When Katja had a visitor in her new accommodations before Logan's departure the next day, she was already bored to death with the bed rest Jean had prescribed for her. Fed up with the immobility her injuries were condemning her to, she lay around on her bed, skimming old photos.

On her bed and Scott's, she corrected her own thoughts. After all, as of today, that was what it officially was. After Jean had knocked on her door yesterday afternoon, unceremoniously revealing what was going on between Logan and her, and one spontaneous move later, Katja was now living with Scott, in the small apartment in the institute that Jean and he had previously shared for years. For practical reasons alone.

Jean, on the other hand, was already settling into the space that was also meant to be Logan's after his trip. That way, they all had what they had wanted and even saved a room.

Nevertheless, a bitter aftertaste remained. The bare spots on the walls, where there were edges of pictures that had hung there for years showing, left a sensation of emptiness. So did missing furniture, the empty space in the closet where before class earlier, Jubilee had been nice enough to hang up the clothes for Katja that she'd brought from Germany and bought that one day with Ororo. She had to make herself at home in these rooms first, and not only because she was trying to smoothly continue another woman's life here right now.

The fact that Logan, of all people, came to see Katja before he was set to leave, at a time when Scott and Jean were both giving teaching, made her wonder if he maybe felt the same way she did. The two of them hadn't really had much to do with each other so far, so it couldn't have been a purely friendly gesture.

Saying goodbye in person, was something he should rather be doing with Marie. Katja could only hope that he actually would, otherwise, this would hit the young woman deeply.

"Hey." She nodded at him hesitatingly. "Sit down."

"Aren't you going to put some clothes on first?" Logan let his gaze slide provocatively over Katja's upper body, which was pretty scantily clad because of the darned bandages. That was just the way he was, with her as well as with Marie; Katja hadn't got to know him any differently. And by now she thought to be able to judge how little such oneliners meant. At least if Logan was being serious about Jean.

The two of them, in any case, were mature enough not to derive any claims on each other from a little flirting. "No offense, but unless you want to get rid of that jacket, that hurts too much right now."

"Been known to happen when you mess with someone twice your size."

There was almost something like respect resonating in that remark. Whether it had been Katja's refusal to stand down in the face of a global threat, and especially a threat to Marie, or that she had dared to rebel against Scott's authority ... At some point in the last few days, she seemed to have switched from "nice-looking dessert" at least to the position of "potential future comrade" in the clearly structured categories of Logan's thinking.

Somehow, that was pleasing. And it gave her the confidence to be able to fire back just as mercilessly; there was no other way to hold your own against this roughneck anyway. "Says the one who can only look his girlfriend in the eye wearing heels."

"Compressed energy is the one that can be used most efficiently." A self-deprecating, surprisingly charming twinkle shone in Logan's eyes. For the first time since Katja had met him, he didn't seem quite that driven today; on the contrary, it looked almost relaxed, the way he was leaning against the door there, with his hands in his jacket pockets, even without a cigar in sight for a change.

"We got something in common there. That was a pretty good kick you got that Creed bastard with. Once they let you out of here, you keep working on those athletics. With someone relying so much on his strength and size, agility and speed are the best you got in close combat."

Although the completely unexpected praise and the surprising advice promptly made Katja blush, she still had to nod down at her battered side with a small grimace. "Not good enough."

Logan waved it off. "Good enough for me to catch my breath for a few seconds, wasn't it? With an enemy that type, even I need to do that once in a while. My healing factor can only work as long as I have energy in my cells. So don't let anyone here give you shit about that thing. It's been good you showed up there. And bones heal. The rest, you'll learn. That walking button-down crease you got yourself attached to, he'll teach you properly enough, I guess."

"When you get back here, I'll be happy to sign you up for some sparring lessons from you, too," Katja replied sincerely, now seriously touched.

She was almost certain that Logan was exaggerating the usefulness of her little maneuver with Sabretooth widely. But since he'd actually bothered to try and make up for the somewhat bumpy start the two of them had had, Katja could live with a little flattery. She needed as much training as possible, as soon as possible, in anything she could use to protect herself from such injuries in the future, and Logan's willing, almost enthusiastic nod fueled her anticipation of working with this particular instructor considerably.

For seconds, they were both silent then though; Logan was still standing around indecisively by the door. Maybe he didn't quite know himself what he had wanted here in the first place.

