She waited at the spot in the park that he had texted her about. The black haired teen leaned against the snow-covered tree and closed her eyes. It wasn’t long until she heard footsteps coming toward her.
“Hey, Miss Scarlet,” a cheerful voice said in her ear. She smiled and turned to see a blonde haired young man with shinning brown eyes.
“Evan,” she answered softly. “You’re late,” she lightly scolded. He just smirked. He had lost the bone plates on his face and the spikes going down his spine but the plates on his torso and arms stayed. The Professor had hypothesized that it was Wanda’s influence that helped Evan to control his anger, thus, helping him with his powers.
“I had to take care of a few things,” he told her. “After all, this is a date, Wanda. I had to make sure everything was perfectly planned.”
She just laughed, as he had hoped she would, before entwining her arm in his.
“Okay, Mr. Smooth Operator, where are we going?”
It was past a couple hours past noon and the bright sun glinted off the snow. Children were playing and adults were hurrying around, trying to get in their last minute Christmas shopping.
“Well, I thought we could do a late lunch and then I have a few other things planned.” Evan smiled as his girlfriend huffed.
“You know that I hate surprises,” she told him but he could tell that she wasn’t really angry.
“You’ll like mine.”
He tugged her along until they came to be outside of a small diner. He held open the door for her and led her to a booth in the back. The restaurant had a very home-like feel to it. It was also one of the only places that didn’t discriminate against anyone, including mutants. The owner, an older man with brown skin and a prosthetic leg, came over to the young couple to take their order. They ordered burgers and fries before turning back to each other.
“Are you excited for Christmas?” he asked her. Wanda shrugged and twirled her water glass around.
“I know that Pietro is getting me something but I’m not really excited about it.” Evan nodded in understanding. Wanda had not had a good Christmas since they were very young. In fact, she hadn’t had much to celebrate these last years.
“Well, you’re gonna have to get excited because we’re going to be spending much of tomorrow together.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she said with her head down. Evan quickly took her warm hand in his and encouraged her to look in his eyes.
“I know,” he told her. “But I want to do it.” She smiled slightly at him. Evan leaned in to kiss her but they were soon interrupted by Rogue’s voice.
“Hey, guys,” she said as she sat beside Wanda. “What are ya doin’?” she asked. Evan rolled his eyes at his friend as Piotr sat beside him.
“We’re on a date,” he told her with a little irritation creeping into his voice. “But, you already knew that.” Rogue just shrugged and yelled out her order to Jim, the old man.
Piotr mouthed “sorry” to the couple, but they waved it off. Rogue and Wanda had become fast friends after the whole Apocalypse incident.
“So, what are you two up to today?” Wanda asked her two friends as the food arrived. They thanked Jim before turning toward their food.
“We’re on a date,” Rogue said. Evan and Wanda halted in their eating and looked at the other couple. Piotr blushed slightly with the attention but didn’t back down from their stares.
“It’s about freakin’ time,” Evan said. He had known that Piotr and Rogue would be good for each other, especially since Piotr had never been afraid to touch Rogue. He had helped her deal with getting over Scott and Evan had hoped that their friendship would develop into something more.
Rogue blushed as well before looking away. Piotr placed his huge hand on top of her gloved one and sent a small smile her way. “You two do make a nice couple,” Wanda said.
Rogue nodded her thanks and the two couples continued their meal. They talked of their plans for Christmas, how school was going, and when Piotr would teach Rogue to ride a motorcycle. An hour later, the couples had split up to continue their day. Evan and Wanda headed back to the park. He led her into the trees in the middle of the park where a wooden swing covered in snow hung on a thick tree.
Evan brushed the snow off and indicated to his girlfriend to sit. He gently pushed her and she smiled. “Do you remember the first time I pushed you on a swing?” Evan asked and Wanda nodded.
“I think we were five years old and in kindergarten,” she answered. “You had just given me skittles and I kissed your cheek, declaring that we were a couple.”
“That was one of the best days of my life.” He continued to push Wanda until it started to get dark. He took her hand and led her toward the mansion.
She stopped him just outside of the gates. “What’s wrong?” he asked. She said nothing but looked at the ground sadly. “Hey, you know that you’re always welcome here. The Professor has already said so.” She shrugged and Evan pulled her past the gates and up the driveway.
The couple entered the mansion and went straight to the den. It was empty and Evan wasted no time in turning on a movie. They had decided not to watch any holiday movies and settled on The Princess Bride and Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Once both movies went off, Evan turned toward his girlfriend and held out a long and thin black box.
“What’s this?” she asked him.
“Open it,” he told her shyly. She looked sideways at him and opened the box. It held a necklace that held round red beads and pieces of the bone-spikes that came out of Evan’s body. She looked at him and noticed that he seemed nervous.
“I love it,” she told him. He smiled at her and quickly helped her to put it on. She fingered the necklace softly before kissing her boyfriend.
They were soon interrupted by a throat clearing in the doorway. They turned to see an angry Scott with his arms crossed.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Evan sighed in agitation. Wanda kept her eyes on the ground as she rose from the couch with Evan following. She really didn’t want to rock the boat with Evan’s situation at the mansion. He had only recently returned, and she didn’t want him to feel as if he had to leave again. Especially since he and Ororo had grown closer.
“I should get going,” she said. Evan shook his head slightly but Wanda just smiled briefly at him.
“I’ll walk you to the door,” he told her. He glared at Scott as they passed him. Holes appeared in Evan’s shirt as his spikes came out but he quickly reeled in his anger as his aunt had taught him and his spikes disappeared; only the bone plates remained over his body like armor which was now easily covered by his shirts. Once the couple reached the door, Evan pulled Wanda into a hug and kissed her cheek tenderly. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She nodded.
