An hour later Charles was in his study, impatiently drumming his fingers on the desk

An hour later Charles was in his study, impatiently drumming his fingers on the desk. Hank and Cecilia had taken Jubilee to the Medlab, but not before checking the dosage they had given her, and adding to it. Neither had a wish for Jubilee to awaken and begin her antics again, especially not in the lab, where there were too many flammable liquids near.

"Would anyone care to tell me what that was about?"

Charles looked at Scott, who was at the moment pacing near the back row of books. Jean was resting in a room upstairs, a combination of the telepathic tag she'd received and the painkillers that Hank had given her.

"It seems that Jubilee has managed to tap into her telepathic abilities," Charles answered.

Storm raised an eyebrow, "I thought she would have some years yet before she would be able to access them."

Charles sighed, "So did I. But we have all seen what high levels of stress can do to hasten the emergence of mutant abilities. She managed to do a passable copy of a psi bolt. Normally Jean would hardly have felt it, but she was unprepared for a telepathic attack."

Scott stopped pacing, "Where would she have learned that? I thought Emma said-"

Charles held up a hand, "Neither Emma or myself have been teaching Jubilee maneuvers of this nature. It is possible that she managed to feel' her way into it, for lack of a better word. She has been in close proximity to Jean, Emma and I when we have used such a tactic. For someone who is latently telepathic it would be easy to feel what we were doing, though considerably harder for her to employ it."

"Monkey see monkey do," Gambit said quietly.

Charles nodded.

" What about what she was doin'. Chuck?" Logan asked quietly. " An how she was doin' it?"

The X-men turned questioning glances to Xavier. None of them had yet to see the recording of Jubilee's workout'.

Charles settled farther into his hover chair, "We have all known that instead of pushing herself, Jubilee's main purpose in her training was learning to control her abilities, when to use what amount of force. I believe that when Everett was synched into her abilities he was able to control them to the degree that we witnessed today." He said the boys name with a hint of regret and sorrow that was not lost on anyone in the room.

"With Emma's help," Bobby pointed out.

Charles sighed again, "It would only be a matter of time before she reached that level herself. From all reports she once destroyed a house in China of some size with one blast from her powers. If anything, her display today was mild, but surprising."

"When will we see this tape?" Elizabeth asked.

Charles moved from behind his desk. "I have called Emma and Sean, asking that they come to the mansion so they can review the tapes with us. Jubilee is their student-"

"Fine lot they did lookin' out for er," Logan mumbled.

"Be that as it may, if Jubilee is going to rejoin Generation X, if she wishes to, they will need to be appraised of the situation."

Just short of thirty mintues later the low whine of a jet announced the arrival of Emma and Sean. Charles moved to greet them, but stopped short when he say the rest of Generation X following.

"I thought I asked that you leave the rest of the team out of this," he said as he shook Sean's hand.

Sean rubbed one hand on the back of his neck, "Aye, that ya did, but they didnae kin to that."

The they' were currently clustered together near the ramp of the jet, looking expectantly at their teachers. Charles didn't need to scan their minds to know their resolve, it was written on their faces.

Emma Frost glanced sideways at Sean before stepping in, " Chamber picked up on my distress when I received your message," she said by way of explanation, " I have become too lax in keeping my shields up. He alerted the rest of them."

Before he could answer a telepathic scream cut through them, one loud enough to catch Chamber unaware and bring him to his knees. It continued for a moment before abruptly cutting off.

//Hank? Cecilia?// Charles sent out, trying to keep himself calm.

//We're still alive, barely,// Hank answered.

//What happened?//

"This definitely complicates matters," Charles said, rubbing the bridge of his nose where a migraine was steadily building momentum. Nearly five hours since Jubilee's telepathic scream alerted them to the gravity of her situation everyone who could be called home was occupying his study.

Emma nodded in agreement, "It would appear that Jubilee has dug herself in deeper than she can climb out."

The gathering of both teams in the study severely limited the space in the room, and at the moment all were crowded around Charles' desk, looking at the psi-prints that Cerebro had made concerning Jubilee.

"Someone wanna tell the rest of us what all dese spikes mean?" Angelo asked.

