Actually, the matter about Emma had caused some stir in a lot of the team. It had been talked about after she'd fainted again and been taken to her room.

Scott had hesitated to tell the entire story. He was still processing it.

But of course, the others had asked what had put her in the kind of condition she was in when they got back, and Cable had said some things, and they wanted to know more.

Scott didn't go into huge detail about the parts that concerned Jean and him, emotionally, just the other stuff.

That was enough.

Logan especially was furiously.

"I knew there was somethin' wrong about 'er," he said. "All this time, she never let on."

"We knew she was hiding something, Logan." Storm remained the most calm. "It's not so surprising it was something like that. She must have suspected we would not trust her."

"I wonder why." Logan was sarcastic. "Maybe because she betrayed the entire X-men and scattered their team."

"Are you done yelling?" Shine had spoken up. She was sitting on the sofa, toying with some of the random objects on the coffee table.

"You guys'll scare the kids if you keep this up," Wally agreed.

"And why do I get de feeling you two knew 'bout dis de whole time?" Gambit said.

"Let's not get too excited," Storm said. "They often know things they cannot tell us. I'm sure defaming Emma was not what they wanted. Isn't that right, Shine? Wally?"

"Of course it was," Shine said. "And Emma told me only on the condition that I did not tell everyone else. I was focused on helping her, remember? She's got problems. I didn't think all of you needed to know that right off."

"And you jus' decide dat on your own," Gambit said.

"Pray tell me how I would decide you don't need to know something by asking you if you need to know it?" Shine fired back.

"I think what Shine's saying--" Wally began.

"Don't speak for me," Shine said.

Wally paused. "Sorry."

"No...I'm sorry," Shine said. "That was...uncalled for." She leaned on her hand. "Go on."

"Well, not saying you're saying it, but what I think," Wally said, "is that we'd have told you, but it was hard to get her to trust us at all, and we didn't want you all to get mad at her when she was already having so much to deal with. She's been stuck here for weeks...no answers, really, just bad news. It was just added stress."

"Oh, that's great for her," Logan said. "But what about trust? We took 'er in. She could have been honest about why she was in this fix to begin with. Fact is, she wouldn't have died if she hadn't first done all those things, would she? That didn't seem important?"

"And it helps you how?" Shine asked.

Logan just growled.

"Whether it helps us or not," Rogue spoke up, "it would have been nice to know. Trust goes both ways. We told her all about what we knew. Didn't hold back. She didn't. It's not fair. And you didn't... Okay, I see why ya feel like ya couldn't maybe, but didn't ya tell her to tell us?"

"I did," Shine said. "But I wouldn't make that choice for her, just as I would for any of you. And so, may I remind you, I have kept a lot of your secrets at different times." She frowned at them. "If you want that to change, then we can just make that agreement right now, but if you prefer I keep your confidence, then you will respect my right to keep other people's also and not give preferential treatment. You know me by now. Would I do that?"

They stared at her.

"She's right," Storm said. "We can't ask that. All of us have things we'd rather not have shared with others without our consent. Shine has never exposed us."

"And she wouldn't," Wally added. "And neither would I. We know that some things have to say quiet. I'm a superhero, for crying out loud."

"I never thought any of our secrets were ones that could hurt people," Logan said.

"You don't know that, Logan," Shine said. "Get off my case, please. I would not be lecturing you if our positions were reserved. I would be asking you why it was coming out now. And for that I think we can thank Cable."

Cable was there, leaning on the wall.

"Okay, okay," Gambit said. "Let's say you off de hook for reasons like you say. Don't mean she is."

"Yeah, then it's 'er fault for makin' ya not tell us." Logan switched gears. "So what do we do about it?"

"Why are you all letting her stay here anyway?" Cable asked. "If I knew she'd been dirty the whole time, I wouldn't have. She could have been spying for the enemy... In fact, how do you know she's not a spy? Seems like she's got a habit of being one."

"True," Logan growled again.

"We have no evidence that she's a spy," Storm said. "Let's not jump to conclusions."

"I wish I could say for sure," Scott said. "But she fooled us all..."

Shine gripped a pencil tighter as she listened to this.

