Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. It belongs to Marvel et al. I'm not making money off of this. I own the characters Ellie and Jack Howlett and to some extent Lily Drake-Pryde and Brenton Allerdyce.

Notes: I can only assume people are reading this, with 172 hits and all. That's great. That's like 90 more hits for chapter two. I only wish I could get more reviews. Even if it's just saying something along the lines of "Good job, can't wait for the next chapter or something." It takes like two seconds. Please. I will now stop my begging. Sorry for the delay in chapters, I try to get them up within two weeks, but that doesn't always work.

The morning dawned bright and early, causing both Mark and Jack to curse and grumble. Jack's hand had a nice bruise developing on his right hand, but there was no swelling thanks to the ice bucket he had procured last night before returning to his room.

"I'm off to registration," Mark said before leaving their shared room. "Not all of us have the option of being earlier birds. Remember to lock the door on your way out!" Right before returning to school Mark had purchased some music expensive equipment and as a result he was now paranoid about someone stealing it.

Jack nodded and tried to remember what was on the orientation schedule. None of the kids in his orientation group had to register for any classes like older students had do. They had to do the basics: math, science, English, and social studies. Then he remembered about foreign language. A student at Xavier's had the choice of Spanish, French, or German. He had chosen to take German. He was pretty sure most had already chosen a language, but it wouldn't hurt to double-check. Jack knew his group of kids had a Danger Room session scheduled from ten to noon. Hopefully that was enough time to explain it and have them try it themselves.

Or he could just leave the testing to the adults, but he was certain he had more patience than his father. In the twenty odd years since joining the X-Men, the Wolverine had mellowed just a bit. He could tolerate ignorance now and then, mainly because ignorance could be fixed. Stupid was what the man couldn't stand. You just can't fix stupid, and Jack had done some pretty stupid things in the past couple years. Needlessly to say, father and son hadn't gotten along very well for three years or so. Things still got pretty strained now and then.

All that thinking made Jack's brain hurt. He was hungry and if he wasted any more time, he was liable to miss out on breakfast. Many mutants in the school tended to eat a lot, himself included. Taking just enough time to brush his teeth and pull on some clothes that didn't smell, he was out the door, keys in his hand. He made sure to lock the door.

Breakfast was more subdued than lunch had been the previous day. Everyone was probably still half asleep. Piling his plate high with French toast, bacon, and sausage, Jack steered clear of the eggs. They always had a tendency to taste rubbery when mass cooked. "Herr Wagner." He nodded to Talia's father, as well as his German teacher, who was on breakfast babysitting duty. He then went on to look for a place to sit.

Seeing none of his friends, Jack chose a table in the back corner, near the windows. He was cutting into his second slice of toast when somebody sat down across from him. Jack flicked his eyes up; it was Jay Guthrie. The two of them said nothing, which was normal. Both would have been considered loners if either of them had attended a normal school, but since neither of them did, it was just accepted as a personality quirk and people talked to them anyway.

Jay spoke first. "Ellie came to talk to me last night. You know, she has the right idea."

"Of course she talked to you." Jack pierced a piece of French toast with his fork. "Geeze, she's a dreamer. I at least thought you might have a practical bone in your body. Then you might understand how crazy she's being."

Jay's red wings twitched. They were free of any restraint, including a shirt. Most of his clothes had been modified around his wings. "I am being practical, you know. There are only so many X-Men. If there were to be a threat, they will be on the front lines. We just have to be prepared to be the back up. We have to expect the unexpected.

Expect the unexpected echoed through Jack's brain. His father had used the expression last night after surprising him in the Danger Room. "Fine, we are expecting it. Now what are we going to do about it?" He used his fork to stab at a piece of breakfast sausage.

"The school has got a history of being attacked." That wasn't a question. "Lets start there. How many times?"

"Seriously attacked? Twice. Once before I was born and the second time was when I was twelve. Both times we were overrun. All the other times kids have been sent down to the Safe Room."

"Kids need to know how defend themselves," Jay pointed out.

"Best defense is a good offense. They will learn how to use their powers during the next couple of years, without our help."

"Yeah, but they also need to know when to run. They got to know all the secrets of the mansion."

"I don't know all the secrets. Only the Professor does. Sure, there are definitely secret stairs and passageways, but all I need to do is get in trouble because some little punk ass bag of overactive hormones thought it would be fun to play some prank or try their hand at getting in some girl's pants."

"So tell them not to."

"Did you always listen when somebody told you not to do something?" Jack looked down at his plate only to see that he had run out of sausage to stab with his fork.

"Didn't you?"

