"The mitochondria do what? Anyone?"
"They create energy for the rest of the cell."
"Exactly. And what is the energy called?"
"ATP."
"Very good."
Tyleen Wagner stood at the white board in the front of her classroom, a poorly drawn diagram of an animal cell in red dry erase marker behind her. Her three deep purple fingers clutched the marker, ready to write any important notes on the board for her students to copy or ignore, her glowing yellow eyes scanning over the room.
"Toby, please refrain from disintegrating your study sheets," she called out to one of her students whose hands were now sprawled out over a thin layer of dust on his desk. "You're not graduated until Thursday."
"Come on, Mrs. W," the student retorted, a cocky smile on his face, "it's not like any of this applies to us. There's not one person in here with a cell that looks like that."
"Yes, well, if you don't pay attention in my class you won't have any cells to speak of at all."
The class laughed good heartedly at the threat, the bell joining in with their chimes.
"Alright," Tyleen said over the noise, "get on out of here. Final's on Thursday. Study sheets due tomorrow. Toby," she added, handing him a new worksheet, "this is the last replacement I'm giving you. Your grade goes down after this."
"Sure thing, Mrs. W," he said, taking the paper and turning to join the rest of the students who were filing out of the room. Some walked through the door, some flew through above the heads of the others, and a few simply transported themselves to their dormitories on the other end of the school. Tyleen sighed deeply and dropped into the nearest chair, her tail twitching idly near her feet. Seniors were almost more work than they were worth on the last week of school. It took all of her effort to get them to pay attention enough to know what to study for the final exams. She would certainly miss them in class when they were gone, but at the moment the last day seemed months away.
"Tyleen?"
Tyleen looked up at the mention of her name, but when she saw no one else in the room, she realized the voice was coming from within her.
"Yes, Professor?" she thought.
"May I see you in my office please?"
"Of course."
Tyleen heaved herself onto her feet and walked out into the hallway, still scattered with students rushing to the living courters of Xavier Academy. She envied them. All of them. She had not until the last few years experienced what they took for granted every day: the safety of being surrounded by their own kind. Here, no one was looked down upon or feared for their wings or their ability to change the color of their own hair at will. Having skin made of steel was no more of an oddity than breathing, and willing water vapor to ice was considered a blessing during the hot summers at the academy. More than all this, however, she envied their human-like appearance. Once they graduated, most of the students here were free to reenter into the human cities unnoticed. Every class period, she looked upon her students and her heart ached at their physical normalcy.
Not wanting to think on this subject any longer, she stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes. Her bones ground together, shrinking and hollowing themselves, and feathers began to sprout from her skin. In under two seconds, her body had finished taking the falcon's form, and she leapt into the air and flew as fast as she could to Professor Xavier's office.
"Welcome, Tyleen," the Professor said, not looking up from the paperwork on his desk as the raptor perched on the back a chair in the corner of the room. "Thank you for coming so quickly."
He placed his hand on the joystick on the arm of his wheel chair, an addition with no purpose other than to provide an excuse for the wheelchair seemingly sourceless movement due to the Professor's telekinetic gift, and slowly wheeled himself around to face Tyleen. She had returned to her normal form and sat, relaxed and cross-legged, in the chair on which she had perched.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked.
"I would just like to check up on how your extracurricular studies have been progressing," he explained with a small smile.
"I've been able to hold the new form for almost eight hours without fatigue," Tyleen reported happily.
"And Logan does not know?" The phrase was more of a statement than a question.
"You read my mind?" Tyleen asked.
"No," the Professor laughed. "I just know you well enough to know you wouldn't tell him until you were finished."
"Do you think it's important that he know, sir?"
"Not unless you have a problem keeping secrets from your husband."
"It won't be a secret for long. Besides, he's been busy with the rest of the X-Men lately. It won't be hard to find time to practice."
The Professor nodded, and then his face lit up in mock recollection of the information he had called her in to tell her in the first place.
"Speaking of which, I believe you will be pleased to know that one member of the team has just recently returned from an assignment in Alaska. I believe you will find him in the library."
"Hank?" Tyleen was instantly on her feet. "He's back?"
"About an hour ago, yes," the Professor smiled.
"Oh, Professor thank you!" Tyleen shouted and then dashed out of the room. In mid stride her humanoid appearance was lost and a sleek cheetah tore through the halls. It did not take her long to reach the library. There, sitting on the overstuffed sofa in the middle of the room surrounded by an obnoxious stack of books, sat the Beast. The cheetah was across the room in three bounds and pounced into her friends lap, nuzzling his face and purring loudly.
"Hey, Morph," Hank laughed, scratching Tyleen behind the ears. "Missed you too."
Tyleen changed back to her normal form once more, curled up in Hank's lap like a child, her arms wrapped around his furry torso.
"I'm so glad you're back! How was Alaska?"
"Cold," he joked, and hugged her tightly. "How's Logan."
"Out with the team, as usual."
"Good. Wouldn't want him to get jealous when I take my little girl out for dinner."
"Out to dinner where?"
"Well...I haven't thought about that yet," Hank admitted. "Where would you like to go?"
Tyleen's smile faltered a bit.
"Why don't we just eat in tonight?" she suggested. "I'll cook for you."
Hank smiled knowingly.
"I'll cook," he said. "I remember what happened last time you tried to make me something. We had to call Jean and Ororo in to clean up that mess."
This comment seemed to lift Tyleen's spirits.
"Alright. Sounds great."
"Let me put these books away," Hank said, "and I'll start something nice for you. Meet me in my room in an hour, ok?"
"I need to change out of my teacher's outfit anyway. Heels are a pain with cloven feet."
"I can imagine," Hank laughed, lifting Tyleen off of his lap. "I'll see you in an hour then."
"Absolutely."
Tyleen gave him one more hug and practically skipped out of the library. After six months of no contact with her best friend and mentor, she couldn't contain her excitement to spend the evening with him. Not to mention it would be nice to not have to eat overcooked microwave dinners.
She opened the door to her room and stopped dead. Slumped on the edge of the king size bed, holding a letter in his hand, the envelope on the floor, was her husband.
"Logan..." Tyleen stammered. "How...aren't you supposed to be on a mission?"
Logan looked up from the letter, his face dark.
"We need to talk."