This was probably one of my favorite chapters to right so far. Mostly because it has a little bit of intrigue, the start to figuring out whats really going on, as well as some well meaning humor courtesy of our dear Wolverine.

XxXxX

The Professor and Jean stared at the 5-year-old Rogue who was, at the moment, playing with the bottom of her sundress. Just earlier they had discovered that the girl might have more power now than when she did when she was older.

"Rogue, could you explain to us your powers? We want to help you." The Professor, who had originally scared the girl, was speaking in a soft tone. Rogue looked up at him and smiled, realizing now that she wasn't in trouble.

"Oh! Of course, sir. See I like Jean. She makes me feel safe and happy. I don't want to hurt her. That other guy that blew up the icky card in my cereal," at this she scowled. "I just wanted him to go to sleep for a while so he wouldn't bother me. I didn't take any of his glowy stuff."

Both the Professor and Jean stared at her, shocked. Not only could this girl control the powers that her older version could not, she could control how much of anyone's energy she took! Jean who had been standing close to Rogue had to go sit down. She was in too much shock.

"Rogue," the Professor said, masking his own surprise at the revelation. "Can you explain to us how you did that?"

"Umm, well when I touched the meanie, I thought about his body and focused on the blue part of his head, which is the sleepy part. The red glowy part is his power, and the pink is his memories." As she spoke, the Professor and Jean couldn't help but be completely shocked at how much this girl knew and wondered how it happened. How everything had happened. The children, the loss of control, everything. Who WAS this girl?

"Rogue, I would like to try something. Would you like to help me?" Rogue nodded. The Professor rolled over to her and looked at Jean, knowing she would be willing to help. "Can you touch Jean and only take the red part?"

Rogue jerked her head up to the woman who she trusted more than anyone at the moment. "What if I hurt you?" Rogue's lower lip stuck out a little and without thinking, Jean kneeled beside her.

"Rogue you won't hurt me. I trust you," Jean smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Rogue closed her eyes for a minute and focused on the images in her mind. In the outside world, the Professor was watching her mind as well, hoping to glimpse at what method this girl had learned for control.

Rogue gently reached out and touched Jean's face lightly. The older of the two felt a sudden pull. Her powers were being taken out of her, and yet the usual unconsciousness never followed. After a couple seconds, the youngest pulled away and opened her eyes. The two mentors starred at the girl for a minute when Jean made the first noise.

"Well?" Rogue looked over at the Professor's desk and reached her arm up, reaching for a juice box she'd had her eye on since the beginning of the meeting. Slowly, the box floated towards the girl. Rogue smiled and ignored her elders, who were lost in their own thoughts. She happily opened the juice and started drinking.

"Rogue, thank you so much for that. Would you like to go back and play now?" Xavier asked. She nodded and jumped out of the chair. When she reached the door, she looked back at Jean, waiting for her to follow. "Jean will be out in a minute, dear. Go on." One last glance behind her and Rogue was off.

"Professor, what does this mean?"

"I'm not sure, Jean. What it does mean is that we both have some thinking to do. I will focus on this situation and you take care of the kids for now. I have some phone calls to make and I hope to find you some back up." Jean looked curiously at the man, but didn't ask. Instead, she wandered out of the room, wondering what this meant for the future Rogue. And what it also meant for the other kids. What had she done to them?

XxXxX

Scott was playing with Logan and Remy. The cars were making noises and every once in a while Remy would try to charge one, but always received a "Don't you dare" glare. So far, all the kids had been manageable, which was a surprise to him.

At the moment, Kitty was playing dress up with Wanda. Both were pretending to fight dinosaurs, with Kitty regularly stopping the game to tell Wanda what she was doing wrong.

Piotr was, once again, napping while Kurt tried ineffectively to bait the metal man into playing with him. After a good 15 minutes, Kurt gave up and moved to play with the girls. Ororo was painting in the kitchen quietly. So far, Scott definitely liked the mannerisms of Ororo the best.

Rogue walked in after an hour away, and immediately Remy got a scary glint in his eye. Scott looked at the boy and back to Rogue. It was obvious that just as their older selves did, the two had some sort of connection. Remy still loved to pester the girl, and Rogue obviously had no interest in him as shown m=by the debacle at breakfast.

Remy leaped up and before Scott could stop him, the child was racing towards the girl with an obvious attempt to tackle her. Kurt saw this and suddenly his brotherly protective instincts leaped into action. He bampfed into action, teleporting to his sister, and then teleporting with her to the ceiling just before the other mutant reached his destination.

Kitty was already trying to get someone in trouble by screaming at Scott aout what everyone else was doing wrong, Piotr was STILL sleeping, Remy was charging cards and flinging them at the blue one, Wanda was starting to make objects fly across the room out of boredom, and Scott had no idea what to do.

He couldn't blast them, Hank had gone to the store to pick up some more kid-friendly food, and Jean still wasn't back. Jumping up Scott grabbed Remy by the ear and dragged him into a corner, focusing on the cause of the problem first.

"Stay in the corner. NOW!" Scott yelled over the madness. He turned around to see Wanda now throwing things at Kitty to get her to stop screaming, Rogue chasing Kurt around the room trying to get back her pony tail older that he had retrieved in the madness, and Logan starting to get worked up in the corner by his cars.

Even trough all the noise, everyone heard a distinct noise that caused them to all freeze.

The man, who WAS the fierce Wolverine, had unsheathed his claws.

With a click.

The whole room fell to the floor laughing. Including Scott.