First, shoutout as always to the reviews: Canuckle, Cheshire, Retro ... you guys are the best.

Retro - You know ... I've felt the same way myself sometimes. Colton is just so locked up and closed off ... sometimes it's hard to relate to him. But I assure you ... there are some events coming up that are gonna shake even him. Not to mention K has an interesting impact on people ; )

NOW ... I wanted to make this one MONSTER chapter. I mean I was still typing at 10,000 words. But ... at a certain point you just gotta post. So I found a good break and hopefully you all like it. Things are progressing but gimme a break ... inserting K into your life would take some time to get used to.


Peter and Remy were in a good mood as they came out of the hangar. Peter had lost the bet and the two had spent the weekend in New Orleans, getting back late and eager to sleep off the miles ... and drinking.

"I am sorry comrade but net. Your home may be good but it does not compare to Mother Russia." Peter boasted as Remy swatted his claim aside.

"Keep your winters and vodka tin man. Remy jus' showed you why N'awlins is the only place worth goin' back to." Peter simply laughed and swatted the cajun on the back, nearly breaking it but he didn't notice...

"You say that now. But next time we go to St. Petersburg and I will show you - der'mo!"

"Shit"

Both X-Men cursed as they turned the corner in time to watch Colton stumble out of the Danger Room and stagger into the wall. Remy was the faster and got under the panther before he hit the floor.

"Holy! ... Peter ... lil' help ..." Remy gasped out to Peter who was distracted by the trail of blood that led from the Danger Room. What could he have been ...

"Peter!"

"Prosti ... sorry. Hold on." Peter moved to assist Remy but a rumble from the panther had Remy falling to the side and Apex dropping to a knee. The Cajun and Russian sharing a nervous look as Colton braced himself and took deep breaths, his eyes still closed. It hadn't worked ... again ... hadn't meant ... 's***.'

"Colton ... Colton come let's get you to the infirmary." Peter moved to assist the panther but once again all they got was another rumble ... though this one much closer to a growl.

"I'm fine. Just ... go." Remy gave Peter a nervous look but the large Russian smirked and shook his head. He'd dealt with Logan long enough to know the stubbornness of ferals.

"No chance pantera. We go to the infirmary," Piotr rested a hand on Colton's shoulder, "You need rest. I am sure Dr. McCoy can -"

"I said go!" The wall almost cracked as Piotr found himself pushed into it. Remy went for his cards but just as quickly Apex was again headed for the floor and this time Piotr had him.

"I just ... need rest." Apex rumbled, as Piotr adjusted his grip under Colton.

"It's alright comrade. We'll go upstairs, yes?" Apex glanced over at the Russian and after a moment of consideration nodded his head.

"Remy, grab the bags. Say nothing." Remy nodded at Peter's instructions as he and Colton headed towards the elevator. Remy was in a bit of shock. He'd never seen Colton so rough before. What the hell had he been doing in there? He shook his head before following the two larger man, carefully watching the trial of blood.

"The missus is not going to be happy ..." Remy muttered as he followed.

...

"Jesus ... Colton what happened?" Greer tried keeping her voice down as she held the remains of her boyfriends clothes and managed a harsh whisper. Peter had shown up at her door close to 2 am with Colton barely standing on his own. He hadn't said a word, simply nodded at Peter, ripped off his ruined and bloodied clothes and headed straight to the shower.

Apex poked his head out from the bathroom and took one look at the bloodied remains of his training gear and silently cursed his own lack of foresight. He had pushed himself too hard ... with witnesses ... but it was late ... he was tired ... and sore ... he'd planned on Greer being asleep.

"It's nothing. I'll clean it up ... go back to sleep." He quietly stepped back into the bathroom but knew his original plan to quickly shower and fall into bed was never to happen ... three ... two ... one ...

"That is not nothing," Greer hissed as she stepped into the bathroom and quickly closed the door behind her, "Have you been going off grounds without telling me? Did Logan send you out on some ... errand? Is this - did you start up X-Force again? Are you -" Greer only stopped when Colton grabbed her hands in his and gave her a tired look. It had been a while since Greer had seen him so tired ...

"I was in the Danger Room. And you already know what I was doing. We talked about it when you were in California." Greer tilted her head to the side as she thought till it hit her.

"Wait ... this - this is about that? Colton you told me you were going to look into controlling it. Not ... having yourself beaten half to death." Greer rested a hand on his muzzle while her eyes went over way too many cuts and missing patches of fur.

"I want you to find another way." Greer's tone had a finality to it despite the rumble she felt through her hand.

"Greer, this is important."

"I didn't tell you to stop. Just find another way. Promise me."

