Welcome back! If you aren't up to snuff on this series, please check the reading order on either my or robbiepoo2341's profile to make sure you're all caught up as this is a very linear storyline. Once you know you're in good shape, come on back and dive in. As always, we'll try to answer questions if you have them and we welcome comments that are actual comments - not 'corrections' to 616 canon. This isn't canon. As I said before - thanks for coming back to our 714 Universe.

Chapter 1 - Overworked and Overwhelmed

Things had been a little bit strange around Westchester and the new semester was only just starting. Then again, it had been strange for a while. It was just that when Elin was at the public school, she wasn't there to see how odd it really was. But now? When she was there all the time and watching everything ... she really didn't like how her team was shaping up outside of practice.

It was almost like they were acting as stupid as possible when they weren't in the group, and that was something that she was sure Scott was going to notice sooner or later. If he hadn't already. And it seemed to Elin to be a little beyond the 'normal' level of stupid teenagers.

She'd been concerned for Chance for a while … if not for the fact that he was so hooked on the Canadian team then for the massively mixed signals he was giving off. She couldn't understand what the draw was to be in Canada — she understood the why, but it was just … not something that she thought outweighed the trouble that Alpha Flight brought with it. Unless of course Chance never heard anything about the old team, which, she supposed, was entirely possible.

But he wasn't acting much like himself either. When he showed up to the last practice, he had been almost manic — high energy, speaking faster than normal, restless … and that stupid tang of hot wires hung on his scent like a neon light.

The fact that the new girl that had transferred over from Mac's school mentioned the use of boost so casually — even still, in easy conversation — made it abundantly clear that its use there was pretty broad and, if she was to believed, not only tolerated but expected of most students. It fell to reason that it was entirely possible that Chance was simply going with the flow … but that … didn't exactly fit either.

Then there was the rest of his behavior. She'd finally gotten to a point with him where she could more or less ignore the flirting. It wasn't like he meant it, after all. Not with her. And when she thought of all the mixed signals there … if she ignored the burnt wires, she could easily scent out that he had an attraction … but everything else about how he acted had her convinced that he was struggling hard to keep it as friends. But again, that fell into step with the fact that he had yet to meet even a halfway pretty girl he didn't like. So Elin made a point to remind herself of that — and to remind herself of her own code she was trying to follow.

He had to be uncomfortable when she teased him about how he looked. He shut down every time, and it was pretty clear that he was at least a little torn up about all of it. It had to be weird for him … that kind of picking from his ex-girlfriend's best friend … yeah. That … that was stopping before she pushed a little too far on the picking and had him totally ignoring her again.

The fact that the stupid burning wires smell was getting stronger every time that he came back didn't make her feel any better about things, and she'd more or less made up her mind to tip off Scott if it kept up. She knew Canada was tolerating it … but she also knew that Westchester most definitely was not.

So she was a little irritated that she knew she'd be missing the next practice to go to Japan for the weekend with her parents to check in with Hisako on how the new satellite was holding up. Still … the more she thought about it, the more she was sure that tipping off Scott was the next step. She just really didn't want to get Chance in trouble.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Charlie joined her in the window seat — her book obviously forgotten long ago — and seeing as Elin wasn't even trying to pretend like she was reading anymore, it was pretty open for anyone to come and say hi.

"So," Charlie said as she sat down beside Elin. "Who or what is it that you're concerned over today?" She gestured at Elin with one hand. "And don't tell me that you're not worried. I'd be more concerned if you weren't."

Elin looked up at her and weighed it out … the last thing she wanted to do was to come clean to Charlie. "There are a lot of stupid decisions going on with the team right now, that's all."

Charlie nodded lightly and tucked her feet up underneath her as she sat with Elin. "No kidding."

"Maybe I need this weekend just to clear my head," she said lightly.

"Anything I can help with?" Charlie offered.

"I don't know yet," Elin admitted. "I think it's just a holding pattern right now."

Charlie nodded. "I hate that," she said with a small smile. "You have more self-control than I do, because I've already pointed out to Krissy that she doesn't even like the guy she's with… and Chance is just…" Charlie blew out her breath. "It would be easier to be mad at him if he wasn't so… my twin brother."

