Quick notes up here: This is different from my other stories. Fewer chapters but pretty long overall. It's mostly completed which should be a nice change as well. This story is AU in that I'm going with the Jean Grey School setting from Wolverine and the X-Men/All New X-Men, keeping the past events with the Danger Room consistent (from Astonishing X-Men), and then throwing in the Generation X team (because I adore them and Jono and Paige are already at the Jean Grey school in the comics). Also setting it up as post-Abigail Brand and pre-Second Coming. It's messy, but I love the combo it gives!
Also, there will be two sections of "prologue." They're vital to the story as they set up Jenna and Hank as characters.
Anyway! On to the story!

October

Hank pushed open the heavy wood doors to the smell of home. Wood polish and hot summer dust with the ever present laundry detergent scent greeted him and he beamed. The Jean Grey School was exactly as it had been before he had left: full of students and chaos and life. It was also lacking all of the things he had hated about SWORD's space station, one person in particular. His hands clenched involuntarily and pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

"Hank!" Banshee caught him at the door giving him a swift hug. "You're just in time! Sorry I can't stick around! You know how it is!"

"Oh do I! Where's your crew?"

"Emma's headed over here and she'll take you to "the kids." I get myself in trouble calling them that." He winked and rushed out to a waiting cab.

Hank had agreed to take over Sean's place on the relatively new group Generation X; relatively in that it was younger than the X-Men but older than about half of the current crews in rotation, old enough that most of them were on staff at the school. It also meant working with Emma Frost, something that made Hank genuinely happy. She was a pain but she was also a friend and he had missed her.

"And I you, though I will not be hugging you," a cool voice chimed into his thoughts.

He turned to smile at Emma. "I'd expect nothing else. How have things been?"

"It's been what… six months? A lot changes in six months here. A few new faces but only a couple of any significance. Follow me. You can 'reconnect' with the team. They will be pleased."

Hank grabbed his bag and followed Emma, stopping several times per hallway to greet someone who was happy to see him back. Emma did not deign to suppress her annoyance but waited as patiently as she was able. Finally she breezed into a room on the second floor with a terrace and a group of mutants laughing in a huddle.

"Beast!"

Hank was nearly bowled over with the force of Jubilation Lee throwing herself at him in a hug.

"Hello to you too!" he laughed.

"Don't do that again, 'k? With Wolverine and you gone… it was almost more than I could handle."

In turn, Hank greeted Paige, Monet (cooly, as was her wont), Everett, Jonothon, and Angelo — the members of Generation X. He waved at Penance and she cocked her head on the side before smiling slightly; her eyes shifted off to the side and Hank followed her gaze as Emma was lecturing the group on being on time for training (their defense was that they were teachers and therefore busy; her response was that it was Saturday and they had no excuse). He wandered over to a chess board on a nearby table. He moved one piece and smiled to himself. Behind him a door slammed and he turned to face someone who had joined them. She looked strikingly distressed and a little starved, with blue hollows under her eyes, which were large and somewhat hooded.

"And speak of the devil!" Emma cried with exasperation. "You are so late you have missed the lecture about being late!"

The woman grinned back at her. "Silver lining, right there."

Emma sighed dramatically. She clearly had more words for this newcomer but the woman noticed Hank by the chess board and joined him, scanning the board in a glance.

"Hey Angelo," she called back to the grey skinned young man. "Did you finally see this? Or did you have to Google it?"

Skin joined her. "That wasn't me but I'll take it. I've won!"

The woman's cheeks were turning pink and her eyes met Hank's for the first time. "Did you move the piece?"

"It did seem rather obvious. We haven't met. I'm—" Hank began to hold out his hand but she cut him off.

"What the hell? Why would you do that?"

Hank floundered.

"The queen has been there for four moves. He had no idea. Thanks for that."

Hank was caught off guard by her blunt annoyance.

"Oh do shut up, Jennifer," Emma sighed again, choosing to diffuse the situation with a well crafted air of disinterest. "You've won and we all know it. Just play him in Scrabble if you need an ego boost."

"Jenna," the new woman corrected shooting Emma a venomous look. "And where is this 'brilliant doctor' I rushed over here for?"