“I’ll call you when I get to the boarding house.” She quickly left and Evan closed the door when he couldn’t see her anymore. He pushed passed Scott and looked for Piotr and Rogue. The trio talked of what they would do the next day up until it was dinner time.
It was a very quiet affair as most of the students had went home for the holidays. Only Piotr, Rogue, Evan, and Scott remained as well as Ororo, Logan, the Professor, and Hank. Toward the end of the meal, Evan started to get anxious as he had not heard from Wanda since she left.
“What’s wrong?” Ororo asked her nephew. Before he could answer, the phone rang and he jumped up to answer it.
“Wanda?” he asked.
“Sorry, it’s Pietro.” Evan and Pietro had started to repair their friendship bit by bit and were now mostly okay with each other. “I’m guessing that Wanda’s not with you.” His voice hitched and he cleared his throat.
“No, she left over an hour ago. She said that she’d call when she got there.”
“Well, she’s not here. I don’t know where she is.”
Evan breathed deeply before answering.
“Alright, we’ll go look for her. You take the warehouse district and downtown. Piotr, Rogue, and I will check the area around the mansion.”
“Gotcha,” Pietro said before hanging up. He looked at his friends and the quickly stood up.
“Wanda never made it back to the boarding house,” he told them, his breathing becoming heavy. “I’m going to go look for her.”
“We’ll help,” Piotr said determinedly. Evan nodded and the trio quickly got their jackets and left the mansion. Logan and Ororo looked at the Professor before they, too, got up to help with the search.
Evan had taken his car, a yellow ’96 Impala, and searched the dark streets of Bayville. As he passed the alley by Jim’s Diner, he noticed five guys yelling and stomping on something. When he saw a flash of a scarlet red trench coat, he quickly got out of the car and ran to the boys.
He punched one as the rest fled. It only took three punches before the guy was out cold with a broken nose and busted lip. Evan saw a bright light and quickly looked up. It was Piotr and Rogue on Piotr’s silver motorcycle. Rogue took off her helmet and swung it at the last fleeing guy, knocking him out cold.
Evan kneeled beside his girlfriend and carefully held her head in his lap.
“Ororo and Logan are on their way with da van,” Rogue told him. “They musta jumped her.” There was no way Wanda wouldn’t have fought back against some humans and won, unless she had been incapacitated.
He said nothing as he brushed Wanda’s short hair from her face. He could see the bruises beginning to form on her face and the cuts on her arms. She was unconscious and he doubted that she could hear what was going on.
It didn’t take long for Ororo and Logan to arrive. They quickly loaded Wanda into the van, with Evan keeping a hold on her hand. Rogue got in to Evan’s car and followed the van with Piotr in the rear. She called Pietro to let him know that they found Wanda and that they would keep him updated.
As they came into the mansion’s garage, Evan quickly carried his girlfriend to the infirmary and was promptly shooed out by his aunt and Hank.
He began to pace, and Logan took him to the Danger Room to let out his anger. Once he was done, he came back just as his aunt and Hank were finishing up.
Ororo smiled at her nephew and Evan breathed a sigh of relief. “Wanda will be okay,” she reassured him. “She’ll have some bruises and will be sore for a while, but she’ll be just fine. We gave her some pain killers so she probably won’t wake up until tomorrow morning.”
“Can I see her?” He was still very fidgety.
Ororo nodded and Evan quickly left the group to sit at Wanda’s bedside. He took her hand and laid his head on the infirmary bed close to her stomach.
“We’d better call Pietro to let him know that Wanda’s okay,” Rogue said and she and Piotr left with a promise to come back in the morning.
Logan looked at Evan and Wanda while putting his arm around Ororo.
“I guess they really are in love,” he commented softly. Ororo smiled at him and led him away from the young couple.
“I guess they are,” she replied. “Now, if only the Scott and the others would see it.”
MCMS MCMS MCMS MCMS MCMS
Wanda opened her eyes and looked around the dim room. She saw the medical equipment and started to panic, thinking that she was back at the asylum.
Evan heard the beeping of the monitor and looked up to see Wanda’s terrified face. “Wanda,” he said softly. “It’s okay, you’re safe.” Wanda quickly turned toward his voice and visibly sighed.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice hoarse. Evan quickly got her a glass of water before telling her of the night’s events.
“They were probably mutant haters.” His hands shook as he thought of what they might have done to Wanda if he had not found her. He took a deep breath before turning back to her. “I’ve already called Pietro and he said he’ll drop by later.” She nodded and held out her arms to him. Evan quickly crawled into the bed beside her and held her close.
“This is not how I imagined I would be spending my Christmas,” Wanda laughed with a small wince. Evan smiled and rubbed his hand up and down her back, happy that she didn’t seem too affected by what had happened.
“Well, at least we get to spend Christmas together,” he told her. She smiled at him laid her head on his chest. “Merry Christmas Miss Scarlet.” The couple didn’t notice their friends watching them from the doorway.
“I’ll bet that Porcupine will propose by the New Year,” Logan said suddenly.
“Nuh-uh,” Rogue said. “Ah am not takin’ that bet.” Piotr laughed at his girlfriend and threw an arm around her shoulders.
This Christmas was definitely a different one, but at least the outcome was a happy one. As the friends closed the door, Evan kissed Wanda’s cheek as she fell asleep, hoping that he could make her life better with the start of a new year.