A/N: I am extremely about the short chapters, but I have trouble creating long chapters that flow properly, so it is easier for me to have short chapters that (in my mind anyway) flow and don't get stuck, than chapters that are so long that readers get bored halfway through.Anyway.with that said, on with the show!

Chapter 3: In Which a Thief is Caught

Liz reached the fire escape where she had left her clothes behind and started pulling them on, first making sure no one was around to see the amazing sight of clothes floating around and being buckled, zipped onto a body that was not there.

That job done, she pulled out the wallet she had stolen and felt extremely guilty about what she had done. "Yeah, sure," she thought, "I am hungry, but do I really deserve to eat with stolen money?"

A street walker, hearing her conversation to herself came up behind her and said, "Girl, that conscious of yours is going to get you killed someday.you need the food, from the appearances of that wallet, the man had more than enough to spare. Go, get something to eat, please, you are too skinny as it is already."

"Yeah, I guess you are right. I just really hate doing this type of things to eat." Liz sighed and started to walk out onto the main strip of the downtown core, first making sure her clothing covered all of her.

****

Half an hour later, she walked back into the alley, carrying a plastic grocery bag and dragging a large cardboard box that she had found in an alley on her way back. Positioning the box underneath the fire escape where it would be semi-sheltered from the elements, she crawled inside and opened the bag, revealing a large jar of peanut butter, a bunch of bananas, sliced bread, bottled water, a pad of paper and a pencil; all the cheapest that she could find.

Unknown to her, 3 people watched her pull out the pad of paper and pencil and start scribbling a note onto it. Obviously satisfied by what she had written, she folded the note up and, pulling out Scott's wallet, tucked it inside.

Much to Jean's surprise, Logan had to wrap his arms and lift Scott off the ground in order to stop him from going and confronting the person holding his wallet right then and there. "Scott, maybe we should just leave the person alone, they only have your wallet, and they wouldn't know what to make of the information anyway. Just leave the poor guy alone."

"But they have my wallet!!!" Scott shouted.

Startled, Liz looked up and saw the angry man standing there and recognized him as the one she stole the wallet from and the other two people standing with him, the shorter man obviously trying to restrain the taller from chasing after her right there. She dropped the wallet, turned, pulled off her shoes and ran straight towards a dead end, blocked off by a tall wall. She crouched down and to the 3 X-Men's surprise, jumped straight up, her hands and feet hitting the wall and sticking, allowing her to crawl up and over the wall.

Scott, who managed to tear away from the arms that held him and started to chase after her stopped in amazement at her deed, then pounded the wall in frustration. Jean came up behind him and gently laid a hand on his arm saying, "Calm down Scott, its only money, and not a lot at that either, we always have more."

"But he doesn't." Logan interrupted gruffly, his voice thick with emotion.

Shaken by the amount of sadness and despair in the normally angry and gruff man's voice. Jean looked up and saw him emerging from the cardboard box where Liz had been hiding, holding Scott's wallet. He continued, "He didn't take all of your money Scooter, only enough to buy himself some food so that he didn't have to go hungry again tonight." He held up a piece of paper in his other hand, "He left a note," now almost pleading, "He's just a kid Scott, barely 18 years old, he's been living on the streets since October, and he couldn't stand being hungry again tonight, so he stole your wallet in order to eat. 15 dollars, Scott, just 15 dollars so he didn't have to go hungry again for a while."

Jean emerged from the box, holding the bag full of food that Liz had bought. "He didn't waste it either, he bought good food, not junk, and in bulk too, enough for a week, at least."

Scott stood there helplessly, hands clenched at his sides. "Oh God, what have I done?" defensive now, "How was I supposed to know he was starving and not just some punk out for a lark. Besides, aren't there shelters for them to go to to get food?"

"Not if you're a mutant.didn't you see his getaway? He jumped over half way up a 20 foot wall, then stuck to and climbed the rest of the way over. Do you really think humans would let such a person into their shelters? Didn't you see the way he was clothed? Not an inch of skin was showing. He probably has a very different appearance from normal humans." Jean continued, "Besides, it's too late to do anything about it now, he's gone, and I couldn't get a bead on his mind either. Let's go back to the hotel room, we are leaving tomorrow, let's just relax and enjoy the rest of the day."

Scott and Jean turned and left. Leaving Logan standing in the alley, hands stuffed helplessly into his pockets. Pulling out his wallet, he took out all of the money he had in it and going next to the cardboard box, stopped, putting the money back into his pocket, his mind decided to what he was going to do. "Until tonight, good luck kid, you're going to need it." Then he turned and left.

