NB: Italics in the chapter are used to indicate writing (part of a letter)… lllll means a flashback.

A week later, a letter turned up in the Sinclair's mail-box, a trifle battered looking after its transatlantic journey, but still bearing a postmark that named it as coming from Bayville, and still addressed to Rahne. There was no information about the sender on the plain white envelope, but the cheerful, carefully rounded characters announced its writer's identity clearly to Rahne even before she'd opened up the letter and seen the name signed at the bottom. Only Kitty Pryde could manage to make handwriting perky.

Not bothering to contain her excitement at the thought of news from her friends at the Institute, Rahne practically ran into the house, dumping the rest of the mail on the kitchen table before continuing to her room, where hopefully she'd be safe from any interruptions. Settling down into her armchair, she slit the edge of the envelope with a fingernail, revealing a couple of newspaper clippings and a single piece of note paper which bore more of Kitty's distinctive script.

Dear Rahne,

Hope you got back to Scotland alright. Jubilee's parents came to take her home yesterday. I think they were as worried as yours about what might happen to you here.

Well, that was interesting, at least, thought Rahne. Precious Jubilation Lee's parents came to take her home too? Rahne had shared a room with the girl for the past six months, but she didn't feel a lot of sympathy for her. The two girls had never managed to get on well – not for any particular reason, she had to admit, reluctantly. Just a clash of personality and upbringing, or something. Jubilee's parents were some of the richest people in Los Angeles from what Rahne could gather, and the Asian-american was a city girl through and through – malls and clothes and pop music and shopping were second nature to her, whereas Rahne was still a village girl at heart. She hated the city, with its buildings and its concrete and its lack of open spaces to run on, and if she couldn't understand Jubilee's fascination with the fast-paced life of malls and bright lights, the Californian certainly didn't understand why Rahne needed the wilderness around her.

Beyond that, Jubilee's almost casual disregard for other people's feelings at times irritated Rahne almost beyond measure. It wasn't that the girl meant to say anything offensive, Rahne was almost certain of that, but her tendency to say whatever thought popped into her head without first thinking about how it might be taken was a constant rankle. More than once, Rahne had had to step in to console Jamie, the Institute's youngest inhabitant, after one of Jubilee's flippant comments about his age or his lack of control had sliced right through the boy's composure. That had made her angriest of all – it was one thing to be insulting to Tabby, or Ray, or one of the older kids, who'd just laugh it off, but Jamie was just trying to fit in, even if he was annoying sometimes, and he took the comments to heart more often than he should.

We had to go back to school as well, which was totally freaky. Nobody would talk to us, except that stupid Duncan Matthews, who was trying to get Scott expelled by making him use his powers. He even got the Brotherhood to help him out. Lance is such a stubborn, stupid, annoying… I don't know, guy. I could seriously like hit him or something right now.

I put in a couple of articles from the Bayville News – the latest on what they're all saying about us over here – still nothing good, unfortunately, but the Professor thinks it's just a matter of time. I really hope he's right.

Anyway, the rebuilding of the Mansion's still going on – we're clearing out all the debris and the construction company's coming in tomorrow, so life goes on. It will be nice to go back to having proper rooms.

She did wish that she could be there to help in reconstructing the mansion. Unbidden, her thoughts went back to the day it blew up - finding themselves locked in a building that was shooting lasers at them, all exits blocked off and a ticking clock, counting down the seconds before they'd be blasted into non-existence. The New Recruits had all been crowded into the control room trying vainly to shut the thing off when Scott had arrived. Rahne had never been so scared in her life as in the few seconds before the Mansion exploded, when they were desperately trying to make it to Cerebro's room. They'd made it, but no one had been unscathed by the blast. And then it had only gotten worse, with Mystique in the Professor's place and the arrival of the army. The New Recruits had done the only thing they could do – they had run. But the Professor was back now, and with him there it was hard to believe that anyone could harm them. Of course there was no convincing her parents of that.

We all miss you lots.

Kitty

P.S Did something happen to Roberto? He's been acting totally weird all week. I mean, it's been really sunny, but he just hasn't been getting happy the way he usually does.

The brief mention of Roberto worried Rahne, although she hoped she knew what that was about, at least. Apart from Kitty, who was older and usually busy with the Senior team, he and Sam were her only two good friends at the Institute. The others were all a part of her pack and she mostly got on well with them, but her boys, as she thought of them, had always been there for her.

llllll

Rahne ran out into the woods, unable to form a single coherent thought, and started to howl. The Professor had just summoned her into his study to tell her that her parents were pulling her out of the Institute.

"But, I want to stay here," she'd said desperately. "Can't you convince them to let me stay?"

"I'm sorry, Rahne," the telepath had told her gently. "They are your legal guardians and they're convinced that we can't keep you safe here anymore. I have tried to remonstrate, but the decision is theirs."

"But…," she'd started, but no rational reasons had come to mind. Instead she'd run.

"Hey wolfie. Are you chasing the bats again? What's wrong?" a familiar Brazilian accent broke into her misery. She padded over to him, and for a couple of moments, wondered vaguely why she only reached his waist before understanding dawned, slower than might have been the case had she been in her human form. The wolf transformed back quickly, feeling a need to explain to someone, anyone, who'd listen.

