-author's note: there's a TINY gal on gal kiss (but it's a case of mistaken identity). I was gona change it because I was a bit iffy about it, but if any1s offended just tell me and I'll change it. To all u remy fans, remy DOES come back.. but not yet! –snicker- and only I know about the secret whether the boy is his or not! Mwhaha!-

Ch9: people change

Jean walked into Hank's lab and found him looking into a microscope. She cleared her throat so that he knew she was there and he looked up.

"Ah, Jean. I have the most interesting find," Hank smiled, patting the stool next to him so Jean would sit. When she sat down, he instructed her to look into the microscope.

"What you're looking at is your blood. When I introduce foreign blood, it does not absorb it. I believe that your powers are only limited to your skin."

"So what does it mean? I can have a blood transfusion?" Jean replied, slightly unimpressed at Hank's 'sudden find'. She felt bad for talking back to Hank, but she felt that the information wasn't helping her.

"It may not be much so far, but it's only been a couple of days," Hank explained. Jean rolled up her sleeve.

"If it's only my skin that absorbs, then take some of it," Jean instructed.

Hank felt uneasy at Jean's behaviour. "You want me to take a chunk of your skin?" Jean nodded at the question. "A wound like that would take a long time to heal Jean. The blood sample should be enough for now," He explained.

"I don't care. Just make my arm numb and take a sample. It's easy."

"Jean. I don't think that's appropriate for the time being. I offered to help you so I will. But we wont find a cure within a matter of days," Hank explained, trying to ease Jean's agitation. "Why don't you spend some time in the danger room with Logan. It might help to ease some of this frustration. Jean tried to object, but Hank insisted. Jean, having nothing else to do walked to the danger room.

Once reaching the danger room, she turned on the monitor next to the door. The monitor indicated that there was someone in the room, but that there were no sessions activated. She pressed the button and the doors opened, showing Wolverine and Scott in hand-to-hand combat.

"Watch that left arm," Logan instructed. "Good, good. Keep your hands up."

Scott heard the door swing open and he turned his attention towards the door. At that moment, Logan swiped a leg under Scott's, knocking Scott to the ground.

"We gotta work on you getting distracted," Logan huffed.

Jean stepped into the room with a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb your session. Mr McCoy told me to come here."

"In the mood to train, Red?"

"Well, after that last battle, I feel so useless. I've always had my telekinesis to protect me," Jean explained.

"Well Red, I think it's time you learnt the art of hand-to-hand combat," Logan crossed his arms, happy to have a new student to train. He then turned to Scott. "Okay, go shower and we'll continue this tomorrow," he instructed. Scott nodded and left the room, eyeing Jean as he left. She let out a little smile, remembering the gift Remy had given her.

"Okay Red," Logan said, lifting up one hand, with his palm facing Jean. "Lemme see you punch."

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Mystique stood outside the gates to the X-Mansion. She hid behind the brick wall, waiting for the right time to enter. It was three hours before the opportune moment came. She watched as Scott sped out of the mansion in his red convertible.

"About bloody time."

Mystique morphed into Scott and walked into the grounds of the mansion. She figured that either the professor or Hank had the device and the translations, so she headed towards the labs. She tried to avoid any student that might cross her path. As she passed the danger room, the door swung open. Mystique saw Jean leaving the room, quickly said hi, and then tried to walk off quickly.

"Er.. Scott, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jean asked, having no idea that it was in fact Mystique.

"I'm kinda in a hurry," Mystique said, trying to get away.

Jean walked up to Mystique and put her gloved hand on Mystiques arm. "Please. It'll only take a minute," Jean pleaded. She'd finally built up the courage to have this talk with Scott, and she figured that if she didn't now, then she might never.

Mystique figured that she'd get some valuable information so she agreed. She followed Jean to her room and sat casually on the bed. "So what's up?"

Jean walked to her dresser and picked up the scarf. "I want to show you something," Jean smiled. "Close your eyes."

Mystique did as instructed. She had a feeling this would turn into a tender moment. Jean couldn't see through the sunglasses, so she asked Scott if his eyes were closed. When Mystique replied with a yes, Jean sat on the side of the bed. She held the scarf out, and used it to cover Mystique's lips. Before Mystique had a chance to react, Jean pressed her lips to what she thought was Scott's lips with the scarf in between. Jean finally felt glad and relieved that she'd made a move on Scott. When Jean backed away from the kiss, she smiled. Mystique didn't know what to do. Jean had just kissed her. Then again Jean didn't know that it was Mystique. And so Mystique, still dumbfounded, decided to use this to her advantage and ruffle a few feathers.