"He's just trying to figure out his own path," Elin said quietly. "And Krissy … I think she's about done with this guy, honestly." She set her book down and pulled her legs up so she could wrap her arms around her knees and rest her head.

"Thus the holding pattern," Charlie agreed.

"Not my job to push either of them to not do stupid things," Elin said.

"It sort of is my job with my brother," Charlie said with a little smile. She leaned back and watched Elin for a moment. "You can't tell me you haven't noticed he's off."

"He is," Elin agreed.

"If it makes you feel any better, he knows it," Charlie offered.

"It really doesn't," Elin replied.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah… I just meant... he doesn't actually like this girl."

"That's really not my business," Elin said.

"No, but you know more than you let on, and you and I both know it, so I thought I'd give you context to the twin headaches that are Krissy and my brother. Being stupid," Charlie said with a smile.

"Well, one of those should resolve quickly … and the other will be fine when the next cute girl wanders by." Elin gave her a little smile. "In the meantime … just have to wait them out."

Charlie opened her mouth to say something and then seemed to think better of it and shook her head. "Well, if you want some quiet time away from the drama, let me know. You know you're always welcome."

"I've got the weekend in Tokyo with Dad … that'll be a nice break," Elin said.

Charlie nodded. "I hope you have fun," she said as she got up to leave. "And… I hope things resolve soon, for both of our sakes," she added, this time with a smirk in place.

Elin smiled her way lightly. "I'm sure I'll hear all about anything I miss while I'm gone."

While Elin was headed out for the weekend, though, the junior squad was hanging out in the Danger Room for a good practice, joking around with each other as usual — though with Elin gone, Scott was giving both Gerry and Sying a chance to try their hand at leading the team for different exercises for most of the practice.

The dynamic of the team was a little bit off, if they were being honest. Krissy had a hard time being around Sying, because the truth of the matter was that she had planned to break up with Christian by now — but Christian been gone for the past few weeks, and she didn't know why — and she knew it wasn't fair to Sying. So she was dealing with it brilliantly — by hardly even looking at Sying.

And Chance was in a weird mood, sort of restless and not joking around with Gerry despite Gerry's best attempts to get him into it. So the whole feeling of the practice was off.

When it was clear the team as a whole was off their game, Scott finally decided to end the sims and just have them work as a team on sparring together. He paired up Gerry and Cody and Sying and Chance and pulled Krissy aside — since she was the most likely of the whole group to actually talk to him.

"Whatever's going on between you all, keep it out of practice," Scott told her with a frown.

Krissy shifted slightly and then let out a little breath. "It's just drama stuff," she promised. "Just… a bad combo of a whole lot of stupid, okay? It's not my fault guys are all idiots." She gestured toward where the other four members of the team were paired up with each other. "Because they are. All of them."

If he hadn't been so irritated at how poorly the practice was going, Scott would have agreed with her, too. "You all know how to get along better than this. Whatever it is…"

"I can only promise that I can help with Sying," Krissy said, holding up a hand. "I know what the problem is there. Chance is just… in a bad mood for some reason." She shrugged. "It happens. Murphy's Law is probably part of it; I dunno. But I'm not in charge of all the boys."

Scott shook his head. "I know."

She nodded and then tipped her head to the side. "Okay, well, as long as we're clear—"

"I just don't want to see another practice like this one," Scott admitted.

Krissy frowned his way, but before she could point out that one bad practice wasn't the end of the world — and she was about to — they were distracted by a bad crack and then a cry from Sying, and both of them turned to see that Sying was holding his arm and Chance was already apologizing faster than he could quite get the words out of his mouth.

"Oh crap — I'm sorry — I didn't — are you okay?" Chance asked.

It was obvious that Sying's arm was broken, but he was nodding already Chance's way. "It's fine; it's healing already," he promised, though Chance still looked totally miserable.

"Alright, that's it," Scott said, shaking his head. "Everyone, hit the showers. Sying, let Hank take a look at that just to be safe."

The kids all shared looks but very quickly split up, though Chance stuck around, still looking totally shocked with himself and apologizing before he caught up to Scott.