"No. When I was thirteen…"Jack trailed off. I was acting out because I felt weak and unable to defend myself, he thought. "I went through some tough shit"

"So why don' you stop them from going though some tough shit. I'm not talking about being on the front lines. Hell, there are enough of the Guthrie kids out there already. At least on us had to live to go home to mom and dad. But we got to defend ourselves."

Jack hated to admit it, but Jay was making some sense. "Look, we just got to realize that by doing this ourselves, without some type of adult oversight, we are liable to get burned out or shut down or both. Ellie doesn't seem to realize she's not Hermione Granger and I'm not going to pretend I'm Harry Potter."

"Who says you're Harry Potter?" Jay smirked.

"You're too tall and have the wrong hair color."

Jack shifted in his chair, trying to get into a comfortable position. He could be doing a number of things at the moment. He could be watching a movie. He could be sleeping. He could be arguing over some insignificant thing with Rachel. He could be doing a number of things, yet here he was, stuck in the observation deck of the Danger Room. The only consolation was that Julian and Theresa were stuck along with him, thought those two were too busy watching one another than to watch what was going on below.

Although he tried not to look for her, Jack's eyes were drawn towards Lily. She stood poised and attentive, as is she were on national television. For being a new student, she certainly had enough control over her abilities. He wondered if her mother had taught her anything before sending Lily to Xavier's.

Katharine Pryde-Drake, the 50th president of the United States of America, had been the first mutant, or at least the first pubic mutant, elected to the office. She ran on a platform of change and equality. In the first one hundred days in office she had outlawed the use of Sentinels in all forms and limited the use of Cure to those over age eighteen. She was one of the more famous students to graduate from Xavier's. Jack remembered when she had campaigned around the country and stopped for the afternoon at the school. He had been quite taken with the dark haired politician.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jack continued to look through the small crowd of adolescent mutants. Standing near Lily was a boy. New this year, like most of his peers, Jack couldn't remember his name. He knew it started with a B, but beyond that, he was lost. The boy's hair was shaggy, like he hadn't cut it in months.

Storm began to call out names. Jack, like the teenagers below him, turned his attention towards the white haired woman. "Allerdyce, Brenton." As soon as she said the boy's name, whispers began to break out. John Allerdyce, better known as Pyro, was one of the more infamous products of Xavier's.

The shaggy haired boy shot a dirty look at the group of his peers. "What are you all yabbering about?" His voice had an Australian accent. Turning his attention back to the group of adults, Brenton waited for instructions. They were simple: show us what you can do. The boy produced a battered Zippo lighter, flipping it open. A small flame was produced. It flickered orange for a moment before slowly turning a light blue color. The windows to the observation deck began to fog over. Jack had to wipe the condensation away only to see the boy floating a few inches off the ground.

"What do you call yourself?" The gruff question had come from Jack's father.

The boy smirked. "Burnout."

Storm called the next name and Brenton allowed himself to fade into the background. Very few of the kids had any degree of control of their powers, allowing for only small glimpses to their true potential. However, something told Jack that quite a few of the young kids standing in the Danger Room would be at least a class three mutant. He saw Lily show off, unlike the rest of the young teens, she controlled her powers remarkably well. He supposed that was out of necessity, a matter of national security. You just couldn't have a teenage girl phase through the floors of the White House into the Situation Room. Jack watched enough television to know that would be very bad indeed.

"Most people would think you're being all kinds of stalker by the way you look at her." Rachel's voice whispered into his ear.

To his credit, Jack didn't jump at her voice. "I was just being friendly. Not everyone can grow up here. I thought it would put her at ease."

She smirked, pushing some of her shoulder length red hair behind one of her ears. "Sure you are. Just remember, there's like four years between you and her. It's one thing if you are in your thirties and dating someone four years older than yourself. It's another to be thirteen."

"Are you jealous?" Jack snapped.

The two of them had an on again, off again relationship. Everything they did together was fueled with passion be it loving, fighting or competing. The passion was the cause of the unsteady relationship. Rachel was fiercely independent, which clashed with Jack's need to see that everyone he loved was safe. Their first break up, complete with her throwing things out onto the front lawn from the second story, was almost as well known as the time they had been caught making out in four different closets in one afternoon, by four different people.

"Jealous, of her? She's like eight, and has no boobs."

When Rachel brought up the size of her chest compared to others, Jack knew it was time to quit. "So what do you think of this new scheme my sister has thought up." He changed the subject.

"I'm afraid I really don't understand it." She pulled an extra chair over and began to watch the younger mutants. The current one being tested, both older teens had missed her name, had sparks of blue electricity jumping across her skin. "What do you make of it?" Rachel wanted to know.

