I do not own the X-Men franchise.

The first of a two-part Christmas special.

Christmas Chaos: Part One

Jamie was sprawled on the hardwood floor of the drawing room, a pen clamped between his teeth. One hand was tapping idly against a piece of lined paper while the other flicked through a toy store catalogue. Other than cleaning his room and eating his vegetables, writing his letter to Santa was one of the most difficult tasks he had to do.

"Jamie!"

The eleven-year-old boy glanced up at the shout. He spat out the pen and hollered, "I'm in the drawing room!"

Rogue and Evan appeared in the entryway after a minute, decked out in coats and hats. "We're going out sledding, little dude," Evan informed. "Want to come?"

"Sure! I'll be out after I finish writing my Christmas letter to Santa Claus," Jamie said cheerfully.

"That's nice, Jamie. Take yer time." Rogue smiled slightly in amusement. "Come on out when yer finished."

It was another ten minutes before Jamie finished his letter. He sealed it up in an envelope and placed it on the desk, where it would stay until he went to mail it later. The boy rushed into the entry hall and yanked open the coat closet. Humming a Christmas carol, Jamie yanked on his jacket, mittens and hat. He shoved his feet into his boots and grabbed the door handle.

"Hold it right there, young man!"

Jamie groaned under his breath and reluctantly turned around. "I'm warm!" he protested.

But Ororo was not having it. "You are not taking one step outside without a scarf and snow pants," she said firmly. The weather witch leaned against the banister of the grand staircase and arched an eyebrow expectantly.

Jamie pouted but obeyed. He threw on his scarf and tugged on a pair of snow pants that were one size too big. Ororo walked over to the boy and pulled the hood of his jacket up, fastening the snap securely over his chin. "There," she said in satisfaction. "Nice and warm."

"I look like a puffball," Jamie complained, his voice muffled by his scarf.

"You look cozy," Ororo corrected. She opened the front door and Jamie waddled outside, the winter wind nipping at the little skin that was exposed. "Have fun!"

I'll try, but it's hard to have fun when you can hardly move, Jamie thought glumly, slowly making his way through the piles of sparkling snow. He entered the garage and found his wooden toboggan leaning against the cement wall. Jamie grabbed the worn string and pulled it behind him with one hand while the other held up his snow pants.

This is ridiculous.

After a moment of debate (and considering the consequences Storm would no doubt hand him if she ever caught him) Jamie yanked off his snow pants and scarf, sticking them behind a basket of old basketballs and soccer balls. A sigh of relief escaped him when he found his speed had improved without the heavy pants. "And I'm not freezing to death," he remarked to himself, stepping back outside into the swirl of snowflakes.

In the surrounding forest there were a few decent hills to sled down. Unfortunately, Rogue and Evan had failed to tell him which hill they were using and he had failed to ask.

"Oh well." Jamie shrugged. "I'll find them eventually."

He trudged across the lawn and made his way through the trees. He had made it halfway to the first hill he wanted to sled down before realization hit him. "Wait a minute! Why am I pulling my own sled?"

Jamie closed his eyes and concentrated. A copy stepped from his body and stood in front of the original, awaiting instructions. Jamie thrust out the string. "Pull the sled."

Indigence crossed Copy One's face. "Hey, hey! We're not your personal slaves, you know."

"Not all the time," Jamie agreed. He thrust the string into Copy One's hand and jumped onto the toboggan. "But some days you are."

"I'm pretty sure Professor Xavier told you that you couldn't use us for your own personal needs," Copy One grumbled, reluctantly pulling Jamie along.

"He said I couldn't always depend on you to attend to my personal needs," Jamie corrected. "He didn't say I couldn't use you for them at all."

"Whatever. I better get a turn on this thing."

"You will," Jamie promised.

A few minutes later the two had reached the first hill-a steep slope that overlooked a wide pond (which was now frozen over). Jamie got off the toboggan and helped Copy One push it up the hill. "Okay, now which side has the pond?"

Copy One pointed behind them. "This side."

"Perfect!" Jamie smiled and climbed onto his toboggan. "Here I goooo!"

Jamie shot down the hill, kicking up clouds of snow and the wind rushing past him. Jamie whooped with glee as the toboggan jolted with every bump. "This is awesoooome!"

Just as he reached the end of the hill the toboggan hit a rather nasty bump, sending Jamie flying through the air and sliding across the ground.

Wait, sliding?

The boy could only gape in horror when he found himself sliding across the frozen pond, disrupting the thick layer of snow that had hidden it from view. Jamie came to a stop in the middle of the pond, the ice creaking dangerously beneath him.

