Emma looked off into the distance; evidently someone was calling her telepathically.

"We'll talk about this later," she told us. "I'll be back after I pay the pizza boy." She left the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

I sighed, got up, and walked to the window. The weather outside matched my mood--dark, dreary and ugly. Raindrops hit the glass and streamed down it in little rivers of water.

I wish Beth were here. I could really use someone to talk to right now.

("J?") I sent.

("Yeah,") she answered.

("What's going on over there?")

("Sean ordered pizza, the delivery kid is here,") she informed me. ("Are you coming?")

("I doubt it. She didn't come right out and say it, but Emma's ticked enough at us that we pretty much have to stay here until we 'can act like adults',") I replied.

("Oh, joy. Don't worry, I'll come visit sometime,") she sent sarcastically. ("Uh, oh, Frosty's walkin' in. Gotta go!")

"Great," I muttered to myself. My stomach growled.

"Great, what?" Angelo said. "Don't tell me we don't get any of that pizza." He flopped down in a chair.

"I guess not," I told him. "This must be part of our so called punishment." I rolled my eyes.

"Gee, is this that civilized conversation we're supposed to have tonight?" he asked.

I left the window and sat down across from him. "I guess so," I agreed, folding my arms on top of the desk and resting my chin on them. Both of us were quiet for a moment. "So. What do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Us."

I half laughed. "That's sorta a vague subject. Want to try narrowing it down a bit?" I hinted.

"Okay," he said. "Where are we going from here?"

I looked up at him. He was watching me intently.

I was afraid to answer for fear of saying the wrong thing. I didn't want to sound too desperate. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...our relationship. I tried until it almost drove me crazy, but I can't see you as 'just a friend' and I know you don't see me that way either."

"No...I can't say that I do," I admitted.

"Well?" he asked.

I decided to swallow my pride. "I...I don't want to fight anymore, Angelo. I'm tired of fighting. It's stupid."

He nodded. "Me, too." He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. His mouth worked silently a couple of times before he finally got what the was trying to say out.

"Please, Summer. Believe me when I say I had no idea I still had those pictures," he said placatingly. "They're just a sad piece of my past that's gone forever. They don't mean anything to me anymore. Not like--" He stopped, as if he were afraid he'd said too much already.

"Not like what?" I prompted gently.

"Not like you," he finished, looking into my eyes. He got up and moved to a chair next to me and reached over for my hands. "Summer, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I guess I thought our relationship was too good to be true. I was just so afraid of losing you because of my past, that...that I couldn't tell you." His eyes looked tired and sad. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you. When I think about all the horrible things I've said to you lately...I'd rather die than hurt you."

Tears filled my eyes and I blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear them. "No, we both say that, but it isn't true. We've both said...and done things just to hurt the other. You can't write off what just happened here in the kitchen as a misunderstanding, and I can't say that some of the things I told you were just slips of the tongue. And we're both wrong...and acting like kids. And maybe it's because we're both still so young--I don't know. But I do love you and I don't want to lose you. I'm so sorry for not giving you the chance to explain when you tried to."

Angelo pulled me to him and held me close. I wrapped my arms around him and let him hold me.

The door opened and Emma came in. "Are the two of you ready to talk?"

"Yes," we said in unison.

"Good. Now I need you to listen and to understand me. First, all else aside, the way you two have been acting is unacceptable. If you ever have another disagreement of this level, keep it out of school. It's a small school, when anyone fights, it divides everyone else into factions.

"We can not afford that. As mutants, we are all at high risk, our association with Xavier makes us targets for attack. We have to be strong, and ready for what happens, and united. Clear?"

We nodded.

"Now, the two of you share a bond. You're very sensitive to each other in all ways, and I think on some level, you know this. You two, for better or worse, are stuck together. This bond will not be broken, so when you drive yourselves apart it only causes damage. You two are emotionally dependent on each other. When you left, Summer, it affected Angelo in the extreme; I know that while you were gone, you didn't feel well. You didn't want to come back so early, but you did. Because you needed to.

"And, Angelo, the way you treated Summer today was wrong. I know what happened. But it was understandable. Wait," she hushed any comments the two of us were about to make. "Angelo, you had a sincere desire to be with Summer, though mentally, you weren't quite ready to forgive her. You needed to be with her.

"As your guardian at this school, I can not allow the two of you to use your bond to hurt each other. It will cause emotional and physical damage. I won't allow this. You need to understand how you are linked and accept it."

I blinked and glanced to Angelo. What she said made wonderful sense, it went a long way to explain so much. But it was so strange...alien to me.