"I believe that refers to me," Hank cut in. "I'm Dr. Henry McCoy."

Jenna eyed him. "Really?" she asked, her tone heavy with disbelief. "You?"

Hank felt his temper flare and fought it down. Jenna's head snapped toward Chamber and they watched each other closely for a minute, clearly using Jono's ability to communicate telepathically and privately. The woman then turned back to Hank.

"I've been told to play nice. Nothing more fun than two people yelling at you in your head. I'm Jenna Coates."

"Well that was painful," Monet commented from a corner of the room where she was reading.

Emma rubbed at her temples. "All of you go to the Danger Room, before I make you."

Hank watched them file out, keeping up a cheerful manor as happiness at his return was reiterated. But when the door shut…

"She's horrid. Is she always like that?"

"Jenna? No. You just rubbed her the wrong way it seems. She and Angelo have a fairly high stakes competition going, something about playing every game on the premises and a wager on who will win the most. She's far more pleasant than when she first joined us."

Hank's eyebrows shot up. "And when was that?"

"About four months ago. The long and short of it is that she left Magneto to join us here. She took to Jonothon and Angelo and here we are."

"Magneto?!"

"They needed a healer and that's her mutation. Very odd variety. You'll work with her more closely, but I'll leave it to Kitty to fill you in. For now you can see them train. We're in the Danger Room. The Bio-sphere has too many inhabitants for us."

Hank stopped by his room, which had been kept waiting for him, and found Bobby Drake looking for him. A bleeding cut on his cheek showed he was clearly just out of training himself, but he was bursting with happiness to see his old friend.

"I got to run but we've got powered volleyball going on the sand courts till it gets too cold. You should join. We're all thrilled you're back."

"I would be honored to destroy whoever dares oppose me."

"After dinner!"

Emma impatiently led him to the Control Room. Jenna was lounging in a rolling desk chair with her feet propped up on one of the panels. Pat Benatar's "Invincible" was blasting in the Danger Room and she grinned as she watched the Gen X-ers in the room pretend to play many air drums and air guitars. She killed the music and dropped her feet quickly when Emma entered.

"Ready?" Emma asked with a sigh.

Jenna nodded, her close cropped bob hiding half her face.

"I'll leave the two of you then," she clipped. "Hank, keep her from killing them."

Hank shouted a mental protest at her, but Emma only smirked and left. Jenna fired up the Danger Room and Hank watched the room below without comment.

Jono had better perfected his ability to create independent creatures from the energy that kept him alive and was now working on detaching them from himself. Skin was working on creating whips or useable extensions and Jubilee was trying to ignite the creatures of energy thrown by Jono. Husk shed her skin quicker than ever and Monet was, of course, perfect. Hank's attention then turned to the woman with him now.

"So your talents lie in computers?" he asked mildly.

"No. I don't fight. So I run the room for them."

"Oh? Pacifist?"

"No. The 'mother of dragons' will tell you I have PTSD, I'm sure."

"You disagree with the diagnosis?"

Her lip visibly curled. "I'd rather not discuss it with you."

There was a silence and Hank decided to test his luck. "How did it come about? You falling in with Magneto?"

"How'd you end up back here? Stupid green tart dump you?"

Hank bristled and fought to suppress his anger at the slight. "I would thank you not to speak about my personal affairs like that."

"Then maybe you should nose the hell out of mine."

Hank snarled and moved to the back of the Control Room without a word. How did she even know? It reminded him that his disgrace was known by more people than he would care to imagine. Granted she was on a team he was working with and his absence would need explanation but still… Even after several months the pain was too sharp and present to continue this conversation.

Jenna watched him surreptitiously, mildly regretting her comment, but she did not like him and she was not looking for more "friends." She had been here for four months and had finally scared everyone outside of Gen X into not asking about Magneto. Voyeuristic bullshit, that's what it was; X-Men or not they weren't entitled to open her life and inspect it.

After training, Hank decided his labs needed a visit, since they would have inevitably changed in his absence. Kitty was thrilled to see him, not only because she was fairly overworked.

"And here I was just praying you would show up again and take some of these patients off of my hands and here you are. We should start calling you Angel."

