Authors note: This story doesn't really fit in properly, but let's just say that everyone is back home, including Xavier, Iceman and those who were lost in space. Gambit's secret has not been revealed because I still don't really know what it IS, and there are no new X-men 'cause I don't know where they fit in yet. I'm really just making it up as I go along, so try and stick with me! You will notice that some characters have changed drastically, but you didn't really expect them to come through Onslaught and OZT unscathed did you? No! This is also my first attempt at fanfic and would love some feedback.

"Will she be alright?" Bobby Drake asked worriedly. He was often called Iceman, and had sometimes thought it amusing. It evoked images of someone cool and untouchable, which he wasn't. Right now he wished he were.

"I don't know yet. Gimme a minute!" Beast was also worried. How could anyone do this to another living creature? The long blonde hair was streaked with dirt and blood, and there was going to be a terrible bruise down one side of her face in the morning. Broken rib or two for sure, some nasty cuts and bruises but no internal injuries. Now if her skull isn't cracked we should be in the clear. He glanced up at his fellow X-man who was doing an excellent anxious mother impression. "Nothing bad so far."

Bobby nodded, but thought How do you define bad? Her head took a pretty bad hit. So two erstwhile superheroes waited with bated breath until the computer spat out some results.

"Nothing. Our little mystery girl will be fine." Beast lowered his head with a sigh of relief. Thank God. Then the assured professional who cared about ethics and modesty in these situations kicked in and Dr Henry McCoy Ph.D. looked up at his friend. "So push off and send Jean down."

In the kitchen around twenty minutes later conversation resumed after Cyclops, Iceman and Phoenix had been given the rundown on her condition.

"Was she carrying ID or anything else that might help identify her Hank? If she has a family they'll probably be frantic." Scott's voice was calm, but inside he felt angry and a little sick.

"Sleeping Beauty had about her person" Beast ticked them of on his fingers. "a gold ring, a watch giving the wrong time, a gold necklace with an unusual medallion and around five hundred dollars in cash. Pretty good for a sixteen year old who's just been mugged in a dark alley."

"Oh goody." Scott was hoping that Beast's comment about amnesia had been a bad joke and that the girl would tell them who to call when she woke up. "So how about you tell us how you came by her, Drake?"

Idly playing with an abandoned pencil, Bobby said "I'd left Warren's place, and decided that since it was such a nice night I'd make my own way home. I was passing through Salem Center when I saw some weird flashes a little way away which looked suspiciously like mutant activity, and decided to investigate. I was still a fair way away from them, but I could see what looked like a group of big people ganging up on one small mutant person. Then the flashes stopped, I think that's when she got hit on the head. They closed in and were just beginning to enjoy themselves, kicking unconscious kids isn't my idea of fun but everyone's different, when one of them saw me coming and they bolted. I didn't really see any of them, but the whole scene had Friends of Humanity written all over it. I brought her here so the police wouldn't get involved."

"Weird flashes? That's not really very specific. I for one would like to know what she's capable of before she wakes up." Jean looked at Beast enquiringly. "Did you check?"

Beast passed a weary hand over his eyes. Being woken up at two in the morning like this wasn't good for his sleep patterns or his nerves. "Yes I did check, and the results were…. Surprising. She's an electro-magnetic with a few basic psychic abilities, probably only shields and some sensitivity, but still there. All her powers are fully functional and I don't really understand how a small group of mutant-haters could have gotten the better of her. If she has any measure of control they should've run off with their tails between their legs."

"And if she has good control ….?" Scott prompted.

"She's Magneto on estrogen." The disturbing image of Magneto as they had last seen him swam across each mind. Joseph had slipped on a piece of cucumber that had fallen out of Psylocke's lunch and hit his head on the fridge, not too hard but enough to knock him out for a minute or two. They'd seen the difference immediately after he regained consciousness when he tried to sit up and swore for a minute and a half in three languages without repeating himself. Then came the moment that Iceman swore would haunt him for the rest of his life and possibly after. Managing to prop himself up against the fridge the stranger in their midst apparently caught a glimpse of what he was wearing, and the small black and red symbol that was a part of it. He had ripped off the belt buckle with a bloodcurdling scream, dropped it on the floor, jumped up and down on it, blasted it, jumped on it some more, reduced it to component atoms and jumped on them a few times before looking up at a speechless Charles Xavier and saying "Is it dead?" Xavier went "Erik??", Erik went "Yes?" and Gambit stepped forward with tears in his eyes. "Magneto! Mon ami!" He had cried, and wrapping the confused villain in an enthusiastic hug had said in an emotion filled voice "You don' know how Remy missed you …"

Back in the present, the four forever-changed heroes shuddered in unison.

