I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get this updated. Sorry, sorry, sorry! *ducks and hides from all the flying flames* I'll have the next one up quicker I promise.

Reviews always help, of course…hint, hint.

Chapter 3

It only took Jubilee around twenty minutes to run all the way to the back of the Massachusetts school. She wasn't all that shocked about her new speed; it probably came from her healing factor. Her muscles and limbs were at their best, even though she was low on energy, and her endurance was even better. She wasn't even breathing hard when she leapt into the tree that looked out on to the oval at the back of the school.

She wasn't sure if she could do this. She knew she'd changed, drastically from what she had once been. She'd grown over a foot in hight, or so her time standing in front of one of the motel mirrors told her. Her hair was longer, almost to her waist, and had gone slightly grey and blue at the tips. Her pupils were slitted, which she was slightly worried about, since she'd never met another feral with slitted eyes. She was slightly more muscular, even though she was still malnourished from so many weeks in the cells. The last big change had been her voice. Her vocal chords had changed to accommodate the feral noises she made instinctively. The purrs, growls and snarls wouldn't have sounded even half way as real if her voice hadn't changed from deep tenor into a light baritone with a rumbling edge.

The problem was, she didn't know how Wolvie would react to this.

"You jus' gonna sit dere all day?" Jubilee had flipped out of the tree at the first word, and was crouching in a fighting stance, claws fully extended at the last. Remy watched with eyes that glowed in pure misery as the claws retracted. "Jeannie sen' me t' meet ya, p'tite." He looked her up and down, as she stood up straight, and sighed. "No' so small any more, are ya?"

He cautiously extended a hand toward her, and waited patiently. It took her a few seconds, but she finally realised he was afraid she was unstable and feral.

"It's…it's cool, Remy. I'm not back to what I was, missing a few memories, but I'm not as bad off as Wolvie usually is after a hard training session or anything."

"If yer sure, 'tite. Den come give me a hug, eh?" She was in his arms so fast; it was a surprise she didn't fly. They stayed there, holding each other until another scent hit her nose. One that was not comprised of cologne and cards.

"Wolvie?" Twisting around to look, she spotted him leaning against a tree, taking in her form with his eyes. And her scent with his nose.

'Oh shit.'

"You were with Sabertooth!" He looked as if he was about to go off in a rage, but she forestalled it by untangling her right hand from Remy's trench coat and popping the claws again. She was starting to get used to that feeling of pain and flesh breaking. Logan almost went cross-eyed as he looked at her claws, and then his own unsheathed. "Wha-?"

"Weapon X decided on a new program. They did the whole routine, including healing factor and super senses. Thing is, that during the adamantium bonding process, as well as adding the claws, they had to take my collar off; the pain set off my paffs, and boom. No more lab. I destroyed most of the compound, escaped, walked around for about a day, ended up a mile from Sabertooth's cabin…"

Logan stepped toward her, retracted his claws and reached for her hand. She allowed the contact and his explorations of her claws and knuckles then retracted them and all three watched as the knuckle wounds closed.

"'Tite? Creed 'urt you any?" Jubilee leaned back into Remy's hug, glad for the human contact and his unique scent washing over her.

"No. Actually he took fairly good care of me. Didn't even complain when I couldn't sleep because of the nightmares. Even brought me clothes. Including underwear." The startled looks from both of them made her grin, since they were obviously startled for two reasons. "Yes, he really did go in and buy me underwear without ripping the sales lady's throat out, and no, I was not completely naked when he found me. I had a jumpsuit from the lab on. Calm down already."

"Why would 'Tooth of all people…?"

"I asked him, and he wouldn't tell me. Said curiosity, but I didn't believe him. The Professor contacted us just a couple of hours ago, and promised him he'd be payed for delivering me safely home. We figured it wasn't a good idea for Creed of all people to drive up to the front door, so he dropped me off a few miles away. Wolvie? You okay?"

Logan shook his head and pulled her away from Remy and into a hug of his own. She giggled when she found that she was indeed a few inches taller then him.

