I do not own claim to any of the X-Men or their universe (just my girl Mimik) and I make no money from this. Enjoy!

The ground shudders as the basketball court splits in half and begins sliding apart.

Once it's open, revealing a large opening, the Blackbird lowers down into it, the ground sealing up behind it.

Below in the basement of the institute, the jet's ramp lowers and the X-men start to emerge, some a little worse for wear, but mostly uninjured.

Iceman is hopping on one foot, being helped by Beast whose other arm seems to be bleeding from a small gash.

Jean and Cyclops follow Xavier down the ramp, discussing their mission.

"I don't see why we let them go Professor. We could have brought at least a handful of them to justice finally. What did Magneto say to you?"

Xavier looks up at Cyclops with a serious look on his face, "He threatened the safety of our school and students. I thought it best to wait for a time when we could capture Magneto himself. His Brotherhood won't be as organized without him."

Wolverine joins them, cracking his neck and saying, "I dunno Chuck; his blue girlfriend seems to help him a lot with the brain work. I think you shoulda let me kill Creed though. No one would miss that bastard, he's just a bodyguard."

Jean frowns, "We are not murderers Logan. We capture, not kill."

"Speaking of murderer, is the rest of school ok? We left everyone here, with her running around and only Gambit and Rogue in charge."

Wolverine stiffens, obviously fighting the urge to attack Cyclops. "I already told you, she's not going to hurt anyone."

Cyclops points at him, "You told us what she said, she doesn't even know what'll happen to her now that she's of the drugs that kept her under control, if you can call that control…"

Xavier holds up and hand to Logan, whose fist was reeling back, ready to punch Cyclops. "We've already discussed this; we are keeping an eye on her for any changes. She has already shown much improvement while being here. She eats more and is beginning to sleep comfortably and although she is avoiding most of the student body, there are those that she is beginning to either tolerate or become friendly with. You must admit Scott, that she has not shown much inclination towards excessive violence since she has been here."

Wolverine crosses his arms and glares at the other man.

Cyclops shakes his head, "We all saw what she did Professor, and she's admitted to killing a lot more. She's trained to kill, she may have been a normal kid one time, but they've twisted her too much. She's just a weapon now, not a person."

By now all the others have left to go tend their wounds and eat something, leaving Jean, Xavier, Cyclops, and Wolverine.

Xavier sighs, "I fear that words are not enough to dissuade your opinions. We will continue to watch her, but maybe we should try to make more of a connection with her. Maybe I could counsel her like I do with some of the others."

Jean shrugs, "She hides from everyone and then what happened at the gate and the rumors that Scott and Bobby are spreading have made some of the student afraid of her. Kitty, Kurt, and Forge seem to be advocating for her though. And honestly Professor, after what I saw her do, she scares me."

Xavier frowns and looks at Wolverine, "What about you? Have gained any more ground with your daughter?"

Wolverine's anger falters as he says, "Not really, Chuck. I don't know what to say to her. Hey sorry I didn't come back and rescue after you helped me escape, I sorta forgot you were my kid."

Jean nudges Cyclops and they leave the other two and walk out of the hangar.

"I mean I thought my life was all sorts off messed up, but now I know she's had it worse an did nothing for her… I'm not dad material either. I can remember chunks of our life before Project X, but it's like watching a movie, it doesn't seem like that person back then was me."

Xavier nods understandingly and then says, "You always tell me one of the reasons why you live the way you do is because you don't have anything to live for. Well she's your reason. From what I saw of her mind, before she blocked me out, she's scared Logan. She doesn't show it because in her eyes emotions are a sign of weakness, but she's been taken away from the only thing she's known, as harsh as that may have been, and brought to a place where she doesn't know how to act or how to reciprocate kindness. Today, with the new wheelchair, that was extremely difficult for her and to come so far this soon is amazing. But like her father, she learns to adapt quickly. You say you don't know how to be a father, Logan, but she doesn't know how to be a daughter. To be loved, shown kindness, to be protected, these things you can give her Logan. You can both teach each other, and in doing so, learn so much more about yourselves."

Wolverine runs a hand through his hair and says, "Yeah, I know you're right, Chuck, it's just difficult."

"Any new relationship is tough, Logan."

He grunts in agreement and walks away.

Xavier sighs, imagining the trials his X-men have yet to go through and hoping that someday everyone will find the peace that they're fighting so hard for.

.

I eye the odd looking creation in front of me.

"This is a burger? I always heard the soldiers talking about them as if they were some kind of wonderful delicacy. This is a clump of greasy meat covered in old vegetables and fake cheese on bread."