Hank grinned.

"It's good to see that smile. Logan said —"

"Oh my. Let's let that lie."

"Right," Kitty smiled apologetically. "Did Emma send you down here?"

"Just checking in."

"Well, you're taking some of my tough cases."

"I do love a challenge."

"Good attitude, because one of them is Jennifer Coates. We need to index her mutation and I haven't had the time." Kitty laughed as Hank physically winced. "I know, but she's much better. We had to detox her and then teach her English again."

"English?"

"She was speaking so blue it made Angelo blush."

"Emma wouldn't fill me in on her and normally she's ready to dish before you even have to ask. Do you know anything?"

"There's nothing to know. One of Jennifer's conditions for coming here was having her mind sealed so tight no one could ever get in without her consent. She worked with Rachel Summers specifically for that. From what I gather, Emma is extremely displeased at either being shut out or at not being able to break in, especially as this is one of her team. Jennifer did therapy with me a little but she's very closed off and it largely involved her glowering at me. Jono and Angelo are your best bet; they know her best. All I can gather is some past trauma that made the Acolytes seem like the best possible option."

"That's unbelievable."

"I know. She doesn't hold by their ideals from what I gather, but they did something for her so she felt she owed them. Until she didn't, which seems to be her general mode of operation."

"Right. And others?"

"Skin is having problems retaining his shape. His skin sinking has always been a problem but it's getting to be too much. I liked the idea of maybe a suit with a low electric current to keep his cells from being able to change shape but I didn't even want to go there myself. I contacted Forge so he's around. You'll also take Leech. Though I can keep him myself if it's too hard."

"We'll see. Still cure research?"

"Yes. Good intentions but hard work … for a lot of reasons."

"Hard work means a busy mind, which I will gladly welcome right now."

Kitty glanced at the clock. "You eaten yet?"

"No."

Kitty slipped an arm around his waist and smiled up at him. "I'm glad you're back. I can't say that enough."

Volleyball was a relief that night. Hank was happy to feel the setting sun on his face and feel a chill in the air. It was early fall and he was home now.

His teammates were Forge, Rogue, Psylocke, and Northstar against Bobby, Nightcrawler, Cannonball, Storm, and Firestar. While he and Colossus were power hitters and could spike a ball so hard it left a crater, Cannonball and Kurt were both able to return on almost everything. Psylocke was stuck covering most of the very daring dives for their team. And all this was before the added element of powers: volleyballs — frozen solid — fell like cannonballs and were shattered by metal fists, Danni's opponents were never sure if they were seeing a real volleyball or not, Storm would knock the ball off course with a bolt of lightening, Marrow punctured every ball that got too close to the ground, and Forge had incredible reach with his mechanical arm. Beast felt life swelling in him in a way he had missed; being stuck up in that space station had left no room for training, let alone fun.

Even among friends there was a constant danger of injury though, so it wasn't a huge shock when, after getting nailed in the shoulder with a frozen volleyball, Danni decided to call it a night.

As everyone trudged back to the school, Betsy asked what Hank thought of his new team. Hank summarized his first day with them, to the slightly evil delight of those around him.

Cannonball laughed. "Paige said Everett was always radiating pitch black when Jenna first got here."

"Speaking of witches," Marrow said, turning her attention to Hank, "how are you?"

Hank shrugged. "Certainly not missing the Wicked Witch of the North."

"Good," said Storm. "We won't be happy to see you go again any time soon. You were missed."

Jenna appeared in the doorway as quietly as a shadow the next morning. Emma had ordered her there and had followed her all the way to the stairs down to the labs "to make sure she didn't get lost."

"Should I come back later?" she asked, smirking as Hank jumped.

"No. By all means." Hank motioned to an examination table. She hopped onto the crinkly paper and watched him.

"I will begin by telling you what your file says. It says you're a healer. Would you say this is an accurate statement?"

Jenna nodded.

"Is there anything else you would like to add?"

"No."

"No secondary mutations? Nothing you know about your healing?"

Nothing.

"How do you heal? Are you able to heal others? Yourself?"

She shrugged.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine. How about a medical history? What vaccines have you had and so on?"