"You be quite, brat. C'mon. I know you won't like this, but you need to let Hank and Cecelia check you over. Me an Gumbo will be down there in the medlab with you, okay?" She shivered, and he hugged her harder.

"S'pose I gotta get it over with. And I'll have to talk to everyone else." She looked to the man whom she considered as her father, and the man who had always treated her as a little sister, then nodded and stepped out of their grasps. She didn't want to be seen as weak. She knew it was an animal instinct, not to let weakness show, but it was part of her now, and she would work with those instincts. "C'mon."

Her arrival back into the mansion was quite, and unseen. Apparently everyone else was in the rec room on the other side of the school. She felt the individual touches of the adult telepaths, welcoming her back, and Frost's comforting reprimand.

How many times do I have to tell you! Stop getting kidnapped!

'Yes Ma'am. As you say ma'am. Good to hear your voice Frosty.'

Yes well. Just as long as you stop giving me scares like this. Henry and Cecelia are on their way down to the laboratory. Will you be comfortable, or do you wish for a telepath to be there to calm your thoughts?

'Not such a good idea. They used a mercenary telepath to scramble my brain while they did the bonding process. I don't think I should associate 'paths and labs at the moment. And Frosty…please don't take it as an offence, but I'd rather have Cable or the Prof in my head. Preferably Cable, since he's seen the kind of things I've gone through more then Chuckles, and his mental touch isn't even slightly like that bitch Corlla's.'

I…I understand, of course. I can see where you would not want to traumatise any one with the memories, or have to relive them with a female telepath deep in your mind. I will ask Xavier to have Cable brought here immediately.

Jubilee sent a mental hug down the connection and set her shields in place again. While she had been talking, they had arrived at the Academy's medlab, and it was only because of their long association with telepaths that they understood the blank eyed stare she was wearing was not due to her fear of the lab.

With a shake of her head, she cleared the residue mental power from her head and concentrated on keeping her emotions in check, even when Cece and Hank walked in wearing white coats. Her claws popped once, went back in, popped again, and by that time Logan had moved quickly enough to pull the coats from their backs.

"What? Oh, of course, my apologies Jubilee. I should have remembered how Logan often reacts after an episode." Hank took a step toward her, and she firmly had to stop her legs from making her body bolt out the door. She swallowed hard, took a shuddering breath and shook her head.

"'S okay. It's okay. I'm not there, I'm home, and it's okay. I'm safe, I'm home." The words were said softly, but everyone in the lab still heard them. She focused on Hank's blue fur, and took a step forward. She tested the air, careful, careful, enemy? No, wrong scent. Pack? Yes, pack. Fur, chemicals! No, pack, he is pack. He is not Them.

"Hank…just…slowly. Move slowly, please. I'm…this place…don't startle me. No big moves." She kept her eyes latched onto his, where they sat behind his glasses, and it was with very, very slow movements that he leaned forward onto his knuckles. Next to him Cecelia, who had once been a close friend of Jubilee's, was now looking at her as if she were a viper about to strike at one wrong move. Which, technically she was.

Hank moved forward, never breaking eye contact with her, which was a strange feeling when her feline and canine instincts clashed. The wolf wanted to snarl at him for challenging her to dominance, while the tiger/lion/panther she was mixed with was ready to attack him the moment his eyes wavered. Luckily she had more cat then dog, and the human was tipping the balance. Someone who could look at you without blinking or averting their eyes was a person you could trust, so her instincts said.

She went down into a crouch, but a restful one, instead of one ready to attack. Hank extended a paw to her, and she sniffed at it, taking in the presence of talons, and feeling comforted, where as a human hand, especially one that smelt of chemicals, would have prompted her to unleash the claws.

Hank finally blinked and pulled his hand back.

"Jubilee? Perhaps we should postpone this for a while. Obviously, since you have a healing factor, you are in no immediate danger. Go up to your old room, gain whatever reassurance you wish, and we will try again later. When you are less likely to maul someone."

