"All right, which of ye lads and lassies would like to join me in picking up yuir new classmate?"

Eight uninterested faces stared back at Sean Cassidy.

He cleared his throat, "Anyone?"

Angelo Espinosa stood up and walked forward.

Sean beamed, "Well, I'm glad that at least one of ye is willin' ta come along."

Angelo shifted uncomfortably, "Ummm, Senor? I wasn't volunteering...I was just going to change the CD."

Jubilee snickered as Angelo sat back down on the couch next to Summer, who was trying her best not to laugh.

Then Mondo walked into the room. Seans eyes lit up and he smiled as he spoke, "Mondo! Just the person I was looking for." With his arm around the boy's shoulder, Sean guided the boy out of the room and towards the garage.

As soon as Sean left, several things happened at once. Jono pulled a deck of cards from under the couch, M began to shuffle the cards that Jono gave her, Angelo lit up, and everyone began to retrieve plastic chips from where they had been hidden. Pulling a green plastic visor from her jacket Jubilee smiled, "Penny up!"

Jono shook his head, (" 'Ante up' Jubilee, it's 'Ante up'")

"Whatever."

"That must be him, Mondo. Lets go," said Sean.

Walking quickly, Sean spotted the boy struggling to get a chest from the luggage carousel.

"Thomas Borman?" Sean inquired.

The boy released his hold of the chest and turned to face Banshee. He wore wrinkled slacks and pressed shirt with a pocket protector (complete with slide rule, ink pen, and two, sharpened, number two pencils). A "Star Trek" communicator was pinned above the slide rule, his hair was parted on the side and slicked back, although a stubborn cow lick was causing a lump on the back of his head.

"Yes, I am Thomas Borman. I assume that you are Mr. Sean Cassidy, headmaster of Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters." He blinked purposefully when he finished, then clasped his hands behind his back, thwarting Mondo's attempt to shake. Then Thomas continued, "I was having some difficulty retrieving my luggage, I wonder if you could provide assistance?"

"Yes indeed," Sean replied cheerfully, happy to find one youngster besides Monet who spoke without slang. When the trunk came back around Sean easily hefted it onto his shoulder. Thomas took a smaller bag and followed Sean to the jeep.

They drove in silence for a while and then Thomas spoke up, "Sir, do you have any aspirin on hand?"

"That I do, most of yuir classmates get frequent headaches as a result of their mutant powers, so the glove box is always well equipped."

"Thank you."

When Thomas opened the glove box, several road maps spilled out before he located the aspirin. After taking two tablets he picked the maps off the floor. Noticing how they had not been folded correctly, he opened them and then quickly refolded them. Sean did a double take.

"How--how did ye do that?"

"It was a simple matter of finding the correct creases and then to fold accordingly."

"Well that's mighty impressive, I still cannae believe ye folded that map!"

"Yes, I have found that most people have problems with that, but it is part of my genetic ability."

Sean tried not to laugh, "Yuir mutant power is to re-fold road maps."

"Among other things."

For a while Sean tried to decide if the boy was serious, then came to the conclusion that he was.

"What exactly are yuir powers, lad."

"The ability to properly align misaligned or off balance objects."

Sean nodded and continued driving.

"Oo! I love this song," Sean said as he turned up the volume on the radio. "And I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more, I would be th' man who walked five thousand miles..." Sean stopped noticing that Mondo and Thomas were both staring.

Jubilee lay sprawled across the couch, dangerously close to the edge, popping fireworks into the air with one finger, "S'like is that new guy here yet or what?"

"NO!" Paige, Summer, Angelo, and Everett yelled in unison.

"Ok, just checking."

"Look, Lee, when the new hombre is here we'll know. First Emma will come in and tell us to start behaving, then we'll hear the jeep drive up, followed by Sean yelling "Honey I'm home!" I mean it's what he does every time!"

Emma walked in.

"I'm only going to say this once. Be on your best behavior. No pranks either," she paused to stare at Jubilee and Summer, "I want each of you to act your age."

