Not Myself

By Princess Alexandria

Christy stared out towards the water, feeling a bit too voyeuristic, but still unable to talk herself out of watching the two girls walking along the beach. It seemed like a rather intimate scene, they way they walked close together, holding hands. They'd stop and face each other occasionally while they talked.

"Young love." Emma's teasing voice behind her drew Christy's eyes away guiltily. She hadn't realized she wasn't alone in the garden. "Annie and Phoebe are a rather tame couple as teenagers go."

"Phoebe?" Christy turned to stare again, hoping she wasn't going to be spotted. She'd be so sure it was Sophie, especially after what Annie went through to save the other girl.

"I know." Emma moved up behind Christy and wrapped her arms around her while they watched from their hidden spot. "Love is rather hard to predict, I really would have expected Sophie to be the one Annie chose. Sophie is a bit more comfortable socially, while Phoebe is a quiet student that prefers writing papers to talking with students."

"Have they been dating long?" Christy felt a bit hurt by the fact she didn't know this. She had heard that Annie was dating, but the girl never said who and Christy had assumed she knew.

"Apparently Phoebe asked Annie out while I was visiting you." Emma's words were soft, and seemed to hold some understanding to how this could hurt. Christy just nodded, but she hated that she'd missed it. That the problems between Annie and her were so bad that Annie couldn't tell her made Christy feel a little abandoned. She'd never been anything but kind.

But could she have asked a former crush about dating? Christy sighed as that answer came to her. It would be too awkward, even if the relationship never happened. Christy watched as Phoebe seemed to be stumbling over asking something, but the smile on Annie's face made it clear it was a welcome question.

"The girls' mother took them during the break to visit family, so the relationship is still rather young." Emma added and Christy just nodded. Maybe Annie would get the nerve up to ask for advice eventually.

"So are we ready to shop?" Christy tore her eyes away from the kids and looked at her lover. "I can't imagine it would take all day." Emma had them leaving so early.

"Well then you've never done it right before." Emma smiled at her and Christy found herself feeling a little better already.

Emma could practically see Christy trying to do the math in her head as the woman stared at the painting. After watching the woman look through bins of posters it was a relief to see Christy did have some good taste. It was the scavenger in her that had Christy picking through cheaper posters, but once Emma pulled her into a real art store Christy showed potential.

Emma pretended to stare at another painting on the wall while she watched Christy consider it. It was hardly an expensive piece of art, and Emma would have bought it for her bathroom without a thought, but Christy was struggling with the decision.

Finally Emma moved closer and whispered. "There is little else to do in the bathroom but stare at the walls while you're busy." She smirked at the surprise on Christy's face. It would be strange to have the best piece of art in Christy's home be in the bathroom, but Christy had picked out art prints for the walls in her main room, granted they were going to be professionally framed, but they were cheap imitations.

Emma probably should have insisted they started here, but it took a little while to get a grasp of Christy's taste so that she could pick a proper store for her.

"It's kind of expensive." Christy whispered back. A glance at the price tag didn't impress Emma. It was hardly worth agonizing over, knowing that Christy had more than enough left on the very small limit she'd given the woman. Emma would have given Christy more, but thought it was better to slowly work on getting her lover adjusted to wealth. She didn't want to make Christy uncomfortable. Emma once had a lover that had a problem with the money. He'd been unable to accept it and what was a promising beginning fizzled and died. Emma was going to be more careful this time. She bit her lip and didn't offer to pay for the art if Christy seemed unwilling to part with the money Emma had given her. After a long pause where Christy continued to stare at it she spoke again, "I think I'm gonna get it." Christy's smile and the way she seemed to radiate a sense of rebellion made Emma glad she had waited. Christy just learned how to treat herself.

"Very good. It is a nice piece." Emma waved a hand toward the waiting salesclerk that she'd banished when they came into the store. The bathroom. Emma just shook her head slightly, unable to believe that the only piece of original art was going to be in Christy's bathroom.

Jon dried his hands on the towel while staring up at the painting. "Nice painting." He called through the opened door when he heard Christy stop hammering.

"Thanks." The woman moved to lean in the doorway of the bathroom to stare at it, before looking at him. "Are you okay? Should we call Annie?"

"It was just a scratch." Jon fiddled with the bandaid he'd put on his finger. "No need to call in the healer." Christy moved aside when he made a motion to leave the bathroom. "I think that this is coming along pretty well. It was a good idea to buy that sheet of metal for some of the bulletin board."

"I thought I could put my bills up with magnets that way." Jon just nodded. It was a good idea. The home office was shaping up nicely. Poor Jessi had been stunned that such a nice large walk-in closet was being ruined in this way. He moved to double check that the bulletin board slid properly on the hardware they'd bought. It moved over the white board easily and exposed the hidden safe in the wall. For some reason Christy had two of these built in. She'd said something about fireproof, and hoping it was strong enough. Strong enough for what? A bomb? She'd really gone overboard with it, but he just helped her create the false wall so that it wouldn't be obvious, taking away a few feet of space in the process.

"We can go back to the hardware store tonight." He worked on making a mental list of what they'd need to finish the job. She had built in file cabinets, bookshelves, and a desk already. They'd need to stain or paint them, and Christy would need a chair. Maybe Jessi would like to go with them. He'd been spending all weekend helping Christy and he felt a little bad about neglecting his girlfriend.

And Jessi… was another topic that he felt like talking about. Jon sighed while he continued to work. He could hear Christy mumbling quietly to herself as she worked on the other side of the closet, something about the beauty of nicely sliding drawers.

"Umm…" He started and could hear Christy stop muttering about the problems she was having installing the hardware for those drawers. "Phoebe's dating Annie." He rolled his eyes at his own lame attempt to get to the point, glad that he was facing away from Christy so she couldn't see his grimace.

"I heard." Her voice was soft. Part of him wondered how Christy felt about that, but he wasn't going to ask.

"Phoebe gets Ms. Frost to lend her a car so they can go out." He turned to face Christy. "I wish they'd let the students have cars here."

"Did you need a car?" Jon had to smile a little at the serious expression Christy had. It was like she'd get him one if all he did was ask, and anyone that tried to stop her would have to watch out.

