Sunday passed by uneventfully, with lots of whispers and careful steps in the hallways. Jean was still and quiet the whole day, not making the slightest movement other than breathing. Storm took Cyclops some food from time to time, but he refused to leave her side. Wolverine took off on a day trip on Cyclops motorcycle. He went through several cigars and stopped into a bar on his way home. He had spent the day simply driving around, stopping once and while at a ridge that overlooked some beautiful scenery. Wolverine returned home late, after everyone was asleep. Everyone was emotionally drained and tired.

….

For some reason, Ange's alarm wasn't set right and it went off around 7, instead of 6. And it just so happened that she was in the middle of a quite intense dream when it went off. The alarm startled her and she sat up quickly in bed; too quickly. She had been sleeping on the edge of the bed and fell out of bed eloquently when she sat up so fast. She rubbed her head, untangled herself from the sheets, and slipped into the shower.

Ange sat up and watched the early morning news while eating the last piece of the cookie pie from the night before; she was amazed that a slice survived! The news this morning was plastered with abductions of people of all ages. It made the front page of the newspapers as well. Even CNN was reporting it. The Professor now knew just about where all of these people were being held, but he didn't know why or by whom. But Wolverine's assumption was right: they had been stalking these people.

Cyclops stayed up stairs with Jean most of the day. When it was time for him to go to his training classes, he pleaded to stay and argued to stay by her side. The Professor wouldn't allow it.

"She's going to be all right Scott. Go and take your mind off of it for a little while. It's not good for you to stay cooped up in here. I'll watch her while you're gone." With much convincing and reassurance, Cyclops finally headed down for his classes.

Wolverine was somewhat distracted most of the day. He'd get side tracked and the kids would stare and giggle until someone asked Wolverine what they were going to play today. They whispered behind his back, giggling about him being preoccupied with lovely thoughts of Dr. Grey.

It was a gorgeous day! The sun was clearing shining, not a cloud in the sky. It was warm, but not too humid. Most of the children dressed in shorts and t-shirts, or tank tops and muscle shirts today, including Ange. She wore her favorite jean shorts and a new t-shirt that said "Kiss Me ... I'm Irish."

Ange cheerfully glided into the art room. Still lifes were due at the beginning of the hour. She looked outside. It was beautiful and warm, even enough to open her windows. She did, but it didn't give her the whole effect she wanted. She grinned widely- a mischievous thought reflecting in her eyes. Class wouldn't start for another 15 minutes- she had time. Ange took the easels out, one by one, to the back yard. She then carried out the paints, the paint brushes, cans of water, and a small table to hold the paper and other supplies. She placed a pencil on each easel and clipped a piece of paper to each as well. Now that was better. She looked around the art room, bored, waiting for the bell to ring and her class to come in. A refreshing breeze flowed in through the open window, tickling the tips of her hair. She remembered and tied her hair back into a messy bun.

Storm had plenty of questions to answer this morning, after announcing Dr. Grey's return. "Please settle down and be quiet. I have an important announcement to make."

"Is it about Dr. Grey?" One boy blurted out.

"Yes, it is." The class started whispering all over again.

"Class!" Storm raised her voice a bit. "Last night Dr. Grey returned not feeling well. She is going to be perfectly all right and the Professor is looking after her right now."

"What happened?"

"We're not entirely sure." And then whispering and gossip escalated! Rumors were flying around about fights, kidnappings, being hypnotized, coming back from the dead, ect.

"Please open your books to page 234." Few kids were listening. "Class! It is not the time nor the place for gossip! You know that none of these rumors are true. Give it up and let's get back to work."

…

Ange wandered outside during Wolverine's third hour gym class, just to watch. Wolverine decided to lighten up on the kids today, letting them play a game instead of going through loads of exercises or laps. And today's game was soccer- Ange's favorite sport, though she had never been very good and it had been ages since the last she had played!

"Come join us Miss Ange! You can be the other captain and then we can play boys vs. girls!" Wolverine raised his eye brows at Kitty. He was surprised that Kitty had invited Ange to play, and shocked that Kitty thought that the girls could take on the guys. Ange couldn't pass up an opportunity to play soccer! It had been ages- and guys vs. girls, she couldn't miss that either. Rogue was inside the library where she had a great view of the field that the school used for soccer, football, picnics, ect.

"Pass it here, pass it here!"

"Get her Wolverine! Get her!"

Ange passed the ball to Kitty, and slipped on the grass. She laughed as she fell to her butt and Kitty scored. She stood up and gave Kitty a high five.

"It's ok. We can give them a small head start," Wolverine barked, grinning, watching Ange and the other girls give each other high fives.

Ange was out of practice, and out of shape. She wasn't as fast as she used to be, however, she was able to get around defenders like she wasn't able to do before. Though there is a difference when those defenders who are your own age and size. The girls had a blast, but didn't win. Both the teams lined up and shook hands; "good game, good game, ..."

Ange walked with Kitty and Lizie inside, recounting some of the funny moments and the by-accident goals they scored. Ange stopped and watch Wolverine walk by. She grinned, slightly tuning out Mindy and Kitty; they didn't notice. The bell rang and Ange quickly headed back to the class room to route her fourth hour class outside. Rogue was in her fourth hour class, and spoke with her on their way outside.

