Trillinka—thank you, I hope you like this one too, it too will probably be short but it will have massive implications.

anonymous—too scared to type a name? No I'm kidding and I was in fact dead, but no one here know that. CRAP THEY DO NOW! Oh well, anyway no I had a friend from Germany here for a month and couldn't get more than 30 minutes on the computer for more than 2 months.

lilmisschaos—I would never intentionally use a line from somebody else without credit. If I do that with out realizing just let me know and I'll give you due mention. I hope that long author's note helped with your x-men knowledge.

soaring-bright-flame—See, previous chapter for answer to your question, and I'm glad you thought she was attacking her, that was the point, it means I wrote it well. So thank you.

GENERAL ANOUNCEMENT I will be shortly using the origin of Logan in a very big way. Sadly this is a big part of the story, and most of my reviewers are not familiar with the X-men let alone the origin of my favorite berserker so I'm going to recommend a few things, you can a) take what I say for granted and ask when you are confused, B) rent the graphic novel Origin from your local library or make the $10 investment in a good book. It will probably take about an hour to read. The third option is to research online. That's all I can say and I hope that you can do one of those.

I made an error recently, I have this story set three months after Storms attack, I'll have to change that to less than one month. Ororo was attacked in issue 159 and it is in issue 160 that Illyana is it stuck in another dimension. Obviously that hasn't happened yet because she is still 8 and not 17 so just make that change in you heads and Beauty is that much more vulnerable.

Also giant sized annual number four "Nightcrawler's Inferno" isn't given a 'between issues' date so we're going to assume that this is before that issue.

The party

The lights were dimmed and every one hid rather poorly, behind furniture and various other objects waiting for Ororo to make her appearance. They didn't wait long, the door swung inward and the white-haired weather-witch flicked on the light switch, still marveling at the convenience even after these years with the team, if the people in Kenya could see this.

"SURPRISE!" every one stood and yelled. Ororo's hand flew to her heart and Kitty beamed.

"Goddess," she exclaimed. "You did all this for me?" It must have been Kitty's plan. She was the only one young enough to have thoughts of surprise parties still in her head. She looked down at the child who shook her head.

"Not me." She told her surrogate mother. "This was Seleena's idea."

Seleena adopted her best 'who me' look and it didn't fly for a second. Storm was annoyed. She wanted to hate the vampire, to hate all vampires for what Dracula had done to her, but with things like this parties and little favors it was hard to even dislike her. And she was the only person in the house that seemed to hold any kind of resentment. With the fight for mutant rights I should be more accepting. She thought. So she did her best not to let the others see her dislike of the new woman.

In her sweetest 'angry' voice Ororo continued to look down at her Kitty. "And she just happened to know it was my birthday?"

Seleena seemed to find a spot on the floor very interesting at that point. "Actually yeah," Kitty responded puzzled. She hadn't thought about that, how did Seleena know.

Everybody in the room stopped at that point, what else could this girl do that they didn't know about. What else could she know about?

"So I knew you're sign, it's not like you don't fit it to a tee! Kitty filled in the rest, I just new the month!" Seleena snapped defensively. "Now get out of the door way and have a good time at your party damn it!"

That broke the tension and the room erupted in to chatter.

With every one congratulating Ororo no one noticed that Seleena's smile was the fakest she had ever worn. No one except Logan. With a beer in one hand and the other slung around the raven-haired woman's shoulder, resting dangerously close to her breast, he broached the subject with all his diplomatic charm. "What's wrong, look like your cat got killed."

"Huh?" she said coming out of her personal prison. "Oh, nothing, the party's great. She's having a wonderful time." She said indicating the birthday girl of the day.

"Yeah, 'Ror's havin' a ball, you're not. Parties not your thing?" He guessed.

"Yeah that must be it," she said about as unconvincingly as a tap dancing frog.

"Yer a horrible liar." He said but shrugged it off and removed his hand, for some one that dressed like fire she was as cold as ice. And he wasn't thinking body temperature. She turned away just as Kitty started a chant.

"Cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake!" The whole room started to call, everybody laughing.

"That's my cue." Seleena said and walked through the double doors to the kitchen. She emerged with a large cake with white frosting and an undisclosed number of candles. The team launched into a cheerful round of off key Happy Birthday. And Kurt, ever the showman, a solo round of 'Hoch soll sie leben.' (High should she live)

"Dig in!" Seleena called. She set the platter down and Storm requested to cut the cake. Every one got a slice save Seleena with the explanation "food makes me sick."

With every one eating and talking, even Logan, Seleena found herself watching, not die Gebrutstagkind but the household warrior. She watched him eat and noticed how the muscle along his jaw moved just the same way. She watched the way he held the forks and smiled, for the first time that night a genuine smile, as she remembered when she had made James use utensils way back when. Why did Logan remind her so much of her long gone husband? It was ridicules that was over a hundred years ago. And even so, she would have seen it long before. Then she realized that this was the very first time she had ever sat at the table with her housemates. The more she watched the more she became certain. He didn't recognize her; maybe this was a great-grand son. The way he tracked was different. He had killed so many people that his aura was nothing but patchwork, the way he spoke, his smell, the way he wore his hair. But the resemblance was there, and in all her long life Seleena had never seen two people eat the same way, and she had never seen some one change that particular habit. This was James, but how was he still alive? He wasn't a vampire of any type of demon, that she knew, not even a half-breed. No, this man was pure human, but that would be imposable, and why didn't he recognize her?

Ha! I got you didn't I now you have to keep reading. See? Hooked!