After a fairly large dinner of oddly pieced leftovers, they re-congregated in the rec room. Alanna was responding to Brennan's boasting of the cars and his motorcycle; "You have to be kidding!" Brennan shook his head, obviously pleased that she had an appreciation for cars. "You like to read?" Brennan asked, switching the subject rapidly. Alanna nodded, "Mostly fictions, some poetry though." Adam interrupted Brennan in middle of his sentence, before he could continue his talk on Robert Frost; "Brennan, I'm sure she will read Frost. If she hasn't already." Adam switched his attention to Alanna, questioning the girl and finding out what grade she would be in. Afterwards Adam listed the subjects she would be having saying it would be the normal array with some more unusual classes, "... flying the Helix, controlling your powers, first aid, and probably..." He gave a pointed look at Brennan, who grinned and winked at Alanna. "... How to hotwire a car, among other things."
Adam then laid down the rules. And Alanna nodded agreeing to them, before she voiced something that had been on her mind. "I only think it's fair to say that I, uh, 'attract' animals and usually a good amount of trouble." Adam paused for a second, wondering what exactly she meant before he replied; "We don't usually attract animals, but a lot of trouble comes our way frequently enough." Adam's mouth quirked for a moment, forcibly controlling the smile until near the end of his sentence.
After discussing some of Alanna's hobbies Alanna said 'goodnight' to her newfound family, and rolled herself to her new room smiling. A few hours later the rest of Mutant X sought their beds, after further discussing Alanna and when schooling was to begin for the unfortunate teenager. They all mumbled their bedtime goodnights and shuffled to their rooms, tired after the eventful day. Emma still wore a small smile as she shifted into her sleeping position, curling into something that looked like a fetal pose.
Emma was drifting on the edges of a pleasant dream when stark white walls suddenly appeared.
She was strapped onto a table unable to move, there was a hard cold lump at the nape of her neck, and with it a lump of cold fear in the pit of her stomach. The scents of disinfectants and hospital smell lingered in the air, driving her to the point just short of panic. Faces drifted above the table, needles pricked her skin randomly, and everything was in a sort of hazy fast-forward. Just as suddenly as the walls appeared the dream slowed, another face appeared above the table, Emma immediately recognized the figure as anger replaced the fear. "Have you had enough Ms. Philips?" Eckhart asked abruptly, a lilting tone in his voice saying he clearly enjoyed this situation.
Emma felt the wordless growl rise in her throat in response to his question. Philips. Emma thought, quickly realizing who's dream she was in. "Apparently not, but I have other plans. Untie her." He said; stepping back as some vaguely human shapes loosened the straps that held her in place and then pulled her into a sitting position when she found she couldn't move. Eckhart walked towards the figure on the table, telling her that she was drugged and that it would be impossible for her to move unassisted for twenty-four hours and things would be easier for her if she cooperated. Emma woke herself up, quickly opening her door and running towards Alanna's room.
Emma opened the door, flipping on the lights and sitting beside the frantically tossing girl. Holding her still she 'dragged' Alanna out of her dream, snapping her awake. Emma found herself staring into vivid gold feral eyes, the mind behind them radiating fear and anger as she forced Emma to let her up. Alanna blinked a few times, tears streaming down her face as her eyes took on their more normal looking aspect. "It's ok, Alanna." Emma said, hugging the girl and trying to comfort her. Alanna didn't say anything, just returned Emma's hug after a few minutes. "I'm sorry." Alanna said, pulling away from Emma and looking down at her feet. "About pulling you in like that..." Emma shook her head, hugging her again as she sensed her beating herself up over the fact. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about." Alanna looked at Emma with a small smile of thanks and returned the hug. "Thank you." The teenager said softly. Emma stayed with Alanna for a few more minutes, making sure she wouldn't have a repeat of the nightmare as she fell asleep before she returned to her room.
Alanna woke several days later, groggily getting dressed. As she slipped into her shirt she remembered this was the first day she could actually wield herself fully against Shalimar. Alanna quickly fed her cat and ran down the corridor, waiting outside Shalimar's door. After a few minutes of waiting she decided to climb up the stairs and walk to a spot on the walkway directly above her door. After about a half hour Shalimar exited her room, looking around with narrowed eyes. Alanna grinned and silently jumped over the railing, landing beside the blonde feral, just before having her legs kicked out from under her and having a fist stop an inch from her face. Alanna just stared at the fist for a second then countered it, brushing it aside as she jumped back up. Shalimar raised an eyebrow at the grinning redhead, shaking her head in mock disapproval before smiling as they walked off to the dojo.
Groaning, Alanna pushed herself up off of the floor of the dojo for the six millionth time. Shalimar tried to hide her amusement, but the telempath just scowled at her, so she laughed openly. "What do you want? I haven't been able to get a workout in a week!" Alanna exclaimed, and then started to laugh at herself when she thought about how she must have looked for that last fall, replaying it in her mind's eye; Alanna came up behind Shalimar from a previous attack, crouching a good three feet away before she pounced. She soared through the air and two inches before she tackled her Shalimar sidestepped, leaving Alanna to tumble head over heals to land squarely on her backside. "I guess that was pretty funny." Alanna said after they had finished guffawing over her tumble. "Emma and I were planning on going to the mall. You want to come?" Shalimar asked as they headed towards the kitchen. Shalimar glanced at her, "We thought you might want more than two pairs of clothes." Alanna looked at her clothes and laughed, "That might be nice, thanks."
"Um, Shalimar, Emma and I are going to the mall. Is that ok?" Alanna asked between bites of her cereal. Adam nodded, finishing up the last of his breakfast. "Before you go I want Jesse to make you a comlink." Jesse laughed, sitting down with his bowl of cereal and his usual cup of coffee. "You know I think there are more than two Psionics in Sanctuary." He said, pulling out a small plain jewelry box and handing it to Adam who turned to Alanna. Everyone stopped eating, and faced Adam and Alanna. Adam opened the box, revealing a sixth silver comlink, as he smiled and handed her the ring, "Welcome to Mutant X." Alanna accepted the ring and slid it onto the finger where she had seen the others wearing theirs. It glowed with a pattern for a fraction of a second as it encrypted itself to her DNA and then faded to the normal silver sheen. She looked around the table for a second, finding only expressions of welcome and acceptance, but under that a feeling that she had always desired and dreamed of, a sense of family.