It wasn't as if she was really terribly surprised.

#But then, ah suppose after Ev died, we never really considered goin' on,# Paige Guthrie thought, laying back on her bed in the girls' dorm of the Massachusetts Academy.

#'A failed experiment,' Ms. Frost said. Did ah fail ? Didn't ah try hard enough ?# the Kentucky metamorph thought, clutching Mr. Fluppy to her chest against hertears.

#Ah didn't try hard enough t'keep Jono with me. Ah failed t'keep Ev from dyin'. An' we're all scatterin' across the map ...#

"Oh. H'lo."

Paige's eyes opened at the Celtic lilt coming from the general direction of the doorway. She saw a young woman, with fiery hair and green eyes, dressed in jeans and a flattering blouse. The faint traces of scars were visible at the visitor's throat, and her lips rose in a small smile as Paige sat up.

"Theresa," Paige said coolly. "Nice t'see you're doin' better. Powers restored ?"

"Aye," Theresa Rourke-Cassidy said, arching an eyebrow. "I was just lookin' around the place - hard t'believe Generation X's not goin' on t'bigger things."

"Ah suppose if ah hadn't been such a 'sycophant,'" Paige said, dripping ice from each word as she stood, "then maybe we would be X-Men."

Theresa's mask of politesse fell into a small frown.

"Chamber told ye about my discussion with me da a few years back," Theresa said quietly.

"'Discussion.' How very polite, t' call talkin' about someone behind their back a 'discussion,'" Paige spat.

"All I was sayin' was that ye struck me as a bit too tame," Theresa replied, fighting down a sudden pang of anger.

"Tame ? Excuse me f'r stayin' in school. Ah stuck it out, Theresa, without runnin' off with a mercenary or drownin' mah sorrows in a bottle," Paige snarled.

She immediately bit her lip at the flicker of something dark behind Theresa's eyes.

#Cold, that was cold, low blow, ya were raised better'n that, Paige,# the metamorph reminded herself, guilt boiling with the anger in her gut.

"Theresa - ah'm -" Paige began.

The sonic-projector's raised hand cut the girl's apology off.

"Dinnae start," Theresa replied, her voice rising as she continuted to speak. "I ran with Cable b'cause I believed in somethin' besides m'self, Paige. I needed somewhere t'go with people who understood losin' everythin' they'd had - m'home was blasted into dust by that bodach Legion. M'soul was twisted by the Shadow King. I've done some foolish things in m'time - lettin' Tom run me life was part o'that, drinkin' my sorrows down was another. Losin' James ... leavin' him ... t'was yet another. But I'll be DAMNED before some Sam Guthrie wanna-be stands here an' tells me she's better'n I am f'r stayin' in school."

The windows stopped rattling, and Theresa looked into narrowed blue eyes.

"'Wanna-be' ?" Paige muttered. "Ah actually bothered t'learn from Sam's mistakes, an' one o' mah best friends is dead, 'cause ah didn't try hard enough. But at least ah TRIED, Miss Holier-'n-Thou. If endin' up alone an' bitter is what defyin' authority gets a person, then by all means, go ahead an' be defiant."

Theresa turned on her heel, but heard one last sentence before storming out.

"Thanks," Paige said.

Theresa stopped, looked over her shoulder with a glare, and snapped, "F'r what ?"

"F'r showin' me that no matter how much ah've screwed up, ah've got no right t'lay in here cryin'," Paige said softly. "Ah'm not goin' home, not yet. "Mebbe ah can salvage somethin' o'all this."

finis ... ?