It was a beautiful spring day and Luke just couldn't bear to stay inside and train. Even a blind man could appreciate the out doors on a day like this and so, Luke found himself out on a relatively deserted patch of mansion lawn. Off in the distance he could hear some of the younger mutants laughing and playing as they to enjoyed the weather, but for now Luke ignored the sounds and distractions. Standing straight and tall, Luke's arms were erlaxed at his sides as he just focused on breathing. Slow deep breaths saturated the blood with as much oxygen as it could handle so that his body would be ready for the upcoming exertion.

A gentle breeze blew, rippling the sleeveless shirt that Luke was currently wearing. His toes curled into the warm grass as he enjoyed this time of being barefoot. Loose fitting nylon jogging pants completed the enemble. In fact, Luke had even laid aside his sunglasses in order to truly enjoy the day. A towel and a couple of bottles of water lay nearby with his sunglasses perched safely on top of the fabric.

Finally Luke moved, one foot moving back into a basic defensive stance as his fists came up. Moving in slow motion, he went through the pattern of movements he had been practicing for so many years. There were people that prided themselves on their expertise of karate, or judo, or tai kwon do but Luke did none of the above. Bartitsu was a combination of martial arts, using some of the best movement employed by various schools of jujitsu, judo, boxing, and cane fighting.

As his fist reached full extention for the punch, Luke continued his motion without pause slowly lowering himself into a foot sweep before rising to his feet and launching into a round house kick. For now the movements were slow but ever few minutes he would increase the speed until finally he was moving as fast as he possibly could. It was a workout that helped him to memorize his movements and achieve them without though, even when working at full speed. Yes... this was going to be a good workout.

Alexandra pulled her hoodie tighter around her body as she was taking her morning walk around the mansion’s grounds. Today, or so it seemed, it wasn’t one of the best days of her life. Although the sun shone on the sky, quite brightly, she was happy that she had chosen not to get outside in a tank top and work-out pants. The occasional breeze that caressed her sensitive skin was too cold for her liking.

Sighing, she counted her steps and let out a yawn. She heard the students laughing and giggling around her. She wasn’t sure if any of their laughs were headed her direction but, fortunately, she was getting over her new reputation already.

A familiar figure appeared in the distance. Luke Jacobs was exercising on the mansion grounds. That remembered her that she really needed to start some training. The little she did before the unfortunate Tibet mission was not enough to help her in case she was unable to use her powers.

Increasing her pace rate, Alexandra headed toward Luke, decided to ask him if there was someone around the mansion that helped with self defense techniques. She highly doubted that any one would find suspicious that a 19 years old girl was asking for combat training when crime rate was increasing with every day that passed.

“Hey Luke!” she said waving and smiling. She stopped 2 feet away from him, giving him the opportunity to finish up his current exercise before focusing his attention on her. “What’s up?”

Luke had made it up to close to actual combat speed though he still hadn't pushed himself as far as he could go when his sonar picked up an approaching figure. Subconsciously his mind scanned the person's figure and quickly matched it to the memories he always had stored. There were lots of attractive women around but there was no mistaking Alexandra for anyone but herself. Finish his last combo, a roundhouse kick which led into his dropping right down into a foot sweep before coming back up and lashing out with a low snap kick at his now prone imaginary target, Luke finally stopped. He was a touch out of breath but that was to be expected even after just a part of the session he had originally been planning.

"Hello yourself Alexandra." He offered with a quick smile at the woman before walking over to pick up one of his bottles of water. After taking a small mouthful which he swished around his mouth to keep it moist before swallowing, Luke closed the bottle and laid it back down on the ground before turning his attention back to the attractive young woman.

"Thinks are pretty quiet right now and I couldn't stand to spend a beautiful day like this inside training. Luke finally got around to answering her question before turning it right back around on her, "What about you? Just out for a morning stroll?"

Alexandra watched Luke as he finished the exercise he had been doing with quite some interest. The man in front of her didn’t take long and soon he was talking with her a bottle of water in his hand as he smiled. Alexandra continued to smile as she decided to take a seat on the grass, her legs folded beneath her in a yoga position.