"Wow, Jean. I didn't know you were into making the first move," Mystique smiled. "I'm.. surprised. I don't know what to say." Mystique tried to sound shocked.

Jean smiled back. "Good surprise or bad surprise?"

"Good!" Jean saw Scott smile. Mystique stood up and looked at the clock and in a nervous and stuttering voice she said, "We really need to talk about this more, but I'm really late for this thing, so I gotta go. But we'll talk more later." Mystique smiled to let Jean believe that Scott really had feelings for her, and that she had a chance to be with Scott, but was still processing what she'd just done.

Jean smiled back and watched Scott leave the room. As soon as she was out the door, Mystique checked that there was no one in the hallway and morphed into a cat. She ran down the hallway with incredible speed and decided to look for the device another day when there were less students in the mansion.

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Rogue sat on her balcony. She sat on the railing, with her legs hanging off the balcony. She watched as Bobby, Jubilee and some of the other newer students played baseball in the front yard. If she weren't in such a miserable mood, she would have joined them.

With the blink of an eye, Kurt ported himself onto the balcony ledge right next to Rogue. "Holy Shit!" Rogue squealed, almost falling off the railing. Kurt quickly wrapped his tail around Rogue's waist.

"Sorry Rogue," Kurt apologized, removing his tail. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's okay. What's up?" Rogue asked, looking back at the ballgame below.

"I just vanted to see if you vere alright. You've been pretty quiet since Remy left." Kurt said.

"Ahm fine," Rogue replied. When Kurt didn't reply, she looked over at him and the look on his face. "Ahm fine!" Rogue repeated, even though she felt like she really needed to talk to someone.

"Zen let's go play some baseball," Kurt said, jumping off the ledge and onto the balcony. He held out his hand, but Rogue didn't take it. "Okay, tell me vat's wrong," Kurt said, perching himself back onto the railing.

"Ahm kinda bummed coz Remy left. When ah first switched into Jean's body, ah couldn't handle it! If Remy wasn't there, ah wouldn't have been able tah cope. Yah know me, ah hate Jean at times, so can yah imagine me looking like her!" Rogue explained. "Ah felt a bit betta when Remy started to treat me the same, even though ah now look like this. Now Remy's gone and ah feel so alone. And to add to it, he might have ah son!"

Kurt shuffled closer to Rogue and rubbed her back. "I cant imagine vat it must be like to svitch bodies with anyone. But if you need me, I vill be here, okay? Meybe you need something to take you mind off all zis," Kurt re-assured.

"Like what?" Rogue said quietly.

"Like playing baseball with ze other's down zere," Kurt replied. Rogue still looked unsure about Kurt's idea. "Trust me. If it's one thing I know, it's how to have fun. Believe me! It'll help," Kurt smiled.

"Alright. Let's go," Rogue sighed. She took Kurt's hand and they ported into the front yard to the baseball game.

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Scott pulled up into the driveway of the X-mansion. He parked his car next to Logan's motorcycle and turned off the engine. Before getting out of the car, he lifted his head up to check out his neck in the rear-view mirror. There was a dark round mark at the base of his neck. Scott zipped his jacket all the way up, so that the collar covered the hickie on his neck. He grabbed his bag and entered the mansion.

He couldn't find of the students in the mansion so when he bumped into Storm in the hallway, she told him all the students had moved into the backyard to play baseball. Scott made his way into the backyard and just as Storm said, all the students, with the exception of Remy, were playing baseball. Even Logan stood in as the umpire.

"Hey all!" Scott called out.

"Hey! It's about time you came home! Our team's a man short!" Spyke called out. Scott dumped his schoolbag on the side of the field and ran into midfield. Jean felt her heart flutter when she saw Scott, but she also noticed that Rogue glared at Scott.

Scott walked through the middle of the field and Jean, who was standing on first base saw Rogue's eye, who was standing on third base. Jean looked at Rogue and mimed a 'What?' to Rogue.

Rogue glared at Scott again, then looked back to Jean. Jean could hear Rogue reply telepathically, 'Scott's hiding something.'

'Like what?' Jean thought back.

'I don't know,' Rogue replied telepathically. 'But ahm picking up that he's hiding it from you more than the rest of us.'

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Jean walked around the mansion, just as she did countless times. While everyone was at school, she was usually alone because Rogue would usually be with out with Remy. She headed to the library, not expecting to see Rogue in there. Rogue was curled up in an armchair, reading a thick novel.