"Greer ..."

"Promise me ... please. It hurts me to see you like this," and the tigress moved her hand to rest over Colton's chest, her eyes pleading as she leaned her forehead to his. She knew how hard he could push himself - would push himself - if he thought it meant protecting her. The panther looked from the hand and back to Greer before closing his eyes.

"I'll find another way." Greer finally relaxed a little and ran another critical eye over her boyfriend who was once again dripping blood in their bathroom. Jean never seemed to guess why she always needed more bleach ...

"Alright. Now let's get you in the shower and into bed." And for once Apex simply nodded his head and let Greer lead him to the shower.


"Did I miss anything?" Logan ditched his cowl and rotated his head to get that feeling out of his neck. X-Men missions rarely got nasty but today had been an exception.

"Nope. No sign," K muttered, brushing over the fact that Colton had been shadowing her. That was hardly news worthy. If he wanted to watch her comb over Creed's financial info and location tracking ... whatever. Logan however seemed to somehow pick up what K was thinking about.

"You didn't make friends today I take it." K scoffed a little as Logan started messaging her shoulders as he looked over her shoulder at the screen she was working on.

"Ya know, I think all cats just don't like me. Pretty sure that if they have a feline feral mutation - they want to chew on me." K was recalling the most recent growling match she got into with Fuzzy when she clearly looked at Stripes too long. Logan slowly spun K around to find her arms crossed and clearly on edge.

"Pretty sure that ain't true. Greer ain't got nothin' against ya." K let out a breath and tossed her hands up.

"I don't know anything. I can't find Creed. I can't find anything on my stalker ... did you know he wipes every session he runs from the servers and there isn't a single digital file on him? I had to use Kitty's backdoor into SHIELD to find anything and even then it was a shadow file." Logan's brow furrowed. He didn't know K had started looking in Colton. Not that it surprised him.

"Did somethin' happen?" Logan's serious tone was back but K just rolled her eyes.

"Nothing happened. Though at this point I wouldn't be against the alternative." A month ... the asshole had been on her ass for a month. The only reason she hadn't dealt with it herself was her promise to Logan and more importantly her focus on Creed.

"Don't say that K."

"Why? You think Xavier would be that mad if I gave them a new throw rug?" K raised an eyebrow but then both slowly raised as she read the look Logan was giving her.

"Oh ... so that's it. You're not afraid I'd skin the cat ... you think I'd lose." K was already up and had squeezed past when Logan had to grab her arm to catch her before she hit the door. "Just let go. I get it now. All this training has just been a way to distract me." He started to shake his head when she hit home. "You don't expect me to be able to stop Creed either, do you. You've just been ... humoring me."

"That's bull and you know it," K didn't respond beyond glaring at him, "I know this has all been wearin' on you. Creed ... Colton. And it's been a shitty situation all around."

"Right. And it's just one more reason to put me on lockdown," K argued. "Won't let me do anything about it."

"You are doing something about it. You keep your focus on Creed. I'll talk to Colton. Till then just -"

"Be a good little girl and wait for you to save me. Got it." K snarked and with a sharp twist she broke his grip and slipped out the door.


"Can you do it?" Betsy looked up from her tea with a thoughtful expression. As far as she knew this was the first time on record for Colton to be asking anyone ... well for anything. Though she should have known something was up when he'd asked her to join him for chess. Only person he'd ever played with was Xavier.

"I might," Betsy actually felt the rumble Colton put out as he leaned back in his chair, "that doesn't mean 'no' Colton. I just don't have much experience on the matter. And without being able to access mind ... I need research. I'll speak to Logan and -"

"Not Logan," Apex looked up quickly and spoke low, "not anyone. But especially not Logan." Betsy didn't miss the look the panther shot towards where she knew K was sitting quietly tucked in her preferred corner in the library by the window.

"Alright ... I won't tell anyone." Betsy watched as Colton finally seemed to relax. Though now that she was looking he seemed ... worn.

"Colton, are you alright?"

"Hey kid," Apex glanced over at the only person who'd call him that, "we need to talk." Apex took a slow breath, both glad Logan had interjected when he had and wary that the older feral wanted to talk to him. He turned back to see Betsy give him the briefest of nods and with that got out of his chair and followed Logan out of the library and the two walked until they were in one of the mansion's older wings. Eventually Logan seemed satisfied that they were alone and turned to face Colton.

"Been awhile," Logan gruffed as he searched his pockets for a cigar. Apex just stayed silent ... Logan would get to his point soon enough. Besides, there were only so many things the two of them talked about.

