All the residents of the mansion were gathered around the Christmas tree, save Bobby who claimed to be putting some last touches on his gift. Everyone was suspicious, but, it being Christmas, decided to give him the benifit of the doubt. Even Logan was there, though it had taken a bit of persuading... alright, a LOT of persuading.

Everyone was going to exchange gifts and just generally enjoy themselves. One gift per person was done in the "Secret Santa" tradition. The senders were clearly labled on the rest. All the teenagers had dragged blankets and pillows downstairs and were dressed in their pajamas, sprawling across each other in a heap, like puppies.

Rogue decided it would be safer if she parked herself on the stairs, away from the pile of teens. Remy sat on the step below her, hugging her legs to either side of him. Jubilee shot a look to Scott, which she would have done to Bobby except he still wasn't present. She glanced around for him, then turned her attention back to the tree, where Xavier was sitting with a smile on his face.

"Merry EARLY Christmas, my students. As you know, not everyone will be here for Christmas morning, so this will be our chance to spend some time together before some of you depart." Ororo smiled from his side and nodded. "All right, let's get started!" He said, uncharacteristically excited. He reached for a present and read the tag. "Kitty, this is to you from your secret Santa." He handed it to her as she reached up awkwardly from her position under Amara and Sam.

"Ooh! What could it be?" she tore it open to find a DVD of "Clueless" inside. There was lots of snickering. "Hey! Okay, who's idea was this?" She phased through the bodies on top of her causing a slight collapse along with several groans and complaints.

"Oof!"

"Watch it!"

When she was finally standing and the complaining had died down, she heard snickering from underneath the pile. She glared in that direction and reached down under one of the Jamies, who had multiplied during the collapse. He let out a tiny gasp at Kitty's hand going through him, but all five of them started laughing when Kurt was busted.

He laughed nervously. "Heh, get it? Clueless? 'Like', 'as if'?" His tail twitched as he waited for Kitty's response.

She just smiled and let go of his shirt. "Thank you, Kurt. I actually like this movie," she told him. She laid back down on the pile, causing some more groans.

"Ahem!" They turned toward the professor, who smiled slightly at their antics. "The next gift is for Sam."

Sam was near the bottom of the pile, and the professor tossed his gift lightly to him. He shook it slightly, listening, and then shrugged and tore it open. It was a helmet. He rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Oh, yeah, guys, that's real helpful," he drawled.

"It's not for you. It's for the poor walls!" Ray quipped from the other side of the pile where he was laying across Jubilee's lap.

Sam only mocked glared and tried it on. "Perfect fit though," he muttered before turning his attention once again to the professor.

He reached down for another gift, that was slightly out of reach. It floated up to him just enough and he smiled warmly to Jean, who was laying on Scott's back. On the steps, Rogue leaned down to Remy's ear. "Brown noser," she whispered. He nodded in agreement. Jean turned to glare, and all they did was shrug in an eerily similar way.

"This one belongs to Logan."

Logan came out of his 'I wish I was anywhere but here' trance to the sound of his name. "I got one?" The professor nodded as Logan walked over him to accept the gift. "Didn't know I was included in this sh... activity..." The professor gave him a stern look for the almost profanity and handed him a small box.

Logan eyed it warily, before tearing it open. Inside was a weekend pass to a health spa. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "A health spa? You shouldn't have. I mean it. You really, really shouldn't have."

Jubilee jumped up from the pile, heedless of the disturbances she caused in the process. "I got a second pass free with their Christmas special! We can go together, Wolvie! Won't that be fun?"

"Oh, God," he groaned under his breath. "Umm, thanks, Jubes. Can't wait..." He gave the professor a look that clearly said 'please let me out of here so I can destroy something to deal with this my way.'

~Thank you for staying as long as you did, Logan. In all honesty, I just wanted to see how you would react to that.~ Xavier nodded in return.

Logan just growled mentally. "Merry flamin' Christmas," he muttered, stalking out. Jubilee grinned to herself and then settled herself back down on top of Ray.

"I'm so happy he loves it."

"Right, Jubes." Ray said, a small groan escaping as his rib dug into his stomach from the way she laid on top of him.

