There was a quiet air about the night as Emma Frost stood on her balcony, her long, thin white nightgown fluttering in the warm summer breeze. She stared out over the Massachusetts landscape, wondering why she couldn't sleep. She couldn't come up with an explanation though. She just wasn't able to fall asleep. She had checked on the students, and made sure the security system was on. Nothing was out of sorts. Emma hadn't a clue what was keeping her up.

A hundred miles away, another person sat awake. Robert Drake sat on his bed, like Emma, he was unable to sleep. Unlike Emma, however, he knew why. He'd had many nights of sleeplessness recently. Especially since his talk with Emma, and his transformation back to his human state. He'd gone to her for help, and she gave it to him, whether he realized it or not. Until that day Bobby had believed that Emma had been torturing him, after that day he knew she had. But not to be cruel, to help him. Help him to learn to use his powers...on his own. In short, she helped Bobby to help himself. And he was grateful. But in the short time he'd been with her after he changed back, he had seen a side of Emma he'd never seen before. A sensitive, compassionate side. And in those few minutes, Bobby Drake had fallen in love.

He'd thought it was stupid at first. Some sort of feeling of gratitude? But after many nights of being up thinking about it, he realized it wasn't. He'd fallen in love with he notorious White Queen. And it was very vexing to him. Why Emma? She wasn't the kind to settle down and get married and have a family. She was a shrewd business woman, and she was very independent. No, she wasn't the kind of woman he'd seen himself with...yet he'd fallen hopelessly in love with her. She was all he could think about half the time. And it bothered him to no end. He couldn't tell her. She'd probably laugh in his face!

Bobby decided, as he had every night, to talk to Hank about it in the morning. He probably wouldn't, he never did, but it made him feel better to have a plan. And it allowed him to get two hours of sleep before his early morning training session.

The next morning, Emma Frost woke at 7 to the sound of her alarm clock. And fell back asleep after sending it flying to smash against the bedroom wall. Unfortunately, Sean wasn't about to let her sleep in. Promptly at 7:15, he came into her room and woke her for a second time. She nearly took his head off with the lamp she threw at him. But he managed to sidestep it, and, like the clock, it smashed against the wall.

"Emma, ye've got t'be gettin up, lass. We've got things t'do," he said.

"Mmmmm..." was her reply.

"Fine, but dinnae say I didn'ae warn ye," Sean told her. And he left the room.

Ten minutes later Emma found herself covered with ice. She sat bolt upright and practically leapt from her bed. Sean stood in the doorway, laughing as she cursed him. She got dressed and took the soaking wet sheets off of her bed. After brushing her hair, she went down to the kitchen with her sheets in her hand. She dumped the sheets, melting ice and all, in Sean's lap.

"You can have the pleasure of washing them now," Emma told him.

"As long as I got ye out of bed," he replied, tossing the wet bundle on the floor.

The students, having no idea what was going on, stared in wonder and amusement. Needless to say, Emma was not happy for the rest of the morning.

Iceman and Beast sit in the rec room after their training session with Jean and Warren.

"I see what your problem is, my friend," Hank McCoy told Bobby. "You want to let her know how you feel, but you don't want to sound foolish."

"Actually, I was hoping that you'd tell me I was stupid, and to forget about her all together," Bobby stated dryly. The solemn look on his face made it plain to see the whole situation was rough on him.

"Would if I could, buddy o'mine, but you would be even more miserable if you were to do that. Sounds to me like you're head over heels for our dear Ms. Frost," Hank conveyed sympathetically.

"That's just the thing, I don't want to fall for her! It would never work out! I'd just end up hurting her like I did Opal!" Bobby stopped when he realized what he'd just said.

Hank sat down next to him, putting his arm around Bobby's shoulders. "Is that what you're afraid of? Hurting Emma?"

"Yeah. I guess I didn't wanna admit it, even to myself, but I'm afraid that if we get involved I'm gonna hurt her. And I don't want to do that to her, Hank...I love her," Bobby said.

Hank stood, "Now that you've admitted that you do care for her, to yourself, why not tell her?"

"This is Emma Frost we're talking about, Hank...do you think she'd care?" Bobby asserted wearily.

"The worst she could do is laugh in your face.", Hank replied.

Bobby stared at his friend with wide eyes.

"Sorry, bad attempt at levity."

"Really bad attempt," Bobby groaned.

"Honestly, Robert, I think you should tell her."

"I don't think I'm ready to yet. I will...just not right away," Bobby decided.

"All right. But I think you'd feel better about it if you got it over with," Hank said certainly.

"I'll do it as soon as I'm ready to. Thanks Hank!" With that, Bobby stood and left the room.

After leaving Henry, Bobby went into the woods to think for a while. He sat under a large oak tree and pondered what to do.

