Credit where it's due: Melissa, her past associations with Magneto and her habit of table-dressing when drunk do not belong to me, they belong to Mel. Max and his bar belong to Dyce, Mel and me.

Angelo almost grinned. He knew that the girls would be fine, they were tough. Tougher than these two anyway. Marcos and Everett were having a little anxiety problem. It involved pacing, staring out the window, pacing some more, sitting down, getting up again, looking out the window, leaving the room, running back to check the window and almost knocking each other over. Skin was just sitting there like a spectator at a particularly amusing tennis match. Suddenly Emma Frost's body opened its eyes and stood up. Timing it carefully she licked her lips, straightened her clothes and walked over to the front door and opened it just as the returning prodigals reached it.

"Jubes!" Everett cried.

"Jess! You're okay!" Marcos echoed. Unfortunately, they were between two very hungry girls and the kitchen. Marcos was simply slammed into the wall, Everett was unlucky and they just ran over him.

"SUGAR BOMBS!!"

"Give 'em here! Me first!"

"Oh, like that's gonna happen."

"Okay, I'll get the milk, but ya gotta fill up my bowl too!"

"Grab the Coke while you're there!"

Emma sighed as she reached the doorway and got a good look into the kitchen. Jubilee and Jessica were stuffing their faces with caffeine and sugar, while Chamber kept himself flattened against the wall and tried to stay clear of the feeding frenzy at the table. In an impressive show of resourcefulness he tossed a box onto the table and slipped away.

"OOOOHHHH!! Chockie CHIPS! Gimme gimme!"

"Smooth move, Jono."

~Thanks.~ Most of the academy's occupants watched in fascination as they consumed what appeared to be physically impossible amounts of food before having Beast check them over.

Jessica swung her legs off the edge of the examining table.

"Well, Jessica, you appear to be in good physical health except for a few bruises."

"I could've told you that. In fact, I said I was fine."

"It doesn't hurt to make sure. You and Miss Lee can run along now." She folded her arms and looked defiant.

"Not until I get a lolly."

"You're too old. Besides, you just ate enough sugar to rot all your teeth twice."

"You're never too old and I'll brush 'em after. But if I leave without one this metal table is coming with me, possibly in pieces." Beast gave in. When she had stayed at the mansion they'd had this same argument several times and he'd never won. Anyway, since he was still unsure as to how she was coping psychologically it was probably best not to upset her.

"Okay, one. But you have to promise to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep."

"Deal." She grinned at him, and Beast had the sudden feeling he'd been suckered. Then he remembered that there was now an adult in the house who would have little or no trouble evicting her from the room and leaving the table unharmed. But he'd just made a deal, and after half a box of Sugar Bombs one little lolly wouldn't make much difference.

"Here you go."

"What about Jubilee?"

"Yeah, fuzzball, what about me?"

"Okay, you can have one too, but only on the same conditions."

"'Kay." They left happily with a lollypop each; thoughts of hot water and soap then a nice, soft, clean bed leading them on. The bathroom was empty when they arrived, but soon filled up with steam.

Jessica was sitting in the bottom of the shower and massaging conditioner into her hair before she finally worked up enough courage to ask the question which had been bothering her.

"Hey, Jubilee?" She called softly into the next shower.

"Hey, yeah?"

"You know how we had those fights? About Erik and Wolverine?"

"Yeah." Jubilee's voice sounded more serious.

"When they came and got us, they seemed okay with each other. And we're friends now right?"

"I guess so."

"Well, can we just be friends and not fight about it anymore?"

"We can't just pretend like it never happened, but I guess they're the ones who really have to sort it out. And if they're handling it we'll look real stupid if we can't, we should be setting them a good example. So yeah, we can be friends. But you're gonna have to explain to me how it isn't his fault, 'cause that I don't get at all." Jubilee felt a bit torn. She was still angry, but they'd gotten close in that little cell, told each other personal things, helped each other and found they had a lot in common. It wasn't like she didn't have other friends, but except for Everett they weren't that close and Everett was…a guy. There were some things he just couldn't comprehend.

"Okay. To really get the full picture, we have to go all the way back to World War II when Erik was just a cute lil' kid…"

"So he was really like three or four people for a while there, with Onslaught pushing the others out, but after Onslaught jumped into Xavier's brain and the Erik Magnus Lensherr persona (which is my personal favorite) tagged along, the Magneto one got mostly wiped. Anyway, in case you hadn't guessed, the Joseph one was so far from dominant that he got missed and just lost the memories. Spent a while fighting up from wherever the others three had squished him (they didn't like him much), and Joe eventually found himself going totally solo with the entire body to himself. But then after the Professor got released after OZT and Joseph hit his head, Erik leapt at the chance to get his body back and the rest is history."

