Sam knocked loudly on the door before bringing in a tray of food for Celeste. "Didn't figure ya ate if'n ya didn't sleep." Celeste smiled gratefully, she hadn't eaten since breakfast on Friday. Motioning for him to sit and wait, she went into the bathroom to change.

It took her just a minute to slip into a dress she had brought from the school. Like all her clothes, it fitted her well. The simple black and white lines made her look more serious, which helped her feel comfortable. Sam smiled appreciatively as she walked out. "Thanks," she told him. It helped to know she looked good.

Picking up the sandwich, she started to talk and eat at the same time. "I really couldn't sleep, but I appreciated the chance to think." She had planned her strategy.

Sam nodded, he got like that too. Too much stress and lack of sleep could feed on each other in a vicious cycle. "So whatcha need ta tell the team?"

Celeste frowned. What she was going to tell them was explosive and, quite frankly, Emma had sent her here because she didn't want to be around when it hit the fan. "You'll find out in a few minutes." And she paused, thinking of what she was going to say. It could ruin the friendship she and Sam shared. "But, for the record, I want you to know, we did what we thought was best. You may hate me for what I'll say, and I can understand it. It was a shade of gray decision." She finished the last of her chips.

"Ah could never hate anyone who stood in the rain for an hour to buy mah best friend's new CD for me when Ah was away on business." Celeste smiled at that. Li'l Bit's first CD had been a hit, and there had been quite a line to buy it. Tactfully, Sam never told her that Bit had sent the honorary president of her fan club a personal copy before it hit the stores. "Ya ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Sam started to show her to the briefing room. "How's Rahne?" It was wonderful to have a female friend again. Especially one as dear as the Scotswoman.

Sam smiled a goofy smile. "Great! She's on a trip right now, but Ah know she'd want me ta say hey for her. Thanks for the idea of the couples' Bible."

Celeste nodded at that. "Matt and I liked the idea that even if we can't talk everyday, we can at least share the devotional." Sam motioned for her to get on the elevator. Bobby was waiting inside. "Hey," she greeted him. "You're Emma's friend, aren't you?"

Bobby nodded, unsure of how to answer her question. "More than anybody else on the team." Emma had done a lot to the X-Men, and most were politely ignoring her. Rahne had gotten Sam to the point that he would talk to Emma about as politely as he would a Yankee politician.

Celeste handed him a slip of paper. "After the meeting, could you go here? I've got a feeling she needs a friend." Bobby pocketed the address and nodded.

***

Moira came out of the infirmary to find Emma waiting. "She'll be okay."

Emma nodded. "I guess I should thank you for coming." Moira nodded, knowing that was as much of a thank you as she was going to get. Things were tense between the two and not likely to get any easier, even though Moira knew that Sean wasn't interested in Emma. There was enough history of distrust between the two to keep them from ever being friends.

"A'm just glad A could help your sister." Isabella left the room and waved goodbye to the two.

Emma shook her head. The truth was going to come out soon enough. "Cordelia's my daughter."

"A figured as much." Emma looked a little surprised. "And A still am helpin' ye get back at the man that did this." Now shock was visible on Emma's face.

"Thank you." It was Moira's turn to be surprised. "I mean it. You didn't have to help."

"A remember some of the stunts the Hellfire Club has pulled over the years. Nice way tae stick it tae them." Moira sat down. Even in remission, her body tired easily. "And Celeste asked." She liked the young woman.

"Celeste is quite good for business." Emma had taken Paige and Celeste under her wing and was easing them into the business world.

Moira nodded and decided to shock Emma totally. "If ye need help with Cordelia, let me know."

Her offer did exactly what she wanted it to. "Thanks, I may need..." Emma's voice trailed off as she mentally finished that sentence.

"A need tae get back tae Xavier's soon. But A'll be here if ye need tae slip out." With that Moira walked off. Maybe being nice to Pete would have the same effect. The idea of a stunned, polite Pete Wisdom brought a smile to her face.

