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.

A/N: I will be on vacation all next week so I won't have any updates but I plan to come back with lots of stories for the young mutants.

Jean pulled into the drive way a bit too fast and slammed on the breaks, Scott held on to his seat with one hand and glasses on the other.

"Okay, now put the car in park, and let me get out." He laughed.

She gave him a slight jab in the arm, "I got this, hold on."

She slowly pulled the car into the garage and parked it, a tad crooked but overall fine. Scott quickly unbuckled his seat belt and hopped out of the car and took a deep breath.

"Oh sweet life, how I love thee." He said with a deep breath.

"It was not that bad. At least I passed the written, so I'm not a complete dunce." She jested, linking her arm in between his.

Scott's face blushed, and he dropped the conversation as they walked back into the mansion and went to go find Kurt and Ororo.

Jean was so happy she had managed to pass the test, she was happier though to be out of the horrid DMV, filled to the brim with people and thoughts. Scott was just happy to see a smile on Jean's face, and also that they had survived the returning trip home with an ecstatic Jean at the wheel.

"We saw Peter!" Kurt and Ororo said, dropping their books and running into the hall to Jean and Scott.

"Wait, what?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, Peter came by to talk to the Professor, and he brought some girl with him too. They just took off, which is a shame because we were going to go to a festival tonight. I found a flyer in the mail about it. I thought it would be cool!"

"Wait, scratch the festival thing for a minute, who was the girl?" Jean asked, her head cocked to the side.

"No idea, I saw ihr standing in the door way. She was Ororo's height and in a dark red dress, I overheard the Professor talk about her being very gifted." Kurt chimed in.

Ororo's face teemed a bit with jealousy, "She was alright, but there's a multicultural festival taking place by Coney Island, and there is supposed to be rides and fireworks and dancing."

"Pity that Peter isn't here to go with us." Jean gave a quick wink to Ororo.

"Vhat time does the festival start?" Kurt asked.

"According to this flyer, looks like it starts around 6 tonight. Should we go find Peter and his friend and see if they want to come too?" Scott asked, as he pointed to the flyer in Ororo's hand.

"Yeah that probably would be a good idea. Also Jubilee and maybe that Bobby kid would want to go." Jean noted.

"We have a couple hours until time to leave, so we should study some more." Ororo mentioned to Kurt.

Kurt nodded and bamfed back onto the couch.

"Well you guys have fun, I think I'm going to go make something for lunch. You guys want anything?" Jean asked, as she started to turn towards the kitchen.

"No thank you." Ororo said, as she left to go study some more.

"Scott?" She asked, realizing he hadn't answered.

He snapped out of his blank stare, "Oh. No, I will go with you. I can make something for myself."

They both headed towards the kitchen. Jean telekinetically opened up the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. She shut the door and opened up a cabinet to look for something easy to fix. She settled on some mac & cheese, but decided to eat an apple while she worked on it.

Scott began to make himself a sandwich, they were out of turkey though so he settled for ham and cheese although his stomach was set on turkey. He grabbed the lunch meat and cheese and then grabbed the bread from the cabinet.

Jean sat down while she waiting for the water to boil, "Do you think it will be risky for us to all go to this festival?"

Scott swallowed the bit of his sandwich and took a gulp of water before opening his mouth, "I think it will be fine so long as everyone behaves and doesn't act up. I mean, most of us are passing, and if anyone messes with Kurt, we will take care of it like we did last time." His head ached as he remembered the last time.

"I suppose." Jean said, nervous about the event. She got up and went to stir in her mac and cheese.

"All in doubt you can use your little Jedi mind trick. 'These are not the mutants you are looking for.'" Scott teased, waving his hand like they do in the movies.

"But what if I'm the one that goes rogue…" She sighed, sitting back down and taking a sip of her water.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Jean. With all that power that you have, I would say you are doing the best out of all of us." He scooted his chair closer to hers and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks." She said as she got up and began to drain the water from the noodles. She levitated over the cheese and mixed it in. She levitated over a smaller bowl and spoon. She fixed herself a bowl and left the rest for Scott. She went to walk out of the kitchen but instead ended up levitating just centimeters off the ground as she went outside.

She sat down on a stone bench and began to eat her mac and cheese, there was something incredibly peaceful about the plants. The smell of the mint was soothing mixed with the rosemary and sage that she had planted in the spring. She had been sitting there for a while when she heard loud music, then she saw Peter with his headphone in his ears, but they had come disconnected from his music.

"Peter!" She shouted.

"Wha-?" He pulled out his headphones and noticed the noise. His face turned red as he turned off his music.

"Where's your friend?" Jean asked him, as he started to walk her way.

"Oh Wanda. Dude, that's my sister. I see that look. That's just gross." Peter joked, as he picked up her bowl of mac and cheese and began to eat it.

"Just help yourself." Jean added sarcastically.

"Don't mind if I do. Where's four eyes?" Peter said with his mouth half full of mac and cheese.

"Last I saw him he was in the kitchen. He was wanting to talk to you anyway." She was cut off by Peter taking off.

Scott felt a breeze in the kitchen and looked up to see Peter with Jean's bowl of mac and cheese and his goggles on his face.

"Hey four eyes, what's up?" Peter said, putting another spoonful of easy mac into his mouth.

"It's Scott. And we've just been killing time. Where have you been? You missed the last two danger room sessions." Scott mentioned.

"Been busy with family. Found out I have a sister, crazy, I know. So Jean said you were wanting to talk to me." Peter said, picking up Scott's drink and finishing it off.

"Uh.. it's not nearly as formal as that. We are all going to a festival at Coney Island this evening, we thought we should invite you and your… sister? She another of Magneto's long lost children?" Scott jested.