“Yeah, kind off. I think I am just to lazy to do my yoga training right now and too active to stay in my room and do nothing.” she answered with a shrug. She stretched her arms forward and looked in the distance for a second then back to Luke. “Are you training for something? Your moves didn’t look the amateur kind.” she said with a wink.

"Nothing in particular." Luke replied with a chuckle, his sonar easily picking up the attractive woman's wink. He had to admit that he was a touch flattered but he was also beginning to relize that Alexandra was a bit of a flirt. Even if he hadn't been in a happy relationship with Raina he would be quite wary of this aluring young woman. "I'm just practicing something I picked up while I was over in Europe."

Crossing his arms over his chest, the man's sightless eyes stared in Alexandra's general direction as he gave her an easy smile. "So why aren't you in the mood for yoga? Think you're nimble enough already?"

Alexandra let out a small laugh as she placed her chin in her hand, her elbow now resting on her knee. A dreamy look appeared on her face as if she was thinking then her eyes focused on Luke. “Can a woman ever consider herself too nimble?” she asked with a chuckle. Her back straightened up as she placed her palms firmly on the ground. “I’ll probably do it later when the mansion isn’t this populated.” she added, gesturing toward the other residents around them. “I don’t want another fight to start.” she continued, a frown on her face. Her head turned again to watch the other residents around them for a few seconds. “I have enough rumors going on already.” she muttered more to herself than to Luke.

She shrugged, these things were starting to become unimportant for the young female mutant, just like they should be. “Sooo…” Alexandra began, her mind quickly working on changing the subject. “How have you been lately? How is…” her mind paused for a second trying to remember the name Luke had previously told her “Raina?” Yes, that was the name. “I haven’t met her yet.” she added with a smile. “Things have been a bit boring for me around here.” she said with a sigh. “I wish there was something interesting to do.”

"Have you been having a lot of fights start over you?" Luke asked with raised eyebrow, a touch of concern creeping into his voice that remained through his next question, "And what sorts of rumors are going around?"

Alexandra was a nice girl. Sure she was a flirt that enjoyed flaunting her sexuality ever so slightly but what attractive girl didn't? Since she wasn't dressing in an overly provocative way there was really no reason for any rumors to be spreading unless of course there had been other incidents happen that Luke didn't know about which was quite possible. After all, he didn't actually live at the mansion he just visited it on occasion.

"Raina's doing quite well. Busy as a beaver building a dam," He said with a laugh, "But well. Between her mansion responsibilities and her job at the Aquarium she has a full schedule. That's one of the reasons I've started hanging out at the mansion a little more than I previous have. This is one of the few places I can try and catch at least a few minutes of free time with her."

Allowing his legs to fold underneath him, Luke dropped into a half lotus position, not particularly interested in pushing his body to attempt a full lotus position.

"And as for excitement... I don't know what I can do to help you today but I know there's been talk about a mansion pool party in the next week or so. That should help spice things up a little." Luke said with a mischevous grin as he waited to see the young woman's reaction. There was something about pool parties that always seemed to excite the teen and early twenties crowd.

Alexandra gulped. So he heard her comment about rumors. Her cheeks turned a shade or two darker as she remembered the event that started the rumors. She acknowledged his words about Raina with a slight nod, and half a smile. Luke seemed pretty into this Raina girl. The mention of the pool party however, made her cough. Alexandra cleared her throat, the red on her cheeks deepening.

