I woke up groggy and cranky. Kris' training session had been delightfully back breaking. I think Angelo and I must have run in circles looking for Beth for hours. Then, when our turn with Kris one-on-one came around, Kris really beat on us. He knew my abilities almost as if they were his own and he really pushed me. My muscles ached from melting and re-forming myself so many times. And poor Angelo! On top of any muscle aches he might have, his very skin probably hurt.

After a quick shower, I dressed and went to Kris' and Beth's cottage. They would be leaving fairly early and I still had classes to go to. When I got there, I saw Kris tossing luggage into the trunk and Beth sitting on the front porch.

"Hey!" I waved as I approached.

"Hey Summer," Kris said as he shut the trunk.

"Do ya have to leave so early?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah. It's been great seein' you, Summer. I know it's an old person phrase, but you've really grown up in two years. I mean, I remember when you were,"

"This high!" we all finished together, gesturing around our knees.

"We are so lame," I laughed.

I walked to the porch and plopped down next to Beth. She was wearin' a "Hello Kitty" t-shirt and lavender pants which went well with her eyes.

"It's been good seein' ya in person, Summer."

"You too, Beth, I've missed you." I gave her a hug and we stood up.

"So," she started, grinning, "Do me and Jubilee get to duke it out over who gets to be the Maid of Honor?"

I laughed. "I don't even think I'll have a Maid of Honor I have so many close friends I can't imagine choosing!"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder, "Well, looks like we're off." She nodded to Kris who had finished packing.

We hugged again and she climbed into the passenger side of the car. I walked to Kris.

"I'm really glad you came to visit, even if you are a scruffy nerf-herder," I joked.

"Who you callin' scruffy? .... You take care of yourself, Summer. And I am very happy for you and ....that guy--"

"Angelo."

"I was getting there....And that guy Angelo." He smiled at me. "Really."

"I'm glad you are, drive safe 'n' all that sorta stuff."

He hugged me and got into the car. I waved to them as they drove off.

I called after them, ("Good-bye.")

When the car was out of sight, I turned and headed back inside. I went back up to my room and grabbed my books. We had physics and trig that morning. Ugh. Not exactly two of my most favorite subjects...

I entered the room just before the late buzzer sounded and plopped down in the vacant desk between Angelo and Jubilee.

"Kris and Beth leave yet?" Jubilee asked.

"Yeah, about five minutes ago," I told her.

"It was nice seein' Beth again, she's a real sweet girl," J said. "But that training session yesterday? I almost died!"

Angelo nodded in agreement. "I know what you're saying, chica. My whole body aches." He shifted in his seat a bit. I could tell he was uncomfortable.

"Ya know, they say the skin is the largest organ of the body," Jubilee recited. "No wonder ya hurt."

"Exactly," he said.

"Oh, my poor baby," I cooed. "Here, let me kiss and make it feel all better!" I gave him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"It hurts here, too," he said, pointing to his lips. "And here--"

"You watch too many Indy movies," Jubilee complained.

Just then Sean rushed in. "Sorry I'm late, class," he apologized. "I had ta be sure the communications equipment was workin' properly."

"Communciations equipment?" Paige repeated. "What, are we havin' a guest speaker?"

"That ye are, and a demonstration as well," Sean confirmed. "I suggest ye all take good notes, seein' as yuir instructor'll also be administering a test to ye on this particular session."

"I don't need to take any notes," Angelo declared, leaning back in his seat with his hands propped behind his head.

"Is that so? And why not, lad?" Sean asked, his voice sounding amused. "The Beast is not exactly known for givin' easy exams."

Angelo straightened up. "The Beast, huh?" He turned to me. "Take extra good notes this time, honey, O.K.?" he said in a very serious voice as he patted my shoulder. Ev and J started to snicker.

Sean was no longer amused. "I dinnae think so, Angelo," he replied. "Hank informed me this mornin' he'd be collectin' them as part of the project he'll be assignin'--"

"Project?" we chorused.

"Aye."

"Awww, man!"

"Goodie, another project. Just what I always wanted..."

"Great. Hey Sean, can I have an extension on that geology paper due next week?"

"Hush now, all of ye," Sean broke in. "Emma tells me that Hank's on the line now." He turned on a television set and Dr. McCoy appeared on screen.

"Good morning class!" he sang cheerfully.

"Morning," we droned robotically.

His eyebrow went up. "My, but you're not a very energetic bunch today," he observed. "What kind of a workout did you put them through, Banshee?"

"'Tweren't me, they had a guest instructor," Sean informed him. "Ye remember Kris Alder?"

Dr. McCoy grinned. "Oh my stars and garters, you poor students must be exhausted. You'd better all come in for complete physicals--"

Mondo sat up rapidly. "I feel so much better now, Doctor!" he proclaimed.

