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A Matter of Honor	By : purenightshade Category: M through R > Mutant X Views: 1578 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mutant X, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Title: A matter of Honor

Author/pseudonym: Nightshade

Author websites: http://www.angelfire.com/anime/makosmusings

Characters: Adam, Jesse

Rating: The ratings vary from chapter to chapter, but it�s intended to be NC-17

Pairing: Non-shipper, non-slash, involves original characters

Status: incomplete

Series/Sequel: series

Spoilers: As of yet, no spoilers

Disclaimers: All Mutant X characters are copyright to their respective owners. Honor and Claudia are my original characters and should not be taken or used without my permission.

Summary:A New Mutant�s powers start to evolve out of control and it�s up to Adam and the team to help put them back under control. An old friend of Adam�s returns to haunt him.

Send all comments to nightshade@catlover.com
Episode 13: Honor
Honor lay on her side on her bed facing Jesse. He was lazily running a finger along her jaw line with a smile on his face, his body up close to hers. Neither of them had any clothing on, but a blanket covered them up to the shoulders.

�Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?� Jesse asked her.

She smiled. �Have I told you lately that you�re so full of it? I�m no more wonderful than any other woman.�

�What do I have to do to convince you I�m telling the truth?�

�Oh, I don�t know. A few more of these might do the trick,� she said slyly.

He grinned and kissed her on the forehead. �I think I can handle that. Now, we should probably get up and dressed before the others decide to come in after us. I don�t know how you feel about it, but I�d rather keep you all for myself.�

�So, you�re the possessive type?�

�Where you�re concerned, yes,� he replied, sitting up. �Now, where did my clothes vanish to?�

Honor pointed over at the foot of the bed where one of his shirt sleeves could be seen draped over the edge. �I think they went that way.�

After a few minutes of searching, they managed to find their clothes. Dressed now, Honor attempted to straighten her blankets out before sighing in exasperation and giving up. �Never mind. I�ll take care of that later. I�ve got better things to do than argue with a stubborn bedspread.�

�So, what do you need to do first?� Jesse asked her.

�I need to pack up the things that belonged to the help and get them sent off to their families, and then I need to get the house straightened up. I need to talk to Claudia about the house and what to do with it.� She swallowed nervously. �I also need to go to the cemetery where they�re buried.�

�You know which one it is?�

�There�s only one around here. It�s the one where my adopted parents are buried.�

�What about your real parents? What�s the story there?�

She studied his face. �Are you sure you want to know?�

�I want to know everything about you.�

She sat down on the edge of her bed, indicating that he should sit beside her. �I don�t remember my real parents. They were killed in a car crash when I was six. I was in the car with them. The car hit a patch of ice and went off a cliff. I was ok, but I lost all memory of anything before I woke up in the hospital. I was adopted by the Whitmore�s who had no children of their own. They died just before my mutation happened.�

Jesse wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. �I�m so sorry. No one should have to loose their parents, never mind two sets of them.�

�I�ve had a long time to think about it. I�m glad that none of them knew what I turned in to. They were spared that heartache.�

�There�s nothing wrong with what you are. It�s not your fault it happened.�

�That�s true.� She pulled away. �It doesn�t stop me from thinking that, though.�

Jesse looked puzzled, but said didn�t press the issue further. �So, tell me about your house, your parents. What kinds of things do you like?�

�You�re awfully inquisitive,� she commented.

He buried his face in her hair. �I want to know all there is to know about Honor Whitmore.�

�To start with, my original last name was O�Shea. It changed to Whitmore when I was adopted. I don�t remember anything about my parents. I�ve been told that my mom was a musician and an amateur poet while my father worked for a law firm. They had a small house on the edge of the downtown area where he worked. The accident happened on our way to visit a friend of dad�s, or so I�m told. I was in the hospital for a few weeks before the doctors decided I was healthy enough to be moved to the orphanage where I would, presumably, live until I was old enough to live on my own. I met Kat there, incidentally. It only lasted for a month before the Whitmore�s adopted me. My dad was a retired brain surgeon, so they had a fair amount of money coming in. Mom was from a fairly well-off family and worked with a lot of charities. They built this house early in their marriage. Both of them loved children, so they wanted lots, but weren�t able to have any. They were in their seventies when they adopted me. I inherited the house when they passed away.�

�Well, that explains the house and the hired help.� Jesse nodded. He got up and picked up the picture of the smiling couple and the young child. �Are these your real parents?�

�Yes. That�s me in there. That was the last picture taken of us as a family.�

�You were a cute kid.�

Honor blushed. �All kids are cute.�

�I wasn�t,� he said with a grin.