"No, yes…" Jon sighed and put his screwdriver down so he could run his hand through his hair. "I want to take Jessi out for the weekend." He felt his skin flush hot and his eyes fell to his feet. "I wanted to…" God, it wasn't fair he had to admit to his plans because in this school he couldn't just do it. If they were home he wouldn't have to seek help so that he could spend a quiet weekend with Jessi, or so that they could finally have sex. He wasn't willing to do that here, not that they had a lot of privacy for it anyhow, but he wanted their first time to be special. Jessi deserved that. "I've managed to save up money and I made furniture for some of the students for money. I wanted to take her to the ocean, some nice place…" His voice trailed off, sure that Christy knew what he was thinking of.

Christy just stared at the wall quietly, and Jon could tell she was thinking hard. "My car is supposed to get here in another week." Jon gave her a small smile, "How about we keep that quiet."

"Why?"

Christy looked into his eyes and Jon felt the same odd feeling he got sometimes when she was so intense. The one that made him feel like even though she was so much smaller, Christy was ten times more dangerous than anyone else Jon had met. "I don't know what the rules are, and I may have to figure out how to bend them."

His smile was gone now. "I don't want you getting in trouble like you did with Annie and Sophie." He never would have asked her if he thought she didn't have the power to help him. It was a strange feeling realizing that what Christy said wasn't law anymore. If she promised something at home, she always came through. He hadn't even considered that she was just a teacher here, not the owner of the house. Not the leader of their group. No, that wasn't right. She'd always be the leader.

"We'll figure something out." Christy smiled at him and Jon felt a bit like prey in front of a predator, until he realized she wasn't really looking at him. "After all, you two are adults now." Jon stood a little taller, feeling a bit proud of how easily she accepted that. The other teachers around here didn't seem to see that. He suddenly felt a lot more optimistic about his chances to get that weekend vacation.

"Well, I think if we get shopping we can finish this up today." He glanced at the nearly done work.

"Good, because we both have girlfriends that are probably not too happy with us playing with wood all weekend." Christy smirked at him and Jon's eyes widened a little as he realized that was true. It was still a little odd to think of Christy as anyone's girlfriend.

Erik felt a little awkward walking down the hall of the teacher's dorms, even though he had Jon with him. He kept moving quickly, hoping that he wouldn't get caught, because he didn't want to bother Christy to have her come and get them. Not when he knew where it was.

Everyone else should be there already for the small housewarming party. It seemed a bit odd to do that for a dorm, which was what he thought of Christy's room as. It wasn't like it had a kitchen of its own.

He could hear laughing as he got closer to the door, which was thankfully opened. "Look, the men have finally arrived." Christy teased him.

"Pizza is served." He held the box up. Somehow he and Jon had been drafted to wait for the delivery so that it actually got here and wasn't stolen by someone else.

"The place looks good." He glanced around the room while he waited for everyone to dish up. It sure looked like Christy planned to stay. Erik sighed as he stared at the room, knowing he had to tell them. Tonight was as good a night as any. "Looks like you plan to stick around."

"That's the idea." Christy's expression seemed a bit too knowing, and he swore she looked sympathetic. "We all have to make up our own minds, but this is where I want to be." She set it up for him, he swore she did.

"I…" Erik set his plate down on the floor beside him and sighed. "I'm leaving after summer term."

"What?" Annie's voice rose above the rest. "You can't do that, we're all staying." She sounded so shocked.

"Actually." Jessi spoke up and Erik could feel the hesitation in her voice. "I don't know if we are." He could feel her indecision, and it wasn't a surprise. Ever since Annie got hurt Jessi hadn't been completely comfortable here.

"You're gonna leave too?" Annie felt betrayed, her voice rose a little. Erik worked on his shields a little harder to keep her emotions away.

"I don't know." Jessi looked at Jon, who was staying quiet.

"Everyone needs to make their own minds up." Christy spoke softly, and he felt a warm touch on his knee as she reached over to pat him. "No matter where you are or what you decide to do… you still have us."

"I just promised my parents that I was coming home." Erik spoke quickly, feeling guilty for letting them down and hating that he was leaving his friends behind. "All I wanted was enough control to live a normal life." And since Christy didn't seem surprised Erik bet that Ms. Frost had already told her about the conversation they'd had early that week, where he'd asked her if he knew enough yet.

"There is nothing wrong with that." Christy's hand slide away, but her words were still soft. "Most people only live once. You've got to do what's right for you."

"How do you know what's right for you?" Jessi asked, taking the attention away from Erik, which he didn't mind.

"You don't always." Christy's eyes trailed over each of them. "You just make the best guess you can and hope for the best. Really think about it first. I won't say I wouldn't miss you, any of you, but if you stay for the wrong reasons… I wouldn't feel like I did the right thing. There is nothing wrong with a normal life. Just because I didn't pick that doesn't mean I think this is the decision I want you all to make. Staying here is right for me, but I know it isn't right for all of you and that's okay."

"Are you gonna be an Xmen?" Jon asked what they'd all probably wondered.

"I don't know. Probably not, but I…" Christy sighed. "It's complicated and hardly an easy decision. I might just live as normal a life as I can while teaching here. I'm going to train, because if I need to be an Xmen I need to be ready, but…"

"It's dangerous." Jessi added.

"That too." Christy sat forward on the couch. "Whatever I do, it will be because I feel it's right for me, not because it's what other people are doing or because people think I should do it. There is a lot of sacrifice involved in being a hero, and it isn't at all easy."

"You don't think we should do it?" Annie asked.

Erik watched Christy stare at Annie. "I think you all need to make up your own minds, but I want you to read the fine print and decide if you can live with that."

Jessi looked thoughtful and Erik glanced at Jon to see he was thinking about it too. Neither of them seemed to know what they were doing after summer yet. He could feel the confusion.

"I want to stay." Annie announced. The party mood had died down with his revelation, so Erik tried to repair it. He grinned at Annie.

"Of course you are. You'd have a hard time packing up your girlfriend and dragging her to Washington."

Still the thoughtful air stayed while they ate. Before they left, because it was still a school night, Christy pulled him aside and almost made him cry when she told him if he ever needed to get away from the apartments, his room at the house was still his. And if he ever needed help, she still loved him and would do what she could. When he got back to his dorm he called home to talk to his mother. He missed his parents and wanted to let them know he was coming home.

"And Jessi said she might leave too." Annie sighed as she leaned against the tree trunk. Sophie sat across from her pulling up blades of grass distractedly while Annie complained. "I didn't even consider that any of them would leave and now it looks like it could just be me. That I'll be the only one to stay, besides Christy."

Sophie was so quiet lately. Annie waited while Sophie seemed to think a bit too long before speaking. "Well, at least you have us."

