Not Myself
By Princess Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
Erik felt Annie's emotions get even more jumbled up in jealousy and sighed. It was really hard to block that girl out whenever she was focused on Christy. Erik almost wished that Christy would do something about it, but he wasn't sure that Christy even realized that Annie had fallen for her. Of course Christy wasn't the type to seek out jailbait anyhow, so Annie was pretty much doomed.
Shortly after Annie went into the kitchen to get them all plates for the pizza, Christy and Emma came in.
"So I could maybe spend some time tonight helping you work with shields." Jean spoke, and Erik had to try and pretend like his lack of shields hadn't just pulled him out of the conversation again. His friends were not even remembering to try and keep their emotional noise down and it was making it hard to concentrate today. His own feelings weren't helping. Christy had said that she wouldn't force him to leave, that if he didn't want to call these people he didn't have to, but then she hadn't seemed too surprised by this visit. Was she trying to get rid of him?
"Yeah, maybe later we can do that." Erik couldn't really manage to be too enthusiastic about Jean's offer to help. He was still staring at Christy, thinking she looked a bit guilty of something. If she didn't want him here, she just should have told him.
The hand on his leg made him jump and turn back towards the visitors. Jean was giving him a sympathetic look. "We didn't tell anyone we were dropping by. She isn't trying to get rid of you." Erik's eyes widened at that. Jean had told him she was a telepath and telekinetic, but he'd never met a telepath before. Having his thoughts read was a bit strange and made him feel naked.
Erik's eyes fell on Wolf and he once again wondered how they'd ended up with these people's dog. It wasn't coincidence. No one had asked about it, and Erik didn't know if his friends even thought about it yet.
"Well, we should eat before Jon sucks up a pizza all by himself." Erik covered up his discomfort with a weak smile and moved to stand.
********
Jean noticed the brief mental contact Emma sent her way and allowed it in. ~She says she will talk later, when the children aren't around to hear it.~
Jean nodded subtly at that message. At least they would get some answers soon.
Jean turned towards the living room window blinds and telekinetically closed them, well aware of the looks she was getting as she did that. It was so easy to impress teenagers new to their powers. "Rahne did you want some pizza too?" Jean was watching the group assembled around the dining room table with the plates and could see Christy cringe just a bit when she said that.
Rahne glanced at the group and her transformation started. Her snout pulled into her body as her teeth became a more human size, and her arms and legs started to form. She didn't, however, take her transformation all the way to human, she stopped at the point that she was able to talk. "Perhaps a slice or two of the cheese one."
"Oh My God." Jessi was staring at Rahne in complete shock. Jean didn't even try to hide the fact that she was watching the others reactions, it wasn't like anyone was even looking away from Rahne to notice. Christy was the first to tear her eyes away and the worry in them was a surprise. Christy glanced at her students, clearly concerned at how they'd take this.
Jessi's thoughts were practically shouts, so it was hard to miss. ~Wolf is a woman. Oh God, the things I said…~ Jessi set her plate down and moved to practically run down the hall. The slamming of a bedroom door quickly followed.
"God Dammit." Christy muttered and started after the girl. When Jon took a step to follow Christy stopped and turned to face him. "Let me handle this one."
"But I'm her boyfriend."
Christy's eyes softened when she looked at him, before she turned to glance at Rahne. Her eyes became cold at that moment and Jean found the school teacher looked like she could be dangerous after all. "Wolf, you know what this is about. Me or Jon… who goes."
Rahne hesitated for just a moment too long. "You would be better."
Christy turned down the hall without a second glance at anyone after that, but they could all hear her muttering. "I'm dragging your furry ass in there to apologize after I'm done." She probably didn't realize that everyone could hear her.
"Jessi, let me in."
"Go away."
They could all hear Christy sigh. No one was moving as they listened in on this confrontation down the short hallway. "Open the door. I'll pick the lock or get Jean to open it for me if you don't."
********
Jessi was mortified. She'd always had pets, they were good listeners, and she'd told Wolf things that she couldn't tell anyone, secure in the knowledge that it was still a secret. My God, the things she'd said…
"I mean it Jessi. I'm coming in one way or another." After a moment Christy's voice rose. "Jean?"
"I'm coming." Jessi got off of her bed and threw the pillow in her arms down on it again. If Christy were really willing to break in she'd be better just letting her in herself.
She opened the door and felt herself starting to tear up again as soon as she saw Christy looking at her with such compassion. Christy stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
Jessi wrapped her arms around herself and moved to sit on her bed. "She usually slept in my room."
Christy sat beside her. "What's wrong?"
"Did you know?" Jessi stared at Christy with eyes that plead for the woman to not have known. Christy kept secrets, everyone knew that, but not this. She couldn't have put that werewolf here to spy on them like this.
Christy took a deep breath and Jessi didn't like the look in her eyes. "I didn't know when Wolf got here, but… last night I…" Jessi watched Christy look away. The woman's voice got softer. "I'd hoped that they'd take her away without letting you guys know about her."
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Jessi's voice rose as the sense of betrayal hit her. Christy had known and kept something like this from them.