She stood and walked over and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest. �I find that hard to believe.�

�I�ll show you a picture some time. So, you like to read?�

She glanced over at her bookshelf. �When I have the time, which doesn�t happen often. I spend most of my time in rehearsal.�

�Rehearsal? Are you an actor?�

She shook her head. �I play second flute in the local symphony.�

�Nice.� He turned to look at her. �I always thought flute players were air-headed bimbos with bad dye jobs.�

She stepped back and put her hands on her hips. �I�ll have you know, Jesse Kilmartin, that my hair is naturally this color,� she said in mock offense.

He grinned. �You�re sure you�re not blond under there?� He took a step forward.

She swatted at him. �Oh stop that!�

�Who�re the people in the pictures? I was under the impression that you didn�t really have friends.�

�I do, actually.� She walked over to the vanity and pulled the pictures out. �This one is Danielle. She was one of my classmates in junior high. She moved around a lot so we were only friends for a year. This is Eleanor. She worked at the orphanage and was in charge of the girls. She was the first one to show me any sort of affection after the accident. This is Kat. She looks a lot different now, but it�s her. Even back then, people called her Kat instead Ekaterina, her full name.�

�Now that�s a cute kid,� he said, looking at the picture of a young blond girl in pigtails with a mischievous smile on her face.

�Cuter than me?� she asked.

�No one�s cuter than you.�

�Right. These two are Skyler and Tyler. You met Skyler before. Tyler is her older twin sister.�

�Brennan didn�t say anything about her having a twin.�

�That would be because he never met Tyler. Skyler doesn�t talk about her often, but I know she�s an elemental type new mutant. She was locked up in an asylum for a good part of her life as the mutation did something funny to her mind. Sad, really. Skyler busted her out of there about three years ago. I�ve met her a couple times. She seems nice enough.� She flipped to the next picture.

�These are two of my best friends in the underground, Jason McClellan and Lee Ross. Jason is a fox feral and Lee is a chromatic molecular. He�s not very powerful, but some of the stuff he can do is really pretty.�

�And the last picture there?�

She blushed. �The boy I had the biggest crush on in high school. His name is Daniel Rothman.�

�He�s not bad looking.�

�That�s not why I liked him, though it certainly didn�t hurt. He didn�t pick on me like the other boys did. He actually kept people from doing so. That was a bit of a mixed blessing. He was nice to me, though, and that was what mattered.�

�So I could be hideous and you�d still like me because I�m nice to you?�

She made a face. �I wouldn�t go that far. I like you the way you are.�

Jesse preened at the compliment. �So you�ve known Kat for a while?�

Honor nodded. �I saw her again seven years ago. It was quite a shock when I realized who she was. The feral mutation has changed her quite a lot from the girl I knew. I introduced her to Claudia. When we heard about the Underground, we got involved in it, Kat more so than me. Jason, Lee, Kat, Skyler, Tyler, Claudia, and Serenity are the only members of the Underground that I�m familiar with in this area. I�ve come across others in other cities, but I don�t travel much.�

There was a short knock on the door before it opened and Claudia walked in. �Honor, if you�re not too busy here, I could use your help with some packing.�

Honor turned and nodded. �I�m not doing much right now, so that�s no problem.�

�Need any help?� Jesse asked.

�We�ll be fine just the two of us,� Claudia told him, narrowing her eyes.

Honor turned back to Jesse. �I�ll see you in a bit, ok?� She kissed him on the cheek and headed off with Claudia.
�You like him, don�t you?�

Honor looked up at the sudden question. They�d been putting clothes and books into boxes for the last hour in complete silence. There was a large stack of boxes against one wall, each carefully labeled as to its contents and who had owned it.

