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There was quite a chill in the air that morning as Christy walked to school with the rest of the students from the Xavier Institute. She reached up and tried to close the collar of her coat even tighter against the bitter cold. It seemed to help a little, but there wasn't much that could be done for her legs. Despite the tights she was wearing, it felt as though there was a layer of ice forming on her knees. Although she'd been wearing dresses and skirts for nearly two months now, it still took some getting used to in the colder weather. She glanced over at Jean and Rogue and noticed that they seemed to be much more comfortable wearing pants. Not for the first time she wondered why she'd allowed Kitty to talk her into wearing a skirt that morning.

It was now late November in Bayville, and although the brilliant fall colors had long since disappeared with the leaves on the trees, the scenery was still quite beautiful. Although winter had technically already begun, there had only been one or two light snowfalls so far which hadn't remained on the ground for very long. Along the route they usually walked to school, Christy noted that some of the Bayville residents had already started to decorate their properties with Christmas lights. She was really looking forward to seeing how Bayville would look once everything got blanketed in snow.

As they all approached the front entrance of Bayville High, Christy thought she caught a glimpse of Principal Darkholme in her office window, but the figure seemed to disappear just as she'd stopped for a closer look. That woman really gave her the creeps! After the encounter that the Principal had orchestrated between Christy and her 'special students' earlier in the semester, Christy couldn't shake the feeling that woman was watching her. Not that she’d actually seen the principal around. In fact, other than on her first day at Bayville High, Christy hadn't run into her in the hallways even once since then.

Christy and Kitty parted company with the rest of their group and headed towards their lockers. Christy had managed to get assigned a locker that was only two doors down from Kitty’s, so along with their similar class schedules the two of them were almost always together at school. Kitty was chattering away non-stop as usual while they hung up their coats in their lockers. Christy was getting a little better at following the speed at which Kitty liked to talk, but she still sometimes missed bits and pieces.

"... So, like, then Cassandra said, 'Like, no way! I'm totally not going out with him'... and then, I'm like... 'Why not?' and she's all, 'He's way too retro for my tastes', so I said..."

Kitty was suddenly interrupted by a large gust of wind which sprang up and hit her and Christy from out of nowhere. Instantly the girls dropped their books to the floor and grabbed the hems of their skirts to prevent them from blowing up and providing any bystanders with a nice underwear display. Christy and Kitty both frowned and exchanged knowing glances with each other. In this weather, there was no way that there'd be any windows open nearby, so that meant...

"Hey there, Hot Stuff!" said Pietro from behind Christy. "How's it going?"

Christy and Kitty both turned around to see Pietro leaning casually against a nearby locker and grinning stupidly at them. While he had no reservations about using his mutant powers in public, the Professor had made it very clear to the Institute's residents about how important it was to keep their abilities hidden. Other than the odd rumours or some ridiculous headline in the tabloids, mutants were still pretty much unknown to the general public and everyone at the Xavier Institute was in agreement that it ought to stay that way -- at least for the time being. The general public simply wasn't ready to learn about mutants, so they all had to be very careful about when and where they used their powers. Not that any of the 'Brotherhood Boys' cared very much about that, but at least in Pietro's case he usually moved fast enough so that other people wouldn't notice.

"Why don't you take a hike, Maximoff?" said Kitty irritably. "Or are you hoping that we'll do something so your favourite Principal can hand us another detention?"

"Hey, chill out, Mall-Rat! I only came by to see how Christy's doing."

In the blink of an eye, Pietro quickly scooped Christy's books up from the floor, arranged them in a neat stack and then presented them to Christy with an almost gentlemanly sort of bow with his head. He did not pick up Kitty's books, however.

"Uh... thanks, Pietro," Christy answered as she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

It wasn't really all that surprising, though. The Brotherhood Boys, the other group of teenage mutants at Bayville High, seemed to be paying a lot of attention to Christy lately. They kept turning up just about everywhere she went and at times it was kind of annoying. Scott and Jean had suggested that they might be watching her on orders from Mystique, Principal Darkholme's alternate identity, but Christy got the impression that it was a little more than that. Pietro and his somewhat repulsive friend, Todd 'Toad' Tolensky, both seemed to have developed an infatuation with her.

"So, you wanna come out and do laps with me sometime, Christy?" he asked in his usual hyper-sounding tone of voice. "Not that you have any hope of out-performing me, but you're probably the only other person around that can move fast enough to make it interesting."

"Gawd.. like, don't you ever quit?" said Kitty as she knelt down to recover her books from the floor. "After you and your pals attacked Christy, you expect her to forget it and start hanging out with you? As if !"

"Hey, don't get your panties in a twist. That wasn't my idea! We just wanted to see what your cousin here was made of. I was impressed to see that she had both the moves and the looks!"

"Well, thanks for saying so," Christy said with a slight blush, despite her best efforts not to.

"... but you guys quite openly trashed a large section of a public street and nearly got your friend killed in the process. You're all just a bit too wild and reckless for my tastes."

"Hey, lots of girls say those are some of my best qualities!"

He paused for a moment to quickly glance at his watch.

"Well, time for class. Gotta go! I guess we can talk about this another time..."

In a flash, he suddenly caught Christy in both of his arms and planted a quick kiss squarely on her lips. Before she could react, he gave her behind a playful squeeze and then made a mutant-powered exit down the corridor.

"Holy shit!" said Kitty as she covered her mouth with one of her hands in surprise. "Did he just do what I think he did?"

"Yes, he sure did," replied Christy as she blushed even harder. "I think his interest in me is definitely more than 'professional'."

"I wonder how he'd react if he ever knew that you were..."

Kitty caught herself and stopped before she finished the sentence. She gave a nervous glance at Christy and was relieved to see that she didn't seem to be upset about what had almost slipped out.

Christy, knowing exactly what it was that Kitty was about to say, chuckled a bit as she considered it.

"No doubt he and his pals would react a lot like the rest of you did when I’d told you. They probably wouldn't believe me, and these days there's only one way to prove it to them... and there's no way that I'd ever do that!"

Both girls had a quick laugh at that and then hurried off to class together.

Christy often found herself amazed whenever she paused to reflect upon how much her life had changed in such a short time. As she and Kitty sat through their classes that morning, she found that even a boring subject like Geography was even more enjoyable in her life as Christy than it had been when she was just nerdy little Chris. Back then, every aspect of her life was miserable. She wouldn't even be able to sit in class without being harassed or teased by the other kids whenever the teacher's back was turned. Now the only thing she usually worries about in class is if one of the boys gets her in trouble with the teacher by constantly trying to talk to her and drum up the courage to ask her out for a date.