This upset her more. She openly scowled at him. "That has no bearing on this."

"I cannot help you if you will not tell me anything about yourself."

"You're new here. New to me at least. So let me fill you in. Not telling people about myself? That's kinda my thing. I don't want you to know anything about me, no matter how much that bugs you."

"Are there any secrets you're keeping that I would need to know about before running tests?"

"Not a thing."

"May I take some blood? That will be essential to my being able to help you."

"Sure thing." She jutted the inside of her pale arm toward him and he went for the necessary vials and a needle.

When he tied her upper arm, he noticed her skin was remarkably cool to the touch, but she had no goosebumps. However, when he held her arm to stick the vein, her skin felt a perfectly normal temperature. She was clearly uncomfortable having him at such close quarters but there was no helping it. Hank moved away as soon as he had the blood he needed.

"I'll run tests on this the next few days. I would like to get some idea of your physical condition in the meantime."

He looked up to see a suggestive grin curling her lips. "So you want to check me out?"

"Yes. I would love to watch you run specifically. Everyone has their kink."

Jenna's shocked expression was a reward in and of itself. Hank didn't suppress his smirk at all. Her shock flowed evenly into amusement. "Right. I'll dig out my leather for the occasion."

"Chica!" a familiar voice exploded into the lab. "Here I thought you were moping and you're talking about leather without me! Trying to make me jealous?"

She slid off the exam table and Angelo strolled straight to her, leaning on a counter with his chin nearly resting on her shoulder.

"It's selfish to try to keep a good thing all to yourself, Skin," she quipped back at him.

"Never said I was anything but." Skin turned to Hank. "Dr Pryde said I'm with you now. Said that you might engineer something to keep me together."

Jenna moved away quietly and walked out of the labs. She took the stairs two at a time and dodged around a knot of older X-Men in the foyer.

"Lawn?"

Jenna turned to Paige, who was jogging up the steps after her. "Sure. Let me grab my book."

"You read like you're making up for lost time," Paige joked.

"I am."

The abrupt honesty took the younger Guthrie off guard.

"Right," she fumbled. "Well, I'll see you out there."

Jenna grabbed her most recent book and her Ray Bans. They had been stollen in a mall heist when the Acolytes were bored and she loved them. No amount of time with the "good guys" would convince her they weren't the best shades in the world.

It wasn't hard to find her little knot on the lawn: just look for the teachers teasing the living landscape. After being knocked off her feet by Krakoa's giggles for the fifth time, she snapped at them to cut it out.

"Someone's grumpy," Jubilee chided.

"Someone is sick of being mined for private information."

"You meet with Dr. McCoy?"

She rolled her eyes. "Grover is worse than everyone else combined."

"Grover is a genius and probably the nicest person here," Paige snapped, narrowing her eyes.

Jenna sighed. "Right. Fine. Dr. McCoy. He's with Angelo now anyway. Please let's talk about something else."

"We could always talk about Angelo."

Jenna glared at Chamber and climbed up the tree they were gathered under. Wedging herself in a forked branch she pointedly opened her book and began to read.

"Oh come on! He's the snarkiest and most cantankerous person you ever met until you come along and then, surprise, he's the embodiment of affection," Paige called up after her. "He follows you like a puppy."

"And he talks about Ava constantly," Jenna replied, giving in and lying on her stomach. "He follows me because I'll let him verbally pine for hours on end."

"Oh, Ava!" Jubliee sighed in an imitation of Angelo. "How red your hair! How short your shorts!"

"Now I want to talk about something else," Jono quipped. "What's the book of the day?"

"Beloved."

"How's book club going? Enjoy reading The Hunger Games with kids?" Jubilee teased.

"Yeah. Better than what I read growing up."

"Which was?"

"An inordinate amount of Little House on the Prairie."

"Where did you grow up?"

Jenna gave Jubilee a look and she grinned back.

"It never hurts to try. Maybe I can catch you off guard someday and we'll all find out you're just from Chicago or Kansas or somewhere horribly normal."

Jenna cracked a smile and the conversation rolled into classes and administration issues.

