(OOC: Continued from A Night To Remember)

The kicking and screaming was a nice touch Sam thought as he continued to the elevator, there was no way she was going to set her down yet, not even when she started hitting his but and his leg with her fists. ”I’d be your beast for you any day my beauty.” he said trying hard not to laugh at his own poor sense of humor for the time being. Even though he was fatigued he found himself still able to carry Alex with little problem, it wasn’t that she was too light, it just Sam was focusing more n getting her to the elevator than anything else.

Clicking the up button the elevator opened with a loud ding as the metallic doors opened. Smiling all the while as he entered the ride Sam pressed his floor and then closed the doors making sure no one else could enter. It was a good thing it was so late, or early seeing as the elevator was completely vacant except for he and her. One the elevator was moving Sam bent over and set Alex down so she could stand or sit on her own. He knew she wasn’t happy about being carried around like a sack of potatoes but he had to take control of the situation less there true self’s be revealed.

Stepping back from her Sam backed up to the console that directed the destination of the elevator and he leaned up against it making sure she would have no part in stopping the elevator. He said nothing but just started at her his hands folded behind his head as he watched his girlfriend in a drunken state that he had put her in. he wanted to apologize but wasn’t sure if now was the best time.

The elevator started to move with an Alexandra still kicking her legs and arms like there was no tomorrow. The contents of her stomach protested at the motion both the elevator and the molecule manipulator made, however, she was far too concerned with kicking Sam to even notice.

Finally, her hard work was paying off. The butt became much more noticeable when Sam bent over to let her legs touch the ground. She stopped the chaotic motion of her legs, waiting for her foot to be set on the ground.

Then, forgetting that slow motion was a must when it came to being drunk, she straightened her self way too fast. Dizzy and nauseous were the two feelings she had. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the elevator’s door.

When Alexandra did open her eyes, she blinked a few times, in order to have her vision cleared up. The image of her boyfriend appeared in front of her eyes, and, his relaxed stare did nothing to calm her down. Neither did the fact that he was covering the elevator console.

Alexandra glared at him, folding her arms. “Hmph!” She raised her chin into the air in a smug manner. “Really?” Alexandra said, an eyebrow arching, eyes narrowing at the ice mancer. “Step aside, you beast.” She demanded, her upper body leaning toward Sam as she spoke.

Watching Alex’s reaction to everything he knew that she would be slow to move at first, at least he knew she ought to move slowly. Too much alcohol and fast movements made for an unpleasant future one that often involved hugging the base of the toilet seat into the late hours of the night. Almost tempted to reach out and catch her when she leaned forward Sam removed his arms from the cross position and placed them at his side, one reaching into his pocket to fumble with the contents of his pocket while the other rested on his leg.

Eyes locked on Alex’s blues he cleared his throat again and said calmly, ”Rawr, beauty.” he flashed a quick grin before continuing, ”Really, and I won’t step aside, taking you to bed before you do something that you’ll regret in the morning. Acting both as your team leader and as your boyfriend I think I am doing you a favor.” he said simply as the elevator lurched to a stop with a ding a few floors below theirs.

Turning his head and looking to a pair of older looking gentlemen Sam shrugged and apologized as he pressed the ‘door close button’ taking a step towards Alex making it difficult for her to make a run should she try Sam’s eyebrows lowered as he continued looking at her, ”Sorry, this whole mess is my fault…” he said simply believing in his half of a lie. ”I over reacted when I saw you with the elf…” he said as he backed up and leaned against the controls again as there elevator lurched up again.

”Rawr, beauty.”

Eyebrow arched even more. “Har har.” Very funny. Alexandra pursed her lips together, leaning forward a bit more. Nostrils flared with anger.

”Really, and I won’t step aside, taking you to bed before you do something that you’ll regret in the morning. Acting both as your team leader and as your boyfriend I think I am doing you a favor.”

Regret? Now, now. What she could possibly do to regret? Alexandra blinked. She had an urge to claw her leader and boyfriend’s eyes out. Should she resist it?

Ding. Elevator doors opened behind her. The glare that was directed toward Sam was now directed to the old couple standing by the door. They were blocking her exit. The lady took a step backward at seeing the look she was getting. The gentleman shifted his eyes toward the other elevator. Now, if he could only move another inch then she might be able to slip past them and run… yes, right. Outrun Sam on the stairs was a difficult task while she wasn’t drunk. And, while she was calculating the odds for her escape, the beast moved closer. Within arm’s reach, she noticed.

Alexandra turned her head back to the ice mancer as the doors closed and elevator started to move once again.