At first, the mere idea of dating a guy freaked her out. There were a lot of years of living as a boy that were still influencing her psyche, but lately the idea had become a lot less absurd than it had been before. Mr. McCoy had mentioned that her hormone levels were bound to be having some influence on her and that she should just trust her feelings and go with whatever feels right. She thought back briefly to the kiss & grab she had received from Pietro in the hallway earlier that morning and blushed again. She'd been caught completely by surprise at the time, but now that she’d had some time to think about it... she realized that she'd actually liked it.

Not long after Christy had first come to the Institute and officially joined the 'team', the Professor and Mr. McCoy had a long talk with her about the possibility of surgery to correct the only remaining aspect of her old life that contrasts with her feminine appearance. Specifically, all that remains of her origin as a male. While she had accepted the truth of her rather bizarre physiology, it was still a big decision to make. After all, she'd been a boy for nearly all of her life. She knew that eventually she would have to have the surgery at some point, though. Perhaps after the end of the school year so she would have the entire summer to recover. There was no hurry for the time being, though. The Professor had arranged for her to be exempted from Phys Ed. class so that she wouldn't 'surprise' any of the other girls in the change rooms.

On the plus side, once she did have the surgery and became all-the-way female, she'd be free to join any of the school's teams. It wasn't something that she'd ever tried at her last school, particularly since she'd been so miserable then that it had never occurred to her. Ever since her mutant powers had fully manifested, she'd become a lot more athletic than she'd ever been in her life. On top of that, there was Logan back at the Institute who insisted that the entire team was in top physical shape. He tended to work them all harder than any Phys Ed. instructor ever would, so naturally they were all pretty well-toned.

She'd mentioned the idea about joining a school team in passing to Jean once or twice before and she'd seemed pretty enthusiastic about it and encouraged her to go for it. Aside from being a mutant, Jean was an all-American kind of girl that seemed to be good at everything. She was beautiful, popular, got really high grades and was also a star player on the school's soccer team. The entire Institute group usually came out to watch her play whenever there was a game -- including Rogue, surprisingly enough.

While it went without saying that Christy would do very well in Track & Field, she found herself leaning more towards the idea of joining Bayville High’s fledgling Gymnastics Team. Thanks to her mutant powers, she could imbue herself with amazing levels of speed, endurance, agility and balance. While it was a lot of fun to perform at those levels, she would feel guilty if she used her powers to compete against other school teams. She'd discussed it with the Professor during one of their mental training exercises and he'd agreed that it wouldn't be fair to use her powers at competitions, but joining the school's team would provide an excellent cover for her should anyone accidentally witness her using her powers in public. If she already had a reputation as a gymnast, then it might not look as strange if anyone were to see her using her enhancements 'off the matt'. All she'd need to do would be to use her powers sparingly to qualify for the team and then eventually she might not need them at all after she trained long enough.

At Lunchtime, all the gang from the Institute was gathered together for their usual noon-hour hangout session in the school's cafeteria. They were all feeling a little frazzled from the heavy school workload that always fell on them at mid-term, but for the time being they were focusing their attention on the upcoming Thanksgiving long weekend. For the most part, Christy was content to simply listen to everyone as they discussed their holiday arrangements.

The Professor and Mr. McCoy were planning a rather substantial Thanksgiving dinner at the mansion over the holidays for the Institute residents who were staying in Bayville over the weekend. It wasn't all that surprising that Scott and Rogue would be remaining at the mansion, but Christy was a bit intrigued that Logan had apparently decided to stay as well. According to the others, Logan usually took off during most holidays but this time Mr. McCoy had managed to convince him to stay. Apparently Logan was a big fan of football and it had been made clear that, aside from the big Thanksgiving dinner, watching the game on the big screen was going to be a priority event. Additionally, it was rumoured that the Professor might even make an exception to his 'no alcohol' rule and allow a few beers for the time-honoured tradition of watching the Detroit Lions game. Rogue wasn't entirely thrilled that she'd be the only female at the mansion for the duration of this testosterone-fest, but she’d confessed that even she had a bit of a liking for the game -- something she said she’d 'picked up' from someone right around the time her mutant abilities had first manifested.

As for everyone else, they were all returning to their respective families for the holidays. For Christy, this presented a certain amount of excitement and nervousness. While it had only been a couple of months since she'd last been back home in Michigan, so much had happened since then that she felt as though she were returning after an absence of several years. She had written home frequently during that time and had done her best to keep her mother up to date on everything that was going on, but she figured her mother would still be in for a surprise as soon as she returned. She absently glanced down at her slender, feminine legs; from the hem of her skirt down to her stylish 3-inch heels. While she'd done the ‘girl look’ quite effectively in those few days before she'd left home to enrol the Xavier Institute, now there was a lot more going on than just her appearance.

No doubt the neighbors will be a little confused trying to figure out who the new girl is, Christy thought to herself with a little smile.

While she was really looking forward to seeing her mother again, she was also a little excited at the prospect of seeing her home town again... and being seen by her home town. This would be much different than that one time she'd gone out dressed en-femme, because back then the fear of discovery had added a sense of danger which had made the expedition that much more thrilling. This time she knew she was not that same frightened young teen and cared very little whether or not anyone remembered that she had been a boy before. During the brief time she'd spent at the Institute, she'd developed levels of pride and confidence in herself that she previously would not have imagined in her wildest dreams. She had no intention of spending the entire long weekend hiding out at home and was determined to go out and maybe do a little shopping while she was in town.

She'd been shopping with the other Institute girls on a few occasions, but she was really looking forward to going out shopping for clothes with her mother. God, how she missed her mother! It would be their first mother-daughter outing together and Christy was looking forward to it so much that she wasn't even aware that her eyes had begun to moisten until Kitty spoke up.

"Hey Christy, like... are you okay? You look like you're about to ruin your mascara. What's up?" she whispered quietly.

"Oh! Sorry," Christy answered quickly as she fished a Kleenex out of her school bag and then carefully dabbed at her eyes. "I was just thinking about going home this weekend."

"You aren't, like, worried or anything, are you? Didn't you say that your Mom was cool with how you've, uh... changed?"

Christy smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes, she is. She is so anxious to see me again that she even offered to drive all the way out here to Bayville to pick me up on Wednesday, but I told her I'd be fine taking the train. I guess I'm just really happy that I'm finally going to see her again."

Scott, who had just picked up on the last part of the conversation, frowned slightly as he glanced across the table at Christy and Kitty.

"Uh, Christy, are you sure it's wise for you to be traveling back home alone? For your first visit back, I mean? If you were to accidentally run into..."

With a dismissive wave of her hand, Christy quickly cut him off. She knew exactly who Scott was thinking of and part of her was almost wishing that she would run into him again. It would be extremely unlikely though, and probably just as well since public displays of mutant powers were to be avoided whenever possible.

