Someone's in the Kitchen With Lila

It definitely feels good to be back, Lila thought as she came through the doors of the mansion that she used to call home. She didn't bother ringing the bell or anything, since her security code to get in the front gate apparently still worked. Plus, Xavier was expecting her, after inviting her to come back for a weekend and play a little concert for the student body. She didn't have any luggage with her. But that was one of the great things about her mutant powers. She just kept everything stored in her pocket dimension. She was a little suspicious though of the invitation. She knew the Professor quite well from her time here, and everything he did had a deeper purpose. So she couldn't help but think that maybe this invitation was a little bit more then what it seemed to be.

Lila looked up the stairs directly in front of her and saw a familiar red head walking down the steps. "Welcome back Lila," Jean said as she reached the bottom of the steps. "I'll warn you now a few of the students here were quite excited to hear that the infamous Lila Cheney would be playing a concert here especially for them." She smiled her as she crossed the room and embraced the woman. "It's nice to see you again."

Lila laughed as she hugged one of her former mentors back. "Well I usually don't hold autograph sessions but I think I might be able to let the rules slide just this once, for my Alma matter." Lila teased.

Jean let out a good hearted laugh at the woman's response. "Nice to see that the fame hasn't gone to your head." Jean teased back. "Now we have a room set up for you in the staff hall, your name is on the door. So I don't think it'll be to hard to find since you already know your way around."

"Yeah, I should be able to manage. But the first thing I want to find is the kitchen; I've been on the rode for eight hours, I need something to eat!" She said as she eyed the entrance to the kitchen off the main lobby.

"Then by all means, make yourself at home." Jean laughed again, "But before I leave you to your own devices to go back to my classes, I have to let you know that the Professor would like to speak with you after dinner in his office."

"If he thinks I'm coming back to the school full time, I'll tell him where to shove it." She said quite seriously, and she could have sworn that she heard a telepathic laugh in the back of her mind, but just brushed it off as her imagination.

"I doubt it Lila, you're not cut out to be a teacher." Jean said in a mockingly serious tone. As much as Jean loved Lila, she knew the girl would not be a good teacher. She would give the kids too much freedom, allowing them to do whatever they want. Now, reasoned Jean, allowing the students freedom is important, but there has to be some structure. Providing structure is not Lila's forte.

"Hey! I resemble… I mean resent that!" Lila said breaking out in a laugh. She could just picture it. Her and a bunch of teenagers hanging out and listening to music and chatting away; maybe they'd discuss the music a bit, but for the most part, it would just be like hanging out in the dorms.

Jean smiled but suppressed her own laughter as she changed the tone of the conversation to something a little more serious. "And just a word of advice from a friend" she said, a little bit of worry creeping into her face. That den mother instinct in her was always a hard one to quash. She worried a lot about her former students, sometimes more then her current ones, because there used to be a lot less of them and she was able to get to know them all better. "He's not about to volunteer any of this information to you Lila. In fact knowing him, he might just spend the entire weekend sulking and avoiding everyone."

Jean paused for a moment looking Lila in the eyes, the other woman knowing exactly who she was talking about. "And I know it's none of my business, and I don't know what happened between you too. But Sam came back heart broken, and he's still carrying that with him. I think it might be a good idea if you had a heart to heart with him."

The extroverted and easy going woman suddenly felt flooded by feelings of guilt and shame. "I know." She let out a deep sigh and looked at Jean. "I'll make sure we have a sit down."

"Good," Jean said sounding satisfied, "Because I would hate to have to force the two of you to talk." Jean said with a smile, proud to see how well Lila had grown up, from the poor girl with a dream that they had brought to the school years ago. "Now if you'll excuse me Lila, I have left my class under the impression that they are unattended, and I must go stop them from cheating on the test that they are writing."

As Jean walked away, Lila laughed to her self as she made her way over to the kitchen; her stomach threatening to digest itself if she didn't put something in it soon. As she rummaged through the fridge for something to eat, she came across some kung-pau chicken that smelled edible, that some silly soul put in their hoping to save it for themselves. "HA!" She exclaimed as she grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the drawer and went to town on the cold Chinese food. "That'll teach them to put their name on the container." She said thinking out loud for her own amusement.

Lila sat down cross legged on one of the kitchen chairs, looking out at the large bay windows they had in there. It was one of the things she missed doing at the mansion, just sitting in the kitchen, eating and watching the world quietly creep by. She always did it when she had something she needed to think about. She'd let her mind wander off on it's on. She was watching her surroundings but she wasn't really paying attention.

She felt horrible about what had happened with Sam. And it actually took her a while to get to that point, because for the first bit she was furious with Sam. Angry at him for leaving her without even so much as a note, or letting her know where he was going. Of course Lila knew he'd come back here, there was no where else for him to go. It was so much easier to blame Sam though for what had happened, then to admit that she had pushed him away. Put her career before the love of her life. But these were her dreams; Sam honestly couldn't expect her to give those up for a quiet life on a farm some where could he?

Of course he didn't, he was always so patient, he worked security for me at all my concerts. He was there supporting me every step of the way, and I went and screwed that up. Of course none of this was news to Lila, she was just replaying it all in her head. She wrote her new single "Sam" as an apology to him, hoping that he would hear it and forgive her. Out of all the people you had to fall head over heels for, you had to pick the quiet country boy. Lila berated herself as she shoved some more chicken into her mouth. She stared out the window as she chewed, watching a few students hoarse around on the yard.

"Howdy Lila," A familiar southern drawl sounded from behind her.

Author's notes: If anyone would like to Beta for me, let me know. I am personally liking where this story is going for me, but it's great to have sounding boards, because hey! maybe I'm on crack! and my ideas on where to take this actually suck.