***

"Two weeks ago, Emma received a letter from Shaw--" Celeste started by pulling out copies of her files for the assembled group. Sean sat on her left side, Sam on her right, Scott Summers across from her.

Betsy stopped her. "Which one?"

"Sebastian." Celeste let the frown flicker across her face. What happened to Cordelia was her fault. If she had known better, acted faster, then the rape wouldn't have happened.

Sean looked at her compassionately. They had both placed a great deal of trust in this young woman. And the thing that encouraged them to do so was her unyielding sense of loyalty. Whatever had happened, Celeste would take on a great deal of the guilt.

"What did he want?" Scott Summers leaned forward.

Celeste frowned as she answered, "The school and the students." Logan let out a feral growl, Sam looked pained. "We told him no, that Emma owned the school. But then we investigated and- legally, the Hellfire Club might have a claim." It was a complex legal situation, one that could have kept the school tied up in courts for years. Emma had felt that the best way to handle the situation was to call the Hellfire Club's bluff.

Jean nodded. "What did you do? I mean, what did Emma do?" It was hard to believe that Celeste, at twenty two, would have anything to do with Emma's decisions.

Posture, Poise, Projection, Celeste thought, calling on her training as an actor. "Basically, we said see you in court." Emma said it, she disagreed with it. "The club wouldn't sue us, too much publicity."

Sean turned to her. "Ye decided for me!" Celeste was Emma's right-hand woman and could have said something to him.

"At the time it was felt that nothing should be said. After all, what could this man do?" That was said with an air of innocence, which made her look less than informed about what could have happened. Emma had been good to Celeste, and earned her loyalty. She would take the blame for the bad decision.

Sam quickly read though Celeste's statement. Emma had been the one to feel that nothing could be done, but she knew better than to ignore the Hellfire Club. They were ruthless when they wanted something. Scott reached the same conclusion. "Then what happened?" he asked, not unkindly.

"Last week, we received these." Celeste pulled out a file folder of pictures. The top one was of Paige and Bobby watching Sam and Rahne share their first kiss. The next one was of Angelo, using an image inducer, playing football with Ev in the park. The third one was of M attending the opera, and the fourth, Jono pushing Franklin in a swing. Sean and Moira were shown buying ice cream at Kroger's, Emma returning a book to the library. The last one was of Jubilee and Ariel dancing to CDs in a music store while Celeste smiled benevolently.

Logan stared at the picture of Jubilee. "An' you still did nothing?"

Not trusting herself to meet their eyes, Celeste looked at a spot above Scott's head. "We thanked him for the pictures, sent a book on how to take better shots, and then planned our counterattack."

Sam reacted instinctually. "Muh sister was in trouble and ya didn't tell me?" These pictures had been taken over a series of months, which meant that the Hellfire Club had been plotting to take control of the school for at least that length of time.

Celeste nodded, hoping Sam would remember her apology. She couldn't afford to stop now. "We stepped up our counterattack." She pulled out copies of the documents showing various underhanded doings. "We planned to buy everything that Shaw owned that we could get our hands on, using these to destroy the stock prices." She handed Warren a file.

Quickly Warren glanced over the information and let out a low whistle. "This could do it. How many other bombshells do you have?" Bobby picked up another file and agreed.

"Eight solid cases, four more in the works. Emma had been expecting something from Shaw for a long time." Emma had planned to use this to take away Shaw's monetary power, and thus his influence in the Inner Circle. She had other plans to keep the other members away from the students.

Celeste sat down, and wiggled uncomfortably in her chair. "Early this morning, Shaw upped the ante." She looked down at her hands and sighed.

Banshee touched her shoulder, compassionately. "What did he do?" He and Emma were going to have a long talk when he got back.

The words stuck in Celeste's throat. "He arranged to have Cordelia Frost raped." Sam let out a curse, while Logan started to jump up. Storm held him down.

Bobby's eyes grew wide with shock. "He arranged to have Emma's own daughter raped?!?" He didn't know how he knew that Cordelia was Emma's daughter, but he knew that he would gladly rip Shaw's heart out for his actions. How dare he try to hurt Emma so?

