Once Katja's injuries from Liberty Island had healed, it wasn't long before she was so busy most of the time, thanks to school, administrative work for Xavier, training, a few first casual playtime lessons with the children, and nightly meetings over a cup of tea and cocoa with Ororo as had long become a beloved habit, that she hardly had any energy left for anything else. Therefore, she rarely succumbed to brooding by now, and melancholy phases that could have influenced the weather in a dangerous direction weren't happening.

On some days, though, she would have liked to have at least a few hours to herself.

In fact, Scott and she had reserved this very afternoon for just that. Scott had even postponed a couple of Danger Room simulations with the teenagers, something he usually hated to do. But he also hated the fact that he and Katja never had as much time for each other as they would have liked, the same as she did. After Liberty Island, Scott, just like Ororo, Xavier, and Jean, had had to be there for the kids more than before, to soothe the little ones' fears regarding the political consequences of this crisis from the higher-ups that so far, fortunately, had not come. And also, indeed, to work with the older teenagers on their skills, so that in the not too distant future, the X-Men could hope for competent team additions when needed.

The next need of this kind couldn't be far. While authorities had indeed managed to arrest Magneto at Liberty Island, Mystique, who had not been half as dead as they'd all believed, had disappeared even as the X-Men had been making their own exit as quickly and discreetly as possible. This woman had better skills of disguise than anyone could probably even imagine. This next encounter was bound to happen, and the X-Men wanted to be prepared for it.

Today, however, Jean had thankfully relieved Scott of the task of torturing the teenagers with holographic sparring with opponents who were still far too powerful for them at the moment and had sent him to his and Katja's apartment with apparently rather unambiguous words. For which Katja definitely had to thank her later. The little favor was another of those thankfully increasing signs that her friend and Scott by now, were not as awkward with each other as they had been in the early days after Liberty Island.

A good enough reason in any case for Katja – with very little regret – to immediately ignore her physics homework. Enough duty for one day. When you were keeping busy so constantly, it felt heavenly to spend a few minutes just lying together on a bed, closing your eyes and enjoying a loving embrace. Scott and she would have actually had plenty to talk about, as usual, but right now, neither of them felt like talking.

On this unexpected free afternoon, it was much nicer to snuggle up to each other, with a kind of peace and quiet that they usually only had in the evening at most, or for a few minutes in the morning, before falling asleep or already having to leave the bed again. By now, Katja had easily understood why Scott had made sure that they had moved in together so quickly back then. Otherwise, they would have seen even less of each other.

A pleasant heaviness had taken hold of Katja's body. She did begin to feel it a little that she had once more gone overboard in the last few days, after finally being allowed back in the gym and to see the horses. All the more, she was savoring every second of this quiet togetherness. Getting comfortable with her head on Scott's chest, she allowed herself to linger in this state somewhere between doing nothing and dozing. Which was good on her powers, it turned out. Not a drop of rain outside. On the contrary, above her apartment, the dense cloud cover over the institute kept breaking regularly for long minutes. It was a day for sunshine.

She kept her eyes closed, but she knew Scott was looking at her. She thought to almost feel his smile on her skin, each time this so much more pleasant part of Katja's gift showed in the shape of a warming ray falling on their entangled bodies. His real smile, not this polite, cool gesture he indulged others in, this masquerade supposed to hide his true emotional world. She had come to appreciate that deep smile a lot that made it entirely unnecessary to be able to see his eyes to know how much he was beaming. As long as Scott was looking at her like that, Katja didn't have to worry about whether Jean might still be on his mind every now and then.

At some point, Scott's casual caress along her waist, and Katja's teasing fingertips on his neck turned into something more, without this having been planned. That was alright. Nothing had ever been planned between them before anyway. And Katja had never cared much for campfire romance or a sea of rose petals on the bed anyway. The only thing they had lacked so far was time. And in Katja's case, being free of pain.

Now, there was no more reason for restraint. With a deep sigh, she let herself sink back onto the mattress and pulled her partner close, covering his lips with hers.

A soft laugh escaped her as Morpheus back there on his snuggle pillow promptly became jealous. He immediately climbed up to them, caught Katja's braid with one paw, surely only by accident, and then leaped onto Scott's back with his whole weight, claws first.