Annie gave Sophie a small smile, while vowing to herself to find some time to be with her friend. They could shop or something. "Thanks, but… this just wasn't what I'd thought would happen."

"Erik has a family." Sophie finally looked right into Annie's eyes. "It's different for you, you don't have anyone waiting there for you. The people that care about you are all here." It would have seemed cruel, but Sophie's eyes were apologetic for saying it. "Jon's family still loves him too?"

Annie took a deep breath as she thought about that. They guys did still have a family, so maybe they'd want to leave, but what about Jessi?

"Jessi's scared." Another voice answered and Annie noticed the irritated expression on Sophie's face before she turned to see Esme. "The big bad mutants scare her."

"Esme, we aren't supposed to tell people what we see." Sophie managed to confirm it. Annie's eyebrows drew together as she tried to think of anything that Jessi may have done that hinted at that.

"Well she is." Esme sighed as she sat down in the grass with them. "And she isn't too thrilled with sharing a room." The pointed look Esme gave Annie seemed to make Annie's confidence shrink. Jessi didn't like rooming with her? Annie was always so careful to be considerate.

"It isn't you." Sophie spoke more softly and leaned a bit closer. Annie felt a little better seeing that concern on her friends face. A face that was far more than familiar, but Annie was starting to believe she was the only non-telepath that could tell the sisters apart without looking for the color of their hair. It was in their eyes, the slight differences in their expressions and the tone of their voices. "Jessi just wishes she had privacy, like any girl in love would want."

"You must know about that by now." Esme spoke, and Annie felt like she was missing the dig or insult. "I heard Phoebe raving about how you two just seem to click." Esme glanced at Sophie before giving Annie a wicked grin. "If you ever want to compare sisters let me know."

"Oh my god." Annie felt her skin flush, turning it a darker green as she felt embarrassed with the teasing that seemed more mean spirited than playful or seductive. Still if it was true it was nice to know Phoebe talked about her.

"Esme, like any woman would risk your mouth anywhere near her, knowing what a snake you are." Sophie's words were more heated than Annie had ever seen the girl.

"Oh, like you wouldn't like a…"

"I swear to God Esme, you don't want to finish that sentence."

"Hey." Phoebe seemed a bit hesitant to move closer as she stared at her sisters glaring at each other. "Ms. Frost is almost done with the progress reports." Ms. Frost had been meeting one on one with the students in her class to go over how she thought they'd done in her class now that it was almost the end of Ms. Frost's two weeks.

"Good." Annie gave Phoebe a soft smile and watched the other girl seem to relax. Walking away from the others with a wave Annie was glad to get away from Esme, who was staring a bit oddly as she made her way towards the main building with Phoebe. She'd never say anything, it might hurt Phoebe's feelings, but Esme was a little creepy.

"I'll get the keys as soon as she finishes." Phoebe spoke softly. Once they had the keys they could go on their date. One that Annie had felt a bit nervous about, because after talking with Jessi Annie decided she couldn't wait for Phoebe to get the nerve to make the first move. Annie planned to get a kiss out of the shy girl tonight, a real kiss.

When the white clad woman stepped out of the main building Annie felt a bit like a third wheel as she followed Phoebe to get the keys. She hated having to rely on the English teacher and felt a bit of irritation that Christy didn't have a car yet. Still asking for Christy's car wouldn't be any better than asking for Ms. Frost's. When the older blonde woman smirked at her Annie thought maybe asking Christy in the future might be less painful. At least Christy wouldn't give her that knowing and amused look that Annie was learning to hate.

Annie spent more time watching the other students put up banners about Genosha than pay attention to Phoebe and Ms. Frost talk. Finally, finally the keys were handed over and they could leave.

Christy stepped around the ladder while students struggled to hang a banner over the main entryway. "This is downright morbid." She heard a boy mutter from beside her. She glanced at the message about Genosha living on in each of them and then to the boy standing beside her watching it being raised up.

"Still, they are still remembered." She moved to stand closer to him. "It's better than just being forgotten."

"Dead is dead." He looked at her, and Christy got the impression that he didn't realize she was almost a teacher here. He spoke to her like she was a fellow student.

"No, there are levels of dead." Christy had put more than a little thought to this topic. "There is dead, but still loved. Still talked about and talked to by loved ones, and there's dead forgotten and never thought of again." For a dead woman, Irene had it pretty good. That woman still affected so many lives. The people from Christy's world had it bad. Nothing they ever did mattered, except for what Christy knew about. One mourner wasn't really touching the world, the chain might not be completely broken, but it was incredibly weak.

"What are you on?" He just shook his head, but a slight smile kept it from being cruel.

"Well, why do people have kids or write books, create art, or run for office? Why do they do anything beside trudge through life?" Christy moved to lean against the stair railing. "They do it so that they are remembered. So that they matter to other people. So they aren't forgotten. People want to leave their mark on the world, and have it stick after they die." He went quiet and looked a bit more serious. Christy felt like she was getting somewhere with him, and she didn't even know his name. "Even if you don't do great things, if there are people left that remember you, you've touched someone's life." Christy waved to the banner. "Those people, we're giving them what they didn't have a chance to build themselves. A connection to the rest of the world. It was stolen from them, but we're trying to give the dead a little of that back."

When he left Christy still stood there, thinking about her own words. She believed them, and talking about it made her think about her own world. Did she have a responsibility to them? Yes. Did she have a clue how to deal with it? No. She watched people, students, mill around talking about the tragedy, some tearfully, and felt lost. They had each other, but Christy couldn't tell anyone about the other deaths that happened that day.

Emma was tense and distant today, and Christy knew her lover was dealing with her own pain in the only way she knew how, alone. Christy only saw her a few times in the distance, talking with students, but she didn't feel welcome. She hadn't felt her lover's mental touch once today and it hurt, but she understood it. Emma let herself be vulnerable around Christy, and she couldn't be vulnerable yet. It wasn't anything Christy hadn't done a dozen times herself in the past, but it didn't make it easier to give Emma the space Emma wanted. It also made Christy reluctant to bother Emma about her own turmoil. Christy walked without paying attention to where she was going and found herself standing on the side of the lake, staring out over the water. What was it with death and water? She always seemed to seek it out. In one more day it would be the anniversary of her trek to a different shore to wait for death. Out of habit her eyes moved upwards to search the sky for the asteroid that she'd watched for months get closer, and felt a little surprised to not see it. In her mind's eye she could see it streaking overhead as it roared, a true symbol of death.