"Itsh grea you shou try ih."

I look up at Kurt and raise an eyebrow at his statement made around all the food in his mouth. He had already taken a huge bite of his food and was munching away happily.

"Well it smells… good at least."

I pick the messy burger off of the tray and hesitate before quickly taking a bite. Kurt's watching me intently for my reaction as I chew and once I swallow that chunk I look up at him and say, "That was actually pretty good! This is the first time I've ever eaten fast food and I think I like it."

In truth it tastes like chemicals and oils, but I didn't want to upset him.

It drips onto my lap and I growl. Kurt laughs as I wipe away the sauce with a napkin, looking around to make sure no one heard me.

The restaurant is crowded with young people, just like the school. I was nervous at first when entering, but Kurt just told me to sit down at a booth in the corner (like he knew that I would want my back covered) and went off to order our food.

The restaurant itself smells like body odor, cooking meat, and burnt oil and it was noisy. Everyone is trying to talk over each other even though many are crammed together at the same table or booth. It wasn't very clean either, I could see a permanent brown color to the, what I'm assuming was white, tiled floor. The floor under our table was sticky and the table was covered in crumbs from the previous occupant's meal.

"Is this what you would consider a popular place?"

He takes a long draw on his soda and nods, "Everyone comes here. It may look bad, but this kind of food is what the youth America lives on."

"No wonder you've gained weight since being in the facility."

He frowns and I quickly say, "I mean you were too skinny before and you looked malnourished; now you look healthy, full of nutrients and what not."

He grins and says, "Yeah, it's this American food, even in Germany I didn't eat this luxuriously for so cheap."

I take another bite of the burger and glance around the room again, stopping when I spy a group of girls our age, staring at us and whispering.

I look down at my food and say, "We're being watched."

Kurt snaps to attention and looks around, "From where?"

"Look to your left, two tables back."

I look up at them out of the corner of my eye as Kurt glances around casually and then turns back to me. "Do you mean those high school girls?"

I nod and he bursts out laughing.

I glare at him, "What?"

It takes him a minute to stop laughing and he says, grinning, "Those girls are trying to figure out if they know us. People like them are the gossip squad in high school, similar to Kitty and Jubilee and Tabitha."

I recall the two times I've spoken with Kitty and cringe. I begin to listen in to their conversation to find out if Kurt was telling the truth.

"Seriously, did you see her outfit? That is so last year!"

"Who cares about her, what about the guy she's with? He's kinda cute, almost mysterious looking. Do you think they're dating?"

"I can't tell, the way he looks at her says yes, but she seems weird. Like, I dunno, she doesn't seem normal."

"Maybe she's his sister or something."

"Let's go see after we finish eating."

"Okay, but what if she gets upset."

"Really Tiffany? People don't get upset at us, they get jealous."

"That doesn't make sense- oww! Why did you pinch me?"

"Hurry up and eat your salad."

I stop listening after that and frown, looking back at Kurt.

"Some of them think you are 'kinda cute' and they think I act strange."

He raises his eyebrows and glances back over, "Really? They think I'm cute?"

I nod, "And they plan to come over to find out if we are 'dating' after they finish eating."

Kurt nearly chokes on a French fry he popped into his mouth. "What? Dating? But- but we're not- I mean- Uhh…"

I watch as his face becomes a bright red color, I bet his fur would be turning very dark.

"If you wish to go speak with the girls you can, you have no obligation to me. It would be another good test of the inducer. This is what it is mean for, is it not?"

He looks down at his hands, silent. I don't understand what his issue is and why he keeps blushing. If he is attracted to one of the girls he should attempt to woo her, not sit with me in embarrassment.

The silence is broken by a buzzing noise coming from his coat pocket. He jumps and reaches into his pocket to pull out a cell phone. As soon as he flips it open I can hear Logan's worried voice. Kurt smiles and glances up at me when Logan mentions my name, "Mien Freund, calm down! Kim is perfectly fine, she is with me."

I can hear Logan sigh and he asks Kurt something. "We're at Big Bob's and yeah we did borrow your motorcycle."

"No, I'm not joking. Kim drove us here and now we are finishing our meal."

"Why would I be lying? Oh because of that, yeah Kim and Forge came up with something to fix that. I really can't go into detail Herr Logan; we are in a crowded restaurant."

"Fine we'll be heading back shortly."

He snaps the cell closed and looks up at me grinning, "It seems we may have caused a bit of worry when the X-men came back. Logan went to find you and when he couldn't he discovered the missing bike."

