Author's Note: see ch 1 for disclaimer

"Can I help you?" He asked the two people standing in front of him.

"I hope so," the girl answered. "My family just recently went down in a plane accident, and something guided me here."

"And we met earlier today," the young man said. Scott looked at him, frowning, and then realized it was Angel.

"Sorry. Didn't recognize you. Um, come on in. We were about to have dinner. Are you two hungry?" Angel shook his head, but the girl nodded.

"I haven't eaten in days," she said. She walked into the Institute and started taking off her coat. She took off her hat and Scott gasped at the green hair. "I'm-"

"Lorna."

"Yes, how did you know?"

"We've been looking for you. I think it was my professor that guided you here. Nate, go get him." Nathan nodded and quickly ran up the stairs.

"And what's your name?" she asked, looking around the main room of the Institute.

"I'm Scott Summers," he said, sticking his hand out.

"And you are…?" she asked Angel.

"Warren. I met Scott earlier today and was invited to take a tour."

"What is this place?"

"Welcome, Ms. Dane. I'm Charles Xavier," Charles said, rolling to the group. "I'm so sorry to hear about your family's accident. If you would like, I can take you to my office and explain how I found you?" Lorna raised her eye.

"I'd rather you told me around witnesses. I don't know you."

"Fair enough. I found you because of a mutated X gene that has given you special abilities."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you sure? You don't feel the pull of the metal in this room? In my chair?" Lorna took a step back.

"Wh- how-?"

"Because, my dear, that is what this home is about. We find those like us and we teach and learn how to use our abilities to help mankind."

"You can control metal as well?"

"No. I am a telepath. Scott here can emit concussive optic blasts from his eyes, and Warren here, well… Would you like to show us? You're safe here." Warren took off his coat and allowed Lorna to see his wings.

"Don't touch them," he said, seeing her reach her hand out. "They're… sensitive."

"Angel!" Warren looked up and saw Corsair coming down the staircase. "I can honestly say I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."

"Corsair. I… I thought it'd be worth a look around. Definitely a smaller house than what I'm used to, but not bad." Chris raised an eye.

"Got me beat there, then, kid. I've certainly never stayed anywhere nicer than this." Chris saw Lorna and turned. "Pleasure to meet you. Chris Summers." Lorna looked from Chris to Scott.

"Are you two…?"

"My son," Chris confirmed. "And you are?"

"Lorna." Chris looked at Scott.

"This is Lorna?" Scott nodded. Chris turned back to her and smiled. "We've been waiting for you for a while. Why are you just now getting here?"

"My… my family's plane… We were in a horrible crash. I, I was the only survivor. I heard a voice, urging me here. It took me a few weeks, as I was coming from California." Chris nodded sympathetically.

"I understand-"

"How could you?!" she cried, putting her head in her hands. "They were all I had, and now…" She began weeping and Chris looked around helplessly.

"Did you wake up in a hospital all alone, too?" Lorna looked up at Scott and nodded. "You had to hear that you were alone from a doctor in that fake, sympathetic voice. Then they leave and everyone just… pities you while you try to come to terms with your family being gone."

"How do you know?"

"Happened to me, too. My dad… Our plane's fuel engine caught fire and my parents pushed my brother and I out in our only parachutes. My powers saved us. Dad managed to survive, but my mom died. None of us knew any of us lived. My brother was adopted and I grew up in foster care until Professor Xavier found me. I found my brother in June, and my dad found us in October. I was alone for ten years." Lorna reached out for his hand.

"You do understand." Scott nodded and carefully pulled his hand away.

"Your powers saved you," he told her assuredly. "And if they can do that when you're not thinking of them, imagine what they can do when you are."

"Much better than the speech you gave me," Warren said, rolling his eyes.

"I was trying to speed things up for you before my dad kicked my butt," Scott said with a smirk.

"Lorna, would you like to join us? If not, you are welcome to stay for dinner and stay for a few days until I can find your closest living relative."

"Can I… can I think about it?"

"Of course. You are under no pressure, I assure you. Warren, same with you."

"Angel? Is that you?" Gabriel flew over in front of him. "You look… different."

"I'm dressed how I normally look. So where's this team I was told about? I see you and your brother, and a new girl, but that's it."

