Okay Leary and Em-Spider.... I just want to say thanks so much for this idea. I stayed up half the night plotting this, thinking of ideas. Thanks so much for the lost sleep.

     Rahne, Pete, Kitty, and Excalibur belong to Marvel. The idea comes from Em-Spider and the story belongs to me. It is not part of "Facing The Music."

     "Think you can take me on?" Kitty asked after a grueling hour of no-powered Capture the Flag. She and Rahne were the last two survivors.

     "Actually, nay, A'm hopin' ye will beat me up before 'Touched By An Angel' comes on," Rahne admitted. Kitty was happy to oblige.  The first blow she landed on Rahne knocked the Scots girl against a nearby tree.

     Rahne paused, looked around for a second before attacking Kitty with a nearby branch. She swung wildly, missing Kitty's head by a few inches. Kitty then swept Rahne off her feet. As the smaller girl fell, she hit her head on a small rock.

     "You okay?" Kitty asked worriedly.

     Rahne looked up with an almost feral grin on her face, "Never felt better." Kitty should have known something was wrong as soon as Rahne walked away humming "I've got the hootch baby...."

***
     Kurt had been the one to decide that the team needed a monthly zero-angst night at a local bar. And this time, he was the first to cancel on Pete. "Amanda's got a migraine and I thought I'd stay at home."

     "Don't you think you'd be better off leaving Amanda at home in quiet for a couple of hours?" Kitty suggested.

     "Nein, I wouldn't have any fun with you." Kurt explained before making his way to the fridge for a cold pack for her headache. "She'd tie my tail into knots when I got back, knowing the mood she's in."

     "See who wears the pants in that relationship," Pete whispered as he marked them off. Moira gave her nightly reason to hide from reality, "A've got ta stay wit' ma research," and Douglock decided he wanted to stay with her. Meggan and Brian had to attend a snooty, upper-crust event but lent them a car so they didn't have to take the Flit out. Piotr felt his muse at work and didn't want to leave.

     "That just leaves you and me and Rahne," Kitty said with a giggle as she pulled Pete in for a kiss. "Why don't we— RAHNE!" She released Pete's tie and gasped. The sudden change in momentum caused the man to flap his arms and almost lose his balance.

     Looking at the were-woman, he could see what caused the bug-eyed look on his girlfriend's face. Rahne had clothed herself with a theme-- black leather. A black leather dress with a push up top, black leather jacket, black leather gloves and black leather boots with matching black collar completed the look of a dominatrix on the prowl for a boy-toy sex slave. "Wot?!!?"

     Rahne smiled lasciviously and Pete noticed the unfamiliar look of make-up on her face. "Kitty suggested A wear some of Rachel's clothes from time ta time when we go out on the town."

     Kitty had suggested that for when Rahne had wanted to dress up for a costume party. "Are you feeling okay?"

     "Never better." Rahne slipped her lipstick in her bra and turned to Pete. "A'm takin' ye up on that offer ye made tae buy me drinks."

     Pete gulped, and tried to explain himself to Kitty. "I offered to pay if she ever wanted to get drunk."

     Kitty just shook her head and pointed to the door. It promised to be a very interesting night.

***

     No sooner did the three walk into the bar than a young man walked up to Rahne. "Excuse me, donnea A know ye from some place?"

     Rahne looked him over slowly, as if trying to remember. "Nay, but donnea ye think it's time ye did?"

     "But A could swear A saw ye in my dreams...." the young man continued before realizing that she had responded to him. "A'm nae pickin' ye up, by the way, A picked ye out."

     "And verry fine taste ye have." Rahne moved in closer to him as she grabbed his drink.

     "A have a built-in homin' device for beautiful women," the guy said as he paid Annie for the drink.

     Pete pulled Kitty away from the two and whispered, "I just bet he does. A heat seekin' rocket."

     Kitty held a hand up to silence Pete, interested in what was going on between her friend and the guy who was named Travis. "This is good stuff– take notes." She never knew when they would have to bribe Rahne.

