A/N: Special thanks to Lucas'sgirl for your review of the last chapter. Looks like you're the only one still interested in what's going on in this story, so I hope you enjoy what's up next…

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Nearly a week had passed since Ororo, Kitty, Peter, Rahne, and Theresa had traveled to Ireland. They had gone there to visit Theresa's home in County Mayo, but like all good things, their brief sojourn to Cassidy Keep had come to an end. The group was slowly making it's way back to Muir Island, and decided to spend a day in Ullapool. Ullapool was a moderately-sized fishing town on the main land, not too far from where Dr. MacTaggert's research facility resided.

The group had split up to go shopping, and they wandered through various parts of the town. As the evening slowly crept to nightfall, Kitty and Peter had found themselves in front of a small clothing shop having a discussion about the ensemble in the shop's front window.

"You know, I think it's nice." Kitty said, as the couple gazed at an authentic Scottish outfit on display, which included a plaid kilt.

"I suppose." Peter simply replied, as he looked as well.

"C'mon," Kitty told Peter, as she tugged at his rather large forearm, "Why don't you try it on?"

"Katya! I would feel ridiculous wearing something like that." Peter replied, as he thought about himself in the outfit.

"You're just being silly." Kitty responded, "Besides, I think you'd look super-hot in a kilt."

"It is too bad that we will not be finding out." Peter smiled, as he sat down on a nearby bench.

"Scaredy-cat. But, you can't blame a girl for trying to get you to make a major fashion statement." Kitty remarked, as she turned towards the shop, "I'll be back in a sec, I just wanna go inside and see if I can find any nice souvenirs."

Peter nodded his head, and watched the girl that he had recently declared his love for walk into the shop, while he sat and awaited her return.

While Peter and Kitty were at the small clothing shop in Ullapool, two of their peers were busy occupying themselves at a local music store a few blocks away.

"What do you think about this one?" Theresa asked Rahne, as she held up a recently released debut CD from a new band.

"I would'nae really know. Reverend Craig said most modern music was sinful, and he forbade me from listenin' to it." Rahne replied.

"Are ye serious?" Theresa responded in astonishment.

"Aye." Rahne answered, as she held the CD and looked at the cover art.

"Well, Reverend 'whatever-his-name-is', isn't here now. Come over here with me." Theresa said, as she pulled Rahne over to one of the listening stations inside of the store. She wanted Rahne to hear a couple of the songs on the CD, and then give her opinion of it.

Rahne had finally gotten a taste of the modern pop-culture that she had been denied for so long, and instantly found it both strange and exciting. As Rahne stood in the store and listened to the music pumping through the headphones, a small smile slowly came across her face.

Meanwhile, their adult chaperones were sitting in a local pub, about a block down the street from them.

"It's been awhile since I've been around these parts." Sean Cassidy stated.

"You know, you did not have to accompany us back to Muir Island." Ororo said, as she sat and talked with Theresa's father, "But I am glad that you did, it has at least given me another adult that I can talk to."

"It was no trouble at all. Besides, it gives me a chance t'see Charles again. Last time we were together was when we all tangled with me crooked cousin, and his giant of a step-brother." Sean Cassidy responded, as he referred to his cousin, 'The Black' Tom Cassidy, and Cain Marko, who went by the more descriptive moniker of 'The Unstoppable' Juggernaut.

"Let us hope that this reunion will be far less eventful." Ororo smiled, as they both took sips from their drinks.

As Ororo and Sean continued to talk, Kitty had found what she was looking for in the shop on the other side of town. She had decided on a teal and burgundy scarf as a small memento of her trip. She had hurried to pay for it, so that she could show it to Peter and get his opinion of her purchase. But when Kitty came back outside, she saw that he was otherwise occupied.

"Ooh, ye have such big, strong muscles!" A local, and very attractive, Scottish girl said to Peter as she sat on the bench next to him and felt his upper arm with her hands.

"Are ye sure yuir name is'nae Clark Kent?" Another equally appealing, and slightly older local girl said, as she stood a few feet away from him.

When Kitty saw the scene in front of her, all of the feelings of insecurity that she had buried deep within instantly came back. Most people would have thought Kitty had everything going for her; she was the smartest student at Xavier's School for the Gifted, she was part of the X-Men's junior squad, and she had a dynamite boyfriend in Piotr Rasputin.

But, Kitty felt self-conscious about the fact that Peter was nearly three years older than her, and the current scene in front of her didn't help any. The sight of Peter blushing, as the two teenage girls fawned and swooned over him, made Kitty feel awful inside. It was like her worst fear had come true. That little voice inside of her kept telling her that Peter may have liked her, but that he would lose interest in the little school-girl that had such a huge crush on him when someone a little older and better looking came along. So she reacted instinctively, and Kitty took off down the street. Her departure, however, did not go unnoticed by Peter.

"Kitty! Where are you going?" Peter called out, as she continued down the street without answering…

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Half a world away at the mansion back in Salem Center, a confrontation that had been building for the last few weeks was finally about to erupt in the dormitory section of the school.

