Subject: [OTL]: Maturity in B Minor (Epilogue)
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 04:47:49 +0100 (BST)
From: Dyce-Elihara <dycemeister@yahoo.com>

Maturity In B Minor
(Epilogue)

By Dyce

"So."

"So."

It was a nice day.  The gardens were looking
particularly green and pleasant.  There was a little
birdsong, some peaceful buzzing of bees, and a
pleasant scent of carefully cultivated flowers.  There
was also sunshine.

Logan and Jubilee were sitting one at each end of a
picturesque stone bench, looking everywhere but at
each other.

It was just... awkward.

It was a very ordinary sort of awkward, one that
happens frequently, all over the world.  One member of
a family has had a terrible crisis, and blamed the
entire thing on another, completely oblivious family
member, and gone off in a state of... something.  The
completely oblivious family member has suffered a
rather unpleasant mix of guilt and anger and wondering
what the hell just happened.  Unforgivable things have
been thought, and sometimes said.  There's been plenty
of time for resentment to simmer, on both sides.

Then, after the entire thing has been worked out, more
or less, and it's pretty much over, they really want
to make up again, but don't quite know how to begin.

Logan stared at a rather ugly stone birdbath, wishing
desperately for Xavier's ability to say something
incredibly trite at a moment's notice.  "Uh..." he
said lamely.  "Are you... okay?"

Jubilee nodded, looking down at her toes, which were
poking industriously at the lawn.  "I'm pretty good.
Balanced, centered... you know.  Back more or less in
control."

"That's good."  He glanced at her quickly, then looked
away at a topiary pig.  It wasn't very good.  Hank had
been told he needed a hobby that was out in the fresh
air, and was teaching himself topiary out of a book.
"You've grown."

"Nearly three inches," she agreed, also looking at the
pig.  For something without facial features - except
the snout - it looked oddly knowing.  "I don't fit my
yellow coat anymore."

Logan swallowed hard.  The idea of a world that did
not contain a yellow-coated Jubilee was a rather
painful one.  "That purple one you were wearing last
night looked good," he said, falling back on inanity
in his confusion.

"Jono bought it for me," she said, still looking at
the pig.  "When I stopped wearing the other."  She
sounded older, too.  There was a faint hint of accent
that hadn't been there before.

Logan cleared his throat, looking down at his hands.
"He take good care of you?" he asked gruffly, wishing
he could look her in the eyes.

"Always. And I took good care of him, too."  Jubilee's
voice softened a bit.  She obviously cared deeply for
the guy... but just as a friend.  He was mostly sure.

"You always did," he said, managing to look at her
properly.  "Take good care of people, I mean."

"I tried," she said softly, meeting his eyes.  "But
it... kinda got on top of me after a while."

"I know."  He shrugged helplessly, wishing he knew how
to fix things.  "I'm sorry, darlin'.  I shoulda been
there for you."

"Yeah.  You should've."  She shrugged a little, and
gave him a lopsided smile.  "But it worked out okay."

He looked away.  "I'm sorry I wasn't there for ya," he
said softly.  "I should've been.  I promised you I
would be."

"Yup.  That you did."  Jubilee sighed, reaching out to
touch his hand gently.  "Everyone makes mistakes.  I'm
not mad at you about it anymore."

She meant it, he could tell, and he turned his hand
palm up to squeeze hers gently.  "I'm still sorry."

"Apology accepted."  Her hands had softened since the
last time he'd touched them, lost most of the deep
callouses from her gymnastics and her combat training.
 The nails were perfectly shaped and polished with a
deep blue-purple colour.

He sighed, looking over at the topiary pig.  "Things
ain't the same as they were, are they?" he asked,
already knowing the answer, and wishing harder than
ever that it wasn't so.  "Between us, I mean."

"No," she said regretfully, returning the gentle
squeeze. "It's never going to be the same.  I've
changed."