"I never get tired of the water." Jean's voice was soft, but it still startled Christy. She turned to see the redhead leaning against a tree watching her. "This is my favorite place to get away from it all." Christy glanced back towards the way she'd come and realized she'd walked a distance from the buildings. It was a bit remote, so what were the chances Jean just happened to be there?

"Following me now?"

"I heard you talking with Danny, and thought you might like company." Jean stepped away from the tree and moved to sit on a stump closer to Christy and the water. Christy watched her as Jean quietly stared out at the water, not talking for a little too long. "levels of dead. I can see it." Those green eyes turned to stare into Christy and Christy felt for her shields, wondering if they'd failed her. Jean's expression was too compassionate, like she'd been listening in to Christy's thoughts. "I thought you might be a little," Jean watched her carefully, "sensitive today, with all this talk about death."

Christy sighed heavily and stared across the water. "I feel like these kids don't have a clue. They talk about the horror, but they don't really have any idea. It's just fashionable to be outraged, it doesn't touch them really." Her voice became a harsh whisper. "And yet they can cry, and I haven't. I can't. An entire world died, and I can't… I have to pretend…"

"Do you?" Jean spoke two words, but Christy found her eyes tearing and had to clench her jaw to fight it.

"This is their day." She spoke of this world's dead. "They still have people left to mourn."

"You're still here." Jean patted the stump she sat on, clearly indicating Christy could lean there too. "You've been here almost a year haven't you?"

"A year tomorrow." Christy moved to take the seat that faced the water and not the woman talking with her. She wished Emma would suddenly walk into this sensitive chat, but she didn't hold her breath for it.

"Really?" That had Jean sounding a little surprised for a moment. "You could consider this a memorial for all that died that day."

"It's not the same. The people of Genosha died because they wanted a better world for mutants, and tried to make it. They died because of hate." Christy leaned over and picked up a rock. "They died for something, even if they didn't realize it. My people died because God decided to play marbles with the rocks in our solar system." She tossed the rock into the water, watching it skip twice before sinking. "We just had lousy luck. Nothing noble, nothing profound… it was a huge colossal mistake. One or two days change in our orbit could have saved us. Stupid." Her chin quivered as a few tears started to trail down her cheeks. "No heroes, no miracles. You get all of those and we had nothing. Just one stupid mutant with a useless power who couldn't save anyone but herself."

"Even I would have been helpless in that situation, and I know what my powers are." Jean's hand was warm on her back. Christy curled up a little more as she struggled to keep control. "talking about things like fate wouldn't help now would it?"

"No, I hate that." Christy managed a smile at Jean's question. "Things don't always happen for a reason, and hearing that line makes me want to hit someone."

"Okay, fair warning." Jean smiled at her when Christy risked a glance. "Do you want Emma?"

"No." Christy took a deep breath and buried her pain again. She'd gotten relatively good at it. "She's busy."

"She's not really great with the emotional talks is she?"

Christy scowled a little. "She does just fine, but Genosha… I'm fine. I'm used to this, and she's…" Christy didn't know how to explain how Emma's pain took precedence to Christy, and that she wasn't going to crack Emma's tightly held control today.

"You can't hold this in forever." Jean's hand moved in a comforting circle on Christy's back, and Christy thought about what an idiot Scott was to betray this caring woman. Those thoughts helped to pull her away from her own feelings of loss, as she focused on the injustice of Scott's lies to his wife.

"Thanks." Christy sat up straighter. "But I'm fine."

"You are both so stubborn." Jean sighed. "Both of you are hurting and you won't do it together." With Christy's thoughts on Scott it took her a moment to grasp Jean was talking about Emma and Christy. "She's filled her day with student conferences she didn't need to do and grading that isn't an emergency to avoid feeling anything."

Christy's expression became a little colder at the recrimination in Jean's voice, even with knowing Jean's intentions were good. "You do what you have to in order to survive."

"You've survived. It's time to do what you need to do." Jean moved in front of her and Christy's leaned back away from the hand that reached out for a moment, before she realized it wasn't an attack. She was a little too high strung. "You need to mourn." Jean caressed her hair gently, almost seeming motherly.

"I mourn every night." Christy looked away. "We both do. We don't need a special day for that. You couldn't understand."

"People I've cared about have died."

"People… not everyone." Christy sat back, putting herself out of Jean's reach. She'd felt the soft brush against her shield, but chose to ignore it. Apparently touch helped all telepaths focus, but Jean didn't get in, and it wasn't a huge push. It was probably reflex on Jean's part. Christy would give her the benefit of the doubt. "You don't know death like I do, and I pray you never do. I wish Emma didn't. I wish I could have spared her, that she'd never gone to that country. There is a special hell that haunts the sole survivor, and she didn't deserve that."

"Neither did you." Jean didn't try to comfort, her words delivered in a matter of fact way. Christy couldn't feel the truth in them, they seemed false and weak. She didn't deserve to be the one to live, but the pain? Somehow it seemed fair.

Jean left Christy by the waters edge, with hopefully more to think about. Maybe she couldn't understand the depth of Christy's pain, but she knew that if Christy kept hiding it she'd never heal and it could serve to tear Emma and Christy apart. Jean sighed as she compared both women to Scott, and his reluctance to talk to Jean about his pain and fears. He'd been possessed and ever since he'd regained control he'd been distant, distant like Jean saw Emma be with Christy at breakfast. Jean couldn't make him talk to her, but maybe she could encourage those two to talk with each other. It's what being a couple was all about, supporting each other, comforting.

Emma and Christy's story was such a romantic one, Jean wanted to see them succeed.

"Where were you?" Scott gave her a smile as she stepped back into their room.

"I wanted to walk along the water." She didn't bother telling him about her talk with Christy. She didn't want to hear how she should just stay out of it. "Scott, I was thinking that once my two weeks of teaching are over I'd like for us to go on vacation." It was unusual that he didn't schedule them for the same two weeks of work so that they'd have more time together.

"Oh." He didn't look thrilled. "I don't know if I can spare the time this year." Her heart sank just a little at that expected brush off. He was about to tell her about how he was needed here, or how the team needed to train, or how he needed to work on his lesson plans. All excuses she'd heard so many times since he came back. For her sometimes it was like her husband never did come back.

"Well, maybe I'll visit my parents." She tried one last time. When he didn't offer to try and make time for even a weekend she just turned away and started to brush out her hair. She'd promised not to read his mind, but times like this the urge to know what he was thinking was hard to fight. What was he thinking as he constantly put her off for every little excuse he could come up with?