Scott let go of Katja just long enough to put her beloved four-legged friend back on the floor with determination, and an audibly irritated "No!". About Cats in their bed, for all their affection, Katja's partner was still having very strong opinions.

Morpheus commented on the rebuke with a bored meow, but for the moment still retreated, vanishing outside through the window, tail up. Katja gave him two hours before he would curl up again at the end of the bed with pleasure to demand cuddles.

"Maybe you should try German commands," she grinned.

"As if that flea carpet listens to any commands," Scott shot back, still scowling a little, but the way Katja pulled him back down to her with her hand around his collar quickly made the interruption forgotten.

Katja gasped at the shiver running down her spine as a gentle hand slipped under her shirt, tracing the waistband of her pants, an exploration still far too non-committal for her taste. Scott had better manners than her growing impatience liked it, now that the initial shyness had faded. She playfully brushed his lower lip with the tip of her tongue, nibbling on it tenderly, while the hand that didn't linger on Scott's cheek also started wandering, with not half as much restraint as he was showing. Warm, smooth skin was waiting for her touch beneath his shirt, quivering muscles, a rapidly quickening heartbeat.

She never opened her eyes for even a second, as she wouldn't have seen what sometimes, she did wish for in such moments anyway: that her gaze was being answered. She would learn how to live with that. In the meantime, Scott and she could always rely on the blind understanding that was coming more and more easily with every day. His deepening breath, a first moan when Katja's nails unerringly found a sensitive-turned nipple. Her approving purr when his caress went lower, teasing the thin skin of her behind with a strong grip.

A suspiciously chipper voice outside the door put an end to the exciting scene before it had really begun. "Scott, you got a minute? The Professor is looking for you."

Katja rolled her eyes and buried her face against Scott's shoulder in frustration.

"We're not done here," her partner shouted towards the door, with all of his considerable authority but not a lot of hope it would help.

"It's urgent. So put on some clothes and hurry up."

"How come she doesn't believe a word I tell her when I tell her my computer needs a Windows update?" Katja quickly tugged her shirt into place. So much for relaxing ...

"Because I was only one Rumba away from screwing you on the sofa in my dance studio when last she caught us?" Scott mused. "Get used to it. Someone in this house always has a talent for interrupting just when things are getting interesting ..."

Sitting down by the mirror, Katja gave herself a quick comb-over to not have everyone immediately see what she had just been busy with. Her reflection was staring back at her with cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Maybe it was better that way. There was at least a little bit of a romantic in her. At least the first time, she wanted privacy. That was probably the disadvantage of living in such a large house. Surely, there were hundreds of these nice little fluffy hotels in town where you could check in just for the night ... After all, her next "paycheck" was due soon ...

Scott's still rather irritated look quickly had her laugh again. "Later. There's no reason to hurry."

At the foot of the stairs, they almost bumped into Marie and Bobby. Now it was probably them interfering; as soon as they showed up, the two teenagers moved on quickly, at a far greater distance than before.

All Katja got from Marie before she left was a cheeky grin, to which she had little more to offer than a shrug of surrender. To know, long before Scott and Katja themselves had, what was about to happen, those kids had not needed any telepathic powers.

Scott seemed to be bothered by that encounter for entirely different reasons; he muttered something about how Bobby was seriously attracting trouble lately.

"At least Logan's off her mind now. That would have been trouble."

Katja saw that with slightly more optimism. Even though this little flirt would naturally be dealing with a lot of trouble: Going through a bit of normal teenage drama was the best thing that could happen to Marie, especially after the traumatic experiences of Liberty Island.

"Logan would at least survive her feeling the need to touch him at some point," Scott growled even more sullenly. "Besides, Bobby and she have nothing in common."

"Spoken like a true Alaskan redneck. When it comes to caveman mentality, Logan could learn a thing or two from you sometimes," Katja teased him about his decidedly too huge protective instincts, standing on tiptoe for an apologetic kiss on his cheek.

"You can't always save everyone from getting their asses kicked, Scott. Let them have a little fun. That's at least less lethal than being on the Brotherhood's hit list. You have any idea what the Professor wants from you?"

"For once, no." Scott thankfully accepted the somewhat abrupt change of subject. "Charles has spent the last few days on the phone almost nonstop, but that's been about the school, not the team."

