Unspoken: Nancy Drew Meets the Hardy Boys

Peanut Gallery 3:
Nancy Drew Meets the Hardy Boys
by Crystal Claire

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The kids of mutant high do a fact finding.

Timeline: Takes place after The Bargain, concurrent with Feeling Cavalier (parts anyway) and before Fault Lines.

Notes: Thanks to Jenn, Khaki, Jamie and Rhonda for beta'ing. It's a short, light piece.

Date: October 13, 2001

"Okay, what are we doing down here?" Johnny asked as he eyed the choppy water. It was overcast and damp. The warm breezes from yesterday were gone.

"Scene of the crime," Jubilee offered as she walked toward the dock.

Johnny stopped in his tracks and turned to Jubilee. "Huh?"

Dani opened her notebook and took out a pen. "Probably," Dani said looking at Jubilee. "Hank came barreling into the mansion last night, with a wet and naked Logan thrown over his shoulder."

"You're shittin' me!" Johnny nearly slipped in the wet leaves from the nearby maple tree.

Bobby grabbed Johnny's shoulder, setting him right. "No," Bobby answered shaking his head. "Not only that, Logan was unconscious too."

Jubilee cracked her gum loudly. "Got news for you. Not unconscious, dead." She walked to the end of the dock and turned around.

Several sets of eyes swiveled in her direction. Bobby snorted. "I saw him just a few minutes ago looking very much alive outside Ms. Rogue's room." He shifted uncomfortably remembering Logan's threat.

"The fact of the matter, Bobby-O, is Logan was dead for at least 10 minutes before they jump-started his heart," Jubilee stated smugly as she pulled the cuffs of her yellow sweatshirt over her hands, walking back over the wood planks. "The Hankmeister fished him out of the lake."

Bobby fell back against the maple. "Where'd you hear that?"

Jubilee leapt from the dock to the grassy shore. "I overheard Dr. MacTaggert and Ms. Munroe talking."

"Cripes," Johnny muttered. "That guy never does give up."

Jubilee walked to the left of the dock and crouched. She lifted Logan's dog tags from the lawn and then shoved the dog tags into her pocket. "That's what I'm counting on."

Dani sat down at the weathered picnic table. "So we have one naked and drowned Logan being carried in by Hank, and following him was Ms. Rogue in Logan's clothes."

"Logan's wet clothes," Kitty corrected, joining her.

Dani chewed on the tip of her pen before making additional notes. "He probably undressed down here and left his clothes with the tags."

"Where were Ms. Rogue's clothes?" Neal piped in.

"Good question. Let's come back to it." Dani made another note. "So Logan was in the water. Ms. Rogue was naked at some point since she didn't come down to the lake in Logan's clothes."

"They were skinny-dipping together," Jubilee stated emphatically, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "No other explanation."

"No way. I think you're making an assumption," Neal countered.

Jubilee rolled her eyes. "Hello? Naked Logan in the water. Naked Ms. Rogue. He already got her to swim once."

Dani tapped her pen against the table. "Neal, check the boathouse. See if her clothes are up there."

"If I saw a naked Logan, I might get naked too," Kitty offered after Neal was out of earshot. To Jubilee she asked, "Was he hairy everywhere?"

"No chica." Jubilee smiled brightly. "Mighty-fine specimen if I do say so myself." She chose a seat on top of the picnic table.

"Okay Jubes, you're really creeping me out," Bobby said as he swung his long limb over the branch, pulling himself up into the tree. "You just said he was dead when Hank brought him into the mansion.. Wait a minute, we're forgetting about her skin."

"Yeah, well apparently Logan did too," St. John retorted.

Bobby straddled the wide branch. "There's no way she was skinny-dipping with him. I mean c'mon, she knows what her skin can do."

"So does he from first hand experience," Dani said thoughtfully. "Then they touched accidentally. Her skin sucked enough of his energy to make him pass out and he went under."

"She couldn't pull him up because A -- he's too heavy with that metal skeleton and B -- she'd kill him for sure if she touched him again," said Kitty shuddering at the thought. "Oh, poor Ms. Rogue."

"Yeah, that'd definitely suck," St. John said glumly. "Good thing Hank was around."

"Hey guess what I found?" Neal strode to them carrying a pile of clothes, a pair of sneakers and a book of some sort. He dropped an article of clothing. His face was burning bright red as he stooped to pick it up. A white lace bra. He shoved it in the middle of the pile. He sat down next to Kitty and set the pile in front of him. Dani grabbed the book.

"Whoa - look at this!" She flipped through the pages of the sketchbook.

Bobby swung down from the tree and stood over her shoulder. "I didn't know Ms. Rogue could draw."

"No way mi amigo," Jubilee said leaning in closer. "That woman can barely draw stick figures."

Dani stopped turning the pages when she came to the portrait of Jean. "Logan drew this."

"Yowza." Kitty sat back in shock. "Who would of thought the man with claws could draw?"

Jubilee narrowed her eyes. "Dani, what else is in there?"

Dani flipped the page to the picture of Ororo, which garnered a few ahs and ohs. Then she flipped to the last page. Rogue's Baptism. Bobby let out a low whistle. Neal wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Holy - holy shit," choked out Johnny. "Do -- do you think he drew that from memory?"

Dani laid the sketchbook on the table and tilted her head. "I don't know, but ."

"They touched on purpose," Jubilee said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Hmm. Maybe they did," spoke a voice from behind them. The startled group turned to see Ororo striding toward them. Her white hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing a big bulky Irish sweater. "But love is blind, and lovers cannot see, the pretty follies that themselves commit."

Dani closed the sketchbook and handed it to Ororo. "Shakespeare?" Ororo nodded and smiled softly.

~*~

Feeling Cavalier by Crystal Claire

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Disclaimer: All X-Men characters belong to Marvel and Fox; this piece of fan-written fiction intends no infringement on any copyrights.