Nate was a shock, another member of the Summers family tree who didn't quite fit. The others had reminded him of Racheal recently but he wasn't sure if he was ready to deal with this.....

It wasn't like Nate had strolled through the door and said,
"Hello all I home, by the way I'm Scott and Jeans son!" and proceed to offer everyone tea and biscuits. No, the kid had wiped all memory of himself from their minds and proceeded to bombard them.

The anguish swelled, not once had his memory been stolen but twice, images flashed in his head of Genosha, stalking mutants with the other magistrates......... the faces of their victims burning into his vision. Not victims, No, his own kind mutants, the X-Men had freed them but the guilt...........the pain......... the suffering. His head began to throb and he felt like he was spiralling into the floor he couldn't hear the others talking. He felt the energy well inside him, it sort release, the tension building and building.

"STOP IT"

Alex mind raced back to reality, the room coming back into focus, with the energy draining from him as if earthed. His sense keyed back in just as Jean ran out, charles bidding them not to follow. Well it was Scotts mess he would have to deal with it. He started to move as the others began idle off, noticing a fist sized hole just below where he had been standing. "Oops, think I better shift a flower pot" was his last thought as he headed to the Danger room.

Training maybe cancelled but he had some issues to work out..............

The Family Summers compared to us the Osbournes are just amateurs.

Kurt had been perched on the back of a chair, his three-toed feet gripping the back, his balance kept perfectly.

He had stayed quite throughout Nate's conversation with the room, his thoughts wondering how Scott and Jean were coping with the idea of suddenly gaining a "son".

His found himself thinking of his own circumstances, only recently he had been given the idea that he had found his mother, his true mother, not Margali Szardos who had adpoted him.

Under any other circumstances he'd have been happy but it was possible that his mother was Mystique, the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Someone who was very different from Kurt. Mystique had said to ask Margali if he wanted to know more, but so far he hadn't... he was afraid of what he might find out.

He glanced at Rogue, if it was true he'd gain a foster sister though.

Suddenly and without any warning Kurt found himself being shoved by some invisible force, at the same time the TV had come on full blast and the French Doors had been ripped off their hinges.

Kurt's instant reaction was to teleport out of harms way, to assess the situation, but he found he couldn't, he was held in place.

"Stop it!"

And then all was still.

The pressure was suddenly gone, and Kurt found himself falling backwards. At this close to the floor there was no way Kurt wasn't going to land on his behind, so he did the next best thing to remedy the situation.

BAMF!

He appeared in front of the chair and sat down. His eyes taking in Jean fleeing from the room.

What on earth had just happened?

"I think all the afternoon's training sessions are cancelled, as well as any Study group that have been planned. I think we all need some time to adjust to that which has happened these last few hours."

Kurt looked at the Professor, still confused by everything. Was this another part of what they had seen outside... was it Jean or the Phoenix?

"X-Men, this meeting is over, take time to yourselves, relax. I would ask you all to avoid the area of the beach house though as that's where Scott and Jean have gone. Nate I should still like to talk to you though please." Xavier finished, and started to leave the lounge.

Nightcrawler sat still for a moment, in silence, noting the Alex Summers had also left. He looked over the others in the room, all present were his closest friends, his family. Wolverine look spooked also, which was also concerning as nothing ever seemed to spook the Canadian... but then his feelings for Jean, although not talked about by others were obvious.

"Well," Kurt said eventually, "Anyone else as confused by this Saturday as I am?"

Ororo was as startled as everyone else when Jean reacted with such uncharacteristic force. Her first instict was to run after the woman she loved like a sister, but she held back when Cyclops went after Jean. It was somewhat painful for Storm to realize that within this group that she considered a 'famil'y there was a family in the traditional sense of the word. And now this Nate had arrived and caused quite s disturbance.

Storm spoke, "Yes, I find these events most confusing." She wished the Professor was not being so closed door about everything. 'I am a team leader too.' She thought to herself. 'This is as much my concern as it is Scott's. But the Professor left me out here. I want to believe it was for a reason.'

"But then again, despite our constant efforts at education and discipline most of what occurs within these walls makes little sense at first. In time all will made clear." She said smoothly.

"For now we must do what we can to make our new acquantainces feel welcome." She said.

"Ja." Kurt agreed. It was all they could do. Nate hadn't hurt him particularly badly in the fight, but Peter still looked a little worse for wear. Healed yes, but still somewhat drained by what had happened to him.

"Indeed. I am sure that that there is some fence-mending going on just now." Hank, sitting on a couch at the end of the room opposite where most of Jeans' damage had occurred, remained unruffled. He had shared some of his findings with Charles even before the meeting, mind to mind, and knew Charles had his own concerns regarding the newcomer. He also knew Charles to be an excellent peacemaker, and had confidence that things would turn out well, in that regard. Hank had learned long ago, to take most of these things in their stride. Besides, the X-family was far more entertaining to watch and to be part of that the Waltons or the crowd on 90201. Although, that cute actress, Dina Merrill, might be a welcome addition. He wondered for a moment if Simon could introduce him to her. Not that just trying to maintain is relationship with Trish was not taxing enough.

Hank glanced around the room. Peter still had a pinched look, and no doubt he was mending, but along with healing came pain. Regardless what Nate had done, the lad had made a blunder. And given the nature of the blunder, for a telepath who claimed to know them, Hank suspected that the boy-man was going to be more trouble than not for some time to come. Regardless what Scott had said, Hank had seen Scott's eyes, during a depletion phase. It was uncanny how similar they were. And he thought part of the problem between the two of them would be a matter of too many similarities.

He looked at Kurt, and saw Kurt looking over Peter, perhaps mulling over similar thoughts.

Kurt wondered how Peter would deal with adjusting to Nate's presence.

His yellow eyes went to the french doors, a Shi'ar maintence 'bot had started to fix them.

He needed to calm down, needed to relax. At the moment, adrenaline was pumping through his veins, and the urge to give in was still there, a little, on the borders.

As it was, "a little" was too much. Not here, not now. Logan turned wordlessly, and made to leave - keeping Kitty and Jubilee from even saying something with a very definite wave of his hand.

No words. He would be alone, and he was not in a good mood. Not that this did any justice to the tempest thundering inside him.

Logan had a basic lack of fear - how else could someone of his somewhat rather diminutive size be wholly unintimidated by someone like the Juggernaut - short of being mentally unstable.

Unstable? Logan had, in the last few hours, proven to be suddenly more unstable than was healthy. For others, that was.

He'd already started tasting the blood on his claws, with his mind's eye, before whatever happened wore off and left him a man again - Logan.

With military pace, he went straight to his room, closing the door behind him and feeling a little relief already. None there ... none to endanger.

There were some decorative items in Logan's room - a Katana, paired with a Wakizashi for decoration, a memento from Japan. Many other things there were too.

But it waS One in particular that Logan went to, one very specific item. And as he touched it, an aching word came over his lips.

"Miyagi..."

The name bore some faint memories for the X-man, as he touched the Bokken. A Bokken could be described as a wooden blade, in the shape of a Katana.

It was used by beginners, for who, it was too risky to use a real blade. Only, Wolverine had used it too - his temper drove him to sink his sword a little too aggressively at his sparing partner, his friend.

He'd cut into Miyagi's flesh - a man, a friend with whom he'd trained for several years, all because of his night uncontrollable rage. And as a result, he was permitted only to spar with a Bokken. Dishonoured, humbled - punished.

The Bokken was a reminder for what differentiated the Wolverine from the man Logan.

Control.

But he was loosing just that, control, somehow ... and if indeed he'd loose it truly, he would become ...

... no better than Sabretooth. Who indulged his instincts, his base lust for blood and violence. Less of a man, more animal, a rabid animal.

"I am not an animal. I am NOT..." Logan growled lowly, in anger, in frustration, and only noticed what he'd done when it was too late.

Sheathing his claws, he was staring at the shattered mirror, which cast Logan's reflection, which showed Victor Creed staring back...

... Logan closed his eyes. This time, he'd given in a little. Just a little. And Creed won - just a little. That couldn't happen again. He would not become an animal like Sabretooth. Never.

What didn't help either was that there was a false sense of promise, of freedom just beyond his reach, if he'd only give in...

...

Dammnit! What was going on with him?

As Wolverine left Kurt began to bet with himself who'd be next to run/stride/storm out of the room.

Of course, and predictably, Logan had hunched his back, bunched his muscles, and gone, quickly. The Canadian was a mainstay of the X-Men, and Hank had worked out a lot of what bothered the man after years of comparing body scans and other biosign information, and watching the social interplay. He was not as familiar with any of the newer X-Men as he really should be, but somebody like Logan, a mystery wrapped in enigma, was too invited to his intellect to ignore for long. Hank wondered if anybody else recognized the signs of a triangular affair. Of course, at one point or another, all of the original X-Men had fallen for Jean, but Hank had realized from early days, that Scott was going to win her heart. Logan might be the next best thing to that, something like a real soul-mate, but Logan was bound up in his hypersenses, in strange thoughts and actions even Hank would never fathom. Hank figured that Logan sensed more, but he also felt more, than any man he had ever met.

"Ah, vielleicht werd' ich ihm dann kein Bier anbieten..." * he said to himself.
* "Ah, maybe I won't offer him a beer then?"

Kurt didn't like the tension that filled the air so he stood up, "Well let's see meine freunde, we've had a knockabout this morning, followed by a heavy conversation. Now I don't know about you, but I'm beat... so before any other bombshell's drop, say... we find out that I'm actually Hank's Uncle and Remy is actually the love child of Dolly Parton... how about we turn the TV back on to that baseball game, and I get us all some drinks from the kitchen? Ja?"

Kurt waited to see if there'd be a positive reply.

"Now you have discovered my evil secret I must murder you all in your beds non ? Before Mamma Dolly she spanks me." Remy piped up from the corner of the room.

Betsy smiled slightly at Remy's comment. Still, she couldn't quite relax after all that had happened so far that day. Her mind replayed the moment when the scream of the Phoenix had echoed round the grounds and she winced in sympathy. Being out of control of yourself was a horrifying experience, she knew. At least though it wasn't her this time...

Horrified, Betsy pushed that thought to the back of her mind and concentrated on the image of Dolly Parton being Remy's mother. As the image of him wearing a large blonde wig hit, she had to supress a chuckle.

"I think that's an excellent idea Kurt" replied Warren, taking a seat next to Betsy.

He was concerned for Jean, she was after all one of his oldest friends, and the Phoenix Force, if that's what it was, was not something he welcomed returning.

Ja, meine kleine freund." Hank chuckled then. "You know, you will be a Monkey's Uncle, then. I suspect Remy may be distantly related to Hedy Lamarr, with that classic jaw and expressive, poets' brow. He shows no singular attributes of the voluptuous ovate of the deep countryside." While several of them tried to puzzle out that one, he added. "Quart of OJ for me, then, Kurt, with my thanks."

Kurt nodded at Hank, trying to figure out what he meant by all of it.

Eventually giving up, he turned to the others, "Anyone else want anything?"

Everyone did look at bit ruffled, the fight this morning, although not physically damaging to all had left the X-Men with their collective pride damage. Kurt agreed with what Ororo said, they had just got used to each other within their seperate teams, but now that that had occurred they would need practise at working as a whole... and considering there was 14, including Alex.. no 15 of them now that Nate was here.

After spending two months getting used to the Professor's first X-Men re-joining the nest, Kurt was confident they'd be able to get through the next two.

Betsy stretched slightly from the sofa she had reclaimed after Jean's telekinetic blast. She'd seemed slightly distracted up until this point, but now her eyes drifted back into focus, caught apparently by the lure of a drink.

"Could I have orange juice as well please?"

"Of course Betsy" Kurt replied to Psylocke and also nodded at Warren. With his tail grabbed the remote and flicked the large TV back on to the baseball.

Kurt was glad that Warren had come forward, everyone had had enough time to adjust to Warren's new appearence now, so there were no more uncomfortable moments. Things obviously still weighed heavily on the winged mutant's mind though.

Everynow and then his wings would react to things, protecting Warren, in a way that sometimes creep Kurt out, but he didn't show it. After all, he wasn't exactly "normal" looking.

"Right, well I shall do this first trip," he said, "And come back for round two."

With that he 'ported from the lounge to the kitchen, leaving a distinct smell of brimstone behind him.

"Woh!" a voice cried out, as he arrived and Kurt encountered Alison and Monet raiding the fridge. His precognitive senses always made sure he didn't bump into people on arrival, but there had been occasions where he had made a student jump.

"Erbärmlich, I didn't mean to make you jump." Kurt apologised to them.

"That's ok Mr Wagner." they replied, smiling, and headed out of the kitchen. Kurt was thankfully that the majority of the children still didn't react badly when they saw him. He remembered how long it took Kitty to get used to him. It made him wonder how long they would take to get used to Nate.

He quickly started getting Orange Juice, Beer, and snacks for people. Hank turned to survey the rest of them. "I realize the bots are going to clean up, but we have to assess what we need to get the repairs done. Not my job! In a bit, I am going back to the lab, to examine Nate's genes a bit more closely." He had been a bit surprised at the way the genetic surgery had been done, a method hard to envision, harder to do well, and even dangerous to a fetus in development. He had invented and abandoned such a method, years before.

"As has been said, by the way, we were somewhat sloppy in responding to Nate even with the warning of a potential threat from the Professor. We are for all intents and purposes a new team, and any previous teamwork was rather much hashed by Charles' decision to split us up. I believe he chose to do that, in order to challenge us to get better at teamwork. Ororo, what's your take on that, as a team leader?"

Hank was particularly interested in her take on things. Since Scott had left, she had been the field leader for the X-Men, and she was the one who was going to be left to make a lot of adjustments with Scott coming back and forming a second team, splitting out some of her heavy hitters. Hank had already figured out why Charles had split up the old folks, the original team. They had been functioning as X- Factor for some time, and did not really know the current X-Men all that well. Despite his many visits `home', Hank had only really formed something like a friendship with Kitty Pryde and with Kurt Wagner. He knew why he and Bobby were split up – to keep antics from disturbing the formation of a new team. He even knew why he was with Scott. Scott needed a reliable pivot, somebody whose independence and loyalty, and experience, he could count on. Of them all, Hank had had the most varied team experience, and had even led the New Defenders. He knew why Logan and Jean were NOT on the same team, but wondered how it would work for Logan to report to, or work under orders from, Scott. Hank suspected that the likelihood of a smooth sailing in that ship was already a stormy matter. And it might become moreso, in practice.

Ororo was quite pleased that the Beast had refered to her as a team leader. While she was no longer THE team leader it made her feel a bit validated that people still respected her opinion.

"I think perhaps working as two seperate groups may disturb our rhythm in a situation like this when we are all together. I think we should practice working as a single team once again when the opportunity presents itself." She said calmly to the Beast, and then turned so that the whole group could see her speaking.

"Professor Xavier will continue to accept and welcome every mutant who comes to our door and knocks us about." She said with a gentle smile, her idea of a joke. In her time many mutants who had started as their enemies had become their friends thanks to the Professor and his philosophy. Storm remembered how adamantly she had opposed allowing Rogue to join the team at first. "All we can do is try to hold out a little better next time." She walked over to Peter Rasputin, who was bravely acting unhurt.

"Little brother may I take you to the medical facility?" She asked gently. "Even your steel body has limits. Come, if nothing else you could use some rest."

Peter moved wearily towards the door. Todays hit had been the hardest he'd had to take for... as long as he could remember, truth be told. However, he still held himself upright, and moved as smoothly as possible. Of course he was amongst friends, he reasoned, but that was no reason to let them know how tired he was feeling.

*A few hours sleep is what I need* he thought.

'Ororo, I think I should just go to bed and rest. Theres no need for you to accompany me. Go back and talk to the others. Todays events have shaken many, and Scott has other issues to deal with.'

'They need a leader now more than I need a nurse...'

"It appears I am outvoted." Ororo said calmly. The times when she had been truly concerned about Piotr Rasputin were few and far between. Even in his human form he was incredibly tough. "You must let me help you to your room though." She said.

It was more of emotional than physical support she was offering. Without using her powers she could not realisitically help Colossus walk anywhere. He was simply too big and heavy.

As she waited for his reply Ororo relaxed her mind and decied to see if she could send Jean a message. *Jean, if you wish to speak with a friend I am here for you.* She said simply, and left it at that. She did not want to intrude into Scott and Jean's private life, but she did want to let her friend know she had Ororo's support.

Hank smiled at Ororo and Piotr leaving the room, bound for the MedLab. He was pleased, for once, not to have to be the one to administer medical treatment. So far as he knew, all the X-Men had at least advanced first aid and lifesaving courses under their belts, and some few were the next best thing to certified paramedics. A few of them could even run most or all of the diagnostic and intervention biobed equipment down in MedLab, and had doubtless done so many times in his own absence.

As they left, Hank watched a few of the others settle in. Warren and Betsy made a good couple, in a way, and were a good choice. Despite himself, he grinned as he noted the blue-blooded (at the moment, in more ways that one) flyer and the transformed former superspy-model cuddling on one of the other sofas. Both had been transformed through the actions of others, and neither one was fully comfortable with what had happened to them. In a way, they could comfort one another far better than somebody like Hank could manage, his own transformations many enough to almost be old hat.

Hank fished for the book he had started, and his foot found it under the rim of the sofa. The latest biography of Ben Franklin. He settled back against one end of the couch, using his feet to hold the book, while fishing for his reading glasses in one of his belt compartments. One or two of the others watched him shift into position, and he tried not to chuckle. Jean had tol him he was the only blue-furred teddy bear who could look like a puppy while stretched out reading a book, drinking orange juice, and working a crossword puzzle. His mom had taken a picture of him many years ago, long before the X-Men or blue fur, and had labeled it "Contradictory Positions".

As he settled in, and glanced again at Remy, who was often catching the glances of all the girls, and played up for them. There were times when Hank thought of Remy playing Shakespeare, his natural talent for hamming it up being just one stage removed from real acting. One of these days, Hank was going to get the students doing one of the Great Bards' plays. Perhaps he could get Remy to take on a part.

Then, before starting his book in earnest, he looked over at Betsy and Warren, again. Both of them, for different reasons, were always seeming to walk on edge. What had been done to Warren had nearly destroyed his mind, and had wreaked havoc on his body. The wings themselves, a biomech wonder, were even more alive, and perhaps more independent, that Otto Octavius' tentacles. Even now, while their possessor relaxed, they tensed and moved, with a rhythm apart from that of Warren.