"Only concerning her powers of course," Beast said hurriedly. "there is no reason for her to resemble him in other ways …"

"But we better keep a close eye on her and rig some alarms just in case." Cyclops finished.

* * *

Two days later the still nameless 'she' woke up. Beast in his lab was alerted, he contacted Cyclops, and Bishop decided it was his duty to guard the X-Men from a potential security risk. They marched through the door together, presenting a united blue and gold front. The patient sat up groggily, taking a few minutes to focus on them as the three men in the doorway stayed still and concentrated on being non-threatening. She had been through a traumatic experience and was probably a little emotionally unstable, but even taking this into account her reaction was strange.

"The X-Men? Oh hoo-bloody-ray. Headache and hallucinations or headache and disturbing reality. Whatta choice. Right self, first things first, how did I get the headache?" Then in a softer voice "I remember. They saw me land and I was too tired to get away …" And the three men stood by ineffectually as she burst into tears.

"For pity's sake …" Warren Worthington III had been a ladies' man most of his life and knew what to do when they were upset. She cried into his shoulder while he patted her hair, made comforting noises and glared at his embarrassed colleagues. After a while she wore herself out, and shifted her attention to his wings.

"Ooooohhhh, pretty!" She wasn't exactly happy but looked interested, and the sobs had faded to occasional snuffles. Warren opened his wings and admired them over his shoulder.

"They are, aren't they?" He said happily. He'd missed them a lot, and was paying them extra special attention. Regular washing, grooming and admiring sessions until Psylocke had accused him of loving his wings more than he loved her. A little reluctantly he turned his attention the teenager in front of him and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm Archangel. Who are you?"

"I'm Jessica. I know I get called something else as well, but I can't remember what it is…." She trailed off uncertainly. "Now that I think about it, there's a lot of things I can't remember. I know I grew up in Australia but I don't know where I live now, and I know I have to do something important but I can't remember what it was." She trailed off looking lost.

"Do you remember where to contact your parents or someone else who knows you?" Jessica's eyes went flat and hostile.

"I remember that I want nothing to do with my 'parents'! I know there's some people, but I can't remember their faces, I just can't remember! Leave me alone!" Pushing Archangel away she shuffled down in the bed, pulled the blankets over her head and started to cry again. In the doorway Cyclops, Beast and Bishop gave Archangel a silent ovation.

* * *

Jessica's disposition did not noticeably change over the next two days. All the X-Men in the mansion tried their best to coax her out of her depression, but eventually gave up after she started throwing lightning bolts. Both Jean and Professor Xavier were unable to penetrate her highly developed psychic screens without hurting her, and so couldn't help her emotional state or her memory. All they had been able to pick up was that she disliked Cannonball and Rogue slightly less because she found the accents interesting.

They were contemplating the dilemma in the living room when Gambit sashayed in after his weeklong celebration of Magneto's return.

"Good morning, everybody! I jus' wanted t'say, wit' all sincerity," he threw his arms wide, as if to encompass the whole roomful of shocked people "dat I missed hardly any of you! 'cept all you beautiful ladies o'course." He smiled happily and continued through the room and out the other door, singing something that sounded suspiciously like 'Zippedy-do-DAH, zippedy-DAY'. The assembled X-Men looked at each other in silence for a second, then Psylocke said what they were all thinking.

"A happy, charming person with a sexy accent…." Without further prompting Rouge leapt to her feet and called in her most sultry voice,

"Oh Reee-myy…." It had the desired effect. Gambit was back in less than a minute and swept her off her feet.

"You wanted me, cheri?"

"Ummm, yeah. Ah know how you're tryin' to make up for some nasty stuff ya done b'fore, so Ah thought you could help this poor girl who really needs someone. Please?" She fluttered her eyelashes and looked hopeful and trusting. "For me?"