"Babe," Wally hissed to her, "They're just finding this out now. We should give them a chance to decide for themselves."

Shine nodded, pursing her lips together.

Mystique, who was there but saying nothing--because why should she draw attention to herself?--looked at Shine closely, almost questioningly.

Morph tried to interject. "Guys, let's not, okay? I think Storm might be right. I think Emma's really just been dealing with a lot, and we shouldn't be too harsh. Maybe she was scared to tell us."

"She should be," Logan said. "Because we don't like traitors in the X-men."

"Can you be a traitor if you never really were one to begin with?" Scott wondered. "I still can't believe we never realized it... I guess Wolverine did."

"Well, sounds like he's the brains of yer X-men too," Logan said.

"That remark is not appreciated, Logan," Storm said. "I still think we are rushing this too much. And what do you intend to do to her? She is in distress. We cannot abandon her now. I don't care what she did, it's too cruel. We saw what happened to Psylocke."

"No, I'm not saying that," Scott said. "Of course we can't let that happen, it's just...can we count on Emma? I don't know about that. It seems like she's never really honest."

"And we don't know if she has been," Logan said.

"Again, I'd not be letting her be here," Cable said. "But if I did, I wouldn't be letting her walk around free. She's a telepath--she can do all kinds of damage without you knowing it."

"So could you," Wally said, a little nonplussed.

"Yeah, but I ain't the traitor," Cable said.

Wally frowned at him, then he looked at Shine, who was gritting her teeth.

"You know what? Forget it, I'm not going to stop you," he said, sitting back, miffed. "I'll mess it up if I try to say it, right now, but you go off if you want."

"Sorry, do you have a problem with this?" Scott said, noticing Shine's expression finally.

Mystique leaned forward like she'd been waiting for this, of all things.

"Uh oh," Morph muttered.

Storm knew that look in Shine's eye. But she didn't stop her.

"Sorry, what?" Shine stood up to face Scott, and fury was in her tone, even if it was tempered at the moment.

Scott didn't know her that well and had yet to witness any of her outbursts, but he didn't like the look in her eye.

"You seem like you don't like what we're saying for some reason," he said.

"Yeah, funny, isn't it?" Shine said. "To be specific, I'm fine with what Storm and Morph are saying. At least they're making sense. What is wrong with the rest of you?!" There the anger came out full force.

"Look, Pint Size," Cable said, "you may feel sorry for her, but facts are facts. I ain't here to blind myself to them, and you'd better not either."

"Facts, huh?" Shine walked toward more the center of the room to look him in the eye. "Here's a fact for you, Newbie--if you disrespect my friends, you disrespect me. If you think I'm about to stand here and let you call Emma a traitor and suggest what you're suggesting, then you, sir, have severely misunderstood your role here. We rescued you, not the other way around, and Emma helped, you ungrateful ass!"

Everyone almost gasped.

Wally choked back a laugh.

Cable stared at Shine like he didn't understand what she was saying.

"As for you--" Shine turned to Logan. "--we've been through this before. I think you know where I stand on it. If you have a problem with it, cry me a river, Logan. She's here because she's in trouble. I'm sorry it offends you that she didn't tell a total stranger, like you, who already didn't like her, truth about herself that would have made you dislike her more. Real shock there. You ever think people would tell you more things if you took it better when they did?"

That blow made Logan wince.

"Same with all of you." Shine was on a roll now. "You gave us a hard time when we arrived, and we never did anything to actually deserve it. You gave other people a hard time too."

Mystique was right there, and she was glad Shine didn't name her then. She tried to look small.

"I love all of you," Shine said, "but you seem to struggle with this one thing: People all make mistakes. Just because you don't know them as well as you know each other does not make their mistakes worse or less forgivable than your own. I dare one of you to step forward who hasn't had a past. Criminals, villains, mercenaries, falsely worshiped, thieves. Go on, raise your hand if you've never been at least one of those things. And a liar."

No one did. Not even Cable. He was just staring at her like she was a bomb about to go off.

"I thought so," Shine said. "Actually I think Morph is the only one who could say that, and he is the least judgmental of all of you. I wonder if that's because you all still feel guilty about what you did, and you need to feel other people are just as bad as you are. Newsflash: They are. Get over it."