Jack shrugged. "There are about thirty kids down there. There are three orientation leaders: Julian, Theresa, and myself. I suppose we'll be split into something like squads. I'll train with them once a week or so. That way if anything should go wrong, I know the strengths and weaknesses."

"That's great if the kids powers have manifested enough to actively train them. What about the younger kids? Some are just coming to grips that they are mutants."

"They'll learn to run. If no other option is available, they have to use the only weapon available, their fists."

"Great, we're creating an army of mutant mini-soldiers. I'm sure the public would love that. I can see the headline now. Mutie Private School Starts Child Army."

"Not catchy enough." Jack shrugged again. "I didn't organize this whole thing. But it has to be a good idea, right? You and I were lucky. We grew up knowing this place. Nobody needed to give us directions on how to act. None of these kids have that. The least thing we could is return them to their parents in one piece."

Rachel let a smirk play across her lips. "Have you thought about what you're going to do next year?" She already had her heart set on going to Yale, like her mother. She doubted she would go into medicine though; law looked interesting, as did theater.

He shook his head. His mother had gone to New York University and had received two degrees in psychology. His sister already had her heart set on their mother's alma mater; Ellie wanted to study political science. Jack felt he was lost somewhere in the shuffle, like he had been left behind. "Not a clue."

"You should teach or something, because, like, you honestly care."

They fell into a silence that was not quite comfortable, but not quite awkward either. "Look, um, this thing kind of ends right around lunch, I was wondering if you would like to go into town with me and catch a movie at the mall or something, maybe get a bite to eat. All on me off course." Captain Smooth he was not.

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that." She sat back and they continued to watch the group below them.

Jack ran a hand through his shaggy hair after parking his father's car back in the garage where he had found it. He and Rachel had been gone longer than either had expected. They had caught a move and then went out to get something to eat, being quite after lunch and way before dinner. That had led to the arcade where they had blown a lot of money being stupid teenagers. It was only after Jack's father had left him an angry message to get their asses back to the mansion and to make sure the car had a full take of gas did they realize how much time had gone by. Jack really had no money now—it had all gone to movies, food, arcade games, and gas.

"I'll see you later." Rachel smiled at him and went upstairs to her room.

Jack nodded and made his way to the kitchen if there was any food left over from dinner. He was hungry again and he had neither the time nor the money to grab a slice of pizza before leaving the mall. "Laura!" he cried in surprise, seeing his older sister sitting on the kitchen island eating an apple. It was skewered on one of her claws. It was a habit she had picked up from their father, once his mother was trying to break the both of them out of.

She really wasn't his sister. She was a clone of the Wolverine, sharing over 90 of her DNA with him. She had been an experiment, number twenty-three the first success. She had broken free of her captors around her fourteenth birthday. The X-Men had found her two years later, living on the streets. She had been sixteen; Jack had been thirteen.

He went to go hug her, but she pushed him away. "You smell like grease, sweaty teenage boys, and dirt. Don't touch."

Jack grinned. For all of her accelerated healing, Laura was still germ phobic. He liked knowing that, it made her more human. "So how long are you here for?" He loved it when she stayed at the mansion.

"As long as the others want. Then it's off to save the world again." She was part of the newest X-Men team. Originally she had gone by the name scientists had given her, X-23, but in the past year she had changed it to Nyx.

Smiling again, Jack began to rummage through the fridge. It only took a moment before he found what he was looking for, chicken. Sitting down to wait for it to warm in the microwave, he turned to his sister. "So how goes life?"

She raised an eyebrow. Laura was never one for small talk. It was another trait inherited from the Wolverine. "Rumor has it that you've taken a shine to Shadowcat and Iceman's daughter."

Jack made a face. "I don't know why people have their minds in the gutter. She likes to ride horse. I'm just being nice."

His sister's eyebrow went higher, if that was possible. "I just said people had told me you had taken a shine to the girl, not that you wanted to get into her panties." Tossing her apple core into the garbage can, she turned to go. "Who had the dirty mind now?" She left him with his leftovers.

He ate his makeshift dinner quickly, strangely uncomfortable with the quiet offered by the deserted kitchen. Not knowing what to do, Jack headed up to his room. That's where he usually ended up most nights anyway. If someone wanted him, his bedroom would probably be the first place he or she would look.