"So what happened to Joseph?"

"They were pretty alike by that time so I think they kinda amalgamated or something. Anyway, there's just one now." As Jessica started to brush her teeth, Jubilee privately decided to wait and see how this new Magneto turned out before passing judgement. But it wouldn't interfere with her and Jessica being friends. So they headed back downstairs together.

Everyone was sitting around waiting for them, and there was lots of hugging and explanations. Eventually everyone had the full story, except for one niggling little point, which Monet bluntly called to attention.

"Last night you two were fighting and apparently hated each other, but now you seem to be friends. I don't understand how two such stubborn and emotional people could resolve their differences so quickly." Jubilee looked over at the other stubborn, emotional and slightly insulted person who was curled up in Marcos's lap. Jessica rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything, so Jubilee began to talk slowly and clearly as if to a small child.

"Well, M, we did fight a little bit at first, but then we realised that that would only make our situation worse, so we decided to work together. It turned out that we have a lot in common, and being as intelligent as we are we rationally decided that being friends would be better for everyone, and resolved our petty differences." Jubilee smiled benevolently, while Jessica sniggered.

* * *

Erik swirled the brandy in his glass, looking at it with the expression of single-minded contemplation only seen on the very drunk.

"I mean, he was just in it for money, he didn't care that he terrorized two little girls. I'd almost rather see them kidnapped by Mesmero or Venom or even the Kingpin. At least the girls would be treated like people, not as a means to an end." Wolverine nodded in agreement, and looked around the bar. Magneto may be sure that this bar was safe, but he wasn't taking any chances. But most people seemed to be more interested in the serious business of getting drunk, or else in the strange woman on the table near the center of the room. He paused to wonder about her state of mind. Of course, she was very drunk, and doing things with clothes on tables in that state was not unusual. But most people were taking them off…

"Hey, Magnus!" She was looking at Magneto. "C'n I have your helmet and that really cool cape?" He walked over to the table and looked up at her. She swayed a little bit.

"Don't you think you have enough, Melissa?" She looked down at the jumble of borrowed clothes and accessories that she was wearing.

"Nope, I can still fit some more stuff on…" She hiccuped and swayed again. Magneto held up a hand.

"No, I think it's time to come down now. Can you still remember where you live?" She shook her head and looked upset.

"Now I'm just gonna haveta live here forever." She sat down of the edge of the table, looking very sorry for herself for a few moments before suddenly brightening. "But I left a piece of paper with my address on it with Max after last time!" She wandered unsteadily over to the bar and talked to the bartender for a few moments. Between them he and Magneto managed to get all the extra clothing to its proper owners and a protesting Melissa into a cab.

"C'mon, Magnus, turn it upside-down first. Just once?" The cabby didn't bat an eyelid as Max gave him the address, but then he'd probably seen stranger things.

After Melissa's departure they went back to their own drinking, trying to forget about that moment of blind panic when they'd first heard and pretend that they were still tough, independent loners. Eventually they had to leave. It was one of the rules of Max's Place, Wolverine learned, that if you can't make it to the bar unassisted you can't be served anymore.

"I hope you two aren't driving home." Max called after them. Magneto leaned back in and waved a hand dismissively, almost braining himself.

"Of course not. We're flying to someone else's home. Perfectly safe." Max winced. He'd heard that one before. But there were no laws against drinking and flying, and not much he could do without scaring away his mutant customers. That would have been economic suicide, since most of them could drink incredible amounts before falling over and they often had things to drink about. He listened with vague interest to the voices from outside.

"Now if I can just remember how to do this…"

"I ain't walkin' back, so you'd better remember!"

"Just give me a minute… ah ha! Got the little buggers."

"What little buggers?"

"Those bloody electrons. Ridiculously tiny, practically impossible to find when you're…a little less than completely stone-cold sober."

"So can we leave then?"

"Oh, right." There were a few moments of silence, then a crash, followed by yelling from a short distance away.

"What the hell are you doing? Tryin' to kill me again?!?"

"Hey, that building just leapt out of nowhere! Not my fault!"

"It's a skyscraper! It can't leap anywhere!" The reply sounded slightly sulky.

