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.

It was late at night and Jean began tossing and turning, the room started shaking. Ororo and Scott stepped out of their rooms to see things shaking violently, and her door burning.

"I do not know how any of us get any sleep. Is the professor on his way?" Ororo whispered.

"Um.. I don't know. I'll go find him." Scott replied, as he grabbed his shirt off his bed and threw it on.

Scott walked downstairs and saw the Professor waiting on the elevator. There was no sound coming from it, the lights flickered.

"Professor?" He asked as the lights shook, but the door opened and they both got inside.

"Jean is far too strong sometimes for her own good." He said, as the lights shut off and the elevator began to drop. Scott screamed, the Professor was silent.

Then Scott woke up. He was covered in a thin coat of sweat and breathing heavily. He got his shirt and this time left his room for real, trying to tell himself it was only a dream. He always did have a fear of elevators. And after today, he was a bit afraid of Jean's powers… not of her though. He knew she would never willingly hurt a fly.

Looking at the elevator as he passed it, it seemed to functioning just fine, all the lights were illuminating their section of the hall way. He still decided the stairs were always a better option for him, and continued to creep down the hall way, trying not to wake anyone else up.

Once he got downstairs, he headed for the sitting room to watch the news for as long as he needed to calmly lull himself back to sleep. But as he neared the sitting room, he could see a glow from the TV in the hall way, and the faint murmur of something. He took a deep breath and pinched his arm, which hurt, so he knew he was still awake. And he walked in to see Jean on the couch wide awake.

Scott was about to turn and leave when her voice echoed in his head, "Hello?"

"Hey Jean, sorry, I didn't want to bother you. I was just going to head back to bed." He said, crossing his arms.

"You seem troubled, wanna sit down?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the television.

"Um, sure. About earlier today, I'm sorry." He whispered as he walked behind the couch and then sat down to the left of Jean.

"If anyone should apologize, it should be me. I was hoping that if I showed you that story, you would realize that the transition from human to mutant is never easy, and I thought maybe it would make you feel…not alone?" She was struggling to find her words.

"I didn't anticipate for it to effect me like that, I have replayed the memory tons of times and it's never hit me like that. I think cause it was the first time showing someone else. Any way, I am sorry for what happened. And thank you for calming me down, it was very sweet of you." She turned and gave him a half smile.

"It wasn't a big deal…" He shrugged, thanking the fact the lights were off so she could not see how red his face was.

"Maybe not in your eyes, you're a good guy, Scott." She whispered as she started to curl up into a ball on the couch.

Scott looked at her, he wanted so badly to reach over and touch her hand like she had touched his, or to just hold her. He pushed his thoughts away though and asked, "So what's got you up at 3am?"

"I could ask you the same question. And I think they would even be the same answer. Bad dreams?" She yawned.

"Nailed it." He gave a half hearted chuckle.

"I managed to wake myself up though before turning the mansion into the anti gravity zone. So I figured I would come down here and try to stay awake so others could sleep, but seems like you just have bad luck." She giggled.

"Some might call it good luck, at least neither of us are up alone." He sighed, taking a bit of her optimism.

"I suppose you are right, Mr. Summers." She joked, as she levitated some blankets over to the couch.

"Feel free to stay as long as you want. I like the company." She said as she wrapped herself into a cocoon of blankets and closed her eyes and soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

Peter got up early the next morning, his mom wanted him to help clean up the house for when his aunt, uncle, and niece arrived from Poland. It only took him two seconds to clean the house top to bottom, and also play through an entire game of Pac Man.

"Pietro, I'm going to go pick up Malina and Michal up from the airport. Please, don't go anyway."

"No place worth going to anyway, don't worry so much." Peter said, he hated when she called him Pietro.

He heard the door shut and figured he had 30 minutes before they would be back, and for him that was more like 6 hours, if he had wanted to move at super speed the entire time. He took off out the door, and down the road, within a few seconds he was at the mansion, and then outside the Professor's office.

He watched as Jean came out of the office, he gave a little head nod to her and then walked in.

"Hey Prof!" He said, sitting down in the chair adjacent from the Professor.

"Peter, you missed the session yesterday. I understand why, I just hope you aren't reconsidering your position on the group." Xavier said, as he shuffled through papers on his desk.

"No, it was just my mother's birthday and she has some family coming in, she wanted me to stay home for the week to help out with family. I'm gonna make it though tomorrow for practice. I don't mind family, but I don't enjoy a full house, ya know?" He gave a fake laugh.

"It's quite alright, Peter. Enjoy your time with your family. We will be here when they leave and we can schedule some extra time for some exercises that Hank is designing specifically for you." The Professor said, pulling out a paper that had a blue print sketched out on it for a track with hurdles and various other obstacles.

"I tried doing track and field in High School, Prof. Didn't work out too well. So if you're thinking I can win your school some nice track and field trophies, then maybe you should get Scott, he seems like the 'let me impress people' type." Peter started to get up.

"No, Peter, this isn't just any track, it is for the danger room, there will be MRD people shooting at you, Sentinels, the track will move forward and backwards, and then Hank just wanted to add hurdles for aesthetics. It is just so you can hone your ability in even the most unique situations. Hank designed it." The Professor gave a slight chuckle at Peter.

"Oh, well, I can work with that." Peter shrugged.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Peter?" The Professor asked.

"Nope. I think that was about it. Thanks though, I gotta go before my mom gets back." Peter put down his goggles and waved at the Professor before running off.

He saw his mom's car as he sped past it and back into the house, locking the door behind him as he went back downstairs and put his goggles under his pillow. He shook his hair and combed it nicely. He saw the dress clothes that his mom had picked out for him, but decided to stick to his band shirt and jeans instead.

He heard the door bell ring and knocking on the door. He zipped up the stairs and unlocked the door, "Sorry was playing a game." He lied.

"Pietro, this is Malina, Michal, and Wanda." His mom stepped into the door way, and allowed for Peter to see his family.

Malina was a tall slender woman with pale blonde hair, green eyes, and dressed warmly. Michal was even taller than Malina, also with blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed like some sort of business man. Their daughter stuck out like a sore thumb in the family, there was something off about her. She stood just short of Peter, long brown hair, green eyes, in a scarlet jacket and black sweater and jeans. Her eyes met Peter's. Peter looked away and turned to his mom.

"Well introduce yourself." His mom nudged him.

"I'm Peter. Welcome?" He questioned, looking at his mom, unsure of what she expected of him.

They all came in, and out of the corner of Peter's eyes, he swore that Wanda was not holding her suit case, that it was just floating centimeters below her hand, but when he looked back, her hands were grasped around the handle tightly.

It was going to be one long week, he thought to himself as he followed them into the living room.

"Peter, show Wanda to her room." His mother insisted, as she pulled Malina and Michal aside privately.

Peter sighed, and went to reach for Wanda's suitcase to carry it for her, she quickly pulled away. He looked taken aback. But shrugged it off, and headed up the stairs.

"Your room will be to the right. It was nice to meet you." He forced, annoyed.

"Thank you." She said, with an accent, going into her room and shutting the door in Peter's face.

"You're welcome…" He muttered under his breath.