”Sorry, this whole mess is my fault…I over reacted when I saw you with the elf…”

So he was apologizing? Somehow, maybe because of the alcohol or not, his excuses were left unheard. “Yes. You did. And you can shove your excuses up your ass.” She stated calmly. “And I’m not asking you again to step aside.”

No, really, she didn’t. By the time she was finished talking, arms were slowly being unfolded. One second Alexandra was standing calmly in front of Sam, in the other she launched herself at him in a surprise attack, hands trying to sneak past his in search of the console. Somehow, a hand managed to sneak past the Sam Security and reached a button… or two… or three. She wasn’t sure. Yes! She chanted happily. She did it.

The elevator stopped.

The doors did not open, nor did the elevator started to move again.

Oh shit.

”Did you intend to stop the elevator or was that just a hand of fate?” Sam asked as he frowned slightly stepping away from the console knowing there was little she could do in her drunken mess to fix the elevator. ”Guess your stuck in here with me for a while, huh?” Sam asked as he placed his hands on his hips. He knew that the apology was a weak one and it would probably do little good even though he usually loved to be right now was not one of the times when he wanted to say ‘I told you so’ seeing as it would be directed to himself.

Walking over to the opposite side of the elevator Sam sat down on the marble looking floor and placed his back on the wall his eyes locked on Alex. She was mad and drunk and he knew for the time being almost anything he said would have little to no effect on her so he decided to wait in silence for a few moments to gather his thoughts, finding the best way to discuss what had happened not to long ago that forced her to turn to the liquid courage.

So he sat in silence watching Alex his eyes slowly becoming heavy, which was not something he wanted to happen seeing as how upset she was with him. He knew he didn’t have to worry about her killing him in her sleep but a well place kick to the lil’ Johnson’s was not a way he would have liked to be woken to get yelled at, so for the time being he tapped his fingers on his legs as he tried to keep himself awake even though now was not the time or place to even be thinking about sleep.

Oh noes!

Why did the stupid elevator needed to stop right now?

Like a ninja, she slipped away from Sam and the console behind him, eyes looking somewhere at Sam’s chest in lack of a better sight.

”Did you intend to stop the elevator or was that just a hand of fate? Guess your stuck in here with me for a while, huh?”

She glared at Sam. Did she look like she wanted to be stuck with him in such a narrow space for a while? Alexandra snorted.

“The thrill.” She muttered bitterly, leaning against the elevator’s doors, shifting her eyes to the floor.

Sam walked to her side of the elevator and sat down. Alexandra ignored him. Instead, she stared at the console with guilty eyes. Now, certainly, there must have been something she could do to make the elevator work again.

Quietly, she moved, looking at the console with interest.

Poke, poke.

Poke, poke.

She randomly pushed several buttons. Nothing happened. Poke. Nothing again. Hmph-ing at the useless buttons, she leaned on the wall, looking down at Sam.

“You know this is all your fault.” Alexandra said in a reproachful voice, while nudging Sam’s foot with her own.

Waiting and watching Alex poke the buttons under the assumption that if she pressed them hard or enough or fast enough the elevator might respond, however she soon gave up that fruitful event to look down at him. Looking up at her with a smile suddenly glad that his luck had turn in his favor Sam felt his foot be nudged but the a small foot that belonged to Alex’s. It seemed that the beauty had nothing to do but talk to the beast now which was fine by him he was looking to resolve this mess anyhow, and the sooner the better.

Nodding his head with a straight-laced look on his face he agreed to what she said, which was in fact what she ignored him saying not to long ago. It was either she was drunk and forgot he took the blame already or it was because she wanted the credit for forcing the apology out of him. Playing along and lowering his eye brows Sam bit his lip and then said, ”Your Right, this is my fault, I over reacted when I saw you and Kaz, you know he carrying you into your room was not the best situation for me to see you two in…”

His eyebrows raised and then he placed his head to the back of the elevator and let out a long and tired fill sigh, ”The past few weeks have been straining and seeing you two together seemed to push me over the edge, and I am sorry.” closing his legs slightly out of reaction when ever he was near a distraught and drunk woman Sam watched her waist to see what he next move was then he trailed up to her face where his eyes locked on hers.

Hmph. Hmph. Hmph.

Alexandra rolled her eyes at Sam’s excuses and explanations. Inside, she was mourning her good mood. The mood that completely vanished at sighting Sam in the lobby. Sigh. But since there was nothing better to do, she might as well make the beast repent what he had done. Lazily, she folded her arms while still looking down at Sam. “Well, damn, for most of us these past weeks had been straining too.” Sighing again, she flipped her hair over her shoulder when a few strands decided to fall on her face and do further damage to her vision. “But I’m not seeing anyone overreact because of it. Or using it as an excuse.”

