**Dinner**

Dinner was a comical event.  Xavier, Jesse, and the senior X-men occupied a large table at one end of the room.  All the students had somehow arranged their seating to be able to watch the new guest.  Xavier found it very amusing, but Jesse was very uncomfortable.  After Danielle had healed him, Xavier decided the questioning would be put on hold until after dinner.  They were having lasagna, and it was delicious, but Jesse just picked at his food.  He could feel Logan's eyes boring into him.

"Ouch!" Logan growled at Dani when she elbowed him sharply in the ribs.  "What did I do?" he asked her.

Give the boy a break, Logan.  He isn't the enemy; just ask the professor or Jean.  Can't you see he's scared of you?  Dani didn't speak out loud; she didn't want to embarrass Jesse.

Logan sighed and forced himself to relax and ignore the kid for the rest of dinner.

"What's XMU?" Dani asked, pointing at his T-shirt.

"Well," Jesse said as he looked around the table nervously.  "It stands for Xavier Mutant University."

Xavier who had sat quietly, listening and observing, raised an eyebrow at that.

"So you're a student," Logan said. 

"Graduate," Jesse said simply and took a bite.  He was trying to relax, and talking about school was helping.

"A History Major?" Scott remembered from his comment in the infirmary.

"Yes."

"You were on the baseball team?" Beast asked.

"Two years at first base," Jesse said with a smile.  "The X-men were undefeated my senior year."

"Just what is this future like?" Storm asked.

Jesse looked at the elegant lady he had always admired and gave her a warm smile.  "The future I come from is semi-peaceful, but far from perfect."  Jesse tried to keep his feelings guarded.  There were too many telepaths in the room.  But the truth was he hated it in the future. 

Logan watched the kid closely.  He wasn't flakey, he was very intelligent.  Logan could tell he was measuring his words carefully.  Then Logan saw it.  The flash of deep pain in Jesse's eyes when he said the future wasn't perfect.  He had a feeling that the future was a very complicated place for this kid.  Logan wondered how well he knew the kid in the future. 

"So, Jesse, what do you do in the future?"  Scott asked.

"I was working on my Master's Thesis in Mutant history.  I was an apprentice archivist at the …um," Jesse looked around.  The restoration was really quite accurate.  Everything was the same.  How do you explain things without it sounding weird?

"You mean here," Jean filled in.

"Yes," he said.  "It's a museum, and houses one of the largest archives in the world, and the only mutant archive in existence.  At least that anyone knows about," Jesse said.

"So you're how old?" Storm asked with a frown.  The kid looked like he should be in high school, but he was finishing up his master's in history.

"Twenty, but I'll be legal in a couple of weeks …well centuries," Jesse said humorously.

Beast regarded him with a curious smile.  "What's your IQ?"

Jesse blushed.  His intelligence quotient was an asset, but he was forever labeled by it: Geek, Brain, Nerd, Bookworm, Snob, and Throwback.  Jesse looked around for an escape from the question.  Change the subject, he thought.

Xavier finally spoke.  "Off the charts, eh?  Why does that embarrass you?" Xavier asked.

The group regarded him with interest.

"People treat you different when they know," he said quietly.  His father treated him horribly.  He couldn't handle having an eight year old that made him look stupid.  It only got worse as Jesse grew up.

"So what's your mutation?" Logan asked.

"I uh…don't have one," Jesse said.  "You see, I'm…well, they call it a…it's hard to explain."  How do you explain half-breed to the first mutants in history?  Would they understand?  Or would they hate him too?

Xavier watched their guest's demeanor change from respectful and friendly to completely closed off.  He was unable to read anything from him but pain.   But Xavier was confused.  The boy was definitely a mutant.  Jesse was twenty, and still unaware of his powers?  He needed to have a talk with him.  The longer the powers remain dormant, the harder it is to learn to control them when they surfaced.

"That's all right Jesse.  We'll talk in my office after dinner," Xavier said.

Jesse nodded and sat quietly eating. 

*****

"So what do you think of our visitor?" Kitty asked Rogue.  Rogue had been daydreaming, and naturally it must be about the newcomer, right?

"Oh, sorry?" Rogue asked as she came out of her trance.

"The dark haired babe at the teacher's table," Jubilee said.  "What do you think?"

"Not bad," Rogue said half heartedly.

"Not bad?" Kitty repeated incredulously.

"Its okay, Kitty, she's got a thing for redheads," Jubilee said with a smirk.  "Oh, oh!  Speak of the Devil!"

Remy strolled into the dining hall like the king of the world, flashing smiles at all the girls.  Rogue went on the defensive, and made a show of ignoring him.

"Oh, sure, I can tell you're not at all interested," Jubilee whispered to Rogue.

"Bonjour, ladies, Remy said elegantly.  "Rogue, can Remy join you?"

"Rogue finally looked at him.  He was giving her a smile, and there was a definite twinkle to the eyes.  Then Rogue noticed he was wearing gloves.

"Sure," she said with an I-don't-care attitude.  She was curious about the school's new notorious flirt, but she would not make it easy for him to charm her.

"Well," Kitty said, trying not to be obvious, "Jubes and I are done, so we're going to go greet our new arrival."  Kitty elbowed Jubilee when she didn't readily agree.

"Ouch!  Oh, yes," Jubilee said with a wink to Rogue.  The two girls made a hasty retreat and headed for the adult table.

Remy smiled broadly.  Rogue cringed.

"Your friends are very fond of you," he said.  Remy watched her blush, and felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach.  What is it about this girl that affects him so deeply?

"They always think they know what's best for me," Rogue said with a hint of annoyance.  Nice set up, guys.  Watch out for a payback on this one, Rogue thought as she glared at them.

"Perhaps they do," Remy said with a smile and a hint of meaning.

