More explanations. Jean somehow ended up like cartoon Jean to me (unintentional, actually), but when she refers to 'personal reasons', she is alluding to the story that I never finished and finally deleted out of pure frustration about X-23's ruining Hydra. I'm not sure why Laura is being so docile- notice how it took three chapters to acknowledge that she's no longer a weapon- but let's say she's either saving it up or just chilling today.

"Come here for a minute, Laura!"

Laura winced. She had hoped to clear the bedroom without detection, but Jean Grey, the telepath (she had remembered that too late) wasn't an easy person to be secretive around.

Maybe she needed to be maimed, Laura thought, as she felt herself being dragged into the dreaded bedroom.

"Does my butt look big in this dress?" Kitty asked, straining for a view in the mirror that Rahne had taken up.

"Laura, come sit here for a sec, please." Jean gestured towards a little stool chair in front of a dresser with another mirror. It was way across the room. In order to reach it, Laura would have to walk, dodge, crawl, and elbow her way through four perfumed, hairsprayed, made up, overfessed teenage girls in heels. She took a breath and dove in. Eventually she reappeared on the far side of the room near the stool. She sank onto it feeling grateful for her life. Facing the hyperactive girls, she couldn't help but notice how much of a difference there was between her and them.

They were all beautiful. Jean was tall and smart and intimate in a little black dress, and Kitty's happy energy made her almost glow in a cute yellow gown. Rahne's red hair and pink cheeks were perfect for her pale green number, and Amara's regal personality was brought out by her sandy dress.

And then there was Laura. Plain, angry, violent little Laura, in her oversized t-shirt and too-baggy jeans. Her hair, aside form choppily cut bangs she'd given herself a few weeks ago after her Danger Room sessions had started, was the exact same it had always been- long, fairly thin, and an unattractive shade of mud brown. No, she wasn't ugly, but she was…average looking. That had been a good thing when she was still X-23, but she wasn't that anymore. She was Laura Howlett, clueless mystery relative of Logan's.

"I want to try something. Hold still," Jean said, kneeling down behind Laura and picking up a brush. Laura almost turned around and gutted her where she knelt- but. there was always a 'but' now. In this case, it was because that was a rather pretty dress and it'd be a shame to destroy it. And she was curious about what Jean was doing to her hair.

"How do you like the institute so far?" Jean asked, brushing the almost permanent tangles out of Laura's hair.

"It's…crowded. There are a lot of new things. What do you care?" Laura- the part of her that wasn't enjoying the feeling of her hair being- done something to- was feeling suspicious of an ulterior motive.

"The professor thinks you're doing really well- except for the Bobby thing-,"

"That was his fault for being stupid," Laura interrupted.

"-So we were wondering if you would be interested in trying some public school. Since there's only a month left in school, the professor- sorry, that was a big tangle- thought he could have you enrolled. Dr. McCoy and Ms. Munroe say you're doing really well in their classes."

"Sure," said Laura, "But no thanks. I'm okay here. For now."

-"We're both homeschooled. It's nice to have someone else around for once."-

"Besides, I don't think that would be too fair to Jamie." she muttered to herself, remembering what he had said.

"You mean until Logan leaves on one of his excursions again." Jean said, trying to turn the conversation.

"What?" Laura tried to lift her head, but Jean held her hair.

"Stop moving, you'll mess it up. Logan goes off somewhere now and then. Usually after a run in with Sabretooth. He'll disappear for a few weeks, and once we start wondering if he's coming back, he'll be sipping coffee in the kitchen like he was never gone at all."

She looked as though she wanted a reaction, so Laura managed a "Huh."

"Of course, he hasn't gone off on one of his trips since you came here. Even when you were gone for-," she glanced at the other three girls, who weren't paying any attention whatsoever, "personal reasons. He stayed here for you. So you'd have family to fall back on." Jean stopped and stood up. "Done. Take a look."

Laura turned around on the stool and looked in the mirror.

That wasn't her.

Her hair- part of it, around her temples, had been braided and tied with a spare hair twisty behind her head, almost like a wreath of hair framing her hard face. Once-hard f ace. She looked more like a fourteen year old now, instead of a forty year old. It felt sort of nice, too. Laura felt her mouth trying to turn up at the corners. She looked over her shoulder at Jean, who was smiling in an all-knowing big sister kind of way.

"Eh. It's alright." Laura shrugged and stood up. "You talk a lot though."

She walked towards the door and heard Kitty's forlorned cry of "My butt's huge!"

"So take that ridiculous boquet thing off of it," Laura pointed at the bustle . Kitty looked grateful, and started taking it off carefully.

Laura left the stale room, and for the second time in an hour, smiled.