And Betsy, despite her own relaxed pose, was as ready to strike as a cobra. Hank had never had that kind of energy. His own biochemistry prevented him from exhibiting normal human responses to stress. His body did not need adrenaline to function in combat, and he moved in accord with his will, not driven by fight or flight response, his musculature always saturated with a different biochemical stimulator. He could almost smell the adrenal surge that could propel Betsy into action. It was a pleasant tang to his senses, though, and he caught her eye for a moment, winked. Then he turned to his book.

The ball game was in the 7th inning, and with half an ear, he listened to it. Television simply had no visual appeal to him, unless it was some old classic. But he still loved baseball. "Batter up! Okay, Mitchel, show this guy who can hit." Hank knew, if somebody did not want his commentary, the offended person would throw a pillow at him or tell him to shut up.

As the elevator descended to the sub -basement he felt the tension nipping at the back of his mind. He was an outsider in this place, the bastion of Xavier and his X-Men. Who was he really? did he even know? He felt a familar shadow fall across his mind, he would always been Scott's younger brother over shadowed by his older brothers image. He shrugged this away, jealousy didn't suit him. Lets face it Scott always had a ten foot barge pole stuck up his backside or was playing little soldier boy........... at least he had Jean to curb his restraint and to make sure that he didn't startch his underpants.

The Doors to the lift opened and alex headed straight for the Danger Room. The doors to the control room opened with a hiss as he strode towards the control console. Tapping in his user code, he set the danger room to voice activation and activated the start up sequence. Lights flashed on in the blackened room below in sequence to reveal a cavenous metallic room. A circular X symbol glowed in the centre of the room awaiting the participant. Turning to the entry hatch Alex checked that his suit was sending the appropriate telemetry to the danger rooms computer and step into the shell. Reaching the green X in the centre of the chamber he called out, "Computer, Load and Initiate Summers, Alex : Scenario 04."

The lights flashed out briefly to be replaced with the confines of a war devastated cityscape, bombed out shells of buildings scattered the landscape, rubble blocked sections of the street and wrecks of cars formed barriers and new terain. Four Drone targets hung frozen in mid-air lights flashing. Alex knew there were more about yet to be seen and the environment held further dangers. The sythesised voice of the Danger room computer clicked in

"The Scenario will start in 10, 9 ,8, 7...................."

The target drones flickered briefly and changed into the form of 4 random mutant hunter units and human controllers. His mind blanked out unnecessary images and keyed his sense to his danger instict. Though how ever hard he tried he couldn't block out the guilt and curiousity of the recent events, he should have tried to help Scott and Jean..............at least introduce himself to his nephew. What did he care though for the kid? Lost in his thoughts he could hear nothing but the countdown and the charging of the drones weapons.

The computer finished the count but Alex was already moving, stun bolts exploding into the floor where he had just been. "The key's control Alex" he kept reminding himself whilst he picked his way through the cover. Control, something he wasn't sure his nephew had a great deal of just yet. Popping his head up to view the drones he was pleased that they had split and were now running a search pattern. Something he could take advantage of....

Coming back to the mansion hadn't been easy, though he must say he had grown to like the newer X-Men as his memory filled in the gaps. He'd fallen foul of one or more of Kurt's pranks in the first few days, yet rather than wanting to seek revenge he found himself happy to have the "Elf" as Logan would put it around. Rounding the corner of a burnt out warehouse, he let the energy build and surge through him channeled through his palms, an incandescent beam of plasma shimmered through the air into a patrol craft causing it to veer into a water tower and crash. Move, move, move, don't stand still Alex. He ran looking for more vantage points to use. Five mintues later, another patrol craft flamed towards the ground.

The last two were going to be difficult they had joined and now were hunting the lone mutant as a pair. He thought of Scott and Jean again, an image of Lorna flashing to his mind, she had always been there for him just as Scott was Jean. We're to old to be squabbling like kids, I should have gone to Scott / ran after Jean, just like Lorna came after me. More images of quiet moments away from the traumas of life came to him, sitting on a Log in front of a campfire nothing to be heard but the calls of the owls and night birds. Why couldn't he remember more? where was Lorna now? Nate had stolen his memories this was his fault!

The last two training drones had found where Alex was hiding and begun to close in one from either side of him.

Aliens, the government, Magneto, Sentienels and Apocolypse, Why couldn't they all leave them alone! Why did the Phoenix force trouble Jean so much? what did it want it couldn't get elsewhere? Did it always have to end in these things coming to knock at the door of the smae people all the time? The Rage built inside him again and with it the cosmic energy flowed with the continued mulling and angst his body began to perspire, it shivered at the great effort required to contain the building his face tensing under the pressure. Someone Screamed, his mind distant from his body didn't realise it had been himself as it watch a glow build round his form that ebbed and waned in intensity. Then there was nothing but light! A plasma sphere emitted from Alexs body and grew as it surged in all directions destroying everything in its path.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" were the last words alexs mind registered as he slumped to the floor, fatigue over coming him. The Danger room flashed back to its empty mettalic shell look, scorch marks tarred the walls, the debris of the drones scattering the floor but other wise the shi'ar technology had prevented any serious damage. Alexs unconscious form lay in the centre the exertion had taken its toll.

The computer systems in the Institute were some of the most advanced in the world, in some respects more advanced due to their Shi'ar additions.

Currently a tiny portion of it's memory was devoted to monitoring Havok's condition as he lay unconscious on the Danger Room floor.

The computer knew that he was in no serious danger, but it also knew that it couldn't leave him there until someone else came into either the Danger Room itself or its Control Room.

It scanned the mansion and located he resident doctor, Henry McCoy in the lounge.

It then accessed it's communications systems and piped an announcement through the speaker in the lounge, proceeded by a beep which did not convey a desperate emergency, but that something was happening nevertheless.

"Doctor McCoy to the Danger Room please." the computer's voice, female sounding of course as most computer's these day seemed to have, sounded in the lounge.

All of that took less than a second from Havok hitting the floor.

Once the message was delivered it then made ready the information for Hank should he need to know more on his way to the Room.

Charles had been leading the way to his office, but part of that had been damaged in the earlier attack, and was being seen to by the Shi'ar housekeeping robots. Instead he went to the day room, currently empty of children, keeping part of his mind on Scott and Jean's location. On the journey there he briefly scanned Jean, and found.. differences.

He couldn't let them take priority right now, but he did need to speak to her, when she was calmer.

"Nate," he began, once the door was shut behind them, "I am sure the next few days, weeks, perhaps months are going to be hard for everyone."

Nate looked out of the window, trying not to think about the damage that had been dealt to the grounds and building in the fight. It really was an idyllic place, just the thing to relax away from the city for a while.

Away from the people he knew, and the troubles that plagued the existence of a man that no longer existed.

Turning back to the Professor, "I'll do what I can to make things easier Charles, but it's awkward. I know these people, but they don't know me anymore. That gives me some hope though, we were friends before, I am sure we can be again."

Turning back to the Garden, Nate winced again remembering the two tree's he had pulled up out of the grass, "Do you want me to put the trees back?"

Charles nodded, "That would be appreciated."

"Nate for this to work, for you to be an X-Men you will need to train with and learn to curb that implusive streak of yours."

Before Charles could say any more a knock came from the door.

"Come in." he called.

A few moments later Jubilee came into the room, with Jenny in tow. Jenny had been outside, learning a little more about the mansion and it's strange inhabitants from Kitty Pryde and Jubilee.

Nate looked around as Jenny and Jubilee came in, and sighed, before pathing a quick response to Charles, *I seem to recall you having to tell a number of X-Men to curb their impulsive streaks over the years, I'll do what I can, but I suspect it's something that will take time*

Charles smilled and nodded.

Looking at Jenny, Nate was unsure how to proceed. How do you apologise to someone you tried to kill, for a crime they didn't commit. Even worse, how do you apologise to a teenage girl that you have scared out of her wits. Sorry just didn't seem enough.

As Jenny entered the room, she saw the man in the wheelchair first, and smiled slightly, he was nice, before she caught sight of Nate on the balcony. She tensed, as if ready to run, but Jubilee sensed her disquiet and took hold of the younger girl's hand. This was the man that had chased her across the city, and though these people had explained it was a case of mistaken identity, which she understood, she still felt a little scared to be standing in the same room as him.

Nate saw Jenny tense, and sighed, his face ad, "Jenny, I......", Nate trailed off, unsure how to continue, "I don't know what to say, I doubt anything I say will make it right." Nate paused again, as if struggling to come up with the right words, and Jenny looked more closely at him, seeing him for the first time as more than just a man out to kill her.

He was only a few years older than her, she could tell that now, and he was cute, very cute. At least thats what she thought, though the streak of white in his hair made him look older. She could see the pain in his eyes, and the sorrow. Gingerly, she stepped forward, trembling slightly as she approached him, unsure of what she was really doing. Jubilee and Charles watched on, not sure whether to say anything, or remain quiet and see what was going to happen.

Nate looked at the young girl approaching him, his eyes still mirroring his confusion, and sorrow for what he had done, as if he was trying to apologise with his expression alone, as he wasn't sure the words would come.

Despite his apparent physical and emotional maturity, there were still some emotional experiences that Nate struggled with. When he did speak, it was almost in a whisper, just loud enough for Jenny to hear, "I'm sorry"

Jenny smiled slightly as she heard the whispered words, of course he was. He wasn't a bad man, she could tell that just by looking at him, in fact he was a bit of a hotty, a thought which caused her to smile shyly, before responding in a quiet voice, "Thats ok, you made a mistake. I can see that!"

Nate smiled warmly at Jenny, though his eyes still showed his confusion, she had said it was ok, how could it be that easy? Unsure of what else he could say, Nate simply watched, his brow furrowed slightly, as Jenny returned to Jubilee's side, a strange smile on her face, as if she had succeeded at something, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out what.

Charles smiled at Jubilee, then looked at Jenny and Nate, "Well I am glad that is all sorted. Now Jenny, go back outside and play and I will have one of my teachers drive you home. They will explain things to your parents, not everything, but enough."

Charles moved over to the desk, opened at drawer and pulled out a folder. Then he moved back to Jenny.

"At your class today your teacher told you about a visit today from a special school for gifted children. She believes you would benefit greatly from the shool. She spoke to you as asked you to have a read of this," Charles gave Jenny the folder, "and talk about it with your parents." Charles said, intending to make Jenny's teacher believe this later on. He didn't like to change people's minds against their will, unless he truly had to, but Jenny had been through a rough day already.

"If you would like to attend this school Jenny, I am sure it can be arranged." he smiled at her.

Nate remained quietly in the background whilst Charles spoke to Jenny, trying to remain unobtrusive whilst the details of Jenny's schooling were discussed.

Jenny looked around at Jubilee and the professor and smiled, it would be cool to go to a school with other people like her, people who wouldn't freak out if they found out she was a mutant. She reached out and took the pamphlet from the professor, glancing once at the front of it, before putting it away in her pocket.

"I am sure I can convince my parents that I should go here, I think they'd just be glad to find a school that I want to go to. Do I get to pick what I want to study, or not study as it were?"

Charles smiled, "Well we are school, there are the normal subjects that you will be required to take, and others from which you can chose."

"I will leave the choice with you Jenny." he added smiling.

Jenny made a face of feigned disgust, before smiling cheekily again, "Oh well, so much for dropping science." The smile lit up the young girls face, as she turned back to Jubilee, ready to leave.

As Jenny prepared to leave, Nate spoke again, "Bye Jenny." Jenny paused and smiled over her shoulder at him, "Cya later!" It would seem that she had gotten over the events, even if Nate was still a little confused by the young girl.

Once Jubilee and Jenny had left the room Charles turned to Nate again, "This break will do us all good I feel, some of us need it more than others, but it will also give them all time to adjust to your presence. Your willingness to become part of my X-Men pleases me Nate, I feel that like others who have come here, both yourself and the team will benefit from your addition."

Charles moved over to the the main desk, and pressed a button causing a computer terminal to raise up from within the large mahogany desk. He began setting certain things in process within the mansion's self maintence programs. "There." he said, "That should sort out all the damage. Yet another thing I have to thank Lilandra for."

Charles smiled to himself, then looked at Nate, "I will have to update certain facilities of the mansion though, I will need to make you exist again, just ever so slightly. Will that be acceptable?"

Charles was referring to the manions security system, and among others things Cerebro.

Nate smiled slightly at the request, "I suspect that I am still in there. Removing memories from people is easy, doing it for machines is beyond my abilities, so I left a suggestion that people overlook the details about me stored digitally. I suspect Hank will soon be looking back through his diaries, and if you do a search, you should be able to find the previous details your security systems held on me."

Nate thought over the problems he would have had if he had really needed to delete all the digital information stored on himself. Granted, chances are the majority of it was held by the X-Men, since they were some of the few who actually knew anything about him. Still, he suspected the fact that they knew he existed would allow them to view their records without the suggestion interfering with them.

Charles nodded, "Well until I can verify all this then please make sure you don't wander off anywhere on your own. It seems to me that it is highly likely you're still there as you made it to our front door so to speak."

Charles paused, his mind suddenly focused to Scott's, he now understood, the Phoenix was inside Jean. He moved his mind and met Jean's thought. There was a great conflict going on inside her, one occurring on all levels.

He remembered the tests that Moria had put her though before. No, not her, but the Phoenix. Jean would have to be tested. He would have to contact Moira and see what could be done.

He turned his attention back to Nate, "Well I have things to attend to Nate, but for now I also reccomend you rest. Dinner will be in a few hours, and one of the rooms upstairs will be at your disposal shortly should you want to stay in the mansion. Get to know the others again. I'm sure they'd welcome the chance to start afresh."

As if getting the hint, Nate turned to leave, towards the main door, "I'll see you shortly I suppose!"

Once he left the chamber, Nate wondered a little about how to proceed, he needed to start over, but talking to any of the X-Men, well, it could be a little awkward. As Charles had said, he was technically a probationary member now, but that didn't mean all the others would instantly get over the fact that he came in here and busted some heads. He figured some of them would be ok about it, but others had much more substantial ego's.

Nate was still very apprehensive about socialising with the X-Men, he had just attacked them all, and it was kind of embaressing to have to then socialise with them as friends, especially considering, with the exception of Jean, they hadn't really done very well in the fight. Thinking of the fight started Nate thinking about his mother again, and the re-exhibition of the Phoenix Force.

It was a scary prospect for Nate, for whilst he hadn't been around during the initial Phoenix crisis, he had been told about it, and had more recently had to face Jean as she manifested the Phoenix Force. At the time, as the Phoenix Force built, he could feel Jean's telekinetic powers getting stronger and stronger. Nate was an exceptionally powerful telekinetic, yet Jean, with the Phoenix effect manifested, came as close to brushing his telekinetic defences aside as anyone had ever done before. Only through sheer force of will hand Nate been able to maintain any defence long enough to strike back where his strength was still true.

Though Nate was a powerful and skilled telekinetic, his real strength lay with his telepathic powers. Powers which came close to matching even the daunting mind of Professor X himself. The scary thing though, was that Nate's powers had been growing steadily more powerful themself, over the year or so he had been on this earth. Though his telekinesis threatened to consume him whenever he relied to heavily on it, his telepathy simply seemed to grow steadily more powerful. The surge of power needed to wipe the memories of all of earths inhabitants had staggered him, though he had yet to be able to duplicate that level of power.

Nonetheless, he was sure he would be able to eventually, a thought which brought with it a whole host of other worries. What was Nate becoming, when would his powers stop growing, and would his telekinesis eventually consume him as his version of Hank McCoy had once said.

Though Nate was only 7 years old in actual age, he had experienced far more in those 7 years than most manage in a lifetime, and his perspective was rapidly expanding and maturing. Though headstrong and impulsive, Nate was being forced to grow up in a world where he and his kind were treated as monsters.

He'd spent a little while trying to navigate the mansion. Though he had been here before. He hadn't really spent a lot of time wandering around, and the mansion was a fairly large building. The fact that he occasionally had to dodge groups of mutant children made it a little disconserting as well.

Nate sighed as he moved through the mansion back towards the lounge, and resigned himself to a lot of uncomfortable meetings over the next few weeks, months maybe.

Jubilee had taken Jenny out through the lounge's french doors and round to the pool area, the newcomer understanding too well that sometimes grown-ups wanted to talk privately at times.

As the got to the pool they found a number of the other students already there. It was Saturday afternoon after all, and now that the earlier panic had died down they had gathered together to form their own judgements of what had happened. Jenny looked over the other kids that were there, the majority of them looked just like her, except for... the guy with a load of yellow glowing light where his jaw and chest should be... oh and the small little green kid and his strange pink friend.. and was that guy's skin grey?

"Well Ah reckon," a tall blond teen was saying, "That's he's related to Rogue, Ah mean did you see that streak in his hair, as Ms Braddock moved him to the elevator."

"You're basing who he is on a white streak in his hair, Sam?" a brunette teenager replied, from where she sat on a pool lounger, on her lap there looked to be...

"A Dragon!" Jenny said loudly, stopping and grabbing a hold of Jubilee's arm, "Is that a Dragon?"

Jubilee smiled, looking back to where Kitty Pryde was sat, her dragon Lockheed was snoozing on her lap, "Yep, that's Lockheed, don't worry Jenny he's friendly."

Everyone round the pool had now looked up to where Jubilee and Jenny were stood. "They are all friendly." Jubilee replied, trying to put Jenny at ease.

"Everyone," Jubilee said, "This is Jenny."

Jenny found herself greeted by those outside, and was soon being asked a number of questions about what had happened. Despite all that she had been through and the fact she was again surrounded by.. well oddities.. she soon settled into being the centre of attention, like any 13 year old would.

She also learned that everyone at the Professor's mansion was a mutant, all of whom had special powers, and that in addition to being a school they were taught how to control their powers. The conversation was very much fixed upon the boy who had been chasing Jenny, and what had happened to Ms Grey. Some of them, like Kitty, had been around when the Phoenix Force had gone bad last time, they were worried that their teacher had been 'replaced' again.

"Ah still reckon that he's related ta Rogue." Sam Guthrie, the reserve X-Man known as Cannonball repeated. Kitty Pryde, also one of the reserves known as Shadowcat, was about to argue with him again when some more people came out of the main patio doors and spoke up.

"No.."

"he's n.."

"ot Sam.."

".. his name i.."

"s Nate Gr..."

"..ey, he's the s.."

"..on of Ms G..."

"..rey and Mr Su.."

".. mmers. Professor.."

"... Xavier said so."

Jenny watched at the 5 identical quintuplets, nickednamed the Stepford Cuckoo's by those in the school, walked down all speaking almost as one, with no visible gaps between each of them speaking. Neither Jenny or Jubilee had divulged what had been said by the Professor as the fight had been raging, so Jenny wondered how they knew.

