Stumbling Along the Path

"Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night?" Erik asked, "The feeling that one day, they'll come for you? And your children?"

Xavier wheeled around, "I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble."

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or universe. They belong to Marvel and FOX Studio.

Jean got up bright and early, her parent's were supposed to stop by to visit her and go out for lunch. She didn't hear from her parent's often. Her mom made a point to call from time to time, but she hadn't talked to her dad since winter break when she had gone home for Christmas. She stepped over Ororo who was still asleep on the floor.

They had been up all night talking about boys, movies, music, and anything else that crossed their mind. Jean had been the first one to fall asleep, she had still be mentally exhausted from working with the Professor.

She grabbed a nice blue dress with a white collar, under garments, and a towel. She grabbed her tiny bathroom bag and headed to the showers. Jubilee was sitting in the sink putting on makeup.

"Sleep okay?" Jubilee asked whilst holding her eye open to apply mascara.

"What little sleep I got, but I mean everyone's alive and nothing is burnt so I'd say it was a good night." She shrugged and threw her towel over the towel hook.

She flicked her wrist and turned the water on, it immediately started to steam, which was how she liked it. She folded her dress and fresh clothes into a pile and set them neatly on a shelf before starting to pull off her shirt and sleep pants and tossing them into a less than neat pile on the floor.

She tested the water with her toes, it was scorching but she could hardly tell and stepped in anyway. She would not have noticed how hot the water was if it weren't for the way her pale skin turned bright red as the water hit it, but she didn't mind. She tilted her head back and her wavy hair fell flat under all the water.

She grabbed her favorite shampoo, a tea tree oil shampoo with eucalyptus, and lathered it up in her hands before applying to her scalp, leaving it feeling fresh with a cooling sensation. She inhaled the scent of the eucalyptus which opened up her nasal passages and put a smile on her face as her muscles all relaxed and her worries faded away.

Scott hopped out of the shower and took a towel and shook his hair dry. He wiped the water from his face and grabbed his glasses, finally able to unclench his eyes. He was walking out of the shower room, looking at the ground as he ran straight into Jean.

"Oh shit." He said, looking up quickly to see Jean in her blue dress and hair wrapped up in a towel, her make up was done in a natural look.

"Oh sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going." He apologized quickly, "You look…uhh.. stunning." He word vomited.

Jean blushed and turned her head, "Thanks. My parents are supposed to be taking me out for lunch today. Get some fajitas or something. It should be interesting…" She sighed.

"You don't seem real excited. I may not be the mind reader but I'm sensing you're not looking forward to it." Scott suggested, as they both headed down the hallway.

"It's not that. I mean, I love my parents, but all they ever see when they look at me is the girl who nearly killed them, destroyed the house, and had all the neighbors ready to lynch us. They never really let that go. They are still scared of me." She looked down at the ground ashamed as she spoke.

"I guess I got a bit lucky with my parents already dealing with Alex. The only people who might be afraid of me is the kid I almost torched at school. And I won't ever see him again, so that's a plus I guess. Sorry. I can't imagine how that feels. You're a lot stronger than they give you credit for." He gave Jean a faint smile, and reached out and touched her arm.

She turned and looked at him with a crooked smile, "Thanks. It might sound silly but that actually means a lot to me. I've been working really hard with the Professor. It's just a literal headache."

"Speaking of literal headaches, we have danger room practice. And I haven't seen Ororo or Peter this morning at all." Scott added, looking around for them.

"I don't think we will see Peter. Last night his mind was running with thoughts of his mom and her birthday. I didn't mean to overhear but it was loud. I figure that's where he is at. Ororo was still asleep in my room, I should have woken her up but my alarm will go off any minute and wake her up. I honestly forgot all about danger room. It stresses me out, to be honest…" She sighed, feeling like she didn't have much to contribute to the group.

"Oh my gosh! I feel the same way. It's so stressful for a simulation, I can't even imagine if this was real life. And the Professor wanting me to lead… I can hardly keep one foot in front of the other without tripping some days, and for me to lead a group to avoid people from getting hurt or killed. That's a lot of responsibility to put on a 19-year-old. I should be studying for SATS or something, instead I'm going over and over the plan so I make sure I don't fuck up and get someone killed." He started venting, relieved he wasn't the only one stressed out about it all.

