Disclaimer: I... DON'T... OWN... X-MEN... EVOLUTION! I also don't own Pepper. That's Flamable's character. She deserves all the credit—not me.

Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't been doing this. I always leave Remy's third person talk out and his accent as well. Sorry. In the sequel, I'll try to fit this in. But if you guys don't mind, it's easier to just have him talk like a normal person would. I don't know. You can tell me in your reviews. Thanx.

Chapter 16: It's An Epidemic! Pt. 2

Still Day 9/Tueday

Remy dialed Pep's number, 4-2-5-9-6-6-4. The phone gave off a disconnected tone. 'Weird,' Remy thought to himself. Pepper's phone always worked. This caused Remy to worry. What if someone had broken into Pep's apartment... what if she was hurt... what if some scientists had found out who she was and taken her to a secret lab where she would be experimented on?

Grabbing his brown trench coat, Remy rushed out into the X-Men Mansion's garage and grabbed Colossus' motorcycle since his was in the shop. Surely the big metal man wouldn't mind. With a turn of the handle, Remy was off.

At Pep's apartment, Remy parked the motorbike in the parking lot and looked at the directory to find out what number door she lived behind. He found the words Pepper Rose and traced a straight line to the room number... #312.

He walked up six sets of staircases. His legs started to feel numb and he believed for a moment that they would actually detach from his mid-section. He finally reached his cousin's room and knocked on the door. He could hear a slight groan and a faint sound that seemed like the words 'coming'.

Nobody came. Remy grabbed the doorknob and charged it. 3-2-1... BOOM! The door and the knob blew up into pieces and Remy walked through the threshold with ease. He looked around and heard a sneezing sound and then something else blow up. He looked down at his hands and realized that it wasn't him. His hands weren't glowing, so he figured it must've been Pepper blowing up various things in her apartment.

"Who is it?" a voice asked. It sounded wheezy and very stuffy, as if someone couldn't breathe well and were breathing and talking through their mouth.

"Remy, chére. Where are you?" he replied.

"In my bedroom." Remy made his way over to the bedroom and was shocked when he saw it condition. Almost everything was coated charcoal black. Pepper was wrapped in her yellow robe and sheets. Her skin was as pale as snow and her eyes were redder than normal. Her hair was all over her head and she looked as if she hadn't been out of bed all morning and that afternoon.

She lifted her head slightly and smiled. "Hi Remy," she said, letting her head drop back down onto her pillow with a thump. Remy walked over to his cousin and stroked her hair gently as he smiled down upon her.

"Hi kiddo. Doesn't seem like you're doing to well. I tried to call you, but you're phone is disconnected."

Pep reached for a tissue and blew her nose. She squeezed it into a ball and tossed it into the garbage can like a famous basketball player would. "I accidentally blew it up," she confessed. "Oh, you might want to back away. I feel a sneeze coming on."

Remy did as he was warned. The young girl crinkled her nose and sneezed loudly. Her lamp on the side of her nightstand burst into flames. "Whoa!" Remy said, running into her kitchen. He grabbed a bucket and filled it up with water. He then ran into Pep's room and threw it over the lamp. He could hear it sizzle as he let the water run over it.

"I blew it again!" she said, reaching for another tissue. From where Remy was, he explained everything that had happened at the mansion and why Pep was feeling so ill.

Remy helped his younger cousin put her hair up into a ponytail and then gave her a motorcycle helmet to put on. He helped Pep onto the back of his bike, put her bag of clothes in a basket attached to the back of the bike, and climbed on in front of her and started the motor.

He pulled down the shield of his helmet and yelled, "Hold on!"

They sped off down the road with Pep's robe fluttering in back of her as it flew into the air as they were going so fast.

Pepper's muscles in her legs were aching horribly, so Remy picked her up and carried her into one of the guest rooms so she could rest.

He tucked the young girl into her bed as if she were his son or daughter, and she immediately fell asleep. He smiled and pushed a piece of her flaming red hair behind her ear and quietly tiptoed from the room to check on Isaac and Emma.

Kurt was having a hard time helping his kids settle down. Every time one of them sneezed, they would teleport to another part of the mansion and he'd have to retrieve and teleport them back to each of their rooms. He was very exhausted and was very happy when both fell asleep and the serum Dr. McCoy had developed started to work. The only bad thing was that the serum only lasted for about two hours, and after, their powers would start acting up again.

Tiredly, Kurt dragged his feet and tail as he made his way from Morgan and Jenna's room. His fur was singed, but he could hardly even tell since the dark blue went hand in hand with the ashy black that covered him all over. He walked into his own room and collapsed onto his bed with a weary sigh. He couldn't wait until Amanda came home. He just then realized how much he needed her.

John was running a bath for Jenna. She had a temperature of 115° F. A normal person would've been dead, but since Jenna was a mutant and her powers associated with heat, she was fine for the moment.

Carefully, St. John picked up his daughter. Her pajamas were soaked with sweat and her skin was fiery hot, but it didn't burn John. He carried her into the bathroom and sat her on the toilet seat as he turned off the water before the tub overflowed. "What's happening Daddy?" the young girl asked.

John helped her out of her clothes and explained, "We have to get you into the bath, Sheila. It'll help you get better." He slowly lowered the girl into the tub. She reached the tip of her big toe into the water and immediately pulled it back out and clung to her father.

"It's too cold," she said.

"You've got to get in, Sheila. You're burning... literally."

After a few minutes of persuasion, John finally got his daughter into the tub and had her soak in the freezing cold water for awhile. He stayed with her and tried to talk to her to get her mind off of the cold water. When fifteen minutes were up, he dried the young girl off and put her to bed, kissing her forehead, and turning off the light as he left.

