I'm considering changing the classification on this to movie-verse, if you're reading this then I'd love your input on the subject! Comments/criticism are welcome but please keep all criticism constructive!

Disclaimer: The X-Men are the property of Marvel which is the property of Disney. I only own Cheyenne.

Cheyenne woke to the aroma of bacon. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, snuggling into the covers of her bed. The smell of eggs, sprinkled with seasoning, greeted her nose as she sniffed deeply and as she listened closely she could just make out the faint scraping of spatula against skillet combined with her father's slightly off-key humming. Yawning, Cheyenne sat up in bed and stretched.

Fwish!

"I definitely made the right decision." Cheyenne remarked wryly, tucking her wings around her as she got out of bed. It was common sense really. She couldn't attend graduate school or work the cash register at the garage her father owned with wings coming out her back. 'Thankfully, I hadn't paid my tuition yet.' Cheyenne mused, adding 'call the registrar's office' to her to-do list for the day. Her last day at home.

Cheyenne sighed, threw back the covers and slid out of bed. Relieved, she noted that since her knees had been bent she had avoided piercing her mattress. 'I need to call Angela too.' Hopefully her friends would take the news as well as her father had.

There hadn't been any time for Henry Jackson to doubt that his daughter was a mutant. She had managed to keep her wings retracted for the walk from the car Storm had rented down the sidewalk to her front door but no sooner had she gotten through it than her wings had stubbornly popped free again.

'Guess this is your way of protesting being stuck in my back so long, huh guys?' The girl addressed her wings in the hall mirror, still getting used to seeing herself with her own flying equipment. 'And personal cutlery.' She added, glancing at her elbows. Although she did have the ability to retract her wings, she couldn't seem to manage keeping them in for more than about thirty seconds; the exception to this being that her wings seemed to retract of their own accord when she was asleep.

All through the lengthy discussion of her powers and position as a mutant with Professor Xavier, Storm and Rogue and later during dinner - her father had insisted on her rescuers staying for dinner - Henry Jackson kept glancing at his daughter's wings with surprised, somewhat stunned, fascination. He had taken the discovery that his only remaining child was a mutant remarkably well and, to Cheyenne's relief, had approved of her acceptance of Professor Xavier's proposal.

It was much later, after the delegation from New York had left for a motel, when her dad was helping her measure how much of the back of one of the baggy old t-shirts she used as a night-shirt she'd have to cut out to fit her wings that she had commented on how well he was taking it.

"I'm not going to deny that it was a shock but you're my little girl, Cheyenne." He said simply. "I love you and I'll always love you, no matter what."

At this point Cheyenne, who thought that she had no tears left, found that she did and buried herself in her father's arms.

"Besides," her father continued as he gently rubbed between her wings, "I think your wings are pretty cool."

Cheyenne pulled back in his embrace to give him a teary-eyed smile. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, sweet-pea." He kissed his daughter's forehead. "Now, what you need is a shower and a good night's rest."

Showering had proven to be an interesting experience, to say the least, with two extra appendages on her back, but the warm water had felt divine. Then sliding between the cool bed sheets and sinking into a deep and dreamless sleep had been pure and utter bliss after the strain of the day.

A smile found its way to Cheyenne's face at the sight of her father dipping up breakfast, an answering smile forming on his face as he caught sight of her.

"Good morning, sweetheart!"

Cheyenne dropped a kiss on her father's cheek prior to sitting down. "Morning, Daddy." Henry Jackson placed a plate in front of his daughter next to an already full glass of milk. "Ooo, this looks delicious!" Cheyenne exclaimed as her father took his seat across from her, sniffing appreciatively.

"Thank you." There was a pause in the conversation as they joined hands and Henry Jackson said grace, which included a word of thanks for the safety of his daughter.

"Amen." They murmured in unison and released hands.

"Sleep well?" Henry Jackson inquired.

"Like a log." Cheyenne replied, loading her fork up with eggs. "Wings must've gone in while I was asleep but they popped out the second I stretched."

