Cheshire - yea things can take a dark turn sometimes...but don't worry, Apex is there keeping watch. Glad you liked the chapter and thanks for some Greer insights.

Canuckle - you are the Logan Whisperer. 'nugh said.

And...you know...reviews are nice

He heard grunts of frustration the moment he got out of the elevator. Greer was occupied tutoring students in the library so Apex had taken the opportunity to escape to the gym. After what had just happened with Xavier...he needed to think. So he was somewhat annoyed when on his approach he had heard someone already there.

Taking a few steps into the gym he was surprised to find that it was Kitty doing her best to do what he interpreted as a bench-press. Aside from participating in gymnastics with Greer or running on the treadmill, he had never seen Kitty on this side of the gym before.

He stood there watching for a few moments, considering whether to simply leave her to her privacy. It was certainly why he was down there. But as Kitty tried to lift the weight her heard a strangled cry as he saw her arms begin to shake as her strength gave way. Rushing over he got there in time to prevent Kitty from either choosing between phasing through the bench or crushing her ribcage.

Kitty had had her eyes closed from effort from her attempt and when she opened them to thank whomever had saved her, she almost smacked her head on the bar when she shot up realizing it had been Colton.

"Hey." Kitty was breathing hard. " Look - I'll get out of your way. I'm not even sure what I'm doing down here." Clearly embarrassed about getting caught Kitty tried to duck her head to make a quick escape.

"You shouldn't be over here." Kitty came up short and slowly turned around. The last she wanted right now was for Colton to lecture her.

"I know...I know. I don't know what I was thinking. I'll just go."

"You should be using free weights. If any at all."

"Excuse me?" Kitty stared wide eyed as Apex walked over to the rack that held all of the free weights and selected two. Following his gesture she sat back down on the bench and ignoring the bar grasped the dumbbells instead.

"Now, go down to nintey degrees and come back up. Same pace. Every time." Kitty took a deep breath and started moving the weight. "And breath..." Kitty released the breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. She counted out ten and actually felt what she had been hoping to target. She'd never really lifted anything before and when she had it had always just felt like a giant pressure on her body. But now...she could actually feel her chest muscles working.

"Colton how - hey wait!" Kitty ran after Colton when she saw that while she had been focused on lifting he had moved on to another area. The...square-with-a-bar-in-it...thingy.

"How did you know how to do that?" Kitty pointed back to the weights she had dropped to the floor. Colton however just continued setting up the weights. Kitty stood there for a few moments longer before tossing up her arms in frustration.

"What am I doing..." Kitty muttered walking back towards the bench and leaving the obviously uninterested Colton alone. "I'm just good for running through walls...For running away...I'm tired...of always being...the weak one!" Kitty kicked the bench with her foot.

"Only because you choose to be." Kitty whipped back around to see Colton now lifting the bar but she knew he must have been the one to have spoken.

"What did you say?" Kitty walked back over and waited for an answer until realizing he was once again ignoring her.

"Hey! What do you mean I choose to be?" Kitty moved to stand between the cage and the mirror, forcing him to look down at her. She tried not to cringe when he dropped the bar causing the entire structure to shake.

"Exaclty what I said. You're only weak because you choose to be. Strength isn't something you wish for." Apex continued his workout as Kitty stood across from him with her arms across her chest. Kitty looked back towards where Colton had helped her and slowly back over to him.

"So train me." Apex paused for a moment to give Kitty a quick look up and down before going back to his routine. "I'm serious!"

"Logan trains you." Apex knew that Logan was the lead instructor for self-defense and combat. Scott handled field training and tactics. Besides, he had had his fill of training...he was done training...

"I've already trained with Logan. Hell...I'm supposed to be some damn ninja at this point. But I want you to teach me how to be strong. How to be more like you." Apex actually let go of the weight he was lifting causing it to land with a loud bang. He turned to finally give Kitty his full attention who to her credit stood her ground.

"You want to be nothing like me." This girl was out of her mind. She was asking for something she had no concept of.

