"Take a deep breath," Kurt encouraged. Beast had given Emery exercises to do while her ribs healed. Emery was always willing to do them, even if they hurt her a bit, but she tended to forget about them. Kurt was constantly reminding her. Once Beast had explained the situation clearly to Kurt, it wasn't long before Emery was calm and capable of being tended to, like he was doing now. Emery had handled it far better than Rogue. The Professor had been forced to send Rogue away on a roundabout mission in order to get her away from Emery. She had tried to do everything for Emery, to make up for causing her injury. It only provoked Emery's temper.

So now, Kurt was once again the only one Emery would deal with. Sure, the Professor and Beast frequently talked with her, but when it came down to it, Kurt was the one left to take care of her. For a few days she was bedridden, except when Kurt carried her to the bathroom. After three days with no shower, Emery's patience was gone. Kurt woke up Friday morning to find Emery's not only empty, but stripped of its sheets and bedding.

Kurt teleported down to Beast's lab and questioned him about Emery's whereabouts. Beast told him he didn't know. They had begun a search for her. In the middle of searching, Kurt had bumped into Ororo.

"Storm, have you seen Emery?"

"I have. She asked me to take her bed sheets down to be washed while she bathed. Poor child hadn't been in the shower in days. It was making her very uncomfortable."

"She's… in de shower?"

"I would assume so."

"Danke," Kurt thanked Storm and gave her a hug.

He teleported back to Emery's room in time to catch her opening the bathroom door.

"Du hatte me worried!" Kurt chided, his English slipping again.

"I wanted a shower."

Kurt took a seat on her barren bed and sighed. Why did he always get so worked up over her?

"Let's go to class."

"Class? You've got broken ribs. You can't go to class," Kurt said appalled.

"I have one healing, broken rib. And sure I can." She pulled a piece of paper out from the drawer by her bed and handed it to Kurt. It read:

'I, Dr. "Beast" McCoy, the Physician for Emery "Panther" (Last Name Unknown), on this third Friday in August , the year of her arrival to this institution, deem her fit for the following courses and the like on her schedule:

Friday

Power Studies: as her mutant ability is mainly mental and has proved to hold very little strain on the area of her injury.

History Self-Study: as this does not require physical assertion.

First-Aid: as I am the instructor and qualified to mediate and moderate her studies.

Modern Governments: as this course does not require physical assertion.

Saturday

Music: so long as the instrument she chooses to study does not require lung-capacity or active, stressful, or jerky movements. I suggest learning slower tempo songs on the piano until further notice.

Sunday

Mandatory Check-up of Physical Health: self-explanatory.

Monday:

Classic Literature: as this does not require physical assertion.

Images: so long as they stick to the basics and do nothing too bodily strenuous.

Tuesday

Language: as this does not require physical assertion.

Wednesday

Edibles: as this does not particularly require physical assertion. However, should the class be taken outside, she will be required to stay sitting inside and read from the course book.

Science: considering I am the instructor, I will start her on a course science that does not involve physical assertion or chemical reactions. Perhaps I will start with Physics formulas.

Thursday

Mathematics: as this does not require physical assertion.

Allowed courses are subject to change in either direction, positive or negative, according to my daily diagnosis of her injuries. That being said, as of today the courses that were not listed are prohibited for the following reasons. Should these reasons no longer be an issue, the associated course will be added to her schedule once more.

Reason- Strenuous movement will hinder healing process:

Friday- Hand to Hand Combat

Saturday- Combative Training, Partner Training

Sunday- Danger Room

Monday- Target Practice, Water Training, Yoga, Combative Training

Tuesday- Hand to Hand Combat, Obstacle Course, Partner Training, Combative Training

Wednesday- Weapons, Weights, Combative Training

Thursday- Partner Training, Endurance Training, Combative Training

Reason- Teacher Unavailable

Monday- Target Practice

Tuesday- Obstacle Course

Thursday- Endurance Training

Reason- Teacher Deemed Unfit to Teach Injured Students

Monday- Combative Training

Tuesday- Hand to Hand Combat, Combative Training

Wednesday- Combative Training

Thursday- Electronics, Combative Training

I have a saved copy of this document. Any alterations on anyone's part will be obvious and punishment for altering a document written by a legal doctor, while illegal, will be taken care of by me, Dr. McCoy, and the Professor within the confines of this establishment. Legal action will not be taken, but punishment will be awarded. Detention, extra work, we'll think of something.'

On the bottom was Beast's flourished signature.

"Vhen did Beast type this up?"

"Really early this morning I asked him to let me do something besides sit in bed."

"Of course, vhile I was sleeping."

"So power training in twenty minutes."

"Looks like it."

"You're my teacher. What are we going to do in class?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it. I've been worried about you."

Emery pressed her lips together. She knew that. She wished he would stop worrying over everything. It was an accident. She should have been faster, anticipated Rogue's move, read it in her mind. She hadn't and she'd accepted the consequences. This injury was a lesson in combat, one she was learning the hard way, but she was learning.

"I haven't been communicating with my mind."