"My parents aren't letting me stay here anymore. They want me to fly back to Scotland tomorrow." She burst into tears. It was stupid to be crying, she knew that, but yet she couldn't help it.

"What? But the Professor – he won't let that happen; he'll talk them around, won't he?"

"He said that he couldn't and that it was their decision. But I don't want to go Berto."

"I know. But hey, at least it shows they care, huh, Wolfie." Roberto's parents had shipped him off to America rather than deal with having a mutant son. The Brazilian boy paused for a second, before continuing. "I'm going to miss you, though."

"No you won't."

"Sure I will. Who else is going to tease me when you're gone?" He smiled. "On the other hand, now I'll be able to get all the attention I deserve from the instructors for being an overacheiver!"

"I told you to keep off the icing, boyo," she grinned back through her tears.

'Berto laughed, but then turned serious. "No, really, I'm going to miss you."

"What, Roberto da Costa, god's gift to mutants, is going to miss a girl? I better not tell anyone, it'll spoil your reputation…," She gave him a playful push, but he caught her hand.

"I'm serious. You're… you're not like the other girls…."

"You had better mean that in a good way…," she warned, trying to keep her tone light. No need to break down any further around him than she already had. No need…

"Of course." He smiled again. Rahne could tell he wasn't lying – that showed up in smell before almost anything else, but there was something that was strange about his scent anyway, a tingling kind of note that she couldn't quite place. "But you won't be missing me anyway – you'll be back over in Scotland, just thinking about Sam."

"What?" she sputtered indignantly. "You know better than anyone that all that stuff was just us being silly!" Rahne and Sam had hit it off instantly when they got to the Institute, causing a fair amount of comment from the other people. Most of it harmless, but as usual, Jubilee had managed to turn it into something that while not intentionally meant to hurt, had cut to the bone.

In the midst of a game of Frisbee, Wolfsbane's sensitive ears had picked up trails of a conversation between the Californian and Amara.

"I don't really know what Sam sees in her," Jubilee had said. "I mean, I suppose she's kind of cute or whatever, and maybe she has the whole naïve little village girl charm, but… well… her powers!" The Californian's voice had dropped to a confidential whisper, but Wolfsbane could still make out the words clearly. "Maybe there's just something I'm not getting, since I'm a girl or whatever, but look at her, over there playing fetch – she's literally a dog, isn't she?"

It had taken Sam, Roberto and Ray all physically holding Rahne back to restrain her from trying to tear the other girl into pieces. But she and Sam really were no more than good friends. He'd told her once, early on, that she was like one of his little sisters, and she always thought of him as a litter mate, the brother she'd never had and always wanted. In any case she knew all about his supposedly secret crush on the Nova Roman Princess, and he knew… about Roberto.

"Yeah, but…," the olive-skinned boy said, uncertainly.

"I am going to miss Sammy, but I'll survive. But I'm really going to miss you, boyo."

"Really?"

"Course."

He put one arm around her shoulder. "I wish you didn't have to go…."

"Really? Because I was just all peachy keen about it," she said sarcastically. And at that the tears broke through again, shattering what little composure she had left. Trying not to let her breath come out in sobs, Rahne leaned into his shoulder as he stroked her hair.

"Wolfie, don't cry. It'll all turn out okay, you'll see."

"Are you sure?" she sniffed.

"When am I ever wrong?"

She rolled her eyes. That was 'Berto, all the way. "Well, there was that time when you said…."

"Doesn't count."

"You had better be sure."

She turned a tearstained face up to look at him for further confirmation, but it was too dark to make out much of his features in her human form and he didn't say anything further. Instead he bent his head down and put his lips to hers.

"I am going to miss you," he said after breaking the kiss. "But I'm definitely going to see you again, because I want to see you, and Sunspot always gets what he wants."

"You're such an arrogant bastard," Rahne replied before kissing him again. But just to shut him up.

llllll

She smiled again at the memory. Sam had said the next day at the airport when they went to see her off, that her parents sucked for making her come home, but on the bright side, "at least it made you two finally get your act together, huh?" She'd hit him for that. Perhaps it had taken them a long time – too long really, since she'd been too sure that the beautiful Brazilian would never look twice at her, and 'Berto had been… 'Berto, but that didn't meant Sam was allowed to tease her about it.

Hopefully he'd be okay, and back to his old self soon, although it was a little… gratifying to know that he really hadn't been lying, and that he was going to miss her. Because she missed him… but no, she wasn't going to think about that, she admonished herself firmly. That would only make it harder to deal with being home.

NB: Okay, yes, I have issues with Evo Jubilee – I didn't like her attitude toward Lance in Joyride, and her comments to Jamie in whatever episode that was with the Danger Room were plain bitchy. And if we go by my theory that in Evo, Jubilee's parents were never killed when she was a kid (I think it's them taking her away at the start of Mainstream), the spoilt brat attitude would kind of make sense – she never had the time on the streets to take the edges off. But if you're a die-hard Jubes fan, don't despair – there won't be any more mention of her being a bitch in the rest of this story, I promise.

And for anyone wondering where I got the idea that Rahne and Roberto would be a good couple… go watch Retreat.