********
Rahne flinched as her sensitive ears picked up Jessi's voice. She had no idea that the girl would take this so hard. Perhaps she should have realized that. Glancing around the people talking more quietly than normal she caught several of the kids glancing at her with betrayal in their eyes. She'd hurt them by not being a dog. She'd never expected that.
"People tend to bond with their pets." Logan spoke quietly nearby here. He must be able to hear the conversation in Jessi's room as well. "It will take them a while to get over it."
She nodded subtly and started to eat her pizza. She kept her werewolf form so that she had her enhanced senses, and so that the kids wouldn't see the blush their stares caused her.
********
Christy stared at Jessi, unsure of how to answer this question. At the time she'd thought she'd be able to keep her secrets from the X-men, so hadn't wanted to tip her hand, but now that wasn't likely to happen. She still didn't want her kids to know about her past and they'd ask if they knew what she planned to tell the X-men. They'd ask repeatedly. "She'd already been here for a few days. I didn't want to… make you all uncomfortable."
"That was really lousy and you know it." Jessi glared at her.
"I'm sure that whatever you told Wolf won't be spread around." Christy decided to just deal with that problem. She didn't know how to apologize for the way she'd kept things to herself. The kids couldn't understand how important some secrets were. "You could talk to her."
"I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to look at her again." Jessi reached out to pull her pillow to her body angrily. "And I don't really want to talk to you right now either!"
"Fine, you can be mad at me, and you can be mad at Wolf, but I don't know how long the X-men are going to be in town. You need to suck it up and visit while you can."
"X-men?" Jessi's eyes widened. "You didn't tell us they were the X-men." Christy gritted her teeth. She hadn't meant to let that slip either.
"I'm gonna go." Christy stood up. "Whenever you're ready we can talk about this thing with Wolf."
"Were you ever gonna tell us the X-men were in our home?" Jessi wasn't letting that one go.
"It should have been their choice. I shouldn't have ever let it slip." Christy didn't like how Jessi looked at her now. She'd fallen off the pedestal the girl put her on and Jessi was mad at her for that. "I need to go out there. Do you want me to let Jon come back? He really wants to."
"What? No, I just want to be alone for a while." The look on Jessi's face then gave Christy a hint that the girl had confided to Wolf about Jon and it was bad enough that she couldn't face her boyfriend right now.
"Okay." Her voice got softer. "I'm sure that Wolf isn't gonna go telling people your secrets." Jessi didn't really respond to that. Christy left, closing the door behind her.
********
Scott always felt just a bit out of place when talking to potential students. He really believed it was best to have students talk to students about the school, but they hadn't come to Washington planning to recruit, so they didn't have any with them.
The tension in the room had grown considerably after Rahne had been properly introduced, and it hadn't gotten better even though Christy had returned. Jon kept looking down the hall like he really wanted to go to Jessi, but the girl had told Christy that she needed to be alone. Christy was letting the girl get away with that even though they had guests. He wouldn't have been that much of a push over.
~Jessi is upset because she shared secrets with what she assumed was the family pet. She's feeling violated. How would you feel if you became friends with someone, told them personal things only to find out they weren't who they said they were. What if they were someone like Mystique?~ Jean's telepathic voice gently scolded him. Scott looked up at his wife and gave her an apologetic look. If he thought about it that way he could understand why the girl was upset. He'd never really had pets, so he wasn't up on the sort of things a teenager might tell a dog, but apparently it was upsetting enough to keep Jessi in her room for now. Rahne was looking guilty enough that it was clear she knew what was bothering the girl.
~Should Rahne go apologize like Christy said?~
~Not just yet. After Jessi calms down a bit more.~ Jean answered before pulling out of his mind.
********
Christy felt like her heart was hammering too fast. It couldn't be healthy for it to move that quickly. The look on Scott's face made it clear to her that they'd visited the kids as much as they were going to, and now they wanted answers.
Annie was speaking quietly with Hank about the testing he could do to narrow down what someone's mutation was. They'd been talking for a while, and Christy had noticed that the man was indeed capable of making himself understandable when he wanted to. He talked without all the big words.
After dinner Jean had followed Erik down to the office for a little privacy to work on shields. Erik was now looking a bit thoughtful and Christy was betting that the session with Jean was very informative.
Jessi had ventured out of her bedroom for pizza and barely spoke for a while, until Christy had noticed Rahne approach her and they both slipped out for a bit of privacy. When they came back Jessi wasn't as tense and Rahne was actually in her fully human form. It was a surprise to see her as old as she was, Christy only remembered Wolfsbane from the New Mutants, but obviously time had gone by since then. The redheaded werewolf must be nearly Christy's age.
"I'm thinking now might be a good time for those answers you mentioned." Emma spoke quietly and Christy almost jerked. Her nerves were pretty much shot and she hadn't noticed the blonde walk up behind her.
"Downstairs?" Christy glanced around and couldn't deny that conversation had started to wrap up all over. "I have a living room downstairs." They'd have privacy, but Christy didn't have enough seating space. Still she'd rather sit on the floor than bring in a chair that made it feel even more like an inquisition. All they'd need was a bright light to shine in her eyes.