*****

Later that night, back at the hotel room, in bed, Scott was tossing and turning in bed, he just couldn't get the image of that boy out of his head. Stealing in order to survive, he just couldn't imagine it. Finally, at 11:30pm, he quietly climbed out of bed, dressed in dark clothes and scribbled a note for Jean. He tiptoed out of the room and silently closed the door behind him.

His mind made up now, he walked more quickly and took the elevator down to the lobby. As he started to walk out the hotel's entrance a voice came from behind him, "Couldn't get him out of your mind too eh Scooter?"

Scott jumped and turned around, seeing Logan leaning against a wall, already wearing dark clothing. Straightening, he walked past Scott and out the hotel entrance, shaking his head in amazement at the coincidence that they were thinking the same thing, he followed Logan off into the night, in search of the elusive thief.

*****

It was nearly 6 o'clock the next morning before the pickpocket made their next appearance. Scaling headfirst down the wall that he had only made his escape over just over 14 hours ago. Grinning, Scott and Logan looked at each other in triumph, hidden from sight behind a dumpster.

They waited to make their move until the mutant to settled them self in the cardboard box. Hearing the scratching and scrabbling finally dying down, they stood up from their hiding place and approached the box. Peering in, they saw the mutant curled up into the corner, hugging himself in order to keep warm.

Scott gently reached in and laid a hand on the bundle's shoulder. The body jolted and then scrabbled further back into the corner, ready to fight their way out. Scott pulled back, his arms raised defensively. Logan spoke, "Hey don't worry kid, we ain't here to hurt you, we saw what you did today, we want to help you."

A voice, raspy with fear and effectively disguising any feminine/masculine traits it might have said, "But why should I trust you? I mean, I just stole from him a couple of hours ago." The hooded head jerked in Scott's direction.

Logan extended a hand, "Because we're mutants too," extending the claws from the back of his hand.

The bundle of clothing jumped, then cowered in fear, then, just as quickly, relaxed. "You're that Wolverine guy from the states aren't you?"

Logan was shocked that she knew who he was, "Yeah, but."

But Liz continued on, turning to Scott, "And you must be Cyclops."

Now it was both of them staring at the sex-less bundle of clothing slack jawed in amazement.

The bundle of clothing quickly crawled forward and emerged from the box, blinking at the light from the rising sun. Turning, the figure offered a hand saying, "In that case, I accept your help. Caliban told me just before he and the other Morlocks left Calgary that if I ever had a chance to go with one of the X-Men to accept because it would be the best thing for me. I'm Elizabeth Emily Watson and I am very pleased to meet you."

Dumbly, they offered a hand and the suddenly cheerful and semi-hyper bundle of clothing enthusiastically shook them both. At the same time. Blinking, Logan just realized something, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Elizabeth?"

Liz responded, her head stuck back in the cardboard box, pulling various items out and into a waiting, rather battered backpack. "Yeah, but most people call me Liz, or even Gecko if you want. It comes from me being able to stick to surfaces."

"That means you're a girl." Scott stuttered.

"Well, yeah, Sherlock, I guess it does." Liz backed out of the box, turned and continued, insecure, "That isn't a problem is it?"

"No, but, you see, we kind of thought that you were a boy, from the way you were dressed and acted." Scott responded.

"People think that a lot. I just kind of encourage it a bit." Liz replied, finished adjusting the straps on the backpack, she turned and started skipping down the alley, towards the entrance. Turning and seeing that the men weren't following her, she stopped and waited, impatiently tapping a foot.

The men still just stood there and stared at the odd bundle of clothing. Shaking their heads in amazement at the sudden transformation from quiet and scared to a hyper bundle of energy.

Fed up with waiting she asked in an extremely annoyed voice, "Well, are you coming or not?"

Still shaking his head, Logan clapped his hand on Scott's shoulder. "Congratulations Cyke, it's a bouncing bundle of Canadian insanity." He chuckled and jogged up to the figure, through an arm around the taller figure's shoulder's saying, "Come on Darlin', lets go and get you cleaned up."

Scott just sighed and followed thinking, "Wonderful, we have another Canadian at the institute, just what we needed."

And oh, how true they were.

TBC

A/N: Well, that's it for another chapter. Next up, Jean meets Liz. DUN DUN DUN DUN, Will Jean like the guy's little surprise? Stay tuned for another chapter of A CANADIAN IN AMERICA.