The group collectively rolled their eyes when Emma left.

They heard a car pull up the drive.

Everett started the countdown, "...five, four, three, two, one..."

"Honey... I'm home," they heard Banshee yell.

Sean and Mondo walked in followed by what looked to be the cover boy for Nerd Magazine.

"Oh muh gosh..." Paige said in disbelief.

"Its a white Steve Urkel," Everett whispered.

"It is," echoed Jubilee.

"Alright gang, I'd like ye ta meet Thomas Borman."

Sean introduced them, telling Thomas each of their names, code names, and powers.

After he was done he asked if anyone wanted to give Thomas a tour of the grounds, not even Paige spoke up.

Soon it was dinner time. Instead of the usually light-hearted conversation that surrounded the table, there was an uncomfortable silence. No one complained about Emma's omelets, but Thomas did enquire as to what type of cheese she had used.

"This omelet is just so interesting Miss Frost, " said Thomas, "I'm tasting a lot of cheddar as well as a hint of Monteray Jack. Could I suggest some Brie next time? It has a subtle flavor that would compliment the tomatoes if used in a 6 to 9 ratio." He continued analyzing the omelet, pausing every so often to taste it, or contemplate it, or poke it with his fork.

Generation X had gone up against many foes, everything from an enraged Penance, Emplate, a Fire breathing dragon, and more recently Howard the Duck. Yet none of these opponents had ever been able to dull their wit and deplete their Riposte Reserve, but when faced with a fourteen year old Nerd, they had nothing to say. In fact, Jubilee disliked Thomas so much that she didn't once mention one of her X-Men tales.

After dinner, Thomas dutifully carried his dishes to the sink before politely excusing himself. As soon as he was out of sight, all of Generation X, including Monet and Mondo, were huddled around a table gossiping about the New Kid.

"...did you see those glasses? Like, they were taped in the middle..."

("...and there was a Star Trek pin...")

"...Ah've nevuh seen an actual cowlick..."

"...remind me to sterilize the dishes, do cooties die in ice?..."

"...a pocket protector?..."

"...He successfully used 'variable phase inverter' in a sentence. Even moi cannot do that..."

"...I heard him say 'make it so' to Senor Cassidy..."

A telepathic voice suddenly interrupted them, ("I can't believe you children. You don't even give the poor boy a chance. I want you all to march right on upstairs and invite him down to watch television.")

"All of us?" Jubilee asked in disbelief.

("All of you.")

The glanced around at each other, then slowly stood up. So the eight of them trudged up the stairs of the boy's dorm and went to Thomas' door. A blue and white bumper sticker on the door proclaimed "Guns don't kill people, class two phasers do." They could hear the Star Trek theme song in the background.

"I don't believe this," Jubilee moaned.

Paige knocked on the door, quickly pulling her hand away. The music turned down, and they heard footsteps. The door swung open, "Yes?" Thomas asked.

Jubilee said, "Trick or treat."

Summer nudged Jonothan in the ribs with her elbow, "Go on," she hissed.

("Wot we came ter say is...um...wot I mean is... would yer want ter come watch the telly with us?")

"Excuse me?"

("I said 'Would yer like ter watch the telly with us?' ")

"What?"

Angelo rolled his eyes, "Look, we're gonna watch some TV, do you want to come down?"

Thomas smiled, "Yeah, that'd be great! I have a bunch of Next Generation Episodes we could watch!"

Then Jubilee asked, "Star Trek? Isn't that the one with Luke Skywalker?"

"What? Luke Skulker? Did you say Luke Skywalker? What are you some kind of idiot! That's Star Wars not Star Trek..."

Before Thomas could continue with his rampage Monet intervened, "I believe Jubilee was mistakenly referring to "Star Wars"...which was not as well written as "Star Trek" and cannot compare to it in any way, but you cannot expect young Jubilation to know such a thing, obvious though it may be."

Thomas took a deep breath and then nodded his head, "Well I assume you must be correct, so I will leave it at that. Now, just let me go grab that video!"