Leech gulped convulsively. Mickey had escaped. He had been very nice and let Mickey sleep on his bed (Since Mickey didn't have one yet) and then he'd gone and run away! Leech was sad. Sighing, he walked out of his room and down the hall, picking up his favorite book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" on the way. In another room he could hear Rogue yelling at Jubilee while Jubilee yelled back. He plopped down on the couch and flipped open the book, wishing Artie and Franklin weren't grounded. One little frog in the fridge . . .

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Jean bent to finish mopping the floor where Pyslocke had spilled jelly earlier when that toad had jumped out at her. The kitchen was almost totally clean again. She really didn't know how Sean managed these kids. They were unruly, rude, obnoxious--she jumped back, screaming as a tail disappeared under one of the cabinets.

"A MOUSE! THERE'S A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE!"

Jubilee started laughing. "She's a poet and she knows it!"

Jean screamed again and jumped onto a chair. "SCOTT! HELP!"

Wolverine came running in, claws unsheathed and snarling. "What'sa matter, Jeannie?" He asked after seeing that there was no villain present.

"M-m-m-mouse!"

Logan bent to look, then straightened up and shrugged. "He's long gone. Come on down."

"No! Not until someone finds it and kills it!"

Scott made it in just then, towel wrapped around his waist and hair wet and soapy. "What's wrong?! What's wrong??!"

Wolverine chuckled and took a pull from his cigar.

"Whoo! Scotty! Those are some abs!" Jubilee said loudly before breaking into evil cackles.

Iceman, just walking in, joined her in laughing while Cyclops glared at them both. Somehow though, he lost quite a bit of dignity when he had to run to the sink to wash the soap out of his eyes.

"There was a mouse!" Jean was saying to Bishop, who had shown up armed with two flame throwers and a uzi. Cyc had noticed he seemed to be picking up more dangerous weapons since they'd moved in here.

"Don't worry, Jeannie. We'll get it." Wolvie smiled and puffed on his stogie, then popped his claws. "One way or another. Not much can get past my nose."

Jean swallowed and nodded, praying he was right. Down the hall came another scream, and everyone ran that way, going to see if everything was all right.

When they got to the sleeping quarters everything was quiet. Wolverine finally started going through the rooms one by one, and everyone else followed suit.

It was Gambit who saw something run across the floor of Rogue's room and called everyone in.

"But who screamed?" Bishop asked.

"Ah did." Rogue answered.

Everyone looked up. Hanging from the lamp in the middle of the ceiling was Rogue, face flushed.

Iceman laughed. "You're totally invulnerable and you're scared of a mouse??"

Rogue's eyes narrowed. "Ya wanna make somethin' of it, Drake?"

Bobby sobered quickly. "No, it's perfectly reasonable."

"THERE IT GOES!" Someone shouted as the mouse crept out of a hole and ran down the hall.

Everyone followed, all of Generation X joining as they saw what was going on.

"IT'S HEADING FOR THE DANGER ROOM!" Wolverine shouted. Jubilee grinned as everyone piled in to the make-shift Danger Room, which would be taken down as soon as the X-MEN left.

"Oh sh--" Was clearly heard in the sudden silence before the speaker was forced to jump out of the way of a missile. Above them Beast swung about, trying to get some of the younger ones out of the way.

"We are currently in the middle of a training session--now is not a good time to be bringing Generation X in!" He shouted loudly as Cannonball--the other person training right then--scooped Bishop's flame throwers into the air, ignited them and flew off, letting the heat seeking missiles explode on that.

"Danger Room sequence 113 HOLD!" Beast shouted, grabbing Skin before he fell into a lava pit. Everything froze then as bombs de-armed and the room went back to normal. "Now, just what is going on?"

"A mouse ran in here and we have to get it. There's no way out of this room, so it should stay trapped in here." Cyclops explained quickly.

"Has anyone told the man that he's wearing a towel?" Angelo asked under his breath while Everett smirked.

"There it is!" Bishop shouted, unslinging his uzi and firing at the corner.

"Nice, Bish. Real subtle." Wolvie said, lighting his cigar again.

"Truly, Bishop, there is no need to kill the little thing. It's scared enough." Ororo said, stepping forward and examining where the blast mark was. "It's not even here. It probably ran already." She straightened up, looking at the others. "I believe we should get some humane traps and set if free in the wild where it--" She stopped, her eyes widening as she felt something run across her foot. Screaming she jumped away, brushing at her foot with her hand even though logic told her that the thing was gone. "KILL IT! KILL IT!" She shouted.

And there we have the majestic Storm. Jono said dryly.

Bishop got his uzi and fired several rounds at the small beige fluff that scurried across the floor, always just missing it.

"Wait a minute!" Leech cried, seeing the thing for the first time. "That's Mickey!"

Jean turned to him, her eyes two balls of fire in her face. "What?"

"That's my pet Mickey! You can't kill him! I just got him!"

"Leech. You can't have a wild mouse as a pet. No way."

"But . . . but . . . Leech will take good care of him!" The boy said.

"You let him escape!" Jean fumed, wondering what the child had been thinking.

Leech started bawling. "YOU CAN'T KILL MIIIIICKEYYYYYY!!!!!!!!"

"ALL RIGHT ALREADY! We won't kill Mickey!" Jean rubbed her eyes, wondering if they could get the thing when Leech wasn't there.

"So I can keep him?" Leech asked, all sign of tears gone.

Jean glared at the boy. "No. We're going to put Mickey back outside, where he belongs."

Leech started to cry again. "But he'll get eaten!"

"No he won't."

"Yes he will!"

"No he won't!"

"YES HE WILL!"

"NO--" Jean took a deep breath and tried to smile. "No, he will not die. Jubilee, would you take Leech to get some ice cream?"

Jubilee nodded and took the small child by the hand, leading him out so they could get the mouse.

Wolverine sniffed the air, then pointed. "He's right there."

Jean smiled and saw it, then picked it up telekinetically and put it in the box Scott had found. He closed the lid and she breathed a sigh of relief. No more mouse, no more pets. Quite easy.

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The next day Wolvie took it out and set it free, not seeing the pair of large eyes that watched him leave. Leech sniffed and turned away from the window. They wouldn't let him keep Mickey! Oh well, he consoled himself, at least he'd caught another pet yesterday! He bounced over to the new pet cage he had, a dolly cradle he'd found in Paige's room. She wasn't using it, it was just stuffed full with fuzzy animals.

He peered in, trying to see his new pet. He frowned and looked again.

"Uh oh," he said to himself. Cocky the Cockroach was gone!

Eleven days left . . .

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