? Danger! The Danger room. Where you could face anything from robots to telepaths.

Learning, focusing, honing her body. Early mornings, fighting for the shower. Duelling one on one, team exercises, press-ups, running hundreds of laps. There were others, others on the team. Vague figures, blurry, she could see their outlines but they wouldn't come into focus. Names and code names floated though her mind. Paige, Nightcrawler, Jamie, Boom Boom, Jean, Shadowcat.

The sound of a gun being cocked brought her back to the here and now.

Ben stood two feet away from her, gun raised. Silence reigned

"I know you're fast. But can you dodge bullets?" He asked her.

Mattie froze. Risking a glace left and right she saw that everyone else had too. The boys had taken the opportunity to lay hands on Bobby and were restraining him. Bobby's eyes met hers for a second. He gave his head a tiny shake.

Mattie eyed the gun they raised her eyes to meet Ben's.

"You've got guts." He told her. "I'll give you that much. But it will give me great pleasure to end your sorry existence."

"That's murder!" Bobby shouted, struggling against his captors.

"She's a mutant." Ben shrugged, never taking his eyes off Mattie. "More like exterminating vermin."

Bobby leapt at Ben and was pulled back by the other boys. "Don't worry." Ben told him, keeping a watchful eye on Mattie. "You'll follow her quite soon enough."

"All this because I beat you." Mattie raised an eyebrow at Ben. "You really have got to learn to control you feelings of inadequacy."

Ben took another angry step towards her. "I'm doing my duty." He snarled at her. "Taking out the trash."

"Ben. Suicide is not the answer." Mattie told him, giving him an understanding smile.

Ben bared his teeth, visibly straining to keep a handle on his temper.

Mattie kept her eyes on his.

He smiled evilly at her, squinting slightly as he lined up the barrel. "Run run as fast as you can."

"No!" Bobby threw himself free of the boys hold on him.

Ben's eyes flicked in his direction.

It was all Mattie needed. A kick sent the gun soaring out of his hand. A second made Ben stagger backwards. The third landed him on his back.

"You can't catch me I'm an X-Man." Mattie told him, staring down at him.

Ben whimpered, cradling his hand.

Mattie gave a sigh of contempt and eyed the remaining boys. "Anyone else?"

The boys looked at Ben, still lying flat on his back, then at Mattie, then at Bobby who had claimed the gun and was lazily spinning it on his finger.

As one they headed back the way they had come. Ben got up and chased after them, pausing only to glare at Mattie as he went.

"You're an X-Man now?" Bobby asked. "Do I take it someone has her memory back?"

"Bits of it." Mattie frowned. "That just sounded so right there, what exactly is an X-Man? Am I one?"

Bobby sighed. "That is a much bigger story."


	10. Home Again Home Again

**Redangels – **Glad you like Mattie's one liners. She kinda gets away from me when I'm writing and these things just pop out her mouth. I've clearly read too many Deadpool issues.

**Vicious Assassin – **Glad you liked the fight scene; I always find them really tough to write. Fights just work so much better when you can see them.

**Matt –** Matt I love you. You always pick out the one bit in the chapter that I am most proud of/nervous about. Thanks for that.

**GothickStrawberry – **Collapses in a heap after too much jumping! I can't imagine myself every forgetting a guy like Logan!

**Agent-G –** I hope that Davis and Mattie can stay friends, and Bekki. Mattie needs all the friends she can get.

**Home Again, Home Again**

"So, do I have any other abilities?" Mattie asked as she and Bobby tried to find Bekki and Davis.

"Well, you've got a mean right cross on you." Bobby said with a grin.

Mattie grinned back at him, eyeing him carefully. So this was her boyfriend. He was cute. She wished she could remember more about him.

A car screeched to a halt behind them and they heard Davis calling Mattie's name.

"Are you alright?" Davis asked her anxiously, hugging her tightly despite Bobby's warning glare.

"I'm fine." Mattie reassured him.

"Yeah, I'm good too." Bobby added.

"So what's the plan now?" Bekki asked.

"Mats and I are going to go visit her dad." Bobby said.

"Great." Bekki gave them all wide grins. "Road trip." She faced Bobby's glare without any sign of fear. "What? You really think that Davis is going to let you and Mattie just drive off? I don't think so. He has a serious case of hero complex going on."

Davis glared at his sister, but didn't make any move to dispute her statement.

Bobby sighed like one eternally damned. "Fine. But I'm not being nice to him."

Mattie had to turn away to hide her smile at Davis' face.

"So that's settled." Bekki said. "Can I borrow your cell? Mum and Dad are going to be going nuts right now. And they don't even know that I took the car yet. Driving licences are so over rated don't you think?"

X

Bobby glanced across at Mattie before returning his eyes to the road. She looked nervous.

_Wouldn't you be?_ He asked himself.

The twins were arguing in the back. They'd started up almost the second that they'd got in the car. Racing through layer upon layer of arguments, so that Bobby had no idea what it was they were actually fighting about.

Mattie had assured him that this was normal behaviour where the twins were concerned. That was before she had slipped into silence.

He sneaked a look at her again. She was biting her lip and playing nervously with her hands.

Bobby reached out and took one of her hands in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"It's okay."

Mattie jumped and flashed a smile at him. Nodding brightly.

Too brightly. Bobby knew her to well to be fooled.

X 

Mattie stood outside the door. They'd arrived here so quickly. She'd thought that she would have had more time to think this through.

She suddenly caught hold of Bobby's arm. "He does know, doesn't he?" She asked anxiously. "I mean about me being a… That I'm…"

Bobby nodded. "He knows."