"I know."  She'd grown up, and he hadn't been there
for it.  That... hurt.  He'd been there when Ogun had
forced Kitty into adulthood.  He should have been
there when Bastion did the same to Jubilee.  But he
hadn't, Jono had, and he couldn't even resent the boy
for it, not after he'd saved Jubilee's life.  "Where
do we go from here?"

"I dunno."  She looked at him, and he made himself
meet her eyes.  They looked different. Older, more
experienced... but more peaceful, too.  The nervous
energy and lurking insecurity were gone, now.  Her
face was thinner, framed in silky, perfectly cut black
hair that just touched her jaw.  She was still
Jubilee... but different.  Adult.  Again, he
remembered how Kitty had changed, after Ogun.  So
Jubilee, too, looked different.  But then she smiled,
and her smile was the same as it had always been, even
though she wore lipstick now.  "We could try being
friends."

"Friends, huh?"  He managed a small smile in return.
"Okay.  I can do friends.  Probably not that well,
but..."

"Ororo seems to think you're pretty good at
friendship," Jubilee pointed out, and he wondered when
she'd had time to talk to Ororo.  "She says you've
turned over a new leaf."

"I have. I learned a lot from losing you."  The smile
worked better, this time, and then was lost in
confusion... and maybe a little tear or two... when
she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him as
if none of this had ever happened, and she was still
his little girl.

"There she is!!" someone yelled.

Suddenly a small tidal-wave enveloped them, made up of
Gen-Xers and X-Men mixed up higgledy-piggledy as they
all tried to grab and hug Jubilee at once.  She
squeaked in surprise, then gave Logan a rueful little
smile as she vanished into the crowd of people, who
were all talking at once, as loudly as possible.

"Jubilee, we missed you so much!"

"Where did you GO?"

"Did you have fun?"

"You didn't even WRITE!"

"Are you okay?"

"Where'd you get your hair done like that?"

"You have to tell us!  What- ow!!"

"Out of my way!"  Bobby hadn't let the wheelchair slow
him down any, and Emma had thoughtfully bought him a
whacking-stick to clear slow moving students out of
his way. Dear, understanding Emma. It worked on X-Men,
too, he thought gleefully, whacking Gambit on the
kneecap.  "Man in a wheelchair!  Everyone get out of
my way, I'm a special person!"

Reluctantly, and with many ouches and swearwords, a
path was cleared between the wheelchair and the
returned prodigal.  Bobby beamed at her, pushing his
chair - a conventional wheelchair, since there was
only one hoverchair and the Professor didn't share it
well - with some difficulty over the grass.  Monet
reached for the wheelchair handles, and Bobby slapped
her away with his whacking stick.  "Get off!  Have
some respect for the mature-but-still-handsome
crippled guy!"  He held out his arms.  "Hey, Jubes,
how about a hug?"

Jubilee plopped herself down on his lap and hugged
hard.  "Hey, Bobster," she whispered, suddenly a
little overcome by it all.  "I missed you."

"I missed you too."  He returned the hug, enveloping
her in warm arms and familiar Bobby-smell.  "You look
good, though."

"Thanks."  She laid her head on his shoulder for a
minute, then straightened up and smiled at him.
"You're not looking too shabby either.  The younger,
sexier Professor of tomorrow, huh?"

"Damn right.  I'm all ready to take over, as soon as
he gets kidnapped or something."  Bobby savoured the
horrified looks he was getting from several people.
"Yup.  Professor Drake and the D-Men.  Sounds pretty
good, huh?"

Emma smacked the back of his head.  "Shush.  My turn."
 She gave Jubilee an awkward hug, and an even more
awkward smile.  "Welcome back."

"Thanks, Frosty."  Jubilee gave her a damp smile.
"Missed you too."

Then, of course, the hugging started again, and nobody
said anything particularly coherent for a while.

* * *

It was much later.  After an all-day impromptu party
that had lasted well into the night, everyone had
finally gone to bed.