She gestured wildly. "Emma Frost has done bad things, yes. She'll do more, and so will you. I'm sorry if that's news to you. That does not make her a monster, and it does not give you the right to judge her for what she did. You all might have done the same at one time in your lives, and if you wouldn't now, that was the grace of God and your finding better friends who taught you to be better. Who expect you to be. You won't offer that same grace to someone else just because she hurt people who you don't even know but are like you? What kind of hypocrisy is that?"

They stared at her some more.

"As for you--" Shine turned to Scott finally. "--I'm sorry, Scott. You do have reasons to be angry. But just angry. Don't you dare cop that attitude with me, or with anyone here, that Emma is somehow a worse person than you are because of what she did. Her actions ended badly, sure, but a lot of that was beyond her ability to guess, as I think you'd recall if you thought about it long enough. And you have no idea how many problems your own actions could create. If you follow the progress of events, none of us really know that. And trust me, you don't want to know. If you have a problem with trusting her, at least keep that to yourself. The rest of us have no reason to hold a grudge for something she didn't do to us. I'd advise you not to hold one either, but that's up to you. I won't listen to you sink her any longer with the rest of this team, is that clear?"

Scott gaped at her for a moment, then he closed his mouth. "Yeah...it's clear," he said slowly. 

"Good," Shine said. "I expect I've heard the last of this. Is that all right with everyone?"

"Are you the boss now?" Cable said.

Shine turned to give him a scathing look. "She's my friend, Cable. Try to understand what that means. Friends don't listen to their other friends being badmouthed to them. What you all talk  about on your own time, I can't help, though I'd think less of you for it. But I will not be a part of it, and if you have a problem with that...I don't care. Shove it. And I better not hear of anyone threatening her later, either. Let's just make a rule: Anyone who touches one hair on Emma's head over this will get the same from me, twice as much. In whatever way I deem necessary. I will not have the person we're supposed to be shielding being made to feel unsafe in this house. Or you can count me as not a part of this either, then. I've had enough of this crap."

She seemed very agitated now.

Wally got up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's not get too carried away," he said. "I think we don't need to go that far. You all get it, right? But Shine's not wrong. Even if she's using strong words, they're not untrue. I'm with her. Emma's got a lot going on right now, but did you all forget the whole reason she's here is that she died? Or almost did? And she's been falling apart ever since?  Great gosh, everyone, it's like you don't cut people any slack for having a lot of pain in their life already. Don't you have any sympathy at all? Any pity? I'm sure you guys do--I've seen it before. Give the girl some mercy. She's been through hell with those attacks and being kidnapped and stuff. She's actually holding up pretty good for all that."

Storm looked down.

Rogue actually had started crying out of shame. [A trait people seem to have forgotten completely in modern media. The last I saw of it was in The Sound of Music.]

Scott looked somber also. "It's not that we've forgotten that," he said. "It's just...does that really make it okay?"

"I don't know, Scott. Have you ever done anything you've been ashamed of?" Shine was a bit calmer now. 

"Yeah," Scott said. "I guess I have."

"Did you try to make up for it?" Shine asked.

"I did," Scott said.

"And were you allowed to?" Shine asked.

Scott paused. "I... It...it was complicated. In some ways, I didn't get the chance. I'd like to think I have now."

"Is that so?" Shine said. "Well, then...what are we talking about again?" She folded her arms and tilted her head with maximum sass.

"That was deserved," Storm spoke up. "Your point, I mean...strongly made, perhaps, but...by now, I know why. I don't intend to give Emma a hard time about this, considering that it's really none of my business what happened in her dimension. Whatever the rest of you decide, I think I will stay out of it."

"Ditto," Morph said. "She's had enough to deal with. I don't like that she kept this back, but I can't blame her for it. No one would have wanted to confess something like that, so I'm staying out of it too."

Mystique glanced at him and then at Scott with something like distaste.

Cable scowled.

"Gambit no like it," Gambit spoke. "But fine, Shine, you win. We all got something, some more dan others. She can have her secrets, jus' don't expect me ta trust her, den."

"Fair enough," Wally admitted. "I guess she has to earn that. But...can you at least let her try?"