"Well, who in their right mind would put a building there anyway? Wasn't there last time I was here."

"It's got a brass plate on the bottom saying that the foundation was laid in 1949. You were still happily married in Russia."

"They must have just built it real slow. Look, I'll put the bit back on, no one will notice." Some rasping sounds followed. "See? Good as new." The other voice sounded resigned.

"Whatever you say. Let's just get out of here before someone doesn't notice."

The front door of the Massachusetts Academy closed with a bang.

"SSSSHHHHH!! We don't want to wake up Cyclops! You know what he's like." Erik's whisper was the kind that could carry through walls and wake the soundest sleeper.

"But Cyclops isn't here. This is Emma's place."

"Oh." Erik looked vaguely surprised. "That would explain the different hallway."

"You mean you were the one driving-"

"I wasn't driving, that would have been dangerous. I was flying."

"Well then you were the one flying and you didn't even know where we were? We could have ended up anywhere!" Erik gave him a dirty look.

"I knew we were in the right place."

"How?" Erik looked away, his expression slightly guilty.

"There's a sign out the front. It says 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters'." Wolverine shrugged.

"Sounds reasonable. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Apology accepted. Now we'd better remember where we're supposed to be sleeping, because Emma's okay with drinking but she's a bitch if you wake her up in the middle of the night."

"Oh, am I?" Logan and Erik looked up and saw the other occupants of the school sitting at the top of the stairs. They both stood up straighter and tried to look sober, forgetting that she was a telepath and drinking doesn't do your psychic shields any good.

"Umm, hi Emma. Hope we didn't wake you up." Shifting all his attention to sounding sober was probably a mistake, Erik reflected as he bounced off Wolverine and headed for the floor. She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you think I'm putting you to bed this time, you're sadly mistaken."

"This time?" Wolverine looked down at his new drinking companion and savored the feeling of being able to look down on someone. Erik shrugged expressively.

"Not a clue. My memory's not what it used to be." Emma smiled vindictively.

"You see, he and Shaw couldn't just play chess with real people like other Hellfire Club kings. Oh no, they had to play that ridiculous game." Erik looked offended.

"S'not ridiculous. It's a great game." He gave the fond smile characteristic of people taking a drunken stumble down memory lane. "We called it 'Let's see who falls over first.' And I always won!" He clasped his hands together and waved them in the air like a victorious boxer, the effect slightly ruined by the fact that he was lying on the hall carpet.

"Maybe, but you always fell over as well, and it was always up to Tessa and I to drag the two of you upstairs and roll you into bed. Why did you both have to have so many muscles anyway? I nearly did my back in." Wolverine looked puzzled.

"Why didn't you just get a couple of the flunkies to do it?"

"That would hardly have encouraged respect for their leaders, would it? Especially if the White King tried to feel them up and called them Tammy." Erik frowned.

"Tammy, Tammy…the redhead? No, that was Teresa." At Banshee's indrawn breath Emma hurried to diffuse a potentially lethal situation.

"No, no, not your Teresa. A different one. That one fitted in nicely with the Cindy's and Bianca's." Emma gave a reminiscent smile. "But I used to weed them out. They'd turn up and find me in the White Queen costume. Funny how people always assumed that the White King and the White Queen had something going on." She smirked, leaving no one in any doubt as to where the Cindy's and Bianca's had been getting that idea.

"I do something similar." Emma turned to look at Jessica, who was grinning as she talked. "I just put on the Uncontrollable Teenager costume and the matching attitude, and tell them I'm his daughter. We look enough alike that they never believe him when he says it's not true. It always works, and I got the idea from his stories about you." Emma put a hand over her heart and sniffed melodramatically.

"Oh I'm so proud! To think that I've inspired another person to that level of manipulation and deceit…" She blinked tearfully, then laughed. With absolute dignity Wolverine went backwards. Without bending, just straight to the floor.

* * *

The training session was postponed until they recovered, but no matter how hard J1 and J2 tried it is very hard for two naturally cheery and hyperactive girls to look debilitatingly affected all the time. Emma admired the way they had manipulated Wolverine and Magneto, but there was still work to be done if only Sean could be assured that they were fine. In the end they did it themselves. Early one morning Monet walked into the living room where Angelo and Marcos were talking to Banshee. Everything appeared normal until she came within about two meters of them.

"Oh God, M, you stink!" The mixed perfumes in the air were suffocating, and she was wearing a robe that only reached to mid thigh.