"Hey Stepfords!" Jubilee said a little angrily, her hands on her hips, "Stay out of other people's heads, especially mine."

One of the smiled, "We weren't in your head Jubilation, we overheard it being said as we left the games room."

"Well that's better then." Jubilee said, and added to Jenny, "Their gift is their telepathic, stronger when they are all together."

"Oh." Jenny replied, and to the quints said, "Hi, I'm Jenny."

"We know." they all said as one. "We are Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, and Sophie." they carried on, with each individual pointing to themself as their name was mentioned.

Jenny wasn't sure how to reply to that, but before she could the conversation began again. Jean and Scott's son? But they didn't have one did they? They'd have been kids. Not possible. Is it. Are you making it up.

The conversation carried on until...

BANG!

All their eyes went to the north wing of the mansion, where the french doors that lead to the lounge had been blown off their hinges.

"What the.."Jubilee started to say when Kitty phased right through her and headed off at a run towards the lounge, other students following.

They got to the first window of the lounge and looked in where everyone looked on, not hurt, and the guy who had chased Jenny was stood opposite Mr Summers. Mr Summers then said something to the Professor and left the room at a run.

Back by the pool Artie, Leech and two of the Stepford's looked confused as Ms Grey took off at a run, round the pool and towards the lake.

Those by the lounge then heard the 'pathed message of the Professor telling them that everything was fine and to go back to what they were doing.

Slowly they started to drift back, until it was just Kitty and Jubilee by the window, with Jenny stood a little behind. They watched as the Professor left with the boy, which was the reason Jenny hung back, still scared of him, and then saw Logan stalk out of the room a little after Mr Summer's brother.

"Looks like the Wolvster is bummed about something." Jubilee commented.

"Gee," Kitty said sarcastically, "You think?"

The three then headed back to the pool, and a little while later Jubilee was mentally asked by the Professor to bring Jenny to his office.

The students of the strangest school in the United States, figured this was pretty much the strangest day they'd had so far, but would probably be replaced by something stranger next week.

After Jubilee had taken Jenny to see the Professor Kitty wondered what to do with herself.

She hoped that Wolverine was ok, but knew better not to pry there. When she had first got there he had taken her under his wing, just as Storm had. When Jubilee had arrived at the mansion he had done the same for her too, which of course had lead to some jealousy and rivalry between the two on occassions, but normally they were good friends.

As one of the older girls there, and part of the Reserve team, Kitty felt a bit more responsibilty that some of the younger kids, she also less skittish around some of the staff, seeing some of the more as friends than teachers. She respected them as such, her teachers and her elders, but she also found it easy to deal with them on different levels.

In light of this she decided to go see what was going on, now in the lounge. As she headed off Sam called out to her, "Hey wait up."

The two of them went back inside and headed from the more formal sitting room, to the lounge.

As the got closer they could head the noises of the baseball game coming from the TV.

"Baseball..." Sam said to himself, "Aw dagnammit, I knew Ah I meant ta watch somethin'."

The ball game was in the 7th inning, and with half an ear, he listened to it. Television simply had no visual appeal to him, unless it was some old classic. But he still loved baseball. "Batter up! Okay, Mitchel, show this guy who can hit." Hank knew, if somebody did not want his commentary, the offended person would throw a pillow at him or tell him to shut up.

Kitty and Sam paused at the door to the room, students were allowed in the lounge to migle with the teachers, but they also had a common room if hanging out with the "old fogeys" as Jubilee sometimes reffered to them to the younger students, wasn't ideal. Once again though Kitty and Sam didn't have a problem with being amongst them, after all on the rare occassions the Reserves were needed they had fought side by side with nearly all of them.

"Umm," Kitty said to the room, "Is it ok if we come in and watch?" She pointed at the TV and waited to see if she and Sam were allowed.

Betsy looked round to see the two younger mutants standing in the doorway. She pushed her purple hair back out of her face and smiled. "Yes, come in. Although all we're doing is watching...well, an expensive version of rounders..."

She deliberately left a pause, waiting for an explosion of American 'patriotism' over one of their national games. Unfortunately, the moment was slightly interrupted by the computer announcing a message for Dr McCoy to go to the Danger Room.

"Doctor McCoy to the Danger Room please." the computer's voice, female sounding of course as most computer's these day seemed to have, sounded in the lounge.

"Oh, dear, I shall have to read about Ben and the Countess Bathory some other time." Hank deftly closed the book and slid it back under the couch with one foot. "Remy, please tape the rest of the game for me." He loped over the heads of the two youngsters who had just entered the room, managing not to plaster himself on the door frame just above them, and headed toward the closest secret stair, knowing he could get down below faster that way.

Both Kitty and Sam paused as the annoucement went off, then scooted out of the way of Hank as he left the room.

Kurt heard the strains of an annoucement coming from the lounge and a few moments later saw Hank go past the door. He was about to ask if Hank still wanted his OJ, but figured the Beast would come back to the lounge when he was finished with whatever it was he needed to do.

The fuzzy elf had finished gathering the first set of supplies from the kitchen. He had a crate of beer in one hand, and assortment of snacks in his other, and balanced on his tail he had a tray with a few orange juice cartons and glasses.

Satisfied he had everything he then BAMF'd back to the lounge, where he found they had been joined by Sam and Kitty.

Walking in Kitty took a seat on one of the other sofa's and Sam went and occupied one of the armchairs.

"Guten Nachmittag." he said to them both, as he put the tray down on a table next to where Betsy was sat, and then arranged the snacks.

When he was done he grabbed a beer can for himself, and a glass of orange juice for Kitty. He then went and joined her on the sofa.

"Here you go Katzchen." he said and offered her the drink.

"Now Ah'm sure, Ms. Braddock," Sam said, in his strong Kentucky accent, "That y'all not referring to our beloved Baseball as a version ah Rounders?"

He had a large smile on his face.

Kurt also smirked at what Sam said, only imagining what Betsy had said to receive such a response.

Walking in Kitty took a seat on one of the other sofa's and Sam went and occupied one of the armchairs.

Betsy reached over and picked up the orange juice, flashing a quick 'thankyou' smile at Kurt. Slowly pouring the juice from the carton into a glass gave her a few seconds to think about where to take this line of argument.
If she was honest with herself, her comparison between baseball and rounders seemed quite fair. After all, both involved a bat and a ball, and both involved running around 4 bases. The only real difference seemed to be the expense. Rather than a game played on a school playing field, with a chipped bat, a tennis ball and some mini beanbags for bases, the whole exercise seemed to cost...well, a lot.
She had however lived in America for long enough to know that line of argument probably wouldn't prove - popular. Ah well...

"Well..." she said carefully, still looking at her glass as she poured, "...there are obviously some differences, I admit. There's a lot more television coverage...you get a special hat..." She trailed off again, grinning, then wriggled slightly on the sofa, trying to place Warren in between herself and the oncoming flak.

"Yep, can't be forgettin' tha' special hat." Sam said grinning.

Sam also noticed that she tried to lean further back into the sofa so that she was more obscured from his view by Warren.

"So what do you think of our British compatriot's take on our beloved game, Mr Worthington?"

Sam continued to use the other X-Men's formal names in case any younger students were around.

"Erm..." Looking slightly embarrased (as much as an Angel of Death does) Warren shifted uncomfortably...

"Everyone's erm entitled to their own views"

"But I've never really understood the difference anyway..."

"Erm..."

Betsy watched him closely as he hedged round the issue, eyes alight with amusement. As he finished his bedraggled sentence, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, before promptly finding a very interesting patch of sofa to study.

Kurt, who had been following the course of the conversation also couldn't help chuckling slightly and shared a conspiratorial wink with Kitty.

It always made him happy when his friends were content, and if there was a relationship blooming between Warren and Betsy he wished them well. Sofar his own dalliances with romance hadn't turned out so well.

He found himself thinking of Cerise, the Shi'ar, he had fallen for, only to discover later she was wanted by the Empire for murder, and then his true love Amanda Sefton.... he wondered where she was now.. and whether she missed him as much as he missed her.

He shook the thoughts from his mine and carried on watching the game.

As Hank headed below, he spoke in Imperial Shi'ar, one of the 57 human and 6 alien languages he had learned. "Computer, elaborate on reason behind your request for McCoy to report to Danger Room."

The computer spoke in kind, from the stairwell speaker system. "X-Men designated being Havoc has been injured during his practice session. Session is in standby-shutdown mode, pending authorizations."

Hank was at the bottom door, keying in his code and letting the retinal scan work. As the door opened, he decided upon his orders. "Record session, then shut down the standby program. Prepare program McCoy 911 and deploy paramedic kit. If Ororo is in headquarters, ask her to respond and inform her of my request."

Hank was already loping through the halls, sometimes swinging by the handgrips he and Kurt had installed down here. Nobody could make time like either of them, except for Rogue. Not even Storm, as the halls did not adequately support proper turbulence stabilization.

In a few moments, he had reached the Danger Room. The door display showed the program, his, and the situation, 'Medical Emergency'. "Computer, open the main entrance into the Danger Room."

"Yes, Dr. McCoy." Both were speaking English now. The door slid open.

"Break airlock function to admit me, and keep both doors open."

"Yes, Dr. McCoy." The inner hatch slid open, and Hank moved through, looking for Alex.

Hank came into the Danger Room, slowing to a halt, as he saw the damage. The glazing on the walls was shot, and the floor at one end of the room was torn apart. Debris had scattered everywhere, and Hank recognized parts from several MH-31 robotic attack droids. Whatever had happened, Hank was sure he was seeing the signs of Alex's power flying out the high end of his scale. That would mean Alex would be groggy, or even passed out, as even his energy-capable body could not handle a full power burst without reaching its limits.

He scanned the room, and saw a hand push up through a sheet of lightweight armor plating. "Alex, can you hear me?" Hank picked his way through the rubble, pushing away any pieces that could make his passage to Alex difficult, or slow him down getting back out, once he reached his fellow X-Man.

It did not take long, and Alex seemed to have clawed his way out of the mess that had, more or less, landed on top of him. He jerked up, pushing the metal sheet aside, but his eyes were blank and after, he pushed away again, then fell back, apparently exhausted.

Something registered in Alex's mind briefly, he couldn't distinguish the noise, though his body told him he had to react. His brain reached out to his left arm willing it to move, nerves tingling as his muscles began to react. He felt his weight shift as his palm looked for purchase and his torso straining to move his mass. He groaned, the effort was too much in his weakened state, next came a scrapping of metal on metal and he felt some weight shift. His mind willed his other arm to move and it twitched as the palm sought a handhold. Whatever was on him weight shifted again and it was too much, the load bore down on his spine force the breath out of his lungs. Alex ended up flat on the floor again, his mind retreating and disconnecting itself from his limbs.

Bent bent down, and brushed a few small chunks of metal off the younger man. As he did so, Alex mumbled something, and then made a sound as though trying to breathe through debris on his face. But there was nothing there, and his breathing, though erratic, seemed sound enough. "Alex, are you with me?"

But there was no response. Hank checked him carefully, and then called the paramedic cart away from the wall. It was robotic, and mobile, and obediently pushed right through the debris. "Responding, Dr. McCoy."

"Thank you." After that, Hank started to check Alex over, using both his diagnostic training, quite good despite the ersatz nature of its acquisition. He also used the portable deep scanner, ripping open the partially sundered suit. Depleted like this, it would be some time before Alex could built a dangerous charge, and Hank would get him into a protective outfit at MedLab, where they always kept several spares on hand. At one point, Alex, Hank mused, had been the most explosive personality on campus, in more ways than one.

What he found was a relief. No neck involvement, no broken bones, just bruises and contusions, and a metabolic low ebb. His baseline brainwave pattern was not that of coma, nor waking, nor quite sleeping. Of course, his body was exhausted, and his brain would be flooded with the biochemical results of that, too. "Well, Alex, the major damage is limited to the Danger Room, and I am sure the robots can fix that in short order.

As Hank bandaged several cuts, Alex started to come too. "Wh-, hmm, mmm…" But he was not coherent, and in fact, Hank was going to get him back to MedLab, where a simple stimulant might help him to wake up enough to discuss what had happened. If that did not help, Hank might force some fluids. But otherwise, all he could do was put on some Shi'ar topical dressings and lotions. And scan him again, in case he incoherence was a deeper brain injury, though that seemed doubtlul.

Hank carefully collected the limp form, and placed him on the cart. "Paramedic unit, go to manual control. I will push your unit to MedLab." Hank had never liked the way that carts put speed ahead of the patients' welfare.

A deep, strange voice. "By your command." Bobby had been playing with the voice responses again.

"H-Hank?"

As he cleared the entry portal, Hank sighed with relief. This was a good sign. "Yes, Alex. Not to worry, I shall not leave any fur balls in your mouth."

"Fuh-nee." And then he was out again. Hank lowered his estimates on Alex's condition, and rolled him toward MedLab.

Ororo took Peter's arm and helped her friend to his room. She was going to say some words of encouragement to him, when the house computer alerted her to Beast's request.

"Rest now, little brother." She suggested to Piotr. "If you need anything you know how to reach me." Storm walked quickly towards the danger room. When she arrived there Beast was kneeling over Alex Summers, aka Havok.

"Henry? What has happened?" Storm said as she joined Beast by the young man's side.

Hank stopped the cart to avoid running it into Ororo. "'Ro, Alex let loose with his powers in the Danger Room. No dramatic repairs, even to himself, seem required. However, he is in and out of consciousness, and I wanted to do a brain scan in MedLab. Can you go ahead and get the equipment warmed up? And find one of the emergency containment suits we use for him. I want to move straight to the advanced diagnostics."

Alex was unconscious again, and Hank was really starting to worry, now. Still, Alex, like many of the other X-Men, had proven quite resistant to injury in the past. He only hoped that, whatever had gone on this time, that truism held, once again.

Alex couldn't remember much of his trip to medlab, there was something about furballs and the world being filled with blue. The world was now grey, cylindrical and he semed to be on some form of table. Groggly he raised his head, *THUD*

"OWWW HANK!"

Shifting his form more slowly now he noticed he was in one of his spare containment suits and that Ororo was standing watch over him. There were worse think to wake up to, better not let Lorna catch him thinking things like that, Hank probably wouldn't be able to patch up the pieces afterwards. Off to one side he noticed Hank reviewing some notes and monitors and muttering something. Alex considered himself lucky then, for all the x-mens faults, it was true they were always there for each other. He couldn't think of himself being in better hands than the big fuzz ball. There was that time when Hank had be explain about static only to find that Alex and Bobby had covered him in dusters, they had spent the rest of the day running round the mansion to try to avoid "the highly charged" Mc Coy...................................Quiet times when life had been good

"Hank, will you get me out of this thing! Err, Hi Ororo I think i'm not in Kansas anymore."

Ororo ran a calming hand over Alex's brow. "Be at ease my friend." She said softly. "The scan is nearly completed." There were further questions she wanted to ask the Beast, and she personally felt that Henry had been a bit hasty in strapping the boy to the examining table, but she knew better than to question the good Doctor when it came to medical procedure. Besides, there were times to question decisions made when time was a factor, and while the issue was at hand was not that time.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, continuing to occupy his attention so that he would hold still while Henry ran the appropriate tests. "What happened in the Danger Room?"

Hank had ignored Alex's complaint, to finish studying the printed graphs, and then to look at the finished 3D brain scans. He listened to Ororo comforting Alex, and wondered what Alex would think when he discovered Hank and Ororo had, together, peeled off the remains of his previous containment suit, and dressed him in this one, one that also served as a hospital gown for wayward cosmic energy blasters.

"The scan is completed. Computer, release the remaining restraints on subject Alex Summers." He went back to pondering what he had printed out, and the holographic imagining of Alex's brain. It was interesting in that it was clear there were at least three distinct blockades to normal neural transmission. All three, taken together, indicated that Alex was suffering from loss of memory, and perhaps, to subtly induced brain trauma. He would need to run deep assessment procedures to access those blocked areas. At present, it was already clear that it was not induced by electroshock nor by any known (to Hank) terrestrial technologies. Of course, that did not rule out some master-villain such as Dr. Faust or, if she were still alive, Infectia (and he felt a pang of regret for her, for the flash of sunlight that had been her last view of the world before the Legacy virus had taken her, just days before).

Considering Alex's powers, the whole thing could simply be a product of his powerful release of energies. Though he and Scott were apparently immune to their own and each others powers, there was no reason that the backlash of a powerful blast might not wrack his body and mind – and both had been affected in the past. "And what happened in the Danger Room, is that you blew your reserve power, all at once, Alex. If you are feeling well enough, I would like to project the record of the end of your session, and find out what actually happened."

Hank looked at Alex and at Ororo. He was never going to have anything like her bedside manner. But he was glad to have her here, now. She had much more current awareness of the vagaries of the current Danger Room setup than he did, and she might see something in the holo that he would miss. "Computer, show holograms from Danger Room Holorecorders 1 and 4, focusing recorder 1 on subject Alex Summers, his last session, still image at 30 seconrds prior to emergency end of session, and recorder 2 on distant view omniscient mode, same timing."

Where the brain scans had been, there were two images, side by side, one of Alex, in motion, his face a scowling study in frustration, his body in caught in mid-motion familiar to those who had seen him in combat before. The omniscient image showed him up against two robots and other holoinduced obstacles. "If you wish, Alex, I would like to run this through conclusion, and you can tell us your perceptions of what was happening, narrating events. Or you can take a breather, and Ororo and I can do this. But your version of events may help us out. We need to know what happened, and why, if we are to know how you ended up injured."

He walked the few paces toward the other two. "Computer, maximize holoimage presentation for viewing at my… current position." He stood beside the pair now.

As Nate left the Professor behind, his mind still a little confused about the meeting with the Professor and the young girl he had mistakenly believed had set off the bomb in the city, he considered what to do next.

He still wasn't really comfortable joining the others, though he could hear them watching the game in the main lounge. For now, they still needed to relax, to recover from his attack. It was likely a few of them wouldn't forgive him as easily as the thirteen year old had. The fact that quite a few of them would, and had, used such tactics before. He'd had long conversations with Scott and Jean when he knew them the first time round, he'd spoken about the events surrounding Madeline Prior's entry into Scott's life, and the deceptions Mastermind used to set Scott against the rest of the x-men.

Lost in thoughts, Nate headed out of the mansion, though he remained in the grounds. Though he didn't really know it, his feet were taking him to the one place he needed to go, to fulfil a promise he had made to the professor. When he finally looked up, he found himself sood beside an area of flattened trees, the large trunks uprooted from the ground by the force of Nate's final, fateful blast, one that he had strived with all his power to divert from his mother, though at the time he knew that doing so would kill him. He hadn't known of the Shi'ar medical facility, for he had never needed to know before.

