I'm so sorry I didn't post sooner, but my computer's been going insane and I couldn't get online! Please don't hold it against me!

Icey

15

"So she doesn't remember anything," Scott said staring at the floor. "No wonder she wasn't behaving normally." Hank said nothing, holding Sam in his arms as he stared forward into space. Remy sipped a soda, leaning on the kitchen counter as Bobby and Jubilee sat or stood around the room, silently taking in the new information.

"She…remembers nothing at all?" Hank said slowly, still trying to grasp the idea.

Remy shook his head, then thought for a moment.

"Dunno, de petite foun' her wallet, had a picture o' you an' dis lil' girl," he said, looking at Sam and smiling, who was watching him closely. "I always t'ought she might've been hidin' t'ings from me, but I don' know."

"Well where'd she go now?" Bobby demanded. Remy shrugged again and he scowled at the Cajun.

"Maybe," Jubilee said slowly, "She's coming back, but needs time to think things over."

"How do you know?" Scott asked. "She could be running further away every minute. I think it would be best if we went to find her."

"She's not leaving," Jubilee said, shaking her head, then nodding at the window.

The others turned to look. A tall, dark shape was visible among the trees. It was obviously Steph, and as she sank down to the ground, still visible, Hank hung his head.

"Perhaps…" he said. "Perhaps in time she will remember…she must..." he trailed off and shook his head. "She must."

Later that night Hank was sitting on a porch swing near the front door, absently thinking about what was happening to him and his family when suddenly Steph, looking tired and nervous cautiously made her way over, hands in her pockets and kicking a pebble in front of her. Hank straightened when he saw her approach, watching as she stopped before the porch steps and looked at the seat next to him.

"D'ya mind?" she asked.

"No, no, of course not," he said, moving over slightly as she walked over and sat on the swing leaning on the chain and looking out at the clear night, carefully having no contact with Hank, who respected her unspoken wish and did not move closer towards her.

"Big place," she remarked, aware of how stupid she sounded but unwilling to say what was really on her mind quite so soon.

Hank noticed her faraway look and nodded. "The mansion is a large building," he said. "And full of many people."

"N' all mutants," Steph said. "Everyone here's a mutant, but maybe I shouldn't be so surprised?" She looked over at Hank, who shrugged.

"Even I am surprised when I think of the numbers, at times," he said.

"What's it like?" Steph said suddenly. "The people here? Who…what's my family like?"

Hank looked down, then out in front of him as the swing slowly rocked back in forth, the cool night air smelling like freshly cut grass and the moon bright enough to see the edge of the forest clearly.

"We're all a family here," he said. "There are people who are not as close, of course, but we all live together so we learn to deal with our problems. And there are many couples that are changing more than I'm able to keep up with, I have only ever seriously been interested in a few."

"Like who?" Steph asked curiously.

"Ours, for one," he said, smiling at her. "Ororo and Kurt, Rogue and Robert, but mainly you and I, and Sam of course..." he trailed off and Steph touched his hand carefully.

"I can't stand it," she whispered. "I feel somethin', I feel like I know all o' this, but it's not there, ya know?"

Hank nodded.

"It will come back, in time," he said.

"But now…. I'm married, I didn't know ya 'cept I had this picture in my wallet n' this ring," she showed the photograph and ring to Hank, who obviously remembered the photograph and knew the ring well. She looked away hopelessly. "I feel like I belong here but I've got no freakin' idea what this place is or who the people are, I'd do anythin' f'r my memories back but they're not…." She broke off, leaning over and putting her head in her hands.

Hank gently rubbed her back and stroked her hair. "Everything will work out eventually," he said. "You should not worry, sweet Stephanie, and soon the Professor will return, perhaps he can help you."

"The Professor?" Steph said. Hank nodded.

"The founder of this mansion, of the X Men, and it was he who found and recruited almost all of us. He's a wonderful man," Hank said.

Steph couldn't have really cared less who this Professor was, at the moment she was too preoccupied with trying to remember why being around Hank made her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, especially when he held her like he was doing now.

"So what're you like?" she asked, almost automatically leaning her head on his shoulder. A flurry of flashes in her mind of her doing the exact same thing in many different locations and times seemed to be triggered by the action, and comforted her enough to forget that she didn't know him.

"You used to refer to me as your 'teddy bear'," Hank chuckled. "After we married you began to call me 'the guy always locked in his labs with too many Twinkies'."