"Which means, the world isn't coming to an end right again," Katja commented, not without relief. "How about I go see if Ororo has time for training while you're gone? Then I've been enough of a good girl for today, and the evening is all ours."

"You're on." Scott didn't let her go without pulling her in for another long kiss, completely ignoring the soft giggles of a couple of kids nearby. The time when they'd had anything to hide was over.

And between the constant thoughts regarding various doomsday scenarios, relationship dramas, and murder and death, such a chaotic afternoon was actually nice for a change. Especially for Katja, it was a great relief to have finally found her way back to a normal routine after the crucial changes in her life.

"That was excellent. Enough for today." For once, Ororo was really pleased with Katja's progress.

Working with her was more fun each time, maybe that was why Katja made such an effort that today, not a single one of her lightning bolts had even touched the fence of the sand court, why her friend had not once had to intervene with her own powers to keep millions of volts of deadly energy from escaping the training area and possibly coming close to one of the children happily playing on the basketball court.

If the occasional meditation with Jean hadn't been so monotonous, something similar might have come of that by now. Nevertheless, Katja always went obediently, if only because she also loved to spend time with Jean.

That mental connection always building between Jean and her during these lessons, had at least been good for Katja already feeling clearly the first time already that Jean really wasn't angry with her because of that thing with Scott. Jean was missing Logan, more by the day. The question of when and for how long he would return weighed on her much more than the separation from her ex-fiancé.

Freed from that burden, Katja was growing fonder of her future teammates by the day. She looked forward to hopefully being able to actively help them with their cause in the near future, and this time without collateral damage.

Close combat training was surely the biggest obstacle in the way of achieving that goal. As a teacher, Scott was indeed damn strict; when they were in the gym or the Danger Room, his feelings for her stayed outside the door. He wasn't going easy on her for even a second, just because he cared so much about her. He didn't want anything else to happen to her, next time she would encounter the Brotherhood or other enemies. Before that could happen, she had no choice but to go attend his very personal school, and it was the hardest she'd ever been to.

Sparring, self-defense, weight training ... Even more ambitious and regular gymnastics than Katja had done on her own after dropping out as a professional athlete ... Acrobatics could very well save your life, especially with enemies like Mystique and Sabretooth, as she had already experienced firsthand, and she had not forgotten Logan's urgent words in this regard either. It was only logical, banking on her talent in this area. Floor routines and the vault were fun anyway, and the uneven bars had always been her specialty anyway. But at this point, the balance beam had turned into Katja's own personal nemesis, and she still didn't understand the use of torturing herself on these damn still rings. She had a vague suspicion that these jumps offered Scott the best view of her ass.

Only when it came to speed and endurance, did she beat him almost every time; she was, admittedly, proud of that.

Yet it was with Ororo she definitely continued to enjoy training the most and not only since her lightning was starting to hit the mark. The young woman and she simply were on the same wavelength about so many things.

It had been Ororo, too, who had made Katja realize why Fabian, of all people, whom she had not even been with for very long, might have triggered her mutation.

The way this man had treated her had only been the tip of the iceberg. The culmination of many years of rejection and loneliness. All the more amazing it was how quickly Katja had been able to trust herself with Scott – further proof of how intense the bond was that had built up between them from the beginning.

And the fact that Ororo was supporting Scott and her so unconditionally, despite their occasional teasing, even though she had also been there so intensively for Jean and him earlier, Katja definitely didn't take for granted. Just like with Jean, she had found a friend in this woman as she had never had before in her life.

"I have a good trainer," she returned the praise, slightly belatedly thanks to her returning thoughtfulness. "If you could teach me biology just as fast, I could be teaching myself in six months."

"You haven't been a pupil in years," Ororo reminded her indulgently. "It's no surprise theory doesn't come to you easily. Don't worry, we'll figure it out. And I've been told, you're faring a lot better in pedagogy."

"Because I don't have to decipher any formulas for that. At least that stuff makes some kind of sense in my head. Besides, I promised Charles."

Xavier's initial skepticism about what was basically a stranger taking care of the children had disappeared almost even more quickly than Katja's own initial insecurities about dealing with kids. With each of these one-on-one lectures, her desire to pursue a permanent position of this kind at Mutant High only solidified. To help others who arrived here as she had a few weeks ago, distraught, frightened, seeking help. To help as she had been able to help Marie a little.