Shaking his head, he reached out with his mind, tapping into the telekinetic power that was his birth right and in some ways his curse. He didn't reach too deep though, for to do so was to risk injury. He didn't really need to though, lifting something the size of a tree was child's play for someone of Nate's power. One by one he lifted the trees, putting them back into the ground and filling the holes made by their collapse.

The huge trees were lifted effortlessly into the air and placed back where they belonged, all but two. These two Nate had purposefully torn from the ground on the other side of the mansion to use as weapons to disable the X-men rapidly with his initial assault.

Turning, Nate reached out with his mind and lifted the two largest trees effortlesly, the vast trunks floating above his head as he walked around the mansion, towards the woods where a pair of vast holes in the ground showed where the trees had been rudely torn from the earths embrace. With a sigh, Nate placed the two trees back into the ground and filled in the hole, anchoring the trees well so that they would survive the trauma that had been dealt to them by his actions.

Of course, lost in thought and caught up in repairing some of the damage he had done, Nate never really noticed that for most of the time he had been outside he had been in full sight of the swimming pool, and the children there watching as he repaired the tree's damaged in his assault. He never even noticed that he had walked right past the window of the room the rest of the x-men had gathered in to watch the ball game. He was simply lost in thought, two vast trees floating over his head as he walked past the large windows, one of his eyes glowing as he exerted his power to move the trees back to their place in the estate.

When he had finished, he headed back in to the mansion. Sweat had beeded on his brow, signs that his wounds had not fully healed, and that the effort of repairing the damage he had caused had taken more out of Nate than he had let on. Nonetheless, he would not have let things lie as they were for much longer. Though he might only be young, Nate was a man of iron principles and strong will. He did what he believed was right, irrespective of how that impacted on his own life and wellbeing.

Nate's problem though, was not that he lacked the drive and will to do what was needed, but that he lacked the understanding to know what was best. He could only do what he felt needed to be done, but sometimes the experience of an adult would have provided him with better options. Of course, the fact that Nate was dying meant that he probably wouldn't get the chance to acquire such experience.

After the commotion the Stepfords had returned back inside, as a telepath Jean Grey spent a good deal of time with them helping them learn how to control and use their powers.

In a rare showing of emotion to an outsider of their collective they hoped she was ok.

They had returned to the dorm the 5 of them shared, in a bid to find something to do, but when nothing came to mind and their curiosity rose up again, they headed back down the stairs.

As they were half way down they saw Nate in the foyer.

"Hello." They all said as one.

With the departure of Jubilee, Jenny, Kitty, Sam and the Stepfords the other children carried on wasting their Saturday afternoon away.

Artie and Leech were sat on one of the loungers, Angelo was still in the pool and a few of others were dotted around.

Suddenly a large exclamation mark appeared above Artie's head and the mute mutant pointed.

All heads followed the pointing finger and witnessed Nate telekinetically carrying the Institute's trees that had been felled earlier in the attack.

"Woh." was the only word said, and it came from Tabitha.

As Nate carried on by Artie and Leech decided to follow, being the youngest (apart from Franklin) at the mansion their curiosity knew no limits.

So they watched Nate replant the trees, then followed again at a descrete distance as he entered the house again.

Lingering by the front door they heard the voices of the Stepford's greet Nate, and so they came a bit closer.

Sitting in the lounge, getting ever so slightly bored by the baseball game, Betsy's gaze started to drift out of the window. Two levitating trees, a distracted looking Nate 'Summers', not a cloud in the sky.... Betsy's mind did a quick backtrack and she blinked then looked again. Two levitating trees???
One of her eyebrows inadvertantly raised slightly, and she cast a look at Warren. Despite his professed incomprehension of the game, he seemed to have been drawn into staring at the television set. She smiled, squeezed his ... admittedly rather attractive ... leg, then uncurled from the sofa and headed out of the french windows to investigate.

By that point, Nate had headed off across the grounds and was busily replanting the giant trees.
Betsy watched him for a moment, then decided to let him be. Chances were good that he wanted some time to think - and she was hardly a fountain of solid advice on how to cope with things. Her gaze flicked down to her hands...the hands that weren't really her hands at all...and she repressed a shudder before heading around the back of the mansion, aiming for the kitchen and a sneaky cup of tea.

Jean had fled the room and headed out of the house, heading towards the lake.
She had ignored the children she had ran past, ignoring their questions about the french doors breaking, about how she was.

She kept going until she reached the water's edge then collapsed.

"What's happening to me?" she asked no one at all, before breaking down into tears.

Scott eventually caught up to Jean, something that would have been impossible if she had actually been trying to run away from him.

He stopped, giving her some distance. "Jean, I'm still here. We need to talk. About what I had ...what I thought WE had ... experienced a little while ago. About the Phoenix, and what it all means. It doesn't matter to me, other than that I love you and want to help. I can FEEL a little of it...you know I can...and I think, so can Nathan. I felt his mind...we're..." He suddenly laughed, a self- deprecating short thing. "We're kind of stuck to each other."

He moved in then, to touch her, lightly. "Jean, it doesn't have to be a disaster. Not this time. This time, we know a lot about what is going on. What we need to do is nurture this thing, make sure that it doesn't do anything you don't want. I'm not the expert on that. But you have a lot of friends willing to help. You're never going to be alone.

*And you know that.* he thought to her, directly, through the rapport they shared. *We can't be inside this with you, but you don't have to experience it alone. You know how to share your thoughts. So...do it. Not the power. Just your thoughts. Charles taught you that. You're no neophyte. Besides, I believe in you.*

She didn't react to him touching her to begin with, but her sobs lessened to nothing. She listened as he spoke and was thankful for all of it, but there was still one thing nagging her.

What if she didn't want to be in control.

"Scott," she said quietly, "It's all different now. Before it wasn't me, it was just the pure Phoenix, armed with it's idea of me. Now it's different. After me, before me, whenever in time it happened it went to Rachel, and now shes.. gone."

Jean didn't want to say dead although all signs seemed to indicated that she was, but part of Jean still believed that her daughter was alive.

"Jean, whatever happened to Rachel, it was nothing we could do anything about." Scott was shaken at the thought that Rachel might be dead, or considering the history of the Phoenix, even worse. "Whatever part of the Phoenix is with you, may help you to find out. And to learn from whatever Rachel experienced."

She turned to look at Scott, "The Phoenix came back to me and suppressed itself. We don't even know why it did that. It came to Rachel and Rachel could handle it. What if I can't?"

And the question came again... What if she didn't want to?

Dark Phoenix was a cosmic being who was capable of destroying whole worlds, who started life as a being of Good. Jean was human, a mutant, her powers when used for devastation couldn't blow up a planet but they still could kill.

Scott could sense the hidden thought, even if he did not know how to express it. "You're strong, Jean. You pretend you're not, and I've never known why you do that. You've survived events that would cripple any other person I know, and come out stronger...and yeah, wiser. You're the only person I know who imagines you can't cope with this. I know I'm not the one carrying this load, but I also know nobody in your position should be dealing with it alone. You don't have to be swept away by this, as though it's just some cosmic tragedy." He pulled her back to his chest, felt her heart racing, her body shuddering with feelings she was having trouble expressing. He bent his head to touch his cheek to hers.

She shook her head, and changed tact, not wanting to talk about that. If she could help it she didn't want to tell anyone. "I'm alright Scott. My powers just sometimes take me by surprise. My sudden increased telepathy provoked a reaction in my TK. All the noise, it felt like I was being assaulted and I had to protect myself."

That part was true, but she had felt something else, almost like a fight going on inside her.

He held her tighter, and started to rock her, slowly.

"Don't pretend, Jean. With the power you're handling, you need to go back to 'school'. And you need to be serious about it. We have more telepathic ability in that one room than exists anywhere else on the planet, so think about taking advantage of it. And if you want, I'll mesh with you. I'm just an...an empty mind compared to you...but I can still be a support for you."

Jean thought about what he was saying, she did intend to talk to Charles, but she still had reservations about involving everyone.

"I don't know." she replied honestly.

He smiled, and kissed her ear. "No way out, Jean. Hank can study and work out a regime the imposes some discipline and self-analysis. Charles can keep a constant monitor up, and make sure you never have to do any of the hard stuff without moral support. And Logan...I hate to say it, and you know why...there are times when his ability to fight his demons can be almost inspirational. You need to stop just discounting the rest of us 'mere mutants' and make best use of what we have to give. Put a bit of the teamwork back into YOUR issues."

Logan. Something inside Jean stirred when Scott mentioned his name. Something like what happened in the lounge, but Jean quickly squashed it. "I'll see Scott, I'm not sure what I want to do now. I do need to talk to Charles, I'll work out something with him, but right now I just don't know."

She hugged Scott tightly, "And I was hoping for a nice relaxing weekend." she said followed by a slight laugh.

Scott chuckled then, turning Jean so they could hug, face to face. He wished for a moment she could really see his eyes without being blown to bits. "You know what a guy who can blow the lid off a mountain is, without his friends? Without you?"

She shook her head and said, "No, tell me."

"Just a scared kid without any hope. But he got better. So can you. But he had to learn not to hide from himself, and what he is."

She smiled at him, then hugged him tighter, one of her hands snaking into his brown hair. "I love you Slim, I know you'll always be there for me."

She lent in and kissed him.

Scott kissed back, softly, making it last.

When they had come up for air, he sighed. "Jean, let's at least talk about what happened with the Phoenix, while you were...sleeping. And then we can go back with our friends. If you're up to it?"

She nodded, she had to speak about that at least. "I was there for all of it." she said, "I may have been unconscious to you but I was there. The Phoenix talked about how she was inside me, a small part inside of me, well when she was talking to you, I was a small part of her. We're connected. I don't know what else to tell you, to say to you."

The fight was currently hers, and it would stay that way. She would speak to the Professor, to ask him for help, but at that point in time that was it. She needed to know if she was going to win or lose. She didn't want other's judgement clouded... just in case..

"Jean, I...I wonder, if you're afraid to talk to me about the Phoenix because...because of the time I shared with her..it..her." He sighed. "You know, it's really strange. I...you need to know, I did love her, and I think I might have even if I had known what she was...that she was just wearing a copy of your body. And that's something that really bothers me now. I can't regret it. Knowing you taught me never to regret a moment, or an act, in love."

He paused, and then bent to touch his forehead to hers. "Just remember, I knew her too. Not as well as I might. But...she was not just a force of nature. That's what she learned from you. Whatever you are contending with, it's something that you have more than a hope of handling.

"Have faith in yourself. I do."

She nodded, and said, "Ok."

She stood up and took Scott's hand, then the two of them started to walk towards the mansion. Although she did feel a bit better then confident aura of calm she presented was just a facade. She was still worried.

As they got to the pool area those children who were gathered looked at her. She smiled to let them know she was ok, then she glanced to the side... and up.... her eyes found Logan's. Stood at the window of his room in the mansion

Again she felt something flickering inside, something that made her feel there was a war going on inside her. She looked away instantly, but it felt as though she had held his eyes for an eternity.

And there was something else. Another feeling. A desire.... to be hunted.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. The feeling had gone.

"I'm going to see Charles." she said, and kissed Scott on the cheek, "Tell the others I'm fine."

He nodded and smiled, then as they went inside parted ways at the formal sitting room, Scott heading towards the lounge, Jean towards the library.

/// Upstairs:

Logan had been meditating for half an hour, emptying his mind, finding his discipline again, finding some sembleance of control again. True peace, true control had evaded him since day one that he'd tried attaining it - today was no different.

In fact, today was worse.

The Canadian X-man aborted his meditative efforts due to too much internal distraction. At least his blood wasn't rushing anymore, and he was OK again ... sort of.

A simple exercise then, to see how bad things were.

Logan stretched his limbs briefly, before sitting down on the ground and crossing his legs. Once comfortable, he slowly moved his right arm - clenched in a fist - into his field of vision, focusing on it.

*SNIKT*

Threre razorsharp adamantium claws pierced skin with great ease to expose themselves to the world, the deadly trademark weaponry of the Wolverine. So far so good ... no change. He turned to the side, gazing out of the window, focusing.

Next, a mental image began forming slowly before Logan's mind's eye ... hunting, in the freedom of Canada's forests. Where there were still lands, relatively untouched by man. Where the kill was bountiful and healthy.
Where the kill was unbound, ...

... Logan found himself looking into Jean's eyes, and something inside him pulled, tore at him. Deep, deep inside, it was so tempting to just give in, to ...

Logan and Jean broke contact at nearrly the same time, however short or long that moment may have been, it had been more than sufficient to have ... something ... cross between them. He didn't want to think about it - not right now. How much easier would things be if he could simply let things be.

But if he did that, he would be no different than Sabretooth. Logan had a hefty price to pay for keeping his feral side in check. There were some things out there, that simply COULD NOT be controlled, they could only be disciplined somewhat. As a man - would he ever know peace? True peace?

He shook his head - too much navel-contemplation was not going to get him anywhere. You start down that path, you start doubting yoruself, and that's not healthy. No - he needed something to do... something to distract him.

Watching Nathan move trees back into the ground was cerrtainly an impressive distraction. It certainly showed that - despite being merely a boy - the lad had indeed great power in him. Had to work some on his control though, that much was clear ... the potential was there, however. Logan could certainly discern that much from the care Nathan replanted the trees with.

"Potential" however, had to be brought to fruition.

That being said...

/// Back in the foyer

Of all of the telepaths around, Nate was one of the few that lived his powers fully. Not just the telepathy and the telekinesis, but all of his powers. He'd awakened with them, they were a defining point of who he was. Though he shielded unconsciously, he also sampled the area around him unconsciously with his mind.

Of course, there were many other areas to Nate's powers, but even Nate hadn't finished exploring the limits of what he could do. Being able to tap into the raw power of the Astral plane gave him access to levels of power that were almost unimaginable. It was in the Astral plane that he had first confronted Xavier, encountering the professor as an Astral projection. Of course, Nate had reacted to Xavier's presence with hostility, because of what he sensed in the Professors mind. At the time, he hadn't understood what was going on within Xavier, and so had torn the professor out of the Astral plane, into reality. A feat which no-one had previously thought possible, since Xaviers body was safely in the mansion, up until that point.

Nate was still reminiscing over his memories of the X-men when he entered the foyer to be greated by the 5 children. It wasn't until they said Hello that he looked up at them, though his senses had alerted him to their presence before hand. It had also alerted him to the presence of two other of the schools students watching.

Looking at the children before him, Nate's brow furrowed slightly. He didn't really know how to deal with children, he'd never really had the chance to be one, since his own childhood had been bypassed in an accelerated growth chamber. Still, these 5 at least weren't young children, they were teenagers in their own right, and so were closer to his own age. Granted, they were still young, though he had no real skill at judging age. Maybe they were around the same age as Jenny.

Thoughts of the girl he had wrongfully blamed for the bombing flitted through his mind for a moment, whilst he responded to the five girls before him.

"Hi, I'm Nate. You must be Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe and Sophie." As Nate named each of the girls, he looked at the relevant, and wierdly enough, the correct one. It wasn't that Nate knew them, it was that his prodigious telepathic powers had provided the information for him subconsciously. He didn't even have to think about it, it just happened really. Being born with telepathic powers often meant that you looked on the world somewhat differently to the norm, for you had this sixth sense that you used instinctively.

"Yes we are." they again all said together, and finished coming down the stairs. They also had registered Artie and Leech, but from their position they could also see them.

"We heard some of the things the Professor said, about you being the child of Ms Grey and Mr Summers." Sophie said, there was no question to the statement.

"Will you be staying in the mansion?" Esme asked. "Or will you be going back to New York?" Celeste carried on.

The Cuckoos, due to their training with Emma Frost often forgot that it was impolite to delve into people's minds. They didn't get much from Nate, as his shields were very strong, but the 5 of them together were able to pick up that much at least.

Nate smiled at the 5 girls, his head tilted slightly to one ide, "No, I'll be staying for now. The Professor has invited me to join the X- Men again"

He'd felt the featherlight tickle of their intrusion into his mind, but opted not to prevent the access. It was pretty fair to say that Nate had shields second to none, when he opted to use them, but even his natural inherant shield was pretty damn strong. But closing his mind off entirely at this point would probably be considered secretive and untrusting, which he was aware he couldn't afford.

"Its a 3rd chance at a family, an opportunity I'd like to take up this time."

Of course, Nate hadn't explained why he said a 3rd chance, that he had in fact never known his birth parents, and had erased the memories of his parents in this timeline. Now he had a 3rd chance to know his parents, his family.

They all nodded, "We understand, we do not remember our parents. We often wonder what they were like."

Mindee then took over, speaking solo, "So you were part of the X-Men before? When was this? In the last 2 months or before when there was only one team and Mr Lehnsherr was here? Or before then?"

It was a lot of questions, but then the girls like to know things. Perhaps they realised it was a lot to ask, and so they gave a piece of information about them back, "We have only been here for 1 and a half months, before that we lived with Emma Frost."

Nate smiled, "Ah, it was some time ago, before I, um!"

Nate paused for a moment, unsure whether to say anything, but then, he thought, the truth will be revealed soon anyway, so he might as well be honest.

"Before I erased the world's memory of me" It was a simple statement of what Nate had done, of course it didn't really explain how one individual could erase the memory of every living being on the planet, even the phenomenally powerful psychics like the Professor, Jean Grey, Emma Frost.

"That doesn't really answer the question though does it?" they all replied. "We are part of the world so naturally we won't remember when that was."

Sophie carried on, "But if you don't want to we'll pretend to understand.

At this point Artie came forward and tugged Nate by his sleeve. An image of a 'Welcome Mat' appeared above Artie's head.

Nate smiled at the young Artie, this was one of the students he remembered previously, "Hi Artie, thanks." turning back to the girls, he answered their questions, "It was probably around 7 months ago, give a take a week or two. I haven't really been keeping much track of time over these past few months."

Three of them nodded, whilst the other two said, "Yes we can imagine that being cut off from everyone would make that happen."

"It's good that you have another chance though." Esme said. "But then this place is a chance for all of us really. A chance to fit in."

At this point the Cuckoo's stopped talking and listening to the approaching footsteps. They didn't have to read minds to recognise the steps.

**

The Canadian X-man left his room, purposefully walking in a clear direction, finding Nathan by his scent and indeed in the company of the Cuckoos. Being the X-men's conscience, there were a few things that needed doing.
Among them were some of those things where "sorry" just wasn't enough.

With his famed sense of tact (famed for the common disrergard for it), Logan approached the young folk, and stopped at Nate's side, interrupting him mid-sentence, tapping on his side. Despite Nathan being a good 6" taller than Logan, the Canadian sheer strength of personality made him appear the larger one. In spirit at least...