"Robbie probably wouldn't recognize me now. Even if he did, Mr. Logan has taught me enough about how to handle myself in a fight that I probably wouldn't even have to use my powers. It'd be his bad luck if I was to run into him again."

Rogue gave a quiet cheer and a 'thumbs up' salute from across the table.

"Ya! That's the spirit, girl! Ya'll don't have ta take crap from the likes of that creep, that's fer sure!"

Scott gave Rogue a disapproving look and mumbled something about how she shouldn't be encouraging Christy to be reckless, but decided to let the matter drop.

A few minutes later, the bell rang to announce the end of the lunch hour so the Institute gang all split up to return to their afternoon classes.

---

"I am very disappointed with you, Mystique," said the deep voice coming from the cloaked figure that stood in the corner of her office. "This new student of Xavier's has been right under your nose for nearly two months now, and yet you still have very little to report about her."

Raven Darkholme crossed the room to her desk and gracefully sat down in her large chair. She moved so smoothly that she was certain that her surprise 'visitor' couldn't tell just how nervous and intimidated she actually felt. She'd had a lot of harsh experiences throughout her life that had eventually toughened her up to the point where it was nearly impossible for anyone to instil fear in her. Eric Lensherr, otherwise known as 'Magneto', was one of the few exceptions.

"There hasn't been much to report since that incident on her first day here at school," she answered carefully. "I've got the boys keeping an eye on her, but as usual Xavier has her hiding her powers as much as the rest of his students do when they're away from the Institute."

Eric strolled purposefully to her large window and looked wordlessly down to the street below. He said nothing for several minutes while Raven held her tongue and waited for him to continue the conversation. Being that he was one of the most powerful mutants on earth, he wasn't someone whom she wanted to interrupt if he was having some sort of private reflection.

"What about her background, then? What do you know of her before she came here?" he asked in a quiet tone without even bothering to turn away from the window.

Raven swallowed nervously. Her efforts to date had been less than encouraging and she knew that Magneto wouldn't be terribly happy about it.

"Well... I've been having some difficulty with this one. It appears as though Xavier had fabricated her background information when he’d registered her for school here. She's supposedly a paternal cousin of the Pryde girl, but I'm not buying it."

She paused briefly in an attempt to gauge how Magneto was taking the news so far. The man, however, was still standing motionless at the window with his back to her and not displaying any body language whatsoever.

"Continue," he said tonelessly.

Raven shook her head slightly and tried harder to steady her voice so she wouldn't sound as nervous as she felt. Magneto was a real piece of work. He had a very dangerous and powerful presence that you could feel just being in the same room with him and that wasn't even taking his formidable mutant powers into consideration.

"There has to be something special about this particular mutant, because Xavier hasn't ever tried to make up a phoney background for any of his other students yet."

"As far as you know," Magneto added dryly.

Raven flinched slightly at the comment but continued on with what she hoped Magneto would find interesting.

"Clearly, all of Xavier's students are in on the deception regarding this girl because they're all maintaining that she's the Pryde girl's cousin. I've assumed the form of various anonymous students over the past several weeks in order to get close enough to eavesdrop on their conversations and they're all sticking to the same story. I did overhear something today that might present us with an opportunity to learn more about this girl, though."

She paused again to see if Magneto would show any interest or anticipation for her news, but he remained as still as a statue at the window. Damn him!

"Most of Xavier's students are returning to their respective families for the holiday long weekend, including the McGee girl. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about her without any interference from the rest of the X-men. I’ve already made arrangements for a couple of our boys to follow..."

"No," Magneto suddenly cut her off and finally turned to face her.

"I want you to follow her. If Xavier is keeping this girl's real identity hidden for some reason, he might be expecting us to try something like that. Those buffoons of yours are too careless and clumsy and will probably be spotted long before we can learn anything useful."

With a casual gesture of his hand, the arms of the chair in which Raven was sitting suddenly twisted themselves into restraints and pinned her arms down. Before she could even register her surprise, the entire chair then lifted into the air and settled itself down on the surface of her desk. Magneto then rose slightly into the air and hovered at eye-level, mere inches away from Raven's face. Despite her efforts to maintain her composure, she could feel a few droplets of nervous perspiration begin to bead up on her forehead.

"I shouldn't have to remind you that I'll be very... displeased... if you screw this up. A mutant with the potential for manipulating high levels of electricity would be of particular use to my future work, so be sure that nothing happens with this girl that might jeopardize that."

Magneto then glided across the room to the door and touched down onto the floor. Without so much as a backwards glance, he went through the door and closed it behind him, leaving Raven pinned in her chair.

It would be a considerable embarrassment to her if the secretary were to come in and find her like that, so Raven had to shapeshift to free herself. She then lifted her twisted chair down onto the floor and pushed it into her closet. She had been particularly fond of that chair and was more than a little annoyed that she now had to order another one. She seemed to be going through an awful lot of trouble over this McGee kid. From what little they'd seen of her powers so far, she didn't seem all that remarkable for Magneto to make such a fuss over her. Still, if that irritating Xavier went to the trouble of making up a bogus past for her, maybe there really was something special about her. Whatever the secret, she was determined to find out what it was.

---

Later that day, the Institute’s students were all relaxing together in the mansion's rec-room after a particularly exhausting martial arts class with Logan. As soon as they'd returned from school, they'd only just set their school bags down in their rooms when the surprise class had been announced. Typically, they had their martial arts training every other day. Since they'd already done their rounds on the mat with Logan the day before, it caught them all off guard when he'd summoned them down for yet another class. With the holiday long weekend approaching, Logan was concerned that the team might get too 'slack' if they missed their regularly-scheduled sessions in the Danger Room, so he decided that they'd make up for it on the mats before everyone took off for the long weekend.

Christy sympathetically looked around at her team-mates while she energized herself slightly to alleviate some of her physical exhaustion. While none of them were allowed to use any powers for those sessions on the mat, at least in Christy's case her abilities were ideal for restoring her stamina afterwards. She absently stretched out her arms and felt the familiar tingling in her limbs from her mutant power as it started to heal her aching muscles. She couldn't heal as fast as Logan did, but she knew that she'd be back to normal by the next morning -- which was a lot more than what could be said for the rest of the team. Everyone except for Rogue, that is.

She and Christy had a special arrangement that they'd use after particularly brutal workouts. Since Rogue could temporarily absorb other mutants’ abilities, Christy would let her 'borrow' hers later so that Rogue could completely heal herself by the morning as well. It would have to wait until the end of the night, though, since Rogue had a tendency to render people unconscious whenever she touched them.

