"It's two in the morning. What are you doing out here?" asked Trisha. Kitty looked her neighbor up and down warily. "I could ask you the same thing. What were you doing, shopping?"

"Oh no!" laughed Trisha, holding up the bag to reveal it was full of clothes and books. "My friend wanted me to grab a few things from her place! She isn't feeling well and is staying at my house, so she couldn't leave. But that doesn't answer my question; what are you doing out here?"

Kitty blinked, surprised as tears came to her eyes. 'I wish I had friends like that, but all my friends are anti-mutant protesters!' she thought, rubbing her eyes fiercely to rid them of the extra moisture.

"W-what's it to you, Ms. Merridew?" she snapped rather rudely, trying to keep the quaver of pain out of her voice.

Trisha narrowed her eyes at Kitty, studying her carefully. "Well, your mom and I are pretty good friends, so I should probably check on her daughter when she's in the middle of the neighborhood at night, don't you think?" Trisha shot back easily.

Kitty looked at her in surprise, before lowering her head in shame. 'I should at least check before I make assumptions of her status in the mutant problem,' she thought.

"…..Do you hate mutants? !" Kitty blurted out. Trisha looked surprised at her outburst, eyes filled with shock.

Then, incredulously, she burst out laughing.

"H-hate mutants? !" she laughed, wiping her eyes of her tears of mirth, "Why in the world would I hate my own race? I am a mutant after all!"

/\/\Meanwhile, back in D.C./\/\

Emma jerked awake on the restroom floor, head aching and senses fuzzy. 'What the-? What happened?' she thought, sitting up. She remembered coming in, hearing some other women entering and then….. nothing.

But before she could question her memory further, she glanced at her watch. 'Damn it, the meeting!' she thought quickly leaving the restroom, unaware of the now brain-dead women in the two front stalls.

/\/\/\/\

"David? Charles?"

Hank stared at his friend and his son in concern. In the middle of talking, David had completely zoned out, and apparently so had Charles. Mark and the X-Men milled around behind him in concern, unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, both telepaths jerked and returned to their senses. "David! Are you alright?" asked Storm, coming up to check on him while Penny checked on Charles. "I'm not sure, Ororo. There was some sort of….. psychic disturbance. I don't know what it was…." said David, shaking his head to clear it of the strange fog that surrounded it.

Suddenly, Emma burst into the room, drawing the attention of everyone in it. "S-sorry! I was in the bathroom and my mind went completely blank and-… What?" she looked at all of them in surprise. The X-Men and Mark were looking confused; her mother Anne-Marie looked concerned; both Xaviers looked shocked.

David rolled forward in his wheelchair slowly; his was the only movement in the room. "Ms. Frost? Have you been having migraines lately? Headaches at the very least?" he asked, his eyes searching hers warily, worried about what might happen if he read her mind.

"What? Oh! Oh, yeah, yes I have! I was in the bathroom trying to get rid of one just a few minutes ago. Why?" Emma said, looking startled at the question.

"Mr. Xavier? Is everything alright with my daughter?" asked Anne-Marie, her voice filled with concern.

"Yes, I believe so Mrs. Frost," said David, turning to her with a smile. "But I think she just might be the cause of the psychic disturbance. Mrs. Frost, I think Emma here is a telepath."

/\/\Meanwhile, back in Chicago/\/\

"Y-you're a mutant? !" gasped Kitty in shock. "Yep!" said Trisha proudly.

"And you're…. you're proud of that? !" said Kitty, her mind trying to comprehend what she'd just heard.

"Well, of course I am! You should never be ashamed to admit who you were born as! Be proud of who you are, because even if nobody can see the beauty in you, that just means they're too blind to see true works of art!" Trisha proclaimed, clenching her fist in determination.

"You…. You really think that?" asked Kitty, tears once again springing to her eyes. "Yes, I do! Why, you a mutant too?" asked Trisha. Kitty sniffed, then nodded her head.

"….. Parents throw you out?" asked Trisha quietly, eyes full of sympathy. Again, Kitty nodded.

"Well, come on then!" Trisha said fiercely, and to Kitty's astonishment, she held out her hand. "You're not alone, Kitty!"

Kitty looked up at Trisha, warily scanning her face. But nothing but sincere care radiated from her features, and she couldn't hold it back anymore.

Ignoring Trisha's hand, Kitty shot off the ground and wrapped her arms around her, body shaking with suppressed sobs. Trisha, instead of pushing her away, returned the hug. "It's alright. I know," she said quietly.

And that did it. Kitty quietly sobbed into the shoulder of her neighbor, who was practically a stranger, but she couldn't help it, and Trisha didn't reject it.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Trisha gently shook her. "Come on," she said, taking Kitty's hand and pulling her along the sidewalk, "We should go somewhere safer for us mutants."

"Where?" asked Kitty.

"Where else?" asked Trisha, glancing back at Kitty with a wide grin. "My house!"

/\/\/\/\

A/N: So? How'd you like this chap? I LOVE the way it turned out SO much! Anyway, hope you enjoyed, give me your opinions ASAP!
-Wind