"Ya need to back off," Logan stated clearly as he finally gave up his search and looked back at the larger feral, "K's been under enough stress as it is with Creed. I don't need you making things worse for us." Logan watched carefully as Colton tipped his muzzle and did his approximation of a scowl. Kid was easy to read when you knew what to look for.

"Hey, I ain't tellin' you to go give her a hug or bury the hatchet or any of that bullshit But we both know you ain't found a damn thing on her cause otherwise you'd have brought it to me. Right?" There was a pause before Logan continued. "I didn't find anything either."

Apex let out a sigh that sounded like a rumble. At this point he agreed with Logan on everything but his conclusion.

"She's dangerous Logan." Apex tried reasoning but Logan just gave a chuckle.

"We're all dangerous. Besides ... think I'd be attracted to her if she wasn't?" Apex fought the urge to roll his eyes and settled for shaking his head.

"What else do you want Logan?" Apex resettled his gaze as he saw the Wolverine take on a more serious look, "You didn't need to take me here to tell me to back off K." Logan seemed to be considering him as he gave the panther a once over.

"I'm fine. Now what is it?" Whatever Logan saw seemed to satisfy him and he pulled out a thumb drive from his back pocket.

"Got a job for ya."


"I don't know, Jubes. She wouldn't want my help." K sounded dismissive but that didn't dissuade the spunky teen sitting across from her.

"You sure about that?" K set the bridle she was working on in her lap as she turned to face Logan's little sidekick head on. The two were in the barn after class, Jubilee suggesting that K join in on Greer's applied gymnastics class. Word had gotten out and Greer had mentioned to Juiblee that she might ask another teacher for help. Jubilee of course ... had come straight to K.

"Yeah. Pretty sure. Have her talk to Kitty."

"It's just ... I dunno ... Aren't you both supposed to be feral?" Jubilee leaned back on the bale of hay she was sitting on to look up at the rafters thoughtfully.

"Yeah ... We are both feral, though I don't know what THAT has to do with anything," K rolled her eyes and got back to work. Teenagers ...

"See that's what I said. But me, Illyana and Cara were talking and they weren't so sure." K once again put the bridle down and fixed Jubilee with a more pointed look.

"Course I'm sure. Why would any of you say that?" But Jubilee just shrugged as she checked her watch.

"Beats me. Guess it's just cause you act like - well you - and she ... doesn't. I mean it's Greer you know?"

"No, I don't know. And how exactly do I act?" The teen froze a little as she realized she had somehow wandered out of friendly waters and slowly looked back at the lithe brunette.

"Like ... a ... feral?" K fought the urge to growl and reminded herself that Jubilee was close with her fiance.

"We are both ferals." K intoned once again.

"I mean maybe technically but -"

"No ... not technically. Actually." OK ... now K was growling a little. Why the hell would Jubilee think that -

"What are you two talking about?" Jean had just finished putting her horse in his stall when she decided to interject herself in the conversation. Jubilee, sensing an ally, turned to Jean before K could scare her off.

"Is Greer a feral?" Jean fixed Jubilee with a funny look and shook her head.

"Of course not. She's Greer." Jubilee shot K a victorious smile but K brushed her off and instead focused on the red head.

"You sure about that, Ginger? Pretty sure the textbook definition of feral is 'one with animalistic qualities'."

"She's not an animal." Jean shot back quickly, sounding offended for her absent friend.

"Sure she is. And so are you and I. If you're breathing on this planet you're an animal. What the hell's wrong with that?"

"Nothing is wrong with that. But that doesn't make Greer feral." Now K had heard enough.

"OK ... so by that logic, you're not a redhead. I mean, sure .. you have all the qualities of a red head ... but it's just not ... you." K growled. Jean however gave K a slow look before rolling her eyes and started to get up.

"Now you're just being difficult. C'mon Jubilee ... we have class." But K wasn't finished.

"No, I'm just trying to illustrate exactly how stupid you sound right now."

"I'm sure it's about as mature as you sound." Jean smiled as she used that fake-pleasant tone of voice that K despised.

"Go touch up your roots, princess - and adjust that stick up your ass Starting to sound like your husband."

"You have a good day too K." Jean kept her smile as she waved a goodbye over her shoulder.

"QUITTER! I was just starting to have some fun!" The little feral barked after the tall red head as she headed up to the Mansion.

K tried going back to finishing her chores but that conversation just wouldn't leave her. Some students not getting what a feral is ... OK she could understand that. But Jean? I mean the kid was a freakin' tigress and her best friend didn't recognize the girl was a feral? No ... something was clearly going on.