Emma felt the teenager's presence outside her office door and moved to put her glass down so she could answer the locked door. Phoebe seemed to radiate nervousness and happiness. When Emma opened the door she smiled at her student. "So tell me dear, are you going to be needing a car with a larger backseat anytime soon?" The blush and darting eyes made Emma want to laugh, but she contented herself with a wicked smile.

"I… I… don't think that…" Phoebe stammered.

"Don't tell me that you haven't even kissed the girl yet." Emma stared into Phoebe's face, or what she could see through the protectively draping hair. After four dates they really should have taken that particular step. "If you want something you have to go out and make it happen." Of all the sisters, Phoebe was the one that didn't seem to get that.

"Emma, I really don't think we need to be encouraging the students to do things in backseats." Jean's voice wasn't welcome, and Emma scowled over at the redhead. It was just a little harmless teasing, but Jean decided to ruin it. "Why don't you get back to the dorms before curfew Phoebe." Jean spoke softly and Emma found her keys in her hand before the red faced teen scurried out of the area.

"Really Jean, you shouldn't interrupt my private discussions with students. These are my girls."

"And you've had too much to drink to be giving love advice to teenagers."

"Spare me the listing of my various sins and tell me why you are darkening my doorstep so I can finally close the door." She held the door and filled the doorway, making it clear that Jean was not welcome.

Jean's eyes seemed to darken. "Fine. Have you seen Christy today?" Emma glared at the nosy redhead. "because I think if you had you'd have realized that she's not well. I left her by the water hours ago, and she hasn't moved."

"Maybe she just wanted a quiet place to think." Emma didn't like Jean insinuating that Emma wasn't paying attention to her lover.

"Well, you'd think she'd have moved when the tide came in. She can't drown can she?"

"What?" Emma stood taller as her slowed mind tried to come up with a reason that Christy would just sit in the water. She couldn't come up with one. They called the water a lake, but it was really part of the ocean. The tide made a significant difference.

"I just thought you might like to know she was talking about death earlier. It seems tomorrow is the anniversary of more than just Genosha."

Emma pushed past Jean and slammed her office door. God dammit, she should have remembered that. Christy had told her this. Why hadn't she remembered?

Christy watched the water ripple as she tossed another rock further out. The cold water lapped up the shore and covered her legs as she sat on the rocky beach. She was made of this. Her eyes stared down, at her darkened fake pants, knowing she'd be able to dry them quickly, just like she could dry her hair after a shower with just a little effort. Take it off, or shorten it and put it back again. It was one thing Mystique hadn't taught her. Christy had figured that one out on her own.

She leaned back to rest on her elbows and stare up at the clear sky, comparing it to another sky she knew intimately. The later summer nights had it so that it was just now starting to darken, but still there was no hint of celestial doom. Her shoulders tensed to hold her head up, out of the water as her arms were submerged by another wave lapping gently at the shore and her body.

"I wish I had a camera." The voice surprised her, but Christy just arched her neck so she could see Emma standing just out of the water's reach. "You look so beautiful there, even if it is crazy to sit in the cold water." The blonde was leaning against the stump Jean had been sitting on earlier with her arms crossed in front of her. "You make me cold just looking at you though. Come out of that water dear."

Christy searched her lover with eyes that noticed the tension Emma was not able to hide. With a sigh she sat up and moved to stand, the sound of water dripping off her in mass and the cool wind made her notice finally how deep it had been getting. The splashing sound as water ran off of her made Christy grimace a little as she made her way out. She waited until she was clear of the water before shifting her clothes off, replacing it with her underwear. Water ran down her body and she felt a blush of embarrassment as Emma whistled teasingly, before Christy shifted new and only slightly damp clothes on. "Neat trick."

"Thanks." Christy wasn't sure what Emma wanted as she stood uncertainly just out of reach, not wanting to do anything… she wasn't sure what Emma needed. It was a helpless feeling she'd battled all day, but standing there made it more intense.

Emma moved to step closer and pulled Christy into a hug. "You're so cold." The blonde telepath moved to rub warm hands over Christy's back in an effort to warm Christy. Christy let her shield down, hoping for Emma to try to warm her from the inside, but it was just the normal waves of death in the distance that greeted her. She closed it back up with a sigh, but just a moment after that she felt a caress to her shield. She lowered it just a little and her lover's mind warmed her. "What were you doing?"

Christy buried her head into Emma's shoulder and sighed. She didn't know how to explain that the effort of getting up to move seemed too bothersome and she'd thought about moving several times, but still just stayed where she was. She had a good view of the sky from the shore, but the trees would have blocked her view if she'd moved away from her spot. Her silence was met with more of the same until Emma just sighed and pulled Christy into a tight hug. Christy could smell the alcohol on her lover's breath and knew Emma was most likely far from sober, even though she didn't slur her words. "I'm sorry baby." Emma whispered. "I forgot you'd be hurting, I'm sorry." And Christy put her arms around Emma to hold her, hearing the tears in the blonde's voice. "So sorry." Emma muttered, and Christy had the impression Emma was now talking to someone that wasn't there. Emma was crying. Not huge sobs, but her body shook slightly with her tears.

"It's okay." Christy's voice cracked, feeling her lover's pain through the link Emma must not have realized she'd made. It echoed Christy's so much that only experience told Christy it wasn't her own. Flashes of teenaged bodies and blood flooded Christy's mind, interspersed with classrooms and smiling faces. Hellions, the Genosha class, a boy Emma's mind called Everett. Visions of Sophie being found by the water fountain, Henry over her, with Annie's body curled up next to the blonde girl, both looking horrible. "It's okay baby." Christy's voice was higher than normal as she started to rock from side to side with Emma in her arms. With the outside pain battering at her Christy wanted to raise her shields again, but she forced herself to endure it for Emma, a woman that rarely let anyone in and was letting Christy in on her most painful moments. "I love you so much." Christy whispered into Emma's ear.

Annie walked with Phoebe slowly through the gardens, knowing that curfew was coming up quickly, but not willing to come in from the nice night they were having. "So I was thinking…" Annie took a deep breath and did her best to quell the butterflies in her stomach as she turned to face Phoebe and stop walking. "that this was a beautiful night." Annie thought the smile and shy blush Phoebe gave her were so incredibly cute. "I had a lot of fun."

