Disclaimer: I wish. "I Feel Pretty" is from "West Side Story" and shimmering is the name for demonic teleportation in the tv show "Charmed"

A/N: IIIIIII'mmmmm baaAAAAAACK! I survived finals! Haven't gotten my grades yet, though . . . Anyway! I know, I'm cruel to leave you waiting so long. For those of you who don't like what I did with 'Manda, well, that's who and what she is in the comics, as is this. She's one of my favorite characters in and of herself, not just because she's Kurt's girlfriend. If you really hate the fact that I made 'Manda a sorceress - no, she's NOT a mutant - then wait for the next ending. Yes, that's the big huge gigantic change - 'Manda is 'Manda and nothing more. Or less. I mean, I do agree with you, as I've said to many of the people who guessed where I was going long ago, that making her Amanda/Jimaine ruins the wonderful idea of someone who looks like Kurt, as mutant as you get, not only falling in love with a human but having her love him too. The only reason Marvel gets away with it is because they fell in love long before he became an X-Man and remained so. That and the X-Men already had a cadre of humans who knew about them, accepted them, helped them and put up with being kidnapped occasionally. 'Manda can also hold her own when ambushed, which is convenient.

Dedication: um, haven't been at my computer for a week and therefore haven't read anything lately! Uh . . . I know! To ice princess deluxe, for her fic "Lost in Time", which was a great comicverse Wolvie/Jubes (Jubes is twenty-one in the fic people, Logan is not a petafile. I won't read the ones where she's sixteen)

Time to meet the family!

Chapter XVI

It was Jimaine all along. There was never an Amanda, never someone who discovered me, saw me as I was for the first time and could accept me. Maybe I really am a demon.

He knew they would come looking for him in the basements; it was a good place for any of them to hide when they wanted to be alone, since the roof had become so crowded. However, even now, his friends never thought to look up. Just not a human instinct -- nothing has been able to hunt us from the air since we became larger than rabbits.

Kurt sighed, curled up on the ceiling with his feet pressed against it so he wouldn't fall. It wasn't that he wasn't ecstatic to see Jimaine again -- it was just that he missed . . .

"{You miss Amanda, don't you?}" came a familiar voice from below him. No wonder he hadn't recognized her -- her voice sounded entirely different when she spoke German! She looked just a she always had from above, a shock of blond hair, olive skin and dark eyes. "{Kurt -- I know it doesn't do any good to apologize. I didn't know, when I came here, when I planned this, that you were keeping yourself hidden. Didn't know you could. I thought -- thought for sure you'd know people, regular humans, who accepted you, accepted your school, for who you were. I had no idea you were living in fear.}" she sighed, leaned against the metal wall and slid down until she sat. She really wasn't ready to be out of bed yet. "{I didn't think that a single human, seeing who you were and accepting it, was so important. I suppose I disillusioned the whole team; after all, they thought they could finally trust a human and it turns out she's grown up with Nightcrawler, of course she'd accept him! Gods, I've caused more damage than I ever imagined I could.}"

The silence stretched in the basement until Jimaine felt a furred hand on her shoulder. "{When --}" Kurt's voice choked a bit from above her. "{When you were Amanda, did you -- is that how you really -- really feel, about me? Or was it just another part of your plan?} he said the last bit harshly, and felt Jimaine flinch below him.

"{No, Kurt. I . . .}" she turned those bottomless dark brown eyes up on him. "{I know we were best friends, before, which is why I could never quite work up the nerve tell you I liked you -- What if friendship were all you wanted? I didn't -- didn't want to lose that,}" she chuckled a little, sadly. "{I guess that's ended, too.}"

Yellow eyes became brighter in shock. "{No, Jimaine,}" he crawled down the wall to sit next to her, noticing that this weird movement didn't even remotely phase her. "{Nothing you could do would turn me away from you. I just -- It's so hard to know that I have to rethink everything I decided to encompass the fact that 'Amanda' grew up knowing me. Ideals are getting smacked down left and right.}"

"{Oh, Kurt, no! Amanda Sefton may not exist, but the idea of Amanda Sefton does. Much as Graydon seems to indicate otherwise. The day will come when the X-Men discover that. In the meantime, you do have a reasonable facsimile. If you're willing to forgive me.}"

Kurt spent a moment studying the tired girl sitting next to him, from her blond hair to her heart. "{I think, as long as you're sure that there is an 'Amanda Sefton', somewhere, I don't have any choice.}"

His tail wrapped possessively around her waist as they kissed.