The professor smiled and picked up the next gift which was adressed to him. "And who is this from?"

"Me!" all five of the Jamies piped up.

The professor smiled and opened the to find a carefully crafted aluminum foil hat. It had wire supports inside and little decorative cones all over. "And what is this for, might I ask?"

"You wear it so the aliens can't take over your mind," the Jamies stated matter-of-factly.

There was laughter and the professor put the hat on, much to the entertainment of his students. When they had more or less stopped laughing hysterically, he spoke again, his tone serious but his face still smiling. "Thank you very much, Jamie. Now let's see who the next present is for." He picked up a long, thin wrapped present. He read the gift tag and chuckled. "This one is for 'Stormy'." He handed it over to Ororo, who'd been standing next to him.

She smiled and accepted it, throwing a cautious glare to Remy. "I have told you many times..."

"I know, I know," he said from the steps. "Not t' call y' 'Stormy'. Open it already. Y're gon' need dis ALL de time."

Her look changed to curious as she pulled the paper off. "Very funny, Remy," she said, lifting up the lavender umbrella for everyone to see.

"I knew y'd like it." He grinned. All she could do was smile and shake her head. She looked to Xavier, still with his foil hat on.

~Even we are not safe from their humor,~ The professor sent to her telepathically, inwardly laughing.

~No, it appears we are not.~ Ororo sent back, equally amused.

"The next present is for... Jamie." The professor looked at the tag then the pile where several Jamies were still entangled and frowned. One of the Jamies raised his hand helpfully. Kitty got up from the pile and brought it back for him.

"I think you'll need these," she giggled.

The one Jamie held it, but another grabbed for it. They all said in unison "I wanna open it!" They each took turns pulling at the paper until it was completely uncovered. One Jamie, which could be considered the main Jamie, held the package and opened it up. He peeked inside and reached in, pulling out three of numerous nametags, with the names "Jamie1" "Jamie2" and so on.

They all looked to Kitty at the same time, creating a very "Village of the Damned" scene. Kitty barely held back from gasping. "Thank you, Kitty," they all said in unison. The main Jamie sat back down, the others plopping down around him as he handed out the tags.

"Wonderful idea, Kitty. The next present is... Rahne's," the professor stated.

Scott raised his hand. "That would be from me." He looked at Rahne who was in the center of the mass and then at Jean who was resting on top of him. "Unless you want me to move..." She got the hint and floated the gift over to Rahne who untied the ribbon and lifted the lid off the perfectly wrapped present. Inside was a grey and white plush wolf cub.

"Aww... it's so cute! Thank ye, Scott." She hugged it tightly against her, well, as best as she could since she had Evan, who had gotten over his paranoia, and Roberto on top of her. "I think I'll name it..." She put it nose to nose with herself. "Killer." There was dead silence. "Jus' kidding. How's about 'Scottie'? I like naming things I get from people afta 'em." She smiled innocently. Scott was happy for the dedication.

"Rogue," the professor said, "This one's for you." He lifted up a box, wrapped in simple black paper with a silver bow. She got up from her seat, not wanting Jean to waste her perfect little mind on lifting it to her. She walked over to the professor's chair and received the gift.

"Wait!!!" Bobby came running in, snow all over his pants. "I thought I heard that Rogue was getting her present."

"That's raht. Why, is it from you?" She shook it, smiling.

"You bet. Go ahead." He smirked.

She furrowed her eyebrows, but pulled off the paper. She pulled off the top to the box, full out expecting something to jump out at her. Nothing did, but once she got a full, clear view on it, she threw it up in the air as if something was going to bite her from inside. "You are so dead, Drake!!"

The box landed on the ground, its contents spilling out. Bobby had gotten her the worst thing possible... a pink T-shirt from the Gap, with baby blue rhinestones bordering the collar. He grinned again and ran outside. Rogue was ready to go after him, but a big blue furry hand clamped on her arm, pulling her to a stop. Beast was the only one in the Institute with strength comparable to hers, and therefore the only one with a chance of stopping her from justifiable homicide.

He smiled warmly. "He's not worth it. We'll get him later, okay?"

She scowled at the door one more time, but then sighed. "Fine. Ah'll get that bas-"

"Ahem! Rogue?" The professor said from his chair.