"You 'n me got some talkin' to do. Now." ... letting his eyes wander towards the audience, he added throatily "Alone."

Kitty and Jubilee would've recognized Logan's tone and posture instantly from ripe experrience. It was the one he used when he was going to lecture one of them. Just that this time, it wouldn't be one of them, and rather a different, unsuspecting "victim"...

Both Artie and Leech, who weren't exactly afraid of Mr Logan instantly moved back at bit anyway. The Cuckoo's and again this was perhaps a sign of their training by the White Queen didn't react to him.

Instead the five of them kept looking at Nate and said, "It has been nice talking to you. We will no doubt have the chance again."

Then they all nodded and started away from the stairs, ushering the two youngesters, towards the doors that led to the main corridor.

When they had their backs turned to Nate and Logan, so that the Wolverine wouldn't notice, their eyes all started to glow white as they did whenever they communicated using telepathy.

*Perhaps next time we won't have interruptions from Mr Moody.* was the thought they all sent to Nate's mind.

Rounding the corner, and completely out of sight Artie put up and image of a mouth laughing, one that only the girls and Leech could see.

The 7 students then went into the lounge, and took up seats.

Ororo watched as Henry went to work. She followed him, saving some of the images from the medical scanners to his personal files, as well as the medical files, and running a quick comparison scan, which she would show Henry the results of later. She did not like to interrupt him when he was in the zone. The man's brain just moved faster than her's did, it was like a slow car trying to cut off a fast car in the interest of getting somewhere quicker.

As she finished up with the medical controls she walked over to once again stand next to Alex as they looked at the Danger Room. Her presence conveyed that Alex did not have to go through with this if he did not want to.

Alex watch as the images unfolded infront of him, the holo image of him ducked into a tunnel then sprinted out the other side, Stunbolts hitting the floor where he had just been. The two drones continuing their chase.

As he watched he felt Hank's and Ororo's presence, reassuring and warming, the two X-Men stood their comforting their injured colleague. Storm was a beacon to her fellow X-men, a natural leader she showed others what was possible by her determination and force of will. Claustrophobic she may be but when matters counted she was always there with a kind word and a story shared.

"Well I had gone into the Danger room to practice my fine control, the first two drones were comparitively easy after my recent refresher course with Logan. The next two well they were a bit more trouble as you can see. These two had been programmed to work together to reduce my advantage, they herded me into that warehouse."

Alex pointed to the images floating in the air as his Holo dropped through the roof of the warehouse onto some crates and began to move to an exit. As he reached the door a drone came into view blocking his path, he spun round and made for the other exit to be similarly trapped. The two drones moved in offering no escape.

"I felt trapped, my mind was racing looking for a way out but no matter where I turned there was no escape. I tried to remember our training but there were just blanks, voids in my memory, one minute there would be nothing the next I'm standing in front of magneto. I can't remember when or where. "

His body began to shudder as his physical memory began to take over from his emotional one, raising one hand to his hairline he felt a cold sweat on his brow. Cold, there was something about cold and not blanks but voids......

"Hank, I'm sorry, I was looking within and with my nephews revealations the blood just went straight to my head. Scott and Jean had enough to worry about apart from him and suddenly he's here! You know how hard i've fought to remember my life over the last few weeks and with a whim he takes it all away! But just now I realised there was something more, I felt cold and there are patches of blackness something else happened to me before Nate, didn't it Hank? Thats why there are more gaps. Ororo, tell me please, I need to know!"

His strained face stared into Storms eyes, the power of the lightining could be call forth from those delicate globes and yet all he could register in them was a concern and care like a summer's breeze drifting along a quiet sandy shore.........

"You felt...trapped?" Ororo repeated with genuine concern obvious in her voice. Feeling hurt or scared she was familiar with, feeling sad or lonely she had felt as well. But feeling trapped was the one thing she could not bear. Ororo knew that she had to help him.

"Alex, you and I have something in common that is not to be envied." She began softly. "We were both captured by the Genoshans recently. And they did terrible things to our minds. Have you spoken with the Professor? I cannot tell you the specifics, but maybe with this equipment Doctor McCoy can determine the cause. Or perhaps the Professor can help you in the Psi-Lab." She suggested, and then took his hand and held it firmly between two of her's. "Either way I will help you all that I am able." She said, the emotion was noticeable in her voice. It obviously meant a great deal to Storm to see Alex Summers healthy again.

"What do the scans show you Henry?" She asked. "Is the problem biochemical in nature?" She knew that if the answer was not something that Alex should hear, the Beast was more than capable of sublty indicating that to her. But so far, there had never been a situation that had merited such an action.

Hank had listened to all of that, and while the two talked, he keyed in additional requests for bioscans. He switched holoimages, and came up with reference scans of Alex's brain, marked with a variety of dates and with biochemical traces showing.

"I see nothing indicating a biological or chemical inducement aside from normal memory trace phenomenon. And memory trace, I cannot read well, as I am no Shi'ar bioneuromatrics tech. Alex might have been affected by the Seige Perilous -- and you are aware my knowledge of that only comes from a few stories you and others have told, Ororo."

He manipulated the imagery. "This is a brainscan from Alex from the last time we did a complete workup on him. Next to that is the brainscan that was taken at the time that Charles invited the X- Factor members to come home, and about the time Alex wandered back. And here is the current scanset. The scans from the time Alex came back do differ from those taken before the Seige Perilous trip, and somewhat significantly. As I recall, all those who passed the Seige showed similar differences, and yours, Ororo, are even more different than Alex's. And yet, despite regression and return from apparent childhood, you retain far more event memory than Alex."

He pointed at the final scans. "Eliminating trace biochemical activity as a result of the fear factor that Alex just experienced, a form of panic attack, I suspect, there are few differences from the Seige. If you will let yourself be scanned, Ororo, I can get some baseline to currency reference. But I suspect your brain and memory pattern match to earlier studies will show far more improvement than Alex does."

He frowned, then. "I wish I knew what Nate did to 'remove' our memories, as it might have impacted on memory traces from earlier, and I don't even know the timeframe of his memory alterations of all of us. But here are my scans -- I scan myself fairly regularly as I seem to have a mutable X-gene complex -- and my own scans, save for a certain biochemically induced period of infantilism while with X- Factor have remained fairly consistant and without demonstrating a pattern of interruption."

Hank smiled and shrugged at the looks both gave him. "When your brain and mind are as precious to you, as mine is to me, I shall call you both Henry McCoy. I am not paranoid, you know. Merely careful."

Alex seemed to be glaring at him, and Hank decided to finish. "Basically, Alex, I think your memory recovery is slow, and incomplete, from the Seige Perilous events. I do not know why that should be so, in comparison to others. I am not going to do a thing about it, as your brain may, very well, make the connections again, or most of them, without my bear-sized-fists intervening. If you want, you can approach one of the more subtle telepaths, like Jean or Charles. I warn you, they may tell you the same thing I just did."

He put up a hand to stop Alex from interjecting. "One moment. I do want to continue to address the problem, and I may have other ideas later. So, stay for a while, if you can, and let me scan you and perform other new tests I think of during your stay. Ororo, I suggest you may wish to convene a discussion group, with Alex and other Seige travellers, and see if any of you can enlighten Alex."

He shrugged. "There are limits, even to my ideas and to Shi'ar science. But do not feel hopeless. Far worse has happened to many here, than mild memory loss."

Hank tilted his head, thinking. "In the meantime, I can give you a mild sedative for now, and suggest that you stop worrying about things. I suspect you do have trace memories coming back, and that your panic attack resulted from confusion as one returned to you. Again, the telepaths can probably teach or lead a meditation or centering technique that may help you, and I know Jean can manage a dream recovery session...hmmm... though at the moment, I would bypass her and go to Charles." He did not say why, but they had been around for the Phoenix manifestation.

"I....do not recall that I ever passed through the Siege Perilous." Ororo said hesitantly. Her memory of those events was a bit garbled, as being reduced to childhood had erased her adult memories. "If I was I was reduced to a young age shortly afterwarda. Perhaps that interfered with the effects of the portal. I would be glad to have my brain scanned as well though."

"Perhaps someone familiar with Genoshan methods can aid is in this, if the Professor cannot help. For all we know the Shi'Ar machines cannot find traces of whatever they use to control minds." She suggested.

Ororo said to Alex. "I think you should speak with the Professor at the earliest possible moment. If there is a person here who can help with an internal matter it is him."

As the sedative coursed through his body, Alex visably relaxed, he had the beginning of a few answers now and maybe with the professors help things would begin to add up. It would take time and that was something he had in plentiful supply.

"Hank, Ororo, your right, it seems that only Jean or the Prof will be able to help me on this one. I'd appreciate it if you don't mention this to Scott for the moment, he'll only get his yellow underpants in a twist and the last thing he needs to be worrying about is his off the tracks brother."

Gingerly Alex swung his legs off the side of the examination table and eased his feet to the floor. It was then he felt the draft, Whilst the garment he wore was a containment suit it had been modified......... the flaps at the back of the containment "gown" shifted letting a breeze flow past his back. As the recognition of his situation occurred to him, Alexs face reddened.

"Err who put this on me?" he half muttered guessing the response.

Ororo's face told the story more in full, he couldn't believe it after all the mess, she was enjoying his moment of awkardness.

"HANK! why you sorry excuse for a throw rug........" muttering continued for a few minutes until Alex realised it wouldn't achieve anything. Well there was only one thing for it, Flashing his baby blues at Ororo and his coyest smile

"Err Ororo, you wouldn't be a darling and get me my t-shirt and my jeans would you? I would like to go upstairs and there's a few things that only Lorna should see. Wouldn't want to get in trouble with the prof for scaring the students."

He knew darn well that not only Lorna had seen those things recently by the smirk, ooh that fuzzball was in trouble. If he ever caught him in a similar situation...........

Ororo did her best to keep a straight face, but it was an effort in futility. Her beautiful dark face broke into a smile and then a soft laugh. "Oh Alex, you must not be angry. Lorna has nothing to worry about, it was entirely in a medical context I assure you." She said with a smile. "I would be happy to retreive your clothes for you."

As she walked out past the door she reflected on how odd this all would have seemed to her when she first arrived. When one of the starkest memories from your childhood was crossing the Sahara desert on food you tended to not place a high premium on modesty. Young Ororo had learned early that in jungles and deserts function comes before fashion. She remembered what a shock it had been when she nearly caused a riot the first time she went swimming in the traditional manner in the X-Men's outdoor pool.

Storm was glad for the opportunity to laugh though. Through all the tough times and hard fights the X-Men had been put through, it was amazing that they could still laugh amongst themselves when the situation was calm. 'How wonderful' She thought to herself. 'Perhaps for all of our powers and gifts that is our greatest strength.' She thought idly as she retreived the clothes of Alex Summers from the dryer and folded them.

As Ororo left, Hank finally turned from the scans he had been quietly watching. He had rapidly scanned previous brain images and data reports for several of the others and confirmed that they HAD gone through the Seige.

All of them showed signs of change, and all of them showed signs of organic change in their brains, consistent with changes in memory. But none of them showed decreased function, and most showed near total tissue and neural exchange recovery. Alex did not, quite.

Next up would be his pesonal exploration of the rest of them, looking in particular for signs of what might be Nate's mindwipe. If it was entirely telepathic, then it was not going to show up on any kind of scan. If it was telekinetic, and Hank delayed the gratification of his fearful shiver, then Nate might be the most facile telekinetic in the Universe, even in some ways on par with the Phoenix. And that was a place Hank hoped not to be tangled up in, despite recent evidence.

Watching the door close behind Ororo, Hank turned back to Alex, smiling. "Alex, surely you do not believe your gluteus maximus and related tissues were worth regard of either myself or Ororo?" He said it in a tone suggesting that both he and Ororo were much superior specimen in that regard... which he happened to actually believe.

"Now, in private, I don't want you to be alarmed at all about these findings. The key thing is you are still you, and I see nothing in any brain scan or brainwave the suggests you were altered in ways that are irrecoverable. Of course, we all know most of us have been brainwashed or mind-reamed at one time or another. And these are really rarely my domain, as not even the Shi'ar have a good medical or clinical science for those matters." He put up a few displays, and explained as best he could, in laymans terms, what he had found, being reassuring. What Ororo had been through, being deaged and reaged, and even what had happened to Hank while in X-Factor, were worse matters. However, he realized that Alex was disturbed, not by clinical findings, but by strange memories, and the lack of full knowledge of his experiences.

Hank knew something about that, too. And he hated it when people came to him with problems that no amount of brainpower or experience, of his type, could resolve. Even sending them to a real physician would get them nowhere, as none on Earth had the background and equipment Hank could direct at their concerns.

Alex raised to his feet as Hanks words began to sink in. His current state of mind had come about due to the Seige Perilous and Nate's messing with his mind. Annoyed he might be, but he remembered where that had led him. He didn't particularly want to end up on the cold floor again. He turned towards the medlab exit and began to slowly walk.

"Thanks Hank, it just frustrating, there are things I should remember and I don't. Genosha did a fine job of messing with my mind. Lets just hope Charles can pick up the pieces. W ith the Doc's permission I think i'll head to the pool. Think I just need to relax now, I'll see Charles later, no disrespect I have had enough prodding for a few hours. Maybe catch you for a beer later?"

"Certainly, Alex. However, I will have hard cider. Beer is for people of less delicate tastes." He winked as Alex started to go, amused by his current state of undress. Of course, Hank had once forgotten to put his shorts on, and used the pool while others were there. He wondered if Alex would notice the breeze before he made it to the elevator.

Ororo returned with Alex's clothes, freshly washed and folded, just in time to see him leave. She resisted to urge to make a pithy comment about, despite how much it would thrill Jubilee, he really should put normal clothes on. But Havok it seemed had no intention of leaving in a state of semi-dress, and he pulled his clothes on.

Hank was slightly sorry to see Ororo intercept Alex, as he was sure the stories would have reached epic proportions before he heard them. On the other hand, the holoimages were so fascinating.

She watched Alex leave, then turned to the Beast. "Henry..." She began, but did not need to finish her sentence, Dr. McCoy was already deep in thought, scanning over images and databases faster than Ororo could even read them. It was clear he was as interested in helping Alex as she was.

It took Hank a moment for her voice to register. He turned to face her with a deep bow. "Yes, milady?"

"Would it still be useful to scan me for comparison?" She asked, during a pause. "Or shall I go knock politely on the Professor's door and inform him of the situation?"

"Despite what you told me about your Seige or not to Seige experience, it never hurts to get a new brain scan, and yours is always my pleasure to scan. And the equipment is all warmed up. While I scan you I shall send Charles an email about Alex. You can tell me anything you wish to add to it."

As he spoke, to moved to find one of 'his' chairs. These all looked like largish papasan chairs on wheels like wheelchairs. Hank tended to sit in these with various equipment strewn about so you could use all four limbs as hands, and wheel around in them from point to point, in the various labs. Not because of utility, strictly, but because, as he had intoned once or twice, 'Why should Charles have all the fun?'. Only twice in the past month, had he had to track them all down, to find the student playing bumper chair with them. Rather than chastise them the last time, he had joined them. After taking their bumps and bruises, they had stopped borrowing his chairs.

Well, almost. He had finally given one of the chairs to Jubilee, along with a nice card.

"As you wish, Sir Henry." Ororo said in her usual musical voice. She took the place of the recently departed Alex on the biobed and sat upright, her back leaning against the wall, so that her head was properly positioned for the brain scan.

She wished that she could simply relax and enjoy the chance to spend time with the Beast. Perhaps the wind rider simply had a weakness for blue fur, but more and more she found that the time she spent in conversations with the Beast was the time she most looked forward to. Of course it was sporadic trying to schedule anything with Henry, but nothing seemed to be easy about being an X-Man sometimes. However, there was a more serious issue that Ororo wished to discuss, as it was bothering her to no end.

"Have you..." She wondered how to put her question delicately, so as not to imply anything. "Have you spoken with Jean recently?" She asked, the concern evident in her voice. "With all the troubles that have occured I..." Ororo paused for a moment. "Am quite concerned about her."

She did not say those terrible words that Henry was most likely well aware Ororo was thinking. The ravager or worlds. The dark angel. The chaos bringer. The force of pure passion that could never be stopped. Dark Phoenix.

And what was almost worse, the aftermath. Losing Jean, to Ororo, was like having her soul torn out. Storm considered Jean Grey to be her best friend. Ororo did not think she could bear to lose her twice.

"Just some emails, and passing comments." He had the scans started now. She could talk, and not mess up the scans. "But you mean more than that. No, I have not talked to Jean about the highly charged nature of her earlier power display. And I am worried about her, too. However, I have come to learn that she needs to have time to come to grips with these things. And usually, she and Scott have to do that together. Later, I'll catch up to her, and talk. It may be time to perform a very extensive set of scans on her, and not merely of her brain."

He started to check the scans. "Ororo, if you recall, the last time we did this, we successfully mapped your brain activity while you were in the 'barely-started' phase of activating your powers. I would like to scan you in that state again, and also focus on the structure of the changes to your eyes. Of course, if the eyes are the windows of the soul, then yours must be viewing an interesting landscape, especially when they whiten and brighten. I've often wondered what you see when you interact with the elements." Hank was partially working to distract her from worry about Jean. He had learned that where Jean was concerned, worry was generally counterproductive. Actions often told the tale.

He was also geniunely curious about her powers. From his own perspective, Hank had no powers. Even the enhancements with the body changes, a few years ago, were to him merely a progression toward something. But like many X-factor mutations, 'Ro had gained hers at or around puberty. And with it, had come changes in mentation and perception. By knowing more about these changes, he might find out more about the lovely woman, and be able to do more for her, in the future.

Though he told nobody, he also just enjoyed looking at her eyes. They were lovely and frank, and she had a very different way of looking at people, more aware and more sharing than most Americans. It was refreshing for him whenever he could look into those eyes, far more embracing than with most people. For all that Hank loved Jean, she was closed off in that way of many mutants, and especially the telepathic ones. No doubt, she still struggled to keep out of the periphery of other minds, and no doubt Hank's mind was harder to handle than most. As Charles had told him once, 'Your mind is a pleasure and a puzzle, Hank. Never lose it over small things.'

As he continued the scans, Hank considered those eyes. She was blinking little, knowing he was getting full scans. And he touched her hand, a simple reassurance, though the procedure was painless. Just dull for the patient.

He found himself wondering what it would be like, to be an important part of the life of such a woman. It was a strange thought, but he could sense the things in the air, even before he came back down here, the scents of couples becoming couples. Logan, far more aware of such things than Hank, would find them terribly frustrating, even infuriating, given his own personality. Logan's response to Jean merited some serious consideration, at some point.