I laugh, "Were they afraid I left and went on a… fit?"

Kurt frowns and shrugs, "I do not know fraulien, but I did say we'd be back soon."

I glance down at my half eaten burger and the untouched fries, "I guess I won't be able to finish, but we can wait long enough for you to finish while I eat my fries and finish my soda."

The soda so far has been the only "junk food" item I have truly enjoyed, the carbonation and the sugars with the multitude of flavors is just a good combination.

We eat the rest of our food in silence. I'm still watching the room, but every so often when I glance at Kurt I find him staring at me. He quickly looks away whenever I catch him, but I find it quite odd. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement and look back at that table with the girls. They're getting up to throw their trash away.

"I think we better go…"

"What? Why?"

"We are about to be surrounded and unless you want to be asked a lot of questions that clearly make you uncomfortable, we should leave."

He looks over his shoulder at the groups of girls and goes wide-eyed and quickly slides out of the booth. I follow suit and we hurriedly toss out unfinished food and trash into the nearest bin and rush out the door. I turn to see the girls all glare at me and some put their hands on their hips indignantly. The one who was pinched earlier, who also seems like the least intelligent, smiles and waves goodbye to us before getting pushed into a couple walking by with their milkshakes; making a huge mess.

I laugh and hop on the bike, pointing it out to Kurt who begins to laugh as well.

He gets on behind me again and I say, "Do you trust me now?"

He gulps but nods and says, "But let's stay within the speed limit please."

I chuckle and rev the engine. He hesitantly places his hands on my waist this time and then tenses. I look back at him and smile, smelling his fear, "Ready?"

He blushes for some reason and then nods again. I drive us off, back the direction we came from the mansion.

.

"So she went to a fast food restaurant with Nightcrawler then? Then why do you look so stressed, Logan?"

I glare at Jean and glance at the front doors, running a hand through my hair.

"I dunno, it's just when I thought she left for good, I- I dunno…."

Gambit smiles, "You'd have missed da girl."

"You just keep outta this Cajun. You were supposed to be watching the mansion with Rogue while we were gone."

I glare at him and he grins, "No one told us, mon ami. We had just gone out on a lovely afternoon when the alarm sounded. It was quite de time too."

He winks at me and I roll my eyes, of course we couldn't rely on him. Then again, I'm surprised they ever rely on me, with the amount of times I've just up and left 'em.

"What I'm more curious about it is how Nightcrawler was able to sit in a restaurant like that and not be noticed. Normally he gets it to go…"

I glance at Jean again, sitting in one the puffy chairs in the entryway and nod, "He said Kim and Forge came up with it, the only thing I saw was that chair for Chuck."

Gambit chuckles, "Gambit more interested in why dey would go to der alone. Meybe the blue-boy putting' de moves on Kim?"

I stop pacing, I didn't even think about that… How am I supposed to react to that? Should I talk to them? Let 'em deal with it on their own. I know Kim can't be that clueless about that… This father shit is givin' me a headache.

Jeans laughs quietly, "Maybe you shouldn't start off things by lording over her, Logan. She IS 18, and we know she doesn't really have a good view of authoritative figures. If you just start lecturing her and giving her rules, she may back off and feel like you are trying to be like Wraith."

I keep silent, letting Jean, read my thoughts. How am I supposed to be her father without acting like one?

She replies telepathically, "Before needing a father or a mentor, she needs friends Logan. I understand what the professor said and in a way he's right, but you shouldn't force her to see you as her father. She's grown up knowing the men in her life were cruel and only knowing what a father is from what she was told or what she saw. She may understand that you are her father, but like you she's technically grown up alone. Use THAT knowledge and just start off as friends. She may never love you as a father, but I bet she'll learn to love you as a friend."

I'm glad someone can explain this to me in a way that works for me.

"Psychology classes and helping out the younger students."

Ah…

Gambit starts flipping a card, "Silent conversations are no fun, Gambit never get to hear de good stuff."

Just as I was about to tell him where he could stuff those cards of his I hear a familiar engine sound.

I step out of the doors and watch as she speeds down the drive, and then quickly brakes, sliding across the gravel before stopping. Thank god she didn't take the Ducati…

She grins and the Elf who is holding on to her for dear life shouts, "Gottseidank!" He leans back and smiles shakily at the back of her head.

I frown, but she hops off and then looks up the steps at me, "Been waiting long?"

I cross my arms, "Who taught you how to drive?"

She grins, "I did."

The elf nearly falls over as he's getting off the bike, "What? I thought you said you knew how to drive!"

