A/N: Hello lovelies! How have you all been doing? Life's been busy on this end with problems popping up left and right. I have managed to type up this little update, so please enjoy it as a little gift from your humble author.

OOOOOOOOO

Scarlet wiped the sweat from her forehead as she waded through the water of the mansion's biggest fountain, streaking a little green sludge on her skin. She threw her sponge into the bucket that sat on the lip of the fountain and sat down, stretching her legs out over the water. The sun beat down on her and reflected off the water, hurting her eyes. She quickly slid on a pair of sunglasses.

"He can't have anymore chores for me," Scarlet muttered to herself, looking at her perfectly manicured toenails. "I've cleaned and fixed everything outside the mansion. Hell, I've fixed things in the mansion...Chuck's out of things for me to do. He's got to."

"You do know that talking to yourself is supposed to be a sign of insanity," Jean's voice said from behind Scarlet, causing the copy mutant to stiffen slightly. "Or so I've heard."

"What do you want, Red?" Scarlet asked, peering over her shoulder at the woman. "And don't say you want to have a girl-to-girl talk because I don't have anything to say to you. And I'm not apologizing for anything that I have said to Scooter or will say to Scooter in the future. He's a jerk and I'll never like or respect the guy, so deal with that."

"I didn't come on behalf of my husband," Jean said, sitting down next to Scarlet, though she kept her feet on dry land. "I came to see if you'd like to help with the children that have come to the mansion."

"Help with the...?" Scarlet's eyes went wide. "You want to expose little, innocent, scared to death children to the monster that is me? Are you serious, Red?"

"You're not a monster, Maria." A soft smile touched Jean's lips. "You've made a lot of progress these past few weeks and everyone has noticed. Especially the professor. He trusts you to talk with the children and –"

"I can't do it." Scarlet said, looking back at the fountain. "The children that come here are scared to death about the powers that they have manifested, Red. They're scared because they've realized that they're not like normal children their age and that the world is going to be so much crueler to them because they are these evil things called 'mutants'. Things that force them away from their families and friends, almost always forever...

"They can't always control their powers, Red, and they are children, so that's expected, but I'm not a child. I'm sixteen and I can't control my powers. How can you expect me to be there for a large group of them without scaring them even more with my own lack of control?" Scarlet dropped her feet back into the cool water. "I don't want to scar them forever, Red. I have never been the big sister to anyone and I've never wanted to be."

"Maria," Jean said, putting a hand on Scarlet's arm which the copy mutant didn't push away for once. "Have faith in yourself. You've handled being there for Leticia when she's been scared and upset. I believe that you could do the same for more children that come through the gates." She held up a hand. "We could have someone watch over you for a while, if you're really that nervous about being left alone with children."

Scarlet frowned and glanced at the redheaded telekinetic. "I don't really have a choice, now do I?" she asked.

Jean shook her head. "The professor wants you to do this."

"And there's no chance that I can easily convince him to change his mind?"

"You know better than that."

A heavy sigh passed through Scarlet's lips. "I guess I'm going to have to kill the old man, just to get out of this damn situation." She smiled when she saw the horrified look on Jean's face. "I'm just kidding, Red. Chuck is one of the only people in the world that actually gives a damn about me. I'd never kill that annoying bastard, no matter how annoying or angry he makes me." She shrugged Jean's hand off. "The old man's safe around me. Scooter on the other hand..."

"Maria..."

Scarlet wrapped her hand around the handle on the bucket and rose to her feet. "Give me some time to think about it, Red." The copy mutant climbed out of the fountain and turned towards the woods at the back of the mansion's grounds. "I've got other things to do right now."

"Take all the time you need," Jean said, also rising to her feet. "But know that the Professor wants you to do this as part of your healing and training process, Maria. He thinks that you can do this and so do I."

"And that makes all the difference," Scarlet muttered, rolling her eyes as she walked away from the telekinetic woman.

OOOOOOOOO

Scarlet found herself under the hood of a truck in the garage after a couple hours at the lake that she visited with flowers every month. She had heard Scott complain about a number of mechanical issues that it had begun to have ever since Logan had begun to take it for "joyrides" as he called them. Scarlet knew that this was Logan's favorite truck, the best one in the fleet that Scott owned. Anything that could piss that man off was welcome to her and the act of fixing the vehicle with her own hands was therapeutic to her at that moment.

What is everyone thinking when they think that I can handle being around children? Scarlet wondered, switching tools as she moved onto a different part of the engine. I can barely handle working around the teens in the classes that I take...and they want me to do this?

She cursed under her breath when her knuckles hit metal. I know that I haven't had an accident in weeks. Ever since the old guy started having me do chores around the school and bumped up my training sessions with Logan, I haven't had an accident. I haven't really had a moment where I lost control of my powers for more than a split second. Maybe I have made progress after all.

Scarlet lifted a booted foot and scratched the calf of the opposite leg with it. The engine made a small popping sound when she pulled a part off. She quickly tossed that part aside and reached over for the replacement part.

I don't think that I have the right to teach anyone though. I have barely been able to control my powers for more than a month. There are people my age and younger that have already learned how to control themselves and they are happy about it. They aren't afraid of anything. They aren't afraid of hurting other people...they aren't afraid of themselves. And yet, the adults here want me to help the young children that come into this school? What are they thinking?