"Makes sense, it probably has something to do with your muscles back there." He mused, chewing on a piece of bacon. "Anyway, I called the shop. Rick's got it covered for the day so I'll be able to stay home and help you pack. And he said to tell you to enjoy New York and that if you want he'll happily work Jack over with a tire tool." The agreed upon answer if anyone would ask was that Cheyenne had taken a job offer in New York, deciding to postpone graduate school, after the debacle with Jack.

The mental image of the stocky mechanic leaping through the air like a ninja to bash her ex-boyfriend over the head brought a grin to her face. "Tempting, but he's not worth the trouble."

"Oh, it wouldn't be any trouble. If that boy sets one foot on my property then I fully intend to carry out my rights as a father. Then Rick can whack him with a tire tool."

"If he's stupid enough to come around you, then he deserves it." She drained the last of her milk. "Actually, he deserves it anyway but I don't want to have to bail you out of jail."

"If the judge had daughters, I probably wouldn't get put in jail." Mr. Jackson replied, rising and carrying his empty plate to the sink as his daughter finished off the last of her bacon. "Well, I'm going to go buy some boxes. Think about three should do it?"

Cheyenne considered. "Better get four, just in case."

"Alright then." He grabbed his keys from the edge of the counter.

"I'll call the university and Angela while you're gone."

"Sounds good." He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, correctly reading the expression on her face. "If they're really your friends honey, then it won't matter." He added, squeezing her shoulder. "And if it does then they aren't friends worth having."

"You're right." She sighed.

"Be back in a bit."

"Okay, bye." Cheyenne responded, rising to lock the door behind her father.

It took all of twenty minutes for her to un-enroll herself from graduate school. 'Four years of undergrad to get in to grad school.' The young mutant thought as she hung up the phone. 'And less than half an hour to get out. Now I just have to call Angela.' She looked at the phone. 'It's the right thing to do. If I don't then I'll be no better than Jack - in a relationship under false colors.' Her hands curved around the phone. "If they're really my friends then it won't matter." On a surge of determination, she picked up the phone and dialed from memory.

Ring. Ring. "CHEYENNE! I was worried sick! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ange." Cheyenne replied. 'I just have these dragon-esque wings sticking out my back now and I'm worried that the few friends I have won't want to associate with me anymore.'

"I can't believe Jack. Oh, Cheyenne, I am so sorry!"

"It's okay Angela." She swallowed down the brief twinge of hurt and betrayal, reminding herself that he himself had proven that he wasn't worth crying over. "I was upset at first, but now…"

"You're angry?" Angela supplied.

"Yes, but at the same time I don't care."

"You shouldn't. He's not worth it." Her friend agreed, echoing her thoughts. "He lied - to all of us. Allen's so mad at him that he's moving in with some other law students."

"Allen's moving out?"

"Dan's up there helping him move out as we speak."

"You didn't go up to help?"

"No, I planned to spend the day with you. I was gonna call you around lunch-time; I figured you'd want to sleep in."

"Ange, finding about Jack wasn't the only thing that happened yesterday." She threw it out there, encouraged by this display of consideration.

"Happened? What happened?"

She told her - everything. Well, almost everything. She left out how exactly Professor Xavier found her. It wasn't as if he'd told her not to. In fact, last night he had encouraged her to be open with her friends, but something about comparing mental telepathy to a long distance phone call seemed like a little too much when telling your best friend that you're a mutant.

"Angela?" She queried into the silence.

"Oh, Cheyenne!" She sniffled, evidently fighting off tears. "You went through all that…and after Jack…and …and you're leaving! Today! I'm coming over and help you pack." She finished determinedly.

"You don't mind that I'm a mutant?"

"Why should I? It's not like you're really different now. I mean, you're the same person. Besides, my Uncle Tommy's a mutant."

"The one who owns the tattoo parlor in L.A?" Cheyenne looked up as she heard the door open and smiled, seeing her father with an armful of cardboard.

"That's the one. He has a tail; Abuela fainted when it grew in." Angela confirmed cheerfully. "So I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, definitely!" The other girl confirmed, amused. 'Trust Angela to casually say her uncle has a tail and her grandmother passed out when it sprouted like she's just told me his hair is black.'

"Great! And Cheyenne?"