It couldn't hurt to help him out a little, Katja decided. After all, apart from a few missing centimeters of height, they both had the same problem regarding something else, too.

She crossed her arm on her healthy side under her head, staring at the plain ceiling. "It's all happened pretty fast suddenly, hasn't it? I'm not even quite done feeling like an ass yet. And yeah, I know that's stupid."

Logan hesitated briefly, obviously trying to decide whether he was really the right person for such a discussion.

But then he pulled up a chair and straddled it, resting his arms on the back. "Jeannie and Scooter?" It sounded confused. It wasn't as if he had had to fight for his new relationship on his knees, roses and all, and neither had Katja.

"Yeah, yeah, I know ... They wanted it." Again, Katja looked down at that one particular photo in her hand, frustrated by her own musings that kept going in circles.

"Let me see?"

Katja handed the picture to Logan, hissing softly at the stretching motion that her chest was still disagreeing with. "Scott cleaned all this out before he left for class. He wants to take the stuff to the attic later. He probably just doesn't want to see it for a while."

"Didn't know Jean used to have such bright red hair." The tender admiration in Logan's gaze revealed the honest feelings Jean had awakened in him. Not much of a guilty conscience to see there.

"She's dyed her hair darker at some point to be less noticeable. Because of her speeches at the Congress and all. To keep people from remembering her too easily or possibly recognizing her on the street," Katja explained, who had wondered herself and asked Scott. "But I know she misses that red sometimes. So you might be lucky and she'll wash that color out eventually."

Shaking his head, Logan put the photo aside, still going so hard for demonstrative indifference that he didn't even realize how much his next, absently muttered words betrayed him. "Guess those were happier times."

"They had the pictures taken on the occasion of their engagement. This is from a much later date." Katja handed him another picture.

Jean and Scott at some ball in a pretentious reception hall furnished almost entirely in white, under crystal chandeliers, dancing. Her gaze was blank; he didn't move a muscle.

"Only last year."

"This does look more like them." A hint of relief was in Logan's sarcastic grin.

"Yes. Makes it easier."

Except that such bitter reassurances shouldn't even have been necessary, at least since Scott and Katja's first kiss. Scott had convinced her that his intentions were pure, and Katja didn't feel like she'd done anything against her will ... Still, she'd suddenly wished herself to the other side of the world again earlier when Jean had hooked her up to a new IV.

What had it been in these silent minutes that Scott had been hiding behind that petrified mask, behind the protective shield of his glasses? Why had Jean's gaze been so consistently on the ceiling the whole time, with his on the floor? Didn't it have to be terribly unpleasant for the two of them to continue living, and working, so closely together?

The fact that this state might possibly last for the next few weeks, or months, made the prospect of lying idle in here suddenly not so bad anymore.

Logan thoughtfully stroked that half-feral beard of his, evidence of that unsteady life he was about to plunge back into. Probably for a long time. Actually, he had the easier role in this whole game. He could back off, wait to see how this new couple's constellation would start to play out, and come back to easier circumstances. "No second thoughts then?"

"None at all. I like our dear team leader far too much for that already. I'd just like to be able to look into the future and say for sure it was the right thing for me to do."

A little too forcefully, Katja placed the cardboard box with the photos next to her on the bed. "No use, I guess."

Logan was still holding the older picture from the engagement. He took another long look at it, then put it in his jacket pocket.

"Never is. You live on the road long enough, you get used to stopping thinking about would-haves too much. In the end, things always happen differently from what you thought anyway. It's easier to deal with that once you realize you're only responsible for your own decisions."

The slightly too slow way he got up, revealed that he was obviously not yet ready to face the next meeting before he left, the last one for a while. "I need to go. Jeans will be done with the fleas in a minute. At least today, I'd hate to keep her waiting. There'll be plenty more of that."

"She'll be very happy to count the days until you're back each time, I'm sure." Katja tried an encouraging smile. Bit by bit, she thought to really understand what Marie liked about this guy. Beneath that unfriendly, shallow shell, there was a soul far deeper than anyone would have expected.

And a little of that callousness that Logan was striving for might do her some good herself. "Come back here in one piece, will you? I'll make sure for you that Jean doesn't get any funny ideas, I promise."