"What've ye been up to, lass?" Monet didn't look at them, she just walked over, sat down behind the couch and proceeded to stare blankly at the wall.

"Well, I've never seen her do that before." They tried to remember what they had been talking about, but then Paige came in. She entered like the police in the cop shows always do, suddenly, with weapon held in both hands at chest height, arms straight. Holding the spray can professionally, she quickly scanned the room. Then she slipped across and pressed her back against Sean, drawing her hands in and pointing the nozzle upwards. Sean looked down into the business end of a loaded deodorant can and a small part of his brain that wasn't frozen in shock recognized the classic 'cover' position. I have got to stop letting them watch NYPD Blue. Then he realised why the other two were watching and grinning. Paige was only wearing a sports bra and shorts, plus copious amounts of what smelt like at least two brands of deodorant. With one quick, lithe rush she was onto the seat of the couch and spraying downwards. Then she stopped and put her hands on her hips.

"Rats. She's gone cata…" But Monet suddenly snapped out of her 'trance', letting loose with her own can. Paige dodged to one side and ran for the door, but Monet was after her. Then Jubilee, surprisingly fully dressed, ran in yelling.

"Grab her M! I nicked some from the boy's showers!" The Algerian girl grabbed her would-be attacker, who struggled and called out.

"Quick! They're both heah!" The cavalry raced in and lifted her arm, as if preparing to throw something. She was only wearing an open shirt over her underwear.

"Now!" Paige husked out of Monet's grip and dived away. At the same time Jessica heaved whatever it was she was holding at Jubilee and M. It hit the floor and burst in a cloud of talcum powder, temporarily blinding the two brunettes and making them cough. Paige finished her impact-absorbing roll and grabbed for the can Monet had dropped. The scent of jasmine filled the air, Jubilee blindly tracking the hissing sound with her own matte-black can of something-or-other. Then, the final facet of the already ridiculous situation, Everett walked in dripping wet and clutching a towel around his waist. He also looked furious.

"Jubilee! Next time you feel the urge to get something from the boy's bathroom knock first!!!" They all stopped spraying and looked at him incredulously.

"C'mon, Ev, I didn't look." She looked at the floor and grinned. "Well, not much, anyway." Paige bit her lip and Jessica giggled. At that precise moment the other teacher walked in. She sniffed the air, surveyed the large white splotch from the powder bomb on the otherwise pristine carpet and most of her students in various states of undress. Then Emma closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her left temple.

"I'm sure there's a rational explanation for this." She opened her eyes and gave them a pained look.

"Well, Miss Frost, we kinda had to defend our honour." The headmistress raised an eyebrow at Jessica's sincere expression. "Y'see, Jubilee made this terrible blonde joke, and Monet agreed with her, so we declared war on the brunette half of our dorm." Emma looked at Jubilee.

"I don't suppose you'd care to share that joke with the rest of us? I for one could use something amusing right about now." Jubilee looked at her indisputably very blonde teacher and smiled nervously.

"Ah, no, I've learned my lesson and I'm not going to tell blonde jokes anymore."

"Good idea." Emma gave Jubilee one last glare and switched her attention to Everett. She looked puzzled. "But I have no idea where you fit in." He shifted awkwardly and mumbled his explanation.

"Jubilee barged into the boy's showers…" He broke off and looked embarrassed as he tugged at the towel. Noting his discomfort Monet thoughtfully offered him her robe. He stared at the white satin underwear that was now the only thing protecting her modesty and swallowed.

"Ummm, no, you keep it." She shrugged, and Everett whimpered as bits of her moved in new and previously unseen ways. Skin whistled appreciatively.

"Now this is a side of you we've never seen before." He grinned at her. "Gracias." Jubilee looked around at the others then down at her own oversized t-shirt and boxer shorts.

"Gee. Suddenly I feel overdressed."

~Miss Frost, what…~ Chamber paused in the doorway. He looked around. Looked at some bits again. ~I don't think I can deal with this sort of thing this early.~ He gave the smorgasboard of bared female one last look and left.

After that incident Banshee declared that if they could have a war over a blonde joke they could bloody well have a training session, and no amount of tears or pouting was going to change his mind.

"This is my uniform." Jessica crossed her arms over the front of her dark red shirt and stared defiantly at Emma.

"While you are with Generation X, you will wear a Generation X uniform. End of story." Jessica looked down at the puddle of spandex on the end of her bed, and then looked pleadingly at her teacher.