"I'm going to leave you to yourselves. You need to spend time together, to try and undo some of the damage you have caused. And I expect you deal with it, and to not allow it to disrupt my school any further."

"Yes ma'am," we said together. She stood and left us alone.

"We really need to talk," Angelo commented. He sounded a little uncomfortable.

So...is the truth finally going to come out? I nodded in agreement. "Yes, we do."

Like before, I was suddenly aware of his thoughts and emotions. It wasn't as bad as earlier, they were rushing into my mind, but I wasn't drowning; I was just letting them flow over me. I wanted to try something, I wanted to talk to him without my telepathy, without words--

"I hear you," he said. At the same time, I felt his thoughts telling me the same thing.

"Oh my gosh..."

Will you tell me everything now?

Yes.

Memories poured into my mind, images of people I didn't know, snatches of conversation.

Slow down, I don't understand it all.

Things stopped, and there was nothing. A girl was standing by a wall in an alley, lighting a cigarette. She was Alana Torres, the girl from the pictures. She was in a gang, the same one Angelo was in, and they were good friends. They had known each other since childhood.

Now she's crying and she doesn't realize Angelo is watching her. He's at her side and asking her what's wrong, holding her in his arms as she cries like a baby. She's embarrassed that she let her guard down around Angelo. Now they don't speak. He's talking to her, and they are saying they love each other. They are in each others' arms, and they're--

Angelo tried to redirect his thoughts, but it's too late, I know, I saw, I felt it. They were intimate.

Afterwards, they're inseparable and people are afraid of them. Angelo is scared because his body is changing into something else. He's a mutant, and he's afraid. Then a man sees him and tries to kill him, calling him a filthy mutant and a spic...a gunshot! The man who tried to kill Angelo lies dead, shot by Torres. And they run, but she'd dropped the gun, leaving evidence.

Now Angelo is mourning because there is so much evidence against Torres, she'll be caught. So he kisses his mother good-bye and tries to look human and leaves home. He writes a suicide note saying he killed the man that Torres shot. He's running away, he can't pretend to be human any longer, he has to leave before someone kills him. Before Torres sees what he has really become. The papers say he's dead, that he killed a man from another gang and then took his own life. And his heart is filled with grief and sadness because he has dishonored his family; they think he is a murderer and that he took his own life. And Torres thinks he is dead, his car driven off a bridge. And he can never go home...

I pull away, my head dizzy with thoughts that are not my own. "Angelo..." I whisper, unable to say anymore. But he knows what I'm thinking, I don't need to say a word.

I need to go to my room. I need to sleep and to think about everything. I love Angelo and I understand now, but my mind is so full of his thoughts, I can hardly find my own.

"I'll walk you to your room," Angelo says without needing to do so. I knew he would.

When we got to my room, we stood at the door, literally lost in thought. Not our own thoughts, mind you, but lost in thought none the less.

We were going to get married. Without words, it was agreed. He would give me the ring in the morning.

"Angelo! Wake up already."

Everett's voice was loud and seemed to come from right beside me. Startled, I bolted upright in bed. The sound of Everett's voice and the sense of Angelo's room were replaced with the silence of my room. In the back of my mind, I was able to feel Angelo's irritation at Everett. It seemed distant and did not directly affect the closeness of our newfound bond. I need an aspirin...

We had shared a dream last night. It was a weird amalgam of whatever his mind was trying to dream, and what my mind was trying to dream. I felt weird being alone, it seemed I had spent the entire night talking with Angelo.

I opened my closet, grabbed a clean uniform and walked to the bathroom. I turned on the shower then set my clothes on the counter, taking a brush from the drawer while I was there. As I began to brush my hair, I felt a prickling feeling along my face. For a moment I thought I had gooseflesh rising on my face, which was very strange, and ran a hand along my cheek. Nothing.

When I blinked, I saw a flash of something. A flash of white on gray and of something else. A moment passed, I blinked again, seeing Angelo's face. I closed my eyes. I was seeing Angelo; he was shaving...I was seeing his reflection in a mirror. I must still be dreaming...but I feel awake.

Pushing the image from my mind, I climbed into the shower. It seemed every time I shut my eyes, I saw Angelo's face. Probably a result of having his mind in my own all night. I'd ask Emma about it later, there was probably some scientific explanation of it all. But how would any of that explain why my face tingled? I scrubbed it under the shower.

It seemed to help. It didn't tingle any more. I took my mesh-net sponge from its hook and poured a bit of body soap on it. I lathered my arm and my neck, then ran the sponge over my chest. A wave of something hit me and I nearly fell over. Suddenly I felt flushed and aroused. At my own touch?