Gambit caved under the barrage of feminine wiles and agreed. A phonecall to Jubilee in Massachusetts and a quick arrangement with a teleporter who owed him a favour gave him everything he needed.

* * *

Jessica didn't look up, but Gambit knew that she knew he was there.

"Evenin' petit. Wan' some dinner?" She looked up at that, and there was a flicker of interest in her blue eyes before she turned over and feigned indifference. But Gambit was in too good a mood to be even slightly bothered. He simply pushed over a wheeled table, set up dinner and began to eat happily.

"Dey tell me you're Australian. Never been dere, but I 'magine it must be fun wit' koalas and kangaroos bouncin' all over t' place." She turned back around and looked daggers at him for that, but he just grinned back and made appreciative eating noises. Bad stereotypes about a person's country of origin will get to them no matter how depressed they are. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Gambit, or Remy if y' want, an' I'm from New Orleans. Don' ask me why I left, it a long story." Silence. "Alright, I give in. Let me put it dis way. Once upon a time dere were two kingdoms, and dey were always at war. But d'problem wit' dat is people keep gettin' killed. So to make peace dey decided that de charming and handsome Prince Remy (moi) and de beautiful Princess Belladonna should get married. O'course, t'ings like dis don' always turn out even when de prince and princess want dem to…." The creatively embellished and censored fairytale, paused in the exciting bits for him to eat, served to attract her interest and several times she almost asked a question.

Now for d'big guns. Gambit placed the jumbo pack of Dark Chocolate Tim Tams (Authors note: Tim Tams are chocolate biscuits, worshipped by Australian women) in the center of the table, opened it up, took one and proceeded to eat it. There was a small whimper from the bed. Jessica's eyes had become huge and round, she was staring at the chocolate biscuits and biting her bottom lip. Slowly, as if she was being forced, one small hand reached forward. Gambit waited until she was almost touching them, then smacked her hand away.

"No!" She looked at him in total shock as he pointed towards the untouched plate. "You eat your dinner first!"

"So then she just burst out laughing? And agreed to let us help her get her memory back?" Cyclops looked incredulous.

"First part oui, second part non. We talked for a while first, she has some nasty stuff in her head dat she gotta deal with herself and Jessie don' wan' no one pokin' around in dere. Beast said dat it ain't permanent and she could just see somet'ing dat triggers it tomorrow, so I don' see why we should interfere. And she does remember a lot about de X-Men, so I wouldn't bother tryin' t'hide de secret identities 'cause she already knows."

"Then she is a security risk, especially before she gets over her amnesia, and cannot be allowed to leave without Phoenix or Professor Xavier making sure it is safe."

"I'm with Bishop." Agreed Cyclops, "If she knows that, what else might she know or remember?"

"Had you considered askin' her y'self? She already t'ought o' dat, and is quite happy to stay here until she gets better."

"And after she 'gets better'?"

"Then Jessica can leave if she wants to!" Said Iceman angrily. "She already knew, so if she was gonna tell anyone she already would have."

"If anyone is interested in what I think," murmured Professor Xavier "we can't really make any solid decisions until she does get better, and since we all disagree so violently, we will just have to wait and see." In the end, this was the solution they were forced to adopt.

* * *

Being young and healthy Jessica's physical injuries healed quickly, and (without meaning to) began to give some demonstrations about how well she controlled her powers. Professor X, deciding that if her amnesia continued Jessica's place might be in Generation X, sat down to write a report for Emma Frost.

'… Jessica seems to be completely comfortable with her powers and be fluent in their many and varied uses. Her manipulation of the energy around her resembles simply another set of hands or eyes more than anything else, and nothing very extrordinary as far as she is concerned. Her prowess and attitude seem to indicate that wherever she lives her mutation is not treated as strange or unusual, but she either was taught or learnt by herself how to use her gifts effectively. Factors pointing towards outside assistance is that even without her extra abilities she is a formidable fighter despite her size, and her knowledge is above average for her age, especially involving genetics and particle physics. Also, from what she has remembers she discovered she was a mutant at thirteen and is sixteen now, her capabilities and control making it more unlikely that she was completely self-taught. From what little information she has given about that period in her life I have gathered that her parents were not accepting, but after that her memories become unclear and she dislikes having to talk about it. One point upon which she is adamantly clear, however, is that she no longer lives with her parents nor has anything to do with them. Unfortunately, this teacher/guardian remains a mystery.