*

"Why would the freak claim relation to any human?! They hate us!" the voice came from an upper-level FOH member, on the opposite side of a debate with Mr. Brent.

When the Friends of Humanity had recovered from the rescue attempt they thought they could fight off, they found Graydon sitting in shock in the chair that had held Amanda against her will a mere ten minutes earlier. Only he had heard what Nightcrawler had shouted before leaping out at him, and when asked why he was just sitting there, he replied, again and again, "Mein bruder. Mein bruder. Mein bruder. Mein bruder."

He'd had to be sedated, but not before earning the nickname 'broken record' from some of the youngest.

Now FOH was unsure of itself, especially as the rock for the younger generation had succumbed to shock. Other top members had cornered Graydon's adoptive father, demanding an explanation for Graydon's behavior. That was, until someone realized just what Graydon had been babbling, and translated it.

Brent was desperately trying to keep his hold on his fellows, hoping to salvage the situation. "Listen!" he cut through the air with his hands, trying to silence everyone. Even though their latest plan had been torn to shambles, they listened. One does not abandon an effective leader because he makes one mistake. "Graydon was adopted. You all know it. Anyone -- or anything -- could have been his parent. He's human, and proves it by being here, by supporting us and becoming the key in what might have been the downfall of the X-Men. The filthy creature was just messing with his head -- and it worked, too. Are we going to let some mutie deception distract us? Keep us from reaching our goal?!" he had raised his voice to speech-level, and his audience, roused by his rally and forgetting their grievance with him, cheered. Then FOH set about clearing up the ruins of their plans, certain that next time Brent would have another answer. Certain in the parentage of their leader's son, who was looking to one day take his place.

In the hospital ward of the Friends of Humanity headquarters, brown eyes ringed in yellow snapped open. I can't believe I didn't realize it before! he snarled to himself. We know Mystique is a shape-shifter, we know the Nightcrawler is her spawn -- and there can't be that many mutant with the same abilities, the X-gene is more arbitrary than that. So -- he's my brother. Half-brother, through a relation I hate. Which makes the little absorber my foster-sister.

This was turning into Family Feud!

Graydon Creed growled under his breath as he sat up. Damn, that was a strong sedative. What was I doing? Singing "I Feel Pretty" and dancing the macerana?

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Graydon stifled a groan as his back popped. Apparently, it was not happy that it had been dragged hither and thither around the base. When he did manage to stand, fighting off the lingering effects of the sedatives he had been given, the first thing he did was go to the bathroom in the hospital wing and swish a cup of water around in his mouth.

Dammit, the sedative did more damage than the Nightcrawler did! I can hardly think! he eyed the cabinet above the sink, then firmly turned away from it. No way to know how painkillers would interact with whatever he'd been given.

Sitting down at the desk where a monitor should be, Graydon snagged a piece of paper and began writing. After he tossed away a dozen alternatives, he finally fund one that suited him, typed it up, and let it print. There! his satisfied smile was a little shaky, but he convinced himself it was due to the sedatives. No matter that the other effects had already cleared up.

He folded the generic printer paper into an envelope, glued on a stamp and a sticker with the Institute's address printed on it. He would feel much better, he was certain, when it was in the mail.

Round one to you.

*

Jimaine had finally managed to convince Kurt to go back upstairs (mostly because she needed to get into a bed, which was one of the few things in short supply in the basement) when Kurt heard Rogue shriek from the medilab. BAMFing in and leaving Jimaine to physically make her way there, Kurt discovered why Rogue was so surprised.

A ten-foot woman with ram's horns and pupil-less eyes will do that, even to an X-Man.