She smiled weakly. "Raht. Ah'll get him later." She walked back to the stairs, this time taking refuge a step below Remy and hugging his legs. He didn't mind at all and started running his fingers gently through her hair. Her eyes drifted closed and she leaned her head against his thigh. "Mmm... That feels good, Rem. Don't stop," she mumbled contentedly.

"The next one is for Jubilee," The professor announced. Jubilee sprang up, once again causing major discontent among those still in the pile.

"Yay! Ooh, I can't wait to see what it is!" She snatched the box from him as gently as she could with her excitement and opened it up. Inside lay a pair of big, plastic pink sunglasses. "Ooooo..." she said in awe. She perched them on her nose. "These are soo cool!!" She looked around for her secret Santa.

Jean had a huge grin on her face, but she was mentally saying to Scott ~I didn't think she would fall in love with them... I mean, they're pink and huge...~

~She likes them. Let's leave it at that.~

The professor shook his head. Sometimes he wondered if he'd ever truly understand his students. "This one is for Remy." He said, holding out the red wrapped gift. Remy looked up from where he'd been stroking Rogue's hair. She let out a small moan of disatisfaction when he stopped, but let go of him so he could get up. He too, did not wish for Princess Jean's help. Half stumbling over the pile of kids, he got an "ouch" out of one of the Jamies, now named 'Jamie4'. He smirked as he took the gift from Xavier, then he pulled off the paper and peeked inside. Questioningly, he lifted a pair of black and red fuzzy dice that are usualy hung on a car's review mirror. Rogue laughed from the stairs, getting the joke right away.

"Somet'in' I missed, chere?" She pointed to Sam, who grinned at him from under his helmet.

"Ah figure this is one pair o' dice ya cain't use ta cheat," he said. The other males of the team nodded their heads.

"I don' cheat. Everybody knows dat."

"Right, Cajun," Roberto said from on top of Rahne. "If you're not stealing whatever money you have, it's what you gain from us during those late night poker games you talk us into." He smiled, showing he was just joking along, though he WAS tired of losing money.

Remy only shrugged. "Not m' fault if any o' y' can't keep a straight face."

"Remy, you use your empathy on us!" Jamie2 and Jamie5 said.

He chuckled and shrugged again. "Fine, fine. No more. But don' come crawlin' t' me if y' miss it." He started back to his seat, but Evan spoke up.

"Wait, man. We didn't mean anything by it. We'll still play."

'I know,' Remy thought sinisterly, though he only nodded on the outside. He made his way back over to the stairs and sat on the step behind Rogue. She leaned back between his spread legs, leaning her head against his shoulder as he put his arms around her waist.

"Moving on..." The professor held up a blue wrapped present. "Jean, this is for you."

Jean floated it over to her began pulling off the paper. Inside was a white baby tee with "Princess" written across it in pink glitter. She raised an eyebrow, then looked toward the stairs. "Rogue?"

The goth girl smirked at her from her place in Remy's arms. "How'd ya guess?"

"Just lucky I suppose..." ~Do you ever get the feeling they don't really like us?~ Jean privately asked Scott.

~All the time. We're the ones who try to keep order... and you know how much they love rules and authority.~ Scott responded.

~Yeah...~ "Thanks," she responded out loud to Rogue. "It's cute."

The professor backed his chair up slightly to reach more of the gifts. "Well, since we're in that area of the room... Scott, here's your present." Jean took the liberty once again to TK it over to him.

"Thank you, professor." He smiled like the protégé he was and started opening the box. He flipped the cover off and pulled out a shirt... or what he thought was a shirt. "Wow, this is... great! Who do I owe a thank you to?" He inwardly cringed at the mixture of colors on the polo shirt. Even with the ruby quartz shades, Scott knew it was ugly.

Evan sat up, crushing poor Rahne under him some more. "I KNEW you would like it, man! It screamed 'Scott' to me."

Scott gave out a forced laugh. "It does scream my name, doesn't it?" He smiled again and placed it back in the box.

~Scott, if I ever see you wearing that-~ Jean started.

~Don't worry. It's going to have a little "accident" as soon as possible.~

~I always knew you were one of the intelligent ones.~

"Aren't you gonna try it on?" Evan looked hurt.