Christy did feel a little guilty that she couldn't help the rest of the group in the same way, but they were all good sports about it. It went without saying that Rogue had a much more difficult time with her powers, so this wasn't an advantage that any of the team would begrudge her. Rogue was seated on the sofa across from her and gave her a knowing wink, which Kitty noticed and caused her to frown slightly and shake her head. Christy knew full well what Kitty was irritated about and managed to stifle a small laugh.

One aspect of Christy's mutant abilities was a noticeable glow around her that was sometimes difficult to conceal. The last time Christy had allowed Rogue to borrow her powers; she had returned to their shared room glowing like a neon lamp and kept Kitty awake for half the night. Rogue had claimed that she couldn't help it, but Christy suspected that she did it on purpose just to tease Kitty. Rogue and Kitty seemed to be a lot more like sisters than either of them would ever dare to admit.

"Oh man, I feel totally shredded," said Evan with an exhausted sigh. "I don't know if two days is enough time to recover before I head back home with Auntie O. this weekend."

"Ya... vhat vas Logan trying to do to us?" Kurt added, wincing slightly as he gently prodded his tail with his fingers. "Even my tail is aching!"

"You know how Logan is," Jean answered quietly. "He really enjoys the physical workouts and doesn't always remember that we don't have the same endurance that he does."

"... or Christy either," Kitty threw in softly with a wistful look at her.

Not knowing what she could possibly say in response, Christy simply shrugged her shoulders innocently and put on her best 'who, me?' expression. Kitty gave a small laugh at that and threw one of the sofa cushions at her.

Eventually the other students managed to find the energy to drag themselves back to their rooms so they could change for dinner. Kitty ended up walking the 'long route' with everyone else through the hallways, since she was too exhausted to use her phasing ability to take her usual shortcuts through the walls.

At dinner, the adults were mildly amused by how quiet the table conversation was that night. Thanks to Logan's gruelling workout, most of the students hardly had the energy to sit up straight, let alone summon up the energy to engage in any vibrant conversation. The Professor seemed mildly concerned that Logan might be pushing them a little too hard, but the physical conditioning of the team was Logan's department. Although the students were all exhausted, the workout didn't seem to do them any real harm so Xavier didn't feel the need to voice his concerns yet.

Later that evening, it was a very tired Rogue who had finally managed to drag herself to Christy's room before lights out. Christy practically had to help her move across the room to her bed, where she sat herself down at the end of it while Christy got under the covers.

"So, you're really goin' ta head back home fer the holidays?" Rogue asked. "Are you sure you're ready? It really hasn't been all that long since..."

She let her voice trail off without finishing the sentence, but she didn't need to. While she shared some of the concern that Scott had expressed at lunch that day, she typically didn't like to give Scott the impression that she agreed with him so she didn't say anything at the time. Rogue was also worried about what Christy might have to face during her return trip home.

"Don't worry, Rogue. I'll be fine," Christy quietly assured her. "It isn't as if I'm going to go looking for trouble while I'm back home. Besides, it's my Mom that I'm really dying to see again. I really miss her, so I'm going to spend just about every minute with her that I can."

"Well, you might not be lookin' fer trouble, but Ah've sometimes found that trouble can have a way of findin' you when you least expect it. You be careful just the same, okay?"

"Thanks Rogue, I'll be careful. Anyhow, you'd better tap me soon because you look like you're about to fall over yourself in another minute or so. Remember to turn out the lights for me on your way out... and try to keep the aura toned down this time! I don't think Kitty's buying it anymore that you can't control it well enough."

Rogue chuckled as she removed one of her thin satin gloves that she usually wore to bed.

"Ah think my roomie's so tired that she wouldn't even notice a truck drivin’ through the room, but Ah'll keep it turned down anyways. Thanks again, Christy."

Christy smiled back as she held out her arm towards Rogue, who then reached out with her own hand to touch her. Once again, Rogue felt the instantaneous rush as Christy's mutant power flowed into her. Christy quickly collapsed backwards onto her pillow and Rogue gently pulled the blankets up to cover her. She then turned out the lamp and headed back to her own room. Already she could feel some of the soreness of her aching limbs start to fade away as the tingling of Christy's mutant power began its work to repair them.

Damn, she thought to herself. Christy's power sure is useful!

---

For Christy, who was so anxious for her return trip home for the holidays, it had felt to her as though that Wednesday couldn’t come soon enough. When the day had finally arrived, she awoke feeling an excitement that reminded her of how she'd felt the day she'd left home to come to the Xavier Institute. She quickly jumped out of bed, donned her bathrobe, and then hurried out of her room to get what she hoped would be an early place in the morning queue for the bathroom.

When she got out into the hallway, she was pleasantly surprised to see that the only person waiting outside of the bathroom was Scott.

"Mornin’ Christy. Why are you up so early?" he asked her.

Being that it was a regular weekday, she was a little confused by his question until it suddenly occurred to her what he'd meant. Since most of the Institute's students were traveling home for the holidays, the Professor had gotten them all exempted from school for the day so that they could make their trips home. Everyone except for Scott and Rogue, that is. Since they were staying in Bayville for the holidays, the Professor didn’t feel it would be appropriate for them to miss classes if it wasn’t necessary. As the rest of them didn't have to go to school that day, they were all probably sleeping in a little longer since they didn't have to rush through their morning routine as much as Scott and Rogue would.

"Uh, I don't know. Force of habit, I suppose. Did Rogue beat you to the washroom again?"

Scott gave a small laugh and nodded his head.

"Yep. It doesn't seem to matter how early I try to get here. One of you girls always manages to beat me."

Inwardly, Christy felt a slight flush at Scott’s reference to her as one of the girls. While she'd become accustomed to this truth about herself over the past couple of months, it still gave her the occasional jolt whenever Scott or the other guys commented on it. Scott in particular was well aware that she hadn't started out as a girl, and in at least a couple of ways she still wasn't completely female... yet. All of the guys at the Xavier Institute had been really supportive of her and never once treated her as if she was anything other than the female that she appeared to be. Scott's casual reference was yet one more thing that reminded her how much the Institute and its people really meant to her.

At that thought, she felt her emotions surge to the surface again and she had to fight off the compulsion to throw her arms around him and give him a big hug. While she sensed that he probably wouldn't mind such an affectionate display, she suspected that Jean might be a bit miffed over it if she heard about it later. Even though neither Jean nor Scott would admit to or acknowledge the obvious attraction between the two of them, the rest of the Institute students and even a couple of the staff were starting to take bets on how long it will be before the two of them work up the nerve to finally go out on a date.