Slowly, Jamie spread himself out, shivering with fear at the cracks that appeared faintly in the ice. If he tried to move himself back to land, there was a good chance the ice would shatter beneath him. And then he would be a Jamiesicle.

"You were wrong!" Jamie called hoarsely. "The pond is on this side!"

"I can see that!" Copy One called back. "What should we do?"

Making more copies would not help the situation. With a soft moan, Jamie ordered his copy to get someone to save his butt. Copy One saluted and ran off.

Jamie rested his head against the ice and groaned. "Why is it always me?"

…

Copy One raced through the forest and across the lawn, high-tailing it towards the mansion. He burst through the front doors and stumbled into the drawing room, where he found Jean sitting on a chair, reading a book. "Jean!" he cried in relief.

Jean glanced up with a smile. "Hello Jam-" Her smile turned into a puzzled frown. "Wait, you're not Jamie."

"I know. The real Jamie's in trouble. He's stuck in the middle of the frozen pond in the forest and it'll crack open at any time!" Copy One said in a rush.

Jean was up in an instant. She yanked on her jacket and boots and the two were racing back to where Jamie was in danger.

"Jamie!" Jean exclaimed when they finally came upon the pond. "Are you okay?"

"So far, so good," Jamie said meekly.

Jean closed her eyes and concentrated. Using her powers she lifted Jamie up into the air and carefully levitated him to safety. Jamie let out a sigh a relief as he got to his feet. "That was close."

"It was more than just close," Jean lectured. "If that ice had broken you would have been in serious trouble! You know you're not supposed to go off by yourself."

"I was going to find Rogue and Evan eventually," Jamie muttered. "I just wanted to do a bit of sledding on my own first."

"Well, next time, don't go anywhere without one of us with you," Jean said sternly.

"Okay," Jamie agreed. "I promise." Turning to his copy, Jamie smiled. "Thanks for getting help."

"No problem," Copy One replied.

Jamie faded his copy away and fell into step beside Jean. The redhead telepathically brought Jamie's sled over to them and Jamie held it against his side.

"You won't tell anyone about this, will you?" Jamie asked nervously.

Jean smiled and ruffled his hair. "It will be our little secret."

"I didn't interrupt anything you were doing, did I?"

"Nah. I was just doing a bit of reading. I was waiting for Scott to come back so we could go do some Christmas shopping."

Jamie's eyes lit up. "Can I come with you guys? I want to mail my letter to Santa."

"Sure thing. We can even visit Santa at the mall, if you'd like." Jean offered.

"Yes!" Jamie bounced up and down eagerly. "When does Scott get back?"

Jean glanced at her watch. "In about ten minutes. Enough time for you to change into some warm clothes."

The two reached the mansion and Jamie quickly retrieved his snow pants from the garage, yanking them on as to hopefully fool Storm into thinking that he had been wearing them the whole time. Thankfully the weather witch was not downstairs when they entered the foyer, as Jamie knew his face had a guilty flush to it.

The boy quickly stripped out of his winter clothes and went to change his soaking wet socks. He grabbed his allowance (which he had been saving up for a month) and jogged back down the wooden stairs and snagged his letter from the table.

"I'm ready!" he declared, sliding into the foyer.

Jean smiled at his enthusiasm and handed Jamie his coat and hat. "Scott's waiting for us in the driveway."

"Where did he go?" Jamie asked, pulling his hat over his brown hair and zipping up his jacket.

"Professor Xavier asked Scott to pick up some groceries for Christmas dinner."

"But it's only the ninth of December." Jamie frowned in confusion.

"We normally have our Christmas dinner on the fifteenth of December," Jean explained. "After that, it's difficult to know when everyone will be here since everyone has to leave at different times for the Christmas holidays."

Jamie nodded in understanding. They walked outside into the bitter wind and quickly sought the warmth of Scott's red convertible. "Hi," Jamie greeted cheerfully as he climbed into the back seat.

Scott arched an eyebrow at Jean, who was buckling her seatbelt. "Did you pick up a stray on the way out here?"

"Very funny. Jamie wants to see Santa Claus and mail his letter," Jean informed. "Since we're going to the mall I thought it would be fun if he came with us."

"You realize he's going to bamboozle us into buying him something even though Christmas is a few weeks away, right?" Scott asked, adjusting his mirror and starting down the driveway.

Jean glanced over her shoulder at Jamie, who was smiling happily, his irresistible blue eyes lit with happiness. The redhead grinned back and turned to Scott. "Yeah, I know."