"Me too." Phoebe nodded as she spoke in that cute habit she had. Annie stood a little taller and leaned slowly towards Phoebe while trying to not panic. She wanted to do this and she knew Phoebe liked her, but still she felt terrified. She wasn't going to wait for yet another date. She'd wanted to do this the last time they'd gone out. Annie gently pressed her lips to Phoebe's, her mind racing as she wondered if she was doing it right. She pulled away and stared into Phoebe's slightly goofy smile, which faded quickly into a serious look and a slight leaning forward for another kiss. "You are so beautiful." Phoebe whispered before capturing Annie's lips in a more confident kiss. Annie felt a bit self conscious, since she hardly thought of herself as beautiful. Phoebe was beautiful, with golden hair and normal human skin and blue eyes and delicate features. She was also sweet and kind, and so very smart.

After the kiss they pulled together into an awkward hug. Annie didn't know what to do now, or if that was enough for the night.

"I wanted to…" Phoebe took Annie's hand and held it gently. Annie looked up from their hands to see Phoebe staring at her. "you're my girlfriend now, aren't you? I mean I feel like you are and you're so nice and I like spending time with you."

Annie took pity on Phoebe and stopped her with a kiss. This kissing was getting to be nice. The first time she'd been too nervous to feel much, but Phoebe's lips were soft. "Yes I am." Annie spoke softly and took Phoebe's hand again. She'd moved her own during the kiss and hadn't realized it.

"I wanted to give you a ring or something, but I wasn't sure if that's right or if its… just weird."

"Oh, I don't need anything." The idea of a ring seemed a little soon and Annie wasn't sure how she'd feel about it.

"So I bought you this." Phoebe reached into her pocket and pulled out a short chain. "It's a bracelet." Phoebe explained needlessly.

Annie stared at it, feeling unprepared and embarrassed. "but I didn't get you anything."

"You don't have to." Phoebe smiled while taking Annie's wrist and putting the silver bracelet on her. Annie moved it closer to her eyes and stared at it, the simple chain looked shiny in the lamplight.

"Thank you." Annie wasn't sure what else to say.

"Curfew's coming up." A gruff voice from the woods startled them and Annie turned to see Mr. Logan there pulling out a cigar. "Girls should get in."

With a blush and a nod they both turned to leave. Annie glanced back to see him still watching them. He'd probably been there a while.

Logan lit the cigar as he watched the new young couple walk away. His keen ears heard the muffled sob and he could smell the tears from the bushes. He waited, pretending to not see as another blonde girl slipped through the darkness towards the dorms. That there was going to be trouble. Young love. He shook his head in sympathy, knowing how hard it was to watch the girl you wanted with someone else. It still galled him sometimes to see Jean and Scott together, and it had been that way for years. He saw a second blonde trail after the one crying, and he didn't like the confident stride. It seemed a bit heartless, seeing as how her sister was hurting.

He took a deep drag on the cigar and moved to walk further into the woods, after another scent that concerned him. Booze mixed with expensive perfume, tension and pain went this way. Both the personal scents and the scents on the woman let him know who he'd find at the end of the path.

Voices surprised him. Logan sniffed and still only caught the one scent. He slowed to a stop and listened to the higher voices, female, and knew that Emma was going to be okay. It was Christy. He turned and headed back towards the mansion.

Sophie pushed her shields up as far as she could so that she wouldn't have to feel Phoebe's joy or Esme's satisfaction. Esme had tricked her, telling her that she needed to talk to her alone, only to take them to the garden where she saw that. Sophie turned on the faucet in the bathroom and did her best to wash the tears off of her face. She did this to herself. Esme was right, she should have said something. She had no idea how much it would hurt to see Annie kiss her sister.

It was too late now. Sophie knew Phoebe loved Annie and it was just too late. Still she couldn't wait in their room for Phoebe to come home full of joy and wanting to tell them all about how she had her first kiss, that she was the first of them to kiss anyone other than relatives. Sophie imagined it would have been so sweet, she knew she'd imagined it many times. Imagined how Annie's lips would feel, how soft.

"She should have known how you felt." Esme's slimy voice called through the bathroom door. "Phoebe can't be so blind that she doesn't know, and she still kissed her."

"I don't know what game you're playing, but leave me alone." Sophie dried her face a little brutally trying to ignore the click of the bathroom door opening. "Haven't you done enough?" Her voice was weak and Sophie hated it knowing Esme might decide to move in for more vicious words now that she was weak.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Esme's voice was actually softer and Sophie looked up into what seemed like concerned eyes. "But I thought you should see it like that instead of in the morning or in class." Esme actually was trying to claim she did this to be kind? Sophie gave her sister a disgusted look and tossed the towel into the hamper. She didn't say a word as she pushed past Esme and out the door. She really wished she had a private room now. Sophie walked toward the door, ignoring curfew because she couldn't deal with her sisters now and she had no where else she could go. She moved to the bench near the basketball court and stared at the sky as the tears she'd wiped away earlier came back. She didn't care if a teacher caught her.

It was a while later when the cool air was making her shiver, but she didn't want to go back in. Sophie watched the silhouette of two women walking out of the woods towards the main building. They were leaning on each other like lovers and Sophie sat back further into the bench, trying to go unnoticed as Ms. Taylor and Ms. Frost walked past her without ever seeing her.

Emma didn't speak out loud as Christy helped steady them as they walked up the stairs. Emma didn't feel that unsteady on her feet, but clearly whatever Christy was seeing had her concerned. "I'm hardly a graceless drunk Christy." Emma protested quietly when she noticed how Christy had positioned herself so that if Emma fell Christy would catch her.

"Just because your mother named you Grace doesn't mean you have it." Christy gave her a small smile. "You almost tripped in the woods."

"Yes, in the dark and over a root. I'm sure Annie is heartbroken she missed it." Emma remembered Annie's mental chanting months ago wishing Emma would fall on her face. "It's hardly dark in here." The stairs, while not brightly lit late at night were more than adequately lit now.

Emma could feel the serious shift in her lover's emotions. "It's okay to need me." Christy's eyes seemed a little glassy as they reached the top of the stairs and faced each other. "I need to be needed."

Emma reached out to caress Christy's still cold skin. "Perhaps you could stay in my room tonight?" She asked softly, finally giving in to what they both apparently needed tonight. It was hardly a passionate request, because in all honesty Emma was simply not in the mood for that. She'd put Christy into a hot shower to try and get her back to normal temperature before they went to sleep though. Emma liked how Christy was normally so warm, her body seeming to radiate comfort for Emma the way it radiated warmth. It was disconcerting to feel Christy so cold now, when Emma needed that warmth. The ocean had cooled Christy, which led to other questions about Christy's powers, but none that Emma wanted to ask now. "And I don't care what that old man says, tomorrow you and I are leaving campus. They can have their little memorial on their own, I won't be a part of it."