Lance had a bit of trouble with Gavin. Every time he tried, he couldn't get the spoon with the serum into his son's mouth. Since his powers were acting up, it caused everything he touched to turn intangible.

"This isn't working," Lance sighed and wished his wife was there to help him. If she had been, she could've given Gavin his medicine. When Gavin had turned one year old and discovered his power, the couple had trouble catching him and giving him things because they always slipped through his body. Kitty had become frustrated and became intangible and that was when they found out that intangible intangible = not intangible.

But, she wasn't there and Lance would have to make do without her. When she came back, Lance would do all in his power to make her feel appreciated. 'Being a mom is hard,' he thought as he kept trying to give Gavin the serum.

Erin couldn't get out of other people's dreams. She was stuck in them. Her head was spinning and pulsing violently.

She cried out as she saw Logan dream of scientists. They were prodding him with needles. She could feel every little prick Logan felt, every emotion that came to Logan's mind. Suddenly, she switched to a different dream.

In this one, she saw Pep. She was surrounded by firemen and there was a building that had caught on fire. She could feel Pep burning. Tears brimmed her eyes. She saw a woman in front of Pep and she was saying something, though it was incoherent.

Dreams kept popping into her mind and suddenly, she fainted from overusing her gift, and everything went black.

Evan was worried for his daughter. He cradled her in his arms and took a wet cloth and wiped her sweating brow. He had just given her the serum a few minutes ago, and hoped it would help. Every time he saw someone he loved get hurt, his heart tore piece by piece. He had already seen his mother die. He couldn't take seeing someone else go through torture as she had in the hospital when doctors had to hurt her to even have a chance of healing her.

Scott had finally found a resolution to Immy's problem. He grabbed a few pieces of duck tape and wrapped his daughter's hands until there wasn't a crack of skin left to see. The red beams were held by the tape and everything around her room stopped flying around and fell to the ground. He gave her the serum and urged her to sleep.

Jamie was sleeping soundly with his dupes in the same bed. Many dupes = lots of snoring. It was almost as bad as Lauren's earthquakes. Take back the also. It was worse.

All the men had met in the dining room to eat a little something since they had been too busy to eat lunch that afternoon.

The Professor's hands were shaking as he sipped a bit of his black coffee. The man that everyone looked up to was growing old with time, almost seventy years old. He had a blanket spread over his legs to keep him warm and toasty.

Logan leaned on the oak desk in the office and crossed his arms. Even the man who never aged was tired.

The other men sat in the many chairs the Professor had bought for them. A few times, some of them fell asleep and as soon as their heads started to droop, they woke up with a start. Bobby had accidentally done that and ended up spilling coffee on his pants, giving himself a 1st degree burn. (A/N: Ow.)

Pepper had woken up. Her throat was really dry and sore, so she couldn't yell down to anyone for a glass of water. Instead, she slowly got up and grabbed a few tissues, sticking them in her robe pocket, and made her way down the staircase and into the kitchen.

She heard voices from the dining room and took a peek around the corner. All the men were there, eating, talking, and sleeping. She decided not to bother them and grabbed a glass from the cabinet above her head. She couldn't reach it, so instead, grabbed a chair and stood up on top of it.

With his super sensitive hearing, Logan picked up the sound of small feet pattering across the linoleum tile of the kitchen floor. "We're not alone," Logan said to the others. (A/N: Kinda sounds like something out of a horror story, doesn't it?) He got up in a huffy manor and stalked into the kitchen with his followers trailing not far from behind him.

The men walked into the kitchen to find Pepper getting a glass of water. She hadn't noticed them and was startled when she turned around to see all of them giving her dirty looks. "What are you doing?" Logan demanded. He crossed his hairy arms and stared up into the bloody red haired girl standing innocently in front him with an 'I-didn't-do-anything-wrong' look plastered on her face.

In a hoarse voice, she answered, "I was getting a drink of water."

"You should be in bed," Kurt said to her. Pepper knew this would be coming if she was caught. 'Why didn't I just stay in bed?' she asked herself. It was like she was a little girl again, rooming in the mansion and everyone else was taking responsibility for her… again, or, like they always did. They couldn't just except that she was all grown up now.

"I can take care of myself. I'm not nine anymore, you know?" she asked.

Logan—a man of short stature, but bulgy muscles—stepped up to her. Pep had looked upon him as a father figure after the fight with Sabertooth when she was nine years old. She remembered that day very clearly. "Don't argue missy. You are to stay in bed until you're better."

Pepper raised a finger in the air and was about to reply when Logan said, "That's an order."

She looked at him with raised eyebrows. Unexpectedly, Logan grabbed the young girl by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder and brought her back to her room, threatening her by saying that if she got out of bed again, she would be grounded. Pep thought this impossible, since she could just leave the mansion.

She was nineteen, almost twenty years old. Professor Xavier wasn't her guardian anymore, which meant, she didn't have to listen to the teachers he had hired years ago. But she didn't want to upset anyone and she loved her mentors like they were her parents, so she just let it go. He tucked her in, gave her a kiss on her cheek, and offered to read her a story before she went back to sleep.

"Sure," she told him. Logan grabbed a book from the old bookcase in the corner of the room and opened it up. On the outside it read, Snow White. Pepper knew this story very well by now, but she let it pass. Logan seemed to genuinely want to be her father. Pep appreciated his intentions very much and listened to the story he read her. She felt her eyes close slowly and everything faded until her mind shut off and she was snoring gently.

Author's Notes (Again): Hope everyone liked this chapter. I liked to write it. Please review. I appreciate your comments very much. They make me feel special and I'm glad everyone likes this fic. Thanx again. Adios!