Another interesting point: she seems to find people with accents comforting, becoming very attached to Gambit and Cannonball in particular, and the medallion she wears is covered with writing in a language neither I nor anyone here recognizes but Jessica claims she used to know the translation. Her ring is also engraved in Spanish, but translated is only "Happy 16^th, love M", and I feel strongly that the medallion is more important.'

Xavier paused. There was a strange sound wafting through his house, and it pulled at a small section of his mind. He had changed after Onslaught, and there were still residual effects from harboring what was essentially Erik Magnus Lensherr's entire personality in an unused corner of his brain. Some of those memories were still around (the work 'lurking' sprang to mind), and this noise was tugging at them. And it was coming from his kitchen. Jessica had her back to the door, making herself a sandwich and singing in what Professor Xavier thought was one of the most beautiful voices he'd heard in a long time.

Turning around to put the lettuce away she noticed her audience and broke off. "Oops, sorry if I disturbed you." She smiled apologetically. "Umm, you wanna sandwich?" The Professor opened his mouth to refuse and then stopped as he realised he hadn't actually sat down and talked to her. Put her through her paces, asked personal questions and pushed her let him help, but no real person-to-person communication had occurred. Besides he was hungry and the report could wait.

"What are you making?"

"Chicken lettuce and mayo. It's really yummy. Should really have a chocolate milkshake to go with it, but ya gotta make the best of what's available." She took this hardship with a philosophical sigh and a small grin.

"Sounds nice. If you don't mind, how about you with your superior knowledge make the sandwiches and I'll handle the milkshakes." She looks so…relaxed. When did we all get so serious?

"Deal. But I'm kinda curious as to how you're going to pull it off." He just smiled serenely at her.

"My dear child, I lead the X-Men and have many resources at my disposal." ~Besides, we're all getting too serious and set in our ways. There's too much self-pity and angst floating around and it's making me depressed again. Maybe my X-Men need to be shaken up a little to get them out of their rut.~ Xavier stretched out his mind, searching the grounds until he located a particular person. ~Scott?~

~Would you mind doing me a favour?~

~Great. Pop up to the shops and get me two large chocolate milkshakes, would you?~

~Oh don't be such a pootyhead, Scott. Just run along, there's a good boy~

The Professor gave Jessica a satisfied smile as she giggled helplessly. He'd enabled her to 'listen in' on his conversation, and that link was still in place when Jean contacted him.

~Professor, was that really necessary?~

~You know how sensitive he is.~

~It's that girl, isn't it, her perkiness and teenage irresponsibility seem to be catching. I can forgive Sam, but I expected better from you.~

After a moment of careful thought Xavier blew her a mental raspberry and broke the connection. Then he turned to the fridge. "If I know Rogue there has to be some chocolate hidden in here somewhere…" He eventually found it behind the vegetable crisper.

They had quite a good lunch together, and both opened up, but the bombshell wasn't dropped until they were polishing off the last crumbs of the pilfered chocolate.

"You know, I didn't lose my memory because I got hit on the head."

"What makes you say that?" Professor Charles Francis Xavier hadn't got where he was by being easily shocked.

"I was … well I suppose you'd call it meditating, last night and checked it out. I blocked off a specific period of my life to protect someone or something. I also set up a trigger that would unblock my mind, but I don't know what it is."

"I might be able to unblock it for you."

"No, I did it for a reason and I'd like to wait a while before I take such a drastic step. Besides, I'll sometimes get little flashes and I still remember a lot of stuff. Like about all of you. I think it'll come back on its own eventually and I wouldn't put it past myself to have done something to prevent people breaking in. Anyway, I just thought you should know. You want that last bickie?"

Although he didn't realise it, Xavier's comment about the X-Men needing to be shaken up stuck in Jessica's mind. They were all too grown up, and Sam was too polite and a little too old to provide the necessary teenage influence. But if he could be encouraged to act as young as they were treating him with the Professor's blessing, combined with her brains and skills…

Two days later a pipe broke in boathouse, forcing the Summers's to move into the mansion until their place dried out. The significance of this didn't hit Cyclops until the wall of sound did at precisely twelve that night. He managed to sit up and say "What the fu…" before the intro finished and the guitar and bass broke into the main theme. Part of his brain noticed with faint interest that the bed was vibrating, the rest had seized control of his body and had made it leap out of bed and into the hall, looking through more red than usual for whoever was responsible!