"But I look terrible in red and yellow! Can't I even change the colours a little bit?" Keeping her opinion that yes, Jessica would look atrocious in red and yellow private, Emma planted a calm and reasonable expression on her face.

"I'm sure you understand that I can't let you do that. If I were to show favoritism, especially to one of Erik's students, your teammates would be angry and demand the same privileges. I will not let Jubilee or Chamber have anything to do with the design or colour of their uniforms." Jessica thought about that for a moment.

"Okay, I can see your point there. But you have to let me wear my own jacket like they do."

"Fine."

Uniform problems settled, Jessica and Marcos sulkily returned to the biosphere. Emma noted with interest that Jessica was not wearing the coat she had arrived at the Academy in, but a fitted black suede jacket that reached to her waist, and Marcos had forgone the option all together. Clever. The longer ones could have hampered their movements, as well as making noise when they moved. This session may turn out to be more fascinating than I thought. Banshee glanced at Emma. He didn't like that little smile she had.

"Alright, since I have been assured that the two of ye already have good control of yer abilities, this test is to familiarize all of us with each others capabilities. It will last fifteen minutes and all of Generation X except us teachers will be after ye." He turned to look at the others as well. "If ye are knocked out, captured or otherwise removed from the game by the opposite team, ye're out. If yer entire team is gotten out, ye lose. If Jessica or Marcos can stay alive for the fifteen minutes, they win. They also get a five-minute head start, beginning now." Jessica and Marcos ran off into the trees, followed five minutes later by Generation X.

"Sean, m'boy, this should be interesting."

"Why d'ye say that, Em?" She looked at him, her smile wider than before and her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Because both teams want to prove that they are at least as good as the other, if not better. They feel that the honour and respectability of their respective mentors is at stake, but they are not entirely correct." The smile grew to a full-fledged smirk. "What is at stake was, last I heard, about four thousand dollars." Banshee gaped at her.

"How four thousand dollars?"

"Magneto and Xavier each bet fifteen hundred that their students would win. Wolverine put two hundred on Jubilee remaining 'alive' for the full time, while Magneto said Jessica would thrash her. Gambit backed Jessica for three hundred, as did Iceman, with Cyclops betting against both. And I put two hundred on the fight lasting full time and at least half of all the children not being out, while Archangel said it would be more definitive. There were some other minor bets as well, I think. Oh look, I think something is about to happen."

Excluding Mondo, their team had split up into groups of two, making it impossible for them to be 'ganged up on'. Monet and Synch were probably the most powerful and the hardest for Shadow and Lightning to tackle. But what was technically the least powerful team, Skin and Jubilee, had a little advantage that the others weren't even aware of. They were not only good friends with their targets, but a mallrat like Jubilee knew about how street-kids and runaways hid or moved, while Skin had a very similar background to Marcos, even if no one else in Gen X knew it. They were getting very close, and it looked like the first confrontation was about to begin.

The two adults watched intently as Jubilee and Skin were ambushed, which they had been expecting. Jessica slammed Angelo into a tree, but Jubilee's fireworks blinded Marcos. Emma wondered if Jubilee knew how sensitive his eyes were. The next barrage at Lightning was deflected, and Jubilee only just dodged an answering shot from Marcos, who had partly recovered. But Skin had discovered one important thing, Shadow couldn't fire if he couldn't aim, and he couldn't aim if he couldn't see. Part of Angelo's arm wrapped itself around his friend's head, and neither Jessica nor Jubilee was managing to land a shot. Jessica caught sight of the struggle, and called out. This was where knowing each other and having worked together for a long time was an advantage.

"Marcos! Up!" He lifted off the ground, still struggling to see. But Skin wasn't about to give up his advantage and simply stretched at little more and wrapped his other arm around the tree he had recently connected with. This was a mistake. Jessica flew up and grabbed Marcos's hand. Marcos covered himself in his own black energy and was protected when Jessica used him as a channel for electrical energy. It passes through to Skin, the only one of the trio who was earthed. The charge knocked him unconscious, and he was the first one out of the game. Realising that she was outmatched, Jubilee ran for it, and the others let her go. They were talking quietly to each other as they crept out of the little clearing.

They are planning something. Emma stretched out to try and read their minds. Oh, very clever. They didn't tell the others all their abilities, and going to change the terrain to give them the advantage.

"Emma, ye've got that smile again."