"It may not matter, soon," Gambit said, walking out of the room somberly.

Rogue wiped her face. "Yeah, well, I feel silly now, so...I ain't gonna bother about it. I don't know if I'll feel real easy around her though, but, there's been enough cross words about it, so...anyway, who am I to judge someone for havin' a past...? I'm gonna head to bed, if that's all right."

She flew out of the room.

Logan sighed, and he went out also.

"That's him being willing to compromise," Wally said.

"Yeah, I got it," Shine said. "I guess there's nothing more to say, then, is there?"

"I'll talk to him," Storm said. "When he's ready... For now, we're all tired. You should go to sleep, Shine. You're tired also."

Shine nodded.

Cable glared at her. But he seemed to know better than to keep picking a fight. The others had already said they'd drop it. He walked away also.

Mystique got up, cast Shine a knowing look and then nodded and went out.

"Huh," Wally said. "She never said a word."

"Of course not," Shine said. "She doesn't gloat. Nor have I noticed her sinking other people, unless it's part of her job to do so."

"She's surprisingly cool about stuff like this," Wally mused. "I think I see why you liked her right off."

Shine smiled weakly. "Yeah, well...that was fun..."

Morph left also, not having anything to say.

Scott remained.

"What's up?" Wally finally said to him.

"I don't know--I've never in my life seen anyone talk the way you just did," Scott said. "About someone else, anyway... I'm not sure what to make of it. I don't understand, though--why do you trust her? Because she told you?"

"Scott, I'd have said that even if she hadn't." Shine sat back down, looking tired. "Because it has nothing to do with that. I feel compassion for people, that's all, and I try not to judge them too harshly. I don't always succeed, perhaps...but I try. I know how you feel about us not telling you, but I won't apologize for it."

She rubbed her head. "But one thing, yes, she told me. Doesn't mean she shouldn't have told everyone. But if she really wanted to cement her place here the same way as before, why tell me? She'd never have risked that, I get the feeling. She's not stupid. Emma has had no designs on us. She has no reason to. The only thing we have that she wants, she can't get by lying and manipulating us. Does that make her better? No, but it does make your suggestion that she's fooling us again a little unwarranted and, I think, unfair. Cable's too, but I expect that from him. He's a total stranger. I'd think you'd know better."

"You can't expect me to just forget about that," Scott said. "I forgot about it for long enough, thanks. You don't understand... I might feel sorry for her, but she's not trustworthy... I mean..." he shook his head. "And...so much was not true. I don't really know her at all."

"I think you may know her better than you think you do," Shine said, thoughtfully. "You're too upset now to realize this, but give it a few days, calm down, and really think about it. I've watched Emma for some time. She's like anyone else--she has a version of herself she wants to be, and then she has what she's afraid of becoming, and then she has what she actually is. The last one is always a mix of the other two in the average person, Scottie. It could be she thought she was becoming more of what she wanted to be, and she didn't care to ruin it by thinking about how she was lying. But that's just a thought. Emma Frost is not evil, I know that much. Nor is she all bad. Or always selfish. She's just...not perfect and deeply confused. It may be you can't trust someone like that." She leaned on her hand. "But that begs the question, who can we really trust at all? People who never make mistakes? Who are never selfish? Is there such a person? I know of none. Even lying, while it makes you untrustworthy in one way, can depend on the reason you lied and how much you lied. I suppose you never got a chance to talk about it after she...blew up."

"No," Scott said. "Did she ever tell you?"

"I will not do your work for you," Shine said. "Don't expect me to answer that. You ask her yourself, if you have the spine to do so."

She crossed her arms. "You owe her for one thing, Scott. She saved Jean from that Phoenix. You want to be all butthurt about what came before that, knock yourself out, but don't come to us for sympathy. I don't believe in making people pay for the past. I wouldn't want to pay for mine."

"Yeah, agree totally on that," Wally said. "I think we've all talked about it enough though, right? We need to calm down."

"Yes," Shine said. "We do. Let's go."

She got up again.

"Goodnight," Wally said to Scott amicably, before they went upstairs.

Scott was left with his own thoughts. And they were not pleasant ones.

* * *

Consequently, the tension Emma noticed the following day was considerable, but no one actually talked to her about it.

