A/N: I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that this chapter is all completely from my imagination. I have no idea what Lance's life was like before he came to Bayville, other than that he eventually attended a foster home in Northbrook, going to the same school as Kitty. I also don't completely know how Jean fell into a coma; this is just what I imagined to have happened. Hope you like it~

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Lance had been moved around enough to know that what happened in this next home wouldn't matter. Why make friends in Connecticut when you're only going to be moved to Iowa next month?

"Now, the Kazowskies were nice enough to take you in on such short notice," Lance Alvers' social worker droned on as Lance stared out his rain-soaked window, counting the raindrops as the ran passed his bored face. ". . .so, Lance? Try not to blow anything up this time."

"What?!? Mr. Sanchez, that's not fair! It's not like I meant to blow the kitchen up! I was just trying to help Kyle with his volcano and the kid added in too much vinegar . . ."

Mr. Sanchez sighed, "I know that Lance, but the Martins didn't see it that way."

Lance gave up counting the rain and slumped down in his seat. "Sure, blame the foster kid." He mumbled.

"Lance. . ." Mr. Sanchez started.

But the 12-year-old wouldn't listen. "Our kid would never do anything wrong, it must be that Alvers kid."

"Lance, I'm sure it wasn't like that."

"Of course not, they just decided to throw me out after KYLE blew up the kitchen."

Mr. Sanchez threw his hands up in exasperation, almost colliding with the Toyota in the next lane. Pulling the beat up Chevy into its rightful lane, Mr. Sanchez flicked his eyes back to the sulking kid. "Lance, I know it wasn't your fault. If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Martins had just been transferred to Florida and he thought it would be hard enough to move the family - without the added addition of a foster child. The kitchen incident just pushed him over the edge. So please, try to behave at the Kazowskies."

Lance just nodded meekly and returned to his ritual of staring out the dirty window. He would try to behave, he really would, but for some reason something always happened to turn the family against him. '6 more years, 6 more friggin years 'till I'm on my own. 6 more years 'till people stop treating me like a bomb waiting to go off, 'till kids stop feeling sorry for me, 'till people stop considering me to be a freak. . .' But little did Lance know that by the time he was 18, he'd be wishing that foster families were his only worries."

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"Mr. and Mrs. Grey, I don't mean to alarm you, and I certainly didn't come here to frighten you, but there is something about Jean that you must understand." Charles Xavier was sitting in the Grey's posh living room, sipping a cup of Earl Gray tea.

"Is there something wrong with her, Professor?" Elaine gripped her china cup so tightly it almost broke in two.

"There is nothing wrong with her, and please, it's Charles."

"Then what is it that you need us to understand?"

Charles lowered his glass, staring levelly at the anxious Greys. "This may come as quite a shock to you, but you're daughter, Jean, she's, well, she's not like other children." He paused, partly to grasp the right words and partly to gauge their reactions. "Jean has been blessed with a special gift. When she was born she received a dominant X gene, on that has not been completely visible until now."

"And what, exactly, is this 'X gene'?" John was brimming with nervousness and curiosity, while his wife was simply radiating fear and distrust.

"A normally recessible gene that, in certain cases, is sped forward by evolution. This gene enables its bearers with special gifts, or, in some cases, powers."

"Powers?!" Elaine hiccupped, but Charles held up his hand, requesting silence.

"During adolescence or at times of heightened emotion, these powers usually develop. In Jean's case, I believe the other doctors mentioned she witnessed her friend's death?"

"Yes," John answered slowly, "in a car accident. That's when she slipped into a coma."

"I see, well, this may be why she slipped into a coma, I have a theory, but I will have to ask you to refrain from speaking until I'm through."

As Elaine began to protest, John interrupted, "We understand, please continue."

"As Jean witnessed the accident, she went through a state of panic which caused her hormones to race forwards and the X gene to kick in. In her case, she was blessed with a gift of mental telepathy. Her mind bonded with her friend's, and has her friend passed away, closing her mind, a bit of Jean's mind felt like she was dying, but instead of her whole body shutting down, she fell into a coma. A weaker person may not have survived such pressure."

A tense silence filled the room, and Professor Xavier carefully observed the Greys' reactions. For a moment he began to believe that everything may actually work out, they didn't seem to be taking this too hard, but his hopes were instantly shattered as Elaine Grey shot to her feet.

"How dare you come into our home with these fiendish lies, worrying us about our baby's health and expecting us to believe this, this, story!"

"Mrs. Grey, please, calm down-"

"Calm down? Calm down! You expect me to calm down after you waltz in here, telling me my baby is a freak! No! I will not calm down, I have every right too-"

"Elaine, please," John tried to grasp his wife's arm.

"No, John! You don't actually believe him, do you? He's lying to us! Making up stories about our Jean!" Elaine was hysterical, red in the face, screaming at the men in the room. They continuously tried to calm her down, but to no avail. She refused to sit down, refused to stop her continuous yelling, until an anxious voice called from the doorway.

"Mommy? What's wrong?"

The three adults turned in a stunned silence, to face a bewildered Jean.

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