Chapter 5

Bam! Bam! The creaking and groaning of the observation deck in the Danger Room seemed not to bother anyone other than Iris, who felt that at any second it might become unhinged and kill them all. She watched as each of the present members of this wacky school took their turn dodging, ducking and smashing their way through this "class". Reassessing her initial thoughts about this being a hippie school Iris mused that hippies were normally nonviolent, she considered labeling the Institute a hipster school but that didn't feel quite right either. Logan interrupted her musings by pointing out a particular maneuver Rogue had just pulled off, explaining the finer points with an attitude of fatherly pride Iris found surprising. Suddenly she realized that she was the only one left to participate in the class, and with the expectant looks she was getting she knew she wasn't just an observer.

"Don't worry, you'll only be at, like, level one. The computer just needs to learn about your abilities so it can formulate strength and weaknesses, so it can, like, help you improve!" the ever cheery Kitty said, trying to comfort her.

"O-ok, so uh… what do I do?" Iris asked looking to Logan, who was supposedly the teacher but she hadn't really seen him teach anyone up to this point.

The burly Canadian just smiled, "You run, you duck and when you eventually get tired of that you fight. See how long you can last."

So basically, survive, huh? Well, that's something I can do. The nerves faded, fighting, surviving, were what Iris was good at. She didn't have to worry about what people thought of her, what it all meant. She could just block the world out.

She grinned. "Bring it on."

Duck, run, dodge. Iris cleared her mind; a well placed energy beam took out the laser gun that just took aim at her. Jump, roll. She slammed into the wall, breathing hard. Duck. Another energy beam severed the swinging ball's chain. Suddenly Logan was in front of her, fists swinging. "What the.." Iris barely managed to duck the fist aimed for her head. He landed a hard punch to the gut and Iris lost it. Firing a rapid pulse of energy at gave her some separation, he was coming back in a second but a second was all she needed. Twisting, she caught Logan across the face with a well-aimed kick and followed it with a quick punch to the gut. He laughed and the lights raised, she heard cheers in the observation deck.

"Well, done Iris, you have some things to work on, but well done." Logan had that look of pride on his face again.

"That was FREAKING AWESOME!" A blonde guy who Iris saw turn into ice exclaimed.

"You're, like, the only person to EVER land a hit on Logan the first time!" Kitty said, looking like she was going to die of happiness.

"Except for Gambit," Rogue amended.

"Yeah, but Gambit doesn't count, he was never a student here." Bobby pointed out.

The others heaped their praise onto her and she could barely do more that smile and blush. Over her peers heads she saw Gambit's grin and nod and took that as another congratulatory 'well done'.

..ooOOoo..

A couple of hours later found Iris nursing a lukewarm glass of tea. Lost in her own thoughts she didn't notice Gambit slide into the room. "'lo petit, Hank jus' called Gambit, da test's fini*"

Iris just nodded, "Ok, lets get this over with." She stood, looking suddenly nervous and Gambit felt the need to say something, "Jus… r'member wat Remy said earlier, d'accord?"

"You know I don't know French right?"

Remy and Iris walked into Dr. McCoy's lab and immediately sensed that the atmosphere was less than happy. Professor Xavier was there, and though Iris was mildly surprised she chided herself, why wouldn't he be here? It was his school, and probably his money that paid for the test.

"Good evening, Gambit, Iris." Xavier nodded to them both.

Hank turned away from the lab table her was at and faced the pair, "I believe the test can be determined valid, though there were some interesting findings," he said, cutting right to the chase. "Iris, as painful as it might be, I think you should try to tell us about your past. As much of it is you can remember."

Before she could say a word Gambit stepped in, "Is dat absolutely necessary?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm afraid so, Gambit." Xavier said steadily, "Dr. McCoy and I have come to the same conclusion about Iris' DNA, but we'd like to hear from Iris herself before we continue"

"What's wrong with my DNA?" Iris looked scared.

Dr. McCoy sighed, "Charles, she should know." Watching Iris fidgeting looking as scared and nervous as she felt and Gambits face drain of color.

"Very well, Iris, you have a very unique DNA sequence as far as I can see…"

"Isn' dat normal?" Gambit demanded, looking at the three faces in the room, "Everyone be unique, non?"

"Yes, and no" Hank explained, " Genetics are anything but exact. We still don't know enough to predict which genes affect certain things and multiple genes can be involved for something as seemingly simple as eye color. We do know, however, that the mother and father each contribute essentially half of the genes in your body. But not all of those genes are expressed some are recessive. And it is also possible to be more genetically related to one sibling than another, same with grandparents. It all depends on who has the dominant genes."

"C'mon doc, cut ta da chase."

"Sorry, I was lecturing. Where was I? Oh yes, the results… Iris is related to you Gambit."

Iris offered a tentative grin and Gambit shrugged, "Gambit t'ought so."

"Not in the way you're probably expecting though."

Gambit and Iris froze, looking at each other.

"I don't know how exactly to put this, but, you are most likely her father, Gambit."

Deafening silence filled the room. The Professor looked pensive. Dr. McCoy looked apologetic and Gambit just looked blank. Iris felt numb, this came way out of left field. It felt like Logan punched her gut again but this one she couldn't push her mind past.

"But it appears that about 4 other mutants are as well…"

Iris sank to the floor her mind was whirling. "H-how?" she croaked.

"I don't know, I'm sorry."

"What am I?" She whispered looking at her hands. "Who am I?"

"There was only one female genetic material contributor," Dr. McCoy said, hoping it might ease some of the shocking news.

"Great, so I have five dads and one mom," she snapped sarcastically, "That makes me so much less of a freak."

"Iris, please, calm down." Professor Xavier pleaded.

"NO! I will NOT be calm right now this… this is crazy! How am I even here? How can I have FIVE fathers? You have got to have some ideas, right Professor? Something, anything?" Iris said, her voice rising to hysteria.

"Iris, are you sure you want to talk about this right now?" Xavier's brown eye's met her violet ones. She nodded. "Then I request that you sit, and calm down before we begin." He looked at her clenched fists pointedly as they had begun to take on the now familiar techno-colored glow. "Now, perhaps you could share some of your story with us."

..ooOOoo..

A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys! It's been a crazy break! First finals, then family and Christmas, then a vacation away from my computer took me from my writing. But fear not! Chapter 6 is ready to go and Chapter 7 is in the works! If any of you know a thing or two about genetics feel free to correct me, I'm using only basic knowledge from an Anthropology class as my background, mixing it with fictional ideas, obviously, but I like to get the real science-y bits right when I write about them. Apologies for any silly grammatical, spelling or sentence problems, my usual proofreader was unavailable to me over break.

Many thanks to my faithful readers and reviewers!

Merry (belated) Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-Amroush

Ps: A new story has been tugging at the corners of my mind! Hopefully I'll jot it down before it escapes me...