Okay, here's the part we all love to read: THE DISCLAIMER!! Before we start, however, this is a self-insertion. COME BACK! It's not THAT bad. Really! Marvel owns most of this, except for my little ol' character. Someday, if ya'll really like this story, I'll write the prequel and sequel to it. I'll try to explain everything in the story so you won't be tooconfused. Just sit back and enjoy. And yes, I do get Oreo cooking cravings, though never that early. Why? Because I'm not conscious at that time of morning.

Jen Finer, the mutant commonly known as Vortex, grumbled to herself as she searched for the milk. She had a milk and Oreo cookie craving thatneeded to be satisfied. If it wasn't, someone was going to get hurt.

'Aha!' she crowed to herself, clutching the milk to her chest. 'Finally! Maybe now I can eat and get back to bed. Six o'clock in the morning is too early for a craving. Actually, six o'clock is too early for anything except sleeping.'

She settled herself down on the kitchen counter, legs crossed in Indian style. She was about to start eating when Gambit came in, looked ather and left again. Her stomach tightened and she blinked away the tears.

'Girl, you've got to get over the pain! You know why most of them won't accept you! It's not your fault!'

Vortex's mind wandered as she gazed sadly into her glass of milk. Had it only been a year ago that she had come crashing into the Mansion, using mutant powers recently gained? Gained is not the word. Stolen and then thrust into her body is more the like.

She had been a low-grade mutant a year and a half ago, her power allowing her the ability to create music. Any song she wanted to sing, by any singer, she could do it perfectly. Any instrument she wanted tohear, she heard. She had been happy and content.

But then he came along and changed all of that.

Sinister.

She was kidnapped and tortured for several months before he began to do the experiments. Apparently, he had captured as well the X-Men's Ororo Munroe, who was close to death at that point. He wanted to see if he could place Storm's powers inside of Jen without killing her.

It had worked at a terrible price: Storm's life. Jen, in herrage and pain, had called up a hurricane and had managed to free herself. The powers that had been thrust into her body had completely erased her own, and somehow, Storm's knowledge about her powers had come with it also.

As had the X-Men's name and address. Vortex barely remembered the rest, flying without thinking, using knowledge that was not hers to reach the Mansion. Then she collapsed and was out for a month.

The X-Men had been stunned and grief stricken when Jean had read her mind. Some of them had hated her, others had pitied her, and still others had no idea with what to do with her. Professor Xavier had offered her the chance to train and become a member of the X-Men. She had agreed. What else could she have done? She had nothing to go back to know. Her old life was ruined.

Even after all this time several of the X-Men ignored her. Gambit, Bishop, Archangel, Psylocke, and Iceman to be precise. The onlytrue friend she had here was Jean Grey Summers. The others kept expecting Storm to suddenly emerge from her, though Jean and the Professor both had told them that only the powers and the knowledge to wield them had been transferred into her body.

Jen sighed and dipped her cookie into the milk. She ate it, her eyes closed in pure bliss. Now this was heaven. Actually, heaven had to be full of Oreo's and milk. Such a perfect combination was hard to find in the world.

"Interesting breakfast."

Jen leaned so that she could look past the fridge and grinned at Jean.

"I know. Healthy too. What are you doing up so early?" Her odd yellow eyes widened a fraction. "Oh no. Fearless leader hasn't scheduled an early morning session has he?"

Jean chuckled. "Don't worry, Jen. I just couldn't sleep and I felt your presence in here and decided to come and talk. If you don't mind?"

Her friend snorted. "Please, you're the only one in the house that will actually talk to me like I'm a real person. The others ignore me or keep comparing me to Ororo."

"You've got to give them time, Jen. They're still hurting over her death."

"I know. It hurts, that's all. It hurts a lot. Want one?" she asked, waving a cookie.

"Love one." Jean poured herself a glass of milk and sat on the counter next to Vortex. "You're right. These are good."

At that moment, Bishop and Bobby came into the kitchen, both ignoring her. Jen was beginning to feel fed up. A sound of distant thunder broke the silence and the two men glanced up in surprise.

"Fer God's sake!" she snapped. "Talk! I'm not going to bite!"

'Calm down, Jen,' Jean soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down?!" she said, brushing off cookie crumbs from her jeans. "Would you calm down after being treated like this?! I'm sick and tired of it! I'm either being ignored or being treated like Ororo, and I'm NOT HER!"

With that, Vortex jumped off of the counter and flew outside and straight up a couple of hundred feet in the air. There she took a deep breath and wiped at the tears in her eyes. It hurt her so much. She hated the feeling of emptiness and despair that threatened to overwhelm her everyday. She felt helpless against those feelings and she hated feeling helpless.

In response to her sadness and despair it began to rain softly and she closed her eyes to the feeling of the water running down her body. The sky was crying along with its mistress.

The next morning ...

Jen had been gone for nearly a day, just flying around the Mansion grounds trying to sort out her feelings.

She walked into the front hall, dripping wet. She knew she could dry herself off with just a thought, but she really didn't care. So what if she caught pneumonia? So what if she got sick? Who would care?

Vortex shook herself mentally.

'If you throw yourself a pity-party,' she reminded herself, 'you'll be the only one there. But right now, if I threw myself a happy party, I'd still be the only one there. Hell's bells. You've been lonely before, remember? You've lived through hell, you can live through this. Even if it kills you.'

Jen walked into the kitchen and blinked. There was Gambit, one of the ones who had completely and utterly ignored her except when flinging curses at her in French, with a basket ... of Oreo cookies and a carton of milk? The corners of her mouth twitched.

"Uh, you playing Red Riding Hood?" she asked, leaning against the door.

He jumped, startled. "Somet'in' like dat," he admitted, and then he sighed. "Gambit's way o' sayin' he's sorry, petite."

Jen nearly died on the spot. "Did you just talk to me?" she squeaked. "And it wasn't a curse in French?"

"Ya know dey were curses?"

She nodded. "I can speak French." She grimaced. "Sort of. I can speak insults quite well."

Gambit groaned. "I didn't know."

"But you would have still done it." She glanced at the cookies and the milk, her mouth watering slightly. "How'd you know?"

"Jeannie. She also told us all off dis mornin'," he said, sitting at the table and gesturing her to take a seat. "She did somet'in' slightly unethical."

"Oh? And that might be what?"

"She set up a link between yer mind an' de rest o' ours."

Jen's eyes widened. "She did what? Why?!"

"She wanted to show us what ya were goin' t'rew. Had I known or even suspected ..."

She placed her hand over his. "We all make mistakes, Remy. I don't hold grudges. Well, not for long anyway. Listen, I can't eat all this by myself. I could use some help."

Gambit grinned slightly. "Sure petite. 'Sides, I can get ta know de real you an' not jus' de side I always saw."

As the two ate and talked softly to one another, Jean slipped away silently, a smile on her face. The others would come around eventually, but for now a shared Oreo cookie breakfast would do just fine.

Actually, it was better than fine. It was perfect.