"Yes?"

"I told you that you were meant to be a teacher! See, it's fate!"

"Hippie." Cheyenne teased fondly, feeling undeniably happy. "See you!"

"Bye!"

"Go well?" Her father inquired as he folded a cardboard box into shape.

"Yep, she's coming over to help me pack." Cheyenne replied cheerfully, picking up a piece of cardboard. "And apparently her uncle has a tail."

"I'm glad to hear it, sweetie. That she's coming over that is." He placed the finished box on the floor and grabbed another unformed one. "I'm not sure how I feel about her uncle's tail. Did you tell Allen and Dan too?"

"No, not yet. They're moving Allen out of the apartment so I figured I'd just text them and ask them to call me when they get a minute." She finished assembling the box and sat it on the floor. "Should I tape the bottom of these?"

Her father nodded. "That'd be a good idea."

Cheyenne rose and rummaged in a nearby drawer for packing tape, fishing it out and picking up one of the boxes from the floor.

"So Allen's moving out?"

"Yes." She lined up the roll of tape and pulled a line of it across the bottom of the box. "With some other law students. I hadn't really thought of it until I talked to Angela, but Jack really lied to all of us."

"Probably lied to the other girl too." Henry Jackson commented, picking up the last box and pushing it into shape. "If I was Allen, I wouldn't want to live with the scumbag either - especially if it was my brother." They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, the younger of the two occasionally adjusting her wings and experimenting with how she could control them.

Diiiing-dong!

"I'd better get it." Mr. Jackson remarked.

There were a few moments of silence as Cheyenne continued to tape the bottom of the boxes. Hearing footsteps she looked up to see Angela walking with her father.

"Hi Ange." Cheyenne smiled uncertainly as her friend looked at her with wide eyes.

"Hi…" Angela breathed. Then a wide smile lit up her face and she rushed forward, nearly knocking her friend backwards with the force of her hug. "They're pretty!" She remarked as she pulled back.

"Thanks." Cheyenne laughed as her friend hovered a hand over her left wing with a 'Mommy-may-I' expression on her face. "Go for it."

"Yay!" Angela ran her hand along the outer edge of Cheyenne's wing. "It's a bit like leather, but silky at the same time." She marveled. "Dragon wings!"

"And talons…would you call them talons?" Cheyenne gestured to her elbows and heels.

"That's going to make wearing shoes tough."

"I lost my sandals yesterday."

"You'll just have to stick to slides for a while, sweetie." Her father rubbed his chin contemplatively. "And speaking of clothes, you should probably cut holes in some of your shirts."

"If not all." Cheyenne agreed. "Care to put your superior kindergarten teacher cutting skills to use, Angela?"

"You know it! I can't let my skills get rusty over the summer."

"Good," Cheyenne replied, glancing at the clock, "because they're coming to get me at two and I would prefer to not be in my pajamas when they get here."

"Alright then, how about you two get to work on cutting and packing clothes while I start on the computer and books?"

"And that's the last one." Angela sighed as the three people deposited the cardboard box in front of Cheyenne's old blue Explorer.

"Just in time too." Mr. Jackson said as a car honked from the other side of the garage door, walking over to hit the door opener.

The door raised, giving way to a black SUV which pulled in the spot normally occupied by Mr. Jackson's truck, currently parked by the curb.

"Afternoon." Henry Jackson greeted as the front passenger window rolled down to reveal Charles Xavier and Storm in the driver's seat.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Jackson."

"Hello." Storm nodded and smiled.

"Afternoon." Rogue returned as she opened the back door of the sleek vehicle and climbed out.

"Hello again." Cheyenne acknowledged. "Angela, I'd like you to meet Professor Xavier, Miss Munroe and Rogue. This is my friend Angela Rodriguez."

"It's nice to meet y'all." Angela shook hands with all three. "Hopefully you won't change your mind about this one after lifting her luggage. Cheyenne has a serious book problem."

"Book problem?" Rogue inquired as she opened the back gate of the SUV.

"I don't have a problem." Cheyenne protested. Her father chuckled warmly and wrapped an arm around her.