He took in the scent of the room, the clinical smells, mixed with his own faint musk, the tiny remaining odor that had been Alex, acrid with upset, and the complex and somehow fruity scent of the women in front of him. The only X-Man who smelled better was Polaris, whose hint of ozone was quiet stimulating. He wondered if anybody else knew how important smell was to Hank, in selecting those he dated. Hank's own experiences of relationships had, by and large, gone nowhere, of course. And few realized that his crush on Jean had constituted the first real love of his life. But Jean had her reserve, and her special place had always been with Scott. In time, Jean had become his best female friend. And she still was, despite his close friendships with Patsy Walker and Carol Danvers.

He had long ago admitted to himself that he was a far better friend than a boyfriend. He imagined that women, and yes, there were those who found even a blue-black furred behemoth to be handsome, found him inconstant, or difficult to understand. It was true he had not found an intellectual equal, but then, he was no equal to others in some regards. Hank had never understood the insider perspective. By the age of one year he had been, intellectually, far beyond the infant, as, physicially, he had been from birth. It all made a difference. When you could smell as acutely as he did, and when you were trained to be careful of others, it made it hard to be spontaneous about certain feelings. Hank always felt like he was taking advantage of women he dated.

Like Trish. She was a great woman, a wonderful woman, and she and Hank had hit it off once they got over their initial fights over jouralism, ethics, and integrity. And with him, she was open and honest and loving. And yet -- there was a gulf between them, and it seemed to widen and narrow at random. Hank was adapted toward being human, and in the human-mutant debates he saw the issue as something akin to ethnic hatred and fear, not the species issues other talked about. Homo superior was a misnomer. Most mutants were still homo sapiens sapien, with a bit of an X-complex twist.

And yet, he sometimes felt like a monster. He often felt more like The Thing than he did the young, agile genius and football player these days.

Hank watched the test cycle end, and he sighed. Throughout this phase of the test, he had not spoken a word, just stared into Ororo's eyes and lost himself in foolish musing. He did not feel like a Beast, precisely, but he did not quite feel he fit in anywhere, these days. Not 'mutant' because he was a man, and not a man, because he did not look like one. It was the way it was, and that was all.

Ororo was quite aware that Henry had artfully changed the subject of the conversation. But she did not feel placated or patronized. Henry merely had a different way. While Ororo would have explained that there was nothing that could be done about a possible re-currence of Phoenix, Henry has the tendency to assume that the person he was speaking with knew what he knew, which sometimes drove the younger children mad with confusion.

Ororo let her eyes begin to glow as she entered the state of her powers in which the elements paused to listen to her command. She sometimes thanked the fact that she had not been born with her powers, becasue if she had seen the world the way she saw it now from birth she may very well have driven to dumbed awe by the beauty of it all. "What I see Henry...I wish you could see it too." Ororo remembered when she had let Rogue taste her powers, and shown the southern girl what the world looked like to a weather witch. She had attempted to recreate the effect with Shi'ar technology, but it was a clumsy fascimile at best.

"People talk of how the world is alive with energy and patterns...I really do see it that way. Not in this room right now of course, but outside where the weather is not controlled swirling motes of energy and climates dance more gracefully than even my Kitten did in her ballet classes."

"I had always thought that my eyes changing was merely a phenotypical covnenience of my mutation." Ororo said calmly. She had spent enough time around Henry that speaking with such words no longer intimidated her. "The psychic energy that originates, I always assumed, somewhere in my brain produces energy that the body dissipates through a convenient nueral route - in this case, my eyes."

Ororo realized what she had just said. "Perhaps that means myself and Scott have more in common than we thought. But I am merely assuming things here." She spoke calmly, like a soft summer shower as Henry ran the machines. She thought of how Scott Summer's body absorbed the sunlight and transformed it into his incredibly powerful optic blasts. Did the same thing happen with Storm? Did she drink in the energy of the world around her and have it become a psychic connection and power over the elments? 'Perhaps us mutants are less unique than we think' She mused.

Ororo was distracted from her musing by Henry's hand on hers. She glanced down, without moving her head. Because her eyes were glowing white Henry could not tell where she was looking precisely. She gazed at his hand, not for the first time noticing how huge it was compared to hers. It could take both of her slender, feminine, chocolate colored hands inside of its gentle grip if it wished.

'Oh stop it Ororo.' She mentally chided herself. 'If the Professor or Jean tries to telepathically contact you they will assume they found Jubilee instead if they overhear thoughts like that.' Which led to a different set of philosophical musings. Storm had never quite been one for love in the western sense of the word. She had never felt the need to mask an urge to breed with lies of uncontrollable emotion states. Maybe that was because she was in complete control of her emotions. She had to be due to the nature of her powers. If she ever 'fell hopelessly in love' it might prove an ecological disaster.

Ororo thought of how she had been drawn to Forge. How he had withdrawn his offer of marriage. She realized that was for the best now. She had been a different person when she had loved Forge. Now that she had returned to her roots and her connection with Mother Earth, she was not sure how such a relationship would work. Would she have become one of the many women she saw everyday when she went out...sturggling to convince themself they had chosen the right man while dying on the inside in a joyous life? No. That was not for Ororo Monroe.

Then she thought of her dinner with Victor von Doom so long ago. There had been an attraction there, but a bestial sort of attraction. 'Lion to Lioness' was how she had put it. But that sort of attraction always left the female of the species with unwanted burdens. It was the case in many animals, neither humans nor mutants were exempt from it.

The same thing could be said of Arkon. But he was no lion, he was a warrior king. And Ororo, though her body had once housed the counciousness of the White Queen, had lost all desire to be seen as royalty. In her younger days, she enjoyed being treated as a queen, a goddess. But no more.

'A genius...a lion....a warrior....' Storm let her thoughts end before she conciously wondered if Henry was not all three of those things rolled into one. With more time, and less responsibilities she may very well have allowed herself to find out. But there was always too much to do. Too many children to look after. Too many things to teach and too many people to help. 'I have sacrificed much to be an X-Man.' Storm thought. 'I can bear this sacrifice as well.'

"Ororo, it is fascinating to watch your brain patterns change. And did you know your rods and cones have special branches that are active all the time, and seem to blossom into activity when you activate your powers? It's as though a field of wildflowers have turned into actual bouquets." He offered his hand to her, so she could stand. "Stand by me, and watch. It's truly fascinating."

Ororo smiled, not truly at what the Beast was showing her, but at the expression on his face as he watched. 'Maybe he can see the world the way I see it.' She thought. 'Just not in the weather, in the thoughts of people. Maybe the way I can see elemental energy Henry can see cognitive processes and biochemical interactions.'

"Beautiful." She said, as she glanced from Henry to the scans. She stepped closer to him and idly her hand rested on his shoulders, leaning forwards to run through the thick fur on the top of his head, which, due to his crouching posture Storm could easily reach. "Beautiful." She repeated.

Hank was surprised when Ororo touched him like that. His ears twitched for a moment, and then he let them lay back. "The brain, Ororo, is not merely a cerebral cortex, but a cerebral symphony. It is made of many instruments, and many notes play within it, both true and false, a world inside us that is in a way like the world outside of us." The words spilled out of him, now. The scientist becomes bard. The body sings, the slight ozone scent and the tiniest, nearly indetectable arc of real electricity through his fur from her touch. "See, there, where I've colored the image with orange? I've sense that this is the place in which your body responds to the contours as the wind lifts your cloak, and you lean into it. Every movement, every touch of the world upon us, and the people, is spoken of, in the music of our minds."

He did not move, wanting the moment to last.

Kitty smiled as Sam celebrated the home run, but she still had her mind on other things. Like what had happened this morning.

The fire of the Phoenix had been higher than the house, and everyone who had been outside had seen it. Those students that had been in the student common room had also been privvy to it as all the windows at the front of the house had been shattered. Once again Shi'ar technology prevailed though and they were being repaired.

She looked around the room at those present, noting that everyone was quiet than usual, more subdued. Even those who hadn't been around for the first time the Phoenix Force had entered everyone's lives, like Gambit, Psylocke and Rogue, knew what had happened, the severity of it.

Kitty herself hadn't really known Jean Grey - the real or otherwise that well before her arrival. She had arrived at the mansion just a few days after the memorial service that the X-Men had had for her "death", but she had come to know her well when she had come back again.

At that point Jubliee arrived in the lounge, "Hey all, miss me?" she said in her usual way, and took a seat. "What we watching? Oh cool baseball!"

*Well we can always trust in Jubilee.* Kitty thought to herself, as the commercials ended, *To try and act as though everything's normal.*

Once Nate had left Charles moved from the day room to his office, which had now been fixed by the Shi'ar 'bots.

He ran his mind briefly over the mansion to see how things were holding up in the turbulant building.

On the whole people were fine, all dealing with things as best they could, be it by baseball, or by being laone with their thoughts.

One was, however looking for a means of escape from the mansion, even if for only for a little while. Charles knew a way for that to happen.

Robert Drake hadn't said much to anyone since the Professor had left the room. There was no denying it, but the usually jovial Bobby was quite caught up in his own thoughts.

He had known Jean and Scott for most of his life, when he had joined Xavier's first X-Men in his teens. He just wasn't in the mood to crack jokes or watch baseball, but he wasn't in the mood to do anything else either. So he just sat there.

*I wonder Robert,* he thought to Bobby Drake, *Would you take Jenny back to her parents?*

There was a moments pause before the reply came, *Yeah, sure thing Professor*

Charles smiled, and once again took to scanning the rest of the mansion, heading down to the lower levels.

He paused. It seemed he would need to talk to the younger Mr Summers in time, but there was no immediate threat there.

He glanced around at his clock, and calculated the time it was in Scotland. It would be quiet late on Muir Island, and it was a Saturday night also so Moira might not even be there.

Regardless of that Charles picked up the phone on his desk and pressed #6.

As he expected he got the answerphone, "Moira," he said, "It's Charles, I may be in need of your assistance. Something happened today, with Jean, she exhibited... the Phoenix signiture. I don't believe we've lost Jean, in fact I know it is still her, but this is something I had not expected. We obviously have your test results from before, but Henry will be needing to run them again."

Charles paused, unsure of what to say, "Perhaps, if Henry needs the assistance, you could come to New York?" he asked.

"I'll be in touch." he ended, and hung up.

He sat in quiet meditation for a few moments, then began to key up the test results that Moira had gathered from the Phoenix Force previously, before it had turned, before they thought they had lost Jean forever

Betsy hurried into the kitchen and started searching through the cupboards for some tea. Be it leaves by themselves or leaves in bags, tea remained the ultimate soother of nerves. Preferably with a biscuit, although she didn't hold out much hope of a biscuit that didn't dissolve into the tea.

As she rummaged through the cupboards - no...vegetables in there... - she tried to push away the thoughts that were taking up uninvited residence in her mind.
Jean and the Phoenix-so much sympathy there for the fear of being out of control - staring herself in the face - why had Dr McCoy been called out of the lounge -
- oh tea! finally...no wait, why are there bonbons in the tea tin?! - - staring herself in the face - not even her own hands - dammit, why are there oranges in the cupboard, where's the tea!!! - not even her own.....oh thank goodness. The tea.

Betsy picked out a tea bag, dropped it in a nearby mug and turned the kettle on. As it boiled, she opened the fridge to get the milk, then had another search for biscuits, milk carton in her hand. "Miss Betsy Braddock...modelling the 'confused mutant looking for biscuits that won't dissolve in tea' look, wearing a simply gorgeous...oh good, biscuits"
Mission accomplished, she went back to the now boiled kettle and began making her tea.

She frowned slightly as she mixed the milk into the tea, thinking back on the 'shove' that Jean had sent out to everyone in the lounge. The thing was...she didn't really know how she could help. In fact she wasn't even sure Jean would want her help in the first place. Sighing, she sat down and started to sip at the tea.

Warren registered the arrival of the Stepfords, Artie and Leech. The last two smiled at him broadly and then came and sat on sofa with him.

X-Factor had taken the two youngests in about a year ago, and helped train them. Then when the Professor had come back to the Mansion they had arranged for the boys to go to the school.

Warren however, didn't really feel like chatting to the children at that point. They may have accepted the metal monstrosities that were affixed to his back, but sometimes Warren just couldn't deal with them.

"I'm off to make popcorn." he said to them, "For when Dr McCoy comes back."

Yes, it was an excuse, but it would do. He then headed to the kitchen to make one of Hank's top choices of snacks.

As he entered he found Betsy, sat at the large central table.

"Hey." he said as he walked in. "You ok?"

Betsy had spent a good five minutes hypnotising herself by rotating a spoon through the (somewhat biscuity) tea when Warren walked in. Lost in the swirling brown liquid, she jumped slightly when he spoke.

"Oh!" Looking up, she smiled as she saw who it was. What was it she liked about Warren exactly? Well, for one, strange skin and metal wings aside; he was still a good-looking man. More than that though...she felt comfortable around him.

Both rich kids, and now rich kids who had ended up at the wrong end of Dr. Moreau stylee experiments. Pushing that thought back out of her mind, she proffered her one remaining biscuit.

"There's no tea on it...do you want it?"

He smiled at her, "Yeah thanks," he replied, and took the biscuit, "And it's not just your Brits that like tea you know. I know us 'Yanks' are meant to be the world's coffee drinkers but there are a few of us who like tea." he added laughing.

He started eating the biscuit, and went about getting the things he needed to make popcorn. "It's been a... strange day.. hasn't it." he said to her.

A tiny sensation of warmth ran through Betsy at the 'you Brits' comment. Sometimes it was just nice to have someone confirm everything the reflection in the mirror denied.

"Today? Yes. The Phoenix thing...I don't think there's anything I can say at all - I don't even know what to do but wait to see what comes of it. We're not - close."

Warren nodded, remembering the fight that Betsy and Jean had nearly had over Scott, although that hadn’t been completely Betsy’s fault it had set the two telepaths off on the wrong foot.

He, however, had known Jean for a long time, and even attempted to win her heart in those early days when it had been just the five X-Men, until it became clear that she was always going to be Scott’s.

He had mourned her when everyone thought she had died, just like everyone else, and he expected that a number of people were feeling the same as he was now. That they didn’t want to lose her again... If they hadn’t already.

“It worries me,” he said, choosing to talk to Betsy about it, placing in her a trust he hadn’t the others so far, “That it’s not Jean, that at some point we lost her again… or that the person that came back wasn’t even her then. That the real Jean Grey is dead.”

"You can't think like that,” Betsy answered, speaking instinctively "You can't start wondering if she's really her, it would be so unfair. If she turns out to be something else, then deal with it then. But if she's as unsettled as she seemed, the last thing she needs is everyone wondering if she's really her" With the air of someone who Really knew what she was talking about, she added "It's no fun, trying to prove you're you."

*You idiot Warren.* he thought to himself, out loud he said, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I know you had it rough, I didn't mean to offend.

He had turned to face her, and ran a hand through his blonde hair.

Betsy blinked, slightly thrown by the apology.

"It's alright. I...I just meant that I know how that feels and it makes everything worse. That's all" She paused briefly, then continued "It's strange...I can't even see myself in the mirror any more..." There was silence then, broken by Betsy getting up and walking over to Warren.

"She'll be fine, she has friends to help her through this" Then she stretched up slightly, kissed him on the lips and looked at him questioningly.

As she broke away he found himself smiling at her, and slipped his arms around her waist. Since the death of Candy Southern Warren had often found his following relationships lacking. It wasn't the fault of the women he had dated, but more likely his own, and the trials he had gone through accepting that his feathered wings were gone.

But things with Betsy were different; the two of them understood the other, not just their shared interests, but also the things that they had gone through.

"That she does." he replied, but then stopped talking and kissed Betsy again, slower this time, making it last.

When he broke away he said, "One thing I've learned from this place is to never judge someone just by the way they look. You have to go from what's inside first.... there are some people in this mansion who are beautiful to behold with the eyes.. but even more so when you when you get to know their minds...."

They both knew he was no telepath, they also both new he was talking about her. A cheeky smile came to his lips, "But...If you tell Kurt I think he's beautiful on the inside, I'll never forgive you." he quipped.

Inadvertantly forced into a giggle, Betsy took a few seconds before managing to reply "Don't worry, I'll keep your sordid secret" with a broad smile in place.

"So. How long does it take to 'pop' popcorn...? A good...ten minutes I'd heard?"

Arms around him, she let all the worries and fears evaporate away for once, replaced instead of waves of happiness as they kissed.

Warren enjoyed the moments also, and the fact he hadn’t actually started popping the corn yet didn’t trouble him.

Meanwhile, back in the lounge, Kurt looked over at the tray and noted that between him, Remy, Rogue and Warren. They'd mostly drank all the OJ and the beer.

"Do you want another drink Kitty?" he asked the teen sat next to him.

"Oh, sure. Lemonade?" she replied, "Thanks, fuzzy."

Kurt smiled, and then vanished, leaving the slight stench of brimstone keeping Kitty company.

He appeared facing the fridge, which he opened and retrieved a pitcher of fresh lemonade.

He turned round slightly as he shut the door, and then BAMF'ed again.

When he arrived back on the sofa he had a puzzled look on his face.

"What?" Kitty asked, taking the offered pitcher.

"I thought I saw..." Kurt started to say, but trailed off. "Ach, nichts. What did I miss?" he gestured to the TV, a slightly funny smiled on his face.

Awash in a sea of contentment and hormones, Betsy barely registered a slight sound behind her. A few seconds later, she heard it again, only by then; the smell of brimstone had wafted across the kitchen.

"Kurt!" she gasped, half into Warren's mouth.

Warren's eyes weren't on Betsy, despite the fact he was leant against the counter with his arms around her, they were currently looking above her head towards the fridge.

"Yep." he said back, "And he did see us... well he turned in this direction just as he teleported out."

He looked down at her, "Well nothing's ever a secret in this house." he said warmly, "And I think most people had noticed the looks we share across rooms etc."

Nodding, she twisted to look at the now abandoned fridge. "Well...do we risk the fact that half the lounge will probably find an excuse to head over here in a minute; try actually making some popcorn, or..." an expression of sheer mischief crossed her face "...do we move and make them play 'hunt-the-gossip'?"

Despite the fact she now had her back to him, Warren still kept his arms around her, still wanting to hold her close to him.

"Well," he said, leaning his chin gently on the top of her head, "I think actually starting the pop corn would be the best of steps forward. It adds some validity to me heading out here. Then... well the choice is my lady's wish."