�Who? Jesse?� Claudia nodded. �Well, yeah, I do. Why? Is there something wrong?�

Claudia shook her head. �No, I�m just having a hard time forgiving him for my damaged wrist.�

�Well, you did attack him, so it isn�t entirely his fault.�

�I know that.� She leaned on the box she finished filling. �I can�t help it, though.�

Honor sighed and scooted over to sit beside her friend. �There�s been so much pain and anger in your life. You don�t need this grudge hanging over your head, too.�

�It�s a defense mechanism. You know how I work.�

Honor nodded. �So. Have you spoken to Adam?�

�He seems to think he�s figured it out. He has, but he hasn�t figured the entirety of it yet.�

�You mean there�s more than you not remembering anything between when you came back from the bathroom and when you woke up in his apartment?�

�In the last thirty years, I�ve learned a thing or two that clears things up about that night. Tell me, Honor, what do you know about something called Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid?�

Honor stared at her. �It�s a depressant that acts on the central nervous system. Since the early nineties, it�s become a drug abused by teenagers for its euphoric, sedative and anabolic strength enhancing, and aphrodisiac effects. Some of the negative effects of it are a rapid onset of drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, myoclonic seizures and coma of short duration.� She shrugged. �I had to do a report on date rape drugs in high school.�

�Right. Anyways, from what I�ve learned, I think it was slipped into something I drank at the party.�

�You think Adam did it?�

�I can�t be sure of that, but, as I wound up at his place, it�s the explanation that makes the most sense.�

Honor shook her head. �I don�t believe it. Simple drunkenness was enough, but drugging? I don�t mean to be rude, Claudia, but I have a hard time believing that Adam would drug you and then take you back to his apartment after making that promise to you. Could anyone else have done it? Or could it have been put in a drink intended for someone else?�

Claudia stared at her. �What are you saying?�

�Maybe this wasn�t his fault, that maybe he was a victim in all of this as well as you.�

Claudia�s eyes narrowed. �I don�t expect you to understand. You weren�t there and you certainly don�t know him as well as I do. �

�For all I know, I could be wrong. Maybe it was him. I don�t know. It�s not my business.�

Claudia nodded and went back to packing boxes. After a few minutes, she said, �What�s between you and Jesse is none of my business, but�� She looked uncomfortable and didn�t finish what she�d started to say.

Honor smiled knowingly. �Yes, Claudia, we have.�

�Are you sure you�re doing the right thing?�

�I read him. He cares about me. I doubt very much that he�d hurt me.�

�That new mutation of yours isn�t exactly reliable,� the older woman pointed out.

�Be that as it may, I�ve gotten the same impression from him several times now. Once is chance, twice is a coincidence, but three times?�

Claudia raised her hands in defeat. �If you�re sure about this, I won�t stand in your way. I just don�t want you to be hurt like I was.�

�Jesse says that he talked to Adam about it before he came up here and found me in the bathroom. He doesn�t want the same thing to happen to us that happened to you two.�

She looked thoughtful. �That was quite intelligent of him.�

�You know, now that I think about it, I�m surprised that you haven�t read Adam.�

�I have. I did earlier.�

�Was it a complete read or just a surface scan?�

�You know very well that it�s impolite to forcefully read someone.�

Honor gave her a scathing glance. �In this case, I think you should. What does it matter anyways? You make no secret of the fact that you�d kill him if you could. At the very least, go and talk to him again. If I know you as well as I think I do, you let him tell you what he think happened and told him that what he said was right but didn�t add anything to it. You didn�t tell him what you know, did you?�

�No.�

�You should. If this thing is going to be resolved with the minimum amount of bloodshed, then you have to tell him. Or read him. Or both. It�s your choice, but you have to do something.�

�What would you do if our situations were reversed? How would you react to what happened to me?�

�As you�ve pointed out before, our temperaments are very different. Perhaps I would have done the same thing and vanished, but as for this grudge�I don�t hold grudges for long. Likely, I would have come back and tried to figure out what had happened. If it was the bad thing I�d thought, I�d act as you are now. If not, I�d feel pretty silly for holding a grudge. Wouldn�t you?�

Claudia stared over at a blank wall. Knowing that she�d be lost in thought for a while, Honor went back to work, filling boxes. When she finished with the room she was in, she looked up to see what Claudia was doing. The other woman was gone. Honor smiled and went into the next room to continue packing.
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A Matter of Honor