"Just watch and learn, Seany. It's this kind of planning that makes Magneto the formidable man he is." Banshee looked down into the biosphere and frowned. Letting Jubilee get away might have been a mistake. She had joined up with Chamber and Husk, while Synch and M flew ahead to scout. He felt a touch of pride at the way they were working like a team, and gave the stopwatch a quick glance. Eight minutes had passed.

What in Heaven's name is that? It looked like some almost pure black growth was creeping up the wall. M and Everett had noticed it too, and flew off to investigate. It climbed higher, a few seconds later the three on the ground could see it, and in under a minute the entire dome was nearly completely dark. Only Emma could feel Jessica's mind concentrate and focus her powers on Monet's circulation, slowing the flow of iron and making her faint, but only Marcos saw her fall. His dark irises hid the cat-like pupils, and he could see quite well in the dark.

Synch, although he didn't have either special eyesight or psychic powers, did notice Monet fall unconscious and be disqualified from the game so that he couldn't synch to her powers. Stretching out his aura, he found Jessica close enough and decided to indulge his curiosity and try magnetism.

Okay, not as good as I hoped, but better than nothing. He was unable to fly and lacked the training to do anything particularly sophisticated, but he could see magnetic fields and after a few false starts and a close encounter of the rock kind he managed to navigate reasonably well. Now he could feel Jessica with her own powers and well as his aura, which was also picking up Marcos. Damn. Decision time. If I synch to him I'll probably be able to fly etc., but I won't be able to see. But they're not on the ground, and if I can't fly I can't reach them. Where are the others?

A short distance in front of him and a little up, Shadow and Lightning were working on the next stage of their plan. They were both wrapped in a bubble of his black energy, but on the inside it was very bright and getting brighter.

"Where are they?"

"Ev is a bit too close for comfort, and he's latched onto my powers. But he seems to be having a little trouble navigating." Jessica grinned mischievously. "I'll put some phantom stuff in his way and try to get him lost, or at least slow him down. The others are further away, but Paige has probably husked into something that can see because they're heading straight for us."

"Crap. I hate playing with psychics, it always feels like they're cheating. How long till they get close enough?"

"Probably about two minutes, and there's six left in the game. How much longer do we need?" Marcos leaned forwards and looked at her pupils. They were just above pinhead size.

"Just up it once more and that should do." Jessica glowed brighter and squinted. "Who are we going for?"

"Well, we aren't going to get Chamber and I have no idea where Mondo is, but if we can stay in the open air he shouldn't be too much trouble. I think go for Everett and Jubilee, Paige if we can make it. You'd better take Ev, 'cause he might be immune to electricity. Now sshhh, they'll hear us."

Emma checked the time. Four minutes.

~Got 'em~ Jonothon projected, before blasting the offending bubble a split second after its occupants went out opposite sides. Then everything went white.

Jubilee could hear Jessica yelling something about 'too close for comfort', and sent a barrage of pyrotechnics towards the sound. It couldn't have been too wide, because someone blasted back and she flew backwards, landing on the ground with a thump. I'll just play possum 'til I can get my breath back, or at least see. Now I know what the obvious reasons why they call her Lightning are.

Everett was quite impressed with the way he had switched his aura to Shadow and made a shield to deflect his blast. Of course now he was under heavy fire from Jessica, but whatever it was she had done to Monet it didn't seem like she could do it again.

The rest of Generation X had also reacted fast. Paige had husked to clear her vision, and by pulling up a fold of his black bandages to cover his eyes and squinting, Chamber could see fairly well. He was, at this point in time, using it to run away, but that would change once he got under cover.

Two minutes.

Chamber found a nice big rock and started sending answering psi-blasts at Marcos. Jessica and Synch were involved in a very noisy aerial battle which didn't encourage interference, but Lightning had proved that she was still aware of the rest of them when Paige had accidentally husked into steel and been magnetically thrown up into the air. She was a little stunned but still conscious, although the ground might never be the same.

Jubilee was still lying on her back trying to see, when she felt the dirt under her ripple and a voice next to her ear. She suppressed a smile and started to count off seconds in her head. It was a good plan.

One minute.

Jessica finally overwhelmed Synch's defenses and decked him. Jubilee resisted the urge to run over and see if he was alright, and looked back at the tree through slitted eyes. A branch bulged. This time she did smile, as she sat up and hit Marcos with everything she had. He had been concentrating on Chamber and flew backwards, right into the tree and Mondo's waiting arms. Shadow disappeared into the trunk and Jono sent a quick blast at Jessica. She held up one hand and the psionic energy bounced of an invisible shield, but it must have gotten close because she swore and shook her hand angrily.