"So, uh... I guess it's just you and Rogue here with the adults this weekend, right? Mr. Logan won't try to make you two do any training without the rest of us here, will he?" Christy asked.

Scott shrugged.

"He doesn't usually hang around during the holidays. I doubt he'll try to get us into any kind of Danger Room workout, but he's probably irritated enough that our training schedule's been 'disrupted' by the holidays that he might treat Rogue and myself to another workout on the mat."

Just then, Rogue stepped out of the bathroom wearing her large bathrobe that was a couple of sizes too large for her (so that it covered as much of her skin as possible) and her wet hair wrapped in a towel.

"Ah hope yer wrong about that, Scott. If Logan tries ta work out his frustration with us on the mat this weekend, Ah think Ah'd rather hang out with my old Brotherhood pals where it'd be safer!"

Christy was speechless and could only stare back at her with a shocked expression on her face as Rogue continued strolling casually down the hall to her room. Surely Rogue wouldn't really leave the Institute to rejoin the Brotherhood, would she?

"Relax, Christy," Scott said aloud as though he could hear what she was thinking. "Rogue was only kidding."

He then excused himself and stepped into the bathroom for his own shower. After another minute or so, Christy was only mildly surprised by the familiar form of Kitty phasing through a nearby wall. She yawned and gave a short wave of greeting to Christy.

"G'morning, girlfriend. Why are you bothering to line up this morning? It totally sucks to be Scott or Rogue today, but at least the rest of us get to take it easy. C'mon we can have our showers later. Let's go hang out in your room."

Kitty then grabbed Christy by the wrist and abruptly pulled her in tow behind her as she led the way back to Christy's room. Predictably, she didn't bother opening the door and the two of them phased through it instead.

"So, like, are you all excited for the train ride back this afternoon?" Kitty asked as they sat down on the edge of Christy's bed together. "I totally love traveling by train! It takes a little while, but it's a lot more comfortable than a car or a bus... and a lot less freaky than flying in the X-jet."

Christy was in complete agreement. Except for the initial and nearly disastrous flight that had brought her to Bayville, she hadn't been on any other trips in the X-jet. With the Professor's help, she'd been able to develop some pretty decent mental control over her mutant powers since then. Now that she was less likely to endanger the aircraft's operations during a flight, she knew she'd eventually have to fly in the jet again at some point but in the meantime it was completely fine with her to stick with ground-based transportation.

Since Kitty's family lived in Illinois, the two of them were scheduled to travel together on the same train, with Christy getting off earlier in Michigan. From her very first day at the Institute it was obvious that she and Kitty would be good friends, so the long train ride together was sure to be a blast for the both of them.

"Yeah, this is going to be amazing!" Christy agreed. "I only wish that there'd be time for you to meet my Mom when we get to my stop in Michigan. I know she'd really love you."

"Hey… no worries, girlfriend. I'm sure I'll get to meet her some other time."

Kitty suddenly jumped off the edge of the bed and charged towards Christy's walk-in closet. As usual, she phased through the door and immediately started to go through Christy's modest, but growing collection of feminine clothing.

"Hey Christy," she called from behind the closet door, "have you decided what you're going to bring to wear home this weekend? You'd better not even think about packing any of your old boys' clothes!"

---

By late-morning, the homeward-bound students of the Xavier Institute were ready to depart. Jean's family lived in a town that was only a few hours drive away from Bayville, so she was the first to leave when her folks arrived to pick her up. Before she left, she went into her best 'big sister' routine and spent some time fussing over Christy and Kitty. With both Christy and Kitty being among the youngest members of the team, naturally there was some concern about the two of them traveling 'alone'. Normally Kitty bristled at such domineering attention from Jean but she simply went along with it, knowing that sometimes it was simply better not to argue with her. Finally, she gave them each a sisterly hug and wished them both a happy Thanksgiving before getting into the car with her parents.

As they were driving away, Christy noticed Kurt suddenly appear out of the corner of her eye. Always the jokester, he had reverted to his natural blue-furred form and was hanging by his tail from a nearby tree branch while making silly faces at Jean from where her parents couldn't see him. Both Kitty and Christy could see Jean's annoyed expression glaring back out at him from the rear window of her parents' car as they drove away, and they both burst into fits of laughter.

Jean's parents were a bit uncommon as far as relatives of Institute residents go since they were still unaware of the existence of mutants. Jean had been very successful in keeping her abilities hidden from them over the years. As far as they knew, the Xavier Institute was just another prestigious private boarding school. Needless to say, Jean was clearly quite annoyed by Kurt's little visual tease, which ended abruptly when the branch he was hanging from 'mysteriously' snapped and caused him to fall out of sight into some bushes below. Afterwards, it had taken Kurt nearly an hour to pick all of the burrs out of his fur, so the adults didn't scold him as much as they otherwise would have for earlier display.

After he'd gotten himself straightened out and had re-activated his image inducer, Kurt was the next student to depart. Originally, Kurt's adoptive family had lived in Germany, but shortly after Kurt came to the Xavier Institute they'd emigrated to America so they could be closer to him. Even so, they still lived a considerable distance from Bayville, so Kurt typically took a flight whenever he went home for the holidays. He got a ride to the airport with Logan, which made him more than a little uneasy after his recent tree stunt.

Evan and Ms. Munroe were spending the holidays with their relatives in New York City and as it was on their way, they gave Christy and Kitty a ride to the train station. While they were waiting for their train, Ms. Munroe took a few minutes to remind the two of them to keep out of mischief during their trip and to be careful. Christy got the impression that the latter part of that was directed more at her than at Kitty, and not for the first time she wondered why everyone was suddenly so concerned about her. Evan, who was only slightly older than Christy, had also assumed an uncharacteristically serious attitude and advised her to 'watch her back' while she was home. They waited with the girls right up until they'd boarded their train and then waved goodbye to them from the platform as the train pulled away. The girls waved back from their window until they were out of sight, and then settled themselves in for their long journey.

For the first little while, Christy simply sat quietly and looked out the window at the landscape passing by. Ever since she'd mentioned that she'd decided to go home for the Thanksgiving holidays, everyone at the Institute seemed to develop all kinds of serious concern for her. She got the impression that everyone felt she needed to be guarded or something and finally commented on it to Kitty.

Kitty simply shrugged and replied that since Christy was the newest and youngest member of the team that everyone felt a little more protective of her. She also pointed out that despite the training she's had so far, she's hardly had any real experience in dealing with trouble compared to everyone else. Christy conceded that she had a point and decided not to dwell on it any further. There were much better things to occupy her mind with, and lots of time to hang out and chat with Kitty in the meantime.

