As I make my way downstairs to the common room where the big-tv resides (which makes it a popular spot), I find myself wondering what they'll think of me now. Will I be a freak, even among the mutant population? Will they hate me? Will they fear me? Preoccupied as I am, I'm not really looking where I'm going and I bump hard into someone.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" I say, looking up from the floor where I came down rather loudly on my rear. Not very graceful.

"I'd wondered where you'd got yourself off to," growls the familiar gruff voice of Logan.

My mouth is hanging open as I blush what must be a very vibrant scarlet hue. "Logan-" I manage to choke out. "You're back!"

He shrugs, giving me another dashing little grin as he offers me a hand up. I taking with a slight tremble, which I pray to god he doesn't notice. Logan had left a few days after my arrival, and I'd been quite disappointed. "I just couldn't stay away," he deadpans, making my heart flutter once more. All my thoughts of Rouge and her wish have been pushed aside, but as soon as I realize it, they come rushing back.

"I have to go talk to Rogue…" I say slowly, working hard to keep the wobble out of my voice, What will Logan think of me when he finds out what I've done? The thought makes me feel even sicker.

"Sure kid, I was just talkin' to her myself. She's in there, glued to that damn tv." He started up the stairs, leaving me alone with what I'm about to face.

Allright Wish. Courage. She'll understand, just like the professor did. Not really believing myself, I make my legs obey me and I walk into the common room. It's full of students, as I expected, and mostly people's eyes are glued to the tv. I don't know how, but the moment I walk in, Rogue glances at the door way and sees me standing there. I freeze.

It seems like a long time passes, but I know it's only been a couple seconds when she smiles at me. "Wish! Come sit here!" she whispers loudly. I nod and I may my way over to her, where she's made a spot for me next to her on the floor.

"How are you?" she asks me quietly.

"I'm fine," I say, surprised. "I feel I should be asking you that. Jean told me… what happened. I'm sorry Rogue."

Rogue squeezes my shoulder with a gloved hand. "No, I'm sorry. You nearly died because I wasn't careful with my words." Her smile turns to a grin. "'Sides… it's not all bad. Yeah, I still can't touch anybody I want, but at least I can touch somebody now."

I grin back, catching her drift. "Like…. Bobby?" I whisper back, giving her a gentle poke in the ribs.

Rogue flushes and shushes me, and we both let the subject drop as we turn our attention back to the TV show playing. I don't really pay attention to what's going on because of all the thoughts in my head. It sounds cloche to even think it, but I feel so happy I think I could die. I have a home, and friends- even a sort of family one could say. Despite my mutation, I feel a little like a normal person again.

My smile falters when I think of my mother, but I push the thought from my head and try to forget my guilt, if only for the moment.

After the demonstration of my mutation with Rogue, it becomes commonly taboo to use the phrase "I wish" within my hearing range, or even at all. I attend classes with everyone else, and I room with Rogue and Kitty.

Instead of going to Danger Room sessions however, I have private sessions with the Professor.

"See you later Wish," says Kitty as she and Rogue leave for training. I wave bye. "Laters."

Minutes later I'm settling myself into "my" chair in the Professor's study. "So… I've been thinking. About how my mutation works."

He nods encouragingly at me. "And?"

"Well… what I do basically changes reality, doesn't it? It's not really just perception or point of view that I affect, which might be termed illusion, it's the actual physical plane that changes." Wow…. I sound so brainy! My talks with Jean must really be rubbing off on me.

The Professor catches this last thought and his smile twitches a bit. "Yes… that is correct. You transform matter through the force of your will, concentrated in the form of a wish."

He offers me a jar of Twizzlers, our preferred candy for these talks, and I take a few gratefully.

"Well," I say as I chew on the end of a Twizzler. "What if it has something to do with the time-space continuum?"

The Professor looks at me strangely. "Wish, do you know anything of quantum theories?"

"No, not at all. But Rogue and Kitty and I were talking about alternate realities after watching a movie the other day, and I got this crazy thought in my head. What if there are alternate realities, and my mutation is creating them?"

"It's no easy feat to create an alternate reality Wish. If every time your mutation was used another reality was created, I don't know how you'd still be alive."

I ponder this. I don't exactly know why, but I'm sure I'm on the right track. And if alternate realities is what I'm dealing with… then there might be a way to find my mother. I shut these hopeful thoughts away in a corner and try to focus on the matter at hand. "Well… what if they aren't permanent alternate realities? What if they're like small offshoots of the line of time that blend back into that line as soon as the wish is fulfilled?"

He doesn't say anything, so I continue thinking aloud. "I mean, there's no real way to know, but if time is a straight path, and what I do is make small pockets along the way that change things to my wishes, maybe…. Maybe some things are reversible?"

"Like your mother and the memory wipe?" he says softly, and I look down at the Twizzlers in my lap, tears stinging my eyes.

"Yes, like my mom," I whisper. More than anything, I want her back.