More bleary-eyed and half-dressed X-Men staggered into the hallway. Normal conversation was impossible, but a telepathic link can be a mighty handy thing.

What the hell is going on?!?! Thought an extremely pissed of Beast.

Music. Real LOUD music. Archangel replied unhelpfully.

~No kidding.~ Jean was showing remarkable skill for someone who's been woken up two hours into their sleep cycle, and was talking and scanning for a culprit simultaneously. She turned up blanks. Two of them. ~Where are Jessica and Sam?~

~Professor? Do you know where they are?~

~I … I just never expected her to take me so seriously …~

~Professor? What's wrong?~

The professor had an expression of disbelieving amusement on the half of his face visible above his hand and his shoulders were shaking. ~I don't know whether to be angry or proud. They've shaken everyone out of their moping, and setting this up so that we can't catch them was very clever. We can't turn it off either as we don't know where it's coming from, but on the downside, I'm not getting any sleep. But I suppose I brought it on myself. I did say we were in a rut and needed to be shaken up, I just didn't count on the literal teenage interpretation.~

~Scott, calm down before you rupture something. It's not that bad.~

~Jean's right.~ Psylocke smiled in her mysterious way and tapped her foot in time with the blaring music. ~I sort of like it.~

Remy agrees. Gambit was grinning at her. 'Sides, dis is de best time o' day. Care to dance, Betsy? He bowed and extended a hand.

~Love to.~

Bastion was right. Mutants are different. But Storm smiled as she thought it to herself. They had all been through some terrible things recently, Gambit and Psylocke especially, but there they were, dressed in pajamas waltzing to fast music in the hallway at midnight. And laughing. If that wasn't different, then the Goddess only knew what was. The song finished and the next one started. Both were light-hearted, and there had been a shortage of music in the X household lately. Storm felt it wrapping around her and lifting her soul like the winds she rode lifted her body.

Of course not. Neither do I. Archangel and Rogue smiled at each other and began to dance.

You know, as a professional practical joker, I must admit that this is a very good one. Iceman was also smiling, whether in professional appreciation or amusement at their predicament it was impossible to tell. Besides, the Prof's right. We really should lighten up a little, a few things might have gone wrong but we've still got a lot.

Some of the X-Men enjoyed the music, others returned to bed and tried to block out the noise. The CD finished with a slow song and they all decided to give sleep another try. Gambit was just settling into bed, when he recognized the opening passages of 'Thriller' come wafting through the house and hit the intercom.

"Enough is enough. It was fun for a while, but don' push your chances of survival." The music stopped and was replaced by a voice back through the intercom.

"Party pooper. Oh well, I think we made our point. Hey Sammy, pass those chips, even if the adults won't play we may as well make a night of it. What video do we wanna watch?"

Two important questions hadn't been asked. The answers were that Jessica and Cannonball were in the psi-proof chamber below the mansion and Wolverine, having had Jubilee as a sidekick for a long time, had simply pulled out his earplugs and gone back to sleep with a smirk on his face.

Downstairs: "Ah can't believe Ah let you talk me inta that."

"Oh come on. You me and the Professor all know they needed it, gives 'em something different to complain about. Anything other than 'My girlfriend's metamorphisizing and I'm still blue' or 'My idol chucked a bit of a wobbly and now my life has no meaning' or even worse, 'I did something not very nice last month/fifteen years ago/in another lifetime and now I feel all guilty even though it wasn't really my fault'. Oh puh-leeeaase! Compared to say, Mystique with PMS, the occasional dummy-spitting is like forgetting to put the toilet seat back down. Although admittedly, there's nothing more shocking in the middle of the night than cold porcelain on your … aaaaanyway, I'm getting a little off track. What I mean is that a little normal juvenile delinquency will bring them back down to earth, and make them forget for a little while that mutants are the most hated and feared people in the world, barring Americans of course." Jessica, lecture finished, took a sip of her Coke™ and reached for the popcorn.