Rogue gave him a brief suspicious look.  "You do realize what my mutation means to any relationship I will ever try to have," she said.  "I have accepted the fact that I was meant to be a Rogue, and the whole dating thing will never work."

"But Cher, you never dated Remy.  Remy know all about you, and Remy likes a challenge," He said charmingly.  "I have never failed in any challenge I chose to take on," he added with a hint of desire in his voice and expression.

Oh, wow, Rogue thought.  He was really very good.  And he was very easy on the eyes, too.

*****

Kitty and Jubilee disposed of their dishes and approached the faculty.

"Hi Professor," Jubilee said brightly, but was looking at Jesse.  "Aren't you going to introduce our new arrival?"

Xavier gave her a knowing smile, You two like him?  He asked them both in telepathy.  Kitty blushed, but Jubilee stood firm and confident.

Jesse looked up at them, and smiled warmly.  "My name is Jesse," he said as he looked them over.  He wasn't quite sure who they were, but they were both very attractive.

"Jubilation Lee," Jubilee said with a smile, "but all of my friends call me Jubilee."

"And I'm Kitty Pride," Kitty said shyly.

Logan watched the girls with a bit of amusement.  Teenagers were not subtle.  Then he spotted that rakish Cajun sniffing around Rogue, and nearly growled with disapproval.  Logan's expression was dark and warning when the redhead happened to glance over at him.  Gambit just gave him a daringly confident smile and looked away.  No one at the table seemed to notice the protective display except for Dani, and Xavier.  They both smiled. 

"It's nice to meet you," Jesse said.

"Perhaps you can show Jesse to a guest room after dinner," Xavier said to the infatuated girls.

"We'd love to," Jubilee said a little too enthusiastically.

"Absolutely," Kitty agreed.

The faculty chuckled, and Jesse blushed.  He knew who these two were, and he was beyond flattered to have them both mooning over him.  This could prove to be an interesting visit, he thought.

"I'm finished now, professor," Jesse said as he rose from his chair. "What time did you want me to meet you for that talk?"

"I'll send for you in about an hour," Xavier said.  "That should give you time to relax and settle in."

"Thank you, sir," Jesse said politely.  "It was nice meeting all of you, he said to the rest of the table.

"Come on, Jesse," Jubilee said enthusiastically, "we'll give you the grand tour."

Jesse didn't have the heart to tell them he probably knew the house better than they did.  He let the two girls drag him through the mansion.  Jubilee was blatantly flirting, and he couldn't resist bantering playfully with her.  But Kitty was shyly watching him and listening.  Jesse felt drawn to her, and tried to get her to talk more.

"So, Kitty, how do you like it here?" Jesse asked.

"I love it!  All these new friends, and it doesn't matter how weird we all are," she said.  "Everyone accepts us."

Acceptance.  What a novel concept.  Too bad it didn't make it to his time.  His century was all about tolerance.  Tolerance and acceptance were worlds apart. 

"So where are you from?" Jubilee cut in.

"I'm from New York," he said evasively.  He didn't want to tell his story to the entire school, just the X-men, who needed to know.

"A local! Cool.  Oh, hey, here's your room," Jubilee jabbered on.

Jesse looked at the door and stifled a grin when he realized it was his room in the future as well.

"Looks like you're right between Logan and Dani, and Scott and Jean.  Good luck sleeping," Jubilee said with a wicked smile.

Kitty's eyes got big and then the two girls giggled.

"I can't believe you said that!" Kitty said.

"What, like we can't hear them down the hall?  Especially Wolvie and Dani, good grief!" Jubilee exclaimed in mock horror.

Jesse laughed at the notion.  The man was beyond intimidating.  It's hard to imagine… Okay, no need to go there.  "Logan and Dani, are they a serious couple?" Jesse asked curiously.

"They were headed for that from the day they met," Jubilee stated.  "No wedding bells yet, but we're all confident that Wolvie will be groveling fairly soon."

"He pretty much worships the ground she walks on," Kitty said with a sigh.  It was romantic.  Very 'Beauty and the Beast'-like.

"Hmmm.  Well, I should get cleaned up before I go meet the professor.  Thanks for the tour," Jesse said gallantly as he bowed elegantly.  "I hope to see you two lovely ladies again soon," he added as he looked into Kitty's eyes.  She had a quiet charm he found very enticing.  He wanted to see her again without the cute chatterbox.  Jubilee was nice, but a little on the loud side.

The girls waved and left as he closed his door.  He turned around to see a generic looking guest room.  His own room had been personalized.  This one was a bland copy.  Similar bed and furniture, similar layout, but no personality.  He absently opened the closet and was amazed to find a few shirts and a couple pairs of jeans in his size.  There was also a new package of underwear.  He wasn't used to wearing tighty-whiteys, but he wasn't used to wearing dirty underwear either. He grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the shower.

As the warm water washed the grime and soot of time travel from him, Jesse racked his brain trying to call up information on Supernova …er Danielle.  She and Wolverine had been married, there were records of it.  They also had at least one child, a girl if he remembered right.  He also knew that until records of Wolverine stopped, he never had another serious relationship since.  Jesse suddenly realized how hard it must be for Logan to live so long.  The man must have buried a lot of friends and family.

Family.  Jesse wasn't fond of half of his, at least his father's half.  But Jesse longed for a link to his mother.  Somewhere in this time were her ancestors.  A family he just knew he could be proud of.  He wished he could remember what she'd told him about their family's matriarch.  Andromeda had traced her ancestry to the late twentieth century.  She didn't show him the whole tree, but she did name a few important people.  Jesse cursed under his breath as he stepped out of the shower to dry off.  He had been young, and didn't pay attention.  He needed to find his mother's family.  It would make all the Odium unpleasantness worth it if he could finally claim a heritage worth being proud of.