"Yes, brilliant suggestion of the day was that we go camping. From Idie of all people. Genesis looked like he was going to throw up. I gave in to the idea of camping in the Bio-dome though it'll have to wait till next quarter at least. Assuming we actually finish the book."

Paige laughed. "You keep Quire in line so they would probably let you. Not like Angelo. Did you know Emma's taken to observing Angelo's Spanish classes?"

"Paige here's been worryin' over nothing else."

"Well my usual class management certainly falls through with the Ice Queen next door! She probably can't fire me but she wouldn't hesitate to bother Logan over it."

"Hey, I'd give anything for the ability to tear my face off and scare kids. Childhood dream, right there," said Jenna.

Jono stared up at Jenna. "Seriously?"

Jenna's look softened. "Yes. You're lovely. Who wouldn't want to look like you?" she replied sincerely.

Jono's face curved in a smile. "I'll blow you out of that tree if you sass me, miss."

"Wouldn't dare, laser-face."

Jono was on his feet and climbing the tree in seconds, to the great amusement of Jubilee. Everett jogged up and grinned as well as Jenna dove out of the tree and tried to outrun Jono.

"Ten seconds," he said.

"Seven," chimed Paige, shaking his hand.

Paige proved right as Jono blew the ground out from under her in a mere seven seconds. Jenna lay on the ground laughing loudly as Jono feigned severity staring down at her. Then he helped her up and they wandered back over.

"See," Jenna laughed as Jubliee handed her back her book. "I would give a lot for a mutation as boss as that."

Hank was slightly more prepared for her nearly silent walk and so she was not gratified with a jump scare when she arrived the next morning.

"I was really looking forward to the leather," he remarked with a straight face, after seeing the running clothes she wore.

Jenna stared him down evenly. "Thought it might chafe. So I assume somewhere there's a treadmill?"

"We're heading up and over. The weights room will meet that need."

Jenna followed behind him silently, half watching him mull over a chart he carried. She was struggling to stay on her feet but she also wasn't about to let him know it. She'd run till she passed out before she told him anything.

Hank indicated a treadmill and absently began to pull the back off of a tab and reached toward her to place it. Jenna jerked out of his reach, taken aback. This brought her back to Hank's full attention.

"I'm sorry. I just need to place these so I can monitor your vitals. Neither they nor I will harm you."

"Tell me where they go. I'll do it myself."

Hank wanted to argue with her but it was not an unreasonable request. It drove his curiosity wild though.

"Here," he pointed to a place on his own chest. "I would ask if I might inquire as to why so strong a reaction but I am fairly certain you would prefer not to answer."

"So you ask anyway, just with a different format," Jenna grumbled at him taking the next tab from him. "Some people don't like to be touched. Or at least not by you."

Hank counted down in his head; her meanness was not localized to him, no matter how it seemed.

"You must admit," he replied indicating the fifth and final tab location, "that when combined with a certain set of behaviors it gives a very specific impression."

"That was a lot of words to say nothing at all," she snapped at him. "What do you want?"

"I am here to help you."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Then why are you here now?"

"Because it was my end of things. If I play nice and let people "help" me, they would close off my mind and I get to live a group that isn't involved in terrorism. Seemed good at the time but little did I know I would be plagued with good intentions!"

Hank sighed and deftly hooked the wires to her tabs before she could complain about that too. "Run at whatever speed you like for as long as you can."

Jenna kicked on the treadmill and began to run.

Hank watched her run, as he had said he would. She had good form but was out of shape and she looked exhausted.

"Go ahead and stop," he told her, after about five minutes.

She scowled. "You said run as long as you can. I can run."

"Jenna, stop running before—"

She hit the treadmill with a thud and her body was kicked backward by the band. He scooped her up before it scraped up her face and furiously slammed the button to shut it down.

"Get off me," she groaned as he carried her back to his labs.

"You can either admit you were wrong, thank me for not leaving your sorry self back there, or shut the hell up," he snapped in return.

Jenna decided the last option let her have the most of what she wanted so she said nothing and when he handed her some water and two pills she took them without complaint and watched him as he continued to monitor her.