Logan and she shook hands, formally and terribly stiffly – then they just hugged, brief as it was. His somewhat awkward squeeze of her shoulder said enough.

When he wordlessly closed the door behind him, Katja saw a small figure scurry by in the hallway outside, apparently just waiting for such an opportunity to take a curious look into her room.

A tiny warm flame of joy flared in her heart. She gave Artie a quick wave before the door closed again. Clearly, her nighttime encounters with the little one had left a mark. Hopefully being able to build upon that in one way or another would be more fulfilling than sorting through files and having a couple of bones broken every now and then. And it would leave Katja less time to think.

At first, she expected the little one when there was another knock at the apartment door just a few seconds later. Accordingly, she was left gaping when Scott came to her instead, who had actually said goodbye earlier for the whole day ... and not alone.

In a large transport basket that Scott carried as carefully as if there were raw eggs in it, sat a red-tiger cat, mewing in protest and visibly a little groggy after a flight of several hours, for which they'd probably had to sedate him. Katja knew her pet well enough to be sure that they'd never been able to make it go on such an exhausting trip voluntarily.

"What the ...?"

"Your mother sends her love." As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Scott set the basket down on the floor and then dragged in two more boxes of brand-new-looking cat accessories and one in which Katja discovered at one glance Morpheus' favorite toys and treats.

Only when the apartment door was firmly closed again did he open the grate of the basket, while Katja still stared at him in complete bewilderment, whereupon Morpheus came shooting out like an arrow, despite remnants of that medication cocktail, and hid under the bed for the time being. "She said, he wouldn't have been happy without you anyway."

Scott sat down on the bed next to Katja, laughing softly, and put two fingertips to her chin so that she could finally get her mouth closed before he kissed her lovingly. "Charles wasn't quite as enthusiastic at first. It's easier when the residents here keep animals whose habitat is limited to just one room. But I was able to convince him that we have too many mice in the barn anyway."

"I ... I have no idea what to say." With tears in her eyes, Katja wrapped her arms around her partner as best her hurt side would allow. This was really the very last thing she had expected. Scott hadn't seemed like the pet type to her so far, all that horseback riding aside. She would never have dared ask for that little privilege, no matter how much she had missed Morpheus. Her brief doubts because of that scene with Jean earlier were almost forgotten again immediately.

Scott's efforts, not least by secretly contacting her mother, let Katja know how important she really was to him already, and that he knew exactly how much she missed her home. Now she had at least a little piece of it with her, and in the early days probably more often than Scott would have liked.

"We're going to have to get him used to being outdoors first. All he's known so far is having human can openers. Pass me those tuna crackers from that box, please, otherwise he won't come out from down there all day. And then he'd make a terrible first impression. The little guy is actually impeccably clean."

The discreet hint was all it took. In addition to the desired bag of treats, the freshly purchased litter box was immediately put to good use. The duties actually waiting for Scott outside at school seemed irrelevant for the moment.

Katja was still smiling at him in disbelief when he disappeared next door with the plastic construction to find a place for it in the bathroom before the secret weapon called rustling bag made its entrance.

Just a few seconds later, Morpheus had made himself comfortable next to her on the mattress, munching away while enjoying with a purr all those praises about having gone on such a great adventure.

"Only until I'm allowed to get up," Katja assured quickly at Scott's less than enthusiastic look regarding the subject of having animals in bed. "Once he gets to know the property, I'm sure he'll prefer the hay. Come on, he won't bite."

No, her cat had never been shy of people, he rather often was a little too curious. Scott's first friendly petting, too, he accepted majestically, with his head leaned far back, before suddenly reaching out to paw at Scott's glasses, obviously a bit irritated by the mirrored surface.

Scott was, fortunately, able to back away before a claw could catch in the wrong place. Well, someone would have plenty of opportunities to practice their reflexes in the near future ... "Suicidal tendencies run in your family, don't they?"

"No idea what you're talking about."

Grinning, Katja lay back again, with her beloved pet under one arm, while her partner joined her for a few more minutes of cuddling and harmless kisses as well. Fine, that was one way to spend the whole day in a bedroom without losing her mind …

Far too quickly, sadly, Scott straightened up again though, not without stealing another kiss. "I'd better check back with detention before possibly get it into their heads to hunt down the rest of the Brotherhood instead of serving detention and writing essays on conflict strategies."