Scott thought quickly. "I'm going to save it for Hawaii. This shirt was definitely made for sun." Then he put the cover back on and looked - eagerly - to the professor to continue.

The professor smiled and lifted the next gift. "This is addressed to Evan." Evan bounced up from the pile, causing groans from several of the people under him. He grabbed the present and shook it.

"Don't shake it, Evan!" Beast told him from his place by Storm. "Some of the contents are fragile."

Rogue shook her head. "Ya gave him somethin' breakable? What were ya thinkin'?"

"He wasn't," Remy quipped.

Evan ignored them and tore the green and red holly patterned paper off. It was a chemistry set. "Huh?"

"Since you chose to skip my chemistry lessons I felt it would be sagacious to give you something you could learn them from."

"Awesome!"

"Okay. It's official. Beast is no longer de smart one," Remy commented to nobody in particular. Rogue nodded.

Xavier heard Remy, but decided to continue on with the gift exchanging. He leaned down to grab one, finding it was heavier than the rest of the gifts. "This one is for..." He fumbled for the tag once, getting a good grip on it. "Kurt." He smiled towards the blue German.

Kurt grinned and bamfed out from underneath Amara and Sam, causing them to fall, of course. He appeared again by the professor's side and graciously accepted the gift, also curious about the weight. He pulled the royal blue paper off and opened the box. Everyone watched as his eyes widened with confusion as he lifted out a doorknob. He held it up, "I'm sorry if I'm a little confused..."

"Read the note, elf," Amara giggled from the pile.

He looked at the knob again, seeing a tiny string with a note card attached. He peeked inside that, finding the words "It's a doorknob. Use it," inscribed in perfect cursive, signed with a fancy 'A'.

"Danke, Amara. Zis isn't about ze time I accidentally 'ported into your room while you were changing... is it?"

She smiled smugly. "Whatever gave you that idea?" He smiled back and returned to the pile to get comfy once again.

The professor bent to pick up the next gift. It was wrapped in plain brown paper and had "Ray" scrawled across it in black marker. "Ray, this is for you from Logan."

Ray's eyebrows shot up and he looked surprised. Everyone else had similar expressions. "And how did you get HIM in on this?" he asked.

"Don't ask, don't tell. I believe that's the saying, is it not?" There was silence as everyone pondered the professor's words. Their were several disturbed looks among them as some of the worst senarios ran through their minds. "Oh, for the love of- It's not anything as bad as what you're thinking."

"Hey, what happened to privacy?" Jubilee protested, not liking the thought of the professor knowing her misdeeds and various little secrets.

"I didn't have to read your mind. The way you were staring at me showed clear as plate glass the type of things you were imagining. So stop it. Ray here's you gift." He tossed the paper bag with ease, and Ray caught it just as easily. He gave it a skeptical look. "Should I be afraid of what's in here?"

Jubilee giggled from the other end of the pile. "It's from Wolvie. What's there to be afraid of?" Everyone able to give her a 'yeah, right' glare from their position did. "You guys are just wimps. Open it, I wanna see what he got ya."

Ray just shrugged, not expecting anything extravagant, or even thoughtful, from the Wolverine. He ripped the top of the bag off and dumped the contents into his hands. Everyone straightened up to get a better look. "It's a string." He said simply.

Jamie giggled. "It's not just a string... it's a fuse!" His counterparts laughed along with him.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Ray said, glaring at the five laughing boys.

"I think he just answered his own question," Jubilee whispered to Kurt. He nodded in total agreement.

Rogue snickered from the stairs and Ray scowled at her, lighting-like energy jumping around his clenched fists "It's not funny. Stop laughing or-"

"O' what? Ah'm invulnerable, hotshot. Remember?" she teased. He narrowed his eyes at her then sank back into the pile, sulking. Several of the girls made fake sympathetic noises and patted his head which didn't exactly help. He swatted at them irritatedly and they giggled.

"You really should learn to control your temper, Ray," the professor admonished, reaching for the next gift. He lifted it up, reading the tag. "Does anyone want to go outside and get Bobby?"

