In the Kitchen one Night

"Jubilee! Have you been taking the whipped cream again?" Ororo called across the kitchen. She was holding a mug of hot cocoa, but didn't have the topping for it.

"Nope, not me. I only did that once!" The Asiatic girl yelled back. Then, as Kitty walked in, "Hey Kitty! Wanna help me look for the whipped cream thief?" She was fairly bouncing at the thought of actually having something to do (saving the world got boring if no one was trying to steal it) and the fact that she had more caffeine than blood right now... well, she felt like she could out-jump Beast.

Kitty shot Storm a look and the dark-skinned woman shrugged back. She wasn't the one that let Jubes near the Cokes. "Whatcha' talking about Jubes? Another can disappear?"

"Yeah. What does that make, the ninth?" The caffeine O.D.'d teen shouted.

"Ah! One last can. I gotta go shopping..." Muttering about malls and stores, Ororo moved off, leaving the two girls in the kitchen.

"Hey, I got an idea! You can just phase a buncha' food coloring into the bottle, and then we'd know who was the thief!"

"I don't know Jubes..." All uncertainty was cut off as Jubilee jammed a bottle of neon blue food coloring into her hand and shoved her to the fridge.

"Sure you can. Just stick the coloring in the bottle and voila, perfect trap! We'll catch 'em red, er... blue handed!"

"Alright, just quit with the jokes already!" Kitty phased the neon coloring into the can of whipped cream, retrieving the empty bottle. "Could be funny if the thief turned out to be dumb old... hi Mr. Summers!" Scott had walked into the room, causing Kitty to quickly rephrase her sentence.

"Bye Mr. Summers!" The teen conspirators scuttled out of the room trying to hide grins and snickers.

"Dose two be up ta someting. Doan know what, but Jubilee never grin like dat 'less she cookin' up trouble." Remy stepped into the kitchen behind Scott in time to witness the flight.

"I don't know. Might be worth the effort to find out, though." He started after the girls but stopped suddenly, staring at the hand gripping his arm.

"What Jean be watchin' now? You runnin away awful quick." Red on black eyes met red visor.

"Another sapp..."

"Another what, Scott?" Jean walked into the room, just in time to almost catch the last word. Scott swallowed.

"Another one of your great movies dear." He snatched up a few chip bags and Jell-O cups, "Just had to grab a few munchies. Have you already picked out a movie?"

"Yep, thought we could see 'Fly Away Home'. I've heard that it is absolutely wonderful, a real tear-jerker." She turned and walked out the door, grinning to herself. Men were so easy to predict, and needling Scott was fun. Especially when she knew he would valiantly sit through even 'Titanic' if she so desired. That would have to be next week's movie... very entertaining!

The pair moved off, and life went on...

That Night

"Well Kitty, I think our plan had a flaw... the can is missing, and no one has a blue mouth!" Jubes moaned to the group in the kitchen. Bobby and John had to come with the girls when they mentioned the trap, but now it seemed to have backfired.

"What's wrong?" Marie walked into the kitchen, Logan not too far behind.

"Oh, someone kept stealing whipped... Marie, what's under that scarf?" Jubilee advanced on Rogue with an evil glint in her eyes.

"No... nothin' Jubes. Bye, gotta run!" She stammered and turned to escape, but Jubilee caught the trailing edge of her wrap.

"Hold it right there young lady! You're hiding something and I wanna know." Jubilee pulled the scarf down enough to expose what Marie had tried to hide. Faint blue streaks trailed from her pulse point down under her shirt, leaving the imagination to wonder where they stopped and what they touched. "Oh my God, the thief was you?!?" Jubes managed to squeak out before she was met by a set of shiny claws, each eager to separate her head from her shoulders.

Logan began pulling Rogue away from the group and out the door. Jubilee stared at the menacing claws, then looked past them to watch his eyes, ready to duck should he even blink. Her eyes drifted away to sneak a quick glance at his strong jaw line when she jumped, forgetting the threat to her throat.

"Is that blue too? What did you guys do to spread that... much... never mind!" Jubilee yelped as the reason why Logan had blue stains under the day-old growth on his face hit her like a ten ton Mack truck. Instantly blushing, she shooed the others away, almost running herself.

"Guess they found the blueberry patch too, hmm? Wish I knew where that darned whipped cream ran off to... coulda had berries and cream." Marie pouted, prompting Logan to snuggle her closer. Running a hand along her ribs, he murmured in her ear.

"You're sweet enough I don't need cream..."

"Careful, you'll ruin your reputation," she teased back, "We'll have to do something about that... wanna go play in the hay again?" Marie leaned back against him, giving him ample reason to assent.

Elsewhere in the Mansion

"What the hell happened to the whipped cream?!?"

"I don't know, you're the one that grabbed it!" Jean managed to gasp between giggles.

"That won't be coming off any time soon." Scott moaned.

"I kind of like it. Besides, you'll just have to wear boxers for a while until it wears off. Now, where were we?" Lights dimmed, voices hushed, and night reigned.