Kurt's face brightened a little, but he still didn't smile. She wanted to see him smile.

"You've been doing wondurbal." He paused. "Come here."

Emery tilted her head, questioning him for a second. Then, she stepped forward to him. He moved his arms around her, barely touching her, until his hands rested on her back. He slowly rubbed her back.

"I vould hug you if it veren't for your ribs."

'I'd like that,' she whispered in his mind.

Power Training was supposed to take what she already knew her powers could do and see how far she could push them. That was the difficult part. The thing she needed to master was control over her powers.

"I'm just going to toss balls in the air today Em. I vant you to stop them mid-throw and set them on the floor. Not drop them, but set them. Gently."

'Understood.'

"Mental.'
"Understood."

Kurt tossed the first ball into the air. Emery stared at the ball. It burst into pieces.

Her eyes widened. "I wasn't trying to do that, I swear. I was just trying to apply force and make it stop."

"Vell… vhat you did, did not work. Try something else."

He threw a second ball. Emery focused on the ball this time not applying force, as to not rip it. Instead she willed it to stop. The ball slowed, faster than it should have if gravity alone was acting on it, but it continued its path and fell to the floor.

"Gutt. Again, try to stop the ball completely this time."

The third ball slowed easier, but instead of setting it on the floor, it just slowly fell on the floor.

"I'm not sure if that's better or not, but keep trying," Kurt encouraged.

The fourth ball flew into the air faster than Emery expected. Her fingers instinctively opened from a fist to an open-palm. The ball completely stopped in mid-air.

"There! That, that right there. That's it. Vhatever you did, that's it!" Kurt grinned.

Emery smiled, her focus turned from the ball to Kurt, and the ball crashed to the floor.

"Ve need to vork on you not getting distracted, but that'll be next week. Try this again."

He tossed the next ball into the air. She stopped the ball once more; her mind was able to freeze the ball in mid-air.

"Gutt. Now set it on the floor gently. Pretend it's a bomb or something."

Emery hesitated. Kurt hadn't realized his mistake. When he told her to pretend it was a bomb, her mind automatically pictured a bomb, and the simple dodge-ball type ball transformed. She knew she was capable of this, but she had no control over it. That was part of the reason she read other's minds, so she always knew what was around and her imagination would not run away from her.

'Kurt. Is this room contained like the danger room is?'

"Yes, but vhy vould…"

'I need you to leave the room and let me into your brain.'

"Emery vhat are you talking about? Vhy are you so worried? It's just a ball."

'Professor wants us to be partners correct?'

"Yes."

'Then be my partner and trust me. Get out.'

"Alright. Fine. I'll go."

He left the room, and watched her. He felt the familiar tug of her mind.

Emery closed her eyes and saw herself in Kurt's eyes. Slowly, she backed out of the room. When she pressed back against Kurt, she whispered into his brain:

'Shut the door.'

Instinctively, Kurt wrapped one arm around her, and closed the door with the other. Emery let go of her hold on the ball-bomb. It fell to the ground and exploded into fiery bits. Kurt's eyes widened at the sound of the explosion.

"Vhat just happened?"

'Never, tell me to pretend, ever again.'

The room was covered in scorch marks, a few dents imprinted on the surfaces of the room. It was a good thing that there hadn't been anything in the room besides a bag of dodge balls. All of which were now scorched from the explosion. Kurt was in shock. He'd prompted her to pretend it was a bomb; he hadn't even considered the possibly, hadn't known, that her powers could alter matter in such a way.

Beast and Boom-Boom, who were the closest at the sound of the explosion, came running. Kurt calmly explained to them what happened, as far as he knew anyway.

"This is completely against what science knows," Beast said flabbergasted.

"Sweet!" Boom-Boom exclaimed.

"May I suggest, in the future, we all be careful about what precisely we say around our dear Panther here?" Beast reprimanded Kurt.

Emery turned on her heel and left.

"I need to go talk to the Professor."

Kurt watched her go.

"I guess that means you'll be cleaning up the practice room," Boom-Boom said skipping of to teach her next course.

Beast clapped a large hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I will help you. Let's get to work, I sense Emery may need some privacy to discuss with the Professor."

"You're probably right," Kurt said half-heartedly. He teleported to get the cleaning supplies that were needed. When he and Beast were hard at work, Beast singing a song he didn't know, he began to think. He didn't know much about Emery to be honest. He liked her, a lot, but he just didn't know what to do about her. Her powers were uncontrollable and dangerous: just like another girl he knew. He sighed. God he wished his best friend were here. She might have better advice for Emery seeing as her powers were uncontrollable at one point too, and definitely were still dangerous as hell. He hadn't had as much trouble with his own powers. There was a limit to what he could do with his powers of teleportation. Emery seemed to have endless possibilities and he just did not know how to help her. He was trying his hardest, but it seemed like things weren't going to well. She hadn't told him she could transform objects into other things. He hadn't had a clue. The first thing he would do next class, would be to sit down and talk to her so he could figure out exactly what she knew about her own powers. Then maybe, he could begin to help her control them.