"With these teenagers here? Not impossible, I'm afraid."

Although there was not the slightest reproach in Scott's voice, only an extremely wry grin playing around his lips, Katja instantly got the urge to defend herself. That whole trip on the night of Liberty Island had been a good deal shady, and just because Scott and she hadn't had a chance to talk about it until now, that wasn't an excuse not to take responsibility for it.

"I've been meaning to apologize." She was bold enough to sneak a hand into Scott's back pants pocket before he could get up. "The very last thing I wanted to do was get those two in danger. When we got there, it suddenly all happened so fast ... Suddenly, I did no longer know how to stop them."

"That's what they said, yes. Don't worry." Only from the fact that Scott was more focused than necessary on keeping Morpheus busy with a little toy mouse, could Katja tell that he was by no means taking that matter as lightly as he was trying to sell it to her, presumably to spare her.

"I've been teaching these kids how to survive since they were 12. I know best what they're like when you give them even an inch of reins. By now, they're good enough to let them get a taste of what we do, but not in battles like with the Brotherhood. Not while their powers aren't even fully developed. Therefore, Katja ... Try to not encourage them, too. With you, I've already given up on trying to talk you out of joining in our madness, but the teenagers ... I want them to know they have a choice that was never given to people like Ororo and me at their age."

Ignoring the burning and twinge in her chest this time, Katja carefully pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around Scott's chest from behind, letting her forehead rest between his shoulder blades. Thousands of questions were on the tip of her tongue, about everything the scant information about his personal life in the database didn't reveal, but there would be enough time for that soon. Right now, she just wanted to support him in this pain sounding through his too quiet words.

"They do know. Otherwise, they'd have been stupid enough like me to fall right at Sabretooth's feet. They're pretty good at estimating their powers if you ask me. And they don't strike me as needing much more time to think about this whole thing. They've had enough of that."

"Unlike you, yes. Fortunately, not every new roommate arrives at Mutant High at the beginning of a potential global crisis." Scott pulled her hand close for one of those fleeting kisses but then got Katja to lie back down because he had to feel from her shallow breathing that she was still pretty banged up.

"I've allowed Charles' enthusiasm about your powers and your age to infect me. And my own desire to show you my world here as soon as possible, to find out if you can handle it because I can't be with anyone who isn't a part of it in some way. That was premature and selfish; it's not something usually happening to me. I'm actually quite glad that you're being forced to slow down for a few weeks now. You deserve as much as anyone in this mansion to realize that you have a chance at a different life."

Katja all but forced herself not to flare up immediately, confirming with determination that she had long made this decision. That would hardly have helped to ease Scott's guilty conscience about how chaotic the last few days had been. That hadn't been his fault, but given that he had to sit here at her sickbed right now, after her second encounter with the Brotherhood already, time for appeasements was over. She had to try another way to make him understand that she knew what she was doing.

"Unlike your students and you, I've already had this other life. And I've never fit in, not since I was a kid. I never belonged anywhere before I became part of this institution."

"Part of something potentially deadly," Scott reminded her in a tight voice, his fingertips resting against the bandage at her side, under which the surgical scar was dully throbbing away. "Not exactly the best place to start."

"I'm an athlete, Scott." With a soundless sigh, Katja kicked aside the blanket over her left leg and bent her knee so that her partner could see the scars on her ankle, from more than one procedure. "I could have broken my neck on half a dozen apparatuses every day since I was a toddler. I may not be a warrior yet, but I'm not naïve. The biggest difference from when I was a teenager is that from now on, I might be able to help keep my family and the world from getting into danger instead of floating off into nirvana with drugs out of boredom at some point, which has almost happened before I mutated. Being an X-Men is a hell of a lot cheaper and leaves less of a hangover, trust me. All I hear is good."

Her black humor could at least make Scott grin again now, even though he still didn't seem entirely convinced, especially when Katja vigorously pulled him down towards her by his tie once more.

"You're not entirely objective in your assessments right now, you know," he murmured against her lips in resignation.

"Guilty as charged." Katja nipped his lower lip playfully and then sent him back to work with a heavy heart.

Word of the newest roommate at Mutant High seemed to have spread like wildfire. It didn't take an hour for the next visitors to show up on Katja's doorstep, and no matter how exhausted she felt, she definitely couldn't have sent these two short stuffs away.