Rogue looked up when she heard Jean come in and let out a small smile. Jean walked to the armchair across the room and picked up the book she had been reading the night before. She tried to read, but she just couldn't concentrate. Something was bugging her.

"Rogue."

"Yah?"

"Do you know what Scott's hiding?"

Rogue looked up from her book. "Nah. Ah didn't want tah pry, but ah have ah feeling it's something that's gonna make yah wanna shoot him when yah find out."

"So you reckon it's something bad?"

"Well, he seems tah be hiding it specifically from yah," Rogue explained. She went back to reading her book. "It could be nothing."

"And if it isn't just nothing?"

"Then yah'll find out soon," Rogue replied.

"How do you know that?" Jean asked anxiously.

"Because it's really hard tah keep secrets in this place," Rogue replied, returning to her book. Jean took that as a sign that the conversation was over and left the library. She wandered around the school, thinking about what Rogue had said.

Jean decided to go into the Danger room and see if Logan would continue to teach Jean how to learn how to fight with no powers. Like he said over a month ago, Rogue may not have had powers to protect her, but she sure knew how to kick ass.

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Kitty put her books into her locker and looked at her watch. Lunchtimes seemed to go slower since Jean dropped out.

"Meow," a male voice whispered right behind Kitty's ear. She knew exactly who it was.

"Go away Lance," Kitty huffed. She turned around to see Lance standing extremely close to her.

"Why? It's a free country," he replied sarcastically. "I'm allowed to talk to my girlfriend."

"EX girlfriend, Lance. Emphasis on the EX!" Kitty growled. "What makes you I'm gonna let you be my boyfriend when I caught you kissing Mary Fitzgerald last week!"

"I didn't mean to..!"

Kitty slammed her locker door shut. "SO. What. You just slipped and fell on her lips?" Kitty sneered. Lance mumbled a bit, unable to put together a coherent sentence. Kitty got fed up. "Oh, just go get stood on, Lance! I want nothing to do with you!" Kitty growled before walking off.

She knew Lance was following her, so she turned around. "What!?"

Lance held up his hands defensively. "I just want to talk to you," He tried to say sincerely, putting his hand on Kitty's shoulder. Suddenly, another hand grabbed Lance's by the wrist.

"She doesn't want to talk to you, so back off," Scott said sternly. Lance twisted his wrist to get out of Scott's grip and glared at him. Lance then looked at Kitty and Taryn, who was standing next to Scott.

"You know you're pretty tough when you're surrounded by the ladies. But they wont always be around to back you up," Lance grumbled before walking off.

Kitty turned to Scott. "Thanks for that."

"No problem. You okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine," Kitty replied. She noticed a small dark spot on Scott's skin peeking out of Scott's collar. Scott tried to move back when Kitty lifted her hand and moved Scott's collar to see what it was. At first she thought it was another one of his bruises from the fight with the arcolytes, but she knew better. Her eyes widened when she realised what it was.

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Jean and Rogue played pool in the rec room. After about an hour, Rogue decided to up the stakes. "Now since we both got no money, how about we bet with tim tams?" Rogue smiled. Both girls would usually fight over the last tim tam.

Jean smiled. "Agreed," She set up the balls for a new game. "But I just want to let you know that those tim tams are mine!"

"Are yah sure about that?" Rogue laughed. "Ah've beaten you in the last three games!"

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As soon as Scott parked the car in the driveway, Kitty jumped out of the car and ran inside.

Kurt watched as the valley girl sprinted around the corner. "Vat's she in a hurry for?" He asked Spyke.

"Who knows."

Kitty first ran to Jean's room, the library and then the kitchen, but didn't find Jean. When she found Jean and Rogue in the rec room, she was huffing and puffing from all the running. Jean and Rogue turned their attention to Kitty.

"Kitty. What's wrong?" Rogue asked.

Kitty walked up to Jean. "It's Scott. Today at school I saw a hickie on his neck."

"What?" Jean and Rogue said in unisen. "From who?" Jean continued, dumbfounded.

"You're not gonna believe this. Scott and Taryn have been going out, since like, yesterday."

-author's notes: is this story turning into an episode of days of our lives or what!? Lol I didn't mean for it to, but it just makes it juicier!!! so now you know who was from remy's past, and whay scott's surprise decision was.. but don't fret.. it only gets juicier!!!!!! dum dum daaaahhh! So tell me what you guys think and review!-