Logan was slowly becoming aware of someone shaking him by the shoulder. He groggily opened his eyes and could see that the early morning light was creeping in through the windows, coloring the walls with a pale blue glow. Birds were chirping outside, greeting the new day.

"Logan!" Storm hissed his name sharply as he tried to close his eyes again. This time, his eyes snapped open and stayed open. "Shit! Ororo!" He sat up and became suddenly aware of the weight laying on his body. He looked down and he would have smiled warmly if it hadn't been for Storm being right there. Kitty was still tucked close against him, her arm around his waist. He felt bad for sitting up so suddenly - he had disturbed her sleep and now she stirred, stretching her arms over her head and rolling over.

"Mm-m-mmorning?" She yawned. Storm left the room, but not before giving Logan a stern look. Kitty didn't notice her brief presence, and looked at Logan blearily. "Hey..."

Logan couldn't help but smile. "G'morning, kid." He didn't know what to say, so he ruffled her hair a little and handed her the remote. "Guess you're picking the channel this morning." He stood up and followed Storm into the kitchen.

Ororo scowled when Logan walked in and set himself down at the counter. She handed him a cup of steaming black coffee in silence, her lips pursed and her thin, white eyebrows furrowed. He heaved a sigh and got up to get some cream and sugar. As he was adding the second spoonful of sugar to the caramel colored liquid, Ororo finally came up to the counter and leaned in towards him, speaking in a low but angry tone.

"How can you be so damn thick?" He looked up in surprise. She never cursed.

"Don't overreact, we didn't do anything. It was late and we both just fell asl-"

"Don't overreact? I come down to start breakfast and find you and a 17 year old girl cuddled up together like some couple that's just consumated their love! What if it had been Jean, or Rogue? What if Kurt or Bobby had come downstairs? You don't think that could be an issue?"

Before he even had a chance to respond, the Professor entered the room through the front lobby doorway. "Exactly what I was thinking, Logan." His face was not quite as stern as Ororo's, but his tone was still of a serious nature. "I know that your intentions may be well-meant, but I only asked for you to be there if she needed a friend. I think it's safe to say that anything more than that would be impractical and inappropriate in this institution. The other students count on you to be a mentor, and it may be a little disconcerting to them if all of your energy is going towards a relationship with one individual student- a junior in high school, nonetheless. The difference between 120 years and 17 seems rather dramatic, don't you think?"

Logan swallowed hard and tried to keep from getting too defensive. He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "Sure thing, Charles." He glanced at Storm, who was leaning against the refridgerator with her arms crossed. "I think maybe it's a bit of a misunderstanding...Kitty was upset last night and I was just trying to comfort her and let her cry it all out. I wasn't planning on falling asleep- it was late and I...at any rate, it was my bad. I'll be more careful." It killed him to roll over and give up so easily, but he knew there were no better alternatives. Storm seemed a bit more relaxed, and offered to fix him an omelet before she made breakfast for the other students. He forced a smile and took another sip of coffee.

During breakfast, Logan tried to avoid Kitty's desperate attempts to catch gazes with him. He knew he'd thrown her off this morning, but maybe the Professor and Storm were right. He might as well give up this attraction before it got too dangerous. She was young, impressionable, emotional- he tried to convince himself that he would just end up breaking her heart one way or another, even though he knew deep in his heart that he could commit in a heartbeat to only her.

Luckily, Kurt was perky this morning and focused on getting Kitty's attention. He flicked bits of toast at her plate as she tried to ignore his persistant requests to work on their history project together. Her efforts were in vain.

"Kiiitty, please! I don't want to write up ze entire paper by myself! I'll tell Mrs. Andrews zat you did not contribute..." It worked. Kitty groaned and stood up with her nearly empty dish in hand. "Fine, Kurt. You win. Can I at least take a shower first, though? I'll meet you in the library in like, half an hour."

As the students started clearing their places and began to disperse into the hallways and rooms of the institute, the Professor requested that Storm, Logan, and Beast stay seated so he could talk to them. When there was no one still hanging around in the kitchen or dining room, he proceeded to address them.

"I've discovered, with the help from Cerebro and S.H.I.E.L.D. Intelligence, that there is a base located in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range in Mexico which is being run by unknown sources that Cerebro has been receiving mutant signals from. Mexico has reportedly been dealing with a surge of negative mutant activity and anti-mutant sentiments have been high for some time in that region of the world. I'd like to send you three to the site of interest and see if you can't gain any new information that could benefit us."

- - -

Kitty woke up much earlier than usual the next morning. She sat by her window and watched silently while the X-Jet rose from the basketball court. As the engines roared and the plane disappeared into the sky, she sighed. She wished Logan wasn't always leaving so suddenly; the Professor said it could be a week or more before they would get back. At least this time she knew it was just a mission, but it would have been nice if he'd at least said goodbye. In fact, it would have been nice if he'd said anything at all to her. He had avoided any contact with her the day before, after they had woken up together. Of course, she had worked on the assignment with Kurt and that had taken a large portion of the day to do, but even at dinner Sunday night, he had not spoken to her or even looked her way. She just couldn't figure Logan out. One moment, she was all he wanted...and the next, she was just another student in the mansion. At least, that's how he was acting. She wished his intentions were a little easier to read.

She couldn't stay preoccupied on these troubles for very long, however. At breakfast, Jean was having a heated argument with Kurt and Bobby about whether girls were as athletically determined and competitive as boys.

"You know I'd kick your blue little tush in soccer, Kurt!" He rolled his eyes in response.

Kitty made the unwise decision of jumping in to defend Jean. "Don't even pretend that she's not right, 'cause there's no way on earth you could ever outplay Jean in soccer. She's tougher than sissy runners like you are, anyway."

Jean looked surprised, but very pleased. "I'm glad you mentioned running, Kitty...I'm going to join the track team and I was looking for someone to pair up and train with. It's not that sissy of a sport- I bet you'd really like running. You should join!" Kitty was going to protest and find an excuse, but the look of excitement in Jean's eyes was just too genuine. She forced a smile and shrugged. "Surrre. When does the season start?"

Jean grinned. "Today."