“Uhmm.” was about everything she managed to say at first, her voice shaggy. She cleared her throat again. “No other fights. I just don’t want another one to break.” she finally managed to say. Her eyes drifted of into the distance as she wasn’t able to actually look at Luke while talking. “And rumors… Let’s just say I managed to lose my bra. In the pool.” she added with another cough. Her cheeks were on flames yet again as she recalled those specific memories. “And Sam, as the hero he is, happened to be there and help me.” Another cough. Alexandra decided it was best to leave out the part where Sam was the one that took off the bra. And the part where she jumped on him, too. “And..uhmmm… Dom, Sam’s brother, I don’t know if you met him yet, misunderstood things…” Alexandra snorted at herself. Mistunderstood things was such a nice word for yelling at the top of your lungs threatening that God will kill you for snoo-snoo-ing in the pool. “And according to some of the students I snoo-snoo-ed Sam in the pool.” she said in one breath, certain that if she tried to say it nice and calmly it wouldn’t have come out.

Alexandra gulped down again and sighed as her eyes returned to Luke, expecting the mutant’s reaction to her confessions. Would he roll on the grass laughing? Would he just laugh? Or he would try to hold his laughter only to burst into laughter seconds later?

Luke raises an eyebrow slightly as his mouth quirked into a small smile. Luke actually prided himself on the fact that he managed to keep from laughing at the young woman's explanation. Yep, no laughing from this blind man.

"Well, maybe it was good that Dominic was the one nearby instead of me. After all, with my sonar, there'd really be no hiding from it." He observed as straight faced as possible, even as his own mind went back to a memory from several months before. "And it sounds like you and CS are having an auspicious beginning for a future relationship." He teased as his smile widened slightly, "I never told him, but one of the first times I spent time with Raina we went to the Coney Island Beach in order to test how my sonar works underwater. With her own ability and transformation it was necessary for her to get into the water without any clothing so... well, you can figure it out."

That had been a great day. Luke had done his best to be a gentleman and not look at anything but could he really be blamed if he had picked up a few things here and there? After all, it had been a beautiful naked woman running toward the water. What red blooded man could have resisted taking a peak?

"And snoo-snoo-ed huh... That's a new term." Luke finally observed as his brain caught up the last of her explanation, "I guess I'm just not current on the latest slang used by teens and such."

It looked like a suspicious disease had gotten to Alexandra, and she felt like she almost swallowed her tongue when Luke mentioned the start of a relationship between her and Sam. Oh, she was unable to face him and has been avoiding him for days now. Mission or not she wouldn't get in Sam's visual range, not even if she was threatened with death and painful tortures.

"As if there was any hiding." Alexandra muttered remembering Sam's perplexed figure as he emerged from under water. Or his eyes glued to her bare chest. It was such a good thing that Luke couldn't see her blushing. Because right now she could have put to shame a red traffic light.

The color darkened even more when Luke told her about his and Raina's day as Alexandra began to mutter something, she wasn't fully aware of what she was saying either but it included Sam and her name. Blinking, she looked at Luke and cleared her throat.

"Sorry about that. But uhmmm, you know, the story is a bit more complicated. It also involves a cylinder of ice rising around me and Sam for god knows how time and... Me and Sam? Uhmmm... Uhmmm, he has a girlfriend." And an Alexandra running away every time he saw him after the pool incident.

"And snoo snoo... I think it's just Dom's idea." she added with a sigh then looked at the kids playing around her. "Although it had became very popular since then." she continued with an embarrassed laugh as her eyes returned to Luke.

"It's good that you're not out to steel Sam away from his girlfriend." Luke said with a slight nod of his head. As much as he wanted to tell Alexandra that there was trouble in the waters for Leila and Sam, the information had been given to him in confidence and there was no way he would break that confidence. Besides, if Alexandra and Sam were supposed to get together then things would work out somehow.

"Ever done any martial arts training?" He asked, finally taking pity on the obviously embarassed young woman and changing the subject entirely with one statement. "I know you do yoga to stay limber but have you tried channeling that agility into something you can use to protect yourself and those around you?"

Alexandra had mutant abilities that meant she could defend herself quite easily but Luke was a big of man of learning how to fight without abilities. After all, there was no guarantee that something couldn't happen in the future that would keep a person from being able to use their powers. Raina's ice control had been disabled for several weeks and if it could happen to a woman like here, it could most deffinately happen to anyone.

