After several hours of girl-talk, no small amount of ice cream, and a movie on the town, Rogue finally talked her into staying the two weeks until she took her GED test.

Sadi resigned herself to her dorm room when she didn’t have to teach, using the excuse that she needed to study. She didn’t, but she figured studying was the only thing that would keep nosey X-Men from bothering her. Not that she needed to worry. She hardly saw any of them in the days following her encounter with Rogue.

On the rare occasions she did actually leave her fortress of solitude, she noticed Gambit had begun training with some of the older students at the school in preparation for eventually rejoining the X-Men.

He was a flirt by nature, just like her father had been. It seemed like he had a different good-looking seventeen or eighteen year old girl on his arm every time Sadi saw him. None of them seemed to care he had a twenty-year-old daughter.

The rest of the X-Men were hardly ever around. They were all caught up in the changing tides of the new Superhero Registration Act.

Wolverine had left to go after some criminal named Nitro who’d blown up a bunch of kids in Connecticut. He’d gotten into a huge fight with Emma Frost and Cyclops right before he’d left. Sadi suspected some of Logan’s agitation had come from Piotr’s reappearance, and Wolverine had needed to get some space and find himself the only way he knew how—by killing someone. Everyone knew Piotr and Kitty had been childhood sweethearts. Apparently Logan knew it too, and it probably bothered him far more than he could bear to admit.

Beast, Scott, and Emma came and went—working the political side of the registration act, and the superhero civil war that had ensued. Officially, Xavier’s school was neutral territory, and the school’s Headmaster and Headmistress intended to keep it that way.

Storm had returned to Africa to be with her fiancé, the Black Panther, leaving Kitty as the remaining administrator for the school on a daily basis. Sadi had entirely taken over the self-defense classes for all the students, and while she didn’t particularly enjoy it, she liked the fact that it left her completely exhausted at the end of the day.

The week passed at an agonizing crawl, and by Friday night Sadi decided she couldn’t stand to spend another minute studying. All the kids had gone out to movies and parties. The X-Men had left for Washington DC to appear at a pro-mutant rally. The house was nearly empty, and at seven in the evening a soft knock sounded on her door.

Sadi rose from her chair at her desk, stretching her arms toward the ceiling while walking toward the door. She opened it, surprised to find Piotr standing there.

“Piotr,” she said, a little dumbfounded. She’d almost forgotten about him, seeing as she’d hardly seen him since their return from Siberia.

The large Russian boy smiled shyly. He still hadn’t managed to return to his human form, so his features were still made of steel. “I was wondering if you would like to join me in watching a movie downstairs. The two of us could perhaps talk?”

Sadi smiled back at him. “Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let me turn off my computer and I’ll meet you down there in a minute.”

Colossus smiled, nodding to her and then turning to walk downstairs.

They both sat on the couch, watching the movie for half-an-hour or so in near-darkness. Sadi didn’t pay much attention to what they watched. She was too distracted with thoughts of where she’d go once she received her GED. Her hands were nearly healed, and she’d spoken to Jean-Luc on the phone. Her grandfather wanted her to return to New Orleans, but Sadi had no idea what she wanted to do. Perhaps she would find a place to settle down, go to school for a while.

“The whole world has changed since this movie was made,” Piotr commented.

Sadi jerked back to the present, realizing a commercial had come on, and her companion stared at the screen blankly.

“Yeah,” she agreed, realizing for the first time just how much of a shock it must’ve been for Colossus to return to the mansion after spending twenty years in a stasis tube. “Lots of things have changed. I mean, Jesus, have you read about all this registration stuff in the news? Things are getting pretty heavy. Spiderman revealed his true identity the other day. Captain America’s gone rogue. It’s just a matter of time before Cap and Iron Man start to duke it out over the constitutionality of this thing.”

Piotr turned his head to look at her. “I have found it is not the changes that bother me so much. The Registration Act is a terrible thing for America, but in the country and time where I was born, it would not have been such a strange occurrence. It is the things that have remained the same, yet are not how I remember them that bother me most. The social aspects are different. The people are different. All whom I once knew have changed, and now they expect me to do the same. I fear I am not adjusting as quickly as they would like,” he said, his steel face taking on a forlorn expression.

Sadi reached over to pat him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Pete. You’re not the only one. I’m sure it’s hard for them to see you back. I know it’s hard for me to deal with Gambit landing back in my life.”

Piotr nodded. “Kitty won’t even speak to me. She’s grown older, and she’s become a married woman. I think she would have preferred it if I had not returned. I wish her much happiness, but I fear I will always regret losing the girl she once was.”

Sadi shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess the thing you have to realize is Kitty and Logan were pretty much meant to be together. Their powers make them virtually invincible—so it’s not like they have to worry about losing each other. If anything, I’d be jealous of that. The rest of us have to go through life just waiting for death to claim us, and anyone we’re stupid enough to love.”

It shocked her a little to feel one of Piotr’s metal fingers curl under her chin to lift her face so he could look at her. “I hope you do not truly believe that, Sadi,” he said, sounding very grave. “I hope you do not believe love is something so fragile that death alone might snuff it out.”

Sadi shook her head. “No. I know love is strong. It’s so strong, I’ve had a hard time surviving it these past four years.”