K choose a bit more advantageous seat next to Logan later at dinner, one that let her keep an eye on the tigress in question without raising anyone's hackles. The more K watched, the more it was clear that something was terribly off. It couldn't possibly be that Jean was right. No, that thought never crossed K's mind. Because it was preposterous.

Physically, the girl was half tiger. That was not something to be ignored ... but mentally, she was ... almost like two different people. One moment, Greer was an insecure young woman trying to fit in ... and that didn't exactly jive right. Particularly when it was so clear that she COULD be so very confident. K recalled the time she'd watched Greer teach her class ... she commanded the room in warm, engaging way. But when she got near those she wanted to impress ... the shrinking violet returned in force.

How could the two be the same person? What had happened to her to make her want to deny something that was so very clearly a large part of her physiology? Now that K really thought about it ... she wasn't sure she'd ever even heard the girl growl nevermind roar.

As much as K hated to admit it, it was time to do some digging on the girl. Researching someone that she had no intentions of killing was not something she spent much time doing. Particularly when it was usually far easier to simply talk to the person.


Greer tried ignoring it.

Really she did. After all she was used to it. Or at least she told herself that…

But the fact that it was her… of all people doing it ... That really bothered the tigress. At first Greer hadn't even been certain it was her. A prickling at the back of the tigress's neck had her glancing around when she had been tutoring. Another time Greer could have sworn she caught her from her balcony. And then there hadn't been any doubt ... she'd simply taken to doing it out in the open.

At first it had thrown Greer off knowing she was the one staring. Colton had warned her ... but she had seemed so nice ... pretty sure she'd even stuck up for Greer once ... and now there she was. Just like everyone else. Staring.

And then Jean, Betsy and Kitty had gotten up from their table to head to class, leaving Greer alone to enjoy her lazy afternoon ... and she'd just been standing there, leaning against the island, openly watching. Eventually ... the tigress cracked.

"I get it ... you're new here ... but could you please not look at me like that?" Greer whispered impatiently, her tail twitching behind her. K raised her eyebrow at the young tigress and narrowed her eyes.

"Sure. Just as soon as you tell my why you keep watching me. Plenty of pretty girls around here ... I'm not much of anything special, and I'm sure I don't have any fashion tips you'd be interested in. Unless of course you're just following his orders." Greer actually jerked back as she blinked rapidly, clearly surprised at K's response.

"I - Colton didn't - I'm not watching you for anything." Greer knew that even without K being feral she did a horrible job covering. But she hadn't meant to keep glancing over whenever Logan's fiance entered a room ... or slipping in to watch her classes ... and maybe that one training session with Logan ... it was just that after what Colton had told her, she couldn't get the picture to fit. How this little woman, who was adored by so many students and talked about by all of her friends, was supposed to be some secret killing machine.

"If you say so, honey." K said easily, her head tipping slightly as she just kept staring. Greer swallowed a growl and ran a hand over the bit of bristled fur at the back of her neck. She felt like she was trapped, unable to leave the chair she felt glued to ... God … Please stop staring ...

"I - is there something ..."

"You're very uncomfortable in your own skin." Greer realized K wasn't asking ... and for a moment she just stared right back as K continued to ponder the tigress before giving her head a slow shake.

"That's not true," Greer stood up as her hands closed into fists, causing K to tilt her head back a little but not lose her focus. Though perhaps most flustering to Greer was that K didn't seem to have anything else to say.

"It's not." Greer protested again, though if it was to herself or the little brunette in front of her, she wasn't sure. K just stood there and suddenly Greer felt very nervous, and then sick to the stomach… her tail's swaying coming to a still.

"I - I gotta go." Greer muttered and quickly grabbing her belongings sped out of the kitchen. She didn't need to turn around to know that K was still staring.

...

"You OK?" Greer sat up from her lying position on the bed to face Colton and she noticed how his brows were furrowed together in concern. She sighed and dug a knuckle into her eye, pondering how to answer the question. She didn't want to give Colton another reason to hate K. He had enough for Greer to stress daily that K might be in serious danger but... *sigh* Was she just overthinking this? K technically wasn't doing anything wrong. She was just staring like everyone else ... And Greer bared her teeth a little. Ok, she'll admit it, of all things ... staring WAS the worst.

"I mean if you have something to say, just say it..Don't leave me hanging ..." and the tigress rumbled low in her throat, to her it was worse than whispering behind her back. At least if people whispered Greer could gauge they disliked her and she could stay the hell away from them but just silently staring? What the hell. And all the mixed signals were making her brain hurt. She was pretty certain K didn't hate her per say. But she didn't think K liked her too much either. So should she avoid her? But that seemed to annoy her too. What could she do to make this stop-

"Agh!" Greer huffed audibly, apparently loud enough for Colton to draw himself up and wrap his arms around her, nuzzling her neck until she relaxed a little.