~Jubilee! On three hit her hard and try to break that bloody shield. One, two-~

~Time!~

Jessica landed. Jonothon came out from behind his rock. Paige picked herself up off the ground. Jubilee stood up and brushed herself off. The tree spat out Marcos and Mondo emerged. They all looked at each other as a growing wail heralded their teacher's imminent arrival.

"Well, that was fun. Can we do that again tomorrow, Dad? Huh, can we, please?" Jessica rolled her eyes and sarcasm dripped from her voice.

Emma, Sean and a slightly groggy Monet landed in the decimated clearing. The White Queen looked around at the charred trees and Paige-shaped hole. She looked back at Jessica, who was blowing on her hand, and Marcos, who was kneeling on the ground and trying to get his breath back.

"Impressive. You won."

"Only just. Much as I hate to admit it, if they'd had another minute I'd have been toast."

~Another minute? Try twenty seconds.~ Chamber gave the impression he would have snorted if he could.

"Hey, I owe you for what you did to my poor little hand. I think it's bruised." She held the hand in question out to Marcos. "Kiss it better." He just laughed at her.

"If you're going to stay in this business, you're going to have to learn to handle pain."

"I can handle pain! I handle pain really well! As long as it isn't mine. Kiss it better."

"Umm, Marcos, amigo, I don't think that her mouth was the bit she hurt…"

"AHEM! Why don't ye all go and get cleaned up, if you can disentangle yourselves." Jessica blushed a little bit, but Marcos didn't look at all ashamed of himself. After another stern glance, they headed for the showers, leaving Sean and Emma looking at each other. They walked to the telephone together, then stopped.

"I'll toss ye for it."

"Not a chance. It was my two hundred dollars."

"Ah, but I'm completely neutral, so they'll have to believe me."

"Fine, we'll compromise. Put it on speaker."

"Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning, Scott Summers speaking."

"Well, Scott, 'twas a very interesting session this morning…"

"Hold on, I'll get the others." There was some yelling in the background and lots of footsteps.

"So? Who won?" Iceman sounded very impatient, so Emma decided to hold them in suspense for a little while.

"Would you like a blow-by-blow description, or- oh, maybe we should tell Erik and Charles first. Call you back!"

"EMMA!! Just tell us who won."

"Jessica was heavily outnumbered but still alive at the end of the session." Gambit and Iceman cheered and demanded their winnings. "Jubilee was almost eliminated, but it turned out she was just pretending and she also made the full fifteen minutes." Wolverine grabbed his share of the pot. "And only Synch, Monet, Skin and Marcos didn't make it, so I get a share too."

"Is she telling the truth, Sean?" Cyclops sounded a little pained, possibly from the six hundred dollars he'd just lost.

"Aye. She won her bet, fair and square."

"Yeah, so cough up, Worthington."

Sara stood entranced in the doorway, watching with delight. Erik had asked to baby-sit her one year-old son while she went shopping, and then she had come back to this. Her little three-room staff residence was spotless, and he was rocking Tony gently with his cheek pressed against the little head and his eyes closed.

You're onto something good here, girl. You've found someone who can handle kids and has actually cleaned to impress you, as well as being friendly and responsible. Don't screw this one up.

Erik looked up and smiled tiredly at her.

"I'd forgotten how much work babies were. But then, I'd also forgotten how nice it is to have them around." The look on his face was sad, and his voice was soft, as if he was thinking out loud. "I wish things could have been like this with my children."

"I though you only had the one daughter, Jessica."

"I meant with my biological children. But that's never going to happen, and I've accepted that. It's just that looking after Tony reminded me what I missed out on." Sara felt both sympathetic and wildly curious.

"I don't mean to pry, but do you want to talk about it?" Erik smiled at her.

"Not really, but I can tell that you're dying to know." She blushed. "I'll tell you, I don't mind. I was married, and I had a daughter named Anya. But she died in a fire, and my wife left me, never telling me that she was pregnant again. Soon after the twins were born she died. They didn't know about me, I didn't know about them, they were adopted and now want nothing to do with me. End of story."

"I'm sorry. But maybe when they grow up…" Erik gave her an amused smile.

"How old would you say I am, Sara?" She floundered a little, not really understanding the sudden change of subject.