"Everyone went home," Gabriel told him. "We're on a break from school for Christmas. They left this morning."

"Huh. That's encouraging. Why are you still here?"

"Our dad's an instructor here, so this is home."

"And because our home would be damn near impossible to get to right now," Chris broke in. "Your grandparents barely made it."

"We're from Alaska," Scott told a confused Warren.

"Ah." The group looked to the stairs and saw a new group of people coming down and Warren quickly put his jacket back on to cover his wings.

"Warren, Lorna, this is my family. My parents, Philip and Deborah, my son Alex, his parents, my mate Hepzibah, and my future daughter in law, Madelyne. And over here is Nathan, this is Nate, and over there is Carolyn. And of course, this is Rogue, another one of our students who chose to stay here for the break to learn a few one-on-one things. Everyone, this is Warren and Lorna."

"Oh my!" Joanna gasped. "Warren Worthington?!" Warren slunk into himself and nodded.

"Please… please don't say anything about seeing me here. My father doesn't know." Madelyne walked over to Scott and took his hand. Scott gave her a small smile and looked back up.

"I believe dinner is ready, and if you all don't mind, I need to make sure my fiancée eats."

"I am eating for three now," she smiled. Scott gave her a chaste kiss and led her away.

"Dad?" Alex said, turning to Chris. "Twins?"

"They found out this morning," Chris told him. "I think it… freaked them out too much to announce it." Chris looked at Carolyn and Nate, who were doing their best not to stand next to each other.

"This is going to change a lot." Alex wiped his face and looked up, seeing Lorna. "Um… hi. I'm Alex."

"Hi. I'm Lorna. You're… you're the son who was in the crash? I only ask because I heard that Scott was in it, and that his brother was adopted, and Chris said something about your parents, and-"

"Yeah, that's me. Alex Masters. Unless I'm getting yelled at here, and then it reverts back to Summers." Alex blushed.

"It must be nice having two sets of parents," she said as they followed the group heading to the dining room.

"It has its moments."

"So… what can you do?"

"Um," Alex powered up his hands and showed her. "I can destroy things. It's actually pretty cool- Scott can absorb what I throw at him, and I can absorb his optic blasts. What can you do?"

"I control metal. Scott said that was what saved me from my family's plane crash."

"Were your parents pilots?"

"My father- my stepfather is. Was." Lorna looked away.

"Hey, I get it. You can say 'is' until you're ready to say something else. I went through a lot of therapy because I was told I was an only survivor. I mean, you can't expect a kid to exactly understand what happened, right? I referred to my family as 'is' instead of 'was' for a while, too."

"Except your family is alive."

"Not my mom."

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"It's ok. My dad does a good job of keeping her memory alive for me. At least you have, what, fifteen, sixteen years of memories of your mom? I have four."

"I'm almost fifteen, actually."

"Me too!" Alex pulled out a seat for her and helped push her to the table. Chris smirked as he talked with Warren and Rogue. Scott and Madelyne came in, carrying several containers of food.

"Smells amazing," Beast commented, walking in. Lorna and Warren looked at him in shock. "Oh, hello. I see we have guests."

"Beast," Scott said, "This is Warren and Lorna. Warren is that guardian angel guy who was saving people in New York, and Lorna finally arrived tonight after months of looking for her."

"So, no need to wipe minds. That's a relief." Beast sat next to Cable. They began eating, several people thanking Deborah for cooking.

"Will you be staying long, Warren?" Madelyne asked the only non-eating person.

"Oh, uh, probably not. My family has a lot of functions to attend through New Years. I'm expected to be there."

"I just can't believe I'm at a table with a Worthington," Joanna said. "I never thought something like this would happen to me."

"Mom, you're at a table with my long-lost family, and that's what you want to focus on?"

"You know his family?" Scott asked before taking another bite of dinner.

"Of his family. The Worthingtons are some of the richest people in the country-"

"World," Warren interrupted with a small smile.

"Some people like to flaunt their wealth," Philip said with a frown.

"That would be my father. I… I prefer to stay in the background. It gets less pictures of me. I'm not as interesting for a story."

"What made you fly around New York?" Nate asked.

"People needed help. I could help them."

"Perfect X-Man mentality," Beast said. "Are you considering joining us?"