"I'm tired of always being the weak one. When...when those guys grabbed me I couldn't - there was nothing I could do! Even with my powers and Logan's training I - I couldn't even save myself..." Kitty looked up to see Colton just staring at her so she continued. "You think I love it when everyone calls me Kitten? I mean I get it but - no one messes with you. They're all too afraid..." Kitty's voice died off as she looked expectantly to Colton for a reaction.

Apex however just let out a breath and looked off to the side. He considered what Greer would want him to do...Greer...After everything he couldn't help Greer...

"I - I'm sorry. I'll just go, that was stupid." Kitty turned to leave. She couldn't believe she had actually done that. He probably thought of her like everyone else did. Poor little Kitten can't even fend off three stupid -

"You want to be stronger?" Kitty whipped back around to face Colton.

"Yes."

"You'll do whatever I tell you?" Kitty hesitated for only a moment.

"Yes." Kitty almost swore she saw Colton roll his eyes...

"Meet me back here at 1. Tell no one else. Come alone." Kitty looked confused as Colton walked past her.

"But I have class at one o'clock."

"One a.m." Now Kitty just looked dumbfounded.

"I can't train at one in the morning! We're not even allowed out of our rooms!" And after what happened last night, Kitty didn't even want to imagine the trouble she would be in...or the creative detention that would be waiting for her. But Colton just kept walking.

"If you can't slip past security in your own home, you don't get to train with me." He called over his shoulder.

Kitty just moaned, "What am I getting myself into now..."

Apex left the gym and went directly to the library. Greer would be finishing up soon and he would be waiting for her.

...

Amara sat with a Jubilee, Tabitha and Ilyana around one of the circle tables in the library as they attempted to get ready for Professor McCoy's Biology test.

But all any of them really wanted to talk about was what had happened the night before. Amara tried giving them as few details as possible but eventually had to just give them the full story. Otherwise there would be no hope of passing their test.

"Well thank goodness Wolvie was there to stop them." Jubilee whispered. The others solemnly agreed but Amara shook her head.

"It wasn't Professor Logan." Jubilee and the other girls shared a look of confusion. Everyone knew Logan had run out of the Mansion once the alarms had gone off and as was often the case had been the one to get Kitty and Amara out of trouble.

"Well then who was it? Summers?" Ilyana asked and the others had their heads practically touching as they leaned in and again Amara just shook her head. She smiled a little bit as she heard the door to the library open.

"No...it was him." Amara nodded her head and the girls quickly turned to see who the hero was and all three froze as they saw Colton accompanying Greer out of the library. He paused for a moment to look over at the table, obviously aware of the stares. But while usually his gaze would cause would be starers to quickly avert their gaze...this time the table just held it for a moment before quickly re-converging in a storm of whispers.

The only one still staring was Amara, who gave him a slight smile and nod before returning to her friends.

"Everything alright Colton?" Greer whispered as she poked her head back into the library.

"Yea...everything's fine." He gave one more look over at the table before following Greer out the door.

Jean eyed the pair of ferals as closely as she dared without drawing too much attention from either. She didn't know why, she just thought it best they didn't know she was keeping tabs.

Since their talk a week ago Jean had tried everything to get Greer out of her funk but nothing seemed to work. She didn't want to talk, she wouldn't speak to the Professor, she barely seemed interested in her classes...she didn't even want to go shopping. Ever since she had been suspended from the team, Greer seemed to just be...drifting. Her usually personable personality replaced by a sullen person Jean didn't recognize.

Even her clothes were different. Gone were the dresses and shorts and color. Instead Greer was spending more and more time in her torn jeans and a hoodie she kept pulled over her head most of the time. Jean tried bringing it up, but Greer would just give her a half-smile and deny anything was wrong.

"Well at least she's not a complete and utter recluse..." Jean thought with a tad of exasperation. Greer at least still kept to her teaching schedule... and did spend time with everyone but... Jean sighed. As much as she wanted to defend her best friend, she couldn't deny it; there was something different about Greer. If Greer weren't someplace she had to be, she would just disappear for hours at a time and Jean would find her either curled up on her bed or tucked away someplace in the Mansion, faraway from everyone.