"What happened back there?" Scott asked him outright when they hit the hallway.

Chance shook his head. "It was an accident. I just… I got too worked up." He passed a hand through his hair, and Scott couldn't help but frown watching him. It was obvious to see that Chance was still worked up, not to mention the fact that he'd been grumpy and moody all weekend and had been short with his brother and sisters this morning.

"Chance, whatever this is—"

"I think I'm overstretched," Chance blurted out, again with the words seeming to tumble out faster than he could form them, and he took a deep breath to try to slow down again. He ran a hand over his face. "I… my schedule is crazier than it should be right now," he said, making a real effort to speak slower as Scott watched him with an obvious frown. "Practices up north… and then all of the flight suit stuff… I mean, I knew it was going to be rough, but I swear, Dad, I think I kind of might have pissed off the government office up there, and they've got me running circles because they're sore losers."

Scott frowned and crossed his arms. "What happened?"

Chance took a deep breath and let it out and shook his head. "I told them I didn't want to take any boost, and they got huffy about it." He fell into a glare at the memory of it. "I told 'em if they wanted someone with powers, then they should have signed someone else. Don't think they were too happy about it, to be honest, but it's my decision to make, and I opted out."

Scott's frown deepened when he heard it, and he couldn't help but jump to concern — though it would explain why Chance had been off lately if he was overworked. "Are you sure you want to keep pursuing the team up there if that's the case?" he asked as carefully as he could.

Chance nodded. "The whole point is to prove I can do it on my own because people don't think I can. And Dad, this is literally exactly what I moved up there to fight — people who think I need a boost." He nodded a bit to himself and set his shoulders. "I want to shove it in their faces when I can do it without their help. That's the whole point."

Scott watched Chance for a long moment. It was clear he'd made up his mind about this, and Scott could absolutely see the logic of it: he'd heard the argument when Chance had decided to go to Canada in the first place and knew that it was important to him. "If you're sure," he said at last.

Chance nodded. "I just can't let them win here, Dad. I can't let them go on thinking that they can chase me off or make me think I need the help by trying to — I dunno — exhaust me or something." He ran a hand through his hair again, which was starting to stick up in place. "I don't … I hate to ask it, because I like coming home, but Dad… maybe if I took a weekend off of coming home to breathe. Get a break. Sleep for a few days instead of traveling. If I can just get through the semester so I don't have school on top of all this, I can survive this crap. I know I can."

Scott let out a long breath. "I know you can," he agreed. "But you need to be careful."

"I am," Chance promised. He shot his dad an attempted smile. "Besides, I actually do like the team, just not the bureaucracy. And the flight suit's amazing. I just need time to, you know, not die in the meantime." He gave Scott an actual smile. "Just means I'm doing something right if I'm pissing them off, right? I just have to show them they can't make me tired and desperate enough to take the boost." He shrugged. "I'm kind of used to it at this point. The low expectations."

"We're all pulling for you, Chance," Scott told him.

Chance nodded. "I know," he said. "Thanks, Dad."

Meanwhile, in Japan, Elin was settling in with her father when her phone went off with a series of texts from Krissy telling her all about how stupid practice had been and how all of the boys had completely lost their minds.

Oh my gosh. You left and I somehow became appointed Babysitter of the Idiots. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN.

No, really. Scott seems to think I should just KNOW why Chance is an idiot and why boys are LIKE THIS.

YOU HAVE A Y CHROMOSOME, SCOTT. YOU'RE MORE LIKELY TO KNOW THAN ME.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME, ELLIE.

That sounds horrible, Elin texted back. I am so unfortunate to be where I am and to miss out on all the stupid that's so thick there. She smirked to herself and leaned back as she shot and sent a picture of the hot springs all surrounded by snow where she was chest deep in hot water with just her toes sticking up in the water to make sure that there was no mistaking what she was up to. Especially since she hadn't taken off the nail polish that Malin had painted on for her just the day before. Dad doesn't look like he'd know the answer, so my resources are tapped — but I won't send you that picture. We are not allowed to document Relaxed Dad, okay?

Take me with you next time. I swear. I'm going insane over here.

