Paige looked nervously out the window of her school. Her sister was coming today, and she was worried. Joelle had, at one time, been a member of a anti-humanity group because she felt a little overshadowed by her sister and brother.

In truth, when she lived at home, Paige felt somewhat overshadowed by Joelle. Joelle had the best voice in the church choir, had the quickest time with her chores, and had all the boys interested in her. With Paige's tendency to be a perfectionist, it was hard to compete. "Sometimes, I think, if she wasn't my sister, I wouldn't like her."

"Pardon?" asked Jubilee as she walked by on her way to the mall. "Unless you dye your hair, I don't think there's much chance of us being related, sniffles." Since August, Paige had had pneumonia, bronchitis, and three colds, including the one she had at the moment.

Paige dropped the curtain. "No I meant Joelle." Jubilee stared in her "talk if you want" attitude. "All my life, I 've been the smart one. Sam was the oldest, Josh was the musical one, Oliver was the artist one, the twins were the twins, and Joelle was the special one."

Ah betcha by now, she would have gotten Jono interested in her. Even as she thought that, she banished it from her mind. Her mother never allowed such things to be said. Joelle, her mother would have said, just was natural with the boys.

"Sure you're not worried that she might freak with all these 'muties' around?" Jubilee waved to Ev as he honked the car.

Paige was worried about that, among other things. "Um, Joelle doesn't see much of the world."

Jubilee didn't buy that excuse. "In other words, just give her some space." It was as she figured it, Paige was trying to distant her sister from the team.

"Stepping on as many toes as ya can so she doesn't? Good Husk. This way everybody will leave her alone and for the first time, you will win what ever game you play with ya family." With that Frost- impressed insight, Jubilee went off to the mall.

Paige reflected that Jubilee was telling the truth. By making Joelle sound bad, she had hoped, she would force Joelle to be her friend. Even though they were twenty months apart, they should have been from different worlds.

Paige wanted to be something, and despite Paige's best intentions, Joelle still wanted to be a farmer's wife. Where Paige was impatient, Joelle quilted and sewed. She had a natural cleaning ability, while Paige's room was Danger Grotto II.

Finally, Mr. Cassidy pulled up and let Joelle out. It would have been nice to go to the airport and meet Joelle there, but large crowds always freaked her out. With the cold that Paige was still getting over, it wasn't a wise thing to stretch herself.

Paige braced herself and ran out to hug Joelle. Only a sister could understand how the could be so different yet look forward to seeing each other. Despite all her concerns, it was great to see her sister.

Banshee quickly shepherded them into the house. Once inside, Paige offered to show Jo to her room.

"You cleaned ya room!" Jo noticed.

"How can you tell?" It had taken her four hours just to get it passable.

"Ah can walk in it!" Joelle opened her suitcase and started to unpack. "It was nice of ya to say I could stay with y'all while Ah'm looking at schools."

"Considering the shape of the mansion..."

"And that Sammy didn't want me around a Mr. LeBeau...."

"A real, old fashion,...." It was a quote from a letter they had received a while back. Together they finished it.

"Southern Gentleman-- Rhett Butler type!" It was a family joke.

"You know, the first time I meet him, it was all I could do not to laugh in his face! He is such a southern gentleman!"

"So, where's this Jono guy?" Paige started to answer, but was attacked by a round of sneezing. unfortunately, her mutation left her open to breathing infections. A long time ago, Paige exercised to just to increase her immunity factor.

Jo reached in her suitcase and pulled out a jar. "Ma sent some herbs for your colds and all. Why don't we go to the kitchen and getcha all better?"

"Thanks, but I've got two hours on this stuff Dr. McCoy recommended." She has decided to attack this stuff the scientific way. Even though the herbs always seemed to help, people would look at her strange if she used them.

"So, where is everybody?"

"Ev, Anglo, Jubilee, and Monet are all at the mall. Penny, Artie and Leech are in the biosphere and Jono is studying. It's my night to cook so I need to start. Why don't you rest?"

"And eat ya cooking? No offense, but when ya sick, the only thing ya cook is hot stuff. Why don't ya let me cook?" In other word, Paige read in that statement, let me cook so I can eat. Paige bit her tongue, when Joelle offered, "Ah'll cook so you can get some sleep."