"I'm ... hanging in there," Greer finally muttered, "But I don't really want to talk about it." and she rolled her eyes when Colton gave her a look.

"It's nothing serious. Really. It's just ...," Greer tried thinking what wouldn't come off as a lie, "Some of the newer residents here are making me feel uncomfortable. Thats all." she thought Colton would give his customary rumble but instead he just nuzzled her a little more.

"Want me to get rid of them?" he said simply and Greer rolled her eyes.

"Sweet of you ... but no" she protested but slipped closer into his arms as they lay back down. "I think I can handle this one on my own." She in turn nuzzled him back and wrapped Colton's arm a little tighter around herself and finally ... finally try to get some sleep.


"Hey ... Chloe. Hold back a second?" Chloe gulped and gave her friends a wave to go on without her and the platinum blond slipped her gym bag off her shoulder as the rest of the gymnastics class headed to the showers or running off to prep for their respective dates. Thursday nights at Xavier's after all.

"What's up?" Chloe looked up expectantly at Greer, unsure whether to smile or be serious. She'd only started the class last week and if she had to be honest, she had been apprehensive when she first entered the gym and found an actual tigress waiting for her at the mats seemingly ready to teach her gymnastics. But it turned out Chloe couldn't have been more wrong, class with Greer was great ... though she had the distinct feeling that Greer had thus far been avoiding her and she wondered if it had anything to do with the stuff she said. Chloe shrunk away from those careful green eyes ... Guilt had a little to do with the avoiding thing going both ways.

"Nothing I ... I just wanted to make sure you're enjoying the class." Greer moved to lean against the wall, her arms moving to cross around her stomach, her tail going still when she noticed Chloe staring at it.

"Oh ... yea! Yea the class is great. Gimme another couple weeks and I might actually pass Logan's class." Chloe announced deadpanned, though when she finally broke into a smile and both her and the tigress ended up laughing.

"Don't worry too much about that, with the rate your improving, I'm pretty sure you'll pass."

Chloe smiled and still couldn't shake that guilty feeling. Greer really was a great teacher and super-supportive. All that time Chloe spent staring and whispering about how Greer looked ... well the fur, striped and fangs and the fact that she was the girlfriend of ... him ... had just thrown her off. Way off it seemed.

"One step at a time," Greer teased before losing her smile for a second and seeming to look past Chloe as if checking for something, "so ... you and your sister -"

"Zoe." Chloe helped, pulling some water from her bottle.

"Right, Zoe. You two came in with K right?" Chloe nodded with a look of pride evident on her face. K had quickly become one of Xavier's most popular teachers and it was no secret that Chloe and Zoe were one of the few students that K actually gave the time of day to.

"Yea. Me and Zoe wouldn't have made it a week if we hadn't run into K when we were out there. She was - is ... I dunno it's kinda hard to describe ... she's like our -"

"Protector." Greer said absently, her tail curling slightly.

"Yea! Like our protector. Kinda a ... momma grizzly ... older sister ... bodyguard type of deal." Chloe mashed her hand together and looked up at Greer slightly embarrassed at how she'd went on but Greer just smiled back.

"Sounds like a good friend to have." Chloe nodded.

"Yea ... she is," the blond looked around a little unsure what to say, so she decided to just be honest.

"I really like your class by the way. Kinda the first thing around here that actually reminds me of home."

"Why'd you say that?" Greer tilted her head a little as Chloe seemed whistful.

"I dunno ... Zoe always made fun of me but I really liked my cheer squad." Greer's ears swiveled up as her eyes brightened.

"Wait. You were a cheerleader?"

"Yea but I wasn't great or anything. Nothing like you or Jubilee," Chloe played with her braid, "I was usually in the back. But it was great. Almost all of my friends were on the team. We used to do everything together." Greer's once excited face drooped a little as she watched Chloe. And now that she mentioned it Greer was a little surprised she hadn't noticed it before. Between the platinum hair, wide blue eyes, bright personality and athletic figure Chloe had the classic girl next door look. And she could easily imagine her cheering right along side her and her own friends back in high school. Greer grinned at that.

"Wanna hear a secret?" Greer whispered, earning a surprised look from Chloe who took a step closer.

"Before I was cheer captain ... I was always in the back too."

"What? No way." Chloe didn't buy it. Greer was easily the most graceful person she'd ever seen. And the routine she could do ...