For the first few hours Christy and Kitty played cards and chatted about all sorts of things — or more accurately, Kitty did most of the chattering and Christy did most of the listening. Kitty sometimes got so caught up in whatever story she was telling that once she'd forgotten herself and used her mutant ability when she'd paused to retrieve something from her travel bag. She was a little embarrassed when Christy gave her an urgent wave and pointed to her hand while it was in the process of pulling something directly through the bag’s exterior. Fortunately, no one nearby noticed and they'd both enjoyed a bit of a giggle over it.

A while later, Christy was walking back to her seat after a trip to the washroom when she passed by a nice-looking couple who were traveling with their daughter, who Christy guessed was around six or seven years old. She slowed her walk as she noticed that the little girl had a few tears in her eyes and tried to listen to what her parents were saying to her. Apparently the little girl had a portable game with her that her parents had given to her to help pass the time during the trip. From what Christy had been able to overhear, the little girl's father had forgotten to properly charge the batteries for the unit and unfortunately there weren't any batteries for sale on board the train. Her father was therefore apologizing profusely to her and trying his hardest to cheer her up.

Christy looked at the little girl's sad expression and her heart went out to her. Then, an idea occurred to her -- one which she guessed that Professor Xavier probably wouldn't approve of, but she found herself unable to resist. It was such a small thing, anyways, and it would mean so much to that little girl. She casually turned back towards them and gently cleared her throat.

"Excuse me," she said politely. "I'm sorry for intruding, but I was just passing by and I couldn't help overhearing. Perhaps I can be of some help with your daughter's toy?"

The look of surprise on the young girl's parents was nothing compared to the wide-eyed hopeful look from the little girl.

"I think I have some spare batteries in my bag back at my seat that are already charged. If you like, I can exchange them with yours so your daughter's toy will operate."

The little girl's father looked up at her gratefully.

"That's very kind of you, Miss. If you're absolutely sure that you don't mind parting with them, we would be incredibly grateful!"

She assured them that it would be no trouble at all. The girl's father then removed the batteries from his daughter's game and handed them back to Christy.

When she got back to her seat, she picked up her own travel bag and pretended to rummage around in it while at the same time checking to see if anyone nearby was watching her. Other than Kitty, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression on her face, no one seemed to be paying any attention to her.

After one last careful glance around them, Christy held each of the batteries between her thumb and index fingers of each hand. She then drew upon a smaller portion of her energy that she was currently storing and used her mutant power to begin recharging them.

As the familiar blue-green aura began to form around her hands, Kitty quickly looked anxiously around to see if anyone nearby had noticed.

"Christy!" She said in an urgent whisper, "what the hell are you doing?!"

"Just a small favour for a little girl a few rows back," she answered quietly.

She paused as she sensed the current storage level of the batteries and frowned when she realized that it was charging far too slowly. She was concerned that if she took too long, the girls' parents might decide to head back their way to find her. Thanks to her extensive training at the Institute, she knew how to modify the amplitude of the energy wavelengths she was using so she could finish the job at a much faster rate, and without burning out the batteries in the process. Unfortunately, the level of concentration she'd need to do it was liable to cause more than just her hands to glow.

"Listen Kitty," Christy said quickly, "I'll explain everything to you in a few minutes. Until then, what I'm about to do might make me a little... noticeable. This will only take me a few seconds, so please keep an eye out and warn me if you see anyone coming."

Christy then closed her eyes and concentrated. Almost immediately, her entire body was completely surrounded by the soft, blue-green glow.

"Oh shit!" Kitty said and started to look around nervously.

She got out of her seat to stand in the aisle — partially to get better warning of anyone's approach, but mostly to obstruct Christy from view while she did whatever it was that she was doing. As she stepped into the aisle, she nearly tripped over something down by her feet. When she looked down, she was surprised to see a wide-eyed little girl staring back at her, or more to the point, slightly past her towards where Christy was sitting.

"Umm... hi," Kitty began awkwardly while she tried to pretend that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on right behind her. "You must be the little girl that my friend was just telling me about."

Upon hearing this, Christy immediately opened her eyes and her aura quickly disappeared. She looked at the little girl, who simply stared back at her with something of an amazed expression on her face.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, the little girl's tiny voice finally asked, "Are... are you an angel?"

Christy looked up at Kitty for some sort of visual cue, but Kitty only shrugged helplessly. Not knowing what to say, she looked back at the little girl, who had proceeded to climb into Kitty's empty seat.

"What makes you think that, sweetie?" Christy asked innocently.

"I've heard in stories that angels are really nice, very beautiful and sometimes have a glow around them, like you."

This could definitely be a problem, Christy thought to herself.

While she was certain that no one would believe a girl as young as this if she ever told anyone about what she'd seen, she also didn't want to screw around with whatever the girl's religious beliefs might be. She recalled reading somewhere that children can be far more logical and understanding of things than adults tend to give them credit for, so for a lack of anything better to say she decided that she'd tell the girl the truth — albeit a watered-down version of it.

"No sweetie, I'm not an angel. I'm an ordinary person just like you."

"But... how come you were just glowing like that?"

"That's kind of hard to explain. Can you keep a secret?"

The little girl nodded her head enthusiastically.

"I didn't exactly tell your Daddy the truth," Christy began carefully. "I don't really have any other batteries. What I'm really doing is putting the energy back into your batteries so your game will work again."

The little girl looked quizzically at the batteries in Christy's hands and then met her gaze again.

"How can you do that without plugging them in?"

"Well, that's the secret part. I'll show you, but remember you promised not to tell anyone."

Behind the little girl, Kitty was shaking her head disapprovingly but continued to keep watch down the aisle.

"Hurry up, Jynx!" she whispered urgently, falling back to using Christy's codename. "Her parents are bound to come looking for her any second!"

It was a standard precaution amongst members of the X-men that they would use their special codenames when any of their mutant powers were being used in public. Already, this was a little more 'public' a display of her powers than Christy had originally intended, but she'd deal with that after she took care of the situation with the little girl. She then closed her eyes and concentrated once more on finishing the task of recharging the batteries. The glow of her aura returned briefly for a few moments and then disappeared just as quickly.

"There," she said as she handed the batteries back to the little girl. "All done."

"How did you do that?" The girl asked with a touch of awe in her voice.

Here goes nothing, Christy thought to herself.

She took a deep breath and then continued in what she’d hoped was a serious enough tone in her voice.

"It's a special talent that I have, but it's a secret talent. Most people don't know about it and I could be in a lot of trouble if anyone did. If the wrong people found out, they'd take me away so they could try to find out how I'm able to do it. If that happened, I might never see any of my family or friends again. That's why it's very important that you never tell about what you saw, okay?"

Christy held her breath in anticipation while the little girl thought about what she'd just been told. After a brief but agonizing silence, the little girl solemnly nodded her head.