It was then that I realized I was seeing and feeling what Angelo felt and vice versa, explaining a few things. I opened my eyes and stared at the shower ceiling.

("Angelo?")

("...Yeah?")

("We really need to talk with Emma...")

I walked into class about fifteen minutes later. Angelo was already there, talking to Ev. He must have sensed me when I came in, because he looked my direction.

("How're ya doin'?") I sent.

("I'm doing my best to keep it out of my head. Summer, I have to tell you, that uniform does you no justice--")

("Ange!") I sat down at my desk and pretended to study dangling participles, leaning against the desk with one hand over my cheek to hide my blush. He sent a wave of affection my way.

"All right, class. Let's come ta order," Sean instructed.

"Where's Ms. Frost?" Monet wanted to know. "Isn't she teaching this class today?"

Just then Emma came in and glanced over at Sean, presumably telling him something. He nodded and sat down at the teacher's desk.

"Banshee will be teaching my classes today," Emma said crisply. "I expect you will give him the same attention you would me..." She paused to glare at Jubilee, who was snickering at that comment, before continuing. "I will be testing you on this subject tomorrow."

The class groaned in unison; Ms. Frost's grammar tests were not known for being easy.

Paige tossed a wad of paper J's direction. "Nice job, Mall Rat."

Ignoring the grumbling, Emma turned her attention to Angelo and me.

"Summer, Angelo, come with me, please." The grumbles became whispers as we rose from our seats and followed her from the room.

Emma closed the door behind us and rolled her eyes in exasperation. Jubilee always got on her nerves, and today she seemed to be especially grating her.

She turned to us and smiled almost sheepishly as she noted us just looking at her. "This way." We entered her office and again she shut the door behind us.

"This room was built with a psi-shield system, should I choose to use it, so it should be perfect to block out any outside...interference." A grin flickered briefly at the corner of her mouth once more as she sat down behind her desk. She motioned to two large leather chairs at either corner of the desk. "Have a seat."

We sat down and looked at her expectantly. Yet again, Emma's grin escaped.

I could sense Angelo's annoyance and decided to voice the question.

"What is so funny, Ms. Frost?"

"Funny? Nothing."

I cocked my eyebrow up at her. "You're lying..." It was then that I realized Angelo and I had spoken in unison.

Emma chuckled. "You two are really in this deep, aren't you?"

Angelo and I looked at each other. "Deep?"

Emma nodded. "You do everything simultaneously, you're speaking in unison or finishing each other's sentences, and you've been using the same expressions and mannerisms all morning," she noted, gesturing to us.

I looked over at Angelo, who had his leg crossed with one ankle atop the other knee while leaning against the arm rest, his chin propped in one hand--and realized I was sitting in the same position, only in reverse. Embarrassed by her amusement, I quickly sat up straight.

"Oh, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Emma said softly. "I apologize if my amusement caused you discomfort. It's actually quite natural, and once you learn to be selective about what portions of your minds are constantly being shared and which are not, it won't be such a problem." She folded her hands and rested them on the desktop. "Is there anything you'd like to ask or tell me before we begin?"

I looked over to Angelo again. Together we sifted through the questions in our minds.

He cleared his throat. "How...how did this happen? I mean, I ain't no telepath."

"And I'm not exactly a top notch psi, either," I added. "And..."

"It's not that we don't like sharing thoughts," Angelo finished for me. "We do, it's...I can't explain it."

"It's a closeness that I've never experienced before," I continued. "But sometimes it's..."

"Too close?" Emma inserted.

"Yes. I mean, um, this morning...it's was like, um...you know...really distracting."

Emma cocked an eyebrow.

"Because we were seeing what the other saw and feeling--" I stopped. Emma knew what I was getting at.

"I see. Your respective morning routines got in each other's way?"

"Exactly," we both said, much to our consternation and Emma's amusement.

"And it scares me, Emma. Now I feel that our thoughts are so tangled together they'll never be undone. It's like our minds are two glasses of water that have been poured together. You'll never separate them, each molecule back from the glass it came from. As much as I love Angelo, I'm afraid of losing myself, I love him, I don't want to be him. I don't know how I can ever get my mind totally back."

"Don't worry," Emma soothed. "I can't say I know what you're going through, I've never gone through that. But as a telepath, I understand it. I don't suppose your minds will ever be totally separated again, you'll always have each other in the back of your mind. But you can control how much of yourself you're willing to share. For example, it might be best if you work on blocking sensory input from being shared, considering the trouble the two of you had getting ready this morning. And you need to have your own thoughts, you'll have to wall off sections of your mind from each other."