"Me, too!" Paige chimed in.

"Are you sure, because it would be absolutely no problem whatsoever to schedule an extra--"

"Don't be silly, Dr. McCoy," Monet said, smiling sweetly. "We wouldn't dream of wasting your valuable time on something so...trivial."

Dr. McCoy looked back to Sean and winked at him. "Did you know, that old trick still works here? I never saw grown men who 'don't feel good' jump so fast to get the dishes done!" He started to laugh so hard that he removed his glasses and dabbed at his eyes. "Have you ever seen Logan and Remy wearing frilly pink aprons? Oh, dear me!"

We all sat wordlessly in our seats, unamused. Jubilee crossed her arms over her chest. "That is like, totally uncool, Hankster," she informed the jovial doctor. "You tricked us!"

"Indubitably," he admitted. "But it worked, didn't it?" He grinned at us. "Now that I have your undivided attention, let's begin the lecture, shall we?"

"Lecture? You told us we were having a demonstration, Sean," I objected accusingly.

"You are," Dr. McCoy said. "The lecture goes along with the demonstration."

"I am never again believing a single thing you tell us, Sean," J muttered. "Anyone have a pillow I can use?"

Dr. McCoy looked insulted. "Now, Ms. Lee, this demonstration should prove to be quite interesting. I rather think you'll enjoy it."

"We'll see," J said, propping her chin in her hand.

"Today we will be exploring the way electrical currents conduct themselves when introduced to water," Dr. McCoy explained. "But before we begin, a word of caution. This is a dangerous experiment. Do not try this at home--Mondo, and especially you, Ms. Ison--" he pointed a furry blue finger at me, "without proper supervision."

"Me?" I exclaimed, clapping a hand to my chest in surprise. "What would I do?"

"Well, you are able to liquify your body, are you not? And considering the type of company you choose to keep," he indicated J and Angelo, "I wouldn't be surprised in the least to hear of any attempted, 'whoa, like, way kewl human electric circuit, man!' reports," he said in his best Jubilee imitation. The class started laughing.

"What a bad idea! We gotta try it, Sums!" J said. "Hey, I wonder if you were totally clear, if we could actually see the current--"

"Forget it, J, life's too good to do something suicidal right now," I told her. I reached over for Angelo's hand and took it in mine. He gave me a quick squeeze. "Right, hon?"

J stuck her finger in her mouth and rolled her eyes.

"Am I missing something here?" Dr. McCoy asked curiously. "Did you win the lottery? Discover a new planet? Get out of completing that geology paper Ms. Lee has attempted to bribe me into writing for her for the past week--"

"Hey!"

"Nooo," I said, playing along with him.

"Then what, pray tell, is so exciting?"

I looked over at Angelo. "We're getting married," he declared proudly, smiling ear to ear.

Dr. McCoy's eyes widened. "Well, well, well! Congratulations are certainly in order," he proclaimed, "and I'd be most delighted to convey the happy news of your upcoming nuptials to the mansion's residents." He grinned. "Wow. I can't believe I actually beat Robert to the latest bit of X-gossip. And such a juicy one, at that."

I blushed as even Monet giggled.

"Let's get back to the lesson, shall we?" he suggested, eyes twinkling. He stepped back a bit and uncovered a large contraption composed of beakers, wires, batteries and other assorted knicknacks. "As you can see, I have taken the liberty of constructing a model to assist me in displaying how electricity and water react to each other."

Jubilee's bad mood suddenly faded and she grinned widely. "He's right, Summer. This experiment won't be boring at all," she whispered to me.

"Why do you say that?" I asked her. "Does electricity interest you?"

"No...but think about it. Water. Electricity. Blue fur. I mean, how much more entertaining of a combination could you get?" She giggled, made a poofing noise and the universal 'bad hair day' motion with her hands.

I could hear Paige and Monet choking back laughter as Ev poked J in the ribs and pretended he was being electrocuted.

But the entire class broke into unrestrained peals of laughter (Even Jono's telepathic laugh rang loud and clear in our heads.) as Mondo, clueless as always, said, "I don't get it."

Dr. McCoy sighed. "I knew I should have let Forge do this lesson..."

"Omigosh, he really socked it to us," Jubilee gasped as we left class. "I don't know how I'm going to even attempt that project!"

I nodded in agreement. "No kidding. Well, I guess we should at least be grateful it wasn't a lesson where he would have assigned a tesseract or some other sort of nonsense like that," I said. "It's only electricity this time, thank goodness."

"Anything else, and I would have just taken an F and said forget it!" Jubilee said, heaving a huge sigh.