     "But I'm already yours," Pete pointed out as he tried to pry Kitty away from her friend. "And we can keep an eye on her without her knowin'."

     "Don't you think we should take her back to Muir and let Moira look her over?" Kitty asked.

     "We can keep an eye on her here. At least she's safer acting up here than in London." Pete reassured her. "Here everybody knows her as Lady Moira's daughter. There, someone might try to take her up on her offer."

     "I just feel like I'm responsible for this...." Kitty sighed. "I did make her hit her head, after all."

     "Total personality switches happen only in the movies," Pete objected. "Unless of course, this Rahne is from another dimension or somethin'...."

     Kitty rolled her eyes as Travis asked, "Can ye dance in those shoes?" and was answered by Rahne, "Dancin' is flirtin' in motion. A want ta see if yuir as good wit your body as your tongue."

     "That's bad," Kitty sighed. "I've been to the web page that they got all those lines from."

     "And wot were you doin' there?" Pete asked, watching them move out on the dance floor. It was clear that they weren't going to have a fun night, not with Kitty trying to keep a close eye on Rahne. Truth be told, Pete felt like Rahne was a little sister and would die before he let her get into too much trouble.

     "Never mind." Kitty had been doing research for a little game she had thought that she was going to play with Pete some night in London, one where she was going to try to pick him up at the bar.

***

     The conversation that Rahne was engaged in that night involved quite a bit of dirty talking, if their dancing was an indication. Kitty watched from her corner seat and sighed. "She used to blush scarlet if Stevie had Sam within a foot of her personal space."

     Pete looked at the couple on the dance floor and chugged his beer. "Doesn't seem to be a problem now. Just relax and let her have her fun. It's not like she's going to boink him or somethin'...." Under normal circumstances, he'd welcome the distraction from Kitty trying to drag him out on the dance floor for a fast song.

     "I'm trying," Kitty assured Pete. "I'm just too tense to relax."

     Sitting back and sipping a beer, Pete enjoyed the performance, what with Kitty overreacting and Rahne flirting on the dance floor. Annie, the bartender, pointed out Rahne and Travis as she handed him another drink. "See Rahne's caught th' attention of th' cock that walks."

     "Wot?" Pete spat up his sip. "A run-about?"

     "A run-about, a Romeo, Don Juan, Casanova, a Remy. He just wants ta get four bare legs in a bed." Annie polished a cup as she continued. "He comes here ever Saturday and leaves with a different woman—just like he just did wi' Rahne."

     Pete turned around at that, just in time for him to see Rahne finish the last of her drink and walk drunkenly out the door. She was giggling and hanging onto his arm. "Bloody... Where are they goin'?"

     "Lover's Lane is three miles from here," Annie told him as she returned to pouring beers. "Moira would be very upset to see somethin' ... unprotected... happen to her ward."

     "Bloody witch would give me enemas of that shoe polish she calls coffee." Pete muttered as he flagged Kitty.

**

     "Which car do you think she's in?" Kitty asked as she looked down the row of eight autos. There were three vans, two station wagons, two cars and one brown jeep. All had fogged windshields, making it impossible to determine who was where. The jeep, one of the cars and one of the station wagons were rocking back and forth.

     "As tight as that skirt was, we can rule those three out... people in the jeep must be gymnasts." Pete thought out loud. "He's a skirt chaser... the station wagon or the vans."

     Kitty went intangible as she poked her head in the first van. Coming out, she started to blush. "I know what we're doing next Saturday night," she whispered. The next drew a slight gag and a muttered "Eww!... gross. Slash."

     Pete had started with the station wagon, reaching down and touching the exhaust. It was cold, not slightly warm as if it had been driven three miles. That left the other van. "If it were anybody but Rahne..." he spat as he jimmied the lock.

     Reaching into the van, he grabbed the first warm body his hand touched and jerked the person out. "Hey!" Rahne, who was in a half-wolfen form, complained as Pete grabbed her top. "A was startin' tae have some fun." Her 'fun' had already torn up the back of Travis's shirt and left bloody tracks down his front. "Ye all have fun after goin' tae a pub, why cannea A?"