"Wall off?" It sounded so...'keep out!' in a way. "I--I don't want to barricade my mind."

Emma shook her head. "No, no, that's not how I meant it." She sighed and chewed at her lip briefly. "All right. Let's use this as an example. Jubilee is a good friend of yours, and you've told each other rather personal things before, haven't you?" I nodded in agreement. "But you wouldn't go sifting through her personal belongings, or if you saw her diary lying on her nightstand, you wouldn't feel entitled to read it simply because you were good friends, would you?"

"No, of course not," I responded. "That would be rude. Everybody needs their own private space."

"Exactly," Emma agreed. "Even couples as close as you two are not required to share each and every detail, thought and emotion with each other. You have the right--and the need--to keep these private and intimate details of your individual personalities separate from what you share with each other. The problem that you're facing now is the bond which was formed between you two was made unconsciously, in a rather haphazard way due to your highly emotional state, so your minds have been sort of tossed together, you might say. You need to learn how to sort out the pieces and distinguish where they belong; whether they should be personal or shared.

"Think of this barrier not as a hard, solid wall, but rather as a fence. It would be easy to climb that fence to see what's on the other side, but you respect your neighbor's privacy enough that you wouldn't think of doing such a thing. You would never cross that line uninvited. And keep in mind that fences--"

I sensed a flash of understanding from Angelo. "--always have gates," he finished, "so you can let people in if you want to."

Emma smiled broadly. "I think you've got the big picture down." She rose from her seat. "I'll leave you two alone for a while. Together, I think you should be quite capable of sorting things out, of separating the "this is mine" aspects of yourselves from the "I want to share this with you" ones."

I nodded. "I think I understand, but where do we start? I mean, it's such a huge project..."

"Not really," Emma disagreed. Again a grin quirked at the corner of her mouth. "You're not a chain smoking smooth talker with a definite need for more attentive personal hygiene, are you?"

"Hey!" Angelo objected. "This dang thing grows back as fast as I can shave it. And I don't chain--"

"Shhhh." She winked at him to let him know she was only teasing. "Do you see where to start now, Summer? You should each collect what truly belongs to you and only you, and the rest is what makes up your bond."

"What if too much of the personal stuff gets left behind?" I asked. "What happens then?"

"That may well happen eventually," she told me in all seriousness. "You know how they say couples tend to look like each other after many years together? It's because they've grown so close to each other that their individual personalities are still there, they've just conformed a bit to the other's. So I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"And the sensory input thing?"

"You'll get the hang of that with time, too. Just like learning to ride the proverbial bicycle."

I looked to her gratefully. "Thank you, Emma. You've been a huge help."

She nodded. "You're very welcome. If you need help establishing the boundaries we talked about, let me know and I'll help you get started." She left, closing the door behind her.

We sat in silence for a moment and simply looked at each other. Wordlessly, Angelo held his hand out to me. I rose from my chair and took his hand in mine. Drawing me down to his lap, he held me close to him. I closed my eyes and let my consciousness go to work side by side with Angelo's as we sifted through the pieces of our minds.

When we finally finished, I had my side, he had his, and the rest formed a solid but pliable link between the two sides.

I opened my eyes. ("Angelo?")

("Yeah.")

("The jumble--the confusion...it's gone! But...you're still here, in my mind.")

("My head's not swimming any more. And I feel you, too.")

("It's a nice, cozy feeling,") I sent shyly. ("I think I could get used to this.")

Ange gave me a squeeze in response and kissed the top of my head. ("There's just one more thing we need to make this official,") he told me. Shifting me on his lap slightly, he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the ring. Picking up my left hand, he slipped the ring on my finger and closed his hand around mine.

("I love you, chica.") He made no attempt to disguise the flood of emotion that came crashing down our bond.

("I love you too, Angie.") My vision blurred as tears of happiness filled my eyes.

Angelo leaned down and kissed me, holding me close. Again our minds united, but unlike when he'd kissed in me the kitchen, there was no chaos, no confusion; rather, a deep, loving rapport unlike anything we'd ever experienced before.

We were both startled by a sudden knock at the door. Mentally sighing in defeat, I reluctantly extricated myself from Angelo's embrace.

"Come in," we chorused.

Angelo grinned. "We just did it again," he whispered in my ear as the door opened and Emma came inside.

"Computer, terminate psi-shielding. Dinner is on the table if you're interested."