Whilst nodding in agreement, Betsy couldn't help noticing how very nice it felt to have someone hold onto her in that way. She started to regretfully prise herself out of his grasp, before realising that the popcorn was just behind him and all she needed to do was reach around...Turning, she stretched past him and picked up the bag of corn, before reaching up for one more quick kiss.

Smiling, Warren reluctantly let go of her, but let his fingers slowly trail across her back as he grabbed the other things, and flicked the switch on the popcorn machine.

Pondering as she watched him make the popcorn, Betsy wondered where they went from here. It wasn't so much the kissing as the fact that gossip spread like wildfire in the mansion. She smiled to herself in amusement as she realised she'd started 'listening' for anyone approaching. Well, they wouldn't find much; they were behaving themselves again now.

"We should probably head back and face the music, rather than disappearing again. They know, and chances are they know we know...maybe we can head them off with popcorn"
The expression on her face put the lie to the seriousness of her tone.

“Well as much as I don’t want to, you’re probably right, Ms Braddock.” Warren replied and started putting the popcorn into large bowls.

He smiled, "Hey, umm, Do you want to do something tonight? Go into the city or something?" he asked, but the quickly added, "It doesn't have to be just us if you don't want, we can ask the others."

Warren hadn't exactly asked Betsy out, nor had she him, but the connection just happened and they had shared kisses before. He wasn't sure if she was ready to go out on a "date" with him. He felt like a kid, which was odd for him as he'd always been so confident around women in the past.

A little taken aback by the question, she started sampling the popcorn to give herself time to think. She hadn't been asked out in...well, some would say a long long time...and it was making her feel like a shy schoolgirl again.
Something she suspected Jean would have trouble believing, given the whole Scott incident. A date? She quickly flicked her gaze up to his anxious face, before realising with some horror that she was blushing. Suddenly the popcorn took on a whole new attraction, as she tried to move her hair to hide her cheeks.

Warren felt the panic rise as she didn't reply and started playing with her hair. "Yeah, err, maybe dinner, or something else like going to a club or something. I'm sure Bobby knows where something’s going on, or Hank if you want a more refined choice... umm, or not. We could just say here with the others..."

He trailed off, feeling like an idiot, but also hoping his idiocy would put her at ease.

Something in his panicked tone cut through Betsy's haze of embarrassment, as she realised he was just as nervous as she was.

Clutching at all her courage, she pushed her hair back out of her face and, looking up at him, tried to keep some control in her voice as she answered, "Dinner would be lovely. I'm sure you can find somewhere nice."

But then, as she ran out of words to hide behind, the schoolgirl feeling kicked back in, and she grabbed a bowl of popcorn and hurried off, hoping he hadn't noticed how red she'd gone.

Warren watched Betsy dash out and felt his confidence come flooding back.

A wide grin appeared on his face and he slide on the marble floor over to the phone.

He quickly dialled a New York number and waited for a reply.

"Good evening, the Garden Party Restaurant. James speaking, how can I help you?"

The Garden Party was a top restaurant in Manhattan, the top floor of a building that had been made to look like a luscious garden, complete with glass roof.

"Good evening James, I would like to speak to Roberto please, tell him it's Mr Worthington."

Normally a request for the maitre d' would have gone unanswered, but Warren knew that dropping his own name into the conversation usually got good results. Blue skin or not he was a known super-hero, and a known millionaire.

In a few short moments an ingratiating Italian voice came onthe line, "Ag good evening Mr Worthington, how are are you this wonderful evening?"

"Evening Roberto," Warren replied casually, ignoring the false platitudes and compliments, "I know it's rather late in the day, but I was hoping you'd be able to squeeze in a reservation for two in my name this evening? Say about 9 ish?"

There was a hesitant pause on the the other end of the line, which Warren took to mean that he had asked the impossible, but that Roberto was trying to make the impossible happen.

The voice then came back on the line, "For you Mr Worthington, anything. I will have your usual table ready for you and your delightful guest from 9 onwards."

"Thank you Roberto, have your finest champagne waiting please, and red roses on the table." Warren said, before eventually ringing off.

Once again feeling pleased with himself he started to head out of the kitchen towards the lounge.

Alex made his way to the turbolift leading him to the main stair well. He felt more at ease now knowing there might be an end to his dilemia. With Hank, Ororo and Charles involved he had no doubt he would be cured. It would take time but he had plenty of that.

The lift quickly ascended to its destination and he took the opertunity to relax and not focus his mind on anything in particular. As he felt the lift judder to a stop, the doors began to open, then he caught sight of the one thing he didn't want to see right then, Nate!

Alex noticed that his nephew had just been led off by Logan and he thanked his stars for small mercies. Thought he had to step aside as the stepfords, Artie and Leech made their way past. The sound of giggling came from the sitting room and he traced the voice of the ring leader back to Kurt. He was in need of a giggle and with Nate pre-disposed he was in now worry about bumping into him. Geez, those kids could move when they wanted, Alex siddled into the lounge just after the trail of dust from the stampede of students had settled.

"So Kurt what's up? Wheres Warren? Ah the games on who's got the pop corn?"

Kurt smiled as Alex walked in. To anyone else it could have been scary, almost demonic, but to those who knew Kurt, knew that they had nothing to fear.

"Greetings mein freund." he said warmly. "I would say that nothing was up, but I expect that there are still events unfolding within these walls at this very moment." he added slyly, putting an air of mystery to his voice.

If there was nothing Kurt loved more then it was the chance to act like his idol Errol Flynn.

"Pray look about Herr Summers and notice although we all seem to be enjoying this saturday afternoon, and the pleasures the great spot of baseball has to offer us... there are..." he stood up on the sofa, drawing a grin from Kitty, "Some of us..." he leant forward, his blue face staring at Alex as he hissed, "Missing."

He jumped off of the chair with acrobatic ease, and landed ont he arm of a large chair near to Alex with ease. He leant in and took Alex by the arm, and whispered in an conspiratory manner. "First to leave the room was Ms Braddock, no hint of her destination, then a few moments laters, or dear mr Worthington the third stands, and announces he is to make popcorn for all... then he too leaves."

Kurt gripped Alex's arm to add to the fake suspense.

"Eventually the hero of our tale, the daring Kurt Wagner realises it has been atleast 5 minutes since his drink had run dry, and that the dear Katzchen's drink had also gone. So our gallant hero offers to fetch the lady a most divine nectar, the fresh lemonade of Westchester! So out hero, vanishes into a puff of smoke!"

To illustrate the point Kurt vanished, leaving Alex to deal with the slight smell of brimstone.

And... BAMF.

Reappeared only moments later the other side of the younger Summers.

"To the kitchen he goes! To the enormous refridgerator! He retrieves the pitchers! And back he goes.... but wait! Did his eyes play a trick on him, or did he see what he thought he saw!?"

Kurt looked round the room, pretending to check that coast was clear, despite the fact he ad obviously drawn attention, and then pretending to be satisfied leant back in, close to Alex's ear and whispered,

"Warren and Betsy are kissing in the kitchen."

He leant back and winked. Then dived back to his seat next to Kitty.

Alex chuckled at Kurts showmanship. The elf had style and his own flare for life and there was more than one time he was sure Kurt, helpless maiden in hand, would run off to see for a life of high adventure. The Grin got larger as his mind added a piractical "arr!" to his last thought. Well then Warren, you sly old dog, kept that one quiet. Riches, looks and now the girl, if it hadn't been for his wings Warren would have been the calendar boy for American success. Good on him. Anyway he had come upto relax and he thought he had just spotted the oppertunity. What was it they said about laughing? Laughter is the best medicine? Well if an apple a day kept the furball away, it was time for the apple.

Walking over to where Kurt was sitting, he whispered something in his ear and hoped that the elf would play along. If he did, then they would need a little help and a distraction.

"Well its seems we have two sweethearts in our midst, could you bampf to my room and get my Stereo and Righteous Brothers CD? For I think they lost that loving feelin', when they come back how about we get everyone to give them a quick rendition?"

Alex smirked if Kurt agreed and he could rope the others in well...............at least he would die laughing.

Kurt smiled and nodded, obviously liking the idea, but then paused and in mock horror said, "Alex, you own a Righteous Brothers CD?"

Alex grinned, "Err, its Lorna's. Nah, its mine, everyone has a soft side once in a while. Thinking about it Kurt, Sunglasses, we have to do this with penache!"

"Herr Summers, do I ever do anything without penache?" Kurt replied in mock seriousness.

Turning to the rest of the room Alex stood up and stood in front of the TV. He guessed there would be a few moans but he tried to quiet them with smile and a wink.
"Well given our intrepid reporters risk of life and limb," Alex paused nodding to Kurt, to bring us this vital information. Well I can only see one course of action to respond to the news. I take it you have all seen Top gun? If not well, I'll need you to join in with the backing da dums to the song, Kurt and I will be singing to. Cos They lost that loving feeling" He chuckled watching the others reaction in the room.

As Alex reached the end of his spiel Kurt teleported from the lounge up to Alex's room, whereas Sam started laughing part way through Alex talking, "Well ah'm in." he replied, "It'll certainly brighten the ol' mood."

Clearing the TV he moved towards Kitty and Jubilee. When he was close enough he knelt between them, letting those baby blues do their job. "Ladies, now I have something special in mind for you, think you can do some swooning and put up with an old summers boy and fuzzy elf singing to you? Do it for me, or at least for the look on Betsy and Warren's faces."

Jubilee raised and eyebrow and said, "Ah c'mon Alex, talk about lame."

Kitty giggled, "Oh don't be such a spoilsport Jube, do it. It'll be funny."

Jubilee looked from Kitty back to Alex and sighed, "Okay."

Artie projected an image of a pair of hands clapping, whereas Leech said out loud, "What can we do Mr Summers?"

The Cuckoos on the other hand just rolled their eyes and ignored what was going on.

At this point Kurt reappeared, the stereo held by his tail, a pair of sunglasses in each three fingered hand.

"I have returned." he annouced. "Alex, I can except the Righteous Brothers, but some of those other taseful CD's?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Tasteful mon bro, well each to their own. Thanks for this, I thought the mood needed lightining a bit" Alex patted Kurt on the back.

No matter how dire things got it was always Kurt and Bobby who where there to remind them that the X-Men were family and without laughter the mansion would be a dreary place. Turning to his co-conspirators he beckoned them closer.

Alex noted the Cuckoos stand off ishness and brushed it asided, *I know you girls are listening.* he thought, *Cracking a smile once in a while wouldn't hurt. I'm glad your here thought least i'm not the only new boy in the mansion.*

Focusing on his scheme, he assigned the students roles, Sam and most of the others would be providing the background dum dee dums to the singing Kurt and Alex. Artie would project little floating hearts and doves, whilst Kitty and Jubilee would be the swooning girls to the boys singing. Mixmaster Leech would be the DJ providing the music from the CD.

Alex signalled to Kurt and Leech to get ready. Smiling at the other students getting them to hide Kurt and Alex. "Let the games begin" were the final words as he told everyone to prepare. Now all they need was the key players........

Focusing on his scheme, he assigned the students roles, Sam and most of the others would be providing the background dum dee dums to the singing Kurt and Alex. Artie would project little floating hearts and doves, whilst Kitty and Jubilee would be the swooning girls to the boys singing. Mixmaster Leech would be the DJ providing the music from the CD.

Alex signalled to Kurt and Leech to get ready. Smiling at the other students getting them to hide Kurt and Alex. "Let the games begin" were the final words as he told everyone to prepare. Now all they need was the key players........

So fast had she rushed out of the kitchen that Betsy only realised where she was about ten paces from the lounge. Pausing mid-step, she quickly reviewed her reaction to the date request, and groaned mentally as she realised how much like a ten-year old she'd been acting. Blushing and playing with her hair...ah, who was Warren that he could do that to her?

Well, he was someone she really liked...and a very good-looking someone at that - funny how his blue skin didn't really register any more as something strange - and a very good kisser.....At the thought of that, a warmth spread through her, and she blushed again.

Grabbing a handful of popcorn to cover her confusion, she hurried on into the lounge. So distracted that she'd forgotten Kurt's unexpected kitchen visit, Betsy blinked in very brief confusion as she entered the room, to find everyone assembled in a posed group, with one over-early love heart floating up from Artie.

From his crouched position behind a sofa Kurt saw the premature bubbles from Artie and realised that only Betsy had walked in.

"Err, Alex," he hissed quietly, "We seems to be one lovebird short. Suggestions?"

The small group in front of Betsy seemed to have been caught in 'pause' mode. A few milliseconds of frantic thought later, Betsy remembered what Kurt had seen...

Keeping the smile from her face, she shifted weight onto her right leg, and waited for Warren to catch up with her - and to see what happened next...

Alex winked to Kurt, yes, Betsy arriving on her own her would cause a few problems but nothing the fine art of blag could't prevent. Putting on his shades, he started to click his fingers and gave a nod to the others.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for one night only, The Xavier School for the Gifted is proud to present Messr Summers and Wagner. On visual effects I'd like to introduce Artie, music Mix-master Leech and backing by the amazing Students! Have you ever felt alone, for a white knight to sudenly apeear to carry you away on Dove like wings? Well if you have you may have just been in the kitchen! So in memory of the Longest popcorn making in the history of the mansion, Mr Warren Worthington the 3rd and Miss Elizabeth Braddock we dedicate this song to you!"

Alex finger clicking started to take a familar beat and he nodded to Leech to start the music. He had decided that this would be the signal for the students to form a semi-circle facing the loving couple with Kurt, Jubilee, Kitty and himself in the center. He just hoped that Warren would stumble in at the appropriate moment. Turning to Jubilee he took her hand and kissed it, then turned a big Grin towards Psylocke. He then knelt before Jubilee and began to sing,

"You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips.
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips.
You're trying hard not to show it, (baby).
But baby, baby I know it..."

As the Chorus came in he took the brief moment to look over to Psylocke to see her reaction and hope that Warren had arrived. Kurt would begin the second verse soon and well, either they were both dead men, or Alex would be expecting Scott to come and twist his ear quite soon. He didn't care really Alex was in it for the giggle.......

Rogue seemed to come back to the rest of the world as if from a dream and smiled widely.

Standing up she began to sway in time to the singing, following the words with Alex, silently encouraging the others.

Pushing her hair aside with her left hand, Rogue turned the full force of her grin on Betsy and inclined her head at Alex, mouthed the words "Quite the rising star ".

Warren had walked into the lounge just as the chrous had started up and came to a stop behind Betsy. His mouth open with surprise.

Kurt already had his sunglasses on, and had helped belt out the chorus with the others.

His verse was soon upon him, so he quickly scooped up Kitty in his arms and bamf'd the two of them to a perch on the back of the sofa. Still holding her in his arms he started to sing,

"Now there's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you.
And now your're starting to critisize little things I do."

At this point he dropped Kitty so she landed on the sofa, looking up at him. Kurt then threw himself downwards on the back of the sofa ridge, and pretended to cry out the next bit into a cushion.

"It makes me just feel like crying, (baby).
'Cause baby, something in you is dying."

He beat his chest in desperation before the next chorus began.

"Baby, baby, I get down on my knees for you.
If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah.
We had a love...a love...a love you don't find everyday.
So don't...don't...don't...don't let it slip away."

Kurt had somersaulted off of the sofa and landed on his knees and began shuffling towards the two bemused X-Men, whilst Alex kept serenading the two students.

The fuzzy blue X-man jumped to his feet and dashed back to Alex so that they could duet the next bit properly.

As Kurt finished his verse, Alex smirked, the elf had a flair for showmanship and no one could doubt his acrobatic talent. Not to be upstaged, Alex dance with Jubilee carefully cutting up the rug and finally ending with her dipping back to stare into his eyes. He gently lowered her on to the sofa next to Kitty and joined his partner in crime for the duet. Beckoning Kurt forward, he burst into a run just to skid to a stop infront of Warren and Betsy. He leaned back and sang out hoping that Kurt was somewhere near. Well someone would have to pull him out of this big hole he had just dug, if the merry couple took it the wrong way...........
Maybe sliding to stop infront of them had been a bad idea.

You lost that lovin' feeling,
Whoa, that lovin' feeling,
You've lost that lovin' feeling,
Now it's gone...gone...gone...woooooah

Baby, baby, I get down on my knees for you.

If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah.

We had a love...a love...a love you don't find everyday.

So don't...don't...don't...don't let it slip away.

Baby (baby), baby (baby),
I beg of you please...please,
I need your love (I need your love), I need your love (I need your love),
So bring it on back (So bring it on back), Bring it on back (so bring it on back).

Bring back that lovin' feeling,
Whoa, that lovin' feeling
Bring back that lovin' feeling,
'Cause it's gone...gone...gone,
and I can't go on,
noooo...

Bring back that lovin' feeling,
Whoa, that lovin' feeling
Bring back that lovin' feeling,
'Cause it's gone...gone...

As the song came to an end, he braced himself for a good old fashioned slap. It wasn't like he wouldn't deserve it. What to say in his defence hmm, Don't hurt me my brains melting, who are you where am I? That may work on the younger students but on a powerful telepath like Psylocke......nah. Well maybe Warren paid us to do it, nah.............

Well if it came to that he thought either Warp factor 9 mr Wagner or Please be gentle, would probably be the appropriate replies. Alex waited as his last few seconds of a peaceful life flashed before his eyes.

Kurt too, had followed in the slid along the floor, once again glad of the fact that fur prevented carpet burns.

There was silence in the room, a solitary click as Leech hit stop on the stereo...

Betsy watched the singing, determinedly keeping a completely straight face. She was profoundly grateful for the half second pause which had allowed her to realise what was going on and avoid being completely floored by the...'treat'.

As they continued, she decided she was going to wait and see exactly how this finished. She could tell Warren was just behind her, but wasn't entirely sure how he was taking this.

The two performers ground to a halt, and Betsy noticed with some amusement, the increasing look of concern on Alex's face, as she remained silent.

Then there was silence in the room, a solitary click as Leech hit stop on the stereo...

Then Artie started to put out images of clapping hands. Kitty and Jubilee started to clap and cheer, even the Stepfords started a clap albeit a slower one.

Kurt opened and eye and squinted up at Warren and Betsy. He too feeling a trifle uncomfortable now that it was finely over.

As Warren closed his mouth and then opened it again. Kurt yelled out, "Save Me!" and threw his arms around Alex.

Then teleported the two of them behind the sofa Kitty and Jubilee were sat on. He stood up from his kneeling position, and grinned at the two, hoping they would have seen the funny side.

He gestured with his hand for Alex to stand up.