Rogue instantly volunteered, standing up. "Yah, Ah'm foh that." She grinned, her eyes full of revenge in the making.

"Umm... Hank, why don't you just go get him instead." Rogue shot Xavier a look that should have been able to kill and took her seat again. Hank uneasily backed away from the base of the steps where he was standing and went outside. After a minute of eerie silence from everyone, Bobby walked back in with Hank blushing as much as someone with blue fur could.

The professor smiled upon their return. He raised the ice blue package gift up so Bobby could see. "This is for you."

"I'm sure it will be..." He paused briefly and grinned. "cool." Everyone groaned at the pun.

"Oh, come on. Who are you now? Lance?" Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey!" Kitty cried indignantly, reaching over and smacking him. "No dissing my boyfriend!" All eyes were immediately on her. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes! And I want details later, girl!" Jubilee told her.

"Why don't I, like, just tell everyone now and save you the trouble?" There was laughter from everyone except Jubilee who pouted.

Bobby ripped open the paper and found an icecube tray. "Ooh. Funny. Who was the genius who thought this one up?" Roberto raised a hand, snickering.

"Hey, c'mon, you know you love it."

Bobby laughed, mainly to himself. He grazed his hands over the tray, filling it up. "You know... this wasn't too bad a gift... I've always had trouble forming perfect cubes."

"Glad I could help." Roberto glanced to Amara, thinking the next gift was going to be exchanged. She bit her lip from laughing.

With Roberto distracted, Bobby cracked his freshly made cubes out of the tray and rushed over before the young Sunspot could think twice. The icecubes made it down his sweatshirt and he jumped up in attempt to evade the cold. In the midst of doing so, he stepped on Scottie, and Rahne squealed as if she had been stepped on herself. "Nay!" She grabbed the poor wolf to her chest and glared more coldly than anyone has ever seen her.

Icecubes forgotten, Roberto stopped jumping about. The icecubes slid out and landed next to Evan. Sam, coming to the rescue as best he could with the helmet STILL on, slid over next to Rahne. "Apologize," he said sternly.

"To the wolf?" Sam nodded, Rahne looking close to tears. Roberto sighed, but knelt down so he was face level with Rahne and her small wolf. She all but shoved the plush in his face. "I'm sorry."

"Now kiss him. Make him feel all better." She smiled sweetly. Roberto shook his head slightly at what he was willing to do for women but complied.

He turned then to the still laughing Bobby. "Laugh now because you won't be doing it later, Drake," he promised, a slightly malevolent glint in his eye.

"Later. I have to put the finishing touches on my present." He grinned and vanished out the door.

The professor wondered how he'd lost control of the situation once again, but decided that passing out the rest of the gifts was the wisest course since they tended to be relatively calm when occupied. He pulled his own gift out in front. "Ahem!" The students turned toward him. "The next present is for Amara from myself."

She smiled proudly, she was the one who had the person she respected most in the household as her Secret Santa. She stood up, and took the golden wrapped gift. It was slighly heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle. She ripped off the paper and smiled.

"A fire estinguisher?" She sounded surprised, but her smile didn't fade.

"I can't be the only one without a sense of humor in this, can I?"

"I guess not. This'll come in handy. You might actually want to invest in a couple more of these..." She giggled and sat back down, laying comfortably across Kurt and three of the Jamies.

The professor picked up the next gift. It was small and wrapped in orange and yellow paper with sunbursts on it. "Roberto, this is yours."

"Toss it over?"

The professor threw it, but this time the arc was a little wide. Kurt snagged it with his tail and handed it to Roberto, who nodded his thanks and tore it open. It was a bottle of sunblock. He laughed.

"Just because of your mutation involves absorbing power from the sun does NOT mean you cannot become burned," Ororo said, the smile playing around her lips showing that she'd bought it as a joke despite the explaination.

"Thanks," he smiled. "You're right though. I do get sunburned occasionally."

And, last but not least, this is for you, Hank," Xavier said, handing a red box over to him. He accepted it, wondering who hadn't given their gift yet. His eyes fell on Rahne who have huge grin on her face.

"G'head. Open it, Mr. McCoy."