"Okay, I understand. I won't tell."

The little girl paused and continued looking into Christy's eyes. She then looked up at Kitty and back to Christy again.

"There's more people like you, aren't there?" she asked. "Like your friend here. She's like you too, right?"

Kitty abruptly turned around and looked down at the girl in shock, which only served to confirm the little girl's insightful assumption. She crouched down so that she was eye-level with the girl and gently took hold of one of her small hands.

"Yes, we both have secret talents." Kitty answered quietly. "Mine is a little different from my friend's, but I'd also be in the same kind of trouble if anyone ever found out."

By means of a quick demonstration, Kitty phased the little girl's hand so they could both pass their hands through the arm-rest of the chair and then back out again. As soon as she released the little girl's hand, she giggled and clapped her hands together with delight.

"In a few years from now, when you get a little older," Kitty said to the little girl, "you might discover one day that you also have your own special talent. Hopefully if and when that day comes, you might not have to keep it a secret like we do."

Both Kitty and Christy sensed that they'd gotten the point across and the little girl understood the importance of keeping their secret. Kitty lightened the mood a little by changing the subject and chatted the little girl up about other things. Christy found it both surprising and amusing that the little girl seemed to be almost as much as a chatterbox as Kitty was.

A few minutes later, the little girl's mother came over to see what her daughter had been up to. Christy introduced Kitty to her and they exchanged brief pleasantries.

"Look Mommy!" the little girl said as she showed her the batteries. "Now I can play my game, right?"

"Yes dear, you be sure to thank these nice girls for trading their batteries with us."

The little girl and her mother both thanked them again and then politely excused themselves to return to their seats. As they were walking back down the aisle, the little girl looked back over her shoulder at Christy and Kitty and gave a conspiratorial wink.

As soon as they were out of sight, Kitty breathed a sigh of relief. She sat back down in her seat and the two of them looked at each other in silence for a few moments.

"You know Christy," Kitty said quietly, finally breaking the silence. "We're probably going to have some explaining to do when we get back to the mansion on Sunday night. Cerebro is bound to have picked something up on both of us just now."

Cerebro was the name of the highly advanced computer system back at the Institute that the faculty used for a number of complex research projects studying human mutations. One of its primary tasks was to scan the world through a variety of satellite uplinks for mutant power signatures. That was how the professor had initially discovered Christy as well as most of the other residents of the Institute. Kitty's brief use of her mutant ability wasn't likely to cause too much concern back at the mansion because she was typically very subtle with its use and usually went unnoticed unless she did something really obvious right in front of someone. Christy's ability, on the other hand, was often quite a bit more noticeable than Kitty's.

"I know. I guess we'll have to deal with that when we get back. I know I probably shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't help it. It's a long trip and that little girl was so unhappy..."

Kitty reached into her bag and retrieved her emergency COM link to verify that it was still turned on. Each member of the X-team often carried one of these when they were away from the Institute for extended periods, but it was only to be used in emergencies.

"Well, they'd have tried to contact us by now if they thought there was a problem, so that's a good sign, I suppose."

She returned the COM link to her bag and added, "just the same, it's probably a good idea for us to keep a low profile for the rest of the trip."

Christy couldn't argue with that logic, so they changed the subject to more mundane topics. As usual, Kitty could always be counted on as a limitless source of distracting conversation. Within minutes, they were laughing together and sounding pretty much what anyone would expect of two young teenage girls traveling together. Neither of them suspected that although they appeared to be normal teenagers, they were both being carefully observed by someone nearby who knew otherwise.

Hiding in plain sight was one of Mystique's many talents, for she had many years of experience in espionage. Add to that her mutant ability to shapeshift and she was virtually impossible to detect unless she actually wanted to be noticed. She took a noted interest in the incident with the little girl and continued to watch for anything else she could use. She still didn't understand why Magneto had such an interest in this new student of Xavier's, but for the time being she would do as he'd ordered.

---

By late-afternoon, the train had finally arrived in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was the closest stop along their route to Lansing where her mother would be waiting to pick her up. Christy was so giddy about finally seeing her mother again that she could hardly keep still in her seat.

"Oh wow! I can't believe that I'm almost home!" Christy bubbled with excitement.

Kitty had gotten uncharacteristically quiet during the ride through the city limits, but she gave her friend a warm, reassuring smile just the same.

"I'm sure that you and your Mom are going to have a great time together," she said quietly.

Christy eyed her quizzically for a moment.

"What's wrong, Kitty? Is there something bothering you?"

"Well... kinda. I guess I'm just a little worried about you, that's all," she replied.

Christy sighed wistfully and then leaned over to give her friend a reassuring hug.

"Listen Kitty, I really do appreciate the concern... but honestly, I'll be just fine. A lot has happened in the last couple of months and I'm not the same person that I was before..."

She paused as she released her friend from the embrace and gestured down at her attire.

"...in more ways than one!"

She winked slyly at Kitty, which finally broke her friend out of her sombre mood.

"Well, be sure that you keep your emergency COM link with you all the time, just in case."

"I will. I promise."

The train, which had been slowly coasting along the tracks as it was pulling into the station, now came to a gentle stop. For a moment, neither teen could think of anything to say so they simply looked at each other in silence. Finally, Kitty leaned forward to give her friend one last hug and wished her good luck.

As she was disembarking, Christy caught sight of her own reflection in one of the windows. Her winter clothes were still a touch on the androgynous side, but there was no mistaking her feminine appearance. She had learned her lessons of proper hair care from Jean very well, and as a result her hair was now silkier and shinier than it had ever been. Its auburn shade contrasted nicely with the soft, pastel-coloured beanie she wore and fanned out down her back slightly as it partially covered the top of her backpack. With her matching gloves and scarf set, she had every appearance of being the petite young teenage girl she had long since accepted that she truly was. She was still in the process of getting to know that girl, but she definitely liked the person she saw.

With a quick shake of her head, she snapped herself out of her momentary trance and stepped down onto the train platform. She walked back along the length of the passenger car to wave goodbye to Kitty, who enthusiastically returned it, and then she headed toward the passenger lounge where she knew her mother would be waiting for her.

As Christy came through the door, she saw her mother in an instant. Her mother was looking around at the various passengers that had disembarked along with her. Christy saw her mother's gaze sweep over her briefly, but then returned to searching the faces of the other passengers.

Have I really changed that much? She thought to herself.

With a gentle smile forming on her face, she walked slowly towards her mother and held in check the compelling urge she’d felt to run and throw her arms around her. As she approached, her mother took another brief glance at her and started to return to her scanning of the crowd when her eyes suddenly snapped back to Christy with an incredulous stare.