Too tired to really cover her reaction, Celeste started to nod but caught herself. "Emma says Cordelia is her sister."

Scott leaped on to her unwitting nonverbal cues. "With her rep, it's no surprise." Jean nodded, Betsy frowned. Celeste decided to let that remark pass, but only because making an issue of it was too dangerous.

Sean stood up for his colleague. "If Cordelia is her daughter, then it's none of our business." Some things were meant to stay private, and a woman like Emma had powerful enemies. "And Emma's not the mothering type."

"Then what's she doing as headmaster?" Storm asked, eager to start the old disagreement.

"The best job possible!" Celeste jumped to the defense of her boss. "She teaches her students how to use their mutant powers, how to survive in the real world, and even manages to keep them in class eight hours a day- with Sean's help of course." Sean smiled at her. "Sam even admitted that Paige was getting a good education."

Very neatly, she deflected the attention away from Emma's maternal instincts back to her ability to do her job and reminded Sam that there was no better place for Paige than the Academy. Paige wasn't Emma's only student taking her manipulations class, just her most advanced one.

Sam reluctantly nodded as his innate sense of honesty battled with his sense of family loyalty. "Paige knows how ta balance a checkbook, live on a budget, do calculus, ta disarm a man eight different ways and has improved her control over her mutant power. Seems ta me, she's doin' okay under Emma and Sean. Even learnin' a skill in case she don't want ta be one of us." He said the last part softly. He wanted to hurt Emma for allowing Paige to be in danger, but what could he really do to help his sister?

"But her choice could have put Paige or Jubilee in danger..." Storm reminded him.

"Or me or my sister, or herself." Celeste spoke again, this time quieter. "Basically, she wanted to get rid of Shaw- because she knew he was behind the bid to get the school back- and make sure that he couldn't take his spot in the club again." She sipped her cup of water and sighed as she saw the anger in Sam's eyes. There went that friendship, she figured. "Not to be mean, but could you have come up with a plan to keep the kids safe?"

Rogue smiled at her. "Ah don't reckon so. We haven't been able to really, truly..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Scott glare at her. Honestly, the X-Men's track record in eliminating a potential threat was less than perfect.

"She still should have come to us." Scott told Celeste. "Or at the least, told Sean what was going on." Celeste started to agree with him, until he added, "Not send her lackey." He did not like Celeste, and the feeling was mutual.

"Hey, I came out on my feet." When Celeste had lost her job, Scott had offered her a plush job in California, with the condition that she was to have nothing to do with Generation-X again. Her pride didn't allow her to take the bribe. "And to do that, I signed on with Emma." She let the anger she felt at the situation show in her voice. "But this isn't about the way she dresses, or the fact I'm on her payroll. Can we get back to business, please?" It only sounded like a request to someone that didn't know her.

Sean carefully laid a hand on hers and squeezed tightly. Speaking up, he defended Emma by saying, "Emma has her hands full where she needs to be. Jean, if that was Sarah in there-"

Jean nodded. "I'd be with her. I take it there was a point to Emma sending you, Celeste. Am I correct?"

Celeste nodded. "Emma did have a plan, but she expected to have more time to raise capital. You see, using these reports, which are being released to the media, we can destroy Shaw's holdings-"

Warren nodded, seeing the practical side to the idea. "And then come in and buy everything up, thus causing Shaw to lose all standing with the Hellfire Club." It was a very good idea. Mentally, he decided that he could go in for a couple of hundred thousand dollars, if not more, as long as he could keep the stock. Once the companies were sold for parts, he could come out quite handsomely.

Betsy agreed with him. "In exchange for giving Emma our proxies, she'll take down one of our most powerful enemies. Impressive." Being the smart business woman, she had carefully invested her money, living off what Xavier doled out. She was in for a million, more than enough to buy the fashion line that Shaw owned.

"But do we want to give her that kind of power?" Storm asked. "We can't trust her." This was a perfect example of why they couldn't.