Angela snorted. "Sweetie, you have more books than you do clothes."

"A love of books is a very admirable thing." Storm remarked.

"Indeed." Professor Xavier agreed. "It will be nice to have another fellow bibliophile around."

"Well, you're certainly getting one in Cheyenne."

"Oh, I agree that loving books is a good thing. But after you break your back on one of her boxes," she thumbed in the direction of the four boxes and two suitcases that comprised her friend's luggage, "then you may agree that she has a problem." Angela joked.

"Fine." Cheyenne rebutted good-naturedly. "I'll remember this when your boyfriend asks for birthday present ideas for you."

Professor Xavier chuckled. "Fortunately, no one need break their back Miss Rodriguez."

Rogue laughed at the expressions on their faces as the boxes and suitcases were telekinetically lifted into the back of the car.

"Wow. That would've been handy earlier."

"You can say that again." Her father concurred.

Angela was speechless. "That…wow. Just…" Then she whacked Cheyenne lightly on the shoulder. "Why'd we drag those all the way to the garage if he could do that?" She wiggled her fingers and hands in the air to symbolize flotation.

"Because it didn't occur to me that he could do that." Cheyenne said plaintively, wiggling hands and fingers back at her.

"We would have carried them out anyway." Mr. Jackson added. "You should never rely on other people for what you can do yourself."

"That is very sound advice." Storm approved.

"Thank you."

"Only fair after all, Ange." Cheyenne remarked as Rogue shut the back gate and came around to shake Angela and Mr. Jackson's hands before climbing back into the car. "Aren't teachers supposed to be big on fairness?"

"That's why you're going to be one." Angela stuck her tongue out at her before wrapping her up in a hug, eyes gone misty. "You will check your e-mails and keep your cell charged." She ordered, sniffling as she pulled back.

"I will." Cheyenne promised, sniffling as it sank in. 'I'm leaving. Right now. I won't be able to get dragged along on Angela's shopping trips or watch movies with Daddy. I won't be working at the shop anymore. I'm leaving.'

Henry Jackson said nothing, but opened his arms for his daughter and just held her. "I love you, baby." He kissed the top of her head and released her after several moments. "You'll call me when you get settled in?"

"I'll call you tonight." Reluctantly Cheyenne climbed into the car, shutting the backseat door left open by Rogue behind her. It was one thing to make the decision to leave home, another to know that it was the right decision to make, but it was something entirely different to actually leave the only home you've ever known behind you.

"It was nice meeting both of you."

Angela nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you." Mr. Jackson replied, hitting the garage door. "Thank you."

"It was our pleasure." Professor Xavier responded, rolling up the window as Storm put the car in reverse. He raised his hand in farewell and from the backseat Cheyenne leaned forward to wave, wiping at her eyes.

She kept waving until the figures standing in the Jackson garage were no longer visible and all she could see were her father's truck and Angela's car parked in front of the house through the back windshield of the rented car, until Storm turned off the street she'd spent most of her life on.

"Ah'm sorry, hun." Rogue comforted, handing her a tissue as she sunk back into her seat.

"Thanks." Cheyenne said, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose. "I promise I'm not normally this emotional." She smiled, albeit a bit sadly. "That's normally Angela's thing."

"You two have been friends for a long time?"

"Since my freshman year of high school and her sophomore. She'd just moved to Brontsam that year from Dallas and ended up in the same history class as me because her old school had the required history classes in a different order. We ended up sitting next to each other and Angela ended up being lousy at remembering dates so we became study buddies and then friends." Cheyenne smiled. She hadn't been a crazed, ostracized loner through her school years; she had, in fact, been invited to birthday parties and such, but she had never had a real friend until Angela - just friendly acquaintances that amounted to no more than casual conversation when she met them and resulted in her spending the lunch period with a book.

"You have always liked history then?" Storm asked from the front seat.

"Always. I used to hold archaeological digs in my sandbox and excavate the tombs of mummified barbies."

Rogue laughed. "Yah mummified them, buried them, then dug them up?"

"And then the entire archaeological community would be wowed by my finds!"

"Ah have to ask. What did yah wrap 'em in?"