"Hard to tell, in your twenties somewhere, I'd guess. Why?" He smiled at her again.

"I'm older than I look. My children are grown up enough that I doubt they will ever change their minds. My son and I look the same age, and my grand-daughter is older than Tony." Sara stared at him in shock. She sat down slowly and took several deep breaths.

"Ooookaay, now that was unexpected. Here I was thinking I was cradle-snatching."

"Oh? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"You first."

"Jessica says I'm sixty-nine, but I don't believe her." He gave her a totally wicked grin, and something told her he knew exactly how old he was.

"What year were you born?"

"Uh uh. Your turn."

"I'm thirty-three."

"See now there's your mistake right there. Never admit to being older than twenty-nine. Me, I'm physically in my early twenties, so that's what I'll stick with for now."

"So physically you're one age, but really you're another. Care to explain that?"

"It's a long story, and you wouldn't believe me if I told you. But it is true."

"Let me guess. You're a mutant whose body never ages."

"No, I'm a mutant master of magnetism with incredible luck." Sara looked at him incredulously. He was deadly serious. And there was something… if it had been anyone else it might have been vulnerable, on Erik it seemed to become evaluating somewhere between the eyes and the face. No, nothing she could say would really hurt him, but he was expecting her to try. Her contrary nature asserted itself. He expects me to act like some sort of bigot. How rude. She made herself look horrified and reached for Tony. Erik let her take him.

"How could you do that? Here I was, thinking you'd gone to all this trouble to clean my house to impress me, and you cheated! Setting an example like that for my son! Now he's going to end up married to some poor girl, and he'll have shoddy cleaning habits. I'm sorry, but that just isn't good enough." Then she started to laugh, and had to sit down again. "Seriously, it doesn't bother me. In fact it's rather fascinating. What can you do with magnetism that makes you special?" The look on his face was positively heart-warming. My lord, what happened to make him think that I'd hate him? Some woman I'll bet.

"Put Tony down and I'll show you something." She walked into the bedroom and settled Tony into the cot, then headed back feeling very reckless.

"Okay, dazzle me." He was standing in front of the glass doors seeming very pleased with himself.

"Come over here, and look at the sky." Now she was feeling really curious, and looked walked outside, staring up at the sky.

"It's just a cloudy sky. Not even any stars." She felt disappointed. What was she supposed to be able to see?

"Now take my hand." She gave him a suspicious look, but held onto his hand. Then she almost screamed as their feet left the ground.

"Oh my God. You can fly."

"Of course. Can't everybody?" He gave her a serious look. "Do you trust me? You'd better not be scared of heights."

"No, I'm not really scared. And I trust you. Otherwise I wouldn't have let you look after my son."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't. Thank you, that means a lot to me." Sara looked down again. This time her feet were higher than the roof. "Now I'm going to show you something beautiful that most people never see up close." They started going up faster, the lights of the resort getting smaller as the clouds got closer. Then they hit the clouds, which felt cold and wet, but she reached out a hand and laughed.

"I always wanted to see what clouds felt like. They're a bit disappointing, but this is all still amazing, because I always wanted to fly as well." Slowly the clouds went from grey to white and they broke through the upper layer. It was like a landscape from a dream, the moon and stars reflected off huge billowing mountains of mist that rippled away in all directions. There wasn't any sign of a single other living thing.

"Thank you for showing this to me. It's beautiful." Erik smiled at her, with the same expression Tony got when he was doing something wicked but planned on getting caught.

"And so are you." And then he kissed her.

Charles Xavier stopped pretending to read and smiled. Maybe eavesdropping wasn't very polite, but Erik's surprise had drawn him in. Of course, now he just had to find a way to get back out without Erik noticing he'd been there. Besides, he rationalized to himself I'm just keeping an eye on my best friend's love life. Nothing wrong with that. Erik deserves a decent relationship now and then. Thus guilt-free, he lingered a little, enjoying the warm fuzzy feelings this adorable encounter was giving him.

Being absorbed in the business at hand, Erik almost didn't notice the faint presence, but the romantic mental sigh gave it away.

~Okay, okay, I'm going. Just got a little worried about you and wanted to make sure you were okay.~

I'm fine. The feeling of Xavier became amused.

~Yes, I can see that.~

Well, that's part two and I'm still not done. This had a few more serious bits than I really planned, but they had to happen sooner or later. I hope you liked it, and any sort of feedback or suggestion would be appreciated.