Elin shook her head and smiled. I don't know. If it's that bad, maybe I should just stay.

NOT WITHOUT ME.

And yet here I am. Elin replied. On the other side of the world.

Ugh. I hate you so much sometimes, came the response, followed shortly after by, You haven't run into my stupid boyfriend out there, have you? Because if you have, I wouldn't be opposed to remote-stabbing.

Elin frowned to herself. No. But if you're miserable, we're pretty well done with what we were supposed to do, and I doubt that Dad would be mad if you and your dad just … showed up. There was a pause before she sent the coordinates.

It was only a couple minutes before Kurt and Krissy simply appeared, both of them grinning widely. "Oh, fancy seeing you here," Kurt called out, already laughing to himself at his joke.

Logan burst out laughing on seeing them, though he looked perfectly relaxed all stretched out in the hot water. "Did we seem like we were in distress?"

"Um, no, I was in distress," Krissy said, raising her hand.

"And I am simply the courier to de-stressing activities," Kurt chuckled.

"That's too bad," Logan said. "Because I've got a source for liquor and another source for ninjas …"

Kurt gestured grandly Logan's way. "Exactly."

"Yeah, but if you're just the courier, that means you're not tagging along," Logan pointed out.

Kurt rolled his eyes dramatically. "Laecherlich. Consider it my tip for goods delivered."

"Did the 'goods' bring their bathing suit?" Elin asked.

Krissy broke into a grin. "Obviously."

"Well, get changed and hop in," Elin said. "The water's perfect."

By the time February came around, Krissy was pretty much done with the whole situation with Christian. She had enjoyed not having to deal with him over December — which she knew was a bad sign — but then he hadn't shown up since the end of the last semester. Now? Now, she was just done. If this was his way of blowing her off, then screw him.

She had tried to do this right. And now she was tired of being tied to him and feeling like she couldn't move on.

After all, this was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be a fun little fling, and she'd really felt like she was done with it by the end of November. Which was right about the time he disappeared. Like an idiot.

She was mad at him, she was mad at herself, and she was done with all of it.

So, after team practice — which, she hated to admit it, had gone much better than the last one, though she wasn't sure if that was because she'd already figured out what to do about Sying or if it was because Elin was there or if it was because Chance wasn't…

And don't think she hadn't noticed that something was up with him, too, and she'd get to that later. She'd already emailed him to ask him if he was okay and got some line about being overworked, but if he came back grumpy again, she was going to storm Alpha Flight headquarters or something — but that was later.

For the moment, she was more focused on pulling Sying aside after practice. "Sying, I'm sorry," she said, her eyes wide as her tail swayed behind her. "I've let this whole thing get out of hand."

Sying frowned her way. "What are you talking about?"

"This whole thing with Christian," she said, which only deepened Sying's frown. She chewed on her bottom lip. "I wasn't lying to you when I told you I didn't want to get serious — and I gotta be honest, I thought we'd be broken up by now. But he's gone and disappeared on me so I can't do it properly."

"It's fine, Krissy," Sying said, the frown still in place. "You made it pretty clear—"

"I'm trying to explain why it's taken so long for me to get around to — I'm trying to tell you I was ready to cut things off with him months ago," she said in a breath, her eyes wide.

Sying was quiet for a moment, sort of guarded — which was her fault, she knew. "Alright," he said.

"I'm trying to — I just—" Krissy took a deep breath, and all of the next phrase came out at once. "Do you want to do something on Valentine's Day with me?"

Sying stared at her, though he couldn't quite keep from grinning. "Yes."

"Great!" Krissy felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she broke into a grin.

"But Krissy?"

She paused and turned his way. "Yeah?"

Sying was still smiling a bit at her, but he had his arms crossed. "You shouldn't have made me wait. I just wanted to be clear about that."

"I know," she said, then took a deep breath. "I'm going to make it up to you, though."

He couldn't help but smile at that. "We'll see."

"Are you goading me?" she asked, her eyebrows high.

"Will it get me flowers?" he teased right back.

"The way you're going?"

He grinned and rushed over to wrap her in a hug. "I'm so glad you came around."

"You know what? Me too."