"Oh my..." her mother said as she raised a trembling hand to her mouth. "Chris, is that really you?"

"Hi Mom," Christy answered softly. "It's me, but I prefer to be called Christy now."

"Christy..." her mother said in a quiet voice as she tested the sound of the new name. Of course, she'd already known that her child had been using that name since Professor Xavier had kept her well-informed of her child's progress at the Institute. This, however, was her first opportunity to actually use it face-to-face with her neo-daughter. She then reached out and gathered her child into a tight embrace as a few tears formed in her eyes.

"Oh, my baby... I've missed you so much! I'm so glad that you're finally home!"

"I've missed you too, Mom," Christy answered in a choked whisper.

For Christy, the embrace had dispelled a background fear that, until that moment, she hadn't even been consciously aware of. The fear that her mother might reject her for some reason now that she'd changed into what she knew was her true self. Instead, she could feel her mother's intense love for her flowing out of her and washing any remaining doubts from her soul. She knew then that she really had come home.

That evening, Christy bubbled with enthusiasm as she talked about her experiences of living at the Xavier Institute in Bayville. Starting from the instant they'd gotten into their car at the train station, Christy had been chattering away with a speed that even Kitty would have been impressed with. As much as she wanted to divulge everything, she had already decided earlier that there were some parts of her life in Bayville that would be best left unsaid.

Generally speaking, the immediate family members of Xavier's students all knew the truth about the existence of mutants -- with Jean's family being among the few exceptions. As such, Professor Xavier left it up to each student how much information they wanted to share with their respective families. Although he didn't come right out and say so, everyone knew that he had reservations about disclosing the existence of the X-men and any of their related training. As a result, everyone tended to be pretty tight-lipped about that aspect of the Xavier Institute. Besides that, Christy had no desire to worry her mother needlessly, so she stuck to the more 'safer' topics.

"It's just so amazing there, Mom!" Christy said again for the umpteenth time.

"They're all such fantastic people there! Even after living there for just two months, I feel like I've known them for years!"

Christy's mother smiled as she continued to listen to her child chatter away. It was almost as if the girl was trying to condense the last couple of months into words and was relaying them as fast as she could. Eventually, her over-enthusiastic child began to calm her rapid speech down to the point where her mother was finally able to actually get a few words in.

"I've spoken to Professor Xavier several times by telephone about your progress there and both he and I are very pleased. Your school grades have never been higher, and this is the happiest that I've seen you in a long time."

She paused as she considered the astounding physical changes in her son since she'd last seen him. Professor Xavier had kept her fully informed about what had been discovered about Chris' unique biological makeup, so she knew that in truth her son was really her daughter. They had talked at length about the realignment of Chris' gender identity and they were both amazed at how well Chris had adjusted to his now-female psyche. Over the past few months, she'd read a number of case studies about parents with transsexual children. She'd even seen several examples of 'before’ and ‘after' photos, but nothing could compare to the image of her own child before her. Chris had always been a bit effeminate as a little boy, but now there was no denying the teenage girl that he'd become.

"And how about the... other things?" Christy’s mother asked delicately as she considered the other unique aspects of her child. "Your... mutant abilities? How do you feel about them now?"

"Much better now, Mom," Christy answered without hesitation

By means of a quick demonstration, Christy unlocked some of her energy and formed her blue-green aura around herself. She then held up her hand and beckoned for her mother to hold her own palm up against it. She hesitated only briefly and then gently pressed her hand against Christy's.

Nothing happened.

"I've learned how to focus and control the energy that I collect," Christy explained softly. "It was really hard at first because I was so afraid of it. But the single most important thing that helped me overcome my fear was realizing that I wasn't a freak and that I wasn't alone. Once I got past that, the rest was simply a matter of practicing. I can use the energy in many different ways, but most importantly... I've learned how to keep it from hurting others."

As she'd said the last part, Christy's voice had trailed off into a barely audible whisper. The memory of the one time she'd accidentally hurt her mother was what had made her decide to go to the Xavier Institute in the first place. While she had long since accepted that it had been an accident, it still brought a couple of tears to her eyes whenever she thought about it. Without a word, Christy's mother drew her child into her arms in a reassuring embrace and gently stroked her hair.

"Dear... you really need to stop fretting about that. We both know that it wasn't your fault, and it wasn't even all that serious," Her mother told her in a soft but firm voice.

After another minute or so, they both separated and Ms. McGee shook her head slightly in amazement as she looked back at her beautiful child.

"What's the matter, Mom?" Christy asked.

Wordlessly, Mrs. McGee reached over and gently caressed Christy's cheek.

"I've missed you so much over these past few months that I still can't believe you're finally home... even if it is only for a few days," she said with a deep sigh.

The thought of her child's inevitable departure at the end of the holiday weekend saddened her, but she was determined to enjoy every moment until then as much as possible. Her eyes brightened as another thought occurred to her. She got up off the sofa and beckoned for Christy to follow her.

"I have a surprise for you, dear. Grab your things and come upstairs."

As soon as they'd gotten inside their house, there was so much that she'd wanted to tell her mother that she didn't even want to pause long enough to bring her knapsack up to her room, so she'd simply dropped it in the front hallway. After she'd hastily retrieved her bag, she rushed up the stairs to where her mother was waiting just outside of her bedroom door.

At least... she thought it was her bedroom door. As soon as her mother had turned on the lights, Christy was a momentarily puzzled and wondered if they'd walked into someone else's room. It quickly dawned on her that it was her room, but it had been significantly re-decorated.

The first most noticeable thing was the large canopy bed that stood where her old one used to be. Next to it was a matching vanity table and chair set which occupied the place where her desk once sat. Her old dresser had been replaced by a slightly larger but shorter one that was painted in a soft ivory color. The entire room had been re-painted in a sort of lavender theme that matched the coverings for her new bed and she could even detect a slight scent of lilac in the air. It was a very beautiful girl’s room.

Christy had stood frozen in the doorway for so long that her mother started to worry that she might have actually pushed her child a bit too much with so drastic a change to her room. During one of her recent telephone conversations with Professor Xavier, he had recommended that she help reinforce her child's female persona while she was home for the holidays. She had started with only a few subtle changes to the room, but as she progressed she found that her enthusiasm seemed to take off and she ended up changing everything from the carpet to the curtains.

"Don't... don't you like it Christy?" Her mother asked nervously.

Christy turned to her mother with happy tears in her eyes and threw her arms around her.

"Oh Mom... I love it! Thank you so much!"

She held onto her child tightly, and with joyful tears forming in her own eyes, she softly replied,

"Welcome home, my daughter!"

---

To be continued in:

Chapter Two - Welcome Home, Christy!