"I'll cheer up, but I hear Eyjafjallajökull's pretty big right now," Alex said and grinned because he was a geophysics geek like that, and exciting active volcanoes always got his heart racing somehow.

"I don't think the bodyguard thing with Alison counts as a real job," he said almost thoughtfully. "I'm still working with X-Men, even if I'm getting paid for it."