Briefly, she wondered what would it have happened if she decided to vent out her frustrations and anger and every other emotion on teammates, X-Men or Kabal. And man, she had a lot. Pft. Sam was blaming her for throwing a vase into his head back in New York. He was blaming her for that little slip. Sigh. “But… what the hell! You’re right. I mean, seeing me and Kaz together, entering my room totally gives you the right to command me and to share my problems with everyone. I sooo understand Sam… Really. Geez. Can you imagine that? Your girlfriend and your team member entering your girlfriend’s room… The room next to yours. Cause if the bastards wanted to do fool around behind your back… they’d really choose the same hotel. And the room next to yours.” Blink. Blink. “So in the end… I think I am the one who should apologize, right? I’m such an awful person… You think you can ever forgive me?” Blink. Stare. Blink.

Sam knew there was truth to the past couple weeks being hard on everyone but he wasn’t just talking about being in Romania or a week before, he was talking about everything after the labs incident, even after daily visits to Doc and elephant sized pain killers he and the Doc had no reason to explain his head pains. Though the second he had stepped off the X-Jet in this country he felt like the pressure he was feeling for the past few months be relived slightly but much to his dismay his lack of sleep seemed to bring the level of pain back to the surface. Still it wasn’t a valid excuse to act the way he did and she was right the past few weeks had been tough on everyone.

Feeling like he was being kicked when he was down he lowered his head and sighed, again she was right, he should have paid better attention to the situation, Alex wouldn’t fool around his back, she wasn’t that type of girl and Kaz, Kaz was arrogant as hell but he wasn’t that type of guy. Slamming his head back against the wall of the elevator he simply said, ”No…” it wasn’t that he wouldn’t forgive her it was just there was nothing to forgive her for this was all his fault to begin with.

Bending forward and leaning upright Sam pushed himself off the floor of the elevator and then said, ”You’re right, I made a big mistake and I am sorry, and I didn’t meant to make it sound like an order, it was a request more than anything else, and I thought Kaz would have been caught up with everything seeing as he knew some of the other stuff.” he paused and took a step over to the elevator doors and checked what floor the elevator stopped on. The elevator still didn’t budge.

So … he slammed his head against the elevator’s doors. Good, good. Now she didn’t need to do it herself. Maybe he could do it again? Until his brain came back into its senses and he stopped accusing people?

Nah. She wasn’t that lucky. Instead, he got up. Great. Small space. Two people. Tension that you could cut trough it. At least in her side of the elevator. Blink. The blah blah blah went past her ears. Somehow, her brain tuned out all excuses. Or was it the alcohol? Didn’t matter.

He moved and stared at the doors. Maybe he thought that he could make them move with his mind? Riiight. “Staaare at them as long as you want, mister team leader. It ain’t gonna move.” Blue eyes traveled to the console. Stupid elevator. “Work, damn it!” And she slammed her fist into the console. The console, stared back at her defiantly.

Letting out a breath, she let her hand travel back down. The air was getting warmer and warmer by minute. And it wasn’t because of the feeling of love floating in the air. Angrily, she zipped her coat open but let it hang on her shoulders.

What the hell were those elevator guys doing? Sleeping? Gah.

Did she miss the "Today is Annoy Alexandra Kettler Day" Memo or what?

Again his apology fell on deaf ears she didn’t even do much as bat an eyelash when he apologized so why did he even try to apologize as of now. Tomorrow morning or rather later today would be a better time to apologize. It seemed she wasn’t going to hear anything he was going to say anyways. Watching her swat the controls again Sam turned his back to the elevator and sighed as she loosened her jacket around her body. Without even thinking about where they were or the mission Sam activated his mutation to drop the room temperature of the elevator a few degrees.

He didn’t like it when things were warm heat affected the mind causing it to make rash or bad decisions or so he thought from past experiences. When he realized that his powers were activated his breath became visible for a moment then shaking his head Sam sighed, ”Sorry about that…” and with out much thought he deactivated his mutation causing the elevator to go back to a slightly cooler but still warm elevator.

”And yelling at the thing usually works,” said Sam with a smug grin trying to make light of being trapped in the elevator.

The temperature dropped. It was a subtle change, and, if she wouldn’t have seen Sam’s breath perhaps she wouldn’t have noticed it. The ever so present ‘sorry’ was unnoticed again. She didn’t care if he was trying to make things comfortable or not. Hell, it didn’t even work. She wasn’t sure if only the fact that they were staying in such a small place and there were less than kind things going on between the two of them or the alcohol had its saying in the fact that she was beginning to sweat.

Skin was starting to burn on her body and it felt damp and-. Geez, what she needed was a shower not a-

”And yelling at the thing usually works,”

- smartass mocking her.