      "Teach you to pick up some gal at a bar," Pete told the terrified young man as he noted that Rahne had attempted to undo his belt. It, like his pants, were in shreds. "Especially this close to the full moon."

     The unfortunate man nodded and watched as Pete tucked Rahne into the backseat of the car and tossed her her jacket.

**

     "Cannea A at least go ta the bathroom?" Rahne asked, pouting from her seat in the back.

     Kitty sighed as Pete pulled up at the pub. "Come with me." She grabbed the younger woman by the arm and led her to the bathroom.

     Pete sighed and slumped on a stool by the bar. "I'm goin' to have one more beer and then head home."  McTaggart was goin' to love this, he thought. The shrieks will be heard for miles. I'll at least wait until morning.

     Annie took one look at Pete and opened the oldest bottle of Scotch she had. "On the house."

     Pete gulped it in one breath. "Hit me again."

    Annie poured him another drink. "Double this time," she offered.

    It didn't take a second for Pete inhale that. "Just put tonight on the tab," he asked. Hopefully he could get Rahne home, safely, without incident.

    That hope was dashed as Kitty found him. "She gave me the slip." Wordlessly, Annie poured Pete another double. Kitty intercepted it and drank it.

     He cursed until he ran out of breath, and then inhaled and started over again. "What would a sex-crazed were-woman do?"

    "Sing karaoke?" Annie suggested.

      "How drunk would she have to be to do that?" Kitty wondered. Annie pointed to the tab that Travis had paid. "At least three beers, she's snookered. But what makes you say karaoke?"

      The opening bars of 'Let Me Entertain You' filled the bar as Annie pointed to the stage. Pete buried his face in his hands and sighed. He was going to be killed by Moira when they got home for letting Rahne do this. Kurt was going to kill him for not taking care of a team member. Brian was going to kill him for the scratch on the Jag. Douglock would kill him to be part of the crowd. But, first, he was going to kill Rahne for not being able to care a tune.

     Her off-key singing didn't bother Rahne one bit. Instead, she loved being in the spotlight. For a split second, Kitty hoped that was all she was going to do. Then she remembered where Rahne had learned the song—from a movie about Gypsy Rose Lee. Clutching Pete, Kitty warned, "She's going to strip."

    "She wouldn't," Pete disagreed with Kitty. "No matter how drunk she is...." At the bridge in the song, Rahne calmly started to pull off her gloves before handing them to two young men by the front of the stage. "Bloody damn bloomin' hell!" On stage, Rahne tossed her jacket into the audience.

     A tiff broke out over which lucky gentleman was going to keep the item of clothing. Rahne tried to help matters by tossing her shirt, revealing a small black leather bra. She succeeded in making things worse. And as was often the case among drunk men, a small fight grew into an allout bar fight. Pete and the pub owner, Jack Cossan, pulled Rahne off the stage as she started to unzip her skirt, earning Pete a black eye for the effort.

***

    Now offstage, covered with Pete's jacket, and firmly belted into the car, Kitty drove them back to the docks. Rahne had fallen asleep before the ferry left the dock. "I can't believe I caused that!" Kitty buried her head in Pete's shirt as the stood outside the car. "I can't believe Rahne could start a brawl or do a strip tease or go parking with a guy she just met!"

    "I can." Pete wrapped his arms around Kitty as he explained, "Rahne's always been so repressed that when she got a chance to act up, she really acted up."

    "You mean, this is the real her?" Kitty gasped.

    "Part of her, yes." Pete started to share something he had learned over years of experience. "Oftentimes, when people have a good excuse, they'll act out. Bop her over the head again and she'll be fine."

     "That sounds very tempting!" In fact, Kitty had started to work her way back to where Rahne sat before Pete grabbed her arm.

    "In the morning, after Moira and the rest of the team have a chance to see her act up. That way, they'll know she has this side to her." Pete pulled Kitty back to him. "So everybody will stop treating her like she's such a goodie two-shoes and she won't feel she has to hide this part of herself." It was about time Rahne acted up, he felt.