"I know! I wanted to be a doctor and help people, but in a completely different way. And now I'm going to have to balance this, practicing with the professor, and my academic classes. But I think the Professor made the right choice with you as our leader, you've got a solid head on your shoulders, and a pretty cute one at that." She nudged him and then headed off towards the elevators.

"See you in the Danger Room, Scott." She waved.

He stood there with a smile on his face and waved back. All he could think was she called his head cute. He must have stood there watching her walk away for minutes before realizing he still had to find the rest of the X-Men and get everyone into the Danger Room. He knew Jubilee was in the kitchen, Ororo was just waking up in Jean's room, Kurt would be on time, he always was, and Peter was probably not going to show up.

Peter had stayed up all night playing video games, managed to bake an entire cake, set the table, and even steal a rose and vase to decorate the kitchen counter for his mom when she woke up. He had just been waiting in the living room watching the news while waiting for his mother to wake up.

He had been rehearsing what he would tell her over and over in his head. She must have not fallen asleep till late but she was tossing and turning most of the night. He checked his watch, he knew he was going to miss Danger Room practice but he didn't find where it made a huge difference, he was just the guy who ran really fast.

He was about to get up and head back down stairs for a bit when he heard his mother's voice, "Pietro…?"

He was taken aback that he had called him by his birth name, but rushed over, "Hey mom. Long time no see."

"Peter!" She rejoiced, hopping up from the couch and wrapping her arms around her boy.

"Happy Birthday, mom." He smiled, wrapping his arms around her too.

Jubilee walked into the prep room with a glass of tea in one hand and her suit in the other. She watched for a second as Jean was struggling to zip up her suit. She was bending her arms backwards and fumbling around, mumbling curses to the suit.

"Need some help there?" She asked, setting her stuff down for a second.

Jean spun around, "Oh shoot, yeah, that would be great. Sometimes I think these zippers are a bigger enemy than the MRD or Trask." Jean lightheartedly joked, but knowing full well the zipper would not murder her and they would.

"Oh you heard about that…" Jubilee said, remembering what she had heard on the News this morning about the Mutant Response Division that Trask was heading after the incident with Apocalypse, people feared mutants more than ever, even though it was mutants who had saved their skins.

"Everyone's mind has been buzzing about it. I doubt it will get passed senate though, I mean, they can't really just kidnap and lock away mutants they think are dangerous right, that's against our rights as people." Jean continued.

"Some people do not see us as people…" Kurt whispered as he made his way into the prep room, his hair was sticking up in all directions from a restless night of tossing and turning, and getting up late, they assumed.

"I know, but how could they hate us so much?" Jean asked rhetorically.

Everyone else got dressed in silence after that. The Professor and Beast came in shortly after, with a newspaper on the Professor's lap and in Beast's hands was a disc.

They headed off to the control room while everyone was still armoring up. Scott and Ororo finally made their presence and quickly began to change. Scott could sense the tension in the room, though he still hadn't see the news for himself. Ororo was still half out of it as she sleepily put on her suit.

They gathered up and headed into the Danger Room, the silver panels showed them their reflection and they all felt very small. They didn't feel like the X-Men, just a bunch of kids playing super heroes, they felt a weight on their shoulders as the intercom switched on,

"Children," The Professor's voice rang, "My fears have grown with the latest report of Trask trying to pass a bill that would require all mutants to register their powers and if they decide that that power poses a bigger risk to humanity they could possibly be taken by a Mutant Response Division. I have hope that senate will not pass this bill, but hope can only do so much. Sentinels now will only be a fraction of your threats if they pass this bill. So Beast has whipped up a quick simulation of what the MRD might be like to encounter. Scott, you will need to lead your team to escape the MRD, if anyone gets left behind or captured, their X-badge will blink. Those who are captured, we will do another simulation tomorrow of rescuing them from an MRD building. I do not know all that is to unfold from this. But I know we must be ready. You all are far stronger as a team, do not let them take that from you. You are stronger as the X-Men."

And with that, the panels flipped and the simulation began.