Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men.

Ch. 6

Tuesday morning. Firefly turned off her alarm and jumped out of bed. She pulled her usual clothing out of the bureau and stepped quietly past Kitty's snoring figure.

She showered, dressed, and grabbed her books.

Taking her usual route to the kitchen, she stopped in front of Logan's room. There was no waking grunt that met her ears, but instead the beeping of an alarm clock. Firefly smiled and kept walking.

"So, are we going to make this a habit now?" Firefly asked the brawny man as he entered the room.

"I guess so." Logan answered, turning on the coffee pot. "First time in the Danger Room, Temperance. Are you nervous?" He grinned, watching her anger flare up. Literally.

"Whoa, calm down, Smarts." He whispered soothingly, "I'm just playin' with ya."

Firefly laughed and instantly her smoking hands cooled.

"So, you do have some control." Logan smirked.

"Only when I'm not actually angry. I have to keep calm all the time. Even overly happy can set a spark in motion." She explained coolly.

"Okay. I'll have to keep that in mind." Replied Logan. A thought seemed to strike him then.

"I bet you have a real pretty face underneath all that hair." He said, trying to be a subtle as possible. It didn't work.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get me all nice and in a good mood, and then ask me a question or say something that I really don't want to talk about."

"Smarts, I'm your training instructor. Well, me and the rest of the staff as well, but that's not the point. You'll be jumpin' around in the Danger Room anyway, that mop of yours is bound to fall back. Just pull it back now."

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"Fine. I get it, you don't want to, no one's gonna make you." He growled, frustrated but defeated.

Firefly looked over to him and sighed. He was right. Her cover was going to fall back sometime.

"When I first found out about my mutation, it was during a Volleyball game. A really important Volleyball game."

Logan looked over to her, listening.

"I was stressed because we only needed one more point to win, and I was up to serve. I served, and it would have been perfect too, if I hadn't set the ball on fire."

Logan wasn't to shocked. McCoy was always saying mutation was triggered during puberty, usually at moments of heightened emotion.

"Evidently molten rubber isn't like a scraped knee. It leaves a mark behind. Luckily, all of it didn't fall on me. Just one of the bigger drizzles." Firefly pulled back her hair.

"I know it's not much to complain about. A lot of kids here have it worse than me. But I can't touch. Maybe with practice and control I'll be able to cool my blood enough. For now, I burn."

Logan looked at her full in the face.

"I told you, Smarts," he said with a smile, "a pretty face underneath all that hair."

Firefly smiled. An actual smile, one that showed in her eyes. Someone, who wasn't a blood relative, had just told her she was pretty.

The left side of Firefly's face was just the same as the right. Except for one thing.

A shiny red scar sat in a puddle beneath her left eye, thin streaks pouring out from it and down her face to the end of her jaw. A sorrowful face made to cry for all eternity.

Firefly blinked lightly.

"I guess I have nothing to hide anymore." She said, stepping away from the counter and pulling the hair from behind her ears. It fell forward over her eyes and Logan smiled.

"Keeping it the same?" He asked.

"I 'spose. Doesn't really matter." She sighed. Inwardly and outwardly. She would have kept her bangs back, but something stopped her. Maybe she did not hide the scar because she didn't want other people to see it. Maybe she didn't want to see it.

"I'm gonna go to the library. I wanna keep up my excellent Biology record. See you in the Danger Room?"

"See you in the Danger Room." Logan answered. Firefly left the kitchen.

A/N: Hey, all! I've decided to post a Fun Fact at the end of each chapter. So, um... have fun with them!

Fun Fact of the Chapter: Thecharater ofTemperance Bellview was originally named Prudence.