Celeste stepped out of the shower, and quickly got dressed. She had to trust that, somewhere out there, Generation X, or maybe the X-Men, was doing everything they could to get her and her sister out of this situation. All they had to do was wait and make getting rescued as easy as possible.

After slipping in her contacts and pulling her wet hair into a pony tale, she whispered to her sister, "Wait here until I tell you otherwise. After all," she smiled, "you are sick." Celeste would do anything to protect her sister.

Ariel looked at her older sister, and for the millionth, billionth, time, wished that she would let her grow up. Ever since the accident three years ago, Celeste tried to protect her from every possible harm, regardless of the personal cost to Celeste. It took a lot of begging for Ariel to get a babysitting job after school. She didn't want to imagine what it would take for her sister to allow her to get involved with this dangerous situation. "Okay," she agreed. And for the millionth time, she wondered when Celeste would tell her what really happened to make her so cautious.

Stepping out of the bedroom, Celeste took a quick head count of the men sitting in the living room. Eight, and they all looked like they were carrying guns. She pulled down coffee cups and started the coffee. Breakfast would be a stretch, but she could make it.

The men had grown quiet when she came out, and she allowed that quiet to continue. If she wanted them to say something helpful, she had to give them the chance to do so. She decided on a menu of french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and fresh orange juice, which would take a fair amount of time.

"I'm going to have to take some in to my sister, her head is still hurting." She announced as she popped some dry toast. Headaches are convenient excuse, coming and going with little warning. "But I'd love to sit with y' all and talk a bit." The men agreed.

"Eight men," she whispered to her sister, before leaving. "All armed." Using a prearranged system, her sister took a teddy bear out of the window and placed a doll in its place. Next to that she placed red pencil cup with eight pens in it. If her friends were out there, they would get an idea of what was going on. Finally, she hung a star shaped sun catcher in top left hand window pane, warning Generation- X that the men were after J.

Once outside the bedroom, Celeste made a point of taking her morning medicine that her doctor had prescribed. This was no time to be bothered by her flashbacks. She had to think clearly in order to help those that were going to help get her out.

"So, gents," she said, using her Texas drawl to help her charm the men. "Can ya'll give me some names so I don't call ya'll 'Hey you?'"

The men turned towards the man that had identified himself as Tony, who had an olive complexion, black hair and black eyes. He gave a slight nod and started to speak. "The guy sitting on my right is Mike," an ordinary looking man with black hair and blue eyes, "then Trevor," a blond man with blue eyes, "Tad, the Cad," a semi-cute man with curly black hair, "Kevin," who looked like Mike's younger brother, "Mateo," a cute Hispanic male, "Scott," an average looking white man, "And Tanner." Something about Tanner didn't sit right with Celeste. He seemed the most evil of the bunch, but she couldn't put her finger on what was the matter with him.

"So...." Celeste had to think about her next question carefully. "Come this way often?"

Again, Tony answered. "Only when we have a project to do."

Okay, Celeste though, I can't ask them were they come from, what they are really doing here. What can I ask them? "How did you know that Julie was going to come here?" And do you know about the rest of the team?

"Jubilee has been followed and we know that she comes here every Saturday. We just wanted to make sure that we caught her."

"Jubilee, like in the X-men? Wow! I didn't know that our little Julie--" Quickly, she allowed her face to grow dark. The next words she spit out. "Is a mutant . You want her, you can take her." By every appearance, she was angry that she had been tricked.

Tony evaluated the woman before him. She seemed to be either a world class actress or a slightly dizzy human with normal feelings about mutants. He'd bet on her as an air head. "We will, and we'll get out of your hair as soon as possible."

Celeste smiled a charming smile at the man before her. She had him in her court, and she was about to use it. "Then I'll make every effort to stay out of your way. My sister and I are alone, so please ask your men to stay out of our room." She wanted a promise that these men would not take advantage of them.

"I promise you, no man of mine will lay a hand on either one of you ladies. I give you my word." Tony slightly upgraded his opinion of Celeste. Without asking for it, she had gotten a promise that his men would not molest her or her sister. That was something rarely asked for, and never granted when asked. She might just have a brain in that pretty head of hers , he realized.

"Thank you." She walked carefully to her room and closed the door. His eyes followed her into the room, trying to figure out just what she was up to.

"So?" asked her sister as she jumped off the top of the bunk bed.

"Dad always wondered about if my acting lessons would pay off. They just did." Celeste had the talent to be a professional actress. If her parents hadn't died, she would have had the chance to pursue her dream. But then, one never knew what the future would bring.