To achieve that, she was even ready to turn to a completely new line of work. She had always been fascinated by psychology anyway, and fortunately, at least her German high school graduation to show. It would be a while before the next full semester would start, but to prepare for that, she would soon be able to attend a few introduction courses at College. Getting permission, luckily, was not exactly a problem for Charles. For now, Katja continued to occasionally act as a substitute for his secretary, but one day, she might be able to become something like a Counselor here. It was a tempting prospect, and the fact that her future in this institute seemed to be increasingly set in stone had long stopped scaring her.

Only the thought that she should take Jean's advice about more free time every now and then hadn't occurred to her earlier the first time. "I'll see if I can get Marie out of Bobby's room and go for a ride with me," Katja said from these thoughts, walking toward the fence that separated the practice area from the rest of the garden. "We both really need to get back out there."

"Good luck," Ororo snorted. "While you're at it, remind these two that experiments regarding the effects of skin-reactive forces on temperature-varying surfaces don't count as biology homework, will you?"

"Not a chance. I'm not a teacher here, so I don't have to play bad cop with the teenagers," Katja replied with a grin. "But I'll at least try to intervene before Bobby has to go to see Jean for treatment."

But at least on this day, it wasn't even going to come to that. Katja startled back with a hiss when someone suddenly came to stand in her way.

Out of nowhere, there was suddenly Mystique right in front of her who punched Katja so hard in the stomach, it was sending her to the ground immediately as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Flashwind! Watch out!"

A strong gust of wind forced the enemy a few steps backward, but then Ororo got into trouble herself, because next, Toad showed up, heading straight towards her with his supernaturally powerful, fast jumps.

Katja struggled back to her feet, completely blindsided. And not only blindsided. She was getting angry, really angry, within split seconds. No matter what the Brotherhood wanted from her of all people, she certainly wasn't going to just roll over. After all, she wasn't training like a madman 12 hours a day for nothing. She raised her hand to the sky in determination, where a violent thunderstorm had started to brew the moment Ororo had been thrown against the training ground fence back first so roughly that she was still cowering on the ground with her grimace of pain.

"I don't think so, weather witch." Something disgustingly moist and sticky wrapped itself around Katja's ankles, yanking her back to the ground and holding her there, which, thanks to landing straight on a sharp-edged rock, unleashed a world of pain on her newly healed ribs.

"Move, Mystique!"

Mystique suddenly had something in her hand. Not a knife, as Katja feared at first, but a syringe with an automatic release. Before Katja could free herself from Toad's iron grip or try to gain control of the lightning in the sky, the thing was already hurled at her neck – and was stopped in mid-motion.

"You people have no business being here." Jean must have sensed there was trouble and had come running from the house fast as she could. "You have exactly two seconds to leave, or ..."

"Or what?" Toad let out the threatening hiss that announced the use of his most dangerous weapon – toxic, viscous slime that had nearly cost Jean her life back at Liberty Island already, as Katja knew from frightening mission reports. "If you're that much into breath play, baby, all you had to do was ask."

Again, he stretched his tongue, but a lightning bolt inches from his feet had him jump away.

"I'll aim better next time," Katja commented.

Ororo had recovered at last and was keeping Mystique at bay with a powerful storm, shoving her opponent farther and farther toward the wall surrounding the institute.

Toad seemed to consider attacking once more anyway, but after a second glance at Jean, he decided not to, especially when someone else was showing up next to the doctor ...

"Fancy a kiss?" Marie demonstratively reached out her hand, while from the direction of the safety of the building, a thick white ray of pure ice suddenly shot towards the enemies, which both of them were only able to dodge very narrowly.

Now at the latest, they seemed to understand that they were hopelessly outnumbered. Mystique had once again disappeared faster than anyone could watch her leave.

Toad, too, left the garden with not more than two powerful leaps. "Sorry, kid, not into it."

"Thank the heavens ... Flashwind, are you okay?" Ororo asked anxiously.

"I'm good." Katja suspiciously pulled her shirt up a bit at the side, relieved to see that it fortunately only felt like the damn scar had ripped open. A bruise or two was already starting to show, though, which certainly ruined any X-rated plans for tonight.