Well, everyone except one.  And another one, who was
looking for the first one.

Jubilee followed the music into a drawing-room that
was almost never used, except when the Professor had
wealthy-but-ordinary guests.  There was antique
furniture, rich carpeting, and a beautifully-crafted
piano.

Jono was sitting at the piano, playing softly.  Just
bits and pieces at first, little drifts of notes that
teased the ear before stopping suddenly.  She heard a
telepathically muttered swearword or two, saw him
reshuffling the messy bits of paper he'd tried to prop
up on the music-holding thingie.  There were a couple
more false starts, and then...

Jubilee didn't know much about music.  Especially not
the classical-type, instrumental stuff.  But this was
beautiful, that much she could tell.  It flowed along,
sometimes fast, sometimes slow, a little sad, but with
a few twinkling little moments that made her smile.
It went on for some time, before stopping in a sudden
squawk as Jono stopped playing and reached for pen and
paper.  ^^Okay, that works... better get it down...^^

She went and sat down beside him on the long
pianostool, resting her head against his shoulder.
"Hi."

^^Hey, you,^^ he said affectionately, still scribbling
away.  ^^Still awake, after all that fun everyone made
you have?^^

"Yeah.  Can't sleep."  She smiled, wriggling her toes
contentedly.  "Overexcited, I guess.  But happy."

^^Good.^^  He looped a long arm around her shoulders
as he finished scribbling messy notations, and poked
thoughtfully at a couple of keys.  ^^What did you
think?  So far, I mean.^^

"It was wonderful," she said softly.  "I didn't know
you could write music like that."

^^Neither did I.  Never tried, until now.^^  He
ruffled her hair absently as he shuffled the bits of
paper together with his other hand.  ^^Had about six
years o' Classical Piano lessons, though, before I
rebelled an' started playing rock'n'roll.  It's funny
how it all comes back.^^

"I liked it," Jubilee said, yawning a little.  "And
not just because you wrote it.  It... sounds good.
Like... I could sort of tell what you were feeling
when you wrote it, you know?  Sad, but happy too."

^^It'll stop being sad by the end, and be all happy,^^
he sent softly, stroking her soft hair as she leaned
against his shoulder.  ^^It's... us, mostly.  What we
felt, and everything, over the last year.  I didn't
want to forget any of it, and I'm better with notes
than with words.^^

"Really?  Neat."  Jubilee yawned again, getting sleepy
now that it was just her and Jono.  She'd missed him
today.  "What're you calling it?"

^^Uhm... Maturity in B Minor.  A bit pretentious, yeh,
but... that's just what it *is*.^^  He gave her an
affectionate little eyecrinkle.  ^^And you should be
in bed, love.  Big day again tomorrow.^^

"Okay."  She yawned a third time, kissed him on the
cheek, and hopped up off the bench.  "But you get some
sleep too."

^^Will do.^^  He watched her go, then turned back to
the piano.  She was happy, and that meant he was happy
too.  He was sort of in love with her, he was fairly
sure, but he planned to wait another year or two to go
anywhere with it.  She needed to settle down a bit,
maybe get a little older... and it wasn't as if he was
going to be hanging around mooning pathetically.  He
had music to write.  Maturity in B Minor needed at
least six solid months of work before it'd be anything
decent, and there were some more contemporaty bits of
song he wanted to jot down as well, at some point
and... well, he'd have plenty to keep his mind
occupied.  And he wouldn't be Jubilee-less in the
meantime.  She knew perfectly well that she was never
going to find a flatmate as nice and undemanding as
him.

He smiled a bit, in the privacy of his own mind, and
went back to work.  Something about that last bit just
wasn't quite right.

The End

Author's Note: Annnnd it's done!  Finally!  It's
been... good lord, at least two years... but it's
finally done.  Thank you to every single wonderful
person who sent feedback, and I hope you enjoyed the
last parts.  :)  And no, there will be no sequel.
None.  Not EVER.

Dyce