Glaring became more and more usual. Alexandra narrowed her eyes at Sam, and ignoring all her alerts on the small space between them, she walked until there was barely any space separating the two of them, head held high in the air, blue eyes staring defiantly at the ice mancer. It didn’t matter that she needed to look up at him. Nope, it really didn’t.

“You have a better idea mister?”

”You catch more bees with honey…” Sam said with a weak smiled as he looked to the elevator doors and asked, ”Please take us to our floor” he knew it wasn’t going to work but he was still trying to break the tension between him and her. She was clearly mad and showed no signs of easing. She did see to have a knack to make him uncomfortable with that glare of hers and it seems she knew it which was why she most likely continued.

”You alright?” Sam asked spotting a few drops of sweat beading on her brow. ”You know I have built in AC all you do is have to ask and I can turn down the heat for you.” wishing he knew how this elevator worked he wished that it could start moving on it’s own again so they could get off the contraption and into a larger space where he knew Alex would be more willing to talk.

Errr… Maybe she was drunk but Sam was plain crazy. With an incredulous look she scanned the ice mancer’s face from top to bottom and back up, finally stopping on his eyes. “Why the hell are you talking to an elevator?” Never mind that. Alexandra shook her head. Sam offered himself to cool down the air. She hmph-ed at him. “I’d rather melt into a puddle than ask your help.”

With a stubborn look set upon her face, Alexandra took a step back and turned her back at Sam. With a sigh she took off her jacket and let it hang on one of her arms. A hand reached for her forehead, rubbing slightly against it. “Come on you stupid thing.” She muttered under her breath while kicking the elevator wall with her foot.

The elevator moved.

Alexandra gasped. Yes! With a grin on her face she patted the elevator’s wall lovingly. “I knew you would listen to me, baby.” Pat. Pat. Then, with a smug look on her face, she turned to Sam. “See? I told you it would work”

It had been only a few minutes since the others had paird up and left, leaving Kaz in the lobby with Abrams. When the desk phone rang both Kaz and Abrams looked at it as if they had never seen a phone before. "I have-" Kaz interrupted Abrams, "Oh don't mind me, go ahead." Abrams nodded and picked it up. It didn't take long for the person on the other end to explain the situation. An elevator had stopped suddenly between floors.

Kaz could hear perfectly well what was going on. "Anyone stuck inside?" Abrams gave him a curious look to which Kaz pointed to his ears, "Good ears." Abrams asked the question and received the information, which seemed to put a small smile on his face. After hanging up the phone. "Mr. and Mrs. Johnson seem are stuck in elevator three. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong mechanically." Abrams seemed to click a few things on the desk computer, "She probably hit the emergency stop while flailing."

Kaz wasn't in Abrams position, so he smiled and laughed a bit for the both of them. "Serves them right I suppose. Should have taken my offer, a small party is better than being stuck." Kaz took his coat and shirt off, showing a white beater underneath, he handed both and his cane to Abrams. "Sir?" Abrams called as Kaz moved towards the stairs. "I'll go take a look, see if I can help. Have those sent up to my suite please."

Kaz made his way to the fifth floor via stairs, he found elevator three fairly easily, the one with the wonky display. He looked around the area and listened. When the coast was clear he shifted and pried the doors open. While holding the door open he moved inside the elevator shaft a bit until he found what he was looking for, the lock that would keep the door open. Grabbing the cables he hauled himself up until he was between floors five and six. Once there he found the best perch he could. The first pull was the worst, Kaz had to hold onto one of the vertical beams so he would have the leverage to pull the cables.

He got it to move, it was only a few inches at first. He heaved the car a foot or so, in the moment just before gravity took hold again, Kaz put one foot on the other side of the beam he was perched on. Hand over hand, he began to pull the car up. It gave Kaz the image of pulling a bucket of water up from the bottom of a well. He could tell his foot was going to hate him when it was done, he had to pull/hold himself in place with his rear leg, and all the pressure of pulling the car was shoved onto his other.

Finally he got the car up near his perch, higher than the fifth floor, but that was alright. Kaz let go of the cables for a moment which dropped the car five or so feet, enough to get the emergency breaks to activate. Gently Kaz tested if the elevator was supported, it was. Letting the cables go slack, he sat down on the beam and shook his legs as they dangled in the air. yeah, that wasn't going to feel so great later, no damage but sore.

Kaz reached out for the nearest cable, grabbed on and slid down it until he stood on the roof of the elevator. It wasn't lined up correctly, the elevator was a foot or so below the fifth floor, but they'd be able to get out. Kaz knocked on the car doors just before he went to pry them open. As they opened up a bit, "Sorry about the wait, we had to move the car manually. Please step out of the elevator and enjoy the rest of your stay."