Trying to get away from the terrifying image of Mystique with PMS, Sam couldn't help asking "What if you're an American mutant?"

Jessica patted him on the head and said soothingly "Don't worry, I still like you." The details of the ensuing food-fight are best left unsaid, but it eventually finished and conversation resumed. "So how old are you exactly?"

"Twenty." Jessica deliberately fell off her chair.

"Oh my LORD! You're ancient! Do you remember dinosaurs? Here I was thinkin' you were a total cutie and it turns out you're an old fogey! I think I need therapy…"

"You think I'm cute?"

"WAS thinking, honey, was thinking. I'm not attracted to you personally, but the accent, blonde hair, big blue eyes, innocent attitude, nice bod and real nice butt make you certifiably gorgie by female standards. I can't make any guarantees if you're gay."

"I'm not." Sam was blushing slightly. He hadn't realised she was looking.

"Got a girlfriend?"

"Well…"

"One of those, huh? Tell Jessie all about it and she'll tell you if it's fixable."

On the whole, it was an enjoyable night.

* * *

Dear Paige,

You know how I told you about what Jessica did with the music? Well, she seems determined to remind people what it's like to live with a teenager. In one way I suppose it's good for them, and the Professor really likes her and finds everything she does amusing and endearing, but even Jubilee was never this bad. I can hear you doubting, but let me present my case.

Incident 1: We're in the war room, discussing a mission. She walked straight in, which was surprising because Cyclops made quite a point of how she was not supposed to be there. She…I'm sorry, there's no other word…snarled at us and said (I quote) "I'm feeling like a big fat ugly cow today, so nobody talk to me.", then turned around and stalked out. I guess she just thought we needed the warning.

Incident 2: Cable came over to visit, and he wasn't used to Jessie's way of amusing herself. He walked into the kitchen and saw Phoenix stepping over the body of some unfamiliar person. She went "Hi Nate." and he went "Who-" before Phoenix interrupted him. "Don't take any notice of her, she just does it to get attention when she's bored or in a mood. Please don't encourage her, it only makes her worse." I've never seen him look so confused. "But…" So Jessica put him out of his misery. "I'm dead and nobody cares!" Then she got up and sat on the edge of the table swinging her legs and sucking her thumb for half an hour while we all carefully acted as if there was nothing at all strange about that.

She's hyperactive, nosy, pushy, and foul-mouthed, but also sweet, charming, funny, self-confident and open. I think you'd like her. It's nice to talk to someone who is completely blasé about being a mutant. Anyway, enough about her. Gambit and Rogue seem to be recovering from the whole Joseph mess…"

Paige liked to hear about the X-Men, and her brother made sure that what she got was a truthful, warts-and-all account. If she was going to be an X-Man herself one day she had better know how things really were. Finishing his paragraph, Sam decided to write the rest of the letter later. Right now it was snack time. So he headed for the kitchen, blissfully unaware of the nasty surprise that was making coffee there.

Shit. Thought Sam. Fuck. Thought Magneto. They stared at each other over the table. Gambit walked in humming happily and smiled at them both before continuing through.

"Why the hell is he so happy all of a sudden?" Magneto looked genuinely puzzled. Sam couldn’t resist. Waiting until his ex-teacher was taking a sip of coffee before answering, he put it bluntly.

"Maybe 'cause Joseph spent most of his time tryin' t'get inta Rogue's pants." Coffee sprayed all over the kitchen. Looking concerned Sam ran over and thumped a purple and coughing Mutant Messiah on the back enthusiastically while revelling in a revenge years in coming. That'll teach ya t'ground me.

"So Erik, how did things go?"

"Not good Charles. At least half of them are still dubious about whether it is really me this time, and they have scattered and formed sometimes violently differing factions. Others I can't even find. New Avalon is a mess, Exodus has lost his tenuous grip on reality and now they tell me Cortez is running around somewhere. I find it very unlikely that he died. That man is like a cockroach, no matter how many times you think you kill him…" Magneto sighed and ran his free hand through silver-white hair. "But I would rather not think about it for a few minutes. How are things going for you? You seem more relaxed than last time I saw you."

Professor Xavier smiled. "You're right. Bobby found this girl…" But the door to his office opened and interrupted him.