He stepped back and ducked his head to her, eyes to the ground. It was so obviously a show of pack subservience that she had the immediate need to go find her old territory and mark it off. Hmm, better make sure she went to the toilet first.

For a second she just stared at him as that thought flew through her head.

'Oh my god. Mark territory? Definitely go to the toilet first. Maybe have a shower too…hope Frost doesn't get to upset over claws marks around the house, but she'd be even more upset if I did it the other way….' Giggling slightly, she stood up, rubbed one hand behind her head, and walked out of the medlab, still giggling, and continued to do so all the way up to the main hall.

That was when it occurred to her to wonder where everyone was. Remy and Logan were following her, worriedly, but no one else was in evidence. There were a lot of scents though, and she identified each one as she found it.

"Ange, all rubbery. That's Angelo, right Wolvie?" An affirmative grunt came from behind her, and she stored the information away in her memory. "The burny leather, that's Jono…and…the changing one with the hay and country underlay is…Paige."

"Yeah. She's got a weird scent. Changes every time she Husk's from what I've smelt when I've been here to visit you." This time she grunted the affirmative.

"Wha' d' we smell like, 'tite?" Jubilee pointed behind her, one at a time.

"Cologne and playing cards. You know, that fresh cardboard smell and ink. And sort of…explosive, like gun powder. Wolvie is whisky, cigars, woods, earth, and blood. From the claws, ya know?"

"Yeah, kid. You'll get that smell yerself sooner or later. 'Pends on how often ya pop 'em."

"Uhuh. Whisky. That's Irish, isn't it? Whisky and bourbon. Someone should really talk to Sean about his drinking habits. That's Frosty. All that leather and perfume. Yuk! I'm never gonna be able to wear perfume again!"

"Sure ya will. Just get that natural flower stuff. It's the only kind I've smelt so far that hasn't nearly destroyed my nose." Jubilee looked back at him as they climbed the stairs to the dorms and he grinned at her, teeth firmly covered. "Ah, smell that one? You know who that is?"

Jubilee stopped moving and sniffed carefully at one of the heavily concentrated scents that indicated someone from the school. It wasn't as heavy as the others though, which she figured indicated someone new.

"It's…kinda sharp. Like…like it's cold-oh! What's Ice doin' here? I mean in the terms of being here a lot."

"Frost as' him t' teach. Maths." Jubilee's look of utter disbelief made him laugh.

"Huh. Looked like I got kidnapped at the perfect time." She continued up the stairs without looking back. She knew perfectly well that she'd only see the despairing looks from her two closest adult friends.

"Uh, well, 'e wouldn't o' been teachin' you any way. He only teachin' the juniors, yer still a college student."

Jubilee shrugged, walked down the hallway and into her room, grabbed a towel, some clothes and a razer from her cupboard and then walked back out. She was just about to walk into the girls' bathroom when she realised that the two men were still following her.

"Yer not coming in here." Her fist came up, and her claws popped on the word 'here'. The two men stared.

"Eh…course not, Darlin'. We'll just wait here 'til ya done." Her eyes narrowed, and her claws popped in and out.

"I'm fine. Go down stairs and warn the others that I'm still a little skittish, and I'm acting like a combination of a cat and a dog. More cat then dog, really, but my instincts are doing the hokey pokey, so it's hard to tell how I'll react." She mumbled the last few words and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

She got cleaned up and dressed quicker then she expected even though finding anything she could wear now that she was bigger then she had been was hard. Finally she settled on a singlet that sat tightly over her bra (to her embarrassment, her breasts had grown at least half a cup), and some jeans that had once been baggy, but now fit snugly over her hips and left her stomach naked. She considered shoes for a second, then went barefoot. Right now, shoes looked too much like little foot cages to wear them.

She walked downstairs toward the kitchen in time to hear the summery from Gambit, of what had happened to her.

"Wait, so she's been with Sabertooth for the last three days?! And she's still alive?"