He smiled widely as well and pulled off the cover. Inside the neatly wrapped tissue paper, was a black t-shirt. He held it up so everyone could see, including himself. The words 'Huked on Fonics werked 4 me' were written in a messy white lettering. He grinned. "Thank you, Rahne."

"There's more! Look in the box."

He glanced at her quizzically, but peeked in the box again. His hand pulled out heavy-duty hair gel. On the bottle it read 'for those really bad hair days.' "Thank you, Rahne," he repeated. "This has to be the best gift I've received in a long time." He bent down to give the girl a hug.

"Now why don't we open the rest of-" the professor started.

He was cut off as Bobby ran in, snow flying off his clothes. "My present's done, everyone!" he crowed, wearing a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin. Everyone in the pile glanced at each other, shrugged, and untangled themselves. Rogue got up and pulled Remy to his feet. "Alright, let's see what Popcicle's done NOW..." he said with a resigned sigh.

Beast shook his head and buried his face in his hands, muttering, "I can't look."

Rogue stomped outside ahead of everyone and her eyes opened in shock. "Oh mah gawd, Ah cain't believe this..." she whispered to Remy who had just caught up.

"Hey, Bobby's an artist. Didn' know he had it in him." He nodded to Bobby. "Good work." Rogue punched him in the stomach. Remy cringed a tiny bit from the blow.

"How can you say that?! This is so degradin' ta us!"

"What's so-" Jubilee started before she got a glimpse of Bobby's special present. "Drake, you're in for it now."

He pouted. "You mean you don't like it? I wake up at 4:30 in the morning to start on these things and you don't even appreciate them."

Roberto raised his hand. "I do." He grinned at the life size ice sculptures of the X-Girls... naked. "This is art! And Bobby did spend a lot of time on them."

Rahne and Amara only glared at him with their hands on their hips. Jubilee though, went up to examine the one of her. "Bobby... how did you know about this mole?" She pointed to an area on the left side of her stomach.

Rogue moved closer to them to check out hers as well. "These ARE really close ta the exact thing..." she muttered coldly.

He laughed nervously. "I don't know what your talking about. I improvised! I swear!"

Some of the attached males of the of the team were beginning to notice the same thing that the girls had now that their initial lust faded. Posessiveness was beginning to set in. They too were in the position to know there was an uncanny similarity in the statues to the real thing and they didn't like what was THEIRS being put on display.

Sam, who never really agreed with the display of the girls like this, came up next to Rahne. She had the mix of a pout and a glare apparent on her face and she looked to Sam to do something. ANYTHING. "Bobby... Umm, Ah think ya should take 'em down."

The other guys on the team added to the helmethead's lead. "Yeah, it was funny at first, but I don't think I'm comfortable with it anymore," Scott said from behind Jean.

Bobby turned to scowl at him. "Twelve hours ago you wouldn't have given two shits what I did about Jean." A small cough came from the professor and Hank. Bobby just shrugged, now angry with his male teammates. "Fine, you don't want them up, they're coming down." With a quick blast of ice down the line, he knocked all the torsos off the ice sculptures. "Merry Christmas." Then he stomped inside. Then, almost as an afterthought he stuck his head back out the door and shouted "Traitors! Traitors to your gender!! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" before ducking inside again.

Rogue looked toward the doors. "Oh, yes, he's gotta PAY..."

Jubilee turned to other girls who were looking equally murderous. "Come, on, he didn't mean anything by it. It was all in fun. Now you've hurt his feelings."

Rogue's expression froze before turning sorrowful. "Ya're right, Jubes. You should go after him. Tell him we're sorry foh yellin' at him, k?"

"K." Jubilee smiled and ran toward the mansion, not seeing the look of evil joy covering Rogue's face as she faced the other girls.

"I think Bobby needs a lesson in respectin' people's privacy. An' since Jubes can't keep a secret except from authority figures an' has a soft spot for Bobby anyway..." She trailed off. The other females nodded, also beginning to smile wickedly.

The adults of the team were standing on the sidelines. Beast turned toward the Professor. "Aren't you going to stop them?"

"No. Bobby knows what he did was wrong and whatever they plan on doing to him is surely worse than anything I could think up." He answered.

Storm, having actually been a teenage girl once, nodded. "You have no idea."

TBC...