Alexandra was beginning to wonder why this conversation has suddenly turned about her and Sam. Gulping down again she blinked at Luke statement about her not stealing Sam from his girlfriend. Did she want something with Sam? Okay, so she has been flirting with him, probably more than she was doing with other boys, but was she really looking for a relationship with a man?

That would be a first, Alexandra thought with a mental chuckle. Her recent found attractiveness had got her into troubles more than anything else. Shaking her head, Alexandra decided that the answer was a no. Everything that was between her and Sam was just mindless flirting and nothing more. “It’s just mindless flirting.” she said with a smile, unsure if she was trying to make Luke believe or herself.

She was more than happy when Luke changed the subject, and especially when he changed it with one that has been wandering around in her mind before the discussion about Sam began. Shaking her head slightly to gesture a ‘no’, Alexandra extended one of her legs with an absent look. “Actually, no, I have no physical training whatsoever.” she said with a sigh as her eyes focused back on Luke after repeating the procedure with her other leg. “I was about to ask you if there is any class in the mansion about self-defense. I kind of hate relying only on my powers.” she concluded, rotating her shoulders and thanking god that the burning sensation in her cheeks was wearing off.

"Well, since it's all just mindless flirting with no real feelings involved, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that there is a mansion self defense class taught by none other than everyone's favorite ice mancer, Sam." Luke said with a slight grin as he just watched Alexandra's reaction. If she wanted to learn then he personally would be glad to teach her, but at the same time she was facing a problem far more important than self defense. If Luke was at all right then this particular young woman was lieing to herself the exact same way that Sam was lieing to himself. They were both trying to convince themselves that there was no emotion to go along with their flirting but even a blind man could see that just wasn't the case.

"I'll be glad to get you signed up for the class." Luke pressed the subject just a bit, both teasing the young woman while at the same time hopefully getting her to think, "Unless of course you have some reason for avoiding him."

There were times in her life, oh yes indeed there were times when Alexandra wished she could hold her mouth shut before getting herself into troubles. But her mouth developed a bad habit of talking before letting her mind think things more than once.

Take this situation for example. Why did she say she wanted to sign up to a self-defense class before knowing who the teacher was? Well, yeah, she wanted to take a self defense class, of course but… look where this got her.

No matter how much she let her mind think over this situation, and the silence was growing uncomfortable and again, embarrassing for her (because it seemed that Luke was knowing more than he let out and that he was actually enjoying himself with this situation; that made her wonder if he was doing this with Sam too or it was just her), she could find only two options.

One, say no to self defense classes and actually admit to Luke that she had a reason for avoiding him, one that she hadn’t admitted to herself yet, and number two, accept to enroll herself to self defense classes and cut the chances of avoiding Sam (because of the pool accident, of course) to none.

Blink. Blink. Luke was still waiting for an answer, one that she was unable to give. Which of the situations would be worse? Reconsidering things again and again, Alexandra let her shoulders down in a defeated and hopefully inaudible sigh. “Sure, I’ll sign up. I’m glad you'll help me.” Well, she certainly didn’t sound happy and Sam’s red face when he came out from the water to face a naked Alexandra was juggling in front of her eyes mockingly.

The silence that stretched on for an indeterminable length of time confirmed Luke's suspicions long before Alexandra's tone of voice could do the same thing. Even though the actual words were accepting his offer to get her signed up the slump of her shoulder and the slight drop in her voice said she wanted to do anything but that.

"Alexandra... drop the pretenses." Luke finally said with a kind smile as he shook his head at her previous statement, "You and I both know that you're trying to avoid Sam and that taking a class from him is the last thing you really want to do. Look, I'm blind but my mutation allows me to see with sonar. With that sonar I can only make out facial features if I'm up close which means that I've had to learn how to identify people by other mean. Thankfully body language can tell you a lot about a person and right now your body is screaming in protest against your words."

Turning away from the woman Luke walked over to where his towel and water was and then dropped down to sit comfortably on the ground. "Feel free to pull up a chair if you need someone to talk to. I can promise I'm not one of those people that spreads things said in confidant."