"Yes way. Don't let the feline tricks fool you. Before I was all ... furry, I started off right at the bottom of the pyramid. Oh god ... Vicki used to give me so much crap ..." Greer grumbled at the old memory, earning a giggle from Chloe.

"You know ... maybe we should do some more cheer stuff. Like after classes or something." Greer sounded thoughtful as Chloe suddenly started jumping in place.

"Yes! Oh man that'd be awesome ... we used to do all kinds of stuff on cheer!" Greer grinned, glad the happy teen was back.

"How bout this ... go get changed, grab Jubilee and we'll have dinner together and figure some things out. Sounds good?"

"Yea! I - I'll see you there." Chloe rushed to pick up her things and practically ran to the showers before turning back momentarily and thanking the tigress. Greer smiled as she watched her go, her tail once again swaying.

...

"No."

"Oh come on Zoe!" the blonde begged as she fruitlessly tugged at her sister's arm.

"No I'm not doing your stupid cheer stuff with you and worse ... You're doing it with-" and Zoe looked around a little before continuing," Fuzznut's girlfriend."

"You mean Greer and she's not that bad. She's actually really fun and really really nice."

"Yeah, well ... tell that to K." Zoe raised an eyebrow with that one. But Chloe just shook her head.

"What does this have to do with K?" Chloe asked in exasperation. The last thing she associated with K was cheerleading.

"Well I don't like how fuzz -," Zoe sighed at Chloe's face, "Greer's been treating her OK? She acts all stuck up and runs off whenever K tries to talk to her." Zoe announced, stubbornly crossing her arms. "It's rude. And mean. Especially since it was her psychotic boyfriend that went after K in the first place."

"Well yeah but… I don't know, when I talk to Greer about K, she's pretty chill, I think she's just trying to mediate the tension between K and her boyfriend. But that's besides the point. Come on pleeease." Zoe still shook her head, leaning a little more comfortable into her bed and Chloe sighed.

"Well, if you're not going to do it for me, then at least do it for yourself."

"Myself? What are you talking about?" and Chloe grinned.

"I did outlast you in Logan's class by at least five minutes. You have to admit Greer's class is pretty effective."

"You did not!" Zoe yelled. She'd been working her ass off in Logan's class and Chloe she - she just got lucky.

"Let's go ask K, she was watching our session." Chloe smiled innocently and Zoe groaned.

"Fine." and Chloe tackled her sister in a hug.

...

Greer looked up excitedly from her table when she caught sight of the platinum blonde and Jubilee, but her ears perked up a little in surprise as her sister too made an appearance. A rather reluctant one to boot, though Greer was certain that could change.

"Hey Zoe, its nice to finally meet you." she grinned and the sisters smiled back though Zoe's was a touch more forced. Greer tried to shrug it off, she had already seen it coming a mile away, considering she heard most of their conversations upstairs. Baby steps.

"So are you joining us for our little cheer routine or just for dinner?" Zoe looked up from her pasta a little stumped, she really hadn't considered the rather fierce looking tigress to actually engage her in conversation and quickly tried to cover her space out.

"Both. Maybe. Although-"

"Although?" and Zoe paused.

"Um no offense, but I don't see how something like cheerleading is going to help me pass Logan's class." and Chloe turned sharply to look at Greer expecting her instructor to get angry but the tigress just burst out laughing.

"OK … I get it… Another non- believer. Don't worry you're not the first I met and I'm sure not the last." and Greer winked at Chloe who gave her a knowing look back.

"Well I know cheerleading appears trivial at most but it actually employs a lot of stuff you're going to need to pass Logan's class."

"Like?" Zoe asked skeptically.

"Teamwork for one. Then there's trust, coordination, timing, agility, all that good stuff. But… most importantly, its fun, plain and simple." Greer grinned " and considering the beating you took in Logan's class the other day, I think you can use with some fun…" and Zoe relented… a little…

"Ok fine… Just don't expect me to like wave poms poms and all that." and Greer laughed again, only pausing for a moment when she seemed to see something over Zoe's shoulder, before quickly looking back at the two girls.

"Deal. Though it you refuse to follow my instructions then I just might." she warned and Zoe grinned. OK fine… Chloe was kinda right about Greer… She was pretty OK, and suddenly Zoe didn't feel quite as worried about her decision. This might end up being fun after all.

From across the kitchen, K noted with mild curiosity as Jubilee came to sit with Chloe, Zoe and Greer. That was a sight K hadn't been expecting. But it seemed the foursome were having a good time, though Zoe seemed slightly less enthused than her sister, K eventually turned her attention back to Greer. Was she eating salad ... again?