"I'd like some more information before I commit to that."

"Danger Room?" Alex asked Scott.

"Uh… we'll see," Scott said. "If it was any time other than Christmas, I'd say sure, but… we have family here."

"We can show him," Nate said. "We know the codes- oops." Scott put his fork down and crossed his arms, looking at his son.

"You know the codes only the security team and instructors are supposed to know?"

"It's not that big of a deal-"

"Not a big deal? Nathan!"

"What? We don't count in the rules-"

"Stop bringing me down with you!" Carolyn yelled at Nate.

"Scott, maybe this is a conversation for after dinner," Madelyne said, touching his arm. Scott looked around and saw Joanna and Andrew watching in confusion.

"I just want to know how they know the codes." Nate and Carolyn looked at Nathan, who was lifting his fork to his mouth. He saw them looking and set the fork down.

"Seriously? You're bringing me down, too? Is no one in this family loyal anymore?"

"You told them the codes, Nathan?"

"We needed more people who weren't at school to know them."

"Carolyn, I'd understand, but you told Nate?"

"Ouch."

"What do you want me to say? I was protecting this family. He deserved to know."

"You should have run it by me."

"When? When you're at school? When you're in the Danger Room? Or when you're focused on her?" Scott stood up, glaring at Nathan from across the table.

"You-"

"Scott," Chris said. "Not here."

*Upstairs. Right now,* Scott sent to his three time traveling children. All three stood up and followed Scott out of the dining room. Chris cleared his throat.

"Scott takes his position as the leader of the X-Men very seriously."

"A little too seriously. He was speaking to his uncle as if he were a child," Andrew commented.

"It's a strange relationship," Deborah said.

"So that's Cyclops in action. You know, when his dad isn't about to blow a gasket." Chris chuckled despite the situation.

"Partially. You should see him in command of his team. Boy would make an excellent military officer."

"His behavior would get him discharged faster than you could blink," Philip said, scowling.

"That's what you said about me, too, Dad, and my rank went higher than yours."

"You were in the military?" Warren asked.

"Air Force. I was a test pilot."

"You still fly?"

"Occasionally. Right now, Scott and I teach his team how to fly."

"You still fly? After- after what happened?"

"I do. I grew up hearing of my father flying- both in the Air Force and out. While I was… separated from my family, I was a captain of a crew flying around. It was how I found my boys, actually. Flying is just as natural to me as your powers are to you."

"You don't have powers?"

"I do not. But I have enough crazy experiences that Professor Xavier thought I was still worth the hire." Chris looked up and saw Scott, Carolyn, and both Nathan's walking back into the dining room. Carolyn and Nate had red rimmed eyes and Nathan was scowling.

"Rogue, are you busy after dinner?"

"No, Scott."

"Ok. We're going through everything and creating new codes for the lower levels."

"Alrigh'."

"Scott, don't you think that's-"

"Maddie. It's a security breach. They of all people should have known better."

"So instead of allowing them to help, you're taking all three of them out of the loop? What if I'm here, the system is down, they're the only other ones here, and he comes?"

"Then I'll have something installed where you can push a button and defenses will come up. Now you tell me, what happens if he takes Nate or Carrie instead of Gabe and gets the security codes? Where will we be then?"

"We said we were sorry," Carolyn said, looking at her plate.

"And I said we would finish discussing it later."

"He's acting more like a dad than a leader," Warren said to Chris. "That's… weird."

"That's because they're family. I can assure you, Scott doesn't treat non-family members like that. He's very professional." Soon, dinner was over and people began standing, clearing their areas.

"Nate, Carrie. You two are ok KP until further notice." The two nodded sadly and started taking dishes into the kitchen.

"Scott," Chris said, walking to him. "Don't you think-"

"That seems to be the problem, Dad. Apparently I'm the only one who is thinking. Only the security team and the instructors are supposed to have the codes, and they are none of those. They're getting what's deserved."

"I'm sure Nathan was only trying to be helpful with this. He was just trying to protect Madelyne."

"Then he should have ran it by me. Just because he's older does not give him the right to decide how this team functions. Rogue, you ready?" Rogue nodded and the two left the dining room. Chris sighed and watched as everyone started leaving.