"You know, I just wanna go on the record and say I think you're a total asshole for what you're doin'." Jubilee said, as she stood at the bedroom doorway in the boys' wing of the school.

"And what would that be?" Bobby Drake replied from inside of the room, as he had just returned from spending most of the morning away from the mansion.

"What you did to Rogue." Jubilee replied, "She wasn't just your girlfriend, she's your teammate too."

"You're still on that. Not that it's any of your business, but breaking up with Rogue wasn't easy for me, or anything." Bobby told her, as he sat down on the bed in his room.

"Yeah, I'm sooo sure. It must not have been too hard either, since it seems so easy for you to go and start seein' some skank that you've been trying to hide from everybody." Jubilee asserted.

"That's what you think I've been doing?" Bobby asked her.

"We're not blind. You hurry out of here, are gone for hours on end, and then don't wanna talk about what you've been doing. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's been going on." Jubilee accused him.

"Fine, you really want to know what's going on with me?" Bobby said, as he raised his voice a little.

"Out with it already." Jubilee replied, her voice getting louder as well.

"Close the door, I don't want the whole world knowing about it." Bobby sighed, as his voice lowered and he reached into a desk-drawer near his bed. As he did, he pulled something out and tossed it to Jubilee.

Jubilee caught the object, after closing the door, and inspected it.

"What are you doin' with drugs?" Jubilee asked in a surprised tone, as she held a pill-bottle in her grasp.

"They're from a doctor." Bobby quickly assured her.

"But, these are anti-depressants? Why are you takin' them?" Jubilee further inquired.

"Why else? So I don't feel depressed." Bobby confessed.

"You're gonna have to break it down for me, because I'm lost and without a map here." Jubilee told him, as she sat down in a chair in his room.

"After everything that happened in Boston with my family, I've just been having trouble dealing. I mean, they called the cops on me when they found out I was a mutant." Bobby told her, "I was trying to deal with things myself, but I just kept feeling worse and worse. So, Hank recommended I go talk to a doctor friend of his, a guy named Doctor Lykos. I've been seeing him three days a week, and we talk about how I've been feeling."

"Why didn't you come to one of us first? We're your friends." Jubilee said, as she re-evaluated how she felt about Bobby's behavior over the last few weeks.

"Because you all have problems of your own. I didn't want to bother any of you with mine, and I didn't want any of you to think any less of me." Bobby revealed.

"Think any less? Where'd you get an idea like that?" Jubilee asked him.

"Look at you, both of your parents were killed when you were just a kid. Rogue's been through hell because of her powers, she even had to leave home because of what happened with them. I would've felt totally wrong for complaining that my parents don't like the fact that I'm a mutant, when you two have had it a lot worse. That, and I didn't want my teammates thinking I couldn't handle my responsibilities as an X-Man." Bobby continued.

"Nobody would've thought that." Jubilee assured him, as she walked over to hand him back the bottle, "You don't have to push us away. We're all like family, and family is supposed to be there for each other."

Bobby just sat there listening to what Jubilee was saying, and he finally heard her.

"Just promise that'll you'll tell us if you start feelin' horrible again." Jubilee said to him, as she sat down next to him and put her hand on his right shoulder.

"I promise. 'Firecracker'." Bobby said, as he called her by the nickname that he and John had come up with when Jubilee first arrived at the school.

"Ohh, I'm tryin' to have a tender moment, and you're gonna start with the name-callin', you walkin' 'Icee-machine'. In that case, let's see what else I can come up with." Jubilee smiled, as she tried to come up with a new insult to call Bobby.

It had been awhile since she and Bobby had kidded each other like this, and they were both glad that the air was finally clear between them. While their reconciliation was taking place, another reunion was about to take place one floor below them.

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As the handle to the front door of the mansion turned, a lone figure soon entered. It was a man that now felt like he was back home again.

"I'm glad the security system that Forge installed is operating quite proficiently, and alerted me to your presence. It has been a while, hasn't it Slim?" Henry McCoy said, as he had come from his lab downstairs into the main foyer of the mansion, to greet one his closest friends.

"It takes me years to break Alex out of calling me by that annoying nickname, then the first thing I'm hit with is you bringing it back up again." Scott Summers smiled, as he met Hank near the bottom of the staircase, "It's nice to see you too Hank, but I'm a little surprised that you're here."

"Well, the Professor was able to wrangle me into filling in as the Headmaster of this fine institution during his absence." Hank replied.

"Really? I half-expected to come back here and find Logan in charge, teaching all of the students 'Violence and Anti-Social Behavior-101'." Scott told him.

"Sorry to disappoint, but Logan has been gone for a few weeks now. He and Rogue are both in Japan." Hank responded.

"Japan?" Scott inquired, not expecting to hear that. But before he and Hank could continue, they were interrupted by the newest resident at Greymalkin Lane.

"Hank, will you please tell those little 'stalkers-in-training' to quit going through my things." Allison Blaire said, as she came down the stairs, "I keep telling Roberto and Jamie that I'm not hiding any memorabilia from my last tour, but they don't want to believe me. If I find out they've been in my room just one more time, I'm gonna light flash the both of them into…"

Allison stopped mid-sentence, as she looked and realized that Hank wasn't alone.

