"James..." Alex protested weakly, "James, stop."

"Stop what?" he challenged. His lips were blazing a trail down her throat, his fingers playing with the buttons of her blouse as if to undo them. He had her pressed up against her car as students filtered past them to their respective vehicles as the school day ended.

She gently pushed him away. "I'm not going to commit public indecency in the campus parking lot," she chided. Then, in consolation, she dropped a quick kiss on his cheek. "I love you," she said sweetly.

His disappointment was short lived. "I love you too," he echoed.

"Now go to practice," she instructed him. "I'm pretty sure you're already running laps on my behalf..." (He was always late to practice for the sake of making out.) "Besides," she added, "I'm drowning in homework and if I don't get home soon my mom is going to pitch a fit – I know she tracks my phone..."

He heaved a dramatic sigh. "Fine," he conceded. "I'll go." But not before dropping another kiss to her lips.

Once he'd jogged off towards the soccer pitch, Alex ducked into her car and was about to drive off when she saw a familiar form trudging to the bus stop. And, though she just as easily could've driven away without saying anything, she found herself rolling down her window and calling out, "Emily! Want a ride?"

Emily looked up sharply and seemed to spend several moments debating whether she did, in fact, want a ride... The decision seemed to be made for her when a few errant raindrops spattered the sidewalk and, being in no mood to get wet, she accepted the offer. "Thanks," she said begrudgingly.

"No problem," Alex replied politely.

They drove in silence for a long time, but for the radio faintly playing the local country station, much to Emily's chagrin. However, she was still high and didn't entirely trust herself not to give the fact away if she were to open her mouth.

It was Alex that broke the silence with a sudden, "Yes."

Emily raised a brow, given that she hadn't asked a question. "Yes what?" she had to ask.

Alex glanced away from the road as they pulled up to a red light, shooting Emily a pointed look. "Yes, I can smell the pot wafting off of you," she explained.

"Oh." A beat. "Wait... How... How did you know I was wondering?"

She laughed a little. "Obviously your father hasn't told you who my father is yet..." Alex said. When Emily didn't say anything on the matter, she said, "Charles Xavier? Ring any bells?"

"Your father is Professor X?" Emily asked incredulously.

She nodded.

"So, you're a telepath too?" Emily said, putting the pieces together.

Once again, Alex nodded. "I try not to read peoples' minds, but you were thinking it especially loudly," she said with a little shrug.

Emily was silent as she digested that, but was a little too high to make heads or tails of it...

"I have some perfume in the glove box," Alex said when the silence extended too long. "If you want to, you know, hide the evidence." By the time she pulled the car into her driveway, Alex was nearly choking on the scent of perfume mixed with marijuana. "You know, if you don't want to take the bus, you're welcome to ride with me to and from school," she said as she turned off the engine. She wasn't entirely certain why she was offering, given the fact that Emily didn't seem to like her very much at all.

Emily too seemed surprised by the offer and spent a few moments stammering out a response. "Oh, umm...that would be cool, I guess?" She inflected it like a question, even though it wasn't one.

"Just...don't make me late, okay?" Alex added.

Emily rolled her eyes at that, but nonetheless thanked her as she exited the car. She jogged across the cul-de-sac to her home (though she used the word very loosely). "Erik, I'm home," she called out. She refused to call him Dad on principle.

"Did you thank Alex for driving you?" he asked, having been watching her arrival through the picture window in the front room.

She glowered at that. "No, Erik, I was raised in a barn," she sassed.

"Yes, well, I'm sure your mother also raised you better than to call me by my first name and yet, here we are," he replied pointedly.

She would've liked to argue that, but he was right, no matter how much she disliked it. "Whatever," she muttered.

Alex arrived home anticipating being alone – given that her mother was working late – and she was rather thrilled to have the house to herself. When she kicked the door shut behind her, though, dropping her backpack to the floor, she heard a call from somewhere in the kitchen, "Lexi, is that you?"

There was only one person in the entire world who was allowed to call her Lexi...

"Daddy!" she trilled, following his voice so she could be swept into his arms in a fond embrace. "I missed you," she murmured once he'd released her.

"I missed you too, Ladybird," he said, using the nickname he'd had for her ever since she was born.

She couldn't help but smile brightly at the nickname; she'd always been a Daddy's girl, afterall. She moved through the kitchen to make them both tea, all thoughts of her mountain of homework long since forgotten. "How's the Academy coming along?" she asked.

"Ah-ah," he tutted, "First, I want to hear all about school." He'd been away for the start of term, as he was still in the process of setting up his school for mutants, but he never failed to show an interest in her life. "Are you and James still an item?"

She groaned in protest at the question. "Daddy..." she whined.

He held up his hands in self-defence. "An innocent question, I assure you."

She scoffed, but she did so fondly. He had never been James' biggest fan (though he'd never articulated the reason) and he loved to playfully rib her about their budding relationship.

Rather than answer that question, she changed the subject, announcing, "Did you hear about Mr. Lensherr's daughter?"