"Dinner?" I exclaimed. "You mean to say we've been in here all day?" I looked at Angelo incredulously as Emma nodded.

"It only seemed like a few minutes," he agreed.

"You've been deep in thought. Time seems to pass more slowly within the mind than it does normally."

"Oh." At least that explained things.

"So I take it you've managed to make some progress, then?"

"Yes," I responded, Angelo's feeling of confirmation wafting across my mind.

"I can tell. The aura you two project is much less static now. Calmer, more controlled," Emma told us. "Now, are you coming, or should we eat without you?"

Right on cue, my stomach growled loudly.

"I guess that answers that question. C'mon babe, let's get something to eat."

Emma left, not shutting the door after her. Angelo and I stood in unison and walked to the door. We had effectively separated our memories and cognitive thoughts so we didn't have instant access to the others thoughts. If I wanted to know what he was thinking, all I had to do was look; but it wasn't constantly running through my mind. That also prevented us from constantly speaking in unison or finishing each others sentences. However, we did leave some of the motor skill connections intact, so we tended to move together and act the same way. It was kind of comforting and we enjoyed it. It would take some experimenting before we finally settled on just what to share and what to keep to ourselves.

In the kitchen, all eyes were on us as we entered. I wasn't particularly aware of their stares; I was sorting through some old memories Angelo had given me. They were of when I first arrived to the school and I found them very interesting. I realized Jubilee was talking to me.

"I'm sorry, I missed that. What?"

"I said, where were you all day?" she spoke in a whisper as I sat down beside her. Angelo took the only other available seat directly across from me.

"Talking with Angelo as per Frosty's orders."

"Oh." She winced.

("No, it wasn't a bad thing, I'll tell you all about it later.")

"Okay." She handed me the bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Thanks." I scooped some onto my plate and set the bowl down on the table. Reaching for my fork, I leaned forward to spear myself a pork chop. Too late, I realized that Angelo had reached for the same one at the same time. Our forks clinked together.

We both moved back quickly and sat looking at each other.

"Take it," I told him.

"No, it's all right, you take it," he offered.

I fought back an insane urge to laugh. Everyone was tense; what probably looked to them like the beginnings of another stupid confrontation was actually Angelo simply trying to be chivalrous toward me.

"All right." I leaned forward again and took the chop. Placing it on my plate, I then proceeded to drown the whole meal in gravy and dug in.

"Summer, will ya pass the...gravy?" Paige looked at me incredulously. She took it from me. "Ah thought ya hated gravy," she said in a confused voice as she set the gravy bowl next to her plate.

"I do," I responded, raising my fork and taking a bite. I grimaced. "Why on earth did I do that?" I muttered to myself. It was then that I noticed Angelo picking up the bowl and liberally dumping gravy on his plate. I sighed and took another bite.

I picked up my glass to take a sip but stopped midway when I noticed Angelo unwittingly performing the same action. When he realized it too his lip twitched. I continued eating to keep from laughing.

I became aware of Jubilee staring at me. "What?" I asked, my mouth full.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Nothing at all..." She chewed for a minute then set down her fork. "You two are acting, like, so weird. What's going on?"

("Should we tell them?")

("Why not?")

("Everything?")

"Sums!"

("How much did you tell them, Ms. Frost?")

("Nothing.") She dabbed her lips primly with her napkin but did not look at me.

"Okay. Ms. Frost says Angelo and I have this sort of bond or something." I took a bite of salad as nonchalantly as if we'd been talking about the weather.

Paige gaped at us. "Bond?"

"Yeah. You know. Like a telepathic link of sorts."

Monet's eyebrow raised. "How fascinating."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," Jubilee said sarcastically. "Tell us more."

I stole a glance at Angelo. ("I've gotta do it, she walked right into that one!")

("Can't argue with you there. Besides, they're gonna find out anyway.")

"Okay." I propped my elbow up on the table and leaned my chin against my hand. "What did you want to--"

"Is that an engagement ring, Summer?" Ev asked enthusiastically, leaning across the table to get a better look.

"Yep," Angelo declared. "It sure is."

"We are officially back together," I announced happily.

I let out a startled little gasp as Jubilee turned and hugged me excitedly, nearly knocking the contents of my plate onto my lap in the process. I grabbed it just in time.

"Summer, that's great!" she squealed. I knew you two would patch things up."

"Thanks, J..." I murmured, picking up my napkin and wiping gravy off my uniform.

"Shades of Gray" 19/? By Me, monet@uky.campus.mci.net and my secret-psychic-sister Krista kjscjs@ix.netcom.com.

God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we'd listen twice as much as we talk.