The crowd around him finally proved too much, "If everyone would please take a seat, I would be more than happy to," Charles said, letting only a hint of his aggravation tinge his voice. Once everyone was settled he began, "The spikes are a representation of the amount of psychic energy that a given telepath exerts on the astral plane, the height is the amplitude of that energy."

"Meaning," Hank interrupted from his perch on the ceiling fan, "That all of Jubilation's psychic centers are thrown wide open."

"And the scream?" Monet asked.

"That was a result of Cecilia and I being in the room with her. It appears that she cannot stand to have anyone near her without causing substantial pain, at least until she is able to deal with the telepathic input." He pushed his wire rim glasses further onto his nose, "From what we are able to ascertain, Jubilee is close to a beta level telepath in raw power, but in practice, will more than likely fall short of that."

The ruffling of Warren's feathers betrayed his concern, " What kind of pain?"

"Imagine someone stabbing you in his head with red hot spikes, repeatedly, without letting up for even a moment," Jean said, her voice haunted. Jubilee's condition was too similar to the one she had suffered when she first came to the mansion for her comfort.

Scott looked to his wife in concern, "You shouldn't even be up after what happened earlier," he said quietly.

"If I may ask, what exactly happened that had you calling the academy?" Emma asked. Charles had been sketchy at best, concern for Jubilee taking his attention away from his task. He'd planned to explain when they arrived, but events were spiraling out of control at a speed that astonished him.

"I think it would be better if you all saw what started this chain of events," he said, inserting a tape into the media center of his office.

The twenty-five minutes of tape caught everything. When Jubilee began screaming in his arms he wished for nothing more than the recording to be a silent one. The sheer terror in her cries struck him, adding to the roiling pain in the pit of his stomach. A feeling shared by many in the room, punctuated by the "Sweet Mary" whispered by Sean.

"How is she doing now?" Emma asked, no emotion in her voice.

"Stable." Hank answered, " We have her on a steady Valium drip to keep her unconscious, at least until the professor can deal with her telepathic abilities. The wounds she sustained from her exercise were taken care of by the Shi'ar healing unit. Because of her past experiences, we opted out of using the Genoshan collar." Hanks expression darkened. "Access is restricted to the Professor, Cecilia, and myself until we pull her out of this."

Fifteen minutes later Charles entered the Medlab. The lights were dimmed, the stillness broken only by the quiet beeps of the many pieces of machinery around the room. He could see Jubilee's small frame laying on one of the beds, a darker form sitting next to her, holding her hand. Charles had to strain his ears, but he could make out the softly sung lullaby.

"Fermer votre yeux, peu une. Vont à sommeil, peu une. Songer le temps c'est voici, tellement prendre pas de redouter. MOI seront voici, partout dans les soir."*

"Professuer," Gambit said, laying Jubilee's hand on the bed, "T'ought de petite would like some comp'ny, non?"

Charles nodded. Gambit would be no threat to the delicate psyche of the girl. He often found it something just shy of impossible to detect the Cajun when he didn't want to be. An untrained mind like Jubilee's would be unable to detect him even if he was dancing on top of the heart monitor.

Closing his eyes, Charles gently pushed himself past the defenses of Jubilee's mind, stepping lightly so that she would feel little, if anything. The slightest shiver went through him as he felt the extent to which her mind was laid open. He could feel the cold against Storms skin as she walked the grounds, the burn of the cigar smoke Logan was inhaling, and a thousand other emotions from the people above them, though the distance muted the effect until it was only background chatter in his mind. Carefully, Charles began building the defenses she would need to leave the seclusion of the Medlab. He pictured her abilities as a treasure chest, and slowly built a wall of stone around them, thick enough to keep them safe. When he was finished he exited as quietly as he had entered, opening his eyes to find Remy staring at him.

"She goin' be fine?" He asked quietly, red on black eyes filled with concern.

Charles let his eyes meet Remy's for a moment, before answering, "I honestly cant tell you."

*The words to the lullaby are : "Close your eyes, little one. Go to sleep, little one. Dream time is here, so have no fear. I'll be here throughout the night."