Jimaine struggled in after Kurt, who was staring speechless at the woman. After a moment of surprise, she glared up at the figure while she fell back into the bed. "Verdammt, what are you doing here?"

"Temper temper daughter," the figure shook an admonishing finger at Jimaine, while Rogue stood paralyzed near the doorway. Wolverine was just behind her, with his head in the door, just as astonished as she was. "You gave me quite a chase, Jimaine, but I did find you." she shook her head. "Why I bothered I'm not quite clear on. You forfeited your apprenticeship with me when you left, and have been gone these past few months."

"Maybe you bothered because I'm your daughter, and the only child left to you to pass your Craft onto!" Jimaine shot back. The novice may have been confined to a bed but her tongue was sharp as ever. "After what happened to Stefan, I wouldn't be surprised if that was your only reason!"

"You knew well enough, Jimaine, that I did not want you to see this demonic little creature," she gestured to Kurt with a dismissive hand.

Her insult, however, broke the others in the room out of their paralysis. "Kurt's not a demon, you witch! Who are you? What do you want with Am -- Jimaine?!" Rogue demanded.

"Explain yourself quick, frail," Wolverine threatened as he snapped out of his freeze and walked into the room, clearly standing where he could protect the other three.

The woman rolled her eyes, almost amused. "I am Margali of the Winding Road, and Jimaine is my daughter. No matter how far she has strayed," at this Margali glared at the blond. "from the proper education of a Romani and a sorceress."

"Well, Mrs --"

"My name, telepath, is Margali. I am 'Mrs' to no one."

Xavier was framed by the doorway, wheelchair and all, after catching sight of the oversize woman who had decided to grace their medilab. "Yes. Well. Margali, this does give you the right to be here, and to collect your daughter, but I would like to know why, after allowing your children to grow up with Kurt, you now call him 'demon'."

"That is unimportant. I am here for my apprentice, although she has relinquished the right to any such honored position."

"What, did you forget you're my mother? Or it that negligible against my being your apprentice?" Jimaine challenged. Margali sighed.

"Jimaine," she shook her head. "Your being my daughter makes you Romani --"

"Does it, Mother? Are Stefan and I Romani? After all, we don't know our father, do we?"

Margali glared at her daughter, while the other X-Men gathered outside the medilab door. "What's going on?" Jubilee whispered to Bobby.

"There's some woman taller than Storm in there, who claims she's Am- Jimaine's mom. And they're talking about Germany, or Romania, or something. I can't hear that --"

Bobby, who had his ear pressed against the wall because he couldn't get close to the door, suddenly slipped, fell, and found himself staring at blue feet. Following them up to the face that eventually followed, Bobby gulped. "I believe, Robert, that this most unique situation should be handled by the Professor, Kurt, Jimaine and Wolverine. Come on, back upstairs."

"Aww, Hank!" Bobby protested along with the other New Mutants, who reluctantly followed him up the stairs and into the main part of the mansion. The X-Men exchanged glances from behind the closed medilab door.

"Um, what if Hank's right? But . . . Rogue's in there, right?" Evan glanced around, as if trying to keep his grip on a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of anyone's control but Margalis. None of them had any idea what to do; this wasn't an enemy, this was a malignant figure from Kurts past. What were they supposed to do about that?

"I say we listen at the door, and Jean can scan their surface thoughts," Scott said quickly. Kitty nodded quickly, and Jean closed her eyes.

". . . precisely did you get here, Margali?" Xavier asked as Jean tuned into the conversation.

"I shimmered. You would call it teleportation."

Xavier's mouth fell open. "You can teleport?"

"I admit it's an upper-level skill, but nothing a sorceress with any ability can't do," Margali grinned a little at the expression on Xavier, Wolverine and Rogue's faces. "In fact, this is what Jimaine should have been learning during her little outing."

"Um, Margali?" Kurt spoke up. He had moved next to Jimaines bed while Xavier and Wolverine attempted to figure out what and who Margali was, and why she had decided to show up in their medilab. Kurt was perched on Jimaine's headboard, his tail wrapped around one of her wrists. "We have an idea."