"Toilet paper." Cheyenne admitted. "And one summer an Ace bandage wrap, which, incidentally never saw medical action."

"I would certainly hope not." Professor Xavier chuckled, envisioning just what said bandage wrap would look like after being repeatedly buried and dug up from the sand for several months.

"See yah in the mornin', Cheyenne."

" 'Kay, night Rogue, night Remy. Thanks for showing me around."

"Twas nothin'." Rogue grinned.

"G'night Puff." Gambit's red on black eyes twinkled mischievously as Cheyenne sighed, shaking her head but smiling nonetheless as she shut her door.

"Now I t'ink I had better escort yo' to your room, chere." Cheyenne heard through the wood of the door.

"Yes, because Ah might get mugged walking the ten feet to mah room."

"Mos' crime infested hallway I've ever seen." Cheyenne heard Remy agree faintly as she walked away from the door.

Chuckling at the interchange between her fellow southerners, Cheyenne took a seat at the edge of her new bed and reached for her purse, which she had left splayed in the center of the mattress. It was high time she called her father; she'd texted him when the plane landed to tell him that they had arrived safely and that she would call him later.

Glancing at the bedside clock, Cheyenne paused with her hand in her purse. 'I forgot about the time change.' Squinting her eyes in thought, she worked out the time in Texas by subtracting an hour as her fingers curled around her cell phone and pulled it out of her purse. Figuring that it was only nine o'clock in Brontsam and her father would definitely still be awake, she dialed the number she had memorized as a kindergartener.

It barely made it through the first ring when her father answered. "Cheyenne?"

"Hi Daddy." Cheyenne answered, feeling a bit guilty. "Sorry, I should've called sooner."

"It's okay, baby. I figured you were getting all settled in."

"Yeah, I met the other teachers and college students who stay here year round." The first person she had met had been Remy LeBeau, when the Professor, Storm and Rogue had been giving her a tour up from the hanger - where the sight of the Blackbird, what Rogue had referred to as the "big jet", made her eyes widen to no doubt ridiculous proportions.

Storm had just pointed out the Danger Room and was, with Professor Xavier's aid, explaining how the training facility operated when the metal doors had slid back to reveal a tall lithe man with shaggy brown hair wearing what appeared to be a black leather suit accentuated by metal tipped boots and a trench coat. What caught Cheyenne's attention most, however, was the man's eyes - red irises on black sclera.

"Rogue!" The man had exclaimed, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling the green-eyed girl into him in a half-hug.

Rogue had tensed at the initial contact, but relaxed to grin up at the red-eyed man, bemused. "Miss me did yah, sugah?"

"Oui." The man acknowledged, grinning back. "Storm, Professeur." He nodded to each and then his eyes landed on the short woman with dark brown hair, blue-green eyes and emerald wings. "You mus' be the newest addition to our merry band. I'm Remy LeBeau, o' Gambit if yo' prefer."

"Cheyenne Jackson. Nice to meet you." She had stretched out her hand to shake his and to her surprise he not only shook it, but raised it briefly to his lips.

"Quit spreadin' germs, Gumbo." Her first thoughts on seeing the mutant known as Wolverine, who introduced himself as Logan, were: 'wow, those sideburns are impressive' and 'I bet he could snap me like a twig'.

"Well, I met all of the teachers except for two." Cheyenne continued, snapping back to the present. "They're on their honeymoon. Rogue and some other girls helped me unpack." Gambit had assisted as well, by unpacking and hooking up her electronic devices in addition to making a good dent on her books - which completely filled all of the provided shelving. It was also during the unpacking of her belongings that she met two of the mansion's college age students - Tabby and Jubilee, two friendly, outgoing girls who had been perfectly willing to pitch in and help. This was also when Remy had decided to start calling her Puff, despite the fact that she wasn't a magic dragon who lived by the sea.

"I got taken on a tour and I'm positive that at some point tomorrow I'm going to get lost and wind up in a closet." It was during the tour that she'd met the rest of the mansion residents - the majority of them had been in the recreation room. The only exceptions had been a bubbly girl named Kitty, who reminded her somewhat of Angela, who had been hard at work in the computer lab and her boyfriend Piotr who had been sitting next to her sketching, and the blue-furred Hank McCoy who had been in the library.