    "I'm warning you." Kitty turned so she could keep an eye on her friend. "One more thing and I cold cock her."

    "Deal." Pete and Kitty shook hands. "Besides, I've got pictures..." He patted his pocket, thankful for that particular habit picked up in his spy days.

     At that Kitty smiled. "Blackmail city."

**

    The one more thing came later that night, when Pete and Kitty were cuddling in her bed. Her room was preferred for evenings in, as it was neater and easier to find anything that they wanted to play with. The security alarm blared, disrupting their hazy bliss.

    "I knew I shouldn't have tightened security so she couldn't escape," Kitty groaned as she got out of bed. A clap of lightening emphasized that sentiment.

     "She'll be tryin' to head back to the bar, if I know her." The rain pouring outside made that seem like a foolish idea. Pete watched Kitty slip on her blouse inside out and shook his head, deciding not to point that out. She needed a slight break.

     They went downstairs and quickly filled the team in on Rahne's sudden change in attitude and her accident earlier in the day. Kurt glared at them for a moment before asking why they didn't see fit to fill them in on it before Rahne set off the internal motion sensors. Pete explained that they didn't want to interrupt Moira's research at such a critical juncture on something that could wait until the morning. For her part, Moira was wheezing asthmatically, "Yeyeyeyeyeye..." unable to find words to express what she was thinking.

     After that exchange, the teams broke into couples to search for Rahne, who they knew hadn't left Muir Island. Moira opted to monitor the cameras, Peter and Douglock took the interior of the mansion, Kurt and Amanda took the area nearest the docks, Meggan and Brian the immediate grounds, and Kitty and Pete on the exterior. Although Amanda's headache prevented her from casting a scrying spell, Meggan was able to attempt to track her down empathically.

     "Bloody stupid little twit!" Pete cursed. "Why couldn't she get a tattoo or something as rebellious when she was younger instead of acting out like this?" He wrapped the raincoat tighter around himself.

     "Because until tonight, she'd never really thought about acting up." Kitty was phased and, as such, unaffected by the rain. "Boy will she have a lot—There she is!"

     Kitty was by nature the faster runner of the two and reached her friend first. Pete hung back, trying to let the two women work out their problem. Kitty tried to lead Rahne back to the kitchen to have a nice, reasonable talk. The last thing Rahne wanted was to be reasonable.

     Kitty, true to her earlier word, tried to deck Rahne. Rahne ducked and tackled Kitty, pushing them both into a mud puddle. At that moment, Pete knew he should yell for help. But that voice of common sense was overruled by the part of him that would go sober for a week just to have a flash on his camera.

     In this zero-repression state, Rahne made a very good brawler. Not as good as Kitty but good enough to give her a workout. The two women slipped and slid across the puddle, finding it hard to grab ahold of each other. The other team members who happened to be out in the storm, having been alerted by Moira, made their way over to where Rahne and Kitty were fighting.

     Finally, Kitty got tired of the fight and phased to give herself some stability. Waiting for Rahne's next punch, Kitty hauled off and decked the younger woman. The blow sent Rahne flying against a rock.

     The wild look left Rahne's eyes as she studied her teammates. She could remember everything she did. "A started a bar fight?"

     Pete nodded as he helped a mudsoaked Kitty out of the puddle. "By strippin'."  Quietly, he asked his girlfriend if she would like to repeat the mudwrestling experience in the daytime.

     "A got drunk?"

     "And nearly took advantage of a guy," Kitty reminded her as she got on firm ground.

     "Black leather?" Rahne pointed at herself and groaned. "Fec–" She stopped because only one word could express what she was feeling at the moment. "Shit!"

     The shocked expression on Kurt's face made the experience worth while. But he wasn't half as shocked as Pete was a second later, not expecting Kitty to push him, landing in the mud puddle. "Next time," Pete advised as he tried to find a foothold, "Just get a tattoo. My treat!"

     "A will," Rahne blushed and promised and groaned at the same time. "A will." The blush on her face didn't fade for three days.