"Well… you are healthy over all, just worn down. You need to rest." He looked her in the eyes and she shifted her gaze to her hands. "Your healing factor also seems to be something in your blood, though this will not surprise you I'm sure."

Their eyes met again and now he held her gaze. She had completely green eyes he noted. Genetically rare.

"It's not just blood. It's any… fluid. Tears, sweat, spit. All of it." She was surprised as he was that she had volunteered that information. But she was tired of being difficult; it took more effort with someone as dogged as Hank.

Hank's eyes lit up at the new information; that was interesting. "And how would you know—"

But footsteps were thundering down the stairs and she pulled away from him immediately, forcing herself to her feet and hiding the blooming bruise on her forehead with her hair. Jubilee appeared followed closely by Angelo.

"Hey Hank!" she chirped. "Quick question for your patient!" She turned to Jenna. "You need to set the record straight. This bozo is insisting you were a thing with Quicksilver, which would be insane."

Jenna grinned back which was enough of an answer for Jubilee.

"Ha!" Angelo gloated. "I would never lie to you. Not about such juicy gossip anyway."

"How?! He's big leagues!" Jubliee's face split into a grin. "How was he?"

"Depends on how you feel about quick men."

The eruption of laughter that followed rubbed Hank the wrong way.

"Goodness," Jubilee exclaimed. "If it's that easy to catch hot men I need to change sides!"

"Oh please." Hank only realized he had spoken aloud when they all turned to face him.

"Is he always like this?" Jenna's question was directed at Angelo or Jubilee but she stared Hank down as she asked it.

"Nope," Angelo answered. "He's usually so chipper you could choke him."

Jenna cocked her head to the side, winked and blew him an exaggerated kiss. "Don't worry," she cooed. "You'll get your turn."

"I have work to do, if you don't mind," he returned icily.

Angelo and Jubilee made their excuses and left giggling, but Jenna was annoyed that he had still managed to trump her with his storm cloud demeanor.

"Is there anything else or can I go?"

"I see no point in that sort of attitude."

"They're not little kids. Angelo was in a gang and Jubilee was a mall rat. And if you think they're both virgins—"

"There must have been some reason you left the Acolytes. You yourself characterized them as terrorists."

"Maybe it just failed to amuse me. Or maybe, like life on a space station, it just came to be a bit… too… much."

"Get out," he snarled at her, bristling visibly. It alarmed her a bit to see him react so strongly, but it was what she had wanted. She had learned that the way to end a conversation that was digging too deep was to go for the heart; it was a conversation kill switch. Jono had joked that's why they got on well: he didn't have a heart.

"Gladly. Prude," she snapped before storming away.

"Still hanging in there?" Bobby asked, frosting their beers over later that day as he and Hank lay against the roof of the school.

Hank snapped the caps off, catching himself in time to not shatter the bottles completely.

"Other than the constant thorn in my side, yes."

Hank drained the beer he was holding and reached for a second without a word.

"At any rate," Bobby quickly changed the subject, "how about Angelo? Forge seemed excited."

"Kitty was dead on with the low current theory. This may actually be the closest to normal Angelo will get to be in quite some time."

"I'm sure he'll show his appreciation by being mildly more tolerable."

Hank laughed. "How did we end up with such sulky teachers?"

"The only thing he teaches is Spanish and even then Emma keeps an eye on what Spanish he's teaching."

"And you? What have you picked up in my absence?"

"Algebra…"

"I did love that course listing. Algebra Sucks But You Still Have To Learn It."

Bobby grinned at his friend. "Ice Sculpture as an Extracurricular, but that's no different. Kitty was happy to free up your Science and Philosophy courses."

"Who had them?"

"Science was touch and go for a while but Sean ended up with it. Philosophy was Betsy the last I knew."

"So I have my work cut out for me?" But Hank seemed pleased and Bobby knew he loved a challenge. "Speaking of our Headmistress," Hank continued, "I heard some interesting gossip about the two of you."

Bobby choked on his beer a little and would have blushed if he didn't spend most of his days iced over now.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he answered.

"It's cute, really. Though…" Hank looked him dead in the eyes, "are you certain you want this?"

"And that's what I'd rather not talk about."