Oh, the library. Cheyenne could have run up and down the aisles skipping and singing the Hallelujah Chorus in delight. Xavier hadn't been kidding when he'd said he was a bibliophile.

"Big place, huh?"

"Yes! They have a library!"

"Oh dear." Her father chuckled. "You're never going to want to come home now, are you?"

Cheyenne sighed. "I'd rather have you here than the library, Daddy."

"I miss you too baby, but I always knew you were going to have to leave the nest eventually. It still doesn't change how quiet it is around here, but I'll adapt. And you'll adapt. Even before you mentioned the library I could tell how excited you were to be there. You like everyone?"

"Yeah, everyone here has been really nice." Dinner had been pleasant with a variety of conversation - ranging from the debate of what club some of the college age kids were going to (Jubilee and Tabby were the partying sort it seemed), science, psychology, movies, to how far Kitty had gotten in deciphering some files on the Friends of Humanity. Granted, the following discussion on the Friends of Humanity and why the X-Men were monitoring them wasn't really all that pleasant - talking about a group that wanted you dead rarely is. The conversation before and after had been nice though. Just as the James Bond movie she watched after dinner with Logan, Rogue, Remy and Kurt - who was fuzzy, blue, had a tail and a German accent and Cheyenne had deemed a big sweetheart - had been enjoyable. Plus when they had asked about her family and where she was from, no one had asked the question she always dreaded - about her mother. Usually it was something along the lines of : 'You live with your father, so are your parents divorced then?'. She didn't know if they refrained from asking because Professor Xavier had told them not to - she wasn't sure how much he'd learned while in her head- or because they had heard enough sad tales of the past to know the wisdom of only asking about information the teller volunteered, but she was grateful. "Yes." Cheyenne repeated. "I think I'll like it here."

"Good and you know if you end up not liking it then I'll come and get you."

Cheyenne smiled, reminded of her first date with Jack when he'd told her something similar - "If he gets out of line or does anything to make you uncomfortable then call me and I'll come and get you." That struck something else in her mind. 'Jack…oh!'

"Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you!"

"Tell me what?"

"Allen and Dan called me on Allen's phone on the flight up."

"How'd they take it?"

"They were pretty shocked at first and I still don't think it's really sunk in for them but I think they took it pretty well. Definitely not as well as Angela. It made them even angrier at Jack though, not that he doesn't deserve it."

"You can say that again."

"But Dad, get this : SHE was moving in as Allen was moving out."

"The girl Jack was cheating on you with? You have got to be kidding me."

"That's what I said. Apparently, she knows about me but doesn't care because Jack 'loves her'." Cheyenne held her phone between ear and shoulder, emphasizing her point with air quotes.

"If that isn't the height of idiocy, I don't know what is!"

"And guess what else?"

"There's more? Do I want to know or is this going to make my blood pressure rise more?"

"Oh, this you want to know." Cheyenne assured him, unable to repress the gleeful smirk of vengeance that stole across her face. "Dan punched Jack!"

"Dan? Good for him!"

"Dan had to keep Allen from hitting him several times, but Allen never thought to restrain Dan."

"I'm glad; it serves the two-timin' scum right!"

"So am I! And so are Dan and Allen for that matter. I've never even seen Dan angry before." Dan had the personality of a big puppy. "It's nice to have friends." She concluded, nourishing a hope that her ex-boyfriend would have a black eye.

"You sure made some good ones, honey. The only rotten apple was that scumbag." He paused thoughtfully. "I'm going to have to threaten the next one much more thoroughly."

"Well, I intend to be much more selective with the next one so hopefully that'll help."

"Good to hear, but I'm going to threaten him anyway."

Cheyenne chuckled. "Well, I'd better let you go Daddy. I start training tomorrow."

"Alright, baby. I love you."

"Love you too, Daddy. Night."

"Night baby."

Cheyenne turned her cell phone off after the soft click and stood, stretching her arms and wings. 'Now to learn the intricacies of my new shower.'