(Sorry to keep you all waiting, I had been on vacation recently and have just returned home. My mind is a state of relaxation, so some of my stories are taking a while to work on. But, I have managed to get this one done. Enjoy!)


Kitty was on her way down the hall that led to the bedrooms of the recruits when she saw Jean Grey and Scott were heading in the same direction at the opposite end of the hall, all of them ending up at Rose's bedroom door. "Kitty, we heard a scream. What's happened?" Jean asked.

"Well, Rose and Kurt were playing tag, and for some reason Rose got separated and ended up encountering Mr. McCoy, and...well," Kitty was stuck for words, but was interrupted while being silent, and she and Jean and Scott turned to see it was Beast. He had a neutral, sad look in his face.

"I am afraid the cause to this dilemma was me. She stumbled into my lab by mistake and had mistaken me for Kurt." He then sighed as he continued, looking at his hand and observing the finger that had been scratched. A bandage was applied, but the pain was still there. "I tried to stop her when she screamed and ran off in fear, but that was when I found Evan, Kitty and Kurt. There was a cat in Kitty's arms and as I reached out to pet it, but I heard the little one scream and she slashed at my hand. I hadn't the notion that she could transform into animals, and because of my inability to suspect it being her and not a real cat, I got hurt".

"Oh, man, I'm sorry about that, Mr. McCoy," Scott apologized, but Hank only shook his head.

"I accept your condolences, Summers, but I believe it was my fault. I wasn't there when she first arrived and had not made contact with her, because I was busy furnishing my room and the laboratory." Hank further explained as he softly scratched the side of his head, mostly around his sideburns.

Kitty then decided to knock on the door and tell Rose that she and the others were going to come in; she offered Hank to join them but he declined, stating that he might upset the child even more if he were to go in with them.

"I will wait out here and listen," said he as the three mutants went in. He stood by the wall and kept himself quiet, allowing his sharp ears hear all that was going on in the bedroom. Alongside with having superb strength and speed, he had a keen sense of hearing, although they were not as Wolverine's, who had much better hearing as well as the rest of his senses.

From inside the bedroom, Scott and the two girls found the room was empty and were just about to search for Rose went they spotted something tiny slithering underneath the covers of the bed. Scott was the one who lifted up the cover and reeled back with a slight yelp at what he found.

A ball python was sticking its head out from under the covers; its beady black eyes staring at the three teenaged mutants. "Pleasssssse, don't ssssscream. It'ssssss only me," said its small voice, but it was easily recognized as that of Rose's, only at a much higher pitch. Kitty sighed in relief as she knelt down by the bedside and removed the rest of the covers to allow Rose to change back into a human.

"What was that for? You almost scared us," she gently asked.

"It was much easier for me to hide that way. I could've been mistaken for a crease of the cover," Rose explained as she then sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, her face facing downward.

"We heard you scream earlier, Rose," Jean Grey spoke as she helped Scott up to his feet and they both went over to sit next to the young mutant. "From what we heard, you encountered one of the faculty members and were spooked by him."

"Huh? That monster was a faculty member?" the little girl said.

"That wasn't a monster, Rose. That was Hank McCoy, and he is a mutant like us," Scott answered in a serious tone, but not to much to sound as if he was angered. "And I think you calling him a 'Monster' might have hurt his feelings."

"Well, how was I suppose to know that?" Rose had lifted her head and brush her red hair back. It was done in a loose ponytail and it had crossed over to the left of her face. "And I don't remember any of you guys telling me about a blue gorilla walking about..."

Scott sighed as he continued. "Yeah, you are right about that. However, that doesn't mean that you should be afraid of him, nor should you call him names."

"I'm not afraid," Rose denied as she furrowed her brows. She never wanted to show that she could be easily frightened by the simplest things. In fact, she really was not easily afraid of anything. However, there was a possibility that an incident such as this would have been seen by someone, and would in return believe that she was not as brave as she said she was, and gossip would eventually lead to ridicule of her, or so she believed.

"Then why did you scream at him and scratch at his hand earlier?" Kitty mentioned and petted the red hair of the child. Rose looked at Kitty and saw a comforting, small smile that seemed to tell her that there was no need to lie to her.

Rose sighed as she shook her head sadly. "Well, what he looked like scared me." When asked about what she meant she further explained that when she was only five years old her father had an old videotape of an old horror movie from sometime between either the 40' or 50's. "I forget what the title of that flick was, but I do remember that it was about a group of people getting hunted down by this monster. It was hairy all over, wild hair, claws on both hands and feet, and..." Rose felt her voice shake in embarrassment and allowed Jean to interrupt her.

"You believe that this creature looks a lot like Mr. McCoy, don't you?". Jean spoke.

Rose nodded. "Ding Ding Ding, somebody give you a prize. Yeah, it is. I know, it's stupid, but it's true."

"But Beast has no claws, and I can personally tell you that he is probably one of the nicest people around here. After all, he was once our Chemistry teacher at the High School." Kitty smiled again as she wrapped an arm around Rose, who looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"You're kidding, right? How could he work at your school while he looked like a-"

"He is not a gorilla, nor a monster, Rose." Scott interrupted. "He looked just like us before he came to live with us."

"I wasn't going to call him any of those names, thank you, very much." Rose huffed as she scowled at Scott. "Although, I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's just that, the creature from the movie I saw when I was younger really scared me and I had nightmares almost every night. And, now that I met Mr. McCoy, I can't help but see that monster from that movie." Rose sighed as she began to feel very guilty about her first impression of Beast.

"Rose, if you want to, we can ask Mr. McCoy to come and meet you sometime today, and maybe you could apologize?" Kitty asked, noticing the girl's silence and the guilty expression painted on her face. "Look, I was scared of him when I saw him in his new form, but he is one of the nicest men you'll ever meet."

"Could I have some time to think about it? Rose asked. Jean said that it would be alright, and she left with Scott and Kitty following suit.

Outside of the bedroom, Scott informed Hank of their situation. Even though he had heard the three of his students conversing with the latest edition from the other side of the door, Hank listened and started to concoct a plan. As far as the science and chemistry teacher knew when he arrived at the Institute, some of the new recruits were frightened by his 'unique' appearance, but they soon came to accept him after seeing his true nature.

However, the case with Rose was going to be an especially tough case. From what he was told his appearance reminded the young girl of a monster from a film long ago, and that she had nightmares of the supposed doppelgänger that had a vague semblance to him at a younger age.

That's when he felt a light bulb in his subconscious mind light up. "I believe I might have a solution." Hank proceeded to elucidate his plan and the three teens nodded their head in agreement, although they were uncertain of whether or not their former chemistry teachers plan would work.

After he left the hallway and down the staircase, all Hank needed to do with his plan was to make some mint tea, and then find a book that would be appropriate to read for the occasion. If he wanted to make Rose feel comfortable, he had to find a source of material that would fit the bill.


*Authors Note*

(A little short, I know, but I felt you guys were getting impatient. I'll be working on the next chapter soon.)