To say that Scott stumbled drunkenly into his room and promptly passed out in his chair waiting for dawn is to say that the sun came up that morning or odd things happened at Xavier's School for the Gifted. The sun always rises and weird things always happen at this school.

I couldn't sleep last night. I just pretended, mainly because I knew that Logan would be doing rounds the tonight and coming into my room. He fell asleep on my chair, back to the window and facing the bed everything. He must really like me.

Scott's snoring. I think it's cute. Like a lovably uncle or that cute bear cub we saw. I better put a blanket on him or he'll freeze. That's better.

I'm home. I don't think I've ever said that before. Home. It's a pretty word. I never thought about it like that- I guess it's because I've had one.

It's funny like that. Jubilee said it's like my hair. Funny, but serious and tragic. We're all here because we have nowhere else to go. So, we came here, settled down, and ignored everything around us. We just try and find something, anything, to make us happy. Some of find it, some of us don't. Either way, we're home here.

I like it at night here. Everything is so quiet and the hallways echo. It's like how it is in my head; all the dust settling from today and things calming down just to get stirred up again. Too bad the house can't do what I can do; just shush them up and put the echoes in a box in the back of my mind. Well, I can do that now. I guess it's one of those growth things. Everyone's powers shift and change and adjust according to their own history and biology, or so the Professor says. He said I should be expecting something like this, with my great personal track record for getting into trouble and how I keep over-using my powers in extreme circumstances. Oh well.

~~~~~~X~~~~~~

The kitchen is one of the most interesting places here. Not to say that Cerebro or the Danger Room or our on-campus emergency room are normal, but since we have people from everywhere, food tastes vary. We have Russians, Brits, people from the East coast and West coast of a bunch of continents. And now, since I am in charge of the kitchen and teaching several of the children culinary skills, I guess I'll have to make myself comfortable. That and go shopping for some actual cooking supplies or something that has not passed the expiration date. Who was the last person to buy anything besides soda, ice cream, and cold cuts? Bobby or Scott probably. Most likely both; who else would get eleven different types of ice cream, eleven cases of Dr. Pepper, and several pounds of random meats and cheeses? I guess I'm lucky that they put the ice cream into the freezer.

Ororo seemed surprised when she found out, but that's probably because she saw it, not learned it. Logan gave me a long goodnight kiss in front of her while we discussing business. The room got really cold when he left and that was not because of the uncomfortable silence, or the strange mist that followed when she stormed out of the room. She wasn't jealous; I would know if she were jealous. She is partly inside me, not as strong as Erik, Logan, or John are; we only touched once and it was not strong. She was just surprised. She'll get her turn when someone, probably Kitty, is running late and just happens to run into, or through, the room where her and Kurt are "getting to know each other better". I'd pay to see the look on her face when that happens. Maybe I'll give Kitty a camera if that happens. Wink wink.

The Professor said he wants to the children to learn the art of food without any abnormal assistance, but I say if you got it, flaunt it.

~~~~~~X~~~~~~

"So, we'll start with southern food. We'll need oil, butter, garlic, peppers, onions, the essentials, blah blah blah," she jotted down as she said listed aloud. "Two pounds of shrimp, two whole chickens, fresh vegetables. They're going to work and enjoy it. Then they'll feed me." She was enjoying herself a little too much, but she had to start somewhere and she made it essential that she going to start as being the fun teacher.

The sound of tearing Styrofoam and the smell of sulfur entered the kitchen. "Good evening, young maiden."

"Hi, Kurt. You don't want to sleep either?"

"Not particularly. My summer Storm was not sleeping well and, unfortunately, it started to snow in the bedroom. Though I have traveled from Bavaria to Sweden, I have never gotten used to the cold. Everyone in the Munich Circus teased me about that: though I was blue, I shivered enough for all the clowns and the trainers combined." His tail swings when he is happy, reminiscing, or experiencing any positive emotion at all. She, on the other hand, blushes the color of a good Pertreuse.

"I'm just happy to be home. It's not very warm, or fluffy, or food-filled in the wilderness." After checking the fridge again, she only turns to say, "From the looks of it, it's not too food filled here either."

"Yes. Scott and Bobby were doing the shopping lately. Scott has been getting less broody, so I guess this what you call 'binge eating'?"

"Yeah. As one of members of 'girl' species, I am required to go through one of those per week. The good news is I think I am behind." She sighed, the way only a young adult with a lifetime of difficulties and disappointments who just brought something amazing into her life could.

The blue man with a tail grinned back. "Young one, I have seen a great deal with my yellow eyes. I have always been the outcast, believe it or not, even in the Munich Circus. I have rarely had someone to care about, let alone someone or a large group to care about me. I was always the blue freak with a tail." He smiled with his uneven teeth. "Now, I have a family. I get the image that most have here were lacking that as well. Even the Professor."

"I think that's why Charles is so protective of Erik. He's the nearest thing he has to a brother."

The Amazing Nightcrawler cocked his confused. "You call him 'Erik'. You are not afraid of him? Of what he can do?"
She smiled at her new blue friend. "When things calmed down, after Liberty Island and after Logan left for the first time, the Professor told me that the only things that we are afraid of are the things that do not know or understand. He was talking about mutants and humans and our relationship with them, but it's true for pretty much everything." Looking him in the eye, grinning, she said, "You still don't know what I'm talking about. My power is draining. I drain mutant powers and a person's memory, emotions, behaviors. I've drained Bobby, Jean by accident, Scott once, Logan- well, we'll leave him out of this, even your Ororo, and I've 'borrowed' from Erik, Magneto. I figured out how to shut them out and stop buzzing around in my head, but I can also draw them back and use what was on their minds from when I touched them. So no- I am not afraid of him. In fact, I am pretty sure, if we ever fought him again, I would be the one to take him down. I know him."

Kurt was slightly horrified and it found some way to show on his rune-scarred face. "That seems like the most obscene invasion of privacy."
"I know," she replied, looking slightly ashamed. "But, I've never pried or gone somewhere in someone's memory that I shouldn't have. The temptation was there -is there- with Logan, to see where is from and who he was, but it's not right and if I do that, then I would be just like Mystique- a big faker, thief, and liar. I'd prefer to be better than that."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for several minutes. "Well, that was rather uncomfortable," a blushing Rogue said, fighting back the urge to run from the room as fast as possible.

"I know." Kurt pushed the food list Marie was working on. "So, what are you going to have the students make for us tonight?"

"I'm not sure. Something Southern. You've never had real Southern food before, have you? We'll have to fix that right now. A full Louisiana breakfast for everyone. You can help," Marie said with a wink.