Dirt And Roses

Chapter 3

-Sheffield Star HQ, Sheffield, England, 1962-

Bonnie sighed as she hid in the (abandoned) women's toilets at work.

'Of course she had to do this the day I wear a white shirt...' She thought. Betty had once again managed to cause trouble for the woman.

Bonnie had just pulled the office kettle off the heat and was in the process of making her cup of tea when Bert (the extremely cute journalist from Political News) asked her if she could take a few files to the Head Office. Of course, being only and intern (and also being asked by someone who was definitely easy on the eyes) she agreed and was only gone for a minute. But apparently this was long enough for Betty to take another opportunity to cause trouble for the pretty 22 year old mutant.

Bonnie came back and continued making her tea the way she liked it - one sugar, lots of milk - and took a sip... Only to spit the tea back out and spill the warm drink down her white v-neck top. Someone had added chilli flakes to her tea Bonnie discovered as she looked down at the spilt tea on the floor. The tea was still rather hot, so Bonnie pulled her shirt away from the skin on her chest (also peeling it away from her flower patterned bra, partially hiding it) and ran off to the bathroom to put water on the scald and check the damage, she could tell it couldn't be too deep as it only stung. Bonnie could hear the tell-tale giggling of Betty as she retreated, so it was obvious who the culprit was.

Once in a secluded bathroom on the other side of the building, Bonnie closed the door, not bothering to lock it as it was rarely used and removed her top, turned on the cold tap and dampened the small face towel she always kept in her handbag in case of emergency.

Bonnie hissed as the pressed the damp cloth against the red skin on her chest. When she pulled the towel away ten minutes later, she leaned forward, closer to the mirror to get a look at the damage done.

From under her collarbone to the top of her breasts (where her bra started), the skin was a bright red and very tender she discovered as she touched it lightly.

"Only superficial damage... You're very lucky Miss Cartwright. It'll have healed mostly by tomorrow." A smooth, British voice piped up from behind her.

Bonnie gasped and turned around, holding her wet shirt to her chest to hide her bra, to find two men in front of her.

Both men were taller than her (which, to be honest, wasn't that hard to achieve). She could estimate the one on the left to be roughly 5 foot 7, and his friend on the right to be around 6 foot.

"We apologise for barging in like this, but this happened to be the perfect opportunity to talk to you."

Bonnie stared at the smaller man - the one who had spoken - feeling extremely uncomfortable being in front of these two strangers in her bra. And now it seemed they wanted something from her... But what? She had nothing. The smaller man put the index and middle fingers of his left hand to his temple, his shockingly blue eyes gazing into her amber ones.

"Oh no, love, you certainly have something we can use." His eyes seemed to twinkle in mischief and knowledge, one side of his mouth twitching upwards... who was he? "Oh, I'm sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. How rude of us. My name is Charles Xavier, Professor of Genetics at Oxford University." Blue eyes - now Charles - held out his hand for Bonnie, pulling it back when he realised she was too busy clutching onto her shirt.

"And I'm Erik Lehnsherr." The taller man introduced, not making Charles' mistake and instead crossing his leather-clad arms and looking down at Bonnie with his own blue eyes. "And we want your help, because we think your abilities can help us."

"M-my abilities? I d-don't know what you're talking about." Bonnie stuttered... Did these two know about what she could do?

"Yes, Bonnie, we do know." Charles answered, despite the fact she hasn't asked out loud. "You're not the only person here with special abilities, love."