Paige gave her directions and gratefully climbed on her bed and covered herself with the quilt that Jo had made. That cold stuff made her sick.

Joelle managed to hang around until Paige fell asleep. Then, with a sigh, she headed towards the kitchen. When would they ever just talk? Not fight, not misunderstand each other, but really talk.

"And the chicka was in the buff! And the worse part was---"

"Like, we had nothing to cover her with for a full five minutes! Man, it was so classic!"

"Y'all mean ...."

M completed the sentence. "She loses her clothes easily!"

:I was, for the record, not in that training session.:

"Yeah, but Jono, who took her blankets?" Ev asked. Paige felt her face growing red. It wasn't fair that they would tell her sister everything that happened. She wanted to look like the mature, responsible person, not the clumsy idiot.

As she started to sneak away, another sneezing attack came over her. Joelle came to the door just in time to see her sister run away.

Paige intended to hide out the rest of the night, and would have except she bumped into Banshee on the way to eat. One look at her face told the instructor all he need to know.

"Now, lass, we all have trouble with our brothers and sisters." Clearly, by the look in Sean's eyes, he was reliving some of the best and worst times he and Tom had. "But atleast talk to her."

"Tell her what? That Ah'm envious of her, her success and her ability to befriend people?" Sean paused.

"It hasn't been easy, ya know?" Quickly, he slipped away as Joelle started talking "You had it easiest, Dad's favorite. You were the golden ones, special from the get-go. And ya went! To this fancy school, to a great future! And Ah'll most likely stay on the farm 'cause Josh wants to go to Nashville, and there be no money for me to go off to school. Ya think ya jealous of me? Ah'm jealous of you!"

Paige blinked, surprised by the depth of her sister's feelings. It occurred to her that they had never talked, shopped or acted like sisters. They were too busy fighting to get along.

Joelle stared at her, and something happened. It was close to the moment that Paige stopped looking at Jubilee as a nuisance and saw her as a friend. Joelle smiled, and the moment was gone.

Funny, what had changed between them? Quickly, in the span of a heartbeat, the sisters saw each other in a different light. Sometimes, growing up can be that fast.

Carefully, she started, "Joelle, Ah- I know that things are different, but I must, I mean I would give anything to be you." Somehow, she saw her sister's life as easy.

"No, ya wouldn't. And ya know it." From day one, Paige had to have a prize to win, while Jo found the joy in running the race. They were to totally separate people, Paige thought, gifted by the bond of sisterhood. "God made us different. And He did it for a reason."

It was true, neither one would have been happy as the other. "What do you want to be?" Funny, she never asked that question to her sister. She had been too busy fighting the idea of her.

"A nurse practitioner. Someone that can see folks and help them and tell them when to go to a doctor." Joelle had the compassion that she didn't.

"Truth, I don't really want to lead the X-men. That's what I'll do because if I don't stand up for mutant rights, very few will." It was an uncomfortable feeling, to openly admit the truth.

"Then what do ya want to do?"

"Be a scientist, kind of like Dr. McCoy." She had always loved pushing her mind, working it to be as strong as it could be. There were so many mysteries that called to her, she had to find to answers to some.

Then she continued, "I'll get some money when I join a team. Sam sends most of his home, and I'll give mine to you." And she would change her life insurance policy to be payable to Joelle. Although Cumberland Gap wasn't for her, she owed that town a lot. Helping to provide health care would be a way to start.

"So, what did you think of my friends?" Paige asked after a moment.

"Ah can see why ya like them so much." Paige started coughing. "That fancy stuff not working is it? Let's get a cup of tea."

A simple, homemade remedy for something very complex. Kind of like talking and listening to solve a problem. And as Paige sat sipping the tea, she reflected that simple things can work the best.

"Anyway, that's why me and Regie broke up." Paige laughed. "Can Ah be frank? Jono isn't for you."

"Why not?" Her sister did give great advice.

"Ya want him 'cause ya can't have him. Ah've seen this happen several times. He'll bore you with all that gloom and doom-- or as y'all call it-- angst."

Paige laughed, and after a second Joelle joined in. They spent the night jabbering on, gossiping about old and new friends, family memories, their dreams. Things sisters talk about.