K paused when she felt a tiredly familiar feeling at the back of her neck and she slid her eyes to see Colton had taken up a spot in a corner of the kitchen as well. Though it seemed for once his attention wasn't on her but on the girls and Greer.

Of course it wasn't long before he too glanced away to lock eyes with K. She smiled tightly and waved just the slightest with the tips of her fingers. She was officially tired of the stupid game that had been going on.

"Didn't I ask you to control yourself?" Logan rumbled next to her, trying to ignore the situation around them.

"I didn't blow him a kiss ... thought about it ... but I refrained." K muttered, glancing back towards the panther in question to see him once again focused on the girls. A part of K was happy his focus was elsewhere but another part of her ... just didn't like someone that she assumed still wanted her dead having that focus on Chloe and Zoe.

"Watch yourself Fuzz." K muttered low enough for not even Logan to hear.


"I should be back in a week." Apex was in the Shack finishing up packing supplies. He'd followed up on what Logan had given him and he needed to act quickly.

"Yup." Greer was leaning against the table that dominated the main room, arms crossed as she watched Colton load his sidearm and slip into one of his holsters.

"I know you don't like when I leave but Logan needs this done. Alone." Apex stuffed the last of the ammunition in his pack.

"Alone ... got it." The panther paused, his eyes narrowing, and slowly turned to face a very innocent looking Greer. She was nervous ... which was expected. But this was a different kind of nervous ...

"Greer."

"Yea." She had been glancing at the clock but quickly looked back at him.

"What's going on?" Apex looked at Greer seriously as she seemed intent on not giving anything away. She was getting slightly better at it.

"Nothing." Apex noted she crossed her arms, tail slightly curling. Defensive.

"You're nervous." Greer's eyes seemed to go big for a moment before settling as the tigress pushed off the table.

"Of course I'm nervous. You're going on some super-secret black ops mission ... I'm not going with you. How'd you expect me to act?"

"Like you're not waiting for me to leave." There was a single beat where the thump of Colton's tail was clearly heard.

"Colton," Greer slipped her arms around the armored panther, "if I had it my way, you'd never leave on one of these things again. Just come back in one piece. OK?" Greer nuzzled into his chest and Apex sighed as he let the matter drop.

"I will. And remember -"

"Stay away from K. Got it." Greer lightly purred as she wished her boyfriend good luck.

...

"K ..."

"You know, I'm not going to talk to you ... unless you plan on staying long enough to have a conversation." Greer took a deep breath, she should have seen that coming but she wasn't going to let that snarky comment get to her. She had spent the last day planning and had timed things perfectly. Colton had left twenty minutes ago, Logan was teaching history, and K was drinking her afternoon coffee by the window in the teachers lounge. Alone. Perfect. Greer had tried to get what K had said to her out of her head ... but it had stuck. And the only way to get it to unstuck, is to now give K a straight and honest answer. She'd rehearsed it a dozen times. But now ... with K once again staring straight through her ... her mind was blank and she said the first thing that hit her.

"I''m not a feral." and Greer rolled her eyes at herself. This was not how her rehearsed speech went…

"How's that?" K closed the book she was reading to better look at the young woman clearly fighting the urge to turn tail.

"You said I'm not comfortable in my own skin. And that - that might be true ... sometimes. But I - I know what I am. I'm a mutate." Greer said it as if that explained everything and K could see how that one explanation had taken the breath out of the girl. Still didn't explain things though.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean? You gonna clue me in cuz I guess I'm not up to date on all these damn terms."

Greer blinked.

"What does it mean? It - it means ..." K could pick up on it, the accelerated breathing, the dilated pupils, the heartrate ... anxiety, fear, anger ... they were radiating off of this girl just from her bringing up the topic, "it means that I'm not like you alright? It means I wasn't born this way ... that this was /done/ to me. Satisfied?"

"OK. Tender subject. Didn't mean to flip your switch. So. You've been forcibly mutated. Now what?"

Greer's head actually jerked back fast enough she thought she'd had whiplash.

"Now ... what do you mean 'now what'?"

"Well ... now what? Do you try to go back to who you were, or do you embrace who you are now and be the most fierce damn tigress on the planet? What I would do." K muttered, but Greer just honestly stood there, tail flipping silently behind her. She had spoken about this to anyone in ... years. And K - no one had ever said anything like that to her before. Ever.

"It doesn't matter," Greer seemed to deflate a little as she wrapped an arm around her stomach, "I can't go back ... my DNA is too messed up. Doctor said she was surprised I could still talk ..." Greer's sounded a little distant as she finished, her ears pressed against her head. Shed' come in here to tell K that she knew who she was ... not tell her everything she didn't tell anyone else. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea ...