Steph laughed.

"Twinkies," she repeated. "Somehow a blue guy like you does remind me o' a Twinkie addict."

Hank nodded.

"And you know we have a daughter, Samantha, and though I have proposed the idea to you that by the time her mutation manifests she may gain fur in her appearance you have always been most determined that she will keep her hair, because you're as proud of her hair as you are of your own." He chuckled again as Steph twiddled some of her orange locks in her fingers. The truth was the pride had stayed with her, she loved her colorful mane, which contrasted with her skin so sharply.

"N' that blue eyed guy?" she asked.

"Bobby Drake," Hank said. "Married to your sister and thus your brother."

"I have a sister? Was it that small girl?" asked Steph.

Hank suddenly looked saddened, and his eyes became downcast as he spoke.

"No, that was Jubilee," he said softly.

"Then who's my sister? What's she like?" Steph prodded.

"She was a beautiful, kind girl," Hank said, quieter still. "You two were very close."

"Were…." Steph stopped. "She…she's…" she faltered.

"She died in an accident, years ago," Hank said flatly. "Along with your parents...and others."

Steph could think of nothing to say, and noticed that Hank held her a bit closer, his voice choking slightly.

"Your dialect has gone back to resembling Logan's," Hank noted after a moment.

"Yeah…Creed told me that," Steph replied. "What…what was he like?"

"Logan?" Hank mused. "A difficult man to categorize. He would be best described as the alpha wolf in a pack that he brought together. He was sent to retrieve you when you were younger, and in doing so found your younger sister Ruhko, an abandoned infant at the time. By the time he brought both of you back to the mansion, where he was already very protective of your sister Rogue, it was clear that he clearly had appointed himself the protector and guardian of all three of you. Later he adopted you, asking Ororo to pretend to be his wife so the adoption could go through even though she was getting closer to, and eventually married Kurt, your long-time friend and now your step father. After Rogue married her boyfriend Bobby you and I realized our true feelings for each other and soon followed suit."

"So it's kinda grown," Steph smiled. "Who was the other midget, the one with Ruhko earlier?"

"That would be Little Steph," Hank said, sighing. "She is your sister by blood, not adopted by Logan or anyone else in the mansion. You have another younger sister also, Logan retrieved and cared for her after her father died, as he was an old friend of his."

"Where is she then?" Steph asked, looking up at Hank.

He sighed. "After your parents died Kurt moved away, and she accompanied him."

Steph had not been expecting this answer, and wondered what this other girl was like.

"Does she ever come back to visit?" she asked softly.

"Quiet often," Hank assured her quickly. "She is very fond of you, and of Ruhko in particular."

"Hey," Jubilee said, stepping out of the doorway and looking surprised, then giggly when she saw Hank and Steph. "What's up? You like, remember the lovebirds you always were?"

Steph suddenly realized where she was, in the arms of a stranger, and even the feeling of familiarity in her heart and the ring on her finger could not make it any less nerve wracking. Impulsively she jerked out of Hank's arms, then watched as he tried to hide the hurt look on his face and moved back over to his side of the swing.

"No," Steph said.

Hank realized that Steph had no idea who she was talking to and hastily introduced her.

"Stephanie, this is Jubilation Lee, usually bears the name Jubilee," he said as the young woman made a face. "She was one of your close friends."

"Only 'cause Kitty wasn't around. I was your maid of honor at your wedding," Jubilee said, sticking out her tongue.

Steph smiled. "Really?"

Jubilee made a face at her then laughed.

"Well, I'll butt out and let you two continue on with whatever," she said, grinning and running back through the door.

"Who's Kitty?" Steph asked Hank. "N' where's Kurt?"

"Katherine Rasputin is another close friend," Hank said. "After…after the accident Kurt and Kitty were so devastated they left the X Men and formed a similar group named Excalibur over in England. They searched for you after the bombings, but missed you. I'd be surprised if they haven't already been told you made it back here safely."

Steph arched an eyebrow at Hank.

"Girls named Jubilee n' Kitty? Best friends?" she said.

Hank chuckled and nodded.

"Good lord, was I insane?"

"You have often asked yourself the same question," he smiled.

Steph nodded, then sighed. "I jus' wanna remember."

Hank patted her arm sympathetically.

"It will happen," he said.