"And here I was only getting used to being able to breathe normally again. I resent them personally for that. What exactly was that about? Jean, what is this stuff?"

Her friend took a closer look at the enemies' syringe and took a quick whiff of the contents. "I'll have to look at it in the lab, but my guess is a barbiturate. They weren't trying to kill you but take you for whatever reason."

Katja decided to not think too deeply about that reason yet. She would surely find out soon enough.

The Professor's remark back in their first conversation came to her immediately, about how perhaps groups other than the X-Men would want to make use of abilities like Katja's.

And by now, the Brotherhood knew what she was capable of ... Did Mystique really think that after all Magneto had done, Katja would have any interest in working with them? Well, Magneto himself wasn't exactly able to give an assessment about that right now …

"I'll take this downstairs. You let the Professor know that the situation is under control."

In a gesture of reassurance, Jean raised her hand primarily in the direction of Scott, who was just come running toward the scene, a whole shade paler than earlier.

Thanks to his telepathic instincts about what was going on in the house, Charles had apparently already informed him about what had occurred. Astonishing enough that Jean had been faster in that regard this time.

"No casualties. But we need better barriers on the gate and the walls, and most importantly, we finally need blanket video surveillance and motion detectors. These people have got in here way easily for my taste." Jean regarded the building, which was apparently not as well protected as they had hoped, with a worried glance, her thoughts noticeably with the children.

"Flashwind, are you sure you're okay?"

"Sure, why?" In order not to upset Scott more than necessary alone, Katja was trying not to show that this first attack aimed straight at her had shaken the very serenity she had thought she had achieved just a few hours ago. If it hadn't been for Jean ... Katja's training had obviously not yet been awfully fruitful. And apparently, the enemies didn't mean to give her time to improve before they wanted to drag her into something she had no idea of what it could be ...

"Your knees are shaking," Jean replied dryly. "Come with me to the sick bay, will you? I just need to make sure these bastards didn't ..."

She paused mid-sentence with a gasp. The syringe would have fallen from her hand, had she not reflexively caught it with her powers. Her eyes went wide with surprise ... and delight. Her gaze went to a spot between the tall trees right by the wall.

Katja broke away from Scott's relieved embrace with a still somewhat shaky smile, turning in the same direction, and beamed immediately, just as astonished as Jean.

"Logan ... Where did you come from?"

If she was honest, she hadn't expected Jean's partner to show up again so relatively quickly. Apparently, Logan liked the dignified life at Xavier's better than being on the road all the time after all. It was better than earning his living with cage fights in any case, even though Logan could surely have listed hundreds of other reasons why he was being drawn to Westchester if they'd asked. At least one of them would certainly have been true.

"The same way our Brotherhood friends did. The redhead is right: This house is wide open to anyone. We're going to fix that next thing, just so we're clear." Logan took his cigar from the corner of his mouth long enough to give the group an ironic smile, but one that also had a bit of warmth to it. "Not like I got anything else to do. Doesn't hurt if I give you a little hand with things around here. That'll do me better in any case than keeping on chasing ghosts and being bored to death on the street."

"So you didn't find out anything?" Ororo asked sympathetically.

"Nothing left to find up there, I guess." Logan shrugged briefly, his dismissive expression making it clear that this was a topic he didn't want to discuss with the X-Men.

Then, finally, he turned to Jean, noticeably hesitant.

Jean on her part waited a moment too long as well, and when she finally approached Logan, she did so at a snail's pace. This weeks-long separation, so soon after their relationship had begun, seemed to have left its mark after all.

Logan finally solved the problem his way. He simply pulled Jean close to him and kissed her deeply.

Jean managed to resist the gesture for exactly half a second.

On the basketball court in the distance, a couple of teenagers whistled enthusiastically and applauded before quickly running off, justifiably worried about being reprimanded by their teachers for their big mouths. Katja was sure to have recognized both Jubilee and St. John in the small group.

She just grinned. Ororo and she were probably similarly close to applauding themselves. They exchanged a look of full agreement. Bit by bit, things indeed seemed to return to normal.

They could not have known that this attack had only been the beginning of a long, bitter conflict.