"Yes, Paige. However, it was agreed upon that Sabertooth would be paid for his troubles, as if this were any other mercenary body-guarding job for him."

"Oh. So…what are we gonna do about the chica? There's gotta be someway to reverse what they did ta her, right?" Jubilee judged that a good time to make an entrance.

"Not likely, amigo. They messed with my DNA, can't change it back now. Not without doin' more damage." Everyone in the room froze, and she took in the sight. Gen X was sitting in its group on one side of the table, though Jono was leaning up against the bench and Monet was floating rather then sitting. Jean and Scott were sitting in chairs beside them, across from Xavier, Sean, Hank, Cecelia and Storm. Wolvie and Remy were up against the other wall, and Emma and Bobby were just to the right of the doorway, Bobby leaning against the fridge.

Nobody moved, Logan having advised them to let her make the first move. She didn't, and they watched each other in awkward silence. Finally Frosty snorted in a completely un-lady like manner and moved so quickly that Jubilee didn't have a chance to respond to her instincts. She found herself in a tangle of white hair and leather scent and for some reason she felt safer then she had been in a long time.

"You're so tall." Her voice was almost silent, and Jubilee doubted that even Wolvie would have heard it.

"Nah. Not really. Just not as short as I used to be. Frosty? Can I make a suggestion? Change perfumes cause this one stinks." Emma laughed and pulled away from Jubilee so the feral didn't have her nose buried against Frost's perfume scented neck. Jubilee grinned slightly, then pulled her lips back together, ashamed of her new dentistry. At that close range, Frost caught the thought and did a credible job of a snarl. Jubilee blinked at her in surprise and queried her instincts on just what that snarl meant. Pissed off mother wolf. "Frosty?"

"There is no need for you to be ashamed of your teeth Jubilation. You will smile and you will enjoy it!" It was such a ridiculous order that she did smile, and exposed her fangs for everyone to see.

"Cool!" Her eyes flew to Artie and Leech, the latter being the one who had just proclaimed her 'Cool' with the same amount of awe usually reserved for $300 action figures or the newest Nintendo games. She smiled again and crouched down to be just below their head hight. The two boys hopped off from their stools by the table and walked around to her, and Artie gave her a hug before looking closely at her teeth. He fingered them, pushing her lip back a bit, then projected an image of Jubilee snarling and biting at shadowmen, while protecting Artie and Leech from them. Leech nodded in agreement.

"Jubilee got new teeth to protect Leech and Artie." Jubilee grinned crookedly and held her hand up.

"That's not all Jubilee got to protect Leech and Artie." She unleashed the claws and watched the fascinated reactions of the boys, aware by the scents that everyone else in the room except for Logan and Remy were shocked and upset by her new weapons. Leech tapped the top of the claws, being careful not to cut himself.

"Wow."

"Yup." She shifted slightly as Bobby took a step toward her then stopped. "…s'okay, Drake, 's jus', no big moves. The boys aren't a threat to me; an' Emma startled me into not reactin'. But I'm on my game now, an' I can't handle big movement like…like a human would." She retracted her claws and wrapped her arms around her knees, her feet shifting automatically to balance the light metal that now coated her bones.

Bobby looked her over, humphed at her and went down on his own haunches, looking her directly in the eyes. It was such an unusual move from her partner in crime that she rocked back slightly and regarded him with all three sets of her instincts, coldly, calculatingly. The human said he was a friend, and wouldn't betray her, or hurt her intentionally. The canine said he was a fellow pack mate, a young male who grew up in the pack, and could be trusted. Her feline instincts said he was a young male who was almost ready to go out into the world as a bachelor cat, but could still be trusted to protect the cubs of his pride, including her. The fact that all three sets of instincts said trust him made her blink and react as a human, rather then animal.