One minute Alex had been in front of Psylocke, Next a distainct smell of Sulphur accompanied by "SAVE ME!", then they were behind the sofa to sounds of claps and cheers from the students. Kurt was motioning that he should stand up. His body reminding him that this was probably a bad idea, he slowly inched his head up so his eyes peered over the top. Nope, they were still there and weren't going anywhere. Oh well, he ducked his head back down and slowly got to his feet.

Alex looked at the floor, like a school kid who has just been caught throwing a water bomb at their teacher. Rubbing his right hand nervously through his hair he spoke,

"Err, hi you two. Got any popcorn? Well Kurt and I are really hungry, erm, seeing as the games not that good were going to get a steak."

Think Alex think.

Pointing in the direction of the Dining room, Alex raised his head he had one last get out of jail free card...

"Oh look a Sasquatch!"

Hoping Warren would catch on, she looked sternly at the two of them. As Warren shifted slightly behind her, Kurt yelled "Save me!" and teleported the two of them to behind the sofa. Fighting really hard to keep from laughing, Betsy had a feeling Warren might have noticed her pent-up laughter expressing itself as her back twitched.

Warren semi-serious face broke into a smile, he had been about to “chastise” Kurt and Alex in a humour manner but when Kurt had yelled “Save Me!” it was all Warren could do to keep a straight face.

When he saw Betsy tense up that was the finisher, he started to clap his hands, and started to laugh.

His laughter was the last straw for Betsy. Giving up any pretence of disapproval, a choked giggle turned into full-out laughter. Kurt and Alex perched on the back of a sofa, the disapproving quintuplets, Rogue's expression - Betsy was laughing so much she started clutching at her ribs to try and stop it hurting. No matter how hard things were sometimes, someone would always end up doing something that reminded her how glad she was to live here...that made her feel alive and happy again.

Warren pulled Betsy into his arms and kept on laughing, hoping that eventually he’d be able to stop.

No matter how stressful things got, no matter how many risks they took, how many arguments they could all have, the people at the mansion were Warren’s best friends in the world.

Since X-Factor folded Warren had remained in the mansion, as opposed to going back to his apartment in the city, and he was glad he did. He could always count on the people here, no matter what.

As the new couple started to laugh Kurt started to relax, but at the same time Alex said, "Oh look a Sasquatch!"

"Argh! Where?" Kurt reacted, looking towards the dining room and dropping behind the sofa once again.

As the laughter kept on coming he realised that the creature he and Wolverine had fought up in Canada with Alpha Flight, wasn't in the mansion trying to get him.

He stood back up and playfully punched Alex in the arm, "I think we live to prank another day, ja?" he said smiling.

Alex flinched as Kurt hit him, it was only a playful tap and the thought of a career on Broadway scared him.

"Oh well, no Symphony hall for us"

Head flung back, Rogue laughed along with the others, filled with a warmth she had not often felt, so...real..wrap around her.

Noticing the closeness between Warren and Betsy, ...hurt... a little as the familiar pain rose inside her but stronger than that, now, was the gratitude for the chance to be a part of these people's lives welling up and even though the yell " Sasquatch!" caused her to twist slightly, to see if there was indeed a mysterious threat, her laughter barely slowed, with no change of expression to give her vague jealousy away.

They stood for a few moments in awkward contact. Then Storm raised an eyebrow. "Henry....I sense something amiss. I think we should see what is happening in the lounge. Something quite interesting is about to happen." She said with a smile, and pointed towards one of the security monitors that had picked up what was waiting for Betsy and Warren.

Hank stood, looked at the monitors, and frowned. "Computer, display main lounge, holocam imaging from main hallway perspective. Replace neural imagery." And Ororo's brain scans were gone, replaced by a group of scheming monsters bent on disturbing the relative peace of the mansion. Instead of tensing, Hank reached to keep Ororo's hand at his shoulders. It was an automatic thing, but as soon as he recognized it, he was glad. "Oh my word. All Havock and then some shall be breaking loose, soon. Too bad we have no popcorn."

As the merrymakers assembled, Hank moved to command language. In the MedLab he had the computer scan him for `body language', negating the need for speech when doing simple things like running the monitors. Kitty had blinked the first time she had seen it, and then gotten a bit upset when Douglas had grinned, quickly determining the root cause of the subtle magic by which Hank ran things down here. Finally, she had twigged and broken the encryptions on his programs. The next time she had been with him that he had activated the body language protocols, the computer had activated one of the robot assistants, which had promptly pinched his blue buns. Surprised, he had torn the thing in two, presuming an attack, while the students had all fallen to the floor laughing. Kitty had kept her cool, and used his own body signal for `return to voice control', and Hank had joined them all on the floor.

"Oh please, Alex, just conduct them. You have a talent for that. But your voice…" He realized he had said his supplication alound, and turned to Ororo. "Ahem. His voice is… at least, unique. Ah, well. `Let no man concern himself as to whether it be the spirit of himself or an angel; for it is only the subject uttered which is of value. In this day, all things shall stand on their own merit, and not on a supposed authority'.

To the quirked brown of her companion, he added, "The Book of Judgment, II.9. I admit, his voice is not pleasant in song, at least for my taste." He squeezed her hand, very softly, and then released her. "The nice thing about being one of the people charged with security, is that you can watch the whole show."

As he could guess at least a bit about what was coming, he set up a series of camera angles that would give them a birds' eye view, if a bird happened to be a flock and one in each corner of each of several rooms. "Just tell the Computer the number of the image you want to see in detail." But of course, by then the singing was in full aria. Or something like that.

"Would you look at that." Ororo mused as the two gazed at the holographic projection of Kurt and Alex and Leach and Artie preparing for the arrival of Betsy and Warren. "Despite how very different we all are, how many different places we come from, we can synchronize ourselves so cleverly, and so quickly." She smiled with genuine happiness to see her 'children' at play. A thoughtful look crossed her beautiful face. "Henry...you compared the nuerological framework of the mind to a song...have you" She struggled to think of how to put what she was thinking. "Checked to see if any of us mutants are singing in chorus?"

As Ororo finished speaking, Hank gaped, and then fired off a series of verbal commands to the computers. The vision of the merrymakers went back to normal size, and all the other views blanked out, to be replaced with brain scans from Scott, Ororo, Betsy, Charles, and even Hank. Or so they were labeled. And suddenly, it was like a visual whirlwind, as the images matched and cross-matched. Hank grinned at Ororo. "You are as brilliant as you are lovely, Ororo!"

And he looked back, and pointed a laser wand he had had holstered in his papasan chair next to him. Again and again, interacting with whatever the strange scanning kaleidoscope was doing. Whatever he was up to she could see him straining, his eyes intent behind the reading glasses, and his fangs actually showing for once. For a moment, he seemed as though he was in competition with the whirlabob of images. And then, he lowered the laser pointer, and the madly changing images froze.

"Done! A carousel for the senses, to be sure. And I am NOT yet entirely certain what it means. But... for your pleasure, this is a brain scan model for projective power mutations, using just four persons, and matched against a similar activation pattern for a physical mutation -- myself."

Ororo smiled at the display. She realized what Hank was doing, a set of four mutants whose powers involved a physical, or at least energy based, change in the appearance of their eyes (albeit the changes in Charles' eyes were very difficult to sense) cross referenced against each other compared to Hank himself, whose purely physical mutation set him apart from the rest.

"But Henry does this extend to all parts of the nervous system or merely the brain and peripheral nerve centers such as the eyes?" Storm asked, very curious.

"Well, milady," and Hank pirouhetted, and given his range of motion, that was a complex act to follow, "this is something nobody else has done before. I've been considering this avenue for some time, but it never occurred to be before, just how similar the mainline activation curve is for powers access for electromagnetic expressions. Scotts' pressor beams, the standard telekinetic EMFs, your activation of latent earth energies, and Magneto's access to baseline electromagnetic fields. And they all differ from my own activation along similar brain pathways. Add, oh, Piotrs, much harder to gather, by the way, because of the short EMP he generates during the switch."

He realized then that he had not actually answered her question. "Actually, the scans show mostly brain patterns and shifts, but I have information for Scott's eyes, and Charles' eyes. And of course, now, yours. I can integrate other information later, and do new scans on those of you are are available. I believe that I can advance our knowledge of these powers, and the actual mechanics of X-factored power activation, quite a bit, with this model."

He showed her the massive flux in the brain, and then she saw a pattern of Piotr's body, as the cells all transformed into what most called organic steel. "Petey has an energy based transformation, where everybody, including me, has always looked for a physical transform. Three paths to controlled mutant capability, and all morphologically mapped to the same activation matrix in the brain. And no specialized structure for it! Amazing."

Storm pondered. "So we are mutants in the truest evolutionary sense then? A dormant area of the brain in most humans suddenly become extremely specialized at the cost of a huge amount of bodily nutrients and yet...in a merely environmental sense this not only increases the chances of living long enough to procreate, but also increases standard of living for the mutant involved. In an environmental sense." Storm reiterated. In a social sense this was most certainly not the case. "It will be interesting to see which patterns are dominant in the second and third generations of mutants." Storm continued. "Considering so far the only factor we know working against the mutant gene's prevalance is sexual selection."

He shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it, or quite what it means. In terms of evolution, I think I will eventually be able to map the X-factor expressions that are likely to be replicated, the stable-X expressions, that will, in the next generation, not actually BE mutations, but stable, heritable traits. Whether I discover that from brain imaging such as this, or through genetic code research, is indeterminate."

He pointed at the structures in front of them. "But this does demonstrate that many of the X-factor mutations are in likelihood centered in brain and neurological controls, instead of in the full complement of body cells. Now, don't misunderstand. Most stable X-factored mutations result in higher stability and better growth and recovery on the cellular level, even in some who look like monstrosities. Almost every X-factor mutant is actually more hardy than non X-factor humans. Unstable X-factored mutations do not share in this hardiness, at least some of the time, and we see that in the preponderance of early deaths due to the Legacy virus."

"Ah, so there is a genetic drawback then too. But Henry...has it been tested to see if certain varieties of mutants have higher resistances to the Legacy Virus? Or maybe other less specialized illnesses. That in itself could explain the seemingly high prevalance of what on the surface appear to be 'random' mutations that have created people like us."

Hank considered that. "It may be a very simple test. Stable X is probably going to show resistance to many diseases, after genetic expression, at puberty, and in some cases, from childhood, like my own expression. I think I may want to try the 'common cold test'. A stable X mutant is likely to have had a normal complement of colds, but few other childhood illnesses. But I'd need to run that past somebody more Moira. Now, testing through neural networks... the notion of I believe I can demonstrate is that the hardy X-factor cells show a capacity to form new structures, and to enhance neural signals in general, including generation of superior conductive chemical transmitters." He stopped, aware that his companion might not be able to follow more details.

"Henry...if mutant powers are originated within our own heads, does not that imply that if Jean has trouble controlling hers the problem is, at least this time around, internal? And therefore - controllable?" Storm wanted to believe this was true. If it was, it meant that Jean would save herself. Ororo had nothing but confidence in her friend.

He pondered that for a very long time, before speaking. "I think I may be able to help Jean out with her Phoenix concerns. Not directly. Nothing I can do will alter whatever transformations the Phoenix force has made in her. But I can tell you, there is some likelihood that she can learn to control any problems by some form of mind over matter. Keep to the channels that work, for her, and not the ones that derive from the new forces. I cannot be certain, but I do want to talk to her, and to Betsy and Charles. All three of them have a certain intuitive awareness of the boundaries between telepathy and energy, which I do not possess. Superior bioneural feedback, meditation, visualization of the mindscape sort." He grinned. "As you can see, with assistance, I can do very fine visualizations."

A thought occured to Ororo. "Henry...has it been tested to see if certain varieties of mutants have higher resistances to the Legacy Virus? Or maybe other less specialized illnesses? That in itself could explain the seemingly high prevalance of what on the surface appear to be 'random' mutations that have created people like us."

"Well, it can be very difficult to test for full X-factor, since it is not one gene but a complex expression of genes. After expression of powers, when the form of X itself seems less fluid--" He wanted to speak more, but the intercom called all X-Men to the lounge. "Well, whatever we have discovered, it apparently can wait."

"Yes, but I would like to speak more of this later." Storm said. She then realized her hand had been casually running itself through the fur on the top of Henry's head the entire time they had been talking.

She removed her hand and offered it to him. "Shall we depart my blue furred knight?" She said with a smile.

"Indeed. Tally ho. Or some such thing." He bowed and bent over her hand. As they walked out, he voiced commands to set the MedLab computer for random prospecting for further visual comparisons. With a full set of over 80 mutant brains scanned, the random and semi-random tests would take several days to run, in the background. Henry preferred the shoot-em-up selection style he had just used, but the computer would do just as well in the long run. And it would tax him far less. Hank hoped it would at least shed some light (metaphorically) on the reason that the X-factored powers usually flared in persons dying of Legacy.

He shivered, as he followed Ororo, not over the plague, but delighting in the feeling, now only memory, of her gentle, wise hands in his fur.

Peter tossed and turned in bed restlessly, his dreams troubled.

He was back on the moon again, facing off against the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard, trial by combat for the sake of Phoenix... Jean Gray. They had lost the fight. Logan stood beside him, begging Colossus to strike, as in his love for Jean the little Canadian knew he could not strike the killing blow. A reverse of the famous Fast Ball Special, made capable through the moons low gravity.
Jean felt the Phoenix force swell inside her, threatening to overwhelm her. She turned to Cyclops and kissed him, and activated the hidden blaster. The deadly bolt ravened out...

And crashed into a telekinetic shield of inconceivable power.

Dark flames rippled around the body of Jean Grey, as she was swallowed whole by the power of Dark Phoenix...

Peter woke suddenly, in a cold sweat.

Scott winced slightly as he rubbed at his temples, trying to banish the pain that still resided inside his head, residue form the backlash of the psychic link that he shared with Jean Grey.

Staring at his hands and the shaking that had enveloped them Scott frowned in concentration, the skin on his forehead wrinkling above the ruby-quartz glasses that he wore.

The last few hours had taken their toll on him, both physically and mentally. From the fight with the unknown youth … the youth who claimed to be his son … to the shock of the resurgence of the Phoenix within the woman he loved more than life itself, to the backlash of psychic energy that coursed through him via Jean, to the conversation with the aspect of the Phoenix itself.

It was just all so much to take in, all so much pain … all too much ..

With a shake of his head Scott banished the thoughts from his head, not allowing their traitorous grasp of him and with a subdued snarl of anger he clenched his fists in front of him and held them tight, watching the knuckles whitening with the pressure.

Slowly opening he let out a sigh of relief as they remained steady, the shaking stopped.

Taking a deep breath Scott visibly forced his facial muscles to relax, the frown of pain filled concentration disappearing as he put up a mask of control.

… always in control, that was our fearless leader …

Setting a small smile on his face, Scott opened the door to the lounge and walked in to find the other X-Men waiting within … and froze in place as for a split second he thought that perhaps he had lost his mind.

Just inside the doorway Warren and Betsy were stood … holding on to each other as if struggling to stay upright … in gales of laughter, tears literally running down the face of the woman more known for her skills in battle than whimsical nature.

Bringing his hand up to brush an errant lock of hair away from his forehead Scott stared at the faces of the people around him … the laughter of Warren and Betsy, the shocked faces of Kurt and Leech, the familiar face of Alex … and two things happened at once.

A look of confusion settled over him and he relaxed.

Looking on at the people that filled the lounge … his family … he finally relaxed.

By keeping her eyes averted from Kurt and Alex for a while, Betsy found that she was managing to bring her laughter under control. Gasping slightly for breath and not daring to look at Warren in case he set her off again, she concentrated on the arm of a chair in front of her.

She had to admit, funny though it was, she would have rather no-one had noticed the kitchen incident, at least not yet. The feelings that Warren was causing were, well not ones that she wanted continually teasing about. She was still trying to work out exactly _how_ he made her feel - which brought her back abruptly to the rememberance that he'd asked her out on a date. Well, at least no-one else knew that yet...she wondered absently if he'd forgotten about it in the shock of confrontation with the scene in the lounge. A few gasps for air later, she had the giggles pretty much under control. Risking a glance around the room, she noticed that Scott had walked in. He looked confused - not unreasonably given the tableau before him.

At the appearence of Scott, Kurt stopped laughing, but on seeing that the man was at ease Kurt banished any worries.

If Scott was alright, then it meant that Jean was. There were still a lot of unanswered questions, but for now, all that it matter was that things were alright now... they'd do for now.

"Ah Scott," Kurt said smiling, "I'm afraid your brother und I do not have a musical number lined up for your entrance to the room also, but do not take it personally. If it helps we could sing you a lullaby tonight before you go to sleep, ja?"

"I will pass and be thankful for small mercies then Kurt, remember I have HEARD Alex sing!" Scott forced the joke out with a smile "You know I swear that he must have had lessons from Banshee."

"Very well." Kurt replied, then drew his hand across his forehead and with an exaggerated voice said "Phew, another sticky situation escaped by the World Famous Nightcrawler."

Walking over he ruffled his younger brother's hair before standing and staring out through a large window into the mansions's grounds, his back and shoulders ram-rod straight.

"Looks like the singing career is at an end partner." Kurt followed up to Alex, then once again took a seat next to Kitty on the sofa, now that Jubilee had sat on the floor.

Well, time to eat the popcorn they'd managed to finally prepare. Walking forward, Betsy claimed a spare sofa and grasped a big handful of popcorn. "Popcorn, anyone?" she asked, deftly changing the subject away from Havok's singing abilities.

Listening to the bablle of converstaion stir up behind him as Betsy offered the popcorn Scott tried to relax but found himself unable too ... For some reason he felt almost at war with himself ... but not. Shaking his head almost percitbly to clear it he banished the thoguht from his mind as ludicrous, because it was more like he was feeling someone els'e confusion and not his own.

Warren, still smiling had nodded his hello to Scott. If he wanted to talk about anything that was bothering him Warren knew it wouldn't be now in front of everyone... and it might not even be something Scott would chose to bring up with him.

Still Warren would be there if he was needed, just like Scott and Jean had been there for him, when he was on his downward spiral.

He followed after Betsy and sat next to her, "I think I'll take some." he said.

The other bowls were now out for the others.

When Scott entered, Alex was glad to see he was ok thought he wondered where Jean was, he presumed they had been together. Looking around the room he felt the atomosphere, it was good to feel so much peace in the mansion. Kurt relaxed next to Kitty and he felt he should do the same, where to sit? Jubilee would want to stay clear of him after the dancing episode. As he pondered he felt his head being shaken, to find Scott had snuck up on him. Sometimes you couldn't help but love your brother, other times they made you feel like a four year old, this was one of those times. He let it pass as today was now a day for fun!

"Popcorn, ooh me! Scott's paying!" Well what were older brothers for than to get the bill?