"We're back! Do you…" Jessica's voice faded out and she stared at Magneto. Two pairs of blue eyes showed identical expressions of shock, but Charles Xavier psionicaly 'saw' the recognition and felt the walls in Jessica's mind disappear. Years of memories flooded through his defenses. Leaping onto the bed, the others with her, all laughing, "Happy Birthday Erik!". Someone picking her up out of the wreckage that used to be her home, away from her father who was still screaming threats and the broken body of her mother, saying "It's alright, little one. You're safe now.". Hovering just off the floor, someone above her holding her hand, "I did it! I'm flying!". Sitting on her bed with Erik, just before he went away the last time, a gold necklace in his hand, "It's old Romany. It means…" Xavier made a supreme effort and pushed the memories away.

"ERIK!!" Jessica screamed. She ran over and wrapped herself around his neck, nearly knocking him off his feet. "Itwasterrible,Imissedyousoooomuch,ColossusandAmeliaweretheonlyoneswhoreallypaidanyattentiontousandExodusturnedintoatotalfruitloop,andthenyoucamebackbutitwasn'tyou" she took a breath and leaned back so she could look him in the face. "And you kissed Amelia! That is so disgusting, it's like imagining your parents having sex!" Her expression conveyed such comical outrage and revulsion that Magneto laughed and kissed her on the top of the head. "Don't laugh at me, I'm serious! Marcos nearly fainted!" She paused for a second. "But then so did Amelia…"

"Speaking of Marcos," Magneto interrupted, blushing slightly. "where are the others and why did you leave New Avalon?"

"It wasn't safe anymore. The place was trashed, there was always fighting, Amelia left and you know Exodus never liked us kids very much, so we fell back on old instincts and split. But don't worry, we took money, your credit cards and address book, the fake passports and one of the little planes so we did okay. I left the others and came here to look for you, but I got attacked and had to block my memory like you told me to. Then, in an amazing co-inkydink I got picked up by Iceman and brought here." She quickly explained the rest of the story.

"But where did you leave the others?" Jessica shrugged.

"With that nice Gabrielle woman in Israel. Her address was in your book."

"GABRIELLE HALLER?!?! Please tell me you're joking." Magneto sat down on the edge of Xavier's wheelchair and put his hands over his eyes.

"Why? What's wrong with her? I think she's lovely. She was really nice to us, and told us all these great stories about you two."

"Just hold on a minute." Xavier finally spotted a chance to get a word in edgeways. "Who's 'us'?"

"Me an' Marcos, Jenny and Michael and Danny of course. Didn't Erik ever tell you about us?"

"No, actually he didn't. Why don't you tell me about them, Erik, old friend?" He gave a slightly feral smile and looked expectantly at his friend/adversary/pretend brother, who just looked innocent.

"They're just a little group of disadvantaged runaways who I look after because they don't have anywhere else to go. I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I didn't help mutants who needed it even if they don't share all my beliefs, wouldn't I, Charles? They're nice to have around and they are the future of our race. They remind me what I'm fighting for and I've grown rather attached to them." He swirled his coffee and said in a quieter, more serious voice "My own children may not want anything to do with me, but maybe I can make up for it by taking care of other people's and teaching them a little. Then maybe they will avoid the mistakes I made. After my time with the New Mutants, I thought about how we had both, being old and set in our ways, tried to condition them to our own way of thinking. But wouldn't it be better if this next generation of mutants were allowed to find their own 'dream', rather that blindly following the ideas of two narrow-minded old men?"

"I'm not blindly following anything, and neither is Sam, or Remy, or Bobby, or Marcos, or Danny. In the end, we all make up our own minds. And so can you. You've got a whole new life, you can be whatever you want." Jessica smiled maliciously at him. "You can even pretend you aren't gonna be seventy next year."

"Seventy? I never admitted to turning thirty!" The (possibly) ex-villain gave a smile of his own. "Besides, I still don't look thirty." Xavier sighed.

"Oh, rub it in. But she is right. What do you want to be?" Erik looked thoughtfully into the distance.