Emma and Scott followed her down and Christy glanced out the back door before heading down. Logan was still smoking, but he'd probably be down soon.
********
After talking about the training she did and the way finances were set up the last straggling X-man, Hank, came in so he closed the door behind him. Christy was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against the entertainment center. Scott and Jean sat on her love seat and Rahne, Emma, and Logan took up the couch. Hank didn't even pause in his motion to side down on the floor, it made Christy feel a more comfortable. She didn't care for being the only one down there.
"So, ya wanna tell us how you got to know so much?" Logan spoke with just a hint of irritation.
Christy's hand shook a bit as she pushed her hair out of her eyes again and tucked the strands behind her ear. "I don't know if you could even believe me, but if anyone could I guess it would be you guys." She felt a bit out of breath and had to take a few breaths and calm down. They probably knew how intimidating they were, but Christy didn't think they were doing it on purpose right now. She sighed and moved her glance to Scott. "You've had experience with things like time travel and alternate realities before, having you?" If that information held true this would be easier to explain.
The surprised look he gave her wasn't completely disbelieving so Christy assumed she still had them. Scott spoke while appearing to be staring at her. It was hard to tell with the sunglasses on, but Christy was pretty sure she was being carefully studied by him. She knew she was being studied by everyone else. "We did a background check on you. You were born around here."
"No." Christy took a deep breath while trying to match his stare. "You did a background check on Christy Taylor, I'm not exactly her."
"What?" Emma sounded just short of raising her voice and Christy flinched a little. She didn't want the kids to overhear any of this.
"Well, I am and I'm not." Christy started to nervously play with her college ring as she spoke. "I'm A Christy Taylor, just not the one from around here."
"So you are from an alternate reality, or is there a temporal shift as well?" Hank seemed to accept her comments easily.
"Ah… there was a little bit of a temporal shift, but not really a lot. It made no real difference since this reality is completely different from my own." She'd imagined talking with this group of people about this for a while, but imagining it hadn't really prepared her to do it. She was worried she'd actually start stuttering soon.
"How is it different." Jean started to ask.
"When did you get here?" Hank leaned forward in his seat to ask that.
"Oh, please. She tells us she's from another world and you all instantly believe her?" Emma crossed one leg over another while also crossing her arms in front of her. Christy noticed a brief glare being directed Emma's way from Scott, but his attention returned to Christy quickly.
After a deep breath Christy continued, while ignoring Emma's comment. "This world is at least a lot like one that some writers wrote about on my world. I know what I've read about you all, but I'm not sure how much of it is real here. That's where I got my information."
"What kind of information do you have? What sort of proof do you have that you really aren't from here?" Emma was really good at looking down at people, and Christy's seat on the floor probably didn't hurt her ability to do so.
Christy felt her anger bristle a bit at Emma's attitude, but she was pretty sure most people would wonder if she was insane with a story like that. It was part of why she hadn't told anyone this before.
"Your powers manifested first as voices you could hear. Your parents had you sent to a mental hospital where you were abused. It wasn't until you tried to push your voice out onto others that you were able to escape." Christy hated doing this, and really hoped that these old wounds had healed some or this could be painful for them all. "Jean spent some time in a mental hospital too. She was mentally in contact with her best friend when the girl died. Jean's codename is Phoenix, and it could be because of the time she had the Phoenix powers or it could be her tendency to come back from the dead. I was never sure which motivated that name." Christy's eyes moved from Jean to Scott. Her own eyes held her apologies for this. "Scott was in an accident when he was a kid. His parents died in the plane crash, but he and his little brother lived. Unfortunately he suffered some brain damage during all of this and now can't control his optic blasts. He wears those ruby quartz glasses all the time." When Rahne fidgeted at this Christy glanced at her. Her information on this woman wasn't as detailed. Christy hadn't been that interested in her back then. "You're religious and were raised by a horrible man that tried to get the village to kill you when your powers became known. You were also a part of the New Mutants." "Logan lost much of his memories during the procedure that put that metal in his skeleton." The tension in the room was getting thicker with each word Christy said, but she just continued to show the only proof she had. "Hank wasn't always blue." Christy still hadn't seen Henry McCoy without his image inducer but she knew he had to be wearing one. "He's a scientist and did an experiment that kinda backfired. It changed his appearance."
Christy stopped talking and watched the X-men team in front of her exchange glances. Her own voice got softer. "I can do more if you still don't believe me."
"It could be a very strong telepathy." Scott spoke through his fingers as he studied her. "how do we know that isn't the case instead?"
"I don't know how to prove it. I can walk through the mutant detectors at the local casino's and it doesn't notice me. My mother took me a couple times."
"You say you heard about us from books?" Hank really sounded distracted. "It's fascinating to think that one worlds fiction is another worlds fact."
Scott shook his head as if to clear it of thoughts. "Assuming all of what you said about being from a different reality is true. When did you get here and how?"