"I brought you something."

While Theresa made friends with Morpheus basically immediately, chasing him halfway across the room with a small stuffed bird on a string, Artie kept standing next to Katja's bed with his hands hidden behind his back. "These are mine, but I don't need them anymore. So you'll get well quickly." With his ears flushed, he held out to her a whole stack of Band-Aids with his favorite superhero in a certain blue and red spider costume on them.

Her face just as serious as Artie's, Katja accepted the gift, quite moved, and thanked him with a quick kiss on his cheek. "These are perfect. As soon as the stitches are out, I'll put only these on. And you'll get the rest back in case you do end up falling on your face in football again, huh?"

"I never do!" Artie claimed, fully convinced, and proud because his idea had gone over so well.

Then he started to occupy himself with Katja's four-legged little friend as well, allowing her to catch a few more minutes of rest herself.

Siryn and Artie were just discussing how much time they should give the Mutant High's new animal janitor to get used to his new territory before showing him around on a leash for the first time when there was another knock at the door.

Visibly a bit surprised by the hustle, Charles joined them, still looking a bit sickly and pale himself, but at least fit enough to get back to some of his work. Which surely included admonishing someone who had not always acted exactly as instructed in the last few days, no matter how much Charles had encouraged these ambitions in Katja exactly from the start.

Instead of a lecture, he, fortunately, started the conversation with praise once the two children had left, which immediately had Katja breathe a little easier and thus more painlessly. "The pupils don't trust just anyone so easily."

"I wasn't exactly expecting that myself," Katja admitted with an embarrassed shrug. "I've never really had a good standing with kids. Suddenly no longer feeling like a nuisance, but like someone who actually has something to give to a community ... That's something I've never known."

"Quite a bit to give, in fact, from what I've been told." Still, Charles didn't really seem angry about this insanity called Liberty Island, but rather curious. It was almost like in their first conversation, the way he eyed Katja there from his spot by the door, head tilted slightly, pupils fixed, as if he was still trying to see something in her head that he couldn't understand.

"I'm glad I wasn't wrong about you, Flashwind. No shortcuts from now on though. You were right." For a moment, a shadow of unease flashed across his haggard features at the memory of the last time they had spoken. When he had been unable to answer. "I do know quite well why you could not have stayed behind. But if you want to accomplish what you and I have in mind for you, you must be careful to stay in one piece from now on."

"That was the plan."

What you and I have in mind …

He and her. The Professor had been directing Katja's path in this mansion one way or another since the beginning.

It would have been fairer to dismiss Charles right away, given the fact that he looked like he could use some more sleep himself. But Katja knew the whole thing would have given her no peace if she hadn't asked. Scott had been able to explain his erratic behavior in the first few days to her by now. She wanted to be able to trust Charles in the same way.

"Were you looking for me specifically, Professor? For your team? Was I brought here as a soldier?"

Charles' polite smile deepened a whole shade. "I'd rather call it a happy coincidence at the right time. Fate is a very big word that I'm very careful with, Flashwind. For that, I am familiar with too many of the powers that will remain secret to most of the inhabitants of this planet all their lives, and I know enough of them to keep as far away from them as possible. But I would like to believe that someone had a good plan for us. At this point, Erik has started down a path at last where I have to fight him every step of the way, no matter how little I like it, and he's not the kind to just give up because of defeat. If there was ever a time when my team could have needed fresh blood, it's now."

"I'll do what I can." It wasn't the first time for Katja to make that promise since arriving at Mutant High, but it felt like the most important.

"As soon as Hank is alright with you leaving your bed," Charles couldn't help but say now after all. "At least you won't be bored until then, from the looks of it. Those Kids never let up once they've decided they love someone."

"That's mutual. If it's alright with you, I'd like to help you all take care of the students," Katja carefully took the opportunity to officially address what was on her mind right away.

"At least then we won't waste your talent like we would, parking you in front of a computer," Charles nodded after a moment of hesitation almost too short to notice. "Let's give it a try. As soon as you're back on your feet, you and I will start on a few lessons in pedagogy. If after that, you can indeed see yourself tackling such a job seriously, it's college waiting for you in the fall at the latest. As I said ... no more shortcuts."

"As long as I don't have to enroll in physics ..."

Charles was still laughing quietly to himself as he closed the door behind him.