Logan turned to Celeste. "Will Shaw be breathing when she gets done with him?" Celeste shook her head no. "Then I'm in." While he and the headmistress of Jubilee's school would have words, he had to admit that Emma's plan was clean, clear, and very effective.

"Gambit got his own little nest egg hidden away nice an' safe." Being able to turn all of his ill-gotten funds into something good appealed to the Cajun. "I'm in all de way."

"We need to find a new place for the kids." Scott started. "Someplace safe and away from any sort of attention."

"No ye don't," Sean told him. "Those kids need to stay where they are. And if Emma's plan works, then there is no need to run."

Celeste nodded. "Face it- to uproot them would hurt them."

"Why's that?" Joseph asked, entering the conversation for the first time.

"These kids are somewhat, well-" Celeste looked from Sean to Sam and paused, searching for the best word.

"Troubled?" offered Gambit. Sean agreed.

"Honestly, yes. Jubilee is an ex-shoplifter, a runaway who just now is getting used to a new school. Ange, I think, can't be safe anywhere else. An ex-gangbanger with some formidable enemies. M has emotional problems of her own. Jono's depressed. Paige is trying to be Ms. Perfection for reasons of her own. Penny, Leech and Artie would be hard to explain away. Franklin and Ev are the only normal ones in the bunch. Give them time." Celeste sighed as she finished up. "They and my sister, are under close watch at Emma's ski lodge this weekend."

Scott shook his head. "There is no way I can see fit to help Emma with anything but packing her bags and leaving the school. If Warren, Betsy, Remy or Logan want to help you, it's against my better advice." Scott stood up, signaling that the meeting was over. "Sean, you need to be in control of the school." With that parting remark, he left the room. One by one, the others followed, leaving Sean and Sam on either side of Celeste.

Sean spoke first. "He's right, you know. I didn't know what was going on." He said this with a hurt tone of voice. Celeste had shown whose side she was on.

Celeste agreed. "Emma didn't want you to, and she signs my paychecks." She had tried to be careful to stay out of the power play going on at the school, but unfortunately she had landed in the middle. Briefly, she wondered how much of it was Emma's attempt to control her.

"Is that yer excuse for everything? 'Emma signs my paychecks.' Is yer loyalty bought and sold? How much will thirty pieces of silver buy?" Sam turned to the woman he had called a friend in disbelief.

Masking her pain at what Sam had called her, Celeste sat back in the chair and sighed. The short answer was yes. The long answer was she had felt that Emma's plan was best, and telling Sam that his sister might be in danger without being able to give him the facts would have been foolish, because he would have reacted by pulling Paige out of the school and tipping off Shaw to their true feelings. Telling him the facts would have meant that she would have lost her job, and the mutant underground would suffer. At least, Celeste thought bitterly, thirty pieces of silver will net eighty grand a year, company car, full medical and dental plan, IRA account, and a college scholarship for my sister.

"Sam, until you sleep in the streets, starving, hoping that someone will take pity on you, you think whatever you like." She could still remember those fearful nights.

"Family and friends come first. Period." Sam tried to argue. He still couldn't believe she would sell Paige's safety for the security of having money in the bank.

"True. My sister's health and well-being are all I want. All I ever wanted since my parents were killed." It was a subtle reminder that they weren't that different when it came to younger siblings. "And she was in those pictures. I did what I thought was best." She got up, weary from the fight, exhausted from the day. "And I still think Emma knows what she's doing." Celeste walked out of the room.

Sean held Sam back from following her. "Let it be, lad. Celeste won't change her mind."

"Ah thought Ah knew her." He had honestly thought of her as a friend. "Ah didn't think she'd keep something like this quiet."

"Ye could say the same thing about me and Emma." Sean paused. "Emma bought her, Sam. And Celeste knows it." For a brief moment, both men pitied the young woman. "Now Scott and A are goin' tae have a talk." He wouldn't allow Scott to meddle in his attempt to make his students feel safe and loved.