Always quiet and always alone...

Well...not quite alone. Because wherever Jean would find Greer, she knew Colton would be nearby. Jean would have been concerned that it might have been Colton enabling this behavior if his presence didn't seem to actually have a positive affect on her. Greer at least seemed...calmer when he was around.

"Do you know what's been going on with her?" Jean had pulled Logan into an empty classroom right before he had to head out to deal with something for the Avengers. She could tell by the way he wrinkled his brow the answer wasn't going to be good.

"I don' think anything we should be concerned about. Give 'er some space, Red. She's back. She's safe...Unless you think somethin's happenin' that I should know about." he watched her expression fall at his assessment.

"No, I'm just worried about her..." Jean said, hugging herself as she leaned against the blackboard. He watched her eyes glaze over, assuming she was reaching out for Greer.

"She'll come around." But Jean wasn't so sure. She considered telling Logan what she had been hearing at night but decided revealing Greer's secrets to Logan probably wasn't going to win her any points and the last thing she wanted was Greer pushing her away. Instead Jean just kept staring down toward the carpet.

Logan knew Jean well enough to know didn't agree, and decided to take another angle. He sighed before taking a few steps closer.

"Tell ya what, darlin'. I'll try to get through to her when I get back - in the meantime, just keep an eye on 'er." Logan did something he always did when he needed to get a point across with Jean, tipping her chin up to look him in the eyes. Jean managed to eke out a half smile.

So there she was, keeping an eye on Greer...although she obviously wasn't the only one.

Colton knew Greer had told him to give her space, but ever since her Danger Room session, when he had stayed with her after breakfast, walked her to her gymnastics class and been there waiting when she was done, she had just smiled and walked quietly beside him. Since then, he would walk her to whatever class she had and be there when she was done. Most of the time they spent in silence, which was fine for him, but slightly disquieting for the usually talkative Greer.

"You should be joining your friends." Apex nodded his head towards the contingent of girls heading out for the night. Likely a movie or another shopping expedition. He was certain Greer would enjoy that, she had mentioned it sometime before. Greer half-heartedly looked, before shaking her head.

"It's ok. I'm not in the mood." She mumbled with a tired smile.

"And why is that?" Greer sighed before lowering herself deeper into her hoodie. The two were sitting quietly in one of the living rooms. Greer sat quietly reading while Colton had taken to playing games of chess against himself in an effort to improve his strategy. Sometimes Greer would play but he knew she did it just to humor him.

"I don't know... It just..." she paused and rubbed her temples before continuing. "I won't enjoy it. Besides...They won't want me around..."

Apex lowered his head so he could get a closer look a Greer's face. He didn't like that she ended it with a growl.

"How do you know that?" There was a harsh laugh.

"Oh come on Colton...Have you seen the looks everyone's been giving me..." Greer practically hissed. "They're all wondering why I've been suspended from the team...I mean... They whisper about me... Look at me funny when I talk to them...Its like they think I'm going to do something truly horrible to them if they come to close and..." Greer ran a hand through her hair. Aside from Jean, Greer was done pretending for the day. She found it taxing.

Honestly Apex had taken note of the whispers that had been following Greer around him around the Mansion. However...there were times he could almost sense that these whispers were slightly different. Sometimes he would glance over at a huddled group and they would give him a knowing smile. Whatever that was about...

But that was a mystery for another time. Right now, Greer was his focus.

"You were the one telling me I need a life outside of this place." Apex reminded her.

"I do have a life...I'll just let them have their fun without having to worry about me." she admitted softly before wrapping her hands around her middle.

"What are you doing tonight?" Greer had a slightly anxious tone as she thought that maybe Colton was trying to get rid of her.

"Staying right here." Greer looked over to see Colton studying his board. She knew better than to think he wasn't watching her. She let out a small sigh of comfort as she tried returning to her book.

It might have been selfish but...she was glad Colton was there.