"I'm Scott Summers." Scott said, as he introduced himself to the unfamiliar young lady, "And you are?"

"I'm amazed, someone that's never heard of me." Allison jokingly replied, "My name's Allison. But you wouldn't know it by the way the kids around here keep calling me Dazzler. Sometimes I wish I'd never taken that movie-role."

"Movies?" Scott thought to himself, as he wasn't one to really keep up on current entertainment.

"Allison is staying here with us, until we figure out what to do about her current dilemma." Hank explained.

Just as Hank said that, two more students came down the stairs to add to the group gathering at the bottom of the staircase.

"Hi, Hank. Hi, Mr. Summers." Danielle Moonstar said, as she greeted her teachers.

"Hello, Danielle." Scott replied.

Scott then looked at the other student that was walking next to Dani.

"You must be a new student." Scott said, as he reached out to shake her hand.

"Yes sir, my name is Amara Aquilla. I've heard about you from the other students, Mr. Summers." Amara responded.

"I hope it's been something good." Scott said to her.

"Amara arrived here during your prolonged leave." Hank explained.

"You've got your work cut out on filling me in on everything that's been going on while I was gone Hank." Scott told him.

As the two men talked, Amara and Dani turned to look at Allison.

"We heard what you were saying about Roberto and Jamie, when we were coming down the stairs." Amara told her, "Boys can be such butt-heads sometimes."

"I know how we can fix them, so they won't bother you anymore. I mean, if you want." Dani added.

"All right. Come into the kitchen with me and tell me all about it." Allison said, as she and the girls went to walk past Hank and Scott towards the kitchen. As they were passing them, Allison made an observation about Scott.

"Cool Shades, Scott." Allison told him, as she lightly tapped him on the nose with her fore-finger. When she did that, Dani and Amara each busted out into a fit of giggles, as the trio then continued down the hallway.

"Um, thanks." Scott replied to her.

"Come on Scott, I can finish filling you in on everything down in the lab." Hank said, as they headed back down to the lower levels of the estate.

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Back across the Atlantic…

"Katya, will you please stop." Peter called out to her, as they were now about two blocks away from the shop where Kitty had bought her scarf at, "What is the matter?"

"From the looks of your bimbettes back there, I guess nothing!" Kitty shouted, as she finally stopped and turned back around.

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked her, as he honestly didn't know why she was so upset.

"Oooh Peter, ye're such a big, strong guy." Kitty said, as she mockingly imitated the two girls, "What a buncha airheads!"

"Katya, I was just sitting there. I did not tell them to come up to me and make those comments." Peter told her.

"Well, you can go back to your new personal fan club and spend as much time as you want with them." Kitty said, as she started to turn and walk some more, but Peter ran over and stood in front of her.

Kitty looked up at Peter, before she spoke again.

"Come on, I can walk through walls. Do you really think you're that much more difficult for me to phase through?" Kitty pointed out to Peter.

"Katya, please. Just give me the opportunity to explain." Peter begged her.

"Explain what? How you were flirting with those…those…girls!" Kitty replied.

"No, to explain that you are the only girl that I ever want to flirt with. You are the one that I chased nearly a mile to catch up to, and I would chase you a hundred more if I had to." Peter revealed to her.

Kitty looked up into his deep, blue eyes. And somehow, someway, she knew that he was telling her the truth. But, she wasn't going to let him off that easy

"Okay, then here's your chance." Kitty said to Peter.

"Chance for what?" Peter asked her.

"You said that you only wanted to flirt with me, so get to it. Try and knock me off of my feet." Kitty challenged him.

Instead of knocking her off of her feet, Peter instead picked her up and swept her off of them, kissing her as passionately and intensely as he could. He held her smaller frame next to his larger torso in an embrace that lasted for more than a minute.

"How was that?" Peter asked her, as he put her back down.

"Not bad, but you still need some work." Kitty smiled, as she looked up at him.

"What?!" Peter responded.

"It's nothing that a little extra practice won't fix." Kitty smiled, as they went to kiss again.

But this time, they were interrupted. Not by a passing stranger, but by a passing thought…

"X-Men!"

"X-Men!"

"Come quickly! Muir Island is under attack! Someone has sent--"

And just like that the thought was cut off, just like a phone line going dead.

"Oh my God Peter, that was the Professor!" Kitty exclaimed, "There must be some major trouble, for him to send a telepathic message like that!"

"And also for it to stop in such an abrupt manner. We must go find the others." Peter said, as he and Kitty started to take off down the street to search for Ororo, Rahne, Theresa, and her father Sean.

But after only taking a few steps, the sound of a large explosion could be heard off in the distance. The young couple looked east, in the direction where Muir Island was, and saw a large plume of smoke rising.

Saying that something bad was happening on the horizon would have been an understatement.

It was obvious that something catastrophic was taking place at that very moment on Muir Island…

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Next chapter: Muir Island under siege…by the Sentinels!