"Maria, what are you doing?" Logan's familiar drawl floated to her ears as Scarlet bounced onto her tiptoes to reach a distant part.

Scarlet's heart pounded in her chest as she turned to look at him, remembering her nightmare from the night before. The image of his body being pulled in different directions and her inability to help him flashed before her eyes, causing her to freeze for a moment. She took a quick breath and looked away from him, fighting to remain cool.

"I'm fixing your truck," she announced, swinging a wrench through the air. "You really did a number on it since the last time that I fixed it. What the hell did you let happen to it?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," Logan said with a sniff, folding his arms across his broad chest. "You almost done fixing it though? I want to head into town for something."

Scarlet glanced at him before leaning back over the engine. "Got a hot date or something, Funny Hair?"

"You could call it that."

"Whose the lucky girl?"

Logan poked her in the side. "You are, darling."

Scarlet jerked up so fast that she hit her head on the upraised hood of the truck. Cursing under her breath, she rubbed the top of her head and turned to look at him. "Me?"

"You."

"What the hell did I do?"

"Nothing. I just think that getting away from this place for a couple hours would do us both some good."

The copy mutant put her blackened hands on her hips, not caring that it stained her light denim shorts. "You're not joking about this, are you? You actually want to spend time with me in public? With witnesses? With my bitchy attitude? Without judging?"

"Yes to all the above."

Scarlet shook her head and turned away from him. "Did someone put you up to this? You haven't gone into public with me in weeks, Funny Hair. What's changed?"

Logan shrugged. "You won't know if you don't come with me, darling."

Pursing her lips briefly, Scarlet stared into the hood of the truck for a moment. She sighed and her eyes flashed gold. She stepped back and slammed the hood shut and turned to face Logan.

"Nothing fancy," she ordered, wiping her hands on her shorts. "We'd stick out like a sore thumb. And nothing crowded...for obvious reasons. Okay?"

"Okay."

Scarlet tossed Logan the keys to the truck and circled around to the passenger's side. "Then let's hit the road, Funny Hair."

OOOOOOOOO

Logan chose a burger joint that didn't have a lot of people in it, which suited Scarlet just fine. They ordered a large stack of burgers that sat between them on the peeling table with a large drink sitting at their elbows. Scarlet chewed quietly, staring out the large window wall at the world that she'd never felt comfortable in. She could feel Logan watching her, but he kept his mouth shut when not shoveling more burgers into it.

"Red approached me today," Scarlet announced after a moment, dipping a couple fries into a small container of bright red ketchup. "She had a new task that Chuck wanted me to do."

Logan looked over his burger at her, silent.

"Chuck wants me to be a mentor to the children that come into the mansion," Scarlet continued. "He apparently thinks that I have the control now that I can handle helping children make the transition from not having control out there –" she vaguely gestured at the world beyond the window wall " - and the control that they'll learn inside Chuck's little school."

"And what do you think?"

"I don't know what to think." Scarlet looked down at the burger sitting in front of her. "I've never had success working around kids before..." She lifted her eyes to meet his dark ones. "Logan, do you think that I'm ready to be around so many little, uncontrollable children?"

A small smirk touched Logan's lips as he crumbled the wrapper in his hand. "I think you've come a long way, Maria. You haven't had an accident in awhile and you've become friendlier with others."

Scarlet winced. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last part. I'm not friendly with a lot of people. There are still a lot of people in the world that I wouldn't mind offing."

Logan's lips twitched at the corner. Scarlet couldn't help but stare at those lips for a moment. Shaking her head, she grabbed another burger and took a bite, swallowing hard.

"I hate to admit it, Logan, but I'm scared," she muttered, setting down her burger. "What if I fail and hurt one of those kids? Kids tend to remember getting hurt a lot more than they remember the good things, Logan. And I tend to hurt people really, really bad...and that scares me."

"You won't fail, darling," Logan told her, reaching for another burger. "You've come too far to fail. Just know that you have someone in your corner and that I'll be around to make sure nothing bad happens to you or the rugrats."

Scarlet let a small smile touch her lips. "Thanks Logan."

OOOOOOOOO

Scarlet was getting ready for bed in one of the mansion's larger bathrooms after telling the professor that she'd do what he wanted her to do when her stomach started cramping up. Fearing the worst, she ducked into one of the stalls and came out cursing a few moments later.

"Jubilee," she muttered, bumping elbows with the other mutant. "Do you have a tampon that I can have?"

"Sure," Jubilee said, reaching into her toiletry bag and pulling out one. "You better tell Storm that you need a box in the morning, so she can do some shopping."

"I will," Scarlet mumbled, heading back into the stall. She felt angry tears smart her eyes. "Dammit!" she hissed under her breath. "What the hell started this up? I'm not supposed to have these...Who made me do this and why?"

Cursing, Scarlet wiped at her angry tears and did what she needed to do, hating herself and the world for being a woman.

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: Well? What did you think? I think I know where I'm going to go with the next few chapters, but I can't guarantee that. Leave a comment or two in the little box and have a wonderful weekend. Thanks! -Scarlet