She almost would have liked it better if they did, but perhaps she wisely did not broach the subject. She wasn't anxious to get yelled at.

Meanwhile, there were other things to think of.

The new developments in the case were only making it look worse to everyone. For now, though, they didn't have a lot they could do about it.

Not that many people had been at Genosha. It looked more like they had been expecting more. No way to know how or when they would get them. In a way, raiding it looked like it had happened too soon. Or not soon enough.

So they had some time to rest and to try to decide what to do next. The new guys were not anxious to stick around, but for now they had little choice, and they kept to themselves about it. Especially the Wraith fellow. He kind of scared the kids; he was so grumpy looking. He mostly just stood around outside and smoked. He never said why he'd been captured. All he told them was that he was a mutant.

With nothing else to do, Morph had plenty of time to think about what happened with Mystique.

He still had no clue what it all meant, and, so far, she'd not brought it up.

She might have been waiting for him to.

Morph was not ready to bring it up. His head was still whirling from it.

But he knew at least two people who'd have an opinion.

Shine seemed busy keeping an eye on Emma that day, so he talked to Wally alone. Wally needed a distraction anyway.

"So...wait, you guys made out?" he said, almost spitting out his coffee. They were outside at the time though.

"No!" Morph said. "I don't think that's making out! Don't say things like that."

"I think if you kiss more than twice it's making out," Wally said. "If we were in my world, I could Google that." [I didn't, but if someone wants to comment that... Weird conversation to have.]

"That's not real helpful," Morph said. "I'm still reeling... I don't understand what's going on."

"I feel like it's not that complicated..." Wally said. "I'm not a girl, but...isn't it kind of just one thing from here?"

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Morph was worked up now. "But it's Mystique, so, not really that simple, is it?"

He sighed and hit his head on the wall...which didn't really hurt him. "She's so...impossible to read. I mean...I didn't even think I felt that way until about a week ago, but I figured it's one sided--because it always is... Now I don't know."

Wally wondered if he sounded this pathetic when he talked to Hawk Girl about Shine. He figured he probably did.

Choking back a laugh over it, he tried to say neutrally, "Well...if you like her, why not just go for it?"

"Because it's Mystique," Morph said.

"Oh, well...ouch," Wally said. "I hope you don't say that where she can hear you. That's brutal."

"I don't mean that she's not cool," Morph said. "A lot of ways she is, but...she's a little...you know, nuts, sometimes.... I mean, I am too, so I guess it's not fair to judge. But that's why I just don't know. How do I interpret it?"

"You could ask her."

"No way! I need to know what I think more first...but I can't know what I think without knowing what she's thinking..."

Wally rolled his eyes to himself.

"Okay..." he said. "Look, Shine is the one who likes the whole minute detail thing, not me. So if you want to weigh pros and cons, I'm a big picture guy, myself. When I decided I liked Shine, I just went for it. I knew it could be hard, but I say, if someone is worth it, you give it your best shot. No regrets. So the way I see it, bro, if Misty is worth it, then that's all you need to know. What do you think?"

"Well...is she worth it as a person, or is it worth it to try to...you know...have that...?" Morph said.

"I'm sorry, is there a difference?" Wally said.

"There is with her," Morph said. "As a friend, Mystique is great...a little rough around the edges, I admit, and a huge pain about some things, but, overall, she's easy to talk to, you know, and smart, in her way, and honest, when she's not working some angle, which, I can see through that mostly now, so it's not really a problem, but...and okay, she's shown surprising compassion, like with Kitty, and...you know...me...I guess. And funny, not on purpose usually, but...so yeah, I mean, I'd definitely want to be friends."

Wally wanted to slap him.

"All that and you think you're not in this pretty deep already?" he said. "I've never heard any guy go off about a girl like that who he didn't already like deep down. Even my buddy Bats does it, and he's super reserved, scary, and silent a lot. And you're definitely not like that, so you're really screwed, buddy."

"Way to be helpful there, Flash," Morph said, pointedly. "I'm serious--I suck at this kind of thing. The only girl I ever told I liked turned out to not be straight." [Yes, that was the real reason...sadly...though it's kind of funny too...but also rough.]