"Okay." Christy just agreed so quickly. Emma led Christy to her door while squeezing Christy's hand softly in comfort. Emma should have seen how this was affecting Christy, how withdrawn she'd become. It could hardly be easy for Christy to face the anniversary of so much death. She'd make up for her neglect of Christy tonight.

It had been so nice to be held as she cried. Emma watched her lover move into the bathroom for the shower and just stared at the woman. How she'd ever gotten so incredibly lucky after so much bad luck confused her, but Emma was so very grateful to have Christy. Christy could be so gentle when needed, and yet so passionate as well. Emma moved to pull her boots off. Perhaps she'd join Christy in that shower. It would be all the better to make sure her lover got warmed up properly.

"Has she started yet?" Bobby's voice called into the doorway, where several Xmen were seated around the briefing table watching the large screen. He smirked at Hank as he carried his large bowl of popcorn into the room to sit down and watch the show. Hank just raised an eyebrow at Bobby's snack, but really big blue should have thought of this. Bobby was sure it would be a show they'd talk about for days and was glad his team got back from their mission before Christy's test run.

Scott just scowled at him when Bobby cheered as they saw Christy step into the classroom upstairs. She'd been warned that this class was being broadcast down here, but the students hadn't. Knowing the little monsters Bobby was betting that there would be more than a few detentions handed out after class by the teachers in this room. That is if Christy didn't beat them into submission first.

"This is a job performance test, not a game show." Scott wasn't thrilled with the way Bobby was supporting his favorite inter-dimensional reality hopper. Bobby just stuffed a large handful of popcorn in his mouth and shushed Xorn and the other teacher he was talking to so he could hear.

With his mouth nearly full Bobby's voice rose. "Turn up the volume. I don't want to miss her kicking ass."

"Robert." Emma's cool voice held a hint of amusement. "It won't matter how loud it is if you talk through it all."

Christy stood in the corner of the room watching the teenagers that were her students for the next two days. She watched loud discussions and some kids staring out the window longingly at the beautiful morning. She watched one or two quickly rushing to finish the assignment that Christy had asked Jean to give to the class the night before so that she could move right into the topic. Last minute assignments weren't her favorite, but she could usually tell those from the well thought out ones well enough.

She moved to the front of the room and picked up the chalk, while wishing this classroom had a white board instead. She wasn't used to working with chalk. Her name on the board just said Christy, in spite of a few teachers objecting to her being too familiar with the children. She heard the talking slow down and she turned to face the kids selected for this class. There were few familiar faces. The boy Danny sat in the back and he smiled at her in encouragement. Annie and her other children were in Jean's class, but Scott had them moved to Warren's for these days. She couldn't fault him for that. She really needed to prove she could do this without her kids support.

"Hi, I'm Christy and I'll be covering class for Ms. Summers for the next two days." It was strange to walk into someone else's class to teach, she felt a bit less in control from the start but she refused to let them see it.

"You mean Mrs. Summers." Some smart alec spoke up from the back row. Christy just smiled and his smug look faded. He'd picked a poor battlefield, and Christy would bet money that this student would be the one to constantly question her comments, if the difference between Ms. and Mrs. was such a big deal for him.

"This is a perfect chance for us to talk about gender inequality. What did you think about the article I gave you on the ownership model of marriage?" She waited, watching him struggle to come up with an answer.

She'd picked a controversial article to start the class off with because she knew it would get students talking and they'd get over the awkwardness of a new teacher more quickly. Jean agreed with her reasoning, even though Christy was sure Jean wasn't supposed to help all that much to prepare her. Not with Scott wanting Christy to fall on her face.

"Um," The boy was just staring at her, obviously wishing she'd redirect the question since his silence showed he hadn't read it. Christy must raised an eyebrow in challenge and waited, ignoring the whispers the other students shared. "I didn't read it." Finally. She'd been wondering if he'd try to cover that up.

"Well, good." That shut the class up and Christy found several eyes staring at her again. "So you made a decision to not do your homework. That's a valid decision. Sometimes things happen and you have to priorities." She paused to let the students absorb that. "So," She looked at him again. "I know this is a little off the topic, but would you like to describe the decision making strategy that you used to decide that this particular assignment needed to be downgraded in importance?" He stared at her with wide eyes and Christy managed, just managed, to not grin at him evilly while putting him on the spot. "I mean you did get the assignment right?" She turned to look at the class, faking her innocent question, but it was clearly faked. "Ms. Summer's didn't forget after she promised me she'd hand them out did she?"

"Oh my god." Bobby grinned and reached for his large super gulp of seven up. "She is so kicking his butt." Logan reached out and grabbed a handful of Bobby's popcorn, making his smile disappear as he moved it to his other side. The hairy man should have thought to bring his own supplies. Bobby was hoping to have popcorn to throw in celebration a few times, just to irritate Scott of course. He turned to Emma and spoke in a fake whisper as the class on the screen pulled out the article to prove everyone had one. "Did she teach like this in Washington?"

"Rarely." Emma glanced at him. "This is her getting the trouble makers under control strategy."

Christy could see he didn't know how to answer that, so she moved away from his desk and back to the chalk board. "Okay, how about this. How do we make decisions?" She addressed the entire class. A glance at the clock and she decided she could spend up to ten minutes on this topic before she had to move through the lesson plan, or she'd never finish what she'd agreed to finish. Decision making could fit into a psychology class, maybe. Okay she was stretching here, but she wasn't willing to back down. She was supposed to be talking about gender and stereotypes.

Hopefully this wasn't something that the people in the basement would use against her. She really felt this was the time to deal with this, not just for the boys sake, but because teenagers needed to understand they could make decisions, but they had to pay the price for those decisions, just like any adult.

A hand raised in the front row. "Um, well… we decide the pros and cons of the decision." One young boy decided to take this seriously. Christy nodded to him and wrote what he said on the board.

"Anything else?" When the students still looked a bit lost she added something. "If we have something else that we are considering don't we need to compare the pros and cons of both actions? Or in really tough decisions several different actions?" That got a lot of nodding.