Hank watched his friend's profile for a little while before shifting his focus out onto the grounds.

"What happened for those three months after you left SWORD? Since we're asking personal questions," Bobby asked.

"It's simply impossible that Logan did not fill everyone in on this."

"We would all rather hear it from you."

Hank sighed and polished off his third beer. "We broke up after three months. I had moved there for Abigail and then… so I just couldn't come back here. While it is not in keeping with my usual form, I got roaringly drunk somewhere up in Maine and then terrorized the countryside for a while. The shame of losing control of myself that badly... Shockingly, when you have no where to go and only rage to drive you, positive choices are not made with great frequency. Logan got wind of my presence in and in all honesty he hunted me down and quite literally beat sense back into me. I could have eaten his leg for a second time, but he was right. I've never wanted to just be a beast."

"Why did you guys split?"

"I had no purpose up there and she had no time for me. It was futile in every way."

"You guys were on a space station. How could she not have time for you?"

"Apparently, when you have a very goal oriented person who does not include spending time with or communicating with their significant other among their priorities, there is no time to be had."

"I'm really sorry."

"So am I," Hank sighed sincerely. "But I'm home now. This is always an improvement."

"I've got training," Bobby said. "I'm sure no one would complain about you joining."

"Thanks but no," Hank said handing off his bottle. "I'll stick with volleyball till I'm more…settled."

"See you after dinner then!"

Hank looked out over the grounds with a smile. It was Halloween weekend and kids were beginning to appear, ready to load into vans that would take them to suburbs for trick or treating. Older members were loading into cars, ready to hit the city. A familiar voice caught his attention and he watched Jenna jog up to Chamber and Husk. Husk looked like Groot, much to everyone's delight and Chamber looked pretty much the same as always. Jenna was dressed in orange pants and a white tank with some sort of extensions off of her feet and a white, space-like gun in her hands.

"Brilliant!" some boys called to her. She posed with them for a selfie before the boys loaded into the vans.

"What are you?" Husk asked, her voice comical in the giant tree form.

"Chell! You need to spend more time on a computer, dear!" Jenna answered.

Hank couldn't help but smile. That suited her.

"Ready for power ballad karaoke?"

Chamber replied but Hank could not hear what he said.

"Whatever!" Jenna teased. "You owe me at least two Meat Loaf duets, sir!"

Again a reply he could not hear. Jono was obviously laughing at them.

"And what are you?" Jenna shot at him in some response to his teasing.

"He's Chamber, of the X-Men. Like the costume?" Paige answered.

The two girls burst into giggles.

"Either your the biggest hipster in the world or you're just pathetic," Jenna teased.

Whatever Chamber said sent both of them into more laughter. Hank left the roof, hoping to start outlining some courses, but the image stayed with him. It was the first time he had seen her laugh.

This was forgotten the next day when he waited over an hour for Jenna to appear. Just when he was about to give up, she stumbled into the room, more than a little disheveled and in pajamas.

"Should I even ask?"

"Not at all."

"If you toned it down a bit, you might find it easier to meet your obligations."

Her eyes snapped to his face. "What does that mean?"

"Your body is worn down; a rowdy life will only further that damage."

"My body, my choice."

"Do you have any concern for your own well being?"

"Oh just piss off," she shot at him.

"Fine."

He pushed past her, leaving her alone in the labs and heading to the training room to prevent the morning from being a complete waste. Unlike Jenna, however, his conscience was plaguing him; he knew she had been out with Gen X and he knew the odds of things going too far south with Paige and Everett around were next to none. Sighing, he knew that the right thing to do would be to apologize, though he was sure it would only bring him more grief.

He located her in the kitchen though she was not alone. She was seated in a stool and Chamber faced her, leaning against the counter she sat eating at, his chin resting in his hand.

"Well, we tried. Thanks for waking me up so I could eat this bowl of cereal bright and early!"

Chamber noticeably laughed.

"Awww!" she teased the black clad mutant. "You have a lovely laugh, Jono. I want to hear that in my head every day as long as I live."

Chamber's reply was not heard by Hank but he watched Chamber squeeze her hand for a moment before Hank quietly walked away.