With a smile she jumped and tackled him, in the same manner she had only a few months ago the last time she'd visited the X-mansion. He responded by flipping her over, slightly surprised by the added weight of the metal, and they landed, this time with her on the bottom of the pile, being tickled just under the ribs. She gasped for breath as she began to laugh, and her claws popped involuntarily, but Bobby continued to tickle her until she managed to get her legs in the right position and flipped them both again. They crashed into the kitchen door that led outside and the two of them tumbled down the stairs in a heap of laughter, flesh and snow. She'd forgotten it was still winter outside. She hadn't really noticed it before. He was back on top of her and tickling her once more.

"Okay, okay! Uncle! Uncle!" He tickled her for another few seconds and then fell back, sitting on her thighs, his knees up and his chin rested against one fist.

"Surrender? Already? Huh." He almost looked disappointed. Jubilee was still giggling, aware that the others were looking at them as if they were nuts. All except Hank, who had seen them do this before.

Jubilee lifted her eyes and looked at them all upside down, comforted by the weight on her legs, and knowing that the cat and dog in her was relaxed enough for her human to take control.

"Any chance of dinner soon?" It was almost dark. "Creed didn't stop for lunch, and I'm still getting my strength back from being in the cells so long." Sean cleared his throat and blinked as her slitted eyes focused on him.

"Well lass, I believe we could whip somethin' up. Or would you like fast food?" She scrunched her nose. As they had been coming down through Canada, she had talked Creed into letting her get McDonald's. It was a mistake she had payed for, as he hadn't stopped laughing all day. The chemicals had made her throw up. She'd finally understood why Wolvie had never let her take him to McYuckies, as he called it.

"She can't handle fast food any more. Her nose is too strong, and so are her tastebuds. C'mon, kid, I'll get ya a nice bloody steak, some 'taters and a beer." Her eyebrow rose in surprise. "Yer may not be old enough, but there ain't no way you'll be able to get drunk, an yer metabolism needs alcohol."

"It does?" Was that why Creed had…?

"Yup. Somethin' to do with the healing factor over taxing the natural alcohol in yer system. 'Specially after being starved. I'd be surprised if Creed hadn't forced ya ta drink at least one beer on the way down. He obviously wanted you alive, fer some reason…"

"Ah, well, now that ya mention it, he did give me a beer…or three…" That had been an interesting experience. She'd felt the slight drunkenness arrive, and then suddenly it was gone, and she was having another drink. Somehow he'd even talked her into a challenge. "And o' course, the shots."

The teachers were looking shocked, the students were looking envious, and Remy was chuckling, while Bobby grinned at her.

"Shots? You had shots? With Victor Creed?"

"Yup! Vodka. He challenged me to a drinking contest." Logan was caught between chuckling and scowling. She actually sounded like she'd had fun with the man!

"Who won?" She blinked at Remy's question and considered.

"Ya know. I don't got a clue. I got too drunk to continue, so he ended up hauling me back to my hotel room." She pushed Bobby off her legs, and stood up; dusted snow off her backside, grumbled a bit about her unprotected feet and pulled Bobby off the ground. "Right, food. Beer. And clothes…uh…maybe we better delay that last one until I'm less likely to kill someone at a wrong move. M, Paige, can I borrow some of yer clothes in the mean time?" The two girls nodded and stepped forward, and she grinned at them again, carefully keeping her fangs covered so as not to scare them. Paige noticed and shook her head, then stepped forward to hug her.

Jubilee's nose twitched, and she took in the scent.

'Pack sister. Litter mate.' Jubilee hugged back and then turned her eyes and nose to M. She actually smelt expensive. There was…a richness, about her. She smelt like…money? Huh, she would have expected that smell from Frosty, but from Monet? Ah well. Jubilee pulled M into a hug as well, and Monet nearly cracked her ribs returning it.

Finally the boys stepped forward and hugged her, both of them whispering, verbally and telepathically, that they were glad she was alright, and home, and they wouldn't let her get hurt ever again if they could stop it.

Jubilee growled a thankyou, and felt her animal sides starting to come back into domination, reminding her that she was extremely hungry.

"So, guys. Food?"