"Ouch," Wally winced. "I hate it when that happens."

"I know, right? So clearly I can't read signals," Morph said. "On top of that, Mystique is...way more complicated than a lot of girls are."

"I doubt if she's really that much worse than anyone else," Wally said. "Maybe behind the snarkiness."

"Yeah, but...she doesn't tell you what she really thinks a whole lot," Morph said. "Not about that...so...I'm just not sure about it."

"You know...not to go out on a limb, but it sounds like you're scared because you really like her and you're afraid to blow it again," Wally said. "Also...maybe you're worried because of her...uh...reputation..."

"Well, yes," Morph said.

"That is a toughie..." Wally admitted. "I didn't have that problem with Shine. It's kind of hard for me to be sure. Shine never dated anyone before me."

"Oh, wow, really?" Morph said. 

"Yeah, she was like this pure, sheltered, home-schooled kid," Wally said. "Not that she didn't have her stance...on things...but no actual experience. So...and I did. That was one awkward conversation."

"But she was okay with it, I guess," Morph said.

"I'm trying to remember what she said." Wally rubbed his head. "Usually I remember. She says things in such a unique way.... Ah, I got it, I think. She said that in some ways it might be nice if we both were totally new at it, but in another, she couldn't expect that of someone who didn't share her background and beliefs up until after I met her, and she wasn't going to be judgy about it. She said if it was good enough for God, then it was good enough for her, and that was that. She's never given me a hard time about it. And...and I think giving someone a hard time about their past mistakes is kind of rough, isn't it? Like we talked a lot about last night... It's not really Misty's fault if she did a lot of things before she knew any better and you didn't."

"It's...not that I blame her, really," Morph said. "For me it's just...lack of opportunity, really. I'm not that much more moral or anything like you guys are...or I wasn't. I have been rethinking that since studying with you. But that's just it...I'm not sure we're actually on the same page there, and she...well...she tends to ditch people as soon as it gets hard for her. Even if I like her, I don't know if she's going to agree with how I think of commitment and stuff."

He sighed. "I never really wanted that whole one-time fling thing that other guys talk about. It just...sounds like a lot of stress and like using people just for...for one thing."

Wally nodded. "I know some people like that.... Yeah, it's kind of gross. I guess you have to give it thought. That's been her life."

"Yeah." Morph looked down now.

"Shine thinks it's not something she really likes," Wally said. "I mean...not that we're talking about that specifically, just...the whole lifestyle, being used by different people and stuff. She just thinks she has no choice. It's hard to blame someone for that when they've been abused a lot, even when they were a kid.... Do you know about that?"

"Yeah, I do now," Morph said.

"I figure that messes with your head," Wally said. "I know it messed with Shine, and she was a Christian, but she still had a lot of work to do to get past the feeling that she deserved that... I figure it's the same for anyone else...so maybe we shouldn't be too hard on Mystique either.... She's done a lot of bad stuff on her own, but she should get the chance to change as much as anyone else, I think. I believe in that. My friends do too. And it's in the faith. So..."

"But if she doesn't want to change..." Morph said. "And it's weird to expect that, isn't it? Shouldn't you just...be able to like someone where they are now?"

"I think...well, you do like her," Wally said. "But maybe that's just it, huh? That kind of way of acting is a problem. You wouldn't want someone to do that to themselves or you. So even if you like her, that doesn't make it okay to just accept her whole pattern of ditching people when it gets difficult. I think, if she's not willing to rethink that, then maybe she's just not ready, but I don't know what she's thinking either. I think you just have to talk to her about it."

"Yeah...I figured it'd come back to that," Morph said. "I don't want to hurt her feelings though."

"I mean...be as nice as possible about it. I wasn't saying to be super blunt," Wally said. "That would be bad..."

"You know, I've started to see why I've never dated," Morph said. "I'm really bad at talking about stuff like this."

"Yeah, me too. Not everyone can get a Shine," Wally chuckled. "She made it impossible to avoid.... But you have to try anyway."

Morph sighed.

[Fun.

But real. And people should talk about this stuff. From all I've heard from relationship counselors, the number one problem of marriage and dating is that people do not talk about what they really expect and want, they just assume you know. So...it's awkward but necessary.]