"I'm not sure if you need a hug or your ears scratched." K joked, getting Greer to refocus and give a half-smile.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bring you down. I just ... don't really talk about this stuff."

"So ... what do you like talking about?" Greer considered things for a moment before answering.

Well ... I dunno ... fashion and shopping or -"

"Oooh. No. Save that for Jean. I can't do that. Allergic." Greer didn't seem to know how to respond to that particular reaction and K mercifully decided to just move on for both their sakes...

"If you don't mind me asking ... why are you talking to me? Why now?" Greer smiled sheepishly and tucked some hair behind a ear as her tail curled around her feet. The last month of carefully avoiding K flashing through her mind suddenly had her feeling guilty.

"Well ... it was Logan actually." Greer had found the older feral out doing his mediation just the other morning. One of the rare times she actually knew where to find him ... and find him alone.

"Ah. And what did he say that got you to disobey your lord and master?" Greer's timid demeanor vanished and for a moment K got a glimpse of something.

"Colton is not my! - that is ..." Greer closed her eyes and took a breath, missing the slight frown from K, "well aside from giving me a break down of what you've gone through since you got here," K shifted uncomfortably for a moment, "and how well you've bounced back from all of that - and not blamed him like some people would do, and how happy you make him ... he told me about the mission."

"What mission?" K tilted her head a little

"The one where ... well the one where you saved that little girl during the firefight." K's brow furrowed as she recalled that particular mission.

"But that wasn't anything special. I'm surprised he even remembers it." K said softly, Greer warming to the woman simply from her humble reaction and took a few steps closer.

That there was a little girl somehow caught in the middle and you didn't even ask for cover, you just ... ran out there, picked the kid up, and made it back to the jet." K looked at her entwined fingers, her lips parted. She didn't feel the need to fill in the part where she sliced her way back through a dozen bad guys as she let the tigress continue. "Logan told me the kid wouldn't let you go the whole ride back."

"That man talks too much," K muttered under her breath. She let a moment pass before she took a breath and held it for a second. "Logan told me about you too you know." Greer's ears swivled straight up as K looked up at her. It had never occurred to her that K would have even asked.

"And ... what did he say?" Greer asked a little bit nervous ... but more out of curiosity.

"Just that you're important to him. And you have a good heart. Generally speaking." Greer's smile was evident as she did her approximation of a blush ... ever since she'd gotten back and this whole thing with K and Colton had been going on ... she hadn't spent nearly as much time as she normally did with Logan. Which bothered her a little more than she let on. So it was good to hear he still considered her one of 'his girls.' She'd always loved hearing people say that.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Greer watched as K leaned back expectantly.

"Go right ahead."

"Why does Colton hate you so much?"

"I'm not the one with the problem there. If you paid attention, you'd see I haven't said two words to him since he attacked me." K shot back. Greer looked a bit like she wanted to say something but thought better of it. K looked at her for a moment before getting up.

"Come grab a bite with me." she said simply and Greer looked at her in surprise. She didn't see that one coming considering how she sounded about Colton ...

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure ... or do you need to phone your boss first?" and she grinned a little when the kid bared her teeth in response. There it was ...

"No. Agh .,. Lets just go." and K elbowed Greer good naturdley as she got out of her seat.

"Relax Tigger ... you need to relax." she announced before stepping next to the taller woman as the two headed for the hopefully empty and quite cafeteria.

"Easy for you to say." Greer mumbled. It didn't miss her notice that while the two garnered there fair share of looks walking down the hall, there was a decidedly different look K got ... as to the one Greer was used to. K seemed to pick up on the tigresses tone and gave the tigress yet another measuring look.

"You know it helps to embrace it."

"Been there ... done that." Greer said tiredly, mentally placing K with the long list of other people who had tried 'helping' her with her ... furry problem.

"No I mean embrace it. No more of this self-pity bullshit. You're a freakin' tigress for gods sake. You should be owning that. Of course, that's entirely up to you. Ain't my thing to push if it's not wanted," K said dismissively and Greer thought hard for a moment… Every time someone had tried to make her "feel comfortable in her own fur" as they put it… It always ended with her feeling like something exhibited, strapping her at the front of a pride parade she didn't ask for…. Then again… None of them seemed to have a way with her like K did… Besides… she was really starting to like K… A lot… and with the added bonus of being comfortable with herself? That was next best thing to feeling normal… Right? It was worth a shot. Greer would do anything to feel next to normal… and the tigress finally looked up.

"I think I'd like that."

"Excellent. It's probably about time we got to know each other anyhow. You are one of Logan's 'girls'. And ... I don't want him to feel like he needs to pick a side."