"No, you wouldn't have, either," Ev said. "He did tell us we could work in pairs, as long as we had two separate and individual projects." He gave her a quick hug. "Don't worry, we'll get it done in no time flat. You'll see."

She brightened visibly. "Yeah!"

"Let's eat, Ah'm starved," Paige suggested.

We headed for the kitchen and attacked the fridge.

"Anything good in there?" I asked Monet, who was busy looking for something to eat.

"Not really," she admitted. "We need to go shopping, big time."

"Why don't we just pick a certain day, and just go every week?" I suggested. "Then we'd never end up like this all the time."

("Speakin' of picking days, have yer two picked a date yet?") Jono asked. He'd hung around the kitchen just for the company.

Ange and I looked at each other. "No, not yet," he said.

"I hadn't really thought about it yet," I admitted.

"Well, you'll want to give yourselves at least a good three, three and a half months to get ready, right?" M reasoned.

"That sounds about right," I agreed. Ange nodded.

"So that would put ya in April," Paige said, glancing at the calendar on the wall as she took a bite out of her apple. "Do ya know of anything already planned ya need to avoid?"

Angelo shrugged. "Nothing comes to mind for me," he said.

I thought for a moment. "My parents already told me they'd be out of town the last week of March and the first week of April, so that's out," I said.

"Have you told them yet?" Mondo asked.

"No, we want to tell them in person," Angelo told him.

I nodded in agreement. "O.K., so the first week is out, anything else we need to consider?"

Jubilee grinned. "We can't forget yer bachelorette party the week before the wedding, girlfriend!" she said excitedly.

"J!" I objected, embarrassed.

"Well?" she said, winking at me. "You are gonna have one, ain'tcha?"

"We'll throw ya a nice bridal shower, Summer," Paige said, ignoring her. "And I'm sure you'll want your mama there."

"Absolutely," I told her. "So that puts us at the second weekend of April for the shower..."

"And the third for our wedding," Angelo finished, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Saturday sound good?"

"Perfect."

Paige grabbed a pen and wrote the events on the calendar. "That's one thing settled," she said. "Now, we need ta go dress shopping for you, Summer."

"Isn't it still early?" Jubilee asked. "I mean, she's still got the rest of January, all of February and March, and part of April to play with."

"No," Monet disagreed. "Better to be early and not have to worry about finding and fitting a dress at the last minute."

The idea was sounding better and better to me all the time. "Besides, you girls are going to be in the wedding, aren't you?" I reminded them. "You'll need time to find your clothes, too."

"Plus, time to plan the whole thing," Ev added. "Flowers, decorations, a photographer--"

"Food!" Mondo piped up.

Trust Mondo to remember a detail like that one... "Yeah, and a caterer."

("Which means yer have to make up a guest list as soon as possible, so yer know how many to plan for,") Jono reminded us.

"Good idea," Paige said.

Angelo muttered something then excused himself, but everyone was so busy talking and chattering excitedly amongst themselves that no one noticed.

"'xcuse me, J," I said, breaking away from the group and following him. I caught up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Ange, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"Es nada, don't worry about it." He smiled at me.

I frowned. "Angie, when you suddenly get upset enough to leave like that, I can't help but worry." I wrapped my arms around him and looked up into his eyes. "What is it?"

He sighed. "When they were talkin' about a guest list, I just got to thinking that my side of the aisle is gonna be real empty, ya know?" he said soberly. "And I couldn't help but wonder how my mother is doing right now, and that she still thinks I'm dead, and that she won't...won't..." He trailed off.

I felt a pang of sympathy for him. "Oh, Angie, I'm sorry," I murmured, pulling closer and hugging him. He held me close and buried his face in my hair.

"It's just that I wish she could be there," he said sadly. "To share the happiest day of my life with me."

"I know, honey. I know," I whispered. I looked back up at him inquiringly. "Are you O.K.?"

"Yeah, I'm O.K. now, thanks," he said, kissing the top of my head. "Let's get back there before everyone starts wondering what's going on."

As we re-entered the kitchen, Jubilee raced up to us.

"There you are," she exclaimed. "Where'd you run off to?"

"Nowhere, we just wanted to discuss something privately," I informed her.

"Oh." She shrugged. "Anyway, we have no classes or training tomorrow, so it would be a perfect day to hit the mall, don't you think?"

"Sure!" I agreed. "Yeah, let's plan for tomorrow, then."

"Cool," she said. I'll go tell Paige and Monet."

"Shades of Gray" 12/? By Me, monet@uky.campus.mci.net and my secret-psychic-sister Krista kjscjs@ix.netcom.com.

"Being dead is the unknown X in our sum. Unless we ignore it or give it some value, we cannot find no answer." -C.S. Lewis