"I think I want to be me. I've been Magnus, Magneto, and Joseph, maybe it's time I found out about this Erik Lensherr person who I have been avoiding for so long. I did a lot of thinking when we were in that OZT cell, the same as you did. Bastion didn't really hate us, but he felt that we had to be eliminated to make it safe for humans. He was so convinced that he was right. I looked at him and saw myself, and to tell you the truth it scared the hell out of me. I still cannot believe that humans and mutants will ever live in peace, unless maybe we find someone else who is even more different and scares us more. But someone once told me that fighting for something, even if you can't win, can still be important. I will respect your fight Charles, even if I am not a part of it, and I will even go so far as to concede that world domination may not be for me. But neither will I sit in silence and twiddle my thumbs, and if another Creed surfaces expect me to be prominently rude. If Operation: Zero Tolerance makes a comeback, or if trouble breaks out in Genosha, I will be there and I probably won't be very nice. Speaking of Genosha and not being very nice, I think a long talk with Exodus is overdue, especially pertaining to atrocities committed in my name." He got up from where he had been sitting, which was essentially in Xavier's lap, stretched and sighed. "I hope we can remain friends, Charles."

"Of course we can. And when Scott's great-grandchildren are running this place, they will wheel us outside and we'll reminisce about the good old days and complain about how young people today don't really understand…" They smiled at each other and Jessica groaned.

"Don't encourage him, he does it already! But don't worry Erik, I love you anyway." Erik gave her a quick hug and reached for his helmet, obviously preparing to leave.

"But you don't blindly follow me. So what do you want to do? Come back with me, maybe stay with the X-Men or go out on your own?"

"You said I get to find my own dream, but I'm not really grown up yet. At the moment my sole purpose is to make Exodus's life a living hell, and I'm not about to miss a chance to put the boot in. I'll go back with you. But I have made some friends here, and I'd like to come back and visit sometimes if it's okay with everyone." She was looking nervously back and forth as if expecting someone to yell 'No it's not! It's all or nothing!'

"That would be fine with me." Professor Xavier said gently, and Erik nodded in agreement. Jessica gave a smile of pure joy and became her normal bubbly self again.

"Thanks! I'll just go pack." She scampered off muttering to herself. "This is so cool! I get to know everyone…" Xavier waited until she was out of earshot before speaking softly.

"She really thought we wouldn't let her. I caught glimpses of some of her memories when they first came back, and I know you weren't telling the whole truth. What really happened with her and her parents the night she met you?" Erik sighed.

"Jessica wasn't doing very well even before she found out she was a mutant. Her mother had gotten pregnant at seventeen, and naturally married her baby's father. He resented it, and used to get drunk and beat them both up. Classic story. But once when she was thirteen and things were even worse than usual, she struck out instinctively. I felt it and decided to follow it up. I got there just in time to witness the final drama and get her out before the police arrived. You see, she was absolutely terrified, and when her father went for her shouting thing like 'freak' and 'stinking mutie in my house' she tried to protect herself with a simple shield. But he ended up in the middle of it and it paralysed him from the waist down. I personally thought he deserved it, but was fairly sure no one else would agree. I didn't know what else to do, so I took her with me. In total honesty, I was planning on turning her over to you as soon as possible, but she wouldn't trust anyone else and well… she needed me, and everyone likes to be needed. But every cloud has a silver lining, it fixed her parents' marriage. They are now united in their devotion to the anti-mutant cause." Xavier looked at him sympathetically.

"Paternal feelings got you, didn’t they."

"Like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car…"

* * *

Professor Xavier watched the sun set and thought quietly to himself. Everyone likes to be needed, but everyone needs to be loved. I think you just found someone who wasn't scared of you but didn't expect you to save the world. I wonder why no one ever found out? Well Charles, telepath and psychologist that you are you know that universal truth. People will always surprise you…

Erik was enjoying watching over his children.

"Thank you for looking after them Gabrielle."

"You helped me when I needed it, and I enjoyed every second. They're nice kids." Danny sprinted through the room giggling maniacly, Marcos in hot pursuit.

"Give that back you little shithead! I'll rip you limb from limb!" Erik coughed.

"Yes. Nice kids…" Gabrielle just smiled and shrugged.

"A little rough around the edges maybe, but being around them is never boring."

"No, they always surprise you…"

The End…for now.

I hope you liked my story. If you did, or you'd like me to write down the sequel (which will be funnier and include Generation X) please e-mail me at diamonde_fics@hotmail.com. If no one is interested I won't bother. But I will write back.