Fiction Winning

Title: Winning

Author: Restive Nature (aka Bavite)

Rating: PG-13 (some mild attraction)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned from BtVS. Those babies belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Nor do I own any of the characters or settings from the X-men. They belong to Stan Lee and Marvel Comics.

Timeline: For BtVS, it’s seventh season. Anya has returned to the demon fold after the almost marriage with Xander. For X-men, it’s after the second movie and Jean Grey is dead.

Pairing: Anya/ Wolverine for TtH’s Fic-For-All Pairing #806

Summary: It doesn’t matter how you play the game… because somebody is always changing the rules!

Winning

“Yes!” the girl’s slightly excited voice rang out, causing Logan, a mutant also known by the code name Wolverine, to wince. “Payday!” she sang out happily. Her gamine little face turned up to his and she held out her hand expectantly. Logan dutifully checked the square on which she had landed and then counted out the play money before him. How the hell had he been roped into this damn game?

“Oh no,” came another voice and Logan’s eyes darted to the giggling Jubilation Lee. “Here comes the capital dance of whatever the hell!” And sure enough, little Anya, the latest mutant to come into the fold had jumped to her feet, her hips swinging wildly, her head bobbing back and forth as she counted her pink and blue and green money, almost as if it were real.

Logan couldn’t help chuckling. As irked as he might be at having to baby-sit the kids in the recreation room that night, it had its compensations, such as like right now. Ever since Anya had arrived at the school, he’d been reluctantly charmed by her blunt outspokenness and sparkling, vivacious eyes. There were times that she’d eyed him a little too closely, but he was getting used to that. It wasn’t like the other students of the female persuasion hadn’t developed crushes on him.

Rolling his eyes as Anya’s dance became a little more exuberant; he turned his head to see the last little member of their group. Rogue. And remembered exactly why he’d let himself be conned into playing the game of Life. She’d been moping in front of the television, her eyes on the schmuck who was supposed to have been her boyfriend, now snuggling up with another recent turn-up of the Professor’s.

Logan had had to control himself, for her sake only when he and Rogue had discovered Bobby tucked away with that young lady, in a not so delicate situation, a few days ago. His first instinct had been to rip the kid to shreds. But the trembling lip of Rogue and her sudden flight had compelled him to follow, though not before casting Bobby with the deadliest glare he could muster. The kid had gulped. He knew that at some point he was in for it. Only the professor’s interference had saved his life.

And worse of all was Rogue’s stoic acceptance of it. Her damned mutation or being unable to touch another living human without causing them severe physical damage had led her to believe that this sort of thing was inevitable. She’d known that it would be too difficult to maintain a relationship in which the participants couldn’t even touch skin to skin. But the longer Bobby had held on to the illusion, the more she’d begun to hope against hope.

And so tonight, even though she’d protested, Jubilee and Anya had had their way. Pulling Rogue from the television and encouraging her to get back into the teen swing of things. And Logan, noting that there was just a hint of smile on the redhead’s face as she watched Anya skipping around their little group, felt that he could put up with the discomfort Anya brought. Truly, some of the outspoken, blunt garbage that flew from the blonde’s lips astounded them all into laughter, Rogue included. And to Logan, that was a good thing. Finally, after a few more minutes, Anya settled herself back down to her cross legged seat. She stowed her money under her section of the board and waited expectantly for Jubilee to take her turn.

But unbeknownst to the occupants of Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Children, also known by the students as Mutant High, there was more to Anya Jenkins that they had ever assumed. For even while she danced, pranced and shocked with her verbal outpourings, she was there for a purpose. After her not a wedding to Xander Harris, she’d returned to the demon fold that for so long had been her life. Vengeance with a vengeance. That was her motto nowadays.

And if ever there was vengeance needed, it was for Rogue. Of course, Anya ignored the fact that this really was more of her best friend, Hallie’s domain. The demoness Halfrek had a special affinity for children in pain. Just as she ignored the fact that Hallie had kind of slid this one her way. Since there was a young man involved, which was Anya’s domain, Hallie was able to fudge things a little. She was helping Anya, who’d been out of the game for several years, to ease back in. And as Anya thought about this, her mind began to scheme as to how to get Rogue to admit her deepest darkest desires when it came to punishing her two-timing boyfriend. Perhaps Anya could even give her some suggestions of what she would have liked to do to Xander.

*****             

“Wow,” Rogue whispered to Jubilee under her breath. Both girls were watching the intensity on Anya’s face as she stared at Logan. Neither realized that Anya was actually lost in her own thoughts.

“Yeah,” Jubilee whispered back, careful not to garner Logan’s attention. The odd man out was rearranging the money while Jubilee made the pretense of taking her turn spinning the dial. As the little clicker spun around, Rogue used the noise to cover her next words, knowing just how well the Wolverine’s hearing was.

“You know, I really wish that Logan could settle down and be happy with someone,” she began, then glanced at the newest blonde addition. “Like Anya. They just seem so…”

Jubilee giggled. She knew exactly what Rogue meant. There was just something so unpredictable about both Logan and Anya. Not that they were in any way alike. They just seemed to be so odd that they went together. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I know.”

*****         

Both Anya and Logan’s heads snapped up at the same time, thought for different reasons. Logan glanced warily at Anya, wondering if she’d overheard what he just had. She was staring at Rogue just as intently as she’d been staring at him a moment ago. What the hell was she thinking?

Anya found that while she’d been musing the prime moment over, her chance had come and almost gone. She’d heard the special words uttered from Rogue’s mouth. And as tradition and her job dictated so she… “Wish granted!” she thundered.

Every single occupant in the room, though mutants every one of them, were stunned when Anya Jenkins, teenage mutant, suddenly sprouted a veiny, grotesque face and deep preternatural voice. But the moment faded quickly for all of them but the so called mutant in the center of attention.

Anya could feel things shifting. Some minute, some huge. But there was something shifting inside her as well. She wondered if this was the way her clients felt when she granted their wishes and wondered why she would feel it if this were Rogue’s wish. But soon the feeling faded and Anya looked around, slightly dizzy.

“You okay, darlin’?” came a gruff voice from her left. Anya glanced at Logan as his hand brushed away the hair that had fallen over her cheek.

“Yeah,” she answered slowly, unsure if she really was okay. But then, a bright sparkle before her caught her eye. On her left hand was the most gorgeous diamond solitaire that she’d ever seen, coupled with a solid gold wedding band. Anya smiled down at the set of rings, until she noticed that underneath her hand rested something even more intriguing. A very rounded stomach that belonged to herself. “What’s going on?” she demanded softly, trying to ascertain exactly what had transpired. This was what Rogue had wished for? For Anya to be married and pregnant? Somehow that didn’t make sense.

“You won the game,” Rogue piped up from her right and Anya’s head swung around to stare at the mutant for a moment before her focus took in Jubilee and the board game once again. Oh yes, they’d been playing the game of Life. A large grin spread over her face. She turned back to Logan to find him leaning towards her as his own hand slid over her burgeoning belly. She could see the matching wedding band adorning his hand. She lifted her face and met his lips in a quick kiss. Anya sighed happily.

“I like winning!”