"I do, the guys at the facility let me drive a motorcycles a couple of times for some missions."

"A couple of times!"

The elf looks pale- Wait… He looks white, like Caucasian, not blue.

"I see how you were able to blend in now, how much make-up did that take?"

He frowns, "What? Oh!"

He smiles over at Kim again and says, "She made me this."

He shows me what looks like a watch, I glance beside me as Jean and Gambit, come out to see as well.

"What is it?"

Kim shrugs, "It's an image inducer. A thing Forge helped me make that uses holograms to make someone like Kurt, look like the rest of the blander populace."

Jeans goes wide-eyed, "Really? Do you know what this means? All the other mutants, the children, who can't change what they look like, can live normal lives!"

Kim nods, "I made sure Forge copied down the blue prints of it so he can reproduce it and even make it smaller and more effective. The one I gave to Kurt is basically the prototype."

Blue-boy plays with the watch and as he does his face looks like static before becoming blue and fuzzy. "That's pretty handy."

"Yeah, what gave me the idea is that the lab boys were trying to do it to other mutants using genetic alteration."

She gestures to herself, "That's why I look like this. Then they tried using my shifting genetics on other mutants but it turns out that even in genetic form I'm a killer, it caused one mutant to turn into a puddle of gore."

She frowns and shrugs again, "That's the wonderful thing about me, I'm the only one!"

She grins and Nightcrawler begins laughing, doubling over. Jean and Gambit pause and then look at each other before bursting out laughing, "What did I miss?"

Kim shakes her head, "You can't tell me you've never hear of Winnie-the-Pooh. Seriously?"

"What?"

"Ok, I know I've been out of the social loop for my WHOLE LIFE but, come on. I had to deal with enough children to know about Pooh and Tigger."

Jean takes some deep breathes, wiping her eyes, "I like this side of you, much less serious and… mean."

Kim shrugs, "Back at the facility I couldn't be witty or happy. Emotions are a weakness, but I've been told time and time again that this is a safe place, so…"

Kim shifts, becoming green, her tail appearing behind her.

I get dizzy every time I try to watch her do that. It's not like Mystique's fluid change but more like a heat mirage. One minute it's the desert, the other it's an oasis. I guess it's kinda like watching a plant grow, you can't see it happening but it does.

She shakes the keys in her hand and says, "Catch."

She tosses them at me and says, "Don't worry, I didn't hurt the bike. I'll clean it before I go back inside."

I smile, "Thanks, maybe someday I'll let you try out the Ducati."

She smiles wide and says, "That would be awesome. I'm thinking that eventually I may need to… Procure one."

She walks off wheeling the bike back to the garage, and Nightcrawler goes to follow her.

"Hey, Elf."

He stops and looks at me, suddenly nervous.

"Come here."

He walks up the steps and follows me as I go inside.

As I shut the door he asks, "So what's up, Herr Logan?"

I Glare at Gambit and Jean and they retreat up the main staircase.

"Do you know what you're doing kid?"

He looks innocent, "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb; even if I didn't see the way you act, I can smell it. Look, I'm not telling you to stop, just be careful ok? She hasn't had the luxury of growing up in a place where you can just fall nonchalantly into a relationship. She's also not very stable, you've seen her."

He nods, "Just earlier today I watched her pummel a hologram of Sabertooth into a bloody pulp."

I frown, "So you know what I mean."

He nods, "I do, but I also know that she's a lot better than we think. I've seen a lot of the changes she's made since leaving that awful place and I think a lot of it is her just being allowed to be happy. You heard her, that she was taught emotions were weak."

He looks at the ground for a moment, thinking.

"But think about this; if she was the programs perfect weapon, she would have no emotion. They would have made her completely apathetic. She's not and in a way that's because of Wraith. He wanted her fear which made her hate him, therefore rejecting their teachings on the basis that they were wrong. She may have killed, and even liked the act of doing it, but have you ever watched her face when she talks about killing? It haunts her. How can you be evil, if you regret the things you have done? Evil does not regret, Logan."

I seem to be getting a lecture from everyone I meet today...

"I'm with you, Elf, but even I can tell you that those emotions sometimes have a habit of taking over, and she might regret it later, but she still might hurt you or someone else. Besides that, I think you'd be good for her, with all your God talk and what not. I'm just warning you to be careful."

I go to walk upstairs, "Oh and if YOU hurt HER, I'll turn your nuts into an ornament for my review mirror."

He audibly gulps and I grin and walk away.

"Gottseidank!" Means "Thank god!"