Finding his door unlocked made Jack feel a little bit better. If Mark was in the room, then Jack felt that he was not being as anti-social as he thought. When he opened his door there were at least fifteen people stuffed in his room. Jack didn't think it was possible to fit that many people in a doubles. Ellie and her boyfriend, Jay, occupied his bed. Nate, Billy and Tom sat on the floor near the two closets. Roberto had taken one of the computer chairs, Julian the other. Theresa and Tabitha sat on the windowsill. Talia, Sarah, Marie-Ange, Laurie, and Sofia had taken over Mark's bed, leaving Victor, Nori, and Mark on the floor.

"What the hell are you all doing?" Jack knocked Jay's feet out of the way before sitting down. "Stop trying to have sex with your clothes on, on my bed." He shot his sister and her boyfriend a dirty look.

"We're playing Trivial Pursuit," Laurie offered helpfully. "Well, we were, but we just kind of ended up asking each other questions."

"Out next question is for Tabitha." Sofia withdrew a car from the deck with a flourish. "In the movie, what lubricating product was slathered on the orc's prosthetic skin so they'd look shiny and sweaty?"

"Ooh, I know this one," Julian leered.

"If course you do, now shut up," Nori said from the floor.

"Wait, wait, wait. What version of Trivial Pursuit are you all playing? Dirty Minds 101?" Jack asked from his place on the bed.

"No, Lord of the Rings, why?" Sofia asked as she played with the card in her hand.

"Well then I'm out. Not enough females. There is only so much I can take before dirty males start to distract me, and I don't care how pretty Elijah Wood is. And Boromir? That guy just did not die; my god, what kind of cheat code does that man have?" Jack shook his head.

"Sofia," Tabitha said from the windowsill, "I have no clue. What's the answer?"

"KY jelly," the teenage mutant answered. The room erupted into laughter. It just descended into chaos from there.

Marie watched her husband lounge across their bed. It had once been big enough to fit their whole family, but her babies were growing up, leaving their parents behind. "Marie," her husband's voice broke through her thoughts, "come to bed."

She loved how he said her name. Marie. Rogue. Darlin'. Even after all these years he still called her Kid. Bub, if he was pissed off at her. All of those names were for her. They had touched her heart when no one could touch her skin. She hadn't lied to him all those years ago when he had stopped her to ask if she was getting the Cure for some boy. No, she had been willing to take it for the man who had stood before her. Bobby hadn't needed her to get the Cure, but at that point, they had been holding onto something that had died long before, when John, Pyro, had joined the Brotherhood. She and Bobby had parted on good terms. He had his fairytale ending, she had seen to that. Yet, she had been left alone. Where once she had been isolated by her mutation, she then had been isolated by her choice. Logan stood by her, even when the so-called Cure had failed to do its job. Her powers had mutated even further, allowing her to call on the powers she had permanently absorbed.

"Come to bed, Darlin'," her husband related. He loved the way she looked. He loved the feel of her soft skin under the worn cotton of one of his old shirts. After years of needing to cover up her skin, she still did. Old habits died hard.

"Do you ever regret—?" his wife stated to stay as she settled into his arms.

"I don't regret anything," he cut her off. "Even a giving a moody stowaway a lift outside Laughlin City."

Marie smiled at the memory. "Not even that I can't give you more children?"

He kissed her temple. "You gave me enough, Kid. It just got too dangerous for you." Pregnancy had effected both of them. After years of several miscarriages and even on stillbirth, the couple had thought they would never have children. Then Marie found body parts bursting into flames and the ability to lift heavy objects without visible strain. After a consultation with Doctor Jean Grey, it was discovered that not only was she pregnant with the twin, but her mutation was interacting with her children's' powers. It took great concentration and some help from the professor to stop her powers from attacking the twins inside her. It had taken so much of her strength, she was put in a medically induced coma at seven moths and two weeks later her children were delivered by caesarian section. "I always thought I would be the traveling man, never have roots anywhere."

"I don't tie you down?"

"Never. You gave me something to live for. I had to come back for that."

"You came back for your dog tags," she teased gently. "I always had them with me, waiting for you to come back." They sat in silence for a few minutes, comfortable enough with one another to enjoy it. "Do you remember when we could all fit onto this bed? Jack and Ellie would crawl up and wedge themselves between us."

Logan chuckled. "Yeah, nothing like reaching for your wife, only to have a handful of dirty foot."

Marie giggled at the image. "Ellie was so delicate, it's a surprise she didn't break more bones."

"Once was enough, thank you. Just be happy it was because she fell out of a tree."

"And Jack, with his feet and ears sizes to big, like a puppy. He was always tripping over himself."

"His ears are a bit big now, come to think of it. Do you think that's why he keeps his hair long?" Logan grinned.

Marie hit her husband lightly on the arm. "Be nice."

"Aren't I always?"

"No."