If I tell her she'll either laugh and tell me I'm nuts or throw herself at me and declare her undying love for me He decided that the previous choice was the more likely of the two. Is that it? Or am I trying to make an excuse not to tell her? I don't want to chance hurting her, so I'm trying to come up with a reason not to tell her at all The realization made him angry. At himself. He'd never know how it would turn out if he didn't even tell her how he felt! I'm gonna do it! I'm going to tell Emma Frost that I love her whether she gives a rat's ass about me or not!

Coming to this conclusion, Bobby wandered back toward the house. He felt good about his decision.

"Have any of ya seen Ms. Frost lately?" Paige Guthrie asked her classmates.

"Not since this morning, chica," Angelo replied. The others nodded in agreement.

Paige thanked them for their help, even though they hadn't been any, and headed for Mr. Cassidy's office. She knocked on the door loudly.

"Come in."

Paige entered the room and Sean looked up at her, "What can I do fer ye, lass?"

"I was wondering if ya knew where Ms. Frost was, sir.", she said.

"Now that ye mention it, I havenae seen her since right after breakfast. Did ye check in her room, and her office?"

"Yes, sir, she wasn't there," Paige stated matter-of-factly.

A concerned look appeared on Sean's face, "I dinnae ken where she coulda went. Especially without tellin me."

He got up from his desk and went down the hall to the room where Cerebro was kept. He checked the readings on the screen that kept track of the students, as well as the faculty. Emma wasn't registering on the computer. Sean spoke to the computer, "Cerebro, when did Emma Frost leave the grounds?"

{At 9:23:45}, came the robotic voice.

Sean looked at his watch: 6:38. Emma wouldn't leave without letting someone know, and if she did, she wouldn't be gone that long. "Did she leave alone?"

{Yes}

Sean was really getting worried. Why would she go anywhere? And why in secret? He decided to search her room for any clues.

"Paige, tell the rest of the team to be ready to act if I find that something's wrong," he told the young woman standing behind him.

"All right.", she said as she left the room.

Sean entered Emma's room expecting to find nothing. He, therefore was surprised to find it a mess. Her bed was still a mess from that morning, but beyond that there were knick knacks and other things littering the floor. Her chair was overturned, and the mirror was broken, and all over the floor.

Sean looked around, a white piece of paper on the floor caught his eye. He picked it up and read it.

"She was what!?," Bobby cried.

"Well, not really kidnapped...she got a letter, supposedly from the recently deceased Donald Pierce...telling her to come to the Hellfire Club tonight. Sean just called and told us about it. We believe someone is trying to lure Emma to them by making her believe Pierce is still alive," Hank explained.

Bobby jumped up off of his bed, and he and Hank headed for the Blackbird where the others were waiting for them. "So, if she was supposed to meet whoever it is tonight, why did she leave this morning?"

"I haven't a clue, my friend," Hank said as they boarded the jet.

The few X-Men who were at the mansion, and able to go, arrived at the Massachusetts Academy fifteen minutes later. Sean met them in front when they landed. "I'm sorry t'drag ye all away from home. But I'm really worried about Emma."

"We understand Sean. Now tell us exactly what happened," Scott said.

Sean told them what he knew...which was pitifully little.

"We need to get into the Hellfire Club, and see if she's there or not. And if she is, help her out if she gets into trouble," Scott thought aloud.

"I'll go," Bobby said.

"Bobby, I'm not so sure that that's a good idea..." Scott began.

"I want to help her, Scott."

"I know, but with what happened between you two and all...I just don't know," Scott replied.

"If I may be allowed to do so, I'd like to propose a plan of approach," Beast offered.

"Go ahead, Hank.", Scott said, glad for the interruption.

"Elizabeth is technically still a member of the Hellfire Club. Am I correct?", Henry began.

"Yes. Though I'm no longer proud to admit it," was Betsy's reply.

"Well, in that case, getting in should be no problem. And as long as Elizabeth goes with him, Bobby should be fine. Voila! Problem solved!" he looked expectantly at Scott.

"All right, you win. Bobby and Psylocke can go. Provided it's all right with her," Cyclops relented.

"It's fine by me. But we can't just waltz into the club in our uniforms," Betsy pointed out.

"We don't have time to go back to the mansion to get dressed," Bobby announced.

"Ye could borrow clothes from Emma and me," Sean offered.

"All right," Bobby agreed.

Psylocke looked reluctantly at Sean. "Dinnae worry, lass. Contrary to popular belief, some of her clothes are very tasteful. And they're not all white," he said, an amused tone to his voice.

They headed inside to get their plan completely worked out, and for Bobby and Betsy to change their clothes.

It was going to be a long night...

To Be Continued