"So, looked like you had fun out there."

"Hahaha, you were watching our game? Ya I had a blast."

"Ya, it looked it. Handsome men always make games better."

"Excuse me!" Ange blushed slightly. She lowered her head and refused to look at Rogue.

"I saw how you were looking at Wolverine, watching him, eyes wide and smile blazing."

"I don't believe this is something I should be discussing with you ..." Ange said. It was a little weird to be discussing another teacher in such a way with a student, but it was also a good excuse to end the subject. Now she just prayed that no one else saw it, and she really hoped Wolverine didn't notice. Ange picked up her pace and walked to the front of the line.

"It's such a nice day today that I figured it would be good to get some fresh air and sun. So today you can paint whatever you'd like; however, I would like it to be something outside right now. That can include people that are outside now as well."

Ange moved over to her easel where she had finished sketching her idea. She was now ready to start painting it. She decided to use water colors as her medium for her "Emotional War" piece. The kids spoke softly and joked, but no one was loud. Even the rowdy kids understood the peace of the day.

….

"Do you think you can carry her Cyclops?"

"Sure."

"Good. Let's take her to lab. I'd like to run a few scans, see if that can help us determine anything."

They moved Jean to the X-Lab. They ran a few scans and tests, but unfortunately found out very little.

"What do they mean," Cyclops asked in reference to the tests.

"Hmmmm. Not a lot. However, Jean is only asleep. Her energy levels are incredibly low. If we hook her up to an IV it will replenish some of her energy and she'll wake up sooner. Then she can eat and she'll be back on her feet in no time."

They sat together a few moments longer before the Professor decided to let Cyclops watch after Jean himself. Cyclops could handle whatever happened, and the Professor wasn't far away if he couldn't.

….

Ange looked over all of the paintings that were now sitting out to dry in the art room. School was over and the older guys were outside playing some football. Rogue was in the library working on her French homework. Ange went to the front door when she heard Storm pull up. She was going to help Storm with the groceries. On her last trip from the car to kitchen, the Professor stopped Ange for a moment.

"Would you mind taking something down to Scott? He hasn't eaten hardly anything all day."

"No problem. Let me just finish putting the groceries up and I'll do that. But as far as food goes, would he be all right with grilled cheese?"

"Scott and Wolverine will eat just about anything. I do know that Scott loves cheese."

"Well ok then!" It took Ange a few moments to put away the food and prepare two grilled cheese sandwiches. She took him a glass of water as well.

"Scott... Scott." He had been asleep. Hearing his name whispered, he opened his eyes wide and sat up, thinking that it was Jean who was calling him. "I brought you something to eat."

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem." She paused and he starred. "Is she getting any better?"

"We gave her an IV and that should help restore her strength. She's no longer unconscious; she's only asleep."

"That's good to hear. If it means anything, Nightcrawler and I are praying she recovers fully and soon." Cyclops wasn't a particularly religious man, but he certainly appreciated the jester.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Ange went back up to help some of the kids with their homework, mainly math, english, and a little bit of science. Rogue saw her and told her how much fun their art class was that day.

"I love being in the outdoors. And especially on days like today!"

"Oh I know! That's why I thought it would be great to paint outside."

"I'm really excited about my painting. I haven't quite finished it yet. I was drawing a side view of Iceman with the trees in the background. I'm not very good at side views."

"It took me a lot of practice. They're still an area of weakness for me, but I'm just glad I practiced enough that at least it doesn't look TOO horrible." She laughed. "In highschool, our art teacher gave us this portrait assignment. We had to sketch the same person at 3/4 view, side view, front, and back view. I did horrible! It wasn't bad enough that my proportions for the front and back view weren't very good, but my 3/4 view looked like he had a lump under his eye. And my side view- the lips were bloated and the nose was too arched. My eyes looked too much like side ways tear drops. Oh, it was a mess! And, for me, it's also hard to draw guys with short hair. I'm not quite sure why, but oh, I messed the WHOLE thing up. It was quite a sight!"

…..

Ange ate her dinner out on the front porch by herself. It was so refreshing to watch the sun go down while eating garlic bread, watermelon, corn on the cob, and left over spaghetti. She wanted some down time, some alone time. She loved kids and couldn't manage living in solidarity, but she wanted some alone time on such a beautiful evening.

She set her plate and fork aside when she was done and pulled out her sketchbook and pencil. She leaned against the support beam and watched the sun set without lifting her pencil. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself as the sun sank out of sight. The crickets sang beautiful melodies and the children's chatting and giggling was a whole other music on its own. She sketched the clear, starry, crisp night; only a few clouds streamed through the sky. The tree tops hung over head and the stars spoke to her through their twinkling codes. She heard an owl off in the distance and somewhere near by was a bat. About 9, when it was finally becoming chilly enough that Ange thought about moving back inside, Wolverine came out for his regular cigar.

"Beautiful night ain't it."

"Absolutely."

Wolverine lit his cigar and the two remained in silence for a few moments longer. A cool breeze rolled through and Ange curled herself up tighter. She didn't want to seem rude, leaving so soon after Wolverine came out, but she was cold. "It's getting a little chilly."

Wolverine rolled his eyes and smiled. 'Women...' he thought to himself.

"Well good night."

"Ya..."