Rogue and Shannon were enjoying lunch in the caf. Since summer holidays had started, some of the students had gone home. The majority who stayed... well, they had nowhere else to go.
Some classes would still run over these twelve weeks. Students who were staying would be participating in optional extra classes, and a number of recreational activities had been put together.
"You want to take all the students on a trip to Genovia?" Shannon repeated.
Rogue shrugged.
"Why not? Better than being cooped up here all the time. These guys have no homes or families to spend time with this summer. We're all the family they've got, and they're here all year round. A change of scenery would be nice."
"What about the other students?"
"They have homes and families outside of mutant high."
"Do they?" Shannon asked. "One of our newer students, Whip Cade, will be spending most of his vacation looking after his younger siblings, nieces and nephews, and trying to avoid his mother finding out about his mutantcy. It is only because he believed that he has enough control over his power to prevent himself from turning invisable or teleporting that he is risking the trip."
Rogue paused.
"Well, that's sucky," she said. "But it's also not the point. The point is that the kids who are here aren't going to get a change of scenery in the forseeable future. And... there's nothing to say that we couldn't go there again with everyone."
"True. Perhaps you should talk to the Professor about it."
Rogue was about to reply when Mark approched and interupted:
"Rogue? There's something weird going on in your room."
"There is?" Rogue asked.
Shannon turned a stern look on Mark.
"And just how do you know that?" she asked.
Mark stopped short. Oops.
"Have you got a probe in my room?" Rogue demanded.
"Yes..." he reluctantly admitted.
"Uh huh, and just what weird thing is happening?"
"Something with the fuzzles," Mark muttered, looking down.
"I see. We'll talk about this later."
"No," Shannon corrected, eyes not leaving Mark's face. "You look after your fuzzles. I will see to Mark."
"Okay," Rogue conceeded, and left.
"Mark, you and I are going to have a little chat," Shannon said.
**********
Rogue entered her room to discover that the weird thing was Zurina giving birth. Well, she supposed a furball in labour would look rather strange. Verdae was hanging around anxiously.
"Hey," Rogue said softly, "how's it going?"
Rogue wasn't sure how much time past, but soon there were six newborn fuzzles being doted over by the new parents. There was rather an assortment of colourings, too. An orange one, a yellow one, a forest-green one, a forest-green and red striped one, a pale green one, and a yellow one with red patches. Rogue was a little disapointed that there wasn't one with white stripes or spots (a solid white one would have made her nervous, knowing that that would mean there was a black one out there), but she knew she'd get over it.