"Dude, he's my dad. Lay off. But yeah, yeah she is. My mom gave her to my aunt in Poland to take care of cause I guess she could only handle one mutant at a time. But whatevs." Peter said, ignoring the question about the festival.

"So was that a yes or a no on the festival? Sort of need to know so we can let the Professor know before we take off." Scott said, getting up to get a new drink.

"Yeah sure. We can meet you there, no need to drive. I get better miles to the gallon than your hunk of metal." Peter winked and got more mac and cheese from the stove.

"Fair enough, just try not to get caught. We don't need to be using our powers any in public. Not with the MRD poking around." Scott advised as he got a bottle of water.

"Well there's definitely no need for YOU to be using your powers. Mine don't do any damage." Peter joked.

"So we will see you there at 6." Scott said, biting the side of his mouth and ignoring Peter's comment.

Peter slid back down his goggles and gave a thumbs up and was off. He went to the Professor's office and just went in.

"Peter, that was quick… well I mean… you know what I mean." Xavier rubbed his head and chuckled.

"Yup! Wanda is gonna come here and stay. And I will also be back for good. We have come to the consensus that it would be much safer on our mom and family if we keep away from them. They keep Wanda basically on lockdown anyway because her anxiety sometimes triggers warped realities in the middle of grocery stores. I know it is not going to be easy on my mom, I don't think her family will think twice… but it's for the best." Peter rambled and pushed his goggles up his face and into his silver hair.

"I understand." The Professor said as he grabbed a key and handed it to Peter, "Wanda can have the room next to yours. I feel she will be most comfortable there for the time being." Xavier could sense the indecision in the young mutant. They had both been struggling with feelings towards Erik. And the answer would not come as easy or as simply as Peter may have thought.

Everyone got out of the car, how they managed to fit everyone was a mystery. Ororo had laid across Bobby, Kurt, and Jubilee in the back seat, and Scott and Jean had taken driver and passenger seat.

"Okay, we all will meet back here at 7:30, we have an early morning tomorrow with a Danger Room session so let's try to not make it super late. And also no powers. Please do not give anyone here a reason to call the MRD." Scott advised as he put on his jacket.

"Relax, Cyke. We'll be on our best behavior." Jubilee gave him a wink and grabbed Kurt and Bobby by the arms and took off towards the live latina music.

"Oh boy…" Scott murmured.

"Don't worry, Scott. They will be fine." Jean said, linking arms with him and Ororo as they headed off to look at the stands.

There were tons of tents set up with merchandise, some Hispanic stands, celtic stands, African stands, and a ton of just general hippie stands selling crystals and incense. They all walked to the first stall and saw all sorts of pretty crystals.

Jean was mesmerized by all the colors of the crystals, Ororo was more interested in the small bonsai plants that an elderly Chinese couple were selling. Scott was looking back and forth, and trying to keep his eyes on the kids by the live music, and also keeping his eyes open for Peter and Wanda. It was giving him a bit of a headache.

"Oh look a cupcake vendor!" Jean chimed as she grabbed Ororo who was purchasing a small tree.

They walked up to the cupcake vendor van and noticed that it was extremely unique, it had the option to pick your cake, then your filling, and then your icing and toppings. It was like the build-a-bear of cupcakes.

"Oooh the espresso cake sounds so good but I have no idea what I would put with it." Ororo said, looking over all the options and combinations.

"Lemon sounds delightful though!" Jean said, as she went over and grabbed Scott to show him.

"I'm not really a sweets person." He said.

"Oh shush, everyone loves cupcakes." She said, "We can split it. In this heat I would get sick eating a whole cupcake anyway."

"Okay, fine, but nothing too sweet, maybe something fruity?" Scott suggested, squinting at the options.

"Deal. Can we get two lemon cupcakes with strawberry filling and strawberry buttercream… and for toppings… just raspberries!" Jean ordered and pulled out her wallet.

"I got it, don't worry about it." Scott pulled his wallet out, Jean shrugged and let him.

Ororo was still knelt by the choices on a cute chalk board, still trying to figure out what she wanted. By the time Scott and Jean had gotten their cupcakes she had finally come to a decision.

"Okay, I would like your white chocolate espresso cake with marshmallow filling and dark chocolate buttercream, but no toppings." She paid for her cupcake and sat down at a small table with Jean and Scott while she waited.

"Oh my gosh. This is the best cupcake I ever had." Jean said, after one bite of her cupcake.

"Oh wow these are really good." Scott agreed, taking off the raspberries and eating them.

"Shhh… I have not gotten my cupcake yet!" Ororo said, smacking them both on the legs. She watched them marvel at their cupcakes while she waited on her own, and as she got it and bit into it, she too found herself in a cupcake heaven.

She said something in Arabic, but nobody asked what, they were all far too busy enjoying their cupcakes.

They walked around a bit more, they had yet to run into Peter or his sister. And the most they saw Jubilee, Bobby, and Kurt was when Ororo went to get some kettle corn to take back to the institute and caught them in line.

They ended up staying much later than planned, finally seeing Peter for a short period of time while they were getting on rides. The night was peaceful and ended in a blast… of fireworks in the rear view mirror of the car as they all drove back to the mansion for the night. It felt like they were really just teenagers for the night.

Kurt and Jubilee flirted back and forth as they both said good night and headed to their rooms, Jean gave Scott a peck on the cheek and smiled as she saw his cheeks turn the color of her hair, Ororo was so excited about the discovery of kettle corn she didn't care what else happened. Everyone was happy, just purely happy for the first time in a long time. For once they were just teenagers, and not the X-Men. Of course… tomorrow was a new day and the X-Men were still needed.