The look in Mattie's eyes told him that he needed to continue.

"And he loves you."

She visibly relaxed. Then she squared her shoulders and knocked on the door.

The door flew open and Mattie found herself looking at her father.

"Mattie!" He enfolded her in a hug before she could speak.

"Daddy." Mattie whispered, tears running down her face as the mists finally parted and she could see her past.

Five, and learning to ride a bike.

Sixteen, and that terrible night when she learned she was a mutant

Eight, and flying a kite together

Cooking

Teasing each other

The row they'd had when she had wanted to stay over night at a friend's house for the first time.

Giggling with friends as they did each other's make up, looking like pandas

Taking a test in science.

The crush she'd had on Roger Tumonmore

Looking through photos of her mother.

Dressing up to go trick or treating.

Everything, all jumbled up and flowing back into her mind as though the floodgates had just been flung open.

Her head was reeling as the tried to take it all in. The memories still coursing through her. Snatches of her at Xaviers. Yes. That was it. She lived there. And that was where she'd learnt to fight. Rouge teaching her to fight hand to hand. Logan, pushing them harder and harder in the Danger room. How in the world had she ever managed to forget him? Or Mr McCoy. Not everyday you live in a house with a huge furry blue scientist.

She hugged her dad tighter. "I love you Daddy."

Hal squeezed her tight then stepped back to get a look at her. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. You hear?"

Mattie nodded, wiping her tears away.

Hal hugged her to him again, and then lead her inside beckoning for the others to follow.

"Well, I don't know about anyone else." Bekki said as they followed Mattie and her dad. "But I feel a little misty eyed myself."

X 

Bekki, Davis and Mattie filled Hal and Bobby in on what had happen since the twins had found her. And for the first time Mattie could tell them what had happened when she'd got to the house. Bobby told them about what had been happening at the Institute and how he'd worried that she hadn't called

Mattie sat on her dad's lap, reverting to the place that she had always liked to sit as a small child.

For his part Hal seemed very reluctant to let go of his daughter. Worried she might vanish again unless he kept a tight hold of her.

Bobby sat close enough to keep an eye on Mattie, while letting her have her time with her dad.

He was going to drive both of them back to the mansion later. But for now Mattie had time to catch up with her dad.

Looking round the room Bobby found Davis staring at him. _What now?_

The other boy leaned across from where he was sitting and held out his hand to Bobby.

Bobby took it and they shook. Davis nodded at him and Bobby nodded in reply. It was the closest thing to an apology.

Even Bekki refrained from teasing them as both boys sat back in their chairs.

X

Mattie hugged Mel and Bill goodbye before turning to the twins.

"You guys are going to come visit soon aren't you?" She asked as the hugged Bekki.

"Try and stop me!" Bekki told her. "I might be able to pick up a looker too."

Bobby tired to pretend he hadn't heard, unable to keep the smirk off his face.

Mattie hugged Davis goodbye. "Don't be strangers. Okay?"

They both nodded.

Mattie stepped back and smiled at the Masters family. "Thank you so much for taking me in."

"Our pleasure." Bill told her.

"And you'd better not forget to come visit us." Mel told her. "You're always welcome."

Mattie waved goodbye again as she got in the car and Bobby pulled out the drive.

"Ready to go home?" He asked.

Mattie nodded. "Oh yes."

X 

Mattie all but ran up the steps to the Institute. "I can't wait to see everyone." She called over her shoulder to Bobby.

"Well, just before you do that."

Mattie felt his hand catch hold of her arm.

"There's something I've been wanting to do for weeks."

With that he pulled her into a tight embrace and his lips captured hers. Mattie's body screamed in response

_About bloody time!_

Bobby finally let her go, clearly reluctant to do so.

"Glad to have you back Mats."

Mattie kissed him again. "Glad to be back."

"Mattie!" She heard Paige cry.

"You're back!" That was Amara.

"You have to tell us everything!" Tabby shouted, laying hold of her and dragging her away from Bobby. "I mean, you remember everything right?"

"Quick! What's my name?" Paige asked as Mattie rolled her eyes at Bobby and let the girls drag her off.

"Paige." Mattie sighed. "I remember, okay guys."

"Great!" Tabby cried dragging her to the Rec room.

"So?" Amara asked. "What happened? We are dying to know."

"They told us nothing." Paige added.

"Well, they made off with four pairs of my jeans." Mattie said with a scowl. This fact had taken up most of her thoughts in the car.

"Now aren't you glad we only let you pack three." Amara said.

Mattie nodded. "Well, that… And the fact that I now have full justification for a shopping trip to buy more."

A gleam lit up in the girls eyes.

"Great!" Paige nodded her full agreement of the plan.

"We just need to grab Jubes." Tabby said.

"I'm not going." Paige shook her head. "She'll be kissing Sam somewhere, and I do _not _want to have to witness that."

"What!" Mattie whirled to face her. "Jubes and Sam?"

Paige nodded. "It is so disgusting."

"I leave for like two days…"

"Try two weeks." Amara interjected.

"And that's when they finally get it together!" Mattie raised her hands to the heavens. "What else have I missed!"

Paige threw an arm around Mattie. "Welcome home."

The End

Hope you liked this story. Sorry it wasn't as long as my first one. But it was always meant to be shorter. Thanks for all your reviews and I'm sorry this chapter was so long in coming. If you want to see a picture of Bobby and Mattie (done by Agent-G) then go to the link that I'm gonna post on my profile. Thanks agian guys, and I'll see you at the next story.


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