"She's teaching them when not to do their work?" Scott complained as Christy outlined the decision making that Brent went through to not do his homework for class. She had the boy cheerfully admitting to considering what would happen, but that he'd wanted to stay up late on a movie marathon with his friends. Scott wanted to march right in their and announce a new rule on late night movie room use, but he waited for Christy to say something about how Brent made the wrong decision. She wasn't doing it.

Christy looked at the laughing students as she wrote yet another positive to watching late night movies on the board. Here it was. She turned to Brent and the girl that admitted her work wasn't done either. "So even though you made the decision, you probably weren't aware that you were thinking all of this were you?"

"Well, no." Brent glanced at the board filled with his comments on the pros and cons. She'd made him list several.

"You made a decision to pay these." She waved her hand towards the cons, "For those." She motioned to the pros. "Do you think now, after having really listed all of this, that you got your money's worth out of that decision?"

"Well, yeah." He grinned, trying to be the class clown. Christy smiled indulgently.

"Okay, well remember that. I want everyone to spend ten minutes writing their impressions of what was written in that article, but the article needs to be put away." She smirked at him. "Oh, and it's worth 50 points." She had only one hundred points worth of assignments she could use and for this particular lesson to stick she had to use up half of it. If this were her class she wouldn't have had to sacrifice her other plans to teach the kids about consequences.

"Fifty points?" One young man whispered loudly to the boy next to him. Apparently Jean rarely gave out large quizzes like that. Too bad.

"Better get to work." Christy stared right at the two that hadn't read the article. "I expect everyone to write the entire ten minutes."

"She shoots and she scores!" Bobby yelled and Scott turned to glare when he felt popcorn hit the back of his head. "She spiked it, she hit it out of the ballpark…. Christy is the new heavy weight champion of the school!"

"Bobby!" Scott yelled to quiet him down. Really it was hard to believe he was a teacher, when he acted more disruptive than their students.

"It looks like she's teaching them about making decisions and dealing with the consequences of those decisions." The Professor was watching just as carefully, and seriously, as Scott had been. Scott nodded and ignored the inappropriate celebration behind him. When Scott saw where she was going he had to admit that wasn't a lesson any of the students in the class were likely to forget. With ten minutes of nothing but writing students on the screen he moved to pour himself some more water.

He was surprised at the number of faculty that exercised their right to see this particular test run of a teacher. Normally the Professor, Jean, Emma, and him were alone to evaluate. Logan never bothered to come to these before, and neither did Bobby. Given Bobby's reaction to this one, Scott didn't plan announce the other test runs for new Fall teachers when he was around.

"Alright." Christy's voice filled the room. "Now that you've written down your thoughts, lets talk about this." He turned to see her collecting the papers she'd be grading that night. "Is the ownership model dead?"

"No." One girl in the back called out, and Scott watched as the entire class got excited about the topic.

"She knows how to get the class interested." Jean spoke softly as she moved to stand beside him. He hated to admit it, but watching her he could see that Christy was a good teacher. "You should have heard some of her suggestions for my class. I've implemented a few of them."

"You think we should hire her." He stated what he knew her opinion was as he considered it. Regardless of whether she worked here or not, it was clear Christy would live here. "What about if she teaches the children…" what? He was worried she'd teach them to disregard authority, but she'd just proved she wouldn't. He was worried she'd teach them to do things that were horrible because of… Damn, she'd just proved she wasn't going to brainwash, because she'd just spent her first ten minutes teaching the class working on teaching the students how to make decisions of their own. "Nevermind."

"I think she's a good teacher. Maybe her past actually helps her with it, but whatever it is… she's got a natural instinct for it." Jean didn't need to answer but she did. Scott's eyes took in the other senior faculty in the room, and he could tell that Christy already had the majority voting for her. The Professor's word alone would have guaranteed Christy a job, but with all that support.

"Okay." It didn't mean he couldn't monitor her, and he'd monitor her closely, but obviously he couldn't stop her getting hired and she might, just might, be a decent teacher.

"Did you hear?" Jon spoke softly as he stepped into her room. Jessi looked up from her magazine. "Christy got the job."

"She did." Jessi's smile was a little forced. She was glad for Christy, she really was, but now…

"You know, if Christy gets even half of the things she wants being here won't be so bad." Jon moved to sit on her bed, and he rested a hand on her side as she turned to face him.

"But your family…"

"We could visit every break, spend Christmas break at home." Jon was being so sweet. "I like the weird classes and I'm much better with my powers now." Jessi didn't know what to say now. She'd been convinced that they'd go home because Jon would want to now that it was safe. She hadn't considered he'd be willing to stay. "Do you want to stay?"

"I don't know." Jessi stumbled over her thoughts. The classes were cool. She liked being able to do more, it made her feel safer for out in the real world. But here, she didn't really feel safe here. If Annie could get hurt like that what's to say Jessi or Jon wouldn't be in the way of the next attack?

But the thought of leaving Christy and Annie behind hurt, it hurt more than loosing Erik and she'd known him longer. Christy was so cool, she'd done so much. Jessi took a deep breath and turned away so Jon wouldn't see how upset she was. Christy really was staying. Now what did she do?

"Christy says that we don't have to think of this as forever." Jon moved to caress her back and Jessi enjoyed how comfortable they were both getting with things like that. "She says that we can just decide whether we want to be here or at home for the next semester. We can rethink it then. I can be here for another semester. My family is okay with this and I know you don't have…"

"Any family?" She asked bitterly.

"Besides Christy, me and the others. You do have us." He held out a set of keys. "And Christy makes the rules here a little easier to take. Pack up for the weekend, I have reservations at a bed and breakfast on the ocean." Jessi's eyes widened as she recognized the keys to Christy's car. Jon leaned forward and kissed her. "Do you want to go away for the weekend? She got us permission."

"Really?"

"The Professor told me the place I picked is really nice. It's real permission." Jon's fist clenched around the keys. "Jessi, would you like to go with me?"

"I would love to." Jessi didn't know how her boyfriend pulled this one of, but clearly having Christy working here came with benefits. "Love to." She kissed his hard, until she heard the wolf whistle of some student walking past her open door. That was going to be over soon. Real privacy. They'd never had that. First living with an Empath and then in dorms. This was the first time they'd be alone. Jessi smiled and got up to find one of her bags of luggage.

Maybe she could at least give this one more semester. Where would they live if they went back to Washington anyhow? Probably with Jon's dad, and then it would be no privacy again. This might be better.

The end

Author's Note: This concludes Not Myself. I want to thank the readers that have supported me in this huge undertaking. You may see Annie, Christy, and this universe in other fics I do in the future.